I don't mean to sound rude or something, but why is Karkat so chubby? I'm fat myself but I'm not used to seeing a chubby Karkat and would be interested to know as to why this was decided for the character for this project. Still wish good luck on the project, I'm definitely interested to see how it goes.

Thanks, and don’t worry about rude, I read some rude today and you’re not it. You’ve given me a good opportunity to talk about some things I was going to have to, eventually.

Long post, so I went ahead and put it under a cut.

I guess the quick reason is, quite simply, that’s how I enjoyed drawing those characters. My biggest goal in act 8 is for the team and myself to have a good time.

Another is that doing some things canon hasn’t done helps differentiate us as a fandom project– this is the same reason the prologue starts with a weird purple lady. You know you’re not in kansas anymore.

A third and arguably more subtle reason is to make it more inclusive; the kids may be canonically aracial and up to anyone’s interpretation, but drawings of thin people with white features aren’t actually neutral. To avoid making any representation at all would call for total abstraction, so instead, there’s simply no rules in act 8 about what bodytype or race characters may be drawn as having.

(As you may have guessed, this doesn’t really apply to panel updates done in the traditional mspa style. here’s an example, warning for spoilers.)

I’m not particularly invested in keeping the headcanons consistent across the act, but I suspect this will mean more variety in the drawings, not less. As long as they’re recognizable as themselves, it doesn’t actually change that much about the story or how it’s read. So, I think anyone who is really upset by this is looking too much into it and having a personal problem. If most people’s reactions are just, “huh?” that’s okay. It’s worth the smiles I know it brings to some faces out there.

As for the other comments we received today…. I expected a little backlash, but certainly not the amount I’ve read. It surprised me that this could be that much of an obstacle for some people. If they truly can’t bring themselves to look past it, I will have no choice but to cry myself to sleep at night to the sound of a thousand weeping violins.

(…PSYCH, I already do that!)

I hope that was an alright answer, sorry that your ask bore the burden of the discourse. Since there was virtually no way to respond to this without tempting further discussion, I will say right out that this is the final word on this subject that will be posted by this account, and I don’t want this blog to become the place these conversations are held at frequently. I would be perfectly (un)happy to discuss it further on @gamzee, but there, I am not obligated to be as delightfully charming.