Homestuck.
Dec. 28th, 2011 10:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So, because my housemate Nicole has been begging me to for months, once the semester ended I finally gave Homestuck a try. I have strong and mixed feelings! That I will try to keep minimally spoilery but there's no way I can completely avoid it. At the very least probably most of it will mean nothing to you if you have no idea what's going on in the series, so it shouldn't be a big deal.
So, what is Homestuck? It's a web...fiction-comic-thing by Andrew Hussie, which starts here, though don't click that and follow it just yet. The conceit, according to his helpful for-new-readers page, is that you are playing a text-based adventure game by typing commands, and then the comic is what happens when you type those commands. Earlier comics he did like this were based on user input (Pokémon folks will remember the Black Adventures comic which I hadn't realized was based on this but totally is) but Homestuck, especially after the first bits, seems to be mostly a story he is telling and ignoring user input. I don't even see a place on the site to give user input anymore. As far as I am concerned, that is fine; I tried to read one of his earlier things based on user input, Problem Sleuth, and the beginning was so terrible I gave up.
Anyway!
Here are some reasons that you should maybe read this thing:
So, what is Homestuck? It's a web...fiction-comic-thing by Andrew Hussie, which starts here, though don't click that and follow it just yet. The conceit, according to his helpful for-new-readers page, is that you are playing a text-based adventure game by typing commands, and then the comic is what happens when you type those commands. Earlier comics he did like this were based on user input (Pokémon folks will remember the Black Adventures comic which I hadn't realized was based on this but totally is) but Homestuck, especially after the first bits, seems to be mostly a story he is telling and ignoring user input. I don't even see a place on the site to give user input anymore. As far as I am concerned, that is fine; I tried to read one of his earlier things based on user input, Problem Sleuth, and the beginning was so terrible I gave up.
Anyway!
Here are some reasons that you should maybe read this thing:
- It does really interesting things with the medium of storytelling; it uses flash (including game sequences you play), sound, text, animation, and the actual fact of your clicking between panels as crucial parts of the process of what it's doing. I find this really neat and not something I've seen before. If you're interested in playing with media in this way, I do recommend checking this out.
- It's also super meta. Metafiction is not everyone's favorite thing, but if it's one of yours, oh man, you should at least give this a shot.
- Some of the characters will grab you and cause you to have strong feelings about them, and you get to watch pretty much all of them grow and learn, which is pretty great.
- There are all manner of references to video games that I find hilarious. There are also references to movies but I find them neutral because I haven't seen any of them and don't really care, but if you are into pop movies from the 80s, oh man.
- The world-building is clever and way more consistent than I expected it to be.
- There is tons of content and you can catch up gradually if you'd like, or skim everything and them jump around to follow the threads you most care about in more detail.
- Oh my god there are so many building blocks that fit together over time and make you go ohhhhhhhhhh
- The troll relationship structure is so amazing. Spoilers.
- People you genuinely care about will still die when that's what the story demands.
- The beginnings of each section are so boringly and blindlingly terrible that if I hadn't promised Nicole I would try seriously to read it I would have given up after ten pages. God the beginnings are awful and crude and boring and slow. The beginnings after the first one are even worse because now you're invested in the story and want it to continue but what is he doing? He's expositing according to a bad formula again auuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughh. (Maybe the formula works for some people, but I had so much trouble. I still haven't read most of the beginning of act 6 I just don't caaaaaaaaaare)
- Sometimes Homestuck demands more of a reader than you actually want to put into a webcomic. One of the characters (fortunately, a minor one) talks in morse code. No way, man. I am not decoding Morse code for a webcomic, even one I like. I just don't know what that character is saying.
- It will take you 10-20 hours to catch up. Seriously. Low estimate.
- I'm pretty sure the comic is super inaccessible in terms of, say, screenreaders.
- A lot of the story is told in chat logs, and everyone talks in different colors, some harder to read than others, and many of the characters have intentional affectations along leetspeak lines that make their dialogue harder to read. This is occasionally really awesome when clever double meanings arise 8ut far more often is just annnnnnnnoyyyyyyyyinnnnnnnng. ::::(
- Like almost any webcomic, the art starts bad and gets better.
- There are places where it's so meta that you are kind of just tapping your foot waiting for him to get back to telling the fucking story. Some of those places last more than a hundred pages.
- People you genuinely care about will still die when that's what the story demands.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 06:58 pm (UTC)Maybe I should try again? I was kind of bummed that I wasn't as excited about it as other people seemed to be, but maybe that's why.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 07:07 pm (UTC)If you really want to get into it I do recommend trying again --- there is some real awesome stuff later on --- but I also wouldn't blame you for spending your time on something else.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 05:24 am (UTC)But I am really intrigued by the meta-story and why my friend Sandra is so invested in it. I like the stories she tells so that's a partial endorsement right there, I think.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 08:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 09:14 pm (UTC)On the subject of the trolls being hard to read: there is actually a really useful script for Chrome which puts all their dialogue into standard English (though it doesn't work on Nepeta's cat puns, Feferi's fish puns, or Vriska's 8s).
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 10:21 pm (UTC)And thanks for that link!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 10:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 03:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 09:22 am (UTC)That… does not actually sound more complicated than human relationships. (And I'm only somewhat saying that because I know all kinds of high-valence poly people.) Better systematized, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 05:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-31 09:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 06:38 pm (UTC)In terms of catching up, I started reading it December last year when Act 5 was midway to the end and I wasn't able to catch up with updates until February of this year, LOL. Then again I was busy job hunting and then was getting used to my volunteer work position, so it took a bit for me to power through.
One thing I want to warn you though is the Homestuck fandom tends to get crazy. If they ever read this post of yours they're gonna flame you for it. >.>;
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 06:50 pm (UTC)Yeah Nicole has been trying to get me to read this since September and I was basically like "NO NEW THINGS DURING THE SEMESTER."
I... mostly avoid fandom outside of Pokemon which I interact with glancingly and haltingly, so I am probably OK. I may have secret Homestuck fanatics on my friendslist I guess but they are also my friends so I am not super worried. I don't think I am important enough to get flamed. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-28 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 03:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 12:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 03:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 01:50 am (UTC)Also Homestuck fandom isn't any worse than any other popular fandom, in that it has it's highlights and wells of depressing crapness. I'll be glad to barrage you with the best bits given 3/8ths of a chance.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-31 08:19 pm (UTC)Basically there's an impression going around that Homestuck fandom is full of those people who are constantly bugging you to read something they like because it's totes awesome and I'm sure you'll love it because check this bit out and-
I'm kind of one of those people and I intended it as a self-deprication. ^_^;
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 05:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 08:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 08:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 05:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 09:15 pm (UTC)And I still like PS better than Homestuck.
And now I'm busy reading PREQUEL (http://www.prequeladventure.com/). Which is ADORABLE.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 05:53 am (UTC)Prequel is in fact adorable. Everything is better with catgirls, Y/y.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-29 11:35 pm (UTC)My favorite part is that sudden flash of realization Hussie pulls of making the most minute little things suddenly be OH MY GOD IMPORTANT.
That punk. :3
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 12:29 am (UTC)*read - get a job and move to michigan and not spend until 5 am doing things like reading homestuck and playing left 4 dead and OH GOD I EXERCISE NOW LIKE AN ADULT CRY CRY
plus it's been so long that I'll have to read the whole damn thing again.
ANYWAYS
the reason he begins all his characters like that his fanbase LIKES those beginnings. THEY ARE BAD BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT WRITERS LIKE YOU AND ENJOY STUPID THINGS WHY AM I TYPING IN ALL CAPS. Anyways most of the baaaaad conceits from his writing style are throwbacks to some of his original work with things like TeamSpecialOlympics and even crap like Bard's Quest which probably aren't on the internet any more never mind hosted directly with Homestuck. He's been writing weird... meta... comic things for a long time and while this is his weirdest and his meta-est he certainly enjoys some of his terrible old stuff just like his fans do.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 05:54 am (UTC)There are bits of Homestuck I think you would like but proooobably not worth the investment given how I think you relate to fiction?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 04:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 01:54 pm (UTC)Just wondering, did you ever get the email I sent you? I used the address on your site, but I'm not sure if/how often you check that addy (or if it's a spam decoy). Let me know, if you're still interested.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 03:20 pm (UTC)Would you like more detailed comments over email?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-30 03:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-03 06:36 pm (UTC)Problem Sleuth was good. It got a little wacky at the end, and the bit in the middle with the plugs was boring as all hell, but it was a cute idea that reminded me of a type of game I enjoy and it told a zany but coherent story.
Homestuck is not the same thing. It makes some light nods here and there, but I cannot believe that any of what's going on is remotely related to audience participation. And I guess that would be okay, except that the medium itself is now an experiment in making me not want to read it: the white text on white, the increasingly novel and irritating flavors of chatspeak, the abbreviation of all sixteen major characters to every two-letter acronym possible with four letters (so now I have to remember that "green text guy" is the same as "GG" is the same as "guy who likes spiders" is the same as "karkat" and also that this person probably has some kind of personality; what the hell is this, a bad logic puzzle?).
And even that would be kind of worth it, if the story had any kind of payoff. And it does not. There are no predictable rules to this universe; things merely happen and I'm expected to say "ahh, how cool". I feel like I'm reading the writings of a man in a psychiatric institution who once saw an episode of Doctor Who while on acid. And the longer the story goes on, the more it reads like bad fanfiction of itself.
Even the fans don't seem to care about (or comprehend?) the plot; I see nigh constant conversation about how cool the trolls are due to being emo incarnate, but if there're people talking about what's happening, I sure can't find them.
It wouldn't matter, shouldn't matter, except that Problem Sleuth was a good and clever thing, and it's a shame to see its author encouraged to veer further into the incomprehensible. I suppose, too, a mockery is being made of genuine crazy scifi. I feel like I can now empathize with how Twilight makes vampire fans feel.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-03 06:47 pm (UTC)I... avoid fandom, basically. I entirely avoid homestuck fandom. But I talk about what's happening plotwise, and what connections those things imply, with the people I know who read it and I find that rewarding.
I also hate Doctor Who, so our tastes on this might just be orthogonal. I may even have bad taste here. Scifi is decidedly not my genre. Terrifyingly, if you're right about the connection, that may make me understand Twilight fans who are like "Whatever, I find your old vampire stories boring and I like this one." I am not sure I wanted that understanding, ever, but there you go. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-03 07:00 pm (UTC)Admittedly I don't look for fandom; my sample here is "whatever noise made it my way". So there's less plot noise than troll noise, I guess.
Doctor Who is not exactly consistent with its 50 years of different writers, which is kinda why I used it for a metaphor. H2G2 could be a better contrast; the rules are completely arbitrary and everyone knows it and the books outright say so, but nobody cares because it's still clever and entertaining and is a story about people which is what scifi ought to be.
Maybe that's why I don't like Homestuck, then: the plot and the characters are both bumbling around independently, and the plot sneaks up and sticks to the characters briefly when they're actually necessary to drive it forwards. Plus most of them are annoying, so I have nothing to root for except the end of the universe, and even that doesn't work.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-01-03 07:34 pm (UTC)