Homestuck (A comic of endurance)

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Like a swift raging river, fandoms come, linger for a while, and gradually leave. Most stay, but without the rapid popularity it once had; only a miniscule few still resonant strongly with the fans. I mean, I should know, I'm in the Transformers fandom. As individual people, we have different expectations and tastes towards this maddening concoction of our imaginary minds. Currently, the two big ones I constantly stumble about in the world, wide web are the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic franchise and its legion of "Bronies" and the Homestuck webcomic series with its cache of Trolls and deliberately simple MS paint artwork. The former I watch with mild glee: a delightful animated series that proves cartoons made for girls can have a broad range of appeal. I am not a giant MLP fan and I've watched most of the episodes only once, but its straightforward setting is matched through smartly written dialogues that compliments its fascinating and very well-rounded characters. It's the kind of show that looks like it was made for little girls, but really targets an all-age group...successfully.

Homestuck is a different beast altogether in that I didn't quite know what it was. In fact, I'm not sure I still do.

Like an inevitability, Homestuck strikes up from behind you and never seems to let go. Everywhere I go, troll cosplayers and fanarts pop up in full display. Monochrome men in suits and fedora grace my tumblr screen and what's this about it possessing awesome tunes? I love webcomics, I enjoy reading it, so I figured I'd hunker down and eventually get sucked into reading HS whether I liked it or not. I kept delaying it for so long, but it remained a constant pester in the back of my brain. So I forged ahead and sought out its mysterious allure.

After shuffling through hundreds and hundreds of pages, I think I get the appeal though. It's a multimedia, meta-enhanced, fourth wall breaking, tongue-in-cheek, meticulously crafted webcomic. Apparently fans contribute towards the story alongside the author Hussie, so the interactivity elegantly crafts and fits within the point-and-click flair of the comic. The best part tends to be the fully animated affairs, often accompanied by catchy tunes or the rare times you are in control of the characters, however limited. I also see the appeal of its story. Look past the innovation and you see at its very core that it's simply about a young, ordinary teenager whose birthday takes a turn for the weird when he's destined to save the world after a fateful Meteor crash (told to him by his ghostly jester nana, to add to the comic's flavor.) It's a familiar plot and one we've endeared so much to.

By all rights, Homestuck isn't bad at all. Granted, I never thought that in the first place, but it's persistence in the internet have only caused me to avoid it at all cost because, frankly, I am sick to death hearing about this webcomic. Now that I've read it and praised it, I...can't really say I want to keep going.

With over 7,000+ pages, it's a loooooong read. Granted, about a good portion of the pages only support maybe a meager paragraph, but when the texts get long, they get loooong. Therein lies Homestuck's core problem: it drags on. I mean, stuff happens, but you have to pass a lot of asinine plot points where Character A is picking up Item B for some 50 pages before scene switching to Character B dodging Character C's whims while picking up Item X for 50 pages. I found myself shifting impatiently by the latter half of Act 2. I keep expecting something to happen to elevate my interest and while it's often worth it when the good shit pops out, they're often short-lived and then we're back to the normal, dragged on stuff. By the time I reached the fourth child, my patience has all but run out. I was literally clicking past Jade's scene, barely reading the lengths of paragraphs expecting something good to happen again. As of that arc, main character John has yet to reach the other world to open up the Seven Gates and stop the evil or whatever. I have a good feeling a lot of what these characters do - however minor - may end up crucial in latter Arcs, but it drifts on and on and on for me to keep on truckin'.

People say shit gets real good after the first two Acts, but I think I'm done. I'm at the start of Act 3 and possess little commitment to keep going. I shouldn't have to wait and drag my feet this long to get to "the good part." I should be enticed right from the start and while it's not particularly boring (compared to Hussie's previous work, Problem Slueth which I found MEGA boring and had to stop some 200+ pages in), it's sloth page count is what daunts me. That's probably the point. I'm what, 300 pages in and I'm not near a third of the way. The characters aren't near a third of the way. I guess technically speaking the pacing is probably appropriate given the vast amount of pages it is, but this...this is too much. They're doing stuff, the plot is doing stuff, but it never reaches a point quick enough where I am so invested I have to keep going. And knowing this is still VERY much in the beginning isn't giving me any joy. It's just...tiring.

Maybe it's just how Hussie's work is and I don't completely get it, so to speak. Unique stuff like this need to exist, but I am not part of this specific world. With that said, I lay this demon to rest. No, I'll never know the joys of the Trolls or any "ZOMG!" plot revelations that John or Rose would face because they picked up a telescope earlier or something, but I'm perfectly fine never revisiting its world.



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:heart: STUPID FANCOMICS:heart:


Discovery (A Transformers Animated Fancomic): Read the entire thing here. More updated as the series progresses. Placed there for archival purpose.

Chess Piece (A Danny Phantom Fancomic):
An AU Danny Phantom comic. It's been canceled, but for those morbidly curious to read this convoluted train wreck, the link is here.

:heart: OTHER STUFF:heart:


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WhiteTigerDemoness's avatar
THANK YOU for putting this into words. Going to just link this journal whenever someone goes all WHY DON'T YOU LIKE HOMESTUCK on me again. 8D