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Post by Rou on Apr 19, 2016 23:43:58 GMT
I thought it'd be nice to start of this section of the forum with a thread where we can all share who our faves are, why we love them, and what we think could have been done better with their character!
Please no character hate or judgement of others based on who they like! This thread is for spreading what we love about these characters only <3
I'll start out with the first character I really fell in love with, Equius Zahhak!
So, on my first read through going into Homestuck, while I enjoyed all of the characters, Equius was the first who stood out to me on a personal level. Of course I came to love and identify with other characters as time went on, but Equius will always hold a special place in my heart <3 To me, he's a lot like a younger version of myself. Weird, sweaty, generally disliked by his peers, way too into horses, perpetually unable to do the one thing he loves (archery for him, art for me) due to an uncontrollable biological issue (freak strength for him, mental illness for me), it was almost as if Hussie had modeled him after my awkward, young self. I loved Equius right away, because he was the kid I'd never had a chance to love when I was walking in her shoes. I even, perhaps most of all, identified with his strict need to follow the standards of troll society and his misguided hatred towards those lower on the spectrum, because as I child I too would blindly follow the standards of others even if it meant being mean to those who did not deserve it in a desperate attempt to have a place in the world. Of course, I can recognize that lifestyle and mindset as unhealthy and wrong as an adult, but having been someone very similar to the person Equius is, I definitely felt like I understood his motives.
My soft spot for him only grew as the narrative went on. Even as a character who had little screen time or plot relevance, his character arc was really cool in my opinion. Through his relationship with Nepeta, he started to actually grow, becoming more open to ideas outside of his little bubble of self importance and castism. Maybe it's just because I'm such a fan, but I would have loved to see more. His personal quest is something I'm particularly interested in, though I could say that about any of the trolls really. But what I really wish I could have seen is Equius reach his full potential, recognize that the person who he was when he started the game is not the person he wants to be, and grow from that. I completely believe he was on the way there. I feel like if he'd had he chance, he could have really contributed to the narrative.
Anyway, there's my bit of gushing about my fave, now it's your turn!
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Post by lorien on Apr 20, 2016 0:49:09 GMT
(Hi Rou!! It's so exciting to see you here too omg)
My favorite character... god, that's so hard! I don't know if I can pick between Terezi and Jade. But I think Terezi generally gets a lot of love, so I guess I'll gush about Jade!
I kind of actually didn't like her at first because she read as a Mary Sue character. She was positive and hyper and goofy and a little airheaded, and I was used to recognizing those traits as belonging to the annoying "manic pixie girl" trope. And I'll admit, a bit of misogyny probably came into play with my first impressions of Jade.
I've now come to realize that she is a deconstruction of the Mary Sue trope. At first, Jade is a silly, happy girl who is inexplicably good at a multitude of things (gardening, robotics, nuclear physics, drawing, intuitively knowing what her friends are thinking, ect), but tends to be a burden for the team (sleeping through most of the first few acts). In fact, Jade acts more of a cheerleader for her friends than anything else. It isn't until she comes across the trolls that Jade's less pristine qualities leak out.
Jade can be stubborn, she can be immature, she can be insensitive, she can lose her temper, she can fall to pieces under the stress she puts on herself to be optimistic all the time. And I really love that about her! I love that Jade only seemed to be a Mary Sue because she was trying to darn hard not to reveal any of her flaws.
I feel like her character development kind of slowed down after that, though. After she became god tier, Jade kind of took a backseat to everyone else. First she was put under the Condesce's control (grimbark), and then in the post-retcon timeline, she just ends up lonely and secluded from everyone. It's also super sad to me that she felt that her aspect meant that she was supposed to be lonely. Especially since Jade is such a friendly character! She sacrifices a lot for her friends throughout the comic. I'd like to see her get something back. I'd like to see some resolution to her arc, where she realizes that being a witch of space does not mean she has to be lonely.
Also, on a side note, I'd love to see her romantic arc with Karkat have some resolution. He was so, so close to telling her how he felt, dammit.
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Post by ashenafterglow on Apr 20, 2016 1:32:32 GMT
(I, too, love Equius and all his flaws, and would have liked to see him have the chance to overcome them!)
Tavros, though. Let me talk about Tavros. He's this underconfident nerd who's a hundred percent invested in all of his super 'uncool' nerd hobbies, and he doesn't care. He has trouble getting his words out clearly, and he still wants to rap because it's fun and it makes him happy. He can't walk, and he dreams of flying. He's gone his whole life with people telling him he can't and won't be successful, and in fact throwing barriers directly in his way, and still manages to turn around and do something that nobody else could have done, with the sheer power of friendship. I love that he's the one character in all of Homestuck (iirc?) we actually see interacting with Gamzee in a positive, affirmative, supportive way, willing to be chill and listen and acknowledge his beliefs even if he doesn't understand or share them.
As much as I ship GamTav, I even like the fact that his reaction to Gamzee's awkward confession wasn't just automatic acceptance. I empathize with his reaction being ???? (or , ,, as the case may be) as he struggles to fit this thing he Did Not Pick Up On into his worldview on the fly. And then, as generally passive and evasive as he tends to be at his worst moments, it felt pretty natural for him to play the distractions game and never really follow up on that before his death, at that point in his development.
It was really difficult to read the parts where ghost!Tavros was following his abuser/killer around and behaving like Gollum more than anything, but it was also fantastic to read him hitting the point where he was just Done with her games, and flew off into the sunset with his middle fingers in the air. I'm so happy that he had that moment, and that it led to him gathering the army himself. I was also really pumped to see Aradia finally leap into the fray to help him fight LE--Team Charge rides again!
Of course, ghost!Tav's development and growth made it all the more frustrating to read the gutted, paper cut-out version of Tavros that ended up in the retcon timeline, bowing and scraping and agreeing with everything, and amounting to exactly nothing in the final fight or to any of his former friends--a forgotten footnote, put to sleep and abandoned despite what was purportedly godlike power.
Things I would really like to see more of: his potential as a Page of Breath. I think gathering the army was a huge development point for him, but simply handing it off to Meenah and Vriska felt... flat. Something that might have rung more true for me would have been if he'd gathered the army and then a Karkat who demonstrated that he understood what leading really was had stepped forward to lead it, with the Breath/Blood connection and contrasts active there. Of course I want to see Tavros live to experience the rewards of the new universe, either through not being killed or somehow being resurrected at the end (since the ghost army sequence and the whole treasure search seemed to give him time to grow and think about who he wanted to be). I'd even like to see him get his wings, someday, though perhaps part of his character's strength is that he turns out not to need them to become the person he has the potential to be. Mostly I just don't want all of that build up in-comic over the vast potential of Pages to amount to nothing.
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Post by bluebird on Apr 21, 2016 0:40:05 GMT
I love it when people talk about their favorite characters, because it gives me a chance to see those characters in a new and sometimes more flattering light. I've become more fond of certain characters just from being exposed to other people's enthusiasm.
My ultimate fave is Gamzee (I'm a Capricorn, my favorite color is purple, I like clowns with sad backstories; it was inevitable), but it was Rose that kept me reading at first. I'm one of those people who took multiple tries to get into Homestuck, and part of the reason was that I just didn't connect with John or Dave at all. But Rose was an eldritch horror loving goth who liked knitting, and I thought that was pretty relatable. She also reminded me of people I went to high school with. So, for a while Rose Lalonde was the sole reason I kept reading... And then along came Jade! From the beginning I found Jade delightful. I'm sure I had a silly grin on my face while reading a lot of early that Jade content, before the narrative became hellbent on making her isolated, sidelined, and miserable. I wanted so many nice things for Jade, and Act 7 certainly leaves room to imagine a happy ending for her, but I sort of feel like the story owed her more than it delivered. I also spent pretty much the whole narrative hoping for her and Rose to have more fun banter and chances to interact, and it never really happened? It vexes me.
As far as Gamzee goes... where to even start with that one. From the beginning, I liked that he wasn't the astrology stereotype of a Capricorn (you know; aloof, motivated, dictatorial). He was friendly, and scatterbrained, and just wanted to make people smile. He had a lot of problems, and his main way of dealing with them was pretty much to pretend they didn't exist, which I know from personal experience doesn't work very well. And the more unkind the narrative became to him, the more I wanted to push back against it! That's definitely part of my motivation for being here.
I also love Jane, and have a soft spot for Davesprite (and Davepetasprite^2) because he was the first Strider I became fond of.
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Post by Momo on Apr 21, 2016 3:59:43 GMT
Rose and Jade were my first faves, but once there was a clown, oh man. The obvious choice for a fave troll was Tavros, since he was objectively perfect in every way, but I could not resist the allure of that miserable space juggalo. Thus began a story of WOE.
The reasons I loved Gamzee... they ended up being more personal and important than I realized. I couldn't just get away without examining those reasons because Cloun was such an unpopular choice, and in a weird way it forced me into this odd situation I wasn't ready for and then I had a breakdown in the middle of/after college and I couldn't get anything done for a year? I mean, without going into the Details.
...thankfully I'm better now. Anyway, Blue said some good things. I'm sure I've said some things on my blog but now I just am kind of staring blankly at my hands. Seven years of reading, arguing and being miserable are over. What is there even to say? For right now, nothing.
Other faves; Kanaya, Jane, Roxy, Terezi, Aradia, Feferi, Latula, Damara
Garbage children from the dumpster of my heart; Karkat, Vriska
I'm kind of at a loss still, so I'll just sit here and absorb other people's thoughts.
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Post by nana7q on Apr 22, 2016 14:47:32 GMT
Gamzee is my ultimate fave for many reasons (that also include being a Capricorn and loving the color purple. I mean, even my hair is purple). Their way of dealing with his problems, initially, was pretty much what I tried to do my whole life, and that also didn't went well. I didn't kill anyone, promise, but oh boy I did some stupid shit. Also, they were so goddamn positive even if most people in their life made it clear that they didn't like them at all AND his lusus never really cared for them and it all was so familiar (in my sorta delusional ill mind) to me so I couldn't help myself but love my Clown child to pieces. I just wanted someone to reach out and help them.
Honestly, the only character I really dislike is Caliborn. He is a fun character to read, makes things weirdly interesting, but I can't stand him. As for Vriska, I nearly dislike her, but I think she needs a serious intervention and a therapist. Caliborn can't be helped, he's beyond redemption in my heart.
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Post by doodlebonez on Apr 24, 2016 1:52:46 GMT
Hello, everyone! Personally the first character I really loved was John. He was energetic, and silly, and hated cake as much as I did! I guess it can't be helped to like one of the humans first when they are the only characters we really get to see from the beginning (though I would understand falling in love with the pure dialogue we got from the trolls). John remained my favorite character for a very long while. I loved Rose, and I loved Jade, and I really liked Dave too tbh, but John was always the most interesting to me. That is... until the shooshpap... When the trolls first appeared and we were formally introduced to them, my favorites from all of them ended up being both Tavros, Feferi, and Karkat. I couldn't pick between the three and I didn't feel like I had to. But as time went on and I read on (I got into the fandom late so there was a lot for me to go through), I kept going back to liking him (Gamzee) more and more despite there not being much. Then the shooshpap happened, the knight and the bard hugged, and I had found my first ever true OTP. I have loved Gamkar for basically my whole time in the fandom, but I've learned to love Gamzee the more I became involved with the way others reacted to him. I have never been the type of fan to analyse a fictional character before. I always just took them at face value and since I wasn't really involved with other fans I never got to see much character development happen outside of what was given to me. Slowly but surely, learning what Gamzee has meant to others and learning to see his struggles with other points of view has really helped flesh out what his character has come to mean for me. It wasn't just Gamzee though, Karkat was also a character I've learned to love more and more. I think some people get tired of hearing about Karkat because he's been a fandom favorite for so long and has had so much of the comic focus on him, but in the end I still couldn't help but love what his character meant for me. People like to make fun of his "crabby" side and canon itself doesn't help because it makes fun of the way he talks big so much, but to me, he embodies a part of myself that I sometimes have to confront whether I like it or not. I think that's the biggest reason why I love art that makes him out to be a serious character rather than a crabby doofus with a soft heart, because it feels like they are taking that part of me seriously as well. Same goes for Gamzee. He also seems to embody a part of me that I have to live with, so when I see art that depicts him in a serious manner, I can't help but love it. Both my love for Gamzee and Karkat developed separately, but I think that's why Gamkar became a huge part of my role in fandom. They not only represent two parts that in the end work with each other to complete a whole, but they do it through the ever amazing Pale romance of which I could write many paragraphs about because of just how much having this other serious part of a relationship means to me. ANYWAYS, i've written enough. XD
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Post by Rou on Apr 24, 2016 23:03:28 GMT
(@bonez and Lorien, it's so exciting to see you guys here as well!)
Ahh, it's so fun to hear others talk about their faves, learning the different perspectives of how people see the characters is one of my fav things about this fandom, imo!
So, since a few of you have mentioned them, and it's no secret that quite a few of the contributors here are filthy apologists, I'll talk about Gamzee next.
So Gamzee wasn't a character I actually thought much of at first. I didn't hate them or anything, but I just didn't notice them much. I think because so many characters were being introduced, it took me a while to get a feel for all the trolls, especially the non patrons. It wasn't really until my second reading that I really started getting a feel for them as individuals and deciding how I felt about them all. I'm a huge fan of character analysis, so I read tons of meta and that's where I really started forming my own opinions on the characters. And that is also where I fell in love with Gamzee.
Gamzee is a pretty complex character, whom was sadly abandoned by the narrative, it seems. While I didn't pick up on it at all through my first readthrough, when I went at it a second time paired with all the good meta I'd read I took time to really consider the characters and Gamzee immediately stood out to me. Okay, don't flog me for this, but I didn't really like clowns before I read homestuck. I mean, I like them lots now, but I used to be kinda afraid of them. So I was maybe a bit unsettled by Gamzee at first. But their character is just so damn loveable, they're happy and gentle and mostly just wants to be around their friends. They love what they love and don't really care if they're criticized for it. And despite all this, they're so damn tragic. A kid who was pretty much abandoned by their parent, has a terrible drug problem that no one seems to care about, is treated pretty terribly by their friends, the only people they really have any interaction with... They are quite clearly an abused, neglected child. And that just hurt my heart so much, seeing as I too was abandoned by my father and abused. I couldn't help but feel a connection to them. It doesn't help that a good chunk of the fandom seems to absolutely hate them. luckily though, there's a good amount of people who do like Gamzee, and share my feelings about them. That's kinda where I've made my home in the fandom, surrounded by fellow clown lovers and just ignoring the haters. So, Gamzee helped me make lots of new friends!
And then of course, there's gamkar. A huge part of my fandom experience was based around this damn ship, I've drawn it more than any other ship, I was part of the HSWC team for it one year, I've spent countless hours gushing about it with friends. Shoutout to Bonez in particular, whom was always right there with me. Not to gush too much, this isn't exactly the place to talk otps, but yeah, this ship was a big part of me developing my love for Gamzee.
Anyway, that's all I'll say for now!
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Post by Rosie/Cam on May 2, 2016 23:57:05 GMT
Honestly, I have a huge weak spot for all the Strilondes, as I've always related to them the most, but mostly the betas. Rose was my first fave, Dave grew heavily on me (from neutrality to obsession in the course of a few weeks lol), Roxy and Dirk I've come to at least appreciate as characters, and now here we are. Tbh, I don't really know what I want for them very specifically. I do know that I want Dave to come to terms with his past and l finally express his thoughts and feelings as he's already been slowly but surely learning to do over the years. Perhaps even this is too much to hope for in just the span of this comic, but at least I'd like to see him commit to helping himself somehow. Hell, even a more in depth examination of the dynamics of his and Bro's relationship and how he can heal and learn from it, and of who he is as a person and accepting that, just give me more Dave progress/resolution, please.
As for Rose...ah, my darling Rose. From the first page of dialogue, I loved her. She was snarky, loquacious, dorky, pretentious to the point of being just slightly annoying, an armchair psychologist who found silly reasons to hate a doting mother and entered the medium through the shattering of an empty bottle. I felt an almost instant kinship with this girl. Now, I don't remember much about Homestuck (I'm going to reread and take notes though), but off the top of my head, for her...I just want her to relax and be happy. I want her to find joy in the simple pleasures of life again. I want her to stop holding herself to such impossible standards. I want her to write dumb wizard fanfiction with her mom. I want her to live, laugh, and love without insecurity or inhibition. My little Rosie needs a break from responsibility and trying to grow up too fast. She needs to embrace the childhood she never had. Granted, this pretty much goes for all the kids, but...you know.
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Post by sassylassy on May 30, 2016 10:58:36 GMT
I'm going to make my grand debut to this forum and tell you guys that, even if my icon is of my precious clown child, my favourite character of Homestuck in its entirety is Tavros Nitram. When I made my second attempt at reading Homestuck, the trolls had already been well long established and I had seen many a fanart of the colourful characters gracing my old tumblr dashboard. And when I finally reached the introduction of the grey faced, candy horned aliens I was a little excited, which got even more amped when Tavros was introduced. Maybe it was his pitiful beginnings that got my heart hooked on the little, sass mouthed guy, but he's remained a favourite of mine for years now.
So you can imagine my frustrations when a majority of fandom, at the time, wrote Tavros off as a weak little cry baby who served no purpose whatsoever. Or the stories, and fanart, that made him more of a joke and a one-note character. He had character, he had attitude, and just because he had some self esteem issues (a thing I have in common with him) people felt it was right to sweep him aside for bolder, louder characters who demanded the spotlight. It was more than a little frustrating.
He's a huge dork at heart, his love of the fiduspawn game even if it's considered a game for wrigglers, and his almost tragic enjoyment of Pupa Pan and still hoping one day to fly away and never return to his hive again. Tavros is a character who's suffered physical, emotional, and verbal abuse from many a source and even if he goes quiet he never reached a point where he let them win. He stood up to his abuser, his eventual murderer, even though he knew he would lose horribly and that shows his bravery in many ways that his physical limitations could not. Tavros remained strong in the face of a lot of perseverance and pulled through like I always knew he would and even if the ending of Homestuck did not bring the closure I needed I was happy to see him prove his worth to the haters, and Vriska alike, before taking part in and surviving the grand finale.
Still very miffed about Gcatavrosprite though.
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Post by jovialProphet413 on Jun 17, 2016 11:58:52 GMT
Okay! Favorite character time! Well my favorite character has got to be Cronus! Now don't shit on my cornflakes because most people hate him.
I first grew a huge connection with him when my other homestuck friends were roleplaying in character and one of my friends, we call him Mituna, was talking about Cronus and I instantly clicked. After, I google him and searched up some of his ships, character, quirk, and basically got to know him before reaching the part were he came in.
To fully explain him I need to explain Crotuna. *prepares for shots fired*. Sorry. I like the least popular ship with either of them. And its 'rape'. Sexual assualt is more the word than rape. Rape is sex. He just grabs him ....... uh places. So yeah. But you do have to wonder why, in both of their lonely and most sane times, they both seek each other out? In their most distressed or emotionally stable (it seems to depend) not only does Cronus seek him out, not because Mituna can't repeat what he's saying because he can't fully understand, but because Mituna seems to be his critic, his only true friend because of his huge personality. Mituna points out his flaws and Cronus seems to be so attatched because of their relationship before 'the accident'. Even though Mituna isn't the same you can't discount such an important time in their complicated relationship. Cronus is one of he most misunderstood, hated characters because people only take what they see instead of taking the time to think about how he feels and his experiences that affect the way he acts and feels and thinks.
I almost promise that most people gave up after I said I shipped Crotuna. Thanks for reading.
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calicorn
Reader
currently stuck in panel hell
Posts: 11
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Post by calicorn on Jul 1, 2016 9:21:48 GMT
Caliborn is my dumb trash son and I love him
(its 5am im not gonna write a paragraph why hes the greatest piece of shit)
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Post by inkwell on Aug 4, 2016 11:30:26 GMT
i see this is a place where long answers are ok so i will try not to hold back to begin with, i was not interested in much of anyone. i actually got into homestuck just because i had seen it everywhere and was wondering who this 'johnkat' guy was supposed to be. i wandered eventually to the tvtropes page about the webcomic and ended up reading the comic explicitly so i wouldnt spoil myself for reading the tvtropes page? what a huge Miss Steak anyway, i clicked with exactly nobody at first. i think i found dave kind of funny, and then i kinda liked rose. i enjoyed jade a lot! i never really grew to like john at all. ummmm. when act five came along, though... and we met this big horned nerd in a wheelchair........ hoo boy HOOO BOY, BOY, LET -- LET MEE TELL YOUI SURE LOVE THAT KID,i love,, , , i ove him so much, ok listen most people who like tavros have said everything about tavros that there is to say but i just gotta tack on that i identified with him pretty strongly. he only ever spent his time trying to live his life and enjoy the things he enjoyed, and i think he would have been a pretty confident troll! tavros, for someone who is unconfident, is fairly confident! in his own tastes, and in his own self, and its only when outside parties (vriska) are introduced and constantly come down on him (like vriska) and verbally and physically abuse him (vRIS! !! ! !KA!) did it seem to me that he ever really came down on himself. (i mean ok i know that there were others who were shitty to him, but the bulk of his bullying was undeniably at her hands) i feel like i lost my train of thought somewhere in there, but please listen. i love tavros. i love tavros nitram. i think he is just............ the bees knees, ok! the bees knees,, , also. rose skyrocketed into a fave place for me soon after tavros, though i dont think the two are related. i just sort of grew used to her and noticed her (unsavory) similarities to myself. she's a+ 100, and ive enjoyed writing and reading material about her for ages now... hmm... now, gamzee. i did Not like gamzee when gamzee was introduced, but that is, i think, because gam read to me like some kind of racist caricature. and also im afraid of clowns. i had no idea what a juggalo was at that point in my life and frankly am not better for the knowledge, HOWEVER. i do love gamzee, now. i think about gamzee a lot, and was absolutely rooting for a happy ending featuring good things happening to the most important character in homestuck (and that is why i am here, i guess, because i had to peek in and see how this whole 'act 8' deal was going) i also really love rufioh and damara. generally speaking, not near each other. sometimes near each other? like ok they messed each other up big time in life, but they seemed to have become friends again in the afterlife, and im kind of about it. like. life happened, it was in the past, we were young... 'sorry i cheated on you,' 'sorry i murdered your bf and beat you mostly to death resulting in your paralyzation etc etc' 'ok cool lets try to work past this together' idk that probably isnt even slightly how that happened but i have a lot of feelings about those two individually, so i guess i also just have a lot of feelings about them interacting together rufioh is just someone i look at and go 'wow i would love to be like this person' but then i realize i am like that person and i go 'oh god wait i take that back please i dont--' and then i forget a while later and the cycle starts over damara, tho. i just kind of cry about her all the time there are zero canon universes where she doesnt get the short end of the stick, and it hurts me. it hurts me bad. i saw her show up in this comic and about flipped my shit. there she is!!!! my child! my nihilistic ready for whatever child she had a hard damned life. and a hard afterlife. and a hard alternate life. she deserves some rest and some smiles. i mean, probably smiles are gonna be hard to come by for her because i cant imagine she isnt just drowning in loathing for everything and everyone 85% of the time, but... gosh. gosh. i think about her and gamzee interacting a lot. a lot a lot. at least 3 lots. bitter, used and abused and bullied children who possibly worked in close quarters and who could have come to know each other and maybe respect each other from afar. who tolerate each other and maybe try to grow to be friends with one another, but its so, so hard because neither of them is good at feeling trust or whatever else there is that makes 'friendship' work anymore idk idk anyway, tl;dr my faves are rose, tavros, rufioh, gamzee, and damara ok bye
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Post by i love vriska on Aug 5, 2016 4:30:26 GMT
i love vriska im sorry
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Post by dbnet18 on Aug 10, 2016 3:24:38 GMT
I like Gamzee, Karkat, Sollux, and Dave.
...
That's all.
I guess Vriska too
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