I love Homestuck. I started Andrew Hussie's work with the stellar Problem Sleuth, and I knew his next comic would be great. Homestuck is great. The panels get more and more complex, culminating in gorgeous videos with sound. The characters are all quirky, and most have very recognizable voices. The comic is mostly humorous, but as time has gone on it's also become quite a bit more dramatic.

Unfortunately, Homestuck's length is also its greatest weakness.

The problem with Homestuck for me is that when the cast expanded at the beginning of Act 5, the story lost momentum. While it regained that momentum in some places (Especially the beginning of Act 5, Part 2), we're still spending massive amounts of time on an asteroid watching a bunch of quirky troll characters dicking around and occasionally killing each other. Unfortunately, my only desire is that they kill each other faster, because there lies the crucial problem: If you don't like the trolls, you won't like Homestuck as it is now. And if you are just trying to wait it out, well, tough titty, the trolls are here to stay for another God-knows-how-many thousand chapters. At the same time, we get mountains of injokes and references, at which point I've just become rather jaded.

I love Homestuck, but I don't like Homstuck right now, and every time I try to take a break, when I come back, I'll either be completely enamored with the comic or just bored by it. It's weird, because there's plenty of things to like; the plot is advancing at a lightning pace whenever we focus on the kids and Exiles, the dialogue is funnier than ever, the drawing is better, and Hussie is adding more and more interesting tidbits that will definitely be brought up again in the future. I just think it's gotten too big, especially when Hussie brings in troll ancestor characters who begin having their own stories too.

I don't expect the comic to bend over; Hussie will never relent his creativity to audience reactions, and I love that. However, be warned about two things before trying Homestuck: It is long, and it will change. The characters you like might die; the ones you don't might continue to annoy you until the comic ends. It's all part of Homestuck's charm and malice.

Homestuck is a webcomic that encompasses the adventure of four internet friends who, through chatlogs and single panels, fall into a game called Sburb that alters reality and destroys earth. Homestuck is unique in the way it is told, running on what amounts to pure dialogue to show personal growth of each of the characters, the cast of which quickly grows and morphs as the universe expands. The setting spans from various parts of Earth to a game medium where each kid has his own mythology, super-powers, and planet to the afterlife to dreams, and is written in such a way that every memetic line and visual clue amounts to a complicated puzzle about how every character's actions affect one another and the fate of the universe, respectively. The story spastically jumps from pov to pov, time period to memory in an non-sequitur narrative and a bunch of stupid jokes which I find great. The story is huge, the characters slowly becoming fleshed out and really unique from one another. The play off they have of eachother is appealing. Usually the art is a major part of the essence of a webcomic but in HS it seems secondary to the story. The actual mini-movies and rpg style games that can tell hundreds of pages worth of story in one update make it up. Even if you don't want to read it for numerous equally as subjective reasons, HS is interesting as a general existence. Also, the music is pretty amazing!

I've read a lot of books, and in storytelling, HS is way up there. The format is nothing but creative. Well, Acts 1-5 (with the interlude of the Troll's 600 hour session) take place within the span of a few hours (trollside) and a day (kid's side) on the main characters birthday, and the sheer complexity and closed time loops, interweaving of character's timeline, and general intelligence in which everything from the stupid jokes to the Cascade climax was revealed was very exciting and actually satisfying for all that build up. Since then, a revelation that changes the impact of every action in the comic thus far has been common every few updates. Reread that sentence and appreciate how difficult that is. The author is not afraid to bring points to their conclusion after years even with the resulting confusion of a casual reader. I frankly have no idea how Homestuck will actually end- and that's novel. It stimulates the imagination. Worth a read.

Homestuck is... interesting.

Good points:

-The characters. The cast is diverse and interesting, particularly amongst the trolls.

-The relationships. The characters all have varied, interesting relationships. From Equius and Nepeta's moirallegiance to Karkat's lashing out at just about everyone, Homestuck runs the gamut of character interaction.

Bad points:

-The length. Homestuck is BLOATED with odd flash animations, pointless jokes, and all manner of strange focus swaps.

-The seriousness. I honestly think that Homestuck would work better if it was not meant to be taken seriously. It seems like a gigantic parody of an epic, mixing the ludicrous with the dramatic, and should be treated as such for optimal effect.

My recommendation: Read as much of Homestuck as you can, but try to look for fanfics also. Compare the fics to the actual story, and see which you prefer.

I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for putting this out here, but I am anyway: There are no likeable characters in this story. You may think you like one character or the other, but at one point, you realize-you don't. They're boring, bland, and too many of them. Furthermore, the "chat logs"...holy crap, where to begin with them? The logs are most certainly the least fun way to reveal a plot point. Don't get me wrong, I like reading, but when I have to slog through several lines worth of moronic dialogue which doesn't even have to do with the plot itself, it gets tedious. I could have more fun reading my Grandma's text messages. Or maybe reading 700 birthday cards in one sitting. Sure, there's pretty music and funny dialogue in some places, but, seriously-when I have to slog through a bland chapter with one character in hopes of an important plot point surfacing and it changes characters abruptly? No, just....no. Also, the minigames? Why even bother having a score for these pointless thrown-together bits of Flash? Once you go to the next "page", your score is all for naught. This lost momentum fast and now it's at a boring standstill, flat characters who do nothing but stand around, and make "funny" inside jokes and references is not fun. It's boring. And it gets old really, really fast. In short, if you want to be so bored and utterly confused that your mind may actually leak out of your ears, then yes, this game is for you. But, if you want to keep your sanity and keep your computer un-punched, then no, absolutely not. This game ends up being an elaborate waste of time.

Okay so the first thing about homestuck is that it starts really slow. As a general rule I don't like stories that take a while to get into, but it's worth it if you can get through the boring first few acts. I'll get to the point. The thing I really like about it is how it puts across a universe that's really solid and well explained, leaving barely anything to speculation. It doesn't fear length either, although it may be messily paced it definitely isn't rushed at any points. The timelines are very non-linear and can sometimes take a bit of understanding which I guess might be a bit of a turn off for some readers. I'm not going to say 'everybody read homestuck right now it's sooooooo cooooooooool' because everyone has different tastes, but I'm just going to say that personally I enjoyed it. It's a good read, IF you have the time to read it.

First of all, and this is completely objectively, people need to stop calling this a webcomic. Wecomic implies, panels, speech bubbles, or something that resembles a comic. This is neither positive or negative, it just isn't a webcomic, its a unique beast. Now onto the review.

As I said previously, it is a unique beast, and that applies to the content as much as the format. There is truly nothing like Homestuck, and there probably never will be. Whether what it is is a good thing or not completely depends on the person. I personally hate it. I hate almost everything about it. I hate its use of second person for a narrative, I hate it's immense walls of text, I hate its art style, I hate how it attempts to use comedy and drama at the same time, effectively killing both, but most of all I hate how no one seems to understand why I hate it. I don't mind that people like it, that's fine. I can see that it has plenty of things to like. I just hate that people seem to treat it like it's objectively good. No, Andrew Hussie is NOT the God of the internet, and no Homestuck is NOT the Undisputed greatest piece of fiction ever, and people need to stop treating it as such.

Time-consuming and not worth it. Homestuck does not live up to the hype.

The pacing is horrible: The Comic is given fake length through unnecessary running gags that have no effect on the overall plot. Examples of this include the captchalogue dilemmas and the long processes of just navigating through the house.

The characters are bland, they are flat and doesn't evolve through the series, the author appearently doesn't care either way and introduces new characters and plot lines whenever he gets bored. He switches between perspectives too fast. There are almost no dialogue, most of the time you are reading second-person narration. It's like watching someone playing a bad unfinished gamebook.

There are very few resolutions to the plot, it feels like you are always hanging and the story never moves forward. You never have a sense of continuity, the author makes up new rules and ideas as he go and throw them away when he gets tired of them.

The art is overall not pretty to look at, a few detailed pictures and flash scenes don't make up for the overall ugliness displayed in the ms-paint gifs. The music is very forgetable and highlight rather unintresting scenes.

I've read from act 1 to the first intermission. I think that's more than enough to write a review about.

Watch a movie, watch a tv-show, play a video game, read a book, read a webcomic. Don't read Homestuck. Please, don't spend time or money on it. It's overhyped and overrated. There are works with much better writing, much better animation, much better interaction, much better music and much better art.

When i say homestuck, and people are like what is homestuck (probably not here, though) i cant really say anything, due to the fact it can be everything it can be, and then its nothing. some people will read homestuck and wonder what the heck they are reading. homestuck is simply a web comic. it isn't about how they win the game. it isn't about how the world ends. it isn't about how four kids play a game. i think its about a bunch of people caught up in something that they cant exactly change. Andrew Hussie brings to the light something no one has ever thought about at all. homestuck is weird to the extreme of making sense. its a lot like life. at least, that's what i think. Andrew Hussie may or may not just be trolling us, we'll never be completely be sure, but it is in fact not very probably just trolling us. sometimes it feels like that, I'll admit that. in all, some people don't like homestuck because its to confusing. some people don't like that they cant predict the end. some people think that it wont change their lives at all. but then again, does anything? homestuck is hard to describe. it isn't categorized because there isn't a category it belongs. some people don't like this. some people love all of this. i understands everyone's point. well at least, i try. but in the end, i have to be a human.

in my opinion, READ HOMESTUCK NOW.

Well... What can be said about it?

Homestuck for me has been quite the experience. From the characters personalities, to the struggles they've gone through, they always find a way out. They find ways to survive.

Hussie has changed my view and perception of life. Keep your friends in your heart and don't allow life to abandon you. John, out of almost all of them has taught me so much. His dedication to his friends and his will to survive has brought him so far, and he has learned so much. He did not break down over his fathers death. He fought.

Now, if you haven't read it, or only read a part, you don't understand why. It's mix of comedy and drama has made me laugh, cry, and reflect on my own life. I find it life changing and inspiring.

Homestuck is a word-based word-story based in being overly wordy with occasional pictures to illustrate the words.

The story revolves around four kids, four guardians, four exiles, and twelve trolls. All the kids save Dave are likable enough; all the Guardians pull some really impressive stunts, the Exiles are some of my favorite characters in any webcomic, and the trolls...

The trolls...

The trolls are what makes or breaks Homestuck. They take over the story. All twelve trolls have remarkably different personalities; an assortment of wills that would be incredibly hard for any author to do; and though Andrew Hussie is a decent enough writer, keeping up with twenty-four characters is too much.

The only solution for him is to reduce the size of the cast, which Hussie does in the most horrifying, disappointing, depressing, and disturbing manner possible.

If you don't like the trolls, don't read Homestuck. If you do like the trolls, don't read Homestuck (because you'll have to read about all the terrible things that happen to them).

Also, Homestuck has more than its fair share of in-jokes and self-references; which tend to be annoying on rereads, but are rather amusing the first time.

In general, I would recommend those who don't like the trolls to stop reading when Karkat is introduced; and I would recommend those who do like the trolls to just read fan-fiction written by people who aren't sadistic jerks who want to marry Vriska and kill off as many characters as possible. If you don't like Homestuck, don't start.

Homestuck is one of those pieces of media which takes a certain aspect which appeals to some people and drives it as far as it can possibly go. In this particular case, that aspect is plot complexity. I think that Andrew Hussie's description of Homestuck as "a story that is also a puzzle" is one of the most apt you can come up with—what with the frequent time travel, oodles upon oodles of characters, and various intertwining gambits, the plot has grown into a monster the likes of which I've never seen before and will probably never see again.

And like many examples of media in which one aspect goes up to 11, Homestuck is not for everyone. I believe it will greatly appeal, though, to anyone who loves to think, is very patient, and has more spare time than anyone should really be allowed to have. Any story with this level of plot complexity is probably not going to appeal to you unless you're willing to put in the brainwork and time necessary to fully understand what's going on. However, as someone who loves puzzles and complex plots of all sorts, I think Homestuck is one of the best webcomics I've ever read.

And what I've said above shouldn't be taken to mean that Homestuck's sole virtue is its plotting; partially due to the lengthy and slow-paced development, it has what I consider to be two other fundamental characteristics of a good story: well-developed characters and creative world-building. Certainly not all of the several dozen characters are well-rounded, but Hussie has managed to make many of them interesting nonetheless. And the world(s) in which the whole story takes place is/are displayed in astonishing detail.

Finally, I find Homestuck to be a triumph of experimental storytelling. With second-person narration, small Flash games, and the Hivebent arc as just a few examples, Andrew Hussie has cycled through so many different plot devices and media that the story defies classification. Sometimes these experiments may go awry, but for the most part they show the many different ways in which one story can be told.

In short, if you're someone who enjoys puzzling about whatever you're reading and who is willing and able to put a lot of time into a slow-paced and complex story, Homestuck is likely to be an amazing read. Otherwise, you may still enjoy it, but proceed with caution; it may eat up all of your time.

Homestuck. What can I say about it?

Well, for one thing, you can't really classify it as...anything. It IS. Kind of like a black hole; get too close and sooner or later you'll fall in. It's a long road, from introducing all the characters, to dealing with their stories and interactions and personalities, to the time travel, to all the shocking twists and turns, to the NEW shocking twists and turns, to...well, you get the idea. That's not even mentioning the fact that it's all done by one guy.

All the stuff mentioned above...in any other story, any other thing...people would drop it like a live grenade. And by drop, I mean hurl it as far away as possible. But Hussie does something with it. He makes it all work. Somehow, he makes it work. He makes every single character and concept introduced and referenced matter and work. And they do. Homestuck's been around for 3 years. 3. Freaking. Years. And like I said, it's a long road that's only gonna get longer.

And for me...that's the problem.

You see...I used to read Homestuck. I say "used to", because not too long ago, I stopped reading it. Well, that's not entirely true. I starting reading it again, but we'll get to that. I should say I used to enjoy it. Sometime during Act 6, when it was revealed that Jake's dreamself was revealed to already be dead, something inside me kinda switched off. I think I realized, due to all the stuff that happened in Acts 1 through 5, all the deaths, all the resurrections...I realized that Homestuck was getting formulaic and predictable. At some point, the Alpha kids are going to die; all of them. And then those deaths will be nullified and they'll be a-okay.

Now, when I say it's predictable, that's my personal opinion.

However, it just got tedious. Irritating. I couldn't stand looking at Homestuck fanart without getting angry. For some reason, it just...pissed me off. I wad getting tired of Homestuck. All those meaningless deaths just left me without any empathy for the characters. Any of them. Even the Alpha kids who hadn't died yet.

Despite all that, I'm still reading it. I'm still reading it so that I can see how it ends. I owe myself that much at least.

So I guess my review is....it's a very good story, with a lot of diverse characters. It's an original tale, and it's exciting. But the meaningless deaths do take a toll.

Yes I did just refer to a bad meme, live with it

If you're in this section, chances are you're looking to know if you should read Homestuck or not. Ah who am I kidding, you've already read it and are looking for confirmation that others share your opinion. But I'll just pretend you're doing the former.

So, what is Homestuck? Is it any good? And most importantly, should you read it? Well, the answer to the first question isn't exactly simple. As I'm sure you've heard, Homestuck kind of defies definitions of genre and even the media it's presented in. At it's core, Homestuck is a partially interactive epic, using everything from simple pictures and words to flash animations to fully interactive gameplay to tell its story. And what a story it is. Is Homestuck any good? Well, that depends on who you ask, but from a strictly literary and qualitative standpoint, yes it's good. But it isn't exactly for everyone, and not everyone will really enjoy reading it. For starters, it takes its time about things, and has pretty unusual pacing. It starts out pretty slow, so if you do read it make sure you at least get to the third act before quitting on it. Trust me, things start picking up around then. It also is quite wordy in parts, and is not recommended for those who aren't very good at or simply don't like doing lots of reading. Most important to remember though is that this is not a casual read/view/play. If you're going to indulge in Homestuck, you had better be ready. This thing is deep, convoluted, complex and HEAVY. It will require and outright demand your attention for hours at a time, and will twist your brain into pretzels as you try to understand it. The cast is enormous, the plot convoluted and massive, the universe complex and intense. If you're looking for a light little ditty to distract you for 15 minutes, it's not for you. But if you're willing to make the commitment, Homestuck will suck you in and swallow you whole, and will never let you go.

A few more notes. If you like following just one core group of characters, you're in for a shock come the fifth act and then again in the sixth. Let's just say the cast expands a bit and you'll have to leave your old friends behind for a while. Ultimately though, I think it's worth it. One thing is for sure; there's nothing quite like Homestuck.

What can I say about Homestuck? Is it a webcomic? Is it a beta for a game? Is it a hit?

Homestuck is not just those things - Homestuck is an experience. One webcomic, one part video game, and one part of The Epic, it is a story to remember. To me, Homestuck boils down to Scott Pilgrim meets Baka and Test with a little bit of Pandora Hearts and some elements from Inception to make things interesting. It's basically a Shout Out-filled story that boils down to one thing - Four teenagers and twelve trolls do what millions of us do every day - Play a video game. But, instead, this video game sends the protagonists on an epic quest to save the world.

All in all, There are no five stars needed for Homestuck's Crazy Awesome story. Instead, I give it 4.13, or 413, because this is Homestuck.

Homestuck is more than a webcomic. With the inclusion of sound and epic animations it's more like a 'thing' than something that can be defined. In summary, it's the best thing since *insert extremelly awesome thing here* and it's worth reading, even if Act 1 is a little boring.

The plot is the most insane part of Homestuck. Between insane time loops, anachronic order, dream selves and the huge amount of characters you will have no idea what is going on 95% of the time. The other 5% will be when you are re-reading it for the 5th time to try and make sense of it. The plot is beautifully written, it's unpredictable and very well thought out, there are no plot holes despite all the forshadowing and shenanigans and the end of act scenes will make your jaw hit the floor. Plot: 10/10

The many characters are equally interesting, while some of them may seem clichèd they are more subversions and deconstructions in the end. Hussie creates characters like Vriska for the sole reason of breaking the fanbase, but then turnsthe Bluh Bluh Huge Bitch into a sort of Woobie. How he does that, no-one knows. Characters: 10/10

The art is a major improvement over Problem Sleuth and it keeps improving as the story goes on. As well as the characters standard chibi sprites we have different art styles for different moods. Said moodsgo from comedy to horror to pure epic to tear jerking back to funny again. Homestuck has a Mood Whiplash page for a reason! Back on track, while the art isn't particularly GOOD, it's certainly not bad and it certainly doesn't diminish the awesome that is Homestuck. Art : 10/10.

The music in Homestuck is very varied, but also very good. The most epic scene. Get the most epic music, Explore, Sburban Jungle, Descend and Umbral Ultimatum are some of the best songs, but the soundtrack on a whole is totally amazing and definitly worth buying. There's a lot of different albums from the simple Homestuck Volumes to albums by the Midnight Crew and The Felt. All in all, Music: 10/10.

To summarize, you really have no reason to not be reading this right now. I could go on for hours about how awesome it is, but I'm approaching the word limit. I'll give Homestuck a final rating of 10/10 and hope that you're now reading it. I'm off to check for updates!

"Homestuck is honestly one of the best things I have ever read. It is funny, dramatic, and gut wrenching. Coming home at the end of the day, Homestuck is literally the first thing I check. Look at the size of the main page. Look at the characters. While Act One is somewhat slow, by Act Three you will be unable to look away. The art is simply amazing and the flash updates are astounding. Simply a complete joy to experience."

I wrote that a year and a half ago. It stands up still; but not quite as much. If you read Homestuck simply on it's own, and stay detached from the fandom at large, I guarantee you will enjoy it, simply because it is one of the best webcomics on the net today. There are parts that will infuriate you and parts that seem incredibly contrived or unnecessary. For myself, the trolls are similar to a cancer that has invaded the story, subtracting character traits and spotlight time from the characters I grew to love, as well as driving the story to more of a text based format instead of the flash driven story of the past. Homestuck now isn't the Homestuck I knew then, but it is still good. The fandom at large...well let's just say Fan Dumb. There are plenty of wonderful people, but there is an overall toxicity that repels a lot of people. It's the internet, it happens. As for the comic on it's own merits, definitely worth at least a look through. It stands as possibly one of the most compelling examples of a webcomic qualifying as some new form of wonderful art.

Homestuck is interesting in and of the fact that it's the first of its kind, combining a variety of media (from traditional comics to flash animation to interactive video game segments) in order to tell the story of "a boy and his friends and the game they play together." People who've experienced Homestuck tend to have polar opinions: some abhor it and others worship it. Personally, I'm absolutely in love with it. Though Homestuck has some good art and some awesome music; ultimately, I think that what draws/repels people to/from Homestuck are its characters, plot, and fanbase.

Characters - I think its difficult not to find a character whom you love, especially considering there are nearly 20 main characters (more depending on how you define a main character). However, I can't say for sure if your favorite character gets screen time because some of the characters are screen whores, some of them get axed, and others mysteriously disappear for long stretches of time.

Plot - The plot's very convoluted and very thick. There are time paradoxes, multiple plotlines (that eventually merge into one main plotline), and side stories (even a separate comic within Homestuck). The plot can be absolutely hilarious at times and aggravatingly boring at others. It can be lighthearted, but it can also be heart-wrenching. Though it progressively gets more and more complex (almost to the point where it's unmanageable), I think it gets better and more engaging as the story progresses and the characters develop.

Fanbase - As with any popular work, Homestuck has fans, both good and bad. The trick is to find the section of fans you can relate to. Is Homestuck a passing fancy or are you so into it that your lines of reality have begun to blur? When these two groups of people are separate, the results are wonderful. When they mix, heads roll. Some fans are obnoxious; others are brilliant. Again, it's about finding where you're happiest and ignoring the fuckasses.

Overall, Homestuck definitely appeals to a certain type of person, someone with an offbeat sense of humor who is willing to trek through an incredibly complex plot. Whether or not you end up enjoying it, I think Homestuck is worth experiencing for anyone simply because there's nothing quite like it, and I think people can, at the very least, appreciate the novelty of the idea.

As has been previously stated, Homestuck isn't a webcomic. It is something entirely new, something that makes full use of the website medium and has inspired countless copies, good and bad. There's no name for this format yet. Forget genre-busting, Homestuck is media-busting.

As for the ...thing... itself, overall it is excellent. The plot pacing starts off slow, but speeds up exponentially after the first act. The art and animation improve drastically over the course of the story. As does the music. It is great music.

Now, the plot is incredibly convoluted. To say things happen in anachronical order is an understatement. If you cannot keep track of paradoxes, things happening "simultaneously" at different times, and other temporal lunacies, this may not be the ...whatever... for you. And since time is a function of space, an internal mapping system that can cover whole universes may also help you. Go insane.

Also a warning. The author takes pride in taking tropes that are commonly done badly, and making them work, or at least not kill the work. The presence of these tropes may put you off. Things like author involvement, audience psycheouts, rapidly switching characters in the middle of something interesting/important, then focusing on something trivial, before throwing you back into the ring again, leaving you dazed and not sure where you are. Or even who you are. Often.

Tied in to the above, another warning: you may exhibit Andrew Hussie Syndrome. Symptoms include: saying whatever he's just done has ruined Homestuck forever, saying this X wasn't as good as the last X, and, more noticeably, yelling at the screen, the sky, and frightened people around you, "HUSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!". This is because when you eagerly await the next update, you don't know how it's gonna fit into what's going to happen, given that it hasn't happened yet, and you're not going back over the absolutely huge archive to see how it fits into the past. The deductive momentum built up over the course of the narrative has hit a brick wall, and it hurts.

So I recommend you DON'T read Homestuck. I recommend you wait until it's finished. Then I recommend you buy it on DVD, and set aside a free week (or more)to watch it all in one go.

Then I recommend you grab some tissues for the tears you will weep at the fact that it IS finished.

I actually still mostly like the comic, depsite the shrotcomings. I like the non-standard mixed-media presentation and metafictional format. I also actually enjoy the way so many things resolved in suitably dramatic and engaging ways that, nonetheless, were a lot less obviously climactic than one would expect. While I could see this getting stale pretty quickly, I feel that the author is currently handling most of these pretty well; if there's a skipped moment of awesome, we generally get to see it eventually. If a climactic moment is subverted, it's usually in a clever manner.

I think the trolls- and especially their constantly shifting romantic antics- did get a bit out of hand. I like the character interaction, but I feel it needs to be tempered with action and plot advancement. I thought, and continue to think, the human characters should be the focus of the story. It was also rather jarring to suddenly add, develop, and attempt to engender audience involvement in 12 new characters, as the story had (up to that point), been focused on a mere 4.

The self-inserts also need to stop. The Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff jokes outside the comic itself are also getting a bit out of hand. I mean, I like the occaisonal bits of metafiction, but they shouldn't distarct or D Etract from the core story itself, and they are beginning to do so.

In summary, for the tl;dr crowd: a very complex, nuanced, interesting bit of new media with great characters and an engaging world, bogged down slightly by pacing issues and overuse of a few running gags.

What can be said about Homestuck?

The latest in a series of goofy mock-adventure games, this time with the addition of flash animations, minigames, music, IM conversations, and an extraordinarily complex, dramatic plot. The result is... odd.

This is definitely one that Broke The Rating Scale, if only because it's nothing familiar. Even as webcomics go, it's stranger than Dresden Codak, more convoluted than Sluggy Freelance, more hopelessly nerdy than XKCD, and more bipolar than It's Walky!, all by a thousandfold. Reading it, and seeing it referenced around the internet, can't help but give the sense that you're seeing something beyond a comic, almost a force of nature.

In a way, it's terrible. The tone is all over the map, the characters are difficult to relate to, the haphazard pacing physically hurts sometimes, the humor is groanworthy as often as not, and the dramatic moments are difficult to take seriously in a strip taking place in a caricatured world, a world in which wholesale genocide is treated less seriously than the phobias of the most minor named characters. And yet, in a way, its aggressive disregard for convention, the operatic mixture of absurdity and drama, is its greatest draw; it manages to be truly different without being completely offensive, and so it demands respect.

For that reason, there's really no way to evaluate it. Its existence is worth more than its content. There are snippets of good music, good animation, good jokes, and some genuinely dramatic moments, but that's not its value. The sheer audacity of such a thing existing, something that's to webcomics as webcomics are to older media, is enough to read it. Maybe someday, this will be seen as breaking new ground, but for now, it's a novelty that has to be experienced to be understood.

So here's my advice: When you've got a few hours free, get a bit drunk to handle the pacing, and plough through the archive. I can't say exactly when, but eventually you'll be glad you did.

I absolutely love this comic and everything associated with it. The kids aren't entirely made up of their personality tropes: they deviate from them, and their hidden neuroses make them all the better. The trolls took a creepy furry, drugged juggalo, crazed psycho, rage-filled moron and class-obsessed racist and turned them into adorable Nepeta, chill Gamzee, awesome and tragic Vriska, romance expert and sympathetic character Karkat and uber-strong, actually acceptable Equius. Although the latter is still creepy. And the frequency of updates! Fast webcomics get about 1 update a week, while 2 a day for Homestuck is the bare minimum when there's no flashes!

Simply put, read this now. Do it. DO IT

Homestuck is hard to pin down into one category. At the beginning it was an Affectionate Parody of world-building games and RP Gs. After a while, it became increasingly obvious that it was just the surface of a universe shattering, timeline warping, world destroying, creation twisting whirl of events that will leave you befuddled, thinking, and above all, captivated. As the author himself puts it, it's something like Earthbound meets The Sims meets Spore. But beyond that, its tongue in cheek humor, fourth wall breaking (or obliteration in some games), and mind twistingly meta segments balanced with segments of on the edge of you seat action, epic flash segments, strong music and drama creates an atmosphere that this troper has honestly never found in any other work.

However, be warned. The material can be daunting. Hussie updates nearly daily and once you start reading, there is a chance that you won't stop until you look up and realize you have just spend the last 72 hours straight in front of your computer and are now approaching a state close to rigor mortise. The fanbase is decidedly insane (you'll find a population similar to us tropers) but endearing. The author is a former troll, but very much still loving in a very blunt manner. The website and forums crash on a regular basis due to the SHEER AMOUNT of people that access it daily. All in all, it's an experience that has to be done personally to be understood. And it will be worth every moment of it.

I can't even call Homestuck a webcomic, it's an adventure! Made by the oh so talented Andrew Hussie who has the ability to pump out updates incredibly fast almost everyday and you have a very very sticky page. Not just the speed that counts, but the quality as well! Homsetuck is action, adventure, comedy, drama, etc. It's really hard to put this comic as a specific genre, so let's go with epic.

Homestuck IS a complete upgrade of Problem Sleuth. Let's go through this shall we?

Characters: This is the strongest part of Andrew's work. The characters in Homestuck ARE THE BEST CHARACTERS. Every character is memorable. The fans LOVE the characters and the fan-art threads just prove that further. We have nerdy John, smart Rose, sick Dave, and playful Jade for the 4 main kids. There is just way too many people to list though and I don't want to clog the word limit. Either way, you will laugh and feel for the characters. You are going to get attached trust me, just look at the forums...

Plot: The second strongest part of Homestuck, we have here a awesomely original story going on here. I don't see tropes here, I see tropes being BORN here. I'm seeing a ton of TV Trope articles with Homestuck quotes at the top, and Homestuck is not very old at all. Andrew made a really nice page (and the fans placed links) here: http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003574 It has a lot of spoilers though so let me explain a basic plot summary for people who want to start reading Homestuck. John Egbert is your average 13 year-old kid who gets a S Burb Beta in the mail on his b-day with great depth behind it. That's the best I can think of anyway.

Time to criticize Andrew's Homestuck...

The Negative: Although Homestuck has everything good about it there is a few flaws I would like to point out, I know this is a matter of opinion, but bear(RAWR) with me. The trolls...aren't being used well. The trolls were OK near the beginning when they were new and everything, but at present time the trolls haven't done shit. I wish we could see some actual progression from them, oh well. From the looks of the updates it's going to be soon.

10/10 - Homestuck is a breath of fresh air in Webcomics and SHOULD be read.

Homestuck is, like its predecessor Problem Sleuth, an Affectionate Parody of multiple genres of video games, and a ridiculously-but-awesomely complex story. It's a story of four kids and the game they play together, which happens to be a game that offers a way to escape the end of the world. And then we have the Geodesic Cast of the other characters associated with the session: four guardians, four exiles, four kernelsprites, twelve trolls... not to mention multiple sets of alternate-universe counterparts.

This story is riddled with Mythology Gags to the point of becoming Continuity Porn. Don't let that stop you, though. Andrew Hussie is a master at tying up Kudzu Plots neatly. Just be careful: if you want to understand this series, expect to spend hours upon hours reading the recaps, watching the forums or wiki for associated "IDE/Theories" and explanation of how the current events tie to previous ones. Speaking of the forums, they're... weird, but awesome. Just like the comic.

In conclusion, read it, but don't be surprised if it starts taking over your life.