>Start thread for MS Paint Adventures

I finished Meat. I don’t think I can finish Candy today even if I tried, so I don’t think I’ll. I heard an estimate of Meat at 88k and that Candy is longer.

I have some thoughts. I’ve been voicing them over Twitter and Discord but I think I might try to collect them up in a Google Doc or something.

Unless people don’t mind having two different spoiler blocks of conversation for each group of people reading one or the other.

I don't mind. It's what this thread is for giving thoughts and opinions on these series.

Finished up Candy.

Good lord.

Don't know if I have it in me to go through Meat as well tonight.

So, for you guys finishing up one of the routes, what did you think, without spoilers? I noticed people on Reddit seen to not have liked it, though I not sure if I trust them (and, if course, I didn't read the thread for details). Personally, I am halfway through Meat and I am enjoying. It kinda bizarre, but that is what I read Homestuck for. Does it take a turn for shit or something?

I think the way Meat took things is bizarre, took a lot of guts, and defied my expectations spectacularly.

However, a lot of the stuff they did I wouldn't strictly classify as "good" but at the same time, a lot of that same stuff seemed deliberate in how they did it so... that might have been the point?

I'm more confused than anything else, really.

Edited by LordVatek on Apr 20th 2019 at 11:03:16 AM

See, that is exactly how I would define Homestuck as a whole. I still not sure I wrote call it "good", but it is certainly a worth read and I enjoyed me time with it.

Got halfway through both routes.

Going to cry myself to sleep now.

At this point, Meat seems to be heading toward a happier ending, PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS.

I finished both of them.

...Well, okay then.

I don't even know what's going to happen now.

Yeah, it pretty much encapsulates the issues Homestuck itself had, which is that its greatest strengths (namely its willingness to experiment with its own limitations and deliberately subvert expectations left and right) are also its greatest weaknesses (because it has a tendency to do so regardless of whether or not it makes any sense to do so).

Obviously I can't really make a statement on how I ultimately feel about it until I actually finish reading it, but so far it basically feels like Hussie writing Dark Fic of his own universe. Which is probably what he's aiming for, but I'm not sure whether I'd consider that a good idea.

thats up for us to decide now I think

There is a point to all of this, I'm sure of that much.

...You know, going by the whole "Ultimate Self" stuff, I think I've maybe thought of a reason for Dirk's behavior?

Like, isn't technically Lord English one of Dirk's alternate selves, through Arquissprite? And you know, Dirk did kind of remind me a lot like Caliborn (he's surprisingly bigoted in this story, he is of course facing off against Alt!Calliope, and the Postcript of Candy in particular reminded me of him).

Just a thought.

Okay, I don't have the time to read this quite yet but I heard that it's basically a canon version of Pony Pals: Dirk Strider Edition, so I'm scared. Which do people recommend to read first, meat or candy?

If I had to take a wild guess as to Hussie's intention, it would be that it's a result of backlash against people clamoring for the Epilogue to tie up loose ends... except IIRC, the epilogue was first brought up by himself a day or two after Act 7 first came out so that seems rather hypocritical.

I read both at once, alternating between them. No idea what order is preferable (they're interconnected, after all).

If I have to suggest one, I say Meat first, as I don't think the events of Candy particularly influence Meat, whereas Meat definitely influences Candy.

I like my aforementioned method, though.

If I recall, he said that he had been working on this since he finished Homestuck?

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Apr 20th 2019 at 1:49:23 PM

I'm pretty sure it's the end of it if only for the final lines of meat Above this line resides all that matters. Below exists all else. Never again the twain shall meet.

Well, I guess we'll see. We should keep an eye on what V posts on Twitter.

...Something else has occurred to me, though. We know that Dirk was narrating Meat (or most of it, at least), but that kind of underscores another question, especially given alt!Calliope's one speech:

Who's the narrator for Candy?

I don't know.

I still don't know what happens in Candy (doesn't sound like it's much better though) but pulling a massive Happy Ending Override and then leaving it to the audience to figure out the rest seems cheap. Even by Homestuck standards. Act 7 did that (minus the override) but it was a way different set of circumstances.

Edited by LordVatek on Apr 20th 2019 at 2:33:21 PM

Huh, looking at the spoilers here, I feel like I personally made the right call not reading the Epilogues, so that's good.

I'm still wondering what, if anything, Hussie's intending to do when all the Homestuck and Hiveswap stuff wraps up. Even though I pretty much soured on the idea of more (official) Homestuck content, it'd be nice to see something fresh. Although, I'd understand if he doesn't really go for that, and if he does I don't think it'd be anytime soon.

I'm curious what other people think on that front, if anything yet.

I'd certainly like it if he did something new.

And preferably, more relaxed.

given the way this ended it seems like a followup is possible but not probable

yeah I meant to say its possible for there to be more outside of hiveawap but its not very likely

Edited by Deadpoolrocks on Apr 21st 2019 at 12:11:36 PM

...I think you might have made an error there.

God. To be honest I'm skimmed a lot of the epilogue because I just don't feel invested in all this B Plot and meandering about. It's the big issue I had with Act 6, and an issue I think Homestuck had a problem with since the disc was scratched and Doc Scratch took over.

I loved to hell everything with Dirk and Calliope combating in narration and even confronting the reader, but so much of it felt *pointless* and continuing to deviate from actually tidying up the lingering threads.

So of course, in true Homestuck fashion, the two storylines intertwine in timey-wimey ways.

Finished reading through both, and I gotta say that though in Homestuck proper I was more neutral on Dirk, the epilogues just cemented my opinion that he is the most egotistical, self-absorbed, manipulative asshole in the entire story, even moreso than Lord English.

Also man, that sucks. John in both the Meat and Candy timelines got a lot of closure, but he has to go and die in the Meat timeline, though apparently Terezi has taken him along with Dirk and Rose in the hopes of somehow undoing the anti-narrative importance death? Wow all this shit is getting super meta. And the Candy timeline could have been left alone to sort itself out, but Dave had to go and become his Ultimate Self and just leave Jade there, alone in the jungle, without even saying goodbye.

And for those who finished the Candy timeline: what class do you posit Obama was?

Isn't that kind of what John was talking about? How all of this felt pointless because they were outside canon and did anything really matter and all that?

Edited by danime91 on Apr 21st 2019 at 12:14:56 PM

Impossible as Lord English is part Dirk.

@Karkat The Dalek: Talking with others as I read it, it seems people believe Candy is written by Calliope. So uh, pick your poison between Dirk and Calliopes fanfictions.

@Danime 90: Well makes sense when you consider Dave still prefers Karkat over Jade and how her butting her way into their relationship to make it a threesome is part of what ended it.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 21st 2019 at 3:34:22 AM