People often ask me what my true view of Homestuck is. Well, that can be hard to describe sometimes as I never know which aspect they're talking about. I love different aspects for different reasons. The story itself I love because it's complex and unique. While it can be hard for me to follow, it keeps me interested and that's truly difficult for a lot of online stories. Bonus the characters are believable and I'm able to relate to a lot of them in some form. The comic itself is great, even though I don't always think that about the art. But... I should give my fullview on Homestuck, what I hate and what I love. You will soon understand why this blog entry is titled "Love/Hate Relationship With Homestuck Fandom". I guess I better start from the very beginning actually. I discovered what Homestuck was last July (2012) at ConBravo! I'd seen people with grey bodypaint and fire-coloured horns at several cons before that (first being DTAC 2011), but didn't know what they were. Then I learned that they were Homestuck. They were trolls. And then I learned of the kids - who seemed to be less cosplayed. At first because of my encounters with some of the fans, I couldn't stand it, and wanted nothing to do with it. I avoided Homestuck cosplayers like the plague. It was something I wanted nothing to do with. But then, under suggestion of a friend, I cracked and started reading in the October. It was long and tedious for me to get through the first Three Acts, but I still read them fast enough to read the full Acts from October to March. In January I had a full exposure to a Homestuck photoshoot with being at the FrostCon shoot. That made me avoid the cosplayers again. They were all loud, and some of them very rude which left a bad taste in my mouth. But then I started reading Act 4 of Homestuck, and started to like it more. And of course my best friend started cosplaying Dave Strider from the series. I took even more interest then when I saw he went and cosplayed two characters in the course of five months. Now it's quite obvious that I love the comic. But there are other aspects... well.... There are actually a few things in relation to the Homestuck fandom that I cannot stand in the slightest. I see it in other fandoms, but this one it all seems to be on a larger scale. The biggest thing being the internal hate when it comes to cosplaying. There are many who think that if you aren't drop dead gorgeous, 100% accurate, or aren't the right build for the character then you are a shitty cosplayer and not worth your salt. This irritates me to no end. Not everyone can be perfect. Nobody is aiming to be another person's headcanon. I see way too many Homestuck cosplayers tear apart others because they aren't perfect. And yet the ironic thing is that I end up finding all these hater Homestucks and I look at their costumes and compare them to the ones that they tear down. 90% of the time the one they tear down is actually better than theirs. So they are being the typical bully and tearing others down to build themselves up. Which is rather sad and pathetic. This is the biggest thing of the Homestuck fandom that I hate. Believe it or not but the things that I hate in regards to the Homestuck fandom are all cosplay related. The second biggest thing are the rude ones you can encounter at conventions. Luckily I haven't encountered too many of them, but they are out there and even though I'm in the fandom, I can't stand them either. I don't mind people suggesting to read a comic, but forcing it on people is not ok. And telling people to go "f*ck themselves" or worse just because they don't like Homestuck is FAR from ok! That is not tolerable. And I understand the thing with the buckets. Yeah, they make a great prop. But that does not mean that you need to put any form of "genetic material" into it. That is going way too far. And in addition, if you ARE going to do that, don't do it in public. People don't need to see that. I am a Homestuck and I think that's gross! The last thing about the rude ones is the odd Gamzee. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Gamzee. I adore him. He is one of my top favourite characters in the series. But there are some that I just want to strangle. Why? Horns. And no, I don't mean their horns on their heads. I mean bike horns. I don't mind if a Gamzee has it as a prop.... as long as they aren't constantly honking it. Or honking it indoors. If it's outside? Sure go ahead, don't care, just don't overdo it. Inside? DO NOT DO IT! There are some people with very sensitive ears who can't take that in an enclosed space. I think it's a great prop for if someone's cosplaying him, but it can also be a highly annoying prop. The last thing about the Homestuck fandom that I hate is the cosplayers who do not understand boundaries. I've only encountered a few of them, so they do seem to be a bit of a minority, but they make it hard for me to enjoy cosplaying it. They also keep me on my toes so that I don't have any unwanted surprises (I've had enough of those outside of Homestuck thank you very much). I'm not necessarily talking about glomping, or unexpected hugs. I'm talking about the cosplayers that will freaking kiss you, grab your ass, or do other inappropriate things without permission. I don't mind a friend doing that as long as I'm comfortable enough with them, but a strange? NOPE! I will not tolerate someone I don't know doing that. At the same time these seem to be the cosplayers who will take things too far with Spin The Faygo: Truth Or Dare. Which I have seen up close and personal and it did not go well. Whacking someone in the ass with an empty Faygo bottle as a dare? OW! NO! Why??? Just no. Do not do it. When they don't have a respect for boundaries or take things too far, it pushes me away honestly. And then there are the aspects that I love about the world of Homestuck. The first thing is the fanart. You get to see added details that people add since the original art is so simple. It's nice to see how people interpret the characters' heights and appearances should they be more anatomically correct. It's fascinating to see some of the designs people create for the characters too. I love the fancystucks, Christmasstuck, punkstuck, it's all so cool to see what people design based around the characters. The amount of creativity in people to design their own versions of the characters is amazing! And I find it to be never-ending! In addition to the fanart, the fanmade videos are quite unique. With only still images really for the most part for them to make videos out of, people have managed to create some fascinating videos. And that's not including the cosplay videos! Where do people get their inspiration for some of these?? Not only the fanart and videos, but people have loaned their own staged voices to their favourite characters. Creating monologues using how they think the character might sound, and singing songs that they imagine the character might sing. This is certainly something I don't really see in any of the other fandoms that I'm a part of. This is pretty dominant in Homestuck since most other fandoms the characters have voices. Homestuck has none. There are things about Homestuck cosplayers that I do love though. Luckily most of the ones who I have met fall under this category. They are the ones that make me love being in the fandom. The ones that band together like family to help one another and support each other. I am happy to say that quite a number have become my friends and I'm glad to have them in my life. I hope now you all understand my view of Homestuck. Why I have a love/hate relationship with it, and how I went from absolutely hating the series and wanting nothing to do with it,
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From now on this blog will be about concerns and life. Costumes will not be posted about here, events will not be either. Instead I'm dividing my blog into sections. Archives
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