roachpatrol:

blindrapture:

Hello. I’ve never really done a proper theory post before, but I really hope I can manage to make my points clear? Because this is something I feel strongly about.

First of all, today is October 28th 2016, Homestuck had its Credits three days ago, and Hussie has been hinting at an Epilogue to come. Many people really want the Epilogue, because they feel Homestuck’s ending was unsatisfying. The reasons for this, and whether I agree with them or not, are up for debate and are more complex than they seem. But one reason people have proposed is that Hussie grew tired of writing Homestuck and just whipped up an ending. That is the viewpoint I absolutely disagree with, and I believe I can (if not prove) make a convincing case against. Which means I believe I can make a convincing case for the suggestion that Hussie had this entire ending planned, including people’s dissatisfaction with the ending and the reasons why they found it unsatisfying.

So then. What was the ending, again? Let’s describe it from the perspective of one who didn’t like the ending.

John finds his way into a rewritten world where his friends are not really the friends he knows. Roxy is dead here, indirectly killed by John’s own choice (but it’s okay because we know the real Roxy is still alive). The protagonists fight the Big Bad witch and inexplicably kill her with one lucky blow off-screen. A wolf thing, presented as a dire threat, has nothing to do with the actual fight and is neutralized and appeased naturally. A robotic killer is threatening but ultimately blows itself up. The audience is rewarded with, essentially, fanart of Homestuck characters being affectionate with each other. The audience is pissed off by this turn of events; after all that was built up, suddenly our favourite characters are being drawn by other people, suddenly all plot seems to have been forgotten and just strung together with contrivances. It feels like an insult to everything we’ve come to admire. The next Act, instead of providing more answers, we just get anime, and still not drawn by Hussie. A little while later, we hear again from the story, and we see our focal point character is despondent and mournful, deciding ultimately to take action and leaving us on a cliffhanger.

(I gave this description on Reddit, though I added the last sentence specifically for this post)

That is the ending, right? Let’s go over it again.

John finds his way into a retconned timeline, where the art is predominantly a different style than Hussie’s conventional (and when it is Hussie’s, it is “fast and loose”).

His friends are there, but John is consciously aware that they’re not literally the same people he has known all his life. 

John’s very act of arriving in this retconned timeline (his Choice with Typheus in A6A6I4) necessitated that the new Roxy would have to die (which is okay because there is still the old Roxy).

The new John died before we came to this timeline.

The protagonists fight the witch (Batterwitch), the wolf (Jack), and the robot (different Jack).

The witch is inexplicably killed with one lucky blow. (The audience is rewarded with “fanart” of Homestuck characters being affectionate with each other, including a wedding.)

A wolf thing, presented as a dire threat, has nothing to do with the actual fight and is neutralized and appeased naturally, non-lethally.

A robotic killer is threatening but ultimately blows itself up.

The audience is pissed off by this turn of events; after all that was built up, suddenly our favourite characters are being drawn by other people, suddenly all plot seems to have been forgotten and just strung together with contrivances.

The next Act, instead of providing more answers, we just get anime, and still not drawn by Hussie.

A little while later, we hear again from the story (Credits), and we see our focal point character (John) is despondent and mournful…

…deciding ultimately to take action (fight Caliborn) and leaving us on a cliffhanger leading presumably up to the Masterpiece.

Does this… make sense? Do you see why I personally believe this whole “ending” is just another ruse, another instance of Homestuck being shaped like itself?

i’m entirely prepared to believe that this is all we get of homestuck and caliborn managed to ruin shit for both the characters AND readers. but it sure would be cool if the last couple years were a fake-out on hussie’s part for him to get his shit back together and write some actually good stuff, instead of just him quietly trying to dig himself out of a hole he’s not having any more fun in.