WhatPumpkin, LLC / Homestuck, Inc. : Chuck Tingle, Andrew Hussie and Friends - feat. Rachel Rocklin, Shelby Cragg, and Cohen Edenfield

[Rakdos92]

John got to be with Roxy because that boy deserved some Lalonde puss one way or the other.

Eh, Tales from the Planet of Junk did that better.

Thank you for linking this, I am going to purge all current Homestuck lore knowledge from my brain and assume this is the canon ending now and forever.

Wait, is it already finished?

 

[Locke And Doula]

Eh, Tales from the Planet of Junk did that better.

Ah crap, the Ao3 link is already 404'd. Anyone have a backup of that degeneracy? I'd like to investigate it

Eh, Tales from the Planet of Junk did that better.

Wait, is it already finished?

And no, it's not yet finished, sorry. Not sure if the artist already gave up or if its still supposed to be ongoing.

 

[Rainbow Frog Army]

As horribly fucking retarded as actually making true Jade having a dog penis is of a decision, it can fit into the Homestuck style of storytelling either way.

On one hand, you can go full comedy, where Jade DOESNT want a doggy dick, she's not trans, she still identifies as cis, and she's very confused and freaked out by her new schlong. I think this is explored hilariously well in the fancomic Jade Harley Has A Dog Penis And It's Horrible which pokes fun at it in a lighthearted Homestuck-y fashion.

On the other hand, yeah, you could go all out and have her had trans thoughts all throughout the story--maybe even make it so that her being isolated from human contact on an island has made her think differently about her gender in general, and that the canine cock is a free pass/excuse to go down that path

Both would fit Homestuck, I believe, and would be a good way for the story to continue where the writers wrote themselves into a corner by taking a joke too fucking seriously. I mean come on, did anyone ACTUALLY want Jade to have a dog penis outside of stupid jokes and strange porn...?

Which is exactly why, if you're going to wedge in trans issues, she's the ideal choice--especially since, honestly, you could actually have with Option #1 a running joke about how nobody wants to try to figure out if Jade is trans now.

I mean, yeah, natal woman and all, but from the sound of it? It was a dog penis for vagina swap. So...if that happened, are you now trans if you are not happy with this unwanted trade? Or were you trans if you are happier with your new equipment?

It's almost like the writers from late Act 6 on all collectively decided to always choose the option that fit Homestuck the least.

Rosemary at least existed long enough to have an iota of sense and be explored in the comic. But yeah, straight or gay ships aside, all of them were a train wreck once the credits rolled, and its very frustrating to watch. At the very least, John got to be with Roxy because that boy deserved some Lalonde puss one way or the other.

Yeah, but they deliberately sank all the straight ships and pretty much rendered Rosemary untenable. It's like reading a fanfic for a ship you adore...and it's so horribly written you suddenly start seeing exactly why this ship should catch fire, sink, and run into some Horrorterror who will proceed to render it extra-wrecked.

I mean, I don't think John deserved some Lalonde puss necessarily, but...he had more chemistry with Rose. Admittedly, by the time he and Alpha!Roxy met the writing of relationships was pretty much a massive burning pile of shit, so pretty much any of those ships were doomed as fuck...

I believe this too. Viz saw it as "Successful comic? Hey, we publish and sell comics! We're all about comics! Let's acquire it!" without taking notice of the immense sweaty baggage that came with it (figuratively and literally) and its to no surprise that a year or so later, they realized the mistake they've done, and they're just trying to milk back the 'franchise' for what they paid for while hiding it away in the basement like a dirty deed.

Yep, and if they'd figured this out before the epilogues? Hussie might have been booted or given some sort of rubber room location, and we'd have gotten objectively better work.

Viz is a joint venture between two Japanese publishers. Japan is not for letting that shit happen. Odds are Viz may never buy another Western webcomic--or if it does, they'll damn well vet it to hell and back, and the webcomic's owner probably would be well-advised to speak fluent enough Japanese & weeb enough to like the idea of a Japanese-style editor.

It would be interesting to see, honestly, what direction the comic would go towards if Hussie never bent his knee to the Tumblr crowd. Im certain it wouldnt have been as commercially successful, and it wouldnt be as drawn out as it was, but if he had continued on his shitpost edgy mindset all throughout, I wonder how the comic and its fandom would look like today.

Honestly? I think it might have actually been as commercially successful--maybe even more, but it'd have been over a much longer period of time. It'd likely be a live property today, instead of the rotting corpse floating through the void it is right now, because the Tumblr crowd is broke and cheap as a whole. If your goal is to actually turn a profit? To have a nice, stable/steady income stream? Then it's fine if they turn up...but the last thing you should want to do is alienate the parts of your audience--even if they're smaller--who actually are going to be reliable money just to court the Tumblrinas and Wokeandians.

It goes without saying, then, that it would be a better comic. The Tumblr crowd, for all that they've got lots of creatives, have very few people who actually go deep into how to make a story work--they tend to not even consider "Is this going to work in this story?" when they make their demands, never mind "Is this actually a feasible romance?" or serious consideration of just how much of a shitshow not showing unhealthy relationships at all is going to be, especially if you make them healthy relationships by having the per of wuw suddenly fix everything that made it...not going to be one. Or decide to just suddenly shill the character that they've suddenly decided is a wonderful person never mind that everybody sane grasps that she's about as desirable to have around as a rotting used tampon.

Actually, strike that, that's insulting rotting used tampons, which are going to be probably chosen for companionship before OG Vriska by everybody not a Serket simp.

Anyway. The story didn't become unsalvageable until he stopped making fun of the Tumblrinas and started simping for them and Serket ass. Once he did? The comic, and its fandom, were doomed.

 

[Kabuki Actor]

The only thing I need to know about Psycholonials is that Vriska's character is a callforward to it.

 

[Rakdos92]

Ah crap, the Ao3 link is already 404'd. Anyone have a backup of that degeneracy? I'd like to investigate it

Here you go: Link

 

[Locke And Doula]

Anyway. The story didn't become unsalvageable until he stopped making fun of the Tumblrinas and started simping for them and Serket ass. Once he did? The comic, and its fandom, were doomed.

This is it. This is an extremely concise description of what happened behind the scenes that lead to Homestuck's downfall. Hussie had the hots for his fictional character cosplayed by sexy ladies, pushed her more to the forefront (to the detriment of the story), and it just devolved from there. Oh, and he made bank from the Tumblr crowd and slowly but surely worked towards their whims.

Sex and money is a hell of a drug

 

[Locke And Doula]

The only thing I need to know about Psycholonials is that Vriska's character is a callforward to it.

So it's basically Vriska 2.0? Glad I avoided it, then.

 

[E. S. L.]

The only thing I need to know about Psycholonials is that Vriska's character is a callforward to it.

Hussie's gonna probably keep illustrating his dream dominatrix types in future content until the day he dies from overdosing on "ironicism"

 

[BrigadeLeader]

I mean from what I've heard described above, Psycholonials Protag doesn't sound like Vriska. Vriska at least makes sense in context, we understand the society, culture and circumstances around all of which not only encouraged thoughtless violence, but REQUIRED it for her to survive. Vriska had a Giant Spider Mom she had to feed, and she feeds upon Vriska's species. It would make sense then that she would pursue the escapism she did through roleplaying, and develop the sociopathic and megalomaniacal persona she did. Canonically, (before we were post Canon) Vriska actually learned to not only chill the fuck out but to let her ego go.
The Protag of Hussie's newest shit show sounds to me more like the way people perceive Vriska, or Vriska without context. There are similarities though, and it perhaps begs the question, we already know Hussie is hard as a rock for Vriska, so did he TRY to write a version of Vriska in Psycholonials that COULDN'T develop to appeal to his festishistic ideal of Vriska?

 

[The Littlest Shitlord]

Homestuck was a genuinely inspired work, in the sense that God gave Hussie certain insights into reality and facilitated its success, to spread those insights. But he's fallen prey to ego and the (literally) unholy influence of Tumblr. He will never make a work like that again no matter how hard he tries. Not being able to create a character as compelling as Vriska again is part of that.

 

[Rainbow Frog Army]

I mean from what I've heard described above, Psycholonials Protag doesn't sound like Vriska. Vriska at least makes sense in context, we understand the society, culture and circumstances around all of which not only encouraged thoughtless violence, but REQUIRED it for her to survive. Vriska had a Giant Spider Mom she had to feed, and she feeds upon Vriska's species. It would make sense then that she would pursue the escapism she did through roleplaying, and develop the sociopathic and megalomaniacal persona she did. Canonically, (before we were post Canon) Vriska actually learned to not only chill the fuck out but to let her ego go.
The Protag of Hussie's newest shit show sounds to me more like the way people perceive Vriska, or Vriska without context. There are similarities though, and it perhaps begs the question, we already know Hussie is hard as a rock for Vriska, so did he TRY to write a version of Vriska in Psycholonials that COULDN'T develop to appeal to his festishistic ideal of Vriska?

Here's the thing--he retconned away Vriska's character development away from being a sociopathic megalomaniac when he started simping for Serkets., well before you get post Canon. He even made it clear that all this character development was Bad and Wrong and everything that had gone wrong for the Trolls and Kids would be fixed if only Vriska the sociopathic megalomaniac had been there.

That was actually exactly where I decided I no longer cared about any of these people.

After all, Hussie didn't, aside from OG Vriska. Why should I give a fuck, especially since he just take a huge steaming shit over Vriska's character development--the entire arc of her realizing that hey, maybe it doesn't have to be all about me and who cares who I fuck over completely--in the process of making this pretty much a fap fic for himself?

So the Psycholonials Protag sounds very much like a version of Vriska meant to be even more close to his fetishistic ideal. He wants that Cluster B disaster making him her personal fucktoy. He might even be hard as a rock over the idea of, say, getting murdered mid-fuck by his fantasy girlfriend. Go the traditional way of a male jumping spider...

 

[Govt. Shitposting Machine]

So the Psycholonials Protag sounds very much like a version of Vriska meant to be even more close to his fetishistic ideal. He wants that Cluster B disaster making him her personal fucktoy. He might even be hard as a rock over the idea of, say, getting murdered mid-fuck by his fantasy girlfriend. Go the traditional way of a male jumping spider...

Sounds like Hussie should have just made some shitty porn game like every other creator with a femdom fetish instead of an autistic webcomic. Hussie when will you learn?!

 

[Locke And Doula]

He will never make a work like that again no matter how hard he tries.

As he should. Homestuck will be his opus and his deathbed. Psycholonials would simply be an eulogy, or get this--an epilogue

Here's the thing--he retconned away Vriska's character development away from being a sociopathic megalomaniac when he started simping for Serkets., well before you get post Canon. He even made it clear that all this character development was Bad and Wrong and everything that had gone wrong for the Trolls and Kids would be fixed if only Vriska the sociopathic megalomaniac had been there.

Vriska and Meena spending time together and mellowing out was nice and showed this spider bitch be rounded out as a character. But literally, quite LITERALLY, an alternate timeline bad bitch boss version of Vriska appears out of nowhere, calls the original Vriska a pussy, kicks her in the teeth, and turns to the camera and says her catchphrase "It's Vriska time!"

You could really see the flanderization of Serket become this nasty meangirl dominatrix that Hussie and the fandom was oh so enamored with and so he went back to that because it made the money and probably gave him a stiffy. That seems to be the common consensus.

So the Psycholonials Protag sounds very much like a version of Vriska meant to be even more close to his fetishistic ideal. He wants that Cluster B disaster making him her personal fucktoy. He might even be hard as a rock over the idea of, say, getting murdered mid-fuck by his fantasy girlfriend. Go the traditional way of a male jumping spider...

Hussie wants to be stepped on and have his balls crushed by a Vriska cosplayer wearing a 4 inch stilleto. This is now canon.

Sounds like Hussie should have just made some shitty porn game like every other creator with a femdom fetish instead of an autistic webcomic. Hussie when will you learn?!

Please dont give him any ideas.

Actually, wait, I kinda wanna see him do a porn game because I bet he'll either go full retard on it, or we're gonna see all the degeneracy just ooze out from his psyche and onto the finished product. Either way, could be entertaining.

 

[Namerlane the 40th]

So.....Should RoseMary be retconned?

 

[Rakdos92]

So.....Should RoseMary be retconned?

Not only that, but everything that happens after the act that forced John and Terezi to get back to the past.

 

[Rainbow Frog Army]

Vriska and Meena spending time together and mellowing out was nice and showed this spider bitch be rounded out as a character. But literally, quite LITERALLY, an alternate timeline bad bitch boss version of Vriska appears out of nowhere, calls the original Vriska a pussy, kicks her in the teeth, and turns to the camera and says her catchphrase "It's Vriska time!"

You could really see the flanderization of Serket become this nasty meangirl dominatrix that Hussie and the fandom was oh so enamored with and so he went back to that because it made the money and probably gave him a stiffy. That seems to be the common consensus.

Hussie wants to be stepped on and have his balls crushed by a Vriska cosplayer wearing a 4 inch stilleto. This is now canon.

Honestly, I think his desires are more in the 'murdered mid-fuck' area.

Part of my issue with the Serket simpiing is that the part of the fandom that loved OG Vriska were all *~*female empowerment*~* and shit about her, because clearly the embodiment of female power is a homicidal narcy bitch who also, incidentally, lives in a matriarchy & is abusive to all her romantic partners. Honestly, one of the major reasons I liked the Vriska and Meenah ship is because they were good for each other--and that version of her honestly did show that all of it was a product of her culture and its expectations for a woman of her status.

A lot of modern Feminism makes me understand so well why the first wave was arguing that some of the restrictions put on women should be on everybody--that, basically, having a dick shouldn't mean you have a pass on being a dick--while the modern Feminists sometimes seem to be pretty much pissed they're not the raging asshole dicks they believe men to be, yet not honest enough to troon out.

The thing is, I don't think it was done for money. The audience he was catering to would likely have been just fine if a mellowed-out Vriska and Meenah had simply proven to not be any less badass, just enough mellower that they're thinking less in terms of their egos and more about, well, what is necessary for success--as long as the two were in lesbians together and were uwu wlw cutiepies or whatever...

Please dont give him any ideas.

Actually, wait, I kinda wanna see him do a porn game because I bet he'll either go full retard on it, or we're gonna see all the degeneracy just ooze out from his psyche and onto the finished product. Either way, could be entertaining.

It'd likely be also the most honesty we've seen from Hussie in years.

 

[Locke And Doula]

I'm not sure how well it fits into the thread, but Viz Media (the supposed IP holder, maybe?) of Homestuck and Redbubble has officially ended their partnership and thus, all Homestuck merch on Redbubble will be taken down, and in addition, all those Homestuck stuff for sale by fanartists on Redbubble is legally not able to be sold anywhere else anymore. It has caused quite the stir in the artist side of the HS fandom, and there's a good writeup of the legality and drama of all of it here

This ties into WhatPumpkin and Hussie in that the author of that writeup, Gio, speculates who actually has the legal right to those merch stuff that fanartists were allowed to sell for a long time. To quote,

According to What Pumpkin, Andrew Hussie still personally owns the rights to the Homestuck IP (the characters, symbols, etc.) Viz media owns a limited subset of publication rights for producing and marketing the physical hardcover collection and the epilogues. Viz certainly does NOT have an exclusive license over homestuck merch, a fact evident by FFBF;s continued merch store.​

So… did Viz even have the IP rights it claimed to in 2019? Was the recent termination really part of regular negotiations (the agreement period lasted two years, almost down to the week), or did Viz just realize they don’t have the rights in the first place? I don’t know. I know What Pumpkin says Andrew still personally holds the rights (even though he doesn’t work at WP), but I’ve learned to take anything they say with a helping of salt. ​

Add this to the list of Homestuck being mishandled and mismanaged even after Hussie has officially left. Really shows that this bloated corpse of a "franchise" is still going forward in its current state.

TL;DR - Viz entered into agreement with Redbubble to allow the latter to sell stuff from their Intellectual Property, Redbubble allowed fanartists to sell their Homestuck and Homestuck inspired stuff on Redbubble via EULA. Said EULA also said that Viz had asserted that it was the rights owner of Homestuck, and therefore the rights holder of the subject of your work. Anything they claimed to own, you were now selling at their pleasure, not your own. Partnership ended. Artists left in the dust.

 

[Rakdos92]

Intellectual

What does that mean for various fancomics like "Blue Rasperry Slush Epilogue" and "IGIG"?

 

[Gar For Archer]

I honestly don’t think non-pandering Hussie would’ve handled the comic any better. Act 6 isn’t a mess because of the tumblr pandering, it’s a mess because he clearly had no idea how he was actually supposed to END the story.

Like sure maybe some egregious shit like resurrecting Vriska wouldn’t have happened, but I doubt the story would’ve been any good either way.

 

[Don't @ Me]

I honestly don’t think non-pandering Hussie would’ve handled the comic any better. Act 6 isn’t a mess because of the tumblr pandering, it’s a mess because he clearly had no idea how he was actually supposed to END the story.

Like sure maybe some egregious shit like resurrecting Vriska wouldn’t have happened, but I doubt the story would’ve been any good either way.

It's a mess because he pandered to his and WhatPumpkin's wallets, thus requiring him to extend the comic's deadline further and further so people would continue to care about Homestuck, which then allowed him to start pandering to tumblrness.

Either way you're probably right, whether or not the ending was a half or a tenth of the length of what it is now, I'm not sure how much of a better story Hussie had in his head as opposed to what we got.