Character Appreciation Thread

[KanayaMaryam]

What it says on the tin, folks. Which characters are your favourites, why, and what made you like them? When did you realise that hot damn, this dude is actually pretty bangin’?

No prizes as to who my favourite is, but I’m incredibly fond of Nepeta, Rose, and, surprise surprise, Kanaya. I love Nepeta because I relate a lot to her love (fixation even) for cats, her general cheery nature (though she does have her more somber moments which makes me love her even more), and her love for all of her friends. The moment I saw her I adored her (as a cringy 15 year old, cat ear horns was the best thing since sliced bread), and I loved her bickering antics with Equius.

Rose is a snarky, hilarious girl who goes through a lot of growth and depth throughout the comic, and her darker moments really make her stand out even more. She’s loyal to her friends, but won’t put up with their bullshit, and obviously cares for her friends and family very much. At first I was pretty neutral towards her but as I continued she grew on me more and more, and eventually became a favourite.

And now the grand finale, my own usernamesake. Simply put, I just Really Like Kanaya. Characters that can slice me in half with a chainsaw is very attractive, and her character design is great as well. But, she’s also fiercely protective of those she loves, is concerned enough about her friends to try and do what’s best for them (even though it might not be what they need), and she’s just very very honest.

Anyway, that’s me done! Now what about you lot?

Also please respect other people’s love for characters, don’t shit on them because they did x and y. If you want to debate, take it to a different thread please!

[rookie1978]

What it says on the tin, folks.

Jack Noir/Spades Slick is everything good about Problem Sleuth brought into Homestuck. Noir, Slick, even Droogs, were consistently my favorite to watch. I've already talked about Caliborn in the Caliborn thread so I won't bother reposting my short novel.

Draw, Spades.

[Sahxyel]

Given my Eridan defenses in the appropriate thread I'll leave him as my favorite troll and instead talk about the character I both like the absolute MOST in Homestuck, the character whom I identify with, and the character who I really think has consistently got a raw end of a bad deal until the advent of her Pesterchum Route. You know her, you (might) love her, let's talk about Jade Harley.

Jade I sympathize a lot with. She presents herself in a very positive manner and tries to stay strong and peppy for her friends! She also bottles up her negative emotions as she marches forward with only faith and determination as the buoyant water-wings keeping her afloat in the angry seas of subverted expectations and absolute bullshit. She has a snapping point, a very real anger at the unfairness of her life and the disappointments in people she believes in. Even herself! Her optimism in the face of adversity is so refreshing, as is her attitude, and when she can really be allowed to make a difference she shines like a beautiful star.

Jade really speaks to me, lonely girl to lonely girl

Jack Noir/Spades Slick is everything good about Problem Sleuth brought into Homestuck. Noir, Slick, even Droogs, were consistently my favorite to watch. I've already talked about Caliborn in the Caliborn thread so I won't bother reposting my short novel.

Draw, Spades.

God Spades is the best. He has a very simple but very understandable goal: get back at LE for his casino. All I wanted was to see him succeed even as he failed again and again he came back like the goddamn Terminator (even literally!). Spades lost his crew, his city, his casino all in this epic quest of revenge and following his every step was fun as heck.

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SPADES SLICK DID NOTHING WRONG

[rookie1978]

Jade really speaks to me, lonely girl to lonely girl

Draw, Spades.

Spoiler

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SPADES SLICK DID NOTHING WRONG

remembering when noir was DA BIG BAD GUY(and the only one) makes me nostaglic

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[calamityCons]

Hoooo dang I have SO many emotions about Spades Slick. I'm gonna go snatch some of my older posts I made about him on my tumblr and share them here so I don't repeat myself, but tl;dr? Spades Slick has the biggest heart out of all his iterations, and his narrative is a tragedy on an epic scale with one of the most heart wrenching climaxes to them I ever experienced.

Here's the post I made about him like three damn years ago.

[Daz]

The exiles in general. I loved their antics and the mystery surrounding their situation.

And the MC Intermission is always a blast.

[Generalrabogolfo]

White king deserved better.

[Drinosi]

Trizza, even though we don't know enough about her, but I love her anyway. Eridan, Meenah, Karkat (its hard not to love Karkat), Vriska. And my adorable little Karako that despite all his pointy knives, I just want to hug the stuffing out of him!

[sigmatic]

Feferi definitely deserved more, her design is really cool but she stopped being relevant not long after her death...

waitign on the pester quest ruote,,,,

[bakedpotatocat]

I really like both AR and Diamonds Droog in particular, but all of the exiles are so great.

My favorite character overall, though, is Aradia. Her arc is fantastic, one of the best self-contained ones in Homestuck, and is only expanded upon in the Epilogues (and hopefully HS^2!). Aradia flips heavily between acting only towards her own enjoyment (pre-comic / pre-death) and acting only in service towards the will of the narrative and the flow of Time, and seeing her break out of this pattern once she is reborn is so great. Seriously, my favorite panel in the comic is Aradia in front of the Green Sun (panel 3569) and it's line

You're done with dying.

Aradia then does my favorite, although tragic thing, in Homestuck, which is when characters just ollie out of the narrative and go off to do their own thing. Its tragic because I want to see more of her but I also am so glad that she gets to be happy. Aradia is really the driving force of the troll's session, although Karkat and Kanaya are moreso responsible for the universe's creation; her arc is both the emotional core of Hivebent and its end coincides with when focus flips to the new session of kids. Aradia keeps the timeline where it needs to be, and then moves to a similar caretaker role in the dreambubbles, where she just chills with her (maybe more than platonic? who knows) bffsie for life Sollux.

Aradia is creepy and weird and loves adventure and life and being alive; she and Sollux are the first characters we see that break out of the narrative of Homestuck; they say "fuck you" and go off to do their own thing.

The biggest damn shame is that we dont see enough of her, and not just in the narrative; half the fanworks she's listed in kill her off in the backstory of the work!

tl;dr: aradia best girl

[g3intel]

equius deserved better, both from the fandom and from hussie, and i'm so, so very glad that (pesterquest spoilers) they did him at least some modicum of justice this time around and didn't just write him off as a joke or "EW ICKY HE BAD RACIST SWEATYMAN HE SHIT"
he's one of the very few characters in homestuck i will say has an unquestionably good heart even beneath all of his shit, and he has the notable and rare accomplishment of never having ruined anyone's life

[nonsenseMnemonic]

strong agree about Equius. I'm thrilled with his route (and, not an issue of character, but I don't think his sprites could have been more perfect). Lalo did a fantastic job of adding to him without making him feel any less like Equius. more than i could have asked for for someone who was mostly a joke character in the comic.

[asocksual]

She also bottles up her negative emotions as she marches forward with only faith and determination as the buoyant water-wings keeping her afloat in the angry seas of subverted expectations and absolute bullshit. She has a snapping point, a very real anger at the unfairness of her life and the disappointments in people she believes in. Even herself! Her optimism in the face of adversity is so refreshing, as is her attitude, and when she can really be allowed to make a difference she shines like a beautiful star.

Jade really speaks to me, lonely girl to lonely girl

Oh same!
I love calliope for basically the same reason, also do you guys ever think about how her situation is basically, "you are in your special interest, what will you do?"

[leijon]

My favorite character is Jane, post-canon content notwithstanding. I've always been one of those people who's liked girl characters just because they got squandered in one way or another for boy development. I get why that might be a silly or annoying reason to like a character haha but it wasn't hard for me to decide she was hilarious and relatable and devoted to her friends and a little stupid (the best most likeable quality of all) and that's been enough for like a year. My first favorite was Rose though. her story about mom's neglect making her so afraid of vulnerability that she interpreted everything she did as an attack and then feeling so guilty about it she inherited the family addiction (and subsequent resolution of quitting and reconciling with roxy) make me so emotional. gay rights