Can I ask for positive opinions on Epilogues/HS^2?

[thorondraco]

You can say that Dirk is kind of the author even if he was not involved with the comic before the author avatar dies or even before the Epilogues, because Andrew Hussie has admitted that the characters most like him are Dave and Dirk.

Yeah, I think Dirk in the Epilogues acts as Hussie's avatar. Dirk!Hussie has been the author from the beginning: his shards are not just the Dirk shards but all the characters of Homestuck. I thoroughly enjoy the epilogues for this reason and wrote more on it in the Dirk thread here.

Eh that would be a bit much.

[Rob]

You can say that Dirk is kind of the author even if he was not involved with the comic before the author avatar dies or even before the Epilogues, because Andrew Hussie has admitted that the characters most like him are Dave and Dirk.

Yeah, I think Dirk in the Epilogues acts as Hussie's avatar. Dirk!Hussie has been the author from the beginning: his shards are not just the Dirk shards but all the characters of Homestuck. I thoroughly enjoy the epilogues for this reason and wrote more on it in the Dirk thread here.

Eh that would be a bit much.

To be clear, I don't think that's what's happening in the text itself. Rather Dirk's actions as fictional narrator mimic and shed light on Hussie as the literal author.

[thorondraco]

Yeah, I think Dirk in the Epilogues acts as Hussie's avatar. Dirk!Hussie has been the author from the beginning: his shards are not just the Dirk shards but all the characters of Homestuck. I thoroughly enjoy the epilogues for this reason and wrote more on it in the Dirk thread here.

Eh that would be a bit much.

To be clear, I don't think that's what's happening in the text itself. Rather Dirk's actions as fictional narrator mimic and shed light on Hussie as the literal author.

Fair

[Nep]

Xamag's panels look really nice. Like the one where Dirk is trying to make that suggestion box.

[nonsenseMnemonic]

I thought Roxy's approach to gender in both routes was sweet, and enjoyed reading their interactions and thoughts about their body in Candy.

[Cyber-Fan]

I loved the epilogues. Sure, they're kind of depressing, and I wish that they ended a little more conclusively instead of on a cliffhanger, but they really did alleviate a lot of my problems with later homestuck, the ending in particular.

Post retcon was 90% characters having conversations about nothing while nothing happened. In the epilogues, oh boy do things happen.

Post retcon there were no dramatic stakes and I couldn't give less of a shit about any of the villains. In the epilogues characters suffer and face dramatic consequences partially due to a villain with an actual personality.

Post retcon Karkat is a pushover whose last moments in the comic involve him getting beat up by a leprechaun. Candy Karkat is a badass who actually stands up to people and becomes the great leader he had the potential to be.

Post retcon Terezi is utterly dependent on Vriska. Epilogue Terezi finally gets over her.

Post retcon there were glaring plot holes related to the masterpiece. The epilogues fixed them.

Post retcon Davekat was super underdeveloped and even boring. Epilogue Davekat is great.

Not to mention the whole thing is very well written and funny as hell. If not for the prose, and cv/v's credits on the title page I'd totally have thought it was written by Hussie. Hell, I'd go as far to say that it's better than most of Hussie's more recent stuff. I can't remember any good jokes from the last bits of homestuck that didn't involve Caliborn, but I could recite my favorite jokes from the Epilogues from memory.


And you know what? Even though I wished the epilogues didn't end on a sequel hook, I'm not even frustrated about that anymore. The good thing about the Epilogues is how much room to build off of them there is. Want your favorite character to be the one to stop Dirk? Practically the whole cast is after him, and they almost all have enough motivation to sustain a story by themselves. Want your favorite ship to be canon? Even a lot of ships that were trashed like JohnRoxy and Vrisrezi were still given potential hooks for their return. Don't like how your favorite characters were treated in Meat? Well, their Candy counterparts still exist, and vice versa. Based on what we've seen of Homestuck 2 so far, I have very little interest in it, but that almost doesn't matter because there's so much potential for the story beyond the epilogues, and I look forward to seeing what other dedicated fans do with it.

[rookie1978]

Despite my existing gripes I still really enjoyed the idea of Dirk being some kind of master puppeteer and engineering everything through poorly explained meta powers. The part where he faked out an assassination and sleeping dart'd Jade instead was admittedly really cool. I also enjoyed Calliope and Dirk inventing new situations and literally fighting over the narrative. It felt a lot like kids play-fighting "I shoot you with a laser, No it was a hologram, etc." but on a much grander scale.

[thorondraco]

Despite my existing gripes I still really enjoyed the idea of Dirk being some kind of master puppeteer and engineering everything through poorly explained meta powers. The part where he faked out an assassination and sleeping dart'd Jade instead was admittedly really cool. I also enjoyed Calliope and Dirk inventing new situations and literally fighting over the narrative. It felt a lot like kids play-fighting "I shoot you with a laser, No it was a hologram, etc." but on a much grander scale.

Its basically a battle between two wannabe authors over the same story and setting. The question if it escalates to an actual war. Or even if more factions pop up. Peeps suddenly gaining the power over the narrative or individual revealing they have had the power all along and had been hiding in the shadows.

If i remember right, what Aranea was spouting before makes me wonder if she secretly had awakened her ultimate self while in the void. Used the ring of void to keep her body together. However she fucked up and overestimated her powers.

That honestly would explain a lot of weird aspects to her powers. She seemed to actually know what people were thinking about, knew an alarming amount of information from uncertain sources, and she was able to control basically any troll she wanted no matter where they sat in the hemospectrum nor how powerful their will. in addition, like both Calliope and Dirk, she had an avid love of storytelling.

[TH4NK YOU B3N]

Jade Harley fucks.

[MorganMustDie]

I thought Roxy's approach to gender in both routes was sweet, and enjoyed reading their interactions and thoughts about their body in Candy.

This was cool!! I think showing two different paths that Roxy could have taken based on their life situation was a really interesting way to write a trans character that wasn't just the cookie cutter "I've always felt this way" kinda thing. Handled much better than a June or Vriska situation would be, in my opinion, and apparently seems to just get swept under the rug when we talk about lgbt stuff in homestuck

[nonsenseMnemonic]

This was cool!! I think showing two different paths that Roxy could have taken based on their life situation was a really interesting way to write a trans character that wasn't just the cookie cutter "I've always felt this way" kinda thing. Handled much better than a June or Vriska situation would be, in my opinion, and apparently seems to just get swept under the rug when we talk about lgbt stuff in homestuck

Yeah, it was a neat way to make a character trans in a way that didn't really change their journey in Homestuck itself. Showing the two different routes made Roxy canonically trans without making Mom Lalonde miserable and closeted, a nice touch that I'm not sure they'll be able to manage with June.

[ThePungeonMaster]

In retrospect, the tone of the epilogues almost blinded me to the things that were good about them. (Almost) All of the characters have good chemistry and are done some justice. Even as someone who likes Vriska, what happened to her in the epilogues is fitting, almost poetic. Dirk as a villain is extremely interesting, and seeing as he was literally introduced as a proverbial puppet master, his role as someone pulling the strings fits too well.
I think that there is much potential for the story's direction, as at this point it really can be taken in any direction due to the fact that we have close to 2 sets of characters, so even contradictory things can exist simultaneously (within limits, of course). But I think what has so many people trepidatious about HS^2 is that all the promise in the world can be squandered by writers who don't know what they're doing, and Aysha and Co. have yet to prove that they really do know what they're doing.

[lillithRamie]

There were a lot of things I liked about the Epilogues. Homestuck has always had me surprised with everything it does, and rarely does it disappoint me in what directions the story goes.

Dirk was amazing to have as an antagonist on the meat side. When he revealed his hand in the narrative I was supper hyped for just what kind of insane plans he had. And when a rival appeared in the form of alt!Calliope I wasn't sure just who to truely cheer for during their altercations. I was quite happy to see two God's fighting each other for dominance, trying to figure out who's best intentions were really 'for the best' and would be the lesser of two evils.

Candy felt with a lot of deep adult problems of friends fighting with and against each other as they grew. This side of the story wasn't about God's fighting for dominace, but people against themselves. Trusted friends going down the wrong path, mistakes and misunderstanding never addressed at the right time, and the entire time it was heart breaking to read. Not in a bad way, mind you, but in an important way.

The story addresses a lot that was touched upon in the original comic. Characters and their internal/external problems, mechanics of the universe, the underlying existential horror of what the universe deems as true/essential/relevant and how it controls a person's actions.

I could identify myself in so many of the characters and how they delt with their issues too. There is just so much to unpack from the epilogues, and it keeps giving just as much as the comic ever did.

So far there isn't too much of HS2 out, so it's hard to have a concrete opinion on it yet. It's been good so far and I'm excited to see what's going to come next.