There are so many people saying that this is “the best way homestuck could have ended” and like….what are you talking about
Is there any specific ending that would have pleased Everybody? No, of course not! But this…..didnt actively PLEASE anybody because theres no heart in it.
Everything that you guys are praising about act 7 (an ending open to interpretation/transformative work, “all” of the kids/trolls being safe/happy (even though we only see maybe 6 of them and half of them arent emoting at all), an ending that didnt worry about trying to do Too Many Things and answer more questions than it could handle)
All of that could have easily been RETAINED in any number of different endings and STILL GIVEN THE READERS PALPABLE EMOTIONAL PAYOFF if only hussie had CARED TO PUT IN THE EFFORT
I was refreshing the page at 11:59est fully prepared to BAWL MY EYES OUT and so was everybody i was simul-watching the upd8 with. I was absolutely ready to fucking cry
You know what would have gotten me to cry? Anything. Literally any fucking thing. I had amped myself up about homestuck so hard the entire day, the entire week that even the sparsest MORSEL of acknowledgement that i had read seven damn years-worth of webcomic would have sufficed in making me weep.
Things hussie could have included that would have resulted in emotional engagement on my part & would have taken minimal effort from him but still have shown that he respected me at all as a reader:
- “A young man stands in his bedroom.” Or any phrase from the first page so that homestuck would actually be the mobius strip it acted like it was
- or any legendary phrase from homestuck!! There are so many quotes that would have destroyed me, homestuck has no shortage of emotional, philosophically-engaging dialogue/narration that it could have referenced in its final moments
- seeing the black narration text at all?? “THE END” and nothing else in the black text could have had a huge impact on me if the video had been more emotional, but because it wasnt, the dramatic and succinct “THE END” completely fell flat.
- sburban jungle. This song DEFINES homestuck for me and, again, using this in the final flash would have played perfectly into the mobius strip, “homestuck will never really be over” effect that you guys are trying so hard to find in act 7.
- or really ANY of the iconic musical motifs. One of the things that most set homestuck apart as a webcomic was the fact that it was musically punctuated! If we had heard ANY of the characters’ motifs or songs i would have fucking wept, regardless of the rest of the content
- seeing literally any of the characters be…yknow….gay? I dont even fucking mean “boohoo my ship isnt canon” i mean fucking rose and kanaya ARE ALREADY DATING IN-COMIC the animation showed them standing next to each other if they had just HELD HANDS i wouldnt have felt so cheated as a gay person whos been life-changingly invested in the comic and for whom so much of the value of homestuck was from having characters that werent straight in a world where there is so little media like that
- a fucking clip show honestly!!! Just seeing images and visuals from ANY of the past seven years would have incited tears, i didnt need a beautiful new animation tbqh!
- using any of the armless character sprites. Literally its so silly but that post that says “character development: homestuck went from no arms to having arms” is absolutely spot-on because that visual/stylistic change really highlights homestuck going from something weird and special to something entirely bland
- ok honestly? I have complete repsect for the animator who made act 7 its incredibly polished and im sure they poured a lot of work into it but. Just fucking. Using hussies artwork for THE BIG FINALE EPILOGUE would have helped. If youre going to have the last week of updates, the entire last leg of act 6, be comprised of only guest art, YOU CANT ALSO HAVE ACT 7 BE GUEST ART. that takes away definition from the media itself, that dilutes it. Its indistinguishable from watching a fan-made hypothetical act 7 animation made in 2012.
like fucking whatever im gay for still giving a shit 13 hours later i guess but i put years of my life into this and i feel like as a reader ive been done a disservice. the ending was polished but completely lacking in substance, and doing ANY ONE OF ^THESE SIMPLE, SIMPLE THINGS would have changed that entirely and actually made it meaningful
do i personally believe homestuck should have been open-ended? not quite, but i am fully capable of seeing the value in an open ending for something so sprawling and intricate, even if i think it isnt really in line with the tone/goals of the comic overall. this isnt just an open ending though, its really lazy and had no heart put into it, i would have done anything for the slightest fucking nod or reference to seven years worth of content,
i feel disrespected and people acting like i should like the current ending or be happy with it is so dismissive and belittling. as readers we genuinely deserved better, we deserved to be thrown a fucking bone even if its just a SINGLE LINE OF TEXT commemorating something thats meant so much to so many of us. this is vapid and for ppl i respect and whose opinions i value to be acting like i should Just Be Happy & Grateful For What I Got is so. its sssssso missing the point and youre fucking SETTLING for less than you deserve, tbqh.