The idea that the Alpha Trolls are nothing but empty parodies of 15 year old Homestuck fans is flat out incorrect, by the way. I genuinely have zero idea where this concept comes from. This is just years of discourse and pointless bed shitting completely blinding you to the actual words on the screen. The Alpha Trolls follow the exact same writing rules as the Beta Trolls do, with only a handful of jabs at the fanon + fandom… And no, not in the way that you think. And no, it really is totally fine that Hussie did make these jabs, actually. I’m gonna bat for Hussie in this respect.
The only character that is a direct parody of a certain faction of the fandom is Mituna Captor. He is not a parody of young Homestuck fans in 2012. He is not a parody of you. He is a parody of the 4Channer Homestucks, who were largely grown ass men, and they fucking loved him. That aspect of him is completely fine and you don’t really have any right to decide that that’s not okay when they basically took him as a mascot in response.
“What about Kankri,” you might ask? Well, he’s not a Homestuck fan parody either. That’s Hussie taking jabs at Tumblr SJWs. “Oh, but that’s bad, too!” On the surface, absolutely. But calling Kankri a Tumblr SJW parody and leaving it at that actually does a major disservice to his character. What he is specifically a commentary on is sheltered privileged white teens with conservative upbringing who joined the SJW movement while making zero effort to unpack their own privilege and conservative ideology, and instead just parroting them back with a Social Justice layer of paint. THAT is what Kankri’s character is about. He is not about Homestuck, he is about performative politics and how language isn’t everything. That is why Kankri is very deeply ableist and sexist. That is why he takes offense at a term specifically used to describe the oppressive class and lowbloods who help them maintain their power. He’s acting like he’s countercultural when he very much so is not.
“What about Meulin,” you might say. “She’s a parody of young Homestucks!” Nope! Not true. The closest she is to that is Hussie making fun of just how badly people ripped Nepeta’s character to shreds. That’s actually fine for him to commentate on. What she’s a parody of in large strokes, though, is Tumblr Fandom Bloggers. No, she’s not specifically based on the younger ones, either, she doesn’t particularly talk like a young teen- everyone just talked like that back in the day. She honestly reads exactly her age. She’s very believably 19. Hell, she’s believably 25, even. She’s literally just the average fangirl. It’s fucking fine. They loved her, too. Who doesn’t love Meulin?
Aranea reads exactly like a Homestuck analysis blog. That’s not a bad thing. That was a love letter. As a Homestuck analysis blog myself, I fucking love her. A lot of analysts loved her. She rocks!
Cronus is… Well, honestly, if you take personal offense at Cronus, that says a lot more about you than it does Hussie, and I need you to stay 50 feet away from me at all times. Closest you get with him is that he is The Worst Character In Homestuck, by word of God, and he’s just Hussie reacting to how badly people were ripping Eridan’s character to shreds, often calling him… You know, the worst character in Homestuck. Even though he was literally just some random 13 year old boy who has the least spoken words in the whole main cast. That was Hussie going, “Oh, I’ll show you worst character. You want an abusive predatory sex pest? I’ll give you an abusive predatory sex pest.” His existence was a hell of the Homestuck fandom’s own making. He is a Sisyphean punishment. Fair. I personally find his character severely fascinating. Hate him to pieces, but not because he’s “a shot taken at Homestucks” or anything. I’m more concerned with him being an abusive predatory sex pest than I am him being a shot taken at how bad Fanon Eridan was.
Horuss isn’t making fun of any Homestucks, he’s just a system. Meenah isn’t, either, she’s just a mean girl. Rufioh is just straight up Dante Basco. Dante Basco loved him, so we can’t take offense at that either. Kurloz is… There. Porrim is a sex-positive feminist, except she was exclusively portrayed as being in the right about this, so we can’t take offense at that either without it saying more about you than it does Hussie. Latula is a commentary on Gamer Girl culture. Not in a sexist way, Hussie wasn’t actually making fun of girls who play games, he was commentating on how a lot of girls in gaming circles, especially back in the day, were subject to so much misogyny that they were basically forced to internalize it to survive. It’s a very real thing, Hussie had a right to talk about that. And Damara is… Um… Ignoring the obvious racism, she’s something of a deconstruction of the “Psycho Ex” trope, and how oftentimes when a man constantly bitches about their “Psycho Ex”, there’s… Typically a reason they “went psycho.” She’s in the right. Also not a “young Homestuck fan” parody.
Also, with the “no depth” comment, I can clearly tell you never actually bothered to sit down and read the OpenBounds and afford them any real thought. I’m sorry they’re not your blorbos, but that doesn’t mean they lack depth or character.
Maybe read the OpenBound with your actual eyes instead of viewing it through a decade’s thick lens of pointless discourse? Idk. Try again later.
