Kooki_914

Welcome to Kooki space. Home to overanalyzing, procrastinating, and Spadesgore.

[kooki914]

Classpecting for those who haven't read Homestuck

After entirely too much ado, I finally finished my first two videos on classpecting. I'll be releasing a written essay format of this theory eventually as well, that'll go into more depth and nitty-gritty while this video serves as a proper and true first introduction to the concept. If you finished watching the first video, you can click here to watch my video on the Classes. Some of the art I used for both videos will be under the cut for ease of use and sourcing.

All hail the Aspect Wheel

Unironically I still hate this cone but it's, unfortunately, useful.

[kooki914]

are you planning on making any videos on other mechanics of sburb maybe??? id love an entire series about all of it lmao

TECHNICALLY yes. I haven't fully decided on the details, and it'll mostly rely on what catches my interest during my (still ongoing ugh) Homestuck reread. So far, I'm very interesting in the planets/skaia/moons/medium lore, both as a self sufficient closed system as well as an elaborate sandbox and how the machinations of such a process even work. There's very little in the base text of Homestuck that supports some of my hypotheses about it though, so it's dubious how I'd approach that.

Things I most likely WILL make videos (or at least essays) about though, are Cherubs and Denizens. Both are infinitely fascinating to me and I feel like there's a lot to discuss and analyse both as things partain to story analysis as well as just the in-universe machinations of both of these species. I'm making no promises though because I already have the rest of the classpect video(s) to make as well as other projects I've been putting off, so who knows maybe I'll talk about the funny green skeletons next year.

[kooki914]

If there were a definitive way to know your classpect with a chance you don't have what you currently think you have (Which I think you've mentioned is Seer of Breath if I'm not mistaken), would you choose to know what FOR SURE you are or would you rather stay as is?

I guess it depends on the circamstances? I don't think classpects are SO important that you need to be able to identify yourself in them, after all they're tools for story analysis and real world application is secondary. HOWEVER. The only scenario in which one could, without a shadow of a doubt, know their own classpect, would be if WE are also in a narrative and the author themselves made that information available to us in some way.

If that were the case and there was a definitive way to talk to the author of this shithole reality we live in I'd be interested in asking some other questions. Mostly about what themes they're trying to portray and how some narrative beats are meant to end. Is catharsis the goal? Is an avant-garde withholding of catharsis the point? And if so, what does one even count as an "ending" in a perpetual existance machine which is most likely what we live in if it WERE to be made (up) by somebody?

I think by virtue of this being my actual thought process when asked the question "hey what if you could know your classpect" I... may have already solidified said classpect.

[kooki914]

Why do you not use the official bard outfit?

In my classes video, I took off the codpiece from the Bard outfit, as well as made some minor tweaks for a few others, mostly in order for the outfits to be easier to differentiate between each other and take seriously. You kind of can't put the cod piece on screen without context or acknowledgement of it, especially since the videos are aimed at an audience that doesn't know the base text of Homestuck and its semi-ironic clown shenanigan intricacies...

The less practical explanation is that my sister convinced me of her theory that the cod piece isn't ACTUALLY part of the Bard god-tier outfit. Gamzee made his god tier outfit without ever actually reaching god tier, as we know, and the only other Bard we have in the comic is fucking Cronus, who I think would just wear the cod piece without prompting. So there's a good 50/50 chance that BOTH cod pieces are custom made, that it's not part of Cronus' god tier either and it could be why Gamzee's retrieval of the piece depended on the Alpha trolls, like both unholy things were made in the same session as part of a matching Hope/Rage set. The extended sequence in Openbound focused on Gamzee's retrieval of the cod piece, furthermore hints that it has a symbolic significance to it that the rest of his god tier outfit doesn't have. One that easily comes to mind is Lord English's focus on masculinity and tying it to domination, and Gamzee's devotion to LE extending into mimicry/worship of that dogmatic dominance of all things "lesser", which we in fact see him doing with his killing of Equius and it's vaguely sexualized connotations.

Basically we have no reason to believe all Bards have cod pieces because why the fuck would you put that on pajamas.

[kooki914]

I mean... that is certainly AN interpretation you can have, though cod-pieces are an actual real thing in the real world. From what I understand they were decorative/boastful armour, hence why it's weird to put it on pj's. If it's supposed to invoke someone sleeping naked wouldn't it more easily be portrayed in other ways, like the short shorts Pages have or just having the torso and pants be connected like a onsie and not have any kind of waist band? Plus, not everyone has a dick, so a cod piece doesn't even necessarily communicate nakedness for at LEAST half of the population.

[kooki914]

Hello! I have just watched both of your classpect videos and loved them, they make so much sense and are so fun! They immediately made me start pondering my own aspect cause I took a class quiz and the official aspect quiz and they both felt, wrong? Like almost wrong I got Mage of Light but it didnt really feel 100% correct like it was close but a bit off? I think I might be some form of Light, Mage or Seer but I cant quite tell what. I think with this I'll definitely be able to figure it out :3

Hell yeah, godspeed!

For a little extra guidance, the main difference between a Seer and Mage is application, basically. Mages learn in order to mediate essentially, they see knowledge as a way to make the world make more sense, while Seers learn for the sake of itself, they see knowledge as something to accumulate and something that's an endless well of inspiration. This is most clearly visible in homestuck with the Terezi and Sollux dichotomy in how they approach their Aspects (as moral guidance or as practical burden), but if you're not much of a homestuck another good example would be Garnet and Steven from SU (both of them are Heart players, but Garnet is a Seer while Steven is a Mage and it clearly reflects on how they approach their own personhood and understanding of being.)

The main distinction between knowledge as part of an Aspect and knowledge as part of a Class is that Light the aspect is also tied to relevancy and luck. The difference between learning as a skill (class) and knowledge as a concept (aspect) essentially. Light players don't necessarily have to be smart or particularly curious or bookworm-ish but they DO have to value truth and relevancy, while Seers, Mages, Thieves and Bards don't have to care about what's the most relevant or enlightening but they DO have to care about knowing what the fuck is going on.

[kooki914]

hi!! i quite enjoy your classpecting videos, i was wondering if you were willing to share the assets/ guides you made for them? particularly from the second video, the visual guide is helpful but a bit annoying to scrub to every time i wanna refrence them.

i hope that with your method my classpect thoughts are a little more streamlined, and easier to explain to people how i got to my conclusion!! very exciting stuff, if a bit more advanced than it’s advertised to be, hehe

Of course! I posted most of the visual aids in this post under the readmore for this exact purpose. If there's any I missed send another ask and I'll post those as well!

Love the enthusiasm btw!! Happy classpecting!!!

[kooki914]

you should get a bigger corkboard and keep adding things to your classpect theories continuously

i want more classpect stuff!!!

three videos are not enough to satiate me

I understand, in theory, why an infinitely expanding cork board sounds fun, in the sense that you get more of the thing you like, the problem is I'm not a Hope player if I add too much that has little backing behind it onto my theories that makes them both less credible and less practical.

HOWEVER,

For your entertainment and mine, I'm planning on doing classpecting livestreams once I release all three major videos, just talking to chat and trying to classpect characters that are suggested to me, with the caveat that I don't know every piece of media ever (for now) so my scope of knowledge is limited and will require audience participation. So, eventually, there WILL be a whole lot more classpecting stuff from me, just not in the near future.

[kooki914]

Why do you not use the official bard outfit?

In my classes video, I took off the codpiece from the Bard outfit, as well as made some minor tweaks for a few others, mostly in order for the outfits to be easier to differentiate between each other and take seriously. You kind of can't put the cod piece on screen without context or acknowledgement of it, especially since the videos are aimed at an audience that doesn't know the base text of Homestuck and its semi-ironic clown shenanigan intricacies...

The less practical explanation is that my sister convinced me of her theory that the cod piece isn't ACTUALLY part of the Bard god-tier outfit. Gamzee made his god tier outfit without ever actually reaching god tier, as we know, and the only other Bard we have in the comic is fucking Cronus, who I think would just wear the cod piece without prompting. So there's a good 50/50 chance that BOTH cod pieces are custom made, that it's not part of Cronus' god tier either and it could be why Gamzee's retrieval of the piece depended on the Alpha trolls, like both unholy things were made in the same session as part of a matching Hope/Rage set. The extended sequence in Openbound focused on Gamzee's retrieval of the cod piece, furthermore hints that it has a symbolic significance to it that the rest of his god tier outfit doesn't have. One that easily comes to mind is Lord English's focus on masculinity and tying it to domination, and Gamzee's devotion to LE extending into mimicry/worship of that dogmatic dominance of all things "lesser", which we in fact see him doing with his killing of Equius and it's vaguely sexualized connotations.

Basically we have no reason to believe all Bards have cod pieces because why the fuck would you put that on pajamas.

[kooki914]

Hey I think need clarifion something about homestuck classes.

What exactly makes a person a master class? Is it just necessary to have a 1-player or 2-player session or is it tied to something else entirely? Was there something about Calliope and Caliborn that was the reason they were muses and lords, or was just the circumstances they were both in?

Could you have a 1-player or 2-player session without being a master class?

For Homestuck lore, I'm honestly not entirely sure. My gut instinct is to say that you CAN have a two-person session without the two rarest classes being involved, for the pure practical reason that MOST sessions will instinctually be two-person (per longer chains being more of a hassle), and sburb's setup necessitating both players have a server and client disc at their disposal. Without sburb interference, I assume most players would attempt a two-person session, which doesn't add up with Muses and Lords being very very rare.

As for why Caliborn and Calliope in specific get crowned with ruler classes while no other character or species does, I think is down to the fact that Cherubs are angellic beings mythologically speaking. Ruler classes often reflect an aspect of the author, or fully act as in-universe authorial intent, being larger than most other characters means you're essentially on the same level an author-insert would be in the story, hence why these "grand" titles are given to a species that is more powerful and more mythically significant than all other player species we have.

For classpecting in general, outside of Homestuck, commanding classes ("master" classes as you will, I just don't like that term) require a character or person or myth that's bigger than any single part of the story, their very existance interwoven into everything, often being the unseen context for the state of the world at large before being revealed (think of the Green Sun, or the Cal doll). They tend to be powerful beyond proper measure, either by literally commanding pieces of the story, or just by virtue of being THAT strong as fuck and terrifying. They ultimately seek to Rule, understanding preserving and changing being secondary to them when compared to the ideal of Being The One Who Makes The Rules.

If you've seen Naruto, you may know Madara and his importance to the plot, so much so that his power and influence is unrivaled and an entire army can't even make a dent in him - he is a Lord of Rage. His counterpart is Hashirama who is equally important and necessary to the story, both as Madara's equal and opposite as well as a physical, chemical source of so, so much bullshit in the series you wouldn't even BELIEVE. He is a Muse of Hope, and both of these men are more akin to archetypes unique to this story - a repeating blueprint that the main show follows in the footsteps of, like it's the echo of a grander, wider and more complex narrative.

[kooki914]

yo kooki

considering gettin into tumblr but honestly im just a deer in headlights anywhere i go on the internet sooo

any seer-ly advice from dear old man yaoi?

I mean, I guess? Depends on the subject. Like, you can mostly trust my judgement when it comes to visual art critiques, but you wouldn't take my word for any math related problems y'know?

My advice to you today anon is . Simplification and symbolization should be used as essentially the same tool. If you simplify something in a context when you wouldn't substitute it/turn it into symbols, then you shouldn't simplify said thing. Complexity and nuance is necessary for understanding everything complicated and falling back on "making it simpler" mentally will only prevent you from truly wrapping your head around other related things in the future, often without you realizing.

[kooki914]

YOU! 🫵 YOU WRITE THINGS SOMETIMES, RIGHT?!

how do you keep up with all your stories, OCs and lore stuff..? ;-; any advice on how?

Notes notes notes notes notes notes NOTES!!!!

You don't need pre-organized documents. When you get an idea WRITE IT DOWN!!! It can be on physically anything, preferably something small or part of an established notebook for note-keeping. Only after you have multiple ideas codified on paper can you, later on with a clearer head, organize and trim and expand on the ideas as necessary. My personal notes range from "four a4 pages in my general purposed drawing notebook with details about scenes, dialogue and worldbuilding condensed into short readable quotes" to "slip of paper that just has CRYSTAL COOL written on it" and with a lot of that material you can shape it into what you need. You can't shape or organize something you don't have yet.

Notes don't have to be pretty either! Its literally just something to help you remember what you thought of. If coloured stickers help, use them! If rewriting in a more legible manner in a bespoke notebook helps, do it! If your notes are all barely comprehensible doodles, who cares! As long as YOU know what you meant and you're reminded of what the idea was with said note, it's served its purpose. I know a guy who has an entire WALL in his room dedicated to just taping to it all the notes he has for his worldbuilding. Yes it looks deranged, but if it works, who cares about aesthetics. It's the behind the scenes stuff, like those "out of sight out of mind" wires for server rooms. No-one is allowed to judge you if in the end the ideas can be shaped into something satisfactory.

Also, if you have a LOT of OCs and worldbuilding tidbits, you could make a template for writing down the most relevant information. For characters this can be your standard character sheet (name, age, height, species, gender, sex, etc) or a more specialized character bio (for my characters I write things like philosophical leanings, attachment to objects, speech patterns, empathy levels and stuff like that because it helps me distinguish their voices when I write them), depending on how important the character is obviously. If you find yourself giving too many details to a random NPC consider making them the main character. For worldbuilding though, I used to write faux-encyclopedia entries for some of the concepts and items in my stories, the limit being that none of them were allowed to exceed a certain character/page limit in order to prevent me from over-explaining and also to ensure I wrote down only what's most important about them. I haven't used that method in a while but I might restart sometime soon.

Also, don't be afraid to discard things! If you change your mind about something, don't feel compelled to keep the old version for the sake of consistency. Growth, change, cutting and re-adding are all part of the growing pains in developing a story. I typically have the mindset of "before its published, it can be anything", so while you're still workshopping things, give yourself room to do literally whatever is necessary to make the story Feel Better. And, if you're doing this as a hobby and aren't planning on publishing anything, REJOICE!!! You can do literally whatever you want forever and anything can change or stay as is and it literally doesn't matter as long as you're having fun.

Good luck out there!

[kooki914]

Thoughts on the "deltarune critique" thats kinda blew up late last month?

I love being out of the loop with whatever the fuck is going on around that shitass game.

[kooki914]

So, I've seen you watch She-ra, so what are your thoughts on Catra? I've some people on this site strongly dislike her.

I think Catra is fine. I don't have particularly strong feelings either way about her (anymore*), she's well written but isn't my personal cup of tea when it comes to villainous characters. I enjoy her in the role of protagonist/deuteragonist much more, but we only get the last 10ish episodes of the show where we get to see her in that role.

*To address the "anymore" part: when I originally watched the show as a kid I had (internalized misogyny and) trouble separating realistic depictions of bullying from my own experience as a child getting bullied. Catra's behavior was the kind that made me want to punch her in the face and, as a child, I couldn't separate that from my idea of "bad writing" so I heavily disliked her. Again I don't really sway too harshly in either direction now, she's as well written as everyone else on the show and that's a compliment. I'm just not the kind of person obsessed with her and able to gush about everything that makes her cool.

[kooki914]

Okay hello it's me the Maybe Rage Assigned Anon, thank you for giving your perspective on classpects because you're the only person who makes them make sense- Well, at least to me, personally. Also like... I was worried that Rage would be seen as just an "Evil Person" Aspect, idk, maybe because we only have like... Three..? Canonical Rage players..? (Like I said, Homestuck lore is so interesting but SO confusing to me).

So if I ever say anything that's just factually incorrect is because I literally am stoopid-

(like I really, really like everything that I get and don't get about it, but if you asked me about anything relating to the alpha kids and everything post their introduction my brain just short-circuits, it's not because I don't like it, I'm just 0_0. Like constantly 0_0)

I need to make those classpect videos ASAP

You aren't stupid for not understanding classpects, anon, trust me. It takes a lot of dedication to parse them from Homestuck's 12 billion unreliable narrators, extra work in piecing together how they apply to other narratives and story tropes as a whole, and then a LOT of time to form a system that is both understandable and intuitive for assigning classpects to other characters.

The stigma around the Rage aspect in specific is really frustrating to me. Just as people label Bards and Princes as "bad guy" classes, Rage gets characterized as the "bad guy" aspect all the time when it couldn't be further from the truth. It's an aspect associated with negative emotions, yes, but it's an extremely necessary aspect. Rage is constructive because destruction and disillusionment are NECESSARY parts of story building and story telling, just as immersion and expansion are.

If someone is telling you a story that palpably doesn't make sense, you're going to be taken out of it, and naturally begin deconstructing it and noticing and pointing out everything that doesn't fit/doesn't make sense. That's the Rage aspect manifest, and it's deeply concerning to me how people characterize that as "universally bad" when that's such a natural and important reaction to have when consuming media. Lack of belief isn't lack of purpose, and Rage's rebellion against blind faith is, in my opinion, something that deserves to be actively cultivated. You SHOULD, actually, think critically and deconstruct things you're being shown, even if they're good and you like them! That's what critical engagement looks like and I think it's been sorely missing in modern fandom for YEARS.

So if you do believe you're Rage-bound, wear it proudly, anon. Rage is one of my favourite aspects, and there needs to be room for it in every story's ecosystem, or you're gonna get a bunch of people blindly gushing about something being so really totally good even if it has glaring flaws.

[kooki914]

Slightly Critical TADC Fan anon here-

Glad you liked the last episode so much! I did like it but certain stuff made me realize it's just alright to me.

I became a Jax hater and will continue to be like that till the series ends, she will be punished for her gay crimes against my beautiful doll and my beloved Gangle 😭 (I can't believe she fumbled all circus baddies dude, I can't)

HONESTLYYYY I've been a Jax hater from day 1... Funny rabbit character just doesn't do it for me when (s)he clearly has no actual fun doing the awful shit (s)he does and just uses it as cheap de-personifying escapism... Hurting yourself and everyone else in the process of Pretending to have fun with villainy isn't my cup of tea, personally. Give me a bad guy who vocally and clearly hates every second of what they're doing OR genuinely enjoys it and doesn't actively objectify the people around them through it.

I cannot lie though all of the characters have grown on me over time, even including Jax! The writing of the newer episodes just gives so much depth and interest to all of them, and skinless Jax fanart has been giving me life, personally.

Sorry that the series wasn't all that for you, genuinely. It sucks to see other people having fun with something you used to enjoy more (speaking from personal experience bluh bluh)... I hope you find something that sparks the same interest for you as TADC did, or at the very least doesn't disappoint you in the same way. I humbly offer the medium of self-contained movies as a good cleanser when something episode-based starts getting on your nerves.

[kooki914]

So... Any new thoughts on TADC? I've hm I have completely given myself to the dark side and I'm now very critical about certain things, I miss my dentures, Kooki, I miss him.

Unfortunately I can't join you on your hate train anon, this newest episode of TADC has made me love the show even more and instantly became nearly my favourite ep in the whole series (second only to ep6 because of the comedy of it alone).

I WILL say though, I think what's been revealed about both Kinger and Caine is fascinating. I think the Kinger coding sequence/personal Hells sequence slaps harder than anything else on this earth, and the way Caine accuses the humans of tormenting him ONLY AFTER Kinger inserted a daemon into him to make him STOP the "torment injections"? Oh my god. Literally peak fucking cinema. If anyone wants me to break down that scene nearly frame by frame I'll fucking do it.

[kooki914]

So what's your Classaspect, fellow Stuck at Home'r? I don't think you've ever mentioned it before.

(I understand so little about Homestuck but I did that extended zodiac sign quiz, I got something like- Virpio virgo? Which is like- Light aspect and a durse dreamer I think, but if you ask me personally I'm starting to see Rage may fit me more low-key :') )

I've classpected myself as a Seer of Breath because you physically cannot shut me up, and because I love plot analysis. I'm also a Derse Dreamer like you anon, hooray!

When it comes to the extended zodiac quiz though I can't really recommend it for that kind of self diagnosis identification. I personally never got Breath on the quiz despite taking it multiple times and Breath fitting me best (I think). Not just because of the plot analysis thing but also because my head is in the clouds, at all times, without fail, and the individuation/freedom philosophy speaks to me the most out of all the aspects. The quiz doesn't treat the aspects that way, though, mostly treating it as a personality quiz rather than a personal symbolism quiz, which I think sucks.

If you're undecided between Light and Rage, I guess my question for you (to maybe help you decide) would be whether you lean more towards material reality, or ideas/hypotheticals? Light is an aspect concerned with ideas and learning the truth, while Rage is an aspect concerned with material reality and seeing through lies. Though, it's worth noting that Rage is also often considered a "lying" aspect as well, usually in the sense that nothing is REALLY real, which Light tends to disagree with philosophically.

Light and Rage have in common the fact that they tend to "focus", Light chooses the most fortunate option out of a myriad, while Rage dismisses/destroys everything it deems as unimportant. Similar end goal but different means sort of thing, they both aim to find the kernel of truth underneath everything but take a different approach to doing so, Light tends to be seen as more constructive while Rage is explicitly destructive. Light is also tied with actual light as a symbol, while Rage is tied to darkness, which is also important to mention if we're talking about personal preference. Whatever you think fits you best is (probably) your aspect!