The fandom’s already put in a lot of work speculating about why MK has abandonment issues and how that’s probably connected to why we know nothing about his bio family, but idk if I’ve seen anyone mention what the clones can “tell us” about the situation? The way they each go off the rails offers a lot of insight!
Porty MK is very much a child’s idea of how being an adult works- he stays up as late as he wants, doing whatever he wants, and nobody can tell him what to do.
He even sounds like a child protesting bedtime: “Aw but fifteen houws I’m so sweepy- that’s what you sound like!”
He’s the only clone who has discarded his Pigsy’s Noodles shirt, another indicator that he Does Not Like Being Told What To Do.
Though he’s more than happy to tell other people what to do, since he easily got those bouncers and the clone swarm to obey him.
This suggests whoever MK grew up with was the “Drill Sergeant” type of parent: “I am in charge and you will do what I say; and I will punish you if you so much as insinuate you don’t like my decisions.” I suppose they could just be some run-of-the-mill shithead, but LMK can probably get more plot mileage out of making them a villain.
Painter MK is “older” than Porty MK; instead of throwing a tantrum to get what he wants, he conforms to what others want from him in the hopes that he’ll be rewarded (or at least not punished) for acting “correctly”.
“Pretty good? Pretty good?! That’s not good enough! You asked me to help paint your boat, and that’s what I’m going to do. I won’t stop! Until it’s perfect!”
Naturally, he gets mad when Sandy doesn’t follow the “script”. Sandy is “supposed to" agree that Painter MK needs to be better by fully devoting himself to the task at hand. “Pretty good” is a deadly insult- if “pretty good” is all that Sandy expects, then he must not think Painter MK can reach perfection, and if Painter MK can’t reach perfection, then he’s not good enough, and if he’s not good enough, then why even keep him around?
Painter MK responds by doubling down, because he can be perfect! He does have value! He’ll make Sandy see that!
Not to be a God Damn Homestuck, but all these paint splatters are definitely supposed to remind the audience of blood. If MK’s parent is a villain, they are not of the comic relief variety.
Delivery MK is distinct from the other two in that he actually deviated from his purpose! If he’d followed the pattern the other two had set, he would have performed his purpose too well, delivering his orders so quickly and in such large amounts that the shop would have run out of stock and been unable to serve its afternoon customers. He ate all the noodles and outright fought with Pigsy because he represents MK during the “snapback” part of his life- his parent demanded more and more from him until he had no more to give, at which point he realized trying to satisfy his parent was impossible and started turning all that effort towards himself instead, with less than ideal results.
MK’s parent would have considered him to be no longer useful after that and abandoned him, so Delivery MK probably also represents food insecurity.
Pigsy started yelling at OG MK, Sandy wanted Painter MK to stop trying so hard, Mei wanted to leave the arcade- each clone reacted the same way. “My loved one is unhappy with me” turned into “they’re going to abandon me” turned into “I can’t deal with that happening again” turned into “if they won’t stay voluntarily, I’ll make them stay.”
Perhaps the person who raised MK wasn’t actually his bio parent, but kidnapped him from his bio family because they sensed his Super Special Hero Potential or something.
That the clones briefly showed up in “This is the End!” suggests they’re more permanent than the average clone, so I’m curious to see if they’ll provide more info in the future.
I haven’t read Journey to the West, so I’m casting this question out to the fandom at large: are there any Journey to the West characters that match my description of MK’s hypothetical villainous parent?
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
kaledo-art
areudirty
dededos
gummygunk
