#andrew hussie

[mspa-archive]

A response written by Hussie about his past racist and ableist works, and the update to the unfortunate look of the recent Class symbols.

CLASS SYMBOL PATCH

[chiotri-loves-davekat]

AH officially addressing the racism in Homestuck and its fandom in the big 2026?

[mspa-archive]

CLASS SYMBOL PATCH

Taken from the official HSD and Andrew’s words…

“I'm adjusting the rules for coloring these symbols, as the best compromise I can think of to reduce any association with unfortunate imagery. I don't have a ton of familiarity with the full range of nazi symbols, but some people have pointed out the similarities with the black designs specifically, and I can definitely see why such a comparison would be made. This was absolutely not my intention.

So now I'm saying the rule is the class symbol is always the same as the LIGHTEST color in the aspect symbol. That means for certain aspects (void, doom) you use the background color, for all others you use the icon color. That way the darker colors don't trick the mind into the same reaction as black does. I'm also dropping the rule that active/passive symbols are two different colors. They can both be the light aspect color. The positive/negative space inversion can work well enough to show the active/passive difference.

Part of the reason these were so simple and abstract was to allow for the fandom to do what the fandom does best and create their own takes on it without being too restrictive. I’ve already seen some great iterations on the designs, especially ones that incorporate the lunar sway, or even combine multiple classes together creatively, and I’m happy to see people having fun with it. These don’t actually have to be used, but I thought it would be a fun addition to share with people while I was already expanding on some classpecting ideas in my free time.

I feel like this change mostly addresses the bad association with the symbols, and I probably don't want to patch further by altering the forms, because at a certain point it's probably better not to get carried away with the idea that nazis have ruined all radial patterns forever.

Here are all the main character classpects again, with updated colors.”

Also, a followup message. Would appreciate it if everyone in the community could take the time to read this.”

CLASS SYMBOL PATCH

[askhussie]

do you like qaw’s fanfiction?

its the most thing ive ever read.

[godahlpresentslizziesmithson]

Aw man i saw a reddit post about how one of the homestuck musicians has bad blood with the homestuck team and I didn't really think much of it when I read it (blah blah blah homestuck was mismanaged play a new song) but i should of checked the tags on tumblr imo. The discourse must've been sublime 😋

[mspa-archive]

Graphics used on the store page of Problem Sleuth shirts on Topatoco, 2010.

[mspa-archive]

Graphics used on the store page of Homestuck shirts on Topatoco, 2010.

[mspa-archive]

OFFICIAL CLASS SYMBOLS!

Taken from the HSOD and Andrews words…

“Finally made some canonical class symbols for anyone who considers these useful. In the comic, I only came up with aspect designs, because those were the symbols that appeared on the shirts. Classes were represented by the outfit designs, so they never seemed to need symbols. Still, as people speculated on classpecting and developed the ideas in their fanworks, class symbols started to seem like a missing piece of the lore.

The first image here is a better presentation of the crude-looking class pairing list I posted in an earlier Q&A. Again note that classes appear in the list linked as active/passive pairs, with an odd exception to the pattern, putting both witch/sylph fully on the active side, and maid/heir fully on the passive side.

The next image is a series of simple icons I came up with for each class pair, in this order:

- witch/sylph: witch hat

- prince/bard: scepter

- thief/rogue: dagger

- knight/page: sword

- mage/seer: eye staff

- maid/heir: abstract wavy shape, denoting malleability (it's basically John's hood)

- lord/muse: skull on pike”

“But these icons aren't meant to fully convey the classes alone. Instead they're treated more like "spokes" in radial designs which form a circle, so as to enclose an aspect symbol in the middle. That way the class and aspect can become a fully self-contained symbol.

Here's what they look like in radial form. The active ones are black, the passive ones are white. Also, the more active of the pair uses positive space to display the icons pointing outward. The more passive of the pair uses negative space, showing the icons pointing inward, cutting the shapes into the solid circle.

Note that because the list has the two odd pairs, witch/sylph and maid/heir, it was necessary to have both an outward/inward-pointing logic, and a black/white logic. Both witch/sylph are black, and both maid/heir are white, yet both also have inward/outward-pointing icon pairs.”

“To show examples of what they look like when you combine them with aspects, here are the classpect combos for all major Homestuck characters.”