that intermission was kinda sad because those kids looked at their guardians trying to be better and are like "What's your angle"
And it isn't even a change come from introspection and genuinely changing, their guardians got specifically replaced by different people.
God, the angst that's gonna cause them if they figure it out
there's a few big things about bro-coded that are worth noting.
one - obviously, this is operating under the thematic consequences of Act 1's reality. (really good post that informs a LOT of the philosophy of bro-coded, worth a read.) act 1's Earth is not a real place, it's not filled with real people. Early John, when Rose starts modifying his house, cannot give less of a shit about his sense of reality rapidly unravelling -- his sense of reality did not really exist as a coherent thing in the first place, because it's just a series of symbols, a series of ideas.
(click READ MORE, i. ended up writing a LOT)
part of that is that the guardians are ALSO just ideas, and not people. i can't find who said it, but there's a critique of act 6 that always stuck out to me. Bro Strider was never meant to be dave's biological father. he was meant to be a metaphor for the weird/aloof cool/shitty older brother that you don't see. he doesn't have a room, or a legal job, because it doesn't need to make sense -- he's dave's perception of a person.
like, the point that post was trying to make is that there were several evolutions of who/what bro was. there's the initial state, where he isn't a person -- he's an absent, aloof older brother, with hobbies you don't understand, who you worship nonetheless. then later in act 4 he becomes a cartoon ninjadad, throwing a baby across a roof in a way that i think was still not meant to be interpreted literally, but... it was a huge change. suddenly bro actually HAS an impact on dave's life. suddenly it matters what dave's home life is like.
then by act 6, all of these conflicting shades of bro coalesced under the rules of act 6's reality. and act 6's reality is very literal, y'know? you're meant to find tragedy in the alpha guardians. you're meant to mourn humanity on the alpha earth -- we spend SO much more time expounding upon humanity's fate on alpha earth than on beta earth. the boots-on-the-ground reality MATTERS, all of the sudden, and so Bro Strider coalesces into a really, really, really, REALLY shitty person.
and i think that that's compelling, if done right! it can be good. but you have to unpack those contradictions and layers.
bro strider was not, initially, a person.
and that's what bro-coded explores.
i think i forgot to use more numbers but whatever. yeah.
point two is basically just that the beta guardians aren't people. not in the way the alpha kids are, not in the way the alpha guardians are (since they're based on characters we spent 4k pages getting to know). and definitely not people on the level of Emma or Viri, who are real people from the real world. homestuck is a game of contrasts, and bro-coded is HUGELY interested in exploring those contrasts.
throwing all of those contradictory iterations of Bro (the ideatic Bro Strider, a post-game Dirk Strider, a real human being who's a dirk kinnie) into one body?
now you've got some interesting tension.
the other big part of this tension is that like. viri and emma are very much different kinds of homestuck fan, in the way that caliborn and calliope are, right? emma IS very much into that ideatic, early MSPA iteration of Homestuck's world. she likes bro strider because she likes that version of Homestuck, she liked it when he was in play because he was cool as shit and a fantastic symbol. she never really gave much thought to his abusive tendencies because she didn't consider the world under the lens of, like, realistic consequences that Act 6 applies. (this is NOT to say anything CLOSE to "all early homestuck fans are abusers" -- it's that Emma Specifically is letting a toxic closemindedness cloud her vision.)
and like, both girls have both perspectives inside of them! sure, viri's the kind of person who'd use blorbos in her narration unironically. she's huge on the alpha kids, and on thinking about shipping, and all the tumblr calliope stuff you'd associate with her. she thinks her understanding of rose would help her win her over. but it doesn't. because her worldview is also incomplete without Mom Lalonde, who IS that same exact extremely symbolic persona that Emma likes. and on the flipside, Emma's conscience is being driven by post-act-6 Dirk Strider, an Alpha Kid, a character TONS of people hate. viri loves Dirk, but Emma's indifferent... at least until it matters.
both girls have an act 1 guardian, barely a person, more of a symbol, in their heads. both girls have an act 6 strilonde, a fully realized character, an angst machine dialed up to 12, chattering away in their heads.
for all that emma's chapters are sharp and quick and cutting and focused, and viri's chapters are slower and meandering and talky and more sentimental...
emma and viri are two sides of the same person. it's a self insert.
emma and viri are both me.
in conclusion i kinda didn't answer your question and just talked about emma and viri forever asjlfdgsdghsdsg BUT it was fun to talk about some of my ideology stuff for bro-coded!!!!
Really enjoyed the latest chapter of your bro fic, I can't wait for the Roxy upd8 next chapter when it's ready to go.
Hey, thanks for enjoying Bro-Coded!!!! Asks like this make my day (and as i am currently sick in my apartment with bronchitis this is VERY appreciated).
As thanks, here's a bonus interlude I meant to release that takes place between chapters 3 and 4.
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]. --
TT: I have the inexplicable urge to inform you on my relationship with my guardian.
TG: oh wow hell of a coincidence i was just about to describe my urge to do the same
TG: hows your mom
TT: Inscrutable. She simply cannot be scruted.
TT: She made a big proclamation about quitting drinking and that the world was going to end.
TG: so
TG: the usual completely uninterpretable momlondian horseshit
TT: She did leave after I yelled at her, which is an improvement over me having to shove her out of my room.
TG: well there we go
TT: And your guardian?
TG: fell asleep on the couch
TG: didnt set any traps this morning
TG: i think hes got a vitamin deficiency
TT: Is that all?
TG: training went same as it always does
TT: I find you calling your narratively-mandatory strifes "training" to be funny on some existential level.
TG: yeah well
TG: bros awesome
TG: and thats all there really is to say on the matter
TT: I suppose it is, then.
TT: This was a delightful little interlude.
TG: it sure was
TG: did you learn anything
TT: Your brother should eat more Flintstones gummies.
TT: But that aside,
TT: No.
TT: Thank you for your time.
TG: always a pleasure
-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]. --
you said that hjt on cohost stands for etchjetty. what does the fir mean for your itchio, hjtfir? or is it just the tree
hjtfir is a keysmash i made when i was 4 years old coming up with a username for club penguin. its not that hjt stands for etchjetty. its that etchjetty comes from hjt
"hjtfir" -> "etchjetty4" but i dropped the 4 because it was dumb!
if you read my fic bro-coded you'll know that viri's middle name in it is "henrietta" -- this is because h-names are important to me for like. username lore reasons. lmao
nowadays ofc the name henry is used for something else pluralways but yeah
