My Thoughts on the New “Canon” Aspect Quiz (+ moons!)
Well, this can’t wait.
I've taken the quiz, read the canon aspect descriptions and the descriptions of what the aspects of the Hiveswap characters are, as well as the descriptions of the moons. Thoughts below the cut:
(TL;DR: Contains some useful tidbits, but excessively facile and generally underwhelming and inadequate--but also not canon, so we can just ignore it as suits our needs)
ON THE ASPECTS:
The biggest thing about the aspects is that most of them have approximately one line of any value, and the rest is zodiac-like in that it’s basically rainbow reading--that is to say, every single aspect has such a wide list of personalities and traits listed that they will apply to everyone. There is, however, usually a key description of the aspect in the middle--stuff like confirming Rage as a denier of lies and a bringer of harsh truths. It also confirms the concept of aspects as opposites matching the standard pattern, and I would like to take this opportunity to politely tell everyone against this theory to suck it.
In terms of the actual aspects, the one thing we got (and it’s a big thing!) is an actual reasonable description of what Doom means and how it forms a dichotomy with life. It’s all terribly vague and buried in wishy-washy nonsense, but the gist of it seems to be that Doom players suffer and need to learn to empathize, while Life players empathize and need to learn to suffer. I’m not sure this exactly fits Sollux’s arc, and less sure that it fits Mituna’s (although Heirs don’t start with their aspect so it kinda works), but it’s more than possible that I’m misreading this. My biggest takeaway from this is twofold:
Firstly, that most if not all Doom players are on the Wounded Angel arc in Chuubo’s.
Secondly, that the Buddha is the archetypal Life player.
I’m really not sure how to feel about those things.
Unfortunately, most of the other aspects are a wash. Describing Time as goal-oriented is fair, if not the first thing I would say, and the description of Hope vs. Rage seems a little over-simplified but good enough for people with no prior background, but then they go and describe Light as knowledge. While this may seem correct at first blush, I’ve previously ranted about how all evidence in the story points towards Light as meaning stories instead. I can accept that Hussie wanted Light to mean knowledge, but his own work contradicts him here. The fact that they posted this makes me doubt the value of the other posts.
ON THE MOONS:
The lunar aspects share a lot of traits with the aspects, in that the descriptions are so broadly applicable as to basically be meaningless. Once again, there is a single line of valuable information to be gleaned from this, and that is the perceived decider between Prospit and Derse dreamers--Prospit dreamers accept authority, while Derse dreamers rebel against it. Like the aspects, this makes sense on first blush. However, there are some issues. You could easily say that Vriska and Tavros both respect authority, but to say Equius rejects it (as he should, as a Derse dreamer) is patently absurd. That might not be the best example, as Void players are free from stories about them and can make their own path, so they might not be as affected by their lunar alignment--but what about the other Dersite trolls? Nepeta shows no signs of wanting to fight the establishment or rebel in any particular way, Eridan wants to strengthen the status quo, and Feferi’s arc is in many ways about her having to learn to rebel because following the status quo is her first instinct! In short, this theory’s falling apart in a number of ways, and the nail in the coffin is that any theory that fails to explain why Sollux and Mituna, and only Sollux and Mituna, are residents of both moons falls apart--and this one doesn’t even try.
ON XEFROS BEING A RAGE PLAYER:
According to the signs shown, Xefros is destined to be a Rage player. A lot of people seem to view this as unexpected, but in truth he could be viewed as a Page or Knight of Rage rather easily. He’s been led by Dammek to believe that Rage is constant anger against “the man”, when in reality it’s tearing about any lies, even comforting ones like the rebellious structure Dammek’s set up. I don’t really have much to say about this, given how little we really know about Xefros; a lot of his characterization really hinges on how plausible the revolution is.
ON THE QUIZ ITSELF:
It has 8 questions for the moons and 12 for the aspects. Each of the moon questions has 5 answers on a linear scale between the moons, and each of the aspect questions is a linear scale between the two extremes of two opposite aspects. If there are ties, it resolves them in a fixed way rather than considering influence of other questions. In addition, some of the questions are based solely on surface-level traits of an aspect instead of the actual personality traits (”would you rather travel through time or through space”--really? I expected this from an amateurish fan, not from you). It has set before itself a monstrous undertaking, and then proceeded by falling flat on its face. If you were to design a classpect quiz (for I firmly believe that different classes have such different relations to their aspect that it would be impossible to properly determine one without the other), it would need to start with wide-ranging questions, then narrow down between similar ties as you went; it should ideally adjust itself on the fly to tease out nuances; and it would need to perform meta-analysis of the answers to notice overall trends in behavior. Even then, it might not always be correct. I may have been somewhat considering making such a quiz for myself with all of those features, but I lack the background in psychology which would be necessary to properly write the questions. So, to see this quiz which barely even tries, from WhatPumpkin and Hussie himself, borders on insulting.
“BUT WAIT! SURELY IF THIS CONTRADICTS YOUR THEORIES, THAT MEANS YOUR THEORIES ARE WRONG?”
I’m glad you asked such a leading question, imaginary Karkat! As it turns out, the author does not have sole ownership of the work, and their interpretation is not inherently more correct than anyone else’s. This is a principle known as death of the author, and while it may be considered something of a stretch, I firmly believe such a principle applies here, as the quiz is non-canonical. This may seem absurd at first blush, but there is a clear reason why:
These two trolls are the canon fantrolls, Mierfa Durgas and Nektan Whelan. They are the results of a pair of $10,000 donations to Hussie’s Kickstarter, which offered to make a fantroll canon. As such, any excuses you might make--for instance, that Caliope was imagining the signs as hypotheticals--cannot be used; these two characters are definitionally canon. However, their signs are not included in the expanded zodiac; and as such, because it contradicts known canon information, it therefore is not canon and cannot be treated as such. It can tell us a lot about what Hussie thinks the aspects mean, but not a word of proof as to their actual meaning.
