The Complicated Story of the Homestuck Fandom 

challenge accepted. there are four types of romance in homestuck, called the "quadrants". they are symbolized by the different suits of cards in a deck and four different but still similar colors (we'll get to that later). red heart-- known as the red quadrant, or as feeling "red" for someone, filling this quadrants (or having a partner within this particular romance) would give you a matesprit. matespritships are pretty much our understanding of romance, not much to cover or go into. pale(or pink) diamond-- known simply as the pale quadrant, or as feeling pale for someone, filling this quadrant would give you a moirail. a moirail is something like what us humans consider best friends, except with a kind of more codependency going on. a moirail is someone you feel obligated to put before you, someone who you care immensely for and their well being. while only one of the moirails caring for the other is uncommon, this is seen as an unhealthy relationship, for the care is unbalanced. black spade-- known as the black quadrant, or as feeling black for someone, filling this quadrant would give you a kismesis. a kismesistude is basically a pair of individuals who intensely hate eachother, almost to the point of violence, but still are attracted to eachother at the same time. hate-love, if you will. here's where things get confusing... stick with me. ash(or grey) quadrant-- known as feeling ashen for a pair, filling this quadrant would either give you a auspitice or label you as an auspitice. sometimes, within in a kismesistude, the hate can get so violent that someone else may see this and feel ashen about the situation, or hatefully care about the other's well being, and step in as a kind of mediator between the two. this person who steps in is known as an auspitice. the quadrants themselves are set up in a particular fashion-- the heart being to the uppermost left, the diamond being to the uppermost right, the spade being to the lower left, and the club being to the lower right. the quadrants that are on the top are the more positive types of romance, or are a more reddish color. those bellow are a more negative type of romance, or a more blacker color. those to the left are more "romantic"(as we see it) and deal with attraction(as we see it), and thus are more rich colors. those to the right are more platonic, and thus have more faded out colors. this is still pretty long, but i LOVE ranting about the quadrants. if you have any questions, feel more than free to ask! i'll be more than happy to respond.

You neglected to mention that Snoop Dogg himself was actually a fan of the comic and retweeted Homestuck fanart of himself and a couple of the trolls.

*takes long drag on a cigarette* Homestuck? I haven’t heard that name in years.

So THIS is what homestuck is, I was wondering why they're were so many grey demons in the background of cosplay conventions.

so youre telling me SIX DIFFERENT WEBSITES CRASHEDin a SINGLE DAY??!?!

i kid you not, i knew literally *_nothing_* about homestuck before watching this video

I remember seeing tumblr kids dressed as homestuck guys in middle school back when it ended, and I thought it was an LGBT movement

Imagine cosplaying gamzee, going on a murder spree and then testifying in court that you were staying in character

I remember seeing a tumblr post that said something like “despite all its insane controversy and ridiculous oddities the most surprising thing about homestuck by far is that it is genuinely good and enjoyable to read” and that shit resonates

you read all of homestuck for this....youre the absolute man dude

Why does everyone act like quadrants are so complicated and need to explain with paragraphs? Hearts- R omantic sexual love Diamonds- Bro, youre my world I love you platonically dawg Spades- Batman+Joker in the lego batman movie Clover- we're on the verge of spades but that would be bad for us so we'll get a hate-councelor

I've always wanted to learn about the candy corn horn people. But even now, I am scared.

Andrew Hussie saying "well that didn't work" describes this fandom pretty well.

Did you just say you binge watched the ENTIRE comic? in NINE days? Are you human?!!

Homestuck^2: Exists The Homestuck Fandom: Ah shit here we go again

The homestuck fandom manages to be absolutely feral, and frothing at the mouth, while also remaining as the best and most welcoming fandom I’ve ever been in. A decade later, I’m still enjoying Homestuck and the journey I’ve had along the way... To make a long, heartfelt word vomit short. Homestuck is never going to let me go and has me in the deadliest chokehold. It’s like this fandom has me at gun point.

i don’t think you understand i literally gasped with more fear than i have for a long time the second you said hetalia you’ve activated my fight or flight response

“…and Gamzee.” I mean. How else do you describe him

"The longest pause and test of loyalty lasted a year" Hunter x hunter fans knowing the dark continent arc will probably never end but still hoping: pathetic

I was never into Hetalia so maybe that's why I've never heard of Homestuck. I vaguely remember seeing videos of kids with grey skin and orange/yellow horns and I was so fucking confused that I just ignored it.

"The relationship between the fandoms was complicated, seemingly hating and loving each other at the same time." My ass who was a homestuck circa 2010-2013: *Kismesis.*

I'm seeing a lot on quadrants, but who can name the nine sectors of Leprechaun romance?

I'm actually quite late to the fandom (I started reading in May 2019), so I was able to enjoy it post toxicity.

Important: You're not cringe for liking homesick, Undertale, Or anything of the sort. As long as you aren't an insane fan, You're doing no harm one of the reasons why the "Bad side" Speaks louder, Is due to the attention we give them. I've met fans from these things who are wonderful.

"The buckets..." Nononono NO NO NO NO. NO. NO. THEY DIDNT. NO. "They spit in the bucket" Thank god jesus man dont scare me like that.

[S] John: Reunite with your loving wife and daughter. is the best flash animation

tysm you got me into homestuck months ago, ive had a great adventure going through the webcomic the fandom, and the games. Ive met many new friends and have had bright experiences with it. all i gotta say is, thanks man.

“Homestuck would get an epilogue” welcome to 2020, where the epilogues, homestuck^2, and pesterquest have revived this fandom, bringing back Omeglestuck and other celebrations, especially this 4/13.

The video that was prophesied for generations.

Finally, finally I can share this terrible story from when I was in the Homestuck fandom So this was around four or five years ago, I was at New York Comic Con, I was cosplaying Kankri, minding my own business. This group consisting of a Terezi and a Gamzee and a third person I can’t even remember anymore turned a corner and came into view. I was standing on a line at a booth next to a Dave cosplayer I’d never met before. The Gamzee starts honking a horn SUPER LOUD and screaming cussed at the top of his lungs (this is typical of the character but like,,,,there were young kids around on top of how inappropriate it would in any public setting) and the Dave and I just looked at each other really uncomfortably as we felt visceral second-hand embarrassment. Suddenly the Terezi runs up to the Dave, grabs his face and LICKS A STRIPE UP THIS KID’S FACE FROM JAW TO TEMPLE. The Dave looked at me with such terror, such desperate pleading that I immediately knew these two had never met each other and that the Terezi was just absolutely insane My jaw was hung open, watching this teenage girl slather this poor lad in her saliva, black lipstick and paint. I ran from that situation so fast that I’m pretty sure a part of my innocence still resides in that spot to this day. I think often about that poor Dave I left. Whoever you are, I’m sorry for abandoning you bro

It feels like the creator writes the script while high and then just draws and animates whatever he wrote.

you explaining the whole bucket thing activated my fight or flight response. thanks

You binged the ENTIRETY of homestuck in A WEEK?!

i cant remember who i saw this from but the absolute best way to describe the homestuck shipping quadrants would be with icarly. HEART (matesprit)- Freddie and Carly's romantic implied relationship DIAMOND (moirail)- Sam and Carly best friends and protectors of each other, soul mates SPADES (kismesis)- Sam and Freddie's implied romantic and hate relationship (love to hate you kind of situation) CLUB (auspistice)- Carly is the head figure in preventing Sam and Freddie from getting at the others throats too much. They would be chaotic without her presence. Hope that helps LMAO

Anyone remember when everyone hated Hetalia and Homestuck’s fandom so much we got shipped together jokingly??? Good times.

Im literally only finding about this now, from accidentally finding two characters (karkat and sollux) and thought it was some tv show about these grey aliens, so i looked it up and found the comic. Although it did seem like it sucks from this video, i think its a cute comic and try reading it in my freetime.

First you had the Mega-Pause, then you saw the giga-pause. Now get ready for The M E N O P A U S E

you never really know the concept of both passionately loving and hating something until you've experienced homestuck

So wait, there’s a Homestuck term for stopping two people in an un stable relationship from killing each other? I was an Auspitice for the majority of my life then

Look at what've you done. This video has led me to the monstrosity that is the homestuck fandom. I cannot escape, as the Homestuck fandom never dies. I am stuck in this eternal loop forever. I can never leave. I wouldn't want to anyways.

the hetalia homestuck comparison gave me an aneurysm because that's exactly how I was in 2014

Wait, you binge-red the entire webcomic in SEVEN DAYS?! HOW IS THAT EVEN PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE?! DID YOU SLEEP?!

If you think undertale was bad, just WAIT until the time comes when you look into Hamilton. It is a DOOZY.

*Me, getting into Homestuck because of my friend:* haha, I’m in danger!

publishing it on 10/25... Mr. Monger, you're diabolic

I binged Homestuck during the Gigapause, in about a week and a half. I'd spent a long time holding Homestuck and its fans in utter disdain until I read it. I completely understood what the hysteria was about; the story/universe(s) are insane and staggeringly imaginative, and though there are parts that are extremely difficult to chew through, it's a story with heart, and (in my opinion) an uncanny understanding of the way I used to behave and think during my uncertain teenage years. Waiting for that Gigapause to finish and visiting the page only to see the same old shop ads for the plushies was absolute torture. People who turn their nose up at Homestuck simply don't know what they're missing out on. But yeah, the fandom is.. weird.

Okay, but can we appreciate that this man read Homestuck in NINE DAYS?!?! It took me around 5 months, and I know a few people who took over a year to read it.

Man, now there’s the epilogues, Pesterquest, and Homestuck 2! Homestuck is going to last for a long time.

I remember back in 2014 (IIRC?), I was at Sacanime and there was a group of homestuck fans calling themselves Windowstuck that went around cleaning up after the ruder Homestuck fans. There was... gray paint everywhere.

The coolest part about the whole incident with the Karkat cosplayer getting pelted with buckets was that when he bled, his blood was red. Now, that's commitment to the role! Jokes aside, what a bunch of assholes.

Any two characters in any media: *have unconventional relationship* Homestuck Fandom: *Laugh in Quadrants*

Homestuck was my blue balls fandom: I was deeply invested with no one to talk with about it and I started reading right as the Great Hiatus started (circa 2013). I wasn’t on Tumblr, so I never saw the worst of the fandom, but I’m able to understand the depth of emotion and absolute bullshitery this story is able to upend in people. The constant struggle of being completely engulfed in something, but knowing it’s nigh impossible to sell an outsider without sounding like an insane person. On the plus side I did learn to draw doing fanart for this comic, so it wasn’t all for naught.

Homestuck is what makes my jr. high school years something i never speak of.

Ohhh I remember homestuck cosplayers very vividly. I’m a cosplayer myself and at a convention I met some homestuck cosplayers. I told them their cosplays looked great and asked them who they were cosplaying. They were super nice to me even complementing me on my own cosplay. I asked them about homestuck and what it was since I had no idea what homestuck was at the time. They were explaining it to me when out of nowhere this troll cosplaying kid who was entirely unrelated to the people I was talking too or the conversation in general appears. He just starts shouting at me about how I’m an uncultured swine for not knowing what homestuck is and how it’s the greatest thing in the world. I quickly made an escape. Luckily I met the cosplayers later and they told me the kid was unrelated to them and that they’re very sorry for his behavior. I told them it was fine, and that I understand that every fandom has those people. But I was on edge for the rest of the day because I was kinda dreading running into that kid again. Luckily I didn’t.

I love how this video was made before the epilogue controversy and the toblerone findings of this year. And, not only that, but P E S T E R Q U E S T! 2019 is truly a new era for the fandom.

This is it, this is where my life either changes or ends forever, I’m gonna go read homestuck from beginning to end. Pray for me, UNTIL NEXT TIME LIFE First edit: I’ve just started the 2nd act, it’s getting really good but for some reason I can’t stop reading it Second edit: just began the 3rd act and I can’t stop reading, this is getting out of hand, HELP ME Third edit: I don’t know who I am or where I am, all I know is, homestuck. Homestuck is all I know now. I haven’t left my room in days yet I don’t think I need to go outside ever again.

Homestuck video only 40 minutes long??? Whoa cutting it short there bud

It's not a bad comic. It's just that certain people got WAY too into it. This is true of many fandoms, however.

actually i was afraid to read it when it was famous... because i heard a lot of activity that was... you know... but here i am, craving to smother myself in gray paint, wear candy corn, and use black lipstick. its 2019, i know.

One of my best memories was being a Jade cosplayer at a con in 2012 and having one of the guys who did music for the comic lead a sing along for 'How Will I Live' with a massive group of Homestuck cosplayers, complete with a guitar in hand. I wish I somehow saved the recording I had of it but I have it here: in my heart....

Just enjoy something you like. Don't focus on the messy parts of the fandom, because it'll just bum you out. This is something I learned after experiencing my first major fandom (Undertale) Just like the thing you like and stay respectful towards others. If you do this, you'll have a grand old time.

I know someone who worked on hiveswap. The legal problems with the odd gentlemen are bad. REALLY BAD.

And HERE WE ARE, IN 2020, WITH HOMESTUCK 2. OH MY GOD.

I guess homestuck just got needlessly complicated after a while. But the idea that you could write something that massive and still have it remain coherent was very appealing. It was very meta, and it commented on that a LOT, and that was very relatable. But it fell from grace

Oh hey, always nice to have more Homestuck on RU-vid. I'm quite pleased you ended on an optimistic note, and entirely agree. One thing you didn't mention is that we're still waiting on the Epilogue and Hussie has partnered with Viz Media to produce it, and what it actually is is kind of a mystery. So there's more to look forward to besides Hiveswap/Hauntswitch/the Friendsims. Thanks for making this video! :) It's nice to see someone else find their way to the fandom.

You gave me PTSD by saying Hetalia

24:37 you were SO CLOSE to making a loss meme there

I need people sorting comments by newest to know that someone on TikTok took a Sharpie bath cosplaying as Ghostbur (Minecraft/DreamSMP fandom) in honor to The Good Old Homestuck Days

Perfect timing, right on the anniversary of when Cascade[S] dropped.

I can't believe I have never heard of Homestuck... Sure mentioned sometimes but I assumed it was an anime or drama series or something. How wrong I was.

"... And Gamzee" I've been wheezing fot that single sentence for like 5 minutes straight. I mean, how else would we describe him?

Binge read the entirety of Homestuck in 9 days (technically 7?) Sir. That is some goddamn dedication, if I do say so myself. I tip my horn headband to you.

Wow, you even read the comic and everything else for this. From how often you got requested to do this it's very much appreciated how in-depth you got into it. I was huge into the fandom myself back then and there were things in this video I never even knew about!

18:00 That's me as Psii with my group of friends back in early 2014! Was honestly absurdly shocked to see that picture again, let alone in a video like this! Thank you for the pleasant memories, even when used in the context of good vs bad cosplayers.

this is now happening with mha, young cosplayers dragging themselves around on leashes. it’s just- idk how to explain it. that’s why I stopped cosplaying from mha.

and now 2020 has came around and Homestuck had a small resurgence from people reading it during quarantine. welcome newcomers!!

Listening to this, I'm surprised that I missed ALL OF THAT. I only heard of homestuck until I got into undertale, and wanted to know the origin of megalovania, and then once I got into the fandom, it was a husk of its formal self, joining when it ended. It's sad honestly, I feel as if I stumbled across a vault, and reading all the logs and journals of a once bustling civilization that went into chaos.

anybody else thought it was gonna be something worse then spit in the bucket because of how he phrased the lead up.

"And Gamzee" Fair enough. I'm working on a gamzee cosplay

Exactly one year later homestuck 2 is announced. So fcking ironic

18:02 Omg my husband is the psiionic cosplayer! :D We actually met thru homestuck in 2013

"like with the infamous sharpie bath in 2011" HOW DO YOU EVEN

On the bright side of things, the worst people have drifted to different fandoms, the cosplayers are more experienced, and the people who stayed after all this time are really nice. Also hiveswap and the epilogue.

homestuck discourse back in the 2010s: the fandom has a few bad eggs, those crazy homestucks. homestuck discourse in the lord of our year 2020: the epilogues and homestuck 2 are bastardizations of the original comic and it’s characters. The new writers make fun of fans over twitter and get shitloads of money to update the comic twice a month. i want to get off mr hussies wild ride

Real talk. You could FEEL that Hussie was growing tired of both his work and parts of his fandom, especially when he shut down the forums, but it can also be seen expressed in the series itself. This man created something which he both hated and loved deeply - and for the story this wasn't a bad thing. In my opinion, the main villian of the series - without spoilering - is a representation of his past and present frustrations, especially because how the in-comic Hussie interacts with him. In my opinion this only added to a character which would arguably otherwise have been a very uninspired arctype of a villian. But my point is: The man has given us all he could. Let it end. And I say that as someone who has read through the entire thing three times. Hiveswap Act 1 wasn't BAD, but to me the magic wasn't there anymore. Possibly because magic is fake as fuck in the first place, who knows.

Pretty sure my comment isn't going to see the light of day but story time. So this happened at a convention in Florida. I saw someone struggle to walk in a very elaborate cosplay. I don't remember what it was, because I didn't recognize it at the time. They ended up tripping over their own cosplay on the way down the stairs, and fell pretty bad. There was a group of homestuck cosplayers laughing at the bottom saying "I warned you about them stairs bro" which is a quote from a spin off or something attached to homestuck. Meanwhile, I'm trying to rush over and help this person but I was so mad I couldn't think. Thankfully the cosplayer was okay, and so was their costume. They weren't concerned, they didn't help -- they just laughed??? I'm still upset over it 5-6 years later.

god that dollar shave club transition was so smooth *ba dum ch* yeah i’ll see myself out >8D

"What other fandoms were there to feed into Homestuck?" Oh no.

A bunch of hotels near an anime convention where I lived closed their pools every year after Homestuck cosplayers jumped into them in body paint and ruined them. People at the convention hated the fandom for years.

Just throwing this out there, you can enjoy a thing without associating yourself with or becoming a part of the fandom. Don't avoid things just because people who like them are weird.

Started reading in 2016, lost interest, Undertale came out, started hearing about Toby working on Homestuck, checked it out, and now I'm obsessed :)

The epilogues have happened my dude; they were horrid.

Wait. *How* did you read all oof Homestuck in 7 days? I can't believe it, this is physically impossible.

is it ok to fully get into a fandom two years late EDIT: holy shit a lot of people replied to this! thanks for all the support i didn't really stick with homestuck, but i did end up getting into the arcana fandom a little too late, so this still totally works lol

Me just now in 2019/2020 starting jojos, undertale, homestuck, ddlc, and deltarune

its so funny seeing people talk about how ginormous homestuck was despite nobody ever knowing what it is

back in 2012, me and my sister went to a con in ohio. we were so confused because we were practically surrounded by grey people with orange horns and zodiac shirts. we had no idea what they were, but it must have been a least half of the total cosplayers there. nothing eventful happened we were just extremely confused 😅

*Looks at title* Oh my god....He's finally doing it!!!

this just showed up in my recommended so im late to the party oops. homestuck is one of the most tightly knight and welcoming fandoms i have ever been in. i remember my first exposure was when an abnormally large group of Dave Striders were at my local convention in 2013. they gathered in a circle in the corner and would chant every now and then (i presume banishing Lil Cal to the netherworld). it was highly intriguing for me, and when my friend mentioned who they were, i jumped on it that night when i got home. never before had i felt like i had belonged in a community like i did there. i remember reading once a story that has always stuck with me about a girl who was down on her luck at a convention one time (stuck in a town she didnt know with no way to get home), and a group of homestucks let her stay in their motel room and they cheered her up. She wasnt in the fandom, but was inspired to get a homestuck related tattoo to remember them by. although it had its flaws, im still proud today to say i was (and still am) a part of the fandom.

I’m scared to go to con as a homestuck character cause of some of the homestuck cosplayers making me uncomfortable in the past