[ SECRET POST #1773 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1773 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 055 secrets from Secret Submission Post #253.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom.livejournal.com]

19. http://i42.tinypic.com/2af0vaw.png

[ascend.livejournal.com]

how dare you blaspheme jesus hussie christ

[(Anonymous)]

What you did there... I see it. :3

[(Anonymous)]

He has building worlds up fine tuned, but...dislike the story. Dislike most of the characters. Dislike the constant copy paste. Dislike the fact the main reason this is so high on the radar is to ship aliens and kids in various ways, undermining anything of merit. I know there's normal fans out there, but a significant portion of the fandom values information on Sollux's penis over anything of substance.

[oflittlebrain.livejournal.com]

idk why you would even bother reading the whole thing if you dislike the story and most of the characters :/

[ascend.livejournal.com]

Shipping certainly is a big part of the fandom, especially since Hussie gives us canon relationships to work with (and in fact spends a notable amount of time explaining troll romance, for instance). But as with all fandoms, most people aren't in it just for penis or sex or any of that shit. Most of us actually like the story??? Like legit enjoy reading Homestuck for what it's about, its humour, its deep story line, character development, etc. That you think people are only into it for porn and shipping is understandable (I hated HS more than anybody else can hate anything before I was finally able to get into it, and I often felt the same) but it's inaccurate.

[streetcake.livejournal.com]

Aw man, I wanna know who you are so I can read that review.

I don't think he's a terrible writer, but I love seeing well thought out reviews on series, even if they're negative and I happen to like the series.

[myrioddity.livejournal.com]

I love Homestuck, and think its strengths outweigh its weaknesses. &even were that not the case, I'd still cheer it on for pioneering such interesting storytelling methods. & I'll be all "Nooo!" when it's over.

But I look forward to reading a review like yours, and others like it.

'Cause Homestuck is so preposterously huge. I imagine taking a good long look back at it from the finish line--and a critical standpoint--will be really worthwhile. :D From fans who love it, reluctant followers who loathe it, and everyone in between.

[castorochiaro.livejournal.com]

I think it's cool you intend to look at the piece as a whole rather than just defaulting to "ARGH TOO BIG IT JUST ALL SUCKS OKAY". There's a lot of that out there as is, so hey, props for wanting your analysis to be thorough. Criticism is just as valid as praise, so I'll be intrigued to hear your thoughts.

[insanenoodlyguy.livejournal.com]

You... don't seem to like this all that much.

But you're going to stick around for what could well be like, 1000 more pages or so... so you can write a complete review.

Wow. Just... wow.

[tenebrais.livejournal.com]

Around 4400 at present. It'll be a long ride. But hey, plenty of people still do the read.

[yucari.livejournal.com]

See, I think he's a good writer on one level. The man is extremely fucking good at playing around with words, and his dialogue makes me laugh.

But he's mediocre at characterization - he's good when he wants to be, but he has a tendency to play favorites and his waxing and waning affection for certain characters/groups of characters becomes really evident as the comic develops. And he's piss-poor at plotting. So much is just asspulls. It was better about this before the troll arc began, but now it's just MURDER!! And then suddenly there's ANCESTORS!! And then suddenly there's MORE MURDER!! And then suddenly there's A CRITICAL REVELATION YOU QUIT GIVING A SHIT ABOUT TWO HUNDRED PANELS AGO!!

I feel like Homestuck is the kind of story that needs multiple drafts in order to create a coherent product, and it really suffers from its format as a serially updated webcomic. A lot of the stuff in the comic (and a lot of what ends up on his Formspring/Tumblr, which is a testament to the fact that he really failed at incorporating important thematic stuff into the comic proper) could be better elaborated on, and a lot of the characterization issues resolved, with a few good revisions and rewrites.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

And this is why I want to write that review :) Dear sir or madam, I would dearly love to go into more depth and converse with you about Homestuck and my own thoughts on it in conjunction with yours. But although I may reveal myself when the review is written to the people here interested in reading it, for now I wish to keep down low.

Homestuck seems to divide people into camps - the people who love it and refuse to hear a word against it; the people who hate it and refuse to even hear about it; the people who enjoy it and are reasonable about it; and the people who hate it and are reasonable about it. Sadly most people seem to fall into the former categories than the later ones, including several people I know. And as the updates are still coming, I will admit that I don't want to be the person picking out the flaws as I see them while they're simply enjoying the update. No need to rain on their parade.

With a review I'd like to just be honest. People who really hate Homestuck won't read it and the people who think it's absolutely perfect will disregard me as a hater who wishes he could be Hussie. That's all fine. As long as one or two people could read it and it really makes them think, I'll be happy.

[rayiroth.livejournal.com]

I can't agree with you more about the multiple draft and how he suffered from being an ongoing project element. The other thing about Homestuck that stood out to me that isn't his fault but has made Homestuck notorious, is that it has one of the most misleading fandoms I've ever seen. Usually with fandoms people would get into shipping wars and "my interpretation is closer", but people don't usually end up insisting that they are the only people understanding Hussie's version of canon. Throw in 12 pansexual aliens with 4 way romance, and a fandom that's more obsessed about their version being "the only true canon", I can safely say that I was utterly confused by Homestuck until I blocked the fandom out completely.

With Hussie himself, I think his usage of media is utterly brilliant, his words-play and one-liners are good, overall script is average, characterisation varies greatly as he's competent of juggling four characters but he was falling apart with 16+, he has the potential of making good plot but he needs to clear it out a bit, and the pacing is just inexcusably atrocious.

The way he behaves, now here's the thing I don't know how I feel about. I like to read his creating thoughts and process even though I don't always agree with how he handles a story, and I found that by the middle of Act 5 I stopped caring about the characters because Hussie trolls so much that it felt like whatever happens is just his way of being an intentional fuckwit. Then again, with the vocal entitled fans that Homestuck has, I don't know if there are any other ways to communicate with the fanbase.

[ascend.livejournal.com]

I agree to an extent - I'm a strong reader and I find it kind of embarrassing that I have to rely so often (and heavily) on his summaries to understand things that are going on (mostly in the longer flashes, and I tend to chalk this up to the lack of verbal communication that goes on during these, but if you're going to make a long flash to delve into your story more, and you aren't going to use language, then it's a good idea to ensure your audience will be able to follow without too much difficulty).

The occasional struggle to follow along closely aside, I don't see a problem with his characterisation in particular. Hussie has stated he's had all of the plot figured out from the beginning so I think his lack of... care given to some characters isn't so much because he's grown bored of them or what have you - I think he's just following what he planned out from the beginning, and for those of us who are slowly reading as he updates what he's had in his head the whole time, we tend to grow attached to characters and feel differently when they die than he probably does. Ask any of my friends how I reacted to the Lord-English-coming-out-of-Scratch's-dead-body-like-a snake-nut-tin fiasco; I flipped the right fuck out. But Hussie even explained that that's how he envisioned Lord English - and everything about the EoA5 and intermission - from the beginning. This is how he's envisioned everything. And the plot probably flows well in his mind because he knows things we don't - and I agree that this is something that writers need to overcome, Hussie included. So regarding the plot flaws, I see where you're coming from. I do think he's okay with characterisation though.

I think Hussie's biggest downfall, with the kind of story he's going for, is the time he takes putting pages out. If HS was a book that we could all sit down and read in one go without pauses in between material, I think it would be easier to follow. It would flow better. Thinking of all the books I've read, many of them would have a few of the same "plot issues" you bring up if they were divided into clusters of pages given to us every week or so.

[oflittlebrain.livejournal.com]

"terrible" rly? yeah he's not a god but he's not stephenie meyer either c'mon

[tenebrais.livejournal.com]

Is there much to wait for? Why not do it now?

Reminds me a little of What The Fuck Is Homestuck, a tumblr blog that began when the comic was paraded in front of its creator's nose long enough for her to start reading and poking fun at it as she went because she expected it to be terrible. And then she found it wasn't, and now she's one of the comic's more insightful commentators in the fandom.

[saiika-von-maou.livejournal.com]

I think he's a genius in some ways and a poor writer in others. He created a wonderful foundation, but he really did lose some good pieces as he kept building up. I think a lot of people are mesmerized by the temporal twists and turns (myself included) and don't realize where he falls short. I'd have to disagree with "terrible," though. He just needs some fine-tuning.

Interested to see that review, though. You had me at "full, fair review." A thorough nitpicking? Yes please! Love it!

[raichu100.livejournal.com]

I think he's a fantastic writer, but obviously ymmv.

I do think it's too bad this is a secret, and sadly, I can understand why. There are a lot of Homestuck fans who give those of us who are reasonable a bad name.

[(Anonymous)]

I disagree with you, as I do like his writing a lot, but I love reading well-thought out and well-written, thorough reviews, no matter what conclusion they reach. I hope I get to read yours when it's finished, OP.

[xenoglossy]

Yeah, I do enjoy Homestuck, but the writing definitely has some problems. I would definitely be interested to see your review of it! Although... don't force yourself to keep reading the comic just for that if you're not having fun.

[(Anonymous)]

Note how many people can't seem to respond without defending Hussie's "genius"...

[izelmecatl.livejournal.com]

I would very much like to read this review, dear sir or madam :)

[09019.livejournal.com]

To OP - Out of curiosity, have you read some of his finished comics like Problem Sleuth or Jail Break? What do you think about them?

IMO I like these stories a lot and feel they're pretty friggin successful and show pretty good writing/storytelling- especially in a context of not having as much control over a story as he does homestuck.

I definitely found some parts of HS really ill-paced/ "only interesting if you like soap opera troll romance" but the over all story seems pretty engaging, and the mixed use of flash/comic/game to tell the story is really pretty good for a comic.

[rafira.livejournal.com]

s' cool if you don't like it, but that's certainly a commitment. I just hope forcing yourself to read it all won't make you hate it more.