How I became Stuck on Homestuck

I am going to tell you a story, like it or not, about the single hardest opinion I have ever had to form: what I thought about Homestuck.

Sometime around the fall of my junior year in high school, I was wandering about the internet like the young derp that I was and still am, when I came across these guys:

My expression was the same as Karkat's here

My initial reaction to this was, "Dear God, who are these people and why are they grey?! Do they have a skin condition?!" Someone was then kind enough to point out to me that these were the Homestuck trolls. The conversation went something like this:

Me: So.... They're trolls, who are stuck at home?

Them: No, no, they're TROLLS, FROM Homestuck.

Me: What's Homestuck?

Them: A web comic game.

Me: Is it a web comic or a game? 

Them: Both

Me: Oh..... Did the webcomic come first, or the game?

Them: It's not like that.

Me: Then how is it?

Them: It's............... I can't really explain.

Me: *cries out in confusion and despair*

I then began a journey to discover what the mysterious "Homestuck" was. The result? More confusion, and not a single question answered. So I simply gave up and crawled back to my little hole in the Hetalia fandom where I felt safe.

That is, until this year, when I was yanked forcefully from my little hole like a ripe turnip and made into a multiple-fandom borscht. Many of my newer friends were fans of different things that I have long enjoyed but never quite fell headfirst into the fandom. In addition to talking about Hetalia and Valve games, I now discuss old favorites like Pokemon and Dr. Who, as well as newer ones such as Parks and Recreation, and yes, the illusive Homestuck.

My "Homestuck" friends kept trying to suck me into it with them. My "Non-stuck" friends, who seem to hate Homestuck, told me I probably wouldn't like it. A friend of mine who was a fan of both Hetalia and Homestuck convinced me that while the storylines were different, the fandoms were pretty similar, so I eventually looked it up and read it.

My reaction to the very beginning was:

The art style wasn't exactly my cup of tea, and I felt that the introduction could use some work. Was the point to be ironically bad? I couldn't tell if the problem was me or the comic. Still, I couldn't accept that my friends were idiots just yet, so I read on.

It didn't speed up as quickly as I would've liked. Now, though, I realize that it was just my own impatience, as the storyline progressed quickly after the point at which I gave up.

After that, I decided to stalk the wiki to see if it got much better. In doing so, I discovered this wonderful, blonde god of kawaii.

I don't think I could have gotten a more epic picture, sorry.

So I began reading a little, using the excuse "Well, I'm not really a fan; I just like the Dirk guy." I slowly discovered that I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue's quotability, but I did n't know enough yet to truly call myself a fan. If people asked, I replied with "Well, I love the characters, but I'm not sure what I think about the storyline."

And so, this became my response:

Then I read on. I found myself liking the characters more and more, and the storyline eventually kept getting less confusing. I discovered that the odd, small, armless versions of the characters were actually more like chibis, used as a secondary, "I-don't-have-time-for-art, I'm-just-trying-to-get-a-point-across-in-a-simpler-way" style, not actually to be used as the only one. That was good, because the lack of arms disturbs me in a way that I can neither explain nor justify.

I've found that anyone's feelings towards Homestuck are very much like people's feelings towards Spam. You either greatly enjoy it, or you hate it and wonder why anyone could like it. It may take awhile for an opinion to form, but once it does, it's permanent. That opinion usually also comes as a sudden epiphany, a moment in which one either says "Yes, I love this" or "No, I hate this".

My epiphany came after reading many fanfics and viewing many amazing fan arts, when I discovered that I was completely, irrevocably in love with the Dirk/Jake pairing.

Isn't it lovely???

Anyway, I just loved it. However, like most fans of slash, I never actually thought it would be canon. The secret is and always has been that authors use this to tease their fangirls and gain more popularity. They tease away at us, making it seem like our little shipping dreams will come true one day, only to rip the magic carpet of hope out from under our feet so that we fall on our faces for their amusement. That's exactly what happened with all the Hetalia pairings, and I was almost 100% certain it would happen with this one.

Until I saw THIS.

That's CANON. Not speculative. Not "canon enough". Jake is KISSING Dirk's head. After talking about how he "didn't want to do it like this". And now they're actually dating. Canon-ly. Of course, now it seems that they're having relationship issues, but no one cares about that.

The point is that the creator actually cared enough about fangirls to stop teasing them. It's just that it was one that I actually like; the fact that a writer actually cut the crap for once almost brings tears to my eyes. And that made me decide to like the series.

My reaction to Homestuck now is:

Literally. And I'll have you know that I'm not one to throw literally around. I ACTUALLY flail.

However, at the risk of sounding defensive, I am NOT one of "THOSE" fans. You know the ones. The ones that shove Homestuck down people's throats, never stop talking about it, and shun those who don't like it. I understand that Homestuck is hated by a lot of people. That's OKAY. It's not a crime, and I will happily talk about something else with anyone who makes it clear that that aren't interested.