Well, I think what keeps me coming back to Homestuck is Skaia. By which I mean, not just the entity itself, although I do so adore my big blue sentient benevolent and silent marble-chan. But the concepts that it represents. The idea that, no matter how messed up things seem to be sometimes, the creative forces underlying all existence contain benevolent possibilities, if we can only take hold of them. This symbolic narrative at the heart of early Homestuck is why I was captivated before I ever knew what a troll was, and it's the biggest why I still care about Homestuck.

(Not that I am immune to the typical and embarrassing sentimental attachment to its characters, settings, and motifs that defines this wonderful disease known as fandom, but, like, if I just wanted a bunch of "scrunklies", I could go get my senses baffled and my digital wallet plundered by a "gacha game" full of "anime women". Homestuck: it's more than just scrunklies.)

It's just... true? You know? The central Skaian concept that ideas have a power to them that can be used to shape the world the way you want it. So that's why the story of Homestuck is compelling to me, and that is why I keep coming back to acts 1-7, over and over again, however imperfect, however incomplete. Because I still feel that pale blue shining promise at the heart of it all.