i tend to use the phrase "postcanon project" to describe everything after/including the credits... not because POSTCANON is a state of being, or anything, because i think we've all determined that it's sort of incoherent. i use it to describe a Collected Works, including the epilogues, including the Ren'Py games, including HSBC and HS2 and This Very Forum. Postcanon doesn't refer to the CANONICITY of anything at all. a link to a project on Patreon.com/Homestuck is the sign of canonicity. an author statement is the sign of canonicity. like. i dunno. people made fun of the JKR poop tweets because they mattered to people because *her word was to be taken as canon.* it was INTENDED as canon.

maybe this is my worm fandom brain poison, where "Word of God" was a common citation source, but like. yeah, i dunno. postcanon meaning anything close to "unofficial and unendorsed" has only caused problems for me trying to tell people about the cool new shit going on in the world of the comic i like.

i guess the doylist/watsonian difference in what "canon" means has got people kind of fucked up too. when altcallie talks about candy not being canon she means that watsonianly, yk. it doesnt mean that you can disregard what happens in candy if youre trying to seriously look at What Happens In Homestuck After The Credits. in short, like, it's canon because i have it in a fucking book in my house that says homestuck® on it.

i dont mean that the trademark registry office gets to decide canonicity but like. canonicity is a flex of authority.

to get biblical in a different way, do we all know the story about abraham smashing idols? this was something taught to me as a child. that abraham, upon learning about god, went up to his father's store and smashed all of the idols all around the place because his father was just so wrong about everything and abraham was so righteous. that just straight up wasn't... in the text. it's not a story that happens. it's midrash. but it's midrash that's included in every reprint of the talmud, because rashi is part of The Canon for jewish scholars. we're not supposed to take it 100% literally, the source is that rashi said "dude trust me bro", but like. rashi's an authority whose stories we respect. it's not CANON. but it's like. if it's taught in schools, y'know. does it matter if it's in the book or not?

man i dont even know what i was getting at by the end there. i just wanted to talk about abraham fucking up his dad's store. he was trying to SELL those idols like. that was his primary income source. what the hell guy