Homestuck Animated Pilot Containment Thread

@0dderty I wasn't saying anything about content changes according to any kind of network standards. I'm talking about what kind of stuff would be truncated for pacing reasons when a whole lot of Homestuck is fluff.

That said, some of that stuff they probably should do, and should have in the original story as well.

As for the dialogue, like what you like. Fun as it might be, I feel confident that the show would do worse if it's as noted in bizarro language and wordplay as the original, and they would be well-served making some parts more straightforward, both because it moves the story along faster and because it saves the cast from having to deliver some borderline-incomorehensible run-on sentences.

I don’t mind the script being adjusted to read better, but I do not see stylized or fancy dialogue as a weakness. It’s a moot point since Hussie’s on the script, I trust her changes.

In all, I don’t disagree with your broad picture, but I disagree with the endgoal. I get the sense many want a Homestuck adaptation to make Homestuck more of the straightforward sci-fi/fantasy YA adventure it masks at being. Homestuck’s “empty space” serves this point (and that’s not unusual for a cartoon to be- Adventure Time and Steven Universe both do the same thing, and to this day this is still seen as an accidental misstep and not, like, the premise of those works?) and I would hope any adaptation of Homestuck would seek to if not maintain that to some degree find other ways to play against type.

I'm not calling the purple prose a weakness. It's fine for the original text (...mostly). But the original text wasn't written to be read aloud, and you can very easily tell. For something that is spoken, gotta do something else if you want to make a good show. Simple as.

As for content, I'm not trying to make anything toned-down or more palatable for general audiences. I want the things I personally think are gross or bad removed because I think it makes the story worse. It's nobody's opinion but mine.

In an ideal world, this thing would be like seventy episodes long, and it could take time to rework and even flesh-out other things, like maybe making actual episodes showing the beforus session instead of just text-dumping at us, or developing the characters that are just racial caricatures into something less-shallow. Adapt paradox space comics! But if we're really working with eleven mintues (I'm still not sure what the source of that info is?) and we're still in the modern era where a show would have to be unbelievably lucky to get more than three seasons of eight or nine episodes each (released about once every three fucking years, at that), clearly the better idea is to just limit the show's scope to what is most important.

If I had to guess, people are working off Helluva Boss having an 11 minute pilot and a 13 minute first episode, but after that no episode dips below the 15 minute mark, with more than a few nearing or exceeding 30 minutes

oh okay im being told the announcement was in the stream proper: 11 minute pilot

Honestly I doubt they’ll keep it that way for the same reasons they gave Helluva Boss more time per episode, but it’s good to know

Translating the written humor 1:1 would likely be a challenge for plenty of reasons, the "purple prose" tone most of all, and of course the sheer enormity of the dialogue. But it's also a problem we've already solved. All those old comics on tumblr and their youtube dubs, Paradox Space, even some fanfiction. Works that are full of examples as to how (and more importantly, how NOT) to do it. It's possible to condense dialogue and still have the characters come across; that's where choosing and directing the VA talent comes in.

New joke art made by Spindelhorse crew member @logoblockz on instagram (the fact that they had to specify it's a joke is funny to me and I feel like hints that this is something that happens in Homestuck lol so avoiding a spoiler just creates a spoiler type situation idk)

New animation shot teased and some assets posted from the Spindelroo instagram. Ripped these using web inspect tool and snagging the links directly. SBAHJ storyboard teased in the upper left on the phone one.

this pilots gonna do numbers i can already tell.

@elegantspinstress oh yeah and the merch is seemingly flying off the shelves on strangeoccult shop when you list it on best selling, Homestuck is dominating the charts mostly atm. That'll help get it greenlit for a full production. Vivziepop plushies are winning still for the metrics, but like... hear me out. Karkat grub plushie but with a little grub shirt on so you can't see his blood color yet. lol That would sell so much!

God I'm so hyped for this pilot, everything I've seen for it looks great, and if it gets picked up, I'm hyped to see how people will get about this as there will be a ton of new fans to watch.

@the1woomy I'm hyped too, I might actually get the Rose jumbo keyhchaoin to support the show ngl but gotta make sure my finances are okay for it first. Wish I knew how big "jumbo" was though, feels like I'm ordering a keychain from starbucks lmao

Gonna be playing it on loop as soon as it drops to help the algorithm and leaving nice comments too. 💜

I don't know if i'll even have to loop it, I'll just be scanning it for every single little thing i can notice in it.

If they do anything with SBAHJ it better either be ripped directly from Hussie's mid-2000s drawings or else uncomfortably over-animated uncanny valley shit ala pilotredsun.

ANYWAY.

The visual production on this genuinely looks pretty great. I know people have their critiques here and there but as much as Hazbin/Helluva aren't for me, I could never argue that they have unengaging or phoned-in visuals, and this still looks a lot more faithful to Homestuck than the phrase "Homestuck cartoon made by vivziepop" would lead people to assume.

That said, whether it will indeed "do numbers"...well, it has to be good, is the thing. The direction of the teaser gives me confidence in the presentation, but I honestly have no idea what the script could be like. Writing a long-winded comic and a television episode are pretty different skills, and I don't know anything about Skye Henwood. According to the wiki she's written for both Hellaverse shows (which could mean anything), but that's not even a credit on her linkedin page, so I'm not sure what she's even done. And we're already seeing some sweeping changes, so this whole thing could be a very pretty trainwreck for all I know.

Skye is working with Hussie on the script here, so in that much I feel sort of okay? Hussie's not an experienced screenwriter but is a pretty talented writer and also The Creator Of Homestuck. My main concern honestly is if Hussie does the uh. usual Hussie thing and leaves everybody involved to fend for themselves after the pilot succeeds.

@0dderty that is my one fear is that Hussie just dips after the pilot like no please c'mon please stay, don't get burnt out again & dip when there's people on the crew who have vocally said they wanna make more if views/merch sales allow it.

New Kernelsprite & Harlequinsprite high five teaser (with the sprite cropped to avoid spoilers for the newgen people) and some concept design iterations ft. the missing link™️.

Now THIS is art evolution

@exponentialwizard oh absolutely. I know some people are off-put by them having necks, but like, it makes it easier to animate them so dynamically and fluidly I think. lol wonder if the missing link was actually god tier or dream self jammies & was censored out for the new gen folks.