ive noticed this weird. kinda. phenomenon. and i wanna preface this by saying its not a BAD phenomenon. its just an observation.
theres sort of Groupings of homestuck fans in terms of how they enjoy the thing in question. very loose and simplified: theres people who Like and Enjoy homestuck for what it is, and people who like the feeling or idea of homestuck but not so much the actual thing.
the first group is what youd expect: its just the people who like homestuck. thats pretty self explanatory.
but the second group is the one i wanna focus on because i feel like ive JUST noticed that they exist and i am going kind of crazy? im gonna have to credit my own fnaf at freddys enjoyment for helping me identify this in the homestuck fandom, because theres the same phenomenon over there.
some people dont like the majority of homestuck, or hiveswap, or beyond canon, but they like the FEELING that they had when they DID enjoy it. alternatively, they like the POTENTIAL that it may have had before it switched into a direction they did not expect or enjoy. and this enjoyment of a Feeling or an Idea is what keeps them the fandom- not engaging with most of what homestuck actually is, but this esoteric idea of it that isnt actually real. and, again, this is not a bad thing, and creates some really fun discussions. its just like. i dont know!
it feels like, because homestuck uniquely has this aura and reputation of being Cringe, the majority of people who youll passively interact with will have this sort of venom in their words about it. theyre embarrassed to like it, they dont want people to know. if you say you like a "universally" disliked part of it, you must be saying it ironically, and you often have to be the one to justify why you DO like it vs the people who dont. isnt that strange? i do like homestuck. homestuck is good! isnt that why we're all here? ...no? oh.
as a merch guy i feel this a lot with the way people treat the stuff i make sometimes. "the captcha bag is cool but i wouldnt be caught dead with that in public" . or at an artist alley table "oh HOMESTUCK! i remember being into that when i was a TEEN!". excuse me, my friends...! i am right here, you know! clearly enjoying homestuck to the fullest, with real genuine earnest!
does anyone have any thoughts on this? like. it sometimes feels kind of weird to be someone who just likes and enjoys homestuck media for whats there, rather than some ghostly visage of what it Was when i was a kid or what i would have liked it to be. ive tried to kill the nostalgia demon in my head for things that dont matter so much (not CDs. CDs matter more than anything.) so it could just be that? widespread nostalgia demons? i dont know. i hope this doesnt come across as mean- im not trying to be, and again, all discussions from different fans are extremely valuable. i dont even have a conclusion. i just feel like maybe some should take some pages out of homestuck itself- irony kills real enjoyment. enjoy things to the fullest, yknow?
* and the universe said I love you because you are love.
