I think it's very fitting that Jade is one of the first characters the animated merch line is producing as a plushie, as more than anyone else, Jade is deeply connected to the theme of plush that runs all throughout Homestuck.
She collects not one, but two kinds of plush: the Squiddles and the Manthro Chaps. She is the mastermind behind The Bunny's final form, though she outsources most of the work to Jake. Plush's dark twin, taxidermy, is found all over her home. Her grandfather's big game trophies, including one that looks suspiciously like the Denizen Typheus. A taxidermied grandfather, prepared by Jade. A taxidermied Jade, prepared by Grandfather.
In this essay I will
A girl stands in her bedroom on her 26th birthday. As she waits for the mail-centipede to arrive, her fingers twiddle with her long grey beard. The beard twiddles back.
"TEAM MADRIGOG" on Ao3 and FFN
hii where's the essay I can't see it the post just cuts off :(? I need to hear more about this topic ...!!
^by tushyfatnocap on picmix (//y▽￣)╭
Sorry, the "essay" thing is just a rather elderly meme!
A girl stands in her bedroom on her 26th birthday. As she waits for the mail-centipede to arrive, her fingers twiddle with her long grey beard. The beard twiddles back.
"TEAM MADRIGOG" on Ao3 and FFN
Probably could write an actual essay on the subject, though. The Beta Kids have particularly strong associations with plush, but it spills over into other parts of the comic too.
Thanks to inter-universal time shennanigans, John is given the same plush bunny at 3 different points in its timestream on the same day. His dreams are troubled by a plush version of Jack Noire that has been planted in his bedroom.
Rose's room appears to be plush-free in the present day, but she's the one who gets hands-on by knitting the bunny some replacement skin in violet.
Dave gets plush by proxy, the Smuppets his bro leaves lying all over the place. He literally gets smothered in the damned things - a metaphor for their messed-up relationship? The smuppets are a gateway to the sinister puppet-master world of Li'l Cal and Doc Scratch, both of whom have soft, stuffing-filled bodies, and Dirk is linked to Cal. Dave is also the one who kicks off the temporal bunny shennanigans.
Jane is given a 4th incarnation of the bunny by Dirk, Li'l Seb - it appears to be a robot, but has the remains of the original soft toy inside. Just like Jane, her taxidermied grandfather (John Crocker, her universe's version of John Egbert) is stood in front of the fireplace. And Li'l Seb actually climbs inside the body at one point.
I can only think of three trolls who have plushies, all of whom interact with them in disturbing ways. Terezi roleplays with her Scalemates, but also enjoys lynching them and tearing them apart. Tavros and Rufioh both play Fiduspawn, the troll equivalent of Pokemon. "Host plushes" get infected with the parasitoid Fiduspawn creatures, which tear out of the body "Alien"-style.
A girl stands in her bedroom on her 26th birthday. As she waits for the mail-centipede to arrive, her fingers twiddle with her long grey beard. The beard twiddles back.
"TEAM MADRIGOG" on Ao3 and FFN