Should I read Beyond Canon?

Guess ill try the epilouges. if i survive them ill update you guys. if i don't, assume ult dirk got me

Main characters die and go through major character development, the entire cast grows up and raise kids, start wars, get into messy family drama and john struggles with existential shit while dirk & caliope battle for control over the narrative, all of that is continued directly into Beyond Canon. you are missing a giant piece of the story without the epilogues. IMO.

they are also kinda funny.

cant get past the meat or candy choice. making the choice feels like stepping into adulthood, leaving the fun of my teen years behind (okay my teen years havent been fun but you get the point.) meat or candy feels like wire mother vs cloth mother. nessecity versus comfort. responsibility vs recreation. Becoming who you need to be vs becoming what you want to be.

Man im not cut out for adulthood yet can i go back to when i was 14 and obsessively watching old fandom videos and being cringe without all the horrible stuff. Cause brother im not ready for this. Sorry for get all deep and sappy its 12:34 am and my meds dont get refilled until tomorrow.

I'd say so, yeah! HSBC starts off a bit clunky, I feel, but once you hit the current stuff (2023 to Now) it really picks up.

I really like what the new team is doing with HS2. I didn't mind the early stuff (it still has some of my favorite pages in the entire comic), but it was definitely a bit clunky at times. Ironically, my biggest beef with early HS2 is I felt like it kind of ignored some of what was set up in the epilogues, which a lot of folks weren't a fan of. It feels like now they're pulling more from the plot resources they have to give the story more momentum.

Regarding the epilogues, I would say that they're pretty bedrock to beyond canon. Funnily enough, I'd actually fallen of the HS1 train towards the end as I was starting college and just Absolutely Did Not have time for the number of threads the story was juggling and mostly just skimmed the last year or two, and similarly when the epilogues dropped I was in the busy end of the the most hectic months of college and absolutely did not have time to read a homestuck book. It was only a few years later that I decided to come back and give the epilogues another chance despite how many people were complaining about them. What I found was that the epilogues are convoluted, dry, dark, not especially fun, and exactly my shit. I love the epilogues. I love what it does with the characters. I love what it does with their relationships. I love watching what the characters do when they have quite literally lost The Plot.

Homestuck 2 doesn't really feel like Homestuck 1, and I don't think it should. These kids aren't kids anymore, they can't act like kids anymore. You can't be a hero in a story that doesn't need one.

well scotty, i think thats a pretty good assessment of the epilogues. thats what they want to hammer home. these kids have to grow up, for better or worse, and by god is it the worse. the trauma that has befallen every single one of them does not just go away when the credits roll, and it's not exactly conducive to making healthy choices as they fall into adulthood and total godhood.

when the epilogues first came out i was upset and angry, i didnt like the idea that the characters i was attached to would act like that. but then i stepped back from that and realized there was never any guidance for them. and they had no choice but to grow up.

the epilogues were spurned by a lot of people without a second thought upon release. it doesnt sound like it will be an easy read for you but it's definitely interesting to pick apart if you can come out the other side.

Yes but you need to read The Epilogues first

LEGIT JUST READ THE DLC. PERSONALLY I LIKE ALL YALLS STUFF WHAT YOU SAYING AND ITS MOSTLY TRUE, BUT ANDREW HUSSIE AND NEW JUST UPDATED HOMESTUCK WITH A NEW DLC THAT FEATURES AN UNTOLD STORY FROM A FAR OFF FUTURE WHERE "THE BRO" AN CHARACTER OF UNKNOWN ORIGINAL NEW WORLD WHO THEY DONT KNOW APPEARS, WHERE? LIFE IS JUST FULL OF MYSTERIES LIKE THAT. HEARD OF ARCS ARE FORETOLD ON THIS NEW EUCATASTROPHE WHICH WILL PASS OF GREAT DANGER BUT ALSO FULL OF "HOPE" PLANETS OF UNKNOWN ORIGINAL WILL APPEAR AND DEATH OF A BELOVED CHARACTER WILL HAPPENED WHICH WILL SHOCK YOU... ITS REALLY GOOD VIZ SAYS. ITS COMING OUT SOONER THAN YOU THINK. -IMAGE ATTACHED SNEAKPEAK-

I honestly think now is the best time to try to catch up so you can get to enjoy some of the more "early Homestuck" vibes from a new session and new kids again as it comes out. It feels like a lot of the transition period between HS2 and HSBC has been finished (and it was pretty well done!) so we can really see what they're cooking now.

If it helps, picking "meat" or "candy" doesn't really make a difference, you'll have to read both anyways and they are both Very Much Relevant to HSBC. It's a little bit like skipping to Act 5. It's okay if you read through it quickly to catch up but I think once you can see the seeds planted in the epilogues grow throughout the later parts you'll really come to appreciate it!

for what it's worth, i'd suggest reading candy first. i think it A: provides a more dramatic emphasis on the main "point" of the epilogues and B: leads to a more seamless transition to HS:BC after you've finished.

i hope you enjoy it :J

Beyond Canon is def worth it. Personally I really loved the Epilogues and think they're the best part of Homestuck full stop. They are also mandatory reading for the rest of Beyond Canon. I liked HS2 as it was updating, but upon rereading it's got very obvious flaws and is, yeah kind of a meandering slog. There's still some really great moments in it, though. Beyond Canon, the current team's work, is exceptional. the only reason I don't put it higher than Epilogues is bc there's just not enough of it to make a fair comparison yet.

I just actually got around to starting Beyond Canon this week (what a week!) and it does start a bit bumpy for my taste, but I'm looking forward to catching up and finally understanding all those cool fanarts! I also really want to experience upd8 culture again, hhhh... Reason works hard, but nostalgia works harder!!!

I know the Epilogues aren't to everyone's taste, but personally I do enjoy the bitter feel they present (as hard as some of it hits!). If Beyond Canon has a mix of that and the usual Homestuck antics, I think it'll be a pretty cool read. But again, this is coming from someone who isn't up to date (yet) and who doesn't like skipping, so who knows!

I think that even when I did not like it, Beyond Canon was interesting. I never ever really disliked it, but it has its bumpy moments not helped by an early change of team. If you liked the Epilogues they are a bit different in tone, but I have found myself appreciating them more and more as I gave up on the mindset of MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN ALWAYS and learnt to appreciate the characters.