hey folk. so what do you think about this. homestuck never really explores it (i dont think) so im curious to know what are your thoughts about the naming conventions of the classes, specifically when it comes to gender, and transitioning.
picture a player entering, discovering their classpect, then transitioning at a later point in time. maybe they're a heir and after transitioning decide that using heiress instead would be better.
OR, considering sburb's atemporal themes, the player joins with an exclusive class that might conflict with their current presentation: "Prince? Isn't it supposed to be princess?"
ultimately it would come down to how sburb mechanically works in this scenario, the first option implies that the game would only care for the person's agab, which is cruel, but the idea of deliberately changing your own class name in spite of that is cool. the second option would also have interesting narrative themes to explore.
Ngl, I dont believe in Callie's sayin that some classes are gender exclusive (cause I just dont fw with it. Like, why restrict such a good character tool to male, female and etc :/ ) but yeah I love the idea of changing your class name in spite of sburbs bullshit!!! It fits with homestucks themes of growing up and escaping the confines of the world your in. Doing your own thing even if 'fate' or whatever says thats what you are
Granted I think the second option is the most likely possibility. Since sburb is well sburb I'd figure it'd just have your future gender and have that be the decide which class you have in the past- which could unintentionally cause past you to realize ( or atleast help you figure yourself out a bit more )your future gender and shit. Which is very inline with homestuck's timeloop shenanigans. Stuff that happens in the future that inadvertently causing itself
Either way, I think both are cool (depending on how their executed). Theres a rewrite of homestuck that does smth similiar to the second option. Where the trolls call 'John' June at the start because June in the future told them to call them June (Because remember Karkats backwards chatting bs? ) and while it doesnt make John realize that their, well trans- it does help and basically foreshadows John realising that there June :D!!! (faofjioadfao sorry if its confusing, its late rn so my grammars off the handle right neow )
Random: This made me think more about transitioning and homestuck mechanics. Like oh my stars it'd be so cool if a prince/princess destroyed the name plate that all the kids get with their deadname as a symbolic kinda thing. Maybe like a prince of heart. They'd destroy their assigned identity to make room for a new one :3 My prince OC already does this but shes not trans :P (For now)
I've always seen classpects as a whole as intentionally flawed ways of categorizing people. People change, often drastically, but this is not something being in a story always allows. You are expected to have character retain most of their original personality and motivations even through arcs when this is commonly not the case in real life(especially when your starting point is a thirteen year old). I think that classpects are just another way that SBURB seems to force people into an expected story structure and force them to grow in ways which are not natural to real life. Applying this to gender, I think that SBURB would likely base the gender of your class on your presentation at the time of playing. This is the most upsetting answer, but I think it fits the themes I take away from Homestuck the best. Sometimes, you have to break out of the bounds of SBURB, out of the bounds of being in a story, and out of the bounds of society to be happy.
This also gives some credence to many trans readings of characters where said character seems to rebel against their chosen classpect or accept it solemnly with some sense of duty when it really seems like they don't feel it fits them.
