Homestuck

Andrew Hussey was inspired by cult video games such as The Sims and EarthBound to create Homestuck. ^{[1] [2]} As in the past, Hussey's “Problem Sleuth” comic, Homestuck contains a lot of time travel , mystics , it has a complex, made-up world, as well as frequent references to pop culture and previous Hussey comics. But, unlike other works, elements of modern society are played up in Homestuck, such as online games and cyberculture , while Bard's Quest and Problem Sleuth were historical. ^[3] In addition, an important part of Homestuck are complex flash animations and games, most of which are accompanied by original music. ^[4] This is a step forward compared to previous comics, in which only hyphal animation was used . ^[five]

Initially, the comic was based on the principle of interactivity: on almost every page the reader was given the opportunity to make a choice of the characters' actions. But when in 2010 the audience of Homestuck grew significantly, Hussey abandoned this method, calling it “too cumbersome and preventing the creation of a linked story.” Still, even now, Hassi periodically visits fan blogs and forums in search of new ideas. ^[6]

Also, a computer game Hiveswap is being developed - a plot spin-off of a web comic. The game complements the stories of some characters, however, to understand it, reading the web comic itself is not required, since the game’s plot goes separately from the events that took place in the comic book.

Pauses

In 2013, Hussey decided to post the final chapters of Homestuck in one update. The period of the creation of the final chapters Hassi called "Gigapuzu." According to Hussey, he made this decision as he wanted to tell part of the story in a non-chronological way. Since then, there have been a few pauses at different intervals.

• “Gigapause” - October 16, 2013 - October 16, 2014
• “Minigigapusa” - January 19, 2015 - April 16, 2015
• Omegapauza - March 28, 2016 - August 12, 2016

On his 13th birthday, a boy named John Egbert gets a recently released game called SBURB BETA. Working in tandem with his girlfriend Rose Lalond, he discovers that the game allows you to manipulate the real world.

Meteor rain begins to destroy the world right in front of their eyes, but the game gives them the opportunity to escape their fate. John and Rose, along with their friends Dave Stryder and Jade Harley, work together to avoid the apocalypse and move into a new dimension - the Startosphere. The starosphere is a separate universe from ours, which includes the central world of Skyeu, the planets Prospit and Ders, inhabited by the inhabitants of the light and dark kingdoms, and four earth-like planets, one for each of the players [1] . Light and dark kingdoms are fighting for domination over Skya in its center - the chess battlefield.

John, Rose, Dave, and Jade slowly study their roles: Heir to the Breath, Seer of Light, Knight of Time, and Witch of Space. Each of them must take up their journey and complete quests on their planets. The children will learn that they need to go through the seven gates, reach Skye and stop the Black King and the Black Queen, not allowing them to destroy Skye. Meanwhile, Skye redirects meteors falling on her to Earth, distributing them to different points in time. Many of these meteors are the cause of the anomalies encountered earlier in the story. For example, they brought outcasts (former members of two kingdoms) in the year 2422 AD, long after the onset of the apocalypse, in order to re-populate the Earth. John arrives at the laboratory located on the outer asteroid ring of the Starosphere - the veil, where he finds a mysterious ectobiological mechanism. and randomly contributes to the creation of infant versions of both children and their carers. All of them were sent back to the past during the countdown, which gave rise to the whole chain of events.

Also in the course of his adventure with the players online contact representatives of an extraterrestrial race - trolls. Gradually, players understand that the trolls are in a separate game session, in a parallel, unrelated universe. At first, trolls treat children aggressively, but gradually hostility is replaced by friendship and cooperation. They explain to the players some game moments, and also involve them in a chain of even more confused and global events.

Character communication takes place mainly via the Internet . Each of them has its own unique style of writing (quirk): text register, the presence of errors, capitalized or double letters, the replacement of letters in numbers and font color. This plays a huge role in the comics, as one of the main places in it is occupied by the logs from the chat.

Children

Children are the eight main characters of the story. The following are their names and nicknames in the “Pestchum” chat (“Pesterchum”).

Beta children:

1. John Egbert ( John Egbert ) - ectoBiologist, ghostyTrickster (ectoBiologist, formerly ghostly Joker)
2. Dave Strider ( Dave Stryder ) - turntechGodhead (vinyl Demiurg)
3. Rose Lalonde ( Rose Lalonde ) - tentacleTherapist (tentacle Therapist)
4. Jade Harley ( Jade Harley ) - gardenGnostic

There are also post-scratch children (Alpha-children who are post-scratch versions of the guardians of Beta-kids, while the Beta-children themselves are pre-scratch versions of their guardians):

1. Jane Crocker ( Jane Crocker ) - gutsyGumshoe (Fearless Pug)
2. Dirk Strider ( Dirk Stryder ) - timaeusTestified (signifying Tim)
3. Roxy Lalonde ( Roxy Lalonde ) - tipsyGnostalgic (drunk Gnostalgik)
4. Jake English ( Jake English ) - golgothasTerror (terrorGolofy)

There are eight children in total: four beta children and four alpha children.

Trolls

Homesack trolls are different from ordinary ones ; they are a race of aliens from the planet Alternia, located in another universe. A total of 36 comics are mentioned: beta-trolls, their predecessors (ancestors), and alpha-trolls (dancesters) - and each in the separately mentioned group corresponds to a certain zodiac sign , which is painted on their clothes, but there are also exceptions. Their names and surnames contain only six letters (in the original English writing, they also tried to preserve this feature in the Russian translation). The main hallmark of the trolls are horns, black hair, gray skin and yellow whites of the eyes. Each trolley has its own color of blood, with the same color they usually color their own sign on their clothes. Each of the trolls has a lusus ( lusus naturae (lat.) - a mistake of nature), a kind of educator and mentor.

Initially, trolls contact children to blame for the mistakes they make in the future. Trolls can communicate with children at any time of their (children) time, and as a result of temporary paradoxes, a lot of foolish situations arise.

Communication between children and trolls is carried out via the Internet. For children, this is a chat “Get the sidekick”, for trolls, a chat “Trollian”. The text written by trolls corresponds to the color of their blood. Initially, the trolls begin to get the children in their chat, which causes a negative attitude towards themselves. As a result, this leads to difficulties with communication (children do not believe trolls who sincerely want to help).

Trolls list:

Beta Trolls:

1. Karkat Vantas ( Karkat Vantas )
2. Aradia Megido ( Aradia Megido )
3. Tavros Nitram ( Tavros Nitram )
4. Sollux Captor ( Sollux Captor )
5. Nepeta Leijon ( Nepeta Lejon )
6. Kanaya Maryam ( Kanaya Maryam )
7. Terezi Pyrope ( Terezi Payrop )
8. Vriska Serket ( Vriska Serket )
9. Equius Zahhak ( Equius Zahhak )
10. Gamzee Makara ( Gamzii Makara )
11. Eridan Ampora ( Eridan Ampora )
12. Feferi Peixes ( Feferi Paties )

Alpha Trolls:

1. Kankri Vantas ( Kankri Vantas )
2. Damara Megido ( Damara Megido )
3. Rufioh Nitram ( Rufio Nitram )
4. Mituna Captor ( Mituna Captor )
5. Meulin Leijon ( Meulin Leyon )
6. Porrim Maryam ( Porrim Maryam )
7. Latula Pyrope ( Latula Pyrop )
8. Aranea Serket ( Arania Serket )
9. Horuss Zahhak ( Horus Zahhak )
10. Kurloz Makara ( Kurloz Makara )
11. Cronus Ampora ( Cronus Ampora )
12. Meenah Peixes ( Minina Peixes )

It is worth noting that the names and surnames of trolls consist of six letters.

Ancestors:

1. The Handmaid ( Maid )
2. The Summoner ( Summoner )
3. The Psiioniic ( Kyoniyik \ Rulevoy )
4. The Signless / The Sufferer ( Unbranded / Martyr )
5. The Disciple ( Pupil )
6. The Dolorosa ( Dolorosa )
7. Neophyte Redglare ( Debutante Redglare )
8. Marquiuse Spinneret Mindfang ( Marquise Spinneret Mindfang )
9. The E% ecutor Darkleer / The E% partriate ( And the Darkleer / Exile% )
10. The Grand Highblood
11. Orphaner Dualscar ( Dualcalar Orphan )
12. Her Imperious Condescension / The Condesce ( Her Imperial Indulgence / Indulgence )

Unlike other comics, MSPA Homestuck has its own musical accompaniment. Each page labeled as “[S]” is a flash animation with its own music. At the moment, the soundtrack includes more than 20 albums, consisting mainly of tracks that sound in flash animations and their remixes. Most of the music is written in the style of chiptune .

Loren Ray Orsini described the size of the Homestuck fandom , arguing that the “MS million Adventure” site receives “a million unique visitors” every day. ^[7] An example of the scale of the Homestuck fan community is the fact that when Hussey downloaded the Cascade flash animation on the popular Newgrounds site, his servers crashed from the flow of visitors. ^[8] Actor Dante Basco is a famous comic book fan. His friends asked him to read Homestuck, claiming that there is a character Rufio, whom Basko played in the movie Captain Hook . As a result, Basco made friends with Andrew Hussey, and a new character appeared in Homestuck — Rufio, who has “the character and style of Basco's writing”. ^[9]

When in July 2012, it was announced about the temporary cessation of updating the comic, the fans began to create " screenshots " of the fictional anime version of Homestuck , with some even having subtitles and logos of Japanese TV channels. ^[ten]

In addition, the fans created their own wiki resource , which described in detail all the phenomena, events, characters, and all that relates to Homestuck and other comics of MS Paint Adventures. Also available is its Russian version, which now contains about 450 articles.

The Daily Dot journalist Loren Ray Orsini, in an interview with Andrew Hussey, asked him if he believes that Homestuck is under his control, despite a huge audience, more than 5000 pages and 128 characters. Hassi replied that the story was completely under his control, but what was going on around the comic book "was never under his control." ^[eleven]

Kannal Idea Channel compared Homestack to Ulysses James Joyce because of the complexity of the plot and the need for a logical and acceptable conclusion. ^{[12] [13]}

Brian Lee O'Malley , creator of the comic book series Scott Pilgrim , said about Homestuck : “This is a large-scale example of a clever and long-term serialized tale. It is beautifully written and very well thought out. He has something to tell. ” ^[14]

• Rigney R. What is Heck Is the Homestuck, Get It Get $ 750K on Kickstarter? // Wired , 09/06/2012.
• Meeks E. Interview with Andrew Hussie, Creator of Homestuck // Digital Humanities Specialist. December 3, 2010.

1. Homestuck in Russian
2. Official MS Paint Adventures website in English
3. Russian Mspaintadventures.wiki , which also contains information about Homestuck.