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I feel there’s an essay to be written in comparing Homestuck and The Adventure Zone, because there are just so many similarities:
– form: both collaborative stories, with character actions proposed by the readers/players and arbitrated by the author/DM, who works to fit all the ingenious random nonsense the readers/players come up with into an overarching plot. Characters have very few specified canonical physical features, so fans have plenty of scope for interpretation, which the creators explicitly approve of and accept. TA is mostly improvised, and from what I understand of Homestuck’s early production it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call that improvisational too.
– tone: either completely hilariously absurd or surprisingly serious and emotional; often both at the same time. Hussie and Griffin are extremely good at balancing humour and depth, and many of the best callbacks are to past events and characters that seemed like (and/or were initially intended as) one-off jokes.
– characters: both contain a persuasive, enigmatic, and morally questionable salesman whose name begins with G! Also most of the male main charaters start out as total weenies and are constantly being bailed out by more competent women. The author/DM both become more familiar with social issues during the course of the story and work harder to include better representation (esp. gender-neutral characters (Davepeta, Roswell) and fan-favourite lesbian couples (Rosemary, Team Sweet Flips)). Both have a nerdy female character who tried to overcome the darkness by using light powers in an unconventional way, screwing over their friends in the process (let’s hope Lucretia meets a kinder fate than Aranea). Oh, and in both the entity who embodies death leaves most of the work to their sexy assistant.
– worldbuilding: this one’s a bit of a weak point tbh because things like the multiple planets/planes with their own culture, natives, and quests are kind of common, as is the all-destroying evil force travelling between universes annihilating everything in its path. But still!
– themes: the keys to life are hope and determination and creativity. Skaia and the Light of Creation are basically the exact same thing! And both are coveted by a villainous aggregate of mysterious primordial forces (the Horrorterrors, the Hunger) that want to claim its light for themselves. They get a lot of mileage out of the Light/Void, Life/Doom, and Hope/Rage dichotomies – the Light of Creation is made of Life and Hope, and the Hunger is formed of souls lost to the Void, who’ve given into Rage at their inevitable Doom. And there’s a nice Blood connection with the Red Robes/IPRE.
I’m aware a lot of this applies to plenty of other media too, and tbh I’ve probably forgotten a load of stuff, but like every other TAZ meta post I see could just as easily have been written about Homestuck, and I love that.
Discussion ¬