Q: can you pretty please consider doing a pop up event that isnt in california next year?
CHUMI: We really really want to (as one of the two East-coast team members)! It just happens that most of the team is located in California, so it's easiest for us to coordinate events over there.
HAVEN: As the other east-coaster I also want one that is not in California soon.
ANDI: It's been suggested internally quite often!!
Q: Is there any plans for Toby Fox and James Roach to potentially do a sick music collab together?
JAMES: I asked a long time ago and he said he would be open to it, though lately we talk about other stuff so i haven't thought about it in a minute.
Q: will the new session contain fun tech bullshit like the first few acts of Homestuck? me and probably a few others are eager to see more weird problem sleuth kinda shit
MILES: We have a couple lil' ideas kicking around.
CHUMI: More alchemizing!! More alchemizing!!
JAMES: That's The Idea
HAVEN: I want more problem sleuth etc. bullshit... weird puzzle shit, weird new game mechanics, etc. etc.
Q: Is there any chance of the horrorterrors returning in some form or fashion?
HAVEN: There's a chance.
MILES: That's scary…
FLORAL: *begins shaking and spitting*
JAMES: Please take this seriously.
Q: how involved is andrew in the current direction of the story? and, are there any things outlined by him that we don't know yet?
HAVEN: The only things he's really insisted upon so far were Yiffy and Hell Tier Vriska, and one other thing you have not seen too much of yet.
MILES: Otherwise, Andrew isn't involved in the story essentially at all. I'm pretty amazed and grateful that he trusts us enough to give us complete free reign to write what we wanna write.
HAVEN: He drew fanart of our designs once.
JAMES: He usually just tells me he likes it.
Q: Okay I have another question: how long did take to make that huge [s] page flash? Was there any big challenges when making it?
KIM: Depends what you'd consider the start of it! We had it cookin' in the pre-production stage for a good hot second, but the actual production was three and a half months long. It was definitely a valuable learning experience! I think our biggest hurdle is simply that Animate, formerly Flash, is unfortunately a neglected program by Adobe so we had to wrestle with the limitations of what the program would allow… 😔
Q: Recently James revealed that a Page is "One who preserves"- was that an intentional drop of Canon Classpect Information? Can we expect to see more of those in the future? And, if so, do y'all have access to a classpecting resource bible, or are you working off of headcanon like the rest of us?
JAMES: The exact wording is “one who fights to preserve”. I copy and pasted the class and aspect descriptions directly from the document andrew gave us. I will never fuck around about class and aspect that is my solemn vow. Well actually I might, but not that time.
Q: Is there any chance that we could see Paradox Space style comics revived (or maybe a continuation of The Inaugural Death of Mister Seven?)
HAVEN: Um, Maybe. Kind of. This is a funny question to receive right now.
FLORAL: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 8 l
MILES: Hoh! Hoh hoh! HOH! This is how I laugh.
Q: i just want to see feferi (unfused)
KIM: I want to see her too…
CHUMI: We miss her!
Q: could we see a return of the Homestuck adventure map for HSBC
MILES: You could, would, and will. Right now there's only one Act, but by definition whatever comes next will be a new thing, and so maybe it's about time we whipped one up!
Q: Are you happy with the community's response to the comic's continuation? Personally I love it but I know it's a little controversial among some fans
MILES: Honestly, yes. We knew going in it was going to be controversial, but we all love Homestuck so much, and we know there are enough people out there who do too that this was worth doing. We've been really delighted that people like what we do, and we've also been determined to try and change the minds of at least some of those who don't, but like... we take it as it comes. All we can do is our best; as long as we're doing that, the fact that people give it the time of day at all is reward enough.
FLORAL: I second Miles here, we've so much growth in interest the last year and it's amazing to see. For how controversial our return could have been, you guys have been so awesome and open to where we are taking the story.
Q: Is there a chance we will see more of the Sprites? I like the way they interacted in Vriska's Hell's even if only briefly.
Also I'm a fan of Erisolsprite and would like to see more of him. (also would love to see him interact with Karkat since he is the amalgamation of his two friends that he bonded with pre-session)
MILES: I just need you to know that a lot of us on the team said “awww” out loud when we saw your point about Karkat and Erisolsprite.
Q: For miles! While not asking for too many details, Did you find any of the "Mysterious Deltatrius species'" characters trickier to write than others, and if so for what reason. Generalities like "They have a weird quirk!" or "They have this unusual tone or verbosity to them" certainly work.
MILES: Finding voices for any character gets easier the more you write them, including some of the OG HS character's that we've all known for 15+ years. Without GIVING too many details (even though I really want to, LOL) I'll say that anything that ever catches us all up as writers where dialogue/character writing is concerned ends up leading to really good stuff that I hope you look forward to.
JAMES: A lot of the character comes out while you're writing.
Q: Any hints about who the next Makeship plushie is or how soon we can expect to be able to pre-order them?
JAMES: Much to my dismay it's not Aradia yet. :/ Anyway it's John.
Q: i know this isnt about HS:BC in particular, but are there any details youre allowed to tell us about the Official version of the fanmade Homestuck Collection? hoping for an ETA, but understandable if there is none. on that note however, is the Official Collection being made totally from the ground up, or is it built off Bambosh and GiovanH's Unofficial Collection? And are you aware that people are experiencing issues with the UHC downloads presently linked on the UHC website? we've had to direct new readersan archived version of the UHC website as a result
JAMES: i suppose the main detail is that it being worked on, but i think the priority right now is fixing the main sites glaring issues.
Q: Is Hiveswap: Act 3 still in the works?
MILES: Yes! Just to be clear, we are a different team. But yes. It is still, AS WE SPEAK, in the works.
Q: can any of the omega kids cook or bake? was baking an integral part of tavvy's upbringing?
MILES: He did what he had to do.
KIM: Harry also knows how to bake. :-)
Q: How does Dave Strider square his love of Obama with his hatred of Neoliberalism?
MILES: Dave has had a lot of practice compartmentalizing.
Q: can u guys flash commander karkat's ass at the screen at some point or take his shirt off or can you guys let him and terezi have 1 last interaction
MILES: Which one do you want most?
CHUMI: Choose wisely, person who likes karezi.
Q: I asked about a Fortnite collab last year, so this time I'd figured I'd ask: are there any DREAM collabs you have? Or just something you wanna do with homestuck that's just really out there?
HAVEN: Vampire Survivors... Balatro...
MILES: Metal Gear Solid 6. And, of course, the Homestuck Gacha. That we still really want to make. I'm not letting this go.
HAVEN: I change my answer to Homestuck Gacha.
CHUMI: A clothing collab of some sort <3
ANDI: Identity V would be pretty good. I mean I feel like we'd love any kind of collaboration featuring a game. I'd take Among Us even.
FLORAL: I would absolutely love to do a Maid Cafe event…. that would make me so happy.
KIM: I said this last year, but IN AN IDEAL WORLD I would love to see a Homestuck X Cookie Run Kingdom collab. I want them to be SMALL.
JAMES: The girl reading this.
Q: The new log mentioned you guys did a table read of the script. Do any of you have a favorite character to read?
MILES: I really like reading Karkat. There hasn't been any Dave in a real long time but I like reading him too. Honestly, any character prone to kind of strange rants is super fun.
KIM: I was reading Vriska's lines, and she's pretty fun to voice outloud because she's such a lively character LOL.
CHUMI: I liked reading Kanaya's rage-filled snark in the previous update, but I love doing table readings in general so anyone will do!
Q: Hi guys, thanks so much for some amazing work over the last ?year. I can't believe how well ye've balanced homage to and continuity with OG and previous Homestucks with freshness, surprise and new personality in both art and writing.
My q: I became a dad since reading the previous incarnations of Homestuck, and it's been a total change in my worldview. I think about this in particular in connection with BC's focus shifting away from the OG characters towards the omega kids. I wonder if this story decision came from similar transformative experiences you guys have had, or if there have been any other transformative experiences you guys have or want to incorporate into the story. Thanks!
CHUMI: Congratulations on becoming a dad!! What a life-changing event!! 😀 I would say that growing up in general has influenced how I interpret Candy specifically. I started reading Homestuck when I was like 12 and I'm 27 now, just as the kids started as 13 year olds and are now in mid-life in Candy. I am a different person now! Some changes were for the better, some for the worse. My favorite characters are different, older people now, and it's been so interesting to explore why and how it happened. I think HS:BC reflects parts of my own experience with growing up, becoming different, and reconciling with that. Additionally, as someone who is a “fandom figure(?)”, thinking about my self-perception versus how my audience perceives me. It's been slightly touched on with Jade, how it feels to be an eternal celebrity and how their image of her differs from her actual self. I have a lot of thoughts, but I'll leave it at this for now HEHE.
MILES: Serious congrats on your new journey of fatherhood! I think, as Chumi mentioned above, that our own journeys through childhood and also through the growing up of Homestuck itself as a story and a fandom are absolutely huge influences on what we've done and where we hope to go with the rest of the story.
FLORAL: That's awesome, congratulations!! I think one of the biggest experiences I have had that resonates with HSBC is what it takes to change and grow and not only be in the backseat of your own life. That some of the worse traps we get stuck in are ones we build ourselves.
JAMES: Yes. The overall story of beyond canon is about moving on.
Q: Is Karkat on the same level as Jake vis-a-vis public sexualization? (this is kind of a joke question kind of not idk)
What kind of parasocial bullshit do these ppl have to deal with daily?
Will Vrissy and Yiffy have teen subculture petty bullshitting ON TOP of the strained family situation stuff. please
MILES: Definitely. Jake is definitely a “safer” public figure to be obsessed with but Karkat is the kind of sexy countercultural hero that can't help but get a lot of play in Earth C society, notorious rogue that he is... we put a little tidbit in the last update about Jane having to spend a lot of time smearing him in the media because otherwise his rugged proletariat charisma would probably just run rampant through their society. I'm sure all the gods deal with this on some level, but Karkat sort of occupies a special echelon (a spechelon) where this is concerned by virtue of his controversial role in their current history. Sorry for spending a bunch of time writing about how Karkat's hot bod challenges society. Anyway, yes, Vrissy and Yiffy AND the rest of the Omega kids have a LOT of teen drama ready and waiting for all our viewing pleasure.
FLORAL: I have had a lot of thoughts on the parasocial interactions all the OG cast have on Earth C, the horror of it all running deep and bizarre. Think of what people do to celebrities in our lives, and they're not even walking, talking Jesus figures.
Q: has the canonicity of fantrolls gone up as the story's canonicity has trended towards dubious
JAMES: Sometimes you say a word so much it just becomes a series of sounds.
CHUMI: Yes because we put our fantrolls into the comic.
Q: chumi, how does it feel to be a jade harley fan on there?
CHUMI: We're always winning with Floral on our side…
Q: is there any word about the official homestuck collection? where/how will it be distributed? will it be free? is it an exact port of the unofficial one? any ballpark release date?
do you hope to see homestuck regain some of the cultural relevancy it had back in its hayday? if yes, what are the plans for that? if no, why?
JAMES: Sort of talked about your first question elsewhere, but to your second question:
I don't know if thats possible. I had a conversation with Andrew about this recently and how Homestuck came into itself in an era that doesn't exist anymore. The way we interact with things online has fundamentally changed and evolved and in order to remain "relevant" homestuck, and the very nature of it being "a webcomic" would have to evolve as well. It is very easy to say things like this because I don't know what that would even mean. I'm not gonna be out there making homestuck dance tiktoks or doing like corporate social media viral engagement bait shit. that sucks and nobody wants that. but homestuck has always kind of been an experience that extends beyond the pages of a webcomic
anyway, i am interested in seeing how we evolve both as a property and a community.
Q: Have y'all ever eaten Kiwis before
JAMES: I eat them like apples and everyone hates it.
MILES: I don't even know what to say to that, man.
CHUMI: I like ‘em golden.
Q: I'm not sure if this would be showing your hand, but how do you think you'd rank the candy adults by how off their rocker they are? Except maybe Rose, who I think we can all agree is extremely Not Okay.
CHUMI: I'll group ‘em up, in no particular order! Jane Jade Rose John (now we know their ass is crazy!) / Jake Roxy (not doing too great) / Karkat Kanaya Meenah (well-adjusted to a degree) / Sollux (doesn't gaf)
MILES: From most to least crazy? Hmmm... Jane probably takes the cake here for outlandish, but I think Rose and John are dealing with more like... mind-alteringly intense existential problems, and are less Stable. Jade is being pushed pretty far emotionally by the hole she's dug herself into, but I think she's fundamentally got her shit together, she's just really upset. Kanaya is definitely angrier than Jade, but I think still able to hold herself together more. Roxy, by contrast, is less angry than Kanaya, but more... out of touch? I wouldn't say she's crazy but she's also deep in the cope-realm and still needs to absorb the reality of what's happening. Jake is seeing a lot more clearly recently than he has in a while, but I think the excitement of making all these new stressful steps probably has him feeling shaky. Callie is just vibing but again, priorities are a little mixed up. Karkat is probably who I'd consider to be near the most adjusted right now. Angry and tired and stressed out, but he's got a good head on his shoulders, he's thinking solution. Meenah is chilling, honestly. Shit's all worked out great for her. This got way too long.
FLORAL: I think they all take turns being the craziest son of a bitch in the room, in very different ways, but we haven't seen Candy Jade post losing Yiffy yet…
Q: What qualified Tavros Crocker to become a Notary Public? What other qualifications does he have?
MILES: Tavvy is a man-boy (boy-man?) of many talents, by upbringing and necessity. As the once-heir to a planet-spanning business and political empire, the guy's gotta understand paperwork! We're gonna try and show many of his other special and perhaps unpredictable skills directly, so I can't say too much on that lest we ruin any fun surprises. But I'll tell you this. He is qualified to be my favorite Omega kid.
Q: Why was it decided to move from Requiem to a very similar but smaller venue doing a shorter event?
JAMES: The original event was back during the VIZ days, and we didn't have much creative control over it. VIZ got paid a small percentage of overall sales that was not extended to WP, though some of us participated in a freelance capacity. We wanted to do something with a bit more creative control, but the second Requiem cafe event was already in motion before we could plan otherwise. We were more interested in doing something on a much smaller scale that would be easier to keep track of ourselves, and the Requiem events ballooned to be weeks long with very little oversight from anyone tied to Homestuck. We declined to do the event again back in October, and decided to move forward with another opportunity presented to us in H&B. They do much more focused pop-up events like this all the time, and it was more in line with what we wanted to do originally.
FOLLOWUP: Thanks for providing some insight on this. That said, the choice seems baffling and frustrating from the point of view of an attendee.
Requiem's 4/13 has been held twice. Both times it sold out, both times it was beloved by those who went. By a margin of six months or so, it's been an important thing for many homestucks for longer than Beyond Canon has. It's been the closest thing we might ever have to a "real" Homestuck convention, and it's not even that big — it hosts, what, just over a hundred people?
Wanting an event where you're more involved makes a degree of sense — but going out of your way to replace the only real physical Homestuck party with an even smaller one (and with an untested concept besides) seems incredibly strange. Does H&B even have the space and facilities for people to gather and talk like Requiem does? Will they be able to host performances? Especially when demand is as high as it is — if H&B is even smaller, surely both could sell out! That's what you'd want, when growing a fandom.
Perhaps there are more detailed reasons you haven't shared, but currently the situation just seems weird, almost like the more popular event has been sabotaged to make way for a more closely held one. Like Requiem, I wish H&B all the best for their party — but I'll miss the old one, and I sincerely hope you'll give them the chance to host again in the future.
JAMES: You know, that's fair. I recognize the Requiem event was special for a lot of people and to their credit they hosted a fun event in a space that could handle something like that.
I think "replace" is the wrong sentiment, but I can see how it would be easy to think that based on what I had said. That's my bad, I'm sorry. To clear it up a bit this was not a decision made to spite anyone, and the choice to not do it again was made before moving forward with the H&B event. That was something that came about more recently. The last thing I want to happen here is any sort of mudslinging or w/e. I don't think that benefits anyone.
You're right that H&B doesn't have the space for that size of event and I must stress this again, that is not the kind of event we want or have the capacity to host in a way that we can comfortably oversee. While I trust requiem to handle their own business, I do not personally have the manpower to be present or even have someone present to oversee a week/month long event in a way that makes me comfortable with putting our name on it and calling it "official". I personally can't even go to these events because I am a disabled person with limited mobility and overall poor health.
Here is an example of what I mean. During last years event a sort of street fair happened at the same time. I did not know about this, and it sort of seemed like it was a surprise to the Requiem folks as well. From what I later understood it was something planned by the city and unavoidable. A large mobile tattoo parlor was parked in front of the cafe, and to their credit Requiem made the best of a poorly planned situation and tried to incorporate it into the event.. but if I'm being honest I really wish they hadn't or had at least asked me or anyone about it. I was not told about this until I saw posts on social media that our "officially endorsed" event would be offering tattoos. There is no universe where I or anyone here would endorse that. While they did what they thought was the best they could, I was not even consulted about it, nor was it cleared with anyone at WP/HICU etc. This is not the kind of thing I want to find out because I'm in bed scrolling through my instagram algorithm. As you can imagine, this is the exact kind of thing we can't afford to be liable for, even if miraculously nothing went horribly wrong. They did what they had to do, but my point is that it never should have come to that because we are not equipped to deal with something like that going awry.
Something like this upcoming pop-up, might require more initial footwork and setup on our part to get rolling, sure. However, it is much easier to oversee because there is no (for lack of a better term) babysitting involved. I'm not comfortable outsourcing the responsibility of chaperoning a bunch of kids in cosplay for several hours a day for multiple days. In fact, I'm not even comfortable in-sourcing that. I am not a childcare professional. If anything went wrong who do you think would have been held accountable? There were a handful of things that happened that I only heard about after the fact, and its honestly a miracle nobody got too hurt. It's nothing juicy or gossip-worthy, I just don't think it needs to be drawn out and I don't have the energy to get into some huge thing about it all. Sorry.
The H&B event isn't a party, it isn't a concert or a panel with special guests- it is a cute bakery pop-up with themed macarons and some fun limited run collab merch. Yes, the scale is much much smaller, but it is also just a completely different kind of event. They do these sorts of pop-ups often and have a great track record. I have had friends who have gone to many of these for various fandoms and properties over the years. This is much more in-line with the kind of thing we wanted to do initially and is being handled and run by the members of the current team.
I hope that addresses your concerns in a way that is satisfying to you and other concerned parties. I know it must seem a bit vague to not get every juicy detail but I really don't want to get anymore into it or drag this out into some sort of back and forth or air out anyone's dirty laundry or whatever else this could devolve into. I am sort of pulling the "I am an exhausted old man" card.
For what it's worth I am sorry we are not doing the event again, and it sounds like you had a fun time when you went. I will shoulder the responsibility for this, and the people these decisions have upset. So.. I'd humbly ask that you guys don't blame the team or hate on the event they are working hard to make happen, yeah?
Q: Not a question, just wanted to let you know I very much enjoy your run of things so far. Well done everyone
KIM: Thank YOU for accompanying us on this journey and enjoying it with us!
CHUMI: THANK YOU! We're grateful for your support!! ♥️
MILES: We very much enjoy making it, so we're so so so happy you like it :)
Q: Are you guys still considering Homestuck x Fortnite?
CHUMI: We are always considering Homestuck x Fortnite.
Q: Any chances we could see any more content in the Bonus Tab?
I would especially would like to see the continuation on "A Treatise on Representational Democracy" or something like it. I'm a sucker for that kind of worldbuilding.
MILES: This would be really fun to do. I hope so, is I guess the answer here? Perhaps even I *think* so.
Q: what has been your favorite moment working on HSBC? any funny behind the scenes stories you can share?
MILES: It's tough pulling specific moments to mind but the writers rooms (and, frankly, any of the team gatherings) are really funny. Everyone who works on this comic is really funny. Of specific and random note is that I was SO, so entertained during the entire process of making the original commercial for the Karkat plush.
CHUMI: Probably seeing the Flash come together, as well as coordinating events + merch plans!
KIM: The collaborative stuff like the meetings and the art jams are my favorite part of working on Beyond Canon! One, because everything these guys output BLOWS my mind away every time and it's awesome to see our work come together live. And, two… I just like being on call with the team because I like hanging out with my fwents. 🥺
One funny story I have is when we're in a team meeting and I was trying to propose when our next internal break would be, my brain was mixing up “break” and “rest” and just said outloud, “When do we want a breast” and immediately left the call in shame.
ANDI: Filming the Karkat plush video at walmart. I went to kick him into the aisle and I tripped and bent my ankle. It was awesome.
FLORAL: I won't lie, drawing on call for this last update was awesome and so invigorating. The writer rooms are also so so fun and full of zoomies. I'm just so happy to be involved with the project as a whole and every person whose involved. One funny story is I had to work when we were going to drop the flash, and I tried getting on call during my lunch break. I had to hurry back to work and ended up leaving the call screaming “ I DROPPED MY BURRITO AAAAHHHH.”
JAMES: My favorite moments are your smiling faces, and the wonder in your eyes..
Q: What kind of tools do you use to create the animations and panels?
CHUMI: I draw in Clip Studio Paint and animate in Photoshop!
KIM: I primarily use CSP for both standard panels and animating, a little bit of back-up with Photoshop. For more complex animations, sometimes I use After Effects.
ANDI: I use fire alpaca to animate (for example: The first terezi update was animated primarily in fire alpaca). I use csp for everything else! I SHOULD be using csp to animate, which is my next goal. Adobe animate, as well.
HAVEN: I draw in Sai2 and animate in Photoshop CS6, sometimes I sketch in drawpile.
FLORAL: I made the gif in the last update using Animate, and besides that use CLIP PAINT and Photoshop. Clip Paint is awesome for those crisp, tidy lines.
Q: Is there ever going to be a Beyond Canon 2? (As in the album, not the comic.)
JAMES: Good opportunity to say I want to start assembling a new music team. There is a lot of confusion and mysticism about the old music stuff and who has the rights to what etc, so I'd want to do new contracts that favor the musicians a little more. I have been trying to get this set up (and get the old albums back up) but it is taking a sort of insane amount of time, due to a plethora of other little things that have priority. It feels like it could be so simple but for reasons beyond my ability to fathom it is not. For whatever reason the music stuff always seems to be the slowest moving cog in all this. Probably because there are just so many damn people to contact. It's a legal miasma.
I actually won't really be contributing much in that regard. I'd be more than happy to have anyone from the old team come back, but some new blood would be great too. I'd love suggestions. I'll set up a way to do that once I'm able.
Q: Is there a non-zero chance we see anything playing with the concept of Trickster Mode, again?
HAVEN: Probably not because they don't want me to confirm that trickster makes trolls white too.
Q: Who were the Crocker Goons clones of?
JAMES: We laughed about this in call, because all we could come up with was "eachother"
Q: Do you think we'll get a chance to see other kids' rooms like Harry?
MILES: You think it's ok to just look into a kids' room? What the... I just... don't know if I'm comfortable with that.
CHUMI: We will definitely be looking at other kids' rooms!
Q: I have a few questions, if that's ok!
1: Can you tell us anything about the intermission I heard is going to happen before act 2?
And 2: can you tell us the kids Classpects? I don't remember this being asked in an earlier ama (sorry about this if it has!) but this has been BURNING a hole in me for a while now and I REALLY wanna know!!!!
HAVEN: 1.) It's weird. 2.) Nah...
MILES: It's different... as for the classpects, we COULD tell you. But we're not gonna do that on reddit!
JAMES: I keep trying to talk about classpect lore and they tell me not to. Nobody lets me do anything.
Q: There have been some references to pretty obscure media so far. Has the fandom missed any?
JAMES: Nobody called us out for using fortnite gun models. There are a handful of references here and there, at least someone usually picks up on it. I think its funnier when we think the reference is really clear but it drives someone insane trying to figure out if it's some sort of ARG.
MILES: To be honest, the fans are pretty good at catching them!
Q: fantastic work on these recent updates and congratulations on reaching the end of act 1! since it seems like act 2 will be focused largely on deltritus and thus be the first part of this story you all really get to define for yourselves, it strikes me that this curtain call marks a sort of End to the original hs2/epilogues project. how does it feel to finally close that chapter of homestuck's history? what lessons have you learned trying to pick up the pieces of someone(s) else's half-finished narrative, and what are you looking forward to now that you're (presumably) more free to take things in your own direction?
also: june real :)
FLORAL: As someone who loves Candy and loved writing it, it's kind of insane to get to this point now. We decided to end things on this big argument 2 years ago and to see it finally happen and people's reactions to it is… radical. We all had so many feelings about how to close the book on this, especially in a way that was interesting and loving and not a shunting undesirables off screen. It was a big hope with this upd8 that despite these version of the characters being lowkey almost traumatic for the readers during 2019, we'd leave Act 1 with people hoping to know what happens to them next. I am really hoping this catharsis did just that!
KIM: Considering a lot of these beats have been planned about two years ago, god damn, is it cathartic to finally reach this goal post! And to think this is only scratching the *surface* of what we've already had planned, I'm ecstatic we're finally dipping into the next chapter of our story! I think what we're all looking forward to is elaborating on what hasn't been explored in the original story before, BUT also *new* things as well–which you'll come to see eventually! AHHH there's so much I can't wait to share with you guys.
JAMES: Feels great. Wait what the hell the rest of you typed so much when I wasn't looking.
MILES: FEELS GOOD! We're all gonna say more or less the same stuff here, so I'll stay succinct and leave it at the fact that, perhaps controversially, I love the foundation we were given to write on, love the way we “closed it up”, and LOVE where we're going to go. It feels presumptuous to say too much about making it “ours” because Homestuck belongs to everyone, but I won't pretend I'm not proud of the stuff the new team generated from scratch. I'm having so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAVEN: It feels so awesome, I read through the EOA1 update like 30 or so times and I couldn't stop thinking about where we were when we started.
ANDI: From start to now, it's been such a rewarding experience. I've learned so much from this team and I feel like our strengths are only becoming more visible as we continue with this project as we go into ACT 2. <3
CHUMI: It feels great!!! I also am a Candy fan, so this was a nice, fireworks sendoff for a crazy cast of characters. I have a lot of thoughts on them, but I am also excited to move onto new pastures.
Q: What's Hussie up to nowadays?
JAMES: Andrew has been really busy with life stuff, but we talk pretty regularly. If I'm being honest its usually not about work.
Q: Is the fire halo on Hell tier Vriska actual fire?
HAVEN: It's real and also metaphorical. You could light a cigarette with it if you wanted. Don't touch it though it's hot.
Q: To those involved in Writing (Miles, Floral, & James): Do you plan for the to Candy adults still have a degree of importance/screentime going forward?
To those involved in the art (Floral, Kim, Andi, Haven, & Chumi): You've made a handful of new designs so far, ranging from small changes to giving Karkat stubble to full redesigns like Terezi's new suit and Jade's post-possession casual fit. What's your favorite new design you've made so far?
CHUMI: I'm biased towards Meat Jade's new outfit because I designed it and I dress like that. If I had to choose another design, it'd probably be Commander Karkat cuz he's a hottie.
MILES: If we left the Candy adults behind now and never went back to them, what would they have learned? And on top of all that, to never see DILF Karkat ever again? Not while I draw breath. I mean, I guess maybe except for when the story ends forever. Although I supposed we could just make Homestuck a sort of infinite parade of Karkat pin-ups.
ANDI: I really liked Vriska's Hell tier the most.
KIM: So hard to pick, because a lot of them are absolute bangers… Maybe Hell Tier Vriska, she's an especially unique and fun to draw design LOL
HAVEN: That you've seen so far? Probably a tie between Hell Tier Vriska and also All New Adult Vriska. So happy we got to keep the ponytail Kim gave her back during the Vrisual Novel.
FLORAL: My beautiful sweet precious Candy adult angels… even if they aren't on screen we are about to get to know their kids much better, no matter what their influence is ever present…
Also I haven't got to design much, BUT some things will be showing up VERY soon ;).
Q: Which character surprised you the most when writing them?
MILES: Writing Dirk has been really fun. I liked him well enough in OG Homestuck, but in the Epilogues and beyond his character really clicked for me, and getting into his head has been great. He's become one of my favorites, and I would never have imagined that if you'd asked it of me in 2016.
JAMES: Tavros.
FLORAL: Tavros 1000% I was actually pretty intimidated going into it. But then it awesome and so fun. Also Momfang.
Q: Any updates on what's going on with homestuck.com?
KOHI: Another collaborator and I have been taking passes at the website back and forth, finding more and more new and unusual issues as we go along, but none of them the root issue. It feels like when you flip over a rock in the mud of a riverbank and expect to find some cool bugs — we're finding bugs, all right, but they're all the fucked-up abominations that aren't so much cool as much as they are invasive. Uh. Anyway. Progress is happening on this! It'll be fairly obvious when it's back up and running, and we'll make sure to issue communication when it is.
Q: Although it may not seem relevant.
1: Could you tell us the eye color of the kids?
2: And if they're derse/prospit dreamers?
HAVEN: It is relevant, but we cannot tell you. :)
JAMES: For what it's worth I really want to tell you. I hope that comforts you.
Q: James: What (currently planned) arc are you most excited for, talking in riddles is cool if you don't want to spoil. Do you ever get too stressed out from how difficult it is for people to trust you and the new team? Do you think it affects your work ethic? Or do you think it's reasonable to be scared and you actually love it because it means more engagement with the material and it's a challenge to confront with gusto?
Kim: Helltier designs. Should we be stoked? Y/N? Clearly they're based on Leviathan Cross concepts rather than Common Denominator concepts.
Chumi: Any new merch y'all've been wanting to fuck with?
Chumi, Andi, Haven, Floral: Future character designs you guys are most looking forward to drawing in all sorts of dynamic positions. Any cool environmental settings you got planned?
Haven, Floral, Miles: The two-coin choice system was inspired. It fits John's statement of "maybe there's such a thing as too much freedom," yet by having a narrative choice in the matter that eventually ends up remeeting back into a temporal knot down the line, it seems to allow for characters to have even more freedom in individual choices. Are you guys going to be playing with this more to counter Ult!Dirk and Alt!Cal's methodologies?
Kohi: You got any cool concepts and ideas for further bringing the story to explosive life like the recent panel with Vriska and the four kids where they're hanging partially out of frame?
Last but not least, for all of you: Favorite kid of the current four and why? Any headcanons about their life and interests outside of what's been revealed so far, including other friends?
JAMES: Deltritans. Full stop. Deltritus session. Anything to do with Aradia. I'm sad she doesn't have anything to do right now. I bring her up at every writers meeting. “How can we work Aradia into this?” then they all shoot me with guns. Wow this is a really involved question! I think working with people you trust is paramount to a project like this.
KIM: I LOVE the direction we went with Vriska's Hell Tier design. She went through a lot of iterations (which we'll be getting into in one of our artist commentaries coming up soon), but what we ended up all feeling very strongly about is that she appeared more *abstract* and conceptual. She's surpassed being defined within the comic, and now as you all have witnessed from the recent update she's even breaking from the confines of it! AHHH SHE'S ESCAPING
ANDI: The vriska hell tier design was one of our first art jams ever and it was incredibly fun to do. I'm looking forward to more sessions like that with this team.
CHUMI: I don't wanna make any promises with merchandise, but I have done a lot of reaching out in a bunch of different directions (some old, some new)! My personal preference for merch includes wearable items that are ~subtly~ fandom-presenting and collectibles like figures and plushies, but will it come true…? Crossing my fingers! As for future character designs and drawings, I am SO looking forward to showing off the Deltritans. I think they will be a big hit!!My favorite Omega changes every day, so I'll say Tavvy for now!
HAVEN: 1.) Yes... I love designing new outfits so much...
2.) Yes
3.) My favorite Omega is Harry but I like them all a lot.
MILES: Yes! And my favorite Omega kid is Tavvy; I'm soooo excited for us to serve up a little more of who he is, and where he's going to go. He's my brave little soldier… (Also, I know I wasn't technically asked this, but I'm also going to chime in and say I'm ALSO super, SUPER stoked for Deltritus.)
KIM: My first contribution to Beyond Canon was being commissioned to draw Yiffy's design, so I have a little sentimental bias towards her LOL. But of the four Omega kids, I think Harry is also pretty up there as one of my favorites. As you can imagine we'll be spending some more time with these kids in this comic, we'll be learning more glimpses about their lives outside of their parents too!
FLORAL: We literally just have a few art jams to figure out new outfits that I am so so excited for but, there's so many we have been working on. I'm also a big environmental design person and what we've been cooking up for Deltritus… Delicious. Also i like the multiple choice question, it would be pretty cool if we did!! Lastly…. this is so hard to choose… but I think it may be Yiffy that is my fave Omega. I've thought A Lot about her interactions in the boarding school, her gang … how it built her into the punk she is today. Wrow.
Q: Was Vriska always intended to 'grow up' and take on a 'guardian'-like role for the Omega Kids? If it's something that the new creative team decided to explore, what lead you to that direction?
(Sidenote: Floral, i love Liminal Space, it's my favorite piece of Homestuck fan media. I'm glad to know someone who understands the characters so well is on the team!)
FLORAL: When I joined the team it absolutely was, and we've continue to evolve it since. I think it was kind of imperative that if we have Vriska go through another arch, something about her and her role has to change, this is an entirely different challenge she's never had before and that's the opportunities you chase after when writing.
Also WAAAAH thank you!! That means a lot, I really appreciate you reading, I learned so much while making that comic I'm so grateful to the team and HSBC for letting me use the years I molded my homestuck skills to good use.
Q: Will Sollux get compensated for his cold pizza?
HAVEN: One can only hope...
MILES: I do have to say, though, that canonically Karkat is the one who sent the food to Sollux's place. So if anything, the Rebellion deserves the reimbursement. They need the money.
Q: What Pokemon would the Beta kids have
CHUMI: I've seen this around, but Jade with 10% Forme Zygarde. It's a fucking green dog!!! John would get Raboot, Dave gets Corviknight, and Rose gets Frillish.
HAVEN: John gets a Mime Jr. and it's a Mr. Rime now, oh and he's got a Slowking. He'd be kind of a genwunner even though he likes gen 1-4 mons anyway. Rose has a Malamar and a Dhelmise. Everybody wants to give Jade some dog so I'm making sure I don't fit in and saying she should have a Registeel. Dave has a Murkrow and he hates it.
MILES: I think John would have a Haunter! His very own ghostlyTrickster...
Q: I'm going to be cool and original and ask: what do you have planned for act 3? (not to be confused with the upcoming act 2)
HAVEN: That's a good question.
MILES: I like that question.
HAVEN: It'll be 3 times as intense as the act it's following.
FLORAL: You need to prepare yourself for it's power.
Q: Is the comic going to go back to updating multiple times in a month or should we only expect one a month?
JAMES: We have a few intermission updates that will drop individually, but for ACT 2 we are going to play around with some…more classic update schedules. ;)
Q: for anyone - do you have a favorite piece of fan speculation or reaction to an update that you've seen over HSBC's run so far? i still remember the first upd8 i caught pretty fondly (vrisual novel's start haha) so im curious about if any of you have moments that felt special to you.
MILES: Can't say WHAT they are, but honestly some of my favorite bits of speculation are when we see a fan that gets something almost 100% right. It just makes me laugh.
HAVEN: Every time we see a post on something where someone just gets it instantly we share it with each other and freak out.
FLORAL: This wasn't directly in response to an update, but I'm glad people like my Evil Jane thumbnail from Update 12. You know the one.
MILES: We have a pretty good idea of the main plot beats we wanna hit all the way through til the end, but we're still not quite sure how many acts we wanna divide it up into. A lot of that becomes clearer to us the closer we get. Maybe we'll have a more accurate answer to this soon! That said, we anticipate HS:BC still has a lot more time left to go :)
Q: Also! Who chose the names for Vriska's echeladder? As someone with a degree in early childhood I thought the callbacks to psychology was great, especially Piaget haha
FLORAL: We made a big document that everyone contributed to!! Mostly we wanted to stick with what Vriska's specific journey called. Boundary Respecter was my fave.
CHUMI: I'm currently in grad school for something psych related, so I just threw in as many terms as possible.
MILES: The whole team got together and cranked out as many fire and psychology related puns as we could think of before we started wanting to jump off a cliff!
Q: Just want to say that you all are absolutely cooking. Appreciate the work that you've been putting in!
CHUMI: Thank you so much! We will continue doing our best! 🙇
Q: Will we be seeing Cliper and Swifer again? I miss them!
CHUMI: A bonus comic featuring Swifer was just released on the Patreon, so it'll be publicly available in 2 months HEHE. While drawing it, I became a Swifer and Cliper fan.
Q: what do you have to say to the haters (aka what are your responses to some of the common criticisms of the most recent update [mostly things that have shown up on this sub] that i dont feel like parroting here)
also, do you believe there is someone who is supposed to be "in the right" during the big End of Act 1 argument? since, besides Karkat really, which is addressed in-comic, it seems everyone, including Vriska, probably had some problems in their actions from what I have seen people say. im mostly on the fence of trying to figure out if this is good or bad writing or not, as if the intention was that everyone was supposed to be a little in the wrong, i think it checks out, but otherwise im not really sure how to feel. honestly not knowing how to feel has been my response to this update in general. (besides the art being awesome that's not really a question)
FLORAL: Criticism is necessary part of the story reader engagement, people are allowed to not agree with our choices as writers because they are choices not rock solid, visions of truth that come to us in visions. Honestly, I think what I'd love to see is how people would handle things differently if handed these same scenarios. When I disagreed with Homestuck as a fan, I did that a lot and it built my ability as a writer so much and it has a soft place in my heart to see love put into fanon like that.
As for whose “right” I wanted to answer this question very genuinely and say that it was really important to us in the writer's room that the argument in the last update felt real to the characters and their differing values (and consistent to the continuity of what has happened to them up until this point in the story). That meant flawed perspectives, lacking context or driven by trauma and emotion. Utilitywise, this is a convo less about whose right and whose wrong but instead bringing the characters into awareness about each other and just where they stand after avoiding all their differences for 20+ years.
JAMES: We are going to write the story we write, but it is important to be able to listen to your audience and make them feel heard. Sure, there is a bit of bad faith among the valid criticism but it actually just means a lot to me that anyone cares enough to have an opinion. If they didn't care at all they would just leave.
Who's in the right? Sollux. This shit sucks and it's not fun, so, he left.
Q: Hey everyone, I kinda want to know what was your favorite panel to work on/create? Also care to drop any hints for where the story goes from here?
KIM: I think my favorite panels are anything with intense action in them because I can always get stylistically experimental with them, hehe. The Jake vs Jane update was a riot, anything with Hell Tier Vriska, and also the recent panel with all the adults in Guardian Mode lookin' down at John I'm real happy about!
CHUMI: My favorite panels to make are stuff made for the Flash! In the comic, I liked how the Rose-covering-Harry-and-Vrissy's-Eyes panel turned out!
HAVEN: So many, The Home on page 592 almost killed me while I was working on it but it fills me with joy, literally any panel with Al, the Dirk and Terezi panels during the previous 4/13 update, the Jane's severed head panel i got to finalize over a kim sketch (the really scary crazy one), and “Kids: Escape from above." another awesome one I'm very proud of.
FLORAL: I haven't been drawing panels as long as everyone else, but I fucking loved drawing Jake's hopesplosion and winged stance in the flash, along with the Dead!Dave super close shot and Jade punching John. I was kicking my feet so much. Besides that, I loved boarding update 6, update 12 and this last update and watching them come to life.
JAMES: Something I stressed very early on in HSBCs production is that it is very purposeful when and how we see the characters in various modes, especially in Candy. In the latest update, when we get a command for John to “be present” we are seeing the small classic sprites that they had when they were children. When we switch to Vriska as the focus, the adults are relatively normal sized again. There is some switching around and the way character are portrayed kind of shifts here and there. Eventually we switch to back to John after the big punch and we see that he suddenly sees that everyone here is an adult, literally towering over him. Everyone has grown up but him. Kim really knocked it out of the park with this panel, and I feel like that's the high point in this whole act for me.
Q: For any of you: If Lyndis, Hector, and Lilina from Fire Emblem were trolls, what would their blood castes be?
Also did you know that Fire Emblem's anniversary is 1 week away from Homestuck's? And that it's on 4/20?
MILES: I am so chastened to say this but unfortunately I can only really answer Fire Emblem questions about the Gamecube/Wii era games and Awakening through Engage. I'm... so sorry...................................... can I offer you a blueblood Dimitri in this trying time? A fuschia Edelgard with experimental limeblood transfusions? I need to not get started on this or I'll go a little crazy.
Q: question for everyone: what's everyone's favorite music albums? (not homestuck, just generally)
question for anyone: how exactly is the notion of format/medium handled during the planning process? for example, were the vrisual novel and [s] 8r8k conceived with their current format in mind, or were they planned as standard pages at first? i pestered james on tumblr a couple weeks ago about the possibility of the more verbose prose only pages returning, but i guess im just more curious about how much medium shifts are considered!
question for kohi: how complete is your bionicle collection these days? are you into custom mocs, or do you just collect the standard kits?
KOHI: I've been chipping away at a full collection of all the retail sets, the canonized models, and the blind bag collectibles. I'm pretty far along on most of those collections, I'd say total progress is at least 90% complete. You can be the judge yourself, though: https://imgur.com/a/nSI1BnH
KIM: The vrisual novel and [S] 8r8k we're both deliberately planned as is! I think the only thing so far that expanded much more in scope than we expected was the [S] page where Vriska was getting absorbed into the Plot Point portal. We talked about it in a past artist commentary on the Patreon, but I think the writers initially just proposed it as a fancy gif. Though, during production, I proposed it needed some more oomph to really get the drama and mystery across and everyone agreed!
MILES: Nobody answered the album question, so I'm gonna hop in and say that Heligoland and Mezzanine by Massive Attack are no-skip perfect albums.
Q: Will we be getting any shorter/more frequent sound pages going forward? Will you be doing long and ambitious animations like this again?
Great finale to act 1! Loving the direction!
MILES: We abso-LUTELY want to do [S] pages of all manner of length, complexity, and... medium? They are, of course, sometimes really labor and even a bit money intensive depending on guest artist work, but the process of doing 8r8k was so damn cool. But yeah, we wanna shake it up! More little gags, more short but sweet impactful animations, long ones, maybe even more visual novel talksprite fun. We want to try and do as much as we can. There are moments that just kind of need a little extra oomph, and we wanna give it to you. We've also all LEARNED so much, so hopefully it gets easier and easier to churn out, though of course it'll always be a real time and effort investment. But you guys are worth it.
Q: It's fair to say, I think, that progress on beyondcanon.com has not been as been fast as initially planned. It's been a year since the website launched, and https://beyondcanon.com/recap is still "Returning Soon" and https://beyondcanon.canny.io/ has not seen much progress, even for the typo revisions, which had initially been fixed rather quickly, but has slowed down in recent months.
I believe James mentioned in a newspost at some point that work on the website would slow down for a bit, perhaps to prepare for the Flash. Is that what's slowed things down? Or is all the attention being spent on homestuck.com? Something else?
KOHI: That about sums it up, yeah. Between the v(r)isual novel, [S] 8r8k, Homestuck.com, and early development of the Official Homestuck Collection -- all of which requiring a level of technical involvement -- minor bug fixes and typo revisions for the site have taken a temporary backseat, just as a matter of priority. That being said: once the issues plaguing Homestuck.com have been squared away, addressing these issues will be back on my agenda.
Q: What's everyone's favorite non-canon class? (Ex: Nick, Douche, Gent, Huss.)
CHUMI: Probably Gent of Piss.
Q: In celebration of Yiffy's first voiced line, I'm curious; in language as evasive as physically possible, which yet-unseen characters are y'all most pumped to write for?
JAMES: gavageCunctation and friends. We had a writers room a few weeks ago with them as the focus and its everything i'd hoped for and more.
Q: Who are your favorite dancestors?? Which troll shares your zodiac sign? ALSO KIM I LOVE YOUR LANQUE ART, especially the ones with Wanshi!!
MILES: Meenah and Aranea.
HAVEN: Meenah and Aranea.
JAMES: Opting out of this bit basically immediately.
CHUMI: I'll be contrarian and say Meenah and Aranea. (Also I am an Aries)
ANDI: What they said.
KIM: I'm glad you like the art! Anyone who knows me knows I'm cuckoo bananas for jadebloods, so I'm happy to always provide hehe
Q: Whose silhouette was that in the new update? Though I think us fans with keen eyes already have an idea.
HAVEN: You have to guess.
MILES: Ultra Instinct Goku.
JAMES: fuck i wish that were true
Q: Hi team, great job on the recent updates, extremely excited for the June developments being hinted at from the end of act update. Just one central question: with the Nipah in Vriska hell and Kyrie Rose from the patreon, as well as Rose's attempted suicide in 8r8k visually referencing Urasawa's monster, homestuck seems to finally be becoming anime.
How has the process of selecting new pop cultural reference points to work into the language of the comic been going? Are there works that you would consider key touchstones for your approach to the comic in terms of influence? And have Homestuck and Umineko secretly been the same thing all along?
FLORAL: TBF I haven't seen The Monster anime yet, only read the manga so I can't say that my contribution is making Homestuck anime. But I would say with referencing things, we focus on things that are really important to us and not just passing fancy or currently relevant. EX. I wanted to reference Monster because I felt like the nihilism of Johan would add so much context to the Rose's own suicide. But also Monster as a whole has really influenced me along with all of Satoshi Kon's work.
Q: I love the comic so far! I was wondering what your panel workflow is? I'm working on an MSPFA with some friends and I want to know how your write/revision/write goes!
MILES: The writers start by all getting together and trying to roughly outline basic plot beats, then refining that outline down to “update by update” chunks. Then, when it comes time to write a given update, we currently all get together and write it together in call! Floral is a fantastic boarder so we tend to sort of write and board simultaneously, then comes finished dialogue/narrative passes, and then we see which artists want to do which panels, or if a given artist wants to take a whole update for the final panels! Lots of input and collaboration happens between writers and artists on all steps, though. We try, and fail, but really try, to lock things in early, but every now and then one of us looks at what we've got and realizes we have a tweak we just HAVE to make. Nothing bad ever happens because of this.
FLORAL: As for art, we've been playing with different workflows recently but ones the thumbnails are done by the writers, and a color script has been made, we push the update along to the assigned artist, and we'll do art jams as a team if there is any visual development in need of …. developing.
Q: Hello. First time sending questions to an AMA ever, so apologies if I don't understand site etiquette.
1: For any of the writers/artists, is there any character that you dislike working on? And not because you dislike the character or anything, its just annoying getting them exactly right. (If the answer involves someone we haven't seen yet, yk feel free to ignore this).
2: For the writers, HS can be absurd a good majority of the time, and that's part of the humor. So I have to ask how do you balance that absurdity/humor out, personally? Like what is your mindset to make sure that neither you nor the audience overindulge in either end of zaniness/melodrama, and just get numb to it? When do you pump the brakes?
3: For anyone, is there anything you would've done differently with act 1 now that you can look back at it? Like if you had the dream of infinite money, infinite time, and the world wasn't constantly on fire/on the brink of catching fire, would you have changed something?
Thank you for reading, even if you don't answer; have a good day/night.
MILES: Welcome to AMA's! Thank you for joining us :J 1: I think the character I dislike writing the most is John, honestly, because I feel like I have to think the hardest about getting his weird-ass mindstate exactly right. He's a bit less intuitive for me than a lot of the other characters, and feels a bit more informed by the scenes he shows up in than driven by a Really Strong Voice in the way that other characters are. Still fun, but I'll admit he's tough! 2: For the humor balance, it's really trial and error. We know the dramatic beats well in advance, but humor often emerges when we're actually writing the final pass/script versions of the updates, and it often just comes down to: how good is the joke, and is there enough space for the drama to shine on its own if we include it? We do a lot of readthroughs of the updates in call to get a sense of the momentum of the scene, and it's usually during those that it becomes clear if a joke is Too Much or hurts the scene more than it helps it. Luckily, though, Homestuck juggles comedy and tragedy pretty frenetically, so we have a lot of wiggle room! 3: To be honest, nah? I love what we did with Act 1. Maybe if we could have just gotten all the Hell-tier VN updates out faster so it wasn't like two solid months of it, but I love what we did for it anyway so it's not too much a thorn in my side.
KIM: I don't know why, but Aradia is always so tricky for me to draw… She's got such a specific vibe to her expression and attitude, and I find I keep challenging myself to get it right. Her schrodinger's horn shape in the base comic don't help either LOL.
ANDI: Not particularly. I'm trying to think of which character took the LONGEST for me to get right, but I'm otherwise okay with drawing. I think it'd be Dirk. I remember the scene where BGD took off his glasses, I was seriously going through several forms of torture trying to get his eyes to look right on a face that has NEVER had even so much as an implication of the eye. Everyone else has been pretty straightforward for me. My main struggles are more technicalities, rather than character designs.
CHUMI: I think AlCal was the hardest for me to draw, even though I did a whole update for her. I just never drew that much of her before HS:BC!
FLORAL: 1. Honestly even if I don't have strong opinions on a character, once I get to writing them I usually end up loving them. As for characters, I only don't like boring characters and thankfully Homestuck is pretty good about not having those. 2. Honestly I think the biggest strength of us as writer's is that we aren't afraid of ridiculous ideas, but are committed and critical about justifying them. I love stupid and insane but it can't be try hard or random. 3. If we had INFINITE money, probably make the flash a little bit longer. But besides that, everything is amazing, and everyone has really taken every part of Act 1 and exceeded my expectations with it.
Q: who is yall favorite character?
ANDI: When I close my eyes, a flash image of Dave Strider appears. So I'm gonna go with that.
CHUMI: Jade freaking Harley. Gun to my head I had to choose another, probably Karkat. I could go on…
MILES: Karkat, Rose, and Dave. I could never pick just one, and my runner ups (Dirk, Equius, Gamzee) need a mention too. I'm too greedy.
KIM: Depends, how big of the *le Homestuck Universe* are we including… If it's just base Homestuck, my favorite characters are John and Feferi! I literally own an original framed painting of Feferi in my house LOL. If we include Beyond Canon, Yiffy and Harry. If we include Hiveswap, Lanque.
JAMES: Aradia. I will keep saying this as many times as I can.
FLORAL: I LOVE JADE HARLEY!!!! EVERY VERSION OF HER!!!! But besides that I love John too and Rose and Karkat and Kanaya and Vriska and JAKE(!!!!) and (goes on forever and forever)
Q: Is Hell Tier a reference to Limit Form from Kingdom Hearts 2?
CHUMI: Nope.
Q: What does Vriska smell like?
MILES: Come on.
Q: So what is the symbolism/decision behind framing the last part of the update through the eyes of dead Dave, in particular the choice to depict John and Jade as almost skeletal like?
Helltier Vriska's halo becoming a portal is super cool, are the visuals within just for fun/style points or is there a meaning to abstract images flashing away inside?
Was Tavy scratching his head in frustration because he was struggling on deciding if he was to go? Or was it because he saw his dead neglectful mother couldn't even be put down by being decapitated and was frustratingly realizing the only way to escape her was to leave?
Is there meaning to the way the kids are drawn as Vriska lifts them away? Like for example Harry seems to be the only one not wrapped up and is just kind of barely clinging almost like he is still feeling a pull down to world he is leaving. While Tavvy seems to be gently embraced and lifting up as if he has become lighter?
Which Omega(?) kid's arc are you most excited for?
FLORAL: Hello!! I boarded and drew the Dead!Dave part of the update and honestly I would love to leave the symbolism open to you guys to figure out the intention! I know it sucks to hear but what's most important is understanding how the individual feels and how that works in tandem with the intention of the scene. I will say, as the only adult to leave Candy we couldn't not have his presence felt in this conversation.
Q: The Omega Kids (seems like that's the official name) are 3 humans and 1 Troll. Is there a reason for this imbalance?
MILES: The Candy adults didn't know they were going to be sending their kids to Skaia's Sequel Surprise when they had them and so, foolishly, failed to cultivate their next generation in a way that'd line up more neatly.
Q: How do you plan on populating the music for future albums? Will you be messaging prominent fanmusic creators for their input?
JAMES: here it is ok. sheesh. i spent such a long time looking for this question just now and ended up answering a handful of different ones LMAO.
So previously the music was done on a sort of volunteer basis, with the forums acting as a sort of central hub for a selected team of people. I'd like to do something similar, and offer compensation in the form of percentage of the album sales, much like the old set up. Only the percentage would be larger and the team, overall, would be smaller. Right now I'm not certain how to recruit for a new music team without flooding my inbox with submissions that I will sadly have to turn most of down.
I am thinking I will approach people individually and build up a small team of collaborators and contributors sort of like how it was done before with the caveat that I am very open to suggestions and recommendations. I said before that I'd love to have some of the old team back as well, if they'd be willing to Get The Band Back Together but I'd also understand their apprehension to work with WP/HICU or I. I also want to give opportunities to new and upcoming musicians as well. I have a few people in mind and i'll build from there.
if you guys have suggestions on individual artists I should be listening to, I'd love to hear them.
Q: What have the Felt been up to after all this time? Those goobers still kicking?
HAVEN: They were on the moon building the laser and (presumably other things) for Jane! They showed up on page 628.
Q: Fortnite when?
MILES: Hop on now, bro. Let's secure this W.
JAMES: As much as I talk about fortnite I haven't played it in months and I'm dogshit at it.
Q: Just 1 question,
was rewriting homestuck^2 into homestuck beyond canon fully from scratch and not picking up where it left from ever a consideration? since the epilogues were so disliked I feel like it might have been a thought at some point
FLORAL: Nope. We all felt pretty excited to take what the epilogues gave us and see it through. The fun thing about the epilogues is with it's unreliable narrators, we had so much to explore and chances to frame things in these awesome transformative ways! It's like a big puzzle.
JAMES: I was originally tasked with FINISHING the story, which is what I plan to do.
MILES: Rewriting it would have been a waste of a lot of great concepts! Part of what we hope to do here is encourage people who didn't like the Epilogues to give it another chance.
Q: Hey guys! First off, thanks for taking the Herculean task of continuing Beyond Canon. I really enjoy the direction the team is taking the story, and can't wait to see where exactly you land!
As for my question, what does collaborating look like on the day-to-day basis? I imagine there's a lot of plates spinning behind the scenes, but is it constant roundtable discussions/revisions? Do people have spheres that they're in charge of? Just meme spamming in Slack?
Also, what kind of future merch is on the table? You guys floated the possibility of Homestuck vinyl, which has me salivating, but anything else exciting that you're thinking about?
CHUMI: Thank you for sticking with us! At the very least, we have meetings at the end of every month to summarize what's going on and bring up new questions. Additionally, there are writers meetings every week and artist draw-meets often as well. We try to keep each other as updated as possible about new ideas, designs, etc! We also share a lot of funny stuff and favorite fanarts in our lounge chat!
As for merch, I don't want to confirm or deny anything until it's 100% certain. Do know that I am always fighting for more cool stuff!!
KIM: I am fighting alongside Chumi in the mines fighting for more cool merch stuff as well (because I also want cool Homestuck stuff).
CHUMI: Kim is my eternal comrade in this fight.
Q: with most of our characters having two entirely separate versions of them, a cast of omega kids, and a yet unseen cast of deltritus characters... would you say there's room in the future to focus screentime on previously explored character concepts that may be considered "retreading old ground"? i know i'd love to see new exiles or fresh variants of the agents of derse as more than background elements. those moments of problem sleuth style narration jack noir and his crew had were always very fun to read.
CHUMI: We'll see a fair number of new characters and revisit some old ones! 😊
JAMES: Yes and some people have already speculated some things very closely which is amazing. To your second question, also yes. I would love to say more in these answers but I am beholden to not spoil the story.
Q: roblox collab when
MILES: Find us the 12 year olds to make it happen.
HAVEN: In all seriousness I know there's some homestucks over with the Nico's Nextbots people and it would be cool to get a Homestuck themed Regretavator level in there. IDK I'd love to have anything anywhere.
Q: Legally, are you allowed to criticize decisions made by the previous team(s)? Like, can you say "yeah this was a tough one to figure out how to make an actually serious emotional resolution to"?
MILES: Legally? Of course, but I don't think spending our time criticizing previous decisions helps us write Beyond Canon any better, to be honest. We all feel like we're in a position to write a pretty good story and nothing we inherited has felt like it weighed us down.
Q: Hey HICU team, love your work! I have a question that I've been curious about for a while; In the Vriska prison break update, there was a recruitment poster encouraging people to enlist in Jane's army. However, in a later update, Jane says her army consists entirely of clones, rather than any enlisted soldiers. Why is this?
(Some bonus questions if that's ok; who are the clones based on? How are Genn and Errick (the troll and clone from the flash) doing?) Hope y'all are doing well, best of luck on future upd8s!
JAMES: Nobody joined.
Q: Will we ever learn more about the Shadow Quadrants?
I think they are meant to be a joke, but I think it would be funny if they were real.
JAMES: i keep laughing about this what the hell is a shadow quadrant
Q: What is your favorite vegetable?
MILES: Have you ever seen Romanesco Broccoli? Look it up, it's beautiful... a magnificent fractal of foliage... its beauty is such that it takes my #1 spot despite not being my favorite to eat.
ANDI: Brussel sprouts for days…
KIM: brogle
CHUMI: I love Chinese Long Bean and Loofah!
JAMES: I know this is going to sound insane but vegetables aren't actually real.That's not a bit, it's true.
FLORAL: Brussel Sprouts are so good, along with green beans and cabbage!
Q: [deleted]
MILES: Future arachnidsGrip.
Q: Also! Who chose the names for Vriska's echeladder? As someone with a degree in early childhood I thought the callbacks to psychology was great, especially Piaget haha
FLORAL: We made a big document that everyone contributed to!! Mostly we wanted to stick with what Vriska's specific journey called. Boundary Respecter was my fave.
CHUMI: I'm currently in grad school for something psych related, so I just threw in as many terms as possible.
MILES: The whole team got together and cranked out as many fire and psychology related puns as we could think of before we started wanting to jump off a cliff!
JAMES: miles you cant say the whole team got together and cranked
Q: Hi folks,
My biggest burning question that has been smoldering in my head for awhile is: What do you refer to the 4 kids in Candy as? I've seen a bunch of different group names like Candy kids, the Omega Kids, the Gamma Kids, help us standardize the correct name for the group!
Q: Their Patreon already confirms it's the Omega Kids. That isn't a theory or fan guess.
JAMES: Yes it is the Omega Kids
