Man, what is UP with Act 6

[Endater]

More specifically, why does it take up over half the comic? Did Hussie just keep forgetting to flip the Act 7 switch? And how would y'all split Act 6 up?

[JakeMorph]

i think the existing 6/6/6 division is probably as good as you're gonna get. i assume andrew just didnt realise how much more he had to write after act 5, but the ghost stuff definitely bloated the comic a bit considering what act 6 really boiled down to was the kids and trolls arriving at the new session, kicking the villains' asses and making a new universe.

[calamityCons]

I don't know WHY Act 6 is so fucking long but I didn't read it all and I still got a good sense for the main story beats.

[MorganMustDie]

I think, of all of Homestuck's meta-shit, the thing that gets ignored far too often is the mother fuckin
STORY MAP

First of all, check out just how pretty and well built that page is

Second of all, it does a great job of breaking the story up and serving as a reminder of everything that happens in each section.
The map provides an alternative title to Act 6 and 7 as "Side 2." I think this makes a lot of sense. You could consider Act 6 and 7 as something of a sequel to Act 1-5, considering the change in writing style, plot approach, and general content, especially since Cascade makes a lot of sense if you think of it as the ending to a story, with Intermission 2 serving as the cliffhanger to remind you there's more to tell.

Beyond this, it splits Act 6 into Part 3 (Act 6 Act 1-5), and Part 4 (Act 6 Act 6). Part 1 is Acts 1-4, Part 2 is Act 5 on its own, for interest's sake. Part 3 (personally, my least favourite of all 4 parts) is an introduction to the post-scratch world, alpha kids, cherubs, and details the void session's failure and the beta kids arriving to fix things up. Part 4 is where things pick up, kicking off when Caliborn hijacks the narrative and the beta kids finally arrive to try and fix the alpha session. There's conflict, resolution, and a lot more plot shit than Part 3

I'd actually be interested to hear people's rankings of the different Parts/Sides/Discs of Homestuck, as well as the Acts. We might find that the issues people have with Act 6 are more specific to Part 3 or 4, or something similar.

Personally:
Side 1 > Side 2
Disc 1 > Supercartridge > Disc 2
Part 2 > Part 1 > Part 4 >>>>>>> Part 3

[Cyber-Fan]

The thing that baffles me the most about act 6 is why Hussie thought it was a good idea to make a walkaround flash with the production value of Cascade that's almost entirely about a bunch of joke characters who never get a speaking role in the comic again.

[Generalrabogolfo]

he said act 6 was going to be the shortest one yet, didnt he?

[calamityCons]

The thing that baffles me the most about act 6 is why Hussie thought it was a good idea to make a walkaround flash with the production value of Cascade that's almost entirely about a bunch of joke characters who never get a speaking role in the comic again.

Act 6 is just an enormous clusterfuck of nonsense and this is one of the biggest reasons why.

[Daz]

he said act 6 was going to be the shortest one yet, didnt he?

He also said that Homestuck isn't going to be the thing he'll be most known for and there will be a completely different project after, so yeah.

[calamityCons]

Nobody can predict the future, in the end.

[ThePungeonMaster]

I don't know WHY Act 6 is so fucking long but I didn't read it all and I still got a good sense for the main story beats.

The thing that baffles me the most about act 6 is why Hussie thought it was a good idea to make a walkaround flash with the production value of Cascade that's almost entirely about a bunch of joke characters who never get a speaking role in the comic again.

Act 6 is just an enormous clusterfuck of nonsense and this is one of the biggest reasons why.

IMO, you can't really criticize something unless you read all of it. Not to say your criticism is incorrect but I wouldn't trust a book review if the reviewer only read sparknotes for the second half of the book and then complained about how the story made no sense.

[PilotBlackSmith]

romance and drama bad
the ghost writer was Hussie's dad

[calamityCons]

IMO, you can't really criticize something unless you read all of it. Not to say your criticism is incorrect but I wouldn't trust a book review if the reviewer only read sparknotes for the second half of the book and then complained about how the story made no sense.

I understand your position and I respectfully disagree, because I'm not an official book critic. It is not my job to read something I can already tell I don't like. I am not obligated to read something I don't like for the benefit of someone else.

[sorbicCondition]

Meh, I liked Act 6. I agree with the idea that like, pretty much fucking nothing happens between Cascade and Collide in regards to plot changing events. It was basically just waiting for the characters to get to a place where they can beat the already established villains, so if your enjoyment of Homestuck comes from learning how the game works or the Big Plot Moments, there really isn't a lot there for you. But imo Homestuck is and always has been about the characters, and Act 6 kind of cuts the pretense and puts all the focus on them. I enjoy it, but I obviously understand how it can be alienating for a lot of folks.

[MorganMustDie]

Act 6... is good.
I enjoy it. I enjoy the new characters they introduce, I enjoy the new worlds, I enjoy it's meta aspects, I enjoy how the clusterfuck plot elements that are present in Act 5 are solved, only to be replaced with Act 6's own clusterfuck plot elements.

Are some of the character interactions long winded and boring? Sure. Does the story lose its way and write itself into a corner? Yeah. Does it feel like effort was put into the wrong places? Absolutely.
Does any of that mean that moments like Caliborn: Enter, Game Over, or Collide had less emotional impact to me? Absolutely not. To me, the highlights of Act 6 are absolutely worth Act 6's downsides.

But maybe I just like enjoying things

[ThePungeonMaster]

Act 6 is seriously my favorite part of Homestuck, but I can understand why others don't like it.
In fact, many of the reasons why others don't like it are the reasons I do. I like how panicked and disorganized the story got. I liked how meta the story of Homestuck became. The story became a refection, a retelling of itself, with the heroes journey already fulfilled before it was even over. It made the story paradoxically feel much more liberating and chaotic, as if anything could happen and it would be a natural progression. Characters and arcs didn't persist because it was written for them to do so to serve the authors ambitions, but because it was natural for certain actions to happen, certain arcs to be dropped and certain characters to die. Honestly, this utter freedom in storytelling direction is part of what makes me so amped for HS2, despite it's shortcomings.

[Makin]

Act 6 needs walls of text to explain why it can be considered creative and amazing, while the stretch of Act 4-Cascade is patently good to anyone reading this without further explanation. I don't think there's any real question as to which one is better to the average reader. It's important to mention survivorship bias and how no one who was driven away by act 6 will still be in these forums answering this question, but go look at the google trends for Homestuck, it was losing readers even during update periods.

I think Act 6 (especially its late parts) got slightly redeemed by the Epilogues, but it's still extremely long for no reason and the many issues it has mostly stem from that.

[Ralsei]

I don't think Act 6 was good as Acts 1-5. The pacing felt off for a good portion of it, since it had to introduce 4 new kids and 2 cherubs. And then it went and wasted time with the Dancestors, who could've been written out without too much change to the plot. And when it comes to flashes didn't have anything as impressive as Cascade or Descend or John: Reunite With Your Loving Wife And Daughter, but then again, how could it? You can't top perfection. Collide and Act 7 were the closest, but they didn't top Cascade in the "wow this is amazing" factor.
But, Act 6's highs are still amazing. All the new characters except the Dancestors range from "pretty good" to "Roxy Lalonde is the best character". The plot still enjoyable, and in the end that's all that matters to me. All the symbolism and small lore details are just a cherry on top of that.
To sum this rambly thing up, Act 6 isn't as good as Acts 1-5, but it's still really damn good. No sarcasm.

[Sokota]

Here's the thing about Act 6: I don't think it's "Bad". "Bad" is a very strong word in this case, and I think A6 has a lot of interesting development, narration and conversations in it. But that's considering A6 on it's own, because when you compare it to A1-5... Yeah, it's not as good.

[nonsenseMnemonic]

I get why people don't like it but I loved Act 6 sans Openbound (long, annoying, more time-consuming than its content is worth). I love the alpha kids, love the cherubs, love the relationship drama (i like Homestuck best as a story about kids growing up, and I think seeing the kids communicate and talk around each other and figure out their crushes and all that encapsulates growing up well), love the art style change. Is it too long? yeah. I don't have any "buts" to add here. yeah it's too long.