THE DIRKCOURSE THREAD

[Robot_Face]

Hal deserved better than fusing with Equius and from there becoming a part of Doc Scratch/Lord English. Hal is the best iteration of Dirk out of all the splinters.

ARquius is one of the best things that happened in all of Homestuck. I love Hal and Equius, but ARquius is truly greater than the sum of his parts.

[egg]

Hal deserved better than fusing with Equius and from there becoming a part of Doc Scratch/Lord English. Hal is the best iteration of Dirk out of all the splinters.

ARquius is one of the best things that happened in all of Homestuck. I love Hal and Equius, but ARquius is truly greater than the sum of his parts.

ARquius is arguably the single only good Homestuck character, and without Dirk he would not have existed. Ergo, Dirk is also the best Homestuck character, and him playing a part in the creation of ARquius immediately absolves him of any, and all, sin that he has committed through the course of the comic, and will continue to commit in future installments.

[TH4NK YOU B3N]

Bro Strider was not a perfect parent, but he was a better parent than John's Dad.

[RoyalFiddle]

Bro Strider was not a perfect parent, but he was a better parent than John's Dad.

Boy you better say sike right now

[pfeffer-29]

Bro Strider was not a perfect parent, but he was a better parent than John's Dad.

how.

[Leddy]

Honest to god...

Going from Act 7 to Epilouges (Starting with Meat) was like crashing into a brick wall when it comes to Dirk and how he acted. He manipulated the entire story to ways it would never go, tearing apart Rose and Kanaya, embarassing someone whom considers him a best friend to fuck with an opposing party's political election, and just in general being a toxic rancid asshole.

Before this, Act 7 and before, he was actually going in what felt like a good direction for him, while that conversation on the rooftop arguably benefited Dave more than Dirk, it still was a big moment for the both of them and I think that his character in the Epilouges just like did a turnaway from where he was going which felt really unsatisifying. It is at least technically in character but still the most rancid option possible out of what is within the bounds of being in character for Dirk

Bro Strider was not a perfect parent, but he was a better parent than John's Dad.

Also this is objectively the biggest stretch I've ever heard on Bro Strider. John's dad was loving and caring and tried to adapt to what his son liked, even if it was poorly communicated and all. Bro Strider abused and basically forced Dave to be in the wreck of a state he was in, physically beating him up and emotionally making him a mess. Explain your opinion really I want to see what in the world you're thinking.

[Flame_Warp]

Bro Strider was not a perfect parent, but he was a better parent than John's Dad.

I literally just came in here to get rid of the unread message marker but this absolute Paradox Frog Brain of a take has me hook line and sinker.

[TH4NK YOU B3N]

Dirk was just trying to prepare his kid for what was to come, and he was successful in doing so even if, in hindsight, it kind of sucked. Look at this yeeting; this is completely adorable.

In real life, hurling a baby off a rooftop would be abuse but I don't think Bro would have let baby Dave get hurt. I feel like he was expecting to catch him and that he was super confident in his abilities.

Contrast with Dad, who let baby John fall off a pogo ride unsupervised and only came to help him after he started crying. He was way too small for the pogo ride! That's awful. Also, Dad nearly killed him one time.

John and Dad don't communicate. Instead of going "Hey, son, what's up with all these drawings on your walls?" he decides to decorate the house with a bunch of clowns. Like, okay? Where do you think those insults on the wall came from? Who's making him feel stupid?

He types in all caps. Since characters in Homestuck type how they talk, that means he's always yelling at him.

He has unrealistic standards for his son. What's another way to put "You can do anything if you put your mind to it"? You could translate it as "If you can't do something, you're getting a dose of stern fatherly disapproval." John's Dad expects John to do things like lift heavy safes. What has Dad done to help John achieve this? Does he go to the gym to lift weights with his son? No, he teaches him... card tricks? It's bullshit.

What does Bro do? He pranks Dave, same as Dad, except Bro doesn't bother with the pretenses of, like, doing this because he thinks Dave likes it.

I mean, I'd still be tempted to call CPS on Bro Strider if he existed in real life. Homestuck is a weird abuse apologism narrative, and that's why it's willing to say things such as "Vriska did nothing wrong." I guess the reason I think Dirk isn't so bad is because he's open about being abusive, just as he's open about playing the role of the villain. The fact that Dave realizes that he was abused, as terrible as it is, means that he wasn't as harmed by his paternal abuse as John was. It's much healthier to blame other people for your mental problems than it is to blame yourself.

I think the best off is Rose, who realizes that, not only was she abused, but that her mom was trying her best. She was a woman who was forced to raise Rose despite having a host of her own personal issues.

Also, thank you everyone. I'm glad you all took the obvious bait.

[Generalrabogolfo]

Dirk could have prevented 9/11 but didn't, making him the worst character ever created.

[Aurochsent]

starting this off:
Dirk? yes or no.

much like immortality, yes, but only conditionally

Honestly? Dirk's kind of tragic.
This is a guy who spent his whole life trying not to become a bad person despite the universe seemingly telling him he had no choice.
And then it turns out, if he wants him and his friends to continue existing in a way that is narratively relevant (so not cotton candy nuclear family fascist jane bara karkat hell), he HAS to. He HAS to be the villain for all of his friends to be the heroes. And he's willing to do that because he's a guy who thinks nothing of self sacrifice. If he has to have his head cut off to defeat Jack, so be it.

dirk is absolutely tragic, but I don't think it's for exactly this reason. the thing is, he doesn't have to do any of this. the events of the candy epilogue are not, never were, and will never be an inevitability. they're the result of the choices and actions of every single one of the dozens of characters in homestuck, and there's a real good possibility that any single one of those characters could have drastically changed how things happened. like, what would have happened if john had stood up for jake and his situation sooner? would things have been better if roxy had said something to jane? what if jade were to come to the conclusion that her attitude towards relationships was unhealthy and shallow?

a self sacrifice is how dirk would like to paint the whole thing. he would absolutely claim that he's taking responsibility, becoming a monster to ensure that his friends never fall into that horrible cotton candy bullshit that is Clearly The Only Possible Alternative [/sarcasm], and that really, they should be thanking him for what he's done. but that's not the truth.
the truth is that he's doing it because he still wants to be important to his audience, and he just doesn't want to live out a boring mundane happily ever after surrounded by his friends for the rest of his immortal life. he's shown us in the most literal terms possible that he would literally rather die. he doesn't give a damn what happens to anyone else after that, or he would have stuck around to find out. his reasons are selfish, and he sacrifices nothing because he thinks he's already lost everything.

but it makes sense from his perspective. I mean, to grow up hunted and alone, trapped in a story where your only purpose is to serve the will of the narrative in exchange for relevance, only to have half the plot cut off in favor of just.... living? moving on with your life? to be suddenly denied the one thing you thought your entire existence was for, and to then realize that your only means of taking it back is to become the angry god of this new world and make all your friends' lives a living hell? of course he went through with it.
it really is a pretty damn tragic story

[Eromancery]

the events of the candy epilogue are not, never were, and will never be an inevitability.

The events themselves maybe, but the inclusion of Gamzee into the timeline probably guaranteed that it wasn't going to result in a way that was not fun for anyone involved. Gamzee's like that, I think.

[D_Sandman]

the inclusion of Gamzee into the timeline probably guaranteed that it wasn't going to result in a way that was not fun for anyone involved. Gamzee's like that, I think.

Gamzcourse thread incoming :p

Personally, I'm in the boat that Dirk's more... questionable post canon activities are mostly due to his more harmful splinters taking over. No one can doubt that many of those aforementioned splinters are for more powerful than he.

[egg]

The nature of Homestuck is such that if even just one character does something slightly morally questionable, one of their fans will claim that they did nothing wrong.

[TH4NK YOU B3N]

The nature of Homestuck is such that if even just one character does something slightly morally questionable, one of their fans will claim that they did nothing wrong.

yeah. it's almost like it originated as a sarcastic meme about hitler that ended up being sincere for some incomprehensible reason

[Crpal]

Its a meme for Vriska but Dirk really did nothing wrong.

[Aurochsent]

Gamzcourse thread incoming :p

dear GODS please give me a gamzcourse thread

sometimes I wonder if it's really the fact that I feel out of touch with what the fandom's current layer of hell is that bothers me, or if I want this because actually I'm just masochistic

[Darth_Energon]

Hal deserved better than fusing with Equius and from there becoming a part of Doc Scratch/Lord English. Hal is the best iteration of Dirk out of all the splinters.

ARquius is one of the best things that happened in all of Homestuck. I love Hal and Equius, but ARquius is truly greater than the sum of his parts.

you guys are memeing right

[Robot_Face]

Hal deserved better than fusing with Equius and from there becoming a part of Doc Scratch/Lord English. Hal is the best iteration of Dirk out of all the splinters.

ARquius is one of the best things that happened in all of Homestuck. I love Hal and Equius, but ARquius is truly greater than the sum of his parts.

you guys are memeing right

No. Arquius is my third favorite character, after Terezi and Rose.

[arachnidsGrip]

Dirk is kinda cringe, ngl. Probably doesn't even wear deodorant. Absolute stinker.

[Roxy]

Dirk was just trying to prepare his kid for what was to come, and he was successful in doing so even if, in hindsight, it kind of sucked.
In real life, hurling a baby off a rooftop would be abuse but I don't think Bro would have let baby Dave get hurt. I feel like he was expecting to catch him and that he was super confident in his abilities.

Contrast with Dad, who let baby John fall off a pogo ride unsupervised and only came to help him after he started crying. He was way too small for the pogo ride! That's awful. Also, Dad nearly killed him one time.

yknow i came here to remove the unread marker, was reeled in by what i thought had to be bait, but was actually the most intellectual universe frog brain take in the entirety of the homestuck fandom. Yknow? you might be onto something, and i think i came away from this thread hating dirk a little less.

though at least Dad took care of his son's basic needs despite having to work and having a job, and he still communicated with john more than Bro. Meanwhile Bro went wayyy beyond preparing dave to fight. he kept swords in the fridge for gods sake like what the fuck

(that being said in light of knowing through PQ he left dave alone in his room we know he at least let him have time away from all that so, abusive for sure but yeah maybe not too far beyond dad