My thoughts on ACT 1 of Homestuck

Even though the series is not as popular as it was, even though I didn’t even get to experience its impact, even though the first time I tried getting into it I stopped around here…this story fascinates me. For this reason, I want to share my two cents on the first act, which I just finished today, as a kid curious to find out about as many stories as I can.

1. Format

As someone who remembers having the internet around me ever since I was a child, I never really got to see the old side of it. So I didn’t expect to get an indescribable feeling, somewhat close to nostalgia, when reading the first act. I think the format has a bug impact on the experience of reading this story, somehow reminding me of really old pc games for teaching kids stuff. The quick, jiggly animations add more silliness to an already silly narrative. I gotta admit I ended up staring at some of those 3 second animated panels for a while, finding a sort of lost time in them. 

2. Characters 

In terms of characters, act 1 doesn’t have that many, so I don’t really have a lot to say. I find comfort in seeing John have no idea what is going on yet still be totally chill about it, reminds me that as kids we don’t have everything figured out and that’s okay. Especially him struggling with the sylladex, which is something completely relatable for the reader who is in the same boat with him in terms of seeing all that absurdity. When I first saw Rose, I felt like she will be one of those characters I end up seeing myself in, but I still don’t know. The other chums…? The dude with red text (forgot his name sry) sounds like he’s coping on a lot of jokes, I’m genuinely curious to find out more about him. I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about John, I don’t know, he was kind of annoying in an awkward teenager who doesn’t know who he is way, but I suppose he doesn’t do it intentionally so it’s fine. Also, why doesn’t any kid have a normal relationship with their parents? I find that a bit sad. 

3. The mechanics 

I get it, I shouldn’t understand everything the moment I see it, but I think the weird mechanics are the reason I quit when I first tried reading it. The way the game works only gets explained visually, which is nice, giving us the perspective of the kids trying to figure out what happens, and the sylladex is alright once you get it… but I still feel like i’m left floating to some extent. I don’t fully understand Rose’s tree thingy, and I have no idea what thise machienes she put in john’s house even do, but I suppose it won’t ruin the experience overall. It just gets me a little frustrated, and it keeps adding up, along the slow pacing… I start to understand why I got uninterested the first time. It’s been more than a year, and I start to appreciate the feeling of not understanding the whole thing, I think it makes it more…real. 

4. Pacing 

It is slow? Hell yeah. It’s genuinely challenging to read homestuck, but it is engaging. It is interesting and rewarding in a way. I feel that it just shows how different everything today is just so fast. We instantly get a new arc in a story, a season will advance the plot constantly, something in a forced matter. That just isn’t the case with Homestuck. Everything flows, because the first act is mostly about the characters, and I suppose the format helps a bit. You aren’t waiting for something to happen, it will eventually, but you just go through each page, one by one, some being really small, unimportant things, that give the experience a lot of charm. 

Conclusion?

I will continue reading this. I have no expectations, no idea what I’m getting myself into, but I’ll try and just see- because this is what Homestuck means to me this early. Just sticking with a bunch of teenage characters, seeing what will happen along the moments of confusion, silliness, curiosity, tension…

This was a late night rant, might add more/edit some things later, stay safe and have a good time!