Meat And CandyThoughts And Speculation

“Meat” and “Candy” Thoughts and Speculation

Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t read both.

“Meat” and “Candy” are essentially fanfiction—perhaps specifically fix-it-fics—written by Homestuck characters themselves. While it doesn’t make them any less “true” or “real,” (even though it divorces them from the Three Pillars of Canon), it does explain the “fanficcy” feel.

“Meat” is written/narrated by Dirk and Alt!Calliope, each fighting for control of the narrative. Dirk might actually be Caliborn/LE, or at the very least, influenced/corrupted by him.

Dirk did something like this before, when he “wrote” Pony Pals for Jane, altering the original story by replacing parts of it with his own commentary.

Each page contains lovingly hand-written commentary on the deeds of this intrepid young horse.

Later, about halfway through the book, rather than see the gag through to the bitter end, Strider began pasting over entire pages of original text with his own completely rewritten version of the story, while keeping all the chapter titles. His revision is a tough, emotionally draining read. But it's cathartic, in all the worst ways possible. He tends to get carried away with his projects.

Sounds familiar, right? Using Pony Pals as an analogue, Alt!Calliope might represent the author of the original story, while Dirk modifies and rewrites it, twisting it into his own version. Alternatively, neither Dirk nor Alt!Calliope are the original author of the Epilogue, and both are altering the story as "Meat". Perhaps the book found in Calliope’s picnic basket is the original, unmodified story—the "pure" version of the Epilogues. (More on this below.)

Dirk is becoming Lord English/Doc Scratch. The parallels between Dirk and Caliborn/Doc Scratch are uncanny.

It might have something to do with Dirk's Ultimate Self and gaining access to the thoughts/memories/experiences of all his splinters and alternate lives. Those alternate selves/splinters include Bro (who was raised/corrupted by Lil Cal), Lil Hal, Doc Scratch, and Lord English, and the lines between all of them are blurring.

If Dirk is indeed LE in some way, shape, or form, the events of Meat may be LE’s way of trying to take over Post-Canon, exerting his influence beyond his domain of Canon.

(I plan to elaborate on the Dirk = LE theory in a future post.)

As a parallel to Dirk = LE, Jane is essentially becoming the Condesce. I’m not sure of the connection with her Ultimate Self, although I suppose that would include Crockertier Jane.

It might have something to do with the Condesce grooming her to be her heiress, and possibly even Jane inheriting her immortality curse? (I need investigate this further.)

Dirk and Jane even have the same alliance as LE and the Condesce: Dirk and LE pulling the strings while Jane/Condy carries out the plans. Similarly, Dirk and LE rule the metanarrative/story and travel through space, while Jane/Condesce rules the planet(s) of Trolls and Humans. (Credit to @wisdomdissimulator for the original observation/theory.)

“Candy” is written/narrated by Calliope from the Meat timeline. In Meat, Roxy mentions Calliope stays home and paints the walls with what sounds like the events of Candy.

ROXY: its not as bad as it sounds i promise ROXY: some of it is like ROXY: weird and violent?? ROXY: like lotsa nasty purple blood and um ROXY: nudity???? [...] ROXY: but MOST of it is cute stuff like... various combos of all of us being happy and gettin married . . .

While the Calliopes seem less inclined to control/force the characters and narration than Dirk, there are still moments of bias and asserting their will—specifically anything regarding the Trickster Lollipop.

Calliope (as the narrator) may have even controlled/influenced Dirk to suicide, possibly as a way to “save” the Candy timeline from Dirk’s influence. While the narration claims otherwise, it’s also possible Dirk killed himself of his own accord in a twisted mixture of Heroism and Justice, knowing what he could become if he lived, and thus wanting to spare the timeline.

Terezi of “Meat” is the same Terezi communicating with John in “Candy”. Since she’s still in Canon, she basically transcends the Meat and Candy timelines until she reaches Meat’s Earth C. This is why she expects Meat’s John to be older, why she thinks John and Roxy might be together, and why she has a hunch that things wouldn’t have worked out between John and Roxy—because this is true of Candy’s John, at least at the time Terezi last spoke with him.

Gamzee’s presence and influence might have something to do with the unexplained weirdness of the Candy timeline. Characters seem oddly blind or impotent to the circumstances around them, almost like there’s a Ragey influence sowing discord, anger, confusion, and obliviousness among the characters—just as what happens with the Trolls during Murderstuck. It isn’t until after Gamzee’s death that the characters start to seem more like themselves and are more capable and hopeful.

While Gamzee has “Joker immunity” within Homestuck, he’s able to die in Candy because it’s outside of Canon. (My theory is that Lord English grants him immortality, since Gamzee must become a component of LE and thus CAN’T die.)

John needs to take a third option, different from The Choice™ of either Meat or Candy. There's a book in Calliope’s basket, so the third option very well may be the book. Which would also make sense since a book represents/contains a story, and Meat and Candy, while food, also represent stories.

Another interesting third option would be “Vegetables”—or specifically “Pumpkin”—which Roxy could potentially summon via Void powers. It would make a cool reference and callback to “What Pumpkin”.

(More elaboration on the Third Option theory planned for a future post.)

I have a LOT more thoughts and ideas on the Meat and Candy Epilogues, so I’ll probably continue this in another post.

My reaction to the finale of Homestuck.

Essentially, the stages of grief (excluding acceptance). In no particular order.

Happy 4/13!

My friend @musings-and-moldwork and I made a cake in honor of this day. She made and baked the cake, while I made the frosting and iced/decorated the cake. We had several hiccups (e.g. the frosting being too soft), but all things considered, it turned out pretty well (and it was delicious :9).

Happy birthday to Homestuck, John, and Jane!

This is relevant again with the Meat and Candy Epilogues. Just replace the Mayor with Jade as the auspistice.

Everyone keeps debating what quadrant Dave and Karkat’s relationship is. Each has valid and supporting arguments, and they all make sense in their own ways.

But why limit it to just one? What if it’s actually ALL the quadrants?

It was said their love went beyond the four quadrants, transcending the grid entirely. Whatever that nonsense actually means.

Perhaps Karkat is following in the footsteps of his ancestor?

While this concept is certainly clever, there are a couple major flaws:

1) Classes (and aspects) have to be monosyllabic.

#monosyllablism was never actually a hard rule #just an extremely common pattern that happened to be that way until it didnt

It’s not just a “common pattern”; it’s a Word of Huss rule:

Q: “Are there classes and titles other than the ones shown so far in canon, or have we seen them all?”

AH: Maybe. Readers tend to make up their own. Some of them sound decent to me, others do not. They can only have one syllable. Any that has more than one syllable is automatically not good.

Q: “Are all God Tier titles made of monosyllabic components?”

AH: Yes. Class and aspect, one syllable, always. This is a rule.

Side note: I saw the “Seer” discussion, and was curious about it myself. The class Seer is pronounced as one syllable. While the "seer” can technically be pronounced “see-er” (two syllables) or “sear” (one), "see-er” is only used for an observer/one who sees, while “sear” is used for a prophet, sage, diviner, clairvoyant, or oracle. I checked the pronunciation and definition to be sure.

2) Waste and Matter work as inverses, but not as active/passive pairs.

Lord and Muse are a class pair that do the same thing in different ways, one actively, one passively. (You use the word “define”, while I prefer “embody”, but the concept is essentially the same.)

Active classes [verb] (with/through) [aspect], while Passive classes invite [verb] of/with/through [aspect].

In order for classes to be a +/- pair, that [verb] must be the same. Waste and Matter are OPPOSITE/inverse verbs, not the same verb.

If Waste is passive and “Invites Disregard” of/with/through [aspect], then its active counterpart must be “Disregards (with/through) [aspect].” But you have Matter as Regard, not Disregard. So yeah, they work as inverses but not a class pair.

Still, the concept is clever and I love the pun it makes.

Joke Classes because I think I'm funny/clever

so this was spawned from the thought that each of the 12 classes kind of form their own ‘quadrant’ when looking at inversion possibilities.

Witch, Heir, Seer, Mage. (All the combos between Active/Passive and Manipulation/Information)

Knight, Page, Thief, Rogue (All Combos between Active/Passive and Application/Relocation)

and Prince, Bard, Maid, Sylph (All combos between Active/Passive and Creation/Destruction)

so I thought wouldn’t it be funny if Lord and Muse and two other fake classes formed their own Quadrant also, so we’d have a quadrant of quadrants of classes :oD (also because I like when numbers add up in a certain way, 12 is pretty on its own as 3x4, 14 is kinda :/ but 16, now there’s a fine number if I ever saw one! 4x4 or (2x2)x(2x2) I love it)

the first one I went to was Waste, Hussies own fake class because lol

then I tried to come up with what their class verbs would be and how’d they interact with each other.

Lord and Muse I’d already had as Define, because they both effect action to have effect on Homestuck in either passive inspiring ways or active domineering ways. Lord being active for Muses passive.

so we have this so far:

-Lord = Defines (Aspect) or Defines with (Aspect)

+Muse = Invites Definition of (Aspect) or Invites Definition through (Aspect)

then for Hussie’s I decided that since he’s said before he will not directly affect the story as an author insert in any way (except for the yellow yard thing) and also because I remember him being all wizard of oz-y with his whole “DISREGARD THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN, HE’S NOT IMPORTANT.” and also because ‘Fondly Regard Creation’ etc.

That Waste and the other class’s Verb would be “Regard/Disregard” as in to look but dont touch, just sit and watch what happens or to ignore it completely, able to watch everything happen but not able to do/change anything about it. To counter Lord/Muse abilities to directly affect what happens while not always seeing everything that happens everywhere?

but Waste being the passive of the two would make it

+Waste = Invites Disregard of (Aspect) or Invites Disregard through (Aspect)

which would make the Active counterpart = Regards (Aspect) or Regards with (Aspect)

which I already love :D

and then the last thing would be to come up with a punny name for that Active Regard Class, that means something actively watching something while also meaning something of the opposite of Waste (Because I still consider Lord/Muse to invert to eachother, they are still Master Classes. Waste and ???Class would invert to eachother too, as the 'joke/unmastered’ classes haha. I like my jokes only when they don’t directly change what is already canon lol so they won’t touch Lord/Muse)

I eventually came up something when I figured it would only be a Matter of Time until I did and then boom. Matter and Waste.

You Waste something when you Disregard it. Something Matters because you are Regarding it (Why pay attention to something that doesn’t matter?).

Waste would be passively inviting you to disregard something unimportant. Matter would be actively regarding something that is important. Both can do nothing but watch events unfold. 

so our last Quadrant of Quadrants which includes both the Master Classes and the Joke/Unmastered Classes would be:

-Lord Defines (Aspect) or Defines with (Aspect)

+Muse Invites Definition of (Aspect) or Invites Definition through (Aspect)

-Matter Regards with (Aspect) or Regards (Aspect)

+Waste Invites Disregard of (Aspect) or Invites Disregard through (Aspect)

also something poetic hidden in the fact that while the Author calls himself the Waste in the story. When you ask what really Matters is that there would be no story without an Audience to view it.

Hussie is the Waste of Space, but we the fandom are just a Matter of Time :D

*EDIT* I didn’t mention this originally but I don’t want people to get confused between canon stuff and fanon stuff lol

Muse and Lord are an active passive pair AND an inversion pair, they invert to eachother and they are each others active and passive form. They do both to each other that’s why they are master classes

My additional extra funfanon doesn’t change or interact with that, I like keeping things seperate, so Matter and Waste are also eachothers Active/Passive forms, and they invert to each other as well. 

So the opposite of a Matter of Time is a Waste of Space, just like how the Opposite of a Lord of Time is a Muse of Space

!!!!!

I haven’t had the chance to read any of this yet, and I’m unsure when I will, but... The long-awaited Epilogue is finally here! And ~8000 pages? That’s almost as long as Homestuck itself! (Possibly a longer read, depending on format.)

This is an awesome and fitting 10th Anniversary gift! I bet Hussie’s been purposely waiting to release it on this particular anniversary.

Happy 4/13! Here’s to 10 years of Homestuck, and happy 23rd birthday to John and Jane!

Edit: Never mind; the 8000 pages was referring to Homestuck itself, not the epilogue.