Homestuck Made This World - Podcast Rankings and reviews

honestly i cant recommend this highly enough to homestuck fans. the context provided is illuminating and fascinating (especially to me as an archival reader), the dynamic between the hosts is fun, the analysis is very thoughtful and intelligent. it invites you to consider new ways of seeing homestuck and to challenge the ways you saw it before. i dont agree with the hosts on everything and thats maybe the best part--the show is built to accommodate disagreement. this can be rare in this fandom so i truly appreciate it and think that is much better than if i agreed with everything said. homestuck made this world, but homestuck made this world is making homestuck scholarship (and just maybe a healthier and kinder fandom culture <3). anyway i will definitely be forking over my money to the patreon just for the bonus episodes. thats how much i liked it.

i started reading homestuck when i was 14, and stuck with it until the end. i have a lot of memories from its heyday, both fond and not, and i will never forget walking to class the morning after watching the final flash. it was 2016, the hype had died down, and i was in my second year of undergrad. i didnt have many friends on campus at all, let alone any who read the comic. so there i was, moping along, all alone, wearing my time aspect t-shirt and quietly mourning what felt like the end of my childhood, when across the quad i saw him: a total stranger wearing an impromptu heir of breath cosplay. his shirt looked hand painted, and his god tier hood was just a pair of blue sweatpants that he had looped over his head and neck. we saw each other, but we didnt speak, just nodded at each other in solemn acknowledgment and went on with our lives. i think about him often.

listening to this podcast feels like that to me. my brain is entirely too full of info about this comic, and sometimes it feels like a burden only i carry (i have had to explain to a few of my unsuspecting friends why my eyes go wide with horror whenever i see the book “have you filled a bucket today?” by carol mcCloud). thanks to HSMTW, i remember that i am not alone. yall just make me feel seen. thanks for making such a great show!

sincerely,

A Trans Man Who Often Lies About Why His Middle Name Is David Because I Straight Up Do Not Have Time To Get Into It

i was recommend i listen to a podcast while driving to help distract myself, and this was the only thing i had heard of recently in a tumblr meme that sounded worth any time. low and behold, it blew my expectations out of the water, and i spent the past two months binging. i enjoy the wit and the constant helpful explanations, even if some of the literary or philosophical stuff goes way over my head. this really helped me have a whole new perspective on what homestuck is and means as a story, and i sincerely appreciate the time and effort put in on the part of both hosts to do this show. it made me think about things. and also it taught me more about what being a serial reader was like, which i have always been bummed about missing out on!

in conclusion, 10/10 podcast, i enjoyed the japes, the critical analysis, and the internet history lesson. thanks so much for this!

now i’m off to patreon so i can listen to bonus episodes. you just can’t satisfy that need for more homestuck made this world, i guess

I have listened to every episode, never looked at a panel of the comic, and have basically no idea what is happening in the homestuck ‘story’, but thanks to Michael and Cameron, I know what is *HaPpEnInG* and what the story is *DoInG*. Historical me and current day me love this show.

i think i mightve written a review for this show already but i don’t remember what i did with it. im not going to argue for why this podcast is objectively bad because i dont think it is, but i’ll tell you some of the things i personally disliked about it. the analysis of homestuck this podcast offers is primarily plot driven rather than character driven. it’s an analysis of larger story movements and a literary analysis of how the story is presented, while the inner worlds of the characters and the dynamics between them are largely ignored, on the basis of cmrn just not really liking them and of michael taking no interest. fair enough for them to feel that way, but i’d argue homestuck becomes progressively more character driven over time and to ignore that aspect leaves a lot to be desired in any retrospective review of it on a similar note, i found the analytic detachment towards the then and current fans to be grating and mildly condescending? the attitude this podcast takes towards the forum posters is one thats very disparaging without ever really justifying it. i don’t understand the air of superiority that gets picked up towards the old fans. maybe i’m misreading it but it rubs me the wrong way to hear about all the ways the hosts insist old fans were engaging with the story wrong or less productively than they are. not understanding the appeal behind bloodswaps or shipping. the constant hampering on that one teenage dave cosplayer who said this was a bad podcast and taking that as an endorsement. why establish such a hostile relationship with the fans? holding disdain for them while simultaneously using them as a subject in your study is a very creepy combination, actually. it’s not kind. it’s unsettling and uncharitable and you implicitly place yourself in a position of authority over them. why do that? it’s weird. i just don’t think a podcast that’s ostensibly an analysis of homestuck’s fandom history has any real reason to be prissy or to avoid getting their hands dirty, so to speak. its comes across as if you think you’re above it. why think you’re above it? you take issue with the edginess, you take issue with the YA aspects, you take issue with the in-universe and narrative structures Hussie establishes, to the point where i wonder what you’re even getting out of this if nearly every aspect of the story hits the wrong notes for you. at the end of the day it’s perfectly fine to not enjoy homestuck. i especially can’t fault cmrn for not liking something he went into blind and he’s entitled to all the opinions he holds. i just think that as a homestuck fan, this podcast is largely detached from what i personally enjoyed about homestuck and i got very little out of it. having said that, i did listen to every episode. i can’t say if that’s because the show redeems itself in other aspects or because i just really like homestuck and will hear any perspectives on it. i wish i liked this podcast more! ok end review -