Dirk Strider (pre-scratch)


 * For the post-Scratch version of this character, see Dirk Strider.
 * Not to be confused with Sweet Bro.

Bro is Dave Strider's genetic father, adoptive older brother, and guardian. He shares a fierce sibling rivalry with his younger brother, but Dave still imitates him and thinks he's awesome. In this respect his relationship with Dave is unlike those of John and Rose with their respective guardians. However it is shown that like John, Rose and Jade, he does care about his guardian.

As a Guardian
While initially introduced as Dave's brother, Bro is actually a paradox clone of himself sent back in time as an infant from the present. He also provided half of the DNA of both Dave and Rose, which was combined with Rose's Mom's through Ectobiology. As a twist, he was waiting for the arrival of his cloned infant brother at the remains of his favorite record shop, holding a small pair of outrageously awesome shades. This has never been explained, but may have some connection to Grandpa's appearance in The Medium.

Bro runs many "ironic" websites, including a paysite for implied pornographic material involving puppets. His apartment has many hidden webcams in it, which seem to be set to record any disconcertingly erotic event involving puppets in the area. Interestingly, not all of bro's puppets are hip-hop-based and a good number of them seem to have more to do with sex than rapping; many are nude, except for skimpy leather clothing, and a lot of pictures feature oddly censored out areas.

He seems to have multiple strife specibi in his strife portfolio. It appears as though he uses his blade when he's seriously bringing the pain, but when he absolutely has to represent in a display of sheer dominance he uses Lil Cal to ruin his opponent's shit. Bro has shown incredible abilities in combat both with Lil Cal and his own katana. During both rounds 1 and 2 of Strife with Dave, Bro manages to not only dodge but counter most, if not all, of Dave's attacks, appearing to never get hit once while landing almost all of his attacks. Bro also shows a higher degree of ninja speed than previously expected, as he is able to not only predict but counter all of Dave's attacks ahead of time at one point, making it appear that he is fighting when it's really just an after-image that Dave battles while Bro waits safely on the sidelines. Bro is the only guardian to blatantly attack his charge. During the Final Round of his battle against Dave, he defeats Dave in one slash, cleaving Dave's cheap piece of shit sword in two as well as destroying Lil Cal in the process. Bro owns a red, flame-patterned Rocket Board that is propelled by small rockets. It has a similar design to John's Rocket Pack and other rocket equipment in the trolls' session. Bro flies away on the board after defeating Dave. Later, the board rescues Dream Lil Cal and travels to the Ectobiology Lab. John is sent back to the Land of Wind and Shade on the board by the Authority Regulator as the Reckoning begins.

Bro helps Dave with his entrance to the Medium. As Dave tries to get back the Cruxite Egg Bro buys him time by being awesome and cutting the giant meteor heading for Dave in two. As Dave falls he is saved by Bro's hoverboard and the egg hatches, sending them to the Medium.

In the Medium
Within the Medium, Bro has been seen taking on and presumably wrecking the shit of a massive tentacled underling. He later battles with Jack Noir after Jack slaughters The Armies of Light and Darkness and destroys the chain that attaches Prospit to its moon. They battle upon the giant Beat Mesa, and they seem almost matched in power. Bro plunges his sword into the platform, causing it to crack. It is later revealed that he most likely attempted to initiate the Scratch.



Davesprite notes that Bro is impossible to keep track of, and Terezi says that Dave never sees him between his entry to the Medium and the Scratch. Bro uses Dave's second gate to get to John's house, stealing back his rocket board. Jack removes Bro's sword from the platform and returns it to Bro in the Land of Wind and Shade. The two of them begin to duel, but to Jack's surprise Bro attacks him with Lil Cal, and Davesprite joins the battle. Jack is enraged, possibly due to being denied a proper duel, and proceeds to set the oil rivers of LOWAS on fire.

After Jade's entry to the Medium, Jack Noir's fourth prototyping unfortunately allows him to kill Bro and injure Davesprite with ease. He puts on Bro's shades and takes Lil Cal. Interestingly, Bro is impaled with his own sword, which goes through his chest and into the floor of the platform he was on, indicating Jack killed him while he was already down as well as echoing Bro's previous actions where he absconded with his sword impaled in the Beat Mesa. Dave later told Jade he knew about Bro's demise, explaining that he always felt like he had a really strange relationship with his Bro/Dad, but it amounted to a kind of kinship in a way. Dave also said when he found Bro's body, he thought about taking the sword, but felt it was too weird and decided to leave it where it was.

Personality and Traits


Bro is obsessed with puppets and has decorated his apartment with them. His collection includes both paintings of them and various marionettes, dressed in super cool gangster/pimp clothing. In contrast to John and Rose's disgust for their guardians' obsessions, Dave thought his Bro's puppets were very cool, but has mentioned to Rose that they're starting to unsettle him. Bro has one signature ventriloquism puppet he uses to rap and is never far from: Lil Cal. He enjoys playing mind games and is stealthy like a ninja. He is a master of different kinds of Modi. He knows how to weaponize a Sylladex, and according to Dave, the two brothers often have "hashrap" battles, where they insert keywords into rap to launch the contents of their sylladices at each other.

Bro's sweet shades are, according to John, HS 2997 ("dumb pointy anime shades"). As stated by Hussie his sunglasses are a "retroactive reference" to the famous shades worn by Kamina from the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who is considered a brother and role model for the show's young, heroic protagonist Simon, who frequently calls him "bro", although they are not biologically related. Kamina and Bro also both use Japanese swords; Bro uses a katana while Kamina uses a nodachi. However, Hussie has said that he has never actually seen the show. His shades also resemble the ones that Ash's Squirtle wears in the original Pokémon series, which Ash's Squirtle would only put on when dealing with "personal" business. The shades also resemble those worn by Mama from Johnny Bravo, who himself wears shades very similar to Dave's. Fingerless gloves are also an overused design element in many anime (including Pokémon), furthering the perception of Bro as being "anime themed".

Trivia

 * At one point, Dave's bro was addressed as a "white rapper" by John. This was to glitch characters in an effort to promote the idea of araciality in the comic, similar to the retcon of Jane saying she felt "peachy" instead of "Caucasian."
 * The text currently reads HS 2286.
 * The HS 2356 (password) for Bro's computer was to be "lilcal".
 * Bro's HS 2357 (desktop background) is part of a panel from And It Don't Stop.
 * Bro is the "Knight of Swords" in the Homestuck tarot card deck.