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Clowns are recurring characters in almost all of Andrew Hussie's work, both before and after as well as within the MS Paint Adventures. They tend to be composed of clown meat and have an affinity for pies and other hilarious gags and props that might be associated with humorous entertainers in the real world.

In late 2020 Andrew began to incorporate clown costume into his own look, posting images of himself in clown makeup to his Eboyhussie account, which would later be renamed dclussie after his clown persona.

In Whistles[]

Main article: Whistles

Whistles was Andrew's first foray into work heavily involving clowns, and contains many elements later referenced in MS Paint Adventures.

In Problem Sleuth[]

First appearing on a painting in Problem Sleuth's office, clowns inhabit one of the imaginary universe's four kingdoms, alongside the elves, weasels and hogs. Some clowns live in small cottagesPS icon, the windowsills of which act as the cooling precipices of the clowns' freshly baked pies; however the elves, and those like the Sleuth who ally with them, take this opportunity to steal the pies from under the clowns' noses. In turn, the clowns aggress the hogs by slapping their bare rumpsPS icon; in what way this benefits the clowns, beyond pure japesterism, is unknown.

Clowns seem to greatly value the filling of their pies, which is of a creamy white colour and can be used to perform various Combat Operandi such as ArmistyxPS icon. Like other creamy substances sometimes used to fill gag pastriesHS, this filling is also unreasonably flammablePS icon. Those with allegiance to the clowns may sometimes gain the ability to emit this filling from their bodiesPS icon (or perhaps merely gain the opportunity to consume copious volumes of it).

Prominent clowns[]

Clown pontificate[]

Clown pontificate

The clowns' ambassador to the meeting of the four kingdoms seems to be a religious leader, implying a great importance of religion in clown society. Despite his presence at peace talks between the four parties, the pontificate seems to maintain loyalty to Demonhead Mobster Kingpin, who is able to summonPS icon him using the CLOWNSTORM combat operandi. His weapon is the HAMPER OF THE JADED FOOL'S ENNUI, an upside-down jack-in-the-box which seems to just contain a whole bunch of fucking clownsPS icon. When used as a weapon, clowns' FLOPPY SHOESPS icon can be difficult even for a vampire to avoid.

Clown bard[]

Clown bard

Being natural entertainers, the clown kingdom's representative among the four heroes is naturally a clown bard. His only known ability is playing solos on his lutePS icon, but they are apparently quite incendiary.

In Homestuck[]

Clowns of various types appear in Homestuck; as in Problem Sleuth, they tend to be aligned with the evil and demonic. They are known for being notoriously difficult to kill for reasons that basically don't make any senseHS and according to Caliborn CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT. BECAUSE OF MIRACLES. AND HOLD NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THEIR DEEDS.HS

begin to appear as soon as John Egbert leaves his roomHS; though his father is quick to correct that the house is actually filled with a collection of harlequins, not clowns. Regardless, John's prototyping of one of these harlequins ensures that clown imagery occurs throughout his session of Sburb.

With the forces of both Prospit and Derse choosing to update their wardrobes to reflect this prototyping, Jack Noir is forced by his queen to wear harlequin attire, and the rejection of this attire is one of the instigating factors in his decision to kill the Queen and go on a rampage throughout Paradox Space. His attack on Karkat Vantas and his friends' session may have inspired Gamzee Makara's choice of a harlequin dollHS to place within John's dreams. As it was John's nightmares about this harlequin doll which prompted his father to begin his harlequin collection in the first place, these clowns could be considered an example of one of Homestuck's ideological bootstrap paradoxes.

Juggalos and subjugglators[]

Gamzee Makara (another clown who is also a bard) and the ruling purple caste of Alternia practice a religion heavily revolving around clowns and circus imagery highly akin to the Insane Clown Posse and its juggalo fanbase on Earth. At least some practitioners of this religion are called subjugglatorsHS (a portmanteau of subjugate, as in to oppress or marginalise, and juggalo).

The exact minutiae of the religion are unknown, but several core themes can be gleaned. The cult foretells of a BAND OF ROWDY AND CAPRICIOUS MINSTRELS which will rise one day on a MYTHICAL PARADISE PLANET that does not exist yetHS, and prayHS to figures called the Mirthful Messiahs. As in the Insane Clown Posse's "Miracles", they also seem to place a lot of importance in magic and miracles, and believe in a mysterious Dark Carnival just as real juggalos do. The Messiahs and Carnival seem to also have something to do with the capricious minstrels and their paradiseHS. Just how much of this is universal clown doctrine is hard to gauge, however, as Gamzee is described as a member of an OBSCURE CULTHS which Andrew Hussie suggests has its own unusual fringe beliefs compared to mainstream clown thought[1].

Mindfang claims that the Su8juggl8ors also prophesy a Vast Honk and attempt to bring it about through troll sacrificeHS. At the moment of Alternia's destruction and his own birth, Lord English emits a great honkHS that Andrew describes as the honk foretold by Alternia's clowns. He further suggests that English himself is one of the cult's Messiahs, and influenced them from the beginning through time travel - explaining the similarity between some aspects of clown religion and cherubim folkloreHS. Given that English's tendency to honk may stem from part of his Lil Cal component coming from Gamzee, this would make Alternia's clowns yet another example of an ideological bootstrap paradox.

Meenah Peixes suggestsHS that beliefs like the Dark Carnival would be a convenient method for a tyrant to exploit her subjects, implying the Condesce may have yielded the purplebloods' religion as part of her subjugation of the land dwelling castesHS.

Despite Gamzee seeing their "Miracles" video as heretical, the Insane Clown Posse and Earth's own juggalos also play a part in Homestuck. In Earth's Alpha timeline, the Condesce again uses clowns for her own purposes, manipulating the Insane Clown Posse into the position of dual presidents of the United States as her Mirthful ExecutivesHS. During their reign the Insane Clown Posse named the city of Washington D.C. the Dark Carnival, perhaps indicating that Alternia's clown prophecies somehow contained some truth.

In Psycholonials[]

Clowns are a crucial component of the Jubilite movement founded by Z. Many characters develop so-called clownsonas (versions of themselves as clowns similar to trollsonas) and participate in radical collective action via pranxis.

References[]

  1. Andrew Hussie. "By saying he belongs to a "rather obscure cult," I guess the text seems to be implying that among purple bloods it's rare to dress and act in this clownish way? But this turns out to be untrue. Pretty much the entire blood class is populated by a bunch of shitty clowns. What this really means is that Gamzee's specific religious beliefs are what's obscure and unusual about him, not the clowniness. NO, sadly, brutal, nasty clowns are a dime a dozen in his highblood echelon." Homestuck: Book 4: Act 5 Act 1, p.50.
Problem Sleuth Characters
Team Sleuth
Problem Sleuth - Ace Dick - Pickle Inspector
Hysterical Dame - Nervous Broad
Four kingdoms
Elves - Hogs - Weasels - Clowns
The Four Heroes
Villains
Mobster Kingpin - Madame Murel - Demonhead Mobster Kingpin
Deities
Death - Godhead Pickle Inspector - Demimonde Goddess - The Devil
Allies
The Whale - Candy Mecha - Hearst - Hired Muscle - Honeybee Professor
Minions
Beasts - Whores - Thugs - Worker Bees - Courtesan Angels
Non-Canon
Midnight Crew (Spades Slick - Diamonds Droog - Hearts Boxcars - Clubs Deuce)
Laborer Wasps - Professor Wasp - Zombie Astronaut - Little White Cat - Fuzzy Man Bear and Sarah
PS HD - AD FAD ZAD - PI NB PPI FPI PFPI FFPI - MK DMK BHMK MM
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