The MS Paint Adventures fandom have produced a variety of memes, often in response to a particular event in Homestuck, or during long periods without updates. This page lists some of the most well known ones.
Pantskat[]
Pantskat and friends.
Pantskat is a reference to this page
of Homestuck, where Karkat's clothing appears to merge into a single item, resembling an absurdly tall pair of trousers. It quickly became an ascended meme, with Hussie noting it on his Twitter, and subsequently referencing it within Homestuck in connection with Kankri and the Sufferer, both of whom are noted to have absurdly tall trousers, as well as fedorafreak's reference to alchemizing "an extraordinarily tall pant." At the end of the flash [S][A6I1] Karkat: Mental breakdown., there is a slowly revolving image of Pantskat on top of the turntable of the phonograph that was playing.
Considerably less common memes that also originate from the same page include Sollux in a similar single-piece outfit, Terezi with no arms, and Kanaya with no middle section, due her belt appearing to blend in with the background. Unlike Pantskat, these memes have not been referenced in canon.
March Eridan[]
The March image of the 2011 Homestuck calendar drawn by Paige Turner featured a crossdressing Eridan with pigtails and a tube top. The image became so popular it eventually became canon in [S][A6I3] MINISTRIFE!!!. Eridan was later portrayed as having an interest in dressing in feminine clothes in Pesterquest: Volume 10, likely due to the prevalence of March Eridan.
Buckets/Pails[]
Kanaya frightened from seeing a bucket fall upon Rose's head.
Buckets/Pails are a reference to how grubs are made, filial pails, collected by Drones with genes given to the Mother grub to produce grubs. Commonly noted as "condoms" by the fandom. Another well-known meme in the fandom is the lyric "Trolls be lining down the veil for a chance to fill a pail" Meaning they want to be in a quadrant with Karkat and use his genes to create a grub.
Homestuck Minus[]
The concept of this meme is to alter Homestuck by removing a character from the narrative and rearranging events and dialogue to accommodate the absence.
Everyonestuck[]
An inversion of Homestuck Minus. After Tumblr user Wariofan63 created a Homestuck Minus Dave, he received the response,
- Silly Wariofan
- One does not simply "homestuck" without Dave
and replied, "You're right! I'll fix my mistake by adding in more Dave!" The result of this was a set of panels from Act 6 Intermission 2 having all characters present replaced with Dave, and the chatlogs altered accordingly.
Numerous other such pages have been produced, both with Dave and with other characters such as Aradia.
Janeface[]
Nothing is safe.
Jane Crocker has become known for her amusing expressions, most especially on these three pages (also seen in [S] Dirk: Unite and while being carried by Jasprosesprite^2). There are various blogs on Tumblr dedicated to the first expression in particular, generally placing it on other characters' faces.
Aradia's maniacal grin has begun to receive similar treatment, as has Karkat's face.
Homestuck anime[]
During the long period without updates in late 2012, the fandom started producing faked anime screenshots, and discussing their favorite "episodes". It quickly became a running joke that the various episodes had massively varying art styles and qualities, but it was insisted that there was an anime despite the obvious evidence contrary to the claim.
Although the output of images somewhat dwindled with the ending of the hiatus that spawned the trend, production of them continues to the present, including coverage of more recent panels. There was also a dedicated group for Homestuck Anime images on DeviantArt, although it is no longer available.[1]
In the news post that Andrew posted at the conclusion of Homestuck, he jokingly stated "What is there to say about this ending? The short and funny answer is, Homestuck has finally completed its long journey over the rainbow, and become the anime it was always meant to be."
Squiddles[]
Much in the same fashion as the "Homestuck" anime, the frequently seen Squiddles (for example: Jade's plushies of the cute little squidlings and her lunchtop featuring the characters) throughout Homestuck have led to fan animated title sequences, naming of the squids, and discussions of favorite episodes as though it were really a children's TV show. Additionally, a flash animation of the opening by the art team was included in the download for Squiddles!
With Equius[]
Fandom Memes Article With Equius
In October 2012, a meme emerged of Equius being inserted into various group pictures or scenes, often of popular media, the title of which would be suffixed, "with Equius" or, in cases where it fit better, "and Equius". For example, "Adventure Time with Finn and Jake and Equius". It is possible that this is derived from the "& Knuckles" meme.
A young x stands in his y[]
A young Kanye stands in his Kanye.
Several images circulate around Tumblr of the first panel of Homestuck with John and/or his bedroom replaced with something else, sometimes the same thing, and the caption altered accordingly. This is in fact the basis or starting point of a significant fraction of fanventures, crossovers and parodies, simply because it's such an instantly recognizable and iconic part of Homestuck.
Examples include "A young Kanye stands in his Kanye" and "A bedroom stands in his young man".
Transitive property of Nepeta[]
The true identity of Lord English.
A meme on the MSPA Forums dating back to when the identity of Lord English was still unknown and many guesses were made to his identity, with Nepeta frequently joked to be English. Later, it became common to claim any and all characters were in fact, Nepeta. Because of this, all characters were claimed to be all other characters because they were in fact, Nepeta (and by logical extension, everyone is also English, eventually including the fans).
Simply put: Everyone = Nepeta = Everyone
Therefore: Everyone = Everyone
In a possible reference to this, in conversation between Calliope and Roxy, when Calliope suggests a gambit against those in English's service, Roxy assumes it involves Fefetasprite, a character who literally is Nepeta, as a secret weapon. This suggestion appears to be even further referenced with the creation of Davepetasprite^2, who eventually comes to realize that their unique combination of the identities of Nepeta and Dave, make them somehow perfectly suited for facing Lord English.
Nyeh[]
Screenshot of Cronus saying “nyeh”, making the meme canon.
Nyeh is a long running meme within the Homestuck fandom stemming from an Octopimp video. It involves the character Eridan saying the word "nyeh" when aggravated or surprised.[citation needed] It became canon during the second Meenah walkaround flash when Cronus says it.
Additionally, when Hussie uses Cronus to get close to Seahorse Dad, he tags his comment with “#NYEIGH”.
Undertale character Papyrus similarly likes to use the phrase "Nyeh heh heh!". Toby Fox further referenced this in "Nyeh Heh Heh!" which is the 16th song on the UNDERTALE Soundtrack. However, Fox and Octopimp both stated in 2015 that Papyrus did not have any connection with the YouTuber.[2]
The Baby is You[]
He is the baby, it is him.
The Baby is You is an album by Toby "Radiation" Fox, a member of the Homestuck Music Team as a satire for MSPA Forums prohibiting images of pregnant characters. John walks in to discover that Dave has somehow become pregnant and is near to giving birth. When John asks who the father is Dave refuses to answer, causing John to ask in confusion who the baby is, to which Dave answers "“the baby john... is you”". Discussion of the album became forbidden on the MSPA Forums causing it to gain the moniker The Opera That Must Not Be Named.
- A History of Babies (1:03)
- Throguh Song (0:48)
- Im Having A Baby, And The Baby Is You (1:39)
- bootes (1:48)
- Rose Pragnant (1:10)
- the rose rap (2:44)
- uh oh (0:06)
- vs. bros (1:26)
- A Baby Is Born (1:29)
Homestuck fan animator Shadok later lead a team to animate the entire album.
An additional track, A Baby Legend – The Baby is 2 (1:42), was later released separately on the fan album Homestuck Vol. 11.
Given the phrasing, it is possible that Hussie referenced The Baby is You in this dialoglog, as Dave says “turned out the baby was us” to Rose.
Unexpectedly, the album may have escaped captivity in 2019, as the opening portion of the battle theme that Toby composed for Pokémon Sword and Shield sounds suspiciously similar to part of "The Baby is 2".
Bloodswap[]
A Bloodswap is a popular fanart and fanfiction alternate universe exercise that involves swapping the blood caste of the main troll cast. The impact of this swap can vary. Some swaps simply swap personality and costume across characters, others blend the personality of one character with the quirks of the character belonging to their new blood type (so, for example, a Yellowblooded Karkat may be portrayed as Karkat, as a hacker like Sollux, rather than Karkat living a different Yellowblooded lifestyle), and others fully reinterpret in their new social circumstances. One of the earliest successful bloodswaps was adamantApoplectic's Red Dead Virgo.
Fancy Dreamers[]
A fanart and cosplay meme, involving modifying the Derse and Prospit outfits into elaborate dresswear fit for the royalty of the two moons. This pattern is often marked by fancy beading on the clothings, which can range from elaborate dresses to detailed pyjamas reminiscent of the original canon outfits.
Vriska (Vriska)[]
(Vriska) was born from a livejournal submission in 2011 claiming Eridan's character arc was an allegory to Obama's administration, comparing each character he interacted to a real-life entity but Vriska, just calling her "Vriska (Vriska)". It is possible to be the reference for her pre-retcon character's "renaming" by the end.
7828 selfies[]
Most likely because Andrew Hussie literally specifically requested it of the fandom, at length and with much intensity, a trend quickly cropped up after the Flash animation of Arquiusprite and Davepetasprite^2 of fans taking selfies in front of their computer screen with this page on display. At least two tumblr blogs for the meme alone were created the day of the update, and Hussie linked to these two specifically.
Dirk requesting decapitation[]
The only solution more universal than water.
Usually framed as Dirk reviewing a situation and then concluding, "There's no other way out of it, you're going to have to decapitate me," often to the frustration of Dave. This meme has arisen as a result of Dirk's second decapitation in the comic, during the climax of [S] Collide, which in combination with the first case during [S] Dirk: Synchronize, seems to suggest that Dirk's preferred solution to any and all predicaments is the removal of his own head (which has been verified later on in the Candy epilogue, where Dirk deals with the irrelevance of his timeline by taking off his head, again). The scenario has also been referred to as "Dirkapitation".
Dirk has, in fact, been surrounded by themes of decapitation from very early in the comic, as far back as the webcam puppet that Dave beheaded during Act 2. How much of this was intended as foreshadowing at the time, and how much is retroactively intended as such, is unknown. If only there were some way for us to find out... perhaps Dirk has a suggestion?
Cool and New Web Comic[]
- Main article: Fandom:Cool and New Web Comic
This ironic Homestuck fanadventure rose to unexpected prominence in 2016, three days before Homestuck ended with the Act 7 update. Taking inspiration from Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff and Homosuck, the low-production value comic became both ironic in-joke and unironic passion within certain corners of the Homestuck fanbase. In response to the comic, the Cool and New Music Team was founded, a large collaborative music and art project inspired by the fan comic, and which now dwarfs even the official Homestuck OST in terms of released content.
Omnipresent Vriska[]
Vriska attends the Last Supper.
In 2018, a trend began appearing on Tumblr of editing an image of Vriska (usually this one) into images, photos and memes not necessarily even related to Homestuck. The key elements of the image are usually then labelled, including Vriska, as if her presence is a standard element of the image's contents. As Vriska is, of course, the central figure behind everything ever, her presence should come as a surprise to no-one.
Smooth John[]
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Smooth John
- “Therapist: It's okay. Smooth John isn't real. He can't hurt you.
Smooth John:” - — Smooth John.
On April 10th, 2019, the 10th anniversary of Homestuck Beta, fans began to post images of its depiction of John Egbert giving him the name “Smooth John”.
Many fans jokingly reacted at needing therapy upon witnessing the image. Others professed he wasn't real and so couldn't hurt them.
Hotdog Juggler[]
Hotdog Juggler's initial appearance (Second on the left)
An unnamed purpleblood background troll can be seen in the background of Marvus Xoloto's route in Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume Sixteen juggling hot dogs. They eventually gained fandom notoriety, typically being unofficially referred to with general names such as "Hotdog Juggler" or "Hotdog Clown". Background artists for Hiveswap Friendsim have referenced this troll in Volumes 17 and 18. In the former, they can be seen in the audience of Nihkee's performance, while in the latter, they can be seen talking to Diemen in the party in Lanque's route. A portrait resembling a similar older troll who may be their ancestor was also seen in the house the Soleil twins are met at in Volume Eighteen.
Jeff[]
His name is Jeff.[3]
In 2021, fans were able to vote for "Jeff" (pictured) in a list of favorite Homestuck characters. In the end, Jeff received four votes.[4]
The meme was started by Theo on Twitter who loved the design of The Arch Deaconstructor but noticed they lacked an actual name. It was decided his name should be Jeff.[5]
Sharpie Bath[]
Fanart depicting the Sharpie Incident. [6]
The term originated in 2012 when a anonymous 4chan user posted a story regarding a woman (Referred to as “Tarry” in the post) at the 2012 Anime Expo using a hotel bathtub to dye her own skin using Sharpie dye and alcohol as a way to avoid using facepaint for a Terezi cosplay. In a later story update, it was discovered that Terry had actually given herself “Alcohol Poisoning/Skin Poisoning” with the bath, though whether or not she lived to tell this tale is unknown as both her and anyone involved in the story has since disappeared off the internet. Some homestuck fans even believe that the event had never actually happened due to lack of proof.
Although this post was never referenced in canon, many jokes are still made about the incident, including jokes such as art, edits, and references to the original post.
References[]
- ↑ An archive snapshot is available here, and the artworks are also still present on DeviantArt; it is just the group itself that has been deleted.
- ↑ Fox, Toby. "uhhhhhhhh ........ no LOL? deconfirmed?" Archived Tweet.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/BigFunkyJ/status/1381703772200656896
- ↑ https://twitter.com/BigFunkyJ/status/1382004400844013570
- ↑ https://twitter.com/PenisFartBalls/status/1382032680670334978
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK4AiZNZGHA