Let me tell you about Homestuck . . . .

From the Urban Dictionary:

"A web comic pertaining to an incredibly complex network of intertwined relationships between the space-time linear parallels of a group of juvenile human beings and a slightly larger group of juvenile troll-like humanoid extraterrestrials who must work together to stop a rogue villain from destroying our universe, communicated through and perpetrated by a with the ability to manipulate time and space while simultaneously bringing about the end of the world, interspersed with interruptions from an omniscient talking cue ball as well as a separate group of gang-involved beings hellbent upon exacting revenge on a rival group of gang-involved beings, all tied together by a characteristic ironically ridiculous and self-deprecating sense of humor with homage to both classic character archetypes from throughout human history as well as the familiar internet-central humor of today’s youth." [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Homestuck]

My own definition is a bit more personal.  It is a web comic, sure.  But it is also something that has created a social group my girl-child (also known as the "Pumpkin") has found commonality with.  These kids (most are age 13 to 20) are incredibly funny, creative and aware.  They even let an old lady play with them on occasion, even though I have not read the 4000+ pages of Homestuck and do not get many of the 'inside' jokes and references.  I have managed to grasp a few of the names . . . Jane. .Dirk. . .Gamzi (or is it Gamzee). . . Jade.  

The characters seem to morph and change daily but the trolls can pretty much be counted on to have candycorn coloured horns regardless of whether they are humans, sea creatures, dogs, cats, dragons or even My Little Ponies.  Not all of the incarnations are the work of Mr. Hussie, in fact it seems most are created by the fandom of Homestuck devotees.  

There is much "shipping" or romantic pairings of the various characters, something of which I know from my own journey into an almost as crazy fandom on the 1990s -- that of the X-Files television series.  Much fanfiction and art work has been inspired by Homestuck, and my child occasionally shares it with me.

And then there's the costumes.  Oh boy are there costumes.  The Pumpkin's first costume was a doozy.  She spent several months creating a full head mask for a character named Bec Blanc . . . who is apparently a dog-like creature with wings and a sword. Well, see for yourself.  She test drove the costume at the Calgary Comic Convention in April. . . which is where the above photo is from.

In May, there is an amazing event held each year at the University of Calgary called Otafest.  We went last year. . . before the Pumpkin discovered Homestuck.  That year was sort of like an experiment.  She dressed as an Anime character and observed.  This was when she apparently saw some Homestuck fans. . . and asked them about their characters.  The rest, as they say, is history.

This year Otafest was. . . well EPIC.  I tagged along . . . spent much time sitting in the Student Centre reading my books and occasionally going to different sessions with the Pumpkin.  There was a Homestuck "Panel" where I got to learn about Homestuck . . . or try to . . . as I said. . . it's COMPLICATED.

I learned about some of the characters.  I learned about the girlchild's friends.  I learned about 'cuddle puddles'.  

Yup, these kids are fun.  They are funny.  And they even let an old lady play dress up with them.  Yes, a few weeks ago when the Homestuck kids got together for a rollerskating party, my kid dressed me up and I discovered I can still skate!  

Yup, my kid -- she dressed me up as a Homestuck character . . . which character -- why MOM of course.

So what is the point of this Blog post?  To tell you about Homestuck.  Sort of . . . it's about what being a parent means to me.  It is about learning about what makes your child happy.  What makes her light up.  And THAT is what HOMESTUCK really is . . . something that lights up my kid.  And for that, thank you Andrew Hussie.

I don't know why anyone is surprised my child takes fandom seriously.  When she was just a cluster of cells the size of a pea she went on an X-files Fan weekend in Vancouver.  I was (and still am) a proud X-Phile having done the on-line newsgroup, written X-files fanfiction and generally been a geeky uberfan. 

Now I pass the torch to my child.  Unlike her mother, the object of her fandom is an on-line graphic cartoon series called "Homestuck".  Initially the Pumpkin went through a Japanese anime phase collecting and reading books with such titles as Ouran School Host Club, DeathNote, Peach Basket, Pet Shop of Horrors and Souleater. 

Last year I dusted off my sewing machine and made her an orange kimono as part of an anime character costume for the annual Otafest in Calgary.  Despite the fact I thought my kid's costume ROCKED, she was much harder on herself.  No one, it seems, recognized her as the character she was portraying.  Okay.  I get it.  I think.

The past 12 months she has been busily planning, revising, rejecting, re-planning, sketching, Googling, researching and basically focusing her attention on having not just one, but two costumes for this years' festivities.   The amount of time and energy she has joyfully invested in this project is amazing.  Once she settled on her choice of characters, she looked at what others had done for CosPlay (a term representing a joining of the terms "Costume" and "Play").

The 'main' characters in Homestuck are a group of 12 'trolls' who are each represented by a zodiac symbol.  I'm not all that clear on the origins of the trolls but gather it involved some type of apocolyptic event where the only survivors were a small group of teenagers.  The story/online comic has been evolving for just over two years. 

This past weekend she 'test drove' one of her costumes at the Calgary Comic Expo.  This particular character is named Bec Blanche and, as far as I can garner, is a winged dog/warrior who has the power of teleportation. 

The costume, as you can see, is not your 'throw a sheet over your head and call yourself a ghost' variety.  The head alone took my kid hours of work.  She carved the doggie snout from florist form, using our 4 year old terrier as a model -- which confused him since her normal reaction to him coming near her bedroom is to chase him out.  Not only did she not chase him out of her room, she came and scooped him up off the sofa and plopped him on her bed to pose!  I did sew the skirt and I covered an old t-shirt in ribbed fabric to give the character the look of bandages it sports, but the concept and idea were all hers.

Anyway, we took her costume out for a test run.  It is clear that the only thing more fun than riding the C-Train is riding the C-Train in costume.  Watching people do double and triple takes was pretty entertaining.

We arrived at the location of the Comic Expo and spent about an hour in line.  Next year, we buy tickets in advance.  Apparently, people who came even 1/2 an hour after we did, did not get in on Saturday.  Although the venue (even as large as it was) was pretty packed, we had an adventure.  At least 50 people stopped and asked to take the Pumpkin's photo.  She even posed with a couple of little kids -- who thought she was very cool. 

Part of the reason for going to the Expo was to meet up with other "Homestuck" fans -- and that we did.  I got many photos of the Pumpkin with other fans of her favourite on-line comic.  The trolls not only have grey skin, but they sport horns that look very much like mutated and overgrown candy corn.  There were several other non-troll characters, which the Pumpkin took pains to try to explain to me. 

Although we left after about 3 hours -- all that walking around was exhausting and there wasn't anywhere to sit and relax.  The day was a success.  Pumpkin has figured a few things to 'tweak' on her costume and I have decided that this month, when we go to Otafest, I am definitely going in costume.  You are never too old to have an adventure. . . . .