A(nother) question regarding OFUs

Subject: A(nother) question regarding OFUs
Author: Snowy the Sane Fangirl
Posted on: 2014-05-07 06:49:00 UTC

So, since I got to the end of Homestuck, I've been surfing around checking out the fanfic, fan art, etcetera, and I have come to the conclusion that there is a need for a Homestuck OFU.

Now I'm aware that permission of any sort is not really required for this sort of thing, but I wanted to make certain of a few things so I wouldn't do something I'd regret. The first being that I want to make sure I'm not usurping anyone else's plans. I checked several lists and ran a search and I didn't find one, but I wanted to make sure no one else was working on one, and this seemed like the place to ask.

The second thing: the minis. I haven't found any references to Homestuck minis anywhere, but once again, I wanted to make sure. Also, just an opinion request: I was thinking mini-horrorterrors. What does everyone think of that? I also considered mini-Becs, mini-Gl'bgolybs, and mini-frogs, but I think I like mini-horrorterrors the best.

If everything's looking good, then I have one more thing to ask. I'm going to want a beta or co-writer for this; perhaps more than one. Preferably someone who's read more slash than I have and knows the ups and downs in that department. Also preferably someone who does not ship Karkat/Terezi, as I'd like a counterbalance to my prejudice in that area.

I guess that's it. Here, have a list of some classes and their instructors I thought up.

Troll Romance 101 - Karkat Vantas
The Hemospectrum 050 - Equius Zahhak
Sexual Orientation 146 - John Egbert and Dirk Strider
typing qUirks 200 - Calliope

Okay, it's currently quite late. I'll probably wake up regretting this tomorrow. If that's the case, I apologize. Have a nice night/day.

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A(nother) question regarding OFUs by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-05-07 06:49:00 UTC

Speaking of OFUs... by Seychelles on 2014-05-09 00:57:00 UTC Reply

Should we have a OFU for Attack on Titan? It is hugely popular, and has a cast full of attractive male figures. Sounds like Sue bait to me.

Good idea! by eatpraylove on 2014-05-09 03:06:00 UTC Reply

Can we put the fanbrats through military training so they can see exactly how hard it really is? I bet half the "recruits" are gonna end up with their butts or faces in the dirt when they try the 3DMG (or Omni-Directional whatsit) and/or try to put the moves on...well, anybody.

Oh man oh man, can you imagine the screaming and hiding in corners and death threats when the characters find out who people ship them with? We'd really really need a Platonic Love/"Shipping for Dummies" class. Either the main trio (Eren, Mikasa, Armin) or all of Levi's squad could teach it. I'd kinda hope for Levi's squad because I miss Petra ;_; (One similarity between Attack on Titan and A Song of Ice and Fire: it's dangerous to have favorite characters.)

Somebody more experienced with writing OFUs than me can take it from here. (And more familiar with the canon; I've watched the anime all the way through and read volume 9 of the manga once each. Bad me, bad.)

I could help out by Seychelles on 2014-05-09 17:22:00 UTC Reply

I can lend my agents to help out with this project. They can deliver messages form the PPC, like Lily's agents did.

I'm not to familiar with the canon though. As of this post I've only seen one episode... and I have a habit of only listening to the one track that I started with, in this case the dub.

Probably. by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-05-09 01:04:00 UTC Reply

I'm not terribly familiar with it, but what you just said has convinced me. It is a thing that is needed.

There was a passing reference to a Homestuck OFU by Lily Winterwood on 2014-05-08 15:29:00 UTC Reply

In the IAHF2, but as the person who wanted to write the OFU never did I guess it's up for grabs.

All I know is that an IAHF alum is involved with it, which led to the mention.

I noticed that by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-05-09 21:38:00 UTC Reply

It was last updated a couple of years ago, though. I read a little bit of that story but I really had no clue what was going on, as I don't know much at all about Hetalia. I'll try to read it again so I can keep the OFU-verse consistent.

Thanks for letting me know. :D
Which alum? by Outhra on 2014-05-09 01:59:00 UTC Reply

Or at least, who could it not possibly be? That would help narrow down the options a little more.

Loki Shadow Reave. The Shadow Demon. (nm) by Lily Winterwood on 2014-05-09 02:05:00 UTC Reply

I've been waiting for something like this. by Outhra on 2014-05-07 08:33:00 UTC Reply

Argh I want to help but I am already doing like six things at once and doing any more would mean some of them would drop in quality bluh bluh
I don't know much about slash anyway. I have read a fair amount of troll romance fic, so I'm pretty good at telling the good from the bad there, but not slash.
Wait, does shipping any of the trolls count as slash? Their different biology and culture might make that mean something different to them. Also, they are, in some interpretations, all biologically male in the way humans understand it, since the Mother Grub is the one responsible for the development and gestation of the troll grubs, so maybe shipping any of the trolls at all would always count as slash? Homestuck is making me challenge the definitions of words.

That looks like a good mini species. I had been batting a few ideas around for a while, but none really worked, and I'd never even thought of mini-Horrorterrors. The closest I'd thought of were mini-Giclopses, which might also work, but they're pretty close to the standard vein.

I want to see Equius teaching his class now.

CT: D--> So as you know, the hemospectrum is a sacred part of our culture. It is not to be tampered with
CT: D-->Allowing the creation of blood colors within acceptable bounds is not a crime
CT: D-->Though one must ensure that the troll behave as befits his caste
CT: D--> Or hers, if the case comes up
CT: D--> However, the creation of new troll b100ds outside of the basic chromic spectrum is strictly forbidden
CT: D--> They would have no role, no caste, no peers
CT: D--> Yet they are rarely treated as such in the course of your fansessions, which is culturally problematic
CT: D--> And after our first lesson
CT: D--> I doubt that I need to restate why rainbow b100d is both biologically and culturally impossible
(two students in the back flinch)
Random third student: BuT whaT abouT maGenTa blooD, misTer Zahhak? maGenTa is a color, anD my fanTroll erdoGn was creaTeD ThrouGh a scienTific experiment, so he woulDn't Be in The normal culTu-
CT: D--> No one is to be of magenta b100d!
CT: D--> Such a configuration would place your character above even the Empress herself, which would STRONGLY imply that the throne of her Condescension is an illegitimate one
CT: D--> Good golly, the very thought of such impropriety is heating my benighted b100d
CT: D--> However, I have used up all of my allotted towels for the day, and the very thought of not having another is almost as distressing as the thought of needing to reuse unwashed ones...
CT: D--> Oh, fiddlesticks, I am sweating even more now that I think about this paradox
CT: D--> I must remind Ms. Paint to increase my daily towel rations
CT: D--> This is getting out of hand

Just a touch OOC there, but it's 2:00 in the morning, so I'm too tired to fix the details.

There also needs to be a Titles and Aspects class. Maybe as two classes, one for assigning based on personality and one for creation of fanmade classes and when doing so is and is not appropriate. They can maybe be the same category but with different numbers. The two versions of Aradia should probably teach the personality-based class, since she has personal experience regarding how an aspect and title can be relevant to multiple individuals or relevant even after personal development, since robo-Aradia and god tier-Aradia interpret their classpect different ways after their resurrection and even before the resurrection knew what it was all about.
I don't know who'd teach the other one, though. Nepeta? Nepeta should teach something about fan-created content, especially since Karkat is already teaching the class that would cover shipping. Maybe her class could be right next door to his, so that they can surprise-guest-lecture one another!

Brilliant! by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-05-07 23:57:00 UTC Reply

Do you mind if I use that segment with Equius? It is just a bit OOC, but I'm sure it can be fixed.

Well, don't overtax yourself. Depending on when you have more time you may be able to help after all. I'm not gonna start posting this right away. I have to do some further research, in both the canon and badfic departments, then I have to wrestle my ideas into some semblance of order. While I do have bits written, they are by no means in chronological order, and the rough draft for the first chapter is only half done.

That's a good point, with the troll slash. I think their gender separation depends mainly on whether or not they have breasts. Girl trolls have breasts... Although we don't know what they're for. The redefinition of words is one of the things I love about Homestuck. So which words are we challenging the definitions for today? Gender, slash, and shipping? Anyhow, I usually don't even read stories that have anything except canon(ish) pairings, though I've started to do so more often lately.

Rainbow blood. Definitely seen that one. It's... painful.

Good idea, with the Aradias teaching a Titles and Aspects class. :)

I was thinking Nepeta would teach a class on shipping totally separate from Karkat's class, that would have a bunch of prerequisites including Karkat's class, Dirk and John's class, Caliborn's class on Cherub romance, and Aranea's class on Leprechaun romance.

Thanks for the ideas, and I'm glad the idea sounds appealing to you. :D

You can use the section if you want. by Outhra on 2014-05-09 01:09:00 UTC Reply

It's a subject that would've eventually come up anyway, after all! It's important that the little fanwriters get some guidelines on how to decide troll blood color. I've seen too many trolls who declare that they're silver-blooded or black-blooded or something. Deciding to use a different shade of brown from canon or to add in the implied orange blood is very different from deciding to give something rainbow blood. Actually, rainbow blood wouldn't only be painful for the reader; since rainbow blood would mean that the various chemicals giving the blood its various colors are not mixing, that would more likely than not kill the troll within its first few hours of life.

Also, I've managed to pin down one of the main OOC points in that Equius piece: He didn't spell "paradox" with a %! I forgot that part of his typing quirk. I wonder how he pronounces that in speech. We know the typing quirks do manifest in speech somehow, since Sollux 2peak2 wiith a biit of a lii2p and Eridan has a wwavy soundin accent, but a % isn't exactly obvious. You pronounce the % in Karrank% as a double glottal stop, but that wouldn't really work as part of words with the x in the middle. Would it?

Good! I have no OFU-writing experience, but it seems like taking extra time and effort to keep things in order are very important for a project like this, since the OFU cast of characters being fluid means it would probably be difficult to put a story in the right direction otherwise. I hope that's why we've gone so long without a new OFAS update, because of planning. If it's because it's gone the way of most of the other OFUs and vanished halfway in, then that would just be depressing.

Well, the definition of gender is pretty much the same even if the trolls fill the biologically male role in their species, since the two aren't the same thing. The other two seem to be relatively valid challenges, though. Of course, Homestuck's been challenging the definition of shipping ever since it introduced the ashen, pale, and black romances.
I like to see when an ashen fic is done well. It's difficult to keep the dynamic properly without it degrading into something that would more easily match with a three-person moirallegiance, but it's great when done properly. On a related note, I definitely ashenship these three.

Hmm. I don't know about having Nepeta's class being only available when students have already taken all of those other classes. Shipping is kind of a big deal in the Homestuck fandom, and if there's going to be a primary shipping class, it should be covered fairly early on. Maybe the shipping course will need to be taken alongside Dirk and John's and Karkat's, to ensure best effects and to make sure that no one is missing important components. Aranea's class can be linked to that, but I doubt it would work as a requirement, because come on, people are not going to go to a class taught by Aranea for reasons other than being able to speak freely amongst themselves while she goes on and on about whatever she's been given free reign to exposit on. Also, we don't know that much about leprechauns in general, so there might not be enough material to make a class. We don't even know what the majority of their nine romance symbols mean. On the plus side, this means there can be plenty of student-planning shenanigans. And Caliborn should just in general not be allowed near children unsupervised.

You're right. by Snowy the Sane Fangirl on 2014-05-10 03:47:00 UTC Reply

Okay, leprechaun romance is incredibly rare, at least from what I've seen. But I've never seen anyone successfully manage to follow what guidelines we do have on it. Perhaps the leprechaun romance and cherub romance could be combined into one seminar? I understand your reservations on having Aranea and Caliborn teach anything. Who would listen to Aranea and Caliborn is just... Caliborn. But who else is there for the job? John, I suppose, or Vriska, since they were there and listening when Aranea explained this. Or maybe one of the leprechauns? I'm not sure I'd be able to express their personalities correctly in such a situation.

You're right about Caliborn. I'm definitely reconsidering having him teach anything. Even though the fanbrats would be getting all they deserved and resurrection is a thing that exists both in the OFU-verse and the Homestuck-verse. And it would be really funny.

Do you think I could have Karkitty as a mini-horrorterror? I'm pretty sure nobody ever called him that in canon, not even Nepeta.

That's a good point with the rainbow blood... I'm pretty sure they don't think these things through. I just read a story in which Dave gets Karkat pregnant, then Karkat proceeds to lay eggs and is apparently still pregnant after the eggs are laid. No one was concerned enough to try to figure out why Karkat was extra large in the belly until he went into labor. It's one of those things where you look at it and it's like, "Did you even think about this before you wrote it?" No. No you didn't. They never do. :(

And that one made more sense than others I've seen.

(To the writer's credit, there was plenty of WhatThe going around amongst the characters while the egg laying was happening. Even though the fact that Karkat just laid some eggs took second seat to who the other parent was once it was done.)

I think if Equius were to pronounce his words that way it would be a little hard to understand him - and pretty hard for him to talk, though I suppose he'd be used to it. He might just pronounce it like an X, I suppose, although that seems a tad pedestrian.

That's another reason I want to wait on this. I don't want to end halfway through like a lot of OFUs have. That would be a bad thing. And of course there needs to be character growth on the part of the fan writer whose escapades I follow in particular, and the students in general. And of course this character growth needs to be believable.

I definitely enjoy reading good fanfic in the other three quadrants (although I think even the red quadrant isn't quite what we traditionally think of as romance). But it's hard to find the good stuff. Moirallegiance can be found in plenty, but people have so much trouble with the other two.

I haven't seen The Avengers yet. :( But I can definitely see the dynamic in that video. It's fun to take the quadrants and apply it to other stories, isn't it?

My parents are suddenly really freaked out that I know what juggalos are and want to know where I've been frequenting on the internet. This is not how I envisioned explaining Homestuck to them...