God Tier Outfits Are Condescending | Homestuck Analysis

Comments · 116

• MA

  @Maoshei · 2 weeks ago

  I like to think of the god tier outfits as a &quot;default&quot; base, since Meenah proved during the Ministrife &nbsp;that God Tier outfits could be customized and modified by the players at will to suit their taste more.<br><br>It just seems like the main characters we follow just never quite figured it out. Although if you follow post canon content Dirk did end up modifying his GT outfit twice so far.

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• FM

  @fm9473 · 2 weeks ago

  Sburb itself has always fascinated me in its intentions. For one, its implied that Skaia has a will of its own but does not have a consciousness or sense of self. But the entire point of the game seems to be reproduction of a new universe and &apos;preparing&apos; the players for it. Vriska said that it seems intentional that Sburb targets players who just hit puberty, which is unsettling on its own. Rose mentions several times how she feels like her Quest is condescending and childish, just like when her Mom gifts her ponies and princess dolls. Her reaction to all signs of these is in distaste and to rebel against it. <br><br>The player&apos;s dreamselves roles feels like a fairytale. The citizens of both moons worship the players as royalty, and if they die, are paraded around like they are heroes/nobles. The outfits are also described as pajamas, and I believe the God tier outfits is like an upgrade of it after the real world and dream self are combined. The game essentially saying: &quot;You can become your idyllic dream self! Your dreams can come true through this game!&quot; But it&apos;s still pajamas. It&apos;s still kids playing make belief, but they hold actual power that doesn&apos;t meaningfully help them grow as a person.Terezi says her dream self is blind, and I think she states that she believes that Paradox Space knows that she actually prefers this state and thus allowed it to persist in both of herselves. Tavros is able to fly as his dreamself and seems to be overjoyed by it, the character who has the Peter Pan imagery and &apos;never wanting to grow-up&apos; theme, and he eventually gets his wish. The Kernelsprite system with reviving the dead, Jade even using it as a positive point when pitching playing the game to Rose (its interesting that both Rose and Dave, the more &apos;mature&apos; kids, are the ones who express disinterest in the game compared to John and Jade. Especially Jade who is the most engaged in the escapism of Prospit and motivated to play as her real life circumstances are uniquely bleak). Sburb is a twisted power fantasy, promising adventure, reviving dead loved ones, and self-actualization. The reality is in between, the price to achieve these things and the true motive of the game is horrific. The prototyping Kernelsprites making the Black King stronger, and the recommended typing being a dead family member, is the game setting up a literal &apos;the student defeats the teacher&apos;, and then you are now ready to face the universe! Becoming a god involves you literally dying. Fighting monsters. The game infantilizes it&apos;s players, but can&apos;t hide the brutality of the cost. It&apos;s just like how school claims it is preparing you for the real world while under-preparing you, infantilizing you, and traumatizing you at the same time. The ending of Homestuck being escaping the house (the game/the universe) and making a new house feels symbolic of a kid becoming old enough to leave their home and start a new one, holding the opportunity to grow and escape the harmful environment that shaped them. Homestuck Beyond Canon spoilers!: So Dirk editing his outfit feels like him making his role as the Prince of Heart his own, but still holding onto the childish ideals of Sburb. He always saw it as a good idea, seeing it as a way for him to meet his friends in real life. It didn&apos;t solve all his problems though, because his upbringing didn&apos;t teach him how to actually interact with people irl. The relationship issues boil up and explode. Dirk manages to genuinely grow at the end not because of a game quest, but due to having a heart-to-heart with Dave. Candy John wearing his god tier outfit when he is an adult highlights how ridiculous and infantile the outfits are, like an adult clinging onto their childhood cape. John it severely traumatized by the game and wants to feel that escapism again, even though that is exactly what ruined him and took away what was important to him. It was amazing to see Candy Jade of all people realize the true harm of Sburb.

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• CA

  @casac6652 · 2 weeks ago

  im surprised you didnt mention the bard outfit which is easily the most ridiculous

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• FI

  @firefly8065 · 2 weeks ago

  The classpects themselves seem to mock many of the players. Like what do you mean the guy whose blood color would get him killed on his planet has the aspect of BLOOD?

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• SP

  @spilledmilkii · 2 weeks ago

  love this analysis. what you had to say clicked like a puzzle piece with me and I could finally tell what I had in the back of my mind. Sburb is a game of house. it’s condescending. the echeladder is condescending. Sburb puts players into the role of mama and papa with ectobiology and the false dichotomy of Active and Passive classes. Makes kids ascended to gods wear stupid outfits. it puts them into a 12x12 categorization, when the powers, in practice, are incredibly malleable and can be stretched and could have tons of overlap. play pretend. Skaia must be impregnated. a new universe must be made. be the mama and the papa. The logo is a house.

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• LI

  @lizandre2995 · 2 weeks ago

  i think another good one to examine in this context is caliborn. he’s the lord, it’s an imposing title with imposing implications, and yet his outfit is just a tshirt and pants with a long-ass cape. and he gets to wear his stupid suspenders and bow-tie. it’s just recolour of his normal clothes with an addition of a cape that’s way too long, it’s the ultimate representation of his character: he’s a forever stunted child with incredible power he can’t even comprehend or use to its full advantage, every boon and servant he gets he views as annoying and stupid, he rejects any attempt of others to explain to him the actual benefits he’s being handed, his cape is dumb and absurdly long and yet it’s the only visual indication of the level he’s reached, it’s entirely superficial. it’s uncreative and childish, just like all his attempts at creation through drawing and storytelling. his rise to power is inherently linked to him stunting himself forever.

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• WI

  @wilson1748 · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=261ZBAklhDI&amp;t=655">10:55</a> i think it also might be worth mentioning that this kind of outfit wouldn&apos;t be seen as sexualized if it were on someone prepubescent. like, it&apos;s not inappropriate for kids to wear one-piece swimsuits and leotards, but it stops being acceptable in the same way once you have a noticeable bulge, pubic hair, etc.

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• CA

  @CarsonRogers-vq8nk · 2 weeks ago

  I think the ultimate takeaway here is that Homestuck is a story about roleplay. Sburb is basically the worlds biggest game of house, the logo indicates so and gamebro even says it outright. And just like how kids would play house on the playground, young teens in the early 2000s would do warrior cats RP online, which often involved having kits with one another. The Godtiers are roles, simple 3-word summarizations of your whole character that can really be stretched to fit anyone if you try hard enough. But you get cool powers and comfy pajamas, so why not go along with it? It’s all pretty condescending, but it’s ultimately just a game. These are our Roles and we’re just here to Play.

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• FA

  @faintcry · 2 weeks ago

  condescending? condescension? oh shitttttt

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• SO

  @someguy4405 · 2 weeks ago

  They&apos;re pajamas because they&apos;re comfy and they let you relax. When you mature you&apos;re more comfortable with yourself and don&apos;t care as much about how you appear to others, like how a 12yo doesn&apos;t want to be seen with his mother because he&apos;s insecure about looking like a kid, but a 20yo is more likely to help his mum out because he knows he&apos;s an adult anyway, is more comfortable with himself, and doesn&apos;t really care. When that transition happens will differ from person to person. God tiers represent maturity, as shown by the troll wings. Dirk only complains about his before he actually gets it, and manages to look cool in it most of the time afterward. Also, all the god-tiers including rose keep their outfits permanently, except for vriska, not just dave.

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• CI

  @cicadaseance · 2 weeks ago

  it&apos;s really interesting that to become a God Tier, you have to kill a version of yourself. If we look at this through the lense of childhood versus adulthood, we can ask, is the child killing the adult, or vice versa?

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• CO

  @conifercatgirl · 2 weeks ago

  it&apos;s interesting also in this context that in the original series the one adult character we see with a god tier outfit is Allie, who (also symbolized from the lack of wings) was unable to really grow up due to her rough circumstances/childhood, and in Beyond Canon is still stuck there to an extent (being obsessed with essentially self-inserting as 16 year-old Jade into what is essentially her fan-fiction version of Homestuck with the Candy timeline), though she denies it and tries to act more cold and mature, even if it&apos;s really visible in what she&apos;s doing, and the visual symbolism if you know what to look for.

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