more homestuck re-read

So I'm to the beginning of Act 5/Hivebent, since I'm trying to take thing slow and actually pay attention to shit this time, rather than just blustering through. (That means re-watching the flashes like seven times a piece until I'm sure I understand what happened in almost every scene.)

Here are my thoughts:

1. So basically everything involving Sollux and Aradia is sad and tragic anyway, but the early conversations between them is so much moreso with the knowledge of what actually happened in the past/with all the FLARPing shenanigans.

2. Karkat is like a billion times more adorable adorabloodthirsty amazing right from the beginning than I remembered. SO MUCH MORE AMAZING.

3. ♥Terezi♥

4. This is actually more in response to more recent events than what I'm re-reading right now, but I will never be able to completely 100% loathe Vriska (or, I mean, 100% wish she wasn't in the story at all rather than enjoying disliking her) if only because I basically love that her whole messed up relationship with Terezi exists. Not that, like, it was good/healthy, but that it's just so complex and toxic and friendships going sour writ large, and... I don't know. It's hard to explain. I just like that that it happened and it's a big part of their characterization, and it's still a big deal in the story even now. And not really in a "lol blackrom" way. Just in that messy "we used to be friends, but not really because you're kind of a sociopath" type way? :\

5. Eridan and his nice guy bullshit can still go fuck itself though. Seriously.

6. I think I need more Homestuck icons.

Homestuck re-read; everything involving Equius is still pretty disturbing!

Things that are like 10x funnier and 1000x more disturbing on re-read: this conversation between Equius and Gamzee.

I wish there were a way to :D: that made clear you were D:-ing more than you were :D-ing.

Edit: Actually, not everything involving Equius is disturbing. His moirallegiance with Nepeta is actually still pretty sweet. (Sweeter, once I realized on re-read that his residence overlooks Vriska's, which makes him "forbidding" Nepeta from FLARPing a lot less unreasonable and a lot sweeter in retrospect.)