why dave strider is the best homestuck

- DAVE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT,
- okay, listen, I first started reading Homestuck before I'd started processing my shit.
- I knew shit was kind of fucked up but I Didn't Think About It.
- I thought Dave was extremely relatable and hilarious.
- Like, yes, I too have lived in squalor! Sure, instead of puppet ass I had alcohol everywhere instead of food, but, you know, same general principles. You open a fridge and a bunch of beer instead of food comes out. Casual.
- I, too, lived in a bizarrely sexualised environment where no actual sex took place! Sure, instead of puppet gorn it was bathing with my mother and listening to her sexual trauma and letting her shove my legs apart when I wasn't Sitting Ladylike, but still, same general principles.
- And I, too, sometimes got roughed up by my parents! Regrettably, we never actually duelled with sweet-ass ninja swords.
- AND ALL OF THIS WAS VERY HA-HA FUNNY, AND NOT AT ALL CONCERNING,
- casual! Like Dave just kind of shrugging it off and laughing about it and being Ironic.
- (I, too, was Extremely Ironic. Everything buried under misdirection and sardony. Don't look at anything directly.)
- But then,
- fast forward several years and some various pauses,
- and I'm kind of digging into how fucked up everything is, and it sucks, and everything's terrible.
- But here's the thing!
- So is Dave!
- Dave's also going, hey, you know that fucked up home life we all laughed about?
- Yeah, actually not cool, bro.
- AND HOLY SHIT, can you imagine how helpful that is?
- Just, fucking, you're lost and trying to figure out what the fuck, why is everything so sharp, where did all the fun go,
- and a character you loved and looked up to is also doing that thing.
- I've heard it said that Dave's 180 on his abusive home life was bad writing, or Hussie drifting away from comedy and into seriousness.
- Nah man.
- I have to believe that he fully intended to land that plane, because it was so massively helpful to me.
- (No shade if you don't feel that way, ofc.)
- I really kind of want to go find that pesterlog and read over it again but I'm also afraid that it's going to dick with me.
- But anyway,
- that's why Dave Strider is the most important and relatable character in Homestuck,
- and why a Dave figurine has a permanent place on my desk.