you might find yourself anxious, overly hyped, unable to sleep, or worried about disappointment in your favourite comic

in my experience with fandom across the past few years, ive been able to develop a few tips that help me enjoy such material more:

1. review the source matieral - watch some flashes

this is to remind yourself what you are reading, the style of the comic. it’s been a long pause so maybe we have forgotten what homestuck feels like? this means you can get nostalgic with the flashes, have a refresher on whats going down, without having completely detached expectations.

2. the manual dehype - calm your shit

as addressed in point 1, you may find yourself with ridiculous expectations, either on behalf of yourself or of the others around you. this is almost guaranteed to lead to disappointment, unfortunately, as nothing will play out exactly as you see it in your head.

this is why point 1 is important - you remember what youre actually reading, as opposed to being clouded by fan content and theory.

for me the most effective maual dehype is to imagine the less extravagent or spectacular plausible scenarios, and become at home with them.

3. listen to homestuck music that has already been used in flashes

this will definitely get the nostalgia kicking. the reason its a good idea to listen to already used homestuck music, and not other homestuck music, is because it migth turn up in the flash!!!! additionally, quite personally, i dont want to overthink scenarios by listening to music that makes me even more giddy than the comic itself. i will die lol

4. MEME GENEROUSLY AND RESPONSIBLY

you may have seen the upd8 memes circulating before the briefpause. these didnt last very long, as they were a desperate attempt to reactivate memes…. but honestly, this is my favourite part of being in the fandom.

memes arent a critique of the original material. they arent difficult to create, nor controversial . they dont raise or lower your expectations for anything. they are sheer unadulterated fun.