Genius | Song Lyrics & Knowledge

What is this?

The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Homestuck by Andrew Hussie is a notoriously complicated webcomic about 4 friends who play a video game and a lot of aliens they meet along the way. The alien species examined in most detail are called Trolls, and have a…complicated social system around romantic relationships. This page attempts to explain this system for those who have never read Homestuck or those who are just starting and would like some help.
Check out this interview of Andrew Hussie by Bryan Lee O'Malley (creator of Scott Pilgrim) for Hussie’s take on why, exactly, troll romance is so complicated-and why it became one of the major sticking points of the Homestuck “fandom.”

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

I further apologize if your orientation precludes the possibility, as a pale aromantic, panquadrant demiromantic, something in the gray palesexual department or such, and hopefully you are not triggered by such presumptuous concillianormative language. Homestuck (Ft. Kankri Vantas & Karkat Vantas) – Kankri Vantas' Rant to Karkat (Openbound)

Genius Annotation 3 Contributors ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Troll romance sure is complicated.

Although Andrew Hussie has stated that trolls as a race are uniformly or almost uniformly bisexual, nothing is ever that simple in the world of social justice blogging that Kankri exists to parody. Some humans have developed distinctions between sexual and romantic attractions (for instance, a woman who finds herself sexually attracted to both men and other women but only has interest in pursuing relationships with men could be said to be “bisexual heteroromantic” if she was into labels). Kankri is presumably taking the same principle and applying it to trolls quadrant-based romance here. “Pale aromantic” would refer to a troll who did not feel the urge to find a moirail (moirailegiance represented as “pale,” or a soft pink diamond), while the other two are meaningless combinations of troll romance words and words that people quantify their sexuality with.

“Concillianormative” is derived from heteronormative, used here to refer to conciliatory (pale and ashen) relationships, which are seen as desirable in troll culture.

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

>Troll romance sure is complicated.

Although Andrew Hussie has stated that trolls as a race are uniformly or almost uniformly bisexual, nothing is ever that simple in the world of social justice blogging that Kankri exists to parody. Some humans have developed distinctions between sexual and romantic attractions (for instance, a woman who finds herself sexually attracted to both men and other women but only has interest in pursuing relationships with men could be said to be "bisexual heteroromantic" if she was into labels). Kankri is presumably taking the same principle and applying it to trolls quadrant-based romance here. "Pale aromantic" would refer to a troll who did not feel the urge to find a moirail (moirailegiance represented as "pale," or a soft pink diamond), while the other two are meaningless combinations of troll romance words and words that people quantify their sexuality with.

"Concillianormative" is derived from [heteronormative](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronormativity), used here to refer to conciliatory (pale and ashen) relationships, which are seen as desirable in troll culture.

report abuse

Kankri Vantas' Rant to Karkat (Openbound) Homestuck (Ft. Kankri Vantas & Karkat Vantas) – Kankri Vantas' Rant to Karkat (Openbound)

Song Bio 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Kankri Vantas and Karkat Vantas are both characters in the webcomic Homestuck, two aliens from a race called trolls, both freaks of nature to their different societies for having “candy red” blood, a color that does not naturally occur in the polyblooded troll race. However, the shared experiences between the two are virtually non-existent. Kankri was raised in a society where his blood color made him unique, but not persecuted-except perhaps in his own mind. His counterpart Karkat survived in a society where having any mutation, even a benevolent one, was grounds for execution.
Both born passionate about justice and driven to take on the varied ills of their 2 societies, the Vantas' wildly different upbringings shaped two wildly different people. Having struggled just to survive for many years, Karkat has grown into a capable leader, swift with a scythe and prepared to stick it to any troll who gets in his way, lowblood or highblood. Kankri on the other hand…Kankri really just talks a lot.
Here, Kankri talks a fucking lot about what he sees as the similarities and differences between their lives, tries to explain that he had it hard too, and comes off rather like a white guy mad that there’s not a White History Month (he only wants to do good though…give the poor fool a chance)

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

Kankri Vantas and Karkat Vantas are both characters in the webcomic *Homestuck,* two aliens from a race called trolls, both freaks of nature to their different societies for having "candy red" blood, a color that does not naturally occur in the polyblooded troll race. However, the shared experiences between the two are virtually non-existent. Kankri was raised in a society where his blood color made him unique, but not persecuted-except perhaps in his own mind. His counterpart Karkat survived in a society where having *any* mutation, even a benevolent one, was grounds for execution.
Both born passionate about justice and driven to take on the varied ills of their 2 societies, the Vantas' wildly different upbringings shaped two wildly different people. Having struggled just to survive for many years, Karkat has grown into a capable leader, swift with a scythe and prepared to stick it to any troll who gets in his way, lowblood or highblood. Kankri on the other hand...Kankri really just talks a lot.
Here, Kankri talks *a fucking lot* about what he sees as the similarities and differences between their lives, tries to explain that he had it hard too, and comes off rather like a white guy mad that there's not a White History Month (he only wants to do good though...give the poor fool a chance)

report abuse

pail filling, slurries and other concupiscent fluids, Homestuck (Ft. Kankri Vantas & Karkat Vantas) – Kankri Vantas' Rant to Karkat (Openbound)

Genius Annotation 2 Contributors ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

According to the (perhaps thankfully) vague details described in Act 5 of Homestuck, troll reproduction involves combining the participants' “genetic material” in a pail and delivering it to a creature called a Mother Grub, which combines the contents of multiple pails into what is described as an “incestuous slurry” that becomes the next generation of trolls. Although it’s unclear how this worked on Beforus, Alternian trolls were apparently required to have two pails filled every Alternian year, and would be culled for failing to provide genetic material. “Concupiscent fluids” is another word for the same thing, and ties into the troll conception of romance.

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

3,414

6 years

Also, the trolls have a (somewhat humorous) tendency to fall into fits of embarrassment when they see buckets.

Upvote +1 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

#TW #oppression #culling #grub violence #lusus abuse #hemophobia #pails #slurries Homestuck (Ft. Kankri Vantas & Karkat Vantas) – Kankri Vantas' Rant to Karkat (Openbound)

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

An example of how trigger warnings look in the tags of a Tumblr post.

#Hemophobia is a tongue-in-cheek little play on words with hemocasting, the troll’s process of dividing society up by blood color, and obviously “homophobia” (apparently a non-issue in troll society, as trolls appear to be intersexed and have a complicated reproductive cycle).

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

Now before I continue, it is only decent of me to warn you about certain triggers that are surely ahead in this essay. Homestuck (Ft. Kankri Vantas & Karkat Vantas) – Kankri Vantas' Rant to Karkat (Openbound)

Genius Annotation 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

“Trigger warnings” are a system set up independently by some subcultures of Tumblr.com users. A blogger posting or reposting potentially “triggering” content (originally used specifically to refer to events that could trigger episodes of PTSD, the term has broadened to include “triggers” of other forms of mental unwellness) will tag that content with “trigger warning”, “TW,” or a description of what exactly the potential trigger is (“rape,” “graphic violence,” etc.) Their followers who wish to block this content download the 3rd party application Tumblr Savior and enter terms they don’t want to see into a “blacklist” which prevents posts containing or tagged with that word from appearing normally on the Tumblr dashboard.

Kankri makes frequent use of these “trigger warnings” in his rants, although it’s clear that no one asked him to or really benefits from this. His own “trigger” appears to be being touched, seen below

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

"Trigger warnings" are a system set up independently by some subcultures of Tumblr.com users. A blogger posting or reposting potentially "triggering" content (originally used specifically to refer to events that could trigger episodes of PTSD, the term has broadened to include "triggers" of other forms of mental unwellness) will tag that content with "trigger warning", "TW," or a description of what exactly the potential trigger is ("rape," "graphic violence," etc.) Their followers who wish to block this content download the 3rd party application [Tumblr Savior](http://bjornstar.com/tumblr-savior) and enter terms they don't want to see into a "blacklist" which prevents posts containing or tagged with that word from appearing normally on the Tumblr dashboard.

Kankri makes frequent use of these "trigger warnings" in his rants, although it's clear that no one asked him to or really benefits from this. His own "trigger" appears to be being touched, seen below
http://images.rapgenius.com/e34b854db662ab3600d654a46f193eb1.500x346x1.png

report abuse

405

1 month

Their followers who wish to block this content download the 3rd party application Tumblr Savior and enter terms they don’t want to see into a “blacklist” which prevents posts containing or tagged with that word from appearing normally on the Tumblr dashboard.

You don’t actually need a third party app for this, you can just block tags in the tumblr settings.

Upvote +0 Downvote

7 years

Trigger wasn’t invented on Tumblr, it was just adopted from existing terms for dealing with PTSD, etc.

Upvote +2 Downvote

Show all improvement suggestions

All The Same Keenan King – All The Same

Song Bio 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Track one from Keenan King’s Winter Songs EP

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse

Return Of The Mac Mac Mall – Return Of The Mac

Song Bio 1 Contributor ?

What is this?

To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.

Mac Mall, born Jamal Rocker, is a Vallejo CA rapper, cousin to E-40 and B-Legit, perhaps best known for his affiliation with Mac Dre (The two had beef for a period of time in the early 2000s, but patched their relationship up several years before Mac Dre’s death to record most of their collaborative album Da U.S. Open)

The World’s Freshest AKA DJ Fresh, born Marqus Brown, is a Bay Area DJ and record producer, and former tour DJ for Common (back when he used the name Common Sense.) He has produced numerous albums for Bay Area emcees and developed a distinctive, gritty without being unnecessarily raw sound, a modernized version of the hyphy movement beats of 2003-7.

The two Bay legends form like Voltron for Return Of The Mac, Mac Mall’s first studio project since 2012, and proceed to spit some game for you boppers and beezies.

This video is processing – it'll appear automatically when it's done.

report abuse