How To Determine a Vantas [CC]

A SUDDEN RETURN – How to find a Karkat Vantas, Kankri, or Signless from #Homestuck in ANY piece of media!

GET MERCH: https://will-it-merch-store.creator-spring.com/
CHEAT SHEETS AND OTHER HOW TO FIND A HOMESTUCK INFO HERE: https://blenditmedia.neocities.org/howtofinda

CHAPTERS:
Intro: 00:00
General traits: 02:14
Karkat: 06:22
Kankri: 15:34
Signless: 29:35
Outro: 39:51

Find the people in this vid:
Bucky: https://suprsaturatd.neocities.org/
Robin: https://rhythmic-idealist.tumblr.com/
Rif: https://twitter.com/antleredCouncil/
Jonaya: https://www.jonayariley.com/

Further Reading:
The Function of Fascism by Kay and Skittles – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=darxphvk058

Written by Bucky Grant, Robin, Momo, Rif, and Mio
Voiced by Bucky Grant, Robin, Momo, Rif, and Jonaya
KARKAT: Rif
DAVE: Bucky
LATULA: Jonaya
KANAYA: Jonaya
KANKRI: Bucky
PORRIM: Jonaya
VRISKA: Anna
POSSUM: Possum

Content Warning: Reclaimed use of the word “queer;” discussion of sexism and sexist language; discussion of ableism and ableist language; discussion of misogyny and revolution.
This video contains major spoilers for Shrek (2001); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012); She-Ra and the Princesses of Power; Steven Universe; Twilight; Revolutionary Girl Utena; Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood; My Hero Academia; Adventure Time; Gurren Lagann; Avatar: The Last Airbender; The Lorax; and Hadestown. Minor spoilers may be present for Gravity Falls; Hades (2020); Over the Garden Wall; The Witcher series; Invader: Zim; Bojack Horseman; The Mitchells vs. The Machines; Finding Nemo; The Lord of the Rings; Trolls; Kare Kano; and Horimiya.

Art from:
Karkat: Pesterquest
The Signless: https://www.deviantart.com/doodle-master/art/showdown-sufferer-1-254391923, https://www.deviantart.com/doodle-master/art/showdown-sufferer-2-254393389
Adam Parrish: https://theravenboys.fandom.com/wiki/Adam_Parrish?file=Maggie_Adam_01.jpg
Ministrife Sprites: https://www.deviantart.com/koko-nya/art/PNG-HOMESTUCK-MINISTRIFE-420118550
Couch – Photo by Mora Mitchell on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/s/photos/living-room-couch?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)
Snowy Woods – Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/photos/tree-covered-with-snow-during-daytime-1EiRxYbOHA0?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash)
Flaming Text: https://cooltext.com/Logo-Design-Burning

Sounds from:
Iron Knight by DJ Sai Tae and Iron Infidel by Samm Neil from ColoUrs and Mayhem: Universe A (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/colours-and-mayhem-universe-a-b)
#problematicfav by theh0nestman, Solus Vates by TempiTunes, and March 9f the Insuffera6le by Toris Crow from The Homestuck Fan Musicians’ Beforus (https://unofficialmspafans.bandcamp.com/album/beforus)
Heavy Snaking and Table for Tooth by Toby Fox and James Roach from the Hiveswap: Act 1 Soundtrack (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/hiveswap-act-1-ost-with-the-grubbles)
KARKALICIOUS BUT IT’S LOFI – Camyosh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7lVFoEdYhA)
Karkat’s Theme by James Roach from Pesterquest Vol. 5 (https://soundcloud.com/jamesroachmusic/pesterquest-crustacean)
Galactic Cancer by Thomas Ferkol from Homestuck Vol. 8 (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/homestuck-vol-7-8-with-cherubim)
Karkat’s Theme by Toby Fox from Alterniabound (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/alterniabound-with-alternia)
Homestuck – Black [Chill / LoFi Remix] by GR33NY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csEX-is9CXE)
Aimless Morning Gold by Michael Guy Bowman from The Wanderers (https://mspaintadventures.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wanderers)
Skaian Summoning by Toby Fox from Alternia (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/alterniabound-with-alternia)
Let’s All Rock the Heist by Robert J! Lake from Homestuck Vol. 8 (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/homestuck-vol-7-8-with-cherubim)
Shade by Clark “Plazmataz” Powell from Medium (https://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/symphony-impossible-to-play-with-medium)
Cancerous Core by Erik “Jit” Scheele from One Year Older (https://erikscheele.bandcamp.com/album/one-year-older)
Bilious by Alexander Rosetti from Genesis Frog (https://albatrosssoup.bandcamp.com/album/genesis-frog)
BBC Sound Effect Library: Knocking: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07005115; Ball being kicked: https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07028035
Samples taken from Fergalicious by Fergie and will.i.am, and Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce.

Special thanks to:
Possum for helping me record!!
This tool to visualize Openbound: http://static.fugiman.com/openbound_dialogue.html
These Openbound transcripts: http://readmspa.org/transcripts/readmspa-transcript-6_007163_Meenahquest__Part_1_transcript_and_walkthrough.html

BUCKY: Hey, welcome to the video! If you’re sensitive to discussion of misogyny, reclaimed use of the word “queer,” or discussion of revolution, please take care when watching this video. There will also be spoilers for everything pictured on screen. BUCKY: Please consider supporting the channel by getting some merch at our store linked below!

Hey. It’s 2024 Bucky. I’m finishing this exactly as I wrote it in 2021 with no changes and posting it. Opinions and characteristics of myself and people featured in this video may or may not have changed – please don’t bother any of them over it. I just needed to finish it. Enjoy!

BUCKY: And now, it looks like I have some guests… *knocks on door* BUCKY: Hey, you guys got here! How was the drive? RIF: Bit rocky crossing the border, but you know how it is. MOMO: We did remember to pick up the Faygo when we passed through Michigan, don’t worry.

ROBIN: It wouldn’t be a Homestuck meetup without it! BUCKY: Hell yeah. Y’all come into the living room and I’ll get everything set up. MOMO: I can’t believe I’m going to a Homestuck slideshow party in 2021. RIF: Can you, though? ROBIN: I can, actually. I can believe that very strongly for all of us.

BUCKY: Fuck, okay, I have the remote but I can never remember which one is the right input – *screen flicks on to show everyone seated on a couch* RIF: Fuck yeah! MOMO: Alright! ROBIN: Let’s get started, then? BUCKY: Hey, everybody! Bet you didn’t expect this many people this time, did you?

Well, we’ve gathered everyone here today to cover a very important topic. RIF: We’re here for the characters who are near and dear to our hearts, whether they want to be or not. MOMO: Our grumpy little men. Our favorite matryoshkas of overcompensation and self-loathing.

ROBIN: It’s time for us to tell you how to determine a Vantas! All three Vantases, in fact! BUCKY: I’m Bucky Grant; MOMO: I’m Momo; RIF: I’m Rif; ROBIN: And I’m Robin. BUCKY: We are your Vantasessors for the evening. MOMO: Without further ado, your feature presentation.

BUCKY: Like last time, we couldn’t separate one Vantas from his family. RIF: These assholes do have a lot of overlap. ROBIN: But they also have their own subclasses of the base Vantas tree, if you will. MOMO: Let’s start with just the general Vantas traits, then branch out into the specific iterations.

BUCKY: First, Vantases are talkative. They don’t shut up, and you can’t do anything but wait for them to burn themselves out. RIF: Compounding this, they’re headstrong if not outright stubborn. Pigheaded, even. This isn’t a great place to start from, guys.

MOMO: The Vantases are, no shocker, highly associated with the color red, tying them to Homestuck’s larger themes of fate, anger and power. ROBIN: In fact, the Vantas will have a significant relationship with anger, whether they wield it, suppress it, or learn to let it have its place.

BUCKY: Vantases also are disadvantaged and marginalized in their society due to existing in a unique minority. Not every Vantas-type will exist specifically in a scenario as rare as one in a generation, but the isolation will be there. RIF: Vantases also are not straight. They just aren’t!

A large part of their characterization involves dealing with attraction in a way that feels queer for their setting. That doesn’t mean that the situation will map directly onto our current conception of queer sexuality, just that it is out of the norm for the character’s setting.

With enough interpretation you can find some Vantas hints in nearly all forbidden love stories. ROBIN: They’re also just interested in people and the way they interact. This manifests in a few ways across the three examples we’re given, but Karkat’s interest

In rom coms isn’t that different from how Kankri looks into the ways people “should” interact with one another and the way the Signless is interested in how people could act toward one another. MOMO: Vantases come with a rigid, systematized worldview, whether of their own construction or borrowed from an existing social script.

Their self-worth and self-actualization gravitates this worldview, causing them to attribute meaningfulness and significance to their own actions, positive or negative. Their incredible stubbornness prevents them from changing this worldview easily. BUCKY: Also, Vantases do this fun thing where they hate themselves by hating something or someone else.

Karkat doesn’t hate Karkat, Karkat hates Past!Karkat and Future!Karkat! Those are totally different guys!! Kankri doesn’t hate Kankri, Kankri hates his old work and his mental image of the Signless. Different guys!! Obviously this separation is bullshit, but they’re rather attached to it. MOMO: They also all have deep-set messianic complexes.

Everything is either their responsibility or their fault. At their best, Vantases have a genuine interest in the well-being of others and society. At their worst, they become incredibly self-interested and retreat into their convictions when reality comes into conflict with their preconceptions.

ROBIN: This can be summed up by the following: For Karkat, “everything in the world is my responsibility in that it is my fault.” For Kankri, “everything in the world is my responsibility, i.e., my business.” The Signless can go in a whole lot of directions on this one—does he suffer from “everything

In the world is my responsibility” or does his healthy Having A Family/Mom help him escape that? RIF: Speaking of which, you can define the mental health of a Vantas by whether or not they had a Good Mom or Mom-like entity.

Bad mom or no mom Vantases have a much harder path out of the sink. BUCKY: The sink being their ability to confront their own flaws, including their propensity to be misogynistic. ROBIN: Did we mention that Vantases start out their stories more than a little misogynistic and will need to confront that to grow?

MOMO: Well, now we did. RIF: Th at won’t stop them from telling you what’s wrong with you, though. The degree to which this information is imparted politely if not constructively depends on the iteration. BUCKY: Okay, that’s the base Vantas traits! Here’s what they look like all together.

ROBIN: This concludes the first part of determining Vantas eligibility. BUCKY: Okay, so four – RIF: Three, ROBIN: Two, MOMO: (tiredly) Fuck you… RIF: Karkat Vantas Definition: Poor unwitting leader BUCKY: Misogyny is unconfronted – ROBIN: ‘Specially towards his seer! MOMO: *pterodactyl screech* [*laughter from everyone*] BUCKY: Okay, phew, but seriously.

RIF: Karkat Vantas really falls under that adage of being better at leadership when he doesn’t actually want to be leading, as compared to when he’s trying very, very hard to be a good leader. MOMO: Karkat also just does not overcome his misogynistic tendencies!

He started out with them, and treats women and girls around him as objects or subordinates for essentially the entire comic. DAVE: this is so sick does she even know youre doing this KARKAT: DOING WHAT?? DAVE: splitting up her time in a grid for your stupid rotating hate date plan

KARKAT: SHE WILL SOON ENOUGH. DAVE: what a presumptuous sack of shit put the pen down MOMO: And we never actually see him improve, the narrative never tasks him to apologize. RIF: Which he needs to do. MOMO: He does need to do that!

ROBIN: Karkat is initially forced to hide his minority identity on penalty of death, but Homestuck does basically drop this detail for the most part. Yes, it comes up again a little with Jack, but he isn’t in hiding once they get off of Alternia.

It becomes irrelevant and Karkat is expected to just get over it. BUCKY: Karkat also has exceptionally low self-worth. He’s a “lovable” grump in a manner that, quite frankly, works more to his detriment. His friends often struggle to call him on his poor behavior simply because it’s very

Hard to hold him accountable without him punishing himself for stuff that isn’t actually his fault. While he’s focused on things out of his control, his actual responsibilities pile up. CCG: SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? CCG: IF WE ARE TO TAKE SOME LESSON FROM THAT, WHAT IS IT!

CCG: “TRY TO BE GREAT AND SUCCESSFUL, BUT MAYBE NOT TOOOO GREAT AND SUCCESSFUL?” CCG: OR MAYBE DON’T TRY AT ALL IN SOME CASES! BECAUSE IF YOU DO, SOME GIANT FUCKING SQUID IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE IS GOING TO BE LIKE, NOT SO FAST, MY HIDEOUS MONSTER PLANS BEG TO DIFFER.

CCG: DON’T YOU THINK WE’D HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF IF WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THIS DREAM BUBBLE SHIT? MOMO: (in a mocking voice) What do you mean I have to HEAL? Is it not enough to be a martyr, endlessly disatisfied? BUCKY: (laughing) Yeah, exactly. MOMO: He’s also just bad.

Very nasty to people. Mean. Bad crab. Nasty. Is it because he’s insecure? Maybe so! CG: OK THIS IS GOING TO SOUND PREPOSTEROUS GIVEN OUR LAST CONVERSATION. CG: AND I GUESS PRACTICALLY EVERY CONVERSATION PRECEDING IT. CG: AND I’M PROBABLY GOING TO HAVE TO DO SOMETHING COMPLETELY DISGUSTING LIKE APOLOGIZE.

CG: AND EVEN THOUGH I’LL HATE MYSELF FOR IT I WILL TOTALLY MEAN IT, I PROMISE. CG: LIKE, REALLY REALLY MEAN IT. AG: You’re going to ask me to join your team, aren’t you. CG: YEAH. CG: HOW DID YOU KNOW. AG: I don’t seem to have much choice now!

Aradia kicked me off the good team. CG: HAHAHAHA WOW THAT IS GREAT. CG: WAIT, SORRY. CG: NO WAIT, I DON’T HAVE TO APOLOGIZE, THAT’S RIGHT. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE NOW. CG: I APOLOGIZE TO MYSELF FOR OFFERING YOU A SHITTY MEANINGLESS APOLOGY. CG: APOLOGY ACCEPTED, KARKAT.

LET’S BURY THE THRESHER WITH A TOTALLY PLATONIC BRO BULGE BUMP. CG: BUMP HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. RIF: Karkat is also not heterosexual and is attracted to more than one gender. Different interpretations of Karkat will have different reasons to highlight specific sexualities – depending on what a reader cares about, he may instead be interpreted as exclusively

Attracted to men. He may also share his ancestor’s leanings towards pan-quadrant attraction. Basically, he continues the grand Vantas tradition of not being straight. ROBIN: Karkat doesn’t have a bad mom; he has no maternal figure at all. Crabdad is both a dad and not really able to guide Karkat in too many things.

This has a significant impact on his self-worth and ability to not be sexist. The narrative tries to be his mom and just can’t compare because the narrative thinks that the Karkat is, fundamentally, Fine. He Is Not Fine. BUCKY: Karkat starts out pretty bad at his job.

This could turn into being Good at his job if given the chance to develop his unique strengths. In Homestuck, Karkat is given the opportunity to develop his leadership skills, figure out why he even wants to lead, and improve a bit by the end of the comic.

Other Karkats can either stagnate in their anger or improve with hard work and guidance. RIF: He also avoids constructive thought or action about his problems because it’s uncomfortable for him. Karkat is risk-averse. He can almost never be successfully challenged on his perspectives, which can be good or

Bad given the value of those perspectives. GA: I Just Wanted To Ask You Something In Confidence GA: About The Humans CG: OK, WHAT IS IT? GA: Are You Sure Theyre Responsible For Our Misfortune CG: YES. THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.

GA: Was It On Account Of Malice Or Incompetence CG: I DON’T KNOW. MAYBE BOTH? CG: WHY DOES IT MATTER. ROBIN: And lastly, out of all three Vantases, Karkat has the strongest themes of forced isolation due to his upbringing and social position. RIF: So here’s that Karkat summary.

BUCKY: All wrapped up with a little bow! MOMO: WAIT! ALL BUT MOMO: Yes, Momo? MOMO: Sometimes Karkats can be Dads. RIF: Sometimes… BUCKY: Karkats can be dads. MOMO: Just had to get that in there. RIF: No, you’re right, that was important! MOMO: So, now we can tell you who the Karkats are. Arekats.

ROBIN: If a Karkat is a dad, we’ll let you know he’s a Certified Dadkat. BUCKY: We have quite a few examples for each Vantas, so we’ll define a few and then run through the rest quickly with our points on the screen.

RIF: Bucky, Jonaya, and Kelso actually covered Shrek in his own episode of Will it Homestuck, but the guy is undeniably a Karkat. He’s particularly insecure, he occupies a unique spot as one of the few ogres we know about (in the first movie, at least), and he’s a bit of a grumpy asshole.

He also almost matches Karkat as a Derse-dreaming Knight of Blood. ROBIN: I’m partial to Raphael from the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show as a Karkat. He’s stubborn, he’s the red guy, and he’ll definitely tell you what’s wrong with you if your name is Leonardo . On top of that, he improves significantly

In his role despite not engaging in self-criticism very often. Other Raphaels may also hit, but we agreed on this iteration specifically. BUCKY: Next is Catra. YES, I SAID CATRA. PLEASE COME BACK. Catra and Adora are raised by Shadow Weaver, who is a Mindfang, and that’s where the Serket feeling is coming from.

That’s why she’s like that. Catra hits so many Vantas and Karkat points, but she’s just not a boy. Mean lesbian Karkat is real and she’s married to Adora. RIF: Edward Cullen is a Karkat, and no, I will not take that back.

He’s not technically marginalized, but he is part of an isolated sect of vampires. Edward refuses to ever admit fault, and his entire schtick is acting aloof and playing hard to get. He takes on the responsibility of not harming Bella by barring her from making her own choices,

And beats himself up when it doesn’t work the way he wants it to. And he’s pretty damn sexist to boot! Thanks, Smeyer. ROBIN: Utena Tenjou’s story and Karkat’s are specifically similar in the way these characters try to bolster themselves with masculinity, patriarchy, and adherence to the status quo.

She and Karkat also certainly have self-esteem issues that they are fervently repressing. Revolutionary Girl Utena’s existence as a response to censored or overlooked contemporary sapphic stories and the lesbian experience are comparable to Karkat’s struggle with his own sexuality, but Utena gets much more focus as the protagonist of a story with a

Smaller cast. Moreover, Utena and Karkat at their best are driven by a fundamental love for and identification with some of the most mysterious and often frightening members of their respective casts, but routinely struggle not to project or ignore their issues because of the discord they introduce into their worldview.

If you’re interested in this story, please check out a comprehensive trigger warning beforehand, but it’s a very valuable and cathartic story. BUCKY: Okay, and here’s the rest real fast: RIF: Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls. MOMO: Hades from Supergiant Games’ Hades. ROBIN: Bojack Horseman from, well, Bojack Horseman. BUCKY: Zim from Invader Zim. Obviously!

RIF: Wirt from Over the Garden Wall. MOMO: Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings. ROBIN: Marlin from Finding Nemo. BUCKY: Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series. RIF: Rick Mitchell from the Mitchells versus the Machines. MOMO: And Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. ROBIN: One Vantas down, two to go!

BUCKY: Next up is Kankri. We’ll cover this once we’ve laid down the Signless’ traits, but it’s important to remember that Kankri is a single point on one timeline towards a Signless. Kankris can get worse or better, depending on what they learn. MOMO: Kankri Vantas and the rest of the dancestors are caricatures.

Whether or not this is effective is a different story – RIF: It’s not. ROBIN: It’s mean-spirited, at the very least. MOMO: – but other Kankris also tend to be snide commentary on, or parody of, a group or a social friction from outside of the stakes.

ROBIN: It’s not bad satire as in “lacking in clarity and purpose;” it’s bad satire as in it disguises jokes about marginalized people as satire. Anywhere it could satirize, it doesn’t acknowledge enough about Kankri’s marginalized status to make a real critique. It’s just punching down.

BUCKY: Also, as previously covered in the Cronus video, the dancestors contain Andrew Hussie’s shallow critiques of 2012 Tumblr fanculture. Which, again, weren’t critiques so much as jokes or just bad-faith reproductions. RIF: Kankris tend toward prioritizing adhering to theory over the actions of real people.

He’ll define someone’s oppression and identity for them in the same breath that he commits like five microaggressions against them. We all know a guy like this, and he’s unpleasant to deal with. KANKRI: 9n the 9ther hand, if I’m 6eing h9nest, I’ve f9und Mituna’s entire existence t9 6e

A pretty pr96lematic impediment t9 the advancement and 9verall awareness 9f a6leism and its painful manif9ld c9nsequences f9r una6ilitied pers9ns. The speech impediment, frankly, I c9uld d9 with9ut, and I’m 6y n9 means ecstatic 9ver his t9rrential 6ig9try and h9stility.

9n the 9ne hand, I want t9 6e sensitive t9 him as a pers9n and as a friend, 6ut 9n the 9ther, what kind 9f message d9es his 6ehavi9r send? And frankly, I’m n9t crazy a69ut the helmet, either. KANKRI: As a friend, I w9uldn’t want t9 change anything a69ut y9u, well, n9t m9st things.

I just think y9u may n9t 6e d9ing y9urself 9r th9se wh9 are similarly disadvantaged any fav9rs with, what I’m h9ping, is a perfectly inn9cent array 9f traits and mannerisms. 8ut again, I say this with all due sensitivity. BUCKY: Kankris also haven’t overcome misogyny, if they’ve even considered it.

The way Kankri discusses marginalization as though it’s separate from gender in Openbound is emblematic of a common issue with misogyny existing in social justice spaces, especially because he’s denying Porrim’s lived experiences. He also has weird hangups about Latula that seem to only exist because of the weird fanservice

Mirroring the Dancestors are forced to engage in. KANKRI: Yes. 6ut regardless. What I’m saying is, it’s great we stayed away fr9m that. It’s helped me appreciate y9u as a friend, and admire all y9ur g99d qualities. Plat9nically, 9f c9urse. LATULA: your3 r1ght! 1ts b33n pr3tty r4d wh3n you put 1t th4t w4y. KANKRI: Right.

And I’m just saying if my head was ever cl9uded 6y r9mantic feelings f9r y9u, I pr96a6ly w9uldn’t 6e a6le t9 appreciate that a69ut y9u. KANKRI: 9r the way y9ur hair fl9ws in the wind when y9u sc99t 9ver s9me s9rt 9f 96stactle 9n y9ur device really fast. LATULA: um, y34h… 1 not1c3d…

Som3 stuff l1k3 th4t… LATULA: 4bout you too 1 gu3ss? KANKRI: 9r, I d9n’t kn9w if y9u remem6er, that time Meenah 6aked every69dy a cake. It was the first sweep anniversary 9f entering the game, 9ne 9f the rare m9ments 9f s9lidarity and g99d cheer am9ng 9ur entire team at 9nce.

Every9ne was raving a69ut h9w g99d the fresh 6aked cake smelled, s9 y9u t99k a 6ig sniff, I guess f9rgetting f9r a m9ment y9u c9uldn’t smell. Then y9u quickly caught y9urself, and played it c99l making sure n9 9ne n9ticed, which n9 9ne did. 6ut I n9ticed.

And I just th9ught that was kind 9f endearing. LATULA: KANKRI: Anyway, I think all that w9uld have 6een c9mpletely l9st 9n me if we didn’t have this str9ng plat9nic 69nd. I just th9ught I’d say that. Guess I’ll get g9ing n9w. KANKRI: See y9u ar9und, Latula. LATULA: POSSUM: Can I, for a second-

BUCKY: (laughing) It’s awful, right? It’s supposed to be really fucking bad. POSSUM: Are you reading this with the… with the quirks typed out in the script, or… BUCKY: I’m just reading off what you can see. POSSUM: (long pause) You’re fucked for that. BUCKY: (starts laughing, continues while Possum talks)

POSSUM: Absolutely fucked for just like, powering through the quirks. I can’t! BUCKY: (continues cackling) POSSUM: Genuinely insane. BUCKY: Porrim points out he’s sexist for refusing to acknowledge gender disparities, and he just steamrolls right over her. PORRIM: And am I right in being just as sure yo+u are assiduo+usly deco+nstructing every

Co+nceivable, hypo+thetical fo+rm o+f injustice no+ matter ho+w o+bscure, except tho+se that I happen to+ think are kind o+f impo+rtant? KANKRI: N9. Just, n9, P9rrim. We’re n9t d9ing this. KANKRI: I am n9t g9ing t9 p9llute Karkat’s utterly imperative crash c9urse, in which

He is intr9duced t9 the A6S9LUTE 6ASICS, 6y indulging in y9ur pet issues. PORRIM: Yes, ho+w dreadful it wo+uld be fo+r yo+ur sixty nine millio+n wo+rd essay to+ get bo+gged do+wn by even the faintest reference to+ the ro+les o+f gender in Befo+ran and Alternian civilizatio+n. BUCKY: Plus, he can’t stop slutshaming Porrim!!

To her face!! KANKRI: I’m S9RRY, 9k? I’m s9rry that I am, perhaps literally, the 9nly 9ne n9t t9 ever fall prey t9 y9ur tireless 9mnidirecti9nal s9licitati9ns, 9r t9 get swept up in 9ne 9f y9ur innumera6le flushed 9r caligin9us flings.

I happened t9 always prefer y9u as a friend, and in any case, I always preferred t9 lead a relatively chaste existence, as it keeps me f9cused 9n fighting 9n 6ehalf 9f truly imp9rtant pr96lems. Alth9ugh staying “relatively” chaste t9 y9u I supp9se is n9t saying much. KANKRI: 9nce again, I ap9l9gize.

I’ve 6lundered int9 the pr96lematic territ9ry 9f vacillati9n shaming, thus 9pening the fl99dgates t9 the myriad ways 9ne may 6e disadvantaged up9n 6y its staggering shame radius. I f9rg9t t9 check my piety privilege, and here we are.

I was g9ing t9 c9ver this t9pic in a much later chapter 9f my lecture, 6ut we’ve g9tten 6adly derailed here. #TW #Derailment #Train wrecks #Ch99 ch99 catastr9phes KANKRI: Karkat, I’m s9rry f9r this interrupti9n. I pr9mise I’ll get 6ack t9 my critical lecture as s99n as this pr9miscu9us 6usy69dy leaves us in peace.

#Village tw9 wheel device ROBIN: An improved Kankri gets over his issues with women in our book, but he has to work at it. BUCKY: Also, Kankri is autistic. ROBIN: Because we said so. BUCKY: Yes. But also, seriously. Yes he is.

MOMO: Kankri has the Vantas tendency to need to be right to justify his own self-worth. He gathers information and goes from just policing his own behavior to policing others’ to try to prove that he’s the best at Being A Person through experience.

This makes him obnoxious to be around, because he’s either trying to one-up people or explain why they’re wrong, if not both at the same time. RIF: He doesn’t just tell you what’s wrong with you; he explains minutia about your life, good or bad, in excruciating detail and with unearned confidence.

ROBIN: He also has a staunchly-followed internal set of rules he abides by to try to be accepted by society, but his most rigid personal rules aren’t derived from an external, societally-accepted authority. He differs from a character like Galekh in the sense that he does not believe authority

Is inherently good and justified in decreeing rules. He can’t! He doesn’t benefit from that authority the way Galekh does. All the same, he hasn’t necessarily grown past enforcing societal rules on himself and others. BUCKY: Kankri does have decently high self-worth, but he’s constantly putting himself through the wringer to justify it to himself.

He tries very hard to downplay his own stake in what he’s arguing by claiming he’s just doing this “for other people,” but really, his ability to convince someone that oppression is real is tied to his own internalized oppression. RIF: That being said, he also speaks and behaves like a reformist.

Openbound in particular carries connotations of neoliberalism in his politics, particularly the way he criticizes his more radical counterpart in Porrim. KANKRI: I just think there is inherent danger in muddying the waters 9f disc9urse 6y intr9ducing s9cial issues which are suspect at 6est, thus c9nsuming crucial res9urces fr9m the limited

Cache 9f rhet9ric which pr9pels these narratives. And furtherm9re, 9ne c9uld argue it’s m9re than a little pr96lematic, 9ffensive even, f9r y9u t9 6e appr9priating the lexic9n 9f sensitivity used t9 advance awareness 9f maj9r issues, thus reducing it t9 the level 6uzzspeak and pseud9science.

It makes it m9re difficult f9r th9se 9f us wh9 are genuinely f9cused 9n p9sitive change t9 6e taken seri9usly, that’s all. KANKRI: I’m s9rry, I just d9n’t think there’s much there. …I fail t9 see h9w gender fact9rs int9 the discussi9n in a way that can 6e effectively and rati9nally pr96lematized.

Where is the r99m f9r unexamined privilege in the dich9t9my? I d9n’t see it. And appr9priating the talking p9ints and awareness-raising tactics f9r du6i9us issues like this is, frankly, fr9wned up9n, t9 put it p9litely. Such appr9priative gestures 9nly serve t9 marginalize and invalidate th9se su6ject t9

Seri9us, real life struggles and 9ppressi9n, and I guess I’m a little disapp9inted t9 see y9u 6eing s9 6lithely and inappr9priately appr9priat9ry. RIF: To be completely clear, you can’t “appropriate” discussions of class and racism by discussing gender or sex. Those identities always overlap in some way.

Kankri here is using the language of social justice to deny a voice to people not marginalized in the ways he’s marginalized. MOMO: This goes along nicely with his supertrollian ability to deny just about anything, or at least to pretend it doesn’t exist.

Inside his group’s session, he pretends the team is still a team, like they’re all comrades, like he and Meenah are friends with no baggage that can’t be brushed away with a single “water under the bridge.” Hussie tried to address this point with the “change society?? But SOCIETY IS DEAD!!!”

Conversation, but it’s a difficult justification to make given that the text also seems to forget Kankri is legitimately marginalized. ROBIN: He’s also got a bit of a distrust of maternal figures, partially because of his unaddressed sexism, partially because he was continuously infantilized and ‘mothered’

By the Beforan imperial state, and partially because he just doesn’t seem to have any female role models. Porrim is far too young to be anything but a friend, but he reacts to her help and advice as though it’s condescending and infantilizing. Basically, no good mom. BUCKY: Finally, Kankri is a he/him lesbian now.

We will not be taking suggestions on this matter. RIF: So, who’d we clock as Kankri? MOMO: Don’t say it like that. ROBIN: No, no; he’s got a point. BUCKY: We’re gonna start strong with Roy Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Yes, he is.

The Kankri-Signless sliding scale makes it easy to argue for a Signless interpretation too, but I think there’s a few story points that separate Colonel Mustang from being a Signless. First, he isn’t fighting for revolution, he’s fighting for incremental change with himself at the helm.

There is an armed revolution and upheaval going on, but he’s the neoliberal hand on the wheel to guide everyone back into imperialism. Working from the inside, and all that. He also has incredible Seer imagery, from continually talking about looking to the future to just literally being blinded.

Bada bing, bada boom, Roy is a Kankri. MOMO: Princess Bubblegum also strikes us as a Kankri, but specifically one that got a bit worse after not addressing her flaws. Her use of science as a way to try to improve and perfect her people, as well as her reaction

To being dethroned during the King of Ooo arc both contribute towards that Kankri need to be right for evidence-based reasons, and her not really understanding why people act “irrationally.” Bubblegum will absolutely explain your problems to you in too much detail, and then hand you an invention she thinks will fix it.

It invariably worsens the problem. BUCKY: Also, not to get like, POLITICAL or anything, but neoliberalism’s function is to excuse and usher in fascism when capitalism is threatened, and boy howdy does Bubblegum bring her fist down full-force when she feels like the situation calls for it.

Check out that Kay and Skittles video in the upper right for more on the function of fascism under capitalism. MOMO: That also applies to Roy Mustang. BUCKY: Yes, it does! Thank you. ROBIN: Adam Parrish, like Kankri, is a stubborn young man who needs to be right about everything

While not accepting help, to and past the point of self-detriment. Adam and Kankri believe their society will not forgive any perceived slip-up or toe out of line. While their friends lament this, they have plenty of reason to believe their fears to be warranted.

They self-identify as intellectual and academic, and their identities are desperately wound up in measuring up to a societal rubric, despite their open disdain for the people who use that rubric. Kankri and Adam are strongly distrusting their Porrim Maryams and Dick Ganseys, in ways that

Come from real, lived experience: Give them a gift, do them a favor, and they think it’s a leash. BUCKY: Okay, and really quickly through the rest because again, we have SO many of these. RIF: Emmett from Legally Blonde: The Musical. MOMO: Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh.

ROBIN: The Doctor from Doctor Who, but especially Matt Smith’s Doctor. BUCKY: Branch from Trolls. RIF: Soichiro Arima from Kare Kano. MOMO: Izumi Miyamura from Horimiya. ROBIN: Freddie Benson from iCarly. RIF: Well, that wasn’t so bad. MOMO: We’re going to get subtweeted to hell and back, you know that, right? ROBIN: We’ll be fine.

BUCKY: It’ll be fine! Let’s do the Signless traits now as a nice, apolitical conclusion. MOMO: So, the top Signless Sign is that the guy is an actualized leader. He has a concrete ideology, or so we’re told; he talks about it, and he spurs actual change.

He has that up on the other two Vantases big time. RIF: The Signless also, by virtue of having a cool vampire feminist mom, addresses his misogyny. The Dolorosa would be disappointed if he didn’t. Good mom for the win! ROBIN: The Signless also has significant themes of both isolation and family.

On the one hand, he’s separated from almost all of his people, living in hiding to escape a little violence. He’s also torn between the world he lives in and his visions of Beforus. On the other hand, he had more of a family than most trolls ever would in The Dolorosa,

The Disciple, and The Psiioniic. One of the only things we know for sure about him is that his relationships with these three trolls transcended quadrant relations. BUCKY: In fact, The Signless’s pan-quadrant attraction, both in terms of the number of

Partners he had and the way they behaved towards one another, deserves its own point. After all, it’s not gay as in happy, it’s queer as in polycule. ROBIN: OT3 real. BUCKY: OT3 real!! MOMO: The Signless also centers his philosophy around self-worth.

The Alternian Empire has a lot of its propaganda work done for it by instilling extremely poor self-worth into the population of warmblooded trolls. He doesn’t do anything “useful” for the Alternian Empire, but he declares his worth anyways, and demands real concessions be made to recognize that worth. That’s the revolution.

ROBIN: Despite his revolution, however, he didn’t intend to die a martyr. He was ANGRY that the world he poured everything into trying to save didn’t save him back. At least at his death, regardless of where he’s at through the rest of his life, he knew he deserved better.

This isn’t exactly a Signless Trait, but combats the idea of passive martyrdom as a trait. RIF: You might even say he had miles to go before he sleeps— MOMO, BUCKY, ROBIN: UGH. BUCKY: Like we mentioned before, though, the differences between these characters amount

More to points on a timeline than to entirely different characters. You can place Karkat at the beginning, and depending on what kind of story he’s given, he can either lean towards understanding people and being able to lead a revolution, or diving too deep into theory and failing to resurface.

Kankris have the ability to end up as Signlesses with hard work too, but it’ll be difficult for them to fight against the neoliberalism. MOMO: Or, to put it more simply, there is only one step, and it IS crab. RIF: There’s also some overlap between Signlesses and Kankris that’s worth covering quickly

Before giving our Signless examples, since there’s only a few. ROBIN: First, in my opinion the Signless is fundamentally a Kankri who learned to listen to other people and wasn’t scared off from it. He was raised by a feminist, and he seeks love and community.

Basically, the Signless was able to learn lessons Kankri never did about how people relate to one another. BUCKY: Both Kankri and the Signless are opposed to their societies, but their revolutions couldn’t be more different. Where the Signless is in a violent authoritarian nightmare world and rebels by emphatically

Stating he deserves to love and be loved, Kankri lives in a passive-aggressive pillow cage and rebels by refusing any help or criticism. MOMO: Conversely, the narrative discards Karkat’s ability to really rebel against authority. He has the seeds of a revolutionary storyline somewhere, but he’s too accustomed to the

Taste of leather to give up on it just yet. RIF: Also, Kankri and The Signless are both wife guys. MOMO: And Karkat could be if he wasn’t a coward. ROBIN: When a Vantas is in a relationship, you will know! BUCKY: So that brings us to our examples for the Signless.

Again, these guys will overlap with Kankris a bit, and we actually deliberated for a while on a few of them, but they won out as Signlesses overall. RIF: So first, to complement the Karkat that is Edward Cullen, we have Carlisle Cullen as a Signless.

He’s the one who brought the “vegan” vampires together in the first place, and kicked off the struggle to be a better vampire. He inspired and brought together and to some extent saved the entire Cullen family. While he wasn’t a preacher, he was raised by one, which is probably where the vague

Preacher-liness comes from. The degree to which vampires are actually marginalized is still shaky, but the conflict in the series does revolve around the nonstandard choices the Cullen family makes. These vampires really queered heterosexuality! MOMO: That’s not allowed. I call foul.

BUCKY: I’m sorry Rif, but I’m afraid that does allow Momo to take a penalty shot. ROBIN: Avatar the Last Airbender doesn’t just have one Signless, it has two! Aang seems like a pretty good shoe-in for an unusually enthusiastic Vantas, especially in terms of being an actualized leader.

However, even more than Aang, Katara behaves like a Kankri growing into a Signless! She’s the “last of her kind,” at least without traveling across the entire world, and she narrowly avoided being killed by the Fire Nation as a child. Katara annoys others by being “motherly,” which in her case boils down to “controlling,

Nosy, and assuming she gets to say things about my life,” or “prim and proper in a prissy way” when it comes to Toph. Her stubbornness and anger at injustice driving her to choose The Right Thing over practically anything else narratively drive her from a Kankri towards an effective revolutionary and a powerful fighter.

MOMO: We return to 2013 to remind you that the Lorax, whether he’s from the novel or portrayed by Danny Devito, is a Signless. He’s stubborn, and angry, and won’t hesitate to tell you what’s wrong with a situation and with how you’re approaching it.

He speaks for people or entities inside of a system with a strange agency to that system, and is the central character of a pro-environment ideology. But with what he was trying to accomplish all but extinguished, he leaves us with the

Message that it will take far more than one person to change the world. BUCKY: I also think Mara from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is also a Signless! She was initially vilified by the way Light Hope and other First Ones authorities wanted

The power of She-Ra to be wielded, and it took Adora a while to find out what Mara was trying to accomplish. It turned out that Mara rebelled and tried to do something good, and succeeded in bandaging a larger issue, but sacrificed herself in the process.

She didn’t want to die for her cause, but found no other choice. This quote that she says to Adora is also incredibly Signless: “You’re worth more than what you can give to other people. You deserve love, too.” That’s really the crux of his argument, too – every single person is worth care, himself

Included. Also, to call back to my Catrasessment earlier, Catra is a Karkat raised by a Mindfang, and Adora is a Vriska raised by a Mindfang that looks up to a Signless. You’re welcome. ROBIN: One of the reasons this video exists in its current form is because the different

Forms of Vantas-dom, while distinct, are often very intertwined. RIF: Two examples of this intertwined web of Vantas alignment are Izuku Midoriya, from the anime My Hero Academia, and Steven Universe, both in the original series and Steven Universe Future.

MOMO: Steven Universe begins his story as a Signless: He was a child who was born into and marked by a conflict he didn’t start. There isn’t anyone like Steven, and while his family celebrates this, it’s a point of contention.

His moms, dad and close but unrelated family taught him how to be kind to people, and to center thoughtful behavior. He’s an incredibly skilled speaker and leader, and his empathy is key to his success. He does have strong themes of family, but he also deals with isolation and feeling ostracized.

On top of that, he really is an unwilling martyr. It’s not that he was fighting for good and his contribution was suddenly ended; it’s that he never should have been responsible for nor could he as a child consent to the war he was forced to fight in.

BUCKY: By Steven Universe Future, Steven’s world no longer demands Signless-ing of him, and he begins to operate as a Kankri. Whether a gem war or a video game that can kill you for real, Steven and Kankri have both been through traumatic situations wherein their friends were seconds from falling apart at any moment.

While Steven had more success than Kankri, both felt a responsibility to “hold the family together.” Now, in the aftermath, they struggle to find some sense of control over their lives, and manifest that struggle by trying desperately to stay relevant in their friends’ lives.

ROBIN: It’s important to us to mention that we do not think Steven has “degraded” or lost anything of worth in his emotional journey. He was dealing with an unimaginable amount of pressure and responsibility for an adult,

Let alone a child, and was never able to be upset about the unfair hand he was dealt under long after it was over. MOMO: Because of that timeline from Kankri to Signless where you have to learn you’re actually fighting for the people, Izuku Midoriya begins his story as, in our opinion, mostly

A Kankri. RIF: Without a naturally occurring quirk, he’s a minority and arguably disabled. His inability to tell anyone about being born Quirkless but gaining One for All puts him under threat of being stripped of his abled status should his secret be revealed.

While the treatment of Quirkless individuals isn’t culling in the Beforan sense, the implication is that he needs to provide an illusion of normality and able-bodiedness as someone gunning for the literal position of Ideal Human. His ideals are built on his internal image of saving people, and sometimes go against

The system, but he considers the system the best way to accomplish it. He also has a strong mental image of himself as All Might’s successor, and what sort of self he needs to maintain to fulfill that role. His story does seem to be arcing towards a Signless one with recent developments, and

We can’t deny the English VA connection, but he’s not there quite yet. BUCKY: There is a lot to be said about disability in My Hero Academia. Probably a whole video’s worth. Wink. MOMO: Anyways, here’s another horrible diagram we made to illustrate what’s going on with

The One For All holders and Bakugo just for you guys. We will not be elaborating further. ROBIN: To round out the Signlesses, our honorable mentions go to Orpheus from Hadestown and Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. ROBIN: So why even do this? Why make this video?

BUCKY: As always, I’m interested in making characters more digestible, yes, but we also have significant investment in characters that admittedly either suck or are very vague and thrive on fan interpretation. MOMO: We like the crabs. I think any analysis inevitably betrays what’s important to you about a text on a personal

Level, and that vulnerability isn’t necessarily a bad thing. RIF: We point at Karkat and say “he’s not straight” because a lot of us related to the way he struggled with his sexuality. ROBIN: We point at Kankri and say “he’s autistic” because we relate to the way he

Finds rules to follow but doesn’t quite grasp why his approach to said rules is offputting. BUCKY: We relate to the Signless because, to be completely honest, his ideology is rather bare-bones and easily interpreted to fit with a lot of different revolutionary narratives, but still inspires readers.

MOMO: This video is our interpretation based on our experiences. It’s how we saw the comic and how we grappled with the themes and ideas as they were presented. RIF: We love the crab-men and we love thinking about what makes them tick, basically. ROBIN: Get in the tongs! ALL: GET IN THE TONGS!!

BUCKY: This video was made possible by viewers like you. Thanks! Consider supporting us on Sponsus to get access to new video ideas and scripts early. If you join at the $10 level or higher, you get a cool sticker!

As I mentioned at the top of the video, we do have Blend it Media merch available, including a new “Certified Dadkat” design we made for this video. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next time for a very excellent analytical subject.