Okay. Here in the Philippines, a portion of the “fans” of some shows/animes only discover it after it had been dubbed on TV, and as Homestuck is a webcomic, you’d be lucky enough to meet one or two people in real life who are also in this fandom… or so I thought, until I decided to cosplay Vriska for our campus dorm’s Wacky Day event (in which EVERYONE staying in the dorm had to go to their classes in costume the whole day).

It was a really rushed job, me being able to only put together the complete attire the morning of Wacky Day (with the Scorpio shirt borrowed from my friend, who was the one who encouraged me to keep reading back when I was struggling with Act 1 and was the only Homestuck I knew in real life back then) but I was very happy with it, because it would be my very first Homestuck cosplay ever and with my favorite troll too! I also chose her in hopes that somebody would recognize the character and then I’d know that we’re not alone.

By the end of the day, somebody dressed up as a ragecomic character approached me and said I made a very good Vriska (we were kinda freaking out silently in the middle of the hall). Then he told me that somewhere in Facebook was a group for Filipino Homestuck fans.

A few days later (because I really don’t go on FB much), I discovered Homestuck PH.

For someone who used to think that there were only, like, five or so people in the entire country who even knew about Homestuck, it bowled me over that wOW THERE HAVE BEEN 88 OF US ALL THIS TIME??? On top of that, they are literally one of the nicest and most fun (not to mention talented and beautiful) collection of people I’ve ever encountered online. The premise of the group is to treat each other as a family, so every once in a while the mods hold off adding more new members to give the recently added ones a chance to interact and familiarize with each other. Aside from the chance to talk to my Dad abroad, this group was literally the only reason I ever went on Facebook.

They organize meetups as well, and admittedly, at first I was a bit nervous because of all the horror stories I’ve read, but nothing could be further from the truth! I had a real blast everytime, be it an informal campus meetup (stretched out the whole day to accommodate everyone’s varying schedules), a drawmeet (in which I walked out of the office CR in a Jade costume and walked a kilometer to the venue mall), and the actual Homestuck Prom we held on 4/13!

Outside of cons and meetups, everyone was very nice and so much fun to talk to and joke around with, but never held back on virtual hugs and comforting words whenever someone was upset, and actually took the group’s friendly guidelines to heart and respected each other and the comic. I made tons of new friends, and since I discovered them at a time my life was going through shit, they helped lift me out of my emotional slump and made me believe in myself again.

When I left Homestuck PH for academic reasons early this June (a brutal decision, but sadly it’s for the best), the group has already reached 200+ members. Yes, it can be a bit hyperactive at times, but because of them, I have the assurance that no matter what fuckery the dark end of the fandom gets into, I will never lose faith in the overall fandom anymore.

I’m very VERY lucky to have been a part of this family. I really miss them all a lot :(

Good group. Best family.

“And it’s stronger than you…”