re: terminaltermagant

I think this issue is exactly what HS:BC might be trying to address. Not just from the fact that Hussie is no longer the one writing the comic (even if he gave the writers an outline) but also with how the whole fanontinuum is going to play into things. Just consider how Dirk, the villain, the bad guy, is the one trying to push things back into a canon, and what that might say about the narrative. I could go on and on about this but I think ultimately Dirk's defeat will come because of fanon overtaking canon in the story, and the final message to the readers will be to leave the original story behind and start writing their own stories once canon loses its meaning. Post canon less so the whole step outisde of canon and more so the rite of passage from the original author to the fans who'll keep Homestuck alive from now on. But that's all speculation, of course.

As for the main topic, I do think some people have yet to realize there's a difference between a story that's uncomfortable and one that's badly written on purpose, because those two things aren't the same but many people think they are, at least in the case of the Epilogues. Obviously there's some subjectivity to this and people are allowed to have opinions but I personally didn't have a problem with how most characters were handled in the Epilogues, not even in one timeline or the other. Maybe it's because I don't tend to become very attached to fictional characters but watching their ruin was an interesting reading experience that felt a bit realistic considering the strange and shitty lives the kids had led until that point. Seeing them grow into terrible people might feel sadistic but I still think it fits with the meta commentary on sequels and how there needs to be conflict for the story to go on or however it goes.

I think I went off track but my point is that the epilogues aren't "intentionally badly written", in fact I think they're very effective at being so strange and upsetting and that should be a positive quality. It feels on brand for Hussie and there's a message to be taken from the fact that the story took that direction. You can say you don't like it but calling it bad writing might be too much.