for homestuck specifically i had the incredible fortunate experience of my friends being fans before I was and getting me into it more earnestly than my Tamatalk irc pals did

but

in a grander scale of fandom i for a very very long time had few irl friends and even fewer with shared interests. indeed i was shunned away from the yu gi oh circle for Being too Girl and pokemon was becoming Uncool and Childish. Showing any level of passion for Anything “weird” even minor enjoyment was reason enough for bullying. Do you know what they used to call fans of Naruto? It isn’t pleasant. Its not like today where you can go into target or walmart and buy a t-shirt with whatever anime is popular right now there were specific specialty/hobby stores you had to go to to even get a sniff of merch. And being proud and exited about any of that? Exile. The internet and forums like these WERE my only way to discus my interests my internet friends were more fun to talk to than my irl friends! The change was finding the small group of other weirdo geek outcasts and going to anime clubs after school (and later even conventions! Wow!) like that didnt stop any of the bad stuff but at least we were social outcasts… togetheeer

All this to say: it sucks when no one irl shares your interest but you are here! Everyone shares the homestuck interest! Talk your heart out and make friends!

also… you can say “ass” here its okay