Perhaps the bias results from me engaging in Problem Sleuth entirely before Homestuck, but the side 'races' and characters resulting from them are some of my favorite across the comic.
My hottest take is that Jack Noir should've somehow still been the main villain and found a way to overshadow Lord English, playing into his whole idea of absolutely breaking the system of SBURB. I wish the rest of the Midnight Crew in general got to do more and the Midnight Crew/Leprechaun/Snowman intermission is probably the part of Homestuck I remember the fondest through everything. I still think the way the 'noirs' were dealt with in Collide were pretty good and didn't forget about their roles as 'main villains' but keeping Lord English the 'ultimate' bad guy and pretty much off screening his defeat is pretty.... well, I didn't like it, although I love Caliborn as a character.
Just throwing this out here to see if we have any other Carapacian Fans. I love them. It's a shame we never saw any more of the rest of the Midnight Crew; it would've been pretty cool to see Droogs, Hearts and Clubs show up somehow again, whether to aid or even impede a Jack Noir somewhere, even as a short-lived Collide cameo.
I mean, is Archagent of Derse B2 jack still out there, somewhere? We saw Droogs in bonus content. Is Jack Noir pretty much just dead after the timeskip or is he still... out there, somehow? Man, I don't know, maybe i'm misremembering
Anyways, Liquid Negrocity is so fucking fire it's ridiclous and so is Black. Both in my top 10 homestuck songs of all time
TT: It's also obvious because you're me, and I'm sure I would be constantly fucking with my own head if I were you.
I also love carapacians! Was this close to naming myself sovereignSlayer on the forum as an homage to Jack Noir lol.
Speaking of Jack, and building on what you're saying, possibly among my least favorite writing choices in Homestuck was how Bec Noir/the beta kids' Jack was basically dropped as an antagonist. It feels as though most of the early acts are hyping him up as the ultimate villain, one that cannot be stopped by any conventional means, only to have him be followed by PM for three years, be punched out by her, and eventually be unceremoniously killed off in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene in a "Flash" animation in Homestuck^2. Spades Slick also got the short end of the stick, too; even if he was a villainous, treacherous mobster asshole, he was still an entertaining protagonist of the Intermissions and deserved more than being blown up. (Don't have much to say on Union Jack or the cherub session's Jack, though...)
That's not to mention all the other interesting carapacians, though--a particular favorite is, no surprise, WV for his antics and heroism, though it seems to me like he really was somewhat infantilized by the characters and to a certain extent, the narrative, especially in act 6. PM's dedication to her duties through thick and thin are admirable, whether those duties are delivering a parcel to Egbert or tracking down and defeating Bec Noir. AR was a fun character and deserved more time in the limelight, Snowman was a great femme fatale foil to Slick, and the Kings must have been formidable antagonists to the trolls in particular (Rex Duodecim Angelus, anyone?). That's saying nothing of the other members of the Midnight Crew...but I digress, this is getting way too long.
(That said, I don't have as much to say on the Leprechauns. Their gimmicks are interesting but I don't think of them as much as the carapacians. Not that they're not good or fun characters though!)
The Black motif is also a really good one, honestly Bilious is one of my favorite Homestuck songs specifically because of its inclusion!
there is so much i could say. maybe another day. but carapacians are the most interesting races in homestuck out of them all and anyone who fights me on this is banned probably
reach out on discord @cytosol for moderation-related help!
OH MY GOD I love the midnight crew so much, and all the other Jack Noirs too, they have a very special place in my heart <3 The ending however… HOW do you screw up that bad. Crap was so bad it had me crying for a solid 30 minutes
Anyway. I refuse to acknowledge that fact, and Spades Slick is living happily with his wife and 2 Scottie dogs :)
There is a universe out there where Spades Slick becomes more amicable after being nursed back to health by Ms Paint and joins up with the midnight crew to somehow help subdue Jack Noir. Perhaps using their devious shadow magicks that i'm pretty sure was also mentioned at one point in the Homestuck version of the Midnight Crew.
TT: It's also obvious because you're me, and I'm sure I would be constantly fucking with my own head if I were you.