Homestuck TV show announced from SpindleHorse, the Hazbin Hotel creators

We’re being forcibly taken back to the space that was 2009 to 2016 (derogatory) as the internet phenomenon that is/was Homestuck is now being turned into a fully animated tv show. For anyone who missed out on this colossal internet titan, or simply had better things to do than experience what might be one of the biggest and most controversial fandoms of the early 2010’s (and there were a lot), Homestuck is an internet fiction series created by Andrew Hussie, consisting of animated GIF’s, instant message logs, to even full Adobe Flash browser games.

Following John Egbert on his thirteenth birthday, he receives a beta copy of a computer game called Sburb, which he can use to manipulate the real world in a sort of sandbox style UI. His friends join him, only to find out they’ve somehow basically triggered the destruction of the universe with the game, and they have to beat the game to create a new universe. During this time, the friends are harassed by a group of 12 ‘internet trolls’, who had their own session of Sburb end in failure. They’re probably the most recognisable characters from this world, and if you don’t know what Homestuck is, you’ve definitely seen these characters. Or… Cosplayers of them… (Go and Google the Homestuck sharpie incident I dare you.)

Now nearly ten years after Homestuck officially ended, an announcement has come out for the upcoming pilot episode of a fully animated tv sho. This adaptation is being made by none other than SpindleHorse, the animation studio founded by Vivienne “VivziePop” Medrano, the creator of Hazbin Hotel.

The show itself is being animated by the new Australian branch of SpindleHorse, cleverly named SpindleRoo. I’m glad the Australian animation industry is alive and well, but oh boy what a task to take on. If you’re wondering why this news hasn’t been the best thing to happen this year for anyone who was unremovable from Tumblr ten years ago (calling myself out here), there are a few reasons. VivziePop herself, as well as her shows, Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, have faced a lot of criticism over the years. Facing claims of transphobia, harmful writing, and even a Sausage Party OC who was a Nazi? I can’t necessarily claim truth to these rumours, but the hate of VivziePop is very public especially if you spend any time on Twitter/X.

Another reason why this isn’t the best news ever is the controversies around Homestuck itself, or more predominantly, the fandom. The before mentioned ‘sharpie incident’ being just the tip of the iceberg. The Homestuck fandom had fully cemented itself in internet history as one of the most outrageous fandoms out there, to the point where people who were even vaguely interested in Homestuck were embarrassed to admit it. I think people are just sceptical about introducing this world to a whole new generation, since even with Hazbin Hotel being created for an adult audience, a majority of its audience ended up being young teenagers.

The show will feature Toby Fox reprising his role as John Egbert, (yes Mr. ‘Radiation’ Fox himself of incredibly successful Undertale/Deltarune fame) which is nice to see considering Toby was the production coordinator for Homestuck’s soundtrack until the series ended. Did you know Megalovania was in Homestuck before it was in Undertale?? Colleen O’shaughnessey, best known for voicing Tails, from the Sonic franchise, is voicing Jade. Adam McArthur will voice Dave.

Homestuck: The Animated Pilot is said to be directly dropping to VivziePop’s Youtube channel in September, but there’s no concrete announcement if a full series is going ahead as of yet. Apparently VivziePop herself is only executive producer on the project, so… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.