What I'll call the "Director's Cut" of this is available on my Patreon, with the footage unaltered instead of brief stills because FUCK YOUTUBE COPYRIGHT. This is the intended way to watch the video.  https://www.patreon.com/psychogenicFugue_/posts/sympathy-for-new-160483389

one of the saddest parts of Homestuck, in my opinion, is how all of the characters are just kids. This doesn't excuse their actions, and it doesn't absolve them of the fact some of them are bad people, but it makes you question if they ever really had a chance to be something else before the world caved in on them. At its core, Homestuck is a coming of age story about kids who aren't allowed to come of age like a normal person. It's part of the reason why the discourse around characters like Eridan or Vriska are so potent, the fact that they're only like this because they were born into an especially cruel situation in an already excessively cruel world.
This is also one of the best video essays i've ever seen, great job

I’ve always personally thought that Tighten from Megamind is the perfect fictional representation of an incel

"Don't you ever feel like you wished the people you loved cared about you as much as you cared about them?" Damn.

1000% agree with your assertion that characters who lots of incels identify with are not incels and aren't for that exact reason. Very self-loathing people like incels would naturally feel disgusted and embarrassed by characters who properly resemble them because such a character would make them think of their own life rather than a fantasy. This is also shown by how lots of incels do not even really like each other, as the vast majority of them lack any sort of meaningful/reliable connections in general.

Finally, a character analysis of Azulín that doesn’t just leave it at “he was born evil”. I’ve always thought that ruined some of the themes of the movie. Thank you, it’s refreshing.

I remember being a pretty reserved kid in late-middle-to-early-high school but not thinking too much of it. However, at some point in sophomore year, the topic of school shootings came up in conversation with my friends at the time. As it turned out, most of the people I connected to and related to the most were only my friends because they thought I was going to commit atrocities. They wanted to be on the "blacklist". I remembered it as embarrasing mostly because I ended up sobbing about it in front of them, but only recently realized how much it messed up the rest of my school life. I tried to be more social to get rid of the stigma, only to fall in with manipulative crowds that used me for entertainment, which made me feel even more isolated. I don't think those stains have gone away yet.

i remember this one really cringey memory in highschool where i happened to be wearing a gray hoodie, and i had my iconic highschool swoop when i was major repping, and this one guy just came up to me and just started shaking my hand repeatedly saying "leave me out of it when the time comes" over and over while smiling

Something else about the cloak/cape is the "concealment" it brings while it also looks like a comfort blanket which, from what I understand, is kind of what you're stabbing at in this video. That: "I am strong and I don't need anyone!", but also: "I am so lonely and I wish someone would show they care about me for me."

As someone who has "mommy issues" and kind of was an incel in my teenage years I really relate to Simon. That kind of stuff really messes up your understanding of relationships. I remember feeling both a desire for a woman's attention and a fear of women for a long time. And I wish I could go back in time to help teenage me go through these issues.

Thanks for making this essay, mate. You made me rethink a lot of my earlier life.

I always thought that the unicorn wars ending was less pessimistic than how its normally seen, because the human form wasnt only made out of Azulin but it was made of the unicorn and Gordi too, like the human form is made out of hatred, kindness, destruction and creation and all the in-betweens, like its not a single thing, its all of it just like how you said in your ending.

the part about eridan not letting himself enjoy the things he loves is annoyingly relatable. sometimes ill be in public and while doing something that makes me happy (talking about nerd shit, dancing, anything gay/queer, etc) ill be overcome with an intense feeling of shame and ill just change the subject, stop, leave, whatever. its like i cant take the idea of being percieved as anything besides cold, aloof or "normal" despite the idea of assimilating into "normality" makes me want to vomit. I want so badly to just be me but i wont let myself do it. Im sure its somewhat bc of exposure to so much chud shit growing up or internalized xphobia or whatever but i fucking HATE it so bad.

commented this on the old upload, sure i worded it better there but i want you to do well (not just on yt, life in general)

simon is the most clear, uncensored show of BPD in a character ive ever seen. he really made me reflect on my faults seeing it onscreen at its possible worst when i was an undiagnosed teenager, and that made his story important to me. it was crazy seeing HOMESTUCK and INFINITY TRAIN in the same video, your analysis of him is so good i love seeing any infinity train content in 2026 the show's amazing.

"We're all gonna be fine, just as long as nobody teleported bread re-uploaded the essay"

Fugue: "I have a question"

"Ask your question soldier!"

Fugue: "I have done nothing but reupload my essay"

"How much?"

"I've done nothing but reupload my essay all day!"

Jokes aside, this is insane how I still see this video with recent release time. Didn't you reupload this video like 6 hours or so ago when it was first got taken down? And now you re-uploaded it very recently, less than an hour ago. This must be exhausting for you to keep reuploading the video, but I'm glad you kept doing it, cus your video essay is genuinely fantastic, and hope to see more essays from you! 😄

the eridan section almost made me fall to my knees because, wow, someone actually Gets It. he's not just his fascistic ideals but he also isn't NOT those fascistic ideals. it's just too peak man.
the ending of this video, tying all three characters together and parallel them with the finalist, the pure emotion throughout the whole thing was phenomenal. i have felt feelings like these all my life (eridan as a character especially has been close to me), and the innate fear that things could get this bad, that ANYONE could turn out like this. it's a scary thing. i'm afab, so no one would look at me and unironically place the term incel on me, but those feelings of inadequacy, jealousy, self-loathing and hatred for those around you can appear in anyone. And the best you can hope for is to remain kind despite what the world has put you through. i don't think it's bad to feel empathy for those who couldn't turn around though.
all-in-all this video is SO GOOD. love the editing style the script it's all so so good.

For my high school years, I had absolutely no friends and it seemed like everyone shunned me. I wasn't bullied at all, people just gave me a wide bubble. When I did make a single friend in the last 3 months of year 12, I learned the reason why everyone avoided me was because I had no friends and everyone thought I was a mass shooter.

The reason I had 0 friends in high school was because I had 0 friends (:

Edit, I wanted to say cuz people are liking this and YouTube is notifying me of that for some reason, I now work doing mental health support for youth. Doing it partially because of my experiences in high school (and also cuz working corporate sucks lmao). Be the change you want to see.

What a weirdly unique video essay. Obsucre media, their relation to each other, and a fresh take on the idea of incel culture. I havent seen a great video like this in a while. Kudos to you man.

Work Harder being used for the "feminization of men" section went so hard its crazy how you were able to make that song feel so serious and panic inducing

Describing "Infinity Train" as "going off the rails" in Season 3 was either wholly unintended or wholly un-acknowledged, and either way it makes me irrationally upset.

“This video is not about Jax”

Yeah you keep telling yourself that buddy, here’s to having this video blow up