sburbtherory:

I had some thoughts today, about Classpects and how we understand them as a whole, and I think it’s incredibly important to point this out.

Almost nothing that is accepted as factual about Classpects or anything pertaining to them is canon. 

Classpect discussion and analysis started well before we ever learnt anything even remotely canonical about them. It was a mysterious system that people wanted to deconstruct to understand, and while some of the evidence was given to us - predominantly through the characters talking about their Classpects - a lot of it was interpreted through character interactions, speech, and abilities. 

This means that the entire system is built upon fandom understanding rather than canon confirmation. This is why - especially when you read some of Dahni’s full Classpecting posts - definitions of Aspects (such as Light) are different to Calliope’s definition, sometimes to rather extreme degrees. It’s also why some Classpectors outright ignore the canon interference; it just doesn’t make full sense with what we’ve seen and have come to understood for ourselves while reading the comic. 

This is years of fan discussion in the making. Things like the Extended Zodiac caused contention because it didn’t make sense with the way we understand Classpects. It’s one of the reason I almost wholly ignore the Extended Zodiac, and began that mini-series a while ago (which I intend to expand upon) going into detail over what I think is wrong with the canon definitions. 

So what we really have to understand when it comes to Classpecting is that absolutely nothing is confirmed. Some is more strongly evidenced than others, and some make much more logical sense, but ultimately there is nothing to say that any one theory is more canon than others. 

Instead, what we have as a community is “what is more accepted?”

Think about the way Classpecting works. When we write our posts, we scour Tumblr for other Classpectors and come up with something based upon those ideas. These ideas have been shared a thousand times through a thousand different blogs, edited slightly based on canonical reading and personal preference, but uniformly accepted at some base level. It’s why the Aspect page on the Homestuck Wikia can be so barren in places; there’s nothing canonical, besides the Extended Zodiac, to go off of that isn’t just fan conjecture.

When we say “Breath is the Aspect of Freedom, Lack of Bonds, Options, and Fun”, what we’re actually saying is “these are common factors between our main Breath players, and thus must be attributes of the Breath Aspect in order for them to be assigned Breath specifically”. This is also why some definitions are argued over - such as whether “Leadership” should fall under Breath, Blood, or neither - and why some seem so wildly different or barren - such as Doom. 

In other words, anything can be a valid theory - because that, predominantly, is what Classpecting is. It’s completely theory work. So long as you have the evidence, or common fandom “knowledge” (readily accepted ideas that have been mistaken for canon), to back up your point, there is quite literally nothing that you can say about Classpects that isn’t true.

For instance, Sylphs are an all female class. Supposedly, we know this because of our two Sylphs - who have both been female. Prince is an all male class, because both Princes have been male. Likewise with Bards, Heirs, and Witches. By this logic, then, you can easily say that the Thief Class is an all-female class - because both our Thieves (Vriska and Meenah) have been female. 

Conversely, you can say that no class is gender-exclusive, and that what we saw in canon was simply a coincidence or the theorising of an unreliable narrator (Calliope, who can only guess based on what she’s seen). It’s also been mentioned by Hussie that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a female Prince, and we’ve seen before that Calliope’s theories aren’t always right.  

Therefore, nobody is explicitly “wrong” or “right”, and I think instead what we have is a scale of evidenced theories and accepted ideas. This is something we need to keep in mind. 

If you see something that you don’t agree with, so long as you can argue why you don’t agree with it, there is nothing wrong with your disagreement - and if you see something you agree with, so long as it’s backed up well or seems to make sense based on what is canon, then you’re perfectly allowed to subscribe to that theory over others. 

You don’t have to find something that’s the most “right”. You just have to find what makes the most sense and truth to you.