The Tale of June Egbert (Patreon)

If you've been active in the Fandom as of late, you may have heard the news. Yes, June Egbert is canon, a gift bestowed upon us by the Gods of Toblerone themselves.

Wow, okay if you weren't there for it that sentence is going to make no sense in the slightest. Which is why I am making this small essay, documenting the evolution of June into canonicity, what to expect from future Homestuck content, and of course, why this is a pretty big deal. There will be spoilers for Homestuck and the Epilogues, but also I will use one of the Pesterquest Ending Cards. So consider this your Spoiler Warning!

So let's get started with this wonderful, doofy girl!

The Origins

Now, I'm not necessarily an expert in Junology. So I don't know all the intricacies and details of how prevalent she was in the Fandom before the announcement, but I do know a few things, about the Fandom in general, and her peak.

Homestuck is a story that does a lot of things. Some things good, others not so much, but one thing the Fandom is passionate about is the characters. People may dislike how the story headed towards at one point, or how a specific arc developed and ended up as, but one of the Fandom Constants of Homestuck is that the characters are really good. Over the course of the story they develop, grow, and regress. They fall into bad habits, and break free of them, or let them consume them in the end. They're complex, and the multiplicity of Timelines shows us different facets of these characters at various points in the story, and under different circumstances.

Of course, we get attached to characters like these, specially people who read Homestuck serially, as it was coming out. We grew with them, and more often than not, we can actually relate to their struggles and interpersonal relationships and problems. It's one of the main reasons the Fandom at large was dissatisfied with the Epilogues- Even I, liking and defending them, absolutely agree that these characters deserve better, and it's painful to see them being put through bad situation after bad situation. And when we relate so much to these characters, we project, and expand upon the given base. Make our own headcanons, to relate even closer to them, to fill in certain gaps left in their stories.

This is specially important now that Homestuck has ended, and the status of what's canon and what's not is in the air and dubious at best. Hussie himself talked about it, how the Fandom has always had a strong pull on Homestuck content, but now they really are the main driving force behind the series- The Epilogues, Pesterquest, they expand upon the base that is Homestuck, giving the Fandom different alternatives to toy with, different ways to mess with the content, different stories to be told within the same base.

One of the best parts of the Epilogues was Roxy Lalonde, and their exploration of gender and identity across two different Timelines. How in Candy she found solace in the idea of motherhood, dabbling into a non-binary identity, but generally not minding being seen as a woman that much, while in Meat he first started with they/them pronouns, and then grew comfortable presenting in a more masculine manner. This fluidity of gender, this pursuit of happiness in different, very personal ways across two different Timelines, was really interesting to me. And that's where June Egbert peaked in the Fandom.

With already a tangible presence since the end of Act 7 and the Credits, suddenly a group of trans fans began to relate to John's feeling of... Isolation and unreality in the Epilogues. How he seemed to just go through the motions of life with a missing piece. And with him dating Roxy in Candy, and their exploration of gender, suddenly the idea of John realizing she was actually a woman wasn't just a Fandom thing, it could be a genuine direction the story could head towards.

And that's when the eboy Hussie thing started.

The Canonization

Can I just. Go off on a brief tangent and say Hussie actually looks kind of great in these? No? Okay.

So, out of the blue, Hussie made an Instagram account, and began to reinvent himself as an eboy. Ironically or not, he's just. Living his best life I guess? This man is a cryptid on so many levels.

But shortly into his 'eboy career', he posted a few pictures as a callback to that one time he went to a cave with Toblerone. And as the cryptid he is, he hid a bunch of Toblerone in the middle of nowhere, and sent out the coordinates of the location for anyone to go find it if they wanted. It didn't take more than a day for fans to make their way there and share the Toblerone Bounty. And the very first to find it was Twitter User @placeholder4abn, who, joking about her dedication and newfound influence as the Toblerone Finder, decided to declare June Egbert canon.

What people were not expecting was for Hussie to break his Twitter silence explicitly to mention how, as the finder of his treasure, it would be done.

Some took this as a joke, but there really was no sarcastic tone to it, let alone the fact it'd be kind of a dick move if it was simply a joke. Furthermore, more Toblerone have been hidden around, with a new treasure granting a similar response to @_Abyss_Dream, wishing for the Monkey Paw wish that is 'having your Fantroll appear in Hiveswap' (Lest we forget the 10K Canon Fantrolls), and napkin drawings hidden at a Taiwanese tea house leading to a heartwarming reunion between a drawing of Feferi, and her horns (Which he forgot to draw).

Obviously this whole thing is a Fandom Bonding experience, and the Toblerone act as gifts from the Author, both as him literally just giving Toblerone away in whimsical locations, and the fact they serve as wish-granting artifacts for him to 'give' stuff to dedicated Fans.

Aysha, writer for both Friendsim and now also Hiveswap, also commented a while back about having talked to Hussie regarding June- How he joked she was already canon, in that one Trickster Mode scene during [S] Past Karkat: Wake Up. The quick response about June being made canon, having already been aware, the exploration of identity we see in the Epilogues, it all points to this not being just a sudden change Hussie decided to go for, but rather something the WhatPumpkin team had genuinely been deliberating on for a while now.

And so it was made canon, June is, and was, part of Homestuck, forevermore.

So What Now?

Where do we go from there? And why does all of this matter? Well, you have to realize that, despite having been stated as Canon by Hussie, there's yet to be a canonical appearance of June in any sort of media. We had a bit of a tease in the 4th Good Ending of Pesterquest, the Jade route, where the Kids manage to hang out and have a sleepover. Rose, painting John's nails, and that cute little blush and surprise, could easily be considered a tease to the idea of John embracing feminity and slowly coming to terms with the fact she's a woman. But that's pretty much it for content that could relate to June.

Word of God is fun, but actual representation is even more fun. Still, Pesterquest was in the works prior to June's canonization, which makes the fact there's even any potential hints towards it all the better. A slow, but gradual push for the idea that June could, and should happen in some Timelines, before we're actually shown this eventual change or realization in some future piece of media.

And this really is important for the future of Homestuck. Not just because of the aforementioned further control by the Fandom, it's simply in line with the good things that the Epilogue presented. Exploring different Timelines other than the Alpha. Different outcomes, different developments, and how characters try to achieve happiness under different contexts. It's not just good because trans representation in any capacity is welcome- This is the protagonist of Homestuck. The Main Character, the one everything started with. Looking up to and being led through the session by strong female companions, fondly remembering her Dad's teachings and her own idea of Mangrit and Manliness that stemmed from it, and overcoming those societal expectations in her pursuit of happiness, the realization that something is missing post-canon, and how this could be considered the one missing piece that completes her.

June being canonized retroactively changes the interpretation of various events that happened in Homestuck proper, and to have the protagonist find out she's a trans woman, and not only that, but that she's happy with it, that her friends encourage her through the process, and that it can make her have a healthier outlook on reality, is a very exciting direction canon could head towards.

The future is full of 'what ifs' and different potential possibilities, but with a Queer Team at the helm, and the Fans wanting good things for the characters, this kind of development is only a matter of time, isn't it?

Of course, not everyone is happy with canonizing June. TERFs aside, since their opinion on the matter is worth less than Artifact Grist, some people also had headcanons of John as a trans dude. Similarly to many people's headcanon for Roxy as a trans woman, which weren't too satisfied with the Epilogues' interpretation of their Gender Journey, once something is set in stone, it can invalidate other people's takes on it.

And yet, the Epilogues, and this new exploration of Homestuck, tell us precisely the opposite. We're in a dubious realm. What is 'set in stone', what is 'canon', isn't actually as hard-set as it may seem. Multiple Timelines, AUs, Retcons, we're well beyond the point of canon, and we're heading deeper into the rabbit hole that is exploring different alternatives.

Canonizing trans woman June means trans man John headcanons are invalid, in theory, but Homestuck tries its best to make that not be the case. It's not bad for that to be the case, mind you, representation is representation, a character cannot appeal and be related to by everyone, that's simply not how it works. But Homestuck tells us that, hey... Fuck canon, right? John, or June, Roxy, Calliope, we're presented with diverse outcomes for their characters, paths they could head down. But because the WP Team decided to focus on June, doesn't mean that the Fandom cannot explore the potential of John as a trans man. All of these interpretations have their validity, they all form the nebulous concept of the Ultimate Self for every character.

June Egbert is Canon, and that's something to be happy and excited about. But for those not as excited, also remember Homestuck tells us to follow what makes us happy, and explore the various possibilities and routes in front of us.

So long as going with other headcanons doesn't stem from people simply being Transphobic Assholes, WhatPumpkin encourages us to make our own ideas and Alternate Timelines, now more than ever.

And I, for one, welcome our new Windy Girl to the group.