#the character work and development is amazing

[golden-redhead]

Okay, but I actually adore the romantic arc in KPop Demon Hunters. There's so little time to tell this story and to focus on all its nuances, but the way the movie gets us there is absolutely amazing and doesn't feel cheap at all. And I think part of the reason why is the fact that Rumi and Jinu never really develop past what technically counts as just a crush.

It doesn't try to convince us that what they shared was something unbeliavably deep or like some kind of soulmate bond. It doesn't act like they were perfect for each other and how their love could make it through everything. It works precisely because it shows the tragedy of how little time they had together and how they never got to explore that on their own terms.

And we can all relate to that feeling of loss of something that could have been more. All of the elements of a great romance are technically there but all these other outside elements are working against them and all we get to see at the end of the day is the unexplored potential.

Rumi and Jinu connected on a very human level, that's true, but the tragedy of their relationship is that it couldn't really become more and what we end up mourning is the potential they had, the fact that they could have been so much more if given a chance.

So often stories try to convince us of these stronger-than-anything romantic arcs, but since a lot of the time romance is the B-plot at best and there's no time to develop it properly, we end up with the characters basically skipping all the stages from attraction and straight to pure and unadulterated love.

KPop Demon Hunters doesn't do that.

Instead, it focuses on the connection that was broken too fast and that's precisely why it resonates with us. It doesn't try to pretend that their romance is something that it isn't and that fact, more than anything else, makes it feel authentic.

I feel like a different ending would have cheapened the story somehow. We got a happy ending, yes, but it doesn't make it all good. It doesn't erase all the pain that we had to go through to get there.

And at the end of the day, it's not some grand love story.

No.

Instead, it's two broken people who connect, who feel attraction and who never get to explore what it means. The romance itself isn't some kind of be-all and end-all kind of thing.

It still matters, though.

Why? Well... because they still got to meet each other. They still got to heal, in their own ways. And that matters, too. Even if it wasn't meant to be the way we wish it was. Sometimes, that's just how it is.

[amaradangeli]

This was one of the real beauties of 22-25 episode seasons. There wasn't a need to make every single moment count. We got bottle episodes which are some of the most character-enriching episodes of a lot of series. We got clip shows which reminded us of scenes we loved (this is back before you could just rewatch an episode online so we lived for re-runs or, with great dedication, recorded episodes to tape each week). Longer seasons allowed time for characters to develop more naturally. Does high-stakes character development work well? Absolutely. But for a lot of fans, especially shippers, there's so much magic in the moments in between. I think this is one of the real reasons that there was so much amazing fan content even before streaming allowed us to micro analyze media by watching it over and over and over. We got to *talk* about it for a week (or an entire summer) before there was more to consume. Shows got to explore so many facets of things without having to make every moment count because they only have 10 hours to tell the story. I love streaming. And there are some truly amazing shows making every moment count with ultra-compelling 10 hour blocks of television. But there was something magical, especially in science fiction, when you gave the universe—and the characters in it—room to breathe.

I don't know what those '90s sci Fi TV writers were putting in their shows but I wish they'd start doing it again

[kcdeliverance]

hi guys, i played your game (expedition 33) now pls play mine (kingdom come deliverance 2)

[leafostuff]

Watch "Kpop Demon Hunters"

Watched the movie one day after it came out and i have to say that this movie was amazing, from the trailer i knew i would enjoy this movie but watching the movie made it so much better.

So let me just gush about the movie for a minute

First: characters - i really like the main trio, They are all well written and their interactions are both funny but still have some meaning, Zoey is probably my favourite between the three because her expressions are dumb and hilarious and she is a mood lol.

The Saja boys were also a cool way to make the villains interesting for the movie, while sometimes it did feel like it was basically jinu and the rest, it makes sense since you can't develop all of the characters in a 1:30 hour movie

Next - The songs - Overall the OST is a banger, "How its done" is no doubt my favourite original track from the movie, as it felt like KDA on crack and is already on loop for me, "Soda Pop" and "Takedown" were neat songs, the latter being performed by TWICE's Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung and Jihyo which is a very interesting trio for a song.

"How it sounds like" and "Golden" were less my style but were not bad, considering they were pretty much songs for plot

The songs from existing groups were also well chosen with "Strategy" by twice, "Love me Right" by EXO, "Love, maybe" by melomance and more giving the movie's soundtrack more personality.

Now: The looks - wow, everything looks amazing, the artstyle was vibrant, the animations were superb (not surprising since its the same studio behind the spiderverse movies), the fights were well choreographed and the character designs are just *chef kiss*, nothing else to say.

Lastly: the Plot (Will try to prevent spoilers) - it was good, the premise was interesting and the way Kpop was incorporated to the whole demon hunter was good, feeling as if the trio are basically a bunch of DnD bards who multiclassed into fighters.

the climax of the movie actually gave me the shivers and all of the interactions between the characters were plot important and not just there for being there, especially the Rumi and Jinu ones which were pretty much the leading duo when it cames to their interaction, bit Zoey and Mira were also a funny and good duo.

=================================

Overall? Yes, watch this movie. As a kpop fan it felt like everything was made with intention without anything that was in the movie for the sake of being in the movie (ehm ehm Minecraft movie), for me its a 10/10 movie and if you haven't watched it yet, give it a shot

Thats all for me, see you next time Leafies, i promise i am working on my next draft lol

[habken]

Howdy hey Habs!

I am wanting to learn character drawing. I realized very quickly that I needed a solid understanding of the human form, so I've been practicing life drawing and feel I have an intermediate understanding of the human form (I still need to learn advanced anatomy -- and am working through the Morpho anatomy books/attending life drawing sessions, but I can solidly draw a person head to toe).

I am really struggling with abstraction and drawing without reference. And I'm having a hard time finding a resource that focuses on abstraction specifically.

A few questions for my favorite BKDK artist 🫶

Does my lack of understanding of abstraction indicate I just need to keep studying the fundamentals/advanced anatomy before I start trying to tackle character drawing?

If I need to just start character drawing, do you recommend a specific resource or exercise to start?

Do you have any other general resources that helped you develop your character drawing skills?

Thank you so much for all of your art tips! I love your tumblr so much and I think it's amazing that you are helping newer artists. ❤️

Hi! If you think you’ve built up a solid understanding of fundamentals, there’s no reason not to try expanding your skills into character art!

I don’t know if there’s any specific resources I can give you, but for me I learnt how to simplify characters by observing from other artists and referencing shows I liked, so my suggestion for you is to try drawing from sources that inspire you! I personally keep comics and manga around me when I draw, and I save art and that I find interesting, basically building up a library to help inspire me while I work!

[mrrrow-rio]

what's your opinion on hadestown? i'm a newer theatre kid and I like orpheus and eurydice's story but don't know much about the musical as a whole

:OOO thank you so much for asking!! It’s wonderful!!!

Hands down my favourite musical of all time!!! (It also explores Persephone and Hades’s story, if you like that too!!) I HIGHLY recommend watching it (especially as a newer theatre kid!)

There’s a few full recordings on YouTube :3!! orrr the official cast album is really good too!!

[tass3l]

it was only a matter of time, unfortunately

doodles regarding my tadc oc. sorry for falling back into the oc x canon mines 😔

i like to think that hassel befriends caine simply bc hes so fascinated and wants to know the inner workings of the circus and also just how advanced caine is as an AI. sure the friendship started out as one-sided and an attempt to get information n maybe to find an exploit of some sort but it soon becomes a real, genuine friendship.

gif unrelated

[blueskittlesart]

*sigh* thoughts on Nintendo's botw/totk timeline shenanigans and tomfoolery?

tbh. my maybe-unpopular opinion is that the timeline is only important when a game's place on the timeline seriously informs the way their narrative progresses. the problem is that before botw we almost NEVER got games where it didn't matter. it matters for skyward sword because it's the beginning, and it matters for tp/ww/alttp (and their respective sequels) because the choices the hero of time makes explicitly inform the narrative of those games in one way or another. it matters which timeline we're in for those games because these cycles we're seeing are close enough to oot's cycle that they're still feeling the effects of his choices. botw, however, takes place at minimum 10 thousand years after oot, so its place on the timeline actually functionally means nothing. botw is completely divorced from the hero of time & his story, so what he does is a nonissue in the context of botw link and zelda's story. thus, which timeline botw happens in is a nonissue. honestly I kind of liked the idea that it happened in all of them. i think there's a cool idea of inevitability that can be played with there. but the point is that the timeline exists to enhance and fill in the lore of games that need it, and botw/totk don't really need it because the devs finally realized they could make a game without the hero of time in it.

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.

[gemkun]

hi i've noticed how incredibly difficult it is to write threads with people so i think the best approach might be to stick to one thread per person and go from there instead of juggling like 20 asks that are all single instances. if you want to thread with me please give this a like and i will slink over for discussion !

[vt-scribbles]

Something seriously lacking in my art is the ability to tell a story in a single illustration.

I've gotten so used to drawing my characters standing around doing random things that I've never practiced telling a full tale/putting implications into my pieces that require more thinking/looking.

It also comes from a lower amount of details in my works by default [since I like to get pieces done fast], but I'm tired of using that as an excuse.

[beananium]

fighting with my demons (wanting to be supportive of all kaito vocaloid portrayals but finding six packs on him so weird, off putting and out of character (at least to how i see him be commonly portrayed and with my own personal vision) on him that i can't wrap my head around it)

[beckyslynchs]

No no I knew you weren’t talking bad about him! I was just baffled that people were talking shit when he legitimately said nothing bad about Taylor or their previous relationship…

he was very kind and very eloquent and succinct and i think this is the best response possible (and it once again discredits all those tabloid articles people thought came from him 🙄) but people will always be mad when someone they perceive has wronged taylor doesn't bend over backwards apologising and sanctifying her putting all the blame on them thus he continues to be a villain for answering the way he did (it's a catch-22, nothing he does will ever be the right thing in their eyes)

i was honestly more interested in the bit where he talks about how he's more interested in continue being a character actor even if it's only in supporting roles instead of empty leads that don't fulfill him artistically rather than the breakup questions

[iridescentoracle]

@eglerieth replied to your post: Hello! I am here to ask about your Dior headcanons…

What’s your Galadriel headcanon?

Oh man, I didn’t see this!! Thank you for asking, i fully did not expect anyone to actually get far enough into the Dior post to see that let alone actually want to know. Sorry I’m two days late!

So! What we know about Galadriel in the Silmarillion:

She hated Fëanor but thought being a queen sounded pretty sweet/desired power

She’s named as one of the leaders of the Noldor across the Helcaraxë

Instead of founding her own kingdom (like she’d explicitly originally wanted) or moving in with her brother she got married and stayed in Doriath and learned a lot from Melian

Eventually Melian was like “hey so you should explain the weird ominous evil metaphysical cloud i can see hanging over the Noldor so i can explain about it to my husband bc he should really learn about whatever happened before it blows up in everybody’s faces” and Galadriel was like “yeah he probably should but i’m not telling”

At some point Galadriel asked Finrod why he wasn’t married yet

One time Melian casually foreshadowed Beren’s existence to Galadriel, who has no recorded response

That’s it. That’s literally all we know about what she was up to. She was super jazzed about the prospect of Ruling A Kingdom and then made friends with a queen and learned a bunch from her and… was still alive after the War of Wrath, and in between we have nothing.

We don’t know how she survived the Second Kinslaying, we can assume she made it to the Havens of Sirion but don’t know how she survived the Third Kinslaying let alone what she did/where she went after that… we don’t know what her reaction was to the death of her only remaining family member in Middle-earth, for which her cousins and the great-uncle in whose kingdom she lived were both partially responsible…

Like, that's weird, right? Galadriel is firmly established as someone bold and interested in being a ruler and stubborn as all get out, and then she… does nothing and everybody seems to forget she exists for several hundred years and some major political upheavals that should have personally affected her? It's not just me? That's really weird?

So, my Galadriel headcanon is that she’s inexplicably absent for most of the Quenta Silmarillion because she was deliberately erased/left out by the scribes writing things down because there was no way to acknowledge her presence in Doriath during and after Beren & Lúthien’s whole everything without getting into the messiest bit of Sindar-Noldor political tension that didn’t involve the Fëanorioni, because (again, headcanon) Galadriel Did Not Respond Well to her uncle getting her brother killed as a side effect of trying to get her cousin’s boyfriend killed and there was A Lot Of Tension for a while there (when you’ve got that kind of interpersonal tension between people who are both essentially Political Figures, i figure it’s probably going to turn into political tension unless they’re both trying very very hard to avoid that and potentially even then)

…and then after Thingol’s death a few years later, I think one of the primary contenders for Next Ruler of Doriath was Galadriel “Well I Came Here For A Kingdom In The First Place” Granddaughter-of-Olwë and also her husband is related to Thingol* and Lúthien’s clearly removed herself from contention so if the Sindar want a monarch who’s actually related to the last one they both qualify, it’s perfect and obviously Galadriel should be the next queen of Doriath (it is not obvious to everyone)

* on a side note, Celeborn is mentioned twice in the Quenta Silm: #1, Galadriel stays in Doriath because she’s marrying a “kinsman of Thingol,” while #2, shortly after Thingol’s death, Celeborn is referred to as a “prince of Doriath.” Not actual evidence, but it sure fits in nicely!

Like I said in the Dior post, I don’t think anything ever came to outright surface-level conflict; a civil war in Doriath is not getting left out of the Silmarillion. Tension between Galadriel and Thingol, though? and then between Galadriel and [various other contenders for the throne after Thingol, potentially including Dior himself when he arrived] that had everyone a little nervous? when she didn’t become queen and did (however begrudgingly) accept that Dior was the closest thing to a consensus pick and did survive the next several thousand years only to finally wind up as functional queen of most of the remaining Sindar despite eschewing the actual title? That I can see getting diplomatically left out of the histories, and explaining why she’s completely during the parts of the story where you’d think she’d be most involved.

[greensaplinggrace]

whelp. just finished the fall of the house of usher and i can now finally say with absolute certainty that it wasn't his best work

[whollyjoly]

watching mash s11ep4 the joker is wild for the first time and...boy howdy do i have thoughts on bj's trapper complex