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How They Steal Seojun’s Scenes and Ruin A Tiny Essence of Seojun and Suho’s Character(s) in the K-Drama: A Study

Hi everybody!

First and foremost, I’m not online a lot, and whenever I do lately, I mostly try to spend it by fixating on a certain fandom — which, this time, happened to be the latest K-Drama “True Beauty”. I’ve written about two other study / analysis / meta which you could find here:

Thoughts On True Beauty and Why I’m On Team Suho

Why Webtoon!Suho is Superior and K-Drama!Suho Needs To Catch Up 👏

I’ve recently noticed during my scrolling that there has been a lot of tension between Team Seojun and Team Suho, which... broke my heart a little bit, because for the last eight episodes, I wasn’t really aware of it. I just thought everybody was having as much fun as I was just watching the K-Drama, but you know, we still have our favourites and we still have times when we disagree with the direction of the show, but by the end of the day, it was still something fun to watch, to distress with, and to share with like-minded fans.

Regardless, this is a warning that I don’t write with any intention to specifically target any characters or storyline, whether it be webtoon or the K-Drama. I do equally adore all of the cast, the production; the characters in the webtoon — and I will forever be thankful that I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the story as I did.

To add some context: I am a film student graduate, and I’ve always been interested in objectively dissecting characters, especially from a franchise, or things that came from a raw materials like True Beauty is. For your reference, I am currently at Chapter 128 of the webtoon series, although I am aware of spoilers beyond the chapters. As for the drama, I am at Episode 10 while I’m writing this. (Started at episode 9, continuing after episode 10.)

This is purely an in-depth analysis, if you’re into those sort of things, mainly discussing the major differences between webtoon representation of characters Lee Suho and Han Seojun in particular, and their mirrored selves in the K-Drama. Under the category, I will be touching on:

What the K-Drama changed the characters specifically

How They Stole Seojun Webtoon’s Scene and Character

Why Some of It Worked, Some of It Will Never

How They Highkey Ruined Seojun and Suho’s Dynamics

Why They Didn’t Need to Change the Characters At All, really

Another warning, just so any readers are aware, I am primarily a Suho x Jugeyong fan, but I’ve never really minded Seojun’s relationship with Jugyeong, either in Webtoon and K-Drama. Again, this mostly has a lot to do with how excellent the execution for Seojun was in the webtoon particularly — but I believe we’ll be getting into that.

Also, this is mostly to address the differences of webtoon vs. k-drama (and why some scene worked, why some scene didn’t work), and while I’ll be touching on the issues underlying the characters a bit, for a more thorough analysis or thoughts on the mental health represented by the characters, I would recommend reading:

By Tumblr User imjukyung (speaking about post-episode 10, specifically for Suho)

True Beauty: True Trauma and Unsettling Regression by tumblr user life-rewritten

Last Warning: This is about 5,000+ words. I... yeah. I have nothing to say except it’s written.

1. What Changed Specifically

I think the massive change an audience could probably observe — or if you can’t observe, you would find yourself being annoyed by it at certain point — would be in Suho. Yes, we’re starting with him.

I’ve been noticing a lot that people do heatedly comment that Suho’s “boring” — which, to an extent, I agree. (I mentioned this too in the first meta.) He is a massive play on the “cold and distant” trope, which, in my head, I’d like to call, a massive Edward Cullen case. That trope is often repetitive, most of the time it’s horribly executed, and it’s just, yeah, I’m not a big fan of them.

But again, I’ve mentioned this before, it works for Suho. I think this was what he was meant to be. As reference, in the webtoon even, Sua was never impressed with Suho, and she did repetitively say that the only “good thing that was going for him” was his good looks, and that he’s “boring” (in fact, I believe this is a fact since high school towards their adulthood). So yes, I think he was written like that on purpose.

On top of that, in the webtoon, compare to the K-Drama, Suho really does — nothing.

I’ll circle back to this specific characteristic because it relates to Seojun again, but I do wanted to point out that it is actually a prominent thing that’s to do with Suho. All he does in the webtoon, really, is study. Some of the things we learn later while we read would be that: he reads horror comic books as a sense of escapism, and he’s a good cook.

That’s it.

We would learn later, of course, that it is more than that. This personality is intentional and, most importantly, purposeful. What we’ve perceived as “boring” was used right against Suho — especially in the Prince of Princes arc, where the influencer called Suho out for “never trying his best” when the other contestants, Seojun and Aiden if we’re being specific, truly had something to lose while they were doing the show.

So, it wasn’t just, something the webtoon author decided Suho to be and held him no responsibility over, no — she crafted Suho like that from the beginning, she made us get used to it, and then, slowly, we see cracks of Suho’s “perfect” image and how that backfired. And Suho? He paid for it.

More than the simple cold and distant trope, his continuously monotone exterior actually did raise important questions in the long-run: For someone so smart with such a solid background, why does he seemed the most lost out of the Seojun-Jugeyong-Suho trio?

In my second meta, I wrote this:

It felt like the writers were desperate to fill the gaps for Suho possibly being “dull” [while playing] this typical cool and distant character — when, in reality, Suho’s existence as is was quite enough. He didn’t need to steal Seojun’s fighting ability, and he especially didn’t need to rob Seyeon’s musical passion too, to be interesting and have depths of his own [...]

Which I feel unfortunate about when it comes to K-Drama!Suho, and I still stand by it now. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the K-Drama, because it could really hold up as its own separate storyline and timeline, but if we start to critically compare, we do see that, in reality, Suho could carry his “boring” character well and the K-Drama probably just didn’t know how to do this well, or thought the reception would be bad, so they added all of these unnecessarily profile traits to have him stand out.

To add, even when all he really does is study and read comic books, Jugyeong still likes him. To Jugyeong, Suho doesn’t really need to be more than what he is - their shared interest and their strong loyalty in ensuring they’re each other’s safe haven when it comes to emotional struggles were already enough for her; and for Suho, Jugyeong’s company as is had been sufficient to make him happy, or have a better outlook in life.

2. How They Stole Seojun Webtoon’s Scene and Character

This is quite a sensitive topic for Seojun’s fans, so I will try addressing this very, very carefully. If you have anymore to add and discuss, feel free — I’d love to know what else I’ve missed or might have overlooked.

In this specific section, I think I’d like to focus on three (3) major Seojun scene that was stolen. The band-aid, the wallet, and the spicy food. Of course, I’ll be touching on things they’ve stolen beyond those scenes because they did incorporate a lot of what Seojun should be experiencing to Suho, or other characters, and why this wasn’t okay — or it couldn’t be held up. But let’s start with the scene first and we’ll slowly walk to what other aspects of Seojun the writers think we wouldn’t notice being stolen.

The Band Aid Scene

In the webtoon (spoilers to those who haven’t read) in Chapter 34, Suho got into an accident in an attempt to save Jugyeong. This led her to be injured on the knees, which, after Seojun was called in, he helped treated. 

In the K-Drama, Suho was the one who treated Jugyeong’s knees – but this happened very early in the series and it was specifically triggered because Jugyeong tripped on her way to run Suho’s errands.

Personally, for me, I didn’t really mind this scene was “stolen”. Now, okay, before anybody comes at me, allow me to explain why: I didn’t think it mattered? Which probably didn’t help my case in fending a lot of you off lol but — I just didn’t think it mattered because in either scenes, it was still an in-character thing for them to do. Each boy would still assist Jugyeong and treated her knees even if they’ve switched places.

What I really meant was though, the scene didn’t really take any of Seojun’s important and/or core personality away from him — which you’ll find what I mean more as we delve on soon — it was just an act which anybody would’ve done for Jugyeong in that moment.

Especially in the webtoon, the bigger focus was more towards Suho who just got into an accident. There wasn’t really any fundamental value or any obvious motivation towards the scene unless you counted Seojun finding out that Heegyeong was Jugyeong’s sister - which, even then, it was brushed over quickly because, of course, we focus heavily on Suho’s state towards the end, and we’re stirring into what really happened between the three S (Seojun-Suho-Seyeon).

In the K-Drama, it was set up in such a way with a clear motivation: Suho apologising for pushing Jugyeong to such a limit and therefore elevating their statuses in comradeship, and for Seojun to notice and took an important interest in Jugyeong after seeing Suho and her together, triggering his consecutive contacts with her afterwards.

Each of them could really hold up as their own separate acts, and both boys are still heavily in-character.

The Wallet

In Chapter 32, Jugyeong (bare-faced) met with her bullies and they had a quick confrontation in WcDonalds. We realise the bullies didn’t really think they were responsible for how they acted, and didn’t apologise. This left Jugyeong devastated, so she left the restaurant premises and went home without realising she dropped her wallet. At the restaurant, Seojun’s friends picked it up — but Seojun was the one who identified the wallet’s owner, and came back just as Jugyeong, now fully in make-up, came to get it. Despite probably having eaten, Seojun invited Jugyeong to eat, noticing she’s in a bad mood.

In the K-Drama, Episode 6 if I’m not mistaken, Jugyeong stumbled upon her former bullies bare-faced. She managed to run out of the restaurant premises before shortly realising that she dropped her wallet. When she turned, she saw Suho was with her bullies, grasping the wallet from them. She ran away, he chased after, and they had their mini confrontation and Suho shielded Jugyeong from being recognised by their schoolmates.

Again, like the first, I didn’t really hold up any grudge over the scenes? Mostly because the difference in context between them?

Allow me to explain: in the webtoon, it was clearly placed that way to show the slow elevation of friendship between Jugyeong and Seojun; that scene also progressed to Jugyeong meeting Seojun’s group of friends later, which triggers to more scenes of them in the future i.e. Jugyeong trying out clothes at the request of Seojun’s friend’s girlfriend and Seojun obviously falling hard during the whole process.

(I also think like these are the first few instances where we’re established a place Seojun and Jugyeong bonded over most besides school, i.e. the shopping street background, because them shopping together in that group, or just the two of them, are relatively mentioned or brought up again and again.)

But that can’t realistically work for K-Drama.

In the webtoon, we’re allowed for a slow-paced friendship between Jugyeong and Seojun to form, which was important, because it was meant to bring us to the tipping point wherein Seojun transformed from being that best male friend (and why he stayed being the male best friend), to her boyfriend. The why, of course, is important — but we’ll get to that soon.

In the K-Drama, we’re not allowed the amount of pace. And, more than that, all of Seojun’s friends in the webtoon, who are high school dropouts or older (and therefore were not attending school) I believe, are replaced by the massive group Seojun has in their shared high school. So, the opportunity as is wasn’t really there, and it was later restricted by the time frame of a sixteen-episodes.

I’ll be touching on the fact that they do make up for this with various scenes, various new opportunities, but you can still see how Seojun falls a little short still to compare with his webtoon counterpart.

Speaking of the context further, technically I don’t think Suho “stole” the scene. The act, yes, I’ll admit to that, but not the scene, nor the core of what bonded Jugyeong and Seojun together — Suho didn’t have an external group of friends which he brought Jugyeong to meet, and he certainly didn’t share the street-shopping backgrounds and have a comforting meeting place with Jugyeong there.

I would’ve been more upset if Seojun confronted the bullies himself and returned the wallet to Jugyeong in the webtoon, only for Suho to obviously rob this scene from him in the K-Drama, when it was obviously Seojun’s highlighted moment. But as is, it happened differently.

Suho’s acts could held up as his own, especially since, different than the webtoon, he already saw bare-faced Jugyeong and knew the owner of the wallet [as he’s watched the scene unfold], while Seojun happened to find the wallet and Jugyeong thankfully had her ID, the one with make-up on her face, which led to Seojun keeping it and giving it back to her when they bump into each other later.

They weren’t really any confrontations about insecurities, past mistakes or the truth to be had; for Seojun and Jugyeong, that scene was only a “beginning” (the first of many events to come, the trigger point on how the rest starts), while for Suho, it was a “conclusion” (scenes triggered by other events first, ending with a specific decision).

The Spicy Food

Now, this is where I get a bit iffy? I wasn’t happy with it, simply put. I understand they amended it in episode 9, but — it still happened. And hoo-boy, they weren’t sneaky about it at all.

In the webtoon, Episode 33, Seojun invited Jugyeong to eat tteokbokki with him. Jugyeong wasn’t really feeling up to eat, but she accepted because she likes spicy food. Later, while having the meal together, Seojun is obviously having a hard time eating the spicy food, which Jugyeong internally questioned about.

In the K-Drama, Heegyeong and Mr. Han went on a date, and then we later find out that Mr. Han couldn’t withstand spicy food. He didn’t want to return the meal though, thinking that he would’ve burdened the staff.

Again, one can obviously just argue that, it happened in different context too, just like it did in the Wallet Scene. Or, better yet, that it’s fine, since they did include this in episode 9 in the end. But — the reason I had a problem with this choice of writing was because, unlike the other two examples, not beiong able to handle spicy food is a major, if not a constant, Seojun’s characteristics and behaviour.

That’s a Seojun thing, rather than a simple action, and taking that from him, or basing it off of him, feels a little... lazy.

Mr Han in the webtoon, while he didn’t play a major part and Heegyeong eventually lost interest in him, was a messy eater. They could’ve gone with that route easily. That he’s a messy eater, and Heegyeong finds herself liking it anyway — that is, if, like how I’ve been viewing the direction of the show, they really do want them to be together.

That’s already been apart of Mr. Han’s already-established behaviour, why take it from Seojun?

Which led us to the few bits of how Seojun is stolen beyond simple scenes.

Seojun’s Character

Now, “stolen” is such a big word. It’s right, to an extent, but it’s still such a big word. More than that, I’d say it’s “chipped”? As in, the true essence of what made Seojun so remarkable and strong as a second male lead in the webtoon is taken apart to have it lend to other characters or, equally worse, downplayed in the drama.

I’ve always had such a problem and it’s a MAJOR problem when Seojun, in the K-Drama, told Suho, “You don’t deserve to be happy.”

Straight-up, honest to god? That isn’t Seojun at all.

Yes, he’s upset. And yes, he’s irritated by what he perceived as Suho not coming to his expectation when it came to their shared loss regarding Seyeon and/or what he thought Suho failed to do. These are all true. Seojun is angry, and he’s consistently angry at Suho until they reach their resolution together — but he would never wish that on Suho.

What drove his anger was disappointment, was a sense of hopelessness, was the loss, but it never came from hatred. Seojun felt a lot towards Suho, but hate to the point of wishing someone’s unhappiness was never one of them.

Just having that spoken by Seojun contradicted a lot to how he behaves in the webtoon — which was honestly this upstanding, responsible and caring guy. And he is!

And while I adore Suho and he has a special place in my heart, I do see a stark difference to how Seojun operates if we compare to Suho: Seojun’s always been straightforward with his actions, countlessly working hard once he sets his mind to something (either that by choice, or otherwise i.e. helping his mom pay the bills, and then pursuing a career in being an idol) — he’s a go-getter.

Suho isn’t, not so directly at least. He’s quiet, and he keeps things to himself, and he doesn’t like a show. Which was why a lot of him “helping out” Jugyeong — mostly driving off weird men or confronting them — happened behind the scenes and without anybody’s knowledge. He doesn’t even really wanna acknowledge it after.

Seojun’s direction in life is clear, too. He wants to work right after school, and he does. He wants to treat Jugyeong properly as her romantic partner, and he does. He wants to be an idol and succeed, and he works hard on it.

Suho, on the other hand, not so much. A lot of the major things that did happen to Suho, it happened externally. Something else was pushing him to do an action. Him flying out to Japan due to his father, him returning to Korea etc. Again, this is a lot to do with his mental health as well, which is a separate post altogether, but I just wanted to point this out as comparison.

Rambling over — yes, if you’re not an avid webtoon reader, just know that, that specific line from Seojun? He would never. That was already so out-of-character of him because, as I’ve said and I will say it again, whatever anger Seojun harboured for Suho, it never came from such ugly or raw hatred. He didn’t understand Suho’s motivation after and/or during Seyeon’s death, and I do believe he could lash out from that - but he never held any extreme grudges.

To add, in the webtoon, that line was actually spoken by Suho when he admitted to his therapist that he think he doesn’t deserves to be happy.

This is also a big thing in my opinion, because it shows how differently Seojun and Suho coped — either with Seyeon, or whatever that comes after. Seojun has always been more prone to anger while Suho, either that added by his fluctuating mental health or otherwise, is prone to sadness.

Now, these are two extremely big negative emotions to be associated with our ever-favourite boys, but it’s true. It’s consistent throughout their characters all-through the story (in the webtoon, at least). And it does play a role, because, again, it showcases the difference of characters between Seojun and Suho, and how they react to situations differently. Seojun with his quick-temper, and Suho, easily feeling hopeless.

So, why is it important to know this?

Because a lot of Seojun’s anger, a lot of that deep-rooted aggression — that was transferred to Suho in the K-Drama. And no cap? It shouldn’t have.

3. Why It Worked, Why It Will Never

Let’s go back to the broader subject briefly.

At this point of the K-Drama, which is ten episodes in, I felt a little moot comparing scenes specifically to what had happened in the webtoon. It’s always nice, of course, to critically analyse any form of entertainment so we could always better our watching experiences or give the proper feedbacks to the creative industry, and while I like delving in deep too, I also have to remind myself a lot to not .... take it too seriously, essentially.

Because at this point, obviously the K-Drama has adapted many of the plot points from the webtoon, and re-arranged it to fit into what they deemed to be necessary to work in that timeline. And that’s okay!

For example, while Seojun’s scene was borrowed to other characters, we do get the opportunity to see Seojun being presented slightly differently. We have that new arc regarding his mother, and we see a whole loveable cast of group Seojun has acquired during his time schooling, and Seojun gets a ton more interactive chances with Jugyeong to make up for what they couldn’t do — that is, the slow progress of them becoming truly close friends till they’re in their young adult years — and every scene of them could still hold up as a magnifying and incredible moment as its own.

For example, that scene when Seojun took care of a sick Jugyeong in the bus, and he said (although I’m recalling only from memory), “I don’t like it when people get sick.” Which I think was super sweet and super impactful at the same time. This didn’t happen in the webtoon, but in the K-Drama, among the first scenes they’ve introduced Seojun in was when he was in the hospital visiting his mother; we also learn later that he actually time off from school to do help his parent.

So obviously Seojun’s cautious on anything that’s to do with somebody contracting an illness etc — and not only it showed in that one dialogue, it’s made more brilliant when Seojun, who can’t really afford any expensive jewellery, made Jugyeong a flower-braid bracelet. I think that was such a nice contrast, a nice touch and ugh!!!!!

That really punched me straight into my Seojun x Jugyeong heart.

We also see a different way of them interpreting and putting Sujin brilliantly into the story. I really want to go deeper into this, but I don’t believe I have sufficient enough thoughts beyond the fact that I much prefer the way the K-Drama built up Sujin to compare with how the webtoon placed Sujin. She has more motivation, she has more leverage, and last but not least, she has much more flexibility to become a serious second female lead and rival.

I do have a problem with how they decided to go with Suho, because again, I think all of the extra personality traits are not necessary. Suho doesn’t need to be a good fighter like Seojun had been established to be, and he doesn’t need to be musically passionate, like Seyeon was, because his own personality and character should’ve been enough. He could carry that personality well; he doesn’t need to be “more”.

Which brought us to this: Seojun’s aggressiveness taken by Suho.

To make this short - it just doesn’t work. It didn’t... really feel out of character, per se, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. I felt like, personally, the writers sort of missed the point of what truly made Suho Suho — which was this guy who was more prone to melancholy-based emotion than anything else — and, in return, (again, I’ll be using the word) they “chipped” away at Seojun because of it.

So, what should’ve been Seojun’s distinctive reaction carried specifically by his character, it was shared by Suho.

Suho isn’t unpredictable, he isn’t quick-tempered, and he isn’t fast on his feet. These are all Seojun’s major personality traits. He’s opinionated, yes, and he isn’t afraid to set his boundaries — but mostly, only his own. One of the more primary example I could give from the K-Drama that I think sorta worked at first glance, but didn’t really when you think twice about it, in regards to this, was Suho chasing after Seojun and Jugyeong after a gang of people were running towards them. (This is after the karaoke scene.)

Honestly, rather than just wasting his energy, it’d be more appropriate if Suho calls the cop.

Suho’s incredibly logical, and furiously straightforward. He doesn’t precisely need to be running around for — what? What was he achieving anyways in the K-Drama by running after the gang? See how it sorta doesn’t make sense? So, yes, if it doesn’t make sense - Suho wouldn’t. 

Again, this circles back to how the different way the boys coped or react, as I mentioned earlier, and it’s important to be distinctive with these because both boys are two separate individuals with two different ways of seeing the world and taking them in, and, cheesy as I may, representation matters.

And when it isn’t represented properly, and I’ll be repeating this over and over: Seojun’s character seems like it’s “chipped away”. Not stolen, no, because it’s still there but — what should’ve been an emotion his specific character should harbour, it feels ... lacklustre, almost. Like a joke: what makes Seojun’s anger so “special” compared to the obvious internalised rage Suho seems to have [in the K-Drama]?

4. How Is Seojun and Suho Dynamic Ruined?

Simply put: observe the way the writers put Seojun and Suho when it comes to Jugyeong.

In the K-Drama, it’s constant rivalry between the boys — driven, of course, by Suho’s possibly deteriorating mental health and the insecurity that came with. But it was also easily flamed by Seojun making jabs and/or crossing the boundaries by being there when he shouldn’t have been.

Now, I’m not into the whole Team Seojun vs. Team Suho thing because the real tea is, that just isn’t Seojun and Suho.

And when the K-Drama writers failed to incorporate how exactly Seojun and Suho had been when both boys clearly shared an affection towards the same person, Jugyeong, I feel like — out of everything, that’s when they lost the biggest essence of what made these two men who they are. 

Because Seojun and Suho? They were mad respectful towards each other.

I think one of the most memorable and important scene, and I carry this in my heart, was when Jugyeong was supposed to go out on that date with Suho, and they promised each other — but then Suho’s father got into an accident, and Jugyeong wasn’t reachable because she broke her phone.

You know who showed up to that date to inform Jugyeong? It was Seojun.

And it was Seojun again who came to pick Jugyeong up and got into the taxi to the airport to see Suho off. Seojun was the one who gave Jugyeong and Suho some time to say goodbye between themselves, tapping Jugyeong on the back when he walks away. That’s how far Seojun really cared for the girl he loves: he was willing to let her love the person she likes.

He was supportive, without being discriminating.

And it was the same again when it’s reversed. During the whole time Seojun and Jugyeong were dating, Suho never once showcased that he was dissatisfied or he wasn’t happy with the development. In fact, again and again, he was supportive. He put in good words for Seojun, he encouraged Jugyeong to always work it out between her and Seojun.

Of course, there are hiccups here and there — but that was the true essence, I believe, of the Seojun-and-Suho dynamic.

Even despite the misunderstanding, even through the romantic interest coming in between them, there will always have this big respect to not go behind one another and put the other down, I think. They would confront, and have their clashing moments face-to-face (but never too aggressively because Suho’s weak and often pulls back lol), but very rarely does it go further than that.

Even when they’re driven with anger, jealousy, or disappointment — you could tell that the bond they’ve shared from their middle school and with Seyeon were always somehow stronger.

And yes, you could argue that maybe, in this point of the K-Drama, they aren’t reconciled yet, which is why they acted the way they did. But I feel like? That didn’t matter? Because, in episode 10, we could clearly see Seojun having the capability of being supportive and putting his good faith in Suho, despite not being on good terms with the guy (e.g. when he advised, “Suho would never do that to you.”) even though that’s quickly tarnished when Seojun, in the same breath, quickly suggest for a break-up.

I don’t really have any defence for Suho because I already felt like him expressing constant aggression towards Seojun is already wrong, misplaced, or poorly written — so whatever action that came after always came a bit off for me. For example, rather than putting the blame for his own jealousy towards Seojun or Jugyeong (i.e. episode eight in its entirety), Suho is the kind of person to blame himself. He would feel that he lacked something, that it was him that wasn’t enough, that it must be him that’s done something to push Jugyeong, or anybody, away.

(Again, echoing his admittance: “I don’t think I deserve to be happy.” or, if we’re going with the K-Drama route, from Seojun’s accusation.)

5. Why They Didn’t Need To Change At All

The worst part of knowing or realising these small details is that, the story could still work. It could still move the characters forward, and have the relatively same outcome i.e. Suho lashing out by the end, threatened by his own insecurity that Jugyeong might prefer Seojun after all etc — but instead, we have these amazing characters that came off at 90% in the drama adaptation, but the 10% that really mattered to their characters weren’t mixed in well enough.

So, the question comes: how exactly should they be acting?

First, Suho’s often more calm — the calmest, in fact, between the Suho-Jugyeong-Seojun trio. This still doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any pent-up guilt, or sadness, or even aggression, but it rarely ever comes out violently. Even if it does, in any shape or form, mostly the emotions are fired back towards himself i.e. experiencing massive self-loathing, self-doubt, which, of course, may in return affect his interpersonal relationships.

Episode 10 played this out nicely, in fact: because we do have a scene where Suho’s being incredibly understanding and respectful in the beginning, but then little things and mistimed events built up (without proper explanations from the other party, to add) and he essentially imploded on himself i.e. lashing out, spiralling, having a mental breakdown, and by the end of it, (trigger warning ahead) committing suicide and/or self-harming himself by walking freely and stopping in the middle of traffic.

Secondly, Seojun could’ve still held so much anger at Suho for what happened with Seyeon and had fallen for Jugyeong all the while, but he could still stay in-character by never explicitly trying to constantly put Suho down. It just goes against a character so substantial for putting his all towards the people he loves, or have loved. And Seojun have loved Suho as a best friend - so for him to act the way he did, to say that line ( “You don’t deserve to be happy” ) especially, that makes me sad.

6. Conclusion

True Beauty, on the surface, will always be a light-hearted romance comedy that honestly has very interesting and well thought-of characters that... don’t necessarily stand out, I don’t think, among other high school K-Drama, but it does represent young adults or teens who seemed to “look like they’re doing well” but a lot of us really aren’t. We’re just figuring things out as we go along, and that’s what Suho, Seojun and Jugyeong seemed to be doing with us: they’re figuring things out as they go along, too.

In the end, there really isn’t much of a point expressing these thoughts except that it gives me simple pleasures, and if it can attract a few people who loves True Beauty too, I would simply die of appreciation. I hope a lot of the K-Drama audience can have a slight knowledge that, yes, Seojun is absolutely super kind, way kinder than he’s been portrayed on screen, and yes, Suho isn’t normally that possessive - protective, yes - he never stalks or particularly demands anything out of Jugyeong though.

Okay, before this got too long again, I thank you for reading!

Feel Free To Ask Me Anything

[thebookishaustin]

New Book Review: Thieves of Weirdwood

Image from publisher’s website 

Thieves of Weirdwood by Christian McKay Heidicker & William Shivering

Release: April 7, 2020

Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)  

*I received a free, physical ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions contained within this review are my own.* 

This is such a fun middle grade novel! Thieves of Weirdwood is a mix of Artemis Fowl and Ghost Busters all mixed into one. Thieves of Weirdwood follows two boys as they’re trying to survive life in the harsher parts of town by stealing valuable goods. Unfortunately, they steal an item that gets them mixed up in a world of fantasy, magic, and ghosts! However, it just so happens that Arthur and Wally might be the perfect duo for saving the balance between the Real and Imaginary worlds in an epic battle that could be disastrous for all humankind. 

This novel starts off incredibly dark for a middle grade novel (though, by working in a bookstore, I’ve learned that middle grade readers love creepy stuff), with discussions of lobotomies and an evil doll that turns people into porcelain. I’ve seen a few other reviews that claim they think it’s too dark for middle grade students, but I will politely disagree. The target audience is going to eat this up!

The authors did a fantastic job with storytelling in this one. The scenes moved smoothly from one to the next, and kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know more. Arthur and Wally are the young Indiana Jones’ that you never knew you needed in your life. Their witty banter, young naivety, and creativity kept the plot pushing forward, with a great deal of character development occurring naturally in each of their scenes (compared to an information dump).  Thieves of Weirdwood spirals into crazier depths as more magical shenanigans are layered on top as Arthur and Wally race to protect the world. I think you’ll find yourself enjoying the ride. 

I’m giving Thieves of Weirdwood 4-out-of-5 Awesome Austin Points. It’s full of humor and adventure, with a fast pace plot and unforgettable characters. I would definitely suggest this read to fantasy lovers middle grade into adulthood. It was recently released so you can find it on shelves in your local bookstores (maybe after this virus lessens up, but still check out online ordering at your local shops). I hope to hear about your current or favorite reads here on Tumblr, through my Instagram or out on Goodreads!

[finlaylawesarcadegame]

Week 2 Blog posts (11/01/21)

Playlist (11/01-17/01) [disusing what type of media I have taken in this week]

This week I have played a lot of this video game called rust and watched a lot of gameplay about it on YouTube. Essentially the game is a survival game where you build a base, gather loot from locations and raid people.

This game has really stood out to me and a lot of other people too recently. I think this game has really blew up because of some cool concept’s it beings like you being able to run around and talk to people. This brings a bunch of cool possibilities because you can run up to people and ask if they want to squad up with, you can talk to people to try and negotiate for trading and for each other to be peaceful, and what A LOT of people do is use the voice chat for trash talking which occurs too often to count. A feature that has really brought me into the game is the graphics because the scenery in this game is so aesthetically amazing to look at, There are amazing sunny beaches with he sun glazing over you, very colourful forest’s filled with tree’s and bushes and a lot more scenery like snow biomes. This game makes people really get an intense feeling all the time because when ever your outside of your base you’re always on the look out for enemy players and especially when your trying to clear out a place like air field or the super market you are going to be in constant gun fight’s so I think people have enjoyed the constant action and the rush this game brings.

Unfortunately though I don’t see anything from this game being able to help me with me arcade game because they are complete opposite game’s and run completely different. However in the future when I do some more map making I will definitely look at  rust for how they make such amazing landscapes and how they make really cool buildings. 

Cultural Sources:

Mortal Combat: for game it isn't going to be a 1v1 fighting game like mortal combat but I have an idea for plunkey to use martial arts or just basic kicks and punches becuase he is a semi buff cactus. This will mix things up because the playable character [pablo] will use guns, princess shoots out fire and plunkey can be a close up heavy damage fighter. 

I feel like taking on side kick approach for plunkey because his character doesn't give my a agile look so I think he could on perform a side kick. 

Kirby: Kirby’s game has some excellent pixel going on because the whole scene is always filled with bright colours that catch the eye. What we have is a nice peaceful background that always has a calm look and great for younger player’s because this game is so attractive to look at so kids keep playing.

This is perfect for me because for my arcade game I want it to be made for more of the younger audience so I’m going to need to include loads of vibrant colours. So throughout my pixel art I'm going to make sure to keep looking at how Kirby make their maps to get a good idea’s of what colours work with what.

Terraria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MehjrxLfwbM

If I get down to making some music for my game then I want something like terraria’s boss music which is intense but and has an ecstatic felling when you listen to it. My game wouldn’t feel right to have some hard core rock type music in it because the aim for the game is to be made for younger players so some electric style music like what terraria has will suit well for my game.

Terraria also uses a lot of peaceful colour’s that make a nice open world scene. This is good because I need to have a background [most likely] for my game so having nice detailed clouds and a shaded blue sky will be good. 

Red Dead Redemption 2: Now I will start of by saying that the way my game works will be absolutely nothing like RDR2 however the whole of RDR2 resolves around cowboy’s and that is what MY main character is. The playable character that I have [Pablo] is a piñata cowboy and some thing’s i want to have is duel wilding pistols and a lot of pistol action is showing in RDR2 so I could definitely so how i should design my guns, see if recoil would look cool in game etc. 

A cool possible idea I may have is that in may game as time goes on you may change outfit to have a cool new design so I could have my character change into a full on cowboy outfit with the hat, jacket, trousers, boots and all. There are many way’s I could go about having my character change clothes during the game because I could have pick up items spawn in that once you walk over you change into that outfit, this uses of this could be that this is a power up doing things such as allowing to have more HP, stronger weapons or if I want I could just have because it looks cool and provides the player with a cool feature.

Code Monkey’s top down shooter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyx3EfqqfMw

A YouTube named ‘’code monkey’’ made a top down shooter and a really nice aspect I like about his game is the gun fire. The reason why i love the gun fire so much is because it’s extremely explosive when its shot as it releases a big flash of light and the bullets travel really smoothly. When I make my game I want to have princess [The chili girl] to shoot flame balls and in code monkey’s game he has a cool fire ball design that I might try and mimic. 

When you kill someone in this game it brings you a lot of satisfaction because blood splashes everywhere making you feel accomplished because there is an end result so if I try to implement this I will have to add green blood for plunkey and some fantasy colour for princess to keep it nice and PG.

Further Audience Discussion [ Pick three games and bullet point how they hit the same audience as my target audience]

Kirby: 

Gameplay of modern Kirby game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHntlksVFMI

Bright vibrant colours

nice colour combo’s 

the game has a lot going on in the scene and in gameplay keeping children focused

Very kid friendly as it’s not dark or have any blood, weapons etc it’s all kid friendly designed

Terraria: 

Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVj9N8OShAk

Electronic music makes children more focused on the game because of the intensity

Peaceful scenery that is aesthetically pleasing to look at

The music has so much going on 

Code Monkey’s top down shooter: 

Gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyx3EfqqfMw

Big flashes of light when gun shots are fired, this makes the game interesting to look at as much more is happening in the scene when this happens

Sparks from the fire ball, this adds some nice dim flames of red to the scene to keep the scene interesting, this keeps kids focused in the game and they wont loose attention due to the sparks.

The health bar the the enemies have and the player have keep players being cautious as they will know how weak they are. Players will also be more focused on killing enemies as they know how much HP everything has so they will be focusing on how to go about things.

What research are you implementing?

Recently I have been watching some YouTube vids on pixel art and refreshing my memory on how to do the basics like importing my pixel art, making flip books etc. I have also gone back and looked at how to set animations for certain movements like having a jumping animation for when my player jumps, having an idle animation etc.

Tools List:

Gimp, Pixel Studio for pixel art, unreal engine and asepirite 

Test Making Something

I have test made making some animations to get used to my new program called asepirite. With asepirite I can now make pixel art very efficiently with A LOT of helpful tools and settings. Another great feature is that I can make animations for my pixel art which is going to now allow me to start making a bunch of cool pixel art for my game.

This is one example ^^^

Weekly Reflection:

What went well? I have been completing all my Tumblr blog work making sure everything is up to date and I have downloaded some sources like GIMP, pixel studio for pixel art and asepirite to help me out with all the characters and animations. I also successfully managed to get some pixelated animations working that will look nice for my game.

Also whilst I have been searching for pixel art programs I also decided to watch some turtourials on the basics of pixel art becuase my pixel art skill is still not as good as I want it to be so I have been watching some videos to help provide me with some useful tips.

Here is 1 video that I watched:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1t0keLufMw

What could of gone better? I think that I definitely could of done some unreal engine work but I couldn't find anything for pixel art but I have now found a something to do pixel art with so hopefully I can start cracking down. Other than that my only other issue is some time management as I don't do things when I want to and should be doing the work when its set instead of waiting a couple of day’s however, I still complete my work befre the week has ended.

What are you planning to do next week? next week I want to really crack down on making my game because before this week I couldn't find anything to do my work on. But now I have something to do pixel art on I will try to do a lot of work on my game.

[aion-rsa]

The Secret Origin of Superman Smashes the Klan

https://ift.tt/35GYiuk

Superman Smashes the Klan may be set in 1946, but it's incredibly timely today.

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We currently live in a world where powerful bigots “fan the flames of a racial fire” instead of stoke violence with their savage racism. Where everything shy of uttering a racial slur in anger is merely “denounced by some as racist” or “racially charged.” So it’s easy to be concerned, when you hear about a new comic project about Superman taking on the Ku Kux Klan, that the story might be so slathered in euphemism as to be rendered entirely inert, even when it’s written by one of the sharpest minds in comics. So when we had a chance to talk with Gene Luen Yang about his new book, Superman Smashes the Klan, it was one of the first things we asked about. “I feel like we do go at it hard, but I also feel like modern storytelling sensibilities require more nuance than you can get away with in the 1940s,” Yang tells us. “You can't set up cardboard villains anymore. And while I'm not presenting that ideology as a good thing, I do hope that there is a little bit of humanity in the bad guys in our version.”

“Their version” is this new project, with art duo Gurihiru, updating a story from the classic The Adventures of Superman radio show, “Superman vs. the Clan of the Fiery Cross.” The original radio drama, available through Archive.org, was groundbreaking. Everyone knows that it was the Superman radio show that introduced Jimmy Olsen and Perry White and Kryptonite, but this is also the adventure that helped expose the real Klan. Stetson Kennedy was an author and human rights activist who had infiltrated the Klan back in the ‘40s. He worked with Drew Pearson, an NBC radio host, to name names in the Georgia KKK, and he connected with the producer of The Adventures of Superman, pitching the storyline that became “The Clan of the Fiery Cross.” 

They included secret information to break the mystique of the Klan, but most of the damage they did with Superman was through ridicule. The “Clan of the Fiery Cross” and its members were garbage. Superman called them garbage. Perry White called them garbage on the front page of the Daily Planet. Even the Klan’s own leader called his membership garbage at the end, mocking the members as rubes while he criticized the show’s villain for taking their racist schtick too seriously, instead of just fleecing the rank and file like he was supposed to. And the wild thing about this fearlessness from one of America’s greatest fictional heroes is that it worked. Klan recruiting actually dipped noticeably in the wake of “Clan of the Fiery Cross” broadcasts.

This was one of the first things that jumped to mind when Yang was meeting with Marie Javins, DC editor and all-time great comics colorist, about new projects. "This is one of the most important Superman stories and it's never been told in his native medium. It's never been told in comics,” he said to her. So he got to tell it.

read more: New DC Universe Timeline Explained

Joining him on the book is Gurihiru. The art duo (Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano) have worked with Yang before, on the generally outstanding comic expansions of the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe. Their style is much cleaner and cartoonier than what’s common in superhero books today. One might even say they skew more all-ages in their artwork, but what is “all-ages” as a descriptor of comic art than a way of saying that the art is more in line with the target audience of Superman back when the radio show was on. “Marie and I talked early on about how we wanted the art to look like a blend of manga and those old Fleischer Superman cartoons,” Yang said, “and I feel like Gurihiru has absolutely nailed that.” 

Part of their job was to punch up the action. The radio show was a lot of things, but one of the unfortunate descriptors might be “stationary.” Just by virtue of it being a radio program, there was a lot of time spent describing action to the listener, a lot of scenes that took place with dialogue and narration that worked well in radio, but would be a fundamental failure as a comic. “I think we give Superman a little bit more dynamism,” said Yang. “Gurihiru, they're amazing artists. [I] want to give them amazing action to draw.” So the Superman of Superman Smashes the Klan races down power lines, blasts the ground with his heat vision so hard it pushes him into the air, and shatters a wooden baseball bat with his barrel chest, instead of the static “So Superman flew to the river” scene changes of the radio program. “[Gurihiru was] my top choice for this project. As soon as Marie and I began solidifying the details of the project, I mentioned that I wanted to work with them again,” Yang says. “Every time I would get an email from them, whether it was with thumbnails attached, or with inks attached, or with colors attached, I was just astounded.”

read more: Batman/Superman and the Secrets of Evil DC Superheroes

Better action isn’t the only change to the story Yang and Gurihiru introduce. While the comic is set in 1946 just like the radio show, the creators make a couple of tweaks that make this new version really sing. The most significant is how they expand the roles of the Lee women. Dr. Lee is still the new chief bacteriologist at the Metropolis Health Department, living in a new Metropolis neighborhood with the rest of his Chinese-American immigrant family. Tommy is still the new hot starting pitcher for Jimmy Olsen’s Unity House baseball team (displacing Chuck Riggs, who ends up getting roped into the Klan by his uncle). But new to the cast is Tommy’s sister, Roberta, and Roberta and Tommy’s mother sees her role much expanded from just scenery in the radio drama to a pivotal character in the comic. The men are much more the public face of the immigrant experience. They speak English, join baseball teams, and work in local government. By contrast, Roberta gets homesick. Her mom talks about how wonderful Metropolis’ Chinatown is. And it’s through the Lee women that we see our best connection with Superman. 

Kal-El has always been a metaphor for the immigrant experience in America, and it’s Roberta who interacts with him the most in the first issue. She’s the one who finds Superman after her brother goes missing at the end of the issue, and she’s the one who tells Clark Kent her mother’s philosophy about new homes. It is the single best Clark Kent moment I’ve ever read in a comic, one that is so perfect I wouldn’t dare to spoil here, but it is simple and elegant in how it draws parallels between Superman’s experience and the Lee’s, and one that lampshades his secret identity as a reporter beautifully. This was no happy accident. “By playing Superman, who is an immigrant, against the daughter of immigrants, I felt like I was really able to bring that out,” Yang told us. “I was able to explore something that I've been wanting to explore since I started working on the character.”

read more: Inside the Return of the Justice Society of America to the DC Universe

And while these changes take an already great Superman story from the radio program and turn it into one of the best Superman comics of recent years, Yang tells us that the frame was always there. “I listened to parts of it with my 12 year old daughter, and I thought that she would be like, ‘Oh, can we please listen to something else?’ But she was really caught up by that story,” he says. “She would ask for the next episode, even when I wasn't ready to listen to it. I'd be still taking notes on the first episode, and she'd be like, ‘Let's listen to the next one.’ So I think the spine of the story, the bones of the story are all there, you know? That's one of the reasons why we just kept all the bones.”

The end result, at least after the first issue, is a book Yang seems destined to have made. Superman Smashes the Klan brings Superman back to his immigrant roots, makes him a source of inspiration for working immigrant Metropolitans; their overwhelmed kids; and the scared but ultimately good kids of the rotten Klan adults as well. But Yang’s also bringing Superman back around - he’s had a go at the character once before. As the New 52 was winding down, DC tried some radical changes to their characters. Batman became Jim Gordon, Wonder Woman stopped being Diana, Robin turned into an Occupy flash mob, and Superman lost his powers and his cape and went back to a t-shirt and jeans. “Early on in that ten issue run on Superman in the Prime Universe, I wanted to explore his immigrant side,” Yang says. “The fact that he's actually from this other culture and, in a lot of ways, he has to navigate between Kryptonian and American culture. I feel like I didn't get to really do that there, and I get to do that now. I get to do that in Superman Smashes the Klan.”

He does it exceptionally well.

Superman Smashes the Klan is on sale now.

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Feature Jim Dandy

Oct 16, 2019

Superman

DC Entertainment

from Books https://ift.tt/35GalIo