#might actually do some real designs
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obsessed with whatever tf this interaction was
#i don't have designs for these two and i did not use references#that's my disclaimer#might actually do some real designs#could be fun#i need to catch up on scars pov i've only seen the first one lol#how do you tag these guys#i hate tagging rn#wild life smp#grian fanart#goodtimeswithscar fanart#gtws fanart#trafficblr#desert duo#skribbles
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Have you ever considered the idea of drawing your favorite Hades characters in your own style, or do you think they are wonderful as they are drawn?
... y'all asking me to draw Hades AU stuff? ( •̀ᴗ-)
#ok real answer tho i think they're honestly perfect the way they're drawn hahaha#i've actually done and am doing art studies of the hades' art style#i have more to learn from them than to contribute#every character design is peak#but might mean some fanart will be on the way sometime ;3#hades game#hades#ama#ask me anything#anon ama#anon ask me anything
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souma for @ophanem’s diner shuffle!
was thinking of a unit name for them and (with the help of a friend) came up with “Soda☆pop!” and maybe the event name would be like Vibrant Flavors → Colorful Start! or smth like that but anyway here u go :D
#souma kanzaki#enstars#ensemble stars#neptunite's doodles#diner shuffle#the pose for this actually decimated me it took me the entire day and also half of yesterday to do this illustration aslkdufahskjdfh#i rly rly love how he turned out tho!!!! hehe the lil bun too#and the hairclips and stickers on the roller skates heheh#anyway i like. barely took a break on this whoops ahah#i did take a shower tho and it felt wonderful#i thought id be done like. 30 mins ago. but here i am dancing with my rainbow wig and red nose#i am a fool for thinking i wouldnt take longer skjdfjk#i have some designs for the other stickers on his otehr shoe but yeah#there was another illust of him that i wanted to do but. no#i might draw the graffiti shuffle. but im so tired rn#also i have so much homework to do and i did NONE of it today#i should go to sleep soon#goodbye askdjfh#ok but like soumas hair is soooo easy to draw#ok bye for real now
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straight up not respecting some of the alleged p2 characters' ages as they were given on the VA's papers bc you're telling me this is a 27yo man on the left & a 35(!)yo woman on the right? you jest. this woman is in her 20s at most. she doesn't have a wrinkle of age on her face. just worry. i know men age like milk this is taking the piss. i know patho 2 is the "hot blemishless 20something white(-passing) women" game but at this point own it. don't try lying to me. she doesn't look a day past 29. got friends below 25 with more winkles. in the first half of the 20th century too. where would she be getting her anti-aging serums.
you're telling me this woman who's a chronic worrier, dealing with chronic pain, who smokes like a locomotive to cope is allegedly 5 years Older than this guy who's been drinking himself to sleep for like 5 years.
(mike's mic voice) don't piss me off
#alledged(?) VA papers? would love to have a peep. might go wander VK if i can make the trek#sorry for getting heated over p2 yulia again. it's no secret i vastly prefer her design in p1#but this is aggravating. chrewly.#i know why that is. i knooooowwww why that is. it's because people in the team (coughs) (coughs) & in Media in general cannaeeeeee stand to#create women who actually look over 25. even women who are supposed to be older.#which while a media Trope/problem across media and genre it's not helped with a certain writer's. hmmm. alleged proclivities.#i would respect her being 35 if you have her to me looking 35. her skin is as smooth as 10 yrs younger Lara with one (1) slit#between the brows that just seems to come from her being a thinker & a worrier. nuh-uh!#ah hell naw!!!#i'm profoundly a p1 ages truther except for most of the kids + rubin. i know men age like milk but that guy is Not 23.#also p2 27yo daniil vs 30yo twins They Have Naht met at first year uni with that timeline. & it is important for me that they do.#most of the kids being averaged to ~15 real to me though. we all been here.#neigh (blabbers)#some of the ages on it make no sense [not just yulia but also like. aspity. who looks like a 20something & is actually ageless/5yo]#& while i can guess it's for like The Vibes / voice acting direction i assume it would make more sense to give the actual age & then add#like context to why they would sound older because that's something you might(?) need to know... would really want to see that with my eyes
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I was just thinking what a cool job this might be.. what if you were just the person who makes little still images of cute animal figurines doing various activities to post on social media...? like.. show up to work and just spend the whole day like "hmm... this table should be placed to the left a little.. let me set this miniature bagel down in this way... this tiny rabbit should be wearing a scarf", setting the backgrounds, the lighting, etc. ... dream job perhaps lol...
#I'm sure it probably doesnt pay much lol#but.. maybe in some ideal world..#with my health and mental conditions and level of functioning there are VERY few Jobs I could actually EVER manage aside from#just being self employed and being able to set my own hours somehow etc... But every once in a while I come across something like this#and it's like... hrmm.... Yes... perhaps if I could align myself in this hyper specific scenario under hyper specific conditions in a#precise and predictable way and everything worked out perfectly and I had all the accomodations I might need.. maybe I could#do THAT thing then .. lol#Not just generally a 'social media manager' or something. I think that would drive me into the throes of madness#but SPECIFICALLY 'person who makes the images for the calico critters social media' and also#the place i have to go to do that is either my home or within walking distance of my home and also i rarely have to interact#with others aside from the posts probably going through some approval process and initial ideas where they tell me what#type of scene to make and also i somehow make $90.000 a year doing this for only 4 days a week with frequent sick breaks#dreamy sigh and so on and so forth and such and so on#ANYWAY........#the idea of meticulously placing little pastries and miniature crayons and stuff around all day until the scene is perfectly crafted.. SO#SO so appealing to me... like designing environments in the sims except it's real and tangible.. And also imagine having access#to the FULL library of miniature items. to me that would be just as good as owning them#Like.. I get to use them and make little scenes with them and hold them and stare at them and everything except also#they're all kept at work so I don't have boxes of clutter filling home.#unlimited access to every little miniature food ever crafted yet none of the downsides (purchase cost and storage)#etc. etc. ANYWAY ...#Chuckling confidently as I add this onto the 'List Of ''Real'' Jobs I Could Do' which is just a notebook sheet of paper with only like 5#other similarly unlikely hyperspecific scenarios scribbled down
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poäng appreciation post 💛
#i forget if i said but Baby Sister and i stopped off at ikea on the way back from picking her up at the bus stop on monday#and finally replaced the ruined-by-a-succession-of-cats-(in-ways-both-unsightly-and-gross) Accent Chair in the living room#with a poäng rocker (bc the shape is a little more interesting and less instantly recognizable than the regular chair) in birch (my beloved#also they make fancy tufted cushions for it now! wish they came in more colors but it's a real improvement on sad options past#and anyway it's like. now you can actually sit here in the morning and look out the window at the extremely beautiful view#and the chair actually supports you??? like i could see down the road trying to work out some kind of custom cushioning that's thicker#but the shape of the frame is so ergonomic for me that it's genuinely quite comfortable regardless. bentwood exocorset…#anyway. not a very original post but i just DO really love ikea#like yes it's a mixed bag but also honestly if you're buying particle board—#(i was going to say 'and expecting it to hold up' but. honestly i think it's just. if you're buying particle board period)#—that might be on you.#(like. if you're being pressed in from all sides by budget constraints and immediate need and no accessible better-made used alternatives—#obviously you do what you have to. but it's like buying pleather—you know‚ or should‚ that the material is going to disintegrate.)#but the things ikea makes with decent materials are remarkably well-designed and affordable for what they are‚ has been my sense?#you just gotta shop carefully but like. that's true literally everywhere.#anyway. in conclusion i love my new buddy with its clean lines. …do people name chairs ever.#i've never before had the urge but this one feels like a little assembly-line friend that deserves its own identity. like a star wars clone#(lol what if i gave it a little nametag somewhere hidden. secret identity talisman 4 chairpal.)#(& yes i promise i'm as aware of the‚ uh‚ itself-ness of this tag spiral as you are. :) )#domesticities
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the really beautiful landscape/skyscape animation in makoto shinkai's works tends to be the big thing i see focused on and that is understandable and deserved like the weather and lighting effects are unREAL but i do think we should also appreciate how absolute insane the plotlines of his original movies get. at least two movies with in universe catastrophes with major ecological implications. the guns and explosions. theres that one movie i havent seen yet with the guy who turns into a chair (?)
#just watched weathering with you. it was really good. REALLY good#i remember when it came out people were saying it was better than your name. but now it seems the general opinion switched?#your name changed my brain chemistry and outlook on life. i think weathering with you may do the same#so to me i think they're like on pare with eachother. i dont know if i can choose which is my fav now LOL#they are sisters to me..... sisters to me...... quick review below watch out for spoilers#i dont think i'll be too detailed but i do also just recommend watching it its a great movie#I DID like the soundtrack in your name a BIT better like the score had a few more hooks for me and i loved all the insert songs#while in wwy i liked the last three inserts but the first couple didnt really grab me. but its all radwimps so its all good LOL#the side characters in wwy were so good tho like i loved all the cast so much#of course i adored the main characters of your name and wwy both. but the side cast in wwy ruled i think i'll remember them for a long time#the taki jumpscare was also great. my boy was here. my boy was here. just for a minute#i also adored how unhinged the main character of wwy was. hodaka was like. a bit unwell? HJKDJHKFD i thought it was great#weird and quiet but desperately a bit violent in a way that i think was very relatable#i also loved the like. message? sorry that sounds sappy but i liked that like the story was kind of like#coming to hina who is working so hard and forced by herself and circumstance to grow up so early and sacrifice so much#and grabbing her by the shoulders and telling her YOU CAN LIVE!!! YOU CAN HAVE FUN!!! ITS OKAY!!!!!!#i think it was so sweet and such a strong sentiment. wonderful movie. also there was guns and i was so scared#i think that might actually by why i love how high stakes the plots get in these movies like the character design and personalities are so#real and down to earth so when you go to the beautiful planetary skyscapes and also the exploding vehicals you get like so in awe or scared#it does also make me laugh tho now thinking about the your name nendos. you can just barely make nendos of them. you cannot make a nendo of#hodaka. hina maybe. but not hodaka. he is. some guy. the most some guy. visually at least. mentally hes got. something happening <3#loved him so much. hes normal. hes normal. oh they did make some popup parades thats cute#altho it is a bit funny looking. that is just like two normal teenagers JHKLDSHKFDLSafdjksd#anyway next up i'll probably watch the chair movie. ive heard a couple songs from it and they were pretty good so im excited#it also makes me realize i need to watch more of his back catalogue other than 5cm.... he has way more movies than i remembered#i hope someday he gets to make the yuri movie he wanted to. it would be unreal. huge beautiful skys. ecological disasters. girls kissing#oh i hope he gets to do it one day..... one day.....#EDIT: WAIT THEY DID MAKE A NENDO OF HODAKA AND HINA.... LIKE FULL NENDOS NOT EVEN PETITE.....#HODAKA REALLY DOES JUST LOOK LIKE SOME DUDE.... AWESOME
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pinterest keeps shoving ai images down my throat so im about to start stealing the character designs out of spite
so to be clear i hope this goes without saying if i see you pushing ai art on here you're getting a hard block
#'some people use ai to make art of their own ocs!' i literally do not care#and all of the ones im seeing rn are clearly based on the same prompt so i doubt it thats the case here#'this is stealing someone else's style from somewhere so be careful you might be stealing from a real artist!' even then#thats more about the style than the actual design so im still not worried about it
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I <3 transmasc Wendy because it adds another thing to the kid who does not know how to handle anything being thrown into everything pile but instead of a thing like dead sister it's the prospect that he kind of likes having short hair and the idea of being a guy and it still makes him feel like the world is ending until suddenly the ppl around him are just like fine with it and everything is like cool actually and he melts over that too until finally he's just a normal baby trans person and can get back to being bad at coping with his other hashtag issues again
#rat rambles#starve posting#like I do have dead serious wendy trans thoughts tm even some that actually relate to his quotes high bar I know gkfndkd#its just so fun reading him as a trans egg thats one breakdown away from being smashed#and also gives me some yummy tasty thoughts abt both wendy and abby and the inivertable fact that as time goes on the only remnant of#abby's face is going to shift and change more until it can no longer even be a reminder of what was lost#which must be a Horrifying idea to wendy even if chances are he hasn't rly internalized this concept yet#and for abby especially if you're like me and go for a more silhouette style ghost design for her youve gotta imagine how fucky it is to#watch your twin grow up and change in ways you never will#Im also a agender abby who will likely never realize believer because shes just like younger me fr#like shes low key just me as a little kid but without the anxiety disorder#anyways back to the topic of wendy genderism Im honestly surprised Ive never seen a he/him wendy hc before#Im not surprised at not finding any trans guy wendys but there rly isnt much variety in nonbinary wendys despite it being fairly common#I just like trans guy wendy cause he gives me those vibes#its the weird little girl to cringe fail trans man pipeline or smth idk#give him a couple years eventually he'll be a grimy lil freak of a teenage boy#if abby didnt die and knew abt gender stuff itd still take her 30 years minimum to even consider she might be not a girl maybe#not because she's hard in denial abt gender stuff shes just is in the classic headspace of 'well I dont Think I care so I must be cis ig'#same with my aro abby hcs but walter is super not helping#as Ive said before they are aro echo chamber besties dont try to tell them romance is real they will not believe you#hey better then whateve the fuck wendy would have to go through if one of the trans men around him offered solidarity#I would rather die than get advice from wilson are you kidding me#the only somewhat normal trans guy there is warly but hes french so it cancels out
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i might for funsies do some drr redubs for practice heehee (i'm a voice actor but just as a hobby rn) cuz my voice droppes because of the T so i need to practice- i dont JUST use my normal speaking voice (i lowkey NEVER do lmfao) but i totally change my voice, so i need to practice doing that with my larynx as different as it is
#anyway yea!!!#wa lore plus contentttt#if im an acceptable izaya i might do funny little dubs of fan content#bar none the FUNNIEST thing that happened with my little VA shenanigans:#so i wwnt to NYCC back in 2019 and i went as zim#and id do my little zim voice#(whixh accordjng to the shows character designer didnt sound identical in the voice department#but was FLAWLESS with the inflections)#(that was pre T tho so idk it might sound better now)#ANYWAY someone complimented me on my cosplay#and i thanked him in my zim voice#and we had a short convo till he complimented my zin voice#and i switched to my REAL VOICE to say 'oh thank you!! :)'#and when i tell u this guys eyes BUGGED out of his head#he did NOT believe that my real voice was actually my real voice#OH ALSO i had some friends i did comic dubs for for funsies#but then i realized they ONLY heard my va stuff and not my real voice#so i sent them a clip of it and they were like holy shit goddamn#ANYWAY YEEAAAAAAA i like doing it :)#waposts
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(About the Alice in borderland) So I'm not the only one who thought so! I had read the manga before the season 2 came out and when I saw this arc, I wondered how they would cover the guy up. Everytime I thought that surely, they won't really put him naked, that would be too hard to cover... well imagine my surprise when watching the episode. Btw are you enjoying the new season so far?
uh spoilers i guess since its only been out for like a day but i'm already finished?
i don't like it as much as the first season, tbh. i kinda zoned out in the middle and don't remember what happened, which makes me think there was something up with the pacing. but also maybe i don't think you're supposed to watch an entire season of television in one sitting and while you're making jam, so maybe it was a me issue. what i liked about the first season is that they were able to disguise the fact that it is based on a manga relatively well when adapting the visual design. there are some visual design conventions that are common in manga character design that when adapted to live action just do not make sense logistically, and so it can be really obvious when you're watching something that has been adapted. i don't usually have a problem with that kind of thing, bc it usually happens in places where you would expect there to be whack ass clothing, so the fact that it looks weird isn't going to break immersion (ie like the fma adaptions etc). but i found the second season had way more trouble due to just the absurdity of some of the characters, especially with the return niragi. normally i don't really give a shit about weird costuming, but his post burns look is just. well. i thought he looked like someone airdropped in an anime character in the first season and i think it even more for this season. idk, i don't really think that it's a problem per se, it just took me out of it enough to remind me that it's an adaptation of a different media form and i think i would have preferred them to have been more uniform in adapting the character designs across the board at the expense of one being less 'canon' accurate, as opposed to having one that stands out very strongly despite looking 'accurate'.
#excessive bandages will literally give everything away like do you know how annoying those are in real life#its really easy to make your designs look uniform when you are drawing everything#but its much harder to do so for real life when youre bound by physics and people's perceptions of like. how clothes work#idk the whole premise of the show is already crazy so like. is some unrealistically half burned guy really a problem? not really#there's sky death lasers#the other thing is that i watch like ZERO japanese tv so my familiarity with the visual conventions is really low#and most of the stuff i have seen is adaptations in the first place#so this might be a case of 'guy who just watched boss baby: getting a lot of boss baby vibes from this'#alice in borderland#non kpop questions#i did actually really like the ending though. which i did not expect#i was a bit iffy on it for the first 20ish minutes of the episode and then as it went i warmed up#text#answers#also you will LAUGH at how long it took me to realize the main characters are literally named alice and rabbit#my brain was turned OFF lksdfjsldkfjds#actually i zoned out in the beginning as well i tuned out of the king of clubs game bc it was just waaaay too long#i beat several grandmaster games of solitaire during that episode lsldfjsdljf
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okay but in an academic setting this is still probably considered self plagiarism and is still against academic integrity policies. of course if you posted the art to your website AFTER submitting it for class that would be fine, but pulling something you previously wrote/created to submit for an assigment instead of doing the assignment fresh for that specific class is actually still considered plagiarism. Obviously it is a clearer issue if you have already submitted it to a different class and are re-using it. but if it is previously published somewhere, like your website, you are going to get into trouble. For the same reason, dont submit a blog post you wrote that kind of works for a class essay prompt. any plagiarism software will find the blog post and flag that and it will still be considered plagiarism. If you really want to engage with something you already made, the most you can do is cite yourself, but in terms of academic integrity policies you are supposed to be creating something completely new for all assignments.
#the only real exception i can think of is a dissertation or thesis because that is treated more like what i think maybe an art portfolio#would be?#like if you are turning in a portfolio of your work at the end of your program#obviously it is all stuff you previously did#and often for writing you will be encouraged to develop your thesis chapters during your coursework if you can#and that is more considered part of the revision/feedback process#but similar to a portfolio a thesis is supposed to be the culmination of all the research you did in your program#look i am salty about self plagiarism rn#because i work on a peer reviewed publication#and the number of academics submitting previously published work to us#is staggering#like i cannotttt believe it#and some of them just really do not understand why self plagiarism is a problem#so like if we can get people at the student level to actually understand it#maybe! my job would be easier got dam#in the publication setting some of the issue is copyright related#but a lot of it is just in order to be seen as a relevant academic publication you have to be#publishing NEW research not just recycling stuff people have already read elsewhere#from the student/prof aspect tho the issue is more that the purpose of the class is for you to be practicing certain skills#and if you are not creating something NEW for your assignment#you arent actually getting that practice#and you probably wont actually be fulfilling the assignment prompt either even if you THINK it is close enough#like profs design prompts very carefully to guide you towards practicing certain skills#so something you did previously just on your own might somewhat fit the theme of the assignment but likely wont#fulfill the entire rubric#like i know surface level it self plagiarism seems like a stupid concept#but there are actually practical reasons why it is not acceptable in many different settings
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just did the Talk abt changing my name in November w my family 😬
#been anxious abt that for a few days. ive been going w my new name for abt a year now w friends and at university#my family has known it for a few months. but i think when it gets Official TM it might get difficult for them again#especially for my parents who named me. now that it's getting Real they might have a negative reaction#i plan on getting my deadname tattooed. i actually do rly like it and i know why and how my parents chose it#and i do want to honor that. i just don't feel comfortable having the name#so ive been designing a tattoo (im not an artist i just do whatever lol) w my deadname handwritten by my parents and some other lil symbols#connected to my hometown and to old me who managed to survive and push through to allow me the life i have now#i wanna honor all of that. i think ill get the tattoo in red ink. this will be my first tattoo#not fandom related#personal log stardate#trans stuff
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Recent game related things .. hrmm...
#I do like the inconsistency of the first map. that is actually something older but that I re-found and added to my Game Reference stuff#so that when characters reference where they're from I can be accurate. I like that the whole map is kind of shifted up that way. Where the#actual south part doesnt even count as the south since its Too Far and Scary lol. and if you say you're from 'the north' thats basically#like.. one single continent. Though some people do make distinctions like 'north midlands' or etc. still. I like the ways that common#language isn't always precisely accurate like that. and thinking about why a culture would classify things a certain way or etc. etc.#The inventory page is so funny to me because it's literally just the BASe like.. sample layout just to make sure it works properly with 0#actual design into it. just colored rectangles thrown together in MS paint. but what if I like... left it like that.. what if all the other#art in the game and UI is like stylized and fully matching BUT the inventory/journal/etc. screens I just left as plain colored blocks#with random misalignments and black spots and etc gjhbhjj... It looks unfinished in a Funny Contrast way to me.#the wordcounts are just like... my past few days of writing.. I am still not getting 2200 words a day done or whatever I needed. I'm lucky#if it's even half of that .... tee hee.. :3c I do also keep having appointments and other things going on but..grrr...#The full map of the area is probably not necessary but I thought it would be more realisitc if people were able to reference things. Like i#you have people all living in a city area probably at some point someone might mention a neighboring city or some landmark nearby#or etc. so I thought having at least the basic names of what's around for reference would be sensible. A side character mentioning#'oh yeah I don't live here full time I just travel from Marisene sometimes' or whatever makes it seem more like a Real#Fleshed Out Place than people just making vague references like 'the river' or 'i come from a city nearby' or 'i went to a place somewhere#around here' or 'the other city' or etc. lol.. Especially since global cities/global areas are weird as they operate almost like an#independent country within their walls. so it's like a micro country inside of another country usually. just plopped down in some agreed#upon plot of land that won't be too disruptive to the main country around it. That could get very complex depending on the cultural and#political backdrop of where they're placed (though obviously they try to choose the 'easiest' areas possible for it). Asen is a very mild#country without much history of conflict or anything so it's fine. But still interesting that Sifeh and the entire branched out global area#border three other districts of Asen. Which means like 3 times the local representitives you'l have to negotiate with for some major change#or anything. I think one of the 'random characters you can find around the world and have short discussions with just to make the area#feel more populated and real even though theyre not actual important npcs' is going to be a guy who actually serves on the council that#handles running the global areas and he's like.. some perpetually exhausted middle aged elf running around with a clipboard or whatever#ANYWAY...... hrgh... still trying to write when I can....#I WISH so badly that I had the scope for a simple character creation menu and all character interactions would allot for the background#of your player character. And also to have a simple day night cycle where places in the world you explore/people you talk to during the day#have new options or dialogue at night.. BUT alas... I already am so behind on everything as is lol.. aughhh... T o T#As the worlds number one Needless Detail And Complexity Enjoyer i must dilligently prevent myself from adding additional complexity
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I kind of created a lmk oc so ill just explain the basics of her premisse? I guess?
So, her name is Lian and she used to have visions of glowing eyes looking at her from the dark when she was younger, had terrifying nightmare that she could barely remember. But besides that, she was a normal child and, as she grew up, the nightmares started to go away and she wouldnt always see eyes and smiles in the corner of her room.
Everything was fine.
That changes though, when Lian decides to leave her home town to live in Metropolis and learns about the strange but somehow familiar man that is running for mayor of the city. She can't explain it, but the man just reminds her of the terrifying things that creeped in her child bedroom. It doesn't help that the old, almost childish nightmares come back clearer than ever and that the dark seems scarier than usual. Now she realizes that her fears as a child might not have been truly irrational and that maybe it might be coming for her.
#Im going to sleep#Im tired#Idk if this makes sens ebut yeah#I like Lian#Might do a thing about her idk#Hvent really figures out her design yet#Fun fact:#She likes photography!#I think she initially started taking photos just to reasure herself that the things she was eeing were not real through the photos#But eventually found pleasure in taking them outside of that context#Maybe her photos starts to actually show some of the stuff she sees at some point?#Idk#might delete idk#Like i said im tured
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okay... let me start off with "I'm sorry" because I lied and I'm bored, gave H*llavu B*ss a go because my feed is full of it and HH now and I have no impulse control and I also can't leave things unfinished. And HB is free on youtube; I can technically pirate hh but I don't want to be in that much effort for that...
And like, I think it's the same as I feel about that one song from HH. It's not that great, though I guess I can see why people like it? But in a "I don't think you people ever moved past deviant art era plot and art". Which, to be nice, isn't bad by itself but objectively speaking, there is better media and stories out there. All in all, I'm giving it a 2.5/10; I think the best way to summarize HB is that it's a show made for people who were already in love with it before watching it, not a show that tries to win over its audience.
Plot
It is episodic, so I will admit that plot isn't that big of a factor in the series. But I will say that it loses sight of its premise pretty fast. Like, it's advertised and set up as a "wacky hijinks in a found family assassination business", but after the first few episodes or so, it stops showing them doing work/killing people and how they go about that, and focuses more on what happens around or outside of work. For example, ep 6 and 7 just doesn't even show them working and skips straight to the aftermath and what they're going to do after work. The Spring Break episode does show them working, but it glosses over it; IMP is more like a plot device than a premise. Ep 2 straight up has them doing other stuff (aka bodyguarding, something that is explicitly said to be not a service IMP offers). Fuck it, even the Harvest Moon Festival ep is not work-related. For a show that is supposedly centered on IMP and the main cast killing humans on behalf of sinners with a grudge, it doesn't actually interact or play with that concept. And I think it basically drops completely out of focus in Season 2.
And like, I can understand if the show wants to make it more about character dynamics than the business, but the pilot (and ep 1 kind of) promises to explore that *through* IMP work. And that leads into the next big problem with HB
Character
I feel like everyone except Blitzo is underdeveloped, especially the women in the show. We get a lot of insight into Blitzo's motivations and emotional baggage and how he copes with that in unhealthy and asshole-y ways. But literally everyone else is kind of thrown under the bus unless it's relevant to Blitzo. The only character that kind of escapes this treatment (but not wholly) is Moxxie.
But Millie is only defined by how she's Moxxie's wife, and basically nothing else. Loona-- does have some more characterization than Millie, but her biggest-- and basically only-- role in the show is being Blitzo's difficult adopted daughter; her character arc about idk getting more in-touch with her feelings and being more expressive is centered around how she feels about Blitzo. And then the side characters: Octavia and Stella. Octavia is also about being a daughter to her father, and that's kind of it! Even though she's struggling with her parents' (incoming) divorce, she's only shown to be interacting/having an emotional connection with Stolas; Stella is never in the picture. Stella is-- just a major bitch, and that's it. That's all she has to her character.
But Octavia and Stella are side characters, so I can accept them having pretty flat personalities, but Millie and Loona? Those two are part of the main fucking cast. How are they being sidelined this hard??
I think a lot of the show revolves around Blitzo, so if the characters don't matter to him or don't bounce off well with him, they kind of get shafted by the writing. Like Millie. She is just generally so easygoing with Blitzo's antics that there's nothing for Blitzo to really react to there, so she's just essentially a background character.
Speaking of, almost all the characters and relationships are kind of built to parallel Blitzo and Stolitz (we'll get to this ship in a minute). Like, Moxxie is supposed to be a nice foil to Blitzo because they're both afraid of rejection, but they deal with that in opposite ways; Moxxie is polite, professional, no backbone because he doesn't want confrontation lest it lead to rejection whereas Blitzo is crass and a dick about everything so he can push people away before they reject/hurt him. And they both want to be loved, but Moxxie has a healthy relationship with Millie whereas Blitzo has no such thing in his life, so another contrast. And also daddy issues.
This is okay on its own. It makes a compelling dynamic between Blitzo as a boss and friend to Moxxie.
But then they do this for almost every character?? Loona (basically) has daddy issues and can't express herself that well because she's under-socialized and Trauma, Octavia is a daddy's girl and is too emo to communicate her feelings, Stolas has daddy issues and also communication issues, Fizzarolli has daddy issues (when he doesn't need to???)
And then there's the fact that it feels like the other relationships we see are supposed to work as parallels/foils to Stolitz as well? Moxxie and Millie and happy and healthy and committed, unlike Stolitz. Fizz and Asmodeus manage to work around that class disparity/power imbalance because they can communicate with each other, unlike Stoliz. They kind of just function as a "this is what Stolitz could be if they got over themselves and talked"
And generational trauma and the desire to be loved can be a major and shared theme, but there should at least be nuance between each representation of it?? These are literally all the same in that it boils down to "I don't know how to ask for proper intimacy".
Ships
There's only one main ship and it's Stolitz, and... I find it compelling?? But it's just not executed well enough. They just rush through the development, so when the show actually reveals that there's mutual attraction, it just feels like it comes out of nowhere and the audience has to do a lot of the legwork to figure out what the fuck happened from point a to point b.
It's also like, it steals a lot of attention from other aspects of the show. I feel like a lot of Season 2 episodes kind of focuses more on that relationship in favor of other characters who need screen time and development (like Millie)
I could give a really long analysis on Stolitz, but I'm just going to say that the problem kind of just boils down to the show doesn't sell that they actually feel genuine affection for each other. I can see them projecting their own emotional baggage onto the other and using each other, but there's no transition from the transactional relationship they have in the beginning to liking each other as people. In fact, I don't think they even know each other outside of sex and work. Which is bad. Because I can buy them fucking up communicating their wants and thus settling for fucking each other for "professional" reasons, but if the show really wants to sell this ship, there has to be something genuine between them that draws them to each other.
Which is to say, Stolitz is a ship for people who already love and want the ship, not for people who are just There. As in, the show seems to make the assumption that the audience wants this ship to happen and that the ship will happen, so they don't really take the time to establish a solid foundation and growth arc for it. It just feels like big emotional or romantic moments without the actual necessary context to make it work. Which is just a problem for the general show.
Pacing
It's bad. It's so bad. I can understand leaving arcs unresolved for a bit so that there's suspense or whatever, but they keep adding more arcs and problems while leaving unfinished plotlines unfinished. Only to then resolve it super quickly. Like ??????? It's all so cramped and rushed-- but then they sometimes slow it down in the worst way possible in that it just kind of ignores previous developments for a one-off episode or something (like S2 Ep 2 where they just ignore the Stolitz drama for wacky adventure in the human world and Stolas and Blitzo are just acting like nothing wrong happened). (And I Know! I know they showed details in the background that explain that this happens because both of them are ignoring the problem, but even so, they shouldn't be acting so casual with each other; it should be made more clear that they're both still uncomfortable but *acting*) (and something that changes the relationship should be shown to the audience clearly? Not just put in as "blink and you'll miss it" text messages??)
And sometimes this rushed pacing leads to info-dumps or telling, not showing. Like with Stolas' focus episode where we learn his backstory. It's not super bad, but it weakens the impact of big plot moments; we just hear Stolas saying he endured his loveless marriage for his daughter, but we. never really see that...? The times he's with her when she's a child doesn't count because Stella's not a picture in that. The one time we kind of see something related to this statement is when Stella's kind of being loud in the kitchen and he checks in on her sleeping peacefully, but like. That's not really and example of him enduring Stella's temper and insults for Octavia's sake. He hasn't even seen Stella at all before he drops by Octavia's room. The next time is when Stella is throwing an imp at him in the kitchen and Stolas is trying to be... nice? reasonable? But at this point, I think it's clear to Octavia that her parents don't love each other. And even then, we never really see him paying attention to her or expressing concern about what Octavia might think or feel during the fight, or trying to reassure her that this is just a normal spat between married couples afterwards as damage control. We can just take his word for it, but it's just not as powerful. I'd say the same goes for when we learn about Moxxie and his father/traumatic childhood. Would've been great to see how he struggles with that specifically or had more clues to that before we see him completely resolve to stand up to his father.
It just feels like the show itself expects the audience to be completely in love with it, so it doesn't really bother to develop its world or characters until Big Emotional Moments and at that point, it just gives the necessary context to pull it off real fast, so everything just feels so... compact and dense and not very natural. It's not trying to sell itself to a new audience, it's catering to an audience that's been supporting them since the pilot.
#can't say much about the character designs bc I'm going to be honest. i'm not that good at doing it#and i have low standards. my thoughts are literally 'they certainly Look' and that's it. I go 'that's an imp. that's a hellhound. okie'#they don't make me go 'wooowww amazing design' but they don't make me go 'that's horrible and lame'#best i can describe my feelings is that the designs just rank as mediocre to me. there's nothing really original or inspiring about them#but there's nothing i can say is particularly like. blasphemous or atrocious#and the songs.#they're okay?#there's some that i like and some that i don't and other where i'm like 'i guess it's good? objectively? but it's not really my taste?'#like. they fucking got a broadway singer?!?! and Jafar from aladin?????? that's fucking wild to me#but i don't actually care for the songs as much as i care about the writing#and the writing is.... bad. there's no other way to put it#I can see the potential. but on god. they need to slow things down and let things develop naturally#or take the time to put their scripts through another round or two of editing#but i can kind of see why people like it. it's like. middle school era catnip#but also so much stuff about characters and worldbuilding that's left untouched or unaddressed#it might as well be free real estate for fanfic/fanart#but for me at least. it's too poor quality that i can't even feel inspired to play around with it#there's nothing of substance there to even play with. you might as well just write your own version of hb
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