#im afraid to actually trying to start something bigger and more meaningful

[errantmountain]

him...

there is a high chance I will delete it in the morning but it can stay for now...

#my art #its been so long since i enjoyed the process... #well anyway #its difficult to actually find enjoyment in the drawing process for me. i dunno why #most of the times i get frustrated easily and very early on and quit drawing almost immediately #and if I do draw something it ends up as just a sketch or with some basic coloring #im afraid to actually trying to start something bigger and more meaningful #ill try to focus on how to actually enjoy drawing and maybe then... #good luck to all those creaters who are struggling with their works atm im feeling y'all

[imagineyourstars]

Could I request headcanons on how Trickstar + Izumi and Chiaki would react to finding their s/o crying?, thank you!!

im crying it’s been,,, a while,,, since i posted a request,,, i’ve updated the request count in the blog’s description ! i’m going to be busy for a while lmao ! next up are some scenarios, namely a birthday request (i’m so late,,,,) and something summer-themed so they get priority ! in the meantime have some ANGST - mod mademoiselle

Subaru :

He’d be really confused, as in, he has absolutely noclue what he should be doing ??

He knows it’s a bit childish and selfish, but he wantsnothing more than you getting better and smiling again ! The quicker, thebetter ! He’ll try to make you laugh or to entertain you, hoping it’s only arough patch and that you’ll get better soon…

His number one strategy is to take you out to dosomething fun, he hopes it will help you move on and focus on the good thingsin life !

He genuinely doesn’t understand sadness, and his s/ocould get fed up at that if they’re the type who gets sad often. It’s like he’sconvinced you can just wave off the negative thoughts and smile again. He won’tever admit it, but he’s very much afraid you’re going to get tired of hisendless optimism and dump him.

Sometimes, he’s at a loss for words and just silently staysby your side, handing you tissues. He just prays you won’t hate himfor it…

Hokuto :

Calm and level-headed Hokuto got you covered. He’sgoing to sit with you, hand you his handkerchief and comfort you.

His voice is gentle and soft, and it makes you feel abit more relaxed. He knows a few breathing exercises he practices to avoidhaving stage fright, and he’ll make you do them. Only once do you feel a bitbetter will he move on to what matters most to him.

He wants to understand you. He’ll gently askwhat made you so sad, examine the situation and try to figure out a logicalsolution. Sometimes he may seem a bit insensitive, offering solutions while notconsidering your feelings, but he’s actually trying his best to help you get better.

Very concerned about you and won’t stop calling ortexting you afterwards to make sure you’re doing okay. The last thing he wantsis you moping all by yourself.

While he won’t ever address it again, you can be surehe hasn’t forgotten. He’s silently watching over you now, making sure you cansmile again. He does love it when you do, after all…

Mao :

To be honest, this is just the cherry on the cake. He’sbeen so busy he hardly has time to sleep, the atmosphere in his idol unit isoften not the best, his own family ignores him and now you’re feeling down.Great. Just great.

He’ll be patient and understanding. Everyone feelsdown at times, and he especially wants you to share your burdens with him.It’s the least he can do, as your boyfriend.

Will get some tea and cookies for you, along withcuddles. He wants you to feel warm and safe, and no matter how much work orproblems he’s been having recently, you’re his number one priority. You willalways be number one to him, and you can count on him to reassert that.

While he sometimes feels like he can’t do much tohelp, there’s one thing he can do : listen to you. No matter what time of dayit is, he’s here for you and he wants you to know it.

He’ll be here with you throughout it all, holding yourhand and supporting you. He’d be ready to do anything for you, so helping youin times of need is normal. You’re incredibly precious to him…

Makoto :

???? Thought circuits broke ??? Makoto’s unable to reactnormally ??? With how panicked he’d get, he’d either laugh awkwardly or startcrying with you on the spot.

At first he’d be really agitated. Who did that to you??? Are you hurt somewhere ??? Can he do something to help ?? You even had to comforthim, when you were the one bawling your eyes out in the first place.

He’s really uneasy about his ability to help, but hedefinitely wants to make you feel better. Problem is, he has no clue how. He’lljust tightly hug you, eyes welling with tears. He wants to comfort you, butwhat could he say ? “You’ll be okay” ? “It’s going to be fine” ? Doesn’t itsound a bit hypocritical ? Will you think he’s lying to you… ?

Sure enough, he’ll end up breaking into tears too,sooner or later. He doesn’t even know why. Maybe he was being just a little tooempathic, or maybe he’s getting really worked up over you feeling sad.

He just wants to hug you through it all. He can’tthink of anything to say, and besides he thinks he looks ugly with his red,puffy eyes and his runny nose. He’ll just hide his face in your neck and hugyou tight, until you feel better.

Izumi :

And he was feeling in a good mood today. Needless tosay, his smile immediately disappeared and his face got a lot more somber.

He’ll try to get the full story out of you. Who madeyou cry ? What did they do ? He’s ready to go and beat up whoever made you feelthat way. There’s nothing he hates more than you feeling sad. He doesn’t carewhen he’s feeling down himself, but you can’t be sad. You should never be. Youdeserve better than that.

He’s going to take it as a personal failure. He couldn’tkeep you happy, even though he promised he would. But that’s the least of hisworries, right now. 

He wants you to feel better, and he won’t leave you until you do. He doesn’tcare whether you were just feeling down momentarily or if something biggerhappened, he wants to be here with you through it all. He couldn’t prevent it,so at least he’s going to help you through it.

You can bet he’s always keeping an eye on you, now. Hewants to shield you from anything unpleasant, to protect you, and he won’t stopat anything to make sure you’re happy again.

Chiaki :

Oh no !!! You’re feeling down !!! This is a state of emergency!! Chiaki’s going to drop whatever he was doing and rush to you !

He’s actually not used at all to handling depressedpeople. He can’t think of anything meaningful to say, or even to do. He’ll juststay there for a moment, powerless, until he finally gets a hang of himself andshyly hugs you.

He doesn’t really understand why you’re feeling down,but he’ll assert he’s ready to do anything for you. If there’s something he canhelp with, please tell him. He’s ready to do his all, just for your sake. Andhe won’t shy away if it’s to make you smile again.

He can’t help but feel like he failed, somehow. Hewanted to protect you from all the evil in the world, but he didn’t notice it couldalso come from within you sometimes. What can he do against sadness ? There areno bad guys to defeat, and no one to blame.

He’s determined to help, no matter what it is he mustdo. He’ll find a way to make you happy again, and he doesn’t care how much timeit will take him. The only important thing is that you’re smiling again, withhim.

#headcanons #ensemble stars #enstars #izumi sena #mao isara #chiaki morisawa #subaru akehoshi #hokuto hidaka #makoto yuuki #enstars headcanons #ensemble stars headcanons #imagine #mod mademoiselle #trickstar

[nellpire]

[130119] Nell - Nylon interview (translation)

Q: You held a year-end concert, right? Jongwan: We like doing concerts around Christmas and new year's. The audience likes it, and maybe because it's the holidays, our hearts get warm, too. Jaekyung: It had been four years since our last album, so we couldn't hold concerts for a long time. It was great to get back on the stage again.

Q: You're in the midst of working on your 'Gravity trilogy', right? And last month's single album was the first part. Jongwan: It's a long-term project. We're planning to release single albums centered around the same topic over the span of a few months, and finish off by including them all in a full album. One of the advantages of this is that we get to show all the songs equally, not just the title tracks. When we release full albums with more than ten songs, people usually put all the focus on the title tracks. But when we release single albums, the tracklist is so short that more people listen to the whole thing. Jaewon: I think releasing several songs on the same topic a few months apart is very meaningful. Music changes a lot from month to month these days. For example, a singer can release song 'A' and then come back a couple of months later with song 'B' which has a totally different color than the first. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but we wanted to create a more consistent feeling in our music. That's why we started planning this Gravity trilogy. Jaekyung: The market is so fast these days that we consider a song a success if it stays in the higher levels of the charts for just one week. We wanted to break out of that kind of thinking with this project.

Q: Im Sujeong appeared in the music video for 'White Night', the title track of 'Holding Onto Gravity'. Jongwan: Since it's just one role driving the story, we needed someone who matched the atmosphere in our song, and more importantly we needed someone who's good at acting. The idea of hiring Im Sujeong came up, but we thought it'd be too hard to get her. But she agreed readily after hearing the song, so we're very thankful.

Q: You received the Best Rock award at the 2012 Melon Music Awards for your latest single album. You said 'Thank you for not forgetting us' in your acceptance speech. Junghoon: For various reason we couldn't control, we were gone for four years. It's not a short time. We weren't afraid, exactly, but I personally had my doubts about whether people would like us the same way as before. But people seemed so happy to see us whenever we performed, so 2012 is a year I'm really thankful for. And I thought, 'so they still like Nell's music regardless of if we're in our 20s or our 30s'.

Q: I can be scary to grow apart from the public's interest. Jongwan: I didn't think so during the time we rested. In a way, it's a distracting thought, you know. We have no time to think about those things when we're composing and recording. But the thought did strike me when we started our promotional activities. We see the direction he world is heading in when we go to broadcasting stations, so. Jaewon: I'm always shocked by how much everything has changed in four years. There are so many idol groups now. Many new teams formed in the past four years, and when I see them I can't help but think 'will they disappear?'. Seeing all that, it's like seeing what it's like to grow apart from the public's interest with your own eyes. But that's also a baseless thought, so I don't feel very burdened by it. We've come this far just by doing things that we like, so I think it's natural. Some people like us, some people don't. Some people remember, some forget. Junghoon: We're so happy when we run into groups or idols that were active four years ago at the broadcasting stations. With that in mind, we end up thinking again, 'the music industry isn't such a tough place after all'.

Q: Not only broadcasting - did the indie scene change a lot, too? Jongwan: It has changed in various ways, and I'd like to think the surroundings are better now than before. Of course, teams that are just starting out might say 'he doesn't know what he's talking about', but I'm just comparing to the late 90s, when we started out. First off, social media is a thing now, so even if you don't go through a commercial system, you can still make your music known, so there are more chances and methods to let people hear your music now than before. Also, I think the public awareness of band music or so-called non-mainstream music has changed a lot. Back then, people thought of extremely gloomy things when they heard the words 'indie' and 'underground', you see.

Q: Has music become better and more varied? Jaekyung: Honestly, I'm not sure about the variety. When I hear people say that indie or underground has become a culture, I feel that there's a trend within that, as well. And a lot of music is created under that 'trend' category. Junghoon: There were lots of 'live houses' back in the day. Every live house specialized in a different genre. If you wanted to listen to quiet modern rock, you went to 'bbang' just outside Idae, and if you wanted to hear punk rock you went to 'drug'. But these days, it doesn't seem to matter where you go; most of the music seems to be of a similar genre that doesn't stray outside the trend. Jongwan: But I do think the quality of the music has gotten better. The diversity is lacking, but I feel like there's a bigger professionalism these days. Sometimes I go to clubs and listen to junior musicians, and I think they're all good. And their technical skill is good.

Q: What is the reason why the number of artists is increasing, but at the same time the diversity is decreasing? Jongwan: People can see what type of music 'does well' on the indie scene. If you're looking for indie these days, 10cm comes to mind. They receive a lot of love from the general public for their music. So people who are just starting out see that and want to play similar music. You can see that just from how there’s been an increase in acoustic music over the past four-five years. I don't see it as a bad thing. I think it's just a process that the indie scene needs to go through as it develops.

Q: Nell seem to be your own distinctive branch of perfectly overground (band that's gone from underground to 'mainstream') music that at the same time can't be called underground. What do you think of this? Jongwan: We can't think of ourselves as objectively as we view our surroundings. And we don't really care about those things. But there are times when we think that ambiguity is comfortable. It's a pity we have no co-workers we can relate to, but we have no complaints about how people know our music, yet don't know what we look like. Jaekyung: There's no need to split everything into 'over' and 'indie'. Those words are handy when talking and explaining so we use them sometimes, but I want to say we're just us. And that's a natural thing. If you look at foreign bands, there are some who sell 100,000,000 records and still play in small clubs etc. We think we’re just living as a band, rather than splitting things into over and indie.

Q: Do you try hard to maintain Nell's color? Jongwan: No, we don't. We've never received songs or been pushed by anyone but ourselves, so the sounds we produce when the four of us get together is what Nell's color is. That's why, even if we play punk rock or dance music, our feeling will still be alive and well within it. The fact that we've gone fifteen years without changing members will be part of the reason, as well. Jaewon: Honestly, it's hard to make it in the music industry these days, but I think it's even harder to keep a band going. There are very few bands who have lasted this long without changing members. I think you need to have a good relationship in the band to make music and create your own color. It’d be nice if there were more teams who are friends like us and keep going for a long time.

Q: What's the most difficult thing about keeping a band going? Jaewon: Uhm, there's money and there's girls. Haha. There's quite a number of bands who fall apart because of women. Jaekyung: It's true. There was this foreign band that broke up over a woman too. What was worse was, they were brothers. Also, something that can make it hard to keep a band going is when you don't feel satisfied with the music you're making. The things you liked and made when you were young are often not the same as what you want to create now. You have to get over small hurdles like that, but if you can't, won't it be very hard to keep the band going?

Q: Is making music still difficult for you now after fifteen years? Jongwan: It gets harder and harder. Because the things you want get clearer. Music is about changing the shapeless things in your head into actual existing sounds. As the ideas in your head become clearer, it gets harder and more complicated to realize them. The stress when you can't make it work also grows bigger. Junghoon: Ignorance is bliss, at the end of the day. The things that were easy when you knew nothing gets harder the more you find out.

Q: People describe Nell's music as 'depressing'. Do you agree with this? Jaekyung: Our music doesn't express just one type of emotion. There are many categories of feelings, like sadness, happiness, excitement, deathwish etc, but people have more emotions than just those. I think what we express are those elaborate emotions in between. Plus, what people take away from each song depends on the person. Jongwan: Could it be that we don't find it depressing since we made it? Our writing sessions are not depressing, you see. Haha. Junghoon: Also, I think if you listen to it when you're depressed, it can comfort you. Many times it's a much bigger comfort to watch a movie or listen to music you can relate to rather than watch and listen to bright things when you're down and tired.

Q: What are you interested in other than music? Jaekyung: There's nothing else right now. I still feel like I haven't come halfway into music yet. I have a long way to go. Junghoon: I think we all have our individual hobbies, but nothing we want to actually try our hands at as of now.

Q: What are your future plans? I've heard talks about a Japanese record deal. Jongwan: We're planning to release two single albums and one full album for our Gravity trilogy, and we do have plans for Japanese activities, though there's nothing concrete yet.

Q: What's the reason you chose the Japanese market? Jaekyung: Unfortunately there are barely any concert halls in this country. Bands usually borrow sport halls to perform in, you know. In comparison, there are many concert halls in Japan. With that alone, it's a very charming market. Plus, it's one that accepts things of great diversity. From that perspective, Japan has a very charming music market.

Feel free to use, but please credit Nellpire.

#nell #nylon #interview #translation #jongwan #jaekyung #jaewon #junghoon

[longhairfreakypeople]

It bothers me so so much when someone takes my idea (or anyone else’s idea) and “makes it their own”, or takes credit for it. Granted if I never saw someone copy these glasses, #kyramade from 2012, I probably would have never gotten around to making a good quality version like I intended. So there are more reasons for these events to occur, I understand. The unaccountable part of me is really tired of feeling like I’m competing with myself. On the other hand I’m also a little suprised it doesn’t happen more often honestly. I almost constantly have been carrying around the belief/ fear that “people aren’t original and steal ideas”, or something to that extent, since I was a child. Which I know isn’t true, there are so many people in the world who create unbelievable art, from a place of complete authenticity. This belief is probably karmic and is also one of the reasons I am afraid to shine. It has always bothered me passionately watching people copy anyone else’s ideas, not even just my own. So I know that it is much more than just the fear that someone will steal my ideas too, it bothers me to my core when someone isn’t being themselves. I believe that a big part of my purpose as a human is to influence others/ the collective conciousness, to become their most authentic self as I become mine. Of course I understand the mirroring aspect as well. Am I always my authentic self? Lol no. I hide so much of myself from the world. I know one thing that I’m good at and I hide behind it. Probably so that I have an excuse to not grow (in progress), but I know it isn’t authentic. I do things even with Kyramade that aren’t in alignment with myself. It kills my true self to duplicate pieces that I’ve already created, my art and inspiration is in the one of a kinds. Don’t even get me started on showing authentic feelings lmao, working on it. But I totally have been noticing that I attract people and situations to reconfirm my fear/ belief that nobody is original/ nobody is themselves. Although i am so grateful for my talents, part of me feels guilty, like it is kind of easy for me to say.. I realized (accepted) my talents and passions pretty early on in life, and they are also so SO SOCIETAL. Which doesn’t actually necessarily mean easier… My soul chose a path that was meant to have extreme mental and emotional challenges, for my learning. My soul chose a path where right now I am not valued for what I am. In this mass producing, commercial state we are in. For example, the fashion industry, which I “unfortunately” seem to fall the closest under the category of - is literally based on copying, following trends, repeating trends, changing up others ideas to make their own, etc.. I am “competing” with unauthenticity. Even if my work doesn’t seem like the most original work ever, because of this world of commercialism that we live in, where it’s been made totally acceptable to use others ideas. It is to me. I know that my ideas mostly come straight from within me. I do not “inspire” myself with photos, other people’s work, magazines, the Internet, searching ‘inspo’…. I make an effort to be influenced by others as little as possible. I know this as my truth. Sometimes I get uncomfortable when I don’t have a title for myself. I don’t resonate with being a fashion designer obviously, and even artist doesn’t feel suiting to me. This part of me, what I do, what I create, is literally just who I am. Such a confusing path for my soul to choose, but makes painful sense to me. I have had a few people challenging my beliefs. They believe that good things come from copying others, they view it as inspiration. But these people have not been people I view as artists (lack of better word) or original, or authentic. A lot of people don’t understand. How could you really? If you don’t know what it feels like to have original ideas and really create? I hope everyone chooses to experience the feeling of creation. I believe that everyone is an artist of life. I think anything can be an art. We went from people being oppressed to express themselves to everyone in 2016 being like “I’m an artist”. Which is totally true, just not in the way that we think. We are just staying in societies box one way or another. We are locked in this idea of what art is. We think being an artist only means being a painter, writer, musician, poet, photographer, etc. We think these are the only ways to be creative or create. But to me it’s so much more. Dont limit yourself to societies standard of art or talent. Everyone wants to be an artist but they don’t except themselves or their artform. I see too many people making mediocre “art” influenced/ watered down from others work. But what is art to me truly!?!? It’s simply something that INSPIRES us. ANYTHING. Our souls crave to be inspired. The most creative you feel is when you’re using someone else’s idea, putting your own spin on it? :-( Breaks my heart. That is not inspiration that is copying. And your poor lil soul. It craves awe (mums realization hehe) we crave to be in AWE. to feel!!! Not to live life getting temporary validation for something we didn’t create. Life is art, art is creation, life is creation. The word “artist” is either becoming so overused and meaningless to me, or it is becoming so meaningful and vast. Like why couldnt science be an art!? Sometimes i think about something like scared geometry and think to myself there is a freaking beauty to the universe that i cannot even fathom. Endless possibilities. And thats math! Why cant math be art? I think about how beautiful the universe is and how these incredible souls chose their path to bring this info to the world. I also think about how this is not my path. My path is to influence the mass conciousness to remind us why we are here as individuals. There is a reason we are human, and a reason we chose the exact body and experience that we did. You are so much bigger than you realize. Let your light shine. Dont hide behind someone elses ideas, someone elses light. I think about the what ifs: what if all the game changers throughout history hadn’t shown their lil lights. I truly believe every single human has been given (chosen by their soul) specific, unique talents. Some people (most?) will never realize their true talent/ purpose. Maybe because they are afraid to shine, accept who they are, or maybe their role in society isn’t typical, or better yet hasn’t even been created yet!?! (Isn’t that an exciting thought).. Their are so many people being mediocre at something in society. Or being “crafty” copying someone else’s art. And those are just cheating themselves out of becoming their most authentic self. But that is when the world changes. When each of us as individuals do what we were made to do. I sincerley doubt your highest purpose is to be “crafty” and copy others. Please dont cheat yourself. Accept who you are, it will be the greatest gift you give to yourself/ the world. I have friends who literally only play dress-up, every single day. Dressing up as something else is honestly fun once in a while, but there's a point where it becomes dangerous. When you stand there and say "this is who I am". This is why trends can be dangerous. It's naive to think the way we dress isn't important or just surface. Of course it isn't all that we are, but it's totally an extension of ourselves. I often feel like the only person who can see how much pain my friends and people around me are in. It is so painful to reject your true self. Each day they pretend this new mask they put on is "who they are" they become further and further away from seeing them self, loving them self. It makes me really sad because I personally don't think they would be trying so hard to stand out if they were put on the earth just to be another follower. So here I get to the part where I know that the way I react to people stealing ideas, usually by ignoring it or getting upset, is not working for me anymore. I am usually so passive in life, so speaking my truth right now is really making my authentic self happy. I am in the process of changing my belief to “everyone is their most authentic self”. In the meantime to keep myself sane, I know I cannot change others. I also know that each time you copy someone else you become further and further from your authentic self. And I will not take that on anymore. All I can do is focus on myself and continue to accept who I am, until I figure out exactly what I am to learn from these experiences. Does all this mean that i have become completely authentic and now im perfect? No. It means I am completely open to seeing myself and loving who i am. Authenticity has got to be the truest form of self love. Also if anyone has experienced these challenges and successfully reframed it for themselves pls pls talk to meee 🙏

[shazzbaa]

So I Saw Doctor Strange

EDIT: I just found this all typed up in my drafts from the day after I saw Doctor Strange several months ago. it’s very ramble-y and not very edited but uh,,,, im just gonna publish it, HERE, HAVE A, VERY COOLED OFF HOT TAKE?????

It was O-Kay. I’m typing up my thoughts because I can’t sleep, and also because this movie is my actual exact trope (please see figure A: my entire webcomic) and yet, while I had a nice time watching it, I kept kinda drifting out of the movie to question the choices it made.

I should also mention, I never read the comics and I never watched any cartoons with Strange in them, so I don’t really care about accuracy in that regard. All I know is that I read his origin story off wikipedia and said “man I hope this movie is good because this could really be my jam.”

ENTIRELY COMPOSED OF SPOILERS:

THINGS I LOVED:

I loved that the hospital kept coming back!! I expected it to just be his origin story and then disappear, like the theatre that scared baby batman, but every time something bad happens to him or his allies he uses his weird new magic to teleport STRAIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL, because OBVIOUSLY that’s where you go when you get hurt!! It’s what he understands and he’s comfortable in that environment and I can’t get over how happy I am with the idea that this ridiculous sorcerer keeps coming back to the ER when he gets really hurt. Also I love the juxtaposition of Dr. Strange’s frankly absurd getup (aka: my aesthetic) striding through An Actual Hospital as if he remotely belongs there. This is 100% my favourite thing about this movie.

I loved that Strange’s hands never get fixed!! He doesn’t GET MAGIC TO FIX THEM, he gets magic to give him a new purpose so that he can finally get over his inability to do surgery. This is infinitely better tbh, both in a non-ableist message sense AND in a “Shazz is happy because he still keeps this one weakness at the end and that’s the kind of thing she likes in stories” sense.

I liked the dimension-altering spell that turns all buildings into a Terrifying Conveyor Belt Of Machinery. Especially in that very first scene, it looks cool and feels like actual magic, something barely fathomable, bending the world to your will.

She kisses him on the cheek!!!!!! I’m 90% more heartwarmed by this choice -- their relationship is so strained at this point that a lips-kiss would feel forced, or inappropriate,  like, Obligatory Superhero Kisses Girl Scene, but instead it’s just a moment of, “this is all still a mess but I genuinely care about you.”

Also while we’re on the subject of non-sensual physical touch, I love that the Ancient One holds his hand!!! More deep, meaningful platonic touch in movies please!!!!!!!

I like a lot of the little goofy banter -- “oh, you joined a cult,” and Strange whining about how nobody will name anything after him because his name is Strange. But I’m a sucker for this stuff (see: my entire webcomic).

THINGS IM REALLY MAD ABOUT:

okay but how do you take FREAKIN MAGIC and turn it into SWORDFIGHTING??? who looks at all of psionics and goes “hey lets all play soulknifes.” Seriously tho, there’s like two cool spells and everything else is the exact same choreography you’d expect if they were using staves or fisticuffs and that’s JUST A DANG SHAME!!!! WHERE IS YOUR IMAGINATION MARVEL

I’m not asking for all the spells to be wacky I’m just askin for it to look different from just wackin swords together and blocking them!!! THATS THE MOST BORING THING YOU COULD POSSIBLY DO WITH MAGIC!!!!

that early scene where Strange’s consciousness is getting slingshotted around while the Ancient One schools him about how much he doesn’t understand is unbelievably boring, and this is coming from someone whose biggest turn-on is slightly frail boys being terrified. Why does that scene go on so long??? He hasn’t even earned that experience and it doesn’t even look that cool.

I JUST REALISED THIS IS PROBABLY ENTIRELY COMPOSED WITH THE 3D VERSION IN MIND AND NOW IM EVEN MADDER

THINGS THAT WERE ALLLLMOST COOL BUT I FEEL ULTIMATELY UNSATISFIED:

What the heck is going on with Doctor Strange’s character arc

There’s the weird feeling throughout that Strange learns nothing and is not actually different. Like, I’m sure this isn’t exactly true, but I’m having a hard time countering that idea. He starts out an arrogant person who trusts his own judgement above anyone else’s, and then ends a slightly more polite arrogant person who trusts his own judgement above anyone else’s.

I’m gonna compare Strange to Tony Stark, because I liked Iron Man, and it felt triumphant in a way that Doctor Strange didn’t, and Tony Stark also remains arrogant throughout, but here’s the thing -- Stark’s sin in Iron Man wasn’t hubris, it’s thoughtlessness, both socially and globally. “Proof Tony Stark Has A Heart” and so on. So when Stark remains arrogant, but his beliefs are shaken and he wants to reach out to help & defend others, we don’t feel like he’s gone nowhere. Meanwhile Strange’s sin IS presented as hubris -- he didn’t believe anyone could do what he could do, and his ego is what’s constantly chided by the Ancient One. And then he continues being exactly this way, doing whatever he wants because he doesn’t trust others to guide or help him, and saves the day?? It’s just weird because it seems like maybe they didn’t actually understand what they were setting up?

I think it’s a good choice that he doesn’t quite master magic throughout the course of the movie -- that fits. He’s not the Sorcerer Supreme at the end because “it’s not about you.” But it’s a timid choice, because how do you make a story where the theme is “it’s not about you” and still have the main character single-handedly save the day? You’d have to be a lot more creative than this movie was.

Strange handing the scalpel to Nick is a nice moment but it doesn’t count as paying off this arc/theme/whatever. Strange literally can’t use the scalpel and remembers that the girl he likes trusts Nick, so Nick is the best they’ve got. Strange is a smart guy who’s afraid to fail, he’s gonna make the choice that’s most likely to succeed. We already know he’ll ask for help if he has literally no other option. That’s not a payoff!

There’s a REALLY COOL thing that’s brought up halfway through where Strange freaks out that he killed a guy. He starts yelling about how he’s a doctor who swore to do no harm and I got really excited -- this is an actual redeeming character trait, a chance for Strange to Care about people in contrast to his flippant attitude at the beginning and put his brilliance to work not serving himself, but others -- and the fact that it put him in conflict with his more ruthless fellow sorcerers was also interesting. AND THEN THAT’S IT, THATS THE ENTIRETY OF THAT ISSUE, BASICALLY JUST THAT SCENE.

Like, yeah, at the end he did find a creative way to strike a deal instead (THO HE ARGUABLY DID A LOT OF HARM TO THOSE GUYS THAT GOT SUCKED INTO HELL THE DARK DIMENSION, HMM) but that sort of got lost in this OTHER theme about rule-breaking versus rigidity that got pulled in at the end.

Ultimately it feels like they had three different themes going simultaneously -- Dr. Strange has a huge ego and needs to let go of it, Dr. Strange, as a doctor, questions the sorcerers’ ruthlessness, Dr. Strange is willing to break rules that the other sorcerers aren’t. And it’s only that last one that really feels like a major theme of the movie at the end.... but it’s not really set up that way at the beginning????

//SIGHS A LOT ABOUT THE THING AT THE END OF THE MOVIE

the part where they’re Too Late and Strange turns back time so that they won’t be is cool. I’m not gonna knock that. BUT HEY THAT WAS SET UP ALREADY AND WASN’T AN ASSPULL

uggghghghghghghg like.... this is, I don’t know, it’s a genuinely smart move, and it feels like it works, but it also has that feeling of “oh, I guess this is possible then,” because it wasn’t really set up well. THATS NOT WHAT YOU WANT FOR THE CLIMACTIC END OF YOUR MOVIE!!!

Look, there’s the bones of something good here. Strange messes up by trying to do a cool thing and throwing everyone into the mirror dimension, and actually exclaims “this was a mistake” (which I expected to be a way bigger deal???) -- and then at the end he does the exact same friggin thing by jumping into a dimension with a plan that seems like it’ll make sense. So what if he learned from his mistake instead? What if he realised he’d need help understanding dimensions, and we saw him asking questions and getting guidance and finally being willing to trust that maybe someone else knows more than he can teach himself? In that moment, we could learn a little bit more about bringing different magic to different dimensions. And at the end, what if it wasn’t a split second decision by Strange to do a risky proceedure (aka, the thing he already did at the start of the movie) but instead, Strange has the idea to carry time into the dark dimension and checks his idea with the others? You could even bring the violence angle in here, if the others had some other option that would be less magically risky but involve more death, and Strange chooses the one where nobody has to die, and maybe even asks them to trust his decision -- something he never felt the need to do before. Instead of the ENTIRE TIME ISSUE feeling like kinda an asspull because it’s all a surprise, it’s the Time Loop Bargain that’s a surprise, while everything else has been firmly established.

I don’t know if this would work or be the best choice. But like!!! these are things that feel like they could’ve been worked with a little more to make the whole movie feel more cohesive!!! instead of having one theme, and then dropping it and picking up a different theme, and then kinda fumbling that into another theme, and not being sure where to put any exposition or character development.

I really like that Strange is kinda.... not physically amazing. Like, he’s been taught how to fight, but it’s clear he’s leaning a lot on his cloak for the fancier stuff and he’d still definitely get beat up without help. This is obviously like.. my character type, but wouldn’t it be cool if he were just a smiiiiiiidge older?? Like, a little frailer, can’t really fight that well without magical help? NO? JUST ME?????????

okay I think that’s everything. thats my opinion of dr strange

#im not puttin it in the tag b/c dont tag ur hate kids #even tho honestly i enjoyed this movie #LIKE #IM GONNA WATCH THE SEQUEL STILL PROBABLY #Shazz has opinions again #text post