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melodramamatic · 17 days

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This started as a multiple rambling drafts exploring my likes and dislikes about MDZS/Untamed characters as they are most often characterized in fandom, and I think I cracked the code here. I like the grumpy responsible ones and pretty much nobody else. In this essay, I will explain why. (For clarity, the vast majority of what I'm discussing here relates to how the characters are portrayed in the fandom. There's a lot of context and complexity and variation in canon that I really don't want to try and get into. I'll stick to the tip of the iceberg thanks.)

My favorite tired grumpy ones: Jiang Cheng, Lan Qiren, Nie Mingjue; you could get a coffee with any of them, bitch about work, and they'd get it. They have responsibilities they didn't ask for, but do their absolute best anyway. Because its not just them who goes down if they don't. They are tired, but they can't stop, they have people depending on them. They aren't nice about it, they don't have time for nice, nice doesn't run your sect. They don't like the petty politics and socializing involved with being in charge, they don't seem to like the power or the perks. They consistently give up or don't get things that would make them happy, because they're more committed to their responsibilities. (I could maybe add Wen Qing to this list, but she's more complicated given her complicity in Bad Things - while her family was being threatened, to be fair - and the fact that we see very little of what she wants as an individual. Though it's implied she would have married JC if he could have protected more than just her, but the Jiang weren't strong enough for that and both of them knew it. See later rant about the treatment of women in canon.)

Jiang Yanli and Lan Xichen are supposed to be the nice, likeable ones and I don't think I could handle more than small talk with them. They spend too much time keeping the peace and wanting everyone to get along and trying to pacify everyone as if that's the same as getting people to cooperate with each other. (Wen Ning could maybe be thrown in here, but it's implied the dude was bottling it up so intensely it was literally the reason Wei Wuxian was able to turn him into the most powerful (and conscious) resentful-energy zombie. Full Respect.) I don't like fighting either, but I'm allowed to not like things. I am allowed to have any opinion I want so long as I'm not hurting anyone else with it (I hate that I have to specify here, the difference between having an opinion and being a prejudiced asshole. You know the difference, and I know you know the difference. If someone is claiming homophobia, transphobia, racisim, etc is 'having a different opinion' they're in denial about being a dick and trying to hide it behind polite language). Which means I don't have to get along with every person I meet. It's easier to try and get along with the people I deal with regularly, that's just being professional, but I'm not turning step-ford smiler. I refuse. I can work with someone I personally disagree with and dislike, but anyone who tries to make me like them or spend time with them recreationally is being controlling. Also, I don't remember Jiang Yanli expressing goals or opinions that didn't relate to her being a sister or future-wife, and that's definitely a failure of the narrative and it's tendency to not really value women except in relation to the men around them.

(I get it, none of the women are the main characters and everything mostly revolves around the POV of the main characters. But. If they're there at all, they're there for the benefit of one of the men in the room. Even Mianmian is there to prove Jin Zixuan is not as much of an asshole as he comes off as, because she's willing to spend time with him and we see her later show she wouldn't put up with the rest of the Jin. Wen Qing is there to prove some of the Wen aren't bad and to be guilted by a charismatic young genius into performing experimental surgery to 'fix' his nonconsenting, traumatized, unconscious foster brother. My opinions on that surgery are only partially relevant to this conversation, but I will happily scream about that later.)

Feel free to yell at me for the next bit, but remember everyone can have any opinion they like. Disagreeing makes more interesting conversation than agreeing on everything.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanji drive me up the wall. I could not deal with them as a couple or as individuals. Neither of them are bad people and I want to say that now, on the record, before I make very general statements about them to avoid being here all night nitpicking. So. On the record. I like the narrative of the villainized man who did what he had to, finally getting his happily ever after with someone who never stopped believing in him, and that belief fully paying off with a reveal of the actual villain. That said, onto why I don't vibe with them.

As a couple, it's like the rest of the world doesn't matter so long as they're happy with each other. Life doesn't work that way. We live in communities, and we have responsibilities to those communities, even if those responsibilities are as simple as putting the cart back at the grocery store. (I am 110% judging you if you don't. Just walk it back to the cart return, and don't be an asshole.) But once these two get together, it's like everyone else can fuck off. It's fine to be a happy couple. It's great. But if someone you claim as family has just had something traumatic happen to them, you should check on them. Not just on your partner, for whom the experience was arguably less traumatic. (Not trying to measure trauma here, but Lan Wanji and Wei Wuxian were not emotionally invested in Jin Guangyao as a person and his entire betrayal reveal wasn't going to be nearly as upsetting for them as it was to his nephew, the person he co-parented said nephew with, and the person arguably responsible for supporting him through his rise to power.) Also, it isn't healthy to have your only close personal relationship be your partner. Friends are good and important. Canon and immediate post canon has them isolated for plot reasons, and then in a honeymoon phase, but I see them as having an uphill battle for any sort of social ties. The Juniors don't count. Cross-generational friendships are great, but the context of this (and I'm missing a lot of the historical/cultural stuff) puts Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanji as too much above them in a social hierarchy to be proper equals. Even if Wei Wuxian tends to disregard social norms, the Juniors are expected to defer to and honor him as their elder and as someone who can teach them.

As an individual, Wei Wuxian is inconsiderate and self-absorbed. To me, as a modern western audience member missing a fuck ton of the historical context and linguistic subtext of the story, he still comes off as someone who casually disregards rules, boundaries, and other people's opinions, and gets away with it all the time. If someone I wasn't very close friends with was that touchy-feely with me without permission, I would avoid them like the plague, and that's in a modern American context. He's got MCU Tony Stark characterization problems. He's a charismatic genius with wealth(y connections) who continually gets away with behavior other people wouldn't even consider (except for Madame Yu, who gives him his Complicated Childhood badge) and creates horrifying weapons of warfare that everyone wants on their side until they want him dead because he won't do what they want. Also he's a poor little meow meow who sacrifices himself for people and is misunderstood by the public.

He gets treated like he never had any agency, and none of it was his fault or choice, which would remove the significance of his sacrifices and all the genius work he put in to create the most terrifying and cultural-taboo-breaking method of fighting anyone ever used. I know I didn't get the cultural taboo of using the dead to fight at first, but I've seen explanations that compared it to the horror of finding out a modern person was mutilating babies. We're talking beyond the horror of cannibalism, which is understandable in a survival situation. This is a guy who was pushed to the edge and chose to do awful things instead of die. Understandable, but horrifying. The rest of the cultivation community had good reasons to be afraid of him after the fact, especially since he was rather publicly downward spiraling with PTSD and alcoholism.

But I could tolerate all that, if he ever once made progress toward considering how he affects anyone except Lan Wanji. Yeah, he and the Wen Remnants die very horribly and unjustifiably because of outside manipulation. But Wei Wuxian gets to swan off into the sunset with his man, an anonymous face, and a restored reputation. He tells Jiang Cheng, who just found out Wei Wuxian orchestrated an extremely violating nonconsensual surgery that affects him more than physically and spiritually and had his co-parent nearly murder his nephew, that it's all water under the bridge and they should start over. Jin Ling just lived through finding out one of his uncles was a murderous powerhungry villain responsible for the death of his parents, murdered his baby cousin (the man's own son!!) as an toddler, and nearly slit his throat like ten minutes ago. Lan Xichen (his lover's brother!) just found out his closest confidant killed his other closest confidant/childhood friend and was a murderous powerhungry villain, and that said murdered confidant's helpless baby brother had actually turned himself into a master manipulator for revenge, and was manipulated into killing said confidant/murderous powerhungry villian. Doesn't even seem to check on Wen Ning, the poor guy who's been used a puppet on both sides and just had his zombified corpse mutilated protecting Wei Wuxian's interests. But no, total focus on his happily ever after with his husband.

Onto Lan Wanji, he's a petty asshole and I could almost respect him for it, if he wasn't also completely incapable of communicating and a hypocrite. If the man had just had an actual conversation with his crush, or even expressed concern for Wei Wuxian in words, the whole downward spiral after the war culminating in a faked defection from Yunmeng and the Wen Remnants situation would have gone very differently. (I know you need conflict for a story, but I hate when the conflict is miscommunication based. Any story that could be completely derailed by two people having a five minute conversation that could have easily happened in canon makes me want to scream.) This man also spends years projecting his anger at himself for not sticking up for Wei Wuxian onto Jiang Cheng (who had a lot of intense political reasons that he couldn't do more), without a hint that he has the self-awareness to recognize why. He also spends years believing all the worst rumors about Jiang Cheng and Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian's relationship despite his whole thing being he loves Wei Wuxian and knows in his heart the man was never as terrible as he was portrayed. Is there not a hint of irony here?? How much faith and value he places on a person directly correlates to his personal relationship with them. And the narrative puts this man in charge of the cultivation community at the end??? As if he's not going to immediately show favoritism to anyone who hasn't been hostile to Wei Wuxian and be intensely petty to everyone he doesn't personally like?

He hides behind being an upstanding person as if he's entirely altruistic. His whole 'being where the chaos is' rep is because he's spent the timeskip trying to atone for not saving Wei Wuxian and desperately hoping to find Wei Wuxian. (As if Jiang Cheng hunting demonic cultivators wasn't the same thing with opposite PR.) He'll follow the Lan rules and enforce them for everyone but Wei Wuxian. As someone who has to work to understand social situations, the Lan rules provide a nice structure when you're with the Lan. A 'when in Rome' with an actual list. That said, their insistence that stripping away any passion, individuality, or general enjoyment from life will bring some sort of moral superiority is incredibly conceited. Especially when they basically admit its only enforceable in Gusu, unless you piss off one of the powerful Lan. Also guaranteed to create a culture where people learn to hide anything not the norm and/or experience internalized guilt for not conforming. What are they, catholic?

I can appreciate Lan Wanji's internal struggle to actually go after what he loves, especially in that social context. But he seems to have decided he's the only one wise enough to understand when the rules should and should not be followed. He still judges everyone (not named Wei Ying) for not living up to his standards without seeming to realize those standards are fundementally impossible (for everyone not name Wei Ying, who can be forgiven all things). He puts Wei Wuxian on a sort of impossible pedestal that does not bode well for a relationship with an actual person, instead of the idea of that person.

Anyway, the fanfic in this fandom that I like, either doesn't involve this couple more than superficially, or has them working and overcoming these issues and rebuilding relationships with other characters.

I'm so tired.

#opinion #characterization #fanfic discussion #mdzs #the untamed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #yes jiang cheng is my favorite #my aroace heart loves the angry purple boy #shouting into the void to make my brain shut up #I actually wrote the essay forgive me #dont forgive me actually i am here to incite rage #this is the short version

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ilynpilled · 1 year

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actually that was great 😭 and i pretty much agree. also i think on some level maybe jaime resents them never asking? like in their eyes (and tywin’s) he killed aerys to protect his father and align himself with the lannisters as they enter KG and they don’t care for any other reason he could have. but its the opposite. he warns aerys not to let his father in. also then out of all people why does he choose to tell brienne… i mean i have some ideas but what are your thoughts?

The thing is we do not really know if they asked lmao. I mean I will assume Tywin didn’t give a fuck. Not for the right reasons, anyway. That’s Tywin. I am not certain of that assumption regarding Cersei and Tyrion. Anyway, I think what distinguishes them from Brienne, is how distinctly they view Jaime as a result of the fact that they are Lannisters, as well as what their respective struggles are as individuals. They have a history. They have an established relationship with him. It is a relationship with insane baggage. With that baggage comes a lot of blindspots. They knew him before Aerys, but they did not truly know him after. As much as they love Jaime, as he is the glue of the family, they also loathe him in some form for meeting the standards that their horrid abusive father set. He is the only one of them that was gifted with the potential to gain Tywin’s approval (not that such a thing is possible lmao). The other two do not even have the chance. Jaime then took up a role in life that was never really an option for either of those two. Knighthood is reserved for Jaime, both meta textually, as that is what his story is mainly deconstructing, and within the text itself, as that is what he dreamed of being as the young boy prodigy. This experience completely changed Jaime and his outlook on the world. It sent him down the path of amorality, nihilism, and cynicism, specifically regarding the feudalistic constructs of morality, knighthood, and honor. This is something that Cersei and Tyrion can never truly grasp, just as Jaime will never understand their respective struggles. These blindspots the three siblings have concerning each other are always very apparent in their POVs. I talked about JC and how they put each other into boxes, but Tyrion and Jaime also do this with each other. Despite their bond, we never gain that much insight into Jaime from Tyrion’s POV in the first two books. Like even he reduces post Aerys Jaime to “my impulsive and flippant big brother who loves murder”, (however he gives us glimpses of the fact that Jaime loved him, unlike the rest of them). The person that Jaime presents to Brienne is a person that nobody has seen. That is how the narrative is set up. Brienne is the one that is interlinked with the deconstruction of knighthood. She is such a necessary foil to him in the beginning. I said this before: Brienne and Jaime’s dynamic in ASOS is “the goodhearted and naive idealist vs the jaded, cynical, and callous asshole who is a disappointed idealist that recognizes their old self in the former, making it a battle of who succeeds in pulling the other closer to their side of the spectrum.” The conclusion to this question of knighthood is something they have to come to together. I kinda elaborate more on this here:

So he lays this side of himself bare to the reader and Brienne only, bc that is how his development is meant to happen. This is a side that only us and Brienne are meant to see, because it is who it is most relevant to.

#also yes HUGE part is that he wants to be humanized in her eyes desperately #bc he looks up to her #ask #also check out the meta dreadwulf posted #goes well with part of this question #asoiaf #jaime lannister #brienne of tarth #valyrianscrolls #asoiaf meta #my opinions #sorry for not at all touching on how he didnt really allign himself with the lannisters during the sack😭#i wrote so much bullshit today already lmfao im too tired no more thoughts in head lol #jaime x brienne

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the-firebird69 · 6 months

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There are several people here who are real stinkers cuz they're teeny and they are more like proper and one of them is BG news 33 houses left and they lost only people they didn't lose the houses 33 they only have that and it's really not lucky number so within that number the houses are divided by race and clan we're looking at now it appears that there are three minority morlock no those are the ones moving in they actually moving in there are 30 they're occupied and 10 being fought over those 10 hardly have any people left and very few generals and kernels and out of those 10 five of them are bja for a trumpsters those households mostly in South America and one of them is in the Middle East and they're losing the area and yes split between them. Another factor is that the ones they lost have gone to a myriad of people they can't focus on anyone it went to the pseudo empire and it went to minority morlock and it went to some foreigners and us and Max and they hate it so what we're saying is that the clones and the Mac morlock are being pushed out and permanently and it's because they suck really bad and a lot of people are doing it it shows. There's a lot of stuff happening and this is pretty big. The house is that are falling now are mainly Trump and VGA is not true but out of the 33 remaining houses and yeah that's the number there are about 10 bja and about seven trumpster but out of the houses that are a side there are 217 about 80 are bja the generals in them and 70 trumpster and that leaves 67 half of those are BG and it's kind of big the other half are other races of Mac morlock and then call him that cuz they're nut cases. .. but out of the 13 rulership houses only one is BG and there aren't any clones well okay they're part of the remainder is about 35 that remain in about 20 of those so clones with generals and there are two leadership houses for the clones and we're down to 11 minority morlock have five so we're down to six and the rest of them are these miscellaneous races and they rule over a lot of stuff they're Max and they come from different clans, they're treated better than BG and have a little more power but they're not respected much they say. The reason why we're talking about this is because you're getting down to a smaller number and you don't act like anything's happening to you you say you can do anything and it's absolutely not true and you develop a steam ahead from Air and does nothing for you so we don't want to see our son get hurt because you're a bunch of spazzes doing stupid things you think would work because of randomness and some idiot is imitating JC and he gets grabbed every few minutes and he starts trouble and they beat his people up.. the neighborhood is a shambles you are losing people faster than any other group on Earth than any other group in history and faster than any time in history. You dwindle as a matter of course can't seem to figure out who you are in the end you say you do it the whole time and we're all sick of you idiots.

There is a nutshell there's a there's a lot of stuff happening here I'm trying to get it out there but we're updating people in the status of the neighborhood full of yakking assholes give a bunch of bleeding sheap. Can you suck very badly to a very small straw

-we're going to go through your ranks but today it's Saturday and the pseudo empire usually sits back those maintenance upgrades equipment brings more down it's like taking a break but for real they're doing that today and you sent 20 out you more luck and they are going to attack you rather than wait for you to die. Is it forces you out to try to move and it forces you to gather them it's going on now. Along with these households you're a generals get killed from the new households and quite often and they're like six star generals and it's going to start going downwards. Hello and see how hard it is and don't like it because these guys drive the trucks better than them faster and more and things like that they are seeing it. Good size forces develop. And they're doing it today. 20 I've already left and really that leaves 13 also not a great number and if 10 leaves it'll be three all of them are jesus's number and Mary. And we use the number two to go after you idiots and other s.

-so basically you have a war on today inside and outside and you're not doing very well and the house is the one out there and lost people a lot of people and the people we announced as dead are dead they were living in other houses other people's houses and or we're heads of houses that left and it became 33 most likely the case and it was a horrible night a lot of people were mourning and they woke up sad and they should you're sitting here bullying their son and you're getting nothing and still doing it

-there are few other things happening I'm just sitting here spending his time you say but we're doing it and on purpose

-there's a giant number of things going on and there are other things in Charlotte county

-one of those things is we have to weed you out there's too many people interrupting and we need teams to form up and I want you to meet with me now and what do you think

-Charlotte county is firing people that work during the weekend and they found them to be detestable they want them out of every uniform that there is and it is the pseudo empire is being pushed along by Ken and others who can't stand your attitude and they're going to fire a bunch of you and you're going to March around the same dumb things

-they also canceling mortgages of you warlock and they're getting evictions ready for Monday and they're tired of you your generals are terrible and they don't do the job and they said so but they're forced to be contended with and they're going to fight the evictions and things like that there are other things and they're getting it ready today and tomorrow for Monday

-we are going ahead and we're watching them get ready to evict almost everybody here in an effort to clear the neighborhood of you miss grants they don't want you stuck to him that's what they're saying they're doing things that are wrong and I want you out and they're horrific people and people do say it's like having a dog or a cat as a neighbor and they do say it and they say you're ridiculous you can't be dealt with or negotiated with in any way to run around saying you have to let people know it and we just don't want to deal with you either and they're going to evict 50% of you that's the pseudo empire and she'll be harassed to no end but that's what you want to do and it probably won't work too well but it's going to go in court and you'll attract attention we need you to

-furthermore they're going to go after your land in Florida and tons of it and businesses and they say that you took it from them and you did and they're going to court to sue you for them back and for damages

-there's a ton of people who are pushing for him to post and you guys do nothing it's effective you just bother him a little you're idiots

-there are other things that they're getting ready to do and doing one of them is preparing to shoot you for what you're doing to our son and they are getting ready to do that shortly they can't stand what you're saying and doing at all and they're getting ready to do it in a few minutes they say it too

There's other news around the world the items below conduit in line and more are being sought by everybody and the houses and they are tracing down huge ones and big lines that go under the ocean to secret lairs and to the islands and we feel that our son is correct and they're going mad looking at these islands off Florida too Puerto Rico and places like that and the keys and they're finding the lines and they're pulling it out the line that goes to Puerto Rico is like 3 ft wide that's the conduit but the lines that are supplying power cuz they're taking power by the way they're tied into the grid are pulling about 400 amps a minute that's really 400 * 60 24,000 amps and it's silver it feels all the way out there that's like 500 miles at about 3 lb of foot which is a lot it's ridiculous 75 million or something crazy I don't think that they were tabulating how much they were using it's kind of a waste but they wanted to win your stuff's hard to find their stuff is hard to find and they're getting wiped out and they're hitting you're hitting the night sweat and quite often and they're losing and they know it and they're in trouble and they're starting to scramble and they're trying to get their masters out and resisting and they're going after you as the computers right now they're wondering what to do with the lines and they don't know what to take them out or not but there's fighting over them so if they leave them in there they're going to get pulled out so taking them out and they're spooling them and they're going to try and use them again and they're going to rip each other off and it'll disappear

-other things are happening but we're going to publish it's huge

Thor Freya

Olympus

He's under serious duress folks we need to recognize it and address it

Frank Castle hardcastle

I wrote up a report last night I feel it was ignored I'm writing another one up but says what we have to do and we'll probably end up doing it he says and it's good make a note that we should do that

Duke nukem Blockbuster

We're doing everything we can is not true we need to do more things and we're going to start doing it here to gain control over this area we do not have control of it

It says that there's an action over there and there's a ship above him and a situation is atrocious he never thought his worst nightmare would be this bad so I guess we should probably change some things and he says yeah I guess so and he really means it okay he never thought that would be the stupid and it really is stupid and we have so much cover we should be creaming all of them completely and would not doing that either

Thor Freya

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winepresswrath · 2 years

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Hello, can I ask something? I’d like to know your opinion on this. I’ve heard it said that WWX is the type to internalize blame, and JC is the opposite. Would you say there are parallels between JC and JGY with their whole “nothing is ever my fault I was pushed into this I have no choice” attitude towards taking responsibility for their messes?

Kind of? I think they’re both pragmatists in ways that ironically sometimes blind them to their available options, but they’re pursuing different goals and have pretty distinct motives so it’s kind of polo balls and oranges. Jin Guangyao is constantly doing stuff he knows his society would condemn him for in the pursuit of survival and personal power. Insofar as he's invested in his sect it's as a means to becoming the person he wants to be- someone who can fulfill his promise to his mother, secure enough power to protect himself and advance his personal agendas, and satisfy some lingering daddy issues.

He's perfectly willing to abandon his sect in disgrace if it keeps him alive and in the game. I have no doubt that he's an extremely competent and effective administrator who advanced the Jin's interests and probably also the common good, but he also kidnaps his own juniors and ties them up on zombie mountain as bait so he can more effectively murder his political enemies. He does things like murdering his own father, (totally deserved but also a massive social taboo) while genuinely wanting Xichen, Qin Su, and to some extent Mingjue's approval and validation. What I’m getting at is that when Jin Guangyao is trying to explain his choices he's not just trying to create an internal image of himself that feels consistent with his own values, he's trying to reconcile the person he feels he has to be with a person these people could not only love but respect and support. That's why he sets himself up for such an own goal with "Rusong had to die." He could have sworn up and down that he would never! He doesn't because he wants Qin Su to agree with him that it was necessary.

Jiang Cheng is not doing any of that. He's in it for his sect and his family, and while he cares tremendously about public opinion his primary concern is pragmatic. He wants to avoid being perceived as an easy mark and he wants to avoid angry mobs aimed and him and his. He's insecure and prideful, but he's not invested in trying to explain or justify himself. When it’s his turn to monologue at the temple he has a lot to say about his feelings, but he’s not asking for other people to understand him; he’s both lashing out in a fairly raw and aimless way and trying to understand both himself and Wei Wuxian ("Why didn’t you tell me? Why can’t I hate you?"). He lets everyone at the temple walk away knowing that Wei Wuxian gave him his core but not how he lost his own core in the first place. He clearly still cares about Wei Wuxian, but he’s not capable of asking for forgiveness or understanding.

Jiang Cheng is also just playing with a different hand than Jin Guangyao from the beginning. The part of the story where he has the least power and the most need to claw his way to a seat at the table is elided in a sentence and presented as pretty straightforwardly heroic

the most laughable one was the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, the people of which either had been killed or had scattered, leaving only Jiang Cheng, who was younger than even Lan XiChen and was still a child born yesterday, who had nobody in his hands but still dared call himself sect leader, holding up the banner of rebellion as he recruited new disciples.

This kind of brings me to- what do we mean by messes? Jin Guangyao isn’t justifying “mess,” he’s justifying murder, which is just killing someone outside the boundaries of the law. As the son of a sex worker, the means Jin Guangyao uses to access power are broadly perceived as illegitimate by both assholes who think he needs to know his place and perfectly nice people who think even if the deck is stacked against you and it’s the only way to advance you shouldn’t murder innocent people for your own benefit. And also you shouldn’t murder people for opposing you politically, or because you wanted a side of poetic justice with your patricide. He is acting transgressively, lying about it, and then explaining himself after the fact.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t have these problems. There’s not a lot of political worldbuilding in CQL or MDZS but it’s pretty clear that as the displaced heir of his clan he had the right to pursue leadership. Arguably, it’s what he owes his murdered family. The violence he uses to achieve that goal is both socially permissible and celebrated. He's also, unlike Jin Guangyao, not all that invested in his personal survival. He gives himself up for Wei Wuxian and tries to trade places with Jin Ling because his own life is not the most important thing to him- it's his sect and his family. He doesn’t have to justify these priorities because they’re pretty in line with general social mores, overinvestment in a sister’s son and the son of a servant aside. Even when he’s doing things I’d argue he believes are wrong, or at least morally complicated (failing to help the Wen) he’s got Mingjue speaking up in his capacity as most righteous dude in the room to say it’s impossible for him to owe a debt to people whose family have wronged his to the extent that the Wens did. His bad behaviour is socially permissible. When he tells Wei Wuxian there’s no choice, he’s not actually trying to get Wei Wuxian to agree that he’s doing the right thing, he’s is trying to convince Wei Wuxian that his cause is futile and he should save himself.

I do think there’s some kind of vicious weasel cycle going around Jiang Cheng’s head where he spends a significant chunk of time unable to decide if various disasters were Wei Wuxian’s fault for betraying them/losing control/acting carelessly out of a lack of affection or his fault for loving and trusting Wei Wuxian enough to put him in a position to do any of those things and then spinning out into “maybe it was all a big misunderstanding somehow no that’s the stupid childish logic that got us here” but frankly Jiang Cheng logic does not deserve to be dignified with a response. If what he was after was evading responsibility he could have simply been blaming one of the many, many other people at fault the whole time. Seriously, he doesn’t have to blame Wei Wuxian to avoid blaming himself when Wen Chao is right there. Out of the many and varied tragedies that have defined Jiang Cheng’s life the mess that is his adult relationship with Wei Wuxian is the one he’s actually at fault in, and since Wei Wuxian is alive and happy that’s actually his best and least tragic problem. I got sidetracked but basically Jin Guangyao is seeking validation from a place of social marginalization and mass murder. Jiang Cheng does all of his atrocities in public and is both incapable of processing trauma in a healthy way and too emotionally damaged to seek personal validation from the people he loves. One of them is playing polo and the other one is eating an orange. They are not the same although a round object is involved in both cases.

#jin guangyao #jiang cheng #like does jiang cheng blame wei wuxian for a bunch of shit that isn't his fault or his not entirely his fault #yes #is this a fun and cathartic experience for him #idk the book says “It was this torturing thought that filled his heart with hatred and wrath. Unable to be let out they cut up his innards #and he's ugly sobbing his way through it in the show it certainly feels to me like the idea wwx is in some way responsible for the #destruction of their family is pretty unpleasant for him #which doesn't mean he's right! or you have to find it sympathetic #but like. it's not for his own benefit #he is upset by this theory yet also compelled by it #why could this be #maybe an adult in a position of authority spent his whole life implying that his father loving wei wuxian was a dereliction of duty #openly resented both his and his sister's closeness with him #argued he was always going to bring trouble down on their heads #and then specifically said it was all his fault right before she died #just as a starting point! i'm not blaming madam yu for jc's grown decisions but like #this is the context in which the idea that loving someone and prioritizing them over your other duties and obligations #can be a betrayal comes up repeatedly #i just don't think either of them shake the possibility very easily #seriously people will be like jiang cheng has to take responsibility for his own problems and his problems are like #that time almost everyone he loved was murdered when he was a child #but what about SINCE then oh you mean when someone (not him) cursed someone else (still not him) and that person assumed it was wei wuxian #and marshalled a small army instead of talking to his cousin about his in-law?#or that time he had total control over whether jin guangshan wanted to publicly scatter some ashes and whether either of his extremely not #invited siblings would crash #the ash scattering party #these are the things he's sad about and having a hard time moving past #u would cry 2 if it happened 2 u

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crossdressingdeath · 3 years

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One of the greatest mdzs mysteries for me will be what exactly did JC do to be banned by all matchmakers? Like seriously what horrible thing did he do that all the matchmakers in the country got together and decided "yup fuck this guy we're not working with him again"? I am morbidly curious about this I wish mxtx gave us a hint about the answer. Personally I think maybe he attacked or tortured a matchmaker for some reason (maybe they told him his list of requirements is ridiculous and to grow up a little, that guy is so volatile and torture happy he will definitely react badly to criticism especially from someone he sees as inferior) it seems like the only offense bad enough that all matchmakers will agree to never work with him again since he attacked one of their colleagues, this is my theory but I am curious what your theories are as well as everyone else's

Actually, MXTX does hint at why he’s blacklisted. We see it in the extra where he’s insulting a woman from another sect: he’s just a massive dick to any woman who gets near him. His bullshit list of requirements may well be another part of it. Who’s going to risk their reputation on a guy who’s that demanding and that incapable of even pretending to be a half-decent person? I don’t think he did any one particular thing, he was just so damn fixated on getting a woman who was so exactly like what he pictured that there was no conceivable way she existed and such an asshole to anyone who didn’t give him what he wanted that no one hated themselves enough to take his case. Honestly I‘m pretty sure matchmakers would have been too respected (read: someone with a level of power might actually care if they were tortured to death) for JC to ever have the balls to go after one; there might be consequences for that!

#mdzs #grapehate #anon #asks

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julieandthefandoms · 3 years

Text

Housefull 2 MDZS/The Untamed AU

HELLO THERE MY LOVELIES! I’M MAKING A WILD TUMBLR REAPPEARANCE AND I BRING WITH ME SHINY NEW SHOWS I’VE WATCHED AND PERHAPS THE GREATEST AU I’VE EVER WRITTEN DOWN!

Okay, so, I’m going to preface this by saying that I finally watched the Untamed over the past summer and now am slightly obsessed. I am also in the middle of reading the novel and watching the animation, so... that’s something.

Anyway, today, I decided that it would be a good idea to rewatch my favorite childhood film, a little Bollywood comedy titled Housefull 2. Upon rewatching this, I realized that the MDZS characters would fit really well into the convoluted mess of this plot and so I wrote a little bullet pointed AU idea thing.

(I don’t think I’ll have the time to write this, so if anyone wants to use this concept, pleaseeee tag me/tell me about it. Also, if anything like this is already written, pleaseee tell me too, I need the crack content.) (I’m also desi, by the way, so I don’t know much about Chinese culture, so please tell me if anything is offensive or just plain inaccurate.)

So, without further ado, I’ll be presenting this Housefull 2 MDZS/The Untamed AU!

-As per canon, JZX is emotionally constipated and couldn’t communicate until after his engagement with JYL got split up. Having made their sister cry, JC, WWX, and NHS (who gets roped into it) plan to crush JZX for hurting JYL.

-They send WQ to crush JZX by breaking his heart but give her such vague instructions that she accidentally falls for Mianmain.

NHS: “So... who’re we supposed to use to crush this Peacock. I mean, it can’t be any of us.”

WWX: “I don’t know about y’all, but I’d be great at this mission.” *wiggles eyebrows*

JC *rolls eyebrows*: “I think you forgot that mom will have your head if you do something like this.”

JC: “Hey, you remember her from university?”

WWX: “Who?”

JC: “You know, *her*, the one with the needles who could murder anyone and get away with it”

WWX: *laughing* “Holy hell, the Peacock doesn’t know what’s coming for him!”

NHS: “And who might this mystery lady be?” He says, knowing exactly who this mystery lady is.

JC and WWX: “Wen Qing.”

-All the while, JGS thinks that WQ and JZX are engaged because the Idiot Trio sent an envoy ahead that claimed WQ was a head disciple of Jiang and is a replacement for JYL. JGS has now set the engagement of WQ and JZX in August.

-They find out about Mianmian/LQY and WQ too late, and now JC, WWX, and NHS send someone else, LWJ, to crush JZX’s heart.

JC: “You can’t continue to do this, what happened to our deal?!”

WQ: *death glares* “What our deal said was that I needed to woo someone vaguely in relation to the nickname “Peacock” and happened to be in Lanling as payback for JZX breaking your sister’s heart, I don’t think I’m the one who forgot our deal here.”

JC: “And your first thought was that Mianmian/LQY was Peacock?!”

WQ: “She’s pretty and a Jin, so…”

Before there would be a throw down in this place, WWX interrupted: “Okay, WQ it’s alright that you feel for Mianmian/LQY, but who is supposed to help us teach JZX a lesson now?”

NHS: “I don’t know, but it could maybe be someone who’s already close to JZX.”

JC: “That sounds like a horrible ide- Wait, that’s lowkey kinda genius. Do you remember him from university?”

WWX: “Him?”

JC: “Yeah, you know, him, the one who’s entire vocabulary was the syllable “Mn” and whom you pined after for years.”

WWX *blushing like there’s no tomorrow*: “We can’t send him, he’ll probably send me off to do 50 handstands”

JC: “Please, he’s do anything you ask him to”

NHS: *flutters his fan while knowing to an extreme degree what’s going to happen*

-They send WWX as LWJ’s ‘driver’ for him to make sure the plan is on track, but it just ends in LZ/WY pining. JC is also sent there as a businessman since he needs to make sure JGS doesn’t suspect anything too suspicious. At the same time though, because JGS thinks WQ and JZX are engaged and since LWJ spends most of his free time talking to Mianmian/LQY about his hopeless pining, JGS starts to think that Mianmian/LQY and LWJ are to be engaged and plans another engagement. JGS is quick to inform LQR about this and now LQR thinks that his nephew is married to Mianmian/LQY and that they’re getting married in August.

-At some point here, LXC is in Lanling to visit his bud Meng Yao and that’s when JC and LXC begin talking and stuff. (This can be platonic or romantic, I don’t have a personal preference).

-Additionally, this is also when WWX and LWJ begin investigating the happenings of Lanling and discover the extent of an asshole JGS is. They'd probably be reported sporadically and NHS definitely sent this evidence to detectives XXC and Song Lan.

-So far, no one has gotten to properly executing this plan, and JC & WWX are beginning to question things. Because things couldn’t possibly get worse, this is the moment when Madam Yu decides that it’d be a good idea to visit the Jins in order to remind them of their arranged marriage between JYL and JZX. So now, JC and WWX have to drag both LXC and JYL into this convoluted plot because otherwise everything would go horribly wrong. JC, WWX, NHS, JYL, LXC, WQ, LWJ, and Mianmian/LQY (WQ directly told the boys that if they don’t let Mianmian/LQY in on this, she’ll personally shove a needle where it hurts) are in this room together, attempting to processes the absolute mess that has occurred. (Poor JZX is still living obliviously, his father didn’t even tell him that he’s technically engaged to WQ now. JZX is just vibing in confusion and thinks he’s just being buds with LWJ because LWJ is horrible at flirting with anyone that’s not WWX so his job of breaking JZX is... not going well.) In the end, after being on the receiving end of many of JYL’s disappointed looks, JC and WWX convince her to help them with their plot just this once. (She wouldn’t tell anyone that she was secretly pleased, but hey, JYL kept her vengeance deep, deep down low and deserved to exercise it just this once.)

-(it is important to note here that in this AU, Madame Yu doesn’t know what JZX looks like)

-The plan would be that LXC would (reluctantly) pretend to be JZX in front of Madam Yu. Additionally, Madame Yu thinks the actual JZX is NHS (because JC panicked and that’s the first name he could come up with when Madam Yu asked who was that kid if LXC was JZX). This was to drive JGS off their tails as he still believed that WQ is engaged to JZX now. (He did email LQR about this as well who now thinks his nephews are now engaged to JYL and Mianmian/LQY, respectively, and are going to be married that August.) This is the part where WWX and LWJ finally start realizing that their feelings are mutual after a pep talk from Mianmian/LQY, LXC, and WQ (who’s pep talk sounded more like a shovel talk) for LWJ and from JC, NHS, and JYL for WWX. This is also when Mianmian/LQY and WQ grow closer and also decide that the rest of the group is useless and team up with NHS to knock some sense into JZX. Finally, JZX becomes less emotionally constipated and confesses to JYL, and because WWX, JYL, and JC think that an intervention from the scariest trio (WQ, Mianmian/LQY, NHS) is apt punishment, they call an end to their payback. (Also partially due to JZX having character growth as different characters grilled him throughout this AU). While this is great for our mains, it can only cause a bunch of shenanigans because of the way the parental figures interpret this situation.

-JGS and Madame Jin think the pairings are: WQ/JZX, LQY/LWJ, LXC/JYL, WWX/NHS

-Madame Yu thinks the pairings are: JZX (except it’s LXC’s version of JZX)/JYL, LWJ/WWX, LQY/WQ, and (maybe?) JC/NHS (except it’s JZX who got confused for NHS)

-LQR thinks the pairings are: WQ/JZX, LQY/LWJ, and LXC/JYL

-Meanwhile, the pairings actually are: JZX/JYL, LWJ/WWX, LQY/WQ, and (maybe?) JC/LXC

-In conclusion, they’re all utterly fucked. Therefore, they have to bring everyone into this convoluted plot now, and finally JZX’s experiences over the past months make a little more sense to him. While discussing this mess they’ve created, WWX has an idea.

WWX: “Okay, so, looking at the actual chart of who everyone thinks is who, the biggest disparity is between Madam Yu and JGS’s viewpoints, right? What if we just removed Madam Yu from the equation, make Madam Jin and Madam Yu have a falling out so that Madam Yu won’t be invited to the wedding so that we can focus on one of the false interpretations of all the relationships happening.”

JC: “Madam Jin and Madam Yu have been the best of friends, how are we supposed to make them hate each other?”

JYL: “I mean, we could stage something, a betrayal of some sort.”

NHS: “I’m liking the way you think.”

-So through this plot and NHS’s concerning amount of connections, our group succeeds in breaking apart Madam Yu and Madam Jin’s friendship. JC and WWX also manage to worm their way into convincing the Jins to let JYL marry LXC to “spite Madam Yu’s wish of combining the Jiang and Jin families.” Because of JGS arranging and emailing parents throughout this fic, JYL, JZX, LXC, Mianmian/LQY, WQ, NHS, WWX, and LWJ are basically set to be married in August, except it’s to the wrong person! Soon enough, the wedding day arrives and the gang has a plan: they’ll dress the exact same and have the most elaborate and disruptive headpieces so that their faces are covered.

(Note: Instead of NHS being part of the people getting married as it should be, JC is replaces him for the actual ceremony. Since the our marrige folks have their faces covered, nobody really notices that JC replaced NHS and is marrying LXC. This can be either because of a marriage of convenience to combine companies, or out of actual feelings. I’m cool with either interpretation in my head. Meanwhile, NHS is out in the crowd and People didn’t him because of his surprisingly useful camouflage fan.)

-And so, the group sets NHS as their distraction while JC pretends to be NHS for the wedding ceremony. NHS basically knocks into the most expensive vase he can find so that most of the parental figures turn around, giving the group getting married the opportunity to switch places with one another until they’re in the right spot. So, a bunch of stuff happens, Madam Yu barges in to yell about how disgraceful it is for the Jins to go on with this marriage even though they broke the engagement in the first place and betrayed the trust of the Jiang corporation. Madam Yu also just, airs out JGS’s dirty laundry in a real badass way.

-It’s all chaotic. Hell breaks loose. JGS goes batshit crazy and starts bringing our firearms. And so, basically, everyone ends up hiding behind pillars and stuff, though, eventually, after everyone has to run out of their hiding spot’s because Su She cannot shut the fuck up and keeps getting the other’s exposed, they all pile behind JGS in the world’s worst game combined game of Hide & Seek and Slither.io. It all finally ends when JGS gets arrested for a shit ton of crimes, and everything finally ends with a joint wedding between 8 people, except this time it’s with the right partners.

So, yeah, that’s the AU that I wrote in a dazed craze in the past 2 hours. I hope it was at least partially understandable. I hope y’all have fun with it! Again, if you know of a fanfic that’s got a similar energy or want to write something similar, please tell me, I need more fanfiction. Also, that last scene is basically a direct copy of this scene from the movie Housefull 2. (I’m sorry though, I can’t find an english subbed version of the scene. :(

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topconfessions · 2 years

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Bts were on James Corden and JC talked about how he got a shitstorm from Armys (He made a joke and called them 15 years old girls) and JC mentioned that he received death threats. Namjoon didn't give a damn about that and just said "we appreciate your apology". They just opened the door for more of their fans unhingeness.

Well........

I'm neutral and conflicted on that cause James should have shut his fucking mouth and never said something derogatory like that. I dont care if it sounds minor or minuscule, calling them girls is very toxic and ass backwards to the entire LGBTQ movement & mob wave happening here in America where if you misgender or throw shade at a non-binary, gender fluid, he/them/they demi gender person you're gonna dogged and chewed up gaslit until whenever.

That's prejudice narassstic white prejudice type behavior from him cause it's implementing the toxic notion that it's okay to condensing to a group the majority doesn't care about especially an potential minority cause Asians in general especially in the east are characteristically known to not go off or aggressively demand respect or shut down slights like how African Americans are known to do. I bet you if BTS was a black group he wouldn't have said that shit cause he would had his fat ass torn apart and you all know it. Don't tell me this isnt the truth. Because Asians are seen as docile and push overs cause they choose different methods to handle opposition it gives American white celebrities like Corden the ammo to say shit where he wouldn't be able to get away with it in any other Avenue.

I don't like James and I don't respect him. He is a reflection of the reason why a majority of countries overseas see Americans as uncouth classless self absorbed nitwits. If BTS look like 15 year old girls (regardless of the truth of this) then what the hell does he look like?????

He may have loss a little weight but he looks like a run of the mill fat sloppy American with little to be desired and this would be highly apparent if he went to Europe, Germany, Russia, East or UK and you know it. I watched the amas and they looked pretty normal to me minus a few members with dyed hair and colored contacts. Jungkook and Jin along with Jhope looked like young teenage boys with really well kept skin and maybe too much make up.

And yes this is upsetting to me. At least they look good and youthful. Today's teens who are stars look a mess and when they hit 30s they won't look used up like Justin Bieber.

RM should have gave a better response but it's the same type of Beyonce would say and nobody gives Beyonce a hassle for being an enabler and allowing her fans to do the legwork of coming for her enemies.

I'll have to take BTS side on this cause James meant what he said and would have never took it back if there was 0 reaction to it. Also I'm irrtated at the fact that regardless of it being bat shit crazy army supposedly...

WHY is it that when Asian fans blow up and defend their own or people who support kpop it's called bat shit crazy lunatics but nobody got the same heat for African Americans artists and fans who have the same vitriol when they go for some one? They may not have the scare tactics but if you sit down and read what the bad apples in the black community say about anyone they got the heat for especially kpop people they really are ruthless and foul.

And yall better not DM me with that bullshit of black people being magical unicorns exempt from being held responsible for their actions or some novel length long history lesson as to why they are given a golden pass to be assholes cause of ancient slavery oppression and current oppression when that isnt directly affecting the specfic topics at hand.

Too many races issues here with this situation. It's just a sloppy white man who has been glorified in Hollywood at a time where if he debuted in the 90s or early 2000s he'd be a fucking nobody and BTS would be up there with backstreet if there was an Asian boy band representation back in the day. Current or present day, BTS has accomplished more than he ever will end he is just a glorified gag man in this new era where everyone wants reliability and wants their celebrities to look like the wobbling lard filled men you see on the street at the stop light instead of actual STARS to admire.

By 2025 mark my words he gonna be a nobody cause he gonna fuck over the wrong person by throwing some shade and the big A list name won't take it laying down. Facts.

I don't blame RM cause I too would have said the same. Tbh I wouldn't have accepted his apology. I would have really said "that's nice, cool story to share".

Im sorry but in hollywood in 2021, if someone says something negative about you - they mean that shit and will only ever recount it if there is backlash or a rare situation where they need you for something. It's a very Machiavellian sub society. If RM would have rangled the fans in and try to stop them or do a be nice you guys, let's be fucking honest here....I mean brutally honest: it would have really accomplished NOTHING but proving Corden right and reaffirming the underlying jab that they are less than. He shouldnt have to do that. Let Ariana, Demi, Selena, and Beyonce fans or Normani and Chloe z Halle fans be held to that accountability by their idols.

BTS don't owe James a damn thing

#bts #bts rm #bts army

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trensu · 4 years

Text

Episode 50: The One with the Greatest Family Reunion(s) of All Time

so we start the ep with nhs's truly oscar-worthy performance which results in jgy getting stabbed

And i cheer for both the performance AND the stabbing!!!

lxc has his eyes closed bc that's his coping mechanism when times get tough

lol lxc is like I TOLD YOU I WASN'T GONNA HOLD BACK IF YOU DID ONE MORE BAD THING

and jgy is like i know!! that's why i haven't done one more bad thing!!!!

everyone's faces are like sure jan

but then they look at nhs like, wait a minute...

jgy is like why are you looking at him? you're not gonna see anything! i didn't see anything all these years and i'm smarter and sneakier than all of you!!!

okay, he didn't say that last part but it was def implied

jgy: nhs, good for you. i didn't expect that you would be my downfall.

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQ--uhhh, NIE HUAISANG!!

nhs hasn't broken character either! He needs to join a theater troupe or smth with those skills.

blah blah lxc and jgy are having Feelings blah blah blah lxc is conflicted blah

hm, those Feelings are becoming rather Dramatique

ugh jgy just let it go and die already

jgy: have I ever done you wrong?

UM?? how about KILLING his little brother's soulmate?

which resulted in him having to watch his little brother suffer extreme physical punishment and then grieve for years after??

PRETTY SURE THAT HURT LXC QUITE A LOT

Jgy: now you won't even give me a chance to live?

I THINK THE FUCK NOT!!!

oh we're getting some not so great special effects and jgy drags lxc to the coffin and then bleeds all over it, gross

ooooh, the Temple of Doom is starting to fall apart

lwj makes a move towards lxc but wwx grabs his arm and stops him!

bc it's dangerous to get too close and wwx is protective of his soulmate!!

jc starts the evacuation bc hello the building is crumbling and he gets everyone out except the lan bros, wwx and jgy

Jgy: stay and die with me

FUCK YOU JGY

but lxc was ready and willing to do that, so jgy shoves him back bc why the hell not

(we're gonna ignore how awkward that particular maneuver was, we already know special effects are not a priority in this show)

Jgy's like lets emotionally torment lxc some more, just for kicks, bc I'm an ASSHOLE

lwj catches his brother and he is Concerned.

Eventually our lan bros and wwx flee the temple and jgy has one last meltdown before getting crushed LIKE THE MAGGOT HE IS

Now we cut to a shot of all our crew standing outside

and we see my bratty son slowly fall to his knees with a look of UTTER SORROW AND PAIN ON HIS FACE

Bc he was BETRAYED by his nice uncle

MY POOR SON!!

we get reaction shots from wwx and the lan bros

(wwx continues to be beautiful even when sad)

oh, now lxc and nhs are having a moment sitting on the steps of the temple

lxc asks nhs if jgy really had made a move

nhs is like, you questioning me is making me doubt everything! idk idk!!

even amidst his grief he takes a moment to be completely exasperated by NHS's catchphrase lolol

now we cut to wwx sitting on a different set of stairs, carefully fiddling with his demon flute and he looks up to see jc watching him and HE SMILES

BC THAT'S HIS LITTLE BROTHER!!

AND THEY'RE ALL STILL MIRACULOUSLY ALIVE AFTER THAT HOT MESS!!

oooh, he's unwrapping his sleeve and we get a flash of his bare forearm

how scandalous! you're gonna give lwj vapors, wwx

We see the very last cut on his arm fade away bc finally mxy has been avenged

AND WWX SMILES AGAIN!!

cut to jc and jl watching wwx smile

bc i mean, who wouldn't be captivated by wwx's smile?

PEOPLE YOU CAN'T TRUST, THAT'S WHO

none of the sect leaders before were captivated by that smile AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!

oh that smile didn't stick around for long bc we hear barking!!

wwx gets this panicked wide-eyed expression that mAKES ME WANNA HIDE HIM AND PROTECT HIM FROM THE WORLD

But I also don't want to get murdered by LWJ's death glare so I'll just let him hide and protect wwx...

omg my bratty son looks SO HAPPY and shouts "fairy!!" before running towards his doggy friend

i'm not much of a dog person, tbh, but MY BRATTY SON IS SO HAPPY

and fairy did bring a whole crew of cultivators...

too little too late, some smart spiritual dog he is, lololol

we've got lan disciples, and jiang disciples and all these people swarming around our crew, fussing over them.

it's kind of sweet except i notice that no one's approached my bratty son

he is, in fact, ALL ALONE with fairy and i am OFFENDED on his behalf

not that my bratty son seems to mind

he's too wrapped up in his doggy reunion to notice BUT I NOTICED SO I'LL BE OFFENDED ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US

wwx is smiling as he sees lwj and jc being fussed over by their respective disciples

so cute so CUTE, I love his smiles so much

lwj stands up and greets his uncle with a stately bow

god he's elegant and regal af, how the hell does he do it

but his uncle's a douchebag and barely acknowledges him before turning to leave and lwj watches him go, kind of hurt, kind of surprised

ooooh, now we get a shot of jc watching wwx as he gets questioned by oyzz

Oyzz is like what happened? Are you hurt? Is everyone okay??

and we can see wwx is still smiling!! BC MY BOY IS MADE OF SUNSHINE OKAY

awwwww

jl looks up with an ADORABLE smile on his face and tells fairy to wait outside

HE TAKES FAIRY OUTSIDE BC HE KNOWS WWX IS AFRAID OF DOGS!!!

My bratty son is actually very sweet!!

jc starts to leave the scene (and it's only until now that he stops staring at wwx btw) and wwx watches him go 😔

cut to a shot of lwj blatantly staring at wwx as per usual

wwx looks up and meets his gaze

they get lost in each other for a bit bc when DON'T they?

We’re at the steps of the temple again and we see nhs pick up jgy's crumpled up hat looking all contemplative

oops, nhs's fingers come away from the hat all tacky with blood, yuck

cut to my bratty son running back into the temple where all the cultivators are inspecting stuff and he asks ljy where wwx is

HE'S ASKING AFTER MY SUNSHINE BOY!

Y'know, his not-evil, not-angry uncle?

ljy tells him that he and hanguang jun left after they brought them lil apple

lol, the idea of ljy and oyzz dragging lil apple along just to return him to wwx cracks me up

jl tells ljy to take care of fairy for him before he dashes off to find his new uncle

BUT JC STOPS HIM?? "don't chase after them"

look at jc being all Cool leaning against that tree

in his fashionable robes

with his awesome sword tucked in the crook of his elbow

jl throws one last glance at the direction wwx and lwj left, and then joins jc under the tree

jc is like, they're long gone kid

jl: so that's it? you're letting them leave just like that??

jc: what else? invite them to stay for dinner? say thank you and then i am sorry??

lol, he's working himself up into a snit already

But also, like, MY BRATTY SON HAS A GOOD HEART, OKAY??

he just hides it under bluster bc he's sensitive and people are mean to him all the time!

HE WANTED TO CONNECT WITH WWX (AND MAYBE LWJ??) NOW THAT THIS WAS ALL OVER

AND HE WOULD'VE DONE IT IF NOT FOR JC BEING ALL HUNG UP ON HIS ISSUES STILL

not that i hold that against jc, that's a lot of emotional trauma he's gotta work through

LOL JL IS NOT GONNA LET HIMSELF BE COWED BY HIS UNCLE BC WHEN DOES HE EVER?

JL: it was exactly bc of the way you were acting that they took off! you're such a pain in the neck!!

AND THEN HE POUTS AND FALLS INTO A CROUCH WITH HIS ARMS CROSSED AND STARTS SULKING UP A STORM

I LOVE MY BRATTY SON SO MUCH

JC: IS THAT HOW YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SPEAK TO YOUR ELDERS? ARE YOU ASKING TO GET DISCIPLINED??

these two crack me up every time, i swear

but the whole corporal punishment is...problematic

jc raises his arm to smack jl and jl ducks and raises his own arm to block the blow and i'm sitting here like, yikes

but then we get a shot of jc's open palm, out of focus with a crisp backdrop of red leaves from the tree they're under

and his hand is just held there, stilled for just a moment before the fingers start to gently curl inward and the strike never happens (thank god)

jc: lets go home, jin ling. let everyone go back to the place where they belong

he walks off with jin ling springing to his feet and chasing after him a beat later

jl: was there something you wanted to say to wwx?

have i mentioned i love my bratty son? BECAUSE I DO. A LOT.

jc: no, there isn't.

jl: bullshit!

I LOVE HIM!! WHAT A MOUTHY BRAT 💜

JL: i saw it with my own eyes! you wanted to talk to wwx! but you didn't say a word just now or back in the temple!

jc: there is nothing to say

jl: bullshit! you had something to say!

while this entire exchange is happening we see jc marching ahead, not looking at jl at all, but jl is walking backwards eyes pinned to his face the entire time

bc my son might be a brat but he's also pretty observant and he KNOWS his uncle

AND NOW WE GET A FLASHBACK

WE GET A BIG REVEAL

we're back at “the ones where we gross sob FOREVER”

and wwx is telling jc to stay put at the inn while he goes to get food and meds

his voice all weak and tremulous

but jc steps out of the inn for a moment after wwx leaves

AND SEES THAT THE WEN FLUNKIES CAUGHT SIGHT OF HIS BROTHER!!

they were like three feet away from grabbing his big brother

and he says internally, "take care. i'm leaving jyl in your hands"

AND I'M CRYING BC THEY'RE PLAYING THAT MUSIC

THAT SWEET TENDER MUSIC THEY PLAY WHENEVER JYL AND HER BROTHERS HAVE A MOMENT

Jc goes and causes a distraction and lets himself be caught by the wens

SO THAT HIS BIG BROTHER AND BIG SISTER COULD STAY SAFE

I'M CRYING I'M CRYING

MY YUNMENG SIBS, MY POOR YUNMENG SIBS!!

WHY DID THEY HAVE TO SUFFER SO??

WHY WERE THEY SO DAMN SELF-SACRIFICING???

WHY THE HELL COULDN'T THEY LEARN TO COMMUNICATE BETTER???

cut back to the present, and jc's eyes are welled up with tears

he has a hurt little smile on his face, he says, "take care"

softly, mostly to himself

after a moment, he turns to jin ling and says "lets go"

and we watch them leave

I just want them all to be a BIG HAPPY FAMILY DAMN IT

cut to the next scene, we hear ~THEIR SONG~ start playing in the background all slow and soft

i love the overhead shot we get of them surrounded by the gorgeous foliage, it's so peaceful

As wwx and lwj walk slowly and at ease with lil apple between them

AND MY HEART FEELS SO TENDER AND FULL OMG

lwj: wei ying

he says it all seriously. wwx looks at him and he's got A BIG SMILE ON HIS FACE

bc he's looking at his soulmate!!!

who wouldn't smile when looking at their soulmate???

he's cheerfully twirling his flute bc finally all is right in the world!

the mystery is solved, his loved ones are safe

and he's traveling with lwj and lil apple

nothing could be better!

wwx: whats up?

lwj is pointedly not looking at him

lwj: there is something that I…

and here he stops in his tracks, and wwx stops with him

lwj: i didn't tell you.

wwx gets all playful and leans on lil apple, and waggles his demon flute and lwj

wwx: what is it?

Look at that mischievous grin!!

he's all prepared to tease the heck out of lwj for whatever he's about to say LOL

but they're interrupted!!

wen ning and lan sizhui are running after them and wwx notices

LOLOL

His face scrunches up and he mutters under his breath like, damn it! every time!! these two are fast!

wwx: sizhui, why are you following us? aren't you afraid of old master lan calling you out?

MY SUNSHINE BOY IS SMILING SO MUCH THIS EPISODE, I'M SO HAPPY!!!

lsz: i have something important to ask you!

he's all out of breath!

wwx turns to look at lwj eyes wide and curious before going back to lsz

wwx: what is it?

lsz goes on to explain how he's been remembering things but he's unsure of stuff so he wanted to ask them about it

wwx looks confused and glances at lwj

lwj just looks back at him briefly before his eyes flick down

wwx: what is it that you want to know?

lsz looks down and, like, gathers up the strength needed for this next line of questioning.

with the sweetest smile, and the softest eyes he starts listing stuff

like how he knew a cocky chef who was actually a terrible cook

(wwx laughs confusedly at this)

and how that man planted him in a field and told him he'd grow faster with some watering and sunlight

AND WE GET A FLASHBACK OF LITTLE A-YUAN PLOPPED IN THE DIRT GETTING BURIED BY WWX

he goes on to say how that man would play with him

and how he had invited hunguang jun for a meal and then didn't pick up the tab so hanguang jun had to pay

There we get a flashback to their meal at the yiling wine house!

we cut back to the present and WWX'S FACE IS STUNNED, EYES WELLING UP WITH TEARS, AND LSZ IS GETTING CHOKED UP AS HE TELLS HIM THINGS

AND WWX'S BREATHING GETS SHAKY

BC LSZ TELLS HIM HIS SURNAME IS WEN

wwx blinks rapidly, not believing what he's hearing

wwx: wen was your surname? isn't lan your surname?

wwx: lan sizhui, lan yuan.. A-yuan?

AND OH GOD HIS FACE, HIS FACE

His eyebrows are furrowed

His eyes are full of tears!

he's looking at lsz like this has to be a dream bc it's too good to be true

Lsz nods jerkily

AND I'M TRYING TO HOLD BACK TEARS

HOW THE HELL IS LWJ WATCHING THIS ALL GO DOWN WITHOUT CRYING??

he's watching his son so intently

he's seeing his two most precious people reunite

and there are no tears??

I DON'T UNDERSTAND

HE'S VERY OBVIOUSLY MOVED BY THIS BUT NOT CRYING

MEANWHILE MY FACE IS A FREAKING RIVER OF EMOTION

lsz: i...i am a-yuan

and his voice all cracked with feeling

wwx huffs and is still shaky

wwx: didn't a-yuan pass away already?

he's thought his kid was dead this whole time

MY HEART, MY HEART

lwj had been staring at lsz this whole time but when he hears wwx say that, his gaze drops to the ground

HE FEELS ASHAMED (AS HE SHOULD BE!!) BC HE DIDN'T TELL WWX SOONER

wwx turns to lwj, hope and tentative joy in his voice

wwx: lan zhan, was it you?

lwj meets his gaze and says yes, his voice steady and firm

lwj: this was the thing i haven't told you about

Yeah, i know, i’ve been YELLING AT YOU ABOUT IT THIS WHOLE TIME

and wwx looks back at lsz, breath choppy and lsz flings himself into wwx's arms!!!

I AM SOBBING

lsz: i really missed you, i really missed you

THEY'RE BOTH CRYING AND CLINGING TO EACH OTHER SO HARD

OH GOD I NEED TISSUES

wwx laughs and sniffles

wwx: silly boy, why are you crying?

AS IF YOUR FACE ISN'T STREAMING WITH TEARS, WWX

lsz pulls back and scrubs his face in his sleeve

lsx: i wasn't crying. i was just feeling really sad and yet thrilled at the same time

YOU TWO STOP DENYING YOUR TEARS

IF I HAVE TO SIT IN A PUDDLE OF MY TEARS THEN YOU HAVE TO OWN UP TO YOUR OWN TEARS, YOU HEAR ME??

lsz: i couldn't put it into words

lwj: then don't

pffft, ofc lwj would be the one advocating for LESS WORDS lololol

wwx laughs at that

wwx: that's right. no need to say anything

then he starts his theatrics, bc he wouldn't be wwx without his theatrics

he leans on lil apple and rubs his own shoulder

wwx: damn, you little ones are strong, you are indeed a student of hanguang jun

he looks at lwj and points his demon flute at him

HE'S SO HAPPY

lwj: he is a student of yours as well

omg lwj delivers this line so sincerely

like, there was barely a pause between what wwx and what lwj responded with

he's so freaking earnest

LOL wwx straightens up at that and reaches for lsz

wwx: no wonder he is such a handsome boy!

Wwx, you are SHAMELESS

He giggles as he pats lsz’s face, it’s freaking adorable

lsz: master wei didn't teach me anything!

wow lsz, you've had your other dad back for all of five minutes and you're already sassing him?

he truly is wwx's son lol

wwx: i did! it was bc you were so little and you forgot

You’re sounding a bit defensive there, wwx...

lsz: yes, i seem to recall. i remember now

wwx immediately starts preening

wwx: you see. i've mentored him!

lsz: for example, switching the portrait of a beauty into--

wwx slams his hand over lsz's mouth, HIS FACE IS A PICTURE OF PANIC

LOLOLOL

lwj's eyes have widened slightly and developed an edge of Judgement

wn peeks at lwj out of the corner of his eyes like he's trying to gauge his reaction or smth lolol

wwx laughs awkwardly and takes his hand off lsz's mouth to shake a finger at him, wearing a tight smile on his face

lsz: and when a pretty lady passes by--

wwx: NONSENSE!!!

LOL I'M D Y I N G

wwx shouts this at the TOP OF HIS LUNGS to drown out lsz

he whirls on him pointing an accusatory finger and marches towards him as lsz scrambles back

wwx: nonsense! how come you're remembering these kinds of things? how could i teach little kids these things?

LOL HE'S TALKING SO FAST

lsz: you did! wen ning can testify!

wow, way to throw your uncle under the bus, lsz

kids these days have no filial piety!

wwx: there's nothing for wen ning to testify!

OMG WN AND LWJ IN THE BACKGROUND 🤣🤣🤣

as soon as lsz draws attention to him, wn looks at lsz like WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?

and lwj side-eyes wen ning SO HARD, like what the hell did you let wwx teach my son?

wwx: stop talking nonsense! i am telling you, little boy. lan zhan, what did you teach him?

AND WE GET THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SHOT OF LWJ HERE

as soon as wwx turns to him with his wild accusations, lwj gets this delightfully crooked smile on his face

and he looks down as if there's TOO MUCH JOY IN HIS HEART that he can't bear to watch for long

GOD THIS IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE.

and this marks, what, THE THIRD? the third time lwj smiles in public, all OUT IN THE OPEN?

I'M DYING, I'M DYING

wwx: when a-yuan was little and with me, he was a good boy!

lsz: it's the truth!

wwx: nonsense!

wwx: do you see that pit? no matter how big you've become, i will still plant you into that pit. understand?

lsz has a big grin on his face

wwx: what are you laughing at? you dumb boy!

AND THEN LSZ DROPS TO THE GROUND AND HUGS WWX'S LEG LIKE HE USED TO WHEN HE WAS A TODDLER

AND EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL IN THE WORLD

wwx laughs to himself and lwj still has a small smile playing across his lips as he watches his son

wwx: a-yuan, you are too old for this

AS IF HE'S NOT LOVING EVERY SECOND OF IT

wwx: do you remember, you used to grab hanguang jun's leg when you were little, just like this?

so many wonderful flashbacks of little a-yuan clinging to his parents’ legs!!

oh god, oh god, my heart, my heart is going to explode from all the tender feelings!! Look at their faces

wwx's mouth slowly curls into a smile before it grows INTO A FLASH OF HIS SQUINTY-EYED SMILE

you know the one!

the one that stretches SO BIG WITH HAPPINESS IT LIGHTS UP THE WHOLE WORLD?? YEAH, THAT ONE

and then we cut to lwj's face

he has the softest expression on his face

he's got this gentle, tiny smile, the slightest of curves at the corners of his mouth

and in his eyes are SO FULL OF LOVE AND WARMTH as he watches his soulmate smile at him with their son clinging to his soulmate's leg

AND I MUST'VE DIED AND GONE TO THE GOOD PLACE BC THIS IS JUST TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BE REAL

now we cut to a different scene, lwj and lsz are in the background have some sort of father-son chat, while wwx and wn chill in the foreground

here we find out that wn and lsz plan to go back to qishan to build some sort of memorial to their loved ones

wwx: i'll come with you

wn: that won't be necessary

wwx: you don't want me to tag along?

aw, my sunshine boy looks kinda hurt 😔

but wn assures him that that's not the case. it's just that wwx has already done more than enough for them and it's time for wen ning to go out on his own

wwx gets all teary-eyed again and pats him on the shoulder, and agrees that that's for the best

lsz and wn split off, and wwx waves his demon flute cheerfully at them, lwj at his side

wwx turns to lwj with a smile

wwx: lan zhan, lets go!

he says happily, with confidence, then he taps chenqing on his head a couple of times

wwx: where should we go?

he grins, pulling lil apple along with him, so cheerfully!

wwx: let's get going, lil apple!

but lwj isn't turning with him

he's still in that spot, his back towards wwx who already was forging onto his next adventure

AND MY HEART IS BREAKING

BC WHY HASN'T HE TURNED TO FOLLOW WWX???

wwx slows to a stop as he notices the absence of white robes at his side AND ~THEIR SONG~ STARTS PLAYING AGAIN

he turns back slowly to look back at lwj, confused

there is too much distance between them!!

TOO MUCH!

multiple yards of distance where there should be NONE!

THERE SHOULD BE NONE DISTANCE!!!!!!

WHY ISN'T THERE NONE DISTANCE??!?!

lwj is still facing away from wwx, he's still rooted to the spot and his face has gone blank

wwx: lan zhan, you...aren't you coming with me?

HE SOUNDS SO CONFUSED, SO TIMID

HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENING

and there's a too long pause during which wwx's eyes are desperately pinned to lwj's back

finally, FINALLY, lwj turns ever so slowly to face wwx

wwx is staring at him and lwj can only meet his eyes briefly before they slowly turn downwards

wwx gets this tiny hurt smile on his face and nods as his eyes well with tears again but this time THEY ARE NOT HAPPY TEARS

these are "i knew this was too good to be true" tears

these are "of course i can't keep good, pure lan zhan at my side" tears

these are "this is exactly what i deserve" tears

lwj looks up again, and wwx gives him a nod and a smile bc he doesn't want lwj to feel guilty for leaving him

LEAVING HIM

HE'S LEAVING HIM AGAIN

WHY

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

the camera pulls out, really emphasizing the distance and the sudden quiet that falls between them is severely lacking any words of explanation

AND I'M SCREAMING INTERNALLY BC WTF WHY

we cut to a truly impressive shot of the cloud recesses, followed by a cut to a waterfall

I’m pretty sure it's the same waterfall from when they were kids and had that sword fight

and we hear the opening notes of ~Their Song~ played on the flute

wwx walks into view on the shore of the pond the waterfall goes into, with his flute at his lips

in the background we see that lwj is at the opposite shore closer to the waterfall, sitting cross-legged with his guqin in his lap

AND THEN THEY GIVE US VOCALS

bc watching them play ~THEIR SONG~ TOGETHER BUT AT A DISTANCE WASN'T PAINFUL ENOUGH

and jfc the shots of the waterfalls in this area are freaking gorgeous

now we see them standing together on the same boulder over a smaller waterfall

bc our boys have an aesthetic

that aesthetic is moonlight and waterfalls, and they're sticking to it

wwx: lan zhan, tbh, it surprised me that you would take over the role of his excellency

lwj: we made a vow here

and we get a flashback to the lantern scene and hear those vows they made as kids

Back in the present, wwx smiles, and knocks back the jar of wine that he has with him bc the mystery has been solved BUT HIS ALCOHOLISM HASN'T!

and i'm sitting here SCREAMING INTERNALLY, FUCK THOSE VOWS.

YOU'VE GOT NEW, BETTER VOWS, WHICH ARE NEVER EVER LEAVE EACH OTHER'S SIDES EVER AGAIN, DAMN IT

wwx turns to face lwj

wwx: lan zhan, you truly deserve your title, hanguang jun

and lwj turns to look back at him

lwj: and you too, wei ying

we are BLESSED with wwx's wide, squinty-eyed smile

and lwj graces us with his soft, small, secret smile

they stare at each other for a moment before turning back to gaze off into the distance

the camera pulls back to gift us with the gorgeous scenery that surrounds them

now we cut to them walking down the steps towards that big rock full of ridiculous gusulan rules

nhs is there! with his fan!

nhs: this is unexpected. cloud recesses has added another thousand rules.

wwx: nhs, no matter how many rules are added, there is one that matters most. do you know what it is?

nhs looks so at ease here

this entire time since we got back to the present to watch wwx solve this mystery, nhs was nervous, twitchy and flaky in every scene

but here, he stands straight and serene with a confidence we have not yet seen on him til now

nhs: i have no clue

he says this and it doesn't sound anything like his usual anxious, dopey, "idk idk i really don't know"

nhs: please advise, wwx.

and wwx strides up until he's right next to nhs, shoulder to shoulder, tho they're facing opposite directions

wwx: that would be...

he leans down, and lowers his voice

wwx: "thou shall not befriend the devil"

there has been a distinct lack of background noise or music since this scene started

but the minute those words leave wwx's mouth, we get ominous music.

nhs keeps his harmless act as he meets wwx's eyes and they share a laugh

(a laugh of acknowledgement, of recognition of each other's skills)

nhs: wwx, you have the nerve

wwx: no i wouldn't dare. i'm no match for you.

the words they're exchanging SOUND carefree and easy on the surface, but they definitely carry some underlying tension

nhs notices lwj watching them and bows respectfully

nhs: your excellency

he turns to leave, fan open against his chest

wwx: clan leader nie, i have one question that i would love to get your opinion on.

nhs: go on

wwx: you have put in so much effort and energy, don't you want to be the Excellency?

wwx is gauging nhs's threat level to lwj

bc with the skills nhs has developed and the cover he has, it really wouldn't be all that difficult for him to depose lwj if he wanted, you know?

but nhs has never been the ambitious sort

he was perfectly content with his art, and his fans, and his porn, and being second young master, nothing more (UNTIL FUCKING JGY RUINED IT ALL)

nhs: wwx, it was once said that we can never get tired of these scenes; earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea

nhs: as for me, i am a sensible man. if i have to, i always do it myself.

nhs: but for the things that aren't my business, i won't meddle in

and i'm not sure if there's something i'm missing, some layer of context or whatever,

but what i get from this is that nhs is saying everything has its place and he has no desire to go outside of his own place in the world

if the situation calls for it, he will intervene but ONLY if there's no one else willing or able to step in

really, this is just his poetic way of saying, i have no interest in hurting hanguang jun or stealing his power

lwj walks up to join wwx as the two of them watch nhs leave

lwj: aren't you going to ask him?

wwx: ask him what?

wwx: who let mxy out? who released the blade spirit? who found sisi and bicao? and who wrote that anonymous letter?

and he gets this unconcerned expression on his face

with a little pout he just goes on to say that these questions don't matter anymore

and he walks off, twirling his flute

we cut to the next scene and our boys are standing face to face on a grassy hilltop. wwx points behind lwj

Brief aside to say, i love the robes lwj wears here, they’re very very pretty. White and pale blue, they look very airy and light

wwx: i will head that way

and lwj points with bichen behind wwx

lwj: i will head this way

AND THEN THEY JUST STARE AT EACH OTHER FOR A BIT

BC THEY DON'T REALLY WANNA SAY GOODBYE, DO THEY?

lwj: have you decided where you are going to go?

wwx shakes his head and tilts his chin up

wwx: it's a big world that we live in. i will wander with my fine wine and a ride, and make it my home

*cries softly* but you have a home, LWJ is your home, why are you leaving

lwj lowers his gaze

probs bc he is thinking the same thing i was

let lwj be your home, wwx

wwx: lan zhan, i will get going

and lwj gives him one single, barely there nod of the head

bc he doesn't want wwx to go!!!

but he doesn't want to hold him back either...

wwx walks past him with a smile, dragging lil apple along with him and cheerfully he says:

"as long as the sea is bound to wash up on the sand and stars are above you, we will meet again."

and lwj just watches him leave before steeling himself to turn and walk off to his wwx-less future

but as he walks, he hears wwx playing their song on his flute so he pauses to turn back slightly

and we hear wwx’s voice over, "lan zhan, next time we see each other, you better have a name for this song."

as lwj continues walking, we hear his voice over, "way ahead of you."

and he seems slightly less sad at their parting.

AND NOW WE'RE GETTING THE FUCKING VOCALS AGAIN BC THE SHOW JUST LOVES TEARING OUR HEARTS OUT OF OUR CHEST

we get a gorgeous shot of a green cliff side and of course the cliffside has a couple of pretty waterfalls

wwx standing alone, playing on his flute, and the camera is lovingly caressing all of wwx's best features

we get a beautiful close up of wwx's lips resting over the mouthpiece of his flute, aND I THANK EVERY DEITY IN EXISTENCE FOR IT

and it's not immediately apparent bc wwx always wears dark form fitting robes

but the robes he's wearing in this scene are DEFINITELY DIFFERENT from the ones he was wearing when he and lwj parted ways

MEANING SOME TIME HAS PASSED

we have no way of knowing how much time

COULD BE AN HOUR! COULD BE A DAY! COULD BE A COUPLE OF YEARS!!

WE JUST DON'T KNOW

but time has passed

wwx is playing ~Their Song~ alone on that hill, the vocals are like honey to the ears and they crescendo to give us an overwhelming swell of emotion

the music peeters off until it's just wwx's flute reaching the last notes of ~Their Song~

as he is finishing we hear lwj's voice

"Wei Ying."

wwx freezes, like he's wondering if he imagined that voice

the music is completely gone, everything is utterly silent and wwx's face is completely open as he lowers his flute

a smile starts to curl at his mouth, small and tentative and as he turns around, ~Their Song~ crescendos into existence again

and wwx's smile grows incredulous and relieved and SO FULL OF LOVE AND JOY

I DIE, I DIE!

MY BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE BOY

and we fade to black

bc that's where it ends

That's it

THAT'S ALL THERE IS, WE MADE IT TO THE END!

IT'S OVER, THERE'S NO MORE. MY LIFE NO LONGER HAS MEANING. OMG I JUST BURST INTO TEARS. WHY IS THIS AFFECTING ME SO MUCH

I KNEW THIS WAS COMING. I'VE SEEN THIS THREE OTHER TIMES ALREADY!! OH GOD OH GOD, I MISS WWX'S FACE ALREADY. GIVE ME BACK MY SUNSHINE BOY, LET ME KEEP HIM FOREVER *SOBS*

Hang on, hang on, just give me a minute. *deep breath* Okay, i’m good, i’m good now.

This show is just...it’s so beautiful in every way except CGI lol and it evokes so many visceral feelings. It’s passionate, is what it is. And not in the sexual way “passionate” has been forced to become. This show is passionate the way passion is supposed to mean: piercing anguish, burning anger, utter devotion...just overwhelming feeling

But most importantly, the passion in this show is intense love:

Platonic love; see how much our main cast gave up to aid their friends and dependents

Familial love; look at the lengths those brothers and sisters went for each other

Romantic love; watch how these two soulmates returned to each other again and again regardless of all the obstacles between them

I honestly can’t think of another show that’s done this so well. I am just so grateful to have been able to watch this show, to have gotten to know these characters even tho it’s raised my standards for future shows to ridiculously high levels

So that’s it! We’ve reached the end of the guide! Now we can go back and re-visit our favorite scenes whenever we want!

Return to Masterpost

#WangXiantics #wangxian #the untamed #cql

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agendratum · 3 years

Text

what i forgot to mention on the previous post - so far nhs is probably the only character who has the same vibes in live action. the king of always staying true to himself.

even tho i think now that teenagers wwx and jc aren’t that far away too.

i was thinking that, wow, wwx is so much more obnoxious and jc is so much more annoyed with him, but then at some point it clicked in my head. no, they are pretty much the same, we just get to have more time with them. imagine what would happen if instead of 5 episodes of gusu summer camp arc there wer e 10 or more. yunmeng bros are just Like That. and the more time you spend with them, the more you think, oh my god, why are you Like That (but like in a loving way)

and also, i guess, we mostly see jc from wwx’s perspective here, we don’t get that many glimpses of jc when wwx isn’t looking at him.

but ouch, the glimpses we did get.

and that’s my smooth transition to jfm, the best dad of the year. my first impression of him in live action was - finally, a cool adult, it’s the chill uncle that raised the fun loving wwx, right! and to be honest, compared to other adults we met by that point, i don’t think i was that wrong. always yelling lqr with his followw-all-3-thousands-rules-all-the-time, jgs who was visibly not a pleasant person from the very beginning. and then there is jfm who comes to gusu and starts talking about respecting free spirit and will, not going against children’s wished, laughing at his kids’ shenanigans.

someone who was paying more attention (not me) would probably notice that things were actually not that nice and fun in jiang family. what with jc saying that his own father likes wwx more than him and yanli being like, “oh shit need to come up with something reassuring fast in this hopeless situation, where we both know he’s right”

but in the novel it fucking punches you in the face. first jzx (what a fucking asshole btw) with his, “doesn’t your uncle love you more than his own son” and jiang cheng freezing in place. and then wwx, “you should have punched jzx instead, maybe then uncle jiang wouldn’t hurry here” and jiang cheng silently agreeing that his dad never hurries anywhere for him, no matter what’s the deal. never.

OH MY GOD

do love tho that jc was like, “oh just fuck off back to yunmeng already” and next line is like, “and then wwx fucked off back to yunmeng” so now you listen to what jiang cheng is saying, huh

what else

not enough girls. i miss jiang yanli :C where was mianmian? i miss mianmian. where is wen qing :C when do we get to meet the girls :CCC

the only girls we met so far were girls from the loquat scene. which, by the way, for some reason reminded me of ghibli movies. that was such a lovely scene.

definitely like teenager lwj more than adult lwj so far. i just feel SO BAD FOR HIM. but i yelled about this already. but oh my god, poor boy, save him.

nie huaisang? flawless

#so i finished the first flashback #yana reads mdzs

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eyeslikefoxglove · 4 years

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Episode 10 - Tywin Lannister called, he wants the Rains of Castamere back & once again, Foxglove cheers when someone gets shanked

Hiiiii! Welcome to episode 10 commentary! I’m doing this one right after episode 9 because for once in my life I started on this early enough in the day I can get more than one single episode in. Hope you enjoy!

Before I descend into several “wtf is wrong with this guy” rants, let me point a funny to y’all. The corpse that WWX checks for pupillary changes is not only breathing, you can see his carotid pulse jumping on his neck.

Ok done.

WHAT THE FUCK THAT’S A LITTLE GIRL WHAT THE FUCK.

Fuck this creeper oh my god. I know he’s supposed to have a tragic past and be cute and charismatic but I just want to shush him every time he opens his mouth.

(XXC truly looks like an elven prince doesn’t he)

Aaaaaand WWX gives zero fucks about your dramatic exit stage right.

He also gives zero fucks about the fight to the death happening right in front of him, I mean, why would he when he can flirt with LWJ instead?

Speaking of said fight, I really hope they sped up the footage of them spinning through the air, because if whatever machine and harnesses they used truly spun them so fast I feel for the actors/body doubles.

Hey XXC that’s your boyfriend right there!

Today is really not XY’s day is it.

(That disgusted face WWX makes is pretty much a visual representation of what I feel when XY tries to be cute. Seriously)

SHUT UP XY MY BOY IS HAVING A FANBOY MOMENT.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but he’s got a point. Not in this case, because these five are actually good people but the rich and powerful are indeed a bunch of hypocrites. *Softly plays Eat the Rich*

LWJ is a hairsbreadth away from slapping XY out of his faux-innocent act and I can’t say I fault him tbh. And WWX is fucking smug because he is the king of being a little shit and this amateur got nothing on him.

Is Zhu Zanjin wearing eyeliner or are his eyelashes actually that incredible?

I’m making pained noises because I keep wondering what would’ve happened if WWX had asked XXC for help after people mounted a witch hunt against him and why do I keep doing this to myself?

WWX: *talks about his boyfriend*

JC: *eyeroll*

Oh my god this bit is so painful. You can see how starved WWX is about finding the smallest connection with his mum and my soul hurts.

And LWJ’s face watching them go. He’s probably just realised this was a dream you could have, and there it is, walking away. I’m gonna go make myself some tea and eat some cake or something, I deserve it after all this emotional turmoil.

(Aaaaaaand there goes XY being a fucking creep again)

LOOK AT MY TWO LIL CUPCAKES BEING FUCKING ADORABLE WHEN THEY GET PRAISED. LOOK AT THEM.

We’ve already established that I have the survival instincts of a concussed lemming but NMJ is a dude I want to get into a shouting match with. I don’t dislike him or anything and he’s badass, but watching this is obvious a five year old with an attitude can push his buttons. And he’s both a political leader and has a whole baby brother to take care off, you can’t allow yourself to get so angry you contemplate murder in your living room my dude. Furthermore, I know his way of cultivation makes him even more unstable and prone to Qi deviation; but instead of finding a way to work around that this idiot is ok with dying young and leaving everyone who loves him fucking devastated. Because why? It’s the way of his clan? It’s traditional? It’s honourable? Fuck that, no wonder NHS dislikes sword fighting so much if that’s going to eventually kill his big brother.

NMJ: I am a just and frank man, I fear nothing in presence of sinners like you.

Me, with a megaphone: HUBRIS IS A BITCH

The One Braincell Trio being MY fanboys gives me life *insert another million canon-divergences in which they befriend MY and everything is less Lannister red as a result*

THIS ASSHOLE IS2G SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THAT ABOUT MY MUM AND NO ONE WILL FIND THE BODY.

Ok, NMJ called Lan Yi “the great talented leader of the Lan”, I want to pick a less violent fight with him now.

Wei “let me be damn sexy while drinking” Wuxian back at it again.

WUJI IS ON! MOONLIGHT! ROOFTOPS!

WWX: Lan Zhan I’ll sleep on your roof tonight

LWJ: Wei Ying I have to go

WWX: Lan Zhan I’ll sleep on your roof tonight

LWJ: Wei Ying, there’s room in my bed if we snuggle.

There, I fixed it. (Here I come again, joking to hide the pain. Parting is such sweet sorrow and all that)

... oh hey I’d never noticed how big Wang YiBo’s hands are and now I’m in trouble. Which is funny, cause LWJ is v much not my type, but Wang YiBo apparently is now? I mean, I’ve reblogged stuff about him because he’s ridiculously beautiful but...

*falls down a google images rabbit hole*

...

Yeah I can safely say I’m into Wang YiBo’s badboy-prettyboy-coolboy-gremlinboy attitude.

Anyway back to the show:

That was a fucking great sword throw and I love the little smirk MY’s wearing.

... what did I just see?

I don’t know how to describe it, but when WZL sticks the tip of his sword into the flat of NMJ’s sabre and drives him back and you see then go through the frame in front of WC? That’s like the most ridiculous anthropomorphic version of a train dragging a car along the tracks. All that’s missing is the “nyooooom” sound.

Speaking of WZL that’s one coolheaded dude.

Ok, I’m going to go down a Meng Yao rabbit hole again. Brace yoselves.

At risk of sounding like NHS I really don’t know why MY would’ve set XY free. I mean, if he gets XY and the Yin Iron back to WRH he’s got the chief cultivator’s favour... but everyone and their mum wants WRH out of the scene, including as far as he knows Daddy Dearest. He’s clever enough to realise there’s going to be a war, so he might’ve though that if he put himself up as a spy this soon it would’ve benefited the, yet nonexistent, SunShot Campaign. In the book he also murders his bully of a superior right before “defecting” and becoming a spy, and much like in here, NMJ catches him and stabbing happens. Do I think he, like the Jins, was playing both sides during the war? Yeah, but in this instance if I were him I wouldn’t trust in the benevolence of a man who makes puppets out humans for funsies, especially seeing how much he gets bullied.

Now if we go the other direction, of wrong place wrong time, MY doesn’t seem displeased with the Nies. I mean, NMJ and NHS like and respect him as far we’ve seen, NMJ even follows his advise. Why would he want to risk his fucking neck against NMJ just to get a potential in (that again depends on WRH liking him) to spy in a potential war? Call me a hufflepuff, but I’d stay put. Right before NMJ finds MY murdering someone we hear the voice of he asshole captain who loves to mess with MY, same captain that wasn’t present when confronting WC and that was really fucking drunk last night. I’m not saying this man works for the Wens, but hangovers make you sluggish and tired, who’s to say XY didn’t actually break tf out if this yahoo was the one guarding him (back again to the bit when MY asked the captain to post extra guards and the captain told him where to stick it, we don’t know if he actually doubled the guard) and MY walked in on it. Now this asshole has the perfect scapegoat! The *insert his preferred MY slur* did it! He saw it! And MY either panics or snaps and gets stabby.

Listen, it’s murder either way, and I won’t pretend MY doesn’t have a whole alphabet of plans for every situation, but damn I cheered.

Shut the fuck up WC.

My one track mind is shrieking because MY has a stab wound in his chest and he’s just... chilling? (Like a villain lol)

Did y’all see the fan smacking the hand bit? Now that I’ve seen the whole thing is evident, but that’s pretty much the same exact show as at the beginning with the “mysterious man”. Ooooohhhh I love the hints!

HOLY FUCK NMJ IS CRYING (my 3zun ship is sailing y’all can’t stop me).

Speaking of 3zun if y’all could point me to nice fics where everything doesn’t go up in flames for these three idiots I’d appreciate it.

And that’s all for this episode. Thanks for reading.

#cql #the untamed #mdzs live action #mdzs #foxglove watches cql #foxglove watches the untamed #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #jiang wanyin #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #meng yao #jin guanyao #3zun #Foxglove cheers when someone gets shanked #again #foxglove babbles

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incarnateirony · 4 years

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I'm sorry, when I said "the crazy stuff" I didn't mean your experiences, that's something personal and meaningful to you, I meant the crazy rules some religions have like "kill the gays", wich I know is not something you or your belief system stands for, so I wanted to shown a clear difference between people who approach religion like you and a crazy person.There's good beliefs and religious people,I respect those.And thanks for sharing how you feel,I'll reflect about that and how I communicate.

Same anon again, I think the definition of agnosthic you rebloged may fit me better than atheist. I don't believe humanity was created or that there's spiritual beings watching us and messing with our fate, but I wouldn't live in denial if I encountered it. I'm also not opossed to the idea of some Lovecraftian alien that can mess with the universe in ways we don't know is possible yet. We don't even know what's in the bottom of the ocean, so who knows what's out there. I'll reflect on that too.

When someone who identifies as atheist talks to me, generally over enough time they more come to determine they’re more likely agnostic than full on atheist. Which is fine and great.

Organized religion is a mess. People in large groups are dicks. People will always try to find ways to control groups of people, religion just tends to be the most frequent vessel of that, or at least one of them. Money. Fear. It’s all the same thing: cages and controls.

It’s fair to not know/understand/believe, and I’m glad you have this take here.

Whether you believe these to be the ramblings of a madwoman or someone who has encountered an age old spirit, hopefully you can at least respect the sentiment involved (if it helps, read this as belphegor presenting it, as when you click the entire article link you’ll find a VERY familiar quote totally totes-mcgoats by fluke. Nega belphegor. Actually not evil belphegor but a total mood belphegor)

Hermes: So… the most basic advice is “don’t be a dick.” Largely, you guys seem to be having trouble mastering that level of things. People do enjoy their dickery. And I dunno what it is, really, that inspires it. I know some solid people, otherwise super nice. The Pagan community makes them dickish. I feel like (and I fully admit that this isn’t actually the case) that these guys are trying to stick it to me personally, by creating drama. It’s not me. I know it isn’t. No one wakes up in the morning and says, “You know who I wanna stick it to? Hermes!” But by Styx, it’s me, every goddamn time, who has to bear the brunt.

Thenea: You mean in the Hellenic community?

Hermes: No, sweetie, everywhere. I’m like the Mafia’s cleanup man. Even Jesus has me on speed dial. Can you imagine that?

“Khaire?” “Shalom, it is me, Yehoshua. I have a favor to ask.” “JC? How did you get this number?” “I am asking a friend for your number. I have the problem with two churches fighting.” “Ok, maybe just this once, but can you do something about that commandment not to worship me?” “Just as soon as I do the gays. You know how it is. Mortals first.”

as it happens, he is still doing the gays. Liberating them, I mean.

Thenea: So, what you are saying, really, is that most people are dicks.

Hermes: Most religious people, anyway. Which, if you consider who I generally interact with, might as well be everybody. But the Pagans, in particular, are my responsibility. Especially the Greeks, also a bunch of Wiccans. But also just about anyone that a deity calls me to deal with. At the end of the day, basically everyone.

Thenea: So, how can we stop being dicks?

Hermes: Good question. It’s really just a matter of two things:

– Knowing that you are the only person you will ever be able to control, and controlling yourself. – Thinking before you say or do stuff.

I hate those posters that turn “Think” into an acronym.

90% of shit-headed comments made in the History of Ever have been made because someone thought they were true, and reasoned that this was reason enough to open their big, stupid mouth. Instead, ask yourself, “Will this lead to a good outcome?” Or, even better? “Am I the person who should be saying this? Could someone say this in a nicer way than I would?” Or even better still, “If I say this, will I be unable to go to a community event to which others have invited this person?

”If I had a ring of infinite wishing, I’d use it to cause enemies to always be invited to the same party. Then, they could duke it out with laser beam eyes. Laser beam eyes, again, because ring of infinite wishes. 🙂 I think people would suddenly and very mysteriously start working out their bullshit in better ways.

Thenea: Yeah, I have to say that running into an enemy at a party is something I definitely want to avoid.

Hermes: Unrelatedly, can I request that people start using my name an an expletive? I think that “HERMS” or “Balls” would be a better swear word than the name of some Jewish kid. Alternately, if you are looking for the long form, you could say, “Hermeneutes!” That sounds like a pretty solid cuss word to me.

Thenea: Yeah, I’ve heard people make that point before. It’s interesting that you can’t actually go anywhere in the Pagan community without hearing about the Judeo-Christian deity, even if only in expletive form.

“I dunno why people gotta talk about YHVH at all. The deity isn’t oppressing you. People are.

“Truth is, if history had turned out just a little differently, the same people jamming Jesus down your throat would be trying to force you to gargle Zeus. Socrates died because polytheists can be the same kind of closed minded assholes as monotheists. If you think your religion is better or more true than someone else’s, you are just another part of the machine. If I gave you the reigns right now, you’d be oppressing people.

“Hate oppression? Then love tolerance. Or better yet, acceptance.”

--Interview with Hermes; Sex, Deific Politics, and Death

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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years

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Bless that post. I love the aro/ace headcanon, but I also love all mc/charlie shippers. Basically, I'm very very Pro-Ship and like... I've seen the people who headcanon aro/ace charlie get really hostile and weirdly aggressive over it. I'm pretty sure one person even deactivated their account because they dared to call out the harrasment and were in turn harrassed themselves. Fandom is supposed to be fun and shipping should never be about activism like some ppl are trying to do and it boggles me

Thank you. Given the extremes people go to on this site, it’s nice to see someone else who agrees with me about keeping these things measured and respectful

Honestly, my breaking point the other night was that I happened to see an anon on one of the really popular blogs in the fandom. All they said was that they were a fan of the ace headcanon, but they saw a lot of the negativity in the tag in regards to the Charlie/MC ship and were worried that if they started posting their stuff regarding it that they’d get backlash or get seen as insensitive. The whole thing looked like someone who was very anxious asking someone they respected if they thought it would be appropriate. They probably trusted that blog to be mature and give them some reassurance

The response they got was basically (I’m paraphrasing here) “The ace ‘headcanon’ is undeniably canon, you can still post your thing but just know that it’s not canon and nobody has to like the fact that you posted it. I don’t know what hate you’re seeing, but I haven’t seen it and I don’t think it exists.” Which is, like… denying that anon’s experience and brushing off their fears is just a shitty thing to do to someone who was obviously nervous and looking for reassurance. And also completely wrong. Just because you can read that interpretation into a canon line doesn’t mean that your interpretation is completely canonical. Dating and romantic or sexual attraction are not the same thing. And it’s bad enough that that response is getting a good amount of notes

But what really pissed me off was a response I saw from someone else on that post. This person immediately accused that anon of intentionally overreacting and fishing for sympathy, crossing the line by asking someone they respected about their opinion of the discourse, and trying to deny asexual people representation. And they had the nerve to go on about how “people you thought were nice are turning out to be shitty people.” And then told that anon to grow up

That is absolutely disgusting behavior. Even if Charlie was canonically aro/ace, it would be going too far. Nobody knows anything about that anon, because they’re a goddamned anon. For all anybody knows, that anon could’ve been a kid or young teen who legitimately wanted to be respectful to the ace/aro community and thought it best to ask someone they respected what their opinion was. This is exactly what I was afraid was going to start up. That the second somebody showed that they didn’t agree with the popular interpretation or, god forbid, admitted that they don’t know enough and wanted another opinion, that they’d get slammed and harassed, with accusations made about their character. A character that we can’t even truly know because this is the internet and it’s easy to read whatever you want into these things. You’re not “educating” anyone, you’re just making them not want to learn

And then that original blog had the gall to tell that anon that they didn’t see any reason why they’d be afraid of harassment. When that aggressive, uncalled for response was a response on their post

The best part? Not only did that anon directly cite a post that had bothered them in a later ask, but they admitted that they were ace and questioning aro and just didn’t see why that line made the interpretation canon

And the person who slammed them? Not aro/ace.

As far as I can tell, that anon never got an apology. The sidequest isn’t even out yet and the fandom has already devolved into people making assumptions and yelling over actual ace people over their own representation and refusing to see a problem with it. In fact, they think they’re in the right because quite a few popular blogs agree with them. That anon could’ve been a kid. Are we really going to scream at people who might be kids over a headcanon?

Not a single, goddamned person made any effort to say that that person was out of line. Not a single person saw a problem with that response. I’d say it was just that one person in the wrong, but I’ve seen equally harsh and aggressive responses by other people out there, too. This isn’t a situation of one person being an asshole (if it was I might’ve just called them out, specifically), they just happened to be the one to tip me over the edge

That’s what’s pissing me off about this situation. If someone is legitimately so scared to post something completely harmless that goes against the popular interpretation, then there is a problem. There is a problem, that shouldn’t be ignored just because you might disagree with that anon’s opinion. People don’t get that scared for no reason. It’s awful and immature to ignore the problem. To pretend it doesn’t exist, or to support the response they got and double down just to make yourself look right

People are really getting this awful over a side character in a mobile game. Just back up and really look at that. A side character. In a mobile game.

Some people need to grow up, and it sure ain’t that anon. And I hope that if that anon ever sees this, they know that they’ve got my support and I’m so sorry that some people think asserting that their headcanon is canon is more important than an actual, living person

As for the “it’s canon do we really have to spell it out for you?” argument, uhhh… YEAH. Not them, specifically, but the source material does. Otherwise it’s not CANON. Canon is reserved for things irrefutably stated in the text not “all possible (or your favorite) ways you could interpret lines in the text.” When it’s widely accepted, that’s fanon. Canon: Charlie states that he doesn’t have time for dating because he’s busy studying dragons. Fanon: Charlie is ace/aro. We also need to destroy this false equivalency that dating and romantic attraction are the same thing. It doesn’t help anybody on either side

And no joke, I read a novel one time and the main character was so obviously ace to me. The whole thing was written from his point of view, and he was always questioning why people found romance to be so important. He wasn’t into any of the girls that flirted with him, he kissed his male best friend and said he didn’t feel any sparks, he avoided romance of all kinds even while questioning his sexuality. Well, come the end of the book, he realizes that he was gay and in denial and VERY in love with his best friend. It was adorable when they got together

But at the same time, there was way more evidence to suggest that that character was ace than there is for Charlie, and yet canonically he was gay despite that. Sexuality is something very complex and personal and the discovery of it no less so, so yes, absolutely, I think it needs to be stated in some way to be canon. Things can’t just be implied to be considered canon. Your assumptions may very easily be wrong, or not what the author intended. And even things that the author intended can be considered non-canon. Death of the Author is a real thing, after all. If it’s not stated in the text, it’s not canonical

If Charlie had said “I’m not interested in romance and don’t know if I ever will be” or something similar, then yes I’d say they had a basis for their argument. But that’s not what he said. Charlie says… basically what I would have if someone had flirted with me in high school. My suspicion is that something in JC’s contract meant that they weren’t allowed to make Bill, Tonks, or Charlie romance options, so they just reworded JK’s old interview when writing his dialogue to be more relevant to the quest material

And people using that interview as “proof” is especially funny to me since she only said that after denying the possibility that he could be gay because Dumbledore already was. You’re all really expecting this woman whose reaction to being asked if a character being homosexual was a possible interpretation was “Uh, no, we already have one of those,” to go around and confirm him to belong to an even less represented group? And do it tastefully? And then have half of these people who take that as canon also state that they don’t generally consider things that JK reveals outside of the source to matter?

Christ, people, learn the difference between canon, fanon, and Word of God. And then stop ignoring or harassing people for rightly calling out that you’re misusing the terms

#harry potter series #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery #hphm #charlie weasley #ace charlie discourse #long post #harry potter hogwarts mystery spoilers #hogwarts mystery spoilers #hphm spoilers #i want some people to look long and hard at this and realize just how shitty they're being #i hope i don't have to write another essay about this situation i really do #but i can't just let how poorly that anon was treated go #not naming names because i won't be responsible for spreading more hate around #even to people i think deserve it #but this kind of stuff seriously needs to stop #my blog is a safe space for pretty much everybody #race sex age whatever i don't judge people for any of it #we're all just strangers on the internet #i just judge people for their actions and if you act like an asshole that's how you'll get treated #so have some respect for people you really don't know anything about #and remember that fandom should be FUN #if it stops being fun then someone has crossed the line #anon asks #liz's shenanigans

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wtfy-cyzj · 6 years

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*SPOILERS* CYZJ Subbed Ep. 9 reaction

Episode 9 is finally out with subs, so you know what that means: another play-by-play reaction text post! And it’s another 2-hour episode, so we’re back to the super long format.

As with previous installments, each major section of the show has a header so you can scroll if you’re looking for something specific. And, of course, spoilers and foul language kinda come with the territory.

Mission reveal and song assignments

Another two performance mission assignment – picking the third finalist pair and then establishing a ranking for the finalists – because they just gotta be ranked going into the finals *rolls eyes* - I could rant about how much I wish the producers would stop pushing the competitive aspect of the show while talking about it being about “breakthroughs”

Hao’s little goddamnit-esque laugh when the 1v1 mission is announced :/

Anybody else get the feeling Victor’s the reason Eric & JC are worried about the other team picking their song? Like Hao might give them something out of left field because he wants them to show a new side or because he thinks it suits them, but not to torpedo them – Victor, however, seems a bit of a wild card

…! I seriously thought Eric had the card down the front of his pants for a moment there!

Aw, Hao’s smile is so sweet – I already knew Eric/JC got to do one of Eric’s songs – that little “you’re welcome” bow & Victor being totally checked out makes me think that was all Hao’s doing

So, yes & no – I expected Victor to at least playfully push to mess w/ the other team – he seems kinda disengaged though

Wait, is that Hao’s handwriting?! I was admiring it when Eric first revealed the card – I know people who only know English who don’t write that nicely – kid’s definitely an artist

“How can I not be satisfied with my own song?” XD

Aw, that was really sweet of Victor to say he hopes they don’t mess w/ the song too much

I love that when Victor asks “by who” Eric & Xiao Wu both go “Drake” w/ a very soft “duh, who the fuck else” feel – and then Hao gets stoked when they start singing it

Yes! I’m so glad Jiacheng said that about Hao & Victor’s performances not being them together! I thought it about the last 2 performances, but since I didn’t really see anyone else talk about it, I wondered if it was just me. Plus there’s the whole cultural disconnect & not being part of the target demographic that added to it. It’s good to see someone who’s in the thick of it with them recognize that same thing

I want to talk about the warm fuzzy feelings I get from Eric & Jiacheng being so thoughtful about their choice and how this reinforces my desire for the show to stop leaning into the competition narrative, but Eric mimicking both Hao & Victor is too cute

I love that Jiacheng doesn’t know how to process Eric’s goofiness for a second – same Xiao Wu, same

Aw, the doodles!

Hao’s “don’t say anything” is great! – take a stand & make Victor dance!

“Okay fine, alright, I’ll dance. I’ll dance” – damn straight!

Second mission reveal

“Sprint Out” Attack? And that means…?

Meh… Another drawn out process to pick a collaborator? - it was cute w/ the ladies but since I haven’t seen anyone talking about the guests and the tease at the beginning of the episode was blah, I’m not really looking forward to it

Trying to ignore the elevator talk and not roll my eyes too hard

Meeting the musicians

Oh dear god, Yanan is so fucking cute watching Liron Man play! – tell me someone’s giffed that doofy expression and weird little wiggle! *heart eyes*

Ooh, Liron Man’s got a great smile – has nothing to do w/ anything but I couldn’t leave it unremarked upon

“The sound produced is very cute […] like a tortoise who lost its soul” – say what now, Yanan?! – that does not seem like a “cute” sound, sir!

Once again, being thoughtful and aware of the other contestants – brownie points to Jun

I’m so glad dude knows some Chinese! We don’t need another person stranded behind the language barrier even if it’s just one episode

Apparently, I love the pipa and didn’t even know what it was – now that I have a name, research will be done!

“My mother’s profession is also in the pipa” – poor girl stepped in it! XD

Here I was thinking they reacted much better than with the previous lady guests, but no, still shy as fuck

I realize that as an apparently internationally-recognized musician, Wangtao probably plays the clarinet in ways that I never could imagine – unfortunately I took band from 7th through 9th grades, including marching band, so I cringed when I saw what he plays – and I immediately had to go look up this Eddie Izzard bit because my brain wouldn’t stop going “clahr-en-ahrt” and “WEzul WEzul” until I did

Watching Jun & Yanan discuss their options is a really interesting look into their personalities – “are we choosing calm or movement?”

“You decide” – brave words, Jun – I wonder where this fell on the timeline of Yanan deciding to leave the show

It’s not going to be a famous Western artist, Samuel – it’s never going to be a famous Western artist – sorry to burst your bubble, kiddo

Bahahaha! For all Zhennan’s “leave us a good one” in the elevator, Jun & Yanan picked the most obvious choice for the kiddies – …yes, I know I’m an asshole for finding that so funny

…Does Zhennan’s shirt say “same shit different day”?!

They completely lost that whole “working w/ musicians will be hard” thing real quick

“I feel like I tortured little kids” XD

Someone’s setting himself up for a headache confusing jazz with jazzy, especially when picking a classically trained accompanist

It’s really cute seeing Eric & Xiao Wu being a little awkward with the pipa player after they seemed to calm with the previous female guests – they both barely look at her

I love arrogant!Eric, especially when he’s immediately replaced by embarrassed!Eric – I am, however, more than a little creeped out by the cartoon bull being blown around by, what, an umbilical cord?!

Aw, Jiacheng immediately defends his “arrogance” *heart eyes*

Wait, did Xiao Wu’s lyrics sound bad? Eric said it could “be a little better” so maybe the phrasing was awkward, but the translation of “lately, I’ve been scared of sleeping alone” grabbed my attention and made me wonder what prompted those words

They’re dorks and I love them

Poor Hao being left to talk to their musician alone

…! I totally blanked that this could be Minghao’s first chance to really do a traditional Chinese sound – aw, yay!

Hmm, Victor really agreed to do purely traditional? I guess “purely Chinese” doesn’t have to mean traditional instead of modern

And then we flash back and I stand corrected!

Performance day

Wait, they’re not gonna show how they chose the performance order between MH/Victor and Eric/JC?! I feel so cheated! thank god

Minghao & Victor are up first – 1v1

“I’m always ready!” *heart eyes*

Hao accidentally proposed confessing to the other contestants XD – just because you think something is meaningless doesn’t mean it really is!

What’s cuter: Hao’s reaction when he realized putting in the other contestants’ names wasn’t the best idea or Hao’s reaction to the thought of name-dropping exes?

I love MH’s logic! Victor’s trying to downplay any romantic intention behind calling out a female artist by saying it’s about respect & admiration, so Hao throws out Jony J & Gong Ge - if it’s about respect & admiration he’s not wrong, but Victor’s face says otherwise – I laughed so hard I had to stop the video and go calm down by doing a load of laundry

I’ve gotta say, as someone who liked both JJ & GG from the beginning & still really likes them and as someone who started watching specifically for Minghao, I love that he brought them up again and in such a positive light. Fans can – and do – hate on them, but he’s got every right to continue to look up to them. He’s the one who was directly affected by their actions, yet he continues to admire them and voice that admiration. I don’t get how people try to drag them on his behalf when he says things like this.

Aw, it breaks my heart a little that Victor thinks making the song about the show is “limiting” their creativity – Hao’s had a lot of fun and had made connections on the show that he obviously values – how is making an ode to that a limitation?

I love when Hao speaks in English – it always surprises me how rich & deep his voice is – like I usually chalk it up to being an artifact of the language, but it’s genuinely appealing – does that make sense? Just me?

Am I the only one who thinks changing the names to their own makes it about self-doubt, not narcissism?

Victor’s so American!

I feel like Victor having to dance is a little bit of karma for being a pain in the ass >:D

That little intro clip is adorable!

Aw, Victor did MH’s 8 hand sign!

Overall thoughts: I loved that! It wasn’t perfect, but I think, after Clap, it was Hao’s best performance by far. He definitely had fun and loosened up with Supernatural in ep.8, but this was a whole other level and I think a lot of it was from actually playing w/ Victor during the performance. I love that they switched it up and Victor had the vocal parts; he’s a talented singer so it was nice seeing him step out of the rapper role. And I was really impressed with Hao’s English. A lot of times, non-English-speakers do odd things with their emphasis on words, but he was pretty damn spot on. It makes me wonder just how fluent he actually is since we don’t see him speak it much beyond simple phrases. The one thing I wasn’t entirely feeling was Victor’s rap. It felt a little rushed? Cramped? It’s understandable since he’s working within a pre-existing song, but it did stick out to me. I don’t know why Victor was worried about dancing. That bit was less choreography and more conscious swagger, if that makes sense, and he pulled it off swimmingly. I wish they hadn’t cut to the audience during Hao’s dance break because it was my favorite one he’s done so far – less artistry and more simple fun. Can we take a moment to thank Eric & Jiacheng for making this gem happen?

“And we were constantly laughing at Victor’s attempt at dancing” – Eric! I’m glad he finally has someone else’s dancing to pick on but also smh

Eric & Jiacheng’s 1v1 prep and performance

Aw, Jiacheng gushing about the comradery on the show and wanting to help each other show their best sides XD

The idea of them singing acapella is actually really cool – if anyone on the show could pull it off really well, it’s these two

I love that Xiao Wu seems to throw out more English the longer he’s w/ Eric – he’s gaining experience and confidence in other areas – why not English, too?

Back to Eric’s crush on Dilireba XD

Aw, JC says they got close – of course they’re (probably) going to in a situation like this, but it’s cute that he’s talking about it – I know I’ve said it before, but I love that he’s so open with talking about stuff like that

Xiao Wu really looks like he’s about to cry reading those comments – and then Eric ruins the moment telling him not to cry

I already saw @bathtubofdonuts’s post talking about them incorporating the fan comments in the stage but seeing them get to that point is so sweet

Wait, so why is it important to tell us the screenwriter lady is in the audience? Was it the OST for her drama?

Aw, Hao’s so touched already

I was starting to worry the editing was going to lose the comments to those close-ups

It’s not weird to comment on how pretty Jiacheng’s hands are, right?

Wah! JC’s teary-eyed!! I was already tearing up – don’t make me cry!

Ah, okay, so she helped Eric write the song

Overall thoughts: I was sniffly & teary, but I managed not to cry. That was beautiful. This is why I was worried when they were talking about making a more impressive set design in ep. 8. They do simple so, so well, and they really don’t need a bunch of extras. Just having that one element of the comments playing behind them was so gorgeous and impactful. I’m really glad that they didn’t have accompanists on stage with them because they’d just be a visual distraction. I know I’ve talked about it in previous reactions, but the combination of their voices is incredible. I doubt Eric has ever sung a sour note in his life, and I wish Jiacheng knew how gorgeous his voice really is. His little power vocal moment toward the end? Ugh! So good! I’m gonna keep saying how happy I am that they got to work together because of this show.

“I feel that this bundle here is trembling” – I’m going to be so sad not to see this sweet kid after the show ends! TnT

1v1 performance results

Nooo! I know what’s about to happen – I’m not ready for the angst!

Poor Jun looking so nervous over there w/o Yanan

I hate this fucking setup so much. I’ve said that I think the way Jony J left the show was probably at least partially prompted by the production staff. Knowing that Jun was given options after Yanan left and that, for all his extraness, Jun is super shy, I have a hard time believing the production staff didn’t go, “So you don’t want to be in the running anymore and ~play by the rules~? Okay, so how about we make it look like there’s gonna be an elimination then you come out and dramatically withdraw? Wouldn’t that be awesome!” Jun’s never been my favorite because his playfulness can come of really childish to me, but I highly doubt he would put Minghao this scenario again for funsies.

Having seen translations of this weeks ago when the episode aired, I was not prepared to tear up. It hurts to see Hao so freaked out again and try to pull Jun back bodily. And seeing the distress on Jiacheng’s face as he says “no!” at him, my breath caught in my throat. Ugh! I’m seriously starting to cry watching JC panic more as Jun compliments them all. X(

Oh god that whole bit after the interview section was… weird. It’s pretty obvious the way Eric & Jiacheng are smiling in the background that things were cleared up. But that audience reaction… It’s so cold? This weird sort of idea that idols “betray” their fans is something I’ll never understand in kpop. (This is taking into account all the chaos that happened because of Jun’s decision, not just what made the edit.) Disappointment I get, but there’s no compassion for the grace he displayed in a shitty situation or relief that he’s going to continue performing. This whole situation was made so much worse being in front of a live audience.

The interviews after Jun’s reveal are so sweet, but why does it feel like a memorial? It’s just shy of saying “in loving memory of Wen Junhui”

Top 3 ranking performances

I love when the show has to blur someone’s phone because it’s not the sponsor phone – it’s usually Samuel, but this time Eric’s the culprit

And there’s the performance order ceremony

Minghao, Victor & Lian Pieru (pipa) are up first

Interesting thoughts about the Mechanical Era – it seems like Peiru’s a good match for Hao

So the interview thing is the only lead up we get? I don’t want to episode to be 3 hours, but they’ve got such an interesting story they want to tell and Peiru seems like such a character, I was really looking forward to the preparations – now I do actually feel a little cheated

Overall thoughts: I may have actually liked this performance better than In My Feelings. It wasn’t as entertaining, but it was a cool concept that was executed really well. I’ve gotta say before I go on though, I’ve seen people complain about the editing of other performances, but this is the first one that’s been distracting to me throughout. :/ If I didn’t know before going in that Victor was supposed to be the narrator, I don’t think I would’ve gotten that. The harsh stage whisper sort of effect in the beginning comes off kind of judgmental and, well, harsh where I was expecting more of an impartial observer style narrator. I wish his character had either done less interacting (to be an observer) or done more (to show his investment in the storyline and justify the judginess). It was a nice change of pace to see him being subdued while Hao was the higher energy partner. Hao’s rap in both performances this episode was great. They felt more natural and less stylized, which I really dig. He also showed his vocals more here than I think he really has in a while. At least it was more impactful than past performance. I would love to see a purely vocal song from him – no rap, light choreo – because he does really interesting things with his voice and we don’t get enough of it. [I just got a flash of him singing w/ Susu O.O] The choreo was impressive even if the edit made it hard to get the full effect. The end was great with the angry faces and the final little trill of the pipa.

It weirdly warms my heart to see them acknowledge they’ve been kind of at odds in their partnership up til now

Eric, Jiacheng & Lian Peiru (pipa) perform second

Uh, does Jiacheng’s overcoat have Donald Duck smack in the middle of a traditional tapestry?!

Not gonna gush about the VCR, but these two are so damn cute

We don’t even get an interview lead-in for them?! >.<

Ooh, pop-style pipa is really cool…

Somebody put Xiao Wu in a musical please - even my theatre-hating ass would pay to see that

Aw, Liron Man reacting to them uwu

Overall thoughts: I really enjoyed that. It was soft and sweet, and of course their voices are amazing. The set design was really pretty with all the florals. For some reason, thought, for most of the song Eric seemed strangely pulled back? Maybe it was because Xiao Wu was still on a high from the previous performance and the pipa is so distinct, but his parts just got overpowered to my ear. It was still beautiful.

Huh, Samuel really hasn’t gotten much screentime in this episode, even for reactions

Zhennan, Samuel & Wangtao (clarinet) are up third

Maybe it’s because he’s a good bit older, but I really appreciate the way Wangtao talks about Zhennan here – at least I assume he’s referring to Zhennan since Samuel seems pretty cool with being a kid – it doesn’t soften me to him, but it’s a needed reminder that his bravado may be more façade than arrogance – still find it annoying though *shrug*

Anyone else have to look up what an elaphure is? – it’s a Père David’s deer

Excuse me, mister clarinet man, don’t make me start thinking clarinets are sexy – I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that I’m probably gonna look up your music but that’s just taking it too far!

Overall thoughts: For anyone who thinks I’m just going to shit all over this because it’s Zhennan and Samuel, you’re wrong. I actually kind of dug that. It’s not really my bag, but I don’t dislike it at all. First off, the stage design is impressive with that cube setup. It’s really interesting having Wangtao on top of it (but also, get off the tall thing!). I would love to see a fixed cam of the performance to get the full effect. I really liked Zhennan’s solo in ep. 2, so seeing him go back to that sleepy, almost lazy delivery style is really nice. I’ve complained about him leaning too hard into his imagery (or did I cut that bit because I was being an ass?), but it was used beautifully here. Samuel really impressed me. His rap style still sounds a little like he’s trying to be someone else, but it didn’t sound awkward this time. It’ll be really interesting to see where his style goes as he comes into his own. And these are his best lyrics yet. Yes, I snorted at the LeBron reference in the otherwise whimsical song, but I really liked the honestly and depth. The dance break was beautiful and a nice escape from the more stock mainstream choreo Samuel’s been showing us. He does hip hop well, but I’m glad he gave us something more contemporary here and showed off his range. If I have a complaint it’s that Samuel’s voice gets lost in the “I don’t want” bits. I wish they’d at least brought him forward so you hear him more, or better yet, given him something a little more ornate to weave around Zhennan’s more drudging sound. His little vocalization before ZN’s final part was a pleasant surprise, and I would’ve liked more of that. They’ve made the best use of the accompanist so far, too. The whole thing was lovely and haunting and understated. Of all their stages, I think this performance has been the most effective in delivering the message they wanted to get across.

Jun & Liron Man (handpans) are up last

Why are the lead-ups getting shorter?! We’re going straight into the performance with no interview or VCR. I get that he’s not eligible for votes anymore, but I still want to see something, man

Total Pure Moods vibes here – fun fact: I wanted that CD so badly that both of my (divorced) parents got it for me for Christmas that year – I was a weird kid

Aw, is he singing along with Jun?! So cute! *heart eyes*

…off the tall thing, please…

Overall thoughts: If you’d told me before this that I would eagerly watch a Jun solo three times in a row, I would’ve laughed in your face. His style just isn’t for me usually. And yet, I watched this three times in a row (I zoned out and just listened to first time, watched the second, and read the lyrics the third). Thank you, Yanan, for picking the handpan. I never would’ve thought the distorted ring of a handpan would complement Jun’s very unique vocal quality as well as it does. This is the most at ease we’ve seen Jun on the show, and I don’t mean relaxed or confident. It didn’t seem at all like he was performing or was “on” but like he was singing for the sheer personal pleasure of it. After his stress in previous episodes, it was so good to see. As for the song itself, I have no fucking clue how to describe it. It reminded me of the weirdest things without really sounding like any of them. I mentioned Pure Moods, but also The Little Mermaid and “What Is Love” – as in the song from A Night at the Roxbury (listen to it, young’uns, and be confused). There were others, but I’ve blanked because that last one was a little too wtf.

“He was definitely enjoying it, really” – you know it’s true when the guest is saying it

Wait, no contestant reactions even?! Why are we getting robbed of the good stuff in this episode, goddamnit!?

Points reveal for the finals

This is for the ranking going into the finale – plus starting points which seems weirdly unnecessary?

Hao & Victor got 66 votes – why so low?

Xiao Wu & Eric got 73 – better but still really low considering the stages & past scores

Zhennan & Samuel got 72 – why so low?!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad my boys are leading, but they all gave incredibly good, polished stages and those scores really don’t seem to reflect that. I mean, they’ve given out 80s before – are the panelists given criteria or is it purely a matter of preference? – the contestants all look a little disappointed with the scores, too

After show nonsense

“passionate teens Zhou Zhennan and Samuel, gentle warriors Wu Jiacheng and Zhou Xingzhe, mood players Xu Minghao and Ma Boqian” – I don’t know why those labels amuse me so much but they do

I’m glad we get to see Samuel & ZN react to the handpans because they were so cute with the other instruments

Damn, Samuel really is a quick learner

Did he mean to play Eric’s song? He’s definitely got a bit of an artist crush on Eric, but that’s adorable if he was trying to play it. And impressive that he did it well enough on something he just learned how to get a sound from that the others recognized it!

My personal rankings

MH & Victor

Jun

Eric & Xiao Wu

Zhennan & Samuel

Usually picking my rankings is super easy. My favorite and least favorite have been leagues away from the others, but I really liked everybody this week :D

And now, another long wait until the subs come out for the finale...

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