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verycharismaticdragon · 8 months

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@mandlien: Op where is the essay 👀 @latitudeoctopus: An essay I would like to see 🙏

Glad u asked! <-guy who was totally angling for someone to ask

OG post this continues from, for those just tuning in now:

actually SQQ's first encounter with LQG perfectly illustrates which of SY's idiosyncrasies perfectly converged to make him absolutely obsessed with Binghe, in this essay i will

So, to start with, the explanation for why I think this scene in particular is more illuminating than all of SQQ's interactions with actual LBH.

That's because there's not a single scene in the novel where his interactions with LBH-the-person are not colored by pre-existing bias of already being obsessed with LBH-the-character. Like, consider the scene where he appraises Shen Qingqiu's looks, and finishes it off with:

He still couldn’t compare to Luo Binghe. (vol.1, ch.1)

despite not having seen Luo Binghe in person yet. But no, he's already convinced his beloved blorbo is of course The Handsomest Ever!

Simply speaking, we never encounter Shen Yuan pre-Binghe Syndrome (when instead of brain there's binghe). So it's difficult to tell whether any particular way he thinks or feels in Binghe’s presence is the standard for him, or owed to the fact that he already likes Binghe in at least one way.

But the same can not be said of Liu Qingge: while SY did have some interest in his character, he didn’t really think of him before encountering him in Lingxi Caves. Plus, unlike Binghe who seems to have fully aligned with SQQ’s expectations of him, LQG had given him a little shock — which prompted some re-evaluation of his prev thoughts on SQQ's part.

(cont. under cut)

Now is a good time to mention that I arrived at thinking about this scene while considering Shen Yuan's relationship with toxic masculinity — and remembering I jotted down 'Shen Yuan's fascination with masculinity' in my reread notes for this scene.

[Bai Zhan Peak] was the most warlike of Cang Qiong Mountain's branches, as well as the branch with the greatest martial ability. Every single generation's Bai Zhan Peak Lord was a world-class swordmaster, a victor of countless battles, an undefeated legend. How hot-blooded—how dashing! Male readers always fervently admired strong characters. Even though Liu Qingge never officially debuted on page, he hadn't lacked for fans, and Shen Yuan had been especially fascinated with him. In his headcanon, Liu Qingge had been a sharp and manly man, powerful and magnificent. A war god, right?! (vol.1, ch.2)

So, Shen Yuan’s fascination with Liu Qingge’s character — or rather his headcanon version of it — is about Liu Qingge being someone who (in SY’s mind) embodies masculine qualities. And what qualities are those? From this section, being “strong” (has to be physically powerful) and “undefeated” (can’t be a loser) — yeah, pretty standard toxic masc starting kit.

And something of interest here: though SQQ describes it mostly as his own feelings, even in this excerpt, he slips in a “male readers always [...] admired” — which, when considering everything else we know about his relationship to masculinity, kind of gives off an insecurity vibe. He seems to be either trying to justify his own feelings (i.e., ‘other men feel the same way, i’m in-group not out-group, i’m not failing at being a man by feeling this way [admiring another man]’), or else emulating other male fans and trying to convince himself he relates to the story the same way they do (i.e., ‘male readers admire strong characters and im a man therefore i definitely also admire the same things’).

Speaking of emulating other male fans, there’s another quality that SY seems to associate with masculinity, this one not very related to Liu Qingge — though SQQ does make a mental detour into it in the same scene, when talking about other Peaks.

Yeah, when he mentions Xian Shu, and the fact that the popularity of self-insert erotic/lewd fics about Xian Shu "compared to that of the original work” in PIDW fandom, or possibly even in general on ‘Zhongdian’ (since afaik you can publish fanfiction on Chinese webnovel sites alongside original works, you just have to tag it as such). In other words, among male fans.

But we know SY doesn’t like sex scenes, right? Hell, his favorite wife is Liu Mingyan at least in part because she doesn’t have sex scenes:

There was one more appeal factor. Liu Mingyan was the only female character for whom Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky didn't write detailed sex scenes. (vol.1, ch.2)

Of course… that’s what SQQ says in his head where nobody can hear him. We actually have evidence of him singing a different tune when among other fans:

Most of the female protagonists are stupid sexy lamps, and the male lead doesn't even bed Liu Mingyan, the only breath of fresh air? He doesn't bed the rightful empress? Are you fucking kidding me? (vol.4, ch.26, part 1)

(speaking of, this is why ‘peerless cucumber is SY’s true self’ takes baffle me. his toxicmascsona is his true self, really?)

So SY has another qualifier for ‘manly man’ in his head: being sexual (of course, in a straight way). Which is not something that comes naturally to him, as evidenced by him cringing away from any actual action even when he tries to emulate the thought pattern, e.g.:

Qi Qingqi? She was indeed slightly junior to him, and their first meeting...he'd long forgotten how it went. "Often together" wasn't quite right, though. Perhaps he at times dared to think about going to Xian Shu Peak so they could be "often together," but while he had the wicked intentions, he lacked the courage required to follow through—and he could never commit an act as depraved as stalking. (vol.4, ch.23)

Riiiight, SQQ, you totally have those 'wicked intentions' that you merely can't follow through on because you just invented reasons not to.

But that does give us an image of SY’s ideal of masculinity. Extremely powerful, undefeatable, and hypersexual… yeah no points for guessing who. I’m pretty sure SQQ even directly equates Bing-ge with masculinity somewhere, I just can’t remember the exact spot. And he also believes that any man should definitely want to be in Bing-ge’s place, like for example here:

Every man dreamed of being caught between an angel and a devil. To watch them jealously vie with each other over him one moment, then risk life and limb for his sake in the next—that was the highest, most sacred, perverted fantasy of every male organism. (vol.1, ch.2)

…though I must note, once again, “every man”, “every male organism” — but does SQQ actually feel the same way? I think that the answer is he thinks that he should, and is trying to convince himself that he does.

Which must be difficult considering he finds men more attractive than women, returning back to that scene with Liu Qingge.

In any other state, Shen Qingqiu might have declared, "What a beautiful man!" (vol.1, ch.2)

Really bestie? You would've declared it? Because I don't see you show the same enthusiasm about women. In fact, you usually jump right into how they were described in the novel, as if you don't have your own opinion.

Now, I must note that I personally don’t think finding someone attractive equals actually being attracted to them. But this does imply which way SQQ's tastes veer. In fact, we can even see that he has a type. First, he describes LQG's face as "as beautiful as a fine woman's"; then adds:

This was clearly the face of a charming young master who arranged flowers and plucked farewell willow branches! (vol.1, ch.2)

Of course, if we are talking about charming young masters with feminine looks, their bearing that of a classic Chinese gentleman (warrior-scholar ideal who’d ‘pluck farewell willow branches’)...

That firm yet humble countenance, demonstrating his noble and unyielding spirit. That pencil-straight back and stance, evincing a proud core that would rather break than bend! (vol.1, ch.1)

[SQQ] saw a glimpse of the future Luo Binghe's unique grace, that of "eyes like cold stars, a soft and radiant smile, with muted words and quiet laughter." (vol.1, ch.1)

In truth, deep down, Bing-ge's fair and clean pretty-boy type didn't really suit the tastes of "Great Master" Airplane Flying Towards the Sky. He had only assigned this sort of configuration to the protagonist to meet his stallion hardware specifications. The art of growing stallions was grounded in science, and the research was clear: women preferred men who looked cultured, pretty, and even a bit soft and feminine. (vol.4, ch.26, part 2)

…there’s no question who is superlative in SQQ’s heart. To boot, he doesn’t even realize that he’s biased about LBH’s attractiveness, as we can see from Airplane-bro’s musings above. So that’s Cucumber-bro’s type: cultured, pretty, a bit feminine.

See, a fun little discrepancy here: what SQQ sees as a masculine ideal and therefore can admire plainly — again, powerful, undefeatable, and hypersexual, — and what he finds attractive in a man, under all those layers of denial, are two pretty different things.

Liu Qingge, despite his appearance unveiling a side of both to us, doesn’t actually fully embody either type: on the masculinity side, he is missing the hypersexuality, on the attractiveness side, his looks fit but his bearing doesn’t match.

But you know who hits all of SY’s qualifications on both counts?.. yeah, once again no points for guessing, it stars with "Bing" and ends with "ge".

So: the source of Shen Yuan’s obsession with LBH-the-character is the intersection of those two factors. Like you know that old wlw joke “I can’t tell if I wanna be her or date her”? Thats Shen Yuan with Luo Binghe, but, yknow, unconsciously. He admires LBH as an epitome of masculinity, an image of a Perfect Male to strive for; he also very much finds him attractive in a gay way.

In fact, I would even say that an important component of Binghe brainrot is that he is an acceptable target for admiration. How can SY be accused of being gay over liking a horny stallion novel? So it’s totally normal that he thinks of Binghe a lot, obviously that’s just because he looks up to him! Because Binghe is such a perfect iteration of a male stallion protagonist! Who wouldn’t want to be in his place, thinks Shen Yuan, never ever having imagined being in Binghe’s place even once. Ofc that’s only because Binghe got insane game though! Shen Yuan couldn’t hope to compare. LBH is just so admirable and sexy,, for the wives of course, the wives find him sexy, not Shen Yuan, Shen Yuan is just stating facts— etcetcetc.

Point is, LBH is a man that Shen Yuan can like without shame, because he has a whole bag of above-the-board reasons to prove that he's not liking him the wrong way. A perfect target of convergence for Shen Yuan’s conscious and unconscious thoughts (and desires).

And this is how SY ended up with the years-long hyperfix we see in the beginning of the novel.

#shen qingqiu #shen yuan #bingqiu #svsss #svsss meta #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain's self-saving system #mxtx #danmei novels

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paladin-of-nerd-fandom65 · 6 months

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Top 5 fave Dick, Mary, and John Grayson family moments?

Funnily enough there’s so many moments I can think off yet ironically so little moments overall involving those three that don’t involve Mary and John doing that fateful performance at Gotham canonically lol

Here’s some Flying Grayson 1.0 moments that stand out for me the most

While this moment will most definitely not save Taylor’s writing at all, it’s still a nice one (Nightwing Vol 4, #83)

That’s actually sound advice Mary, boosting your son’s confidence while tampering with the fact he can be too ambitions for his own good

(Batman Vol 1 #339)

To think this one photo op will set both Dick and Tim(my)’s going forward in a path that makes them both heroes for the innocents of Gotham to be inspired by yet also names the criminal underground fears…all because Janet wants to make sure her baby boy had a fun day at the Circus

(Batman Vol 1 #436; Year Three Part 1)

Really nothing else to say much here though I guess Dick might be either at a tender younger age or Mary just likes saying that to him cause that’s how Moms are like. Even over a great height, she can’t help but baby him a bit despite probably no doubt Dick going in his head, “Not a Baby, Mom”

(Nightwing Vol 2 #7)

Really these guys’ entire dynamic summarized in a nutshell. Mary can only lose count of the many times when her husband and little boy taken all sorts of risks, whether on or off the ropes, and she can count pretty high. But damn it all, she love her two favorites no matter what.

Plus even this is further evidence of Dick being just a baby faced menace of a kid; good heart and soul yet he laughs and beams in the face of danger. He welcomes it if anything

(Secret Origins Vol 2 #13)

Quickie Honorable Mentions:

All these wonderful moments from the elseworld story The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Novel

Thanks for the ask @spider-jaysart It’s appreciated 💙💜💙

Tagging: @celaenaeiln @meara-eldestofthemall @camo-wolf @northoftheroad @sbd-laytall

#dick grayson #mary grayson #john grayson #Haly circus #ask game #lost carnival

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piosplayhouse · 9 months

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Saw this fantastic little apple art on twitter and was shocked to see op's follow-up tweet about her being described as spotted in the novel, so I went to go check my copy of seven seas vol 1 and! I'll be damned!!! They say she's a spotted donkey!!!

Anxious to find a steed, as [Wei Wuxian] passed by a courtyard, he noticed a spotted donkey tied next to a large millstone, chewing something in its mouth. (Book 1, pg. 58)

This isn't just a one off thing either-- for her next 3 or so descriptions they continue to refer to her (perhaps superfluously) as "the spotted donkey". I was sure that I would've remembered this when I did my little apple donkey breed deep dive a while back, or would've at least come across it when searching Baidu, so I searched for a rip of the exiled rebels fantranslation to check if I had been misremembering this whole time and lo and behold:

He was in a hurry to find a mount, as he passed a courtyard and saw a big millstone inside. A donkey was tied to its handle, chewing on its mouth.

No mention of spots? No translation will be perfect, of course, and both exr and seven seas have extremely dubious reputations regarding their accuracy, but a spotted donkey seems like too distinct of a description to emphasize when every other plot beat and description carries between the two translations. So where did the spots come from?? A mistranslation??? A stray mxtx late edit emerging from a more final published version??

Then after typing all that out I had the sudden confused theory. Are they referring to the points of a donkey as spotting? For reference, spotting is the term given to a specific dominant homozygous lethal equine gene that causes, well. Spotting. On the other hand, the white markings seen on many primitive donkey breeds are known as points, occuring around the eyes, muzzle, and belly. The latter markings would be consistent with little apple's depiction in cql as well as in several other pieces of official art, but no matter how I look at it it doesn't seem intuitive to call the donkeys on the right "spotted".

I struggled for a while to find a copy of the original text to look for clarity, but I was unable to find one. If anyone has access to one, please check around the second to last paragraph of chapter 4 to see exactly which words are used to describe this beautiful beast. I need to know for the sake of mdzs equine scholarship.

#mdzs meta #cql meta #little apple #xiao pingguo #mdzs #cql

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octopuspiecomic · 1 year

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Octopus Pie: The Complete Series Box Set - Coming in September 2023!

I’m delighted to announce that you’ll soon be able to collect the whole Octopus Pie series in a neat, handsome box! Coming September 19th from me & Image Comics. You can read the full press release here.

The boxes, along with all 5 Image volumes, feature new artwork and - perhaps most excitingly - a custom insert that aligns them together on the shelf! Finally, my youthful page formatting decisions, corrected and… vindicated??

If you’ve been trying to hunt these books down for a while, you’ll be happy to know this release coincides with a REPRINT of Vol 1. Check the press release to find a comic shop that’s got your back, or pre-order the whole set from a major retailer.

What does this mean if you want the box, but already own the Image books? Well, apart from the clout of being an original OP head, I’ll have a limited but mighty supply of empty boxes for you. I’ll offer these online in the near future - more info when I’ve got it!

It’s really fun to have a new OP thing in the mix, and after months of planning and prototyping, I’m so pleased to share what we’ve made. Thank you for all the love, 16 years on!

#octopus pie #octopuspie #meredith gran #box set #comic

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mashleverse · 3 months

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Mashle: Magic and Muscles

The Divine Visionary Candidate Selection Exam Blu-ray DVD Disc Jacket Cover Vol. 1

The jacket illustration for the second season's blu-ray and DVD has been released! The first volume, which is scheduled to release at March 27, will contain:

Episode 13 to 15,

Ticket for special event held on May 26 2024,

Exclusive illustration by series' original creator Hajime Komoto,

Character designer Hisashi Higashijima original jacket,

Non-credit OP and ED with next episode preview,

Original Soundtrack Vol. 2,

Special booklet 24 pages,

Mini character sticker

#mashle #mashle magic and muscles #mash burnedead #mashle blu-ray dvd #official art

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dissonance-in-a-major · 24 days

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(hxh) PHANTOM TROUPE // KURTA CLAN theory

...debunking PT did it

So let me preface this by saying this was 100% inspired by a tiktok comment in a hxh phantom troupe's religious symbolism video back in 2021 (:/). The person who commented made such an impact I screenshotted their comments which unfortunately are not in correct order and messaged them this year (i just know they think im weird) but they never responded. I'd give their @ but its their government name (I take it) so msg me for deets. All credit goes to them as I'm just polishing and tidying these thoughts.

First op talks about Meteor City, a junkyard city inhabited by outcasts. People who live there do not exist on any official records and are treated horribly from the outside, people are taken from Meteor City for crimes, prostitution, slavery and no one's doing a thing to stop it. People go outside and face racism, like the one guy accused of a crime he didnt commit and when the truth is shown no one does anything (think op meant The Bum Incident, vol 11, Chapter 102). These people get no justice, they're just used and this is where the duality of Chrollo comes in, he is a demon to the outside world because he is challenging the gods but also a Jesus figure for the underprivileged Meteor City. Even his reverse St Peters Cross on his jacket means that he feels unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus. Thats his way of saying he doesnt see himself as worthy of savior. His priority is the Troupe so they can together be seen to the outside world, they are literally a troupe of phantoms, trying to be recognized. This is why when he asks Neon if she believes in ghosts and she says no, she is the oppressor that doesn't understand the one hurt.

If you read the story with this idea in mind you start to observe that the Troupe only attacks people hazardous for the City (mafia, ants) or when they want revenge for one of them killed so its weird they are presented in a positive almost heroic light. Only exception that sticks out to the story? Kurta massacre.

The og commenter wondered why it was that the Troupe was always presented in a positive light. We've known the Phantom Troupe does acts of good alongside the bad but we also haven't seen anything entirely "evil" commited by any of them yet. Most of the legends surrounding them are hearsay. And though they could have easily killed Gon and Killua, they don't, twice. Also, Uvogin when taken by mafia/Kurapika says if freed, they wouldn't hurt them as they are not the target.

Op comments on how narrative should be filtered as its being commented via Gon- a non objective source, they claim that the 1st arc feels like a kid show whereas chimera arc feels dark, thats not to say it is actually like that but as Gon's perspective changes so does the narration. At first when innocent people die, he doesnt really care but in chimera we need a narrator to explain as Gon is too biased at that point. Regarding the massacre we only have Kurapika's word but what we are being told/shown about the Troupe is different. The characters talk about the Kurta massacre, how horrible and brutal it was but the narrative is keen and favors the Troupe, it paints them in a favorable light and why should the narrative do that, they don't become better people like the Ants after all.

From the moment they appear on screen, the narrative wants us to see them as underprivileged, both in York New and in the ship, even when they're fighting in Meteor City, they're fighting for injustice or when somebody hurts them. Then why justify their actions everytime they appear on screen if they massacred the Kurta Clan? If they are responsible for this why make them the underprivileged representation? Both Kurta and Troupe says the op are ostracized by the outside and seen less from people.

Say they did it. 3 ideas were proposed as to why.

1. for the eyes (Chrollo likes the eyes, like Hisoka said but Hisoka is a liar and also Chrollo has never shown interest in the show for them. For someone who steals things he likes, why make an exception and murder here?)

2. for money (that's not correct, we are told multiple times they don't care about it, neither money nor fame, they want to be recognized by the world but how would that work by killing a clan that's been hidden for 100 years, they dont get anything out of it.)

3. for revenge: Revenge for what? Kurta are a peaceful clan that hide for years. We know the Troupe left a note that is the motto of Meteor City (I'm adding here what op referred to: "we reject no one so take nothing from us"). Op says note means they serve justice to their city, when someone takes things away from them so what did Kurta take? From the thematic and narrative point they are not set up to have done it, op thinks thats 100% intentional.

Like said above, BOTH have the thematic of oppression from the outside world, they are a commodity for the rich and powerful (gods) but why is Phantom Troupe put in the light of both, the oppressor and the oppressed? Why would an oppressed group oppress another one for NO good reason? The Troupe doesn't kill innocent people if not necessary, they do NOT care about money or fame and the revenge aspect doesnt work because the Kurta were isolated from the outside.

If we look back at the York New Arc they never state the massacre, they simply suggest it and of course from a Kurapika POV they are guilty but if you look again you have to ask..are they really?

☆

this took ages for me to coherently formulate and ik it goes back and forth but bless op's heart because it changed my perspective completely (more than any yt analysis found online) !

#hunter x hunter #chrollo lucilfer #phantom troupe #kurapika kurta #kurta clan theory #hxh chrollo #hxh hisoka #hxh manga #hxh spoilers #corolla/rants

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