#“He was insane for this” and it’s just Wang YiBo BEING INSANE FOR THIS

[anotherdescentintomadness]

Versace-on-the-Floor Wang YiBo — 201031

Hunan TV x TMall Global Shopping Festival

This is my ROMAN EMPIRE

[bjyxobsessed]

A lot of people wonder why so many fans of Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo hate each other. And after a few years of being a fan of both of them, I think I’ve finally figured it out.

It’s jealousy.

What could each of these stans possibly be jealous of? You ask.

Let me lay it out for you.

On the one hand, you have Xiao Zhan. 😍 Talented, amazing, so beautiful you almost can’t look at him directly Xiao Zhan.

So why do some WYB fans hate him so much? Because his popularity is insane.

This is from an index poll based on Weibo chatter around the time XZ went to Italy. And I think this is pretty typical… I saw one very similar for Weibo night. And from an objective view, the numbers do seem to defy logic.

This is a man who is a model, a product endorser, an actor, and — when we’re very lucky — a singer. Currently in that order. (I can feel you picking up your torches and pitchforks but just stay with me 😆) He doesn’t do variety shows or even make a lot of appearances. His live streams for brands are recorded, without fans present or participating in any way. Since the end of 2019, we get to see him in 1, maybe 2 dramas in a year. He did a play (which he’s doing again soon), but not many fans have access to that. He’s got the highest selling single of all time — but he’s never performed it.

It is frankly a CRIME how little we get to see of Xiao Zhan 😭 But as his fan, I assume this is the way he wants it. I don’t question his work choices — you do you, baby ☺️ But haters, they look at the output level and just can’t understand why he’s so much more popular than Wang Yibo. So they’re jealous of the polls and ratings - because no matter what, Xiao Zhan is always on top.

Meanwhile Wang Yibo is EVERYWHERE.

He’s modeling, he’s selling stuff, he’s on tv dramas, he’s on Street Dance of China, he’s dropping singles, he’s performing goddamn interpretive dance to his songs.

🤩 He’s a movie star with THREE movies coming out this year…

And WOW do some of XZ’s fans hate him for it 🔥

Why does WYB get to be out there doing all of this? Why not Xiao Zhan??

If it’s a selfish person who only looks at their fave as a commodity to consume, you can see where it would make them very bitter indeed.

I don’t know the reason for the career differences — I have wonderings, but ultimately I trust in them to do what they want to do, and I sit back and enjoy their work and efforts whenever and however they come. As a turtle, I’m blessed! It’s a shame that all of their fans can’t just enjoy the gifts we’re given.

But haters gotta hate I guess, and well… they can heed this message 😆

[yeetlinglaozus]

For the sake of the point I will be making here I have to first ask that everyone please put aside their own personal feelings and read this as objectively as possible. I don't want to step on anyone's heartstrings or offend anyone by accidentally making them feel some type of way. None of you are wrong for your thoughts or feelings, I just want to create as drama-free a discourse as possible.

So, Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan made an appearance at the Tencent Starlight Awards and, in my opinion, redeemed 2020 as a year because I never thought I would see them on stage together (at least not this soon after, well, everything). I'm incredibly thankful that we were given such a treat! They looked handsome and stunning as always and I fully commend their stylists for the choices they made here, which if any of you have ever held a personal conversation with me you'll know that is major praise from me given that it is also my job. I adore every bit of Yibo's continued aesthetic of Rich Sk8 Boi Elderly Woman Chic™ and Xiao Zhan looked timelessly sleek in his suits.

Moving on from their physical appearances, I have seen A LOT of people complaining about their demeanor over the course of the night. Many seem to claim and think that they looked sad or upset or any other synonym for it that you want to add here. I've seen people say that, because of this, they don't want them to appear together in public anymore since it's too heartbreaking to witness. I've read through so very many posts that go back and forth on how upsetting it is that they didn't interact and barely smiled and all sorts of other negative remarks.

If you ask me, it isn't that they looked sad or upset. More than anything they seemed weary and cautious and disinterested, as well as obviously tired. They lead extraordinary lives in the sense that anything ordinary that they do is put on blast and peered at by thousands upon thousands of fans and ripped apart. Naturally, due to this, anything spectacular that they do is looked at even moreso. Add that pressure to their work schedules, which are notoriously insane, and the year that XZ has had, and anyone can guess why this event was stilted for them. They took time out of their very full schedules to come out for this all while knowing that of all the present idols and celebrities, they would be looked at the hardest given the rumors that circulate over them. Can you imagine the mental fortitude that would take, especially for Xiao Zhan?

Here's the thing that has really irked me about the commentary regarding this awards show and prompted this special edition post: everybody seems to forget that they are regular people with a job. For them, this is about their careers, not about the rumors and speculative gossiping of their relationship. Yet, they had to factor these things into their undertaking of the event itself. So I say again: they are people with a job and we should all let them do their job. This never should have been treated as the reunion of yizhan when, for them, it was a night of being awarded for their hard work and a chance to promote their new dramas. All that hard work they put in has been debased by fans being upset about a lack of interaction between them and that saddens me greatly, when they really deserve the praise and acclaim.

Shipping them has been a double edged sword to their careers, simultaneously bringing in more fans and bolstering the scope of their careers while also cutting them down. I, myself, am a typical BXG clown and do all the things we're known to do (outside of antagonizing anyone for feeling differently) but I do it all while knowing that my role and scope as a fan is limited to being just that, a fan. I'm not here to discredit their careers by so avidly shipping them that I lose sight of their reality as two real world people with feelings of their own. I know the boundaries of shipping them, and I think it should be more about showing support for them individually as artists and entertainers first and then as people with a connection and bond, whatever the nature of it may be. Their personal lives are not meant to be anyone's entertainment.

Setting aside the shipping, and looking at the actions of the awards show, I'd like to bring to light the biggest indicator of them being outwardly disinterested and tired rather than simply sad. They both elected to not sit in the VIP section among the other stars and weren't featured on the starcam. Whether they were together backstage or not, the point is that they chose to be absent from the public eye and remain unseen which isn't typical of their public personas. To me, this is extremely telling of them more or less being over it all. They deal with a lot of added stress and pressure due to the shipping and the inherent drama that exists among the fanbase and it has been an especially intense year. They are tired, they are human, they are entitled to privacy and to not have every tiny moment of their lives picked apart.

I wish I saw more people talking about the performances themselves or the fact that this was a successful night for Xiao Zhan given that he's still in the midst of a "comeback" and probably had a lot of mixed feelings about showing up and being in the spotlight again. He was moved to tears during his performance by the red ocean that lit up just for him and honestly I cried with him because it was that special. For every instance you could feel disappointed, there's twice as many reasons to be proud and happy of these hard working men.

PS. Comparing this year to last year isn't very valid or helpful when you take into consideration that last year they specifically appeared together in promotion of ChenQing Ling, just as they did with Zhang Liying and Yang Zi this year. Again, this is their job and they should be allowed to do it without having to fret about whether one of them is or isn't in attendance and how they should act in accordance.

Thank you for your time.

[peekbackstage]

Hello! I've just now read your reply on CP fans not allowed in certain fan events, which linked to another article specifically about Xiao Zhan and his overall endorsement/matket value. Which leads me to this question about Yibo. He has progressed hugely, both in terms of reputation and market share in 2020 from 2019. With 30 plus brands, a highly successful drama (lof), SDC, DDU and many charitable projects throughout the year, I would assume he would be the current 'King' of moving goods? His reputation is definitely much better than Xiao zhan in terms of fan control and overall boldness to certain fan behaviours which we dont see in many idols. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on this, because in my opinion I would think Yibo's market value and reputation would surpass all.

Wang Yibo has certainly been making leaps and strides to the top of the industry in recent days! He has been winning quite a number of awards, has an impressive amount of brand endorsements, and overall, is doing very well as a whole! In fact, the most recent Vlinkage ranking currently has him listed as #1 while Xiao Zhan is #2. 

However, that being said, Xiao Zhan’s sales volatility is something that is very difficult to compete with. In fact, it’s so extreme and so well-known that among industry experts, Xiao Zhan is the celebrity who is called the “King of Carrying Goods.” You can check out this analysis by a marketing expert here. 

Vlinkage’s Brand Star Goods Index from Jan 19 - Jan 25, 2021 shows this phenomenon even more clearly: 

Here, Xiao Zhan is carrying a staggering 78.51% market share of goods sold with Wang Yibo coming in at 7.8%. That’s literally a 70.71% difference! When it comes to moving product, there’s honestly no one, and I mean no one in China who can compete with this kind of insane volatility. 

So, essentially, right now Wang Yibo is currently #1 in endorsements, but Xiao Zhan is #1 in sales (or moving goods, as you might put it.) As for other rankings, Wang Yibo is currently performing very well in many other rankings, especially due to the immense popularity of Legend of Fei! He’s doing really well as a whole and I���m very happy for him. But I would be hard pressed to say he’s overtaken Xiao Zhan's lead.

I would also like to dissuade you from saying things that suggest Wang Yibo’s “reputation is definitely much better” than Xiao Zhan’s, as I support both artists equally. While it is true that Xiao Zhan’s reputation took a beating last year, he has since begun to stage a pretty wonderful comeback. He literally won Weibo King with a whopping 98.73% of the vote, which is honestly kind of insane! 

Anyway, the facts speak pretty clearly for themselves, so I don’t think I have to say much more than this. 

[dangermousie]

Hello! I just wanted to say I really appreciate how much you're onboard the Baili Hongyi x Liu Ran ship. It's a breath of fresh air to read your perspective amidst all the hate Liu Ran seems to be getting instead (especially w/ events of the recent episode). Every time a they have a scene together I've honestly been looking forward to seeing you gush about it, so thanks :D

Awwww, thank you! Luoyang is a gorgeous, twisty drama but I confess that they are consistently the highlight of it for me (once a shipper, always a shipper, I guess. But joking aside, I usually ship hardest when it's not a ship-centric drama and there are other things going on as well.)

As to people disliking Liu Ran, I tend to hang out in my tumblr and not venture elsewhere much outside of my mutuals, but while liking a character is subjective, and I am sure some people just don't go for that type of narrative/just view it differently than I do/have valid reasons (even if ones I don't share), I think at least some of vitriol towards her is influenced by (a) people being tougher on female characters than male ones - honestly, I had zero issue with her coming to the meeting place; with all the information she had it was reasonable. If he wanted her not to to muck up his plans, perhaps Hongyi (and I adore him) should have talked to her so she's not out of the loop, (b) a certain subset of fandom consistently looking down on female characters who are not fighting BAMFs but whose strengths are coded as "traditional female virtues,” (c ) some people just not wanting ships in their mystery thriller - even in my limited excursions out I've seen people bitching about the GBZ x Siyue ship as being tacked on blahblah, let alone Hongyi x Liu Ran that has more screen-time in terms of shipping, (d) Wang Yibo has a huge fandom; by definition if only a small percentage of anyone's fandom is nuts, if the fandom is huge, the sheer number of the nuts will be larger even if percentage is the same as for a smaller fandom; I still remember the insanity that was ZLY versus WYB fandoms in Fei. And unlike ZLY, Song Yi does not have a huge fandom.

But oh well, I plan to fangirl them until a bitter end!

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 4

Okay, it’s been a hot minute since I was able to get to watching this episode, but here we go!

Great intro. Remember last time how Lan Wangji got to pick Wei Wuxian’s punishment? Well, it seems that Wei Wuxian was up late into the night working on transcribing and, surprise! he’s not done. And unless I’m mistaken, he’s actually spent days doing this, because when they first arrived, the salute ceremony was ten days away, and here we see Wei Wuxian is almost late for it. So by this point, I’d expect Wei Wuxian to have some serious hand cramps from all that calligraphy.

While I enjoy this comical moment and introduction to Nie Huaisang, I have to wonder why he thought bringing a bird into the salute ceremony was a good idea. Birds make noise—they tweet, flap their wings, try to escape cages! Anyway, it’s a goofy moment, but we got some cute expressions out of Xiao Zhan and some disdainful looks from Wang Yibo, so I can’t complain.

Xiao Zhan does a really good job of looking very young here at the beginning: his mannerisms, his facial expressions, how he carries himself, all really creates this feeling of being young and carefree. On the other side, Wang Yibo (who is six years younger than Xiao Zhan) does an equally good job of portraying someone more severe, mature, elitist. Lan Wangji has a reputation for being above people—for creating an aura that implies other people aren’t worth his time. In fact, he doesn’t even have any friends, as we found out in the last episode.

Wangxian really suit each other, even before they know each other at all: Wei Wuxian has this light, carefree nature to his character, while Lan Wangji’s is darker, more austere.

First of all, those fuckers. Gossiping about his lineage in full earshot of not only Jin Guangyao but also Jin Zixuan. This poor guy has practically clawed his way up to where he is, only to be an attendant to a clan that he has no blood relation to. His own father refuses to acknowledge him, his mother is gone, and these jerks gossiping—ugh! Hate it, regardless of who he grows to be later on in the series.

I really love Jin Guangyao and seeing how he changes from beginning to end is honestly a delight to watch. Like most of the characters, he seems so pure, so simple, such a kind person, and his relationship with Lan Xichen is something that you can’t devote enough time to. I think it gets shortchanged a little, but they only had 50 episodes, so I’ll take what I can get. Even in the book, I was left wanting to know more and see more about them (but I wouldn’t trade my wangxian content for that, so I guess I shouldn’t complain).

Last thing I want to say is, DIMPLES! Look at those adorable dimples!!

This is so insane—he literally set this guy on fire! How can he get away with this?! Anyway, enter Draco Malfoy—I mean, Wen Chao. Ahem. This series wants to throw a lot of villains at you right away: we already have Wen Ruohan, Xue Yang, potentially Wen Qing (we don’t know at this point), and now we have Wen Chao. They’re really pushing the Wen Clan is bad agenda. And as if being generally rude and probably mentally unstable isn’t bad enough, Wen Chao literally sets fire to one of the Gusu Lan Clan disciples, while the other disciple basically does nothing about it (why is that guy so useless? Doesn’t he have some spiritual energy to throw at that magic fire?).

Wen Chao is one of those characters that I think most people love to hate. He’s so evil, so horrible, yet charming, in a way. He is a villain and he’s proud of it, y’know? There’s no ambiguity here about his actions, which is kind of refreshing in a series filled with grey characters (and I love grey characters, don’t get me wrong).

Oh! And I just noticed while I was saving that screenshot that Wen Ning can’t even look at what’s going on. Very accurate to his character—non-confrontational, just wants to float along and do as he’s told. Really shows he’s under the thumb of the Wen Clan. I also like how Wen Qing is the one to put out the flames. You get to see that healer side of her early on.

Jiang Cheng and I had the same expression here—I really wanted to know what their gift to Lan Qiren was. If this is something in the book, well, then I’ve forgotten. Wei Wuxian and I have that trait in common: bad memory.

LWJ: Bro, can I hit him?

LXH: Nah, bro.

I missed this on my first viewing—or just forgot, most likely. Lan Wangji is so poised and collected, but also so defensive. He’s the brother who will be the first to go on the offensive if he sees something wrong happening, which I love. But I also love Lan Xichen’s chill attitude—yes, this guy is clearly a troublemaker, and he’s dissing our clan, but let’s settle this in an adult manner. According to the wiki, Lan Xichen is only a few years older than Lan Wangji, but you can see that he is a lot more mature in just those few years. Like I said in the last episode, he kind of had to be a parent to his younger brother and set an example of how you should behave. Of course, he’s also the clan leader, so he can’t really act like a spitfire.

Of course, if anyone is more defensive than Lan Wangji, it’s Wei Wuxian. Even though Lan Wangji has been a bit of a pain in the ass to him, Wei Wuxian still rushes to their defense. Even this early on, he’s started to form an attachment to the Gusu Lan Clan, whether he’s really aware of it or not. I’m wearing my wangxian goggles, but the “you offended the Jiang Clan because my brother was in the middle of his salute” kind of feels like an afterthought.

But of course it’s in Wei Wuxian’s character to be heroic like this—to rush to the defense of others, whether it’s asked for or not, and I don’t get the feeling that Lan Wangji disapproves of this. I think he takes note of this and future events, adding it to what he’s compiled of what makes Wei Wuxian tick. And by this time, I think he’s also decided to give Wei Wuxian another chance—Lan Xichen has planted the seed in his mind that he could be a good friend to Lan Wangji.

I know he’s not supposed to be gay.

I know.

But…come on. The way he’s looking at Lan Xichen right now—it’s a look certainly of deep admiration and respect. And there’s not a hint of jealously either, even though Jin Guangyao has every reason to be jealous of Lan Xichen: the respect he commands is great—he can even subdue the Wen Clan. But instead of hating Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao instead becomes close friends with him, very much a parallel to Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. Fascinating! These characters are so rich—so many layers, so much to talk about!

The first time I watched this, I was so annoyed with Nie Huaisang—any additional scenes that were added just drove me crazy. But now, having watched it all, I actually really appreciate these moments of comic relief, even the ones that are unique to CQL. As the series progresses, it gets darker and darker, and these lighter moments are honestly precious when you know what’s coming.

Someone explain to me why Jiang Yanli is making soup when meals are being provided to them? Yes, we know she takes care of her brothers, but why is it always her making soup? This is the first of many soup scenes, and at a certain point, it’s like beating a dead horse. I actually would have appreciated a little scene of them eating Gusu Lan Clan food and getting to see Wei Wuxian complain about it. I wouldn’t mind a disapproving look from Lan Wangji at overhearing it either.

Yeah, remember when I was saying Lan Wangji was taking note of the good things Wei Wuxian did? Well, he’s also very aware of how naughty he is. At the beginning, Wei Wuxian’s good traits are heavily outweighed by his transgressions, though, by comparison, they are minor ones. It’s ironic that later on Lan Wangji will overlook major transgressions without a second thought. Shows what a deep relationship they are able to cultivate.

I feel like, in a way, this is Wei Wuxian’s way of apologizing for offending him earlier—like, I’m being cute, Lan Zhan! Obviously it only makes Lan Wangji more annoyed, but it’s the thought that counts, right? Wei Wuxian is really testing boundaries here. He has such a fixation on Lan Wangji, one that definitely annoys Jiang Cheng (and makes him jealous to boot, in my opinion), but it works to his advantage, since Lan Wangji can’t really keep his eyes off of Wei Wuxian either. And the circumstances that follow just keep drawing them together.

After Wei Ying gets told to leave the lecture and go to the Library Pavilion, he doesn’t look at anyone except Lan Wangji. I wonder if he wants to know Lan Wangji’s reaction—is it disappointment, anger, something else? Whatever it is, he wants Lan Wangji’s attention—that’s what he seeks above anything else. You could argue that he doesn’t look at Jiang Cheng or Jiang Yanli because he knows they’re disappointed or upset with him, and I think that’s fair. And maybe he doesn’t seek their attention because he knows he has it—but he doesn’t feel like he’s gotten Lan Wangji’s attention here and that bothers him.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 |

[fishylife]

Street Dance of China, Season 4, Episode 11

- The looks for today. Yibo and Han Geng are goth princes, Yixing was dressed to disco but the only thing disco about him is the jacket, and Henry looks like he dressed himself and actually thinks he looks handsome (he looks more cute than handsome).

- At this point in the show, the producers are often using the vote system (from dancers from the general public) rather than a few judges. I think it makes sense, because at this point in the show, the performances are less about technical skill. We know all the dancers here are great. Instead, it’s about whether their performances that they put together are appealing. The show does still use judges for dance battles, but not for routine performances.

- Hilty & Bosch taking some preliminary ballroom dancing lessons for their performance.

- It was fun, I did think that the performance had more of an emphasis on HB than their ballroom dancing partners, Hou Yao and Zhuang Ting, but I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be the point. I also didn’t know they were allowed to have backup dancers but I guess the challenge here really is the fusion of styles and not necessarily who you use.

- Henry loves using analogies lol. He said the fusion of Latin dance and locking was like how Yixing loved having cookies with his coffee. So extra, but I will let him have it lol.

- Apparently Yixing had learned ballroom dancing before :o

- Apparently this was revealed last season. Look at Wallace going WHAT in his dad sweater XD

- Yu Xuejiao and Li Mengju were the ballroom dancing partners for AC and Ibuki, and they suggested “pasodoble” style of dancing to go with waacking.

- I actually preferred this performance to HB’s performance, because I thought they were really good at really combining the styles, rather than using the two styles in a complementary manner. But there was a mistake near the beginning with Yu Xuejiao trying to flip Ibuki :S

- Producer Wang had asked Henry for his commentary on both performances, and Henry brushed off the question being like “they were both great!” Then Producer Wang tried to get Yixing to answer and he turned the question back on him. Double attack >3

- Eleven from Han Geng’s team and Chunlin from Henry’s team temporarily collaborated since each of their teams had an odd number of people. They were working with the contemporary dancer Yilifan. (I looked him up and I think he’s of Uyghur ethnicity, so Yi is not his surname). They had a military brotherhood themed performance.

- UHHH SO Yilifan is insanely athletic?? This guy can do flips, he can do the splits, he can do the splits IN THE AIR. I know I should expect this from a professional dancer, but wow.

- The subject material for this performance was pretty dark? Like, Yilifan’s character literally died on screen.

- Eleven was saying that when he and Chunlin first me Yilifan, they were not appreciative of him. So here he is trying to demonstrate a flip and they had some trouble replicating it lol.

- Han Geng explained that for a lot of contemporary dance, traditional dance, folk dance, etc, the breathing techniques are opposite from those of street dance, so that’s why it’s a bit difficult for those styles to be combined.

- Ye Yin and Yang Kai were working with contemporary dancer Su Peng. Yang Kai said that he and Ye Yin immediately went only to see what kind of dancer he was, that he both had a tall standard as well as a tall height (183 cm).

- Their idea was that by using a table prop, it would draw attention away from their height differences. With their costumes, they would also dress differently so that they wouldn’t be compared to one another. Su Peng said that they could all wear suits of different colours, that Yang Kai could wear a gold chain and Su Peng himself could dress more like a teacher, and that Ye Yin could wear like a white top hat with a white suit like a prince lol.

- The story behind their performance was very simple, just three dudes fighting lol.

- Yibo was particularly proud of the performance.

- MT-Pop and Poppin’C collaborated with Wang Jiajun. The song they chose was a classical Italian song. Lord Vitamin C is pleased.

- Both Wang Jiajun and Yixing felt that this music didn’t really suit popping. Yixing said they could keep the music, but maybe the dance needed some work.

- I feel like even Wang Jiajun isn’t that confident that this performance could win the hearts of the viewers, but he thinks that at the very least, this performance belongs on the stage because it’s unique and new.

- My interpretation of their dance was that three people had just died and I think they were sticking together to get to where they needed to be. I definitely think the music itself already posed a challenge, because popping is a style of dance that relies on various music beats to emphasize the pop. So I think the popping parts of the dance didn’t quite work because the music didn’t have those parts to accompany them and emphasize them. I think this ended being more of a contemporary piece than a fusion piece, though of course we definitely saw a lot of the choreography influences from MT-Pop and Poppin’C that we’d seen before.

- Poppin’C talked about how the song was about hope, and that the music made him think about the sacrifices his mom made for him to be a dancer, and how now that he has a child, he knows what his mom has been through. At this point, he says he’s been in China for five months now, so that’s a long time to be away from his family.

- The producer was saying that having a daughter probably changed Poppin’C’s dancing, and he confirmed. He said that before, he would dance very aggressively, but now with a daughter, he’s dancing a little more sweetly like this lol.

- MT-Pop was explaining that back home, he and his dance crew will raise money for the homeless, orphanages, or those who are disabled or very ill. And he basically said that he wants to help people to deal with their own pain and their challenges ;_;

- Is Yixing crying because of the kids ;_;

- I can’t help but compare this performance a bit with the contemporary performance that Gogo Brothers + Bunta + Qiao Zhi had done earlier on, where I think Yixing knew that it wouldn’t be popular, but he wanted to let his team members express themselves. I think something similar happened here, where Yixing knew that this wasn’t going to be the most popular work, especially because of the music, but he wanted them to have the chance to do this, to express themselves. I think this is in line with his own views as an artist too. We see that he’s stopped putting out music that is mainstream pop, and has started looking more inward, and has put more work into actualizing his own visions.

- Shitou and Xiao Jie were working with contemporary dancer Xie Xin. They said that at the beginning, they had some differences, because for Xie Xin, she felt that every stylistic choice needed a reason, whereas for someone like Xiao Jie, they do all sorts of stuff for the gags.

- The caption for Xie Xin says “serious.” The caption for Shitou means “obedient” (implying cuteness) and the caption for Xiao Jie is “not so obedient.”

- Earned himself a slap lol

- Their performance had themes of time and possibilities, so it had lots of symmetry to symbolize different timelines, etc. I think Shitou and Xiao Jie had some issues of sync, and I wonder if it was because they just have very different dance styles.

- Xie Xin said she first met Xiao Jie through phone messaging, and that this was her reaction when she saw his first question, which was whether there would be opportunities for humour in contemporary dance XD

- The three of them were saying how they’d given each other membership cards to each of their studios for lessons, because Xie Xin was a fan of popping and Shitou had wanted to learn contemporary dance. And then Yixing was like “can I have membership cards too, please?”

- The contemporary dancer that Huang Xiao and Qiao Zhi were working with was Zhu Jiejing. Apparently Huang Xiao is good friends with her but has never worked with her. He called her Zhu jiejie T_T

- They had contemplated on themes for three days, and they decided on the “Farewell My Concubine” theme, which features the three characters of Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, and Consort Yu.

- The stage was surprisingly minimalist for a Huang Xiao + Qiao Zhi performance

- Qiao Zhi must be so steady and so jacked because all these lifts he does. Like, not only with female dancers, but with Huang Xiao too.

- Holy shit

- This ending shot was very cool

- I think this performance was basically what I expected. I think Huang Xiao and Qiao Zhi’s performances don’t tend to have a major climax, but rather, a few major high points, which was seen in this performance. I kind of wish there was a little more variety when it came to Zhu Jiejing’s moves, because a lot of what she did involved being lifted, but that was all I could remember of her. Huang Xiao and Qiao Zhi had some more dynamic interactions, since they are supposed to be at battle, but there weren’t a lot, since this performance was supposed to feature Consort Yu as a major character as well.

- Yixing got SUPER into explaining the dance for the audience. It makes sense, since I believe he used the opera music for Farewell My Concubine at the beginning of his Lit MV, and based on what I’ve read, the story heavily inspired his song Jade.

- Apparently Qiao Zhi had been very injured very recently though, as in he couldn’t do flips the day prior.

- According to Han Geng, Zhu Jiejing has been on this show for several seasons, and Qiao Zhi and Huang Xiao have never beaten her haha.

- Zhu Jiejing has some red colouring in her middle part, and I thought it was kind of pretty.

- Acky-san and Ma Xiaolong were partnering with folk dancer Liu Fuyang.

- Their outfits are so cute!!!!!!!

- Ma Xiaolong explained that he had a smoother style while Acky-san was like an old playful jokester (again, 老頑童). So the kind of dance they decided was the dance of Chaoxian/Joseon/the Korean peninsula. And apparently that was one of the mos difficult dance types.

- The story of their performance was two cranes showing their gratitude to an old man.

- The old man helped the cranes take off the cloth that was stuck to their feet and they were free! :3

- And the cranes repay the favour by granting the old man sight.

- As is the custom, hugz :3

- Han Geng explaining that he was very happy that he’d drawn Liu Fuyang because they were from the same school. Han Geng also explained that Korean dance was difficult because the breathing techniques are key, and that the breathing techniques are opposite from those of street dance.

- Yixing said that Ma Xiaolong and Liu Fuyang were very crane-like, even in their costumes :3

- The producer said that he was very impressed when he saw Liu Fuyang dance Korean dance 6-7 years ago. Liu Fuyang admitted that he preferred Mongolian dance, which was Han Geng’s favourite as well.

- Liu Fuyang was pressured by the producer to perform Mongolian dance, and he in return peer pressured Han Geng to perform with him, the same dance he’d performed on an earlier episode.

- We love to see it!! (Also the camera work on this performance....do better)

- Gogo Brothers partnered up with folk dancer Luo Wenbo. They decided on a Silk Road theme, so the style of folk dance that was chosen was Xinjiang dance.

- Luo Wenbo said that she thought the language barrier would pose an issue but they actually worked together very well. Also, the way Luo Wenbo danced in these behind the scenes clips was so pretty, I am looking forward @v@

- I thought it was cute. It seemed a little short, or maybe that’s just me. For the musicians behind, I think they were actually playing their instruments, but the music track was definitely being played. But because they weren’t actually dancing, I wonder if they were necessary.

- Rei-san was saying how moving his head from side to side was tiring, and the producer challenged the captains to do it. Of course, Yixing challenged the producer first.

- (His movements were smaller, but he did it lol)

- Yibo did it front to back, and only did it side to side like once lol

- Han Geng did it while dancing what I assume is traditional Xinjiang dance lol

- Enthusiastic didis

- When asked about her experiences working with Gogo Brothers, Luo Wenbo said that they worked together very swimmingly :3

- They won! I think this trio is very cute haha. Luo Wenbo is so sweet and Gogo Brothers are so polite and nice :3

- I was surprised that Gogo Brothers + Luo Wenbo had won, even if only by 7 points. I thought that the story and visuals of the two cranes helping the old man would be more appealing. But from a dance perspective, the tourists in Xinjiang story did have more fusion of styles.

- Momo and Bouboo were working with traditional Chinese dancer Hao Ruoqi. Momo’s first thought when she met her was “SHE’S SO TALL!!!!” XD

- They decided to go with a phoenix theme

- Bouboo has to lift Hao Ruoqi with his neck

- I thought their performance was aesthetically pleasing. I think that both Momo and Bouboo are generally flexible, though Momo more than Bouboo. I think Momo leaned into the traditional dance aspect, and Bouboo was a little more limited, but space was made for him to express bird imagery in his own way, which was nice too.

- Bouboo claims that he could not stop staring at Hao Ruoqi....

- ????

- Henry’s caption says “am I allowed to see this?”

- Same, Geng-ge....when this happened I literally had to pause the video and walk a lap lmao. I......have no words lol. Just. Free me of this.

- Geng-ge being like “think of Momo”

- San’er and Rochka were working with Zhu Han. They had a martial arts themed performance. Here Rochka is carrying a sword for the first time :P

- Rochka being afraid lmao. When all of the dancers were doing that spinning move with the sword Rochka was like “this is an ATTACK!”

- They started him off with the sheath of the sword

- He kept hitting himself when trying to wield the sword

- Who’s looking pretty today? It’s you!

- Henry was reading something really poetic off of a card and Yixing got nosy. Not gonna lie, when Henry started speaking I was like, no way he memorized that XD I’m sorry dude. But also every time I see Henry and Yixing being close I’m just uwu

- I think their performance was basically about Rochka’s own two sides. His costume is red and white, and we see that Zhu Han and San’er are each wearing red and white.

- Look how Rochka also hugs all of the backup dancers uwu

- When asked for his commentary, as usual, Yibo just said “agreed,” except this time he said he agreed with the two geges (Henry and Han Geng) and I’m like ?? Yibo??? you playing coy, boy?

- Rochka shouted out San’er, teacher Zhu Han, and the six “beautiful” dancers. So Rochka thinks boys with swords are pretty, pass it on.

- San’er was explaining that Rochka was SUPER into the whole traditional Chinese dance style. He’d showed a bunch of pictures to Rochka and San’er imitated how Rochka would be like “omg so cool” to all of them lol. He’s enthusiastic!!!!!

- Like I said, I usually skip through the ads but this Tmall ad with Ye Yin, Ibuki, and Rochka caught me off guard

- For the teams that lost, they would have to battle to enter the final round.

- Ibuki said that in previous battles, she was often battling for her teammates, but this was the first battle where she battled for herself, so she actually found it relaxing and enjoyable.

- Momo was the only choreographer in the battle, and she knew she didn’t have high chances of winning, so Yibo just told her to enjoy it. Yibo had higher expectations for Bouboo though, telling him that he had to win.

- Ma Xiaolong got hurt, so he has drawn out of the competition :(

- I think it’s fun that the guest dancers and the backup dancers get to spectate :3 But also, I think the atmosphere around this battle is less tense, because it’s not a team event anymore, but an individual event. Everybody is fighting for themselves, so I think the captains aren’t so stressed. And that must be why Henry and Han Geng are sitting so closely :P

- Acky-san did a backflip?!!? (Sorry I can’t get a good screencap of it) but holy jeez

- Acky-san is just going all out at this point lol. When he was up against Xiao Jie, he did a wholeass locking routine, and now that he’s up against Ibuki, he’s doing some wacking lol.

- Sorry I just wanted to point out Luo Wenbo in the back here lol. She’s so cute XD Every time she’s on camera she’s like :3c

- The three dancers who advanced were Bouboo, Poppin’C, and Ibuki. 

- The dancers to go home are Ma Xiaolong,  MT-Pop, AC, Xiao Jie, Shitou, Momo, and Acky-san :( I’m going to miss all of them!!!

- Noooo ;_;

- MT!!!! I’m going to miss him sooo much. I was already a big fan from episode 1. He‘s always had the most unique ideas. Whereas most “ideas” people tend to develop their dance by looking at aesthetic style, MT has always looked to story, and I love that! He’s a story teller!

- AC said not to be so sad because those who are eliminated will still be performing in the big show next episode :o (ahh I might be busy for part of next weekend and I’m already annoyed that I won’t be able to bing the show all in one go!)

- But AC still got emotional and said he was very excited to see his jiejie Ibuki on the stage

- Henry was like “didn’t you say there was going to be no crying?”

- Xiao Jie and Shitou both had very positive and easygoing speeches. I think it’s because both of them have been long time contestants. Every time they come on, they have a good time, and though they haven’t won before, they see it as motivation to come back and try again.

- Shitou ended his speech by complimenting Han Geng’s suit and Han Geng said that he was going to give everybody a suit?!?!

- Momo-chan T_T Started her speech off emotional.

- The rest of Yibo’s team came to cheer her up

- I only remembered after Yibo brought it up that Momo was the sole choreographer on his team. So she was so important to their team T_T

- Acky-san!! He called for one more battle with all the poppers. Here he is cuing DJ A-long and getting the party started XD

- MT was looking up while dancing because he was going to cry T_T

- I think  Acky-san wanted to end his part with a dance-off, so he wouldn’t have a sad send off

- Then the captains danced too :3

- Harvest time on the hotpot show

- Omg do you guys think that Yixing will perform Flying Apsaras next week?? I would love that <3

- I’ll probably do a screencap post for the Repechage episode, but I’ll have to do it in another post. This post has so much stuff in it that it keeps freezing (and tumblr keeps erasing my edits again :/).

[thegreymoon]

LMAO, Twitter is a cesspool! 😂😂 

I have just been exposed to the most ridiculous fandom drama to end all ridiculous fandom drama! It seems like some YiZhan “fans” are mad at Luo Yunxi and Chen Feiyu for... idk? Interacting with each other (???) at the Tencent awards ceremony? According to them, by doing so, they are imitating BJYX, because, apparently, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo invented promotion of the shows they are starring in and.. I guess, amicable conversation? 🤔 Also, they are allegedly “suppressing” BJYX by being all smiley and friendly with each other and getting a lot of attention for it. They are “stealing their thing”, you see, because, as we all know, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo have copyrighted being cute and friendly with one’s costar while promoting a major project that they both have so much riding on. 

So, a couple of thoughts about this nonsense.

1. First of all, why is this even a fanwar?? None of these people are in any way related to each other except for working in the same industry and apparently having the audacity to star in a show of the same genre?? Both can exist at the same time, ffs!! Also, the more the merrier! Please give me all the danmei adaptations!! 

2. Second, toxic clowns like these are the reason why their faves can no longer be seen so much as saying a word to each other out in the open. The only reason Luo Yunxi and Chen Feiyu still get to smile at each other and openly enjoy each other’s company while Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan look stressed and miserable during their rare joint appearances is because they still haven’t had crazies like these almost succeed in ruining their career. Chen Feiyu comes from acting royalty, though, so I am hoping this will shield him from at least some of the nonsense coming his way, but Luo Yunxi already has assholes on his tail because he dared to star in shows with whoever toxic shippers were shipping with other people at the time. (Okay, I don’t have the full story on this because reading the whole thread and its related links got super exhausting very quickly, so forgive me if I got something wrong, but a couple of weeks back I ran across this ridiculous drama on Twitter (again) with people hating on him because he starred in Love is Sweet with Bai Lu, and get this, they are mad because she is no longer doing shows with another actor who got sidelined because he was accused of and admitted to domestic violence.) 

3. Third, the way Luo Yunxi and Chen Feiyu interacted couldn’t be more innocuous. It’s just what you would expect from two people who worked closely together for several months and also happen to like each other’s company. With that said, of course Tencent put them together on the red carpet and during their performance so that they can be cute as a pair! They have a show that they have sunk major money in to promote! Of course Tencent wants the hype! How is this even controversial and idek, somehow dishonest?? Also, Luo Yunxi and Chen Feiyu are dead ringers for the characters they are portraying, so please let the book fans enjoy seeing them together in peace! Nobody really thinks they are together, ffs! 

Anyway, was this post strictly necessary? Of course not, I’m just baffled and annoyed. I was so sad for Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan and how awkward they had to be with each other the entire night. Ship them or not, it’s just insane to me that these two young people launched an international hit show together and now can’t be seen talking to each other because their fandom got so toxic and awful. In addition to that, I am low-key worried and scared for Luo Yunxi and Chen Feiyu because even without this RP shipping nonsense, they have this massive target on their backs because of the nature of 2ha. And lastly, I simply hate antis of all kinds. You don’t like someone or something? Nobody is forcing you to watch, you absolute asshat! Click out and go watch something else, ffs, but don’t go around spearheading hate campaigns against real people and shitting on everyone else’s fun! This kind of garbage supports no one and only does damage to everyone involved. 

[fanyeline]

I really like how in CQL there’s a lot of very low key type magic, not huge battles, it’s just like... low key shit. My fav being “Chord assassination technique” is just Lan Wangji slowly choking the tortoise of slaughter for like 9 hours ... I liked that a lot bc that’s like a very mundane side of heroic act. 

v the donghua where it literally is like... some kind of slicing array w the chords. BUT the donghua has much cooler battles so even if I like the low key magic of CQL the donghua’s thing is also cool. I mean the way they actually are able to show the size of the sects is very cool. These battles being at such a large scale is awesome...

sometimes i wish cql could get a neat remake with a higher budget but literally i can’t imagine ANYONE being wei ying & lan zhan if now xiao zhan & wang yibo... omg what if they remade it but like, xiao zhan was wei wuxian & they got a new actor for being mo xuanyu... how insane would that be...

i know it’s impossible but... it would be kind of cool. or he could be mxy & someone else could be wei ying? idk

[dramanovellife]

Word of Honor: Final thoughts

This is the second drama adaptation that I like much better than the novel (which I also picked up again after finishing the drama).

At first, I wasn't planning to watch it since I wasn't really into the novel. Never grew to care for the characters nor was invested in the plot. At the time, I was also deeply unimpressed by the ML's advances.

But then, I saw

Several gif of the flirting ML

AvenueX posted a video about how the ML flirted with poems lol

So in the end, I got curious and decided to give it a try.

Wen Kexing truly knows how to flirt with style indeed! Binge watched it and I couldn't wait for the subs so watched the last 6 episodes with no subs. It's a bit of a wonder how I used to watch dramas as a kid with (obviously) no subs and didn't even mind not understanding most of what was being said ^^" At least now I understand way more than I did as a kid lol Watched those episodes again when the subs came out though. Didn't actually miss much info.

Anyway, I greatly enjoyed the drama. The relationship of the two main leads was so wonderful. I'm actually amazed this passed the censorships with how obvious of a romance this was. Is this still really a bromance? What hidden romance? lol The scriptwriter/production team evaded the censorship with such class lol They even used dubbing to hide the more questionable and totally explicit lines. Genius. They didn't try to add a female love interest. Hell, their relationship feels even warmer and more romantic than the novel.

"If a story wants to be attractive, it must have emotion. Such as love, friendship or brotherhood." -- The director, Ma Huagan

Truer words were never spoken.

Contrary to the novel, I quite liked the characters. They added a lot of dramatics and made the characters a bit more likeable imo. Even the Scorpion King had a tragic storyline which made quite a lot of people sympathize with him xD In novel!WKX's case, I think I didn't quite like how his flirting was mostly sexual in nature... Love drama!WKX's sophisticated flirting though. His parents' death in the novel is so very gory. And the way he managed to survive is quite insane as well. Like, I'm amazed he doesn't have some serious ptsd. Drama!WKX had it bad but novel!WKX had it so much worse imo... although drama!WKX seems to have more trauma regarding his past.

Is it a thing for BL dramas to get pitifully low budgets? Then again I only know of Guardian and The Untamed xD Winter Begonia definitely had a huge budget.

Anyway, I wouldn't have guessed so at first glance for WoH. The whole cast had so many outfits. Wen Kexing had 17 and Zhou Zishu 19. They sure got their priorities right lol The fancy costumes truly looked fancy with good quality. The plain ones didn't look overly cheap either. The sets were sophisticated enough and not tacky. Then again I think they blurred the background quite a lot xD The CGI was not the best but it could easily be overlooked imo. Most dramas are like that anyway. I feel like they might have changed some events in the novel to also make it more budget friendly to adapt ^^" Clearly not a high budget production (actually super obvious when I'm rewatching lol) but they sure knew how to utilize their limited budget as best as they could.

Another nice thing about this drama is their hairstyles. It suited the actors and the hair was not puffed up. Wang Yibo's wig in The Untamed was a bit of a turn off for me... And just looking at The Immortality stills makes me cringe.

Now about the last few episodes... I think the script quality went down there... The logic is much weaker imo. When I first watched the episodes with no subs, I already found many moments, especially the whole Romeo and Juliet plot not the most logical out there. No matter how people try to justify it, there was no reason whatsoever to not tell ZZS. Even if he was not there that day, he would have heard of it. Why would you hide it from him and break his heart? Why didn't WKX think of a way to tell him since ZZS turned out to be there? He was even ready to die with him and jumped after him... Couldn't WKX think of the fact that ZZS would take some drastic measures to avenge him? *sigh*

Then again, suppose this whole Romeo and Juliet plot was needed to arrive at that open ending... so it can't be helped although I wish they went about it another way.

Good thing it ended up being a happy ending, otherwise WKX's choice to sacrifice himself would have been extremely cruel. ZZS would have ended up forever alone on a snowy mountain. Even with the both of them, I find that ending somewhat bittersweet. Doesn't sound so great being confined to a freezing place only eating cold food. I hope ZZS can still drink wine at least... Well ofc, it's still much better than an ending with them apart.

I also still don't get how the "righteous" sects surrounded WKX on that cliff. Even if it was part of the plan, I wonder how he ended up alone outside of his stronghold... We'll never know.

Oh well, overall it was still a very nice drama! The whole cast and production team did a wonderful job!

[huans]

yesss tell me more about the show

ajsks where do i start? okay, let's get out one thing. it's a chinese drama that is based on a bl novel. china's laws forbid gay couples in media etc. (even tho it seems to be.... inconsistent? the donghua seems to go very much into the canon direction, so does the chibi eps and the audio book?)

the untamed did a lot of changes while trying to keep the main story alive, the core themes and topics of the story are still there and sometimes shown in a new light. take that as you want. there were also some censorship issues with necromancy, something that chinese culture seems to be vehemently against. (can't fault then for that) so the main character wasn't allowed to be as morally grey in the live action as he usually is.

let's introduce the main characters now!

wei wuxian, also called wei ying and the yiling patriarch later on, is played by the most handsome, stunning, soft-spoken, most talented, human being called xiao zhan!

that's him, a baby isn't he? yeah, well that baby can get very terrifying very quickly.

the other main character, and love interest in the novel, is lan wangji, lan zhan also called hanguang-jun. he's played by the best boy wang yibo!

the plot of the show is... hard to summarize? the first act of the show is them being teenagers, wei wuxian and jiang cheng (his adopted brother/shidi) study with some other people in cloud recesses, which is the home of lan wangji!

wei wuxian is a troublemaker, seriously this man's life job seems to be to break rules! and lan wangji is.... the exact opposite. wei wuxian gets into trouble, has fun and tries to befriend lan wangji who constantly rejects him.

act ii. is basically about them having to grow up during a war, the enemy here is the wen sect which comes to no surprise at all. they fight a war, they learn about loss and hardship (though, wei wuxian knows a lot about that stuff from his childhood) and they go through a lot of bullshit. wei wuxian and lan wangji are around, what seventeen?

act iii. is about.... the yiling patriarch, about morality and righteousness, the aftermath of war, the effects it has on people, the way how fucked up society is, doing the right thing in the wrong way, literally being driven to insanity by society, by your actions. wei wuxian doesn't always do the right thing in the best way, but he tries. he's a very morally and justice driven person, which is backed by his mental health issues, and this gets him thrown into bad situations. with bad outcomings, but he tries to do the right thing, which is more than most people are doing.

act iv. is about the consequences of his previous actions, seeing the world 16 years after his own death (which btw isn't a spoiler, it's the very first information you receive), uncovering secrets and plots and finding happiness. happiness he, and other characters, all have to work for.

the show is a xianxia (仙侠) drama, which means cultivation, golden cores, cultivation stuff, martial arts and uh yeah, *immortality?

cultivation is kind of like a chinese spiritual magic, i guess? i'm not sure how to explain it, but wikipedia says it's based on taoism, buddhism and chinese mythology.

there are probably many sects but the ones you should mainly care about are:

Lanling Jin,

Qishan Wen,

Yunmeng Jiang,

Gusu Lan,

Qinghe Nie,

they're the main five sects called "The Great Five". You could say they're something like lords/regents over these lands?

*xianxia (仙侠) means 'xian' 'immortal' and 'xia' hero, or actually refers to "a just and chivalrous person". cultivators main goal should be to attain immortality.

[kdramacrybaby]

Legend of Fei (2020)

Genre: Wuxia, Historical, Fantasy, Romance

Synopsis: Zhou Fei is a young heroine who lives in a secluded society in the mountains. Everything changes, however, when an outsider sneaks into their village to deliver a message. Zhou Fei’s father is forced to leave, leaving her behind, despite her every attempt to follow. Later, when Zhou Fei is finally allowed to leave to go on a mission, she meets the thief again. His name is Xie Yun, and he is a traveler with a hidden past. The two are thrown into the middle of the political unrest that is spreading through the country, and they have to work together to save themselves and the people they meet.

Episode info: 51 episodes / Runtime around 40 minutes

Lead cast: Zhao Liying (Zhou Fei), Wang Yibo (Xie Yun), Chen Ruoxuan (Li Sheng), Zhou Jieqiong (Li Yan), Zhang Huiwen (Wu Chuchu), Zhang Xinyu (Yang Jin)

Link to watch: I watched on Viki

Drama rec masterlist | Drama rant thread (beware of spoilers)

Look, I know the synopsis isn’t that good, but you try writing one after watching this drama! There is so much happening all the time, it’s almost impossible to condense it without spoiling or missing the point entirely. I had the same problems with The Untamed, so I’m seeing a pattern with this style of drama 😂

I'm gonna talk about the things that I liked first because I really did like this drama! And the main reason why I like this drama so much is the characters. I love seeing them interact together, learn and grow together as they travel around and face their fears. It really is a drama about finding your true self and learning about your identity as a person, but also how to find the strength in having people around you who support and love you.

Also, seeing a strong female lead who don't need no man to show her how to fight? Sign me UP! The way they made it so that the male lead is the more "fragile" one, while the female lead is the one who kicks ass and puts names on gravestones is fantastic, and they do it so naturally as well.

And as it was with The Untamed, the world-building is insane. Now, I haven't read the novel this is supposed to be based on, but I can imagine they did an amazing job of bringing it to life.

Now, for the things I... I don't want to say that I didn't like them, but it's more that it's not really my style. (And I just want to say first that, with my limited knowledge of this type of drama, I think the things I'm going to mention are actually pretty common aspects of this style of drama, so I'm not saying it's bad or anything like that - again, it's just not really my style.)

The blatant disregard of physics and logic really just brings me out of the story. The way they fly around, sliding and spinning like gravity is not a thing, makes me giggle even if the scene was not supposed to be funny. That being said though, I really want to applaud the actors for actually pulling those stunts off while still looking graceful. I appreciate the hard work they had to go through being strapped into harnesses and still having to look natural.

There is a lot of standing around and just talking, explaining plot that could otherwise have been shown. There is so much happening all the time, and I had a hard time keeping up. It is cool that, despite being a martial arts drama, they battle with wits and words as much as they fight with swords. I just happened to not really understand a lot of what was happening sometimes, which made it hard to keep my attention.

I just think it is too long. Shorten it down to half the time, keep the central plot points and focus more on the important parts, and I think this could have been an easy five stars.

I really couldn't decide about giving this three or four stars, because there were a lot of times that I just stopped paying attention without meaning to because I couldn't follow or just... got a little bored?, but also, this really has every ingredient that should make it a drama I love, and I really do like it but... yeah, idk, I might go back and change the rating someday.

Also, I just found out that there is a movie, so I’m probably gonna give that a shot sometime and see if it is indeed better in shorter form like I think it is. (Okay yeah no, I barely got 30 minutes into it before I had to give up. Way darker than the drama, and I had no idea what was going on even though I actually just watched it. So yeah... a middle ground maybe 😂)

[untamed-wolfenm]

To the people hating on Wang Yibo for not "speaking up" for Xiao Zhan ...

Some things to consider (and I'm saying this all as a Xiao Zhan fan myself):

- People made awful assumptions about Xiao Zhan for not saying anything after the AO3 incident -- if you defended him then but are trashing WYB now ... doesn't that make you a hypocrite?

- While I do love all the industry people rushing to his defense, XZ himself said in an interview that he doesn't argue with critics, but rather considers what they have to say, as there's usually some value in it. He also seems averse to confronting people online. Don't you think there’s at least some chance that WYB might be respecting XZ's feelings on this? (Don't YOU? Or would you run roughshod over his feelings and defend him even if he specifically asked you not to?)

- WYB doesn't strike me as the type to care about the Golden Brooms, and therefore might consider the outcome to be beneath his notice. Honestly, the best thing you can do with bullies like the creators of the Golden Brooms is to ignore them, since what they want is attention -- that's the whole point of those awards, isn't it? "Looks at me and what I think! My opinions matters! Look as I drag people down and tell hem they suck just because I say so!" Nah, bro, nobody needs that kind of noise. To defend against it is to actually give it power / value. I appreciate the desire to defend Xiao Zhan, but I also see a lot of value in treating it the Golden Brooms -- or Xiao Zhan’s haters in general -- like they’re nothing.

- Tearing down WYB / encouraging people to hate him tears down The Untamed, which tears down XZ. Look at what XZ haters did to attack him -- lowering the rating of The Untamed, which affects all involved, There’s no “winning” in this action. And dammit, if you’re a fan of The Untamed, we’re all on the same side! Unless someone from the cast and crew does something HEINOUS, like being racist or sexually harassing, support them ALL! (Or at least don’t *drag* them.)

- I've seen some of the people who are calling out WYB for not sticking up for XZ, also insist that XZ and WYB aren't actually friends, saying people are reading too much into things between them. Well, which is it? If they aren't friends, why do you care if WYB speaks up or not? For that matter, why SHOULD he?

- As near as I can tell, XZ and WYB haven't been going for the same roles -- they AREN’T rivals! And even if they have or eventually do compete for a role here and there, there are plenty of roles for them both! A lot of friends in Hollywood have gone up for the same part, and are still friends! It’s ridiculously paranoid to think that WYB has orchestrated any sort of coup against someone he obviously got along well with and will likely cross paths with in the future. What has he done that suggests he’s at all vindictive, much less to to that insane of a level?

- And lastly, XZ constantly speaks of love, positivity, and being better. He encourages his fans to be their best, and not cause problems for others. Do you think XZ would *want* us to speak ill of *anyone* on his behalf, much less his friend? Are you really his fan if you're not taking his request for us to behave well to heart, and acting with kindness and compassion, instead of making negative assumptions about a person or situation with NO evidence?

Not speaking isn't "evidence" of anything when you don't know WHY he hasn't. There could be a MILLION reasons why WYB isn't saying anything -- and frankly, NONE of them are our business. If you truly love and respect XZ, ACT with respect towards WYB, whether they are friends or not, because that's what Xiao Zhan would do! For fuck’s sake, there’s enough hate swirling around -- please stop adding to it! LOVE, NOT HATE 

[tragcdysewn]

was that wang yibo? oh no no, that was just lan wangji, a canon character from the untamed. they are thirty three years old, use he/him, and are aware that they are not actually from washington dc. too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

how long has your character been here:

he's been here around three months

what is your character’s job:

he’s a private tutor for math and language

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom:

the end of the books and show!

has any magic affected your character:

he was unaware for two years, but recently regained his memories

bonus info:

look the speed at which this man became one of my favorite characters ever is insane. i love him so fucking much okay? someone in the tags described him as ‘disaster gay in disguise as a distinguished gay’ and?? accurate. he truly comes off as the most put together person ever but he is the reason the lan clan needs 4000 rules because the moment he got an inch of freedom he ran off with a war criminal.

i’m mixing book and show canon for wangji which?? not a lot of differences but i do hate the ending for him in the show bc him being chief cultivator just? doesn’t make a lot of sense to me for him. his book ending of being known for ‘being where the chaos is’ and helping anyone he possibly can just fits a whole lot better imo

he doesn’t show a lot of emotion, but he feels a lot lol. he doesn’t ever do anything in halves, so once he’s decided someone or something is important to him, he’ll do whatever possible to defend it. see : running off with a war criminal and beating up thirty three of his own clan members to defend said war criminal.

look, i just love lan wangji a lot okay?

[infiniteniel]

Top 10 Bias List Tag!

i was tagged by @mintkibum^^ thank you!

1. Jang Dongwoo (Infinite): he’s my ultimate, the only idol I fell in love with at first sight. He’s everything I am not: positive, confident, hard-working, strong. He has the voice of an angel, the smile of an angel. I wouldn’t imagine myself without him. He makes me feel at home. 2. Kim Jongin (EXO): wow, Kim Kai. There would be so many things to say about my love for Kim Kai. I love how stunning he is when he dances, how adorable he is when he’s smiling. His bear like voice and laugh are a medicine to me. 3. Shin Hoseok (Monsta X): my child. I gave birth to him. Literally. I started to care about him since ep 3 of No.Mercy, there was a moment when I though: "I need to watch the whole show, this baby needs to debut". I’ve been rooting for him ever since. He’s so insecure it makes me feel like flying to his house just to pat him on the head and tell him he’s doing a great job. He works hard always to improve himself, as a dancer and as a singer and I think this is truly inspirational. 4. Kim Seokjin (BTS): a weirdo. He was one of my first biases ever! I’ve always loved him, but I’ve never known precisely why. I guess I was chosen. At first, I guess it was for his cute face but now, after three (four?) years, I can safely say I’m obsessed with how good his laugh makes me feel. He is such a nerd, I don’t know. I love him. 5. Kim Seokwoo (SF9): epitome of “tol but smol”. I fell for him watching DOB, the thing I love the most about him is how he can manage to be sexy and cute at the same time. His singing voice, also. Astonishing. He’s such a mom, always wants his friends to have a good time. He’s so boyfriend material without even knowing or trying. 6. Lee Taemin (SHINee): a god. That’s all I’m gonna say. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Press It. 7. Jung Taekwoon (VIXX): he is… How should I say this… He is so charming, there’s something addicting about his voice and his personality. At first I was intimidated by him and how introverted he looked but, as I got to know him better (via VIXXTv and variety shows of course), I started to feel some kind of connection towards him. I see myself a lot in many of his behaviors. He turns into the softest mochi when he smiles, that's so adorable. I love his solo songs the most, the ballads he wrote in the latest VIXX’s works. I met him four months ago and touched his hand, and it felt like being re-born. 8. Park Hyungsik (ZE:A): Aigoo, this little one. I’d lie if I said I wasn’t attracted by his looks, haha. He has the prettiest eyes, their shape is so… cute. I love when he sings, his voice is so soothing. His stage presence always takes my breath away. My ultimate wish is to see him with ZE:A on stage one more time. Also, I love his works as an actor. King Jinheung?! Enough said. 9. Wang Yibo (UNIQ): a nerd. I have no idea why I have strong feelings for this Chinese guy. Seriously, no idea. I miss him, everyday I wish for Uniq to make a comeback. Every time they post something on SNS and he’s not there my heart dies a little. 10. Yook Sungjae (BTOB): DORKEST OF THE DORKS! He’s my bias cause he makes me laugh, a lot. He doesn’t even try to be funny, and that’s what makes me go insane. He does such an amazing job to promote BTOB, he’s also an amazing actor at such a young age. Also, his voice. Wow. His duet with Kyuhyun of Super Junior at Gayo?! There are no more words needed.

this was not easy and i know it’s the Lamest™ thing you’ve ever read but whatever, that’s what i am i’m tagging @mareainteriore^

[fishylife]

Street Dance of China, Season 4, Episode 4

- I’ve had issues with Tumblr not saving my posts again v.v I’ll just save often and hope that that does the trick.

- Latrice and Ibuki reenacting HB’s performance haha. From the behind the scenes clips I’ve seen, Ibuki does speak English, so I like to think they are now friends :D

- Hilty & Bosch have known each other since they were six years old T_T That’s cuuuute. Apparently they don’t get into arguments a lot because they always keep a distance between them XD Good strategy.

- San’er’s performance was great! He definitely brings the entertainment in his creativity (including incorporating a story line), but he doesn’t forget about the technical parts of dancing (the popping).

- Bouboo cheering on Rochka when he challenged Jianyan :P

- This spinning move he did was neat

- 不咋地 is going to be the recurring inside joke between Yibo, Rochka, and Bouboo ^^;;

- Yixing singing the SDOC theme song again XD With his super low energy voice XD

- Yibo was tipping the bench which was why Yixing and Henry were like, rocking back and forth at the same pace lol.

- Admittedly George vs. C-Lil was kind of rough. George tried to include Chinese elements in his performance, but he was injured, so he couldn’t really showcase them, and the latter part of his performance became just a typical contemporary dance. C-Lil’s performance was alright, but I think the judges were expecting something more impressive. While break dancing is very impressive to watch, I am starting to see the limitations of it, because if a dancer is not impressive, they are just kind of mediocre. George and C-Lil weren’t able to bring anything superbly impressive, which I think it was difficult for them to vote. Yibo abstained, and C-Lil got two votes, so C-Lil advanced.

- Zyko was incredible as always. It fascinates me how he’s mostly performed with these ballad type songs that don’t really have a beat. Also his flexibility is insane. I’m glad he got through with four votes because we need to see him more.

- I really liked Chika’s performance! I feel like women’s dancing is sometimes a bit limited in the mainstream because people just expect them to look sexy. It isn’t as much the case on this show because all of the ladies on this show are dancers and not idols or pop stars. But anyway, I just love seeing women dance without their bodies being sexualized. Chika’s dance showcased not only control over her body, but POWER. I loved her big movements. Compare the power that she shows vs. the power that say, Ibuki shows. Ibuki is a much smaller lady and it shows in her proportions, so how she expresses power looks different from how Chika expresses power, and Chika’s is the sort of power that I’ve really looked forward to seeing.

- Rochka fanboys over everybody, I love it. Keep spreading the love, dude.

- Ok, Xiaoji’s performance was pretty entertaining. I am not kidding when I say my jaw dropped, at the same time that all the captains went OH SNAP. But this guy definitely has charisma and stage presence. His confidence made up for his lack of ability to improvise XD I was CACKLING when this guy thought the song was done and Yibo was like “bro there’s more” and Xiaoji had to come up with something to end it off lol. I wouldn’t say his challenge was as good as Xiaohai’s, mostly because he hadn’t memorized the music like Xiaohai did. In terms of technical stuff, his performance did seem more impressive than Lai Wei’er’s, but he also did less “stuff” (like, there were a lot of pauses in his dance probably because he didn’t now the music). But Xiaoji’s was definitely more entertaining, though that may just be because of who he is and not his dancing. (By the way, Xiaoji’s real name is 林森. I thought the name 林木森 was just a joke because of how much wood was in it. I never guessed that someone would name their kid 林森 X’D Guess his 八字 indicated that he had a weakness in wood or something lol)

- Have some laughing captains, it’s good for the soul.

- Acky-san acknowledged that he’s probably not going to beat the younger dancers in terms of technique, so what he brought instead was style. The “robot” style of popping is pretty old, but no one else has done it in this competition probably because it’s so old school, and he definitely delivered in a way that only he could.

- Henry singing Frere Jacques with the French contingent X’D

- Thoughts on Han Yu vs. Boris. I can imagine what Han Yu was going for in his original performance, but I don’t think it worked. I don’t have the vocabulary to explain it, but basically the way his performance was choreographed just didn’t really impress. As Yibo mentioned, Boris was impressive in his dance to Han Yu’s music, but his dancing didn’t suit the song as much as Han Yu’s did. So the original dance + challenge was a matter of impressiveness vs. whether the dancing suited the music. Han Yu shone in the battle. I think he seemed a lot more impressive when back in a hip hop sort of groove, music that has a lot of major beats, compared to the piano music that was less grand an epic. As for Boris, I think that seeing a few of his performances in succession showed that his toolbox is a little limited in comparison to Han Yu. It hate to see Boris go because I loved his battle against Zyko but alas. I also wanted him to stay because he’s one of the few non-Chinese contestants who speak Mandarin relatively well. He had no issues speaking in Mandarin with most of the Chinese people on set. The ending was hilarious, when he was asked whether he had any last words, and Boris was like “well, I’m literally going to see these guys in two seconds when I’m back in the audience, I’m not dying” lmao.

- I don’t know how I feel about how the show has decided to deal with the last 29 contestants, of which three would be chosen to join the 49 dancers advancing. They’re competing fairly with the other contestants that haven’t performed yet, but they’re at a disadvantage compared to the previous contestants that were judged individually. For example, what if the fourth best dancer was better than a dancer that had already entered the 49? It would only be fair if the judges were allowed to take out people from the 46 contestants that had passed. It would’ve been a bigger problem if there were still a lot of big names to go though. Most of the best dancers have already secured a spot for themselves, so I think that’s why I’m not like, the most perturbed.

- I was low key waiting for Xiao Jie’s performance because his audition performance during episode 1 was so amusing. I thought his individual performance was fun! He managed to add some creativity and story telling (Chinese dude getting drunk) but also showcase some of his specialty skills (locking).

- I forgot to mention this before, but it amuses me that so the editing team will so diligently put in a “don’t try this at home” warning message whenever a dancer does a dangerous move haha.

- So the captains are doing a dance battle for the reborn event, but I’m not really sure how this is all gonna work. I’m digging Yixing’s look for the battle btw.

- Anyway, pre-battle hugs for all.

- KRUMPMASTER. Also I think he did some of the routine that he did back in Season 3.

- Not gonna lie, I wasn’t super impressed with Han Geng’s first dance but his second dance was pretty hype.

- Lol Yibo feels most comfortable challenging Yixing during his battles. He did move where he dropped onto his back right after Yixing did it (i.e. being like you can do it but I can do it better). Based on what I saw of season 3, I think Yibo would call out Yixing in his performances then too.

- Yixing was definitely heavy on the krump side, though I actually thought his first performance was really interesting because there was barely any krump in that one. He mostly stuck to other elements. As we got through the other rounds, he became more krump heavy, and I think he lost a bit in terms of variety there.

- The thing about Han Geng is that he’s no longer as athletic, so he relies more on power and control, but he needs to make sure he does the right moves that showcase that.

- I think Yibo impressed me the most. He had a lot of variety in his arsenal and he was very entertaining. He is also quite athletic, so as long as he can imagine it, I think he can do it haha.

- As others mentioned, Henry was extremely creative. He used a lot of dance moves to show a certain action, like tugging a rope or playing pool and such.

- Anyway, big hugs.

- Baby needs a nap.

- Yibo won the most points in the four rounds of the battle. This hug with Han Geng is uwu. Anyway, Tony Gogo mentioned that Yibo interpreted the music very well.

- Of course, Tony Gogo as well as the Gogo brothers praised Yixing for his krumping energy

- Philip said that Han Geng had a really good ear, and that was how he was able to take advantage of the best moments to unleash certain dances.

- The five contestants that were saved were A-wei, Boris, George, JC Jun, and Kelo & Uwa. I definitely think the editors purposely showed us more clips of them so that we’d grow attached lol. The only one of these five that I don’t quite remember is A-wei though. Anyway, very pleased that Boris is back haha.

- Pouty boi

- Yibo, Henry, Han Geng, and Ibuki getting really into 煞科 lol.

- I think next episode is going to have some team performances, which I think will be fun. Some of these teams are STACKED.

- Previews for Hot pot!

- They were talking about songs they listened to in their childhood. Han Geng started singing a song about an Office Black Cat? XD I’m guessing it’s a cartoon haha. Yibo listened to Leehom Wang and Jay Chou. Henry mentioned that he looked up to Leehom because he was also an overseas Chinese, plus he played a lot of instruments (just like Henry). As expected, Yixing looked up to Jay Chou (after all, Jay Chou was one of the earliest artists to popularize using Chinese elements in pop songs). Yixing said he also liked Leehom Wang, JJ Lin, and Khalil Fong (I legit have not heard the name 方大同 in a long time so that took me by surprise lol).

- Yibo mentioned Li Ronghao and Yixing was like OH WAIT YEAH HIM TOO. We know from Idol Producer that Yixing and Li Ronghao are bros haha. The captain says “不榮藝 組合” which pronounced the same as “不容易 組合” which is something like “unlikely duo,” except the the 榮 is from Li Ronghao’s name and the 藝 is from Zhang Yixing’s name lol.

- The robot spilled all the tea! Bad bot!

- I think they later played a listening game that Henry kept losing? lol