#Palace Sound

[nofatclips]

Don't Make Me Say by Ben Gunning from the album NATURE

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

You ever have those moments where an idea just... won't leave your head?

[ashinaisshin]

Sekiro scenery [6/?] 馨し水蓮 / Lotus of the Palace A white lotus flower found blooming in the depths of the Sunken Valley, where the Fountainhead Waters pool deeply. The flower's aroma attracts female apes. Thus the Guardian Ape carefully tended to it, so as to offer it to his bride. One of the incense ingredient sought by the Divine Heir for Immortal Severance.

[technically-human]

Boy Crystal and Niko..? And the sprites if you wanna.

Crystal (yes his name is still Crystal, although before getting his memories back, he assumed it to be Chris) and Jiro had a little cameo here. I'm glad they finally got their own piece!

Litty became Kingham and Kingham became Litty, but you wouldn't be able to tell anything has changed.

Ko-Fi

[thelaithlyworm]

Daomu Biji Watcher’s Guide, May 2024

A few new entries have been popping up lately, and I’m always hopeful new fans will stumble into the pits and never leave so I thought I’d paste up a rough map.

(Obviously the best watching order, like the best reading order of Discworld or the Aubrey-Maturin books, is ‘whatever first comes to your hand’ but for the people who don’t like that…)

tl;dr:

Daomu Biji is a series about tomb raiding. Think Indiana Jones or Lara Croft but much, much longer. The protagonist Wu Xie is deeply in love with BFF1 Zhang Qiling, a hundred-year-old cryptid, and BFF2 Wang Pangzi, who was stolen in a raid from another book series. It’s comic, tragic, horrific, zany, prone to musings on life, love, desire, attachment, and has many, many piss jokes. (‘Journey to the West but modern’ is maybe the other comparison I’d make.)

Notes:

– This guide is not talking about “quality”. All of the adaptations have their own strengths and weaknesses and tone can vary a great deal, which is to say, if one of them doesn’t suit you it’s likely something else will.

– Wacky endings, and plot threads that disappear unfinished and get picked up a long time later, are as inherent to the franchise as the piss jokes.

– It’s common for the dramas to introduce characters and subplots a lot earlier than the books do. Sometimes we’ll see a character introduced ‘for the first time’ on multiple occasions and strangely familiar scenes. I’ll try to point out the biggest continuity clashes as I go.

The Soft Entry:

There are a few movies that are entertaining as standalones but will introduce various characters and background. I would recommend:

Escape from the Monstrous Snake + Mystery/Grave of the Abyss – two monster movies featuring Hei Xiazi, a supporting character. He’s a pragmatical mercenary who’s going blind in kind of a weird way, and goofy as hell when he isn’t tiptoeing over a vast abyss of existential dread. So many fun action scenes.

Time Raiders (2015) – so there are some textual clues that late in his career Wu Xie wrote this story as a memory-jogger for an amnesiac friend. The plot is a freewheeling wild ride which doesn’t directly match any book plot but introduces some major characters and how they relate to each other. It’s colourful and fast-moving. Enjoy, enjoy.

Conjuring Curse and Misty Creed are… theoretically set late in the series even if the actors look about twelve. Both work as stand-alone adventures, though Misty Creed is maybe a little deep in the lore. Again, colourful and fast-moving.

The Chronological Order

You could honestly start with most of these – they tend to come with a ‘what has gone before’ at the start or a newbie character that things get explained to. The only one I wouldn’t start with is Heavenly Palace in the Clouds, which is lovely but also the second half of a set and things won’t make sense if you haven’t seen Lost Tomb 2 first.

Lost Tomb 1 – a highly digestible 10-12 episode version of the Seven Star Lu Palace arc, ie. Baby’s First Adventure. Introduces A-Ning, Xie Yuchen, and Huo Xiuxiu early and a couple of og characters for Wu Xie to talk to instead of monologuing to himself. The restaurant scene at the end was raided from a later arc and you’ll see it again in Ultimate Note. A book character, Da Kui, was cut which is a small problem because how he died is a minor plot point discussed in Lost Tomb 2. 

Lost Tomb 2 – covers Raging Sea, Hidden Sands (underwater tomb) and Qinling God-Tree (weird bronze tree in the mountains) plus a whole lotta side stories and original content exploring the world and foreshadowing later plots. Mooostly in continuity with Lost Tomb 1 (see Da Kui above) and made as a set with Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – they share resources and a lot of actors, and some threads begun here are finished in Heavenly Palace.

Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – covers the Mt Changbai arc, a journey up a mountain to find a very old, very grand tomb. This was made so close to Lost Tomb 2 that LT2 borrows shots from Heavenly Palace and not the other way around, which is fascinating because it pointedly contradicts the last five episodes of LT2. It also brings forward some plotlines originally from the Tamutuo and Zhang Family Old Pavilion arcs (San-shu’s past in the underwater tomb, and the Huo Family videotapes) dragging some characters on-screen and forcing them to talk about their feelings, which they would clearly rather die than do. Given those plot-tweaks and the early, deliberate continuity clash, I’m tempted to call this a Canon Parallel Universe. Got some interestingly chewy character dynamics and luverly, luverly set design.

Mystic Nine – This is a prequel about Zhang Qishan – Fo-ye – and his peers, but later dramas expect us to know who Fo-ye was so I’m sticking it here. Kinda… picaresque? Lots of action scenes and Republican-era flavour and various factions jostling for power – kinda feels like an old-school wuxia story, only set in the 1930s with all that glorious Republican-era styling. Has some unfortunate cut scenes – the details of how Fo-ye recovered at his family’s house don’t make a lot of sense in the aired version, and there are a couple of missing fights in the penultimate episode. Shrug. Still a lot of fun. Comes with four side movies about supporting characters.

Ultimate Note – Covers the Tamutuo arc (a trip through the jungle) and two-thirds of the Zhang Family Old Pavilion arc (investigating Zhang Qiling’s past is like kicking a hornet’s nest). Very, very flirty and has some zippy-zip action choreography. Politely ignores Lost Tomb 1–Heavenly Palace continuity (Xie Yuchen is, once more, introduced for the first time, now with a romantically coded friendship arc) and brings in a lot of cameos from Mystic Nine and Sand Sea, which it was filmed after. Kinda tiptoes around parts of the book plot, which I suspect would be hard for anyone to film, re: Fo-ye’s actions in the 1960s. Fair warning, this ends on a cliffhanger. This is also where the Xinyue Restaurant scene appears again – two cakes!

Tibetan Sea Flower – If Tibetan Sea Flower ever airs, it will go here.

Sand Sea – Based on the Sand Sea novel. After Tibetan Sea Flower, Wu Xie goes into a bit of a decline and makes that the world’s problem. We the audience, plus Li Cu and Liang Wan, EDIT: a lovely doctor, are pretty much dropped in media res into a number of ancient conspiracies and complicated plots coming to a head in the manner of a boil. It’s weird; it’s messy; it’s mad fun. Like Mystic Nine, has a lot of factions jostling for power and colourful jianghu characters. We will, once more, see the Xinyue Restaurant scene. Also has some side movies.

Time Raiders – The textual hints that suggest Wu Xie wrote this, suggest he wrote it around Sand Sea-era, when his life was a bit complicated. I’m putting it after Sand Sea because I believe it caps a conversation that, ah, doesn’t quite make it into the drama. But notionally this is where it should go. Ah…. at one point, someone tells a story about an ancient ruler, King Mu of Zhou, who sought immortality from the Queen of the West in Tamutuo. The longer book conversation suggests that a) King Mu of Zhou engineered a “trap” for someone like Wu Xie to fall into in the future, and b) that Iron Mask Scholar, a villain from Lost Tomb 1, was an alias that King Mu of Zhou used in the Warring States Era. Which makes some of Iron Mask Scholar’s appearances in Time Raiders… interesting.

Reunion: Sound of Providence – sometimes known as Reboot. Having peaked in badassery in Sand Sea, Wu Xie has to consider what his life is going to be now, and also, he would like to track down a missing family member. So this was tweaked to make it more accessible to new viewers (so some parts of the back-story are not mentioned or conflated for simplicity) and that mostly works but I did find watching this first and then picking up the earlier dramas a bit of a mindscrew. Zhu Yilong is, however, a powerful draw and the rest of the cast sparkles. Probably best to think of Season 1 as two short seasons jammed together, which is to say, once the Warehouse 11 arc starts there are a number of characters who won’t reappear until Season 2. It’s a fun arc even so. Season 2 ends with a badass action scene and then a big party, which I think is a great way to end a story.

Escape from the Monstrous Snake, Mystery/Grave of the Abyss, Conjuring Curse, Misty Creed – these are all theoretically set around or after Reboot-era, though they can certainly be watched as stand-alones.

[mugentakeda]

after my long post rambling about the possibilities of eldest sibling lu ten it was only natural that i doodle him. He shouldve been at the club

[storge]

You… Trust me. The more he believes that I'm obsessed with you, the more he thinks he can control me, and the safer we would be. But it's already midnight. Isn't it inappropriate? Do you need my help?

Story of Kunning Palace (2023) 1.35

[personinthepalace]

My Lady Jane - Scooby Doo Where Are You Theme Song

Since the mlj soundtrack consists of all female artists, this version of the iconic theme song is sung by Velma Dinkley herself! Hope you enjoy it :)

[waitineedaname]

svsss: most characters only have one name, some have an additional title. a few have another name, usually a birth name they no longer go by, and it's usually for a specific narrative reason

mdzs: almost every character has a birth name, courtesy name, and a sobriquet, as well as some political titles. the birth names and courtesy names are at least connected by having the same family name, but otherwise it can be confusing to keep track of people's names at first

tgcf: fuck you.

[optimisticmosquito]

(yes I know this man is a repressed homosexual, but considering Bingge is just like that it would probably take a miracle or an actual Shen Yuan to change it. So I still think it's a fair question :) )

[areyouscaredyet]

midnight again, time to post cringe (thinking about them as always)

[giolovesyousm]

Day 8 of Deadboyween Weeks:

Free day

[Apollo&Daphne dynamic transported to Niko&Crystal]

You can watch me as I slowly dissolve from human form, my feet becoming roots, my hands leaves and my soft skin an evergreen bark, as beautiful as the tree in my mind; I might not be able to love you right.

It's not my fault, nor is yours, I need to keep running away from you, while you call out my name, scared of your pale bright glow; I'm not able to love you right.

"Ancient save me!" I scream as I'm aware I'm not enough to fulfill your desires, take distance from me, I'm nothing but the daughter of the Earth, not made for someone so heavenly as you.

Yet you'll stroke my bark, wear me as a crown in your sparkly white hair, custody me as a treasure and give my leaves to the greatest poets, make me live forevermore as a lover you didn't deserve; I would have never been able to love you right.

Now your light is in my roots, and your scent is in my flowers and your music will be heard from the rustling of my leaves.

[alltimefail]

Every day that Dead Boy Detectives isn't renewed my emotional wellbeing takes a critical hit. I keep reminding myself that there are two studios at play in this decision and it took a little over 80 days for Sandman to be renewed, so really it's not all that surprising that the announcement is taking a hot second. But truly I need them to renew it ASAP because I cannot continue to live like this!!!

Anyway @netflix RENEW THE DAMN GHOST BOYS ALREADY. This show has a strong, dedicated, growing fandom and it has been praised by multiple media outlets and critics... there's literally not a single reason you shouldn't renew it, so get on with it PLEASE!!!

[markantonys]

this is one of my favorite tags anyone has ever put on any of my posts and my only note is that there IS one fictional man who longs to be made into someone's little wife even more than mat does, and that man is rand. therefore, they both need elayne and aviendha to wife them up [bangs gavel]

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

the territorial nature of peacocks cannot be overstated enough