#THEY'RE SO WWX / JC CODED

[distant-screaming]

Okay wait

Win as someone who is deeply self critical and very aware of what others think of him (see: rap competition) but also as someone who externalizes all of that, who expresses himself in bursts of anger and immediate action/reaction

versus Gun as someone who is a lot more carefree and unbothered by other's perspective of him but also as someone who internalizes everything, who is impulsive but doesn't react immediately

[sandontshengshou]

I’m convinced that even if Jiang Cheng ended up dying and getting brought back as a fierce corpse, OP would just say “hey, pookie bear Wei Wuxian brought him back at least! He’d be rotting in a depression spiral if they didn’t kill him!”

sorry, anon from before, two thoughts and then I'm DONE I promise, one of MY grievances is that antis have weird takes that would be fun if they finished the thought instead of killing it with 'and that's why the protagonist is good and the antagonist is bad' like. be brave! be interesting! like yeah, actually, "JC comes back as a fierce corpse and WWX and wq are so horrified that they go into denial about it like no, this is fine, we can make this work, nobody get upset" would actually be a very fun and fucked up au.

my second, spicier take is that people make fun of 'female-coded male characters' but "family member and doctor make medical decisions for [character] without their knowledge or permission and this is fine -- [character] should be grateful, in fact!" is something you'd hear from the antagonist in like, the yellow wallpaper. I think canon is less misogynistic than that -- I think wwx and wq are implied to understand that they're violating a boundary and it's reasonable to assume that the person they're operating on would be upset -- but it would be fun to see the horror AU where they're completely upfront right after the surgery because they didn't do anything wrong and only a crazy person would be upset.

I am sorry I didn’t see this ask in my notes until today!!!

No but fr even Jiang cheng somehow died horribly during that core transfer, there still would’ve been someone crawling out of the woodwork to say “oh but my baby did his best, it’s not like jc would have amounted to much anyway🥺” and that gets me.

Tbh the golden core thing actually made me like wwx and wq more because that morally grey action really humanised him to me. Wen Qing didn’t do it out of kindness, she did it because she cared about wwx and felt like she owed him a great debt. Another complicated decision!

What makes the transfer interesting in the first place is the moral dilemma and the fact that he was desperate to fix things both because he couldn’t bear to see jc so broken and because he felt crushingly guilty about the fall of lotus pier! It’s that desperation to somehow make things right and save jc that drove him imo, and isn’t that what he says in the book as well? That he couldn’t bear to see jc like that and that he did everything in his power to find a solution?

Like you said, idk why people try so hard to justify their actions when they literally don’t have to? How about we appreciate the character and his not-so-perfect actions instead of moral panicking lol

And the misogyny thing!!! All I hear is “Oh, why would silly Jiang Cheng know what’s good for him, he’s too emotional!” It’s giving 1950s lobotomisation.

” What gets me isn’t even the fact that they did the surgery or that it was bad, it’s the fact that antis say it was a morally correct decision! I cannot believe some people unironically think the concept of basic bodily autonomy is selfish pls-

As for the horror AU, that would honestly be diabolical and I’m currently thinking of all the ways in which Jiang cheng would react to it. The idea of a wwx that’s even more unhinged than in canon frantically explaining what he did to jc like “see! Shidi, I fixed everything for you, I’ve fulfilled my debt and I’ve fixed you and it’s all gonna be okay :DDDDD” and jc just staring at him in absolute horror really is such a concept, I need more of it.

and btw I love when people rant at me, so never say sorry for that!!

[web-novel-polls]

Sorry for the confusion, what I meant was that I disagreed that Wei Wuxian's torture of Wen Chao was unjustified but agreed on all other points. And, yeah, as I mentioned, I think the novel is trying to convey how absolutely brutal and cruel his actions are, even if they are justified, and that's an important thing to understand when considering his character.

Also, I didn't know you were referring to people prioritizing characters over real people, which is just....why??? if someone feels a connection to a character, and they get some kind of enjoyment out of that, that's wonderful and people shouldn't come after them just because it doesn't agree with their interpretation. I mean, there are interpretations of MDZS that I think are more valid than others, and a lot of my issue is with people who read the novel but willfully ignore its themes. But Jiang Cheng being aro/ace is a valid interpretation, just as Jiang Cheng being gay is a valid interpretation. What we get (in the novel) is essentially that JC is not interested in women, which could lead to multiple interpretations. He's aro/ace, he's gay, he's too busy taking care of Jin Ling and sect leader business, he's scared to get close to anyone, etc., etc., etc. None of these go against canon and are perfectly valid interpretations. Also, even if they did "contradict" canon, there's plenty of coding and allegory in fictional works. If someone finds connection and comfort in a character, people should just leave them be. I'm sorry if I myself came off aggressive and wanting to argue, 'cause I really just wanted to agree with you about the MDZS fandom condemning other characters for their brutality while willfully ignoring our MC's own actions, but I do think that WWX's torture of Wen Chao is justified, even if it isn't right. But it most certainly isn't a "WOO! WE KILLED THE BAD GUY!" moment in the novel, even if we (and WWX) derive satisfaction from it. Also, I do think there is value in discussing different interpretations, but I mainly have an issue with how the fandom is so aggressive in trying to make WWX completely pure that they end up disrespecting his character and the themes of the novel, and especially the real people they're talking to. And, I mean, I also like to see him as pure sunshine boy when I choose to, but I can't understand people who put him on a pedestal while simultaneously condemning other characters for actions that are even quite similar to his.

Also, about my Xue Yang thing--- I don't think WWX would've turned into Xue Yang either, because WWX actually did experience happiness and family before his parents died, whereas Xue Yang never did (that we know of...I suppose he could've before he became a street orphan, but I don't get that impression). But Xue Yang's story clearly demonstrates that at one point he was naive and sweet, and he ended up so twisted and selfish specifically because he grew up an orphan on the streets, having to fight for survival against people who took advantage of him. If he had been saved by Jiang Fengmian like WWX was, it might've been an entirely different story. This is shown when Xue Yang actually is affected by Xiao Xingchen's kindness (he stopped the Night Hunts that resulted in Xiao Xingchen killing innocent humans), but at that point, it was too late. When Song Lan shows up, the progress is undone, because he'd already committed the crimes, and nobody is required to forgive him simply because he changed a little and stopped doing them.

So, I'm sorry if I came off kind of aggressive and rude, because I really didn't mean to, you just touched on something about the fandom that I have an issue with, and since I try to avoid the discourse, I really don't have any outlet. Didn't mean to actually start the discourse myself, lol. Thanks for your genuine reply, though!

Ask 1, Ask 2

First of all, I’m so sorry for leaving this ask in my inbox for so long, Anon… I wanted to answer properly and ended up psyching myself out 💀. But no, you definitely didn’t come off as aggressive and rude to me; in fact, your apology is what confused me lol.

Edit: I've deleted my response to "Wen Chao deserved it" since this isn't a conversation I can have in good faith. If anyone tries to discuss it again, I will just block them (not your fault, Anon)

[llycaons]

ep13: oh, the misogyny

wwx is finding a way to DISCREETLY get the formation to rest for lwj, who is walking on a broken leg, and still jc is like 'what the fuck did you do now' like damn jc he can't do anything right. makes that post about jc hero-worshipping wwx and copying what he does and idolizing him even funnier

wwx and jc gossiping about wlj is so mean. of course she can't carry a sword, she never learned how! she was a maid. they're clearly judging her for sleeping her way into a position of power, but I see you wen chao I know it's more on you than on her

wwx falling down/out of/off things. first of many!

this is a really pretty shot ngl the water is lovely

wlj being positioned as the jealous, spiteful mistress using her power to harm a Good Woman is so shitty. they both were treated (in this arc) as one-dimensional tools to support the arcs of the men around the. wlj I know the writing did you dirty but you will always be a legend to ME for miss 'ghosts don't exist'

interesting moment - it's actually lwj who steps in to defend mm with jzx. wwx looks like he wants to, but jc shakes his head and wwx ultimately stays put. it's cool to see lwj and wwx trade off scenes that establish them as willing to defy authority and risk attack for the sake of protecting the vulnerable. it makes their ideals and goals feel truly mutual and balanced rather than wwx coming in and inspiring lwj to have a moral code (as is sometimes interpreted by fans)

this fight scene is genuinely REALLY fun and well-crafted. jzx and lwj have some sick moves, as do jc and wwx

WEI WUXIAN ICONIC MOMENTS. god I love it when he points out the hypocrisy of the great sects and the cultivation world. why is this scene never talked about! it's literally one of the best from him in this arc

again a TRAGEDY that this significant moment between them chalks up to an angsty subplot for wwx and lwj later on. it's a fucking good aspect of their relationship and it does compel me like lwj drunk-branding himself is INSANE and I'll never get over it but the misogyny 😭

wwx shot three arrows at once and took out wlj and mm's two guards without hitting mm herself LEGEND

she is literally the only wen with an understanding of how politics work

FAMOUS LAST WORDS. my dude you just locked the teenager who's going to torture you to death in a cave with the weapon he's going to use to do it

this is literally such a fucking funny joke. slept on. also wwx does take serious situations seriously but he also sometimes does this. I don't even blame jc for being like 'are you serious right now'

YOU ARE BOTH SO USELESS. SCREAM

of COURSE mm is the one to slip and cut her hand and release blood to awaken the monster. of course it had to be her

I'd say that she deserved better but honestly after this her arc really rules and she's one of the few characters to get a happy ending so I can't be too mad

this scene is wild. lwj jumps in and THROWS wwx behind him like 20 ft

jc yelling at wwx to be careful and promising to come back. aw man

also WHY ARE THEY ALL LEAVING. wouldn't it be much easier to kill the false xuanwu if they stay and work together? I don't think wwx even expected lwj to stay with him. he was really ready to stay there and fight it off alone and maybe die in the process. he's unwell!

okay this has always bothered me. WHERE DOES HE FIND THE STICKS THEY ARE UNDERGROUND

that underrobe is so beautiful purely on an aesthetic level ugh he has such good taste. also I like that you can see his bare skin under it like HOW hot was that branding iron jfc

EVIDENCE!!!! EVIDENCE for my 'wwx is intimidated by lwj's earnestness and his fears around commitment/the strength of his own feelings cause him to avoid his feelings because getting too attached/too serious is scary for him even tho deep down he craves it'

wwx casually asserting getting scars/being injured as a...sexy and impressive sort of triumph of masculinity (?) as a young teenager vs. his devastated expression seeing lwj's scars as an adult. he has so much to learn

this translation is so weird. just say inedia?

[chaos0pikachu]

ooh ooh ooh, for the meme, tell me the character everyone gets wrong in both mdzs AND in kinnporsche 🧋

oh girl MDZS is to easy we all know it's a mix of JGY first and foremost but know what I'd also say WWX especially if people have only watched the LA and not read the novel. What I like about MXTX's work in general is all the characters are interesting in some way even if I don't "stan" them or whatever.

Like I don't stan JC but he's still an interesting character in his own right. WWX is an interesting character, I really like them, but fandom has a tendency to do the opposite to him what folks do to JGY. Folks like to Bond Villain JGY and woobie-fy WWX. Which flattens both characters to their most trope-y basic parts. Fans don't seem to want to confront and include the good aspects of JGY and the net good he does in the novel, just like they don't want to confront the negative aspects of WWX and the harm he did to others (also being self-destructive like that's a char flaw and not a uwu he hates himself uwu like self-destructive behavior is a BAD thing it's not cute).

I can get behind slut!WWX with the best of them but also acknowledge that when pushed, and at his worse, he also murdered a fuckton of people lol

For Kinnporsche, hmmmmm surprisingly I feel like majority of fandom has a decent grasp on the characters as they're presented in canon. For a bit I'd say people were struggling with understand Kinn and surprisingly, Pete.

Kinn was obvious, Porsche is our beloved and Kinn hurt him (around the Tawan arc) so sympathy was more inclined to go towards Porsche than people trying to understand Kinn's POV. I think one thing fandom was struggling with was understanding Kinn's filiality towards his father (sound familiar? lol) and the mafia life. Porsche's problems - being poor, feeling out of his depth, being insecure about his relationship with Kinn when an old ex shows up - are much more relatable than the weight of being a mafia heir lol

For Pete, well for a while there was this idea that Pete was like...a good person??? Which I thought was baffling. It goes back to this violence thing, audiences tend to only care about violence if it happens on screen, and even then only if it happens to chars they feel emotionally attached to. Like if Pete had beat up Chay or something to protect Vegas (which I could see him doing tbh) I think fans would view Pete as more idk "bad" I guess. I don't view Pete as an either/or but a both/and. Pete, like most of the chars in KP lives by his own internal moral code.

Like, Pete kills people. That's a thing he does. On screen even. He has no qualms about murdering people for the betterment of the main family, and later to protect Vegas. He's a perfect match for Vegas in that sense, because he's self-aware enough about himself to know he's a violent person, or at least is fine with violence. He doesn't shake or look away when Vegas is torturing a man (in his hilarious murder poncho at that). I like Pete as a character for that reason because he's set up as the BL tropey best friend of the protag but he ends up being way more than that.

🔥 CHOOSE VIOLENCE ASK GAME 🔥

[black-n-white-wings]

I think the worst Jiang Cheng did has actually been "survive"? You know? All the others of his generation have died or wallowed in a cave and then fucked off with no obligation? And here he is, broken and angry and so alone, and yet he did fucking great!! A great uncle (when wwx was a one time wine uncle and lsz calls lwj "hanguang-jun"... So family-coded...), an astonishing sect leader, an unavoidable figure of politics in the Jianghu.

I agree there is some sort of discourse shift trying to say "yeah he sucks but I love him" maybe just because it's really tiresome to have to defend ourselves for a fictional purple martial grape, yk? I'm here to have a good time, and mainly I had a terrible ride in this fandom.

He did not kill the Wen remnants on his own, some of those Wen were cultivators, he never said "kill the child" when he saw lsz.

Killing demonic cultivators is the cultivators' JOB!!! So yeah, kill them, they're crazy evils that literally kill people and raise the dead and desecrate the dead (which is a... No-no in Chinese culture?).

He's rude but lwj is way more rude and yet people praise lwj and curse jc for it. Protagonist plot armour, I guess, but at least jc thinks about something else than wwx. (Ljy is rude, too, I love him. It's just lwj I don't).

And to go back to the main post (thank you for finding word of god) we actually never really saw him fight in the books or the series post-resurrection. When wwx attacks him in the ancestral hall, jc is still affected by minshan's spell, so not a really good baseline. Jgy KNOWS he has to cheat to win, that's how confident he is about LOSING one on one against jc. The antis are always trying to find things in the book like it's the bible and they can't even read. And it's really sad.

It's okay to like the protagonists for the romance. It's okay not to focus on some elements you're not interested into. But if you are doing exactly what mxtx is trying to critic in her book, and do it under tags we are certain to find, then you are not enjoying the book. You're enjoying antagonising people for the heck of it and pretending to be smart about it. Learn to read. Learn to think for yourself and not follow the narrative we have read a million times already. Spice it up!! Invent new theories!! JC is actually three raccoons in purple robes! They're evil your honour!!

That's getting too long again. I can't make it short and sweet I'm sorry 😭 anyway I love Jiang Cheng and he doesn't suck. He is a victim. He was doomed to survive. Love was there and it simply was not enough. He has the *grace* to let his loved ones go when he would rather have all of them with him at all times. Because he loves so much he can't force them to love him back. And he is a survivor of child abuse, torture, I suspect s.a. (but i don't want people to attack me so... Maybe another post if people want to hear my take on that?), a fucking war when he was a child! He was alone, wwx NOT WITH HIM while he was talked over by adults and pushed and manipulated, and then he had to bear the responsibility for the acts of wwx who had abandoned him! To clean after wwx! Sure wwx had good reasons and the heart in the right place, Yada yada yada, but the FACTS remain the same. And still he persisted. He endured. Anger kept him alive, kept his sect safe, kept his nephew safe and thriving. He's angry because what else does he have? What has not been taken from him?

Just saw someone claim that WWX gave JC a core that was 80 years more advanced???? And that he did nothing with it because no one was scared of him???? WTF do they mean ‘80 years more advanced’ I’ve never heard that claim spouted anywhere before. And that no one was scared of him? Aren’t a lot of anti’s main talking points that he cows everyone by being a mean, torturing, serial killer that murders everyone he so much as dislikes? They’re trying to claim he’s mediocre, but they’re way of claiming it is just so illogical and stupid.

Dude wtf I just saw the same one and thought "The hell are they on about?" XD

What part of the "If you're going to insult someone make sure it's not ever this guy" sound like "he's mediocre"? 😂

What part of "he was searching for wwx on the battlefield, while carrying his struggling sect on his shoulders" sounds like "he didn't do anything with it"?

"80 year old advanced golden core" More like 8 year old advanced reading comprehension 😂

[doufudanshi]

hi! I'm a big fan of your translations, thanks for sharing! I was wondering if you've ever done your own translations/interpretations of the names of the characters in mdzs?

hi!! ahh thank you! yes, I do have a (wip) post with my translations of character titles (eg cssr) and proper nouns in mdzs here! and I actually have been meaning to post an analysis of the mdzs surnames for a long time, so I'll use this ask to do so! thank you for reminding me!!

note: the characters are in traditional chinese :)

魏 Wei

this one is pretty self-explanatory for anyone who can read chinese. on the right is a 鬼 gui radical, which means ghost! for our lil 鬼道之王 king of the ghost path <3

(this radical also appears in a lot of words for "soul," such as 魂魄)

藍 Lan

I've often seen people simply say 藍 lan means "blue," and that wouldn't be wrong but it also wouldn't be completely correct. similar to how wwx clarifies that the 義 yi of 義城 yi city is not that of 俠義 heroic justice, but that of 義莊 coffin home, the in-universe definition from chapter 18 is that the lan surname is derived from 伽藍 qielan, which is a loan word from sanskrit, “saṃgharāma,” meaning buddhist monastery.

溫 Wen

溫 wen means temperature, warm. the wens do love their sun. pretty straightforward!

金 Jin

also straightforward. the jins are rich and opulent, and 金 jin means gold!

聶 Nie

here's where things get interesting. this is the one that made me think more about the surnames, and the reason why they're written in traditional here. I had always read nhs's name in simplified (聂) but when I saw it in traditional (聶), it clicked.

not only does 聶 nie mean "to whisper," but nhs has three 耳 ears in his name!!

AND INDEED, NHS HAS EARS EVERYWHERE, AND HE IS ALWAYS LISTENING. 👂👂👂

江 Jiang

this one I had to think about for a bit. of course, there's the most direct answer, which is that 江 jiang means river—and the jiang's are, of course, well known for their lotus pier and rivers and such. but a more interesting thought that occurred to me was that 江 may be a reference to 江湖 jianghu, aka rogue martial artist communities who aren't affiliated with mainstream society often seen in wuxia fantasy novels. those part of the jianghu do not adhere to government/law, but rather live under individual moral codes of conduct re righteousness, justice, vengeance, etc. quoting jeannette ng's essay on wuxia:

In Stateless Subjects: Chinese Martial Arts History and Postcolonial History, Petrus Liu translates jianghu as “stateless”, which further emphasizes that the hero’s rejection of and by the machineries of government. Jianghu is thus a world that rejects the dictates of the state in favor of divine virtue and reason, but also of a sense of self created through clan and community.

the jiang family precepts and ideals seem v aligned with this aspect of jianghu morality—after all, jc never lets us (or himself) forget that wwx's acts of vigilante heroism are those of an ideal jiang.

Bonus: 莫 Mo

mo xuanyu was only ever a blank canvas. 莫 mo means nothing, no one, none. </3

[robininthelabyrinth]

i hope you have a restful weekend! your tags on that post did intrigue me though-- what modern au magnum opus? (if you don't mind sharing, obviously ^^)

it's not actually a fic, more like just a random collection of ideas which may or may not make any sense to anyone else, set in fantasy modern era of no particular time or place. features such gems as:

LWJ is a serial killer because he is Too Righteous for modern day norms. several people know about this and regularly cover for him, because their norms are also a bit fucked up. it is not necessarily who you think it is

LWJ is also a corporate lawyer at a big law firm. He is very stressed. There have been those who have argued that he should be allowed a little bit of murder as stress relief, as a treat. this is also not who you think it is

The Jiang sect run an incredibly prestigious boarding school (high-school level). Yes, the Jiang, not the Lan, although Lan Qiren's (university-level) lectures remain The Thing everyone wants to send their kids to because a semester under his tutelage will open so many doors, less because of what he teaches anymore than just the reputation associated with it.

The Jiang sect also have a very well-respected antiques business that is Definitely Not Tomb Raiding We Swear Honest. This mostly intersects with their boarding school by virtue of teenage shenanigans, right up until the Wen sect decides to make something of it in a really awful way.

The Wen sect are a very powerful family that have their claws very firmly in the government. They were around during founding, and now they're basically untouchable even as they increasingly power-creep and try to undermine other institutions. As an example, Wen Qing has been appointed to an influential position in the ministry of health. She dreams of actually getting to practice medicine like a normal surgeon instead.

The Nie are a traditional military family of extraordinarily talented generals that doesn't have any medical issues other than a long family history of assassinations and severe untreated PTSD that tends to go badly. The military is technically a meritocracy, but they're basically a lucky charm so they tend to get special treatment, and thus promoted really fast. This has not stopped NHs from failing out of basic three times. (he still got a job because what are they going to do? NOT give him a military job? he's a Nie!...also he hates the military)

The Lan sect are traditionally civil servants, which usually means they're lawyers. They care a very great deal about meritocracy, which is why they go work for proper law firms first (see: LWJ, corporate lawyer) before getting jobs in the civil service.

LQR in particular is a tax lawyer who can and has basically rewritten the tax code in order to make it more equitable. He is terrifyingly good at it, and also the entire country might collapse if he decided not to go to work. He teaches university classes on the side and composes music to keep himself from going insane. He has to keep declining WWX's persistent attempts to convince him to join his band.

WWX does not actually have a band, but he's willing to make one if it means he can jam with the Lans more. He is technically employed in someone's R&D department, but no one is quite sure whose, or what exactly he's researching at any given moment. Possibly he just lives off his patents, or maybe he's just subsiding by stealing JC's ramen when he's not looking. A man of mystery.

The Jin sect are business people. What business? all business. they're a conglomerate, with a particular rep for casinos and other types of gambling. JZX would be a fuerdai, except actually his family's been in business for quite a long time - it's just that his father has such godawful taste that everyone THINKS he's nouveau riche. JZX is aware of his reputation and would like to be better, but he's not - actually good at things, that often. He has recently had the revelation that he wants to be a house-husband and has no idea how to convey this to literally anyone in his life.

[plan-d-to-i]

If anyone in MDZS is morally gray, is it Lan sect? They are the ones who, when they see injustice with their own eyes, step in, but as soon as they have a different opinion on something or someone convinces them of a different scenario of what happened, they stubbornly follow the rules. Because they see nothing but what is obvious and they are not interested in another point of view

No, the Lans are not morally gray. I talked about it more at length here. I don't know exactly to which scenarios this is referring in particular. The Lan Clan operates under a very strict moral code (3000+ rules) and doesn't really stray from that unless they're operating on misinformation, like joining the siege believing JGY and jc. Initially LXC spoke up for the Wens even though The Cloud Recesses were burned down by the Wen, his father died as a result, his little brother was injured and he had no Wen Qing and Wen Ning to help him- unlike jiang cheng. Meanwhile jiang cheng kept the fact that he owed them his life and the return of his parents bodies & Zidian to himself, giving LXC no added reason to believe in WQ/WN's innocence or to continue arguing. LXC's great miscalculation was putting his faith in Jin Guangyao and believing him to be a good and honest man- but even WWX acknowledges that there are good reasons for this during empathy w NMJ.

"In his heart, Wei WuXian shook his head, ZeWu-Jun, he’s still… too kind, too pure.After a second thought, however, he concluded that he was only so guarded toward Jin GuangYao because he had already known about the various suspicions, whereas the Meng Yao in front of Lan XiChen was someone who had gone undercover without a choice, enduring humiliation alone. The two held different viewpoints, so how could their feelings be compared?“ (Chapter 49)

People not being perfect or putting their faith in the wrong individuals doesn't make them morally gray... LQR is just bitchy and petty about his dumb beef with WWX's mom- but again not morally gray.

[recapitulation]

#ShowYourProcess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Kiera @claudiablack tagged me for this post! <3<3<3<3

1. Planning

Picking shots is maybe my favorite part of giffing! With this kind of episode-specific set, I'll take it as an excuse to watch the episode first, and take note of shots I think are particularly striking. I like to alternate shots that are more portrait-like with those that are showing landscapes/objects/etc. I also like to focus on wwx, jyl, and jc when I can.

2. Creating

The most obvious part of this set that I like to do is put the white border around them, I like the feel that it creates, like it's more of a snapshot. Once I have the gif finished I'll change the canvas size to make it slightly bigger (symmetrically) and then add a white square on the bottom. <3

From a coloring perspective what makes these different is I try to tie them together by having them all have the same color layer on top (soft light at usually around 1/3 - 1/2 opacity). For this set the color was the one below, but it'll change for each (the first set in this series had a pale green on each).

[id: solid stripe a very light peach color, hex code #fee5d8. /end id]

Here's what the shot looks like before and after coloring:

[id: two gifs of the same shot in the 11th episode, where Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Yanli are sitting at a table eating together before looking up with caution as their mother is heard speaking. The second gif has notably darker dark colors and also has a tinge of the peach color noted before. /end id]

3. Posting

For this one specifically, I remember really liking it and posting it immediately. But I've got another one of these in my drafts right at this very moment (that's been sitting there for about a week) because I haven't quite figured out a fifth shot that pairs well with the other four.

Usually I end up making more than five gifs and slimming it down to five based on what turns out well, which is a process that usually happens over several days. I'll just come back to it when I feel like it, or as a reward for finishing some homework or something. <3

--

okay I'm going to pick out some really specific things I admire! apologies if I double tag anyone, and feel free to ignore!

@mieczyslaf and this one <3 bc I particularly like the colors here!!

@qinghe-s and really ANY of your tragicomic ghost gifs but particularly this one if you want!!

@runqings and this set or really any from this series because they always look so so so so nice

@smapis and this piece of art!! scorpion sunday babey!!!

@surii and this post which changed my life

@gusucloud and this set which is SO pretty

@milkcrates and this piece of art good GOD

OKAY i know that's more than five and i'm getting carried away but please @vvuji give us insight into your mb process like I'm specifically thinking of this one but like. they're all so good

[crossdressingdeath]

i hate when people say that wei wuxian's lie about the golden core contributes AS MUCH to the relationship breaking down as their... "philosophical differences" (one of them having a moral code, the other Not) because. say wwx told the truth from the start, and say that this even made jc more conscious of the debt he now owes wwx than the canon golden core reveal (not LIKELY, but he is younger and more plastic here, so possible) - this doesn't transfer to his debt to the wens! they are both taking no more of a risk than they were saving him in the first place, and he *knows* that. so it still always comes to wwx and jc, facing off over whether they're worth saving - perhaps jc is less willing to abandon wwx if he knows what he owes, BUT we know that his primary position, pre-war and post-war, is that taking risks to save others is not just "not the right thing", it is actively stupid. and he's still just as much of a possessive coward, so wwx disobeying him... ehh maybe he's slightly less angry? maybe? but he still cuts him off, reduces the risk to himself as much as possible, and puts his own debt to the wens safely out of mind. so, absolute best-case scenario (assuming jc is capable of understanding that he owes anything to anyone) - probably someone else *leads* the siege of the burial mounds, and when he captures demonic cultivators he probably only executes them normally. i just don't think I'm seeing the same characters as ppl who think wwx forced him into the mass-murder of civilians by lying about baoshen sanren!

At best WWX telling the truth from the start would keep JC from bitching about all his achievements not being fully his own. The only thing that would change is one part of JC’s guilt-tripping. As for the rest... well, JC already knew he owed the Wens his life for getting him out of Lotus Pier. He knew he owed WWX for his golden core, even if he thought WWX was giving up any chance of ever going to BSSR for himself rather than his core. It changed nothing. JC ignores the debts he owes because he doesn’t want to lift a finger for anyone but himself, and I wish people would stop insisting that one lie makes WWX just as culpable in that as JC himself.

[yilingradishfairy]

Ooooooh lemme try!

Okay, I don't really know how many people love this character, but I know that while watching CQL, I was taken in by Jiang Fengmian. Probably because he is introduced as a kind, genial Sect Leader. And because his wife is introduced as a vitriolic shrew. So a lot of the blame for the Jiang Family dysfunction is laid at her feet. But for all that her actions have caused so many problems, Jiang Fengmian's inaction has enabled her actions and caused problems not their own. (I had a whole essay typed up, but Tumblr ate it so 🤷‍♀️). Basically, I'll never forgive him for his part in their proxy war with their sons and also his utter failure to teach JC how to be a sect leader, specifically the politicking portion. As shown in ep 12, where YZY and WLJ are fighting with words, Jiang Cheng has no understanding and no skill in following the balance of power in a conversation or turning it to his wishes. His version of negotiation is yelling and threatening to "break your legs!" and as father and Sect Leader, JFM really should have caught that and worked on that by that point.

I don't really ship NingXian. It could be because Wen Ning struck me as Ace, so I didn't code his behavior towards WWX as a crush. Even looking at it as a crush, I just don't really feel comfortable with the dynamic, because of how much Wen Ning looks up to WWX (and how WWX low-key treated him like a servant at Burial Mounds). Sorry, just not my cup of tea.

I'm in love with the marketplaces they go to. Just happy and bustling and colorful and I just really wanna be there talking to the ppl, ya know?

Ugh, so many. I feel like a new idea sprouts everyday. I'm actually really proud of myself because I posted FOUR fics for LWJ bday week and one for JZX bday, but everything since then has just .... festered inside my brain.

My favorites to daydream about writing one day are Lotus Pizza: Order the Impossible Delivery Boy!WWX who has gotten a staggering amount of orders from one LWJ in the past week

Time Travel Fix it featuring WWX, LWJ, JC, MianMian (and maybe others) except it goes wrong and they end up in the wrong bodies (specifically WWX → Mianmian so he and JZX can get along and LWJ → JC so we can see his reaction to their home life). And also MianMian being a queen as she ought to be. Very important.

Post-canon or modern AU (can't decide) where WangXian just like ... really softly touch each other a lot and have lots of Feelings™ but WWX thinks they're just not moving very fast (for reasons which may or may not involve a specific deadline after which they can announce their relationship publicly - not that it's not already obvious) and LWJ is convinced that WWX is just going along with this until *deadline* after which he will leave but LWJ can't bring himself to care because a little WWX is better than nothing.

AU which takes place in mdzs setting where JFM dies and YZY becomes the regent sect leader person and like ... Actually makes the effort to prepare Jiang Cheng to be sect leader. Of course, JYL just learn everything as well because it will be useful to her as the future Jin furen. Unfortunately, YZY uses her position to foist WWX off onto the most dangerous and furthest away nighthunts (where he coincidentally meets and falls in love with LWJ, but that's background), but that means he's also moving about relatively free in the world and building relationships that will be important to Yunmeng. Jiang Cheng figures out that he actually doesn't want to be Sect Leader, he's not suited for the politics of it, and he discovers that he really loves teaching his juniors instead (because he just wants to important to people) and JYL figures out that she DOES and she would rock being sect leader. So at JC's crowning ceremony or whatever analog that would be, he defers the position to his elder sister and finds freedom from his parents expectations and his own worries about not being good enough.

5. Um, definitely JGY antagonist speech at the end of the show. I dunno, the whole time he's going on and on about his nefarious plan, I just wanted to yeet LXC out of there as fast as I could. Also, the specific action of LSZ hugging WWX leg. I get it was a callback to his habit as a child, but it was awkward to watch him do it as a man.

Sorry it got so long, but that was really fun! Thanks for sharing!

my MDZS/CQL crowd

I saw someone else make one of these and it’s such a great idea because I wanna know everyone’s opinion on like everything (Idk if you noticed but i love meta so much)

Anyway, send me an ask or just reblog the thingy with your answers if you’re interested

This is what I wanna know about YOU

Character everyone loves and you can’t stand? Why?

Pairing everyone loves and you can’t stand? Why?

Favorite location from either cql or mdzs (novel or donghua) (talk to me about pretty places omg)

Be honest, how many WIPs have you started/finished since getting hooked on The Untamed? what are they about??

Did any character in the live action give you second-hand embarrassment? Who was it? What did they do?

I could’ve posted like three hundred more questions 😂 but if people actually wanna do it, I can make out one of these like weekly or whatever :)

[crossdressingdeath]

@uzunofu:

About the Gusu thing: we're never shown the rules being good and protecting people from the abuse of authority. Maybe by proxy if we stretch from "YZY doing whatever she wants" to "she wouldn't be able to in Gusu", but really, we're shown WWX singled out by LWJ in their youth, LWJ's judgmental attitude over his cultivation that comes from his reliance on the rules and orthodoxy, LWJ's horrific punishment, the Lan parents' story... There's never a moment where Gusu's structure serves as a positive foil to Lotus Pier's chaos. Again, we can stretch: JC tortures people and Yunmeng is afraid of him, Gusu has the wild Lan Jingyi, etc. But. For me personally, it's also about WWX getting away with breaking the rules post-canon. Like, it's cute that LWJ allows that, but WWX is clearly the exception. Why? If he has no respect for the rules, why does he stay in the place that takes them so seriously? If the point is not the letter but the spirit (which he embodies), then why aren't others allowed to get away with the same stuff as long as they also follow the spirit, read the moral code?

Point of order to start, because I have said this many times and it never ceases to annoy me: LWJ committed treason. That is a capital offence. Yes, it was a harsh punishment, but the Lans would've been within their rights to execute him. He had to be punished and it had to be severe because he committed treason. I think people really fail to consider LWJ's punishment from an in-universe perspective. As far as the Lans know, LWJ willingly attacked and severely injured thirty-three elders of the clan in defence of a mass-murderer, and LWJ himself openly admits that he didn't do it out of righteousness; he did it because he's in love with WWX, and he makes no attempt to pretend he knows WWX is in the right. Honestly not punishing him harshly would've been an abuse of LXC and LQR's authority, because that would 100% have been blatant nepotism. Also, I don't like using the Lan parents as proof of anything because we have no idea what the story was there.

Also... Gusu isn't a positive foil for Yunmeng, beyond the fact that WWX is considerably happier there. They're two different places with different ways. No one said it was; it's just that it's also not a negative foil. But I do want to point out the difference between how people who dislike WWX respond to him in both sects. YZY whips him for bullshit "offences" that anyone with half a brain could see are blatant excuses; LQR is a bit of a petty asshole, but he never punishes WWX until he actually breaks the rules. And you mentioned LWJ singling WWX out, but... he doesn't? WWX is a troublemaker who constantly breaks the rules. LWJ is in charge of discipline. Keeping an eye on WWX and taking him for punishment when he breaks rules isn't "singling him out", it's LWJ doing his job. WWX has proved he's going to break the rules whenever he wants, so it makes sense that LWJ's going to keep an eye on him and be more harsh towards him when he breaks rules. LWJ being judgmental isn't an abuse of authority; he's a kid who doesn't have the life experience to realize that his own way of life isn't the only valid one. The Lans aren't saints, they just don't have an established setup of "the people with power can do literally anything they want and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them because there's nothing in place to prevent abuses of power".

It really is just a case of... as far as I can tell, Gusu is set up in a way where the leader of the sect doesn't have the freedom to abuse their authority the way the Jiangs do. It's unclear how Gusu works, exactly, but we know they have elders, and a lot of them; I get the impression that it's a council sort of thing? It means that LXC can't let LWJ off the hook for his crimes no matter how much he wants to (which is a good thing, because again, letting LWJ get away with treason despite all the evidence saying he did in fact knowingly commit treason because they're brothers would be abusing LXC's authority no matter how much the audience wants him to do it), but it also means that a Lan sect leader wouldn't be able to get away with whipping a child over nothing the way YZY does. It's not about any individual moment in the book, it's about Gusu having systems in place to prevent the sort of abuse of authority Yunmeng seems to be rife with. Come on, LQR despises WWX (which is unfair, but again, he's not a saint) and he still doesn't punish him until rules are actually broken! Of course it's possible that they don't have systems in place and the Lans are just generally better people than the Jiangs, I won't rule that possibility out, but honestly they have so many rules I'd be surprised if they didn't have rules about what sect leaders can and can't do.

(Also WWX gets away with breaking the rules because LWJ is in charge of discipline and he's super whipped it's not that deep.)

Fandom is corrupted to the point people think JC is the clothed hero and LWJ is a manipulative jealous jerk all the way down to YMJ being paradise and GL being a prison of hell (with LQR being the worst monster ever, of course). I... I don't get it. When did it all start? I'm honestly so confused. When I first finished the novel, I expected a different thing, tbh

I suspect that what happened was a certain subset of People Technically Too Young To Be Reading MDZS (no judgment here, but this is an adult novel) read MDZS and, being in the middle of that lovely teenage period where you have yet to clock that the world is not entirely about you and you do not have the right to be a dick to everyone while insisting they have to adore you (hey, we've all been there), fixated hard on this character whose entire deal is totally failing to grow out of that "the world revolves around me and everyone has to be nice to me no matter what I do to them" phase despite being in his mid-thirties (which is... y'know, incredibly sad, but if you're a teenager you don't pick up on that so much). I can't prove that, mind, but it's my suspicion. I also suspect that that's where the whole "Gusu is evil and Yunmeng is paradise" thing comes from, because (speaking as someone who was a teenager until not that long ago) when all you've known is every aspect of your life being dictated to you by parents and teachers and other adults in positions of authority it's easy to assume that less rules = good and more rules = bad. This is not actually true, as everyone realizes when they first start having to handle things on their own (I... would kill for some structure in my life, not gonna lie). I imagine the lack of a finished set of high school English courses (or the equivalent, I assume that literature analysis courses are not referred to as "English" in countries where English is not the primary language but you get what I mean) may play a part in the failure to pick up on all the places where MXTX is like "Hey, people in positions of power being able to do whatever the fuck they want with zero rules in place to prevent them from abusing that authority is in fact a bad thing".

Now, all of that is just conjecture, but... y'know, it makes sense to me.

[llycaons]

ep9: it's impossible for me to be unbiased about this, but I'm trying to enjoy it on its own merits

sometimes I look at jfm and myu and go ah yes. this is familiar to me. actually in the donghua jfm's expression and mannerisms around his wife is eerily similar to my own father's. hm. moving on

wait nhs wasn't in this scene in cql. he fainted back at nightless and then we didn't see him again. right? I wonder why they did that. anyway he's here now

mm and wwx are flirting and having a lot of um romantic-coded interactions for want of a better word so it makes total sense than lwj thought wwx liked her. slightly less clear about it in cql, as most things are

it's helpful that lwj talks more openly. for the plot

oh fuck wwx got shot. who is that su she? and OHHH fuck they've been ambushed. im fairly sure this is donghua-only

this show's wen chao is more megalomaniac sadist where in cql he was more of a slimeball. again I literally do not remember my impression of him in the novel. I think he was cartoonishly evil

ugh the cgi on that tortoise is not so good

oh god the infamous "I'm hot so people will like it if I harass them" what an asshole truly. donghua wwx is such a dick

okay little wound-tending scene. I loved that lwj said "you're welcome" in cql that was so funny. but lwj saying thank you not once but TWICE is very welcome here

I've heard the donghua is at times more homoerotic than cql and I just don't see it. in fact, by leaving in the jokes about mxy-wwx liking men and wwx using flirting as a way to digust and offend lwj (albiet unsucessfully), it just kind of comes off as homophobic. I mean, at least they cut the line about wwx saying he's not into men in this cave scene because that would really be shooting themselves in the foot without the payoff later

not to sound like a broken record but I just thought it was so cool how cql implied wwx was bi without using being gay as a threat...like for the most part they were really careful and smart how they went about it but a lot of the scenes where it implied lwj or wwx liked men weren't based on the novel at all and came off as a lot less comedic, with more gravitas and more respect. because like. it's important! it's not a joke!

I guess with the exception of wwx and xy's little conversation when xy was tied up. that was hilarious, but I always thought of it as wwx owning his bisexuality and treating it with pride rather than it being the butt of the joke, because that response he gave was uhh how do you say it. triumphant? defiant? UGH that show is so much. how did it transcend its source material even while being censored. scream

anyway this little animation sequence with the ink drop in the water is really neat

EYYYYY LWJ CRYING. thank GOD I thought this was sorely missed in the drama. weirdly it's even more lifeless and static than in the actual novel. how DO they do it

the landscapes are gorgeous omg it's autumn

jc having to escape an ambush and getting to LP while injured is a lot more impressive than just popping out and running there. his coming pissiness about his achievements being ignored in favor of wwx's is going to feel a lot more earned

I don't feel any real affection between jc and wwx but I can tell they're close and I can appreciate the tragedy of their inevitable estrangment. but actually I don't think wwx is losing much compared to in cql. but the flashback is young. there's time to change my mind

ugh this cgi really is so bad

going to be real this fight scene is a shitshow in the novel. there are good action and drama scenes in that book and this is not one of them. it's just. it's a mess. it's hard to follow. the pacing is atrocious

this show took that scene and made it not only comprehensible, but actually exciting. four for you, donghua. the music was sick. animation was cool. cgi was ehhh

in cql I'm going to be real it was kind of a mess too. the special effects were not in this scene's favor. but eh, it was fun

I forgot about the evil sword too damn

here's another episode it took me too long to watch. I'm just not really invested in seeing the novel animated I guess. but the exciting bits should be coming soon

unrelated to the donghua, but I've started a folder for all the art I like. I have a meme folder now. so that's been my morning. I'm feeling very productive