#also yes mdzs the donghua i have not and will not watch the untamed bc i am a live action anti if an animated version exists

[caelysiiium]

thanks @sherrymagic for tagging me 😘

rules: without naming them, post 10 gifs of your favorite TV shows, then tag 10 people

I haven't done one of these in so long wow; most of these will be anime bc show-wise that's what I tend to consume!

just for fun, if some of my more active mutuals would like to do this: @errorkey @darkhoneybrowneyes @doublel27 @pondphuwin @dramalets @writtenendings @itoldsunset @purplew @sweatysock @theglimmmertwins

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

fuck yeah love these writing ask games! tagged by the awesome @seavoice!! thanks so much for tagging me :D

post the names of the last five files in my wip folders —regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

full disclosure i've hit a writer's block so bad the likes of which any writer would hate to see and haven't written at all or started anything in like,,,, 2 months. maybe more. oTL i'm dying over here. so i'm gonna cheat and post some ideas that i'd like to write, in the order they're in my personal discord channel for writing ideas. the first one is smth that is a wip tho.

also a lot of these also don't have official titles lol

1 long story short : yes it's named after the thing you think it's named after iykyk. a pet project of mine. oc-centered story, takes place in the pjoverse. third installment of this series, takes place in toa, and it's abt an oc child of apollo who fell in love with luke in the og pjo series and is now just going thru it and facing the consequences of that decision. still going, even tho i update even slower than i did for my last two stories in this series ;; oc is op. read at your own risk lmao.

2 faceblind!yuuri cinderella au : yuri on ice. yuuri being faceblind is canon to me as far as i'm concerned bc he doesn't recognize yuri p. twice and doesn't recognize minami initially, even tho he beat yuuri at nationals that past yr lol. not to mention minami has mc anime hair. the rest of what it's abt is in the title lol

3 what remains of jason grace : a what remains of edith finch au for jason grace from hoo/toa. what remains of edith finch is a beautiful game about edith finch revisiting her old family home after her mother's death. the last finch left alive. came up with this idea when thinking abt one of my favorite white boys jason grace. wanted to write smth similar to the game, smth that's as melancholy and heart-rending. i imagine it smth like jason wrote a journal after hearing the prophecy from herophile in tbm, and this was what was in the journal.

4 nie huaisang v jin guangyao : cql/the untamed/mdzs. would be a character study. would be extremely difficult. it's very hard to explain if you don't know the source material/have not watched the show/donghua or have not read the books/manhua, but these two characters parallel each other in multiple different ways in the narrative, and one of them is unknowingly battling the other in a game of wits, with the other characters in the story as their puppets and suffering the most consequences from the actions of these two, who mostly work behind the scenes until the reveal in the finale. and i think it would be a cool character study to write abt that battle bc it's not focused on enough in the source material imo

5 diary of luke castellan/halcyon green : it's actually fitting seavoice is the one to tag me! bc ever since i read their post abt hal/luke's diary and incorporating it into toa i've wanted to write a story that explores this more, but in a playwright format. bc i think it would have a lot of impact as a stage play, focusing on those quite moments between apollo and meg's travels, when he gets a chance to sit down and read thru the diary. at the very least, i envisioned it in that environment when i first read their post.

tagging the few peeps i know who write on the reg (and are moots). feel free to do this (or not): @spooderham @lucifers-favorite-child @talking0fmichelangel0 @bisexualoftheblade

thanks again for the tag!!

[minsarasarahair]

I noticed something. This is not really a rant but just a simple observation. I noticed that "a morally grey story but has a pure good character as one of main characters" tend to have messed up fandom?

I tell you why. Let's see. Let's start with the most popular toxic Mo Dao Zu Shi fandom as an example. MDZS has so many flawed characters and morally grey theme in their story but a good main character like Lan Wangji exists. What's the problem about that? Well, I'm not blaming LWJ but he's the triggered why the fandom is divided into two factions. First is the people who like pure good character and second is people who like toxic, unhealthy, flawed characters. Since these two groups have different beliefs and preferences, they tend to clash. The first group tend to unconciously provoke the other party by proving that unhealthy or toxic characters shouldn't be liked bc it's wrong just bc there is a good main character that they admire. They misunderstood and expect that the story or other characters should be "pure good" too like their fave chara/ship even if the story already established in the beginning that it's morally grey. As for the other party, they tend to be neutral or tried to reason out. Tbh MDZS fandom here used to be peaceful until Untamed only fans arrived. The portrayal of the characters and story are different in the drama and donghua so it make sense there's a confusion. Wei Wuxian in Untamed is wronged yes but MDZS donghua Wei Wuxian accept that he's guilty of his crimes.

Another one is VNC fandom. I thought Vanitas no Carte fandom will be peaceful bc we already know what kind of author is Mochijun. This talented author like to misled her readers, explore unhealthy relationships and toxic characters. But bc a good main character like Noe exists, this key's existence make the fandom divided into two groups again. Again, I'm not blaming Noe but his existence made a confusion. It happened to all fandom with the same setup.

Moriarty the Patriot is a good example that has both morally grey main characters and story. Meaning fandom is not that toxic and fans are just enjoying their fave characters doing their bad deeds. Even if Sherlock was displayed like the good hero against the villain protagonist Moriarty, the story also shows that Sherlock is without a doubt a morally grey character. Since viewers have clear understanding that it's a morally grey story bc the main characters are all grey, it's easy for acceptance. Well, a good character like Watson exists but he don't really play a big part in the story so it's fine. He's more like a supporting character. If you love morally grey stories, watch this! It's good! I watched all episodes this weekend and I'm amazed to the animation team! I like when they make everything red when they do the bad deed! Very creative!

This kind of thing continues with Word of Honor/Shan He Ling Drama. You see, Word of Honor was adapted from the Tian Ya Ke BL novel. They have to change a lot of things for the drama bc of censorship and that's how the confusion has started. Just bc WOH drama choose to give a strong emphasis to Zhou Zishu's softness, people tend to forgot that he's also a morally grey character and thinks ZZS is an honorable assassin. This ZZS guy killed a little girl without hesitation but WOH only fans tend to brushed that off bc they remember more how soft he is to Wen Kexing. Believe it or not but WOH and TYK are both have morally grey story. It just that TYK is more darker, explicit and don't sugar coat things bc it's an adult novel. It's true that ZZS is soft even in the novel but it only give that emphasis from Wen Kexing's perspective bc he fell in love with ZZS' soft side. Bc of this, WOH only fans tend to not like the original material which is the TYK novel and prefer the romanticized version. It's like liking Disney princess stories over the dark original source material. Nothing wrong with liking the romantic version but that's why there's a confusion.

I just thought of this and probably others might be interested so I posted it here. To end this post, I just want to say that it's ok to like something but don't force others to your opinion and know your limits. Don't also spread hate bc these are just fictional stories and we are here to enjoy it. It's ok to discuss theories and opinions but be polite. Instead of saying "I hate that bc it's disgusting. People who like that are stupid.", you can say "I'm just not fond of it but I respect your preference." If you want respect, know to respect others first. You're in the web so you should be careful with dealing with others. If you're too young for that, don't use any social media or web so often for your own good. It just so irritating to see others play innocent that they don't like ship wars but they are also the one who provoke the other party.

[razberryyum]

So you’re done with The Untamed and want more, what now?

Reposting this since I’ve updated it with new info/links. Again, I entered the fandom via The Untamed so I’m by no means a MDZS expert, just tried my best gathering all the resources I can which I hope will help some new Untamed/MDZS fan out there. If you spot any errors, don’t yell at me, just let me know and I’ll correct it as best I can, especially for any future reposts.

READ THE NOVEL

Read the original web novel the show was based on: The Untamed (aka “CQL” or “Chen Qing Ling”) was adapted from the BL web novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (aka ”MDZS” or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (”MXTX”). Yes the novel came first, CQL is only an adaptation. In the novel, you get the uncensored romance of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, where they are canonically married and living happily ever after. The novel goes full into R18 territory so please tread carefully.

All four volumes of the novel can be purchased from the original publishing site, JJWXC. The site’s in chinese but here’s a tutorial on how to navigate it and purchase the books:  JJWXC Tutorial Link.

There’s also the option of purchasing the physical copies from Yesasia which might be easier but it’s also more expensive since they’re the middle man: Yesasia MDZS Link

It would be wonderful if you can support MXTX-laoshi by actually buying the books, especially since the cover art is so beautiful and the extra chapter volumes come with a lot of awesome extra goodies, but of course there’s also the option of reading the fan translations graciously provided by the Exiled Rebels Scanlations team at their site:  

They translated all the novels including the bonus chapters in their own free time and are providing the fanslations for free so please give them some love for all their hard work.  

WATCH THE ANIME (aka “Donghua” in Chinese)

Watch the anime based on the novel: The donghua was released before The Untamed. Two seasons are already available (23 eps total) with a third season in production and a special chibi version of the donghua in production as well. The Eng-subbed donghua can be seen using the WeTV app or on Youtube:  YT MDZS Donghua Playlist

Grant it, the donghua is even more censored than The Untamed, but the donghua team still managed to sneak in some easter eggs (f.e. WangXian naked bathing scene in the cold springs from the novel...in The Untamed they were fully clothed) and more importantly, the animation is just gorgeous so it’s absolutely worth a watch despite the censorship. 

READ THE MANGA (aka “Manhua” in Chinese)

Read the manhua which is ongoing and is being officially translated by WeComics, available on their app for free. Search under the name “Mo Dao Zu Shi”.

Unfortunately, the official translations are more than 20 chaps behind the raws and there have been complaints about the quality of the translations in the past, but I believe they’re starting to improve so since they’re official, it’s always better to support the official source.

The raw untranslated manhua can be found on the Kuaikanmanhua app. Other than being in Chinese, some of the chapters (f.e. the most recent ones) are behind a paywall, but here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the chapters, provided by @chiharuzushi on Twitter:  Kuaikanmanhua Tutorial

The chapters are quite cheap...I purchase 1000 KK coins for 10 rmb ($0.14) and each chapter is only 68 KK coins so even if we end up with 500 chapters it’ll still be...er...quite cheap overall (don’t make me do the actual math). The most painful part is figuring out how to set up the Kuaikanmanhua account, but otherwise, if you can read Chinese or know enough of the story by now that you don’t really need to read the words, the manhua is definitely worth reading because it’s less censored than The Untamed and the donghua. 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA

Listen to the audio drama, which is at this point the most faithful and LEAST censored adaptation of the novel we will probably ever get! Wei Ying’s voice actor in The Untamed is the voice actor for his audio drama counterpart. (Yes, almost everyone in The Untamed is dubbed by a voice actor, EXCEPT for Nie Huaisang. Ji Li, the actor for NHS, was the only one who used his own voice. Lan Zhan in The Untamed shares the same voice actor as his character in the donghua). 

Each episode art of the audio drama is AMAZING. Google Translate works well on the site, you’d want to see the listeners’ comments cuz they’re just adorable and hilarious.

Official links on Maoer FM:

Season 1: Maoer FM S1 Link

Season 2: Maoer FM S2 Link

Season 3: Maoer FM S3 Link

The audio drama was supervised by MXTX-laoshi, the author of the novel, so a lot of love and care went into the production, and it shows. The audio drama is behind a paywall but I remember it’s relatively inexpensive. Here’s the tutorial on how to purchase the audio drama from the Maoer FM site:  Maoer FM Tutorial Link

Ngl, it was tough at first navigating all that, Google translate helped, but once I figured it out, it was all so worth it because in addition to the MDZS, the site houses a lot of other wonderful audio dramas. There are also MDZS fan songs on the site that are near professional quality and oh so good.

Suibian Subs have kindly translated the episodes and their translations are available here:  Suibian Subs MDZS Audio Drama

Show them some love too for translating the episodes, but please if you can, purchase the episodes so you can support the audio drama team which have done an amazing job.

There’s even a Japanese audio drama which the Chinese AD team helped spearhead, available on the MIMI FM app. Here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the eps (half of the first season is out): MIMI FM Tutorial

It’s in Japanese but just follow the pictures. I’m hoping that the Japanese audio drama will end up being the MOST uncensored version of MDZS since Japanese BL dramas are not afraid (and allowed) to go all the way to R18. XD

MORE THE UNTAMED CONTENT

Lastly, if you’re just thirsting for more Untamed content, there are two spin-off movies you can watch. The first one, The Living Dead, is kind of centered on Wen Ning and Sizhui post-CQL. 

The second one, Fatal Journey, is focused on the Nie brothers, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, with a cameo by Jin Guangyao. It takes place prior to Wei Ying’s return from the dead.

Of the two movies, I definitely recommend Fatal Journey more. Both movies are available on the iQiyi app, which offers a one month free trial for first members. Each month afterwards for VIP is $6.99.

You can also go on the WeTV app for even more Untamed extras: WeTV put out a special edition cut of the show which tightened up the story AND features the original ending that was intended before censorship forced the production team to come up with the more ambiguous one we saw in its original run. It was a simple matter of rearranging certain scenes and getting rid of the separation part, but imho it really made all the difference to the ending.

There’s a ton of behind-the-scene cuteness that you can watch and also concerts with the cast in Thailand and Nanjing. VIP subscription to the WeTV app is $5.99/month and the Nanjing concert is for rent for 3 months at about the same price.  

The show also put out two official soundtracks, one for the vocals and one for the score. Both are available on Amazon and iTunes. For Amazon though, you can search under “The Untamed” but they did this weird thing where the vocals one is listed as “The Untamed (Chinoiserie Music Album)” (wtf) while the score is just listed as “The Untamed (Original Soundtrack)”.

Finally, most of the male members of the cast took part in a fan meet and greet at the start of the show, before it became hugely popular. The entire meet and greet is available on youtube subbed: The Untamed Fan Meeting

That’s it for The Untamed and MDZS. If you end up liking the novel enough to want to read more by the same author, MXTX-laoshi has also written two other BL novels, The Scum Villain Self-Saving System (aka “SVSSS” or “Scum Villain”) and Heaven’s Official Blessing (aka “TGCF” after its Chinese title). Both have been fully translated by fans (but always try to buy the original if you have the means, as a way to support the author!): 

SVSSS Translation: BC Novels Link

TGCF Translation chaps 1 - 24:  Sakhyulations Link

TGCF Translation chaps 25 - End: Suika & Rynn Link

As with reading any BL novel (aka “danmei novel” for Chinese BL books), please heed the warnings and if it’s not your cup of tea, just exit out of the page and move on with your life. No big deal, right? 

Anyway, hope all this info dump helps someone! If you’re brand spanking new to this fandom, welcome, and I’m so jealous of you! Would love to relive stepping into the world of MDZS/MXTX/danmei novels all over again since I feel like I’m already running out of stuff to read and I’m beginning to panic a little. 

Happy watching/reading/listening!  

[pangzi]

oooh, i wanted to say the lan sect because i like their ordered cultivation, tranquility, and aesthetics (also mountains!) but the rigid rules would probably do my head in hahaha. so i think it’ll be the jiang sect because they’re more carefree with strong cultivation & bonus brilliant archery skills hahaha. also lotus pier is so pretty. hahaha. i have a two part question for you todaaay! how did you get into mdzs & has it influenced your real life in any way? (if yes, how?) - cc. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Ok TOTALLY SAME! I wouldn’t be able to handle the rules of the Lan clan and the Nie clan is also probably too intense for me (as i am not nhs and slacking off isn’t accepted then) so yeah either the jiangs bc yeah LOTUS PIER!!! also i just really love eating lotus root so it just works... But I would also totally dig an all ladies sect... Any sect leader is ok Madam Yu, Yanli, Wen Qing, Mianmian, I’ll take it just give me GIRLS!!!

Well I first heard of The Untamed through my friend who watches A LOT of c- and k-drama and I wasn’t really interested but then I kept seeing gifs and I was bored so I gave it a chance. Like most people at first I hated it gjkfdgjdf but for Jiang Cheng I gave it a chance and wew look at me now... 

It has changed my life! It gave me something to talk about with the girl I liked hehe because she was watching the donghua and i recommended the live action and then kept sending her posts and memes abt it (it worked hehe). 

This might sound funny but it also helped me with school a lot! I’m studying Chinese at uni and last year because I still had to catch up with a lot of courses I didn’t pass in previous years but I passed all my Chinese classes I didn’t have any Chinese classes last year. I was looking desperately for a fun way to not lose my skills and then the wonderful Bri said fansubbing would be a good way to keep it up and she was right! I’ve improved so much thanks to fansubbing, so thank you Bri and thank you Untamed cast. (I’m even subtitling an episode to dutch for my master’s thesis this year)

What about you? :D 

[thevastnessof]

i have finished the untamed!!! ive started the book, but the translation i found is a,,,, tough read,,,, and i better version one of my roommates found isnt done yet TTwTT we are both planning on watching the tgcf donghua as it comes out tho (ps i would die for the nie bros i love them so much)

that is so valid, i havent actually read the mdzs novel, i just jumped straight to tgcf bc i wanted to see xie lian ajdbfjfj. go grandpa!!

also yes the nie bros are SO GOOD! (isnt it great how nie mingjue survives to the end of the series and nie huaisang gets to live his best life as his subtle right hand man after Fatal Journey Character Development. its so nice.)

okay but kidding aside i love how nie huaisangs mastermind traits are laid out right at the very beginning as a teen. hes smart, not afraid to be a little manipulative, knows how to use other peoples' personalities to his benefit, isnt afraid to make a scene, and stalked a bird for Three Days before capturing it in a cage. he just didnt yet have a reason to use it to destroy someones life. everyone thought nmj was the dangerous one but at least the man will give u a WARNING

[moixaines-moving]

I want to give you a character! Let's see: Nie Huaisang (not sure you get to say 3 bad qualities, though)

don’t try me, I MIGHT BE AN APOLOGIST BUT I WILL TRASH HIM

do I like them: OFC I LIKE THEM, HE’S MY BOY, MY GREMLIN SON. i did like him in the novel and in the donghua but didn’t pay much attention to him at first???? BUT THEN i watched the untamed ooh boi, he’s on my top 5 fav characters of mdzs

5 good qualities: HE’S ACTUALLY SO HARDWORKING, like he might not want to train and all of that, but he’s SO HARDWORKING WHEN HE PUTS HIS MIND TO SOMETHING. also he’s so creative???? the beginning of fatal journey, the painting???????? next, he’s like. social butterfly, i love how every character that he meets has a good opinion on him including jin zixuan and lan wangji. he’s REALLY intelligent but forget the whole genius thing bc that boy isn’t it. and lastly, he’s shown to be SO confident in fatal journey, he knows that whatever he does, he will do it Right

3 bad qualities: lazy, like, yes he’s hardworking but only when he’s interested in whatever he’s doing, the moment he’s not interested he just Won’t Do The Thing. absolutely fucked up morality. the whole mxy thing........ uhm, i don’t know how much of that was his doing but he DID something so. also, probably tied to the previous thing: reeeeally manipulative. like, I Get It, i know why and what he’s doing but that one scene in which he lies to lxc so he stabs jgy........ ooooooh boiii, how do i begin to explain the levels of fucked up that reached, i could write a whole essay on that choice

favourite episode/etc: THAT ONE TIME IN THE NOVEL WHEN HE KICKED HIS OWN SABER AND SNAPPED AT NMJ, ABSOLUTE LEGEND. i LOVED that moment in the manhua also. fatal journey as a whole but specially the dragon scene, that one with the astronomy, i can’t remember. OH, AND THE ‘’NEWS PROBLEMS HAVE APPEARED’’ SCENE

otp: sangcheng. the parallels, the potential, the Everything. 

brotp: nhs and nmj obviously, but also nhs and wwx i loved that we got to see more of their shenanigans in the untamed. 

ot3: uhm. none 

notp: if i see one more of you heathens ship him with jin guangyao i WILL start throwing rocks 

best quote: IT SEEMS I’M NOT USELESS, BROTHER DID NOT BEST ME THIS TIME. THE SMUG FACE HE MAKES. I LOVE HIM. 

head canon: nonbinary gay, adhd king. actually a good leader and not that bad at fighting, it’s just He Doesn’t Want To. was a gremlin as a child and still at it as an adult. 

give me a character and i will answer

[creepweirdo]

hey emily!haha i only knew about the mama awards bc of twitter trends, my favourite boys didn’t perform there. all of them in the car park though? and i heard someone had covid? (not nct) what a mess! its funny, i get ok notes for my untamed gifs, but my new and tiny kpop sideblog gets so few, each single one is a gift. they give me a nice boost! very necessary right now. ships - wangxian ofc!! i also love nielan because lxc does not deserve jgy in his life and nmj deserves all the love.

i’m really boring tbh i mostly like wangxian. i do ship mianmian and yeeting herself out of the narrative!! cooking is a good hobby! and that bbq pork sounds amazing. foodwise i love everything. i like cooking too but i’m a bit lazier in the pandemic because of less friends visiting. curry is my fave, though, i could eat it all the time. todays questions. so show related – what are your favourite 3 songs from the cql soundtrack? what is your current favourite media/shows you’re into? your cc💜

hi classified cultivator!!

omg noooo sad that your faves weren’t there ,,, i THINK i know who your faves are but that only because a video came up in my youtube recommend ahaha a male kpop group covering a blackpink song 👁👁 hmmm 🤔🤔🤔 LMAOOOO the youtube algorithm is really helpful sometimes. but i will pretend that i did not see 🙈 once the reveal happens you can tell me what the group is and tell me what songs to listen to ahaha

OMG NOOO i didn’t know that someone had covid 😳 that’s so messy omg. and OMG one the reveal happens i’m gonna follow your kpop side blog too HAHAH.

YESSSSS NIELAN SUPREMACY!!! you get me ❤️ bahahahah. omg yes mianmian x yeeting herself out of the narrative!! i’ve been thinking about it, i wish there more more LONG mdzs wlw fics :((((((((((((((((((((( (i should probably harder look before i say that tho ahaha)

and oooo curry! and true about cooking less bc no friends visiting 💔 (ah food, i’m hungry now even tho i just had dinner).

oooo cql soundtrack!! the instrumentals right??? (that’s the only soundtrack that i’ve got on my phone) so i’ve only listened to it once and it was while i was reading this really long fic and it actually made me really emotional because i was remembering the parts of the show LMAOO 💀💀 my top three are: wu ji, dream, and xue yang ❤️ (for obvious jgy beef reasons rest in peace TRIGGERS me and i physically can’t listen to it hahaha)

and current media/shows - i’m terrible and i’m still very fixated on the untamed/mdzs at the moment so i haven’t gotten into any new series yet HAHAHA (not emotionally ready yet 😔)

however, i’m in the middle of the first season of this anime called ‘given’ which i really need to continue watching - it’s really cute so far! i’m about 5 episodes in (when i watch it i accidentally fall asleep while waiting for the crunchyroll ads to end LMAO).

i’m also watching the heaven official’s blessing donghua!! however with that, i haven’t watched the latest episode yet bc again, i am terrible 💔

do you have any recommendations?? ❤️ what are you watching/into?

thank you for the questions!! i hope you’re having a good week 😁

[jothriku]

hey ive been seeing your mdzs posts for a while and got curious and tried reading it but couldnt get into it. but i kinda really want to because the content you show is great, if what i learne from osmosis is correct its a well developed canon gay couple with pretty long hair? and idk i was wondering if you had some advice on how to get into it

howdy, nebu!! SO!! if you’re having a hard time getting into the novel, cause admittedly, it is long and has a lot of info (it took me about half a year to finish it honestly), i’d recommend starting with its other adaptations!!

mdzs is great bc it has four other adaptations!! there’s the live drama, known as the untamed, which you can find on either netflix or youtube. there’s also the donghua, which is also on youtube, but i have no idea if its subs are okay, so i just watch it on an anime streaming website. there’s also a manhua, which you can find on most any manga sites i think?? and finally, there’s an audio drama, which i can send you a link for if you’d like!!

they’re all great, tho i have to say the untamed and the donghua censor the gay, so. i think most ppl start with either of those two tho

but yes!! it’s about two gays who face lots of tragedy and hardships but get a cathartic, happy ending that they deserve!!