#cryptidafter

[fincalinde]

thoughts on Su Minshan??

I actually recently did a post on SMS, so feel free to stick another token in the slot machine that is my askbox if you want. But I suppose I can build on it a little. There's one thing I brought up in there that probably does deserve more attention, and that is ...

Why, oh why, does fandom assume that SMS is unmarried when it is literally impossible that he would be single and childless? Like, this blows my mind.

Things that are clearly established by canon:

1. The jianghu operates under a clan system rather than a genre-typical pure sect system. Bloodlines are crucially important and the leadership of clans is generally passed from father to son or another close male relative, though women do rarely also obtain positions of power.

2. This system was introduced a couple of centuries earlier by Wen Mao, but is now so embedded that XXC and SL's shared vision of a merit-based sect where bloodlines are irrelevant is considered a distant and idealistic dream.

3. XXC receives numerous invitations to join clans due to his stellar reputation, and turns them all down due to this principle. He could have taken an important role in these clans but would never have been able to inherit or lead. Despite his incredible reputation, during the period of time in which he is travelling the jianghu in his pre-eye gouging days, neither he nor SL take a single disciple. This strongly indicates that even someone of literally impeccable standing couldn't even begin to get an independent merit-based sect off the ground.

... but I am supposed to believe that SMS somehow achieved this? That he left the Lan and founded his own sect with a gang of disgruntled tone deaf pals and that's the end of it? Absolutely not. He founded the Moling Su (the name itself is a big clue) in the traditional manner. He probably did involve some of his own blood relatives from the off to bulk his numbers, but even so, he's clan leader and the first thing a nascent and highly vulnerable new clan needs is heirs. SMS is absolutely married and a father to multiple children. Those children are the literal future of his clan and its very existence depends on them.

Of course his wife and children aren't explicitly mentioned by the narrative, because he's a supporting character whose function in the narrative revolves around his loyalty to JGY and his grudges against [insert list here], and his home life is irrelevant. Su-furen is either at home in Moling holding the fort; or, less likely, she's amongst the cultivators he brings to the Burial Mounds and could even potentially be intending to meet up with JGY and his cohort of loyal disciples during the collective flight to Dongying. It's just a level of detail that isn't relevant, especially to our viewpoint character, WWX, who is notoriously not detail-orientated when it comes to this kind of thing.

[yuanzhous]

NO HAN YING DAMN IT the typo ruined everything looool

while I am STARKLY against hanging him, I feel very honored to be known as the ultimate han ying enjoyer 😂😂🥺🥺🥺

going to keep spreading the good ying'er word

[thepurplewombat]

Character ask meme: Lan Xichen

Allright my precious boy is up to bat!

a song that reminds me of them: Okay so I don't usually associate songs with specific characters, but usually ships. However, after giving the matter some thought, I came up with a couple: It's all coming back to me now by Celine Dion for when ghost/fierce corpse a-Yao returns to him. Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are for post-canon Lan Xichen, and I'd Lie For You And That's The Truth, also by Meat Loaf for just, like, the general vibes of him and JGY up until the last few days.

what they smell like: Something crisp yet soothing.

an otp: Xiyao always and forever

a notp: I don't really see the appeal of any ship with LXC other than XiYao. I can cope with most of them - I've even read some decent Lancest - but I have an especial dislike for xisang and xicheng, and I am not a big fan of 3zun because, idk, the vibes don't work for me? I don't know, I just can never really get my teeth into 3Zun, I find it kind of off-putting.

favorite platonic/familial relationships: Ugh big brother LXC is so chef kiss. The way he gently ribs his stuffy baby brother and just wants him to be happy always and forever aaaargh it makes me go feral. I have been known to read fics explicitly tagged Not JGY-Friendly because I was informed they have excellent Lan brothers content, and since JGY is my poorest little meow meow, that's a big deal.

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: Himbo Lan Xichen. Like, come on, he's a sect leader, he is apparently the only person in the entire gorram Sunshot Campaign that realised that they needed a fucking spy , and he's the greatest cultivator of his generation. Come on people. You can be intelligent without being an asshole, you know. Just because he's nice and he drank his Respect Meng Yao juice every day doesn't make him a himbo (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

the position they sleep in: He goes to sleep on his back in proper Lan posture, but he wakes up cuddling his blankets and/or sprawling so as to occupy maximum real estate.

a crossover au i’d love to see them in :SVSSS would be great, because he could use a magic mushroom to make A-Yao a non-dead body, but idk I kind of want him to cross over into like, the most mundane cozy romance you've ever seen in your life? Like, I would like to read a story where literally nothing bad happens ever at all. I want a story where LXC falls in love with this beautiful boy, and the beautiful boy falls in love right back, and it should have an epilogue where they have the world's biggest golden retriever and six cats and a little house in the woods or something.

my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: That one he stole from LWR for his little Teacher/Student roleplay session with JGY is great, but honestly he always looks fantastic.

[technicallyverycowboy]

playboyy: no fags, no femmes

okay, so. playboyy meta. thanks to @lugarn, @chaos0pikachu, and @cryptidafter for talking all this out with me <3

i originally started this post with "not to be that guy," but honestly, i do want to be that guy. because so much of the critique and analysis of playboyy i'm seeing is a) grounded in a lack of knowledge about queer history and aesthetics and b) veers unintentionally but wildly into unexamined homophobia.

so, given i'm going to reference susan sontag's notes on camp several times, i've decided i might as well go full queer studies major about it and copy the list style she uses. (i would highly recommend reading notes on camp. it is academic and somewhat dense, but it's a tame 13 pages)

1. so many people are confidently asserting that playboyy is not camp, regardless of what the creatives behind the show think. to which i have to ask: how are you defining camp? what things are campy to y'all?

2. the personal definition of camp that i arrived at after writing a bunch of papers about it is two-fold: camp is exaggeration, treating things that are serious casually and treating things that are casual seriously. camp is about an aesthetic of inhabiting a role, where something is a little bit off or being something that it's not meant to be.

and to be clear, this is a wildly incomplete and simplified definition, because one of the points of camp is that it's a vibe, not something concrete. It’s also something that shifts over time the relationship between queerness and society changes.

2a. camp often intersects and overlaps with surrealism, like in rocky horror picture show. very often media that is campy exits the mundane world and enters a heightened world of exaggeration and stylization. 

3. so, is playboyy campy? i sure as hell think it is. i think lugarn and chaos0pikachu both made really good points about the campiness of playboyy and it being specifically sexwork camp. (both replies are at that link.)

4. a brief list of things that specifically resonated as campy to me: first throwing american dollars in the pool for soong to catch, zouey's fantasy of feeling up teena in art class, every single element of nant's room (especially the projected images), captain's sports plot that involved zero doing the sport and 100% fucking and fantasy, the softly romantic framing of nuth and phob's sex scenes, jump's pleather tank top & coverall combination, prom wearing assless chaps to a rooftop party at 2:30 in the afternoon, the entire concept of investigating a disappearance via a themed party... i could go on and on, but i said this was brief.

5. i think the actual problem a lot of people have with playboyy is that it doesn't care about straight people.

6. what i mean by that is that playboyy is not a universal story. you could not plug different characters with different sexualities into the plot and preserve the essence of the story. the gayness of the characters is integral to the plot. the sex work is integral to the plot. this is not a world where homophobia doesn't exist and being gay is just like being straight.

7. additionally, these characters are all performing gender in a specifically queer way. they are femmes and fags, they are obvious, they are clockable, they're visible. when nice gays talk about the people who are giving gays a bad reputation and making it harder for everyone (to assimilate into heteropatriarchy) they're talking about playboyy gays.

8. comparing playboyy to only friends is low hanging fruit at this point, but i would argue that the reason boston stood out in that cast and was so viciously punished by the ending is because he was a fag stuck in a nice gays narrative.

9. and this is where the fandom homophobia comes in. so, so many people describe these characters and chaotic and messy, watchable as incoherent and vaguely amusing from a distance, but without real substance. the resulting narrative is often that no one could take their characters or their stories seriously or resonate with them.

10. again, why? why was ray and sand's high and low, blow up fights, calling each other whores relatable but soong and first's miscommunications about what they mean to each other unbelievable chaos? why is white taking black's place an acceptable plot point, but nont pretending to be nant is absurd?

11. most bls do not deal with flamboyance except in limited capacities by comedic side characters. flamboyance is a baseline trait for most of the playboyy characters. so if they feel too much, too loud, too out there, consider asking yourself why they do.

12. to a large extent, i think a lot of the criticism of playboyy is rooted in a bad faith refusal to engage with the show beyond a surface level pearl clutching about the sexual content. the unspoken belief here being that sex scenes are inherently vulgar distractions. they can't be integral to characters or their relationships. they can't be vital pieces of a narrative.

to which i say, there are nine thousand other BLs out there where the kissing is chaste and sex scenes are ~tastefully abstracted shots of shoulder blades and hands. watch those instead.

13. if you decide you want to watch it anyway, take a couple minutes to examine what parts of the show make you uncomfortable and why. and to be clear, i think there’s a lot of value in watching things that make you uncomfortable; media is often one of the best ways to dip into interrogating your emotional responses from a safe distance. 

but don’t use discomfort to dismiss the possibility that there’s meaningful artistic and stylistic choices made to serve a meaningful narrative. take a second to sit with your reactions and ask yourself where it’s coming from. 

[scarefox]

Pick your faves from my faves game!

Challenge: make a poll with five of your all time favorite characters, and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favorite.

got tagged 2 times by @enigmaharper and @bisexualboysbroadcast

This is going to look so random haha... but there might be a pattern in there who knows (also I list more than 5 because)

alright, that aren't even all but let's keep it at that

I don't know who has already done this but I tag: @braceletofteeth @slayerkitty @maleficent-cannoli @cryptidafter @scrollll

[playboyy-events]

Playboyy First Watch, Episode 1

Hello first watchers! Welcome to week one, aka meet (most of) the boys. With the help of @cryptidafter and @technicallyverycowboy, we created a cheat sheet for everybody who is new to the show and needs help keeping track of who is who within the extensive cast.

Warnings for this specific episode only behind this read more. If you need anything answered about the warnings/events in Playboyy, please don't hesitate to ask. We plan to post granular warnings for each episode since the longer Playboyy goes on the heavier the material gets.

Just one warning this week: mild homophobia!

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

3 random facts game

thank you @aiyexayen for tagging me!!

rules: answer with three random facts about yourself and tag eight other random people!

more horses have stood on my foot with their whole weight than i can count and im fine. this is usually smth you learn to be careful of because horses are heavy and horseshoes, which many horses get, are made of iron, but it never did anything to me for some reason

one time i ate cowshit because i was curious. i was not impressed and im still disappointed because of that

to this day i won't eat unwashed berries from the woods because my grandma always warned us of the Fuchsbandwurm

im a boring person and tag the usual suspects ((: <3 @intertexts @geneticcatalyst @cryptidafter @ayjada @gingabish0ujo @seokjinings @fanghuas

[thatswhatsushesaid]

for once i saw a thing going around on facebook that i thought looked kind of fun, so let's bring it here instead:

tagging 12 people since i listed 12 movies: @twistinthekaleidoscope @holy--milk @thepurplewombat @watertightvines @ratheralark @chaos0pikachu @crithir @cryptidafter @needsmoreresearch @skalidris @jin-zixun @sunriseverse

[autisticbokutoenthusiast]

catch-up tag!!

tagged by @cryptidafter

fav colour: blue <3

last fun activity: throwing some 2 pound bowls on the pottery wheel

song stuck in my head: what good is a heart by mustafa and seed of a seed by haley heynderickx cause im in my meloncholic acoustic bag ig

fav food: runny egg yolk!!!! eggs over easy with toast, egg and soldier, soft boiled egg in my soup, fried egg in a rice/noodle bowl, etc i love it

sweet/spicy/savory: literally combo of all. if there isnt 10 million flavors in each bite i give up cause im just weird like that

last thing i googled: average height of humans lol

current obsession: acoustic songs fsjkdlfj but also jeffsatyrs lovely sonicnorthkim fic where north is pregnant. spend all day ricocheting between that and playboyy wap fmv i loveeeee it

something you're looking forward to: im seeing my first opera soon!! i wanna get those special lil glasses to see it so i feel fancy

tagging: @le-trash-prince @jeffsatyr @bokuto-my-beloved @im-gonna-regret-this

[yuanzhous]

ZZS for unhinged character bingo!

Zhou Zishu! My scrumblo shitto! Easily one of the most chatacters to ever

[orchisailsa]

Last Line Game!

I was tagged recently by not one but two wonderful mutuals, the lovely @minnarr and the inimitable @ripeteeth !!!

rules: share the last line you've written, then tag some people, and have fun

“Stop it! We don’t have time for that!” he protests, but it’s utterly unconvincing since he arches his back and allows his feet to be kicked apart a little wider without even nominal resistance.

What fandom is this from? I'm not telling. 🤭 But I will say I'm working on three WIP's right now, so it could be either: - Horrible Machiavellian Sociopaths (affectionate) (Qi Ye) - Escape Room Gays (The Spirealm/Kaleidoscope of Death) - Van Life Polyam Disaster Triad (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Tagging: @jaewritesfic, @howlingmoonrise, @philologicalbat, @saki-the-cup-bearer-blog

@nyxelestia, @sunriseverse, @cryptidafter, @fanghuas, @sugarbabywenkexing

[blue-grama]

Catch-up tag game

tagged by @cryptidafter

fav colour: cerulean, in part because I remember learning the word from Crayola back in the day. Cerulean, good word.

last fun activity: I got to window-shop at a couple little hipster boutiques this weekend and watch my tween kids discover snarky greeting cards. No higher humor.

song stuck in my head: NONE AND LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY

fav food: any culture's take on food inside a carb (bao, empanadas, hand pies, etc)

sweet/spicy/savory: sweet

last thing i googled: ballot dropoff box [my city]

current obsession: Love in the Big City is great! I'm also never over the traumatized crown prince, sad doctor and tiger chef combo of Netflix's Kingdom.

something you're looking forward to: Halloween is a huge deal in my neighborhood, so I'm looking forward to seeing all the trick-or-treaters.

tagging ahh I don't know - @nozunhinged, @reptileofdoom, @kennyomegasweave

[calyxcurl]

Tagging game!

Tagged by @flamingwell ! TEAM DABCHICK LFGGGGGG

Last Song I listened to: Make Me Feel by Janelle Monae 😎

Currently Watching: The current season of Top Chef! AND Kiseki Dear To Me!!!! 🧑🏽‍🍳👯‍♂️

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy?: I like them all but to rank them - Savory, Spicy, and then Sweet! I tend to like sweet things if they're paired with salty things, or if they're meant to bring out the savory-ness of something (like like cranberry sauce pairs well with Turkey+stuffing, or teriyaki chicken, or honey glazed salmon)! 🥩🌶️🍯

Relationship Status: I got a spouse and a partner! we own one very insane dog! 🐕🏃🏻🏃🏼‍♂️🏃🏻‍♀️

Current Obsession: XiYao 👁️👄👁️ 💙💛 also podficcing?

Tagging: @aeoneris @crashorpie @evilhasnever @lansplaining @wishthefish @jgydidnothingwrong @feralcrybaby @nebulathunderwave @singersalvageshop @esmeraldablazingsky @crithir @cryptidafter @r95irth @galadhir aaaaaah and anyone else who wants to do this!!!??

[takonxmz]

oops late Halloween xiyaos, enjoy succubus!Yao (nakie) that is lowkey totally based on cold-blooded (so it takes more time to bleed) by @cryptidafter

[cosmic-starfall]

Rating: Explixit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Categories: F/M, M/M

Relationships: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Cao Weining/Gu Xiang, Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu, Gu Xiang & Wen Kexing, Gu Xiang & Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu, Gao Xiaolian & Gu Xiang

Characters: Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu, Gu Xiang, Cao Weining, Zhang Chengling, Gao Xiaolian

Summary:

Zhou Zishu already had a doomsday bunker when the zombie virus hit. But after living in isolation for months, he makes the ill-advised decision to let a strange man who stalked him home live with him.

Or

WenZhou and their pack of adopted kids live in a bunker together during a zombie apocalypse.

I'm tagging everyone who hyped up the original au post with tags about how they wanted to see it, hope y'all don't mind:

@sirenofthegreenbanks @cryptidafter @calamity-talvi

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

i really hate that the term 'unhinged' is so often used to describe someone as mentally ill and violent in fandom spaces. since that eye-opening conversation i had with @cryptidafter i cannot unsee it. its really disheartening and saddening. it seems to still permit the heads of many people that someone experiencing a mental fit and having an episode is synonymous with someone enacting violence upon others and themselves, synonymous with a cartoon villain cackling with mad glee while they hack people to bits. i want a button that i can press to make everyone think for a sec abt what theyre actually saying when referring to characters this way