#feng xin: TF???!?!!

[worstloki]

Calamity Mu Qing this and calamity Xie Lian that. Have you considered Feng Xin as a ghost?? He'd be out there looking for Xie Lian. He would know that's what Hua Cheng is doing too. It'd be the most competitive 2 supreme ghost race of which of them can find Xie Lian first and it would last for 800 years...

[seyaryminamoto]

My latest completed commission may have been a bit ambitious... because I went wild with it. But I certainly relished in doing so :') Combining my favorite ship with my favorite-ever Disney movie is, uh... a dangerous concoction :'D

The commissioner specifically requested for Azula as Mulan, Sokka as Shang, and Xin Long (my OC dragon from Gladiator) as Mushu. The rest of the cast was up to me to choose, and I pretty much went wild rewatching this movie and picking out some of my favorite moments to recreate them in my style, with these characters. I came up with a lot of correlating characters between both ATLA and 1998's Mulan, but I couldn't hope to draw EVERYTHING, unfortunately. Still, if you want my reasoning for the cast correlation... check out the Read More! Beyond that, feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to commission me, or if you want to join my Patreon!

The Herbalist as Mulan's grandmother might feel arbitrary but she honestly felt like the ATLA elderly lady with the most similar personality to Grandma Fa. Fickle, with a unique connection with a seemingly perfectly ordinary animal, old and sassy? Figured it fit! So for once, the Herbalist is Azula's grandma! xD strange notion, I know, Azulon/Herbalist is not a ship I ever thought I'd accidentally put out in the world but there have been wilder ships than that in this fandom...

Momo became Cri-Kee, I wasn't 100% sold on it but when I considered that Avatar features soooo many hybrid animals... I figured he could be a hybrid cricket-lemur. Weird, I know, but eh? Better than nothing xD

Aang as Chien-Po was a no-brainer. He's the only character I settled on instantly, never even considered anyone else for the role. Their personalities line up really well, and Chien-Po's tendency to be OP and resolve things that are outside of other people's reach sounded like he was prime Avatar material! So, while their dietary preferences are an obvious difference between them, I decided to go for it nonetheless considering all their other similarities!

Kino (another Gladiator OC) is Ling, and he actually did give me a ton of trouble to choose. I considered many characters for the role right up until I realized that Kino's personality actually lines up fairly well with Ling's, down to being a class clown type (who ABSOLUTELY would have cut gym class!) and breaking out in song about the hypothetical woman he'd like to fight for? Yeeeeah that's right up his alley xD but there's another reason why I picked Kino...

... And that is my likely unexpected choice for Yao:

ZUKO.

ZUKO IS YAO.

YES.

I'M NOT EVEN SORRY.

(For the uninitiated, Aang, Zuko and Kino are best friends in Gladiator, very often together, and they make a really good team, so that's the extra reason why Kino became the obvious choice for Ling aside from having really similar personalities, definitely closer personalities than, say, Jet, for instance.)

People have likened Zuko to Shang a LOT since ATLA aired. This is the main reason why I'm even making this huge note! I suspect it's primarily because of the aesthetic, let's be real here, and because he becomes Aang's teacher, but people have exaggerated Zuko's alleged similarities with Shang, or taken them out of proportion, in many ways. I actually remember an AMV ages ago with "Be a Man" and it was Zuko "training the Gaang"?? It... didn't feel right to me. Obviously, someone might rebuff with "well, how does Sokka make MORE sense than that, though?" And believe it or not, I have arguments for that... (when do I not...?)

Not only is this what the commissioner specifically requested (and it obviously lines up with the ship we love!), but let's examine the actual reasons why Sokka as Shang adds up:

Sokka actually had to train a bunch of toddlers who weren't paying any attention to him. You know. Kind of how Shang had to train the unruly soldiers who weren't getting anything right. Sokka has a positive relationship with his dad (Zuko, ofc, does not). Shang also has a positive relationship with his dad! And not only this, but there's a military component to both relationships, specifically with Shang wanting to follow on his father's footsteps and aid him in the war... so much like someone else I know, who jumped at every opportunity to rejoin his father in the war, even wishing to join him as a child until Hakoda tasked him with protecting their Tribe instead (kinda like Shang is tasked with training soldiers rather than joining a battlefield).

And the final cherry-on-top that I'd loooove to hear Zuko fans try to argue against... is sexism :') didn't Sokka get characterized as a sexist guy for four episodes, which made people decide that this was his main character trait even if it went away that quickly? Um, yes, that happened. Shang literally sings the memorable song that's a crazy ode to masculinity, including the rather sexist line of "did they send me daughters when I asked for sons". Shang outright abandons Mulan once they discover that she was a woman all along (while, admittedly, choosing to abandon her rather than KILL HER, which as we saw from Chi-Fu, he was NOT supposed to spare her!)...

So, is this REALLY what Zuko fans, who willfully believe their boy is a feminist king (... why? beats me...) are trying to compare their unproblematic blorbo to? :'D Me? I have no problem linking Sokka with Shang due to Sokka's beginnings and due to the fact that both Shang and Sokka have similar growth when it comes to accepting femininity is as valid as masculinity, and as they both learn to respect women as fighters and potential heroes! (I simply do not believe Sokka's ENTIRE tenure in ATLA was about that, though, and that's what I continue to clash with the fandom over...) So... all this is why I've reasoned that Sokka is a VERY solid choice for Shang, in fact, better than Zuko could hope to be.

... but this isn't all.

Maybe some might accept my arguments for Sokka-Shang. And then, they might ask:

WHY ZUKO AS YAO, THO??

... And the truth is it took me long to see it, myself, but HOLY SHIT, DOES IT FIT!

What is the primary thing we remember about Yao in Mulan? This guy is constantly itching for a fight, to prove himself, surely riddled with insecurities that he exteriorizes through overcompensation of masculinity. He's funny as fuck, but he's taking himself 100% seriously as a manly man all the time, and he's always ready for violence. But there's one more thing...

He treats Mulan as his RIVAL.

And more often than not? SHE SCREWS HIM OVER. Intentionally or not.

What does that sound like? Why, yes, it sounds a LOT like Azula and Zuko's sibling relationship!

The fact that Yao is a temperamental dude who lashes out easily at things (oh, something he has in common with Zuko!), that he specifically resents Mulan (in this case, Azula, just as Zuko does!) and is either constantly looking to defeat her and prove his superiority over her (... wait, just as Zuko with Azula??), that he has a black eye perpetually across the movie, and it's his LEFT EYE (just as Zuko's scar is on his left eye! :'D), that he's friends with a pacifist he has basically nothing in common with, personality-wise (just like Zuko and Aang!), and that he pretty much has a REDEMPTION ARC in which he goes from a bitter, asshole rival to Mulan to treating her as a friend and ally, to the point where he was disappointed to leave her behind and THEN joined her at once when she says she has a plan? :') I have always been critical of Zuko's redemption arc, goes without saying. But if ANY of these characters redeemed himself in any significant way, it certainly seems to be Yao to me, and with people gushing NON-STOP about Zuko's redemption? Why, he ought to be the character who goes from bitter rival to loyal friend, right?

So. I'm not even sorry. Zuko is Yao. And I'd dare say that he should be flattered by the comparison, even, because Yao ends up being cool as FUCK!

I don't really talk about this much nowadays, but Mulan was my favorite Disney movie growing up, it ABSOLUTELY had a formative influence on me as a little girl, and Mulan was my favorite female character for a looooong time. Thus, any excuse to rewatch this movie makes me happy as heck. With the wisdom of age I know, of course, that it's not perfect, it's not what China wants, it's not the most thoughtful depiction of Chinese culture or the most faithful adaptation of Mulan's poem (... but I'd also dare bring up that the 2009 Chinese adaptation ISN'T all that faithful either...), but it has a kind of magic in it, a solid storytelling flow, so many memorable moments one after the next, that I could hardly choose which scenes to depict... Disney has never again seen the storytelling heights it reached with Mulan in 1998. I don't even care if that's a controversial opinion in any way... this is their best animated feature for me, and nobody can change my mind.

So... depicting Azula, my beloved, in all these scenarios as this character I adored and idolized as a child, was so damn fulfilling for me. While some might think that, personality-wise, these two ladies don't have much in common, the fact that Mulan is sent to a matchmaker who basically tells her she looks good but is going to be the worst wife ever...? Our girl Azula, with all those insecurities about being unloveable and a monster, probably would relate big time to that.

Mulan is also an INTELLIGENT soldier rather than a brawny one, which is how she starts to make progress in the army, it's how she manages to overcome the huns with that avalanche... and Azula's primary difference with most other antagonists in ATLA is that she's smart as fuck. She is very strong, no doubt, but a LOT of that strength comes from her intelligence, from assessing situations in unique ways, from planning and strategizing. The way Mulan finds the most unexpected solutions that still pay off reminds me a lot of how Azula achieves unexpected feats through rather unorthodox means, capable of taking over a city with basically no bloodshed while her nation has spent 100 years trying and failing to do so through major army incursions and who knows how much senseless violence. Obviously, I'm not saying what Azula did is GOOD and it's kind of dumb that we always have to point that out... I'm merely comparing the magnitude of the feats, and the fact that they both come from ladies who use strategy and intelligence to achieve their goals rather than muscle and physical power.

And while anyone would rage at me for the comparison between Fa Zhou (her dad) and Ozai, the truth is the dynamic between them CAN be compared, if loosely: Mulan literally goes to war to keep her father safe. Azula goes to war under her father's orders. Hell, she makes herself BAIT in the Eclipse to make sure the Gaang won't get to her dad?? While it's very much possible to say that both characters have different personalities and attitudes in life... I'd also bring up that their contexts are evidently completely different. I wouldn't say for certain that Azula, had she been raised outside a Royal Family, would be EXACTLY like Mulan... but they might have more similar traits than one might expect. Ultimately, though... I love them both. And this opportunity to swap their places was pretty much a dream come true!

Alright, that was plenty of rambling xD ultimately, I had a blast doing this commission, as I'm sure is obvious by now. So! If anyone wants to commission me, feel free to check out my prices right here and hit me up if you're interested!

[budd-ie]

“Mu Qing is too logical for his own good” is such a real problem that he deals with and as tragic as it makes his life I also think it’s really funny when someone is accusing him of something and instead of telling them to shut up or leave him alone the first thing he does is pull out the 95 fucking theses detailing every single thing wrong with their argument WITH historical evidence and additional considerations from scholarly psychology articles, MLA format works cited and completely annotated. It could use an editor and some bias correction, but he actually makes a pretty good point. anyways tgcf ace attorney au when

[crazydaymycrazyway]

Bai Wuxiang: I'm going to ruin your happiness

Xie Lian, hysterical: My happiness?! Mine??!

Xie Lian, to Feng Xin: I'm happy? Why didn't you tell me?!

[thefairfolk]

fengqing puss in boots au but specifically the part where they don't show up to the wedding and think they left the other on the altar and assume that's why the other hates them, but in reality neither of them showed up due to suffering from "oH hE dOeSn'T aCtUaLlY lOvE mE" syndrome. both of them are clowns and neither of them know this.

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Kinda iconic of Xie Lian to ascend, cause a big ass bell to fall on Mu Qing during the process and then be like "who tf are u" at him when entering the communication array for the first time after 800 yrs

And then immediately recognizing Feng Xin

I think Hua Cheng wouldve died again from laughing so hard if he was there

[sugar-bi-scuit]

Feng Xin: You’re face is like actually really fucking pretty.

Mu Qing: The fuck

Feng Xin: What do you mean the fuck?! I am literally just trying to fucking compliment you!

Mu Qing: How tf do you reply to compliments? They didn't teach that in school.

Feng Xin: ...

[princessofxianle]

Edit: im adding this...

Not to be a starember hater on main but literally what the fuck is this

Look how they massacred my boy

[moonwaif]

EDIT: how TF did I forget Shang Qinghua

[yeyayeya]

My reaction to TGCF Season 2 Ep 7 (Part 2)

*novel spoilers*

This two never fail to make me laugh with their antics, and while I ain’t the biggest fan of Mu Qing, but love Feng Xin, I like the ship a normal amount

Also Mu Qing sweetie the fuck is you looking for in the walls

Wh-

You can just do that?

The fuck kind of abilities do the gods have?

Wait I want cool powers too tf

This two I swear, but I am absolutely in love with the really animated expressions. Feng Xin you little bitch, I love you

The animators did a good job just making these two have the most expressive reactions, and I am all here for it

[profmori]

i don't mean to sound like the controversial take haver that i often am, but i will never stop thinking about how mu qing deserved a better apology for the years of alienation and humiliation that he was subjected to. ( by the gods, and xie lian and feng xin.) that half assed “we are friends now.” is not enough like tf, if i were him I'd be mad.

[princessofxianle]

pspspspsps guess who finished plotting out the big points of feng xin's backstory?

ME

ITS DONE

I HAVE GIVEN MY BABY A STORY

hell i could start writing this tmrw if i wanted to... (but FIRST... fenglian week)

sidenote, how tf do i keep making Shen Liang better? i genuinely love her like my own daughter at this point (sorry Shen Wangxi, ik you raised one hell of a woman)

anyway her ghost name is "orange snow stiching souls" and she may or may not have beaten up qi rong to a pulp bc he got in her way once

lol i forgot to add, feel free to ask me literally anything about this au im incredibly delusional and eat up asks about my au like like its the last food on earth... anyway

[mhaynoot]

finished tgcf book 1 and here are some random thoughts i had through the book and certain passages that i kept rereading:

xie lian with sincerity: "if you pray to me for good luck, i think you might actually get cursed instead"

he actually ascended after 800 years of collecting scraps??? what. it took me until like the end of the novel to realise that wasn't joke and actually real what. what.

he's so pathetic meow meow i cant wait to see him cry and break my heart into itty bitty goey pieces (currently reading book 3 and im in hell now)

mu qing: passive aggressively bitching at xie lian

xie lian with sincerity: who are you?

he's really just murphy's law on embarrassment but at least everyone else is getting dragged into the pit he made (too bad he's right there next to them, falling flat on his cute face)

first arc flash review:

nan feng and fu yao are instantly obvious like i'd be more shocked if its revealed theyre actually not feng xin and mu qing but it's really really funny seeing them fall into pits one after another

wow that bridal sedan scene is so heart fluttering i think i reread each paragraph like 3 times

goddamn what a fucking ml introduction 👏👏

holy shit people actually die in this??? i was expecting the cannon fodder because he was just so fucking annoying but that woman too? damn that's just so sad

pei xiu meeting xie lian here is just retrospectively as embarassing as the second time

also very nice foreshadowing and setting up of themes

second arc flash review:

they just meet like that????

the donghua made it so obvious but even in the book, you can tell hua cheng was just desperately restraining himself whenever xie lian did some freaky flirty shit

he's such a sweet ml, i'm already foreseeing so much fucking suffering to counteract this blissfulness

dni curtain

i can't believe hua cheng just upped and left to get a tattoo AND make a brand new door after seeing the dni curtain

xie lian is so lax about things, its almost concerning like i get why feng xin and mu qing- i mean nan feng and fu yao are "?!?!?!?!" at him sksksk

i gasped at the venom sucking part, like audible breath and everything, holy fuck

also cute detail about how hua cheng disinfected his blade with nan feng's fire and how both of them did that with implicit understanding

honestly i did not foresee the general being xie lian and had to reread that passage again after finding out. so embarassing for him. i close my eyes. but also hua cheng making everyone kowtow to the grave is just that much sweeter

xie lian does not restrain himself with the skinship at all. he immediately becomes embarrassed afterwards yeah but he always instinctively wants to touch hua cheng sooo badly. like how tf is hua cheng still alive - no wait i guess it's because he's dead that's why.

"does it matter if you're human or not?" XIE LIAN YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT TO HUA CHENG (AND ME)

LMAO nan feng running away when he heard xie lian offer to cook and then running back in to give hua cheng the stink eye and xie lian a warning only to leave again is just so funny, i was soo sad to not see that part in the donghua ver

last part and ending thoughts:

"your highness" ugngnnghhhngnn

the whole conversation between them and their upfrontness with each other is just so refreshing

im suprised they resolved this mystery so quickly, like i was expecting another arc or even a whole more book to dance around this but nope. xie lian says one "hua cheng" and then bam it's in the open.

donghua made xie lian full grab xie lian's face while it was a poke in the book but i approve of both versions, all very cute, all very likely to make hua cheng fall in love even more

awww he has to leave? ohmygod ringringring

and yep thats my thoughts so far

i read the whole book and then watched the donghua btw!! i'm not an "anime first" girlie, im a "the manga was better" loser tryhard always

also i just read all of book 3 by the time i finished writting this so lmao

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Most iconic Xie Lian moments according to me

Contains spoilers!!!

"Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry"

Keeping every memento of his worst time ever as a reminder of why being kind and forgiving is worth it

When he runs off after he gives Hua Cheng CPR that one time pretending he's looking for his hat

When he keeps roasting Xiao Ying's looks even as she's dying

When he was a prince and he was told his future looked dark and he said that can't be cause he only wears white

Eating food off the ground

Building his own temple, we love a girl boss

When he pet E'Ming like a little puppy after being explicitly told not to ever touch it under any circumstances

Putting Banyue in a pickle jar

When Wuming said he would follow Xie Lian to the death and Xie Lian went "youre already dead"

Breaking rocks on his chest for money

Being trampled to death as general Hua, doormat core

The whole Fangxin Guoshi arc, whew 🥵

Carrying around a big ass bag of scraps everywhere

When he became jealous of Hua Cheng's special someone not realizing the very obvious fact that he was Hua Cheng's special someone actually

Slapping tf out of Qi Rong for making fun of Hua Cheng being blind in one eye

Pretending he had no idea who Nan Feng and Fu Yao were

When Mu Qing and Feng Xin were freaking about how creepy the Ten Thousands Gods Cave was whilst he found it incredibly romantic

Being a bit too into pretending to be Hua Cheng's puppet on Mount Tonglu

Feeding into E'Ming's praise kink

When he disguised himself as a pregnant lady to be possessed by the evil fetus spirit and it worked

When he disguised himself as a woman so badly he looked hideous and needed help to not look like that

When he spent the entirety of the Xuan Ji capturing business in his wedding dress disguise, including meeting Pei Xiu like that

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts-

When his response to the sex pollen was to kill himself

"I do not worship god, i am god!"

Every single sweet and tender interaction with Hua Cheng's butterflies that everyone else is terrified of

When everyone ignored him in the communication array because he was cringe

Getting drunk on a tombstone with little ghost fire Hua Cueng after his life fell apart

Controversial but i think his calamity era was also iconic and very sexy

When Heaven's Eye said his lips are exuding evil energy and he turned bright red

And then later when Heaven's Eye said the evil energy is inside him and he immediately changed the subject

Recognizing literally everyone despite their disguises but keeping quiet about it not to embarrass them.

Calling Yin Yu boring and forgettable looking to his face

Defending Hua Cheng, evil ghost king, in front of the whole entire Heavenly Emperor

When he was working in the rice field with Hua Cheng and he kept staring

Being poor

Having ridiculously bad luck

Ascending three times

Big daddy issues even with his dad still alive

When his life had just fallen apart and he didnt know how much a lantern could cost because he had been ridiculously rich all his life

Holding up a massive temple from falling apart???

Kissing Hua Cheng for spiritual energy in front of literally everyone more than once

When he could hear rats talking???

Adopting children

Not iconic Xie Lian behaviors

His abhorrent cooking

Trying to kill himself???

[guess1mjustheren0w]

Just looking through the stuff I'm writing for Feng Xin week, why tf it seem so profound and bittersweet? Is it even me writing this? Cause no offense but this seems like the most meaningful shit I've ever written.

[sugar-bi-scuit]

*In their private communication array*

Mu Qing: Turn around.

Mu Qing: No, the other way.

Mu Qing: Wrong way again.

Feng Xin: Where tf are you?!

Mu Qing: In my palace, but the idea of you spinning around in circles is very amusing to think about.