#give tlj a chance

[oneiriad]

Scum Villain AU, where the end of the novel goes somewhat different. Briefly put, things go off the rails in all the wrong ways and SQQ dies once more.

Only to wake up from the coma his original body's been stuck in for ages (hell, might actually be as many years as he's been living - man wakes from decade long coma headlines and all).

He re-adjusts. Goes to therapists who helpfully help him realize that oh, this was just a dream based on his obsession with this terrible webnovel. He re-adjusts. Leaves the care facility and gets a new apartment. Gets his things from storage and has a breakdown about putting the PIDW merch up in his new place, as you do.

Life goes on, even for a lazy second gen who managed to miss a decade. Our SY might even get a job, who knows.

Might even grow convinced that yeah, it really was just a particularly vivid dream.

And then one night there's a knock on the door, and outside stands a full-blood Heavenly Demon Emperor with Xin Mo dangling from his side, frowning at him. Listen, let's not blame SY for fainting, okay? There's only so many re-adjusted worldviews a guy can handle.

He slowly wakes up on his couch, slowly enough that he's got time to think "oh, this was all another dream" - and then he hears Tianlang-Jun's voice reading aloud from the lovely PIDW hardcover SY had put on his bookshelf, and naturally he's found one of the early, more well-written before it all got repetitive sex scenes...

[shizunitis]

luo binghe abyss arc montage. the bgm is roxette’s it must have been love. it is telepathically sent to every sentient being’s dreams in the three realms by an emotionally drained meng mo. shen qingqiu is named and shamed into marrying luo binghe when he leaves the abyss as compensation. the celebration is less a party and more a sigh of relief.

the palace master spontaneously explodes as a wedding gift from the heavens and all his crimes are revealed by gongyi xiao, thus clearing tianlang-jun’s name. yue qingyuan and he spend a mournful night together, providing qi qingqi with a much desired and deserved martial nephew. mobei-jun and shang qinghua fuck off to rule the demon realm together after tianlang-jun has a talk with little mobei.

liu qingge feels like something went wrong somewhere, but he can’t explain what. ming fan and ning yingying are fighting over who gets to name their new martial… brother? mu qingfang and wei qingwei are watching everything unfold from their respective peaks with the concern of a nosy but well-meaning neighbour.

six balls becomes the no. 1 inter-realm merchant tradesman. sha hualing and liu mingyan have a shotgun wedding away from the chaos. the would-not-be harem gather at their house every week for gossip and the book club.

bingqiu never fight again and shizun kisses bingy’s lil forehead every morning.

and then they lived happily ever after

[megapocalypse]

AU where Shen Yuan plays a PIDW otome spin-off game where you date all the male characters and he decides to give it a shot because he heard Luo Binghe's characterization was really good in it. He's a hardcore LBH fanboy and he can't pass this chance up, but it's one of those games in which you need to unlock guys by finishing the first few and because LBH is the protagonist he's not only locked behind another character but he's also paywalled and his route is extremely difficult.

Shen Yuan ends up spending 100+ hours into this game and trying to explore all the routes and side quests, he's gotten almost all the secret endings for every guy and he's maxed the dlc characters.

LQG - One of the first love interests. You meet him when you find him poisoned, you protect him from a three headed snake monster and he's deeply indebted to you.

MQF - Unlocked via LQG's route, you get him when your MC has to take LQG to get healed.

GYX - He helps you on a mission to Bailu Forest, only romancable once you unlock the Huan Hua area.

YQY - Unlocked after you complete the good routes of all the romancable peak lords of CQM. His good ending is extremely hard to get.

ZHL - Unlockable after you romance GYX, he's a dlc character.

TLJ - Also a dlc character, you can romance him once you've completed every character's route.

SJ - Arguably the hardest romance route, almost all options lead to the bad ending and you really have to be specific with which routes you choose for your New Game + playthrough. Not to mention he has a secret ending that's even harder to unlock.

Now Shen Yuan has FINALLY gotten to LBH, you meet him through SJ's route as a white lotus disciple, but you have to romance SJ and TLJ before you can romance him. In his bad ending he kills you for siding with CQM, the neutral ending you become part of the harem. You can only unlock the good ending by unlocking SJ's secret ending. The good ending you get an option to tell LBH your feelings, it's an experimental game mechanic where you can literally type out a response. Some people may shit post on this section, but SY puts down his real and genuine thoughts out towards LBH. LBH then asks SY to promise him that they would stay together forever, and SY chooses the yes option.

Okay so new game plus time, SY got through all the endings now he needs to replay to get the super uper duper ng+ secret endings, so he plays the game normally just speeding through with the first love interest, Liu Qingge; but as he's on the rank 7 love confession scene, the game suddenly crashes and he has to reboot the game. His save file got erased so he just plays again normally, but for some reason it keeps veering him towards Luo Binghe's route, when he meets him during Jinlan City...

Every time he tries to get the other routes his save file crashes, or it would just go right to Luo Binghe's route. He looks it up on the Internet to see how to fix the bug... Nobody else is having this problem.

So he just decides to keep going with the Luo Binghe route again since he liked it so much, and he gets back to the true ending where he promises Binghe he'll stay with him forever. But then, suddenly there's an error message on the screen saying "System Reboot: initializing" and when it fully loads it says "Welcome User 002, to Proud Immortal Demon Way". And then the power cuts out, Shen Yuan is a little startled and confused until he feels an electric jolt. He falls limply to the ground, and wakes up in a new world.

A pop up screen shows up in front of him

Select your Name

________ ________

It's the PIDW start up screen.

.

Okay my brain is fuzzed but basically SY gets doki doki fucked and transmigrates into the game. Luo Binghe is a yandere who keeps trying to mess with the system, maybe he kills a few guys just to be silly 😜. Yada yada that's all I got.

[optimisticmosquito]

heavenly demon SY au, with a teaspoon of familial cumplane and a pinch of shenliushen.

Some decade before the tianxi era TLJ has a one night stand with a male demon who gets pregnant. Surprise! it's airplane who wanted a taste of that doomed heavenly pillar. He's older than MBJ in this au and hasn't had the chance to meet young MBJ yet. MBJ has enough on his plate without some random older demon howering around him. SQH is many things a creep he is not, thank you very much.

So instead he gets pregnant by TLJ, has a cry session, wonders if he's going to birth the protagonist, cries some more over all the death flags he has raised for himself, and then just accepts his fate. TLJ doesn't care much about this little surprise, it was just a one night stand after all. However, his advisors have been nagging him about getting hitched and producing heirs, so he sees his chance to finally getting rid of one problem by throwing the other one at it. Very clever indeed!

SQH becomes TLJs first concubine. SQH does not become empress, but until TLJ marries further, he's as good as one. So SQH (with babybump proudly on display) starts fixing up TLJs court, all administrative tasks, and generally making it run smoother than it has for generations. TLJ is happy as can be, finally he can leave his empire for months on end to follow his true calling, reading and watching every human romance story that has ever been produced!

SQH gives birth to a healthy baby boy. But before he can think of naming him LBH, the System interrupts and has him name it SY instead (weird cause neither him nor TLJ is named Shen). SQH figures this is either another transmigrator or the system has plans involving this child. Which, dude, hands off his spawn! Not cool.

SY grows up as the apparent heir to the entire demon realm. Which is awesome! He can pretty much do anything he wants whenever he wants. But also, what about LBH? He isn't meant to be the demon emperor, that's his future didis job! Fuck, he is going to have to fight LBH for the throne isn't he? He's so dead.

It doesn't help that his mother (second father? He's not going to think too long on the logistics behind his birth) is strange even for demonic standards. For a demon he is increadibly skittish, always avoiding conflict like the plague. And he constantly walks around muttering to himself, stoping the moment anyone comes within hearing distance. Although, SY has to admit he's a pretty good parent all things considered. He always makes sure SY has everything he needs and puts away at least one day a week just for the two of them.

SY does find out who SQH is when he one day hears him mumble about the plot and LBH. SY interrogates him and finds out he's another transmigrator. That explains a lot! SQH is happy to learn his child is another transmigrator and not a puppet for the system to push its agenda. So happy in fact he spills he's actually the author of this world, which sends SY through the five stages of grief before circling back to anger. What do you mean that lousy hack author is his mother!?!? Someone end his misery, this should count as child abuse!

He has half of the mind to run away and never be seen again but SQH begs him to stay. He's only in this position bc SY exists and if SY runs away he might get kicked out or pressured into having another child. SY despite it all still on some level sees SQH as his parent and reluctantly agrees to stay and continue on his path as heir. He hasn't met TLJ that often and he knows TLJ wouldn't do anything to stop the rest of his court if they decided to kick SQH out.

So life continues until news arrive about TLJ being burried under a mountain. SQH tells SY that SXY is LBHs mother and probably imprisoned in HHP at that moment. They decide the best course of action would be to kidnap SXY and bring her to the demon realm. SQH should have enough control over the empire even with TLJ gone. Especially with SYs help as the de facto heir and a heavenly demon in his own right.

SY for his part is also fully on board with this plan. He can help raise the protagonist and give him the childhood he deserves? Count him in! It would also help to be on good terms with LBH if he ever decides to take over the demon realm. SY would gladly help him take the throne!

However, before they can set any plan in motion the system assigns them a mission to keep the demon realm from falling into chaos. Moments later the court splinters as factions start fighting each other over power, and the empire dives into unrest and civil war. At the end SY comes out on top and is crowned as the new emperor.

They are too late to do anything as the coldest day of the year has already passed. When they try and send people out to find the newborn LBH they are met by HHP cultivators searching for SXY and end up in multiple skirmishes. In the end SY pulls the demons back over the border when the sects, thinking SY is out to revenge his father, starts threatening with another war.

SY is beyond himself, now how will he escape the protagonists wrath!? SQH deals with the setback the only way he knows, by burying himself in the administrative work. The following years SY spends stabilizing the realm with SQHs help (it's mostly SQH), and starts travelling around to see what the world has to offer. He soon gets a reputation of taking after his father.

SQH all the while continues to run the realm by himself again (nothing new there) and meets the future king of the Northern desert, Mobei-jun. Mobei-jun of course immediately takes interest in the MILF of the demon realm. Half the time he acts like a frightened rodent, the other half he rules the demons with an iron fist, what demon wouldn't be besotted! (SY is well aware most of the realm seems to have the hots for his mother. He tries not to think about it.)

MBJ starts trying to court SQH in typical demonic fashion. H e tries to fight SQH, sends gifts in the form of treasures and kills, and gives over power of the northern desert to SQH. SQH is used to this type of treatment. Most demons seems to want to hit him for some reason? He just writes off the gifts as taxes. And isn't it only natural for demons to push all the work on those that are weaker. MBJ has his work cut out for him.

Meanwhile SY starts travelling the human realm in search of his lost little brother. He's hoping to at least find him before LBH joins CQM. He should be able to at least stop that much of the abuse LBH is meant to experience. And he does find him! At the steps of CQM 10 years after his disappearance. Shit.

SY doesn't dare get too close yet. His disguise isn't good enough to test the scrutiny of cultivators, so going up to LBH right now would be suicide. He decides to come back later, after getting an artifact that would let him hide every trace of his demonic presence. He has no plan on ending up like TLJ. Poor Binghe will just have to survive the tea scene and the first weeek on QJP. SY will make it up to you later! Promise!

SY only shortly returns to the palace to see MBJ is still trying his best to woo mother airplane (without success!). He goes back to the sect and walks directly up to QJP to find LBH, and is instead directed to the bamboo hut. There he's questioned about his intentions, and decides to speak the truth (well most of it). His little brother went missing years ago and now SY believes him to be on this very peak! He has returned to bring LBH back home.

SJ of course hates LBH for the similarities he has to himself, but who would have guessed he also was abandoned by his older brother? Fate is truly laughing him in the face! This won't make SJ hate LBH less, but he has no plan on just giving him over to this stranger who took too long to return for his didi (just like qi-ge). So SJ claims he isn't willing to give up a disciple just like that. Hoping SY will show his true colors and abandon the little beast once and for all. When SY instead doubles down on wanting to take LBH with him, SJ decide to test how far this determination will take him (prove you are not like qi-ge).

Which leaves SY to stay on QJP as a guest while being continuously tested by SJ. And with time they slowly befriend each other and spend time just to share a cup of tea and talk literature (if SJ slowly starts trusting SY with things he's never told anyone else then that's his business).

At some point SY successfully catches a moment with LBH where he introduces himself as LBHs elder brother from their father's side. He offers to take LBH with him and leave that moment, but after LBH has digesting these new revelations (he has a brother!), declines. His adoptive mother wanted him to be a righteous cultivator, so a cultivator he'll become!

SY, already unable to deny this little bun anything, just has to accept he'll have to spend some time on QJP. Maybe he'll be able to persuade LBH to join him once SJ decides he has passed all tests. It's not too bad, SY has complete access to the library and oh boy is there a lot of things he never learned about the human realm before.

At the same time he meets the rarely seen bai zhan peak lord. LQG immediately thinks something is fishy with this QJP guest, but he's not sure what exactly (his war god senses are tingling). So to SJs great annoyance he starts showing up more often, trying to figure SY out. He even invites SY on a few monster hunts to see if he slips up, but to no avail (there are a few close calls). The more time they spend together the more he finds he enjoys talking about beasts with SY (he'll take it to the grave how his stomach flutters when SY teases him). SY even succeeds in getting LQG to teach LBH some swordforms once in a while.

When SYs identity as the demon emperor is finally revealed, it's a surprise to all three of them.

(Once SY is finally able to return to the demon realm for a visit it's to MBJ introducing himself as SYs new stepdad)

[princessdave]

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot and seeing a lot of posts about how rare pair/crack ship friendly the SVSSS fandom is, and I really love it a lot, but half of the ships are Shen Yuan’s wifebeam working overtime (and I eat it up every time lol). I’d like to throw out some more that I’ve either seen a couple times and would like to see more of, or popped into my head like an intrusive thought and I’d like to see if there’s anything there.

Shen Jiu/Tianlang-Jun: I’ve seen this one the most, and it’s the one I feel works pretty well. SJ is definitely TLJ’s type, he likes them strong, pretty, and mean. And SJ needs his man to be a full time simp for him.

Luo Binghe/Yue Qingyuan: I’m not very hyped about this one, both of these guys are just so obsessed with their canon love interests it’s strange to think them with anyone else. But maybe it would be interesting to see two guys trying to attic wife each other, and YQY is the only other character I think would have the patience for LBH and be willing to provide the level of doting and reassurance that he requires. And you know that YQY has a soft spot for feral pretty boys that he can provide for.

Liu Qingge/Gongyi Xiao: Alright, I don’t really have an explanation for this one, but it feels like something

Mobei-Jun/Zhuzhi-Lang: ZZL is ready to be a supportive subordinate, but he’s also strong enough to be the one protecting MBJ. This one would be very bodyguardxprincess, and I think there’d be something to play with with the whole ice demon and cold blooded snake thing.

Shang Qinghua/Mu Qingfang: This one I’m just basing off of the energy of a small dog with anxiety being friends with a bigger, very calm dog. MQF can monitor SQH’s stress levels, and SQH can optimize Qian Cao’s inventory system. Productivity power couple.

Ning Yingying/Qi Qingqi: This one is based on nothing but my confidence that it could be cute. I think given the chance, NYY could be just as persistent as LBH and she’d be hilariously dorky trying to pursue an older woman. And QQQ can rage at SQQ for running a peak full of MILF hunting disciples, while SQQ gets offended at being called a MILF.

Ming Fan/Yang Yixuan: This is basically mini SQQ/LQG, but somewhere in between Liushen and Liujiu.

I stand by none of this, I have the integrity of a graham cracker in the rain. But I’d probably give any of these ships a shot out of curiosity.

[aerithisms]

i think my problem with this dw season arc accusing the audience of fanbrain for theorising about ruby is that it both feels deceitful and isn't actually that compelling from a character perspective. the season goes out of its way to build up supernatural mystery around ruby and even invokes susan more heavily than ever before in a way that is deliberately trying to get the audience to make those connections. and then it turns around and says you stupid idiot why would you ever try to connect these dots i have deliberately tried to get you to connect.

building up a mystery only for the character to be ordinary is an impossible girl arc redux only this time accusing the viewer of failing to see the humanity of the companion, whereas the impossible girl arc was turning that accusation on the doctor. 7b didn't really blame the audience for viewing clara as a puzzle and in fact several times spells out the fact that clara is perfectly ordinary before the big reveal to give the audience a chance to catch on. as 7b goes on, instead of laying the mystery on thicker, the audience just gets more and more affirmations that clara is a normal human being (rings of akhaten, journey to the centre of the tardis, hide). i found this approach compelling because it was rooted in character, focusing on the doctor's disconnection from humanity/the gendered dynamic of a man treating a woman as his manic pixie mystery to pull him out of grief. s14's meta approach of accusing the viewer feels both unfair, given it has deliberately led the viewer towards theorising, and personally less compelling to me because it wasn't tied into character in any way.

the thing about rey's parentage in tlj is that the reason rian johnson chose to go for that reveal was that it was the only answer that was interesting. none of the theories - rey is a skywalker, rey is a kenobi, and even the eventually canonical rey is a palpatine - were interesting or satisfying because they brought nothing compelling to the table for the story being told. the only satisfaction to be gained from those answers was a fanbrained "omg rey is important because she's related to that guy from the other movie." on top of that, rey desperately wants her parents to have been important, to give her life and her abandonment some kind of significance. so them being ordinary provided the most compelling trajectory for her character because it was the thing she least wanted to hear. it forced her to do the most introspection and growth, as well as tying into the film's themes about the capacity of ordinary people to be special. it wasn't just a choice made to "gotcha" the viewer, it was rooted in character.

i don't think ruby's mother being ordinary accomplishes the same thing. by invoking susan, s14 is engaging with the most egregious example of the doctor's streak of abandonment, which has potential to be very compelling in relation to ruby (and now also the doctor's) own abandonment issues. theories that ruby might be susan, or be somehow related to susan, or somehow related to the doctor, weren't just fanbrained "omg she's related to that guy i know from the classic series." they were theories genuinely rooted in character and the potential to explore both the doctor and ruby's issues with abandonment. and this is something the show willingly led fans towards by invoking susan so much in the first place. so for the show to turn around and act like they were shallow out of nowhere ideas when they were not shallow and were based on potential character conflicts the show itself deliberately invoked, feels misguided.

as well as that, ruby's mother being ordinary does not require that same growth from ruby as it did for rey because it is exactly what ruby wanted to hear. she never wanted her mother to be important, she just wanted to know who her mother was and have a connection with her. so finding out she was a normal woman who still loves her and wants to be a part of her life is everything she's ever wanted. it doesn't introduce interesting conflict for her the way rey's parents being ordinary did for her, because they were written as different characters with different hangups over their abandonment.

tl;dr i don't necessarily dislike ruby's mother being ordinary as an idea but compared to the things it was inspired by - 7b and star wars - it is not nearly as compelling in terms of how it relates to the characters or themes. and the meta angle, while conceptually interesting, doesn't quite work for me because it feels a little manipulative of the audience.

[antianakin]

i saw that you put finnrey as your “most potential” ship and i was just wondering what makes you see them as more romantic over a platonic relationship? especially considering the finnpoe presence lol

and to be clear, definitely not judging you or saying everyone has to prefer finnpoe, i just haven’t seen very many people talk about finnrey as a romantic pair, or at least i haven’t interacted with it, so i’m curious for your take :)

I'm going to start this with a disclaimer: I do not dislike Finnpoe at all, I actually quite enjoy Finnpoe as a ship, I think that Finn and Poe's dynamic in the movies is (mostly) enjoyable, and I do think there is an obvious foundation for the interpretation of them as romantic based on what we see in the films.

Finnrey are pretty obviously set up as a future romantic couple in TFA, to the point that the person who wrote the novelization has said that that is how he wrote them because it seemed REALLY REALLY OBVIOUS that that's where they were going with that relationship with what he had seen of it and he was pretty surprised when future films didn't follow up on that. There is arguably more explicit set-up for Finnrey in the first film of their trilogy than there was for Han/Leia (and also Luke/Leia since their sibling relationship wasn't established yet when ANH came out) and even for Anidala in their respective first films together.

It's Rey that Finn goes back for, fulfilling a place in her life that she's been waiting on for literal years, becoming the first person Rey feels like she can trust. Finn gets jealous when he thinks that Rey is going back to a boyfriend on Jakku. There's an entire running gag that is about the two of them holding hands, something usually pretty connected to romantic couples. Finn only joins the Rebellion because he cares enough about Rey to want to go back to save her (and he also answers his call of destiny by doing so, as visualized by him being given and then using Anakin's lightsaber as part of that decision). Rey answers her own call to destiny when she calls Anakin's lightsaber to her, something she only does in order to save Finn after Kylo has injured him. The two of them impact each other's storylines in a way that NO ONE ELSE DOES.

I also personally feel like Finn and Rey were originally built as CO-LEADS in TFA, neither one was supposed to be "the main character" over the other. They were BOTH intended to be Force sensitive, BOTH intended to become Jedi, BOTH intended to be the awakening in the Force. Their connection was the whole heart of the story in TFA. Allowing them to be love interests for each other just helps cement that. Finnrey being allowed to remain love interests throughout the Sequel trilogy could've helped keep Finn from being sidelined, it could've helped keep REY from being sidelined, it could've allowed Kylo Ren to remain a villain, it could've helped keep some of the more interesting themes of TFA from being completely and utterly dropped.

By comparison, Poe was supposed to die in TFA. He and Finn share maybe 2-3 scenes total with each other, which are split up between the very beginning and the end of the second act of the film, leaving a LOT of time in-between where neither we as the audience nor Finn in universe even SEE Poe (and he mostly disappears when the third act on Starkiller Base starts up, too). Giving Finn a love interest that isn't Rey also opens the door for him to be sidelined in favor of Rey. This is something we can actually see done intentionally in TLJ with Finn and Rose. It pulls focus from what was set up as the focal point and heart of the narrative in TFA (Finn and Rey's relationship) and provides an excuse for why Finn isn't taking part in the bigger storylines with Rey.

And last but not least, I don't personally believe that there was ever a snowball's chance in hell that Finn and Poe were ever going to become an canon couple in a Disney Star Wars movie (it wouldn't have happened in a Lucas-run Sequel Trilogy either, but that's not really the point here). Finnrey could've. You can even argue that it SHOULD'VE happened and that it WOULD'VE happened (if Rian Johnson hadn't come in and decided to ignore everything that was set up in TFA). And Finnrey theoretically still HAS a shot at being made canon. It seems a LOT more likely that if they continue to explore the characters in the future that we'll see Finn and Rey get together romantically than that we would see Finn and Poe get together romantically.

So while I like Finn and Poe, I don't feel like there was real potential that actually got squandered in the films when they didn't happen, whereas there was ACRES of potential for Finn and Rey that got completely thrown away, and doing so really hurt both of their characters and the trilogy as a whole.

[remi-harbinger]

reading modern au svsss fics and people are making lbh too cool wdym hes the ceo of huan hua etc etc. he'd be so irrevocably creepy under his beautiful face thats constantly scowling at anyone who isnt sy. he'd be like the denko guy. he has a total of two (2) friends who don't even like him that much (shl hangs around just to feel better abt her chances with lmy) he posts on an incredibly niche teacher-student relationship reddit and his posts went viral once bc people think hes like 3 posts away from snapping. tlj once wanted to give him his empire but stopped after realising that when he was about to sign paperwork giving lbh the company lbh had a set of paperwork transferring the ownership to sy (sy had no idea)

[artist-issues]

"Rian Johnson was mocking Star Wars fans for expecting Star Wars tropes in TLJ!"

No. Star Wars fans just happened to have the exact same flaw that the character, Rey, had: too much focus on her parents. That made her easy to relate to. But the whole point, down to the first movie she was introduced in (which WASN'T written by Rian Johnson) was that her parents were never important.

Star Wars fans should've expected that reveal. It was already set up. Maz literally tells Rey in the first movie to quit focusing so much on her parents. The filmmakers literally told you "she's wrong to put so much stock in who her parents are" in The Force Awakens. He just carried that theme on and y'all weren't ready for it because you never wanted to accept it in the first place.

=

Same thing with Snoke. Kylo Ren was introduced as a character who only wants one thing: strength. He thinks that strength will solve his emotional frailty. He's insecure. (Because reasons, to do with his family and their lack of faith in him.) Rey straight-up discovers that his biggest fear is "never being as strong as Darth Vader" and says it out loud so that the audience will get it.

You really think, when he was introduced as a character who believes killing mentor-father-figures will make him feel stronger and therefore more secure, that Snoke ever had a chance of getting past the second movie alive?

=

They straight-up introduced these characters with certain flaws, which lead to certain motives, which so happen to lead to different conclusions than common Star Wars fan theories.

Because that's the beauty of the Sequels. They acknowledge the legendary status of the Original Trilogy Tropes, then grow beyond those tropes.

Or at least. They were starting to. Until Star Wars fans threw continued hissy fits because they didn't want a story, they wanted a 💫 Star Wars Checklist Cleverly Disguised as a Story.💫

Then the powers-that-be were like "okay they're really not looking for a good story, just give 'em the checklist they were looking for." And you got exactly that in The Rise of Skywalker.

But Rian Johnson wasn't mocking you. He was just taking the next logical, compelling step in the previously-established arcs of well-written characters. And carrying on the Sequel's initial trademark of "appreciate the past by growing beyond it." Y'know. Like a good writer.

[misto713]

was tianlang-jun 'punishing' binghe for looking almost exactly like su xiyan?

tlj always sounded like a pretty chill guy, except for the whole 'betrayal' thing and his subsequent vengeance. (vengeance that he dropped as soon as he realized there was no betrayal in the first place.) everyone gets treated to a joke, a flirtatious exchange or at least friendly banter... except for his son. a son that looks almost exactly as the woman who he thinks betrayed him.

was he taking out his frustrations on poor binghe this whole time, not giving him the slightest chance to cooperate with him in the first place, just because he doesn't like binghe's face?

and, by the end of canon, did he feel just as guilty and conflicted towards binghe as yue qingyuan felt towards shen jiu?

on one hand, this halfling son of his killed his trusted general and nephew, and almost destroyed the world. on the other hand, both of these things were more or less the direct result of tlj's provocation. because of a reason that wasn't even real. tlj's behavior ruined the last connection he had to his lover, and spoiled the relationship with his last blood.

did he secretly care? is that why he decided to withdraw in his half-healed, rotting body without even saying goodbye? leave behind the 'empire' he could have conquered for himself, leave behind everything and just.. go?

tianlang-jun always felt both jovial... and ruthlessly cold at the same time. it's kinda hard to tell what he really felt. but...

did he care about his son, in the end?

[jaunty-skeletons]

PSA because this isn’t even a headcanon it’s literally just canon:

sqh Cannot STAND people talking badly about mbj.

we can see that he very clearly has a list of ‘preferred characters’ (eg. tlj, possibly sj, etc.) that he doesn’t like seeing being treated harshly outside the necessary pidw plot beats. instances of this include when they were about to fight tlj and sqh complained to sy (weakly) “don’t beat him”, and at the end of the book when sy speculated that the system might have chosen pidw to fix/bring to life because of airplane’s dying resentment towards having to change its plot (and therefore his characters and their development) to such a great extent. sqh didn’t try very hard to change the fate that came for these characters but it’s obvious that he does feel at least mildly unhappy about it inside.

but mobei jun?? his FAVOURITE character? airplane knew he was weak willed and wasn’t in a position to piss off his readers, so he just completely avoided giving mbj to the general public. it’s stated that no one ever really hated on mbj in the forums… because airplane never gave anyone the chance to? however, he can’t stop that from happening once he transmigrates. so, even though mbj is kind of a recluse and hates people/socialising, there will come a point where sqh will have to listen to someone - probably his own martial siblings - chat shit about his man in front of him.

tl;dr qi qingqi will insult mobei jun in a monthly peak lord meeting and airplane will immediately, no hesitation no doubt, restrict her entire peak’s access to food, water, calligraphy paper and silk. xian shu will have to spend a month paying out of pocket for all of their “necessities” until yue qingyuan forces one peak lord to apologise to the other on their hands and knees. everyone is surprised to find that shang qinghua is not the person apologising for once.

[the-force-awakens]

thinking about poe dameron. thinking about how he became a pilot because of his mother, whose legacy he wants to honor and whose wedding ring he constantly wears. how, iirc, he learned to fire a blaster as a teenager from zorii wynn. the way he decided at age seventeen, he wanted to follow leia, and became her trusted right hand man and surrogate son, and how he valued her insights even if he preferred to learn on his own through experience. how his closest friends are primarily shown to be women (suralinda, karé, and jessika) in the comics, how the pilots we see him interact with in tlj are paige and tallie. the way he instantly wants to do something to help holdo once she's put in charged even tho she wasn't what he was expecting and how (something extremely overlooked) he actually listens when she tells him to go back to his station and leaves to keep an eye on leia, before hearing out and putting his trust in rose's plan. how it's poe who first thinks to ask maz for counsel on what to do, and he takes her advice even if he doesn't like it. how much he admires rey at the end of tlj (assuming - correctly - it's her idea to distract the ties), how the first and only person he trusts to bring in to rose and finn's plan is kaydel, and how in tros, it's zorii who inspires him into finding his hope in the galaxy again, how he's the first to give jannah a chance, and how he makes it clear they're fighting for Leia.

thinking about how star wars gave us a character who so eminently admires and respects women and is often inspired by them and learns from them and asks them for advice when he needs it, and has more women friends than he does men, and yet the fandom took that and turned it around and painted him as a sexist fuckboi instead.

[spectordameron]

Okay, so now that I am a little more coherent (by a margin), I do very much want to talk about the recurring motif of light/darkness that surrounds Poe's story arc in the trilogy from the beginning to the end, because once you notice it, you can't un-notice it:

the first time we meet Poe, it is at night. He is bathed almost entirely in shadows from the perspective of the viewer, giving him something of a mysterious air - we can see more of Tekka's face here than Poe's, but Poe is surrounded and backlit by soft, amber lighting; he turns his head, towards the map and away from the viewer, towards the light.

Our first close up of his face, our proper introduction to him, is another interesting bit of lighting work; Poe is bathed in amber lighting, with a bright burning lantern/candle to the left of him, and the shadows at his right and just behind him. It fits what is quickly and firmly established: the galaxy is filled with a dark and looming threat that hides in the shadows, and Poe is rooted firmly in the light, keeping it at bay - but he's not immune from those shadows either.

The rest of the sequence on Jakku has similar Light/Shadow plays, with Poe often surrounded by amber lighting/fire, firmly associating him with the imagery that's going to become prominent from a story perspective in The Force Awakens, and then later with the Resistance as a whole.

The light/shadows motif continues even aboard the Finalizer, albeit on the other end of the color spectrum. The First Order is cold and dark, and there's no warmth here: the only warm tones here in this shot is scarlet lights haloing Poe's head and the blood on his cheeks, but even surrounded by the enemy, tortured until he's practically unconscious, Poe is cast in a soft light - even here, they cannot touch his innate goodness.

The biggest threat the Resistance faces in this movie, is Starkiller base, a weapon that, according to Finn -

And it's next target is D'Qar, to wipe out the Resistance once and for all - a plot beat that holds considerably more weight after The Last Jedi and the Rise of Skywalker, as sun imagery becomes synonymous with hope - the lack of which nearly tears the Resistance apart in TLJ, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness in TROS.

"But as long as there's light, we got a chance" is essentially the thesis statement to Poe's characters and his core beliefs, that we see go challenged in TLJ: as long as there's light, there's a chance. As long as good people fight, they can win. They will win.

It is Poe who makes the final blow against Starkiller base, and when it is destroyed, a sun is born in its place. He saves the Resistance, D'Qar, and countless other planets across the galaxy - and in the Resistance's retreat, Poe is shown (more so than any other pilot) to be swathed in the shine from the newly reborn sun:

In this sense, he's restored some hope to the fight too! Sure would be a shame if the next movie challenged his belief when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel - oh right that's exactly what happens in the next movie.

But first, the cloaked binary beacon. We're introduced to it by Leia helpfully describing its purpose to bring Rey back to the Resistance as such:

It's a statement rife with symbolism; Rey's never had much to call home before, at least not until the Resistance, and she spends a large part of the movie being drawn to the Dark due to her connection to Ren, and her own longing and inability to let go of the past.

Leia is the one to initially hold that tether to bring Rey home, but drops it following the spacing, and Finn picks it up, who then later gives it to -

Poe, for safekeeping. So, the device that is immediately associated with Light, and specifically the Light that calls to Rey in the film, is given to Poe to protect and keep safe. And the shot immediately after Finn gives the beacon to Poe is

a rising sun on Ahch-To, to really hammer in the light/sun imagery and Poe's association with it (and Rey of course, she's got a lot of that too, but this is a Poe meta).

The next time the Light motif comes up, is during Poe's confrontation with Holdo. While I'm definitely trying to keep this focused on what we see in the movies, I do think it's worth noting that in the novelization, Poe spends most of his time trying to boost morale, helping the evacuations of other ships (until he's randomly and inexplicably grounded by Holdo) and try to keep everyone's hopes up while Holdo remains distant and secretive from her people.

Obviously, Poe is a very proactive character and dislikes being sidelined and unable to help (this is established firmly in the opening sequence of TFA), but I think it's notable that one of the primary things that has him angry enough to confront her - and yell at her, which Poe rarely does even when he's upset - is the fact that their situation feels dire and hopeless, and he's desperate to know there is hope, and they're not just hurtling towards their deaths (in the depths of space, the ultimate darkness), at which point Holdo reminds him:

Poe finishes the saying seamlessly, implying it's something Leia has reminded him time and time again of; it's a far cry from, and nearly the opposite to his thesis statement in TFA, that so long as there's light, they have a chance. He struggles with keeping hope if it's out of sight, which is a character beat that TROS takes and runs with.

(side note: I love how fucking IRRITATED he looks when she brings up Leia. He's like DO NOT. TRY TO CALM ME DOWN WITH MADRECITA RIGHT NOW. I love him.)

Later aboard the shuttles, we see the Light motif once again: ostensibly Leia is talking about Amilyn here (and is, but there's certainly a double meaning here in my mind), but it's overlaid by her reclaiming the beacon from Poe, who has been keeping it safe all this time:

I would say that quote definitely also applies to Poe, as much as it does Holdo - both were doing what they thought was best for the Resistance and what they thought would best protect the Light, whilst not caring if they seemed like a hero or not (for Amilyn, it was appearing cold and distant and like she didn't care, for Poe, it's the mutiny).

The last time the Light motif comes up in dialogue in the film (and I think in the trilogy, at least in conjunction with Poe's arc), is Poe's rallying speech on Crait:

It's of course, a statement he learned from Amilyn; but rather than the return to the status quo that hers implies, Poe's is more focused on ridding the galaxy of its current evil, with no thought of returning to what was, which of course ties into the film's theme of letting the past die, the trilogy's/resistance's message of moving on and continuously doing better than the past rather than stagnate, and rounds us back to Starkiller, I think: because it is about change. They are the Light that will change the galaxy, they are the spark that will change a weapon into a newborn sun.

We also get a play on Lighting, again, with the lifting rocks sequence. Poe is the first character we see react to the rocks being lifted (with Leia in the background), and he goes from being trapped in the shadows to once more being bathed in sunlight:

Hope has, for the moment, been restored to the Resistance, and to Poe, but the fight is far from over.

TROS takes Poe's struggle to keep hope when all seems dark in TLJ, and goes further with it, giving us a Poe who is more emotionally fraught, and near despair that all he has done - everyone he has lost - has been for nothing and the First Order will prevail. As such...Poe is rarely in the sunshine at all in TROS: there is some initial moments on Ajan Kloss where it's clearly daytime (when he's arguing with Rey, and later when he's checking in on her before they leave), and majority of the Pasaana sequence, but the rest of the time, he's usually in extremely shadowy settings such as the sand burrows:

We could take the dick joke and make it serious about him keeping a form of light closeby, but I think the dick joke is funny considering the irony of putting it in the movie where those pants makes it clear he's got nothing to worry about, ahem, anyway.

The sand burrows is an interesting sequence, because it's specifically one of the few moments we see Poe genuinely panicked and afraid. He's easily the most freaked out of the group when they're in the sinking fields, grows increasingly irate with everyone the longer they're trapped (I suspect it might be Crait trauma), and he's just generally anxious about what could have made the tunnels, about the bones, and then he's the most worried about the snake (except Threepio).

The next time we see Poe in the dark, is on Kijimi. I honestly don't even know if Kijimi has a daytime, and I can't find anything on it, but I don't recall it being mentioned much in Free Fall. Either way, when Poe confides to Zorii just how much he's begun to lose hope that they could win, that he's even making a difference, and this has all been for nothing, it is in the middle of the night:

But even at Poe's lowest, there's still Light: it's an inverse to the establishing shot we get of him in TFA, where there was shadows looming just beyond his shoulder; now, the shadows are in front of him, and the Light is behind him, just out of reach - he can't see it, but Zorii can, and she reminds him that this isn't who he is, and that he doesn't truly believe all is hopeless.

However, even after hearing that much needed reassurance, we still don't see Poe around any natural lighting, either. They sneak aboard Ren's destroyer, and then go to Kef Bir to locate the Wayfinder. Here, we see Poe's second lowest moment of the movie: his and Finn's argument, where Finn (unwittingly) affirms Poe's deepest insecurity, that he's not enough because he's not Leia:

Kef Bir is an overcast, rainy planet, so visually, Poe is still without hope. When he, Finn and Chewbacca return to Ajan Kloss, there is sunlight, and I think that's partially to represent that they were going to Leia for help - she was meant to be represented by that sunlight, but then once they find out she's gone, we return to the drearier sets on Ajan Kloss:

And once Poe realizes that he is alone, without his mentor and fellow leader, he retreats further into the darkness:

But he is looking towards the Light, just behind Leia:

As Lando approaches, Poe steps further into the Light, filled with newfound resolve and hope: Zorii and Lando both believe that all they need is each other, that they aren't alone, that there's hope, and that's all that Poe needs.

The lighting isn't so noticeable, but he's not in the shadows anymore. It's even glinting off his mother's ring, which represents a future Poe hasn't gotten to live yet.

Obviously though, this is a story, and the climax requires a falling action before it can rise again, so when they arrive on Exegol (a planet that is nothing but Darkness, with no sun at all due to an ongoing storm) and the situation grows increasingly more dire, the Light/Dark thing grows more prominent.

When the fleet arrives, there's a patented JJ lens flare that goes over Poe, and Poe flies his X-Wing out of the shadows of a stardestroyer, into the light of the fleet:

I'm sure there's probably more instances during the actual Battle of Exegol, but I haven't seen it a lot of times to say for sure because I am allergic to Poe crying and avoid the sad parts of the movie quite a bit, but it's worth noting that once they win, the storm on Exegol ends, and we get the sun again:

And of course, we return to Ajan Kloss for our final celebrations, which bookends Poe's introduction quite nicely. For the entire duration of the sequence, he is surrounded by life: greenery instead of desert sands, people instead of being isolated and alone (no offense Tekka), and sunlight. Lots of sunlight.

In fact, our last closing shots of Poe, are him smiling and utterly bathed in the soft rays of Ajan Kloss's sun:

Poe's sun/light imagery is simultaneously overt, through dialogue, and subtle in the various ways they manage to include it in the lighting of his scenes, and the slow progress of him being surrounded by Light in TFA with the dark looming behind him, all the way to TROS doing the inverse by having him covered in shadow with the Light just behind him.

Poe is inarguably the anchor point of the trilogy, he and BB-8 are the first characters we are introduced to, and he is the sole primary character who's loyalty to the Light is never in question: he is continuously a foil to Ren, who repeatedly rejects the Light in favor of the Dark, and is the one to safekeep Rey's way back to the Resistance/to the Light for the majority of TLJ. In the TROS novelization, Poe is given by Leia the legacy of House Organa, effectively putting him in the most Light Side family of (mostly) non-Force Sensitives in the entire Star Wars franchise, and the trilogy's habit of pairing him up with its primary themes (Hope/Light/Sun imagery) really goes to show that Poe is a critical part of the story, and without him, the trilogy would be wildly different...and possibly even without hope.

[aceinabook]

Scum Villian's Self-Saving System Vol. 4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Character 5| Setting 5| Plot 3.5| Writing 3.5| Enjoyability 4

Rating: 4.2 Spice Level: 2/5

I have finally read the extra fanfics of this series all ref constantly Bingmei VS Bingge! I enjoyed this as it feels fun and it's nice to see how different our vision of LBH is to Airplane's OG Binghe! It was so sad that he wanted SQQ to come with him, and annoyed that he didn't get what he wanted. Binghe then getting sad that SQQ thought Binghe was better at sex was kind of funny, but I actually don't really care for the sex scenes between them because it just feels not great.

I loved the Succubi extra is fun and seeing LQG getting jealous of a rando(Binghe obviously) that the Madam Meiyin's fortune telling. SQQ is so oblivious to everyone's feelings about him…sir please notice this angry boi flirting with you. I would also be super frustrated if I was LQG. Did not like the casual Transphobia of SQQ in this chapter though. Not cool my dude.

The Shen Jiu extras…I felt so bad for SJ. He was so misunderstood. I don't want to talk too much because you learn a lot about the OG goods and I think it's important. One of my favorite things about this is just the relationship of SJ and YGY was so important. Even his relationship with LQG, so good. None of this story excuses his abuse of LBH, he does regret it, but what can his regret do? I do see why he has so many fans and I can count myself among at least feel so bad for him. Maybe just dont take a child and abuse them just cause you think they had a better child and chance then you my dude. Ok??

The TLJ and SX extra was short and cute! Really is kind of funny of SQQ original vision of him and how he's just a little poetry and book loving guy who just wants to be spoiled.. just a little guy and SX just being like allright you keep owing me money little guy. I thought they were cute and it is very funny to see.

Airplane extras were so funny. He's just a pathetic dude I laughed so much during his extras. Also it was super funny to me that he told LBH that he should be pathetic to SQQ so SQQ will like him. It worked but WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?? MBJ being like….does this mean SQH likes me and then asking SQH being like being pathetic means you like them? SQH yeah it does! MBJ:omg he likes me. I see why Moshang is so popular. I did love that scene where SQH leaves MBJ and he freaks out on him. They had a lot of great moments.

The rest of the extras are just cute BingQui moments I liked all of these they were so cute! Binghe being Jealous of SQQ giving other people his attention being the norm. I did find it funny that Binghe started to read Regret of Chunshan outloud and being all smug about it and SQQ being flustered. It was very funny.

Airplane, why did you think the interview question was a good idea…..It was so funny that most of the questions SQQ was like I don't want to answer this and LBH just being like stop asking questions that just make Shizun mad! And getting mad at Airplane.

The Wedding Chapter was cute except for the weird sex scene. I thought it was cute SQQ whispered husband to LBH, but LBH not hearing was so sad dude. all you want he said husband just listen to his pathetic self.

Something I really liked about all these extras is it was about the world as a whole and not just the main couple. Most of them were really fun!

[cooliogirl101]

AN UPSTANDING GUY IM CHOKING. God now i want an entire saga of all this chaos. I gotta know, though, does the interest eventually become reciprocated on Sayuri's part? What does it take to convince her, or does she eventually talk to them and refuse their advances? I love how invested I am for every single one of your OC's romances even when the love interests are so different. You make each of the characters/dynamics unique and I love that! I could spend endless months reading about all of it.

The interest was honestly reciprocated from the start. She had a mini-crisis at first where she was like “Is my taste in men….bad?” before that was counteracted by her being like “Xiyan clearly shares the same taste as me so it can’t be that terrible” and “at least my taste in women is fantastic.”

She does make him work for it though. Partly because she can’t let herself be caught that easily, partly because she can tell he’s having tons of fun making up elaborate courtship rituals (and why deny him that enjoyment), and partly because she thinks executing these schemes together provides a nice bonding activity for TLJ/SXY.

(Liu Mingyan, a manic glint in her eyes, feverishly jotting down notes re: the latest chronicles of Qiu Haitang’s love life: Oh this is gonna make such good material for my new book, I’m gonna be rich.

Luo Binghe, with his head in his hands: I can’t believe I married these women in a past life)

Shipping my OCs with characters who are very, very different from each other gives me the chance to explore tons of unique dynamics, which is the most fun part of writing for me. I’m glad you enjoy reading about them!

[danmeiconfession]

I hate the way most people depict TLJ and especially SXY in AUs where they survive and raise LBH. Because they turn them into sex crazed maniacs who are borderline emotionally abusive of LBH and don't give a single fuck about his feelings, which feels so incredibly OOC

Because it seemingly almost always goes like this, when they interact with their son:

SXY: "Sorry sweety, we don't have time to care about your emotional needs, because I need to make sure all your friends can hear me peg your father."

SXY: "Oh, you want to talk about how your father and I walk all over your feelings? Can we do that after your father and I had sex with your significant other behind your back?"

TLJ: "You brought along your spouse to meet us? Perfect timing, because your mother and I had planned to have sex on the dinner table, so you 2 can join in!"

Why is that almost always the depiction of them? Because I wish I made these scenarios up myself, but I didn't. Are you really trying to tell me that the woman who literally gave her life to give her baby the chance to live, would be that kind of parent?!?

.