#in both svsss and mdzs there is an “original” version of the characters

[mxtx-posting]

I was thinking about MXTX's works as a whole and... Maybe someone smarter than me said it better, but her main hidden theme seems to be "re-do it right, this time"?

SVSSS: the original books had a certain plot. SQQ comes and goes through the story again, changing it forever.

MDZS: Wei Wuxian comes back from Death, and Lan Wangji is not going to make him escape this time. They finally communicate and have a happy ending.

TGCF: this was less straightforward to me, but then it hit me. This time it's not about the main couple. It's about the expectations Jun Wu places on Xie Lian! Jun Wu wants Xie Lian to repeat his own life, and make the same choices (but Xie Lian doesn't).

And to be fair, I find the idea of having a second chance so heartwarming - it's possibly why these books are such a comfort read to me.

[sunderwight]

thinking about reverse SVSSS AU where the demon characters are human and the human characters are demons (LBH is still both), but cultivation society operates more like MDZS so that the demon characters can preserve their ruthless clan politics and inheritance systems, and but demon society (which the formerly human characters are now part of) operates more like the ghosts in TGCF, where it's mostly a free-for-all of powerful demons establishing whatever kind of system they please in whatever space they can carve out. I think that'd preserve the meritocracy elements and "twelve different sects in a trench coat" qualities that cang qiong has as an organization.

so the peaks are instead these sort of liminal space cities which are ruled by the most powerful/influential demons, who choose their successors (at least ostensibly) based purely on talent and ability. instead of the sprawling alternate dimension demonic realms of PIDW, they're more like pocket dimensions which can only be accessed if you know the secret ways, existing in the shadows of otherwise seemingly normal towns, mountains, cities, forests, etc. humans sometimes wander into them by mistake, although whether they can get back out again or not depends a lot on which demon lord's domain they were unlucky enough to stumble upon.

Mobei Jun and Sha Hualing are still the heirs of their respective sects/clans, which are among the most powerful sects around. The CQMS peak lords are the rulers of twelve allied demon settlements. Tianlang Jun was the heir of the strongest sect, sort of like Wen Ruohan if Wen Ruohan's biggest motivation was to have his Hot Girl Summer rather than conquering everything, but after his and Zhuzhi Lang's disappearances their sect lost a lot of clout. Su Xiyan hailed from a wealthy demon phantom palace, known for its exceptional hostility towards humans (this version of HHP definitely literally eats people).

The demons-turned-humans are still exactly as cutthroat and dubious as in PIDW. Sha Hualing still wants to kill her father to take his position, Mobei Jun's uncle still tries to assassinate him, the cultivation world has an underground business in trafficking demon body parts (officially decried, but unofficially often consumed to help boost cultivation or create certain tools), the sects often go to war with one another and tend to wreak havoc on the secular human governments and societies whenever they do. All that sort of stuff.

On the humans-turned-demons end, demons in this setting are sometimes born the same way as humans -- two parents of compatible genital orientation get it on and some months later etc etc, which is how siblings like Liu Qingge and Liu Mingyan happen. But sometimes demons also just sort of manifest out of concentrated pockets of demonic energy. Some demons come from humans (SJ and YQY were both born from the unquiet ghosts of slave children), some come from animals (SQH was a pet hamster who was tormented enough to become a demon hamster, and then cultivated enough to take on a human shape), some come from collisions of powerful elemental forces such as volcanoes or floods (Su Xiyan).

So demons have a lot of apprenticeship and teacher-and-student style familial relationships, and demons looking to build families often will risk venturing out into the human realms and trying to find other isolated demons to bring into their fold. Demons alone in the human world are highly vulnerable to being hunted, killed, or enslaved. This is also why there's such a high percentage of "orphans", and contributes even more to a demon like SJ (no parents) resenting a demon like Luo Binghe (found and adopted by a kindly older demon almost right away).

So in the original PIDW, Luo Binghe is a kid who thinks he's a demon and grows up under the cruel and resentful talons of the Lord of Qing Jing, Shen Qingqiu. Every twenty or so years the demon settlements manifest much more strongly in the human realms, during which time they are a lot more vulnerable to attacks from humans. To help deal with this this, the demon rulers traditionally host big, dramatic, scary events that bring everyone within a certain geographic range together, the better to put any righteous sects off the idea of trying to single them out and attack. Most of the smaller settlements clear out entirely in preparation, leaving "ghost towns" where the buildings appear but the demons and anything too valuable to risk leaving behind are all gone.

This Demonic Alliance Conference is a time for contests, trials, matchmaking, partying, festive hunts, trading, and big displays of power. What could be a massive weakness instead becomes a big celebration, and a time for mingling and making new connections.

In PIDW, after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his cruel master, Luo Binghe attends the DAC in hopes of securing some better place for himself in demonic society. But when the righteous sects launch an unprecedented attack on the event, his human heritage is revealed, and Shen Qingqiu tosses him into the twilight space between realms in disgust. Binghe is forced to navigate the hollow and desolate place, locked into his newly-revealed and very weak human form, until he bonds with the legendary Xin Mo blade and effects his escape. Then he sets about bringing the righteous sects to heel (his bloodline means he's heir to one of the biggest sects around, even if they've fallen on hard times the past 20 or so years) and of course conquering the demon realms, and taking revenge on Shen Qingqiu, all while accumulating a record number of wives.

Shen Yuan transmigrates into Demon Lord Shen Qingqiu, ruler of Qing Jin settlement, a haunted bamboo forest in the most cursed mountain range ever.

Downsides -- he's of course destined to be dismembered and/or shoved into a pickle pot by the protagonist.

Upsides -- he's a demon with amazingly awesome demon traits! He has talons! Fangs! WINGS! Also, Binghe is a little demon bun and he is so cute, like a puppy with his fluffy wolf ears and baby claws and darling bright red eyes. Who could ever persecute such an adorable monster boy?! His tail literally wags when he's excited!

Plus Shen Yuan gets to spend as much time investigating cool beasts and other demons as he likes. He's in heaven. Well, not literally of course, but for his standards. Pretty close. Almost worth the price of admission!

[veliseraptor]

Top five spiciest untamed opinions!

man, I've been in my own little corner of fandom for long enough that I feel like I struggle a little to parse what is spicy of my opinions and what isn't, but here's a go at it

The Untamed is a show with complex, morally grey characters that's telling a slightly different but not inherently inferior story. Maybe I'm just a bit defensive about this, and I have with time come to appreciate a lot of things about the novel over the way they play out in the show, but The Untamed was the first version of the story that I fell in love with and I think at least some of the criticisms of it overstate the degree to which it morally simplifies the story. I think, whether because of requirements of censorship or other reasons, that the moral messiness of the story is subtler, I don't think it's absent, and while Jin Guangyao in particular falls victim to a pretty intense villain edit the narrative still has plenty of sympathy for him (even if the audience, all too often, does not). I think it's telling a slightly different story (as others have discussed), but I think it's a strong adaptation that still works with the underlying themes of the text.

However, that being said, The lessening of Wei Wuxian's culpability, as in the introduction of the second flautist, weakens his character. I feel like the character of Wei Wuxian as we see him in The Untamed still has the recognizable flaws of the character from the novel - I think the degree to which they're sometimes claimed to be toned down is overstated, which I think I've written some about before. He's still at least a little arrogant, causes problems, has a definite temper, and doesn't always respect other peoples' choices, among other things. But what The Untamed does do is remove some of his culpability, or at least temper it - both for Jin Zixuan's death and the massacre at Nightless City, which are two moments that contribute to a strong tragic arc in the first life, which makes for a more powerful (imo) arc in the second life. Removing, or at least lessening, Wei Wuxian's culpability for Jin Zixuan's death and Jiang Yanli's death makes him more a victim of circumstance than of his own human flaws, and at least for me, a character who is doomed by their own flaws is a far more compelling one than one who just happens to fall victim to outside forces. It makes him, I would argue, more passive and less of an active force, and I think the culpability for those two deaths - and the loss of control that causes it - makes for a more powerful narrative than that of a man who is victimized by someone else's actions.

Jin Guangyao was a good Chief Cultivator. I see people talk about him as though he was corrupt and evil and just plotting all the time, but the Bad Things™ he does mostly happen before his tenure as Chief Cultivator and, even taking those into account, have a limited impact on the world at large (with the exception of Nie Mingjue's death, but even that I would argue has more personal repercussions than broader political ones). As far as his responsibility for the cultivation world at large, we have no evidence prior to his downfall that he is negatively perceived by people, except for the fact of his birth/origins.

this is more MDZS-related than Untamed specific, but: MXTX deserves praise for writing "problematic" and messy queer sex, but it's just not hot. I don't have a whole lot to add on this one, but one of my least favorite parts of some corners of The Untamed fandom are people who are thoroughgoing MXTX antis who are quick to cry about the ~problematic~ aspects of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian's sex life (which, honestly, I think are overstated a lot of the time, as is the weirdness of the sex scenes); however, in my opinion, the sex scenes as they stand just aren't very sexy, and I don't think that's intentional (as it arguably is in SVSSS). The sex scenes may be a shortcoming in the text, perhaps, but not the one certain people think it is.

this is again a stronger argument in the novel but I think it's present in the show as well: Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian are "there but for the grace of god" foils, but not in the sense of Jin Guangyao being "Wei Wuxian if he made bad moral choices" but in the sense of "who Wei Wuxian could've been if his circumstances were different." I've definitely written about this before and how much it drives me nuts the way people treat narrative foils in this story in general as Goofus and Gallant style duos, but this is a specific one. I think Jin Guangyao is an example of a story that runs alongside Wei Wuxian's, but ends in a different place, and I think the story isn't saying that he ends in that place because of something inherently worse about Jin Guangyao, but because of the way his circumstances happen to diverge from Wei Wuxian's in specific key ways. In some ways his ending is even a near beat-for-beat rewrite of Wei Wuxian's death, and Wei Wuxian receives the grace of a second life not because of any inherent merit, but actually because of his bad reputation. I think this goes for Xue Yang, too, actually.

I absolutely know I'm forgetting things and there are probably things back in my bitchy opinions tag that I could dig out, but here's at least a few that came to mind.

[incineraryperiphery]

Danmei Rec Meme

(thank you for clearing up my misunderstanding and the tag @endless-season! Original post here)

-How long have you been into danmei, how did you get into it / what was your first danmei? It's been a year or two (or three? time is irrelevant) at this point, but TGCF was my first! Asked around on a forum for character dynamic recs when I wanted to read something different and this was the one that caught my eye. I've been voraciously devouring them since. (Reading novels is my main motivation for learning mandarin; there's far too few translated horror danmei for my tastes and even less officially done ones)

-Favourite danmei? ask me again in three months and I can guarantee i'll give you a different answer. right now, it's a three-way tie between fake slackers (low stakes modern high school identity porn), married thrice to salted fish (ancient transmigration from the pov of a villain), and i can keep you alive till the fifth watch (desperate to live young master enters an unlimited flow horror game), but MDZS occupies most of my fandom brainspace at the moment.

-Favourite couples / characters? Man, there's so many. Off the top of my head for the couples that don't include my pet noncanon ships, chi ting and yue ren (please follow the rules of the game), ren yifei and saman (the days i clear escape games pretending to be an npc), xue qianshao and hui xing (where to find the remnants of spring), wei e and the creator (folklore's no. 1 boss), and song nanzhi and gu yanqing (穿成魔尊后与反派相爱相杀 - i'm not entirely confident in my own translation of the title) Character-wise outside of those boys up there, I love zhao yelan (after being forced to marry the evil star general), fu zhiyu (buddha-like rebirth), yu fan (wait for me after school), and san san (do you have any opinion on mechanical cat ears?). (Honorary mention to shenyuan svsss even without reading the novel yet, mostly because it feels like every post I see out of that fandom makes fun of him for reading a stallion novel for the plot but that's Thee most relatable-to-me character trait i've ever seen)

-Most recently read danmei? My most recently finished one is it's my turn to take the stage and fly/it's my turn to dominate (cryofrozen team captain gets defrosted and starts playing the vr version, meets his little cousin's shameless childhood friend in said game). I just started genius strategy theory (weak as hell little genius gets finally gets his hands on a holographic game he can actually play, i think the ML is the head of a research department?) and i'm very much enjoying it, but i'm juggling a few others in my open tabs for if the mood strikes.

-Any favourite authors? Qi jing nan qu and Nian zhong, no question. I love the way they both handle all the little details and really bring out the main couples relationships through them - the only downside is the emotional rollercoasters wear me out haha. My favorites from each are don't pick up boyfriends from the trash bin and sending the divine/sendoff. I also really enjoy the way mxtx structures her novels but it always takes me a few tries to really get into them.

-Any popular danmei you aren't particularly a fan of? Anything by priest, unfortunately - no fault on their part, all their concepts are fascinating but I just bounce off every one I try.

-Anything you've been meaning to read but still haven't? I've started both svsss and erha a couple times but the stars haven't been aligned properly or something for me to finish them yet (I already know i'm going to be terribly insufferable once i actually sit down and bang out the former, it has so many of my favorite tropes).

-Choose a random (the weirder and baitier, the better) memorable scene/danmei to describe! Okay so lets say you're some washed up magician who technically transmigrated into a novel, into the body of someone who was supposed to die in the first few pages doing something ridiculously stupid. You've already made it through an instance or two, made something of a name for yourself despite everything, and now you've got the big bad number one player trying to sabotage you inside another instance. everything is dealt with and you're this close to completing the instance when you're sucked into a coffin that you've just trapped someone in. said number one is in there instead, breathing your air and threatening you and being an irritating menace about all of it. it feels like there's no way to get out but, hey, you're a magician. you'll find a way even if it's a gamble. what do you do? You set the coffin on fire behind your back. (there's other really good scenes from thriller trainee but this one's my favorite and doesn't take fifty chapters of backstory to explain)

-Are there any particular genres/tropes you enjoy / don't enjoy? I mostly read unlimited flow/horror, xianxia/xuanhuan, and esports, (and wuxia, but there's not a lot of wuxia danmei floating around) but I'll read anything if the premise sounds interesting. For tropes, I enjoy omegaverse, court intrigue, pretending to be npcs, systems, and master/disciple - I like my protags cold, ruthless, and preferably some sort of sick or disabled. Even better if the main couple tries to murder each other a few times. As for dislikes, I'm not fond of cops/law enforcement main characters, anything dealing with suicide, or bully/victim ships (though, like I said, I'll read anything if it sounds interesting enough).

-Any recommendations to give? Badly describe them in a few sentences. A couple that I don't really see crossing my dash: Support is king (low stakes vr gaming about a poisonous healer, his pining dps, and a five-year misunderstanding. same author as please follow the rules of the game) Two Long Aotians' shura fields (scummy master completes his system quests but gets shunted to an alternate timeline where he can actually care for his little disciple instead of going home, protag from the original world discovers this and is not pleased. much stripping of vests and identity porn) PUBG online romance of the century (trashy voice-con livestreamer meets his terrible gamer boss and falls in love at first listen. same author as wait for me after school, i can do it is also really fucking cute too) Every day, the marshal is a love-struck fool for me (underground supposed-to-be-dead assassin ends up married to a war hero due to an error, terrible love advice abounds. short, sweet, plot-heavy and mecha-light - i heard my fiance is super fierce is also good) After marrying the lord of the underworld (wicked unlucky exorcist gets ghost-married as a kid to protect him, turns out his promised "beautiful female ghost" is a king of the underworld. feels like the author never misses, they also wrote how to feed an abyss and the dragon lord is weak and helpless but has a big appetite) His marriage partner is scheming (nominally-straight transmigrator can't bear to let the pretty minor villain meet his book-fate and marries him about it. Chi xueyan's family is so much fun.) Non-human seeking re-employment (lazy little ghost gets sucked into a horror game after two whole days of being human, proceeds to ruin the ambience by kicking everything he comes across. shen dongqing is not stuck there with the ghosts, the other ghosts are stuck there with him.)

(tagging anyone who'd like to do this, really, I don't think I know many people into danmei outside the big ones)

[thispatternismine]

Feedback Fest 2024: 10 Fic Recs

It's been a while since I've done any kind of recs list post, so I thought I'd have a go at this. Instead of trying to pick just 10 fics as my favourites (Difficulty level: Impossible!), I decided to base it on which fics seem most overlooked, so I chose fics from my bookmarks that had under 500 kudos

Fandoms included: ATLA, SVSSS, MDZS, Watership Down, Star Wars, Good Omens, Untitled Goose Game All are complete, with a variety of ratings & themes (ranging from chill G to E with archive warnings)

Title: Gabriel & the Great Goose of Terror Fandoms: Good Omens, Untitled Goose Game Pairings: None Rating: G Wordcount: 4,363 Description: A strange package arrives in Heaven. An unnamed angel opens it and finds it empty. Not having the imagination to see what this implies the angel miracles the box away and continues with their daily duties, blissfully unaware that the horror that had originally been hiding in the box has already been unleashed.

Title: The Story of El-ahrairah & the Rabbits of Cloud Recesses Fandoms: Watership Down, MDZS Pairing: Tagged as Wangxian but it's background Rating: G Wordcount: 1,702 Description: The Black Rabbit of Inle and El-ahrairah are both very disappointed in the warren of Cloud Recesses, though for very different reasons.

Title: This Bed of Love Fandom: MDZS Pairing: Wangxian Rating: E Wordcount: 4,513 Description: Wei Wuxian sucks a string of hickies around the base of his throat, a perverse necklace that matches the one Wei Wuxian wears. Lan Wangji can’t help the way the corner of his lips curl at the giggle his husband gives when he draws back to look, happy that they are both enjoying themselves. Day 1 – Coming Untouched

Title: The Element of Change Fandoms: ATLA Pairings: Urzai, Ozai & his family Rating: T (the MCD is for canon character death) Wordcount: 6,862 Description: A think piece on if Ozai had been born a waterbender and how that would change his relationships with his family and, ultimately, his life.

Title: Gratuitous Fandoms: ATLA Pairing: Ozai/prison guards Rating: E (the pairing + rating should tell you all you need to know regarding warnings) Wordcount: 7,757 Description: In another version of events, perhaps, someone comes to his aid. Someone saves him, and he does not have to face degradation again, and again, and again. This is not that story.

Title: About the Acquired Blindness Fandoms: SVSSS Pairing: Moshang Rating: T Wordcount: 891 Description: Shang Qinghua isn't sure if he wants to know if his eye sockets are empty or not. If yes, then it is irreversible. How will he do his job then?

Title: I've Connected the Two Dots Fandoms: SVSSS Pairing: None Rating: T (CNTW) Wordcount: 1,242 Description: Airplane has a problem. However, as the Peak Lord of An Ding, he has a lot of practice dealing with problems.

Title: Twilight Sleep, Waking Nightmares Fandoms: SVSSS Pairing: Moshang Rating: M Wordcount: 6,111 Description: An alliance of young cultivators are looking for Xin Mo, and want Mobei-jun to tell them where and how to get it. It goes pretty badly for them, starting with the fact that their demon bindings and truth potions work. How do you torture a demon enough to make them shut up?

Title: Amongst the Crystals Fandoms: SVSSS Pairing: Moshang Rating: G Wordcount: 5,482 Description: Early one morning, Shang Qinghua is awoken by Mobei-Jun and taken somewhere. He doesn't know why, but he figures his King has a good reason. Never could Shang Qinghua predict what lay in wait for him.

Title: The Warm Embrace of Long, Sharp Teeth Fandoms: Star Wars Pairing: Reylo Rating: E Wordcount: 18,847 Description: There are stories on Jakku that every child knows. Younglings who wander off into the cold, barren night and never come back. Ever-shifting monsters, too terrible for the mind to hold. Stay close to the fire, my darling, stay close. Rey knew these stories, too. She just didn't realize she was in one.

[tgcfartreblogs]

hello! your tags are so precise, which is amazing! it's so easy to search or mute pretty much anything on your blog.... except genderbend/cisswap? it'd be great if you could tag it, like you do everything else, canon or not. thank you!!

Hey anon!

On my MDZS and SVSSS side blogs, I tag gender swap, but I don't tag them for TGCF because there's canonical gender mutability. Figuring out a consistent, logical, non-offensive way to tag gender swaps would therefore be very challenging, especially for Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan.

For example: which gender would I tag as "gender swap" for Shi Qingxuan? They were born male, but indicate multiple times they're more comfortable in their female form. So, which is the "swapped" gender? Or do I tag them BOTH as "gender swapped"? Or do I just not use the "gender swap" tag for Shi Qingxuan while applying it to other characters? If so, which other characters does it apply to? Is an AU where Shi Qingxuan finally convinces Xie Lian to switch to a female body a "gender swap," with everything that would imply, or is it just "the same Xie Lian in a body that has breasts"? Which leads to...

For another example: it's also canon that Hua Cheng has chosen, at times, to present as female, but that wouldn't change that Hua Cheng is a man (at least in my opinion/interpretation of canon - there's little indication that he views his gender with the same fluidity that Shi Qingxuan does); whether his body has boobs or not, Hua Cheng would still be a man (again, based on my personal view of canon) when someone does canon-based gender swapping artwork. Therefore, should I tag "canonical" female!body!Hua Cheng as gender swap, but tag modern ones as gender swapped? Where would I draw a line? What if the artist doesn't give enough information for me to tell?

Even if I opt for a relatively neutral version of this (such as "male shi qingxuan" and "female shi qingxuan" as the tags) I end up in a morass, especially since the logical extension of that is that I'd then have to tag every single character post with their presumed gender, which means I'd have to presume that gender, which means...well. You get the idea.

From a blog moderation stand point, what to consider a "gender swap" when characters exist in a canon where they can change their gender presentation/appearance on a whim is extremely challenging - basically a minefield. If I choose to tag, it leads to me having to approach ethical questions like "is this person 'inherently' a given gender and if so, what should I base that assessment on?" And once I get into that kind of issue, there's basically NO answer I can give that won't offend SOMEONE. It's a rock-and-a-hard-place situation for me as a moderator, and rather than face the risk, I opted to just...not...across the board. I was sadly aware that this could pose problems for people who are especially uncomfortable with gender swaps, but I also figured that in a fandom where such gender switching is canon, the percentage of people who'd BE that uncomfortable with it would presumably be relatively low, and so ultimately I went for no gender-related tags. It does also make it harder for people who WANT to find that kind of content but again...yeah, same issues, I'm sorry.

I HAVE been considering adding a Hualesbians tag, since I figure people who really like that might like to be able to find that iteration of the ship specifically, and also because it conveniently sidesteps the gender issues outlines above - I'm not making a "judgement call" on which is their "actual" gender by tagging it as a "gender swap" (or cisswap or genderbend, all of which imply that the "original" gender is their "actual" gender) and just jumps straight to, "whatever their canon gender(s) I can at least clearly say that they are Hualian and they are Lesbians, as indicated by the artist themself."

TL:DR: there is no way to tag male/female/genderbend/cisswap/genderswap for the TGCF fandom without risking imposing my personal views of the characters onto the artwork people produce, which then will lead to me pissing people off and having to deal with the consequences, and that's a really fucking uncomfortable position for me to be in, so instead, I've opted to just not tag anything related to this on the TGCF blog. (I do, fairly inconsistently, tag trans versions...but I also often forget to do that one on this blog, oops.)

-unforth

[no--envies]

It’s been a while since I read SVSSS and I plan to reread it when I get the officially translated copies. MXTX has a really good sense of humor and she nailed the parody aspect of the novel, though I also enjoyed the more intense and tragic parts.

Personally, I love the premise of the story: a guy transmigrating into the body of the villain of a popular novel and having to do all he can to avoid his terrible fate, despite the obstacles presented by the system. It sets up a clear goal and a lot of potential conflicts.

Unlike the other two novels written by MXTX, SVSSS doesn’t have a lot of side characters and most of them aren’t very fleshed out, but I really like both Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe (though I don’t care so much for them as a couple). Shen Yuan’s reactions to the hardships he has to face are extremely entertaining. I think it’s kind of a pity we don’t know almost anything about his backstory, but on the other hand this is fitting given the overall tone of the novel and the fact that it’s not too deep. Luo Binghe is an interesting and well-written character: despite him being presented as the archetype of the overpowered protagonist with a huge harem, I found his struggles much more compelling than I expected. His character arc is about overcoming his trauma and abandonment issues, which are explained very well by his past. Every time young!Luo Binghe appeared in a flashback I wanted to give him a hug.

Also, SVSSS has surprisingly deep themes for a novel that is supposed to be mostly a light-hearted parody. The themes related to the cycle of violence in particular have several characters that illustrate them in a compelling way, like Shen Jiu, Tianlang-Jun and even Luo Binghe himself. The novel draws a clear parallel between Shen Jiu and the original Luo Binghe by showing Shen Jiu’s past, as both were abused during their childhood and perpetuated the cycle of violence as adults, leading to a lot of tragedies. Shen Yuan’s own role in the narrative highlights the importance of kindness and compassion because of how his actions impacted Luo Binghe and made him turn out completely different from how he was portrayed in the original version of Proud Immortal Demon Way.

Overall SVSSS is a good novel, deeper and more complex than it might seem at first glance. Its pacing is neither too fast nor too slow and the plot is never boring. MXTX really showed her talent since her first work, though MDZS is her masterpiece in my opinion.

[akatsuki-shin]

I... I don’t often call out anyone specifically using social media before, but... I saw this among the reblogs in my first post about MXTX novels English release announcement and I feel that this is just too much...

I’m not going to tag this with the fandom tags because this is literally just my personal rant, and I don’t want unpleasant things to appear when people are happily browsing the tags.

I also censored the person’s blog name. It’s not like I want people to mass attack them.

But I do have some things I want to say about this kind of mindset.

And this is gonna be a long post, so I’ll cut it with "Read More” later below as not to disturb anyone’s browsing experience.

Why do they have to split the books into multiple volumes?

First, you do realize that the original Chinese version and other languages versions are also in multiple volumes that don’t always be published on the same date, right?

SVSSS has 3 volumes, MDZS has 4 volumes, TGCF has 5 volumes.

With the English release, both SVSSS and MDZS get +1 volume while TGCF gets +3 volumes.

Why you ask?

Have you ever considered how long a single Chinese word would be if written in alphabets?

The word “人” in Chinese only needs 1 (one) character, while in English it would translate to “P E O P L E” = 5 (five) characters.

The word “知己” in Chinese only needs 2 (two) characters, while in English it would translate to “C O N F I D A N T E” = 10 characters, or “S O U L M A T E” = 8 characters.

Now apply this to an entire novel. FYI, TGCF has more than 1 million word count in Chinese, so you can do the math by yourself.

I mean, just go watch the donghua or live action in YouTube. One single sentence in the Chinese sub is often translated to two or more lines in the English subtitle.

And have I mentioned that the English release will have:

Glossary

Footnotes

Character Guides

And I’m going to repeat this once again: In China and other countries that already get their official releases, it is also NOT always all released on the same date as a single set/box.

So yes, (not) surprise! For the Chinese release and official releases in other countries, you also often need to purchase multiple times, pay shipping fee multiple times, and wait for certain period of times until all volumes are released.

It doesn’t only happen to MXTX novels, it happens to almost all novels, be it danmei or not.

Why don’t they just wait for translations to finish and release it all at the same time/as a box set? Why the span of two years?

On my part, I already say above that in China and other countries that already get their official release, it’s also not always published all on the same date.

Other than that, I’m not an expert at book publishing, much less when the publisher is not from my own country. But maybe consider the following:

They’re releasing 3 (three) hugely popular IPs all at the same time. Maybe the preparations take more time and effort to ensure everything is flawless?

Since it is very rare (or maybe never, cmiiw) for danmei novels to be published in English, maybe the publisher is testing the market first? Because if they already release them as a huge bundle from the start and it somehow flops, the loss would be very big. If it works well, then good! Maybe for future danmei release, they will consider making a box set or releasing them within shorter timeframe. 

In terms of marketing, if they wait another 2 years to release it all at once, will the momentum still be there? You can say “so in the end it’s all about money”, but if not sales number and money, what else should the publisher expect to receive for their work? They’re already putting a lot of effort buying all three IPs from the Chinese publishers, proofread or even translate some from scratch, pay translators, editors, illustrators, printing companies, etc. If it’s not selling well simply because they release it at the wrong time, aren’t all these efforts going to be wasted? And you can bet there will be no more danmei published in English if their first try already flops merely because of losing the momentum.

Are there any other rules or regulations they need to comply that prevents them from releasing everything in one go? But once again, even in China and other countries, it is also not always all released in one go, so this argument is already invalid from the start.

But they make it so expensive like this!

I’m sorry to break it to you, but I’ve compared the prices to MDZS Japanese release + TGCF Thai release and... The price isn’t really that much different.

Btw, I’m using Google’s currency converter, in case anyone wants to know where does my calculation comes from.

Okay, so here’s MDZS Japanese version from CD Japan:

One volume of MDZS Regular ver. cost 1760 yen. This is 15,96 USD before shipping. There’s only like $4 difference.

There’s also the Exclusive ver. that cost 3660 yen (32,92 USD) but we’re not gonna talk about that because they’re basically making you pay for the bonus, which is some acrylic panels and illustration cards.

Now here’s TGCF Thai version from Sense Book:

Translation using Google Chrome page translate:

One volume of TGCF costs 360 baht. This is 10.77 USD before shipping. So there’s about $9.22 difference.

Again, notice the difference of word/sentence length in the Thai words and English alphabet.

"But there’s still difference in price and other releases usually gets merchandise!” - Correct me if I’m wrong, but the US is probably one of the most expensive countries in the world. Do you think the materials, printings, and manpower cost is the same with other countries? Especially compared to one in Southeast Asia.

“But it’s xxxx times more expensive than the original Chinese version!” - Excuse me, the original Chinese version doesn’t need to pay for translators, proofreaders and editors with multilingual skills, and purchase the IPs? If you think it’s more worth buying the Chinese version, then by all means go ahead.

------------

Some last words...

I’m not looking down on those in difficult financial situation, but hey, I’m not filthy rich either? I come from a third world country and even if I’m a working adult, I’m still in working middle class + I got my parents to take care of. My country’s currency is literally just a tiny 0.000069 USD per 1 Indonesian Rupiah.

Every single fandom merchandise that you see me bought, either I’ve saved up for that or I sacrificed other things to buy that. I just don’t show the struggle to you guys because why should I? I’m just here to have fun about the fandom I love, not to flex my struggling financial condition.

These official English release of MXTX novels? All 17 books are going to cost me almost HALF of my monthly salary. But hey, I think it’s a good thing that they didn’t release it all at once, so that I can save up between months to purchase them all and plan my spending better.

If you feel the price is expensive, especially if you have to ship from outside North America, consider the following:

Book Depository provide free worldwide shipping

The books’ ISBN numbers are all available in the publisher’s website, just show it to you local bookstore and ask if they can order it for you

Plus, there are already hundreds of generous fans doing free giveaways in Twitter, even the publishers are helping to signal boost this. You can go and try your luck if you’re really desperate.

Lastly, I know how much love we all have for our favorite fandoms, but remember that fandom merchandise is NOT your primary needs.

You are NOT obliged to purchase any fandom merchandise if you can’t afford it and you should ALWAYS prioritize your primary needs.

Also, if you still want to read the fan-translations that are still available, alright go ahead. But remember that the translators themselves already said fan translations in English are now illegal. You can read it. We all consume pirated contents at one point. But don’t flex about it and diss the official release just because you can’t afford it.

I don’t know if the person who made that reblog tags are going to come at me or not, but even if they do, I literally don’t care. I’m not gonna waste my time arguing with someone with that kind of mindset and will block them right on the spot.

Also Idgaf if they call me out or talk behind my back, I literally don’t know them, so I don’t care.

End of rant.

[razberryyum]

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

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

READ THE NOVEL

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

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

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

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

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

WATCH THE ANIME (aka “Donghua” in Chinese)

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

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

READ THE MANGA (aka “Manhua” in Chinese)

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

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

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

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

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA

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

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

Official links on Maoer FM:

Season 1: Maoer FM S1 Link

Season 2: Maoer FM S2 Link

Season 3: Maoer FM S3 Link

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

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

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

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

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

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

MORE THE UNTAMED CONTENT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SVSSS Translation: BC Novels Link

TGCF Translation chaps 1 - 24:  Sakhyulations Link

TGCF Translation chaps 25 - End: Suika & Rynn Link

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

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

Happy watching/reading/listening!  

[youareunbearable]

Catch me not having a clue who any of these gods(?) and people are, but still sitting here like, "I ship that pretty one with the gruff one, and that brown haired one with the other(?) gruff one?" without knowing names or what this is except the fanart I see you reblog, because this fandom apparently has lots of nice art

Fam i have no idea what ur talking about or when u sent this im so sorry asfkjhfkjhf but i thiiiinnnkkkk??????? it’s “Heavens Official Blessing” or  Tiān Guān Cì Fú (TGCF for tagging stuff) its originally a chinese gay novel that is soooooooo long by the author  Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX) who wrote 2 (two?????) other novels that I know of that are also gay historical fantasy but i personally havent actually read TGCF???? im just watching the anime and looking at the wiki and reading fanfics so i have a vague idea whats going on but not really???? so i cant really give a good review BUT i LOVE THE CHARACTERS MXTX WRITES SO MUCH AFHAFKFHKFAKF IM SO SORRY IM SHIT WITH TAGGING SO U HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IM HYPER FIXATING ON BUT

LISTEN

LISTEN 

LISTEN

Pretty one and the gruff one im THINKING is He Xuan (or Ming Yi/ Ming-Xiong/Ming Bro) for the grumpy one and Shi Qingxuan for the pretty one and both are kinda gender fluid?? (more Shi Qingxuan but they both change their forms to be both women and men which is Iconic and the anime put her in the TRANS FLAG COLOUR instead of her canon white and green which is ICONIC) AND THHEYRE SO TRAGIC AND HOT AND I CRY JUST THINKING ABOUT THEIR STORY LIKE AFHDFKJAFDSGS like i want to kinda read the book just for them, the two super minor characters, but i also read somewhere that their story doesn’t really have a clean ending so im also holding back from just getting Emotionally Hurt because im a cancer and i know it’ll wreck me

I think The Two Gruff Idiots are Feng Xin (dark haired gruff boy) and Mu Qing (brown haired gruff boy) and theyre both martial gods and both knew each other for over 800 years and both tried to take care of Actual Human And Heavenly Disaster Xie Lian, failed, and tried to do it again 800 years later but with stupid glasses with moustaches in hopes that Xie Lian cant figure out that they care about him but OOPS Xie Lian does in fact have the braincell of the three of them fajfafjajf 

Heres the link to watch the anime, there are 11 eps rn but it updates every weekend (I dont actually know when but i watch it on sundays) Make sure u have ur ad block on tho lol there is a manga too and the art style is TO DIE FOR like its GORGEOUS but its roughly at the same pace as the anime so eh

Heres where to read the whole thing online, just a warning its BIG AS FUCK like 244? plus extras I think?? 

I’d also recommend MXTX’s other books!

Mo Dao Zu Shi (or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/ The Untamed/MDZS) is both a Book as well as an Anime (the whole thing is on youtube) , a Live Action which you can watch on Netflix (look up Untamed, also a warning, the plot is a little different from the book and anime cause of uhhh censorship?? also i guess to make it more live drama friendly, my friends an i binged it and really liked it, but some of the fandom doesn’t), a manga which is not finished I think???? idk im not caught up, and a fucking chinese AUDIO DRAMA LIKE BITCH ITS SO WELL DONE but i have to stop listening sometimes cause like there is a difference between watching/reading characters kiss, and then like just hearing them, i get so embarrassed i have to skip the kissing scenes and god forbid i accidentally click on the smutty extras alfjajlfjalfjaljf u can find it on youtube, i linked the one i listen to but i havent finished it and i don’t think it’s all of it, but you can find other episodes/chapters easily

Its about 1 Dumb Yet So Smart gay/bi man (Wei Wuxian) who honestly tries his fucking best, fucks up everything, dies for over a decade, and then is forcefully brought back to life to solve a murder mystery with the guy who has been in Super Gay Love with him since they were teens (Lan Zhan), a bunch of teens Who Are Just Honestly Here For A Good Time And Yet (Lan Juniors, Jin Ling, and Best Boy Ouyang Zizhen ) while badly hiding his real identity from all the people he knows, including his foster brother (Jiang Cheng) who is out for blood and hunting his ass down with a whip and also Lan Zhan who is travelling with him. Also the Killer. There is a killer on the loose and is willing to murder whoever to keep their secrets. Also Nie Huaisang. I adore him and his brother Nie Mingjue, if there is one bitch u gotta remember from this summary it’s this little twink (he and his brother also have a fucking spin off movie from the live action drama THAT I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO FIND A ENGLISH SUB VERSION AND ITS BEEN KILLING ME SINCE I STARTED WATCHING THIS SHOW LAST YEAR. GOOGLE GIVE ME MY FAVOURITE TWINK AND HIS BEAR OF A BROTHER HAVING A FUN FAMILY ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!)

My Personal Current Favourite is Scum Villain’s Self Saving System (SVSSS) which is SOOOOOOO FUNNY Like it’s not as popular cause the comic was discontinued, and the anime looks like its from 2005 with the weird 3D animation but its my current comfort media!!! 

Its basically about a spite reading millennial (Shen Yuan) who died after reading a REALLY awful popular cheesy smut harem novel (think like 50 shade series but worse cause the protag had 600 wives) and was forced into the body of a minor but important villain (the protagonist’s teacher, Shen Qingqiu) from the novel who was fated to die with all his limbs cut off and his eyes and tongue plucked out and is told he has to fix the story so its not trash, he reasonably freaks the fuck out and hugs the protagonists (Luo Binghe) thigh so hard he turns him gay without realizing. Sadly, he does have to make sure certain plot points happen, which fucks him over a lot,  and he thinks Luo Binghe still wants to kill him instead of love him cause he has the Emotional Intelligence of a Rock, but its so funny reading about him handling all the awful tropey stuff, like imagine u have to be a character in My Immortal But With Porn?????? without breaking out of character too much?? I wouldn’t be able to handle it ajhakfkfhjfj He also finds out that he’s not the only transmigrator in the novel either, but it doesn’t matter cause theyre both So Fucking Stupid Collectively but everyone would honestly die for the both of them

warning for this story though, the main relationship is a teacher/student relationship, but nothing happens until the student is in his 20s and also kinda not his student anymore cause he’s running hell??? but if that squicks u out i totally understand and offer you to PLEASE still enjoy some of this media, and instead of the BingQiu ship, I offer you the LiuQiu one, where both me and the main character cry over how a beautiful man/fellow immortal lord loves the main character so much that he literally fought every day for 5 years to be by his side and I Think Thats Beautiful and I kinda like this ship more than the main one tbh PLEASE just look at the art for Liu Qingge because i love him so much, he’s like if you took Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng from MDZS and mashed them into one beautiful man the author is trying to tell me is straight but u take one look at him And Tell Me Otherwise

[nyerus]

Hey I originally followed you for YOI stuff and since that seems to be on haitus, I have seen you and a lot of people rebloing stuff about a different anime or manga (i think) with different mlm relationships? I think they're two diff shows and I've heard about mdzs before. But lately youve been reblogging stuff from a manga tagged tgcf and it looks pretty cool--so i was wondering how I could get into it and what its about? Does it have actual gay charas?

Hello! I’m sorry for the late response! This morphed from a simple answer into a beginner guide of sorts, so I hope you don’t mind! I know there’s like 500000 guides out there, but I figured I’d give it a shot too! ❤

So the stuff you’ve been seeing everywhere is indeed MDZS or related to it–including on my own blog! (I promise when YOI comes back from war, I’ll be all over that again ;o;!!!)

So these works are all by the same author, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (MXTX) and they are separate danmei (i.e. Chinese BL) novels, though they share a lot of similarities between them:

MDZS (Mó Dào Zǔ Shī) – Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

TGCF (Tiān Guān Cì Fú) – Heaven Official’s Blessing

SVSSS – Scum Villian’s Self-Saving System

All of them are complete and fan translated, and I’ll answer your last question first: yes, they have actual gay characters! In the novels, the main couples end up canonically married! \o/ In some of the adaptations, their romantic relationships are also maintained (e.g. the manhuas (Chinese graphic novel)), though censorship is present.

Links will be added below this post! Grab some popcorn, this is long!

･:*:･ﾟ’★🐇MDZS🐇★･ﾟ’･:*:･

MDZS《魔道祖师》is definitely the most popular work by MXTX, as it has the most adaptations. You’ve almost certainly been seeing gifs and photosets from its donghua (Chinese animation) or live action the most. However, it has a manhua and audio drama (in both Chinese and Japanese) as well!

Synopsis: Reviled as the infamous Yiling Laozu, Wei Wuxian harnessed the forbidden dark power of demonic cultivation. Once the cultivation world decided he was too dangerous to leave alone, he was hunted down, and a terrible battle ensued that cost Wei Wuxian his life—and the lives of many others. 13 years later, he is resurrected under mysterious circumstances into the body of the pariah Mo Xuanyu. Now with this second chance at life (and while hiding his real identity), Wei Wuxian has to uncover the truth about a powerful malevolent spirit. It may just be the key to revealing a series of heinous secrets hidden from the cultivation world for years. And while the world may still hate him for crimes he didn’t commit, there’s one person who’s on his side—the illustrious Hanguang-jun, Lan Wangji—and is willing to stand by him against all odds. The two have a long and complex history, and Wei Wuxian is unsure of Lan Wangji’s motivations for helping him. But it couldn’t be more simple: respect and love.

Scene from the donghua.

Still from the live action, called “Chén Qíng Lìng”/“CQL”/”The Untamed.”

Panel from the manhua.

Art from the Chinese audio drama.

The great thing about MDZS is that you can really pick your poison in terms of what adaptation you want to get started with. If you are absolutely brand-new to the danmei scene, then starting with the donghua or manhua may be your best bet (both are ongoing). The novel of course is the most beloved, being the source, but all the adaptations have their own charms! They’re all worth checking out, and will keep you busy for quite a while.

･:*:･ﾟ’★🌸TGCF🌸★･ﾟ’･:*:･

Now, for TGCF《天官赐福》—that’s where my photosets are coming from: the ongoing manhua that started in October. There’s a donghua planned for late this year, and a live action in talks (info about that is largely unknown, but is slated for production sometime after the donghua release). TGCF actually has the same deal structure as MDZS apparently, so we’ll be getting an audio drama as well if that’s true.

Synopsis: Talented and virtuous, Crown Prince Xie Lian first ascended to the heavens when he was only 17. Once the darling of the earth and heavens for his boundless skill and purity of heart, he ended up falling from grace—not once, but twice! Subsequently, he became the laughing stock of the three realms. Spending almost 800 years roaming the earth and collecting scraps, he becomes known as the pitiful “rubbish god” and “god of misfortune.” No one could have expected Xie Lian to ascend for a third time, but fate seems to have something in store for this disgraced yet compassionate immortal. Thankfully, he is not alone, as the widely-feared ghost king, Hua Cheng, seems to have a special interest in helping him. The two of them embark on a series of adventures that unravel the secrets of their world, and of themselves.

Panel from the manhua.

Scene from the Donghua PV.

The novel for TGCF is a great place to start, especially considering how the manhua is still in it’s early stages (just starting it’s 2nd arc as of writing this post). The novel is long, incredibly well-written, and well-translated. The manhua is absolutely stunning, and follows the novel very closely thus far.

･:*:･ﾟ’★🎋SVSSS🎋★･ﾟ’･:*:･

The underrated sibling of the three, SVSSS《人渣反派自救系統 》has only the novel to interact with for right now. A donghua is planned for this year. There was a manhua, but it was cancelled due to some problems with the publisher afaik. Word on the street is that they’re searching for a new team for it, so we’ll continue to pray!!!

Synopsis: Shen Yuan is an avid reader of the web novel Proud Immortal Demon Way. The novel revolves around the protagonist Luo Binghe, a kind child who is tormented endlessly by his Shizun (teacher/mentor) Shen Qingqiu, until he turns into a powerful demon lord and exacts his violent revenge. While initially a fan of the story, Shen Yuan hates the unsatisfactory ending. Upon dying suddenly, he finds himself transmigrated into the novel, at the behest of The System—a sci-fi interface which gives him missions and directives. Unfortunately, he ends up in the place of the cruel Shen Qingqiu out of all people! This new Shen Qingqiu now has to use his knowledge of the novel to navigate around the plot, within the restrictions that The System has implemented. He has to find a way to ensure a better ending, if he wants to keep this second chance at life. His plan for doing this is to be as kind and encouraging as possible to the innocent Luo Binghe, who quickly takes a shine to this new Shen Qingqiu. Even after forced to the dark side, and despite the tension between them after this, Luo Binghe won’t let anyone else touch his beloved Shizun.

Cover of the Thai release of the novel.

SVSSS only really has the novel to interact with as of right now. There’s currently an excellent re-translation in progress by tumblr user Faelicy! If you want to get started now, however, you can read what she’s done so far and then swap over to the old translation afterward.

･:*:･ﾟ’★NOTES★･ﾟ’･:*:･

• ALL three novels are intended for an R-18+ audience ONLY. Other adaptations are safe for minors over 16 years of age.

• Please be aware that the novels may contain potentially triggering content. Feel free to ask me for content warnings if you need them.

• All three of these are totally different from one another and only share common themes typical of the wuxia/xianxia genres.

• The original Chinese raws of MDZS and SVSSS are no longer available for purchase on JJWXC (publishing site). You can find print versions on Taobao. TGCF, however, is still available!

• If you’d like more info on anything, please reach out to me! I’m happy to help.

• LINKS WILL BE ADDED BELOW THIS POST.

[xiyao-feels]

I am so sorry to burden you with more tu questions but what is the fatal journey? why is it not canon? what does it erase about jgy or nhs...? how many iterations of the untamed/mdzs are there???

No, not at all!! I'm happy to answer your questions. I'm probably not the best person to tell you how many iterations of MDZS there are, but I'll do what I can.

So, to answer your last question first: there are several versions. The original is a webnovel, 魔道祖师/Mo Dao Zu Shi (usually given in English as The Founder of Demonic Cultivation or The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and often abbreviated MDZS in English fandom), written by 墨香铜臭/Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (often abbreviated MXTX). You can find a complete English translation of it here, at the Exiled Rebels website. There are various other ongoing English translations; I've been following the Taming Wangxian translation here (TOC here, and you can follow them on tumblr here), and I very much appreciate the opportunity to see both translations.

In fact, MDZS as we know it today is actually a significantly revised and expanded of the first version of MDZS they published. My understanding is that MXTX prefers this second, edited version and consider it the canonical version, and if people are talking about the MDZS novel they are almost certainly talking about this one, but if you're curious I believe at least parts of the first version are being translated here. See also this post talking about some of the differences between the two versions, although note I can't personally confirm this as I haven't actually read the first version.

(MXTX has also written a couple of other webnovels, by the way; 人渣反派自救系统/The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System/SVSSS (I don't think I've ever seen this one referred to by the pinyin or the pinyin abbreviation), written before MDZS, and 天官赐福/Tian Guan Ci Fu/Heaven's Official Blessing/TGCF, written after MDZS.)

I am not actually super well-informed about the versions of MDZS that aren't MDZS or CQL (though I keep meaning to check out the audio drama!) but including the webnovel, there are to my knowledge...and broadly speaking....five. With the exception of CQL (陈情令/Chen Qing Ling/The Untamed/CQL), I believe they are all named after MDZS. So:

-There's MDZS the webnovel

-There's CQL

-There's MDZS the donghua

-There's MDZS the manhua

-There's MDZS the audio drama, which I believe you can actually buy this one from the west?

Oh, right, and there's a like twenty-episode special edition of CQL that just focuses on the Wangxian.

I believe there's a mobile game in development, as well.

I remember a post discussing the various versions, and pointing out that most of them are called after MDZS and that the audio drama is really really popular in China but I... didn't...save my links again, and I can't find it, argh.

See this post from wherever--the--chaos--is and this post from the-social-recluse with links to MDZS and its various spinoffs! The latter also mentions an audiobook in Chinese; unfortunately I don't know a lot about it or if it's a different version or what, and googling mostly gets me fans doing recordings of the MDZS novel so I'm having trouble finding further information.

Fatal Journey and Living Dead are spin-off movies of CQL, created due to CQL's popularity. FJ focuses on the Nie brothers, and on NHS' discovery that JGY is music-poisoning NMJ; LD focuses on WN and LSZ' journey, post-canon, though I don't think people incorporate it into their understanding of the characters nearly as often as they do for FJ.

To answer your erasure question...well. Having now watched the film, I can say with some confidence that what it erases about JGY, NHS and for that matter NMJ is very nearly everything. That's the short version. The long version, containing my analysis of how it does that, will hopefully be up at some point soon-ish.

[peihoeming]

Hi, thank you so much for answering my asks. If you don't mind can I ask the why you like those characters (your top 5) from mdzs, tgcf, and svss?

I’ll try to be as brief and concise as possible!

1: SVSSS

Liu Qingge: I have a soft spot for badass warlords I cannot lie. And fierce and loyal characters. Devoted, but a bit of a tsundere. He’s a delight, he just hits all the spot for me to love him. Yue Qingyuan: Who allowed him to make me cry?!? Both the original and the svsss version are so tragic. I really hoped YQY could have some happiness, but that didn’t happen -even if he deserved it. Again, the same thing I said about LQG just way way softer. Shen Yuan: I hardly like main characters, but this dumb idiot!!!! Gotta respect him and his theatrical dramatic persona. Original Shen Qingqiu: I love bastards. Original Luo Binghe: I love bastards x2 + blame the contrastast with the whimpy Luo Binghe we get in the SVSSS universe.

2: MDZS

Lan Xichen: Find me a more gracious and composed and honest man in this book - you can’t.  Xue Yang: I love bastards x3 + it’s an extreme result of neglect and power play from the sects but the fact that he was able to stay 2/3 years with XXC only shows that he could have been someone different in different circumstances. Xiao Xingchen: So soft, so gentle, so naive, so righteous. So tragic. Jiang Cheng: Dude grows up neglected by his father, oppressed by his mother, gets ditched by his someone he considered a brother, his sister dies, his sect gets destroyed. Dude turns out actually pretty fine given the circumstances. Anger issues are justified. Lan Wangji: Once I read SVSSS it was clear to me that Lan Wangji is a polished version of LQG.

3: TGCF Pei Ming: He’s not the fuckboy everyone wants him to be!!! He fucks around, sure, but he’s far from being a fuckboy! In fact he has some good damn ethics in a book where almost everyone -main character included- did some pretty fucked up shit. Mu Qing: I love sassy sarcastic assholes. Everytime he rolls his eyes I am happy. I really love how he lived 800 years with an inferiority complex because he thought so low of himself (and badly of XL and FX) that he misundestood everything that went down in Xian Le. Listen he TRIED to do good things and got fucked over because he set up precedents of being a bastard. Xie Lian: Fuck the “all the pain and misery made him kind”. Xie Lian is angry, pissed off, he is jealous, he is still arrogant, but learnt (the hard way) to keep himself in check. You know how book 1 ends up with the cliffhanger of Xie Lian killing or not Qi Rong host? And book 3 starts with him not doing it after book 2 angst? THAT’S THE GOOD SHIT. Xie Lian ACTIVELY CHOOSES to be kind, to offer the other cheek because he knows how easily he could not do that. He goes around with HIS OWN NOOSE AS HIS ONLY SPIRITUAL WEAPON. That’s enough. He Xuan: Oly fucking hell this mastermind of a tragic character! Is he a villain? Is he a hero? Is he a victim? ALL OF THE ABOVE. MXTX made a fantastic job with his story and plot and reveal. So damn complex.  Hua Cheng: I love characters who are devoted and Hua Cheng is by definition. I wish we had more of Ghost King Hua Cheng and less of the Hua Cheng who waited for Xie Lian because HC shines when he can be his own character.

[vroomian]

(headdesk slam) Yes, that was 2/2 percent didn’t even realize I forgot to add it in the message until after I sent it and spent like 5 mins internally screaming at myself. I’m a mess of a human being tbh. Really? I’m surprised because it feels like Xi fits perfectly in this AU. Xi as accidental cryptid is the best thing, in both worlds. That’s a relief to hear. My anxiety and I don’t get along so I tend to go to worst possible scenario. You’ll probably regret that soon enough. 1/2

I’m like a magpie if something catches my interest and I’ll fuss over it and go all crazy. Especially now, seeing that you did that hob oneshot and mdzs that is two of the main three bl web novels that I now of. Like, of the three I’ve only fully read svsss and my mind immediately went to wonder where Xi would fit in that verse and at this point he’d totally be where the biggest amount of knowledge is and that my mind went ‘what if Xi was head disciple of Qing Jing Peak?’ 2/?

But that’s pretty unlikely given Xi’s desperate avoidance of feelings, plot, and responsibility. Though I could totally see him as a reluctant head disciple and desperately trying to avoid plot. Plus, definitely the first to notice that something would be off with this new Qingqiu. That said, bullying in his peak would not fly with him so I could see Binghe crushing on this unknown elder disciple.

3/3 I’m sorry I don’t want to make it seem like I want to push you to write another AU when you’ve got enough on your hands. My mind just just went ‘ooh what if this happened?’ And I wanted to share my thoughts with you because I think it’s interesting. So yeah, again feel free to ignore this. I’m like that guy from the meme with the pictures on the wall and red thread when my brain goes nuts lol.

long ask so this goes under the cut

okay there are a million different ways this question could go, because like. is yrz female in this universe? is he male? is he older than the main characters? is he younger? which sect is he living near? is his family nice or assholes? which version of the story is he in? the sssvs version or the actual original demon path novel (or whatever it’s been a while since i read the novel)??? does yrz get a system??? 

because the answers to those questions change the story drastically 

okay so lets do two versions 

one: it’s sssvs. yrz has a ‘background character system’ or something.  he’s gotta have a system otherwise he wouldn't get without a thousand li of cang qiang sect. so this systems chooses him (lets say he’s a guy in this universe) because its low key and yrz is low key and it was like hey lets be low key together!

lol system. 

lol. 

but the system and yrz get along pretty well, and they get into the peak they want -- which is Wan Jian peak, because if yrz can’t join the library peak because of Plot reasons, he’s going with hsi second love. Swords! plus i don’t think there are literally any named characters from the story, except the peak lord. 

so. timeline wise, i think that none of the peak-lords have ascended yet, so yrz does his natural thing --- he over performs and becomes the head disciple for wan jian peak  as consequence and it’s literally just in time for the former peak lords to ascend, so yrz is like. stuck. as a peak lord. 

both the system and yrz are horrified and confused as to how this happened. or, no, by then the system understands the Mistake it made in choosing yrz. on paper yrz is very unassuming! but in reality yrz has no chill. he’s never even heard of the concept of chill. he does everything at 110%.

I think that the bulk of this story takes place waaaay before the sssvs cannon, and lbh is sir not appearing in this fic. instead its -- liu qingge! and mu qingfang! both??? both is good! i think he meets lqg first, when he challenges yrz to a spar in the middle of a high stakes missing because lqg is a meathead jock at that age, and yrz is like. no? do your job? dumbass. (yrz has no idea who this shouty brat is, because the system is taking a nap. it wakes up and kicks itself for leaving yrz alone to do stuff.) yrz is older than lqg and kicks his ass because... well. because it’s hilarious really. so he gains a lqg shaped stalker. 

yrz has a lot of interest in both sparring and healing, and with lqg following him around, yrz spends a lot of time at the healing peak and meets mqf there. mqf gets a huge crush almost immediately but never said anything. it’s not surprising that yrz quickly bonds with these totally cool new disciples -- and then learns that both of the are the succeeding disciples for their peaks. oops. 

system gives up. 

version two: bing-ge edition! 

no system this time around and yrz stays far far away from the cang qiong. he joins a small sect to learn than fucks off to have adventures by himself as a rouge cultivator. so, male version again BUT yrz gets cursed or something and gets the ability to change gender at will because that’s funny and useful. also you know. porn world written by a “straight” guy. there are reasons for that kind of curse imma just gloss over. 

then the plot happens. all of immortal demon path’s many, many chapters are playing around in the background of yrz’s life, but she manages to stay out of it -- until one night yrz gets accidentally recruited by a cult dedicated to bringing down the evil demon lord lbh, because this cult has a book yrz is after. she ends up being used as bait for lbh (because he eats virgins now according to rumors. he’s up to wife number 249 by now so it’s not wrong !) 

yrz gets ‘saved’ by lbh, who’s kind of smirking and going ‘oh, no need to thank me, it was what anyone would have done,’ while totally expecting sex. yrz is like ‘oh, cool. bye then.’ and just. takes the book and leaves. 

lbh: *surprised pikachu face*

and by the time he registers no sex is going to be happening, yrz is long gone and enjoying her brand new book. 

after that, lbh and yrz end up seeing each other (mostly because lbh is trying to impress this woman and nothing is working) and yrz is like stop being a creep, i’m not interested in you. lbh needs to drink his respect woman juice and downsize on his harem a bit. yrz wouldn’t touch that with a twenty foot pool. 

anyway i think it comes to a head when they both get doused in pa pa pa juice and lbh is like oh this is more familiar, shall we? and yrz is like bitch. and goes to a brothel in the city instead. at this point yrz and lbh are more like antagonistic buddies than anything else. lbh has too many wives and zero friends. 

lbh starts developing some squishy feelings and is like what the fuck is this?? gross?? but he says nothing because he doesn’t get it. 

then the cross over happens, bing-ge vs bing-mei!!! and after than happens, yrz is just chilling at home and lbh shows up at her place like really fucked up and subdued. he’s like ‘why him? why did he get the good teacher? what did he do right?’ 

yrz is like... hm. emotions. ew. she trys anyway because she’s finally ready to admit that she does like this trash goblin at least a little. so she takes care of him while he’s being depressed. lbh cooks for her and she’s like. this is so fucking good. thank you. 

and lbh is just in love now. it’s nothing like he feels for his wives, but yrz makes lbh feels safe and accepted. it’s a comforting and comfortable love. yrz’s stupid little house is more of a home than lbh’s stupid palaces. 

look. i stand by the head cannon that all lbh wants is to be a househusband, no matter what version im talking about. 

lbh vanishes for a whole night. yrz is like hm, my house feels empty now. weird! and then lbh comes back and announces that he just divorced all his wives. he doesn’t want to be powerful anymore so can i stay herer with you. 

yrz is like... sure. 

and then there’s a long, long courtship and lbh marries yrz and archives his dream of just being fucking happy. the end!

[spockandawe]

HEY THERE, you have me interested in The Untamed but I'm a little lost as to where to start, there's both a 50 episode normal version and a 20 episode special edition, which should I watch/start with? Also WHAT does your svsss tag stand for? I'm seeing "The Untamed" and "Chén Qíng Lìng" and "Mo Dao Zu Shi" and "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation" thrown around as synonyms or related pieces of media, but nothing with svsss!

Sure thing!!

Okay, to start with, I’d definitely go with the 50-episode version. It’s a Lot, and there is some padding added to the story compared to the original book, but twenty episodes seems really, really short to do justice to the central plot 

(a quick skim of google tells me that the special edition leans harder into the original novel’s gayness, which the show has to be coy about, because china. i think there are expanded scenes featuring the two leads, which is awesome, because their acting is AMAZING, but that just means the plot scenes are even more compressed. I saw at least one person recommend that you not do the special edition unless you’ve consumed the story in at least one other more standard format already)

Also! Iirc, the show is available on youtube and netflix, among other platforms, though those two are wonderfully accessible. However, comma, I do hear from people fluent in chinese that the subtitles sometimes are inaccurate in unnecessary/unfortunate ways. From what I hear, viki has the best complete set of subtitles (I think there may be fansub projects in progress, but I am not at all in touch with those. I still haven’t watched the show myself).

And the general summary of my current webnovel fixation! There’s this webnovel author who goes by mxtx, who currently has three complete books out, which have all been translated into english. Then after I finished those, I started branching out into other authors and webnovels, though I’m not too deep into that end of the pool yet. I’ll break each book into a separate paragraph for clarity. 

Oh, and. Each of these books is explicitly gay, and set in ancient fantasy china, in a wuxia/xianxia setting, which I’m not too familiar with myself, but I believe it functions a lot like how authors will use ‘ancient fantasy europe’ as a playground where they don’t necessarily need to match up to established countries/cities/etc, but they expect readers to recognize certain conventions, like I’d be able to recognize a western author writing a basic feudal setting, or recognize witches and wizards, without them explaining the whole thing from the bottom up. Since I’m not familiar, it raised the difficulty level a little for me to get into the genre, but the webnovel translators tend to use footnotes and I picked up a lot as I went on.

(if you are interested in any of these, novelupdates.com is a good central resource collecting links to various fan translation projects)

So! Mxtx. Her earliest book is The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (SVSSS), which is also the shortest and most linear of her books. The general premise is that a guy who’s been hate-reading this (straight) stallion harem webnovel with a dark protagonist. He goes to bed, and wakes up in the novel, as the protagonist’s dickbag teacher, who is doomed to eventually die horribly. He wants to not die, and is also a decent human being, so the book follows the “original” novel derailing from its intended path, and accidentally getting super duper gay. This one is about to come out in donghua form, but I think that may be its first non-book adaption.

Her second book, which was adapted into The Untamed/Chen Qing Ling (CQL), is also known as The Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation/Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS), which really manages to be the hardest of her books to summarize. Wei Wuxian, the grandmaster of demonic cultivation, dies. Thirteen years later, he wakes up in someone else’s body. Most of the world would like him to stay dead, tbh, but he’s a good egg, and he and his old friend(????) go forth and solve a necromantic mystery together, and also there is romance-romance and ten million family feelings. This one gets nonlinear, with several extended flashback sequences, and the story STARTS at about the midway point of the plot. This has been adapted into an audio drama at least once, a manhua, a donghua, and now a live action show, so it goes by a million different names in its various formats.

Her third book, and the LONGEST, is Heaven Official’s Blessing/Tian Guan Ci Fu (TGCF), and oh my god, it’s so long, and I love it so, so much. This gets into high fantasy much  more than the other two, including the idea that as people develop their cultivation and powers, they may eventually achieve immortality and ascend to the heavens. The story follows Xie Lian who achieved immortality and ascended to heaven! And then fell. And then ascended! And fell again. Eight hundred years later, he ascends for the third time. He meets Hua Cheng, the ridiculously powerful ghost king, who most of the other immortals are terrified of. But Hua Cheng seems to like Xie Lian! And Xie Lian thinks Hua Cheng is a sweet boy! (hua cheng is a sweet boy, but only for xie lian). This also has extended flashback sequences, but is a more linear story than MDZS, I think. Also it made me cry, which, wow, rude. I love it so incredibly much. This also exists as a manhua, but I think it’s still being published? I haven’t read it yet.

NOW. Mxtx is working on a fourth book, but it’s not out in chinese yet, never mind english. But I needed More. I was getting some SVSSS vibes from this one other book, which, *wobbly hand motions*, but I am enjoying the hell out of this book purely for its own sake.

Meatbun is an author with other books that I haven’t read yet, but I am currently in the middle of The Husky And His White Cat Shizun/Er Ha He Ta De Bai Mo Shi Zun (Erha/2ha), which is at this moment being adapted to a live action tv show called Immortality. There are MANY warnings that go with this book, though the google docs translation files do a good job of placing warnings at the front of every document and in front of relevant chapters. The general premise! Mo Ran basically conquered the entire world, put down all resistance by force, and was a super powerful but Kinda Dumb emperor. As part of this, he took his old teacher, who he despised with a burning passion, prisoner, and abused him a Lot. The story starts as rebels try to mount an assault on his palace, and Mo Ran’s cousin gets impatient with how slowly things are moving and runs ahead of the group. He finds that (suicide warning:) Mo Ran has... taken poison, and is in the middle of dying. This doesn’t stick. He wakes up as a teenager, apparently having traveled back in time, and starts living through events again, with the knowledge of his past life. It took me a while to warm up to this story, but ohhhh my goodness, it’s so TASTY. The translation for this one is ongoing, and I am in AGONY waiting for further updates.

So those are the ones I’m currently into and mostly blogging about! I also read Dreamer In The Spring Boudoir, mostly because feynite wrote an SVSSS fic set in the universe of that novel, which was good in some ways, left me cold in others (and the original novel is straight, with a society with rigid gender roles, so making it super gay in the fic made the setting much more interesting to me). Meatbun has other writing, which I haven’t sampled yet, but I am definitely interested in doing that sometime soon. 

Sorry, I know this is a LOT, so if you have any other questions feel free to ask me!! I got into these mostly via being interested in the untamed, so I read them as 1) mdzs, 2) svsss, 3) tgcf, 4) erha, which was an order that worked well for me. But if someone was looking for a general order to read them in, independent of that, I might suggest 1) svsss, 2) mdzs, 3) tgcf, 4) erha. They’re all really good, and scratch different emotional itches, and each of them has at least a few characters who sucker-punch me RIGHT in the goddamn heart. They’ve been a HUGE help for me dealing with the restlessness and/or apathy of quarantine, so I’ve been evangelizing them to pretty much anyone who will listen to me, hahaha

[mxtxbang]

About

MXTX Bang is an event where writers and artists will collaborate to create new fan content for Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (墨香铜臭)’s novels and all adaptations of their work: The Scum Villain’s Self-saving System (人渣反派自救系统), Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / Mo Dao Zu Shi (魔道祖师), and Heaven Official’s Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu (天官赐福).

If you have any questions/concerns, please use this form: http://bit.ly/32fSGFY or send an ask through Tumblr.

Rules

Be respectful to all participants and mods. 

Discussions should stay within their appropriate channels.

If a member expresses that a topic is making them uncomfortable, please be courteous and change the topic.

All ages can participate, but if it is found that a minor has lied about their age to gain access to the NSFW content areas, they will be kicked from the Discord server and banned from the event.

Since there will be a Discord server, please be aware of Discord’s rules (see Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.) They should be followed at all times.

Requirements

General Requirements

Artists and writers of all skill levels are able to participate.

All ages can participate and members will be asked to report whether they are above or below the age of 18.

Writer Requirements

Writers can choose which tier level they want to do, but must be aware that once they submit their fic summary check-in, it can no longer be changed. 

There is no maximum word count for tiers.

Only new fics are allowed; certain exceptions will be made. More info can be found in our Writer FAQ.

Chapter fics are fine as long as it’s finished by the final check-in and completely posted on the assigned date.

Fics should not be posted prior to the assigned date.

Ensure that the work progress is updated to the beta reader in a timely manner and completed by the final deadline.

Writers must list any and all warnings/tags for their fic and whether it’s SFW or NSFW. Please see Common Warnings/Tags.

Artist Requirements

Artists can select which tier level they would like to complete, but once fic claims are made and team pairings are assigned, it can no longer be changed. So, even if the writer’s fic fits the next tier level, it does not mean that the tier has changed.

Artists will need to make original content as they will be drawing scenes from their partner’s story. The artist cannot use a previously created artwork of theirs that coincidentally is similar to a scene in the story nor can they steal, trace, and/or redraw other people’s original artwork.

Artwork should not be shared outside the Discord server until the assigned posting date. 

If an artist decides to draw a NSFW scene (sexual content, graphic violence, etc.) they must use privatter.net so that only 18+ can see the full artwork, while 18- can only see a cropped SFW version.

Please see our Artist FAQ for more information.

FAQ

General FAQ

What is a Bang?

A Bang is a fandom event where writers and artists collaborate to create new content for the fandom. There are different types of Bangs: Baby/mini Bang, Big Bang, and Reverse Bang.

A Baby/mini Bang and Big Bang are similar, however, Baby/mini Bangs tend to last 4 months while Big Bangs can last 6 to 10 months. Baby Bangs also typically have lower requirements for word count, such as a 5k minimum word count and one completed art piece. Meanwhile, Big Bangs tend to have a minimum word count of 20k with two completed art pieces. For both Bangs, writers submit their fic summaries and artists claim which fic they want to draw.

A Reverse Bang is where artists submit their WIPs and writers claim which art they want to create a story for.

For further clarification, this bang isn’t a Big Bang. Rather, it’s a mix between a Baby Bang and a Big Bang because there are tier levels, which allows participants to choose what their minimum goal is. That’s why this event is called MXTX Bang, not MXTX Big Bang. If anyone wants to create a MXTX Baby or Big Bang or another similar event with their own themes and guidelines, they are free to do so.

What can I sign up as?

You can sign up as a writer, artist, and/or beta. If you sign up for more than one role, please be aware of how much work will be required for whatever tiers you choose. Additionally, if you sign up for more than one role, please complete all forms for your chosen roles. For example, if you want to sign up as both a writer and beta, please fill out a writer and beta sign-up form.

How will this work?

Writer sign-ups will close a week before fic summaries are due, allowing any writers who sign up last minute to have enough time to at least get enough information down so an artist knows what to expect with their fic. A form will be sent out to artists for them to claim fics. This claim form will only show the fic summary, ships (if any), and any warnings. Artists will not know who the writer is until after team assignments have been made.

Artists get first-come, first-served claims, meaning that most will get the first writer they picked. However, if someone else claims that writer, the artists will be given their 2nd or 3rd possible pick. Once claims end, the moderators will send out emails about the pairings.

Writers and artists will need to communicate with one another and decide on what scenes to draw. There will be check-ins for writers and artists so that mods can know everyone’s progress. Please try to turn those in on time.

Moderators will send out a form so that writers and artists can decide on when they will want to post their work. Since it’s a collaborative event, the pairings will need to talk about when they want to post it.

What happens if there are more writers than there are artists or vice versa?

If there are more writers than artists, the artist sign-up period will be extended in the hopes that new people will join. However, if the numbers still aren’t enough, artists that signed up as pinch hitters will be asked if they would like to take on any of the unpaired writers. More leeway is given to these pinch hitters; the moderators will allow them more time to complete their art.

If more artists than writers sign up, moderators will give them the option to wait and see if any artists drop out, or they can choose to partner with a writer who has an artist already. This means some fics might have up to two different artists.

Will this event have a theme?

Due to the responses in the interest check, there won’t be any set theme. The majority of votes chose to keep the theme general, so participants have unlimited freedom in what theme they want to work on.

What are the adaptations, and do we need to specify which one we are creating for?

MDZS is the only novel with adaptations so far. The adaptations are the donghua, manhua, audio drama, and live action (The Untamed). Participants do not need to specify which adaptation they are creating for, only which fandom they are writing for.

If I’m under 18, am I still allowed to participate? 

Yes, all ages can participate.

How will minors be kept away from the NSFW content? 

All NSFW content will be kept in separate channels that only allow access to those who state that they are 18 years old. If any minor is found to be lying about their age to gain access to these areas, they will be kicked from the server and banned from the event. The mods have taken several precautions to prevent any minors from accessing NSFW content.

What if I want to do a ship that isn’t popular?

Side ships and non-canon ships will be accepted for this event. However, please be aware that it may be harder to match with an artist/writer.

For further clarification on shipping, please see “Side and Non-canon Ships and Rare Pairs.”

Are there any banned topics and content?

Content such as underage characters (minors) in sexual situations will not be allowed for this event. If an author decides to age up underage characters such as the junior trio, then this rule does not apply as long as it is portrayed that their personality has matured as well.

Incest will not be allowed for this event. Filial relationships such as student/teacher do not constitute as incest. These are allowed as while these relationships are family-like, the moderators consider it different from conventional incest. The ban on incest apply to pairings such as Jiang Fengmian x Wei Wuxian, where one part of the ship was actively raised as a child/son-like figure by the other. The exception to including incest in your fic will be any canon-based content, but again, these events should not be the main focus. Bestiality is also not allowed in this event.

As for content that feature non/dub-con, it is allowed as long as it is only briefly shown or only hinted at or alluded to in regards to the plot of the story. The content should not be explicit and graphically written out/depicted in the story or artwork. For further clarification, the moderators do not define “rape” and “rape kink” as the same. Rape kink is allowed in the event because it is a roleplay between two consenting adults.

If you’re still unsure whether or not your ship is allowed, please contact one of the mods. 

Writer FAQ

What is needed for the fic summary check-in?

Writers will be given a form that will ask for: 

Fandom (SVSSS, MDZS, and/or TGCF)

Title (Optional)

Rating

Tier level

Ship (including background ship) or no ship

SFW or NSFW

Warnings

Summary

Any additional notes for the artist, so they can be more aware of the story’s content.

Please have some kind of notes or outline that will help your artist so that they can get ahead on drawing scenes for your fic!

Note: It’s best to start writing your outline/plots once you sign up and enter the Discord server because it’ll help you estimate which tier level fits your fic.

Can I write a fic that has chapters?

Yes, you can write chaptered fics. However, it must be completed by the final check-in and all chapters must be posted on the assigned posting date or by the end of the posting dates.

Can I continue a fic that I’m working on?

No, you cannot continue a fic that has already been posted. However, if you want to write a sequel or prequel for a completed fic that can be seen as a standalone fic, then yes you can.

You cannot add on to a work in progress (new chapters of an ongoing fic). However, if you have a fic that you’ve been working on but haven’t posted or shared anywhere, then you can use this for the event.

Can I expand on and/or change the idea of a fic I previously wrote?

Yes, as long as your bang fic’s idea is different enough and can be read by itself without having to read the previously written fic, the moderators will accept it. If you’re still unsure, please contact a mod for clarification.

Can I translate a complete Chinese fic into English for the bang?

No. All participating writers are expected to make an original fic for this Bang. Translating a fic that is already completed goes against the spirit of the event. Additionally, this event is English only.

What genres/warnings/ratings are allowed?

Since NSFW themes are allowed in this event, participants are given more freedom. However, everything must be properly tagged with its correct warnings and ratings. You can find more on Common Warnings/Tags.

Reminder: Not all NSFW is sexual content. It can also be death, extreme violence, gore, etc.

Are AUs/crossovers from other fandoms allowed?

Yes, since this event has a general theme, participants are free to choose whether their work is an AU or crossover from another fandom.

Does my fic have to be betaed?

Yes, it does. It needs to be fully betaed by the final deadline. Writers will be given a list of beta readers who signed up for the event, along with the content the beta readers are comfortable or uncomfortable working with, for the writer to reach out to and ask. Beta readers are allowed to decline the request. Writers should not harass beta readers who choose to decline their request and move on to find another who is more amenable to looking over their work. If writers still have difficulties finding a beta, please contact a mod. It is allowed for a writer to have a beta reader who didn't sign up for the event to beta their story. Please inform a moderator on who it is so that it can be added in the documentation and credit can be given.

What are the tiers available in the Bang for writers?

Tier 1: 5K minimum word count

Tier 2: 10K minimum word count

Tier 3: 20K minimum word count

Tier 4: 30K minimum word count

Tier 5: 40K minimum word count

Once writers select their tier and fic summaries are turned in, they are locked into their selected tier. This means that even if you exceed the minimum word count for the next tier, you are still considered as the tier you selected, and your artist need only to meet the selected tier’s requirements. For example, a writer locks in at tier 3 but exceeds tier 4’s minimum word count. Their partner artist only needs to meet tier 3’s requirements.

Note: Writers and artists will be paired based on the preference of the artist during the blind claim period. The moderators will attempt to pair within the same tier level, though it is possible that an artist with a higher tier may be paired with a lower tiered writer. If at all possible, a lower tiered artist will not be paired with a higher tiered writer. Either way, the artist is not required to create more pieces than what they originally selected.

Beta Reader FAQ

What does a beta reader do?

A beta reader is an unofficial editor for an author. They provide feedback based on the author’s requests, which can include proofreading or pointing out plot holes or inconsistent characters. They can also point out where there might be confusing passages or transitions of thought from the author, who already know what they mean but did not provide a clear picture for the audience. Beta readers are another pair of fresh eyes for the author.

When and how are writers and beta readers paired?

Writers will be given a list of beta readers on November 10—along with what content the beta readers are comfortable or uncomfortable with—and they will be the ones to contact that beta reader. When writers ask the beta readers, they must inform the beta readers of the contents of their fic, so that the beta reader knows what to expect.

What if I don’t want to partner with a writer who asked for my beta skills?

Beta readers are allowed to decline a writer’s request if they are uncomfortable with the content of the writer’s fic, they do not have time to read through a longer fic, or wish to decline due to other reasons. Writers should not harass beta readers who choose to decline their request. Writers should move on to find another beta who is more comfortable looking over their work. If a writer is harassing you, please inform a mod.

Artist FAQ

If I sign up as both writer and artist, can I claim my own fic?

No, you cannot claim your own fic.

What if I want to draw a NSFW scene?

You can draw a NSFW scene if you choose to do so; however, when posting you will have to give a cropped SFW version of it while including a link to privatter.net for those who are 18+.

What size do art pieces need to be?

There are no requirements on the artwork’s size; it is up to the artist’s discretion. It is recommended that you take into consideration the optimal sizes for Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, or whichever platform you use if you wish for your artwork’s preview or post to be cropped well. There are several resources available for recommended social media image sizes, and it is encouraged to do your own research. If you wish to make prints of your work, you should also take into account standard paper sizes.

Can we draw traditionally for the bang?

Yes. Artists can submit a traditional drawing if they choose to do so. However, it must be a high quality scan or photo, and all details must be clear.

What are pinch hitters?

Pinch hitters are artists who are interested in helping out in case an artist participant drops out. If this happens, the pinch hitter will be responsible for their original team piece in addition to the new assignment. Because of this, pinch hitters have the option to accept or deny any requests. The mod team will never force someone to be a pinch hitter or to accept requests they aren’t comfortable with.

What are the tiers available in the Bang for artists?

Tier 1: 1 flat-colored piece with no background or shading required

Tier 2: 1 colored piece with shading, no background required

Tier 3: 1 full, simple piece (coloring and shading; simple background - a simple pattern/design or hints of scenery that doesn't have to fill the composition)

Tier 4: 2 full, simple pieces (coloring and shading; simple background - a simple pattern/design or hints of scenery that doesn't have to fill the composition)

Tier 5: 1 full, simple pieces and 1 complex, detailed piece (coloring and shading; complex background that fills the composition - clear perspective and how characters occupy the space)

Note: Writers and artists will be paired based on the preference of the artist during the blind claim period. The moderators will attempt to pair within the same tier level, though it is possible that an artist with a higher tier may be paired with a lower tiered writer. If at all possible, a lower tiered artist will not be paired with a higher tiered writer. Either way, the artist is not required to create more pieces than what they originally selected.

What if my writer exceeds their tier and fits more into a different tier? Ex: Writer chose tier 3 but exceeds tier 4’s minimum word count.

Once writers select their tier and fic summaries are turned in, they are locked into their selected tier. This means that even if they exceed their word count, you only have to meet the requirements for the original tier. Using the example above, if the writer exceeded tier 4’s minimum word count, you only need to meet tier 3’s requirements.

Schedule FAQ

How do check-ins work?

Emails will be sent at the start of each check-in with a form to check progress levels. There will also be an announcement in the Discord server and on all social media. Please inform a mod if you can’t complete or need an extension.

How does claiming work?

Claims will generally be on a first-come, first-served basis. Once fic summaries are turned in, the moderators will then send a form to the artists where they can claim their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice. Depending on the number of participants that sign up, the moderators may ask the artists to provide more of your top choices. The moderators will do their best to try and match everyone with their first choice.

What if I miss a deadline?

As long as you feel like you can still complete your piece by the posting date, that’s fine. There is no penalty for missing a deadline. If a deadline is missed, a moderator will contact you to get an update on your progress. If needed, the moderators can grant an extension on your work.

What if I need to drop out?

If you have to drop the event, please notify a moderator and your partner as soon as possible so that the moderators can try to find a pinch hitter if one is needed. You will also be given a link to a drop-out form that will need to be filled out.

What are date claims? Why are posting dates assigned?

Posting dates are assigned so that the works can be posted without spamming. Participants will be given a form in mid-January so that they can choose which dates to post on during January 25 – February 8. Depending on how many participants there are, it can range from 6 to 10 claims per day.

Date claims are when participants claim a date to post their work. Please understand that just because your post date is later than another participant’s does not mean that you can still work on your fic/art. It should have been done by the deadline or at the end of the extension if one was requested.

What are extensions and how do we obtain them?

Extensions are if you need extra time beyond the check-in dates and/or the final deadline. To get one, all you need to do is ask a mod. The duration of the extension will depend on your circumstances.

Posting FAQ

How do I post the final project?

Once the writer and artist post their work on their platform(s) of choice, either the writer or the artist will need to fill out a form. Only one of the partners need to submit. On the form, you will submit two banners and the links to your work.

Reminder: Do not actually post your work before your assigned date.

What is a banner and what is it for?

A banner is a title card for the works that includes the fic’s title, author name, and artist name. A second banner, which is a summary card that includes the fic’s genre, warnings, ship(s) and summary, is also required. Either the artist or the writer must include the banners with the final draft email. This will be used in the MXTX Bang official Tumblr and Twitter posts, which will send attention directly to your works rather than having the work be submitted to our blogs. The banners should also include the writer’s and artist’s preferred URLs and a simple background.

It can be any size the writer or artist wish, but keep in mind that these will be posted on Tumblr and Twitter. There are examples of the Banners in the MXTX Bang Discord Server.

Reminder: The banners aren’t to be posted by the participants but will be posted by the mods.

Can I post a teaser?

✔ anything already posted on the claims page

✔ short fic excerpts

✔ art thumbnails

✘ fic or art drafts

✘ full finished fic or art on any archive until your posting date

Communication FAQ

Will we be receiving any reminders?

Reminders will be sent during each check-in period from all platforms: the Discord server, email, Tumblr, and Twitter. In addition, if you miss a check-in, a moderator will check in with you at some point.

What if I change my URL or username on any of my social media?

Just inform a mod and a moderator will update your profile in our files.

How do I communicate with my partner? What if I haven’t heard from them in a while?

When team pairings are assigned, you’ll each be given the contact information provided by your partner. Both will reach out to one another in private chat on whatever platform that you choose. Check-ins help to ensure that there is regular contact. If for some reason you have lost contact with your partner, please contact a mod to see if they have any additional information.

Common Warnings/Tags

For politeness and to promote a safe, equal environment, the moderators request that you appropriately tag all creative works. If unsure on what topics to tag, a list has been provided below:

Abuse (physical, mental, emotional, neglect, verbal, sexual)

ABO/Omegaverse

Alcohol

Animal cruelty or death

Blood

Child abuse and pedophilia, harm to children

Death or dying

Dubious consent

Eating disorders and body hatred

Homophobia

Humiliation

Incest

Injury, excessive or graphic (eye horror, mutilation, burns, branding, etc.)

Kidnapping or abduction

Mental illness and ableism

Miscarriages/abortion

Needles

Phobias

Pornographic or sexual content

Pregnancy/childbirth

Self-harm and suicide

Sexual assault and rape

Slurs

Substance abuse

Torture

Violence, excessive or gratuitous

Vomiting

Please remember that this is not a list of banned content. This is simply so authors have an idea of what warning they may need to tag in their fics. The only content that should not be in this event is underage sexual content and incest or rape situations outside of what was mentioned in “Are there any banned topics and content?”

Side and Non-canon Ships and Rare Pairs

The moderators do not restrict most side and non-canon ships. Our only exceptions are content that feature underage characters in sexual situation and incest and/or rape as covered in “Are there any banned topics and content?” Crossover pairings between novels are allowed, but it will be more difficult finding you an artist. It will also be harder to match you with an artist if you wish to feature a rarer ship/pair.

Rare Pairs

The moderators define rare pairs in three ways. 1) Rare pairs could be characters who have had a limited yet meaningful interaction or have an interesting dynamic in canon to justify a developing relationship, even in canon divergent settings. 2) Conversely, rare pairs could also include characters that have an adversarial, vitriolic relationship and are unlikely to develop a stable, good-natured relationship in canon. 3) Rare pairs can also be classified based on a quantifiable amount of AO3 fics featuring that relationship. If it’s not even on the dropdown list of top relationship tags on the AO3 page, it’s most likely a rare pair.

Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing would be considered a rare pair because although they do not have frequent interactions, they met under circumstances that hugely affect Jiang Cheng and his development in the novel’s canon. The live action adaptation also gives this pair a setting where they met even earlier than in the novel, during his student days in the Cloud Recesses. They also do not have a sizable amount of fics on Ao3.