#the fact that this is the most tame answer to this question that they've given during this press tour 💀

[youleavethetardisbrakeson]

Eve Best and Steve Toussaint talking about their on-screen chemistry

Full interview here

[baiwu-jinji]

I read the new TGCF extra about Xie Lian seeing Hua Cheng half awake with dishevelled hair and no eye patch, and Hua Cheng got really insecure about gege seeing his unkempt appearance, not realising that what XL loves is his true appearance without any disguise or beautification.

In this chapter, both XL and HC had moments of self-doubt and insecurity despite the fact that they've always given each other endless reassurance and approval, which is very human (although neither of them are). When HC rushed out of bed in the morning because he didn't want XL to see his blind eye, XL's first reaction was to doubt and question himself about whether he did anything wrong to upset HC - and yet we see HC telling XL in the same chapter that "dianxia will never not be good". And even though XL thinks HC is the most goregous person he's ever seen, HC is still insecure about his disfigurement and only wants to show his perfect side to XL (and even when it's HC who said "what matters is you and not the state of you" to XL, he doesn't seem to realise that this applies to XL's perception of him too).

XL eventually persuaded HC to let down his guard and show his true form, and I love the description of it: "He's no longer using his disguised appearance; a few strands of long hair hang loosely in front of his hollow eye, a little ghastly and fearsome, a little tragically beautiful." XL loves HC's ghastly hollow eye as much as his glamorous beauty because the hollow eye is a testament to all of HC's struggles and pain, and XL understands HC's suffering and feels deep sorrow and empathy for the tragedy of it.

What I also find interesting is when HC tells XL that the chopsticks he's using is made from the bone of a jade demon, and XL jokingly asks HC if he obtained the bone by beating the demon up, HC answers: "No way! What kind of bad guy does gege take me to be? Why would San Lang hit someone for no reason?" I find this to be a contrast to the amoral attitude HC showed when XL expressed concern about the Gambler's Den in chapter 40. Back then HC didn't care if hosting deadly gambling games is moral or not, because "someone's got to run this place". But in this extra, HC cares about XL's opinion and wants to be good. Did XL tame HC in a moral sense? hehe

[rainbowsky]

Hey, I'm new here and i love your blog! I was wondering if the boys see couple\sexual edits of them together and if it makes them nervous but then it hit me that they probably aren't seeing what i see on western social media. Do you have any idea if those types of homosexual posts get censored in China?

Hi Yingyangorly! Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog!☺️

I have a huge long, like, ridiculously long post in my drafts related to this topic, hopefully coming soon.

But to answer your question, I think it's impossible that GG and DD would fail to see at least some of what's posted about them as a couple, whether sent to them by friends, family or staff, or whether stumbled upon or intentionally sought out/browsed by them. It's inevitable they'll see some of it, particularly things that get a lot of attention.

I talked about this a bit a while back. GG and DD have said in interviews that they have fake social media accounts (and of course they would - how could you go anywhere or do anything on social media without one if you were famous?), and this kind of discussion has happened somewhat in relation to fan comments, etc.

You can check out my previous post for more on that stuff.

As for sexual edits, etc., like any other content I've no doubt they've seen some of it - it's inevitable they would - but I doubt it worries them all that much. It's highly unlikely to ever impact them directly, because ultimately it's not really about them, is it? It's about the creators who make it. Any backlash is more likely to fall upon creators, not GG and DD.

And just as a reminder - it's not illegal to be gay in China, it's not illegal to post homosexual content, etc. Such content is censored on TV and other broadcast media, but not online.

Porn is very illegal in China, but that's mostly only selectively enforced. In fact, China produces a lot of porn and a lot of smutty fiction and all of it is illegal, but it still manages to thrive fairly well.

Explicit content of any kind is technically not allowed on Weibo but it's still out there - although most of it is pretty toned down and tame. Actual porn of sexual activity isn't ubiquitous there, but lewd fan art, fan fic, edits and memes can often be found.

All platforms globally have rules against explicit content, and they're just as poorly enforced everywhere. I suspect a lot of that is because social media engagement makes money, and sex sells. It's not really in the interest of platforms to completely shut down all such content - even if it was possible to do so.

The supertopic rules likely have more impact on fan behavior in this regard than the Weibo TOS does. Those rules forbid mentioning GG and DD by name or tagging their accounts, and forbid sexualization, pornography, feminization and fixating on body parts. However, that's only within the supertopics. Ultimately people are free to post whatever they want on their own accounts, and they do.

Given how many antis and solos are out there trying to take down the turtle fandom, the fact that these things manage to stay up for as long as they do speaks to how weak the enforcement is. There are definitely people out there who will report things that offend them.

This is, in fact, how the whole 227 thing got started. A bunch of solos decided to report an explicit fanfic to the government, and things spiralled out of control from there.

Could lightning strike a second time and another 227 be sparked from some of this explicit content? For a lot of complicated reasons I'm not going to get into here (it would be a very long post), I don't think that's likely.

227 was a special, very complicated situation that I don't think is likely to happen the same way again. Timing and a lot of the other factors that played into its blowing up the way it did - all of that is unlikely to align in such a way. Especially since everyone in C-ent is a lot more cautious and vigilant after 227.

GG and DD are both in good standing with the government (as is evidenced by their inclusion in government and nationalistic projects), and that's a factor that will have some influence. And no doubt they and their teams have learned a lot from past experience, and have already planned for how to protect them in various scenarios that could arise.

They also have the power to have content relating to them removed, to sue content creators, to shut down the supertopics if they want to, etc.. If they feel at risk, they have a lot of recourse. The fact that we aren't seeing this happening should reassure us that it's probably fine.

We have to realize that GG and DD are surrounded by highly skilled, highly paid professionals whose entire job is to protect them and their interests. They're both in a much safer place than they were 4 years ago.

I trust them to know what's best for them and handle their affairs accordingly. We as fans shouldn't waste time hand-wringing over things that are completely outside our control.

As for what's within our control - it's up to every individual to make our own choices about how we'll represent GG and DD online.

More on that angle if/when I ever finish that other post.