#where fellow haters can find each other..

[blradley]

By popular (ish) request: a WIP intro

KING OF THE WORLD (Adult romantasy/comedy, m/m)

Meet MALEVOLOTH (Loth to his friends. If he had any - ), a tyrannical dragon-king who reigns over the realm of Krazuk with a fire-filled fist. Has burned millions. Will do it again. A proud human-hater, for reasons (no, he won’t talk about it), he lives by the doctrine that only the strongest can rule.

...Which means that he spent the entirety of his five kids' lives subjecting them to horrific abuse. He pitted them against each other constantly, almost killing them to ‘make them stronger’, encouraging them to fight for power and privilege and never displaying affection unless it’s part of a ploy.

…....And then he wonders why he gets brutally assassinated and deposed.

Because he spent 0 time on building any sort of political stability and +1000 time on WAR and TORTURE-MURDER and BEING HORRID, his kingdom crumbles the minute he can no longer terrorize everyone into order. The vultures are circling, as his five children splinter the army to form their own factions and fight each other for the crown, and the surrounding kingdoms throw their collective hats in the ring in a bid to piss on Loth’s legacy as much as possible.

In short: womp, womp, no bitches.

Loth tries to project a personality that is cold, calculating, and oozing menace, to the point that he glamours his body to look far more imposing than he actually is – but he’s the sort of loser who starts screaming internally whenever things don’t go his way. When he can no longer control the actions of everyone around him, he becomes a shaking wreck, constantly catastrophising, refusing to believe that anyone could ever be kind to him without ulterior motive.

Loth spent his whole life (except for. Some very bleak formative parts.) as the despotic ruler of this kingdom. He has completely lost touch with anything outside of the prison he built for himself within his own mind, where everyone is an enemy.

MALEVOLOTH SONGS: You’re Nobody Till Somebody Wants You Dead (Saint Motel); To Ashes and Blood (Arcane, Woodkid); King of Disappointment (Echoes)

Enter AZRAEL DE LIONHART, a young human man who’s been on the run from Loth his entire life (he was prophesied as a baby to be the one to eventually slay him. Loth, unable to be Normal about anything, has been hunting him ever since).

He’s thoughtful. He’s kind. He’s warm-hearted, and seems to actually care about the endless human collateral of the wars sparked by Loth’s heirs as they bicker over the crown. Despite the absolute hell Loth’s put him through, he doesn't succumb to trauma and darkness. Instead, he makes friends everywhere he goes, and genuinely does his utmost to help anyone who needs him.

Obviously, this is all a cunning act to gain the support of the people, so he can steal the throne for himself.

Or so Loth tries to convince himself, with increasing desperation. No one can be that kind. That forgiving. That… handsome. It’s not possible.

Right?

In fact, there’s only one person in the entire world that our noble hero seems to hate… and that’s Malevoloth himself.

Whoops.

AZRAEL SONGS: Dear Fellow Traveller (Sea Wolf); New Eyes (Echoes); Me and the Devil (Soap and Skin); Thus Always To Tyrants (The Oh Hellos)

Thankfully (?) following a near-successful assassin attempt from his kids, Loth is stuck in the body of Azrael's beloved tutor: the erudite imp RIVVEN of VARRUN, who has been teaching Azrael how to fight a diverse menagerie of beasts.

Unthankfully, Rivven is very, very dead, and it's 100% Loth's fault. And all of Loth’s once-legendary powers have been lost to him, much like his corpse, which has been locked in his old fortress to prevent resurrection attempts by his dedicated cult.

If Azrael finds out that Rivven… isn’t Rivven anymore, things will get very, very bad for Loth. If Loth can con Azrael into returning him to his cadaver, where Loth can reverse his accidental bodyswap (and, um, rebuild his exploded head), things will get exceedingly bad for Azrael.

All Loth has to do is get this trusting, naive idiot to guard him for the duration of one eensy-weensy cross-continental journey. Then it's all over for humanity's so-called hero.

…Only what’s that voice in the back of his head? The one that sounds like a cross between Jiminy Cricket and a certain tortured-to-death imp?

And why, with each passing day, does the prospect of killing Azrael become less appealing?

RIVVEN SONGS: Liar (The Arcadian Wild); The Devil Within (Digital Daggers); The Whole Being Dead Thing (Alex Brightman & Beetlejuice Cast)

TL;DR: ‘we’ve gotta kill this guy, Steven.’  ‘okay but. hear me out. what if I romanced him instead?’ ‘but you’re prophesied to kill him??’ ‘…your point is?’

(note: I have no idea how long this concept will itch at my brain, and I'm mostly focusing on my vampire imperialism story & my YA at the moment! but it's a fun background project for me to poke at when I get bored of the others~ intro for the Vampire project will be coming soon!)

[mk-wizard]

What Sailor Moon Taught Me About Femininity and it's Importance to Feminism

Since I did one of Elita-One, I decided to also do one of another influential female heroine who helped me get through high school and revisiting her in university helped me find myself again. The queen of all magical girls in my opinion: Sailor Moon. Specifically, the 80s anime version which is the best one.

As stated in my last post, in my very late teenage years, I went through a dark period where I began to resent my own womanhood, convinced myself that pink was dumb and gave in to the propaganda that it was all Barbie's fault that I had a weight problem and that she was problematic. Elita-One broke the trance I was in and gave me the kick in the pants (or skirt rather) to learn to love myself again as a woman, but revisiting Sailor Moon helped me decide what kind of woman I wanted to be.

For context, Sailor Moon and the other four Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus are and at the same time not what you would expect in a team full of girls. Sure they are diverse in that one is the awkward girl, one is the dreamer, one is the strong yet gentle one, one is the forward one and one was the nerd, but here's the thing... ALL of them are feminine, dress cute and are open to meeting a great guy. On top of that, Sailor Moon herself is the main character and SHE is the awkward girl, she is very flawed, had growing up to do and makes bad decisions yet she is STILL a good role model for girls.

Sailor Moon the characters shows girls that you don't need to be perfect to be a good person or even a successful person. It's ok to have flaws, to have feelings, to be afraid in dangerous in situations and even ask for help as long as you keep going, improve and learn from your mistakes. And I have to give credit where credit is due, Sailor Moon does mature over the course of the series, she tries new things and even becomes good at cooking which is something that meant a lot to her. Moreover, the series Sailor Moon showed that all of the cast had flaws they needed to work on and quirks. Like Elita-One, these girls were not man haters and even called out the toxicity in that mentality, they were deep, had backstories and most importantly, they were happy and loved themselves as they were and loved each other as sisters. There were no misery chicks, no cattiness and no frenemies. Sure, at times Moon and Mars would bicker, but that was just more out of friendly rivalry.

In short, Sailor Moon taught me that femininity is nuanced and expresses itself in different ways. It's not a hive mind where everyone is the same. You can be girly, happy, fun and cute, AND do you. Moreover, femininity has a way of bringing women together and uniting them as a team rather than pitting them against each other. And that is one of the core values of feminism which is that women should support other women even when they are different from each other.

In today's day and age especially, we need to recall the wisdom of Sailor Moon in how none of the girls expect each other to be the same or even have the same goals, and unconditionally support each other. And a lot of it is due to their femininity and the common ground they have thanks to it.

Bottom line is that Sailor Moon taught me that femininity is love which extends to the sense of sisterhood we take for granted in our fellow woman. She stands as a reminder that we are a team and while each of us can do it on our own, we can do it even better together. After all, working together is how we got equal pay, two income homes and the right to vote. Imagine what else we can do if we put aside our differences and worked together?

Also, you don't have to be perfect to be great. In fact, you don't have to be the best at everything. You don't have to be the smartest, prettiest or the most popular girl in the room just as long as you are doing your best, you're getting better and most importantly, you love yourself the way you are.

We girls can make it together, be great together and be beautiful together.

@blade-liger-4ever @vitamaeternum @guardiandua @chaoticcreatorgardendean @sassycandypoetry @iloveyoulinpeckettcomic

[brokentranstar]

why do people dislike tigerheartstar..? /genq

Ough... I feel like there's a lot of things to dislike him for, IF YOU'RE WRONG AND CLOSE-MINDED!!!

Most of all, people reallyy don't like Omen of the Stars Tigerheartstar, even some of my fellow Tigerheart fans don't like him in there, and you know what? I'm not gonna argue but. I genuinely don't think he's that bad, he's just shown to be young and kind of silly. I don't blame him for things he did, because pobody's nerfect. He made some mistakes, but he wasn't being Malicious. I feel like people either misremember stuff, or just headcanon things that did not happen.

A lot of people say he "groomed Dovepaw" or whatever and thats WRONG. and a horrible thing to say. People are literally just throwing words around without knowing how serious what they say is and that makes my blood boil ngl.

Second: People get all pissy over the Flametail/Jayfeather situation with him. and Dawnpelt, of course, gets more hate because She's a Woman, but Tigerheart has his share of haters for that situation too, saying he "betrayed Dovewing" and he's a "bad boyfriend" (They were not dating at the time) and yes, maybe his reasoning is somewhat flawed, but I think it just makes him more inchresting, personally... Anyway, you can not agree with, or actively dislike friends of your friends, it's great.

And then there is the "literally making stuff up" allegations where, for example, some people say Tigerheart "stalked Dovepaw" and that makes me feel like they didn't read or skim through a single romance book, or anything romance related Ever. What you'll discover, is that in Romance Books/Movies there are 10 people in New York, and the two love interests will always find each other, no matter how unlikely it is for them to suddenly meet again, and again. Tigerheart "stalking" Dovepaw is NOT CANON, it is never said, it is never implied, it is a fabrication. They randomly stumble onto each other because The Plot.

There is also the Ivypaw + catmint situation, where people claim he specifically started talking to Dove to manipulate her, and that is Untrue, Dovepaw accidentally talks about the catmint when he's Genuinely venting, he did not ask. She literally SAYS to him she's gonna steal it for him, and he says NO because he doesn't want to get her in trouble. Ultimately, he does tell ShadowClan about trading Ivy for Catmint, but the point is; He never wanted to get Dovepaw in trouble, or hurt her in Any of this. Ultimately, he still did, but my point is; He's way more nuanced than people give him credit for.

And all of that was just OotS. In AVoS, people mainly hate the Tigerheart Super Edition, could not tell you why. Probably the big reason being, that people don't like Tigerheart from OotS. Tigerheart's Shadow is a very pleasant read to me, and very cute. He's not perfect, but he is trying his best, and I love him for that.

in The Broken Code, it's mostly just nitpicking. He's the best he's ever been in this arc, and people will Still find a way to hate on him for the smallest things like "coddling Shadowsight" or whatever... bro get out of here... Oh man, I sure do wish fathers in warrior cats went back to not ever thinking about their kids, that was PEAK writing!! /sarcasm

and then... There's ASC... My heart dropped when the arc started, not because I was proven wrong in any way, but because I KNEW the haters would use the RiverClan conflict to their advantage. Those were the super dark days, with people speaking before thinking, and possibly the time when I blocked the most amount of people. Again, I'm gonna say Tigerheartstar makes mistakes, he's not perfect, but he's not EVIL either. And while I understand RiverClan... sort of. I'm glad the arc ended with Tigerheartstar being praised, not demonised

Now, Changing Skies barely started but I already see hate on my boy... Whether it's because of Tawnypelt having to be the biggest victim this arc, so everyone is Super Mean to her suddenly, OR the Birchfeather situation. And while the writing decisions perplex me, he's not being evil or anything, people acting like he is, is odd.

Most of the dislike/hate on him comes from OotS. That's what I can say. People don't remember the arc well, and don't go into detail on it, because Who Cares, and then that hatred goes on forever. But, like some of my mutuals pointed out before, Some, if not Most Tigerheart hate stems from early fandom Dovewing hate. Some people want to pretend they care soooo much about Dovewing, and Tigerheart is sooo evil and manipulative, but they do not actually care about her as a character and think she's just being Unreasonable for 'leaving her family' (Ivypool) and joining the enemy (ShadowClan).

Overall, I am aware he's not a perfect good boy character, but some people really overdo it on mischaracterising him, or hating him. And thus I do not accept anyone hating on him, the only person able to hate on him is Me, and even I don't wanna do that, because StarClan forbid someone might actually think I'm being serious.

Generally, I do not care if you like or dislike Tigerheart, just don't make it your personality trait how much you hate him. Or else, as much as it pains me, we cannot be friends. Peace and Love on Planet Earth. Tigerheart isn't a real person but if you can't accept him, you clearly cannot accept me.

Whoops, you activated my Tigerheart Talk button, oh no... I'm sorry for rambling about Tigerheart, it might happen againnn :( Have a Tigerheart doodle if you survived.

[pixiedurango]

AMOM - a murder of misfits - cheat sheet

It might come in handy to have a post, where we have all the important facts about the 5 young crows that are about to become roommates for their creator's entertainment in one place.

I'll start, you guys can reblog this post with your own character facts if you want. Free form, no list, but if you want you can copy from mine, what you want/need and add accordingly @ezriell @alystrin03 @nyx-de-riva @only-slightly-terrified

Caramella "Cara" de Riva (she/her) 5'4'' (1,65m) Red curls, down to her waist. Green eyes Age at VG start: 32 the tattoos start rolling in about the time she becomes a full Crow bi- and demi-romantic/sexual (she has it not quite figured that out for herself yet, but that's the label that would fit her.)

She has always like a million thoughts running through her brain and sometimes lacks focus in settings which bore her. She's a bit of a yapper, too (probably ADHD, but who would diagnose this in Thedas *g*) Half sister to Viago (the have the same father, she's a royal bastard, too, but this is not a thing anyone outside her and Viago knows.) Many of her fellow fledglings are suspicious and sometimes even openly hostile towards her, because of her being a close relative of the 5th Talon Weapon(s) of choice: Shield and Sword (she wields a small custom-made, enchanted shield and she uses it more like a chakram/boomerang hybrid, by tossing it and catching it back as the enchantment makes it always come back to her hand. She always carries a pair of stilettos in some hidden pockets that she sews herself into all her clothes. She also always carries a garotte with her for the more up close and personal occasions And she is a big fan of the "knife on a leash" concept, which she is still practicing. A lesser known fact is, that Cara also has some skills in weaponless combat/killing. She does not show it off, keeping it rather as some sort of last resort for emergencies. Her best non combat Crow-skill is Negotiation. (Haters would say Manipulation, but don't believe the haters) Her least best non combat Crow-skills are seduction and lockpicking. Hobbies/Interests: She loves cats and cats love her. It regularly happens, that random cats (that not belong to the household she's living in) somehow find their way to where she sleeps and hop onto her bed, snuggle in or fall asleep on her. She loves to sew and mend clothes. (Which is also useful, whenever split open skin needs to be patched up after training, tbh) She loves Romance- and adventure novels. She loves a certain thing that I made up purely for self indulgent reasons. In my headcanon there is something happening in Treviso that is called "the pit" - which may or may not be based loosely on lucha libre/professional wrestling but with Crow flavor. (Don't judge me, my AuDHD ass chose wrestling to be my second special interest beside Dragon Age)

Another lesser known fact: Cara is a fairly good singer, but mostly keeps that to herself (except when she's really really drunk.)

Romantic life (very sparse): When she is 15 Viago sends her over to Villa Dellamorte (Caterina approaches him and he can't refuse making this damn contract with her). She stays for a while and trains and lives with Lucanis and Illario (who are 17 at this time) - She and Lucanis quickly become friends and both have a crush on each other but never tell anybody (especially not the other one) and when she is eventually sent back home to her house, they don't dare to keep in contact. They only meet again, when Cara stumbles into the Ossuary to rescue him.

[persistentplums]

i love love your venture bros posts. youre really attentive to the vibes

a character dynamic i think was underexplored but had potential was billy and gary. what do you make of it?

Omg thank you so so much!! I’m really glad you think so! my post are mostly me spitballing hoping I’m getting the vibes right!

I actually made a post about this here! I should tag my posts tbh but I always got more thoughts I just think that post is a better summary of my thoughts. But here’s some more it’s VERY long:

They agree on most things except for the core idea of their livelihood. Which is wild because out of many characters I think Billy and Gary get along VERY well. They speak the same language and love the “game”. (I call it a game but the entire cape business) I don’t think they agree though on everything outside of nerd stuff.

I have this thought in my head maybe it’s a scale or a graph or something but it’s basically Believers, Nonbelievers, middlemen when it comes to this hero stuff and Gary and Billy are definitely Believers. But I think after Gary whole journey as a henchman, now a second/arch himself I think the idea of what makes something “Heroic” very firm in scale for him vs Billy who’s still sorta new at the whole thing but flexible.

I hope this makes sense but despite appearances Gary is rigid and Billy is flexible. I think while the morpho arc was sick (def loved the entire plot unfolding) Gary definitely had a hard time being on a grey area. He is either a hero (Sphinx!) or an arch. He feels haunted by killing all his fellow arches. He’s loyal af but doesn’t like the middle ground (his relationship with shelia, being a hit man, even 21 death you can say)

Billy is “flexible” in that sense that good is no small or big act. I’m forgetting the episode but the one where they fight Cloud over the ball, Monstroso surgery, especially Pete White as a person. Billy like superman genuinely would do good, it’s an oath it doesn’t matter to who he would. That comic run where Lex Luther is dying and gets superman to help him find a cure is VERY Billy. To Billy he is so firm to that one thing (two technically, hippocratic oath?whatever ykwim) it makes him apply it to literally everyone regardless of where he is. While Gary is very set on the us vs them side, that’s why he made such a good henchman leader.

I think when they interact it’s that trope of people in a mineshaft on their carts having a great time then an abrupt turn separating them, then they meet up again. Which I think deeply defines both characters despite being incredibly similar.

If I was summoned to a universe where I was told by Doc and Jackson that I could write a VB season but only when Billy and Gary interact aside from writing a Bromance for the ages that would get avid 21/24 fans mad at me (I think Gary and Billy would become like really REALLY into each other big “oh wow how come we never hanged out before?” “Idk!” Vibes) i would like to write them fighting a little because I think their small disagreements would be very telling about who they are as characters because they are the most genuine fan part of either side.

Gary is for every person who LOVES a hater ass villain (I cheered when green goblin killed aunt May in NWH I think Gary would, but still have issues with NWH ik I did anyways!) and Billy is for someone who LOVES a good wins no matter what (voltron, power rangers, he-man etc)

To me it’s not how Billy and Gary agree that’s interesting (big 2 nerds just in a mind meld moment, they’re also too similar ik why they were written to NEVER interact now, too alike) it’s when they don’t that is fun and I think it would happen the most at their dnd nights and when they watch shows together. Which pisses off everyone else (Malcom, shelia, white) bc they can’t hear anything as an argument is happening.

Also Billy wins most of the trivia stuff they do because he’s a bit older than Gary, this is Billy rodeo. I think Gary having someone as a friend who gets him is good for him honestly, he’s a third? Sorta? To his bosses/not boss anymore and I think he needs friends that he can really nerd out with.

Other fun things they do:

Hang out at each other places so often others remember the dates they see each other due to arching schedules

Follow each other blogs/have a podcast (movies, tv, and shows of influence throughout the ages guest star Pete white is on for music. Malcom calls in also surprisingly about music) either in podcast format or blog format doesn’t matter which but they work on it together

Have a show they follow together/watch together

Try to get Dean and Hank into stuff not intentionally their energy is infectious

ESPN announcers when on the field (when it’s not about them they’re doing commentary on the arch/protag tactics or at least commentary about Rusty and Malcom)

Wave/greet each other when they aren’t “on” in an arch or enjoy it too much when they’re “on”

Small acts of arching did happen between them. Cloud felt cheated on, Pete got freaked out, Billy and Gary settled on being friends instead. Malcolm thought it was Billy flirting with Gary, (confused but that’s his boy! Who wouldn’t flirt with Gary!) and Rusty thought Billy was going through a rough patch with White again but this time he really lost Billy (Awkward 1on1 where Rusty talks about cherishing and appreciating people while White gets so freaked out he runs to Billy)

They had a vibe, I feel like they would’ve hooked up or something once maybe bc I’m gay but I want to believe that. But in general they got a vibe together!

That’s all I got for now, if you read all this again thank you for your ask and I’m gonna tag all my VB thoughts once I think of a good tag!

[griseldagimpel]

John Gaius, Lyctorhood, and the Permeability of the Soul

This is an excerpt from Nona the Ninth, from John's conversation to Harrow at the end, about why John didn't tell his friends about perfect Lyctorhood. (I typed the excerpt, so any mistakes are my own.)

[John] looked at [Harrow], squinting his eyes against the white and merciless sun. "God must be able to touch all of creation," he said. "I don't-" "You said it yourself. I can't die if [Alecto]'s alive; she can't die if I'm alive. Why would you let something like that run around, Harrow?" Why would you let someone go - away from you - untouchable - two people? I couldn't - I loved them too much - I saw the face of Earth and choked the life out of it and ate it whole. Oh, I knew I was on the clock for the Resurrection Beasts. I pretended she was the only one, but I knew the others were coming. I needed my loved ones to be something I could touch...needed them to be my hands...my fingers." "But-" "There can be no forgiveness for those who walked away," he said. "Just as there can be no forgiveness for me - even though I rip the very fingers from my hands...throw them into the jaws of the monsters who hunt me...as I run from them across the universe, end to end. Something will satisfy them eventually, but nothing satisfies me. Nothing."

Alright, my fellow Jod fans. What the fuck does all that actually mean?

Okay, breaking it down.

I think John's got to know that the soul is permeable. He talks about hiding himself in Alecto and Alecto in himself, and Nona the Ninth describes him and Alecto getting, like, hungry at the same time. Perfect Lyctorhood, to John, means all that, plus his life and Alecto's being intertwined, where neither can die if the other lives. (Perfect Lyctorhood here defined as 'what John and Alecto have'.)

Does John know that Standard Lyctorhood - what Augustine and Alfred have, what Mercymorn and Cristabel have, what Ianthe and Naberius have, etc - is also permeable? "The Unwanted Guest" suggests that eventually Standard Lyctorhood looks like the Greater Lysis that Camilla and Palamedes have in Paul. However, it sounds like John didn't want his friends entwined in each other. So, did he think that Standard Lyctorhood would prevent that?

John needed Lyctors to be able to fight Resurrection Beasts. But why would Perfect Lyctorhood have gotten in the way of that?

What is it about Perfect Lyctorhood that would have put them out of touch of John? Why does he think that this would have resulted in them leaving him? Is this John's abandonment issues coloring his perception again?

Why does John perceive Perfect Lyctorhood as something he couldn't permit because he loved his friends too much? He immediate transitions from that to talking about him killing the Earth. Does John find Perfect Lyctorhood to be abhorrent? Worse than letting his friends who are necromancers kill his friends who weren't and eat their souls?

Let me know what you think.

(This post is for Jod-enjoyers only. I don't want to hear from Jod-haters.)

[rosethornewrites]

T & G reading since 3/20

Finished

Teen:

Interlude II, by EmpressOwl (8th in a series)

Interlude II:

The Lan family's reaction to the wedding.

AKA

LQR soul ascending to heaven.

Welcome to my Parent's House, by nerdzeword (🔒, 9th in a series)

It was Zizhen's idea. Most bad ideas in their group were sourced by Jingyi, but this time, this time Zizhen was the culprit. It was an innocuous enough suggestion, made before they had even gone out for the night.

Sizhui should have known.

Su She's Guide to Lan Wangji's Secrets, by Fereael (8th in a series)

Lan Wangji...

Just the thought of him has Su She gritting his teeth in fury. Lan Wangji, always perfect, always playing hero, always looking down on everyone. He's the reason the entire sect hates Su She now, he's sure of it. The way Lan Wangji has looked at him ever since the Xuanwu cave thing, as though Su She is dirt beneath his boot... Su She won't stand for it anymore! He won't!! Lan Wangji isn't actually perfect he can't be. He has to be have an embracing secret or have broken sect rules at some point or something!! Su She is going to find out what it is and then he's going to tell the entire army and no one will look at "Hanguang-Jun" the same way ever again. Su She will make sure of that!!

OR Su She is sure that Lan Wangji must have some sort of secret that will ruin his too perfect reputation and will stop at nothing to find out what it is.

Jin Zixun's Guide to Being Brilliant, by Fereael (9th in a series)

"Hanguang-Jun, where are you off to?" Jin Zixun calls out to him.

Lan Wangji barely glances in his direction. "Patrol."

"There's no need for that." Jin Zixun can't help the satisfied smile that curves the corners of his lips.

"Wei Ying is late."

It's true. Wei Wuxian should have been back from patrol at least half an hour ago. Jin Zixun can't help laughing a little. "Exactly."

Lan Wangji stops abruptly and turns to look at him, eyes narrowing. "Explain."

OR Jin Zixun decides to confide his plans to deal with Wei Wuxian to fellow Wei Wuxian hater Lan Wangji

Lan Qiren's Guide to (Not) Having a Qi Deviation, by Fereael (10th in a series)

Lan Wangji /is/ in the courtyard after all. He’s leaning, head back, against a tree body still mostly concealed by shrubbery. That isn’t what Lan Qiren takes issue with, no what Lan Qiren takes issue with is that what he can see is of Lan Wangji’s body is in a scandalous state of undress. His outer robes are gone and his inner robe is open, baring the skin of his chest, and far more scandalous than any state of undress, his forehead ribbon is missing. Missing! For a moment they just stare at each other, Lan Qiren’s eyes narrowed, Lan Wangji’s a little wider than usual, then Lan Wangji inclines his head. “Shifu.” Lan Qiren notices that his voice sounds more strained than usual.

“Oh fuck!” The voice comes from somewhere in the shrubbery surrounding Lan Wangji and a moment later, to Lan Qiren’s utter horror, none other than Wei Wuxian pops up out of the bushes, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

OR Lan Qiren goes looking for his nephew and ends up learning several things he definitely did NOT want to know

Wen Qing's Guide to Surviving A War, by Fereael (last in a series)

Wen Qing turns away and stalks into the trees. Just out of sight from the clearing she finds him, dressed in flowing robes of black and red, blood splattered across his cheek and the hell flute at his side. The Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian. He doesn’t look much like the desperate boy she met after the fall of Lotus Pier anymore and yet that same desperation is back in his eyes.

“Wen Qing, I need your help.”

Wen Qing crosses her arms. “You do get that we’re on opposite sides of a war, right?”

“I know I know and I know we said no debts between us and you’ve already done enough for me. I wouldn’t ask but… Just please, come with me?”

OR Wei Wuxian needs help from someone who knows his secret

The Most Beautiful Man Alive (and his gremlin son), by meyari

There was never a time when Wei Wuxian wasn’t aware of it. The way people looked at him, even as a child, made it obvious. But there was a time when he didn’t realize just how much power the face he’d inherited from his father gave him. Once he knew, though, oh. Oh, things changed after that.

Don’t We All Fall - extra 1, by Adey (2nd in a series)

After Lan Qiren’s meddling, Jiang Cheng finds out about Wei Wuxian’s missing core and demands to know when and how that happened.

Don’t We All Fall - extra 2, by Adey (3rd in a series)

After asking Lan Qiren for permission to marry his nephew, Wei Wuxian has to ask Lan Wangji himself.

If you liked it then you should have put a (sect robe) on it, by KizuKatana (🔒, 6 chapters)

Madam Yu decides that the best way to reinstate the severed engagement between her daughter and her best friend’s son would be to publicly punish and humiliate Wei Wuxian in front of the other sects, particularly the Jin. Since he was the one who caused it to be broken, it was the least Wei Wuxian deserved, to remind him of his place. And if it also got back at her husband for allowing the engagement to be broken in the first place, she viewed that as an excellent side benefit.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t considered that other sects might actually snap up the talented disciple that she had planned to only temporarily toss aside. The consequences of that mistake are much farther-reaching than she could have ever imagined.

Canon divergent after Wei Wuxian gets sent home from the Cloud Recesses lectures after punching Jin Zixuan. Novel canon universe and characterizations.

Practical Mythology, by metisket

The Yiling Patriarch is a living legend—a terrifying, ancient force of nature, dispensing punishment or reward with implacable, indifferent fairness.

Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, is a weird but oddly charming guy who wanders around the cultivation world making fun of people's art and mooching food from sect leaders.

It really upsets people to find out that they're the same person.

General:

Reflections on the Life and Reign of Emperor Chifeng: A Historical Review, by stiltonbasket (9th in a series)

A review of common discussion topics concerning the Chifeng era by historian Shen Yuan, following the 2020 publication of Chifeng and the Nobility.

Excerpt:

Q. Monogamy wasn’t the norm for the time, but Empress Zhangxing is repeatedly referred to as Emperor Chifeng’s “only beloved” in records that mention their marriage, even after the arrival of his first consort, Qin Su. Was Emperor Chifeng actually devoted to the Empress? And if so, why did he marry Qin Su and later Jiang Yanli?

A. Most historians believe that Emperor Chifeng was devoted to Empress Zhangxing (born Lan Xichen in ____), and we’ll explain why.

we were born to try (to see each other through), by thunderwear (7th in a series)

Lan Jingyi had no idea where the baby had come from, and, frankly, he was afraid to ask.

An outside view.

Lan Xichen's Promise, by GhoulSanderson (2 chapters)

Wei Ying places his hand on one of Lan Xichen's. It's tacky with grime, and it flinches away from his touch before leaning into it. "Wuxian," he says again, "Wuxian-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He lets Wei Ying go and bows his head to the floor, chanting apologies. Jiang Cheng takes the opportunity to yank Wei Ying back to him, and he shoves his brother behind himself and his sister. When they turn back to Lan Xichen, he's in a ball on the floor, his breathing slowing and his eyes drooping. Lan Qiren surges forward, as does Lan Wangji, but the man faints on the floor, his hand reaching out for Wei Wuxian.

"Xichen!" Lan Qiren yells, and it shakes the other version from his stupor. The Sect Leader stares at his other part, in shambles on the floor, and then meets Wei Ying's eyes.

They're thinking the same thing: what happened? Lan Xichen eyes the dirty hand prints left from his other self's tight hold and thinks, what did I do?

--

In which a Lan Xichen from the future drops into Cloud Recess during the lectures, burdened by inexplicable remorse towards Wei Wuxian.

All This Running Around, Trying To Cover My Shadow, by GhoulSanderson

Wei Ying cries out as he’s thrown to the ground like a ragdoll. His head smacks on the rocks, and static colour swarms his blurry, darkening vision. He arches for the breath that was punched out of him, but a weighty claw settles on his chest, slamming him back down, and he heaves short gasps as he’s crushed, trying and failing to push the beast off. It’s like striking a wall.

And then, pain. Pain, nothing like it.

Teeth sink into his arm, and he screams as he feels his tattered bones, shattered, unhealed from the fall , grind together like gravel.

---

But how was that possible? The Mor’du goes after non-cultivators and the weak. Arguably, Jiang Yanli was the weakest of the crowd. It should have gone for her; instead, it attacked Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian, who is supposed to be the strongest cultivator on the mountain.

Or: A big mean monster attacks Wei Ying, and secrets emerge.

The Blacksmith of Yiling, by Aki_no_hikari (🔒, 6 chapters)

Wei Ying escapes his first winter in the streets by following the light and warmth of a forge. There he finds refuge, for himself, and others as well.

Unfinished

Teen:

The Nautilus and the Shell, by stiltonbasket

On the night of Nie Mingjue’s twenty-ninth birthday, he crosses his arms with Lan Xichen’s and downs a cup of sweet ceremonial wine before carrying his new husband into their bridal bed.

And that—though Nie Mingjue never dreamed that such a thing might happen—is when the rest of their marriage night goes suddenly, disastrously wrong.

Or, the one where Lan Xichen learns the difference between inclination and virtue, and Nie Mingjue and his life's beloved are more alike than they know.

See Me As I Am, by Adey

After stumbling upon an old, defiled temple in the depths of the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian is saddled with a curse that will only be lifted once he completes two impossible tasks.

Or, an old deity gets angry and makes wwx’s life just a tad more difficult.

General:

An Unforeseen Shift, by Remma3760

Wei Wuxian found a resentful sword deep in the bowels of a famed beast. He took it. That turned out to be fortunate since, it would seem, the sword had more than one purpose. That sword was the key to their escape from certain death trapped in the cave of the Xuanwu of Slaughter.

A Fork in the Road, by Bodldops

With a small change, Wei Wuxian has a chance to reconsider his stance. That change leads to others. The most important words you can say, after all, are thank you, and I am sorry.

It is better to say them earlier, than later through tears.

Yet another plot bunny yoinked from the plot bunny yard sale of batbusiness_schooldropout. Keep'm coming, I can do this all day. :D

[vlovers19]

Tae didn't even say a word about Jimin. Why make a public post in the manner he did for Jk, but not his soulmate, bff, the one he said he likes the most and can't live without. I feel so sad. I been sitting here crying for days hearing Vmin were gonna be separated and Tae doesn't even say a word about him. He's just focused on Wooga and Jk. I really thought Layover rekindled something in Vmin. But now I am thinking maybe not. They are just friends. Jimin is getting massacred cause he's enlisting with Jk, while Tk is trending. And now Vmin are being dragged by both jkk and tkk, cause Tae just ignored him. This is the worst I have felt in a long time. Even worse then paris.

Its not like I was expecting a Vmin live or selfie or public goodbye in the first place, but now that Tae has done it for others, it just really feels empty. I even lied to myself and said maybe its just too hard on them and they are struggling with saying their final goodbyes, but I don't think I even believe that anymore and that is what hurts. At this point I'm just gonna say I wish them safety and happiness. I'm just lost with everything else.

I know it's quite annoying. I even felt a bit irked when Taehyung didn't do anything to commemorate his relationship with Jimin publicly especially at such a critical time, knowing they wouldn't be able to see each other in a long time but then, choosing mostly to show his interactions with Jungkook, his Wooga friends and his high school friends. But he didn't disclose pictures of him with his family. He chose to keep that to himself. Again, he didn't tell anyone when Park seo Joon had to live in his house because he was renovating his own home. It was Park seo Joon who disclosed it himself.

Actor, Park bo gum who is his very close friend and fellow Celine ambassador was silent during Taehyung's entire enlistment process but nobody drags him about it because at the back of everyone's minds, we know he must have wished him well off camera. Rm's sister posted pictures of their family during his enlistment but there were no pictures of Taehyung with his family. Why? Because he chose to keep them private which I believe he also did with Jimin and if they are close the way I think they are, then it's understandable the reason why.

The members all had a joint live and judging from vmin's interactions, where they were so giggly and interactive with each other especially with Jimin finding it difficult to restrain himself from touching Taehyung, I wonder how it's possible for them to suddenly become so cold to each other so soon after wards? It makes no sense.

Now as for who is going with who to the military, i wonder why it's distressing people. The only thing I hate about the whole situation is that Jk has to go to the military when he still has a few more years left. He is doing this to keep up with 2025 bts reunion when even his fellow 97 liner friends aren't even thinking about it yet. That is sad. I had thought the members would all go one after the other. However, that was not to be.

Funny enough, the moment I heard that Jimin and Jungkook used the buddy system to enlist together, I became more convinced that they're not a couple. It won't be easy to hide a gay relationship especially for people as famous as them. Let's say the soldiers don't care but they do have family members who are fans of them, who would want to know every detail about their lives. Sure enough, all eyes would be on them to get juicy scoops. There will even be haters looking for an opportunity to take them down. They have to be extremely careful. They can't make a single mistake and that alone is very exhausting. If they were in a relationship, this situation could even put a strain in it. Life isn't fantasy, it's a cold hard reality. I believe Jimin and Jungkook decided to use the buddy system to make things easier. Enlisting in the army for introverted shy people like themselves can be a nightmare. At least, the fact that they can be together makes the whole experience more tolerable. But being stuck to one another also makes them a target of people's eyes because the entire country is well aware of their controversial ship. If they're in a relationship which I doubt, then they made a really risky move.

Anyway, people who are busy making an issue out of this should simply get a life. They have nothing better to do with their time which is why they decide to hate on celebrities hoping to control their lives since theirs isn't going well. Tomorrow, Jimin and Jungkook will enter the military and we won't see them again for a very long time. We should only focus on making their departure a fulfilling one.

[cornytheclown]

It’s late at night and I’m thinking about the villain trio from FE Fates. The one in particular that I love so much (Iago, Hans, Zola)

They’re not the most developed, especially compared to other villains in the series. Some would even say that they are mostly 2 Dimensional! And they’re correct!

But despite that, they all got this sort of unique vibe to them, and through the interpretations of their text and actions in Fates + Heroes + other media that I find them in, plus some personal headcanons, I feel like I could give a decent read on the three of them.

I’m gonna segment these out into different posts so that they’re not too long winded. Also I don’t know the word limit on Tumblr posts, I’ve never made a post this long before.

Iago

Right off the bat, it can be agreed upon by everyone in the jury today - Iago is a asshole. Not just any asshole though - but a smart ass. A smug ass smart ass. He would lord over someone about his intellect and capabilities, taking great pride in it.

He’s incredibly gifted in strategy and intelligence, one of Nohr’s best tacticians. However, he’s also incredibly paranoid and over analyzing. Almost like he’s constantly strategizing both on and off the playing field. Which, given that he’s the head advisor to the King, and having a very key role in the court, makes sense. You never wanna let your guard down in that kind of environment.

But he takes things to a whole new level. He’s paranoid and distrusting of everyone whose not King Garon. He’s the kind of guy who plans out how to kill whoever he meets. And while surely he has his formalities (natural of someone in the court like him), he looks down upon just about everyone and suspects everyone around him of suspicious behavior by almost every action they take.

He has little respect for anyone who isn’t above him in some kind of way. Peasants are as good as dead in his eyes, just simple casualties in war (even if they’re not apart of it). Hell, it wouldn’t even be surprising if he used some of them as experiments for his Faceless. Everyone else who works under him or is below him in power is simply just to control or monitor with suspicion. And anyone who steps out of line for him is as good as gone (unless stated otherwise by his King)

Honestly, he’s just such a hater, he would be more than happy just to cruelly toy with someone he was spiteful against in particular. Not the kind of guy you’d want to be on the bad side of, as he certainly seems to take glee in the misery of others.

Anyone who seems like they could overpower him or be of a higher status however (such as a King), he seems willing to follow along with. So as long as he knows they’re on his side - and unless it’s King Garon - he’s still always a step ahead in case they inevitably betray him in his mind. Or better yet - he’ll be the first to betray them.

Hence why he’s so weirdly nice to Kiran in Heroes. Because his King is now under contract with Kiran, by extension, Iago now also serves Kiran. It’s easy to forget that Kiran, in the circumstances designed by the Order, is in charge of everyone. Including Gods. It’s stated in a Forging Bonds event that they literally cannot kill each other due to the magic of their binding contract to Kiran. The same would most likely apply to being unable to harm Kiran.

So Iago is doing what he can to kiss up to Kiran and give helpful advice for strategy, as a fellow Tactician. I don’t think much of it is anymore than sweet talk and advice to improve. At least until their Lvl 40 conversation, where Kiran earns his respect. Even offering to aid them, if they so wish to do evil.

Now I keep mentioning Iago’s constant devotion to Garon. I actually have a personal headcanon that’s probably not canon but I’m going to make it my canon, because Fates is a complete mess (affectionate). There’s gonna be spoilers btw.

My theory is that Iago’s devotion actually lies within Anankos more than anyone. Who, as you know, is possessing Garon the whole damn time. I don’t think Iago lacks devotion to Garon, but his heart is for Anankos.

I actually am in the camp that believes Iago is related to Mikoto, possibly her brother. And he is from Valla. And a devoted follower of Anankos, who might be a little bit extremely bitter about him choosing Mikoto. And having a child - Corrin. The reason why he has such a vendetta against Corrin is because they are the child of Mikoto and Anankos, and given their softer, kind nature growing up, he sees a bit of her sister in them (whom he hates). And doesn’t see them fit to be Anankos’ heir because of their softer nature.

Despite his spite, he follows Anankos to the bitter end, by all of his orders given. Being too blinded to realize just how far gone his God has become due to their madness, brought about by the death of their close friend (the original King of Valla). Or possibly even not caring about morals and such, and just doing what his beloved God asks of him, regardless of consequence. Probably a mix of both.

Iago is a bitter, spiteful, manipulative snake of a man who needs to have everything masterfully under his control, and following the orders of both his King and his God. He serves the higher powers, and spits at those below him. Happily willing to let innocents die if it suits him. He will do anything if it means getting one up in a situation. He knows how to manipulate others and does so happily for his goals. He won’t hesitate to backstab almost anyone whose not above him. He’s smarmy and strategic, always planning his next move and watching everyone else’s every move to ensure that he’s always ahead of them.

There’s not much that’s very likable about him and I think he enjoys that! He wakes up every day extra early Just to be a hater. I also headcanon him to be a Theater Nerd, a lover of theatrics and literature. A classy, cultured man who brings out the same energy of a Musical Villain into his daily life.

Honestly, being the way that he is, naturally he has very few real friends. Between being sus of everyone and just being a generally nasty person, I think it’s kind of why he leans into the whole “cartoon villain” vibe. He has power over almost everyone, he’s an advisor to the King! And in the environment that he’s from, Nohr especially, as well as because of his status, it’s no wonder why he’s on edge and calculating. There’s bound to be a lot of targets on his head from those from opposing sides, or even others who would want to get ahead of him and take over.

Rather than risk something terrible to come out of putting his trust into someone, or even being anywhere near vulnerable with anyone, it’s much safer and easier to push everyone else away and become an infamously unpleasant sort. What does it matter if everyone hates you? You’re the King’s advisor! You have the power and you can control how everything goes, and you’ll always be a step ahead!

And when he’s lost that control…in the moment where he is at the mercy of the Heroes…he becomes a begging, pathetic mess! The man is a cowardly weasel! There’s a good reason why he wouldn’t scoff off Hans, and other then a mutual love of being horrible people and killing others, that’s because Hans could happily break him like a KitKat.

When you take Iago out of his element, where he’s Not ahead of the game like he thinks he is, and he’s left in a powerless state, he’s not too proud to beg for his life or flee if he can. If things are getting out of hand; he’s quick to get the hell out of dodge. Screw everyone else. And if he can’t do that, then well…best he can do is cry and beg and give fake apologies, hoping the other party won’t beat his ass.

Which is another reason why he’s most likely as nice as he is to Kiran - he’s at Kiran’s mercy! He can be sent home and back into his timeline whenever they want him gone. Best to avoid that by being a kiss ass and doing well for them.

Some other Misc. HCs about Iago:

Mentioned it before, but he’s a Theater and Literature Geek. And a terribly pretentious one at that.

The mask he wears, aside from being an aforementioned Theater Nerd, is meant to represent Anankos, and is from Valla. A bit of his golden accents are also common from there.

Being Mikoto’s twin brother, he is also Corrin and Azura’s evil uncle. Is in his mid 40’s, and despite being the same age, he looks 10 years older than Mikoto.

It was that thing of like, he felt like everyone liked his sister Mikoto more, because she was sweet and openly friendly. And when even the God he worshipped for so long favored her more, that’s where he crossed the line into pure hatred for her.

He joined the court and became Garon’s advisor not too long after Mikoto had Corrin. It was very tempting to want to kill baby Corrin, but by his King’s orders, he refrained. But he’s held contempt for them even when they were very young.

I HC him to be Gay, but I don’t think he’s devoted to anyone more than Garon and Anankos (neither one share those feelings).

With that being said, I firmly believe that he and Hans have something going on.

[asknarashikari]

I'll admit, I've been trying to avoid these heated conversations because of the natural fear of it escalating to the point where someone's life/career can be ruined forever. I tend to keep out of Twitter drama altogether (I don't even view over 300 tweets each day anyway and neither does my friends.) and purely focus on the fanart, memes, and keeping up with my favorite J-Pop artists and interests.

Anyway, Riders (Particularly the Saber cast) react to seeing this vile hatred towards Keiwa and his actor? (Likely finding out about the latter through Tsukasa.)

Lmao I never even got twitter to begin with. I'd always been wary of social media in general, so I never made an account.

Honestly, my main social media these days is tumblr. I only have Insta for simping purposes (and the Pokemon insta page), and I rarely dip into Reddit (though I am there, also as narashikari). I don't even use Facebook anymore, just Messenger.

Anywho...

I think they would understand the hatred towards Keiwa, somewhat, because his behavior is unacceptable, even though his current state of grief and rage explain them.

Thing is, people can't control how they feel, so hating Keiwa for what he's doing isn't wrong per se. It's how they're acting on that emotion that should be criticized.

Which, ironically, is the same thing with Keiwa. He can't help what he feels- the grief of losing Sara, the anger at all the people who he holds responsible in some way, his frustration over not having his wish fulfilled. But how he acted on those emotions- especially in regards to Tsumuri and Ace- isn't okay.

That said, I feel like some of them would be protective of Keiwa, especially fellow Secondaries, since they think he's a good guy at heart and he's bound to come around if people just reached out to him and he starts healing from his trauma.

On the other hand, pretty much everyone would not approve of Ryuga Sato being hated on and even harassed. They're all mature and smart enough to separate an actor from the character they're playing. At best they'll think the haters are idiots. And at worst, assholes.

[6ebe]

do you ever see a blog you don’t like receiving hate anons and you’re just like. I want to be their friends ..

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

Both Lucas Broussard and Andreas Nordeback have said Shoma is their favorite skater (Andreas said Shoma is his favorite Japanese skater), and both paid attention to their presentation and are really promising performers, I'm proud that Shoma have top juniors looking up to him. Haein Lee is also a Shoma fangirl, and the influence is felt in how she always fought to perform 100% until the end of her program regardless of the falls. There's a young Japanese skater named Sena Takahashi who was a great novice performer at the NHK Trophy and Japan Nationals gala... and he's also a Shoma fan. In general skaters who I notice are great performers or skate beyond their years tend to look up to or love Shoma, I remember even Alena Kostornaia before she started winning JGPF said her favorite skaters are Shoma and Javier.

I think aside from the performing style, Shoma influenced other Japanese skaters in terms of work ethic. Masakazu Kagiyama (Yuma's father) has mentioned in an interview before Beijing that he was impressed vy Shoma not being shy to show his falls and failures in front of Yuma when they trained together, because in his experience senior skaters tend to "only show the good sides" in front of their juniors. Shoma also gave a lot of competitive advice to Kazuki, and Kazuki is also now using the same skating blades as Shoma. He tends to be really observant of his fellow skaters and is ready to give them advice whenever necessary imo, I remember him commenting on Sota's jumps a couple of times this season.

Thank you for your input! 😊

There are definetly a couple of skaters who named Shoma as their favorite skater.

I also remember an interview with Kaori from late 2017 where she said she was looking up to Shoma. (let me search in my archive and I reference it when I find it😅)

I just dunno if it really translates into their skating or attitude in that sense you can say "see that's because of Shoma" but they definitely all saw something worth admiring and taking to heart.

I can wholeheartedly agree about work ethics in that sense in how you approach stuff and how hard you work to achieve a goal. That's why I always get so mad when haters say "Shoma is lazy" like have you ever listened to other skaters who trained with Shoma (who were not Eteri students)?

I think Shoma showed that you can be real friends with your direct competition. He trained with his friends and lend all of them a helping hand in terms of advice for their mentality or approach to competition, technical advice on jumps or being an emotional support like Koshiro just said at 4CC that he performs better with his friends around. Sota, Kazuki, Yuma, Koshiro and more can all call Shoma a friend and rely on him. It's not a common thing in sports to help your rivals even if you are friendly with each other. I just remember an interview with a Russian skater who said: "There are no real friends among competitors in the same discipline" but I think Shoma is the example to show you that it doesn't need to be true.

[clockworkspider]

*gets on my soapbox again*

So one of the things that's been happening since fandom migrated from scattered forums and LJ communities to socmed (early 2010s) is that fandom has gotten more centralized.

This isn't a bad thing, as it means smaller fandom have an easier time finding each other, and newer fans have an easier point of entry and can find fanwork easier.

This does, however, means that big name fans gets even bigger. And once an someone reaches a certain degree of popularity on the internet, they will inevitably hit critical point of "can never do anything right ever again".

I've seen this happened to fan artists, fan translators, cosplayers... they can be the most unproblematic person and someone will be like "you once said you hate X character and I take that as a personal attack against me" or "you drew this character marginally paler/skinnier than other people and therefore you must be racist/fatphobic" or "you made an information/summary post and one part was WRONG and therefore you should delete your account and never make these summaries again".

I mean... it doesn't matter if the issue is more or less legitimate. The point is, normally, a big name fan is still, at the end of the day, just someone who's very passionate about their fandom and has dedicated a lot of hours on it. They're not doing it for profit. They're not a public figure or celebrity with a PR team. 99% of them can't even be counted as influencers. They're people and they just wanna do their thing and enjoy fandom the same way you do. And sometimes they wanna take time out of their day to provide a valuable service for the fandom, like making fan tls or running an information archive.

But if they reach a certain point of popularity, for every 10 followers they gain they will get 1 hater who's 10 times more vocal about it. And eventually it gets too draining to manage and the only viable solution is to lock their account (only available on twitter, not tumblr) or never engage with the rest of the fandom ever again. They lose their community, the fandom loses their fanwork/service. Nobody really gains anything from it. Net loss.

So like... just... be generous to your fellow fans. Let people make mistakes or have bad opinions about fiction. (You know I'm not referring to deliberate bigotry, don't derail.) Let people ship their garbage ship (subjective). They're just someone on the internet. If they've really gotten something factually wrong and you're making corrections, do so in good faith (skip the insults and the name calling) and uh... see if someone else has made the same correction already in the reblogs or QRTs.

I promise you, we don't really have anything to gain from bullying people off the fandom for innocuous things. I know it feels good to be "right" or whatever, but it's a really shitty thing to do to ruin someone's passion. It's a really shitty thing to do to take away a place where someone can belong.

Just. Be kind.

[donpa2483]

Im not even gonna dignify this with anon bro, why are people being so rude to you?? as a fellow asian i say mcscuse my mcbad language but what the hell? why do people think its okay to bully each other just because they have nothing better to do? ok? get a job? dont bully people? i get it youre bored but you cant try to make other people feel bad about themselves just because youre bored go away

<3

and also i hate to break it to you that one anon but as someone who lives in america currently (yes asians exist in america get a life), there is unfortunately no such thing as racism towards white people. because most (MOST, i've met a few nice ones) white people have this mindset where they think theyre better than everyone else and therefore have the right to degrade others and take away minorities' rights and bully people of not-white backgrounds, etc etc etc

anyways donpa i dont even care if im late saying this it needed to be said but anyway youre a sweet person dont listen to them <3

I don't know... I feel like maybe I don't understand the cultural things in the US, that's one of the reasons why I get so many hate comments.

And sometimes I get really weird comments like: Oh no you did this character wrong, shame on you! I remember there's one time I posted one of my Blackfire fanarts and said she's my favorite character, someone commented and said: your fav is shi*t! At that time I did not know English like I do now, so I went to google translation and... I was like 14 or 15 years old, imagining how sad I was.

I just don't know... It feels like no matter what I do, ppl can always get triggered and they want to use their keyboard to kill me. They just assumed that a 15 year old kid who's not even living in the US should know everything like a real US citizen. That's why I stopped posting on Tumblr for a while.

I used to do many Steven Universe fanarts, I loved making the gems into humans, and I got bunch of hate comments saying that I white washed Connie, which I understand why ppl were acting like that now,but I swear I did use a much darker skin tone to draw her.

Until now I still don't understand what the standard is. I've seen ppl making white characters black or draw then with darker skin tone, everyone just seems to be okay with that. But once you make a black character with a lighter skin tone, you're a racist.

I drew Blue diamond with her hair splitted for one time, I got a comment saying that I did her hair wrong, even though I've done so many Blue diamond fanarts with her original looks already...

I did an AOT fanart and ppl think I support nazi...

I'm speechless lol, the haters can always find a new ridiculous reason to hate me.

Anyway, thank you so much for this message, you're a really sweet person too! And you didn't even use anon, that really means a lot to me😭😭😭

[fyexo]

221209 LAY ZHANG IS FINDING HIS WAY

A young Lay Zhang had a clear goal in mind: in 2005, he enrolled in a talent competition, the Hunan-based Star Academy. Zhang Yixing (as he was known back then) did it for 50 RMB — an incentive that his father had promised him if he got through the first round of auditions.

He did, but more importantly, the achievement meant that he went on to become a finalist on the variety show. “I never dreamed that I would become an artiste,” Zhang reminisces. But the experience unlocked something inside him, as the creative teenager found himself continually drawn to the allure of the stage. He’d go on to make cameos in other shows in China, and each time he gained even more confidence and experience. It helped that Zhang was an easy crowd-pleaser; he was charismatic, and bubbled over with youthful exuberance. Plus, he could sing, rap and dance — he had all the makings of a teen idol. Not surprisingly, he ended up at a global casting by SM Entertainment, held in Wuhan in 2008, and was soon headed to South Korea to train as a performer at the age of 17. In 2012, he debuted as part of EXO — the wildly successful South Korean-Chinese boy band that has topped music charts worldwide since its debut.

Now, at 31, an older Zhang has a different goal in mind: to create works that speak to his roots, and that are unapologetically his. After 10 years with EXO, the Chinese pop star will be focusing on his solo career. But the experience of condensing years of hard work into mere minutes of an intense performance alongside his fellow members is something that Zhang continues to hold dear to his heart today. “I feel that it’s because I’ve gone through all that back then that I developed this awe for the stage,” he says. “It’s just so unforgettable.”

A hand-written note on Zhang’s social media account says: “It’s time to say goodbye… It’s also my new beginning.” That fresh start would see Zhang venturing into uncharted territory, where he melds Chinese classical poetry, traditional instruments and historical facts with modern musical influences — adding cultural elements into songs, raps, music videos, and more. “I want to share my music and my culture with my fans from all over the world,” he muses. West, his latest five-track EP, is a widely anticipated sequel to 2021’s East — and continues to be a heartfelt ode to his Asian heritage. When sharing how he blends and finds harmony in melding Eastern and Western influences, Zhang gets particularly animated. “That makes the sound feel very unique,” he says. “There’s something different, yet the same.” In the lead single “Veil”, what starts out as dreamy chords from the erhu, a Chinese traditional instrument, quickly segues into slick trap beats. The same Oriental motif can also be detected in “I Don’t Care”, a song about cyberbullying, and how it is important to stand up to the haters.

Most of his songs can feel vastly distinct at first; the groovy, flute-fuelled “NAMANANA” stands in stark contrast to the heavy, rap-driven “Lit” (the music video is a vivid reimagination of Xiang Yu in the historical Chinese opera Farewell My Concubine). But a common thread that runs across most of Zhang’s discography is a duality in terms of the language used. He flits comfortably between Mandarin choruses and English verses, connecting the dots, sonically, between seemingly distinct cultures — and thus bringing into full force his entire vision: of finding a higher purpose (and platform) for Chinese culture and folklore. He calls this Mix-Mandarin pop, or M-pop for short (not to be confused with Mandopop).

His music has certainly got everyone perked up, and tuned in. “Different languages help achieve different effects,” Zhang shares. Beyond cementing his popularity back in China, the pop star has also started to gain the attention of audiences elsewhere. His first solo performance in the States saw Zhang joining Alan Walker in a 2018 Lollapalooza set. The Chinese singer also lent his vocals to “Love You More”, in a collaboration with Steve Aoki and Will.I.Am. Diplo was impressed by the work ethic of Zhang when they met backstage, and referred to him as “the truth” in a tweet. In recent times, he sang — in both Mandarin and English — alongside American rapper 24kGoldn in “Dawn to Dusk”. “Through music, we can overcome language barriers,” he says in an Instagram post. Not that Zhang has ever let any obstacle get in his way. “Every small setback is a great opportunity to toughen you up.”

This might explain why the multi-hyphenate never shies away from a challenge — from his role as Er Yuehong in the action series The Mystic Nine, to voicing the sleek and chic Jackson Storm in the Chinese-dubbed version of Disney’s animated film Cars 3. Not one to be satisfied with the status quo, Zhang says: “I keep raising the bar on myself, on my music, on my dancing, and more. When I reach a certain level of quality, I raise it even higher — to make myself better.” In this continual pursuit for more, the entrepreneurial creative has embarked on yet another new path, as the founder of Chromosome Entertainment Group, where he, in turn, hopes to identify a new generation of superstars — and nurture in them a “respect for the stage”, the same reverence that got him performing in the first place.

These days, Zhang finds himself dreaming a new dream. He didn’t set out to become a global phenomenon — but along the way, he gradually found and settled into his own voice and identity. Zhang now wants to be remembered as a musician “with guts” — one who is unafraid to take risks, and make bold moves. “I hope to leave behind a spirit of not giving up, of chasing a goal regardless of the cost,” he says. It seems fitting that Zhang uses a quote from an ancient Chinese poem, A View of Taishan, to describe his journey thus far — “that at the summit, look beyond your feet, and everything else in the scenery will look small in comparison”. The stanza holds a huge amount of literary significance, but its essence, to put it loosely is be ambitious, trust the journey, and reap the reward. “I feel that the world belongs to the adventurous,” he says. And it’s clear that Zhang is embarking on the grandest adventure of all.

source: Fabian Loo @ Elle Singapore

[sketching-shark]

I think we should start a protection squad (although they don’t need it because they can protect themselves) for Sun Wukong and Guanyin

“Begone monkie kid fandom trying to down grade these really interesting characters with interesting personality’s and backstory ( the both of them like seriously Guanyin backstory is so cool) to a villain wile trying to justify your angsty backstory (that are no where near as cool as monkey who fights gods and Person who has 1000 arms and heads to help people in need) for the actual villain”

So who wants to join

Me:*raises my hand*

Ps: sorry if I got Guanyin backstory wrong am not an expert on it.

Haha okay so some critiques on the jttw & associated media western fandom & fandom in general coming up, so please skip this upcoming text wall if you don't want to encounter my undoubtedly ~devastating~ words (i.e. don't like don't read as people love to say, & if I have to be inundated with images of my notp every time I go into the sun wukong tag then I imagine people can be chill with me expressing my opinions & giving people fair warning that I WILL be critiquing common fandom trends, but no need for you to see that if you don’t want to. Cool? Cool.)

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PFFFFFTTT oh man there are many times when I feel like signing up for such a protection squad...when it comes to the current western jttw & Sun Wukong fandom I do feel like I'm often swinging at a rapid pace between "well it's fandom & people are allowed to make the stories they want" & "I am once again begging my fellow monkie kid enthusiasts (& sometimes creators) to do more research into the og classic/show it more respect so you can avoid any potentially offensive/off-the-mark misunderstandings of the status & cultural context of the characters in their country of origin (I promise it's super interesting & I can provide you with links to free pdf copies of the entire Yu translation, i.e. the best one ever created, so feel free to ask!) & maybe also stop constantly stripping away all the nuance of Sun Wukong's character for the sake of either making him an entire asshole so your little meow meow can look completely innocent in comparison and/or making the monkey king's entire life & character revolve around said meow meow."

Like I get that fandom's supposed to be a kind of anything-goes environment, but one thing that honestly seems to be true of a lot of fandoms--and the western one for Sun Wukong & co. is certainly not immune from this--is that there often seems to be a kind of monoculturalization at work in what stories are created & what character interpretations are made popular. Across a multitude of fandoms, you frequently see basically nothing but the exact same tropes being made popular & even being insisted on for the canonical work (especially hasty redemption arcs & enemies to lovers these days), the exact same one-dimensional character types that characters from an original work keep getting shoved into, the exact same story beats, etc. And I get it to an extent, as fandom is generally a space where people just make art and fic for fun & without thinking too hard about it & without any pressure. 

This seems to, however, often unfortunately lead to the mentality that it’s your god-given right to do literally whatever you want with literally any cultural figure without even the slightest bit of thought put into their cultural, historical, and even religious context, even (and sometimes especially) when it comes to figures that are really important in a culture outside your own. For such figures--even if you first encounter them in a children’s cartoon--you should be a little more careful with what you do with them than you would with your usual Saturday morning line-up. It of course has to be acknowledged that there exists a whole pile of absolutely ridiculous & cursed pieces of media that are based on Journey to the West & that were produced in mainland China, but for your own education if nothing else I consider it good practice for those of us (myself certainly included) who aren’t part of the culture that produced JTTW to put more thought into how we might want to portray these characters so that at the very least (to pull some things I’ve seen from the jttw western fandom) we’re not turning a goddess of mercy into an evil figure for the sake of Angst(TM), or relegating other important literary figures into the positions of offensive stereotypes, or making broad claims about the source text & original characterizations of various figures that are blatantly untrue, or mocking heavenly deities because of what’s actually your misunderstanding of how immortality works according to Daoist beliefs. Yet while a lot of this is often due to people not even trying to understand the context these figures are coming from, I do want to acknowledge that the journey (lol reference) to understand even a fraction of the original cultural context can be a daunting one, especially since, as I’ve mentioned before, it can be really hard & even next to impossible to find good, accessible, & legitimate explanations in English of how, for example, the relationship between Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China & according to the Buddhist beliefs that define the original work. 

That is to say, I do think it’s an unfortunate, if unavoidable, part of any introduction of an original text into a culture foreign to its own for there to be sometimes a significant amount of misinterpretation, mistranslations, and false assumptions. There is, however, a big difference between learning from your honest mistakes, & doubling down on them while dismissing all criticism of your misinterpretation into that abstract category of “fandom drama.” The latter attitude is kind of shitty at best and horrifically entitled at worst. 

Plus, as I’ve discovered, there is a great deal of interest and joy to be drawn from keeping yourself open to learning aspects of these texts & figures that you weren’t aware of! I can say from my own experience that I’ve always really enjoyed & appreciated it when individuals on this site who come from a Chinese background--and who know much more about the cultural context of JTTW than me--have taken the time to explain its various aspects. It often leaves me feeling like woooooaaaahhhhhHHH!!!! as to how amazingly full of nuanced meaning JTTW is like dang no wonder it’s one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels. 

And I guess that right there is the heart of a lot of my own personal frustration and disappointment with the ways that fandoms often approach a literary work or other piece of media...like don’t get me wrong, a lot of the original works a fandom may grow around are just straight-up goofy & everyone’s aware of it & has fun with it, yet the trend of approaching what are often nuanced and multi-layered works in terms of how well they fit and/or can be shoved into pretty cliche ideas of Redemption Arc or Enemies to Lovers or Hero Actually Bad, Villain Actually Good etc...well, it just seems to cheapen and even erase even the possibility of understanding the wonderful complexity or even endearing simplicity that made these works so beloved in the first place. Again, I feel like I need to make it clear that I’m not saying fandom should be a space where people are constantly trying to one-up each other with their hot takes in literary analysis, but it would be nice and even beneficial to allow room for commentary that strives to approach these works in a multi-faceted way, analysis & interpretations that go against the popular fandom beliefs, & criticism of the work or even of fandom trends (yes it is in fact possible to legitimately love something but still be critical of its aspects) instead of immediately attacking people who try to engage in such as just being haters who don’t want anyone to have fun ever (X_X).   

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Anyway, I know I didn’t cover even half of the stuff you brought up in the first place anon, but I don’t want any interested parties to this post to suffer too long through my text wall lol. I was asked to try my hand at illustrating Guanyin, but as with you I’m nowhere near as informed as I should be about her, so I want to do more research on her history and religious importance before I attempt a portrait. I’ll try my best, and do plan to pair that illustration with my own outsider’s attempt to summarize her character. From what little I do know I am in full agreement that her backstory is so incredibly amazing...just the fact that she literally eschewed the bliss of Nirvana to help all beings reach it, and even split herself into pieces in the attempt to do so (with Buddha granting her eleven heads and a thousand arms as a result)...man, I can see why she’s such a beloved & respected deity. 

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 As for what western fandom commonly does with everyone’s favorite god-fighting primate...I can talk about this at length if there’s interest, but for this post I’ll just say that I guess one lesson from all of this is that for all the centuries that have passed since Journey to the West was first completed, literally no one drawing inspiration from the original tale in the west (lol) has come even slightly close to being able to equal or even capture half the extent of the nuance, complexity, religious, historical, and cultural aspects, and humor that define Wu Cheng'en's story of an overpowered monkey who defied even Buddha.

So thank the heavens we'll always have the original.