#you may ask abt the frontiers

[certainlyweirddargon]

If the frontiers were to play SBURB or whatever's it called, we think they'd know abt it from Hiten since, y'know, he's a troll, and the others aren't.

[couch-house]

2023 baybeeeee. havent done an art summary in a while since i basically stopped drawing early 2020 and didn't get back on the horse until mid-2022 (i wonder... what could have caused that!) i dont feel like my art has really changed this year, only in the ways that I draw specific sonic characters (looking through my archive is fun bc i can see the progression of the diseases known as Giving Them Big Eyebrows and Drawing The Monoeye) and--more exciting 4 me--my practice with paneling comics! :)

i think the progression is much more noticeably when you line it up with last year's sonic art... i can see all the Milestones.. more talking abt that under the cut

May: couch gets into sonic. June: Yucky Sonic 1.0. this was also the month when i Heard Of fleetway super. July: couch comes back from brazil, having read stc. this is also when i start dong actual short comics. compare may -> june -> july. (also please forgive whatever tf i was doing with skintones. i needed some practice)

august: merger au takes shape. dog invented. also i just really like that speed racer sonic mspaint picture. its fun :) september: deep in the fleet mines. october: i lose a lot of steam and mostly just doodle. another comic comparison for those three months:

november: frontiers comes out. i go crazy mode and make that sonic + knuckles comic with the pretty backgrounds and LOTS OF TINY TEXT. december: winter break AND im tired. january 2023 i come back insane crazy mode and write some fanfiction?? still havent finished that LOL. made some nice cover art :) february: i shift into knuckles mode fora month. make another comic. this one is much better i think :) november -> february

march: i shift into transfem metal sonic mode. also just stick to a lot of doodling. also write more fanfiction. crazy. april: transitory period as i shift back into stc/exit: sonic mode. may: more fanfiction. more comics. i really like how both of these turned out :) while the last two were definitely taking a lot more notes from stc, i think around here i start paying attention to and trying to learn from more creative panelling from artists i admire. like @/superemeralds THOAM and @/starrjoy's pandora au.

june: i play sa2 and it's good. july: i play unleashed and it is both miserable and good. i get in kind of an artistic frustration zone and wiggle my way out. august: idk i think im just chillin. super react dot jpeg happens. it's not even named that, it's named after the other image on the canvas, which was maria holding baby shadow. more comics.

september: i burn out for a bit. get real tired. eventually get back up and make more comics. the goal here and last month has become "try to make more interesting panel shapes. I've noticed other artists don't just use rectangles--try playing with irregular polygons and see where it gets you." well it gets you mixed results as you learn :) also i think after that pause i accept the monoeye into my life. sigh...

october: oc showdown starts and @/neurotypical-sonic asks me to make some halloweeny art :) feels like i dont do much this month bc i focus on those. november: A LOT OF ART?? INSANE. more oc showdown stuff. i play shadow the hedgehog (2005). it's good and i love it. i draw a ton of shit on one canvas for it. Fucking Dember: i have shifted back into stc/EXIT mode. motivation's a little weird bc work's a little weird. doing commissions also makes it weird. well im having fun and being myself :) a final handful of comics from this month:

idk maybe ill do something sicko crazy b4 the end of the year. mayb i'll follow exit sonic's example and #GetWorse. who knows :) well this is fun i love looking at my art and seeing and noticing things. thank u all for your support and I hope we all have a great 2024!

[marinaiguess]

the vocal themes from frontiers describe a specific theme on their lyrics and it gradually turns from fear to acceptance (i suppose) i’ll be talking abt these (in the order of their “appearance” in game): i’m here, undefeatable, break through it all, find your flame, vandalize.

(also spoilers)

i’m here is a lot about doubting and reassurance. it starts with sonic “leaving the life he knew before” “finding the truth of who he’s meant to become”, revealing a degree of uncertainty. despite the fact sonic has always moved forward, “to new horizons”, he “fights this fear, with his life”, fights the fear of losing his friends. but in the next pre-chorus, it seems like he can hear his friends (“don’t be afraid, i will be with you”) who are trying to reassure him and give him the strength he needs to keep on fighting. in the end, he still moves forward, but now he’s more assured as “the way ahead’s becoming clear.”

undefeatable is about a strong sense of confidence that overshadows the real emotions sonic is feeling (a topic touched by the next song as well). that’s mostly fear. sonic seems to be handling everything well so far, even saying that “think im on 11 but im on a 9, guess u dont really know me” which shows he really believes he is “undefeatable” and that makes sense, especially since he is in his super form for the first time since the beginning of their adventure and is certain the chaos emeralds will help him complete his mission (he doesnt know yet that the emeralds disperse after visiting a different island). however, he keeps repeating “face your fear” and it serves as a reminder to himself that he cant avoid this emotion. “i used to never know/this feeling’s just a ghost” is him trying to persuade himself that this fear is momentary and that he has to focus on the battle to keep moving forward.

break through it all is about accepting and overcoming the fear. sonic still tries to convince himself to keep the fight going (“dont look down”) but at the same time he’s calling out to his enemy (”show yourself”). that’s when he’s found most of his friends but has yet to find tails. he wants to end this and quickly, so he doesnt wait for the enemy to appear on its own. now he knows that he “cant hide from what he feels”, he’s still afraid but more determined (”no more compromise, this is do or die”) and ready to risk it all. half of the chorus is sonic’s friends hyping him up, telling him that he “wont fade out, cuz the fire in him never dies” and that he shouldnt stop cuz they have a mission. sonic has been listening to them and he knows they have been with him this whole time, so he accepts that they will be okay cuz they are fighting alongside him (”we wont stop until the battle’s won”) and until the end of the song, sonic talks on behalf of all of them. 

find your flame is about the ultimate disappearance of that fear. theres no fear overshadowing what he has to do (”take a seat, im on a mission”) and he’s carrying his friends with him in this one (”we wont back down”). sonic has surpassed his frontiers (”im here to go beyond my limit”), he is at the worst state possible (cybercorrpution) and is eager to end the fight, even more now that hes reunited with his little bro. (”i’ve been waiting for my moment to strike”). he has no inhibitions, he’s not restraining himself, he’s not feigning confidence but he is filled with it (all the pre-chorus indicates that). 

now, heres an interesting take (which ofc may be completely wrong but oh well): “will the whole world know your name/ when we dance with destiny?” is a line asked by sage, trying to understand sonic. “im never gonna stop believing” is tails’ response as he tries to prevent sonic from doubting himself. he is the only one who has been with sonic for the longest time, the only one who “has been there and has seen it”, sonic’s willpower and strength, so he reminds him that “he’ll find his flame” (it connects with the conversation sage and tails had regarding sonic’s abilities). and now, sonic is sure that this is “the end of the show” and that he’ll find his flame thanks to his friends. 

vandalize is about the aftermath. sonic was betrayed (”you promised to help me rebuild/you caught me off guard”) he is in pain. this whole adventure has left a mark, it has vandalized his heart. from losing his friends, to finding them, to not being able to save them, to having to find the chaos emeralds again and again while fighting the cyber corruption and then getting betrayed but also barely managing to make it out in one piece yet not being able to save everyone (rip sage). there’s no fear. just determination, certainty. and pain. even when the physical pain stops, the emotional damage (LOL) has been dealt. no matter what happens next, this adventure has left a mark on sonic.

[cringelordofchaos]

You asked Berry this so I am asking YOU out of spite for not asking ME

YOUR SONIC HEADCANONS??

IFHASHFKAJHVKAHDKC

uhmm ill be my own attorney in the court; in my defense, your honour, i saw berry reblog a post specifically about sonic sexuality headcanons and berry shared their hcs in the tags but also put in the tags abt how their 'headcanons may change'. and i wanted to see if their headcanons changed so i asked them

ANYWAY

uhh these r all pretty much identity + nd hcs so sorry if u were lookin for more

(edit:wait actually im gonna sort this into two parts:: queer + nd headcanons and then like. backstory and personality hcs)

SONIC: adhd, used to hc him as bi ace but fuck it hes romance repulsed oriented aroace, also me likes the idea of him being genderqueer in some way, moreso specifically either transmasc nonbiney or transmasc trigender. also adhd (side note i heard someone sayhe couldnt possibly have adhd cuz "he can focus on missions" and. wjhat.) also maybe ptsd from thecountless traumatic experiences hess had to endure

AMY: sappho. i have also adhd'ed her in the past but im not so sure npw. i also saw someone hc her as bipolar and thas valid

TAILS: i know he can definitely represent as an autistic stereotypce but look at him :(( (but i genuinely think his backstory is sort of a metaphor for the nd experience. and also i think theres a lot of things that may make him autistic codedthough albeit many of them r stereotypical). special interest in engineering

KNUCKLES: bisexual as ffffff, though he doesnt give a shi abt labels

and ofc STTICKS:: demirose lesbiian. . also female but she rlly doesnt care abt gender. also autistci mayhaps

now for the more interesting hcs:

SONIC: something traumatic happened to him that made him scared of water in the first place, thas for sure methinks. he also just doesnt really show his negative emotions and he moreso just tries to 'dealw it' instead. i have headcanoned this for years as many others have and it appears to be somewhat canon in frontiers which is pretty great. he plays the electric guitar and is a pretty skilled singer and yeah. chilli dawgs r his comfort food....... loves rock electric and heavy metal and sometimes listens to it on his runs. pretty comfortable w being independent . also this is not a headcanon but i dont think his idw iteration is that out of character. he sees pretty much everyone (rivals and frenemiesalike) as friendos

AMY: has some form of abandonment issues which is what makes her as clingy as she is. generally used to feel left out and misunderstood from sonic n others in games like adventure and adventure2 but their relationshipsget better. listen. listen i heard someone on tumblr hc amy having abandonment issues and it hasnt left my miind since. she used to feel embarrassed by herself and her personality but became much more expressive of herself as time went on bc she starrted feeling more accepted. DEFINITELY writes fanfiction and fancomics and draws fanart and likes theatre(this is canoon actually). has meetings w the girlsTM where she just reads their fortune n everything. she also said in one game that she aspires to BE LIKE sonic and i have hcs abt that as well. can b mischievious and sneaky. has a tarot card reading BUSINESS this girl earns money for this !! shes very magiical girl bc she can pull her hammer out there, tell the future, turn invisible, has a 'sonic snese' but this is not a headcanon this is canon. plays the violin. loves to create fun outfits. into knitting and crocheting. . yeah i have more

TAILS: he can get pretty insecure of himself at times, heholds high expactations of himself and feels like if he doesnt meet them he might as well be a failure. ooopslol. he also hates when ppl misinterperets who he is as a person and when they undermine how skilled he is. he sometimes doesnt really let others know how he feels and hides it w a positive attitude. his gizmo is his comfort item. sonic was his first friend. the reason why he acted cocky in lost world and constantly pointed out how they shouldnt trust eggman (although it was super ooc) is bc of how insecure he was and he felt like sonic didnt trust himenough. and he feels bad abt it. hm. he also likes to draw sometimes and is generally skilled and precise, partly bc he has to draw blueprints for his creeations. one of them orphans. wags his tails/unintentionally starts flying when hes excited (stimming woag). hes not really SCARED of thunderstorms but they ARE a sensory nightmare for hiim (loud, bright/0). sonic sort of 'taught him how to make friends'. he still has cosmo in the form of a plant inside his house. he has many bunkers/ Sometimes he has a hard time accepting help (inherited from his older brotherlol). his tails are an nd allegoryOK ILL SHUT UP NOW

KNUCLES: icoud rambllea lot about him whenever im in the mood especially when i seeppl misinterperet him but i dont really have much HEADcanons bc everything i say abt him is canon

STICKS: ok this is gonna sound wild and its definitely not original but. she has abandonment/truusst issues relatedto her former parents that have something to do w the government which is one of the reasons she became so hateful of th egovenrment. dont ask (actually do if you want to). generally feels free to be herself but there are times when she feels ashamed of her wild side ig you couldcall it. very creative.

the reason why theres not shadow even though hes one of the more popular ones is bc im just not obsessed w him at the moment sorry :(

I HAVE MORE but these are all FOR NOW

now YOU TELL ME YOUR SONIC HEADCANONS SO I DONT LOOK AS DELUSIONAL [[POINTS FINGER AT YOU]]

[duckwithablog]

Dear Duck, I hope this ask finds you in good health.

Regarding Shadow, yeah I’m definitely a sucker for grumpy characters with depth 😂. Other than Shadow, I love Rouge and Chaos. Prime is giving Rouge attention, and it makes me so happy :))

I never heard of Ian Jr until now… but my eyes has been opened now. I-I have found the enlightenment Wukong has been searching for. He’s…He’s just so silly! 🤩 Definitely blorbo quality. I must pat his head and stuff him in my pocket- Also, Knuckles is such a valid choice. You know da wae *nods* *click click click*. Lastly, I think we can both agree that Chaos needs more love. He’s just a sweetheart protecting the chao. We must protecc at all cost.

To answer your questions….I had a Sonic phase as a kid so get ready:

The only Sonic games I’ve played were Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Generations, Sonic and the Black Knight, and Mario + Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. HOWEVER, I’ve watched people play all of the other games (except frontier). Out of all those games, Sonic Generations is probably my favorite. In terms of shows, Sonic X is my favorite for nostalgic reasons. I’ve only just started reading the comics.

Ngl… I could probably go all day talking about my interests 🤣.

When did you start enjoying the Sonic franchise? For me it was around 7 years ago when I actually got into it.

-🍑 anon

FINALLY GETTING AROUND TO ANSWERING THIS ASK YIPPEE

Fuck yeah, Rouge Appreciation! Good to see SEGA supportign womens rights AND womens wrongs <33

Yes... Im so glad ur finally seeing the light (Ian Jr). AND KNUCKLES <333 OUGHH HES SO SO SILLY I LOVE HIM SM!!! Chaos is honestly p underrated. Dude is a water blob, how can u not love them?

Yes, they may have genocided Knuckles's ancestors. But like. Erm. Theyre blorbo. So!!

YOOOO u fr a bonafide sonic fan!! Unfortunately, the only game ive ever played is frontiers and ive only gotten that recently,, Not sure if i mentioned that before lmao. I think I'm nearing the end of Archie Sonic, as in I'm getting close to the Super Genesis Wave aka the Reboot. Which happened bcs of... HIM.....

But whatevs!

RAHHH RAMBLE ABT UR INTERESTS TO ME ANYTIME YOU WANT!!! I LOVE HEARING PPL TALKING ABT WHAT THEY LOVE!!!! ID GLADLY LISTEN!!!!!!

7 years is a long time :00 Hmm let me try to remember... I think I got into sonic december of last year? I think? Not sure, but it's probably somewhere around that time I got into the silly blue hedgehog franchise.

SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG TO ANSWER BTW!! My christmas break is coming soon, and I'm planning to (hopefully) get this blog active again by FINALLY posting some x reader stuff!! Drop another ask if u have the time!!

[cheemken]

you always talk about the champions but what about the next champions? would any of the main trainers beat their regions champions and take their title?

Ghmh yeah I have been thinking abt that for a while now, mainly bc it'd be funny if in a lil timeskip, Iris becomes the lil pseudo leader of the next gen champs and she's there vibing bc she's kinda like Lance hahaha even better she also wears a cape lmao

Anyways that'd be fun tho, but idk which one of the current champs to actually lose and give up the champion title. Then again, Geeta would still be top champ, but then there's Nemona and Florian y'know

With Indigo's league, it would be cool if Silver is actually the next Champion rather than Gold. Idk cause like, in my hcs Gold didn't really care much abt the league, he's just cool venturing around and helping his grandparents at the daycare; Silver on the other hand was determined to become Champion, I wanna say he would be able to beat Lance and be Indigo's new champ

Hoenn's league, May honestly just wanted that title to spite her father lol. Like, homegirl was already a battling prodigy, beat the Frontier Brains, and has Rayquaza with her, what more another title right. Idk if I do want Hoenn to still have two Champions, cause in my hcs Unova and Paldea already has two (technically three for Paldea but again, Geeta's in a diff rank)

Sinnoh's league, it's Dawn ofc. As much as Cynthia doesn't want her to be the next champ, Dawn was a strong trainer. She also wanted that Champion title since the start, and hey she really worked hard to get it y'know. Cynthia is there to guide her tho, homegirl doesn't want Dawn to go through the same shit as her

Unova's league, well, still Iris and Hilbert are the champs hahah but like, outside Unova, Iris is more well known as she's been Champion the longest and the fact between the two of them she's the one who attends meetings and gatherings, Hilbert only ever attends when Iris calls in sick or she really couldn't atm

Kalos' league, Calem becomes the next champ. I do have a lil concept abt this, like,, Calem is a lonely kid man, ik I compared him to May in my hcs, and the main difference abt them is that May forged genuine connections with her friends, whereas Calem tried but he just couldn't connect with the Kalos kids on a deeper level. Which, yeah, made him lonely, thinking that if he becomes Champion, it'd make him forget abt that loneliness. It didn't. Diantha is trying to help him through t ofc, she knows the feeling of loneliness all too well

Alola's league, it's still Hau hahah c'mon I think the kid deserves it, he's like, strong af too. Idk, I want him to have some sort of reputation hahah like, new challengers would always encounter him at random points, and he's like, very chill y'know, he's just vibing, encouraging new trainers to do their best, but during Champion battles, it feels like he becomes a different person that it actually scared the trainers hahaha

Galar's league, it's Gloria. Felt absolutely bad she beat Hop, low-key felt proud of herself beating Leon, either way, she doesn't know what to feel sometimes now that she's Champion. And hey not like it was during Leon's time, Rose isn't around anymore, and Leon made a few changes at how the League runs with young Champions before she beat him, so hey y'know. Honestly a bit intimidated w her new title, but tries not to show it

Paldea's league, Nemona and Florian ofc hahah. I mean, Geeta's still around ofc, but hey. Anyways yeah, these two are Paldea's champs and Nemona is the overly competitive one that she challenged Silver once like really pissed him off bc she wouldn't stop bugging him hahah (it ended up tied) and then there's Florian who's just trying to keep Nemona in check too, but also enables her in pissing off Silver bc he thinks it's entertaining

It would be fun tho to make concepts abt them, but hey yeah, feel free to send asks abt them if you guys want hahah

[chaosandthe-deadblog]

howdy abt ur last post bc i am genuinely curious, i think i may have just been misinformed on this so idk (and idk anything abt nintendo but ik people are applying this to game companies in general, like sega as well since they recently announced raising prices) but what is the deal with bigger games having bigger prices? like. frontiers being 60 (and ig going to 70 now? im unsure). i generally thought 60 was seen as a decently fair price for big games, so i kinda just went with it and assumed this was a good thing? i also dont know how fair pricing works so idk maybe thats a factor

im flattered youre asking me this but i know nothing abt the economy or pricing either so im just gonna tell you why *i* think 70 dollars is too much for a game

as someone from argentina (aka, the land of inflation) 20 bucks is like a third of what i have every month (im also someone who doesnt work👍 so that factors in)

(the thing about inflation here is that it's been going on for so long and it's so insane that it's hard to tell whats a normal price for something, so make with this info what you will)

i dont know how it is in the states, but 60 dollars is an insane amount of money at least for me and where i'm from. i consider games to be super expensive because i have to actually consciously save up for a long time to buy one. i wanted to play tears of the kingdom, but when i heard it was 70 dollars i didnt even bother doing the math. thats expensive.

but in a more general sense, i think it's less about how much games cost and more about everything else that comes with the games. nintendo is the one people talk about the most because it might as well just charge you for touching the console (i pay for ns online because i want to emulate old games and play online once in a while, but i think its ridiculous to even charge someone for that. also, whats the point of having emulators for free if you need a subscription to play it???)

of course some games are worth it, i know botw and totk are probably masterpieces and deserve that price tag, and i know thats just what games cost these days, but when an indie game by a team of like ten people is four times cheaper and ten times better than a 70 dollar game... idk, i think that's a problem

again. i also dont know how pricing works, so someone better informed than me is free to add their thoughts. or not. im not your boss

[superemeralds]

this is only the first of your Titan designs and i'm already in love, holy shit. i'm going crazy imagining how would The Giant look in the game itself. i genuinely can't wait for the redesigns of the next several Titans (and The End) because i have faith that you'll knock it out of the park <3

as for your revamp of frontiers, i LOVE the amount of thought that went into it and i LOVE how you attempt to insert more Greek mythology themes into your revamp! may i ask about the changes you have made to The End? i find the concept of Sonic battling the literal embodiment of death extremely interesting and awesome, but all it is in the game is a big purple Ikaruga rock :(

(sorry if this ask is dumb or my inquiry concerns something you don't want to reveal yet)

if i was better at 3d and programming i'd maybe attempt modeling and modding the game to have my new designs </3 especially w giganto and wyvern it would be easy to implement bc it wouldnt need too much of change and i could potentially manage to keep the original rig (im pretty much done with eyvern now but im waiting a little to post it so its more spread out with not too much time to wait between the other bosses)

i was soooo excited when it was revealed how the islands are called but in the end the names had nothing to do with the islands themselves or the titans..... so i wanted to take the idea and actually commit to it. what made me most angry was ares island because ares isnt even a titan, he's just the god of war and making knuckles a war/military fanatic is so lame :/

THE END in n my version is a little different, they're not the embodiment of death per se, they're more of an aspect of chaos - specifically push, destruction and space

i can't say much on the design itself rn but I'd also go with the same explanation as Morio Kishimoto said abt the canon version: The End's appearance varies from person to person, seemingly being a visual representation of what they perceive death itself to look like.

[max--phillips]

Things I need you to understand abt this in context

1) my url many moons ago was congataunt

2) there is fanfic out there that I wrote for tf2. I do not have the slightest idea where it is anymore but it is out there

3) this isn’t about me it’s just about valve, but canonically tf2 is in the same universe as half life & portal because valve is just like that. Do with that information what you will

3.5) “with two teams fighting all the time, surely there’s a canonical reason the two teams are fighting, right?” you may ask. Yes. That reason is… gravel. Yes, you read that right. Buncha small rocks. Gravel.

4) I am ALWAYS a half-hearted encouragement from returning to old hyperfixations and this is no exception

5) If you think I won’t force bonkers TF2 logic onto our triple frontier boys you are wrong. Rewrite the whole damn first movie to take place in fuckin’ Teufort or some shit, and they’re not going after money in some drug dealer’s walls, they’re going after australium being hoarded by Saxton Hale himself

I love all of you dearly, but if the triple frontier sequel is real and does come out at some point, I so so so desperately need us to NOT call it/tag it tf2 or I’m going to constantly call it team fortress 2 . Also I am not prepared for the AUs that will form when my Dumb Valve Video Game brain cell connects to my Pedro Pascal brain cell

[sol1056]

wuxia/xianxia: a loose and somewhat second-hand introduction to the genre, pt1

Sorry for the unconventional q, but i keep seeing Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation everywhere and I kinda want to get into it but a) don't know where to start (web series? live action adaptation?? wait how many are there!) and b) i don't really "get" wuxia / xianxia, that sorta stuff, i find it really hard to cross that cultural barrier and chinese mentality seems very alien. (it's not that i have no experience w different mentalities but chinese in particular is v hard to grasp w/o sources).

So if you have the time and patience, I'd love to hear a summary of it (like, a coherent summary bc all i get on the wikis is a shower of names and concepts that don't make sense to me) and perhaps some "intro for dummies" abt the relevant parts of chinese history and mentality tied to it? not just the cultivation / buddhist part but also re: familial relationships, philosophy and all that. (v brief and low effort of course) Thank you and sorry for bothering you!

("brief and low effort" referring to what I'm asking from you, not to what I need for me - as in i asked for it so i'm more than ready for a complicated essay, but you can write with as much detail as you like, I don't want to ask for some sort of comprehensive tome)

Okay first, you do realize that if you want “brief and low” for anything, you’re asking the wrong person? I was a philosophy major. brief got drilled out of me a long time ago. 

Second... well, explaining what makes The Untamed / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (mdzs for short, from the chinese title, Mo Dao Zu Shi) such a standout story does require understanding some of the wuxia conventions it subverts -- as well as some that it plays straight (so to speak) very, very well. 

I figure the best approach (again, sadly not brief) is to first get a handle on the genre of wuxia. Gonna break this post into two, so you’re not reading in a single three-hour stretch or something. I’ll do a follow-up about mdzs, to hopefully make it a bit more accessible for you. 

before I do that, let me first say: I didn’t grow up with this genre, so there’s going to be parts that I may miscast unintentionally. for an insider’s view, my go-to voices are @guzhuangheaven, @atthewaterside, @dramatic-gwynne, @the50-person and @drunkensword. if any of them are reading this and can point to more/other/better voices, please do.

I have three analogies -- like cultural doorways --  and like all analogies, they break down when you get into the finer details. In the broad strokes, though, they mostly work, and if nothing else, hopefully they’ll demonstrate that wuxia may be a chinese-specific version, but part of a storytelling tradition that’s nearly universal.

The three doorways are: the american wild west, the samurai era, and the british arthurian romances. And, in a tangential way, the regency period in the romance genre. 

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

The term ‘wuxia’ can be translated several ways, but I prefer ‘martial chivalry’. Most wuxia takes place in the jianghu, a harder term to unpack. Generally, though, ‘the jianghu’ has connotations not all that different from what americans mean when they reference the wild west. 

More of a concept than a physical place, the jianghu (like the ‘wild’ west) exists beyond the reach of the law and/or civilization. It’s occupied by a diverse cast of farmers, merchants, beggars, and so on, but also by outlaws, gangs, hermits, pretty much all those who don’t like the suffocating nature of the civilized world, for whatever reason. It’s not a lawless place (except to outsiders); it does have laws, but those are only unto itself. 

So, jianghu is a world to itself, for the most part -- which also makes it kind of timeless. Tang dynasty, Song dynasty, Ming dynasty, it could be any of them and all of them and none of them. Just as the heyday of the cowboys and the cattle drives was barely a decade long, a culture’s romanticized history stretches into lifetimes that exist separate from any date you could pin down on a calendar. 

The average wuxia protagonist would fit in reasonably well as knight errants in an arthurian romance, with one important detail in difference: they’re rarely aristocrats. Wuxia protagonists are just as likely (if not more so) to be lower-born, whether the child of farmers, or servants, some common caste. 

This is where wuxia diverges from the british and japanese traditions, which have a bit more noblesse oblige going on (knights and samurai both being upper-class types). Even ‘aristocratic’ characters tend to be so only within the jianghu -- sort of like the way a territory’s elected leader in the wild west would’ve had no pull in Washington, given they weren’t from a fully-recognized state. 

Wuxia does often have politics, between competing sects (think schools of learning), but that political infighting is independent of the capital’s rules or wishes. A lot of stories -- in the rare cases the topic even comes up -- tends to speak of ‘the capital’ in disparaging terms. 

That’s not to say wuxia is all about the flat social systems (it’s definitely not), but most commonly a rank implies some level of competence/study. The title of sect leader isn’t granted, it's earned. Children inherit, but it’s also a common storyline to have an heir with no skills (who then goes through all the trials and tribulations to finally level up and earn that position in turn).

What makes wuxia hard to grasp is its vernacular: the conventions that form the backbone that make something recognizably ‘wuxia’ and not just ‘historical drama set on a frontier in a loosely-defined time period’. 

Frex: in a Wild West story, convention is two gunfighters at opposite ends of the street, and at least one of them is wearing a holster tied to his leg with string in a way that no real gunfighter wore, ever, but Hollywood came up with the idea and now it’s a permanent part of our imagination. In the arthurian romances,  convention is carrying the token of one’s lady love (a distant, untouchable figure who rarely appears on-page), or meeting the unnamed knight in black on the jousting field. Convention are the samurai who’ll die for their lord’s honor, always touchy and prickly at the first sign of disrespect. 

These are things granted the most remarkable gravity, that to an outsider might seem ridiculous. (Why is there always tumbleweed?) 

Now, wuxia is the latest evolution in a long-lived literary tradition (and by ‘long’ I mean like 2000+ years) -- but like any living tradition, each subsequent generation reinvents it for their time. Part of that reinvention comes from particularly influential writers, who put their own spin on things, and their interpretation becomes the next generation’s standard for the genre -- “of course wuxia must have X” or “a protagonist never does Y”. (Like how Tolkien almost single-handedly changed western concepts of elves, in fiction.)

And here’s where I explain what regency romance has to do with it. Another short-lived period, in real history, but along came Georgette Heyer, who took bits and pieces of actual research, blended them with her reactionary politics, exaggerating some things and ignoring other things completely. The result is a time-that-never-was, but she cast (and still casts) a shadow so vast that I’ve seen multiple romance writers complain that readers will see a footnoted-and-researched version as wrong, if it contradicts one of Heyer’s made-up conventions. 

Modern wuxia has its own Heyer-sized influencers -- like Jin Yong (the Condor trilogy, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils), Wen Rui'an (The Four), Gu Long (The Legend of Flying Daggers, The Proud Twins), to name a few of the biggest. If you have a chance or are inclined, the big names get remade on a pretty regular basis, and catching one will at least let you see some ur-tropes in action. 

But it also means that you can’t really extrapolate, in the sense of saying, “in wuxia, people do X, ergo, X is also a factor in Chinese culture.” It’s like... take any western made in the 50s, and the vernacular is simple. The bad guys wear black hats, the good guys wear white hats, the prostitutes wear bright-colored dresses with frills and the good women wear subdued colors buttoned up to their neck. It told an audience exactly what character filled what role, but that’d tell you zero about real people you might meet in Nebraska or Utah, let alone New York City. 

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Almost forgot: xianxia is basically wuxia but with ‘immortal heroes’ -- so there’s gods, divine influences, non-human beings as characters (main or NPC), etc. (Btw, by ‘immortal’ I mean exactly that, like this character is six hundred years old, that one’s a thousand years old, etc.) You can think of xianxia as wuxia, but amped way up on the mystical scale. 

Xianxia will sometimes take place on earth (jianghu) but sometimes in the celestial realm (heaven). Or a mix of both, like stories where a character falls (or is banished, or defects) from heaven and has to go through various trials and tribulations as a mortal human in order to regain a power, rise in rank, fall in love, or whatever their goal is. 

A number of wuxia stories are driven by some sort of mcguffin, but in xianxia, the mcguffin is more likely to be a powerful spiritual weapon. But I can also think of a number of wuxia in which the mcguffin would fit right in, in xianxia (some near-mystical thing with significant positive, or negative, power independent of the wielder, which often amplifies or boosts the wielder to an inhuman degree, etc). 

Thing is, the mcguffin being divine/infernal supernatural isn’t enough alone to make the story xianxia. I’m pretty sure you need non-human or super-human immortals and/or creatures to be considered in the xianxia genre. 

part two

[cheemken]

since you love the platonic pairs so much any other platonic pairs in pokemon that you have?

Anon you are so dope for sending this ask I hope masarap ulam mo ngayon uvu

Anyways ouo

I'd say the Kanto trio and the Johto trio but like I also wanna say they're also a polycule and Silver and Green are fighting on who has the better polycule, Red and Gold are placing bets, Blue is filming the entire battle, Kris just gave up halfway through and is honestly just hoping Silver somehow leaves unscathed

Hoenn kids on the other hand?? Fighting the Unova kids on the best friend group. Like the Hoenn kids there's Brendan and May and Wally and Lisia and these four have one working braincell and for some reason it's Brendan who's the one holding it. May has the most issues and she wants to spite her father so ofc Lisia, being the lil shit that she is, was the one who told her to beat the Frontier Brains and rub it in her father's face she's better. Wally is honestly just so supportive of everyone and Lisia got so attached to him and got so happy when she saw Wally also had an Altaria. Brendan is the one keeping them all together, he can't leave the other three for more than a minute bc the next thing he knows they're off to fight god

Hoenn kids basically just

Brendan, seeing a bunch of people doing smth stupid: hah, what idiots

Brendan, squinting and seeing May, Lisia, and Wally: wait shit those are my idiots!

Sinnoh trio also great friends, they're all close w each other and I know for a fact Dawn and Barry would visit Lucas in Sandgem to distract him from his work. Like Barry looks at Dawn when he's bored and goes "hey wanna piss off old man Rowan by taking Lucas away from that boring old lab?"

And Dawn, who has nothing better to do, just goes "bet."

Lucas keeps them in check. Well. Tries to. It's hard keeping the other two in check bc they see anyone looking at them and it's just "HEY YOU! LETS BATTLE!" Ofc, Dawn is more,, well, more calm, but Lucas knows that she's as bloodthirsty as Barry when it comes to battles, she's just really good at hiding it. Lucas isn't a good battler, he admits that and he doesn't really mind, as his field of work doesn't really require him to battle, but Dawn and Barry were insistent that he should at least have six pkmn w him. Lucas said it was alright, but still yknow, that made Dawn and Barry a bit protective towards him

We all know abt my Unova kids hcs so hey, let's just go to the Aspertia kids hahah idk what to call their friend group so like,, Unova kids 2, yeah. So Unova kids 2 there's Nate, Hugh, Rosa, and Roxie. Look, listen, listen, they're as tight knit as the Unova kids okay, they're like the epitome of a great and healthy friend group too, they love each other so much, Nate honestly needs a break every one in his friend circle is thirsty for a battle pls someone give this boii a relaxing vacation in Undella. Hugh and Rosa would battle each other everytime they see each other to see who's the strongest now, it always ends up tied. Roxie would join in on those battles and it'd end up as double battles w Hugh and Rosa on opposing sides.

Your honour pls they're also soft w each other okay, like Nate, Hugh, and Rosa would always be at the front row of Roxie's concerts, they cheer so loud for her that it's on par w how loud her music is. She gives them her albums for free too, ofc she does, and they love her music so much. Also pls the four of them in the Battle Subway, having lil challenges on who can get to the Subway Bosses first

W the Kalos kids, ngl I honestly don't see them as that,, that close idk hahah like yeah they're friends yknow but like, not as close as the ones previously mentioned. I hc for Calem to always fly solo, and like, his friends are cool yknow, but he's just not as attached to them nor does he hang out w them that much. I do wanna say he's close to Serena just a bit, and she's probs the only one who knows why he doesn't hang out w them much, and hey she doesn't really fault him for it, she understand, that's just how Calem is

The more I think abt it May and Calem are kinda similar in my hcs, cause they're both from different regions that just moved in to Hoenn/Kalos, but like the difference is May actually managed to make friends and has her own friend circle she can trust, whereas Calem only had the surface level of friendship w the Kalos kids, as they already know each other that well and it feels like he's missing a lot of things abt them that at this point he couldn't be bothered to know

Alola has a lot of kids man and they're all pretty fuckin close and like, man, Kukui needs a goddamn break these kids take years off his life hahaha like he's a chill prof yknow, he's cool, but also, those are his kids at this point and they don't have one working braincell between and he honestly thought that at least Gladion or Lillie would hold the braincell but nah they get pulled in on their friends' antics that Kukui really has to keep an eye on them. He tasked the Trial Captains to at least keep watch but let's be real only Kiawe reports back to Kukui, most of the time, some times he'd be dragged to their hijinks too and as much as he denies it, it's fun not being stressed over his duties as Trial Captain

Small quick edit: not me being an idiot and accidentally posting this💀

Anyways omf Galar kids hcmdnd

Right okay so, in my hcs Victor is like, Gloria's older brother by at least two or three years so he went on a journey before her. So that left Gloria w Hop and look, listen, these two bond over the fact that their parents probs like their older brothers more. I mean ofc, Hop's brother is the champion, undefeated in Galar since he was ten, and Victor was one of the few to actually go through the Isle of Armour and get himself an Urshifu, and he may not be champion but w his strength he might as well be one. And the two bonded over that, that they always had smth to prove to everyone else, that they're as great as their bros, and the way they bond is basically just them trauma dumping on each other. But yknow, as they went on their journey, they became even closer and didn't let their insecurities get the better of them, and they end up just encouraging each other to do their best. Your honour pls these two are also really soft like Gloria would drop kick anyone insulting Hop. Bede probs insulted Hop once and while Gloria knows Hop is capable of defending himself, no one fucking calls her bestie weak. Their dynamic is really just Gloria going "hey bitch, he asked for no pickles"

Paldea kids well they already are a great friend group in canon so hey, not much to say, they're like the Unova kids ig hahaha