olimlacus

[olimlacus]

Holy smoke, thank you @hunxi-after-hours! This articulates for me what I am likewise going through, as I come to the end of a year of unemployment, which has proved a sabbatical year of healing from how much I have given of myself and a year in which I have grown and consolidated so much painful experience and integrated them into resilience and joy.

What is something specific about cql that you love/ are fascinated by that is not discussed very much in popular fandom? Could be a small scene or moment or a theme or character quirk! Love this blog thank you sm for your thoughtful, intelligent insights !

oooooooo here’s a theme that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately that applies to both CQL and TGCF (less so MDZS?), and if we want to get spicy, we can also throw 《千秋》 into the mix

so there’s this (very broad, oversimplified) dichotomy called 出世 / 入世 in Chinese. Literally, they are:

出 chu - (v.) to exit    /    入 ru - (v.) to enter

世 shi - (n.) the world, the mortal realm, human society

and it comes from a very long, hm, philosophical dilemma? that might not be the right way of putting it, in the Chinese literary tradition. Historically-speaking, you had the choice of either 

actively participating in society, taking the imperial exams, and becoming a bureaucrat and ascending in the government, step by corrupting step; or 

renouncing your worldly tethers, exiting society, and living out in the mountains as a mysterious hermit and writing poetry about chrysanthemums or whatever (look I can’t talk about this without at least gesturing at Tao Yuanming, who’s like, the trope codifier of this)

of course, this is like, a quick and dirty and vastly oversimplified way of putting it, but part of what I really love about CQL (and TGCF) is that we have a hero who does so much, who gives so much of himself away in the name of a good greater than his individual self, and both Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian find their happy endings in the arms of someone who will take care of them. Though Wei Wuxian’s post-canon roadtrip of self-discovery--which, crucially, he takes alone! he needs time!--happens offscreen, it is so important to me that it happens. He gets to take time for himself. He gets to learn how to just be in the world, without a thousand demands and world-ending stakes laying claim to his life.

broadly writ, both Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian find their happy endings 出世 exiting the world

(not necessarily permanently! but like. the fact that the narrative rewards them for their immense sacrifices by letting them take a break, letting them know that they themselves are enough, that they are worthy beyond their sacrifices, really just gets me, y’feel)

meanwhile, with CQL!Lan Wangji as well as Shen Qiao of 《千秋》, both of them take the opposite journey: Shen Qiao begins his journey as the isolationist sect leader of Xuandu Shan, and, well, after being unceremoniously yeeted off a cliff and forced to fight his way back to his former position, learns how to navigate murky political waters in a world of gray and grayer morality. He sees the world beyond the sanctuary where he grew up; he comes to understand that turning a blind eye to the maelstrom of the world’s affairs is not, in fact, the better thing to do. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji spends much of his life disconnected from the politics and responsibilities that Lan Xichen takes care of for him; Lan Wangji can 逢乱必出 go wherever the chaos is precisely because Lan Xichen is at home, keeping the Lan Sect running, holding down the fort.

and in keeping with the repeated pattern we see of younger siblings stepping up to take leadership roles in the wake of the elder siblings’... indispositions, CQL!Lan Wangji steps up to take on the role of Chief Cultivator by the end of the show. He chooses to 入世 enter society, to wade into the dreary bureaucracy and corruption of management and governance that feels like the fulfillment of a character arc long in coming

I think the questions of “what it means to participate in society” and “what is the personal cost of doing good” are central themes for all of these texts, and the fact that there are a multiplicity of valid answers means a lot to me

[olimlacus]

I dunno, LYB is my adult younger brother’s intro to c-dramas, and he’s really enjoying it and following along. We started watching one episode a week and in the 30s he really wanted to start watching more episodes than one.

LYB was my second c-drama after CQL (courtesy of this meta: https://hunxi-guilai.tumblr.com/post/616615010899214336/hello-what-are-your-thoughts-on-lxc-accepting, so I was watching for the scene in the first screenshot) and I’ve watched so many since then, which has added so much insight into all of the above and so much context for what happens. It’s also been really fun for me learning more about Eastern themes, stock characters, and tropes, and comparing them with Western themes, stock characters, and tropes, and getting understanding about what’s a culture thing and what’s a universal-human-experience thing.

i tried watching 琅琊榜 2 years ago on my friends recommendation then gave up, but then i saw ur post about ritual and ur screaming about and i was like. huh. should check it out. and holy fuck. i don’t know why i gave up 2 years ago. i am Shook

sldfjsdlkj I was talking to another friend about LYB a few weeks ago and I think the best way I’ve described is that “LYB is not a training wheels show”

like

this should not be your introduction to cdramas

because 1) it’s so complex, 2) the first two? three? five? episodes are so hard to keep up with, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the period/genre/history, and 3) nothing’s going to match up to it afterwards

[olimlacus]

I’ll have you know that this fanart got me bingeing all of Legend of Fei over the last few days and wow that was way better than I was expecting. It was so good! And so much lightness (heh) and joy and humor and a wonderfully affably evil villain and so many canon pairings! Loved it.

© 狐狸大王a

※re-posted with permission ※please don’t remove the source

[olimlacus]

This is chilling. Well done.

(Audio drama S3E13)

In ancient China, a married couple was likened to the harmonious music of the qin and se, two kinds of zithers (琴瑟). By extension, the expression ‘broken instrument strings’ (断弦) is an allusion to becoming widowed…

[olimlacus]

hi!! sorry if this is kind of a weird or dumb question but i've been confused on some of the chapter titles and was wondering what your interpretation on some of them are? like ch19-22 being Contentment despite it being mostly about the man-eating ridge and saving jin ling. or Dew (28-32) being wangxian getting information and lwj getting drunk and Grasses (33-42) being the yi city arc. im probably just not thinking hard enough but im really stumped

Hello! That is a super interesting question, I actually haven’t been paying that much attention to the chapter names but on closer inspection, there is more than meets the eye so thank you so much for asking!

The names of the chapters in MDZS are all composed of two characters in Chinese. In the English translation, they are depicted by a single word, I think that it’s a very good choice as it makes the titles more impactful. The difficulty lies in the fact that the original names are literary terms, idioms or poetic references. Here is a breakdown of the chapter names you put forward, I also listed a few others that I found pertinent!

Ch.19-22 (阳阳) - That one is rather ambiguous, I found several meanings derived from classic literature for this term such as ‘contentment’, ’composed’, ’robust’, ’brightly-coloured’ and ‘warmth of the spring sun’. I’m not knowledgeable enough to comment further I’m afraid o.o;

Ch.28-32 (朝露) - It means literally ‘morning dew’ and figuratively ‘ephemeral, impermanent, fleeting’, referring to the fragility of life. I associate this term with the extermination of the Chang clan and Xiao Xingchen’s fate.

Ch.33-42 (草木) - Literally ‘grasses and trees’, it could be part of a longer idiom. Possibly 草木皆兵 which means ‘seeing an enemy behind every bush’, it refers to a state of intense fear and paranoia which is rather apt for Yi City. Another possible idiom is 人非草木, ‘man are not beings without feelings unlike plants’, so here it could perhaps mean ruthless. Lots of possibilities!

Ch.56-60 (三毒) - It means ‘Three Poisons’ which are greed, hatred and ignorance and the source of all evil according to Buddhism. It is also the name of Jiang Cheng’s sword, Sandu. The fall of Lotus Pier happens in these chapters.

Ch.69-71 (将离) - ‘Impending separation’. It is also another name for the peony that Wei Wuxian threw. As the audio drama extra expounded, this flower has the meaning of ‘forming a bond with you’ or ‘parting with sorrow’. And Wei Wuxian was fully aware of this implication when he gave the flower to Lan Wangji.

Ch.79-89 (丹心) - The two characters together mean ‘Loyalty’, separately they are ‘core’ and ‘heart’ which is befitting for the chapters containing the golden core revelation.

Ch.98-106 (恨生) - Literally ‘Hatred for living’, it is also the name of Jin Guangyao’s sword, Hensheng. This term might also be linked to a longer expression 恨生不逢时 which means ‘to resent being born under an unlucky star’, that is to say, feeling trapped by one’s circumstances. Appropriate again.

That concludes my brief analysis, hope it helped!

[olimlacus]

Holy flying speeders, Batman! That’s amazing!

So I was thinking about Star Wars and The Untamed—as you do—and not to be like, “hot take,” but regardless of who went dark side in canon, Wei Wuxian would actually make a much, much better Jedi than Lan Wangji would.

[olimlacus]

I laughed too hard at this. So perfect.

so, @masala-and-thunderstorms was liveblogging the guanyin temple scene to me, and i was Suddenly Overcome by an image of the Dumb Highschool Hijinks version of this story

in which lan huan and jin guangyao are having a dramatic breakup in the parking lot of the dairy queen

while lan zhan and wei ying are making out in the backseat of lan huan’s car

and jin guangyao is like WHY are they HERE???

and lan huan is just like… a-yao, you know my brother doesn’t have his driver’s license yet

jin guangyao calls su she to come pick him and su she brings nie huaisang and jin guangyao is just. WHY is my ex’s little brother AT MY BREAKUP and su she is like… my bad dude i thought you wanted to haze him or something and then of course NIE MINGJUE shows up because his baby brother has been KIDNAPPED on a SCHOOL NIGHT

jiang cheng rolled in 20 mins ago because wei ying has missed curfew, again, and then his car failed to start so now he’s out after curfew too

really, no one is having a good time

[olimlacus]

CQL is wonderfully problematic. I LOVE option 3. Recycle... Alternate explanation for all the blood... (Plus thinking of FMA...) 

I subscribe to the theory that the body differences between pre-resurrection WWX and post-resurrection WWX are continuity errors. The rampant continuity errors around costuming/makeup really get me, the most egregious being the cut from all the cultivators the second siege of Burial Mounds to all the cultivators at the river where they’re getting on boats before they ever get to Lotus Pier, which narratively WAS THE SAME DAY but magically they all have different costumes (pristine with no signs of struggle or exertion too).

hello! regarding wwx in mxy's body: i'm not actually sure what's going on with that? could you please explain? based on varying things i've seen it seems like 1) wwx is either just IN mxy's body now, or 2) wwx is just IN mxy's body but due to spirit hijinks of some sort mxy's body has developed a few of the features wwx used to have, or 3) mxy's body was like a cocoon that magically brought forth wwx in his OG body somehow? except apparently he's definitely shorter? pls help??

(all follow-ups to this post, and maybe the tags on this post)

please just assume I’m constantly flailing in the general direction of CQL worldbuilding because seriously, who do I have to pay to get some consistency around here, why did I ever leave the sweet sweet embrace of Cosmeric hard magic systems

so! I think a lot of the confusion about Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu derives from the different adaptations we have. In MDZS the novel (and audiodrama -- unsure about donghua?) Wei Wuxian is resurrected into Mo Xuanyu’s body. It’s a mind-body dualistic world we’re all living in, and Mo Xuanyu-the-soul has vacated the premises so Wei Wuxian-the-soul can move in. Unwillingly. Let’s not get into consent issues and worldbuilding issues at the same time. The end result is that we have a Wei Wuxian who looks like Mo Xuanyu (who, by the way, is supposed to look completely different from Wei Wuxian), wears Mo Xuanyu’s body, and can thereby cultivate with Mo Xuanyu’s core.

(this is also why post-resurrection!Wei Wuxian/Mo Xuanyu!Wei Wuxian is definitely shorter -- they make a big deal of the fact that pre-death Wei Wuxian was three inches taller than Lan Wangji, and post-resurrection!Wei Wuxian-in-Mo Xuanyu’s-body is three inches shorter)

CQL then proceeds to fudge with the worldbuilding a bit, partially for production reasons, partially for plot reasons, partially for censorship reasons. The end result is that pre-death!Wei Wuxian and post-resurrection!Wei Wuxian are visually the same (since they are both played by Xiao Zhan), and we never actually see what Mo Xuanyu looks like. Presumably, he resembles Wei Wuxian enough in body type (beanpole) and physicality (over-the-top) that most people don’t question who it is under the mask (in fact, people seem to identify Mo Xuanyu based solely on the mask? At least, Jin Ling’s conversation with Wei Wuxian in episode 34 suggests this). That being said, that raises lots of questions about what the resurrection ritual actually did.

Considering the lengths to which CQL goes to try and reassure us that Wei Wuxian wasn’t actually one-hundred percent authentically perma-dead during those sixteen years (see: lack of a body, Inquiry without success, that whole conversation in episode 33 about 'not knowing where he was’), there’s a lot more room for interpretation. Our options for the resurrection process include (but are not limited to):

using Mo Xuanyu’s sacrifice to power the heavy duty magic of transporting Wei Wuxian in his original body straight from his swan dive off a cliff to sixteen years later 

pros: helps explain why Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji never found a body; explains why Wei Wuxian looks exactly like Wei Wuxian 

cons: doesn’t explain why post-resurrection Wei Wuxian lacks the same scarring as pre-death Wei Wuxian; doesn’t explain why Wei Wuxian comes to in Mo Xuanyu’s clothes rather than the clothes he died in; means Wei Wuxian is definitely unable to cultivate a new golden core post-canon :/

keeping Mo Xuanyu’s body but thanks to ~spirit hijinks~ (thanks anon for this delightful phrase), Mo Xuanyu’s physical form is altered to incorporate some of Wei Wuxian’s physical features

I’m basically imagining Wei Wuxian’s head stuck on top of Mo Xuanyu’s body for this

pros: helps explain why Wei Wuxian can pass as Mo Xuanyu; accounts for the lack of scarring on his original body; means that he has a weak golden core that would explain his ability to use Suibian post-resurrection; explains why Wei Wuxian can wake up in Mo Xuanyu’s clothes and, y’know, have them fit 

cons: doesn’t explain where Wei Wuxian’s body went those sixteen years; doesn’t explain why Wei Wuxian. . .  just looks exactly like Wei Wuxian instead of some combination of the two

magical resurrection meat grinder recycles the raw material of Mo Xuanyu’s body to make a brand new Wei Wuxian 

pros: grants Wei Wuxian the possibility of cultivating a new golden core, explains the lack of scarring while simultaneously accounting for Wei Wuxian looking exactly the same

cons: what the fuck did this ritual actually look like in the moment, no wonder why there’s so much blood, good god I hope Mo Xuanyu wasn’t conscious for this, still doesn’t explain why Mo Xuanyu cousin is such an asshole that he doesn’t even recognize a literal different person

[olimlacus]

Wei WuXian is ADHD and here’s why: 

Came up with a wild and unorthodox solution for a difficult question despite already knowing the “proper” solutions

Top student despite never studying ever

Physically incapable of staying still for more than 20 seconds

“What the fuck is a functional memory”

Would rather die than be bored

Complains about everything

Has way too much energy to be contained in a mortal form

Every single decision he makes is an impulsive one and half the time the only thing stopping him is Jiang Cheng or Lan Zhan

Self-esteem issues / blatant refusal to practice self-care

ALWAYS sees himself as lesser than others he cares

His idea of organisation is a chaotic mess to everyone else

Learns things extremely quickly when “properly motivated” 

Obsessed with spicy food because everything else is is too bland

Considered annoying by 99% of the people he meets 

Extremely sociable but is almost entirely incapable of believing someone would genuinely love him

On a related note, he’s so fucking dense to others’ feelings I’m surprised he hasn’t sunken a boat just by standing on it

Stubborn as fuck

Idealistic as fuck

Has too many ideas and works on all of them at the same time

Locked himself in a cave to work on inventions while forgetting to eat and sleep (thank the gods for Wen Qing)

Refuses to be emotional in front of others

Would rather let the whole world call him a heretic and a monster than let his brother feel guilty for THE THING

Makes mistakes, regrets it, does it again (unless there were EXTREME consequences like someone literally DYING as a result)

Blames himself for things even if they’re proven to Not Actually Being His Fault

Terrible attention span, zones out when people are talking, especially if he doesn’t like said person talking

Reacts explosively when actually angered, defaulting to violence, though never for his own sake (someone save this man)

Comes up with practical solutions to problems on the spot, but tends to forget to consider others’ feelings when he does

Acts arrogant, openly claims he’s arrogant, but sees it as a negative trait that makes him less worthy of people’s love

Easily distracted

Notices small details faster than most people would in a high-stress situation

Default response to an intense phobia of his (dogs) is a very loud flight response despite facing literally everything else head on even if it means risking death (of course, the trauma factor should not be ignored)

 Somehow remembered a short, nameless tune Lan Zhan played for him once while he was delirious despite facing a literal war, descent into madness and trauma, dying for 13 years (16 in CQL), and waking up from actual death to an entirely new body, ON TOP OF HAVING MEMORY PROBLEMS, all because that tune was a special moment between him and Lan Zhan

…

So in case it’s not clear yet, I really like the idea of Wei WuXian having ADHD. 

[olimlacus]

Lan WangJi is (Probably) Autistic and here’s why

(Disclaimer: I don’t know as much about autism as I do with ADHD feel free to correct me if I’ve made a mistake)

Seen as cold and aloof by the general public but really just doesn’t know how to emote like a neurotypical

Actually feels emotions very strongly, just can’t really show it

“What’s a social cue???”

Repressed™️

Hates crowds

Hates eye contact

Hates being touched

Hates noise with exactly one (1) exception (you know who)

Likes quiet places 

Music brings him a great amount of peace and relaxation and it’s also when he’s playing music that he lets himself be more open with his emotions

Half of his speech is in idioms cuz he wants to just get his damn point across without saying anything unnecessary

Has no idea how to put his emotions into words and ends up misunderstood as a result

Knows being misunderstood is not really his fault but also doesn’t know how to deal with it

Only person who can easily tell what he’s thinking is the person he grew up with (Lan XiChen is a good bro)

Has problems relating to others emotionally

Either feels too much or not enough and that’s strongly dependent on the circumstances

Finds peace and comfort in studying and copying scriptures and is easily capable of going at it for hours on end

His sassiness is usually really just him vocalizing his brutally honest thoughts

Can swear but won’t

Easily affected by strong flavours in food and apparently only actually likes food from his childhood home

Follows rules and routines extremely strictly and gets angry when said rules and routines are broken

Exceptions to above point pretty much ALWAYS involve Wei Ying, AKA the love of his life

Actually almost anything associated with Wei Ying is seen as at least acceptable if not outright GOOD in his eyes

Bunnies (soft, small and gentle animals) make him happy and they’re also something he associates heavily with Wei Ying

Very, very, VERY strong sense of (personal) morality and righteousness and sticks to his ideals fiercely

Precise long-term memory and excellent observational skills

Secretly stubborn as fuck

Good with kids

Let it be known that I like Autistic Lan Zhan headcanons just as much as ADHD Wei Ying headcanons (okay FINE, I have bias towards ADHD Wei Ying for reasons lol) I just needed the extra time to do research on it sjadksakjdksjdska

…also @chi-zi

[olimlacus]

This helps me. I don’t know that the hyper-engaged/talking-over style is unique/original to New York Jews. Certainly I tend to that, but my French teacher was saying that style is standard and she being American had a hard time making sense. Then my professional experience is that the style of waiting for each person to finish talking is easily/regularly/commonly weaponized as a power trip tool, asserting dominance, not allowing anyone else to speak.

whenever i’m talking to someone and they tell me about something that happened to them i always tell them about something that happened to me that’s similar to what happened to them. i do it as kind of a “oh hey yeah this happened to me so i can relate to what you’re going through” but i’m always afraid it comes out as “oh yeah well this happened to me so clearly i have it tougher than you” or “i’m done talking about you let’s talk about me”

i swear i don’t mean it like that……..

[olimlacus]

This.

AU where everything is solved by Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao becoming friends after Sunshot

frankly I’m astonished this didn’t happen

think about it

these two were the ones who came out of the Sunshot Campaign with the most glory (and notoriety)

they both have relatively low cultivation (rip WWX’s golden core) in a world that’s pretty elitist about it

they’re both alienated from their immediate society, and most of all

they’re both capable liars hiding secrets

Keep reading

[olimlacus]

canon: they died

fanfic: fUCK YOU

[olimlacus]

Gosh I love humans....

another weird Australia fact: we are the only country that ever cancelled a boat race due to the lake being wet.

asasdfdsf please elaborate

[olimlacus]

Untamed Memes (14/?) // wei wuxian being a little shit edition

[olimlacus]

Fic update!

Title:  The Zaibatsu Project

Author:  Nekotsuki

Fandom:  Rurouni Kenshin (Cyberpunk AU)

Characters:   …everyone?  Heavy focus on the core cast.

Rating:  PG

Summary:  In the year 2029, modern day street samurai and brilliant programmer Himura Kenshin returns to the ugly world of street politics and corporate war in an effort to help an unconventional hacker find her brother. Influenced by Cyberpunk 2020.

Chapter 18:  Taking stock and drinking coffee.  (In which another interested party begins to move.)

AO3

FF.net

[olimlacus]

Delayed in order to “substantially scale up the content”... Squee!

Yuri!!! On Ice news!!!

The official PR team released a statement today (06.09.2019) that the release date of the movie will be postponed, a new date isn’t decided, or foreseeable yet. Many fans already speculated that there will be a delay, due to the lack of movie PR and release date. Delays aren’t uncommon, and we sincerely hope that the staff is well and can work under fair conditions and stay healthy. Sadly that’s not a given in the animation business. 

We’d like to ask everyone to please wait patiently and to not spread negativity. The disappointment is understandable, but exposing other fans, or even the official and staff accounts to it isn’t going to help anyone. Please don’t leave negative comments under the announcement on twitter. 

Many fan creators still work hard to provide great content to share their love, please consider supporting them and engage with their content. It’s a great way to ease the wait in a positive manner. If the best way to keep your love for YOI is to take a break and spend time in another fandom, that’s completely understandable, and we hope you have a great time anyway.