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dailylooneys · 4 months ago

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Happy 90th B-B-Birthday, Porky Pig!

Yeap! Happy 90th Birthday to Warner Bros. first ever true cartoon star and the oldest continuing character in the Looney Tunes character.

After many (somewhat) failed attempts at creating a starring character for the very young Termite Terrace, many of them being Mickey Mouse-equse characters, such as Bosko, Foxy (most infamously and obviously) and Buddy....

.....there came a point in the mid-30s' where the directors, particularly Friz Freleng and Tex Avery, wanted to try and do something different, and that was to create a character who had a unique voice and embodied the soon-to-become irreverent style of humor of the WB cartoons.

First appeared in 1935's I Haven't Got a Hat, directed by Friz Freleng, part of the color one-shot series of Merrie Melodies shorts, was an attempt for Termite Terrace to see which character who appeared in the short could be there next star. Porky appeared in a somewhat supporting role in the film, voiced by Joe Dougherty, who had an actual stutter. The character's iconic stutter was inspired by a real-life pig guttering noise, according to Mel Blanc.

Well, I had trouble with, Porky, because he stuttered, and a lot of people said, "you can't do that". That's why I did it, because everybody was using falsetto voices, everything sounded the same. And I said, what can I do to make this character different? So I called up Warners' casting and said, do you got anybody who stutters? And they had this [Joe] Dougherty guy, who stuttered, and the guy could not just get through a line. And we were doing all of our sound on film then, there wasn’t any tape. If Jack Warner knew how much film I was using, I was through with animation. So I had to get somebody to mimic, and that was Mel. And of course, Mel can do anything. - Friz Freleng (”Friz on Film” documentary)

According to animation historian Jerry Beck, there was some thought that Beans would be the studio's next big cartoon star, as he would appear in a handful of shorts in the black-and-white Looney Tunes, while Ham and Ex were the only other characters of I Haven't Got a Hat to also make one more appearance, starring alongside Beans in The Fire Alarm (1936).

Goes without saying, nobody found Beans or Ham and Ex at all interesting, leading to Porky overshadowing them, and the rest is history.

From then on, Porky became the star of the Looney Tunes series, which were still in black-and-white up until '43. Like many classic cartoons character from the Golden Age of Animation, Porky's role varied from kid to adult character, to dealing with many everyday mundane things or having a specific position, including, but not limited to, farmer, hunter, waiter and zoologist, usually accompanied with other characters such as Porky's dad, Daffy Duck, Gabby Goat, or other one-offs.

The director who perhaps was responsible for giving Porky an even more distinguishing personality and design that we associated with today is Bob Clampett, as he was relegated to directing the main Looney Tune shorts up until the early '40s, which was possibly when Porky shorts were at their best.

(an image of the now-famous "blooper" (Breakdown of 1939) of Porky swearing, directed by Clampett, was made as part of a compilation of bloopers from live-action films, was screened during WB Christmas party reels, but was never released to theaters. This was made a year earlier before Gone with the Wind gained controversy for the use of the word "damn", as swearing was beyond prohibited in films up until the 1960s, when the Hays Code was starting die out.)

However, with the introduction of other, more colorful and quirky, mischievous characters such as Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, the directors would have admitted to having gradually grown tired of Porky as a character, even as early as 1939, he would play a very minimal role in much of the shorts, such as Porky's Hotel, Porky's Poor Fish, Meet Joe Dougherty and The Chewin' Bruin to name a few. Frank Tashlin infamously stated that he straight up hated Porky, referring to him as "a terrible character", due to the fact that a majority of the shorts he directed always starred Porky, finding him to be very inflexible, compared to his favorite character, Daffy. As a result of Porky's lack of popularity with the directors, Porky would end up becoming more of a side character, often alongside Daffy, Sylvester, Charlie Dog and so on, worked to Porky's benefit as not only did he continue to have sustained popularity with movie theater audiences, but the humor often derived from Porky being the most fairly grounded character being caught in the center of the character's wacky, off-the-wall personalities, or that when he's pushed to his limits, Porky will too snap!

"Nobody liked to work with Porky, because he was too square of a character." - Friz Freleng

Thankfully, this resulted in Porky never losing his popularity as he continues to be as world-famous and recognizable as Bugs, Daffy, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, ect. After over 30 years, Porky would make his last appearance in the original theatrical series' in 1965's Corn on the Cop starring Porky and Daffy as Keystone Kops-looking cops trying to capture a crook whose dressed as Granny.

This cartoon has many significance: it being the only latter-day WB short he ever appeared in. The only Porky short directed by Irv Spector. And the only time Porky appeared alongside Granny, having almost the longest-lasting appearance of any of the characters in the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, defeating only by Daffy Duck, who's last original appearance was in 1968 (31 years), near the ending of the original theatrical cartoon series and the closure of Warner Bros. animation department.

After the end of his movie career, Porky would continue to appear in many other Looney Tunes-related material, one of them being The Porky Pig Show (1964 - 1967) which is a compilation of various of the original shorts, an appearance on Tiny Toon Adventures as Hampton J. Pig's idol and mentor, and many more, especially more recently, one of the main stars of The Day The Earth Blew Up (2025) where we see him in his original Bob Clampett design.

So, despite not being considered the immediate favorite of either the creators (both the original and new) and/or casual viewers', we should not forget the importance of Porky Pig and the impact he left on the original Looney Tunes, and the franchise as a whole. I mean, we got a whole DVD set entirely dedicated to the pig himself:

#porky pig #looney tunes #merrie melodies #friz freleng #bob clampett #birthday #birthdays #termite terrace

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lovecomedy · 1 year ago

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If you need any convincing that Noel and Liam Gallagher are incestuous freaks (affectionate), here's the basic information you need

First of all. The kisses

Loch Lomond kiss, where they just... made out on stage in front of cameras. Cool. There's a gif with every photo from every angle.

Another kiss, this time in Japan. Here's the actual video.

And here's the same video but together with nice quotes from their 2016 documentary:

Here's a 2005 award event where they kiss again and also look quite in love

And here's Liam straight up groping Noel during concerts:

General stage antics and more groping:

Just one more groping

Ok. Let's talk about the music, then

Oasis has a song that Noel wrote called "My Sister Lover". The title speaks for itself, really. It includes amazing lyrics such as "You're my lover, I'm your brother"

But there's more! Noel used the same chorus of this song (with different lyrics) for a song he released in his solo album, 20 years later. It's called "Lock All the Doors". The very first line says: "She wore a star-shaped tambourine, prettiest girl I’d ever seen". And guess... guess who famously played a star-shaped tambourine? Liam! And Noel was the one that gifted him the fucking tambourine!!

Liam wrote a song for Oasis called Guess God Thinks I'm Abel

I'll just link everything that's been said about this song, because it really is batshit insane that this song exists

(It's common in the north of England to refer to things and people as "our". When either Liam or Noel say "our kid", they're talking about each other)

Liam has the tendency of thinking every song Noel writes is about him, including the love songs

Here he says "I'm his muse", along with some other interesting quotes

Ok, now we're on to suspicious quotes!

They had sex last night, according to Liam

This one is my favorite:

Of course this one is just all the weird quotes jammed in one post, you can feel yourself going crazy as you read it

Noel assures us that Liam knows about his arse

Other people confirming that they act like a couple. And them being fucking weird about each other’s marriages.

This one has Noel saying Liam is deeply in love with him. At the bottom, Liam's tweet.

Actually Liam always tweets things that basically confirm they're relationship. Like when somebody asked him if he ever rimmed Noel. Yeah.

This radio interview is where the most lovely quotes come from. Only Noel was supposed to be interviewed but then they both showed up PISSED DRUNK. Transcription in the same post

Even More weird quotes

This one involves the word impregnate

Noel making a suspicious comment about his daughter and son, Anais and Donovan

I think to be convinced you really just need that, but I'd like to add some niceties.

Just genuinely enjoying each other’s company

This is from the Oasis; 10 Minutes Of Noise and Confusion documentary. As Noel is kissing Liam's cheek, Liam is saying "He’s a fucking cunt and I hate him and I love him and he twists my melon, man. He’s the best songwriter in the fucking world.”

Some sweet quotes, and some less sweet ones as well

From the Supersonic documentary

Hugging after playing football

Just being silly

To finish off, two wonderful video edits with endearing moments

#gallaghercest

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pseuddamntired · 7 months ago

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Needle Lace Resources

This is a very long post, so I'm including a cut.

Tutorial-like Things, Others' Work

An overview of the stages of needle lace (specifically learning from Alençon, I believe. They link to a documentary type of video on Alençon lace): https://www.taixtile.com/needle-lace-first-steps/. This blog has links to other resources (one link is broken, if I recall correctly).

A very approachable first project, I think. From a lace maker who has done very cool illustrations with lace, Maggie Hensel-Brown: https://youtu.be/OLuRpJ96p4Q?si=gqBWqYxa755gFozr

This channel has videos of the stages of needle lace making. They specifically demonstrate Irish lace, I believe. But the stages are very similar to or the same as the stages in Alençon lace. https://youtu.be/dZVagIFCnLc?si=d8lRnPsmz5iTM0Z_

Pierre Fouché has a video about making dense filling stitches and even doing short rows to makes curves (something I tried but did not yet succeed at): https://youtu.be/DK5cMQND3b8?si=qySmT9yaoTcpsUV9 He also does really cool bobbin lace illustrations by constructing patterns in cell-like units.

An embroiderer tries needle lace in two videos. In one of them she tries different styles from different places: https://youtu.be/eTO7dA4oyl4?si=VInx35kql115bIIo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Wa6-Qf5xw

Example of a different style of needle lace. Unsure what it is exactly. Some sort of cut work or reticella, idk: https://youtube.com/shorts/7DFogWC3tDI?si=uju74sPFbRj3_wrn

Sampler directions: https://youtu.be/oDKBfjDYBnU?si=shQYvaT4kAZD7BgV

Again, a more geometric style of needle lace. I don’t know the particulars of this style (styles?), since I’ve mostly been looking into styles similar to Alençon because I’m aiming for more illustration-like lace. This channel has multiple videos demoing and explaining that process: https://youtu.be/gJd6mkrsUCQ?si=AfVIiwljHvfismrX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dk721UwW4

Not so much instructions but video of a very skilled lacemaker working on a project: https://youtu.be/01H2GdEXLrs?si=2suFHSG4Kwa6Yl2m

Another lacemaker's work on their blog. I don’t know if they do as much lace making as they do other needle arts https://www.robesdecoeur.com/blog/needlelace-my-work-so-far

A lacemaker's work... the site is older and kind of tricky to navigate. Like. there's no home button, as far as I can tell. Album of their work: https://www.lacemakerslace.oddquine.co.uk/album/index.html Home page, I think: https://www.lacemakerslace.oddquine.co.uk/

Useful/Interesting Things to Know

Alençon lace -- specific French style from the Alençon region, which has a history of point lace and a current institution dedicated to preserving the skills and producing lace. This is the style that I was looking at examples of to try and learn from.

Search terms like different styles of lace that I’m not qualified to talk about but you can look into and do research on: Battenburg, point de gaze (very very fine work, like gauze)… More to be added as I learn about them.

The terms "needle lace" and "point lace" are both used to refer to lace made with a needle. I'm unclear on if there are subtle distinctions between them or if it's simply a matter of location. But having versions of a search query for both terms should help find more results than just using one.

Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese De Dillmont is an excellent resource to learn how to do different stitches. It seems these stitches mostly come from Irish lace, according to the book. HTML copy of book available on Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20776/20776-h/20776-h.htm I recommend using ctrl+f to search for "lace stitch" on the page. The end of each chapter in the HTML version seems to have a link to the Table of Contents that is at the end of the entire document. It has chapters for plenty of other needle arts, so it's a good resource all around.

If you want to find examples of needle lace, look on Wikimedia Commons! Using a variety of search terms will help you find more material for inspiration/observation than otherwise

If you want to design your own needle lace depicting objects, it might be worth looking at stained glass to see how larger shapes are broken up into smaller shapes that still feel complete.

You can use multiple colors! Let yourself use multiple colors, like stained glass!

Thoughts from the Learning Process So Far (some terminology used here, look them up so you know what the actual definitions are, but I’ll define what I mean by them)

Tacking vs Couching... I'm unsure about the actual definitions so I may be using them wrong here. In the videos I’ve seen tacking seems to be making a stitch that runs along the way the cordonnet will run. Couching seems to be just when the thread that secures the cordonnet comes up through the backing and goes down through the backing at the same point. With these definitions… Tacking went faster for me than doing couching, but it feels a lot less secure and precise for the form of lace I’m making. Unless I made the tacking stitches perpendicular to the cordonnet's path, the outline cord moved too much due to tension. If it's perpendicular and not a very short stitch, it might get in the way of your filling stitches or binding off stitches. Which might be fine, since you pull them out anyways. But it would also mean more holes in the backing, and at some point the holes are too close together and might tear the backing and pattern. I don't like that. Couching—much, MUCH more tedious for me because I’m not practiced at making the needle come up in exactly the right spot. but it feels more secure to me. The outline seems to be less affected by tension as you work. And I took some shortcuts for couching that helped. I don’t couch the doubled cord, instead I whip stitch back over the already-secured cord. I might make a post to demonstrate what I mean. It kind of messes with the shape/placement of my cordonnet, but for the sake of my impatience I’m willing to sacrifice the precise shape.

Backing material... To use fabric in backing like the instructions usually say, or not? Idk. For me, it’s hard to find the right hole for the couching stitches when I can't see my pattern from the back. It took a lot of trial and error until I got a feel for how to predict where my needle would come up. I don't like the way the poke-and-check method of stitching the cordonnet down tends to rip the pattern up (at least, with my easy-to-access materials. Probably better with better materials and more practice. Using my thumb to find approximately the right spot helped, but not enough). So I just used a sandwich of tape/paper/tape as my backing. If you're willing to fuss around with fabric in your backing, it might make it easier to remove the couching threads after you're done, and when I tried. The directions I've seen usually say to use a backing of doubled-up fabric, clay paper (I'm unsure what this is. might be a thicker paper than cardstock, or it might be paper made to contain clay particles. Probably more like the first option), and contact paper. My last attempt at making a backing used notebook paper (or other type of paper) with packaging tape on both sides to provide a smooth surface and structure. I think it worked fairly well, and I didn't have to figure out where to buy contact paper (or figure out exactly what contact paper was).

#lace making #fiber arts #needle lace #instructions #tutorials #information #resources #my post #i will make this cleaner/easier to read later

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captain-mj · 2 years ago

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You had a very short tiktok series about Gaz watch a true crime documentary about the Riley Christmas murders and one regarding ale talking about how they had a “demon” take out the Zaragoza cartel.

I’ve always wanted to see that expanded on if you could?

Hey Rose!

Gaz was politely listening to something on his phone. His earbuds had died and he couldn't find his normal headphones. He wasn't allowed to use his work ones and while normally he'd do it anyway, his phone didn't have the right adapter for it.

"And the youngest son, Tommy Riley, was found shot dead with the rest of his family. The military covered it all up. There's no evidence that wasn't redacted. What could they be hiding?"

Gaz could've swore he heard Tommy Riley before. But right now, he couldn't quite place it. He could blame it on fatigue.

Ghost walked in and stood near by. He stayed silent as he watched over Gaz's shoulder.

Gaz paused, feeling himself being watched, before relaxing immediately. "Hey, Ghost."

Ghost hummed. "What are you watching?"

"True crime documentary." Gaz answered. "Want to watch with me?”

Ghost thought about it for a minute before sinking into the chair with him. "Sure. Keep playing."

Gaz turned the captions on and raised the volume just a little. Ghost watched with him, staring impassively at the screen.

"What about his oldest brother?" The second host spoke up. "You mentioned they had two sons."

"This is all we have." A family photo of a blond woman, brunette man and their two children. She looked a bit off, almost like she hadn't been expecting to take a photo. Her hand was on a little boy's shoulder. His wide brown eyes were staring at the camera. His hand was on the slightly smaller boy's arm.

"That's it?"

"Yep. Everything about him was apparently burned. No real explanation for it."

"You keep saying him. Who is him?"

"S. Riley. It's all we have. According to the people from his home town, he was unremarkable. just... some guy. For some reason it seems, his school records were burned. His history in the military was burned. And, oh yeah, his medical records, several pages long apparently, and that's just his childhood medical records, were also burned. All different fires. All within the same week." It was clear the implication and it was now hitting Ghost that this was his fucking case.

Yikes.

Gaz laughed. "Military cover up, right Ghost? They blame everything on that."

"This one actually was."

Gaz looked unsure. "You know about this?"

"Yeah. Quite a bit." Ghost got up. "Poor bastard is dead. Died a long time ago. Military just didn't want people to know their hands were in it." He got up. "Don't listen to Ghost stories too much."

As he was leaving, he could see something in Gaz's eyes. A thought.

S. Riley.

Ghost didn't have to deal with his past for a while before he and Alejandro were staking a place out. Valeria were said to be around and that was all the excuse Alejandro needed to be there.

"You ever hear about the Zaragoza cartel?" Alejandro asked, using a hushed tone. It was clear this wasn't reverence. He was baiting Ghost into asking him to tell a cautionary tale or ghost story.

Ghost grinned under his mask. "No. Tell me."

Alejandro launched into the story with a rather good amount of showmanship. There was shockingly little embellishment, but with Roba, there wasn't much need for it. He went over the torture the men, Ghost included, endured. The drugging, the assault, the beating and fighting.

"What happened to them?" Ghost asked on cue and he could see Alejandro smiling.

"A demon. Wiped them all out. Said he wore a..." Alejandro trailed off. He glanced at Ghost. He was a smart man. But when Ghost responded by tilting his head and waving him forward to continue, he seemed to realize that the British man in front of him most likely would not have been in the middle of Mexico at the time. It made no sense. "Skull mask."

"To mock Roba?"

"Rudy thinks so. I don't."

"Why do you think he wore it?"

"I think he was a dead man." Alejandro answered. He sighed softly and his eyes closed. "Forgot how boring stake outs are."

Ghost hummed. "If you want, I could take first watch? Might be good for you to go sleep."

Alejandro nodded. "Might be a good idea." He moved his stuff and managed to lay down.

"Don't let Manuel Roba bite." Ghost grinned.

Alejandro laughed and closed his eyes. Only a moment later, his eyes fluttered open. "Did I say his first name?"

"Nah. I heard of him before. Just wanted to keep you entertained." Ghost patted Alejandro's legs and stood up. He stretched and shook his own legs out before continuing to watch out the window.

Alejandro seemed to let it go.

Soap saw the scarring on Ghost's chest where the autopsies and unnecessary surgeries had gone on. Ghost thought Soap was going to vomit when he saw the extent of it. He didn't think it was because Soap thought it was gross, his scot loved the Glasgow scars on his face and had kissed the scarring on his throat with a vigor Ghost didn't understand. But more, the fact that Ghost had clearly been tortured in such horrific ways.

Soap opened his mouth and closed it a few times before swallowing. "The people wh-"

"Dead. Killed them myself, don't worry."

"They still hurt?"

"Sometimes. I've started taking care of them more and it's not as bad."

Soap traced the mortuary scars first and then the scarring over his ribs. "This feels personal."

"He hated me because I wouldn't break. Fucking Cartel." Ghost answered softly and leaned into him. "Come on. Do you really want to spend our time together doing this?" He leaned down and kissed him.

"They also make the Glasgows?"

"Yeah. The venom scarring was my dad though."

Ghost thought Soap was going to blow up at first. Instead, he just spent the rest of their time kissing all over Ghost as if he could make up for lost time.

Ghost cheekily recommended one of his documentaries to Rodolfo. It was one of the ones that dropped part of his name in it but also insisted that he was the one to murder his family in cold blood. The documentary was one of his least favorite and Ghost had spent more than a few nights after watching it staring at his ceiling, feeling sick. But it was one of the ones that was most misleading. Rudy was smart, but the doc was mixed into several others as well so it wasn't obvious.

Rodolfo didn't call him out on it, but there was something in their eyes when they bumped into each other again. He knew. Just needed a shred of evidence before outright asking Ghost if he murdered his family.

Alejandro invited everyone to his Ranch for a celebration. There was nothing to celebrate, but they all were on leave for the first time since Los Almas.

Rodolfo thanked Ghost and Gaz for the true crime documentaries they had been sending him.

Gaz, who had started to become very suspicious about this whole thing, nodded. "Yeah, thank you for the recommendations too. The Riley Family Christmas murders were an interesting one." They both glanced at Ghost.

So did Price. He was frowning, looking almost panicked. He assumed, reasonably, that this would be a triggering topic for Ghost.

Ghost laughed. "Yeah. That's a good one. Whole family, dead and mutilated. Then they find the oldest son burned somewhere else? Fucking hell." He walked away, getting one of the spiked drinks. He also made sure to pass Price to nod at him. Price got worried and he didn't want him.

Alejandro started the tale about the Zaragoza Cartel to everyone and Soap listened to the methods of torture.

"Wait. Did you say they'd... autopsy them? While alive?"

Alejandro grinned, thinking Soap was just into the nitty gritty details. "Yeah. It was so they could put drugs directly into their organs."

"Huh... Ghost, did they do that to you? The drugging I mean."

Pause.

A pin drop could be heard.

"Yeah. Nasty hallucinogens."

"Huh. Wonder if the two groups had the same idea."

Price was catching on and he quickly glanced at Ghost who gave him The Nod. Politely, he waited until Alejandro was done before asking. "You hear about the people that escaped?"

"Yeah of course. All brainwashed though. They were half insane."

"You hear about the one that did though? Truly escaped? He was an SAS member. Vicious young Sergeant at the time. I was his Lieutenant." Price took a drink. Unlike Alejandro, there was no showmanship. No excitement. Instead, there was a string of sadness.

"S. Riley. I remember finding his patch. Right next to a bunch of bloody dog tags. Roba knew I was following him and he wanted me to know he hurt or killed some of my members. Fucking bastard."

There was a sharp moment. Everyone was putting things together.

"Riley escaped. They found him, mostly dead, wandering the border. We brought our boy home along with some of those brainwashed bastards. Didn't know they'd be targeting civilians."

Gaz gasped so loud Rodolfo jumped. "The military coverup."

"I told you not to listen to Ghost stories." Ghost smiled, taking a drink.

Price hummed. "You know, Simon. I was scared when you went missing a second time. Until I heard that cartel had been wiped off the map and I found you knee deep in bodies."

"Aye. They made one mistake that evening. Just one."

Soap asked the question, right on cue, even if he didn't know it. "Just one?"

'Yeah. Really shouldn't have killed my mom. Might've let a few of them live if they hadn't."

"Mary was a lovely lady." Price clicked their bottles together. "Raised a lovely son."

"You recommended us documentaries over your own family's murders??"

"I have to keep myself entertained somehow."

#call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #simon ghost riley #johnny soap mactavish #call of duty modern warfare ii #cod mw2 #ghostsoap #cod #soapghost #ghoap #kyle gaz garrick #captain john price #captain price

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mariacallous · 5 months ago

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Kevin Lee’s father used to grunt in affirmation if someone asked if Lee was a girl. He did the same if someone asked if Lee was a boy. Growing up in the 1980s in Guiyang in southwestern China, Lee was relatively withdrawn, in part because he didn’t know what gender he was. He was less sensitive than the girls, he said. But he looked different than the boys.

Lee came out to his parents when they asked him about dating. He said he wasn’t interested in dating men and that he saw himself as male. They said “OK” and ignored the issue. Their response, Lee said, felt like being shoved back inside the closet.

It’s not uncommon for transgender people to get a negative reaction from their parents when they come out. But parental support is particularly crucial in China, where trans people need parental consent to undergo gender-affirming surgery and change their legal gender—even as adults. (If their parents are deceased, trans people must prove that to authorities.) These hurdles often make it harder for trans people to obtain care.

Lee, who wanted to pursue the surgery, said he considered the consent requirement an effort to prevent parents from seeking legal or physical retribution against doctors. “They’ll make a scene,” he said of parents who may not support their child’s decision to undergo surgery. “There will be family members taking out knives to kill doctors. It will become a social issue.”

That was one of the reasons Lee didn’t pursue gender-affirming surgery in China. “My mom is conservative,” he said. Though consent forms can be forged, he didn’t want her to go after the doctor who helped him.

In China, the need to obtain parental consent for gender-affirming care forces families to resolve their differences about the procedure ahead of time, dealing with drama or disagreements inside the family. According to Cherry, an LGBTQ+ organization worker, who requested the use of a pseudonym to protect their safety, the requirement exists to avoid parents causing a stir at the hospital.

It is also the product of a Confucian and patriarchal way of organizing society, Cherry said. For instance, police who want to put pressure on young queer activists often visit their parents’ workplaces and out them—so that the target has to deal with the ensuing family drama. “The person is managed through the family so they don’t become a problem in the public domain,” Cherry said.

The first gender-affirming procedure in China was carried out in 1983. The process entered the mainstream consciousness when Jin Xing, a famous dancer and TV presenter, recorded her surgery in a documentary released in 2000. Her father, a military officer, gave her his unconditional support. He even went to the local police station and demanded that they give Jin Xing a new ID card that reflected her gender.

That kind of parental support is rare. A 2021 report by the Beijing LGBT+ Center, which was shut down in 2023, found that only 3.2 percent of fathers and 5.9 percent of mothers in China “completely supported” their children after they came out as transgender.

Some conservative parents who do not accept their children’s gender identities send them to conversion therapy. A trans woman successfully sued a hospital last year for being subjected to electroshock therapy and being held against her will for three months. “People making policies lived through the Cultural Revolution,” Cherry said. “There’s a fear of not being the same,” they said, referring to the great emphasis placed on collectivism during that time.

Xiaoma, who grew up in the small city of Huzhou in southeastern China and requested a pseudonym to protect her privacy, recalled that before the internet reached her town, her first encounter with trans culture came from tabloids sold by street vendors, which told sensationalist stories about trans people. In phone directories, she saw advertisements for gender-affirming operations alongside those for double eyelids and breast augmentations. When she came out to her parents and told them she wanted to get gender-affirming surgery, “there was crying, there was arguing,” she said.

“There is a saying: Your body, your hair, your skin is from your parents,” said a doctor working in fertility who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to media. Ties between generations are close: “Most parents will think you’re always their child and that they have authority over you,” she said. To her knowledge, gender-affirming surgery is the only surgery undertaken by adults in China that legally requires parental consent. Other major or high-risk surgeries, such as heart surgery, often require a family member’s consent, but it can come from another direct relative or a spouse.

Xiaoma’s parents eventually acquiesced to her gender identity, even offering to help pay for a better doctor for gender-affirming surgery than she could afford on her own. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for their consent. “Acceptance is one thing. Asking them to sign a consent form is another,” she said, since it would require that they actively support her decision rather than simply tolerate it. Xiaoma instead traveled to Thailand, where she could get the surgery without asking for anyone’s approval.

The barrier posed by parental consent has led to the growth of a gray industry of illegal surgeries and hormone replacement drugs in China. People exploring their sexuality and gender identity often turn to sources outside the public medical system for guidance.

When Lee was looking into gender-affirming surgery, he turned to the online forum Baidu Tieba, which is similar to Reddit. He reached out to people posting about which hormone replacement drugs worked and which did not and bought the drugs they recommended. He joined a group organized by drug sellers on the social media platform QQ, where the group’s 1,500-plus members could purchase the drugs.

After taking the medicine, Lee felt strange, and his periods got heavier. When he complained about these side effects, the drug sellers pushed him to get surgery. They told them that unless he did, he’d still be a woman. He believed everything they said. “To put it nicely,” Lee said, “they brainwashed me.”

Lee flew to Shanghai to visit the hospital where these sellers worked; he said he saw them sell the same medicine directly to another patient, a 16-year-old boy, in exchange for cash—far from standard procedure in Chinese public hospitals. Lee left and took a walk along the city’s waterfront, processing what he had seen. He turned it over in his mind. Something felt wrong.

Lee sent the hormone replacement drugs that he bought to a lab for testing. The results revealed that they were substandard anabolic steroids made from a mix of veterinary drugs. “It’s like they sold me an iPhone but just a shell,” he said. “I didn’t know what brand of battery they replaced it with, and it could explode.” When Lee applied to study abroad in Australia, he didn’t initially pass the health tests required to obtain a visa because the drugs had affected his liver and kidneys. “I was responsible for my own ignorance,” he said.

There have been some victories for China’s trans community over the past decade, such as winning a landmark work discrimination case in 2016. But it is still very difficult for trans people to change their gender on the education certificates often required by employers, which in effect outs them. Public medical insurance doesn’t cover hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery.

In 2022, China released regulations that lowered the minimum age for gender-affirming surgery from 20 to 18 and removed a requirement that people undergo a year of psychiatric treatment before surgery. It also lowered the threshold for changing official ID documents: Though the Chinese government used to require that individuals had undergone full reconstruction of their sex organs, a person can now apply for a new ID after having their reproductive organs removed—a less complex surgery that nevertheless carries medical risk.

However, those looking to change their IDs still face obstruction from local administrators, who are not always up to date on the regulations, slowing down the process.

“I was very willing to go for surgery” after reading the new regulations, Lee said. He chose to have gender-affirming surgery in Thailand rather than in China, in part because he did not want to push for his parents’ consent when he knew they did not approve of his decision. He also wanted to avoid causing them more pain. “I don’t want my parents to be gossiped about on the street,” Lee said. “My parents live in a small city where everyone knows each other.”

Lee flew to Bangkok and stayed in the hospital for four days. While he was undergoing surgery, he dreamed of Burger King. When he woke up, he had a hamburger and then vaped.

The ensuing paperwork did not go as smoothly. After returning to China, he started the process of changing his ID card in the island province of Hainan, where he previously lived and was registered as a resident. It was the start of a legal tug-of-war. The administrators asked him to prove that he was a man. He asked them to prove that he was a woman. They found reasons to delay the process, and he had to keep flying back and forth from Guizhou in southwestern China, where he currently lives.

At one point, Lee lost his temper and told the authorities that he would make a reel on Douyin, the mainland Chinese counterpart to TikTok, or talk to the media about his experience. He eventually received his new ID card.

Though China leaves a route open for trans people to pursue gender-affirming surgery, the government actively discourages open trans activism and advocacy. Under its current leadership, China has seen a rise in nationalist rhetoric and heightened distrust of foreign influence, leading to a crackdown on international funding for local organizations, which often rely on such support.

In 2016, the government passed the Overseas NGO Law, which made it more difficult for grassroots organizations to receive funding from international donors. Organizations such as Cherry’s, which received overseas funding before the law was passed, have had to shrink the scope of their work significantly.

Before 2016, Cherry and their colleagues used to go to schools and universities to talk about sexual diversity. They displayed the Pride flag openly and organized rainbow-themed runs and cycles.

The organization still helps transgender people who are looking into surgery, providing them with information on where to stay, which doctors are friendly, and which hospitals can provide the appropriate medicine. They also put on small-scale gatherings and carry out sexual disease prevention work.

But the organization must now report any gathering with more than 10 people to the police for approval, which is not a given. Ahead of dates the authorities consider politically sensitive, such as International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia or International Women’s Day, Cherry’s organization receives calls from the police checking that it will not hold any events, according to people who work there.

Advocating for the rights of sexual minorities and displaying symbols such as the Pride flag are increasingly considered by authorities as proof of foreign influence. “Anything involving the Pride flag is not allowed,” said Lotus, who works with Cherry and also asked to use a pseudonym for fear of political retribution.

“There are many voices telling us to shut up,” Lotus said. A lot of people online take the attitude “We respect you—just don’t speak out.” Though the comments are made by private individuals, that social media moderators do not delete them shows that the comments reflect an “official stance,” they said.

The main sources of funding for Lotus and Cherry’s organization are now state bodies, including the China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the All-China Women’s Federation, which focus on AIDS prevention rather than trans advocacy. The organization can receive money from these bodies when their work aligns with that objective.

Lotus gestured to a jar near where we were sitting in their office, which contained a miniature Pride flag alongside China’s national flag. “If we only put the Pride flag, there would be a problem.”

Lee now runs his own company, selling prosthetics to trans people. He drives a bright orange electric vehicle that bears a sign saying, “I’m a straight guy.” Despite the red tape that he encountered in his transition, Lee told me that he considers China’s policies to be friendly toward trans people. He pointed to other countries such as North Korea, where transgender issues are not formally addressed in law, or Russia, where trans people are not permitted to change their legal gender. In Thailand, trans people cannot change their ID cards following surgery.

He acknowledged that many trans people were reluctant to acknowledge their past for fear of discrimination. He often fielded questions from other people in the trans community asking him how he dealt with showing his education certificates to employers. But since he is self-employed, he has not faced that issue.

Lee had little contact with his parents before his surgery, and that did not change after he returned to China from Thailand. When I spoke to him in January, he said he planned to travel over the Lunar New Year holiday to Xishuangbanna in southwestern China. I asked him if he planned to see his parents, and he said he might see his father, that they might even travel together. He didn’t think his mother would want to join them.

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acti-veg · 5 months ago

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Aren’t zoos accredited as wildlife preservation and educational and they use the money from people visiting to help animals and the animals have the option to avoid visitors bc of how their enclosures are set up (which are WAY better than what they used to be and continue to improve)? I’m pretty sure sanctuaries have way less requirements to be labeled as such and that’s how we get stuff like tiger king. Also there’s definitely endangered animals at zoos? Lions and tigers come to mind. Sorry if this seems hostile, I’m genuinely asking questions here bc I’ve always seen zoos as overall good. Like, yeah it sucks people have to go gawk at an animal in an artificial approximation of their natural habitat for them to care but without that then way less improvements would have happened to the various species natural habitats and there’s also rewilding programs etc that zoos do to put animals back in their natural habitats

According to the AZA themselves, about 46% of their accredited zoos are run for profit. Of those that are non-profit, it does not follow that there isn’t a profit incentive, because decision-makers have their salaries and bonuses to consider, which are often performance based. Incidentally, The GW Exotic Animal Park featured in Tiger King was a for-profit zoo, not a sanctuary.

OP was not saying that there aren’t endangered animals in zoos, they said a lot of the animals kept in zoos aren’t endangered. This is true of many popular zoo animals, and it begs the question of how zoos can primarily be about conserving endangered species, when many species bred and housed in zoos are not even at risk. Why are all those other animals there?

Some real conservation success stories have come out of zoos, but this is very much not the standard. Most of the largest conservation and captive breeding programs are run by conservation charities and research institutes, not zoos. Putting an animal on display to the public in an artificial environment is directly antithetical to ever being able to release them. It is highly unlikely that any animal you have ever seen in any zoo will ever be free, and it is almost as unlikely that their children ever will be.

As for education, what can we really learn about wild animals from observing their captive counterparts in completely artificial surroundings, in unnatural social settings? I’m not convinced that the average member of the public who goes to a zoo learns more then they would have by observing wild animals through the lens of expert by watching a documentary than by gawking at animals in cages and scanning over the little signs next to them.

This is true even for academics trying to learn from zoo animals. Some of the most enduring falsities about animal behaviour came from observing animals in zoos, most notably the concept of ruthless, survival of the fittest pack hierarchies in wolves. I mean, do you think it would be wise to come to any conclusions about how humans behave in general, based on how they behave in prisons?

Animals in zoos are in atypical settings and therefore behave atypically, including the prevalence of zoochosis, depression, increased aggression and repetitive stress behaviours. A lion outside of her natural setting, who has never even seen the savannah or an antelope, is fundamentally a different animal. This is true even physically, to a degree that few people realise. The microbiome of captive animals is radically different from wild animals, and we’re only just beginning to scratch the surface of the impact that has on everything from behaviour to feeding.

Conservation needs to focus on the conservation and restoration of wild habitats. I applaud zoos when they do this, but the undeniable fact is that this is just not their priority. Zoos spend very little on these efforts, comparative to what they spend on advertising, for example. Conserving an animal to exist only as an entertainment piece for the amusement of humans is just not meaningful conservation. The real work is being done by conservation organisations, that is where we should be putting our money instead of handing it over to animal entertainment industries.

That is probably enough to give you a basic idea of what the objections to zoos are. It has occurred to me that I don’t have an article going into the detail on this though, so I’ll go away and write one. It’ll appear in my ‘zoos’ tag soon, so check back in a week or two if you’re still interested.

#ask #vegan #zoos #animals as entertainment

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writingquestionsanswered · 1 year ago

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hello! i've struggled with writer's block for so long that i've forgotten how to write something that i genuinely like... recently i've been trying to go back, but given my current schedule and me being in med school, it's impossible for me to sit down and just ... write but do you have any tips how i can slowly ease myself back into writing? thanks so much 🥹🙏🏼

Slowly Easing Back Into Writing (w/ a Busy Schedule)

1 - For Now, Write for Fun and Relaxation - When you're neck deep in work, school, parenting, caregiving, or any other of life's big commitments, you may want to go the low pressure route with writing and let it be an outlet for fun and relaxation. This gives you carte blanche to write when, what, and how much you want without having to worry about any sort of "progress." And the beauty is, whether you write five words a day or five-hundred, you are still "making progress" in terms of honing your writing skills and adding to a body of work. You just don't have to be focused on that for now.

2 - Meet Yourself Where You're At - Even when you give yourself permission to write for fun, you may still find yourself wanting to create goals, a writing routine, and a writing schedule... and that's fine, just be sure to meet yourself where you're at when creating these things. In other words, be honest with yourself about things like available writing time, energy requirements, potential distractions, steady commitments, and other potential challenges to meeting goals and sticking with a routine/schedule. Be flexible. Have reasonable expectations. And give yourself grace when things don't go as planned.

3 - Go For the "Low Hanging Fruit" - Getting back into writing doesn't have to mean pursuing big writing projects, and it honestly probably shouldn't when you have other big things going on that need to take priority. Luckily, there's a lot of "low hanging fruit" you can go after to get your words in. Those will be different for everyone according to where you find inspiration and motivation, but some examples would be journaling about your day or dreams, writing reviews of books and movies, writing out your feelings about a particular current event or something unusual you experienced that day, flash fiction writing prompts, short poem, free writing, writing exercises, etc. In other words, things that allow you to write as much or as little as you want, and you can switch it up depending on how you're feeling.

4 - Spend Time Filling Your Creative Well - If you're limited on time and energy, don't underestimate the importance of using the free time you have to fill your creative well... read books/short stories/fan-fiction/magazines/news stories, listen to audibooks or podcasts, watch TV shows or movies, play video games, watch documentaries, learn about things that interest you, research your family tree... anything that puts stories and story elements into your head is going to help you be a better writer. And if that's all you have time to do right now, that's okay, too!

5 - Make It a "Whole Thing" - If circumstances permit, take whatever writing time you have each week or month and "make it a whole thing." Get yourself a nice/pretty/fun notebook and some nice and/or colorful pens. Create a writing playlist. Find a special place to write (it can change as needed) where you'll feel safe, comfortable, and will be relatively distraction free. Create a little writing routine for yourself, like drinking a certain beverage, starting by listening to a certain song, wearing a particular hat or comfy cardigan, eating a particular snack, putting on some mood lighting... whatever works. It could even be as simple as putting a particular object next to your keyboard like a pretty rock, a scented candle, a certain plushie... anything your mind can start to associate with "this is writing time" can help trigger things that will get you into writing mode when it's time.

Here are some other posts that may help:

Guide: How to Rekindle Your Motivation to Write Guide: Filling Your Creative Well Getting Excited About Your Story Again Getting Unstuck: Motivation Beyond Mood Boards & Playlists Getting Your Writing Magic Back After a Break Writer’s Block

Happy writing!

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tsams-and-co-memes · 1 year ago

Text

TSAMS Sunrise Canon Info

Updated - 3/7/25

Sun's likes:

Cats (he owns two)

Dressing up his cats

TF2

Listening to/watching documentaries while he cleans

Red Dead Redemption and Baldur's Gate 3

Cult of the Lamb

Yellow (his favorite color)

Snapple (his favorite drink)

Hamburgers (his favorite food)

Spiderman

Fallout

Electric eels

Retro gaming

Old-timey, black and white cartoons (with Popeye possibly being one of his favorites)

Sun's dislikes:

Gravity Falls

An unnamed flavor of some vegan ice cream

Squids

Insects

Balloon Boy

Hot water

Sea water

Taylor Swift

Garden gnomes

Sports

Salads

Kids (this was implied) <- (he might've made this implication jokingly, but he did end up saying that he does have a soft spot for them)

Eclipse

The creator

Bloodmoon

Roxanne

Minesweeper

Soda/pop

Pumpkins/pumpkin carving/pumpkin guts

Miscellaneous:

Sun tends to get very competitive with gaming

He’s watched the entirety of Dragon Ball Z

He has an obsession with cleaning and stacking the toy barrels/tumble barrels in the daycare. If they’re not adequately cleaned or stacked in a very specific way, he gets upset

He’s bought stilettos and tried on a dress before, while saying that he’s a pretty princess

He used to have a crush on Roxanne

He’s not good at dancing and really only moves the upper half of his body

Sun is pansexual (check for sources). He's not bisexual, so him being pan is slightly more likely (retconned. Sun is more than likely straight, at this point)

Sun has a car and knows how to drive

He isn’t very good at acting

He has a habit of cheating when playing competitive games

It’s been implied numerous times that Sun occasionally enjoys cross dressing

Old Moon has made a statement before, suggesting that Sun has kleptomania

Sun can read bar codes

He apparently knows the history of gravel and can talk about it for hours

He was programmed to know how to drive

His rays are made of plastic

He plays D&D and his character is a warlock

Sun grooms his rays like they’re his hair, and he uses ray polish to do so

Sun knows the history of Windex

Sun knows how to play Yu-Gi-Oh

Cleaning is one of the things that calms him and helps him focus

Sun panics sometimes when he's not doing anything, because he feels like he's not doing enough. Apparently this was triggered by Eclipse's return

Sun can't calm Moon down whenever Moon gets seriously upset, and Sun finds that "kinda scary" (<- exact wording from the therapy video). This means that on some level, Sun is afraid of Moon's anger, and of Moon acting irrationally when he's upset

Sun is the only janitor in the daycare

Sun's had a bird fly in his face before, and according to him, it's more annoying than scary

Sun's not good at bowling

He's eaten glitter glue at one point as a coping mechanism. He may or may not have also eaten sparkles

Sun knows how to grind coffee beans

He turned his basement into a cat den, and his cats have their own TV

Sun drinks (we don't know how often)

If he could be an animal, Sun would be a stingray

Sun doesn't clean the bottom of the ballpit

Sun received an offer to replace Glamrock Freddy as the face of the pizzaplex, but he refused. A lot of the refusal stems from him not wanting to be on a stage in front of so many people

Sun's never watched any classic Disney princess movies that occurred before Beauty and the Beast and Mulan. This would include ones like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella, although he's had Cinderella play passively in the background before (knowing Earth though, she'll probably make him watch all the original princess movies eventually)

Sun goes through a lot of existential crises

Sun is very good at finding kids who wander from the group whenever he takes everyone somewhere outside the daycare

Sun knows how to set broken bones

Sun has a fear of heights

Sun buys animal shaped soaps

Sun puts down a lot of sticky notes in different places

In the earlier days of the daycare, Sun once tried to play hide and seek with a blind kid. It did not end well

Sun's watched Death Note 4 times through

Sun has a crush on Yor from Spy x Family (his type seems to be people that could beat him up, but this could change)

Sun has a punching bag

The emotional part of Sun's mind that's positive looks like a sunflower field, while the negative part looks like a dart forest

Sun takes his teeth out like dentures to wash them, instead of brushing them normally

#sun and moon show #the sun and moon show #tsams #sams sun #tsams sun #sun and moon show sun #the sun and Moon show sun #canon info

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tyriq-edits · 3 months ago

Text

Research Notes for the Consort of Peace (Part 1)

The different dynasties/Periods of chinese history

Below the cut you will find the first part of my research notes for my Megop AU based on the ancient chinese tale of Wang Zhaojun [here]. Unfortunately it is rather difficult to get access to peer reviewed books about ancient China where I'm from. So for this part a huge chunk of my research unfortunately relies on different documentaries and Youtube videos. If i got anything wrong in my research please feel free to tell me.

Xia Dynasty: 2100 - 1600 BCE

Probably very likely or even most definitely mythical -> the archeological record shows no proof of them ever having existed.

Before them china was ruled by so called “legendary sage emperors”

A guy named Yu had been commissioned by them to find a way to manage to floodings of the Yellow river -> managed to do that and founded the xia dynasty (Madsen 0:34)

Shāng Dynasty: 1600-1050 BCE

Capital near Zhengzhou (Tsin 1)

Bronze artifacts (Madsen 0:58)

Warlike in nature → Similar to the Mycenaeans in ancient Greece.

Technology regarding Bronze smithing improved throughout this dynasty

Probably invented writing/earliest form of chinese writing attributed to them (Madsen 1:10)

Jiǎ gǔ wén -> Oracle Bone inscription (Madsen 1:20) -> Writings on bones and turtle shells for divination

Women had a lot more rights during this time and were politically and militarily engaged → Example Fu Hao (Zhao 2022, 3:20)

Ended in a period of decadence and replaced by the Zhou (Madsen1:35)

Cool fact: Shang King Wu Di (Husband of Fu Hao) would travel around his kingdom disguised as a commoner to understand the troubles of the common people better (Zhao 2022, 5:00)

Zhōu Dynasty: 1050 - 256 BCE

Divided into 2 periods: Western Zhōu (1050-771 BCE) and Eastern Zhōu (771-256)

Eastern Zhōu happens at the same time as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-475 BCE) and the Warring states Period (475-221 BCE)

Capital Western Zhou: Hao (near Xi’an)

Capital Eastern Zhōu: Luoyang (in the province of Henan)

Confusius creates the idea of confucianism around this time (the -> Huge influence on chinese culture (Tsin 1)

Main rule of Confucianism: “do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you” but “felial Piety”/devotion to the family is equally if not even more important

Idea of Mandate of Heaven is created (Madsen) → Joshua Mark however claims the Mandate of heaven was created under the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou just developed it further (Mark, Han 3)

Mandate of Heaven: A king could only rule if he acted just -> He had the heaven’s favour and was granted the right to rule by the heavens. But the heavens could take that right away from him if he acted unjustly.(Madsen 1:51) → The ruler HAD to look after his people in order to keep the mandate of heaven.

Kinda like the “Gracie dei” in western medieval kingdoms except your god given right as a king came with conditions

There will be signs by the heavens before hand -> natural disasters (Madsen 1:55)

Book of Songs was written around this time (taken from personal university class notes)

Functioned under a complex feudalistic system → Decentralised government (Epimetheus 1:50)

The Zhōu decline was long and painful starting with the Spring and Autumn period

In the end China broke into many different kingdoms and states (Zhōu being but one of them)

Warring States Period: 475-221 BCE

The Zhou were, according to Cartwright: “No longer dominant in military terms, the Zhou were forced to rely on armies of other allied states, who on occasion took the opportunity to forward their own territorial claims. For this reason, the Zhou king was compelled to sometimes make the military leader of another state the military leader of the Zhou alliance.” (2) → The greatest of these military leaders received the title of Hegemon.

By the 4th century BCE 100 smaller states had been “consolidated by conquest” (Cartwright 2) into 7 major states: Chu, Han, Qi, Qin, Wei, Yan and Zhao.

“In each state, the ruler declared himself king and independent of the Zhou empire.” (Cartwright 2)

Basically everyone was fighting everyone at all times.

It also marked the beginning of China’s use of a cavalry in the military as well as the chineses’ entry into the iron age through the use of iron swords and crossbows (Cartwright 3)

There were still cultural developments despite the constant wars (Cartwright 5)

Metalworking developed (Iron)

agricultural revolution (Iron tools)

cities grew in size

large defensive walls

towers were erected

Multi-storey citygates to impress visitors

Rulers’ Palaces became more extravagant

Marketplaces → Trade

Industrialised pottery and weapon production

Town planning (Grid pattern similar to Roman and Greek Colonies in the West)

Introduction of bronze coins with a hole in the middle

Philosophy → Writings and contemplation on Confucius, Daoism, Legalism, War Tactics (Sun Tzu)

Qin Dynasty: 221-206 BCE

Before the rise of the Qin Dynasty, the Qin had remained “one of the few states which remained loyal to the Zhou” (Cartwright 4)

Several Qin rulers had received the title of Hegemon from the Zhou kings during this time (Cartwright 4).

Qin conquered all the other nations at the end of the warring states period.

Reunited China into one nation

Rulers of previous dynasties were called kings (Wáng 王)

the Qin ruler (Qin Shi Huang) invented a new title for himself -> Emperor (Huáng Dì 皇帝）(Madsen)

Qin Shi Huang was known for his brutality and draconian rule

Qin Shi Huang “understood that the Zhous's policy of a decentralized government had contributed to its fall and so established a centralized state which decreased the power of the aristocracy, eliminated the borders between different states, and operated according to the precepts of the philosophy of Legalism”. (Mark, Qin 2)

He forced a unified writing systems onto those he conquered and had hundreds of historians executed and historical records burned ->he wanted to unite the people of China under one shared identity and for the “history of China to start with him”.

But his bookburnings had other reasons → Scholars would write tracts criticising Qin Shi Huang’s rule and comparing it with more benevolent rulers of the past Zhou dynasty and saying Qin Shi Huang was ignoring the mandate of heaven by not caring for his subjects correctly (turning them into slaves) (Mark, Qin 5)

People who tried to hide the history books and writings of past dynasties were also executed (Mark, Qin 5)

But not only history books were burned also “any works expressing the concepts from the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought should also be destroyed including the standard educational texts known as the Four Books and Five Classics from the Zhou Dynasty. Anyone speaking on such topics should be killed and any officers or officials who heard of such conversations and did not report them should be likewise.” (Mark, Qin 5)

Only medicine and science books were spared. (Mark, Qin 5)

→ Had scholars executed by burying them alive in a mass grave (Madsen 3:40)

“Shi Huangdi suppressed all freedom of speech, had the legal codes rewritten to adhere more closely with his own personal vision.” (Mark, Qin 6)

“A one hit wonder of a dynasty” (Montgomery)

Joshua Mark: “213 BCE, his need to control every aspect of his subjects' lives, and fear of rebellion, had turned China into a police state in which freedoms were severely limited and the peasant class was reduced to a level of conscript slavery” (2)

Under Qin Shi Huang China saw the first version of the Great Wall (protection against the invading Xiongnu), the Grand Canal, introduction of state coinage, highway constructions, and the terracotta army in his tomb. (Mark, Qin 2)

Joshua Mark: “His early reign seems, at first glance, a model for any monarch in true leadership and care for his people but Shi Huangdi only interpreted the Mandate of Heaven in terms of his own power and self-importance; his subjects were a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Those who worked on the wall, the canal, and other public projects, if they even were initially paid, quickly became conscripts taken from their homes to labor for scraps of food and communal lodgings.” (Qin 4)

“He encouraged science and discouraged letters” (Mark, Qin 4)

Joshua Mark: “The people's lives under the Qin became harsh, narrow, and more uncertain (..) because government officials could take anyone they wanted to work on the emperor's projects, no matter their social class or occupation. Only the emperor's men were allowed weapons so there was no armed resistance possible and, even if arms had been available, Shi Huangdi's network of spies, secret police, and informants would have revealed a plot before it had a chance to be put into action”. (Qin 5)

Shi Huangdi became increasingly more paranoid as time went on leading to more and more restrictive laws → Scared of usurpation and assassination → Grew obsessed with the idea of immortality → Sent officials to find the elixir of immortality

Qin Shi Huang famously died after swallowing mercury, believing it’d turn him immortal.

Shi Huang’s chief advisor Li Siu changed the emperor’s will after his death → Shi Huang intended his “commanding eldest son Fusu” as his heir → Li Siu feared Fusu would replaced him as chief advisor and made the “spoiled, coddled, youngest son” Hu Hai as he was “easy to manipulate” (Mark, Qin 8)

“He (Hu Hai) was famous for his bad temper, ordering the death of anyone who brought him bad news, and his lasting legacy is the origin of the saying “Don't kill the messenger” regarding a negative reaction to receiving unwelcome information.” (Mark, Qin 9)

The Qin Dynasty officially fell under the rule of Qin Shi Huang’s grandson Ziying who was unable to stop the rebellion of Liu Bang of Han and Xiang Yu.

Liu Bang of Han had accepted the surrender of Ziying and treated him well.

Xiang Yu however had Ziying and his entire family executed.

Han Dynasty: 206 BCE - 220 AD

Existed around the same time as the ancient Roman Republic and Empire and the Diadochi all the way up to the reign of emperor/empress Elagabalus. → Even traded with the roman empire → See the Roman Silk ban of 14 AD.

This is the dynasty during which Wang Zhaojun lived during the reign of emperor Yuan

The majority of Chinese people are part of the Han ethnic group, which receives its name from the Han dynasty. (Mark, Han 2)

Divided into the earlier Western and later Eastern Han Period (named after the location of the capitals)

Western Han: 206 BCE - 9 AD

Xin Dynasty: 9 AD - 25 AD → Regent Wang Mang declared the Han Dynasty is over and created the VERY brief XinDynasty after which the Han resumed (Mark, Han 1)

Eastern Han: 25 AD - 220 AD

Joshua Mark: “(The Han Dynasty) established the paradigm for all succeeding dynasties up through 1912 CE.” (Han 1)

Founded by Liu Bang, a commoner (born a peasant, worked as a sheriff) → Later called Emperor Gaozu → Liu Bang straight up rolled Nat20 on every single Charisma and Deception Check and faked his way onto the throne.

Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, after defeating the Qin dynasty, turned on each other → Liu Bang finally gained the upper hand by kidnapping Xiang Yu's concubine, Lady Yu, who was the great love of his life, and luring the Chu forces into a hopeless situation at the Battle of Gaixia (202 BCE). Lady Yu committed suicide and Xiang Yu, after burying her, fought his way out but was pursued and killed himself rather than be taken. Liu Bang then established the Han Dynasty, ruling as the Emperor Gaozu (r. 202-195 BCE)” (Mark, Qin 9)

Liu Bang later executed and demoted his other generals upon the request of his wife empress Lu Zhi → known as one of China’s most cruel women (Montgomery).

Capital was moved from Luoyang to Chang’an (Mark, Han 3)

“With no experience in government, Gaozu had to rely on earlier models and so adopted the decentralized government of the Zhou and the Legalism of the Qin (though the latter was implemented more benevolently). The decentralized state was divided into 13 administrative districts known as commanderies (also as jun) and awarded ten kingdoms to members of his family whom he expected to rule justly” (Mark, Han 3)

According to Poulpart: “Liu Bang created a new governmental structure composed of three actors with overlapping functions, guaranteeing that one would not dominate the other. This system was relying on a chancellor (chengxiang), who was responsible of the cases that would be managed by the emperor, a supreme Commander (taiwei) responsible of any military action or decision, and an imperial counsellor (yushi dafu) at the helm of the bureaucracy and administrative system.” (1)

As a former peasant Liu Bang understood how commoners had felt under the Qin rulers → Lowered Taxes for commoners, redistributed wealth, made some of the rules less strict (Mark, Han 3)

Liu Bang opened up bureaucratic positions for people of all social classes (Mark, Han 3) → His successor emperor Wen of Han would later take this idea further and introduce the imperial state exam → An Exam people of all social classes could take in order to become imperial civil servant

During the Han period Confucianism was the state religion → According to Confucianism’s ideas the state system of the chinese emperors was superior to every other form of civilisation → Han Emperors used this as explanation for expansionist politics (especially under emperor Wu of Han) → It was their mission given to them by the Mandate of Heaven (Poulpart 1)

Confucianism grew in popularity even amongst commoners but they still practised their own local cults (Poulpart 2) → Confucianism was mostly popular and important within the higher social classes (Poulpart 2)

The Han Dynasty was a period of lots of scientific and artistic advancements, marked by Confucianism and the creation of the silk road under emperor Wu. (Mark, Han 2)

The Hans invented the water wheel, the compass, the seismograph, musical theory and paper (Mark, Han 2)

Creation of the silk road -> Trading routes would reach up to the Roman Empire

The Han also “encouraged literacy and the study of history” (Mark, Han 2) → Sima Qian, the chinese Herodotus, lived during the Han Period

Iron, copper and Salt were regulated by the government → Government held a monopoly on those markets (Poulpart 2) → The Han-Xiongnu wars were partly the reason for that monopoly

Chinese Mythology underwent development during this time → Think Nezha, the Queen mother of the West, Guanyin, Chang’e, the Jade Emperor etc. (Mark, Han 2) → Many of these figures have existed since the Shang Dynasty

Wars with the Xiongnu (A distinct ethnic group from the mongolian Steppe)

Xiongnu wars lasted for 200 years → Will talk about these in more detail in the Xiongnu section

After Liu Bang’s death his wife Lu Zhi was in charge through several puppet rulers (Mark, Han 3) → She was then executed and Emperor Wen of Han took over.

Wen’s son Emperor Jing saw that the decentralised government was not working well → centralised the Han empire (Mark, Han 4)

Reigns of Wen and Jing = Golden Age

After Jing came Emperor Wu → Expansionist policies, made everyone (nobles and commoners) equal under the law code, gave commoners better opportunity to become government officials, adopted Confucianism as the state philosophy (Mark, Han 4)

Expansion into Korea and Vietnam ( → the Trung Sisters Rebellion) and more wars against the Xiongnu (Successful) & establishment of the Silk road (Mark, Han 4)

After Wu → Emperor Zhao → Emperor Liu He → Emperor Xuan → Emperor Yuan (The one from Wang Zhaojun’s tale)

Emperor Yuan (Or Yuandi) → Big supporter of Confucianism → Because of this (filial piety) he gave powerful positions to his wife’s family members → This and “failure to check the power of his eunuch secretaries” lead to the fall of Western Han and rise of the Xin dynasty

Yuan’s son, Emperor Cheng continued his father’s mistake until his cousin Wang Mang seized power and declared himself Emperor in 9 AD. (Encyclopedia Britannica 1) →Xin Dynasty

Wang Mang was meant to act as a regent to Cheng until he came of age → did not give the power back to Cheng when he was an adult

Joshua Mark: “Wang was a Confucian scholar and idealist who believed that a single, strong ruler with a clear vision and the freedom to do as he pleased would be more effective than one who took counsel and had to discuss policy with others before implementing it.” (5) → Wang Mang was kinda useless as a ruler → “The people grew frustrated with his ineptitude and a mob overran the palace, hacked him to pieces, and used his head as a kickball” (Mark, Han 5)

Emperor Xuan → Reestablished the Han Dynasty → Weak and was soon deposed during the Red-Eyebrow-Rebellion (Mark, Han 6)

Emperor Guangwu → Moves capital to Luoyang → Begin of the eastern Han period → created reforms to avert another Xin situation (Mark, Han 6).

“the Han ruling house fairly quickly devolved into a series of monarchs who cared more about indulging their pleasures than ruling a country” (Mark, Han 6) → The emperors left country affairs to their Eunuchs.

By 130 AD the imperial court had become corrupt by Eunuchs who held all the power (Mark, Han 2)

At the same time the Han were spending money on expansionist policies into Korea, Vietnam and on wars against Xianbi (A Nomadic group from the mongol steppe like the Xiongnu and Huns)

Famines, Floods and taxes

The Han Dynasty ended after General Cao Cao defeated the yellow turban rebellion, tried taking over control of the empire. After his defeat via his fellow military commanders, the kingdom was split into three different realms. (Mark, Han 2)

Three Kingdoms: 220-264

After the Fall of the Han Dynasty

Romance of the three kingdoms takes place around this time

Basically summarised as “Warring States Period 2: Electric Boogaloo”

Jin Dynasty: 265 - 420

Very shortly lived Dynasty

Descendants of the generals who usurped the imperial throne

It was of the three kingdoms of the previous era, the Wei Kingdom which prevailed and re-unified China (Madsen 5:00)

United China but their reign was marked by wars and violence (Epimetheus 3:30)

Palace intrigue → Civil war 299 - 301 AD

Jin Dynasty fell at the hands of Xiongnu tribes who “settled in the north of china and proved hard to govern” (Madsen: 5:20)

Xiongnu attacked both of China’s capital cities Luoyang and Chang’an

“Many people fled to the south of Nan Jing where the Jin had set up a government in exile” (Madsen 5:30)

Period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties: 386-589

Northern Wei and the Southern Qi empires

Often considered a dark age of Chinese history (Epimetheus 3:40)

“Dominated by warlords who raided the lands and by barbarian invasions” (Epimetheus 3:48)

Buddhism increased in popularity (had been around in China since the Han Dynasty however) (Madsen: 5:40)

At the end the Wei and Qi kingdom had around 9000 buddhist temples combined (Madsen: 5:48) → Many rulers openly supported Buddhism

Sui Dynasty: 581 - 618

Had only 2 reigning emperors

Was able to unify China again

Instead of following the rules of Confucius, the Sui emperors tried to act upon Buddhist principles. (Madsen 6:30)

Their “structural changes which paved the way for a more long-lasting successor, the Tang Dynasty” (Cartwright, Sui 1)

Reinstalled the rule of ethnic han chinese (Epimetheus 3:53)

Integrated the barbarians that had invaded China during the previous period (Epimetheus (4:10)

After 1 million men were taken to Korea for military service → Rebellions arose in China during this time → Rebellion lead by Sui Emperor’s cousin Li Yuan overthrew the Sui → Renamed himself emperor Gaozu (Like Liu Bang of Han)

Tang Dynasty: 618 - 906

The second golden Age

Most C-Dramas i watch tend to take place around this period

Arts flourished around this time → Especially Poetry

Tea became more popular → Tea ceremonies (Madsen 8:10)

The story of Yan Gufei (another one of the 4 beauties of China) is set during this time

Internal stability

Scientific advancement

China’s population grew to 80million (Epimetheus 4:20)

The imperial exam of the han was picked up again and modified → Meritocracy (Madsen 7:30)

Surprisingly tolerant of foreigners for an ancient civilisation → Chang’an was cosmopolitan (Madsen 7:40)

All three religions of China (Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism) thrived during the Tang

Towards the end they began persecuting Buddhists and were deposed after several rebellions (Epimetheus 4:50)

Five Dynasty Period: 907-960:

China broke again

There is once again war between everyone

Song Dynasty: 960 - 1279

Divided into Northern Song(960-1127) and Southern Song (1127-1279) (Tsin 1)

Scientific advancements and military development

Started out with a strong economy but was militarily a lot weaker than previous dynasties (Madsen 8:40)

Mass printing and gunpowder was invented during this period (Epimetheus 5:05)

First Paper currency

Southern Song started after Jurchens attacked the capital city and took the Emperor and several officials hostage → The north of china was lost to the Jurchens → New emperor crowned in the south where the Song remained until 1279 (Madsen 8:50)

Tea houses and night markets became popular around this time

Storytellers within these tea houses (Madsen 9:10)

Art in the form of poetry and landscape paintings flourished during southern Song (Madsen 9:20)

North of China during this time was ruled by the Jurchens who after a while took over the chinese imperial system, language, writing system and way of life (Madsen 10:00)

Yuan Dynasty: 1279 - 1368

Mongol Invasion → Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan

Moved the Capital city to Dadu (Today Beijing)

Taken from class notes: Around this time the novel became popular → The Mongol emperors did not care for poetry → They preferred theatre → Journey to the West style stage play → Was written down as a novel → entered the “mainstream”

The Yuan controlled the entire silkroad from China to Europe (Epimetheus 5:30)

Diversity in culture (Epimetheus 5:40)

But Marco polo did note that there was “ethnic tension” in China → Different ethnic groups were placed in different taxation groups (Madsen 13:30)

“A chinese could land with a hefty fine if he fought a mongol, but a mongol could get away scot free if he killed a chinese” (Madsen: 13:40)

The Mongols kept chinese advisors however and adopted the idea of the chinese emperor being “the son of heaven” (Madsen 14:00)

More Europeans visited China around this time (Like Marco Polo)

Just like the Mongol empire as a whole, this period was very short lived

Ming Dynasty: 1368 - 1644

Founded by a commoner (Taizu) after a successful rebellion against the Mongols

Taizu was a harsh ruler → Went after literati (kinda like emperor Qin but with a bit less executions)

The Imperial exam remained under his rule however �� one had to study the 4 great Books → Confucius Analects, Mencius, Doctrine of the Mean and the Great Learning (Madsen 15:30)

Another golden age

Construction of the famous forbidden city in 1406-1420

Ming Vases were a popular exported good

Literature and Art flourished

The great Wall of China was expanded to keep the Mongols out

Problems with Pirates

Chinese age of exploration → Explorers went as far as east africa and returned with Giraffe’s to the emperor’s court (Madsen 16:00)

Foreign merchants were limited to outposts but could not really go deeper inside China (Madsen 16:40)

Some emperors had around 10’000 concubines around this dynasty (allegedly)

Famine lead the end of the Ming Dynasty

Qing Dynasty: 1644 - 1912

The Manchu ethnic group ruled China after crossing the great wall (Madsen 17:00)

All men in china were ordered to get the Manchu Hairstyle to show their loyalty to the new Dynasty (Madsen 17:10)

Period of stability followed

Most on the information i could find on the harem system came from this period

Not nearly as glamorous as depicted in C-Dramas (shocker)

“Started as a golden age, ended in disaster” (Epimetheus 5:50) → Opium wars

Fell after the Chinese revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China

The life story of the last Emperor of China is honestly a hot mess.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty some Consorts and Concubines had to become prostitutes to survive

Sources:

Cartwright, Mark: Warring States Period, World History Encyclopedia, 2017 https://www.worldhistory.org/Warring_States_Period/

Cartwright, Mark: Sui Dynasty, World History Encyclopedia, 2017. https://www.worldhistory.org/Sui_Dynasty/

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Yuandi". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yuandi, Accessed 22 March 2025.

Epimetheus: All China’s Dynasties explained in 7 minutes, Youtube, 2018 https://youtu.be/fFNzX3tYTXU?si=eZd4uWgxxgJTlufI

TSIN, Micheal: China - Timeline of Historical Periods, Asia for Educators, Columbia University, 1995 https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/china_timeline.htm

MADSEN, Jared: All of China’s Dynasties in ONE Video - Chinese history 101, youtube, 5th August 2022https://youtu.be/Fz_uQNQBK0g?si=Dm4_3DoomfgN7jZo

Mark, Joshua: Han Dynasty, World History Encyclopedia, 2020. https://www.worldhistory.org/Han_Dynasty/

Mark, Joshua: Qin Dynasty, World History Encyclopedia, 2020. https://www.worldhistory.org/Qin_Dynasty/

MONTGOMERY, Lazlo: The Han Dynasty (Part 1), in: the chinese history podcast, Ep. 18 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1umFA07mSPCuPyCCcAKiK4?si=pe4iHig8QFOO6_-kv9XTzg

Poupart, Jean-Baptiste: Han Dynasty, Academia https://academia.edu/resource/work/40640987

Zhao, Xiran Jay: China’s forgotten Warrior Queen – Fu Hao, Youtube, 2022.

https://youtu.be/U0luii3sKjQ?si=MDSuCUOqVKn20TIN

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annymation · 1 year ago

Text

My Thoughts On Wish Deleted Scenes

Now that we got all the deleted scenes out, I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on them... Mostly rant, yeah, I might get pretty heated with this heheh but it'll be fun.

Villain Couple

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So let's begin with my personal favorite, the villain couple that we could've had

I am literally scared with how I nailed their characterization in my rewrite, like, that's them, that's King Magnus (Magnifico) of Rosas and Amaya (Amable) of Rosas right there. The dramatic, power hungry dude that can barely control his temper + a cunning, calm and collected queen that thinks before acting but is just as vicious as him.

AND THEY CALL EACH OTHER SO MANY PET NAMES! SHE CALLED HIM "GOOD BOY"!!! HE PULLED HER FOR A ROMANTIC DANCE UGHHH DISNEY YOU TOOK THEM FROM MEEEE!!!

Now let's talk about... WHY this was scrapped, according to Mark Kennedy, the head of story in Wish, he says in the Behind the Scenes documentary that the reason they changed this, and I quote:

"We didn't want people to know Magnifico was evil right away, we wanted the people of Rosas to love Magnifico, and have only Asha realize he's not as good as he seems"

... Okay? That's not a reason to not make him SECRETLY evil, just have the rebels be like a group of people who are considered ungrateful weirdos by the people of Rosas, and the king spreads rumors that they're a threat, since they think NO ONE should get their wishes granted. So we have Asha being part of this rebellion, that doesn't fully know what Magnifico does with the wishes, but they know he's doing something bad, so it's up to Asha to find proof and open the eyes of the citizens of Rosas who love Magnifico, easy.

"Also it serve the story better to have Amaya be a good person"

Why? Because she distracted Magnifico and told them about the pulleys they needed to open the castle's ceiling? Just have one of Asha's MANY FRIENDS be a spy of the rebels that became close to the king and queen, maybe the king's apprentice, let's say Safi, and he tells them that info and also distracts them if needed, there, no need for good queen.

This one is the cheery on top, are you guys ready? I don't think you are, but here goes... "Additionally we couldn't really answer the question of why Magnifico wanted a star, and what it would do for him."

............................. I don't know if I can put into words how ENRAGED this make me feel, but I will try.

Mark, my guy, I'm sure you're a lovely person, but I know for a fact that you are lying. Because in a room full of professional screen writers THAT MADE IT TO DISNEY there's absolutely NO WAY no one stepped in and said "Oh but why does the villain want power though?"... THAT'S LIKE ASKING WHY JAFAR WANTED THE LAMP OR WHY URSULA WANTED THE TRIDENT!!!! HE'S A VILLAIN!!! VILLAINS ALWAYS WANT POWER!!!

"Oh buT MaGNiFicO Is DiFfERRenT bEcAuSE He'S A kINg sO He alREadY HaS pOWeR" SO WHAT??? Villains are never satisfied! Magnifico says it himself in the deleted scene

"I can't take it, this wanting that is never satisfied"

THERE! That's your villain motivation, he wants to fill a cup with no bottom, he wants more and more than he already has! Which makes him a PERFECT FOIL to Asha, because Asha wishes for more to her people, because they indeed are struggling, she wants what they need! And she'll fight for it, while Magnifico will only lie, cheat and steal his way into more power! GAAAAH IT WOULD BE SUCH A NEAT CONFLICT I'M GOING FERAL!

Anyway, on to the next one

Wishing Tree

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Deleted Sabino my beloved, you only get one scene in my rewrite, Tiana's father style, but I love you so much you sassy old man

I love this concept of the wishing tree so much, because this is actually a tradition here where I'm from, we take colorful ribbons, think of a wish, and tie them on a tree.

Would be lovely if Wish showed many types of different traditions of wishing besides just wishing stars, like blowing dandelions, throwing a coin down a well and soon.

But I digress, Asha has such an inspiring personality here, her writings show how she's fierce, longing for adventure

SHE HAS KNACK FOR SWEARING LMAO

She has an undying hope in her, and she wonders if it'll take Magnifico to DIE for her people to be free to wish, this is amazing, this is what I wrote my Asha into in Kingdom of Wishes

@uva124 joked the other day saying I might secretly be one of the disney writers just pretending to be a fan and sharing the original script, guys I swear that's not the case, they just communicated with me telepathically.

Jokes aside, this scene is so beautiful, Asha had everything to be an amazing protagonist.

Now for what Mark said in the documentary... Oh boy...

"The people of Asha's village keep their wishes a secret, and don't say them out loud, because if they do Magnifico will find their wishes"

Now THIS is very interesting, making Magnifico this almost omnipresent threat that even if you just SAY what you desire he might hear with his magic, maybe with a crystal ball or something Idk but regardless this is a great way to make him aware of who Asha is.

Cause think about it, Asha does make a wish, upon a star, so Magnifico would probably feel that wish, and thus he'd know Asha is the one who summoned a wishing star, so the chase would begin.

Heck, with this concept he could manipulate Asha into giving away star by promising that if she did so all her people would be free and he'd stop eating wishes all together because he wouldn't need more power anymore, obviously that'd be a lie, but it would make Asha have to choose between taking the easy way out and giving away her friend/love interest in exchange of her wish coming true, or risk it all and protecting him at all cost, ya know, a internal conflict.

"We wanted people to love Magnifico, and Asha to be the only one who finds out about his true evil nature, that way, when she tries to tell people, nobody believes her, and that's make fighting him much harder for her"

See Mark, that's a good idea, thing is, that's not what happened... Asha didn't try to tell people, and the times she did tell her family that Magnifico would never grant their wishes, they DID believe her, and Sabino got mad she wanted to tell him his wish. And when she told her friends, they didn't question her much about the fact she challenged the king, Dahlia just rolled with it like it was no big deal...

So yeah it would've been great if Asha tried to spread the truth but people didn't believe her, it really would, but that's not quite what we got

Star and Asha Chase Scene

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And there it is, the closest thing we'll ever get of Star Boy, and I love him

Star can take shape of any animal in this version, and that made him too similar to Maui and the genie, well, dear Disney, riddle me this, why didn't you just scrap the idea of him being a shapeshifter? There are many ways for a being to embody magic and creativity that don't involve them turning into animals, maybe have them be- oh I don't know- ANIMATED IN 2D???

"The ability to change into anything made star very powerful"

Here's an idea, make Magnifico MORE powerful than star, by making forbidden magic Star's weakness

"We wanted Asha to be our hero, and we wanted her to solve all her problems by herself, without too much help from star"

Bruh, Walt Disney said himself "You can design and create, and bild the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make that dream a reality" Asha could NOT do this on her own, and that doesn't make her weak or less of a hero, it just means the threat was too big.

And if she was the one who had to make her wish come true, GREAT, just use Blue Fairy logic, she couldn't make Pinocchio a real boy right away, all she did was give him life so he could pursue that himself, same could happen to Asha, star gives her some magical intervention, but he can't do everything for her.

Also let me just say, that interaction between Asha and Star?

"Star we'll have to be very discreet" "Discreet? Got it, sounds like another plan, I'm getting pretty good at this planning stuff" "Uh you know what would help that plan? If you weren't so bright" "Oh-hoho thank you!- oh wait, you mean-" "Shinny, glowy, way too much light, turn it down"

I can SEE KOW!Asha and Aster having this exact same interaction!

And then that scene Star holds her hand under water! Bruh don't tell me they wouldn't be a thing Disney!

And all the sea creatures coming together to make a big spectacle, THAT felt like Disney magic, that WHALE!!!

That would've been so beautiful to see fully animated.

In The Dungeon

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Can't believe that I also wrote a scene of the 7 teens and Asha going to the dungeon before this scene came out, like, it's such an specific scenario

Anyway, so once again we see this better version of Asha, that is caring, smart and inspiring.

And Magnifico being a freaking DESPICABLE monster, saying that Dahlia is a burden that no one would miss because of her disability, like DANG that's something I never considered writing because it's so heavy, but they almost did include it, and I think it would've been great to show just how evil he is, and in turn, how amazing Asha is because of what she says next

"He underestimates you, and that's a good thing. When you're underestimated, they don't see your power coming until after it changed the world"

Thank you Wish deleted scenes, I'mma take this line and fit it in my rewrite somehow cause WOW imagine that, the 100th disney princess teaching something very valuable for children of today!

Think of all the disabled kids that would've felt seen in this scene! Instead Dahlia's disability is more of an after thought, and from what I've read, the way she walks doesn't even seem like she's disabled according to some crutch users.

"Also, Asha already had 7 friends, and we thought adding another one was too many"

I agree Mark, so here's a thought, make ONE OF THE 7 TEENS the apprentice that gets locked up in the dungeon, like Safi for example, and they find him by hearing him sneeze! There, suddenly the character whose only personality is sneezing get's something to do!

Magnifico breaking the wishes of people "No one would miss" is actually a thing in my rewrite, I didn't explore it that much cause it wasn't that important, but I'm glad I also got that right

Star was more useful in this clip than he was in the whole movie

Climax

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Not much to say about this one, hot take, but I'm actually glad this one was changed, sure I like Magnifico eating a bunch of the wishes to get more powerful, but personally I'm not a fan of him turning into a giant muscular monster, but I understand if you're into that.

Though, it's still a funny scene, it's silly yeah, but it's definitely entertaining, which is more than what I can say about the movie

Also Valentino is cute here

I like how Magnifico uses the wishes to shine a spotlight on Asha

This face, lmao

"THATS JUST A GOAT!"

The thing about this scene though is that... I can't imagine where they were going with this, like, then what? Magnifico climbs the tower to get star and Star manages to defeat him somehow? If so then yeah no wonder you deleted star for doing all the work for Asha, what's Asha supposed to do now that the king is all powerful???

Star saying "We just need one more ingredient" YALL MAKING A POTION??? This feels weird, a magical being making a potion... Wait hold up, I thought of this in this second, was the last ingredient Asha? Like she goes up there to warn them and it turns out she was what they needed to figure out how to defeat Magnifico?... Probably not but who we will never know.

Wish Worth Making

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This made me CRY when I first watched it, like WOW Disney, are you TRYING to make this movie as soulless as possible???

This is such a powerful moment that would make us actually CARE about Sabino, feel what Asha feels, and it's a calm and beautiful moment in this movie that never stops to just BREATHE.

Can you imagine Magnifico showing up after THIS?? It would've been so scary because it was the calm before the storm.

Imagine him breaking not only Sakina's wish but also Sabino's lute!

If I was Sabino's voice actor I'd be pissed to find out they deleted my song but kept the chicken dance song... That was a thing.

Anyway, hope yall had fun with this little rant, let me know YOUR thoughts on these scenes too! See ya next time!

Thank You For Reading!

#wish rewrite #kingdom of wishes #wish reimagined #wish movie #wish disney #wish star #wish 2023 #disney wish #disney #wish #wish deleted scenes #wish asha #queen amaya #wish king magnifico #Youtube

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