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kyaaaa I'm late to vampire school *runs out while holding a dude by the neck in my mouth*

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While I don't necessarily agree with the whole "Xie Lian needed to be taught a lesson" take, I don't completely agree with the "it's a lesson on propaganda and suppression" take either. I think both of these have truths to them.

Yes, Jun Wu was pulling the strings. Yes, Xie Lian and so many others were manipulated into situations and then used as scapegoats. However, laying everything at Jun Wu's feet does both him and Xie Lian a disservice. His downfall wasn’t just because the Heavens were cruel or the system was broken (though both are true), but also because he was overly idealistic.

Xie Lian believed he could save everyone, that he could bear everything alone, and he was wrong. And the same goes for Jun Wu. There was no big bad in Jun Wu's case; it was nature in all it's forms — natural disasters and human nature's response to it. Ignoring this is, in a way, perpetuating these characters' mistakes. It's absolving these characters of the flaw of their hubris, when that's part of the problem.

I think it's necessary to point out the flaws of the systems in place, but we also need to acknowledge that people, from the best ones to the most ordinary, can be undone by their own actions. Otherwise the cycle just keeps going.

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the worst part of "you'll understand when you're older" is that you really do understand when you're older

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The trailer for Zootopia 2 dropped and people are already complaining about the plot being rehashed. I think they should stfu.

Do people not understand the concept of a buddy cop film?? They saw one snake and they started to whine.

When it comes to stuff like this, what matters is the execution, not the basic premise. There's a reason we don't complain about yet another NCIs or Law and Order episode. There's a purpose for genre storytelling; what matters is execution. It’s a new context, higher stakes, and a different emotional arc. Wait for the final product before you start to bitch.

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shaking you by the shoulders please. is anyone else thinking about pei ming and yushi huang being connected through his continual horror at her suicide and his part in it. through blood that can't be wiped away. is anyone thinking about her decision immediately writing history as soon as it was made and about his decision causing it...

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the sound of qin echoes in the jingshi playing a song of inquiry but answered by no soul

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do you ever think about dead versions of yourself that are fossilized in someone else's mind

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No but the MHA OST is so good. Emotional and inspiring and melancholy. Hats off to Yuki Hayashi, he put his own dussy into it.

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Rewatching Rick and Morty and holy crap I just finished "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort".

Old man yaoi!!!

But besides that, Rick and Birdperson's relationship is so sad.

I think Rick really was in love with Birdperson. It was the kind of amorphous, pure love where Rick would've been content to be with him forever, romantically or platonic. It wasn't explicitly sexual or romantic, but if Birdperson wanted it, he would've been happy— because it was about the person, not the label. In that moment at least, just being with him would've been enough.

I also think Birdperson was his own kind of asshole though. He's straight like a ruler and nearly puritan in the way he refuses to waver. He understands Rick's pain but is also vastly more interested in keeping his peace because he knows Rick is just a lot of work. That statement "the relationship that we have is not worth my integrity" wasn't just a simple rejection in that moment or of Rick's way of life, but of the entire framework of who Rick is, and what Rick might've hoped they could be. It was a rejection that was pregnant with a multiverse of implications.

Rick who rarely reaches out earnestly reaches, and gets turned away. Not with cruelty, but with something worse: calm, principled dismissal. It’s why that wound runs so deep. It’s not the loss of a partner or friend, it’s the loss of the one person Rick believed might see past all his damage and still stay.

Birdperson's steadfastness is admirable, but also brutal and cruel.

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reading vicious is just going “what the fuck” every ten lines. like these two are INSANE.. batshit level crazy dedication

had nothing but a vague hypothesis and some evidence of correlation and went “okay i’m gonna kill myself to get superpowers now” WHAT???

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Hong Hong'er appreciation post, reblog to appreciate him

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Kill the Villainess is a brilliant story. I know it's often dismissed because of the romance, and that it's praised because of its strong central female characters, but that's not why it's special to me.

It's the way it takes the time to tell the story of the minor characters. The characters we dismiss, the characters we disdain and put into a box, the characters that interest us and whom we forget about almost immediately.

It's doubly more interesting the way her reincarnation was the worst kept secret in that story. Almost everyone knew she wasn't the original Eris after meeting her, and the story takes the time to allow us ponder the effect of that on the characters, or lack thereof, because they didn't even care until it served their selfish purposes.

It's how it's a great deconstruction of the isekai genre, because how many of us wouldn't truly know that the person we knew had completely changed, down to their mannerisms? And it simultaneously commits to the bit by asking, when you're a member of the aristocracy— a worldview that famously dismisses human life, do the people who notice even care?

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I find it so interesting that time and time again Jun Wu never considered other peoples kindness and how that foiled all his plans.

Like originally he wanted Xie Lian to fall apart and break like him but Wu Ming was there to be sure he wasn’t alone and to take on all that resentment.

The man with the bamboo hat was there making sure Xie Lian remember that people can be kind.

Like even 800 years later after Jun Wu failed he tries to cause rifts for Xie Lian so that he has no one and becomes isolated and hopefully insane like him.

Except Pei Ming who would have lied and manipulated the situation doesn’t blame Xie Lian for figuring everything out, he knows it wasn’t personal and he’s able to work with him later despite Jun Wu constantly pitting them against each other.

Shi Wudu is the strongest elemental master and while he didn’t ever warm to Xie Lian, Shi Qingxuan did and they loved him for who he was. They always came to Xie Lian defence to give him backing in heaven because they were friends. (Which honestly might be why the Shi Wudu plot was revealed starting the Black Water Arc.) then even after leaving heaven and Xie Lian losing a popular gods backing. Shi Qingxuan is kind and doesn’t hold a grudge and even when they have nothing and can’t be an ally in heaven they still care about Xie Lian and help him when they are literally crippled and mortal.

Ling Wen is shrewd and could have been a very strong antagonist against Xie Lian except he was always polite and kind to her and she respects that. She has no real desire to do him harm outside of protecting herself and doesn’t really consider him an enemy in any way.

Lang Qianqiu should have turned against him and all of the heavens against too except he only wants the truth. He hears the whole story and immediately clears Xie Lians name and makes sure the heavens know it was Qi Rong so Xie Lian can’t be banished again.

He pairs Xie Lian with Quan Yizhen a god known for being confrontational and picking fights except Xie Lian was kind to him and that makes him a for lifer in Quan Yizhen’s mind he literally wouldn’t turn against him or even think about it because Xie Lian proved himself to be a good person and that’s all Quan Yizhen needs to like you.

Yushi Huang happily tried to help Xie Lian with the drought and gives him her spiritual device as a show of kindness. Then she helps him hide Banyue, helps in Tonglu and helps Hua Cheng infiltrate Heaven because she’s a kind woman who gave up her life for her people and understands Xie Lian is the same.

Jun Wu assumes this whole time that Feng Xin and Mu Qing would be resentful because that’s what happened to him with his friends except Feng Xin and Mu Qing are insane and deranged and just want Xie Lian to be their friend again so they make little disguises to help all the time and take some of the scrutiny of Xie Lian because they were there too. Feng Xin pays of Xie Lians huge debt to smooth things over for him with the other Gods. When Xie Lian is “kidnapped” they follow him to get him back immediately because hey wait that’s our friend. Jun Wu tries to bring suspicion between them by making them assume the worst about each other but Mu Qing literally takes a shackle over betrayal. Then both of them go to Mount Tonglu to protect Xie Lian and begin to mend their friendship because that’s how they roll.

And of course we have Hua Cheng who is Wu Ming that constant loyal thorn in Jun Wu’s side because through all of these events he is with Xie Lian. He offers comfort and support and insures that Xie Lian never even begins to spiral down the same dark path by helping him in every situation, acting as a buffer and a confidant and reminding Xie Lian he isn’t alone and he will be there loving Xie Lian more than Jun Wu could ever hate him.

There’s probably more instances but I just love how this all kinda plays out like yes Xie Lian is truly kind and hopeful and that��s why he’ll never fully be Bai Wuxiang anyway but other people are kind too! There is so much more to people than Jun Wu expects and that’s why his plan is foiled over and over again. Not by smarts or by fighting but by simple human kindness and compassion.

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"tumblr's the only social media without algorithms!" "you can still be anonymous on tumblr!" "tumblr's so nice because you don't have to show your face!" WRONG tumblr is special because you can have 3000 followers and still get an average of seven likes a post. i'm doing stand up comedy at a packed venue and one person is laughing

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I seriously need to discuss The Saga of Tanya the Evil with someone.

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You've been turned into an animal

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