#and Ming isn't just a pretty face

[respectthepetty]

My favorite part of My Stand-In so far with only one episode is the way the show obscures Joe's face and focuses on Ming's.

The makeup artist states that Joe's body looks exactly likes Tong's, but Joe's face is what makes him not-Tong, so we don't see Joe's face. He is also a body-double so his entire job is about his body, not his face.

We get to see Ming's face because Joe is so focused on Ming's beauty even though we know Ming can and will be ugly, and as a model, Ming's job is his face. "Does that face ring a bell?"

But we rarely see Joe's face, even when Ming is looking at Joe.

Ming is a face. Joe is a body.

Because it's Joe's body that matters, not his face.

So it's interesting that Ming saw Tong's back as he walked away from Ming at dinner

And immediately thought of Joe.

Because it already shows a slight shift that it's not so much Joe that reminds Ming of Tong (like it was originally), but that Tong reminded Ming of Joe.

Once Ming envisioned Joe's face, he shook the thought from his head as if he was bothered by the image, but it wasn't because Joe wasn't Tong, but, once again, that he even thought of Joe, which is why the conversation where Joe stated that he thought Ming didn't remember him was ironic since Ming is slightly annoyed that he remembers Joe's face.

Because it could have been Joe at the dinner with Ming the entire time the way the dinner scene was filmed.

Or it could have been Tong who Ming was kissing based on how it was filmed.

But the shot made sure we were aware that Ming knew it was Joe even if he had been drinking.

When Joe was asked about his preferences, the shot immediately cut to Ming's face.

But when Ming called Joe, we saw Joe's face as he emerged from a room first

Then, the focus was on his back.

So when Ming walked into that elevator and not only looked directly at new Jo

But also stood next to new Jo, nothing registered to him.

Ming didn't react until he saw new Jo's back.

Which should show how the vicious cycle continues: Joe's body was a replacement for Tong, and new Jo's body will be a replacement for old Joe. BUT we didn't see Ming's face when he was waiting for the elevator.

New Jo knew he was coming up, and so did we, so there was no need to block out Ming's face, especially when the story keeps telling us Ming is his face.

But the story is already telling us that Joe wasn't just a body to Ming.

And Ming wasn't just a face to Joe.

They actually saw the entire person, and Ming was the first to see Joe as Joe even if he wanted Tong.

Which is why the poster is even more pleasing now since we see Joe's full face not his back while we see Ming's full back, but only half of his face.

Ming is more than his face. Joe is more than his body.

At least for each other.

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 伪装者/The Disguiser.

The Disguiser is a 2015 spy drama set in Shanghai, 1940. It follows the adventures of four wealthy siblings, all of whom are to some degree engaging in coordinated espionage, subterfuge, and other general acts of sabotage against the brutal occupying Japanese force.

I need to mention the Nirvana in Fire connection up front, because yeah, if you've seen that, you've probably noticed some familiar faces already. And the comparison isn't unwarranted! The stories are completely different, but they're both character-driven, complex, subtly cheeky adventures that manage to keep that tense intrigue going throughout the narrative. Like Nirvana in Fire, the Disguiser's on the heftier side -- 48 episodes -- but they go by at an incredible clip, so that it never feels long.

I have done a rec post for this before, and I stand by everything I said there. However, I figured it deserved its own for-real rec post, so here we go with five specific reasons I think you should give it a try.

1. We're all comrades in horny jail

This is an intensely horny show, starting from -- but absolutely not stopping with -- the main quartet.

These are the four Ming siblings. Only the elder pair of them, Ming Jing and Ming Lou (both on the passenger side of the car), are blood-related to one another. Ming Tai (also in the back seat) got adopted into the family when he was young enough that Ming Jing's relationship to him is very maternal.

Meanwhile, Ah Cheng (driving) was somewhat less thoroughly adopted when he was around ten, meaning that he's always weirdly marginal when it comes to who actually counts as part of the Ming family. He's a brother, but also he's a servant. Sometimes he's in the family photos, and sometimes he's left out of them. His name is legally "Ming Cheng," but basically no one ever calls him that.

What this means is that you've got four incredibly attractive people who are all legally but mostly not genetically related to one another, keeping secrets both with and from one another, yelling at one another, running headlong into danger for one another, sleeping in one another's beds, and occasionally demanding some members of the family spank the others. Is it hot in here, or is it just them?

And it's not just that these are pretty people up in each other's business. Nearly every interpersonal interaction among all the main characters is at least background levels of horny, because of how high the stakes are. The tension running throughout the show is intense -- and of course it is, because these are spies in life-or-death situations, trying to keep their cool so they don't get killed. So many of the relationships are built on lies meant to charm and seduce their targets, which is of course going to be sexy. But when they're built on honesty, they're all the more intimate for that disclosure, because being open with someone about your real identity and allegiances is putting your entire life into their hands.

To be clear: When I say the show is horny, I don't mean that it's erotic or salacious, or that you're going to get a peep of anyone's naughty little comrade, or anything like that. This is the horniness of lingering glances and shouting matches and power imbalances and guns pointed at chests. It's a combo platter of smouldering Victorian yearning mixed with action-movie adrenaline. It's the delicious, redirected horniness you get when sex isn't on the (canonical) table, so all that fraught energy has to go somewhere.

Get to the part in Episode 6 where Ming Jing gets out the short whip. You'll be glad you did.

2. Bad, bad bitches

Some of the baddest bad guys in the show are ladies. In fact, I can't even tell you about all of them here because of spoiler reasons. There are two, however, who deserve special mention.

The first and most prominent is Wang Manchun, member of the Japanese-controlled government's intelligence service, who is one of the best antagonists I've seen in anything. Perfectly coiffed and devastatingly intelligent, she's a member of a powerful Chinese family who has chosen to work for the Japanese-controlled intelligence bureau. She can be genuinely warm and sweet, almost girlish even, when she's around someone she likes. She can also torture a dude to death without smudging her eyeliner.

Her fatal flaw is that she's so in love with Ming Lou -- and so mistakenly convinced that Ming Lou is in love with her -- that it makes her make some extremely bad decisions. When was the last time you saw the handsome gentleman be a honeypot?

I feel okay spoiling you about the fact that these two do not end up together. Ming Lou does not see the error of his ways and start returning her feelings -- which is what I was damn near certain was going to happen for almost two-thirds of the show. I was braced for the show to come in singing the praises of the redeeming power of heteronormativity! NOPE. She's crazy and she needs to go down.

(I do have some issues with how she goes down, but ... well, you'll understand when you get there.)

The other baddie, Nantian/Minamida, is a stark contrast to Wang Manchun. There is nothing delicate or femme about her. She gets given the worst hairstyle and the most unflattering outfits. The actor's features are already strong, and the way the show makes her up doesn't allow a single inch of softness to slip out. There is one point where she gets to dance with Ah Cheng, and she's painfully wooden. It'd be funny if she weren't so dangerous.

As the section chief of the Japanese forces in Shanghai, Minamida is a formidable foe. She's smart. She's mean. She's incredibly suspicious of all these smiling Chinese people who surround her, because she doesn't know which ones are legitimately sucking up to her and which are just waiting to drive a knife into her back. Just plain killing her would be easy. Killing her and getting away with it? That's what's going to need a plan.

The actor is also Japanese! In fact, they've gotten a fair number of Japanese actors to play the Japanese characters, but she's the only one who also speaks Mandarin competently and doesn't need to be overdubbed by a native speaker. She's scary and intense and kinda makes your skin crawl. It's great. She's great.

And while we're talking about bad girls, I'm also going to shout out Yu Manli in here, because while she's not a villain, she's absolutely a morally grey character -- and I love her to itty bitty bits. She's about three inches high and weighs about five pounds soaking wet, and she will murder the heck out of you. Baby girl.

3. It's queer in here

The original novel is not danmei. No boy-kissing has been censored, because there wasn't any in the first place. The author/screenwriter is a lady, but not one who dabbles in BL. This does not merit the "Censored Adaptation of a Same-Sex Work" tag on MyDramaList. Censorship didn't do anything to this one. It was never gay.

That said, the show is massively queer, in that it lauds textually the normative experience of getting married relatively young and having lots of children -- and then gives you so many characters, both heroes and villains, who don't do that.

I mean, we've got:

Adult unmarried siblings living together

A grown woman who has intentionally remained unmarried in order to manage her business and family interests

Two adult brothers, both bachelors, who basically live in one another's back pockets

In fact, plenty of people who seem to have forsaken marriage and children in favor of their various active patriotisms

"Life and death partners" who have to fake-date their way through a couple spy missions

A teenage girl sold into sex work who offers to marry the man who saves her and is politely turned down for her own good

The same teenage girl pulling a black-widow routine and using multiple other marriages as a pretense to murder dudes

A couple whose marriage is forbidden by their families, except they do not end up together

A guy who has to break up with his real girlfriend so he can pretend to be with the spy colleague he lives with

A single woman who adopts a child

Two orphaned young adult siblings who adopt two children not that much younger than they are

A heterosexual relationship between people who are functionally equals in their various underground organizations (which don't want their members having romantic relationships with anyone)

A note on that last one: There is a cishet normie love story that runs the length of the show. A lot of people dislike it; I think it's cute and fine! But no matter what you think of it, you have to note the sharp contrast between this prescriptive tale of young love and everything else that's going on around them. There's a lot of lip service paid to how their marriage and the children they will presumably have someday are the ideal, but it's certainly not the only way people live, or even live well. In fact, everybody else treats their romance a little bit like oh, thank goodness he's doing this so we don't have to.

Other aspects of heterosexuality are similarly praised in concept, but not really shown in the best light. There is a lot of filial devotion involved here, but overwhelmingly toward parents who are dead. Living parents, by and large, either are absentee or just plain fucking suck. The show even has very few married characters anywhere in its principal cast, and most marriages that even get so much as mentioned either are portrayed as scummy (because the husband sucks ass) or ended because one of the partners died. Even the very idea of marriage, while praised in theory, doesn't thrill most of the characters. At one point, when Ming Jing brings up the idea of Ah Cheng's getting married, Ah Cheng cannot extract himself from that conversation fast enough.

What this really does mean is, when it comes to heteronormative ideals, the show frequently says one thing and does another.

Do I think the show is queering things on purpose? Absolutely not. This is instead one of those situations where there's such an underlying assumption that heterosexual desire and family unit construction are universal constants ... that the show barely actually gets around to portraying those things as good.

What you get instead, then, are a lot of powerful interpersonal ties that cannot be satisfied by marriage. The most intense loyalties in the show are between people for whom heterosexual pair bonding is not a social or narrative option. Therefore, those intimacies form along different pathways, many of which fall way outside the socially acceptable parameters of marital respectability and reproductive obligation. People love one another fiercely in sometimes unconventional ways. It doesn't get much queerer than that.

I'm also going to put the phrase "the inherent eroticism of letting someone who loves you shoot you with a sniper rifle" right here and walk away. Perhaps it will intrigue you. Perhaps it will intrigue you extra to know this happens more than once.

4. Jin Dong in menswear

That's it, that's the selling point.

Okay, wait, I do have something to add: In a sea of strong performances, his is arguably the best. He absolutely nails this tone of quiet, competent exhaustion the whole way through, making his Ming Lou this perfect gentleman on the verge of collapse.

You learn (somewhat confusingly) in the very first episode that Ming Lou is an important minister for the economy under the new (Japanese-controlled) government in Shanghai -- except, no! He's actually secretly the captain (codename Viper) of the local KMT division, working to undermine the occupying Japanese forces -- except, no again! He's actually -- and this is the real one this time -- head of intel (codename Cobra) for the Shanghai CCP underground.

(I bring up the codenames because my first time through, I didn't fully realize that they were attached to his different identities, and I just thought the occasionally spotty translation couldn't agree on which English word to use for the same snake.)

Living this three-identities-deep life is taking its toll on Ming Lou, but you know what? He's also a damn professional. He comports himself in exactly the manner he's supposed to behave at all times. And Jin Dong sells it beautifully, this carefully restrained exterior that houses a passionate heart.

This to me is the reason his relationship with Ah Cheng is so precious: Ah Cheng is the only one who understands, because Ah Cheng is living the same life of nesting-doll secrets. It's easier on Ah Cheng, though, because he doesn't have to be the face of it all; he just gets to smile and do whatever his da ge tells him to. They are each tasked with taking care of the other in ways great and small. I'm not going to spoil its context, but one of the most powerful moments in the show is when Ah Cheng says matter-of-factly that he knows his life is worth less to Ming Lou than other people's are, and Ming Lou, to put it mildly, pointedly disagrees.

So yeah, this is The Ship.

If you consider their relationship entirely fraternal, theirs is an incredible dynamic of trust, dependence, vulnerability, and sacrifice. If you consider it fraternal and spicy, well, it's still all that, but also enjoy picturing them tenderly removing each other's really nice suits piece by expensive piece.

5. You gotta spy hard!

Imagine the spy media spectrum where at one end you've got James Bond and Mission: Impossible movies (sexy, glamorous, high-tech), and at the other end you've got the Rebel and John LeCarre novels (grueling, well-reserched, realistic). The Disguiser is well toward the latter end of that continuum. It's got a bit of a Hollywood gloss on the whole mechanics of spywork, but man, not much of one.

Despite what the title suggests, most of the spies in this show are exactly who they say they are. Ming Tai is the only one of the siblings who assumes temporary false identities as part of his spycraft, and even he really can't do that anymore once he's back in his native Shanghai, where he's the recognizable youngest son of a prominent family. They all have to be spies in plain sight, which is equal parts a hindrance and an asset. You've got to see Ming Jing do-you-know-who-I-am her way out of some shit. It's great.

There are some legitimately tense scenes and escapes, and I like that most of the threats are overcome by quick thinking and very good acting. The schemes that our heroes pull off work because our heroes understand what makes certain people tick, and other people can't pull that shit on our heroes because our heroes have one another. It's smart spywork that stops short of being grandiose. Even the big plans that involve several steps rely less on supernatural feats of timing, and more on just trusting human nature.

The show is definitely spinning a propaganda yarn about how the noble Communists saved the day during the '40s, and in doing so it takes some pretty entertaining liberties with history. Even so, the particulars of the political philosophies are absolutely secondary to the conflict. You're never going to get a scene where two guys excitedly detail just how much Mao rules. At best there's some blah-blah about freedom and love of country that could be transposed onto any nationalist ideology without a lot of work. If you asked me, based only on information provided by this show, to explain the difference between the KMT and the CCP, my main answer would be, one group uses a code name that's one kind of snake, while the other uses a code name that's a different kind of snake.

And honestly, it's kind of nice. All you really need to know is that the Communists are cool, the KMT are okay but definitely less cool, and the Japanese and anyone who works with them fucking suck. I can do that! I grew up in a sports-watching family. I'm used to being sat down in front of the television and told, we want the guys in the blue uniforms to beat the guys in the white uniforms. No sweat.

The plot does fall down more than a little bit in the final act, due to a combination of intentional obfuscation on the drama's part, a couple things that probably should have happened onscreen instead of off, and a sudden rash of stupid-ass decisions made by one character in particular. But by that point, you're invested enough that you might as well see it through to the end, right? The dismount's a bit shaky but ultimately satisfying, as the genre goes.

I'm going to say the same thing here I said in the Nirvana in Fire rec post: This show is not for everybody, but if this is the kind of thing you like, it is a fantastic example of that thing.

bonus: And speaking of Nirvana in Fire...

Here's the full set.

Basically, if you watched Nirvana in Fire, you owe it to yourself to see the Disguiser. It’s another smart, character-driven drama, and you get to see a lot of your favorite actors in radically different roles, costumes, and relationships. (And speaking of costumes, both shows apparently have the same costume designer? That's range.)

Going to give this one a shot?

It's unfortunately a little hard to find. In my region (i.e., the US), KissAsian and YouTube are as good as it gets, both of which have their drawbacks. Some others among you may be lucky enough to be in a region where Viki will show it to you (which is where the KissAsian subs come from in the first place). There's a horrible set of machine translations running around out there, so beware of those; you'll know immediately you've tripped over those when they don't translate any of the onscreen text crawl at the start.

And speaking of the subtitles: Both extant sets, to put it politely, leave something to be desired. You can generally tell what's going on, but there are times you'll have to work for it. This is definitely more annoying when you're trying to follow a smart spy drama than it is when you're breezing through a low-intensity fuzzy xianxia mess. You actually have to pay attention to this one.

As a bonus, pretty much the whole thing was filmed in Shanghai Film Park, so if you're missing Dragon City, well, here it is! This was in fact the first Republican-era show I saw after watching Guardian, and I spent a lot of time going, hey, I know that street! ...like a nerd.

You can feel the brotherly love.

[becauseimanicequeen]

(I'm writing this after painting for almost 9 hours, so it might not make sense, lol, but here goes...)

Reading some thoughts/theories about My Stand-In the past couple of days has been equally entertaining and frustrating.

Some made me laugh because they matched my usual delulu theories (and I love delulu theories). (The whole reason I started my tumblr almost 5 months ago was because I wanted a space to share my delulu theories on DFF, lol.)

But, some of them were just... No. No. Fuck no!

And I'm writing this as someone who was raised on soap operas, Days of Our Lives in particular (which is weird because I'm not even American). Characters being kidnapped, possessed, dying and coming back to life is just a normal Tuesday for me. And I've mentioned earlier that I won't mind ridiculous shit happening in My Stand-In for this reason.

But...

If it turns out that Joe steps out into the light and magically travels back in time to a moment before Joe 1.0's accident so he can stop that from happening... I will riot.

Fortunately, I'm pretty sure they won't do this (even though I've been wrong about story progressions before).

But if they do, it will completely erase all of Ming's progress. Even though I know how fucking painful it can be to lose people you love (and add his guilt for being a part of Joe's untimely demise the first time on top of that), that was a big part of why he was so willing to sacrifice everything for Joe this time when he got a second chance.

(Yes, Ming is still a brat and all that, but it doesn't change the fact that he also gave up his anonymity/privacy to make sure Joe would find him, put up boundaries Tong wasn't allowed to cross, made an effort to be with Joe which Joe also noted was different, blackmailed Tong and his own family to be with Joe, was ready to trade places with Joe in the latest kidnapping, etc. All of that is progress.)

Sure, My Stand-In isn't really about Ming. It's more about Joe. But the same goes for him.

Stepping into the bright light (which is often a symbol of death/near-death experiences, even though the Master said it would break a cycle, so it might not even mean that he will pass on) to end his suffering doesn't feel like the choice the character I've seen in 11 episodes would make.

Joe will come back because, to me, he does the right thing rather than what's easy. If he's convinced it's the right thing to do, he does it (sometimes without thinking). He's shown it several times throughout the series (he even helped Tong, of all people, in ep. 11 because he knows what it's like to grow up without parents and didn't want the same for Tong and May's child).

Furthermore, there is no way Joe will leave when he still has unfinished business (especially with Joe 2.0's mom).

(I mean, come on, she's had a huge fight with her son twice now. Both times right before he was hospitalized. Cut her some slack!)

Having Joe travel back in time will fall flat for me, even if he decides to seek out Joe 2.0's mom and help her care for her son.

Again, I fortunately don't think this is the way they're going with the show. Instead, I think something will stop Joe before he walks out through those doors and steps into the light.

He might hear something (possibly Ming), he might see something (perhaps the flashbacks they included in the teaser for ep. 12), or he might just change his mind because he realizes he still has unfinished business (and love for Ming) and chooses life.

Or, he steps into the light (to break the cycle), but instead of passing on, he sees everything that happened after his first accident, realizes he's no longer a stand-in (at least in Ming's eyes), and is then faced with the choice to wake up from his coma or not.

Either way, I need Joe to choose. And I need him to choose life. Because he's coming back in one way or another. Of that, I'm sure.

(Just don't make him travel back in time. Pretty please, don't do this to me, lol.)

[mtkay13]

Qi Ye cast poster!!

This had started as a sketch, waaay back as I was still reading Qi Ye. The original is pretty different from this (I considered adding it in the post but I actually don't like it anymore haha), but the plan was already to make this big spread with most of the -more or less- important cast.

I will add here some thoughts about the whole piece, and I guess, Qi Ye itself. My main goal was probably to express my deep and intense feelings for Qi Ye, its grandness, and its awesome cast-- and along with that, flesh out my mental image of each of them, their personality, their style. Here is a table with the names, so we know who is whom, and so I can add some details about my perspective on them and their design.

Jing Beiyuan has always come quite naturally. I just go for the "prettiest face" I ever came with in terms of : my own taste, and the features I find the most delicate. I'd argue he's the easiest character to draw for me across both QY and TYK. On this image, he's probably around 16 or 17. I find his expressions to be very fun to work on in general.

Ping An is also quite an easy character to draw, just for how specific Priest is when describing him.

Wu Xi's design is mainly inspired by a discussion with my friend Hanya, who talked about how, in SHL, Wu Xi more resembled a northern shaman than a southern shaman. It made me want to explore the designs and characteristics a bit more, and come up with more colourful fabrics, patterns, and darker skin color. Same goes for Ashinlae and Nuahar, to have them matching Wu Xi's aesthetic.

Ming Hua was included in this just because of the mess the mention of his name caused in the story. The two jealousy tantrums are just so delightful!!

Su Qingluan was made to resemble Jing Beiyuan, of course. What I wanted to reflect in her face was her frustration, mainly.

Ji Xiang and Hua Yue... Well. Nothing particular about their design either, but they had to be there. Of course, of course they had to be there.

Finally, an opportunity to draw Zishu with his fan and henchmen! Not mad that he kinda looks like a villain, here.

Lu Yu!! I drew him with an Ashinlae mask, since he disguises himself as Ashinlae. I included him because he matters a lot in my headcanons about Siji Manor. (it isn't specified, in Qi Ye, whether or not he's actually part of the manor, but I like to consider that he is for various reason that I may detail if I ever make a Siji Manor post)

I'll skip Jiang Xue and Liang Jiuxiao because their designs are steady for me, now.

I hesitated a lot for Helian Pei's pose, but ended up going for this one (looking bored, out of his depth, lost in the distance with his birds around him). I considered showing him with a bird in his hands, but I guess that's not the main vibe I get from him. And then, well, golden, flashy clothing, suited for an emperor.

Helian Zhao had to be in a showy armor, and I hated making it because it's so much work, haha. I took inspiration from an armor in NiF. I'm quite happy with how he came out in terms of both vibe and showiness.

I tried going full out on Helian Qi. Making him the villain that Qi Ye deserved. Dark, showy, elegant and horrible.

Helian Yi is also pretty solid for me, by now.

About the illustration itself, the main challenge was definitely to make a nice colour palette while still differenciating all the characters. I wanted to go with something intense, eerie, that could also complement the main tones I would go for (= red, purple, blue and green). I'm quite happy with how the golden tones, along with the green and reddish lights, make the whole thing come together. I struggled a little bit with the composition at first, but once I got the flow and the main figures down, it just happened quite easily. Anyway, I'm quite proud of this, and hope it conveys the love and admiration I have for Qi Ye well.

[wuxianxkexing]

This face. I'm going to talk about it. Spoilers below!

So my pathetic little meow meow looks kind of unhinged here. I've said that much already. But what exactly is he thinking in this moment?

From a storytelling perspective Heaven Official's Blessing doesn't really have a main villain by this point. Pei Ming is the closest thing to one since he caused and ignored the Bridegroom and he tried to sweep his deputy's crimes in Banyue under the rug. However while those things might make him a "bad" guy that isn't quite main villain of the story material since he hadn't really gone after our main character Xie Lian all that hard. Yeah, he tried to shift the focus onto Xie Lian hanging out with Crimson Rain, but it wasn't really personal. He wasn't trying to drag Xie Lian down since he also spoke in his defense and said that Xie Lian was probably just tricked. He just wanted to shift the focus off of his deputy but failed to. Still a dick move to Xie Lian, but at least it wasn't personal? 😅 Or at least it wasn't personal until the very end when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to save his deputy after all.

But from a storytelling perspective having Mu Qing make this expression puts him on the radar as potentially being the story's main villain. At this point all we know about Mu Qing is pretty negative? He used to be Xie Lian's servant but left/betrayed him to ascend to godhood. He clearly still remembered Xie Lian though Xie Lian didn't recognize him and he seemed miffed by that fact. In the books it is revealed that he hangs out in the communication array all day every day, supposedly because he is catty and loves gossip and he has no friends. He is shown to have beef with General Nan Yang, who forgave Xie Lian's absolutely massive debt out of the kindness of his heart and who in this very episode publicly sides himself with our main character when he is concerned about him getting hurt. The audience realizes that Feng Xin is actually a pretty good dude, and naturally we are suspicious of anyone who openly hates him as much as Mu Qing does. Then Mu Qing makes that face. At this point the audience can only assume that Mu Qing made that face because he is a huge asshole and hates Xie Lian. The main villain has to be either him or Pei Ming. Right? They both have personal beef with him, and figuring out which of them is going to be the main villain gives the audience something to think about. I think this is why MXTX decided to have him make this face. The story needs a main villain but she wasn't ready to reveal them just yet so she kind of pretended to throw us a bone to keep us interested.

Ignoring the overall story reasons and focusing on the in world reason that I think Mu Qing made this face: He is just vindictive. Not towards Xie Lian, but Yong'An. Xie Lian describes him as both petty and spiteful. Up until Mu Qing makes his friendship confession and tries to kill himself afterwards the audience doesn't really know any better of him. I've seen some people say that he made that face because he was glad that Xie Lian isn't as perfect as he thought, but I don't think that is the case at all. If you actually hated someone for being too perfect would you even /want/ to be their friend? Let alone be willing to throw yourself into a volcano for them? Nah. Most people try to avoid people that they hate, so Mu Qing wouldn't have even helped out during the Bridegroom arc, or if he did then he would've only done it to sabotage the mission (which he didn't).

But knowing how spiteful and petty Mu Qing is having him make this face upon hearing that the former crown prince of his kingdom massacred the royal family of their invaders? That makes perfect sense for his character. This scene reveals that deep in his heart he is glad that the Yong'an royal family "got what they deserved." They destroyed his home country and they set into motion the process of him losing his 2 best friends as well. Arguably they are the root cause of a lot of his suffering. As for the frown after he was done having his moment I think that the revelation of why/how Xie Lian did it kind of ruined his revenge fantasy. Xie Lian did kill the Yong'an king to protect the former people of Xianle, but he didn't go on the cool V for Vendetta campaign that Mu Qing had hoped for. Which maybe that is a problem too but at least you can see where he is coming from.

Ultimately I think Mu Qing had a very real and human reaction to the news, but it only makes sense with context. Otherwise he just seems like a crazy person. Like all I can think of when I see that face is that if Mu Qing was the one poisoned by the Land of the Tenders instead of Xie Lian he would've had the worst bloodlust ever known to mankind. He is still my little meow meow though.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Mommy Dearest

Moonlight Chicken, Ep. 7 is all about parent/child relationships. And I for one could not be more grateful to P'Aof and the other writers, cast, and crew involved in highlighting that. As I've gotten older my appreciation for slice of life style stories has continued to grow, and I think that stems from finding comfort and catharsis in seeing other people portray my reality. Especially when it is treated with empathy and understanding.

Which is why I was so happy to see Li Ming's interactions with his mother this episode. Cause the second they meet face to face, I knew I would be relating hard to Li Ming's feelings towards his mother.

It is vitally, vitally important to me that Jam is introduced in this way. That she is always being shown throughout this entire episode to be kind. She is nice, she is expressing interest in her son, she is cooking for him, she is asking him to come home. Even when she is expressing her thoughts on Li Ming being gay to Jim, ones that are harmful, she is not doing so maliciously. She is allowed to be seen as not inherently evil, and Li Ming is still allowed to feel no love for her.

And this is very important to me specifically because it the way she engages with Li Ming is nearly identical to the way my father is currently trying to engage with me. He's started calling me more, started asking me more questions about my life, started inviting me over for dinner when I'm in town. And the reason why I'm so invested in this scene is because, I recognize the deadness in Li Ming's eyes, we know from later on in the episode that Li Ming isn't sure that he loves his mother, and as a result we have a colder, more stand-offish, and unusually quiet Li Ming. He is not capable of engaging with his mother in a loving way, and it radiates out of him. Before we've had more than ten seconds of a conversation between them, we can already tell that Li Ming is incapable of buying in to her pleasantries.

Even worse for Li Ming, this is a surprise. He did not know she was coming, and now she is here, giving him no time to emotionally or mentally prepare to interact with her.

And this statement speaks volumes to me, probably does to Li Ming too. She didn't come here to see Li Ming, she didn't come here because she missed Li Ming, she came here because her boyfriend was coming here, she just happened to be in town. It's understandable if the expense to travel is a burden, but we know pretty soon after she says this line that she is currently living comfortably.

Crucially, Jam doesn't say this to be cruel, she is not trying to hurt Li Ming. She's just telling him information, but if my father said this to me after an extended time apart, I know I certainly would be thinking of course. of course you only come when it's convenient for you.

Love this line. Because it establishes a fact. Li Ming and Jam do not talk to each other. Li Ming has no idea who Uncle Tong is in relation to his mother.

Li Ming's entire character centers around connection and disconnection. And if his body language wasn't a neon sign in and of itself to the disconnect he has between himself and his mother, everything she has said and continues to say puts further distance between them. "That uncle who took you fishing when you were small," when you were small. She hasn't seen Li Ming in years, she has no idea who he is as a person now, no idea what memories he's made since living in Pattaya. Li Ming is her child, so he will always be a child, and his current likes and interests and memories must surely still be tied to his childhood. Because she only knows Li Ming has he was, before she lost left him

Ok, I know I say this every time, but Fourth is such a good actor, there is so much more darkness and anger in Li Ming than in Gun and I always have to remind myself he's playing both characters. And right here, I want to ask Fourth what Li Ming is feeling. Is he lying or is he telling the truth? Is he scared of what is coming next? He knows what will happen, he knows what is coming. Does he lie about not remembering P'Tong to try to drive the knife in a little? Or does he genuinely not remember and it's a good indication that Jam will have to work very very hard to brighten up the relationship between her and her son?

We love the incredibly human characters that are in this show. Li Ming's mother does actually care about her son's opinion here. She wants him to know that she is thinking of marrying P'Tong. I do genuinely believe that, that she is seeking permission here from Li Ming, regardless of whether P'Tong was the one who suggested it or not.

Zero tolerance for bullshit.

I know Li Ming as a character is very willing and able to call out the injustices he sees, anywhere, anytime, with anyone in any position of power. But God, (sorry this is getting too personal) it feels so satisfying some times to deliver a cut like this to a parent.

Li Ming is still not buying in to it, so Jam is being more intentional about what she is feeling. Jam wants Li Ming's opinion, or...she wants Li Ming to absolve her of some of her guilt and her hesitations and her worries.

ZERO! TOLERANCE! FOR! BULLSHIT!

God. His face in this whole scene is great, so detached from everything, he is giving her as few emotions as possible. It's cold, it's distant, his physicality bears the emotional distance between them. It is so so different from his confrontations with Jim. Someone he is also very clearly willing and able to talk back to. To get punchy with.

When Li Ming is mad at Jim he gets close, as close to him as possible, right up in to his face.

When Jim gives him a command "don't raise your voice at me," "I said stop." it does take a few attempts but Li Ming does listen. Does calm down. Does apologize. And even after his uncle has constantly, sometimes unintentionally, and sometimes for safety, over-stepped Li Ming's boundaries and autonomy, Li Ming still often checks in with Jim. In the confrontation with Heart's parents when Heart runs upstairs, Li Ming looks to Jim (in my mind seeking permission) before he runs up after him.

But crucially, Li Ming trusts Jim, Li Ming loves Jim, Li Ming knows Jim cares about him and as a result, he gives Jim his whole self. He calms himself down when Jim tells him he's crossed the line, he goes to Jim's birthday party, he apologizes to Jim. He tells Jim what is bothering him, and while that often ends in an argument, Li Ming is fully willing to be honest with him.

"If you want me to say it's okay, just say it,"

Jam does not get the same honesty. Whatever he can do to just finish this conversation sooner, he will do. Whatever Jam wants him to say so she can feel better and he can get more distance between them, he will say.

Oh. I can see how easy it would be for Li Ming to fully believe it was P'Tong who actually decided to consider Li Ming's feelings. Not hers.

Straight to the point. Just say what you mean, just tell me what you want, stop dragging this conversation out.

He looks...absolutely the same. No emotion. Closed off. There is no excitement, no hope, no joy. This is not good news to him. This does not change anything between them. This does not make him love his mother more, or make him feel more loved by his mother in return.

"My life is more comfortable now, you know? You're about to graduate from high school. Maybe we can be together again." Now, we all know that Li Ming is not interested in going to college, he wants to leave, to do work and travel. But his mother doesn't know that, we'll get to the sentence immediately following this one in a second but I just...I can't help thinking about whether or not Li Ming would even live at home if he did go to college. How much parenting would she really have to do. How much of a time commitment would she really be putting in?

We know Li Ming has desperately been seeking freedom and understanding. He has found understanding by way of Heart. But the freedom from poverty? He now has that if he goes to live with his Mom. She's living a comfortable life. But he doesn't want it. Because fundamentally, more than anything else, Li Ming wants freedom to make his own choices.

And see, here is the thing. "IF YOU WANT to continue your studies," she's giving him a choice here...technically. But Jim and Li Ming have had this conversation already. Jim and Li Ming have already had this fight. Going back with his mother would not solve any of his problems, and in fact creates more because it separates him from the community he has here.

"Why do you all decide for me? Nobody bothers to ask me first."

Now, in the first place we know there is no way in Hell Li Ming is going back with his mother. There is not a second in this entire interaction that Li Ming even entertains the idea. He does not love his mother, he does not want to live with his mother, his mother has no clue who he even is as a person at this point.

And in the second place, he would be facing the same exact problem he has right now. People aren't asking him what he wants. They aren't treating him like an adult. And yes, as you get older, you realize that people were doing their best, and as you get older you realize that it's difficult to successfully balance when you need to protect or guide young adults and when you need to let them make their own decisions. In the conversation Li Ming has with Jim at the end of Episode 5 after they return home. Jim asks "What if something more serious occurs to [Heart]?" and Li Ming replies with "I never think it would happen," and that is what Jim is trying to shield Li Ming from. And all Li Ming is asking for is to be allowed to learn from those moments.

Okay, tangent over, back to Li Ming and Jam. Where we have seen Li Ming be cold, near dissociative, and definitely detached through most of the conversation with his mother. But this, the lack of autonomy he is constantly facing by his family, is Li Ming's biggest sore spot. And he has been bravely trudging along through a conversation he does not want to be in, where he is being met with just so much kindness that lacks so much understanding of him, that he is ready to be done.

But this is not the reaction his mother is expecting of Li Ming, again, because she hasn't been here for this. We have. Jim has. We know that this is a sore spot, and we know that Li Ming has already been in a very emotionally charged argument about this with his uncle before, and I doubt he really wants to do it again.

"Isn't it good to have options?" because she is confused. Because she doesn't know that Li Ming has chosen his option already. That his choice is to leave. And this question is double edged, though I don't think Jam realizes it. Isn't is good to have options? To have college as a back up if you decide you want to go. To have me as a backup if you are tired of living with Uncle Jim. If you are tired of living here in poverty, in a community that accepts you, in a place where you have friends and you have love and you have connection. You can come back with me to live in a comfortable home, with a man that I don't really want to marry but will anyway, away from all your friends, away from the man that raised you, away from your community.

No wonder Li Ming hits her back immediately with "What do you want me to be happy about first?"

The face of a man who is very much not happy about any of this. "About your breakup with Uncle Sith, about your new boyfriend, or about you being well-off and having a comfortable life, and wanting to take me back with you?"

If anyone can remind me of the timeline with Beam, I would really love to know, because I want to know if Li Ming knew Beam, if Li Ming met Beam. How many people has he lost? How often is his mother breaking up with people? How out of the loop does Li Ming feel?

Babes, you didn't come here for Li Ming at all. The list of reasons you gave for coming to Pattaya, in order:

"P'Tong was in town running errands"

"P'Tong wanted me to ask you if it was okay if he married me,"

"I want to be with you,"

The reason you actually came to Pattaya:

Jim called and asked for a title, and you want to use it to get him to try to help you get your son to move back with you.

The face of a man who is absolutely done compromising his own feelings for his mother's.

And God, okay it is time to talk about Li Ming and eye contact. Because we know he is so so capable of keeping eye contact. When he fights with Jim his eyes are always always right on him. When he's with Heart, he's making as much eye contact as possible.

When he is with Jam, it is completely reversed, he makes eye contact with his mother as little as possible. Physically turning himself away from her at the end here. And she tries to be physically affectionate with him, to show her love for him, but Li Ming does not love his mother, and so he just sits there unable to reciprocate.

Lmao, me when my Dad tries to hug me.

Okay, so I started this whole thing by saying that I was incredibly grateful to this show for making Li Ming's mother kind, and for allowing Li Ming to treat her this way anyway, and for that to be okay. Warning, personal story ahead...when I was sixteen, in a fit of anger, my father said he could live perfectly happily without me, and it did irreparable harm to our already extremely tenuous relationship. The thing that even made me tolerate him was going to college and getting thousands of miles between us. And by the end of college our relationship broke down further, and then even distance couldn't save it. But, my father is incredibly charming and charismatic to the outside world. I do not love my father. And that is something I have never said out loud. Because I feel guilty about it. But, I do not love my father, and unfortunately, that's clear to anyone that sees us interact. Because I am Li Ming in my own situation. I am detached, emotionless, giving the shortest possible replies with no extra information. When my father ends his phone calls with "I love you" I do not say it back, because I can't and because I don't believe him. When my father hugs me, I do not hug him back. When my father invites me to dinner, and his girlfriend is there, I can't shake the feeling that it was her who suggested we all get together in the first place. Or if it wasn't, that he's just trying to show himself off as a good father to impress her.

And from the outside looking in, to strangers who do not know the history that has come between us, the history that has gotten us to that point, I look like the asshole. And it is something that I am painfully aware of. So this scene means a lot to me, because I have not seen this type of relationship between a parent and a child in any media before. Either the parents are great, or the parents are abusive, or the parents have been cut off because they are asking too much of their kids. I haven't seen my relationship to my parent accurately represented, and humanely represented. I do not think that Li Ming is being unfair here, I do not think that he is being cruel. And that brings me such relief.

[quitealotofsodapop]

Really silly/cute idea for a post-Hero is Back story.

At the end of Monkey King: Hero is Back (shown more clearly in the game), Sun Wukong/Dasheng seems to give up part of his powers to revive Liuer.

So my silly idea is;

Dasheng literally gave part of his life energy/Dao to revive Liuer, leading to an unexpected side effect.

Liuer: "Dasheng! My back hurts." Dasheng, pretending to be annoyed: "Ok. Probably just your injuries acting up, let me check." Liuer: *has a freshly-grown black-furred monkey tail* Dasheng: "What the... Humans aren't supposed to have those." (•ˋ _ ˊ•) Fa Ming: "It seems in that giving Liuer part of your life energy, he's inherited part of your... monkey-ness." Dasheng, conflicting dad emotions: "...oops." Liuer, rambling at a mile a minute: "I have a tail!?! Thats amazing! Dasheng look! I can move it like its an arm! Do you think I can stand on it?" *falling-over sounds* "Ow. Not yet."

Pigsy is laughing his butt off, pointing out how thats how some supernatural adoptions work. Makes jokes about having to teach Liuer how to shave early.

And ofc Liuer is estatic. First he meets his hero: The Monkey King, and now he's a monkey!? And by demonic legal standards his SON!? Liuer faints at least once.

Liuer isn't a "full" monkey demon though. His fur is really sparse and patchy, and his feet are still human. He does develop a light, distinctly SWK-esque face marking tho.

The biggest change in Liuer is in his instincts. He's quicker to run to the adults when startled. The barking of dogs panics him. Trees look so much more fun to climb. Etc...

Dasheng silently thinks its pretty adorable; like an infant monkey testing out the world for the first time.

Until one day the gang is jumped by a violent demon and Liuer lets out a scared Chirp!

Dasheng's parental instincts go haywire and within seconds there's one less demon. Dasheng is clutching Liuer to his chest tightly, making worried trills/chirrups of his own. Everyone else is very confused, including Liuer; who made the chirping sound without even realising it.

Tears roll down Dasheng's face as he refuses to let the boy leave his arms.

Dasheng, eyes wild and speech fractured: "No! Not again. Can't lose him. My cub. Not again."

Sharing a knowing look, the elders of the little troop decide to let Dasheng hold the boy for a while longer until the sage calms down. Even as they all set up camp, have dinner, and start settling down for bed...

Liuer has no complaints about being held like an infant monkey. Its nice to be the one being carried for a change. But he is wondering why Dasheng is so reluctant to put him down.

The monkeys on FFM are the ones to explain later on. The chirp Liuer made that day wasnt a generic "I'm startled/frightened!" noise - It was a call infant monkeys make to their parents.

Liuer starts to wonder if there's more monkey stuff he has yet to learn...

And the Heavens are wondering why the Golden Cicada is a monkey now??

[crystalsamethyst]

If the show ever gets to that actual point, I want them to do what they did with LQQ's bestie official and give Wu Ming some more screen time. Nothing that would alter the plot of course but we just need more content and to stare at his pretty (masked) face a while longer.

Show him trying to serve his dianxia or like what he was doing for the three days even if it was nervously watching or being bound by Ruoye or something. Give us some treats with him staring longingly at dianxia while he isn't looking. Give us a small look at the red eye behind the slits of the mask glaring at fangxin. I would kill for a full episode of Wu Ming reacting quietly to things

[lizhly-writes]

lowkey wanna see og yhr as yang haolun's twin or sibling or w/e now bc i can just picture yang haolun going "why don't you just stop trying to imitate me and go w/ 'ming-jie' if that's what makes you comfortable?" and pissing yhr off lmaoooooo.

hi there here you go.

.

"It's not bad that you call her Ming-jie, you know?" Yang Haolun said, irreverent as always. He was, as he always liked to be, hanging upside down from his bed, probably because this was the only way blood could ever get to that idiot brain of his. "She is older than us."

Yang Haoran scowled. "By six months."

Six months was barely anything at all. In what universe was it enough for him to call Jiang Mingxi something like jie? As if he was supposed to act like she was so much older and wiser than he was.

"I don't get why it bothers you," said Yang Haolun, boy who was never bothered by anything ever. "It's a pretty normal thing to say."

"You don't call her that," Yang Haoran said accusingly.

Yang Haolun never referred to Jiang Mingxi as anything other than 'Mingxi'. Sometimes, Yang Haoran wondered if he even remembered her surname was Jiang.

"I don't," Yang Haolun said agreeably. "It's easier to just refer to her with her given name, isn't it? Less syllables."

Less humiliating. Yang Haoran didn't really want to call Jiang Mingxi with only the given name either, but if the alternative was 'Ming-jie', he'd take it.

"Hey, gege," Yang Haolun said, who was starting to get an annoying look on his face, "Are you saying you want to be like me?"

"Who wants to be like you?" Yang Haoran retorted.

It was too late. The concept had already dug its way into Yang Haolun's head.

"That's such a tsundere thing to say," Yang Haolun said. "Very cute, but you don't have to deny it."

"Haolun."

"It's really flattering that you're trying to be like me -- maybe I should be gege, haha -- but I think it's important to be your true and authentic self. If you see Mingxi as an older sister figure, then you don't have to be afraid of addressing her appropriately, if that's what feels natural and comfortable --"

"I'll kill you," Yang Haoran said.

Yang Haolun laughed brightly. "You have to catch me to kill me!"

[stromuprisahat]

How could that coup possibly have worked? The only thing which would have come out of it was even more rapid grisha hunting because one grisha literally destroyed a whole country so kill them before they do so too. Not to mention how would he even have tracked who is hunting and who is not? Even if the ming of the country says don't hunt them the people most certainly still will. If he has enough power to control all of that then destroying that country is not even required.

By that logic, there should've been a Coup done by the First Army. They recognized- on some level- that the King isn't interested in them, and if they blamed it on the Darkling- which they did- Little Palace is right in Grand Palace's backyard, and storming it, when freeing either the Tsar of evil Grisha influence (or the country of the Tsar) shouldn't be an issue.

“The Fjerdans have a breech-loading rifle that can fire twenty-eight rounds per minute. Our soldiers should have them, too. If the King could be bothered to take an interest in the First Army, we wouldn’t be so dependent on the Grisha. But it’ll never happen,” he told me. Then he muttered, “We all know who’s running the country.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 18

When you can drag adult, fully trained Grisha out of their beds to slaughter them, you can burn down their home with a few teachers, children and invalids, when going after their leader.

Although true- people rarely react to slow destruction, but a sudden tragedy gets an immediate response. Proof or not.

The thing is, there were no anti-Grisha survivors of the Fold moving, even in books, there are speculations mentioned, but then the pogroms started almost immediately. Either somebody took control of the narrative and ensured the finger shall be pointed in the right direction, or the First Army took matters into their hands out of pure initiative and spread the word themselves. You need to justify a massacres of the Crown's property ~somehow~.

As for how was the Coup supposed to work in the first place- we have exactly no info about anything regarding Aleksander's side and plans.

We have only the basics- he wanted to get rid of the Lantsovs, somehow secured the Apparat's support in the Capital and tried to force a permanent ceasefire by using the Fold.

What was his deal with the Apparat- he doesn't trust him and the creepy priest stabbed him in the back as soon as possible, so what was the original agreement?

He had to have more allies. Ideally on more places. If there are malcontents among the First Army, some might be less anti-Grisha than others. There might be more realistic nobles. Merchants could benefit greatly from better use of Grisha, especially with control over the Fold. It's likely they'd all go underground if the key parts of the plan failed.

Why target Novokribirsk? We've been over this plenty of times, but the person we've been introduced as a pretty decent strategist, who often puts himself in risk to spare others, wouldn't just annihilate a random site. And the winning side sure as hell wouldn't hurry in to paint a full picture.

How should it succeed?

The Darkling turned his back on their stunned and angry expressions and addressed the Grisha and soldiers on the skiff. “Tell the story of what you’ve seen today. Tell everyone that the days of fear and uncertainty are over. The days of endless fighting are over. Tell them that you saw a new age begin.” A cheer went up from the crowd. I saw a few soldiers muttering to each other. Even some of the Grisha looked unnerved. But most of their faces were eager, triumphant, shining. They’re hungry for this, I realized. Even after they’ve seen what he can do, even after watching their own people die.

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 22

With the control over the narrative, the Ravkan people would've been freed from the yoke of the golden Royal leeches, their new leader stepping in after ensuring a permanent peace on all fronts, soon opening a path through the Fold, reuniting families and making the goods flow from one side of the country to another.

Sure, it wouldn't solve the prevailing anti-Grisha sentiments in the society, but one thing at the time. Such issues are easier to tackle, when you're not a slave, dependent of your masters mercy or a hunted animal. The Darkling already tried to change things from the below, it's about time to do it the other way around.

[jokers-ghoul]

Ok, I lied. Next week is definitely going to make me sad.

Enjoy the happy moments,,

So, what we know about Yai is that he was a very sheltered child-- and I'm honestly surprised he's so bold with his confession (not as bold as James, but still pretty bold). No one thought it was strange that he liked making flower lanyards, except for Jom as it's considered a 'girly' activity even in the future. He only really started to go against the grain when Jom showed up.

So actions like these:

Go to show how sheltered he is. Yai only really talks to Auntie Prik, his parents, Jom, his sister, and now James. If no one really instilled the fact that same sex relationships were not something one did during these times-- he wouldn't know. Yai just looks at Jom like a boy around the first person he loves and wants to be with. Even if Jom tried to warn him that it could lead to problems in the future.

It's the naivety of a sheltered boy that hasn't experienced much of the world.

There's a huge difference with how James speaks with Jom and how he speaks with Yai. James seems to understand just from talking with Jom that they know society expects them to be a certain way and their opinion differs. When James speaks with Yai, he knows they have feelings for the same person, but he doesn't stop to warn Yai about problems he could encounter; just that he could lose his chance to be with Jom if he keeps being silent about it.

Maybe James wants to invoke a sort of movement. I believe he also understands this could go over worse than he expects.

Because of Yai not understanding, it's always Jom. Jom who is worried, Jom who is panicked. Jom who will have to face the consequences alone as Yai's parents will likely blame Jom for seducing their son.

It seems society is not limited to those outside of the walls of Yai's home. Even Ming seems to question their relationship, but the ones that Jom will have to focus on will definitely be Yai's parents.

Because Yai isn't good at toning down his feelings, as shown in the part where they're at a ball/dance of some sort and Yai cannot take his eyes off Jom.

Thanks to @clairedaring for pointing out the subtitle was wrong. I believe it should be closer to something like this? Maybe.

The dialogue makes me think Jom believes Yai is asking for more than he realizes. The more I watch it, the more I realize that the way Yai captures Jom's hand and stares at him is a bit intense. Sir, what's going on in that mind of yours?

I guess we'll see how the events unfold. As always, these are just my thoughts and could be wrong.

[ooops-i-arted]

Rewatching BoBF because I really do enjoy it and it's a favorite of mine, but now it also just makes me sad because THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

First of all, that should've been saved for season 3 and not shafted Boba and Fennec/Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen in their own show. That was bullshit much as I loved the episode.

But imagine if they'd taken all the plot threads in that episode and actually explored and developed them.

Din is clearly suffering from missing Grogu, and conflicted because he knows Jedi are supposed to "forgo attachments"* and Grogu is with his true people/culture now, but also misses him so much and still wants to take care of him and be his father. This is a potential character conflict as Din struggles to support doing the right thing for Grogu with his own feelings of attachments that just gets brushed aside, first when Ahsoka tells him "Naw, don't go see him" and then again when they're hastily reunited.

*This is a Filoni thing and not accurate to the films, Jedi are allowed to have connections to their home life and culture, it's just that they can't use their love of that to overwhelm their duty to Do The Right Thing.

If we add episode 6 to the mix, we don't get to see Grogu train or have much conflict/development himself. He doesn't really get an arc about choosing Din, it's just a cheap cliffhanger. His flashbacks and training are shallow and pretty much just Easter eggs. ("Look it's Order 66 again! Look it's Jar Jar's actor! Look it's one of those laser balls like in ANH!") There could have been more depth to them, like recalling Order 66 and possibly linking his trauma to being a Jedi whether he likes it or not, or other trauma he faced between Order 66 and now (like how did he end up with the Niktos?) and showing that he still uses thoughts of Din to calm himself and still needs his father - he's just not ready for Jedi training and he still needs time to heal emotionally and be a kid. Hell, LUKE could've gotten a beautiful arc where he tries to rigidly hold himself and Grogu to what he thinks the prequel-era Jedi Order were like because he has unfairly placed so much pressure on himself as a teacher and Grogu as his first student, and then instead realizes he's bringing them both down and not doing right. Luke decides he needs to do more research of the old Jedi and possibly ultimately make his own path for the New Jedi Order, and instead offers Grogu the choice between him and Din freely, acknowledging he may not be ready to teach Grogu after all but willing to do so if that's what Grogu needs. Writing wise this would also be smart - Grogu chooses Din for now with the door open to send him back to Jedi training if you take the story that direction again, but you still got you Money Making Merch Duo back together.

Back to Din, we could've started him truly embracing the role of father to Grogu after their reunion, the two of them choosing to make a family together instead of a quick adoption ceremony after a season of Din calling him ward and sending him to training with no prep.

Din isn't great with the Darksaber in this episode, but he seems to want it. He learns its history. He makes an effort to use it and start training with it. He gets feisty when Paz challenges him for it. Even if he doesn't feel totally ready for all it symbolizes, he wants it in BoBF. Why did he suddenly give it to Bo? Because Favroni made him, that's why. Imagine if instead Din looked at all these groups of Mandalorians infighting - Bo and her posse, loners like Sabine and Boba, the Children of the Watch - and thought, imagine what we could do against people like Gideon if we worked together. We have had two season of Din collecting unlikely allies - a rebel shock trooper, an Ugnaught farmer, Guild leader turned Magistrate, a Tatooine mechanic, a deadly assassin, a simple man making his way through the universe, a disgraced Mandalorian princess and her lackeys - and gotten them to join his cause and led them into battle. He is a leader! He has it in him! And "reluctant leader being the best leader" and/or "leader who cares about his people over a throne" is an age-old trope that Din fits perfectly. He could've had an amazing arc of lone bounty hunter to apostate to Mand'alor.

Tack on to that an arc of personal identity as a Mandalorian. Instead of Din going to the Mines in 2 episodes as if checking off a list of boxes, we got a deeper dive in his character. Maybe he bathes in the waters of Mandalore as the Armorer requested and realizes he doesn't feel any different. Maybe exposure to different Mandalorians makes him realize there's more than one way to follow the Creed, and that's okay - and that's what makes him a good leader because he accepts all the little subcultures in the Mandalorians. He puts the helmet on and keeps it on again because he chooses to, because that's what works for him, but no longer chastises those who don't and realizes that he doesn't need the Armorer's approval or word of law to be Mandalorian. Maybe the Armorer herself learns to be less strict and rigid, or realizes Din is the leader who can get their homeworld back. When they meet again not as a member of her covert or someone under her "rule," but as equal leaders with mutual respect.

Another side thought, but imagine if they'd gone ALL THE WAY with Din being an apostate and the Armorer had made him leave his beskar. Unarmored Din must relearn his entire fighting style, struggle with feeling exposed and shamed with no helmet, reach emotional rock bottom and still come out on top by proving himself worthy, not just to the Armorer, but to himself. (I figure this will never happen since they need Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder to be able to physically be Din to do stunts and to help out the filming schedule since Pedro Pascal is so busy, but I do think the concept is cool and would've been some amazing, especially with Pedro's acting.)

[myheartismadeofstars]

TGCF pokemon teams: made x

Xianle Quartet version

Xie Lian

Absol:

Pretty self explanatory. Absol is the Bad Luck pokemon and appears before disasters. No doubt XL encounters a lot of them. Absol would also keep an eye out for BWX.

Calyrex: a pokemon who used to be a king but has lost everything, even his friends...sound familiar? Also it can make plants grow and I love the unused Flower God!XL concept. Also I think XL deserves a legendary.

Hisuian Liligant: an elegant fighter and a beautiful flower. Revered in ancient times but almost forgotten in the modern era. Also I see H!Liligant as very nice and polite.

Mienshao: an unarmed fighter that fights with "ribbons" that remind me of Ruoye. Mienfoo are also mentioned to seclude themselves in the mountains to train.

Garbodor: our favourite trash collector needed a trash pokemon, okay? But also a joking reference to his terrible cooking lmao. (I think Garbodor could eat XL's cooking like HC can, but that's the same as calling it garbage lmao)

Dusclops: THIS is Ruoye. It wraps and binds people in the cloth bandages hanging off of it. It does hold a Reaper Cloth but XL hasn't been able to find someone to help it evolve.

Liligant, Calyrex and Mienshao have been on the team the longest. I think the newest member is Garbodor, but he has had several other pokemon over his lifetime that he lost due to his luck.

Hua Cheng

Ceruledge: allow me to quote the pokemon Scarlet Dex Entry "The fiery blades on its arms burn fiercely with the lingering resentment of a sword wielder who fell before accomplishing their goal." That's honestly enough for me, but also, wartime!HongHong-Er having a Charcadet and also it's a ghost/fire type lmao.

Inteleon: Inteleon can learn Rain Dance. But also the transition from a bullied kid to an emo teen and finally a cool and suave (seeming) adult who still has signs of being that scared kid at heart?

Houndoom: HC needed a dog. Also the fact that just HEARING Houndoom's howl can send people fleeing in terror and the burns hurting FOREVER. (Reminds me a bit of E-Ming's curse, though not perfect)

Absol: Pokemon believed to cause disasters and hated for it, even though it was innocent and was actually trying to warn them... Also Absol has red eyes! Unlike XL's Absol, HC's has Super Luck!

Honchkrow: Murkrow are supposed to bring bad luck but Honchkrow are the bosses of Murkrow and said to be merciless towards them, much how HC is with Ghost City.

Honedge (Shiny): E-Ming! The shiny form has red eyes on its hilt and the blade seems forged in blood. It's literally a cursed sword with red eyes.

I would say that Inteleon and Ceruledge and MAYBE Honchkrow are the only pokemon he has from when he was alive, though none of them were fully evolved (Inteleon was a Drizzile). Ceruledge evolved first.

Feng Xin

Hisuian Decidueye: hisuian Decidueye is based on a ronin. He's an archer wandering the earth without a master.

Mabostiff: Mabostiff are LITERALLY the Guard dog pokemon!! Of course our favourite bodyguard has to have one! Also supposedly has a "scary face" like our grumpy boy

Lucario: Protective and loyal and I've now seen several people say that FX is good at tracking and I would say Lucario is perfect for trying to track someone (aka: XL) by their aura.

Espeon: Loyal but also the Sun Pokemon! FX is the "Southern Sun" after all! I also have a headcanon about FX having a spoiled cat and I think Espeon is the most similar to the cat I have for him

Zangoose: Obviously a reference to his fighting with Mu Qing. (I also think Zangoose has Toxic Boost rather than Immunity. Because FX isn't immune to MQ's words and actions, just angered by them, ergo: Toxic Boost)

Male Pyroar: It's a noble and intimidating pokemon and I would consider them a very masculine pokemon that would suit his title quite well and also...since it's revealed that Pyroar do have similar social structures to real lions... Males have nothing to do with child rearing I'm so sorry FX I'm sure you'd be a good dad if given the chance idk if I'll give Jian Lan a team but a female Pyroar would definitely be on it.

Most of his teammates have been around for a long time. Decidueye didn't fully evolve until he ascended on his own, and I would say Lucario and Espeon are the newest members. But his "starter" was probably Litleo, and he got Maschiff when he became XL's bodyguard when he was 14.

Mu Qing

Umbreon (Shiny): counterpart to FX'S Espeon, and I think it fits "Enigmatic Truth" almost as well as Espeon suits "Southern Sun". MQ's is shiny mostly because I feel the blue rings suit him better lmao. Also MQ deserves something special dammit!

Seviper: Rivals FX's Zangoose. The poison typing brings to mind his own toxicity (🤟) and the bladed tail reminds me of his Zhanmadao and Seviper is just a bit longer than most Zhanmadao are.

Persian: Considered beautiful and elegant but fickle, just like our boy!

Leavanny: Leavanny reminds me of the fact that his mother was a seamstress. But also: they are kind to children (but can also learn Sword's Dance and have wicked bladed arms) Mama's boy cannot forget her.

Midday Lycanroc: Cautious and extremely loyal to those who treated them well. Considered Dusk Form considering how hot headed MQ is, but slightly prefer the Midday form for him because it emphasizes the loyalty while Dusk is notably difficult to raise I also headcanon him with a yellow coloured dog so midday suits that better

Empoleon: Proud in all evolutions, but still live in groups as Piplup and Empoleon, though solitary as Prinplup. Sounds like pushing people away and then realizing that you wanted them in your life after all.

While he doesn't keep it with him, he also has a Male Indeedee who has been with him since his servant days. He mostly stays in his Palace and manages things. MQ doesn't like to be reminded of those days, but it did introduce him to his friends.

The oldest teammate is Leavanny by quite a bit. Leavanny was with him before he went to Mount Taicang (though maybe not fully evolved) Lycanroc is the newest member, but I don't think Empoleon is fully evolved until he reconciles with XL and FX.

[welcometoteyvat]

random but have you thought abt gaming and hutao?

funny story anon, when I was writing ga-ming's fake voicelines and needed to give him more characters to talk about, I was considering adding a hu tao voiceline, but decided against it because I didn't really see a reason for them to meet (besides via friends (new liyue 6ang addition?!?!?!)). lowkey I now feel validated bc they don't have any in-game voicelines abt each other, but this would be a very boring ask if it just stopped here lol.

there's something to be said about gaming and hu tao's family baggage vs their cheerful external demeanor vs both doing a job that isn't super well received (?) by people in liyue harbor. but hu tao leans into her eccentricities a lot more while gaming is on the 'likeable by everyone' grind LOL also the dad similarities might increase if we ever get 76th funeral parlor director lore: hu tao's parents have been conspicuously missing forever, where did genshin put them? an interesting possibility would be if the 76th somehow split off from the family trade and subsequently got wiped from the family tree bc of ideological diffs (like ht's beef with baizhu), which could increase gaming and hu tao's possible shared father(?) troubles. but besides that I feel like there's not too much similarity there. They're both enthusiastic outward facing individuals, but idk if they'd have an interesting dynamic if they met.*

Although, you know that voiceline where hu tao does a magic trick and makes a butterfly of fire? and also how she plays with those lion statues outside the ministry of civil affairs? those two things would be straight up gamings alley ngl like he'd be so down for that kind of whimsy and playfulness. also hu tao would be a good candidate for a 2nd lion dance partner. she'd be completely down for doing odd jobs and this is absolutely a fun odd job, at least until she gets tired of it or has to focus on official business lol. idt she's the type to work hard at it; she's just there to try it out because it looked cool but gaming appreciates the enthusiasm regardless. would request to be the lions head in order to lunge at people and also pick greens. also there's potential for a gaming yun jin xingqiu hu tao tea appreciation club

oh also i think smth underrated abt hu tao is how shes like cheery and eccentric but takes her job seriously and has unidentifiable but occasionally present baggage .... which i already mentioned before is similar to how 75% of gm's voicelines are cheery, and then the other 25% is emotional conflict. idk! maybe under the right conditions, they could open up to each other and sympathize

*addendum: imo, hu tao has mostly moved on from her grief over her grandfather's death, and she doesn't have any regrets about the state of their relationship when he passed away, since they were pretty close and never on bad terms. My personal hc is that she still has some things she wished she said, ie. sincere thoughts and feelings from the heart that she usually avoids talking about (she would say "nice speech, but that kind of killed the mood" if someone made one of those anime protag power of friendship monologues). in my head, her grandpa taught her everything about death and funeral customs, played with her/listened to her poetry, pretended to go along w her pranks, and was in general a very loving person, but I don't think hu tao ever explicitly told him "I love you" before he died. she canonically tried to find him right after he passed away but knew that he wouldn't be there. by now i think she's made peace with his death, but still has a certain wistfulness about things she didn't think of saying. and then on the flip side, if ga-ming could see his mom again, he'd probably spend a whole day talking to her i think. he's also not someone to get drunk on grief or regrets, but i don't think he's quite gotten over it completely, and his rocky relationship with his father (before lantern rite 2024) makes this more emotional idk. not sure where I'm going with this, but maybe hu tao would be able to talk him through a bit of this messiness and urge him to simply continue with his own life. or show him that his mother was not at the border, perhaps never lingered there, because she didnt think there was any unfinished business with him or his father that she needed to worry about. the annoying thing about death is that even if the dead person was free of regrets, those who are still living will still miss them. maybe both gaming and hu tao would be able to understand that and/or sympathize with it. or maybe they'd just be silly together who knows, up to you

edit: it'd also be so funny to have gaming call hu tao "boss hu" 胡老板～～～～～～～

[rinandsketches]

So...I have noticed a small trend while watching some of the Chinese anime...particularly when they involved romance.

Prince names in order:

Li Qiang, Xia Chunyu, Ye Youming, Nangong, and Xaio Jinyun.

Their all the same! Well not completely, however their the same in titles and attitudes, sure but personalities and how they treat their loves is different...eh, slightly. So, for fun, I'm gonna rank these dudes. Basically I'm going to rank based on who is the best lover for their loves.

5. Ye Youming, Psychic princess. Last on the very bottom is the prince i was turned off by the entire series. Sorry, if you like this guy, but everything between him and Yunxi was uncomfortable. For the entire time, the dude harassed her, was unsympathetic for her situation, and flat out said, he preferred to marry someone else on the wedding night. He then stuck his new bride to the cold palace, which was a run down and haunted area. True, Yunxi and Ye started to feel things at the end but i wish there was more love developed during the series. I mean, just cause he's last doesn't mean I hate the guy, there is something sweet I saw at the end but I wish we saw more of that.

4. Xaio Jinyun, no doubt in us: the only emperor and yea, he pretty much made his wife's life a miserable hell for a long time. The redemption quality is when he realizes being a girl isn't easy. He's super low on the list for one reason, its the face he never stood up for his wife against his mother and concubines, I get she loved him in childhood but at some point there has to be a limit to that type of toxicity. If it weren't for the body swap, chances are nothing would have changed.

3. Li Qiang. Memories of Chang'an. So here's my personal favorite. He's cool, cares for his wife and makes sure both he and Ming are safe which makes my heart melt. Yet, sadly I also had to real myself. He was super selfish in the beginning. Not once did he think that it would be hard for his wife as it is for him. Some of his words and actions would greatly turn me off in real life.

2. Nangong, Demonic king who chases his wife. ...both are number one for super long names. Back to topic. This anime was last on my list but after watching season2 its safe to say in personality, Nangong is the best. He isn't a sour puss like the rest, he's rowdy, a wise cracker and does have a sense of humor. He has the perfect personality for a lead who lost all trust in anyone else. He even gets points for starting a relationship the healthy way...by dating before marriage. So why isn't he number 1? Well, he did sorta snub his last girlfriend, pretty harshly too. He didn't even have a proper conversation with her...I didn't watch all of season 3 yet so maybe it happens then.

1. Xia Chunyu, Adorable food goddess, sorry, but I believe Chun yu is not only a great love interest but is the most realistic. Yes, he's cold in the beginning however he was undercover and any wrong move could spell his death. Afterwards though, he supports the female lead and aids her in and out of the kitchen, to top it off, Chun yu doesn't care if Jiayao isn't of royal or rich blood, he wants her for who she really is. Regardless if she dresses like a boy.

So this is my list. Its just my opinion, if you think different then please tell me. I'd love to read your opinions on who is a better lover.

[slyfire]

finally watching tgcf S2 !!!

Note: i'm writing this as I watch. It's only been 30secs but the animations is, once again, beautiful.

THE INTRO IS ALSO BEAUTIFUL. oh we are so fucking back.

I didn't know how I felt about about Lang Qianqiu's donghua design at first, but I think it suits him haha.

The scene of everyone talking bad about Xie Lian...for some reason hyped me for seeing book 2 animated, even though we won't get there this season.

After seeing manhua Pei Ming so much, it's kinda strange to see him without the face tattoo (?). Especially since this isn't the first time he's appeared in the donghua.

ENHANCE SQX SPOTTED !!

!!!11!!!!

oh how I've missed you donghua Xie Lian...

Is it just me or are Jun Wu's hands kinda...too big?

man oh man...

ugh it's so nice to see Xie Lian's & Shi Qingxuan's friendship.

I wasn't planning on this post being just SQX oops. I think it's interesting how different his male and female forms are. But she's always pretty so good for her!

Ghost city vibes are on point. The blur effect is an interesting choice, but I like it.

Donghua Jian Lan looks great!

DID XIE LIAN REMOVE HER HAND OFF HIS CHEST WHERE THE RING IS?

Hmmm the translation I saw was Xie Lian's just said he has a...medical condition? was that a translation issue or a censorship issue?

Hua Cheng with the 'bored af' pose.

There's been a lot of 'hair falls over shoulder' shots...not that I mind. I'm loving them all.

Do you think HC straightened up so he looked extra poised for XL

EP over...I'm so ready for the rest of the season!