#i dont want to be that person who has to parallel these dramas

[cassthecringe]

i am so curious about your pucci thoughts...

I AM SO FUCKING SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET TO THIS ASK OH MY FUCKING GOD my life has been crazy lately but still i am So Sorry

okay so basically i love pucci we have to kill him. here is a list of my thoughts in no particular order

he makes me so ill like genuinely he is one of the most well written jojo characters ever and DEFINITELY the most well written villain. like holy shit. i think a lot about how weather said the evilest of people are those who think they are good and how that relates to pucci oh my GOD it makes me sick. pucci like many villains are a "ends justify the means" kinda guy like while he was cruel at many points i truly think he was jsut like, yes this is a moment of weakness but it wont matter because im going to fix it. i think aobut how he really thought he was going to save everyone. he was going to save perla. he was going to save dio. he was going to save himself. and thinking baout things from his side, like, oh my god. dio was his only friend. we the audience know that dio groomed him (not necessarily sexually but still grooming) and even though dio did seem to grow to truly care for pucci, he didnt care enough to not use him for his plan to restart the world -- but PUCCI didnt know that. im sure he had inklings and feelings like he's not NAIVE, im sure he KNEW dio was using him at SOME point, but it wouldnt change the fact dio still eventually saw him and was his friend either way. it wouldnt change the fact that he would do this one thing for his only friend, even if his only friend BECAME his friend in the first place just to make him fulfill this task. god dio and pucci's relationship is so insane i hate hate hate that people boil it down to just shipping LIKE THERE WAS RESENTMENT THERE WAS ANGER THERE WAS SO MUCH LOVE AND HALF OF IT WAS LOVE FOR WHAT THE OTHER COULD DO FOR HIM INSTEAD OF JUST HIM HIMSELF . LIKE FUCK'S SAKE im sick of ppl putting a romantic spin on everything and YES this is half me being aromatnic but also COME ON. and that's not even getting into the fact dio and pucci's relationship is supposed to parallel jolyne and jotaro's/jolyne and jonathan's. but anyway

god he loved his sister so much man it makes me sick he jsut wanted her safe man. after everything....i choose to believe his final thoughts were of perla. it's why he was begging for everything he did to have meant SOMETHING -- please let if have meant perla got a good life in whatever universe the world will end up in. i like to believe she did. he won't be there to see it. oh god he wont be there ot see it. fuck. maybe that was for the best in his mind anyway

his drama and tragedy aside he's also the funniest guy in the entire world. why the hell is a catholic priest wearing gucci. well i guess that answers the question but still. he is so fucking funny he is not even subtle about it he is LITERALLY like EOUGH DONT TOUCH MY EXPENSIVE DESIGNER PANTS and then he kicks a cop to his death for it. he's so fucking funny i love him so much. i love that whitesnake is independent enough to have its own personality and he and pucci get into spats sometimes OS FUCKING FUNNY. MFW I ARGUE WITH MY OWN SOUL.

also my disdain for shipping culture aside i cannot deny that pucci is a homophobic homosexual. he and jotaro totally banged a couple times and awkwardly called it off when pucci first sees jotaro's birthmark and he's like oh no. SO FUCKING FUNNY

ugh sorry i jsut want to go back to this point he's so smart he's so Aware of how people work and connect he's always had a fine sense for it (do you believe in gravity...) OUGH like there's no WAY HE DIDN'T KNOW DIO WAS USING HIM BUT HE STILL LOVED DIO AND I THINK BEYOND THAT. I THINK HE TRUY BELIEVED WHAT DIO WAS SAYING. I THINK HE TRULY BELIEVED OKAY EVEN IF DIO HAS HIS OWN MOTIVES HERE, THIS END IS JSUT. SO I WILL KEEP FOLLWOING ALONG. LIKE. I. i truly think he thought this would save everyone, especially perla. ohuogh my god PUCCIIIIIIIIIIIII

in short, he makes me sick we have to kill him. i like him a lot

[alstroemerian-dragon]

theres something that really bothers me about the way a lot of people talk about and write peko re: her place as fuyuhiko’s “tool,” especially when it comes to like. despair. and i feel like it stems from a few different places and one of those is definitely uh. distance from the source material. because. w. did we play the same game

like. the second trial is a lot of things. annoying. about the death of a character i dont really care about. kind of confusing. Very Sad At The End. but the one thing it shows beyond any shadow of a doubt is that peko Does Not Want To Be Fuyuhiko’s Tool. she leans into it a lot in that trial, past the stupid. serial killer shit. which is literally just desperation and quick thinking on her part (and non diagetically meant to parallel the first game but whatever). but she does that because it is the only option she thinks she has if she wants to keep fuyuhiko alive. because thats her ultimate goal, right? sure, she’s his tool. sure, theyre Badly and Unhealthily codependent. sure, she was basically groomed to stay at his side no matter what. but…

she also cares about him. genuinely. she loves him. for all that teenagers can properly conceive of love in all its forms, but she at least think she does. but she does truly care about him.

did anybody do her free time events other than me? genuine question. because i dont think someone who wants to ask the guy shes sworn to protect on a date would be content being just his tool. that sure sounds like someone who wants to be on equal footing with him.

like. look. say what you want about the anime. take it with a grain of salt. cherry pick what you like and toss the rest of it out. that sure is what i do!! but even if you do that, youve got to take the text of the game itself into account if you want to have any semblance of regular characterization, and the game makes it clear that she hates this!!! she doesnt want to be his tool! she will fight him on things if she has to! she will disobey him if she has to!!! thats the whole point of the trial!!!!! he told her to run and that he would take the fall and she told him no!!!!!!!!!

and you cant ignore the fact that the time between them starting at hope’s peak and the tragedy hitting the ground running was two whole years. people can change a lot in two years, especially teenagers, and especially high schoolers. idk how long its been since you were in high school (unless you currently are in which case. dear gd im so sorry. good luck) but your mental state in high school is so fucked. you have no idea who you are and neither does anybody else and can you even imagine the kinds of pressure the ultimates would have been under?? again, taking the anime with a grain of salt, but even if you go along with it and think the school was barely a school at all, the pressure from society, from family, from peers still has an impact. everyone was telling them who they were and that thats who they were going to be for the rest of their lives and i doubt ANY of them felt like it.

and even if you subscribe to the idea, like me, that their second year was a downward spiral because of junko’s presence and influence, they still needed somewhere to fall from. the idea that peko was uniquely comfortable being quiet and violent and doing whatever fuyuhiko wanted so she didnt need despair to be his tool is ridiculous. i see the argument of “well watching her friends fall into despair and spiral made her spiral in turn and grow numb to it and retreat into herself until she needed to become fuyuhiko’s tool again as a coping mechanism” but. buddy. That Is Despair.

sometimes i feel like the only person who thinks about despair complexly and maybe thats its own post because this ones too long already but. despair isnt just Being Brainwashed Into A Monster. ignore what the writers told you. okay? look at me. Look Into My Eyes. The Writers Are Fucking Idiots And Dont Know How To Write Good Drama With Genuine Stakes. despair as a nuanced concept is so much more horrifying. different post. sorry. peko.

if peko had not been pulled down by despair just like the rest of them she would have fought tooth and nail to keep fuyuhiko above it. she would have demanded he explain to her why he was doing what he was doing. and she would have told him no.

and of course heres where i get into the accusatory part because the other place a lot of this comes from is, and im sorry, an unwillingness to write complex or nuanced women. not pointing fingers, but reducing peko down into “fuyuhiko’s tool” and “she does whatever he says without question” completely destroys any minuscule amount of agency she has. shes a fucking person. yes, shes pixels on a screen. yes, shes a representation of tropes. but diagetically, within the fiction of the game, she is a human being, and if you want to write her, and not be puppeting around a gddamn cardboard cutout, you have to think of her as a person with agency who makes her own fucking choices. sometimes those choices are taken away from her. but they shouldnt be taken away by you.

[thebirdarts]

The Death of Family

blood stains, innocent blood stains harder. The blood of those you love stains forever. For prompt 6 of @owlcatober , family [click for better quality and notes are under the cut]

this did not happen but also this is what actually happened, the true version of events, not whatever cold and callous series of events actually took place in the mansion on that night.

this is the metaphorical representation of what happened.

her best friend dying in her arms, white dress getting stained by the blood. fingers intertwined the same way as when they practiced dancing. she dies with a smile on her lips and muras eyes are heavy with grief, taking in every detail as the blood pours out from the gash marring her friends beauty. something in her shatters at the same time as the woman in her arms heart stops beating. something shatters so badly that all is left is glass dust, impossible to put back together. in the warped light the blood looks pink and the shadows on her dress seem akin to the bloodstains on her friends. the only thing unstained, the last gift, a wreath of pure white flowers.

What is left after you kill the only person you let in your heart, other than to become a monster.

so this is entirely for the symbolism. mura wouldnt have her classic hairstyle yet [hell i didnt colour in hair or eyes because muras current ones are dyes/changed] and they both would be younger and given shes using gonna use the body to set up someone she would not have time for a melodramatic finger-entwined kinda embrace.

but the drama!!!!

the parallels to the pieta are intentional [but hey what dead body cradled in someones arms cant be related to it]

her friend is the sacrificial lamb for muras permanent decent into villainy. with her friend gone she has no reason to care for others beyond her own survival.

in many ways this moment is more important that mura overtaking her father, this moment seals her on her trajectory. in many ways this froze mura in time, and planted the largest crack in the wall of her image of her fathers excellence.

ive mentioned it before but the only way for mura to be happy and anywhere near normal, would be someone interfering before this point. as soon as her friends heart stopped beating shes locked in her path and beliefs.

it has a roundabout connection to the prompt, it damages her relationship with her father, and also regardless of the label, her kinship with her freind is a powerfull bond, and their extend lifetimes meaning that the growth they shared was not over years but decades, makes her so important to mura, and in some ways family.

an alternate title would be 'death of innocence' or rather the death of muras last shred of compassion and love.

the two fracture points are mura and her friends hearts. i will use the shattered glass motif till i overuse it.

also yes the braid around muras bun thing in the future is a replacement for the wreath of flowers her friend gave her. heartless my ass. for somone who wants nothing more than to forget what happened she sure doesnt let herself forget.

anyway! girlbesties!!! dont we all kill each other and parts of ourself just for the approval of greater forces!!! betray and scar each other in ways that will last forever!!! whats a friend but a sacrifice waiting to happen!!

notes on the piece over, this is now a personal update:

so this was delayed cause i overexerted myself, unfortunately this means my weekend to relax and do some more prompts is now spent testing the limits of how many painkillers i can take. im mostly annoyed, but hey! still have plenty of jojos to watch /read, and ds9 & the expanse are up next on my watch-list so its fine that i cant move any muscle connected to my shoulders without crying in pain! please ignore the pile of corsework i have to do!

this isnt at a level of quality that i would like it to be, but i am happy with it. no artist ever is fully satisfied with their work, its just this time there is a larger distance than normal.

these notes have been long! thank you for reading so far! i hope your weekend is going well!

[commander-heart-eyes]

Clexa fics if you're a masochist

Clexa fics if you want...

...angst

Personal Demons | Eyeofthehurricane

Marine Clarke Griffin shows up at Raven's apartment after a horrific experience. Closed off and all over the place, can Raven's mysterious next door neighbor help Clarke move forward and start to live again?

or...

The one where Clarke and Lexa meet in a stairwell.

we owe nothing now | ur_the_puppy

For as long as Clarke could remember, every year on the third of March, her soul would die.

(my) Destruction Within Your Mouth | KL_Morgan

He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. Proverbs 13:3 

Clarke loses: her head, her voice, her heart.

(Canon divergent from 1x03)

The White Queen Running | KL Morgan

Were you ever punished? “Only for faults,” said Alice. “And you were all the better for it, I know!” the Queen said triumphantly. “Yes, but then I had done the things I was punished for,” said Alice: “that makes all the difference.” “But if you hadn't done them,' the Queen said, “that would have been better still; better, and better, and better!”

Clarke wakes up wearing the tattoos of the Ice Nation.

(OR: Soulmates, parallel worlds, and Ice Queen Clarke; oh my. Canon divergent from 2x16.)

what the ground grows | coldmackerel

There is nothing a little bedrest and irony can't cure.

Lexa is sure the only thing that heals Clarke's mind and keeps her heart thumping against her ribs is an ill-advised amount of the first and a frustrating amount of the second. But Clarke has never been anything less than ill-advised and frustrating. If anybody will survive a hole in their brain, Lexa is sure it will be Clarke.

(At Heda's expense, of course.)

[complete]

...slow burn

when my heart is at war | mopeytropey

Lexa is primed for great leadership and will not be deviated from her agenda.

Clarke is driven by her insatiable curiosity and is not easily deterred.

There is plenty at work to drive them apart, but the strength of their combined determination will change the course of an entire civilization.

Griffins Anatomy | Clexanation

Clarke was just trying to survive the first year of her internship. That was until she fell into bed with a beautiful brunette, who was running from her past. Maybe life should be about more than just surviving.

The 100 hospital AU that nobody asked for. Inspired by the hit tv show Greys Anatomy. All hail the great Shonda Rhimes. We will embark on this drama/love-filled journey through the eyes of our fan favorites in the medical field.

*THIS FOLLOWS GREYS ANATOMY STORYLINE, SO DONT COME FOR ME ACTING SHOCKED BY ANYTHING*

The shows been around damn near 20 yrs ppl 🤦♀️

[rhythmmortis]

i am so curious. whos your favorite of organization 13 (the original but the "real" is fine too if u have any particular favorites) . i feel like roxas and xion are obvious answers because if you hate either of them you're just sucks. but other than them

xion is 100% my favourite org member hands down, both her role in the original and the 'real', but if not her then larxene literally showed up for one game, served cunt, was a bitch, and died. and then came back. and i love her so fucking much for it. when she dies in 3 she literally just admits that she didnt give a shit about xehanort shes just there for the drama and i love her so much for it, she also has cool ass knives which i gotta respect her for

she's also just like. an ACTUAL antagonistic original kh female character!! kairi, aqua, xion, namine, olette, and the other original kh girls are all protagonists or at least on the side of light which is cool but it leads to a lot of similarities in characterisation and not much variance. but larxene. she fucking kicked a child then threatened another with her knives. UNAPOLOGETICALLY. then comes back in kh3 in the frozen world and actually makes a good point about having to autonomy of choice. but in general she sucks and i love her for it!! i was recently thinking about either a com roleswap between her and marluxia/a personality swap with them (theyre already relatively similar being co-conspirators and all but slightly stoic and mysterious/ominous larxene and marluxia being more of a taunting bitch about someone sora forgot about and constantly withholding that information just out of reach (which would be a good parallel to his own experience with strelitzia and his whole past) is a dynamic i would love)

her voice acting is also very enjoyable AND my favourite spell is thunder so i gotta give her that. one thing i will say is that i was kinda sad that her remix of the 13th struggle in the kh3 data bosses is the most similar to the original and she doesnt get anything too unique. especially given the fact that saix has ELECTRIC guitars and not her, i really think it wouldve gone hard. my one wish for her in the future (since it looks like ux characters will be relevant) is that they dont just completely erase her personality and let her keep some of that edge, i dont want her to be washed down to another demure, generic supporting female character.

i can also say that my very very least favourite org member is xaldin because i have a strong personal grudge against david dayan fisher (xaldin's eng va) that i cannot say without revealing some very personal information. when i say personal grudge i dont mean theres like an obscure fact about him that i wont ever actually experience or be affected by that i dont like, i mean this is a very real/personal thing that i do not like him for. in person (its not that serious but i love being a hater. and i will never forgive him)

[apostatehamster]

Watched OFMD, I have thoughts and feelings, and here be my outlet, whoopee. Spoilers, livewatching ramblings and screenshots ahead

Oh yeah Izzy focus, because I am me :)

Ep 6:

The episode had a villain of the day and I thought that was funny. Just some random guy who got jealous because Ed broke a record jkfhjk. Chill out, man

I've wanted Ed and Izzy to talk again for episodes but -

Bro, he confessed his love to you and you shot him down like a dog. Then knowing he loves you, you wanted him to end your life, which he refused. He tried to end his life instead, stripped of all meaning in life. You do not fucking get to be snappy with him, you were supposed to be the first one to talk,. Yes I am bitter, shut up- Kudos for Izzy being the bigger man (heh).

The drinking issues continue, i see :( "I thought you were Roach" hjkdfhkjl sur

Well, he managed to say the word Sorry at least, that's more than the crew got. I know he is working on the apologizing but. Oof man, it still needs work.

fucking love the crew but especially Archie, I think she's a great addition. Just good chaos. Also lmao Roach

Fang is so precious to me, you do not understand-

Everybody: AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEE CALYPSO BIRTHDAAAY

Everybody is just adressing Stede as their captain. Frenchie's eyes nervously flick to Ed from time to time though. Ed just heaves in annoyance. This guy really just hates his life atm. He's the most disconnected from the crew, like they tolerate him but his only social contact is Stede basically. And somewhat Izzy. Speaking of, it feels like a role reversal to season 1 where Izzy was the one kind of isolated on board

idk why but the way he said "that"Oh." absolutely made me lose it- What emotion was that. Nobody nose

Ed, seeing two kids: "Here's a lot of money. Also here's a knife. Stab anyone who gets close to the money" Me: he'd be a great dad-

idk just LOOK at her, ugh. QUEEEEEEN

Love Feeney for having that idea. Love Izzy listening to this and thinking "...you can just. do this?" and then picturing himself like that next to feeney. We love the self-discovery and self-expression

I just love them, your honor <3

He absolutely fucking killed it man and I need to look at ref pics to draw this because holy shit what a look

my favorite guy and his two support pals <3

Love the way Stede's face goes from "ehh...?????" to "awww..." within seconds. Love the way Fang starts clapping immediately after like one Note of singing (honestly same) Love Izzy just casually grabbing for Calypso/feeney's hand and turning the whole boat into his stage. You stole the thunder you little drama queen. But man he can SING T_T it's so soft..... and a love song....

The throuple hugging..... and also wth Fang and Roach have going on. I love the crew....

And the wonderful singing gets interrupted by... Cannonball and torture!!

OK Ed stepping in front of stede to shield him is cute

Ed continues to look annoyed and pissed off at everything that is happening in his life. Fair enough, I mean he wants to leave the pirate life behind but his pirate life keeps catching up with him

"Struck a chord" haha music pun

Roach laughing "I dont think the torture has begun yet :D :D :D" are you okay, my guy hsdjkhsdjkl???

*they're about to be tortured* Izzy: "It's just gonna turn me on." Ffs Izzy you little freak lmao

Lucius and Pete celebrating their honeymoon for a whole day, that is. impressive and lowkey concerning hjkshdjk

this was just. a nice frame. okay-

This season has a really mixed vibe inbetween funny and dark. Like, this ep is very artsy but they're also being tortured, i almost felt like I was watching a bit of Hannibal

If you think I am going to make this about Izzy, you are absolutely right!!! (I guess Ned and Maggie are Captain and first mate too, so I am definitely drawing the parallels) Because I think most of the issues between Ed and Izzy stem from Ed seeing him only as his First Mate and not Izzy, to the point where Izzy wasn't a person anymore. And now that Ed doesn't want to be a pirate anymore, the First Mate following around is a thorn in his side, and he fails to see the loyal friend underneath the front of the First Mate

Live Mutiny reaction

Ned not caring about whether Maggie dies, because she deserves death if she can't do her job (tie a proper tie). Yeah I am thinking about Ed shooting down Izzy and replacing him immediately. "You're mercenaries, you don't have feelings." Yeah, hm.

Stede is an absolute handsome charmer in this season, I gotta say.

Izzy absolutely flinching in panic as LuPete kick in the door. My man has PTSD (like the rest of the BB crew probably)

"We got engaged" Everyone: Awwwww :)

Ned: "You used to be a killer" Hm not so sure about that. Not the way everyone thinks at least. I am actually not sure if Edward ever killed anyone after his dad and the one person during the raid. His flashbacks were of these two murders at least (and the almost murder of izzy) so I am guessing there weren't anymore off screen murders?

Ed giving absolute zero shits about Ned's taunting, but Stede steps in, my man is manning up.

I find the difference between Ed and Stede so fascinating. Ed, who feels like his whole life went downhill after he killed and who wants to run from his life as a pirate, versus Stede who has been taunted for being weak, who wants to prove his strength and become a proper pirate. They are progressing in opposite ways.

"See, that's why he likes you. Because of your bumbling amateur status" I wonder if Ed feels like he corrupted Stede, sort of like Stede was afraid he ruined Edward at the end of season 1.

Izzy the killer being like "Give him a minute. First kill is always a mindfuck." and Edward going to check on Stede anyway, makes me wonder when Izzy first killed. If it was for Edward or if it was on his own. And if it was for Edward, if he checked on him, because I think probably not. And judging by the way Izzy stares into nothingness as Ed goes to check on Stede... yeah, no.

EMOTIONALLY LOADED KISS AGAINST THE WALL!!!!!!!!!! hell llloo

Can't help but feel sad tho with Izzy continuing his love serenade as Stede and Ed make out. Singing about how "It's only him for me, and me for him for life. He told me, he swore to me, for life." while the guy you're in love with is hooking up with another. I swear if the ring he wears around his tie was a promise form Ed I'm gonna be so devastated, I really really hope it isnt. :')

Fingie sand footsies gdfgjh LET'S FUCKING PARTAAAAAY

OK will continue in another post for episode 7 because I can't post so many pictures

[marunalu]

Hey-ya!

Just imagine what will happen...when Afo shows up on the battlefield in UA, taking All Might with him! Gotta wipe the old hero's feet, don't you think? And when it turns out that Afo is Hisashi in UA; (I think the moment he shows up, Aizawa’s erasing could stop Eri's quirk) What will happen to Izuku? What if it turns out that Yoichi and the other vestiges knew but kept quiet about it? What if Toshinori knew (guessed) that Izuku was Afo's son, but thought it didn't mean anything - they're different worldviews? In these cases, it turns out that the OFA and All Might lied to Izuku, kept him in the dark... so that he would kill his father 👀

Personally I dont think all might has any clue that izuku is afos son, because as much as I love all might, sometimes he isnt the brightest bulb out there 😂

And for me it would be way more interesting to see the reaction of EVERYONE finding out the truth at the same time. Just imagine all mights completly shocked face and him mumbling "it cant be" while he stares shell shocked at the computer monitore. Also the drama between all might and izukus relationship the reveal could bring.

The only people I think who know about the parentage are the vestiges, espicially yoichi and if izuku finds out that they keept this a secret from him, because they want him to kill his own father, he will feel terrible betrayed and may even lash out to them for using him as a weapon. Who knows maybe izuku will also shut ofa down for a while. Like the vestiges want to talk to him, but he completly shuts them out, because he is so angry with them, he refuses to listen to them. It would parallel obiwan and yoda not telling luke about his parentage, because they wanted him to kill vader and luke feeling betrayed and only later he searches for answers from them.

I dont think all might will be kidnapped (thats inkos destiny 😉), but I really want to know if nighteyes vision of the future about all mights death will become true. He said that an other villain then afo will kill all might and while Im 50:50 about the chances that all might will die, I think that person nighteye saw was eventually afomura. Not all for one, but also not shigaraki, an entire new being. Or maybe he saw dabi destroying all mights stature and simply misinterpretet what he saw.

I also thought about the possebility that eris quirk in afo will be stopped as soon as he shows up in ua, because monoma will most likely try to stop him using any quirks and that would include eris quirk. Thats how afo will survive. But while I think this is the most likely scenario, I hope for something else. We both believe in the theory that izuku has his own afo quirk, right? What if, after izuku realizes his father is about to die from eris quirk, he panics and searchs for a way to get that quirk out of him? And thats how his own afo quirk awakens? Because he wants to save his dad! And by that he puts himself in harms way, because eris quirk would kill HIM instead, so afo also panics and we get a dramatic "pulling fight" between father and son, with izuku telling him, that we wants him to come home or something like that 😢

I dont think that will happen, but I would love something like this. I even thought about writing a one shot about it, but Im so damn lazy right now 🤣

[ginevrafangirl]

Love Between Fairy and Devil Commentary Part 2

More highlights from my reactions to this drama, episodes 13-24.

Part 1 | Part 3

SPOILERS ahead!

oh no emo boy is staging a coup // also the actor for emo boy really has peak younger sibling face

his expression is EXTREMELYY badass rn // though you still need to redeem yourself after that unneeded kissing of girlie

omg i think batman actually cares about his friend, he just laid his head down ectremely gently

does batman love his bestie enough to transfer his cultivation? // omg he DOES

i LOVE me some depth to my villains

oh jin guangshan is the god of thunder and lightning! its always the king of the gods that has that power!! the parallels to greek and indian mythology!

oh dragon boy, you were so close yet so far // i love these loyal sweet slightly naive yet super powerful and badass right hand men of the male lead // dragon boy, welcome to the club that consists of wen ning, zhong li, chuanyu, and someone from eternal love i am most certainly forgetting (mdzs/cql, who rules the world, eternal love references)

OMG HE MADE THE FLOWER PETALS FALL

lol people wrote smut about them // i meannnn its basically celebrity real person fic

sauron: i wanted to see you // girlie: see ME?? // sauron: i wanted to see you FIX THE BOOK

boy the moment you feel ANYTHING sweet for her you double down on being a dick

lesbian shopkeeper is a hustler and has STREET SMARTS

okay i suppose i gotta cut dragon boy some slack, he is indeed a literal dragon and doesnt understand human customs

jieli is the human 'are we dating' buzzfeed quiz

sauron: its EMOTION time baby

this is the game of thrones lesbian 'teaching you how to make love to our chief' scene

girlie is actually twirling her hair ornaments around her fingers

tragic misunderstanding brothers, my jammm

sauron: i have no emotions. thus i dont love you // girlie: i am so happy that means you dont hate me // like GIRL

i love when this show does comedy man, its so funny

i mean she is literally TAKING EDIBLES

is her hair jewellery getting more and more elaborate??

honestly batman could be honest about his true plan and i think iceman would understand

batman is growing on me as well. his motivations are kinda dark lwj, actual dean winchester vibes // and he actually cares about iceman. fucking yu wuyuan WISHES he had this kinda dimensions (mdzs/cql, supernatural, who rules the world references)

jin guangshan is the true villain of this show, just like hes the only true villain in mdzs

the love triangle i do not love, but its funny that in any other show iceman and girlie would 100% be the main leads, i mean their backstory set that up PERFECTLY

god is speaking to ice god // oh its jin guangshan speaking from the sky

damn man must not even be able to jerk off without big brother watching

dragon boy: you're also an orphan? // sir there are a lot of orphans in this world

dragon boy you want to be trustworthy and honest and you're working for THE LITERAL DEVIL

catwoman has a WHIP!? of CHAINS? thats BADASS

she fixed it??? since when did she magically gain THAT ability

its really interesting how physical objects enter illusions and dreams // by that i mean the fucking golden leaf

'how dare you come for my people' cue ROCK GUITAR SOLO

sir you already broke the couldron once, aint batman just gonna glue it back together again?

they sure sacrifice the plot effects of the one heart curse in favor of romance quite a bit

evil god??? there is a god named evil god??

i think girlie has grown proper fond of sauron // she is acting so 'oppaaaa' aegyo-y to him rn

who tf sleeps with their arms crossed, sauron, you can be such a pouty child sometimes

i am glad they showed the effect on all the soldiers and families that die in meaningless battles

soooo since she looks like an old woman, i guess in this universe immortals do age, just really really slowly

cue the 'why are you running meme' except its sauron being chased by an emotion

oh his emotions are growing! its cause she is the goddess of xiyun that can cure anything (oop)

i think daddy was losing the war and got desperate and traumatized his kids

she is wearing more jewellery! symbolism of her falling more in love and growing more comfortable by his side?

sauron: oh NO i am feeling an EMOTION

the founder of the moon tribe is lady yan, aka princess yue heheeh (atla reference)

jieli, honey, why did you have to make things so hard for yourself and try to steal

jieli stealing makes no sense, she is a smart woman, she wouldnt take that kinda risk

so sauron here is incredibly op and the big struggle he has to overcome is dealing with his own emotions

this is a very thinly veiled metaphor for men being fucked up and emotionally repressed and the women in their lives having the responsibility (even if taken willingly) to fix the emotions

langhua is THE 'i can fix him' girlie now that she cares about him

girlie always finds her backbone whenever it comes to a man smh

i think girlie and lesbian shopkeeper should date, dragon boy and sauron should date, girlie and sauron should date, and just be a fun polyamourous quartet

daddy is a qi deviated nie mingjue (mdzs/cql reference)

if the book is burnt to ashes, how are you gonna find a random pile of ashes? how do you know its the book? // someone very conveniently collected the ashes and put them back in the original box and put the box in the throne

if the final step to the ritual is patricide, how will he successfully complete the ritual this time?

bro just became ghost rider

also why was there a throne in the bedroom of daddy?

difference between daddy and sauron and the nie bros is that nhs always knew his brother loved him very much (mdzs/cql reference)

she is INSANE to willingly jump into a whirlpool to go to the afterlife to ask a very scary demon lord if he loved his son // girlie is one dedicated pr agent

she is just supermanning through this water // and he is ironmanning through it

if the guqin was repaired by magic, why can you see the cracks?

its a tragedy innit

oh why do i get the feeling he is gonna have to kill her to win some kinda battle and control hellfire again

this dad is the exact opposite of elio's dad in cmbyn

they are practically shoving the cinematic parallels in my face

also there was absolutely NO need to get shirtless lmao he just wanted to show off

give him a hug, girlie // YES // wow // that must be his first hug since his nanny // fuck the patriarchy for not letting men hug each other

sauron with his hair down is a LOOK

emo boy wanted to spend time with his gegeee

she has huge asian mom energy by bribing him with food

i'm not sure if he still wants to take over the fairy tribe or not, this could be a potential conflict in the future

is girlie STILL in denial about her liking him? boy you like the IDEA of ice man but the actual sauron. stop lying to yourself

LMAO he's like i will kill everyone for you so you can go back homee

ice god is suffering from a sad case of second lead syndrome

wow security at the tower is BAD if she was able to sneak him out so easily

dont you dare follow him danyin // NO // do NOT // oh fuck me // ofcourse she did

i wanted some fun mortal shenanigans, not this angst

girlie there are only a few people in shuiyuntian that are worth leaving a powerful man who you've got in the palm of your hands

i think its so funny the mortal realm is called yunmeng lake

dragon boy and lesbian shopkeeper are slick wit it

so the show is shipping my bisexual icons the shopkeeper and dragon boy?? i can fuck with that

oh wow the girlies are gaslighting and manipulating love that for them

you mean to tell me a mansion of this size was simply up for sale???

being a brothel entertainer is probably what being an idol was like

DID BISEXUAL SHOPKEEPER JUST EAT A RAW BHINDI (a bhindi is a ladysfinger vegetable)

the voice actor is giving the ice mans dad so much more oomph than the actor

oh god mortal ice man is gonna fall for fake mortal girlie

sauron: what is this strange illness that has befallen me // dragon boy: idk man but i have it too // me: WUV

daddy again? i thought we were done with this arc // but i guess you cant heal from trauma that easily

that moon is huge, at this size it would most definitely flood the earth

i wonder whether lady si ming will make an appearance in this story

motral jack frost was BORN with the jade??? did it also come out of his mortal moms fanny??

NAURRR I DONT WANT HER BELOVED TO BE SAURONNN

sauron: jealousy jealousyy

jack frost, being the true artist that he is, getting creative in the middle of the night

the way you can tell that girlie is well and truly over jack frost is that she seems excited about his match with lady war

and that kids, is what you call a self fulfilling prophecy

this is a whole grown ass man, and theyre making him go back to school??

JACK FROST CALLED SAURON HIS ZHIJI??? // proof that polyamory is always the answer

finally!! the batman and lady war backstory i have been waiting for

honestly i am all for destroying shuiyuntian, i have no reason to side with the so called heroes of this show

what is it with disciples that are unhealthily attached to their masters and are willing to go to literally any lengths to revive them after dying // the sam and dean style of unhealthy attachement (eternal love, supernatural references)

human jack frost is such a simp

how is it ep 23 and there still hasnt been a love confession

so sauron is a makeup artist too?? // the james charles of ugly makeup??

i love when incredibly powerful men are vain bitches

they are beneficial conqueror vs peace loving hippie couple

jack frost is a playboy but he will never steal another mans love. it doesnt matter if the woman says no, the only barrier in his road is another man laying claim

siblings or dating: cdrama edition

pissy and bitchy dongfang qingcang IS SO FUNNY I AM DYINGG

dont just tell me that catwoman killed everyone, SHOW ME // i wanna SEE her go on a murderous rampage

honestly the bisexual power couple's dynamic, jieli and shangque, is suited to my taste. her just bullying him and him liking it

girlie has incest on her mind

"asking for a friend"

omg DANYIN TRANS ICON CONFIRMED

not jieli actually saying 'i am not like other girls'

jieli is a BUSINESSWOMAN she has no time for ROMANCE

girlie is having deja vu

This was it for episodes 13-24! There will definitely be a part 3 for the last 12 episodes.

PS: I alternate between calling changheng ice god and jack frost, and variations, but they are the same person!

[thealterscrolls]

Hey! 'Tis me. I'm here with some numbers for the fic ask; there were so many to pick from and they were all really interesting questions so I couldn't narrow it down to just one. Hope that's okay. Anyway, any of you can answer these, and you can answer as many or as little as you want.

13 (music)

34 (personal life…no pressure to answer this one by the way)

45 (genre/trope)

50 (writing style)

57 (foreshadowing) Good luck with all your writing! :D

helo charlie friend, tysm for the ask! you picked out some banger questions and jakob and i were happy to answer them! without further ado, all of our long winded answers will be below the cut. apologies in advance for the walls of text lol

13. Do you listen to music while you write?  If yes, what have you been listening to recently?

cas: i personally have a hard time writing if the music has words but writing in silence is hard too, so my go to writing music for YEARS has always been anything by Peter Gundry. i used to just listen to his dark magic music compilations on youtube, but now i'll go through his albums on spotify. i'll write to music with words on rare occasion but only if it's a character/fic playlist of songs that remind me of the character or story in some way. i generally don't make those playlists public, but i have found that i put Lord of the Lost in as many playlists as possible to the point that a lot of them are half LOTL songs lol. here's a casual link to my recs playlist for that band lmao.

34. How much of your personal life/experience do you include in your fics?

jakob: id say we tend to incorporate a lot, which is funny if i answer on a more personal level because i dont consider myself to have lived that much life at all to be incorporating anything valuable of it. i've only been around in this system a couple months. but regardless of which of us is doing the writing, we all will pull from everyone's experiences. some things just read more viscerally when you have a memory of experience to take notes from. always have to change up details of course. it's like that homework copying meme except the copied stuff looks better than the original thing.

45. What genre/trope do you tend to write the most?

jakob: it's either comedy or it's super angsty drama/romance. rarely inbetween. i think i stick more to the dramatic, angsty stuff though. i havent written anything very humorous. im way too conscious of how much of an endless barrage of sadness my current wip is. i almost feel bad and want to lighten it up a bit lol. meanwhile cas loves writing both emotional shit and extremely stupid cursed goofy shit. they're also that asexual person who has an unnecessary amount of never-to-be-published smutty wips because exploring that kind of stuff is fun to them, but i am the asexual who could not be less interested in being near that kind of thing, much respect to those who are. i dont know enough about tropes to know which ones we write the most.

50. How would you describe your writing style?

jakob: i think i have a fairly literal writing style. they go here. they do that. being "flowery" with descriptions is a conscious effort and unless i get a specific visceral concept or wording in my head, it will just be a pretty straightforward description of events. i imagine the jump from "x does y thing" to "eloquent description of an abstract emotion" might be fairly noticeable. and to be fair, i think it's this way with everyone in the system. i dont think there's any significant difference between our writing styles, including handwriting.

57. How conscious are you about including symbolism or foreshadowing in your fics?

cas: very conscious! it's one of my favorite things about writing fics and often is the basis for a fic concept. i love when writing has little motifs and is self referential AND THE PARALLELS! GOD THE PARALLELS MY BELOVEDS!!! if i cant include a billion parallels in my shit am i even writing? this is honestly a system wide preference too because jakob's writing is like that lol. this is one of the reasons we prefer to write fics completely before posting them so we can sufficiently make sure the parallels work out and things are tied up neatly. but its also the biggest reason we dont really have much posted either </3

[semi-imaginary-place]

ffxiv back to gyr abania

they're torturing krile?? That went dark.

oh so when i pointed out way back when that lyse had narrative potential (i personally doubt her actual potential) to lead, which would have been enhaced if they'd killed off conrad (which i would have been sad of) i was on to something.

ala mhigo is part of eorzea wonder why their aetherytes are different.

why is lakshimi so light colored. she better be hding like 8 snake tails under that skirt.

isn't it kind of dangerous to have the twins and lyse along, they dont have the echo. we never did come up with a good anti-tempering measure...

hmm i genuinely don't know if zenos is going to kill her or not. mmm wait on second thought her character arc and specifically her as a springboard for lyse's character arc isn't over.

interesting parallel set up between alisae and foldora who both seek power.

M tribe! ahhh i miss my red catboy...

i do not understand why the devs did not just open the door on velydona bridge and instead made 2 npcs to warp you from one side of the door to the other. there isn't even a loading zone i can fly right over

ah so this is where they kill off conrad. I'll miss the old man... yup conrad dies to further lyse's character growth as she is forced to step up as a leader where before she's been uncertain about her position in the ala mhigan resistance. she's felt overshadowed by her sister, her father, and those who lived through garlean occupation.

ugggg and they brought back estinien because he's a fan favorite. look he has a face model that they want to show off any everything. i hate it. the garleans took marksmanship classes from the starwars stormtroopers i see.

i love pipin. I see the 3 grand companies here and there are ishgardian knights around, but is the ishgardian leadership not represented here as well?

baut side story: I liked the point on how the garlean propaganda machine worked so hard to demonize the Resistance that even after meeting them, the people of Ala Ghiri are still in the mindset that the Resistance will be just as brutal as the Empire. At one point I got pretty worried that the story was going to go down the "each person can only be judged by their own actions, the past doesn't matter" which, like that does have several points but writing that story would also fail to account for systemic oppression and how baut even if he was nicer about it still furthered the goals of the garlean empire and thus the invasion, subjugation, and rule of garleans over their occupied territories with all the human rights violations from the forced labor camps to the murders, kidnappings, rape, demotion to second class citizen, or just straight out slavery, human experimentation and torture. that... that ending really took a hard left turn at least everyone else is also reeling at the whiplash.

castrum abania. garleans are just wannabe allegans knockoff discount human experimentation.

that you must run faster, fight harder, be better already proves how you are not equal and never will be in the garlean's eyes.

so illberd and raubahn are from the same tiny village (childhood friends?) oh they go back further than i thought. why else would illberd also be "sent home" to raubahn's village. interesting that its to the player character that lyse swears a death pact.

no fair lyse gets TWO new outfits. i do think her other outfits suit her better though. she got dancer gear as a monk. but its symbolic and in taking up a leadership postition lyse has in some ways become a symbol of ala mhigan independence.

gry abania seems a mix of middle east and indian with a dash of chinese and some scottish. I heard thavnair is also south asian/middle eastern inspired I wonder how the devs will differentiate the two areas.

aww it all happens offscreen. i would have been nice to be shown how the alliance took the loches. but maybe this is because i'm always hungering for military strategy and political drama.

lyse leading the resistance is great for her character arc and all but does she have any actual leadership skills and qualifications?? when has she demonstrated leadership, management, and organizational skills. she was hanging around the scions which are like free agents and then with the resistance but was mostly observing the Griffin

[baek1nho]

when your soulmate starts shaking with rage

the untamed ep 25 // word of honor ep 15

[betweensunflowersanddaffodils]

Hi!! I follow you for a while, your one of the few Kevin/Madison blogs that I enjoy reading! (there are not much sadly).

I was on reddit and I found out that on the paley fest (I think it was yesterday) they screened this week's episode and people who attended had the chance to watch it. No one is sharing anything but somebody said that after watching it looked as we could officially rule out Madison as Kevin's future wife... Now.. The person was clearly a Kevin/Sophie shipper because she mentioned how now The show just need to take Cassidy out of the picture too... So it was a obviously a biased opinion but still I'm let down and starting to really losing hope...

I was Wondering if maybe you know something more, if somebody at the panel shared spoiler with you I dont know if I want to watch next episode without knowing how bad is gonna be for us :(

Awwww, thanks anon I really appreciate what you said 🤧 I just do my best cause I love these two stupid babes very much. ♥️

And yessss, that's what we found out:

🚨🚨KEVISON SPOILER ALERT FOR 6X11🚨🚨

Kevin goes to Madison's house early to pick up the kids but she's about to leave to go to a music class with them. She leaves but tells Kevin that Elijah's in her room. He goes in there and Elijah is trying to get Madison's ring size because he's gonna propose. Kevin obviously freaks out and has to be talked down from doing something rash by Randall. Also, Kevin layers come to the realisation that Madison is still his emergency contact so he goes to talk to her to essentially "set her free". Madison mentions to him that she knows that Elijah's gonna propose and she asks him how he feels about it and he says he's happy for her and apparently she's excited about it.

So, that's basically why someone could think they're done for good but the writers are actually doing some kind of parallel with the last scene we had of Miguel and Rebecca (to notice that both scenes happen in the front yard at night) and this also confirms Cait's words about being a long journey with a couple of "surprises" before we can see Madison's happy ending.

So, don't worry anon, the writers will definitely make us suffer until the end with the drama lol but they're still gonna be endgame. ♥️ At this point I bet we will see them already married in ep 13 so they can "shock" the audience and then we will see how they got there backwards. I also think we will see Kevin "being alone without feeling lonely" and like "Jerry Maguire" he will focus on his career untill something big happens (maybe with "big three homes") and he will finally realises that he isn't complete without Madison. Hopefully she will have already break up with Elijah because she understood that she couldn't settle for a man she doesn't love even if it would be an easy choice considering that he does love her.

[enderspawn]

op I am pleading for you to talk about c!Schlatt I keep getting interrogated for saying c!Schlatt was the best president and he really didn't do anything super terribly wrong please talk about him

i mean... im sorry anon but idk abt best PRESIDENT. manburg under schlatt.... kind of sucked imo JFKDLSJFKL

1. manburg had massive food shortages, to the point the average citizen (including fundy) had to eat spider eyes to survive.

2. he imposed ludicrious tax of his civillians (namely niki. we dont know if he did that to Every Business like w fundy or if he targeted niki specifically bc of her closeness to the ex-president, but neither is good)

3. exiled those who he saw as political opponents to keep his power

4. straight up ignored his cabinet a lot of the time to make his own decisions (such as destroying the white house, which led to quackity leaving)

5. was widely hated by all the citizens. literally at one point all the ppl left in manburg was schlatt and jack manifold (who was MIA on the server and left to found Manifold Land when he came back)

6. held a public execution, AGAIN without the consent or knowledge of his cabinet (IF I REMEMBER RIGHT. i know big q opposed the execution at minimum, but idk for sure if he knew it was planned at all before the festival)

7. was basically at war his entire presidency thanks to pogtopia's existence

and thats just what i can think of rn! the reasons i like c!schlatt are fully based around him as a character and HIS personal development, not around his policies or actions. especially when compared to the other two presidents, who either won or prevented a war and kept the majority of its citizens happier and healthier than Manburg, he's.... probably the worst president they had tbh

BUT since you gave me an excuse to ramble abt him anyway, i wanna go on abt what i DO like abt him (under a cut bc this post is already kinda long oops) but

tldr; i like schlatt bc of his relationships with others, his flaws and pitiable moments, and how he is a fantastic parallel/foil to the characters around him

I like his complex (and yes, abusive) relationship with quackity, especially after his death and quackity's feelings flipping rapidly between hating him and missing him. but before that they did have a honeymoon-esque period-- at least from quackity's view.

watching their date you get the idea schlatt mightve never really been interested in him and mightve just been using quackity's interest in him for his own advancement! but we dont know.

maybe he did truly love quackity in his own fucked up way in the end, even if he wasnt a good person. maybe he regrets his actions and cruelty. or maybe he doesnt.

in the end they were (like the animatic i linked said) "built from the same dirt", they're both incredibly ambitious and prideful people and parallel each other a LOT (see: q's need for power, his want to execute ranboo paralleling tubbos execution, etc). they're not good for one another, but i love seeing just how they fall apart together (i hope you die, i hope we both die kind of beat)

and.... god his relationship and impact w fundy i could ramble abt all day dude. fundy kept schlatt's sword after his death and calls it an heirloom. we dont know 100% how old fundy was when wilbur was exiled (i mena... he ran for president but current fundy is like 20something and tommy ALSO ran as vp at 16) but we can assume he was a late teen. his own father was gone, but schlatt... seemed to CARE. he showed him affection.

fundy's never truly felt like hes BELONGED anywhere (even the country his father said was all for him, he felt ostracized and made different by his fathers doting babying) and because of that hes always looking for a group to be a part of. hes a people pleaser (its part of why hes so easy for big q to get for las nevadas).

and schlatt GIVES him that feeling of belonging he deserves. hes a spy the entire time, yes, but he becomes conflicted about it as time goes on.

could schlatt just be using fundy and filling his head with empty praise? sure, i couldnt fault you at all for that interpretation, its perfectly valid. BUT, i dont think so. he seemed genuinely shocked to see fundy oppose him on nov 16th. remember, he didnt know fundy was a spy.

in that moment he realizes just HOW alone he is and always has been. and its a tragic moment: the last person he had, the person he himself mightve truly CARED about left him just like everyone else. he was alone, truly and fully. even his allies were only there out of obligation and bc of him paying.

he knows his health has been failing him. he cant even swim due to muscular issues but he refuses see a doctor about it because he refuses to let himself be seen as weak.

hell, one could argue that issue leads to his abraisive and abusive behavoir in relationships: he refuses to let himself be true and genuine to anyone, there always has to be a wall and a proud perfect persona. its part of why hes a great villain both in narrative and to watch as a casual fan: just like c!wilbur, he's playing an act.

hes a foil and a parallel to wilbur. both are men who hide their true selves behind a certain role or persona they feel they have to play while they hide their crumbling health (schlatt's more physical and wilbur's more mental). both experience their rise and fall. but wilbur isnt despised, even if he thinks he is, while schlatt isnt truly loved by anyone, even if he thinks he is.

most of all, their deaths couldnt be more different. wilbur went out with a bang. a large dramatic scene fit for a storybook, with a long monologue and cinematic final blow ALL made to fit how he saw himself in a story and simply filling a required roll. but schlatts death is practically overlooked (especially in comparison to wilburs death and everything else that happened that day).

he built his entire persona about being this massive, larger than life powerful guy but he died small, weak, and frail to his own failing body. its... pitiful, honestly. it doesnt feel fitting, it feels wrong. his life up that point demanded drama, but his death was nothing more than... an accident, almost. unintentional. clumsy. its fucking brilliant.

[thosch3i]

Hi hi! So the lost tombs and chronology all super confuse me. So tlt2 ended on a cliffhanger that was not resolved by tlt3 which is ultimate note, but now there is another tlt3 that I am guessing is made by the same studio as tlt2 (but not UN) that actually follows tlt2? And it has the same WPZ as tlt2 (but sadly different WX, ZQL though I’m sure these guys are great). You seem to know what you’re talking about so I’m hoping you can help!

UN also ended on a cliff hanger so I’m wondering if they’ll get a sequel from their studio that comes before tomb of the sea.

ahhh hello anon! yes ahaha the dmbj dramas are certainly very confusing--because they keep switching the screenwriters/entire production team between dramas. huanrui did tlt1 (2015), tlt2 (2019), and the sequel to tlt2 (2021). they're also technically the production company for un (2020), but linghe did like all the directing/casting/writing so its significantly different in tone and quality from the other dramas huanrui produced. npss (dmbj author) did sha hai (2018) and tltr (2020), with sha hai being in collab with linghe, so you can see lots of parallels with un and shared cast. (gonna add that i dont know much about the m9 because that’s not what im personally interested in, so i’m only going by stories with wu xie & the iron triangle.)

unfortunately, the dramas pretty have no continuity as a result of all the weird shit and multiple studios doing different dramas and messy stuff going on behind the scenes. the author's production company currently has all the rights back for filming future dramas, which is......imo, a good thing for book fans who love the author but a 😬 thing for book fans who like the original story more than what the author is now doing with it. I'll uh avoid saying too much opinion stuff though so no more on that 😅

that aside! yes 云顶天宫 “explore with the note” part 2......is the direct sequel to tlt2 and done by the same studio. unfortunately the writers are different and im not sure how much of the production team is the same either. idk how much you know about the novels so brief summary here--for the chinese version, the main story has 9 parts split among 8 books (though the official eng tls have each part being a different book) with some important content being as follows:

official eng title “cavern of blood zombies” (first time wx goes into a tomb, first t3j meeting)

official eng title “angry sea, hidden sands” (xisha seabed tomb, introduce a-ning)

official eng title “bronze tree of death” (bronze tree in qinling, wx & lao yang solo adventure)

official eng title “palace of doom” (heavenly palace on the clouds, introduce bronze gate)

official eng title “deadly desert winds” (golmud, introduce hei xiazi, desert, rainforest, tamutuo)

official eng title “graveyard of a queen” (the rest of that arc, wu sanxing & xie lianhuan reveal, jade meteorite, amnesiac xiaoge and escape, sanshu vanishes for good--also i think the official eng tl covers a couple chapters of the beginning of the next part too)

阴山古楼 (searching for xiaoge’s memories in banai, miluotuo cave, i think introduction of wu erbai)

邛笼石影 (auction/hotel iron triangle fight, introduce xiao hua & xiuxiu, wx & xh on the mountains alone while pz & xg go with granny huo)

finale (rescue from zhang family mansion, changbai mountain goodbye, 10 years promise)

after the main story are the main sequels:

zang hai hua (tibetan sea flower; unfinished & abandoned) covers wu xie a few years after xiaoge has entered the gate, searching to understand xiaoge’s past

sha hai (tomb of the sea; unfinished & abandoned) covers wu xie’s plan to wipe out the wang family, after zhh

chongqi (reunion: the sound of the providence) covers wu xie’s lung disease and how he recovers from that, set after they pick up xiaoge again from the bronze gate. thunder city and everything.

灯海寻尸&万山极夜 (still updating on wechat) don’t worry about this one since it’s still a WIP lol

btw between sha hai and chongqi there’s also ten years later (a short story) that covers how wu xie and pangzi pick up xiaoge from the bronze gate and take him home

the dramas Do Not Connect To Each Other At All, which the exception of tlt2 & tlt2 pt2 somewhat, but they go in this order:

盗墓笔记 / the lost tomb 1 (2015): covers part 1 but with major OCs and filler, and includes the auction scene from part 8 for some reason, so introduces xiao hua early.

怒海潜沙&秦岭神树 / the lost tomb 2 (2019) technically “explore with the note”: covers parts 2 & 3 but with major OCs and filler, introduces xiao hua & xiuxiu (and hei xiazi briefly) early. last couple episodes also cover the beginning of part 4. not a direct sequel to tlt1 despite being done by the same studio.

云顶天宫 / heavenly palace on the clouds (2021) technically also “explore with the note”: covers part 4 with major OCs and filler (and the same changes carrying over from tlt2). some episodes are identical to the last couple episodes of tlt2. works as a direct sequel only if you ignore the last couple episodes of tlt2 that take place in the snowy mountains. (those episodes of tlt2 were filmed after this drama was filmed, and im still not sure why they dragged the wu xie and xiaoge from tlt2 back to changbai mountain to film those episodes.)

终极笔记 / ultimate note (2020): covers parts 5-8 with minor OCs and minimal filler, also introduces xiao hua & xiuxiu early. the only adaptation that resembles its source material most of the time.

沙海 / tomb of the sea (2018): covers the second sequel with major OCs and filler. includes some bits from zhh and the short story “three days of silence”.

重启之极海听雷 / the lost tomb reboot (2020): covers third sequel with major OCs and filler.

in addition there is the prequel series mystic nine (2016) and side movies for the dramas that the author produced. there is also a single standalone movie--time raiders (2016) that is....well it’s. very strange. it’s fully subbed on youtube if you’re interested?

the best way to watch the dramas is to assume each one is its own self-contained AU set along different points of the dmbj timeline because even the dramas the author himself worked on don’t have continuity LOL (and with the exception of ultimate note & sha hai most of the time, also assume most characters are pretty OOC from the novels).

i uh regret to inform you though, that ultimate note will not be getting a sequel unless the author magically decides to not care about making money anymore and sells the rights to film the finale to linghe or something ^^;;;; it’s....unfortunate bc un is the most highly-rated dmbj adaptation on douban by A Lot, but it’s an adaptation that the author had literally nothing to do with whatsoever.

more information on some of the side movies/stage plays/manhua/donghua here.

summaries of the main novel stories (currently through zhh) here.

edited mtl (some of which has apparently been looked over by native cn speakers) of the novels following where official eng tls end here. (there are many scattered extras as well.)

you can get the official eng tl books/ebooks on amazon or elsewhere(?), but if you have problems purchasing them or like you just dont wanna support amazon or something, dm me off anon. (also i dont want to be mean but frankly the official tls are kinda bad too ^^;;;)

a rough timeline (spoilers galore) for the dmbj novels here. (fair warning im not 100% sure how accurate all of this is--they put three days of silence as 1991 but looking at the info in zhh, it seems like it should have been before the 1950s...but it’s more than fine as a general overview.)

anyway i hope that was helpful in some way? dmbj is a Very Confusing thing to get into ahahaha, one of my twitter mutuals has made a few carrds if you think they might be helpful: book, dramas (slightly out of date bc it says heavenly palace hasn’t aired yet), ultimate note (got its own carrd by virtue of being the only adaptation aside from sha hai sometimes that most og book fans acknowledge lol ^^;;;)

also anon if anything wasn’t clear or if you had more questions feel free to ask again sorry ahahaha im kinda tired rn @.@