#i just don't /see/ it. to me wwx was not romantically interested on lwj in any point of their first life

[yunmeng-jiang]

ok it's time for my Official Jiang Cheng Ship Opinions Post. buckle in this is gonna take a bit

Xicheng: I like it in 1 extremely specific circumstance (bonding over very similar experiences post-canon) but I've only seen that done well like. twice. NEEDS to have good characterization (also rare unfortunately) and take into account what they can and can't do as their own sect leaders with regards to courtship/marriage.

Chengqing: perfect in every way. that's it that's all I need to say.

Sangcheng: ehhhhh? Cute in Cloud Recesses summer camp era, not feasible post-canon due to irreconcilable differences in worldview and how much danger it's acceptable to put Jin Ling in.

Zhancheng: honestly I prefer this to be platonic. Hatefucking is not my jam and LWJ is Wei-Ying-sexual in canon anyway. Give Jiang Cheng a friend who is as weirdly obsessed with Wei Wuxian as he is but in a slightly different way. I want to see them coming to terms with that.

Ningcheng: again, someone just as weirdly obsessed with Wei Wuxian, but a little to the left. I don't think either one of them is ever going to look at the other and not see "the guy WWX likes better than me." Maybe someday they'll form a relationship that isn't based entirely around Wei Wuxian, but it seems kind of unlikely.

Chengyao: I'm actually coming around to this a bit recently? Again, it really needs to keep good characterization at the forefront and consider their positions as individual sect leaders, and remember that their "divorced couple energy" is part of the Guanyin Temple shitshow and not the way they would usually behave, especially for Jin Ling's sake. I want to see more fics where Meng Yao grows up with the Jiang sect so that Jiang Cheng is attached to him from the very beginning.

Mingcheng: meh. I don't really think about this ship that much because it honestly doesn't compel me at all. sorry to the mingcheng enjoyers it there I simply do not get it

Chengxuan: same as above, I don't really get this one. Their dynamic is just not that interesting to me.

Chengyi: that is a child. hard no on this one.

Miancheng: kinda cute? I like it when Jiang Cheng recruits her into the Jiang after she gives up on the Jin, it's a fun idea, but I think I like them better as friends.

Ruocheng: no. just no.

Zhucheng (chengliu? Wen Zhuliu and JC): also no.

Chengsu: I could get behind the idea of JGY desperately contacting Jiang Cheng and being like "help I just found out my fiancee is my sister can you please pretend you've been in love with her all this time and get married to her instead??? I'll negotiate to get you more Jin Ling rights if you do." she fits JC's list of desirable qualities in a wife. unfortunately she gets like 6 seconds of screen time and then dies so we really don't know very much about her, which makes it a bit hard to form a strong opinion on the ship

Other Chengsu? Sucheng/Mincheng/Chengshan/whatever this is: I actually think it's interesting that Su She and Jiang Cheng share the trait of "treat them nicely within this narrow window of time in their life in order to get them to become loyal to you forever, otherwise fuck you." It's possible that if Su She had grown up with the Jiang the two of them would have found some common ground and maybe become friends. I'm more interested in non-romantic interactions here

Cheng...yang? what do you call the Xue Yang/Jiang Cheng ship? Xuecheng? idk. again, not really my jam.

Chengjiao. Lingcheng? Jiang Cheng/Wang Lingjiao. Do people even ship this? I could see it as character development for her I guess. At this point I'm just fishing for possible pairings.

and finally, saved for last...

Xiancheng: this isn't romantic or sexual or platonic, it's all three and also a secret fourth thing that's more intense than all of them put together. As a ship, I don't prefer it, because it's too easy to flatten it out into either a boring cutesy fluffy cliche or a boring jealous/possessive boyfriend type thing. I need to see them being weird about each other in a way that no one can possibly identify, especially themselves. They'll die for each other. They'll live for each other. They'll destroy themselves and be happy about it as long as they believe that the other is going to be okay. You really can't make it as simple as "yeah these two want to fuck."

[layzeal]

What are some of the things that are ace codesd abt wwx? I don’t hear much abt and and am curious!

HIII, okay so as always, "coded" isn't really the right word since it implies authorial intent, but i often use it anyway bc who cares it's my blog. just know i don't think wwx is actually canonically supposed to be demi, it's just a headcanon from silly ol' me!

i do have a #demi-wwx tag you can check if u'd like too hehe

now, what makes wwx come off as SO incredibly acespec/demisexual for me is his approach to... well, relationships in his first life. he's a flirt! he likes teasing people! he likes watching them blush! he likes getting a reaction! but as lwj questions him in the xuanwu cave about, it all seems like very much a game to him, something he does without actual intention, unaware of the torment he might be putting others (lwj) through

i often see people say that wwx didn't date or that wangxian didnt get together in his first life because "they had other things going on" and "there was no time", but that's not only innacurate to post-sunshot, it genuinely comes off to me as if wwx simply has no romantic or sexual interest in anyone at all. granted, he has an eye for pretty things and people, and is VERY vocal about whenever he finds others beautiful. lwj is a common target, but far from the only one!

basically, for as loud as flirty as he can be, we know that's never really genuine. there's no second-intentions or desire in his words (hell, he had even been saving first first kiss for twenty years!!), even when it comes to lwj. and the way we know it is by comparing it all to how he acts, thinks and feels after he's ACTUALLY experiencing attraction for the first time!

but what does have to do with him being demi? and what makes, in my mind, wwx so much more demi coded than lwj for example, whose entire romantic arc is only falling in love with one person?

well, that would be that despite the way it's been romanticized, demisexuality has nothing to do with "only falling in love once". devotion isn't acespec exclusive, choosing to love a single person in your life isn't acespec exclusive. demisexuality is simply a term to describe the specific conditions a relationship might need for an asexual person to experience attraction. those conditions? a strong emotional bond (which is why so many demi ppl are described as "only being able to fall in love with your best friend")

and to me, that's what sells wwx as demisexual the most. he's had so many friends, classmates, xiongdi, and all sorts of companions in his life, but none of them were particularly... emotionally fulfilling. other than perhaps shijie, who he saw more like a mother and sister, there was no one else who he could truly lean on and trust, open up, and be vulnerable with. for many people, that's not a barrier that gets in the way of developing romantic or sexual interest in someone at all, and that's great!! (we see it with lwj himself, who spent so many of his teenage years frustrated for liking wwx and had to slowly realize why that wasn't shameful or a bad thing. lwj's attraction not only came before there was any significant bond between them, it directly blocked it from forming earlier due to lwj's constant avoidance of wwx!)

but for demi people, and for wei wuxian, it is a barrier. it's almost comical just how fast and deeply wwx fell in love with lwj once he opened up to him. it is the most visible in wwx's second life, but i do find there are inklings here and there to it in his first, especially after wwx and lwj get to spend some pleasant time together (ie. post-phoenix mountain and post-yiling date with a-yuan)

but it really does become the most obvious after the yi city arc (drunkji 2 my belovedddd). by that point, their friendship and closeness was already solid, and wwx is already crushing HARD, but isn't quite aware of it yet. it isn't until post-jinlitai stab (and his flashback to his and lwj's youth, how they fell apart and how lwj was only ever worried for him) that he starts pondering if these feelings might be... more than just fondness. and boy do i eat it UUUUUP

it wasn't until wei wuxian got that reassurance of trust and closeness that his feelings truly started to develop. i genuinely cannot imagine a wei wuxian who falls in love with someone who he genuinely believes hates him, and it's actually something i believe stopped wwx from developing deep feelings for lwj in his first life. we know how much all his rejections and their disagreements hurt wwx, and in the back of his mind, he always thought lwj disapproved of him, maybe even disliked him. there was no trust, and it smothered any small, warm little inkling of romantic love from sparking into a flame

so when wwx finds himself with a lwj who is indulgent, who wants to be close, who protects him, comforts him, listens to him, and won't ever let him fall... well, you can't blame him for daydreaming about a calm farm life by his side, or being embarrassed for acting so shameless while still pretending to be mxy, or wishing from the bottom of his heart that even if lwj doesn't love him back, he'll still stay next to him

he only ever wanted lwj to be his friend, and now he's the closest and most intimate one he's ever had. and he treats him so well... all the barriers have fallen, how could wei wuxian not fall too?

(and i didnt rly get into it but this all applies to physical attraction as well! wwx behaves and sees lwj's beauty through two different lenses in his first and second life, and wwx himself noticed the difference from when he could see lwj's nakedness back then without batting an eye VS now. it's hilarious, endearing, and EXTREMELY relatable!!)

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

you know i think the mdzs cartoon and live action adaptations can be considered good examples of the two fundamental schools of thought in cross-medium adaptation, the latter case representing the philosophy of pushing back against the story in order to more fully use the medium, and the former pushing back against the medium in order to more fully use the story. i also think it’s also a good illustration of how censorship structures are (i believe) just as functionally relevant an element of the medium as the kind of filmstock or types of paint the artist has available. idk if this is interesting to you but i like looking at the works through that lens

ohh this is really interesting. ( i can only speak in detail about the cartoon, since i haven't finished the untamed). i agree, in some ways censorship can drive art to be deeper and more expressive in order to get around the censors. e.g. that famous movie scene where two people embrace while waves crash over them instead of having sex. i think that because of these limitations, in some cases the cartoon wangxian relationship ended up being more intense in the limited ways they were able to express themselves. e.g. the use of framing and narrative parallels between WWX, LWJ as the married couple on the donkey, and LSZ as their child. that legit made me see shrimp colours. i really like the analogy of censorship being as intrinsic to the art as the canvas itself. the whole artwork is built on it. the whole thing will be different if you take it away. the undercurrent of desperate, unfulfilled longing in the wangxian love story is heightened by censorship. textually they have been kept apart by fate, obligations and mortal fallacy. metatextually they are being kept apart by state censorship laws. the cartoon doesn't try to change their relationship at all, it follows all the same romantic beats, they bare their hearts to each other, embrace, put their faces close together--and then it "fades to black" at the moment of intimacy. the love story is happening in scenes we don't get to see, but it's there, and the story is structured in a way makes it hard to forget it's presence. i found myself whispering a few times "how the hell did they get THAT past the censors?"

[runespoor7]

Per the ask game, chengyao?

tl;dr version: it's one of my notps. (welcome to the salt mines -_-)

Don't Ship It

Why don't you ship it?

tl;dr: i am uncomfortable when jc isn't about wwx, and jgy's taste is better than jc

I never read the situation with JL as co-parenting, so that's one basis of the ship right out, and l can't see why JGY would burden himself with JC or what would attract him to JC. Like... JGY likes people who trust him and people who are good people and who think he's a good person and people who aren't the emotional equivalent of a landmine field on fire. JGY can have either LXC or SMS and I'm pretty sure he's been over the "I can change him" stage ever since NMJ. There is absolutely nothing about JC that I think JGY would be remotely interested in. (I also think JGY post incest-reveal is so deeply traumatized that the entire range of romantic and sexual emotions becomes a no-go for him, with no exceptions.)

I also don't see JC as willing or able to extend feelings for people outside his sect post-WWX's death. People betray you and then they die. Outsiders to the sect will demand the most horrific sacrifices. I also think he didn't like JGY giving JL Fairy at all (I think it's completely possible to think he was grateful for it, I just like my JC entirely unable to let go of WWX), because that put him in a position where he must break a resolution or take his nephew's dog away. (I also find it hard to believe that JC doesn't know about the bullying at Jinlintai and hmmm. don't think it makes him think favorably on JGY. Rusong's death can also result in no positive appreciation of JC for the care JGY takes with JL's safety.)

So basically I'm not into JC having positive relationships with people that aren't WWX, I don't see them catching feelings, and I think both of them are wayyyyy too conscious of the power of gossip to consider sex together (if I thought there was an attraction, which I don't. I don't think JGY finds JC's volatilenesse attractive).

Also I'm a huge wimp and I want JC to only get manipulated and fucked over by WWX. (🥺) Together they're not unpleasant in ways I find fun.

What would have made you like it?

I could get behind the version of the ship where JGY gets a hate-crush on JC because 1)he's projecting his negative NMJ feelings after NMJ's death and JC is conveniently irascible and inconvenient, and/or 2)he's convinced that WWX was JC's half-brother and that colors all of his vision of what JC did or didn't do.

Does he think JC was being incestuous about WWX? (and then he wasn't punished for it. how unfair that he got off unscathed when JGY must carry the weight forever!!!)

Does he share LWJ's opinion that JC used WWX and then got rid of him when WWX became more an impediment than a help? (something that JGY when he's honest with himself - rarely - does know he did, but that he tries to pretend he didn't and can easily dislike JC for. this is why he's besties with LXC. LXC thinks he's Good. JGY likes being Good. JC is all kinds of a repulsive mirror.)

A version where it's requited isn't about WWX enough for me on JC's part, though.

Oh, in a version of canon where JGS wasn't Like That and JGY is thus severely less messed-up (and the WWX+Wens situation isn't as dire as in canon) might have had them carry on a casual-ish discreet relationship while JYL is visiting JZX. Or maybe it's a version where JGY never ended up torturing for WRH. Something that would make him a bit softer at that stage, and have JC a bit less single-focused on WWX. It might escalate and the relationship might deepen if something something JGS causes worse problems, against JGY, etc.

Alternatively, this is less straight-up shipping, but I love the idea that JC and JGY had an UnderstandingTM about JL not having accidents in Jinlintai so long as JC didn't do anything stupid, such as marrying, and that JC honestly did think JGY was going to wait until JL was closer to twenty before JGY started making active moves against JL. And it hurt JC's feelings when Guanyin Temple happened.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Extremely fucked up people and I'm happy that fans of the two characters seem to be having fun with it!

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I don't know if you know, but the irony of wnxg is that they don't share with each others past experiences. It's not extremely important, but sharing is part of a relationship?? It's lxc who says to wwx about how lwj suffered for their mother's death; it's always lxc who reveals to wwx how lwj got 33 strikes. Instead, not having others, lwj doesn't know nothing about wwx past, only few rumors. It's me, I am boring, but sharing things with your partner, is important?? How are they gonna comunicate with lxc in seclusion?

Obv that's my opinion and mxtx did do a great job! I am still there, two years after, screaming about jl, jc, wq and jgy! She had a lot of plot, so maybe she couldn’t explore the romance properly!

This is a good point that I hadn't considered! It made me reflect on how much characters reveal in general about their own stories outside of undergoing Empathy, and the answer is... not many! JGY notably reveals his own experiences under duress at Guanyin Temple, but he still doesn't talk about his life prior to being kicked down the stairs in any detail; the flashback showing his and MS's abuse in the brothel comes via WWX doing Empathy with Anxin's ghost. Other than that, all the major revelations one character are told by someone else. Off the top of my head, we have WN (and not WWX) revealing the core transfer, LXC (and not MY) revealing that MY was a double agent, and Bicao (and not Madame Qin, QS, or JGY) revealing that JGY and QS were half-siblings. And even the subjects of Empathy aren't telling their stories so much as letting WWX come along for a ride in their memories.

So on the one hand, this is an established trend in the novel. On the other hand, given the sheer amount of TIME we spend on Wangxian Romance Content, it's quite strange that our two leads tell each other so little about themselves! I would find Wangxian much more interesting if they replaced even just some of the repetitive "one character initiates physical intimacy when the other character won't remember it later" scenes with actual conversations about their experiences and who they are as people. It hits LWJ especially hard, I think, because at least we as an audience know what's going on with WWX since he's our viewpoint character. For LWJ, we're dependent on what WWX knows or observes, which is deliberately lacking.

I disagree that MXTX simply didn't have time/space to fit that in alongside everything else, because CQL manages to do silly hijinks and personal revelations in THE SAME SCENE. Episode 6 opens with LWJ catching the One Braincell Trio drinking together. WWX makes LWJ drink wine, and we get a mini version of goofy Drunji shenanigans... but WWX also learns about the Lan forehead ribbons (which will be relevant later in the same episode), and LWJ and WWX learn that both have lost their parents. LWJ doesn't elaborate beyond "I don't have a mother," but his sad, faraway little face makes plain how keenly he feels about it. WWX notices, and he confesses to LWJ that he can barely remember his parents beyond the fragmented memory of riding a donkey. (He also tells him about the dogs!)

It's a lovely little moment, and it's what first had me going "aww🥺" about the two of them. (Still does, honestly! I know I'm salty on here a lot, but I genuinely do love Drama Wangxian when I'm actively watching the show and am away from fandom; I only wish they'd been able to be expressly romantic with it.) I was definitely entertained by them speedrunning fanfic tropes in the Cloud Recesses episodes, but I would have tired of them if that was all their interactions were. That tiny bit of genuine bonding is what made me interested in learning more about them both and invested in seeing how their relationship developed.

And the entire sequence is just 5 minutes out of one 45-minute episode! It doesn't take much, and the written equivalent was something I sorely missed in the two volumes of the novel I read.

[ninjakk]

Hi

This is more of fanon question but what do you think of stright boy wwx, who everyone knows he’s gay but him, doesn’t know his feelings even though he’s having sex with lwj.

And lwj still does shave sex with him even though he does think wwx is stright and won’t have feelings for him.

Hi Anon,

Wow, is this really a thing!? 🤔

I think they're reading a different book 🤣

Well my honest opinion would be that whoever thinks this really does not have much of an understanding of the characters in MDZS, or the plot for that matter. Whether this is something that some truly see in the novel or something they put in fanfic, it's just bizarre.

Firstly, only a few people made assumptions with regards to WWX's feelings towards LWJ. Really it was only the juniors who noticed something between them. JC was in denial the whole time (across both WWXs lives) until he couldn't deny it any longer - and even then he tried! Personally I think WQ noticed WWX acted differently around LWJ and at some point WN picked up on something between them as well. But bar that, most people wrongly thought the pair hated each other! So that's just wrong right from the start!

WWX is extremely emotionally intelligent, he understands people very well and that includes himself as well. Yes, he lies to himself and pushes his true feelings down at times - but this is a coping mechanism. He feels so deeply, his only way to cope about certain emotions that might bring him pain, is to play them down or convince himself they are different to what they are.

WWX is just trying to protect his heart. He lies to himself about his feelings for LWJ because to him, the latter wasn't interested. Yet WWX was still drawn towards him every time they met, because LWJ is the only one he's ever truly wanted. By the time WWX and LWJ have sex, WWX is more than sure of his feelings for LWJ! In fact just before all of this, WWX is so sure of his feelings he's absolutely terrified LWJ might not feel the same way.

So I think any idea of a fanon or fanfic WWX that is as emotionally dense as 'straight boy' WWX is, is just so far from the actual character, I don't see the point in them reading the novel, being a fan or writing fic using WWXs name if this is their take on him, as it's clearly not the character MXTX created.

As for LWJ having sex with this warped version of WWX, he simply wouldn't. As much as LWJ loves WWX, he would not have meaningless sex with him just because the latter 'doesn't mind'. Just looking at the end of chapter 95 and chapter 96, where WWX thinks LWJ has only just sobered up and is upset that they had sex. This scene should be enough to show anyone that this is not in LWJs character. WWX desperately tries to salvage their relationship because he loves LWJ so much he wants to be with him anyway he can. So he makes it out it was just something friends do! LWJ is so distraught at the possibility WWX didn't have romantic feelings for him, yet shared an extremely intimate moment with him anyway. How can anyone think he would just have sex with WWX if he thought WWX wasn't interested in him. It just wouldn't happen.

So again, I think that this fanon idea or whatever it is, is just so far from the truth it's just strange! Anyone who wants this to be canon should just go find another novel to read quite frankly!

It can take time to understand your sexuality and shaming a character who actually realised it pretty fast considering the circumstances, is just shallow and ironically makes them the "oblivious" ones they so often like to accuse WWX of being. It's obvious WWX would have realised his sexuality a lot sooner if LWJ had given him a little hint back when they were teens. Which isn't LWJ's fault of course, because people seem to forget he was coming to terms with his own feelings at the time as well! But if he'd given WWX a sign, he'd have been spurred on and pursued LWJ until they were a couple.

In WWX's own words:

"...If he doesn’t want me, I’ll bother him to the point that he does.”

Chapter 125 - Lotus Seed Pod extra, ExR

Although he wasn't fully prepared to accept what context the above proclamation was in, he still meant it! 🥰

I'm guessing you feel the same way about this obnoxious interpretation as well Anon, since you used the term fanon 😉 so that's a relief! Have a lovely day and enjoy the canon version of WWX and LWJ in all their true glory ❤️

[phoenixcatch7]

Fic idea collection: sephiroth reincarnates into mdzs.

Now I've been rotating this in my mind for a while, but it went through several iterations before I was happy with it. Feel free to expand on or even use any of them!

Sephiroth reincarnates into lwj. Straightforward, pretty 1 to 1, we get lovely white v black and anime swordsmen and a bewildered love at first sight gay panic that goes differently to but about as well as canon. Room for gorgeous scenes and lots of angst. Wings, war heroes, on a pedestal, etc. Becoming a new person vs cycles of trauma. Devil you know etc. Problem: I don't like writing romance, I don't particularly want to one true soulmate wwx with someone who isn't lwj, and should wwx still die (pretty inevitable) the issue abruptly becomes sephiroth grieving for his brutally defamed and murdered One Love and not going on a genocidal spree about it. Lsh is not enough of an deterrent when the jianghu wants the kid dead too.

Sephiroth reincarnates into lwj and lxc in a split soul/mind situation, and they 'both' fall in love with wwx. I loved this, but the logistical issues (particularly the war) clashed with anything to do with the canon plot, and again it didn't fix the other romantic issues.

Sephiroth reincarnates into just lxc and that would have very little bearing on the wwx centric plot, so maybe a romance with jc? Again, cute, but sephiroth is pretty much the polar opposite of lxc and that'd mess up so much. They could work a grumpy (cold, uncaring) with a grumpy (hot, cares so very much) dynamic, I think they'd work pretty well under the right circumstances, but that combined with the fact I don't really ship them (sorry!) put me off expanding it further.

The one I finally decided on:

Sephiroth as... nmj! The combination of the special sabers and their resentment, the war leader role, the reputation, the kid brother abruptly foisted on him, it really struck me! I really like the idea of nmj slipping NHS some of his dna as a baby (qi covering for hojo science in this case) and the compulsive consequences of that. Feeling like NHS only really cares for him because of the s cells mind control. Having to take care of him like those egg/flour bag baby projects to teach kids empathy and responsibility but with a real human kid brother.

Nmj letting NHS slack even if he hates it because his subconscious will protect him in an emergency. If you've seen the scene in ff7 rebirth of cloud with the soldiers you'll know what I mean (it was SUCH a good scene. Ice cold). Imagine NHS of all people getting in trouble (like in the live action) and suddenly like a switch is flipped turning into a merciless murder machine.

I feel like they'd bond a lot in their own way, with NHS both thinking the world of and being sibling scared of him, them thoroughly enjoying battles of wits like weiqi but having no/few shared interests outside of that. Nmj honing NHS' observation skills, ruthlessness, quick thinking (and unwittingly, acting skills lmao). Sephiroths total inability to comprehend NHS' want to be lazy and indulgent with his own childhood of being genetically made to be a high functioning child soldier and then having to lead the sect and raise a kid from a young age, but having no real reference for how a normal childhood would look.

It'd be really interesting to see how it'd affect the war efforts, with someone well versed in large scale conflict, with sephiroths own overwhelming power. Wwx wouldn't be the sole ace, and how would that affect his own motivations and reputation if he wasn't as necessary?

And of course!! The venerated triad!! How would sephiroth take lxc and jgy, so much like his old genesis and angel? Would the experience of crisis core prepare him for those two, or for betrayal and distrust? Without the threat of degradation, would he find himself clinging to them? Would he notice lgys betrayal or underestimate him? Would he feed him his dna and pull an uno reverse??

And should he die, there's no way his corpse is going to be normal. Like, at all. (And poor NHS would sense it, react to it, part of his mind and cells getting ripped out, shut down, the warmth and love of his brother.) Would it constantly try to revive? Would its presence cause mania or mood swings, hallucinations, nightmares? Would people exposed start picking up habits or beliefs he had while alive? Would it be cut up to try and weaken it? Would its eyes track lgy until he hides it away? Would he start oozing green?? And don't even start on what a temple scene would look like in this situation, oh man. It'd be Bad. I think he'd claw his way back to full consciousness out of pure homicidal refusal. He's clawed his way back from total annihilation far too many times to let some conniving POLITICIAN do him in for good.

Nmj staunchly returning from the dead to take up being a Co sect leader again because now he's actually unkillable and NHS is not about to let this happen without shoving as much work as possible back onto him lmao (so he can't leave). And befriending wen ning. The white hair and blank eyes with the iron grey skin and black/gold would be striking.

Basically nmj would be ripe for really good canon divergence and character analysis and growth but even if you keep canon the exact same there's still plenty of room during and after for anything ranging from hurt/comfort to fluff to pure crack (we're putting Sci fi dystopia allegory man in Chinese High Fantasy it's not going to go completely smoothly. And this man does not have experience with raising a child).

There is, also, the option of split mind nhs/nmj sephiroth, in which one body takes the brawn and the violence and the attention and the other keeps the brain and the secret longing for safety and comfort and leisure, acting as though two separate people to allow this space to rest and heal and learn to be human in the way a child soldier or orphaned teen sect leader isn't allowed. It'd mean NHS and nmj would have to be twins, and thus full blooded, but that could be rectified by nmj just being the youngest of the trio and NHS being a few years behind in classes so he's in the same year as the other clan heirs (and wwx) like canon. He'd also be a lot, lot harder to kill and if jgy did anyway sephiroth would quite brutally extract revenge immediately for killing his other body and that means no happy ending for wwx (or a lot of people tbh).

So which idea is your favourite?

[rainbowsky]

Hello! Wish you to have a wonderful mood :) I have a mood for theories, so question is about that.

If you believe that they got together even before shooting the Untamed, isn't it sounds like a miracle that web character traits were so similar to Lan Wangi?

Like, ok, I can see that when xz was given a role he could recommend his boyfriend to be casted as Lan Wangi, since he is an actor too. But what are the chances that they would cast his bf AND he would be famous for his cold appearence to stranges and being very quiet, speaking very few? Because I think that's the main reason he got casted on a role, because he had this in him. In the interview it was said, that they saw Lan Wangi in him, it was his character.

Especially it would sound like a miracle if he got Lan Wangi role and they didn't know those two were dating.

I just think that they really didn't talk much after DDU, as they said, and got to know each other on set. Things like this happen in life and it certanly sounds more realistic to me.

So what do you think?

Hi Yaqay, what a nice sentiment - thanks so much, I wish for you to have a wonderful mood as well! 💖

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

I love digging into theories, and I'm always interested in looking at things from a different perspective. Yours is an interesting one, but I admit I don't quite follow the logic here.

For readers who are unfamiliar with my thoughts on timeline, here are a couple of posts you might want to read before going any further:

Timeline of a Relationship

The Devil’s Timeline

If I'm correctly following what you're saying, here, your basic premise is that it would be wildly unusual and a deeply unlikely coincidence for DD to be so well suited for the role of Lan Wangji and to be cast in that role while also dating the man who was cast as Wei Wuxian. Much more unlikely than them both being cast in those roles because they were suited to them, and later getting romantically involved with each other. There's no way they could have been cast opposite each other without production knowing they were a couple.

Here are some of my thoughts on that:

While GG was basically handpicked for the role of WWX, there is no evidence to suggest that DD was recommended (by GG or anyone else) for the role of LWJ, or had applied for the role of LWJ specifically. All we know is that he submitted a photo during casting. It's possible he was being considered for other roles. His photo had been passed over a couple of times before they decided to bring him in for an audition. At that time all the roles had been filled except LWJ. When the producer saw him in person she immediately thought he'd be perfect for the role.

If - IF - DD was recommended by GG (or anyone else) for the role of Lan Wangji (and I really don't buy that theory - I think it would be more likely that they just wanted to work together on a queer production, regardless of their roles) he might have been recommended for that role because of the sense that DD would make a good LWJ, not just because he was GG's BF.

They would have been looking for someone who was very beautiful, cold and reserved. While DD is definitely all of those things on first impression, those are by no means his only traits (he can be a lewd, crass, hilarious gremlin, for example). It's just fortunate that his demeanour when meeting someone new - particularly in a formal setting - is very polite, obedient and reserved. It gave the producer an immediate taste of that side of his personality, which was suitable for LWJ. And of course DD is definitely A JADE. So beautiful. The photo sent in by his team was wildly unsuitable for LWJ, which was probably the biggest reason he wasn't taken seriously for the role at first.

I strongly disagree with the notion that production would have had any idea they were dating. GG and DD are quite good at pretending not to know each other - we've seen this with our own eyes. I'm not sure why you'd think they'd out themselves to strangers, or let the nature of their relationship be known to people who were considering hiring them. Queer people are exceptionally skilled at hiding their queerness, their relationships, etc. as a matter of survival. That has to be even more true for queer celebrities in a country like China. Even in a queer-friendly production such as the one I believe The Untamed was, no one's going to just barge in and let it all hang out on the first day. Those relationships of trust are built up over time. In the early stages, even if a team was rumored to be queer friendly, everyone would have been very cautious and reserved until they knew for sure.

There are also reasons why the idea they 'got to know each other and fell in love on set' just doesn't hold a lot of water for me. I've talked about that in some detail in the two posts I linked above, so I won't go into it all again.

I think it would be much more unlikely of a coincidence for two shy, 'slow-starting' guys like GG and DD to go from complete strangers to being joined at the hip (and in their own little world with their own language/rapport that's practically incomprehensible to others) within days of meeting, than for a couple of talented actors who are dating and want to work on a queer production together to be hired for the leading roles and do a good job.

But we'll never know for sure, so everyone should feel free to speculate and theorize and come up with their own take on things. As I've said before, there's no need to marry ourselves to one theory. It's fun to consider all angles.

[llycaons]

hi i love hearing your opinions about cql and i remember you said that you prefer mianqing over yanqing. i love both but i think mianqing would suit each other more tbh. id also love to hear your reasons why!

Hi anon, thanks so much! for me it comes down to compatability in personalities

yanqing is a fine ship based on shared experiences (both familial and traumatic) and relatability, and wq could provide the stability and strength and confidence that jyl often finds herself without while wq could get taken care of AND help take care of jyl too....but wq is so reserved and guarded, and jyl is so polite and shy and uncomfortable with pushing, that I think unless they were together for an extended period of time in intense situations that forced them to rely on each other, it would be hard to for them to get close or open up to each other. and you could argue CR arc and the wen attack provided that foundation, esp with wq helping jyl medically and jyl apparently becoming closer with wq's beloved wen ning, but I'm someone who likes to imagine relationships based on what you see in canon (this is about to make me a hypocrite) and they seemed just as gently polite to each other at the end as they did initially. but it's a nice ship, I certainly don't disparage it or dislike it! there's just too little...spark in there for me if you know what I mean

now for mianqing. this is actually quite a bad justification so I apologize in advance but the way that mm acts just makes me think she'd be more likely to break through wq's walls, and provide interesting and valuable companionship. wq, even more polite but just as distant as lwj, carefully guards herself as he does. and the only person (besides a literal child) unrelated to them who really broke through those barriers was wwx, who's attention and interest was impossible to brush off or ignore. and like wwx, mm and wq are both sharply intelligent and have strong enough principles to defy their sects and do the right thing for others regardless of the damage it incurs to them, and mm isn't willing or able to sit by while wq's family is hunted down once she knows the situation. NOT to blame jyl for what other sect leaders are doing but it makes for a somewhat awkward situation, romantically speaking 😭. wq's best friend is wwx, so it just would make sense that she could come to care for someone just as fiery and witty and passionate as him. wq is an extremely strong and brilliant person with equally strong ideals, and I can't see her with someone who doesn't share those ideals or is willing to risk what they have for her family. I don't have much of a reason for mm to return her affection besides 'wq beautiful genius, who wouldn't? but it's something I can see arising in a rogue cultivator scenario. I actually find mm's canon husband very charming (as I find xuanli), but there you have it

also....women are hot.

thanks for the ask!

[xiyao-feels]

One of the things that drives me nuts about the 'their name means the same thing' thing, for nie//yao, is that—

even assuming it's meaningfully true, which is really not obvious to me—

But taking for granted that it's meaningfully true, what a stupid damn thing to hang a shipping analysis on.

Like, first, these kinds of details can be meaningful but their meaning must be analyzed through context! Do I think the description of the gentians with "their petals adorned dew like stars" in the Lotus Seed Pod extra is meaningful in a xiyao context? Yes—but only because of the relationship between LXC and JGY which is actually established elsewhere in the text. I don't start thinking Xi//cheng must be real because the gentians are purple! These kinds of details can be fun but they're not in themselves arguments, in the way "nie//yao have names that mean the same thing!" often seems to be treated. If WWX and LWJ and Lan An and his wife and Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan all had names that meant the same thing, then you'd absolutely have a case for understanding this as evidence that the relationship was romantic or at least should be interpreted against those relationships. But of course that's not the case! And relatedly—

Secondly, if I were going to interpret this as meaningful, which again I am not convinced of.... I think the natural point of reference isn't romantic at all, but instead a pair of brothers famously known as the Twin Jades. Which I do actually think is an interesting and meaningful lens for NMJ&JGY's relationship! I've spoken about this before so I won't go into depth here but if you look at, for example, NMJ agreeing to the sworn brotherhood because it will give him "the status and the position to urge Jin GuangYao, like how he disciplined his younger brother, Nie HuaiSang" (ER trans ch 49, emphasis mine) followed immediately by the flower banquet which is the one scene where LXC and JGY are present but don't interact on the page but where the brother-pairs LXC&LWJ and WWX&JC are quite significant, and where NHS is of course not present; I might throw in LXC talking about going to help LWJ during the teacups scene during Sunshot, when MY was serving NMJ, though of course that would have to be examined in more detail in a proper analysis; and just in general consider the ways in which LXC and LWJ's relationship seems the best and most functional fraternal relationship we see, and the ways in which NMJ comparatively fails as a brother against that model for both NHS and JGY—

In any case, I do think that's an interesting lens through which to examine NMJ & JGY's relationship! And if I were going to interpret NMJ and JGY's names as meaning anything, I'd interpret it as pointing, narratively, to that parallel and contrast. But you'll notice that the argument from the actual scenes they're in is the important part; the names might highlight it or draw our attention to it but they cannot substitute for an argument. I would never say, "why do you ship nie//yao? Their names both mean jade and they're sworn brothers so obviously they're paralleling the Twin Jades, so it can't be romantic!" Because that would be a ridiculous argument.

[bipirate]

ooh! 1, 3, 14, 22, 25!

thanks for specifying cql in your other ask!

the character everyone gets wrong

mostly wwx but like i said in my other ask, lwj and nhs as well. also jc. theyre always depicted as superficial stereotypes and robbed of any complexity that makes them interesting.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

man i dont even know at this point, i've seen so many garbage takes on here. what about that one time someone got so mad in my inbox because cql was rumoured to have been a love story between wq and wwx at first and they 'changed it because of fans threatening the production crew' and they called the script writers and producers etc homophobes for daring to alter the source material to be a hetero relationship. all that when the end result is still deeply homosexual even with censorship.

or all the thinkpieces people have written about how jiang cheng is actually a good guy and he couldve been the one to save the wens if only wen qing had been gracious enough to marry him. or whatever.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

just one thing? nah

'oh my god lan zhan warn me before you do something so romantic!! ~~~'

when wwx's waist is described to be so tiny that lwj's hands can wrap all the way around it :/

i havent actually read fic in a while so this is more difficult than i thought

wwx having straight hair in his original body but wavy/curly hair as mxy for some reason? this isn't bad but it's something i've come across multiple times and i always wonder why because i don't remember this being a thing in the novel specifically

lqr being homophobic for some reason. let the man live. he's traditional but there's no indication that he's homophobic?

fic authors seem to have no fashion sense whatsoever

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

the fact that lan wangji would absolutely be friends with all the lesbians and especially mianmian. WHERE is all the lwj + mianmian friendship content (idk. all of my favourite things are pretty popular as well)

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

the complaints about cql being censored and 'not actually gay' or 'not gay enough'. like yeah censorship is bad, we all know this, and if given a choice i would also have preferred a textually explicit romance, but the people that complain about this really lack critical thinking. wwx and lwj don't need to make out or have sex in the woods without lube for them to be a legitimate couple lmao. cql IS a romance and it's made obvious by the symbolism, the music, and the script.

[screechfoxes]

character: the guy in your icon

favorite thing about them

i mean, how do i pick? he's just the Most character

it's a tie between his ruthless single-minded focus to ruining every aspect of jin guangyao's life, and the way he leans on the social perception of himself as the useless child he once was to accomplish his goals <3

least favorite thing about them

i legitimately can't think of anything that isn't an "i love this about him but recognise that it's objectively terrible in-universe". i do think i'd never want to know him IRL, not even young and silly NHS

favorite line

i love the CQL-only line of... what is it, something like "the things that aren't my business, i won't meddle with"? i really feel like it sums up his laser-focus on what he cares about, and frankly apathy towards basically everything else

brOTP

i'm coming up blank, but probably because i don't tend to draw lines between platonic and romantic ships i enjoy. i just love throwing characters together and seeing what happens

OTP

i like my nie huaisang ships Messy and Fraught, so it's got to be either nie huaisang/jin guangyao or nie huaisang/mo xuanyu

(i'd also like to shout out to my rarepair of jiang yanli/nie huaisang. ie: neediest man alive/woman who stakes her self-worth on being able to take care of people. and also my other rarepair of qin su/nie huaisang)

nOTP

i'm not the nOTP sort, but i confess that even though one of my favourite nie huaisang fics (and fics for the untamed in general) is sangcheng, it's one of those ships i'm not interested in in its own right - every author needs to sell it to me fresh

random headcanon

CQL-verse, obviously, but i generally think of him as having had a crush on meng yao Back In The Day - usually not more than an idle fancy, but just enough to add yet another layer of Fraught to it all

unpopular opinion

i don't see him as the type to matchmake WWX and LWJ.

both because i can't see him as interested in doing that in general, and in an AU where there was never a situation that led to him honing his natural cleverness, i can't see him having the social confidence to be the "wise" matchmaker type

song i associate with them

metaphor, by the crane wives. probably not a coincidence that i also associate it with one of my most beloved OCs tbh

favorite picture of them

i nearly posted one of the exquisitely hollowed-out expressions on his face post-JGY's death, but honestly, how can i turn down a nie huaisang who is just so incredibly baby

[bijoumikhawal]

Okay I've read the main body of SVSSS. I think it's really good as a meta parody and gives some interesting insight into MXTX's mind- I think some of the criticism of her work is unfair and this book is a pretty good example in parts (the running commentary about misogyny in stallion novels is a lot more unambiguous than her accurately depicting misogyny in others wirks like MDZS, though I don't understand why the latter gets read as an indication of her as a person).

However I don't think it works well as a romance story. There are main two problems; one,that while all of MXTX's main characters are people that have gone through the wringer and lashed out on others because of it, sometimes in really grusome and reprehensible ways, we get to see who they are not just before it goes to shit, but after they've acted in a such a way and either by intentional choice or just the passing of time, behave in a kinder and more upright manner. SVSSS's main story ends right after LBH isn't being an antagonistic force driven to the pits. Additionally, LBH is (understandably) a very misanthropic character which makes the way you'd show him learning how to be a person not driven by grief, fear, and anger different.

The other point is SY/SQQ's internalized homophobia is handled in a way that distracts somewhat from his feelings for LBH, and this combines with a lot of the things taken as romantic by other characters being misinterpretions of his internal world. Some of the latter seems to be him bullshitting himself though- "I'm not crying because I'm facing down my beloved student who I've failed horribly and hates me before I off myself without knowing for sure if my contingency plan will work, the sun's just in my eyes", sure Jan. Given how WWX acts its clear that MXTX now knows how to balance internalized homophobia with the character falling in love even if he doesn't realize it, and TGCF doesn't really have internalized homophobia on the protagonists part as far as I've read, he's just a sworn virgin. (However one could argue HC had some issues when he was human depending on how you read the Land of the tender scene).

SVSSS is short compared to her other works, and while I'm not sure how one would do it, having us spend some time with LBH and SQQ after they've gotten rid of his evil sword and SQQ is helping him work through his misanthropy, desire for control, and abandonment issues would improve their relationship from a story perspective, especially because of how obsessive and unhealthy LBH has spent... 8 years of his life regarding SQQ. There's already a foundation with LBH taking SQQ back to his home peak to be taken care of after his near death experience and leaving alone when he gets chased off, and SQQ choosing to go with him with no pressure on him to do so other than LBH's wellbeing (which is no longer tied to things like the apocalypse). I just think there needs to be a bit more between that and what I'm reading in the extras so far.

And it is needed because of how much LBH's dark behavior was directed at SQQ. WWX's dark behavior wasn't so targeted, LWJ's had an instance of targeting but a large part of the novel has been about him doing his best to respect WWX's boundaries and not repeat his parents relationship. I'm not up to snuff on what happened after XL's first banishment yet so I'll keep quiet on that. LBH is so desperate for this one person's affection that he almost destroys the world to ensure he has no other choice but him (and they have terrible fuck or die sex that no one enjoys about it). Evil sword possession making him decide this was a good idea or no, to work as a satisfying romance story, you need to after of all that. Especially because the evil sword had the ability to push him that far because of how chaotic and wrecked his mental and spiritual state were. They're still wrecked.

[pharahsgf]

i don't really care for labels in the context of MDZS or danmei in general especially using modern labels. i remember seeing a whole twt feud about how wwx was bisexual and not gay + it was just so presumptuous to me???. imo i don't think he has any interest in girls across any of the adaptations, but labels have always been freeform especially when you involve headcanons and fanon lol

on the same wavelength adhd wwx + autistic lwj??? i guess it's interesting to see the ways in which people apply their own headcanons, interpretations and wishes to characters but still,,,

sorry for the weird rant,, i guess i was so annoyed about how some fanon depictions are so set in stone when usually they're just headcanons that may or may not apply to the character

it's bc wei wuxian flirted with some girls in the novel & twitter people think romantic history = sexuality and every gay man who ever said hi to a woman is bi. like arguing about labels wrt fictional characters is such a wasted effort in general bc sexual identities cannot be derived from behaviour, and doing so w lwj and wwx is especially useless given that they only ever loved each other and the setting doesn't even have those labels, so the idea that wwx HAS to be bi and any diverging interpretation is bi erasure is so like........ anyways

i don't have an issue with adhd / autistic hcs because it's an obvious reading for at least lwj & it's mostly just ppl with adhd + autistic people having fun anyway but oh my g-d some wx content guns so hard for the "energetic adhd bi boy who's kind of an idiot and ✨oblivious✨ x shy autistic gay boy who's pining and blushy" stock internet relationship and it makes me want to kill myself

[starrywangxian]

just like any other autist, i hate it when people are wrong about my special interest. my special interest is mdzs and as a piece of literature there is no "right" or "wrong" when it comes to analysis and characterisations, however, sometimes people will misunderstand some things. so! to clear things up here's why wwx and lwj hold back their holdings even after literally having sex with each other!

1- wwx

a lot of being talk about wei wuxian being oblivious to lan wangji's feelings and, at first, i agreed with that statement. it's funny and ironic to think that the smartest man in the entire cultivation world doesn't realise when he's in love with someone who loves him back... but now i think otherwise. you see, i think wwx realises his feelings somewhere after they rescue the juniors with wen ning and during their trip around yunmeng. if i were to suggest a specific scene, it would notably be when they are travelling to yunmeng by boat and wwx spends the journey in lwj's lap and if i were to suggest a specific line it would probably be: "Lan Zhan, he really... If only I knew, I wouldn’t have woken up. If I remained unconscious, I’d be able to lie in his arms for the entire journey!" from chapter 84. now, i'm aware this scene can be interpreted in other ways but wwx is undeniably aware of his romantic feelings for wwx during the scene where wwx falls from the tree and lwj catches him ("A voice inside of him said, If he catches me, I'll..." - chapter 87).

so if wwx was aware of his romantic feelings for lwj, why did wwx react the way he did after their time in bed together? obviously, one answer is the fear of rejection/fear of changing things between them ("Originally, Wei WuXian thought that compared to having his feelings be found out and them become so awkward they couldn’t even be friends, he’d much rather have Lan WangJi feel that he was a cheap, flippant person instead." - chapter 96) but does really wwx believe his own excuses of "it's normal for men to be like this sometimes"? wwx is a romantic at heart so probably not. i honestly believe somewhere deep down wwx had a slight inclination that, yes lwj likes me too. after all, wwx was prepared to confess his true romantic feelings to lwj afterwards ("In these two lives, you’ve helped me a lot. I know you’re... really nice to me. You’re really great! Apart from thank you, I don’t know what else to say to you... Anyways, towards you, I feel... I feel..." - chapter 95) and no one would really confess unless they thought they stood a chance, right? you could argue that wwx was just feeling the heat of the moment and wasn't thinking clearly etc. but if we go with he thought lwj liked him back then this gives way to another layer of his character. because all of the people who have ever loved wei wuxian unconditionally have died (his shijie, wen qing, his parents etc.) and most of them have died by his own hands (or he is blamed for their deaths and 100% blames himself too) so wwx doesn't believe he is worthy of love. and with growing up with the jiangs, i don't blame him. so wwx isn't quick to believe lwj's feelings because he doesn't think they're real from this mindset that he doesn't think he deserves it.

2- lwj

lwj is a different story.

one of the most obvious reasons why lwj reacts the way he does is because he thinks wwx is teasing him again, or doing smth to annoy him or he believes wwx's excuses of "it's normal for men to be like this".

another obvious explanation is that lwj has already confessed his love before in the past and got rejected in quite possibly the worse way ever. getting told to get lost after bearing your heart to your beloved will be painful for anyone, sure, but for lwj? someone who held his feelings in for so long? someone who's often told is emotionless and rarely shows his emotions? yeah, that's going to take a toll. a toll so big in fact, it seems very fair why he would keep his feelings to himself. also it's important to note that lwj doesn't know that wwx doesn't remember in confession after the bu ye tian massacre/blood bath at bu ye tian so he most likely thinks wwx wants to forget it didn't happen to avoid awkwardness after such a clear rejection.

another explanation could be because: he was reacting positively and showing his feelings, he just wasn't saying them through words. usually, lwj doesn't like people touch him but here he is lying on top of wwx, naked after sex and letting wwx peck his head. that, in lwj's mind, is more than enough approval and a confession of their feelings. lwj is known to use his words sparingly and only when he must, surely this moment doesn't need a verbal confirmation when his actions are enough?

and another explanation could also be that lwj doesn't want to be like his father: he doesn't want to force his feelings on someone who isn't willing to accept them. he has no right to show his affections or confess his love to someone who just wants to tease him, annoy him or use him for some relief.

[layzeal]

Hello!

This is my opinion, please correct me somehow im really willing to change since thats how i am with new fandoms i get myself into(is it really new if i have known it for 2 years) anyway, please forgive my insolence. I just wanna ask what you think of cql changing a lot themes (especially that importance they have put on yunmeng trios ( its to the point ive ask my myself if JYL manipulates WWX, you know guil tripping forcing someone to be with you (obv not romantically) out of pity or other) (and downgrading certain things like JC's cruelty or washing WWX making him not lose control but have outside factors) (the timeline is also confusing) and i just felt like most of the lessons in mdzs was not successfully implemented in the live action. There were a lot of times that made me leave the show halfway because i was hoping for a lot of wangxian actions (it was 50 epi after all) but most of it was in flashback and focuses too much on the said trio. then the sudden change of story into XXC and XY, and the little changes too like LQY being a Jin disciple.

and also about that LWJ self harm ask, ive read some meta about it him being sad and in grief, another saying its a part of remembering WWX (which for me is so ridiculous, which part exactly will remind him of WWX, the self harm part of the scars?) and frankly im more inclined to believe thats its a mistake he have done while drunk and grieving, he has to let it out somehow and without logic and inhibitions he must have done it after seeing the torture weapon?? like its not a planned thing( but who am i talk, it could be depression speaking) which is not making sense how do you manage to find it just lying so it could also have been because something have reminded it of him. i honestly wanna stop thinking about the hows so i just ask.

another point id like to ask is how do people manage to have questions that sounds so amazing? idk the word for it. but you know what i mean, bizarre then people like you somehow have the word to explain such things. how long does it usually take you to articulate what you mean, and what process are you using that makes it so easy to understand.

hi friend!! so, for a brief history: i actiually got into MDZS through CQL back in june 2021, and i really loved it!! however, there were a lot of things that were very confusing to me (especially the timeline), which is why i decided to pick up the novel, because i was very very interested in understanding the whole picture!

(more under cut)

but as you can see by now, my fandom content has almmost exclusively switched to novel/audio drama canon! and well, there's not really much secret about it, other than me just vastly preferring the novel's narrative, for many of the reasons you mentioned! my general stance on CQL is that, while it's a pretty bad adaptation that fails in a lot of ways to convey some themes of the original work, it does work really well as its own, independent thing, and that's kinda how it exists in brain? i've kinda grown a wall of separation between the two, in which i don't really see CQL as MDZS, and tend to appreciate it on its own (ie. for as much as i LOVE wangxian's relationship in the novel, there really is something incredibly tasty about how it was done in the show that only works within that universe)

but most of all, i only watched cql like, once, and can remember VERY little about it, so it's why i don't really feel comfortable talking about its changes because i genuinely cannot remember how they were executed LMAO. but YEAH there are more changes i dislike than i like, and whether they were made because of censorship or not, it's still sad how much lost potential there was :(

and @ you last question: oh, thank you so much!! hmm, i do tend to just kinda... write down what i'm thinking, so the words you're reading are pretty much my exact train of thought haha i guess i can be really thankful to having reached a level of english fluency that allows me to make-up sentences in my mind already in english, rather than having to translate them beforehand. a lot of my practice experience was actually by doing writing and roleplaying here on tumblr, so maybe that's related! just reading and writing a lot can definitely help you develop an easier way to articulate your thoughts. it's why i love doing media analysis, really, i get so excited about something from a piece of media that i HAVE to share, and for that to work i need to articulate it well enough, so it's very motivating! does that make sense? i hope so dkjfhjdfkg

hope you have a good day, anon <3