//CW: Animal Death
Since Jellie has passed away today, I want to share some pictures of her that I have collected. I know its a very sad day for us in the fandom, but I'd like to share these so we can remember the happy times we had with her.
She's always been my favorite cat to get on Minecraft, even before I discovered Scar and Hermitcraft. Learning she was based on a real cat was amazing. Knowing she lived such a long life with such a wonderful person who inspires me (and so many others) so much is a comfort to me.
My condolences to Scar and his family, and may Jellie rest in peace.
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idk why i have such strong lore about eddy's parents but i feel like i know these mfers
100% they are swingers
dad does coke on the not so down low
totally the types to cuss in front of their kids and don't care if their kids cuss "in the house"
mom is in a classic mlm (mary kay); has been known to use little eddy as a model to practice her make up skills/demonstrate products for clients - the shitty full coverage foundation almost looks decent on pristine toddler skin
nasty little white dog with tear stains once both boys are gone
make their own p0rnos
completely non-religious; the subject never comes up
they either lived in the trailer park or a tiny downtown apartment before eddy sr.'s big promotion- were pretty poor when they had bro
mom's family is italian, dad's side is irish - or vice versa, doesn't really matter
mom is friends with momma kanker - thinks the other wives in the neighborhood are uptight bitches; they kiki and chain-smoke/day-drink together
dad has a gay brother/cousin that he was really close to before he came out and was disowned by the family; feels that he was tricked and betrayed for whatever heterosexual reason; thinks this justifies his homohobia
mom is very affectionate with her boys (especially eddy), and definitely licks her thumb to wipe schmutz off their faces even into adulthood
both parents are extremely uncomfortable when serious emotions come up, and have no clue how to handle eddy's obvious behavioral/emotional issues; mom turns to food for comfort and figures the same will work for her sons
she feels guilty for what happened to eddy and has trouble telling him no or punishing him; dad's motto is 'boys will be boys"- that's a threat
dad has never uttered the words "i love you", and would only respond with a grunt if anyone ever said it, but that hasn't happened in years
dad really wants to pass on the family business to one of his sons, so he was pissed when his oldest decided to pursue a more artistic path; really lays it on thick with eddy that he's gonna be the one to take over some day
mom never graduated high school cuz she got pregnant and dropped out; worked a few odd jobs when bro was growing up but is now a full time stay-at-home mom... when she's not at spin class or the salon or attending some sort of direct sales function
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Thoughts on why the main relationship in TGCF manages to be full of tropes that are trash-associated but is also deeply compelling:
There are SO MANY nuances of the complicated power dynamics and self-sacrifice in Hualian’s relationship that could’ve been cringily unhealthy at so many points and THEN they just WEREN’T. Not ever. Not once
Every time I revisit this novel, I remain so impressed with MXTX’s capacity for nuance. These two are so gone on each other. Hua Cheng literally worships Xie Lian like a god. They would commit atrocities for each other. There are literally characters in the novel who worry about the sheer, unconditional trust Xie Lian gives to Hua Cheng no matter how many secrets he has. In a lesser writer’s hands, this exact dynamic is unhealthy to the point of atrocity: one becoming an unmoored monster and the other both enabler and victim. The shadow of this dynamic is hinted at in the book 4 flashback but it is specifically not allowed to actually become that. Never do we see even a shade of that relationship slip into the book itself, because that’s not how it really is for these two, not even in the darkest flashback moments.
Many narratives in which this level of devotion is present, it would be accurate to call it blind devotion, which becomes uncomfortable for the sake of the follower and unhealthy for the development of their love interest, but here the devotion is so continuously and unfailingly anchored not in looking the other way (the damaging nature of doing so being one of the core themes of the novel) but is conversely about seeing clearly and understanding fully.
So when Hua Cheng does things like offering to take the plague sword and release the disease on Yong’an himself, it actually has the effect of letting Xie Lian see the effect these choices are having on himself more clearly. It was absolutely necessary that Wu Ming not say “let me do this because you want it done” but instead say “I would do this if you needed me to and you didn’t want to because I independently understand why you want this”, because then, refusing him is a real reflection for Xie Lian on himself. There is self-sacrificing devotion in the relationship, but only for the sake of their actual wellbeing, never just while following a blind desire to do what they say.
Like, Hua Cheng can refuse Xie Lian. That’s a pretty foundational thing that happened. He does refuse him things from the beginning, even in the most basic, relationship-defining things. Xie Lian asked him to forget him after the burning of his temples and he refused, and here we are now. It’s a devotion to each other’s wellbeing, that also manages to be so without either of them assuming they know better than the other what that person needs or wants. The only time Hua Cheng actively sacrifices himself (which Xie Lian definitely wouldn’t want if asked) it’s in pursuit of the goal/outcome that XL wanted/needed to happen.
There manages to be complete devotion to each other, and also deep respect for each other’s choices and judgement, and those things…. often don’t coexist in fiction. Like, Hua Cheng introduced nothing if not agency to Xie Lian’s life. In the grand majority of the side arcs, often the “twist” in the mystery we’re exploring is some variation on “was someone forced to do something? No, they had agency!” And whether what they did with it was bad is also very much up for debate. The backstories and current stories of our protags were often journeys in recognizing that they’re not absolved of personal responsibility for lack of easy options, and show them winning by choosing to wrest back agency instead, even to their own detriment. “Take the third path”, “no paths are bound” etc. are catchphrases of our main character for a reason. Sometimes the best option still ended in tragedy, but it didn’t compromise their integrity. I LOVE “no paths are bound” as a tagline for this book and a catchphrase for Xie Lian, because it ALSO ties the good things about the main relationship into the main themes of the book. Hua Cheng’s goal is not just to be able to protect, which he probably could have done as an ordinary super ghost, but to be powerful enough to put every single possibility on the table for Xie Lian. Hua Cheng needed to be the Most Powerful, because he decided that if Xie Lian wants to do something, Hua Cheng needs to be strong enough to make it happen, needs to make it so that that every option, every path, is always under serious consideration. He literally made it so that any roll of the dice was an equally good outcome (Which is the best rationale for designing an OP character I’ve ever heard in my life). He’s not preventing danger, but instead increasing his agency in the face of it. Essentially “If what you end up choosing is MORE DANGER then I’ll be unhappy about it but I won’t stop you, I will work to make that path walkable too. I’m not here to keep you on a path, I’m here to open and smooth the one you most want to use.”
And, moreover, both people are able to be insanely cool and insanely powerful and be looked up to by the other, because while the power dynamics between them, perceived or real, could’ve been uncomfortable at many points, they WEREN’T. The people involved are on even footing even when they think they’re not. There was never a time when their presence wasn’t good for each other, even before Xie Lian knew to pay attention. Even in Hua Cheng’s very earliest appearances in the book 2 flashbacks, it’s really notable that he had enough effect on Xie Lian and his well-being that he appears multiple times in Xie Lian’s memory of those events, even though he had no idea who he was, or even that all his appearances were the same person.
MXTX really seems to grasp what’s attractive about these protective/super-powerful-boyfriend dynamics in fiction, why they often go badly wrong/make fiction bad rep of healthy relationships, and then SHOWS THEM IN THEIR HEALTHY FUNCTIONAL FORM INSTEAD so we’re free to love what we love about them. At the end of the day, we’re shown the way the best of these things all ideally point to love and concern for the other person as they are, before any considerations of their role in your own life or what they do for you. BUT with the expectation of reciprocal respect and latitude to do what you need to do as well.
I’ve never seen another story do this quite so well with such so-often-abused tropes and dynamics, and it’s one of the reasons that the romance in particular makes this work so near and dear to me.
It kinda reaffirmed my ability to see these things I naturally love seeing in love stories as healthy, reasonable forms of affection and devotion when based in an actual healthy relationship. When much, much fiction that treats similar dynamics badly makes me want to feel bad for enjoying aspects of them.
So seeing THIS relationship be what it is was a validating, freeing, and clarifying experience.It basically explained for me why I like these things, and elucidated why, for me, they fit into my paradigm of ideal romance and devotion, even (especially) when they can be problematic if treated wrong.
In essence, seeing these tropes done well is also an exercise in seeing what was missing in cases where they were damagingly removed from context, and thus understanding their key aspects and the core behind their impact. This book actually literally kinda reframed the way I conceptualize romance by helping me put together how many of the tropes I love in romances actually fit into an ideal relationship.
A spring cleaning of my thoughts if you will.
An ordering of my conceptions.
And I bonded with it deeply for that.
And yet it is also trash, who would’ve thought.
(it is self-aware, culture-savvy, meta-commentary trash for the most part, that clearly leans into it with fond intention, so I really do not mind it. It manages to be genre bending while expressing only love for its own genre and why it is the way it is. No disdain here. Only love for things as they are.)
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