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im addicted to this video btw i quote it daily

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I'm curious. Tag this with your sexuality and what your favorite M/F ship is.

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Danmei everyday with smth RARE

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OH fanmixes. I suspect this has been asked already, but just in case: Song Lan? My boy Zichen? Or, if it has been asked, how about some Villainous Friends? That'd make an amusing fanmix.

nobody has asked for Zichen! so Zichen it is

distant snow, cold frost: a song lan fanmix | listen on youtube

between - vienna teng | the ocean is your voice - thoushaltnot | bloodbuzz ohio - the national | where are we going from here - blackmore's night | across the universe of time - hayley westenra | idumea - patrick wolf

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a couple people expressed some interest in this so I'm going to try noodling on it in a more coherent fashion

The first thing is that - as other people have written about - when constructing a modern AU it is important to think about how characters in a historical or fantasy setting relate to violence in a proportional rather than literal way. MDZS has a setting where killing is more normalized than it generally is in modern society, both on a personal and a societal level.

(This is also why acting as though a fantasy villain blowing up a planet is equivalent to the concept of a real planet being blown up is silly on a level that's not just the equation of fictional and real; it's also a matter of scale in the setting or genre.)

So looking at Xue Yang's propensity for violence in canon as a way to consider how he might behave in a modern setting firstly needs to examine the ways in which that violence is calibrated to his canon setting.

It is definitely true that, even relative to other characters, Xue Yang's violence is marked as beyond the pale and extreme. So it would follow that the same would be true in a modern setting - but my argument is that it's not quite as straightforward as that, because there are certain contextual things about Xue Yang's violence that I think are important to take into consideration.

The first is to note that his most notorious act of extreme violence - the massacre of the Chang Clan - is one that occurs while he is under the protection of the Jin Sect, and he knows it. (In CQL, he gets permission from Wen Ruohan, though it's true that he never invokes that as a defense.) There is every indication that Xue Yang is thoroughly unconcerned about the prospect of getting in trouble for the massacre. Xue Yang isn't acting without being mindful of potential consequences; he's acting in the knowledge that he won't have to deal with them. The second is contextual: who Xue Yang chooses to target, and where. For instance: the people he tricks Xiao Xingchen into killing live in a remote area where he's a little risk of authority intervening. In both cases, Xue Yang is acting under conditions where he's unlikely to face consequences; where his violence is, if not considered acceptable, then something he can get away with.

Xue Yang can be reckless, but that recklessness is tempered by a very strong survival instinct and a recognition of what he needs to do in order to stay free and alive.

So then, to carry this into a modern context, particularly in a setting with a state-sponsored police and a defined legal system: I think that consciousness of the risks he'd be taking with acting violently would be even more acute, particularly because it's likely that he would be existing in a state where he'd come into contact with the legal system early for more minor crimes. Connected with that, there's the fact that the tolerance/acceptance of authority for violence outside of warfare or state acts is significantly lower, so any shielding he might have for acting violently illegally would be much thinner. Xue Yang is aware of the extent of what he can get away with, and "what he can get away with" is less, under a modern legal apparatus, than he could in the decentralized jianghu with its ad-hoc justice system.

When I say that I think Xue Yang's violent tendencies would be tempered by the existence of a modern legal system, I'm absolutely not saying that it's out of respect for that system. (I would hope that'd be obvious.) And I'm not saying that a modern Xue Yang wouldn't still possess violent tendencies (I think he probably would). I just think he's highly motivated to consider the context and targets for his violence in such a way that would keep it much less visible and extreme than it is in canon. There are still acceptable targets. But he's not going to kill a whole family. And I actually think he's likely to stop short of murder in general.

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Yi City huh

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Today's take of undefined temperature: The W.i.t.c.h. comics have an overarching narrative, and while it was obviously not planned out from the beginning, it is fairly coherent until the end of the Trial of the Oracle arc. Hear me out.

Here are the main arcs, summarised for your convenience with a focus on what I believe to be the narrative golden thread. (Disclaimer that I don't have the comics with me rn, they just got tattooed onto my brain tissue when I was 12. So feel free to correct me if I get anything Very Wrong.)

Twelve Portals arc. The girls are tossed into an ongoing intergalactic conflict and given immense magical powers with little to no guidance on how to deal with that. Since Kandrakar is not allowed to interfere with anything except through its guardians in matters that concern the general safety of the universe or its own interests, the girls have to make their own decisions.

Because they have a stake in the Meridian civil war, they join the side of the rebellion and help Elyon claim the throne. The barrier between worlds falls. While Kandrakar generally approves of this, it was highly unorthodox.

This comes back to bite them in the shape of Luba messing with the quasars to take the W.i.t.c.h. out. This leads to Nerissa's awakening.

Nerissa arc. Ho boi.

The W.i.t.c.h. uncover the disastrous story of the former guardians, which includes a straight-up murder within the group. Will struggles with the responsibility of carrying the heart, which got to Nerissa's head. The girls meet Kadma and find out that she and Halinor broke ties with Kandrakar completely over Cassidy's death, which the Oracle knew about and let happen due to the rule of non-interference.

Can we take a moment to appreciate how fucked up the Nerissa arc is? Thank you. Moving on.

There Are Three Arcs Happening At Once Things Just Keep Fucking Happening arc. In the wake of all of That [gestures at Nerissa], Taranee decides that Kandrakar messing with her bodily autonomy and "curing" her eyesight is the last straw. She doesn't want to be used without being able to make her own informed decisions anymore and quits.

She is replaced by Orube, Luba's mentee, who is less than thrilled about working with the girls she blames for Luba's death. Orube is incredibly loyal to Kandrakar and initially rejects anything that isn't straightforward compliance with its orders. The Oracle is however a pretty interesting character who appreciates some unorthodoxy, and thus sends her to Earth. I want to stress that Orube only goes along with that due to her sense of duty. She does not actually want it.

Arkhanta is fundamentally a filler plot, though Ari's grievances do add to the theme of Kandrakar being flawed, and Yua fits the autonomy theme. More importantly though, the Arkantha missions and life on Earth make Orube more open-minded. She comes to consider the W.i.t.c.h. her friends and mentors and learns that sometimes, listening to your enemies and helping them can make them your allies. (Orube Will Remember That.)

Taranee eventually re-joins the group, but makes it clear that she still isn't a fan of how Kandrakar treats them all like pawns.

Astral Drop sub-arc. HO BOI.

While all of that [gestures at the above] happens, the fully sentient clones the W.i.t.c.h. can produce to keep people from noticing they go on magic space missions decide that they would like to be more than mindless slaves, seeing that they are, again, fully sentient. They start messing with the W.i.t.c.h. and eventually run away.

This eventually results in Orube catching them, but intentionally letting them escape - because she has sympathy for their struggle for autonomy and is listening to her own sense of justice now instead of what others tell her is the right thing to do.

Kandrakar is in the end forced to let the Astral Drops live their own lives.

Simultaneous Sylla/Interpol Stuff sub-arc. HO. FUCKING. BOI.

This was set up in the first arc, with Interpol noticing how Elyon's family disappeared. Just wanna point that out.

Secret agents on Earth stalk a group of teenagers and get incredibly close to discovering that magic is a whole real thing and these teenagers are overpowered intergalactic guardians.

Will's Astral Drop ends up in a Gordian Knot of a situation where multiple people are pointing guns at each other and the people present are all about to discover Kandrakar's existence.

This scene is such a dead end that the Oracle himself autonomously decides he has to step in and interfere.

He does so by warping reality, gives a banger of a speech that directly references Euripides' Medea and comments on the trope of Deus Ex Machina, and deletes the secret agent people's memories. This is my favourite scene in the entire comic. They did not have to go that hard, but they sure did.

I think we're done with the Clusterfuck Arc now. Moving on.

Trial of the Oracle arc. The HO BOI levels are off the charts.

Turns out that becoming the Deus Ex Machina comes back to bite the Oracle, because he is not allowed to interfere and this can get him fired.

Phobos takes advantage of this and other inherent flaws of Kandrakar's system, plays the entire centre of the universe like a cheap kazoo, and manages instantly to get himself elected Oracle. This gives him near-absolute power over the entire universe. No one is able to say anything against it.

This entire arc is about Kandrakar being really fucked up and really easy to infiltrate. It's the culmination of the previous arcs, which already pointed out a lot of flaws of this place, criticised the non-interference rule, and showed how little Kandrakar cares about people's opinions and feelings, even of those who are loyal to it.

The day is saved by the W.i.t.c.h.'s explicit refusal to comply with Kandrakar's orders, even before they know that Endarno is really Phobos. Because mindlessly following orders that you don't agree with is not good. That's the moral of the story here.

This whole mess results in changes being made to the core of Kandrakar's system. For example, it's not just one person having all the power now. The relationship of the Oracle to the guardians is changed as well, since the Oracle now understands what it means to be a small person tossed around by the universe.

And it's a goddamn tragedy that we never get to see the actual consequences of this change, because the quality of the comic rapidly deteriorates after this arc and the common thread of the narrative is partially dropped entirely and partially continued in incredibly lackluster ways.

Anyways, it's about control, it's about doing the right thing although it's not what you're told to do, it's about messed up governments, it's about free will, it's about rebellion, it's about things being more complicated than they seem. It's about learning for yourself, forming your own opinions, and being brave enough to make your own decisions. (And it always was - that's the core of the first arc, as well. This theme makes a lot of sense for a comic that is directed at teenagers, and it's not all that uncommon in teen media either afaik.)

Now, this is all very positive (bc I love this comic) and didn't go into the inconsistencies the first arcs of the comic do have (mostly bc I think they really, truly don't matter; it's a long-running comic that wasn't fully planned out in advance, minor plot holes just come with the medium), so let me go off at the later arcs of the comic under the cut.

What drives me insane is that the Ludmoore arc had the perfect set-up to continue this narrative. A former villain on probation? Who hates Kandrakar's guts and whose image of Kandrakar very much includes the guardians? Whose bodily autonomy is, again, compromised and who does all the fucked up shit he does in this arc not for power, but because he's homesick? Who fits the theme of control so ridiculously well, because he is always a pawn in someone's plan and, after freeing himself from one tyrant, relapses hard and ties himself to the very next one that comes along? Who interacts with Orube, who is not only deeply loyal to Kandrakar but could also pretty much be his direct narrative foil because they both have issues with emotions and making nuanced decisions for themselves? This FUCKS SEVERELY.

It could've paralleled the theme of autonomy present in the Cedric-Ludmoore relationship to Kandrakar again. It could've been the arc to paint an even more nuanced picture of our villains and point out that even this guy right there [points at Cedric] is worthy of basic respect. It could've leaned into the Cedric-Orube parallels way more than it did. It could've shown us literally anything about what's happening in Kandrakar now that they are, presumably, implementing reforms.

Instead, we get... a bunch of useless MacGuffins? A narratively completely inane Redemption Equals Death for Cedric? The sad, sad end of Orube's presence in this comic, which I don't even want to refer to as part of her arc because it has nothing to do with who she is? Don't get me wrong, I love the Ludmoore arc a lot and it has its strengths - Cedric's characterisation and his entanglement with Ludmoore are really good, as is Matt being dragged into magic bullshit - but considering how many details of this arc's premise play into the themes W.i.t.c.h. has followed since its first arc, the execution falls tragically short.

And then... hm. Then we get the Ragorlang arc, which was still somewhat solid, but also has very little to do with the overarching narrative anymore. And then, with New Power, it's only a matter of time until the entire narrative structure falls apart, the tone of the comic changes significantly, plots are recycled, narratives become much simpler and more black-or-white, and the comic appears to deliberately court a much younger audience.

What I'm saying is, the overarching narrative was abandoned at some point during the Ludmoore arc. Maybe it died with Phobos, maybe it died with Cedric, maybe it left with Orube. But it was there in the beginning, and it was good, and I wish we could have at least seen the Ludmoore arc told with the same effort.

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Hey. Found this post just now. I'm writing it.

Periodically, I get these moments where I eye my fully fleshed-out concept for a W.i.t.c.h. longfic that I’ve had lying around since literally my first semester and go, “One day. One day I’m going to write you.” And then I don’t.

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guys who was your favourite w.i.t.c.h. and whats your sexuality?

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Kiss

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Ah, TERFs in the notes. :(

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Here it is, the A-Qing collab! Everyone did such an amazing job, I'm so happy best girl got all this love! I've been hooked on Onmyoji lately so my A-Qing design is pulling from that haha

Special thanks to Rhy (who drew Band AU A-Qing!!) for the finishing touches and writing in all the names! And thanks to everyone who participated!

Credits, left to right:

Bottom- tookawaiifodis @chupenguin spicy @crankybeetle @heyholmesletsgo lunoswashere magic_nin @nakimochiku

Second- @lalalla-yum @yami-bakura @aoxue rynndawn

Third- rie4062 @tricksterly-conduct @disaster-fruit @mispronouncing-michaelangelo @lightbluedevill @bionicpaladinarts

And me at the top! I hope you guys post your A-Qings individually, because I want everyone to see them in all their full glory!

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The girls

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Just Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing ^_^

(Drawn in 2022)

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