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its-miichan · 1 year

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Tension in TGCF (or lack thereof)

TGCF has a problem with establishing tension. Of course people are going to disagree with this statement, but TGCF sucks ass when it comes to tension and how it is shown (at least in my opinion). Now, TGCF is a high fantasy epic adventure including thousand year old gods and demons that can destroy cities and countries for funsies, so the entirety of the novel is very high-stakes from a technical standpoint.

But it definitely didn’t feel that way while reading. The majority of book 3 I found myself struggling to get through because there really was no reason to care about what was happening in the story. And I thought about this for a while, and finally came up with reasons to why I think this is the case:

1) the story REFUSES to leave Xie Lian, an overpowered 800 year old god who cannot die and is so used to suffering and terrible things happening that whatever terrible things happen don’t matter to him

2) The vast majority of characters we are supposed to be attached to are nigh immortal beings who are extremely hard to kill (and are basically never killed)

3) the main characters are so insanely overpowered and devoted to each other that any internal or external tension is immediately murdered in its crib

For the first point, I suppose it’s quite self explanatory. When writing a high fantasy epic while having your singular POV character be Xie Lian introduces some problems. Xie Lian is so detached from most things happening around him and so chill with dying, watching people die, getting grievously injured, and pretty much every bad thing under the sun that his reaction to anything that could potentially introduce stakes and tension is brushed over by Xie Lian with a ‘meh.’ This can be used to great effect in goofy comedy scenes or slice of life chapters, but when the story tries to become super ‘intense’ and make you ‘sit on the edge of your seat’, it just really… falls off.

And you could say that Xie Lian cares about those close to him and potential danger to those close to him can offer tension to the story, but that just… doesn’t happen.

As much as I love Xianle trio or the Xie Lian-Shi Qingxuan besties dynamic, it would be lying to say that any of those dynamics are particularly close in the present timeline, and Xie Lian is so incredibly zen and immune to forming attachments (because omg look my baby hes so traumatized he doesnt make friends) that those shallow friendships really don’t affect him, and those friends getting hurt is also just a “oh that sucks” moment for him.

And the one ‘genuine’ relationship he does have, the one with Hua Cheng offers no tension to the story because Hua Cheng is so overpowered Xie Lian doesn’t even need to worry about him getting hurt (but more on that in a minute).

Basically, what I’m saying in this point is that if Xie Lian, the main character who we are reading the thoughts of doesn’t give a fuck about what’s happening around him, why should we?

Point two is also quite self explanatory (actually now that I think about it all of the points are) but I will elaborate anyways.

The main characters in TGCF are gods and ghosts. Gods cannot die from old age and can only be killed through fatal injuries. But given how ridiculously overpowered they are, any external force trying to kill said gods feels like less of a threat and more like a “wow so annoying” kind of thing. The same applies to ghosts.

First of all, in order for MXTX to write the super mega romantic ashes ring scene, she had to completely break the worldbuilding of ghosts. They are incredibly hard to deal with (even weaker ones like Cuo Cuo) and the only way to truly get rid of them is to a) let their resentment dissipate which is hilariously hard to do for stronger ghosts or b) to scatter their ashes. They can’t really even be killed in the same way gods can through fatal injuries, and because MXTX wanted to make it soooooo romantic that Hua Cheng gave Xie Lian his ashes, those ashes are the only weakness ghosts have.

But that was a bit of a tangent and the main point is that ghosts, just like gods, are also ridiculously hard to kill. My point is that with the main cast of characters we care about being very overpowered, very immortal gods and ghosts, it’s extremely difficult for the story to provide any tension about the characters we care about getting hurt, ESPECIALLY with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng who basically physically are incapable of dying.

In fact, the only major character who dies (permanently) on screen is Shi Wudu. And I’m not going to go around and be super salty and say ‘oh but even then that death sucked!!!!!’ because it really didn’t. It was good! I liked it! In fact, I loved the whole black water arc in general! It really upped the stakes in that moment and it’s like “oh shit! This guy is ruthless! I really need to see what happens next and if our main characters will be okay!”

But that arc was an exception to the rule. I spent the next couple of chapters in suspense and waiting for information on Shi Qingxuan’s aftermath because I was invested. Because there was tension. But nope! MXTX dropped the ball and gave us more Hualian flirting and onto the next adventure!

No character deaths or–hell– even character ‘serious injuries’ happen following that point.

And for the rest of book 3, nothing that hits the same way as the black water arc came up again. Some moments managed to shake me out of my boredom-induced coma (the mysterious crown prince of Wuyong murals were interesting. BWX chasing down Hualian in the cave of ten-thousand gods was mildly alright), but for the most part, the slowly dawning knowledge that the black water arcs treatment of its characters is an exception to the rule and that the book is too afraid of killing off any other characters made it really, really boring to read.

Now am I saying that you need to have character deaths to make a story interesting? Not exactly. You can have stories where the main conflict and source of tension is something like workplace drama or high school crushes. But I am saying that with a setting such as TGCF with conflicts that are presented in the same way TGCF’s are (big bad monster/villain! Oh no!) having a nigh invulnerable cast is incredibly uninteresting.

The third and last point is probably the most damning of them all.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are ridiculously overpowered. And not overpowered in the same way that other MXTX main pairs are overpowered. Unlike someone like WWX who is indeed absurdly strong but can be defeated by other characters, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are given such a wide array of powers, abilities, and strengths, that they feel like they are on an entirely different level compared to the side characters and minor villains.

The first few arcs (before Hua Cheng was revealed) were actually quite enjoyable for this reason not being present. We weren’t shown the full array of Xie Lian’s powers and Hua Cheng was pretty much a non-factor so the arcs felt tense. Dangerous, even. It felt that maybe Xie Lian could fail, or someone could get hurt and die, or maybe even Xie Lian could die. It was cool seeing how Xie Lian would use his limited amount of spiritual powers to complete tasks that normally required spiritual energy.

But once Hua Cheng is introduced and the bulk of the rest of the story is underway, that coolness gets thrown out the window. First of all, it’s revealed that Xie Lian is a mega martial arts geek who is basically adept in all sorts of fighting and incredibly physically strong and resilient which… makes sense, but makes some struggles quite boring. However, his lack of spiritual powers still gave him a substantial disadvantage in many situations, which made me willing to see where this went.

Hua Cheng, on the other hand… what a headache.

Let’s start off with the obvious. He is undoubtedly among the top three strongest characters in the book and for the vast majority of the plot is the singular strongest character present (Xie Lian is shackled and thus weakened by a long shot and Jun Wu is basically nonexistent for the bulk of the book). And as he is the singular strongest character present, a whole lot of the issues that come up feel… trivial, at best.

There’s this whole arc about Xie Lian dealing with Cuo Cuo but by that point I was languidly scrolling through the chapters and wondering when Hua Cheng would show up and deal with the whole situation. And no surprise, a few chapters in there’s a dubcon kiss and then Hua Cheng seals Cuo Cuo in a jar and all is resolved within a few minutes!

So exciting!

It’s a similar case with the entire Tong’lu arc. At the beginning, Hua Cheng is out of commission, giving the side characters a chance to breathe and shine. But the second any semblance of tension appears in the story, MXTX decides that that’s enough and brings Hua Cheng back to basically full power so his vast array of powers pulled from his ass (a flying umbrella that can protect against giant boulders! Butterfly listening devices! Red string of fate that serves no reason in the story other than to be romantic!) can save the day once more. Xie Lian is in danger? Hua Cheng swoops in and princess carries him away.

And we don’t have to worry about the side characters because 1) who the fuck cares about them? Our leads certainly don’t. And 2) they can’t die anyways guys it’s gonna be fine.

So in essence, Hua Cheng’s mere existence causes huge structural issues for the plot and tension because he is so monstrously powerful and given new powers because MXTX wants to and is completely devoted to Xie Lian so even if the adventures start out potentially interesting, the second anything that could add some tension to the story is introduced, Hua Cheng swoops in and rescues Xie Lian.

Does it make sense from a technical point of view that Hua Cheng is incredibly powerful because his entire personality is protecting Xie Lian? …Yes.

Does that make it fun to read? No!

And about internal tension, since Hualian are so insanely devoted and caring and perfect and kind and disliking them is SUCH a character flaw, there is a complete lack of internal tension.

Would Xie Lian ever call out Hua Cheng for being a dick and treating Xie Lian’s so-called friends like shit? No! Because Xie Lian is so zen that he doesn’t care about what happens to anyone! Will Hua Cheng and Xie Lian ever fight? No! Because Hua Cheng is so incredibly devoted to Xie Lian that anything that could potentially cause a disagreement between them will be whisked away by Hua Cheng changing half his personality to appease Xie Lian.

The only thing that could potentially add tension to this romance outside of the constant will they won't they blue balling is Xie Lian’s self doubt which Hua Cheng constantly reassures him that he’s perfect and great and oh so beautiful so even that is quickly erased from the story, only coming up again when MXTX decides it’s time to remind you of how much of a woobie Xie Lian is. (Also, I find it necessary to note that Xie Lian’s healing arc really isn’t shown. He’s starting to heal in the main plot and then we jump to the extras and he’s fine and he’s just suddenly come to terms with his trauma).

I find it necessary to say that books 2 and 4 obviously don’t apply to this post because Xie Lian is allowed to face the consequences of his actions there, and we are less tethered to a group of immortal beings as our central characters.

Book 5 also doesn’t really apply for the most part, but it’s still not tense due to the hilariously shoddy buildup and payoff of the entire battle.

Anyways, that concludes my rant for today, if you want to scream at me for being a terrible person due to disliking this piece of fictional media, go ahead, and if you read this entire 2k word essay/rant mad props to you.

#tian guan ci fu #tgcf #tgcf hua cheng #mxtx #heaven official's blessing #mxtx critical #mdzs #xie lian #hua chang #hualian #tgcf manhua #tgcf headcanon #tgcf critics

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its-miichan · 3 years

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About your rants

So I’ve been having these thoughts on HOB for a while and I just want to thank you so much for putting these thoughts into words. I’ve been wondering why Hualian is such a “meh” pairing for me. Especially when I’ve loved SQQxLBH and WWXxLWJ so much, and especially since I found the relationship between the side characters, YY and QYZ and SQX and HX so much more interesting. I felt so much more invested reading their stories than read whatever XL and HC were up to.

I also wanted to add some things, and it’s been a while since I read so not everything will be accurate. One thing that really annoyed me about HC was that he was hardly ever emotionally invested in anything going on in the story? At most he was like, XL is okay and that’s it. This is basically an expansion on your point that HC only cares about XL. The most personal investment he had was with He Xuan’s plot which makes sense. But that brings up another annoying thing about it him and his relationship with XL: his attitude. Sure he cares about him, but he never tells him anything. Obviously it would make plot points much shorter if he just vomited exposition but withholding it for plots sake makes his relationship with XL feel more like a teacher guiding the MC on the right path without letting them know the whole story???? This feels more like a teacher with their student relationship rather than a partnership???

More than that, his stalking XL and his love for XL comes across as unhealthy. And to the point of ppl arguing that XL was the only person who was ever nice to him, did they forget HX? And this connects to those who keep saying that most of his development is offscreen.

Are you telling me that this man went 800 years without anyone else being nice to him? Without ever having a relationship with someone else?

Also just a technical question but like when XL went back down and became a scrap god how did HC not find him?? Did he only just get out of the volcabo when book 1 begins??? It’s been a while i don’t remember.

But also XL shouldn’t just automatically be in love with this literal stranger???? If it’s that easy for him to fall in love he should’ve been with a bunch of people before now????? Like sure HC helps him but does he ever really get to know HC? And when we learn HC’s backstory it’s so flat it’s like reading a wikipedia page. You feel sorry about it but you dont’t really feel anything besides that and you also don’t learn anything else about the character. You’re right in that it’s hard to describe either HC or XL character because their biggest personality trait is “liking the other person”. Honestly, XL needs to properly date HC for a few more hundreds of years before developing anything like love???? It makes their relationship feel forced and like i said their interactions during the story feel fake and mostly like HC is keeping things from XL. Like on way for MXTX to have HC actually confide in XL but also keep the plot going is to have HC tell XL but not tell the reader. Like have the plot happen with XL and HC doing things without explanation and then have flashbacks where HC is actually communicating with XL.

Also the scene where XL is scared for HC’s life always feel cheap (until the end) because we know this bastard wont die and the only reason XL doesnt know that is because HC DOESN’T TELL HIM. So XL is worried for nothing. Who would do that to the person they love and especially in a serious situation???

Also about character arcs and development, you’re right. It feels like both XL and HC’s character arcs happened already. The end where HC dies like the development there is that XL truly loves HC the end. This is why the story if SQX and HX and YY and QYZ were so interesting. Their backstory actually set them up for the development they would have in the story. Interactions were interesting with them because there was so much underlying information that you as the reader could feel. With SQX and HX the backstory was like going to the top of a roller coaster and the present interactions between them was the descent. With YY and QYZ the rollercoaster happened in the backstory but the present is them working through it and trying to get to the other side. I also love YY so much his flaws and his motivations *mwah* chefs kiss im sorry this is long and unorganized but i wanted to say thank you for your posts and also rant.

HFHHF thanks for the submission!

That is exactly me tbh. I remember reading through TGCF and wondering why I really didn’t care about whatever super ultra mega romantic moment XL and HC were having when if it was Wangxian I was reading about I would be swooning. Then I went on Novelupdates, came across some negative reviews, and everything clicked for me.

The things you said about HC, I completely agree. If MXTX was really going to give us a character that could blast every problem we’d ever face into oblivion she might as well use his powers in interesting and subversive ways. Use HC’s butterflies to do things other than exposition info dump, explore more on HC’s ability to use butterfly silk, ANYTHING but what we got. Nah. Instead he’s just used as borderline Deus ex Machina to get Xie Lian out of whatever corner he decides to work himself into (aka what corner MXTX decides to write herself into.) And the fact that he is all knowing, omnipotent, and all powerful but never really does anything makes it all the worse. Now I’m not a fan of info dumps, but I’d honestly rather have HC info dump than XL being all confused and not knowing what to do, and HC, one of the only people who knows what to do, just stand there and say nothing.

It feels incredibly OOC almost? Like HC, this man who cares only about XL and his well being, putting XL under psychological distress and confusion because HC just doesn’t want to give away crucial information. What? Fans claim it’s because “oH HC kNoWs XL LiKeS dOiNg tHeSe ThiNgS sO hE wOnT iNtErFeRe!” like no that’s not how it works. HC is incredibly overprotective but somehow then allows XL to do all of this dangerous shit and only steps in when he is LITERALLY about to be stabbed/suffocated/throw himself into a pit? Sounds about as legit as his motivation for loving XL. It honestly just feels like MXTX making up an excuse to drag out the plot for as long as she needs to stuff as much romantic imagery in there as possible.

Which brings me to my next point. His backstory and how “XL was the only person nice to him” is incredibly contradictory. He wears vambraces with butterfly patterns on them like his mother and his culture, which means he is at least willing to remember his mother fondly, which means that his mother must’ve been at least somewhat kind to him. But we don’t ever see him going out of his way to remember or honor his mother to the extent that he does XL? Same thing with YY and HX, two other people who were nice/at least tolerable towards him, yet he treats YY as an errand runner and HX as a business partner, not the same love and respect he gives towards XL. Sure XL is kind, sure he’s really pretty, but like, YY is also kind, respectful, and brave?

And same thing with XL. He falls in love so easily it’s physically painful. Why does he love HC so much? Yeah HC’s nice to him, he’s funny, really hot, but XL’s literally in love with him within 20 chapters and it’s frankly frustrating. XL jumps into the sinner’s pit for him and like… why? If it was that XL was willing to do anything for the people who were kind to him then why would he just abandon SQX like that after HC dragged him out? In fact, why isn’t he in love with SQX? SQX is kind, brave, funny, hot, charming, and helps him out a lot, but XL merely views him as a friend/little brother sort of character and not a love interest like HC.

And what irks me the most about this is that they both claim that they “understand and know each other and will stay by their side no matter what they become” LIKE NO BITCH YOUVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR A CUMULATIVE TWO WEEKS GODDAMN. It just doesn’t feel like a natural progression for the love story. There isn’t any buildup or tension in the relationship like Wangxian and BingQiu have. For example, Wangxian wasn’t LWJ instantly falling in love with WWX or vice versa. First they had to study for a year together, stay with each other for a week after saving each other’s lives, and fight a fucking war together (and I mean as comrades not as a soldier/distant upline relationship we see in TGCF), fight a fucking war against each other, be apart for thirteen years, and then travel together to work out their differences and get together. None of that “love at first sight” bullshit.

And it feels like XL and HC don’t really communicate? Like obviously they do, but they keep so many secrets from each other and they don’t communicate their thoughts and ideas often so it feels like they don’t. And I get that some of it is insecurity and wanting to present the best side of themselves to the person they admire, but even after they get in a formal relationship where they shouldn’t be scared, they still don’t communicate until the very end when, guess what, it’s too fucking late.

What I love about the side characters is that they’re flawed. They get development and work out all the little kinks and bumps in their personalities and relationships. SQX ultimately learns what it’s like to not be raised on a pedestal from birth and accepts it happily. HX learns the price of his revenge was his only close friend. YY learns to accept that what happened was nobody’s fault and makes up for it. LW learns to be compassionate and truly love someone. What do Hualian learn? That’s right, nothing at all. They have no lessons they need to learn because they are the epitome of perfection and have no flaws.

And that concludes my (also) very long and unorganized rant about TGCF. Thank you for your submission, I really appreciate it!

#tgcf #tgcf criticism #tian guan ci fu #mxtx critical #xie lian #hua cheng

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its-miichan · 3 years

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TGCF criticisms

Spoilers and unpopular/critical opinions ahead! Beware! I tried to like this, I really did, but this novel really makes me frustrated. It clearly has so much potential, but so much of that potential was wasted on pandering romance and shallow caricatures of main characters. Overall 1.5-2 stars because it gets worse the more you think about it. CHARACTERS: 1. The main character, Xie Lian was wildly bland and boring. He is presented as the kindest, purest, most selfless person in the world, but really he was just a bland white lotus. With Xie Lian, his personality can be described in just a sentence or so, while the author's other two MC's (Wei Wuxian and Shen Qingqiu) are both charming, funny, and deep with their own motivations. Xie Lian just walks around in the story with no purpose and he says that he wants to help the common people, but he really hasn't done that! He's barely helped anyone at all, and those times he did help people are quickly followed by flirting with the ML and forgetting all about the people he was supposed to help. Honestly, in the past, Xie Lian was also the biggest jerk ever. He gave up his own friends and family's well being for his own sense of justice and was stubborn to a fault and refused to listen. What's worse is that none of these flaws are actually addressed, and the story just lets him roll with it and never actually calls him out on it. If you want to see all the reasons why he's a poorly written character, check out this reddit post: https://www. reddit. com/r/MXTX/comments/j2l9ye/why_xl_is_a_poorly_written_character_in_my_opinion/

2. The ML, Hua Cheng, is equally as bad. He is extremely shallow and such a static character, with his development in the present times being nonexistent and his development from the past to the present being wholly nonsensical. His personality is very cliche and his motivations and thoughts are left entirely up to the reader's imagination, which significantly reduces character depth. He could've been such a great character, a ghost king who rules over hell and is morally grey, but instead he is dumbed down to a Xie Lian fanboy. Everything about him not related to Xie Lian is thrown at us in a few paragraphs if at all, and what little motivation and thoughts about him we do get always fall flat. [Like apparently this guy saved him once, and he fell in love with him and became devoted to him for 800 years? Like people get saved all the time and we don't see them going 800 years and 3 deaths for a guy they've barely talked to] Also, he is wildly unlikable. Of course, this is purely subjective, but he is irritatingly smug and lords over literally everyone he meets. It doesn't help that he's an insufferable Mary Sue with an endless array of powers, intelligent as hell and knows literally everything, really good at painting, sculpting, woodworking, and on top of that the richest, most powerful, most handsome, and most charismatic man in the book. His biggest flaw is supposed to be his insecurity and inferiority complex, but that barely ever comes up and 90% of the time he is arrogant and smug. More information on why he's badly written here: https://www. reddit. com/r/MXTX/comments/iskkp5/why_hc_is_a_bad_character_in_my_opinion/

3. The side characters in my opinion are written far better, but obviously quite underdeveloped. They are all three dimensional and have their own thoughts, emotions, and feelings as well as a believable backstory, but so many of them are quickly offed to make way for the main couple, some of them not only not becoming better, but actually getting quite a whole lot worse. Qi Rong, who was supposed to be super strong demon that is one of the 4 great evils becomes a comedic relief gremlin who just shows up for some comedy and then leaves. Feng Xin and Mu Qing, the MC's childhood caretakers disappear for like 100 chapters after we're given their backstories and then once they reappear, they don't do anything either. Shi Qingxuan, who in my opinion is by far the best character in the book, has his arc left open with no ending at all, only to be forgotten about for 80+ chapters only to reappear completely the same with no character growth at all. All of this is because the main couple take up so much of the book, and the rest of the side characters and their character growth is sabotaged for the author's ego so that the main couple can look better and get more screen time.

4. I lost interest in the story pretty quickly due to the bland characters and their out of place romance and how unlikable they were. A lot of this novel was very surface level, and it's pretty on paper, but when you think about the characters a bit longer, the more bland and shallow they become.

PLOT: 1. The plot was... There was no plot. It was just a collection of monster of the day arcs that aimlessly meander about and then everything returns to the status quo once they return to Xie Lian's temple/home. Obviously books 4 and 5 were a lot more to my taste because the writing was a lot more concise and the pacing was less slow and pointless, as well as actually incorporating fantasy elements and shaking up the status quo. However, the other 3 books, especially books 1 and 2 had way too much fan service, pointless romance, and plot lines that don't go anywhere and don't contribute to the story.

2. The past plot line, or the flashbacks were pretty interesting, except for how b*tchy the MC was. Book 2 has a lot of important information and some action, but a lot of it was boring fluff that didn't really contribute to the story other than introducing the villain and showing how XL and HC met. The rest, we're literally told already and there's no new information. Book 4 was supposed to be suffering heavy, and I agree that the character development was alright, but it was too brooding and oppressive. In the end, I just stopped feeling bad for Xie Lian because of how bad the story was trying to make you feel for him. I was not invested in him, and although he was significantly more deep in this book than in the other 4, the bad logic is still there. [you wanna kill people but then someone gives you a bamboo hat and you're all sunshine and rainbows again?] The suffering is excessive in my opinion, and although it's supposed to provide contrast to the romance, it just feels done in poor taste. seriously, 20 chapters straight of suffering is not necessary, and the pacing and tone suffers because of this. The flashbacks really don't contribute too much to XL or HC's character development, but is just there to be angsty and cryp*rn.

3. The final battle was the most unbelievable thing I've ever read. All the gods got together and the first part seemed pretty epic as we got to see all the side characters finally showcase their powers.... Until the MC and ML show up. The MC and ML show up, and instantly the background extras—excuse me I mean side characters, go back into hibernation as the main couple show off how cool and powerful they are. And then we get to the final confrontation, which has our MC, ML, and MC's two friends face off against literally the most powerful being in the freaking universe. I thought it would be a tense fight scene with lots of close calls, but I was so disappointed. Instead the ML is so OP that he breaks the spells binding MC's powers, and MC becomes so overpowered and slams the big boss into the wall with the power of love while his two friends just stand there doing nothing.

4. A lot of what happens in the flashback is directly Xie Lian's fault, but the book never seems to register it? I won't go into detail on this point since it's already covered in the first Reddit thread, but basically because of XL's s*upidity and refusal to listen to anyone else, the people around him suffer.

WRITING: 1. The writing wasn't great. It was very choppy and as I said previously, very monotonous and monster-of-the-day. Yes there were great scenes which got to me, but most of it was really boring and descriptions and dialogue dragged on and on with no end, and with the bland MC, it wasn't even interesting such as the dialogue in MDZS was. Side arcs were introduced with no warning and ended with no warning, leaving the reader wondering "Why was that even there in the first place if it was just going to be forgotten about?"

2. The water demon/wind god arc. The opening and most of the middle of this arc was extremely good, the logic and mystery was written well, and Shi Qingxuan's (the wind god) antics were funny. But after the big reveal and the tense climax, the story just... stops. Like it's literally forgotten about. [The MC gets dragged out by his all powerful lover, they romance some more, and forget all about Shi Qingxuan who is literally left in the hands of the second or third most powerful demon ever who is also his mortal enemy]

3. The incessant flirting really got on my nerves. The tension and tone of the entire story got completely ruined because of the MC and ML flirting and the MC blushing and giggling while the ML teases him and everyone else is literally fighting for their lives. This felt very fan-service like, and it felt like the author stopped trying and just fed us dog food after an emotionally taxing arc so that she wouldn't have to close out the arc properly, completely destroying the tone. Speaking of the tone, the tone whiplash was just... wow. You're fed fluff and romance during or after a high tensity and highly emotional scene with no connection at all, and you're just supposed to accept it instead of wondering what's happening to the characters you actually care about.

4. Romance and side arcs quite disconnected from the story. Quite frankly, most of this book is just romance with the plot and characters put in second place because "lOOk hOw CuTe the COuPLe iS!" You could literally take out all the side arcs and the story would literally be no different. The romance overtakes the entire plot and becomes the main point of the story. With her other two books, the romance is like the icing on the cake. With this book, the icing overtakes the cake and becomes the cake.

5. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons I was uninterested through most of the book was due to the lack of tension and suspense. The flashbacks were better in the sense that Xie Lian was helpless and couldn't figure anything out, which was why he was just as likely to get hurt as anyone, making the stakes significantly higher. But in the present, with the existence of Hua Cheng, that tension is completely gone. This is because HC knows basically all there is to know, and what he doesn't know he can figure out in seconds. Additionally, he is super powerful to the point that anything that can harm XL can be one shot K.O'ed by him. At this point the conflict becomes trivial to the point where I'm just asking "why are we solving this mystery anyways when HC can just blast it into oblivion?"

6. The fact that HC does the bare minimum in arcs frustrates me. If you're going to include a character with powers that will basically deem any threat against them null, then actually use them at least! HC's apathy does not feel like a coherent part of his character, but an excuse for MXTX to drag out plot lines and make things unnecessarily long and winded. Additionally, his apathy is contradictory. On one hand, he is super overprotective of XL and wants to make sure he won't get hurt a single bit, but on the other hand, he has this advanced ideology of the 21st century that he believes XL is capable so won't constrain him as much. If anything, they should start out with HC as this overprotective follower and have a dysfunctional relationship, and end up with XL teaching HC that he is able to do things and doesn't mind doing them, and that HC can live a life outside of him as well. That would've introduced some narrative stakes and romantic tension, but no, MXTX just had to make these characters perfect in every way.

ROMANCE: 1. The logic is so flawed here. The reason that HC started loving XL is literally because Xie Lian saved him once as a child and therefore he will devote his entire life to XL, not caring about literally anything else. The reason that XL started loving HC is even more so. The thing is someone like say Shi Qingxuan has done every bit as much for XL as HC has, but we don't see XL fall in love with SQX, do we? HC literally listens to him talk and XL falls in love with him, and although it does make sense due to XL being lonely for 800 years, how low the bar is set really bothers me.

2. The constant blue-balling was annoying. At some point, the ignorant MC became annoying and self indulgent instead of cute, and having it be drawn out over nearly 200 chapters makes it even worse. The MC is supposed to be super intelligent, but he literally misses all of the super obvious hints the ML drops at him, which is so weird.

3. It felt like MXTX (the author) went overboard on the romance here. Like she tried way too hard to the point where it was obvious she wanted to make this "the most romantic CP ever". The aesthetics went so overboard with butterflies and flowers as romantic themes, thousands of lanterns, the red string of fate (which didn't even do anything in the actual story), poetry, etc.

4. The romance could almost be described as kind of creepy. Like the ML obsesses over the MC for 800 years, isolating himself from the world and not taking any side of the story besides MC's is supposed to be romantic, but it really isn't. The ML carves thousands of statues of the MC, which is sweet in a way, but also really, really creepy. To quote someone from NovelUpdates who put it 100x better than I could: " They don't feel like equal lovers, HC obviously worships XL to an unbelievably amazing degree while XL only knew he existed from only a while ago (Is this obsession? Stalker-ish? I know his stalker-ish tendencies are usually played for laughs, but realistically?) HC very very very rarely calls XL by his given name but with GeGe or CrownPrince, dude has a name you know. I know you feel lower than XL, but seriously man, the guy's your life partner. HC would destroy the world if XL said to. He'd probably try to talk to XL first, confirm things, but if at the end XL really does want it, HC would do it. He lives for XL, he has no other reason to do something aside for XL. No reason to say NO for himself. They're not equals in which one wanna do something bad, the other would stop him because they have their own convictions. You can't tell me one only lives for one person's sake, will do anything for that guy, and has no attachments in the world aside from that guy, is a healthy person. It may seem romantic, but when you actually think about it, it becomes uncomfortable."

5. The romance was really cheesy. There were some powerful moments, but it was mostly flirting and "he fell on top of me" or "he needs mouth to mouth". Most of it was just the ML flirting with the MC, which you may like if you like this kind of stuff, but I really didn't enjoy it. Overall, I was desperate to love this novel, but I couldn't because of the shallow characters, unlikable main pair, and the constant abandonment of great plot lines in favor of the shallow romance. It felt like MXTX was constantly trying to one-up MDZS in angst, drama, and romance, but at the same time it felt like she didn't know what to do with the characters and world, and therefore fed us fan service and took the easy way out. This review is purely subjective, and if you want to read this go ahead, but I'll be seeing myself out.

#tgcf criticism #tianguancifu #tgcf #mxtx critical #xie lan #hua cheng #ok but this kinda sucks

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its-miichan · 3 years

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YES

xie lian is poorly written (TGCF criticism)

I’ve said that I’ll be making a rant on why I dislike XL, so I’m here to keep that promise because everyone is so looking forward to my next hate post. I honestly found XL and HC to be the worst parts of TGCF, while I think most other parts of the story are actually pretty good, so I don’t hate TGCF like most of you believe I do, I just dislike Hualian. I don’t mean any offense to those of you who liked XL or TGCF in general, and definitely no offense to MXTX. Although I felt like her writing got worse in TGCF, she is still an immensely talented author and I respect her for all that she does, and all of this is just my personal opinion, and probably as far away from true as it can get.Now, just like HC, I have tried very hard to like XL, but I just can’t manage to like him. He is by far the worst MXTX MC in my opinion, and pales in comparison to SQQ and WWX. Now, without further ado, let’s get into why I don’t like Xie Lian.Why XL is a poorly written character in 5 long points;

He is bland and barely has a discernible personality

Inconsistencies ahoy!

His character arc is flat and he doesn’t develop as a character and doesn’t learn from his mistakes

Is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and a lot of bad things that happen is actually his fault

Is overpowered and again, a Mary Sue.

Point one is that he is bland and barely has a discernible personality. He is supposedly “kind, sincere, generous” and other positive traits you would expect a children’s book protagonist to have. But does he really have a personality though? Yes, he does have personality traits, but a lot of those traits are just so, so vanilla. He doesn’t have a personality that can make him easy to tell apart from other characters other than being the “boring one”.

He isn’t funny or outgoing like Shi QingXuan, and he isn’t sarcastic and sassy like Mu Qing. Heck, he has even less of a unique personality than Hua Cheng. Yes, HC’s personality is annoying, but even he has more of a personality than XL does. XL has no motive, goal, or any purpose in the story. He just tags along on missions that have nothing to do with him and just flirts with HC the entire way.He has no standout traits that make him a “unique” protagonist. SQQ is unique because he isn’t there to be heroic, but rather a panicked person forced to commit heroic acts to survive in the twisted world of a bad webnovel. WWX is unique because he is mischievous and laid back to the point of being annoying at first glance, but will actually throw his own life on the line to protect others. I can’t give Xie Lian a specific description of his character because his character is so uninteresting that it really can’t be described. When I think of XL, my brain just comes up with a bundle of words (nice, really dense, doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry) rather than a character as a whole. It felt like MXTX slapped a bunch of traits together and called it a day.

I guess XL is savage sometimes, but that feels so weird and out of character for someone that’s usually supposed to be quite outspoken.

You could argue that he’s been worn down by 800 years of torture and suffering so that he doesn’t really care anymore, and while that does make sense in a literal way, it makes the story less…exiting. I want to see his reactions to new situations, or how he thinks about the amoral or upright acts of the gods and demons, but instead of actually getting to see his thought process and his inner conflict, he’s just like “meh” and lets it pass. This is probably what ruined my investment in the story as XL just feels so bland and we don’t even get to see his personality through his reactions, therefore we’re just told his personality.

Point two is that his character is so inconsistent. For example, as said above, he is usually “nice, sincere, and kind” but then at times he is savage and sarcastic (like when he tells LQQ that he will die if they duel in book 1). It felt like MXTX couldn’t make up her mind and so she just made XL both outspoken and also savage. Another inconsistency is with his intelligence. At times he is extremely smart and can figure things out that other characters can’t, but at other times, he is blatantly dumb. Like with HC. He is so dense that it just doesn’t make sense! He’s an old, 800 year old god that should be good at reading people and can see through a person. But then when it comes to HC, his deliberate obtuseness isn’t really a coherent part of his character, but rather an excuse to put the confession at the end because none of the scenes before were “romantic enough.” And XL never picks up on any of the hints that HC drops, even when they’re blatantly obvious.

Yet another inconsistency is with his so-called “insecurity”. He supposedly doesn’t think he is good enough and thinks that he is a bad god, but then he goes up to LQQ and claims that he’s going to die if they duel with the arrogance of HC? Whenever he makes a decision with it he is stubborn to a fault, which someone who is insecure wouldn’t usually do (I would know). And then besides it being a reason for HC to comfort and baby XL, the insecurity never comes up again? Additionally, some things that someone in his position would think more deeply about, he doesn’t think about at all. For example, when he is told that HC burned down the temple of 33 gods, someone who cares about the common people would think something like “That’s terrible! The time and effort and money of these people all gone to waste, and civilians may have been injured in the fire.” Instead he is just mildly confused and that’s it. Again, you could argue that it’s because of 800 years of suffering, but it just makes the story so much less interesting and…coherent.

One last inconsistency is that how come nobody, absolutely nobody, has been his friend for 800 years. He is supposedly a nice person, but despite his niceness, he has not even TRIED to make friends and nobody has tried to make friends with him? It is shown at the end of book 4 that most people don’t know that he is the trash god, so shouldn’t they be more willing to make friends with him then?

Point three is that his character arc, just like HC’s, is so flat. The entire point of the flashbacks was so readers could throw a pity party for XL and feel bad for him, and so it’s just sad for the sake of being sad. XL doesn’t grow as a character, and what tiny bit of character development we do get is just…not great.

Just like HC, throughout the entire story, XL hasn’t changed a single bit in the present timeline. I don’t find this to be terrible, but as the protagonist, he should at least have some development. However, unlike HC, who’s jump from past to present is far too drastic, XL’s jump from past to present is far too small. He is no different in book 2 than he is in book 1, 3, and 5. You could say that in book 4 he comes to terms with the world and accepts it, but at the same time, in book 4 really all he did was angst, brood, and then suddenly become all sunshine and rainbows again. I do not consider brooding to be character development. This is because at the beginning of book 4, when he lets the other street performer go on and continue performing while he himself goes off and finds a new place shows that he is at least somewhat accepting of his current fate. He does fully accept it by the end of book 4, but going from partly accepting you are a beggar to fully accepting you are a beggar is not enough character development for 800 years. He also repeatedly emphasizes how unlucky he is and how he’s already used to suffering, and honestly at some point it stops being funny and instead just becomes like MXTX wants the reader to feel bad for him so hard.

Point four is that he is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and he’s barely helped the common people at all. Yes, I find present XL to be bland, but at least he’s nice and likable, but him in the past is stubborn, stupid, and so overly righteous. If he had just listened to people, he would’ve avoided major disasters, and if he could just ask people before doing something stupid, he wouldn’t have been in the place he is today. This would make an extremely interesting plot point and place of conflict, but then the book just never addresses it? Like I don’t think the book registers that a lot of the stuff that happens is XL’s fault more than it is BWX’s. Additionally, XL is so overly righteous. His head is so full of “the common people” that he doesn’t give a second thought to the people around him.

For example, if he had just told the people of Xian Le to kill the people of Yong’an, he would’ve saved his kingdom, his people, his family, and his friends. But no, he had to think about “the common people” and let the people of his kingdom die, resulting in his downfall. Additionally, when he let the other street performers perform and he would leave, yes, that is a nice thing, but to FX, MQ, and his parents, it is just the worst decision. Rather than caring about the people near him and his ill dad, he had to be the white knight and leave.

And then a lot of the stuff in book 4 is his fault, but the book never addresses this. If XL wasn’t so overly righteous, MQ wouldn’t have left. If MQ didn’t leave, they would have one more person to make end’s meet. If they made end’s meet, then XL wouldn’t have to resort to robbery. Even if they didn’t make end’s meet, if he just listened to FX, he would still be fine. If he hadn’t committed robbery, he wouldn’t have been humiliated as hard in front of the 33 gods. If he wasn’t humiliated, then he wouldn’t be stabbed 100 times and he wouldn’t burn the Yong’an capital and have FX leave him and his parents wouldn’t have committed suicide.

And he says he wants to help the common people, but he hasn’t done that at all. In book 2, he hurt his kingdom and the tons of people that died from the curse, and didn’t lessen the casualties caused in the war at all. In book 4, the people that stabbed him all got burned to death by HC (why does XL in the present not consider this?), he burned the Yong’an palace and likely killed people, and yes, he did stop the human face disease this time, but because he was the one that unleashed it in the first place. When he was general Hua, he had tried to save the common people, but his actions really barely did anything in the future. As the Guoshi of Yong’an, he did more harm than good. So how has he helped the common people?And the book never addresses this? Like after he came back to his senses in book 4, Jun Wu doesn’t punish him and the people don’t hate him or anything. He hates himself instead, which feels like it’s just something that MXTX put in so that the readers and HC could go like “no baby, you’ve done your best, you’re amazing.” He is presented as an underprivileged angel and deserves all the love in the world because he’s such a nice person, but at the same time….no? He isn’t as great as the book makes him out to be and the fact that the book insists on him being a selfless martyr annoys me to no end.

And point five is that he is also an overpowered Mary Sue. Yes, just like HC, he has flaws, but these flaws never actually get addressed in the book and also are never used against him, and so the book treats him like he’s perfect. WWX has a very similar build to him, where they are both people that try to save people, but WWX has very obvious flaws that lead to his downfall and people call him out for such as his arrogance. But XL never gets called out for being stupid or stubborn, except for by HC to be “cute” (like as in “you’re so stupid because you never consider yourself.”)

He is much less a Mary Sue than HC because he isn’t “rich” or “renowned” like HC is, but in most other aspects he is just as bad as HC.First of all, he is basically just as powerful as Jun Wu even thought JW trained just as hard as him but for 800 years. Why? (Besides his plot armor and protagonist’s golden halo). He ends the book respected, loved, and super powerful and is also smarter than everyone else and is able to figure things out super fast, but is for some reason still collecting trash? Even though he has basically destroyed the entire status quo of the heavens just because he has suffered while nobody else actually suffered under the rule of Jun Wu, everyone still loves him. However, he is much better than HC in terms of being a Mary Sue because at least he isn’t crazy good at carving statues and can’t figure out dead languages, but he is still overpowered as heck and is either hated for no reason or unconditionally loved.

About the hated for no reason, why? Why is it that after the fall of Xian Le, everyone hates him? Like the logic that the people have for hating him is so convoluted and so weird that I just don’t understand. Just because the human face disease appeared during the civil war does not make it “his fault”. It’s correlation, not causation! Look, I don’t like XL, but having people hate on him for such a stupid reason feels so forced to me. I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense, but at the same time, it’s so exaggerated that I stopped caring. It feels like MXTX first thought that XL needed to go through literally everything bad for angst and so that when HC takes care of him it’s fluffier, but it felt like she wrote the angst first and rushed the reasoning.

Again, I respect MXTX for her hard work that she put into TGCF and by no means do I want to disrespect her for that. I don’t mean any offense to anyone who likes XL as well. Don’t worry, I’m not biased, SVSSS and MDZS will have their turn on the chopping block as well. As always, feel free to attack me in the comments, but be sure to stay respectful to each other and MXTX.

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its-miichan · 3 years

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YES.

Protagonists like wwx and sqq made reading the novels very fun but I just couldn't stand xl

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its-miichan · 3 years

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yes.

re: Hualian, I understand the kind of relationship they have is not applicable to mortals because it's religious love for a personal god. That's my problem with it, it's not a form of romantic love, it's religious devotion. The extent of reverence HC has for XL makes their relationship feels distant instead of close.

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its-miichan · 3 years

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PREACH

I can't bring myself to read tgcf. Scum villain had the comedy aspect, mdzs had the mystery/thriller, in both the romance really take the front seat at something like the 2/3, 3/4 of the story. But tgcf seems focused on the romance from the beginning and frankly that sound boring. I don't care how long he pinned, I care if he go on a road trip to solve murders or live an adventure.

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its-miichan · 3 years

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me on tgcf

"If U dOnT lIkE tHe pAiRinG wHy ReAd It???" The plot, the worldbuilding, other characters, development and humor?? Shit is more than just pinning and lust, I didn't come here for pwp and I AM allowed to not like main ships (during or after reading). Just say you want everyone have the same opinion as you and pretend some character are not as bad/bland as they actually are.

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its-miichan · 3 years

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bro yeah i didnt care for Hualian but damn fengqing and 2xuan kept me going

I loved TGCF's ensemble cast and side character stories. Lost interest in HuaLian about halfway through, but kept reading in the hope that FX and MQ would team up, save each other or even become friends.

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its-miichan · 4 years

Text

xie lian is poorly written (TGCF criticism)

He is bland and barely has a discernible personality

Inconsistencies ahoy!

His character arc is flat and he doesn’t develop as a character and doesn’t learn from his mistakes

Is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and a lot of bad things that happen is actually his fault

Is overpowered and again, a Mary Sue.

I guess XL is savage sometimes, but that feels so weird and out of character for someone that’s usually supposed to be quite outspoken.

You could argue that he’s been worn down by 800 years of torture and suffering so that he doesn’t really care anymore, and while that does make sense in a literal way, it makes the story less...exiting. I want to see his reactions to new situations, or how he thinks about the amoral or upright acts of the gods and demons, but instead of actually getting to see his thought process and his inner conflict, he’s just like “meh” and lets it pass. This is probably what ruined my investment in the story as XL just feels so bland and we don’t even get to see his personality through his reactions, therefore we’re just told his personality.

Point three is that his character arc, just like HC's, is so flat. The entire point of the flashbacks was so readers could throw a pity party for XL and feel bad for him, and so it’s just sad for the sake of being sad. XL doesn’t grow as a character, and what tiny bit of character development we do get is just...not great.

And he says he wants to help the common people, but he hasn’t done that at all. In book 2, he hurt his kingdom and the tons of people that died from the curse, and didn’t lessen the casualties caused in the war at all. In book 4, the people that stabbed him all got burned to death by HC (why does XL in the present not consider this?), he burned the Yong’an palace and likely killed people, and yes, he did stop the human face disease this time, but because he was the one that unleashed it in the first place. When he was general Hua, he had tried to save the common people, but his actions really barely did anything in the future. As the Guoshi of Yong’an, he did more harm than good. So how has he helped the common people?And the book never addresses this? Like after he came back to his senses in book 4, Jun Wu doesn’t punish him and the people don’t hate him or anything. He hates himself instead, which feels like it’s just something that MXTX put in so that the readers and HC could go like “no baby, you’ve done your best, you’re amazing.” He is presented as an underprivileged angel and deserves all the love in the world because he’s such a nice person, but at the same time….no? He isn't as great as the book makes him out to be and the fact that the book insists on him being a selfless martyr annoys me to no end.

He is much less a Mary Sue than HC because he isn’t “rich” or “renowned” like HC is, but in most other aspects he is just as bad as HC.First of all, he is basically just as powerful as Jun Wu even thought JW trained just as hard as him but for 800 years. Why? (Besides his plot armor and protagonist’s golden halo). He ends the book respected, loved, and super powerful and is also smarter than everyone else and is able to figure things out super fast, but is for some reason still collecting trash? Even though he has basically destroyed the entire status quo of the heavens just because he has suffered while nobody else actually suffered under the rule of Jun Wu, everyone still loves him. However, he is much better than HC in terms of being a Mary Sue because at least he isn’t crazy good at carving statues and can't figure out dead languages, but he is still overpowered as heck and is either hated for no reason or unconditionally loved.

About the hated for no reason, why? Why is it that after the fall of Xian Le, everyone hates him? Like the logic that the people have for hating him is so convoluted and so weird that I just don't understand. Just because the human face disease appeared during the civil war does not make it "his fault". It's correlation, not causation! Look, I don't like XL, but having people hate on him for such a stupid reason feels so forced to me. I mean, I guess it kind of makes sense, but at the same time, it's so exaggerated that I stopped caring. It feels like MXTX first thought that XL needed to go through literally everything bad for angst and so that when HC takes care of him it's fluffier, but it felt like she wrote the angst first and rushed the reasoning.

Again, I respect MXTX for her hard work that she put into TGCF and by no means do I want to disrespect her for that. I don't mean any offense to anyone who likes XL as well. Don't worry, I'm not biased, SVSSS and MDZS will have their turn on the chopping block as well. As always, feel free to attack me in the comments, but be sure to stay respectful to each other and MXTX.

#tian guan ci fu #tgcf #tgcf quotes #heaven official's blessing #mxtx critical #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #xie lian #hua cheng #tgcf donghua #tgcf headers #tgcf criticism #hatereading #not mdzs

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its-miichan · 4 years

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Why HC is a poorly written character

I will probably delete this tbh.... Look, I know I hate on TGCF a lot, but I actually really enjoyed the book and I respect MXTX for putting so much effort and work into it. It’s just that I find people like me to be underrepresented and want to be the one that starts the “unpopular opinion” movement sort of thing because diversified opinions are lit. I don’t mean any offense to anyone who loves TGCF or the character of Hua Cheng, and definitely no disrespect to MXTX, so please take everything in this as the incoherent rants of an overly stressed out teenager. Now let’s get on into my TGCF/Hua Cheng criticisms

I’ve seen tons of people love HC, but no matter how I tried, I still hated him. So I decided to go all out and point out all his flaws as a character. I will be making multiple comparisons to Bingge and the Yiling Patriarch because they are very similar in personality, but I like them far better. Obviously, this is my personal opinion, so it’s completely fine that you disagree with me. Feel free to attack me in the comments below and feel free to hate me to oblivion as well. Anyways, without further ado, let’s get into it.

Why HC is the worst character in 4 long points:

He doesn’t have a shred of consideration or respect for people not named Xie Lian

He is a static and underdeveloped character

His character arc is very lacking

He is an overpowered Mary Sue (it’s almost as if he’s an unkillable protagonist that has a special power of dropping the IQs of all cannon fodders around him to 40 whenever he walks into the room)

Let’s start on point 1, he has no consideration for anyone but XL and is very obnoxious:

Honestly, why is XL fine with what he does? XL’s whole thing is about love, compassion, and righteousness, but then HC is here insulting people, calling them trash, and still flirting while people are legit trying to fight for their lives and he’s just fine with it? Yes, HC is the only person who has listened to him in a long time, but he’s here breaking XL’s morals and all he does is call him out mildly? HC is literally putting other people’s LIVES in danger doing what he does (black water arc), and yet XL is still fine with him?

HC just is more morally black than he is morally gray. His obnoxiousness to other people is so mildly played off that it’s infuriating, and he needs a serious humbling. Nobody has made him able to drop his arrogance and make him stop being annoying, and it’s just so frustrating to see this terrible character be able to do whatever he wants. (and his backstory, though tragic, does not excuse this) With WWX and LBH, they get what was coming to them. LBH is looked down upon and attacked for his arrogance and obnoxiousness and even at the end of the series is still seen as an enemy by CQ peak. WWX’s pride and belief that he could always do the impossible becomes his fatal flaw that ultimately gets him killed as his reckless arrogance gets him too many enemies HC is wildly arrogant and provocative and the narrative lets him get away with it because he is so OP, no one can do anything about it.

Despite MXTX trying to make him seem morally gray, the moments where he does something good aren’t on screen and feels forced. It felt, to me, like MXTX was trying to make him a good person when she realized he was a jerk. We get this whole self-indulgent thing about how nobody cared about HC so apparently the world owes him and he is justified to be a terrible person and laugh while people are literally dying. A character like him can be handled well (Taxian-Jun, Bingge, the Yiling Patriarch), but his handling was just such a miss for me. At some points his apathy to other people didn’t feel like part of his character, but just a way for MXTX to advance the plot. If he had just stepped in and done something, a lot of plot points would’ve been solved so much more quickly, and the book wouldn’t drag on as long as it did.

Point two is that he is shallow as heck and doesn’t get any onscreen character development. LBH and WWX have also had an arc in their story where they are arrogant and need a humbling, but it isn’t annoying because we get to see how they become this way. We get to be attached to them before they develop their twisted personalities and we get to see how they grow and develop from that period in time. With HC, he just starts out this way and we are forced to accept it, and his personality doesn’t develop at all. Speaking of personality, he really barely has one. What even are his motives?He just walks around with XL and is dragged into adventures that he really doesn’t care about and does nothing while he’s on these adventures. Everything he does is about XL and he has barely ever done something out of his own agenda. We never even get to see how HC’s love for XL came to this point, we are just forced to accept it. Yes, XL did save HC as a child, but does that necessarily warrant 800 years of complete devotion and 3 deaths? We’ve seen similar stories with kind people adopting children or something of the sort, but we never see those children fall in love with the person or die for them three times. It feels like XL got some cheaply earned loyalty. Some development between XL and HC prior to his death would’ve been nice.

Again, with LBH and WWX, they have their own thoroughly developed motives and backstories that contribute to the way they act in a natural way. With LBH it’s that he thought his parents had abandoned him as a child, so he thought that he was unwanted and would do anything so that he wouldn’t be abandoned by SQQ. With WWX, he would’ve been dead if it weren’t for the Jiangs which is why he feels that his life is worthless and would throw his life out the window to protect others. With HC, his backstory somewhat explains his behavior but at the same time...not really? There’s such a drastic and inexplicable leap from his personality as a child and his personality now that it’s just weird. (how did he go from that awkwardly silent kid in book 2 to this suddenly super charismatic and chatty teen that we meet in book 1???) For example, why is he so good at flirting? He has essentially been alone for 800 years yet he is still good at flirting? Yes, he is supposedly “insecure” because of his backstory, but this insecurity barely ever manifests, and people in the story never deliberately use it against him (like how LBH’s backstory was used against him or how WWX’s heritage from a servant was used against him) and most of the time he is the exact opposite of being insecure, he is arrogant.

His backstory doesn’t explain his motive for doing things, which is why when he does something good, it doesn’t feel earned. Why did he save the people trapped in Tonglu? We don’t know because the book didn’t care enough to tell us.

Point three is that his character arc is just handled in an atrocious way. Can you really count it as a character arc though? If you can then that would just be the flattest character arc I’ve ever seen. Again, we get to see LBH and WWX grow and develop in the course of the story, changing with their experiences and becoming better people. Bingge is a terrible person, but SV ends with LBH finding redemption from most people and sealing away Xin Mo for the sake of the world and his shizun. WWX is significantly humbled after his first death and ends the story significantly more responsible and considers the consequences of things before charging headfirst into them.

But HC doesn’t have development like that. Throughout the entirety of the story, his character doesn’t grow one bit. When we first meet him in book 1, his personality is no different than way later in book 5. There is no growth or change in his way of thinking, relationships, or world view. Yes, you could say that his character development happened during the period where he went from a child to who he is now, but much of that is off screen and is therefore less...coherent. For example the flirting, which I mentioned in the last point, but also things like suddenly becoming arrogant as hell, despite supposedly being “insecure” or becoming as “mischievous” as he is today. What little character development we have comes off as superficial and very forced.

Point four is that he is an insufferable Mary Sue in serious need of a nerf. Or rather to quote peerless cucumber “Every single person, when in front of the protagonist, would act like his aura of “awesomeness” had devoured their intelligence”. I don’t understand why people don’t like the term “Mary Sue” to be applied to an international work because as someone who is Chinese and is familiar with the pop culture, I can assure you, the term Mary Sue is definitely used in Chinese culture. People say that HC isn’t a Mary Sue because he has no friends, but the amount of friends a character has does not affect whether they are a Mary Sue or not. Wikipedia defines a Mary Sue as: “...a generic name for any fictional character who is so competent or perfect that this appears unrealistic for the world's settings, even in the context of the fictional setting.”

It doesn’t mention the amount of friends, only how competent and/or perfect the character is presented to be. Key word: appears.

Google defines a Mary Sue as: “a type of...character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses.”

So, what are HC’s flaws and/or weaknesses? His “insecurity”? Yes, that could potentially be a flaw, but is it ever used against him in the story so that it is something that isn’t just there for the sake of “cute romance”? No. Yes, he does have a spot of spiritual weakness in his left eye, but that is only used against him ONCE, and it really doesn’t even advance the plot or affect him. Yes, he doesn’t have friends, but does that bother him? No. Does that affect him negatively? No.

He has a lack of flaws but has so, so many strengths. Personality wise, he is supposedly the most charming, charismatic, and funny person ever. He is extremely handsome and rich, along with his seemingly never ending array of OP powers and abilities that are never foreshadowed or mentioned at all. We know that his butterflies can attack and defend, but they can also be used as recording devices and go COMPLETELY unnoticed even in a court full of powerful gods? Was this ever mentioned before he just pulled it out of nowhere? And HC can also suddenly pull out the red string out of nowhere with no foreshadowing. How did he get the red string? We don’t know and the story doesn’t care. In fact, the red string doesn’t even do much and is just there for the sake of being “romantic.” Also, apparently he can pull out his umbrella and fly and deflect everything and is also powerful enough to break the cursed shackles? Why? (other than because he has the undefeatable protagonist’s golden halo and suffers from a serious case of main character-itis) He is so overpowered that it’s a joke at this point, and because he is so overpowered, the story lacks any sort of narrative stakes and makes everyone else look like a joke. Why worry about what happens next when you know HC will pull something from nowhere to steamroll through whatever problem XL is facing?

Look, with LBH, there is a blatantly obvious nerf to him, and that is that Xin Mo can corrupt him to the point where he virtually goes insane and destroys both himself and others in the process. With WWX, he is essentially useless without corpses or something resentful in the vicinity to control. Additionally, him being overpowered feels more natural than HC because no matter how overpowered he is, he still falls to the schemes of one Jin GuangYao. With HC, there is no such thing. Yes, he does die, but he comes back every time and the plot armor is so thick that all the tension and suspense in the story is completely destroyed.

In short, I think that HC is a terrible character. I find him to be shallow, annoying, and poorly written. It felt as if MXTX tried to make him perfect, and that really bugged me so much. I’ll probably be making a rant on XL next. Again, this is my opinion and none of this is objective fact, and if you agree with me, fine, and if you disagree, great! However, be sure to stay respectful to everyone in the comments as well as MXTX. As always, feel free to attack me in the comments.

#tgcf #tianguancifu #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #mxtx critical #hob #xielian huacheng mxtx modaozushi

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