#finished mdzs and started reading system

[dr-duckie]

soooo has anyone thought of a mdzs x svsss transmigration au with shen jiu and meng yao?

i’m not going into detail over their similarities but most people get the idea— brothels, yqy/lxc, spite, villainous antagonists that didn’t deserve what they were put through as a child, late start in cultivation, cunning personality, etc etc

yea.

let me start: shen jiu, one day, is gifted a high quality book set from one of his brothel jiejies when visiting them. at first, shen jiu had no plans to legitimately read them (mostly due to a lack of leisure time), but he eventually got to reading it when he was on a qian cao-mandated break after a qi deviation.

he gets hooked. when SJ is nearing the end of the novel, his thoughts are as followed: JGS deserved to get castrated and his limbs thrown to the endless abyss— WWX, although he was absolutely shameless, he was at least competent— LWJ was a fool for being so in love, but he was moral and loyal— and lan xichen…

an ache forms in shen jiu’s heart whenever he thinks about him. lxc, a man with a gentle, pacifistic, amiable personality who believed in what was right all the way until the end. he wholeheartedly supported and trusted his sworn brother, jin guangyao, until he couldn’t anymore.

shen jiu was touched. lan xichen, that man, had wasted all his efforts on an irredeemable monster. in a similar fashion, yue qingyuan was doing the same.

as for meng yao… shen jiu resented him. he had a loving mother, one who worked so hard for his happiness, only to squander all her efforts. meng yao… had what shen jiu envied the most in the newest disciple he just brought in. luo binghe. imo, it would be a clear sign of shen jiu’s self hatred projected onto meng yao. he sees the two of them as the hopeless scum of society, too broken to be loved. they were “charity cases” that couldn’t be fixed, no matter what.

soon after shen jiu finishes the novel, he falls into a qi deviation (the very same one that shen yuan transmigrated into) and dies. through some time space dimension jumping, shen jiu lands into the body of one 14 yo meng yao. and that’s just the beginning of his story.

shen jiu starts out by practicing cultivation in secret. meng yao’s body, although he is no prodigy, would definitely benefit from practicing from a younger age. then he gets to planning. with how shen jiu is, he would not step a foot in the karp tower, with a system or not. like, just no. i believe he’d set JGS on fire if he ever had to see the guy. the only plot point shen jiu intends on fulfilling is saving lan xichen, and then living a comfortable life away from the jianghu.

but within a year of living with meng shi in the brothel, shen jiu grows attached to her. he *wants* to make her proud, even if he wasn’t her real son. he was a total impostor. but even so, he didn’t want her legacy to be tainted by the actions of jin guangyao— who was now still meng yao, who is now shen jiu. but he doesn’t want to go to the jin sect. after an arduous process of actual communication with someone for a long time, meng shi realizes that the jin sect wouldn’t be good for her son, and jin guangshan wouldn’t help her *or* meng yao. the night before meng shi dies, she tells shen jiu that she loves him, regardless of whether he may fulfill her dreams.

aaaand, after that, shen jiu buries meng shi. he makes enough money as an artist (in secret, with his skillset from qing jing) to give her the proper burial rites. after that, he runs away. shen jiu finds a job as an assistant to an artist who sold fans and paintings in caiyi town. through his job, he meets NHS first, when he’s on his first year of being st the cloud recesses. surprisingly, shen jiu and nie huaisang have a friendship that… isn’t too bad. shen jiu is amiable, shows off the different fans he’s painted, and nie huaisang eagerly buys all of them. nie huaisang also buys out shen jiu’s other works, like his poetry and short stories. that day, with shen jiu’s qiankun pouch full, he treats himself to tanghulu.

the second encounter with nie huaisang brought along jiang cheng and wei wuxian. at that point in time, they were investigating the waterborne abyss problem. shen jiu, a year older now, shows nie huaisang his “new” invention: the war fan. wei wuxian is absolutely delighted at the new invention, and jiang cheng, although less excited that WWX, is considerably impressed as well. as for NHS, well, words can’t describe his happiness. shen jiu, on a whim, gifts it to him for free— mockingly thanking NHS for being such a generous patron. nie huaisang, unable to contain his excitement anymore, jumps on shen jiu and embraces him dramatically. this causes such a commotion, lan wangji comes over. with his brother.

(okay, i’m done writing for today.)

#mdzs #svsss #shen jiu #meng yao #shen qingqiu #jin guangyao #qijiu #xiyao #what if

[mdzs-fanon-exposed]

Introductory post: Please read! :)

hi everyone! welcome to my very own MDZS-specific iteration of the unparalleled @svsss-fanon-exposed and @tgcf-fanon-exposed. this blog is designed to find the differences between canon and fanon in the Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation fandom.

this blog is NOVEL CANON ONLY. although i may occasionally cite the drama or the donghua as the potential source for any misconceptions, the canons of these adaptations differ too much from the novel canon for my purposes (plus i haven't finished either one. whoops).

how this whole thing works:

send me an ask! is this thing you thought was canon actually fanon? is that fanon idea supported in the books? where? why? how?

i'll answer the ask with a rating, using SVFE's helpful rating system (explained below), and then go into detail. generally a post will include textual evidence supporting my rating, and possibly an analysis of what this means/where an idea came from.

i'll do my best not to introduce my own personal opinions or biases into the posts. if you have any textual evidence that you think disproves or otherwise contradicts one of my posts, i'm always happy to be corrected! HOWEVER. please do not argue with me or anyone else unnecessarily; this blog is not supposed to be a site for or source of discourse. i will block anyone who is repeatedly coming at me with bad faith. i'm doing this project for fun, and i want to keep it that way for everyone :)

posts will probably be sporadic so i don't burn myself out and lose interest. however, i want to try and answer as many questions as i can! submissions will open and close based on demand so i can stay on top of things.

some important things to keep in mind:

i'm not here to dunk on anyone's headcanons, and i am fully supportive of everyone's creative choices in the fandom!! (in fact i have many headcanons myself.) DO NOT harass anyone for their interpretations of the series. my purpose here is just to clarify whether certain ideas are textually supported, NOT to give an opinion on them.

i'm doing this blog for fun, so i'll be treating it as a casual project. i will only be using the official english translation of the novels, with the supplementary exception of the exiled rebels fanlation. i don't speak any chinese, so i will not be using the untranslated raws or any non-english fandom sources in my posts. although i'll be doing research as needed, i also will not be evaluating any headcanons purely based on chinese cultural norms, due to my unfamiliarity with them. if you are more familiar with any of these sources and have more information to add to a post, please let me know!

BECAUSE this is a casual project from someone whose only credentials are being completely obsessed with mo dao zu shi and knowing how to write an essay, anyone is welcome to make a blog that does this but. better. let me know if you start one and i'll point people your way lol.

finally: i will NOT be entertaining any character bashing in or on my blog. i've noticed that a lot of mdzs characters have some very... strong opinions about them across the fandom, and i may evaluate the "canon status" of asks that address specific aspects of these opinions, but as a general rule: i am going to be neutral-to-positive about EVERY mdzs character (yes, even that one. and that one. and-). and again, this is not a personal opinion-based blog, i'm looking at textual support, so honestly i don't think this disclaimer is necessary. but. just in case.

💥💥the rating system:💥💥

CANON: what it says on the tin! this fact is supported by the text. if you're trying to be as canon-compliant as possible, this rating is for you.

RUMOR: this fact is an in-text rumor. although this idea is mentioned in the novel, it's still not explicitly confirmed as canon. the characters themselves don't know if it's true or not!

FANON – SUPPORTED: not directly stated in canon, but it's a very likely interpretation, taking into account factors like cultural norms and occam's razor! this rating might be retroactively added to a post previously rated FANON – NEUTRAL, based on crowdsourced information about the raws or chinese culture.

FANON – NEUTRAL: it's not canon, but it's not NOT canon. the text neither confirms nor denies this interpretation, so it's up to you whether you want to consider it true to canon or not. the world is your oyster.

FANON – UNSUPPORTED: not directly stated in canon, but it's a very unlikely interpretation, taking into account factors like cultural norms and occam's razor. this rating might be retroactively added to a post previously rated FANON – NEUTRAL, based on crowdsourced information about the raws or chinese culture.

FANON – CONFLICTING: this idea directly contradicts something stated in the text. if you want to stay as canon-compliant as possible, this rating is not for you.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs meta #here goes nothing i suppose #i want you all to picture the 💥 emoji as if 'the rating system' was a youtube title screen with a bunch of explosions and air horns btw

[mxtxfanatic]

Hello, new danmei fan here. I'm really late into danmei, just started last year (so I missed the hype). Just when I confused which blog to follow, I found your blog. Thanks so much for this blog of yours, it really helped me to understand more of the stories. I just finished MDZS, TGCG, SVSSS and now I'm reading 2Ha.

For this ask game, can I ask MDZS or SVSSS?

Before I start reading, many people said that SVSSS is inferior to other MXTX works, after finishing the books, I disagree, because I enjoy them all the same....

I mean, if starting last year is considered "late," then I'm also behind, because I only started reading things a few years ago lmao! But it's never too late when fandoms are still booming (for better or worse). So I see we're finishing out the mxtx novels.

MDZS

Favorite Character: Wei Wuxian

Favorite Arc: all Drunk Lan Wangji encounters!

Character I Think is Underrated: Lan Wangji, if i have to hear “he’s boring” from people who can’t read one more time…

Character I Think is Overrated: all of the antagonists and villains. Jiang Cheng is not "single mother!jiujiu," he is just a bitchless Wen Chao. Jin Guangyao is not "poor little Meng Yao forced to do things against his will," he is a a calculating murderer who will scheme against, betray, and kill anyone who stands between him and ultimate power. Madam Yu is not a "girlboss" (unless we accept the real meaning of that word, which is a woman who gains power by ingratiating herself into oppressive systems as the female alternative to corrupt male leaders), she is a domestic abuser who made every single person in her family and husband's clan miserable.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Wangxian

Something I Love About the Book: I love the way this book is adamant about good always eventually being rewarded. That even if the outcome of doing good was terrible, that does not make the effort wasted or useless. Lan Wangji protecting Wei Wuxian at Nightless City was worth it even if he was almost killed for it, because it made sure that the yin tiger tally did not end up in the Jin Clan's hands as a completed weapon. Wei Wuxian saving the Wen was worth it even though he was killed for it, because A-Yuan got to live. Wen Qing and Wen Ning saving Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian was worth it even though Jiang Cheng betrayed them in the end, because their clan still got to live through its last descendant. None of their actions were met with immediate rewards, but the larger implications of them led to better outcomes than had they just kept to themselves and the status quo of corruption, as everyone else had.

SVSSS (my favorite of the three 🤗)

Favorite Character: Luo Binghe, hands down

Favorite Arc: Holy Mausoleum Arc, cause y'all (Shen Qingqiu 😒) gonna stop falsey accusing my baby, today!

Character I Think is Underrated: Bing-mei version of Luo Binghe, not because he's "unpopular," per se, but because mainstream fandom's perception of him seems to be that he is just Bing-ge who cries, and this is a complete mischaracterization of his character based on popular fanon. I see too much hate for him in this fandom because of it

Character I Think is Overrated: Shen Jiu. The man was a child abuser and died to one of his victims because he chose to be a child abuser. There is nothing tragic or unfair about that. Leave that man in the ether where he'll hopefully never have a chance to harm another person again.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Bingqiu

Something I Love About the Book: Shen Qingqiu. The man is trying his damndest to do right in what he considers a doomed narrative, but the moment he realizes that his efforts have actually made things worse, he immediately pivots his actions. He never tries to justify himself, deflect from criticism, or misplace responsibility. He has one goal in mind, and that is to make as many people's lives as he possibly can better than what they originally ended up as.

#svsss asks #mdzs asks #ask games #anon #favorite svsss character close *close* second is sqq

[southernwolf16]

After coming across SVSSS-related stuff on the blogs I follow/stalk, I finally gave in to my curiosity and checked the donghua.

I tried reading the novel a while back, but it didn't entice me that much so I didn't finish it. I think seeing the donghua helped spark my interest again.

Then I held back from watching Ep 10 for the past week and started reading the novel. I'm almost finished with it.

It's so different from MDZS. I find myself laughing most of the time. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan edition) are such disasters. I'm sure the more senior fans have already written eloquent posts about how codependent they are, Shen Jiu and Yue Qingyuan's relationship, why Cucumber Bro and Airplane Bro transmigrated to the novel they read/wrote, why the System exists in the first place, writing what you're passionate about vs writing what'll bring in money, and who is Jiang Cheng's counterpart in SVSSS, among other things. I think I read a post suggesting it's Liu Qingge? Or is it Shen Jiu?

Anyway, back to the donghua. I hope I'm not alone in saying I like the character design. At first it was a little jarring---maybe because I'm not used to watching CGI---and the donghua isn't actually 100% polished a la FFVII remake (on a side note, someone joked that Yue Qingyuan seems to be from the PS2 era). Regardless, I appreciate the design since it gave me an idea how the characters look like.

Which is why I'm a bit surprised when I started trawling the SVSSS tags here at Tumblr and saw art depicting Luo Binghe as a curly-haired, big-muscled mountain of a man. Perhaps this is influenced by Western taste? I'm not an expert in Chinese literature or culture, but in some pics I've seen from Cdramas those of demon blood who play major roles don't have the physique of someone who can crack walnuts with their biceps. Think Wang Yue (Wang Zhuocheng) from Legend of Chongzi and that actor from Love Between Fairy and Devil. Furthermore, Luo Binghe is described as a pretty boy in the novel so at this point, I'm of the humble opinion that the donghua got his body type right. And I subscribe to the standards of beauty from the source culture.

Okay, going back to the donghua Ep 10. As we say here in my country, papunta na tayo sa exciting part---I'm going to see Luo Binghe get pushed down the Endless Abyss by his beloved Shizun. Oh, the angst, the drama.

Nope. Nothing of the sort happened.

Oh, so they saved it for Season 2 [Tries to find Season 2]

[Season 2 not yet released] 😨

What. The. Hell.

I held off finishing Season 1 because I thought Season 2's already available. The site where I watched the donghua said Season 2's release is 2022.

Dude, we're two months' shy of closing 2023. 😱

Season 2, where art thou? 😭

#SVSSS #Scum Villain's Self Saving System #southernwolf16 rambles #southernwolf16 explores #please donghua gods #give us Season 2 #the S1 cliffhanger should be considered illegal

[thenanamisimp]

Danmei and MXTX novels

Would you look at that, another post that's not about anime? WILD. It is about MXTX novels though so the hyperfixations continue. I'm actually in the process of planning a very lengthy analysis of all three of her series but this is a warning, don't expect too much. I was never good at those in school plus it's been almost 7 years since I've last written something like that but I feel so passionate about her works that I really wanna try to share what I thought about the novels. Nevertheless, this isn't actually those analysis posts since those are gonna be separate and will probably be written after I re-read each series. However, since I'm actually finally fully done reading all her series - including the extra side chapters - I wanted to quickly share some of my opinions and how I feel after finishing all 18 of the books.

This goes without saying but just in case - SPOILER WARNING for Heaven Official's Blessing, The grandmaster of demonic cultivation and The scum villain's self saving system novels.

First off, if you haven't read any of MXTX's work before, prepare for trauma and tragedy. Most of her characters are either deeply traumatised already or in the process of. I will always encourage people to read content warnings before reading her books.

Starting off with my favourite - TGCF or Tian Guan Ci Fu (aka Heaven Official's Blessing). This story means a lot to me. I got introduced to TGCF through the donghua before I even knew it was queer fiction and even with censorship, the closet is made of fucking GLASS so I had to look for the source material. Honestly it took me a while to commit to reading the whole series as I've been struggling to pick up books for years now but TGCF actually got me back into reading (I think in total it took me about 8 days to read all 8 volumes). More than just the story telling being good, I got so incredibly attached to every single character (except Jun Wu, he can eat shit - tho the fact I'm even saying this speaks volumes about how well MXTX can write characters. It takes a lot for me to hate a character this much).

Taking place in a beautiful fantasy world, we follow Xie Lian and Hua Cheng through tragic traumatic past and present and we learn of the horrible truths about the lives of immortal beings. We also see two idiots in love take their sweet ass time to confess. I love me a good slow burn full of longing and pining. I eat that shit UP every time and MXTX gave it to me with every single one of her series.

TGCF for me was a journey full of kicking my feet at fluff, second hand embarrassment (because xl I stg, what do you MEAN you were taught how to resist the advances of women but not how to resist hot men you gay lil shit the closet is made of glass) and honestly, lots of crying. The hundred stabs incident, ruoye's creation and hcg's last death made me sob and scream (no exaggeration, I was stomping around my room, crying and yelling GIVE HIM BACK RIGHT NOW).

Also, in a not so unpopular opinion (I think?), Pei Ming is my fave because 1) he's the no.1 Hualian shipper - check the whole Mt Tunglu adventure for proof and also 2) he's just a lil slut with a big heart. I could seriously talk about him forever because I went from hating him after he tried to throw the blame for the Banyue Pass incident on Xie Lian, to loving him after I realised that everything he does, he does because he is truly just a kind man who loves a good fight. He's so silly! Just a lil guy! Go Pei Ming go!

Fuck you Jun Wu. Again. (I hate him just as much as I hate Mahito. Maybe a little less. I really hate Mahito).

Moving on to my second favourite (but honestly it's such a close one), MDZS or Mo Dao Zu Shi (The grandmaster of demonic cultivation). Take a wild guess about how I got introduced to it... Fandom of course, because very few people talk about TGCF online without mentioning MDZS so I just had to give it a chance.

The great grandmaster of demonic cultivation has been dead for a while but when he gets gifted a new body through a not so well known demonic ritual, he runs into an old acquaintance. We learn about Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's past and current world of cultivation and hear stories about messy betrayals and conspiracies. Aaaand we find out about some more trauma and tragedy because is it really an MXTX novel without it?

And talk about a rollercoaster because (and please don't hate me for this) I found Wei Wuxian annoying initially.... But it's okay now because I kin him so go figure. Tho I actually kin only his adult self, I was a very introverted and rule abiding teenager, a lil more like Lan Wangji. In any case, wwx is the same stupid chaotic bisexual that I am and he is babygurl. Yeah and what if he murdered 3000 people? It was self defense. THEY ATTACKED FIRST. Your honour, he did nothing wrong and he does not deserve to be punished!

On a serious note, MDZS explores so many themes that are personally important to me, my favourite being the power dynamics of the world. It’s truly moving that even with all the pain Wei Wuxian went through, how far in his cultivation and how powerful he got, he still couldn't protect those he loved (until Lan Wangji of course because Wangxian is perfect together and they always protect and defend each other. Wangxian my beloved). While it might be a stretch for some, it really reminded me of how powerless we are in the world. People aim to educate themselves and go on to do whatever they can to better the world in their own way and yet, it really feels like nothing’s improving sometimes. I could talk about this for hours but maybe I’ll leave that for another time and another analysis post since this is supposed to be a shorter one (lmao)

Last but not least, RZFZX or Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (honestly this one I use the english name for because I can’t pronounce the chinese as much as I try - The scum villain's self saving system or Svsss). This one I actually kinda struggled with - first of all because WHY BUGS MXTX. Not much bothers me in fiction but BUGS? Too far. Heads with spider legs? Raw flesh with maggots? Blood mites? I was out (for about half an hour and then I kept reading). Please note that it's not the raw flesh that bothered me, it was the fucking maggots. I can read about graphic murder, creepy hauntings, torture and many more but as soon as there are bugs? Nope! I’m done. People have phobias and that’s mine I guess. Enough ranting about bugs!

The story follows Shen Qingqiu, the scum villain of the hit web novel Proud Immortal Demon's Way (or PIDW for short, as it's referred to in Svsss) who is actually one of the original readers - and haters - of PIDW, who transmigrates into the book in order to fix the plot holes left by the original author. With his guide “the system” he does his best to lead the male lead of PIDW, Luo Binghe, down a better path than in the original story.

Svsss employs a comedic way of storytelling, with our protagonist being omniscient, it allows for the narration to be sarcastic and poke fun at a lot of moments that are cliche or badly written, as interpreted by sqq. Honestly, this is just a personal preference but I favour the more serious storytelling way of MDZS and TGCF (give me hurt until the very end when the main characters get together and then give me comfort).

To me, Svsss is a lot harder to analyse as a lot of its themes are unfamiliar to me, especially considering I’m the furthest from having any sort of humanitarian education (I have 2 engineering degrees). Using a story within a story, MXTX is able to deliver two main overarching themes; one about abuse and its results through Luo Binghe as well as one about the relationship of author and their readers, the feeling of being trapped by the readers' opinions and wanting your story to be liked through Shang Qinghua (to be honest, I hadn’t really picked up on this one until I saw discussion about this in the fandom).

If I'm being completely honest, I don't think I grasped this series as well as the other ones and I'm finding it hard to digest lbg and sqq's relationship. I'm unsure as to what it is that's holding me back from loving them as much as Hualian and Wangxian. I do tend to prefer tropes like theirs more than the whole "had to convince him to date me" thing which is what Bingqiu's relationship seemed like to me up until the end of volume 3. It’s also why I'm glad I actually followed through and finished the extras in volume 4 (I was really tempted to stop reading once I finished volume 3 not gonna lie). I believe those to be integral to understanding sqq's feelings towards lbh and while I understand that sqq did actually love lbh from the beginning (denial is a river in egypt and the gloset is made of glass - what the fuck is with MXTX's bottoms and the damn glass closet), I struggled to see the tipping point of where he actually understood his own feelings and what was going on in his head and that he was actually in love with lbh. Which is why I think to really understand Svsss, I would seriously need to reread it.

I also would love to eventually talk about queerness in MXTX's work because in each book, sexuality and queerness is explored and examined in so many different ways. As a queer person myself, it fascinates me as I can relate to so much of it. To be honest, I think I could write a short thesis on just this.

Honestly, while I'm very passionate about my favourite pieces of media (if you've heard me talk about any of my top 5 anime you'll understand what I mean), there hasn't been a lot of things outside JJK and MXTX's novels that have made me wanna dive deep into analysing every single detail. It genuinely makes me feel like I'm gonna implode sometimes. These 3 series have seriously reignited my love for reading. I was shown that a good book - in my opinion of course - doesn't need to avoid difficult topics. It simply needs to use them well as a means of delivering a message and a story, rather than them being included just to be included. They also reminded me that I love queer fiction and I need to read more.

I actually would really like to read Erha (or 2ha or The husky and his white cat shizun) but I've read the content warnings and I'm ~~apprehensive~~. While not a lot of things bother me, I'm not sure I want to read about that stuff (please look at the content warnings of this book, or any piece of media in that matter, especially if you have topics that easily bother or trigger you). Remember, it's our responsibility as readers/consumers to look out for ourselves first!

Please recommend any good danmei (other than MXTX) and possibly include links where they can be read! I would also highly appreciate recommendations for some good wlw fantasy fiction as I really would love to read some wlw novels - or even anime/movies/webtoons/manga. Just in desperate need of quality wlw content.

Also while I said I'd keep it short, it seems I ended up writing over 2000 words…

PS. I proofread this about 5 times and during one of them my file crashed, so if there's any mistakes or if I’m not making sense somewhere, blame my deep-fried brain, thanks

Thanks for reading my novel ramble! Enjoy reading :)

theNanamiSimp

#i'm adding a lot of tags because i put a lot of effort into this post actually and i want people to see it #danmei #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain #mxtx #mo xiang tong xiu #hualian #hua cheng #xie lian #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji #bingqiu #luo binghe #shen qingqiu

[buried-in-stardust]

Tag someone you want to know better

tagged by @scarletlich ! thank you!!

Favourite colour: blue!

Last song: 《予你》 by 隊長

Last movie: Little Women (2019)

Currently watching:

Season 2 of 《天官賜福》 TGCF

Rewatch of seasons 1 + 2 of 《全職高手》 The King's Avatar (QZGS) (donghua) when is s3 coming out???

Other stuff I've watched this year:

Across the Spider-Verse

...I think that's it

Currently reading:

《我只喜歡你的人設》 Rose and Renaissance by 稚楚

《可愛過敏原》 Lovely Allergen by 稚楚

《全職高手》 The King's Avatar (QZGS) by 蝴蝶藍 (I've been "currently reading" for 2 years and I still haven't finished it, but I do know the rest of the plot lol. )

《撒野》 by 巫哲 (just started)

《如琢如磨》 by 幾杯

Other stuff I've read this year: (adding this bc I read more than I watch)

《小蘑菇》 Little Mushroom by 一十四州 (very interesting apocalyptic setting! an zhe is also a very cute mushroom)

Babel by R. F. Kuang (very interesting magic system based on translation between languages)

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson (i love the way footnotes are used here and the unreliable narrators. fascinating setting too)

《小行星》 by 微風幾許

Novels I didn't finish: (also adding this)

《穿成反派的我靠沙雕苟活》 by 馬戶子君

《極度失常》 by 姜和

《封建糟粕》 by 超A的小花卷

(all for various reasons)

Currently working on:

QZGS fic translations

Creating a murder mystery board game (for a game design course)

Learning the basics of soapmaking

Learning basics of crochet (not really, I learned exactly one type of stitch)

Not killing my sourdough starter

Improving my Chinese in general (seriously though, it's not been that long since I first started learning how to read/write. I could read maybe 20 total characters until June 2020, and since then it's mostly been self-learning)

(all non-school related stuff is on hold bc I made poor choices and took too many courses this semester and employers in my industry expect a portfolio of personal projects)

Current obsession:

魔道祖師 MDZS my beloved 💙

全職高手 QZGS my beloved 💙💙

good characterization is just *chef's kiss*

tagging @misha-kitsune, @aestian, @kasarian, @enpr-ss + anyone else who wants to/hasn't done this already

#blu speaks

[i-bring-crack]

Bringing a MDZS, TGCF and SV crossover again.

Lmao a fix where post-canon: Shang Qinghua finished writting Heaven's official blessing and Grandmaster of Demonic cultivation, because he wanted to do those stories after finishing PIDW -but died- and then began to retell them to his lovely husband. After hearing him read all of MDSZ Mobei Jun stares and him and is just...

"It's about those clans located to the far southeast right?" And Shang Qinghua is like "what? What do you mean?" And so they come to look at a map and see that. In fact. They. Exist.

Shang Qinghua is so confused because tf?!? they aren't supposed to exist at all!! Yet the story had already been placed!

However, as goes through his notes again, he finds a few differences between the novels and real life.

1rst is that the Nie and Jin clan exists, he didn't want those two clans to exist in the second draft so that they don't add fuel to the angst, cucumber bro had dammed him to hell for it! And he doesn't need another cucumber bro!!

2nd is, with the existence of the tiny Mo clan– after the two of them went to explore that southeast part a little bit.– it means that there is definitely going to be the resurrection of the Yiling Patriarch, once more he made angst but just on the first draft!! On the second it was going to be that Wei Wuxian had been kept alive for 13 years raising Lan Sizhui and falling in love with Lan Wangji!

3rd is the fact that the Jumeng clan– after asking nearby people who they are– JIANG FENGMIAN AND YU ZIYUAN EXIST AND ARE ALIVE!

Mobei Jun: "Those characters in the book?"

AHHHHHH AND THEY HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN JIANG YANLI AND JIANG CHENG WHAT THE HECK!!!!

DEATH FLAGS

TOO MANY DEATH FLAGS!!

CUCUMBER BRO WILL HAVE HIS HEAD!!

"Then there is only one posibility!! One!!" Shang Qinghua immediately runs around Yiling city and asks Mobei Jun who is hidding his identity with a shape-shifting talisman of sorts -have to thank those fans for suggesting the weirdest kinky ideas for that talisman to appear- to help him "find a small child very scared of dogs, poor and if you give him fruits! Any! he smiles! And if you see him to capture him right away!"

So Shang Qinghua and Mobei Jun try to find as fast as they can the little Wei wuxian and SQH does find him! Yay! Plot devoid of stupidity! But oh no.

[System Updating]

[Syatem Updating]

"Oh fuck" He doesn't even have time to explain, Shang Qinghua just grabs Wei Wuxian out of the dog fight and holds on to him before any System tries to tell him to stay away so angst continues. And he guesses right because the system starts to crash in his eyes, seeing it as a win he goes back to Mobei Jun who has a lot of kids in his arms. A lot.

"Orphans... I forgot to say orphans." Mobei Jun glares at him while the kids cry for their parents.

The two do a lot of apologies that day.

Meanwhile baby Wei Wuxian is just confused about the whole thing, "who are they?"

At first with how many kids were in Mobei Jun's hands he was sure they where kidnappers but then after all of that the tiny one says they found him? And then they have to quickly run before the cultivators catch them! Are they good guys? Are they bad guys!?

Shang Qinghua finally feels the poor boy tremble under his arm and so he settles the boy down once they are at an inn and very far away from the police sort of cultivators.

Shang Qinghua brings him to a bed and then proceeded to ask him a few things.

"You are Wei Ying right?"

Mobei Jun crashed at that point. Cuz, that's the name of the child, the demonic cultivator in the books. But the books already painted him as a man who had become an immortal, not the little child on the streets ooooohhhh what the fuck—

"You parents... they are Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze are they not?"

The boy beams "You know them? Then are you my mama's family? My baba's?"

"Ah... somewhat..."

"Really!?" Shang Qinghua had to lie saying that he is his uncle, and to go get a shower while they bring him some clothes later on. So now that boy leaves he is left with a Mobei Jun more than willing to listen and ask the thousands of questions he has.

Eventually Shang Qinghua tells him everything. [System Error. System Error] The systems simply says, so he guesses hopes that nothing bad will happen if he told the truth.

And nothing does! Ah! That's so good, goddammit he is crying so much to finally reveal everything. Every single thing! From his life as a writer, to his creation of PDIW how he had to listen to the fans so he could eat for once, how he then met Peerless cucumber which IS Shen Qinqiu though he wasn't meant to be and neither was he also meant to be here, and how both of them where destined to die yet they changed the storyline into something that looked like the first few drafts and then how he was thinking about writting more stories and he finally ends it once they think Wei Ying has been in the bathroom for too long and so Shang Qinghua goes to take care of him, grabbing some clothes they asked a maid to buy for them and had already been delivered.

So Mobei Jun has to process a lot. He is very quiet about it —possibly going through every stage of every emotion imaginable. Well Qinghua can't blame him! He just learned he is God!—

Once Wei Wuxuan has eaten and slept Mobei Jun just goes like "You are the worst god."

"I know."

The next day the cop cultivators are still searching while Shang Qinghua and Mobei Jun book it out with Wei Wuxian to the central plains and crash at Cang Qiong Mountain. No one bats an eye as to why a demon ice king is present, they ask Yue Qingyuan where Qing Jing peak lord is, then find him in in and middle of finishing a papapa, after they let him finish did they deliver the news to him. Sadly Binghe had to leave and not listen because the System works on him, PDIW' pov comes from him and therefore if the readers where to find out the existence of the transmigators... (are you serious system? They are still reading?) [System Error. The existence of transmigation and the System must not be shared with Protagonist Luo Binghe.]

(Fuck you.)

Shen Qingqiu: "Airplane. Private chat. Now."

"I'm going to die aren't I?"

Wei Wuxian flinched at the dramatic screams but Mobei Jun just huddles him close cuz no, he kinda deserved that. (Poor Binghe, his especial husband food is now being given to this Wei child.)

The two modern AU bros are still shouting outside, Shen Qingqiu trying to get all the information of ANY thing he has ever written, Even the textbooks from high-school! Yes! The cringe things he posted at 13 too! Everything! Everything!

But poor Airplane bro can only remember making Grandmaster of Demonic cultivation and Heaven's Official Blessing.

So while Wei wuxian is munching on more delicacy of the Demon Emperor food, and Binghe is eating with the boy, reluctantly. Shang Qinghua, Shen Qingqiu and Mobei Jun begin planning out some things.

1rst- To stop Shang Qinghua from writting ever again or just make him write some thing that could be useful, let's see how his God powers develop really.

2nd- Xianle Kingdom is still alive and surprisingly the place where Granmaster of Demonic cultivation takes place in, so that might explain the existence of ghosts and why no one cared about the kingdom or the Emperor in MDZS. Well anyways Shen Qingqiu will go to Xianle before Mei Nianqing and hopefully intercept the child from becoming a chosen one of Jun Wu and hopefully manage to prevent Xianle's downfall once and for all.

"Ah but Cucumber bro, the story takes place between ghosts and gods. We are neither of those."

[System Updated.]

[Mission: Lighten the story but the events must stay the same. Access to heaven has been granted if one can achieve level 150.]

"Oh look we have the levels above our heads, and the stats of everyone too!"

Shen Qingqiu Level 100

Mobei Jun level 113

Shang Qinghua Level 60

They go to the other room.

Luo Binghe Level 250.

"Jesus fucking Christ."

Alright new plan, Shang Qinghua will become a cultivator friend or teacher in Lotus Pier so as to keep a close eye on Wei wuxian's growth, rescue him before he looses his golden core but still have to learn demonic cultivation, rescue his family, if he can too, and saving the Wen remnants, which is going to be an enough for the clans to have a reason to kill him. Hahaha.....ha...

Shen qingqiu will have to be the Guoshi of Xianle, trying to also reprimand the future Green ghost's misbehavior and setting Xie Lian in a right path but one that is mundane enough. Maybe him just becoming a King will be fine.

Binghe will have to be convinced to become the heavenly emperor in case Xie Lians protagonist powers are too much and Mobei Jun gets to do all the spy work seeing if he can save some other characters from disaster like the ones from Yi city or preventing Banyue from falling, the Wen remnants from being abused and Wen Ning from being killed, guiding the poor bride ghost's resentment away or even saving He Xuan wayyy before the beefleaf arc starts. Shang Qinghua will be there too after taking care of Wei Wuxian first.

- - - - -

It just... it'll be fun seeing like:

- Wei Wuxian learning Demonic cultivation from actual demons. Angst by resusitating Hua Cheng so that he might protect Xie Lian especially during the 33 gods that tried to fight Xie Lian for the mountain.

-Posibility of the Yiling Wei clan established with the help of Shang Qinghua and Mobei Jun bringing in protection and poor characters who definely need to be here: usual Mo Xuanyu, Xue Yang, Wen Yuan, rest Wen remnants, A Qing for good measure. BUT ALSO feral Quan Yizhen, Shi Qingxuan with so much bad luck on his hands (despite Shi Wudu not wanting to) and maybe even Hua Cheng trying to learn how become really strong to protect his Majesty after he got banished by Mu Qing.

- If Mei nianqing gets found out then Shen Qingqiu will have to help him out and OH Heavenly Emperor Luo Binghe fight vs Jun Wu. Will that protagonist halo work?! Will it not!?! Hmmmmmm

-Maybe god Xie Lian VS god Luo Binghe. Who truly is the strongest protagonist!

-Qing Jing Peak's newly turned good but not really disciple: Prince Xiao Jing

-Mobei Jun just being used as a water source for the Burial Grounds and Yong An so they don't die.

-Omg Mobei Jun slapping some Qi or something to remedy Nie Mingjue so he doesn't die, still crashes into a comma or something. Woops.

-Yanli and Yingying friendship. Ultimate Shijies who got each other's back(literally).

-Wen Qing and Mu Qingfang talking about medicine and plants. Or better yet, some of the wen remnants that dont really master demonic cultivation becoming members of Ciang Qiong Sect.

-Nie Huasiang and Ling Wen where helped once by Shang Qinghua and suddenly started gathering suspicion as to who he was coming out of nowhere in their greatest need and deviating some plot points with his husband who is really a demon king. How does this man know other gods and has so many important people by his side? What can he see? What cant he?

-OMG Shi Qingxuan and Mo Xuanyu Dress Up BESTIES!!

-Zhuzhi-lang and Wen Ning just being Zhuzhi-lang and Wen Ning, maybe they strike up a friendship, maybe Wen Ning gets pretty scared at first.

-Demons and Ghosts hell yeah.

-Sha Hualing absolutely wreaks havoc with Wei Wuxian in Ghost City and Hua Cheng already grown up, depending if he died or not he is just : "Wei Shifu, why."

-Mei Nianqing and Shen Qingqiu playing cards. "You know solitare?" "No -_-." "Uno?" " No, do tell Shen Daozhang. 0-0" Song Lan and Xiao Xingcheng also agree to play. Mei Nianqing catching feelings of nostalgia because the three remind him of his old friends.

-Luo Binghe dying trying to teach Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian how to cook. He couldn't T-T.

-Mobei DAD! Of He Xuan because the misfortune killed him so he has to guide this ghost to not kill but he is filled by pure hatred dammit! And the same goes for the Xuan Ji who can't stop obsessing over Pei Ming so he has to tell her "he ain't worth it" every time. He finds Yin Yu and Banyue too and just has to take a minute into buttheading and slamming Pei Ming.

-heh Mobei Jun and Yushi Huang, gods who helped out humanity and are 100% done with Heaven shenanigans.

-Oh Shang Qinghua and Mobei Jun possibly giving the Jiang children all the love they deserve ♥❤<333

-Jun Wu being bad by uniting forces with ghost Tianlang-Jun but ghost Tianlang-Jun gets Jun Wu into ✨Danmei✨

"Luo Binghe that kid... doesnt he look like you?"

"Yeah he is my son."

"..."

"Hes gay."

"Oh... well mine isnt."

TLJ Pointing to Hualian "are you sure about that?"

-OH Maybe Jiang Yanli can learn martial arts under Qi Qingqi!

-Nie Mingjue wanting his little brother to succeed as head of the sect but Liu Qingge just says that he should follow his dreams and passions just like his sister has done. "And what is your sister?" "Worldwide renown writter no you cannot ask of w h a t."

-Xie Lian: Biological son of a King and queen, Emotional son of two Heavenly Gods equal in power and two weird Immortals as they fight for custody. Married to a ghost king who studied under the grandmaster of Demonic cultivation who in turn was taken care of and taught by the literal primordial creator with his demonic ice king.

Oh you know what will be funny? Is if they actually KNOW Shang qinghua is their creator but only after 800 years have passed or something and Shang Qinghua finally archives Godhood and the entirety of heaven just gasps and stays in silence as they see the Immortal Shang qinghua looks THE SAME even to the smallest details as the grand Jade Emperor that stands in the main hall of the heavenly palace. He is truly the first Jade Emperor. AND HE IS BACK OMG OMG OMG!!

Only the most powerful gods could have access to this site, and: Heavenly Supreme god Luo Binghe who didn't care about heaven, Literature God Shen Qingqiu always cooped up taking care of earth whose only reason of becoming a God was so he could endure papapa, God of death Wei Wuxian in Ghost city, God of Winter Mobei Jun having tea times and harvesting Yong An as well as taking care for the Mobei clan, God of Music Lan Wangji playing sad music whenever his husband wasn't home and papapaing when he was, Martial God Xie Lian... um...

WELL All the Gods he knew of where doing one thing or another and therefore NO ONE had told him about the history of heavenly emperors until he had been kidnapped by Jun Wu who then explained that OH GOD NO WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOD SHEN YUAN WAS ANOTHER CREATOR TOO! OF THE SYSTEM!??! THE FUCK—

#haha lore #tgcf spoilers #tgcf #tgcf novel #scum villain's self saving system #mxtx svsss #mdzs #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mo dao zu shi #tian guan ci fu #shang qinghua #god shang qinghua #mobei jun #yiling wei #yiling patriarch #wei wuxian #lan wanji #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #shen yuan #mei nianqing #mo xuanyu #hua cheng #xie lian #shi qingxuan #he xuan

[moldybonessmell]

SVSSS danmei novel review post

So I had a winter break and finished reading SVSSS and here are some of my thoughts about it.

DISCLAIMER: this as an analysis post and if you might get upset over criticism of the novel, please stop reading. My intend is definitely NOT to send hate but do a review.

Disclaimer number 2: I'm a danmei fan and have read mdzs, tgcf and 2ha so I have some point of reference for comparison

Starting up with the things I LOVED about the novel:

The idea is popular, but the author made it have an interesting twist (ridiculing the genre of something you wright right at the moment is a gigachad move fr fr)

The plot is interesting and entertaining, the novel is easy to read and follow

There is a good part of humour that I enjoyed (the whole Tianlang-jun bit lol)

Characters are well-written in general (even tho I raise an eyebrow at some of them)

I absolutely adore MoShang couple. Them being a tsundere and a gremlin is very fun and I liked the extras showing the development of their relationship. The whole bit where MBJ openly says hitting a person is the way he sees flirting and SQH being oblivious that his own ideas of courting made MBJ convinced he's flirted with too is hilarious. SQH not only creating himself his perfect man but also pulling him for sure makes him a god in their world lol

Another unofficial couple I grew to like is LiuShen aka LQG and SQQ. Ngl I was oblivious to the chemistry they have - "They are such good friends!" as historians would say LOL. But after spending some time in the fandom I think I adore them a lot (esp after finishing this one extra where it's obvious LQG is convinced they are soulmates and is gay af lmao)

Now, on the other side, criticising the novel.

My problem is that the novel seems way too short?? The whole plot is to fill plot-holes but the novel itself seems to have a plenty of them:

We don't know anything about the System, why it works, who created it and for which purpose?

The fact that Binghe doesn't even know SQQ is not his real shizun?? I really expected some confrontation in the end and stuff but bro just lies to his husband till the rest of their lifes now ig?? I was really looking forward to see this and LBH thinking he's betrayed again but we never got it, not even in extras. We got a little hint when SQQ couldn't explain LBH how he knows so much about what will happen, but this seemed to just be sweepped under a rug in the end.

The novel is too short, there are so many interesting plot-lines to explore and possible scenes to write but extras only explore already existing dynamics and seem to be cut-outs / behind-the-scene stuff the author probably just decided to not put in. Half the time I was sitting there and thinking about the fact that someone definately wrote a fanfic about this or that fact

I've read other mxtx novels and tgcf, for example, felt complete to the point I didn't even read extras, as it felt like the story is whole and finished.

Another problem I have with the novel is that some very important info about characters is still hidden in extras, for example:

The fact that LBH acts like this with SQQ because SQH himself got him the idea?? I really thought bro is a cry-baby LOL (call me SQQ bc of how delusuional I am). The way SQH not only pulled his dream man but helped the story progress with LBH pulling HIS dream man is AWESOME and I wish it was in the main novel part.

Another extra-hidden part I wish wasn't hidden, is the fact that SQH was always thinking about og Shen Yuan and that's why they end up actually being friends, it feels like an important bond was kinda lost in the finished novel.

All in all, I enjoyed reading SVSSS but understand why it's not as popular as mdzs or tgcf. This is everything I got at the moment, thank you for reading!

If you have any thoughts or can explain some of the confusions I mentioned, you're welcomed to do so in comments! Just please be polite, thank you!

P.S. I firstly wrote this post to drafts right after reading the novel and edited it after finishing extras and ngl some of my thoughts have changed.

#mxtx #svsss #人渣反派自救系统 #danmei #scum villian self saving system

[soldier-poet-king]

@literary-potat0 tagged me to list the last, current, and next up books on my reading list

Last: recently finished MDZS vol 2, my Goblin Emperor reread (audiobook), The Monster Baru Cormorant, and Lockwood & Co 3

Current: I'm almost finished Saint-Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars, as well as O'Loughlin's Hidden Mercy; I'm in the midst of my Grief of Stones reread, The Thief audiobook reread on my commute, and I have both naruto and trimax on the go as my library holds come in (vol. 38 for naruto and 3 for trimax)

I also have partially read, but currently on hold, The Raven King (i was being TOO emo about it and needed to not have a meltdown so we are on temporary pause while i recover), and The Way of Kings (kaladin is blorbo but man bsanderson is a worldbuilding guy and i am a character driven narrative guy, so the pacing is killing me. i ought not to complain HOTE is just as long and sometimes as repetitive but like....it's about EMOTIONS so im irrevocably in love w it), and The Count of Monte Cristo (i got overwhelmed by library holds and havent had a chance to pick it up again yet)

Up next: I picked up a whole whack of holds at the library today after work, so in the next lil while I'll be starting The Bells of Nagasaki (nonfiction), Station Eleven (fiction), Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (poems), and Strange Practice (indulgent vampire read), in addition to my ongoing manga adventures

i ALSO promised Rae I'd finally start on Hogarth's Bloodladders trilogy while getting my tattoo done since im gonna be sitting there for hours with only my left arm available and thus an ebook is my best bet

im also waiting for MDZS vol 3 and Baru Cormorant 3, but the holds probably wont be in til october given the waitlist

tagging @im-not-the-one-youre-looking-for @peregreen @myth-mouse and anyone else. seriously. pls. i wanna talk about books

i will also shamelessly plug my goodreads bc yes it sucks as a website bc it: is a shitty non functional cataloguing system that wounds my data organizing obsessive soul, is owned by amazon, has completely ruined book reviewing and rating for publishers and makes me read the worst opinions i've ever seen with my own two eyes. but also. it's convenient and i can actually be bothered to keep it updated as a reference tool. so. alas.

#fran reads

[thisisnotthenerd]

thought it would be good to create a place where i can find all of my works without having to extensively search my tumblr. also a way for me to see if i can summarize how my writing has changed over the course of six years.

also: hi! i'm thisisnotthenerd. i came to fandom over 8 years ago and i've been writing fanfic since ~2018. recently i've gotten into data analysis for dimension 20, so you'll probably see a bunch of that from me. to see some of my work, click through this post!

FANWORKS:

FMA:B

Edward's New Groove: crackfic where Ed gets genderbent after the Promised Day and immediately gets thrown into solving another mystery about Xerxes. discontinued, though i may go back to rewrite and update when i have the energy.

The Alchemist's New Groove: the promised rewrite of Edward's New Groove.

A:TLA

The Spirit-Touched Series: AU where Raava isn't the only Great Spirit to take on a vessel. focused on the Gaang and their adventures as a troop of living spirits.

MDZS/The Untamed

Unconcerned With Worldly Pursuits: Lan Wangji decides to start acting like Wei Wuxian after his death as a memorial. Chaos ensues. Comes with an author-read podfic.

Dimension 20

bands of iron, bands of gold: Elody's perspective on Gerard's disappearance and what she saw of the TPK in the original Neverafter

thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats: a statistics series that i started after i finished watching every season of dimension 20 (at the time this was during mentopolis, and i've kept up live since then) that catalogs a wide variety, from episode runtimes, to level progressions, to character ages, and more. you can check out the #thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats tag here on tumblr, or look at my magnum opus of a spreadsheet.

Songs of the Celestine: a gift for Finn (@shakespearestolemyurl) for the 2023 D20 Gift Exchange that became an original song with lots of academic/theoretical scaffolding. another fic that includes recordings, this time of the song.

Musings on the Solisian School District: my thoughts on the structure of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy as we come back to school for Fantasy High Junior Year. lots of theories on leveling and how the quest system works.

the perils of xp leveling: a subseries to Musings on the Solisian School District, which considers the difference between milestone and xp leveling in fantasy high, using the bad kids and the rat grinders as case studies.

the Polls: I've done a fair few of these, so check out the tags to see the winners: #level 20 battle royale, #ultimate d20 class fight, #battle episode of all time, and most recently, who has their shit together?

the d20 episode randomizer: what its says on the tin. if you can't decide on what episode of d20 to watch, pick one with the click of a button. also includes options for alphabetical, chronological, and other cursed sorting methods for watching.

Critical Role:

Divinity in the Face of Calamity: post-Apogee Solstice flash fics that incorporate mechanics into the storytelling. some have specific word counts, some don't.

smaller AUs: this is stuff I've considered but haven't made into full fledged fics of their own yet: the bell's hells leverage au and the cr regency au.

#my pinned post #fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood #avatar the last airbender #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #dimension 20 #critical role #my writing #thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats

[ferdydurke]

Could you write something about your dnd character/s? Love hearing about other people's ocs!

hehe i finally have a moment to answer >:3c this is gonna be long so im gonna get a read more involved

my only character thats actually from dnd (my online group plays other ttrpgs) and "active" (we played two sessions 3 months ago ;w; but! might play again) Is Yeshe :3

Its a mdzs inspired campaign... im pretty sure, i havent watched it... so i based her off of tibetan folk clothes and ofc off of a pallas cat. She hadnt had time to shine as a character yet and her backstory and motivations are bit murky =w= but the gist is that she takes care of her magically gifted little sibling (another player character, my sketch attached), they were raised in a remote commune and are now going to the big city.

Now, the character from a finished campaign of City Of Mist (really cool system!!!) thats been on my mind a lot recently is my beloved Theooooooo

He was originally an oc completely detached from any specific setting, then I put him with my beloved Rochelle (in the blue dress, she started out as a dnd character but got only like 2 sessions back in 2020 :'3) in my own version of feywild (ill get to it later).

And then!!! I decided to play him in that CoM game and it was the best decision everrrrrrrrrr he was so so so so sos ososoosososos fun :3. CoM is urban fantasy where people become "rifts" for mythical beings and are able to use their power.

Theo was a Detective and a Fey and i really enjoyed playing an absolutely devious, controlling and charming guy =w=. His main motivation was power, he thought most people (except for his wife rochelle altough they have a tomshiv thing going on) are beneath him and mostly there for him to order around like chess pieces. And something that made this campaign insanely fun for me was that in order to get more powerful he had to do a task for the fey queen - kidnap and deliver a singer to her. A singer which also happened to be the person we had to protect during our investigation... dm and me kept it secret.

It was so insanely fun to walk into every scene thinking of how to find an opportunity to do that... in the end I managed to, in a very tense scene (the greyscale sketch at the top, the girl smiling behind theo is one of the fey messangers). The other PCs didnt stop him because they had some trust in him... got away with it completely :3. Tho I agreed not to play him in the next campaign (even tho id love to >_<) bc his jig was kinda up. Great character tho, and thanks to my dm i finally get warlocks, i might play one sometime!

Now, still in the city of mist im playing Valerie :3

Her mythos is "Vampire" but she refuses to drink blood... she gets all sorts of issues bc of that, has trouble keeping down frineds and jobs ect... Still very early in the campaign but shes pretty fun :3 tho i prefer chracters who are a bit more commanding, i made her more of a follower to let my group breathe after theo but i kinda naturally fell back into organising the party again last session so i think i just need to stick to making charismatic characters next time sidugfsd. shes a nice change of pace tho, im excited for whats in store for her.

My feywild!!! It's a setting ive had in my head ever since i made Rochelle, Its sort of an early modern france mixed with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell which sounds pretty lame and ig it is isudgfsd.

Theres a lot of ideas and a lot of characters that i dont really have time to develop and am prolly gonna rework a million times =w= but its fun, and its fun to make plalists for random archfey.

Last character I'll mention =w= even tho i never got to play him because the campaign fell apart before the fist session, as they often do, I really love Byk and I wanna show you guys...

Tadeusz Byk born in 1880 in Poland, Emigrated to the usa (boston then moved near new york) with his mother and grandma when he was 13... Operates a temporary house for immigrants that his mother started. Now 40, works as a tailor and sells moonshine on the side. Depressed, repressed and with a big heart... hope i get to dust him off for something someday...

#barking #ask #I bet this is very unpleasant to read forgive me ive dyslexia and had to write it without autocorrect #if you guys are curious about any of em feel free to ask ^_^ also i have a million more ttrpg ocs so if you wanna see some more lemme know #i tried to stick to some relevant to dnd ones sdugsd #except for byk i just know you guys like old man yaoi #he got that hat from a childhood friend he had a thing for... all very tragic

[crimsonrainseekingflower]

Tag someone you want to know better

i was tagged by @kukuandkookie 🥰💕

Favorite color: light pink!

Last song: Partner in Crime by Madilyn Mei

Last movie: The Creator (i went in without having seen a trailer or anything and found it very enjoyable!)

Currently watching: uhhhh i just finished s2 of loki (😖) and i'm still watching various star wars shows (😖 and 🥰)

oh! i'm rewatching scumbag system too because i love it

Other stuff I've watched this year: oh gosh let me think 🤔

Stardust

The Dragon Prince S5

Centaurworld (twice!)

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Black Friday and Nerdy Prudes Must Die (AS YOU ALL KNOW!! I'M BEING REALLY ANNOYING ABOUT IT 😂)

Various TGCF episodes, just for fun, it wasn't a full rewatch

Chainsaw Man

One Piece Live Action

Love Between Fairy and Devil

Till the End of the Moon

and more stuff but i really can't remember it all asdfghjkl

Shows I dropped this year/didn't finish: i haven't dropped any shows but there are ones i'm taking forever to finish watching. i've dropped a fair amount of books this year though

Currently reading:

Scum Villain (again. yes. when am i not?)

still working my way thru the original thrawn trilogy (BRING BACK MARA JADE YOU COWARDS!!!)

i started a reread of TGCF but then i accidentally reread all of MDZS instead...oops

i'll count One Piece as "currently reading" since i've been caught up for years and read the new chapters when they come out (anyone else cry over 1098 this morning?)

The Vampire Lestat

Currently working on:

the baby zzl fic (always always always)

bingqiu star wars au (it was supposed to be a one-shot but it's really gotten away from me, so i'm gonna have to split it into multiple parts!!)

a zhushen....nesting.......thing..........

a couple of wen ning/zhuzhi-lang fics

a follow-up to the six balls/zhuzhi-lang thing (nearly shared a wip of this last wednesday but then i got shy)

various hualian wips (these are on and off)

an outline for a mdzs multichapter fic that i'm thinking about writing

aaaaaand my novel (whaaat who said that....)

Current Obsession:

NERDY PRUDES MUST DIE!! YOU GUYS WANT TO WATCH IT SOOOO BADLY LOOK LOOK LOOK I'LL LINK IT OKAY I'LL PUT IT RIGHT HERE (i recommend watching the previous hatchetverse musicals – The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals and Black Friday – first to get the full experience, but you do you!)

also still obsessed with SVSSS obviously

and i got back into MDZS too so that's been fun!

Tagging: uhhh how about @squeeegs and @monroeknoxwrites and @goatpunch2 and anyone else who wants to do it! BUT LIKE NO PRESSURE <3

#thanks for the tag kuku! #tag meme #long post #Youtube

[llycaons]

surprise! I read volume 1 of svss

conclusion:

okay, on a serious note - I know, I know, but the curiosity was really getting to me, and I like to know what I'm dealing with when I criticize something (if you were following me when I decided to read the mdzs novel, you'll remember I did the same thing then). anon who asked me if I'd ever read it because they wanted to hear my thoughts and I said no - well, if you're still out there, you got your wish. but only volume one (1/4 of the full story). read on for my impression and review.

many thanks to jana @neixins for being my discord reading buddy for this project! her support, insights, and companionship made this far more entertaining than it would have otherwise been

fun fact before we start: I don't know why svss is exclusively referred to by its english acronym, but the acronym for its mandarin title would be RZFZX (full title Rén zhā fǎnpài zìjiù xìtǒng). I suppose svss (or SVS, or SV) is snappier

this is the official translation I'm reading, and the writing style is fine. definitely easier to parse than orv. and the art really is lovely

tw for discussion of grooming, abuse, and rape

brief overview of the plot: protag shen yuan, a modern-day young adult, is reading a long, terrible male power fantasy/stallion novel and complaining about how contrived and stupid it is. he dies at the moment he finishes reading and is transmigrated into the novel in the body of the infamously cruel and sadistic teacher of the protag, shen qingqiu. he knows that the young protagonist of the novel (luo binghe) will enact terrible revenge on the teacher when he grows up for all the abuse he suffered under sqq's hands, so he tries to make nice and get the lbh to like him

shen yuan (now sqq) has to navigate the rules of the system while trying to save his own skin, avoid acting ooc while trying to be nice to the mc, advance the plot, get 'badass points', and resolve the issues that led to the work being of such poor quality. his modern, internal monologue contrasts with his scholarly air in very funny ways, and his constant critiques of the writing are likewise fairly humorous commentaries on lazy and stereotypical writing

however, the parodies of contrived, cliched, and foolish writing tropes do not stop mxtx from writing these very same tropes into later works like mdzs or tgcf, nor does her pointing out those tropes automatically make her book good, so it's an incredibly exasperating experience. I thought she improved since writing mdzs, but it seems like she knows that what she's doing is cliched or pandering but she does it anyway. much like sy, we're exasperated because this could have been a really cool work and the execution is just not what it could have been

this book also has the dubious honor of being the only mxtx book to reference incest without condemning it or recognizing it's disgusting

I do think mxtx has a genuine talent for critiquing sexist and absurd romance tropes for straight couples, but she writes as if whatever gay people do to each other is fine. readers of tgcf and mdzs will know....in fact as much as I hate to say it, the moment in mdzs where wwx apologizes for assaulting lwj is one of the better ways she's handled these things. of course it's ruined later because lwj literally doesn't care he's been raped and they move past it immediately etc. but I would be shocked if the inappropriateness of the svss relationship is EVER addressed, so mdzs may actually be the one where it's handled slightly better. we know the age gap never comes up in tgcf, of course

anyway mxtx makes fun of the idea of a female love interest providing the mc with free therapy while she constructs a scenario in which sqq has to take on a love interest's role of support/inspiration

examples: this is a character that's presented as poorly-wriiten

this is LITERALLY how xuan ji tgcf was written except she hates pm instead of being obsessed with him like was in the past!! don't critique shitty writing for female characters if you refuse to do better!

the characters are not especially noteworthy, and unlike in tgcf or mdzs the mc has no real distinctive style, either visually or personality-wise. almost everyone was either very one-dimensional, unlikable, or just boring imo. I get that we're very early into the novel, but I don't really care about these characters at all. shame because it sounds like the side characters are really fun later on

the modern-day origins of sy make for some funny references - there are mentions of harry potter, and the book he gets isekaid into apparently has a ton of fanfiction

the horror is quite good - some of those monsters are freaky as hell. she always did have a knack for horror

much like mdzs has a ton of literary references, svss has a lot of references to modern films and tv shows, and to things like chinese ads or websites that a modern-day chinese reader would recognize, but that a translator would need to explain. it also does have some proverbs and wordplay as well

as for the elephant in the room: I consider the relationship in this novel to be grooming rather than csa/pedophilia. they may not get together until they're adults, but the mc is 14 years old when sy is isekaid in and there is absolutely already some kind of mutual something going on as early as chapter 1, despite sy criticizing other characters for being creepy with their students and referring to lbh as a child repeatedly. while sqq doesn't act on any of these feelings, it is impossible to ignore in their interactions and it did give me a helpless sense that I was in a horror movie

mxtx toes the line and tries to get away with as much as possible - adult/child relationships and grooming are a joke to her and her readers, something exciting, something fun, but like in tgcf, nothing actually happens

they would have had a much better relationship as simply master and student. or if the romance needed to be there, sy could have been isekaid into one of lbh's peers, as he had plenty of bullies his age - gay love changing the course of the narrative is a fun trope and if they'd been the same age, I genuinely would have enjoyed it. but lbh venerates and hero-worships his teacher, and this kind of power dynamic doesn't just cease to matter once he hits 18. he was an abused and vulnerable child offered kindness and support, and he latched onto and became obsessed with his teacher. getting a crush on a teacher is fine, but it shouldn't have turned into a romance. like tgcf, the issues with the main couple are foundational, but they could have been eliminated by the author just not being a fucking creep

also, sqq is vain and self-centered, and while he treats lbh kindly and praises him, he also treats him like a servant and shamelessly exploits his hero-worship to get good food and manual labor out of him. he's out for his survival so I understand him acting selfishly, but he internally talks down to all the characters he meets if he thinks they're poorly written, and it makes it a nightmare to be in his head for very long bc he's so mean. he is funny, but but he fucking sucks and I dislike him as a main character. compared to wwx and xl, he's the worst main character in terms of personality (even if he's much better than the original sqq)

for specific examples for the inappropriate writing of their relationship, all in this volume:

there are several vague descriptions of ~feelings~ on both sides when they see each other (lbh is 14)

at one point, sqq is poisoned in a way that he knows can only be cured by sex with lbh, and he thinks of it briefly before laughing it off like 'wow that would be CRAZY' as always mxtx, jokes are a great way to handle statutory rape. excerpt:

💀💀💀💀💀

lbh overhears that sqq praised him, and the character he overhears it from is described as a wingman (lnh is 15)

one of the disciples is angry that sqq suddenly favors lbh. excerpt:

after lbh 'dies' at age 17, sqq scolds himself, saying he's acting like a widow who's husband has died

so while nothing romantic or sexual happens this volume, the groundwork is there. see this screenshot from chapter 5 of the novel (originally chapter 30), at the very end of this volume:

if sqq had no attraction to his student, there would be no reason to be so panicked

it's like...nobody acts normally about this. lbh and sqq have the weirdest quasi-flirtatious conversations that skirt the edge of being explicitly romantic/sexual. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this was written to appeal to people who are into age gaps and grooming, if not outright csa. have some more excerpts

like...what IS THIS?

at the end of this volume, lbh is sent away for five years by sqq (he was forced to drop him into a demon abyss bc he needed to advance the plot) so when lbh returns he will be 22 and presumably VERY angry with sqq, and will probably use his newfound power to...torture him? or something? I don't know how their relationship will go from now on, but I have no interest in reading it when I know it's going to end with them as lovers. yeah, even if it does happen when they're both in their late 20s

otherwise, the first few chapters of the novel are extremely funny. it and has a lot of original ideas. but it's difficult to ignore such a premise, and I don't think it's worth it to grit your teeth through unless you have a particular interest in reading this book, to either critique it, enjoy the humor and creativity, or try to figure out why people are so hell-bent on defending it. and honestly by chapter 4 (around ch25 in the original novel), it's not even that funny anymore and the parody aspect has worn out since there's so little of substance to replace it. the og novel is mocked for being a cliched mess, but these are mxtx's actual characters now and she doesn't really seem to do much better with them

the age gap in tgcf is creepy too and I definitely don't like that hc became fixated on xl at a young age, impersonated a little kid, and then reverted back to a little-kid form, but xl not actually knowing him or forming a relationship with him back then is part of why I'm less grossed out about it than I otherwise would be. xl didn't know who hc was when they met and they had barely any relationship when hc was a little kid. he was just a fun guy and they started hanging out together. hc wasn't a young boy placed under his care who he started developing feelings for oh my god I hate sqq so much

there was a side character that sqq describes as 'beautiful' who he had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with who would have been a PERFECT love interest for sqq if he wasn't a fucking creep and im so mad that they didn't become lbh's gay dads instead of whatever the fuck went on

tl; dr: an engaging and original premise with a lot of humor. clever and insightful in many ways, with some great horror scenes, but as in other novels, unable to be normal about gay people and inescapably, unnecessarily ruined by the grooming between the main character and his love interest and the abuse that apparently comes afterwards. also ignorant to its own faults, sexism, and illogical stances even as it parodies others

spoilers for the rest of the book

-

-

-

according to a beloved mewtual who has provided me summary for the rest (thank you for the info!), the relationship is fucked up for the remainder of the book for completely different reasons

ready? after lbh comes back, sqq is freaked out and doesn't want anything to do with him because he thinks lbh is going to kill him. lbh in fact doesn't want to kill him, but has apparently undergone a complete personality change and is now just a bitter and VERY yandere asshole and proceeds to torment, stalk, harass, torture, and sexually assault sqq until sqq agrees to be in a relationship with him. this abuse and shifting of power dynamics could have been handled in an interesting way, but it isn't, and who's surprised

later in the story lbh is risking qi deviation, so sqq reluctantly (and painfully?) dual-cultivates with him. I heard years ago about some kind of rape torture porn scene and I assume this is what it was referring to

I cannot imagine the appeal this romance holds for fans because this sounds completely fucking miserable and victim-blamy as hell, but uhhh they get married in one of the extras

as for the side characters, a lot of them are kind of doing their own thing? they sound like a ton of fun compared to the main guys. there's a demon snake guy, they're a cool demon lady who's kind of in lesbians with another disciple, there's another gay couple who are like insane and assholes but seem perfect for each other so 👍

anyway bingqiu is abusive but surprisingly not because of sqq, though I haven't forgotten him being creepy about his student this volume either. I can't believe svss was just proto-killing stalking this entire time. aside from glorifying abuse and victim-blaming, that's just so fucking boring. what a disappointment. for all their faults, mdzs and tgcf had legitimately magnificent scenes, complex relationships, interesting plots, heartfelt emotional moments, and compelling characters. no wonder this is the unfavorite of the batch - it's absolutely the worst in every way and it sounds like it doesn't get much better

if you're going to send me anon hate about this like 'your interest is problematic too' or 'let people enjoy things' just save yourself the time and block me first. I absolutely do not care about your opinion and I'll just delete it unless you're explaining something I've misunderstood in good faith. and even then I think so lowly of the fans of this novel I might just delete it anyway, after screenshotting it and sharing it with my mutuals to laugh at. get some fucking taste. that's all

#if you dont wanna read the whole thing: it sucks it goes from grooming to the groomed kid being an abusive yandere as an adult. #dont read it. first chapter was funny for unrelated reasons #ive been vagueposting about this all week and i can finally come clean #cor.txt

[mendimore]

The Danmei Series 01: Tf is Danmei?

Note: This is an effort to convert more unsuspecting fandom children into danmei because I need more people to talk to about this. Enjoy!

Danmei.

If you haven't heard of it before, HAHAHA, you are in for a ride.

Basically, Danmei is a Chinese fiction genre (the name directly translates to indulging in beauty)that features m/m relationships.

Mendi, isn't that just bl? Yes, but specifically Chinese.

Well, Mendi, what difference does that even make? It's all the same thing.

No. It is not.

...Okay, it is a little bit.

BUT, danmei is its own genre for a reason. China, just like any other country is rich in culture. I acknowledge this may be a bit biased, but I am overjoyed that Danmei is flourishing. But, anyway, let's talk about it.

If you have heard about Danmei media in the West, even just a little, It's pretty likely that you came across one of MXTX's works. MXTX or Mo Xiang Tong Xiu is the pseudonym for a popular Danmei author on Jin Jian Wen Xue Cheng (jjwxc) a popular web novel site(a whole lot of Danmei authors publish their work on this site).

MXTX has three novels, and if you hear about the MXTX fandom, it refers to the enjoyers of all three of her novels. These three works consist of Scum Villain's Self Saving System(svsss), The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation(aka Mo Dao Zu Shi, or mdzs), Heaven Official's Blessing(aka Tian Guan Ci Fu, or tgcf). The first of their works to become very popular was mdzs, which has several adaptations(basically any adaptation you can think of). If you were into cdramas at all around 2019, you might have heard of The Untamed. The majorly successful live-action adaptation of mdzs. Or maybe if you are in the anime/donghua community, you heard about the mdzs donghua adaptation. And if you were a fandom child who found Ao3 at the right time, you might know of "Sexy Times with WangXian" which broke Ao3 with the number of tags it had and forced Ao3 to have a tag limit, or a fanfic of the lead actors of The Untamed making Ao3 illegal in China.

Have I scared you? Sorry. Truly, the mdzs fandom is not as problematic as it sounds. I started my own Danmei journey with mdzs, and it holds a soft spot in my heart. I also have way too many opinions on the adaptations and how new viewers of mdzs should approach it to get the maximum emotional value, but that is a discussion for another time.

Anyway, Heaven Official's Blessing, also skyrocketed in popularity when it came out. It has its own donghua that you can find on Netflix with a fully English dub. As well as an extremely beautiful manhua and audiodrama. But of course, I encourage you to read the novels first, especialy because these adaptations are not finished, unlike mdzs.

Scum Villain is the heavily underrated middle child as far as adaptations go. It absolutely does not mean that it is bad. It isn't. I don't wanna get into the debate about how someone isn't a true mxtx fan if they haven't read it, and how it's so much better than the other books. I personally disagree with the last statement. I do also hold a lot of love for Scum Villain, Shen Qingqiu is one of my favorite MCs of all time, the premise is a lot more relatable than the other two, but it's pretty clear that svsss is Mxtx's oldest work. She has definitely been improving. Obviously. go read it, especially if you enjoy her other two works.

But, before you come at me for only talking about one author out of ALL the Danmei out there, I would like to point out that MXTX works are probably the most accessible in the West in regards to Danmeis. They were the first to get a full English translation and along with 2ha (The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun, another very popular danmei written my an author under the name Meatbun), I was able to see them perching on their own little stand in Barnes and Noble.

So, you may have noticed something. I talk a lot about the web novels. maybe if you're into bl or yaoi, you will notice that a lot of those adaptations are in the form of graphic novels. Why is it that there is more emphasis on the actual novel? I know I know, why do these people want to make us actually just READ words instead of look at pretty pictures of pretty people. Disgusting. I understand your pain. I actually do not have anything largely conclusive to tell you why this is, but based on my observations here are two contributing factors: 1. it's easier to hide subtext, specific cue words, and satire in text media(I mean it's pretty clear when a character is desperately holding on to another character, yelling "My, love, when will you return," when you skim through a manhua, then if there are just a bunch of words), this also means its easier to hide from censorship; 2. the Chinese language itself is very poetic and if you have interacted with Chinese people, the number of references and idioms will drive you nuts as a language learner, in manhua form it can lose some of its humor and imagery, particularly with Danmei because a lot of the subject matter and the nature of the romances is kind of idealized and poetic; 3. Danmei is actually very plot-centric, the romance is often like a little cherry on top of the mounds of story, drama, and character, and so when you see even manhua or donghua adaptations of the stories, I would say that often quite a bit of the depth gets lost for the characters and the story, it's the same as what happens with a lot of blockbuster films. I'm sorry but book >>> movie almost every time.

Of course, there are options for you if you are stuck on graphic novel-style stories. Chinese manhua generally has a distinctly pretty and clean style. It does depend on the artist, obviously, but if you are a huge fan of pretty art, I tell you Manhua knows what's up, just give it a shot.

Anyway, all this yammering and I haven't talked about the actual content.

Many things set a lot of Danmei apart, content-wise. Chinese fiction has its own fantasy genres of wuxia and Xianxia. Wuxia, translating directly to martial hero, is a low fantasy genre that centers around martial arts in a historical au including sects, master-apprentice relationships, cool fights, etc. It has a lot less supernatural or magical elements, and instead often focuses on what is feasible with the human body alone. Xianxia on the other hand(translating directly to immortal Hero), can vary with very cool magic systems and worldbuilding based on Daoist and/or Buddhist influences. Xianxia is high fantasy and often includes supernatural themes, immortality, spiritual cultivation, etc. It may include mentions of the three realms. where you can ascend to godhood, haunt the mortal realms being unable to find the land of the dead, or go through the cycle of reincarnation.

Danmei can be based in some Chinese historical settings as well, separate from wuxia and can be from ancient times or during the more recent period of militant china, often with some emphasis on Peking opera.

Of course, Danmei has plenty of works set in contemporary or futuristic timelines as well that are similarly unique in their own way.(right now I just started Little Mushroom, and I really enjoy the futuristic worldbuilding so far)

Additionally, I mentioned before that Danmei is in fact very plot and character-centric.

Ha, yeah right, Mendi. Plot. The plot is romance, that is the genre, what plot could there possibly be.

Well. A whole lot.

I gave you a little taste with the mentions of some cool worldbuilding, but you will get a taste of insurmountable joy and boundless despair, reading some of this stuff. Many of your favorite tropes appear often, from enemies to lovers to pretty guys with long hair falling down cliffs(ok that is just an MXTX thing, I don't care if you think my taste is basic because i love MXTX, the stories are good). Also, you get a dose of east asian ideals and culture. For Asian Americans like me, it was very refreshing to feel somewhat understood in a way that I didn't see in Western media. The emphasis on family relationships, age hierarchies, reputation, and the way your asian aunties will gossip about you both right in front of you and behind you and have no sense of boundaries, and dramatic-ass idioms(iykyk). The way that these relationships are built is through the plot, and that is something I miss sometimes with a lot of the romances I've read. There are plenty of points of interest, from being do-gooders trying to be a good person and then getting roped into and wrongfully blamed for some elaborate scheme, or a hefty, intricate revenge plot based on some deep hatred and a not so healthy does of body horror. You will have a blast.

So, now that I have sold you on danmei content. Let's talk about another factor why you may not already be a Danmei enjoyer.

Danmei is enjoyed by many women in China and internationally, which also means there is a lot of controversy regarding the fetishization of m/m relationships. While I agree that this is a problem, I disagree that enjoying a gay romance is fetishization. it can be, but it more than often is not. Just like how I can enjoy a poetic, well-set-up, straight romance, I enjoy a lot of really beautiful Danmei stories in much the same way. For a lot of Chinese women, Danmei allows them to remove the societal constraints put on women in a relationship. it's a way of escapism, this might also be a reason as to why a lot of these romances are so poetic, even if tragic at times. Having the stigmatism of fetishization might push more heteronormativity into media. As long as you can enjoy the romance healthily, appreciating the characters as characters, and the plot as plot, and not specifically enjoy the fact that the relationship is between two gay men, you should be in the clear. The fact that some people are driven away from these stories because of the stigmas around boy's love saddens me. You don't have to be a connoisseur or anything, but if the sole reason you reject a piece of media is because it has a gay pairing in it, that is pretty homophobic. Although I will say, there is a difference between not wanting to read it because it's gay and not wanting to read it because you don't want to read smut. I understand some Danmei has smut, and some people aren't comfortable reading that, ok. But if you are intrigued by the premise, I would say just do your best to skip the smut scenes, if you really don't wanna, ok, but I think for things like smut, you can really get away with not reading it usually. Also if you think all danmei has smut, you are sorely mistaken. There are plenty of Danmei fics with no smut, and a lot of the adaptations sometimes don't even have real romance, which is sad, but if that is your concern, seriously don't. Also, in regards to censorship, if that is your issue. Unfortunately yes, it is an issue, but, there are plenty of options in the Danmei world, I'm certain you will find something.

Anyway, some of this is just my opinion, I am still actually relatively new to Danmei, I have read my fair share, but if this encouraged you to get into some Danmei, I have fulfilled my mission.

I will be back, probably talking about mdzs adaptations next time or some recs or working on some reviews, but I hope you enjoyed!

NOTE: About MXTX official translations, I have heard some mixed reviews. I, personally, read all three of the works as popular fan translations online, so I have not reread the full official translation. I have heard there are some distinct changes, including smushing some of the chapters together, which is something I am not sure about. it's unfortunate, but its only something to keep in mind. The novels should still be faithful to the original story.

#danmei #mxtx #mxtx mdzs #mxtx tgcf #mxtx svsss #mxtx novels #gay romance #chinese #2ha #little mushroom #rant post

[astronicht]

for the fic writer's meme: 7, 18 or 20 for S&VV&S, 37, 48! ✨

i do not want to admit how long it took me to clock svvs as my own fic title lskdfjsldkfj

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

Actually an unfinished scifi AU for modao zushi ("my heart is a fish"); for hockey stuff i had a lot of fun figuring out the bureaucracy of an omegaverse AU in "mosquito." like i literally started writing "mosquito" for the worldbuild tomfoolery.

18./20. If you wrote a sequel/prequel to salt and vinegar, vinegar and salt, what would it involve?

Oh man tough one bc that's already a two-parter. But also my near immediate answer is leon pov sequel experiencing TENDERNESS and JEALOUSY. also dealing with the fact that you can be jealous of the things that are trying to destroy someone you want in one piece. the destruction gets to learn their insides, yk? and you might not get to. it would probably stray into a lot of thoughts about immigration because i am who i am, but tenderness and jealousy and border bureaucracy.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

well, i can't really say "my heart is a fish" (mdzs scifi lesbians au) because it would certainly get a little more love if i, for example, you know, finished it. "wide salt sea" (scum villain's self saving system) or "hush now" (modao zushi, lesbian modern au) maybe? For hrpf the three i've put on ao3 (man i need to clean some stuff up and post!!) all get way way more love than i was expecting. ratfiction folks do it like nobody else.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

Technically the F1 rpf i'm about to post, but not counting my own, ao3 history says it was "expect a visceral reaction" by whichisgolden. F1 rpf again, rated E, omegaverse, i muttered "THIS IS TRANSCENDENT" aloud in the middle of reading it.

#ask replies

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Ok, so. I finished what I've got of MDZS the other day and promptly started reading The Demolished Man, a classic SF novel by Alfred Bester. It's not a long book, though, and I'm likely to finish it within the next couple of days. My question to you all is:

#dangerous communist propaganda