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#it's so fun to gif cql like the scenes are so good
murfeelee · 2 years
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Weekend! Replies! CQL/MDZS Fangirling!
I am thoroughly enjoying my summer vacation so far. I’m just sitting around doing absolutely nothing--GOD I hate school. Next semester I’m not taking as many classes, no way, it’s time to love myself gosh darnit.
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declaration-of-dramas replied to your post “CQL/MDZS INSP - Yiling Arc Pt2b: Demon Subduing...”
Master of scenes! Looks amazing 😍 
Omg I’m so glad you think so; thank you! 😭 99.9% of the fun for me when doing fandom inspired gameplay is seeing how I can recreate the scenes from the shows I like, while adding my own spin. Plus it gives me the excuse to rewatch all my fave episodes! XD
headspacedad replied to your post “WangXian: Hanguang-Jun(e) Month Pride Month ’22:...”
the little white bunny jamming out to the flute brings me great joy
LOLOLOL! The Lan clan’s bunnies are musical connoisseurs! 🎶🐇👌
nornities replied to your post “WangXian: Hanguang-Jun(e) Month Pride Month ’22:...”
That's very beautiful. 
I knoooow! There are 3 different versions of the song, since there’s been several adaptations of the original novel, and they’re all beautiful. But the Audio Book version is my absolute favorite. 🎵🎵
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themaresnest-dumblr reblogged your post “WangXian: Hanguang-Jun(e) Month Pride Month ’22:...”
Pssst! Here’s what really happened …
There is only one song they’re playing and you know it:
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LMFAO! Them’s fightin’ words! 😂
But TBH, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the Jumanji remake was! I was ready for it to be total trash, but it was fun! BETTER than the original is pushing it though, Wei Wuxian. 😅
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Omg this is actually a painfully accurate song for Wei Wuxian, considering he really was the little orphan Annie as a kid; living on the streets getting mauled by wild dogs before daddy warbucks Jiang Fengmian adopted him and took him to Lotus Pier. 😭
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Stupid theory/headcanon/fangirling incoming!
I don’t think we ever find out exactly how Jiang FengMian found WWX--in both the donghua and live action he just shows up randomly in Yiling, cuz it’s close to Lotus Pier I guess.
HOWEVER! The donghua added this WILD scene that’s never mentioned anywhere else, how the Lan clan was visiting Yiling back when WWX was living on the streets, and that Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian had actually met as kids!
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The scene with LWJ & WWX, and the scene with JFM & WWX are told out of order (IDER which episodes they’re in), but logic dictates that LWJ must have bumped into WWX first, given him the toy; then sometime later WWX was attacked by dogs and rescued by JFM & adopted.
But check this: what if LWJ and the Lan clan were actually visiting the Jiang clan at Lotus Pier (on super important cultivation business, IDGAF), and Lan Wangji TOLD THEM about the homeless kid he gave his toy away to, and that’s how JFM knew where to find WWX!? 😲🤯😲🤯😲🤯
SO LWJ HAS BEEN THE GOAT SINCE CHILDHOOD! 😭 Happy Hanguang-Jun(e) Month indeed!
I completely blame @themaresnest-dumblr​ for all this rambling I’ve just done.
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Thanks for reading!
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layzeal · 1 year
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I posted 13,972 times in 2022
That's 7,811 more posts than 2021!
1,490 posts created (11%)
12,482 posts reblogged (89%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@/wormcoded
@/angrybi-king
@/dingdongyouarewrong
@/tetrissyndromes
@/zelkam
I tagged 9,450 of my posts in 2022
Only 32% of my posts had no tags
#modao - 3,629 posts
#lace speaks - 1,018 posts
#sv - 595 posts
#tian guan - 374 posts
#loz - 357 posts
#yuwu - 244 posts
#cql - 225 posts
#tolkien - 124 posts
#yeah - 120 posts
#jwqs - 117 posts
Longest Tag: 133 characters
#i see more and more newer fanart of him wearing purple disciple robes and i'm just yess!!! there he is!!!! our beloved 云梦江氏的大弟子!!!!!!
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
wwx being all like “man, lan zhan would be so much prettier if he just smiled” and then meeting xichen who literally has the same face as him except that he’s warm and smile-y, and wwx just going “nah, i want the mean one” will never Not be funny
2,239 notes - Posted February 16, 2022
#4
enough about the good things in wwx's life, remember that time we were told how the burial mounds is nothing but a mountain of corpses where nothing living survives and wwx still lived there for 3 months and then when asked if food planted in that soil is edible he answered "when starving, people will eat anything" and didn't elaborate? was that messed up or what
2,505 notes - Posted January 28, 2022
#3
mxtx saying that modern lwj would wear glasses ruined my life cause all i can think of is canon lwj going through the whole plot while being nearsighted
2,987 notes - Posted March 19, 2022
#2
so imagine a guy who hates MDZS gets so pissed off at the ending he dies and gets transported into that world as Wen Chao, and to avoid the fate of being brutally tortured to death by Wei Wuxian he has to find a way to fix his character arc before it's too late
however those attempts cascade into a series of insane events that causes WWX to fall in love with Wen Chao, as our guy keeps getting assigned romantic scenes with WWX that originally happened between wangxian
terrible, isn't it? that's SVSSS
3,158 notes - Posted September 19, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
remember when nintendo made those few official arts of botw!link and wolf!link hanging out together? i miss them. they were so fun
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See the full post
12,051 notes - Posted September 20, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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zhanglaoshi · 3 years
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陈情令 • 夷陵老祖, Yílíng Lǎozǔ
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susuwatari-kompeito · 3 years
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LAN WANGJI
source for rules (x)
for @mdzsnet‘s GTKOM Event
Hello! So @mdzsnet asked their members to introduce themselves with the character most similar to us! 
I think I identify with Lan Wangji the most, but more specifically him as he is during the Cloud Recesses lectures and the Sunshot Rebellion. I’m someone who operates “by the rules” and so I understand a lot of LWJ’s struggles throughout MDZS/CQL because being too bound to the rules can be stifling.I'm also like LWJ because I'm a pretty quiet person around people I don't know very well. I think LWJ has a rich inner dialogue and he's constantly silently observing and evaluating, and I do this a lot too. I aspire to be the person who LWJ grows into, someone who still understands the rules, but also someone who learns how to use them as guidance rather than an “end-all-be-all.” On a lighter note, my sleep schedule also lines up with the Lan sleep schedule. I’m a morning person, which forces me to go to bed at a reasonable time. 
Because of that, I chose to make an edit centered around his time during the Cloud Recesses lectures. I wanted to highlight a few times where he may have wished he could have broken the rules or had a little bit of fun. I think these are also the three rules that follow him around for the entirety of the series and haunt him at times. I included the donghua scenes because I love the donghua and I love LWJ’s character design. 
I watched kdramas for a few years before venturing into watching cdramas. I was looking for a good period cdrama to watch, and CQL was repeatedly recommended to me. I watched it around July 2020, and then dived into the greater MDZS fandom and never made it out. My favorite MDZS character is Jiang Cheng; I took one look at his entrance in CQL episode 2 and went “I like that guy.” I just love his story so much, and I see him as a perfectly imperfect character, flawed in a very captivating way. 
I started creating content for MDZS/CQL & learning how to gif in April 2021, and just recently finished my “50 days, 50 episodes” gif series. That was a fun challenge for myself and I learned A LOT about coloring, scene selection, etc. I also create content for Word of Honor and TGCF, and occasionally for Nirvana in Fire, the SVSSS donghua, and random anime series I’ve seen. 
I am thankful for the net and all the members in it!! It is a joy to be able to interact with everyone. I am continuiously inspired by and in awe of all the talent shown.  
Other than that, I am looking forward to the release of the MDZS donghua S3, the Sha Po Lang live action, Immortality/Hao Yi Xing, and the second season of the SVSSS donghua. 
Idk if anyone has made it this far, but if you have, thank you for reading all of my rambling. 
Stay tuned for more content from me!
- Alexi 💜
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suibiansky · 3 years
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BJYX Challenge Day 3: Favourite Wangxian moment
The first difficult question of this challenge. The prompt for day 4 will be hard for me too. I hope I don’t ramble too much! For keeping in line with BJYX, I am answering this based on my take on the portrayal of Wangxian via CQL only, not the novel or donghua.
I actually have two fav scenes, but I’ll focus on one because I feel like my other fav scene is an obvious choice.
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The lantern scene is not only one of my favorite Wangxian scenes, but as a WWX character moment. But anyways, back to Wangxian.
Prior to this, LWJ isn’t having any of WWX’s b.s. and just wants to gay-panic in peace.  He thinks WWX’s overtures of friendship at this point in time is a joke or a way to mock him, LWJ in some way. WWX doesn’t give a.f. about the 3000+ rules, sneaks out to town to drink, and doesn’t bother studying. For someone raised in a place such as the Cloud Recesses, WWX is just downright disrespectful: there’s no way this person can be “good” or care about high reaching ideals like “eliminating evil and helping the weak”.
But WWX surprises him. We see LWJ *smile* at the bunny that WWX said he drew for LWJ specifically. Again WWX’s reaction to his smile makes him think he’s making fun of him (but his giggle! so cute!) ,but as you can see from the above image, LWJ is truly taken aback when hearing WWX’s wish: ‘to eliminate evil and help the weak, living with no regrets’. I’m a firm believer in LWJ being attracted to WWX from the get-go (and vice-versa) and just not knowing how to deal (my gay repressed jade baby); I think this is where he’s truly starting to see there is much more to WWX than Emperor’s Smile and papermen pranks. Also, hearing a promise so pure and good was probably pretty hot in LWJ’s eyes. 
 And so here begins THE YEARNING. 
Ah, I know this wasn’t an original take, but its such a sweet, innocent scene made more significant to me knowing what’s to come.
For any who stumble upon this post, I’m curious what your fav Wangxian moment is. I’d love to read about it!
Previous days
Day 0
Day 1
Day 2
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lanzhanlanzhan · 5 years
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This is a Wang Yibo Appreciation Post
Okay, first of all, whoever was responsible for even considering Wang Yibo as Lan Wangji ought to get an award. I mean look at this boy
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Who looked at him and thought, "Yes! A perfect Lan Wangji!" It boggles the mind. In fact, one of the funniest things I found when the series was first aired was UNIQ fans belatedly realizing that Lan Wangji was being played by Wang Yibo. The whiplash must have been something because the gap is just unreal.
I remember that back when news came out that there would be a live action adaptation of MDZS, not a lot of people were behind Wang Yibo being casted as Lan Wangji. I would even admit to being one of the naysayers, and if I delve deep into this trash bin of a blog, I would probably find something I said last year that was along those lines. Mind you, this was in stark contrast to how people reacted to Xiao Zhan; most people liked him, thought he looked great as Wei Wuxian, and he just got a lot of approval on the get-go. The promotional posters that came out though just did not really do Wang Yibo justice. As Lan Wangji, he did not look the part, he seemed quite young, who even was Wang Yibo, or if you knew Wang Yibo, like really, Wang Yibo? And so on and so forth. 
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The great reveal though is that apparently, Wang Yibo is the kind of guy you just have to see in action. The moment I got into him playing Lan Wangji? I was sold. I was so sold I would willingly eat my shoe for everything I ever said about CQL casting back in 2018. That face, the look? Picture perfect. His manner, his restraint, the way he conducts himself in fight scenes? It was sheer genius casting a dancer for the kind of grace required to pull off the esteemed Hanguang-jun. I love Wang Yibo's Lan Wangji and knowing what I know now, if you give me another actor to play Lan Wangji, I would stab him in the eyeballs, I am not kidding. Don't give me anyone else other than Wang Yibo.
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Now, Xiao Zhan has proven time and again that he understands Wei Wuxian, and the great thing is he is articulate about it. I think it's pretty well known that this boy makes entire speeches and writes legit essays when asked about Wei Wuxian. We love that about him, and I think this is also why he is so popular with the fans. We don't get as much of that from Wang Yibo, but much like how it wasn't until we saw him in action that he proved why he was a fitting Lan Wangji, the same could be said here. He does understand Lan Wangji. How do we know? Because it just shows. I find that appreciating this boy is in seeing him just do things. I remember how it was when, with each episode that passed, people just started noticing how Lan Wangji—poker face extraordinaire—was behaving in each of his scenes. We went, "Was that--? Holy shit, yes, it is?? How is this actor pulling off these micro-expressions? How is it that we are actually getting emotions from Lan Wangji??"
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This went on up until a lot of us slowly realized, "You know what? This is a really good Lan Wangji we have here."
The Untamed also gave us a lot of promotional and behind-the-scenes content, so let's talk about that, too. There is something refreshingly genuine with Wang Yibo that I don't think I often see in many celebrities. It could be because he's young, but that just makes it more impressive how well he is performing on-screen. Out of costume though, he doesn't seem to have many filters, and it is such a riot following him and listening to the kind of shit he says in interviews (and taking note of how the "more adult" Xiao Zhan reacts to them).
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Besides, a drama with two guys as leads? This could have easily been a recipe for clashing egos. While whichever actors playing Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji would find themselves being called the "two male leads" of the show, the fact of the matter is, Wei Wuxian's character is defined by his actions and his convictions. He fights against something larger than himself, and in this sense he is the typical hero of a story. Lan Wangji, meanwhile, is defined by his devotion to Wei Wuxian. 
People get compared all the time, rankings are a thing, and product endorsement usually can only afford one popular celebrity as a brand ambassador. One could very easily be the actor who resents Lan Wangji's popularity being dependent on Wei Wuxian, and thus be considered "secondary" to Wei Wuxian. But instead, and despite all the wrong ways things could go, we got chemistry on screen and camaraderie behind the scenes. Wang Yibo favored Xiao Zhan and did not compete with him. It probably helped that Xiao Zhan is older (thank goodness for Asian values), but then Wang Yibo has been a celebrity for longer. Again, it could have gone badly.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to me that Lan Wangji's actor likes Wei Wuxian. It's not by any means a necessity, but a wonderful, wonderful bonus to all this—because what self-respecting Lan Wangji wouldn't adore his Wei Wuxian? We got cute banter behind the scenes, with Wang Yibo even seeming to be most partial to Xiao Zhan and generally being playful with him despite having a reputation of being cold to co-stars. He genuinely seemed to have had a lot of fun with his co-actor. I do not ship them nor do I follow RPF, but I find that them having that amiable and sometimes affectionate atmosphere does wonders for my own shipping of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. It's like everything just feels safe and good, and my boys are happy together in all iterations of their universe. 
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I will always be thankful to these actors for interpreting these beloved characters so respectfully, especially given the nature of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's relationship. With the threat of censorship being a very real thing for them, I'm glad we still got the bond—and yes, love—between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in the scenes they share on-screen. (Actually, I sometimes wonder if Wang Yibo's, uh, violence towards Xiao Zhan is a remnant of Lan Wangji's affection for Wei Wuxian that Wang Yibo hasn't shaken off after they end a scene, lol. What's a guy to do with those feelings, right?)
Anyway, this accidental meta was brought to you by all these goodbye posts with CQL ending. I reiterate all the "thank you's" to the cast, but really for me, my appreciation goes most of all to our unexpectedly excellent Lan Wangji. I said so much shit about him last year, but he ended up being my absolute favorite of the cast. Wang Yibo took Lan Wangji and brought him to life in a way I never thought I needed, and now holy hell, I am churning up fanfic like mad every week. It has been such a wonderful journey, and never have I more sincerely wished success for any show's actor as much as I do for this boy. I was so, so wrong about him, but boy, never have I been happier for being proven wrong.
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butterflydm · 4 years
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The Untamed Rewatch (ep 9)
Previous Episode | Index |  Next Episode
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NHS is really cute in this episode, you guys. It’s also a really good episode for the building of the partnership between Wangxian.
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I like the tense vibe that we pick up with, having the shadow-bird fly across the moon and only very briefly showing the puppet-people. That's a good editing choice.
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Nie Huaisang does come across as relatively sheltered in these scenes with LWJ and WWX. Even though they're all roughly the same age, he comes across as younger. Or more in need of protection, anyway, which is a vibe that he uses to his benefit much later. He's not a fighter. He never becomes one — even when he's at his most desperate, we don't really see him directly using violence against others, instead tricking other people to use violence on his behalf. I don't think it's a moral issue one way or the other; I don't think indirect violence is more morally wrong because it's sneaky or whatnot. It's just an interesting character note. I also think it's interesting that when NHS is panicked, he calls out both WWX and LWJ using the more intimate nickname form — he says Wei-xiong and Lan-xiong. He doesn't usually use that with LWJ, I think? But he does in this scene.
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I like the little fire & ice vibe we get with the… are they called 'spells' in cultivation? LWJ pushes them back and it looks cold, then WWX pens them in and the form he makes looks more like fire. LWJ and WWX are all for charging out and poor NHS is just so panicked over the idea. Oh, honey.
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So, this next bit is a really big thing that CQL changed from the novel! Wen Qing uses a flute to control the puppets and make them leave (or, wait, since she's blowing in the end, is it a xiao? But it's so much smaller than the one we saw LXC use, so maybe it's another woodwind of some kind? help, I don’t know musical instruments). As I understand it, in the novel, WWX literally invented all of this stuff, while in the drama, he doesn't invent it but does refine it beyond what it has been before. I'll probably have more feelings about that, one way or the other, once I've read the novel. When I was watching through the series the first time, all this felt like it flowed pretty naturally from the plotline that the drama had set up with the Yin Metal. It is one of the things, though, that makes CQL kind of an alternate universe version of MDZS rather than a straight (ha!) adaptation. None of the other practitioners of demonic cultivation in the drama, though, show the same kind of… ah, elemental mastery that we see WWX show. He becomes almost a force of nature in himself, feels almost like an avatar of death, when he's embracing the power. And we don't get that vibe with any of the other characters we see who try to master demonic cultivation. Other people may have dabbled with demonic cultivation in the past, was the vibe the drama gave me, but only WWX mastered it in the end.
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The girl doing windmills with her hands while holding the basket kinda cracks me up. Maybe it's partly because her clothes are so bright?
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Jiang Cheng comes in to add some levity to the atmosphere. He's actually quite sweet, almost but not quite confessing how worried he was about his brother. He does have a very hard time being emotionally vulnerable, though that's a trial for a lot of characters in the story, but Jiang Cheng covers it up with anger rather than a smile like WWX does. Different coping methods for different personalities. Jiang Cheng gets very indignant when WWX immediately moves to deflect any blame away from LWJ and onto WWX instead.
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I really like the scene with WWX, LWJ, Jiang Cheng, NHS, and Wen Qing, because there are several different agendas and levels of knowledge at play, all butting up against each other. WWX and LWJ work very well as a team here, supporting each other's moves while they try to figure out the best plan of action. We know from the previous episode that WWX is already considering himself and LWJ as partners on this trip, and they really do get to act like it here. They're the only two people who are on the same page; everyone else has their individual agendas but WWX and LWJ are working together and with the same knowledge set.
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I don't have too much to say about this next bit, but I do love it. I think it looks quite nice, they look very pretty in the fog, and I love seeing WWX and LWJ back to back and there's a bit of cute banter. And both WWX and LWJ get to contribute to the goal.
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Oh, is that A-Yuan? The timeline is pretty short in the drama, then!
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NHS continues to find WWX's brashness charming while poor Jiang Cheng is just so over it all. Even in the midst of the silliness of the three bros, WWX is thinking of his mission and partnership with LWJ, as he does pretty clearly take advantage of the chicken hunt to give LWJ and himself a chance to question Wen Qing.
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Partners! Partnership is one of my favorite ship dynamics — Fraser/RayK (due South), Clois (Superman) — complicated, dynamic partnerships with affection and bantering is one of my great weaknesses in fictional relationships (and for a man who talks as little as LWJ does, he holds his own against WWX). And they have a moment of silent communication at the end of the scene, because they've come to know each other that well already.
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The question of how much loyalty you owe to the people who adopted you gets brought up here with Wen Qing and Wen Rouhan, and of course the question always applies to Wei Wuxian in these cases as well. Like WWX, Wen Qing possesses great talents that mean Wen Rouhan give her more latitude than perhaps he would otherwise (in her case, she's an extremely talented doctor) and that the younger of the blood siblings shows jealousy of because of that latitude. Both Wen Qing and WWX act impulsively to do the right thing, even when it goes against the interests of their own adopted family. 
They part ways with Wen Qing (and possibly NHS, though we don't see a goodbye scene with him. Maybe he's still chasing that chicken), with another of the layering of the bittersweet almost-romance between Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng.
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And it's been a bit of travel, because WWX has changed clothes between scenes. LWJ and Jiang Cheng still look the same, but WWX was definitely in dark blue in the previous scene and now is definitely in black. There's some interesting non-verbal interplay here between LWJ and WWX that poor Jiang Cheng must helplessly watch — WWX drinks some wine, but immediately stops when LWJ walks away from him, grabs LWJ's shoulder ribbon, drops it when LWJ looks at him, then grabs his arm, and then drops that when LWJ looks at him again. Just major push-pull vibes.
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Oh, there's Nie Huiasang! He's meeting up with Meng Yao here! We don't get any Meng Yao in this episode but I really do kinda miss him and his dimples.
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I love WWX's technique here so much: "Hey, any weird deaths happen around here recently? We are such big fans of strange death!" I mean, it works, so more power to him, tbh.
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The scene here with Lan Zhan feeling the effects of the Yin Metal (and, hey, they told Jiang Cheng about it! He's not surprised! So that's nice) and Wei Ying trying to calm him through it is a neat reversal of the dynamic we'll see more often in the future, with Lan Zhan trying to get through to Wei Ying. I like that; parallels and reversals are fun.
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The scene of the three of them walking into the Chang home is very eerie and has a good, strong tragic vibe. So, we're getting Xue Yang in this next bit, and Xue Yang dresses in black. It makes me wonder if that's part of the reason they had WWX change clothes — in the previous episode, they wanted us to associate him with the Jiangs, and Jiang Fengmian in particular, but now they want us to be thinking of Xue Yang, maybe?
Hmm.
Next episode: Xue Yang! Xiao Xingchen! Song Lan!
Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode
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razberryyum · 5 years
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The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 1 (spoilers)
(covers MDZS chaps Prologue - 5)
WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰
(a 🐰 is earned every time there is a WangXian scene or even when they’re just thinking of each other)
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To think, I almost stopped watching The Untamed altogether because the first scene was such a CGI disaster.  The pretty horrendous CGI reminded me a lot of my experience with watching Nirvana in Fire and Guardian, both of which I actually turned off a few minutes in the first time I tried watching them, and it was only after a lot more convincing from others that I eventually decided to give them a second chance. With CQL, luckily, I didn’t turn it off right away, mainly because my interest was almost immediately captured by Xiao Zhan. I admit it: I decided to stick with The Untamed for at least an episode or two more initially for entirely superficial reasons. I would be more embarrassed by that fact if I didn’t believe that was probably one of the BEST decisions I’ve EVER made in my life. 
This is probably the third time I’ve watched the first episode all the way through. The CGI still makes me wince a little; can’t help it, it reminds me too much of really bad B-movie stuff. Whenever I try to convince people to watch the show, I always have to warn them that the first two episodes are probably the hardest to sit through (well, until that moment near the end of the second episode which is a game-changer as far as I’m concerned…more on that when I get to the next ep) because of the horrible special and practical effects (those veiny mittens the Mo family had to wear were just as bad as the computer-generated crap at the beginning), and I still stand by that. What was happening on screen was kind of confusing unless you read the novel (and I didn’t do so until like a dozen episodes in) and there were a number of distracting technical issues (like the uneven sound mixing). 
I am ashamed to admit that I was also not sold on Wang Yibo’s Lan Zhan when I first started the show. Not because I had any preconceived notions about his character, because I couldn’t have since I was generally ignorant about MDZS, but rather I just wasn’t sure of his performance and I thought his hairstyle made his face look odd. I did think he was attractive, he just didn’t appeal to me directly. Of course now I think he’s utterly beautiful and perfect as Lan Wangji; I don’t know what the hell was wrong with me back then. I’m like completely mesmerized by him now. Obviously I must have been stupid blind at the time; I’m so glad I have since learned to see.  
Although, I must say I did love his graceful entrance at the Mos’ residence even though I’ve seen people poke fun at it. I think it was meant as an homage to how The Little Dragon Girl (小龍女) made her first public in Return of the Condor Heroes (神鵰俠侶), and as I mentioned in another post, I’m convinced the production team drew inspiration from that series when they were making the Untamed.
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From Return of the Condor Heroes 1995 (the one with Carman Lee, aka Lan Yi)
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Random bits of randomness:
The opening credits, which I think are beautiful and I love the theme so much I rarely skip them (and I never skip the ending credits), remind me a lot of the opening creds for Nirvana in Fire. I wonder if that was a purposeful homage since both stories do share some similarities (main protagonist returns from the dead under a secret identity finds out the truth behind his demise).
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From Nirvana in Fire OP Creds:
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Since I didn’t really know anything about MDZS when I first started watching The Untamed, I seriously thought Sizhui was crushing on Wei Wuxian because maybe he met Mo Xuanyu before or had some history with him that no one knew about.
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It took a second viewing for me to even pay attention to the dialogue between WWX and A-Tong because when I first watched this scene, I was too busy thinking about how pretty Xiao Zhan is to even focus on what was being said. Although, at the time, I probably didn’t even know his name yet since I’m not familiar with X-Nine; I was just thinking, “omg who is this guy he is beautiful wth”. And then Lu Zhixing-laozi’s voice performance was so good, making WWX even more adorable, that I was pretty much in love with Wei Ying from the start. 
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I hadn’t gotten a handle on all the birth names and courtesy names yet, so when Lan Zhan mentioned “Wei Ying” here, I remember thinking, who the hell is that? XD
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Questions I still have (please feel free to answer them):
- Why did that storyteller look all spooked when he turned to look at Nie Huaisang behind the curtains?
- Why did the storyteller’s building suddenly become all dark? Was that WWX’s soul passing through causing that?
- Why DID NHS pay the storyteller to tell the tale of Yiling Patriarch? Was it just for the juniors’ sake? Why?
- What kind of magic is this?
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- How would Wei Ying know what hand the Mos beat him with since he didn’t actually retain Mo Xuanyu’s memories?
- Where DID Sizhui hear Wuji from? Lan Zhan mentions later that he never played it in front of anyone…did Sizhui just happen to overhear him? Or better yet, instead of him actually hearing it at Gusu, did he actually remember the melody from hearing WWX play it at Burial Mounds when he was young? 
Overall Episode Rating: 5 Lil Apples out of 10 
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scifikimmi · 4 years
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Fanfic asks- multiples of 3!!
Why u always makin me do math
3. Favorite line / scene you wrote this year
"Wei Ying was the one the Heavens had graced. If they had graced Lan Zhan at all, it was in creating Wei Ying and giving him to Lan Zhan.  
Lan Zhan gently peeled Wei Ying's hands from his skin and raised them up to press a reverent kiss to the flesh of Wei Ying's palms. 
"Everything I am, is for you." " - from Scorching Snow and Screaming Silence
6. Least popular fic this year
Flying Feeling
It was small fandom AND an hp au. Lol
9. Longest wip of the year
Like one started this year? Maybe the "one date every week for a year" fic i am writing for Antique (2008) fandom. Not sure of a word count cus im writing in in a journal with a pen and havent moved towards typing it.
Longest one one worked on this yr might be the "secret garden sequel" that ive been working on for over a year called "follow the ssun" and its at 17.5 k rn.
There r some real real long ones from previous years that i cant remember if i have touched this yr or not. Like a Loki and thor one and a drarry fic.
12. Favorite character to wriite about this year.
I gotta go with Wei Wuxian from The Untamed (the show version specifically).
though perhaps his soulmate Lan Wangji may be equally guilty. I have never been so inspired to write so much for a pair of characters. Im pumping out fics and wips and plot bunnies so fast i can barely keep up.
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15. Something you learned this year
Hmm. That I actually enjoy writing angst. I hadn't even considered it until this year and now im kinda into it. Its cathartic. I cry. U cry. We all cry. How can i make this already sad show more sad.
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18. Current number of wips.
Listen... ug. Okay.
Number of stories i have half typed and plan to finish even if it takes literal years. About 10.
Fics i have abandoned and dont think I will finish ever. About 5.
Plot ideas i hope to one day actually get around to writing and r right now just bullet points and notes and lists. About 25.
21. Most memorable comment / review
I had a lot of really great and touching ones this year. The cql fandom is so lovely and supportive.
But my most memorable was the one by berlynn who pointed out that I had subconsciously replicated the scene between lizzie bennet and her dad near the end of pride and prejudice when i was having wei wuxian chat with his uncle about marrying lan wangji in my fic "a wedding of choice"
It was totally not on purpose and subconsciously done and it blew my mind when they pointed it out. Lol
24. Favorite fic you've read this year.
Wow. This is genuinely so hard to pick. It isnt even finished yet. But it might be "kissing you" by shirasade. It isnt earth shattering. Its basically shmoop with some canon angst and an excuse to make the main couple make out a bunch. But its good fun and well written and makes me feel things and i smile whenever i get an update in my inbox.
27. Favorite fanfic author of the year.
ARG THIS ONE IS HARD TOO. Imma go with etymologyplayground on ao3. I read and really enjoyed a lot of their cql fics and they write beautifully. @megafaunatic on tumblr.
30. Favorite fandom to read fic from this year.
This is dumb cus i feel like i go thru phases. Like first half of the year belonged to weirdly harry potter. Then i moved on to stranger things for a few months. And now im refreshing the cql/the untamed's ao3 page 4 times a day. Sooo.. those 3!
Thanks for all the questions... and making me try to do simple addition at 1 am.
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butterflydm · 4 years
Text
The Untamed Rewatch (ep 6)
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aka in which WWX as a friend comes with many benefits *winky-face*
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Yeah, this is definitely the episode where WWX goes from thinking of LWJ as an uptight person to poke fun at and try to provoke and starts thinking of him as a person with deep emotions hidden under lock and key. This is also the episode when WWX decides he actually wants to be LWJ's friend and starts working towards that goal. He does still provoke LWJ after this, but that's more due to his natural personality rather than intentional poking to get a reaction.
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We learn more about schooldays WWX here, as we see that he and Nie Huaisang have a simple knock code for afterhours hangouts. The three bros are hanging out drinking and eating peanuts. They're all fairly drunk, judging their behavior. Jiang Cheng and WWX needle each other about their potential marriage prospects. Jiang Cheng apparently has QUITE a laundry list of requirements for his future marriage partner. Maybe. Jiang Cheng. Babe. Maybe this is why you don't have one in the future. Maybe your standards aren't realistic. So, we've got: beautiful, tender, diligent, can run a household, good family, quiet, frugal, not too high a cultivation level. It does seem like Jiang Cheng wants someone who will run everything behind the scenes but never challenge him — possibly because his parents' marriage is so contentious? 
We don't see many healthy & happy marriages on-screen in the drama overall — Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian argue in front of their children (among other issues), Jin Guangshan and Madame Jin don't need elaboration, the parents of Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji have a very messed up story even if you look at it as generously as possible, the Mo family don't seem terribly happy either tbh and also raised a bully and continued to cosset him into adulthood, Jin Guangyao and Qin Su, well…
Two of the happy marriages we see end in the early death of both spouses, who leave behind a small child who needs to be raised by others — WWX's parents, and Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. The only real exception is MianMian and her husband, who do appear to be happy and are also still alive by the end of the series, but obviously that can't serve as an example to any of our characters in the flashback episodes. Am I missing any examples of good marriages?
All of which is to say… if Jiang Cheng does have issues with marriage and maybe even sets his standards so high because he's hesitant to get married at all, I can understand why.
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Lan Wangji comes in and breaks up the… party, and WWX takes advantage of him turning his back to place a talisman on him that forces him to act under WWX's control, which is definitely not a good thing for WWX to do. WWX does seem surprised that it worked but this ties into one of the main things that the… eh, evil, I suppose, characters do, which is turn other people into puppets to act through. I do think WWX learns his lesson here with this talisman, not because he himself was punished over the event, but because it meant LWJ got punished when he didn't deserve it. WWX, for all his trickster tendencies, does have a strong sense of fair play.
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But, imo, the main reason of this choice on the part of the drama is because they need WWX to see through some of LWJ's emotional walls and start to see him as a person rather than a rulebook now, in the flashback, because they want to make sure to establish a mutual bond in the past as well (which I feel is related to their attempts to sidle around censorship rules since they know they won't be able to do the kisses or the "I really wanted to sleep with you back then" type moments). 
It's also about the rule of unintended consequences — WWX wants LWJ to relax and stop being so fussy over the rules, and instead he gets something completely unexpected that throws him for a loop and makes him reconsider who LWJ is as a person. He learns about the importance of the forehead ribbon, and he sees LWJ's loneliness and sadness.
There are a couple of different ways I can take LWJ going "yeah, that's fine" to WWX telling him no woman is gonna want to marry him: first, that he's not attracted to women and he knows and accepts it or, second, that having seen what happened with his parents, the idea of staying single seems more attractive than the idea of being married. Going back up to 'not a lot of examples of happy marriages in CQL' (there might be more in the novel), again, and LWJ would know about even fewer. His only real example of marriage is a set of matched cages, his and hers.
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The moment when WWX realizes that LWJ's mom is dead is beautifully-played, I think.
He realizes they have something in common and confides to LWJ. Now, since we know LWJ is a black-out drunk in present-day, he probably doesn't remember anything that happened after WWX had him take a drink (which is why he doesn't already know why WWX is afraid of dogs when they talk again about it in the present-day), but WWX doesn't know that when he tells LWJ about his parents and about living on the street. 
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We do also get WWX talking about his bad memory here — he says that he thinks he should be able to remember his parents, but mostly he remembers is the trauma that happened afterwards. From what I've read of people's posts about the novel, WWX's bad memory is used differently there but, in the drama, it seems to be tied to trauma overwhelming other things. And we get the flashback to tiniest bb!WWX with his parents and I die. It's so cute. He confides in LWJ and essentially begins the process of adopting him as a friend.
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So, the Lan Qiren & Lan Xichen scene makes me wonder, and this might be answered later but, Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue must already be friends at this point, yeah? They're both young sect leaders and Lan Xichen speaks highly of NMJ's integrity to Meng Yao. It's either implied or said flat-out, I think, that Nie Mingjue has sent Nie Huaisang to Gusu to study for multiple years, so obviously Nie Mingjue thinks highly of Lan sect's teachings as well. So, like, they had this established friendship going on that Jin Guangyao gets in the middle of and ultimately taints in a way by using Lan Xichen's teachings as the way he learns how to kill Nie Mingjue.
That's really sad!
Anyway, the bros (plus poor innocent LWJ) get busted for sneaking alcohol into the Cloud Recesses and other shenanigans and we learn that WWX's mom acted the way same when Lan Qiren knew her. They never talk about it on-screen during the time of the drama, but I like to think at some point, post-canon, WWX is able to weedle stories about his mom about Lan Qiren. Let me have my dreams! I'm not sure if Lan Xichen also met her at some point — he would have been pretty young since she died when WWX was a kidlet and he doesn't say anything about it, so probably not — or he's just amused because he thinks WWX is amusing.
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Lan Xichen's face is so shocked when he learns Wangji (apparently) took part in WWX's secret drinking party. Like, he wanted WWX to be friends with his brother and maybe teach him to have fun, but this result was not expected! And since LWJ doesn't tell them what really happened and WWX gets cut off before he can explain, does LXC continue to think that WWX talked his brother into drinking with him or does he assume something more along the lines of what really happened?
So, I'm not sure if I need to say this or not but: I'm not a fan of violent punishments; I don't think they teach anything useful. But since the show doesn't really depict them as successful in that way, I don't necessarily have an issue with them being part of the narrative any more than I have issues with other violent choices by characters, if that makes sense? But just to make my own position on it clear, I guess! I don't think an authority figure hurting someone under their care is justified because that person broke their rules.
Anyway, Lan Xichen obviously doesn't hold WWX's apparent influence over LWJ's actions against him, because he points WWX in the direction of the cold springs, where he already knows his brother is chilling. 
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We get the first scene between WWX and LWJ after WWX has decided they shall Now Be Friends. I've gotta say, this scene has the same energy as Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice: I'm about to insult you (/your family) and don't realize at all this might be off-putting when I ask for a deeper emotional bond between us. And, much like with Elizabeth, I don't blame LWJ for being… 'no'. Like, WWX literally just said "hey, I thought you were boring but have now decided to give you the honor of being my friend". He's basically trying to neg LWJ into a friendship, it's a terrible approach.
I think we also get our first Gay Panic moment from poor LWJ here as his annoying, arrogant, stubborn-as-hell crush looks like he might strip in front of him. And then talks about the pretty girls back home. Poor LWJ.
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They get yoinked into the cave where Lan Yi is holding the Yin Metal. I'm guessing this is all added since the Yin Metal wasn't a plotline in the novel, but it's a fun time (I mean, not really for the boys; they're pretty cold and wet). The show uses it as an excuse to put in some things they probably couldn't have otherwise sneaked in like WWX and LWJ getting tied together with the sacred forehead ribbon, plus it's also used to jumpstart the extra flashback stuff related to the drama-only Yin Metal plot. It's used to give us exposition in a way that's interesting for both us and the characters, plus there are bunnies.
Oh, they mention here that playing Spirit Inquiry is passed down through the family, and I remember I think that Lan Sizhui says that he's been learning it when we get to the future? That's so cute. If my memory is correct, hah.
Meeting Lan Yi and all the stuff with her is great. I understand (from what I've read of them) why some people have issues with the Yin Metal storyline in general. Obviously, as I was watching it without knowing it was drama-only, it did really work for me and it still does so far. WWX is less of an absolute genius, as he doesn't invent the discipline of demonic cultivation, but he does end up being the only person who is able to practice it large-scale without getting eaten up by it (... on his second try, but still). 
Instead, what the drama does is set up several cautionary tales/parallels for WWX. The sects joining forces to destroy the current master of demonic cultivation becomes a reoccuring theme — first with Xue Chonghai in the distant past, then Wen Rouhan in the early/middle flashback sequence, then Wei Wuxian at the end of the flashback sequence. 
Lan Yi was, apparently, the only female head of Lan Sect, but she did invent the cool musical technique that gets passed down from generation to generation. Lan Yi is a very likable character. She's polite and helpful and she raises bunnies and she readily admits to her mistakes of the past. She also has been working hard to try to mitigate the damage caused by her big mistake. She's a good person, but not perfect.
We also see the contrast here between Lan Yi and Lan Qiren — WWX essentially makes the same kind of suggestion here that he does in Lan Qiren's classroom but where LQR got angry and indignant over the idea, Lan Yi is sympathetic because she'd wondered the same thing. And one main difference between them that Lan Yi brings up is that she felt like she needed the edge because of the sexism she had to face as a female sect leader.
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The first of our WWX-LWJ relationship parallels pops up here too — Lan Yi's one true friend was Baoshan. Lan Yi was young and aggressive, needed an edge, wouldn't listen to other people telling her that resentful energy was too much to handle, thought she could handle it all on her own. Baoshan was worried that the resentful energy would end up controlling and damaging her instead. It's a fairly blatant parallel. I really like that LWJ's parallel is the teacher of WWX's mom and WWX's parallel is LWJ's ancestor. Much like the other parallels we will run across, the story of Lan Yi and Baoshan ends more sadly than WWX and LWJ will; it's a cautionary tale. But even their endings do echo what happens at the end of the flashbacks — after Baoshan fails to stop Lan Yi from using the Yin Metal, she goes into seclusion and separates herself from the world emotionally, while Lan Yi is wounded and unleashed something dangerous she can't control.
So.... Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji go missing together. For hours. When they get found (in the next episode), obviously Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen find out where they really were but… what exactly does everyone else think happened to them? When they were missing together. For hours. And come back soaking wet with LWJ's sacred forehead ribbon wrapped around their wrists and unharmed (...and shoeless). 
*gazes off into the distance*
*thinks about how all the disciples learn about the forehead ribbon in lessons*
*thinks about Jiang Cheng's reactions in the future when WWX ditches him for LWJ*
*gazes off into the distance again*
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In the search scene, we get another moment when Jiang Yanli is Feeling Poorly. I swear, that girl is sick every time we turn around. I want to give her a warm blanket and have someone else feed her soup for a change. Ah, we get Jiang Cheng's first empty threat about breaking someone's legs here (chronologically-speaking). Honestly, Jin Ling is such a reckless kiddo. Despite having literally zero of WWX's genes, I feel like he gives Jiang Cheng WWX flashbacks all the time.
Speaking of Jin Ling, Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan get a classic romantic trope when she slips and he catches her in his arms (a romantic trope that WWX enjoys with LWJ many times in the future, bless). I've been wanting to keep an eye on him and his assumptions and his reactions to her. They do quite a bit of staring before they break away, and it does look like he's feeling something too. But then he immediately flees. It's a miracle he ever managed to marry her.
Next time: Lan Wangji falls in love; Wei Wuxian gets himself kicked out of the Cloud Recesses.
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