#this is about the racist parts of tgcf

[fmd-art]

The novel has problems as well, it's pointless to treat it like it's perfect and immaculate.

If you like a book you should also use a critic-eye while reading.

#that's my thought but you shouldn't idolize people or media #this is about the racist parts of tgcf #but it's generally valid #tgcf #pinning it because I keep seeing people defending the novel version of the cannibal savages #it was identical. it just didn't specifiy the skin color but for the rest it's the same #and no they weren't ghosts they were humans. 7seas simply censored it

[piosplayhouse]

I don't know if you'll answer but I need to know the lore behind sexy times with Wangxian, like is it a fanfic? why do people hate the author??

It was the longest mdzs fic posted during its time in 2021 and gained extreme notoriety for its absurdly long tag list, frequent update schedule that consistently forced anyone scrolling any of its tags to see it at the top of their page, and escalating poor, racist, and trolling authorial behavior that ultimately culminated in the author virtual1979 being suspended from ao3 for a month because she posting an author's note saying she hoped that all her haters would contract covid and die. She deleted the fic from ao3 a little while after this happened, ig bc she wasn't getting enough attention anymore, but allegedly the thing's still up on dreamwidth under strict friendslock. The fan lore article goes pretty in depth about it:

The best summary for why it pissed people off so much is really just showing you these screenshots of what the fic looked like towards the end of its life on desktop and mobile (be warned opening the full image):

From my personal experience:

from 2019 up until around 2021 the fic really was just a normal-ish, if very strangely written and kinky, wangxian porn fic about them basically just fucking around post canon and enjoying day to day life. It updated pretty frequently and had a fair amount of tags because the author was literally just tagging anything that she wrote. But like the first few hundred, maybe even a thousand tags were pretty accurate to what the fic was because of that, and were relatively manageable for the first few years that it didn't pick up any attention really.

At some point in 2021 when cql was really starting to blow up online and the tag count was starting to pile up to the point of annoyance, the fic started receiving some comments that were just like "hey can you try to cut down on tags, I don't think it's necessary to be so specific as to tag 'Korean food' or 'eggs' or whatnot". The author did not share this idea, evidently, and instead built a grudge against commenters who would tell her to delete tags, subsequently adding more and more as time went on.

As the tag count and updates increased, the content of the fic did too-- it got a lot, lot weirder. I'm sure someone's saved it all somewhere but for reference it spun out into what I can only describe as like if Rick and Morty's plot was cut to be just the parts of the show with underage/incest plotlines with All Tomorrows level sex dystopian world building exclusively to elicit the most visceral audience reaction possible. Around this time is when more people started to notice the fic and its escalating tag issues, leading them to leaving more comments complaining about it, leading to the attention seeking author spitefully adding more tags. Around this time is when she also started adding fake tags that didn't apply to the story whatsoever (sorry to disappoint, "talking vagina" was one of those. I did check) just to boost the count, take up more space on people's screens, and bait people into commenting hate for attention.

By this time, it had become a fandom-wide annoyance as she had begun to tag entirely unrelated ships, therefore putting the near-daily updating titanic of a fic at the top of any mdzs-related tag. People were outraged about this, and calls came for ao3 to step in. Ao3 waffled around for a bit as there was no official rule at the time that imposed a tag limit, so there wasn't established ground to ban virtual1979 (who btw many people suspected of being 40 whole years old due to the username and allegedly some other internet sleuthing on Facebook or something). Meanwhile, she began to tag other fandoms-- tgcf, svsss, BTS, basically anything that would get a lot of attention and draw hate with the advent of The Monstrosity suddenly drowning out all other recently updated fics of the targeted fandoms.

People had been trying to retaliate without ao3 action, though, by coding their own themes/skins that would allow someone to block a user or work and other fic writers made their own parody, the "bland times with wangxian" collection, which were minimally tagged sfw shortfics typically featuring wangxian just doing laundry or things like that. A good amount of them were actually like just fics where wwx would explain to lwj how to install custom ao3 themes and block fics that were taking up too much space on his screen. Imo it was pretty funny, but these also sparked some controversy as people disagreed with fighting annoyance with more annoyance to people trying to find content.

Either shortly before or after ao3 staff said they'd step in due to an insane amount of reports and backlash, I forgot which atp, virtual1979 began perhaps the worst tagging spree of the fic's life by changing the title, many of the tags, and the summary to a slew of racial slurs, sexually explicit imagery, and other generally offensive statements. I'm pretty sure this came after the fic was temporarily hidden once, as this update gained considerably less attention than the rest of the tagging saga, but people were still rightfully pissed about it. Ultimately, like I mentioned before, the author was then suspended for a month for wishing covid and death on her haters, and attention seemed to die down during this time to the point where she didn't really fight much more when her suspension ended and deleted her account and the work shortly after. Again she seems to have moved to dreamwidth, but most have forgotten her and I'm not sure if her presence is public at all on there. But that's the story of the worst mdzs fic ever written

[fallloverfic]

TGCF donghua Season 2, Episode 10 thoughts

This episode T-T T-T T-T T-T. Spoilers for the show and the book below. CW reference to suicide.

The dude being racist to An Le looks vaguely like a love child of Feng Xin and Nie Mingjue (the donghua version) roflmao. Animators have made little references to The Scum Villain's Self Saving System this season so I would not be surprised if someone snuck in a reference to the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua, too lol And this is similar enough to at least one Meng Yao + Nie Mingjue scene that I can see why they'd do it here.

So the Xianle goons licking their lips is because, I imagine, whatever was in that pouch Qi Rong brought An Le infected them or maybe it was these actual soldiers or something. Makes it less mmm... Strange. Having seen recordings of an attempted assault on a principal government building with government officials inside and what bloodthirsty folks bent on literal murder of said officials get up to around that, I mean I guess it's not that..... strange......

Someone here let me know that the servant/friend is the same official from S02E01 who ran past Xie Lian to help Lang Qianqiu, which makes sense! I totally forgot he showed up then and wondered after S02E07 if he was An Le acting funny (though by the end of S02E09 he is clearly not). He does show up in the novel in that S02E01 scene, but he's not named so far as I can tell, and I don't think we see him in Yong'an flashbacks like we do here. It's neat to see the development of this side character, and how some officials reward people who support them in life (besides Xie Lian and Yin Yu).

Xie Lian seeing the guy nervously looking for Lang Qianqiu and then being like: -sigh- young love is such a trial. You should spend more time studying the blade!

Oh shit, we get a preview of Xie Lian's parents' suicide. Wow. Will we get the donghua that far please T-T

I'm just in love with Fangxin's cape. It's so beautiful trailing behind him.

I'm sorry but An Le screaming in the same way Nakahara Chuuya does whenever he's mid-Corruption in Bungo Stray Dogs made me laugh so hard roflmao Unexpected (and likely unintentional) cameo lol

Imma keep saying it, the animation in this episode is really good. The fight scene is wonderful. When they go back to Qi Rong cackling is good. The show is just pretty.

Qi Rong: "Why is everyone here so fond of crying!"

This man is tired. Can't you do a little mass murder and gloating in peace? Honestly. Hard times.

Qi Rong: "You want your parents? I haven't gone asking for mine yet!"

Aw Qi Rong, babe...

Qi Rong got anime slashed. Who could have foreseen??? /end sarcasm

Xie Lian having a sad moment about Qi Rong, thinking he died. I'm wondering what the crying scene is from, or if that's something new. Qi Rong did cry I think in one flashback (I think where he's complaining about something) but this looked sadder? And less "spoiled".

Xie Lian sadly reaching out for Lang Qianqiu T-T

Xie Lian: "Is the truth so important? . . . What's the use of him knowing that? If I killed a few less people, would that make my reasons more justified?"

I really do love this so much. Just... sometimes the truth isn't important. Sometimes the truth is more painful/results in a worse outcome. Being bluntly honest isn't always the answer. You could argue that Xie Lian sacrificing himself isn't the answer either, and it's better overall that Lang Qianqiu knows things, but I love how this story brings up this idea, that maybe ignorance was better. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and Xie Lian did still intentionally murder two people, as part of a cover-up.

Also, "You'd rather be right than be loved," is something I think about a lot from personal experience. It's not Hua Cheng's intention, but this kind of thinking can lead down that path so easily.

Hua Cheng really feeling that "fucked around and found out" part of this whole thing. Like I don't necessarily disagree with his goal here, and Xie Lian's plan is kind of well... imperfect (to put it lightly). But I do think this is a nice moment of Hua Cheng realizing that yes, he is Xie Lian's #1 fan, he is Xie Lian's strongest believer, and Xie Lian clearly cares deeply for him in return, but this does not mean that Hua Cheng understands Xie Lian perfectly, or knows all his thoughts (does Hua Cheng know a lot about him? Yes. But Xie Lian hides a lot of what he thinks, and has done so throughout his life). When thinking about Hua Cheng, I often think of Sosuke Aizen's line in Bleach chapter 170: "Admiration is the state furthest from understanding."

Unlike other people, Hua Cheng sets himself apart by not forcing his views on Xie Lian or trying to get Xie Lian to change to suit him, and he's realizing, "Oh shit, I fucked up with that here, didn't I," because in his quest for justice, to protect Xie Lian, he did just what he hates other people doing (to an extent, it's not nearly as bad as other folks). One thing I love so much about their relationship is how much they listen to each other, and learn from each other, and how Hua Cheng tries to see Xie Lian in ways other people don't. Even here, he's seeing Xie Lian (I really love that they focused so much on Hua Cheng's expressions here, even if he's not visually doing as much as Xie Lian, it's the little clear signs of upset that mean so much). He's not interrupting Xie Lian, he's not arguing his case (though to be fair, he already mostly has). He's trying to learn and be better. They recover from this because of that. And I love that about them.

Xie Lian: "I deserve whatever punishment I get and I can't die anyway. So why not put all the blame on me?"

T-T Crying in the club, folks. This man...

Xie Lian realizing he's being mean to Hua Cheng and apologizing got me T-T He's so scared of himself and what he's capable of - and incapable of, given all his work to try and save lives and mend old anger has come to naught, and he can't fix it. He always doubts himself before others. The scars of Bai Wuxiang are all over this episode, and Xie Lian himself, figuratively and literally. All this episode I cry T-T

Xie Lian's Chinese voice actor has done such a good job. Everyone is amazing (Qi Rong's VA doing amazing), but dang, he is phenomenal this episode. You can really feel Xie Lian's desperation and sorrow.

All in all the subs were also better this episode! They still call Qi Rong the "Green Immor" for some reason, but outside maybe one slightly awkward sentence, I think it was okay! But that doesn't necessarily mean anything cause they've been good and then got worse again lol

An excellent episode. Truly phenomenal. I think one of my favorites, particularly for this ending bit with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng talking to each other.

Other episode thoughts for season 2 (didn't start till episode 3):

S02E03

S02E04

S02E05

S02E06

S02E07

S02E08

S02E09

S02E10 (you are here)

S02E11

S02E12

#Heaven Official's Blessing #HOB #TGCF #Hua Cheng #Xie Lian #Hualian #Hua Cheng/Xie Lian #Hua Cheng x Xie Lian #spoilers #Qi Rong #Lang Qianqiu #An Le #good fucking food #suicide reference #fallfthoughts

[zatriell]

Of course the new TGCF episode would censor two scenes: the abstinence talk which was supposed to be about sexuality turned into being about anger, which was already expected; the falling on lap scene which was turned into falling on the floor, which was even more expected. They could have gotten away with it: for the first scene seen that they even went with the “I can't get it up” part right on the first episode; for the second scene, there has already been so much affection, face touching, hand touching (I'm specially looking at the dice shaking part) and such. But… well… censorship was never supposed to make sense.

Oh yeah. And I have to talk about the racist scene because I was having such a good moment remembering everything right until we get to the forest and after five seconds I go “oh, yeah, MXTX made that bullshit up” and of course that's something they don't remove in the donghua. Not even gonna expand on how MXTX in the book writing itself is clearly racist (looking at how both the South natives and the Banyue people are presented and treated), misogynistic and transphobic.

Racism wins. Gays lose.

#💙 #I guess it was my bad for expecting something

[lanchang]

Sorry for this weird rant in your inbox especially since you weren’t talking about it right now , but I found this season of TGCF to be super boring. I do get why they spread it out, it would have been MUCH worse if they rushed two arcs to fit the 12 episodes, but that still doesn’t change the fact that this arc did not need to take up 12 whole episodes. Every interaction felt slow, and episode 11 was mostly talking. Plus they made some creative decisions that I just plain didn’t like, like wind master’s female design having different hair and eye color. However, the extremely racist chase scene also dimmed my enthusiasm part way through, so maybe that’s why I’m harsher on it even though season 1 had the similar issues.

no i feel it tbh i think the pacing has been weird and there were a couple mid season episodes that just felt sooooooo stretched out. i also kind of think the book 1 storylines are the least interesting and good like ghost city is fun but banyue doesnt add a whole lot like other than the interactions between the major characters i find a lot of book 1 kind of forgettable. and yes its set-up for things that happen later but since tgcf is sooooooo long by time you get to them its like oh yeah those guys.... and yeah i think a lot of it is down to the format of having a set number of episodes and minutes and idk how much control the creators have over that aspect of it. also yeah i also was like why does boymode sqx have different coloring it seemed like a weird choice. i do like what they did with lqq's story but i also suspect that was to stretch the season out to the end. yeah i wish they had cut the chase scene although i didnt think they would. i thought we would be farther along in the plot much earlier than we were but 🥲

#and yeah it was kind of more boring... tragic #ask

[gemkun]

ind. pri. sel. multimuse blog. est. 08/23

blog for fandoms related to but not limited to — genshin, hsr, bsd, & p5r. these may change overtime but presently this is what i can handle.

𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐒: scaramouche/wanderer — @kikun, zhongli (genshin); dr ratio, dan heng (hsr); osamu dazai (bsd); akira kurusu/joker (p5r).

𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓: kaveh, neuvillette (genshin); tecchou suehiro (bsd); lu guang (link click); hanako, akane aoi (tbhk); xie lian (tgcf); lan wangji (mdzs) + others.

collected by — gem.

18+. she/her. full time work will mean slow responses but i will do my best.

𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

one. this blog is selective & mutuals only. that being said, i will give everyone a chance to interact at least once. feel free to message me privately if you ever have a plot or inquiry, i'm always happy to chat! ask memes are welcome to all mutuals. note: i use the beta editor. i also use small font but if adjustments are needed just lmk!

two. most of my responses will be semi-literate to literate. this DOES NOT mean you have to match. i prefer a good rapport with my partners and that can exists with long replies or short ones.

three. my activity will be SPORADIC. like everyone, i have responsibilities in life and on top of that my studies do take a majority of my time. i will still try to stay as active as i can on the blog.

four. there will be NSFW present on the blog. for now, i'm uncertain as to whether it will be a large portion. if you are a minor PLEASE do not interact. there are also heavily dark themes present on this blog. please exercise caution.

five. my portrayals of can range from canon compliant to canon divergent. i am very flexible when it comes to plotting depending on the verse and the idea that is raised. however, my default is ALWAYS canon compliant.

six. personally, i'm okay with shipping but this will mostly lie in the overall chemistry developed overtime. still, I'm up for it since I ADORE shipping in all veins including romantic, toxic, platonic and falsified.

seven. this blog is multimuse, OC, multiship, crossover and AU friendly! i just need a brief idea or a guide towards the plot we might undertake beforehand. basically, hold my hand and guide me.

eight. normal etiquette applies : DNI if you are a MINOR, you are racist, you are homophobic, you factkin - you will be hardblocked on sight

nine. duplicates are absolutely a-okay! i love discussing and reading the numerous headcanons and musings surrounding my menaces. if anyone ever wants to go into depth about any of them, please feel free to message me!

ten. please DO NOT involve me in any drama. i've left fandoms due to incidents in the past and I would appreciate not being a part in any of it again.

eleven. art is not mine - most has been from the respective authors and shows themselves but I will credit any art used in either my pinned or a future carrd.

if anyone ever wants to message me outside of tumblr, please don't hesitate to ask! i frequent discord mostly.

#* ✦ 𝐈. ❮ ooc ❯ ⸻ ❝ #[ dni ]

[gently-folded-paper-cranes]

kai ☆ they/them ☆ 20 ☆

about me 🫧

genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist

i like lots of things; reading, miya atsumu, bang chan, bakugou, stickers, soggy fries, did i mention miya atsumu?

tagging system 🫧

(that i will update maybe, possibly, wishful thinking on my part really)

#kai reblogs bnha

#kai reblogs bts

#kai reblogs hq

#kai reblogs bluelock

#kai reblogs

#kai reblogs jjk

#kai rambles

#kai reblogs tgcf

#kai reblogs art

#kai reblogs skz

#kai reblogs web weaving

#kai reblogs op

#kai rb pjo

moots 🫧

i love making friends so really just talk to me! lets talk about anime, books, songs, kpop, anything! i love art too, so i'll start posting that soon!

rules 🫧

dni if you are homophobic, racist, ableist, basically if ur an ass who considers your opinions to be superior to everyone else. like dawg, bffr, in this economy??

i'm not super into horror, thriller things so i steer clear of those, so dont bring that stuff to me please and thank you.

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

if you are anti-Palestine/support isntreal, then FUCK you and get off my page.

respect existence or expect resistance.

#pinned posts #kai rambles #kai reblogs bts #kai reblogs bluelock #kai reblogs hq #kai reblogs #kai reblog bnha #kai reblogs jjk #kai reblogs tgcf #kai reblogs bnha #kai reblogs skz #kai reblogs art

[incorrect-web-novels]

About Me

Online Names: Sunnie (main), Web (for this blog)

Pronouns: he/him

Main: @weepingfireflies

Alts: @web-novel-polls & @web-novel-recs

Reading List

URL: incorrect-c-novels → incorrect-web-novels

I ramble in the tags a LOT and am just staying silly :3 

DNI: transphobes, TERFs/Radfems, racists, misogynists, anti-LGBTQIA+, bio essentialists, exclusionists, pedophiles/Pro-MAP ppl, people who ship real people without their consent, conservatives/US Republicans, if you support Israel's war crimes OR are using this tragedy to further antisemitism

I believe in transgendering and aroace-ing characters, so if you’re gonna be a prick, DNI (tagged with “trans/aro/ace [character]” or “genderbend”)

If you came here for danmei, I'm sorry for all the Harem & action novel content you're going to get. It will not stop. I'm too far in

Mastodon: @/weepingfireflies@/blorbo.social

High Queue: 52

What do I post about? 

MDZS / the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

SVSSS / Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

TGCF / Heaven Official’s Blessing

Orv / Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (still haven’t read it lol)

DPA / The Demon Prince Goes to the Academy

2ha / the Husky and His White Cat Shizun

Some other webnovels that I don’t post about a lot anymore (but have in the past) - Golden Stage, Thousand Autumns, MISVIL, Nan Chan, Liu Yao, FGEP, JWQS, Devil Venerble Also Wants to Know, The Earth Is Online, Let’s Talk, etc. 

Miscellaneous Manhwa/Manhua, usually ones based on web novels, such as Solo Leveling, Lout of the Count’s Family, Return of the Blossoming Blade, etc. (<- all less common)  

Literally anything that crosses my brain / dashboard that can be related to web novels tbh

Tags

Tags to Block (if you need to): partial nudity, suggestive language, spoilers, [fandom] spoilers, animal tw / animal mention, blood, death, murder, child death, physical restraint, suicidal idealization, suicide, genitalia mention, scars, rape (<-haven’t used it but if I need it), sa mention, pregnancy, mpreg, genderbend, food tw, feet tw, suggestive, nudity, cannibalism, fire tw, alcohol tw, intoxication tw, omegaverse, gun tw, blade tw, religion tw, gore, animal death, pro [character name], anti [character name]

If you need something tagged, don’t be afraid to ask! I try to tag everything, but if I miss something, just send me an ask or reply to the post.

Organizational Tags: incorrect quotes, not a quote, informational, translations, not a web novel, art, fanart, textpost memes, memes, my posts, my quotes (for incorrect quotes), my memes, excerpts, meta, polls, my polls

Fandom Tags: mdzs, svsss, tgcf, fgep, golden stage, 2ha, orv, liu yao, dpa / the demon prince goes to the academy, jwqs, misvil, nan chan, dvawtk / devil venerable also wants to know, the earth is online / teio, let’s talk, trash of the count's family / tcf 

Most things will be tagged with any characters or ships present in the post with the ship included in the organizational tag (Ex: wei wuxian, lan wangji, wangxian, mdzs, incorrect quotes, incorrect mdzs quotes, incorrect wangxian quotes) 

Everything except “incorrect quotes” will have the fandom/ship in front of it (Ex: mdzs textpost memes, mdzs excerpts, mdzs meta) 

Anything overly suggestive / sexual will be tagged via Community Labels (18+) AND/OR #nsft. Anything ~13+ will be tagged with "suggestive language" or "genitalia mention" (Ex: dick jokes)

Helpful Links

(Not mine unless otherwise indicated + to be edited every once in a while) 

Character Guides

MDZS Character Guide 

SVSSS Character Guide 

Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine Character Guide 

DPA Character Guide

Other

Webnovel Carrd Links - Part 1, Part 2

How do I see posts tagged with Community Labels?

Where to Read DPA / Why You Should Read DPA

Novel Updates - where I usually find English Translations & information about webnovels

Names for Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Comics & Animation 

How to Support Authors on JJWXC 

JJWXC Set-Up Guide

Baihe Reading List

#not a quote #pinned post #long post #my posts #I have been trying to scrounge up the motivation for this for WEEKS lol

[monochromaticdog]

about me, about this blog, rules of asks and reqs, etc.

𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰 .

you can find my main account at @fleeting-finch and my ao3 at monochromaticdog + monodog .

my name is sunny. on this blog, i can go by that name or mono. i’m 19

i am trans (female to male), and pansexual. i use he/they pronouns.

on this account, i plan to post artworks or writing i’ve done for fandoms. posts, ask responses, and msg responses will likely come slow, as i have schoolwork.

❗I MAY INTERACT WITH OR POST DARK/MATURE CONTENT, SUCH AS THINGS WITH DUBCON, BLOOD, SEXUAL CONTENT, AND MORE. BE AWARE !!

english is not my first language, though this blog will consist of it; if there is a mistake, feel free to notify me through msgs .

𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 .

minors, do not interact with the adult content i may post; int w/ the sfw content is fine .

if you’re racist, transphobic, homophobic, etc. dni

refrain from tracing, copying, or reposting my works anywhere without permission; they are part of my personal property and are copywrited.

𝘢𝘴𝘬/𝘳𝘦𝘲 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 .

FEEL FREE TO SEND ME WRITING/DRAWING PROMPT REQS THROUGH MY ASKS !! i may not get to them or be able to respond, but i will try and get to seeing them . i do accept nsfw writing reqs, but not for characters that are minors.

feel free to send tgcf panels, thirsts about your fav chars, just you general thoughts, etc.

please be patient when waiting for me to respond, and don’t always expect me to respond.

do not spam my asks plz .

do not bring drama or ship wars in my asks … i do not want to see .

if you need a listening ear, or someone to vent to, msg me in my private messages, not asks . i’ll try to respond :)

do NOT bring political talk.

𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴/𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 .

omori

tgcf

hsr

bsd

genshin

kamisama kiss

botw

𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 !~ 𝐢 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 .

#⋆·˚ ༘ * about me

[hunxi-guilai]

Okay so I know you didn't read the book, idk if you've watched the donghua, but in both of these Lan Wangji has golden eyes. (WWX has grey eyes in the donghua, idk about the book tho) And this is.... not really a meta question? But more like I wanted to ask if you maybe know why giving them these eye colors isn't considered racist? Like obviously chinese people don't all have brown eyes, but the majority does? Is it because they're chinese characters by a chinese author? Or do you know if this is just a trope chinese authors do? I wanted to look this up but all I found is, well, that it's racist to do this with characters of color. I was planning to write a fic and wanted to go with the donghua design, aka golden & grey eyes, but I got unsure because of all the posts saying it would be racist. Like yeah a lot of people in fics go with LWJ having golden eyes etc. but this made me a bit insecure? No matter if you can help, thank you for reading this and for your time ❤

hoooooooo buddy okay anon, there’s a lot, a lot you’re asking here, so let’s take this apart layer by layer:

before we even get into talking about MDZS/CQL, I do want to point out the inherent problem in asking a person whose defining trait on the internet has become, well, being a member of the Chinese diaspora in fandom the question of “is xxx racist (or not) and why?” because I am not and should not be taken as a spokesperson for an entire ethnicity, race, or subculture. Just because I say something is fine (or not-fine) doesn’t mean that it is, across the board, fine (or not-fine!). What reads as okay to me might be mega-not-okay for someone else; what sets me off might be shrug-it’s-fine-I-guess for someone else. Deconstruct the idea of the Chinese diaspora as a monolithic entity! Yeet the idea that you can get a “get-out-of-racism-free” card from one member of a large and diverse group out the window!

next, I think we have to also acknowledge the difference between attitudes towards race between mainland China (where these works are being produced) and the diaspora/Western world (where these works are now being consumed and often taken out of context). If you take a moment to think about it, growing up as part of a minority in majority-minority countries (especially the U.S.) gives you a very different perspective on race and racism in media than growing up as a majority in a majority-Han environment (i.e. mainland China). 

(and it’s also worth pointing out that race relations in East Asia are complicated!!! oh my god!!! it’s so messy!!! it’s ongoing!!!) 

Overwhelmingly, Chinese diaspora folks are going to be much more sensitive to representational accuracy and authenticity because there is a very real sense of danger when we see misrepresentation in media. We don’t get a lot of representation in Western media, so when Western media gets it wrong, it hits much closer to home.

and on top of all that, MDZS/CQL are particularly complicated by virtue of 1) their genre (xianxia, and thereby unmoored from a strict anchoring in a time or place), 2) the sheer number of different adaptations with different character designs, 3) again, Western reception of non-Western texts/Western fandom interaction with non-Western texts. I’m not going to get into examples of whitewashing or moralization with Western values in this fandom, but I’m sure if you’ve been around long enough, you’ve seen those discussions go by.

Okay!!! let’s talk about the MDZS donghua. Firstly, animated works play by different rules than live-action works in terms of character design. Especially for donghua like MDZS or TGCF, the stylization of characters can be much more fanciful and fantastic (@Ling Wen’s blue hair), and we accept that, because it’s animation, because generally speaking, we don’t watch animated works looking for photorealistic depictions of these imagined worlds. Ethnicity reads differently on heavily-stylized animated characters; physical characteristics that might otherwise give us clues tend to get flattened into the animation style. And beyond that, ethnicity isn’t really... an element of characterization that matters in the MDZS/CQL world because it appears to be more or less homogenous.

MDZS/CQL isn’t concerned with race, ethnicity, or representation, because it’s a story made by and for a Chinese audience; bringing the question of race into the text which otherwise does not even address race reflects Western thoughts and perspectives. The question of whether “it’s racist or not because a Chinese author did this” feels like it’s missing the context in which these texts were written, designed, made, produced--i.e. a context where race is not a question and representation not a concern. Whether or not a character has an unusual eye color isn’t a matter of accurate racial representation to the author/designer/animator since that question is literally not even on their minds. 

I’m going to hop over real fast to your question of ‘why giving these characters unusual eye colors is/isn’t racist’ (keeping in mind the caveats from earlier in the post, and not taking my opinions as definitive statement) and try and poke at why changing physical attributes of an ethnicity willy-nilly might alienate people. In a world where, whether we like it or not, beauty standards are often measured by ‘proximity-to-whiteness,’ going in and saying “this character is Han Chinese, but I do not vibe with brown eyes because brown eyes are boring, so I am going to give this character eyes of this exotic color” is playing into that exact neoimperialist mindset of “a person of this race would be more beautiful/attractive/cool if I changed this physical attribute about them.” I... don’t have to explain how alienating that is, right? Because it’s really, really fucking uncool. 

“But the donghua does it--” yes, the donghua gives MDZS characters more unusual eye colors, but the donghua is also fundamentally unconcerned with representation or realism. And if we wanted, we could have a longer conversation about the worldbuilding of MDZS/CQL as a whole and where the story takes place (I’ve talk a lot about the temporal unmooring of CQL but I haven’t really written about the spatial unmooring either--the tl;dr of it is that the world does not map onto historical China, nor does it not-map onto historical China, and I think we’d all enjoy things a bit more if we stopped obsessing about historical accuracy!!!), but the point is, the donghua cares more about aesthetics than accuracy. And that’s just fine! It’s an animated show!

I think this post is starting to go in circles, so I’m going to marshal up some bullet points in an attempt to get to a conclusion:

yes, the donghua designs stray from what we might consider ‘conventional Han Chinese traits’

I don’t consider that inherently racist because of the production context

(please take a moment to recall that I am not a representative spokesperson in this matter, and that this perspective is purely a matter of opinion)

changing physical attributes of a character of color is a pretty shitty thing to do

especially if that “unrealistic” attribute becomes the defining aspect of their appearance/beauty/specialness/overall worth

like if a character of color is sexy specifically because of this one (1) imagined trait that makes them ~different~ from other characters of the same ethnicity, that’s kinda yikes

that being said, specifically in the context of MDZS, you’re not doing it out of nowhere; you’re basing this design on an existing adaptation

would we even be having this conversation if the live action didn’t exist, grounding these otherwise nebulous characters on the bodies of Han Chinese actors?

would we be having this conversation if we weren’t taking an Americentric perspective on race and representation?

look, I don’t think you can be faulted if you base your image of the characters on an existing adaptation. if you’re really concerned about it, you can add a note explaining where you got the unusual eye color from. If you’re really, really concerned about it, you can relegate it to the specific fandom tag on AO3 (i.e. the MDZS donghua tag as opposed to the CQL tag).

but the general rule of thumb: if you’re worried that something might come off as racist, then don’t do it! don’t even bother taking that risk (unless the thematic focus of your work is precisely this, at which point, have lots of conversations with many people about this!)! If your heart is uncomfortable with the idea of something, odds are, your heart has something to say about it. 

#(flails) does this post even make sense??? does it???? #at this point it simply needs to leave my inbox #look I can't give you a 'get-out-of-racism-free' card #I have personal preferences when it comes to portrayal and representation #and they cannot be taken as representative #sometimes we can't point at something and say 'that's objectively racist!' because it's more complicated than that #and when in doubt? just don't risk it #ask and ye shall receive

[geges]

I wanted to ask, since I've been reading through your ask replies n such, do you still like tgcf? Iirc you mentioned reading it 4 times or smth and I'm wondering if you still like it, are part of the fandom, or if all the harmfulness of the banyue arc (which I dislike for so many fucking reasons) and everything has ruined it? And I still like the novels, tgcf n mdzs (but mdzs less, I like The Untamed more), and I think that I can recognize harmful portrayals and some people think that even if you see them and know that they're bad that still means you can't like the media that it's from? How do you feel about that? Also no pressure to answer ❤️

that’s a rly good question! i absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with you on the consumption of harmful content. i do like tgcf still, despite its problems. i believe that it has legitimate literary value as a story, and beyond that, it is an entertaining book that has a close place in my heart. i enjoy the book, the characters, the plot, and the world itself. as i have been very clear about advertising, it has problematic content that is harmful to marginalised groups when not consumed critically. however, when processed, discussed, and evaluated, these harmful stereotypes are defanged. when both individuals and the greater community are aware and open about it, then these stereotypes are not internalised and spread. in fact, it’s often much better for people to read problematic content than to drop it entirely- without understanding and seeing the racism, homophobia, sexism, and other issues play out in front of them, you cannot understand how to avoid and combat them. critical consumption does not mean “avoid all problematic material!”, it means look at this content, absorb it, research it, and most of all, understand how these issues impact your interactions with others in real life. as much as many people don’t want to acknowledge it, fiction impacts reality. it is a direct facet and manifestation of reality. no issue exists in a vacuum, and fictional racism absolutely further ingrains real racism, which is why it is so important to confront it head on. it gives you the ability to grasp and change the way that this racism makes you think and act. literature is about experiencing, growing, learning, changing, and understanding. it does a disservice to the concept of literature as a whole to think that we can just drop certain works and disengage with racist behaviours. we cannot. people that condemn others for consuming problematic content frustrate me because of that; our duty as readers is to read, understand, and change. do not ignore racism. look at it directly, examine it, and discuss how to fix the issue. if you do not look these things dead in the eye, then they will fester in the corner and spread throughout communities as they have been doing for generations. the only way we can combat it is to bring it in the light for everyone to see. the only way we will be able to change it is if we understand it

#tgcf #racism in inner asia #anon #ask #jazıp

[beneaththebrim]

TGCF Ep 3-4 reactions/rants

Am I doing these in twos? :) Or was I too unremittingly :) anxious :) last week about [redacted] to make a post?

whatever let’s go spoilers spoilers

Episode 3

SO many things that I didn’t notice while reading that become apparent via the visual medium--like how Feng Xin repeats “So she was a bitter and vindictive bride” to Xie Lian--the FORESHADOWING,, ah, good stuff good stuff

the horror elements are great just wanna say

RUOYE GOOD

Ling Wen knows it all DAMN RIGHT SHE DOES

Love the sound design for Xuan Ji and how her resentment manifests physically in the animation, don’t love her character--unfortunately these first two arcs of tgcf really do lean back on these sexist (ghost bridegroom arc) and racist/Islamophobic (Banyue arc) caricatures--hope it doesn’t stifle the international popularity of tgcf as a whole, given that the first season of the donghua will probably only get to just the end of the Banyue arc, but I’d definitely understand if it turned ppl off (I get the feeling that these issues that are more subtle in written form are more apparent in audiovisual media--granted, I haven’t actually seen much discourse on twitter outside my own circle about the Banyue arc even though the manhua is near the end of it, soooo...)

(somehow bc tumblr feels so much more like a ghost town lately I’m more open to posting wank and unadulterated opinions here :P which I’d be more careful about on twitter)

BUT YEAH MAN I MEAN THE STRONGEST ARCS IN TGCF DON’T START UNTIL LIKE BOOK 2 WHEN I THINK BACK ON IT

Book 1 seems to mainly exist to quickly introduce everyone and ship tease ship tease ship tease to suck ppl in

Little Ying :’(

oh there he is, the imperialist symbol, with his imperial background music

I’m sorry I don’t like Pei Su at all

mmmm do love the narrative parallels of Ping Ming reacting to a woman about to slit her own throat

LMAO THE SEXY CANDLE SILHOUETTE SCENE

WHY AM I REMINDED OF THE ROOM

hey can hualian have one of those bilibili just how much can you imply eh

like what about when Hua Cheng goes ghost!feral in book 3 and Xie Lian has to suppress him by blowing kissing him could we also have sexy candle silhouette scene for that

OH MY GOD THAT MONTAGE IS THE CHEESIEST. HETEROSEXUALS ARE YOU OKAY

it is good that in the end Xie Lian’s like ‘can’t judge as an outsider’ w the implication that we are really only getting two unreliable narrator sides of the story (even tho the story ends up implying that pei ming was for the most part in the right)

Pei Ming is an interesting character imo, bc he has a very consistent moral code, which puts him on various different sides throughout the story. I don’t really blame him so much for his sleaziness as I do for his corruption (sorry I don’t like Shi Wudu either) and how he pressured Pei Su to military glory (leading to a genocide of the Banyuese). do agree with leila (don’t think she has a tumblr?) that he should have suffered more in his character arc of slowly learning to respect women tho (whereas Pei Su suffered but didn’t really have a character arc, unless ‘dating Ban Yue against Pei Ming’s wishes’ counts as a character arc)

okay here’s the thing

here’s the thing

you can go on and on about not liking a character and you can dig up tons of receipts of them doing bad things to justify your dislike

but what you’ll find after a while is that the people who do like that character aren’t wrong either, bc they can also pull up tons of ways they did admirable things or had interesting motivations

after a while you just realize it comes down to vibes

like Pei Ming’s awful, but later on I just find myself positively enjoying that chauvinistic pig. And Shi Wudu has good motivations/his actions are p typical ‘just vindictive god things uwu✨ ‘ but to me, his vibes are positively rancid and I just cannot like that bourgeois pig

this is why it’s important to take Taixi Dianxia’s advice 😌

(or be like Mu Qing and just judge absolutely everyone)

(most of all himself :’) )

OH HERE WE GO AGAIN DISRESPECTING MU QING

HE IS RIGHT

if he didn’t get reinforcements they would have to clean up the bodies on their own GOD no one considers logistics

it’s just Ling Wen and Mu Qing running heaven for real

😂  oh my god I love fengqing

YASSSS BAI WUXIANGGGGG

OOF ngl that’s some good-ass cutting between Xie Lian being reminded about the fall of Xian Le and the clip of Ruoye’s origin in the EC (WHY DONGHUA TEAM WHY)

Episode 4

One thing I was never fully clear on was whether Bai Wuxiang placed the piece of his soul onto Lang Ying like, right after his death? or if Jun Wu put it on him when Xie Lian takes him up to heaven later

actually I never read the edited version of tgcf maybe mxtx made that point more clear

MU QING STOP BEING TRANSPHOBIC CHALLENGE

OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK THE PILES OF SCROLLS

Ling Wen of all the corrupt evil ass bitches in heaven you are the one I will never blame for being corrupt and evil

lmao everyone being like “bruh” when Xie Lian’s like “ah, Hua Cheng, what a nice name for the helpful youngster” 😂

LMAOOOOOO LOVE THAT QI RONG IS THE KIND OF ATTRACTIVE THAT ONLY QI RONG STANS WILL FIND ATTRACTIVE

mallgoth ass bitch

FISH

FISH

FISH MAN YES

(He Xuan is sexy in exactly the kind of way that He Xuan stans find sexy which is Actually the objective standard of sexiness I’m sorry I don’t make the rules)

I mean he’s being voiced by Wu Lei who no doubt is gonna give it the full Yan Wushi, again, I don’t make the rules

interesting how Jun Wu is facing camera but tilting the mask so you can only see the crying side--to ppl who don’t know who he is it looks like he’s turned to the side and his head is kinda incorporeal, whereas to ppl in the know you can see him towering over you

I like that you can kinda see through Xie Lian’s expression & tone that his gears are turning, how there must have been something significant about the 35 officials Hua Cheng challenged, and he even already suspected Mu Qing & Feng Xin were the two who didn’t accept

LMAO PEI SU THINKING HUA CHENG AND QI RONG ARE WORKING TOGETHER this is like centrist Democrats who are like, “well I think that it’s the socialists who ultimately helped [redacted] win in 2016″

NO QI RONG IS NOT BERNIE SANDERS IN THAT ANALOGY

I’M SORRY QI RONG STANS BUT QI RONG IS NOT THE SOCIALIST ICON YOU THINK HE IS

ALTHOUGH I ADMIT THE OTHER FIGURE IN MY COMPARISON WAS KINDA HARSH QI RONG ISN’T ACTUALLY THAT BAD

pfffft all of Ling Wen’s miserable employees

awwwwww fengqing helped their f-f-friend out owo

Ling Wen’s like “Wait! You were supposed to ask His Majesty for help and become completely dependent on him! No, Your Highness, he’s gonna take it out on me now!” 🤧

YES MY FAVORITE LINE STAYED

“Collecting scraps is better than ascending” :)

AAAAND THERE HE IS. THE BOY.

I like how Hua Cheng has a kind of know-it-all, nerdy arrogant voice, it does fit San Lang and I think it will be a nice contrast when we finally see him as Hua Cheng

WELL THAT’S IT HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH GHOSTFUCKERS

#tian guan ci fu #天官赐福 #天官赐福动画 #tgcf donghua #brim reacts

[piosplayhouse]

Tgcf is racist?? I've only read the manhua so I'm SUPPPER leery of the desert arc but I donno if there's. More

Just starting this off by acknowledging that I read tgcf very casually and mostly late at night, so my memory isn't really 100% on all the details in the books. As well as this, I'm Southeast/East Asian and cannot really speak about these issues, so my goal with this is to uplift the knowledge and opinions of Central Asian and MENA users who have spoken out on this.

The Banyue arc (what you're referencing) is widely regarded as the most openly insensitive part of tgcf, made worse by the visual adaptations. I'm sure there have been several thinkpieces written on this by more qualified tgcf mains, but my personal favorite posts on the subject are by @/geges here. I'd highly recommend checking out their entire "racism in inner Asia" tag! They're very thoughtful and eloquent in their posts, and have opened my eyes to many issues I wasn't aware of before.

As for the rest of TGCF, there are no particular scenes that stand out to me as being as blatantly awful as the Banyue arc, but again I am woefully underqualified to speak on this subject, so if any of my followers would like to pitch in additional warnings, I'd really appreciate it. Something which geges mentions as well is the overlying sense of colorism/racism that is present throughout all of the mxtx novels, and C/Asian media as a whole-- the focus on pale skin as the peak beauty standard for the main characters, braids typical of Asian minority cultures being used for stereotypically violent characters, etc. Of course this isn't meant as an excuse for mxtx or other cmedia creators in any way, but I do feel that it's important to note that these issues are in no way exclusive to single books or creators, but representative of broader racist ideals in Asian cultures as a whole.

I think they summarize this point and the one I wanted to use to conclude incredibly well in this post:

It's ok to still enjoy things that you know have serious flaws, it's ok to not skin your media looking for any form of problematic content before you let yourself like it, so long as you are always open to educating yourself and assessing how you can reflect on and prevent perpetuating harmful messages. Acknowledging that something you hold dear can be difficult, and oftentimes it's easier to just disavow it entirely, but instead of turning away from the issues and swearing that you would never be susceptible to them, it's always beneficial to become critically informed on the subject in order to combat the ignorance that stereotypes and racism proliferate in.

#also um pro tip dont search up t gcf r acism there are #some interesting posts in there. some of them are good and well thought out but some of them are not ghggh #but thank you geges for these writeups !! i hope i did ok on this!! #again i am in no way qualified to speak on this so please take others words over mine! and if im overstepping in any way just let me know #ill gladly change the post !! hiding this in the tags but haha im actually . younger than like all of my followers so im def still learning #feel free to educate me !!! #long posts #long post #tgcf discourse

[mousehole5000]

reading tgcf chapters 72 - 88 end of book 2. body horror kind of in this one. if you know you know and i did include an excerpt of it

i didnt take any notes from 72-76 but uhhhh shit has hit the fan

fuuuuuuck. but he couldnt get there fast enough and then THAT happened to that family FUCK :(

xie lian has indeed been greatly sheltered and this is a painful if inevitable moment. very curious about where he goes from here :(

:pensive: the universe has its own rhythm. perhaps it does but im wondering if this is part of it orrrrrrr

wait theres a girl. shes pretty. feng xin is impressed by her this is a first. is she going to be important? is it too much to ask for? to see a girl do things?

xie lian and the king... i sad. but the anger is real from both sides regardless of their arguments. i sad

ahhh flashbacks to religious studies. read a whole essay about contagion magic vs similarity magic. pretty sure it was by one of those early anthropologists who were ummm racist but this is definitely a thing that people do

damn so xie lian’s first experience of killing anyone was during the revolt and he killed thousands. wow. “mere ants” like those crushed for him by servants. hoooo boy

:pleading: hes so good and im so sad for him to painfully learn that just being good isn’t enough

awwwww. </3

ohhh wait i think the epub version doesnt spoiler out the authors notes awwww i was enjoying the mystery but okay. not sure if i would have guessed this without tbh theres a lot of kids (2) running around with bandages in this book. but i guess the saber thing isnt likely to be anything else. also ohhhhhhhhh hong hong-er... little reddie... ah i see now :(

land of the tender; body of gold hard pressed against desire. hmmmm. im. hmmm. remember that scene with the prostitute in ghost city and how i was glad it ended quickly? i miss those days. i mean murderous desires/lustful desires okay sure thats something fine but. hmm not so sure how i feel about the rest of this. and the hair thing has significance according to the notes. i mean. hmm. moving on for now. ive seen spoilers for more about hualian’s relationship but im gonna wait to comment on it until i know everything

i would actually be curious to see feng xin and mu qing interact without xie lian when theyre still having to work together i wonder if they are more chill or less chill bc clearly feng xin cares a lot about xie lian and im wondering what theyre like with each other without him around. to be fair tho since theyre his generals im not sure if theres much room for that

human face disease time. oh boy. things really are only getting worse. im also suspecting that this disease was intentionally brought into the city to hasten its downfall but we shall see

saving this for the illustration of the differences between feng xin and mu qing. not sure what it says about me but im finding mu qing relatable that is 100% what i would do but i feel much more fond of feng xin. interesting

thank you for being a beacon of amusement in these trying times. distract your bickering friends by forcing them to play improv games. also the differences between fx and mq continue to interest me

awfully convenient there guoshi. i have to say that its looking more and more like the bad shit thats happening in xianle was actually not to do with xie lian. the fact that the yong’an rebels were being supplied? whatever the fuck is going on with lang ying.... i could be wrong but thats what im thinking im wondering how much of this was already laid out or at the very least poised to happen before xie lian intervened

here it comes this is the unsettling body horror bit

BRUHHHHHHHH. HORRIFIC. IM SORRY BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN ADAPTATION FOR THE CHILLS IT WOULD GIVE ME.

hmmm after this its mu qing who is like “hey ummm you kinda just chopped that guy’s leg off when he hadn’t actually asked you to. kinda fucked up also could definitely turn on you” makes sense that it was mu qing who said that he’s clearly very smart and bc of his background he’s more likely to think of things from a different perspective than xie lian and feng xin. he’s been scornful of commoners before but he definitely understands them more so than the other two

just when i thought this couldnt get more horrific. no rest for anyone what an awful fate

saving this as a note on mu qing as a character and his attitude towards xie lian. what xie lian says here about the curse is interesting. the faces/souls vs the ones they are infecting. its awful for both of them and neither are the only truly at fault theyre being pit against each other

its telling that mu qing is the one who is telling xie lian that line about there not being a second cup of water. also BIG ARGUMENT im bookmarking this to come back to in the present day

looks like celestial palace is coming down and im bitterly remembering the fact that xie lian toppled his own statue earlier to let lang ying get away... who then presumably planted the curse.... sighs

the bits with xie lian’s parents made me tear up. this is, what the kids call, relatable.

hmmm dont think feng xin is always going to feel this way lmao

oohh that is a cool image

i.... sad. and so book 2 ends!!! im wondering when we find out exactly how the split between our trio went down. im sure its sad

politically im still not sure exactly what the message is trying to be i mean obviously theres corruption that completely throws the poor under the bus but so far its also been clear that xie lian actually cant do anything about it. but!!! also xie lian doesnt understand a lot about the world, he’s been sheltered and he’s a prince and he wants to save the world and i love him for that but he hasn’t seen what the reality of life is for a lot of people he’s looking at everything from the position of the nobility and even with all his kindness i dont think thats ever enough to bring about meaningful change. how can it? idk but we still got a LONG ways to go

#all my mutuals: tgcf is a tragedy #me reading book 1: is it?? #me reading book 2: oh it really is #:( #tgcf liveblog #mouse mumbles

[projectemmatyler]

The damn diacritics on AO3 (aka What’s Your Effing Problem Jennie)

(disclaimer here: Jennie is a placeholder name that I for some reason don’t like. No offense to any Jennies meant.)

First few things I’d like to clarify here before I really light into this.

I am, as of March 2020, a member of OTW (Organization for Transformative Works), parent organization of Archive of Our Own, better known as Ao3. I am also a volunteer attached to Tag Wrangling committee, which means I get to see all your dumb shit you write in tags, try to make sense of it and link it to the canonical tags and/or make new ones if enough of you guys write the same thing in the tags. That’s my job that I do without any pay, for no real obligatory amount of time per week, with pleasure because I’m a fan, doing this for fans, to make their life on Ao3 happier and easier to navigate.

I also don’t speak for the OTW as organization, or AO3 as project, or any of the committees there - I speak as me, myself and I. And boy do I have shit to say here.

I am, surprise surprise, a fan of MXTX works. I’m also one of more than a dozen wranglers who’re currently panting as they try to keep our wrangling to-dos in all MXTX fandoms (including Módào Zǔshī, Untamed, Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, and Tiān Guān Cì Fú). Yes, over a dozen wranglers. You heard me right. Not everyone there is willing out themselves (for some it may even be dangerous to out themselves as parts of OTW!), but I am willing, and I’m not going to shy away from calling several people, some of which include former wranglers who I have to admit have never met, on their BS.

So, the whole shebang was brought to me when a Twitter user decided that they can speak for Ao3, OTW and Tag Wrangling volunteers - that are about 400 in total right now - and say that one single person, who must be straight, white cisgender American (because why the eff not, this is something Cool Kids Say With No Repercussions Or Second Thoughts), decided to unilaterally decide that all Chinese fandoms, MDZS and Guardian in particular (we’ll come back to that later!), would be using pinyin tone markers. Instead of framing this as ‘this makes everyone’s life difficult, can we talk about this?’, this person decided it’d rather attack the organization; more specifically, a part of organization in whose purview the decision of making standards for canon fandom tags, and the smallest subsection of that part - us.

Yes, you attacked us. Thanks for that. What a nice thank you we get for dealing with your tags (and also, we have to use pinyin too!)

But moving on from my salty feelings.

The discourse that went on from there assumed three things:

One - there’s one MXTX wrangler.

Two - we’re all white American folk.

Three - we do this to spite Guardian and MDZS fandoms.

First one I already disputed (also, we get over 100 tags daily from MXTX fandoms at minimum, and when there are fan events, the numbers can climb up to 200 - do you really think one person could do it and stay sane?). Third one I can also dispute by the fact that I wrangle Liàn Yǔ Zhì Zuò Rén | Mr. Love: Queen's Choice and follow same rules. The rules for diacritics are also not even unique only to Chinese fandoms: Star Wars’ Padmé Amidala tag also has diacritics to name the most well known one, as do Polish-named and Spanish-named characters!

And yet, somehow, it’s only Guardian and MDZS that are being attacked. Why?

Because of the assumption number 2: we’re all darn racist white folk that come from good ole’ US of A.

As someone who’s decidedly not an American citizen (heck, my native language is not even English!) and find it quite offensive to be called that, I’m incensed. I’m incensed on the behalf of all Chinese-descent, Chinese-immigrant and China-inhabiting members that I work with as a MDZS wrangler, wrangler in general and fellow OTW volunteer. I’m incensed on the assumption that the English-speaking fandom, who is primarily based in US, is arbitrarily attacking Ao3, and this time me specifically as MDZS wrangler, on their goddamn entitlement, and claiming that the most international community I’ve ever had the pleasure to be part of as a fan is not taking their opinion into consideration, so therefore I have to be racist.

In not so polite words, go get that stick out of your ass, you special little snowflake.

I literally don’t give a shit if you’re PoC when you’re behaving like a stereotypical Karen on the block. I don’t care how much you wave your ‘I’m a protected group‘ card; if you’re an entitled piece of shit, you’re an entitled piece of shit and I’ll say it.

OTW, and Ao3 as its biggest and most well known project, is not perfect, as I’ve found out quickly after joining - we are a decentralized group of 800+ volunteers from all walks of life and all across the world, who are divided into groups that had to make rules that’ll accommodate an international fandom, and not just US-centric, English speaking one. Tag Wrangling rules have been subject to change before, and they are still subject to change - if the wrangling staff, volunteers and Board all manage to agree on something that’ll be inclusive to everyone, the change can be made, and we wranglers will gladly comply. However, framing this as your goddamn social justice crusade against Ao3, and only using two biggest Chinese-media fandoms in US specifically, stinks of typical entitlement I’ve been dealing since I was thirteen and naively stumbled into Fanfiction dot net, where I discovered fanfic.

I am sick and tired of fractions of US-based fandom refusing to even try to engage into a constructive conversation about fandoms, insisting that the entire international fandom has to accept their frame of mind, while at the same time not bothering to even try and understand our own frames (yes, I’m talking about all the ‘oh, you’re of X ethnicity, you must be an Y nationality’ shitstick I see all the time). I’m sick and tired of issues only being raised once US fandom learns about it, and preferably not even research the background for those things before starting a crusade while they’re at it.

In short, I’m tired of entitled, special snowflake Jennies who think waving their PoC, non-heterosexual, non-cisgender cards gets them a get out of jail card for their shitty-ass behavior. You’re not being crusaders for justice, you’re just being shitty-ass people, and please stop while you’re still ahead.

Talk with us constructively if you want to change, and piss off if you don’t.

This is me fuming at nearly 12 AM, because I can no longer ignore this shit. I repeat again for contrary idjits who didn’t read my disclaimer: I speak as me, myself and I, wrangler of MDZS, TGCF and SVSSS, and also MCQL, and not as spokeperson for either OTW, Ao3 or Tag Wrangling Committee.

#ao3 #ao3 discourse #mdzs #svsss #tgcf #mxtx #mxtx fandom #chinese fandom #ao3 diacritics issue #tags #tag wrangling #tag wrangler rant #rant

[lanchang]

I completely agree with skipping the racist and/or unnecessary dice scenes to them just finding Ming Yi.  To be honest, even though I am grateful for such a well done adoption (besides the racist stuff) and even though a lot of scenes I love have an animated, the first 4 episodes so far have been a bit boring….

its definitely a very faithful adaptation overall which is what ive come to expect and makes sense as i think its really being done to appeal to fans of the book and in my experience book fans prefer faithful adaptations across the board so its unsurprising. it is well done and i love watching the characters do things and hear them speak but i agree it is a little bit boring. mostly i feel like everythings that happened in these 4 episodes could have been done in 2 or 3 but then again thats kind of how i feel about tgcf in general its a bit bloated imo which is a byproduct of serialization in the sense that things to have to happen in each update to keep readers interesting but when put together as a whole story can be monotonous. its impressive to me that tgcf is as well structured as it is for being written serially tbh. but i still think it would be stronger as a whole if more cuts were made. and as far as the donghua goes i suspect part of the reason it feels a bit boring is because theyre working with the constraint of having a certain number of episodes per season and having to make the events of the arcs take however long they have to take in order to fill or fit that number of episodes. its fun though i mostly just really really hope it'll eventually get to xian le stuff because thats my favorite :3 it seems very hualian focused which makes sense theyre the main couple and the fan favorites but i truly just want the trio to get a chance to shine too

#meow meow meow meow meow #ask