PARA social
Feb. 6th, 2024 04:56 pmI just feel like we really did have a golden moment in online community where you could essentially, gossip, about other people whether they be BNFs or mildly famous celebs and speculate about their lives et all... but this is also coming from someone who like really got their first taste of privacy-infringement via danandphil tumblr circles... like you had to work your ass off to find the vday vid sure, but you could find it... well, it was a weird blurry place, and it wasn't like super-ethical by any means, but it wasn't like so abhorred the way it is now.
I think this is also because of how unprivate everything is now... which i guess i mean like, people search for this shit now, solely, and if only, to just point it out and go: LOOK. THIS IS SO BAD. WHY IS SOMEONE DOING IT. like, it's ostensibly got the same amount of privacy as posting on any public platform does, but now there's like Thought Police crawling around. and ALSO. people hate being approached, or talked about, or what have you, because it's always an invitation for some kind of abuse rather than just. mfw i'm discussing just for the sake of discussion and it's a fun little thought experiment for me. GOD FORBID it has unintended consequences I did not ask for nor want... like I love and have completely misappropriated the term 'thought experiment' over the last couple years because I am famously like The Moralist of All Time. to me criticism, and blunt language is like Fair Game and has no bearing on how I actually feel about whatever entity As A Person or what have you. like, some of the guys I want to talk about in this post, I have no stakes in, some of the guys I really like their work but that has not impacted my feelings of them As A Person and thus are not free from my scrutiny and 'criticism', some of these guys, I truly believe that we are tethered and would possibly be soulmates and/or dating if not for my extreme aversion to being any kind of public figure, etcka etcka, Like everything is possible. all is free game. the last guy I probably don't really have anything bad to say, but to some, describing a guy as: 'I fear socks maidenly charm and visual can only be understood by those who can accept that he's uglycute... like the beautiful tier of mid-looking boys.' is hateristic and even a little mean. BRO I LITERALLY THINK HE IS PRETTY AND HAVE BEEN BEWITCHED BY WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE A SNOW_WHITE_ESQUE VISUAL like chill. learn how to read even.
1. dishtuonto
here are some links for your perusal:
https://x.com/companiondish/status/1754726185022726253?s=20
https://x.com/Tuont0/status/1735615178547556756?s=20
https://x.com/Tuont0/status/1735467296699904434?s=20
here are some things I have said about some of these links:
+I guess I have to point out that they're straight which is what makes it more appealing... like, queerbait doesn't hit anymore because everyone is doing it on purpose rather than because there is a genuine friendship there... it's a marketing scheme now...[tuonto has done it with both ant and socks... and one was more believable solely because socks is actually bisexual and had a girlfriend at the time so they were 100% just being genuine with the jokes and friendship and flirting rather than the entire corporate shill of soulless bait that was ant/tuonto... anyway...] ... anyway, somehow we've circled back to the territory of like BoyXGirl is the safer more mysterious tenuous connection that no one would suspect of being romantically or otherwise involved, because everyone has to be a little gaybaity if not sexless if not errr.... Married. which is what dish is. ANYWAY. I'm saying it's more compelling because they're actually friends, and also think theyre 'safe' against accusations and scrutiny [and like, in many ways, They Are, I am but One Sicko amongst 1million normies][but isn't that so crazy that's how like BoyxBoy dynamics used to work... where they could get away with all the shippy stuff and constant pairing Because No One Would Think..ANYWAY]
2. WHATSGOINGONGUYSASIANGUYHERE
this shit is making me so sad frankly... essentially the genshin streamer sphere blew the fuck up because of the usual suspect, tectone, and then atsu caught stray [actual] hands because he was accused of like gatekeeping and blocking opportunities for smaller ccs... and the guy who accused him was legit, and I cannot make this up, someone I had blocked because their tweets kept showing up on my tl, and my last straw was literally this tweet they'd made about how like their video numbers were unfair ... and I was like: What if you just made Good Videos? What about that? ....and then like, atsu's entire response to him was to accuse him of having bad vibes and being annoying and being preoccuppied with numbers... SO LIKE, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, I'M READING THIS AND I'M LIKE... he's not even wrong though. anyway, so then everyone started jumping atsu, even though I Personally Feel, as though it's fucking fine to dislike a guy ... and this is where the moralism comes in like.... bro every industry is going to be sorta nepo no matter What, and I personally see no problem with having Less White Creators platformed, esp. for a game like genshin...where it is always the white ccs being mildly racist in some way or another.
there were other aspects of the issue which I thought fully justified atsu's points and behaviours, with the most obvious one being that: Genshin is an unbearable fandom. so you are always intensely apprehensive of any and every single person who approaches you. esp if you are someone who thinks for themselves, whether correctly or incorrectly, it's unbearable. obviously, he's not allowed to say this because he's a CC. but. imo his actions were quite justifiable, even the asshole move of like editing brax out of what was clearly a photo meant to be ONLY of his friend group. like, absolutely, he's some level of asshole. he is an asshole. I just don't think that's 'cancelable' grounds. and I think what pisses me off the most is that the people who are dogpiling onto him are doing so by giving credence to like, these racist sexist white guys who have previously been 'wronged' by him...
there was this other tweet that accused atsu of creating an unfriendly unwelcoming atmosphere in the genshin CC space, and like, as someone who only finds ONE genshin creator bearable to watch... that's not actually on him. it's on genshin CCs for being the most unlikeable people on this earth in general. like. I promise you it was because your content was bad, and not because like, mr.AsianGuyGenshin hated you personally. like it could've been. sure. but I think this greater mindset of like [it's Never Me, it's always Something Greater Bigger Other that's the Problem] ... please. 1 critical thought.
okay that entire spiel made me sound like an atsu-warrior... which, sure, fine. why not? it's true a lot of the stuff that's proveable, is that he's an asshole. but this is not something he hasn't made astoundingly clear about himself. he's very honest in how he presents himself, and that's not some dramatic reveal. the stuff that's more suspect about him having like purview over genshin cc opportunities, that's suspect, but I still don't think that it makes the amount of backlash he's gotten justifiable. esp, you should not be calling an asian man 'RATsu', like be soooooo serious rn. yeah, but uh, because he's had some bad takes before, he should be hung and killed and whatever. AND ALL THIS BECAUSE HE DOESN'T LIKE TWO WHITE GUYS. be so serious. I don't know I think it's just very frustrating, and I guess I'm a little focused on the racial aspects, but it's ... the creators he hangs out with and associates with are all POC with the exception of basically 1 person [dish]. and so, if he's gotten these people opportunities, over like, a white guy... Whatever. I respect the grit. sorry I just don't believe you can commit crimes against white people unless they are like personally my friends or people I like. but even then.
3. an author by any other pseud
if I find an author on ao3 i really like, I will be reading through their entire catalogue if I can reasonably understand it... of course, the next step is like, find the guy's twitter and be extremely disillusioned by how much you don't like them. anyway. let's call this guy uhhh, sword. sword has made me realise one thing about white people and it's that They Love Whump. They Love Angst. They Love Self-Centered Tragedy. or I guess that I don't know they're white, but it wouldn't be surprising if they were. I suppose then, that's my point about anyone entrenched into white/western/individualist/catholic/christian culture. the way they treat 'suffering' as the Point. it's entertaining to read, I think, they're a very strong writer, but I found myself uncomfortable at the extent to which they would 'woobify' or ONLY focus on the suffering of their faves in their fic, to make the endgoal of like Getting Them Fucked In The Ass all the more sweeter... and again, they're a good writer which makes it easy to like digest, and again, It Is Enjoyable and Entertaining and you're like aww my poor baby... but it's not... it's not meaty I don't think. it doesn't make you see the character as anything other than a victim. I don't know, and it shows up, I think less flatteringly, in the way they tweet, and how they speak of their opinions and personal hang ups, and I think, even with people like this, even when they like all the same characters and things as me, it doesn't make them better. some people you just are not meant to vibe with... :( and I mean this, as like, I don't even think I'm that endearing of an online personality. I think I'm funny, which is my single and only edge over them, but they're probably a better writer than i am. so who's to judge.
anyway, I think sword is a funny contrast to err, uh, let's call the guy, uh, Rrrr. Rrrr is a Really Good Writer. everytime I read their fic i'm like Holy Fuck. I don't see the flaws in their fics as clearly as sword's, but I think it's also a matter of like, engagement... sword chooses to engage with Whump and Sadness and Torture and Angst and Tragic Backstory ... and Rrrr likes to grapple with why a flawed character is so flawed, and similarly, sure, how does that cause them angst... but then, the point is never the suffering, the point is whatever mechanism or thought that runs through the character that Makes Them Suffer. you never feel so bad about how these characters are the most meowmeow to ever meow so much so as you're like Aggghhhhhh Orpheus no!!! Don't Look Back!! Orpheus No!! all while understanding why orpheus has to look back. I think there's probably a better myth with the same kind of cultural capital that I could've drawn on, but syntax,diction, this is what I can think of right now to further my point. I think Rrrr does end up kind of, suffering from the Love of Angst and Tragedy as well, their fics are never 'happy' or about happy people, and mostly end very bittersweetly, but I don't think that's bad. I think... perhaps... it's really that they get so caught up in X character's flaws, that you forget what makes people like them in the first place, and while they try to like convey that with exterior interactions, they never succeed in convincing the reader of these good traits... i think at this point I have to point out that both writers write Xiao Genshin Impact, and more recently, Rrrr writes Kaveh genshin impact. so like, they Like their tragic characters. but to MEEEE... I've been so much more endeared to kaveh in fics that are not written by Rrrr, and this is like gribjkndfghkjverndfxcgibrd an overarching issue I have with how the greater genshin fandom just treats Kaveh in general... I think there's such a focus on how he's pathetic and sad and tragic that you forget the whole reason everyone in the world likes him, and why ALHAITHAM HIS LOVER, likes him, is because he is very much still a genius. and the same tragic heart that makes him so miserable, is also what makes him such a visionary. BUT I DIGRESS... it's the same point of woobification. xiao is harder, because xiao is actually not a guy who has that much going for him other than to be The Bearer Of Tragic Backstory... and honestly, when I like xiao it's because I find the extent of his emoangst#death#anger#suffering#pain funny... he's literally the meet the robinsons goober meme... but again. like both sword and Rrrr like him because of how committed he is to his self-suffering and self-tragedy. anyway. I think Rrrr is a much more bearable online personality than sword because Rrrr is just, kind of funnnier, and has better takes imo, and is less superior in their pretensions... idk....
I actually just wanted to talk about how it's better All of the time to just not search an author up to find their twitter. HOWEVER. I can also say that sometimes it's nice. and like.... chuck palanchuik handwriting quote.... as much as you can tell how unbearable a person is by how they synthesise suffering in their works ... with both sword and Rrrr coming off as people I'd prefer not really to know just because If you Write Like That it comes from somewhere and I'm less predisposed to want to engage with guys who are so woeful [in a sense]... anyway. against my better judgement I did do it again, and found a completely different guy who writes about a completely different subject and was instantly and endearingly surprised by the internet persona I did find so like. you win and you lose and you are very well aware of guys you like and would like and would prefer to keep at a distance.
4. mdzs modern au anyone
this is my personal and random bone to pick with like many people around the world. or I have MANY bones to pick with mdzs fic... and this is coming from someone who only reads the really good stuff, and so I actually don't read any mdzs fic set, in say, [North] America; I don't like to read any that are like so clearly and intensely american , I hate most modern aus .... but even beyond these long beaten horses.... I Fucking Hate What They Do To Wei Wuxian.
WWX is not a character who is a 'hot mess' in fact, really, uh the most of the reason he acts like a 'hot mess' is because he's feigning madness so that no one suspects that he's been reincarnated. he's like emotionally oblivious, yeah. but he also is not someone who allows himself to get immersed in his own suffering. because wwx is, someone who has lived a hard life, and has internalised and understood that That Is Life. for him. and so there's little to do but go on living. that is why mdzs ends the way it does. he's a simple person with plain desires. but, I'm saying this as someone who read the exiledrebel fantrans of the novel in like 2019/2020, did not watch the show, has read Only Really Good Fic, etcka... I think the show diverges in a lot of ways and adds depth in places the novel doesn't, but I'm not really sure about what those actual differences are, but I'm willing to like throw in my towel and say: I could be totally wrong. Everyone is entitled to whatever they took from their reader/viewership experience. There's surely a reason for the disconnect. or it could be like oikawa fic in 2017 where the iwaoi tag went from good to having suggestivescribe be the most kudos'd fic, and the downfall oikawa as anything but a bratty bottom began... IDK.
I think I also enjoyed this novel, and continue to enjoy far more than mxtx's others for different reasons than most people. or maybe not! I personally don't really care for wangxian. like I'll read their fic, because, I don't mind it and it's good. but the romance was always lacking for me, right up until wwx jumps into lwj's arms in lotus pier, and you're like Ah Fuck because of everything it symbolises. and I would argue, less than romance, it symbolises the whole reason the novel is good in the first place: Family. I don't think mdzs is something you read because you enjoy the plot. or because you think wangxian are the most romance Of Ever [because they are really not. or like, lwj did not have any personality at all in the exr scans]. I posit that the tragedy that drives apart yunmengjiang trio is the very heart of the novel and all of the meaningful threads that result because and prior to it are what makes the novel Really Really Good and kind of evergreen in my eyes. it's a very good story about family and how fucked up and complicated and horrible and meaningful it is. and so when wwx jumps into lwj's arms and is caught, it's good because after having lost his home for so many years and returning to it and realising he can never get it back. still, he has something different now. WHATEVER. it was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. anyway. I mean I also really liked yi city trio, probably because it hit some of the same notes of like something broken, something makeshift in place that became just as meaningful or worthy of living. along with the whole uhh Domesticating Your Pet Murderer. which to me was what made yi city so crazy tho like...
this, I think is also why I don't really like mxtx's other novels more than mdzs despite them having much more to recommend them, and also like, having like way more diehard fans and way better romances. I read svsss on Rrrr's recommendation, and it was entertaining and I liked bingqiu soooo much, and I Got It, but it wasn't like as personally devastating as mdzs. I started and never finished tgcf, which is always renowned as the Most Romantic and Most Tragic of the three... and again, it was Good, it was, i liked the main characters, I was fascinated with the hexuan/water master thing despite not like being a beefleafer... but again like.... broooo.... I don't think either of them are better or more 'for me' than mdzs is, because the whole reason I liked mdzs is because despite it being about a myriad of things and a lot of them being done somewhat suspectly [at least imo] ... the emotional core of the story, which to me was yunmengjiang, was undeniably strong and wholly compelling, and it was just a really good story. tragedy. what have you. it felt like life.
I think the last factor was that wwx was a much more endearing protag than either sqq or xl. whether it was relatability and going: This guy is so me! every 2s, it's just. he was genuinely charming and likeable and lovely and so it pisses me off when i read fic and I want it to be about That Guy and the guy I'm reading about isn't himmmm... and so it's like.. what ... wh.... and you have to understand, the thing about mdzs fic, is that you're delighted to read a fic and realise that lwj isn't the guy from the book. like that's deconstruction and reconstruction work that Needs to be done. what am I even talking about anymore.
AH. diaspora fic. not everything needs to be about what you[nebulous, royal, etcka] understand about the immigrant/assimilate experience. especially not ancient chinese gay people. you know you don't have to write Fic right. and you know, like even if you write fic, you don't need to do like 489922 hours of like research about culture and customs like... you are also allowed to be ambiguous of the setting and just be careful not to make it like wholly american... ngl I think reading other modern danmei could possibly even Help. like recently i've read so many farming simulator danmeis that I feel like I could write my own. like no it wouldn't be good but it would be recognisable as being Of the genre. like no one is asking anyone to write the next great epic about All of China... but it would be nice if it wasn't so fuckin american.
I think I have thoroughly run out of things to yap about... tgeirb;jdkfgnblvhkdfnjc sorry for your time thank u for ur loss. there was going to be uhhh a section about socks but my BADDDD...
I think this is also because of how unprivate everything is now... which i guess i mean like, people search for this shit now, solely, and if only, to just point it out and go: LOOK. THIS IS SO BAD. WHY IS SOMEONE DOING IT. like, it's ostensibly got the same amount of privacy as posting on any public platform does, but now there's like Thought Police crawling around. and ALSO. people hate being approached, or talked about, or what have you, because it's always an invitation for some kind of abuse rather than just. mfw i'm discussing just for the sake of discussion and it's a fun little thought experiment for me. GOD FORBID it has unintended consequences I did not ask for nor want... like I love and have completely misappropriated the term 'thought experiment' over the last couple years because I am famously like The Moralist of All Time. to me criticism, and blunt language is like Fair Game and has no bearing on how I actually feel about whatever entity As A Person or what have you. like, some of the guys I want to talk about in this post, I have no stakes in, some of the guys I really like their work but that has not impacted my feelings of them As A Person and thus are not free from my scrutiny and 'criticism', some of these guys, I truly believe that we are tethered and would possibly be soulmates and/or dating if not for my extreme aversion to being any kind of public figure, etcka etcka, Like everything is possible. all is free game. the last guy I probably don't really have anything bad to say, but to some, describing a guy as: 'I fear socks maidenly charm and visual can only be understood by those who can accept that he's uglycute... like the beautiful tier of mid-looking boys.' is hateristic and even a little mean. BRO I LITERALLY THINK HE IS PRETTY AND HAVE BEEN BEWITCHED BY WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE A SNOW_WHITE_ESQUE VISUAL like chill. learn how to read even.
anyway. here's wonderitfuckall.
1. dishtuonto
here are some links for your perusal:
https://x.com/companiondish/status/1754726185022726253?s=20
https://x.com/Tuont0/status/1735615178547556756?s=20
https://x.com/Tuont0/status/1735467296699904434?s=20
here are some things I have said about some of these links:
- "Anyone on this thread thinking about tuonto cucking dish’s husband" [12/14/23, 8:51 PM]
- "i want the cheating divorce scandal gate so badddddddd I JUST WANT IT SO BAD...." [02/05/24, 11:44 PM]
- "i think my only thing is that she isn't even that much older than him WORLD STOP EXPLODEEE if she was actually 30+ and he was just 20something... my dreams.... my delusions..... this lit. happens to hollywood celebs so much and also academics so why not TwitchStreamers...." [02/05/24, 11:46]
+I guess I have to point out that they're straight which is what makes it more appealing... like, queerbait doesn't hit anymore because everyone is doing it on purpose rather than because there is a genuine friendship there... it's a marketing scheme now...[tuonto has done it with both ant and socks... and one was more believable solely because socks is actually bisexual and had a girlfriend at the time so they were 100% just being genuine with the jokes and friendship and flirting rather than the entire corporate shill of soulless bait that was ant/tuonto... anyway...] ... anyway, somehow we've circled back to the territory of like BoyXGirl is the safer more mysterious tenuous connection that no one would suspect of being romantically or otherwise involved, because everyone has to be a little gaybaity if not sexless if not errr.... Married. which is what dish is. ANYWAY. I'm saying it's more compelling because they're actually friends, and also think theyre 'safe' against accusations and scrutiny [and like, in many ways, They Are, I am but One Sicko amongst 1million normies][but isn't that so crazy that's how like BoyxBoy dynamics used to work... where they could get away with all the shippy stuff and constant pairing Because No One Would Think..ANYWAY]
2. WHATSGOINGONGUYSASIANGUYHERE
this shit is making me so sad frankly... essentially the genshin streamer sphere blew the fuck up because of the usual suspect, tectone, and then atsu caught stray [actual] hands because he was accused of like gatekeeping and blocking opportunities for smaller ccs... and the guy who accused him was legit, and I cannot make this up, someone I had blocked because their tweets kept showing up on my tl, and my last straw was literally this tweet they'd made about how like their video numbers were unfair ... and I was like: What if you just made Good Videos? What about that? ....and then like, atsu's entire response to him was to accuse him of having bad vibes and being annoying and being preoccuppied with numbers... SO LIKE, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, I'M READING THIS AND I'M LIKE... he's not even wrong though. anyway, so then everyone started jumping atsu, even though I Personally Feel, as though it's fucking fine to dislike a guy ... and this is where the moralism comes in like.... bro every industry is going to be sorta nepo no matter What, and I personally see no problem with having Less White Creators platformed, esp. for a game like genshin...where it is always the white ccs being mildly racist in some way or another.
there were other aspects of the issue which I thought fully justified atsu's points and behaviours, with the most obvious one being that: Genshin is an unbearable fandom. so you are always intensely apprehensive of any and every single person who approaches you. esp if you are someone who thinks for themselves, whether correctly or incorrectly, it's unbearable. obviously, he's not allowed to say this because he's a CC. but. imo his actions were quite justifiable, even the asshole move of like editing brax out of what was clearly a photo meant to be ONLY of his friend group. like, absolutely, he's some level of asshole. he is an asshole. I just don't think that's 'cancelable' grounds. and I think what pisses me off the most is that the people who are dogpiling onto him are doing so by giving credence to like, these racist sexist white guys who have previously been 'wronged' by him...
there was this other tweet that accused atsu of creating an unfriendly unwelcoming atmosphere in the genshin CC space, and like, as someone who only finds ONE genshin creator bearable to watch... that's not actually on him. it's on genshin CCs for being the most unlikeable people on this earth in general. like. I promise you it was because your content was bad, and not because like, mr.AsianGuyGenshin hated you personally. like it could've been. sure. but I think this greater mindset of like [it's Never Me, it's always Something Greater Bigger Other that's the Problem] ... please. 1 critical thought.
okay that entire spiel made me sound like an atsu-warrior... which, sure, fine. why not? it's true a lot of the stuff that's proveable, is that he's an asshole. but this is not something he hasn't made astoundingly clear about himself. he's very honest in how he presents himself, and that's not some dramatic reveal. the stuff that's more suspect about him having like purview over genshin cc opportunities, that's suspect, but I still don't think that it makes the amount of backlash he's gotten justifiable. esp, you should not be calling an asian man 'RATsu', like be soooooo serious rn. yeah, but uh, because he's had some bad takes before, he should be hung and killed and whatever. AND ALL THIS BECAUSE HE DOESN'T LIKE TWO WHITE GUYS. be so serious. I don't know I think it's just very frustrating, and I guess I'm a little focused on the racial aspects, but it's ... the creators he hangs out with and associates with are all POC with the exception of basically 1 person [dish]. and so, if he's gotten these people opportunities, over like, a white guy... Whatever. I respect the grit. sorry I just don't believe you can commit crimes against white people unless they are like personally my friends or people I like. but even then.
3. an author by any other pseud
if I find an author on ao3 i really like, I will be reading through their entire catalogue if I can reasonably understand it... of course, the next step is like, find the guy's twitter and be extremely disillusioned by how much you don't like them. anyway. let's call this guy uhhh, sword. sword has made me realise one thing about white people and it's that They Love Whump. They Love Angst. They Love Self-Centered Tragedy. or I guess that I don't know they're white, but it wouldn't be surprising if they were. I suppose then, that's my point about anyone entrenched into white/western/individualist/catholic/christian culture. the way they treat 'suffering' as the Point. it's entertaining to read, I think, they're a very strong writer, but I found myself uncomfortable at the extent to which they would 'woobify' or ONLY focus on the suffering of their faves in their fic, to make the endgoal of like Getting Them Fucked In The Ass all the more sweeter... and again, they're a good writer which makes it easy to like digest, and again, It Is Enjoyable and Entertaining and you're like aww my poor baby... but it's not... it's not meaty I don't think. it doesn't make you see the character as anything other than a victim. I don't know, and it shows up, I think less flatteringly, in the way they tweet, and how they speak of their opinions and personal hang ups, and I think, even with people like this, even when they like all the same characters and things as me, it doesn't make them better. some people you just are not meant to vibe with... :( and I mean this, as like, I don't even think I'm that endearing of an online personality. I think I'm funny, which is my single and only edge over them, but they're probably a better writer than i am. so who's to judge.
anyway, I think sword is a funny contrast to err, uh, let's call the guy, uh, Rrrr. Rrrr is a Really Good Writer. everytime I read their fic i'm like Holy Fuck. I don't see the flaws in their fics as clearly as sword's, but I think it's also a matter of like, engagement... sword chooses to engage with Whump and Sadness and Torture and Angst and Tragic Backstory ... and Rrrr likes to grapple with why a flawed character is so flawed, and similarly, sure, how does that cause them angst... but then, the point is never the suffering, the point is whatever mechanism or thought that runs through the character that Makes Them Suffer. you never feel so bad about how these characters are the most meowmeow to ever meow so much so as you're like Aggghhhhhh Orpheus no!!! Don't Look Back!! Orpheus No!! all while understanding why orpheus has to look back. I think there's probably a better myth with the same kind of cultural capital that I could've drawn on, but syntax,diction, this is what I can think of right now to further my point. I think Rrrr does end up kind of, suffering from the Love of Angst and Tragedy as well, their fics are never 'happy' or about happy people, and mostly end very bittersweetly, but I don't think that's bad. I think... perhaps... it's really that they get so caught up in X character's flaws, that you forget what makes people like them in the first place, and while they try to like convey that with exterior interactions, they never succeed in convincing the reader of these good traits... i think at this point I have to point out that both writers write Xiao Genshin Impact, and more recently, Rrrr writes Kaveh genshin impact. so like, they Like their tragic characters. but to MEEEE... I've been so much more endeared to kaveh in fics that are not written by Rrrr, and this is like gribjkndfghkjverndfxcgibrd an overarching issue I have with how the greater genshin fandom just treats Kaveh in general... I think there's such a focus on how he's pathetic and sad and tragic that you forget the whole reason everyone in the world likes him, and why ALHAITHAM HIS LOVER, likes him, is because he is very much still a genius. and the same tragic heart that makes him so miserable, is also what makes him such a visionary. BUT I DIGRESS... it's the same point of woobification. xiao is harder, because xiao is actually not a guy who has that much going for him other than to be The Bearer Of Tragic Backstory... and honestly, when I like xiao it's because I find the extent of his emoangst#death#anger#suffering#pain funny... he's literally the meet the robinsons goober meme... but again. like both sword and Rrrr like him because of how committed he is to his self-suffering and self-tragedy. anyway. I think Rrrr is a much more bearable online personality than sword because Rrrr is just, kind of funnnier, and has better takes imo, and is less superior in their pretensions... idk....
I actually just wanted to talk about how it's better All of the time to just not search an author up to find their twitter. HOWEVER. I can also say that sometimes it's nice. and like.... chuck palanchuik handwriting quote.... as much as you can tell how unbearable a person is by how they synthesise suffering in their works ... with both sword and Rrrr coming off as people I'd prefer not really to know just because If you Write Like That it comes from somewhere and I'm less predisposed to want to engage with guys who are so woeful [in a sense]... anyway. against my better judgement I did do it again, and found a completely different guy who writes about a completely different subject and was instantly and endearingly surprised by the internet persona I did find so like. you win and you lose and you are very well aware of guys you like and would like and would prefer to keep at a distance.
4. mdzs modern au anyone
this is my personal and random bone to pick with like many people around the world. or I have MANY bones to pick with mdzs fic... and this is coming from someone who only reads the really good stuff, and so I actually don't read any mdzs fic set, in say, [North] America; I don't like to read any that are like so clearly and intensely american , I hate most modern aus .... but even beyond these long beaten horses.... I Fucking Hate What They Do To Wei Wuxian.
WWX is not a character who is a 'hot mess' in fact, really, uh the most of the reason he acts like a 'hot mess' is because he's feigning madness so that no one suspects that he's been reincarnated. he's like emotionally oblivious, yeah. but he also is not someone who allows himself to get immersed in his own suffering. because wwx is, someone who has lived a hard life, and has internalised and understood that That Is Life. for him. and so there's little to do but go on living. that is why mdzs ends the way it does. he's a simple person with plain desires. but, I'm saying this as someone who read the exiledrebel fantrans of the novel in like 2019/2020, did not watch the show, has read Only Really Good Fic, etcka... I think the show diverges in a lot of ways and adds depth in places the novel doesn't, but I'm not really sure about what those actual differences are, but I'm willing to like throw in my towel and say: I could be totally wrong. Everyone is entitled to whatever they took from their reader/viewership experience. There's surely a reason for the disconnect. or it could be like oikawa fic in 2017 where the iwaoi tag went from good to having suggestivescribe be the most kudos'd fic, and the downfall oikawa as anything but a bratty bottom began... IDK.
I think I also enjoyed this novel, and continue to enjoy far more than mxtx's others for different reasons than most people. or maybe not! I personally don't really care for wangxian. like I'll read their fic, because, I don't mind it and it's good. but the romance was always lacking for me, right up until wwx jumps into lwj's arms in lotus pier, and you're like Ah Fuck because of everything it symbolises. and I would argue, less than romance, it symbolises the whole reason the novel is good in the first place: Family. I don't think mdzs is something you read because you enjoy the plot. or because you think wangxian are the most romance Of Ever [because they are really not. or like, lwj did not have any personality at all in the exr scans]. I posit that the tragedy that drives apart yunmengjiang trio is the very heart of the novel and all of the meaningful threads that result because and prior to it are what makes the novel Really Really Good and kind of evergreen in my eyes. it's a very good story about family and how fucked up and complicated and horrible and meaningful it is. and so when wwx jumps into lwj's arms and is caught, it's good because after having lost his home for so many years and returning to it and realising he can never get it back. still, he has something different now. WHATEVER. it was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. anyway. I mean I also really liked yi city trio, probably because it hit some of the same notes of like something broken, something makeshift in place that became just as meaningful or worthy of living. along with the whole uhh Domesticating Your Pet Murderer. which to me was what made yi city so crazy tho like...
this, I think is also why I don't really like mxtx's other novels more than mdzs despite them having much more to recommend them, and also like, having like way more diehard fans and way better romances. I read svsss on Rrrr's recommendation, and it was entertaining and I liked bingqiu soooo much, and I Got It, but it wasn't like as personally devastating as mdzs. I started and never finished tgcf, which is always renowned as the Most Romantic and Most Tragic of the three... and again, it was Good, it was, i liked the main characters, I was fascinated with the hexuan/water master thing despite not like being a beefleafer... but again like.... broooo.... I don't think either of them are better or more 'for me' than mdzs is, because the whole reason I liked mdzs is because despite it being about a myriad of things and a lot of them being done somewhat suspectly [at least imo] ... the emotional core of the story, which to me was yunmengjiang, was undeniably strong and wholly compelling, and it was just a really good story. tragedy. what have you. it felt like life.
I think the last factor was that wwx was a much more endearing protag than either sqq or xl. whether it was relatability and going: This guy is so me! every 2s, it's just. he was genuinely charming and likeable and lovely and so it pisses me off when i read fic and I want it to be about That Guy and the guy I'm reading about isn't himmmm... and so it's like.. what ... wh.... and you have to understand, the thing about mdzs fic, is that you're delighted to read a fic and realise that lwj isn't the guy from the book. like that's deconstruction and reconstruction work that Needs to be done. what am I even talking about anymore.
AH. diaspora fic. not everything needs to be about what you[nebulous, royal, etcka] understand about the immigrant/assimilate experience. especially not ancient chinese gay people. you know you don't have to write Fic right. and you know, like even if you write fic, you don't need to do like 489922 hours of like research about culture and customs like... you are also allowed to be ambiguous of the setting and just be careful not to make it like wholly american... ngl I think reading other modern danmei could possibly even Help. like recently i've read so many farming simulator danmeis that I feel like I could write my own. like no it wouldn't be good but it would be recognisable as being Of the genre. like no one is asking anyone to write the next great epic about All of China... but it would be nice if it wasn't so fuckin american.
I think I have thoroughly run out of things to yap about... tgeirb;jdkfgnblvhkdfnjc sorry for your time thank u for ur loss. there was going to be uhhh a section about socks but my BADDDD...