first things on the second

Happy New Year, y'all! I won't say belated, because depending on the calendar you subscribe to, it's actually either still the old year or has been a new year since the end of October (and I'm sure there are other calendars in which it is different points of the year and people who observe those calendars are even more irked by the random and idiotic noise of drunk people shooting off semi-legal fireworks than I am), so! There you have...whatever it is you have, I don't know, I'm doing this online, it's not like I can see you.

My brave, bold new thing is that I finally got a Twitter account:

ranalore1. It's one of the two social media platforms most often recommended to me as a pro writer, and since the other one is Facebook, which turns me into Mrs. White from Clue ("flames on the side of my face"), then I decided Twitter is the one to learn. And I might as well learn it by marching with eyes wide open into the beautiful hell that is Zhu Yilong picspam, Bai Yu selfies, and gifs of all the gorgeous infants from The Untamed. As a prime example of what I mean, Xiao Zhan's hips broke me on my very first day and there's just no coming back from that.

Speaking of The Untamed, ship gip. You do not want to know how long it took me fighting with GIMP to make it, either. I miss the simplicity of creating an icon with text in Adobe Photoshop.

Also speaking of The Untamed, I was talking to

tassosss about how much I've enjoyed reading people's responses to 30 Days of Guardian, and how much fun a 30 Days of The Untamed meme could be. She agreed, so I've adapted her Guardian list and come up with the following:

30 Days of The Untamed
1. How you started watching
2. Favorite episode
3. Favorite character(s)
4. Favorite "junior"
5. Favorite sect or clan
6. Favorite secondary ship
7. Favorite rarepair
8. Favorite worldbuilding detail
9. Missed opportunity
10. Favorite set
11. Favorite minor character
12. Favorite villain
13. Villain you'd like redeemed
14. Favorite h/c moment
15. Favorite conversation between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji
16. Most appealing point for a canon divergence AU
17. Which (other) character(s) would you resurrect?
18. Favorite headcanon
19. When do you think Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get together?
20. Favorite character moment
21. Favorite badass moment
22. Favorite soft moment
23. Favorite battle couple moment
24. Thoughts and feelings on what was up on that cliff
25. Thoughts and feelings on the ending
26. A song or piece of music that makes you think of The Untamed and why
27. Rec a fanfic
28. Rec a vid
29. Talk about another aspect of your The Untamed fannishness not covered yet
30. Prompt for a fanwork

It probably goes without saying, but feel free to alter this list as befits your own fannish engagement. I just want to talk to everybody about every aspect of this show! Which, I just realized, I forgot to mention you can watch on Netflix, YouTube, or Viki, with varying quality of subtitles. Netflix borks up people's names and terms of address but good, and I don't know what their thing is about subtitling only the back half of a line of dialogue with irregular and annoying frequency, but it drives me up the wall. And I get that it's hard to time subtitles for rapid-fire dialogue, but what's the point of subtitling a line at all if you're only going to flash the subtitle at a speed that breaks the sound barrier? I can't even hit pause that fast so I can read it before moving on! On the other hand, the YouTube subs make frequent use of the term "Childe" where Netflix uses "Young Master," and I twitch every time, because NO. I haven't tried Viki, because their free service involves commercials, which I loathe with every fiber of my being, but based on laments I have heard, it sounds like their subs also have issues, and I'm really hoping somebody will do what

solo did with Guardian's subs.

30 Days of The Untamed

Day 1: How you started watching

I talked about this a bit in my last post. I needed to take a breather from the heavy emotional stuff at the end of Guardian, and

Boni kept posting about this other c-drama she'd fallen into, based on a BL novel. A few other people had also mentioned it, and talked about the production values, the wuxia tradition, and the gay content snuck past the censors, and while the images I'd seen of the actors looked very young, they did look pretty, for which I'm always a sucker. I also heard there were a few female characters that might appeal to me, and Boni mentioned the mythic aspect of the storytelling, plus again evoking some past shared fandoms, and oh! I forgot to mention this has some A:TLA feels going, too. But then she moved in for the kill. She posted a Lola vid, and I am a sucker for a Lola vid, so I checked it out, and it was the first indication that the main character might not be quite the archetype I'd gotten the impression he was from previous fannish interactions. That he might be something I might like a little more. So, I decided to give it a try.

Two and a half weeks later, I emerged with a raging case of Wei Wuxian love, and a sinking feeling that my main fandom had just jumped tracks. Sinking, because I really do need to get going on my

sundial_exchange piece, and all I really want to do is drown in Wangxian feels and write fix-its where all my favorites live. Did this feeling stop me from immediately beginning a rewatch? No. No, it did not.

At least Guardian is still in my brain and heart, if on a backburner for the moment.

Which means it's time for the Guardian portion of this post.

30 Days of Guardian

Day 17: Favorite Dixing power and/or power you want to have

That's easy: Learning, without a doubt. It really is the ultimate power. I mean, okay, maybe eating people is the ultimate power, but I'm not so sure about that. I think without mind control, manipulation, and the "energy reactors" or whatever it was of the Merit Brush, Ye Zun doesn't actually have phenomenal cosmic powers, and without Shen Wei sharing his life force, they really would have been pretty evenly matched. And I suspect, without the traumatic awakening of his power in the presence of the Hallows, which probably warped it, Ye Zun's natural ability is likely more akin to a haptic understanding of how other Dixingren powers work, like Shen Wei understanding them by seeing them in action. So, visual and kinetic learning, maybe? Ah, spoken like a true grad student at the end of a course on pedagogy.

Italicized items are the ones changed from the original meme.
1. Favorite episode
2. Favorite case
3. Favorite Hallows arc
4. How you started watching
5. Favorite set
6. Favorite character
7. Favorite SID member
8. Favorite guest character(s)
9. Favorite worldbuilding detail
10. Missed opportunity
11. Favorite headcanon
12. Favorite rarepair
13. Favorite Weilan outfits
14. Favorite villain
15. Villain you’d like redeemed or whose redemption you liked
16. Favorite conversation between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei
17. Favorite Dixing power and/or power you want to have
18. Most appealing point for a canon divergence AU
19. Which character(s) would you resurrect?
20. If /when do you think Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei get together?
21. Favorite character moment
22. Favorite badass moment
23. Favorite soft moment
24. Favorite team moment
25. Thoughts and feelings on the ending
26. Create a mini-playlist of up to five songs
27. Rec a fanfic
28. Rec a vid
29. Rec a meta post
30. Prompt for a fanwork

surf report naughty
x marks the spot planet Is it even legal for him to be doing that?

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From:

bonibaru

The good news: you made it into Untamed fandom while it's still quite new! lol

The other good news: Fairyland Lovers is starting Jan 6 and that means more Bai Yu and then Lost Tomb is rumored to be coming in April and that means more Zhu Yilong and MUMMIES and I think it's gonna be a good year.

From:

ranalore

The problem is that's so many things for me to keep track of (more than one is too many)! How are people watching Fairyland Lovers, anyway? I keep seeing all these gorgeous caps and gifs of long-haired, robed Bai Yu on Twitter (or short-haired, bathrobed, cute caps), and I want!

Untamed has me by the throat, Boni. I have three past fix-its in the works, and so many more bunnies (insert obligatory Untamed bunny joke here). Also, where are all the dragon!Lan Wangji AUs? If ever there was a candidate for shapeshifting, protective, possessive dragon, it's this character in this ship in this fandom.

From:

bonibaru

I am watching Fairyland Lovers right on the WeTV website in my browser https://wetv.vip/play?vid=x0033byfbjk&language=en

Episode 1 was NOT my favorite but ep 2 was better and ep 3 even more so. Am watching ep 4 tonight.

Untamed has us all by the throats, lol. I'm running into a similar issue that I ran into with Shadowhunters which had a very YOUNG fandom, and a large overseas fanbase, that was not producing and engaging the way I, a crone, was used to. So there were a number of things I just had to buck up and write or do myself if I wanted to see them the way I wanted them (like my Malec regency AU). I have been limiting my Untamed consumption to recs from people whose tastes I know I share and works produced by people I know (exceptions for topics/tags in my hard DNWs) which has kept my consumption to manageable levels. The problem I have is how MUCH potential this fandom has with SO MANY pairings outside of WWX/LWJ that I keep falling down side rabbit holes, lol.

This is a very roundabout way of saying when someone *cough you cough* writes the dragon shifter AU I am here to help however I can. If it doesn't distract me too much from the Watership Down AU I have half plotted out with absolutely ZERO intentions of actually ever writing.

From:

clevermanka

*claps delightedly* YAY! I'm thrilled you're jumping on The Untamed boat (so much crying on boats!). Was that last straw the Archer vid? because omg yes that was my final impetus, too. So good.

Welcome to Twitter, too, although I feel that's got a touch of "condolences, how are we all here now?" going on. For me at least. I love it, but oh I hate it.

My first watch of The Untamed was all on Viki, my second was on Netflix, and I was hoping to make my third on YouTube just so I could get as much coverage as possible. Alas, my rewatch partner prefers Netflix, so... *shrug* Everyone who takes me up on my Untamed pitch gets a rant about the subs, too. Why are they all three so bad in their own way ? WHY?

I hear you so hard on the GIMP hate. I had to give up on it, again. I'll come back to it eventually, since what choice do I have since Adobe decided my actual Photoshop software on CD that I purchased with my hard-earned $$$ is no longer valid. FUCKERS. Anyway. GIMP. sigh

Lastly, I didn't realize you were a grad student! Pedagogy, you say? What's your field? I ask because I served as the graduate secretary for the English department at Kansas University for nineteen years and I miss my students every god damn day. Grad students, especially liberal arts grad students bless them, will always have a soft spot in my heart.

From:

branchandroot

*drops in purely to join in the curse-casting on Adobe* Adobe are /utter/ fuckers. I'm clinging to my Dreamweaver CS6 with teeth and toenails, but the next time I can't avoid updating my OS it's done for.

FWIW, I've gone back and forth a few times between Photoshop and GIMP, and it always takes about 72 hours of concentrated hate for the entire world, and GIMP in particular, before it starts to settle.

From:

clevermanka

As someone who struggles massively when it comes to learning new tech, and who usually takes five to ten times longer to learn anything related to computers, your experience is... not encouraging. =\

ALWAYS HERE FOR SHIT TALKING ADOBE THO

From:

branchandroot

*winces* Ugh. Not fun. *passes over the Technology Tequila*

From:

clevermanka

From:

ranalore

I've been working with GIMP for several years now, and I just don't find it user friendly at all. I feel like Photoshop was kinder to the graphics-impaired.

From:

ranalore

Was that last straw the Archer vid?

It was! Boni knows me too well. Talk the fandom up a bit, draw parallels with past fandoms we both love (though I got her back with the Ed Elric comparison), then move in for the kill with either one of her own vids or a Lola vid focused on one of the characters she thinks I'll most like. Though nobody ~~expects the Spanish Inquisition~~ could have predicted my near-instant and all-consuming love for Wei Wuxian.

I love it, but oh I hate it.

I went in with the foreknowledge of lists, and immediately created one. It's all I look at. It's mostly gifs of hot boys, which is exactly what I'm on Twitter for. It is otherwise mostly recs and ep reactions, which I also welcome. I follow very few people, very few people follow me, and I think that's probably the key to keeping it from overwhelming me. Because I can see how it could, all too easily.

Why are they all three so bad in their own way ? WHY?

I was just flipping through one of the YouTube eps I'd dled the other day, getting to the point where I was going to grab screencaps for icon purposes, and discovered a COMMERCIAL??? embedded in the ep??? And the thing is, it's a commercial featuring Wei Wuxian in an inn, ordering a drink, only instead of bringing him wine, they bring him Coke! So now I'm like, somebody please crack the Viki eps and upload them somewhere so we can all get clean dls. And then somebody please take on the subs like

solo did for Guardian. Please, please don't reduce me to doing it. I neither speak nor read any form of Chinese, I know nothing about sub files or timing that shit, I will cry and y'all will cry and yearn for the golden days of "Childe Wei Ying to the dark Burial Mounds came."

I hear you so hard on the GIMP hate. I had to give up on it, again.

I don't give up on it, but I definitely make it sit in the corner and think about what it's done for long intervals. And I keep swearing off trying to do anything with text or filters or textures or patterns, and then I end up fighting with it anyway because I want a pattern underlay for Wei Wuxian on the roof of the Yiling Supervisory Office, dammit. So I spend three hours to get something close to what I wanted, all the while thinking about how this would take me half an hour in Photoshop, and turn out exactly how I pictured it in my head, and then I curse GIMP and curse Adobe. And then do it all again because I want text on my icon of BAMF Lan Wangji. I'm a technological masochist. It's the only explanation.

I am indeed a grad student, though not for much longer. I'm in the last week of my penultimate term, with all courses complete at the end of March. And then I'll have my Master's in Creative Writing and English, at the ripe old age of 48. Then I get to scramble for a gap job until I can start making money off writing gay porn, because disability does not actually cover living expenses.

From:

clevermanka

nd the thing is, it's a commercial featuring Wei Wuxian in an inn, ordering a drink, only instead of bringing him wine, they bring him Coke! So now I'm like, somebody please crack the Viki eps and upload them somewhere so we can all get clean dls.
Whereas I'm like "someone better be writing that fic, now." But yes, god, please wouldn't that be wonderful? Solo's work is A GIFT.

I definitely make it sit in the corner and think about what it's done for long intervals.
I hear you so hard on this paragraph. Ugh. UGH.

Ah! Congratulations and best wishes!

From:

tassosss

I love this meme! I still need to do it for Guardian but yes, The Untamed has so much going for it.

As someone who has been straddling the divide of two awesome fandoms, I will say that Guardian fic and the DW comm have been great for keeping up the Guardian feels. I mostly hang out with the Untamed on Twitter and of course fic.

The RPF photos are strong in both fandoms.

From:

ranalore

I love this meme!

Oh, good! Since I was riffing off of your formula, I hoped it would meet with your seal of approval.

I will say that Guardian fic and the DW comm have been great for keeping up the Guardian feels.

I am so happy we have an Untamed comm now! And there is fic, I've seen some recs of Yuletide stories, but we could definitely use more reccing and bunnying and cheerleading and general fic talk on DW.

The RPF photos are strong in both fandoms.

There is some serious pretty going on there, that's for damn sure. Although, as with Guardian, I adore the speculative elements of the fictional world of Untamed, so that'll probably be my primary sandbox.

From:

sakana17

✅ followed you on Twitter. I am

sakanaoneseven there (sigh, was really hoping Twitter was going to purge inactive accounts for real so I could snag sakana17 but alas). I don't tweet a huge amount (occasional Zhu Yilong or Bai Yu content, very occasional Real Life articles of interest, & very occasional retweets of stuff that amused me).

And I suspect, without the traumatic awakening of his power in the presence of the Hallows, which probably warped it, Ye Zun's natural ability is likely more akin to a haptic understanding of how other Dixingren powers work, like Shen Wei understanding them by seeing them in action. So, visual and kinetic learning, maybe?

thevetia,

klia, and I talked about this when we wrapped up the most recent rewatch and came to a similar conclusion. Which opens up tons of AU possibilities and may even get me to revisit my crackfic!AU... Too many story ideas, not enough winter break days to write them.

From:

ranalore

was really hoping Twitter was going to purge inactive accounts for real so I could snag sakana17 but alas

Yeah, I did not realize I was going to be ranalore1, and now I'm like, can I change it without breaking anything? Because if they'd asked me, and I don't remember any screen where they did, I'da picked something else.

occasional Zhu Yilong or Bai Yu content

See, my Twitter profile says "here for the gifs of hot boys," and that is truth in advertising. I've been checking in once or twice a day for about ten minutes each, and that's about as long as my brain and eyes can take it before they announce, "Okay! Do something else!" Which sounds like it's just as well.

Which opens up tons of AU possibilities and may even get me to revisit my crackfic!AU

Ooh! Color me intrigued! I also wonder about the exact parameters of Shen Wei's ability, which I've been playing with for the light energy fix-it. I mean, what is it that he sees? The power in action? Or a change in the person's energy/the dark energy around them? Is he limited to powers with a visual component? I want to say there are instances that point to no, but I feel like everything he does is showy enough—or has both a showy and stealth mode—that it could be argued that yes, there does need to be a visual component. So would Ye Zun natively be constrained to powers that required a gesture or action of some kind? There are definite ways to plausibly limit both, for angst and h/c fun times.

From:

sakana17

Wait, Twitter forced you to become ranalore1? Argh! At least I had a choice - it told me sakana17 was taken and asked me for a different username. "oneseven" was one digit shorter than "seventeen" so I went with that one. Back in ye olde 140-character limit days! :D

So would Ye Zun natively be constrained to powers that required a gesture or action of some kind? There are definite ways to plausibly limit both, for angst and h/c fun times.

Oooo, so many great ideas! It would be really interesting if Ye Zun's original power was constrained to gestures/actions somehow. I'm fascinated by what Ye Zun's power could've been like if he hadn't consumed rebel chieftain or been mind-whammied by the chieftain.

From:

goss

30 Days of The Untamed

Ooooh! I might actually try expressing my love for this show with something other than pretty gifs and hearteyes emojis. *g*

From:

ranalore

I would love to read your thoughts if you decide to do the meme! Not that I would ever, ever, ever disdain pretty gifs or hearteyes emojis. Especially not gifs as pretty as your icon, which has the effect of a ton of mochi-wrapped, bunny-eared, candy-colored smiling bricks landing on your head while you're standing in a butterfly-infested field of wildflowers.

From:

goss

Hee! SAME. I cannot help but smile every time I look at these two rays of sunshine. <333

Also, I am so glad you suggested that meme! I made a start 2 days ago, and just posted my responses at the comm. I've also decided to use the themes for daily artwork practice. :)

From:

unrelaxing

Ooh, so nice to see you joining the twitters! I've followed you - I'm yilingway over there.

Also super keen to do 30 days of The Untamed DESPITE my absolute failure at 30 Days of Guardian.

(Xiao Zhan's hips and Xiao Zhan are currently my favourite things right now and I'm glad someone else is ruined by them)

From:

stultiloquentia

I am SO DOWN for this meme! Thanks for doing that.

Cackling at your reaction to "childe," because I adore it and would like to send a fruit basket to the translation nerd who dug up that incredibly specific and apt archaism. But perhaps I'm just lucky I've never read Anne Rice.

From:

brigdh

Happy New Year! I won't say belated even if it is a belated reply to this post, ha.

I followed you on twitter! I also use my twitter mostly for professional reasons which is why it's under a different name, but I'm the archaeologist – you probably haven't been followed by more than one of those, right?

I also feel your pain about GIMP. I really need to find a better replacement for Photoshop since they cracked down on pirated copies.

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