Sorry If I’m Being A Party Pooper But Because Rabies Is Apparently The New Joke On Here ??? Please

Since this rant is gonna veer into a total different series it needs it's own post @k1201a.

The Shen Jiu arguments just plain out baffle me when they try to call Shen Qingqui/Yuan a self-insert for the audience and less interesting. Makes me just think they have never read the REALLY bad transmigration-reincarnation novels out there. Shen Yuan was reincarnated into the tragic life taped on cardboard out of karma and he said screw that because Shen Jiu really was for all intents and purposes hated by everyone but Yue Qingyuan.

Once he is, I dunno, REINCARNATED he is Shen Qingqui and embraces that on his terms because he ain't about to go back to living in his old life ever and doesn't want Shen Jiu's dumb choices.

He also draws the line of what he thought of Shen Jiu even in regards to Yue Qingyuan and made him put their old life at peace with the old Shen Jiu and the present Shen Qingqui. Since they chose different paths as the same person.

As if testing it out, Yue Qingyuan let out a, “Xiao Jiu…”

Shen Qingqiu: “Shixiong, it’s Qingqiu.”

Even though it was hard to explain the truth to Yue Qingyuan, Shen Qingqiu still hoped that he could show him the difference as much as possible.

Yue Qingyuan gave a start before he smiled weakly. “… It’s Qingqiu. Qingqiu-shidi.”

Ever since Shen Qingqiu entered the role of a character in the novel, he had always refused to become that scum villain from the original work. He had drawn a clear boundary and was proud of doing the complete opposite. There had never been a moment where he had as intense and impulsive a thought as he did now.

If he really were Shen Jiu, then everything would be fine.

If that person could really hear what Yue Qingyuan just said also, then everything would be fine.

It is just so frustrating with the western portion of MXTX novel fans making the most simple antagonists deeper than they are compared to the main characters because they don't understand what actual literary irony is. These books are not big brain energy and yet they still manage to have such wild takes.

Happiness Will Come To You.

After reading a whole lot of danmeis by several different authors, I find the difference mindsets on morality by three of the most popular ones sort of funny :

MXTX: actions have consequences and when ppl have power those consequences might be terrible even if the intentions are good. Still staying true in one’s heart is important. Also, fuck mob mentality, social media and peer pressure, and celeb internet culture. Anonymous masses are vultures and they can both be terrible on their own or easily manipulated and weaponized. (this last part is really the metaphoric message of the novels, not a reference to any lead actor’s scandals…which makes the whole irl thing even more ironic…and yes I know I’m using it wrong but if Alanis Morisette can, so can I).

Meatbun: Okay, the protagonist is scum. Not just regular scum. Psychotic Genocidal Totalitarian scum (also very into BDSM). Do you think he’s bad in the first chapters? Oh he gets worse. Do you feel like stabbing him yet? Good! Only he is the biggest victim of them all and he is now horrified with his actions and bc actions matter regardless of personal excuses, he’s gonna suffer with that knowledge forever. Suffer along as the lead pines, despairs and crawls on his path of redemption and neither you nor the characters will ever truly emotionally recover. Conclusion: If you honestly repent then there is a chance at redemption no matter the crime (how very catholic).

Priest: Be Gay, Do Crimes, Have Fun Storming the Castle!, Murder Parties for all! No need to feel bad, or sorry. Just find a kindred ruthless bf, stir shit up and then retire together into a little cottage somewhere. The world is chaos, do what yo gotta do to survive, don’t sweat it. The ends justify the means. Morality is optional, a strong sense of patriotism is advised (“ For the Greater Good/ The greater good”), being utterly devoted to your loved one is mandatory tho!

Sorry I'm just. Reeling. 14 THOUSAND????

you weren’t a “well behaved” child you had anxiety and were terrified of conflict

its been two minutes. spite has gone down to a minimum and now im feeling bad.

i will not apologize to my sibiling whos done the same thing to me and never apologized you hypocrite

that went hella left

I think my thirteen year old self would be proud of who I am.. a hotter & better version of her ofc but still the same

“all retail employees should get to kill one customer per holiday season” text post based on statistical error. jin guangyao, who works customer service in fantasy ancient china and discreetly kills 18,000 people per year, is an outlier and should not have been counted

[image is a 2-panel comic. an anonymous person angrily demands of a smiling jin guangyao, “this is outrageous! i demand to speak to your sect leader!” jin guangyao, still smiling dangerously, replies, “i am the sect leader.”]

I've gotten more fond of svsss after @fatalism-and-villainy read it and liveblogged it to me, and I've been thinking so much about what it says about villains, and people's environments affecting what they do, and also/especially fandom and fandom interpretations of villains. obviously societal factors on behavior and how social pressures form villains is a theme through all mxtx novels, but it's really obvious in the contrast between alt universe versions of people!

shen yuan and shen jiu are the most obvious example of this. It's so clear why Shen Qingqiu was the role chosen for Shen Yuan! He's grumpy, demands perfection from himself and others, has a very sharp tongue, is very Intellectual, and has the type of mind to want to write bestiaries and focus on scholarship. He has an enormous wealth of knowledge about xianxia tropes in general and PIDW worldbuilding in particular. ALL of those are Shen Qingqiu traits! He just doesn't envy children who have good childhoods, and therefore doesn't Do Child Abuse.

Originally, he dismisses Shen Qingqiu Original Version as a one dimensional, irredeemable "scum villain." Shen Jiu's backstory doesn't show up in the original work, and Shen Yuan dismisses it as irrelevant.

And this is a mistake. Not only does Shen Jiu's backstory explain why he's the way he is, it continues to affect his life and by extension the life of any Shen Qingqius. Understanding his past and feelings are ESSENTIAL for Shen Qingqiu v2 to keep himself alive! He struggles with interacting with the remnants of the Qiu family, SQQ's past as a slave, and is distressed by the memories he's shown of child SQQ being raped and abused. He needs to know these things, and he needs to have sympathy for the original occupant of his body!

It's not that Shen Yuan seemed to have a good life -- he was a hikikomori, "waiting around to die" -- but the circumstances of his life took his base characteristics that he shares with SQQ and molded him into a totally different person.

It's also visible with LBH1 and LBH2. Original Luo Binghe is not a good person! He responds to his traumatic early life by conquering the world, forming a harem of hundreds of women he doesn't care about, and eventually dies unfulfilled, unloved, and unhappy. SVSSS Luo Binghe has problems for sure -- definitely traumatized! so many mood swings! -- but his positive experiences with Shen Qingqiu v2 were just enough to make him a good person. "People improve when they receive external love and support!"