You know it's funny, despite both Madam Yu and Lan Qiren disliked Wei Ying, I never hated Lan Qiren the way I hated Madam Yu. For me, I don't hate Lan Qiren, I see that his dislike for Wei Ying is just hilarious lol, but I will be honest that I didn't like how he added that rule "You're not allow to be around or talk to Wei Ying" because that's just cruel and petty, and I don't find that funny at all, other than that I don't have anything against him, I do like that despite his dislike for Wei Ying, he still accepted him as Lan Zhan's cultivation partner for Lan Zhan's happiness. And I do like to head Canon that one day Lan Qiren will come to like Wei Ying and see the positive qualities that Lan Zhan saw in him because to me despite Lan Qiren added that rule, I know he knew that it's meant to broken lol because he knows that the juniors goes night hunting with Wei Ying all the time lol. I guess for me when it comes to Lan Qiren, I don't hate him but I am open up for him in a positive way on his views for Wei Ying one day because his acceptance and how he allowed Wei Ying to attend the Gusu Lan Banquet (in the extra) as Lan Zhan's cultivation partner meant a lot
Happy birthday Xiao Zhan !!! May you have a wonderful and successful year ahead, and Thank You for giving us such a memorable Summer 2019, and Thank You for bringing life to Wei Wuxian in the Chen Qing Ling / The Untamed drama series !!! (Wang Yibo also wished you Happy Birthday too!! )
What a special day! Not only it's XZ's birthday, but it's also the day I got to sit down with my mom and watch CQL Untamed together. I finally have the chance to be "the MDZS / CQL" expert of the family, and try to explain stuff to someone close to me who's not familiar about the story We watched 4 episodes in a row and I think a few more tonight, if she's up for it Bearing in mind, she just finished watching 'The Longest Day in Chang An' and has lots of good stuff to say about that series, so now I'm trying to gauge how she feels about CQL. Apparently, Douban's score doesn't impress her, so she's kinda shrewd about her own ratings. I'll leave a few notes here.. and maybe in the future, someone (or just me in this forum) can look back and compare notes and experiences about "introducing MDZS / CQL to others" First impressions - really nice backgrounds, sceneries, set locations, etc. to the production team and maybe I should thank Hengdian studios too; it is crucial to draw in the audience with first visual impressions! Confusing names! Too many of them! Not enough expansion on character, clan/sect family structures, and their backstories in the first couple of episodes, which leaves viewers easily confused. I could easily switch between Wei Wuxian, Yiling Laozu, Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan, Han Guang Jun etc. but had to resort to explain with "That guy in black... that guy in white.. oh wait, in Cloud Recesses student arc, the guy who was wearing black is now wearing white..." The subtitles and the characters' names introduction (at first appearance) were too quick. In the first few episodes, the plot moved too quickly or was too compact that some things aren't explained that well, or if she blinks and misses a dialogue line, she gets lost. One major complaint from her was: if WWX was a friend of LZ (I didn't explain their relationship further than "friend... with complexities"), why did he run away at end of episode 1?. And she nearly missed the pivotal dialogue line about Jin Ling being Shijie's son, and how this weighs so heavily on WWX and JC (the jiu jiu). This show definitely needs to be watched with someone who is familiar with the story. for characterization and using time-skips that to draw intrigue with the audience. My mom was like "That Wei Wuxian.. wasn't he the one who jumped off the cliff because he was sad or something, and now (16 years before) he's such a naughty prankster? That Lan Zhan... he's the one who tried to save the guy in black, and now he's so rigid? That Jiang Cheng who must be the bad guy for stabbing his brother, and now they're so friendly and brotherly with each other?" to Wang Zhuo Cheng, I think my mom will become a fan of yours She also had an insta-hate for Wen Chao, has a mystery-interest for Wen Qing's role in the story, and "Is.. is that Wen Ning? The powerful monster at the beginning? But..he's so innocent...".. good job for bringing these aspects to life! for all the cute moments, such as interactions with Little Apple, WWX fishing with NHS, etc. for me too, because I was fangirling inside when re-watching these episodes coz I MISS MAH BOIZ SO MUCHHHH! So, I can say at this point that, from a pure non-MDZS/CQL fan perspective, the production quality for CQL was OK, the actors & actresses and their acting skills are OK, it's just that the translation of the plot from the novel to the drama series is a little lacking.
As someone who came to this MZDS Universe through Untamed, I completely agree. I did go back and started to read the book now, but I know there will be a lot of people who wouldn't read the book after the show, just because they know the plot already or they don't want to read a BL book. They'll probably move to other dramas. And I think it's ok, Untamed can stand on it's own two feet extremely well. I loved the time skip, and kudos to the actors to portray the different before & after personalities so good. Love the Gusu student-day episodes a lot, as that's when the Yunmeng siblings had their best smiles.
Ahhh!! Thank you! That gave me a kinky idea for a R-18 fic.. can I quote you on that? I feel relieved that I don't have to re-write stuff just because of what they have for meals... food is such an integral part of the MDZS / CQL story but yet we're not shown much about what the characters eat. So far I'm checking the list as I re-watch the drama series... peanuts, checked. Lotus root pork rib soup, checked. Grilled fish, checked. Pipa, yes! (catch me!!!!!) I had the same idea too! I read some chapters of the novel, so I guess Lan Zhan is the kind of guy who will go extra lengths to accomodate to Wei Ying's needs - learning lotus root pork rib soup recipes from restaurant chefs so that he can cook Wei Ying's favorite dish Actually cooking for Wei Ying in that short afterstory where Wei Ying visited the Lan's and had a less-than-satisfying dinner with the family. Did Lan Zhan actually taste the soup or eat those pork ribs?? there was an audio/animated short in Youtube of Lan Zhan tasting Wei Ying's cooking (stir-fried vege?).. which I guess didn't taste that great, but was so spicy that he proceeded to "eat" Wei Ying to "remove the heat". Is this really canon?? Or just two male voice-actors doing naughty stuff to keep fangirls happy?? I'll try to see if I can spot any meat dishes on Lan Zhan's dining table in CQL during my re-watch. If I take sayu9913 's point with yours, I think I can safely conclude that Lan Zhan eats a certain amount of meat and so he isn't a pure vegetarian. And if I really stretch my imagination, maybe Lan Zhan is also OK with eggs (the way he's OK with handling chickens), but he probably will avoid "red meat" (at least rabbit meat...). Mmm. got it. *proceeds to continue writing fic*
Ahh.. my mom "got it" at episode 10 At first, when she watched the two being locked up in Jingshi and WWX drew LZ's portrait and later slipped in the porn book - she noticed that WWX was "always clinging onto Lan Zhan", "keeps wanting to get Lan Zhan's attention, and "the way he complains and talks (too much)" is "like a girl". First red flag ! Unfortunately, all the following wangxian interactions at Cloud Recesses student arc sorta flew past her, coz she attributed those as "WWX is such a naughty boy, doesn't study, likes to annoy everyone including LZ". She's watched enough period drama series, and she's from the era where boys hiding porn books, skipping classes to catch fish/jungle chickens, play with caged birds etc. ala village-style - are the norm. Then when they were off to Caiyi Town to handle the water-ghoul incidence, she noticed that WWX and LZ checking out one of the rooms in the inn (where the innkeeper said that it was dusty coz there had been no customers lately), and she said "Is WWX going to spend the night with LZ in that room?" Another red flag ! hahaha.. I didn't even notice that those two were the only ones in the room! Then when they started adventuring together to investigate the Yin Metal, later joined by Nie Huai Sang, Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing, she was going "Why does he always annoy Lan Zhan? Even though there are others!" More red flags ! Finally, after the brief appearances of Xue Yang, Xiao Xing Chen and Song Lan (at this point, she is complaining that there are too many characters introduced and she's getting confused of who's who), and after they captured Xue Yang.... RIGHT AT THAT POINT where WWX replies (I copy-pasted the english subs from watchasians.co) "It is also because of our like-mindedness that Lan Zhan and I decided to travel together as partners for the night hunt." that my mom said "This.. Wei Wuxian.. he really likes Lan Zhan, doesn't he?" History in the making !!! Then I had to wait until we finished watching until eps 11, and had a "Mom, there's something I have to tell you" moment Mission accomplished. She said "Are those two gays?" which also implies that she's asking if the story was gay (sorry to use this word in verbatim, she's from that era where a person is either 'normal' or 'gay' SAD ISN'T IT!!!). I explained that the original source is, but she won't get to see anything else besides close friendships between those two, and she goes "Hmmph".
Woot! The posters are up! The Living Dead, featuring Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui Fatal Journey, featuring Nie brothers and Jin Guangyao Is it me, or do the characters look a bit.. different? (I can recognize some like NMJ and LSZ... but the rest are a bit blurred or too dark) No Wangxian !!!???
Personally, it would be better if there were no WangXian in the movies. One reason would be that it would allow people to focus on the side characters who weren't given enough attention in the main series. And honestly, WYB and XZ are really busy now, with WYB filming a live action of one of Priest's novels and XZ endorsing countless beauty products and historical dramas/movies, so it's hard to think that they will have time to film the movies anyway. And even if they do have enough time to squeeze in, they're mostly going to have brief cameos to show the audience that their story is continuing in the background.
I agree with you. The leads are both pretty busy doing a host of new projects, and to be honest MZDS Universe has so much more to offer other than Wangxian. I would love to see the adventures of Shizui and Wen Ning, and would love to know how the Nie Bros came to know the the hypocrisy of JGY. Would love for Wangxian to do a cameo though!
I don't expect the production team to make a wangxian movie (maybe in another 10 years' time... haha ) A wangxian cameo would be godsent !!! There could be at least a few more minutes' worth of unaired scenes that can be put to good use. Also, both XZ and WYB had been kinda vague about the series' ending during the interviews (even unsure about how the story actually ended - blame bad memory or maybe there's something else.. ), which kinda makes me suspect that they were shooting various (even randomly-ordered) actions and scenes for the clifftop finale, but so the actors didn't really grasp the true ending (otherwise they would've been more 'serious' about it)... which kinda makes me think that the director had planned ahead to pick a few scenes for the drama series' episode 50 ending... and hopefully leave a few extra minutes for future use, such as a cameo appearance in a future movie. Ahh ha ha.. I'm not sure if this makes sense If they show even a few seconds of Wei Ying turning around as a continuation of the final scene, and actually seeing Lan Zhan calling out his name from behind, that would be a moment to DIE for And if somehow they showed Wei Ying holding a grass from the cliff (which scared Yibo coz, bugs, you know), that would be awesome... and set the bjyx fandom on fire ! Even if these things don't happen, I can still hold on to a faraway dream that someday, maybe ten years down the road, someone will take a picture of Yibo and photoshop him into Lan Zhan's clothes I still need a real-life mid-thirties Lan Wang Ji to complete the circle of my fan-desires!
In the novel, in the extra's Lan Zhan didn't just observe how the chef made the Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup, but he also did taste this on his end, since he and Wei Ying order a bowl each. So, yeah, it's safe to say that Lan Zhan isn't vegetarian if he, himself had a bowl of the Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup. Also, let's not forget that Jin Ling and the Gusu Lan Juniors, while night hunting, after the Yi City arc, when they were at the inn/restaurant downstairs, they had meat, because, remember JingYi Chicken Wing, while he was about to have it, he dropped it(went *plop*) into his bowl when he/they saw something that is out of the ordinary from Lan Zhan (lol), ofcourse that whole scene was done differently (and much better) in the novel when compared to the live-action, but the live-action still carry it out in a very subtle way ~ So yeah, we can safely assume that Lan Zhan eats a certain amount of meat, but ofcourse, there is one meat he would never eat, and that's rabbit meat, since he came to love rabbit, and these rabbits is special when it comes to 'Wangxian', I'm sure Wei Ying wouldn't eat rabbit meats after this too, him knowing how much Lan Zhan comes to love them, ofcourse he wouldn't eat them, and I find that thought sweet.
Here's audio drama Season 3, Episode 9 in English!! https://kittykat2010.tumblr.com/post/188192946528/s3e9-now-available-in-english Also, the main masterlist post will no longer work! It became too big for tumblr to handle, so we are in the process of splitting it into all 3 seasons.
Omg that's a cute bunny!! Where did you order that one? Is there a black bunny too like Lan Zhan? I'm still waiting for my Wei Ying and Lan Zhan plushie that I pre ordered
Yes, there is also a Wei Ying bunny. And a Emperor's Smile plushie too I ordered it on Aliexpress, I'll message you with the store.
I like this YT channel a lot, and was squealing when this was posted: (p.s. : turn on CC captions for english subs) So many "before" vs "after" moments, and all are 100% tender loving sweeeet! I didn't realize there was a comparison drawn between the 1st chicken-chasing scene with the one where drunken Wang Ji caught two fat roosters for Wei Ying...!
Dropping some anecdotal non-MDZS / non-BL perspectives on CQL Untamed (re-)watch, for posterity reasons. Around episodes 10-ishy. Switching gears from "innocent student days" to the beginnings of an inter-sect conflict (when Wen Chao starts going around to loot places with Yin metal pieces and make landgrabs) - is a breath of fresh air. One can only stomach so much of juvenile pranks, light-hearted comedy, and dirty jokes between adolescent boys, before getting bored. for the well-executed change in tone! "Everything looks so much darker now" and "less classroom lectures, more intrigue, and finally some real action!" Generally to the actors and actresses' efforts to live up to their characters' personalities, habits and quirks. Mains: WWX's trademark noserub and cheeky grin, JC's negativity, cynicism and eye-rolling, JZX's ego, JYL's very good portrayal of sisterly love for her siblings and conflicted feelings for JZX, etc. Even the slight change of hearts, such as when JZX defended Mian Mian from Wen Chao's grubby hands - is noticeable and appreciated. LWJ continues to be least-liked character among the good guys, coz "he's like a wooden stump" (read that in Chinese). Sides: they turn up one after another, then forgotten. Appearances not impactful and backstory not elaborated enough. "Who is this Xue Yang again?" despite his name and importance being mentioned again and again by Wens (e.g. keeper of the 4th Yin metal piece...). XXC, SL, Mengyao, Su She, even WZL are easily forgotten even though the latter few makes multiple but all too brief appearances. Madam Yu takes centerstage among the non-main characters. Bless the bitch-slapping lady despite her blood-boiling attitude towards her step-son. +1 standing ovation from a non-MDZS viewer. I guess kudos also to Wen Chao and his mistress for being such excellent one-dimensional villains that there's no further room needed for improvement Fight scenes such as LWJ doing spinning acrobatics, swordfighting between Gusu Lan's and Wen soldiers, and the fights at Xuan Wu cave - are OKAY but not impressive. No extra points despite getting to see fancy guqin shockwaves or WWX's talisman magicks. CG is so-so. The big dog in Wen's dungeon looked more like a head made from a cross between a bear and wolf stuck onto candy-flossed paper-mache body. The turtle/snake creature in Xuan Wu cave was more impressive since it has more CG than puppetry. My mom thought the creature looked like a cute long-necked dinosaur Glaring plot holes and continuity errors plague the show. Such as: Xuan Wu cave... LWJ's headband "jumped" from his injured leg back to his forehead; also when he suddenly fell asleep when WWX was in ONE mid-sentence; the black sword disappeared from WWX's possession when he returns to Lotus Pier, etc. Small stuff, but noticeable and I get questioned A LOT... expectedly for the sweet Wangxian moments in Xuan Wu cave, of how WWX took care of LWJ's injured leg and yasssss the stripping scene. +1 laughter added from a non-BL viewer At Bu Yie Tian, when all the gong zis line up for their daily Wen sermon - From the non-BL viewer: "Why is Wei Wuxian always looking at Lan Zhan?" "err.. because WWX likes LZ in the original novel story," said the BL viewer. "I know, I know. But why is he always looking at that guy when there's so many other things to look at, or to worry about?" Onto the story - unfortunately poor execution of novel storyline continues to be a drag. Things are rushed in certain scenes or not shown at all (especially related to Wen's expansion of their sphere of influence and all the fighting/war going on), stuff explained with dialogues dialogues and more dialogues and not so much action, miss one line and miss the entire context. Unfortunately Zidian lost its significance in the story because not enough is explained, though the CG effects (and painful sounds) are appreciated. Definitely needs someone familiar with MDZS to explain stuff. And yet, some tender moments are shown in great detail and length, such as when WWX and JC returned to Lotus Pier after escaping Xuan Wu cave or the times they spent with Yunmeng folks and their kite-shooting archery pastime. I cried when Lan Xichen begged Shishu to let him stay to fight the Wens, but "because you're the head of the family that you should go". I cried again when Madam Yu kicked the boat carrying WWX tied to JC by Zidian, because it meant that she no longer had any means to win the fight against WZL and yet she's going back to fight that guy (along with the incoming Wens) and never seeing her babies again I love CQL so much !!!
Maybe someone has an ideas or theories about these few questions of mine. 1. If LWJ knew it was WWX when he played their song, why did he almost break his wrist? You would think he wouldn't want to hurt him after searching for him for 13 years. 2. LWJ was upset after the first time he got drunk with WWX but not the second time when he obviously did more things. Why is that? 3. WWX knew he was dead. There was the talk about paper money and how he never got any. The sects did a soul summoning for 3 months but he never showed. Did he not want to or couldn't be summoned? He didn't have a body to come back to so maybe that was it. What about lwj playing inquiry trying to find him? Why not answer to that? Or is that part just in the fandom? With Mo summoning him, was that forced on his soul to return so he couldn't refuse? 4. I've always wondered how Wei ying ended up on the street. He had good parents and they also had good connections so even if they died, Wei ying should have had arrangements made for where he would go right? It shouldn't have been that he had to be looked for. He was on the streets for a few years too. Where was he when his parents died? Left at home waiting for them to come back. So how did he end up on the streets without anyone knowing about him? I asked kittykat on Tumblr but totally forgot about the spoiler thread so I'm posting them here too to get some other ideas.