#meta rambles

Remember Shigeo ???% during confession arc? How cruel he was. How selfish. How violent. How mean?

That is Shigeo.

Sometimes I feel like we forget that Shigeo is those traits. What we see is Shigeo. How Shigeo argues with himself is Shigeo. The want to push himself down, self inflicted anger and violence. Hurting his friends.

That's Shigeo.

I dunno. Sometimes I think we forget that.

I've recently learned that ppl have been bullied into quitting writing because they wanted to write cute TLT stories.

I just saw at least one post complaining about "watering down" characters by writing fluff.

First of all, shame on those who bully others for liking something you don't like. Secondly, soft story can have deeply complex characters, plot, and motivations. Thirdly, what do you sleep on a bed of nails? Do you take naps on gravel? What do you add bleach to your hot cocoa?

There's nothing wrong with having a soft cozy time. No matter what fandom you're part of. I'm sure the vast majority of readers in the Everyone Dies Horribly and No One Ever Smiles Because Life is only Misery and Pain fandom really appreciates that fluff story you're writing.

I don't know, just like... Let people write what they like?? Sure you're entitled to your opinion, I'm just surprised that people are so passionate about policing what other people do.

This gaping plothole of Ming Yi & Ji Bozai not realizing Ming Yi is a descendant of the Bo clan, even after her blood-drop opened the barrier, bothers me so much that wanna fill it with a headcannon of my own, ughhhhhh. Not sure, if it actually makes sense, but alas, here goes nothing:

Ming Yi: Our girl has been brainwashed into being Ming Xian, the crown prince of Yaoguang Mountain, their tool, her whole life. To me, it seems that at that point she still wants to return to Yaoguang Mountain and be useful to the empress. If she's actually of the Bo clanline she can't be, so this possibility, even if theoretically the most logical one, seems like blaspehmy and thus she buries that thought, before it can even really form.

Ji Bozai: Babyboy is a bit more tricky. Soooo... what if his master let him believe that she’s the only descendant left of the Bo Clan, to shield and protect Ming Yi or sth along those lines? And Ji Bozai, while also concluding that Ming Yi being a descendant would be the most logical conclusion, at this point still has 200% belief in his master. He’d never even consider that she’d lie/hide sth from him, thus that thought gets thrown away immidiately.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1m3pe8w/does_fadetoblack_instead_of_full_smut_ever_feel/

I often see complains about how Duke doesn't show up enough in fanworks or his characterization is often off, and besides the obvious(1), I think there might also be two additional contributing factors that would make good talking points to adress it:

He's one of the most recent additions to the Batman ensemble. Even tough it's been 10 years, that's not that long in comics time, where characters have been showing up for decades (e.g. rounding it's been about 20 for Damian(2), 25 for Cass, 35 for Tim). With a shorter run come less interactions with other characters and a smaller in-universe impact (in teams, amount of storylines, etc), and I feel like editorial/comic writers tend to pick well-established characters over newer ones when given the chance, since that means larger exposure, more public interest, etc. and to a point that's the same in fandom spaces. It's a bit the chicken and egg thing, more storylines -> more public -> more interest -> more storylines. Besides the main We are Robin event and the mini with Batman, his character would benefit hugely from another big storyline (3).

He's a meta in the middle of a non-meta cast. I can't stress this enough but Batman characters, like the Arrows, will always feel a bit off when paired together with metas, 'cause there's no easy in-universe way to explain how they can even compete. If they mix up it's usually in teams (like Titans, Outsiders, even the Outlaws), away from their homebase/in-universe area (Gotham, etc), and the bats tend to fill leadership / planning roles since there's no way anything else would make any sense (you have an Amazon or an alien or a guy with a crazy ass power ring and you want me to believe your best fighter is the unpowered guy? not happening), but in the Batman cast the leadership role is already Batman's role and since that's his 'universe' he needs to be the big dog to make it make sense, and that doesn't fit nicely with having someone with powers on the roster. I feel like to a certain point, for editorial this is also a pain-point with Cass. She's not a meta, but she's canonically a legendary fighter with an ability that largely surpasses most, and it's hard to fit that into a role that's (to a point) subservient to Batman's, without rewriting Batman's position. And whether we like it or not, Batman's position cannot change, he's the core of the whole Gotham universe. I think Dick's tenure as Batman was the biggest shake up of that status quo and it only worked because Bruce was dead and Dick sort of stepped into that role, so in a sense everything changed so that everything could remain the same.

There is this scene where Seok-chan kinda prays when they arrive in Bamseom. And then he basically says that Yeong-hu is his Higher Power. His God. And wow, yeah, we could write an essay on that but...

Only a few scenes later- for them it's maybe an hour or less- Yeong-hu says to Seok-chan that if he hesitates, Seok-chan should make the decision.

BASICALLY TELLING HIM THEY ARE EQUALS.

[screams internally]

If someone shift the values, it can still be Wangxian, because the dynamic can mirror the canon one, and it is simply the values that changed. Not everyone might feel like its still Wangxian, but others will find something they enjoy from this.

So back to gender and orientation: I don’t know if MTXT did this purposefully or if its an unexpected result of the mix between their values, and their dynamics, but I find that, however you headcanon them, you can find canon reasons behind it.

Al “block” canon gives us is that we see their masculine bodies, so its in theory “not canon” to view them as trans men... unless you make believable that there is surgery, Xianxia-style.

Another “block” is that we seem them be physically intimate, implying that purely canonically, they are either sex-positive or sex-neutral. They also both have their kinks and shown with libido. However, libido is actually different than attraction, it isn’t because you can day-dream and dream and feel aroused by something, that you will enjoy the reality of it.

So at most, they are sex-neutral or sex-positive ace spectrum, have libido, and simply didn’t separate their libido from attraction, and so tested out their libido-desires and found it pleasant. In the same manner, while they’re rather strongly shown as romantic, they might also still be aro spectrum, and have such a deep, platonic bond, that they assume its romantic, especially if they do enjoy physical intimacy and emotional intimacy.

In term of gender, they are comfortable with who they are. Wei Wuxian has no issue making himself more feminine, because he knows it does not de-valuate who he is. Whether he is cis, trans, non binary, agender, etc, he’s comfortable with who he is, and the same way, Lan Wangji show no issue with it. He’s also shown to not mind “feminine roles”, for example, he is directly mirroring Jiang Yanli has a cook, and cooking for people they love. Wei Wuxian dreams show Lan Wangji in “roles” more often seen in the wife, and yet, it is Wei Wuxian who jokes that he is the wife/can get pregnant.

In addition, for all that Lan Wangji is seen topping, I would argue that Wei Wuxian is the dominant. He’s the one who riles Lan Wangji up, and directs everything, he’s the one speaking, deciding the scene he wants. He does seem to enjoy being in the vulnerable position, as if he has no control and its all given to Lan Wangji, but it makes him both dominant and submissive, the same way Lan Wangji end up both submissive and dominant.

In short: I view Wangxian as actually outside any gender or orientation.

Somehow, someway, the way they are written, the way their dynamic work, they can fit any gender and orientation you give them.

If MXTX meant to do this, or at least, to show them as not fitting the traditional hetero-norm, it worked, maybe more than MXTX might have hoped or realized, and if MXTX didn’t mean to, it means the basis of their dynamic and the dynamic themselves were so well written, that it transcends the “headcanon” of MXTX for her canon.

As for my person headcanons that just resonate with me the most:

I see Wei Wuxian as pan-romantic demi-sexual, with libido and sex-neutral. I also view him as either a man who doesn’t mind femininity in his masculinity, or he doesn’t really care about gender, and he likes his body, so he just goes with it, but also he goes with what he likes.

I see Lan Wangji has demi-romantic grey-sexual, with libido and sex-positive, and similarly to Wei Wuxian, he’s either a man who has no issue with anything seen as feminine, or isn’t really caring about gender and is simply comfortable in his own body.

To give a few words of how this formed for me: out of the two, Lan Wangji seems to be the one who is the first to seek the physical intimacy, which can mean he’s more sex-positive than Wei Wuxian, who seem to enjoy the idea of it (libido) but doesn’t actively seek it (sex-neutral).

Wei Wuxian as demi sexual is because he only truly show active attraction once he’s formed a deep bond with Lan Wangji, and has become aware of his own feelings (has stopped being in denial, I do also headcanon he wasn’t oblivious but rather in denial, which can end up making him half blind himself). Meanwhile, Lan Wangji as grey is because he pretty much went from “nope” to “yes” but for a single person. He could have worked as demi, however, personally I view demi as needing that bond (which he wouldn’t have at the start), while I view gray as more “rare but it happens” (without a bond first, the way allosexual can feel attracted physically very early on, sometimes right from meeting).

Lan Wangji being demi romantic is because he did need to let himself develop a bond toward Wei Wuxian (acceptance to his attraction), before he felt love. He was attracted, he felt drawn, but he fell in love once he allowed it to happen, and its through the bonds they formed. Potentially, grey-romantic can work, or homoromantic too, if we consider he might just not have met anyone he had felt drawn to. However, his reactions to his initial crush/attraction can imply he never felt like this before, and so, Wei Wuxian is the first to actually make him feel attracted, be it romantically, sexually, or both.

I’d say Wei Wuxian can be called bi romantic or pan romantic, it depends how you view the terms. As Wei Wuxian is not faced with someone he realizes is non-binary/agender/etc, we only see him show consideration for feminine people/women, and masculine people/men, he might only show attraction toward Lan Wangji, however, to me its both that he thinks his appreciation of a man’s beauty has nothing to do with attraction (which can also link with his demi sexuality!), and that he’s sort of “stuck” in hetero-normativity.

I’d say for Lan Wangji, what happened with his parents might have broken any “rainbow and sunshine” he had about the hetero norm around him, he knew het couples can be miserable, and in addition, the Lan actively separate men and women, and adding the roles, I’d say a result is that the Lan children and teen are not exposed to het couples, and rather can only ever be exposed to their own parents. So Lan Wangji only truly had his own parents example, and his non wedded Uncle.

On the other end, Wei Wuxian had het parents who loved each other (so an example of healthy hetero couples), the Jiang leaders (an unhealthy het couple), Jiang Yanli’s example (for him she deserved to be loved as she is), and speaking of Jiang Yanli, while it is purely familial, she did show him unconditional love. So Wei Wuxain actively had example of both healthy and unhealthy het couple, and has been shown unconditional love... which Lan Wangji didn’t get to have or see!

That’s why Wei Wuxian is actively comfortable following his own values and being himself: he understands het couples can work or not work out, and he understands from Jiang Yanli what it means to be loved without conditions. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji has been taught the values of self control and righteousness, yet he’s never had healthy couples presented to him, and anything mature was pretty much only meant to be dealt with if he got engaged and left for wedding night and after. If he never felt attracted, he potentially assumed he would never marry, or be politically married.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian had no rules that prevented him to explore, and its important because this explain why he flirts and yet we can see he doesn’t pursue: he understands he likes the idea of it, that he does enjoy feminine bodies (and potentially he does see men beauty), but he realized he doesn’t actively seek it. He realized he want to save himself up, including kissing, for the person he will actively want to share his life with. In short: he’s basing himself of his parents and the idea of unconditional love.

That’s why he only truly accept his own feelings in his second life: Lan Wangji didn’t know how to show he loved Wei Wuxian unconditionally (be it platonic with sex in it, or queerplatonic, or romantic), so Wei Wuxian didn’t realize Lan Wangji was someone he could find what his parents had and have it be unconditional. However, the moment Lan Wangji showed unconditional love, Wei Wuxian was thrown off guard, and started to notice how he felt all over again, and he realized “hey maybe its possible after all”.

Before, in his first life, he denied himself because he thought Lan Wangji hated him and/or disapproved of him, which mean Wei Wuxian thought the love was conditional. Because of Wei Wuxian self esteem issues, he didn’t see any blame, because Wei Wuxian himself viewed himself as not worthy of Lan Wangji unconditional love, thus he wasn’t surprised by not receiving it (or so he thought), but here is where we can see how important it is for him to be loved unconditionally: because he perceived he wouldn’t be loved unconditionally, he did not pursue Lan Wangji.

He had feelings for Lan Wangji, but be it subconsciously (oblivious) or somewhat consciously (in denial), he refused to sacrifice his own values behind a partner (unconditional love), because he did know he could be loved unconditionally (by a sister), however he also considered that he had lost his worth (or maybe even didn’t have any, and only Jiang Yanli could love him without condition as his sister, almost mother).

So its only when Lan Wangji showed love without condition, thus also implying he sees worth in Wei Wuxian, but never asking anything out of him, that Wei Wuxian subconscious finally allowed the consideration of Lan Wangji as a romantic partner.

Both of them, funnily enough, knew what they wanted: Lan Wangji realized he wanted Wei Wuxian, while Wei Wuxian knew he wanted a partner who would love with without conditions.

So Lan Wangji had to learn to express himself properly and show he would love without conditions (which is exactly the growth he had to go through!), and Wei Wuxian had to see and realize that Lan Wangji loved him and it was unconditional (which is what happened!).

And it is as I’ve said: it transcends the gender or orientation you assign, because at the core, its all about unconditional love, one character seeking to express themselves and learn to show its unconditional, and another character seeking to receive this and share this with someone capable of unconditional love.

In the end, they both are capable of unconditional love, and that’s why they are so in tune with their own values: regardless of their self esteem/worth, they actively see their own values and accept these unconditionally, and seek to apply them. Lan Wangji struggled a bit more with public opinion, which is due to growing in a space that assigned punishment and wrongs a lot more than the rest of the world they lived in, while Wei Wuxian struggled with how much he allowed, due to growing up being blamed for things he knew, deep down, he wasn’t the cause of.

Lan Wangji then had the pro side of knowing the punishment/wrong were “alright right to give”, while Wei Wuxian grew up knowing he only had his own moral compass to follow, since he would get punished unfairly. Thus, Lan Wangji had to break free of a “moral compass” that proved faulty eventually and for his own (that still kept what worked of the old one), while Wei Wuxian always followed his own.

This, again, played a part in Lan Wangji needed to learn to express and show his love as unconditional (because he needed to figure things out after he realized what he grew up with didn’t fit him anymore) and Wei Wuxian staying true  to his heart, including that he wanted a partner that offered unconditional love, while also thinking that he had no worth, or at least fewer worth that others (and so that anyone “more worthy than him” would “of course” not show him unconditional love).

I love Wangxian so all of this, because it shows both finding and following your own values, and unconditional love. They show there is no shame either behind waiting for the one you feel is the right one for you, but also that you can still want them to show unconditional love. And they also show, as a bonus, a healthy physical intimacy, which include being able to face your own desires without judging yourself, and the absolute trust between the partners.

And that’s all happening side by side with their growth as people, learning to communicate more clearly and honestly, forgiving themselves while also knowing where you actively hurt others (did “wrong”) and where people put on your false blame (Wei Wuxian says it, he’ll accept his own faults, but he doesn’t allow others to blame him for what he didn’t do), learning and knowing their own values, and following these.

That’s why, regardless of what they did, MXTX has called them good people: everyone can make mistakes, however, it is how you deal with them that is the truthful indicator.

They both are able to recognize where they are truly at fault, and where there false blame, and when they perceived they are at fault, they seek to correct these (apologize, seek punishment or accept punishment, which is acceptable in their system, do what is needed to correct it). Meanwhile, if they see injustice, they seek to correct that, and the issues they face is because of the lack of fairness and objective thinking from others, for example black and white mentality is based on not being able to be objective, as you need to be objective to deal with the “grey” areas (its also a matter of an extremely judgmental system that will view as not even human and worthy of anything, anyone who they consider “wrong”).

Their values, their hearts, are in the place of fairness, justice, the “good” place, and its because of the outside system that they face issues, both due to how the environment raised them, and the ways people reacted to them as they try to be true to their own values and hearts.

And that’s why, when they find each other, they feel so drawn to each other: they recognize, subconsciously, that they match. Its only once they learned to go past the issues caused by how they grew up, and go past any worry about the system around them, that they realized how the other felt, and allowed themselves to become a couple, and stand together in the values they share.

And the most beautiful factor, what really make me so happy with this story, is that they have a happy ending.

Its so easy, too easy, to see fictions end up harming or “punishing” or de-valuating people who are trying to be true to themselves, or pushing an agenda on what is “right” or “wrong”. Its too easy to find bittersweet and bad ending, or that happy ending are so often hetero-normative or are, sure, great to see if you like the people involved, but rarely show an happy ending for actual unconditional love.

But here, we have a couple that transcend the hetero-normative speech, who faced mob mentality and extremely judgemental people, who faced the scars of their childhood, who found each other, recognized their equal, and who were able to know their own values, and follow their heart, while learning from their mistakes, and being capable of seeing their own faults, and who found unconditional love together, also showing it to a child that is considered their own in their heart, and they have their happy ending, where they promise each other for life (and beyond), and live the way they truthfully want.

This story packs so many things that feels so important, so is it any surprise how much we can love it?

BUT. Not one time do the general narrative OR the other characters pull the ‘don’t be like poor, reckless Jason’ card. (Granted, he’s not brought up, really, but Dick does allude to him a time or two.) Neither the flashbacks nor Hallucination!Joker’s comments regarding him cast him as anything other than someone who did not deserve what happened. Even when he’s actively attempting to kill Batman (and if he does take you out, he’s not sorry.), Bruce’s response is to double down on trying to convince him to come home; he disarms him, which is reasonable (two hits! that’s all it takes, what the hell!), but despite having a ridiculous amount of ranged weaponry, the only thing the game will let you do to him is pop up and essentially try to hug him. It won’t even let you try the disruptor on his rifle, even though it will let you jam (but not rig to blow, due to fatality likelihood) the mini-guns.

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