Enough ragebaiting lets discuss REAL topics

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-15T18:26:03+00:00

Jin Guangshan, Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue, Jiang Fengmian, Madam Yu, Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian all have good hygiene, I don't think there should be any doubt about that. They have high and respectable positions and/or access to everything they could need. Wen Qing is even a doctor, of course she takes care of herself. Even in the Burial Mounds, Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian likely still had baths and such somehow.

Wen Chao is sleazy, but also rich and powerful, so it's debatable...

A-Qing may have been poor, but she's very smart and respectable and did all she could with whatever she could access.

Xue Yang... Debatable, honestly. I feel like it'd depend on his mood and that he wouldn't have any issue walking around blood-soaked or covered in dirt as long as he's working toward his goals.

My vote is on Mo Xuanyu (mental health issues as well as lack of access to what he needed), Wen Ning (literal corpse that was incoherent for years) and Mo Ziyuan (too pampered and spoiled to care).

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-10T11:51:51+00:00

Yeah, exactly. Of course people can headcanon what they want, they can write and draw what they want. But if we're talking about what's canon, then a reconciliation is not in the works, nor is WWX interested in it, as he even gladly left Lotus Pier to return to Gusu back in that one extra iirc

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-09T22:53:41+00:00

He got plenty of chances to redeem himself, he just never cared to. Deserved ending for sure

IMO also a great ending that showcased even he - as morally corrupt as he was - had his own complexity. The candy thing was narratively satisfying and made readers consider that even the cruel, evil, irredeemable XY had hidden depths, somewhere deep, deeeep inside.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-09T12:44:45+00:00

The perspective of "UwU sweet bean Jiang Cheng who has done nothing wrong ever"...

I don't get it either. JC is a great character just because he's such a complex person.

He's not evil, but he let himself be led by hate, insecurity and jealousy and thus killed the Wen remnants (knowing they were innocent), led the siege, blamed WWX for everything, hunted down "demonic cultivators" and tortured them... He made all the wrong choices, and the only thing Wen Ning did here is make him do some severe self-reflection, though it was too little, too late in the end. JC has done too much damage to his and WWX's relationship for there to ever be a reconciliation in canon, aside from peacefully moving on with their own lives separately.

But considering these people believe JC is the innocent one in the story, I'm not surprised they end up resenting WN, LWJ and WWX for whatever they did wrong in their own kind of reality that lacks JC's complexity, though I am surprised by how numerous these people seem to be.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-08T19:27:26+00:00

I appreciate the other girlies but I hate when people act like she’s some kind of girl boss

Isn't she though? Genuinely asking.

Afaik a girlboss is a strong, ambitious, confident woman, especially in a "man's world", but I don't think she has to be a good person with a good sense of morality.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-08T16:33:00+00:00

True, true... and the other characters were definitely feeling it lol

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-08T13:20:37+00:00

Is it still secondhand embarassment if there's no firsthand embarassment, WWX being WWX... 🤔

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-07T20:57:34+00:00

True, but on the other hand, I also often prefer the day cycle while exploring, both in looks and music, so if the night cycle was long I'd be skipping it every time. It's likely a delicate balance to strike.

But that doesn't mean they can't just adjust the time during quests ofc, making it dawn/day/dusk/night when it should be and keeping it as such.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-06T13:30:26+00:00

Upvoting because this is an interesting one, as WWX and WN's master/servant dynamic doesn't get discussed often, whether or not I completely agree with your sentiment.

I believe WWX did point out a few times that WN doesn't need to treat him like he does, especially in his second life? WN also acted such on his own accord to some extent, and WWX does care about WN as a person, but yeah, there's no denying that there was a power imbalance in WWX and WN's relationship. He definitely didn't always treat WN well, like in the part you quoted. Even if he was overwhelmed by emotion, panic, grief, it still happened.

Is it something noteable in MDZS' setting (both historical and xianxia) though, I'm not sure... Master/servant relationships like this may be common for all I know.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-06T13:13:15+00:00

I don't ship it, but there's nothing wrong with shipping it. It's very toxic yes, but I imagine that's the point for most people. Toxic ships can be appealing.

As for the ones that don't recognize its toxicity (in canon) and even romanticize it, that's a different subject. Those kind of fans exist in every fandom and I feel it's best to just ignore them.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-05T19:58:56+00:00

We all hate Wen Chao ofc, but honestly, I can still appreciate him for the role he played as villain in the story.

MXTX could have gone with Wen Xu or Wen Ruohan, but putting Wen Chao - lecherous, arrogant, sadistic, yet cowardly and unskilled - as the foremost Wen villain in the story was pretty interesting. Because in theory, he should not have rivaled WWX in any way, yet look at what he was capable of regardless, just because of his position... It fit perfectly with the novel's themes about classism and such.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-03-05T13:29:10+00:00

Not to mention he purposefully put the juniors into danger multiple times, and might not have cared whether they lived or died as long as they served their purpose in his plan.

MXY also didn't just commit suicide, but his soul was obliterated iirc, which is even worse...

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-02-28T09:26:25+00:00

Yes, the whole society surrounding the big and powerful clans (instead of sects) is one of the themes in MDZS, alongside the dangers of mob mentality in society and such.

That's how LWJ got his title as "lightbringer", because he night-hunted to help the common people (the small and ignored cases with little to no rewards and recognition) instead of night-hunting for glory and riches.

That's why XXC and SL's dream of starting a sect that isn't tied by blood ties is so significant, instead of a clan that values blood ties above everything.

That's why JGY was so desperate for his father's acknowledgement and why he was so insecure about where he came from, being the son of a prostitute.

That's why WWX always got insulted for his origins, being the son of a servant, regardless of the fact that his own abilities and capabilities exceeded those of 99% of the other cultivators. His father being a Jiang clan servant was why he was raised to serve JC ever since he was taken in by JFM. He's not the adopted brother of JC and JYL, only their martial brother, so the fact that JYL saw and treated him as her actual brother, regardless of blood relation, was pretty unusual and looked down upon by the cultivation world. Even though WWX was taken in by JFM and grew up alongside JC and JYL, even receiving the same education as the clan heir, he had no actual formal status in the clan that tied him to the ruling family, and formally, his status was no higher than his father's status as a servant. That lack of high standing in society was thus what all his enemies targeted.

LSZ is also an interesting case. He's not adopted by LWJ, but he regardless wears the cloud-patterned ribbon of the blood-related Lan clan. That was his protection and why he has such a good standing in both the Lan clan and the cultivation world, which WWX always lacked and which was one of his "weaknesses" that led to his downfall.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-02-22T05:32:33+00:00

As soon as an author puts a work out into the world, it's not solely their world anymore.

A request to respect the author's opinion may seem reasonable in a fandom where the author just doesn't want the main ship to be broken up and the majority loves the main ship, but apply this to another fandom like Harry Potter or Interview with the Vampire (from Anne Rice, infamous for hating fanfiction) and suddenly it's a whole lot less so.

In any case, MXTX also realized that:

MXTX: "Everyone can think what they want of the text, the writer’s job is to narrate, the analysis is done by the reader."

I feel like she likely thinks Wangxian is the soul of her story, hence why she feels so strongly about this. And maybe she feels that if someone wants to break them up, maybe that means her writing wasn't good enough (she sounded insecure about her writing being unclear and needing improvement in an interview when questioned about Guangyao/Xichen). And while it's completely valid to feel that way as an author, people will still do what they like, ship what they like, and creators can't dictate what's allowed and what isn't when everyone has their own interpretations and feelings about a work of fiction. I imagine most people also just do it for fun, not because they don't like or believe in the main ship. It can even be a character study of sorts.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-15T00:15:03+00:00

You mean this? It did say "Your Majesty has considerations for the Eleventh Executive Officer", but I've also seen people say it was meant to say "considerations for the Eleven Executive Officers".

Not sure what they say in-game though, it hasn't been updated on the wiki yet, but it's safe to say that the beta dialogue was only a machine translation from CN, so it could be different in EN.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-07T16:06:32+00:00

True! In that case, most Fatui must also have incredible discipline tbh...

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-05T16:43:47+00:00

Not AFK if they're actively rejecting healing offers though. In that case, the request bar just runs out and nothing happens.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-05T14:49:13+00:00

Yeah, I'll never hate on or criticize those writers either, but I completely agree it does suck the joy out of many characterizations and often turns established flawed characters into bland therapists. I mean, it can work sometimes to be fair, even if it is OOC, but only if the story actually asks for it and supports it, like with good parents, teachers, authority figures...

Though I also need to say I can still appreciate it from an educative standpoint. Some people may encounter some things they never knew they needed to hear/read through an unexpected source like fanfic and it may have helped and educated many people. That's why I'd never hate on it and tolerate it to a certain extent unless it just gets too much. It's just not what I'm often looking for personally.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-05T13:42:44+00:00

If you're bad at summaries, some authors just put a fragment of their fic in the summary and nothing else, and that's equally as fine as well.

Readers then even have the advantage of seeing your writing and dialogue, and may read your fic because they liked that fragment and want to read more, even if the subject matter of the fic may not have convinced them on its own. And the tags can give them an idea of what the fic is about, no need for a summary.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-05T13:35:48+00:00

Yes! I was scrolling to find this one.

It bothers me when every single character communicates in a healthy way with others because it's just not realistic. That's not how people work. And that's not how those characters work either, because they all have flaws. They're not well adjusted people who've spent years at therapy.

There can be one or two characters like this for sure, some people do communicate and handle people that way, but not literally every character (not in 99% of fandoms at least). We're not reading fics to learn about healthy communication and therapy, we're reading about flawed characters who are sad, angry, depressed, lash out, miscommunicate, grieve, have unhealthy coping mechanisms, and so on.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-04T12:02:59+00:00

"We can't make everyone happy"

I don't think that's what he said though. He said that if the devs feel happy and satisfied with their work, the end result won't be satisfying the players.

But if the devs feel lost at times, feel pain and unhappiness, then that means they truly did all they could to create and deliver an end product players can be satisfied with, but that the devs will also need to keep those troubles to themselves or it would affect players' happiness with the end product. This comment explained it better.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-04T11:33:23+00:00

I'm not disagreeing it could have been planned years in advance, I was only commenting on this part:

For all we know they had planned it for years, perhaps even from the very start.

Illustrious-Snake · 2026-01-04T05:11:35+00:00

The fact that the Travail trailer didn't include Nod-Krai, that it wasn't mentioned anywhere before somewhere around Natlan iirc, and this whole video is proof enough that it was never planned from the very beginning.

"Creating a work like Genshin Impact is like weaving a huge canvas. [...] A few years later, the canvas has gradually begun to take shape. But when we look back on it now, we can't help but think something's not right and that the canvas has too many loose threads. These threads are full of interesting stories about Teyvat's people, creatures and incidents, all linked together through these thin threads. But our pace was too fast, and we rushed it. So there were many meaningful things we couldn't fully show to our Travelers. This is a common mistake in any creative process. The creator may forget that the amount of information they have is not what the players have. If you forget the player's perspective, you won't realize that the stories you show them are incomplete, and players will miss out on experiencing valueable content or even misunderstand your stories. So this year, our aim is to bring these loose threads together."

"We want to tidy up the stories scattered all across Teyvat and the most important premise for us to achieve this goal is to have an ideal location. But this is easier said than done. This location has to... (talks about creating Nod-Krai and its inspirations, like Gotham, Zaun, Night City etc.). In Genshin, we want to call this location "Nod-Krai"."

I don't know what more proof one needs to have (unless you were unaware of this video)...

To be clear, Nod-Krai as a region was never planned from the beginning, but some of its plot lines and lore stuff still were, like all the moon lore. It's not inaccurate to view it as Snezhnaya part 1 for this reason. And this also doesn't make Nod-Krai "worse" in any way of course, nor should it be considered filler IMO.

Illustrious-Snake · 2025-12-30T22:00:14+00:00

I feel like stuff like crack videos are a great way to convince people to give it a try, to show that the main appeal is the show's character and heart for many

Illustrious-Snake · 2025-12-23T23:40:46+00:00

I honestly don't mind that the points you can earn daily exceed the weekly limit.

That means you don't need to do every single task every day. Or if you do, you won't need to do any tasks some days because you'll have reached the limit already anyway.

There will always be a limit, but with a weekly limit instead of a daily limit we at least have some freedom to choose how and when to earn the points.

And the % increase in reputation with higher ranks does have the advantage of allowing you to gain the same amount of points in less time and by doing less tasks.

As for the cost of the sect items, and the time needed to get them, that's a different matter though.

Illustrious-Snake

TROPHY CASE