Sundial Exchange Love and Friendship meme!

[sundial_exchange_mod]

Happy March or Happy Leap Day, depending on where you are in the world!

We’re still glowing from the lovely energy that the exchange created, thank you all so much for making it such a wonderful experience for everyone! It exceeded our wildest expectations in both number of fanworks and type of fanworks, and we are so honoured to have been able to create a space to make that possible 🥰🎉✨

At asya_ana’s suggestion we are hosting a Love and Friendship meme for Guardian and Guardian-related canons. You can use the form in the textbox below if you like or go wild!

<strong>User names:</strong> <strong>Pronouns:</strong> <strong>Language(s):</strong> <strong>How did you first get into Guardian fandom?</strong> <strong>What is one thing you love about the show?</strong> <strong>What is your favourite terrible special effect?</strong> <strong>What is (one of) your favourite relationship(s) on the show (either romantic or friendship) and what do you like about that relationship?</strong> <strong>Do you have a favourite character?</strong> <strong>Do you have a favourite villain?</strong> <strong>Talk to us about one (or more!) of your favourite Guardian-related canons:</strong> <strong>Do you like RPF?</strong> <strong>Do you have a favourite ad campaign (such as Bai Yu's rentboy photoshoot or Zhu Yilong's ReFa ads)?</strong> <strong>What other fandoms are you in or have you been in?</strong> <strong>What are some of your general fanwork likes:</strong> <strong>Where can we best find you to squee more about this thing or other things?</strong> <strong>Anything else you want to say?</strong>

There is also an ongoing Guardian fandom friending meme over at sid_guardian, for more of your meme needs✨

Comments

[winter_blossom]

User names: winter_blossom

Pronouns: She/her

Language(s): Apart from my mother tongue (which is so obscure there's no point in mentioning it), I'm pretty fluent in English. I have some passing knowledge of spoken Japanese that's been cobbled together from extended exposure to anime and manga, and can read katakana, hiragana, and maybe 10-20 kanji.

How did you first get into Guardian fandom? Guardian is the first (and currently only) C-drama I've watched, but I do watch the occasional J-drama. A fansubber for one of those J-dramas mentioned the show, though she was mostly being critical in the vein of, "Just watch it for the two MCs' acting and chemistry, everything else sucks." But I took one look at its KissAsian page and fell head-over-heels for, to quote my comment to my sister, "That ridiculously handsome glasses guy who's definitely dead-loyal to the protagonist and who'll probably end up dying for him." And the rest, as they say, is history.

What is one thing you love about the show? I like the whole setup, actually. Sure, the execution could have been smoother, but the premise and the world are both fascinating to me. I also love how well-developed and likeable the main members of the supporting cast are.

What is your favourite terrible special effect? I rarely pay attention to SFX and didn't really notice them enough to hate or like them. I tend to focus more on plot and characters anyway.

What is (one of) your favourite relationship(s) on the show (either romantic or friendship) and what do you like about that relationship? Obviously, the relationship between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. I like how quickly they went from the "courtship" phase to the "old married couple" phase, and I love how mature and sensible they were about it. (Extended pining and angst is one of my major issues with most romantic pairings.) Also, they're a power couple, with Zhao Yunlan's wit and brains and manipulativeness perfectly complementing Shen Wei's supernatural abilities and his more cautious, straightforward and reserved approach to things, to the point where even my notoriously hard-to-please competence kink was satisfied.

Do you have a favourite character? Obvious answer is obvious XD Shen Wei, all day, any day.

Do you have a favourite villain? I like Ye Zun as an antagonist. But I'm not interested in seeing him being redeemed and I'm definitely not interested in shipping him with anyone. If that still counts, then yes, Ye Zun is my favourite villain.

Talk to us about one (or more!) of your favourite Guardian-related canons: I have a policy of not following actors into shows if the premise of the show itself doesn't strike me as something I'd like. So as of now, I'm waiting on Lost Tombs 3 with all fingers crossed, but I haven't watched any of Zhu Yilong's or Bai Yu's other shows (though I have read some meta, squee, etc., just for fun).

Do you like RPF? Not really. I've read a couple of total AU's where they aren't actors and have different personalities from their real ones, plus a few Guardian derivative fics (all of which were lovely), but I don't tend to seek out RPF as a general rule.

Do you have a favourite ad campaign (such as Bai Yu's rentboy photoshoot or Zhu Yilong's ReFa ads)? The L'Oreal Time Engraver ad's the only one that really captured my attention. (Beyond the "Wow, so pretty!" factor, anyway!)

What other fandoms are you in or have you been in? BBC Sherlock, Inception (2010), BBC Merlin, X-Men Alternate Timeline Movies, Welcome to Night Vale (podcast), Les Miserables (2012) and Clamp-verse (anime and manga) are the series I've read a lot of fic for, but Guardian is actually the only fandom I've interacted with to this extent.

What are some of your general fanwork likes: I'm a complete and utter plot-whore. I love action, suspense/mystery/thriller, psychological, horror, supernatural/fantasy, sci-fi, etc. I'm an avid fan of total AU's, both powered and mundane. I have a huge competence kink and my greatest joy is seeing my favourite characters being BAMFs. I don't like fluff or smut in general, but Guardian is the very marked exception to that rule.

Where can we best find you to squee more about this thing or other things? My Dreamwidth is practically devoted to Guardian, since I made it specifically to join sid_guardian. I'm also on LJ as sylphaen1637 and on AO3 as Tree_Peony.

Anything else you want to say? I think I've babbled enough already? XD

[clevermanka]

That ridiculously handsome glasses guy who's definitely dead-loyal to the protagonist and who'll probably end up dying for him
Ha ha ha WELP.

[winter_blossom]

I hate how often I'm 100% correct about the fates of my fictional favs, but maybe it's just that fiction has a very bad way of treating second male leads in general, while that personality type is almost always more attractive to me than the protagonists'. (Exceptions include any good adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, since he'll always be my #1, and BBC Merlin, where Arthur annoyed the hell out of me despite being the second lead.)

[yue_ix]

Competence kink! You're so right about how Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei complement each other's strengths and are immensely competent and in-sync when working together towards a goal. It is immensely satisfying.

Glad to see a fellow CLAMP fan, too! Loving their works so much really prepared me for BAMF characters bleeding prettily and being extremely devoted, body and soul, to their SO. All of which are extremely relevant to Guardian... :3

[winter_blossom]

...BAMF characters bleeding prettily and being extremely devoted, body and soul, to their SO.

The best description of both CLAMP and Guardian I've seen in a while ;D

[yue_ix]

The parallels are so strongg! My first fanart for this fandom was an eye-swap XXXHolic AU because we all KNOW how the whole blindness arc would have ended under CLAMP supervision. ;__;

[winter_blossom]

So true re: the parallels! Tbh, I think the reason Guardian appeals to me so strongly is because it reminds me more of an anime or manga than a manhua/donghua/danmei.

(Sorry for the late reply! I missed the notification for your comment somehow ^^)

[sakana17]

I also love how well-developed and likeable the main members of the supporting cast are.

This! Sometimes I forget how great the supporting cast is and then I'll rewatch an episode and get caught up in their stories. I thought the casting of the main characters was really very good.

[winter_blossom]

Right? I'm really looking forward to those side character discussions on sid_guardian!

[solo]

Apart from my mother tongue (which is so obscure there's no point in mentioning it)

Nooooo! Tell meeeeee! I'm always intrigued by obscure languages. And I just love knowing that this fandom has such a wide spread of people in it, not just all from boring anglophone or indo-European backgrounds.

I like how quickly they went from the "courtship" phase to the "old married couple" phase, and I love how mature and sensible they were about it.

Absolutely! At points where other shows might have spun off into sulking and lack of communication, this one just lets the characters talk and handle things, or simply respect each other's boundaries. So wonderfully mature.

I like Ye Zun as an antagonist. But I'm not interested in seeing him being redeemed and I'm definitely not interested in shipping him with anyone.

I feel exactly the same way. :)

[winter_blossom]

Nooooo! Tell meeeeee! I'm always intrigued by obscure languages.

Ahaha, okay then! It's Sinhalese. Spoken in only one country in the whole world, an island with a measly 22 million population - Sri Lanka. (If you've ever heard of us, it's unlikely to be anything good ^^)

[solo]

LOL a 'measly' 22 million... Scotland has 5 million! Yes, I've heard of Sri Lanka but can't for my life of me remember the context.

For a moment there I thought your icon was Kasumi Karen (X/1999) but then I remembered her hair was red...

[winter_blossom]

Scotland has 5 million!

I think I might have been overly influenced by a documentary they ran recently, which called ours "a vanishing culture," haha. I always forget that there are, in fact, countries smaller than ours >_<

Oh dear, X/1999. Possibly the greatest CLAMP series ever (YMMV, of course), and to think it'll never be finished! *Weeps*

[solo]

Oh dear, X/1999. Possibly the greatest CLAMP series ever (YMMV, of course)

I was a HUGE fan! I even wrote a 100k+ WIP for it, which sadly I never finished. I was putting myself about in all the LJ comms back then, though... we might have met back in the mists of 2000-something... :)

Still have a couple of X icons, even.

[winter_blossom]

I even wrote a 100k+ WIP for it, which sadly I never finished.

I must say, the thought of an X/1999 fic being both long and unfinished struck me as so appropriate that I laughed out loud :DDD

[solo]

. . . Point. ♥

[umadoshi]

My hope that X might be finished someday is rooted as much in professional selfishness as wistful fannish dreaming, for all that I have no reason to expect it to happen.

[solo]

TBH I'd rather they didn't finish it now (while I do understand your professional interest). I'd be too worried they'd mess it up. Times have changed so much...

(Also I want both Kamui and Fuuma to live, they're my OTP in this thing, and somehow I can't see that happening.)

[goss]

Oh, Sri Lanka! Cool. Do you currently live there?

I'm of Indian descent, living in the Caribbean (West Indies). We always enjoy watching you guys' cricket team in action - Sangakkara, Jayawardene, etc. :D :D :D

[winter_blossom]

Yep, I live here. (My parents keep bugging me to think about migrating to somewhere better, and I do get where they're coming from, but it's just so much work to go and fit in in another country...)

Oh, man, but those were the days! Ever since Sangakkara and Jayawardane left, our cricket has gone off the deep end and is currently the worst it's been in decades. Haven't watched a match in years, I'm so ashamed of our current state *Cries* How's the West Indies team doing these days? (Or should I be asking about India? XD Though they're doing well, afaik.)

[goss]

How's the West Indies team doing these days?

*g* About the same as Sri Lanka's current team. We love them anyways. :b

(West Indian cricket matches are more an excuse to Party than anything really. lol.)

[winter_blossom]

I feel exactly the same way. :)

*Fistbump of solidarity*