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

[marycrawford]

User names: marycrawford here and on AO3
How did you first get into Guardian fandom? I watched a few episodes haphazardly on Youtube, and I know it must be because someone recced it, but alas I don't know who it was. And because of the haphazard approach, I was a)intrigued by the gorgeous guy with the glasses and b) turned off by GCC flailboating and plots that seemed to revolve around blue bathwater being menacing somehow? BUT then dorinda explained to me that I should take a more careful look, and recounted the id greasefire of episode 8 to me so succesfully that I was like "Don't show me clips, I NEED TO GET THERE LEGITIMATELY" and so I did. And was writing fic by episode 22, because when I fall I fall hard.
What is one thing you love about the show? Uh. So hard. Well: the moments where the entire cast and crew did a spectacular job of making a thing that is FOR ME. And those of us like me, ie all of you. Shen Wei healing the scratches on his shoulder, with that single beautifully lit sweatdrop. (I missed this scene on my first Youtube perusal, that is how much of a dumbass I am, because that alone would have been convincing.) Zhao Yunlan, barefoot, curled up on the couch. Or under attack and saying, "I am not strong enough to beat you, but I'm waiting for the one who is and he is coming." <3 <3 <3
What is (one of) your favourite relationship(s) on the show (either romantic or friendship) and what do you like about that relationship? ZYL/SW is everything, obviously, and then ZYL&Da Qing are my second favorite. A man and his cat.
Do you have a favourite character? Shen Wei, always and forever, both the BAMF and the wounded deer with his 10K years of longing, but Zhao Yunlan grew on me very rapidly and I am so incredibly fond of him, too. He has so many nuanced layers under that brash exterior.
Do you have a favourite villain? Ye Zun, who is acted by ZYL's twin brother, obviously. Those are two different people and you can't tell me otherwise.
Talk to us about one (or more!) of your favourite Guardian-related canons: Don't have any? I love Bai Yu's gorgeous hair on his new show, and the chains, and I haven't actually watched it but I am happy to see picspams. Same with ZYL's tomb raider movie.
Do you like RPF? Hm, I tend to avoid it in fic unless it's a complete AU (and not one of those US-based settings like coffee shops or colleges) but I am helpless against the gorgeous vids and fan edits I've seen. bonibaru's Leave the Light On vid makes me feel a lot.
Do you have a favourite ad campaign (such as Bai Yu's rentboy photoshoot or Zhu Yilong's ReFa ads)? I came in to this fandom later, so I'm still discovering a lot of the older ad stuff, but that Bai Yu lollipop video is amazing, and ZYL's latest ReFa ad is on non stop rotation.
What other fandoms are you in or have you been in? Kirk/Spock, back in the zine days. Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. Sherlock Holmes. LOTR (I wrote a long Legolas/Gimli story that I'm still very fond of). I tend to be monofannish, and I definitely am right now.
What are some of your general fanwork likes: Hurt/comfort, self-sacrifice, competence, swordfighting, pining, and layered characters who say one thing and mean another. Yeah, this entire show AND fandom was basically designed to destroy me.
Where can we best find you to squee more about this thing or other things? On Dreamwidth, in email, or on AO3 - I love talking about stories, but I'm bad at meta and often just don't have the spoons for it. So I guess I mostly communicate through writing stories of my own and commenting on other people's when I can. And may I say, I'm deeply appreciative of the fantastic feedback culture in this fandom.
Anything else you want to say?I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR

[yue_ix]

Shen Wei healing the scratches on his shoulder, with that single beautifully lit sweatdrop. ...
Zhao Yunlan, barefoot, curled up on the couch.
Or under attack and saying, "I am not strong enough to beat you, but I'm waiting for the one who is and he is coming." <3 <3 <3

AAAAHHH. These things are indeed so incredibly good to us. TT____TT <3 <3 <3

I love how many of us insist Zhu Yilong MUST have a twin brother that plays Ye Zun, because he's just that unbelievable talented. XD

What are some of your general fanwork likes: Hurt/comfort, self-sacrifice, competence, swordfighting, pining, and layered characters who say one thing and mean another. Yeah, this entire show AND fandom was basically designed to destroy me.

What a great list of wonderful things!! I think the show alone might not fill all of my needs for these but the fandom definitively does. (For instance, I feel like the show offers h/c opportunities but doesn't unravel and make us savour them the way fanworks do).

And may I say, I'm deeply appreciative of the fantastic feedback culture in this fandom.

OMG, right?? People are so generous with their kind words and affection, it's beautiful. ;_;

[marycrawford]

I love how many of us insist Zhu Yilong MUST have a twin brother that plays Ye Zun, because he's just that unbelievable talented. XD

LOL yes I should have read all the other entries first! But it really is startlingly plausible that he is two people, when you see him in those scenes. I remember how amazed I was and how much I doubted my own eyes when I saw Ye Zun for the first time (I am bad at facial recognition to begin with - the Envoy did not declare himself to be Shen Wei, to my unspoilered eye - and then the villain was the same guy again, no seriously?).

I think the show alone might not fill all of my needs for these but the fandom definitively does. (For instance, I feel like the show offers h/c opportunities but doesn't unravel and make us savour them the way fanworks do).

Oh you're absolutely right, thanks for that addition! Sometimes the show does bring us that leisurely, fannish, satisfying approach (ep 8) but sometimes also very much not (the Bench scene in ep 33) and we have to fix that with all the love and words.

[umadoshi]

Shen Wei healing the scratches on his shoulder, with that single beautifully lit sweatdrop.

I don't even have a thing for bleeding men, and YET.

[Zhao Yunlan] under attack and saying, "I am not strong enough to beat you, but I'm waiting for the one who is and he is coming."

Yes, yes, YES. *^^*

the id greasefire of episode 8

I love this wording. And that episode is so amazing.

[solo]

I wrote a long Legolas/Gimli story that I'm still very fond of

My favourite neglected LOTR pairing! \o/

[marycrawford]

Awww yes, and one of the most enduring ones to my mind - literally sailing off into the afterlife together, my HEART. Sigh.

[winter_blossom]

Or under attack and saying, "I am not strong enough to beat you, but I'm waiting for the one who is and he is coming."

I've re-watched that scene approximately thirty times, so, yeah. 200% with you on this <3

[tinny]

And may I say, I'm deeply appreciative of the fantastic feedback culture in this fandom.

Seconded! It is an amazing ditch to be in.