Fandom Snowflake Challenge #4

[kate]

If you got the opportunity to add one thing to the canon of any of your fandoms, what would that be? Maybe there’s a character who didn’t get much of a backstory/storyline and you’d like to do something with them, maybe a show was axed too soon and you had thoughts on what could happen in a subsequent season, maybe there’s a new episode you’d like to have added.

In your own space, add something to your fandom’s canon.

This is such an interesting ask. I can't tell if it's supposed to be basically the same as "create a fanwork" or basically the same as "create a headcanon" (which I firmly believe IS a fanwork, and just as valuable as any other fanwork, but it is a specific STYLE of fanwork so...). The other option is to discuss what I would do if I had creative control over the IP.

The first is easy and I have done several and I'm not super interested in creating a fanwork on the fly today. The second is very interesting but takes more time than I want to put into it to properly think of something interesting. The third is SUPER interesting and is about the right amount of commitment and time I'm willing to put in today.

MDZS is tough because there are SO MANY canons. I don't know the donghua or the manhua super well; I think I could probably find links to them but I'm not going to bother. I haven't read the book in years and despite NEEDING a reread, I'm not going to do it today, certainly. So I guess that leaves me The Untamed. If I had creative control over that IP and lived in a fantasy world where I had all the money I needed, access to the wildly popular original actors, and no pressure from outside forces, I would create a short season of The Untamed where WangXian officially, on-screen, get together. I wouldn't want to write the episodes, but spitballing for ideas, I'd love to see the following:

* A WangXian confession of some sort
* WangXian First kiss
* Lan Sizhui coming to the Jingshi to see Lan Wangji and having the two of them be in a moderate state of undress
* Working out what the future means to them; will Lan Wangji give up his chief Cultivator position so they can travel? Will Wei Wuxian move to the Cloud Recesses?
* Lan Qiren dealing with... everything
* SOMETHING to do with Lan Xichen (I have too many ideas and too little investment to care what this is)
* Yunmeng Shuangjie make-up sweater
* Wei Wuxian telling Jin Ling about his mother... and reluctantly his father
* Casefic with the juniors (these would be the delightful filler episodes)
* Moar Wen Ning. All the Wen Ning. I don't care what, just. All Wen Ning, all the time.

Possibilities, but I'd be okay without them:
* A REAL wedding for WangXian
* Lan Wangji whump and Wei Wuxian saving the day (there's plenty of the reverse out there)
* Something something Nie Huaisang (fuck it - make HIM Chief Cultivator, that'd be fucking HILARIOUS, and also would take Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian scheming to make it happen, I think, and how to scheme above and beyond the master schemer would be amazing)
* An actual child for WangXian? Adopting some small child after a night hunt?
* Exploration of Lan Sizhui's history, and him coming to terms with what his current clan did with his previous one
* Jiang Cheng having to figure out the succession of the Jiang clan (possible marriage/children plotline for him? Wei Wuxian as a matchmaker?)
* Outlining WHAT, exactly, Lan Jingyi's bloodline is (related to succession issues for the Lan clan)
* Some kind of moving forward of Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen

What would you like to see?

Comments

[clavally]

I have very little context for this yet, but it all seems delightful! And also, seems like a lot of good plot bunnies, lol.

[kate]

Ahahahahaha i can guarantee you there are dozens of stories on literally every one of the bullet points up there. In some cases, up that to hundreds, or maybe even thousands of stories. :D But they're GREAT stories, and I will absolutely read them all, forever. :D

Should you finish canon on this, I will absolutely, 100% curate a rec list of no less that 50 recs for you.

[trobadora]

This is such an interesting ask. I can't tell if it's supposed to be basically the same as "create a fanwork" or basically the same as "create a headcanon" (which I firmly believe IS a fanwork, and just as valuable as any other fanwork, but it is a specific STYLE of fanwork so...). The other option is to discuss what I would do if I had creative control over the IP.

Haha, I've been seeing this question come by on my flist, and I kept wondering which of those it was meant to be! *g*

[kate]

Yeah, I saw this early this morning, read it and went.... uh??? And then rolled over to sleep on it for a few more hours before I got here.

[shipperslist]

[insert the "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" gif]

ETA: and by which I mean, I want to see everything and more. Please and thank you.

[kate]

FOR REAL. I obviously read all the fanfic, but it would hit different to see it onscreen I think.

[corvidology]

I went for the same interpretation you did and for the same reason but my picks were tiny by comparison.

I only know this fandom by circle osmosis but I think you'd get a LOT of help with it! :D

[kate]

Ahahahaha, yeah, but small things can make a big difference! There are a lot of tweaks where it's like, one small request but it's actually a massive addition/change to canon!

Yeah, there's maybe 25k fics on AO3 now? Maybe more? I might be hugely underestimating it, gimme one sec here... Nope, WangXian minus Modern AU is about 27k stories. So yeah, plenty of fic anyway!

[corvidology]

I get excited if most of my fandoms manage to break 50 fics. :D

[kate]

Yeah, I am not complaining. I have been in exactly one (1) small fandom, and ended up running multiple fests to get more stuff.

[dragonyphoenix]

Ooh, I'd love to see Jiang Cheng succession. With Wei Wuxian as matchmaker. That'd be brilliant!

[kate]

There is definitely at least one fic out there about this! Can recommend Wei Wuxian's Discreet Dating Service: Hot Rogue Cultivators In Your Area! by x_los. Sounds funny but it's got more depth than you would expect.

[dragonyphoenix]

Ooh, liked it!

[kate]

Yay!!!! I did too - so much I did a cold read for it, lol. :D

[sunshine304]

Yes all the things! <3

I’d definitely want WWX and JC making up and then dealing with Jiang succession because there should be something done about that! XD

WangXian getting their on-screen happy ending, yes, and LSZ dealing with his parents being so obviously in love. He’s happy but uhhh it’s a bit embarrassing, who’d have thought that HGJ would be so into PDA? All the Juniors should be there, too, of course, because they’re the best!

Jin Ling learning about his parents, yes! The poor kid, no-one tells him anything and jiujiu always looks so sad when he asks so he never asks, but dammit he wants to know stuff!
Haha and yes, NHS should become chief cultivator, it’s his personal hell and he deserves a bit of punishment for hurting LWJ’s brother, so there. XD

[kate]

Right!? I absolutely adore post-canon stuff, it is my absolute favorite to read. Any and all of these things would be amazing. :D

[genarti]

Here's my personal pitch for an Untamed sequel miniseries, given all your fantasy world givens: an episode-of-the-week miniseries about Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui on a post-canon road trip. Featuring a slow growth of their family relationship, as Wen Ning is allowed the screen time and emotional space to process his grief for his clan and himself and his lost years and his lost family, and Lan Sizhui learns about the clan he came from while retaining and complicating his Best Lan Disciple identity, over the course of a series of episodes of saving ordinary people from monsters and ghosts and other cultivation world shenanigans. Also featuring:

- Background but unambiguously canonical Wangxian
- Song Lan, who should get to hang out with Wen Ning for a while I think
- Wen doctoring skills!!! Wen Ning may not be The Greatest Doctor Of His Generation but he still has knowledge about this!

Optionally also featuring:

- Background hints of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng taking baby steps towards working their issues out (Wen Ning scowls)
- Wen Qing is alive after all (come onnnnnnn canon!!!)