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YO, K2tog (it's like a code), Arthur/Eames, knitting, Inception, by lazulisong

Early Reunion, AU, Valka, Stoick, How to Train Your Dragon, by Raberba girl (Raberba_girl)

Through The Spines Unfurling (Five Things You Should Know About Cacti), Lee/Gaara, Naruto, by mstigergun. This is a fic of beauty.

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Have been watching the 2014 Romance of the Condor Heroes. 神鵰俠侶 is one of my favourite novels out of Jin Yong wuxia novels (I also adore 鹿鼎記 and 倚天屠龍記), and I have a soft spot for the televised versions, however ridiculously the condor is portrayed. When I first read the novel and came across the description of the giant condor, I assumed it was fake as I could not conceive of a bird that huge. Then I read more about birds and realised sure, they could be really big and perhaps Jin Yong just wrote about a slightly mutated version (you see where my X-men knowledge kicked in). (The novel describes a "man-sized" bird.)

The limits of special effects meant that early televised versions did have a man-sized condor, sort of like Big Bird that flapped fake-looking wings and did most of its flying off-camera, or in the distance. One took it on faith: this is TV, you are reminded while moping your heart out for the doomed romance of Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu. Then the 2006 China-made version featured a condor that Yang Guo could ride on could beat off dozens of men with its wings (my error - thanks for pointing that out, sabriel!). The 2014 version has one that humans could stand on, as though the bird was one of the Monkey King's magical clouds. That wingspan does not, even to my amateur eyes, look anything wide enough, and I'm vaguely dissatisfied that from being Yang Guo's friend, the Giant Condor has become something of a transportation device. Even if they needed to get to Xiangyang quickly. Seriously, they have qinggong, use it!

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The TV versions do tend to turn Brother Condor into a speedy transportation device. I remember watching the 1983 version, the Xiangyang battle part, and my father said indignantly, "That condor isn't supposed to be able to fly!"

Much less transport people, heh. Plus, they just jump on top of him without a single word - how would the condor know he was meant to carry them about?

ESP. (not really)

天龍八部 is my favourite out of Jin Yong's wuxia novels, with 神鵰俠侶 a close second.

I've seen the 2006 神鵰俠侶 version (and only that one) and I only vaguely remember there was giant gusts of wind from the condor that were able to send full grown men flying and no actual riding.

My mistake, yikes. You're right, there was no riding in the 2006 version, even though the condor was still unnaturally big. This means that the 2014 version is even more ridiculous than I thought at first.

Well, a lot of elements regarding wuxia is leaning pretty heavily on the fantastical side, so a giant condor (maybe the producers took a page out of Tolkien? ie giant eagles) isn't too unbelievable?

Oh and I vaguely recall some online complaints about the 2014 version...on how the actress for Xiaolongnu wasn't young or pretty enough. There wasn an actual comparison between all the actresses which had that role for the different tv series which has been produced. Which was complete nonsense in my opinion.

For ROCH, I take longer to feel happy about the explicitly fantastical bits, probably because of the very specific historical backdrop here. Otherwise, I'm happy to go with fantasy wuxia.

Haha, I saw that comparison too! I think it's also very difficult to get an ideal Yang Guo, but all the complaints are about the female roles, bah.

I quite like 天龍八部 - though the overarching theme, or so I interpret it, of how the children suffer for the sins of the elders, makes me feel rather melancholy. And the level of super-powered skills veered closer to fantasy for me.

I personally interpreted it on how some kids were able to rise up above their parent's stupidity and become even better. (Even if 段譽 made me want to slap him a few times throughout but he does grow up EVENTUALLY.)

Yeah, but Duan Yu was perfectly justified in being the naive, idealistic prince because that was how he was raised: to be sheltered and privileged. Then all the weird skeletons come leaping out of the closet - and I have to say that all his (supposedly) half-sisters didn't count on having such a dysfunctional family either, and they have way fewer resources to deal with it. And the plotlines for Qiao Feng and Xuzu deal a lot with the ramifications of the earlier generation's exploits. It gets to the point that I think they'd be better off if they had emerged out of a rock somewhere.