The Gauche in the Machine (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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sid_guardian2024-03-11 08:49 am
china_shop) wrote in sid_guardian2024-03-11 08:49 am
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Discussion: how did you first hear about Guardian, and what made you decide to watch?
A friend posted a poll yesterday about what prompts people to try new (fannish) media, and I realised that I don't really know what it was that made my Guardian friends take a chance on Guardian -- ambient squee? a friend's rec? fanworks? something else? Let's talk about it!
Here's my story:
It was 2018, and I'd been in my previous primary fandom, White Collar, for nine years; I was running out of juice there and vaguely looking around for something new. I'd also been watching Kdramas since 2013, so I was comfortable with subtitles, but I hadn't branched out into other Asian dramas. Then someone on my Dreamwidth friends list fell hard for Guardian (the drama, I think). At first, I didn't pay much attention, but they were so enthusiastic, and after a while, I thought it sounded like it might be up my alley? At that stage, I didn't really know anything about it: I wasn't even sure if it was live action, and I didn't have much of a handle on the genre either.
We had our annual local mini fan con in October, and I really hoped someone would do a promo for Guardian and convince me to watch it -- but none of the attendees had seen it. The day after the con, I mentioned this to the Guardian fan on my flist, and they linked me to Fire's Gonna Burn (vid).
My response:
I came down with con crud, so I spent the next week or so on the couch, watching avidly, falling harder and harder. Being a Kdrama fan, I was unsurprised by the beautiful, reserved, mysterious type (of which Shen Wei is a fantastic example), but scruffy, outrageous and social-engineering Zhao Yunlan was an altogether new experience -- he felt like a combo of Ray Kowalski from Due South and Neal Caffrey from White Collar, ie, tailored perfectly to suit my tastes. Two episodes in, I posted a piscpam of him sprawling.
By episode 8 with the failed book con and his disaster apartment, I was head over heels. And the show itself, starting out as a procedural and with its lovely ensemble, cat shape-shifter and "firehose of slash", was perfect.
I started the drama on 11 October 2018 and finished on 8 November 2018. While watching, I posted to Dreamwidth about it 14 times, including two ficlets (this was my first), one set of 54 icons, some individual screencaps, a recap of episode 8, and a lot of flailing.
I taught myself to make animated gifs when I hit the start of episode 7.
And after I finished watching, I was a delirious wreck:
I've never tried the novel. The things I've heard about it suggest it wouldn't be as much to my taste. I'm all drama, all the time: it's my drug of choice. It's a very high quality drug!
Questions
Can you remember where and how you first heard about Guardian? Why did it catch your eye?
Did you start with the drama or the novel? Which is your main focus now (or do you love them both)?
When did you start, and how long did it take you to watch/read all the way through, the first time?
What particularly grabbed you?
Did you make any reaction posts as you watched or read? If so, feel free to quote or link them here.
Note: Discussion contains spoilers for the whole show.
Here's my story:
It was 2018, and I'd been in my previous primary fandom, White Collar, for nine years; I was running out of juice there and vaguely looking around for something new. I'd also been watching Kdramas since 2013, so I was comfortable with subtitles, but I hadn't branched out into other Asian dramas. Then someone on my Dreamwidth friends list fell hard for Guardian (the drama, I think). At first, I didn't pay much attention, but they were so enthusiastic, and after a while, I thought it sounded like it might be up my alley? At that stage, I didn't really know anything about it: I wasn't even sure if it was live action, and I didn't have much of a handle on the genre either.
We had our annual local mini fan con in October, and I really hoped someone would do a promo for Guardian and convince me to watch it -- but none of the attendees had seen it. The day after the con, I mentioned this to the Guardian fan on my flist, and they linked me to Fire's Gonna Burn (vid).
My response:
OMG WRIST GRAB! Wow, I would like to subscribe to that vid.
I think I need tofindmake time to watch this show!!
I came down with con crud, so I spent the next week or so on the couch, watching avidly, falling harder and harder. Being a Kdrama fan, I was unsurprised by the beautiful, reserved, mysterious type (of which Shen Wei is a fantastic example), but scruffy, outrageous and social-engineering Zhao Yunlan was an altogether new experience -- he felt like a combo of Ray Kowalski from Due South and Neal Caffrey from White Collar, ie, tailored perfectly to suit my tastes. Two episodes in, I posted a piscpam of him sprawling.
By episode 8 with the failed book con and his disaster apartment, I was head over heels. And the show itself, starting out as a procedural and with its lovely ensemble, cat shape-shifter and "firehose of slash", was perfect.
I started the drama on 11 October 2018 and finished on 8 November 2018. While watching, I posted to Dreamwidth about it 14 times, including two ficlets (this was my first), one set of 54 icons, some individual screencaps, a recap of episode 8, and a lot of flailing.
I'm currently in a state of nitroglycerine-ishly unstable FEELS and terrified of being spoiled for the last few eps, so please don't say anything.
I taught myself to make animated gifs when I hit the start of episode 7.
And after I finished watching, I was a delirious wreck:
So last Thursday night (was it really less than a week ago?!) I kicked the boy out early and finished watching Guardian, and was consequently overcome with epic feels. Then I read some meta and went to bed. It was super windy so my house shook and rattled all night, and my brain was fizzing, and I got almost no sleep. I still haven't recovered. I keep waking up an hour or two before my alarm, and the Bright-Shiny-Beautiful blooms in my head like a time-lapse sunflower, and a part of me says, "FFS, would you just go back to sleep!" but I can't.
I've never tried the novel. The things I've heard about it suggest it wouldn't be as much to my taste. I'm all drama, all the time: it's my drug of choice. It's a very high quality drug!
Questions
Can you remember where and how you first heard about Guardian? Why did it catch your eye?
Did you start with the drama or the novel? Which is your main focus now (or do you love them both)?
When did you start, and how long did it take you to watch/read all the way through, the first time?
What particularly grabbed you?
Did you make any reaction posts as you watched or read? If so, feel free to quote or link them here.
Note: Discussion contains spoilers for the whole show.