20 June 2013

Valley of the Fallen Phoenix

And here we are, v34 complete! Back when I was first exposed to the story of Rot3K, I was quite surprised to see Pang Tong make such an early exit. Here's a guy who's been hyped up as Kongming's equal ever since Liu Bei first met Shui Jing (Water Mirror) and he comes to such an anticlimactic end, which always fuels the "what-ifs" among fans. What if Cao Cao hadn't lost Guo Jia before Red Cliffs? What if Sun Quan didn't lose Zhou Yu so early? What if Liu Bei hadn't lost Pang Tong? I personally think if we were to talk history and not the novel, Pang Tong surviving wouldn't have changed the grand scheme of things. In fact, if he did survive, it might have very well stirred conflicts between Zhuge Liang and him. The minor character Peng Yang who appeared in this volume is sometimes cited as an example of a genius marginalized for provoking Kongming's ire.

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12 comments:

  1. Thanks Hox.
    By the way, have you finally picked up the 2010 tv series?

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  2. Hm, one of the reasons Liu Bei's Wu campaign to revenge Guan Yu went horribly wrong, is that Liu Bei suspected Zhuge Liang to be biased, knowing Zhuge's brother worked for Wu. That is why he didn't take Zhuge Liang with him in his campaign. If now Pang Tong had still lived, he would have advised against sheltering the troops in the dry forest. Thus Liu Bei would have all the chances to take over WU and then march north to destroy Wei.

    silv

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    Replies
    1. Haha only if you went by the novel and not actual history.

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    2. Going by actual history, after the defeat against Wu, Liu Bei lamented Fa Zheng's death, like Cao Cao lamented Guo Jia's after Chibi.
      Giving Fa Zheng his historical importance would steal the show from Zhuge Liang, and I can see why it wasn't done, but I never understood why the SYY rated Pang Tong so high.

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  3. One strange thing is how Liu Bei seems to have become strategically inept - in the early chapters he himself devised smart tricks to win, now it seems he's an advisor rubberstamp.

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  4. ZERO NAO ZERO NAO ZERO NAO OMFG HURRY THE FUCK UP RIGHTNAO
    LOLIMSOANGRYINEEDTOREADVOLUME8OFZEROORIWILLKILLUIDIOTS1BY1WITHMYCHAINSAWWTFBOMBDOESTHATEVENMAKESENSEJUSTHURRYTHEFUCKUP GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

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  5. so unrelated to this, when is punpun going up? has the volume been released yet? I know a lot of raws are floating around, but I didn't know if the volume has been released yet. could we get an ETA?

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    Replies
    1. Mid/late-July. More on that later in another post.

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    2. oh, cool. thanks man.

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  6. Hox, is there any way I can interest you in doing A Lollipop or a Bullet? There's only a few chapters left and it's really interesting.

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