emanation-aura

[emanation-aura]

Radio broadcast: “meet the artist who claims their work is ‘terrible’, receiving commissions all around the world for portraits!”

Me: oh, you mean (gestures at every single fandom creator ever)

[emanation-aura]

So what if I'm not good enough?

No, seriously. So what if I'm not 'good enough'?

Who am I hurting by not being good enough? No one. Writing is a craft that gives, not takes away. Even the worst stories in the world can give the reader something, whether it was meant to or not.

So what if I gain a reputation for being a 'bad' writer? So what if people avoid my work for all the reasons I fear? So what? No seriously. So what?

I own who I am. I write my own words. They come from my heart alone. I don't use the plagiarism machine. I don't lie about my ethnicity. I don't exploit other people. I don't harass others, or chase them off social media. I don't hurt people to lift myself up, or for my own selfish fun. I'm not an asshole, at least, I try not to be.

So what if I'm not 'good enough'? So what if you're 'not good enough'? There's so much worse things to be than that.

And at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure, the only person who thinks I'm not good enough is myself. I mean, have you ever once looked at another person, nevermind a writer, and gone 'you're not good enough'? I haven't. I bet you haven't either.

Maybe you and I, we should show ourselves a little kindness tonight.

[emanation-aura]

I actually think the new character is cute,,,

[emanation-aura]

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how little Genshin touches on the traveler & and the abyss sibling? As someone who absolutely adores those characters but who isn’t especially attached to Khanriah I have always found the lack of content about them confusing

mmmm Yeah Traveler and Abyss Twin is possibly my favourite plotline in the game, here are my thoughts:

Traveler is often constrained by the need to be a self-insert, which to some extent, is understandable; Genshin has clearly been set up as a story to be filled by a silent protagonist a la the Player, so trying to ask the devs to change the direction and make Traveler more independent of the player would go against the story they're trying to tell, and I understand this even if I find it a little cheap; it's a staple of the genre.

However, at the same time, Traveler isn't a total blank slate either. Their care and longing for the Abyss Twin has been repeatedly broadcast— first, majorly in We Will Be Reunited, then scattered throughout more story beats and plot points as Genshin has gone on. The most recent examples I can note are: Mualani's Tribal Chronicle (by exploring the meaning of 'the journey' in the context of not being able to find your sibling, which was your original goal):

Arlecchino's SQ (forgive the horrible editing, but I needed to make a point about why 'saying a proper goodbye' is so important to them):

Mizuki's SQ and Citlali's Tribal Chronicle also do similar things, although I won't dither here too long. Other notable examples were the 2.7 Dainsleif Chasm quest (if you recall, the 1% success vs 99% suffering and death regarding hilichurl purification), and Bedtime Story (on moving on from Teyvat, the Sea of Flowers, and about speaking true names). The longing, and the impact of their separation, has been demonstrated in quite a few ways.

(Following from Caribert, which makes the yearning explicitly clear:)

My point being, I think at this point the devs have made the divergence in their paths increasingly obvious through their worldviews and experiences, drip-fed and accumulated over a long period of time. Whatever went down in Khaenri'ah (implied to be some Abyss sorcery/leeching by twin in Wings of Fate's Course Intertwined) inevitably has to be important, because if what our Traveler has experienced in their Teyvat journey has shaped their worldview, then whatever horrible things the Abyss Twin suffered in Khaenri'ah clearly shaped their view enough to do what they are currently doing now. And right now, our journey is more than just finding the Twin; it's more about understanding them, just like we've understood this world.

So while Genshin can't certainly be said to contain a lot of direct content about Traveler and Abyss Twin, I don't think it necessarily... has to? Which is strange for a liker of this plotline, admittedly, because obviously I'd want more (and I do, from a purely personal perspective). But I also understand that the yearning for the sibling is no longer the point of the Traveler's journey; WWBR clearly set out new parameters for why we traverse Teyvat (to experience the world, its cultures, its people, and to love and despair aside them); the true epitome of 'the journey is more important than the destination'.

Most of this plotline is therefore subtextual rather than textual because the direct relationship with the Twin is not the foreground of the story; rather, the desire to Reunite With The Twin forms the background which serves to add narrative tension and tragedy to Teyvat as a whole, whose story is drawing them to an inevitable clash of ideals. It's there, lurking subtly in the background, quietly churning away to periodically remind you of your twin, setting up for higher stakes in the future.

I apologise if this wasn't the answer you were looking for— although I could make a joke about the Traveler's journey and that the answer they were looking for (reuniting) is not actually the true answer to their journey— personally, I'm fine with their current approach, as long as it ramps up towards the end-game (which, it may or may not, but would be useless to speculate on now; whether the stakes are being set up well can't be determined right now because we don't yet have the pay-off).

The fact there's no solid content addressing their relationship seems to also be done under the assumption that the audience automatically understands the bond between siblings (which, for those of you win good relationships to your siblings, yeah), which is fairly natural in my opinion, even if it could probably stand to be expanded more since we barely get any backstory... or if nothing else for the sake of the cynical I don't care about my sibling anymore folks, who are taking away a more extreme version of the "it's not about just the sibling anymore" idea that Genshin is broadcasting. But I digress.

[emanation-aura]

wait everyone rb this and put in the tags who you started reading fanfiction for, and it doesn’t have to be anime

[emanation-aura]

you know that phenomenon where vaccines are so effective that people forget how scary the original disease was? I think Americans are like this about government

[emanation-aura]

maybe this time picking at Textures on my skin will lead to being silky smooth

[emanation-aura]

Early to bed, early to rise. Avoid anything high in sugar or sodium.

"Coach Iansan is my idol, the greatest fitness coach in all of Natlan! Everyone tells me I'm naturally talented, but without her guidance, I'd probably have wasted my talents on eating. Don't worry if you're new to exercising, she knows how to tailor her training to her students' needs! Oh, would you look at me yabbering away? How about I give you a flyer — Coach just so happens to be recruiting trainees!"

— Varesa

◆ Name: Iansan

◆ Title: Tempered in Molten Stone

◆ Gold-Standard Trainer from Teteocan

◆ Vision: Electro

◆ Constellation: Carnotaurus

"Do you dream of pushing beyond your limits? Do you aspire to unfettered power?"

"Why not take a trip to the Collective of Plenty to attend the Pilgrimage Victors Academy? Under the skilled tutelage of our world-renowned coach, we can help you break free from your weak, feeble self!"

Many visitors making their first trips to Natlan have received such flyers, and the fitness pedigree of the Collective of Plenty is well known. As such, more than a few curious souls have signed up to unleash their inner strength. However, when they first lay eyes on this "world-renowned coach," it's not uncommon for aspiring athletic acolytes to feel cheated and ask for their money back.

Such situations fill Iansan with a sense of helpless exasperation. After all, even she has to admit that it's hard to draw connections between her child-like physique and notions of "strength" and "power." For many, it's difficult to imagine how someone so diminutive could guide them to "break free from their weak and feeble selves."

Whenever this happens, Iansan invites prospective students to name a fitness activity of their choice, challenging them to compete against her. Still smarting from being "cheated," it's rare that anyone refuses this opportunity to take their anger out on some fitness equipment.

Then, once her erstwhile inductees have exhausted themselves trying to outdo her, Iansan picks up their discarded weights and racks up a dozen or so more sets by herself.

"How is that even possible? Elemental power? A blessing from the heavens?"

"No, my strength comes from a well-scheduled workout routine, controlled caloric intake, and precise supplemental nutrition."

Even after experiencing defeat in this manner, many trainees still harbor doubts over Coach Iansan's words, but most of them still sign up for her academy all the same.

[emanation-aura]

Speed (1994) incorrectly credits Jan De Bont as director. Speed did not have any director, because if Speed had any direction, it would’ve been called Velocity

[emanation-aura]

Ah yeah, I know about the various mistranslations of 'Heavenly Principles' (tianli 天理) in earlier versions of Genshin, and I know they've since gone back and fixed them. I think my contention is more with the Sustainer as an entity rather than what she represents, since while the Heavenly Principles are fairly omnipresent in lore, the god that looks suspiciously like Kiana Kaslana hasn't had a single mention in lore outside of a veiled (and mistranslated) mention in the Traveler's story and several 'about the god that took away my sibling...' dialogue options from the Traveler, which never get answered. She also doesn't even get alluded to by any lore, unless you count the red cubes in the heart of Irminsul.

About 6/8 nations... yeah, I know about that leak specifically, but I'd rather not base my lore speculations around leaks (although might be a beneficial way to give Genshin some extra time for its lore). I also suspect Khaenri'ah is going to get more special treatment than being a proper x.0 nation, but this is an unsubstantiated feeling of mine. It's definitely plausible that the game has more time, but looking into the past, Genshin still has a hell of a lot of threads to resolve for 2 Version patches (compare 3.0 -> 5.0, which was significant but still covered far less than what we need).

I'd forgotten about that section in Citlali's Tribal Chronicle, admittedly, and yay for Regrator! Unfortunately, it is mentioned that Regrator is in cahoots with Dottore (fitting their Commedia roles, actually, so I suppose it works), but this is still proving my all roads lead to Dottore theory :(

do you have any more genshin meta rants? i love the ones that you have

awh, thank you anon! I do have a few to pick from (apart from whining about regional specialties or boss mats every so often), but they might be, ah... less popular due to involving significantly more fandom wank. So I'll do a few of these, and if people have questions/expansions feel free to reblog to send asks about them!

Long post under the read more, but in short:

Arlecchino's evil deeds were retconned/given to Crucabena to make her more marketable

Dottore is being set up as the 'evilness scapegoat' for a majority of relevant characters

Genshin is putting down more loose threads than it can tie up

1 - Arlecchino's evil deeds were retconned/given to Crucabena to make her more marketable

Obviously this sounds very combative right out the gate, so let me justify this by citing my arguments.

The mere existence of Crucabena seems to be the perfect scapegoat for historical crimes we learn that have been done to and perpetuated by orphans of House of the Hearth. We've known since Version 2.4 that the title of the Knave changed hands and that the evils of most of the WQs involving the House (Lyudochka, Trofin) are a result of either the previous Knave or Dottore, and crucially, not current Arlecchino. You can argue that just means Arlecchino is a better person than the two of them, but the thing is that Arlecchino isn't significantly different from Crucabena— apart from not running the literal Hunger Games. Arlecchino also says this:

"I hope you understand, the difference between Crucabena and myself lies in our formulation of the rules, not our policy for enforcing them. Upholding the rules without question is a trait we both share, because that is how a household should be run."

My original opinion on this topic was that Genshin did a face-heel turn on the evils of the House to make Arlecchino marketable. But then I remembered the previous Knave stuff was foreshadowed, so I think my actual opinion now is that Genshin has been setting up for a non-evil Arlecchino far in advance by attributing the evils of her organisation to literally anyone but her, even though she also perpetuates them.

This is also why I feel like the memory-wipe during Arlecchino's SQ was a cop-out. Yes, it thematically made sense so I can't entirely begrudge it, but still; Arlecchino thematically considering a loss of memory to mean "death" technically meets the condition where her "policy for enforcing rules" is the same as Crucabena's (also death), but it seems altered in a specific way to make Arlecchino's actions seem more merciful and less menacing than was previously implied. While I liked Ignis Purgatorius Chapter Act I, it did come across as softening Arlecchino's character even though she gets a hulking nightmare-fuel bossfight. I'm happy to hear arguments to the opposite, though.

(And I don't hate Arlecchino; I just think she could have had more opportunities to be morally unpalatable and force the player to think more about her deeds and actions.)

2 - Dottore is being set up as the 'evilness scapegoat' for a majority of relevant characters

Tangent to the above, Dottore has had a hand in almost every semi-'villainous' character's backstory. Dottore (as Escher) practically set up Kabukimono's entire tragic backstory. Even the young child who dies of (implied) Tatarigami, since the sabotage of the Mikage Furnace released Tatarigami everywhere.

Crucially, Dottore/Escher is never mentioned in Scaramouche's backstory pre-3.3. Even though he was a pivotal character who brought pioneering new technology (which was secretly meant to destroy the Mikage Furnace) and an outsider to boot (recall that Kabukimono's outsider status also made him an intrigue to the people of Tatarasuna). The Rather Aged Notes, which tell the story of Tatarasuna from the perspective of the people there at the time, do not mention Escher at all or even hint at his existence. I can't say for certain, but it seems as if he was inserted there as well to provide a clear villain and scapegoat for the Tatarasuna plotline (originally, it seemed like Mikoshi Nagamasa, who slew Katsuragi with his prized claymore the Daitarara Nagamasa [now known as the craftable weapon Katsuragikiri Nagamasa], was just a little fucked in the head, but they even changed the perspective on that to make it an act of willing sacrifice, making the only clear villain Dottore once again.)

Likewise with Arlecchino and Crucabena, Dottore is mentioned as cooperating with Crucabena to siphon off failed children (which, frankly, seems like evilness overkill). Trofin Snezhevich's Aranara quest is also on Dottore's orders. The Eremites (Farrokhzadan and Desert group, which tried to deal with the Tanit) are also under his orders. It seems like every evil thing the Fatui does is tied up in Dottore's dirty fingers.

Which, okay, Dottore is evil, we've seen that many times now. Would it kill the devs to give us Fatui who act on their own malicious impulses rather than tying their stories back to Dottore? Even Crucabena, whom I believe was set up as a moral scapegoat for Arlecchino, suffers a little from her evilness deriving from cooperation with Dottore. It's getting slightly concerning to the point where most of the morally unscrupulous things done by the Fatui are mostly Dottore's fault, and makes me worried about the future Fatui plotline.

3 - Genshin is putting down more loose threads than it can tie up

Disclaimer: while I share this opinion, this was first brought to my attention by a friend of mine.

I think we all know by now that we're closer to the end of Genshin Impact than the beginning. We've completed our travels in six out of the seven nations, and things have been advancing, we've been learning more about the nature of the world and its people...

And yet. There are still many things left unresolved, to the point where it's becoming genuinely concerning whether Genshin can tie them up in time. To name a few topics:

(takes a deep breath) Our sibling, the Sea of Flowers, the Sinners of Khaenri'ah and the true nature of the Cataclysm, the Fatui's plans, what are the moons really? (gasp for breath to break the text block), who are the remaining Descenders, is the Heavenly Principles the Primordial One, why was Natlan specifically more destroyed by the War of Vengeance than the rest of Teyvat, (inhale), the entire implied existence of the All-Devouring Narwhal and "other worlds", Teyvat's cosmology, what's going on with all the Celestial Nails (we know the individual purposes of most of them, but as a grander plan, why?), Project Stuzha, Mini-Durin and Wanderer, the Hexenzirkel, Varka's expedition, the fucking Pyro Gnosis and whether it will end up with the Tsaritsa, also, THE SUSTAINER OF HEAVENLY PRINCIPLES HASN'T EVEN BEEN HINTED AT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME...

Now, some of the threads left unknown will be solved. We know this, because they're part of the main story. The trouble is, does Genshin have time to solve everything in a satisfactory way? One thing that stuck out to me about Natlan is that it seemed to want to speedrun major, major aspects of lore (moons, seelies/Yohualtehcutin, dragons/Saurians, Abyss) that had previously been only slowly drip-fed. It seems, to me at least, that the devs are rushing; also compare the relative lore-competence of characters in Natlan (Citlali and Mavuika knowing about Descenders) versus elsewhere (such as Nahida, god of wisdom, who only found out about Descenders by trawling Irminsul and reading Fatui records).

There's also some threads that may never get answered. That's fine, in my opinion; it would be boring if they solved everything. But there's also the threat that truly important plot threads, ones that have massive implications for Teyvat as a whole, may never get solved in this case, and that would be a massive missed opportunity.

Like, Hu Tao got the reveal of her father and grandfather's demise (plus an entire new sect of Liyue lore about Tao Du) 4 years after she released. There are other characters with outstanding mysteries about their existence (Bennett, Neuvillette, Childe to some extent, the true nature of the Raiden twins, if Hu Tao could get lore about her parents why can't Thoma's father, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, get resolved too?, Focalors as a concept and her connection to Remuria/Erinnyes, etc...) and whether there is time to solve all of them is questionable at this point.

We're approaching 6.0, which may or may not be Snezhnaya, and then whatever the 'end-game' looks like. I don't think Genshin will end that soon, but the fact that the end-game is approaching and we aren't even close to being able to piece together crucial pieces of lore for it is a little concerning. My most personal gripe is the Sustainer, since it's been 4 years since we've last seen her mentioned. Like, we don't need to know who she is or anything, but at least a mention or hint towards the nature of her existence would be nice? Otherwise, whenever she re-emerges, the story is going to have a lot of exposition dumping to do.

(Also the Traveler's character stories haven't been touched since Mondstadt, wtf? but that's another rant. If I make this post any longer my fingers are going to cramp, so I'll leave it here for now. If anyone has anything to add/object I'd love to hear your thoughts!)

[emanation-aura]

I read your fic today, rhe yower but the sea one

I don't know if you ever plan on going back or making more, but I just wanted to send my compliments directly

Thank you so much!! This ask made my day, The Faraway Setting Sun took me so long to write and I'm glad people like it :DDD

On the topic of making more, the reason I created the Tower by the Sea series despite only currently having one work is that I have WIPs vaguely set in the same continuity; I took a heckin' long break after finishing TFSS, but someday I might revisit those WIPs and post them.

Currently, my WIP ideas are "the conversation between Sae and Joker shortly before his release" (which is noticeably different due to the Palace), and "pointé à blanc", a sort of in-between dialogue when Joker is packing his things and talks through things with Maruki and Sojiro. I'm inspired to go back and look at them now, actually :3

[emanation-aura]

do you have any more genshin meta rants? i love the ones that you have

awh, thank you anon! I do have a few to pick from (apart from whining about regional specialties or boss mats every so often), but they might be, ah... less popular due to involving significantly more fandom wank. So I'll do a few of these, and if people have questions/expansions feel free to reblog to send asks about them!

Long post under the read more, but in short:

Arlecchino's evil deeds were retconned/given to Crucabena to make her more marketable

Dottore is being set up as the 'evilness scapegoat' for a majority of relevant characters

Genshin is putting down more loose threads than it can tie up

1 - Arlecchino's evil deeds were retconned/given to Crucabena to make her more marketable

Obviously this sounds very combative right out the gate, so let me justify this by citing my arguments.

The mere existence of Crucabena seems to be the perfect scapegoat for historical crimes we learn that have been done to and perpetuated by orphans of House of the Hearth. We've known since Version 2.4 that the title of the Knave changed hands and that the evils of most of the WQs involving the House (Lyudochka, Trofin) are a result of either the previous Knave or Dottore, and crucially, not current Arlecchino. You can argue that just means Arlecchino is a better person than the two of them, but the thing is that Arlecchino isn't significantly different from Crucabena— apart from not running the literal Hunger Games. Arlecchino also says this:

"I hope you understand, the difference between Crucabena and myself lies in our formulation of the rules, not our policy for enforcing them. Upholding the rules without question is a trait we both share, because that is how a household should be run."

My original opinion on this topic was that Genshin did a face-heel turn on the evils of the House to make Arlecchino marketable. But then I remembered the previous Knave stuff was foreshadowed, so I think my actual opinion now is that Genshin has been setting up for a non-evil Arlecchino far in advance by attributing the evils of her organisation to literally anyone but her, even though she also perpetuates them.

This is also why I feel like the memory-wipe during Arlecchino's SQ was a cop-out. Yes, it thematically made sense so I can't entirely begrudge it, but still; Arlecchino thematically considering a loss of memory to mean "death" technically meets the condition where her "policy for enforcing rules" is the same as Crucabena's (also death), but it seems altered in a specific way to make Arlecchino's actions seem more merciful and less menacing than was previously implied. While I liked Ignis Purgatorius Chapter Act I, it did come across as softening Arlecchino's character even though she gets a hulking nightmare-fuel bossfight. I'm happy to hear arguments to the opposite, though.

(And I don't hate Arlecchino; I just think she could have had more opportunities to be morally unpalatable and force the player to think more about her deeds and actions.)

2 - Dottore is being set up as the 'evilness scapegoat' for a majority of relevant characters

Tangent to the above, Dottore has had a hand in almost every semi-'villainous' character's backstory. Dottore (as Escher) practically set up Kabukimono's entire tragic backstory. Even the young child who dies of (implied) Tatarigami, since the sabotage of the Mikage Furnace released Tatarigami everywhere.

Crucially, Dottore/Escher is never mentioned in Scaramouche's backstory pre-3.3. Even though he was a pivotal character who brought pioneering new technology (which was secretly meant to destroy the Mikage Furnace) and an outsider to boot (recall that Kabukimono's outsider status also made him an intrigue to the people of Tatarasuna). The Rather Aged Notes, which tell the story of Tatarasuna from the perspective of the people there at the time, do not mention Escher at all or even hint at his existence. I can't say for certain, but it seems as if he was inserted there as well to provide a clear villain and scapegoat for the Tatarasuna plotline (originally, it seemed like Mikoshi Nagamasa, who slew Katsuragi with his prized claymore the Daitarara Nagamasa [now known as the craftable weapon Katsuragikiri Nagamasa], was just a little fucked in the head, but they even changed the perspective on that to make it an act of willing sacrifice, making the only clear villain Dottore once again.)

Likewise with Arlecchino and Crucabena, Dottore is mentioned as cooperating with Crucabena to siphon off failed children (which, frankly, seems like evilness overkill). Trofin Snezhevich's Aranara quest is also on Dottore's orders. The Eremites (Farrokhzadan and Desert group, which tried to deal with the Tanit) are also under his orders. It seems like every evil thing the Fatui does is tied up in Dottore's dirty fingers.

Which, okay, Dottore is evil, we've seen that many times now. Would it kill the devs to give us Fatui who act on their own malicious impulses rather than tying their stories back to Dottore? Even Crucabena, whom I believe was set up as a moral scapegoat for Arlecchino, suffers a little from her evilness deriving from cooperation with Dottore. It's getting slightly concerning to the point where most of the morally unscrupulous things done by the Fatui are mostly Dottore's fault, and makes me worried about the future Fatui plotline.

3 - Genshin is putting down more loose threads than it can tie up

Disclaimer: while I share this opinion, this was first brought to my attention by a friend of mine.

I think we all know by now that we're closer to the end of Genshin Impact than the beginning. We've completed our travels in six out of the seven nations, and things have been advancing, we've been learning more about the nature of the world and its people...

And yet. There are still many things left unresolved, to the point where it's becoming genuinely concerning whether Genshin can tie them up in time. To name a few topics:

(takes a deep breath) Our sibling, the Sea of Flowers, the Sinners of Khaenri'ah and the true nature of the Cataclysm, the Fatui's plans, what are the moons really? (gasp for breath to break the text block), who are the remaining Descenders, is the Heavenly Principles the Primordial One, why was Natlan specifically more destroyed by the War of Vengeance than the rest of Teyvat, (inhale), the entire implied existence of the All-Devouring Narwhal and "other worlds", Teyvat's cosmology, what's going on with all the Celestial Nails (we know the individual purposes of most of them, but as a grander plan, why?), Project Stuzha, Mini-Durin and Wanderer, the Hexenzirkel, Varka's expedition, the fucking Pyro Gnosis and whether it will end up with the Tsaritsa, also, THE SUSTAINER OF HEAVENLY PRINCIPLES HASN'T EVEN BEEN HINTED AT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME...

Now, some of the threads left unknown will be solved. We know this, because they're part of the main story. The trouble is, does Genshin have time to solve everything in a satisfactory way? One thing that stuck out to me about Natlan is that it seemed to want to speedrun major, major aspects of lore (moons, seelies/Yohualtehcutin, dragons/Saurians, Abyss) that had previously been only slowly drip-fed. It seems, to me at least, that the devs are rushing; also compare the relative lore-competence of characters in Natlan (Citlali and Mavuika knowing about Descenders) versus elsewhere (such as Nahida, god of wisdom, who only found out about Descenders by trawling Irminsul and reading Fatui records).

There's also some threads that may never get answered. That's fine, in my opinion; it would be boring if they solved everything. But there's also the threat that truly important plot threads, ones that have massive implications for Teyvat as a whole, may never get solved in this case, and that would be a massive missed opportunity.

Like, Hu Tao got the reveal of her father and grandfather's demise (plus an entire new sect of Liyue lore about Tao Du) 4 years after she released. There are other characters with outstanding mysteries about their existence (Bennett, Neuvillette, Childe to some extent, the true nature of the Raiden twins, if Hu Tao could get lore about her parents why can't Thoma's father, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, get resolved too?, Focalors as a concept and her connection to Remuria/Erinnyes, etc...) and whether there is time to solve all of them is questionable at this point.

We're approaching 6.0, which may or may not be Snezhnaya, and then whatever the 'end-game' looks like. I don't think Genshin will end that soon, but the fact that the end-game is approaching and we aren't even close to being able to piece together crucial pieces of lore for it is a little concerning. My most personal gripe is the Sustainer, since it's been 4 years since we've last seen her mentioned. Like, we don't need to know who she is or anything, but at least a mention or hint towards the nature of her existence would be nice? Otherwise, whenever she re-emerges, the story is going to have a lot of exposition dumping to do.

(Also the Traveler's character stories haven't been touched since Mondstadt, wtf? but that's another rant. If I make this post any longer my fingers are going to cramp, so I'll leave it here for now. If anyone has anything to add/object I'd love to hear your thoughts!)

[emanation-aura]

one big thing i think people outside fandom (like, all fandoms, fandom in general, not any particular one) tend to misunderstand is they know it's a subculture of people who are weirdly deeply invested in fictional media, and they hear about drama caused by people in those subcultures being unhinged in not-fun ways, and they think the unhingedness comes from the fact of being overinvested in works of fiction.

which is a natural assumption, but in my experience that's not really the case? like in my experience the drama llamas in fandom are usually not the ones who are just genuinely very deeply into the fiction. i've known people who are basically thinking about star trek or x-men comics or supernatural pretty much 100% of their free time and ime that type of person is usually very nice and surprisingly functional in their regular life. when someone's a constant nexus of fandom drama it's usually not that they are obsessed with the actual work of fiction the fandom is about, it's at least one of the following:

what they're obsessed with is not the source material but their unhealthy parasocial relationships with one or more of the people who created it

what they're obsessed with is not the source material but some elaborate shared-universe subset of fanfic about it that's only barely related to the original at this point, and/or an esoteric reading-against-the-text reinterpretation of the source material (often if the canon is active and ongoing this leads to becoming actively hostile toward it for its inevitably increasing failure to conform to their preferred fanon)

what they're obsessed with is not the source material but the fandom itself and gathering clout within it, so that the source material basically only exists to them as a tool for scoring points in increasingly arcane fandom disputes

and very often you get the same person doing 2 and sometimes even all 3 of these, and that's where the trouble really starts

[emanation-aura]

Use the sword and shield maneuver!

What does that mean?

We block, he fires!

[emanation-aura]

Simultaneously funny and frustrating how fandom will bend over backwards to give the modern AU versions of the blorbos the most wholesome, innocuous, social justice warrior-y even jobs imaginable even though in canon they're basically war criminals.

The Fire Nation royal kids in a modern AU would just be animated Succession.

A guy with a fatalistic "nothing can be done to ameliorate any of this" attitude towards the atrocities committed by his fantasy nation would NOT be a human rights lawyer no matter how soft uwu babygirl he is underneath.

I find it especially funny the way fandom almost treats having a morally bankrupt job where you work for The Man as some kind of taboo line they won't cross when in every other way they're inclined to go with the direst, most tragic, fucked up and gruesome interpretation of a character.

Like people will bend over backwards to interpret every minor canon detail in the most tragic way possible, a parental figure frowning in the background of one shot will be spun into dozens of essays theorizing about rape, abuse, grooming, and yet one girl had a mental breakdown in a Discord chat when I pointed out that the modern version of Blorbo wouldn't be a rock musician, he'd be working for Lockheed Martin or some such. Blorbo is a cunning, pragmatic, and manipulative mercenary captain who sees power and money as his first priorities.

I'm not annoyed by it, I just find it really interesting and illustrative of the Tumblrina mentality lol

--

[emanation-aura]

I am exceptionally lucky in that my parents never hit me, grounded me, confiscated my things, banned me from my hobbies or threatened any of these actions to make me behave as a kid. as an adult it has made me realise how very very long a road most people have to traverse before they can take a statement like 'no rule that must be enforced by threat is legitimate' seriously.

[emanation-aura]

i’m obsessed with these…

(From DepthOfWikipedia on Instagram)