#Say what you will about Genshin and representation (Not good) but

[cupcakesmoothie]

Sometimes I wanna draw and then I realise I can't draw

Anyway. WIP! I feel like this'll be fun if I keep going but I have a tendency to lose all motivation if I leave it so I usually do things in one shot. However, I need to go to bed.

I feel like this is a lot of research that people will never see unless they themselves are Mexican but one of the reasons I make/draw things like this is so people feel seen. I looked over a couple things for this, quite fun! This is supposed to be a chiapaneca dress, but I am not used to this more "realistic" style so the dress actually needs to spread out more. It's so pretty though! Will either be very fun or very torturous to colour

This is Paloma! I haven't started on her wings and at this point I'm not sure how to add them in. She's Mexican and was a fashion designer. I'm using that as an excuse to continue putting eyeliner on Alexis, who she is friends (?) with. She's older than him.

I have seen somewhere that Spanish Spanish and Mexican Spanish are slightly different, the two should still be able to communicate. I don't know what you call a "big sister/miss" in Spanish, or if that's even something you do. I guess Senorita would be it? I'm trying to convey that Alexis is showing respect to her though, so that feels like it's not it.

I'm debating between wing styles also. I think colourful wings (Like a parrot) would be pretty, and not as common as dove wings (Which are her namesake). Also it was while I was looking those up that I found out the Mexican flag has an eagle on it! The golden eagle wings sound pretty interesting, if a little bit drab, but having her be tied to the national bird would be fun I think. And lastly, wood pigeon wings, which are also her namesake, only in Latin.

[yuamin]

ORORUN REDRAW GUIDE !

i think we’ve all seen the atrocity that is genshin’s unreleased character, ororun. the entirety of natlan is a mess really, but as a yoruba person myself i CANNOT keep quiet about ororun specifically.

outside yoruba mythology, in yoruba, ‘Olorun’ (the name ororun is based on, pronounced o-law-roon , with o pronounced as in orange and the ‘roon’ pronounced shortly, not dragged on at all) is actually the same word we often use to refer to God in Christianity. Christianity is the primary religion among us yorubas so honestly, i was kinda glad they misspelled his name. it would feel SO disrespectful referring to whatever that thing is with the same word we use to refer to God who we actually worship. religion aside, genshin’s depiction of Olorun (cultural god, not Christian one) is downright disgusting. i’d never paid too much attention to genshin and its poor representation, but now that my culture has fallen victim to it, i completely understand all the outrage.

edit: please note that while we use ‘Olorun’ to refer to the Christian God, Olorun is just a general word for ‘god’ itself ! for example if i say “God in heaven” and “god of thunder” we know i’m referring to two different beings, in yoruba it’s the kind of the same—the same word is used to refer to both the Christian and other gods, but we know it’s different, even though olorun can be capitalized regardless of what god we’re talking about (unlike english where the Christian God is capitalized and other gods aren’t) at the end of the day though, when we say “olorun” even without context, we are usually referring to the christian God !

1. PLEASE DO NOT DRAW HIM WITH ANIMAL EARS !

i’ve noticed that hoyoverse has this nasty habit of portraying every dark skinned character as wild or animal-esque. kaeya seems to be the only exception to this. even xinyan, though lacking any animal features, has this wild energy to her. some might call it a stretch, but i feel like her features are pretty feline in comparison to other liyue characters.

Olorun in our culture is the supreme god of the heavens. In my opinion, it is disrespectful to liken him to something akin to an animal. normally i wouldn’t even mind that much, but with how hoyo makes its few dark characters more and more like animals, i can’t help but feel weird about it. its really off putting.

2. HIS HAIR WOULD NOT BE CURLY !

majority of nigerians have 4C HAIR. not wavy hair or loose curls. some have 4B, but 4C is the usual here, that is, kinky or coily hair. Olorun is often portrayed as bald in traditional art, but trust me if he had hair his hair would resemble his people’s, not Tyla’s.

DREADLOCKS ARE A YES ! outside nigeria, locking hair is pretty common, but in nigeria a lot of people have locks naturally. our hair sometimes just grows out that way, no treatment no nothing. dreads are 100% an appropriate style, they look good asf too.

3. PLEASE USE CULTURAL FABRICS IN YOUR DESIGNS !

when i saw ororun’s outfit, i almost started crying. they couldn’t even bother to dress him up a little. they really dressed my brother in a scarf and cape and called it a day 😭 upon how fashionable we nigerians are know to be, hoyoverse still made it their mission to embarrass us stylistically. God knows my people have suffered man 😭

ankara is a traditional nigerian fabric that features bright colors and lots of patterned designs. see below:

here in 9ja, we love our ankara. it’s a big part of our fashion here and trust me it would look excellent in your designs. it’s perfectly fine to draw ororun in normal fabrics since he’s a deity and it’s not like ankara existed back then, but if you really want to represent nigeria, ankara is a must 🙏

i’m going to address another fashion piece because if you search up nigerian fashion you’ll see it a lot: beads.

these orange beads are igbo (another tribe here in nigeria) NOT yoruba. does this mean you can’t use it in olorun’s design ? no ! let me explain. tbh, here in nigeria there’s a bit of...tension between clans. it’s not that common, but older people are definitely a lot more tribalist. as a yoruba i love my igbo brothers and sisters, i truly believe they’re the most fashionable clan and i adore their festivities, they always go over the top. please, just look at them:

(only one image because of image caps, ugh)

anyway, we yorubas wear beads too. but the specific way the beads are worn around the head and in multiple layers round the neck is igbo, not yoruba. though i personally wouldn’t care too much if i saw olorun with igbo beads since all i want is for him to at least look nigerian, at the end of the day he is a yoruba deity. it might be disrespectful to dress the god of one clan as if he belongs to another, especially since there is so much historical ( and very slight but uncommon present ) day tension between both clans.

here’s a more yoruba outfit. sorry yall, it might be hard for you to distinguish if you’re not yoruba or igbo, but a lot of nigerians can tell the difference at a glance. ( actually nowadays, there is so much overlap between yoruba and igbo fashion, but there are many specific styles that may be associated with one tribe and not the other, for example how beads are worn in the above paragraph ) please do your research, he’s not only a nigerian god, but a yoruba one.

one more thing, because i know it will start discourse : skin tone.

nigerians have a very diverse range of skin tones. some of us are so pale, if not for our afrocentric features we could maybe pass for another race. however, ororun is yoruba.

light skinned nigerians are usually igbo. not to say that yorubas can’t be light skin, but here in nigeria if you saw a light skinned person, we’d automatically assume they were igbo. igbo people usually have lighter skin tones. majority of yorubas fall on the more milk to dark chocolate end of the skin tone spectrum. i’m saying this now because i know a lot of people are going to start arguments over ororun being redrawn as ‘too light’ or ‘too dark.’ i don’t really care about complexion, but i thought i’d help you all get your facts right.

that’s it ! if you read all this i’m super thankful. i don’t usually post about this kind of stuff but i honestly love my country and could go on about it for days. nigeria is such a beautiful place with a diverse range of cultures— from hausas to fulanis to so many more. natlan was supposed to be Africa’s time to shine, as well as latin americans, but hoyoverse said fuck you and your people. they did this to an extent with sumeru but natlan was done straight up dirty—not a single melanated character in sight, and the only one who does have melanin, iansan, looks so desaturated you might as well call her grey. i saw someone on tiktok call mualani a dark skinned character—it was at that point that i knew genshin was done for.

please REBLOG this post so it reaches more people and artists in the fandom !! this is literally the third time i’m making this post because tumblr refuses to show it in the tags for some reason 😭 i encourage other cultures who feel misrepresented to make posts like this too. it’s a perfect opportunity to educate and inform people about the diverse cultures genshin has once again failed to represent properly.

Hoyo has never been one to make customer satisfaction their top priority, but we’ve been able to call them out before and i truly believe we can do it again. Natlan is not poor design choice. it is blatant racism, a nation based on POC ethnicities with not a single colored character insight. Hoyoverse has been able to escape racism accusations for as long as i can remember, but natlan is the icing on the cake. we CANNOT allow hoyo to proceed as planned without giving them the appropriate backlash.

Also, if you redraw ororun using this guide, make sure to tag me here or on my main blog, @heartkaji !! i’d love to see all your redesigns. once again, thank you all for reading and have an amazing day !!

[erabu-san]

First of all, I would like to thank you so much for all your support and your kind message !! Thank you so much for being patient with me too !! (you will see, I thanks a lot in this post lol)

Haha tbh I believe that ignoring and move on is a great way too! Yeees when I read this anon ask, I was wondering if they are living somewhere where pale person are oppressed and they are personally in this case and it affects them so badly that they have so much hate in them or they are just being hateful toward poc w/o any explication ? It was a bit uncomfortable And what is appealing with Genshin Impact (for me) is the fact that they use real culture to create their game ; even in the last survey, they ask if we like Natlan's authenticity (weird they only ask abt environment and music, i think they know they have issue with character design bahaha). I learn a lot about persian, algerian, but also chinese and even about french culture ! It is because people recognize themself that they start talking about it. I know there is a lot of controversial topic in Natlan, but because of this, I learn a lot on Hawai'i 's culture too. So yes, even if it is fiction, representation *is* important. And it is because they take inspiration of their culture that there is people who want a better representation, and in my opinion, this is something to not ignore !

About taking well what anon said, thank you so much ! If i can be honest tho, I didn't take it very well neither, or just I don't know how do I really felt at the moment I am an adult but I still hard time to distinguish what is morally okay or not, what is bad and good ? So if someone doesn't tell me they are explicitly a bad person with bad intention, I won't get it haha (ofc I grew up and now I identify my value and morals, but I still questionning if my morals are objectively great or not- yeaaah i was called weird for that, I am aware) Since forever I always try to understand other so I can communicate properly (at least I try), and that's why I am always interested on how does people think, why do they react in this specific way etc etc. Pro, I am patient and can take even the most violent take "well" (all depends. I am still a human) Con, I give free speech to those who have a "bad" take </3 and I apologize for that aaaa

KFSDLFSD I wish to express my angryness sometime but I just don't know if it is really adequate What if I interpret their text in wrong way as they initially try to say ? I wasn't feel offended by what they said, I was just uncomfortable because their opinion is something I consider hateful. and what if i was wrong??? But reading you all's opinion just affirm that's they were indeed rude ! I should stop overthink, life would be easier Maybe next time I have a doubt I will ask my friends's opinion before answering ksdkfsf

Oh my god thank you !!! If i can be honest, I draw Kinich this way because when I draw him w a darker skin for the first time, I thought "Oh !!! he looks so cool !!!!" and seeing a lot of positive comment abt my Kinich just makes me happy so I keep him like this ! And thank you for sharing with me informations !<<333 This is not overstepping at all ! And it is a reciprocate feeling anon ! It might be a bit weird but "angry" is such a complex feeling for me. I feel it but I don't really know how to express it in the most healthy way and it is super frustrating. So... seeing people getting mad at something I also disagree on makes me feel better !! And for this, thank you all !

I SNORT SO HAAAARD Damn Macron you again..........!! I didn't put all ask here but I read them all !! Thank you for sharing with me your opinion and reaction, it is truly interesting (and way more relaxing that the hater anon kskskss) !! and again, your support is truly meaningful for me. You all have sincere gratitude Hope y'all have a great day !! Stay hydrated too <3

[mervardent]

About Natlan characters

People who somehow twist the situation with Natlan characters and call people wanting more diverse and accurate characters racist blow my mind, so here's me answering some of the most common arguments I see.

"They're Chinese devs! Chinese prefer light skin tones"

My brother in Christ, this is called colorism (prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group). Yes, it is common in China. No, it isn't good or excusable. Colorism being such a thing in China explains why it is like this, it doesn't excuse the devs. Plus... you realize it's not like all Chinese people have such light skin tones, right? The problem of colorism touches various Chinese people themselves, it's all about these unachievable beauty standards. Colorism isn't a preference, it's a prejudice.

"Chinese players pay the most money and they prefer light skin tones"

i already explained why colorism isn't an excuse. Again, what you say is true but it only puts things into a perspective, it doesn't make the situation good. Plus not gonna lie, the whole idea that people other than the CN server cannot express their opinions is ridiculous to me. All players are consumers. All players add to the success of the game, whether with their own money or being free advertisement to their friends. Taking the money of all your players but only opinions of some of them is condescending and money-hungry. You don't want opinions of people from other regions - don't even have servers in them in the first place.

"They'll lose money if they make more playable characters with dark skin tones"

If they'll make them as weak as Xinyan, Dehya or Candace - yeah, people won't roll for them. If they were good in gameplay and meta, however - I'm sure people would use money to get them. And really, the argument about losing some money by a company that is worth literal billions? There are characters with light skin tones that don't sell too well, and somehow Hoyoverse didn't go bankrupt because of one or two worse banners, shocking. Lastly, do you seriously think some CEOs' paychecks are more important than people's cultures?

"All you care about is skin color, you racist!"

Nah, I care about good representation. The ones who don't allow a few darker characters are the racist and/or colorist ones.

"You want all characters to be dark, but there are people from these regions in real life who have light skin tones too, you racist!"

Yes, people from these regions have different skin tones. That's the exact reason why there should be characters that have light skin tones, a little darker skin tones, even darker skin tones... Who said we cannot have a diverse cast? Who said adding a few characters with dark(er) skin tones means removing characters with light skin tones? How does their existence invide your personal space?

"There is no Mesoamerica/Egypt/India/insert-here-another-region-or-country in Genshin, they don't have to be accurate"

Oh yes, the "have cake and eat it" argument. So they take very clear inspirations from the real world (including calling characters after deities) but in this one very specific, heavily prejudiced aspect they choose not to, you say? And they can be very faithful to the culture they take inspirations from, especially if it is their own culture, but then they act carelessly with other ones, you say? And Genshin regions inspired by Asian and European regions are based each on one country (Mondstadt - Germany, Liyue - China, Inazuma - Japan, Fountaine - France, Shneznaya - Russia) but then they merge a few different cultures with Sumeru and Natlan, you say? Interesting. Totally not because of orientalism and colorism, not at all.

"They don't want to/cannot make these characters more accurate"

Then don't make regions in your game based on specific, existing in real life regions or countries. You cannot or don't want to do them justice? Don't use them.

"You said color doesn't matter when they made The Little Mermaid black, heheh"

First of all, your memeing skills suck, I've seen one and the same unoriginal, boommer-core meme like twenty times during my small research, do better. Second, you're fighting with an enemy you've imagined. I, for example, think about the "color doesn't matter" argument as wishful thinking because, unfortunately, we live in a world where it has mattered for a long time. You create your own enemy (because let's be real, you use we vs. they thinking here) and fight with this imagination instead of actually discussing. Third, you use a manipulative technique in which you make the discussion unproductive by making it about a way bigger issue instead of the one it should be centered on: Natlan (and Sumeru) characters. Fourth, there are various historical reasons why blind casting sometimes works and sometimes not, but that's a discussion for a different time. Fifth, let's be real, you haven't watched the new Little Mermaid anyway.

"Jeez, there should just be a Chinese server/there should only be Asian servers"

Depending on who writes this argument, it's either racist, xenophopic or oikophobic because of assumption people of certain origins, nationality, race or ethinicity cause a problem as a result of their origins, nationality, race or ethinicity. And it's not like Hoyoverse had to make these servers. They wanted to. Don't act like they're victims when they literally chose to have money of players from non-Asian regions. And don't act like all people from certain servers think the same.

"Characters from desert regions are/will be darker, these characters are from (a) forest region(s)"

We certainly don't live on the same planet, cause where I live people don't get a little darker only when they live in a desert area. Look at some tribes from the Amazon Rainforest, just as an example. And even look at NPCs in Sumeru - why this flawed logic that characters living in the forest are light-skinned is applicable only to the playable characters? NPCs have more varied skin tones than the playable characters. Because colorism.

tl;dr Don't act like it's anything else than a corporation being money-hungry and colorist.

[llocket]

NAHIDA HAS NO REASON TO BE WHITE. heres WHY

the reason why i'm making this post is because i am SICK and TIRED of seeing OTHER PEOPLE fight for MY CULTURE in the most INCORRECT WAY POSSIBLE. "nahida rcta queen!", "why are you blackwashing her?", "she switched teams!" all these comments and more under artists' posts that decided to give her melanin.

artists are just giving back her melanin as she is based off a culture with people who have dark skin. this is not racist. this is literally the opposite. i understand if a character already has an established skin colour that's apart of their character (ex. ei or zhongli) though with nahida this makes no sense.

i am indian, do NOT come after me. sumeru is based off of MY culture. i know what i'm talking about. a good 70% of sumeru is based off hindu culture, it's based off south asia.

more of my yapping:

you all need to shut the hell up about saraswati and how nahida is based off saraswati because saraswati's description is saying "shes as white as the moon" and nahida is white. you ALL need to BE QUIET ABOUT THAT.

this is saraswati, for reference:

saraswati is not ever mentioned in genshin impact. NOT ONCE. but, the aranara call rukkhadevata queen aranyani. aranyani is a very obscure hindu god known for taking care of the forest and dancing n stuff

THIS IS WHAT NAHIDA AND RUKKHADEVATA ARE BASED OFF OF. NOT SARASWATI. the only thing that saraswati and nahida (+ rukkha) have in-common is that other than being white and based off a hindu goddess

saraswati isn't even white, the pale as the moon thing refers to a godly glow. so even IF nahida and rukkha are based off saraswati, hoyo does NOT HAVE ANY REASON TO MAKE THEM WHITE SINCE SHE ISNT EVEN WHITE. she has a GODLY GLOW.

literally the only excuse nahida has for being that pale is that she's the avatar of irminsul (a white tree) HOWEVER. they didn't need to make her THAT pale. if they wanted to make her pale skin they should've added more colors like pinks and purples and blues like the actual irminsul

as you can VERY CLEARLY see, they did not do that. they did not even try to take this route.

everything could have been fine if they did take this route or make her eyelashes white and say she's albino if they really wanted her to be white. but they didn't.

indians can be pale, YES. but they aren't this paper caca toothpaste looking ass WHITE like how nahida is. REPRESENTATION FOR SKIN COLOUR MATTERS TOO. ITS NOT JUST THE CULTURE THEY'RE BASED OFF OF.

anyway thanks for coming to my yapping session. i love talking about my culture 👍 desi nahida layouts are here if you want to see :)

[cinnabutcringy]

[ just a small cw; i'm gonna be talking abt racist stereotypes, not very in depth but still ]

i said this on twitter but i'll say it here too: reverse1999 is NOT a perfect game and i think people should stop acting like it's "the exception" because of the devs doing the bare minimum when it comes to some of the representation.

like, it's okay to like these characters. hell, if you're part of the groups that they represent (indians, for example) then i'm not gonna tell you that you can't like them or find them decent representation. i also understand the feeling of "i take what i can get" when it comes to representation in media of marginalized groups.

but at the same time, i think it's important to acknowledge that there is genuinely criticisms to be had of this game and its way of handling non-east asian poc.

for one, there's only about 4 characters that have dark skin (i would not personally consider joe to be one of them but i'm counting him just bc i forgot to in my twt thread and also to just cover my bases.) kaalaa baunaa and kanjira do not have dark skin. has no one considered why this is???? at all???

and on the topic of kanjira, she also is a character full of orientalist stereotypes. i like kanjira, i think she's a sweet kid, but aside from that, she's written to be a thief, con artist and is illiterate and homeless. i'm not saying that that's not a reality for some kids, but the fact that she was deliberately written this way is kind of a red flag.

there's also some smaller things that people have pointed out like most of the representation in this game of those cultures being things like the characters naming off foods, or just saying small phrases (i.e. centurion talking about burritos and enchiladas, and leilani saying "aloha!") and not actually having many cultural references nor speaking a lot in their language

don't even get me STARTED on the lack of african or african american representation in this fuckin game.

again. i don't want to say that no one can like these characters. i don't want to say that people cannot relate to these characters, or that people can't think they're good representation. that's not my call especially not if you're part of the groups of ppl they're representing (i.e. latin americans, hawaiians, indians, etc.) but i think it is important to realize that like

well, for one, no group is a monolith. there are probably ppl who feel this way but either don't get heard or are too scared to say so.

and two, even if you're not a part of these groups, you can still recognize the flaws in something and acknowledge that, most likely, it's part of a bigger problem in society--colorism, orientalism, whatever. it's in many gacha games and will continue to be, and r1999 is not an exception that should be justified or ignored because "it's better than genshin impact"

[gacha-incels]

you’re never going to have a real conversation about racism, colorism, misogyny, pedo-pandering etc in regards to gacha if you’re looking at one single game, especially a relatively new one. like anything, this will be a superficial look at these problems with no understanding of root causes. this has been most apparent when users will say “don’t play X gacha, play Y gacha instead.” these are industry-wide problems. you’re not doing anyone any favors pretending otherwise. I’m not saying this because I love or hate any of these games, I don’t really care, I’m not coming into conversations about this with the mindset of a “fan”. You need to objectively look at the function of these games in the society from which they come and the relation they have with their target market. Your frame of mind needs to be out of “fandom” mode to do this. You need to understand the target market these games try to reach and their reputation in their country of origin. The games are technically “free” - the consumer is not paying for the story, music, worldbuilding, etc. they are paying large amounts of money (for actual big spenders, thousands per month) to gamble for singular characters, so in turn these characters’ designs must reflect what the consumer most desires to an extreme extent- and this is of course informed by a lifetime’s worth of societal conditioning (media/advertising/gov/etc) and the prejudices that entails. essentially, because everything is banking on selling these characters, the designs are a direct reflection of the consumerbase who in turn are reflections of the society they’ve been conditioned by. they get shown what they want to see and expect to see what they get shown in what eventually becomes a feedback loop that enforces itself, this isn’t unique to gacha (though it’s extremely visible), you can see this happening in other forms of media as well. for something more benign, an example is in US media the eagle’s cry was replaced by the more dramatic sounding red tailed hawk because that’s what viewers expected it to sound like, and after seeing so much media where the eagle is associated with the hawk sound clip this falsity became reality to them through this “movie magic”. It doesn’t matter what reality is, it matters what the viewer’s perception of reality is. Power produces reality. media like this is used not so benignly. this is why good representation in media is fought for, there’s the ability to have a huge effect on a populace, also why “all art is political” it’s who greenlites it, who funds it, who hosts it, where is it shown, who sees it, etc this is all politics. all of this is related.

I would say the average gacha design/character doesn’t want to challenge anything but use the signifiers of contemporary stereotypes already rigidly in place to flatter the consumer’s already held beliefs- and typically it boils down to this is the “demure” (most often East Asian) girl who will fuck you, this is the “exotic” (most often generic fantasy SWANA-like stereotyped) girl who will fuck you, this is the “motherly” girl who will fuck you, this is the “little girl” who will fuck you, this is the “angry” girl that says she hates you but you still own, this is your “cool bro” who is designed to not make men feel uncomfortable. by doing this they are also entering the feedback loop of, for example, racial stereotyping, so this absolutely isn’t to say these designs are harmless.. one year thigh straps are in, one year bare feet are in, one year tech accessories are in, every year racism is in, every year misogyny is in. If you’re coming into this thinking a game like Genshin is leading the pack in any of these areas besides being an open world game and its UI you’re kidding yourself. There are thousands of these games, they’ve been coming out since like 2012 with Puzzle & Dragons, LL:SIF was huge on this website when Nozomi was the designated “thick” anime girl (plus ça change), FGO started in back 2015 and continues to reach new heights of pedophilic design and racism each day. The reason why you will sometimes see riskier design choices in music, NPCs, side stories, background design is that no one is paying to gamble for those things.

[miyulien]

rant.

extremely unrelated post regarding Omori/pjsk or my au!

I am very annoyed by how hoyoverse ultimately refuses to incorporate any kind of melanin or dark-skinned characters in their game(s), especially in genshin, where they take cultures of other people. they take all of the food, the landscapes, the language, and the mannerisms as well as the clothing, (be it over-sexualised at times) but they don’t carry the beautiful ethnic features that the people of those cultures have.

i am aware that hoyoverse is a Chinese company, and its player base is full of Chinese and the standard is very much based on the Chinese standards (pale skin, thin legs, tall stature, straight hair etc.) however, regardless of your country’s beauty standards, you can’t take steal other country’s cultures and proceed to not use the people’s appearances as well, it’s like you say everything they’ve made is beautiful, from the landscapes, the buildings, the cultural traditions and the way they act.. but you. its genuinely so hurtful to see in for example; sumeru,

literally based off of middle-eastern and south-asians, which both of these cultures have predominantly dark-skinned people. but our cultures are being used constantly without our own ethnic features along with it.

the only time I ever see a character with my skin tone in sumeru, is the enemies we have to fight. the disrespect that is, to know your skin tone just isn’t good enough, not marketable enough, so they won’t make you a real character.

the idea that everything we’ve created, things we’ve worked years on, traditions that have been kept and maintained as well as shared over the centuries, is practically perfect and beautiful in hoyo’s eyes.. but, us? we’re not marketable enough, our looks aren’t good enough. the idea of having melanin is jarring nowadays, seeing characters with some sort of “imperfections” like “dark skin” is disgusting. why must we cast away the beauties of others appearance, the way they look in general, but we proceed to be overjoyed at their creations yet not the creators themselves.

it is genuinely super annoying to see how little dark skinned characters there are in genshin, and hsr, I’m not even talking about just adding diversity just to appease others, I’m talking about adding dark skinned characters and just making them normal people, without simply adding melanin just to make others shut up. why can u make every single light skinned character normal, and human, yet you can’t do the same with dark skinned characters? sumeru, natlan are based off of countries/regions that are filled with beautiful different skin tones, and hair types that don’t fit the Chinese beauty standards.

and it’s fine, beauty standards are present everywhere, but it shouldn’t be an issue to not make everything fit your country’s beauty standards, especially when you are profiting off of another country’s culture. also, can we talk about how there is literally barely any proper significance dark skin characters have in their storylines? there is barely any kind of importance that dark skinned characters have in events or even the main storyline, they appear once or twice during the quests but barely matter afterwards? they are constantly shunned and cast to the side, as if hoyoverse is ashamed of including any kind of diversity…? you can take everyone’s cultural backgrounds and their own ethnicity’s creations, but you can’t take their ethnicity’s appearance too? is it so hard to make a character with curly hair, or wavy hair for that matter.. or even make them black? is it hard to have afros, or braids, or make styles other then just exaggerated stereotypical anime straight hair?

I know it is to get profit, and that these characters wouldn’t do as well from what hoyoverse sees..

but, so many people are longing for these types of appearances, so many people want these representations, for dark skinned characters to be seen in media without simply having to be stereotypical or just added for basic diversity, just.. to be normal, like any other light skinned characters are.

It’s like me taking Chinese culture, the beautiful views, the buildings, the food, the mannerisms, and the traditions.. but not their ethnic features. people would be complaining over it and be totally pissed off, but why do we brush off the issue when it’s regarding dark skinned people not getting representation when their literal culture is constantly used in different games, like genshin, but the people themselves aren’t included?

i am not stating that light skinned people aren’t beautiful, in fact they are stunning, everyone is regardless of their melanin or lack thereof, I believe everyone’s features are beautiful, from dark skin, to tanned, to light, or pale. straight hair, wavy hair, curly hair, or coily hair, or even mixes. everyone is beautiful, and that is the truth, they all have features that make them stunning. but it’s just that the representations are so minimal in terms of dark skinned people, that is why I’m making this post.

as u can see, the literal pyro archon has not a shade of melanin, like what? none of the archons have melanin, not a single one of them? literal archons based off of regions that have predominantly dark skinned people, are all pale? huh??

i love hoyo games very much, and I love the stories but i just have noticed a total disregard and practical disrespect of dark skinned people who have stated that they want more representation seeing as hoyo uses their own culture but not their appearances, its just depressing to see what your ancestors have created, the hard work it took for you to maintain your culture, only for a huge company to swoon in and take that culture, and market it, but change your appearances to better fit their idea of ‘attractive’. As if you aren’t good enough, you aren’t marketable whatsoever.

they can easily incorporate inazuma accurately, which is based off of Japanese culture, they can use their ethnic features, and the way that they look, they can use the culture, the food, the traditions and events and the mannerisms and clothing, but they can also use their features? what’s the difference between Hispanic culture, and Japanese culture? why is it easy to use Japanese features but not Hispanic? it’s no coincidence.

I don’t like complaining in general, especially abt this, but honestly I have just seen this happen so much during the updates that I really got tired of cultures being used and praised, but the people themselves aren’t worthy of the same thing because they don’t fit the ‘beauty standard’

at the end of the day, you can do what you want, but if you are going to use a country’s culture, and profit off of it, the least you could do is also include their ethnic features instead of appeasing to your country’s beauty standards constantly.

hoyoverse is a multi-billion dollar company, it really isn’t that hard to include other ethnicites beautiful melanin and natural ethnic traits that they have, like greek noses, flat noses, upturned noses, small lips, big lips, big eyes and small eyes. thick eyelashes, long eyelashes, mixed skin tones, freckles and more, it’s just features that carry beauty, the mesmerising history of a culture to them. it isn’t that hard to include it, if you are willing to steal a culture, and call that culture perfect, except the people that created that culture.

do better, hoyoverse.

[dumplingsfordays]

you're so pretty, you're so popular

albedo x gn!reader [university au]

genre - fluff

summary - albedo has a little (not really) crush on a semi-popular kid at his school.

cw!: jealousy, albedo's obsessed with you (in a good way I promise), professor ships you two

note - i used to simp for albedo so hard and then I stopped playing genshin... he's still pretty boy in my book though. feel like they did his hair dirty though, it's supposed to be so fluffy and they just massacred it :(

and as always, thank you for reading!

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

Albedo was jealous of your friends. That was the one simple truth that he never wanted to admit to himself. He'd see you laughing along with them after you'd shown them a funny video and wish that he was the one that was holding you from falling backwards onto the grass as you shook from incessant, adorable giggles, that he was the one whose face hurt from smiling at your radiant expression everyday.

As much as he loved truth, he couldn't bring himself to face it.

And he'd sit on a bench in the shade of an oak tree during lunch, whose relatives sparingly dotted the small field on which you were talking with your friends, and in a sketchbook he would draw you and him on that same grass, blanketed in sunshine as you talked about anything you'd want to. After all, hearing your voice was enough for him to break an uncommon smile.

Albedo did this day after day, and luckily for him, you'd sit on that grass with your friends consistently from midday to 1:30. It was a nice break from the otherwise monotonous existence he led - study, eat, study, walk, draw, work, eat, sleep.

Oddly enough, almost every activity on that list somehow related back to you. The margins of his notes were occasionally occupied by studies of your eyes and hair; when he'd eat, his meals were inspired by what you ate for lunch; his walks were accompanied by music that you'd recommended to him some time ago; and when he slept, his brain would sometimes conjure up images of you hugging him, saying that he'd need to hold out just a little longer and maybe when he has the chance, he'll ask you out. Drawing brought him passion and he did use it as a side source of income, but lately they'd been plagued by splintered fragments of your soul.

He did it automatically, really - he'd add in a dash of your favorite color, draw a person in the background with the same hairstyle that you usually wore, and one time, when Albedo had been painting a portrait for his art midterm, he sketched out a scarily accurate representation of your countenance, usual accessories and all.

He immediately erased it, of course. You were in the same class as him and if he brought the canvas to the professor in front of you, there was no way that you wouldn't be weirded out by him. Who does that, anyway? He'd be better off painting his little cousin, Klee, who was a ray of sunshine and was bound to earn him a hundred.

The stars aligned in such an unpredictable way for him towards the end of the year after a particularly tiring lecture. You, in all your bright, angelical beauty, walked right up to him as he was about to leave and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, 'Bedo!" you smile as he whips his head around to face you. You don't know what you do to him when you call him by his nickname - he practically melts each time.

"Hey." He's panicking - it's obviously not a bad thing, you're smiling, you don't think he's creepy or annoying or anything, so everything's okay, as long as he plays it cool and-

"So, I've been thinking," you start, averting your eyes to look at the floor and then back to him. "We haven't really hung out in a bit. Do you want to grab a bite somewhere sometime? It's okay if you can't, I know you're super busy and all but I found this super nice place that just opened nearby and I thought that it'd be nice to try it out."

He swallows. "Y-yeah, that would be nice-"

"Great!" Albedo blinks at your rather loud interruption and you clear your throat awkwardly. "Um, I mean, um, yeah! So, I think you have my number, so just text me when you're free and and we'll figure it out."

You'd never tell it to anyone but you find his small, shy grin so endearing. He stutters a little when he replies but you think it's cute - he'd never know that unless you told him straight to his face though.

"Sounds- sounds good, yeah."

"So, we're set?"

He nods and grabs his bag, offering to walk with him. You accept with a smile, to which his face reddens, and as you walk out together the professor sighs.

"Young love," he chuckles. "Guess they'll be sitting together from now on."

[i23kazu]

𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒

these are all my ocs !!! do be nice :-) i've worked hard on them hehehe and i'm glad they get to come out of the basement now, please click on the picrews for better quality ! ! !! | post best viewed in light mode

𝓵𝓾𝓬𝓲𝓮𝓷

he/him | 24 y.o. | modern au genshin !!! | ✦✦✦✦

fontainian intern at tianquan co ( a government agency dealing with policies ) !

lucien is originally from the court of fontaine but studied in liyue for law (ex-classmates with yanfei heheeee) and is now working as an intern ( because the government companies in liyue won't let him full time :") )

he hopes to create a stronger support group for foreigners in liyue to connect them with job opportunities & resource broking heh – he and yanfei work together to try and find loopholes but liyue law is TIGHTT

wishes he could do more though ngl poor bebs

hydro polearm :3 !!!!

it was his flex for a while that he got the same element as the one from his homeland mwahaha

love language : words of affirmation

𝓴𝓪𝓲𝓵𝓪𝓱

she/her | 20 y.o. | slight modern au genshin !!! | ✦✦✦✦

LIYUEAN SOCIAL WORKER !!!! <333 she's my representation /cope

masc girl ever

works in liyue's youth sector for the ministry of social affairs !! covers up her tattoo when she goes to work (everyone always asks her why she's wearing a turtleneck in office)

has a wolfcut - mullet - thingy ?? ?? ?

super boisterious like this girl is loud. she's one of beidou's friends & is close to shuying ( my self-insert oc !!! )

yongjia's twin !!! younger than him by 4 mins

does boxing in her spare time

u'll find her organising peaceful protests when she can btw #advocate

pyro claymore !!!

love language : physical touch

𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓳𝓲𝓪

he/him | 20 y.o. | slight modern au genshin | ✦✦✦✦

communications manager for a supply company that works with the restaurants of liyue!

kailah's twin !!!! older by 4 minutes

the more reserved sibling – but certain people definitely bring out certain parts of himself

dyed his hair bc he went through the phase of not wanting to look like kailah ..

ask him out with drinks after work, why don't you?

this man has really good memory ... remembers the little things about everybody + analytical ass brain

the brain of the twins, while kailah is the heart

well liked by the aunties of liyue what can i say

geo sword !!!

love language : quality time

𝓼𝓱𝓾𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰

she/ her | 18 y.o. | slight modern au genshin | ✦✦✦✦

studying social work!!! kailah is her mentor & is one of her good friends

she wants to work with little kids in the future!!

is baizhu’s daughter :3

absolutely adores the twins, they’re like the older siblings she never had

has tried to pick up crocheting. never again. her hands were shaking the entire time and she couldn’t do anything

loves giving gifts!!!

tbh shuying is my self insert soooo. if i continue any longer it’ll just be “hey isnt this just ying”

dendro polearm !!!!

love language : physical touch

𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷

he/him | 25 y.o. | modern au genshin | ✦✦✦✦

a librarian at the house of daena :3

loves making friends honestly!! he's down if you're down.. except that some over-excited students take him a bit too seriously and get their hearts crushed

local sweetheart i'm ngl. good with old ladies and good with children. very sweet

family man! will introduce his family one day

heuheuehuue i love him so much,,, this sweetheart,,,

also his name was inspired from a typo btw. just saying

anemo catalyst !!!!

love language : acts of service

picrew one | picrew two

[genshinincorrectly]

Hello, I'd like to say first that I am extremely interested in all cultures, and I love to learn about everyone's culture despite skin color. The culture of Natlan is especially interesting to me, especially because of places I've been able to visit when I was young here in America. I'm very glad I know as much about certain cultures as I do because it's very interesting to relate it all to genshin. I cannot stand racism at all, but I'm going to be completely honest, I don't think what Hoyoverse is doing with Natlan is completely racist. When Sumeru came out, I was completely surprised at how dark they made some of the characters. Because of where Hoyoverse originates from, I didn't actually expect there to be that many, and I'm actually extremely grateful that they're putting as many dark characters as they are in Genshin. I think it's amazing that they're representing so many cultures as well. I think this is a huge thing for a mainly Chinese company like Hoyoverse. I don't think they're gonna make the skin colors any better, though. I am a bit upset that some of the Natlan characters are completely white, and I'm worried about what it means, but the quests haven't come out yet, so I can't say if it's good or not. I think that the skin color situation in Sumeru is acceptable because of the circumstances in the lore, and I'm hoping that Natlan is similar. Because of what Natlan is about, I think there will be multiple groups of characters, and some of them just may be lighter for the sake of separation. I also don't think the dark characters are to light. I personally think that the response people are having to this stuff is extremely selfish, especially facing a company based in the culture it's in. I wish some fictional characters were darker, but I still think Hoyoverse is doing an amazing job of representing cultures without including skin color.

i don’t think this is the place to debate whether a notoriously racist company is being racist yet again, but i’ll address all of your points in order because you seem to be well meaning enough

1. ever since the Natlan trailer, people of every single culture meant to be “represented” have been very upset. the general consensus i’ve heard is that many people are excited their culture is going to be in the game, but are upset at the portrayal. for example, i have a Hawaiian friends who loves Mualani, but is VERY upset at the amount of racism present in her character.

2. the “darker” skintones in sumeru are actually incredibly pale. for example, cyno, a character that many consider “dark skinned” has a similar skin tone to me, a white person. the darkest skin tone of the playable characters is barely even brown, and there are new enemy npcs in Natlan who are much darker than any of the playable characters.

3. the boycott is not only about skin colors. it also includes removing of racist caricatures (dori), the removing of the blackface art on a wall in zzz, and the renaming of Arlan’s skills.

4. when it comes to the skin color situation in Sumeru, i am inclined to listen to SWANASA people, who have been saying it was colorist since the beginning. there is no “lore reason” these characters should be paler, considering the real life equivalent of Sumeru is a wide range of countries, cultures, and ethnic groups.

5. calling people of color “selfish” for wanting their culture to be represented accurately in media is incorrect and racist. furthermore, skin color is a very important part of representation, especially when it comes to the cultures Natlan is supposed to be representing, as many of the people of those cultures have darker skin. again, i’ll use Mualani as an example- Hawaiians tend to have darker skin, so it would only make sense for that to carry over. if you genuinely believe wanting a variety of skin tones is selfish, i believe you should take a look at yourself and reexamine your biases.

i’d also like to point out that during the Sumeru beta, there were several npcs who had pale skin that where later changed to be darker. the same thing also happened with the chief of Mualani’s tribe (i forgot her name). also, the open ended question on surveys have been removed, and the moderation behind the Honkai Impact 3rd twitter account has been hiding replies related to the boycott. so, they know about it. i don’t believe the boycott is pointless, and i don’t think those of us who are not a part of the cultures that have been whitewashed or misrepresented have any right to ignore this. those who are impacted directly by hoyoverse’s racism have called for a boycott, so it is our duties as allies to participate.

[prince-liest]

Hi there! I've been having SO much fun with your 666 verse, and I can't send you enough Kudos for your ace-spec / touch-averse representation of Alastor. I'm a big fan of how you build up and build in the gentle moments of caring between alastor and vox but honestly I am also a big fan of them exploring the D/s dynamics that emerge (I'm also so happy that they're not fixed within the dynamic / roles but rather explore)!

Ayyy, hello there and thank you so much!

I am fairly rarely actually strictly fixed about the dynamics I prefer to see in ships—it's happened on occasion in different fandoms, admittedly, but it's always a characterization thing for me—and for Vox and Alastor in particular they honestly just 100% strike me as the kind of people who enjoy both roles. Alastor because "sadomasochist" just seems like his thing, and Vox because he's obsessive and gives 110 very enthusiastic percent to anything involving Alastor. So I'm really glad you're enjoying! I've spent the last few years in danmei and Genshin fandoms which tend to be a little more... let's say picky about the idea of fixed dynamics (whether they be top/bottom or d/s), hahaha, so the positive reception that radiostatic being the switchy as heck is getting is genuinely so nice to me.

One of the fun parts of writing radiostatic in 666 is that Vox doms more often and enjoys the hell out of it, but at the same time, even when he is taking on a dominant role in an encounter (I hesitate to call them scenes because they kind of are in terms of how the two of them wear the roles, but also they're generally not at all negotiated or defined as such by radiostatic themselves), it's still relatively clear that there's a bit of a power imbalance in terms of who openly cares more about the other's opinion—and it's in Alastor's favor. Which I think comes through in how the flavor of their play changes depending on what roles they're taking on in a fun way!

And that resulting power imbalance has been slowly closing somewhat as Alastor grows to care more and, as you said, realizes that it's actually important and not always necessarily fucking painful for him to show that he at least fundamentally gives a shit in those quieter moments. But it will probably never close entirely, because consistently behaving like he's beholden to the good opinion of another person would give Alastor hives and possibly anaphylaxis, let us be real.

Anyway, thank you very much for your kind words! I hope you continue to enjoy!!

[erabu-san]

You are literally French. What would you know about any of this, an issue and drama stirred up by anericans.

Blackwashing exists and is used by bigots that hate white people. Its used to erase the ethnicity of asians just because people dont think they are "poc enough" because of their pale skin. Its used to demonize people with pale skin because its becoming more and more the norm to view anyone with pale skin as evil. That anyone who is "too pale" isnt enough or a human being.

They arent real people, and their skintones are fine as is. You wouldnt go up to, for example an albino or mixed race black/poc person and tell them they arent "dark enough". They dont even need to be special like that to be pale. Some just are pale.

Whether you think there should be more characters that are dark or not is not the issue. Its that you think they wouldnt be/arent good enough as is with pale skin that shows how much of a bigot you are.

Blackwashing is not the progressive act you think it is. Its obvious that your only experience with it is through genshin drama. You obviously know nothing about how much red haired pale characters & asian ones are substituted with black characters. How characters are simply replaced in the name of "diversity". How this forced inclusivity and diversity is just bigots trying to "get revenge" on the white people they hate so much, and to tick off DEI boxes on their little bigoted checklist.

You tell me to educate myself but its actually YOU who needs to be educated.

Many are complaining about sumeru and natlan characters with names similar to gods in cultures of our world that are pale when their inspiration is dark skinned. Claiming they want representation and for it to be accurate, to reflect our world on a 1-1 scale.

Yet these same people will make xiao, zhongli, Ei, and many more asian characters darker " because asians can be dark skinned too". Yet so can mostly dark skinned races be pale.

So why cant you (gen) respect such characters, who are gods and divine beings based on a culture where pale is more beautiful, and gods of such cultures are pale?

There is hypocrisy in everything to do with blackwashing. Its okay when its done to pale characters because in real life black people have been oppressed? But these characters are not real, nor are they a reflection of our reality, as far as we have seen they dont even have racism in this fictional world.

It is one thing to explore a character like with the recent hatsune miku trend, atleast there most people arent going at each other's throats saying black miku is better than japanese miku(as far as i have seen)

Seriously how can you even begin to justify this. And who ever told you that dark skinned characters "scare white people" is an absolute fucking liar trying to justify their own bigotry towards white people.

No black washing IS just as disgusting as whitewashing. Neither should exist, and you shouldn't feed into the stupid circle jerk of bigotry that both of them are.

Aaaah that's what I like ! Yes ! Thank you for telling me your opinion, explaining what is wrong. I absolutely love to learn, and I prefer to read this long text calling me ignorant and explaining why that just a simple text of you saying you are annoyed by a fanart.

Thank you for telling me ! First yes I am french, and indeed my culture has more an european pov. But again, I also grow up as a minority "race" with my parents culture !🙏 in france, i don't look like a french. Well. Still I am aware that it doesn't remove anything from what I said

And I totally agree with you, some are just pale !! It just happens I draw Kinich black because I like it like this. Is Kinich true inspiration are actually pale ? Tell me more, I wish to learn !!

Tbh when you talk abt gods being pale is beautiful, I thought about Nahida. I did research when she were out and yes, I do agree, there is character who are fine as they are.

And because I live in France I also see "dark skin scare white" as a true fact. It happens and it is harmful. 🧍 not only in France tho, in country where pale skin is portrayed as beautiful, people who have tan skin are less represented even if it is the majority. I suppose the contrary happens too !!

"Character are not real" and yet you are annoyed, I guess it is the action of "blackwash" that make you mad, more than "a fictional character w diffent skin tone" tho! My opinion is fiction does affect real world, as do real life affects fiction, and this is something I won't debate on

"They don't have racism in this fictional world" sorry but it does in Sumeru. 🙏 about this one npc she is reject by forest and desert because of them being mixed, desert not being access to book and even Cyno said his scholarship was complicated because he is from desert

If you wish to continue, please send me DM with arguments. I don't know if I would change my mind of not drawing Kinich pale, but I am super interested about what you have to say !! 👍👍

[hsr-texts]

I have faith that Hanabi's insult has a deeper meaning in the plot, they have been building it up too well to remain in nothing!

There have certainly been racist things and off-topic comments in Hoyoverse games, but never like this, there has to be something!

The thing is, I really feel that it is too early to say whether the insult was unnecessary or not, because racism is a real issue and there is no problem in representing it, there is no problem in representing minorities... The thing is, I really want to believe, that it is missing, because there is still a lack of story, and they haven't finished with Aventurine to say that it was a bad representation, more people may even appear!

I really have a lot of faith in Hoyoverse, because for me they are MiHoyo, that company that makes beautiful games and gives the opportunity to dozens of people to be artists, writers, musicians and also bring joy. MiHoyo gave me and gives me beautiful moments, but it can also be crude when dealing with its topics

k The story of Aventurine is missing, the story of all the people like Aventurine is missing, so much is missing, as marketing is doubtful, but I am not going to rush to criticize something that is NOTHING finished

If in the end everything was for nothing and they wasted that opportunity to address a serious issue, then I have to cry, no way, you don't defend the indefensible, but I don't want to unfairly cross out something

There is still about 3 weeks left to find out about Aventurine and if everything was really "unnecessary", and until then it seems fool to me to criticize something unresolved and so obvious, which is for the plot

¿Do you want to make your villain racist because your story lends itself to that? You can do it, but it will take time to develop, and we don't give it the time, there are still 1 or 2 updates left

I won't deny that Hoyoverse has provided tons of comfort and joy to billions of people all over the world. I won't deny that there's a beauty in their games. There's absolutely no shame in taking comfort in these games and consuming it. I can't blame anyone for being attached to genshin or hsr or hi3 or tears of themis, you get the idea.

But I can't lie to you guys and say that there's still a possibility that this would turn out well. I've witnessed how Hoyoverse handled the entirety of Sumeru. Are there some aspects of Sumeru that were good? Undoubtedly. It's one of the regions I had the most fun exploring.

However it's extremely telling to me that they haven't learned at all from that situation considering they keep insisting on adding racism plotlines to their story.

My faith in them to handle this properly and with care is in the absolute negatives since the Sumeru situation. I fear for what will happen when Natlan finally drops and to no one's surprise, the archon is gonna be white again and this whole song and dance will repeat just like a samsara.

At the end of the day, Hoyoverse is just another money hungry gacha company who wants to drain your wallets.

It's evident from the dogshit anniversary rewards in genshin,

it's evident from how they always design their characters to be these appealing anime waifu or husbando without ever straying from the standard formula of "thin white/slightly tan character with clothes that make fans bark like a dog",

it's evident in how they seem to drop more money on advertising than they drop on actually improving the game,

and it's evident with how little they actually listen to players' feedback.

Selling these characters and turning up a profit comes first, the story comes second. I'd rather trust a racism plotline in the hands of an indie creator who actually cares about the storytelling medium and does research than a corporation who HAS the resources to do the research but chooses not to.

Hoyoverse is special to many people, but it's time to wake up. Clinging onto a multi-billion company like this isn't healthy.

[mielwriting]

Confession: With the Pyro Archon leaks, is bad that actually want to pull for her Conquiestor looks? I'm not blind to history, I KNOW the Spanish did many terrible things in Meso-America. But it's part of the history of the area. And that what makes it interesting.

I am flattered you asked my opinion on this! I have so much to say! Thank you!

Warning: the following post features minor details about the pyro archon's leaked appearance. If you don't want those, come back to this post once it's been officially revealed.

Ok so I saw this and came up with thoughts about it before I saw what you reposted about all the cultural inspirations for a fair-skinned pyro archon, but generally I agree with those.

1st of all, especially with Neuvillette and Apep, Genshin has really been focusing on the idea of the Archons as colonizers. So it makes sense to me to design one of them actually based on a real-world colonizer.

Also, I don't know how many leaks each of us has seen, but her design is not (to my knowledge) specific to the Conquistador soldiers of the 1500s and 1600s. Her (leaked) design also resembles bullfighters in general, a sport that's still popular in Spain and Mexico (and I think other Latin American countries too, but I'm not certain off the top of my head). So her design could be more of a reference to the whole "fighting as a beloved national pastime" thing that might be central to Natlan's culture.

As for her (and the rest of Natlan) being light-skinned, I blame the CCP. If you may not know, China, where Genshin's owners are located, is currently living under an authoritarian government. Speaking out against the leader can be dangerous, and the government is actively committing a genocide against their primarily Muslim, Turkic ethnic minority (the Uyghurs).

All this to say, it's not so easy to defy them. So if the CCP insists that Genshin Impact, its largest cultural export, only show pale skinny characters that match certain beauty standards, then I won't blame Hoyoverse for following that rule. They are doing what they can to provide representation under a dictatorship, and that's commendable. I think it's more important that a lot of Genshin's stories have themes of overthrowing tyrants. Genuinely impressive they were able to add those parts (Venti, Mondstadt, gods willingly giving up power, Sumeru's coup, Neuvillette saying the Usurpers must face judgement, etc).

Finally, it is just a video game. I don't know how old we are in relation to each other, but I had my first history class while also having unmonitored internet access. It was a time, and trying to form my morals while watching cancel culture was weird. Yes, stories are important. Yes, representation or lack thereof does matter. But ultimately, it's not the biggest thing. There are big, important differences between a story who explicitly advocates for oppression and erasure of history, a story whose deeper themes may end up selling the wrong message, a story who tries but misses the mark, and a story that simply... has character designs that may or may not share clothes with historical colonizers.

Sure, the character designs aren't IDEAL representation, but the overarching story consistently sends a message of "rebel against oppressors, seek justice for the oppressed" and I think Hoyo deserves a lot of credit for that, especially since it's being sold to citizens living under an autocrat.

Thank you again for asking me! I'm glad you think I give good enough advice on minor moral dilemmas. Have a great day!

[tnsophiaonly]

A rant about genshin impact that I need to let out so badly.

I swear if someone complains about a game's representation, design, gameplay, story, and things and things when they have no experience and when the game is actually good, I'm gonna go ballistic.

Like stfu about the give more rewards, LIKE DO BETTER, so what if you lost your 50/50? WOMP WOMP SKILL ISSUE, so what if the children are older than they look? YOU'RE JUST BEING CREEPY. So what if you spent money on it? THAT'S ON YOU. So what if you're too lazy to grind? THEN DON'T AND DON'T ASK FOR REWARDS.

And if I see a comment stating, "It's just a game." THEN THIS FANDOM OF THIS GAME IS SO HORRID I WAS PERSONALLY OFFENDED, LIKE SHUT UP OH MY GOD.

EVERY SINGLE THING I SEE ARE PROBLEMS, LIKE THERE'S BARELY NO ONE WHO APPRECIATES THE BEAUTY OF THE GAME AND FOCUSES MORE ON HOW IT HAS LESS SKIN TONE REPRESENTATION, HAS "MID" DESIGNS, "LOLICON BAIT", "NOT GENEROUS", OR "WORSER THAN THIS THAT" AND MANY MORE

You all are acting like my parents smh, but at least my parents notice the good things. You all are nothing but ungrateful, and so stupid, unless you're a professional or anything, YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO SPEAK, MAYBE EVEN IF YOU'RE A PROFESSIONAL.

Like "Oh what's the point of the feedback then if they won't listen?" Are you the one doing the game? Are you the one who has to code, animate, pay, and all of that shit to the game? Like yeah, you can have your opinions, but don't you ever try to print that on someone's mind! Like it's an opinion for a reason?!

And I swear to God, skin tones are such a problem these days! Why are you so mad that someone is pale?! LIKE, just make your own game or have a redesign, no need to HARRASS THE PEOPLE WHO DOES IT. Like I understand the lack of representation in skin tone, but don't go saying they suck at the representation when they've done so much for it???

The developers are just doing what they're told from the higher ups!! Oh my god.

I literally needed to let this out, because TikTok is the bane of my existence. Like I swear I want to just tell these people off, but I actually have a life.

GENSHIN IMPACT IS A GOOD GAME. ALMOST THE ENTIRE OF THE FANDOM SUCKS. AND THEY NEED TO STOP BEING SO SENSITIVE AND THE TWINKIFYING IS ANNOYING.

HONKAI STAR RAIL IS A GREAT GAME AND SO IS GENSHIN, THEY HAVE DIFFERENT MECHANICS SO STOP COMPARING THE TWO WHEN GENSHIN IS HARDER TO CODE?

And I'll remind you that not everyone is like this, I've met people who actually sees the great things on genshin. I've met great and fun players. Not everyone in the fandom is horrible, but it's so embarrassing to tell people I play genshin impact because of that part of the fandom.

Like please just don't ever speak again as no one needs your opinion🧚‍♀️✨😍

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