#See and this is why i hate aventurine fans

[opikiquu]

[another-goblin]

I've seen a lot of interesting opinions about Dr. Ratio. Some of them I disagree with. So I decided to compile a little list of why I disagree with them. The first part will be about things that seem factually incorrect, and the second part is about things that are rather a matter of interpretation and context.

As always, I might be wrong, so feel free to correct me.

1. Things that seem factually incorrect. 

"Ratio is an egoist and does everything for attention and recognition" - I don't remember him ever saying or doing anything that would indicate that. He saved these researchers secretly and made our TB take all the credit. He later even calls himself a "supporting character". He gets angry if we ask him for an autograph.

"He doesn't care about people" - yes, if you skipped his passionate speech to Screwllum about how much he cares about people. But also, everything he does in the game is helping people (saving these researchers on Herta station, offering us his help later in the express dialogues and messages - offering us to enroll in university, participate in devates, turn the express into a weapon, later helping Aventurine with his plan, helping him to find information, and so on).

"He hasn't achieved anything in science" - the list of his scientific achievements is easily available, I wouldn't say it's nothing. But I'll also leave this here:

Even his dedicated hater disagrees with this.

"Ratio's note did nothing to convince Aventurine to stay alive, it was all Acheron" - from how I see it, he was fully determined to end his life up until he read that note. Otherwise, why would they introduce the note at all? Why did Acheron feel the need to remind him of it?

"He never wanted to draw the gaze of Nous" and "He still wants it" - we can deduce that it isn't true from different parts of the game (he actually wanted it in the past but doesn't anymore), but that is a direct confirmation:

(I trust Screwllum's opinion.)

"Everybody hates him in-universe" - this is interesting because I even heard this from his fans. And it might sort of feel intuitive, but I don't remember any evidence of that. He literally has an in-universe fan club. People who knew him closely talk about him warmly in his character stories. The only person I remember ever expressing any negativity towards him was some shcolar in the Simulatred Universe, but I don't think it counts. I'll talk more about his students in particular later, but short version: I don't think they hate him either.

"I hate it when he tells me 'Zero points, get out' and throws chalk at me, that's mean" - that's so weirdly specific, but I've seen it a dozen times already. And, like, why??? He tells it to his enemies, not to us. I mean, nobody's angry at Serval for electrocuting her fans with her guitar just because that's what she does in her fighting animation.

Speaking of combat voice lines, if we wait too long, most characters get irritated and try to hurry us up. Meanwhile Ratio:

'That's okay, take your time, it's a turn-based game after all.'

"He's physically abusive to his students, he throws chalk at them" - similar to the previous point. I don't remember any mention of him doing that. The only case of him using physical force against a (potential) student was when, as a TA, he threw away a rich asshole who tried to buy a degree. And yes, in the boring real world, I wouldn't approve of that, but in the world of the game - well done, good ridance!

"He doesn't tolerate people disagreeing with him, he thinks he's always right"

"He's responsible for the crisis at Herta Station" - how though? I saw this opinion several times, and I'm really curious what people mean by that. Did he himself endanger these researchers by teleporting them who knows where, then faked the video from Duke Inferno, and so on? But why stop here while we're at it , maybe he also impersonated Ruan Mei, left the bug on the station, abandoned the poor cat-creatrures and drugged us with a cake?…

"He's worse than Dottore from Genshin" - technically it's a matter of opinion, but I think nobody will mind if I put it in the 'just wrong' category. But yeah, that's an opinion I've heard. I've got no idea what they meant, but it made me think, how many people did he help and save, both in the game and in his past? Probably more than most of the characters we've met so far. And he doesn't seem to discriminate, it's not 'I'll save my people'. He cured that disease for everybody's benefit, he saved Herta's researchers, he helped TB unravel the events on the station and then proceeded to pester them offering his help, he cosideres some troubled IPC executive 'his responsibility' and so on.

"He actually betrayed Aventurine" - no comments. Come on, play the game, read the dialogues.

1.5. A little intermission.

The thing that's hard to deny is that he definitely doesn't mince his words. Whether you see it as him being a rude asshole, being justifiably angry, brutally honest, sarcastic, or snarky, or showing tough love, or just being incapable of expressing himself in an adequate and socially acceptable way, it's up to you. I can understand how some people might be uncomfortable with that. I personally find it an interesting character trait. (I mean, he isn't even capable of expressing positive feelings in a normal way, what did you expect of him?):

There is also a very interesting (but rather confusing) thing that can be missed if you are unwilling to see further than the initial shallow impression, but it is impossible to unsee once you've noticed it. He sees himself as a teacher in two very different ways. It can be missed at first because both ways are described in very similar words. These ways are: 

a teacher in a traditional sense (let's call it 'academic teacher'); 

and as something akin to a 'life coach', just helping people and making them realize that they shloud (and can) rely on themselves.

The thing is, we never see him in his 'academic teacher' role. As far as we know, he only acts this way with his university students. We never see him teaching anybody any scientific stuff, or berating people for their lack of knowledge and education. Yet he says that he considers everybody his students. But what does he mean if it's not about knowledge? He means it in the second 'life coach' meaning. Therefore, he sees literally everybody as worthy of his help and support.

BTW, I feel like his main problem as a character is that people tend to settle on the first impression they get of him and are unwilling to see further than that. Meanwhile, the game continues to explore his personality, revealing that most things about him are actually the opposite of what they might seem at first. That's why so many people think that he calls everybody idiots for being less smart than him, that he's egoistic and unfeeling, that he values knowledge above all, and so on. So if you actually have interest in him as a character, I'd encourage you to look at him more closely.

2. Now to the things that are more open to interpretation.

"He uses mean words" -to be honest, I'm not a big fan of writers making him use these words (idiots, fools, stupidity, and so on) because, first, they are usually used as just empty insults. (I'm curious whether he uses similar words in Chinese or something more nuanced). So I can understand how it can put some people off. And the second problem is that it feels like he means different things every time he uses these words. It's quite confusing. Here is a post where people helped me find different cases of him using these words; you can check it out yourself.

Let's look closer at some of these cases: 

-'While geniuses wander among the stars, the ordinary can't even trace their footsteps. Those less gifted have no choice but to walk alone, enduring a lifetime of tumbles and triumphs. But even a life marked by failure is a life worth living — it is only in moments of solitude and despair, when help is absent, that fools grasp how to pick themselves up' He seems to contrast geniuses with fools here, so fools are everybody who's not a genius. So if you are inclined to see him this way, if you squint, you can technically see it as him insulting people based on their intellectual abilities, right?… Except, he includes himself among these fools, so no:

So it's basically 'all who are not geniuses are fools, including me'. Which is an interesting way to put it, but it definitely doesn't mean ''you are all fools for not being as smart as me''.

But he mostly uses these words when he talks about his fellow scholars:

-'First, with the headpiece on, isolated from my five senses, I can think without interference. And second, I don't have to set eyes on stupid people' - we only see him wearing the plaster head on Herta's Station, a place full of the most brilliant minds in the universe. We never see him using it again with normal people, so the word 'stupid' here can't be about people's intelligence.

There is also an interesting little detail:

He admires her intelligence (although in a sarcastic manner) in his 'about Herta' voiceline. He doesn't wear his 'anti-stupid' mask when he's with TB or Aventurine, but he always wears it with Herta. Which is very telling, and indicates again what he means by 'stupid'.

Some other examples:

-'(…)the fools from the Guild with ambitions beyond stars should be banished from my sight and thereby mind' -'Don't invert priorities like these dolts from the guild' -'I cannot stand fools, idiots, or imbeciles. Seeing them fills me with dread. Regrettably, this space station is just like the Intelligentsia Guild — devoid of geniuses and filled with mediocrity' -'Ah, the Technology Department. Charming little place, isn't it? Madam Yabuli does possess some semblance of competence, but her subordinates? Oh, they're a riot — brimming with enthusiasm yet utterly devoid of intellect. It's as if evolution halted prematurely for them'

He is absolutely RUTHLESS when he talks about scientists, because he expects a lot from them.

So no, I don't think he'd call you an idiot for not being an A student, or having learning difficulties, or just lacking an interest in learning. He absolutely would though if you were a brilliant scientist, priveledged with great education, resources, and a personal lab, squandering your talents and funds on a useless vanity project, or hoarding potentially life-saving knowledge for yourself, to use as a commodity.

"But he does call people idiots!" - I've noticed that most of the time he uses these 'insults' he talks about some groups of people.

I could only think of 3 times when he called an individual an idiot. He calls Aventurine an idiot because he 'lost' the stones (but it doesn't count because he plays a role and pretends that he hates Aven). A scholar in an event in SU complains of Ratio calling him an idiot (I'm not sure it actually happened, it's just a story in SU).

But there is one case of him calling somebody an idiot and actually meaning it. And who is this poor victim of his terrible verbal abuse? It's himself. Whoops. (speaking of how he's supposedly full of himself and thinks that he's better than the others.)

"He would call me an idiot because of my supposed lack of knowledge/education/intelligence" - I showed in the previous point why I think he wouldn't (he never seems to use these words to mean that).

But also consider this. During his interactions with Aventurine on Penacony Ratio mostly plays a role for Sunday, pretending that he despises Aventurine. That's why we can't draw any conclusions about his personality from most of their dialogues. But the moments when he breaks the role are extremely telling.

Let's look at one of them from the beginning. They argue; Ratio calls Aventurine an idiot for 'ruining their plan'. And then Aventurine mentions that he didn't go to school and lacks formal education. If there ever was a good time to call someone an idiot for being uneducated, that's it! That's what Sunday expects to hear (because his plan hinges on Ratio valuing knowledge above all else).

And what does he do? He fucking apologizes! Even for the role and for the sake of their plan, he can't bring himself to insult someone for being uneducated.

"He's mean to TB" - it's a matter of interpretation, but his behavior with us didn't strike me as mean or demeaning. He was just being sarcastic and snarky as always (and I understand that it's not everybody's cup of tea).

The situation was time-sensitive and precarious. We don't know how much control he had over it. He tried to make us realize what's going on as fast as possible, pretending that he himself is clueless. Because his goal was to show the recearchers that despite the presence of 2-3 geniuses on board, none of them were able to save them. If he just publicly saved everybody, it would be just another genius appearing out of nowhere and saving the day, which would go against his goals and his philosophy.

And later, our TB seems to regard him with a mix of respect and amusement (calling him Professor, asking for an autograph), no resentment here. So TB didn't think he was mean either.

"He values knowledge above all, he's obsessed with teaching people stuff, and he doesn't understand/accept that other people might have other priorities" - I'd argue that literally the opposite is true. He doesn't impose his knowledge on anybody against their will, and we never see him berate anybody for their lack of knowledge or education.

Sunday isn't the first person to misunderstand him that badly, and he's not having it. Even though at this point in the story, his and Aventurine's plan hinges on Sunday's misunderstanding. But I think his position is very clear: pursuit of knowledge above all is a matter of petty pride.

He says it when we ask him why he doesn't nag us about getting our act together, before a party. So basically "if learning makes you feel bad (doesn't enhance your living) then you are doing it wrong, go and have fun".

This probably isn't considered canon, but it illustrates how he sees knowledge. Here is an analogy. If I had an apple orchard, and I thought my apples were awesome and they'd make a great gift, and you should feel free to ask me if you want some. It doesn't mean that I shove my apples into people's mouths against their will and then call them idiots and spit on them when they don't like it.

"He's a bad person because he didn't help us fight the big bug" - he knew who we are. It's not in his habit to directly involve himself where he's not needed, it would go against his philosophy ('you should count on yourself; you can do it'). It's not like he left us to die; he must have known how capable our TB is. BTW, he was still looking after us, seemingly ready to come to our help:

Besides, currently nothing indicates that (outside of the turn-based gameplay) he's anything more than a normal human being. He would be a hindrance in a fight. 

"He's a bad teacher" - (first, here is an interesting post about this from the point of view of an actual teacher)

So yeah, it's about the 3% passing rate. Yes, it can mean that only 3% of his students end up learning something. It's possible that he's such a bumbling idiot of a teacher that he doesn't even understand how bad he is. It's possible that he's somehow still allowed to teach despite being THAT bad.

But I think it's much more possible (and consistent with his philosophy) that he just has very high standards. A 3% rate doesn't mean that only 3% know anything. Students might benefit enormously from his classes, even without passing. They still have all their valuable skills and knowledge.

But also, let's not forget that he doesn't teach children. He teaches at the university. And I don't think it's some 101 basics; it's likely something related to his research and discoveries, some extremely advanced cutting-edge stuff. So his students are already extremely well educated adults, who want to achieve more. He would probably see lowering his standards as a betrayal of his students.

"His students hate him" - I didn't get that impression. On the contrary, they seem quite interested in him (some times in really creepy ways):

The only indication that they might have something against him is this:

It's either a literal roll-call of actual adults who shed literal tears during his classes, or it's just students being their normal cheeky selves, being overdramatic about a strict teacher. 

An example that came to mind: I can whine about how ruthless my gym trainer is and how I couldn't walk for a week after the last leg day. And his other clients would agree. But everybody understands that it's an expression of approval, not contempt. And maybe a bit of a humble brag.

Besides, if we decide to take that post at face value, then we'll have to take this literally too, meaning that his students consider him an actual God. And I don't think it's true:

-------------------

There are still a lot of hot takes I disagree with that I haven't mentioned, but I'm too tired. This took WAY too long. Other cases are mostly quote-mining and deliberatly taking what he says out of context, which isn't very interesting to argue against (just read the full dialogue and consider the context). And also different variations on 'he's an asshole, he hates people, he thinks he's better than others, he'd call you an idiot for this or that, he's elitist, he only values knowledge and intelligence' and so on, but I think I addressed it sufficiently.

So yeah, that was my little character research. This wasn't written for his haters (I dislike some characters myself, and I wouldn't probably read 3K words about how I should change my mind). It was rather for the people who kind of like him, but who feel sad thinking how he'd probably call them idiots or something. I hope I was able to help you see him in a different way. He wouldn't call you an idiot, he'd support you.

[aurae-rori]

Wanna ask if you have any headcannons for aventio modern au

( cause I am obsessed with modern aus)

hellyeah brother i'm here to serve the masses

hcs about ratio:

still a doctor still has 8 phds

knows about student debt and hates it with a burning passion

has a duck keychain that he puts on his keychain with all of his keys like the keys to his house

once crushed a soda can in his hands during his student years bcs he was that fucking mad about the homework questions not being stated in a clear manner (he just like me fr)

has several duck plushies in his bed and theyre all named after either greek philosophers or roman politicians

can speak latin fluently and mutters curse words and creative expressions in latin during the classes that he teaches because he is that pissed off

used to be a full time doctor, but decided to turn to teaching instead after some time

hyper-empathy due to childhood neglect (he just like me fr)

eyebags that he covers up with makeup, he still has those from his student years and cant fucking get them to leave no matter how many hours he sleeps for

enjoys occasionally a rum & coke

really likes lattes and london fogs

had a british accent once because he travelled to the uk and picked up on it, when he came back he was mortified

fucking loves ducks so much he has a camera roll dedicated to duck photos

he got to pet a duck once he was happy for the rest of the week thats how much he loves them

massive nerd & dork

undiagnosed autism with a side of gifted child trauma

really likes jazz and lofi it calms him down fast and makes him happy

wrings his hands when he's really happy

touch starved

makes really good soup

hopeless romantic

more mentally unstable than you think he is. he is actually suffering from burnout but doesnt want to let people around him down.

doing his best. sometimes on the weekends he just nestles into a cocoon of blankets and refuses to leave. texture....

cannot not wear socks he will die without them

cat magnet for some reason??? all neighbourhood cats are at his doorstep even when he and aven already have three. ig hes just cat dad now

aventurine hcs:

still has those glasses, his eyes are more sensitive to light too

really fucking likes fluffy stuff he loves the fluffy he loves the fluffy he-

big fan of sheep and peacocks

eternally terrified that ratio secretly hates him even when they start dating

bpd & adhd & probably autism (ALL BPD HAVERS FUCKING WIN WITH THIS ONE!!!!! I SEE YALL)

masks so often its insane

used to smoke and drink heavily, but has started to lay off ever since he met ratio

still an adrenaline junkie and still has his stupidly good good luck

really likes coffee too, coffee addict, has horrible eyebags, a shitty sleep schedule, and overworks himself half to death

cant fucking cook what the hell is a kitchen

very fond of stelle/caelus and sees them as his surrogate younger siblings. stelle taught him how to play video games and now he plays with them whenever his thoughts get really bitchy to him

horrible at relying on other people but is slowly unlearning that

can do a backflip (why? idk)

high pain tolerance

has a collection of sheep plushies that his friends bought for him

numby and him get along really well. he and topaz still have that sibling esque relationship.

i think he still works for the ipc in this au but its not as bad as it is in canon

starved of touch and does not really know what a healthy relationship is before ratio comes along

loves blankets he has like ten blankets on his bed at once idk why

once poured monster energy into coffee and then drank it. he suffered the consequences. even good luck can't save you from that

listens to generic pop (lie. he actually loves indie guitar)

MENTAL ILLNESS REP IN THIS MAN

accidentally big brothered some kids. help how does he deal with affection

buys stuff for stelle and caelus too. he buys them sheep plushies. they will defend said sheep plushies with their lives. they buy him racoon plushie in return. he does not cry.

his fingers shake so bad sometimes (PTSD goes hard)

motor skills can and will die on him occasionally

unhealthy coping mechanisms but hes getting better guys

he does relapse occasionally but hes putting in effort. finally got his ass to therapy thanks to ratio :)

second cat dad. he loves his cat children he will die for his cat children.

the cats like laying next to him as he eeps if ratio isnt there. they purr and help him with his nightmares.

(ily people w bpd you deserve this rep!!! enjoy :3)

them together hcs!!!!

ratio already had background information on bpd due to his psych degree beforehand but did more researching into it when he realized that aven had bpd because he wanted to support his partner as much as he could :)

ratio is big on physical touch but aven needed some time to get used to it and he was very big on it

aven really likes spoiling the absolute shit out of ratio and likes getting him gifts because sometimes he doesn't know how to word how much he appreciates ratio

aven likes to wash ratios hair for him and visa versa, non sexual intimacy always fucking wins

ratio still worries about aven and doesn't like him gambling all the time, aven makes an active effort to better himself for him even if it's really hard

at the start it was really fucking shitty between the two of them but eventually aven started to learn how to properly and safely communicate with ratio and ratio learned how to phrase his thoughts in a way that wouldn't trigger something, and although they both make mistakes they are doing their best for one another and generally have a good impact on one another's stages of healing (im not projecting im not projecting i-)

aven will hold ratio in his arms and tell him that he's good enough when the thoughts get really bad

they love cuddling, who's big spoon and small spoon switches regularly because they both like being held and holding the other

aven will stop by ratio after his classes and take him home when hes too tired

ratio shuts down sometimes and aven messes with his hair and just stays with him until he reboots

they kiss <33333333333

they cuddle so much they hold one another going to bed

ratio likes giving aven little headkisses and peppers his face with them

they are gay and in love and healthy actually

they were never toxic yaoi never will they be. they are healthy.

they get married <333

this is so much more than what you asked for probably but here you go.

[rotisserory]

Aventurine Is BPD Coded- Some Thoughts

Ahhh welcome back everybody to another installment of 'Rory writes a ridiculously long essay nobody asked for to shine light on characters who exhibit symptoms of borderline personality disorder so that we can learn to recognize symptoms portrayed in media that aren't just 'crazy manipulative abusive ex' and start to treat the disorder with a shred of compassion' !!

A good chunk of you follow me because of my essay I wrote on Reo Mikage from Blue Lock, my beautiful borderline princess, and I am PLEASED to announce that my essay is now the first result when you search 'Reo Mikage BPD' on Google, AND he has since been added to the BPD character database !! Saving the world one baddie at a time, no need to thank me B)

Today, I want to write something out that I've been dying to share. I think Aventurine can be read as a BPD coded character, and I think he would be able to cop a diagnosis should he go see a therapist (which we all know he CLEARLY has not done). I've been puttering around posting this because I've been spending so long on a full, all encompassing analysis of this sick blonde man, but I want to take a quick break and kick my feet over BPD Aventurine, so I invite you to come kick your feet with me!

Some context before I start:

1.) Borderline representation is extremely important to me. I've got the BPD / CPTSD combo meal, so I'm having TWICE the fun !! But seriously though, it's not easy being viewed as crazy and 'bad' all the time. Trauma disorders are rough enough as it is just to live with / overcome, but it's worse when there are books, forums, blogs, shows, ect. dedicated to hating you and talking about how evil you are. So, I get really excited when I spy BPD-coded characters (especially if they're likable people and not just ghoulish irredeemable villains or manic pixie dream girl characters). Fans, characters, and even Aventurine himself refer to him as 'crazy' 'insane' 'unstable' which only further rang my BPD bells because he's not crazy; he's just traumatized!

2.) I’m not a psych, so I obviously can’t diagnose real people, and don’t use any of this to diagnose yourself (I don't need the scandal!) I do, however, have a masters degree in English and structured the basis of my education and published my thesis on mental health, cluster B personality disorders specifically, so I read and research a LOT. I’m confident enough in my knowledge to diagnose anime characters (lol).

3.) If you're somebody who has a weird hangup about borderlines, feel free to either not read this, or do read it and soak up some useful information! Regardless, I know Aventurine fans can have some really wild takes (/neg) , so believe what you want at the end of the day! This is just my interpretation of what's festering in that sad brain of his. You can disagree all you want to, but what we're not going to do is spread hateful stereotypes or perpetuate negative stigmas about BPD! That's cornball behavior and I will call you out for it ^-^

CW for discussion of death, suicide, self injury, and identity disturbances

Anyways, if you ask me, Aventurine has a case of Beautiful Princess Disorder, and I'd like to explain why <3 So, buckle up! This will be another long one.

First, let me define BPD: it's a personality disorder characterized by a long-standing pattern of instability in mood, interpersonal relationships, and self-image. Though it's coined as a 'personality disorder', I urge you to look at it as a trauma disorder. People most often develop it when they are repeatedly traumatized during their formative years. It actually overlaps a TON with complex post traumatic stress disorder, which is why a lot of us baddies end up with both! (On that note, you could definitely view Aventurine as CPTSD-coded as well! I'm a stinky kinnie so I'll just say he's both <3) I won't preach too much on why it's so necessary to treat borderline as a traumatic stress disorder (since hopefully I'll be focusing my own personal academic research on that and I could yap for HOURS about it lol).

But when we look at BPD properly, it's evident that the basis of this disorder is that these people didn't have the opportunity to learn and foster proper emotional reactions. Because of the recurring traumatic events, sections of borderline's brains are underdeveloped as a result. They have a smaller amygdala and they have reduced volume in the prefrontal cortex, as well as other differences in brain development. I've heard it described as 'you were forced to learn some behaviors that helped you survive at one point in your life (for example, maybe fervent efforts to avoid abandonment, unstable emotional reactions, self harming tendencies, lying, mirroring, etc.,) but now you need to unlearn them, because they’re no longer helping you.'  They're trauma responses.

Aventurine shows us a perfect example of the kind of shit that would make someone develop BPD: dude grew up in extreme poverty, was constantly told he was special and he was supposed to bring good luck, watched his entire family and race die in front of him when he was literally still just a kid, was kidnapped and sold into slavery, was forced to murder roughly 34 people while everybody watched him like it was a game, probably went through several other fucked up things while he was enslaved, and then killed his slave owner and was promptly sentenced to death for it. That's...a whole lot of ridiculous trauma that would severely impact somebody's ability to mentally grow and develop correctly. The bulk of his childhood/adolescence was spent with no safety, no security, overwhelming guilt, constant fight or flight reactions, learning how to take on other personas to avoid violence or mistreatment – you get the point. He did not have a normal life and it is absolutely probable that he would develop a trauma disorder from the shit he's been through.

So then, what behaviors/signs does somebody need to exhibit to receive a Borderline diagnosis? The 9 diagnostic criteria for BPD are as follows:

1. Fear of abandonment

2. Unstable or changing relationships

3. Unstable self-image; struggles with identity or sense of self

4. Impulsive or self-damaging behaviors

5. Suicidal behavior or self-injury

6. Varied or random mood swings

7. Constant feelings of worthlessness or sadness

8. Problems with anger, including frequent loss of temper or physical fights

9. Stress-related paranoia or loss of contact with reality

As with my last post, I'm going to organize this based on the 5 immediate traits I think Aventurine exhibits most (you only need 5 out of 9 to receive a diagnosis, so let me cut to the chase and stop wasting your time w my yapping).

Fear of Abandonment:

Aventurine has a habit of wanting relationships and then pushing them away once they get too close. He also clearly has trauma associated with losing people prematurely.

First of all, let's look at Aventurine's tendency to view relationships as transactional. With the expectation that a friendship, partnership – whatever –  is mutually beneficial, that generally implies both parties will leave satisfied once the 'transaction' is complete. That’s his parting line in the game, actually! “Satisfied with our transaction, I trust?” 

That being said, he's already prepared for people to leave when they're done getting what they want from him. In one trailer (and the game) he refers to himself as "another cog in the machine known as the strategic investment department" and then says, "Your humble servant aventurine at your disposal [...] I can also play the role of ‘friend’ – if needed; Go ahead, use me as you wish, even stab me in the back if you see fit."

This is a very strange thing to say upon first meeting someone LMAO. He's speaking of himself like he's an object, rather than a person. Before the other party even says anything, he's basically saying 'hey btw if you end up disappointing me in some way, i'm already prepared for it!' Establishing relationships with the assumption that the other person will betray you/abandon you/hurt you in some way? Borderline behavior. God forbid somebody does try to break down one of these walls, we'll see Aventurine's second habit to avoid abandonment: pushing people away.

Something people don't necessarily consider is that ‘efforts to avoid abandonment’ doesn't always mean the person is on their knees begging you to not to leave them. It can manifest as someone being very flighty and purposefully cutting ties randomly/pushing people away from them so that nobody is able to abandon them. If you leave first, they can’t leave you, right? This is a very common behavior for borderlines to avoid the pain that comes with being abandoned.

The most notable moment of this, in my opinion, is when Aventurine tries to gaslight himself into thinking that Ratio really did stab him in the back during their ploy against Sunday. As we know, their fighting, bickering, and Ratio's 'betrayal' were all part of Aventurine's plan. When they leave Sunday's office, Ratio immediately asks if he's okay and if he needs help, and Aventurine is very dismissive/a little rude in his response. Ratio is confused because Aventurine is talking as if he wasn't the one who MADE this plan and TOLD Ratio what to do:

Aventurine is basically saying, "Hey babe this is not in the script we talked about! Let's stay on track, remember? You hate me, you betrayed me, and now you're leaving me!" And Ratio is like "Yeah okay but are you good? Because you don't seem good,” but Aventurine's heels are so far in the dirt at this point that he is NOT budging at all. When he's in the Trauma Maze, Future Aventurine grills him on this moment:

I get why this part confused some people; why would Aventurine think this when the plan was his idea in the first place? Because, he subconsciously doesn't want to get too attached to the idea that Ratio might ACTUALLY care about him or want to help him. He's forcing himself to think "no, that's not what he was doing, he was planning on actually ratting me out all along, he was only asking about my wellbeing to get in my head."

However, I think it's evident that Aventurine wants relationships/attention just as much as everybody else does, he just won't let himself have it. To further this idea, I think the lyrics to White Night (the Penacony trailer theme song) are worth looking at (these specifically):

I don't wanna be alone tonightOh, lead me with your altered signThere's no one else left for me to loseHeadin' to the other side, other side

I don't wanna be alone tonightI'll bring you to my best disguise'Cause you don't need, don't need to know the truthLet me rave forever in your life

The song is obviously about Aventurine when you look at the lyrics, but these lines in particular just further my point that this man does NOT like the fact that he's alone. He wants relationships, he wants closeness, but he rejects it at the same time out of fear that he might lose somebody prematurely again and doesn't want to experience being abandoned or being rejected for his personality (his real one or his fake one), which leads me to...

Unstable Self-Image; Struggles With Identity or Sense of Self:

The shift from Kakavasha to Aventurine screwed this guy up REAL bad. A MASSIVE part of Aventurine's character, in my opinion, is his struggle with his identity/sense of self. I mean, he literally had to kill off who he used to be in order to live how he's living now, and he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Jade sums it up pretty well when Aventurine is sat before her on trial: 

Aventurine joining the IPC comes with the price of...well, becoming 'Aventurine'. Since I'm clocking him with a BPD diagnosis, the identity disturbance would have probably happened before this moment, and I think it did. I'll bet it started festering after that first massive traumatic event where he watched his family die and tried to rationalize how that was possible with his 'good luck' (since that was really the only consistent idea he had about himself), and it probably only got worse when he became fixated on the fact that whoever tf he is, he's only worth 60 copper coins (did the math – that's about $3). That's gotta cause some massive identity issues. He's coined as this ‘good luck charm’, this ‘blessed child’, a ‘beacon of hope for the Avgins’, and somehow, he ended up in the absolute worst situation possible while simultaneously dooming all of the Avgins (obviously not his fault, but he thinks it's his fault).

When Jade tells him to pick a new identity, ironically he picks one that is everything he probably grew to hate after his childhood/adolescence.

Associating with the wealthy? The rich were the people who paid to brand him and enslave him. The IPC? Promised to help the Avgins but disappeared when the Katicans invaded, then came back and kidnapped him to sell him as a slave. Now he's both wealthy and a part of the IPC, and you have to wonder how he truly feels about it. We'll look into that more later. Regardless, he's not really 'free' now, even if he isn't technically owned by a master anymore. He's chained to the IPC because this is life now; this is his identity. Where else would he even go? What else would he do? (Die, perhaps?) It's not like he can go home, or go live a peaceful life out on the countryside somewhere. He made 'Aventurine' his entire life and his entire personality. On that note, I really like this quote from his third character story:

“The aventurine, that symbol of power and of the future, is about to be officially handed to him — Yet it would have no more allure or value in his eyes as soon he obtains it, even though he had sought it by putting his life on the line.

He returns to his office in a daze. The aventurine stone emits a peculiar glow on his desk, seemingly congratulating and mocking him at the same time."Was luck truly on your side when you wrestled with fate?"”

Did he really luck out with this one? Comparatively, of course, this is better than his life as a slave, but he essentially just traded his rusted chains for golden ones. Becoming Aventurine might wind up bringing him a lot more pain than it was worth. 

Also, the outfit he chose? Covered in gold, fur, and jewels, all materials that somebody who knows nothing about being rich would assume rich people wear in excess. It's evident in his tacky taste (sorry honey I love you so much but the hat is just crazy work you look like a pimp) that he doesn't know anything about how to dress himself. And I bully him for being tacky but it makes sense! He dresses exactly how you'd think an out-of-touch billionaire would dress. Back to his sense of identity: it's very important to establish that Aventurine feels guilty about taking on this persona! That's all 'Aventurine' is: a persona. If he were to die tomorrow, the IPC would dust off that stone and give it to another bozo who would end up being the next 'Aventurine'.

While he didn't initially develop this personality subconsciously and it was a 'choice' to start playing this role (not that he had a plethora of alternative options), the perpetuation is damaging him mentally. He does a good job of keeping up the act, obviously. This theme that his entire personality is just one big act is overarching through the entire Penacony quest, but there's one moment in particular I really liked: when Sparkle is being a jerk and he has this offhand comment about how he's so frivolous, vain, and flashy, and how he'd hate to live anywhere where it rained since his outfit is too expensive to get wet.

Then, we have this interaction in the maze: Future Aventurine brings up the memory of him and his big sister playing dead, floating in bloody water to avoid being killed by the Katicans when they attacked. He mentions that it was his father's shirt, the last one his father left behind before dying, and that it was ruined. Aventurine says it wasn't ruined, and he's always kept it. (I wonder if that's the shirt he wore during his time enslaved?) Future Aventurine grills him and asks ‘why keep it? This new person that you are would never wear something so dirty and old. 'Aventurine' wouldn't want that old rag, it's not worth any money. 'Aventurine' would never splash around in murky water like that; he wouldn't need to.’ Nobody is hunting him, now he's the hunter. Future Aventurine makes the snide comment that he bets Aventurine wouldn't even dare to go outside in the rain, let alone do any of the things Kakavasha had to do, since he's so much more elite now. Aventurine, clearly hurt by the implication, says that even after all this time, he's never changed.

Of course, he hasn't. Deep down, no matter how much he tries to trick himself and everybody around him, he's still the same scared, traumatized boy he always has been. His future self chastises him for having an inferiority complex and mentions that with every gamble he makes, he has his left hand shaking in fear behind his back.

But the constant pull to push Kakavasha down and keep up this act that 'Aventurine' is the real him obviously perpetuated the identity disturbance in him and made it a hundred times worse, to the point where (as Future Aventurine points out) the hole he's dug is basically impossible to climb out of.

Because of this, I interpret Aventurine to constantly be struggling with his identity, not knowing who really exists under all the masks he wears, not knowing if he or anybody around him will ever figure it out. I imagine he feels very empty and unfulfilled, since as I mentioned in the abandonment section, he doesn't want to be alone. But the higher he climbs on the social ladder, the further he can separate himself from other people. This is a classic issue borderlines face. We masquerade as something we think the people around us will like, someone WE might like, but it always ends up leaving us feeling more empty than before.

(This is just an added bonus to chew on, but I got stuck on this line when I played through Penacony:)

Do you think once he became Aventurine and got the money and the resources, he researched toys that normal kids play with? Fancy ones like building blocks, stuff that he would have never been exposed to as a kid? Obviously baby Kakavasha would not know wtf building toys looked like, and I'm sure teenage Kakavasha didn't have the opportunity to browse toy catalogs. But, he recognizes the toy even though he says he's never played with them before. Maybe he considered buying it but decided against it, since it doesn't fit his new persona. Kakavasha doesn't exist anymore, so there's no reason to nurture that part of him. Anyways, just wanted to hurt y'all a bit more. Speaking of hurting ourselves:

Impulsive or Self-Damaging Behaviors + Suicidal Behavior or Self Injury:

I'm combining these two because my points kept blending together, so bear with me lol.

Aventurine is known for being incredibly reckless and putting himself in the path of danger over and over again. When discussing how he tricked Sunday with the Cornerstones, Future Aventurine asks:

I want to exaggerate how crazy it is (i can say that i'm also a bpd baddie) that he smashed his Cornerstone. I don't think a Stoneheart has ever done that before. Their stone is what makes them a Stoneheart. Ratio mentions that without it, Aventurine would be back to being nobody. Remember: that's what makes him Aventurine. You know, the persona that required him to kill off his former identity? Their Cornerstones are more important than the Stonehearts’ lives, as stated multiple times. But that's just it: Aventurine doesn't GAF about his life. He doesn't mind putting his life on the line to pull off his plan because he has that deep-rooted desire to punish himself for everything he thinks was his fault. He gets called out for gambling with his life multiple times during Penacony, and while most of the time it's reduced to him just being crazy (cough, bpd) or just having a severe gambling problem. Extremely hot take, but I think he gambles literally as another way to hurt himself. I mean, look at what he says when you ask about his hobbies:

"There's no denying it, my fascination is with the game of chance... be it the exhilarating rush of triumph or the extensive emptiness that follows, both are worth savoring, time and time again."

Being impulsive and risky, betting his life over and over –  it makes him feel alive. He knows the end result will hurt, that he'll have to face that 'extensive emptiness' and the extreme guilt he feels regarding his continued good luck, but he does it anyway.

Speaking of betting, his bets are always 'all or nothing', seemingly every time. Future Aventurine calls him out on always risking everything with every gamble, asking:

"Do you truly believe the greater the risk, the greater the reward?"

Or...do you just not care what happens to you? He doesn't need to risk a lot; he's never lost. He could bet the lowest amount and still win every time, and make a lot of money depending on what everybody else bet. In fact, that would actually be a better strategy in gambling (poker/black jack specifically), because it would insinuate that he's not very confident with his hand and prompt the other players to bet higher, assuming that they'll beat him.

I imagine he gets a shred of dopamine betting everything he has knowing that he'll probably win, but hey, who knows? Then after winning and multiplying everything he has, I imagine that 'extensive emptiness' that he refers to is the feeling of 'oh good, more money. More status. More success. A reminder that no matter what I do, I'm stuck here in this role forever.'

For some reason, he also thinks that taking risks makes him appear more confident and secure. He makes a show of always keeping up the big bets and he boasts about how successful he is, while clutching his hand behind his back thinking 'oh god, is this it? will I finally lose this time?' He brings this up when he's speaking with himself and he says, 'How could a weak person take such daring risks?"

Oh, the delicious irony.

That raises the question, though: if he wants to die so badly, why hasn't he yet? It's not like he had an easy life. He fought very hard to stay alive, so why does he act so recklessly now?

I think at his core, he's scared. Dying is scary. His family is there in the afterlife; would they be disappointed in the person he’s become? At the same time, being alive is exhausting. The constant emotional pain this guy probably deals with every day? It's gotta be heavy.

His behaviors around suicide remind of a classic passively suicidal person with BPD: maybe they don't necessarily want to die, but they're tired. They don't have an active plan, but If something is going to kill them, they're not going to move out of the way.

So, carrying out his Penacony plan makes sense. Of course he’s not completely sure what will happen when Acheron kills him, but because he doesn’t have anything to live for, he’s fine gambling with his life. He makes a show of finally throwing out every last chip, too, no longer clutching them under the table in fear. He was fine with smashing the Aventurine stone because it's not like he was planning on using it after his final show; the little bit of power it had left in it was more than enough.

That being said, we do have to address this little number:

Aventurine attempted several times in Penacony, he admits it flat out. The writers even went sofar as to bold this line specifically! I think this does also go hand-in-hand with him being passively suicidal, since he's pretty sure he'll live when he attempts in the dream, but he's gonna try it SEVERAL times just to be sure. Mentally healthy people wouldn't try it... once, Aventurine!

As if we needed more evidence that Aventurine constantly puts himself in danger, you know I HAVE to mention...the light cone:

n case you haven't read the description for this light cone, let me share it with you:

"You don't believe me?"He (Aventurine) provocatively looks at the man (Ratio) before him, then draws out a revolver, empties its cylinder, and leaves a single shot in the chamber.

"Seems like I'll need to get you up to speed on how I do things if our cooperation were to remain amicable."He pushes the gun into his opponent's hand, spins the cylinder, and points the barrel to his own chest.

He pulls the trigger repeatedly, and the smile on his face remains the same after three empty clicks."Life is a grand gamble, and I'll always be the final victor."

Now what the HELL is this? Mind you, this is the first time Ratio has met this man!!! Imagine you meet your new mission partner for the first time and he puts a revolver in your hand and fires it thrice, then leaves. WHO does that? (...a baddie, perhaps!)

I don't think it's a secret to anybody who has spent a reasonable amount of time around Aventurine that there's something off about him, and that there's a really deep sadness running through him. There's some instances where other characters mention his passive desire to die – A few quick examples I can think of:

The instance in Story IV with Opal:

"Maybe luck won't be on your side this time, and the bill for all your past good fortune will come due [...] But isn't that what you've been longing for?"

Opal implies Aventurine wants to fail on Penacony, which, as we've discussed, is an accurate assumption. Jade says something similar after Aventurine's stunt: when Topaz says the light in his stone went out, Jade replies by saying "he got what he wanted."

Also, I’d like to point out that Ratio must have been anticipating that Aventurine would do something rash, since he wrote that note (doctor's advice) long before he started grilling him after the meeting with Sunday.

It's also worth noting the nod to T.S Eliot's "The Waste Land" (a very long poem about life and death). You get the achievement Sibyl, What Do You Want? after playing through the past of Kakavasha's life, and once you defeat boss Aventurine, you get the achievement She Replied, I Want to Die. I don't think that one needs an explanation, but boy does it hurt! (There's other, smaller nods to him being suicidal, like the Waiting for Godot achievement – Google the story if you're unfamiliar. Not as relevant, but I must mention it bc it makes my english major brain go brrrrr)

Also, overspending/gambling/being loose with money is a very common vice for borderlines to indulge in and harm themselves with. It's also implied that he drinks a decent amount. I counted 6 bottles of SoulGlad in his hotel room just from the angles I could see, and he's shown to be passed out at the bar when Ratio goes to get him before they go on their little date-I mean, mission. Aventurine says 'he must have drank too much', and whether or not that was true is irrelevant since it was a believable enough claim that Ratio bought it.

Borderlines are (usually) self-destructive in some capacity, and while some very annoying people assume it's for attention, it's so much more common for it to be because our inner emotions are just so out of whack. Sometimes, matching the inner pain with outer pain is a way to cope. They might also do it to try and combat-

Constant Feelings of Worthlessness or Sadness:

Probably the most nagging, prevalent feeling Aventurine deals with is the constant feeling of worthlessness. One thing about this man? He hates himself. Like, really hates himself. Take a look at the missions during his maze in Penacony. This one is one of my favorites:

It doesn't get much more on-the-nose than him calling himself a selfish, useless loser. He gets stuck on that word, in particular. Loser.

Aventurine, at his core, views himself as a massive loser. Is that ironic because of how much he wins? Not really. Money and materials are just part of the Aventurine persona. He's 'rich' in stuff, but he's not rich in what he actually wants. I think it's obvious that if he had the option to quadruple his wealth or see his sister again just one more time, we all know what he'd be picking.

The only thing he wants is connection – connection with his mother, his father, his sister, anybody at this point – but he can't have it. His family has been dead for a long while, and as I discussed before, his fear of abandonment and his luck scare him away from forming any other relationships. 

This luck, this destiny to be blessed, leads him to reflect on his life a lot and wonder what the hell the point is. He treats himself like some sort of walking curse, because he's convinced that his luck is bound to hurt other people. Every time he wins, somebody else loses. The luck that keeps him safe destroys everybody else around him. As Future Aventurine puts it:

His luck is "built on the pain of someone" else. This perpetuates the constant feeling of guilt, which in turn, makes him feel worthless. Why is it him that's spared every time?

Then, right before you start his boss fight, Aventurine says,

"The architect's flawed stone, of no value at all."

Some people speculate he's talking to the MC when he says this, but I can't help but assume that he's referring to himself. Even if it was directed at the MC, so much of what Aventurine says in his bluffs and boasts are just digs at himself. He's sort of an expert at hating himself, and what do people who hate themselves do if not project? Especially when you consider the fact that aventurine is actually a really cheap, undesired stone. It's like $3 a caret and mostly only used to rip people off and pose as jade. I really don't think it's a coincidence that his character is based around a stone that is, essentially, worthless.

The way that Aventurine is also prone to giving people ridiculous amounts of money/gifts can be read as a frantic effort to keep relationships going and prevent people from leaving him (relating to my points on both his feelings of worthless and his fear of abandonment). He has a skewed view on relationships, since the only value that's ever been associated with him is monetary value and that of his 'luck', which in every context is spoken of as an asset to benefit people he cares about. His sister told him that his luck was 'the most precious wealth' of the Avgins and Jade sees him as an investment that can bring her more wealth because of his luck, but he views it as a massive burden that ends up wrecking everybody around him. So how does he prove to other people that someone as worthless as him should be allowed a seat at the table? Deep down, he thinks that he's still worth 60 red copper pieces, and he's desperate to show other people that he's worth more than that now – even though he doesn't believe it at his core. With all the money he wins now, he can throw it at people and say 'look, look how much money I'm worth now, you want me around because I can buy you anything you want, that's a useful quality in a friend!'

(I did use the 'seat at the table line' as a nod to what his slave master said to him when they were discussing his worth: "Don't forget your place, slave. You're not qualified to be at the table." Which is, painfully, what Aventurine says when you open up chests! He scoffs and says that "it's hardly enough for a seat at the table." :’) )

There is also, of course, Aventurine's overarching struggle with finding purpose in his life. We see a lot of his existentialism during his trauma maze, but at the end of his trauma maze, Future Aventurine finally stops ripping Aventurine a new one and is vulnerable for a second, saying he doesn't understand what he's ever done wrong to have suffered as much as he has.

Then, when he's in the Nihility and he's speaking to Acheron, making the decision on whether or not he even wants to keep going, he asks her:

As I said, he has this conversation with himself in the maze as well, but here he's actually being vulnerable and speaking to somebody else about it: what's the point in being alive if we're just born to suffer? If nothing else, this solidifies the emotional struggle that Aventurine is constantly having. I also think it furthers the idea that he has this nagging sort of emptiness inside of him which is another BPD trait: the feeling that you're empty at your core, and you're constantly trying to fill it with things (friends, money, substances, whatever) but nothing ever works. You worry if anything will ever make you feel 'whole' again, and pair with the the identity disturbance? You're left with a constant feeling of despair.

Other Points:

These are a few other random thoughts I have, inspired by in-game moments but I'm taking them for my own evil fiendish BPD narrative. Take them with a grain of salt.

I think the stigma he gets around 'being crazy' is really BPD-coded. Separate from the ridiculous discrimination he gets for being an Avgin where people assume he's a liar and wolf in sheep's clothing (which can this man catch a SINGLE break jfc), he also has this reputation of being crazy, insane, manipulative, cunning, and someone you want to avoid, which is more rooted in his reckless gambling habit and status with the IPC. Living with this reputation of being insane and unstable for...lowkey no reason at all? Very BPD coded. I think Aventurine leans into that stigma to keep people a certain distance away, but it also just ends up making him hate himself even more.

Also, his entire mantra is "all or nothing", which always rang my BPD bells as well. There's not a lot of gray area with him, which is a key trait in borderlines as we often display very black-and-white thought patterns.

In Conclusion:

I think Aventurine is a borderline princess <3

No but actually though, Aventurine is extremely smart, witty, funny, generous, and very kind-hearted, and he also happens to have a lot of BPD symptoms :^) I don't think it does any harm to view him as BPD-coded; in fact, I think it's great to associate positive, fan-favorite characters like this with BPD because it helps to humanize us. Borderlines are not violent, crazy maniacs, they're people who have been severely traumatized and developed some unhealthy habits because of it. They deserve love, respect, understanding, and communication, just as everybody else does.

If you actually made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope I was able to shed some light on Aventurine and his Symptoms. And, as I do in all of my BPD posts, here’s your reminder to kiss the borderline baddies in your life and tell them they’re important to you :^) Living with BPD is exhausting and I know I speak for all of us when I say that. We try so hard every day to stay positive and regulated, and though rewarding, it's exhausting and very hard work. Nothing makes us smile more than some recognition that we're trying our best !!

Till next time xoxo (and shout out to @roxirinart for helping me edit this monstrosity mwahhh mwah)

[walpu]

HNK FAN SPOTTED 🫵🫵 (i feel like i sent you this before?? lmao)

spill ur thoughts i need hear em 🤲

SO YOU WERE THAT HNK ANON 🫵

Okay so!! Hnk au with Aven and reader!! based on my oc but that's not the focus

It turned out to be long af??

Aventurine who is the same age as Dia and Cinna

Aventurine who has lost several teammates already and feels extreme guilt about it

Aventurine who has a very reckless fighting style, heading into the battle without any concerns about his own safety, constantly getting shattered but never actually taken by the lunarians since his partners are considered to be more appealing gems

Aventurine who's actually scared to be taken away but who still sees himself as someone disposable so he keeps rushing into the battle

Aventurine who was there when reader's teammate was taken to the moon

Aventurine who thinks that reader hates him for failing to protect their partner

Aventurine who ends up being partnered up with reader, them rarely working as a team and acting independently most of the time

Aventurine who doesn't understand why reader keeps saving him, why reader sometimes insists on repairing him themselves, why they seem so upset when he's shattered again and again and again

Aventurine who mistakes their anger, pain and frustration with his recklessness as them not wanting to deal with him

Aventurine who takes reader's apathy and melancholy personally, even though they're just so so tired of the endless war and it has nothing to do with him

Aventurine who doesn't see how much reader actually likes being partnered up with him

Aventurine who takes a risk and joins the moon gems in order to make at least some progress and to find a way to stop the war. And to take the burden of seeing him away from reader

Aventurine who knew reader would be very upset with him and consider him a traitor

Aventurine who's still shocked and so so so confused when he sees how deeply hurt they are and how this pain transforms into anger and sorrow that leads them to be self-destructive which they never were before

Aventurine who has to fight reader during the night raid. He can see hatred in their eyes in this very moment and it hurts so much

Aventurine who is so so so lost when you, despite everything, still protect him from Cinnabar's mercury attack

Aventurine who becomes a gambler during the 220 years timeskip

Aventurine who comes on Earth with Phos during the invasion arc, only to betray him and to try to convince reader to run away somewhere

Aventurine who gets shattered alongside reader :)

Aventurine who expects reader to avoid him like a plague now that they're lunarians. Reader's previous teammate is there any surely that's all they need

Aventurine who feels so overwhelmed with emotions after he hears reader apologizing to their previous partner, telling them that, despite everything, they want to spend the remaining 10k years by Aventurine's side

[hellobitchlet]

Honestly, I don't find that fighting about whether playing Genshin ftp is boycotting or performative is helpful here. And I feel like us fighting with each other over how to protest 'properly' is just setting us up for failure. I have heard good arguments from both sides of the discourse, and I think that playing ftp and making it clear to Hoyo why and refusing to play completely are both good tactics.

That being said, there are some things that I think we should all be doing, regardless of how you personally want to boycott against/show that you don't support Hoyoverse. So, here are some things that we should all be doing:

-obviously, the biggest one is don't give them money. I shouldn't have to explain why, but just in case, I will say: this doesn't just refer to directly spending money in Genshin. I also mean no official merch or paying them in other games.

-don't talk positively about Hoyoverse or their games. This will probably get me some hate comments for saying it. To clarify, I don't mean that you're not allowed to have positive thoughts about their games! We all have things that we like about Genshin, including me! There are two reasons why;

First, hearing people talk positively about them or their games is basically free advertising, intended or not. The reason why their games are free and has ftp options are likely because, with Genshin especially, their main strategy to getting money is to please as many types of fans as possible. Ftp fans are still useful to them bc they can still make fan content that non-fans will see and be interested in. And the more people who play the game, the more people who will give them money.

Second, the more people keep talking about Hoyo stuff like we have been before, the more racist, sexist, etc. fans and Hoyoverse themselves will be able to keep up the illusion that nothing is wrong. Hell, I have a bunch of posts now and the vast majority of them are negative, yet my 2 most popular posts are some of my few posts that don't have anything negative in them. Trust me, a single post can mean more than you would think.

This point can also be customized to fit how you post. You could only post negative stuff as I do, or just stop posting about it all together. If you already don't post about them, great! If you want to continue making fan content that doesn't have to do with their problems, then maybe you could make a banner you can add to your posts saying that you don't support them. The point is to not have posts that Hoyo or their dickriders would be comfortable with.

-partially related to the last point, and mostly targeting content creators: don't portray characters with the exact same designs as canon! If you're not good at making character designs, that's okay! At the very least, portray characters such as the Sumeru and Natlan cast, some of the Chinese and Japanese characters, Boothill, and Aventurine with darker skin. And don't portray Kaeya, Xinyan, Iansan, Arlan, or Sugilite with gray-ish tones to their skin. I'd say that it's preferable if you did make your own designs that are more diverse, but it's okay if you don't know how. This can also be used as a way to show that you don't support Hoyoverse.

[gacha-incels]

I’ve been looking to find a translation/overview of this article for some time as a more expansive look into East Asian (specifically Chinese in this case) male gacha consumers views on female and male characters in these games and what they represent. this was touched upon a bit in this post from January and also in the “gacha design” post. I think there is still some confusion with westerners playing these games thinking the female characters are specifically designed for women and the male characters for men, because with more western games (and media) you will typically get the grizzled male protag look and anything with a female MC is ridiculed by male gamers as pandering/“woke”/“SJW”/etc, take your pick bc this shit all means the same thing. but typically in gacha an all-female cast has been made to appeal to male consumers, and an all male cast will pander to women. Just look at something like NIKKE (all female cast) VS Ensemble Stars (all male). when there is a male character who is extremely popular with female players and has obviously been designed for that demographic, this is when you will see the explosive violent anger from misogynist male fans like what happened with the Genshin Impact character Wanderer. This happened with the Korean incels and the character Lyney, the Honkai Star Rail male characters who have boob windows like Aventurine also catch their ire for being sexualized in a similar way to the female designs. they hate any male character that appeals to women and/or “looks gay”, you can find plenty of western players speaking about the Genshin male characters like this as well. these groups tend to be extremely misogynistic and homophobic (we saw this with their comments during their disastrous “blimp protest”) but no surprise there I’m sure. because Genshin is a very popular mixed sex gacha that consistently tops charts, it’s believed by these men to be the reason why newer gacha games have both male and female characters instead of solely female, and they go so far as to call this effect (among other things) the “genshinification” of gacha games. I think this is important to learn about if you want to understand why a particular demographic of men play these games and why they react in certain ways to specific characters.

this article looks into the male Chinese gacha player phenomenon essentially called something like “Don’t play if there are men”, referring to mixed sex gacha games. It begins by explaining how the “movement” really started speaking out aggressively when Genshin Impact had back to back to back limited male 5-star releases for multiple patches in a row.

you can trudge along with a clunky MTL of the entire thing (I’ve just posted the beginning here) but I’ve found 2 comments in english that speak about this article-

[kyunniebuns]

//Kyunnie rambling like a madman over her fave charas

why must I grow to be so empathetic and easily attached to people who are so broken.

I cant move on from Jinwoo's unspoken trauma, Aventurine's love of gambling because its the only aspect of him he has complete control over, and Wanderer who is driven by self-hatred and anger has grown as a puppet slowly learning to become empathetic and gentle despite his arrogant exterior and his supposed "Heartless" figure.

I hate how we are not given enough or even any deep dive into Jinwoo's overall psyche. I personally think this man hates himself so much that he actively throws himself in front of others. While yes he is kind as a default because he is the mc but god I love how you can possibly explain his altruism because of his low self-esteem. Being a laughingstock, mocked and shouldering the responsibilities of a patriarch must have broken him. We know for a fact that Jinwoo is driven simply by his love for his family. His actions are made for the benefit of Jin-ah and his mom. Being an E-ranker is brutal, we are shown that despite it not being heavily focused on its obvious Jinwoo struggles. His landlord even offered to extend rent which means Jinwoo is hell-deep into money scarcity. I think we can all agree how being broke can literally destroy someone. With Juhee scolding Jinwoo for his injuries I think we can interpret it as this man still going to work despite being heavily hurt. This man is desperate to make ends meet and it must have made a toll on him despite his calm and collected demeanour. I wish we could have been given more ample hints about Jinwoo's slow detachment more often than just slapping it on the table like what happened when he killed the older brother of Hwang Dong-soo. It was sudden, while cool as it may be I want to see more of his decline mentally so that I could have been more excited at his breaking point. The anime is thankfully being more open to showing how self-destructive Jinwoo can be. I mean, come in, the scene with cerberus? How stubborn and strong willed he is? It's beautiful. What I do appreciate is that Jinwoo for a fact is altruistic.Him willing to shoulder all the burdens of war and defending his earth from the itarim eushdhs qwq....

Dont even get me started with Aventurine. I was once a firm fan of Aventio but seeing how this man is watered down to nothing more than a hot twink bottom fuckable? God it gets on my nerves. It got so bad I have a lowkey hatred of Aventio not out of homophobia but because I find it so fucking infuriating that such a deep and well-written character is just reduced to his ship. Aventurine is obviously an extremely insecure man, have we all not learned anything from the penacony quest or is it because everyone probably skipped the dialogues? I bet it's the latter half. Kakavasha pointed out how nervous Aventurine was and none of us, the audience or even the npcs, expected that. It shows that Aventurine has perfected his mask of arrogance and suave do much so that he can fool everyone. Everyone but himself. And Kakavasha knew that because he and Aventurine are one in the same. Kakavasha is the little boy in Aventurine that he has hidden beneath this carefully built palace of lies. Everything about his attire and confidence is there to make you feel like you cannot see through this man. That instead of thinking of something else, the first thing that jumps on your mind is that he is arrogant and self-centered when he is not. He is anything but confident, he has a deep rooted sense of self-hatred and depression because of his broken past and he most likely blames himself for the death of his mother and sister. And you know what? I liked him because he of the way he presents himself. But once I discovered a deeper level of who Aventurine is? Mother I am gone. I became heavily invested in him, I loved how I'm able to get a glimpse of it. Slowly I started seeing less of "Aventurine the IPC ambassador who is a bastard" and more of the "Aventurine" that is hidden inside. I want to know more about him and less about this facade he has perfectly built up. I didn't trust him at first but now I can confidently say that out of all the hsr charas, I would trust him and Dan Heng the most with my heart. So when he supposedly died? It broke me. I could not shut up about it and my friends probs were tired of me. I was having active mental breakdowns because I did not want Aventurine to go away even though his plan was complete suicide. A gamble he took to end his sorry life. Gambling was the only thing that Aventurine had complete control over as well as how he wanted people to perceive him. I felt so wronged when i was fooled into thinking he is gone when the aventurine stone landed on the floor and lost its shimmer. I did not want his story to end. I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to see him succeed in his revenge on the people who took his family away.

Wanderer? He was an asshole, i didnt get the attraction to him at first. He was always sexualized and reduced to just a petty villain whose personality revolves around being toxic. But oh how all of that came crumbling down when I met "who" he really is. A broken, lonely and abandoned puppet who is desperate to have a heart. Discarded by his mother, lost a friend and another right after that. He was a child when Ei released him, he misunderstood her actions as to being that she found him of no use when really she just wanted to keep him away from the horrors that is reality, his second friend was also a misunderstanding. While I dont know the complete story of that part, I know its a huge miscommunication. The last betrayal that completely broke him? That one was of naivete. He was a child. He had the mind of a child. All of that turned into a web of confusion, hatred and sadness that created "Scaramouche". He became a weapon, a lab rat. All of that just because he wanted to fill the void in his empty heart where a gnosis should have sat. When the archon quest rolled in? I was so devastated with his desperation. He was absolutely broken. By the end of it, when he was under nahida he used to Irminsul to kill himself. How tragic is that, huh? I hate how people significantly forget about that side of him. That suicidal, depressed boy who had no guiding light. His only drive was to have the gnosis thinking that will take away all the pain and sadness in his heart when truly he just wanted to love and be loved. He wanted companions. In his story quest, his first appearance as Wanderer is I think is the closest we can get to who he actually used to be. Before the abandonment, the betrayals, the deaths. I think that is the closest glimpse we get in game about who he really was. It doesnt justify his cruelty, his mass murder, his crimes. Nothing justifies anything but I cant help but feel so sorry for his soul. And hence make me all the more hate blind people who reduce him to just arrogance. The last event showed that Wanderer for a fact can be extremely empathetic, he saved Durin and even allowed him to become his companion. Nahida points out he feels extremely happy despite his demeanour. This man just wants happiness and companionship because he spent most of his days dying of loneliness and drowning in depression. Wanderer is kind, he is healing. It is slow but the game doesn't hide that. We are shown time and time again how he is growing as a person despite being without a heart. I think Wanderer is very empathetic despite how he appears, he can understand you in a deep sense despite talking smack at you. He is gentle with his actions. Even animals are so attracted to him, animals only react to those with noble and gentle hearts. That should be enough to say what kind of person wanderer is these days.

Overall, these three just put me in so much emotional turmoil that I hate how I cant talk more about it. I love them a lot. I want to know more about them. I want to be able to immerse myself more. I want to know them more eidhehsjs mannnn,,,,,,

[nilboxes]

Light cone art so powerfully homoerotic someone (me) furiously pumped out a 6k word fic in 2 days. They're going to kill me. 🔗 : AO3

Extensive notes/ramblings below!

-

I have not recovered from the mental power I had to pool to write this lmao I couldn't do anything at work except figure these two out and why Aventurine looked so BESOTTED but the absence of the little white dots in his eyes in the light cone and in the leaked models made him look like there's such an edge to him (someone on twitter pointed out that he has no light in his eyes!) and it really fanned the flames like what the fuck is this GUY ON and why is it directed at Dr. Ratio LMAO (I mean why not Ratio is so pretty)

So then I thought, there is NO WAY Ratio is going to react surprised or scared for Aventurine he's going to be ANNOYED lmao. There are possibly 2 more chances in that cylinder before it's 100% in there and I was looking at the probabilities on Wikipedia and I was laughing at myself at how a gay ship was going to make me STUDY probability when I hated this type of stuff in university and I was like yeah Ratio will probably be like hey, you can't stop there, and pulls twice lmao

And I was thinking they would make eyes at each other homoerotically while doing so because wow sexual tension so potent you can taste it through the screen in the LC art and everything just went from there I really cannot get over how Aventurine seems so... sooooooo in love with Ratio and in my head Ratio is like this man is insane what is he on but he gets a taste of that and it's like wow it's actually a little good but Ratio is also cautious so he won't ride that wave too hard but Aventurine looks really down bad for a man who seems like he doesn't care

So initially I really wanted to wait until Aventurine came out before I start my hyperfixation train because we know so little about him other than key facts I have formed in my head-- -he's perpetual smiler (confirmed by a leak of the loading screen blurbs) and like, idk from his design it just suits him and even in his voice cameo with Topaz his VA sounds like they are smiling while they are talking ALLL the time idk at least I got this one right -mr gambling gambler who is very self-assured about his luck, mr smug man. when I wrote he'd win 99.9-0.1 he believes this and if he dies I think to him it would just mean his time's up for realsies anyway and whatever idk man is not very sane -there's some really weird leaks and I'm not sure if it's confirmed but he was invited to be a Masked Fool which made him ALLL the more interesting for me because as a Sampo Mr Scammer fan it doesn't mean if he joins the Masked Fools he wouldn't be able to amass money but this guy seems to really like the thrill being an IPC senior manager provides then which is like this guy is a lives fast dies young kinda guy -I HC from that neck tattoo he could have been an indentured servant (cough slave cough) or a prisoner of some kind, but eitherway it says he wasn't privileged in any sense of the word but the way his character design is so decked out in rings gold watches and even a bracelet it means he's climbed very far, so he is an ambitious man, lots of "material pleasures" as Dr Ratio puts it in my fic and he still wants more. That kinda guy makes for a very intense lover imo very "I get what I want" type, and I really wanted to balance that with his attraction to Dr Ratio and how he doesn't want to drive Dr Ratio away with his crazy but he's also very horny... Anyway I also totally underestimated his height difference with Dr Ratio I really should have pulled up that leak of them side by side but ahh being a short king dom top is so cute on him

As for Dr Ratio I really cannot see him top unless Aventurine power bottoms why but he's so "diligent" in all aspects but I see him being a pillow princess in bed

I also feel a little bad that I wasn't able to write more bickering between the two of them but I also feel like the normally talkative Dr Ratio keeps HIGH HIGH walls around Aventurine because it's hard to tell what this guy is thinking so he's thinking so hard trying to make sense of it all and he says little as not to give away anything that might be wrong

I feel like adding "all is fair in love and war" in Latin omina iusta sunt amore belloque was a little gratuitous but I also want to subtly sprinkle in that Aventurine is so obsessed with Ratio, so down bad for him, that he reads stuff about Dr Ratio a lot enough to come across a translation of the quote and I'm like no yeah way Ratio can deal with crazy-eyed Aventurine saying/declaring love while he's still computing the electric exchange they had so he's definitely like picking up on Aventurine's obsession/infatuation with him and he's like NOPE DON'T SAY IT and would rather kiss him to shut him up than hear it lmao

I honestly despaired at how I was going to start closing the scenes because it was like nighttime and I wanted to finish it already because they're killing me, so like, making Ratio fall asleep while Aventurine pours his heart out (I asked a friend who read it what he thought Aventurine said and they got it spot on so I figure it was conveyed properly on my end and I was really proud of this bit) seemed like a cute way to do it. The narration lied, Dr Ratio heard it but he got selective hearing and totally did NOT want to reply/acknowledge it. Poor Aventurine, but it's not as if he won't try again

I have waaay more ideas about them and I wonder if I can hold off until Aventurine releases or we get more crumbs idk but I want to write some kuudere Ratio (with a bit of tsun hehe)

Special mentions other than the lightcone art that fueled me: this art from Twitter that and this post that kinda made me think long and hard...

[crystallinestars]

I agree with you, it does feel very fetish-y because it is a fetish. I would say the fandom has done it more than Hoyoverse themselves, but Haikaveh fans have 'heterosexualized' ( I am aware that is not a word, but I am unable to think of a better term.. ) a pairing that they insist is exclusively gay. I am alarmed by the amount of people who refer to Kaveh as Alhaitham's wife and the jokes about Kaveh being on maternity leave is getting old very quickly. There is no problem with a feminine and masculine same-sex duo, but this.. is stereotyping and downright sexist. Why is the more emotional one the 'woman' in the relationship? Why is there even a 'woman' in it at all if it doesn't involve an actual one?!?! Kaveh is, in my opinion, a perfect balance of your typical femininity and masculinity. I see him as rather high maintenance, but that does not equal femininity in any way, shape or form. I have seen people say that with both Aventurine and Kaveh are feminine / gay because they dress nicely... 😟 That's especially weird with Kaveh, considering some of it is cultural, and perhaps it's apart of Aventurine's facade due to his lore. It makes me laugh, actually. And in one of your previous asks, I forgot how much people were crapping themselves over the one (1) shot of Alhaitham and Kaveh.. standing next to each other. I saw someone say that the way Kaveh sat in the scene where they were at home was gay and they provided a photo (you could only see a little bit of his thighs, ankles and below that. I'm pretty sure his ankles were only slightly crossed.) Then I saw someone else post a picture of them and spamming the caption with the f slur. I audibly gasped at both of them. You couldn't even see Kaveh's legs, and how do you 'sit' gay?!?! Being masculine is when you do not care for your appearance and have a rock hard eight pack, are as tall as a skyscraper or something, and walk in the stiffest way possible.. I don't know.. That's what others make it sound like. Others were saying that they were getting along and that meant they were in love in Cyno's new story quest. Cyno's second story quest was very good and I am so disappointed to see people making it all about Haikaveh and not even enjoying the actual story! These people are dead serious about all of this, too. It absolutely baffles me. On a lighter note, I'd like to propose a potential pairing. I enjoy them regardless of whether they are romantic or not; but what are your thoughts on Kaveh and Kokomi? I find Kokomi to be easy to pair others with, and overall I think her personality would be good for him. I'd say she has a good balance between being logical and being in tune with her emotions, which, IMO, is precisely the type of person Kaveh needs. They're both very sweet and very pretty, too! 💗 I've been tempted to make a list of characters and what kind of personalities / types of people I think would be good for them, just for fun. Thank you for listening to all of our rambles! - 🪷🪽 ( To answer your question from before, I'll use both of these emojis, if that's all right ♡ )

Yes, you can be 🪷🪽!

I’ve already talked at length with another Anon about the feminization of Kaveh by fandom, and the heterosexual dynamics frequently applied to mlm pairings, so if you're curious, you can look at the post here.

I completely agree with your point that BL pairings get reduced to one guy being depicted as masculine, while the other as more feminine. It’s ironic since neither of them are women, but it’s something that happens A LOT. The pregnancy and Alhaitham’s wife jokes are straight up uncomfortable for me, and I really hate what fandom did to Kaveh.

Just because he dresses well and is more emotional, he gets painted as feminine because those traits are traditionally associated with women. I went into this more in-depth in the linked post, so I won’t repeat my points again, but in short: people need to stop associating certain traits with femininity and submission.

Kaveh is very masculine. He carries himself and behaves just like any other man, so it’s a massacre of his character to say he’s a feminine babygirl. He does have some feminine traits, but as you said, he has a nice balance between masculine and feminine. He’s what so many people in real life claim men should be.

Disappointed but not surprised they're using the most arbitrary examples to try and prove Kaveh's sexuality. They've done it before, and they'll do it again. Before you know it, they'll say breathing proves he's gay 😒 I'm curious, did they do such analyses for Alhaitham too? Not necessarily in your example, but some time in the past? I've never seen any for him, other than his color palette fitting the gay flag (which is such a strained argument).

Also nothing new about people focusing on their ship instead of the actual story. I've seen this behavior in other fandoms as well, and it's disappointing. It would be so much fun to see discussions about the story, lore, or character motivations instead of just ships.

Anon. I ADORE Kokomi. She is my favorite female Genshin character, and probably one of my favorite female characters overall! You better believe I thought about my favorite Genshin characters interacting!

Unlike you, I find it difficult to ship Kokomi (nobody feels good enough for my beloved Priestess 💔), so while I don't think a romance between them will work out, I am more than open to the concept and will entertain it for fun! They would indeed make the prettiest and sweetest couple in Teyvat ☺️ Kokomi would be a very calming influence for Kaveh. I can almost picture her guiding and helping him navigate his life for the better.

I also like the idea of Kaveh with Candace. Candace is gentle and caring, which is something I think Kaveh needs. Yet, she is firm and takes no nonsense, so she will chastise Kaveh when he needs it. I just think she would be great at keeping him on the right path. Alhaitham does it fairly well, but he's too abrasive with his wording, meanwhile Candace (and Kokomi!) would be more gentle. Plus, I can imagine Kaveh and Candace bonding over him designing the library for Aaru village.

It sounds like you're very into shipping? Or at least, character analysis. Kokomi and Kaveh is an idea I love a lot (though I may be biased since I love both characters to bits), so I'm curious about any other unconventional pairings you have. Are there any you want to share?

Anyways, sorry for replying so late. Hope you have a great day!

[crguang]

I think the problem with Topaz it that she seems shallow. You work for evil capitalist corporation™ and are just 'Meh' about it?

Like you wanted her to like her job okay, them make her more like Jade. Jade willingly and deliberately exploits her clients weakness and gloats over it. I don't think any sad backstory as much as heartwreching it could be can take away that fact she gloats over her winns and is unapologetic.

But Topaz likes her job and doesn't think too hard on it... Like okay. I get all her home planet had to sign themselves away to receive help (groomed since young) and she saw it as an opportunity to progress, her savior and wants to extend that but, you don't get that high maintaining that child like wonder.

I think I would like her a lot more if she was painfully conscious of the bad of the IPC but actively grappling with her own moral compass, gaslighting herself to look it over, justifing her actions and the IPC's to herself to be able to uphold her POV and bringing that 'help' herself to other planets. Like she is SO GOOD at her job and probably received praise back and forth, the IPC is all she knows so it's the base of her self worth. She just doesn't reflect at all and I refuse to belive she doesn't know the IPC has done some heinous crimes.

you’ve literally said everything. like this is exactly what bothers me about her. omg. youre inside my head because that was so perfectly put, so clear too i owe u my life. what annoys me the most about topaz is that she pretends like the ipc is good and is portrayed by the game as being “a good person” who just wants to help and who put her job on the line for it because, again, “she’s actually not that bad and not all ipc members are evil !!” when the reality of things is that she is so shallow. she contradicts herself multiple times, obviously is smart enough to understand the cost of what she does, but they want me to believe that she’s nice because… she didn’t sell out belobog? who she called servants? yeah ok. she’s good at her job, she knows what she’s doing and she’s ok with it like why are we pretending otherwise?? 😭 am i supposed to give a shit about her (tame and unoriginal) backstory? im confused.

that wardance event really made me despise her because of how they had luka accept her help and basically concede just so everyone could be friends. hoyoverse are such cowards with this, they make bad people then try to find a way for everyone in-game, even those who share opposing ideals/values, to like them. it makes me feel crazy and yes this is also about the stellaron hunters but WHATEVERRR— with luka it bothered me the most because he is a victim of the ipc and they made it seem like he was in the wrong for distrusting them, it made me so mad. i wanted to break that camera head so bad im happy kafka destroyed that intellitron planet like whatever. and they superimposed his story with IGOR, whose story was basically “the ipc needs to die” so im quite. quite puzzled about that narrative choice

at least jade is unapologetically evil and is self-aware, topaz feels like a character made up in 4 minutes because they needed an antagonist for the belobog interlude. alright. this is why i compare her to skott, who’s just an ipc lackey whose job is all he knows. fuck they even gave skott a sad backstory in that march event 😭 topaz has nothing to her name but that pig and her job… she has a semblance of relationship with aventurine and is a fool in front of jade. that doesn’t move me. and just because its her saying it i hate her voice line about the stellaron hunters its dumb and nonsensical and she should shut up forever

i cant stand her at all also because of her delusional fans on the internet, it’s so easy for me to hate a ship or a character just because their fans are annoying as fuck and topaz is one of them. don’t understand their own (nothing) character and ive argued with them too many times to just dislike her, i full on cant see her stupid face anymore im sorry

[kiskutnya]

Any hyv fans in the chat. Can someone please explain to me why this fandom is so ungodly misogynistic (and often also biphobic)? It's genuinely driving me insane atp. (rant below cut)

My favorite characters in HSR are almost all female save for a few, and it's SO hard to find merch of them for some reason? Even though they're all extremely significant lore-wise or have incredibly gripping and interesting narratives and backstories. It's definitely not a gender ratio issue either, because the gender ratio in HSR is 32:18 atm (female:male)

It's actually insane to see how misogynistic this fandom is... It's a little sickening and insane? Every time I try to look for merch it's almost always the same 4 male characters with like 1 or 2 female characters thrown in MAYBE. If you're lucky. God forbid there's fan merch of a female character who did 1 thing wrong or shows even a modicum of a negative trait, bc then people will just outwardly despise them (re: Sparkle and Ruan Mei).

Sparkle and Ruan Mei are 2 of my favorite characters in the game and they are both so, so interesting. Sparkle is such an interesting character with SO much to dissect abt herself and everything she says and does but people brush her aside because she's annoying and untrustworthy. I fully understand her comment towards Aventurine was horrible, but let's not forget Sunday and Dr. Ratio both said same/similar things to him, and people constantly argue neither of them actually meant it, which you could make the SAME exact argument for Sparkle... But Sparkle's a woman, so she doesn't get that treatment. Never mind the fact Sparkle did nothing but assist the entire Penacony quest, even if it was in obtuse and mysterious ways. The ENTIRE Penacony quest revolves around characters keeping their cards close to their chest until the moment it's actually okay to let their guard down, so why is Sparkle treated so differently and like a villain/antagonist (especially one worse than Sunday) when she does not even function as one narratively?

And with Ruan Mei... Don't even get me started lol. I was so shocked to find out how many people actually despised her. I did her companion quest and I absolutely loved it and fell in love with her character! I thought it was so obvious they were trying to show Ruan Mei is a character who is deeply emotionally stunted, but feels and shows compassion and care in her own way, even if she struggles to realize that... But then I realized everyone just took her at face value and thought she was just heartless and selfish and rude and whatnot? HUH? Yes, she abandoned her creations, but the end of the quest EXPLICITLY shows that she DOES care about them, even if she doesn't understand that emotion and struggles to show it in a way that is expected. Probably because she is a woman and god forbid a woman isn't uwu wholesome and nurturing 24/7.

It's just... It's totally fine to like male characters (I love so many of them myself!! I love IP3, boothill, argenti, etc), but the disproportionate amount of hate towards female chars, esp ones that do the SAME THING many male chars do (or very similar things) is just... Um. Eyebrow raising...? Especially when I legit have to fight tooth and nail to find fan merch of female characters I like.

I don't know. I just wasn't super active in the hyv fandom until I got really invested in HSR and I was seriously stunned at the amount of blatant misogyny that goes around, especially because I see almost nobody calling it out. It's pretty isolating and has left a really bitter taste in my mouth. Has anyone else experienced/noticed this or am I just crazy 😭😭

[petorahs]

Keep up the Avendaymaxxing‼️‼️‼️ But I’m glad you enjoyed the idea of that AU and how Avenday could still be a part of it. ^^

Thinking about your Avenday comic with the ship child and—ohh I love how Sunday’s ear wings are bigger now, and I also saw the tag saying that his hair was waist length. He ended up becoming more like his mother, both in appearance and perhaps even attitude… Let’s hope he doesn’t become too much like her though and styles his hair like the “dead mom hairstyle” ahaha, hah.

Ok off topic but I feel the need to rant a little regarding the relationship between Ratio and Sunday. I’ve only seen a few people (including you) talk about this, so I felt like expressing my own opinion on the matter. I know (or at least, would like to believe) that people are mostly joking about Ratio hating Sunday, but I feel like people actually believe that he genuinely hates him when… it’s never felt that way to me. To me, Ratio was more so concerned about Sunday’s mental health, but simply worded it in a more direct/blunt way since that’s just how he is. Even during the 2.1 quest, I never got the feeling that Ratio hated him. Sure, he could have disliked Sunday a bit, but not to the point of feeling genuine hatred towards him. Didn’t Ratio even say that Sunday thought alike to Aventurine, who is someone that we know he’s concerned about? If he’s worried about Aventurine, and Ratio compares Sunday to him, then that kinda leads me to believe he has some concern for him too, but just in a somewhat less obvious way. Again, this is just my opinion though. As someone who loves/kins both Ratio and Sunday, it just kinda hurts to see this mischaracterization 😭

—🪼 anon.

WAHOO yes milfy older Sunday was always gonna look like his mom to me! it was a toss up between that and short, boyish hair tbh, which I still want to draw some day :] (kinda like how some ppl draw modern Neuvillette with short hair!) (although Sunday's canon hair is already pretty "modern"-like iygwim)

and..........................funny you bring up the Ratio/Sunday thing when I was just done calming myself after seeing yet another post about Ratio being Sunday's biggest hater AGAINST MY WILL...! makes my eye twitch.

if it's a joke like you said then i fail to see what's funny 😭 if anything it makes ppl who were neutral on Ratio hate him and those who hated him have even more reasons to, because it depicts the Doctor as having ill will toward someone who he knows needs medical help? it's so weird so-called Ratio fans would mischaracterize him like this! wouldn't they want to highlight the best- or at the very least accurate parts of Ratio's character? that guy? you know? Doctor of Truth? values truth above all else?

I just feel bad for the constant butchering of this dude's character and for Sunday tbh. the things these people twist to fit their narrative. I ranted abt this on the side acc in replies with a friend on why I think they did this but let's just say it's. for petty reasons. sadge.

basically, everything you said. first read-around Ratio's comment for Sunday was so.....normal. he says it like it is but it's not like he's being a hater about it..? sooo fucking weird to me how people get this twisted dude. if anything it's Sunday that has valid reasons to hate the guy for double crossing him, but we know he knows it was all Aventurine. my head hurts. people are so incapable of being normal about these three huh.

I could go on about this specific thing but siiiiiigh. deep breaths. just meaningless internet drivel. classic hoyo fandom mischaracterization. not worth my time. staying in my little internet bubble with people like you who actually get the characters. Deep Breaths...!

(actually off to daydream/draw Veritas being nice to Sunday out of spite......💢💢💢💢)

[angeliicon]

HSR and idv ? :3c

SEND ME A FANDOM: HSR (i did answer this on my multi but also im answering again maybe answers changed!!!)

I’ll tell you:

The first character I first fell in love with: Kafka I'm weak for women. If you're a woman in a hoyoverse game I love you when the entire fanbase won't.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Ooh uhh Gepard definitely snuck on me. During the Belobog story I was very neutral and then one day I was like NO, LOVE. LOVE THAT BOI.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Aventurine. And this is absolutely zero hate towards anyone who writes him and I can say more about it but then it feels like shitting on someone's fave character cuz I have several Aventurine mutuals and know that I care you.

The character I love that everyone else hates: See I don't know who is HATED but my instinct is to say March 7th. Queen, I love you.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I don't love Tingyun as much as I used to but I still love her better than most <3

The character I would totally smooch: Kafka. Take me Kafka. Robin. Take me Robin. Gepard, Stelle, Jingliu-*i get dragged off stage*

The character I’d want to be like: Kafka cuz I wanna be a dashing coat thief with a hot voice yeah

The character I’d slap: Aventurine.

A pairing that I love: Robinhill save me. Save me, Barbenheimer. Also ofc LiuBai. Oh my god why can't I think of any other pairings.

A pairing that I despise: Me x My No Robin Guarantee.

IDV (im gonna admit this might be more vague answers because i barely know anyone outside of my immediate faves and i have not played for a while-)

The first character I first fell in love with:  Freddy... Listen LISTEN I WAS GOOD AT USING HIM OKAY LISTEN I KNOW HES QUESTIONABLE HEY-

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:  CHARLES UHH AEROPLANIST. His silly mechanics have enchanted me.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t:  I literally have no idea about this fandom :')))

The character I love that everyone else hates:  Do people hate Freddy? They SHOULD he's AWFUL but buckteeth,,,,

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I was a big Gardener fan back in the day but it just lessened, ya know? Time thing, not a character thing.

The character I would totally smooch:  Ganji. My son. Baby boy. Mwah mwah.

The character I’d want to be like:  Emil. I'm not explaining.

The character I’d slap: Kreacher. Reasons.

A pairing that I love: Emil and Ada bye they're so crazy but. Listen I know so few ships here my knowledge is so thin.

A pairing that I despise: me x the time i wasn't planning and missed tHE FUCKIGN LINK CLICK COLLAB

[rawbin-hsr]

honestly, i think you were perfectly fine in terms of the recent aventurine headcanons. i think it’s kind that you did, but i don’t see a need to apologize, especially to such a rude person (really, if you don’t like something just scroll). you didn’t say he was abusive, and even if you did, subtle emotional abuse is… still abuse! and i think he is very capable of that. to pretend as if he couldn’t be is mischaracterization in it of itself.

i think people do get a bit too… sugar-coating about him. people take the scenes of him in his most vulnerable moments, like him being gentle towards kakavasha in the nihility, and apply that to him in every facet because they want to feel as if he’d be kind to them (which, in an x reader context, is understandable). but i agree with you—he’s not really a good person. if you actually listen to a lot of his lines over again, it’s easy to be snapped out of that sort of reverie. he’s not even that likable as a person, and i feel like 90% of us aventurine fans would not desire to befriend him or even be around him if we, in the nature of meeting real people, knew nothing about his past, inner thoughts, or motivations.

anyway! yeah that’s all. i wouldn’t be discouraged. i loved the post, thank you for making it 💗

Thank you so much for saying that I really needed to hear some encouragement 😭😭 I have ADHD and rejection sensitive dysphoria, so I kinda took it a lot harder than I should and have been like trembling for a good minute now it’s actually so embarrassing 💀

I do agree with them that he wouldn’t be abusive to a partner he genuinely loves, I do think my wording was a lot harsher than it should have been so I understand why they got mad at me, but I also do stand by the fact that he wouldn’t be great. I did come to that conclusion after rereading all the stuff about him, like his voice lines as you mentioned and parts of the quests that were,, not about Aventurine at his lowest (as in after Sunday uses the harmony on him to where he escapes the nihility). I think my interpretation of him is a lot harsher than most people’s because I genuinely hated him right off the bat, so I didn’t really go in with the intention of liking him, leading to me having a slightly more unfavourable view of him than most people who write for him.

Like you said, yes !! A lot of people only remember the parts where he was tender, and it’s always bothered me !!! Like of course Aventurine has the capability to be tender and sweet and loving. In fact, I think he is just that at his very core. It’s just that his shell is extremely, extremely thick, and it is not a nice shell. (Like you said, he’s a kind of a very unlikeable guy most of the time 😭)

Again thank you so much for writing this I appreciate it so much I was considering taking the post down entirely out of shame 💀💀💀 It’s embarrassing how easily I lose my ground when someone disagrees with me so this was a really nice reminder I shouldn’t let one or two disagreements overpower multiple people saying what I’m doing is good 💕💕

[iiryoku]

⸺ @sagnaevi & @duelmarks MEME. / NO LONGER ACCEPTING.

HSR

The first character I first fell in love with: 

To no one's surprise, it was Blade! I am absolutely in love with his entire design! He was actually the one character that made me want to play the game. He is still my favorite to this day and I always turn feral, whenever he shows up. I also have a weakness for characters with a sad backstory, so... he really fits.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: 

AVENTURINE! Hundred percent. I actually didn't like him at first and Jen can vote for that. I thought him arrogant and if there is something that really annoys the heck out of me, then it's arrogance. However, after I learned more about his story and of course got to know, why he is the way that he is, I absolutely fell in love. Especially after seeing how soft he can truly be. He is an immensely beautifully made character and he is very close to Blade for me, I also blame Jen for that.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: 

Jingliu. I absolutely can't stand her. Both due to, what she did to Blade, but also due to how she is portrayed. I am not a fan and to not rant, I will end it there aiwjfoiawf

The character I love that everyone else hates: 

I don't think there is any?? I mean, sometimes Caelus is left out and I ABSOLUTELY adore him, but I think that is with every MC from Hoyo games.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

I don't think there are any?? I might pick Dan Heng, no offense to those, who write him, but in game he seems very absent (atm) and I think that might have to do with it?? I do adore those, who write him tho!

The character I would totally smooch: 

Aventurine, I would also say Blade, but he might just attack me iajwfojaw

The character I’d want to be like: 

Caelus!!! Hundred percent.

The character I’d slap: 

Jingliu.

A pairing that I love:

xingyue, avencae, samcae

A pairing that I despise: 

I can't think of one off the top of my head c: