#and this is coming from a huge Genshin fan

[hime-bee]

So, I uninstalled all my HYV games ✌ I'll maybe come back when they actually address and change the bullshit they have goin' on with Natlan

[starcurtain]

Comparing Phaidei and Other Hoyo MLM Ships (Part 1)

I barely know how to begin, honestly, because I'm still so taken aback by the absolute Phaidei feast that was 3.1. But perhaps because we were so overfed by the patch, I was actually jarred a little out of the story itself--too busy turning over the broader ramifications of such blatant queer-coding of two male characters in a modern Hoyoverse game.

Of course, Hoyo isn't remotely new to queer-coding their characters (or to queer-baiting, either, gacha games gotta hustle at all times). They absolutely have a history of hinting at both WLW and MLM ships and of including fanservice between the player's MC and other playable characters regardless of gender. Strangely enough, due to the unique confluence of their target audiences' tastes, the Hoyoverse team has an active profit motive to create gay characters:

WLW ships are appealing to heterosexual male players.

MLM ships are appealing to heterosexual female players.

Simultaneously, WLW and MLM ships are appealing to queer players.

Heterosexual ships with characters other than the MC are unappealing to a large percentage of the game's playerbase, particularly to heterosexual male players who want to keep their waifus to themselves but also to female yumeshippers.

Hoyo's market is literally telling them that 1) male characters sell better when they're ship-baited with other male characters, and 2) players don't actually want heterosexual ships between playable characters if the MC isn't involved. (Hell, look at Firefly--players hate romances with the MC too lol!)

But at the same time as the market is telling the devs to keep making queer characters, Hoyoverse also faces immense social pressure to avoid including actual queer content.

Let me hold off on the political and legal consequences of including gay characters in Chinese media for just a second, and look at the situation from the perspective of Hoyo's target audiences first:

Take this data with a grain of salt though; I'm not sure where they got their numbers.

First, Hoyoverse games are increasingly global and surprisingly popular in conservative/religious countries such as Russia, Malaysia, and the UAE. The western world as a whole is shifting increasingly right on LGBT+ issues. For the games to be marketed well across the globe, they've got to avoid challenging the morals of these highly varied audiences. (Perhaps this is why past Hoyoverse titles seemed more open to LGBT+ content than present Hoyoverse games do; a broader audience actually means more restrictions on content.)

Second, even though conservative heterosexual male players are actually surprisingly fine with MLM ship tease, that only applies so long as it stays at the level of "I can pretend I don't see it." As long as anti-LGBT+ players can write off any MLM content as "just close friends," the dev team can get away with frankly shocking amounts of queer interaction between male characters. (I'm sorry to any straight male fans reading this [could there possibly be any?], but half of y'all could win gold medals if mental gymnastics were a sport. The lengths I have seen some male Genshin players go to try to explain away Haikaveh are honestly awe-inspiring. 😂) However, the boundary must be respected. The moment a male character's queerness exceeds subtext and becomes text, when even mental gymnastics cannot come up with a heterosexual explanation, and the plausible deniability goes out the window, it is no longer acceptable to anti-LGBT+ players, and they will be "turned off" from pulling that male character en masse. In essence, the market is telling the devs: 1) Huge amounts of queer-coding = a-okay, but 2) Actual canon queer content = that's gayyyy, no wayyyy.

And third, the obvious: China's stance on LGBT+ people is weirdly stricter in media than it is in "real" life. It is not illegal to be gay in China but it is illegal to be gay in a video game in China. Restrictions on media portrayals of gayness are significantly more strict than restrictions on actually being gay (which is interesting cognitive dissonance for those from outside the country, but that's an essay for another day). Hoyoverse legally cannot show characters engaged in any explicitly queer behaviors--at least that can't be explained away.

Furthermore, the rules apply very differently for male and female characters. WLW content gets way more of a pass from the censors. Bronya and Seele can blush at each other, but Alhaitham and Kaveh cannot. You would never see "Rondo Across Countless Kalpas" happening with male Hoyoverse characters. The censors literally would not allow it, strictly because Chinese standards for portrayals of men are different--and more strict!--than standards for portraying women. Legally, there are strong and serious limitations on what Hoyo can do with their male characters.

Summing all of this up, in trying to create their male characters and content, Hoyoverse is actually fighting a battle of conflicting pressures: Male characters sell better when they are queer-coded, but their interactions can never rise to the level of being canonically gay.

Everything must exist in the realm of implication.

(Yes, I can hear you: "Can you please get to Phaidei already?" 😂)

All of this foreword was to lay a foundation for the actual point I want to make about Phaidei: Because Hoyoverse can only queer-code and not actually queer their male characters, they have (in their modern games), fallen into a sort of pattern with their MLM ship bait. Certain plots and personalities keeps reappearing again and again. They've developed a sort of short-hand set of traits to give to their male characters--the Hoyoverse "queer-coded MLM starter pack" if you will lol.

While not every popular MLM ship in Hoyo's games has the same traits (obviously not), certain elements seem central to creating the delicate necessary gray area between "They're just baiting fangirls" and "The devs intended these two characters to be canonically gay but just couldn't state that textually."

And yet... And yet...

You're not imagining things: Phaidei is actually different.

To demonstrate just how different though, I wanted to take the time to compare Phaidei with other popular Hoyoverse MLM ships, looking at both the similarities (the patterns that Hoyo relies on to reliably queer-code their characters) and the noticeable differences (where Hoyo pushed their own boundaries in surprising ways).

Unfortunately, in the interest of full transparency, my own Hoyoverse experience is limited, so I can only use examples from Star Rail and Genshin Impact. I just haven't played HI3 or ZZZ, so I don't feel comfortable trying to use examples from those games, although I think there may be many ships that fall into similar patterns in those games as well. (Maybe some people can share in the comments?)

Anyway, let's start with similarities:

1. A Pair of Equals

The number one "rule" for popular Hoyoverse queer-coded MLM ships is that the two characters must be evenly matched. This isn't to say they have to have identical levels of physical strength (although that is also often the case); instead, the audience needs to perceive them as being on equal footing in some way. They must either be intellectual equals (Alhaitham and Kaveh), political equals (Ratio and Aventurine; Neuvillette and Wriothesley), equal in social standing (Tighnari and Cyno), or, yes, actually physically equal their capability for going toe-to-toe against each other (Blade and Dan Heng; possibly Zhongli and Childe; for those who ship it, Diluc and Kaeya).

For modern Hoyo games, queer-coded MLM ships with noticeable discrepancies in power dynamics are particularly rare; possibly the only one that comes to mind is Ayato/Thoma (though this is mitigated by the game deliberately telling us that Ayato treats Thoma like family, rather than like a servant). And I think this actually says a lot about the devs' thought process: They are deliberately avoiding scenarios in which one male character seems capable of "preying" on another, where the queer-coding could accidentally be perceived as sexual perversion due to a discrepancy in power dynamics.

They're intentionally averting the "depraved homosexual" trope by--sometimes literally--spelling out for the players that both male characters in their queer-coded MLM ships perceive each other as, and are interested in each other as, equals.

We see this explicitly with Ratio and Aventurine in Star Rail:

And Alhaitham and Kaveh in Genshin:

Even Blade and Dan Heng are likened to "a pair" of identical objects:

So of course, Phainon and Mydei push this to an extreme. Phainon describes himself and Mydei as "friends and foes," and the game goes out of it way to reiterate over and over that they are perfect equals. Although they compete in everything they do, there is never a clear victor; their score card is constantly balancing out because they match each other's skill and power perfectly.

But there are even hints in the game that this isn't just happening naturally, but also by choice: Even when one of them triumphs over the other, they both backtrack and insist on getting on equal standing again. Whether you win or lose the "competition" in Kremnos in 3.0, the outcome is the same:

Phainon and Mydei perceive each other as perfectly matched (in strength, right, right...) and are actively working to keep it that way.

The game also goes out of its way to insist that Mydei and Phainon aren't just equals in terms of strength but also in social standing. It theoretically should be impossible to match Mydei's place on the social ladder--he's the literal crown prince of an entire nation of world-renowned conquerors. Even Aglaea is not a queen; we see her on screen being forced to contend with Okhema's Council who are fighting her for power. There technically isn't anyone in Amphoreus (at least that we've met so far) who should be able to stand on equal political or administrative footing to Mydei.

Except, of course, for Phainon, who supersedes all others by virtue of being the literal prodigal son, the "Chosen One."

The game insists on putting this in our faces over and over again: Mydei may be a king in the making, but Phainon is the "Deliverer." They are equally matched in terms of authority.

The game even goes out of its way to tell us they're perfect mirrors in personality too:

Hoyo, in the kitchen cooking up another gay ship: LISTEN GUYS, they're equals, do you understand me? A MATCHING SET.

But also...

2. Diametrically Opposed

It isn't enough for the queer-coded men to be each other's perfect equals. They also have to be opposites, typically in terms of their personalities. This is the pattern that repeats itself most consistently across Hoyoverse MLM ships with strong textual support: the two men may be equal, but they're also nothing alike. (At least on the surface.)

Alhaitham and Kaveh's entire plot hinges on their directly opposing personalities and morals, representing the clash between rationality and sensibility. Dan Feng was reserved and cool-tempered, while Yingxing was "arrogant" and brash. Hell, Xingqiu and Chongyun are "refined and clever" versus "forthright and trusting." I actually think Zhongli and Childe, despite being the most popular Hoyoverse ship in the western fandom, have very little canonical support, yet they still fit this pattern, with Zhongli as the refined gentleman to Tartaglia's blood knight tendencies.

We know how Ratio sees himself and Aventurine:

Hoyo really said "Opposites attract" and ran with it for every single MLM ship they ever teased.

And there's a logical reason for this. Making the two male characters dead opposites actually slightly decreases people's ability to argue that they're "just friends"--if they have next to nothing in common, they're not usually bonding over mutual hobbies or basing their connection on shared similarities. It becomes harder to portray two male characters as "bros who just get along great" when they're deliberately written with opposing tastes and personalities. (Real friends can sometimes be dead opposites, obviously, but most friendships are built on mutual interests rather than opposing ones, while romantic relationships hilariously have the "opposites attract" stereotype.)

There's no reason to shove polar opposites together again and again except to watch the sparks fly.

Even Hoyo's male characters' color schemes are often perfectly opposite. Plenty of people have figured out if you palette swap Alhaitham and Kaveh, Dan Heng and Blade, and Ratio and Aventurine, you end up with the same colors. Ayato and Thoma match the pattern here too ("red and blue gays" is a well-known trope).

But once again, the devs pulled out ALL the stops for Phaidei:

They're red versus blue. They're sun and moon. They're outgoing versus introverted. They're a king and a peasant (if we believe what Phainon's telling us about Aedes Elysiae). They're the "outsider" and the "golden boy." One fights with strength and the other with technique, brains versus brawn (actually they're both kind of idiots though, so take this one lightly lol).

However, what I think is most interesting about Hoyo's pairs of MLM opposites that is that the devs deliberately subvert expectations by assigning the opposing traits to the "unexpected" character. In both Haikaveh and Ratiorine, it's the rational scholar who is more overtly caring and attuned to their partner's feelings. In Renheng, it's the kind-hearted Yingxing who is consumed by anger, while the aloof, expressionless Dan Heng's voice trembles in wonder at the mere mention of Yingxing's name.

For Phainon and Mydei, this inversion of opposite traits occurs with their personalities specifically. People expected Mydei to be a gruff, hot-headed, battle-hungry berserker with a sarcastic or arrogant personality at best.

Instead, Mydei is an extremely thoughtful person, who struggles with his fate not because of what will happen to himself but because of a desire to bring the greatest good to the greatest number of his people. He's a respectful, gentle (when he needs to be), and even sentimental young man who continues to hold on to love for those who have long passed away. He's reserved around strangers but generous and warm to his companions, and struggles to express himself but has a clear desire to be considerate of others.

We also know he's deeply aware of and emotionally affected by the racism his people are experiencing in Okhema; one NPC in Okhema reports how Mydei, despite being new to Okhema himself, stood up to the very council still plaguing Aglaea in order to protect his people:

Despite having difficulties expressing his own thoughts, he even scolds Phainon for approaching their farewell with a nonchalant expression--Mydei doesn't reject emotions or shy away from becoming close with people he cares for.

Instead, it's Phainon who actually struggles to be honest. While he might connect easily with others on the surface, seeming outgoing and kind-hearted, he is actually a much more private person, one who is reluctant to show his true feelings and dismissive of questions about his past and identity. As opposed to Mydei's desire to avoid Nikador's power, Phainon is (despite his doubts) eager to prove himself, spurned on by the pressure of the prophecy telling him he needs to achieve greatness. We're told that he craved the power of strife specifically, while Mydei summarily wishes to reject it.

It's Phainon who frequently has to be reined in by others--he was ready to kill Oronyx for delaying his rescue of Mydei--and Phainon who fails to let go of his hatred and desire for revenge, causing him to fail Nikador's trial, which Mydei easily clears.

By inverting the traits of the characters, creating designs which visually oppose each other while assigning the actual opposing personality traits to the "mismatched" character, the devs hammer home an implicit message: These two characters complete each other. They fill in each other's gaps. What you expected to find in one of these men, you will instead find in the other. What they wish to be, they will be drawn to in each other.

(Frequently bought together, do not separate!)

3. The Distance is Artificial

Okay, so if they're so obviously written as a "pair," being perfect equals and perfect opposites, how are they just "queer-coded" and not explicitly queer? How is Hoyo keeping up the illusion of the characters not being an obvious couple when they're literally written to complete each other?

Hoyo has one major tool in their arsenal to do this: Prickly personalities.

With the exception of Renheng, which I'll get to in a second, Hoyo has a favorite method for enforcing the rule of plausible deniability, the idea that "Nooo, we promise, they're not in love; they don't even like each other, see??"--and that's giving one of the characters an intractable personality.

This can manifest, like Alhaitham and Kaveh, as constant bickering, where the pair's main method of communication is to devolve into petty arguments or sarcastic quips.

Fans who support the ship can view this as an "old married couple" dynamic; but for those who do not support the ship and choose to insist that Hoyo isn't actually queer-coding their male characters, they can lean on these arguments as "proof" that the characters don't actually love each other.

A similar pattern was recently repeated with Sethos/Wanderer, with Wanderer's prickly personality being used to keep Sethos at bay.

By placing the characters at odds with each other through bickering, Hoyo introduces just enough doubt to make the "They're only friends/roommates, we promise" argument hold some water. This allows them to get--quite honestly--a lot of queer content past the censors and past homophobic audiences too.

We see them repeat this trope with Aventurine and Ratio in Star Rail, introducing the two characters as initially "at odds" with each other and trying to pass it off as Ratio despising Aventurine.

Even after revealing that they were plotting together, the game insists on introducing some lingering doubts, suggesting that Aventurine fears Ratio would actually betray him.

This creates the necessary "gray area," the gap that Hoyo can use to hide in--no, Aventurine doesn't trust Ratio at all, see? Maybe they don't even like each other? Who knows! The doubt doesn't exist because the story particularly needs it, but simply so that Hoyo has a shield to hide behind if people begin to question how close the two male characters are.

Even in comedic material, Hoyo intentionally keeps this "necessary distance" in order to allow themselves wiggle room. Is Ratio an enamored tsundere who can't spit his real feelings out, or does he actually think Aventurine is illogical, mediocre, and ridiculous? Was the "Keeping Up With Star Rail" video an example of Hoyo deliberately baiting by making Ratio flustered over Aventurine "on air," or is he being Aventurine's biggest hater in this clip?

It's just questionable enough that those players who hate MLM to interpret it as the latter, and provides just enough doubt to help Hoyo slip queer-coding under the radar. Those who want to see it will see, while it's written just vaguely enough that those who don't want to see it will not see it.

(That's the point Owlbert, that's the point.)

When in doubt, and when stuck with a pair of characters who aren't likely to bicker with words, Hoyo sometimes has to progress to the next level: making them actual enemies.

What's better for creating plausible deniability than one of them trying to kill the other? (They definitely were not fooling around in a past life. We promise.) In an ironic twist with Renheng in particular, the fandom seems to have somehow come to the (mistaken) consensus that Dan Feng and Yingxing were "confirmed canon" (truly, I see this stated everywhere; we love when reading comprehension fails in the right direction for once lol), leaving only Dan Heng/Blade as being of questionable "canonicity." However, this still works as far as Hoyo is concerned, because only Dan Heng and Blade are left on screen.

By insisting on their present inability to reconcile, Blade and Dan Heng are able to introduce just enough doubt into the equation to offset even significant ship tease for Dan Feng/Yingxing.

Enemies to lovers 150k+ slow burn, please look forward to it.

Okay, but back to Phaidei. At first, it seems like Phaidei is going to follow this pattern to a T: When Phainon first introduces Trailblazer to Mydei, the two seem to be at odds, bickering over how Mydei is choosing to confront the enemy. Mydei even calls Phainon out for an unintentionally insensitive statement (when Phainon demands to know why Mydei isn't "protecting the citizens," Mydei asks "Who are you implying is not a citizen here?" i.e., "Are you saying because I'm Kremnoan I don't count as a citizen?" You can see Phainon practically bite his tongue to take back his words.)

Also known as: Mydei experiences a microaggression.

Mydei's very first line directly to the Trailblazer is to insult Phainon's hospitality, and we know they definitely have plenty of silly insults to lob at each other while competing.

But this is actually where we see the first deviation from the pattern for Phaidei. Although there's a few cursory lines throughout their early dialogue, that's all there ever is--just cursory attempts at suggesting the two bicker and don't get along.

Within one scene, the "tension" present in their first meeting entirely devolves into purely playful banter, and it is clear by the time we finish 3.0 that Phainon and Mydei are actually very close and get along well, with virtually none of Haikaveh's biting comments, Blade and Dan Heng's violence, or Aventurine and Ratio's questions of loyalty. Phainon and Mydei took one look at the rest of Hoyoverse's MLM ships and said "How about we skip that will they-won't they?" lol.

But I'm not quite ready to talk about the places where Phaidei departs from the normal pattern yet, so I'll leave this point by just saying that Hoyo did start Phaidei on the same path as a majority of their other MLM ships, making a vague attempt at using their rivalry to suggest they wouldn't get along--thereby allowing for the alternative interpretation to quiet the haters (and the censors).

4. The (Physical) Distance is Non-Existent

Okay, but if Hoyo uses personalities to inject just enough distance into their queer-coded pairings to avoid crossing any boundaries, then what do they do to tantalize the audience, to make it seem like the characters might actually like each other?

They use body language!

First, just to reiterate a basic video game design principle: All animations and character placements have to be programmed by someone, and that means that all animations and the physical locations of characters in scenes are intentional. Nothing happens in cutscenes by accident.

Designers are constantly making a series of choices any time they have to put together a cutscene, and one of the key choices they have to make is how to express each character through their movements and their positions relative to other characters. (I've talked before, for example, about how Aventurine frequently turns his back on people, forcing their eyes to follow him throughout his cutscenes, taking physical control of the reactions of people around him.)

Hoyoverse games have somewhat standardized scene layouts for conversation cutscenes, with characters typically being placed at different distances from each other depending on their relationships. A majority of conversations happen from a generally cordial conversational distance, which means that any time characters cross this gap and close the distance, the dev team is intentionally sending the players a message.

Like, no one mistook what this was about, right?

Heterosexual jumpscare in my queer post; I'm sorry, I was just too tired to find a video with Lumine lol.

Repeating for good measure: Unless it is with a male playable main character (where the presence of the female main character is what lends the deniability), Hoyo legally cannot show their male characters engaging in physical contact that could be construed as romantic. Male characters can't hold hands; they can't even really hug unless it's "caught you as you fell after battle" (props to Dan Heng for being the only male character in Star Rail to get a "hug" with Jing Yuan lol.) There's a boundary that Hoyo male characters do not cross, and that's almost universally the realm of physical touch.

But Hoyo can place their queer-coded male characters into scenarios of physical closeness that they don't typically show among other characters.

Alhaitham and Kaveh's table says hello.

So does Tighnari and Cyno's single tent from this same quest; Cyno's Story 2, truly the quest that kept on giving.

Aventurine, a character who traditionally keeps half a room's distance between himself and the people he's talking to, suddenly doesn't seem to mind closing the distance with Ratio:

And even Renheng, the eternal enemies, are depicted as crossing physical boundaries, explicitly "getting in each other's faces." Yes it's a battle, but also, I've seen yaoi with less domineering poses lol.

You might think these lightcone examples are a stretch, but seriously: Go look at all the lightcones in the game. Does a single heterosexual couple have a lightcone where they are in each other's space in this manner? No, because physical closeness is actually a tool Hoyo is consistently using to queer-code. (Well, there would probably be more heterosexual closeness too if the incels weren't so weird...)

Anyway, when I saw the devs might be heading the direction of baiting Phaidei, I fully expected that we would see them side-by-side more consistently and with less of a gap between them than between other characters. But I wasn't remotely ready for the degree to which Hoyo would take that.

Here is an example of Phaidei exhibiting the "normal" Star Rail conversational distance:

Andddd... here's where they spend the other 90% of their scenes together:

The unnecessarily large distance between them and the Trailblazer gets me every time. Like they are not leaving room for Jesus Kephale.

Even when they aren't standing practically on top of each other, the devs deliberately choose camera angles that frame them both in the cutscene at the same time, which is relatively rare for Star Rail (not unheard of, but usually the camera will just go for the "first person POV" when two people are speaking, allowing for a close up of the speaking character). Instead of back-and-forth close ups, many of Mydei and Phainon's conversations are framed from a "behind-the-shoulder" angle, to catch them both in the frame. This creates the illusion that they're standing closer together than they are, and also reinforces a sense of intimacy in their conversations--the camera (and thus the player) becomes an "outsider" while their bodies turn toward each other.

Again, Hoyoverse is under pressure to avoid showing physical contact between male characters that could be construed romantically. They can't show Mydei and Phainon tangoing like Black Swan and Acheron. When it comes to queer-coding male characters, they have to use the tools available to them, and their primary tool for visually signifying the possibility of romantic closeness is physical closeness.

The camera is telling you that Mydei and Phainon are close.

Anyway, just one more point I wanted to make before moving on to discussing how Phaidei completely crushed the mold for Hoyoverse queer-coding, but...

5. Oh God, We're Turning Into Your Parents

Listen, I'm a reasonable person. I can fully accept that I play games with LGBT+ goggles on at all times. Despite being fantastically aroace myself, I love yaoi. I love yuri. I even like plenty of straight ships. I'm a fangirl first, academic second, so believe me when I say that I understand how skeptics might view some of the points above. "You're just fangirling. Being equals and opposites doesn't automatically imply romance. The devs might have intended close friendship, not a relationship." This counter-argument is valid!

So I want to end with one more point which I think is actually the lynch pin to proving that Hoyoverse isn't "accidentally" making their male characters come across as queer. Hoyo's queer-coding for certain ships is very intentional and even sometimes very overt. In a few cases prior to Phaidei, they were already skirting the upper limits of plausible deniability, and I think the modern ship that previously pushed the boundary the most is Haikaveh.

You can say what you want about other Hoyo MLM ships and their lack of canon textual support (I love you ZhongChi, even if the devs actually hate you lol), but I believe people who unironically say "The devs are not baiting Alhaitham and Kaveh as a ship" are so media illiterate that it's actually embarrassing to share air with them. Whether you think the devs are just doing it to cash in on yaoi fangirls or because they actually want to depict gay characters, it is indisputable at this point that Alhaitham and Kaveh have in-game ship tease. They just do, and one of the most obvious and unmistakable instances of this is when Kaveh's hangout paralleled Kaveh's relationship with Alhaitham to the heterosexual marriage between Kaveh's mother and father.

To draw a direct connection between Kaveh's father and Alhaitham, who is repeatedly described as not being able to understand Kaveh's artistic sensibilities and idealistic world view but nevertheless chooses to stay by Kaveh's side through his many troubles, while simultaneously reinforcing the idea that Kaveh is his mother's spitting image, both physically and emotionally, can really not be interpreted in any other way.

Hoyoverse took a queer relationship and made a one-for-one analogy to a heterosexual relationship--Alhaitham and Kaveh are a direct reflection of Kaveh's very married parents.

This isn't something that can happen on accident. This is deliberate and unmistakable queer-coding.

Which makes it absolutely wild that it happened twice.

I've posted already about the obvious parallels between Mydei's parents and Phaidei, and I'm actually almost out of room for new images here, so I can't post the images again, but I hardly need to at this point: Mydei's parents met when Gorgo challenged Eurypon at the Kremnos Festival. They fought for ten rounds, determined that they were (what do you know) perfect equals, and Eurypon proposed on the spot. Eurypon is explicitly described as a swordmaster, while Gorgo used a spear.

Later, the game repeatedly (and in various separate instances), emphasizes that Mydei and Phainon's first meeting consisted of a duel lasting ten days and ten nights, where neither of them could secure the victory, proving them to also be each other's perfect equals. Phainon's role as Okhema's swordmaster is emphasized, while Mydei wields a spear just like his mother when killing his father and after taking on Nikador's divinity.

Then there's... everything that came after. Eurypon betrayed Gorgo, effectively stabbing her in the back, and took her life. The foreshadowing that Phainon will do this exact same thing to Mydei is unmissable.

Phainon has even expressed an explicit desire to take part in the same competition where Mydei's father crowned the winner his wife:

In the (very limited) Kremnoan dictionary, I'm pretty sure this is how you say "I'm down to fuck."

Just as in the case with Haikaveh, there is no way that this parallel could have occurred by accident. The devs did not go out of their way to give us entire flashbacks of Gorgo and Eurypon's meeting and downfall for no reason. You're supposed to see the one-for-one connection between Mydei's very heterosexual, married parents and Phainon and Mydei's relationship.

Simultaneously, the devs also parallel their MLM ships to heterosexual relations by incorporating shades of domesticity normally reserved for "traditional" male-female relationships into their MLM ships--including levels of domesticity that heterosexual ships in Genshin and Star Rail usually don't rise to. One of Genshin's most popular MLM ships shares a single-family home and has a chore chart. Thoma is Ayato's housekeeper. Tighnari and Cyno are just flat-out joint raising a child. Jiaoqiu cooks and Moze cleans. Yingxing and Dan Feng accidentally(?) made a baby.

And Phainon and Mydei aren't any exception. They live an apocalyptic world that is constantly calling them away to battle, but the devs went out of their way to tell us Mydei is an extremely good cook who prepares everyone's food and deliberately ruins Phainon's when he's annoying, which is definitely old married couple behavior lol. Mydei is framed repeatedly as being good with children, not just in the distant fatherly way but in the "plays house" and follows-along-after-unaccompanied-kids-like-a-mother-hen way. Yet when Mydei has to leave, taking the classic "I'm going off to war" ancient Greek exit, he doesn't depart without leaving Phainon his people--with the camera panning specifically to the little Kremnoans. Phainon got the kids in the divorce. D; The tragic domesticity is already off the charts, and then they hit you the second punch when Mydei's last question (just one or two lines later) confirms that it was Phainon who got the ring for him. Hoyo couldn't actually have given us a more heavy-handed "parting husband and wife" parallel if someone held them at gunpoint. That whole thing was some Odyssey level bullshit. I see you devs, I see you.

You might be tempted to say that is just heteronormativity, which it could be, but I actually think it serves a very specific place in Hoyo's queer-coding repertoire. In comparing gay relationships to heterosexual marriages, the devs effectively "legitimize" their queer characters, suggesting that the relationships between gay male characters are no less real or valid than those between men and women. In demonstrating that male characters can achieve stable and healthy domestic lives with each other, the devs reiterate that players are not supposed to notice a difference between gay and heterosexual relationships.

There isn't any clearer way for Hoyoverse to legally say "We want you to think of these two men as romantic partners" than to say "Wow, isn't it interesting that their relationship is identical to a married couple's." It's on purpose; at this point, you really can't say the queer-coding isn't deliberate without looking like you can't read, and if it was intentional when Haikaveh paralleled Kaveh's parents, then it was doubly so the second time Hoyoverse pulled this trick to parallel Phaidei to Mydei's parents.

PHEW! Okay, I finally made it through the foundational traits for Hoyoverse MLM ship-bait and where Phaidei fits in with those. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk! 😂

But... the whole reason I started this post was actually because I wanted to talk about differences between Phaidei and other Hoyoverse MLM ships, and particularly how bold Hoyo actually was in 3.1, pushing the envelop to an extreme degree to ship-tease Phainon and Mydei.

So, since the post was way, way too long, I've spit the rest of my point off into a second post.

Check out Part 2 over here. ->

[fandom]

Top 23 of 2023

Have you been aching to get your hot little hands on 52 weeks of data around original posts, likes, reblogs, and searches, all weighted and ranked and tied up into categories with a nice little bow on top? Well, today’s your day! It should come as no surprise that Artists on Tumblr reign supreme: from stunning traditional art, jaw-dropping digital art, fanart, sculptures, textile art—you name it, basically—this year’s list shows that Tumblr truly is the home for art and artists. Thank you, Artists on Tumblr, for enriching our dashboards day after day. 

Rounding out the top three, we have two iconic shows: Good Omens is live-action, and The Owl House is animated, but both have a heck of a love story at their core. The second season of Good Omens blessed us with not one but two ineffably exquisite ships, while the final season of The Owl House broke and then healed fans’ hearts in equal measure. Thanks, @danaterrace! Actually, come to think of it, the Good Omens finale kinda did the same in reverse. Thanks to you, too, @neil-gaiman! We can’t wait for season 3. 

Speaking of heartbreak and healing, Our Flag Means Death’s second season offered both in droves. The entire cast gave stellar performances, and fans couldn’t have been happier to see the kinds of representation the show displayed. Last year’s #1 topic, Stranger Things, may have dropped a bit, but trust us, you wouldn’t know it from the amount of meta, fanart, and fics in the tag. And did you hear about the live-action adaptations of both The Last of Us and One Piece? They were a preeeetty big deal this year, too. Check ‘em out if you haven’t yet (lol, of course you have). And we’d be remiss not to mention the hugely dedicated fans, fanartists, and fic writers devoting their time to all things Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Y’all deserve a little pizza, as a treat.

2023 was also a year for blockbuster movies, which of course hasn’t escaped anybody’s notice here on Tumblr. Barbie smashed box offices worldwide and left us reeling with every re-watch. How can one describe Greta Gerwig’s pink-filled opus? It certainly is one of the movies of all time. Meanwhile, with its incredible animation and soundtrack, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse introduced us to a whole new multiverse of Spider-People, opening the portal to a veritable flood of incredible OCs. And then, of course, we got a fresh perspective on an old classic when cinephiles introduced Martin Scorscese’s cinematic masterpiece, Goncharov (1973), to a new generation of film aficionados who resoundingly agree that it is, in fact, the greatest mafia movie ever made. We’re so glad this underrated film finally got the acclaim it has long deserved.

In the realms of gaming and tech, the long-anticipated Baldur’s Gate 3 has basically become everyone’s new favorite D&D/dating sim combination. Of course, the Pokémon franchise, games, shows, and Hatsune Miku collabs remain perennial favorites. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, sorry, we mean of course X, made waves across the internet. Similarly, the Reddit blackout drove Redditors to new venues, and Tumblr users welcomed the folks from r/196 with open arms—we’re huge fans of your memes, y’all, and you fit right in. Welcome, we’re glad you enjoy the chaos. Here’s a fun fact: if we included post metadata in Year in Review rankings, #polls, introduced in January of 2023, would have been the #5 topic on Tumblr this year. Phenomenal. 

And, oh right. Taylor Swift had kind of a big year, what with the albums, the epic global tour, and the movie and stuff. Fantastic work, @taylorswift, the Swifties on Tumblr thank you for everything.

This is Tumblr’s Year in Review.

Artists on Tumblr

Good Omens

The Owl House

Barbie

Pokémon

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Critical Role

Goncharov

Taylor Swift

Genshin Impact

Stranger Things

The Last of Us

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Elon Musk

196

Star Wars

Our Flag Means Death

Crowley | Good Omens

LGBTQ

Cottagecore

Baldur's Gate 3

One Piece

Aziraphale | Good Omens

[chrollogy]

𐙚 YUE’S MASTERLIST

notes: MDNI. this isn’t a complete list of my works, drabbles/thirsts can be found under my brainrot tag. divider: cafekitsune.

—this post includes writings for the following fandoms: Haikyuu!!, Genshin Impact, Hunter x Hunter, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Obey Me!

HAIKYUU!!

From Me To You Miya Atsumu (short series)

synopsis: A spontaneous winter break trip to Shizuoka with your friends strains your sanity as you try to keep your uncontrollable feelings for Miya Atsumu at bay.

tags: college au, requited unrequited love, mutual pining, fluff, angst, light smut

Limelight Miya Atsumu (short series)

synopsis: An inebriated one night stand in the City of Love with a mystery man loops you into the shackles of a chaotic scandal after finding out that he’s a professional volleyball player for the MSBY Black Jackals, and also a part of the men’s national olympic volleyball team. This wouldn’t be a huge problem if the tabloids didn’t stir up rumours about your relationship with a co-artist months prior. Now, the media thinks you’re a cheater.

With your reputation on the line as Japan’s treasured artist, you’re forced to navigate through the ropes of publicity stunts with Miya Atsumu—acting like a make-believe sugary couple under the watchful gaze of newshounds, and observant fans until the scandal dies down. It’s all strictly business until feelings get involved.

tags: fake dating au, pop artist!reader, requited unrequited love, mutual pining, fluff, angst, explicit smut

Signed: Lovesick Fool Iwaizumi Hajime (mini series)

synopsis: After a sudden realisation that you’re in love with your best friend, you use the university confessions page as an outlet for your feelings which draws the attention of the campus. But as you write more, Iwaizumi can’t help but connect the dots, soon coming to a conclusion that he’s the topic of the recent popular anonymous confessions.

OR, All it takes are three anonymous love confessions for Iwaizumi Hajime to figure out that they’re about him.

tags: college au, friends to lovers, mutual pining, fluff

Just A Little Longer Miya Atsumu

synopsis: The moment Atsumu asked you to come over, he knew he was hopelessly in love with you, especially after stupidly confessing his true feelings mid-orgasm. Though, he couldn’t help but lie about it just to keep you, even for a little longer.

tags: friends with benefits, unrequited feelings, hurt/no comfort, explicit smut, angst

Eighteen Thousand Kilometres Oikawa Tooru

synopsis: Your high school lover suddenly breaks up with you to chase his career in another continent. Ten years later, you unexpectedly bump into him, and feelings that were once buried with time resurface once again but you know better than to let it consume you.

tags: ex lover!oikawa, breakup, angst, hurt/no comfort, light smut

A Lover’s Unwritten Script Kuroo Tetsurou

synopsis: A-list actor, Kuroo Tetsurou—your ex lover—is still shamelessly in love with you. It doesn’t help how the intimate scenes you film together feels like a trip down to memory lane where you held each other’s hearts in the past. Despite Kuroo’s best efforts to keep the bubbling feelings at bay, he shamelessly bares the truth that lay inside his heart during a private rehearsal with you—in hopes to rekindle the once passionate relationship you two shared.

tags: actor au, ex-lover!kuroo, implied breakup, mutual pining, exes to lovers, light angst, explicit smut, fluff

Sunset Dreams Kageyama Tobio

synopsis: The tall, raven-haired surf instructor catches your attention during a private surfing lesson with your friends but due to circumstances, there was no space for small talk. Later that afternoon, you cross paths once again at a beach club—a sign from the universe to grab the opportunity, and get to know him better. This quickly leads to a turn of events where you both end up naked in bed, and eager to explore each other’s bodies but there’s just one thing though, he’s a virgin.

tags: beach au, surf instructor!/surfer!kageyama, alcohol use, beach romance, explicit smut, virginity loss (m)

—

GENSHIN IMPACT

Epitome of Sin Zhongli, Neuvillette

synopsis: Neuvillette doesn’t know why he agreed to such a brazen proposal from his lover—that is, to sit and watch while the ex-Geo Archon shamelessly takes you for his pleasure.

tags: cuckolding, explicit smut, masturbation (m)

—

HUNTER X HUNTER

My Turn Hisoka Morow

synopsis: Hisoka turns into a complete mess all because of a strap on.

tags: pegging/use of strap on, bottom!hisoka, top!reader, porn without plot, explicit smut

The Cost Of Devotion Chrollo Lucilfer

synopsis: When Chrollo Lucilfer is assigned to go undercover, and kill a billionaire’s daughter, he finds himself breaking the most sacred rule of the underworld—that there should be no feelings involved. The consequences of his actions backs Chrollo into a corner where he has to choose between fulfilling his job or following his heart at a risky price.

tags: undercover assassin!chrollo, bodyguard!chrollo, billionaire’s daughter!reader, dark content, angst, hurt/no comfort, major character death, soft smut

Seconds Away From Insanity Chrollo Lucilfer

synopsis: Cockwarming Chrollo, ‘nuff said.

tags: cockwarming, unprotected sex, creampie, porn without plot, explicit smut

Silken Web Chrollo Lucilfer, Hisoka Morow

synopsis: Hisoka’s ‘generosity’ allows Chrollo to fuck you in front of him after he’s seen the way the latter has looked at you. Though, the redhead cannot help but join in on the fun despite being the cuck—he has his ways, he always does.

tags: cuckolding (hisoka), voyeurism, threesome, unprotected sex, creampie, anal (f), edging, overstimulation, multiple orgasms, porn without plot, explicit smut

—

JUJUTSU KAISEN

Moon Tie Geto Suguru

synopsis: During a private session with your rigger—Suguru Getou—you tell him to tie you up naked, and it takes all his professionalism not to take you right then and there.

tags: rigger!geto, bottom!reader, exhibitionism, japanese bondage (shibari/kinbaku), semi-public sex, explicit smut

—

OBEY ME!

The Act of Spite Satan, Lucifer

synopsis: The Avatar of Wrath knows just what would infuriate the prideful demon the most—that is, fucking you against the door to Lucifer’s secret office, all while he’s inside it.

tags: exhibitionism, established relationship with Satan, semi-public sex, explicit smut, masturbation (m)

More, More, More Mammon

synopsis: One orgasm is never enough for Mammon, he’s greedy for it. Well, he’s the Avatar of Greed after all. He lives up to the name, of course, proudly so.

tags: explicit smut, unprotected sex, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, demon fucking, cum eating

—

© chrollogy | don’t repost/translate my works.

[emo-toaster]

Another set of head canons cuz I'm bored!

✦——————————————————————✦

No warnings ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ

✦——————————————————————✦

Modern!Gyutaro - Head canons๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✦——————————————————————✦

╰┈➤ Gyutaro loves alternative fashion. And what if he might get called emo all the time? Fishers, rings, spiked bracelets, chains and boots he used spray paint on, that's how he likes to go out when he has the energy to actually put it all on in the morning. Surprisingly, Gyutaro loves wearing sweaters, especially big ones with muted colors, with black stripes, they hide his body well and that's why he really likes baggy clothing.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro used to smoke. Normal cigarettes and vapes, but he stopped once Ume got annoyed with all the smoke he was leaving behind wherever he went.

╰┈➤ Tattoos and piercings guaranteed. A plum blossom tattoo on his left shoulder, that's for Ume, and some other random tattoos that he liked in some more hidden spots. He's still thinking about getting a whole sleeve on his right arm, but that could get ruined by his black spots, so he's not entirely sure yet. If it comes to piercings tho, Gyutaro has snake bites and pierced ears. Sometimes he gets comments that he's "destroying his body and making it ugly" , but for Gyutaro it was ugly from the very start, so he's not really making a difference.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro is a Type O Negative fan. He listens to a lot of bands, but Type O Negative just hits the spot for him and his favorite song is " I don't wanna be me" . Well, he is also a huge Lady Gaga fan. Ume started listening to her songs one day and Gyutaro just rolled with it. His favorite song by Lady Gaga is "Monster". There's not much explaining needed.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro loves to pick on Tanjiro. For some magical reason Ume and Nezuko started getting along, and now the Kamado girl comes over from time to time, and every single time she brings her brother. This gives Gyutaro an opportunity to pick on Tanjiro after graduating from Kimetsu academy, even after almost being held back a grade. He barely made it through to be honest. Now, he's like the most annoying older brother whenever the Kamados come over, well, only to Tanjiro, since Nezuko gets special privileges just cuz she's a friend of Ume.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro is surprisingly a great cook. His and Ume's mother wasn't around much, so he had to basically raise his little sister all by himself. Well, thanks to that he managed to get really great at classic household chores.

╰┈➤ It's hard to get a job in Gyutaro's case. That's because the job he wants to do is on the way. Gyutaro is seriously thinking about being a tattoo artist or maybe working online for some company. Right now he's taking some other jobs to get some cash and experience.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro plays Genshin impact, it's a shock. He just found the game fun and just plays from time to time. He doesn't care for the plot, he's just there to fight some monsters and collect some cool characters. He mains Bennett. ( For those who don't know, Bennett and Gyutaro share a Japanese va (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑) )

╰┈➤ Gyutaro likes bugs. He had a pet spider once...well, not quite a pet. As a kid Gyutaro just toyed with a random spider that would sit around in the corner of his mother's apartment.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro has a low spice tolerance, Unlike Ume. Once she bought some Buldak noodles and gave it to Gyutaro. He was chugging milk for the next 5 minutes.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro has a beef with Tengen, but not with his wives. Every time he sees all 4 of them, he will cuss out Uzui and politely say 'Hi' to Suma, Hinatsuru and Makio.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro sucks at flirting. But it has a certain charm to it. Well, no one fell for that charm yet—

yet.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro has a skincare routine with Ume. He doesn't really care, but it makes her happy, so whenever she has a face mask on, he has one as well.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro tans easily. In the summer he has to wear a lot of sunscreen so he won't turn into a 'cooked shrimp' as he calls it.

╰┈➤ Gyutaro paints his nails black. He wears nail polish every day to the point he feels weird when he doesn't have it on.

✦——————————————————————✦

[totallyxtaurus]

I’m at work right now, so I can’t reply to everyone individually, but I genuinely appreciate all the feedback! I really believe that as a fandom, we should be able to have constructive conversations about these issues. After all, as the players and consumers, our opinions matter! This is just mine based on things I've been seeing since starting to play in June, so I was around when Sylus dropped but I wasn't fully immersed in the fandom and discourse.

I totally get where everyone is coming from, and honestly, the perspectives makes a lot of sense. However, bottom line is, it does feel like Sylus got the short end of the stick, and with each new release, it just becomes more obvious. At this point, the “Sylus got leaked” narrative feels like an excuse that’s long past its expiration date. Like, okay, it happened—but that doesn’t justify the ongoing lack of content or the huge gaps between his cards.

I agree that the game is still relatively new, and with a new year ahead, there’s hope that they’ll start producing more abundant and high-quality Sylus content. His birthday is coming up, so fingers crossed that they do him justice!

And yeah, the backlash from Sylus fans probably doesn’t help, but I feel like most of the "complaints" are completely fair. If anything, Infold should take it as a sign that people care about Sylus and just want him to get the same level of attention. If they had a solid plan for him from the start, the leak wouldn’t have mattered as much. But now, it just feels like they’re half-assing his content and then getting mad when fans notice. I feel like Sylus is a huge cash cow, yet his fanbase has gotten crumbs for the money being spent. I get that Caleb and MC’s dynamic makes a kiss card easier to incorporate, but at the same time, Sylus and MC are way past the enemies-to-lovers phase and have been. I see the slow burn aspect, but at this point, it just feels like a way to stretch things out for more money without real payoff. I’d hate to see Love and Deepspace go down the same path as Genshin, where greed and ignoring player feedback take over.

So honestly, I don’t think anyone is wrong in this situation—this is a justified frustration at how uneven the treatment is. Sylus fans aren’t asking for special treatment, just equal treatment. And right now? It’s painfully clear that he’s not getting it. So, it's like what do we do?

It feels like every time this topic comes up, it turns into a heated debate, which is understandable. I think those who aren’t Sylus mains sometimes feel like we’re attacking other LIs for getting more quality content—but that’s really not the case. We’re just frustrated with how uneven things feel. But instead of our concerns being acknowledged, it feels like both the fandom and Infold keep brushing them aside with the same “leak” excuse. At this point, that reasoning doesn’t really hold up anymore.

[outivv]

I’m so disappointed with the natlan teaser because like. Girl. All of those characters would straight up look better if they had even the tiniest bit of melanin don’t even lie hyv.

I’m gonna go on a fat rant here so below the cut, fair warning because it’s messy as fuck I’m just pissed off

No because how are you going to straight up take the inspirations, and clear liberties from Aztec, Māori, Qichwa, Nigerian, Hawaiian, Native American, And Mayan (according to this image from @ HYVboycott on Twitter highly recommend btw they have good info imo)

And then you’re not gonna represent them in terms of their skin color??? Yes there are pale people in all these countries and pale people apart of these cultures, HOWEVER the vast majority of people, or the native people are not typically fucking white. I am white and I literally am darker than the majority of the genshin characters, even in winter when I don’t fucking tan. Like the genshin characters don’t even look ALIVE for Christ’s sake. Hyv are a bunch of cowards who take inspiration from poc, and don’t properly represent them, even in their other games like honkai Star rail. Boothill is Native American. Blatantly. “Oh, no he’s not!!” Yes the fuck he is, his entire backstory is based off of native people, he’s also part Hispanic because the original cowboys were Hispanic people called vaqueros, his home planet in the original CN version of honkai Star rail is literally two native tribes put together I believe. He is Native American, and Hispanic, and hyv TOOK that inspiration and that culture and then was too much of a coward to AT LEAST make him tan. Don’t even get me started on aventurine. So it’s not just with genshin that they do this shit, it’s a hyv problem as a whole, but with genshin it’s so like… common, and genshin has so many issues that make it feel like a cash-grab kinda game, and like the devs are just spitting in our face CONSTANTLY, especially when it comes to characters, and representation. It’s so depressing to see a game that at first had so much fucking promise, now just be such a fucking letdown after like what? 5? 4? Years? Like you’ve built up so much hype, and lore, and excitement just for Sumeru and Natlan not having any representation like fuck off. Hyv CAN fix these issues, they just don’t want to and they have expressed that time and time again by making dark skinned enemies, and enemies with dreadlocks. They know that they can, they just don’t want to because they’re too pussy. And it’s not because they’re a Chinese company, I mean obviously I understand that there is a complicated relationship with tan skin and China, HOWEVER that is no excuse because genshin, honkai Star rail, zenless zone zero, and honkai impact 3rd are all worldwide games and they need to appeal to their WORLDWIDE customers, and I’ve seen plenty of CN players fucking just as pissed off that there isn’t any actual diversity for like any of their games. Plus other Chinese companies have made diverse games, like Dislyte which I’m honestly a huge fucking fan of because of their diversity. Having diversity would BENEFIT hoyoverse a hell of a lot, but they are just trying to appeal to greasy old white men who are the same men who have a tantrum while making a reaction video to a game trailer and go “OH MY GOD SHE ISNT GOT ENOUGH!! LOOK AT HER!! SHE ISNT SEXY!!”, “OH MY GODDD THEY HAVE PRONOUNS NOW!! THE WOKE SNOWFLAKES GOT TO THEM”, and “OH MY GOD ASSASSINS CREED IS MAKING A BLACK SAMURAI THE MAIN CHARACTER!! NOOOO THATS NOT HISTORICALLY ACCURATE!!” Because they’re all pathetic, and that’s who hoyoverse is trying to cater to.

Okay I’m done, this went all over the place but I’m so pissed off so fuck hyv, give them the feedback they deserve, have a great day.

[gacha-incels]

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

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

[justaghostingon]

The Cult of the Fox

A Genshin Au based off a dream i had

In an alternate reality where the forest rangers don’t exist - they did once but the acdemia shut them down for one reason or another

Tighnari is being primed to be the next grand sage after his master Nephis can finally retire

Unfortunately for him, Tighnari suffers an excistencial crisis when he realizes this isn’t what he wants to do with his life, and decides to ditch the academia and run off into the forest to live as a hermit

Life as a hermit is pretty good, Tighnari finally gets to interact with the ecosystem he’s been studying, taking notes of how it all works and how the withering has been affecting it

But the problem is this: the people traveling theough it are all idiots who are disrupting everything!

Tighnari keeps having to rescue them, then lecture them on proper forest safety. It should not be this hard to tell mushrooms apart!

What’s worse is that Tighnari’s charisma and common sense leaves such a deep impression that people start seeking him out, getting into more danger just so he can rescue them and give them advice

It seems even in the forest, Tighnari cannot escape his popularity

Naturally this concerns Cyno, whose experience with people living off the grid is almost exclusively the criminals trying to hide from him

So he too seeks tighnari out, only to spend the entire time getting lectured about proper footwear in the rainforest as tighnari makes him makeshift shoes

Cyno leaves, very confused with a new pair of boots

Clearly this man is a master at misdirection. He needs to be better prepared

So he researches Tighnari again, and once again notes that no, he didn’t break a rule, and no, he nephis doesn’t know what happened, no, tighnari didn’t have any kind of concening medical record to explain why when he suddenly up and left.

All in all, he’s back to square one.

Meanwhile, Tighnari has discovered he has neighbors. Now he can’t see these neighbors, but he can see proof that they were there. It appears aranara are real after all

He mentions this to one of his most common rescuees, (a man whose returned to thr jungle no less than 25 times, and always makes the stupidest mistakes, tighnari didn’t even know there were 25 crocodile pits a man could step in) who instantly takes it as truth

Thus this rescuee, and head of the hermit tighnari fanclub, takes this news to the other fans, and they all start spreading it around as gospel

People start leaving things for aranara like they used to whne they were kids, it becomes a whole spiritual movement, focusing on faith, nature conservation, and crutially, a rejection of the acdemia’s rigid way of thinking

The academia does not like this, and so punt Cyno at the problem again like he’s a pokie ball.

Cyno is conciderably alarmed by the “cult” but he still can’t find anything damning on tighnari. If anything he seems more like an oblivious figurehead. A very handsome, and charming figurhead.

A charming figurehead thst happily goes on and on about his discoveries about thr withering and aranara…and oh no. He’s falling for the trap isn’t he?

Regaining his senses, Cyno confronts tighnari, and upon his confusion, deems him completely innocent, and warns him about people using him

He also leaves promising to come visit and play TCG, cause Tighnari’s had no one to play with and that is a crime

Concerned about what his so called fan club have been doing, Tighnari leaves his forest to head to their headquarters in the nearest village hoping to smooth things over and put a stop to all this nonsence

A huge crowd comes to hear him speak

Tighnari gives them all a lecture about following others blindly, deliberately walking into dangerous areas without protection, and…did they ever think about bow their actions were affecting the environment?

He leaves the meeting thinking he’s solved the whole thing, but in reality he’s just made it worse.

Because now the fan club has a goal: a goal to preserve their beloved hermit’s forest at all costs

Tighnari wakes up from his hut to find s whole crowd of eager people begging him to teach them how to properly takr care of the forest

And its not like tighnari can refuse that right? Teaching is one of the few things he misses from the academia.

Thus does Tighnari’s cult become the next generation of forest rangers, to the great confusion of the academia and sumeru as a whole

Tighnari doesn’t mind. He likes this way better than being a sage

The end

[suhnandmoon]

hello!!!! mini meme dump :D i hope you're doing great ^~^ random question that just popped into my head. would you ever consider making a jay smau . purely self indulgent question cause ive been jaying out since 2022 we're married in my head

my twitter timeline has genuinely been full of sonic tweets and i have no idea how that happened. i liked maybe One tweet mentioning sonic months ago i have no idea why im being bombarded now. no complaints except that i fear it may push me back into my sonic phase (which thankfully wasn't that obsessive to begin with since i was like 8 and it was shortlived. compared to fnaf...)

speaking of sonic. i was busy doing my daily mourning of how i cant play sonic riders because my ps2 is wayyy out of commission and i do not foresee a ps4/5 reboot ever happening and when i randomly googled "sonic riders online" i found out there is an ONLINE EMULATOR for the game. what the feep!!!!! i know what im doing this weekend.

honestly im kinda of a poser sonic fan because i really only like sonic riders.... and i only like it cause their character designs are so cool 😭 like hello wave the swallow and rouge the bat.... u cant get any cuntier than them.

also i just wanted to say i am Super happy i found your blog through dwmb which led to us being moots on sunnymain... in my head ur a microcelebrity so u have no idea how honoured i felt ... like who thought lil ole me would be moots with their favorite smau author who actually likes their memes... thank you for tagging me in those little tag games i actually have so much fun doing those despite hitting the instant reblog button too many times and having no one to tag 😭 ehmmm. no conclusion. Baiiiii hope you're doing well and resting in between your hellish classes

BLESSSSS UPPPPPPP ive missed these so much.. neeeded this…… loving the new pfp

as for a jay smau….. id have to be hit by a wave of inspiration… stupid for you was originally written for jay but i wasnt sure if i should do a jay or sunghoon smau and the people voted for sunghoon. i feel like my default for smaus is always heeseung until i get hit by an idea truck for someone else….

i have this one friend who i feel like accidentally became a huge sonic fan because of me so most of my sonic content comes from her sensing me instagram reels everyday

response to the meme dump hehe

1. im so convinced that this could be a screenshot of me (obviously not my disc) but this is me on the daily in my class discord channels. my brother says its quite sad…. let me play infinity nikki and genshin in peace

2. honestly i cant picture there being a difference photo othwr than that accidental one

5. this one breaks my heart im reading it in knuckles voice… its so him….

SONIC RIDERS EMULATOR LETS GOOOO i had to do that with pokemon black and white. and lowk i get u when u say u feel like a fake sonic fan bc my expertise only lies within sonic boom territory and the fact that i just love tails. its okay.. i consider the sonic fandom to be more of a state and we live in different cities according to what outlet of sonic u know most about

hehehehe i love being moots with you…. seriously i always say this but ur the one person who gets my work the most….. microcelebrity is so funny bc in my mind my only readers for my smaus are you and my 5ish other mutuals and thats who i post for. and thats it.

[haravatat-slime]

"BEDTIME STORY" - Preliminary Archon Quest (Ch. 4- Act IV) Thoughts

My diligence has finally paid off! For the first time in a while, I got to play through a Genshin quest as soon as it dropped! So, while energy is still high and the novelty of the event is still - well, novel - I offer you a collection of observations and examinations from the most recent Archon Quest.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS - do not click unless you've played Bedtime Story or don't mind being spoiled on its events!

FIRST, and arguably (for me) most importantly - THE SINNER HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED, and before yesterday there was NO way you could have convinced me that it was Dainsleif's brother. (Has he even mentioned having a brother before this?) (The "Dain is the twins' sibling" theorists are probably deeply unhappy. Sorry for your loss.)

(A bit sad that it's not Deshret, personally, but that's not relevant atm.)

His name, Vedrfolnir (or Vethrfolnir, or Veðrfölnir or any number of phonetically similar spellings for those of us who can't do Scandanavian languages to save our lives), comes from the name of a hawk that, in Norse mythology, is partnered with a (nameless?) eagle that sits on top of Yggdrasil (Irminsul). Vedrfolnir is believed to represent the eagle's wisdom, able to see everything in the Nine Realms (likely why Genshin!Vedrfolnir's title is The Visionary) and passing information back and forth to it - much in the way that Odin's ravens are believed to pass information back and forth to him.

It is also believed to play a role in the battle between the eagle and Nidhogg (the serpent at Yggdrasil's roots) at Ragnarok - possibly similar to that of Ratatoskr, whose gossip back and forth between Nidhogg and the eagle (and Vedrfolnir by extension) is what causes their mutual aggression.

The name Vedrfolnir means something akin to "pale wind."

As far as the other "Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah" are concerned:

Hroptatyr is another name for Odin (huge? can you say HUGE?). The "wise" part is self explanatory. The name means "sage" in Old Norse.

Rhinedottir is, as we know, a Norse spelling of the German "Rheintöchter." She's named after the Rhinemaidens, three water spirits who dwell at the bottom of the Rhine river and are said to protect the Gold(tm) that can grant anyone immeasurable power. This origin is, however-

While the original Nibelungenleid (the 12th century German poem-epic) makes mention of mermaids, and Norse mythology makes mention of the proverbial gold (see below) the massively significant role mentioned above was almost COMPLETELY made up by Richard Wagner while writing the Ring Cycle. The Rhinemaidens are mentioned nowhere in Norse mythology, whereas all the other Sinners' names are pulled directly from old Norse sources. (Considering Rhinedottir's level of importance to the overarching plot, especially in Mondstadt, I have a hard time believing this difference from the other Sinners isn't equally important.)

I have discussed Surtalogi previously, so lemme just... (clears throat). Caaaaaalled it.

So yeah. He's the "Fire of Surtr," the jotunn who burns it all down. Dain and Surtalogi, sword buddies. Nice neat explanation. (Who's gonna be Surtr? Will we have a Surtr? We'll put a pin in that.)

And...if he's "the Foul," then I guess anyone who adopts his power has...the...Foul Legacy...yeah. No need to delve into that much. At least not for now.

Rerir is a little more to unpack. Or a lot more. Who am I kidding. In the Norse Volsungasaga, Rerir is part of a long and complicated line of royal births and deaths that result in rise and fall of the titular Volsung clan (similar to, but not the exact same as, the Nibelungenleid). A brief overview:

Odin gives birth to Sigi.

Sigi gives birth to Reri. Sigi is killed by his brothers-in-law.

Rerir avenges his father's death (for all you Sherlock Holmes fans - Racher is "avenger," or one who gets revenge [Rache].)

The goddess Frigg has a crow bring Rerir and his wife an apple because they're having a hard time getting pregnant. It works.

Rerir dies while his wife is pregnant - for six years.

Volsungr (Rerir's son) is born by C-section (something that seeems to happen with a lot of heroes in different mythologies, just saying). His mom dies in the process.

Volsung fathers (in addition to like ten other kids) the twins Sigmundr and Signy (in German, Sigmund and Sieglinde).

Sigmundr fathers Sigurd (Siegfried in German).

Sigurd is the dragon-slaying, Nibelung's-hoard-and-ring-of-power-having king that ends up being killed during a combination political dispute/relationship drama.

The chunks of the Volsungsaga from Volsung on are retold in Wagner's Ring Cycle, albeit with his own embellishments (see Rhinedottir).

The aspect of Rerir's title here that's confusing me the most is "Solnari." Based on Rerir's mythological origin, Solnari should be his father - but then, why not just call him "Racher of Sigi"? Meanwhile, Sol is almost certainly a reference to a Sun deity (in Norse and Germanic, the sun goddess), but the "-nari" suffix is more confusing. From what I can tell,

1) "Nari" is Sanskrit for "woman" or "maiden" - so if Solnari were The Lady Sun it would make sense, but it seems weird to randomly throw Sanskrit into a Norse civilization; and

2) Nari, or Narfi, is a different deity in Norse mythology that is supposed to be either Loki's son (killed by his wolf-shifting brother Vali), the personification of night (Nott), or both.

I can't really make sense of it in the moment, but hopefully we'll get more info as we go - preferably before another year goes by, Dainsleif, please!???

The Vinster King is, likewise, difficult to parse. There is, on one hand, the Swedish word “vinst” meaning to win, or make a return/profit - which would make the “vinster king” the king who…won? This isn’t totally impossible as we know there have been plenty of wars of succession between both gods and humans in Teyvat. On the other hand, this may be a butchered spelling of the German “finster,” meaning “dark,” “sinister,” or “gloomy.” I wasn’t super sold on my own interpretation of this until I remembered this sweet loot drop we get in the Chasm:

So that may be the case, and, as such, the “Vinster King” may be another name for Irmin.

(Side tangent: I now think it would be super funny if we found out later that Irmin and Pierrot really ARE the same person…Gloomy King…becomes a Clown…? Love that…anyway.)

I have already heard that someone has translated the message in Caribert’s memory-travel/loading-screen thingy, but I DON’T TRUST PEOPLE! So i’m gonna do it here for myself.

From the top, line by line:

FAREWELL ATOSSA

I APOLOGIZE

FOR MAKING YOU KNOW ME

UNWILLINGLY

STILL I DONT WISH

YOU TO FORGET ME

This is written in Sumeran script, not Khaenri’ahn. A nice easter egg, and very touching to be sure. ;v;

One last thing: on the Sea of Flowers.

There are a few things that this Sea of Flowers reminds me of - Nabu Malikata and her connection to water and flowers comes to mind, for one - but the thing that I was IMMEDIATELY reminded of was the Dandelion Sea.

For those who don’t particularly enjoy coming through Genshin’s archive: The Fox in the Dandelion Sea is a whopping 11-volume story series found hidden throughout Mondstadt. In the story, a hunter makes a deal with a fox (or spirit. or fox-spirit) who believes that he intentionally saved her life (he was just a bad shot, and broke the ice that was keeping her trapped on a lake): teach her fox-child to speak the language of humans, and she will teach the hunter how to transform into other creatures.

In order to meet and teach her cub, the fox takes the hunter to a “sea of dandelions, stretching as far as my eyes could see.” All foxes who “disappear during the hunt” come here, and time appears to be meaningless. While the hunter appears to move toward learning a lesson, by the end of the series, he still informs the fox that his reason for learning transformation magic is to be a better hunter. At this, the fox turns him into a dandelion puff and blows him away to a “faraway land.” He then wakes, as is from a dream, with none of what he could have had (the magic, the beautiful fox-woman, or the peaceful sea of dandelions).

While I’m unsure if the Sea of Dandelions actually has anything to do with the Sea of Flowers, it would be interesting if we found out that the Sea of Flowers is some alternate version of reality - a domain, an isolated region, or even a beautiful (but ultimately unattainable) dream.

THAT IS. basically all i have so far. This is coming off (as i said) basically 4-5 hours of sleep followed by all day on-and-off research to try and process everything we got since yesterday. and yes i know I didn't mention the Loom of Fate even ONCE but honestly between the pretty explicit "it weaves ley lines" description and the Abyss twin's equally explicit "I don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet," I don't really feel like any deeper picking has to be done for now.

okay byeee

[ocean-waters]

HEY OCEAN!! ヾ⁠(⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠*⁠)⁠ﾉ para el ask de personajes, que tal 2, 12 y 24 sobre Haru y 10, 14 y 23 para Lapis (SU)? (espero que no sean muchas)

Hey dragon!!

Ooo mis queridos seres acuaticos 💙🐬🌊

Haru:

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

What isn't, honestly. I really love his love for odd mascots like iwatobi chan and Northern stoplight loosejaw kun. I love that he makes little hand crafted figures and has merch of them. So real of him.

How he can easily succumb to any of his favorite things like mackerel and water and how people bribe him with that. I think it's hilarious.

How much he has done for his friends. He really does show a lot of his love through actions, which speak louder than words. Letting Nagisa stay at his house, also I remember reading that he once wore a girl's swimsuit to save Nagisa from embarrassment because his sisters had packed him one to tease him; Being overall protective of Makoto, especially when things relating to the ocean are involved, the cherry blossom pool for Rin... he just does so much and I adore how truly caring he is.

How expressive his eyes are. How they sparkle and swirl and show so many emotions hidden behind his mostly impassive face.

Also i love how everyone has agreed he's like a big cat. A big water-loving black cat. It suits him.

And so much more, but this question was only supposed to be about one thing, so I'll leave it there.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character

Oo okay so, i know I've said this so many times across many different posts, but:

That he's in the aroace spectrum. Specifically demiromantic/asexual. From seeing the show, it always seemed like the story was pushing how he really was not interested in anything pertaining to love and sexuality. Sure, this is also because most of the moments that pop up are meant to be funny and not taken too seriously, but he's MY comfort character, and I CHOOSE what the headcanons will be.

Like the story of his "first crush" being a waterfall because water is just so gorgeous and amazing. Or how his "lewd" magazines under the bed were about hot springs. Like, this man is 100% asexual, and this is the hill I will die on. (Though there are certain scenes with a certain someone that appear to have a certain tension like in the splash free! Ending, but they're mostly just so intense because they are also so intense.)

The demiromantic part is well, admittedly, mostly due to shipping reasons. In the actual canon, I might even be inclined to believe he's just fully aromantic.

However, romantic Rinharu has cemented itself in my brain permanently, and their chemistry and story are simply too good. So I do think Haru could discover he's demi through Rin. I just feel like eventually they could reach a point where he starts reconsidering the way he feels about him. All those dazzling smiles, funny electric charges that run through his body, and that racing pulse when he's with him... until it all just boils over and oops, he realizes he's in love.

I also have a very long headcanon about how him and Rin would go about things and what would happen in a relationship, like how Haru may not really be one for traditional romantic gestures and being tactile, but still enjoys the things Rin does and knows they make him happy, so he starts doing them more until they feel so natural- but there's literally too much to mention here, so maybe I'll leave it for another time if you're interested hehe.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours reminds you of them?

While not entirely that similar, one who comes to mind is Chief Justice Neuvillete from the court of Fontaine in Genshin Impact.

He's also a huge fan of water. However, he enjoys it by drinking it instead of swimming. He's such a water connoisseur. He mentions all the different tastes and feels he gets from drinking water from different nations, how some feel more mineral rich, other soothing and fresh, etc. He's constantly drinking water during his idle animations. I think him and Haru could potentially get along.

He also gets along with these little fantasy creatures called melusines and is essentially like their father, lol. He loves them very much and is very gentle with them. Maybe a stretch, but it reminded me of how Haru is good with kids and also animals like cats.

Neuvillette is also technically the fastest swimmer in genshin since he is the hydro dragon of Fontaine and has a passive talent that increases his and his party's swimming speed.

Oh, and during an event quest, he gifts the traveler a cute little hand crafted ladle of an aquatic creature. And it just reminded me so much of Haru. I love it so much.

Lapis lazuli:

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

I would love to, but I'm not sure if she would lmao.

However, painting with her would be really fun, plus I'd love to see what her technique is with watercolors. I'd love to create pieces with her. Maybe she'd be a bit mean and blunt at times, though, but eh, I think that makes her funny, lol. She is involved in fandom, too, given that she loves camp pining hearts. Although not as much as peridot. Maybe I could get her into free! lol, then we'd really hit it off. Going to the ocean with her would be so fun. Maybe a bit scary at times, but fun nonetheless.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character

Oof, I really don't know fashion aesthetics by name, but I feel like she could wear coastal, breathable clothes. Either shorts with loose shirts or long baggy pants. Something like these:

23. Favorite picture of this character

Bob. I loved her attitude this entire episode. Her deadpan expression and half assed hits and runs. It reminded me of me during middle school when the p.e. teacher would force us to play soccer. (I hated soccer). Plus I love the outfit. In this one she just gives a casual thumbs up to ruby and sapphire because they got distracted flirting with each other.

[avenger-concerto]

Major Rune Factory ramble and rant to get it off my system before 2024 ends.

This is just me airing out some dirty Rune Factory laundry before the year ends so I can get it off my chest and start a new, as Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma comes up. It'll be one big tl;dr so if you don't wanna read then you are far from obliged to do so but if you want, then sure thing.

I wanted to write something sincere and honest that isn't just a jab meme with a predictable punchline.

Really, this is just me speaking aloud not just about Rune Factory but about the nature of writing in farm sims. I dunno. It's the last day of 2024. I've done my New Years cleaning and I'm bored.

So, RF fans and by extension, Bokujo fans keeping saying "We need Rromanceable MILFs" but I think they just mean more bachelorettes in Rune Factory that visibly not just look but also behave like adults.

I'm aware short / young looking / petite adults exist too (Xiao Pai in 4 looks visibly young but she constantly makes it a point to Lest that she's their senior while they're dating) and that younger players may also get into the series for the first time but let's not forget the series' history so we can learn and observe how it can evolve and progress in the future. It's easy to forget that Rune Factory used to pander to otaku in Japan long before they realized it had a huge market with female players and an international audience.

Granted, RF1-RF2 were very tame and the latter game I remember attracting a lot of fanart of the male characters and it sowed the seeds for an interest in potential bachelors. Which is a sharp contrast to Rune Factory Frontier, which up its tropes like a trashy 2000s harem romcom anime with features that wouldn't fly well today e.g. choosing to "accidentally" walk in or peep on the bachelorettes' changing room by the beachside or the discourse surrounding Eunice's story arc but that's another can of worms unrelated to this post. The Rune Factory 4 manga that was published in Dengeki Maoh back in 2012 had a lot of skeevy fanservice that would not align well with the series image nowadays.

"But it's in anime style, so female characters will look young by default" It's true. Especially with Minako Iwasaki as the artist, as much as I love her art. But that's not always the case. Fire Emblem mainlines or Hoyoverse gacha games (Genshin, Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero) can and have designed adult female characters who visibly look and act like adults. (just posting Ruan Mei from HSR and Shamir from FE:3H as examples) And not just their designs or mannerisms either, I mean like... more heavier, hard hitting and mature storylines. I feel like 5 lacked it in that department compared to the feels coasters that were the marriage candidate sub events in RF4. But then again, it's probably weird to be asking for a revenge story or a tale of redemption and loss in a fantasy farm life sim but this is just me rambling on.

I don't want to say I've "outgrown" Rune Factory or anything. Cozy life sim games are such a comfort to me and I'm well aware a meme I posted then deleted yesterday resonated a misleading message but knowing 5 gave men likers Murakumo but kept Misasagi or Elsje off limits was weird.

I know 5 was just one entry in the series. I know bachelor and bachelorette rosters are variable depending on the game. Tides had a wide variety of designs while its bachelors fell flat because they were last minute. I personally felt like 5 had far more better designed bachelors than 4 did and 4's bachelorettes felt more balanced compared to 5.RF GoA and RF6 could turn out differently with their own sets of marriage candidates but the problem with RF5 was that they designed and wrote bachelorettes as if it was a game released in the late 2000s and early 2010s in 2021-2022.

RF Guardians of Azuma releases next year and RF6 will presumably align with the series' 20th anniversary window in 2026 so we'll see how the series. I know romance and marriage aren't the only things that define Rune Factory games but I feel people should be more open to discussing what makes them uncomfortable with the series instead of handwaving it because of X or Y.

I go on benders like this because I grew up with Rune Factory as the title that introduced me to cozy life sims. It has a special place in my heart. I was in high school when I first got into the series but even then I could tell that the candidates looking young may have had nothing to do with my age, probably due to a combination of artstyle and who Marvelous/Neverland were pandering to at the time.

Granted, my experience getting into the series won't be 1:1 with others so I can't speak for them and hell, maybe I'm wrong too but I do feel like "hey, maybe put more effort into the series' female characters" shouldn't be a hot take that can be dismissed with it being a cozy life sim or that kids play these games too.

That being said, I still haven't and will never forgive the garbage writing they gave Xiao Pai in her main marriage proposal event. RF4 treats her pretty horribly and it's always kinda weird when I read people going on about how "we should have married Lin Fa and adopted Xiao Pai instead" when in her romantic dialogue, she's brought up how she's older than Lest (in the JP script, she specifies by two years) which brings me to my next point....

I think ultimately it also has to do with the fact that the characters we play as in Rune Factory are pretty young themselves. In games like Potion Permit, the My Time At games, Fields of Mistria, Sun Haven, and Stardew Valley, we are blank slates we can easily customize to our liking with our headcanons and whatnot.

Rune Factory... the self inserting begins and ends once we choose a name for our protagonists. RF protagonists are usually their own characters and any dialogue choice prompt we are given with them aligns with their base personality.

Raguna was pretty "vanilla" in RF1 but had shades of 2000s harem romcom protag vibes in Frontier. Kyle in RF2 was more or less similar to RF1 Raguna imho. Aaron and Aria played the role of precarious and rowdy kids seeking to go save their father. Micah in RF3 comes off as a mild-mannered but somewhat deadpan snarker in the face of Sharance and the Univir Settlement's antics. RF4's Lest and Frey are defined by their devotion, trust, and loyalty to their friends. RF5's Alice and Ares have this air of skepticism and caution that I haven't really seen with Lest or Frey. Aden is the reckless, hotheaded shonen hero with his childhood friend, Sonja, as the fussy but well-intentional voice of reason in Tides/Oceans. A lot of male protags in RF are written to be "boyish" and "inexperienced" hence why older adults in these towns don't seem like immediate options but Ares can also marry Murakumo and Lucas so really, at this point I probably shouldn't think too hard about it.

I don't really have anything else to say aside that I like cozy life sims a bit too much and Fields of Mistria is a blast so far. I think Celine, Reina, and Valen are my favorite bachelorettes so far but I like all the bachelors and bachelorettes really. I really do think Olric will be added as a post-release bachelor in an update or patch after the full thing comes out.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Here's to 2025 and more Rune Factory games to come.

[glowingbadger]

Okay sexy outfit time we're DOIN IT because I COULD NOT get this out of my brain and I've learned to just carpe diem that shit

I will... Probably do a Genshin version of this too tbh... And/or like any other fandom I can justify lmao

What they love to see you wearing in bed

FE3H guys x GN/AFAB reader

NSFW 18+

Lorenz - Oh, it's intricately laced corsets, thigh-high stockings and elaborate silken lingerie all the way for this man. Lorenz relishes in buying you a wide assortment of the highest quality lingerie (all in coordinated matching sets, of course), dressing you up and then carefully and lovingly removing each piece from you, clasp by clasp and strap by strap, kissing every inch of you as he works.

Claude - as an open minded sort, he's of course impressed by anything you wear for him, more than able to appreciate the way your choice of attire (or lack thereof...) accents everything he adores about your body. That said, he gets a special sort of worked-up to see you in the richly patterned, flowing fabrics of Almyra. That you would go through the trouble of procuring such clothes to please him makes him all the more determined to spoil you in turn.

Raphael - Doesn't care so much about what you wear (if anything, complicated hooks and straps can be frustrating when he just wants your body so desperately), but boy, he does love the look of you with nothing on but some honey or sweet cream drizzled over your nipples or down the center of your torso, just ready for him to lick it all off of you.

Ignatz - a huge fan of maid outfits; having come from a merchant family, while he may have had a nanny or tutor, a traditional maid is something exotic and luxurious to him. He's fascinated by all the little details of how the frills accent every part of you that he admires, his hand warm as it slides up your stocking-clad thigh beneath your skirt.

Hubert - also can definitely appreciate a maid outfit, though for him it's more about those delightful power dynamics he loves to play with. Even better though is to have you in a collar, preferably one he hand selected for you, one with a little ring on the front that he can use to direct and guide you. Really though, anything you choose to wear specifically because you think he'd like it will have him devouring you with his eyes and hands.

Ferdinand - in the bedroom, he's quite open minded, and would love to select some luxurious lingerie for you; however, it's far more fun to tease him by wearing something out in public that's just a little too tempting for comfort- a dress with just-too-low of a neckline, tantalizing him with the curve of your breasts. Breeches that hug your ass far too perfectly. It makes his pulse race and his face redden at the very sight.

Linhardt - Lin is a man who deeply focuses on whatever's caught his attention, so he's more than happy to take his time with you in bed. As such, while he'll grumble at first about the extra effort, he actually quite likes complicated, strappy sets of lingerie so he can savor removing it from you piece by piece. The slow and meticulous way he obsesses over each inch of you as it's revealed to him almost becomes unbearably sensual and intimate.

Caspar - whatever you're wearing, he just loves to watch it come off. It's not that he's rushing (okay, sometimes he's rushing), but more than it's just so sexy to see you tug your shirt over your head and reveal your beautiful breasts, or bend over so he can watch your ass and hips as you tug down your pants. It just drives him wild with anticipation, he can't wait to carry you into his bed.

Seteth - listen, I feel like the Nabateans had to have some kind of erotic wedding-night attire. Something pseudo-ceremonial in draping white fabric that's paradoxically sinful to behold. So when you find an illustration in a dusty old book in the Abyss and commission a similar garment to wear to surprise Seteth after a long day of work? Goddess, he's lost. It's going to be a long night.

Jeritza - he never knew it until you, but he's actually weak to all sorts of outfits and aesthetics. Sweet cream or syrup down your body for him to lick up? Obsessed. Frilly, feminine underthings for him to literally tear off of you? Divine. But his favorite is to have you panting and whimpering beneath him in your normal every-day attire that's been pulled open, tugged out of the way, a wrinkled mess from the frenzy of him just needing to touch and taste you.

Yuri - while he certainly thinks you look stunning in anything, he's actually not much one for elaborate outfits or costumes. With you, he wants to be able to just see you and adore you. So his absolute favorite is to see you in nothing but a beautiful necklace that he'd selected just for you. In a strange way, being almost naked seems so much more erotic than actually wearing nothing.

Dedue - he absolutely adores seeing you wearing nothing but one of his casual tunics or undershirts, seeing how it dwarfs you by comparison regardless of body type. It's so domestic and sweet and makes him want to pull you close and run his hands under the fabric- and then savor the way his clothes still smell like you the next day.

Felix - He won't say it aloud, but it's obvious from how he stares and how handsy he gets that he's deeply aroused by seeing you in training/workout gear with the fabric of your shirt clinging to your sweat-dewed skin. Sometimes, you look just tempting enough to cut training a bit short to get back to his room together- you're just too distracting.

Dimitri - interestingly, regardless of his state of mind, a feminine and 'princess-y' gown or frilly white bridal lingerie really do it for him. On better days, it feels traditionally romantic in a way that makes him feel so intimately close to you. During his more 'chaotic' stage, he wants to tear the flimsy fabric off of you and ravage you.

Ashe - he's big into the sorts of things he would stumble into lavish descriptions of in romantic novels, blushing but still guiltily reading with rapt attention- decorative corsets and especially clingy thigh-high stockings with garters. It's so romantic and impractical in a way that only enhances the fantasy for him.

Sylvain - it's tempting to just leave it at "any and everything" with a guy like him, and that is more or less true. Sylvain is a man of broad and varied tastes. That said, he's particularly fond of seeing you in the Garreg Mach uniform, the skirt rolled short and shirt buttoned low. Having you like this fulfills all sorts of fantasies he'd had during his school days, and he just loves teasing you about being such a naughty student.

[theastrical]

What if… (genshin men edition)

What if genshin men become one of the job roles in our society?

diluc, kaeya, ayato. (pt 2: childe, zhongli, neuvillete soon!!)

notes: i have no idea of what i’ve just written

What if diluc becomes a coffee shop barista?

he becomes a coffee shop barista because he doesn’t want to continue his father’s business in wine and alcohol, it’s not because of his rebellion, it’s because his father also discourage him to not choose it if it’s intolerable for him, since crepus (his father) know how intolerable diluc is to alcohol. Hence why, a coffee shop barista is so much better for diluc!

this man would judge his customer choices in either drinks or pastry. Overanalysing it? No. Just being a judgmental prick? Yes.

is good at remembering the regulars’s orders, which means he would never mess your order if you always come to his cafe, well he considered somebody to be a regular if they visit his cafe for around 9 days and in a specific time.

he would write his customer’s name with a smile or even a small doodle if they made him happy and delighted!! if they made him pissed, he wouldn’t even write their name down, bro would use the customer’s number in line to call them.

uses somebody else’s name for his nametag since he doesn’t like strangers to know his actual name. he changes his nametag overtime so he got people confuse over time. And at april fools, he uses his own name…

If people gave him a penny or even just a candy on the box of the tip, he would actually smile at them, or even gave them more mili-litres of their actual drinks (instead of just ice), or in some rare cases, he even give them double sauce, just to appreciate them more.

stray cats come near the coffee shop to get free food from diluc. He name that all with the things around his coffee shop, for example, the white cat is milk, the black cat is arabica, the grey cat is charcoal, and the callico one is unprocessed beans.

would go on a break for 20 minutes just to eat while petting the stray cats around the shop.

what if kaeya becomes a jazz singer?

he becomes a jazz singer out of the intention to get some money since he’s broke as hell from being a dental student. It become a side hustle for him, since the money that came along within can feed him actual food instead of instant ramen.

diluc usually asked him to perform just so he can get some “additional fee” from kaeya, the additional fee itself is the customers, ever since kaeya sing at the small podium on his cafe, some customers kept on coming back.

despite him performing on a small cafe or even his university dorm secretly, he has a small fanclub that he doesn’t even know existed??

has a deep-soothing voice, quite rusty, intriguing and attracts you to fall deeper into his music. He sings old love songs, that’s why he attracts young lovers to come and enjoy his live music session (he has no partner, that’s why he sings quite desperately instead of lovingly)

sometimes he gets flower from the listeners or even a treat, a coffee or a pastry to eat back to home.

he studies 3 days in advance just so he can perform and get money. His grades are beyond average and quite high, he’s a smart man indeed.

some of his professors knew about his side hustle and invite him as a singer for their party, he gets paid 2x higher than any other cafe.

let his friends arrange his playlist, he sings any of the songs they put on their playlist with the criteria that it doesn’t sound vulgar since he doesn’t wanna have his reputation all ruined, he still wants the money. </3

What if ayato becomes a formula one driver?

becomes internet favorites due to his fans compilation and edits about him. Some of the titles are “AYATO BEING THE OLDER BROTHER FOR HIS TEAM” or “AYATO BEING AYATO”.

has a huge fandom, like huge HUGE. his fans are insane mostly, they bought his merch like it was nothing even though it cost them their house.

When he receives gifts from fans, he just took it with him without trying to give it back to them out of worry for being a poison or a bomb.

sings while driving so he doesn’t lose his focus to his temper, making sure everything stays in balance between his thought and his skill currently.

does a livestream on his personal social media account, gossiping about his work. “They made me do these trends that are way too old, like even my ancestor knew how to do this trend without using the reference!”. “What is the trend you asked? It’s macarena…” he sighs “why am i even doing this guys…i’m a driver…”

Post foods and his family life instead of posting about F1 in his social media account, he only posted f1 if he has an achievements and he would archive it again when he has something to show to the world about his family.

His life is quite humble yet private, even his own team doesn’t know much about his daily life. It seems that despite sharing some moments of his family outside in the social platforms, his privacy still has been maintained perfectly.

After winning a race, he drinks a family signature sake instead of those champagne, he hates champagne, that’s why he specifically ask his team to prepare him a sake if he wins a race.

[juniette13]

Can you explain your reasons for not liking Scaramouche's redemption? I'm also not a huge fan of how he was written.

Of course!

One of my biggest reasons is it comes off to me as if Genshin is too scared to make characters who are blatantly evil and against the traveler playable

Which to me…honestly I don’t understand their mentality with it

IMO I think it’s perfectly fine to have characters who are evil and/or against the traveler to be playable! It brings a contrast, a flavor of sorts to the playable cast of characters

I was hesitant at first to say Genshin was too scared to make morally questionable/wrong characters playable, but considering La Signora’s dead, Ei’s EGREGIOUS redemption arc, and Scara’s redemption arc, I’m seeing a very blatant trend here, one I’m not a fan of

Now I know Arlecchino got released and is playable, I, however, stopped playing the game awhile back, I honestly don’t even feel like returning to it because all the content is wearing me out, along with the writing decisions and how I personally think the writing is just getting extremely convoluted, so I can’t really speak on Arlecchino’s matter because honestly I don’t know if her personality was watered down or not

My biggest issue is I feel like the redemption arc not only butchers what could’ve been a great character, I remember the days of when Scaramouche was just an asshole and that’s all he was, just an evil person, and not when he was some uwu little guy who does nothing wrong, but the arc also honestly ignores all the things Scaramouche has done and would rather pin the blame on other characters Like traveler why on Earth are you teaming up with the guy who killed Teppei??? You know, the NPC that died in the Inazuma arc, the NPC who’s death enraged the traveler so much that the traveler just ran headfirst into a dangerous situation without a second thoug-Ohhhhh right his death was just for shock value and doesn’t really hold any weight on the traveler! Right!

Scaramouche was also responsible for getting La Signora killed, however this is never addressed and just swept under the rug It’s writing decisions like that that just makes me so frustrated

I think it would’ve been fun if Scaramouche was just some blatantly evil guy, not every character needs some sob story, a whole plot point where they just whine and whine, and then some half-baked redemption arc where now he’s completely woobified and just an entirely diff character, minus the sass

Like he’s just sassy now, he’s not even mean anymore 💀

It disappoints me because there was so much potential to him and I would’ve been perfectly fine with him just being plain evil, I’m at that point where Dottore, a character who is just straight up evil, has no reason behind it, has no remorse for his actions, is a breath of fresh air and the only harbinger I enjoy because of that I do hope Pantalone also just ends up being a blatantly evil character, albeit not as extra as Dottore, and it would be fun if he monologued like Bedman from Guilty Gear XRD (I might even draw him to some of the monologues LOL)

But anyway yeah, just to sum everything all up in short bullet points

-Characters doing heinous things and then turning around, spewing a sob story, and becoming completely watered down woobified versions of themselves is overdone and tired in Genshin

-Scaramouche would’ve been great if he just stayed as an evil character, not every character needs to be morally in the right or on the traveler’s side, let the traveler have more significant enemies instead of nameless NPC #928291 ISTG 😭

-Scaramouche’s redemption was not earned

I know people are going to disagree with me, that’s fine, just make sure to keep it civil if/when interacting with my post

Anyways thanks for the ask! I can also do a post on Ei’s botched arc if needed or anything of the sorts, I like ranting about this stuff!