#asian + genshin only

[twifairy]

Forgot to post this one to Tumblr whoops

[dizzybizz]

maybe draw what you think a drunk heizou would look/act like, or thoma, or if not one of those someone from inazuma atleast

thoma is canonically very bad with alcohol, bless his heart

i think it'd be funny if heizou lost his brain to mouth filter when drunk lol

[day-night-darlix]

fuck

the french pretty boy

[cometrose]

zhongli blorboism is some type of disease i love him too much i feel ill might start biting people like whenever someone’s interpretation doesn’t match up with mine like a fervent irritation swells up in me like now i’m pissed off over a man that doesn’t exist and i have to kill you too???

[uzukibeans]

dr stone being one of my fav animes ive seen recently is pretty crazy given how turned off i was by senku's character design + the weed man memes + i thought based on the visuals it was going to be some type of seinen/shounen overloaded w tropes im not a fan of...and it kinda is LMFAO the way women are drawn compared to men terrifies me

but it completely blew me out of the water wrt expectations on the story. the science niche it fills is genuinely so enjoyable. the scene where they remade the "edison" lightbulb is so unforgettable. and i loved the reinventing glasses arc

ofc i am also watching this w a critical lens and do notice a lot of questionable tropes/ideological commentary that make me go ?!?!?!?!?. but dr stone being an anime ive rewatched was not something i was expecting

[zephyrfuse]

hi, i am still following u

i get it i hate the fetishization stuff too (im filipino but one side of my family is chinese and i look a lot like em, i understand the pain)

😭😔🤝 yeah.....the opinions are even more divisive and less nuanced when you're chinese (and then people forget se/s asians exist alltogether)

it's just very telling how the same people will froth over your media and then in the same breath look at you and your food weird when you exist irl or share your thoughts about living as a human being like :)💥

anyway 🤝 stay strong and thank you 💙

[nvmbersix]

i really wish genshins body types for playable characters were more diverse. they use the same basic body bases for everyone,, its kind of annoying sometimes. like i want to see varying heights, fat characters, actually Buff characters (sideeyeing itto...).. its such a shame they dont put a little more effort into having actual variety

[hoonietual]

see the thing about anime and anime-adjacent things is that i have given up on expecting them to do good on character designs on south/west/southwest asian characters

[nullominous-q]

Vent incoming. cw - racism and diversity in videogames

As a black person, I have just stopped playing games if character customization doesn't exist. Like, I want to play pretty, awesome looking strategy games and mmorpgs, but it is so disheartening to see a game that doesn't reflect any part of what you are. It feels very one chord and just straight up disregards the fact that black people exist and like to play fun videogames. And maybe, just maybe, we'd like more representation even outside of the character we're playing as.

Saw that a new game is out, and all of the characters have exactly one skin tone. I am exhausted.

[rene-darling]

I've been mad at genshin for its colorism since Sumeru where they made a whole nation inspired by South Asia and didn't represent its people, at all. Where so many people told me I was being dramatic and how genshin is a Chinese company so of course the only brown character is neon white.

I'm glad people are finally waking up. But it goes to show that racism against brown people is never, and will never be taken seriously. It's only after the nation inspired by Africa was shown that people finally decided to wake up to Genshin's bullshit

Every time hate was directed towards Nahida people would always redirect it by saying they were hating cuz Nahida was a child and not a waifu, bro, no one gave a shit about Nahida being a kid. People were upset about her design.

Genshin after whitewashing indian and African deities: 👻🤭😝😋☺️☝️😍🥺😏🤭

Also, can I add, and ask why almost all of the Sumeru enemies are brown-skinned yet most of its playable, friendly, nonaggressive cast is pale? Does anyone see a connection?

I'm not joking when I say people have genuinely told me when I have complained about the cast being pale that "well at least the enemies are brown. They're great rep!" They would be, if also the friendly playable characters were similar in color 💀

No one was more excited for Sumeru than me. No one, and even after the disappointment I remember playing through the storyline and being so happy when NPCs had South Asian/arab names. It was a breath of fresh air just seeing our names being represented.

[llocket]

how come people are caring about whitewashing now in genshin?

i am poc!!!!!!! i am south asian!!!!!! i have rights to talk about this and give my opinions on a nation (sumeru) that is 70% based off my culture!!! do NOT come at me!!!!!!!!!!

ive been into genshin since 2.2 or something like that, wayyy before sumeru. when the time sumeru came, i was so incredibly disappointed (still am!!!) with the character designs. everything from the music, landscape and even food was perfect in genshin but the biggest part of the game, the characters, their designs were awful.

ive been speaking about their designs and how bad they are ever since, but barely anyone else actually cares about it. the "caring" only lasted 2 weeks max, and then everyone stopped talking about it. crazy!!!!!

natlan is now coming out soon, and the same people who were defending sumeru's character designs / did not ever speak about them, are now talking about natlan's character designs and their archon, isn't that strange?? how come people are only starting to care now? they act as if it wasn't a huge problem before.

YOU PEOPLE DO NOT ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT WHITEWASHING!!!!!!!!!

more of my yapping below:

if people actually cared about the whitewashing in genshin, they would ALSO point out the whitewashing in sumeru and even inazuma. are you kididng? have you seen nahida? (post abt how she shouldnt be white here) have you taken a look at dori? shes SUCH a weird combination of cultures. she is NOT done right. a lot of inazuma's character designs have issues fromwhat i've heard from other poc in the community; a lot of clothing is very off and incorrect.

I CAN LIST EVERYTHING WRONG WITH SUMERU'S CHARACTERS. but the biggest one i can say is ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN WHITEWASHED TO DEATH. but literally no one cared!!!!!!!!! well, they did but only for a short amount of time

"oh my god!! they've whitewashed natlan so much" you act like this hasnt been happening for a while now lmao... even in inazuma, a lot of the traditional clothing has been made to fit the western gaze and to "make them hotter"..... you guys can NOT be serious.

people are only caring about natlan because it's hot news. people will stop talking about the whitewashing in natlan after a while, and thats a problem!! it really shows how racist the genshin community is and its so disgusting

if people actually cared about whitewashing, you would have done your boycotting as soon as designs were looking off. not now, but even when the shogun was released. people truly dont care for poc voices

a lot of the player base will silence poc in the community without hesitation... jesus christ you guys are worse than the dsmp fandom with racism 💀💀 you guys dont care about actual racism!!! you only care about your ships!!!! i am done 🙏

anyway. thats my yearly yap of the season... support me i actually take representation presented in media seriously 💞💞💞

[pocket-deer-boy]

I need people to understand that this is genuinely as dark a skin tone gets in genshin impact. Like in general. Last time i played only four out of like a hundred characters had this skin tone and they later refused to use it on characters based in north african/southwest asian culture or like, characters clearly inspired by egyptian gods

[mervardent]

About Natlan characters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[setsunas-genshin-edits]

Okay, this is probably the last thing I will say about Natlan for now: The comments and posts I've seen about how the characters look as if they were originally designed to be darker and were only later changed due to higher-up pressure shift the blame in a way that makes HYV seem like victims of unfortunate circumstance and not the more likely answer - simple racism on their part. Is it possible they were forced to censor the Natlan cast? Sure, I guess. But which seems more likely, a company with a history of whitewashing and racism deciding to be more inclusive before being forced to retreat, or that same company continuing with their status quo? Genshin has always had issues, from Kaeya's original character description referring to him as "exotic", to Xinyan having a reputation of being scary and off-putting, to the European and East Asian-inspired areas being mainly based on one country each while the Middle East, Africa, and Indigenous Americans are thrown together into two areas despite being composed of vastly different cultures. Star Rail and Honkai 3rd have problems as well, from Penacony being based on the Jazz Age - an era built on Black musicians - while having an entirely light-skinned character roster, to HI3's Carole, the only black/mixed race playable character, being canonically self-conscious of her skin and avoiding anything that would darken it. "Fun" sidenote - Carole's mother, Lewis, is as far as I am aware the only truly muscular and "masculine" woman in the game. Do with that information as you will.

So while it is understandable to not want to have something you enjoy be blatantly racist, you shouldn't use that dismay to try and rationalize a secnario in which it's not their fault. If you really want things to be better, boycott Hoyoverse games - or at least don't spend any money, spread awareness, and push back and make your disappointment known through channels like feedback surveys, e-mails, and in-game support.

[lyss-sketchbox]

Hot take from someone whos only played genshin as their gacha game but has been paying attention to the many rising gacha games after genshin.

I dont think ill be able to invest as deeply to other gacha games as much as i do genshin. That includes even hoyoverse's other similar games.

I think what genshin has above lots of other anime gacha games is both the character writing AND cultural representation. Idk its probably just me but i really like being able to look at a genshin character and see based solely on their looks their personality and cultural inspiration/home nation is. Unlike say Starrail where its almost indistinguishable where anyone is from (except for some obvious exceptions). Like idk look at Yunjin's opera song and Furina's performance. It fits THEIR character, it makes sense culturally why THEY were the ones performing it, and it represents the culture they came from beautifully. I dont think any other gacha games can pull that off without looking like forced pandering.

Its alot easier for me to invest into a story when the characters and environment has its own distinction and not just a bunch of random ass needlessly asymmetrical clothing and design traits with stats (extra points for being vaguely asian/modern/digital).

I know gacha games just do that they make you want characters. But good design motif and stories will make it so much easier and enjoyable to look at these characters as CHARACTERS and not just UNITS.

[cinnabutcringy]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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