extra if you don't like the scara ones
F2U w/ creds(graphic only), like / reblog to use
Self indulgent not requested
Hi, if you ever have the nerve to make a 9/11 joke, please dni
It's not funny, will never be funny, and you should be ashamed of yourself, thanks.
matching ☀️🌙
rules ; like, reblog and credit to use
psd by me
post by mod robin 🕊️
It is said that wherever Molten Remains exist, there are occasional strong sparks of flame mixed with quiet echoes of walling desolation.
MIND THE SWELTER, WATCH THE FURNACE — YUNLI
happy birthday! (2023/2024) - WONDERLANDS x SHOWTIME (tsukasa, rui)
like / rb if using。 no reposts。 f2u dont claim as uur own
f2u, reblog appreciated!
saw the emotes come out and just had to add melanin to em!! they're so cute
COMMON OVERLAYS/BACKGROUNDS THAT I USE.
This is going to be a long read. I refuse to stay silent.
I've played Genshin Impact on and off since 2021 when I was first introduced to it. I drew fanart but rarely participated in the fandom, as Genshin has one of the most toxic and racist fandoms that takes pleasure in driving off content creators of color, perpetuating racism within the communities, as well as harassing and threatening people who dare try to speak out about it. But, for as racist as the fandom is, what can I expect from them considering Hoyoverse as a whole has it's own set of racial problems.
It is clear from the release of Sumeru to the recent teasers of Natlan. Hoyoverse has colorism problems and racism problems and we're going to take a look at them here.
Before we begin, I want to take a moment to say that there will be a lot of information presented in this post. I ask that you read carefully and be considerate of every talking point presented.
Now, let's talk about Sumeru.
Sumeru, the fourth region released in Genshin Impact, draws a lot of real world inspiration from Middle Eastern culture, with even the geography mimicking the real world geography of China and India. The characters, music, food, and geography all draw inspiration from various different real world cultures, and just from a few glances, it is easy to see exactly where and what cultures they’re taking from.
Candace for instance, from name to appearance, draws inspiration from kandakes, which was the title of a queen mother in Nubian kingdoms. Even her accessories, her talents, and her weapon take pieces from other aspects of Egyptian culture.
Cyno, another character from Sumeru, is dressed in garb that mimics depictions of Anubis, the ancient Egyptian God of funerary rites and protector of graves. As with Candace, his talents and abilities reference Egypt.
Even Sethos, a newcomer to the game and also a Sumeru character, has clothes, skills, and a name that alludes to either the Egyptian God Set, the god of the desert and storms, the Egyptian pantheon in general, or the Ancient Egyptian King Seti/Sethos.
These three characters are tanned, anyone can see that, but if you take a closer look you'll notice that they're all around the same shade. Considering all three of them take inspiration from real world Egyptian culture, it is insane to me that they're all a similar shade of the same slightly tanned tone. It is unacceptable that they're all a shade or two away from white when all of them has some aspect of Egyptian culture in their character.
To further shed light on Sumeru's racist sins, there exists a long standing conflict in Sumeru regarding The Eremites, a race of people descended from the ancient, now-collapsed civilization who primarily live in the desert. These people are the enemies in the game. You read that right. The desert dwellers are the enemies and not only that, but unlike the treasure hoarders who disappear into smoke when defeated, the Eremites collapse to the ground like the Fatui.
Why do the Treasure Hoarders, a band of pale skinned thieves, get away but the Eremites, treated as if their culture is lesser, presumably die?
Worse than that, there is a long quest in Sumeru where a white academic from Sumeru spends nearly the entire length of the quest insulting an Eremite. The quest I'm referring to, Golden Slumber, is a multi part quest that has the Traveler accompanying a researcher named Tirzad who is exploring the ruins in the deserts of Sumeru. Throughout the quest, Tirzad spends most of his time complaining and insulting Jeht and Jebrael, calling the latter an uneducated brute whenever Jebrael tries to do anything. And the Traveler is no help, with dialogue options remaining neutral instead of rightfully telling Tirzad to stop.
What we have here is a white man stereotyping a man of color and assuming things about himself and his race due to his own racist biases.
Many players have called out the racism in Tirzad’s actions and this quest overall, but Tirzad at multiple times fails to see the error of his ways and leads the group into life threatening situations simply because he can’t believe an “uneducated desert brute” could possibly know more than him.
I could sit here and pick apart more aspects of Sumeru and it's failures to properly represent the culture it's using, but I want to get into the inciting incident of this entire post, which is Natlan.
When the teaser for Natlan was released, it was just another failure on Hoyoverse's part. To understand why, we can break it down into parts, starting with the character leaks:
Mavuika, presumably the pyro archon, with a name inspired by Māori fire deity Mahuika.
Ororon, a mispelling of the Yoruba god Ọlọrun, the creator deity in the Yoruban pantheon.
Kinich, named after the Mayan god of the sun.
Iansan, another character whose name comes from the Yoruba pantheon.
Xilonen, this name coming from one of the aspects of the Aztec goddess of maize and the goddess of sustenance.
Kachina, name inspiration directly lifted from the religious beliefs of the indigenous Pueblos people.
Chasca, name coming from the Incan goddess of dawn and twilight.
Citlali, a name derived from Nahuatl, which is a language from ancient Mexico.
Are you seeing something interesting with these characters?
Hoyoverse has shoved multiple different cultures under one region and whitewashed every character. They did the bare bones work of lifting names and small design inspirations from so many different cultures and using them in the laziest way possible. If not pale white, the few characters who are tanned are a mere shade darker than Cyno and almost the same shade as Kaeya. There is nothing darker in sight with any of these characters.
Cultural representation matters. If Hoyoverse can explore the cultures of Germany (Mondstadt), China (Liyue), Japan (Inazuma), and France (Fontaine), it is insane that the same sort of love couldn't be given to both Sumeru and Natlan, both nations where we should rightfully be seeing more people of color.
(Side note, we should be seeing more people of color in the previous regions as well, even as NPCs. Bi-racial people exist all over the world, not just in America. Quick google searches will show what I mean.)
I can already hear the arguments against me.
"But Hoyoverse is an East Asian company! They don't need to/don't care about representation!"
Oh really? Because Lilithgames, the company behind Dislyte, is a company based in Shanghai, China. And when you compare the variety of skin tones of Dislyte to Genshin, you cannot make the argument that a company based in Asia doesn't care about diversity. Hoyoverse does not seem to care, but don't make it a blanket statement for all companies.
Still not convinced? Bluepoch, a small Chinese company behind Reverse:1999, is responsible for this character:
Smite, a game published by Hi-Rez Studios and Tencent Games (A Chinese publisher), has a character based on Olorun. And they did just fine in their depiction of him:
And the director behind Tekken 7, Katsuhiro Harad, shared concept art of an Arab fighter they want to add to the game. Why? Because he wanted to make sure he was respecting Middle Eastern culture and asked for feedback to see what can be improved. He posted this concept art and asked the community for input to make Shaheen as accurate as possible:
But sure. Asian companies don't care.
"It's a fantasy world! It doesn't have to 1-to-1 mimic the real world!"
Oh really? So why are characters named after real world cultural figures, why is the food based around real world food, why are outfits somewhat inspired by real world garbs then? If you're gonna draw inspiration from something and use the real world in your game, the world is a diverse place. It is not all white nor all slightly tanned.
"You can always stop playing the game."
I could, but that would mean letting them win and get away with their racism. It would mean letting Hoyoverse think this is the norm instead of the outlier. It would mean staying silent during injustice. I can do a lot of things, and exposing their issues is one of them.
"It could be difficult for them to implement dark-skinned characters."
It actually is not. Look at all the examples from other games and companies discussed previously. It's not hard. Plus, take a look at Wriothesley's concept art:
Originally, he had a different skin tone. So characters with different tones existed but got lightened and changed over time.
"I don't want [insert race here] in my fantasy game/it doesn't matter!"
Honey, you're just racist.
"Wow, I get it now. This is bad. What can I do to help?"
There are several ways:
Use Surveys and Feedback when you log into Hoyoverse games. This problem extends past Genshin, into HSR and ZZZ (a game whose ads promote itself with rap music and yet noticeably lack playable dark skinned characters so far). Use the platforms that they gave us in order to spread the word. Tell them that you're dissatisfied with the cultural appropriation and disappointed in Hoyoverse for taking certain cultures and whitewashing them. Email genshin_cs@hoyoverse.com if the feedback buttons aren't working for some reason.
Stop putting money into the game. A lot of companies listen when there's monetary loss involved. Show them that you mean business and stop supporting their business. You can also leave a one star and a review with your thoughts on their cultural appropriation.
Amplify the voices of those speaking out. There are plenty of posts out there better worded than mine that go in depth into a lot of these problems. Multiple voice actors of all ethnicities and backgrounds have spoken up about Hoyoverse’s injustices as well (many of the VAs from the game, including the voices of Albedo, Sucrose, Layla, Beidou, and even VAs for smaller NPCs have spoken out). When you see those posts, share them. Spread the word. Get those voices out there.
Shut down those silencing others. For as many posts out there trying to bring more light to this issue, there are others who try to shut us down. They continue to be racist and double down that nothing is wrong with Natlan. Do not let them get away with this. Show them this post or the myriad of other posts that exist. Tell them to shut the fuck up. Call them out. But don't let them silence anyone else.
If you've made it to the end and learned something, I'm glad. If you've made it to the end and want to further support me or anyone else in this fight, share this post and others like it.
Thank you for reading.
EDIT: As noted in this ask, the naming conventions of characters from other regions as opposed to Sumeru and Natlan. I’ll be adding a separate reblog to this post with a full list of naming conventions from each region.
My 100+ Editting Event! This post will go over date, prompts, a promo ask, and my rules regarding this event!
I'm so excited that I've gotten over 100+ followers, and honestly, I didn't think that I'd ever really get many followers and even stay consistent with this blog!
Please use the tag #Dollicous100+ and tag me in your posts!
Please find all info under the cut! Promo asks are also under the cut!
This event will last between June 25th and July 5th, which will give you exactly 10 days to complete these prompts! On the 6th, I will announce winners! Winners will be picked via a wheel! The more days you do, the more chances you'll get as if you complete 3 days, you'll be put in the wheel twice, 5 days will be three times in the wheel, and 7 days will be four times in the wheel!
All types of submissions are accepted! I will take graphics, icons, layouts, npts, flags, gifs, favicons, psds, moodboards, stimboards, AND anything else you can think of!
I encourage anyone and everyone (except those put in the rules) to participate! I know there are quite a few people who are scared to participate in events especially when they aren't following the person, so please don't be scared and participate if you want!
If you apply to this carrd dont participate ! Link
I also ask NSFW blogs, darkshippers, zionists, and anti-good faith identities also do not participate in my event
Be kind towards others during this event! Please don't be like "Oh they didn't deserve to win," and other related things! If you do this, it will result in being blacklisted from winning in other events I host or being blocked! Just be nice to people
Day 1. A duo, trio, or group that's your favorite color combo(s) or a character that's your favorite color(s)
Day 2. A character that's you (in any way, shape, or form) or your favorite character(s)
Day 3. A character that's your favorite fantasy creature (EX. Mermaids, unicorns, dragons, ect) or a character that's your favorite animal (horses, cats, dogs, ect)
Day 4. A musical character (any character related to music in some way) or a character that's your favorite -dere type (EX. Inudere, nemuidere, himedere, ect)
Day 5. Your favorite mahou shoujo character or favorite villain character
Day 6. A character in/with your favorite style(s) or a character you share a birthday with
Day 7. Your favorite pokemon/a character with your favourite pokemon or something you associate with me
1st. A custom psd, a layout for any app (Discord, tumblr, pinterest, ect), a set of gifs, and 2 graphics of your choice!
2nd. 2 graphics and a custom psd OR a gif set and a custom psd of your chouce
3rd. A set of gifs and 1 graphic of your choice OR a set of icons and 1 graphic of your choice
Perhaps you could give this post a promo?
@utaicon , @miaufleur , @necroangelz , @clairespearl , @lavendergalactic & anyone else who wants to give a promo
f2u! reblogs very appreciated! ↳ self indulgent!!
I DID NOT KNOW THEY HAD NENDOROIDS FOR RE1999. OH MY GOD. THESE ARE THE CUTESET EVER.
here ya go ^^!
i need help i lost all my blood overlays who has any 😭😭😭