#except for the fontaine trailer

[aewinning]

Fontaine/4.x+ Predictions

I'm throwing some big bold Fontaine/4.x predictions out so I can reference this in a year and find out just how right or wrong I was. Under a cut because it's a wall of text and b/c it involves obscure lore not everybody's read.

(No leaks involved. If you've seen leaks that confirm or contradict any of this, please don't send them to me or discuss them in replies. As you can see, the lore theorycrafting is half of the fun for me!)

Yes, this is the tip of the iceberg on my lore theories. No, this is not a comprehensive prediction of the entire Fontaine plot, just bits of it I feel are foreshadowed. Yes, I'm citing a lot of shit so that when I go back through this a year from now I can see why I thought what I thought.

I think about Genshin lore too much, this truly is live footage of me every time a single new crumb of information is divulged.

Massive wall of text incoming b/c I can't stop rambling once you start me up on Genshin lore.

The theories:

Fontaine fucks up and Celestia gets involved

My big pet theory that I've been nursing for over a year now, ever since we started hearing from bit NPCs in minor events about Fontaine's energy problems, is that I think Celestia is either going to drop a nail on Fontaine or at the very least finally become relevant to the main plot in a big way by sending someone to intervene with Fontaine's technology and the mockery Focalors is making of the judicial process. (They might not care enough to intervene in the average judicial process, but she's literally the capital-letters God of Justice, and it's supposed to be her ideal. If she's abandoned it, they might not be happy.) They're also hovering over what we can assume to be the location of Fontaine, which is not a good sign.

This theory was strengthened when reading Rene's Investigation Notes in the Khvarena of Good and Evil questline, which indicate that Fontaine has done research on Khaenri'ah's use of abyssal power as an energy source, which was warned against by some of Khaenri'ah's own people but ignored (to disastrous outcome). There are a lot of parallels being set up between Khaenri'ah and Fontaine in those notes and with all the mention of sinners in the Final Feast trailer narration, and I'm not sure they bode well for Fontaine.

It's possible that the energy generator machine that Persikov and the other Fatui were working on as far back as 2.8's Golden Apple Archipelago were meant to help them gain a foothold in Fontaine; after all, solve the desperate nation's energy problems, and you suddenly hold a lot of power in the nation and can even hold their energy source ransom until your demands are met. I wouldn't be surprised if "the Fatui control Fontaine's energy future and use it as leverage" is a plot point.

(Although back in the day I thought it would be Pantalone behind that plot, not Arlecchino, because economic and political manipulation seemed his style and we hadn't heard anything much about Arlecchino yet. Hell, Arlecchino had been mentioned like once in-game then, in Inazuma's "The Very Special Fortune Slip" hidden questline, and was still referred to as male at that point.)

2. Neuvillette is unjustly imprisoned by Furina; Charlotte figures it out

I think Neuvillette is going to be imprisoned by Furina (who's pretty obviously the hydro archon Focalors), foreshadowed by the bars going over his face but not Clorinde's when they're walking in the sewers in the trailer. This will likely be either Furina framing him for something (foreshadowed by her burning what seems to be evidence while complaining about the lack of plot twists and entertainment, while he's literally 'framed' by the burning photo) OR a political imprisonment because they have an ideological clash.

Neuvillette seems to actually want justice, Furina seems to want a show. She seems very pouty and childish; if he tries to discipline her or remind her of the true meaning of justice, she could very well order him arrested and turn it into a grand trial to feed her lust for entertainment. And it could certainly be a combination framing/political imprisonment as well. Very French Reign of Terror style.

Charlotte may figure this whole situation out; in the trailer she's investigating photos with a puzzled look on her face as if she sees something wrong with them, and in the TCG event she offered to let us take out an ad in the paper if we ever needed it, in exchange for our assistance during the event. Now, the pictures were of Navia, not Neuvillette, so this may be an unrelated plot, but surely she's going to help us sleuth up the truth of something with foreshadowing like that.

Neuvillette is also...something. His eyes resemble Khaenri'ahn eyes, he's got the Kleelike pointy ears, and his cool blue hair streaks are certainly interesting. Oceanids can mimic other creatures so he could be an Oceanid (and given that they were spies of the previous archon that would set him up nicely for opposition to Furina). He could be Klee's species. He could be a Khaenri'ahn.

Whatever he is, he's NOT standard modern Teyvat human, and he's NOT the previous hydro archon despite the hair streaks because we know from the Khvarena of Good and Evil questline and Vourukasha's Glow artifact set that the previous archon died and was anchored beneath the Harvisptokm in the form of the giant Gaokerena lotus to purify abyssal influence in the region.

Neuvillette, I've got my eye on you. (Both eyes. While twirling my hair and kicking my feet.)

1b+2b. Neuvillette replaces Furina as hydro archon

I fully understand this is an unlikely scenario so it's not as firmly a prediction as much as a "this would be interesting," but if Celestia brings judgment on Fontaine it is possible that the hydro archon slot opens up, either because they repossess Furina's gnosis and find a new archon, or because they straight-up kill her (can you fucking imagine the shock from the community if they kill an archon off? but they'd still get to sell two separate units as archons, it'd be a win/win for them).

If this happens the logical choice for a replacement would be Chief Justice Neuvillette, especially if he was in opposition to the behavior that put her on Celestia's shitlist. I can see it now: Celestia repossesses the gnosis, gives it to him, he says thank you, the Celestians fuck off to be mysterious again, and he turns right around and hands it to the Fatui in exchange for getting the hell out of Fontaine. (Or for some other reason.)

I highly doubt they'll go this route, but I would love to see it. Not only would it even out the archon gender ratio a bit, but it would answer the question of how a change of archonhood takes place, which we still haven't seen since Morax hasn't been replaced as geo archon yet. And I think it's a question we deserve to have answered before the end of the game. If not here, then perhaps in Natlan (see point 7 below).

3. Lyney, Lynette, Freminet, and Arlecchino

This is a pretty common/obvious theory but I agree that the siblings are all likely working for Arlecchino, likely unwillingly. She runs the House of the Hearth which takes in (and sometimes causes) orphans and trains them for the Fatui; we've seen several NPCs that came from them before and many of them consider each other brothers and sisters.

I don't think Lyney and Lynette are related to Freminet by blood; I think they consider him a sibling due to being raised together. The resemblance between Lyney and Lynette is clearer, especially with the twin names, but names can be changed, so I don't even treat it as confirmed that those two are blood related until proven otherwise, especially since Lynette has cat features and Lyney doesn't.

Both Lynette and Freminet seem to have robotic features, and we know that Fontaine has robots and Snezhnaya has the technology for segments, plus we've seen Albedo as a homunculus and Scara as a puppet, so artificial humans are very much within the realm of possibility for Teyvat. Lynette is said to have rather mechanical behavior, and Freminet's constellation is literally 'Automaton.' So I think it's likely enough that one or both of them aren't flesh and blood humans.

To take that a step further, I think it's possible that Lynette died at some point, and the current Lynette is a mechanical replacement OR a robotic body being inhabited by her soul (Alphonse from Full Metal Alchemist style). Lyney may have had to pledge loyalty to Arlecchino and the Fatui in order to rescue or recreate his sister through these means, OR it's possible they were already in the House of the Hearth and Dottore or somebody else damaged the original Lynette while experimenting with her.

Dark. And quite the fun twist if it's true, tbh.

4. Navia and Clorinde

Navia gives off a 'gentleman thief' vibe to me but lady version, and Clorinde shoots directly at her in the trailer, indicating she's playing the role of the detective or law enforcement officer tracking her down. I don't have coherent thoughts here on a lore front really, I'm just really excited for the possibility of gentlewoman thief rivals to lovers/enemies with benefits lesbians.

Clorinde's outfit looks a bit historical Navy inspired to me, so maybe she's a member of the Navy, but I'm not really sure why she'd be chasing criminals if that's the case.

5. Wriothesley, Sigewinne, and the Tower of London

I don't have a solid opinion on whether Wriothesley is blind or not as possibly hinted at by his fumbling for the cup, but I think it'd be cool if he was! People point to him looking at papers or at Sigewinne as evidence that he's not, but 'blind' as a term does not always mean complete lack of sight, for one, and if we assume he's a vision user as a seemingly playable character then there could be alternative methods he reads things with, such as using elemental sight to read ink with crushed-up elemental rocks in it or something.

He seems rather military, and Fontaine seems to have a strong military presence in general with some of the Melusine giving off a British bobby (police) vibe visually. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a structure reminiscent of the Tower of London, potentially where Wriothesley works and Neuvillette gets held when imprisoned.

No solid thoughts about Sigewinne yet other than I'm guessing she's going to be a healer or support, since she's little and cute and taking care of someone in the trailer. I assume she's a Melusine.

6. Chenyu Vale and Qiaoying Village (and Yilong Port?)

They're coming. I can feel it in my bones that at last we will go to the long-awaited Baizhu homeland. Why? There have been multiple sources indicating that they're placed between Liyue and Fontaine, likely between Fontaine and Qingce Village. I think 4.4 should be Lantern Rite judging from the usual calendar, and that would be a prime time for it to pop up - the main Fontaine story should be over at that point, and we'll be back in Liyue anyways. It will also be the Year of the Dragon, which might mean time for some juicy Zhongli or Liyue lore. Though they might move Chenyu Vale elsewhere in the 4.x schedule if needed.

This region will likely utilize Fontaine's diving mechanics. Legends about the region in weapon and artifact lore discuss powerful sunken jade artifacts in the rivers and lakes of the region, which would make a storyline revolving around finding them the perfect excuse to introduce the diving mechanics to a non-Fontaine region. Given the name and the lore, it's very possible that Baizhu's signature weapon Jadefall's Splendor is one of those pieces of jade, reclaimed.

For that and multiple other reasons, I believe Baizhu will be relevant to the main storyline here. Not only does he have a personal vested interest in finding interesting and powerful old artifacts or knowledge that might aid in his search for immortality, but Changsheng is intimately connected to the region lorewise. The Echoes of an Offering artifact set doesn't mention Changsheng by name, but it does discuss an adeptus named "Herblord" in Chenyu Vale and tell her story, and Changsheng is referred to as an "Herblord" in Baizhu's story cutscene. There's no reason to refer to them both with such a specific unusual term unless they're one and the same.

(I also have a theory that the other woman in the artifact lore is Madame Ping. The other woman is referred to as a fish adeptus, and Madame Ping's younger self in cutscenes has fish motifs and a fishtail silhouette, so I believe she's likely a koi as her adeptus form. I am highly tempted to write a Changsheng/Madame Ping fic because y'all there is something incredibly wlw happening in that artifact lore. I am also not going to be surprised if Madame Ping's younger form becomes playable in conjunction with Chenyu Vale story.)

7. Natlan

As a final far future prediction: In Natlan, Capitano will likely challenge the pyro archon for her gnosis and possibly even replace her. We know he's headed to Natlan and also "has the courage to challenge gods as an ordinary mortal" from Varka's Weinlesefest letter, and if Pierro is simply the "Director" of the Fatui as labeled in the Winter Night's Lazzo description and not a numbered harbinger, Capitano may occupy slot #1, which would be in line with his name as the Captain. We've been told by Nahida that the top three harbingers rival gods in terms of power, and I feel like if any god would answer a martial challenge with their gnosis on the line it would be the God of War, especially if the challenger was backed by another archon. I TRULY hope we see a fight between them.

(I also wanna see someone guillotined in Fontaine to fit the vibe but I highly doubt that will happen in Genshin. I think Signora was the most violent death we'll get onscreen.)

Anyways I hope someone found this titillating or educational and we can all look back at this and laugh at how wrong I was a year from now, but occasionally my farfetched theories do work out, such as when I looked a the Echoes of an Offering set lore on its release a full YEAR before Baizhu's release and excitedly vibrated to a friend about how it HAD to be related to him or Changsheng.

(I have theories past this point in the game too but they mostly rely on esoteric Gnostic text parallels more than in-game foreshadowing/content so I'm less confident in them.)

#aewinblabs #genshin impact #fontaine #theories #fontaine predictions #predictions #spoilers #genshin spoilers #maybe #if you're not up to date on quests and obscure lore at least #but everything mentioned here has been out for at least a patch now #except for the fontaine trailer

[clouvu]

Save me french yuri... Save me

#genshin impact #arledrone #sandrone #arlecchino #haha remember when we all thought that sandrone and arlecchino would both show up in fontaine and be gay together? #good times.... good times #jk i'm ready to end it all actually #I KNOW WE HAVE LIKE ONE LAST MAJOR FRENCH PATCH BEFORE NATLAN BUT IVE JUST ABOUT LOST ALL HOPE #the way that literally every wlw arle pairing got fed so well following arle's drip marketing EXCEPT for arledrn... hate it here so bad #anyways shipping aside HOW is it possible that the frenchiest of french harbingers with heavy ties to machinery #and like two major world quests tied to specifically to her lore and is even MENTIONED of being present in fontaine #also being one of the first harbingers ever mentioned dating back all the way to the description of chode's teaser trailer #just???? doesnt show up?????? #Sandy enjoyers are stronger than any us marine because my GOD are we struggling out here #anyways ignore the fact that I completely forgot to draw sandy's wind up key it was hard drawing through the tears #(actually it was cause i half-assed this doodle but we dont talk about that)

[dobercorgis]

Gonna start fontaine block misu does stuff if you want to avoid spoilers and/or spam

#idk anything abt fontaine I haven’t watched the trailers #except for that one with arlecchino #Ik neuvillette’s voiced by Ranpo’s va so now I’m like …do I want to download the jp voice pack for him #but ray chase… #it’s been a hot second since I touched genshin #I haven’t played since I got kaeya’s skin #misu.txt #misu does stuff

[ayaboba]

DAY 9: WE DON’T WANT YOU CATCHING A COLD, DO WE? ❅⋆⍋

summary: them giving you their jacket in the cold.

characters: childe, baizhu, wriothesley, xiao.

notes: 3rd time the charm? fluff, gn! reader, wc: 300ish each.

⋆⁺₊❅⋆ dreamy december event masterlist

childe

Hailing from Snezhnaya, Childe was entirely aware of his resistance to chilly weather, the immunity was practically infused in his veins. The lifelong exposure to frigid winds and crystalline icicles had played a prominent role throughout his timeline, so it was only correct for him to possess such characteristics evolved through experience.

That being said, Childe was not unaware of his resilience in comparison to foreigners in his homeland; in fact, he buoyantly revelled in it. It was an advantage in his eyes, a quality that should be boisterously paraded for the unfortunate souls that could never delight in beholding such a divinely useful attribute. Childe was never ignorant, however, he never let the trailer of playfulness extend to the wrong audience, he had a particular selection of people he simply rejoiced in teasing, and you seemed to be one of the lucky few.

There are days when you have to sacrifice your health just a teensy bit, perhaps risking a cold for a perfectly coordinated outfit. He didn’t have to know, all Childe needs to do is compliment you on your remarkable taste in fashion.

But that’s not all Childe notices, his gaze catches the sequence of goosebumps, the subtle shivers and quivers in your voice, and he feels the thin strings of his heart tighten just a little bit. He’ll murmur the showers of compliments, but not after shoving you his jacket and tucking you neatly under his arm.

baizhu

It happens every year—an unceasing mountain of patients all suffering the same case—which is easily avoidable with the right precautions.

Yet Baizhu ensures to remind them all, gently and tenderly as they finish their checkups with the concocted medicine in hand. As he strongly believes, there is no point being stern when you can be soft-spoken and understanding. This way, as he has observed over the years, always proves more effective results and happier patients, and being a doctor, Baizhu knows the benefits stemming from a greater abundance of positive emotions.

Perhaps it was because of his nature, his eulogised nurturing manner responsible for his revered words and actions commended as significantly noble. Nevertheless, you admired it immensely. Taking care of the sick required many precise skills that demanded only someone who possessed a vast amount of goodwill and patience.

So, really, how else did you think he’d react when he saw what you were wearing in such weather?

Baizhu certainly commends it as a lovely choice of complimentary clothing and mentally applauds you for it, but he can’t help but extend his concern. It’s subtle, all he desires is for you to please take care of yourself, and if you particularly needed anything, just remember that he was always available; he’ll manage somehow, because it’s you.

There are some small exceptions, occurrences where you needn’t ask for him to know, but that doesn’t really matter right now. Just make sure to thank him for that jacket engulfing you most lusciously, because although he attempts to conceal it, those goosebumps lining his arm are just as visible as your smile.

wriothesley

Spending more and more time with Wriothesley has given the chance for you to perceive and confirm a myriad of assumptions and strange quirks about his personality.

In all honesty, you admit there were more pros than cons. The Duke of the Fortress of Meriopide seemed to exponentially bleed extravagance, which was truthfully a little stupid, because although he was a noteworthy figure throughout Fontaine, he sincerely wasn’t the type to feast in glamour or grandeur, or anything similar of the sort. Well, publicly, at least.

It’s a sweet surprise when Wriothesley most charmingly invites you for a night out. It’s not that he wants to hide your relationship (quite the contrary, actually), but he absolutely despises when people decide to inconveniently prowl into the specifics of someone’s private life, and being Fontaine, it would likely be scripted into a melodramatic love story featuring heart-wrenching betrayals and exaggerated standards in romance.

Being with Wriothesley elicits emotions that feel subjected to only him; he’s the exception. These new feelings are ravaging your mind in countless cycles, gifting you a dangerously addictive rush that spreads through your body like a wildfire. He likes to remind you that he does, in fact, notice your reaction to his looming presence, and he does it without an ounce of hesitation.

“You seem to shiver as soon as I get a little too close,” he states matter-of-factly as you browse the night stalls scattered throughout the city. “I assume it's only because you’re cold, right?”

That 'right' is said so excruciatingly slow, like he wants to let it reverberate through your bones, so that you get the message that he knows it, knows how to get you so deliciously feverish.

“Have my jacket, darling. We don’t want you catching a cold, do we?”

xiao

Was he really that interesting?

Although he spends an unhealthy amount of time ambling about his insecurities and his self-image, Xiao has never considered whether he could’ve been fascinating enough to have piqued someone’s curiosity. Someone who found him interesting probably was crippling from some mad sickness without a cure.

Your hopeful face is almost persuasive enough to let him say yes, almost.

Seriously, in what universe was he going to allow you to fight monsters with him? Yes, you were an admirable fighter equipped with a vast set of skills and stamina, but if you slipped for a mere split second, he could regret this decision for the rest of eternity.

Then comes the deal.

You explain that if you can’t go slaughter the monsters, then would Xiao approve of simply tagging along? If that doesn’t convince him, surely a genuine promise of being aware of the surroundings should sweeten the agreement, right?

It seems you have won the prize of an evening stroll accompanied by Xiao.

The first ten minutes are pleasant, bestowing a treasured memory for both, but as the sun sets and the winds begin to pick up, the temperature is getting a little too cool for liking. All you can do is try to retain your body heat by holding your body a little more tightly as you watch Xiao destroy a camp of hillichurls nearby.

“Xiao!” you call out to him once he’s finished decimating the site. “I’m going to head back now!”

With some magical precision of an adeptus, he teleports to where you’re standing, his face is strangely not confused but rather…stern?

“You’re cold, aren’t you?” he announces with the air of a strict mother. “I know you wouldn’t plead to accompany me just to return home after fifteen minutes. Here,” he nods, a woollen jacket displayed in his arms. “Put it on as we walk back.”

#genshin fanfic #genshin fluff #genshin x reader #childe x reader #baizhu x reader #wriothesley x reader #xiao x reader #childe fluff #baizhu fluff #wriothesley fluff #xiao fluff #anya writes ✧.*

[welcometoteyvat]

this is very belated but I watched a rather earthshattering lore video regarding furina's character demo and holy shit. this is just a summary bc I don't have many other thoughts to add I just wanted to share

the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu-ec4chiKk, but it's in chinese lol

Anyways the summary/translation is: Furina's demo has those 4 scenes of the most wack ass stuff happening right. Childe is getting chased by 3 melusine guards, Neuvillette is getting arrested by Navia, Lynette is the magician while Lyney is the assistant in the water box, Freminet gets his helmet pulled off and a bunch of water comes spilling out*, etc. *(the video states that he got dissolved by primordial seawater but you can see his head if you stop at the right place. Anyways.) Op didn't mention anything about the Wriothesley Clorinde duel, but it could fit in the theory also.

The video states that Furina's crack headcanons all parallel things that have actually happened thus far in Fontaine, except the demo depicts the opposite of what really happened. Childe actually instigated the fight in the courthouse instead of running away; Navia's father was the one arrested (by Neuvillette/gardes); Lyney and Lynette's roles are swapped, and Freminet gets saved before he gets dissolved by the Primordial Sea. In the case of Wriothesley and Clorinde, that could be referencing when Clorinde used her gun to shoot the door closed and Wriothesley escapes from the primordial sea within an inch of his life. Except in the teaser, she's aiming her gun to shoot Wriothesley instead lol

So if everything's backwards from how it happened, you could technically state that the demo is a mirrored version of reality (somewhat touched upon in her character teaser, the depressing video). More on that later. Additionally, everything in the demo is just her imagination or an elaborate stageplay (ie All the World's a Stage, ie her demo title), so this is only the reality that she wants us, the audience to see. She is also controlling the actions of everyone on stage and is the director of this crack film (has the camera, directing the shots, fixes Neuvillette's hair, etc).

ok so if everything is backwards in reality, then the really joyous funny silly stuff in the trailer implies a grim dark depressing actual ending, further hinted by "Why cry, when you can laugh instead?" as a lyric in the song. in the trailer, she has the movements of all the cast under control—is that the same in reality? is she the one directing this show, or is someone else pulling the strings behind her?? she puts on a show for the other nations but do they buy it and think she's got everything under control??

Anyways all this is to say, hype for 4.2 archon quest am I right

#not my theory everything is from the video. but i figure most people here speak only english #anyways . insanity! happy update soon everyone #furina #wriothesley #neuvillette #childe #tartaglia #teyvat thoughts #genshin theory #lyney #lynette #freminet

[nacrelysis]

lyney & lynette: the matter of the assistant

[before excited word vomit, i want to emphasize that i am not a professional linguist. i'm a chinese-american person who can read moderately (and practicing) but speaks/hears the language better. the phrase i'm talking about is on a similar reading/contextual level to what i consider myself to be familiar with, but if i'm missing grammatical/lingual background, please tell me!]

one last thing about as light rain falls without reason -

in the eng trailer, lyney introduces lynette as "my wonderful assistant."

however, in the og cn trailer, he introduces her as "my most important assistant." [italics added to emphasize the description]

this is really interesting to me because it makes me wonder about lynette's part in the water tank disappearing act. she looks reluctant to go in, hesitating before taking the dive (not to mention what sounds like a very monotone "ta-da" in her cn intro)...but it doesn't seem like anyone else can do the job except for her. lyney seems to be at the forefront of their performace, the emcee, if you will. but we haven't seen him do any of the more stunts lynette does - primarily the one we've been shown, the drowning tank.

and freminiet doesn't seem like he wants to be involved in anything the twins are doing at all. per his helmet, he seems to be content to block out the spectacle and just...be void. (lol)

i also want to add that right before lynette dives into the tank, there's a cut to the icewind suite automatons placing their hands together. like a reminder of an agreement she made with lyney, or a cause she's committed to - and then she dives.

lyney needs lynette. not just for their performances - for whatever they're doing under arlecchino's hand, whatever the fatui are planning in fontaine. lynette, i feel, is the lynchpin. without her, lyney's scheme can't go through.

so, i'm just saying...depending on how our dynamics play out with the fatui in this archon quest (because what's up with childe? and, more importantly, where is his vision??), lynette might just be the person we need to convince/turn for everything to turn out all right.

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin 4.0 #genshin 4.0 livestream #fontaine #lyney #lynette #genshin meta #genshin analysis #genshin theory #lynette analysis #lyney analysis #fontaine analysis #fontaine theory #fontaine meta

[hamletisintown]

After finishing the story for Genshin Impact's 4.1, I actually have many thoughts. Spoilers under the cut.

Okay so. Genshin continues its long trend of having so much potential and failing to meet it because the people in charge want it to earn money first and foremost.

Here are a few things we could have had from this patch, and didn't get (which i'm mad about, but not surprised, sadly):

1) a social commentary on justice and prisons, and the role they fulfill on society

2) actual interpersonal conflict between important characters, and characters who are actually deep with interesting motivations instead of just being Nice :)

3) a story that is interesting not because it mashes more and more things together in the hopes of staying , but because it actually dares to step out there and give us interesting ideas (and maybe even a good execution)

Once again, we didn't get any of that despite the 4.1 trailer being absolutely phenomenal and filled to the brim with dramatic voice lines.Before I go into more details, please bear in mind that I am only so negative and critical of Genshin Impact because I do love it. I see its potential, and I know it could be exceptional instead of just good. But sadly, it's a game whose entire purpose is to earn money, and so it never takes any real risks, and well, that's the whole problem, isn't it.

Anyways.

1) About justice and prisons.

Fontaine's whole storyline was always going to be revolving around the idea of justice, and initially i wasn't expecting much out of it, but after Sumeru's story my hope was elevated a bit. There's so much to be said about how justice works today, what it means for people, both those who are being helped by it and those who are on the receiving end. You could do so much in a story about justice.

When we first saw the Fontaine trailer and learnt about how in Fontaine, trials are treated like opera, like... entertainment?? Man, I was so interested. A country in which the suffering of others is being ostensibly used as entertainment. How cool of a concept is that? What does it mean about the society of Fontaine? About its people? Except so far, the story doesn't bother to ask those cool questions. Instead it's all about the prophecy, which, okay, that's intriguing, sure, but I'm really hoping it's going connect back around to the whole premise of suffering as entertainment in some way because I'm really expecting cool shit from that and I'm not seeing any of it so far. We participated in 2 trials and none of them even so much as addressed the core problem of witnessing trials as if it was a fun play. We just went in there Ace Attorney style, investigating shit and bringing the truth to light, which was fun but incredibly shallow.

Then comes 4.1, we get to infiltrate Fontaine's prison. There is so much to be said about prisons, how they're cruel and don't fix anything, how they feed the cycle, how they prey on the marginalized. But nooo, not in Teyvat. Here, the prison is not really a prison, it's just uhhh. Gathering grounds for exiled. In a fortress at the bottom of the sea. Ooookay. And it's so nice here that a lot of people actually stay even after finishing their sentence. Ooookay? Ah, we get a throwaway dialogue from a convict about how even if you go back out after your sentence, you'll still be branded a criminal and no one will want to hire you for work. Interesting. Can we get more of that? Nope? Okay that's. that's fine. Maybe later. Ohhh wait hang on turns out they're using the prisoners to built their machines!! Interesting! Oh we're not gonna explore that either? Man.

I MEAN. The fortress is even built like a panopticon. A circle with the dormitories along and the administrator's office smack-dab in the middle. Add to that the fact that it's actually confirmed that Wriothesley was following our entire investigation somehow, watching from who knows where (and all the cameras!! don't forget about the cameras!! They didn't serve for anything important but they sure as hell were there!!), and well. It IS a panopticon, you can't tell me otherwise. How is this not intentional?? And if it IS, then how come it just stops at that. Can you believe it?? This prison is so nice that if you work 3 days straight, the nurse in person will make food for you to help you with your exhaustion.

Do you see all this potential? Do you see how much NOTHING they made out of it? I am so mad about this.

2) Lack of real conflict.

This is not really new and i've actually complained about this to friends several times, but it just keeps happening and I'm now convinced that's just how it's gonna be for the whole rest of the game.

Here's the thing. The conflict in genshin is either a) coming from external forces (the fatui, evil gods, random NPCs who are introduced specifically just for one story bit to be the villain and then disappear, etc), b) very shallow (like for example Alhaitham and Kaveh's relationship, they're always fighting but it never comes to anything substantial, it's all just for shits and giggle), c) incredibly short-lived and often with no real consequences (like the conflict between the shogun and watatsumi island in the inazuma storyline, they fight a bit and then we beat the shogun which somehow convinces her and then she's nice again and no one gives a ashit that she destroyed so many lives with her idiotic idea) or d) under-exploited (the beef between Diluc and Kaeya? Who cares we're 4 regions later now this is irrelevant and will never be brought up again probably).

You know what I want? I want characters with opposing ideals, incompatible personalities, deep flaws, fighting each other because they're HUMAN and that's what being human means. Hell, I even want some playable characters who are ASSHOLES, who do some FUCKED UP SHIT. You know what we're getting instead? Characters who are NICE. They're all so NICE. They get along. They're finally starting to actually make characters interact more and they're ALL NICE AND FRIENDS AND I'M SO SICK OF IT.

The only characters who are allowed to be fucked up and evil are the Fatui Harbingers. La Signora was evil and she died before she could get an actual character arc. Dottore is evil and he fucked off god knows where so I'm waiting to see what they do with him. Childe is fucked up but now that we're past the liyue questline he's just our friend that happens to be a harbinger and we just meet him and we don't even question his motivations all is well???? This guy kills people but no one gives a shit anymore he's friend now. Idk I just wish there was more to this but okay, better than most I suppose. Scaramouche was fucked up and evil AND got a cool backstory about it but then he just erased that actually??? So now h e's just a random guy and no one gives a shit about him, allt he significant ties he had with other characters just stopped existing and possibly don't mean anything anymore. Nahida put a leash on him and now he's the resident grumpy boy. I'm so mad about that I love his character you can't do this to him give him his substance back.

Do you see this shit???? The nice guys are simply nice, and the evil guys aren't properly exploited. I am. So. Mad.

In the 4.1 trailer, you get a bunch of cool lines. "Wriothesley, where did you take my siblings?!" "Even if the truth may not be pleasant?" "Since they have no way to dispose of the leftover remains, they have ways to transform them into other forms, and keep them in the fortress forever." Does that sound cool to you? It did to me. Man, I thought, finally some good fucking conflict. What in the hell is gonna happen to Lyney's siblings. What the fuck is Wriothesley up to.

Well. What we get instead is one single cool scene of conflict between Lyney and Wriothesley (with a very mellow build-up to it, honestly), and then that conflict is immediately resolved. Turns out Wriothesley never meant to hurt anyone and just played along to try and get a randezvous with The Knave from Lyney. Everyone is saved and everyone is cool afterwards. Not even a word of resentment from Lyney over how Wriothesley manipulated him.

You know what I wanted? I wanted Lyney to be more of a villain, more of what's expected of a Fatui. He's polite and charming and mysterious, but he's also way too honest and trustworthy with the Traveler. It's no fun. We know we can actually trust him. There was some vague attempt at putting us at odds with him and Lynette in the 4.0 story when they revealed they were fatui, and it was so badly done that it just fell flat. Ok cool you're part of the fatui, that's scary, but my best friend is literally a harbinger, cool story though.

You know what I wanted even more?? I wanted Wriothesley to be more ruthless, more of an asshole, more self-centered. The guy runs a prison, scares all of the convicts, Neuvillette even warns us about him!! But you get there and he's actually reformed the prison to be a nice place, and the only time he actually does some bad shit, not only is it not serious, but turns out it's because he's trying to get help with the secret ship he's building to save the people of Fontaine from the flood. So it's only a "good intentions, bad methods" type of situation!!!

All! Of them!! Are!!! To nice!!! It's BORING. It'S SO BORING. Everyone is so nice in this game that even THE FUCKING MAFIA IS NICE. THE MAFIA. THEY'RE ALL GOOD PEOPLE. I AM LOSING MY MIND. I can't take it anymore. I just want people with actual flaws. I just want people who aren't just good but are actual people, with all that it implies of shitty behaviour and stupid decisions and hurting each other over dumb stuff. Or even less dumb stuff. Just anything but all this fucking sugar-coating over funny colorful little characters who you want people to give you money for.

You're gonna tell me "Castor, this is a gacha game, this is literally the poin-" I KNOW. I KNOW. I'M MAD AT MYSELF FOR ACTUALLY EXPECTING MORE. STILL, I AM ALLOWED TO BE MAD AT IT.

Anyways let's move on before I just throw myself out of the window, shall we.

3) A good story.

See, what Genshin impact is very good at is throwing multiple concept together and linking them in fun, intuitive ways, to make them all new and shiny. What if our game had an elemental system but also the elements are actually integrated into the character's personality, and also they're an integral part of our story? What if we made a region for the vegetal element, and there's actually a jungle there and the jungle symbolizes the interconnectedness of this weird fantasy-internet system the scholars use, and in fact this big connected fantasy-web is itself a literal metaphor for the wisdom of a people, and also the vegetal-element is using very technological and futuristic visuals now because all of this now makes sense in your player's mind and you are ready to just accept it as a normal thing even though we weaved this entirely new ensemble of concepts together in the span of just a few quests.

And that's great, honestly, I think that's really one of the biggest strengths of this game, it actually is very creative with the concepts it puts out in the world.

This game has very good concepts.

The problem is. The good concepts are rarely followed by a good execution.

Take the story of Inazuma. The premise is this: the electro god wants a land where things never change because she's afraid of losing people close to her. Her solution for this is to take away people's visions, which are the embodiment of the ambitions of people. She is effectively breaking the spirit of her people by force to make sure they never want to rise up and change things. This is incredibly good. This is a strong metaphor that exemplifies terrible rulership. There's so much substance in there, so much to be done with this idea, so much that could be said by a good execution.

What do we get instead? A nice start where you're shown a very, very closed off and unwelcoming land (including being unwelcoming through the sheer brutality of its landscape and weather, which was incredibly cool!!), the dire consequences of a person losing their vision, some little pockets of resistance that are planning an uprising... And then it all falls apart because the way you solve the crisis is by following the shady advice and plan of the shogun's best friend, who basically just send you off to fight her and then intervenes to talk to her, deus ex machina style, and it turns out the ruler was actually a shut-in who let a puppet with a very flawed algorithm walk around and make decisions in her place (which, in itself, is also a really good and interesting concept, but it's just thrown out there out of the blue and then never really exploited?). She simply gets out of her magical room and reverts her decision and then keeps on being the ruler of Inazuma and no one is mad at her.

And a lot of this failure hangs on the fact that the writers aren't allowed to make characters who are actually bad because hoyoverse wants to make sure people like their characters and want to pull for them. I don't want to badmouth the writers, I'm sure they're perfectly capable of making great stories and most of why it doesn't work is because they're being forced down a road where everything is shallow and shiny and beautiful so the game can make the money it wants.

In fact we KNOW they can write good stories because they've done it!! With the Sabzeruz Festival storyline in Sumeru! Imagine walking into a brand new region, marveling at the landscape, laughing a bit at how they've got internet here, and then being thrown into a literal nightmare with basically no warning, for the first time of the game cut off from the exterior world for 3 hours of absolute madness, spiraling out of control and not understanding SHIT. Only that's it's going DOWN. The Sabzeruz festival was an absolute banger of a questline and I'm still thinking about it now, months later. It was the bst the game ever had to offer and I will forever be chasing after this high in genshin impact. It was psychological horror mixed with a mystery genre glued on top of a time loop trope. It was a commentary on how putting "hard" science on a pedestal and deeming the arts and social sciences to be a waste of time and resources leads to unethical practices by callous scientists. It was a whole journey and I simply felt dizzy when the quest ended, almost as suddenly as it had started.

The rest of the story of Sumeru kinda fell flat, after that. Even though it was, honestly, pretty good.

My point is. Fontaine feels like Inazuma right now. In fact, I would say it might feel... worse than Inazuma. It has a great basis with some really cool concepts to be used. But it doesn't even start out that strong. I'm, of course, going to wait and see before I make any judgement about the story of Fontaine, as it is far from over.

What I can say for sure is that I am... disappointed by how it's coming along so far. I really hope it gets better.

#castorambles #genshin impact #genshin impact 4.1 #genshin impact spoilers #phew this was longer than expected #i just had so many thoughts #i still do #i didn't proofread any of that so i hope it makes sense #long post

[gachagen]

What occupations do the Fontaine character's have?

THE OVERTURE TEASER DROPPED and I have a lot of thoughts on it, but mostly the thing I have been thinking about are the various jobs and occupations that the characters will have. In Genshin, it's very standard for characters to have their design be themed around their job. Gorou is dressed like a general, Itto has themes of Kabuki theatre in his outfit and often likes to go and perform in the shows, Hutao is dressed like an old funeral director etc.

And I noticed the Fontaine characters all have a theme of red and blue in them with the exception of a few characters. I also noticed that their outfits are noticeably not quite as "costume" like as the other nations, where you can't immediately tell what job they are supposed to have.

Let's start with Fremenet, this blond kid in the water at the beginning of the teaser:

My theory is that based off of the holographic glow to his suit and how sleek it is, that he is some kind of deep sea diver. His outfit is very reminiscent of a diver's outfit minus the whole swim gear that lets you breath. Fontaine is said to have technology that's way more advanced than the other nations so this could be why he doesn't have any kind of helmet.

He also mumbles about "his mission" and that makes me wonder if he is a diver sent on a mission to do something deep underwater.

These two we already knew were performers of some kind, but there's obviously something more going on here with them than meets the eye. The trailer constantly repeats this as well, since it's mostly being narrated Lyney himself. I think they have a much more important role in Fontaine. My theory was always that Fontaine was a nation that has to keep most of what it does under wraps because it's the closest to Celestia. Like Fontaine is LITERALLY underneath Celestia. So perhaps these two are responsible for making sure people don't question things or they don't dig too deeply into learning certain things.

Fontaine seems to be the most politically driven nation so I suspect their job will be to not only entertain people, but to distract the public from the truth around them.

Now she's kind of a mystery and I had no idea what she was even really up to most of the trailer. But I think that's the point because she's always doing something that's kind of strange, and she's always in a place she probably shouldn't be in.

Like here she is on top of a building for some reason and then later on we see she's also in another place she shouldn't be. The character has a theme of being in places she's not allowed to be in, and I think this is on purpose because I believe her "job" will be as either some kind of model/influencer. Another reason i believe she might be some kind of Model/Influencer is because she's paired up with Charlotte the reporter we met in the last patch.

It's almost like they're partnered together, and it would make sense for someone who's whole job is to have pictures taken of them, to be with someone who takes lots of photos.

These two seemed really cool, but one thing I didn't notice on first watch of the trailer was that the red and black guy is BLIND. I thought he was just reaching over by mistake, but looking at his eyes and how he kinda felt the top of the first glass, it's clear that he is hard of vision/totally blind. My guess for them is that they're involved with the more official parts of Fontaine, possible law enforcement or whatever (he seems super edgy lol) and the little girl is like idk...his assistant I guess.

I think these two are obviously like idk the guards of the city, she seems like a police officer and even has a gun at the end.

Now I already know what some of their official jobs are because of leaks but I won't repeat them here. These are my guesses for what they're going to do as their occupation in the game.

#genshin impact #fontaine teaser #genshin impact 4.0 #fontaine theories

[cocoa-nuts]

Fontaine dealing with primordial dragons and such have made me hyperfixate on enkanomiya lore again, which in turn has resulting in me gaining an extremely delusional hyperfixation on Fontaines lore. So please take this with like, not just a grain but a pile of salt. ALSO, Spoilers for the 4.1 trailer, areas relating to the fontaine world quest and very light blink and you miss it Enkanomiya lore and Lyneys Story Quest (nothing specific just refering to an aspect of it).

But anyways, I know that it is very obvious that Neuvillette is assumed/implied to be the Hydro dragon (which could explain Kokomis bizarre absence from enkanomiya related content + the more obvious hydro dragon will be reborn in the form of a human Enkanomiya lore) but there's also a very strong possibility he is an oceanid, potentially even the first oceanid.

Even beyond his animations looking very similar to oceanids, in the Institute of National Philosophy there are notes on Ocenids (titled Ancient Natural History Excepts) that "Some say that Egeria felt great sympathy for dragons" which is one potential reason for her first tear (which became the first oceanid). Considering how the trailer refers to Neuvillette as the "spokesperson for Fontaines past," that feels more like being the first oceanid (especially considering the first oceanids purpose was to comprehend all forms of life).

Again, Fontaine triggers my delusional theorizing, but considering how fontaine seems to be going deeper into characters lore and even making inconsistencies relevant in Lyneys quest, as well as purposefully having trailers imply different events than what actually happens in the quests. I feel like there is some potential here for a rug pull.

#genshin impact #genshin theory #Neuvillette #neuvillette genshin #genshin spoilers #genshin impact spoilers #Please dont take me too seriously #Fontaine is just activating my enkanomiya delusions #which should not have surprised me as Ive had crack theories for Fontaine even before Inazuma #(Im still holding out for monas teacher is the hydro archon)

[kyogre-blue]

Why do you want to stop playing Genshin, if you don't mind me asking?

This is a really good question, and I was going to whine about it in detail closer to the end of 3.8, haha

I guess the simplest way to put it is that I'm not looking forward to a single aspect of Fontaine.

I don't like underwater exploration as a whole, and I definitely didn't like how they handled Sorush's three axis movement, so the thought of Fontaine's underwater portions only fills with me with dread and annoyance.

I don't like the sound of the Ousia/Pneuma mechanics that will be the new twist to combat and probably exploration. I didn't like Sumeru having so many forced and restrictive exploration mechanics, I think only maybe one third of Dendro was done well, and I am the opposite of excited that the new O/P thing is going to be directly baked into new character kits. I expect you're going to be forced to use Hydro Traveler and Lynette (who will be given out for free), which is something I sure did not enjoy in regard to Sumeru's extensive elemental restrictions for its exploration.

And, in general, Sumeru was pretty, sure. It was even sometimes fun to explore. But more than anything, it got tedious. It was too big, too repetitive, and too lacking in... just something memorable, I suppose. I don't really care to experience the same in another nation that looks also quite generic.

I certainly am not excited for the storyline. I know people say Sumeru was a huge improvement over Inazuma, but I don't agree. Inazuma at least had an interesting concept. Sumeru is just a bloated, tedious slog with no actual improvement in anything I value in a story: characterization, relationships, plot and setting, etc. I am somewhat open to doing Inazuma acts 2 and 3 on my alt, just to see how I feel about them after so long, but I am certainly not doing Sumeru again. It was awful and about three times longer than it had any right to be.

Nothing about Fontaine looks like it'll be improved, especially not after that trailer that was full of fake-deep nonsense.

And above all else, I keep thinking about the damn multilevel map.

They're gonna roll out an in-game multilevel map a year after launching Sumeru, the nation of endless multilevel caves. Why did I bother doing Sumeru when it came out? If I had waited a year, it would have been so much easier and less frustrating.

And then I think, if I wait a few more years, maybe we'll finally get that scene skip button. So why bother doing Fontaine now? Doesn't it make more sense to wait? And if I'm fine putting it off for years, then do I really care enough to do it at all?

Anyway, I've finished all I care to do on my main account. I've obtained all Mondstadt characters, I've max ascended every character, levelled their talents, geared them up. I have 100% exploration on all maps, I have all achievements except the RNG commission ones (and Kaveh hangout ones), I have all quests complete, I have teapot completely built, card game handbook finished, etc. It's all done.

And if I don't really want anything of the incoming content, then... well, I'm done.

#playing genshin

[reginrokkr]

Itty bitty rant under cut about the last AQ + mentions of Furina's miscellany under cut to prevent your eyes from spoilers!

✦ It isn't anything new to keep seeing details about what Dain says, but during my gameplay of the AQ I felt the chills of how foreboding he can be the most (even more so than in Yelan's miscellany, where the mfer was literally foreboding what was bound to happen in the Interlude AQ with all the mess within the bed of the Chasm). For reference, I'll quote verbatim something he says in the Fontaine section of the Travail trailer:

The God of Justice lives for the spectacle of the courtroom, seeking to judge all other gods. But even she knows not to make an enemy of the divine.

At a simple glance, this could be simply interpreted as Dain knowing about her persona thriving for the dramatics as part of what people expect of a god as well as one of the final quotes she says at the end of her introduction as the following Hydro Archon in Fontaine (this too makes me rise a brow like hello, you were alive 500 years ago too sir and pretty lost looking for your destiny, so how in the world). It's the second part of his quote in the trailer that gave me chills the most, and it's because considering how impenetrable Furina's resolve is to go on with her role to cover Focalors's plan to deceive the Heavenly Principles, just how intimate that moment inside the mysterious box of a house in Poisson with the Traveler was, that he would quote verbatim not to make an enemy of the divine. I already thought that the fact that he knows about what Morax did considering that he's keeping the secret under wraps for nearly everyone except for those he wants was big enough, but seeing this playing out in the AQ with Furina as well left a huge impression in me.

✧ Related to the previous point, this time about Furina's miscellany. Since I watched it before playing the AQ, what he had to say felt kind of underwhelming to me considering the ticking lore bomb he is no matter if in miscellanies or the quests he participates. But man, once again, him and his freakin' foreboding words had me rolling on the floor. Specially what concerns that moment in the mirror and also the special attention he paid about talking about how actors operate and not only describing what she's been doing, but also foreboding that she wouldn't just see "herself" in the mirror and that he was wondering what (cryptid mfer :|).

✦ In a more serious tone, I have to revisit all the screens I did of the conversation with Nicole and Mona. Specially the latter with the Visionary talk. Even though Skirk mentioned someone else by a different name (unless Dain is known by that name also, which I highly doubt unless we see more people knowing him and remembering him other than the first Pari), I think that the Travail trailer in itself could check the boxes as Dain being one and no different than a prophet even though most likely than not he doesn't consider him so. It's also pretty intriguing to me that not only he was once lost in terms of his own destiny and he can foresee things to happen in the future (referencing Travail again, that would make it close to four years since Traveler's journey started, potentially more as things continue to follow the course of what he said there + his foreboding speeches in various miscellanies), but the fact that he's seeking to reject this world (probably the order of the Seven) with a "power from beyond" and also the fact that he seems to be tied as a guardian to one final door to re-weave all threads of fate. Considering how cruel fate can be, specially after playing this AQ and seeing things like "what Celestia wants, Celestia gets", I think these points are huge for him and I seriously can't wait to see more.

✧ Following the mention of the previous point, the allusion to a "power from beyond" Skirk made as that upping the likelihood of defeating Narwhal (despite how strong Neuvillette is, let's not forget that he's a being of the Light Realm and dragons, as well as everyone else too, are highly vulnerable to the defilement / abyssal energy / Forbidden Knowledge so I think that there is a special merit to him too if he were to fight the Narwhal on his own and not with the Traveler + there is also the fact that Childe has been fighting it before) and that this would deserve a token of recognition from her. Granted that Dain is a user of this power, it's interesting to see that someone like her in terms of strength and even knowledge would see him as an equal.

I probably have more to say but this is what came to me the earliest to talk about that is more related to Dain one way or another. I'll make more posts in the future as it goes.

#◟༺✦༻◞ what lays behind the mantle of faux stars ┊ooc.┊ #don't mind my rambles #I'm losing it gently right now #I wish I could play more #but I need to get some rest #and prepare to revise tomorrow's exam #after going for a birthday dinner #it's been months since the last time I went to eat ramen #at a restaurant so it's going to be great uwu

[goodjohnjr]

Solo Leveling & France

File:Photographers @ Fontaine Saint-Michel @ Paris (34260447813).jpg Dream 1 This dream was inspired by me watching six episodes of the Japanese anime TV show Solo Leveling (Season 1) before I went to sleep. Solo Leveling | DUB TRAILER This dream took place in a Solo Leveling-like dream world. Except, my workplace set the level ups / leveling for everyone (all employees) as a group. So…

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#Anime #Cinema #City #Dreaming #Family #France #French #Job #Leveling Up #Library #Movie Theater #Solo Leveling #Walking #Work

[gecemi09]

You know what sucked? How freminet was drowning in the animated trailer and then. Nothing happened except the end of the most boeing arc ever the prison arc and it was OFF SCREEN?? LIKE???

i THINK we played as Freminet for a hot second but it was literally so forgettable bc i dont even remember it. Like I was expecting a BIG DEAL about him drowning bc it was in the FONTAINE TEASER. Not version trailer literally the fontaine teaser. There could have been a cutscene at least??? But nope. Nothing.

Tbh acts 3-4 in general were pretty lacking imo. The only highlight was the climax of act 4.

#fontaine #fontaine archon quest #genshin #genshin impact #fontaine acts 3-4 my beloathed #the first two acts and the finale were so good idk what happened in the middle 😔

[lucifersglasses]

Obey Me Genshin Impact AU

Warnings: Some spelling errors

There all from Snezhnaya, but they all went on there own adventures and settled down at one spot or Arcon I should say.

They also all love each other but at the same time they hate each other in this AU :(

Lucifer

-Cryo (Second element would probably be Pyro. Don’t come at me for La Signora, I just can’t think of another vision he would have other than those two

-Sword/ Catalyst

-In the Snezhnaya Arcon

-Apart of the Fatui (A harbinger)

-His brothers never see him much..

-People fear or get nervous if his name is ever mentioned, because he loves to torture or play with his victims.. he doesn’t kill them right off the bat because of his pride

-This man is so serious and cold in this au.. I can imagine it so clearly y’all..

-For some reason though, if he were to be friends with anyone I can see him having Zhongli as a friend of some sort or Ninnguang (If he wasn’t in the Fatui)

-Also ever since he met you.. he found you annoying as hell since you were such a distraction~

__

Mammon

-Geo

-Spear or Claymore

-In the Mondstadt Arcon

-Traveler and Explorer

-Battles monsters or people a lot to steal there treasure/ mora .-.

-He works with Treasure Horters sometimes.. but often they fight over the treasure -_-

-Isn’t a fan of the Abyus Order

-Couldn’t stop thinking about you after he met you, so he tries to make all the time and effort he can to see you or explore with you ;w;

-Honestly I can see you guys traveling all of Tevyat together, since this man is such a simp and won’t leave ur side and yea

-Scared of the Fatui *harbingers*

__

Levi

-Hydro

-Bow/ Sword

-In the Inazuma Arcon

-Likes to explore usually, and is also a samurai like Kazuha. I actually see them being friends

-And ever since you came to Inazuma, he was happier because you are one of his only friends (Awwww :( )

-Also scared of the Fatui -0-

__

Satan

-Anemo or Dendro

-Sword or Catalyst

-In the Sumeru Arcon

-Almost as wise as the God of wisdom 0_0

-He’s met all of the Arcons except the Cryo Arcon

-Loves reading books and gazing at the horizon

-Rescue a cat or help it, he will be on your side forever

-Has his own reading spot and only told you about it since he trusts you and finds you interesting

-Despises the Fatui because of Lucifer ofc -_-

__

Asmo

-Anemo

-Catalyst/ Bow

-In the Fontaine Arcon

-Known very well and very popular with fame in Fontaine

-Since there is a stage in the Tevyat trailer, I think in this au he would be a model or actor

-Gets scared of any monster tbh.. either that or he thinks there cute, like the slimes

-Thinks the Fatui look hot (He thinks everything looks hot .-.) but they hate him so I mean.. O_o”

__

Beel

-Pyro

-Claymore

-In the Liyue Arcon

-Loves eating at Xanglings Restaurant with Belphie (Him and Xangling would be such great friends)

-Apart of the Liyue Qixing

-Sad that Lucifer is in the Fatui :( (He just wants his family together ;-;)

__

Belphie

-Electro

-Catalyst

-In the Liyue Arcon

-Spends his time sleeping usually, but always makes time for Beel :,)

-Also apart of the Liyue Qixing because he wants to be with Beel and because he hates the Fatui cuz of Lucifer :/

-I can just imagine you and the twins just huddled together somewhere sleeping ;w;

#obey me #anime #obey me comfort headcanon #genshin impact #obey me au #x reader #genshin impact au #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #genshin impact kazuha #genshin impact xiangling #gaming #obey me headcanons #otome game #genshin impact zhongli #genshin impact ningguang

[wanderingtycho]

Samurai Jack episode XCII

Alright, I just finished watching the highly anticipated return of Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack", and as a lifelong fan of the original run I couldn't have been more thrilled for my favorite show to get its highly deserved continuation. Not a reboot, not a remake, not fan canon, the original team and cast(aside from the ineffable Mako as Aku, may he rest easy)all getting back together to see their vision to its long awaited conclusion. So, with all that said, what did I think of episode XCII?

I thought it was awesome.

That said, there are a few things that temper my excitement.

First we'll go over the great things about this entry into the new season, and rest assured there are lots of things to love both for newcomers and diehards like myself. The show is as beautiful as ever, even with a transition from entirely hand drawn to use of digital imagery, you wouldn't mistake the visuals for anything else. It looks and feels just like Samurai Jack, with more obvious polish and attention to the fluidity of movement, but the spirit of the animation is alive and well.

Next, the sound design, pitch perfect and just familiar enough to give tingles of nostalgia. Particularly the sound of crunching metal as Jack carves his way through the beetle robots, cant get more classic than that. Furthermore, the musical soundtracks are refreshingly updated while still keeping faithful themes from the original, each one appropriately crafted for the scene its used in.

Phil LaMarr reprises his role as the titular Samurai Jack, naturally, and he doesn't miss a single step. He does quite a good job of making Jack sound like little has changed over the course of fifty years, yet everything has changed, there's an edge of exhaustion and desperation to his cadence. Also, just as an aside before continuing, they got Greg Baldwin to be the new voice of Aku. GREG BALDWIN. The voice of Frank Fontaine from the first Bioshock game! Even though he only had one and a half lines in this first episode, I have upmost confidence that he'll make a fine replacement.

Perhaps most importantly, the two key elements of what made Samurai Jack so unique and beloved are present and accounted for, moments of silence and great action sequences. Very little exposition is used in this episode, which I think is both a wise move and possibly idiosyncratic, which I'll address later on. There isn't even a post roll opening, it just hard starts with Samurai Jack saving some helpless villagers from killer robots, then riding away on his motorcycle. Then Jack gives us a little set up, all of which we already heard from the trailers, essentially telling the audience Jack has been trapped in the future for fifty years yet isn't getting any older.

Now, as much as this episode may look and sound like old school Jack, there are some important changes I feel should be addressed. Firstly, despite the lack of exposition, this episode doesn't feel like a stand alone story. One of the hallmarks of Samurai Jack was that each and every episode felt like a complete narrative, even episodes that had a direct continuation, this means it's feasibly possible to watch the entire show out of order and not be totally lost or feel like you're missing out on something. In XCII, it's very clear they're designing the story to flow in a more traditional progression, the rising action and ending to this episode is basically set up for episode XCIII when its released. There isn't anything inherently wrong with this per say, as it allows the creators to instill a gradual build up of tension and anticipation for each new installment, all the way up to the finale. However, the fact remains that this style of storytelling isn't what Samurai Jack was known for, renowned for. Every episode of the original run was self contained, they could be thought of as a series of vignettes that loosely tied together, it was more of an odyssey than anything else. For this new season I feel like they're moving away from that in order to create a more congruent and complete story, which I am not against by any means, but I must point out that if so these last ten episodes will stand in stark contrast to the rest of the series when it comes to narrative pacing.

Secondly, in keeping with the theme of changing style, the focus in this episode is not at all like the older seasons. In Samurai Jack, the attention was almost exclusively on Jack, with a few notable rare exceptions when Jack wasn't the main character of the episode. These instances were few and far between however, and the point I'm trying to make is that regardless of who the episode is about, the story was told from a point of view exclusive to them. The focus didn't cut away to another group of characters doing something else somewhere else, each episode had a protagonist and stuck with them, with only occasional quick shots of antagonistic forces in between scenes. In XCII we have two points of attention, Samurai Jack roaming the countryside, and the Daughters of Aku undergoing their training. The focus is divided pretty much evenly between them, we see these young girls  literally from birth up through their adolescence and grueling combat conditioning, serving as contrast to Jack's harrowing guilt induced hallucinations. Again, this structure is closer to traditional narrative storytelling, but it's apart from the style of how Samurai Jack was done. To reiterate, this method of structuring the new episodes isn't inferior to the older series, but not having exclusive focus on one protagonist will lessen the sense of immersion Samurai Jack was praised for achieving.

In conclusion, based on this first episode I think the new season is going to have great strengths to it, classic elements and newer concepts are combined to create a nostalgically thrilling experience. Jack is weathered, tormented and broken by decades of ceaseless fighting and failures, yet still just as capable and tenacious as he always was. The world is still vibrant and bleakly gorgeous, filled with striking and colorful characters encountered by our hero, I especially enjoyed the comedic musical bounty hunter Jack fights using a range of techniques. As excited as I am personally for the new season and hype matched if not exceeded by my fellow Samurai Jack fans, I feel its important to recognize that this isn't the same as the Jack we all remember, things have changed and we aren't getting an exact recreation of the original series. This isn't to say that the new season is doomed and just because it's different it can't be good, at the end of the day its still Samurai Jack, despite anything that may have changed we can all take faith in one simple fact:

Jack is back.

If you're a Samurai Jack fan yourself, lemme know what you thought of the new episode, I'd love to hear other peoples takes and predictions for how the new season is going to go. Thanks for reading. :)

-Tycho

#samurai jack #episode xcii #new season #jack is back

[jasonjnielsen]

2016 End of Year Movie Review

A note regarding this review of 2016 I have not seen the following movies: 20th Century Women Elle Florence Foster Jenkins Into the Forest Kubo and the Two Strings Loving Miss Sloan Sing Street Swiss Army Man

2016 was an interesting year of ups and downs. The number of really bad movies seems down from previous years, but so does the number of really good movies.

Looking at the downside first, look no further than the typical powerhouse players, George Clooney and Ben Affleck. Both had a disappointing year, despite movies that looked promising. Clooney’s movies had the right players, but they fell short of expectations. The Coen Brothers comedy Hail, Caesar! had funny moments but it also had too many inside jokes to get over, and despite the great chemistry of Clooney and Julia Roberts, Money Monster felt too preachy instead of focusing on being a good suspense thriller. As for Affleck, his role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be remembered as the fourth(?) best Batman. The Accountant will probably not be remembered at all, as it is even more generic action than Jack Reacher. And let’s hope for Affleck’s sake, everyone forgets Live By Night. I was wondering why the trailers said “from the director of The Town”; after watching the movie, I understood. As bad as Clooney and Affleck’s movies were, they looked like Casablanca compared to the shit-fest that was Passengers. Seriously, fuck that movie.

As for the good, Felicity Jones. This was an awesome year for her. She played the awesome, bad ass lead of the new Star Wars supplementary film. She was also Mum in the beautiful, tear jerker, A Monster Calls. She showed massive range this year by going full-blown warrior to loving (yet also dying) single mother. I’m glad she’s getting to show off how good she really is. This year was also a great year for diversity. Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Moonlight all showed the struggles of lives of non-straight-white-male people. As a mathematician, I especially love Hidden Figures because it is an inspiration to everyone who wants to go into a STEM field. I wish more movies would be made to showcase people of all races and genders in STEM fields because we truly do need the best of everyone to make this world great. Movies like Hidden Figures show how important our work truly is. For those who don’t like diversity, don’t worry, we also got the wonderful La La Land for us white, white people, which has, without a doubt, the best opening sequence of all time. Also, for the most part, horror movies really stepped it up this year. With the exception of Blair Witch, horror showed how good it could be in The Neon Demon, Don’t Breathe, Nocturnal Animals, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Conjuring 2, and Green Room. Finally, I want to shout out to Denis Villeneuve, director of Arrival. He paired with Jóhann Jóhannsson to do the score for his best picture nominated film and struck gold again (they worked together in 2015′s intense thriller, Sicario).

Now, here is my list of best and worst of 2016.

WORST OF 2016 1. Blair Witch 2. The Choice 3. Passengers 4. Live By Night

Passengers looked like it should have been the best movie of all time. Two of my favorite actors, both of whom have amazing charisma and on-screen presence, Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, end up having no chemistry together. Combine that with an awful story and Passengers is one of the biggest film disappointments in history. Seriously, how hard was it to make The Shining plus Sunshine? Martin Sheen tried his best to give me the twisted movie I so wanted. Instead, the movie ended up being a snore-fest with questionable moral values.

DISHONORARY MENTION: Dirty Grandpa, The Girl on the Train, Independence Day: Resurgence, Money Monster, Morgan, and Nerve

**MY AWARDS**

Well… It’s a Movie… (The Movies I Expected to Be Terrible but Surprisingly Were Not) 10 Cloverfield Lane Don’t Breathe The Neon Demon

At Least It’s Better Than a Poke in the Eye With a Dull Stick… Maybe (The Movies with High Expectations that Fall Well Short) The Accountant Collateral Beauty Finding Dory The Girl on the Train Hail, Caesar! Live By Night Money Monster Morgan Passengers Sully

Best Original Score Mica Levi (Jackie) Jóhann Jóhannsson (Arrival) Nicholas Britell (Moonlight) Cliff Martinez (The Neon Demon) Dustin O'Halloran & Hauschka (Lion)

Best Original Song “How Far I’ll Go” -Lin-Manuel Miranda (Moana) “City of Stars” -Justin Hurwitz (La La Land) “Try Everything” -Shakira (Zootopia) “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” -Justin Hurwitz (La La Land) 

Best Cinematography James Laxton (Moonlight) Linus Sandgren (La La Land) Seamus McGarvey (Nocturnal Animals) Natasha Braier (The Neon Demon) Stéphane Fontaine (Jackie) Jody Lee Lipes (Manchester by the Sea) Greig Fraser (Lion)

Best Directing Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls) Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals) Tim Miller (Deadpool) Nicolas Winding Refn (The Neon Demon)

Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) Viola Davis (Fences) Naomie Harris (Moonlight) Felicity Jones (A Monster Calls) Tilda Swinton (Hail, Caesar!) Nicole Kidman (Lion) Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) Dev Patel (Lion) Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) Zachary Quinto (Snowden) Jovan Adepo (Fences) Kevin Costner (Hidden Figures) Aaron Paul (Eye in the Sky) Jeremy Renner (Arrival) Aaron Eckhart (Sully) Martin Sheen (Passengers)

Best Lead Actress Natalie Portman (Jackie) Emma Stone (La La Land) Amy Adams (Arrival) Felicity Jones (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) Hailee Steinfeld (Edge of Seventeen) Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures)

Best Lead Actor Ryan Gosling (La La Land) Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) Denzel Washington (Fences) Chris Pine (Hell or High Water) Lewis MacDougall (A Monster Calls) Brad Pitt (Allied)

Best Ensemble Cast Hidden Figures A Monster Calls La La Land Hell or High Water Captain America: Civil War

Top 10 of 2016 0. Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens * 1. A Monster Calls 2. Manchester by the Sea 3. Moana 4. Moonlight 5. The Neon Demon 6. Zootopia 7. La La Land 8. Hidden Figures 9. Lion 10. Arrival

Additional Great Movies of 2016 11. Deadpool 12. Don’t Breathe 13. Jackie 14. Hell or High Water 15. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 16. Nocturnal Animals 17. Fences 18. Kung Fu Panda 3 19. Captain America: Civil War 20. Edge of Seventeen 21. Allied 22. Dr. Strange 23. Eye in the Sky 24. Pee Wee’s Big Holiday

Overall ratings: 10/10 Manchester by the Sea Moana A Monster Calls Moonlight The Neon Demon Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens 9/10 Arrival Deadpool Don't Breathe Hidden Figures La La Land Lion Zootopia 8/10 Allied Captain America: Civil War Doctor Strange Edge of Seventeen Eye in the Sky Fences Hell or High Water Jackie Kung Fu Panda 3 Nocturnal Animals Pee Wee's Big Holiday Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 7/10 10 Cloverfield Lane Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Central Intelligence The Conjuring 2 Green Room Hacksaw Ridge Jack Reacher: Never Go Back The Jungle Book The Magnificent Seven Office Christmas Party Snowden Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows The Witch X-Men: Apocalypse 6/10 The Accountant Bad Moms Bad Santa 2 Collateral Beauty Finding Dory Ghostbusters Hail, Caesar! Lights Out The Lobster Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising The Secret Life of Pets Sing Suicide Squad Sully 5/10 Dirty Grandpa The Girl on the Train Independence Day: Resurgence Money Monster Morgan Nerve 4/10 Live By Night Passengers 3/10 Blair Witch The Choice

That’s it for this year!

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*Like Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One, this is the best goddamn movie of all time.

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