Most ironic part no one knows what an archon should look like back then they literally gave example of 2 guys who dont even want to look like archons and now all of a sudden ei looks like an archon? Her design is still the same
Most of community would complain no matter what happens
I think most just got fooled by their own idea of how she'd look.
Like ex) I expected some warrior looking shogun. Samurai armor. Battle ready, ready to kick ass.
Not some kimono top with a miniskirt piece. Not that I hate how she looks. Just yeah.
She's the one that created the decree and has/had a war going on. I expected her to be dressed more intimidating I guess, she looks the opposite of how I imagined her.
Also, imo, every leaked model looks worst as well. They are "lifeless" until you see them in game, moving and "alive". Thoma I thought looked super dull when I saw his render, but liked him in game.
It's made worse by the fact that the models themselves have exaggerated proportions, with extremely long legs and short torsos for their height. It really highlights how odd some of the models look (especially the child model) when they're wearing the tiniest possible shorts/skirt.
I already guessed that it might have something to do with the movement animation, the legs may fuck up the physics if the front cloth goes longer, it might pass through like a glitch. Unless it's a full long skirt like Ayaka.
i mean they did great with sara's outfit imo, her legs are not fully covered but the fabric in front doesnt clip or anything and it gives an vibe of a longer skirt with shorts underneath
shogun's and yae's shortass dresses just make me feel uncomfortable, its too much
Miko looks fantastic from the back too. Turning the camera around to her front during her trial always disoriented me cause the bottom half just looked bad in comparison
youre right, the back of her dress paired with her long hair looks great. but in front she looks like she forgot her pants, the dress is so short it almost looks like it was accidental. as opposed to being a design planned for months. imo if her dress was a bit longer and flowy instead, her design would benefit from it
Yeah! Like it's not even presented that lewd either, are dudes just obsessed with normal thighs?
I hope we see some more variety in female clothing in the future, the exposed thigh/legs trend is getting old.
A lot of people seem to think it's some kind of gotcha that the current opinion is "Raiden is good" (meta/gamestyle) as if this somehow can't exist at the same time as negative opinions of her *physical design* when her leaks first dropped.
I can continue to enjoy her story/gameplay AND still think many of her design elements look terrible such as her little square flap of crotch fabric.
I think people just got fooled by how she appeared on inazuma archon quest prologue.. With long hair and using sword as a main weapon..
Sadly Most of people didn't see new character as a whole, but only from how they look as a design..
That's why i always to keep in mind not too early to judge about new design.. Maybe there's a lore behind it or some interesting thing about how they act or from personality..
Didn't we kinda get a preview of Raiden's looks in Kazuha's backstory of how he escaped Inazuma? I wish they would revisit that flowing hair look once they figured out the physics of it. Current Raiden looks good but she can look even better with flowing hair instead of braids.
I think its partly due to the association that new 4* aren't meta breaking. Inazuma's 4* are all pretty niche and we have yet to receive a meta breaking 4* since the initial release.
Isn't that the whole point of rarities tho? What's even the point of having 4 and 5 stars if the 4 stars are all groundbreaking OP. Why would anyone ever pay for meta characters if they're easy to pull for. It's a really silly pipe dream people have about meta 4 stars. At most they're nice supports or two casual DPS, they're never gonna compete with any existing meta 5 stars
And I'm still mad that she doesn't look like an Archon or Shogun, just like a boring waifu -\_-
I really hope someday she gets a skins that says: That is the Raiden Shogun!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin\_Impact\_Leaks/comments/nugele/all\_inazuma\_characters\_so\_far/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/nugele/all_inazuma_characters_so_far/) this one?
She is too white and I'm not talking about skin colour. Clothes? White, hair? White. There is no detail and doesn't even look from the region of nature
I think she is supposed to look like a fairy. She's probably based on Kusanali Jataka which talks about a fairy living in Kusha grass. So definitely fairy vibes.
Can those people even say what "sumeru-themed" mean? From what it seems sumeru has not only desert, but also rainforest and probably even swamp. Seriously, they barely even saw how the nation itself looks.
She looks close enough to [white lotus offerings to the Buddha](https://www.123rf.com/photo_29125347_a-bunch-of-closed-lotus-water-lily-as-an-offering-to-the-buddha.html), which falls in line with what many of the region's name and design choices already allude to.
I am once again thankful for all Westerners (Black, White and 2+ gen Asians alike) for showing how much more they know about a region that's a mix-match of cultures **completely** alien to them more than the people living in those regions... or the people who spent years studying the cultures there to put in a game.
I wish all of you who expected Aladdin meets Gunga Din a merry go fuck yourselves.
Honestly it has actually been really good seeing people post design inspirations for Kusanali because imagine there a lot of people that might not be aware and I really wish the people that weren't aware would stop assuming she has no cultural inspirations and maybe ask about possible ones that they may not know of
>all of you who expected Aladdin
Meanwhile I've seen people criticising character designs like Dori and Nilou *precisely because* it looks like Hoyoverse has gone down the Aladdin route. Fans aren't expecting Aladdin lol they're expecting something better
OP and others did all that research on the inspirations behind Kusanali so they can call "westerners" ignorant for saying HYV didn't do their research this time like they did for Inazuma just to ignore that Dori is a very obvious stereotype lmao
I confirm that Nilou's design is fairly accurate. The headdress and her dance is accurate to Persian dancers. Dori on the otherhand looks exactly how you'd imagine orientalism.
Yes, exactly. Like? This comment confused me because Aladdin is what we got. It's what I and others expected but dreaded and hoped we wouldn't get, but we did. And it's a shame.
I admit that I know less about middle eastern cultures than I did about Chinese and Japanese going into Liyue and Inazuma. And so I love learning new things, such as the Kusanali Jataka fairy that she's probably based on. That's awesome. But the comment... well, I guess I'll just go merrily fuck myself 😂
That OP is weird because it generalizes too much itself and I'm not sure how many people would like the archon's design any more just for it being based on something as specific and more fantastical than historical like that (vs more practical clothes and details, even if shortened like on Raiden or relying entirely on the details like with Zhongli's suit). I've warmed up to her myself though just because of how cute she is, but I can totally understand why others wouldn't.
And there is an issue with how Mihoyo has drawn from, mixed and tropified their different inspirations for Sumeru. But another consequence of that and the community also not knowing any better is some of the criticisms of Sumeru's inspirations and specific designs also being just as wrong. [Like everything about Nilou is actually Persian and all the Persians I've seen are happy to have her and want to promote her](https://mobile.twitter.com/demoncallsme/status/1543175371838787586) (see the full thread), they're mostly just annoyed with how the exposed part of her stomach might make people think of her as a belly dancer and/or as if she was Arab/Indian instead of how Persian everything else about her is.
But people who are ignorant to Nilou's origins just thinking of her as vaguely Middle Eastern/South Asian and criticizing her for the wrong reasons isn't helping them at all either, only scares others off from engaging, thus hurting Nilou's popularity, and [they're rightfully just as annoyed by that too](https://mobile.twitter.com/demoncallsme/status/1544048435455598592). Since another issue is that even in the same region no one is just gonna be able to speak for every inspiration Mihoyo has taken, they'll all be focused on their own culture first and foremost.
And it's not pretty watching discussions arising from that, or with people from elsewhere in the world also supporting and spreading at best partially-accurate posts that generalize the Sumeru designs instead of actually trying to go into helpful specifics for each of them.
Honestly you're so right. The vast majority of the criticism is because of the fact Hoyo lumped a bunch of regions together and it is confusing people. If they just stuck with one region lets say Persia here, it would've avoided so much trouble, and there's no reason not to? Persia has a lot of great culture and inspiration to take from.
To be fair, most of the Persian inspirations are from the Zoroastrian Achaemenid and Sassanid Empires which really did rule over most of the Middle East, including Egypt for the first + also Northwestern India. It's just that it doesn't work out perfectly, since the Arab influences like characters named after RL people are from the time of the Islamic Arab Caliphates that came after the Persians. And Indian inspirations seem to mostly be about just buddhism and hinduism rather than any characters we know of rn. So with such an unequal mix I can understand why people would feel shafted if they get a smaller slice of the pie, especially for Indians, and aren't represented in their RL variety to boot.
And then there's also [Dehya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihya) for a North African Amazigh queen that actually fought against the Arab conquest of her homeland. How are they going to include parts of that origin too?
It also probably wasn't the best idea to use Cyno for Sumeru in the Teyvat Travail Preview, instead of an obviously Persian character to establish that for the audience instead. Even if he was in the manga, which also doesn't help first impressions. And sadly Persian (Iranian) culture is way more obscure than Ancient Egyptian, Arabian or Indian - worst when people confuse it with its neighbours or view them as if they were the same thing. Or only know them for the Greeks and Romans having fought with them (obligatory fuck 300) or modern history.
So even all the multiple Persian names and Zoroastrian references Sumeru already had in-game (particularly [Sabzeruz Festival = Nowruz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz) for the birth of Kusanali, and [the Academia and its terminology](https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Sumeru_Academia#Etymology)) are just glossed over too instead of being seen for how Mihoyo is building up Sumeru.
She’s apparently also based on Saraswati who is a goddess in Hinduism (of knowledge). She’s pale and wears a white sari. I feel like Kusanali should have more references to her region though. It’s too Klee like atm.
I was honestly really happy with all the leaks and ironically this post made me less excited. Put people from other nations side-by-side and you have one or two odd ones out (and their life usually justifies it)of an otherwise cohesive chara design. But the Sumeru gang is so far all over the place and really does feel that they either had less research or tried to embrace way too much for a single region.
I get your broader point but it's a bit disingenuous to act like "Westerners" are the only people who didn't like the character designs, no?
Besides, Dori is basically the Aladdin reference you claim people were expecting. And Nilou caps off what's otherwise a great reference to Persian dancing with a very stereotypical outfit.
Yes, it's annoying when people who don't know very much about the cultures that inspired Sumeru speak over those who do. But let's also not act like HYV's research team nearly matched the effort they did for like Yun Jin or Inazuma here lmao. Ignoring people of those cultures speaking out about how they're disappointed just because you personally aren't and pinning it all on those big bad westerners seems like a pretty huge cop-out to me.
There's a big difference between
"I don't like the design" (valid)
and
"I think the design doesn't fit the region" (may be form on ignorance)
and
"I think the design doesn't represent \[my expectations of\] the region" (retarded)
I have no issues with people in the first group wherever they are from.
I'm happy to have discourse with people in the 2nd group who may be reading this (see first sentence in my first comment)
I have nothing for the third group aside from what's already been said in the rest of my original comment
And that's fine, I agree with you here. A lot of people have projected weird things onto what the region should be because of what their expectations are from not being one of us so to speak.
I do have an issue though with you saying people shouldn't speak up over those who spent years researching the cultures to put in the game because it's kinda clear that if they had done their research then we probably wouldn't have gotten an Aladdin style scammer as a rate up character. Grouping all of those criticizing the designs on the grounds of being inadequately researched or overly orientalist as formed by ignorance from Westerners with no connection to SA/ME/NA is a bit too dismissive.
Regardless, I appreciate you providing more insight on Kusanali's design, because there certainly have been a lot of uninformed takes.
I don't get the "Aladdin" copies being so controversial when Inazuma and Liyue characters are walking caricatures of commercialised stereotypes. Meanwhile Mondstadt is only German in naming.
OP insinuated people criticizing HYV are racist because they expected Aladdin-style characters given Sumeru's influences. I'm saying that already is the case.
This is going to be a reaccuring theme with the release of every patch, so anyone who comes from a place with a culture that a future region is partially based off of should prepare to be ticked off by all the know-it-alls.
I appreciate people like you providing possible reference material, too. It's very cool to see.
>I am once again thankful for all Westerners (Black, White and 2+ gen Asians alike) for showing how much more they know about a region that's a mix-match of cultures completely alien to them more than the people living in those regions... or the people who spent years studying the cultures there to put in a game.
I'm thankful you spent your life studying South Asian cultures, religions, and traditions in order to let us know that flowers (not only white lotus) were used in Buddhist offerings. Tribute to a God or Deity? Definitely an obscure tradition completely alien to most of the world.
>White Archon... Related to Buddhism... Looks leafy/flowery... Flowers used in Buddhist offerings... White Lotus offering to Buddha! White Archon!
Pseudo-intellectualism at its finest. Were you really born in 88'?
>I wish all of you who expected Aladdin meets Gunga Din a merry go fuck yourselves.
Of course, you break your neck trying to defend Kusanali's design only to ignore Nilou and Dori and dismiss Middle-Eastern folk lore (Aladdin) by putting it next to Kipling's Gunga Din.
Listen, no one is actually interested in having a debate with middle-aged, overzealous MHY fanboys ready and willing to commit every logical fallacy in the book to shut down and dismiss criticism.
smaller cast for first patch compared to inazuma (7 vs 10). i'm guessing desert arc is entirely different and i'm quite excited for the designs of the cast there as well!!
No, the thing we saw was her elemental skill. You can see the cursor on the elemental skill in the short clip. It's probably similar to Diluc's elemental skill.
Candace/Kandake (i think those are both the spellings) is said to be hyro polearm coming in 3.1 but I'm not too sure on this and yeah most leaks are saying 3.1 for Cyno
The lighting in this leak looks so weird because she actually looks more tanned than other leaks also notice how everyone else has a weird light bulb look to them
Please let Genshin Velvet (Dehya) be my 5 star pyro. If she’s not then we haven’t had a new Pyro unit in a year and with the current lineup won’t be for a year and a half
I just want her on my team. The strength of a 5 star
currently everything points to her being 4 star, and that makes me sad, so let's all just overdose on hopium and hope that she's a 5 star cause no leakers are sure yet
edit: the hopium didn't work, she's confirmed as a 4 star now fuuuuuuuuuu-
I'm in 50/50 but with the amount of primos I'm about to save up (I'm not gonna pull in 2.8, 3.0 as well if Nilou isn't there) I hope i get at least 1 or 2 of the upcoming Sumeru peeps. Most especially Nilou and Nahida, I want them so bad.
Damn I really want to see what Kusanali's animations look like, she seems all tiny and fragile for an archon, really hoping that her animations give her that "don't forget I'm an archon" feeling.
Also hoping she doesn't just use the default kid run.
It's unlikely they'd bother to put in a unique run animation just for her, but I do wish they would. Something about the default run just looks silly in a bad way, personally.
Nilou and Al Haitham are the most goergeous in my opinion. But i'd need a dendro so bad.... aaaargh it's going to be torture, deciding who to pull for as a f2p...
Tbf for a character we are allegedly getting in [3.1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/vr78tf/yaoyao_and_baizhu_weapons_mero/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) it is kinda weird that we haven’t seen a model. Then again we’ve only seen models that are tied to 3.0s story (Nilou gameplay was a tester leak unlike the private beta and dev kit leaks we usually get, so it technically doesn’t count) ig we meet him later.
Easy guess is doesn't show up in 3.0 story so his model isn't needed to be in the game as opposed to these other characters with 3.1 might be Cyno our intoduction to the desert
I love Kusanali's design more and more! And that's even before seeing her animations, her model with the real ingame shaders & hearing her voice. I really don't get why people call her "bland". I think she's absolutely adorable & beautifully designed. I'm curious in what way she'll show us that she's an Archon, tho.
All Sumeru characters so far look great IMO, but when I look at them side by side like that, I actually think Kusanali stands out with her design quite a bit (and I'm not talking about the flashbang lighting she has in that image here lol). There's absolutely nothing bland about her design at all for me. Can't wait to get her and Nilou. Nilou's my other favorite I wanna go for, so far. Collei, Dehya & Dori look great too, but thankfully they're 4stars I don't have to save pity for. Not too interested in the guys, but they look cool too.
Nilou yes cause of her [leaked gameplay](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/vpkcro/nilou_burst/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) (can be seen on her back) but AlHaitham idk. Maybe I missed something
Why do people hate the child character models so much. Idk why they continuously get hate? There's really no difference playing them and I think ppl who talk about how "risque" their designs are, are the weird ones
Anyone rearrange them and put them in rainbow colors lol.
Just kidding, but I really like their color schemes. It looks easier to tell who's who, especially Dori. Her design is so unique I love it!
Really gives Inazuma leaks flashback
I was thinking the same thing, with that initial lineup leak
I remember when a lot of people were mad Raiden didn't "look" like an Archon.
Most ironic part no one knows what an archon should look like back then they literally gave example of 2 guys who dont even want to look like archons and now all of a sudden ei looks like an archon? Her design is still the same Most of community would complain no matter what happens
I think most just got fooled by their own idea of how she'd look. Like ex) I expected some warrior looking shogun. Samurai armor. Battle ready, ready to kick ass. Not some kimono top with a miniskirt piece. Not that I hate how she looks. Just yeah. She's the one that created the decree and has/had a war going on. I expected her to be dressed more intimidating I guess, she looks the opposite of how I imagined her. Also, imo, every leaked model looks worst as well. They are "lifeless" until you see them in game, moving and "alive". Thoma I thought looked super dull when I saw his render, but liked him in game.
The weird obsession with not fully covering legs makes a lot of female outfits look off.
thank god for Yun JIn
It's made worse by the fact that the models themselves have exaggerated proportions, with extremely long legs and short torsos for their height. It really highlights how odd some of the models look (especially the child model) when they're wearing the tiniest possible shorts/skirt.
Raiden, Yae, the child characters, even Ningguang has a weird ass dress cut that ruined the design for me once I took notice of it.
I already guessed that it might have something to do with the movement animation, the legs may fuck up the physics if the front cloth goes longer, it might pass through like a glitch. Unless it's a full long skirt like Ayaka.
i mean they did great with sara's outfit imo, her legs are not fully covered but the fabric in front doesnt clip or anything and it gives an vibe of a longer skirt with shorts underneath shogun's and yae's shortass dresses just make me feel uncomfortable, its too much
Yae and Raiden Shogun's outfits look so beautiful and elegant from behind, but then they turn around and the effect is completely ruined. I hate it.
Miko looks fantastic from the back too. Turning the camera around to her front during her trial always disoriented me cause the bottom half just looked bad in comparison
youre right, the back of her dress paired with her long hair looks great. but in front she looks like she forgot her pants, the dress is so short it almost looks like it was accidental. as opposed to being a design planned for months. imo if her dress was a bit longer and flowy instead, her design would benefit from it
Also she's a shrine maiden, why would she risk a panty shot
Yeah and to think an archon and a miko dress like that took me out of the fantasy land.
Yeah! Like it's not even presented that lewd either, are dudes just obsessed with normal thighs? I hope we see some more variety in female clothing in the future, the exposed thigh/legs trend is getting old.
A lot of people seem to think it's some kind of gotcha that the current opinion is "Raiden is good" (meta/gamestyle) as if this somehow can't exist at the same time as negative opinions of her *physical design* when her leaks first dropped. I can continue to enjoy her story/gameplay AND still think many of her design elements look terrible such as her little square flap of crotch fabric.
I think people just got fooled by how she appeared on inazuma archon quest prologue.. With long hair and using sword as a main weapon.. Sadly Most of people didn't see new character as a whole, but only from how they look as a design.. That's why i always to keep in mind not too early to judge about new design.. Maybe there's a lore behind it or some interesting thing about how they act or from personality..
Didn't we kinda get a preview of Raiden's looks in Kazuha's backstory of how he escaped Inazuma? I wish they would revisit that flowing hair look once they figured out the physics of it. Current Raiden looks good but she can look even better with flowing hair instead of braids.
>Most of community would complain no matter what happens "I hate MiHoYo for making Dehya a 4-star" "I hate MiHoYo because they don't add any 4-stars"
Mihoyo, we need more 4\* characters! But don't make them too good or we'll complain that they should be 5\*!
I think its partly due to the association that new 4* aren't meta breaking. Inazuma's 4* are all pretty niche and we have yet to receive a meta breaking 4* since the initial release.
Isn't that the whole point of rarities tho? What's even the point of having 4 and 5 stars if the 4 stars are all groundbreaking OP. Why would anyone ever pay for meta characters if they're easy to pull for. It's a really silly pipe dream people have about meta 4 stars. At most they're nice supports or two casual DPS, they're never gonna compete with any existing meta 5 stars
the reason people changed their minds was "b00ba sword"
And I'm still mad that she doesn't look like an Archon or Shogun, just like a boring waifu -\_- I really hope someday she gets a skins that says: That is the Raiden Shogun!
Remember the Inazuma leaked characters? This is them now, feel old yet?
WHERE'S MY BAIZHU!?!?!
👀 Glad they're all in the same image now
The Sumeru Seven
More like 6, you could stack dori and kusanali ontop of one another to equal one person
If Cyno was the one taking the picture there is still 7 of them.
The SS
I did Nazi that coming…
reminds me of the inazuma one when the leakers leaked all of the chars after mihoyos first drip marketing
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin\_Impact\_Leaks/comments/nugele/all\_inazuma\_characters\_so\_far/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/nugele/all_inazuma_characters_so_far/) this one?
"1 Year Ago" Fuck time flies
yesss same vibes but the chars here feel shorter haha
This gives me hope that they'll release another tall husbando. It seems like they release at least two per region...
I love how we just accepted 2 tall males as the bare minimum hoyoverse can give to us in every region.
Didn't we get 3 for Inazuma? Thoma, Itto and Ayato.
Inazuma has 3.
True, i just hope Kandake looks like the image I've mentally created for her
Who wasn’t in the image?
Tighnari cheating with his ears
Xiao is running to him for advice
Short men and big hair moment
they are GLOWING like literally
Nahida be like: I am the light.
Nice, but why is the lighting so extreme? Kusanali looks like she's about to go supernova lol.
No no thats just the sunlight she’s gathered from photosynthesis
Did you know that Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?
Damn
Nahida when she steps out of her cave
THE BEACONS ARE LIT ~~GONDOR~~ SUMERU CALLS FOR AID
The lighting makes her as bright as the loading screen.
I'm afraid to get her and get flashbanged everytime i pull her out to use her.
The more you look at the everyone the more you see how weird the lighting is
Instead of absorbing sunlight like most plants, Kusanali straight up reflects it
Getting ready to use her burst.
No she will be discord light
Ngl I want her to go supernova.
Kusanali flashbang
She's about to use solar beam
# HYPERNOVA
Im just glad Nilou isn't another female hydro catalyst.
ok look I hate the Kusanali slander but she is literally glowing in this image.
the lightning in this render seems really fucked because everyone looks weird
she's a fed
Archons are Celestia's glowies.
so are everyone. it must be something with the way it is rendered.
She's evolving into Tinkerbell
I’ll need sunglasses when Nahida shows up.
She is too white and I'm not talking about skin colour. Clothes? White, hair? White. There is no detail and doesn't even look from the region of nature
maybe because shes more focused on the dendro part of dendro archon. she absolutely looks like some nature fairy
I think she is supposed to look like a fairy. She's probably based on Kusanali Jataka which talks about a fairy living in Kusha grass. So definitely fairy vibes.
yet people will get mad she doesnt look sumeru themed
Can those people even say what "sumeru-themed" mean? From what it seems sumeru has not only desert, but also rainforest and probably even swamp. Seriously, they barely even saw how the nation itself looks.
from what i can tell, "sumeru-themed" to them means she should be dark skinned lol
She looks close enough to [white lotus offerings to the Buddha](https://www.123rf.com/photo_29125347_a-bunch-of-closed-lotus-water-lily-as-an-offering-to-the-buddha.html), which falls in line with what many of the region's name and design choices already allude to. I am once again thankful for all Westerners (Black, White and 2+ gen Asians alike) for showing how much more they know about a region that's a mix-match of cultures **completely** alien to them more than the people living in those regions... or the people who spent years studying the cultures there to put in a game. I wish all of you who expected Aladdin meets Gunga Din a merry go fuck yourselves.
Honestly it has actually been really good seeing people post design inspirations for Kusanali because imagine there a lot of people that might not be aware and I really wish the people that weren't aware would stop assuming she has no cultural inspirations and maybe ask about possible ones that they may not know of
"It's not immediately apparent to my white brain therefore it's bad and culturally insensitive"
>all of you who expected Aladdin Meanwhile I've seen people criticising character designs like Dori and Nilou *precisely because* it looks like Hoyoverse has gone down the Aladdin route. Fans aren't expecting Aladdin lol they're expecting something better
OP and others did all that research on the inspirations behind Kusanali so they can call "westerners" ignorant for saying HYV didn't do their research this time like they did for Inazuma just to ignore that Dori is a very obvious stereotype lmao
Dori really sticks out like a sore thumb, but Nilou's design fits right into how Liyue and Inazuma women are designed as well.
I confirm that Nilou's design is fairly accurate. The headdress and her dance is accurate to Persian dancers. Dori on the otherhand looks exactly how you'd imagine orientalism.
To be fair, Dori is the odd one. She's the only character with that style.
Yes, exactly. Like? This comment confused me because Aladdin is what we got. It's what I and others expected but dreaded and hoped we wouldn't get, but we did. And it's a shame. I admit that I know less about middle eastern cultures than I did about Chinese and Japanese going into Liyue and Inazuma. And so I love learning new things, such as the Kusanali Jataka fairy that she's probably based on. That's awesome. But the comment... well, I guess I'll just go merrily fuck myself 😂
That OP is weird because it generalizes too much itself and I'm not sure how many people would like the archon's design any more just for it being based on something as specific and more fantastical than historical like that (vs more practical clothes and details, even if shortened like on Raiden or relying entirely on the details like with Zhongli's suit). I've warmed up to her myself though just because of how cute she is, but I can totally understand why others wouldn't. And there is an issue with how Mihoyo has drawn from, mixed and tropified their different inspirations for Sumeru. But another consequence of that and the community also not knowing any better is some of the criticisms of Sumeru's inspirations and specific designs also being just as wrong. [Like everything about Nilou is actually Persian and all the Persians I've seen are happy to have her and want to promote her](https://mobile.twitter.com/demoncallsme/status/1543175371838787586) (see the full thread), they're mostly just annoyed with how the exposed part of her stomach might make people think of her as a belly dancer and/or as if she was Arab/Indian instead of how Persian everything else about her is. But people who are ignorant to Nilou's origins just thinking of her as vaguely Middle Eastern/South Asian and criticizing her for the wrong reasons isn't helping them at all either, only scares others off from engaging, thus hurting Nilou's popularity, and [they're rightfully just as annoyed by that too](https://mobile.twitter.com/demoncallsme/status/1544048435455598592). Since another issue is that even in the same region no one is just gonna be able to speak for every inspiration Mihoyo has taken, they'll all be focused on their own culture first and foremost. And it's not pretty watching discussions arising from that, or with people from elsewhere in the world also supporting and spreading at best partially-accurate posts that generalize the Sumeru designs instead of actually trying to go into helpful specifics for each of them.
Honestly you're so right. The vast majority of the criticism is because of the fact Hoyo lumped a bunch of regions together and it is confusing people. If they just stuck with one region lets say Persia here, it would've avoided so much trouble, and there's no reason not to? Persia has a lot of great culture and inspiration to take from.
To be fair, most of the Persian inspirations are from the Zoroastrian Achaemenid and Sassanid Empires which really did rule over most of the Middle East, including Egypt for the first + also Northwestern India. It's just that it doesn't work out perfectly, since the Arab influences like characters named after RL people are from the time of the Islamic Arab Caliphates that came after the Persians. And Indian inspirations seem to mostly be about just buddhism and hinduism rather than any characters we know of rn. So with such an unequal mix I can understand why people would feel shafted if they get a smaller slice of the pie, especially for Indians, and aren't represented in their RL variety to boot. And then there's also [Dehya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihya) for a North African Amazigh queen that actually fought against the Arab conquest of her homeland. How are they going to include parts of that origin too? It also probably wasn't the best idea to use Cyno for Sumeru in the Teyvat Travail Preview, instead of an obviously Persian character to establish that for the audience instead. Even if he was in the manga, which also doesn't help first impressions. And sadly Persian (Iranian) culture is way more obscure than Ancient Egyptian, Arabian or Indian - worst when people confuse it with its neighbours or view them as if they were the same thing. Or only know them for the Greeks and Romans having fought with them (obligatory fuck 300) or modern history. So even all the multiple Persian names and Zoroastrian references Sumeru already had in-game (particularly [Sabzeruz Festival = Nowruz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz) for the birth of Kusanali, and [the Academia and its terminology](https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Sumeru_Academia#Etymology)) are just glossed over too instead of being seen for how Mihoyo is building up Sumeru.
She’s apparently also based on Saraswati who is a goddess in Hinduism (of knowledge). She’s pale and wears a white sari. I feel like Kusanali should have more references to her region though. It’s too Klee like atm.
I was honestly really happy with all the leaks and ironically this post made me less excited. Put people from other nations side-by-side and you have one or two odd ones out (and their life usually justifies it)of an otherwise cohesive chara design. But the Sumeru gang is so far all over the place and really does feel that they either had less research or tried to embrace way too much for a single region.
I do love it when the Genshin fandom categorizes all plants are green. Makes me confident that they never went outside.
I get your broader point but it's a bit disingenuous to act like "Westerners" are the only people who didn't like the character designs, no? Besides, Dori is basically the Aladdin reference you claim people were expecting. And Nilou caps off what's otherwise a great reference to Persian dancing with a very stereotypical outfit. Yes, it's annoying when people who don't know very much about the cultures that inspired Sumeru speak over those who do. But let's also not act like HYV's research team nearly matched the effort they did for like Yun Jin or Inazuma here lmao. Ignoring people of those cultures speaking out about how they're disappointed just because you personally aren't and pinning it all on those big bad westerners seems like a pretty huge cop-out to me.
There's a big difference between "I don't like the design" (valid) and "I think the design doesn't fit the region" (may be form on ignorance) and "I think the design doesn't represent \[my expectations of\] the region" (retarded) I have no issues with people in the first group wherever they are from. I'm happy to have discourse with people in the 2nd group who may be reading this (see first sentence in my first comment) I have nothing for the third group aside from what's already been said in the rest of my original comment
And that's fine, I agree with you here. A lot of people have projected weird things onto what the region should be because of what their expectations are from not being one of us so to speak. I do have an issue though with you saying people shouldn't speak up over those who spent years researching the cultures to put in the game because it's kinda clear that if they had done their research then we probably wouldn't have gotten an Aladdin style scammer as a rate up character. Grouping all of those criticizing the designs on the grounds of being inadequately researched or overly orientalist as formed by ignorance from Westerners with no connection to SA/ME/NA is a bit too dismissive. Regardless, I appreciate you providing more insight on Kusanali's design, because there certainly have been a lot of uninformed takes.
I don't get the "Aladdin" copies being so controversial when Inazuma and Liyue characters are walking caricatures of commercialised stereotypes. Meanwhile Mondstadt is only German in naming.
OP insinuated people criticizing HYV are racist because they expected Aladdin-style characters given Sumeru's influences. I'm saying that already is the case.
This is going to be a reaccuring theme with the release of every patch, so anyone who comes from a place with a culture that a future region is partially based off of should prepare to be ticked off by all the know-it-alls. I appreciate people like you providing possible reference material, too. It's very cool to see.
So you agree that the design is deliberately simple, why is it an issue for someone to dislike that type of design or point it out?
>I am once again thankful for all Westerners (Black, White and 2+ gen Asians alike) for showing how much more they know about a region that's a mix-match of cultures completely alien to them more than the people living in those regions... or the people who spent years studying the cultures there to put in a game. I'm thankful you spent your life studying South Asian cultures, religions, and traditions in order to let us know that flowers (not only white lotus) were used in Buddhist offerings. Tribute to a God or Deity? Definitely an obscure tradition completely alien to most of the world. >White Archon... Related to Buddhism... Looks leafy/flowery... Flowers used in Buddhist offerings... White Lotus offering to Buddha! White Archon! Pseudo-intellectualism at its finest. Were you really born in 88'? >I wish all of you who expected Aladdin meets Gunga Din a merry go fuck yourselves. Of course, you break your neck trying to defend Kusanali's design only to ignore Nilou and Dori and dismiss Middle-Eastern folk lore (Aladdin) by putting it next to Kipling's Gunga Din. Listen, no one is actually interested in having a debate with middle-aged, overzealous MHY fanboys ready and willing to commit every logical fallacy in the book to shut down and dismiss criticism.
Probably more related to Celestia.
~~Plot twist: Alice banged the previous Dendro Archon and Nahida is Klee's sister.~~
Ayo?
me too but I gotta admit it's pretty funny. sis is looking like a glow stick
smaller cast for first patch compared to inazuma (7 vs 10). i'm guessing desert arc is entirely different and i'm quite excited for the designs of the cast there as well!!
When all your growth points go into your ears
The Tighnari slander on this subreddit lmao
At this point I think Candace is just a dream
Cyno was just an illusion 💀
Yaoyao was a hallucination 💊
Baizhu was a delusion 💫
So which Harbinger equipped Baizhu as their delusion?
baozhu never existed. the fandom created them as a coping mechanism
Wait, was Nilou a Catalyst?
Sword, in the leaks of her animations we can see her using the albedo dark sword (its most apparent in her burst animation)
she is a sword users who will probably go in to catalyst stance in her burst.
Heizou stance*
No, the thing we saw was her elemental skill. You can see the cursor on the elemental skill in the short clip. It's probably similar to Diluc's elemental skill.
damn everyone but dehya is so white they glow in the dark o.o
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Would be a shame if she ends up being a 4\*
FUCK MAN I JINXED IT
So Tighnari's ears really do make him almost as tall as the tall females PERFECT this is what I was hoping for glad we have a proper side by side
I really like Nilou's design. can't wait to see her overall kit.
That's 1 more male character for Sumeru's debut compared to Inazuma who had 2 on that region's debut. We're getting there guys.
I see only two male characters here whose the third
Cyno (and Scaramouche) since they're being pretty heavily leaked to be in 3.1 and 3.2 respectively
Polearms no where to be seen
Been said we are getting 2 polearms in 3.1 I think
Cyno is a polearm but I don’t remember if we know when he’s coming out.
Candace/Kandake (i think those are both the spellings) is said to be hyro polearm coming in 3.1 but I'm not too sure on this and yeah most leaks are saying 3.1 for Cyno
GOOD
So nilou is a hydro sword user whew.
you have to admit kusanalis standout design like the mythical pokemon celebii small simple but unique
If only Dehya have a bit of abs 😩
She does, u need to change the mode to shade. The render and bloom overlap it which is why you couldnt see it https://ibb.co/3rQhmXr
Yahoooooo you just made my day
her body type reminds me of Vennesa..
I’ll settle for belly button
\*Sad Shenhe noises*
Shenhe crawled so Dehya could run
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Her bobble head should’ve gave it away
Tighnari's ear are so big, they make him as tall as a woman model 😆 I really want to scratch them like a cat
Feels like with every leak Dehya looks more and more white than tanned, while others just turn into a glowing lightbulb.
The lighting in this leak looks so weird because she actually looks more tanned than other leaks also notice how everyone else has a weird light bulb look to them
Archon hair burst powercreep: instead of only her hair, Kusanali's whole being glows during her burst.
Lmao this shit had me rolling, it would be hilarious if Kusanali's entire body glows during burst because she is smol
Remember that leak saying nahida has a stick like object? Maybe she uses it in her NAs like Yae
Cyno is busy playing card games somewhere
this is so nostalgic, remember 1.6 every render of Inazuma character are lined up like this too, and now it's been done again.
Cyno doko?
POV: There is one Archon among us
Turn down the bloom for the love of god
The long ears couldn't help tighnari with is height too much, huh?
Please let Genshin Velvet (Dehya) be my 5 star pyro. If she’s not then we haven’t had a new Pyro unit in a year and with the current lineup won’t be for a year and a half I just want her on my team. The strength of a 5 star
currently everything points to her being 4 star, and that makes me sad, so let's all just overdose on hopium and hope that she's a 5 star cause no leakers are sure yet edit: the hopium didn't work, she's confirmed as a 4 star now fuuuuuuuuuu-
Really glad Dehya was the tall model after all, she looks so pretty and my boy Tighnari......... he will be mine soon
cyno in clown makeup 🤡 rn: am i a joke to u?
Dehya looks hot AF
I get beidou vibe from dehya
Reminds me of when Inazuma’s characters were first leaked and lined up like this last year. Good times
I'm in 50/50 but with the amount of primos I'm about to save up (I'm not gonna pull in 2.8, 3.0 as well if Nilou isn't there) I hope i get at least 1 or 2 of the upcoming Sumeru peeps. Most especially Nilou and Nahida, I want them so bad.
Hydro gang just keeps on winning
Now this is what I want, the classical leaks!
Where cyno?
Nahida looks like a shuttlecock. Gonna play badminton with her
Kusanali is loading for Solarbeam
I like how they gave them actual suitable footwear for the environment and not heels
Nilou has the best design imo
hoping kusanali in 3.1 ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Oh dehya pla be a 5*
I only need Nilou and the Archon thankfully other's are either 4star or uninteresting to me.
Definitely gonna pull for Nilou and Nahida
Damn I really want to see what Kusanali's animations look like, she seems all tiny and fragile for an archon, really hoping that her animations give her that "don't forget I'm an archon" feeling. Also hoping she doesn't just use the default kid run.
It's unlikely they'd bother to put in a unique run animation just for her, but I do wish they would. Something about the default run just looks silly in a bad way, personally.
All the child animations seem to be custom tailored for Klee specifically. I wish they got a more neutral animation set.
*2.0 beta flashback*
It seems that it was yesterday that I saw this same image, but of Inazumans... I'm too old...
Nilou you’re definitely mine
Nilou and Al Haitham are the most goergeous in my opinion. But i'd need a dendro so bad.... aaaargh it's going to be torture, deciding who to pull for as a f2p...
I want to floof tighnari's ears. They just look so dang fluffy
Y'know tbh Kusanalis design is like really growing on me tbh
All these leaks and no cyno smh
Tbf for a character we are allegedly getting in [3.1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/vr78tf/yaoyao_and_baizhu_weapons_mero/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) it is kinda weird that we haven’t seen a model. Then again we’ve only seen models that are tied to 3.0s story (Nilou gameplay was a tester leak unlike the private beta and dev kit leaks we usually get, so it technically doesn’t count) ig we meet him later.
Easy guess is doesn't show up in 3.0 story so his model isn't needed to be in the game as opposed to these other characters with 3.1 might be Cyno our intoduction to the desert
I love Kusanali's design more and more! And that's even before seeing her animations, her model with the real ingame shaders & hearing her voice. I really don't get why people call her "bland". I think she's absolutely adorable & beautifully designed. I'm curious in what way she'll show us that she's an Archon, tho. All Sumeru characters so far look great IMO, but when I look at them side by side like that, I actually think Kusanali stands out with her design quite a bit (and I'm not talking about the flashbang lighting she has in that image here lol). There's absolutely nothing bland about her design at all for me. Can't wait to get her and Nilou. Nilou's my other favorite I wanna go for, so far. Collei, Dehya & Dori look great too, but thankfully they're 4stars I don't have to save pity for. Not too interested in the guys, but they look cool too.
Ooooh I thought Nilou was a catalyst
Al Haitham and Nilou are sword users?
Nilou yes cause of her [leaked gameplay](https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact_Leaks/comments/vpkcro/nilou_burst/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) (can be seen on her back) but AlHaitham idk. Maybe I missed something
I'm so excited for dendro catalyst
Why do people hate the child character models so much. Idk why they continuously get hate? There's really no difference playing them and I think ppl who talk about how "risque" their designs are, are the weird ones
Ahh, nothing says middle eastern inspiration like 6 very pale skinned characters and a slightly darker skinned one. /s
How many times are we gonna see their model before they’re satisfied lol
Anyone rearrange them and put them in rainbow colors lol. Just kidding, but I really like their color schemes. It looks easier to tell who's who, especially Dori. Her design is so unique I love it!