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yestodayoh my god. i'm obsessed with 伐难. we know little about her, and we've heard her voice a singular time—and i am in love with her. (sorry, i'm not calling her bonanus… not after i saw all the comments on her fandom wiki page comparing that name to 'bananas'.)
today, i finished the 2.7 archon quest, all in one go. those last two cutscenes were impressive (i was actively losing my shit over yelan in the first one… expectedly. she's so fucking badass in action. and, oh, my beloved zhongli and his beloved xiao </3). that final one revolving around boyang and bosacius left an excessively lasting cut in me. i don't remember the last time i felt this engaged in genshin. my heart was so full; the five yakshas were so cute together? from the two happy scenes we saw of them together, i instantly developed some crazy form of love for their little doomed family. yeah, it's bad for me.
i immediately went and rewatched the cutscene on youtube (and not on bilibili, as my sister reminded me the chinese genshin channel exists now) after the quest was over, just as i simultaneously hit ar58. i'm losing my mind—their designs are so cool. i'm so glad we finally got to see them, their looks officially revealed in clarity… even if this will probably be the final time. i'm a little pissed because these are some fine ass character designs—the girls, especially; 伐难, particularly—too good to go to waste on some deceased background world-building characters created to validate xiao's edgy attitude. but, i guess it is what it is.
my initial reactions on private twitter:
after rewatching (or rather: skipping to the scenes with the five and staring at the art on pause for an unnecessarily extensive timespan) a few more times, i realized i've become fully zoomed in on 伐难. her design is so intriguing to me; oh my god. she's so cool, like…
upon seeing the second picture above, it suddenly became, like, super important to me to figure out whether she had a tail or if that was part of her outfit—not in a furry way; i just want to know everything about her design. seeing the following first picture led me to thinking she did, indeed, have a tail, but then, looking back at the glimpses of her in the old xiao story cutscene (second picture in the below row), i wasn't so sure.
anyway, tail or no tail, she's so cool to me nonetheless. i love her arms. god, i love her arms. that was what captivated me in the first place, i believe. it's such an unlikely design choice, considering her form and demeanor, and that glorious contrast was probably what enticed me. i first noticed those gruesome things when i realized that it was her who was slicing through menogias, and not some abyss herald, in the bosacius cutscene on my second watch of it. then, i had another realization it was not a colossal sword; it was literally her hands—her fucking claws. that resonated with me deeply, somehow, someway. and then, i couldn't stop staring at her arms. they're monstrous and gorgeous and insanely attractive to my fucked little worm brain. those claws remind me of yveltal (the pokémon), and yvetal had always had a special place in my heart since i was little.
my ultimate loves all have a demonic touch to them somewhere… it's mostly on the inside, though. they look kind, or even innocent, enough but have a penchant for mischief or deception. (this has so far applied to all of my official proclaimed genshin faves: hu tao, venti, miko, and—newly—yelan. yelan leans more on the deception side. this pattern can also be stretched to some of my ultimate k-pop simpees: jeonghan and sungjae are prime examples.) 伐难's tinge of diabolical happens to be on the outside. it's reversed: she has these macabre features, but from what i'm gathering, she's probably sweet as fuck. i love that. i need her. not to mention, she's insanely powerful, too—being one of the five yakshas and all.
now, okay, don't get me wrong here. when i said 'monster fucker' before, i was joking. i mean, i wasn't, but i was joking about it being applied in 伐难's case. i just wanted that to be clear.
here are a couple other screenshots of her because i wanted to save them. there are, after all, not many official renditions of her and likely will not be many more in the future, if any:
i just think she looks so lovely. she's so pretty. i'm so sad. indarias is pretty, too. menogias is kind of boring, but he seems like a nice guy. i want them back… for my sake and for xiao's.
on the topic of xiao, i am going to go on a mini-rant that is not related to 伐难. this may be bound to piss some insane xiao stans off, but it needs to be said. i love xiao so much, and i feel the instinct to protect him just as anyone else, but his consistent edgelord tendencies and mindset can get so frustratingly annoying. it's almost like talking to a guilt-tripping friend whose only talk is self-depreciation—only xiao most definitely does not have the intent to gaslight anyone: he fully believes those things he says to the core, and i honestly don't know if that makes it better or worse. there are many characters in this game who need therapy—in fact, i can only think of a mere handful who aren't in obvious need of it. xiao would be on the top of that list.
xiao, get help. rest. we care about you, buddy. please, seek assistance if you ever need anything, because that is perfectly okay, and we will accept you for that. there are so many people who love you and will help. you break my heart so much, it's hurting me more than you think you're protecting me, at this point.
lowkey, i was fully on yelan's side during their argument (and it's not because i'll simp for her whatever the situation). countering yanfei, yelan was not being too harsh. xiao deserved that lecture. he's so stubborn. WE LOVE YOU, LOSER? WE'RE NOT GOING TO LET YOU SACRIFICE YOURSELF THAT EASILY? ugh, i need venti to hurry up and find out he exists so xiao will have someone who can distract him from his moping. i can't stand it anymore. i don't want to see him like this anymore. i just want him to be happy—to allow himself to be happy. we all care about him so much; when will he see that? i say, as i pretend he's a real person who will take in my input and not sculpted to be the token emoboy to appeal to a specific similarly mentally ill target audience.
today, i finished the 2.7 archon quest, all in one go. those last two cutscenes were impressive (i was actively losing my shit over yelan in the first one… expectedly. she's so fucking badass in action. and, oh, my beloved zhongli and his beloved xiao </3). that final one revolving around boyang and bosacius left an excessively lasting cut in me. i don't remember the last time i felt this engaged in genshin. my heart was so full; the five yakshas were so cute together? from the two happy scenes we saw of them together, i instantly developed some crazy form of love for their little doomed family. yeah, it's bad for me.
i immediately went and rewatched the cutscene on youtube (and not on bilibili, as my sister reminded me the chinese genshin channel exists now) after the quest was over, just as i simultaneously hit ar58. i'm losing my mind—their designs are so cool. i'm so glad we finally got to see them, their looks officially revealed in clarity… even if this will probably be the final time. i'm a little pissed because these are some fine ass character designs—the girls, especially; 伐难, particularly—too good to go to waste on some deceased background world-building characters created to validate xiao's edgy attitude. but, i guess it is what it is.
my initial reactions on private twitter:
im going to kill myself theyre so cute
AND THE GIRLS' DESIGNS ARE SO FUCKING PRETTY OH EM GEEEEE
i have a fat crush on miss hydro already im crying sorry for being a monster fucker those claws are sexy to me looks around
boyang's eng voice dub is unnecessarily good for an npc
im crying GUYS I LOVE THEM AND THIS IS PROBABLY ALL WE'LL SEE OF THEM EVER. IM JUST GLAD THEIR OFFICIAL LOOKS ARE FINALLY OUT THOUGH </////3
after rewatching (or rather: skipping to the scenes with the five and staring at the art on pause for an unnecessarily extensive timespan) a few more times, i realized i've become fully zoomed in on 伐难. her design is so intriguing to me; oh my god. she's so cool, like…
upon seeing the second picture above, it suddenly became, like, super important to me to figure out whether she had a tail or if that was part of her outfit—not in a furry way; i just want to know everything about her design. seeing the following first picture led me to thinking she did, indeed, have a tail, but then, looking back at the glimpses of her in the old xiao story cutscene (second picture in the below row), i wasn't so sure.
anyway, tail or no tail, she's so cool to me nonetheless. i love her arms. god, i love her arms. that was what captivated me in the first place, i believe. it's such an unlikely design choice, considering her form and demeanor, and that glorious contrast was probably what enticed me. i first noticed those gruesome things when i realized that it was her who was slicing through menogias, and not some abyss herald, in the bosacius cutscene on my second watch of it. then, i had another realization it was not a colossal sword; it was literally her hands—her fucking claws. that resonated with me deeply, somehow, someway. and then, i couldn't stop staring at her arms. they're monstrous and gorgeous and insanely attractive to my fucked little worm brain. those claws remind me of yveltal (the pokémon), and yvetal had always had a special place in my heart since i was little.
my ultimate loves all have a demonic touch to them somewhere… it's mostly on the inside, though. they look kind, or even innocent, enough but have a penchant for mischief or deception. (this has so far applied to all of my official proclaimed genshin faves: hu tao, venti, miko, and—newly—yelan. yelan leans more on the deception side. this pattern can also be stretched to some of my ultimate k-pop simpees: jeonghan and sungjae are prime examples.) 伐难's tinge of diabolical happens to be on the outside. it's reversed: she has these macabre features, but from what i'm gathering, she's probably sweet as fuck. i love that. i need her. not to mention, she's insanely powerful, too—being one of the five yakshas and all.
now, okay, don't get me wrong here. when i said 'monster fucker' before, i was joking. i mean, i wasn't, but i was joking about it being applied in 伐难's case. i just wanted that to be clear.
here are a couple other screenshots of her because i wanted to save them. there are, after all, not many official renditions of her and likely will not be many more in the future, if any:
i just think she looks so lovely. she's so pretty. i'm so sad. indarias is pretty, too. menogias is kind of boring, but he seems like a nice guy. i want them back… for my sake and for xiao's.
on the topic of xiao, i am going to go on a mini-rant that is not related to 伐难. this may be bound to piss some insane xiao stans off, but it needs to be said. i love xiao so much, and i feel the instinct to protect him just as anyone else, but his consistent edgelord tendencies and mindset can get so frustratingly annoying. it's almost like talking to a guilt-tripping friend whose only talk is self-depreciation—only xiao most definitely does not have the intent to gaslight anyone: he fully believes those things he says to the core, and i honestly don't know if that makes it better or worse. there are many characters in this game who need therapy—in fact, i can only think of a mere handful who aren't in obvious need of it. xiao would be on the top of that list.
xiao, get help. rest. we care about you, buddy. please, seek assistance if you ever need anything, because that is perfectly okay, and we will accept you for that. there are so many people who love you and will help. you break my heart so much, it's hurting me more than you think you're protecting me, at this point.
lowkey, i was fully on yelan's side during their argument (and it's not because i'll simp for her whatever the situation). countering yanfei, yelan was not being too harsh. xiao deserved that lecture. he's so stubborn. WE LOVE YOU, LOSER? WE'RE NOT GOING TO LET YOU SACRIFICE YOURSELF THAT EASILY? ugh, i need venti to hurry up and find out he exists so xiao will have someone who can distract him from his moping. i can't stand it anymore. i don't want to see him like this anymore. i just want him to be happy—to allow himself to be happy. we all care about him so much; when will he see that? i say, as i pretend he's a real person who will take in my input and not sculpted to be the token emoboy to appeal to a specific similarly mentally ill target audience.