Yes, I said the next post I would be making would be about Teyvat; however, that is taking... longer than expected because one of my issues requires a lot of extra preparation. So, while I work on that, have a general rant about Hoyoverse and the export of their characters into their other games, specifically Genshin. Though they also use expys in Honkai: Star Rail, I do not take as much issue with this since their universes are linked, with the character Welt Yang from HI3 being within the lore the same person as HSR's Welt Yang.
For starters why are half of the archons' expys? The most well-known examples (at least from what I know) are that Mavuika and Murata are expys of Murata Himeko (HI3), and that Raiden Ei/Raiden Shogun and her twin sister Raiden Makoto are expys of Raiden Mei. It's clear by just looking at them that they're the same characters, as they look nearly identical, with the only differences coming from the fact that they have been adjusted to fit the aesthetics and storyline of Genshin.
Despite it not often being as well known as the other two, Venti and Zhongli are also expys (albeit arguably on Zhongli's part). Venti is an expy of the Herrscher of Wind, Wendy; they both share dark blue hair that fades into a tealish colour, both related to the wind, and overall featuring similar colour palettes. Additionally, Venti's design as Barbatos and Wendy's design in Guns Girl Z (Also known as Houkai Gakuen 2) are near identical. Venti is undeniably an expy of Wendy, although he has been gender-bent; they have too many similarities to ignore.
Zhongli is a different case. A lot of people claim that he is not an expy; however, I am one of the people who wholeheartedly believe that he is. Specifically, I believe that he is an expy of Welt Yang; I can understand the people who say that he is not, as he does have a few differences from Welt; however, the two share too many similarities to deny the fact that Zhongli is an expy. For starters, they both have orange eyes with brown hair; while each of these features alone doesn't directly mean that Zhongli is an expy, the fact that they share both of these traits, along with them having similar hairstyles, points to Zhongli being yet another expy. An argument against Zhongli being an Expy could be that they don't have similar outfits in either Zhongli's playable or archon forms like in the case of Venti and Wendy; however, this can be explained by the simple fact of a difference in aesthetic between HI3 and Genshin, as HI3 is more modern, taking place in an alternative timeline/universe of our own universe being a lot more realistic and using real world contries, while genshin is (or at least was initally) a lot more of a medival fantasy type world. As such, not all details would be carried over from HI3 into Genshin. Another argument could be that he doesn't have the same name as Welt, and additionally, Welt is Finnish while Zhongli is Chinese; however, I do not think that this is as big of a deal breaker to the idea that Zhongli is an expy of Welt, as Welt's chosen name is "Welt Yang" with the surname Yang being of Korean or CHINESE descent, with this surname coming from his mother, indicating that he may have chinese heritage, which further points to Zhongli being an expy of him. Additionally, they share similar personality traits, with both being hard-working, trustworthy, parental figures to those around them. Along with Zhongli being the god of Contracts and Welt being the Herrscher of Reason.
A few others have pointed to even Nahida being an expy specifically of Theresa Apocalypse, though I personally do not believe in this idea, as I think the two are too different in personality and design. Though I do not doubt that Nahida's design is in some way influenced by Theresa, I don't think that she is a direct expy, though this is just my view and may be completely incorrect. Some people may argue that Bronya and Seele from HI3 and Bronya and Seele from HSR have completely different personalities, as they swapped roles with one another, which means that Nahida may still be an expy of Theresa despite their personality difference; however, in terms of overall design, they are also incredibly different, with their only similarity being that they have white hair outside of that they don't have the same eye colour nor similar hairstyles. Additionally, they don't have any common roots, unlike in the case with Zhongli, where Welt likely has some Chinese heritage; Theresa does not indicate having any heritage from any of the countries Sumeru is inspired by.
Another character that I believe isn't a direct expy but definitely influenced by another one of their characters is the Tsarista, as she has features in common with Bronya. They have similar hairstyles, with both having grey "drill" like hair, and are both associated with ice; however, this is where the similarities disappear. The biggest evidence that the Tsarista is not a Bronya expy is her implied partner being a man; this may not seem as though it carries many implications at first towards the theory of the Tsarista being a Bronya expy, but HI3 Bronya AND HSR Bronya carry clear romantic implications in their relationships with their respective Seeles, with Bronya being implied to be a lesbian. Considering Hoyoverse's shockingly well-written queer romances and her lesbianism being an aspect of Bronya's character since their early games, I don't think that this would be a part of her characterisation that they would remove, which implies to me that the Tsarista is not a Bronya expy, though she is undoubtedly inspired by parts of her design.
The only archon that can be said to be completely separate from any designs and characters from Hoyoverse's other games is Furina.
It's not just the archons, though, as mentioned previously; the character Murata is an expy of Murata Himeko, with them not only sharing a name but also sharing design features in common, and the other character I mentioned at the very beginning is Raiden Makoto, who, along with her sister, is an expy of Raiden Mei. Yae Miko and Alhaitham are also both expys, with Yae Miko being a Yae Sakura expy and Alhaitham being an expy of Su. I don't think that I need to go into their design similarities due to them being pretty obvious.
Expys may not seem like a big deal; after all, it's pretty common for people to make an oc and put them and tweak them into fitting the universe of any hyperfixation they may develop; however, I personally believe that when it comes to Hoyoverse, the expys are a symptom of a bigger problem: Hoyoverse is uncreative.
This fact has become abundantly clear as we have moved into new nations and have found very few differences between the outfits of characters; it's most obvious in their female designs, with them nearly always having detached sleeves, some form of choker, thigh-high stockings with little designs, along with mostly bare legs, a short skirt, and some way to show off the characters' cleavage. It's difficult to find recent characters who do not have at least one of these traits or some other form of fan service within their designs. It's a clear display of Hoyoverse's unoriginality and overall misogyny.
While it's not just the female designs that are unfortunately affected by the laziness of Hoyoverse, they are the ones who suffer the most due to the additional factor of Hoyoverse being misogynistic; their male designs, while still being extremely repetitive, are still completely covered and lack much of the fan service featured in even the female characters who are nearly completely covered. All this to say that people are quick to accept any new expys being put into Genshin, and they are actively ignoring them as a symptom of the bigger problem.
I thank you for reading this and am happy to receive any critiques that you may have in terms of my reasoning, as long as you critique it in good faith. It's important to note that this is not meant as an attack on anyone who works at Hoyoverse, nor anyone who enjoys Genshin Impact. And thank you to the wonderful Z for reading over this post before I posted it.
