#caro talks

And everyone’s just like

Roger leaned his head against the window, watching the scenery blur as they sped past. He had no idea where they were at this point, and didn’t care to find out. Once Crystal had bundled him into the car like precious cargo Roger had checked out mentally, letting Crystal make the major decisions. It had been easy enough, letting himself be dragged into the flat Crystal and Ratty shared, watching with disinterest as Crystal threw clothes into a bag, ranting the whole time about how he had known it was a terrible idea; that they never listen to him when he’s right; how he’s going to give John and Miami and Freddie and Brian and that bitch of a doctor a piece of his mind when he sees them next. Roger didn’t have the energy to ask when that would be. From the size of Crystal’s luggage, it probably wouldn’t be for a while.

This basically teaches me, that I should always sketch before I start a big illustration. And when the composition doesn't work or looks shit on the sketch, painting it out won't fix it. And you can't fix a whole composition "later".

lety's whole aesthetic, mannerisms, and naiveté come from how sheltered and babied she was by her parents. going into how toxic don erasmo's parenting was is another tangent entirely, but all the little details like the plushies she collects (many she's had since she was small), and the constant "la niña, la niña" from both erasmo and julieta (and even the gifts doña julieta gave lety for her birthday were pretty infantile when considering the context of lety's situation) — it all of course comes together to show how all of that kept lety from growing up mentally and emotionally

but then you've got fernando with the entirely opposite problem. the villarroels joining his family and the subsequent neglect from his parents fueled his emotional immaturity and selfishness, but at the same time it had him grow up way too fast. between trying to be nice and supportive to a grieving little marcia, and his competing with ariel for don humberto's approval, and having both his parents telling him he didn't need as much attention as the kids who lost their parents, fernando lost his entire childhood. and in the present he clings to that lost childhood with similar little details as lety like the toy car, and how playful he always is. (i also love how he wanted to keep the toy puppy omar bought for lety that made sounds lmao)

it's an interesting parallel of how both extremes emotionally stunted them. and whereas lety's childishness is encouraged by her family, the mendiolas and villarroels have zero patience for fernando's childishness. the two extremes also have them meeting each other in the middle in a nice (though enabling) way. they're both very dramatic, have clown personalities and the same sense of humor, and while they don't necessarily have patience for each other's behavior, they accept and adapt to each other's quirks very easily

the grocery store episode is such a good example of how well they click personality-wise because of all this. bc they were literally just two dumb children loose in a store with no plan and no braincell in sight: lety running into stuff; fernando not knowing what broccoli is; lety lying to her dad so he doesn't know she's on a date; fernando trying to take the whole store home; lety pushing fers on the shopping cart; both of them dancing around the store while fake-speaking portuguese. like that's their domestic life, that's their day-to-day relationship that we don't get to see after the main story's over

If you are a diehard Raiden fan or won't take me criticising Genshin for some other reasons, plz skip this post, because It's gonna be one hell of a Rant.

Don't get me wrong, I love Genshin and I'm not planning to quit it or something, but criticism must be given.

And that being said...

GENSHIN 2.1 STORYLINE WAS VERY, VERY BAD

And here's why:

Barely any playable characters were given any depth in this version. They were all treated just like plot devices.

Especially Yae Miko, who was there just to explain everything to our dumbassess and and give us an axcess to the power of ambition and friendsip I guess

Kokomi and Gorou? Nahhh, why give them any actual spotlight, if they were there only to deliever the schocking news that Fatui gave dellusions to the resistance? We might've as well learned that from some random soldier NPC and it would make little to no difference.

Speaking of delusions, don't Kokomi and Gorou fight on the front line? HOW THE HECK did they not notice that all of their visionless soldiers suddenly can use the power of elements? Did everyone hide it from them and everyone actually succeeded? Wasn't Kokomi weired out buy th sudden improvement of the whole resistace? How the heck did none slip up? WHY DIDN'T KOKOMI OR GOROU CHECK OUT THESE "WEAPONS" BEFORE GIVING THEM TO THEIR SOLDIERS? THEY COULD HAVE BEEN BOMBS OR SOMETHING

Also the fact that Kokomi just made us a general without giving us time to get to know how resistance works, or that she would give Teppei promotions just because he asked was extremely stupid. Not a master strategist move for sure. We could be a spy. Kokomi didn't even aknowledge Teppei until he asked her for a promotion.

Overall the whole resistance arc was extremely rushed and basically almost useless. If it was wisely prolonged, this update could be spread between two versions no problem. We could have had more quests where we and Teppei would slowly climb up the ranks, get to know more about Kokomi, ACTUALLY FIND OUT STUFF ABOUT EI AND SCARAMOUCHE INSTEAD OF LETTING YAE INFO-DUMP IT ON US.

Kazuha was ok I guess, but he was given very little screentime, and as my friend (a big Kazuha fangirl, mind you) noticed, that his whole arc revolves around Tomo and he barely has any personality besides grieving his loss, which is dissapointing.

I'd rather see him actualy join the resistance and face Ei not because he randomly appeared to save us, but because he was banished from Inazuma and had the courage to return.

Speaking of random appearances, why were Kazuha and the resistance at Tenshukaku anyway? Like, hear me out: Last time they've seen us alive was when we declared we would find the dellusion factory. So unless Yae told them we were here, they had no right to know (and if she did, how would that help?) And if they ACTUALLY thought that they could raid Tenshukaku, why do that right after their army recieved such a big blow, and with so little men? Besides the fact that Kazuha Conviniently managed to save us, it was all just an unnecessary bloodshed.

And Ei... Oh my god, I'm sorry, but the way they did her was such a mistake.

She basially went through the same thing as Venti and Zhongli, but was the only one to chose violence.

When we tell her that her people are suffering she's like "yeah, I know, so what?" But then we defeat her with what's basically a power of friendship and she's like. "Ok, I'll stop the decree I guess" and in her story quest she suddenly wants the best for her people? Oh no I know you don't.

She could have been the actual victim of The Fatui's plot. Imagine if Sara was actually collaborating with the Fatui and when we told her about them "manipulating" Ei she'd say she's gonna tell her but would actually go to backstab her before she realises the truth. Or if the "you've changed, you're getting weak" line would be what Scaramouche said to Ei after he defeats her.

Or, she could be an ACTUAL villain. The one that isn't forgiven just because she buys some dango milk and pulled a sword out of her boobs. She's a tyrant and there's no denying it. So why didn't she die to get what she desserved? Why didn't she get any actual redemption, or make some sort of sacrifice to show that she wants well for Inazuma after all? She could face the consequences of her wrongdoings and see the death she caused or experience the wrath of the people she hurt but noooo, her people already forgave her and are concerned for her health! But she's just being angsty, so let's go on a peacefull stroll and show her some horny light novel people wrote about her <3 Like come on, really?

Like seriously, if Mihoyo had the guts to actually call her evil, that would barely infulence her popularity. People simp over well-written villains like crazy. Well-written villains rule.

I'm honestly worried about how The Tsaritsa will be handled...

But okay, okay. To lighten up the mood, here are some things that I liked about this update:

Teppei, duh.

Watatsumi Lesbians.

Sara. Oh dear, oh dear, gorgeous. Once again, she proved herself to be an honorable person. We've seen her admit that she was doubtful about the decree. We've seen her world being shattered as she realised what her family did. We've seen her put away her selfless devotion to do what's right. My hot tengu gf, I absolutely love you and your writing so far.

Scaramouche has more interesting backstory and motivations than hid creator. He's the villain we deserve. He has the gnosis and he's yet to cause some drama, so hopefully he fixes this hell of an arc.

Thoma didn't have much screentime, but I like how they touched the topic of how it's hard for him to stay in hiding

Sayu was cute and fit into the story nicely.

ANGRY TRAVELER YES. They spoke. They were pissed. They were traumatized by witnessing Signora's death, even though they hated her. They see that the gods are nothing to mess with, they're changing, they're becpming just like their sibling. YES, YES, YES.