#gi xilonen

overall, natlan’s designs aren’t at all up to the quality standard of any other nation. using the excuse that it’s because they have a different culture/style isn’t valid when you look at fontaine/liyue designs (places with two succinctly different cultures, but stunning overall designs). most of these characters are boring: no creativity, colours that clash with the skin tone, lack of depth and actual intent/personality—it, ironically, has no character. the entire purpose of character’s design is to ‘show don’t tell’. scars tell a story, colours used are imbued with symbols, shape of silhouette can tell a personality—and even something as simple as a glimmer in the eyes is a super common trope to show if a character is unstable. natlan designs lack all of it.

the reason i put emphasis on the name origins of these characters is because: A. natlan (like most nations) doesn’t have one specific point of reference, with every character being an amalgamation of different countries and cultures so it’d be unfair of me to generalise, B. hyv uses real life culture in designs, if they didn’t, the characters in liyue would NOT have any cn hairpins, qipaos, symbols, talismans (same with inazuma and kimonos), these choices ARE relevant in game and real life and are used to inspire design concepts.

we’ll start with the least egregious ones down to the ones i want to shred.

KACHINA

THE POSITIVE:

- her character is based off an american pika and i can definitely see it in the design just from the ears and the cute chubby face + large eyes (makes her look more docile and cute).

- kachina’s name is derived from puebloans (native americans in the southwestern united states). from my research, kachina’s design has at least faint resemblance to the typical clothing attire used by puebloans (the array of patterns and symbols prevalent throughout her design).

- it may not be 1:1, but to me, that’s a sign of good character design. when referencing a culture, specifically in a game like genshin where these cultures are meant to be “inspiration” and not replicas (which is a whole other technical debate), using elements from a culture’s fashion as the foundation and then building on it with your own ideas is generally, a positive.

- i really like her silhouette, it’s not too clunky or plain, and generally i can get some pretty good hints as to the basis of her character. the over-exaggerated big gloves are a huge part of her character due to her tribe (they’re kinda at the centre of her design, showing how it’s a significant part of her). the symmetry in her outline may represent her stubbornness or cleanliness, while the little hints of asymmetry on places like her knees/arms can reflect her youth and child-like nature: thus painting a character that may be striving to be more mature than she actually is.

- the colour dynamics are also very cohesive and representative of her tribe. in design we use the 60-30-10 rule (which can change depending on amount of colours used), where your main colour needs to be dominant, while the third must be an accent colour. i think this is done quite well with kachina, the main colour is the deep brown and orange, with accents of green and even smaller accents of blue. something i really liked was how well these colours were balanced with this rule while keeping the aesthetic of the patterns.

THE NEGATIVE:

- i don’t have too many complains about her, she is a four star and they tend to be much plainier than five stars and i am very conscious of that in my critiques—one big one is just that i wish they attempted to interpret more elements from the indigenous culture to her design.

IFA

THE POSITIVES:

- immediately what stood out to me without even having to read about his character were the scar on his forearm and the label pinned on his white coat. IMMEDIATELY my brain went: some sort of doctor, probably a vet.

- his silhouette is quite clean and gives a good enough idea of his character: someone who seems confident but isn’t arrogant or loud, perhaps even polite.

- the back patterns and materials on his trenchcoat/cape thing are a good reference to his clan especially with the feathery appearance—it’s not too obvious, perhaps indicating he prefers working as an individual rather than a group.

- his colour scheme is balanced and the tones used can be commonly found in the natlan environments, could be an indicator of his strong connection to nature.

THE NEGATIVES:

- ifa’s name has origins in the religion of the yoruba people (of west africa). in the yoruba pantheon, ifá, also known as orunmila, is the god of wisdom, knowledge, and divination, and is considered the messenger between the human world and the divine realm. now our ifa uh…yeah he doesn’t really have any resemblance to the yoruba culture, like at all LMAO—really wish they added at least SOMETHING (at the least, accessories / more clear patterns).

- i don’t like the fact they made him a cowboy. it’s really strange and out of character (/out of the design concept that they were clearly going for) and also completely out of sorts with the entire design of natlan. seriously, what kinda fucking relevance do cowboys have in this nation?? i don’t know if hyv just thinks anything with the word american must = cowboys or if they ran out of design choices for him but it’s bizarre.

MUALANI

THE POSITIVES:

- her design uses a little of bubbly shapes! she has no hard straight edges or lines, everything is very curved and fun—a usual indicator of a character that’s light-hearted, comedic and jubilant. not only that, but a lot of the carved areas in her clothing have shapes resembling fish which all rolls back to her tribe.

- from her namesake, mualani’s name has origins in hawaii, but her specific origins can be traced to indigenous polynesians. their cultures are very varied and unique, but if we were to take pieces from their fashion, i’d say the closest we can get to a direct reference is mualani’s skirt (patterns and colour reminiscent of lavalavac or pa'u skirts)

THE NEGATIVES:

- i really wish they added more elements from polynesian culture to her design (i feel like this is a phrase i’ll be repeating consistently LMAO), but even something as simple as adding recoloured hibiscus flowers to keep in with her colour scheme but accentuate the culture would’ve made a big difference.

- now i did imply that i wouldn’t talk about race and focus on designs, but in this case, her skin is genuinely one of the biggest factors pulling back her entire concept. she SHOULD be so much more tan. not even due to the fact polynesians aren’t THAT pale, but because of her markings. they are extremely awkward with her skin tone because they barely stand out almost like they’re implying she’s ashamed of them—which is not at all mualani’s personality!! she has so much pride and joy for her tribe it’s extremely weird for her markings to be so far in the background.

KINICH

THE POSITIVES:

- kinich’s name refers to the maya sun god and assumes to mean sun-eyed, so i’ll give them credit: he has gorgeous yellow eyes reminiscent of sunlight. his design consists of a lot of jagged patterns, which i think nicely correlates to typical mayan styles while remaining pretty succinct to kinich’s tribe. his necklace piece vaguely resembles common jewellery for warriors/kings (particularly nice homage to his name as it’s typically associated with gods).

- this one’s a positive and a negative but his colour palette is very coherent and follows the typical design structure…but it’s also extremely boring. i’m not saying every character need to have a distinctly different colour scheme and style but it has to be at least different enough where me colour picking won’t result in the exact same colours (…he’s literally a xiao redesign).

THE NEGATIVES:

- his shape language is slightly awkward. while there’s a lot of hard, sharp edges to show how he’s tough or has a callous exterior, the silhouette of his character is too soft and bubbly at the bottom. maybe it’s intentional to show how he doesn’t care how he’s perceived, but it’s still inconsistent with the rest of the design.

- once again; this is both a negative and positive, but his retro-gamer style pisses me off at face value. on the surface, it lacks relevance in his character. he’s not a gamer, he has no elements in his personality to indicate he’s a gamer (if anything, he has the exact opposing qualities, he’s not competitive, he’s not mean or gruff etc), it’s odd. BUT, i have read some people relate these retro patterns to mayan mosaics and architecture, and when i did further research i think it was actually absolutely excellent symbolism. super subtle (maybe a little TOO subtle, and should’ve been used more consistently throughout all designs) but super interesting.

IANSAN

THE POSITIVES:

- from my research, iansan’s name relates to both the yoruba religion and candomblé, she’s a blend of brazilian and nigerian influence. i think the closest reference in her design is her necklace that is reminiscent of indigenous brazilian necklaces + the use of feathers in her design are a subtle homage to brazilian culture.

- iansan’s design has a coherent and clear colour scheme, the brightest being the dominant colour and then little sprays of a contrasting purple/indigo (with the smallest speckles of green).

- i love the consistent asymmetry, the white skull atop her head balances with the white armour piece on her knee which directly contrasts the plainness on her right leg, it adds interest in her general shape while maintaining structural balance.

THE NEGATIVES:

- her design doesn’t really have intent. it’s like they created a design for an initial scrapped concept of natlan and forgot they needed to give her a personality. i don’t think anyone would’ve known she was a trainer without searching it up / being told. maybe aside from the bandana and her crop top, there’s nothing telling in her design that gives her character.

- another main issue; her character design doesn’t give you a good of what she’s like or who she is, at a surface level it’s quite pretty and matches the aesthetic of natlan, but it doesn’t give enough depth to iansan as an individual.

- overall silhouette is also pretty unimpressive, i understand she’s a four star but she should have at least more idiosyncrasies within her design, or even exaggerated features to make her design stand out.

CITLALI

THE POSITIVES:

- “citlali” is derived from the nahuatl (aztec) word for “star”. i can see that in her design she does have at least a few aztec influences from the two braided front locks, and a more modern spin on a female cueitl, i also like the little sash holding the skirt, its very clunky but i think it looks great with how minimal and tight the top of her design looks.

- her colour scheme is great and i adore it, it follows the traditional design rule and maintains a normal balance BUT i really would’ve loved for a bit more detail of either dark blue or yellow to contrast and break from all the pink-purple hues.

- everything in her shape language screams “leave me alone”, it’s all very jagged, consisting of a lot of triangles (typically used with villains but in this case i think it’s a reference to her sharp intellect or energy, perfect for a shaman).

- positive and negative; i like the asymmetry at the bottom with her left leg being shown and then her right hip having a slight cut in the fabric however it was a super unnecessary choice that i just damn well know was chosen for nefarious reasons (i’ve played these games before hyv.)

THE NEGATIVES:

- she is straight up just another version of a lolibait tsundere. i’m sorry it’s hard to keep personal bias out of this but COME ON?! she’s supposedly a “granny”, meanwhile she has a shorter female model, looks childish and has no elements in her character to help infer she has lived a long time. it’s lazy design with a really intriguing concept. once again, no character. with a name that holds so much power and weight, i would expect so much more. she deserved to be a five star (and a revamp of her personality). nothing in her character screams shaman!! maybe the accessories at the top of her head?? but everything else is super plain, like a background character that got too much attention in the writing.

- her silhouette is extremely rigid, and again, this can be a design choice in some cases, could reflect in this case how she’s closed off from people, but even so, there should be more exaggeration or emphasis in her design to make this choice seem more intentional or at least interesting, because right now, she’s just a box with scribbles on it for detail.

XILONEN

THE POSITIVES

- i found a great reddit post of someone fully going over the influences in xilonen’s design that was absolutely great from a cultural perspective! it fully divulges the aztec and mayan mythology and culture embedded in her design.

- i like the shape language used, all the harsh triangular cuts presenting someone who’s quick, strategic, to the point—with all of that broken up by the sudden fluffiness of her coat, maybe indicating she’s not as harsh as she may first appear.

THE NEGATIVES:

- now while i don’t want to discredit all the wonderful subtle details in her design as referenced in the thread…xilonen’s design as a whole is extremely low effort. if you told me she was a four star, i would honestly believe you.

- look me in the eyes and tell me that without the story you could have guessed that’s she supposed to be a blacksmith, because you can’t. i’m not saying every character needs to have their career/job at the centre of their design…but when it’s not even vaguely hinted at, it’s extremely disappointing.

- her design and job gave the perfect opportunity to add cool and intriguing metallic details or even burns to her skin, i understand she’s also meant to be “laidback” but “laidback” doesn’t mean the design has to be sloppy, the half-off jacket was already enough of a clue that she’s relaxed.

- the belt especially is disappointing because it’s such an easy design fix; she likes details but doesn’t care about other’s opinion, this could’ve been the perfect placement to add little details in the metal to things she’s interested in (skating/dj shit whatever).

- the asymmetry also fails in this design, the unnecessary cut in her way too tight and tiny shorts clashes with the fact the large chunk of hair is also laid on the side (another easy fix…switch one of the two around!!). the design is very unbalanced in its proportions, i don’t understand why one arm is smooth and sleek while the other is clunky and jewelled.

- PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. SOMEONE GIVE HER PANTS.

MAVUIKA

THE POSITIVES:

- her name is a reference to the māori fire deity. she’s the pyro archon. uhm yeah.

- her hair is a cool sun shape i guess and uh…she’s got…some patterns that look like the sun and shit.

THE NEGATIVES:

- i genuinely think hoyoverse rewrote the entire story, lore and concept of natlan 3 days before the release because there’s no way that they thought this was a plausible design for the archon of WAR. first off, her motorcycle chick aesthetic. nonsensical, doesn’t fit in with the lore of the game, nor even the shown transportation methods in natlan. if the pyro archon is just a normal person or whatever, we should be seeing motorbikes more commonly. i just know she fucking stinks too, latex in the heat of natlan? musty as hell.

- there’s utterly no interest in her silhouette or shapes…and that’s not even more exaggerating. the most interest in her design is how her sleeves puff out at the ends and the tech accessories she has attached to her boots. i hate the fact her zipper goes all the way down to her kitty. there ain’t no need for that. not only is it a dumbass design choice aesthetically, functionally that shit must hurt.

- while the colours are cohesive and follow the general rule, they are super uninteresting with the secondary and tertiary tones used in a way that doesn’t enhance the design, it feels more like a colouring book than detail.

- absolutely no part of her design would tell you that she holds the authority over a nation known for its history of war and freedom. not even a battle scar to present her fighting abilities, no special markings or tattoos—things which are VERY common symbolisms in māori culture!! this could’ve easily been enhanced just by adding archon specific elements in her tattoos. you don’t even have to dial back the fanservice if you’re that desperate, let a little cleavage out and draw a whole map of markings!! just do something!!!

CHASCA

THE POSITIVES:

- there’s feathers in her design and she’s from the flower-feather clan, i guess that’s a decent enough recall to her tribe.

- i like the symmetry in her design from the hat and the back of her tattered cape it’s cohesive, and all the small details from the accessories and metals is actually quite catching to look at, i sincerely wished this was repeated in the entire outfit.

THE NEGATIVES:

- i don’t understand why she’s some sort of elf. has this ever even been established as a proper race?? why are there elves in this nation?? does it have any relevance to her character?? or her abilities and knowledge?

- the colours are actually hideous even with the 60/30/10 rule. every hue is super desaturated and dull your eyes don’t actually know what you’re supposed to focus on so instead your attention is cast to the random fucking leg that’s just fully bare and out compared to her weird latex legging. this isn’t even good symmetry wise because… this naked/latex portion is repeated in the top half of her outfit with the arms. it’s all extremely awkward and misplaced like they had several references and just drew over all of them.

- the top is decent but super bare and dull, there’s practically no interest in the shape or material, it all feels like the default filter on dress to impress or gacha life.

- back on the symmetry, all her design weight is fixed on the left side of the design (right, if you’re imagining it as the picture above), there’s no interest in the silhouette, it’s very unimpressive and insignificant to the point where the only sole point of interest in her design is the hat because of its exaggerated appearance from the rest of the flatness.

- can you tell that despite being named after an incan goddess, her design has absolutely no bearing fashion resemblance to the amerindians? who would’ve guessed!

ORORON

THE POSITIVES:

- FINALLY!! A CHARACTER WITH VISUAL MARKINGS AND TATTOOS!!! who knew it would take this long (hint it was me)

- his entire silhouette is outline with sharp, jagged edges, reflecting a harsh demeanour, especially the back cape(?) thing which has no curve, just a sharp point—an image of someone cutthroat and dangerous. with the way he has his hoodie up it can be assumed he wishes to remain mysterious or secretive.

- colour scheme is cohesive but once again, incredibly boring and unimaginative. they finally learnt that the other side of the colour wheel exists but then lost all their design abilities in the process.

THE NEGATIVES:

- his overall silhouette outline is hideous. there’s no break in the design everything just goes down in a harsh fat rectangle. it’s way too top heavy with no accessories or anything significant at the bottom to balance all the clutter from the scarf hoodie thing.

- i don’t even think i need to mention how poor it is to butcher the name of a yoruba god and make him a furry of all things—think that more or less speaks for itself.

- no part of his design gives the impression of someone who would “tend to vegetables” and i know that sounds dumb, but what i mean is that they clearly stuck with one concept (making him some tough emo copy paste) without thinking of the whole other archetype they intended to add: someone who’s lighthearted and gentle. you can absolutely have both in a design, i’m not saying tough people are incapable of gentleness, but there’s nothing in his design to make you stop and consider that he isn’t a gruff asshole.

- ripped jeans. right. let’s ignore the beaming temperature in natlan for now—who in the design department sat down and thought, “yeah dude this is absolutely fire!!! 🔥🔥🔥”. he looks like the gacha demon alpha wolf hybrid oc i made when i was 13.

VARESA

THE POSITIVES:

- her design’s colour palette is digestible.

THE NEGATIVES:

- apparently she’s meant to be based off luchadora wrestlers but don’t piss me off. the only singular element that vaguely resembles the attire in the wrestling style is the top and just maybe the accessories on her skirt.

- someone save me who the fuck decided to give this girl temu leg warmers. LEG WARMERS. IN THE NATION OF FIRE AND WAR? characters who fight and are killers or whatever have every right to be cute and aesthetic or whatever, like bitch i love mizuki kaminade!! but this girl ain’t her.

- she has such potential but instead of going fully down the cool wrestler route and giving her these muscles and sick details and patterns…we get horny incel slop where people think her having thicker thighs and big boobs means she’s chubby.

- also?? 😭 CHUBBY? ya’ll gotta be ragebaiting because there’s no way i’m seeing people call this a revolutionary moment. she is the same size as every other godforsaken female character in game, her thighs are just bigger. that’s pure fetish content (i’ve already seen the weird milking jokes about her let’s be real, they knew what they were doing).

- the design is very 2020 gacha oc coded.

- the design is both asymmetrical and symmetrical which sometimes can look good but realistically, with the way it’s done here she just looks like someone’s first attempt at profesional design (you are failing).

- this was the perfect opportunity to give her some sort of cow print markings, but no, boring white slop. they’re happy giving her random kawaii bandaids though! >//<

- her silhouette is both cluttered and plain, all the little baubles hanging off her distract you but then when you try and look deeper at the actual outfit you find nothing but ugly egg-white coloured ariana grande sleeves and the shortest miniskirt known to man. it’s a mess, and not even a satisfying one to look at.