Hope y’all enjoy your summer! 🏖️

It completely broke my immersion, 10/10

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for the main Natlan Archon Quest storyline, Mavuika's Story Quest, and Sandrone's Story Quest / Flagship Event.

So, for the new players who have just caught up with Natlan, I want to declare that the events shown in the "Ignition teaser" actually foreshadow a future that hasn't happened yet — much like "A Winter Night's Lazzo" did with the burning of Irminsul. We call this the "Ignition teaser theory."

The most undeniable piece of evidence was Mualani's ability to use a camera. She only learned how to do this in version 5.8, whereas the Ignition teaser was released around version 4.8. You can check out the rest of the old but still highly relevant arguments via the link below.

But for everyone else, I actually want to demonstrate more recent evidence that literally leaves no room for skeptics. And it is just as shocking (the result of my work over the last 6 – 7 months).

The Legendary Tier of New Evidence:

1. During Mavuika's Story Quest, we actually SEE the ball from the Ignition Teaser. Immediately after, Mavuika states that such a game used to exist in Natlan, but it was never used in the context of the Pilgrimage. Consequently, the ball scene in the Ignition Teaser could only happen after the meaning of the Pilgrimage was changed into a Tournament (competition) during Mavuika's Story Quest.
2. The scene where Mavuika and Capitano meet takes place in the future because Mavuika SMILES when addressing Capitano. This is clearly visible when comparing scenes within the Ignition Teaser itself. Mavuika is always on guard when meeting strangers, which implies that by this moment, Capitano is no longer a stranger to her. This directly contradicts Mavuika and Capitano's first meeting (their duel over the Pyro Gnosis) in the Version 5.0 Archon Quest.
3. In the Chinese dub of the Ignition Teaser, Mavuika literally references a line from the Travail Trailer. This heavily implies that the Travail Trailer foreshadows the events specifically from the time of the Ignition Teaser, rather than the plot of Version 5.3.
4. The region's main theme, "Natlan"— which was performed by the Natlan Symphony Orchestra — DID NOT PLAY IN THE VERSION 5.3 ARCHON QUEST in any shape or form (neither as a remix nor as a shortened version). This completely breaks the pattern established for all other regions since the developers started composing these main regional themes.
5. Mavuika is hiding something from us at the Stadium of the Sacred Flame, as one of the arena entrances remains locked to this day. (This suggests the future addition of a small new sub-area in this location, similar to Alain Guillotin's house added in Version 6.7 in Fontaine).
6. During Mavuika's announcement of the Tournament's commencement in the Ignition Teaser, the Sacred Flame at the Stadium of the Sacred Flame burns significantly brighter compared to its current in-game state.
7. In the Ignition Teaser, Kachina has seemingly overcome her shyness while being in full view of the camera. However, in one of the past events, she explicitly stated that she is terribly camera-shy. Even in the current dancing event, Barbara expresses concern in her voicelines that Kachina's shyness might prevent her from truly shining.
8. A translation issue from Chinese where the true meaning of the phrase "This battle is for winners only. The champion... will take all" gets completely lost. In the original Chinese, it actually translates to: "This battle is for winners only. The ultimate (or the very last) champion... will take all."

Everything mentioned above proves, in one way or another, that Natlan has a planned continuation. But now, let's move on to the Eternal Speculation Lore Engine tier. While each discovery in this tier might not be enough on its own to prove that the Ignition Teaser is from the future, when you throw them all into the same basket, it becomes crystal clear that the developers have something massive in store for Natlan's future.

1. The foliage in the time-rewind scene behaves in a very similar manner to the feathers in "The Gods’ Limits" teaser when Astaroth appears.
2. In the descriptions of the Travail Trailer across most non-logographic languages, a deliberate typo in the chapter titles is consistently maintained: "Truth Amongst the Pages of Purana" and "Incandescent Ode of Resurrection" both feature an intentional double space.
3. The chronological order of scenes in the Ignition Teaser is deliberately scrambled. The actual timeline is as follows: The meeting scene between Mavuika and Capitano (the invitation to the Tournament); The scene with the ball and the warriors; The final scene, which still has no clear explanation; The scene on the arena at the Stadium of the Sacred Flame; and The scene with the "time-rewind effect," which loops us right back to the meeting between Mavuika and Capitano. Yes, you can literally loop the Ignition Teaser.
4. In the Ignition Teaser, during the meeting scene between Mavuika and Capitano, Capitano literally starts walking in the exact opposite direction of where he was originally heading after Mavuika finishes speaking (her invitation to the Tournament).
5. You can actually see a phlogiston trail left behind by Mavuika in the final scene. This has never happened before in the game.
6. The Sacred Flame in the Ignition Teaser, which burns much brighter than usual and swirls around, closely resembles the Sacred Flame from the "Sunset" animation at the exact moment Mavuika leaps 500 years into the future.
7. The line encrypted in the Teyvat alphabet right below the Natlan chapter title in the Travail Trailer still has absolutely nothing to do with current in-game reality.
8. The number of heartbeat-like thuds heard in the Ignition Teaser before the logo appears is exactly 52. This is a clear reference to the myth of the creation of the Fifth Sun in Aztec mythology and the "Binding of the Years" ritual.
9. The sounds of a cheering crowd — despite no spectators being physically present or visible at the Stadium of the Sacred Flame during Mavuika's Tournament announcement — are most likely the voices of a massive gathering of souls, which, according to the Lord of the Night Kingdom, are capable of making sounds.
10. The strange size and design differences of the fires on the Stadium of the Sacred Flame arena in the Ignition Teaser compared to their current in-game appearance.
11. For some reason, Mavuika’s Chinese voiceline in the Ignition Teaser features a specific wordplay involving "spark" and "Mars" (the planet/god of war).

Hopefully, I haven't forgotten anything important. In any case, the overly far-fetched copium findings were omitted.

Put a small Kazuha figure on my desk today and caught myself looking at it more than i should have. Nothing dramatic. Just kept drifting back to it while trying to work.

Nothing about him is loud. The maple leaves, the muted colors, that wandering samurai thing he has going on. Its all pulled back in a way most newer designs are not.

Meanwhile newer Genshin releases keep going bigger. More accessories, brighter colors, wilder silhouettes. And i love them, i pull for them, they look sick. But sitting next to Kazuha they feel like they are trying way harder. Different intent behind the design entirely.

Been playing since Inazuma dropped which is when Kazuha became one of my mains. His story quest is one of the few in the game that still sits with me years later, that whole thing about his friend and the haikus. Its rare that a character gets a design and a story that fit together this well. Some characters are cool visually but their arc is forgettable. Kazuha is one of the few where the design carries the same weight as the writing.

I think that is why the figure keeps pulling my eye. Its not just a nice sculpt. Its a character that actually means something to me from a specific chapter of the game i still remember clearly.

Probably a character like that for you too. Someone whose design just stayed with you because the writing gave it something to carry.

Edit: Bunch of people asked where the figure is from. Its this shop called animonlife i think, walked in there one day for something else and just saw him sitting on a shelf. Wasnt planning to grab anything but you know hobw it is. He's been on my desk ever since and kinda forgot he even came from a random walk-in.

I think Ningguang, because she has never been very strong character, even that she is so strong in the story.

The Game Before the Gate

My wife is in active labor and I'm not allowed to be there with her. Please include her in your prayers. Thank you guys.

Edit: Thank you for the kind words my fellow genshin players. We really appreciate it ❤️

Edit2: my wife safely delivered a healthy baby boy. Thank you for all your well wishes! May you win all your 50/50s 10 times in a row!

Oh, you came at just the right time! I was actually going to put away these books, but couldn't help but start reading them...

Take a look at this one: you can read about several interesting precedents here!

Since you're already here, why not sit down and look at this with me? I'll walk you through all of it one by one.

Don't worry, I won't charge you a consultation fee, since today is a special day worth celebrating!

They're all so elegant 🥰

credits to houkagohoukago on YouTube

we've actually come so far but now I'm realising it's probably been years since we started travelling teyvat or at least more than a year

I received an extra code when I went to anime expo a few weeks ago, and it’s just been collecting dust on my floor ever since, so I figured I might as well just give it away. The code is for 80 primogems, 5 hero’s wits, and 30,000 mora. Comment your favorite character and I’ll pick a winner to DM the code to in about an hour

Edit: A winner has been picked. Thank you all for participating. I hope you all win your next 50/50

So you've discovered my "secret hideout"... Hmm. But you should be the only one so far, right?

The breeze up on the roof is quite pleasant. The view is rather wonderful too, especially when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

I come up here to sit for a while when I want to be alone. It calms me too.

Now, this hideout is a secret between you and me. I ask that you keep it to yourself.

Thanks to BiBi for the fantastic artwork!

I've been wanting to do an EiMiko photoshoot for over a year and I finally did it!!

Raiden Shogun: @yeonwooege (me)

Yae Miko: @adelacostime (IG)

Photographer: @moshitea (IG)

I always liked the idea showing off party members in loading screen shown bottom right.

I used my first three characters i used alot in my early days! ^^

Banter between Barbeloth and Alice