FINALS!!! Furina vs Kiana Kaslana

(Propaganda under the cut)

Furina:

the girl who saved fontaine. condemned herself to a life of silent pain and suffering without any warning or preparation. she could confide in no one, seek out help from no one, all while bearing the weight of her entire nation on her shoulders. not only did her willpower save everyone in fontaine, but after the prophecy was averted, she was finally allowed to live a normal life.

Kiana Kaslana:

TLDR: she's kiana kaslana what do you MEAN!!!! kiana is a beautifully written character who fully encapsulates what hi3 is about and she's so full of love and guilt and (most importantly) hope. she's a clone who struggles with her own identity/inhumanity and traumas extending from when she was a young child and her guilt but is so so resilient and so so so so compassionate which ultimately reinforces her humanity :)

kiana's character IS the honkai impact thesis statement. i don't even mean it as in she's the literal main character and face of honkai i genuinely mean it when i say she just IS honkai impact. she reflects every single theme that they portray [hope over nihilism (chapter 25 || the flame chasers and just. the previous era in general), having agency over your identity and your own story (himeko, her being k423 and being so linked to sirin, everlasting flames || the kaslana household name honestly, bronya, fu hua, mei, sirin), believing in the humanity's inherent worth (chapter 25, arc city || elysia <- important since as a current era herrscher, she is a successor to elysia AND as kiana kaslana, she is a narrative parallel of elysia), having faith in the youth (himeko, kevin || the other flame chasers! notably su), etc.] her character being so reflective is also sooooo OUGH to think about when you view it as a reflection of honkai's 50,000 year samsara because kiana is a representation of these themes coming full circle (especially since many of these stretch back to the previous era and elysia).

SHE FEELS SO MUCH. she's so full of love and guilt. she clearly prioritizes others over herself and part of her arc is her learning to value and love herself as well!!! she would give herself for the world ten times over because she holds so much affection for humanity!! (WHILE FEELING DEHUMANIZED BECAUSE OF HER IDENTITY AS BOTH A HERRSCHER AND K423) and it's actively apart of her character's growth :'')

dear god her growth… okok. so i think first you have to understand that a lot of kiana's growth obviously coincides w general maturity as she grows from a teenager to a young adult. but aside from that i think people often forget that younger kiana is incredibly self sufficient since her father literally left her with little to no explanation when she was like. what 8? the insecurity she feels at that! the anger she has to navigate while also balancing it with her own feelings of missing and loving him. basically: kiana has struggled a lot w instability and is thus kinda good at navigating it. ex: she isnt shaken by nagazora and literally tries again and again and again to save mei and convince mei to let her help. the thing is this fucks w her a bit though because a big thing that she does as a means to cope w instability is avoiding them (not reflective of real life of course, but in the fictional hi3 this is partially represented in kiana's repressed memories about her actual origins as k423). she can not stand the realization that she killed himeko that she's so deep in denial and doesnt truly realize it until more than 10 chapters after himeko dies! she's so horrified with her being a herrscher she actively tries to not use her powers out of fear, even when it puts her in harms way (the chapter XI-EX CG!!!!!! her literally trying to kill herself!!) she literally runs away from her friends and loved ones because she's so scared of hurting them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which is why her promise to himeko to not run away is so important!! because it addresses one of kiana's biggest flaws!!!!! this is especially important bc her refusal to continue her avoidance feeds into her arc during the herrscher of dominion chapters where she both faces her own guilt/identity and deliberately chooses perseverance and hope over nihilism!! she is hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're wondering why I said 'not a minor' instead of my age, it's an internet safety thing. You guys just need to know that I'm an adult.

This isn't an adult blog though, it's SFW and the topic is whatever I feel like posting at the current moment (usually Genshin, HSR, Palestine reblogs (free Palestine), various anime, among other things)

Follow my side blog, @hoyowomentournament, I'm running a tournament for Hoyoverse women

He/they

Typical DNI (racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes, Terfs, ableists, ect). This blog is (hopefully) a safe space for all.

Current thing bouncing around my brain: My hair (/neg)

Semifinals: Collei vs Furina

(Propaganda under the cut)

Collei:

MY DEADALIVEGIRL!!!!!!!!!! i genuinely don't even know where to start. collei is such a beautiful beautiful character who's entire story revolves around a girl who's been dehumanized and exploited for her entire life, healing through compassion and a recognition of her own humanity. first of all, when we meet collei in the genshin manhua, she is full of vitriolic anger and hate at both the world and herself. she's been dehumanized over and over and over again and because its a repetitive experience, she fully believes that her lack of worth is something innately true. this only changes when someone (amber) shows her unrelenting compassion and trust. amber goes against everything that collei believed about herself. amber tells her that she is not only capable of good, but she is good. amber reinforces this novel idea that collei deserves goodness. and that realization is the moment that collei begins recognizing her own humanity, and thus, recognizing her own potential to grow, heal, and be the good person that amber knows she is. every moment thus forth is a demonstration of her attempts to grow and be kind!!!! she decides to go through with cyno's sealing ritual even with its conditions! she asks lisa to help her write a letter at the end of the manhua! she mends amber's tattered clothes like she promised! she decides to go to sumeru, a land of wisdom! it's so pertinent to her character that she gains her vision (representative of her ambition) during a show of compassion (protecting a child during a dangerous storm)! it's even in her symbolism with the way she's constantly referred to as a sproutling. NOT EVEN MENTIONING HOW THE REBIRTH METAPHOR THATS APPLIED TO HER CHARACTER (re: sprout of rebirth, revived serval, cyno and anubis and their ritual) IS SO DEEPLY CONNECTED TO SUMERU (her being the first sumeru character we know of and having that rebirth metaphor hinted at in the manhua! that rebirth metaphor carrying over to the actual sumeru plot w nahida! the rebirth metaphor tying in with the snake and cat symbolism that she and the archon residue complete!!!!!!) she's just such a loaded character!! AND collei's one of the few genshin characters with canonical cptsd who has identifiable and realistically common triggers. most importantly, the game acknowledges that its there and in spite of that, shows her resilience in still trying and healing!!!! my disabled deadalive mummygirl i love her so bad.

Furina:

the girl who saved fontaine. condemned herself to a life of silent pain and suffering without any warning or preparation. she could confide in no one, seek out help from no one, all while bearing the weight of her entire nation on her shoulders. not only did her willpower save everyone in fontaine, but after the prophecy was averted, she was finally allowed to live a normal life.

Round 2: Fu Hua vs Shenhe

(Propaganda under the cut)

Fu Hua:

talk about loneliness. the devastation of immortality. the pain that comes with watching every friend and loved one you gain over the course of 50,000 years wither away and die, leaving you behind. hua bears the burden of guiding humanity, but that guidance comes with the price of never quite walking in tandem with anyone else. always a little bit above, below, behind, or ahead.

Semifinals: Nahida vs Kiana Kaslana

(Propaganda under the cut)

Kiana:

TLDR: she's kiana kaslana what do you MEAN!!!! kiana is a beautifully written character who fully encapsulates what hi3 is about and she's so full of love and guilt and (most importantly) hope. she's a clone who struggles with her own identity/inhumanity and traumas extending from when she was a young child and her guilt but is so so resilient and so so so so compassionate which ultimately reinforces her humanity :)

kiana's character IS the honkai impact thesis statement. i don't even mean it as in she's the literal main character and face of honkai i genuinely mean it when i say she just IS honkai impact. she reflects every single theme that they portray [hope over nihilism (chapter 25 || the flame chasers and just. the previous era in general), having agency over your identity and your own story (himeko, her being k423 and being so linked to sirin, everlasting flames || the kaslana household name honestly, bronya, fu hua, mei, sirin), believing in the humanity's inherent worth (chapter 25, arc city || elysia <- important since as a current era herrscher, she is a successor to elysia AND as kiana kaslana, she is a narrative parallel of elysia), having faith in the youth (himeko, kevin || the other flame chasers! notably su), etc.] her character being so reflective is also sooooo OUGH to think about when you view it as a reflection of honkai's 50,000 year samsara because kiana is a representation of these themes coming full circle (especially since many of these stretch back to the previous era and elysia).

SHE FEELS SO MUCH. she's so full of love and guilt. she clearly prioritizes others over herself and part of her arc is her learning to value and love herself as well!!! she would give herself for the world ten times over because she holds so much affection for humanity!! (WHILE FEELING DEHUMANIZED BECAUSE OF HER IDENTITY AS BOTH A HERRSCHER AND K423) and it's actively apart of her character's growth :'')

dear god her growth… okok. so i think first you have to understand that a lot of kiana's growth obviously coincides w general maturity as she grows from a teenager to a young adult. but aside from that i think people often forget that younger kiana is incredibly self sufficient since her father literally left her with little to no explanation when she was like. what 8? the insecurity she feels at that! the anger she has to navigate while also balancing it with her own feelings of missing and loving him. basically: kiana has struggled a lot w instability and is thus kinda good at navigating it. ex: she isnt shaken by nagazora and literally tries again and again and again to save mei and convince mei to let her help. the thing is this fucks w her a bit though because a big thing that she does as a means to cope w instability is avoiding them (not reflective of real life of course, but in the fictional hi3 this is partially represented in kiana's repressed memories about her actual origins as k423). she can not stand the realization that she killed himeko that she's so deep in denial and doesnt truly realize it until more than 10 chapters after himeko dies! she's so horrified with her being a herrscher she actively tries to not use her powers out of fear, even when it puts her in harms way (the chapter XI-EX CG!!!!!! her literally trying to kill herself!!) she literally runs away from her friends and loved ones because she's so scared of hurting them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which is why her promise to himeko to not run away is so important!! because it addresses one of kiana's biggest flaws!!!!! this is especially important bc her refusal to continue her avoidance feeds into her arc during the herrscher of dominion chapters where she both faces her own guilt/identity and deliberately chooses perseverance and hope over nihilism!! she is hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winner!

Congratulations to Kiana Kaslana, the winner of the Hoyowomen tournament!

Honorable mentions to Furina in second place, Collei and Nahida in third, and Elysia, because I forgot her a while back.

Thank you so much for participating!

Round 1: Qingque vs Klee

(Propaganda under the cut)

Klee:

THE BABIEST CHARACTER OF ALL TIME. 1. miscellaneous silly things about her: she blows a raspberry in one of her voice lines in chinese. she literally found primogems and gave them to us. her bombs are said to be impossibly above teyvat's standards they are literally other worldly. she's canonically solo'd the primo geovishap and gave us its drops.

2. my god. okay you think she's like a typical child character made for the sake of comedic relief and while that is certainly part of her character's role, she also serves as a foil to characters with familial issues (notably: albedo, kaeya, jean, razor, even diona honestly) because her character so heavily centers her love of her family (primarily alice) and the love alice has in turn taught her. klee is a character who's youth is so painfully important to the role she plays because to the older characters she foils, she's a representation of youth and thus (in a way) a representation of the past for these characters! them treating her so so kindly with so much love is representative of their own healing since they willingly choose to uplift her and give her a particular carefree childhood they did not have. this is especially touching when you remember that alice is not home most of the time!! she could become like them in the future!! and while its not like they're replacements for alice or vice versa-- it means something for them to constantly be there for klee! kaeya literally says that klee's "innocent, childlike nature is very powerful. it can inspire and even help heal others." she's so so so important as a foil for these characters!!!!!!

Round 2: Kiana Kaslana vs Silver Wolf

(Propaganda under the cut)

Kiana Kaslana:

kiana started as a selfish, lazy, hotheaded girl who was shaped by her suffering and her trauma to mature into someone so selfless that she would give up any chance at a normal, happy life to ensure the entire world was safe and protected

Quarterfinals: Fu Hua vs Kiana Kaslana

(Propaganda under the cut)

Fu Hua:

talk about loneliness. the devastation of immortality. the pain that comes with watching every friend and loved one you gain over the course of 50,000 years wither away and die, leaving you behind. hua bears the burden of guiding humanity, but that guidance comes with the price of never quite walking in tandem with anyone else. always a little bit above, below, behind, or ahead.

Kiana Kaslana:

Hoyo's best mc hands down. Gay as hell. Great character development. Etc etc.

Round 3: Kafka vs Nahida

Round 3: Bronya Zaychik vs Stelle

Propaganda under the cut

Bronya:

i love her so so bad <3. canonically disabled lesbian who has trouble with feeling intense emotions BUT HER ENTIRE CHARACTER REVOLVES AROUND LOVE!! whether it be from her romantic love of seele in the early game/manhua (it being the primary motivation for her to take care of herself); familial love surrounding her (her inheritance of the legacy of reason from welt yang who lost his own father, her guardians love for her being the only reason shes survived for so long even after their death <- many examples of that but the most obvious one being alexandra trading her own life for bronya via misteln, cocolia's relationship with bronya being emphasized as complex in part because of the real love they do feel for each other alongside all the other resentment from cocolia's betrayal of her), literally just. the core of reason and its 300,000 minds being representative of welt joyce's decision to fight for humanity because he loved humanity from that. and all of this from (again!!!) a canonically disabled lesbian! who's character and marginalized identities have been dehumanized over and over again in real life and in the plot! this isn't even mentioning how her entire arc exemplifies honkai's theme of agency.

Stelle:

u put a hydrogen bomb in my baby! no but seriously. the burden of housing a stellaron in her body is actually insane. she has no idea what could happen, no idea if she'll hurt those she cares about at any moment of any day. they put up an aloof front to keep themselves at a distance, but they're remarkably and endearingly terrible at keeping that up. canonically uses she/they, too, which is awesome.

Round 2: Kujou Sara vs Yae Sakura

(Propoganda under the cut)

Kujou Sara:

god she's so full of guilt and insecurity and i think she's such a fun reflection of inazuma's quality (eternity) because her entire character sits on a house of cards!! when sara was young she was thrown off of a mountain trying to protect her home! she gains her vision here, as she fell while saying how she believed she could protect her home forever! passerbys found her and sara was adopted into the kujou clan who believed she, who held a vision, was a sign of the gods' favor. she was taken in, not out of kindness or of compassion, but as a tool. this reflects in how she was treated in her childhood! she feels so isolated and alienated from her adopted family! she was reprimanded for playing with the other soldiers and those soldiers would be punished! takayuki (her adoptive father) literally said, "Not following military law and neglecting your training… I did not take you in just to have you do such pointless things." she is a pawn! she was never allowed to have her own identity as herself because ever since integrating into the human world, she's always had to be the pride of the kujou clan! even her devotion to the raiden shogun, something she sees as her duty because the vision she holds is proof to her that someone has recognized her worth, is something that rips her of her own individual identity! remember her duel with kazuha's friend? regardless of anything sara knows that the shogun would have killed her if she had failed!! because she has always been used as a tool she has never truly known the stability of a community that loves her for who she is rather than the role she fills!! i think this is especially clear when we learn of the kujou clan's betrayal and see sara's disappointment and anger since it not only went against the very two roles that she's been defined by her whole life, it went against her very will to protect others (AGAIN! THE VERY THING SHE WAS TRYING TO DO WHEN SHE GAINED HER VISION).

Yae Sakura:

everything about her is so tragically beautiful. all she wants is to save the life of her sister and no matter what situation or reality the two of them end up in she's NEVER able to. the honkai destroyed any chance of a normal life for the two of them, and she sacrificed herself so that her friends could have a chance of survival. even after everything that had happened with MOTH, she still trusted that MEI and kevin would end the herrscher of corruption and live to fight another day as long as she gave them the chance.

Round 1: Furina vs Raiden Mei

Quarterfinals: Nahida vs March 7th

(Propaganda under the cut)

March 7th:

she's just a girl. no but seriously she doesn't remember anything from her past and she could so easily warp into someone unrecognizable or cruel but instead of being angry at the world she took the love she was given by everyone around her and decided to give it back tenfold. she is a LIGHT in everyones lives

Round 1: Jingliu vs Lynette

Round 3: Beidou vs Seele Vollerei

(Propaganda under the cut)

Seele:

literally where do i even start with seele vollerei. she grew up meek and timid and scared, to the point where the stigma in her genes gained sentience in the form of a version of her with the power and confidence to protect her where she couldn't manage by herself. seele and "dark" seele didn't get along at first, and seele was afraid of her for a long time, but instead of ending as enemies, they ended up almost like sisters? "dark" seele realized she needed seele as much as seele needed her, and instead of the two of them separating out of malice or hatred, they did so in order to give "dark" seele a chance to live her own life, in her own body, and she chose to live that life alongside seele (and bronya). not even mentioning the fact that seele's herrscher form was meant to be the herrscher of death, but it manifested in the form of both life AND death because she never represented just one thing.