The Genshin Impact’s official account recognized the character Chevreuse’s birthday, the commander of Special Security and Surveillance Patrol in Fontaine, through a lovely tweet segment. In character, the tweet depicted a new drawing and a short story where Chevreuse warns the Traveler not to sneak up on her from behind. The message quickly garnered likes and replies in the thousands, with gamers not only paying tribute to the character but constantly requesting the return of the chibi-style birthday artworks that the game used to feature.
Hence, the Genshin Impact social media team proceeded to unveil the classic annual birthday art of Chevreuse. At present, the art is breathtaking, and there is no discussion about it. She appears to us as though she indeed was on a break with a musket beside her, looking very serious yet a bit surprised. The little story segment belongs very much to Chevreuse as well – all “I was reading” and “do not sneak up on me or you will get the stock of my gun.” It is charming! It is character development! It is almost what they do.
Nonetheless, the audience feels that the replies process has been a masterclass in accepting duality of one’s thoughts at once. There is total and absolute appreciation at some point. She is called “wife,” “the best Fontaine 4-star,” and the “goat” for her support of the Overload reaction meta. It is a swamp of “happy birthday chev!!” and heart emojis and all that positive stuff. The user “Pristine” regarded her as one of their favs, and “silver wolfie” likewise alluded to their “favourite chevrolet,” which, by the way, is a very funny error and could also be a new name.
On the contrary, we can look at it the other way. The side that insists on keeping the chibi thing is the one that is hardest to convince. Talking about it, Genshin Impact used to have the little super-deformed, extremely cute chibi animations for character birthdays, which fans went wild for. But then they slowly stopped showcasing them and instead went for more detailed and realistic illustrations. A good number of users do not just miss the chibi art significantly but also are quite expressive about it. I mean, if you skim through the comments, it will seem like they are singing in unison: Alear proclaims, “bring back chibi art >:(“; alejo (who by the way is definitely a Spanish speaker) asks, “dónde mierda están mis chibis” (which translates to “where the hell are my chibis” if you are not fluent in Spanish); aceisepic8 mentions “We need chibi and animations back”, and he has already made four successive posts about it. Elliot even sent their happy birthday wish with a picture of the old chibi art attached, almost like a protest sign. The demand is loud, clear, and all over this birthday post.
Funny it is somewhat. The post aims to be a celebration and in a way it is, but it has also emerged as the latest battlefield of this perpetual fan, let us term it a grievance, issue. For some of the replies Chevreuse is not even the subject anymore, just the principle. #BringBackChibiArt has been seen in some comments. They are taking advantage of the engagement on a popular character’s post to communicate with the developers. Gamer activism with a cute twist.
Then there are the real ones, the players who are on the front line of the gacha system. User “Pumqkin” gave a sarcastic “cheers to the char that keeps bricking everyones account that tries to pull for her cons n get unwanted 5 instead.” Ouch! That is a very specific pain. And “comfy” responded to someone else that they have pulled on every Chevreuse banner and she is still only at Constellation 2. “She is so stubborn,” they comment. That is the actual birthday celebration for many gamers – having a 4-star character they adore but the wishing system is not fully cooperating. It is a kind of vibe.
The art is okay! It is nice! But still, you can’t help but think that every time the social media team at HoYoverse hits ‘post’ on a birthday tweet now, they probably just sigh a little as they know exactly what the top replies are going to be. It is like clockwork. Happy Birthday, [Character]! But where are the chibis?
The entire scenario illustrates how deeply players bond with Genshin Impact characters. They do so through loving, sometimes extravagant celebrations, but at the same time, they are also very vocal about the stylistic aspects that they miss and long for the most.
