Episode 81: Summertide Scales and Tales

Fellow Traveler Kanra from our Discord (Shades of Teyvat) shared a great tribute video to the Simulanka event. Whether you did the event or not, this is a sweet story recap. If you’re interested in seeing the whole event, here is a full walkthrough from YouTube.

While it might have startled Paimon, we were not surprised to see Alice show up as a lamp at the end of the event. It’s become a staple to “see” her at the end of each summer event in some mechanism of her own creation. Alice better watch out; Tif is trying to figure out how to add the lamp to her Serenitea Pot.

Who would be Alice’s fling when she’s hopping around to KFC in the real world? Tif thinks Grimace would be a perfect fit, but Bee is leaning toward the Hamburglar. He does have the hat element we know the Hexenzirkel seems to favor. Vote on our Spotify poll and tell us who you think her beau would have been (only available on the mobile Spotify app).

As Feens points out, it wouldn’t be a summer event if Genshin didn’t throw a bunch of random characters in an unknown area and let them run amock. This year our main cast of characters included Nilou, Kirara, Navia, and Scaramouche. We had some other friends make an appearance at the end as well – Jean, Kaeya, Collei, Mona, Fischl, Klee, and Albedo.

To no one’s surprise, Tif was in love with the animals in Simulanka. But it wasn’t just origami frogs that we met during our travels; we also met some toys – both in the city and in the mines. We helped the origami animals regain their color after fixing the Calligraphy Tavern in the Forest of Blessings and unstuck the toys from their gum traps and mishaps in Constellation Metropole. And ultimately saved them from the misunderstood dragon.

Feens points out that Taylor Swift channeled her inner Navia at this year’s VMAs in her plaid Christian Dior look. So who wore it better?

Hat tip (no Cyno-pun intended) to @pierrepilled for adding the hat to TSwift.

The misunderstood dragon at the center of our story is the Simulanka version of Durin. While he starts out as a mean-looking blocky dragon, he later turns into the sweet Mini Durin we now all love. It was so cute that Bee couldn’t help changing his avatar over to the cutie ASAP, causing Feens to spoil herself with an ill-fated Google Image Search.

Feens also talks about a TikTokker she’s a big fan of who acts out his own FanFic stories in a variety of amazing cosplay looks. Be sure to check out the very talented rosemagpie on TikTok and let Feens know what you think!

Tif recaps all the after-the-fact interactions you can have with our main cast back in Teyvat. This includes Hat Guy begrudgingly admitting he’s been in a better mood when questioned by Nahida, Nilou saving the now real animals from being eaten by a dog, Navia telling her stories to Chlorinde and Chiori over some tea, and Kirara excited to still have her ‘nekomata-in-boots’ look in the regular world. But Tif’s favorite was the two toys that went out on an adventure and ended up in some boxes in Fontaine.

In case you missed it, there was a hidden room over in the Broken Sea area that contained some chests and relics from past summer events. Check out the details in this YouTube video.

Here are some helpful links if you’re unfamiliar with the pop culture references we mentioned during the episode. Bee talked about Ni No Kuni and referenced the Balrog from Lord of the Rings. Amanda mentioned a very creepy commercial about online safety.

Thank you to fellow travelers Travo and Moon for writing in. We truly appreciate your questions and comments! If you’d like to send us mail via the Komaniya Express, reach out on our Instagram, X/Twitter, or email. We’d love to hear from you! And Kirara could use the work.