#Character Trailer Splash Art

[the-astral-express-archive]

Honkai: Star Rail | Character Trailer Splash Art (3/3)

[anominous-user]

man, it is such a shame that with part 2 they stopped doing separate artworks for hi3 character trailers and instead just animated the splash arts

[epicness1000]

17 REASONS WHY SAMPO KOSKI IS SUS

I'm not sure if I've come across a fictional character more horrendously sus than Sampo Koski.

Since I'm kind of hyperfixated on him (and Dr Ratio too), I will make a post on why our beloved blue scammer is very, very sus.

He is the only character to leave no trace when he walks. No splashes in water, no footprints in the snow. Literally no other character in the game does this.

All of his eidolons, save for one, are made up of two words and are very light hearted: "Rising love", "Infectious enthusiasm", "Big money!", "Huuuuuuuuge money!" and "Increased Spending", all of which reference either his love for money, or his warmth. The one exception is "The Deeper the Love, the Stronger the Hate". What? What do you mean hate? We've never seen Sampo be anything but 'haha funny scam boi'. What a strangely ominous thing to say...

Not to mention the art paired with that eidolon. In every piece of art we have of him, you can see the light in his eyes– not here. The light's completely absent.

His defeat pose. Every character is either kneeling, or sitting down. Sampo is the ONLY one who is still on his feet. This must surely be intentional.

The fact that he's among the few characters with an invalid rating from the rating pistol (Alongside Acheron, Jing Yuan, Feixiao, March 7 and Luocha, all of whom are either extremely powerful, or have a completely unknown past as is the case of March 7).

He is the only character to directly acknowledge the player in-game (Sparkle did this in a trailer, but... it was a trailer, so it doesn't count until it's something in-game). Self-aware character? (This is my own headcanon >:)

He very clearly is not a Belobogian native, this is all but confirmed by the fact that everyone states he just showed up one day a few years back (something along those lines). So... where is he really from? His splash art doesn't seem to be Belobog either...

The fact that the trailblazer turned away from him for ONE SECOND, and he disappeared without a sound??? Like he was never there at all.

The entirety of Funny Bone, which shows a very violent side to Sampo. You CANNOT convince me it doesn't hold some element of truth to who he truly is, because if Hoyo truly intended for him to be harmless comic relief with little more to him, why would they play this song live in an official Honkai: Star Rail orchestra accompanied with the visuals? Would they really approve something showing him in such a dangerous, unhinged and dark light when we've never seen him like that in-game?

The fact that he's a Masked Fool. A Masked Fool who apparently has some moral standards, but a Masked Fool nonetheless. Personally, I suspect he wasn't always so mellow.

THAT WHOLE SCENE OF FIREFLY DESCRIBING HIM, HAVING KNOWN NOTHING ABOUT WHO HE WAS, AND MAKING HIM SOUND LIKE SOME SORT OF SKILLED ASSASSIN?? (I know it was a shapeshifted Sparkle but I think the point still stands. Also, this might just be me, but before I realised it was Sampo following us around, the way FF was talking about our stalker unsettled me and genuinely left the impression that she was talking about an assassin of some kind... wouldn't surprise me if this guy's hands have been stained red in the past).

The fact that his backstory snippets are all of him just goofing around disguised as Madame Poisson? When there's CLEARLY more to him than meets the eye?

THE FACT THAT HE'S ONE OF THE FEW CHARACTERS WHO IS NOT ABLE TO BOARD THE ASTRAL EXPRESS YET????? Even Sparkle can board, so it doesn't have to do with the fact that he's a masked fool. And I think everyone else from Belobog can board, so... hmm... sus....

We find him in the Belobog outskirts. I'm pretty sure it's noted that normal humans can't go out there unprepared without freezing to death, or something? I might be misremembering.

HIS LIGHT CONE! HOW COULD I FORGET HIS LIGHT CONE! Firstly, notice it's not just one sniper targetting him, but there is also a man in the corner pointing a gun at him. The art is called "The Eyes of the Prey", yet when you read its description, Sampo is unsettlingly calm, spotting the sniper from a distance with no warning (makes him sound like he has borderline supernatural awareness, which I think fits with the idea of him being 'self-aware'), and is noted to have more money than the hitman makes from multiple contracts. I think the title is also a subversion– with how in control Sampo is of the situation, surviving TWO simultaneous hitmen, it's quite clear that he is not the prey– rather, it's those who target him.

He knows things he ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT KNOW. The fact that he implies that Dan Heng is a dragon? Or his 'knowledge' voice line, which clearly expresses his awareness that we arrived by train (when he should not have this information?).

His eidolon activation phrase is "Everyone has a colourful past, wouldn't you say?" We know literally NOTHING about his past.

So, I'm not sure EXACTLY what this all means, but it's clearly pointing to something. Don't let me down, Mihoyo! You usually do, you filthy gacha bastards, but... try to do Sampo justice please.

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Here we go again--

TRIP ABROAD TURNS INTO BUTTERFLY EFFECT

First thing worth mentioning is that the prime color in this artwork is pale blue. I feel like it's quite rare, most of INPLICK arts for Link Click have the same palette: burgundy red, shades of gray and black (except for the whole Surprise Beat thing which is splashed with flashy pink). All but this one:

(probably when they were 17 or sth)

For the sake of the argument, let's say it is a significant distinction to make. The reason is simple: the teaser taking place at the airport and the trailer prove that shit started three years ago, while CXS and LG's graduation trip. If this chronology is correct, then blue probably symbolizes Lu Guang's innocence or happiness. Blue used to paint Lu Guang but now he only sees the world in black, white and red. In the birthday official arts, blue is associated with his character. His flower is freaking Forget-Me-Not; Myosotis.

So yes, that's why I think the color palette here is relevant to the time period we're going to explore in the Yingdu Chapter.

The couch itself is blue when we're so used to the pair sitting on a brick sofa. The cakes and the flowers are the usual shade of red, though.

On the table: red roses in a vase. Petals are all over the place. Ominous. We actually see a roses bouquet in the PV of XETROverthink, held by Li Tianchen.

On the trolley: 1 bottle of wine, 2 CXS's feet, 3 glasses, 4 cakes, 5 individual desserts. The glass half full is Liu Xiao's, since it isn't on the trolley in the original artwork he is absent from. I said it in another post but the plate counts 4 portions, as in 4 antagonists, while the pudding might be Lu Guang's. The cakes are probably metaphors for timelines/curves, clocks dressed as desserts with a red fruit representing a dead Cheng Xiaoshi. V and VI are the only missing parts, just like Qiao Ling's one. CXS put his feet on the trail and I think it's both funny and tragic. I believe the correct saying is "put his foot in his mouth" but in french we say "mettre les pieds dans le plat", which literally translates "to put his feet in the plate" (to say something brutal with no tact or to do something stupid without thinking it through). He has both feet nearing timeline cakes and his head is five inches away from doomed flowers.

On the floor: 1 vintage phone. 1 camera. 2 envelopes, 3 pages of letters. 4 polaroids. Probably: 2 magazines and 3 pages of newspapers. The vintage phone could be relevant to THE TIDES, era-wise. The camera is taking polaroids and two of them are still dark, meaning they just took a shot and are yet to be revealed. The rest must be related to this chapter's plot. So much for holidays, guys (are they investigating CXS' missing parents?)

If you look closely, you'll see four different mentions of time:

Lu Guang's watch (hold this thought)

The polaroid: Big Ben

What looks like newspapers

The hourglass

We also have four mentions of information/communication

Letters

The polaroid: a public telephone box

Newspapers/magazines

Vintage phone (I was wondering why the phone had twelve numbers but after some research, I realized that some of them had # and *)

On another note, I don't know if their hands--

I mean, there's something definitely happening here but let's say for the sake of my sanity that what is supposed to be noticed are the sunglasses. If I'm being honest, this is the real oddity here and the teaser weirdly showed them off?? They're standing out because everything else is so blue for one thing.

They're pink-ish, which is close enough to magenta, so one of Lu Guang's colors (cf. Dive Back In Time). The color itself is weird for sunglasses. Lu Guang doesn't care about fashion, he wants practical. As a girl who loves pink sunglasses, I'll tell you: pink is shit at doing sunglasses' job. CXS told him to wear a cat hat, okay, but did he choose every other accessory?? My guess is that the pink served a purpose in connection with light.

And why is Lu Guang's watch on the other wrist in the artwork? I checked and LG wears it on his right wrist in the donghua and manhua. It can be the opposite for some artworks though... Or blocked from view for some reasons. It's almost as if we're not supposed to know which side is the actual reflection. 👀

Something else is reversed here, actually: the colors AND the pocket of Lu Guang's shirt. It could be a mistake, though.

>>>>> Basically, I think the artwork is telling us that the Yingdu Chapter is going to hurt and make us cry. If we're indeed about to see Lu Guang lose his humanity to try and save Cheng Xiaoshi for the first time therefore destroying worlds, I have no doubt it would be after Infinite Sadness™.

The real question this teaser isn't answering is either we'll go through the original timeline or a rewind. The last episode of season 2 makes me frown. How to be sure that the Lu Guang who dives exists before and not after the events we see unfold for two seasons? Is Yingdu Chapter a flash black or an actual dive itself? Lu Guang seems to be determinate and in a bad mood in the PV after all, could directly happen after one of CXS's deaths.

EDIT: someone mentioned that LG wears his watch on the left wrist when we get images of CXS getting stabbed. (It hurts right here in my meow meow)

[mollysunder]

The Black Rose has Already Infiltrated Piltover and Zaun!

You know how there's speculation that this shadowy figure has to do with LeBlanc because LeBlanc and members of her Black Rose group do the eye/eye makeup glow thing?

Well the conspiracy only goes deeper! Last year, nearly to the day, an exclusive splash art for LeBlanc's Rose Quartz Prestigious skin was released on CN servers.

Do you recognize that familiar face in the background?

I do!

It's Local Cusine (LC)! You could argue that it's just an easter egg. But why is Local Cuisine in Noxus? LC's presumably a sex worker from Zaun and here he is hob knobbing in Noxus, in a splash for LeBlanc of all people.

How do we know this a Black Rose gathering? Well, we can see that the window in LeBlanc's splash art matches the same design used in the homes of other members of the Black Rose in Riot media.

We also know that many Black Rose members wear masks upon first appearance so that their identity will be anonymous to other members. If you look closely, you can even see that the shadowy figure from the trailer is wearing a mask around their eyes as well.

And can you guess which character we met wearing a mask in their very first appearance?

It's Local Cusinie!

But what does any of this mean? Well, LC could have been sent as a spy by LeBlanc herself to test the Medardas' loyalty to the Black Rose. If Swain is truly set to take power by season 2, then many powerful families affiliated with the Black Rose WILL be purged.

Maybe LeBlanc's sent LC to have them killed herself. The Medardas may be loose ends to her, because Ambessa is only loyal to preserving her family and may in fact expose the conspiracy further to Swain to her and Mel if she could.

Or maybe LC has his own agenda. Maybe LC is related to the Ionian princess Ambessa killed. You don't have to be from Noxus to be a part of the Black Rose, the organization predates Noxus itself. And frankly, Black Rose members and their related assets do their own thing pretty often, their web of plans can even bite LeBlanc in the butt.

[saruslumber-01]

Quick take on Jiaoqiu’s trailer

As always, I love to take screenshots whenever there’s some images flashing and this time, I did the same thing.

Before I actually talk about the trailer, I want to point out how (to me at least), the theme/ost doesn’t really match him. Or rather, how he appears to be.

(Imo it’s a similar case to jade’s trailer, you’d think she’d have something more… idk tempting in a unsuspecting way, like when you believe you made an amazing deal, only to later meet the terrible consequences.

Well anyway, the thing that I noticed is that both in jade’s trailer [or at least splash art and references/motifs] and in jiaoqiu’s, they hold an apple in their hand. I get why in jade, but in jiaoqiu’s? That very weird to me)

(Here you go, the moment, I’m talking about ^)

What I ACTUALLY wanna talk about that caught my attention, is the eyes we see all over the trailer.

I get it, he always keeps them closed, but from the trailer it seems it was not just a stylistic choice to make him this way, but actual lore behind it. (Ofc I might be wrong since we still know NOTHING about his backstory, and I’ll probably talk more when I’ll read his char stories after his release)

Idk, to me this feels kinda weird to get his eye to pop out like that (and it reminds me of firefly’s trailer). Not only that, but we get a moment where we see a fox spirit (?) made out of fire which is oddly similar to Tail’s ‘true’ form (huohuo ult). AND then from the fox’s eye it smoothly transitions into jiaoqiu’s eye. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

To me, it might foreshadow that the “eye thing” that is going on with jiaoqiu is becase those are not his natural eyes. Rather, they’d ‘changed’ (idk how to explain that) into the golden ones, as if he got possessed by that fox spirit (or maybe I’m just reading into things too much, who knows).

More eyes screenshots (which kinda remind me of sunday AND bring us to my next point)

What I want to talk about is the placement of those eyes.

Please don’t tell me I’m the only one who didn’t think it looked somehow familiar…

Rings a bell now?

I also ‘circled’ the flower she has on her ‘crown’ as it resembled the anise jiaoqiu uses in his skill, and ALSO popped up a few times in the trailer.

I know I might be digging too deep, but I feel there something very eerie and off about jiaoqiu as a character in story, and as a playable character.

I’m sure everyone remember how jiaoqiu’s a cook, a healer, right? Then why on earth is he a nihility unit? I’ve seen sooo many people being confused about it, and I’m sure HoYo wouldn’t mention it that much, unless it was important to the story.

And before anyone goes and says “wdym phantylia got a new victim?” NO. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m trying to prove that jiaoqiu isn’t probably just some random foxian who knows how to cook (and take care of feixiao). That there’s connections that all come back to the word “possessed”.

Tingyun? Possessed by phantylia (and spexulated to return in later versions)

Huohuo? Got her tail ‘possessed’ (I don’t remember too well, sorry) by Tail, AND in her trailer (which has a lot of flashing images and yin yang in there [I’ve got screenshots for both trailers to prove]) she is possessed by Tail, a heliobus. And what is a heliobus? Some kind of fox spirit! (Or at least I think so…)

What I’m trying to say is that there’s some kind of ‘possession’ when it comes to jiaoqiu.

(And another character that got flashing images and got possessed [outside of jade and huohuo] is sparkle! And don’t you agree that in terms of the overall vibes, their trailers does seem quite similar?)

So uh, yeah! That’s all I wanted to share.

I’ll probably do one more post for just the similarities in the trailers of jiaoqiu, jade, huohuo and maybe sparkle

Thanks for reading my ramblings and getting through to whole thing, I appreciate it a lot!

[baeshijima]

the way i want to play [gui long chao (归龙潮)]/ [returning dragon tides/return of the dragon (en translations)] so badly but i just know my pc wont survive this since its already considered out of date for wuwa (i still play wuwa despite it but oh well + maybe will be upgrading it soon... maybe...) and now im considering whether to quickly change my apple stuff to cn just to download it and then change it back to my local country again....

the concept is so cool (mc being a film director iirc and we form a crew with other charas and go through the nine districts + has quite a lot of fantasy elements implemented which are so nice !! mainly loving the dragon elemts to it eheh), the voice acting??? love it ;w; the models are really nice + the character designs is one of my fav aspects of this game so far, the ART is so lovely???? the f! and m!mc designs are also quite nice and it being a sidescroller game as well??? ALSO !! the gacha animation is one of my favs like,,,, the (at least i think it is a) koi fish swimming overhead the streets and turning purple/gold... ourgh.... pls i actually love it so much

bc like????

some of the characters/character designs i love already:

zhu -> yubing -> zhaixi -> chenxiao

AND THEN WHOEVER THIS IS FROM THE OFFICIAL TRAILER

and zhu in-game model..... ourghg pls i am genuinely so obsessed with him and his design....

and then these are some official arts/chara splash arts (i think) from in-game and ourgh...

AND THE MCS !!!

HELLO???? it looks so good so far and it released like,,, last week in china.... the osts are also really nice and aaaa i wanna play it so bad 😭😭 will probably end up waiting for a possibly global release if they either manage to get the funds to release it outside of china or decide they want to release it outside of china... pls do... pls....

official website link

[ni-kol-koru]

Hayama news dropped, you know what that means? I am back to posting (with an essay) 🧡⚡️

I remember the day when KuroBasu official Twitter account posted an announcment of a new mobile game and openned another Twitter account that they called Street Rivals. I was sooo excited to see what the game would be about and I thought I finally had a chance to play a KnB game! The trailers looked so good and the game looked so promising and I just couldn't wait for it to drop! I was so excited to make different team combinations and try out my favorite characters and, well, just have some fun! ⭐️

Then the game dropped. JAPANESE SERVERS ONLY. I was so disappointed because playing Street Rivals was something I was really looking forward to. I quickly saw that a lot of people were unhappy with the Japan only servers and that they were sending requests for the game to drop globally. I figured and hoped that maybe the developers would listen to the fans and that they would give all of us who live outside of Japan a chance to play the game. I still have hope thay I will be able to play it one day, but I was praying that the day would come before Hayama comes out in the game (because I, very obviously, want him). HE IS DROPPING SOON AND THE GAME IS STILL NOT AVAILABLE OUTSIDE OF JAPAN. Even if it dropped outside of Japan today, I would have no time to get ready to obtain Hayama, because he will be a high rank character and I would need a lot of materials to get him...

Even though it made me kinda sad, it also made my day better because hey, at the end of the day, Hayama will get some appreciation! He will get a cool splash art, he will get rendered again and he already got a really cool trailer! I really hope that people who get him will enjoy having him on the team, that he will be fun to play and that they wony regret obtaining him! ⭐️🧡

Anyways, here is his trailer, in case you didn't see it (apologies for the bad quality):

I can't wait for his gameplay tutorials to drop, I am really curious to see just what they have in store for him! How fast will he be? Will he have all 3 levels of Lightning Dribble as a part of his kit? Will he come with the Double Clutch? There are so many things that he could do! I also can't wait to see his splash art! I just really want to see him in the Street Rivals style, it's so new and polished, it is pretty detailed and cool, too! 🧡💫

[ac-liveblogs]

Aventurine Design Breakdown (and why he miiiight come back)

like. not anytime soon. but maybe. eventually.

When I was playing 2.1, I was constantly being hammered with literary references I recognised. HYV does this a lot but damnit, I actually knew these ones!

Anyway, despite my "ehhhhhhh" feelings about 2.1 in general, I was pretty impressed with how much thought was put into designing Aventurine's character. He has an incredibly consistent throughline besides gambling - 'death' and 'rebirth', so while I can't promise that means he's going to come back... based on his outfit and the motifs present around his writing, I wouldn't exactly rule out the possibility.

Obviously, I might have missed something (or several somethings!) but I at least wanted to put the notes from my playthrough and later research into post form.

Spoilers for 2.1 of Penacony, obviously.

Design Elements (Outfit, Associated Objects)

As mentioned, Aventurine has some very persistent theming.

Aventurine - "The Gambler's Stone", associated with luck and prosperity. This colour features prominently on his outfit as well.

The Spade Suit/Ace of Spades - While featuring all four card suits somewhere on him, Aventurine features Spades most prominently. In his splash art, he is holding the Ace of Spades and the Spade is the suit you're going to notice first (his chest). The Ace of Spades is known as the Death Card and is the mostly highly valued card in the deck. The suit is also associated with intellect, swords and bad luck.

Peacocks - his coat features peacock feathers (his coat tail, shoulder patches, hat). The peacock represents luck and vanity, but is also associated with immortality and rebirth/renewal (and has a strong connection to phoenixes).

Aventurine's 'vanity' motif is undercut by the fact that while he's not wearing a collar, the buckle around his collar does somewhat resemble one. His slave brand is also clearly visible, but his 'rebirth/renewal' one is reinforced over the course of the story (see below).

Roulette Wheel - the roulette wheel on Aventurine's coat quite literally puts an 'x' (a target) on his back.

Aventurine's attack and ult names all reference gambling - his skill references his cornerstone and role in the IPC.

Aventurine's Eidolons also almost all references to 'game theory', which may determine the way that you choose to play a game or gamble. The one that doesn't, Droprate Maxing, is still a gambling reference that refers more to videogames (Aventurine plays gachas too).

Chapter Titles and Other Associations:

Danse Macabre ('The Dance of Death')

Aventurine's playable segments.

Danse Macabre is an artistic movement that features the image of the living (often from a range of social classes) dancing with skeletons (death). The message of Danse Macabre means, broadly, 'death comes for us all and it will treat us all equally when it does'.

Despite the claim that no-one can die in the Dreamscape, the concept of Death has begun killing. Ergo, despite, the Family's best efforts, death is inevitable and no-one is safe - not a beloved starlet, the average guest, or a criminal stowaway.

Immediately following Aventurine's first chapter Acheron explicitly reminds you that when the Dreamscape collapses everyone in it will die. She also meditates on the off-screen tragedies she's witnessed in Penacony that are a result of the class differences.

Aventurine's overall goal in Penacony is to prove that death is possible by committing 'the Grandest Death' himself.

Aventurine is tied to the concept of death by his association with the playing card suit 'Spades'/the Ace of Spades.

Aventurine dances with Caelus, the sentient host of a Stellaron/Space Cancer, in the White Night trailer.

Aventurine feigned a plan to make Caelus 'become Death' in his boss fight, though that fight was actually a plan to have Acheron (the Emanator of Nihility/Nothingness) help him prove death's existence.

The Devil in Velvet (John Dickson Carr)

A man makes a deal with the devil to get a new life - he later comes to be known a devil himself.

Aventurine both serves/made a deal with the devil (the IPC) while embodying the devil and offering the same to the Trailblazer.

The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe) & The Statue of the Happy Prince (Oscar Wilde)

Both are short stories. The Tell-Tale Heart is a section primarily played as Acheron, while Sparkle directly references the Statue of the Happy Prince when she encounters Aventurine giving away his wealth (to lure her out) in the Dreamscape.

Uma (Sparkle): Wealthy people have fancy ways to enjoy this dream, but to be honest, I've never seen anyone who gives out money to others like you. Uma (Sparkle): So, are you trying to be the prince from the tale, handing out his gold-leaf garment and melting his lead heart in the fire?

The events of both stories play out fairly literally during the course of the 2.1 patch.

Acheron is the 'the protagonist' of The Tell-Tale Heart, who murders a man with unnerving eyes.

Aventurine is the man with the unnerving eyes who is murdered and the generous, gilded statue who gives away his wealth (gems and gold).

Aventurine shatters his own Cornerstone (an object more valuable than Aventurine himself, in which he 'chiselled his own will') for the IPC's benefit and ends up dying for their cause. Jade moves into Penacony to replace him without much fanfare. The wealth that the Statue gives away are the gold leaf and gems from his own body, and once he is no longer beautiful he is destroyed by his owners and replaced with a statue of the Mayor.

In both stories, despite the 'death' of the subject of the work, their heart remains in some form. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the murderer believes he can still hear his victim's heart beating beneath the floorboards. In The Statue of the Happy Prince, despite the statue being melted down for scrap, it's heart survives and remains in one piece.

This ties into the dual themes of 'death' and 'life' Aventurine carries - he's dead, but due to the nature of the Dreamscape he might still survive in some abstract way.

The game hints that despite his death he may return in some capacity, e.g.;

Aventurine's final conversation with Acheron and the message received from Dr. Ratio.

Aventurine's final message to the Trailblazer.

Robin sure seems to be doing okay.

Aventurine's association with peacocks - life/rebirth.

And the next part -

What The Thunder Said - The Wasteland (T.S. Eliot)

Chapter 8, All the Sad Tales, incorporates fragments of Eliot's poem into Aventurine's journey with his visions of his past and future self. Chunks of the referenced stanzas are removed or altered. This chapter primarily makes use of the first half of this poem.

Poetry is not my area of expertise and beyond briefly flipping through his work I mostly knew Eliot for Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, it's associated musical and one extremely cursed movie. Happily, Eliot left us notes on his intentions with the work. Quote;

"In the first part of Part V three themes are employed: the journey to Emmaus, the approach to the Chapel Perilous (see Miss Weston’s book) and the present decay of eastern Europe."

The Journey to Emaus - two travelers, believing Jesus to be dead, unknowingly encounter him post-resurrection.

Chapel Perilous is a consistent aspect of the Grail Quest of Arthurian mythology. Details vary, but it is a place of death. It's a perilous place, with a curse that must be undone by a hero (the Trailblazer, surely - Aventurine is one of those who died before their arrival).

This connects Aventurine to 'decay of [place]' (the situation in Penacony), a place of death (the Dreamscape) and resurrection (copium).

More literally, the parts of the poem sourced describe a place resembling Sigonia-IV, Aventurine's homeworld (e.g. HSR removes the first two lines of the poem - that make reference to a garden, unlikely to be found in Sigonia-IV - and picks up from the third), as well as Aventurine's march towards death and the hallucinations he has of the people accompanying him on his journey (Eliot explicitly states part of his poem refers to Ernest Shackelton's Antarctic expedition, where his party hallucinated a whole extra person being present).

Additionally, there are two achievements available that also relate to the poem in chapters 8 and 9; "Sibyl, What Do You Want?" (see Aventurine's backstory) and "...she replied, 'I want to die'." (defeating Aventurine)

Which is a fractured quote in The Wasteland's epigraph (in turn quoting Petronius' Satyricon) that references The Cumaean Sibyl, a supposedly immortal Apollonian prophetess. In the Satyricon, she has been preserved for eternity within a jar and wants to die. In Virgil's Aeneid, she is a guide between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Aventurine wants to die, and the second achievement is received before he talks to Acheron in the liminal space before his 'death' (though in the second case Acheron plays the role of Sibyl).

Misc. I'm less sure about.

While I can't guarantee that Aventurine is outright going to return, there are a lot of design elements that indicate he may survive in some capacity. It is fairly interesting that Harmony Trailblazer wears the hat from the White Night trailer (Danse Macabre), is associated with dancing and has a skill visually reminiscent of Aventurine's.

There are 3 Aventurines (past!Kakavasha, present!Aventurine and future!Aventurine) that make the journey to Aventurine's eventual 'death'. This might be a reference to the 3 Fates, or the Norns or Morai, that feature prominently in several mythologies including Greek and Norse - three goddesses, one each representing past, present, and future, that rule over the fates of humans from birth until their death and eventual journey to the Underworld. I was less sure of this one until I found the Sibyl connection. I'm still a little unsure, but Aventurine is guiding himself to the underworld...

The Spade on Aventurine's chest is in two parts - an upside down heart and a smaller segment connected to the bottom. It could be doing double duty as a reversed Heart - if this is the case I would interpret the Heart here as referring to home, family, love, contentment and an assortment of other nice things that Aventurine no longer has.

Aventurine's connection to Spades having a connection to wit/intelligence lines up with the final line in the blessing of the Gaithra Triclops - "…and your schemes forever concealed."

It also might allude to Aventurine's connection to Dr. Ratio of the Intelligensia Guild.

FINAL NOTES:

Aventurine's story mapping so literally onto aspects of the literature referenced above does make me think that HSR committed to making a lot of literary references first and then constructed Aventurine's role in the story around the ones that worked for them. The rest of Penacony 2.1 is similar, though to a less effective or consistent degree (e.g. Double Indemnity, Cat Among the Pigeons).

'Weston's Book' is "From Ritual to Romance" by Jessica Weston. The whole thing is available online and it's a great read if you're interested in The Grail Quest.

I can't say too much on The Devil in Velvet, because I haven't read this book. I did try to source it prior to this, but it's pretty expensive.

Because I'm a nerd, I was actually a little annoyed that Aventurine has all four suits on his outfit (though the other three have less prominence than spades) because they muddied how clear cut the life-death reading of his outfit is. Because they're less prominent than his connection to Spades, I chose to interpret them as an extension of the gambler motif started by the roulette wheel on his back.

I mentioned that HSR has edited The Wasteland for Aventurine's segment - it might be more accurate to say they took a hatchet to it and extracted/edited the parts that worked best for them. This is fine, though they did invent a new word in the process. Besiding is not a word! (i think the original poem scans more smoothly than the changes HYV made too)

I'll happily read Weston and Eliot for Aventurine, but I will not read Nietzche for Acheron. Or anyone. Lucky Aventurine (lol)

someone might have already done all this. if they have, i didn't go looking! i took a really long time (procrastinated) and would be curious to see anyone else's breakdowns if there's anything i missed

[eurydykakaput]

You know what's insane to me? That people hate on Dori so much that they don't even notice how suspicious she actually is.

Let's start with her age. She's an adult, not a child or a teenager. Notice how in an event she called a 26 year old a young man. And if you watched her trailer, you know that Alice says she met her long before she became a merchant. Alice is thousands years old, a long time for her could be a couple of life times for humans. (And don't even get me started on the "child model", she has hips and breast on her splash art, she's just short. Adults her height exist in the real world.)

She has Khaenri'ah star on her broach. As we already know she's friends with Alice, and if you've read her dialogues, you'll notice that instead of describing her past in the usual way, she uses a fairy tail like story to describe it. Which is a tactic used by the Hexenzirkel to protect information from being erased from the Irminsul. And she tried to buy the Sanctuary Of Surasthana from Nahida, which is the easiest way to get to the Irminsul. That would be the perfect deal for the Hexenzirkel, as they would be now able to control Teyvat's history. So it's safe to say that Dori is connected to the Hexenzirkel, if she's not a part of it.

It really wouldn't be that far fetched to call Dori a witch. She's a catalyst user, while her Jinn uses claymore. She's known to be sighted in multiple places at once and somehow always knows what her clients are looking for. And if you listen to npc you'll know that she helps out smaller merchants for a price, you could say she's guiding them, just like she guided the Traveler. And she's able to keep up with Alice's location, something even Jean isn't able to do.

If Miko wasn't there during the fungi event, the information Dori gave us would be crucial for dealing with the fatui.

The subtle connections between her and the Goddess of Flowers that people just chose to ignore...

Let's look at Nabu Malikata's titles:

-Lord of Flowers,

-Mistress of Dreams,

-Queen of All Oases,

-Queen of the Garden,

-Mistress of the Orchard,

-Mistress of Pushpavatika.

She was also the creator of Jinn.

Dori's character title is Treasure Of The Dream Garden, she has a Jinn, she's from the Desert (hinted in her story). Her outfit having flower motives, as well as her sharing ascension material with Nahida.

While we're at it, did you know that Dori never made a traditional contract with her Jinn? Normally a Jinn would reveal their true name to bond with their master, but Dori preferred to treat the Jin as an employee.

I've already mentioned it in a different post, but in glitches you can see that the eye under Kaeya's eye patch looks the same as Dori's eyes. They have the same talents pose too.

(And I swear to gods, every time I see Dori described as a scammer, I feel like questioning if people even read the lore. Just read Kaveh's story. She didn't scam him, in fact he even almost scammed her by accident, because he couldn't listen to basic instructions as "I don't want my house built on a cliff near the withering". And we know Kaveh, even if she told him not to pay back his deabt he'd still do so for his moral principles, just like he pays rent to Alhaitham even though he doesn't have to. Traveler could have picked any other Knowledge Capsule, that would give them better results, like Alhaitham said in the Archon Quest. Her goods cost so much because they are excellent quality, many of them are rare, and she's a brand in Sumeru.)

[the-astral-express-archive]

Honkai: Star Rail | Character Trailer Splash Art (2/3)

[nvuy]

Hi!

Sooo, I may be going wild over finding evidence to backup two of theories about Boothill. And I found SOMETHING.

So, this will be quick summary.

Theory 1: Making bullets in his body.

Exhibit A - At the start of his trailer Boot drops bullet casings(gold coloured; cylindrical in shape)

Later, he picks up a golden cylinder when fucking up first table (if you look closer, you can make out a indentation at the bottom, just like the bullet casings have)

Exhibit B - He puts the cylinder in his mouth, but then it disappears.

If you look at his front roll(after second table) in slow motion, you can see Boot doing a chewing and swallowing motion AFTER the cylinder disappears from his mouth.

Exhibit C - He spits out a full bullet with a explosive head.

The way light travels over the bullet in his mouth makes me believe it was built in his body, and then cooling or smt or getting a print.

Theory 2 : Boothill has no shoes, his boots are his feet

I REPEAT BOOTHILL HAS HIS DOGS OUT

Exhibit A - At the very start of his trailer we see his boots up close. They have suspiciously same colours as his upper body, but also, you can see something looking like a embroidery in black OR a vent for cooling.

Exhibit B - Looking at the back of his legs, the spurs are basically embedded in his boots, not strapped on by leather straps and a buckle (how all spurs on boots work)

But not only that, if you look closely, you can see a black line/space between his foot and shin. It looks like a open joint, reminiscent of Ball Jointed Dolls.

....I feel like a mad scientist and a stalker.

You can ignore this if I was too much lol

Have a good day!

hello my favourite little microwave

let’s have a look at his model rundown shall we

THEORY ONE: love it.

i have this thing where i also think, because his teeth are fake, he can get the right angle and easily catch a flying bullet headed right for him between his teeth. no shattering, no dents, nothing.

i like the idea that he can make his own bullets and it’s probably the most suitable approach to how he can spit them out. (however, there’s something very very funny about him pre-mission swallowing like sixty rounds.) (bonus if he’s doing it in public. like imagine you’re at a bar and you see in the corner of your eye a) cowboy that’s wearing little to no clothing and the tightest jeans you’ve ever seen and b) he’s crunching on metal and you can hear it.)

it’s even worse when he catches you staring from across the bar, notices your bewildered expression, and flashes you his teeth with a half eaten bullet caught between.

THEORY TWO: his shoes being his feet has been proven true, im pretty sure!

you can see on the character model sheet that the spurs are a part of his feet, as well as the heel of his ‘shoe.’ in his splash art he actually seems to have shoes on, but i genuinely think that’s just a misdirection of art.

also no spurs just start spinning at light speed and produce sparks unless they’re mechanical.

at the same time, his character model has two eyes, but boothill only actually has one eye. there’s some inconsistencies, but yeah, his ‘shoes’ are his feet.

[demdems]

kinda told myself i wasnt gonna post about natlan for a while since what else is there to be said but here we are

so pinocchio, how's that nose growth going

talked about natlan before in this post [written after the first trailer dropped] and this one [written after the 5.0 livestream] if ur one to be curious

i sent smth to my friends and its the basis of this post so for simplicity's sake i'm pasting it here in its entirety then I'm seeing what else i have to add

I think smth that bothers me about this natlan thing [read the comments on some short now I'm cursed] is that an argument is that people are only getting upset about the skin color part of cultural rep which to them reads as shallow but the thing is, people did get upset at everything else in sumeru and natlan like even before the characters got revealed people got mad that hyv was hodge podging several cultures into one fictional culture for those two nations but at most the other nations took inspo from like, two or three, and people got upset about the really poor interpretation of cultural clothing, and they got upset about real life names getting tacked onto white characters. Just is that now w skin color being a debate point, they can use a loud minority of "pale skinned people from these cultures exist too" to support their point

ive seen people actually be upset about more than skin color with natlan & sumeru but it's apparently just much easier to vilify people over wanting dark skinned characters vs wanting characters to be dressed appropriately or wanting characters to not take names from real life figures

Like even outside these two nations ive seen people get upset over more than just skin color but as long as u can slap on the excuse of "other people think it's fine" or something similar, then it gets swept under the rug [like it's been years and i still think raiden & miko have some of the worst designs in inazuma just because visual appeal was overprioritized, but its impossible to critique how inappropriate/disrespectful it was for genshin to effectively sexualize traditional japanese outfits without getting shredded to pieces if u post ur thoughts in the wrong circle]

I digress, back to my main point.

[most] people who are criticizing genshin have their issues run much deeper than simply, i want a character with dark skin. real life cultures are incorporated in many different ways in genshin, but character designs in genshin hugely draw on clothing, names, and skin color [for the very few characters who don't get sentenced to #FFFFFF]. thing is tho, even with all the real life inspiration to draw on, the design team still majorly drops the ball.

nahida's white on white on white is a crime against character design, tighnari's palette made me consider dropping art forever so i never have to even attempt to color pick the seven million colors in his splash art, several natlan characters are walking talking fashion crimes who have a severe lack of overall cohesion, dori

people very much did drag character designs apart from their skin colors, and they were justified since the design team seemed very pick and choose when it came to deciding who gets the good design and who gets the not so good one

My point is, there have been people who've had issues with genshin's inclusion/depictions of real life cultures since the beginning and it's been more than just disliking pale skinned characters being the majority in regions that would have more than the two skin tones included in game [white and off white], and anyone worth their salt in this discussion about genshins colorism and appropriation understands that skin color isn't just something to toss into the ring willy nilly to stir debate cuz if you wanna have an actual discussion u gotta know what ur gonna be talking about

These are just my thoughts though, sorry if it's very scrambled i wrote as i went, if i managed to shoot myself in the foot and say something terribly egregious please lmk

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group K Round 1: #K8 vs #K1

#K8: Fishing with friends (both human & alien)

Yuki Sanada has always felt like a fish out of water. Socially awkward and anxious, he struggles to fit in with his surroundings and moves from town to town with his grandma. As he and his grandma settle into the charming seaside town of Enoshima, Yuki hopes for a fresh start. However, his reputation at school is jeopardized by the arrival of fellow transfer student Haru. The eccentric Haru immediately makes a splash, wildly claiming to be an alien and declaring that Yuki is his friend. Pairing the reluctant Yuki with their classmate and fishing talent, Natsuki Usami, he tasks both of them with the absurd mission of saving the world from a mysterious threat in the ocean. Mischief and hijinks ensue, as these three embark on a whimsical adventure filled with laughs, heart, and self-discovery!

#K1: A state auditor finds himself the center of a coup

ACCA—a national body of the kingdom of Dowa that provides public services to the citizens of the country—was established as part of the peace settlement between the king of Dowa and the 13 states of the country during a revolt. One hundred years later, Dowa is in a period of unprecedented peace, due in part to the ACCA system. However, rumors of a coup d'état start to surface. Jean Otus, the second-in-command of the inspection department of ACCA, is charged with inspecting all 13 state branches. What will he discover as he performs his audit?

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#K8: Tsuritama

Propaganda 1:

Tsuritama is a heartfelt show about learning to cope with anxiety by building confidence through learning new skills (fishing). It’s also about learning to be vulnerable with others and rely on them. The soundtrack is almost entirely recorder, as they asked the Kuricorder Quartet to put it together for the show. On top of that, the color scheme is very bright and hopeful.

Propaganda 2:

This show left me feeling both happy and incredibly emotional. It started off very goofy but really reels you in (get it? Reels?) and becomes quite an emotional journey at the end. Also, the art style is really beautiful and colorful and the opening is a bop!

Trigger Warnings: None.

#K1: ACCA: 13th Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka)

Propaganda:

Acca-13 is a master work of political intrigue neatly wrapped up into 12 episodes. Every moment in the show has meaning, every textual personal preference ties back to some larger plot point, and every character has their own goals, values and machinations that at first seem overwhelming but in hindsight are crystal clear. Despite very little time spent on exposition for this fully fictional 13-district country with a unique governing system, it’s well-built and by the climax of the show the audience knows exactly who and what are at stake. The plot twists are SUBLIME—that perfect combination of a blindside and inevitable.

That’s not to say that it loses out on characterization in favor of plot! The characters are human and down-to-earth, with the show using a realistic, simple style of animation that allows wonderfully subtle expression. Both the sub and the dub are excellent. I have watched this show at least eight times, and EVERY SINGLE TIME I have picked up another layer of plot, another thread of characterization that I’d missed before but had carried and explained a moment of the narrative.

Also, there is ZERO fanservice. ONLY food service. Watch it with snacks handy. For the trailer I'm actually linking the opening, one of the best anime OPs to ever be made.

Trigger Warnings: Smoking

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[linuxgamenews]

Experience the Upgraded World of A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale

A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale comedy 2.5D point and click adventure game is coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Thanks to the amazing teams at Autumn Moon Entertainment and Tag of Joy. Due to make its way onto Steam. Autumn Moon Games and Tag of Joy are teaming up to bring us an exciting new 2.5D point and click adventure, A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale. If you're a fan of supernatural stories with a splash of humor, this one's for you. And the best part? You can already add it to your wishlist. This new title takes us back to the world of A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale, but with some major upgrades. Bill Tiller (the guy behind The Curse of Monkey Island and The Dig) is working alongside Dave Harris and other ex-LucasArts legends. Joining forces with the talented crew at Tag of Joy. Who gave us the award-winning Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit in 2022. Together, they’re bringing a fresh and exciting adventure that’s sure to delight both old-school fans and newcomers to the genre. So, what’s A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale all about? You’ll follow Mona, a Parisian opera singer who’s been kidnapped and taken to Draxsylvania (yes, Draxsylvania!) and turned into a vampire. Luckily, Mona isn’t alone — she’s got her sarcastic bat buddy, Froderick, to help her out. You’ll guide both Mona and Froderick through wild and quirky locations like Dr. Legume’s Home for the Sanity Challenged. The Executioner’s Practice Grounds, and Mortus Labs, all while solving puzzles and meeting an eccentric cast of characters.

A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale – Announcement trailer

The goal? Help Mona escape the clutches of a mad scientist and find a vampire familiar. Then continue her journey to get back home to Paris. It’s a hilarious and spooky adventure full of clever puzzles, witty dialogue, and beautiful location designs. Bill Tiller, CEO and Creative Director at Autumn Moon Games, shared his excitement about the project, saying, “I love LucasArts graphic adventures, Halloween, and the classic Universal Monster movies of the 40s and 50s. When I created the original A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale, I mixed all those things I love together. Adventure game tech has come a long way since then, and by partnering with Tag of Joy, we’re able to continue Mona and Froderick’s story with a modern gaming experience that still feels like a classic LucasArts adventure.”

Tag of Joy

Teaming up with Tag of Joy has been a big win for this project. Šarūnas Ledas, the CEO and co-founder of Tag of Joy, couldn’t be happier about the collaboration. “My brother and I grew up playing games like The Curse of Monkey Island. And we recently made a point and click adventure ourselves. When we heard Bill was bringing back A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale, we jumped at the chance to work with him. Bill’s got a great IP, amazing artwork, and a ton of knowledge. We’re eager to combine that with our 2.5D point and click adventure.” A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale is shaping up to be a real find for adventure fans. Due to blende the charm of the genre’s golden age with modern updates. You’ll get beautiful hand-painted settings, stylish 3D art, tons of animation, and a diverse cast of characters. Plus, the funny dialogue and engaging puzzles are sure to keep you craving more from start to finish. So, if you’re into witty, supernatural adventures, don’t wait Wishlist A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale on Steam today. And for the latest updates, follow the creators on Facebook and Discord. Due to make its way onto Linux, Mac, and Windows PC.

[welcometoteyvat]

graphics rambling/metacognitive time (the Kinich graphics in question)

Honestly I started this on a whim, I think I wanted to make some kind of video game character profile mock for him, taking inspiration from how his trailer was structured lol, and it ended up morphing into 4 posters, none of which remotely resemble a character card lol. Overall I knew I wanted some kind of pixel theme to unite the entire thing, if not a 1-1 video game reference, and over the course of making that the uniting theme morphed into halftone, pixelation, squares, and elements of his green/blue/yellow color scheme.

I started out with his splash art because I thought the pose was really dynamic, and I actually started with a landscape oriented banner image instead of portrait orientation like the final version. I wanted to incorporate kinich's pixel chibis into another banner and make it a sillier type of project lol, but that didn't happen.

For the actual editing, I knew I wanted something with his pixel theme, and while I was inspiration hunting, I stumbled upon this neat butterfly graphic design for a piece on digital transformations. Thought it looked super cool, especially the illusion of the butterfly wing disintegrating at the edges! I wanted to try it out on kinich but ended up not actually using it; after I got the image into black and white and added some halftone patterning, I couldn’t figure out how to automatically cut it up into squares and reassemble it with all squares in the correct locations (it would’ve taken way too much time manually with like 300 squares lmao). Gave up on that and thought it looked ok with just black and white coloring (3 thresholds worth of b/w adjustment lol), but there was too little color in the black and white so I ended up experimenting with some colored squares and quite liked the result!

I ended up deciding the banner was too cramped, so I switched orientations to see if it helped. It forced me to rearrange the text, and I then wanted to combine his splash and icon into one image, like a character profile/card, but I ended up getting rid of the icon because it was too cluttered and I couldn’t integrate it well into the overall poster. Cutting off his leg also looked awkward to me lmao

I think this took me the least amount of time overall, or at least I didn't feel blocked anywhere while working on it. Silkscreen pixel font thanks for your service (shame I didn't use it anywhere...)

second poster I made was the turnfire hunt poster; I was going to stop after that one but thought the two posters side by side were too… uncohesive? They each had their own central focus (Kinich) so it felt awkward putting them next to each other, I wanted to add some more stuff/filler to balance them out. Anyways, I was scrolling through kinich's official art and thought that image was a pretty cool pose too—he really has such dynamic art. I was going to use halftone + b/w color scheme again, so the background was going to be the one with color, but then I couldn't make it work and the green was making my eyes bleed so I gave up.

lowkey this one still reminds me of some kind of cartoony action movie poster.

I still wanted to try the color blocking style that the butterfly design used, and ended up stumbling upon the pixelate filter to create large color blocks sampled from the original image, and using those to color the black and white base! At first I didn’t edit the original colors, but I changed it to all green to be more cohesive (the orange-browns felt out of place in a mainly cool color dominated scheme). I tried limiting the colors to green and blue first, to match the first poster, but it looked weird removing the browns from his face (don't have an example of this version)

Ended up with the shades of green and I’m pretty happy with it. I was originally thinking about making him hang from the image border, but it didn’t pull off that illusion as well as I wanted (probably because the top of his hand was cut off) so I tried it with some text; it still felt really flat but bending the text helped a lotttt. Playing around with that was really fun! Had trouble with the background on this (as evidenced by the green halftone lol), but I found one of genshin's texture files they used for the natlan events (thank you genshinimpactresources) and I layered that for the background so it wasn't super boring.

and then I was like well. I can’t just post these two because their background colors and their designs in general are too similar, so I started looking for more stuff to edit him with. For panel 3 I chose the pose from his tribe reputation quest background, and the quote from his character stories. sidenote I could go on about how many times it stresses his connection between the mountains (they gave him freedom in an empty box ueueue) but anyways. I had a lot of fun playing around with blur/halftone/weird coloring effects on this, and styling the text! I love highlighting certain words with different colors and fonts hehe. incidentally this probably has the most saved versions because I was struggling with background texture, bg color, and kinich's color too lmao. I didn't choose the green filter because it looked too similar to #2, and discarded the white background because the green text doesn't pop as well. I feel like he melts into the background better in the white version tho (and I like the illusion of brighter colors on Kinich), so it was a tradeoff ig.

The second poster in the layout and 4th poster I made gave me so much trouble because I literally just didn't know how to design it. I didn't want to have yet another panel with Kinich as the focus, so it was either a) find an object or something similar that's associated with him b) use his quest icon/tribe's icon c) pure typography, which I barely have experience with. I tried using his ascension materials and his weapon for something, tried just sticking a quote on there and shaping it into the shape of his necklace, etc. I was so stuck lmao this was my closest attempt. I full circled back to the video game UI theme I tried at first, but it felt way too empty lol.

the font made it into the final version of panel 4 though! Honestly, I don't have much to say about this design. I caved and used another Kinich image instead of forcing myself to stick with a design centered around his constellation/quest icon and it made things a lot smoother. I was playing around with different formatting of "atonement or compensation" and "give up" (tried overlaying them on top of kinich's scribbled out eyes, etc) but those versions all ended up asymmetrical, so I chose to wrap the quote around the frame instead. I also tried using some leaf textures to mask his face, but it made the scribble look like it's floating around randomly, because you can't really see where his eyes are supposed to be. Ig, have a version with thinner text (kinda hard to read unless you zoom in) and no filters. the font's called m+1c or something and lowkey idk whether there's any difference between some of its thickness settings. i swear to god regular and medium weights look exactly the same

conclusion: kinich. i love your character stories. live your best life.