#Masked Fools

[b1adie]

WHAT AN ODD THING TO SAY. TO REFER TO HIMSELF DIRECTLY AS A CHARACTER. SPECIFICALLY A SUPPORTING CHARACTER. YKNOW THE ONLY OTHER PPL WHO DO THAT?

MASKED FOOLS.

DOCTOR TRUTH REASON I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE. 🪱

[chattematsu]

Wanted to draw this

original by https://twitter.com/CM_CM_CM3/status/1826190283056525691

[qweaenr]

HONKAI STAR RAIL - Aeons:

Lan - Hunt / Nanook - Destruction

Xipe - Harmony / Yaoshi - Abundance

Mythus - Enigmata / Fuli - Remembrance

Aha - Elation / Qlipoth - Preservation

Nous - Erudition / IX - Nihility

[wishingstarinajar]

Listen, I had some thoughts after seeing a particular light cone

[201918b]

the worsties

[clayspacestation]

He’s just a little silly

[slooshee]

More hsr art I forgot to post oops

1- robin (mv/redesign)

2-3- Sunday (two outfit concepts :p)

4- black swan (mv/redesign)

5-Gepard (mv/redesign)

6-Sampo (mv/redesign)

7- Gepard drawing (mitski lyrics jumpscare)

8-Ratiorine/Aventio sketch

9-10- my masked fools Sampo design/concept art

[thesaart]

Jester

[kroosluvr]

if you play your cards right...

(i know aventurine isnt a masked fool. but i think its funny. also this image)

[kinig1]

I'm a fool 🎭✨

[ricochetlovebombs]

The ask I received yesterday made me think of something about Sampo, along with some recent posts involving everything I'm about to point out.

I'm starting to wonder if Sampo isn't themed around love, but rather heartbreak.

We have his eidolon "The deeper the love, the stronger the hate"

Along with his line "...if the answer's no, then you'll break my heart."

His ultimate attack involves a heart shaped box with a bomb inside that explodes.

His snake design is of a dead one.

This one is a stretch, but the way his black outfit is designed in a kind of zigzag pattern reminds me visually of a broken heart. (edited this one in that I remembered after posting)

This could also be a duality, themed around both at the same time.

[essefryu]

What the fuck was this though

I initially thought that he’s just being a bitch about everyone making noise about the bombs in the group chat, which is very in character for him, but I’d expect him to at least do something about these on his own.

But the situation was resolved completely without his involvement

For which I can think of 2 possible explanations

Either he has a ridiculous amount of trust in everyone, to the degree he was just chilling waiting for good news while the airship was on countdown to be exploded by 1000 bombs, which would lead to unpredictable consequences for anyone caught in the explosion

Or

Or the worm theory people aren’t as tinfoil hatted as I used to think, and he knew about Sparkle’s plan all along

[amezero1p]

Masked fools characters be lovin their explosives

[carass1us-aur4tus]

so is nobody gonna talk about how this feels pretty foreshadow-y for the Aha!Sampo theorists

[falling-star-cygnus]

i was watching Sampo cutscenes for a fic im writing and- -> the fic in question <-

Sparkle just- immediately gave herself up in Penacony, right? like- i was watching the scene where she was following Stelle and Firefly and this man does not carry himself like that [and especially doesn’t talk that flatly]

obviously, the most clear tell was when she mistook Firefly for March but-

he never introduces himself as just 'Sampo' -> it's literally always with his last name, even when he's just speaking in third person: "Sampo Koski" or "your friend Sampo Koski" the only time he doesn't is when he's saying "Sampo's friends" or the like -> which has so far only been twice and one of which was when the Nameless were passing out

she got close here, with the cheeky wink, but misses with his smile and eyes -> Sparkle's brows are pinched and her eyes curl upwards, her smile is more forced -> Sampo's eyes lilt downwards and he's got a lazy sort of satisfaction about him [i think it's just the lighting but her colors are darker too]

Sparkle, ironically, plays his character a bit too shy i think

Sampo is loud and lilting and takes up as much space as he can until he doesn’t. He’s distracting and leading with flailing limbs and forced clumsiness before he’s gone in the time it takes to blink. He’s reserved, but subtly so, and walks with a sort of laidback confidence and swagger that belies his goofiness

He leans forward when he talks, Sparkle leans back

She waltzes into a conversation, Sampo just appears

Sampo feels like a natural presence in a conversation but Sparkle’s dialogue as him is all stilted and awkward as she overplays his silliness

[papamado]

A "theory" regarding Sampo's abilities

okay so this is an absolute mess and more of a ramble but I think it might be worth sharing so here I am Since I'm very normal about Sampo Koski, I've noticed some paralels to.. osme things... and i ended up with a concept that Sampo might be aware/know the future/what is supposed to happen, aka the same/similar thing to what Elio is using as a base to write his scripts, or is aware of the scripts that Elio creates. On Belobog we don't encounter stellaron hunters (for obvious reasons), but Sampo does end up being the one who affects the way the plot goes and actively puts it in motion, he's the one in control (to some extent) He also appears to be aware of stuff that has yet to happen and its possible outcomes (getting Natasha even before we started fighting Svarog, knowing that we will arrive on Luofu despite it being an unplanned stop, the possible future Belobog catastropy) There's 2 ways to approach this: 1. He works with how it's supposed to go, (following the trailblazer around, kinda like stellaron hunters happen to do) 2. He deliberately works against it (Jarilo VI is supposed to face destruction but he prevents it, could be for personal reasons) Theres also the whole thing about him breaking the 4th wall, which could be connected. Awarnesss of the fact that this is a game could result in him having a knowledge of what the plot of said game is.

I strongly HC Sampo to be an Elation emanator, so I thought about what being an elation emanator could mean, as in, how realistically the powers could manifest From the recent guide that was released along side the 2.2 stream, we have a small entry about Masked Fools which confirms that the path powers are DIRECTLY tied to their masks (this could mean both metaphorical or physical masks but from what i get from the context here it most likely refers to the physical ones?? the concept works with both possibilities tho so whatever <3 )

We know that sampo doesn't have his mask currently (which also works in a symbolic way, Masks represent the devotion to Elation, him not having it could represent how he wants to distance himself from what Elation is considered to be and pursue his own idea of it instead. The general description provided here for how masked fools are doesn't exactly fit him either whichmight further prove that idea, i should write a seperate post on that, anyways-) , so how the hell can he do shit that we assumed earlier was Elation-related powers? i have 2 possible explanations for this 1. Him being an emanator lets him use the path powers without a need for a mask, if thats the case - the mask would only provide a powerup 2. Elation emanator powers are something else altogether

when we look at his current power set/abilities it can all be tied to the fact that this is a game so, him bieng an emanator of elation would allow him to ignore the rules of this world/mainupulate said rules, simple as that it would also explain why he can break the 4th wall, why he is aware of the future events, what leads to them and/or how to stop them in the first place and how he can do stuff that contradicts what's been established lore vise (like how nobody should be able to cross the barrier between the Overworld and Underworld), those rules don't apply to him, he's beyond them. But there's more we DO have an in game example of people already messing with the reality in the same manner - Silver Wolf From what I gathered (with help of some friends of mine mwah mwah), the "reality editing" abilites of Punklorde people are directly tied to a technology present in said world - that combined with the world view of those living here results with them reating the world they live in as if it was a game

Adding onto that, during "punklorde mentality" mission we get to hear Leonard say this:

"Masked fools believe it really exists" so are the Masked Fools aware that someone could posses *actual* (not provided by technology) power to alter/manipulate reality and ignore the established rules of the world? We can kinda see such thing happening with Aha in stimulated universe, not only do they break the 4th wall, but according to Herta they also seem to be affecting the stimulated universe itself Aha's manipulation of reality is also mentioned in the "Glimpses into the Beyond"

So maybe to wrap it all up: 1. Sampo could be aware of the possible future events and use the reality manipulation abilities/the fact that the rules don't apply to him to achieve a desired outcome 2. Him and the Stellaron Hunters have some paralels in the narrative when it comes to the role that they play and what they do?? kinda??? 3. Punklorde people could be affiliated with Elation to some extent, even if not directly blessed by it I am probably VERY wrong about all of this but honestly I'm having fun with this theory so idc <3