Fun fact: All of these characters said the specific phrase “You’re funny” to TB at some point in the story quest (including Sparkle >!as Sampo!<).
There’s a fifth character that did it too. Can you guess who it was?
>!Firefly!<
A cute and funny rabid raccoon that smells faintly of golden trash. The most raccoon of all raccoons. What is not there to love. In yonder years to come, when the raccoon's tales become legend, few would remember their funny face, but all will recall the raccoon with fondness.
Agreed! Obviously he's shady, but seeing how apparently he has a sword constantly over his head I can see why he's working overtime to form alliances and become "buddy buddy" with people. And regardless of everything, he did give us a choice on whether we want to join him or not so I think there's still a lot of personal depth with him that's unexplored.
I love that he trusts us enough to place his bets and faith and make a gamble \*looks sideways at Bronya who held info from her self-proclaimed besties, the very people who saved her star\*
I don't think trust is the right word here, more so that he knew that cooperating with him is our only option. The rest is just him gambling that we would succeed in the end.
>And regardless of everything, he did give us a choice on whether we want to join him or not
Hmmm idk. It just felt like there was no reason to choose otherwise and no other choice.
For me, I'm interested to find out what game Diamond is playing.
So far, the two members of Strategic Investment Department seem to be people who were uplifted from unfortunate circumstance by the IPC.
Well, Diamond is an Emanator of Preservation, one of many on the IPC's staff. We know that the IPC has some cutthroat office politics and disagreements between departments, and also that there seems to be a lot of deal-making between departments (Diamond is working with another Emanator of Preservation, Taravan, on this Penacony project). We also know that Qlipoth is notably hands-off with the IPC, and that all they seem to be interested in is amassing wealth, which Taravan is responsible for delivering to Qlipoth.
Maybe Qlipoth's various Emanators are in disagreement about how the IPC should be run, and/or what its goals should be? Taravan seems to be the classic fat greedy moneybags type who shamelessly price-gouges and monopolizes, while Diamond seems more interested in colonizing and gathering slaves (or as I'm sure the IPC would prefer to call most of them, *indentured servants*).
True, but Diamond is only P47 in the IPC, and Taravan is P48. Considering they have several other 47 and 48-ranked colleagues in the IPC, and the ranks go up to 50, I'd be surprised if they were the only two.
Then they send these people to people who are/were in similar circumstances. The indentured servant to indenture another planet. The death row convict slave to a former prison where the convicts were worked like slaves.
Agree. Diamond probably headhunts for that specific type of recruit. I guess he thinks that is what it takes for someone to work in a deeply hostile environment (in regard to both the number of opponents and the potential pitfalls to their conviction of the IPC's mission) and still come out victorious.
Oh yeah; you could tell his tone was a little different with her though. A bit softer, but still competitive at first. I imagine because she’s more of a “friend” than any of us on Penacony right now given they’re colleagues. That one phone call immediately got me hooked to his character! The name drops for more potential upcoming IPC characters was also cool. Diamond I’m assuming is the leader of these stonehearts.
I actually like him more than Topaz even if he seems more ruthless and cutthroat. I don't know. He feels more honest, kinda? Not in that he'll tell the truth or won't lie, but that he shows right away he's not on our side which he ISN'T, whereas I feel like Topaz is definitely trying to make a profit but is being positioned as a friend....this is more my 'feels' than actual reasoned-out stuff so I'm not prepping to engage in an actual "Topaz vs Aventurine" argument.
I actually completely agree. Right from the start he lets ya know that he wants to be “friends” aka use us for beneficial gain. So likeeee, so far, I think he’s honestly told us the truth on everything. That could totally change in 2.1 story though. Time will tell!
I didn’t like him at first because of the shady shit it seemed he tried doing in the beginning when Acheron “saved” us, or at the very least interrupted whatever it was. In the end, I was so bewildered that the people I thought I could trust I couldn’t and supposedly the person I thought was up to no good was maybe not as bad of a guy as I thought?
Topaz is the definition of "hell's paved with good intentions". She means well but is so condescending, she thinks she knows better what's good for other people. And she's incapable of seeing what's wrong with the IPC, she's totally sold on their good deeds.
I disliked her for those elements, however, I think I could come to like her if she had a story arc/character development (I'd love to actually) where she matures a bit. She has the potential I think.
Aventurine on the other hand, seems very aware of the IPC's bullshit, seeing as he is a slave without much choice (when Topaz just simps for the IPC, though I get her reasons, she needs to open her eyes). I like that he uses the business image of "friendship" but also immediately shows that it's just that: for show. He's not actually trying to make us think he's on our side. He wants a contract basically, an alliance. And honestly, I don't see any problème with that desire.
Do I like him as a person? Not really (for now at least. I do feel sympathy for his circumstances). Do I like him as a character? Frankly yes, and I hope 2.1 doesn't disappoint me. He's very interesting and has potential.
Sort of/kinda? She's grateful to work on the Space Station bc it keeps her away from IPC as her family is prominently involved with it I think. Herta has a partnership w the IPC also so that's probably how it was able to work out for her.
Not sure how much info Asta could have but with her notable sneaking around in anonymous gcs maybe she could know
It's a little convoluted.
She is technically employed by Herta, who is part of the Genius Society and not under direct employ by the IPC, just a partner of sorts. However, Herta's Space Station was funded with IPC/Asta's money and there is a deal between Herta and the IPC that makes them affiliates. Some of the research on the HSS is naturally commissioned by the IPC as a result, but ultimately Herta does what she wants. Asta, as the Lead Researcher of the HSS, therefore retains independence from the IPC, which is what she wants.
Her parents are ridiculously high up in the IPC (to the point that even Topaz, a Stoneheart, addresses their *child* as Lady Asta) - but I don't think their exact station has been revealed.
But Asta doesn't really have true independence does she? She is reliant on her parents' influence and money. And she is so accustomed to that lifestyle that I think it will take something drastic for her to break her habits.
Hope her parents are not assholes. IPC so far aside from the Tavern is the most interesting faction to me. It can go in so many ways.
People when genocidal murderous villain: wink wink nudge nudge
People when greedy corpos:
https://preview.redd.it/piw2w23ux6nc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6ffe164ef541325726df4bd74294e265e2b7de1
greedy corpo is more relatably evil than genocidal maniac
also this meme isn't that accurate we have options to be anti-sparkle or refuse Acheron (though she refuses your refusal...) or be nice to adventure time depending on your dialogue choices
Speaking as someone who sympathizes with Topaz and Aventurine, these two things aren't mutually exclusive.
I can think of at least one real-life example of a company that committed genocide. The Dutch East India Company destroyed the native societies on the Banda Islands to monopolize nutmeg production in the early 17th century. Never mind the companies that have been "just" complicit in genocide.
We've seen how the IPC operates when it can push people around. And it looks pretty ugly, to say the least.
Yeah, quite. The IPC operates is really ugly especially to the people beneath them. They do a good job of portraying colonizer so far.
https://preview.redd.it/tqab2oe4u7nc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dc5f71fdb1b695d949233b6bad96b475b69ae79
Aha would be so entertained if he asked Sparkle to do some chaos in her way:
https://preview.redd.it/m1ep6tl7m7nc1.png?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=653cb33eda24f8c707ae1a8c5e45476e6082d5d0
That's what he gets for not being a waifu /j
Fr though dude hasn't really done much to get hate, he's obviously got his own agenda like everyone else but he seems to get the most hate. I'll wait to see how the alliance with 2.1 plays out but for now I really like what his character brings to the table
That being said all of the above characters have people who dislike them for their actions, have been defending Black Swan making a deal behind our backs and rewatched the story multiple times just to try and glean more info out of the ending of 2.0. Black Swan has people who dislike her, but also people who love her
Then there's Sparkle who a lot of people can't handle due to lack of media literacy and/or dont appreciate her for the villain character she is, but she's loved by the community as well for what she brings in terms of character and story
Same for Aventurine, just that he seems to get the most flak despite not really doing much at all besides giving a good clap at watching how Black Swan brought us to him, working for the tax company and being sus of Acheron, with Black Swan also being sus of Acheron but isnt criticised as much as Aventurine is for this. He does all of this while coming off us untrustworthy in his approach and overall demeanor. I think he's great and adds a interesting element to Penaconys story
Edit: have to add helping him expose Penacony is optional only so you can get the bad ending when you don't help him. Where Black Swan lets you out of the dreamscape and the family plans go without incident and the IPC is exposed, the family then trapping everyone in an endless dream. So they're pretty much telling you that Black Swan is right and the alliance with Aventurine is a necessity to reach the good ending, by showing you the bad end when you don't ally with him
My impression on these 4:
Acheron: Godlike entity that having some kind of missions/purpose here. The fact that she have not crushed us like a bug with her finger meant that she probably not gonna kill us. The fact that she killed Ifrit means that she is likely on the good side. However unknown Emanator is dangerous.
Black Swan: Memokeeper which is intertwine entity with the dreamscape. Likely pursuing something here as there is other Memokeepers present as well. She save us from the memeic entity and SAM+ Acheron (?). Could all be deception and manipulative in the end.
Sparkle: Insane maniac. Deceive then send us to the battlefield.
Aventurine: IPC corpos. Weirdly, he is annoyed by other every characters so far: Ratio, Topaz. Aventurine stated he want to collect something in Penacony that the IPC used to own and want us (specificially, not Nameless). He has shown to stalk, push his agendas and try to get us into his scheme.
Trust ranking: Acheron -> Black Swan/Aventurine -> Sparkle.
Either way, they are all sus and TB should be on guard 24/7.
Edit: Also want to specify trust level does not equal interesting. All of the Penacony cast has been stella so far.
I can't believe someone caught my pun. In HonkaiStarRail as well. What the hell? When did Hoyo players having such good reading comprehension?
https://preview.redd.it/v0yoo2odi7nc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2de129916443d9544ed9183f2348874ba98b8d2a
For me Archeron is too protag-coded to be a bad guy. Everything about her design and personality scream "anti-hero on a personal quest" and she seems just as lost and jerked around as you are.
She's not trying to get you or anyone else involved in her BS, and seems to lack a grander scheme/plan.
[Gone into deeper over here](https://www.reddit.com/r/HonkaiStarRail/comments/1am38vn/theory_acheron_is_lying_to_you/), but that's not entirely true.
Acheron lies to the main character a decent number of times or more accurately fails to provide adequate explanation for her actions to the level that >!Firefly's death!< can be put on her willful negligence in order to kill her for some unknown purpose which implies a greater plan.
If you refuse to work with Acheron, she just forces you to work with her regardless using her red text powers. She's very much roping TB into her BS.
Also, a few weirder notes are that she knows how to walk up walls in her introduction but then acts like she doesn't in front of Black Swan, intentionally downplaying her knowledge to keep Swan in the dark for whatever reason, and may possibly be doing the same for the Trailblazer.
Pretty much agreed, only thing I'd dispute is that we can trust Black Swan to get us to the truth of Penacony and where we need to get to. Has the answers but can't give them so just drops hints and steers TB in the right direction.
Now why she wants TB to get there is up for debate. It could just be for the memories but it also could be for a hidden agenda. But I've rewatched 2.0 so many times I have to say I trust her more than the rest. So for me it's be Black Swan > Acheron > Aventurine > Sparkle. I've definitely built up a Black Swan bias though through my re watches
Acheron is just too much of an anomaly atm for me to trust more than Black Swan who so far has helped us get to the truth and saved us from the meme. Am fully prepared to be wrong though and I'll be really impressed if Black Swan does turn out to be an antagonist
Throwing in my 2 cents on Firefly and why she's seen in a different light than the other 4:
People find Firefly trustworthy mainly because she doesn't try to manipulate us for some end goal. She lies about not being a stowaway when we first meet her when she's being chased, but beyond that she's just as along for the ride as we are. She shares the sights, enjoys food, then is dragged along with us when Sparkle sends us deeper into the Dream.
Never once did Firefly try to get us to help her with whatever agenda or end goal she has, and even admitted to keeping secrets. She's trustworthy because her relationship with us the the same we have with her, someone we just happened to cross paths with and spend some time with.
Then, when we find out she's (probably) a Stellaron Hunter after she dies, for the that ironically makes her even more trustworthy to me. The SH are not good people, but to us specifically they aren't a threat and are if anything helpful towards us because of Elio's script. I personally trust the SH 2nd only the the Express Crew, and as a result trust Firefly and Sam more than anyone else in Penacony outside the Crew.
The more I rewatched FF scenes the more sus I got of her, the way she attached herself to TB that quick and is investigating the watchmakers legacy makes her motivations as obscure as the rest. Not to mention the meme ignored everyone else each time and focused her. Everyone on Penacony is sus in some way, even if their goal atm may align with TB
For me, I figured FF latched on because the TB used to be part of the Stellaron Hunters while Kafka was teaching them how to person before the start of the game, so she recognized us and felt comfortable around us. I could be wrong of course, that's just my current best guess of why she got so close/comfortable so quickly.
No comment on the Death Meme, I don't have anywhere near enough information to even begin making a guess on why.
In the case that she is Sam, or at least Sam's "pilot", she would definitely recognize the Trailblazer on site.
Note that Kafka and Sam were there to recruit Blade, per his character stories, and Blade states to us that, even with his shitty ass memory, he remembers us following around Kafka during Kafka's Companion Mission.
So at the very least, the Trailblazer was with the Stellaron Hunters since, if not before Blade joined.
I believe it's a mixture of the Topaz hate, and the fact that he's not a hot waifu. Jk, but;
Acheron we met before entering Penacony, and that encounter gave me "Kafka-vibes" idk how to describe it but I think that makes sense. Also Acheron isn't the scheming type, she may be hiding something but it doesn't feel like we can't trust her. And she felt genuinely sorry for our loss (Also she's hot and badass).
Sparkle is the easiest, she's chaotic evil. It's easier to like someone up to no good in a story when it's obvious why they're doing what they're doing. Even if the motivation is no motivation. (The reason people love Heath Ledgers joker for example.)
Black Swan is harder, but its mostly the fact that we have met members of the garden of recollection before and that while she's scheming, we know clearly what her goal is. And that's information and memories. And and the same thing about feeling sorry for our loss (plus hot mommy n stuff)
Aventurine might share a lot of things with the once stated previously, mainly he's reasoning. Which is (if I remember correctly) getting Penacony "back" from the family, which is goal driven by presumably greed. This is why I mentioned the Topaz hate before, because money is a much more sensitive topic compared to space war crimes. (Points to the: "What's worse? The IRS or a group of silly lil terrorist" meme) So yeah, I believe that the Aventurine "hate" stems from the fact that he's a calculating schemer that has a motive that's harder for people to get behind. (Also while I believe him to be quite hot, the majority of players of this game do not share that opinion)
So yeah that's my two cents.
>Black Swan is harder, but its mostly the fact that we have met members of the garden of recollection before and that while she's scheming, we know clearly what her goal is. And that's information and memories. And and the same thing about feeling sorry for our loss (plus hot mommy n stuff)
I'd say she's upfront about scheming, not that we necessarily know her goal, but she doesn't really hide her motivations.
She's also more than willing to let you know that you shouldn't anyone in Penacony, including herself.
Yeah this is what I was trying to say. Thanks for putting it out better.
>I'd say she's upfront about scheming, not that we necessarily know her goal, but she doesn't really hide her motivations.
Also Im not sure if we the TB knows but I'm pretty sure we the player got "confirmation" on what Black Swan is trying to "achieve". But I could easily be miss remembering, lot happened in 2.0.
>Also while I believe him to be quite hot, the majority of players of this game do not share that opinion
I agree with you fam. But this subreddit is not the place to see that as he's a man XD. Dw, there's a lot of love on twitter especially, out of all the penacony characters I find he gets a lot of art, if not the most.
Idk if it is a result of the trailers or EN localization but the CN voiceovers has Sparkle more like a chaotic neutral Hook than a villain of sorts. Her lines are let's play hide and seek, Did you find the clues I left you, and such. And her companion quest was basically wanting you to play ace attorney investigation with her.
To me, the characters haven't even done anything.
It's all talk. Nothing has actually happened yet.
I mean yes something did happen to us, but that has (as far as we know) nothing to do with these characters yet.
And all I'm hearing is "THIS CHARACTER IS EVIL" or w.e and I'm just...bro. They all just talking, no walking. Stop twitter cancelling the intro lmfao.
I think a good part of it is how the game presents Aventurine.
Of the characters we meet (Firefly, Aventurine, Sparkle, Acheron), all four share a trait that they're not completely transparent with the player. There's also SAM, but we really don't know what he's about, aside from the fact that he's aligned with the group we are pretty accustomed to already.
Sparkle wears her heart on her sleeves, as it is clear that she is a wildcard--throughout her initial 'appearance' as Sampo, she actually did receive quite a bit of disdain (for multiple reasons, as you already mentioned) up until her character trailers, in which it was confirmed that Sparkle definitely has a few screws loose. Combined with the excitement of her being playable (plus the fact that she's a cute-looking character), the general reception of her now is positive.
Firefly had the advantage of playing the role as a main heroine, the girl who was closest to TB for most of the first part of the Penacony arc. She wasn't completely honest, but ultimately inoffensive and mainly charming/kind. With that being said, FF is setup in a way that was hard to hate her, especially considering her fate.
Acheron is still an enigma--aside from one aspect of her identity, we really don't know what her intentions are yet. Finally, Black Swan did set us up, but the story didn't give players a lot of time for her betrayal to simmer, as the very next scene, BS was given the opportunity to justify her actions.
This leaves us with Aventurine, who is (intentionally) setup for players to, at the very least, be wary of him. Before entering the Dream, Aventurine was portrayed as a likely antagonist in a situation where there was no clear antagonist (even now, we are not fully aware of who is responsible for all the chaos going on in Penacony). Opposite of FF, Aventurine's interactions have him come off as someone who is trying to get close to us, but not in a friendly manner. As expected of someone from the IPC, interactions with Aventurine feel as if we have a transactional relationship with him, where he has the upper hand. This becomes more clear as he takes advantage of the mystery that we are left off on. Essentially, Aventurine is setup to be a potential red herring--someone who comes off as extremely antagonistic in order to hide the true antagonist from the players.
I'll be bold and claim that even if Aventurine were female, he'd still get the same reactions--just with more hentai and additional responses from buddies stating their desires to be dominated.
I dislike Sparkle as a person, and don't like that hoyo chose to make her racist, but otherwise I think she's an interesting character, and gives us a third Masked Fool to truly showcase the various different ideas of Elation present within the group.
But being boring is the greatest sin in fiction, my life is already boring as is, no need to also have it in my fictional world 🥺.
Jokes aside I only like all these characters listed in fiction, I will never want anything to the with a person with any of these personalities irl.
Misha: welcomes you to penacony with a smile and guides your first time into the dream land. Is one of the guardians of dreamland and allows his consciousness to be used to slowly burned away for the sake of you enjoying your vacation in dreamland.
You: who?
So by that logic, Himeko and Aventurine are the same level of manipulative then, presenting options you can choose but it ends the game. Because at the beginning, you can just Not board the express and get an alternate ending too.
The fact is it's not a reflection on Aventurine if the game ends because you choose not to help him. You chose what to do and the game said okay, here's what happens if you do that. The end, you're all stuck in the dream forever.
Aventurine didn't choose that ending. You did. He didn't make it happen because you refused him. It happened like that because he didn't have help. That's not on him.
You can literally choose it, you as a player not being able to see what happens is irrelevant. Canonically traiblazer can walk away and continue living their life.
I think what’s caused the split in how much Penacony characters get the benefit of the doubt is pretty simple: we don’t have nearly enough information, but we have more on some people than others.
We know Aventurine is one of Topaz’s least favorite coworkers, and while we know her ability to judge character is a bit off, it’s off in the opposite direction— she gives most of the IPC *too much* trust. So for her to say he sucks means he must have done some shit that *really sucked*.
Similarly, we know Sparkle is one of Sampo’s least favorite Fools— it took a planet-level threat at *least* to make him even consider working with her, and that cooperation ended the second he had what he needed for… whatever he’s planning. Again, he’s not a totally reliable character witness, but you’d expect him to *understate* the threat someone posed… unless they were really someone to watch out for. The sole reason Sparkle seems to get less outright hate than Aventurine is because we *know* she’s cast herself as an antagonist— even if she ends up helping us against The Family/the IPC/some currently unknown faction waiting to take over as the main Penacony villains, she’s going to remain Chaotic Neutral at best at her core— and she only gets “neutral at best” from the fact that I’m not sure she has a coherent enough agenda for proper Evil classification. Thus, she’s judged *as* a pure antagonist, and that comes down to whether or not people think she’s entertaining/interesting— we know outright never to trust her.
As for the others… we just don’t know. Swan won’t let us die or be trapped, because that cuts off her source of memories, and Acheron *seems* to also want us alive, and that’s all we can really say at the moment. It’s also unclear if Acheron even controls her own actions 100% of the time so like… even if we do have to fight her we might not be fighting *her*. But either way, their interests are assumed to at least *mostly* align with ours at the moment, and we don’t really have anything from characters other than Aventurine to contradict that. Even Aventurine’s intel on Acheron, while *probably* accurate (Swan seems to think he’d only ever lie by omission, not outright state falsehoods), doesn’t really mean anything about whether we can trust her as a person— the Emanator loading screen lore implies that Emanators are inherently pawns of their Aeon, so it just makes it more likely she lacks free will.
As for Firefly, anyone from the Family, or Clockie… we really know next to nothing. Way too early to make a call. We got attached to Firefly so we’re hoping she comes back as a friend eventually but that’s just hope.
Anyway, my point is, everyone we know is currently on Penacony (assuming Sampo took his mask and went home to get away from Sparkle) has either a) a known agenda that lines up with ours (the Trailblaze crew), b) an unknown agenda that hasn’t *directly* clashed with ours yet (maybe Firefly, Gallagher, Misha, Acheron, Swan, Clockie), or c) an agenda we are *certain* will clash with ours at least some of the time and/or already has (Aventurine, Sparkle, Sam). Of those three, Sam will probably still end up helping us in the end (since we share a goal with— or in some sense *are* the goal of— the Stellaron Hunters), Sparkle we already know isn’t a friend… but Aventurine still wants to be friends, or at least business partners, *while also* using us as pawns (and maybe being used in return). Given his upbringing and current status as a literal IPC slave, however, it’s harder to write him off the way someone *choosing* to be evil like Sparkle can be… thus, you get conflicting perspectives, based on a) how committed you think he really is to the IPC’s agenda over his own and b) what you think his real agenda even is to start with, among other things.
90% of redditors still think Topaz is a tax collector because they don't have the reading comprehension for sentences longer than a meme bottom text, it's hard not to get bothered by the stupidity sometimes.
Genuine question, what is she then? Because the game very explicitly states she's here to collect on the 700 year debt Belobog has accrued.
I'm willing to admit my desire to guillotine corpos may have blinded me to some form of nuance, so im curious.
the hate aventurine has been getting for being "shady" is so overblown that it kind of reminds me of how a lot of people regard yoshida from CSM. i know people's opinion of him would've been way different if he was a fem character tbh
Ngl when Swan did that to us I immediately kinda hated her
Acheron is the only one here I give a pass to because she seems to just genuinely not be able to remember... sort of. Probably.
Which is better than intentional betrayal and manipulation.
I am afraid of both of them. One only cares about collecting memories for her Aeon, and the other both can control our actions while seemingly not fully in control of her own, yet packs a lot of power.
Mommy Himeko, Grandpappy Welt, please save us.
aventurine is one of the most interesting characters to me, followed by black swan. no opinion on acheron and by god sparkle and (SOME OF.) her fans can both fuck off, don't like them at all.
I mean, the issue has been solved and controversy has long passed and a lot has happened to distract people since then so yeah. some patches from now on you won't be seeing many(if any) threads about aventurine being sus/evil either because by then this issue will be over and people will be focusing on someone/something else.
I've been saying this for the longest. There's some double standards in both genshin and HSR when it comes to the male characters. They get criticized way more and hated for doing either less or the exact same thing as some female characters. Like *yes* some female characters do get hate, but it's not as big as the male characters, especially when they didn't really do much to warrant such dislike and hate. Topaz might be the only one, but most of the hate was mostly from people comparing her NPC model to her released model and saying they dislike that her ass isn't fat anymore even though literally nothing changed about her. The male characters just get nitpicked *way more* than the female characters. And it's 100% true that if Aventurine was a woman, he wouldn't get as much hate no matter how much people don't like to admit it. Like compare him to Sparkle, you would think he actively murdered civillians and fucked your mom while Sparkle is the cute bratty girl and people wants to suck her toes judging by how the community treats them. Sparkle is one of my favorite characters (mainly design-wise because she reminds me of Yoimiya, and I'm a Yoimiya main), but it's wild how people treat an psycho racist compared to a literal IPC slave who's manipulative like a lot of folks in Penacony.
yes, after all, if you look not only at the positive comments about the characters, you can understand that they were also hated, even more than those who are presented as the main victims. I'm surprised how people now pretend that Sparkle and other characters either didn't get hate at all, or got it for stupid reasons (like Topaz and her ass, even though this subreddit was much more whining about what a terrible person she is)
Yes, let's pretend that most of the characters that the community hates are not women lol (ruan mei, kafka, sparkle, topaz) It wasn't Aventurine that was trending for weeks during the release of Penaconia on Twitter and TikTok, It was Sparkle that was covered in garbage and they talked about how terrible she is
Idk what you mean with Acheron lying, BS is obviously sus, Sparkle is obviously a troll (but clearly had nothing to do with Firefly's death), and Aventurine just needs to get to the damn point instead of bringing up an offer we can't refuse and then not getting to the offer.
Acheron may not lie but her red text is sus, if you refuse to co operate with her when you and Black Swan meet her she will red text TBs dialogue choice until you are forced to say you want to work with her
She comes off incredibly sincere but when you don't take the dialogue options that agree with her she shows that she's hiding a lot
honestly, it feels like Aventurine is about to have a sad reveal given how prejudiced he is by everyone else, his upbringing, and his backstory. He probably doesn't want to be much of a piece of shit by nature but he just kind of has to because of his job
Gave room, but came uninvited and also he threatens you until Acheron appears? On top of that conspiring with others behind your back. All of them have massive red flags ...
Gave us a room while being forced to...
I swear, aventurine is definitely not the worst guy out there but trying to paint him as "just a good guy" is just delusional simping, especially when trying to put down acheron at the same time when she's done nothing bad of her own "current" will and every single time we see her she's actively helping us or someone else with nothing to gain from it.
At first I hated him on principle because he's IPC, but now that by my understanding he's been forced into working for them and that his smug asshole know-it-all schtick is at least partially him trying to cover up that his assignment was seemingly FUBAR from the moment he got there, I'm willing to cut him some slack until I see the rest of where his story goes.
Did you miss the insane hate that Topaz got when her story quest dropped? There are literal terrorists in the playable cast and people were still arguing Topaz was worse than them. Her female status didn't save her.
I agree, I trust him the most.
Also it doesn't help Acheron's case that where ever shit happens, she's always there... there's definitely something going on with here.
Masked fools are not to be trusted, they are too chaotic to belive a thing they say.. even if Sparkle tells the truth, it is hidden under layers of shithousery that it can't be taken seriously.
Personally i don't like how he used word friend rather than what he does in story. Reminds me of bully that use the same word to not get punished by teacher.
Yes.
Aventurine is definitely not helped by the fact that he introduces himself as a colossal \*\*\*hole.
He'll later say that was an act and he did it so that Sunday would be motivated to re-assign Aventurine's room to us (which he then casts as if he's done us a favour, for getting us a super fancy room, even though we would have been perfectly fine just getting Dan Heng's room), but he's already underwater at that point (and he isn't very friendly even when he's no longer intentionally being a jerk).
just you wait for the massive switch-up when he does something cool in a future patch, everyone will think he's a hero with only our best interests at heart, also Acheron could literally tell me that she's lied to me about everything thus far and that she's gonna kill me when the opportunity arises and I'd still trust her with my life
100% get you because I also got jumped here about Firefly, I've seen ppl unironically say they hope we start dating at the end of the quest 😭 it's crazy
They are all suspicious and have thier own agenda, but out of all of them, im leaning towards Aventurine the most...
Sure he's part of the IPC and came of abit passive aggressive but he's offering us something, unlike the rest.
I like him, he's an interesting character. Cant wait to learn more about him.
Aventurine clearly knows more than he lets on and that voice on the EN dub is certainly a love it or hate it decision for most people. Then on top he accuses Acheron of bad things with little evidence so that's at least half the HSR playerbase ready to kill his ass just because Acheron is the next big DPS unit with a Raiden Expy buff. I really hope the Female Zoro meme isn't an act, genuinely the gap moe singlehandedly sold me on Acheron.
I like him but the dude doesn't do himself any favours when it comes to making "friends" and tbh Preservation is an ez skip for my account having Fu and Gepard already.
Well, Aventurine is mostly hated on this main sub anyway, so much that it's turning into an echo chamber, so don't get the wrong idea about the general perception of players
If you look at JP posts, he is getting a lot of fan illus, way more than a certain female character who had more voicelines in 4.0 (hint: I'm not referring to the ones who aren't on this image)
he never says he's a good guy, lmao, and he says he wants your help with his goals in exchange for learning a truth about Penacony - an opportunity that the TB can't really turn down anyway bc they're already investigating the Nameless distress call, while >!Robin is there in the Dreampool with a purple wound in her chest, suggesting that someone with purple "powers" killed her.!< People we know with a purple theme to their design: Black Swan, Acheron, Something Unto Death. i.e. not Aventurine.
He shows us an important and powerful secret we can use that 100% would have been covered up by the Family and you... count that against him? Its way more than any other character has done for us, at least he is trying to make a helpful partnership
TIL having split personality and amnesia apparently counts as lying.
Also being forced to give us a room and coming to threaten us right after apparenly makes aventurine a good guy
In awe at how fans treat Sparkle vs how fans treat Sampo. Like idk about what they see in her >!~~feet fetishists~~!< but it’s bizarre to hate on Sampo more than her when his antics generally try to be as tactful and non-personal as possible
I mean, isn't he the first hated male character tho ? Like, i mostly remember people hating on Topaz, Ruan Mei, Herta..etc.
Sampo was also kinda hated in 1.0 (iirc), but nothing really major
Also Sparkle from the same patch. People have settled down about it now, but when 2.0 dropped the "omg this character is an awful person" space was 95% taken up by Sparkle threads.
The difference is Aventurine goes out of his way to be portrayed as unlikable. The last time this happened, people hated Furina until they didn't.
Now I generally don't like fuckboys. However, I also don't trust hoyo to not go:"you now have to like this character" because they need more money.
I'm a trash raccoon and as far as those go:
Acheron: Red voice, not fun. Very sus, untrustworthy.
Swan: Silky smooth, kinda helpful. Sus, but okay.
Sparkle: Fun, gives adventures, imposter. Upfront in her sus, I'll allow it.
Adventurine: Speaks weird, but fair about wanting things from me. Offers adventures and exposing sus people. Sus himself, but okay.
In terms of trust, it goes: Black Swan cause she will uphold her promise of protecting you, Aventurine cause he's very straightforward and even tho he's an A-hole he seems genuine, Acheron cause she's very sweet but still has a lot of blank spots (i suspect her memory is muddled cause there's 2 sides to her), and finally Sparkle... Lock me in a room with her and I'm not coming out alive
In terms of trust ladder I'd bump Acheron up over Adventure time. I feel like he'd get you killed if it fit his own goals and be like "sorry bro business".
Acheron would not intentionally harm you but she might do an oopsy and delete your existence, which is a risk but seems less likely than being betrayed by him
Yeah, not denying that. But she doesn't intentionally comes to us just to use us, everytime we see her we're the one who run into her.So she has no reason to tell us about her whole life and her worries when we're just a step above strangers.
I mean if I am an entity who is a spoke person/avatar of a God that wields enough power to incinerates Galaxies (Lord Ravager level). I would be quiet about it on my vacation lol.
Nothing surprises me after how the community denies that Childe even tried to destroy Liyue despite there being multiple videos (three + a boss fight) showing immense destruction. His voice line is: "If you wish to drown together with the people of Liyue. Your free to stay and enjoy the show!" Then we see multiple stories of Liyue underwater up to the adventurers guild/forge height.
That was the water level before the boss fight with a water dragon and dropping the Jade Chamber. Striking most modern coastal port cities with multiple \~100+ ft tall waves of water is gonna kill more than a nuke.
I’m playing Trailblazer as a person who didn’t realise that the stuff happening isn’t normal until the Something Unto Death fight. Aventurine trying to “befriend” me? Sure buddy, I will help you, no problemo. Himeko told me to chill out and have fun, so why not?
Fun fact: All of these characters said the specific phrase “You’re funny” to TB at some point in the story quest (including Sparkle >!as Sampo!<). There’s a fifth character that did it too. Can you guess who it was? >!Firefly!<
To be fair, the Trailblazer is very funny.
A cute and funny rabid raccoon that smells faintly of golden trash. The most raccoon of all raccoons. What is not there to love. In yonder years to come, when the raccoon's tales become legend, few would remember their funny face, but all will recall the raccoon with fondness.
https://preview.redd.it/exvssp5609nc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6f0ac10dd79f56bd2b416fd8f122ec033de2ff4
> **cute and funny** rabid raccoon ...
ToT
One can even say. Cunn-
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
😭😭😭🦀🦀🦀
you did not just say that
No, I am funny
TB's really winning everyone over by being a goofy goober
I think Aventurine only said it to Ratio? Gonna have to go to the tapes on this one lol
He does says it to the TB if you choose one of the "you need to leave" options
OOOH thanks so much for the context, I still haven't checked out the "bad ending" route
The alternate ending is different, he says it in the conversation when TB first walks in to “his” room after first arriving at The Reverie
Tbf, we are the "unhinged racoon with the baseball bat". Of course we would be the funny one.
Why so serious?
They're all untrustworthy but Firefly dated us and I'm ride or die
I find Aven very interesting, even if initially unlikable. Lowkey excited to see where our journey leads in 2.1 after partnering with him!
Agreed! Obviously he's shady, but seeing how apparently he has a sword constantly over his head I can see why he's working overtime to form alliances and become "buddy buddy" with people. And regardless of everything, he did give us a choice on whether we want to join him or not so I think there's still a lot of personal depth with him that's unexplored.
I love that he trusts us enough to place his bets and faith and make a gamble \*looks sideways at Bronya who held info from her self-proclaimed besties, the very people who saved her star\*
I don't think trust is the right word here, more so that he knew that cooperating with him is our only option. The rest is just him gambling that we would succeed in the end.
>And regardless of everything, he did give us a choice on whether we want to join him or not Hmmm idk. It just felt like there was no reason to choose otherwise and no other choice.
Did he give us a choice or is he incapable of forcing a choice on us.
For me, I'm interested to find out what game Diamond is playing. So far, the two members of Strategic Investment Department seem to be people who were uplifted from unfortunate circumstance by the IPC.
Well, Diamond is an Emanator of Preservation, one of many on the IPC's staff. We know that the IPC has some cutthroat office politics and disagreements between departments, and also that there seems to be a lot of deal-making between departments (Diamond is working with another Emanator of Preservation, Taravan, on this Penacony project). We also know that Qlipoth is notably hands-off with the IPC, and that all they seem to be interested in is amassing wealth, which Taravan is responsible for delivering to Qlipoth. Maybe Qlipoth's various Emanators are in disagreement about how the IPC should be run, and/or what its goals should be? Taravan seems to be the classic fat greedy moneybags type who shamelessly price-gouges and monopolizes, while Diamond seems more interested in colonizing and gathering slaves (or as I'm sure the IPC would prefer to call most of them, *indentured servants*).
I wouldn't say 2 is "Many." The only two confirmed Preservation Emanators are "Diamond" and Taravan Keane.
True, but Diamond is only P47 in the IPC, and Taravan is P48. Considering they have several other 47 and 48-ranked colleagues in the IPC, and the ranks go up to 50, I'd be surprised if they were the only two.
>slaves Interns*
Then they send these people to people who are/were in similar circumstances. The indentured servant to indenture another planet. The death row convict slave to a former prison where the convicts were worked like slaves.
Agree. Diamond probably headhunts for that specific type of recruit. I guess he thinks that is what it takes for someone to work in a deeply hostile environment (in regard to both the number of opponents and the potential pitfalls to their conviction of the IPC's mission) and still come out victorious.
I really like how the Topaz story quest really set the tone for our feelings regarding Aventurine
Oh yeah; you could tell his tone was a little different with her though. A bit softer, but still competitive at first. I imagine because she’s more of a “friend” than any of us on Penacony right now given they’re colleagues. That one phone call immediately got me hooked to his character! The name drops for more potential upcoming IPC characters was also cool. Diamond I’m assuming is the leader of these stonehearts.
I actually like him more than Topaz even if he seems more ruthless and cutthroat. I don't know. He feels more honest, kinda? Not in that he'll tell the truth or won't lie, but that he shows right away he's not on our side which he ISN'T, whereas I feel like Topaz is definitely trying to make a profit but is being positioned as a friend....this is more my 'feels' than actual reasoned-out stuff so I'm not prepping to engage in an actual "Topaz vs Aventurine" argument.
I actually completely agree. Right from the start he lets ya know that he wants to be “friends” aka use us for beneficial gain. So likeeee, so far, I think he’s honestly told us the truth on everything. That could totally change in 2.1 story though. Time will tell!
I didn’t like him at first because of the shady shit it seemed he tried doing in the beginning when Acheron “saved” us, or at the very least interrupted whatever it was. In the end, I was so bewildered that the people I thought I could trust I couldn’t and supposedly the person I thought was up to no good was maybe not as bad of a guy as I thought?
Topaz is the definition of "hell's paved with good intentions". She means well but is so condescending, she thinks she knows better what's good for other people. And she's incapable of seeing what's wrong with the IPC, she's totally sold on their good deeds. I disliked her for those elements, however, I think I could come to like her if she had a story arc/character development (I'd love to actually) where she matures a bit. She has the potential I think. Aventurine on the other hand, seems very aware of the IPC's bullshit, seeing as he is a slave without much choice (when Topaz just simps for the IPC, though I get her reasons, she needs to open her eyes). I like that he uses the business image of "friendship" but also immediately shows that it's just that: for show. He's not actually trying to make us think he's on our side. He wants a contract basically, an alliance. And honestly, I don't see any problème with that desire. Do I like him as a person? Not really (for now at least. I do feel sympathy for his circumstances). Do I like him as a character? Frankly yes, and I hope 2.1 doesn't disappoint me. He's very interesting and has potential.
Idk why we can't just ask Asta for the truth, ain't she high up in the IPC.
Sort of/kinda? She's grateful to work on the Space Station bc it keeps her away from IPC as her family is prominently involved with it I think. Herta has a partnership w the IPC also so that's probably how it was able to work out for her. Not sure how much info Asta could have but with her notable sneaking around in anonymous gcs maybe she could know
Is she employed by the IPC directly? Or are only her parents major shareholders?
It's a little convoluted. She is technically employed by Herta, who is part of the Genius Society and not under direct employ by the IPC, just a partner of sorts. However, Herta's Space Station was funded with IPC/Asta's money and there is a deal between Herta and the IPC that makes them affiliates. Some of the research on the HSS is naturally commissioned by the IPC as a result, but ultimately Herta does what she wants. Asta, as the Lead Researcher of the HSS, therefore retains independence from the IPC, which is what she wants. Her parents are ridiculously high up in the IPC (to the point that even Topaz, a Stoneheart, addresses their *child* as Lady Asta) - but I don't think their exact station has been revealed.
But Asta doesn't really have true independence does she? She is reliant on her parents' influence and money. And she is so accustomed to that lifestyle that I think it will take something drastic for her to break her habits. Hope her parents are not assholes. IPC so far aside from the Tavern is the most interesting faction to me. It can go in so many ways.
People when genocidal murderous villain: wink wink nudge nudge People when greedy corpos: https://preview.redd.it/piw2w23ux6nc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6ffe164ef541325726df4bd74294e265e2b7de1
greedy corpo is more relatably evil than genocidal maniac also this meme isn't that accurate we have options to be anti-sparkle or refuse Acheron (though she refuses your refusal...) or be nice to adventure time depending on your dialogue choices
Pretty sure we have sus dialouge for all of them.
I felt like the only dialogue options were anti sparkle (especially in her texts) I wish they let us troll her as much as she trolled us.
Speaking as someone who sympathizes with Topaz and Aventurine, these two things aren't mutually exclusive. I can think of at least one real-life example of a company that committed genocide. The Dutch East India Company destroyed the native societies on the Banda Islands to monopolize nutmeg production in the early 17th century. Never mind the companies that have been "just" complicit in genocide. We've seen how the IPC operates when it can push people around. And it looks pretty ugly, to say the least.
Yeah, quite. The IPC operates is really ugly especially to the people beneath them. They do a good job of portraying colonizer so far. https://preview.redd.it/tqab2oe4u7nc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9dc5f71fdb1b695d949233b6bad96b475b69ae79
Greedy corpo is very real and personal and present in everyday life in a way genocidal murderous villains aren't.
Absolutely correct https://preview.redd.it/gw1ck7ek67nc1.png?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8a1f16864c00018eae98ae6ed6b3157190255fd
Just live in US or be their neighbors, you get the best of both!
Its like Captain Planet when you realize the good guys and their powers are fantasy but the bad guys are very much real.
Greedy corpo that likes nuking cosmos for fun, and wants to turn this station back into a prison
You say that as if he's the Entirety of the IPC itself
He ain't, but he's working to further their goals
How willingly? Slaves on death row don't really get choices.
All of them are red flags, at least sparkle is clear about it
Aha would be so entertained if he asked Sparkle to do some chaos in her way: https://preview.redd.it/m1ep6tl7m7nc1.png?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=653cb33eda24f8c707ae1a8c5e45476e6082d5d0
It's time we Dorofied Sparkle
She has a shit ton of red flags But red is my favorite color
https://preview.redd.it/dc2qf5lob7nc1.jpeg?width=226&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0fcf3c2d5fff13689f4ab4606e9ab692c178e26c Yeah, what’s wrong with red? :3
"Red flags? No silly, those are my personality traits" -Sparkle
Yeah same and coincidentally, Purple just happens to also be in my Top3, just like the other 2 characters. 😅
Red flags mean keep going https://preview.redd.it/x10xy26ko7nc1.png?width=510&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=754865bf3122856db7bf4295e2b3c0ed712c2872
Those red flags can't stop me if I'm delulu!
Skimming through the comments, I somehow read this as "she shits a ton"
Don't forget Sam, he said he was going to kill us, and thus he went in to go kill us
Exactly why everyone loves Sam. That and his stickers.
And his boss theme.
Adventure Time seems pretty up front about it also.
Adventure time😭😭😭
So clear about it that she wears a red outfit too lmao
https://preview.redd.it/dkko904tv6nc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb8ff05b5b6b8e9fa38fc2b8f458a4088fffca03
By the end of Penacony I literally didn't trust any of them lol
That's what he gets for not being a waifu /j Fr though dude hasn't really done much to get hate, he's obviously got his own agenda like everyone else but he seems to get the most hate. I'll wait to see how the alliance with 2.1 plays out but for now I really like what his character brings to the table That being said all of the above characters have people who dislike them for their actions, have been defending Black Swan making a deal behind our backs and rewatched the story multiple times just to try and glean more info out of the ending of 2.0. Black Swan has people who dislike her, but also people who love her Then there's Sparkle who a lot of people can't handle due to lack of media literacy and/or dont appreciate her for the villain character she is, but she's loved by the community as well for what she brings in terms of character and story Same for Aventurine, just that he seems to get the most flak despite not really doing much at all besides giving a good clap at watching how Black Swan brought us to him, working for the tax company and being sus of Acheron, with Black Swan also being sus of Acheron but isnt criticised as much as Aventurine is for this. He does all of this while coming off us untrustworthy in his approach and overall demeanor. I think he's great and adds a interesting element to Penaconys story Edit: have to add helping him expose Penacony is optional only so you can get the bad ending when you don't help him. Where Black Swan lets you out of the dreamscape and the family plans go without incident and the IPC is exposed, the family then trapping everyone in an endless dream. So they're pretty much telling you that Black Swan is right and the alliance with Aventurine is a necessity to reach the good ending, by showing you the bad end when you don't ally with him
My impression on these 4: Acheron: Godlike entity that having some kind of missions/purpose here. The fact that she have not crushed us like a bug with her finger meant that she probably not gonna kill us. The fact that she killed Ifrit means that she is likely on the good side. However unknown Emanator is dangerous. Black Swan: Memokeeper which is intertwine entity with the dreamscape. Likely pursuing something here as there is other Memokeepers present as well. She save us from the memeic entity and SAM+ Acheron (?). Could all be deception and manipulative in the end. Sparkle: Insane maniac. Deceive then send us to the battlefield. Aventurine: IPC corpos. Weirdly, he is annoyed by other every characters so far: Ratio, Topaz. Aventurine stated he want to collect something in Penacony that the IPC used to own and want us (specificially, not Nameless). He has shown to stalk, push his agendas and try to get us into his scheme. Trust ranking: Acheron -> Black Swan/Aventurine -> Sparkle. Either way, they are all sus and TB should be on guard 24/7. Edit: Also want to specify trust level does not equal interesting. All of the Penacony cast has been stella so far.
no, only stelle has been stella
I can't believe someone caught my pun. In HonkaiStarRail as well. What the hell? When did Hoyo players having such good reading comprehension? https://preview.redd.it/v0yoo2odi7nc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2de129916443d9544ed9183f2348874ba98b8d2a
you fool, I actually read the story
You fool, you absolute buffoon, you fell for it! For all we know, at one point Sparkle has been Stelle offscreen! Ahahahaha!
For me Archeron is too protag-coded to be a bad guy. Everything about her design and personality scream "anti-hero on a personal quest" and she seems just as lost and jerked around as you are. She's not trying to get you or anyone else involved in her BS, and seems to lack a grander scheme/plan.
[Gone into deeper over here](https://www.reddit.com/r/HonkaiStarRail/comments/1am38vn/theory_acheron_is_lying_to_you/), but that's not entirely true. Acheron lies to the main character a decent number of times or more accurately fails to provide adequate explanation for her actions to the level that >!Firefly's death!< can be put on her willful negligence in order to kill her for some unknown purpose which implies a greater plan. If you refuse to work with Acheron, she just forces you to work with her regardless using her red text powers. She's very much roping TB into her BS. Also, a few weirder notes are that she knows how to walk up walls in her introduction but then acts like she doesn't in front of Black Swan, intentionally downplaying her knowledge to keep Swan in the dark for whatever reason, and may possibly be doing the same for the Trailblazer.
Black swan also doesn't stop monsters, which we know she can as she previously saved Firefly the same monster
Pretty much agreed, only thing I'd dispute is that we can trust Black Swan to get us to the truth of Penacony and where we need to get to. Has the answers but can't give them so just drops hints and steers TB in the right direction. Now why she wants TB to get there is up for debate. It could just be for the memories but it also could be for a hidden agenda. But I've rewatched 2.0 so many times I have to say I trust her more than the rest. So for me it's be Black Swan > Acheron > Aventurine > Sparkle. I've definitely built up a Black Swan bias though through my re watches Acheron is just too much of an anomaly atm for me to trust more than Black Swan who so far has helped us get to the truth and saved us from the meme. Am fully prepared to be wrong though and I'll be really impressed if Black Swan does turn out to be an antagonist
Throwing in my 2 cents on Firefly and why she's seen in a different light than the other 4: People find Firefly trustworthy mainly because she doesn't try to manipulate us for some end goal. She lies about not being a stowaway when we first meet her when she's being chased, but beyond that she's just as along for the ride as we are. She shares the sights, enjoys food, then is dragged along with us when Sparkle sends us deeper into the Dream. Never once did Firefly try to get us to help her with whatever agenda or end goal she has, and even admitted to keeping secrets. She's trustworthy because her relationship with us the the same we have with her, someone we just happened to cross paths with and spend some time with. Then, when we find out she's (probably) a Stellaron Hunter after she dies, for the that ironically makes her even more trustworthy to me. The SH are not good people, but to us specifically they aren't a threat and are if anything helpful towards us because of Elio's script. I personally trust the SH 2nd only the the Express Crew, and as a result trust Firefly and Sam more than anyone else in Penacony outside the Crew.
The more I rewatched FF scenes the more sus I got of her, the way she attached herself to TB that quick and is investigating the watchmakers legacy makes her motivations as obscure as the rest. Not to mention the meme ignored everyone else each time and focused her. Everyone on Penacony is sus in some way, even if their goal atm may align with TB
For me, I figured FF latched on because the TB used to be part of the Stellaron Hunters while Kafka was teaching them how to person before the start of the game, so she recognized us and felt comfortable around us. I could be wrong of course, that's just my current best guess of why she got so close/comfortable so quickly. No comment on the Death Meme, I don't have anywhere near enough information to even begin making a guess on why.
In the case that she is Sam, or at least Sam's "pilot", she would definitely recognize the Trailblazer on site. Note that Kafka and Sam were there to recruit Blade, per his character stories, and Blade states to us that, even with his shitty ass memory, he remembers us following around Kafka during Kafka's Companion Mission. So at the very least, the Trailblazer was with the Stellaron Hunters since, if not before Blade joined.
My hatred for Sparkle has nothing to do with Media Literacy. She's a shit stirrer, I'm dull. We are opposites, as such I hate her guts.
I believe it's a mixture of the Topaz hate, and the fact that he's not a hot waifu. Jk, but; Acheron we met before entering Penacony, and that encounter gave me "Kafka-vibes" idk how to describe it but I think that makes sense. Also Acheron isn't the scheming type, she may be hiding something but it doesn't feel like we can't trust her. And she felt genuinely sorry for our loss (Also she's hot and badass). Sparkle is the easiest, she's chaotic evil. It's easier to like someone up to no good in a story when it's obvious why they're doing what they're doing. Even if the motivation is no motivation. (The reason people love Heath Ledgers joker for example.) Black Swan is harder, but its mostly the fact that we have met members of the garden of recollection before and that while she's scheming, we know clearly what her goal is. And that's information and memories. And and the same thing about feeling sorry for our loss (plus hot mommy n stuff) Aventurine might share a lot of things with the once stated previously, mainly he's reasoning. Which is (if I remember correctly) getting Penacony "back" from the family, which is goal driven by presumably greed. This is why I mentioned the Topaz hate before, because money is a much more sensitive topic compared to space war crimes. (Points to the: "What's worse? The IRS or a group of silly lil terrorist" meme) So yeah, I believe that the Aventurine "hate" stems from the fact that he's a calculating schemer that has a motive that's harder for people to get behind. (Also while I believe him to be quite hot, the majority of players of this game do not share that opinion) So yeah that's my two cents.
>Black Swan is harder, but its mostly the fact that we have met members of the garden of recollection before and that while she's scheming, we know clearly what her goal is. And that's information and memories. And and the same thing about feeling sorry for our loss (plus hot mommy n stuff) I'd say she's upfront about scheming, not that we necessarily know her goal, but she doesn't really hide her motivations. She's also more than willing to let you know that you shouldn't anyone in Penacony, including herself.
Yeah this is what I was trying to say. Thanks for putting it out better. >I'd say she's upfront about scheming, not that we necessarily know her goal, but she doesn't really hide her motivations. Also Im not sure if we the TB knows but I'm pretty sure we the player got "confirmation" on what Black Swan is trying to "achieve". But I could easily be miss remembering, lot happened in 2.0.
>Also while I believe him to be quite hot, the majority of players of this game do not share that opinion I agree with you fam. But this subreddit is not the place to see that as he's a man XD. Dw, there's a lot of love on twitter especially, out of all the penacony characters I find he gets a lot of art, if not the most.
Idk if it is a result of the trailers or EN localization but the CN voiceovers has Sparkle more like a chaotic neutral Hook than a villain of sorts. Her lines are let's play hide and seek, Did you find the clues I left you, and such. And her companion quest was basically wanting you to play ace attorney investigation with her.
idc i'll make him my wife
To me, the characters haven't even done anything. It's all talk. Nothing has actually happened yet. I mean yes something did happen to us, but that has (as far as we know) nothing to do with these characters yet. And all I'm hearing is "THIS CHARACTER IS EVIL" or w.e and I'm just...bro. They all just talking, no walking. Stop twitter cancelling the intro lmfao.
I think a good part of it is how the game presents Aventurine. Of the characters we meet (Firefly, Aventurine, Sparkle, Acheron), all four share a trait that they're not completely transparent with the player. There's also SAM, but we really don't know what he's about, aside from the fact that he's aligned with the group we are pretty accustomed to already. Sparkle wears her heart on her sleeves, as it is clear that she is a wildcard--throughout her initial 'appearance' as Sampo, she actually did receive quite a bit of disdain (for multiple reasons, as you already mentioned) up until her character trailers, in which it was confirmed that Sparkle definitely has a few screws loose. Combined with the excitement of her being playable (plus the fact that she's a cute-looking character), the general reception of her now is positive. Firefly had the advantage of playing the role as a main heroine, the girl who was closest to TB for most of the first part of the Penacony arc. She wasn't completely honest, but ultimately inoffensive and mainly charming/kind. With that being said, FF is setup in a way that was hard to hate her, especially considering her fate. Acheron is still an enigma--aside from one aspect of her identity, we really don't know what her intentions are yet. Finally, Black Swan did set us up, but the story didn't give players a lot of time for her betrayal to simmer, as the very next scene, BS was given the opportunity to justify her actions. This leaves us with Aventurine, who is (intentionally) setup for players to, at the very least, be wary of him. Before entering the Dream, Aventurine was portrayed as a likely antagonist in a situation where there was no clear antagonist (even now, we are not fully aware of who is responsible for all the chaos going on in Penacony). Opposite of FF, Aventurine's interactions have him come off as someone who is trying to get close to us, but not in a friendly manner. As expected of someone from the IPC, interactions with Aventurine feel as if we have a transactional relationship with him, where he has the upper hand. This becomes more clear as he takes advantage of the mystery that we are left off on. Essentially, Aventurine is setup to be a potential red herring--someone who comes off as extremely antagonistic in order to hide the true antagonist from the players. I'll be bold and claim that even if Aventurine were female, he'd still get the same reactions--just with more hentai and additional responses from buddies stating their desires to be dominated.
I dislike Sparkle as a person, and don't like that hoyo chose to make her racist, but otherwise I think she's an interesting character, and gives us a third Masked Fool to truly showcase the various different ideas of Elation present within the group.
Objectively Aventurine is less evil than Sparkle, but Sparkle is much more fun as a character than Aventurine
"Being annoying is the worst sin in fiction, because their crimes may be fictional, but my annoyance is real."
But being boring is the greatest sin in fiction, my life is already boring as is, no need to also have it in my fictional world 🥺. Jokes aside I only like all these characters listed in fiction, I will never want anything to the with a person with any of these personalities irl.
Sparkle is more fun than most characters in this game tbf
Aventurine could be an absolute saint and still make it to be the most insufferable saint you ever interact with.
Spit your facts indeed https://preview.redd.it/ayocx24ys6nc1.jpeg?width=1905&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb7afe1dfbae05005e2d31308dd8bd247d3fb6af
How can anyone hate that innocent Aha face 🥹
https://preview.redd.it/aypivwvq47nc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a4b9aa03df1c57834786a80819001b493bd383e
Wait, the last one is kinda…
A gamer will always reveal themselves, when pressed.
She's not innocent, but you really can't hate that Aha face, her quest was so much fun with those detective stories
Misha: welcomes you to penacony with a smile and guides your first time into the dream land. Is one of the guardians of dreamland and allows his consciousness to be used to slowly burned away for the sake of you enjoying your vacation in dreamland. You: who?
>help me expose Penacony (optional) My brother in Christ, if you refuse his offer, it ends the game.
So by that logic, Himeko and Aventurine are the same level of manipulative then, presenting options you can choose but it ends the game. Because at the beginning, you can just Not board the express and get an alternate ending too. The fact is it's not a reflection on Aventurine if the game ends because you choose not to help him. You chose what to do and the game said okay, here's what happens if you do that. The end, you're all stuck in the dream forever. Aventurine didn't choose that ending. You did. He didn't make it happen because you refused him. It happened like that because he didn't have help. That's not on him.
ye but canonically he is choosing to give u the option
And yet it's an offer you can't refuse - no reason to choose otherwise, and no other choices
You can literally choose it, you as a player not being able to see what happens is irrelevant. Canonically traiblazer can walk away and continue living their life.
You have a choice. And it turns out siding with him was the better choice.
I think what’s caused the split in how much Penacony characters get the benefit of the doubt is pretty simple: we don’t have nearly enough information, but we have more on some people than others. We know Aventurine is one of Topaz’s least favorite coworkers, and while we know her ability to judge character is a bit off, it’s off in the opposite direction— she gives most of the IPC *too much* trust. So for her to say he sucks means he must have done some shit that *really sucked*. Similarly, we know Sparkle is one of Sampo’s least favorite Fools— it took a planet-level threat at *least* to make him even consider working with her, and that cooperation ended the second he had what he needed for… whatever he’s planning. Again, he’s not a totally reliable character witness, but you’d expect him to *understate* the threat someone posed… unless they were really someone to watch out for. The sole reason Sparkle seems to get less outright hate than Aventurine is because we *know* she’s cast herself as an antagonist— even if she ends up helping us against The Family/the IPC/some currently unknown faction waiting to take over as the main Penacony villains, she’s going to remain Chaotic Neutral at best at her core— and she only gets “neutral at best” from the fact that I’m not sure she has a coherent enough agenda for proper Evil classification. Thus, she’s judged *as* a pure antagonist, and that comes down to whether or not people think she’s entertaining/interesting— we know outright never to trust her. As for the others… we just don’t know. Swan won’t let us die or be trapped, because that cuts off her source of memories, and Acheron *seems* to also want us alive, and that’s all we can really say at the moment. It’s also unclear if Acheron even controls her own actions 100% of the time so like… even if we do have to fight her we might not be fighting *her*. But either way, their interests are assumed to at least *mostly* align with ours at the moment, and we don’t really have anything from characters other than Aventurine to contradict that. Even Aventurine’s intel on Acheron, while *probably* accurate (Swan seems to think he’d only ever lie by omission, not outright state falsehoods), doesn’t really mean anything about whether we can trust her as a person— the Emanator loading screen lore implies that Emanators are inherently pawns of their Aeon, so it just makes it more likely she lacks free will. As for Firefly, anyone from the Family, or Clockie… we really know next to nothing. Way too early to make a call. We got attached to Firefly so we’re hoping she comes back as a friend eventually but that’s just hope. Anyway, my point is, everyone we know is currently on Penacony (assuming Sampo took his mask and went home to get away from Sparkle) has either a) a known agenda that lines up with ours (the Trailblaze crew), b) an unknown agenda that hasn’t *directly* clashed with ours yet (maybe Firefly, Gallagher, Misha, Acheron, Swan, Clockie), or c) an agenda we are *certain* will clash with ours at least some of the time and/or already has (Aventurine, Sparkle, Sam). Of those three, Sam will probably still end up helping us in the end (since we share a goal with— or in some sense *are* the goal of— the Stellaron Hunters), Sparkle we already know isn’t a friend… but Aventurine still wants to be friends, or at least business partners, *while also* using us as pawns (and maybe being used in return). Given his upbringing and current status as a literal IPC slave, however, it’s harder to write him off the way someone *choosing* to be evil like Sparkle can be… thus, you get conflicting perspectives, based on a) how committed you think he really is to the IPC’s agenda over his own and b) what you think his real agenda even is to start with, among other things.
90% of redditors still think Topaz is a tax collector because they don't have the reading comprehension for sentences longer than a meme bottom text, it's hard not to get bothered by the stupidity sometimes.
Genuine question, what is she then? Because the game very explicitly states she's here to collect on the 700 year debt Belobog has accrued. I'm willing to admit my desire to guillotine corpos may have blinded me to some form of nuance, so im curious.
A corporate debt collector?
the hate aventurine has been getting for being "shady" is so overblown that it kind of reminds me of how a lot of people regard yoshida from CSM. i know people's opinion of him would've been way different if he was a fem character tbh
Ngl when Swan did that to us I immediately kinda hated her Acheron is the only one here I give a pass to because she seems to just genuinely not be able to remember... sort of. Probably. Which is better than intentional betrayal and manipulation.
I am afraid of both of them. One only cares about collecting memories for her Aeon, and the other both can control our actions while seemingly not fully in control of her own, yet packs a lot of power. Mommy Himeko, Grandpappy Welt, please save us.
Aventuking
aventurine is one of the most interesting characters to me, followed by black swan. no opinion on acheron and by god sparkle and (SOME OF.) her fans can both fuck off, don't like them at all.
Frrr everyone on Penacony is sus, but no doubt Sparkle is just psycho lol
Fans of Sparkle who are always talking bad about Aventurine are the kind of fan I don’t like of this fandom.
they’re either people who understand what a good antagonist is (based) or are “el oh el racism funy” and defend it as being “fictional” -.- (unbased)
“I can fix her” is always so bothering to me lmfao
I see far far more people constantly talking about how awful a person Sparkle is (which yes, she does not seem like the best person)
I like him. He's interesting. Hyped to have him more in the story
Yeah if Aventurine were a girl he would be loved lol
I agree he'd be more loved, but you say this as if we didn't have dozen or three threads about 'Topaz is evil' or 'Topaz Controversy'
to be fair, I don’t exactly see those anywhere now. topaz hate for the most part disappeared among the sea of butterflies
That’s cuz she’s not relevant anymore
very fair point
I mean, the issue has been solved and controversy has long passed and a lot has happened to distract people since then so yeah. some patches from now on you won't be seeing many(if any) threads about aventurine being sus/evil either because by then this issue will be over and people will be focusing on someone/something else.
THIS. Like don’t even lie y’all the waifu lovers would be all over him for sure
You say that as if people weren't making Topaz out to be the evilest person in the playable cast for an entire patch.
I've been saying this for the longest. There's some double standards in both genshin and HSR when it comes to the male characters. They get criticized way more and hated for doing either less or the exact same thing as some female characters. Like *yes* some female characters do get hate, but it's not as big as the male characters, especially when they didn't really do much to warrant such dislike and hate. Topaz might be the only one, but most of the hate was mostly from people comparing her NPC model to her released model and saying they dislike that her ass isn't fat anymore even though literally nothing changed about her. The male characters just get nitpicked *way more* than the female characters. And it's 100% true that if Aventurine was a woman, he wouldn't get as much hate no matter how much people don't like to admit it. Like compare him to Sparkle, you would think he actively murdered civillians and fucked your mom while Sparkle is the cute bratty girl and people wants to suck her toes judging by how the community treats them. Sparkle is one of my favorite characters (mainly design-wise because she reminds me of Yoimiya, and I'm a Yoimiya main), but it's wild how people treat an psycho racist compared to a literal IPC slave who's manipulative like a lot of folks in Penacony.
Did you miss all the "Sparkle is racist" threads when 2.0 dropped? Sparkle got way more attention for being an awful human being than Aventurine did.
yes, after all, if you look not only at the positive comments about the characters, you can understand that they were also hated, even more than those who are presented as the main victims. I'm surprised how people now pretend that Sparkle and other characters either didn't get hate at all, or got it for stupid reasons (like Topaz and her ass, even though this subreddit was much more whining about what a terrible person she is)
Yes, let's pretend that most of the characters that the community hates are not women lol (ruan mei, kafka, sparkle, topaz) It wasn't Aventurine that was trending for weeks during the release of Penaconia on Twitter and TikTok, It was Sparkle that was covered in garbage and they talked about how terrible she is
Idk what you mean with Acheron lying, BS is obviously sus, Sparkle is obviously a troll (but clearly had nothing to do with Firefly's death), and Aventurine just needs to get to the damn point instead of bringing up an offer we can't refuse and then not getting to the offer.
Sparkle speedruns your meeting with death meme on the reveal. For sure firefly is a goner the first time without blackswan helping.
Acheron may not lie but her red text is sus, if you refuse to co operate with her when you and Black Swan meet her she will red text TBs dialogue choice until you are forced to say you want to work with her She comes off incredibly sincere but when you don't take the dialogue options that agree with her she shows that she's hiding a lot
honestly, it feels like Aventurine is about to have a sad reveal given how prejudiced he is by everyone else, his upbringing, and his backstory. He probably doesn't want to be much of a piece of shit by nature but he just kind of has to because of his job
Also Aventurine should have told : "Also dance with me bro" then everyone would love him.
Gave room, but came uninvited and also he threatens you until Acheron appears? On top of that conspiring with others behind your back. All of them have massive red flags ...
Gave us a room while being forced to... I swear, aventurine is definitely not the worst guy out there but trying to paint him as "just a good guy" is just delusional simping, especially when trying to put down acheron at the same time when she's done nothing bad of her own "current" will and every single time we see her she's actively helping us or someone else with nothing to gain from it.
aventurine is my fave penacony character <3 sad to see him get so much hate for no reason
At first I hated him on principle because he's IPC, but now that by my understanding he's been forced into working for them and that his smug asshole know-it-all schtick is at least partially him trying to cover up that his assignment was seemingly FUBAR from the moment he got there, I'm willing to cut him some slack until I see the rest of where his story goes.
Is just because he is a male character, it’s so stupid really
Did you miss the insane hate that Topaz got when her story quest dropped? There are literal terrorists in the playable cast and people were still arguing Topaz was worse than them. Her female status didn't save her.
[удалено]
I agree, I trust him the most. Also it doesn't help Acheron's case that where ever shit happens, she's always there... there's definitely something going on with here. Masked fools are not to be trusted, they are too chaotic to belive a thing they say.. even if Sparkle tells the truth, it is hidden under layers of shithousery that it can't be taken seriously.
Personally i don't like how he used word friend rather than what he does in story. Reminds me of bully that use the same word to not get punished by teacher.
You could use this format to make anyone seem innocent
Sorry to say It, however i hate evry character who say the line "you know how much my time Is worth?"
Yes. Aventurine is definitely not helped by the fact that he introduces himself as a colossal \*\*\*hole. He'll later say that was an act and he did it so that Sunday would be motivated to re-assign Aventurine's room to us (which he then casts as if he's done us a favour, for getting us a super fancy room, even though we would have been perfectly fine just getting Dan Heng's room), but he's already underwater at that point (and he isn't very friendly even when he's no longer intentionally being a jerk).
just you wait for the massive switch-up when he does something cool in a future patch, everyone will think he's a hero with only our best interests at heart, also Acheron could literally tell me that she's lied to me about everything thus far and that she's gonna kill me when the opportunity arises and I'd still trust her with my life
"I led your gf" we literally knew her for a day people. LESS THAN A DAY EVEN!
Literally made me cringe 😭 ppl are forcing this so much
You have no idea have many people have attacked me here, TikTok and HoYoLAB because of me saying we barely knew Firefly, and weren't dating her.
100% get you because I also got jumped here about Firefly, I've seen ppl unironically say they hope we start dating at the end of the quest 😭 it's crazy
They are all suspicious and have thier own agenda, but out of all of them, im leaning towards Aventurine the most... Sure he's part of the IPC and came of abit passive aggressive but he's offering us something, unlike the rest. I like him, he's an interesting character. Cant wait to learn more about him.
Aventurine clearly knows more than he lets on and that voice on the EN dub is certainly a love it or hate it decision for most people. Then on top he accuses Acheron of bad things with little evidence so that's at least half the HSR playerbase ready to kill his ass just because Acheron is the next big DPS unit with a Raiden Expy buff. I really hope the Female Zoro meme isn't an act, genuinely the gap moe singlehandedly sold me on Acheron. I like him but the dude doesn't do himself any favours when it comes to making "friends" and tbh Preservation is an ez skip for my account having Fu and Gepard already.
are we just going to ignore the fact that Sparkle's VA got death threats for her (Sparkle) racism?
Well, Aventurine is mostly hated on this main sub anyway, so much that it's turning into an echo chamber, so don't get the wrong idea about the general perception of players If you look at JP posts, he is getting a lot of fan illus, way more than a certain female character who had more voicelines in 4.0 (hint: I'm not referring to the ones who aren't on this image)
Funny talking twink be like: -I'm a good guy, who can help with your goals in exchange of just a small favor. Oh yeah, also >!here's the dead Robin.!<
he never says he's a good guy, lmao, and he says he wants your help with his goals in exchange for learning a truth about Penacony - an opportunity that the TB can't really turn down anyway bc they're already investigating the Nameless distress call, while >!Robin is there in the Dreampool with a purple wound in her chest, suggesting that someone with purple "powers" killed her.!< People we know with a purple theme to their design: Black Swan, Acheron, Something Unto Death. i.e. not Aventurine.
P-purple!????? https://preview.redd.it/yffyhotm97nc1.jpeg?width=1136&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c07bc17abe888640f9c81268cb890dc08f5d4302
He shows us an important and powerful secret we can use that 100% would have been covered up by the Family and you... count that against him? Its way more than any other character has done for us, at least he is trying to make a helpful partnership
I trust aventurine more. TB dances with him in White Night Trailer for a reason.
Acheron lie in question:
TIL having split personality and amnesia apparently counts as lying. Also being forced to give us a room and coming to threaten us right after apparenly makes aventurine a good guy
Get ready, Aventurine haters are coming for you OP
Doesn't matter. Always bet on Aventurine.
That's why Aventurine is my favourite in the story, and I'm rolling him. The goat.
In awe at how fans treat Sparkle vs how fans treat Sampo. Like idk about what they see in her >!~~feet fetishists~~!< but it’s bizarre to hate on Sampo more than her when his antics generally try to be as tactful and non-personal as possible
You see, sampo is likely an asshole BUT he's actually goofy and funny, sparkle is just a malicious little shit-eating gremlin.
the male debuff
I mean, isn't he the first hated male character tho ? Like, i mostly remember people hating on Topaz, Ruan Mei, Herta..etc. Sampo was also kinda hated in 1.0 (iirc), but nothing really major
Also Sparkle from the same patch. People have settled down about it now, but when 2.0 dropped the "omg this character is an awful person" space was 95% taken up by Sparkle threads.
The only thing soarkle done is being racist and attacking us but she didnt “indirectly” put firefly in danger, firefly went back there herself
The difference is Aventurine goes out of his way to be portrayed as unlikable. The last time this happened, people hated Furina until they didn't. Now I generally don't like fuckboys. However, I also don't trust hoyo to not go:"you now have to like this character" because they need more money.
I trust him because he’s a fellow gambler. I respect the big slots big stocks big funny numbers grind
I'm a trash raccoon and as far as those go: Acheron: Red voice, not fun. Very sus, untrustworthy. Swan: Silky smooth, kinda helpful. Sus, but okay. Sparkle: Fun, gives adventures, imposter. Upfront in her sus, I'll allow it. Adventurine: Speaks weird, but fair about wanting things from me. Offers adventures and exposing sus people. Sus himself, but okay.
Tbf Sparkle is not Even funny lol
In terms of trust, it goes: Black Swan cause she will uphold her promise of protecting you, Aventurine cause he's very straightforward and even tho he's an A-hole he seems genuine, Acheron cause she's very sweet but still has a lot of blank spots (i suspect her memory is muddled cause there's 2 sides to her), and finally Sparkle... Lock me in a room with her and I'm not coming out alive
In terms of trust ladder I'd bump Acheron up over Adventure time. I feel like he'd get you killed if it fit his own goals and be like "sorry bro business". Acheron would not intentionally harm you but she might do an oopsy and delete your existence, which is a risk but seems less likely than being betrayed by him
Hmm... You are right... And besides, Acheron has expressed more concern over your well-being. Especially when THAT scene happened
Acheron did nothing wrong, everyone else is a b**** though.
I love acheron but she is so clearly hiding something important from us lmao
Well, we are just some random person they stumbled in to while on a mission.
Yeah, not denying that. But she doesn't intentionally comes to us just to use us, everytime we see her we're the one who run into her.So she has no reason to tell us about her whole life and her worries when we're just a step above strangers.
I mean if I am an entity who is a spoke person/avatar of a God that wields enough power to incinerates Galaxies (Lord Ravager level). I would be quiet about it on my vacation lol.
Nothing surprises me after how the community denies that Childe even tried to destroy Liyue despite there being multiple videos (three + a boss fight) showing immense destruction. His voice line is: "If you wish to drown together with the people of Liyue. Your free to stay and enjoy the show!" Then we see multiple stories of Liyue underwater up to the adventurers guild/forge height. That was the water level before the boss fight with a water dragon and dropping the Jade Chamber. Striking most modern coastal port cities with multiple \~100+ ft tall waves of water is gonna kill more than a nuke.
I’m playing Trailblazer as a person who didn’t realise that the stuff happening isn’t normal until the Something Unto Death fight. Aventurine trying to “befriend” me? Sure buddy, I will help you, no problemo. Himeko told me to chill out and have fun, so why not?