Aventurine simp
Phainon simp but he'll leave me for Mydei
SKZ lover!!!!
my pfp is han jisung of stray kids btw if ur curious
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Way back at the launch of HSR 3.0 (I can't believe it's been almost a year?!), I started posting about Phaidei, combing for tiny crumbs with the assumption that a little *wink wink nudge nudge* fanservice might be the best we could expect from Amphoreus's dedicated "regional yaoi." After the feast that was 3.1, I spent a lot of time wondering whether we were seeing queer bait of the highest caliber, whether Hoyo actually had any intention of making Phainon and Mydei's relationship relevant to their story and character arcs or if they were just being pushed massively for that quick yaoi fan cash grab.
But by the time Phainon's 3.4 trailer rolled around, I wrote:
And look at where we are now.
The fact that they got the library's name wrong again is sending me.
In their post-quest cutscene, Phainon and Mydei reunite in a hilariously awkward initial showing ("Yo!" "Sup?" I'm cryingggg from laughing), and then we're treated to these devastating lines: Phainon acknowledges that his quest for vengeance and then subsequent desperation to become the hero that Amphoreus required left him entirely void of any sense of self, unable to articulate his own desires separate from what everyone else needed him to be.
Mydei tells us players that he thought Phainon's dream would be to return to Aedes Elysiae.
But Phainon says no.
Phainon says that that wish was fueled by his frantic attempt to run from the reality and pressure he faced, and that his true desire--his first desire all of his own since his childhood--is to be with Mydei. (Like, look at the wording there; it's not even "I want to go to the library," it's "Can you take me there?" Hello???)
Man, let's just take a second for that to sink in.
Phainon's marketing, Phainon's role in the story, Phainon's entire character arc dragged us kicking and crying to the conclusion that Phainon had entirely lost his sense of identity, that he wholly severed himself from his own emotions, that he couldn't even formulate his own wishes, let alone articulate them--
And then the writers deliberately linked Phainon's healing to his relationship with Mydei. Phainon's budding attempts to reclaim his identity and define himself as a person with individual desires is now inextricably tied to his wish to remain near to Mydeimos--to the promise they made to each other.
It's just crazy. As one of the two main push characters of Amphoreus, a massively anticipated expy of one of the most well-known Honkai Impact 3rd characters, Phainon was given a character arc that sees its "Hero's Journey" end when he is able to return to the side of another man and tell that man ("formally," even) that the very first wish of his new life is to spend time together in a cherished place.
Phainon's relationship with Mydei (hell, even if you don't define it as a ship!) isn't just for decoration. It isn't just for fanservice. It's central to Phainon's character development arc, central to his sense of closure and personal growth, and central to his first step in healing from the trauma he went through over 33 million cycles of suffering.
This isn't even close to queer bait anymore--like heterosexual romances have been the backbone of young characters' coming-of-age/self-identity-quest stories for ages, this is a queer romance being directly woven into the narrative's resolution and to the story's most apparent theme: No matter how hard the struggle, life is worth fighting for, because one day you will reach your happy ending.
Actually, while that is wild (for Hoyo) in and of itself, one of things I think is even more wild is how explicitly this cutscene is laid out to mirror a love confession or a confirmation of two characters' romantic feelings.
Phainon and Mydei stand alone beneath a dome full of stars. When the Trailblazer walks up, it's to discover that the pair are being painfully and uncharacteristically awkward with each other, clearly struggling to get out any of the words they actually want to say. Trailblazer is even given the option to point out the extreme strangeness of the atmosphere:
For a few lines, they try to banter with each other to take the emotional weight out of the moment, but in the end, both of them seem to know there's nothing to be gained by being roundabout anymore.
Mydei's words reveal that he was watching Phainon basically from the moment they returned, while Phainon's words imply the exact same thing in reverse. Despite reuniting with long-lost family, both of them were looking for an opportunity to speak to each other. More than this, Mydei effectively says "I thought you would only get around to greeting me later" and Phainon says "Of course not!"--because Mydei is not less important to him.
Then we get:
He might as well be saying "There's something I want to confess." This moment was explicitly and very intentionally designed to mirror the famous confession scenes of shoujo romances everywhere, where trembling girl holds out her confession letter or stuttering boy meets his crush behind the school and fumbles his way through "I like you. Like-like you." This line was supposed to make fangirls' hearts skip a beat, that's why it cuts off with the "...", so you're stuck for the two seconds it takes you click and load the next line, wondering if THIS IS THE MOMENT(?!) that the protagonist will confess his true feelings--of course he can't, it's a Hoyo game, but the devs deliberately invoked romance confession scenes in this cutscene to imply what cannot be said out loud.
Despite the deliberate invocation of a confession scene here, savvy players know the actual confession took place already, back at the end of 3.1, when Phainon gave Mydei a ring and Mydei effectively accepted, asking Phainon to meet him again in the library in their next lives, with the implication being that the new world of peace would allow them the chance to finally be together:
And even realer fans might realize the actual "promise" that Phainon is referencing may not be this moment but yet another moment they swore that fate would not be able to separate them and that they would reunite again:
(The word in other language translations is "promise".)
Thus, Phainon and Mydei's reunion scene is framed not just as a confession but also as a "renewal of vows."
We can actually see Phainon fishing, trying to find out whether the commitments he and Mydei made are still on the table after everything that's happened:
"Are you going to introduce me to your parents? Please say you're going to introduce me to your parents."
And Mydei, of course, being who he is, simply drops the most devastatingly romantic confirmation he possibly could:
Okay I know this line is supposed to be nonchalantly beautiful and all but I'm kind of dying; dude was so focused on making up a metaphor to imply his heart has and will always belong to Phainon that he forgot that doors without locks don't have keys. No thoughts, just declarations.
But Phainon is the king of rationalizing, metaphor is no good for him, so it gets to the point that the Trailblazer feels they have to interject, interrupting to literally clarify for Phainon that "The promise still stands":
Yes, Phainon, the wedding is back on.
To which Phainon reacts with enormous relief and excitement (three whole exclamation points, oh I know the boy was doing that dumbass fist pump in his head):
This is what he was there for. This is what he actually came into that conversation hoping to hear. Phainon wasn't sure whether any of the past he and Mydei had together had survived their 33 million battles to the death, whether Mydei was still committed to the promise they made so "long ago," and he came into the conversation with the intention of telling Mydei: "I'm figuring myself and my desires out, and the promise we made to each other is the thing I desire most. Even with all that's happened, do you still feel the same as you did in our past lives?"
And Mydei says yes, again, always.
It's about the library, but also no, it's not. The promise to visit the library has clearly and unmistakably, very intentionally on the writing team's part, become a metaphor for the deeper promise to simply "be together," to spend their new peaceful lives doing the things they weren't ever able to do together before.
The Trailblazer even hammers this home for the player by interjecting in the "confession" scene to tease Phainon for the fact that his dream was always to go to Castrum Kremnos, even from the time he was a silly, carefree kid:
Because the writers cannot say out loud "They want to be by each other's side" as part of the text of the story, given the game's circumstances, they instead code this message clearly into the story's subtext, letting symbolism do its work. The library isn't just a place--it's a symbol for both of their dreams and hopes for a future spent together.
(By the way, tiny aside, but I think that making this symbolic place a library of all things, in a plot that is commenting in a very meta way about storytelling itself, is just a fantastic choice: A "library" is a place full to the brim with stories--that is, it is a place full of both uncountable memories and myriad new beginnings, every tale in it a world onto its own, with its own happy ending, just waiting for people to come find it. In a story about storytelling, a library represents infinite possibility, and therefore also, finally, freedom--the freedom to embrace new ideas and new joys by finding the story you end up loving the most.)
A final thing I think is worth considering about Phainon and Mydei's reunion is that framing this as a "confirming where our relationship stands" scene doubles down even harder on the fact that Phainon's act of returning the signet ring to Mydei was meant to be seen in a romantic light, evocative of a wedding proposal. Throughout the course of Amphoreus's story, players get to see three rings shared between characters: Mydei's ring returned by Phainon, Trailblazer receiving a ring from Castorice, and (presumably) Trailblazer giving a ring to Cyrene.
In the latter two cases, the rings are undoubtedly meant to be read in a romantic light: Castorice can't embrace the Trailblazer (or at least thinks she can't), so the ring represents a symbolic form of being able to wrap around and touch someone directly. This ring was written by the devs as part of Castorice's (relatively mild) ship bait with the Trailblazer, and no players who have Castorice as their waifu would have remotely mistaken the fact that the devs wanted her gift to come across as something like a "promise ring" for the player.
And then of course there's Cyrene's ring, gifted by the Trailblazer (I'd assume), as part of the animation in which Cyrene reinforces her love for the world as a whole, but which absolutely and inherently evokes images of wedding proposals and engagement rings:
By insisting on romantic readings for both Castorice's and Cyrene's rings, the game strongly associates the very act of ring-giving with love, retroactively insisting even harder on a romantic reading of Phainon and Mydei's ring exchange as well.
With this connotation in the background, the fact that Mydei and Phainon's reunion centers specifically on answering the question "Is our promise still in effect?" basically makes it impossible to read the scene as anything other than "checking to see whether the engagement is still on"--then confirming that nothing in the world could ever have undone it.
What do you even say?
Oh wait, I know:
I'm not even going to say anything else about this; they really just said "If we get fined by the censors, we get fined by the censors."
So... yeah. That's... Yeah.
We all know that Hoyo will never be able to make a M/M ship canon--they've been sanctioned for W/W content before too and rules are even stricter for content depicting men--but this closure to Mydei and Phainon's story by doubling down on the answer "These two male characters want to be with each other across lifetimes" was so overt that I'm actually shocked that it made it past all the barriers to stay in the final release of patch 3.7.
This wasn't a small thing. This took major commitment from Hoyo, a major gamble on whether or not enough fans would buy hard into the Mydei/Phainon ship to make putting themselves out on the limb like this worthwhile, and I'm sure that some long and serious talks were had about whether making their most pushed male character ever read as queer to just about every player (who isn't in blatant denial) was really a "safe" business decision...
After the release of 3.1, I wrote:
From the very beginning, I felt that Hoyo was moving on Phaidei in ways beyond how they had pushed their M/M ships before, and to the end of Amphoreus we see that act borne out, going so far as to now label Mydei and Phainon "the perfect ship" in their own game text.
Genuinely, my hat is off to them for this part of Amphoreus's writing.
I'm sure there are still those who will deny Phaidei, who will always deny it, simply because the developers can't have the characters flat out confess to each other. (Some people simply won't accept what's presented to them unless the actual words "I love you" are said, like the incels abandoning Star Rail over the line "It's a date, Mydeimos" but managing to overlook the literal suggestive-of-sex scene in the baths lol.)
However, for the large number of fans who have been playing Amphoreus with an eye for Hoyo's own intentions, I think most people will now agree: Phaidei is about as canon as an M/M ship will ever be in a modern Hoyo game.
It doesn't bother me at all that other people love it, but I was thinking about it today and... For some reason I just can't get interested in AUs specifically about Phainon and Mydei meeting when they were kids or being childhood friends.
To me, there's something so quintessential in the fact that they met as adults who had already experienced life-altering trauma, terrible loss, and years of unprocessed grief... That they met after both having come to conclusions about their own destinies and the courses the rest of the lives should take... That they met when both of them were already "jaded" and crushed by the weight of duty, only able to put that weight aside when next to each other...
That they were "enemies" at first but willingly overcame the internal prejudices of both Okhema and Kremnos that should have kept them at odds... That they met while being in two completely different classes and yet judged each other based on their matching convictions instead of social status...
It seems to me that a pivotal part of Phainon and Mydei's dynamic is having already formed one's expectations of the world, only to meet someone who defies all those expectations--and, in doing so, meet someone who helps free you from the expectations of others.
It just feels important that they met at a time in their lives when so much of their experience--in combat, in grief, in pressure to please others--made them perfect equals. 😭
ok let's talk about the 3.6 trailer because wow there is a lot of stuff in here
I'm probably going to talk about things out of order because certain scenes seem to be split up, but this is the beginning: what seems to be a dream of the perfect ending to Amphoreus, created by Evernight (and her Keeping Up With Star Rail further proves she has such an ability). Sounds like a certain someone else's plan back in Penacony, right?
I say this partially because parts of the story seem to take place in Penacony, or at least somewhere that resembles it. The other reason? In the Special Program, it's confirmed that Sunday will get involved this patch due to his experience with dreams and memoria.
As we can see, he's directly opposing Evernight as she seemingly carries out a plan similar to his own- seeing from the outside perspective that what he did in Penacony was wrong.
Evernight also has a line towards the middle of the trailer threatening Sunday, calling him "self-righteous." We're told that she'll do anything to protect March 7th and always puts March 7th's feelings first, but March 7th's thoughts on Sunday since he joined the Express are never really explored. It could be that since March isn't super attached to Sunday, Evernight is more willing to hurt him than the Trailblazer or Dan Heng (though she does try to impede them nonetheless, as per the Special Program).
Moving back to the start of the trailer, Evernight says the line, "What can change a person's nature? Is it memories? Unfortunately, the result is just the opposite." At the same time we're shown images of a new area, the tomb of a 13th unnamed Titan according to the Special Program. I don't think Evernight's words are related to this, though- the 13th Titan is almost certainly associated with Cyrene, and the following shot is a much bigger contender:
For both Dan Heng and March 7th, the dichotomy between memories and identity is very relevant. What Evernight is saying is that a person's nature is completely separate from their memories- implying that she isn't the same as March 7th, because losing her memories couldn't have changed her nature, and in the same vein, Dan Heng losing his memories through rebirth did not make him a completely new person, because his nature remained. This is what makes Remembrance and Permanence mirror Paths: They effectively represent nurture vs nature, and both intertwine to form a person's identity.
This shot I am admittedly annoyed about. They could give him slit pupils in the cutscene but not on his actual model? Really Hoyo? Surely the tail was more effort than this would have been.
But I digress. Permansor Terrae is said to be not just the result of Dan Heng claiming the Earth's Coreflame, but also of him walking further on the Path of Permanence. It's possible that he's partially tapping into his full draconic form here and that's why his eyes change even though that's not the case for any of his normal appearances.
I also think these two shots from later on are part of the same scene; the location and lighting are very similar.
The emphasis on Dan Heng's bracer in the first shot and his Express ticket in the second are probably intentional, one representing the past and one the present, both equally integral to who he is.
Then, we see Terravox (we know it's him speaking, his VA is credited in the trailer description) giving Dan Heng the Earth Coreflame in what he calls his final rebellion.
I didn't notice any of the first few times I watched the trailer, but Dan Heng is crying in this shot. His relationship with Terravox is shaping up to be really interesting: we know Terravox dreamed of the Permanence and of Dan Heng before the Express came to Amphoreus, and in the special program it's revealed that he initially opposes Dan Heng, but then it seems like they grow close enough for Dan Heng to mourn his death. The part about rebellion is also very interesting; Terravox's character seems to mirror Dan Heng's in that he was born trapped in darkness, and once set free grew to love mortal beings even though they were so different to him. So Terravox also having a rebellious nature is not particularly surprising, but we don't have any indication as to what he might be rebelling against.
Leading into the gameplay showcase, we get a series of flashbacks to various scenes of Dan Heng with the Express Crew, and then this shot of Cloudpiercer which again suggests that there'll be some kind of narrative to its new appearance rather than it just being a cosmetic change.
Regarding the gameplay showcase itself, I don't think there's much to say about the visuals. In terms of the music, Dan Heng has the High Cloud Quintet Motif + Samudrartha as expected, while Evernight seems to use Let's Take A Photo's main melody played backwards.
next we get more of Evernight's exchange with Sunday that I already went over- the Trailblazer is trapped in ice, presumably her doing, and Sunday tries to pull them out. The thorned rope doesn't seem like a great idea but I guess sometimes The Aesthetic is worth more than your friend's safety.
There's a brief shot of Dan Heng and the Trailblazer fighting the new enemies in the unnamed Titan's tomb, then of the Trailblazer seemingly right after Sunday saves them, then of March 7th talking to Evernight's jellyfish in front of Oronyx. This could take place in the previous cycle, when March 7th was waiting with Oronyx for the Express Crew.
Then a Phainon line- probably a flashback, but even so, he isn't forgotten- "You know that the dawn is there, and the blazing sun destined to rise." If I had to guess, I'd say this is him encouraging Cyrene or the Trailblazer.
There's a scene of some kind of golden light piercing through grove, shown from different perspectives at two different points in the trailer.
Rather alarmingly, the second perspective of this scene is followed by a shot of Dan Heng preparing to use an attack. The colour of the laser fits his new form, too, so we can reasonably assume this is his doing. In the bottom left, there are what appears to be the Skyships that Aquila destroyed, so we know that this story arc takes place much earlier in the eternal recurrence than the initial Amphoreus story did.
This is probably an extension of the earlier scene with March 7th and the jellyfish in front of Oronyx, since we can assume that the red-eyed version of her is probably Evernight.
Though March seems wary, she shuts her eyes in what might be acceptance of Evernight's plan. Based on her recently released light cone description, it could be that March goes into a slumber state in which Evernight will keep her safe and wake her up once the Express Crew arrives.
Evernight also says the line, "if a new life is to be born, its seed must be dead." This is from the Texture Of Memories light cone which a lot of people consider to be March 7th's signature. She takes March 7th's place in front of Oronyx- again, suggesting that March 7th became dormant and let her take control- and purple/black water appears from behind her and seems to engulf Amphoreus. It's not the black tide- the colour and texture is wrong- but in her character introduction on the version preview page, Evernight does suggest that she believes Amphoreus yearns for oblivion, so she might be trying to destroy it regardless. She also mentions bringing the "true Evernight"- oblivion, maybe- to Amphoreus later in the trailer. Combined with the line about new life, she probably believes that destroying Amphoreus in such away that allows it to change state is what can save it. Given that Dan Heng's drip marketing implies the Permanence, a Path deeply associated with change and adaptation, will be used to stabilise Amphoreus in reality, she might not be that far off the truth.
Next there are some shots of Dan Heng in the grove where it really looks like, again, he might be trying to destroy it. The only guess I have to why is that it was overrun by the Ichor Memosprites, but that doesn’t feel like enough reason to try and destroy it.
The lack of background here is annoying, but probably intentional since it prevents us from pinpointing where, and therefore when, the Trailblazer and Dan Heng reunite.
The trailer than ends on a shot of the Express trio (whether that's Evernight or March in Evernight's outfit, we can't be sure, but since the Express trio is back together it would make sense for Evernight to wake March up at some point towards the end of this patch) and Cyrene with all 12 Coreflames and the As I've Written book which may function as the thirteenth Coreflame, at the tomb of the unnamed Titan.
The gold fire surrounding the book might be that same that Dan Heng is holding in the version artwork, or it could just be a reference to the Destruction. Maybe both.
you know how mydeis closest friends/allies were against him showing any tipe of vulnerability because thats what they did at castrum kremnos and even more because mydei was their king he wasnt allowed to feel things like that
an yet phainon came and he acknowledged his human weakness and all that he was forbidden to feel and so mydei responded to that by baring his only weakness to him
in a cycle where phainon doesnt exist, not only are mydeis parents together, they're together happily. this is the only cycle we are shown where phaidei don't mirror eurypon/gorgo directly, but they do so indirectly.
given the past parallels that have been drawn, we can infer that for phaidei are fated to be content in this cycle (as opposed to 'backstabbing'/dueling to the death.) the cycle where, of course, one does not exist.
thus we can assume that the only way that phainon/mydei can be happy on amphoreus is if they physically are incapable of losing one another– and never knowing each other is the only solution the simulation can muster.
loving someone and losing them is worse than never knowing them at all, or something like that
The Sus Bath Scene - In a Physiological Perspective
(In case you guys wanna revisit the signature sauna battle, it's right up there!)
We all know the human body doesn't tolerate heat very well realistically.
So, the question is:
How long can a person stay in a sauna before passing out?
According to this Internet article, it's 5 - 30 minutes. For the most sauna-naive people it's 5 minutes at a time.
Here are the basics on how long you should stay in a sauna, how it compares to using a steam room, and the benefits for this heated habit.
You'll get dehydrated if you stay too long in a hot bath. Just like staying too long outdoors when it's really hot, passing out in a sauna is a very real risk you must consider.
This is presumably why the other bath patrons fainted. We humans aren't built to withstand sauna heat for a long time. Fortunately, all of them are escorted out before significant harm is done to their body.
But what gives with Phainon and Mydei?
Knowing these two, they take baths together, going by the Anan interview and the 3.4 Trailblaze Mission. They're experienced at the hot baths, so they can survive give or take 30 minutes. And since they're Chrysos Heirs and Chrysos Heirs are built different (consider Phainon's stamina as well), Phainon could have lasted longer than 30 minutes in the hot bath, even while fully clothed.
Aglaea, Tribbie, and Hyacine immediately rushed to the scene when they saw fainted bath patrons. The game doesn't tell us how long they've been on it, but they might have been on it for a long enough time that Phainon complains Mydei is chickening out.
The black screen-white text being cleverly used here also doesn't help matters...
(and here's the original Chinese dub, for your perusal)
Because of the cleverly placed black screen-white text and the suggestive sounds Phainon and Mydei make while in the bath (and the Bath Sprite's narration), it can be implied Phainon and Mydei... wrestled in the baths.
Relatively innocent, given they're fully clothed, right?
But Phainon passes out in a very specific and HILARIOUS pose.
It is very likely the bath attendant caught the two wrestling in the baths which is why he left them to do their thing... which would be very unlikely if they were just sitting there menacingly.
I don't ship Dr. Ratio and Aventurine so there's defo plausible deniability.
But Phainon's comments toward Mydei, and their actions toward each other the entire Amphoreus quest series make it hard to believe they aren't romantically involved or at least are mutually in love with each other.
And regarding the sus-slash-signature bath scene I LAUGHED SO HARD I FELL OFF MY CHAIR expecting a "big ball of violence" in the hot bath (which I'll analyze in a physiological lens some time). It's actually impossible that they were just sitting at the hot bath menacingly if Phainon collapsed in such a short amount of time. So the most innocent case scenario is if they wrestled in the baths fully clothed which is already not very innocent to begin with.
(I'll assume NPCs have the normal human physiology so they can only withstand about 5 minutes in the hot baths before fainting.)
And the "testing" of bodies (both EN and CN have this) - they've definitely explored each other's bodies.
I personally have shipped them ever since 3.0. The fight with Nikador had my senses tingling, telling me there was a lot of potential there.
Honestly, that entire patch was insane for these two. So gay. Fighting and teasing? Making TB third wheel? The red and blue? Phainon not wanting to leave Mydei behind, looking back before he goes, and spending the entire rest of it tweaking because while Mydei is immortal the mere fact that he's suffering pains him? Threatening to kill a Titan to get the needed help for Mydei? (The Titan that we now know his people worshiped)
Not to mention how obvious it's been from the beginning that Mydei cares a ton about Phainon. During the quest they kept trying to subtly and subtly help or comfort each other, to aid the doubts the other had. Or how they will both literally dismiss the winner of their competition no matter who wins. The fact Mydei behaved like he did MOSTLY to peacock around and for Phainon?
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