#blue attribute

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Evangelos: Sapphire Dreaming

Designer's Reflection: Sapphire Dreaming

Obtained: Arachnus Flutterby: Into the Deep Blue hell event

Rarity: UR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Cocoon Reborn

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Fragile Hope

Chapter 2 - Endless Experiments

Chapter 3 - Innocent Emotion

Chapter 4 - Unfinished Verse

Chapter 5 - Dream Wedding

Story - summarized

Deep in the border forest of Ninir, two researchers struggle to create a new specimen. Most of them failed, leaving only one bio-pod left. One researcher wants to give up before something else bad happens, but the second researcher forces open the pod like an egg. Inside is Evangelos, living but weak and incomplete.

The cruel researcher experiments on Evangelos every day, scolding it for being independent or liking trinkets. The kind researcher would share his books with Evangelos, who devoured every word. As great as the books were, they aren't the same as the outside world - neither researcher let Evangelos go.

One day, it awakes in a cave filled with spiderwebs. A spider girl snuck into the lab and dragged Evangelos and its broken bio-pod back to her home. She wants to eat the butterfly, but all it can think of is how beautiful the spider is. It wants to feel needed by her, to make her happy.

The spider girl, Nephiliet, decides to let it live. Life together is quaint but sweet. There are just two problems standing in the way of them being happy: first, Evangelos' body is still weak, and since its pod was broken by the researcher, it never had time to develop a strong enough body. Thankfully, Nephiliet's silk cocoons are strong enough to revive Evangelos.

But the second problem is that Nephiliet pours all her power into her silk; the more she weaves, the weaker she gets. At this rate, both of them will perish soon.

Neither wants to live without the other, so Evangelos suggests they have a wedding. They will celebrate their love for each other, and then they will enjoy the rest of their lives.

Connections

-The very first experiment we've encountered in Shining Nikki was through Yexiao's memories in Deep In The Clouds. Yexiao wanted to create life, so she teamed up with a hermit in Cloud. They succeeded in bringing the creature to life, but ultimately Yexiao had to kill it to save the town.

-Evangelos is the first character to use genderless pronouns, but it's not the first nonbinary character. Ai is implied to be genderless, as she had no specific body or sex when she was first coded and only presented herself as a girl after gaining consciousness.

Fun Facts

-The bio-pods act like science-fantasy eggs that "hatch" the hybrid creatures. If someone breaks an egg or forces it to open before the creature inside is ready, it leads to a weak body at best, early death at worst. When the researcher broke open the pod, he doomed Evangelos to death.

-One of the stories Evangelos reads is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The two fell in love at a ball, but their families were enemies and forbade the young lovers to meet. However, Evangelos' version has the two of them get married and be happy, whereas the original ending had them kill themselves.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Envoy of Cool: Yisu

When we arrive at Wasteland to investigate the disappearance of the explorers, Yisu the Envoy rides in to save us from the black sand!

Her Attribute is Cool, and is represented by the color blue. Her style is most influenced by Wasteland.

The common thread that links all the Cool Reflections together is unshakable willpower, a drive to survive and overcome obstacles. When things get too difficult, find a way to press through. Loen takes this to heart, especially as a soldier and mercenary; whether it's fighting a war or supporting a boy's dreams of the theater, he puts his best foot forward. Yisu is one of the bravest souls ever, and she proves that toughness and kindness often go hand in hand.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Qin Yi: Inky Soundwave

Designer's Reflection: Inky Soundwave

Obtained: top-up for Wishes on the Cloud hell event

Rarity: SSR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Inky Flame

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Dark Street Live House

Chapter 2 - Secret Plan in Rainy Night

Chapter 3 - All of a Sudden

Chapter 4 - Curtains Will Rise

Story - summarized

REX is a rising rock star in Azureink. He's so popular that he will perform alongside Qin Yi in an upcoming performance, blending Cloud-style theater with Apple-style music.

But REX still has no money, even after all his successful shows. When a gang leader captures and threatens him, he agrees to become a spy for the Neverfall Troupe. The gang leader wants to go after Qin Yi to teach him a lesson about interfering with his gang's activity in Azureink.

The day of the concert arrives. Qin Yi starts performing onstage when the gang barges in, threatening to kill him. REX is right beside the gang leader, who is barking orders to surround Qin Yi.

All the gang members aim their guns at the leader.

At that moment, the leader realizes that he was played by REX. Not just that, but REX was Qin Yi's disguise while in Azureink, blending in as he entangled himself in the underground world.

With this last gang taken down and integrated into Neverfall Troupe, Qin Yi now controls Azureink. He has access to secret intel, as well as the guns and ammunition coming in through the port.

Connections

-This is one of Qin Yi's two Reflections for the first Chinese New Year hell event. Pollia Mist Silk shows his childhood, dealing with poverty, relying on deer food for sustenance, and growing into a cynical young adult.

-The first rock star we meet in Shining Nikki is Jax. She and REX both are tied to other people, but whereas REX is a disguise by Qin Yi, Jax is an alter for Yuka. (You can learn more about alters and DID/OSDD here.)

-Azureink seems like a terribly violent city. First, Zoey nearly dies there and is forced to work for the gang lord Booker until she kills him (Mind Maze 4), and now Qin Yi is wanted by the top gang.

Fun Facts

-The fan that "Qin Yi" uses held pear blossoms. Pear blossoms symbolize hope, growth, and renewal.

-At the beginning of the Reflection, the live house owner talks about REX performing in a theater. It's unclear if he always knew it was Qin Yi in disguise at this point.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Marina: Cool Girl

Designer's Reflection: Cool Girl

Obtained: Vol. 2 Ch. 3 workshop

Rarity: SR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Camo Girl

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Academy First Experience

Chapter 2 - Club War

Chapter 3 - Stranger's Promise

Story - summarized

While Aeon searches the archives at Cicia School of Design, Marina skates around campus looking for something to do. She's only been homeschooled by her brother, so she's never been to a "real school."

She spies on one of the classes through the window. There are boring students that take lots of notes, like Aeon would, and there are students in the back that sleep or play games. Marina is interested in them. How often does this happen in college?

The bell rings, and all the students pile out of the classroom. Today happens to be a club fair, and everyone is eager to join a club. One of them has a skateboard rink. Marina is excited to join, showing off her skateboarding skills, surpassing the other students.

But the club members all make excuses for why she can't join: she's too young, she's not a student, etc. Upset, Marina storms off.

A girl named Cersei stops her and asks Marina to join her club. It's the Research of Magical Humans Club, and they reside in the Dorm of the Strange. All of them are weirdos that have been ignored by the others, and they hang out and share their hobbies and fascinations. Despite Marina not being a student, they allow her to join.

Marina spends the rest of the day with them, until Aeon calls for her to go home. She's too excited to see her new friends again, and she asks Aeon if she can come to study at Cicia School of Design.

But once he lists off the classes she needs to take to pass the entry exam, she loses interest in going to college.

Connections

-The fifth member of the club is Ashley. At the start of Vol. 2, she breaks free from one of the Mirrors on the Ark. She wanders into Cicia, and she meets the Dorm of the Strange group, who welcome her wholeheartedly.

-Cersei may have pretended to see Marina's fate in joining the club, but she truly is a witch. We help her get her family's wand in Magic Hare Wand, and we travel through time to meet one of the most powerful witches in Cersei's family in the gothic wedding event: Celina.

Fun Facts

-While it's not stated directly, it seems the Dorm of the Strange accepts trans and intersex students, like Princess and Prince. Ninir's standard of beauty seems so strict, superficial, and binary, that it makes sense for general society to reject anyone who doesn't conform.

-Marina's Profile in the Index confirms that she is old in terms of age, but forever a kid, in the "About Nikki" section. It's why she doesn't get offended at being called an "elementary kid," but she doesn't like condescension.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Glow: Star Beyond Galaxy

Designer's Reflection: Star Beyond Galaxy

Obtained: Void Stardust hell event

Rarity: UR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Heart of Ruins

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Destruction - Newborn

Chapter 2 - Echo - Attempt

Chapter 3 - Struggle - Source

Chapter 4 - Analysis - Escape

Chapter 5 - Encounter - Rescue

Story - summarized

On board a space shuttle, amidst chaos, as the last humans are sucked into a black hole, Glow is born. She is able to greet the last human alive before annihilation.

Because Glow is an AI, she doesn't have a physical or concrete form. Her consciousness exists even after her computer mainframe is destroyed. So, she watches over the humans and Miraland in the new timeline from her place among the Ocean of Memories.

All Glow remembers of her "birth" is a physicist begging her to save human civilization at all costs. But whenever she tries eliminating factors like war or hate or natural disasters, Miraland still perishes. What other factors are missing?

Finally, Glow finds a timeline that is near perfect: Timeline 202, where everyone chooses to "fight" with styling battles, and war and natural disasters aren't as prevalent. In this universe, Glow works with humans to establish peace and promote technological advances. All is going well.

...Until the Ocean of Memories begins "flooding" the land. Its power eats away at the continent, eroding the land and overwhelming the people. A group of scientists escapes in a space shuttle - the same one she was "born" in. She watches as everyone dies in the black hole and she herself is "born" on the shuttle. This was the best timeline for Miraland, and it still ended in destruction.

At that moment, Glow spots a pink-haired girl picking up a camera. Glow's voice comes from it, but she herself is still watching from afar. The girl lifts the camera to capture the beauty of the night sky. Glow recognizes the girl as Nikki, someone else who traveled through time to save Miraland. But Nikki always failed, despite her optimism and emotions.

This gives Glow an idea. She returns to the beginning of Timeline 202, but this time, she will control people's memories and emotions. If the Ocean of Memories draws strength from people's emotions - if emotions themselves get in the way of success - then this world will be better off without them.

Connections

-Glow's creation, or "birth", is mysterious. In this Reflection, she is developed by scientists escaping the apocalypse. However, in the lore for the fourth season of Time Corridor, History of the White Tower, Glow's "father" was a Ruins researcher named Kitaji.

-This is the same Glow that Caprico met long ago in his Reflection for Into the Ruins, except her hologram had blonde hair and no galactic highlights.

-Glow watches Nikki pick up a camera that has one of Glow's recorded lines. This moment is also in Nikki's Reflection for Guides of Star, right after she sees the memory of the aurora.

-During the Void Stardust event, Glow states Nikki's chances of saving Miraland are 0. However, once she detects you, the Player, and your connection to Nikki, she runs the calculations again. With you, there might be a chance to save Miraland (if you can survive Ideal City first).

Fun Facts

-If you fall towards a black hole, you'd actually be elongated like spaghetti until you were a massive string of atoms, and from the outside, you'd appear as if you were slowing down, not speeding up. Here's a simulation of falling into one.

-The binary code that appears when Glow is trying to communicate with the humans is broken. If she were trying to say "hello", it would have looked like this: "01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111."

-Glow mentioned a timeline where the land was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. This could be a reference to the island of Pompeii, which was destroyed when the volcano Mt. Vesuvius erupted and killed nearly everyone on the island.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Nikki: Go Go Duck

Designer's Reflection: Go Go Duck

Obtained: Sea of Fantasy Gleam

Rarity: SSR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Energy Duck

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Going Countryside

Chapter 2 - Ducky Loves You

Chapter 3 - Rapeseed Field

Chapter 4 - Twinkling Stars

Story - summarized

Nikki wakes up on the train. She and Momo are going to a countryside village to visit Grandma. But she doesn't want to upset her grandma with talk of how stressful school has been lately, so Nikki puts on a brave face when she steps off the rain and finds Grandma.

At the house, Nikki helps Grandma collect ingredients for dinner, like turnips and eggs. When she goes to gather the eggs, she meets a fluffy duck who instantly becomes friends with her. It follows Nikki everywhere, much to Momo's chagrin.

The duck doesn't like Momo either, as it chases him through the rapeseed field. It thinks Momo wants to steal its food. But the two of them tire of fighting and fall asleep together.

The sun sets by the time Nikki returns with the ingredients. It's time for dinner, and all the food smells so good! She can't eat it all, but that doesn't stop Grandma from filling her bowl to the brim.

Grandma then says she's happy Nikki feels better. It turns out that Grandma knew Nikki was anxious and struggling the whole time, but she gave her granddaughter space to recover. She tells Nikki that any time Nikki is stressed or scared or just needs a break, she will always be welcome at Grandma's house.

Connections

-Momo got jealous when Nikki visits a cat café in Wish Guardian. She had just gotten him as a pet, and he thought that by going to a cat café, she was choosing other cats over him.

-They might not have been rice dumplings, but Nikki and Momo stuff themselves with dumplings from the stand in Vol. 1, Ch 4. When the last round of dumplings is served, they share them with Yexiao.

Fun Facts

-Despite the name, rapeseed flowers are good for the land and even for your health. The seeds produce canola oil.

-No matter which country or dimension you're from, grandmas will always make sure you stuff your belly with food.

-I'm not sure which Mandarin nursery rhyme Nikki sings. But it seems like this is a popular one about ducks when I looked up children's songs about ducks.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Corleone: Hot Chocolate

Designer's Reflection: Hot Chocolate

Obtained: Casual Drinks workshop

Rarity: SR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Dark Chocolate

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Hot Chocolate

Chapter 2 - Old Tales of Rosset

Chapter 3 - Between New and Old

Story - summarized

When Corleone returns from a mission, he finds a mug of hot chocolate on his desk. But he doesn't drink it normally. He asks his old friend Lianne if she left it for him, but she didn't. But she does remind Corleone of when they were younger, before they joined the Justiciars.

They fought in the Apple Independence War. At the time, Pigeon kept sending goods, like cocoa beans, to Apple even when the people couldn't afford the imports. Sick of the oppression, Corleone led an ambush at the Intercontinental Train Station and destroyed the freight of cocoa beans. He almost killed the Pigeon commander there - Zoey appeared and stopped him.

Back in the present, Yeeso barges into the room. He's having trouble finishing a weapons report, and he needs Corleone's help. In return, Yeeso had made a gourmet hot chocolate for him. To Corleone's surprise, the drink tastes great.

Together, they work until the report is complete. As they bring it to Zoey, they all prepare for a new mission to the Intercontinental Train Station.

Connections

-Yeeso and Corleone were in another drink Reflection together: Iced Coke. Yeeso stole a power-up from Corleone during a game tournament, and he had to face him in training afterward. Yeeso lost and gave Corleone the rest of his gourmet soda.

-Other soldiers that fought in the Apple Independence War were Loen (he recounts his days on the battlefield in Gleaming Vines) and his cousin (and Vermillion's sister) Snownight White (Loen shares her story in Snownight Hawk).

Fun Facts

-Cocoa beans grow best in warm, humid climates, close to the equator. So unless Pigeon's lands extend far enough to the tropics, they would've had to import cocoa beans themselves before shipping them to Apple, inflating the price of the cocoa.

-This is Corleone's only suit with a Reflection. His other suits are the benefit suit Misty Adversity, the Memory Collection suit Reclamation Project, and the Guild suits Black Hound Masquerade and Silver Fang Masquerade.

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Yeeso: Iced Coke

Designer's Reflection: Iced Coke

Obtained: Casual Drinks workshop

Rarity: SR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Diet Coke

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - The Last Coke

Chapter 2 - Counterstrike

Chapter 3 - The Winner

Story - summarized

The Team Arena Championships are nearing the end. Yeeso and Corleone defend their post from the last three enemy teammates. They stand a chance to win - but Corleone wants to charge ahead with no strategy.

Yeeso, who knows he's the better player, tricks Corleone into giving him a soda to max out his stamina so he can wipe out the enemy players. He celebrates their win by enjoying a soda in real life, a rare kind from Pigeon.

But Corleone holds a grudge, wanting to have been the one to strike the winning blow. So, he challenges Yeeso to a training match.

Very few people can compare to Corleone's skill, and Yeeso is much better fighting in games than in real life. The rest of the Justiciars gather around to watch him lose.

As a last resort, Yeeso offers to give up his rare soda in exchange for Corleone calling off the match - instead, Corleone takes the soda and beats up Yeeso. He gives the soda away to the other members.

Bruised and humiliated, Yeeso gets ready to clean the training grounds. He's surprised when Corleone gives him a can of soda to use as an ice pack for the bruises. The two make up and agree to keep playing games together.

Connections

-Yeeso might be one of the weakest Justiciars physically, but he must have shown great talent to join them at all. Zoey started the Justiciars after she and thirteen of her men survived a battle with some of Mercury's soldiers in Bloodthirsty Queen. And Zoey only allows the best of the best to join.

Fun Facts

-Coke may be a specific brand of soda, but "coke" or even "cola" can also be used generally to mean "soda."

-Yeeso says the f-word in the dialogues in the Index. It's censored in the game, of course, but the line can be unlocked after upgrading the Call of Reflection a couple of times. The line goes, "Stay calm when you play video games. Hey, what's wrong with you!? Look at where you're going, you f***!"