Following the latest expansion details for Granblue Fantasy Relink – Endless Ragnarok, the Japanese gaming community on Twitter has recently been flooded with discussions comparing Lucilius to Phainon from Honkai: Star Rail.
The controversy reportedly began after Famitsu shared newly released artwork of Lucilius. The post quickly became filled with comments and quote retweets discussing similarities between the character and Phainon, causing the topic to spread rapidly across multiple fandom communities.
The situation escalated even further after one HoYoverse fan was accused of intentionally provoking conflict between communities. According to users online, the individual allegedly manipulated their profile activity by filling it with reposts related to Wuthering Waves in an attempt to redirect anger from Granblue Fantasy fans toward the Kuro Games community instead.
At the same time, many users began pointing out that Lucilius has existed for years before Phainon was introduced. Some fans also noted that Kevin Kaslana is widely believed to be one of the major inspirations behind Phainon’s design and thematic direction.
Within a short time, the discussion spread globally, with many international fans criticizing the growing trend of direct character comparisons that ignore older design influences and franchise history. Some users argued that modern audiences often assume newer characters are completely original without recognizing earlier inspirations from previous works.
The topic eventually became large enough to even attract a response from Tachikawa Mushimaro, the artist behind Lucifer, whose design later became the basis for Lucilius. Rather than joining the argument directly, the artist instead shared nostalgic reflections about the original character design process.
In reality, comparisons between Lucilius and Phainon have already existed ever since HoYoverse first revealed Phainon. However, this latest situation appears to be the first time the topic has exploded into a much larger community-wide debate.
On the other hand, some fans believe the controversy at least helped newer players learn more about the origins of Lucilius, especially for those unfamiliar with the character who initially assumed he was inspired by Phainon — when longtime fans argue the timeline clearly suggests the opposite.
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