Robin (Honkai: Star Rail)

Information about Robin was first released on March 12, 2024, when she was described as a renowned singer from the fictional planet of Penacony. Information about her gameplay was released on April 30. as well as a trailer called "If We Had Wings" detailing the backstories of Robin and her brother, Sunday. In the trailer, younger versions of the two are seen as Robin reassures a group of children while telling them a story. Other information about her backstory and lore, particularly her childhood, was revealed in the trailer as well. On May 7, miHoYo released her combat trailer, called "Sway To My Beat", which pictured Robin walking through the streets of Penacony and introduced one of Robin's fictional songs. She first appeared in version 2.0 of the game as a non-player character, and was released as a playable character in version 2.2 of the game on May 8. Robin's speaking voice is provided in English by Alice Himora, in Chinese by Qian Chen, in Japanese by Kaori Nazuka, and in Korean by . Her singing voice was provided by Chevy in all languages. Nazuka said in an interview that although Robin was beloved by her people, she was not content with that and wanted as many people as possible to feel happiness through her songs. She said that Robin has a "childlike innocence" about her. She added that she was careful not to change the way Robin's attitude sounded when interacting with different characters, aiming to keep her behavior consistent. Nazuka added that Robin was very strong, but that she would not impose that strength on others, hence Nazuka made sure to use words that came across as well-refined and gentle. Regarding the relationship between her and Sunday, Nazuka thinks there is a fundamental difference between Robin and Sunday's understanding of freedom and protection. This was already reflected in their childhood discussion about the happiness of caged birds: Sunday believed that being loved in a safe environment was happiness, while Robin believed that birds should find happiness in free flight, even if they face the unknown. Despite the difference in their views, Robin still deeply loves her brother, and she especially cherishes the childhood memory of singing on a cardboard box with Sunday. Even her later singing career and fighting spirit stem from that. Nazuka thinks that deep in Robin's heart lies a contradiction in that she sings both for her fans and for her brother, and that this complex emotion has become an invisible shackle binding her. Music miHoYo also released an extended play (EP) of Robin's songs on May 9, 2024, called "INSIDE" (). At first on the extended play were three songs, all sung by Chevy as Robin. On June 22, the release date of Version 2.3, the fourth song "Had I Not Seen The Sun" was also released, in China in the same extended play, and worldwide as a separate single. "INSIDE" topped more than 10 music charts. Singles from the album charted on 14 KuGou music charts for a total of 21 appearances. The total number of listens on QQ Music exceeded 10 million on the day of the album's release, and over 30,000 copies were sold, 10,000 of which were on the first day. An official documentary revealed that the game's composers sought inspiration from their imagination to create the music. In an interview with Famitsu, the development team discussed the creative concept behind the songs. Regarding "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers", the team explained that the song is intended to faithfully portray Robin's life journey. The song portrays her as a bird protected within a cage, lost and uncertain. However, she later broke free from her restraints and flew out from her comfortable nest, becoming a renowned singer. At the end of the Penacony storyline, after defeating Sunday alongside her friends, she resolves to take her brother's place in protecting Penacony, using the power of Harmony to spread her song to all things in the world. As for "Sway to My Beat in Cosmos", the team described it as an emotional and narrative continuation of "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers"; if the latter represents Robin breaking free from her shackles and exploring freedom, then the former depicts her having already embraced that freedom and bravely stepping onto an unknown journey. == Appearances ==

Story Robin and Sunday are Halovians, an ancient species somewhat similar to angels that used to worship Ena, the Aeon of Order, but who changed course after Ena was assimilated by Xipe, the Aeon of Harmony. This caused the Halovians to join the Family, Penacony's ruling party, instead. Aventurine appears to blame Acheron for the creation of the entity that supposedly killed Robin and Firefly, and later tells Sunday that he plans to use Robin's murder to his advantage so the Interastral Peace Corporation, of which he is an executive, can take control over Penacony. However, in a private conversation with Sunday, he reveals he did not blame Acheron at all. Eventually, Sunday accuses Gallagher of the murders, but Gallagher instead accuses Sunday of betraying the Harmony instead. The Trailblazer eventually reaches the inner layers of the dreamscape, where they are taken to meet Robin, confirming that she was not actually dead. She explains the change in her voice as a result of interference by the Path of Order against the Path of Harmony, on which her power and voice rely. Gallagher's accusation proves true when Sunday reveals that he has been following Ena the entire time, not Xipe. He is shown putting both Robin and Welt Yang in a deep sleep. It is discovered that Sunday planned to take Robin's place as the central star of the planet's Charmony Festival, and he explains to the group that he believed the Family had led Penacony down the wrong path, and vowed to use the Path of Order to fix it. A battle ensues, but Sunday is victorious. With the help of Black Swan, the group learns that they are still trapped in a fake reality, and it is revealed that Sunday used the Stellaron to merge reality and the dream together to trap Penacony in a shared illusion. After breaking out of the illusion, the Trailblazer, Robin and friends decide to end the crisis for good by disrupting the shared dream and having Robin use her powers to wake people up emotionally. Another battle ensues, in which the Trailblazer and friends are victorious. Robin embraces Sunday as he falls after his defeat. One of Robin's songs, "Sway to My Beat in Cosmos", plays while this state is active. == Promotion ==

On April 29, 2024, an EasyCard collaboration card available for purchase in Taiwan which featured Robin. On October 25, 2024, miHoYo revealed on Weibo that they would collaborate with Chinese technology company Moondrop to produce earbuds which drew inspiration from Robin. The earbuds also played lines recorded by Robin's Chinese voice actress depending on what the user did with them, for example charging them or turning them off. A writer for HK01 praised the earbuds, complimenting the noise cancellation, sound quality and comfort while wearing them. Good Smile Company announced a collaboration with miHoYo to release nendoroid figures of Sunday and Robin for pre-order on December 24, 2024, and that the toys would be available the following August. In January 2026, toy producer ADK Emotions announced the release of an action figure for Robin that July. The figure came with built-in lighting. During the album's release, miHoYo launched a music-themed HTML5 event in which players could choose their own instruments to arrange songs. Although the melody was fixed, different instrument combinations would present different effects during arrangement. YXRB said that the event allowed players unfamiliar with music theory to experience the fun of arranging music. == Reception ==

er dressed as Robin at the Shanghai Anime Expo Robin has been received generally well by both players and critics. Fans have expressed their appreciation for the character by cosplaying as her, creating fan art and other derivative works. According to the China News Service, players have a positive opinion of Robin because of her glamorous status as an intergalactic celebrity, but also because her songs intend to soothe pain and dispel the fear of the helpless, encouraging them. and Celine Jaeckel of EarlyGame called her adorable and "oh-so-cute" and that it was hard for her not to fall in love with Robin. Jaeckel also complimented her dress, hair, halo and eyes as attention-grabbing, and described her as a very talented singer and idol. She wrote that "it just makes sense that the people in the game and we as players absolutely adore her." Yang wrote that Robin's promotion played a significant role in her music's popularity, highlighting the appearances of several artists in the preview livestream, the early debut of one of her singles, and a slow-paced promotional livestream that led up to her release. Yang also wrote that the most important factor in her music's popularity was the "mutual enhancement of music and storyline", arguing that the music amplified the emotional impact of the story, which in turn gives the music emotion and meaning. Giovanna de Ita of The Nerd Stash speculated as well that Robin was still alive and that Shaoji, the game's narrative designer, had been attempting to convey that she was dead. De Ita still believed, as did Yonezawa and Ku, that Robin was alive because her drip marketing had been released. Ku stated that Robin was spiritually dead during the Trailblaze Mission, but that she thought that Robin may as well have been actually dead. She speculated that the spiritual death may be related to a boss known in-game as "Something Unto Death", which has a special attack that sets its target's hit points to 0. She added that while Robin and Firefly's bodies were physically intact, their "deaths" in Penacony's Dreamscape prevented their consciousnesses from returning to reality and that defeating "Something Unto Death" would free them. Disability advocacy On December 3, 2024, the United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities, miHoYo launched a project centered on Robin which used her popularity to raise awareness for people with hearing loss. miHoYo also filmed a public welfare documentary, in which hearing-impaired children sung "Hope Is the Thing With Feathers". In the documentary, one of the developers argued that by leveraging Robin's influence, the company hoped to raise awareness about hearing-related disabilities. Ah Qi, writing for YXRB, argued in a piece about the campaign that public welfare activities such as this are important because they spread kindness and draw attention to causes that need it. On October 30, miHoYo donated to the China Hearing Medicine Charity Foundation to establish a public welfare project dedicated to donating hearing aids to disadvantaged hearing-impaired children. Zhen Lixia, the foundations executive deputy secretary general, said that the project focuses on assisting and supporting the hearing-impaired community in China, conducting hearing screenings for hearing-impaired children or teenagers from disadvantaged families, and donating hearing aids. She also added that games offer a new channel for communication about public welfare. Promoting projects using games can quickly reach a large number of people and expand the influence of public welfare, she said. Both public welfare platforms and games have a common attribute in that they can connect people and resources. Ah Qi wrote that while games bring people joy, "now they're more than just games" and they carry a responsibility for spreading goodwill. They expressed hope that more people will join in because of the project. == Notes ==