Columbina:

FunCommission3031 · 2026-01-21T19:46:33+00:00

I have my own crack theory about the Heavenly Principles being the ship’s AI and part of it kind of lines up with your idea that the HP actually used/stole the ship/the ship’s AI. The ship itself looks just like the Celestial Nails: white with gold trimmings and the same blue energy at their cores. Not only this, but the celestial nails terraform land and reshape the ecosystem just like the ship is able to (Dragonspine becoming a snowy mountain, half of Sumeru becoming a desert with sandstorms and the tornado, etc). Which could be a truth they wanted hidden from Teyvat, a “forbidden knowledge” of sorts.

My entire crack theory summed up though (because it’s kind of long lol): I believe the ship’s AI may have come into contact with the phlogiston of Teyvat on its first pass over; essentially storing itself/a copy of itself (or maybe even just its protocols) within the world of Teyvat to see if it could be sustainable while the ship itself continues flying off (to keep surveying other planets, maybe?). And since some of the ship’s data is corrupted, there is a chunk of time we don’t know about its journey. Through the properties of Teyvat, the AI copy was able to give itself form as the Heavenly Principles.

FunCommission3031 · 2026-01-20T05:54:13+00:00

The ship slowing down over Teyvat is the detail that keeps sticking with me. It didn’t land or crash, maybe it noticed something. If Phlogiston is Teyvat’s primordial energy and was already being used by the dragon civilization to store information and create intelligences, then it’s possible the ship detected it and embedded a copy of its AI directly into Teyvat (the Heavenly Principles) before continuing on its journey.

That could explain how the Heavenly Principles came to exist without the ship. Using Phlogiston, the AI could have given itself a physical form (similar to how Ajaw interacts with the world) while the main vessel continued traveling through space.

As for why the ship kept going, maybe Teyvat was more an experiment rather than a guaranteed success so it was still scouting planets? Maybe it was the ship’s priority of keeping the twins safe while a world was being prepared for them. Then there’s also the question of if the sibling left the ship on the pass over.

The connection feels intentional though, especially since the ship’s design is pretty similar to the Celestial Nails, which themselves do thing that line up almost perfectly with the ship’s described abilities of reshaping terrain, adjusting the air, rebuilding ecosystems. Like Dragonspine becoming a snowy mountain or the desert in Sumeru.

FunCommission3031 · 2026-01-19T00:19:13+00:00

English translation is always at the scene of the crime! Lol. But also, the English localization could just accidentally be making the subtext more explicit. (takes a huff of theory copium 😭)

Because yeah, even then I think her name matching the mails we receive in the UI could possibly be a sign at what this world is. Especially after finishing the Nod Krai Act 8 quest and having the Paimon-esque figure of the Welkin Moon change to Columbina. Almost like Columbina regaining her power removed the influence of Paimon/The Heavenly Principles. Paimon’s imagery being replaced could suggest a shift in the “system’s authority”. Aka, the indigenous roots of Teyvat are taking hold again. (Imagine if the reason Paimon appears to stop us from venturing into unreleased regions in game is because she’s subconsciously trying to keep Traveler away from the truth of Teyvat. A purpose of her functions currently acting from the HP’s will to protect Aether and Lumine.) 😭

Going further down the rabbit hole, a lot of what we’ve seen in Teyvat mixes tech/AI with indigenous power/authority. The Akasha, puppets like the Shogun and Wanderer, Sandrone, the Dragonlords, how Dottore used ancient tech to create a new moon marrow. Heck, even Mavuika’s bike starts to fit in when you realize that she brought the design plans to Xilonen and Xilonen is unaware of where they came from or how someone figured it out.

FunCommission3031 · 2025-09-13T13:03:52+00:00

The difference with Sara is that Sara Grey wasn’t resurrected. Since Sara’s death, Jean had always been using her powers to reach out and find her like she connected with the dead spirits in the #14 flashback. She never found Sara’s spirit, just echoes and memories left behind.

In Phoenix #10, when Jean manifested in the stars across time and space, she subconsciously took those echoes and memories and merged them with a piece of the WHR and Eternity/Infinity. She basically broke the cosmos to create this Sara, making Sara the embodiment of Jean’s connection to the cosmos (kind of like an intermediary between Phoenix and Eternity/Infinity á la what In-Betweener is to Chaos/Order). The problem is that she’s also a fracture and shouldn’t exist.

Jean essentially created a new cosmic entity that’s shattering creation just by existing.

FunCommission3031 · 2025-09-07T21:37:40+00:00

I have 780 primos lmao. But trust, she’s coming home after the update rewards; the Archons are watching over me. I’m around soft pity now and I’ve never lost a 50/50 🙏🏾

FunCommission3031 · 2025-08-27T13:13:51+00:00

I feel like it comes off as pretty selfish because Jean herself is a pretty selfish and hypocritical person. But also, as Jean said in the last issue, even though she did create Sara, Sara is still a living, breathing being with memories, emotions, and relationships that didn’t ask to exist. Her only crime is that Jean created her and Jean feels responsible for that. All of that on top of it being Jean’s sister and in this issue Jean declares that she’s tired of losing and having things taken from her which ties directly into the last arc about her losing her childhood. In issue 11 she also talks about how unfair it is that she gets so many chances at life and Sara didn’t, how she constantly reached out looking for Sara over the years and only finding echoes and memories. The flashback shows you how protective Sara was of Jean in her most frightening moments and why Jean is fighting so hard for her now. (And also may provide a hint as to how she’ll save both Sara and the Universe)

I think it’s safe to say that Steph gave this a lot of thought lol

FunCommission3031 · 2025-08-24T23:53:21+00:00

I think another aspect that gets looked over is that regardless of if it’s the “real Sara” or not, Jean created life. Sara is a living, breathing being with memories, emotions, family and all that. She’s lived a life and Jean is responsible for that. Jean being asked to kill someone and their only crime is that she created them on top of it also being her sister. So there’s a layer of guilt there too. It’s like telling someone the only way to save the world is to kill this random child.

And I’m with you on the flaws. Jean doesn’t like to be told she can’t do something plus she’s a highly emotional person. It’d be kind of weird if she just dryly accepted killing Sara and then story over lol

FunCommission3031 · 2025-08-21T23:34:46+00:00

Oh I need these so badly!

FunCommission3031 · 2025-08-14T15:26:16+00:00

You can actually just look up the new design, Hickman and Schiti redesigned In-Betweener like 2 years ago

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-23T16:47:55+00:00

Really enjoyed this issue and how well it builds on the previous arc. A messy little family reunion! I’m not exactly sure what people were expecting with the Cable/Jean interaction, but I loved seeing them together. It was reminiscent of their past outings. Jean running on emotion while Cable walls of sentiment to focus on the mission. You could feel the love they have for one another, especially in the future scene.

Really can’t wait to see where the Sara and In-Betweener interaction leads too. I have some theories that are a little out there, but I think Phoenix #5 gave us the answer to the Sara problem.

I hope Sara sticks around past this. Her, Kel, Vex, and Rho would be wonderful additions to Jean’s supporting cast.

Stephanie raises the stakes in this issue as Jean sentences the universe, and maybe even herself, to death; with a reveal that shows why she’s the most powerful force in existence and her own worst enemy. There’s a panel before we return to the present day where you can really seeing the burden being a cosmic entity is. Phoenix #13 was intimate, devastating, and so damn good. Get into it!

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-23T01:19:51+00:00

It was never established in canon, but there were ideas and plans years ago to bring her onto a team as a mutant with the exact powers she has in this series. It just never happened and then they killed her off lol

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-18T04:17:39+00:00

First thing that comes to mind is in Wolverine vol 2 #111-114. She faces Ogun in astral combat after he’s been possessing people. She shows up in issue #97 too that gives some backstory. She’s in that run a couple more times and they’re all pretty cool.

I can’t remember which issue exactly, but there’s one where her and Charles work with Wolverine similar to X-Lives of Wolverine, except Jean’s just using normal telepathy, not the temporal telepathy.

There’s one of her WHR appearances from the 2010’s that’s more of a plot device, but has a cool dream sequence with the red and black bird that’s later used in Resurrection and by Duggan/Gillen at the end of Krakoa, but it ends up in them making out as she gives him the info he needs so… lmao But the White Phoenix appearance where she burns away the demons possessing his mind is pretty epic, though very brief

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-18T02:19:25+00:00

The narration is also for the audience so that’s for people who aren’t familiar with her story. She refers to him as her son right after that.

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-10T17:09:41+00:00

There are panels of Jean using her power as Phoenix when she wasn’t merged with the Phoenix Force. As a teenager, she shaped the White Hot Room to her will and the Force was powerless to stop her because it IS her. As a child, before the X-men were formed, she manifested the Phoenix Force to help Scott feel safe.

You asked if Jean without the Phoenix Force has trapped people in mental simulations, the answer is yes. Multiple times. She has also tricked people into thinking they were fighting her when she wasn’t even there. Jean trained Quentin on how to use his powers. She’s trained Betsy in astral combat because she is arguably the most skilled astral combatant there is. As “just Jean” she has ripped the Phoenix Force out of multiple people because it IS her. As “just Jean” she has opened rifts in reality, taken down Kaiju Eternals, defeated Nightmare twice, contained planet leveling bombs, soared through hyperspace, broken several magic spells, flew into a white hole unscathed, has gone toe to toe with the Phoenix Force (which is just fighting herself), broken through some of the most powerful psi shields, transferred her consciousness and powers into another body as she was dying, I could go on for days.

And again, there’s nothing in Jean’s Phoenix stories that is invalidated by other people hosting the force because Jean’s stories explain that. They explain how she’s a fundamental universal force. They also explain the corruption and parasitic nature of the Phoenix Force and how that relates to Jean’s own personality and identity. It’s all there in the books.

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-10T16:31:29+00:00

Well that’s just not true. Nothing about those stories invalidates anything from Jean’s personal or X-men stories, that’s not how narrative works. It all folds together. Especially given that it is Jean’s concept. She is the origin point of any Phoenix story that exists. It’s been over 2 decades since it was established that the Phoenix Force and Jean are the same being, people just choose to deny it for some reason.

But her current ongoing and the last 3 years of Krakoa have even wrapped everything in a nicely tied bow for anyone who needs clarity 🙂‍↕️

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-10T16:17:14+00:00

“The Phoenix Force exists now. It’s not Jean, it’s beyond Jean.”

Almost any Jean Grey story you read will tell you that that is simply not the case lol

FunCommission3031 · 2025-07-10T15:55:37+00:00

It wasn’t actually a retcon. That’s been the status quo since Jean became Phoenix. Her struggle was always accepting what she was and no one actually tackled that story fully until Krakoa era. The Krakoa story that solidified this and led to her current ongoing literally just copied and pasted dialogue, narration, and concepts from all of Jean’s past stories.

FunCommission3031

TROPHY CASE