"This is genuinely insulting": Honkai Star Rail fans disappointed by SAM's appearance in new Firefly skin

The Honkai Star Rail 3.4 livestream revealed a new Firefly skin titled "Spring Missive." While leaks of this skin had been floating around the Honkai Star Rail community for quite some time, the developers officially confirmed the information during the version 3.4 special program.

Since Firefly is a character who uses her mechanical armor 'SAM' while in combat, the playerbase had been expecting for SAM to get a new skin as well, keeping in line with the Spring Missive palette. However, SAM's skin reveal turned out to be a major disappointment, as players felt that there was hardly any difference between SAM's original variant and the new one.

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A side-by-side comparison of the two soon made its way to r/HonkaiStarRail, where u/JoeZaster shared the comparison and made the following comment:

"This is genuinely insulting."

Almost the entire Honkai Star Rail community seems to agree with this opinion, and thinks that SAM has not received much of a visual upgrade. Since Firefly herself barely makes an appearance while in combat — and all that players get to see is just SAM — the community is rather disappointed at SAM's new skin (or lack thereof).

u/Niko2065 was of the opinion that an addition of deep blue flames — as opposed to the standard green — to SAM would have made the skin look better. While Firefly's original soft green palette is what lends SAM its green flames, many players feel that the developers could have taken a different route and altered SAM's flame colors.

u/Mindberserker added to the discussion by commenting:

"The outfit is nice imo but sam is probably the biggest disappointment in this. Especially when their other game has a character with a mecha and a skin that changes so many details on said mecha. I do hope everyone sends feedback and complains about the minimal changes for sam."

The 'other game' mentioned here refers to Honkai Impact 3rd, which has mecha skins that are a huge visual upgrade over the original, while also having additional animated effects tied to the skins. Not only does SAM not have any of that, the new variant itself looks identical to the original, which is why a lot of players are rather dissatisfied.

Meanwhile, u/lughrevenge23 believed that the original SAM skin looked better compared to the new one. Many players agreed with this opinion, stating that the change in SAM's armor color (however minimal) seemed to wash out the blazing green flames.

u/wvgz brought up the fact that it was rather concerning for a studio like HoYoverse to release this skin, by mentioning:

"Even if FF is one of my least liked characters, its worrying to see a level of quality so low for what should be one of the most famous and popular characters in the game."

Needless to say, the majority of the Honkai Star Rail playerbase is extremely disappointed in the new Firefly skin. While some players are hoping that HoYoverse listens to player feedback and alters SAM's skin, it is unlikely that that will happen, considering Honkai Star Rail 3.4 is scheduled to go live very shortly.

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How can you buy Firefly's new skin in Honkai Star Rail?

Firefly's new skin Spring Missive (Image via HoYoverse)

Firefly's new skin "Spring Missive" is a paid item that players can buy from the in-game shop once Honkai Star Rail 3.4 releases on July 2, 2025. This skin features Firefly in a schoolgirl outfit, while still keeping her original soft green and gray color palette. Firefly's mecha SAM however has minimal changes in its appearance, with the addition of a little green segment on the armor being the only new visual component.

For the duration of Honkai Star Rail 3.4, Spring Missive will be available in the in-game shop for a discounted price of 1,350 Oneiric Shards. Once the new version ends, the skin will be sold for 1,680 Oneiric Shards.

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Edited by Abu Amjad Khan