Honkai: Star Rail players recently started an online discussion where they were trying to figure out Pom-Pom's gender. Known as the adorable conductor of the Astral Express, Pom-Pom is a regular fixture in HoYoverse's newest title, who gifts players with useful items as they progress their Trailblazer level.
The Trailblazer, who is the playable main protagonist of Honkai: Star Rail, meets Pom-Pom when they board the Astral Express after finishing the first arc. Many of the characters describe the conductor as strict, but also a softie towards people they're fond of, which includes the Trailblazer. Meanwhile, Star Rail players have also said that Pom-Pom was the equivalent of Genshin Impact's Paimon. The only difference was that the conductor doesn't leave the Astral Express to join the protagonist and their companions in their missions, unlike Paimon who often pops out of nowhere.
Apart from looking like a cute bunny-like creature, Pom-Pom's existence seemed to have intrigued many players. Over on the Honkai: Star Rail subreddit, user Competitive_Ad_53 posted a question asking about Pom-Pom's gender. In the game, it was never clearly stated whether Pom-Pom was male or female, but the in-game characters, including Pom-Pom, would simply refer to the conductor using they/them pronouns. Still, fellow Star Rail players answered the question in the most entertaining way possible, with the majority agreeing that Pom-Pom was neither male nor female.
The most-upvoted response was that Pom-Pom's gender is also "Pom-Pom," which received comments saying that this was the best and only answer to the question. Other responses joked that Pom-Pom identified as a plushie, and a friend to the Trailblazer and other characters. Meanwhile, a few Redditors pointed out that Honkai: Star Rail's English translation would sometimes refer to the conductor as "he," which some refuted as the game's official press release stated that "Pom-Pom is Pom-Pom." One also theorized that the conductor's species, which hasn't been revealed in the game, don't really distinguish themselves based on gender.
Honkai: Star Rail has been out for almost two weeks now, but it's already garnered a large following among fans of gacha games and turn-based RPGs. Its characters have also been receiving lots of love, especially with five-star unit Seele raking in impressive banner revenue figures since the game was released in late April. It's likely that Star Rail's success won't wane anytime soon as HoYoverse continues releasing updates to introduce new playable characters, worlds, and stories in the next few months, which many players would invest time on once they're out.
Honkai: Star Rail is now available on Android, iOS, and PC. PS4 and PS5 versions are also in development.
