Croaker's Whisper and Bubbling Affections

 Back at it again with outfit canonicity rankings! Last time was kind of a downer and this time is kind of only marginally better. With my focus on story tie-ins these outfits came out in obvious reference to the Well of Fortune, but I'll tell you from the get-go; Nikki doesn't use either of these in that whole story quest. So while their presence in reference to the ongoing event gives them some points, it's not going to net them much for points.

In looking up the lore details for these outfits, I also got reminded of the fact that the Resonance Deep Echoes for these banners are sort of random, disconnected outfit pieces. I guess I might as well rank them too real quick since we're here? I'll be pleasantly surprised if we get anything beyond a 1.

Also if you have no idea what the hell I'm going on about I'd recommend you take a look at my Outfit Canonicity Questions and Ranking Meanings page.

 Let's start with Froggy Fashion! An elec-- oh wait no, not an electrician outfit anymore. I don't really mind the change to it being a Whimsicality outfit instead, I think the idea of Nikki summoning a bunch of Croakers to sing and hop around is pretty on brand; we've got Pastoral Dance that acts similarly for example. But it still mostly looks like an electrician outfit to me. Oh well, I guess to be fair having a whole Resonance banner with an ability that doesn't actually manifest as anything all that interesting, is probably a bit boring. We've all got Fully Charged after all.

At any rate I'm not actually here to judge the outfit on how it operates, I'm here to judge its canonicity to Nikki's wardrobe! Pardon the tangent I just have a lot of thoughts and feelings about these things. But to be fair I don't actually have anything to say regarding the lore of Froggy Fashion; it's a Croaker based outfit that is not used in-universe by Nikki. The second recolor talks about the history between Croakers and Florawish, and the connection the designer of the outfit had with them. Little bit contradictory, what came first? Froggy Fashion or Froggy Fashion: Night? 

Tangents aside, it seems like there's nothing that relates this back to Nikki in the story. It can't even be justified that she makes this outfit after being inspired by her visit to the Well of Fortune, because it seems to have already existed well before she got there. Maybe she could've gotten it after being inspired, but there's still nothing that suggests this right now.

Ranking: 1 / 5

- Doesn't have enough story connection to Nikki at this time

- Potentially holds loose connections to another character, suggesting it may be theirs instead

Man even the emote here is still electrician themed.

 Let's check out Croaker's Whisper's Deep Echoes items before we move on, and wow the first one is already making me eat my words. Daisy's Embrace may have no place in the outright story whatsoever, but the lore?

 Okay yeah that actually bumps it well above Froggy Fashion. Who would've thought that this random headpiece would actually end up being more canon? It's even like Timis is actively talking to Nikki, suggesting she does already own this. Does this mean I have to pull on the banner when it comes back now? I guess I shouldn't have been so wishy-washy during its rerun lol.

Ranking: 4.5 / 5 

- Resonance piece, unclear how it is received in-universe

+ Lore backing in the compendium 

 

 What a contrast Drifting Foam is in comparison too, this one has no connection to Nikki at all. Dada states in the compendium that she got a gift like this before, but that this one is slightly different. Kilo just makes a comment about gifts: "When words fall short, let a warm gift speak for you." I guess you could view that as maybe him gifting this to Nikki? But where it's unclear and not shown anywhere in-universe, you know the drill.

Ranking: 1 / 5

 - Doesn't have enough story connection to Nikki

 

 Lastly for Croaker's Whisper's Deep Echoes we have Azure Breeze, and once again I am getting whiplash from lore canonicity questions. It's both very unclear and very blatant.

Kilo has to be referring to Nikki, right? Or is he referring to someone else? Like I said it's unclear but it's also reasonable to suspect it could be related to Nikki. It's not like there's anything else in the lore to suggest yes or no, this kind of leans towards yes if you want it to and no if you don't want it to.

Ranking: 3 / 5

~ Compendium lore suggests it may or may not have been made by Nikki

 

 Moving on to the second banner outfit and the last one to go over for 1.0, we have Dreamy Glimmer. Which actually has a fair bit more going for it than Froggy Fashion does! At the time when I personally got Dreamy Glimmer, I felt like it was a much more direct reference to what happened in the Well of Fortune than Froggy Fashion. That was part of the reason why I decided to get it, especially where its preview video showed the Monroefin outside in Silken Lake. It felt like a direct continuation and that made it feel a bit more justified, though honestly I'm pretty 50/50 on how canon I view the videos to be; I count them when it makes sense and don't when it doesn't.

I'm also pretty 50/50 on if I count the little comics that are occasionally made in relation to some outfits, but so far they've never really been contradictory to canon (to my knowledge anyway) so they really only add to it if you want them to. But Dreamy Glimmer does have one! It's silly and you can see it here!

 But as for Dreamy Glimmer's in-game lore, there's not a lot to say. It largely seems to be another outfit that someone made, this time in response to the connection Croakers have with the Monroefin. Again with a recolor revealing more history than the original outfit does.

I feel like Dreamy Glimmer is sort of up to you on if it counts or not, because the most compelling evidence there is for it is mostly outside content to the game itself. Within the game itself, the timing of its original release was clearly in reference to the Well of Fortune quest and that's about it; that's not much really. But I gotta give it a few points for the fact the outside content does nothing to really contradict, only add.

 

Ranking: 2.5 / 5

-  Doesn't have enough story connection to Nikki at this time

~ Has outside content that is maybe canon

Taking this photo made me learn we have piano poses! That's cool!

 

With that we move on to Bubbling Affections' Deep Echoes outfit pieces! Starting with the Woolfruit Companion earrings, and I am struggling to find much to say about them. Florawish loves to use woolfruit for styling, that's it that's the lore.

Ranking 1 / 5

- Holds no story connection to Nikki

 

Next we move on to the Misty Woolfruit necklace, which its description is as follows: "Three things constitute a beautiful morning: sunlit dawn, white mist, and Woolfruit bathed in morning light!"

Which is then followed up with this commentary:

 

Does... does this count? I can't decide if this counts. Nothing about the lore makes it seem like it's something Nikki would own, and what Nonoy is saying doesn't directly tie this necklace back to her. It just sounds like she's hearing the description herself, and decided her takeaway from it was that her days are much brighter with Nikki in her life. Very sweet sentiment! But it doesn't tie this back to Nikki really. Or does it? I don't know honestly. 

Ranking: 1.5 / 5

-  Holds no story connection to Nikki

~ Compendium commentary mentions Nikki

 Lastly we have Glowing Radiance, which only has anything to say if you want it to. The description is honestly remarkably personal though: "I wish I could capture a star, sew it into my bag, and watch it glow brightly in the night." That does sound like it could be from Nikki, and nothing in the commentary contradicts that.

Quite the contrary, you could almost see this as commentary they're giving after Nikki made this. Or after someone made it anyway. Without anything concrete it's difficult for me to give it too many points, but it's not like you're harming anything if you claimed it as canon.

Ranking: 1.5 / 5

~ Only holds connection to Nikki if you want to view it that way

Wow this was much more chaotic than I expected it to be. I hadn't even planned on going over the random little outfit pieces when I decided to do this, I just saw them while reading and decided 'oh I should include those!' Thinking that would make for at least a little more to say, seeing as I felt like I wouldn't have much for Froggy Fashion and Dreamy Glimmer. I underestimate my own ability to talk perhaps, and I severely underestimated the lore contained in those little clothing pieces.

Anyway, with this we are done with 1.0 Resonance Banners, and will be moving on to 1.1! See you next time, where we'll say hello to some paper cranes.