On the Subject of Tristana and her Yordle friends
So, with the newly revealed Tristana update, I thought now would be a good time to talk about Yordles as a whole. Various Rioters have talked about pulling Yordles in line with the standard that Heimerdinger set. They've done this wonderfully with new champion Gnar and the update to Tristana (which so far, I think is an overall win, despite any complaints I may have).
However, this begs the question: Who is still on the chopping block? Obviously Poppy is, she needs a similar treatment to Tristana. But what about Lulu? Is she up to snuff, or does Riot's ChampUp team still take issue with her? What about Ziggs? He was released a similar time to Lulu, are they now considered out of line with Heim and Trist? What about Rumble or--gasp--TEEMO? Could they really change this icon of the League? (Love him or hate him, you know he is one of the most recognizable League characters.) I'd love to see some Red input on this.
My personal opinions are as follows: Ziggs and Lulu I believe were used as sort of a starting point for male and female Yordles respectively. I think they are still quite fine as far as their "Yordle" design is concerned. They aren't just giant heads--though they ARE quite large--and they have detail in their bodies. Ziggs is distinct, but looks like he fits next to Gnar and Heim with furry body, long critter ears, etc. Lulu looks enough like the recently revealed Tristana update--the ears are similar and they have similar skin color. I could see an argument that Lulu's head is HUGE compared to her body, particularly her hat, but considering her hat is a distinct part of her silhouette, has an incarnation in every skin, and really suits her personality, I think this is acceptable. She still has a body, so that's good.
Rumble is mostly fine, he sits in a robot so his body and body animations aren't necessarily SUPER important. He's furry and his ears are long, sort of similar to Ziggs, so I think his design is perfectly fine and doesn't need to be changed too much.
Teemo might need larger ears, but I think ultimately his design is fine, especially going by his splash art. His in-game model is a little out-dated, and it would be nice if he didn't just teeter from foot to foot with his hat taking up a lot of visual real estate, but the core design is there, it just needs to be spruced up a bit (kinda like Alistar or Karthus).
Veigar....he can remain shrouded in shadow, but I'd like him to look a little fuzzier and have ears, etc. His silhouette needs to be more than just a ball for a head. And arms would be nice. He has Teemo's teetering problem ten-fold. I think an update is in order for him, but ultimately he has a good theme already. (HE'S EBUL. STOP LAUGHING.)
Corki is the Yordle (other than Poppy and Veigar) that definitely needs some design tweaks and an update. His gameplay and personality are great, but at this point he looks more like a tiny old man than a Yordle. Keep the mustache, keep the voice(or you know, keep the spirit of the voice) and the plane. Give him the Heimer treatment and just make him fluffier and more critter-like. I'd put Corki second on the Yordle priority VU list, right behind Poppy.
What do you guys think? Are we close to unifying our Yordle friends? Or do we have a long way to go?