Riot. Here is some genuine feedback on Star Guardian Zoe

I'm seeing a lot of posts about the new Star Guardian skins, mostly negative, however, I wanted to take the time to give some actual genuine feedback about Zoe's skin, things I like about it, dislike about it and why that is.

For this post, I'll only be focusing on discussing Zoe, not Neeko, Xayah or Rakan.

Let's start with the positive stuff, then I'll get to the negative stuff.

Reminder before we start: This is all strictly an opinion and that may differ from yours.

Why I think Zoe actually does fit the role well. So our little portal hopper munchkin is getting a new skin with a bit of a twist. The Star Guardian skin is a very popular skin line and the demand to have certain champions in it is very high. So people say Zoe doesn't fit in the skin line, other opinions say the colours are off (More on that later). All fair and valid opinions. I do think that Zoe does fit into this skin line well given her characteristics as a champion. Zoe is mesmerized and wow'd by many things in space, stars, explosions, black holes, you name it. In a lot of her art, you can see Zoe traversing the darkest deepest reaches of space to find these things she likes (And to torment her favourite space doggo as well). even in her default skin you can see she is very space themes, from having sparkles, stars and galaxies in her hair to one of her attacks being themed after a star attack. Zoe is already a very space themed champion and I think sticking her into the Star Guadian skin line was appropriate given her nature.

Why I think the dark colours are good for Zoe's SG skin. When you look at Zoe in any current skin she has. Default, Cyber Pop or Pool Party, we see a very wide array of light colours used to really make her stand out. After all her whole thing Is being colourful and sparkly and being the center of attention so its very easy to use almost any of the light and bright colours for her. With that said, I do think the darker theme for her Star Guardian skin is a nice change of pace and has the potential to be very refreshing. All of Zoe's skins up until now have been extremely colourful and bright, so seeing her use the darker colours of purple and black is a step into new territory and I don't think people are used to that, however, I think that in the end, it will pay off because it adds a unique twist to a champion who so far has only gotten brightly coloured skins.

Why I like the idea of Zoe being evil in this skin line rather than good. Lore wise, Zoe's a bit of a complicated character. Sometimes she does good things, sometimes she does bad things, but most of the time Zoe's innocence is so grand in nature that she comes off as oblivious to the consequences her actions have on other people. In all her skin lines she's usually a happy-go-lucky kind of girl that tries to make the most out of any situation, blind to the realities of all things bad happening around her, and that's fine because that's her character. Some skin lines, however, break character and that's because they are supposed to. The Star Guardian line has put quite a lot of twists on how we normally perceive our favourite character. (Jinx fighting on the side of Justice? (Sorta) Syndra actually willing to help out others on her team? Poppy in a skirt?) when you think about these things and look at these characters from their default skin line, you'd think "Wow.. Jinx would never do that". It's supposed to give you a fresh new look on a character you like, giving you the opportunity to see them from anew what-if perspective. So seeing Zoe as an actual villain rather than an innocent/playful girl is something that gets me excited personally. Like the above point, it's refreshing and a curiosity to see Zoe act evil is what drives my excitement for the skin.

Now, let's talk about the actual skin details, what I like and don't like about it.

Zoe's Hair Obviously, Zoe's hair is going to be one of the main focus points of any skin given how unique it is. That said. I do like the hair. The blends of light blues and dark purples really do make for an interesting and eye-pleasing mix of colours. Blue and Purple do go together very well and given the whole darker corruption theme going on here I do think it fits well. The glow effects on it are very nice too in my opinion.

Zoe's headpiece I'm a little on the fence here. I do like its design. However, I think it's just a little bit too big. If you look at it It looks like it almost the same size as Zoe's face. I know some Guardian's like Syndra have large headpieces as well, but the size of Zoe's is just that size that it draws me away from looking at other parts of the skin such as the hair. As I said, it's a good design, I think it's just a bit too big. One other thing that throws me off is that pink in the center, I think it being the same colour as the light blue in Zoe's hair might fit better. But that pink itself isn't a terrible choice.

Zoe's Eyes I see what you were going for here and it was a clever idea. However, making the pupil's actual star-shaped is throwing me off a bit. I can't really understand why myself it just looks really strange to look at Zoe's face and see these two large eyes with stars in them, it almost makes her look like shes got something wrong with them. Maybes its because you don't see that effect on any other Star Guardian, and it was a clever idea I just think it could use some tuning up.

Zoe's Mouth/Lips This is what I think bothers me the most about this skin. Zoe's has a very very largemouth. That's nothing new, however, the purple lipstick on the lips seems so intrusive, almost like someone took a blotch of purple paint and stuck it on there to fill out her face a bit, Like I feel like the idea of the purple lipstick was almost forced in there. I really don't think it needs to be there personally, but if she absolutely has to have it maybe don't make it so thick on her lips.

Zoe's chest piece. Really good. Great design, beautiful blends of purples for the edges. I really like it. I do think like the headpiece it could be just a tiny bit smaller so it's not covering her entire costumes, and like her headpiece, I think the pinkish colour in the center should be the light blue colour as her hair instead. But aside from that, I do like its design and how the edges compliment the rest of the colores on her costume.

Zoe's gloves and leggings. Again, I see what you're going for here and unlike the eyes, I don't really have a problem with it. One of Zoe's leggings is still white in colour while the other is black/purple, perhaps it's like that to give a little indication that even Zoe herself might not be fully corrupted yet? That's my guess, bit regardless. On the dark legging, I do like the pattern on it with the blue lines, a great compliment to the blue in her hair. I also do like how on the white legging there is a small dark anklet that resembles her chest piece to compliment that as well. It looks like the gloves are having the same story told here, which is fine since both arms and legs will complement each other, and it sort of hints at a theme here that Zoe is teeter-tottering between good and evil here, especially with one of her eyes being a light star and the other being a dark star, I get the hint here that Zoe is fighting an internal struggle with herself between being good and evil a bit, but that's just a theory anyway. Regardless. I do like the details on them. The only thing I can point out is that on Zoe's white legging, there is no golden trim at the top of it like there is on her gloves. I would love to see that little detail added.

Zoe's spell effects From what I have seen, the spell effects are very good. I love the wavey effect on her sleepy bubble trouble and the unique shape of her paddle star. I think incorporating a little bit of the blue that's in her hair into her effects might add for a little more matching details. but aside from that, so far it looks really good. I really like Zoe's familiar too.

Closing statement Like I said I don't think Zoe was a bad choice for the skin line. I think what we are seeing here is a very well done and thought out skin for her. However, I do think that it has some issues that need to be smoothed out, namely around the face. I would like to see more of that indigo blue in her hair incorporated into her costume (Maybe replace that weird dark pink she has on her ornaments with it, I also think it would be a better colour to use as her lipstick if she absolutely has to have it.) and a few small fixes to her leggings (The gold trim around the top) and I think this skin will really shine has a beautiful albeit unique Star Guardian skin.

Thank you for taking the time to read this feedback, please remember this is all strictly an opinion and that it may differ from yours.