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Kalista Art Discussion

Velivolo··7 votes·1,257 views

Can we take a minute to talk about how AWESOME all of the art associated with Kalista is?

Firstly, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for giving us a female champion that isn't just "sexy". While she's not on the same level of grotesqueness as champions like Urgot and Fiddlesticks, she's an amazing breath of fresh air. She looks hard, tough, and worse for the wear, as we'd expect for a character from the shadow isles. Bonus points for her being a lean killing-machine, unhindered by overflowing breasts or over-emphasis on her legs and curves.

Secondly, I ADORE the stylized cut-out art depicting her abilities. Good abstraction is hard to achieve. I like to praise it whenever it's well-done.

From a character design standpoint, I love that she has spears/blades clearly visible protruding from her back. Better yet, we can see the exit wounds in her breastplate thanks to the spectral light that leaks out. She was literally backstabbed, and I think it's fantastic that this was inccorporated into her design.

17 Comments

Valaran Nara2 votes

And let's not forget those nails. Gives me shivers.

Velivolo3 votes

And let's not forget those nails. Gives me shivers.

Those are pretty great. It's also a nice echo of the points and sharp lines in her overall design. It's like Riot finally said, "We can have a female character that doesn't need to be sexy, and we can really focus on making her design fit her lore and character."

Ehm. I'm gushing, apologies. Even if I'll hardly play Kalista (I'm a lousy carry) I love her to death already.

Valaran Nara1 votes

And let's not forget those nails. Gives me shivers.

Those are pretty great. It's also a nice echo of the points and sharp lines in her overall design. It's like Riot finally said, "We can have a female character that doesn't need to be sexy, and we can really focus on making her design fit her lore and character."

Ehm. I'm gushing, apologies. Even if I'll hardly play Kalista (I'm a lousy carry) I love her to death already.

Lol, yeah, I understand. We finally have a female champ that can't be referred to as "Sexualized".

Only reason why it's in quotes is purely because, well, you can identify her as female. O_O

She may not be grotesque, but at least she fits the role of spectral warrior quite well. Though, she still has "boob plate". But, if I use my male thinking, then I can just argue that it's some form of~~ medium cloth or leather armor and not metal.~~ NVM. Just relooked. Lol. metal over leather.

Oh, and I know this is Story and Art, but here's the VO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIdWSXbOMxw

Velivolo1 votes

Meh. She's clearly female, but it's a really good step in the right direction. There are still some cues in even the most distorted male characters that give them away, even if it's just the VO.

Boob plate is really dumb and impractical but we're not gonna escape it for a good long while (Except maybe on Leona and Kayle. Good on them for those.) And honestly, I think it could be argued that her chestplate only serves to make her look more emaciated, which seems to have been an emphasis in her design.

I've listened to the VO, it's pretty great. I like her jokes, and I really want to hear the context for all of these quotes. Some of them seem like she'd say them when her soul-bonded ally dies, which I think is really cool.

Valaran Nara2 votes

She does. She also kills you when you sell your soul. GG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Go-E6rjCKA

Oh, and some of her quotes are in reference to item 3153 which hints at Pre-death SI lore.

BTW, her in-game model is WAY better than her Splash Art (personal opinion) and if you don't like Boobplate, it's fine. She looks androgynous/male. Her pose reminds me slightly of wukong.

Velivolo1 votes

I like her even better now. AND THAT RECALL ANIMATION, SO GOOD.

There are a couple things I personally would tweak about her in-game model. There's this weird color green where the soulbind comes from her that tends to hover around her head and just makes her look like she's supposed to have terrible breath or something.

Also I hope that's not the final version of the indicator for when the ghosties have found an enemy champ. It's kind of lackluster (Soraka's is so prettier).

I prefer the splash, but to each his/her own.

Valaran Nara1 votes

Her recall. She tells you off then walks out of lane and into her fountain THROUGH THE ETHER!!!

As for the nasty breath, it's possible that it was meant to come from her chest. You know, since you get the glow of where she was ran through by the spear.

And when it comes to her animation, I really like how she moves (her passive at least). When she hops side to side, it reminds me of a type of agile hunter trying to come in after you. Though, I could just like it because it reminds me of Gnar's basic attacks. XD Oooh, her release skin is Bloodmoon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CZBrF3MslI

Now her hops make her look like a ninja.

Velivolo1 votes

Oh yeah, I'm sure it's supposed to be coming from her chest. It's just that it doesn't look that way immediately.

Her gait reminds me a little too much of Nidalee's right now to be in love with it, though maybe all spearthrowers kind of have a stance? IDK.

I'm interested to see more of the Bloodmoon skin. And what other skins they'll give her :D

7ha7guy7771 votes

so many "we" and "us" quotes

Solideus2 votes

The implication that simply being a woman would be a problem close to sexualization worries me a bit. There's nothing wrong with being identifiably female. I'm sure that wasn't what you meant, but I see it alluded to here and there.

Velivolo3 votes

It's not that Kalista is recognizably a woman. It's that Kalista is recognizably a woman when there are no "monstrous" female champs besides Anivia. Zyra is a plant monster but she's also a sexy lady. Urgot didn't have to be a weird, stitched-together body and also be sexy. Wash, rinse, repeat for Twitch, Maokai, Rammus, Nautilus, etc, etc.

If we had more Urgot-esque female characters, no one would be complaining that Kalista is obviously a woman. She would be a good balance of woman and monster and we could all love her even more (if such a thing is possible).

Solideus1 votes

Kalista is a much better delivery on the "monstrous" woman than Zyra was, I agree (although "sexy" may have been an appropriate theme for Zyra's fantasy, in that specific case).

However, I think the "good balance of woman and monster" is important. Urgot's theme doesn't really have super wide appeal, so I think it is wise to find other ways to deliver cool female (or male) characters, and not make a bunch of Urgots. (Urgot should explore and deliver his fantasy more fully, though!)

A "grotesque" female doesn't have any *inherent * appeal. It could be used as a delivery if it was appropriate for the fantasy and it was sufficiently awesome. It wouldn't surprise me if that happened to be coupled with sexuality though, as horror and sex is often used together, for good reason. The Silent Hill nurses (among others) are creepy, uncomfortable and even more grotesque because they are weirdly sexual and taboo. That would be a pretty sophisticated use of "sex appeal" on a champion. (Lets see if that is what they do with the rumored female from the void!)

Velivolo2 votes

You're missing the point.

All such "Urgot" characters are male. None are female. There is nothing about Urgot's theme that requires he be male. And his appeal more wide than you think. Otherwise, we wouldn't have an Urgot and a Sion (both cobbled together and brought back from the dead). The balance of woman and monster is not important in light of purely monstrous champs. Why are purely monstrous champs almost always male (one exception. One tiny, feathery exception) and never female? That's where the disparity lies.

I agree that champions need to be unique and awesome. We just need more monster champs that are female, and not sexy ladies that are "LOL Zyra is a plant! Just look at her leaves plastered to her gorgeous, human female body! Totally a plant guys, move on."

And even if sex and horror are paired, where's the sex appeal in any of the horrific male champions? Seriously, any of them? There isn't any, unless you've got some seriously weird fetish.

Valaran Nara1 votes

The implication that simply being a woman would be a problem close to sexualization worries me a bit. There's nothing wrong with being identifiably female. I'm sure that wasn't what you meant, but I see it alluded to here and there.

^^^ i most likely didn't mean that, but I'm one of those people who get ticked off when others cry sexualization LESS because it is and very overt/wrong/offensive/blurblurblur, and more because the person is female.
I mean, with Double Standards (in America at least)

Women are the only ones sexualized and victimized Men are the only ones who are abusive.

But yeah. Let's not go there.

Platinum Yak1 votes

She looks great. Instantly made me think of Thresh colorscheme wise, which makes sense given her place of origin.

lolipopevelynn1 votes

cool champ

useless carry

she will be worse than quinn on release.

Solideus1 votes

I like the way her mechanics and themes lends it self to a very appealing fantasy in-game. Its very well designed and thought through! The narrative around The Black Spear mechanic makes her a "support" to her support and close ally to her lane partner in a new way.

"Deal With the Devil" and "Spirit of Vengence" makes a very appealing mix, I think! I also like they allude to a real motivation/backstory for her actions rather than going with the "force of nature"- type.

And all of this is delivered visually in a big way!

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