Kai'Sa: Community Review & Issues (Megathread)
At this point, I'm fairly certain everyone has seen the reveal of Kai'Sa and has expressed their opinions on her. Though at this point, most of those opinions are mainly negative in disappointment and with valid reasons and points. There are_ some_ who do like Kai'Sa and, you know, good for them. They like something, they have different opinions, etc., it's fine.
But for the rest of us, we're really disappointed in how Kai'Sa is turning out from her reveal. So, I decided to gather some of the more popular quotes and/or posts that give valid points of criticism of Kai'Sa into a small megathread, just to kind of see what the basic issues people have with her are. Also, I will give credit to the OP posts/comments but if I miss anything, let me know so I can try and correct it.
Edit: I DON'T KNOW WHY QUOTE BOXES WON'T WORK FOR ME SO IF ANYONE CAN FIND A SOLUTION TO THAT, I WILL BE GRATEFUL!
With that said, let's start getting into this.
#She looks boring/generically beautiful like other League female champions
> I know they might look a little different, buf if you analyze their facial features up-close, you will notice a lot of similar features. It's kinda hard to explain it in english but they all do share many similar traits, the most prominent being a small mouth with big lips. - PTZekrom69 > >I'll start by putting my opinion out there; she's boring...I thought it was Ahri cosplaing Witchblade...Kai'Sa didn't just embrace The Void, she came to embody it, body and mind. She behaves as a Voidborn does, hunting, killing, and conquering, a paragon of otherworldly virtues. She should barely be recognizable as human and yet she hardly appears changed. - A Superb Villain > > When I saw the new champion her face reminded me of Katarina's face from her last cinematic, then LB's face then Vayne's face and every time I see her she keeps reminding me of other human femeale champions' faces. - Elipo > > ...female League characters look similar. - LightningShado
So one of the biggest issues that comes up with Kai'Sa is how generic she looks to all the other pretty female champs in the game. Granted, we did have Xayah before her but as far as I can tell people don't really complain about her, possibly due to her being different enough to stand out from the rest of the cast (I could be wrong, so don't bring the hate on me, I'm just going on what I see).
Kai'Sa, on the other hand, I feel everyone just recognizes that cookie cutter face at this point. Elipo and LightningShado point this out and it's a valid point. When you compare some of the later female champs in the psat 4-ish years like Jinx, Kalista, Illaoi, Taliyah, Camille and...even Zoe, they stand out far better from the rest because they aren't cookie cutter alike to Ahri, Vayne, Diana, LeBlanc and the rest.
>Riot admitted this problem is one reason why they designed Illaoi like they did. Too many female champions basically shared the same model but with different hairstyles and clothing. -Ralanr > > My problem with Kai'Sa is that she's another one added to the 30+ lasses with the same face and body shape, aided in silhouette only by very specific design elements, in this case her giant shoulder cannon things. - Sharjo
Here's the thing before you start going crazy: It's mainly about the face! Her body suit for the most part along with the jet-like void wings and laser gun hands are a great design, at least in my opinion. Makes a perfect silhouette to distinguish her. But when you get to the face and without the helmet, it's what people complain about being too similar to other "sexy" female champs.
If anything, Riot didn't go all the way with what this champ could of been. I've stated that she could of been League's version of Kerrigan from Starcraft, which would be more fitting. But instead we got what we got.
#She's Bland in her VO/Has no personaility
> The issue isn't Kai'Sa having no personality but recent champions having a lot of personality/being too memorable...Kai'sa don't have a personality as strong and as memorable as them. - Santozed > > ...she says every line like she is bored and uninterested, faking surprise. - DeadUnborn > > She wasnt made to be new or unique, she was made because she was a safe bet. - Kai'Sa Is a Product of a Lack of Identity: Hi Im Tycoon > > Her ambitions are unclear. Even when there's SUPPOSED to be power, it ends up just sounding amateur, like she's a new actress who is afraid to yell and sound silly. Just plain disappointing for such a cool character. > > No ferocity, no pain, barely any emotion; it's the weakest voice acting we've gotten in a while. Compare her to recent champions...She doesn't even interact with her suit, which is meant to be a living thing, she even references this! - A Superb Villain
This one is probably the second biggest or even now the bigger issue everyone has with her. She doesn't deliver well on her lines. Now granted, DeadUnborn does state that listening to her full VO is a bit better but I have yet to hear it since I've been busy with school. Because of that I've only listened to her interactions and a bit of what she says on the PBE and, even then, it still doesn't sound that great.
I don't know if this is a new voice actress which usually I'm all for hearing new voices and talent instead of getting the same actors sometimes but I really don't know if she's delivering these lines wrong and Riot is just saying "OK we'll roll with it" or if they're suppose to be like this. Either way, it's not a good VO. Especially when we had other champs that had so much more personality in their voices last year. Hell, Ornn had more emotion and personality than Kai'Sa. I said it a few times and I'll say it again, it's like listening to Kristen Stewart from Twilight but slightly better, like .01%.
A character is defined by the voice they give as well as they're looks. So, by this she basically comes off as a bland and unoriginal character. There was also an issue of her having a bunch of super hero, hopeful quotes when she responds and just a general vibe from her VO, which unfortunately I can't find the quote for but it's something to note because you'd think that being in the Void for so many years you wouldn't be that optimistic. Which somewhat leads into our next issue...
#She isn't insane and makes the Void seem less threatening
> The Void is one of League's most straightforward sources of horror. Every Voidborn champion is a walking nightmare, and every Void-corrupted character is a twisted evolution. Kai'Sa does not reflect The Void, and I find that disappointing. - A Superb Villain > > The problem is that we have no idea how Kai'Sai survived in the most horrifying realm of runeterra's universe, the Void itself without going insane. - AmazoX > > The Void is supposed to be a horrifying purple hell, it turns even the most passive scuttle into a mutated beast that demolishes buildings. The creatures from the void are savage and hungry, they will destroy the world to sate their hunger. Malzahar and Kassadin are going insane just from looking at it...Instead Kai'Sa feels like a cop out. A simple humanoid figure that will have mass appeal and can easily have skins made for it. - CleverCactus > > And considering the Void is implied to be the single most dangerous threat to Runeterra, essentially the endgame, Kai'Sa makes it look like a child can survive in it..because she could and at little cost. - LightTrack > > The Void is a magnificent idea, one that already has all the ingredients/Champions it needs to flourish( in its own brutal and alien way), but its the victim of a lack of attention. Its a literal universe of possibilities that just needs a bit of foundation work. - Hi Im Tycoon > > The Void is a horrific, inhospitable dimension, where presumably monsters like Cho'gath, Kha'zix and Rek'sai are commonplace. A plane of existence so alien that looking into it drives mortals insane. This is new lore, not just old. The fact that she survived that world (FOR YEARS) and somehow emerged with the disposition of a bored starbucks cashier is the most cartoonish thing I can think of. - TwitchesBeCrazy
Honestly, a really big issue since this is suppose to be the launching point of updating the Void. And with how things are right now, it destroys the illusion of the Void a bit. Think of it like this: what do you think about when people bring up the Void in League? When you see the monstrous champs and humans touched and mutated by the Void? You usually think of something other worldly and terrifying.
The Void, when it comes to my mind, is something Lovecraftian: something that is beyond your control, where you can't fully defeat it like a Saturday Morning Cartoon or win against a war. It's a force. A force that cannot fully be stopped, only delayed from the inevitable doom. The Void is a place of evolution, constant killing for better killing machines, like the Zerg or how Doomsday was born. It's an unforgiving world, kill or be killed, expand and consume all. A realm where even the strongest minds will eventually break down and submit to it.
So the idea that a small girl goes in there, survives for a bunch of years thanks to a suit that she somehow made or got from a Void monster (HOW THE FUCK DOES SHE EVEN DO THAT, I LITTLE GIRL), and turns out almost completely fine with 0 insanity as opposed to Malz and Kass, infact turning the opposite as being more quite and bland, is very off putting. Seriously, even if she had the suit I don't think she would've been shielded from the horrors of the void psychologically.
Now Declovone has made the argument that Kai'Sa didn't go insane from the Void itself but more or less isolation from other humans. A good counter arguement, especially since I took an ethics coruse last year going over this issue so I know where this is coming from and similar case to Tom Hanks in Castaway, but even then you'd think she'd go a bit more crazy.
Hell, Castaway had Hanks talk to a volleyball as his friend, and even showed strong emotion when he lost him or even fought with Wilson. Here, Kai'Sa doesn't even sell that, not even making the suit her friend, which apparently is something like Carnage or Venom from what I hear, but because of the VO we don't really get a whole lot of that. It just doesn't fit what her experience should of been based on what we imagine the Void to be. It gives the image that you can pretty much survive the Void completely fine if you fine a super suit (insert Incredibles meme here).
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO also tries making this argument, but The Whamboozler makes a counter argument with a pretty good talk about "showing, not telling" .
So, to wrap things up in a simple sentence: Kai'Sa has a generic face of most pretty female champs, she has a bland, boring delivery on her VO, doesn't take risks in the launch of the Void update, shows that the Void isn't as terrifying as it should, and give very vague expression with the suit she wears being sentient.
Look, I'm all for Kai'Sa somehow working out when we get the actual lore update for the Void and would like to see her work out somehow. But as she is, she just doesn't come close to pleasing majority of people from a story perspective. She just falls off hard and when you're planning to update a major part of League's lore with something like this, it better be good to make up for it or fill in some questions.
(Misc. Links) ZAELORD - https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/n7OXtjUq-i-really-want-kaisa-to-succeed
