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What most of koreans think about Ahri's new splash art

Kumiho Sarang·1/4/2015, 1:27:30 PM·7 votes·11,814 views
프리시즌 변경점 총망라! 롤 인벤에 오신 것을 환영합니다.

Greetings. I'm here to give you guys an important feedback about Ahri's new Splash Art.

I'm currently playing in South Korea server using 'Andale' for my summoner's name.

I've decided to post here so that I can let many people from different countries know about this too.

Before getting deep into the subject, I'd like to share some interesting facts that most summoners don't know about.

  1. During birth of Ahri ,(2011/10/21~2011/10/28) the makers had to decide Ahri's name. Rather then arbitrary decision, they decided to let korean summoners vote for her name.

  2. Riot Games helped South Korea recover cultural heritages which were illegally stolen to Japan during Japan's colonial rule of Korea by donating 1.8 million$ worth of money to Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration Department.

These 2 incidents made* a lot* of korean summoners to get attached to this great game and ♥Ahri ♥.

[I highly recommend you guys to have a look at attached image file down below before reading further.]

(October version) http://i.imgur.com/3GKkrDw.jpg

(December version) http://www.inven.co.kr/common/image/viewer.php?loc=&file=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.inven.co.kr%2Fupload%2F2014%2F12%2F18%2Fbbs%2Fi0649887898.jpg

(Side by side comparison) http://www.inven.co.kr/common/image/viewer.php?loc=&file=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.inven.co.kr%2Fupload%2F2014%2F12%2F18%2Fbbs%2Fi0925641188.jpg

Getting back to the point, We could see Ahri's new splash art around this October. It was amazing. Literally. It was just perfect as it was. However, I started to see some negative opinions about the new splash art. Only after a few days you decided to retreat the new splash art.

Even considering it was PBE, I think Riot decided too soon to tweak the splash art.

Only limited amount of people has access to PBE and not every summoners know about newest updates in PBE. I think Riot should have waited at least untill majority of summoners knew about new Ahri's splash art. Because splash art updates are not like urgent things such as balance updates or bug fixes.

Now that I have told you guys about why we think Riot decided to tweak the new splash art too soon,

Let's talk about the artwork after the changes. from now on I'll be talking on behalf of the serious amount of people from http://lol.inven.co.kr and many players of South Korea region. It might look too one-sided thoughts but I'll try to translate as specific as I can to prevent misunderstandings and these are actually what most korean summoners really think.

We respect your opinions too. So feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts and I can give you more informations as a reply, while delivering your thoughts back to korean forum.

First, we will explain about the things we like so much about tweaked new splash art of Ahri.

This one is hard to notice and it's a minor thing. New motion-blur effect which expresses her fox-like agility which can also be seen when she ults.

Next, an addition new part of clothes which reminds Norigae to koreans. (I see you guys refer this as a 'bell) This is important since Ahri has that in in-game model too. and in korea, putting on Norigae means 'Hope for long and peaceful life' and this is related to her lore as being a nine-tailed fox and wanting to be a human but deciding not to take away life from other people.

Other minor thing to mention, changes to light effects on her tails and on her thigh. Now her tail looks better.

Best thing we really loved from the tweaks is her fingernails' color and length changes. There are no negative opinion about this as far as I see.

since Ahri is still nine-tailed fox, not a typical human, she needs some features to distinguish her from typical humans. However now that she's got completly different art style from her old cartoonish splash art, Her whiskers became little less noticeable than before. So adding new fingernails not only solved that problem but also gave her some-what boring hands a new life!

But we also need to talk about the changes we don't like.

First, some of us said her hair became little wet and greasy. They say they want Ahri's subtle hair back from October. I agree with them.

Second, It's both related to first thing we mentioned (hair) and last part which is her face (I'll explain down below)

It's her ears.

It's controversial in here. since it's nine-tailed fox's one of the most representative features. some say it's bigger size is making people easier to recognize her as a nine-tailed fox while others say it has become too big and small ears were very cute and had no difficulties showing her identity.

Now the last part.

It's her face.

I don't know if this is right or wrong, but I personally think that after some people posted "She's not asian anymore. oh no" designers and artists thought "People who are familiar with previous splash art will not like her anymore. because she doesn't look asian-like now".

But actually, We liked the new face from splash art before the tweaks much more. In fact as a asian and korean we already acknowledged her as a Ionian-like person which makes more interested in her and have more fantasy about her because of the fact Ahri is different nine-tailed fox rather than typical nine-tailed fox we have in myths or tales.

But changing Ahri to look more asian-like person breaks most of that fantasies and makes us lose interests in her. And I belive this result is what Riot guys don't want to happen.

Nine-tailed fox is originated from asia, but it never means Ahri has to look like asian. We prefer her as a unique collaboration just the way she was! Ahri is Ionian who lives on Runeterra not Asian who lives on Earth. That's what made Ahri so attractive. You shouldn't have changed her face to female asian-like face.

We have some positive opinions about new face here too, but majority of us loved the face before so much. I guess we had to let you guys know it by sending positive feedback here earlier but none of us knew that tweak to her face was in progress. We were just waiting patiently until live client gets the new splash art we saw in October.

We honestly have to say most of us got disappointed by changes of her face. but we love the other additions as I made a list above. I know how much work and resources you guys put in to this splash art and I truly respect every second they have spent with all my souls but I have to say "Majority of koreans don't like the new face". We are not saying that we hate it but we hope you to listen to our opinion. We all know you guys are trying a lot to make the game better.

It's true that all of korean summoners have special feelings for Ahri. And we are worried about her now. We named her too.

I know the fact that there are people who prefer the tweaked splash art in korea too as I said above but most of us prefer pre-tweaked one. I also know that just because most koreans like the pre-tweaked splash art doesn't mean we have privilege to force Riot to use it. We are same as you guys. We just want to make the game better just like you by giving feedbacks.

Asides from many people's opinion here's my personal thoughts.

I love the octobers splash art's face. I really want this face to be kept. I guess this indirectly influenced me to write this post after all. I have never seen* this *beautiful nine-tailed fox artwork. A lot of other artworks for nine-tailed fox I have seen in internet makes same mistakes over and over which emphasizes only on sex appeal rather than describing the beauty itself. But new tweaked face just doesn't suit her anymore. I would pay all my money I can spend including RP I currently have if I can choose October version's face I might fall in depression if the new splash art is already confirmed.

I just wish her face, hair, and ears could go back as she was in October... item 3070

39 Comments

DG Ashabel1/4/2015, 8:04:02 PM5 votes

Personally, I think they should have scrapped this splash art altogether and started anew.

For one, there was no way to please people by simply altering the splash art. People who liked the new splash art would be upset by the alterations, while people who didn't like the splash art wouldn't necessarily enjoy them (I personally think the artist tried too hard to make her look Asian, as opposed to making her look like Ahri).

For two, there are problems with this art that go beyond her face. Her breasts and butt are turned at a 45 degree angle from one another. That pose is very painful to maintain while in a neutral position in real life, and it's impossible to maintain during the jump she's making on that art. She looks like she got hit by a speeding Sion and is now making a pensive pouty-lipped expression as she's trying to figure out why she can't feel her lower body (pro-tip, Ahri, that would be because your spine was warped into a pretzel and you'll never walk again). Her outfit was also changed to have a lower cut and generally reveal more of her skin.

The problem why nobody feels like the splash art looks or feels like Ahri is because the artist was too busy drawing a piece of trashy eye candy to even try and draw Ahri. That problem runs at the core of the art and cannot be fixed just by editing it a bit.

Plus Ahri already has amazing action poses on her Midnight and Foxfire splash arts, and this one simply pales in comparison.

Keevalroy1/6/2015, 1:16:02 AM4 votes

Riot, just make a new splash. Stop trying to make this one work by modifying little details. It's a good piece of work, but it doesn't look good for Ahri. I feel like a broken record, and I'm out of constructive criticisms. Please make a new one from scratch or let us keep the original art.

Krizalid1/4/2015, 4:02:03 PM4 votes

Too. Much. Attention. To. A. Single. Champion. And. His. Splashart. Seriously. Just get over it, guys.

Ashes Arise1/5/2015, 9:34:20 AM3 votes

The December one looks much more like ahri. How is this even a question? October looks like meagan fox.

Duke Anax1/4/2015, 4:53:49 PM3 votes

I think you got the wrong idea there. The screen wasn't changed to make her look more Asian, which I dont think she does by the way.

It was changed to make her look more like Ahri, simple as that. That's also the same reason her ears got bigger and her heair more slick, because that's the way Ahri looks.

Most anyone here would agree with you that the October splash looked great, the problem everyone had was that it showed "some nine tailed fox" but it didn't show "Ahri"

Shadow Merchant1/5/2015, 12:10:35 AM2 votes

I actually like the new face more than the old. In the older version she looks like a ghost. Like she doesn't know why she's there or what she;s doing. The new one gives off that seductress vibe way more. It also hints at the fact that she is confident and dangerous. I don't think the new hair looks bad at all. In fact I tend to like characters with sharper looking hair styles. The longer ears make her look more akin to a fox and less like a dog or cat. I think the newer version of the splash is better 100%. But that's just my opinion.

ImHerVoice1/4/2015, 5:04:16 PM2 votes

Alot of the new arts need improvement.

I know that ahri marks the opening of the KR servers. And that shaco marks the 1 year anniversary.

Your champion/skin should look very nice sorry if they don't.. ^^

Laughing Fish1/4/2015, 4:01:04 PM1 votes

Eloquently put my friend.

Intilink1/14/2015, 6:39:16 PM1 votes

I'm going to leave my 2 little cents here.

As a person with no Art knowledge or talent for it, it is hard to talk about thins like this, and to that we can add the fact that I come from neither North America or Asia, so my cultural perception is different.

While I agree on the Ears and Hair points you bring up, I have a little doubt about the face one. What I would ask you and our friends over in the Korean servers is: Does it really look Asian now? I when I see and compare the two splasharts' face area what I notice more is not that it looks Asian, but that it looks sad. When you see the October splashart you can definitely notice her playful nature with her smile and bright eyes. However, on the December version, I feel a tint of sadness in her eyes and expression.

Why does it matter? Well, I was thinking a bit, and I may be wrong, but I feel it complements her lore. Let me quote her current lore:

Feeding on their desires brought her closer to her dream, but as she took more lives, a strange sense of regret began to well within her. She had reservations about actions which never troubled her as a fox. She realized that she could not overcome the pangs of her evolving morality.

Which brings us back to the December splashart. Its hard to tell were are her eyes pointing, what is she looking at. On the October version, you can tell that she is looking at the "camera". But in the December one, she seems lost. It looks like she is thinking, regretting, feeling her own newfound concepts of morality tugging at her. She may be looking at her orb, which in-game acts as her main damage dealer and shows that her passive, "Essence Theft" is ready to be used. If she is indeed looking at the orb, it'd make sense she is feeling sadness or regret at her actions of stealing men's essences as stated in her lore. And even if she wanted, it fits her in my opinion.

When in the Rift, she shows her playful personality, laughing with Spirit Rush and quite funny quotes with double entenderes. But here in the splashart, we see her side that regrets her actions, one can not escape what they have done. And honestly, I see beauty in that. I feel that the October version is too "cutesy" when compared to the December one, who presents a more mature side to Ahri in that aspect.

But as I said, I am no artist. I can probably be wrong, but that is what I think about when I see her December version.

IMTOOJUICY1/4/2015, 4:18:46 PM1 votes

TIL Westerners want Ahri's face to look more Eastern, Easterners want Ahri's face to look more Western. Grass is greener and all that.

ChaosThief1/4/2015, 5:23:02 PM1 votes

If there was an optional choice, I would love that. Both sides would be happy( I prefer he october version, but apparently that "isn't ahri".)

Nagirah1/4/2015, 6:05:52 PM1 votes

Honestly... this amount of bitching about a splash art from everyone. Not maybe you OP because this was a very constructive feedback but still. No matter what they do to it, someone will be complaining. No matter what. And eitherway if I was the artist who made it I would be completely lost and feel like shit because nobody is ever happy.

I liked the original splash, the october one and tweaked one too. Yes I think each version has their issues but I know they won't get fixed because its just my opinion and a lot of people play this game. They cannot make everyone happy because of different opinions. Actually the only issue I have with the tweaked one is her chin and her eyes not looking at the camera properly. That is really small issue and I can live with it.

From now on I will try to ignore people complaining because it just is frustrating to read.

FebruAhri1/4/2015, 11:35:21 PM1 votes

Leave the ears as they are in the new version, and take the face from the old version would look the best imo

Wofye1/5/2015, 9:27:35 AM1 votes

The reason why I prefer Ahri's face in the december splash art is because... It looks like Ahri,

As someone who draws, I always am consistent with my OC's (Original characters), If one of them has a certain sharper edge at the end of the eye or certain features, I'm going to simply keep drawing them as such, it is because I like consistency when drawing characters.

What I noticed with Ahri, her hair has lesser volume and her eyes are drawn with a straight horizontal bottom stroke with a triangular stroke on the top..

Are you asking that you want Ahri's face and hair to be revamped?

Sukishoo1/6/2015, 4:24:14 AM1 votes

I still miss the look of her face from the October update. Everything else in the December update was nice, like the longer ears, the tassel, the hair cut, ect.