Do anyone of you remember Annie's cinematic?

PlsRitoRepairS10·8/7/2019, 12:24:00 AM·16 votes·11,683 views

Well, at least I do. And I must confess that this cinematic made me wonder about future of this champion. Recently I played Annie, and I couldn't stand how boring she is. I'm not talking only about her kit, but also about her design, quotes and everything else, which is completely different from her in lore.

Let's compare Annie to another child in league, Nunu. Why? Because Nunu is a great example of well written child-personality, and he is the opposite of Annie's character.

Nunu

  • Nunu grew up in a happy, nomadic family and experienced maternal warmth and care.
  • He has no emotional problems. He is a child with vivid imagination that enjoys life.
  • He has a powerful magical power inside, which causes him no problems and he is able to control it. In addition, they are associated with creation.
  • He lost his mother, but he doesn't know what happened to her. He is an optimist, he believes that he will find her and return to family life.
  • Willump is his best friend. The mighty and intelligent Yeti, who accompanies the boy, shares his worldview, plays with him, experiences adventures with him and also plays the role of the elder brother.

Annie

  • Annie grew up with her father, step-mother and step-sister. Despite the fact that her father loved her, she was hated by her stepmother.
  • She doesn't control her emotions, especially the negative ones. Stepmother exerted pressure on her that could result in future mental illness, e.g. depression.
  • She possesses a powerful magical power inside, which she doesn't control, just like her emotions. In addition, they are associated with destruction.
  • Because of her powers, she was orphaned by herself, she experienced the death and destruction that she carries within her. She has neither home nor family.
  • She is left alone in the wilderness. Her only companion is Tibbers, a teddy bear without his own mind, which is filled with this "evil power".

Nunu has such an advantage on Annie that he is "newer champion" and he actually exists in the game so his quotes, animations and skills show us his personality. He plays cheerful melodies on the flute, rolls a gigantic snowball, throws smaller snowballs, etc. You can say that he is lively, childish and enjoys it all.

Meanwhile Annie can tell us different story, the story of abandoned child with mental problems. I'm not saying how her skillset should look, those are only examples, but:

  • Imagine that instead of her current Q she would throw three smaller bullets like a kid throwing his toys in anger.
  • Imagine that her spells set fire to the ground. He cannot control this fire, which results in conflagration.
  • Imagine that she would have a skill during which she screams / howls and there is an explosion around her (such W, only in each direction).
  • Imagine that instead of summoning Tibbers, she actually throws this cuddly toy that transforms in flight (thrown ult of Shyvana).
  • Imagine that her E works a little more interesting and actually acts as a flame that protects her without her control (at least visually).

Also her model... Annie in cinematic doesn't have this modern backpack and cat ears, also her petticoat fits more in world of Runeterra. I will skip the fact that this child has make-up (xD?). Also she lives on what she finds in the forest. For mine, they should adapt her basic skin to those of cinematic, and add her a few hole in the dress, maybe disheveled hair and dirty face.

9 Comments

ModAcademy Kayn8/7/2019, 2:02:13 AM7 votes

I'm not so sure about moving Annie this way, but that's purely because of how much I enjoy her short story where she goes into the bar and asks for a glass of milk. I understand and can appreciate the analysis of it, but I think it moves too far away from Annie's current character, though that's not to say there's a fair bit of each that a rework could utilize for a more fleshed out character.

I'd actually be in favor of this, however, if at health thresholds, Annie did become more like the scared, angry child throwing a tantrum. Maybe not so much visuals, but voicelines showing her agitation/anger, or stuff like that. High health Annie is happy, childlike, but the lower health she goes, the angry and more irritated she becomes.

And because I'm an asshole, you could easily rival Nunu's death animation level of sadness. Have us hear her Father's voice calling out for her.

Terozu8/7/2019, 1:56:25 AM4 votes

She doesn't live on what she finds in the forest.

She lives by playing with generous adults trust and using them, or off gold she gets from Tibbers killing people.

Her clothing is a bunch of random stuff she's gathered from various households that took her in.

And her quotes do match her lore, her entire lore was written to explain how a little girl started to like burning people.

4 Step Cadence8/7/2019, 2:01:59 AM4 votes

Well Nunu isn't exactly a new champion. He got a VGU. He was no different from Annie at one point.

Though, we have to recognize the biggest red flag here: Annie isn't even represented by her in-game art anymore on her page. Basically all the art on her page is from her cinematic now. I feel like Riot wants to give her at least a VU, but they're reluctant to do so because Annie is just so iconic.