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Champion Aesthetic Choices and What They Mean for League

Declareas·5/31/2017, 7:44:19 PM·7 votes·1,150 views

Hey there folks, I thought I'd make a discussion specifically about the appearance of champions, and their significance. Feel free to contribute your own thoughts and feelings below!

In League of Legends, champions should have a strong, cohesive identity. While not telling the whole story, a champion's appearance should give players a good first impression about them--how they play, what they act like, what their attitude is, etc. I want to explore how successful these aesthetics are in this thread.

For example, Vi--look at her splash art and you'll immediately see several things: the pink hair, the mismatched, almost cyberpunk outfit, the huge fists, and her posture and expression. She's independent, rebellious, and aggressive. She does things her way, whether you like it or not. She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and crack a few skulls while taking a beating in the process, and she expresses herself freely. If you're at all interested in the lore you'll probably know that Piltover is, for the most part, an upper class city that puts great import upon social affectation. Vi is brash and individual, and she doesn't fit into Piltover at all. My first question upon seeing her is "Why would Piltover hire her to protect them when she looks like someone they'd need protection from?" This is a cornerstone of her lore--her past as a criminal and gang member, and life in the slums of Zaun, has given her a unique identity for a Piltovian officer. Now let's look at her voice--it fits perfectly with her established aesthetic. She is indeed independent, rebellious, aggressive, and quite sure of herself. She's the cop that gets results so the chief doesn't throw her off the case even if he wants to. She punches first, and asks questions while punching! She's an excellent foil to Caitlyn's elegant, straight-laced, by the book identity, and it shows: Caitlyn and Vi are a popular fan ship, and beyond this, the straight man/funny man routine their personalities create provides for plenty of fun scenarios between the two. Vi is a champion that I would consider extremely aesthetically successful; her appearance matches her personality perfectly and gives you enough of an idea about her to catch your interest while making you want to read more.

Now let's look at a less successful example: Miss Fortune. Miss Fortune is an older character than Vi by a large margin, and has gone through many more changes in personality and lore. Her appearance isn't particularly egregious, and her splash art does successfully convey an air of mystery to the viewer. Aside from this she looks like a buxom, confident pirate. Her appearance is unfortunately generic, and while her splash certainly leaves you asking questions, it doesn't answer many like Vi's does. Her voice isn't really contradictory to her appearance; she's flirtatious, confident, and sultry. And then you read her lore. She was the daughter of a murdered gunsmith, and seeks revenge against her family's killer, Gangplank, and yet we see no sense of loss, seriousness, anger, or anything but seduction in her appearance and voice. While she certainly uses her body as an asset, the grief and gravity of her personal struggle is completely lost in her visuals and sound. I'm not particularly married to either version of Miss Fortune, but I think her split identities are problematic. It's difficult to get into a character when her in game and out of game personalities are so disconnected with one another. The Miss Fortune of her lore is good-humored but serious, sultry but gritty, hateful but beautiful. The simpler version depicted on the splash and in game is a different character entirely, and while Riot has specifically stated that gameplay and lore are not interconnected directly any longer, I feel that she falls flat thematically because she is two different characters. I am aware that this issue only became so apparent when, in late 2015, her gameplay and lore were updated along with the Bilgewater event, but I still believe it is a pertinent topic.

If there are any champions that you folks think either strike out or hit it out of the park thematically, I'd love to hear about them!

9 Comments

Valeckserai5/31/2017, 9:17:24 PM6 votes

I think that Karthus hits it out of the park.

His art is amazing and fits his character so well. A magic wielding worshiper and herald of death spreading the gospel of undeath and immortality to all could not ask for a better splash art in my opinion. The religious themes are obvious from the pope hat and the long robes. The way that his hand reaches up with his fingers curled like that makes it halfway between him beckoning you to him, and him grasping onto something (probably your soul) that he's never going to release. And the little souls swirling around him in agony (seriously, look at their faces, they look miserable) add on the finishing touch that really make it a masterpiece, they show the twisted nature of his self made religion. Instead of just a dead mage that thinks that death is awesome, they show how he uses the dead that he gathers to increase his own power, and while he sees himself as a liberator, he is damning everyone that he forces into his cult to an eternity of an unliving hell. Add on the awesomeness that is his vo, and it's one of the best made characters that Riot has ever done. He's surprisingly complex, with how he views his practices, how he views other shadow isles members actions/beliefs about death, and how he really thinks that he's the good guy in all of this. It's amazing. 10/10.

GreenLore5/31/2017, 11:14:49 PM5 votes

Overall I think MFs design isn't the problem its more that her VO and animations don't bring out her full character. When you listen to MF inside the game you basically get her outside personality,the one that she uses as a mask during her daily life. Which wouldn't be so jarring if her serious side wasn't nonexistent in the game(and it gets kinda worse since her lore focuses on her more serious side)

LordHippoman5/31/2017, 9:26:34 PM4 votes

I'm in love with Braum's design.

He's supposed to be a big, towering protector who's very cheery and upbeat, and he totally nails that. His shield is enormous, but he's holding it in on one arm! He's extending his hand warmly in the splash art, and he's got the very jolly mustache. You can kinda tell what kind of character he is just by looking at him, which I think speaks to the aesthetic design working really well. The voice acting definitely adds to it too.

Wyrmblade5/31/2017, 10:06:40 PM1 votes

One time a bad thing happened to me and it defined my entire personality and it's either all I talk about or I constantly leave vague cryptic hints about it.

Dzoni875/31/2017, 11:11:07 PM1 votes

In my personal opinion, Miss Fortune is fine as it is. The way she is presented in the game is her day - to - day appearance, or how she is supposed to act, when she is luring the pray that she hunts. But when you look and read about her background, watch videos, concept art, etc. you can scratch a bit beyond that surface and see the other, more dark and vengeful side of her personality. Makes perfect sense and connection, and provides a nice character progress, in my opinion. Which is the primary purpose of the lore (but, with her being a character with the most established lore in a whole game, you cant argue this a lot :D ).

Now, on the contrary, that you mentioned Caithlyn, ill say what the rest of people have been saying here. Her ingame character doesnt fit the Sheriff characteristic at all. Well, maybe a steampunk-type of nobility, but not the lawbringer that she is supposed to be. And i doubt that she uses the same criminal fighting methods, like the Miss Fortune does. She is more straight-to-the-point crime fighter (as most of Piltover characters are, it seems).

On Vi, yes, i kinda agree. Nothing to say to it.