We already have some background lores for other legendary skins like Star Guardians and PROJECT champions.
I'd love to hear more about how Dark Star Thresh and Varus came into being as well. And also that of other champions in the future when they are released. I'd totally make them my main champions just for how cool and interesting they are in their lores... ;D
RiotKindlejack7 votesIt's possible! There was a lot of excitement about Dark Star when it launched, and posts like this help me know that players are interested in hearing more about galactic gravity gods. The initial thought was similar to that of Galactus and Silver Surfer, but if/when we do some more there's the opportunity to really think about what their purpose is. Do they have more worshippers/followers and who, if anyone, could stand between them and cosmic annihilation?
RavenHusky4 votesWhile I'm aware that they were intended to be separate continuities, it seems like the Star Guardians and Dark Stars were meant to fight each other to determine the fate of the universe.
RiotKindlejack4 votestbd I guess... with the popularity of both thematics I believe we'll have the chance to find out on both counts somewhere down the line.
Fasmodey4 votesIt's possible! There was a lot of excitement about Dark Star when it launched, and posts like this help me know that players are interested in hearing more about galactic gravity gods. The initial thought was similar to that of Galactus and Silver Surfer, but if/when we do some more there's the opportunity to really think about what their purpose is. Do they have more worshippers/followers and who, if anyone, could stand between them and cosmic annihilation?
Daily reminder for Dark Star Xerath (also Cosmic Reaver Xerath)
I beg
Chromatic Eagle1 votesGalactus has multiple heralds, so more can work. There's no lore on Cosmic Reaver Kassadin, and the Star Guardians need someone to fight. Even those Super Galaxy champions.
RiotKindlejack2 votesSo far we've been hesitant to pair up skin thematics, one of the big reasons is we don't want to shut out player's own fantasies, comics, stories etc. I saw a great SG Janna/DS Varus fanart and I'd never want to do something which discouraged people from pairing skin themes however they like.
Chromatic Eagle1 votesI heard that the Project and Mecha/Battlecast skins share a universe.
RiotKindlejack2 votesThey don't canonically. A cheeky outsourcer may have painted Vel'koz into a PROJECT splash, and now that he's joined our team I'm reminded to have a word with him about it :P
DwarvenGiant1 votesHaha. Don't be too harsh on Esben though! His art is super awesome after all. :>
Do you think you guys will ever remove Vel'Koz from that splash?
RiotKindlejack4 votesEsben is a beautiful wonderful man and I'd never be harsh on him. We are super lucky to have him on the team!
It's been on my to do list for a while, but it's not super important - could just be a robot that coincidentally looks like Battlecast Vel'koz, or could be PROJECT Vel'koz who knows? What do you guys think, does it matter to players?
Chromatic Eagle1 votesWell I know that Mechas are giant robots built like certain champions, and Battlecast is where monsters are transformed into robots by Viktor, so I don't see why they can't share the Project universe where human champions are turned. Then again, they could just be separate.
DwarvenGiant1 votesIt's been on my to do list for a while, but it's not super important
Huh, nice.
I think that it immediately reads as Battlecast Vel'Koz (since it's a futuristic world combined with Vel'Koz's pretty recognizable silhouette and the fact that he only has one futuristic skin), so there would always be confusion.
Although, after some time, I did start to think whether that's Battlecast Vel'Koz or actually Classic Vel'Koz.
Does it matter to players? The whole thing- I'd say it does. A lot of people seem to like the idea of PROJECT and Battlecast happening in the same universe (With possibly other futuristic skin lines as well, such as Program or Mecha).
Maybe that's too easy of a solution for players to just mash all of those robotic/futuristic things into one universe? Maybe it actually does make sense? I personally wouldn't mind either of the cases- Battlecast & PROEJCT in the same universe or not. Maybe there is a better Narrative solution/direction for this, though?
-_-
At the end of the day, I think it should be up to you guys at Riot, for the most part.
I also think that it's something worth discussing with Narrative and/or Foundations, actually, as much as it is "just a skin line(s)". :P Maybe gather Larry (who had a big part in the Battlecast line) and other concept artists/various Skins Team people that had a part in other futuristic skin lines, for such a meeting? :>
Crimson Anam1 votesEsben is a beautiful wonderful man and I'd never be harsh on him. We are super lucky to have him on the team!
It's been on my to do list for a while, but it's not super important - could just be a robot that coincidentally looks like Battlecast Vel'koz, or could be PROJECT Vel'koz who knows? What do you guys think, does it matter to players?
I like the theme of Battlecasts and PROJECTs both being a result of corruption by Viktor. It provides more narrative as to what the world may become in the future if Viktor has his way. :D
The Blue Rajah1 votesI think it's cool and not a bad thing at all. A neat Easter egg. I mean, there's tons of other champions in pool party splashes that don't actually have pool party skins, so it doesn't really bother me.
Asudurga1 votesHow about giving Sejuani a Battlecast skin? We already have PROJECT: Ashe and PROGRAM: Lissandra. The warmongering sister needs some love too!
Bristle being this hulking tank with a cyborg Sejuani riding it like SGT. Hammer, how awesome would that be?
DarkRitual1 votesThere's no reason they can't still pair up Champs from opposing factions. Many already do. Even Shakespeare did it.
IxtaliKing1 votesYou guys should add an actual galactic gravity God to the game, that'd be nice ;).
Stars Shaper1 votesWhat would 
be in that universe? Has it ever crossed your mind?
RiotKindlejack2 votesChampions that are already space themed ( 
) get mentioned often by players, but I wonder how much value that would bring to a skin. Honestly if you'd have thoughts I don't know the answer. It might sound good because you're matching things together but I feel like there'd be so much overlap with the base thematic it wouldn't feel as impactful and unique. Kind of like doing a fire skin for Brand or an Elderwood skin for Maokai - it's something of a redundancy or just not as dramatic a shift as another skin would be.
However we have done it in the past, particularly before we started to change vfx and sfx more often than not - Lunar Revel Diana, Kung Fu Lee Sin, Black Frost Anivia etc. But I wonder how well those skins were received in terms of thematic choice.
Decrit1 votesWell, the theme around black frost anivia is not the black frost itself, rather the corruption and how that it is tied to Lissandra.
Stars Shaper2 votesWell I was talking lorewise rather than skin-wise :P
If you think about skins it might be like a full armored Aurelion Sol. Overall the theme would be redundant and I agree with this, I was just imaging a sort of full power Aurelion.
Vistha Kai3 votesAs a Syndra main, I wouldn't mind a Dark Star skin for her, even though thematics are quite similar.
Frankly despite playing her since 2012, I don't own any of her skins solely, because their theme is so different from her classic in one way or the other. One throws water balloons that don't feel anyhow powerful like the champion, another throws god-damn bells.
I'm sure a lot of people would love "power-up" skins.
Overlord Forte1 votesThe issue kind of comes down to 'are we going to differ a thematic repeat enough for it to not be an upgrade?'. Black Frost Anivia, for instance, is where the corruption of the Freljord radically impacts her. So, it's an ice theme, but it's a different version that's not quite an upgrade over the base. Or, in other words, base 'Good' Anivia and then 'Evil' Anivia. Whether or not the extreme personality difference, and the resulting change, qualifies as a significant difference or not is ... up for subjective debate.
On the logical other end of the spectrum, another fire skin for Brand would be hard pressed to be very 'different'. You could, at most, have him become his original spirit of fire, but that's just an upgrade. There's no difference between imprisoned Brand or released Brand. Were you to do that route, a Gangplank style story evolution would be more suitable than a skin, per say.
Diana, in the middle of these two, is kind of funny. She's the avatar of the moon, but there are many different ways to represent her. Lunar Revel, Blood Moon, etcetra, all serve to portray the same Diana in different views. It's essentially clothes swapping at that point, where the implementation of style and the 'is this worth having a skin for?' become more paramount. You'd have to go a step further in altering Diana's personality to really avoid the clothes swap problem, but it's an uphill struggle.
Some people like costume swaps, some others want total do overs ... market research will show where the main incentive to develop crops up from, really. There's arguments in favor of either camp.
Dan Squared1 votesThe way I would view something like Dark-Star Aurelion Sol would really just be your standard grim-dark skin....along the lines of bloodstone taric or forsaken jayce. I think there is enough space to make that one work just on its own. Definitely not legendary tier though
A Dark Star Veigar (or Syndra) would be more along the lines of a Overlord Malzahar or even Tyrant Swain. Pushing their already existing theme harder than base, or even adapting to possible new storylines (T.Swain is basically his canon now after becoming Grand General) Basically mostly costume and minor effect work most likely....not much space to REALLY push it like you said. If they were to be done, should stay cheap
Ori though I agree would make an awesome dark star...easily possible legendary
As for the idea of pairing skin lines, I think there is indeed a good opportunity to create that impact through possible shared skin alternate-realities. See the hype created by the PRODUCT line....those skins are both very well done and thanks to stuff like PROJECT: overdrive people really get hyped for the skins. skin lines like Program and Mecha are also very well done, but don't have the same appeal that PROJECT does because they don't have the slight story-line push.
Star Guardians I feel are very similar to PROJECT. they are good skins that really deliver on their promised theme, but also have a nice little story behind them, nothing elaborate, but something. I think pairing something like the Dark Star line could really help push both skin lines in ways neither could really do alone.
DarkRitual1 votesTaliyah is obviously the Silver Surfer in the LoL Universe.
Ultîma1 votesDark Star Orianna NEEDS to be a thing.
RiotKindlejack2 votesIt makes a lot of sense, the way she controls and orb that draws people in and slows. Even though she was originally designed to be the gravity mage, Syndra would be pretty cool too imo.
Ultîma1 votesI feel as though there'd be too muc overlap between Syndra's regular skin and Dark Star (after all, Thresh's lantern actually needed to be changed because it was almost identical to Syndra's Q!)
RiotKindlejack2 votesPerhaps something else cosmic then?
Veraska1 votespounding fists on table rhythmically chanting cosmic reaver syndra! more cosmic reaver skins!
Overlord Forte1 votesEhh, the issue is you'd basically crowd out any other 'celestial/solar' related themes for Syndra. "Oh wow this solar idea is great! But we already have Dark Star with all these effects ...", etcetra.
I think, from an opportunity cost perspective, you'd have to make a hard decision in either direction. Given that Dark Star is already unerringly close to her default aesthetics, I'd see a more compelling argument for a different theme in the celestial/solar department.
Stephenizgod1 votesWell a possible candidate for Dark Star is Malzahar. His ult could be a black hole that threatens to crush his victims into a singularity. His Silence could be like a super nova looking thing. His Voidlings could be space demons. His E could be... well idk similar to it is now but blackish. His passive could have him encased inside a star.
I think it would look pretty damn cool, plus Malzahar needs a cool costume, Overlord Malzahar isn't that great to me and Snowday Malzahar, while awesome in its own right, is not epic like the Dark Star line.
Crimson Anam2 votesThresh said he and Varus have consumed the Void... so I don't know how that would work with Void champions. XP it might get kinda awkward when the two meet Syndra, hehe.
Or maybe the Void champions too were corrupted by the Dark Stars during that process? That's a great theme as well!
And given their current VO, it's entirely possible to establish that they've already done this in the past well, which could help explain the backdrop of some Void champions turning into Dark Stars.
Crimson Anam2 votesIt could be Syndra, it could be Malzahar, it could be anyone. Hell, it could even be Dark Star Kha'Zix for our resident DS jungler, who has moved from devouring the jungle to devouring the cosmos! : P Or Cho'gath too, given that he would already fit well aesthetically.
Dragon Master1 votesDark Star Swain would be godlike
Kitty Darkstar1 votes<.<
Juustiicee1 votesThis might not be as relevant with Karthus Lightbane on the PBE right now, but if ever there were another legendary skin in the Dark Star line, Karthus would be a perfect fit. The FX on his Q and E would be horrifying (picture a pitch black AOE opening underneath Karthus), and there would be a lot of room for creativity with the FX on his ultimate... maybe even manipulate the map's lighting, to signify the Dark Star opening overhead. As a Karthus main would instabuy anything like this.