Question for Rito Regarding Star Guardians

Shirvallah·Sep 22, 2016·2 votes·3,227 views

RITO! I was wondering how you came up with Star Guardian Jinx, as well as the rest of the guardians' designs. Being the nerd I am, getting super excited for the new Star Guardian skins, I Googled a bunch of Star Guardian Lux fan art. I managed to find Star Guardian Lux and Jinx fan art on a forum post from about a year ago. I noticed Jinx's designs were somewhat similar (not colors, of course). Thought that was pretty neat. So, did ya draw inspiration from fan art? And how did y'all decide which champions were going to become Star Guardians? :) And also, will the skins come out this week or next week?

10 Comments

Radnar the boldSep 22, 20162 votes

Man if I could work or go and talk to anyone at rito, it would be the creation or lore teams. I would stay as far the fuck away from the balance teams.

DisketteSep 25, 20161 votes

I don't understand your poor choice for the star guardian skins. We already have lux who should be a mid. She we need 4 other champs for the 4 other roles. Jinx was a wonderful idea and Janna is okay (I would have preferred Karma) but lulu (another supp/mid?) and Poppy. They don't look like magical girls at all. I think you should have gone with Irelia instead of Poppy for top and with Diana instead of lulu for jungle.

Irelia's ult would have had those stars instead of knives and Diana's Q would have a shooting star with the curvy tail.

I really think you missed out on cool skins and outside of Jinx and Janna I don't think those lulu and Poppy skins will sell as well.

GreenLoreSep 25, 20163 votes

Irelia is on the list for a VGU,so she likely won't get any skins until that is done(and if she gets a skin it is likely gonna be without special effects).

Diana doesn't fit because bladed weapons are very unusual for magical girls,most use wands,though blunt weapons are also kinda ok(because smacking something is still more kidfriendly than slicing it apart).

Poppy was likely used because there was a popular fan art for star guardian poppy and she and lulu also fit the whole vibe of "younger magical girls"(even if they aren't that young lorewise they are still small). Lulu also fitted the whole "spirit-companion"-theme that some of them have going on.

Tesla EffectSep 25, 20161 votes

Madoka Magica disproves the "no blades on magical girls" theory,

GreenLoreSep 25, 20162 votes

Madoka Magica is also a deconstruction of the whole magical-girl-thing,it is far from the norm.

Tesla EffectSep 25, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Madoka Magica is also a deconstruction of the whole magical-girl-thing,it is far from the norm.

Even though Star Guardian theme takes the most inspiration from it....sure, whatever.

GreenLoreSep 25, 20161 votes

How do you get the idea that it takes the most inspiration from the madoka series? Because frankly,the dresses of the star guardians don't look very madoka-like to me(to be precise,the madoka dresses tend to be really frilly,which none of the star guardians are) The only real similarity I could see in them are their star-companions(pix,zephyr,kuro and shiro),but those weren't invented by the madoka series.

FloRaider42Sep 25, 20161 votes

Riot usually doesn't use fan art or concepts as isnpiration, so I kinda doubt that. I think that the star guardian team is simply based around the popular five man band setup and they just picked characters that fit those roles visually and characteristically: Lux as the leader and heart of the group, Jinx as the rival to the leader and violent team member, Lulu as the funny and childish comic relief, poppy as the dutiful lone wolf and Janna as the calm advisor and mentor.

I have made a short summary, if you want to read more into it.

[{quoted}](name=Tesla Effect,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=Mo3EKOlb,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2016-09-25T11:46:14.273+0000)

Madoka Magica disproves the "no blades on magical girls" theory

Taking an anime that is a deconstruction of the genre (magical pet is the main villain, the girls are doomed to die and transform into monsters, they suffer a lot of emotional trauma etc.) isn't really helping your point. Swords and physical combat in general are avoided in classical Magical Girls shows.

{quoted}

We already have lux who should be a mid. She we need 4 other champs for the 4 other roles.

Skin lines don't need to work as a team comp anymore that was changed some time ago to allow more freedom in chosing the champions.

They don't look like magical girls at all.

They are supposed to look like young girls which often are part of a magical girl team.

I think you should have gone with Irelia instead of Poppy for top and with Diana instead of lulu for jungle.

Irelia and Diana both have weapons, fighting styles and personalities that don't fit the usual magical girls team that well. While the current setup makes much more sense.

That said Riot probably will continue this skin line if it's a success.

DisketteSep 25, 20161 votes

Ok I understand then the lulu and Janna choice due to their wands and magical pet (pix and zephyr). But what about Jinx? Are guns and bazooka magical girls material ? Don't get me wrong Jinx is my favorite star guardian skin. But if they can have guns why not blades ? I'm sure irelia and Diana would have been huge. Poppy had a hammer too.

Girls with wands on lol are Nami, Janna, Lulu, Soraka, Leblanc and Lux

FloRaider42Sep 25, 20162 votes

{quoted}

Ok I understand then the lulu and Janna choice due to their wands and magical pet (pix and zephyr). But what about Jinx? Are guns and bazooka magical girls material ? Don't get me wrong Jinx is my favorite star guardian skin. But if they can have guns why not blades ? I'm sure irelia and Diana would have been huge. Poppy had a hammer too.

Girls with wands on lol are Nami, Janna, Lulu, Soraka, Leblanc and Lux

Actually yes. Guns and bows as well as blunt weapons are accepted as Magical girl weapons, as long as they fire magic projectiles. Censors were weird (still are) regarding kids show (the classical magicla girls shows) so basically they could blast and shoot the enemy with magic, but weren't allowed to go toe to toe with the enemy with swords or fists (hammers were also mostly used for groundpounds and blocking than normal attacks). Blades are regarded as more violent than guns, because cuts and injuries with sharp tools are something kids can understand as dangerous, whereas a gun that shoots stars is something that has more leeway.

Nami has no legs, which would feel odd considering magical girls are supposed to be empowered "normal" girls. Soraka already is to close to the star theme, for a SG skin to have a big impact (skins usually try to show different sides of a character) LeBlanc is to evil, which unlike Jinx can't be fixed by giving her new lines as the essence wouldn't stay the same. Jinx is still about shooting and wrecking stuff, while having fun, but has a different outlet (her SG duty), whereas LB is all about deceit and lies which does fit a villain better than a SG.