Why does Kalista look the way she does?

HeresyUntoFedex·11/4/2014, 10:19:11 PM·3 votes·2,072 views

Warning: Opinion Inbound

As some of you may already know, our rito overlords have released the preview on the next champion, Kalista. She the first spooky ghost from the Shadow Isles to be female, and that's great! Before now, the only girls from the isles were Evelynn and Elise, and they are neither spooky, or even dead for that matter, and there's also the fact that they're some of the most provocative dressers in the game, and that's saying something. So everything's great now that we have a spooky girl ghost to go along with spooky Morde, Hec, and Thresh, right(Karthus isn't included cuz he's a lich, notSpookyEnough4me)?

Wrong, at least in my opinion. While I'm really happy to finally have an undead female from the isles, I can't help but be bothered by the art direction they went with her, at least spash art wise. Other ghosts from the isles make it very obvious that they're spectral abominations that you do NOT want to mess with, what with the whole not-being-physical-and-possessing their armor/cloth they are wearing. Morde is a shadowy wraith inside his platemail, Hecarim appears to be a bluish mist under the armor, and Thresh is a sickly green light/fire inside of his armored coat with a eerie skull/skull-mask a floating over the coat, also coated in the spectral fire. Kalista on the other hand, looks solid, in fact in her spash art she could easily slide as a member of some newly discovered species that decided to show it's blue face.

And then there's the fact that Riot has to shove it down our throat this ghost is a gal. I know 'But Savage, you said you wanted a girl ghost!' Yeah, I did, but I want it to be like the other shadow isles ghosts. We can't be 100% sure what the genders are of Thresh, Hec and Morde are till you hear their Voice Overs. Riot did leave cues pointing to the fact that they're all male, Morde of which being the worst offender as he has some muscle defintion built into his armor, but even then you can't be completely certain, they're weird ghosty goos from a spooky place. Kalist has long, flowing hair(might be part of the armor, but it looks very much like the real deal), counter-measural boob armor, and a face(dear lord) so they can smack some feminine facial features on her. This all just rubs me the wrong way. And also, I'm NOT saying they sexualized her, because they didn't, thank god. But she's...well, feminine, in my opinion. Shadow isles ghost's appearances shouldn't outright reveal which gender they are, they should give hints to it, but not a full six pack(looking at you chinese Morde Spash) or breasts sculpted into their armor.

Sorry for writing a book guys, I'm just a bit peeved by the new champs appearance. Thank you for taking the time to read this though. And remember, this is all an opinion, I'm sorry if I offended you.

And if anyone is willing to share, what is your opinion on the matter?

19 Comments

Valaran Nara11/4/2014, 11:57:56 PM3 votes

Usually, if it doesn't seem feminine, then most will assume it is a guy. It doesn't have to read masculine to a person. It just has to read a lack of feminine form for one to think it may be male first and female second.

Kayle's original splash art lacked a feminine look, so people assumed she was male. Did she look like a straight up guy? Well, not exactly, but she didn't look female.

I believe it has to deal with there being patriarchal societies and our tendency for some people to refer to gender neutral things as "he"

You know. Human. Man. Mankind. Things like that.

Calling Clouds11/4/2014, 11:21:28 PM2 votes

You can totally tell that Thresh, Morde, and Hec are male. And she's wearing a horsehair helmet like Panth, that isn't hair.

disregardable11/4/2014, 10:54:45 PM2 votes

I really don't understand why you think the other Shadow Isle ghosts don't look masculine. At all.

GreenLore11/4/2014, 11:25:01 PM2 votes

The thing is that Kalista is a ghost and ghost do look a lot like they did in life. Giving her the Thresh/Hecarim treatment would have undermined that part(because then she would have been just another undead who looks like that)

However I think they could have made her face a bit more....dead. As in making it look like it is already rotting a bit.

In the end I still like her design,she seems to actually have some muscles and seems not sexualized(which is good because the other 2 shadow isles girls are probably the most sexualized champs in the game)

Jakethenight11/4/2014, 11:01:56 PM1 votes

What if Kalista herself doesn't want to let go of what she remembers from her humanity? What if she decides to hang on to a female form in the etheral plane as a way of hanging on to what little she can from her time as a human? She doesn't have to look like Haunting Nocturne.

cHAncEman129211/5/2014, 1:13:35 AM1 votes

I personally don't find her visually striking. She looks like Pantheon and Underworld Wukong had a baby. That's not to say she doesn't have a look worth exploring, I just don't find her to have a strong silhouette or look.

Rustling Bush11/5/2014, 2:33:42 AM1 votes

i thought no one knew where evelynn came from, its only speculation that she came from the shadow else