Chinese splash arts, cultural differences, and the fact that WE ARE NOT CHINA
To start, I must apologize because the title implies I'm going to go into cultural differences more than I'm going to.
So by now I'm sure we're all aware of the 'new' splash arts coming to replace all the old splash arts. Some are good, some are alright, some are bad and some are just... why? I'm going to talk about the why splashes.
All the new splashes are splashes coming from the Chinese client. For various reasons, mostly marketing I'd imagine, a lot of the old (and even some new) were changed for China. A lot of them were what I will refer to as anime-ified, given whole new splashes in a style more reminiscent of anime, and most of these are good and are indeed an improvement (Tempest Janna tho, hot damn). Others were altered due to cultural differences like with Karthus for example because China is afraid of skeletons (read: showing bones is disrespectful or something like that, I'm not entirely sure of the specifics). Others still and the least numerous are splashes with VERY MINOR changes (usually to faces) likely to better appeal to the Chinese audience similar to the anime-style splashes. Here are some examples of the last two categories (culture and taste) (EDIT: The thumbnails turned out bigger than expected, I apologize for the space they take up): https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6-GfIenUFJA/VvXBLfUM70I/AAAAAAAA5PM/NwZSQD98NNsUlfY3of5gCy8aoHGreym-A/s1600/Karthus_Splash_0.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F7hl7mXQngk/VvWrcMZn6AI/AAAAAAAAMpc/ECg_sGCi1CcS-lp12uS2nTt1BLSI2EM9A/s1600/Karthus_Splash_1.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ISJLKAYLUSM/VvWrcFUZHNI/AAAAAAAAMpg/jrIe4mfSq_8O6k_cD8vK2QwtLeA88U6xA/s1600/Karthus_Splash_2.jpg https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rrpKWqHI2AU/VvWrXMbQHYI/AAAAAAAAMnw/SXO7NckCtgMjI8aH3m3sPMdDINB9fLvXg/s1600/Ahri_Splash_1.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-crdFDYoyHwo/VvWretXa82I/AAAAAAAAMqQ/wCtjq5VO2ZogWQFnBj_BMs4pLlFZZ6lhw/s1600/Morgana_Splash_2.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F8L5fiBa_5M/VvXBLiG97dI/AAAAAAAA5PQ/CsL5detZ5nED3pDdGmrRmlnzOn6Xcax1Q/s1600/Hecarim_Splash_0.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0cSXeAI3J3Y/VwQKASFLEUI/AAAAAAAAM_I/oMTW3GhHyIsbIW8dBd__pqbbid3IiZ1MQ/s1600/Chogath_Splash_2.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-48YoD4xC1Uw/VwQKCGbXFrI/AAAAAAAAM_w/JnUZKBjaFkUQ5E7KK0RLDDXGgnwWJJ1jQ/s1600/Sion_Splash_4.jpg https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GiezkKLI4bA/VwQKGA5JQlI/AAAAAAAANBE/bOU28XpdbxMOnXyJxB3A_mnwnehx25Qbw/s1600/Urgot_Splash_1.jpg https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d8u7qSD4ShY/VwQKHO66YRI/AAAAAAAANBI/R8zcNfVclNE5L72sqoy4loUA0P59uWd_Q/s1600/Veigar_Splash_3.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WQcDNf6oNj8/VwQKIP63DxI/AAAAAAAANBc/rgLI_5tGhIITu4tvOYCbfJoOHoWew9Cow/s1600/Volibear_Splash_1.jpg https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6qEIeL9nqOU/VwVgN7_BndI/AAAAAAAANI4/utxhlx8TX38DbouG0htvRKOXSPKdr6F-w/s1600/Annie_Splash_1.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R7FhG4W7_D4/VwVgPFxqmnI/AAAAAAAANJU/3-BZhOMB5ekB8OJ0q93S4fZPVyhXV15mA/s1600/Teemo_Splash_5.jpg
Here's the thing, this is all fine in the context that they're for China because they market better over there. So I ask... WHY ARE WE THEY BEING FORCED UPON US HERE? We are not China. There is absolutely no reason to impose Chinese cultural restrictions and preferences on us at the cost of perfectly good art. The most egregious example of this are the Karthus splashes. In all but one, his face is obscured partially or completely because it resembles a skull, a point of disrespect in China but not here. Other major examples are Gothic Annie and Cottontail Teemo (at the bottom of the list up there for visibility) where the art is clearly worse for the changes by our own standards that are separate from China's. The differences are so minor though that there's no reason to bring them here. "Splash art unification" shouldn't really apply in this situation because they're already practically the same. Other good examples include Giant Enemy Crabgot and Sinful Succulence Morgana (both linked above).
To sum up, the point of my post is this: We are not China. We do not need and in fact should not be getting a lot these 'new' splash arts because of China's ridiculous standards. We should not be censoring our own art just because China doesn't like it.
WE ARE NOT CHINA
