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Chinese splash arts, cultural differences, and the fact that WE ARE NOT CHINA

yay nibbers··11 votes·11,044 views

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

17 Comments

Tyrone Lannister5 votes

Riot is owned by tencent. A chinese investent hold

XenoProject2 votes

where is this unholiest of sellouts so i can punch them in the balls..

Tyrone Lannister1 votes

Its online. As much as people dont like it, riot needs their money to maintain servers and all their LCS expenses

Ripples1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Tyrone Lannister,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=NB90iuGf,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-04-07T16:36:07.957+0000)

Riot is owned by tencent. A chinese investent hold

They don't OWN it.

Tyrone Lannister1 votes

They fund a large portion of it. Without that money, riot wouldnt be able to sustain themselves. Its as good as owning them

Kinjishi1 votes

90% share of the company (Tencent). That's a fairly significant portion. They are majority owner - nuff said. Riot only has 10% (which is kind of ironic considering the owner is Tencent).

My Sea Cow3 votes

Karthus skins look awful Ahri skin they just improved the face which is a good thing Morgana looks fine Hec looks the same to me Gentleman Cho? HELL NO! He needs his pipe and wine thank you very much. Put it back...make the gentleman happy SIon eh Urgot nope don't like it Vieg ok VOli looks the same to me Annie face looks weird and Teemo....I think imma have nightmares

Not to mention the new irelia splash which wasn't listed? It's horrible

yay nibbers1 votes

For sure some of the ones I have here are fine, but my point is the changes are either very minor (as in the splash is practically the same as what we already have) or completely unnecessary censorship based on someone else's culture (Karthus face censorship).

Irelia's new splash isn't listed because it doesn't fit in this category. Did you even read my post? In any case I disagree, I think it's way better than the old splash.

Kallian1 votes

am i the only one that thinks teemo looks really weird?

yay nibbers1 votes

I think so too. Same with Storm Guard Volibear. Something about them is off and unsettling. Not to mention the new Voli splash makes him look fluffier than a teddybear so he loses a bit of that ferocity.

Hethalean1 votes

If it is all chinese art and you cite your argument based on 'we are not china', why are you not getting upset by ALL of the art they brought back or are you?

XenoProject1 votes

it's not.

Moonboy651 votes

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/4dhzvm/and_thus_riot_reinforced_the_cigar_meme/d1rdl63 read this tho, it's rather interesting

Glaedr1 votes

From what I understand, the major thing that is causing the splash-art changes (which are short-term) is to make sure the game's rating is not changed and global parity for art. I imagine in the next couple years, the splash-arts for champions and skins will be the same across all regions, which is what I got from reading up on all the stuff about these changes. I could be misunderstanding that, so don't quote me, but if you are really freaking out about some random changes out of nowhere, I really suggest looking for any red posts relating to this so you can read up on it yourself.

Moonboy651 votes

{quoted}

From what I understand, the major thing that is causing the splash-art changes (which are short-term) is to make sure the game's rating is not changed and global parity for art. I imagine in the next couple years, the splash-arts for champions and skins will be the same across all regions, which is what I got from reading up on all the stuff about these changes. I could be misunderstanding that, so don't quote me, but if you are really freaking out about some random changes out of nowhere, I really suggest looking for any red posts relating to this so you can read up on it yourself.

yep, i made a post about the reason behind the Global Splash Update

XenoProject1 votes

I agree about the karthus thing.... He isn't a chinese relative. What about Sion's skull like face too? What is wrong with people...

Digielf1 votes

people still cant understand that the chinese splash arts are temporary replacements before they get updated

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