Are those eyes on Swain's wings in the teaser?
A snippet from my big post, but this was the thing most people were surprised by so posting here.
Are those...eyes on his wings?
Please fully expand the image for a clearer look.
This was a screenshot taken a few frames before the Noxus doors closed. Two very clear pure red lines appear on his wings, and they remind me of a pair of eyes.
One of the coolest designs of Swain I find is the 'multi-eyed raven' visual look. I think it's very cool. It's one of those things I hope they keep in his redesign.
We haven't seen any multi-eyed ravens, but when he manifests his wings, with all that pulsing red on black, it reminded me of that design.
Could be just a coincidence, but if they make the 'multi-eyed' visual look translate to some kind of constantly shifting design on Swain's raven form, I really like that idea, makes him seem even more monstrous and otherwordly.
PS: Hope you like Long Posts. Added in my other points from my original Reddit post here too.
So, I organized a couple of things I personally noticed and were interested in, from the teaser. Including some old references that I found had some cool parallels/contrast with.
1. Those metal wings on Swain's back
So just to point out the metal wing guards on Swain's back/jacket stick out quite a bit, as can be seen in the screenshot above, when he's at an angle to the camera at the very beginning of the video.
It's interesting to compare with the original 'back teaser' from Victor Maury last year. The changes are that in the original teaser, it looked like the wing-guards sat like pauldrons on Swain's shoulders. Also, the metal feather bits were much longer and thinner, and seemed to move more freely. The current teaser ones are shorter, more angular and stylized, and seem more set in place.
2. Flock of ravens all over Noxus
Several ravens fly close to where Swain is, but also you can see in the distance, many black dots/ravens flying across the entire city. So I don't think this is just for dramatic effect. I believe the flock is all Swain's, and much like it was implied he could spy on Talon with Beatrice before and that ravens are his 'eyes', I believe he sent out that flock on purpose to keep any eye on his city.
And of course we know how he feeds his current ravens. So maybe if they spot something disagreeable to Swain, they descend on that unlucky person to peck them clean?
3. Just where is Swain?
Well obviously, he's looking at Noxus. But from outside of Noxus?
The background image of Noxus is a matte painting from the concept art created by Gabriel Yeganyan
I believe it is for dramatic effect and to establish that the teaser is taking place at the Noxian capital; since the last teaser showed him on a battlefield in an unknown place.
But alternatively, maybe what the teaser shows is the moment just before Swain enters the capital to usurp Boram. So he's looking at the capital from further outside the city limits for a moment, and he has just sent out his ravens to scout the city, as he prepares his powers for the confrontation?!
Exciting to think about, eh?
4. Is that demon claw-arm covered in blood, or is it something else...
https://imgur.com/ODEm2ZR Brightened version
So something interesting I noticed. I tried to brighten up this scene to see details on his claw arm. Except there really isn't. It doesn't show like there are individual fingers or claws, but like that entire space is a zone of pure red in the shape of a claw.
This is clearly a visual effect, but it is very interesting to me because it suggests that his arm isn't entirely physically there, but is almost purely energy or some kind of empty space peering into another place.
Reminds me of the previous post by /u/spyrothefox about the Vastayan spiritual realm for example.
5. The raven skull on his back has changed.
Metal emblem teaser First back teaser Current teaser Brightened current version
So just to chronicle the changes to the raven skull on Swain's back and as his personal emblem. I personally think that the original one may still be used as his banner, considering it was made without the side-wing pieces. It's also the flattest but most detailed version.
When the first splash art teaser was released, we can see the raven skull on his back, looking like a real raven's skull. As mentioned by /u/spyrothefox before, this is similar to the raven skulls on Xayah and Rakan's dressing. Coupled with Rakan's previous line regarding Swain and some suggestions by leaks, this paints some connection to the Vastayans IMO.
Now brings to the current version, which is similar to the splashart teaser, except now, it has a white line painted down the middle. Now I considered it could be a reflection, but looking at the light direction in the scene and how the line is consistent, I think it is a strip of white painted down the middle.
I don't know the significance, but it almost makes it seem a bit tribal, which may suggest it was from the Vastaya at some point.
6. Swain could always morph his wings separately from the rest of the transformation
So some may not know this, but 4 years ago there was an officially unreleased trailer for Dominion which actually featured Swain in CGI for the first time. It was never shown on official channels because of the low quality, but was accidentally aired once on-stream.
Anyway, so this was the first time Swain's transformation was shown in cinematic form. And in it, he transforms his wings separately first,, just like he does in the current teaser.
He also could 'de-morph' them separately too from the old trailer.
I'm glad they kept this ability and detail, it was pretty awesome to see it the first time.
7. Are the wings attached to Swain or the wing-guards?
Looking at this part here just as his wings emerge, I feel like the wings seem to be springing from the wing-guards, instead of directly from his body. In comparison to say the Tyrant ult form, his wings stick out further from the center of his back and is clearly attached to this body.
This could be because he's only in the middle of transformation in the teaser, but maybe have the wing-guards helps him morph the wings separately? We will have to see.
