With the upcoming Warwick rework we have been presented with the reworked skins as well. All of his skins have been changed to fit his new looks and most of them give a pretty distinct feeling when playing the champ. Hyena Warwick gives that funky punker style which was built upon the existing Hyena theme. Firefang and Tundra Warwick have great visuals and present those elements (ice and fire) as Warwicks innate and controllable ability. Big bad Warwick and Marauder Warwick have stayed true to their original designs and haven't been extremely changed as they're, in fact, pretty cheap skins. Grey Warwick is decent, it is a pretty rare skin, due to the act that it was only obtainable through invitations, and a decent amount of effort has been put into making the new one satisfactory for the people that own the skin.
That leaves us with Feral Warwick. Out of all the skins, this one feels the most clunky and patched up together just for the sake of making him.
Splash Art
In the splash art, Warwick is presented as an enraged beast. In it's fury, he's tearing down the lab he was trapped in and we can see the legs of what seems to be the person that was experimenting on Warwick (probably not Singed). The lab is heavily damaged; the door has been destroyed and we can see scratch marks on the lab floor coming from Warwick's mechanized arm. Warwick himself is scarred. His body is covered with the remains of his restraints as well as something that appears to be an asylum or a mental institution restrainment clothing. His augmentation seems to be additionally mechanized and improved in this skin. The arm is considerably bulkier than in the original artwork. We're, however, unable to see the augmentation on his back fully. His face depicts an enraged wolf, with saliva splashing around it and him showing off his teeth which is typical wolf behavior. There is however, a strange addition to his face, a small piece of metal that feels extremely out of place. It might be a part of a broken nozzle (unlikely), but it's extremely strange that such a monstrosity that is being experimented on and that is a danger to the people inside the lab has a spiked metal added on top of his already enormous teeth, to help him bite better.
Criticism
The art itself is decently done. The background blur isn't too emphasized and it allows us to see the details of the lab Warwick has been held captive in, yet it is visible enough to divert us from looking at the lab and makes us focus on Warwick himself. A job well done. However, Warwick himself has some inconsistent features. It is true that if you're experimenting on Warwick and improving upon his original weaponry, you're aware that he's dangerous and the amount of restrains shown in the picture shows off the amount of security measures they've invested in keeping him restrained (still wasn't enough). However, there is the factor of arming the caged ''animal'' with additional weapons which is blatantly put, stupid and careless. Zaun is indeed a place where questionable experiments are conducted, but it hosts intelligent people and scientists, which I highly doubt would allow their laboratory experiment to run loose with all the augmentations done to his already existing weaponry. Singed was unaware that the subject he had experimented on was still alive, therefore his error was justified. Justifying the error of the scientists that worked on a live specimen is a lot harder. All in all, the splash art is, on the artistic side, a decent representation of the idea, but on the concept side, there are still some inconsistencies that show the lack of thought behind the scenery.
Conversion from old to new Feral Warwick criticism and debate
The conversion idea of converting Warwick from a Feral beast that was once caged and is running rampant in the woods causing havoc, to a lab rat that's been extremely experimented on and has broken out of his chains is somewhat, in my personal opinion, questionable and very far from the original design. Feral Warwick was originally shown as a rampaging beast, destroying whatever he finds in his path, with the light of the full moon shining in the background. He was a true werewolf. The name feral used to fit him well. The new Feral Warwick is far from that, if we exclude his rampaging nature shown off in the new skin. He is now a subject of experimentation. While the idea of such a thing happening is decent itself, the name ''Feral'' doesn't fit.
Champion model criticism and debate
The Feral Warwick champion model is by far the most questionable design decision made. The model itself has too many additions which, as a result make it feel extremely clunky. The added augmentation parts make Warwick feel like a large clump of something and nothing, instead of a werewolf. It is okay to improve the existing things or completely re-imagine them as it was done in all the other skins (Hyena - car engine, Firefang and Tundra - Ice and Fire etc.) but to simply add more of the same is an obvious sign that there was a lack of inspiration. The champion model is a simple color conversion with additional augmentations added to the already existing ones. The spiked nozzle hides his face and mouth, feels clunky, unnecessary and overly emphasized.
My own opinions
While the idea of additional experiments on Warwick is okay, the way it was developed isn't thoughtful of the true ''Feral'' theme this skin carried. The Original Feral Warwick was something that a skin owner could have been proud of; it gave off a new feel to the champion as well as a new model, in addition to it being a legacy skin. The new one is by far the least desirable skin Warwick has. It's clunky and visually unattractive, far from the original concept. It is no longer special in any way, aside it being different from the normal one (which is basically better than the Feral). I'd rather have a skin that shows a Feral Werewolf, a forest dweller that occasionally runs rampant in the cities or towns close by, just like the Firefang and Tundra Warwick have their non augmented yet improved arm and back, he could have a robust, muscular arm with huge fangs instead of the overly robust augmentations that feel out of place.
