Another Evelynn Thread

I've been meaning to write this ever since her announcement on the Spanish twitter hit. But, maybe it'll be stronger now considering all that's released since then.

I started playing Eve back when the first Urf came out because Eve was disgusting in it and I liked her playstyle. I've never played her seriously, but I always enjoy her. Her line "I've got the touch!" is my favorite and I love her Q to death. That said, I am a self-identified SJW and have never been a fan of her character design. The new-ish splash art that is her current live one was an improvement, but obviously didn't change her clothes or anything. I considered her one of the few ambiguous characters of color in LoL, which is a positive despite her otherwise questionable design. But that's par-for-the-course in League. S1-2 champs, even with their pizza feet and triangle boobs, were heavily sexualized. Soraka's old splash art shows the entire side of her torso, boob and all. Riot has only improved since then, with such notable achievements as MF's Captain skin, the Sejuani rework, Taliyah, Illaoi, Kallista, Xayah, Soraka's rework, Kindred, and Camille, among other such improvements in female representation. Of all the reworks that have been announced since I joined LoL back when Quinn was released, I was most excited for Evelynn's. This stealth rogue champion, with her fun and creative gameplay joined with a great theme and fun voice-lines, only had the sky as the limit for her potential. A few reworks left me concerned, like Galio's and Yorick's (I want Yorick's hump back, okay?), but some recent ones gave me hope, such as Fiora, Urgot, and Poppy. I thought, "Maybe, they won't screw this up. Maybe, Eve will be better than ever before!" Short answer: I was wrong.

Gameplay: Really no problems here. The level 6 stealth is a pretty healthy balance change, and having it activate after 4 seconds is a fucking godsend. She's more skill-based with a Q and R skillshot, and is more stealth-focused with the gap-closer attached to a stealth-used E. Overall, it's what I'm looking forward to with her rework. She can finally go over walls, has CC, can't cheese people pre-level 6, and takes more skill. All good things, and an execute and percentage-damage go a long way to modernize her.

Preface: Oh, boy. Look, if this game was just a bunch of block pillars sliding towards each other launching blocky particle effects in a grey-scale world like Superhot, then this wouldn't be an issue. But it's not. From the very beginning, Riot decided to make a game with a theme, with characters, with genders and sexualities, politics and races, wars and festivals, and all those other horrible little things that come with building a believable world. And Riot struggles with it, as evidenced by the fact that they've reworked their entire universe (compare the old and new maps of Runeterra). They have still yet to include all the champs into this new universe, some champs being completely retconned in the lore simply by there being no League of Legends (Jax, Orianna, Nocturne, etc.). But, that also shows that they care. They clearly thought that something needed to change, and they've put a lot of time and resources into this new Runeterra. New art, new lore, new champs, skins, and a whole new fucking website. They've even hired new writers just to build this brand new vision for LoL. And they clearly care about representation because they've mentioned it and acted on it. Again, aforementioned female champions, specifically Sejuani since she used to be an example of bad representation and is now an example of positive change. They also said they have plans to create a queer champion, having already created at least one queer character in one of the new lore stories.

And, because they care, I can criticize the times when they clearly don't. Again, very appalled by the fact that they think this is okay after they've made so much progress. By the way, just because the very loud majority is okay with something does not make it the right thing. No one here is going to say that interracial marriage is wrong, but 30-40 years ago, that's how everyone felt. Times are changing, and change starts with the minority. Always has.

I wanna call out Riot for shutting down a thread that started a little over a week ago. It was 63 comments long and talked about the whitewashing this rework did to Evelynn. Riot, games do not exist in a vacuum. Every piece of art, literature, film, and so on is a reflection of the world we live in and the opinions and agendas of their creators. Most of the LoL cast is Cis/het/white. While that doesn't automatically make you all bigots, it shows your ignorance and willingness to ignore much of the outside world and its problems. But shutting down that thread and telling people you "won't abide by this sort of thing," it shows that you're shoving your heads in the sand, plugging up your ears, and living in a fake reality. Grow up.

Design: Evelynn. Well, she has, um... she's got these things like... I like her shadow form! Stealth-eve was very boring before, basically just having the model of someone standing in a bush but with a circle around her. I love changing forms, especially when used with stealth. The lashers are an interesting idea, but look odd in certain skins (RIP safecracker). Love the new outfit for Tango, but not a fan of the reinclusion of TF who had no right to be there in the first place, and his face coming into the loading splash is the sole reason why I will not be buying the skin. As always, I'm impressed with how they handle former recolor skins, as recolors are now chromas and have no business being stand-alone skins. Let's get dirty.

Splash Art: We now have a WWII pin-up girl for a champion. Rejoice! If any art before now was sexualized, they are now chaste by comparison. This is blatantly sexual, with the wide hips, large chest, puffy lips, finger placed on mouth, seductive pose and expression, massive amount of exposed skin, and are even sexualizing the act of murder. Which, you know, is weird and typically considered a not-good thing, but let's not attack that particular aspect because it isn't the worst thing ever and Riot isn't exactly trying to paint Eve as a good person.

Model: Basically same criticisms as the splash, at least in terms of outfit design. Her movement, behavior, and animations are all sexual. Look, if you're gonna give her obnoxious heels, at least give her the line back about wearing heels (she's not even wearing any fucking clothes; watch out Kerrigan, someone has a more ridiculous design than you). She's supposed to be wearing shadows are something, but they don't look like shadows. It looks like she's wearing purple body paint which, by the way, is the only thing remaining of her original skin color. All her new skins including classic are whitewashed. She originally had one white skin, now they all are. And, of course, people complained about the Tango skin being not blonde and pale so Riot did as they were told and made her blonde and white. 'Cause we don't have enough of those rolls eyes.

Voice Lines: I don't know where to start. Oh, wait, yes I do. Another preface.

I don't care about ratings are censorship or any of that shit. I'm not pulling a "but the children!" argument because that's dumb and I don't agree with that line of thinking. I'm in the crowd that thinks children should learn about sex, gender, sexuality, and all that stuff at a much younger age, where it's safe to learn new things and their opinions haven't been painted by their parents yet. So, I won't be using the same argument as the others complaining about her voice lines. I don't care that she's using such blatant sexual innuendos in a game. But representation is important, and it's important because people in shitty places in their lives use video games for escapism. When these outcasts of society and families run into the virtual world only to see women calling other women "skank," or equating torture to sex, what will that make them think about the things they already hear in real life? No, I don't think games should be worried about "teaching" people, it's not their responsibility, but they are responsible for ideas and concepts they represent.

Honestly, my preface kinda said everything. I'm not gonna go through every voice line she has 'cause it's a good 15-18 minutes of sex analogies. She uses lines that men use against women all the time, but this time a woman uses them and replaces words with killing and torture words! Such progress! I might just mute myself whenever I play her. I can tolerate her model, especially since I'll probably use a skin, but those voice lines are atrocious. They aren't funny, they aren't creative, and they only serve to make Eve a two-dimensional character. And no, giving her a short story won't fix her. If it isn't in-game, it doesn't matter. The game is the product. It's like when J.K. Rowling said Dumbledore was gay after the books were out and called it representation. No, Rowling, that doesn't count. It's never discussed in the text and is therefore representing nothing. Eve is a shallow parody of 50 Shades of Grey, which, btw, is a gross series that vilifies actual BDSM culture.

Theme: Old Eve was an assassin for hire, believed to originate from the Shadow Isles. Her whole past was a mystery, but she wasn't human and she was just there to take a life then disappear. The definition of "Now you see me, now you don't." Her old build is very archaic, mostly untouched since her conception in the old days of LoL, but it conveys this theme of a powerful assassin, using fast spikes formed from the shadows themselves to kill unsuspecting individuals, swift and quiet. Also, she actually wore clothes, so having heels wasn't so fucking weird. I mean, it was still weird because, why wear heels in battle? But it made more sense. She certainly had a BDSM-inspired outfit, but it didn't have anything to do with her kit or personality. If anything, it may have hinted at a kinky sex-life that we simply weren't privy to. BDSM is based on trust, so imagining her in sexual situations based on trust, as a deadly assassin from the Shadow Isles, just makes her that much more compelling and complex.

Let's throw all that shit out the window!

Now, she's a generic succubus with pudding for clothes who gets off on causing pain. Like someone saw her old design and didn't know how BDSM works, so they just go "all BDSM people are sadists, right?" She's a violent sex demon who attacks people physically and verbally and can't tell the difference between sex and violence. She likes killing and she likes equating that to sex. Maybe she's from the Shadow Isles? It would explain her apparent familiarity with Thresh. But, if she knows Tahm Kench, how does she not know Illaoi? They share the same domain. Wanna know why? Because Illaoi's a woman, and the only women Eve interacts with are Ahri, who Riot compares Eve with so that Eve can call her a slut despite their very different reasons for being the way they are, and Vayne, who lost her parents to demons. But she talks to men like A) real people and B) sex objects. Don't worry, it's never the same men. Double standards and all that. She also is more likely to hit on the dragon than any female champion, because Riot is terrified of showing queer anything. Remember that "head in the sand" bit?

Have I left anything out?

Conclusion: Mostly, I'm just disappointed. I was so excited for this rework. I haven't played League seriously since Kat got hers, as I have yet to find another champ that draws me in as strongly as she did. I thought Eve might be that one. Hm. Guess I'll wait for the next one. I've spent way too much money on this game to jump ship just yet, but I won't be spending anymore for some time. Fingers crossed that the pre-season makes it all worth it.