What Happened to K/DA Kai'Sa?

Gravesinger·11/16/2018, 4:43:10 PM·47 votes·20,487 views

A while back, when K/DA was first announced as something which would be happening, Kai'Sa was essentially the flagship. Not only was she the face of the reveal, but she was also to be given the Prestige skin- the first in what was to be a new trend of artificially rare skins designed to give their owners, well, prestige. Go figure.

Here's the thing, though- Kai'Sa is by far the weakest member of the group now that K/DA has seen its full release. Think about it in the context of release and the music video for Pop/Stars, and the personality the video gave to the champs.

  • AHRI- The leader. A subtle yet alluring figure, clearly important, the outward face of the group.
  • AKALI- The tomboy. She's the badass of the group, has a dominant personality but plays to the fringes because that's her style.
  • EVELYNN- The mischievous one. She plays off of Akali, enjoying the havoc she creates while staying distinct and flaunting her flamboyant style. Larger than life (literally).
  • KAI'SA- Well, she's definitely there.

Seriously. Every champ had their thing: for Ahri, it was the laundromat sequences, for Akali, it was the neon spray paint in the subway, and for Evelynn, it was the outward diva, inward deviant duality that they played up by making her a giant in several scenes. But Kai'Sa? Not much. She was just walking through the tunnel, seemingly as an afterthought relative to Evelynn.

So my question is this: what happened? How did Kai'Sa go from the face of the skin line to a complete afterthought? Kai'Sa doesn't have much personality in her base skin, and that's no different in Bullet Angel, so I was kinda hoping this skin would give the champ some flavor, but that just turned to a big no dice. Anyone, especially the dev team behind the skin line, any light to shed?

46 Comments

Ifneth11/16/2018, 11:49:49 PM32 votes

You just said it: Kai’Sa lacks personality. Her whole theme is a (pretty) girl in a (skin tight) suit. That’s it. No dream, no drama, nothing.

Contrast her inspiration champion: Vayne. She’s a twisted, heartless hunter of all mages. She killed the closest thing she had to a mother. She has no jokes. She’s utterly merciless and dark. She’s the ultimate, extreme embodiment of Demacia’s prejudice against mages: a one-woman genocide. A monstrous character, but at least a character.

Kai’Sa just stands there with perfectly-kept hair, glossed lips, and a cleavage window over a curvy body because... reasons? Riot thought that League players would love her, but ironically, the champion with the most clothes and personality left her and her fancy skin almost ignored in a girl-band largely marketed on the attractiveness of its members. That says something about just how flat and empty she really is.

The answer is simple: enrich Kai’Sa’s story. Write about how lonely she feels, lying in a quiet part of the caves just before she goes to sleep, and how the fear of being killed while asleep has never gone away. Write about a happy caravan passing the mouth of a cave she’s standing near one day, laughing and chattering, as she stares, almost numb. Write about how she meets Kassadin deep in the caves, finding the father she’d missed so long.

She has so much potential.

Arcade Lulu11/16/2018, 6:21:12 PM17 votes

It's so dumb that she's the main dancer but she didn't even get a dance solo in the video or anything

ModWulf Helhammer11/16/2018, 4:52:07 PM12 votes

She actually is the lead on the chorus:

"Ain't nobody bringing us down..."

"You can go another round...",

"We go hard, Till we get it get it. We go hard, We so in it in it. We POP/STARS, Only winning winning now. Ain’t nobody bringing us down..."

Then she's also the lead dancer of the group.

Ayzev11/16/2018, 10:19:51 PM11 votes

It's probably just easier to come up with something for characters that actually have personality. Kai'sa has nothing distinct in her personality and thus nothing distinct in skins.

Noor Sakata11/16/2018, 4:45:32 PM8 votes

Yeah to be honest she looked stupid in that video

Sexy Jack Rabbit11/17/2018, 4:47:09 AM7 votes

It's kind of just the pitfall of Kai'sa.

Her character IS THE SUIT

So when you take it away, you get a typical pretty girl. Sure it's marketable, but only to a point.

ThisGamelsTrash11/16/2018, 5:52:03 PM6 votes

tbh kaisa has the least good skin out of the 4

Lux Is Mai Waifu11/16/2018, 11:06:11 PM4 votes

probably they waited to see what champ was picked most in worlds, added it to the worlds pass, and retextured her hair?

The King Diamond11/16/2018, 9:17:49 PM4 votes

Me Kaisa me dance

ModCaptainMårvelous11/16/2018, 11:05:03 PM4 votes

She's apparently the rookie and the newest member of the group, just behind akali, while also being the best dancer. Kinda fits considering her status as the newest champion of the four.

Jhins Girlfriend11/17/2018, 2:06:40 AM4 votes

It's because you can't really retcon a personality into Kai'sa. She's just...bland. The other three at least have some spark to them. I think it's because she had such a high pickrate and is very strong, riot figured people would buy a skin.

SEKAI11/17/2018, 6:59:51 AM4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ainz Ooal Gainz,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=Q6bbeUfI,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-11-16T16:43:10.515+0000)

But Kai'Sa? Not much. She was just walking through the tunnel, seemingly as an afterthought relative to Evelynn.

She attempted to suicide to try and get out of the skin line by running against Evelynn's car, but decided that it's better to live after all and dodges it in the last split second.

And Riot be like "Hallelujah! You fought against suicidal depression, here's your reward. A Prestige skin, just for you!"

Kai'Sa: "But I'm not the center of the group, I'm just a background dancer of sort. Like, I don't even need to be in the skin line!"

Riot: "You want to let everyone know just how important you are? Of course, my girl, no problemo. Now everyone has to earn 2500 World's token to unlock the Prestige skin, and we'll also put you all across the promotional material for the K/DA event. How's that, happy?"

Kai'Sa: "sigh Riot!"

Riot: "Oh look how happy she is! That's it then. Have a good day. Oh by the way, that footage we captured with you dodging Evelynn's car, that was terrific; we'll definitely add that into your debut music video. And we'll be there at the concert! Look forward to your performance, Kai'Sa!"

Kai'Sa: "Dear lord, what have I gotten myself into with that contract?"

Camille Ferrøs11/16/2018, 5:35:52 PM3 votes

I think they didn't go that deep with the short reveal video when they showed Kai'sa. Her role is lead dancer. I do believe that they couldn't make more room for her in the Pop/starts music video. But we for sure can expect more from K/DA since its massive success.

EdgeLady11/16/2018, 5:56:23 PM3 votes

I'd say that her Bullet Angel lore can be pretty interesting if further explored. She ran away with her suit when it proved to be too deadly for its own good and refused to work for the government in it, becoming a refugee and a gun for hire, and gaining a rivalry with fellow gun-for-hire Gun Goddess Miss Fortune. That could definitely do her altruistic personality justice, but the Steel Valkyries universe only has four skins (unless it's in the same universe as Event Horizon and Odyssey, which I suspect) and not much exploration.

K/DA Kai'Sa? Yeah, she was surprisingly bland. Jaira Burns, who represented her, barely got any screentime either in the main concert, even though she apparently did all the solos in the chorus parts. But neither she nor Kai'Sa got any special treatment.

Blackii711/17/2018, 7:02:48 PM2 votes

She had no personality, nothing special about her, Unlike the other characters. She doesn't act like a proper leader or choreographer. She seems like a backup dancer.

The Space Cowboy11/17/2018, 8:23:21 AM2 votes

I’m the interview thing they made her the quite supportive one. She choreographed and did Akali’s art.

FNC 6ixGOD11/17/2018, 11:44:00 AM2 votes

For me Kai'sa is still the leader in the video even though she is not as present in the video as the other girls. She is still in the front when they are dancing and she is still singing tbe chorus. Like you said, Akali has a rap part. Evelynn has a background/foreground role. Ahri also has an own part to sing and is to me the lead singer, with Kai'sa, because she sings the best. And Kai'sa is everwhere, she always dances at the front, she sings the chorus, she is in a scene with evelynn showing her abilities (R and Q). So it might not look like she is the leader, she still is.

I do have to agree with you that her role as flagship of the skin line is a bit disappointing. Riot really failed at that job.

AquariusGine11/16/2018, 6:34:21 PM2 votes

Well, she got the Taylor Swift skin

YuGiHo11/17/2018, 4:37:08 PM2 votes

why is it not ok for kai'sa to have a flat personality. in the real world some people are just flat so why is it a problem that this is how they chose to depict kaisa?

Hyori6/19/2019, 10:28:53 AM1 votes

I asked myself the same question and ended up on this forum. Now, if you don't look up their stories and which girl had what part, I agree with you, the video is a bit misleading if someone who doesn't play league of legends and is not accustomed to the characters to think that Kaisa didn't have a big role in the video, if they see it for the first time.

But then if you watch the Opening Ceremony of the World Championship, she finished the ceremony. The camera focused her for more than 35 seconds in the end, which was epic from my point of view. Evelyn came at one point from the shadow which could be assimilated with a jump scare, quite like the times when a fed Eve comes from the jungle and kills you in less than a second, but than it is back to Kai'sa who had the best moves, the most expressive ones.

So, in the end, she stood out pretty much..

TheFancySkeleton11/17/2018, 7:50:01 AM1 votes

I think part of it is due to the fact that Kai'Sa's reception was quite mediocre, with controversy and whatnot. Riot also may have mispredicted that Akali would become the fan favourite.

I was really hoping for gross void lady since the start.

Iota Theta11/17/2018, 12:50:00 PM1 votes

K/DA Kai’sa apparently was very much the choreographer of the group. She kind of had that dance bit in the bridge/interlude spot. I was a little sad she wasn’t shown to do more in the video. Was a good opportunity to flesh out some side personality of the skin.

Baseless headcanon time: it’s said that K/DA Kai’sa was the main singer of the chorus. Turns out, Kai’sa did sing that when recording, but when it came to shows and the videos, Ahri and Evelynn took more of the spotlight. So the music video we saw was intentionally that way (in universe). Kai’sa got bothered, decided to try a solo album to show all her music and dance skills, which is K/DA Prestige Kai’sa. Reports say Ahri and Akali were supportive, Eve was..Eve, which is why it seems like Kai’sa is still a part of K/DA.

MaydayMajor11/16/2018, 5:17:59 PM1 votes

[deleted]