Dragon Sorceress Zyra and Zyra skins in general

Calico Queen·Feb 23, 2017·7 votes·4,602 views

Zyra fills a certain niche that satisfied a lot of people, plant lady! While skins for her have been scarce, Dragon Sorceress Zyra has been announced and it looks lovely and yet, I am still disappointed enough to post about it. Zyra is the only plant lady in our current roster of champions. After her release, I excitedly assumed her skins would be plant themed, seeing as plant is her identity. Instead it looks like her skins, excluding wildfire, are designed around her neat kit instead, which is a cool idea itself, but why on the only plant lady? Nami is a really nice parallel, as she is the only fish lady. Her skins have all kept her identity intact and, in my opinion, have been really satisfying. It's nice to see creativity applied to skins, but there are other generic champs that would have fit Dragon Sorceress better, not for such a unique champ as Zyra.

13 Comments

Ebonmaw DragonFeb 23, 20173 votes

Skins change the theme of the champion, sure, not all the skins of Zyra are plant themed, but there are more champions with the "plant lady" theme as a skin.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/9/9b/LeBlanc_ElderwoodSkin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160519200234

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/e/e9/Elise_DeathBlossomSkin.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160519033633

Why give the same theme to a champion as a skin over and over again if you can make a change?

Calico QueenFeb 23, 20173 votes

I agree with you that skins change the theme. Elise is another niche champ, spider lady, and while Death Blossom Elise does apply a plant theme, she ultimately is still identified as a spider lady. Zyra can have a dragon themed skin, but it should also incorporate plants to preserve her identity. As for LeBlanc, she falls into a more generic magic user, making it much easier to make a Dragon Sorceress skin for her. These are both gorgeous skins (by the way) and I honestly expected to see both of them applied to Zyra.

Ebonmaw DragonFeb 23, 20172 votes

[{quoted}](name=Calico Queen,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=REHgMNzx,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2017-02-23T19:38:49.273+0000)

I agree with you that skins change the theme. Elise is another niche champ, spider lady, and while Death Blossom Elise does apply a plant theme, she ultimately is still identified as a spider lady. Zyra can have a dragon themed skin, but it should also incorporate plants to preserve her identity. As for LeBlanc, she falls into a more generic magic user, making it much easier to make a Dragon Sorceress skin for her. These are both gorgeous skins (by the way) and I honestly expected to see both of them applied to Zyra.

I would say that the plant theme still part of Zyra in her skin, since the dragons that she summons have petals arround their necks. Part of her theme is also the thorns... and the dragons (and her skills) have thorns as well.

It would be redundant to make another a "plant themed" skin for a champion that is already like that. Is like asking to make a void themed skin for Chogath and saying that Lonchness Cho do not fit cho because he is not from the void anymore.

Calico QueenMar 7, 20171 votes

I think Cho'Gath being from the void is not necessarily what identifies him, but instead his unique lobstery form as a horror. Elise has multiple skins where she is a variant of spider, because spider is her thing. It would be really cool if one day she was a giant beetle or ladybug instead, but that would only feel appropriate after so many skins solidifying her spider identity. Zyra's skins don't have to be something as basic as Rose Zyra or Daisy Zyra, but why not Atlantean Zyra where her plants are aquatic ones? Or Sewn Chaos Zyra where her plants are stitched plushies.. or Elderwood Zyra where everything glows and is faerie like.. I went to look closer at her plants/dragons and did see the petals as you mentioned. The thorns just seemed more like horns/spikes. Maybe this is their attempt at a plantlike dragon..

Forbidden SirenFeb 23, 20173 votes

The whole point of skins is to explore different theme and ideas of the champion. It would be redundant if Zyra has nothing but plant skins. I applaud them for going outside of the box with a dragon theme.

P.S. There are plants that are named after a dragon like the Pitaya, known as the Dragon Fruit. And then there's Alola Exeggutor, which is a grass/dragon type Pokemon.

OleandervineFeb 23, 20171 votes

[{quoted}](name=Forbidden Siren,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=REHgMNzx,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2017-02-23T19:58:48.925+0000)

The whole point of skins is to explore different theme and ideas of the champion. It would be redundant if Zyra has nothing but plant skins. I applaud them for going outside of the box with a dragon theme.

P.S. There are plants that are named after a dragon like the Pitaya, known as the Dragon Fruit. And then there's Alola Exeggutor, which is a grass/dragon type Pokemon.

LOL at Exeggcutor! But there's also the Snapdragon too, a flower.

Forbidden SirenFeb 23, 20171 votes

That is true. Speaking of which, that reminds me of a snapdragon in the movie Coraline.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d0/65/df/d065df1c52010acadcd985584d2345fc.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a4/37/b2/a437b252e9b10789d3d732ff8620da4a.jpg

LunSeiSleideeFeb 23, 20171 votes

_P.S. There are plants that are named after a dragon like the Pitaya, known as the Dragon Fruit. And then there's Alola Exeggutor, which is a grass/dragon type Pokemon. _

Wait a second did you just put real world, actual plants together with friggin' Pokemon?

Forbidden SirenFeb 23, 20171 votes

Every time I look at those real coconut trees, I kept seeing eyes staring back at me with an evil smile.

Ebonmaw DragonFeb 23, 20171 votes

{quoted}

_P.S. There are plants that are named after a dragon like the Pitaya, known as the Dragon Fruit. And then there's Alola Exeggutor, which is a grass/dragon type Pokemon. _

Wait a second did you just put real world, actual plants together with friggin' Pokemon?

Are you saying that Pokemons arent real?!

VelvetCrotchFeb 23, 20172 votes

I dont think the skin looks lovely, but the rest of ure whole explanation and trains of thought are phenomenal evident and understandable.

I really hope some others (some Rioter included) will share ure opinion.

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Wrathof300Feb 23, 20171 votes

They gave her this dragon themed skin because eventually her skins will become redundant. Which is why she as so few as it is, no saying only plant related skins are a bad thing but there is a large portion of the community the gets upset over that... there were a ton of posts saying that diana shouldn't get blood moon because her base was already moon themed. So I suppose this prompts the reason why Dragon sorceress Zyra wasn't a plant skin.

Calico QueenMar 7, 20171 votes

That makes sense, for them to make a skin to keep things from getting stale, and if this skin was coming after we already had two or three identity correct skins for her it wouldn't be a problem. Currently her skins aren't nearing redundancy at all.