Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Qiyana: Awesome visuals, but one big missed opportunity.

ModThe Djinn·6/6/2019, 7:15:23 PM·95 votes·23,601 views

Based on the image below, Qiyana's pretty awesome -- her weapon and outfit and jewelry really sell her region's aesthetic, and her pose lets you know she barely has time to show you her disdain for you. The design team knocked most of this out of the park.

https://cdn.upcomer.com/esports/__sized__/content/4234-qiyana-crop-c0-5__0-5-780x312.png

...but then we get to her hair. We have what appears to be the empress of a region that seems inspired by meso-american culture to at least some extent, and given how different that is from anything else we've seen in Runeterra it feels like a great opportunity to show us that by making a character whose hair and makeup styles reflect that cultural difference. Instead, we have another female character with white, flowing, slightly curled hair and a classical western tiara-style crown.

Now, I have nothing against that, but I feel it's a missed opportunity to tell us something about this new region. Compare to Illaoi, who sells her culture through her unusual earrings, makeup, and hairstyle, causing her face to very clearly reflect her character and her origin.

If we zoom in on Qiyana, we can basically call her a somewhat generic Runeterra woman. Probably a princess or a queen, sure, but for someone who is introducing a new region and is -- further -- the leader of said region, does this really live up to that representation?

https://imgur.com/LgWG5mD

Compare that to how unique taking inspiration from, say, any of this traditional Mayan (or African, or Egyptian, we there are some elements of those in the design as well) hairstyles would be -- and there are certainly more cultures you could pull from. She obviously needs a hairstyle that's unique to her culture and not a real-world culture, but I feel there's untapped ground here to showcase who she and her people are.

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/f80d065e-d050-421a-ad5b-e89bd87af73a/d7v1kth-1579e8d7-97a5-4aa0-8142-744d1be88307.jpg/v1/fill/w_1024,h_3982,q_75,strp/maya_women_hairstyles_of_the_classic_period_by_kamazotz_d7v1kth-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9Mzk4MiIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2Y4MGQwNjVlLWQwNTAtNDIxYS1hZDViLWU4OWJkODdhZjczYVwvZDd2MWt0aC0xNTc5ZThkNy05N2E1LTRhYTAtODE0Mi03NDRkMWJlODgzMDcuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.tX-M51hNubSa3kfF1a8CdmwQL56cn2bTz6Cujdz9NFU

146 Comments

Oleandervine6/6/2019, 7:35:28 PM93 votes

I also felt like her hair really missed the mark. It's not just the style to me either, it's the platinum silver color.

Qiyana isn't selling me "jungle queen of a secret society of shamans." She's selling me "Lady Gaga in the Jungle."

Garen is adopted6/6/2019, 7:20:51 PM18 votes

is this a personal attack or something?

Garen is adopted6/6/2019, 7:42:15 PM16 votes

btw someone suggested some changes on surrenderat20 comm section ( https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99f11f5f67371728ea07414e7c6e10157c69d49dd3d3fce8172ee931343f7cbc.png ) , and honestly I can say it fit her much better and looks less like she's having a wig made of dog hair. (I do not really know like what dog breed her hairstyle remind me of, but im sure there is one with exactly that white fur style covering its body)

Eternal Torment6/6/2019, 11:30:11 PM14 votes

Can I speak brutally honest?

Her Hairstyle and eyes make her look like a snobby, entitled late teenager. You know, the ones who always are chewing bubblegun and have pink purses.

That said, maybe that is presicely, and intentionally, done so. We have had many regions in Runeterra so far, but even demacia is not borderline arrogant. Maybe this is a first glimpse on a Runeterran culture doing precisely that. Being Stuck up know-it-alls. The arrogant folk in the world.

It would on one end mean another grey-area populus, but on the other hand, one so distinctively and clearly defined, yet so stereotypical at the same time that it's something new again.

HommeGoujon6/6/2019, 8:05:30 PM13 votes

Why can't we get a bald woman in the game? Like does every woman have to have a magnificent chevelure?

I'd root for a tribe full of baldies lol

TheMan2926/6/2019, 8:30:59 PM8 votes

does not matter to me. she has white hair so what. she is not supposed to 100 percent portray a culture

kda akali6/6/2019, 7:54:33 PM7 votes

Kind of sad shes not older either, she looks like a teenager. I hope it's not something again like Zoe and Neeko where they are super old but act/are children.

Vexaeria6/7/2019, 4:06:19 AM5 votes

Compare to Illaoi, who sells her culture through her unusual earrings, makeup, and hairstyle, causing her face to very clearly reflect her character and her origin.

Personally, I feel the difference between Illaoi and Qiyana from a design standpoint is that Illaoi wasn't meant to be attractive. That isn't to say Illaoi is unattractive, but she's a tall, beefy, powerful woman that went far and away thematically from the Syndras and Jannas of Runeterra. As such, they had a bit more liberty to make her different because her selling point wasn't "she's hot".

Unfortunately, it seems, whenever the goal of a character is more leaning toward sex appeal, the less there is room for "different". Jinx is honestly still their biggest accomplishment on that front.

Illaoi still isn't all that popular despite really fun visual effects and a rich character. That being said, I don't think Riot NEEDS every character to be popular these days. A lot of people have played this game for years and are set in their mains, it's much more likely to make me budge off Lux if there is a niche character I really identify with over another wide-appealing character that has me saying not much more than "oh look, a new champion".

ModCaptainMårvelous6/7/2019, 4:32:14 AM5 votes

I'm the complete opposite: I think her head is fine. From the neck down she's just this play-it-safe-generic "girl clothes" champ. There's nothing about her interesting save for her weapon and her head.

Hell, you could even go further into the sexy territory and just own up to it with some big amazonian tribal clothing or some more revealing psuedo-meso-america clothing. What we instead get is the personification of Oatmeal who looks more like a Season 2 design than a Season 9 design in a very bad way.

Sexy Jack Rabbit6/7/2019, 2:45:57 AM5 votes

As a woman of Colour I'm pretty underwhelmed lmao.

Personally I would have loved to see her have a wider nose.

EbonyBladeJ886/6/2019, 10:22:12 PM4 votes

I know she only just got revealed, but the design of her weapon looks stolen wholesale from Tira of Soulcalibur.

Here's an image for comparison.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/soulcalibur/images/0/0d/SC6_Tira.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180821102334

Then we look at Qiyana.

https://cdn.upcomer.com/esports/__sized__/content/4234-qiyana-crop-c0-5__0-5-780x312.png

It's just that since I've played all the Soulcalibur games, and seen Tira in action many times, I can't help but notice the similarity.

I'm sure as more gets revealed about Qiyana the similarities will lessen, but as it currently stands, well... yeah.

Lady Sylum6/6/2019, 11:13:32 PM4 votes

I look at her and her design.....and I see Princess Peach

BLIGHTBRINGER6/6/2019, 7:42:47 PM4 votes

Yeah the hair also kinda seemed a bit odd to me when you look at the rest of her design..

Blåsigt6/7/2019, 12:55:11 AM4 votes

I like her hair - this is a fantasy game, it does not have to be so deeply rooted in any specific source material.

Frontline Fury6/7/2019, 8:38:40 AM4 votes

The hair and face just ruins the whole character to me. YAAAAWN another generic Sivir.

Because Ashe League Kaisa didn’t Riven already Janna have Camille any Lissandra characters Sejuani matching Cassiopeia this Diana one Akali in Irelia personality Fiora or Kayle aesthetic.

If you want to see unique and interesting character done RIGHT, look at Camille Taliyah Illaoi Neeko.

I’m sad to be so negative but this champion has NOTHING to make you go “i relate to this and want to play it.” She’ll be rolling off her gameplay alone.

AidenVradeen6/7/2019, 9:29:27 AM3 votes

Dark skin, white hair, control of the elements: Ororo Munroe, probably. But, in the end, she's only another stripper from Las Vegas in a fantasy costume, like almost every other girl in this game.

Jennniii6/6/2019, 9:34:38 PM3 votes

[sg-jinx] gimme this champ now

14daysuspensionk6/6/2019, 8:26:41 PM2 votes

Is Riot going back to the days of monthly champ releases?/ one champ per couple months? Cus it feels like they're pumping out as many reworks and champs as they can.

Camille Ferrøs6/6/2019, 7:52:08 PM2 votes

The problem is that gold is everyone in every single region. And golden jewelry with some green gemstone doesn't feel like some old hidden cilivization. And the outfit all together doesn't hit the unique culture it wants to be. And the hair is just Riot obsessing over white hair, and it's starting to ruining their products.