Neeko's story got real dark real fast.
Like seriously, all but four of the soldiers have died, and Neeko doesn't feel even a hint of guilt? Like, wtf.
Like, the entire story just gave me a "The Thing" vibe.
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Zoe 2.0 in game, Zoe 2.0 in lore
Lol I loved it. Totally tone deaf. When Zoe "accidentally" obliterated all of those people from her it's part of her character she doesn't have altruistic desires or hopes like Neeko, she's an embodiment of chaos doing what she wants when she wants for no discernible reason and little regard for the consequences. She's much like the Joker but in a cuter form which makes her more eerie and off putting. In Neekos' story it's just weird that she can have this traumatic backstory and this ambitious aim to create a tribe of all people and then shrug off the deaths of near 100 soldiers that she herself caused out of curiosity.
"Humans were indeed strange creatures, Neeko thought." No Neeko, you are just a sociopath. A trait that works for Zoe wonderfully (in the narrative and on the Rift lol), but doesn't work for you. Not Riots' best color story.
Woulda liked more insight on her culture or hints as to what caused the cataclysm on her home.
P.S. just checked the patch notes for the narrative. This story is tagged as "Playful" lol wtf
Neeko's color story has the same issue that Zoe's had (although possibly worse, considering the creepy, uncaring attitude of Zoe was probably intentional); she's a relatively light-hearted character more than willing to be friendly towards anyone she encounters. Considering her main characterization and themes, the amount of DEATH present in her color story feels weird.
I understand that their intention was to show two things: the first is to show how Neeko communicates, which I think they did an excellent job of. I felt like we were feeling the various characters' sho'ma along with Neeko, and the use of color descriptions for emotions and demeanor was really neat. The first half of the story feels like the fun hi-jinx you'd expect from Neeko.
Second was to show Neeko's fundamental misunderstanding of human society and how they think and communicate. While I'm not denying they achieved that, wasn't there some less bloody way to showcase this? Something that better suits the character? I thought she would surely connect on some level with one of the characters she disguised herself as, but this didn't happen, so most readers are left feeling like Neeko not only didn't understand, but didn't care, or perhaps couldn't care. This feels strange as I think the intention with Neeko was for readers to sympathize with her, and to see that she's curious and doesn't really get most of the things happening in human interactions. The intention was to show she is totally clueless when it comes to reading the mood. I doubt the intention was to show that she is not only clueless, by also unsympathetic.
I did like the story. The idea of throwing a well-meaning, but bumbling shapeshifter into a group of ambitious but wary of one another Noxians is a really neat concept, and a plotline that certainly has something interesting to say about humanity, something that Neeko probably needs to learn. Its just Neeko's reaction that is off-putting. She tries and spectacularly fails to de-escalate the situation, but her final reaction should have been something beyond "wow, humans sure are weird!" Couldn't she at least feel a little bad? Couldn't this strengthen her resolve to learn more about humans so she can avoid this situation in the future?
Sorry, went on a rant. Thanks to those who read it.
Yeah I didn't like this at all Can't just tell a story without murdering a few dozen people huh? Tone deaf for the character's actual... you know, character.
She huntin' for those clams boi! Ain't nothing stopping her! If you ain't got one she don't fuck wit you.
"WOO! You go girl! Embrace your sexuality! Don't feel shame for being you! Get those clams!"
Yeah, uh, everyone's killing each other?
"Oops." Oops? OOPS!?
Like seriously, she basically killed an entire other tribe, by accident, and DIDN'T draw the parallel to what happened to herself at all??
The clock hadn't passed 2:30 PM yet. Neeko was not legally forced to feel feelings of guilt yet.
Very much agree. I still liked it, because it was pretty well written, but the fact that Neeko's "solution" is creeping everyone out by definitely being an imposter is silly, and it feels unbelievable and comical that the supposedly disciplined Noxians' solution to "shapeshifter" is "MURDER MY FRIENDS!" It's better than Zoe's color story, which was a horribly written mess that didn't make any of the setting or events clear, but the characterization is even worse.