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Congratulations to IronStylus and Riot for the design of female champs

patmax17·5/26/2016, 5:56:51 PM·22 votes·3,001 views

IronStylus Discussing Gender Diversity and Representation

It took me a few days to decide to open this thread because I was afraid of the comments I would get - and I still am! :(

So, a few days ago I happened to re-read an old red post collection over on ff@20 and the linked topic on the old boards where IronStylus was writing about how he and the art team intended to bring more variety to the ladies of the league. Four years have passed since that topic, and the female champs released in the meantime have shown that Riot is putting effort in making characters who are interesting without being sexualized. We eventually got another female monster, we got the hulking Illaoi (<3 <3), we got Quinn, the new Poppy, Kalista and many others (also worth mentioning: Lucian and Ekko!) It all took time, things still aren't perfect, but I can clearly see they are taking it seriously and they are producing good results.

Since on internet there are so many angry people whining and complaining (especially when it comes to feminism, gamer gate and other related topics), I wanted to send a positive message towards Riot. I'm curious to see if I'll get more hate or support with up/downvotes and comments, but in the end I just hope that this post reaches some rioter (Ideally IronStylus, being him who was posting in that other old topic), and that at least some people will support me, showing that the ones complaining are the (very) vocal minority, and things are getting better.

[slayer-jinx-catface] So, thanks Riot, and keep it up! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

TLDR: thanks Riot that in the last few yearse you have been making intersting female champions that aren't sexualized (along more sexualized ones, which is perfectly fine, as long as there is variety)

ps: related to this topic, I really liked Zenon's answer on twitter to the people complaining about Taliyah not being "sexy", he put it down very clearly :D

49 Comments

GenoXx5/26/2016, 7:36:01 PM9 votes

Are we starting the feminist thing again?[slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

shyv5/26/2016, 9:34:37 PM9 votes

i agree, riot is clearly putting a lot of work into making good female champs instead of making them all skinny, pretty, big boobs, etc. like a lot of games do.

there's nothing wrong with having conventionally attractive characters in games but in moderation you know. im a girl, i like playing girl champs, i don't mind things like battle bunny riven / officer cait as long as there's a balance. make more "pretty" male champs like heartseeker varus and pink taric, and make more strong female characters

and riot is doing exactly that. i think they're doing a good job.

GreenLore5/26/2016, 8:17:59 PM8 votes

Overall I agree with you,their champion design improved a lot in the recent years and I hope that we'll see more female champs this year(overall I think they could make female champs more often)

On a side note: the twitter link doesn't work for me,so I have no idea what zenon said about this.

DudbearHaggler5/26/2016, 7:49:25 PM6 votes

I couldn't agree more. I share the sentiment that Riot is progressing well in diversity. Good job riot!

Azteryz5/26/2016, 11:55:45 PM5 votes

applaud zenons reply to people having a problem that taliyah isn't sexualized

"That not your cup of tea? great! we have 33+ other sexualized females for you to look at"

grug5/28/2016, 6:06:41 PM2 votes

next champ gonna be tankier version of queen latifah, her abilities will be shout-based like a dovahkiin

Oleandervine5/26/2016, 9:42:33 PM2 votes

And also, as mentioned with Taliyah, she was originally planned to be a curse slinging hag, but that project got sidelined as Taliyah came into fruition. Hopefully this means that the next champ will be that hag, as Kench ended up being a byproduct of Mega Gnar originally having a consume mechanic.

Decrit5/28/2016, 5:50:30 PM2 votes

Usually complaints about "more real womans" are about the fear of having a too much focused attenction on that ( like wanting new champions to be only females and having all of them be the "strongly indipendent black woman who needs no man" archetype), but the idea itself is actually more than right! :D It' s all about having the correct phrasing and a good balance on what to do, and i am glad that you are liking it ( i am too! i am a male but i like my girl rek'sai xD ).

Mostly correct phrasing. A wrong word and you sound like a sexist pig :P

Thumpin5/26/2016, 10:01:22 PM2 votes

we got the hulking Illaoi

I remember making a thread ages ago for an amazon-type champ. I actually forgot about that entirely up until reading this post but now I know why I found Illaoi so weirdly attractive.

Dominick Destine5/28/2016, 6:37:04 PM2 votes

At the risk of being downvote bombed.

IronStylus had one good female champion design; Leona

The rest were just SJW garbage.

patmax175/30/2016, 7:07:44 AM2 votes

Oh, and let me say one more thing (I write this as a comment because it's a sidenote to what I say above): the whole topic is not a matter of realism, but rather a matter of variety. I have nothing against unrealistic women (how realistic are Braum, Singed, or even Illaoi anyway?), as long as there are valid alternatives. Sexy female champs are OK, as long as that is not the default, and female characters arend expected to be sexy. The same is true for "strong female champs" (whatever that means), it would not be ok if all female champs in LoL were "strong".

This has nothing to do with realism, but again, this doesn't mean that just because Runeterra isn't the real world, it's ok for LoL to enforce sexist stereotypes. LoL is a medium (and a very famous one, with a worldwide reach), and as such it delivers values and views to a wide audience. Being sensitive (and sensible!) about gender representation and respect of women can only be positive, imho.

PyroNastu1875/29/2016, 4:17:17 AM1 votes

THe diversity in all champs honestly are awesome. Makes the game unique and actually bond with your character since they arn't all mainstream. Only thing I wish is that the lores used to be huge and in-depth but now they are kinda 2 or 3 sentenced and not much detail on champs that should have a awesome backstory Ahri