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A Question for Riot: Yordles

PMMeYordleThighs·1/30/2020, 4:27:57 PM·9 votes·11,740 views

No, the name has nothing to do with this. It's just for the memes.

Anyway... Does Riot even know what they want to do with yordles? Lore wise they've been at a complete stand still for years, with the recent updates providing nothing we didn't already know and Yuumi feeling like a slap to the face to anyone who wanted new information on Bandle City/Yordle Culture. Yordles have been in this game since the very beginning, and yet they just feel... Left behind. Unfinished. Even in the recent lore book, Ixtal has more pages dedicated to it then Bandle City. Even in the new Legends of Runeterra, the few yordle cards give no information, only slight quotes.

As a long time fan of League's most adorable species... It's super disappointing. A fan of Vastayans can tell you so much more about the Vastayan race. A fan of Noxus or Demacia can paint a vivid picture of what their respective nations are like, day to day life, ect. Yordles and Bandle...? I can't even tell you if Bandle City is a city proper or just some loose term. If they have family units or if yordles pop out of holes in the ground.

It'd just be nice to get even a fraction of the umph that the other regions get, considering Bandle's been here since the start. Or, at the very least, just tell us that you guys are planning a lore rework of them or something.

42 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon1/30/2020, 6:21:38 PM8 votes

I think that Riot was so focused on reworking/making new yordle champs for each faction in the game, that they forgot that Bandle City was one of those factions.

Bandle City is the only faction that i can think of that decreased the number of champions that it had after the retcon. Poppy is now focused on Demacia and has nothing to do with Bandle, Heimerdinger as well is focused on Piltover, Ziggs is now in Zaun, Veigar has no conections to Bandle anymore (even if he is considered from Bandle) and Teemo in LoR is from Zaun. Sure, Poppy, Ziggs and Heimer had some relation to their current faction in the old lore as well, but it wasnt the only focus.

The only new champion from Bandle is Yuumi and she has almost no relation to the lore of Bandle at all since she travels across Runeterra. And the "newest" Yordle champion is a Noxian with no relation to Bandle as well.

... and lets not even forget that Coki and Rumble have no updated lore.

As GreenLore said, its a huge problem to say that Bandle is supposed to be a "magical" faction, when most of the champs related with said faction have nothing to do with magic and are more based on technology and the 2 "magical" champs from said faction were suposed to be the weird outcasts (not couting Yummi since is literally just a pet and is new).

Its like saying that all the champs of Shurima live underwater now... it clashes with the original concept of the faction.

GreenLore1/30/2020, 4:51:01 PM6 votes

Currently it feels like Bandle city is simply an excuse for riot to justify yordles living in every region and they don't really know what to do with it.

I think the big problem is that Riot pushed for Yordles to be these whimsical and feylike beings when most of the bandle-city yordles are actually based around modern-military-concepts.

I mean Tristana is a cannoneer and a soldier, Teemo is scout, Corki (who is counted as a bandle champ) is a combat pilot and Rumble is piloting a self-built warmachine.

And this military-style kinda clashes with the idea of yordles being these feylike and magical beings.

Overall I'm pretty scared that Riot might not expand upon Bandle City anytime soon, I mean Teemo was put into Piltover&Zaun in LoR, even though he is one of the poster boys for bandle city. Heck I'm pretty sure that if Bandle City didn't have the word "City" in it then they would have simply retconned it into a place of origin for the yordles and would have abandoned the concept of a yordle faction entirely.

ModRowanstar1/30/2020, 8:11:11 PM4 votes

To be fair we have had some vgus for yordles. We had a Ziggs comic where he teams up with (GAG!) Jinx....and I hope Corki gets a vgu soon (maybe next after Volibear and Fiddlesticks) so that he looks more cat/other small animal-like similar to the other yordles, with his handlebar stache of course. Plus it'd make corgi corki (his best skin) look even more incredible and adorable plus being more modernized.

TheBossVeigar1/31/2020, 10:39:29 PM3 votes

Little late to the thread but I had a discussion with Laurie Goulding (Riot Scathlocke) on Twitter - quite a lengthy one too - regarding yordles, and Bandle City.

I won't be using his exact words, but I will be referencing screenshots I kept from the conversation. I asked him about Bandle City, and when it'll be updated, as well as about some yordles specifically, and he responded saying that he and Thermal Kitten (the Narrative Lead) made a pledge to have every Champion and region updated by the end of 2019.

Unfortunately, they had a lot of things to ship and work on so it got pushed way behind schedule. The new plan is to have most, if not all of the Champions and regions updated by the end of this year.

Another person on the thread asked if updated means bio + color story, and the plan is for every Champion to have a color story and updated bio at some point, but they're mostly focused on bios.

As for yordle specifics, I remember asking about 3 for certain reasons: Kennen, because of all this stuff going on with the Kinkou and him seemingly being missing, Poppy, because of the whole Sylas situation, and Corki, just because he confuses me drastically.

Kennen is on their board for updates right now if I remember his response correctly, Poppy will likely be updated in the Demacia Novella and he did tell me that "all will be clear when we see her again", and with Corki he responded: Corki confuses everyone! Let's wait and see there... which inclines me to believe he's on the board, too.

If you want sources I can happily compile screenshots for you, or just link my Twitter.

Yordle Gunner1/30/2020, 11:54:27 PM2 votes

I really hope they start to focus on Yordles, cause it's been too long, people still think Corki isn't even a Yordle, I still have to point out to people that Amumu is a Yordle and so many lores are outdated. I want to see Tristana's relationship with Teemo and or Rumble develop more. It's been years since we've gotten another Yordle Girl, And Riot trying to push Yordles into this ultra Magic fairy role is so awkward given how most of them are these technological soldiers basically.

Żügżwäng2/1/2020, 7:31:12 AM1 votes

I have a feeling they made yordles because they were much easier to animate, and now that league has more experience with character models we may not see a yordle for a while. Given what they did with the Poppy rework though, they know what they're doing. The only problem is yordles can't sell sexy, kpop, and/or contemporary urban themed skins. Given how much influence anime is getting in league though, I'm surprised they haven't done any pocket-monster themed skins, that would definitely sell.

IDs as Yordle1/31/2020, 5:13:52 PM1 votes

Poppy's quest to find a hero worthy of the the hammer is good story line and could be a comic.

ModRowanstar1/31/2020, 8:39:38 PM1 votes

Bandle City could easily be a connection between tech and magic. Bandle Cities tech style isnt the same as Piltover or Zaun (not counting the different PUNK styles those regions have). Bandle City can also include nature magic etc. We do have Lulu who is a magical yordle. Yuumi is magical and is from Bandle City (despite not being a yordle). The tech seems to be more old fashioned enginerring and scientific discoveries (hence Heimerdinger).