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Regarding Little Devil Teemo, Riot, please hear me. [Open Discussion]

Netherlife·10/7/2016, 3:14:40 PM·2 votes·3,566 views

CATMAN - PBE

"I love Teemo. I am Teemo main and I walk around with Mastery Rank 7 in pride. And when new mastery levels come around, I plan on furthering that achievement. When this skin was announced, I was ecstatic. The immense rush of joy was indescribable from this skin. Already I knew it was gonna be one of the few skins I actually buy. There was no possible way I could love Riot even more than this. This was absolutely perfect...in theory.

Everyone has their own tastes, and I realize I am no exception. But no matter how bad some skins might've seemed to me at one point or another, this is the only skin that I would prefer it didn't exist if this is the outcome. Honestly when this was revealed yesterday, despite the skin leaks for SG, Candy King, and the yet to be shown Elementalist Lux skin, I thought this was the Ultimate skin that was being worked on. Even while torn on this with all the facts saying otherwise, I was still able to convince myself I would be disappointed if it wasn't an Ultimate skin. And yet the fact it wasn't even a Legendary, rather a 1350 is what truly has torn me if I am honest. Now sure, you could say my expectations were set too high. But I think the true problem, is that my expectations were perfectly reasonable.

Every time someone has said "Teemo" there have been nine other people that said "Teemo is the devil." This is one of the true community jokes that hasn't been provoked by Riot in some way. (Such as Pantheon's joke of being a baker, or Graves's cigar being removed.) It was just born because it is a part of Teemo. Despite Teemo lacking any big threat in say Ranked, people still hate this little furball. No other champion has such a prolonged reputation of hatred without any valid reason. And that is what I believe Teemo mains live for. Keeping the hatred of the Swift Scout alive. Every time you laugh as Teemo, you feel a rush of power. You're not trying to poke the enemy's health bar, you're testing their patience until they AFK. Teemo exists to be hated, he is the devil.

So when you try and take someone who is the devil, and make him a devil, nothing has really changed, except for Teemo himself. You essentially are stripping part of his identity to put it in a 1350 skin. You can't express an entire lifestyle, in just that one skin. I had thought this would be an Ultimate skin, simply because it sounds reasonable for the task you are trying to display. I don't feel like the devil when I am using the skin where I am a devil. I don't feel special playing the skin. I just feel like it is a remodeled Teemo. Now this is where I would just compare it to the price and have it reduced to what this is, a 1350. So while it's justifiable in price, we get back to the issue that while it might slightly ruin Teemo's current identity for nothing, it also ruins the potential of this skin idea. There is so much this skin could be doing.

  • Embrace the Global Teemo Laugh suggestion for this skin. The enemy can only hear it if you are in vision, or maybe anytime >:)
  • Give him his devil face when he is in his passive.
  • A demonic VO like everyone has suggested.
  • Fire effects for his poison.
  • As the user "No Fux Given" suggested, make the enemy's body burn when you kill them like the Team Fire icon effect.
  • And as the user "Ake" suggested, doing perhaps some color changes and more importantly making the crown less independent to the model.
  • Laugh when you get a kill, laugh when someone steps on a shroom, laugh when you kill someone with poison, ect.
  • As you get more kills, make Teemo's laugh more demonic. By thirty kills, his laugh will make you fear for your life and your sound card.
  • Why not make it where he laughs on every auto-attack. Put a bit of rest on us using our extra mouse buttons.

With a skin like this, everyone else in the game should dread the annoyance you are. Granted with all these features I've suggested, it would probably become...an Ultimate skin. That is my point, this is such a vital part of Teemo that it shouldn't be thrown down to a Legendary skin, much less a 1350. When you pick a Teemo skin, including his classic, you are choosing a certain level of hate to bring with you. In terms of that hate, I would say this is second to last. Last of course being Omega Squad, simply because that is Teemo in an entirely different light. However, if we look at which skins are most demon-like, I would say Little Devil Teemo is last. Because even thought Omega Squad is not the hated cute of Teemo, he becomes extremely dark and scary. Some of those VO lines still can give me chills. The most demonic this skin every really feels is when you are backing, but that leaves it short-lived and not a part of the gameplay.

This is one of the biggest parts of Teemo in the League community, and it feels like when Riot is embracing it, it feels more like, "Teemo is the devil, ayyyy lmao rofl xD" And this is where I come back to my earlier point, that I would honestly rather have this skin removed, just to preserve what that Little Devil Teemo, truly feels like."

I'm going to put my reply to the thread here too.

"Riot. Please, please, PLEASE take this skin back to the workshop and work with it more to make it legendary material. This is a skin that people have been dreaming of, and waiting for for YEARS! LIVE UP TO THOSE EXPECTATIONS! Give him new voice lines, he doesn't have to have special interactions, give him a demonic voice filter, change his dance to be some sort of ritual dance around a pentagram, make his laugh start sweet then turn evil, or start evil and end with a really abrupt and cute "teehee". There is SO much potential here, don't rush it out the door, PLEASE! NOT WITH THIS SKIN! WE DESERVE BETTER, TEEMO'S LEGACY DESERVES BETTER, YOU DESERVE BETTER! Don't waste the opportunity to create the most meaningful skin in League of Legend's history.

-With love and no bias,

A season 1-6 mastery 7 Teemo main."

After reading his comment I can't help but admit that I wasn't thinking big enough when I said Legendary. He's absolutely right, this deserves to be the next ultimate skin. Teemo's a part of the League of Legends community's soul, and has been ever since season 1. He's a reason people rage quit, he's hated, he's loved, he's a fucking unit of measurement. You want to know how to break the ice with a person you've met in real life that plays League? Mention you're a Teemo main. There's never been a single person that I've met outside of League of Legends (that plays it) that hasn't been able to instantly appreciate a Teemo joke. And that's truly special. Now I've spent literally 4 times the amount of time playing the Dark Souls franchise, and if you ask me, Teemo is more iconic than Solaire the Sunbro. This is a chance for Riot to pay their respects to their community and give a nod to it's creation and the relationship and friendships it has inspired.

I'm not saying Teemo is why the League community is so great, I'm saying it's a core part of every League of Legends player, it's something that is universally shared and understood in every language and region. I'm really afraid Riot will feel like it's too late to go back and work on it more. They could say the ritual got interrupted or that he stood still for a second now they're looking for him again. I know they have a deadline for Harrowing, but this is something that I could even wait until NEXT YEAR if they REALLY wanted to make it line up for Harrowing. This isn't something that requires Harrowing to fit thematically though, like I said, this is a core part of the community. Anyone would instantly understand and be hyped for it if it was going to be an ultimate skin, it doesn't matter what time it was released around. I really hope Riot sees this and understands that this means so much more to the community than they might realize.

Now then, to talk about his suggestions. I think laughing every auto would be a bit much, but every blind wouldn't if you ask me. I think a global laugh every time someone steps on a shroom would be appropriate. I think his demon face while stealthed would be freaking amazing as well. I think evolving laugh would be amazing, along side the standard evolving appearance.

For evolving appearance I would say;

  • lvl 1-5 small or no horns, no change when stealthed, very light demonic filter.

  • lvl 6-10 horn growth, start to develop the demonic voice, eyes open when stealthed.

  • lvl 11-15 horn growth, even more demonic voice eyes open when stealthed and evil grin at all times.

  • lvl 16-18 maximum horn growth, maximum demon voice, new voice lines, he gets a crown if he has the most kills on the team, more elaborate crown if he has the most kills in the game, eyes open and evil grin at all times, openly smiling showing teeth when in stealth

  • Give him a special interaction with Mastery 7 badge emotes, I'm thinking a global taunt would be absolutely perfect. I think it would work best with mastery 7 emotes because it's not 100% spammable like a laugh, but it could still annoy people over time. Make the taunt different to every player, and make it sound kind of like a whisper in their ear. Like he's in their head. Maybe make it louder the closer he is to them, but only if he's visible (mind games)? I feel like there should be something to add to the dread that's already there for not only having to fight a Teemo, but a mastery 7 one.

  • If he has a crown from maximum growth, start a side-quest for the enemy team to kill the demon. If he dies, he loses the crown. But it also enhances Teemo's hidden passive, "Global Taunt", and I think it would fit his theme/identity very well.

I could keep typing but I need to stop, before I get my hopes up too high. I love Teemo, and I really hope Riot doesn't waste this chance to show love toward what their community has created and kept alive through all the highs and lows their game has been through. I strongly believe this should be about more than just a skin. So please listen closely to the community Riot.

-With hope and trust

A season 1-6 Teemo main.

9 Comments

Nahui10/7/2016, 3:36:52 PM3 votes

A skin created for the purpose of ruining someone's experience is a bad idea. For you, it may sound hilarious to have a global Teemo laugh, have him always laughing as he autos and have laughs multiply as he get kills but this doesn't add to the game. At that point it's a skin designed to piss people off.

Look at the other skins. Sona plays music (optional) for her team and transforms her look based on the song, plus some unique vocals.

Ezreal is a fan service to people that watch anime with Ezreal-like characters. Cool visuals and sounds, upgrades suit as he levels. Again, nothing that really has a chance to promote malicious feelings.

Udyr is incredibly dated but for his time, unique visuals and animations.

This Teemo just seems inflammatory. A skin with the design to piss people off under the reasoning that "that's how Teemo is according to the community" is just toxic and unnecessary.

I think leaving him at 1350 is fine. He has enough legendaries. There's no reason for Teemo to receive another legendary or ultimate when some champs hardly see new skins at all.

Xahutek10/7/2016, 3:27:05 PM2 votes

Yes i agree. I don't play teemo but i really think that this should be at least legendary with a new voiceover for such an iconic skin.

Oleandervine10/7/2016, 5:37:21 PM1 votes

He does not need a demonic voice filter. The whole purpose of him is "cute looks -> demon inside" and a voice filter would ruin that and take away the humor from his recall as his giggle degrades into demonic cackling.

PigeonCoop10/13/2016, 6:38:39 PM1 votes

Thank you for making this thread. I really wanted to contribute to the PBE discussion (which doesn't seem to be getting any looks from Riot :( ), but I wasn't able to because I don't have a PBE account.

I love all of the suggestions given about how Little Devil Teemo should be, but I disagree that it should be an Ultimate skin. Don't get me wrong I would LOVE a Teemo Ultimate skin. Teemo is my favorite champion in this game by far. However, I don't think capturing Teemo in the Satan fantasy really requires it to be Ultimate level. I can see it being a legendary skin, but Ultimate is a lot. Also that's a lot of time that Riot doesn't have a probably didn't plan for. I think it's more likely that they could hit a legendary mark than an Ultimate.

As for what the skin itself has I really like it a lot. A lot of people want this skin to be as scary as possible, but I think that takes away from what Teemo is supposed to be. Teemo isn't called Satan because he's obviously evil, but because he's evil in disguise. He's SUPPOSED to be cute and I really like the way the skin itself looks. It's absolutely adorable. One of my favorite things about Teemo's outfits is that they look like little costumes and this one is no exception. The only thing that's different is that this skin is a little more real (as we can see by that backing animation). I really don't have anything against keeping Teemo's voice the way it is. He's supposed to be deceptively innocent and keeping the voice the way it's always been emphasizes that when compared to the devilish persona. His laugh is one of the main reasons why people hate him! If they made the laugh sound evil all of the time it would definitely take away from the skin.

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean his voice isn't one of the problems to this skin as well. I think the Little Devil Teemo skin works best when it plays off his innocence and his hidden evil. His voice doesn't need to be filtered all of the time, but I think letting that deep, demonic voice filter in every now and then is the better way to go. LD Teemo's backing animation starts with his normal laugh and then it deepens into something else. That's how the other lines should go. They start off cute and then become evil. Or he has several of his normal lines and some lines here and there that use his dark voice. The other part of his voice that throws things off is what he says. LD Teemo is supposed to be Lord of the underworld. It definitely takes away the fantasy when you're running to lane and you hear: "Hut, two, three, four!" or "Captain Teemo on duty!". It mixes two different fantasies together and really throws off the skin. This is what disappoints me. Now how he sounds when he speaks, but what he says when he speaks.

I would suggest changing some, but not all, of his lines. However, knowing Teemo's situation it WOULD in fact require them changing all of his lines. I think anyone who's played Omega Squad knows that that skin doesn't use the same voice actor as the other Teemo skins. The voice for Omega Squad has been set to be the voice indefinitely (according to the Wiki) so changing voice lines/adding voice lines will be an understandably awkward situation. I could see remedying this by putting the voice filter over his more awkward lines to make them more evil. Possibly him saying it in a mocking way.

So that's my biggest problem with the skin AS IT IS. I would agree with a lot of my fellow Teemo-lovers that Riot had a lot of potential with this skin and haven't and/or don't plan to utilize it. I wouldn't mind if they postponed the skin to make some changes to it, but I don't think waiting a year plus for an Ultimate is necessary.

My favorite suggestions made that I've seen in various threads or talks about the skin: -Teemo opening his eyes and showing his teeth when stealthed (this would be sick just sayin') -Teemo's laugh deepening the more you spam it. -A laugh (either global or to the player) whenever someone triggers a Teemo trap (I don't think it would be that annoying since, depending on your play style and the way shrooms have been changed, there's a ridiculous amount of shroom exploding happening on the rift anyways) -A laugh (either global or to the player) whenever someone is killed by Teemo -Changing the poison animation to flames. This is pretty big for me. I know it's a 1350 skin but I think it was a bit of laziness on Riot's part not to make this change. -Changing taunts or dances (this goes into the awkward lines thing) -Emphasizing the devil thematic more. The backing/death animation is great. Disappointing that they'd want to end it here.

Also if any Riot employee views this, please respond to this or any of the other Teemo threads. It's really disappointing to see people talking about this and not getting any responses. If it's because things seem unreasonable then TELL US THAT so we can make suggestions that Riot may actually be able to achieve. I really love Teemo and, like I've said, I do already love the skin with the way it is, but that doesn't take away the fact that it's lacking thematically.

Thanks for reading! :)

EDIT: I was thinking after I wrote this and I believe it's important to add. If Riot were to actually consider showing Teemo's face in stealth then they should change the idle animations. Teemo's idle animation only activates while he's stealthed and I think it'd be a little weird if Teemo was grinning like that, but still had his regular animations. Honestly I think him standing perfectly still would end up looking pretty awesome if done right.

Anyways that's all again. Thanks for reading!