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| Regarding Reav3's Post on Reddit about changing new Swain's art |

Arakadia·1/25/2018, 4:26:39 PM·74 votes·5,578 views

https://i.imgur.com/vzZJdz4.png

######You can find it here.

I'm interested to see what other people think about this because it doesn't seem like good reasoning. It certainly explains Swain's pod's thinking regarding this, which I'm very thankful for knowing, but I don't agree with it.

##First, the comment on long hair being common in Noxian aristocracy.

I don't think this is a good reason for why he has long hair. I think its more of an excuse. I think that they liked the long hair more, and so they went with the idea of long hair being a more common thing.

Anyways, just because Swain is a powerful and wealthy person, doesn't mean he has to have long hair. If you want to push a certain style for wealthy Noxians, you should. But don't do it at the expense of a character's appearance.

Reav3 says that it is common in Noxian society for people like Swain. The thing is, Swain isn't like most people. Swain is an exception. Which brings me to an inconsistency in Swain lore.

I think he's talking about himself. The people probably view him as a monster, in all meanings, even the Noxians are probably afraid of him for this reason. And he knows it. But this won't stop him. He will fight for Noxus, for its people, for their future - even if the people do not understand it. For one day, he will win. And then... They will all finally see.

From Reav3 agreeing with the whole statement that Swain knows he does some horrible things and that most people view him as a monster, it seems like Swain doesn't care right now. He wont let it stop him.

This comment from Reav3 gives the idea that Swain isn't so invested in following the social quo or being charismatic.

So what is it? Why does Swain bother trying to look like other Noxian aristocrats with hair that would be inappropriate for combat when he has demon wings and a hand of infernal power?

##Second, Swain's team dictates how his demon works. They could easily have explained Swain turning into a full demon whilst having power over the demon.

If Reav3 was Sharjo or someone just trying to explain why Riot chose to not have him fully transform, I would accept this as an answer. The thing is, this is the people who made Swain. They had the freedom to change things to have it work.

It seems to me, that if they really wanted him to fully transform, they would have tweaked the lore around it.

You could have easily gone with the approach that because Swain has control over the demon, he can alter his body or allow the demon only as much control as he wants. Even go as far as to say that Swain can possess/use the demons body.

You could have explained that him becoming a full raven demon wasn't truly a full demon form and it was merely a side effect/secondary effect to unleashing so much power.

Another thing I don't understand is why you acted like the lore was out of your hands and you had to change/limit his art around his lore. I would understand (even if I disagree) that you liked his art direction more and thus thats why you didn't change it but using his lore as reasoning is poor when your the ones writing it. Besides, you've shown that what happens in the game isn't cannon and doesn't reflect the character entirely. From Kindred doing the killing, to Aurelion Sol losing to a yordle, to Garen dropping a massive sword of light from the sky, to Kayn restarting his fight with Rhaast every game.

Anyways the Rework is very cool but I'm very confused on some of Reav3's reasoning. I'd appreciate any response as perhaps I misunderstood.

I think the end of Reav3's response will also generate some confusion because it seems to suggest that if you want anything like old Swain you ought to buy his skins.

I'm hella sick so if I made any mistakes please let me know.

144 Comments

Velzard of Koz1/25/2018, 5:02:19 PM36 votes

What I don't like about the hair is that short hair feels more pragmatical to me and that's literally Swain's character as even showed by multiple of the quotes.

Fasmodey1/25/2018, 4:58:28 PM30 votes

Yeah sure, it is definitely not monster/monsterous champions being unpopular and long hair champions being popular.

I am sure that's the theme they think fits the best and not how can we make him more selling?

I have no hope to see monsterous champions anymore, what we will have are humanoid birds, almost charming death machines, fit af living statues and other at worst humanoid, good looking characters.

They are just creating execuses to their effort for making more appealing characters.

Next one is Nocturne having abs and "we wanted to make him look powerful and physically strong".

Other is Mordekaiser having long hair too and "We thought long hair being popular in Noxus was caused by Mordekaiser as he was the original leader of Immortal Bastion. We wanted to make it sure Mordekaiser had deep affect in their culture and that would be one of many."

cerbari1/25/2018, 5:42:30 PM22 votes

https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/005/320/059/large/kamil-trocinski-zbrush-dooku-03.jpg?1490185749

this look is sophistaced and fits a Military leader and is unique for league. please tell me why not this :(

kattzkitti1/25/2018, 4:39:46 PM21 votes

You make solid points, but ultimately it doesn't matter because Riot isn't listening on this and nothing will be done about it. Their ego is completely blinding them to the community upset.

VisionOfNoxus1/25/2018, 4:57:23 PM21 votes

Yeah, the whole "Noxian aristocracy" argument is weak. (Although I have absolutely _no doubt _ that they'll find a workaround for it in the upcoming lore change) Imagine it like this: back when Poppy was being reworked, imagine that they changed her signature ponytails, and then at the outcry from the community they said "well it's actually a common yordle warrior thing". Every single reworked champ so far had at least one visual staple feature of theirs kept, yet for Jericho Swain they decided to make a completely new person. And not to sound rude, I loved the rework in general, but this feels like a such minute thing that wouldn't be that hard to change.

Edited for clarity.

Crocodilo Maroto1/25/2018, 4:38:27 PM20 votes

They just drop a lot of words hoping people stop complaing. They dos a good work on crabgot, but now the guy Said bilgewater swain couldnt be better cause they didnt had time xD

AlexisTheDragon1/25/2018, 6:02:26 PM19 votes

https://i.imgur.com/ppKuTVH.jpg

Just saying, looks godly, and tbh looks a lot more wealthy to me and tbh, whilst we are on the subject.

NOTHING and I mean NOTHING makes you look more like an Aristocrat and rich than a cane lol.

BTW I prefer long hair in general, but this just doesn't feel swain.

But tbh I'm fine with the long hair, it's just a beard like that image or NF on his main splash.

Blood Magicks1/25/2018, 4:48:58 PM8 votes

If you want to push a certain style for wealthy Noxians, you should. But don't do it at the expense of a character's appearance.

Elements of his design were going to be sacrificed in any case for the VGU to truly be an improvement. I kind of enjoy the idea of Noxians from the capital and especially aristocrats being more flamboyant. Noxian women have standards and they won't settle for plain looks.

And they won't let an ugly unkept man rule them.

Truly a superior civilisation.

https://i.imgur.com/OFaJbmI.jpg

Zelorxon1/25/2018, 5:54:57 PM8 votes

Long hair= Good. Fuck the haters.

Rayjay Redfang1/25/2018, 6:09:35 PM8 votes

A reason why Swain would still go with the status quo despite being a monster is that he doesn't care what they think. He doesn't care what Urgot thinks of him so why should he care what others think. In fact he expects Darius to take his place forcibley and he welcomes that. Swain is doing what he wants, being a noxian, living like a noxian in his position should.

Tbh I don't care about his appearance. I am disappointed that only the tyrant skin transforms into a bird demon, and I'm sad Beatrice is just a prop for recall and part of the joke. I agree lore could have been changed but that probably wouldn't have been where they wanted to go with him. I can't say until I read the lore.

I got to say though even though I like the new swain, this will be the first rework where I'm going to genuinely miss the champion. I loved Swain, Beatrice, and his horrifying transformation to monster.

Skorch1/25/2018, 6:57:09 PM7 votes

I do agree that the "common among aristocrats" thing is like "Yeah okay, sure Reave" However can you imagine the backlash if he said: "Yeah, we thought about it internally, and decided on long hair. We prefer it, and we are sticking with it. Too bad" He had to at least give a reason which he gave a few.

Same with the bird form, he gave it a reason because: "We actually WANTED to make skins for him, and making a bird form every time wouldve been a pain" wouldve upset people.

Winterkill1/25/2018, 5:52:55 PM5 votes

I don't know why everyone is complaining about it. You have a new champions with VO, art, lore, and a fantastic VGU. It's not the old Swain but it is by far better and fits now. Don't complain at all when we have champions like Karma and Morde who had their identities ripped from them and left to rot. You have the nerve to say all of this when there are other champions who are ignored year after year. Be happy your main got something because for others they get nothing.