The Star Guardian formula

Shieda Kayn·7/16/2019, 7:49:40 AM·1 votes·1,633 views

As we're on the verge of the third SG season, I am without any questions expecting yet another team of 5. But what if we got something different?

In the magical girl genre, while teams of 5 have become a staple, there's much more than this. Some of the most prominent and influential titles were magical girls acting solo (ie Cutie Honey, CSS, Princess Tutu...), and duos (Futari wa Precure, Panty & Stocking, Futagohime...). Sometimes even trios, with Mermaid Melody or Mahou Tsukai Precure for example. Or teams of 4, of 6... You get my point.

I think it'd be cool if diversity was introduced in the SG universe, by releasing a duo with a trio that aren't necessarily tied together as a team, or a team of 4 with a solo on the side... Or releasing only 4 skins, or as much as 6 skins.

12 Comments

Zero Shingetsu7/16/2019, 11:11:26 AM2 votes

To be fair, Precure quickly went to larger teams after the initial series. But that aside, I feel like the problem with Riot (evident especially in things like the Academy skins) is that they run with the anime aesthetic without understanding why fans of the medium are drawn to the series they are. For one thing, they tend to focus on the more "classic" look and feel of the medium. The one westerners know from the 90's and early 00's. It feels like they completely miss the fact that vastly different genres exist, and that aside, they fail to understand what MAKES the series they're trying to emulate memorable.

Long story short, I don't expect Riot to do anything too fancy, because it feels like they're only skimming from the very top of the well with their inspirations.

SEKAI7/16/2019, 7:56:55 AM1 votes

The Star Guardian skin line is primarily inspired by Puella Magi Madoka Magica as the main component. That's why you get the deal with 5 main cast per group and story revolving around some shady contracts, and in general a lot more 'direct' take on the traditional magical anime that use more 'indirect' combat methods.

Riot probably just typed "most popular magical girl anime in recent years" into google, and there it is. And they just went with it.

Who knows if Riot actually understands why Madoka Magica is even popular in the first place, that it's a total subversion of previously established norms of the magical girl genre, instead of being the definitive example of all of the previous magical girl anime.

It'd be like Riot creating a mecha skin line basing off Neon Genesis Evangelion without understanding why it's as famous as it is. OH NO

Jeddy0177/16/2019, 11:21:36 AM1 votes

What the Star Guardian skinline needs is some real antagonists.

   It could be some sort of Dark Star Guardians. Like SG who uses their power for evil, have been corrupted or they use the dark side of their powers. They could be completely evil or they could be anti heroes who occasionally fight the SGs.

It could be an entirely separate force that opposes the Star Guardians. Think Battle Boss skins vs Arcade skins. Like an evil force who sent the monsters we fought in Invasion.

These type of skins would work for champs who wouldn't fit the regular skinline (unless they had a Legendary skin of course) Champs like Camille Cassiopeia Evelynn Elise Illaoi Kalista Katarina Leblanc Lissandra Urgot etc. Honestly if Jinx & Syndra didn't already have SG skins, I would suggest them for this too.

While there are plenty of champs who can work with a regular SG skin (I'm still waiting on SG Taliyah ) , it would get boring if they keep creating heroes without any real villains for them to battle. Imagine the Jedi without any Sith or dark side user. Imagine the Power Rangers without any bad guys beside the mindless henchmen. Imagine a superhero without a supervillian & they only fought random thugs. While it works for a while, it just gets boring if it's the only thing.

Now, as I said, I still want to see more regular SG skins. But I would also like to see some skins for the bad guys of the SG universe.