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Rek'Sai isn't a she, it's an 'it'.

Naqel·11/26/2014, 10:48:51 PM·13 votes·2,310 views

For the longest time I wanted a female monster/void champion, now that we finally get one, I feel like Riot made another cop out.

Rek'Sai is not a female monster, it's just a monster, that happens to be female. It has no personality, it's not a character, it's a beast: it growls, it snarls, it screeches, it kills.

Don't get me wrong, it looks fantastic, and it looks to have interesting gameplay, but it is disappointing with how little actual character there is to it. I'm having flashbacks to Elise's release with how much of a betrayal this feels like, especially that we probably won't get another shot at getting it right for at least another year... Another year without a proper female monster.

I could even forgive the absolute lack of any personality if it had some "female monster" gameplay mechanics, like planting eggs in fallen enemies, or at least Mothra style pretty monster vibe going for it on the art front. As it is, it's a disappointment.

25 Comments

Kobila200011/26/2014, 11:29:51 PM12 votes

Oh give me a break! It's amazing that they made a ruthless, non-humanoid monster female precisely because they could've easly made her male, but they didn't. Because not everything is male by default. If Riot wants to make a feminine monster (like what Vel'Koz could've been, an opportunity I feel was terribly missed), they have plenty of other opportunities. We have Zac as a masculine monster and we have Cho'gath as an androgynous monster. In the same manner you can have several female monsters.

And "planting eggs"? I was keeping my hopes up they wouldn't do precisely that. I'm sick of female character just being there so they could take on some hyper-reproductive motherly role, because clearly that's the only thing females are good at. She's a monster that happens to not be male. That's IT.

LordHippoman11/27/2014, 12:21:17 AM12 votes

I dunno, I prefer it this way to "Female Monster" being a busty woman with some stage props glued on her like Elise or Zyra .

Feels more void monstery.

(Also the eggs thing is hard in League because you can't really do a thing where you spawn a ton of little units you can control like Broodmama in Dotes or one of those Zerg Hatchery things in Starcraft. It's built for one at a time.)

Although if you had them act like minions, or projectiles like a Maokai sapling or Elise explodey-spider-thing, could work, I suppose.

Kingsgrave11/27/2014, 5:24:29 AM6 votes

I wanted a monster that is literally just a monster, and I'm super happy with Reksai. Give her real voice lines and she just becomes boring over fantasized void monster number 89999999

Paige11/27/2014, 12:43:58 PM5 votes

NO NO NO she's... a monster... I wouldnt want her to have ridiculously feminine qualities... you have elise and zyra for that. she doesn't need some kind of indicator that she's female... she just is. that's enough, that's all i wanted.

and forget the eggs thing, that's so boring. females=breeding, am i right?? so great that the most prominent thing you can think for a female monster involves reproduction...

and the pretty thing is silly too. she is a MONSTER. again, they tried feminine, pretty monsters and we get champs like elise and zyra.

the very fact that she could easily be male but ISN'T is what i like.

Papersuit11/26/2014, 11:20:11 PM5 votes

I wouldn't mind having Rek have a voice like Zagara or Kerrigan from Starcraft 2

Rune Ocarina11/27/2014, 7:22:41 AM3 votes

Rek'Sai is not a female monster, it's just a monster, that happens to be female.

So...pretty much...a female monster...which is what people asked for right? Sounds right to me. Good job Riot :)

Athenes Lulu11/27/2014, 8:07:06 AM3 votes

You know... a woman could probably be Rek'Sai's voice actor (actress?). I don't see how a woman can't do that.

And again, we may never know her actual gender either. In Anivia's case, we can tell it's a she only because of her VO's (and her Blackfrost skin joke if you wanna count that), despite that we don't know if it's a he or she just by looking at it.

Gross11/27/2014, 7:56:03 AM2 votes

I prefer her not getting a voiceover. I doubt there are many voiceactresses than can pull of a menacing voice without sounding like an old hag, too sultry or just ridiculous. Do you really want the champion to be watered down by a horrible voiceover that doesn't fit her, and would make her feel less like a horrid void monster?

Aerothal11/26/2014, 11:58:26 PM2 votes

As it is, it's a disappointment.

I take this any day over the transgender champ someone so vehemently wanted. And who knows. maybe there is a distinct "female" interaction with other void champions. Team 1: "Where is Vel? Saw him last going to dragon pit, but dragon is down..." Team 2: "Anyone seen Rek? she said she was checking on drag, but its down!?!"

♪♫ Vel and Rek are shaggin, in the dragon pit, where the dragon used to sit...♪♫

IwfiKe3qjM11/27/2014, 1:54:04 AM2 votes

I don't mind as it is... except of the voice... only growls or something like that...

maybe if she has some dialogue or quotes it will be awesome!!!

ZenithEevee11/27/2014, 7:58:50 AM1 votes

Under your logic, We will NEVER get a female monster. this would also, under your logic, make Cho'Gath an "It"

Also, as far as i know, we have never seen anyone on/from the PBE chosen post whether or not in game "It" Talks..

Edit: Also, for those against a voice over, Remember, Editing works for EVERYTHING... except editing smells, we cant do that yet...

Edit #2: Also, whats with the "No character" Thing? The thing can practically travel the whole damn map in like .5 seconds. damn things faster than sanic..

Arduno11/29/2014, 5:48:15 AM1 votes

Rek'Sai is a it AND a she mehehe

Diahane11/28/2014, 10:33:55 PM1 votes

The egg-layer thing apart, which I'd dare say is an unfortunate example, I think that what the OP wanted to highlight is that Rek'Sai does deliver on the monster fantasy, but not on the female monster one, however the latter may be achieved. I think it's pretty risky and hard to try to determine what would deliver on the female monster fantasy, but I do agree with the OP on Rek'Sai not doing it. Given how her character has been revealed, her gender isn't meaningful. She could as well have been a male or gender neutral, that wouldn't change anything of the little we've seen of her up until now. Her voice over is all growls, so characterization on that part isn't possible and her kit doesn't tell us anything beyond her being a monster. How could they show us she's a female? I don't know, really, it's a pretty tricky question. What I do know is nonetheless that after her release the League will still have a female monster niche open, because Rek'Sai is a good monstrous character, but she doesn't give any hint about it. Now, we could ask what hints she should give and easily end up in a discussion about feminism and women by giving the wrong example (like the egg-layer idea, which in this context easily appeared sexist even with no malicious intention) and on this part of the matter I just give up, because I have no valid ideas to achieve that. I'd summarize though that the problem is that we're told Rek'Sai is female without being shown so. Her long version lore still has to be released, so the solution might end up being there, but as of now it doesn't even make that much sense that we know she is indeed female. After all, why should shurimans care about her gender when she attacks them? And who should have figured it out if pretty much anyone who ends up crossing her path dies a horrible death? The character appearing to be constructed this way, it delivers on the monster fantasy part of the spectrum but ends up being only incidentally a female and without any satisfactory explanation of why this detail should be known. I think this is entwined with the deeper problem of her having only growls as voice over, which means that she has no character to display to us. I don't really get why and how will people be able to immerse playing her, but maybe it's just because I'm not into "mindless" monsters.