Pretty bummed out about Rek'Sai's "voice"

Baron Von Bangin·Nov 26, 2014·9 votes·3,377 views

I was pretty excited when I found out that the new monster of the void that was coming out was actually going to be a female monster. It was pretty cool. All the monster's thus far have been huge titted shapeshifters or Anivia. Rek'Sai looked terrifying and I was excited to hear what she sounded like, especially considering her link to the Void and all its inhabitants.

But no. We get a bunch of pig squeals and roars. Basically this was just a standard male champ that they said "Oh hey! We can call it a girl to finally appease those fucking GDers but really it doesn't make a difference since you can't tell no matter what!"

All of the other Void champions can speak, even the "infant" Kog'Maw. But I guess Rek'Sai can't? Seven minutes of voice dialogue for... what? At least Gnar made noises that made a bit of sense. So frustrating. So much wasted potential.

43 Comments

Legacy of XionNov 26, 20147 votes

I agree. I was hoping for a voice almost like Blackfrost Anivia's - serene, but full of potential malice. Would be so awesome...but growls, squeals...and all this?

I wanna play this champ, there is so much potential for her, really...I just feel a bit downcast at how her VO is just...noises. Yeah I get monsters make noises. But the Void are monsters with intelligence - and every monster shows it.

insaiyanbaccaNov 26, 20141 votes

intelligence? have you looked at kog?

Legacy of XionNov 26, 20144 votes

Kog'Maw is a CHILD. yet he can speak.

DreamspitterNov 26, 20141 votes

Kog'Maw is a CHILD. yet he can speak.

He bothered to learn Rune-Terran from a mere human.

insaiyanbaccaNov 26, 20141 votes

Kog'Maw is a CHILD. yet he can speak.

He bothered to learn Rune-Terran from a mere human.

exactly all of the current void monsters probably learned to speak runeterran i imagine rek'sai just doesn't care

EndGamer11Nov 26, 20146 votes

Why does she need a voice? it seems rather nitpicky to get exactly what you have been asking for -a female monster champ- and then complain "she has no voice"

Can we just appreciate the hard work that went into this champ?

King KowabungaNov 26, 20147 votes

It's not a female monster though. It's just a monster that they happen to call female. Cho'Gath has a very distinct masculine voice, as does Rengar, Kha'Zix. By contrast Elise has a feminine voice in spider form ,but her whole sexy stripper get-up ruins the spider queen fantasy for me.

This is just a monster that they threw the female gender onto without anything that even remotely hints at her being a female other than that Riot said so.

Since she was revealed to be a she I was EXTREMELY excited to hear the voice of this really interesting looking champion. But it's basically Omen and represents everything they said they didn't like about Omen. Nothing says Queen. Nothing says intelligent. She barely even screams Void, since the bugger can't even speak like the rest of the bunch. So... cool I guess.

CerbearusNov 26, 20145 votes

What he is trying to say is there is literally no way you could tell she is female without Riot explicitly stating it.

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20144 votes

Oh, just like a real animal/monster?

CerbearusNov 27, 20141 votes

She is sentient and at the very top of he food chain. I fail to see why she cannot speak, or at least think...

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

Well that's the thing. I don't see the point. She's like a real shark. A beast operating purely on instinct. If it has any higher goals, I doubt learning its prey's language is among them. And honestly, it's more original than all those "death, destruction, despair" dialogues we get from other monsters. I got sick of those. Though personally I like to think she is intelligent, she just doesn't care to speak English.

Hypochondria9Nov 27, 20141 votes

Ya and I imagine she doesn't get many chances to chat chilling out in the desert eating people who walk by.

Ebonmaw DragonNov 26, 20144 votes

I dont understand why Riot is making champs that cant talk... all the other void monsters talk, skarner talks, Rammus can talk, Spider Elise can talk, Fizz can talk, Shyvana Dragon can talk... EVEN SONA SAYS THINGS IN GAME.

... and Gnar is learning how to talk, he says some things in game...

But the new monster? no... Rek'Sai could be easily considered a genderless monster (or even male) instead of a champion, just like the problems that Omen had (and even skarner before his release).

LANWhaleNov 26, 20144 votes

I mean what real purpose does Rek'Sai have to learning a language? Lets not forget that she is part of a race(species?) of void creatures. I personally prefer her not able to talk, I mean she does just kill stuff why would she bother learning the language of her prey? You could say the same thing about the other void champions but still I just can't see her talking. And who's not to say she is capable of learning the language but maybe she just chose not to, just because she speak's a language we can't understand doesn't mean she's any less intelligent than the other void champions. In fact her not speaking runeterran makes her feel more sophisticated as if she is saying you're language is meaning less. Although there is one thing I do wonder...Do the other void champions know what she is saying?

XulsigaeNov 26, 20143 votes

I don't mind her not appearing to be female at all; the pronoun 'she' is enough for me. I do mind her not expressing her own feelings and such like every champion except Gnar does (didn't like Gnar's voice either).

Rune OcarinaNov 26, 20143 votes

I think she has a pretty voice, haha, good job Riot, haha, keep it up XD

BLU MedicNov 26, 20143 votes

If Rek'Sai was announced, just as a video, no pronouns involved, no "Queen of the Xer'Sai" or anything like that, what would most people assume its gender was?

Legacy of XionNov 26, 20141 votes

Male.

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20142 votes

This is solely due to our society viewing female as a deviation and male as the default (despite it being the opposite from biological point of view). Male is everything under the sun, while female is a set of very specific, limited characteristics.

Legacy of XionNov 27, 20141 votes

Yes it probably is.

Because if it don't sound female, it probaby is not female. Yes for animals it is different but hell, even then some animals sound different by gender.

But I digress.

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

But if it doesn't sound male, it's still labeled as male. If it doesn't look male, it's still labeled as male. Rek'Sai sounds like a monster. She doesn't sound male or female because she doesn't have a human voice. Trying to label her voice based on human standards when it's not human is like denying she's female because she lacks boobs or wide hips.

Legacy of XionNov 27, 20141 votes

I admit my definition is a bit stereotypical, but if it is a she, honestly I would have liked something to indicate it.

And my definition of women is the literal. But let's avoid that topic...

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

I understand this need to dictate female design, I used to share it, but it's based on sexist standards that seek to limit what passes for female.

I'm not sure what you mean in the second part. A woman, or in non-human case a female is someone with xx chromosomes. Rek'Sai has xx chromosomes. So by your literal definition, you should see her as a "woman".

Legacy of XionNov 27, 20141 votes

1.) It might be sexist, but for some, its simple. 1a.) The standards to what passes for female are no longer bound by biology.

2.) See 1a. My literal definition is offensive to the majority these days.

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

Neither are the standards for what passes for male and yet we don't expect male monsters to be dressed in suits or other western male clothing, have short hair, pecks, male genitals and six-packs or facial hair. I'm pretty sure that the standards for female ARE bound by biology, especially in the case of monsters.

And you didn't provide any literal definition in "1a" for you to call back on, in fact it's hard to tell what you mean when you're trying to avoid the issue so much. Protip: this segmentation you're trying to do is meant for longer writing, otherwise you're just awkwardly numbering your sentences and calling back to something the person has read literally a second ago.

Legacy of XionNov 27, 20141 votes

My literal definition is a human with female parts, to put it shorthand.

I was writing that really late at night and having to go to bed early so I didn't really put tons of thought into it. I can try and explain myself more thoroughly later on but thanksgiving and life keep mme from my computer.

I'll at least say that the mass of LGBT outcry makes it hard to have a literal definition of what a female is when anyone can literally go "I feel like a girl" even if biologically they were born male. That is the issue I said I was trying to avoid and hoping you'd catch that. It's what I get. Should have just avoided saying that altogether.

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

Well it's a biological fact that having female genitals make you female, and having male genitals makes you male. As for behavior, it makes no sense to apply human standards of behavior to non-human monsters. Even humans who claim to be the opposite gender from what they are biologically are still born with a certain number of chromosomes that cannot be changed. So in a sense of nature and physical differences dividing us into male and female, barring some very rare disorders, it's pretty clear.

Legacy of XionNov 27, 20141 votes

Yeah, that is true.

But based on biological facts...besides someone Rioters saying Rek'Sai is a she...please. how am.I supposed to think this monster is female.at first glance?

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

No-one expects you to be able to look at that thing and say it's female, but it's written right there in her abilities, so she should be referred to as such. This isn't about one of those "I feel female so I should be referred to as female despite not being it biologically", we are literally told that this unit is biologically female. And we don't know what her males look like. Maybe they're completely different and no-one who's seen her species would possibly think she looks male.

If our language had pronouns based on age, and you were told this character was ancient, you would be expected to use the pronouns for old people, despite nothing really indicating to you she's old. Same thing here.

Legacy of XionNov 27, 20141 votes

I honestly just wish she had a voice, Rek'Sai could be male for all I care.

Her lack of voice makes her just a generic monster. Much less this Queen. This is a Void born QUEEN and you nothing about her screams VOIDBORN beyond her title.

Avoiding the gender thing, since I honestly don't care, nothing about this cHamp would change if you removed the entire concept of Void

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

I'd argue her lack of voice makes her not a generic monster. Most other monsters have deep filtered voices and some destructive dialogue and I got sick of how generic that is. This one is fully bestial.

Ironclad DragonNov 26, 20141 votes

"Oh hey! We can call it a girl to finally appease those fucking GDers but really it doesn't make a difference since you can't tell no matter what!"

I'd do that.

MrSc0ttyNov 26, 20141 votes

What about Shyvana? I'm not trying to say this is warranted-if Cho can talk Rek'sai should be able to-but isn't Shyvana a female beast champion?

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

Please, Shyvana is a blue woman with armor parts tacked on, just like every other female "beast" champion. Rek'Sai is the first actual, real monster champion who doesn't have to turn into a sexy supermodel to prove she's female.

MrSc0ttyNov 27, 20141 votes

Please, Shyvana is a blue woman with armor parts tacked on, just like every other female "beast" champion. Rek'Sai is the first actual, real monster champion who doesn't have to turn into a sexy supermodel to prove she's female.

Shyvana glowing orange eyes, horns, tail, giant dragon claw...about as much human as

Aatrox because he's got abs and hands is Aatrox just a "red human?"

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

Well yes, they're both basically cosplaying humans.

One key difference is that not every single male monster looks like Aatrox.

Kobila2000Nov 27, 20141 votes

As someone who has been waiting so long for a female monster, I love her. There's no reason why Riot couldn't make another female monster and give her the typical monster voice. Though I may be giving them too much credit, maybe they think they've filled the female monster quota and there's no reason to have another female champion ever again. I really, really hope that's not the case and that they're smart enough to see there's a lot you can do with champions who happen to be female, just like with male ones. Even among male champions there are varying degrees of masculinity, both in their bodies and their voices.

I like that her nonsense dialogue makes Rek'Sai stand out, not just the fact that she's the first female monster (I don't count shapeshifting cosplayers as monsters). Frankly I'm tired of all the generic monster voices recently. They ruined Nasus and Vel'Koz with them. I guess a typical female monster voice would be slightly different, but I wanted something really different and this is it.

CenturosNov 27, 20141 votes

I swear she's speaking Trashtalk (http://nuclear-throne.wikia.com/wiki/Trashtalk) in there at one point.

GlanrimNov 27, 20141 votes

I love her design but I do wish she had a voice. That's one of the things I love about the void monsters is their dialogue but she just grunts and squeals.

Agent2090Nov 27, 20141 votes

At least Gnar made noises that made a bit of sense. So frustrating. So much wasted potential.

Gnar is actually speaking his native language (according to a Gnar Q&A) from 10,000 years ago before he got frozen.

But it is a bit of a shame that this champion has no real dialogue. But I also kind of like that there is a true "monster" type champion now. One that seems purely animal instead of just a strange looking creature that can talk.