17:40 that’s actually 4th position in ballet, she’s also wearing ballet slippers. she’s inspired by ballet, something a peasant girl would associate with the aristocracy
@@ZephyrCaulfield I know I'm really late however while similar it isn't actually fourth. Fourth position would have the feet pointing outward like in all feet positions, although it's most noticeable in first and fifth. Stability is very important in ballet especially when it comes to point.
yess, i would've liked it if she had look more doll-like other than her outfit and hairstyle- like yarn hair, maybe make her left eye entirely a button, add some stitches or patches here and there on her skin if it wasn't for her scissors (that are a huge giveaway) she looks more like a porcelain or china doll instead of a rag doll, but ofc it makes sense why she's more human-like bc of the lore and whatnot
Isolde be like: hey guys look look, this is my oc, i. Still deciding a name for her, im thinking about Shaladreka the great. Oh well, I might just go with gwen.
@@god_of_wine7013 ''This is Gwen! My oc, she is kind, curious and she can beat anyone with her scissors! Her favorite food is grapes and she loves dogs. Oc don't steal.''
@@aptalsandvic5355 "hey, I cant help from noticing that the hair of your Oc is the same as Gwen (my oc) so id like you to change that cuz thats clearly stealing my oc!"
@@sona6436 true. I would like yarn hit but I swear i thought it was yarn. It’s almost like they went for the appearance of doll like human features. But even then yarn hair would be dope
"He's the ruined king, tearing things apart. She's the hallowed seamstress, stitching them back together again." Damn, I thought that was a really good line..
Considering Isolde’s soul’s fragments are spread between Yorick, Senna, Viego and possibly other champs they’ll release this year, I think it’s unlikely we’ll see her as a champion
@@sspectre8217 in the other hand she became really popular, people want her as a champion a lot, so it would be a pretty bad move from riot as a compagny to tease a character for a year and not give it to the players (of course its only in a game perspective not the lore one)
Thinking of Gwenn as "The character a little girl sees in her doll." Really sells the design for me. I know most people wanted a cool girl made of fabric and yarn hair. But her as a girl's fantasy brought to life, just feels much more magical. I 100% agree with everything in the conclusion. But I'm walking away with some love for Gwenn.
Yeah. Again - in Isolde's mind and fantasy she probably looks more like a real girl then a doll, if she could made her more "girly" - she would, but in reality Gwen is just a doll... But here, in "champion" form she is just idiolized, unhinged version of Gwen. Its like when you draw some kind of superhero when you are child - on paper they looks like a doodle, with uneven arms, strange eyes etc, but in your head he is cool, real and powerfull character with cool suit, cool voice and, well, even propotions. So Gwen is like that - she is not what Isolde's doll WAS, she is what Isolde imagine and what she imbody of her fantasy
Do not care about 1 year old comment. Gwen is peak doll design. If you want the archetypal, base, routine and frankly boring "At my core I am/was a doll" , there's Coraline, there's Jessie from Toy Story, where the toy aesthetic is core. Gwen, has become a human. Empowered by mystical forces she is not a mere doll anymore, she physically incarnates the fantasies of her owner (To my only annoyance as well, sis I don't want my 0/8 azir feeding the Katarina to feel joy, I want him to stop. Her huge starry eyed-ness is my only real complaint), if she was another run of the mill human doll it would just be another human doll. For whatever reason they decided to lean on the human part and I appreciate the opportunity to get a look at an unusual choice. Only her eye makes you think of her origin and is the only real thing that remains of her previous existence, aside from being able to straight up turn back into her doll form. I also take issue with calling her another pretty girl, is she pretty? Sure. But that's it. No one designs an "ugly" character unless it's part of their core design. Gwen is not a hot babe like miss fortune, not an """exotic beauty""" like Qiyana, not an ideally pretty woman like Ashe (Which makes Ashe rather boring), she sits in the line of being somewhat pretty but not belonging to any "School" of pretty, and it may or may not be intentional since it fits into Isolde's uninformed vision of what exactly a classy aristocratic pretty princess looks like. I do think her design is beyond criticism due to Isolde, I was not even aware she was supposed to be anime like since it's only passing or light references when I saw her for the first time. The hallowed seamstress theme video gave me an idea of the other designs and honestly all but one look run of the mill. When a character plays to their design and core ides as well as Gwen, they are in fact beyond criticism, it only makes sense to say I don't like this, I would prefer this other version. And not trying to say it sucks and obfuscate the fact that it is personal taste, because there's logic and meaning behind Gwen, and if you (Not you in particular) don't like it that's fine. But your dislike of it doesn't call into question the idea or the design at all, and yet people think it does, since they don't even realise themselves they're hiding their personal dislike under a curtain.
Before watching this, here is my opinion: The reason why Gwen's design is not a creepy typical Shadow Isle character, is because she wasn't born from the Ruination, she was born from a fragment of Isolde's soul. I can be seen in the trailer that the mist was surrounding her doll in attempts of corrupting it, but then Isolde's soul saved Gwen from that fate.
Exactly!!! I love this way of thinking, gwen is brought to life by ISOLDE thats why her design is like that, gwen design is like light in the darkness thats why her design is like a princess, with noble dress, and noble attitude. I kinda understand where people hate come from but riot want to design gwen like exactly what isolde wants to be human, free, and etc. Not some abomination dolly creature. And her eyes alr indicate that gwen is not a human.
@@drastia2246 yeah agree even respawn animation clearly indicates that's she's a doll. I really like her current design bcz it's very cheerful and simply elegant. if they made her more doll-like that would ruin the design and the attitude behind it and ofc it would look creepy and a little ugly. People nowadays are so ungrateful and always complaining and whining rather then thanking riot for their work and effort.
But if that was a thing why is the lady of mist and fraction of soul that senna took from thresh's prison nothing like that? It's not even consistent in-fiction.
@@TheMightyBattleSquid Isolda's souls splits into 3+ fragments. All are aware they aren't the full thing but they aren't aware of what the other fragments know. So all get exposed to different stimulus, and over thousands of years the distinct personality rifts show. The piece in Gwen hasn't been watching Veigo tear the world apart for all that time and so is more like the Isolda Viego would have known.
The pinky out is not just a thing to keep up appearances. People kept their pinky out during meals in the middle ages because they didn't have scooping utensils to get sauces, spices, or similar things with. As such, they would wash their hands extensively before a meal and would keep the pinky finger out to try to keep it clean so they could use it to pull spices from various community bowls on the table to into their food.
In the Castillian dub (European Spanish) she talks like 16-19th Century: Instead of "Usted" (singular form of you very formal) and third person of singular verbs, she uses "Vos" and second person of plural verbs (not the same Vos that it's used in some zones of Latinamerica), it is an arcaism and gives the character that princess from an old fairytale vibes.
Some people have disliked Viego’s design but I think it’s fitting. He looks like a 14 year old girl’s toxic male love interest from a wattpad story who becomes obsessed with a girl, and that’s literally what he is.
As disappointed as I am (and I think most of us were) that Gwen isn't an actual doll, the points you made about _why_ that is are nothing to scoff at. And I have to applaud comparing her to Viego, noticing now that she's his exact opposite made me see her in an entirely different light. I liked her, but now I can truly appreciate her. As always, incredible work done on her analysis!
why do you want her to be a doll? (and no ppl arent dissapointed about her not being one... look past your frendgroups opinion) do you care about orianna being a doll? probably not..... do you care about shaco being a puppet.... i would ges u didnt even know he was. So what point are you trying to make? We already have living dolls in league yet nobody cares about them being living dolls. Making an orianna copy wouldnt change much.... this is just public outcry -as usual-
@@konakop5384 Nice assumption that I would be only taking the opinion of my friends into consideration. Clearly you have not read the opinion of other people who feel the same, and it's really not that hard to find, how you missed that truly baffles me. You must have not watched Skyen's videos in the first place even, when even _he_ brought that up... Orianna is a robot ballerina. Shaco is a puppet. We do _not_ have a living ragdoll in League and Gwen would not steal Orianna's nor Shaco's spotlight if she was one, since her design is very different. And frankly, yes, I do care about what these champions are, their designs and backstories - no one wants another copycat or wasted potential. Next time, stop assuming things people do - it does not make you look smarter, just invalidates your point even more. Here, I'll do you a favour and point you to all the people who think the same. Couple of thousand should be enough to convince you it's _beyond_ my friend group, don't you think? www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/mdrw6j/i_am_disappointed_that_gwen_doesnt_look_like_a/? Not to mention all the fanart of Gwen's design tweaked to be more doll-like. Do your research.
@@konakop5384 its simple it is not about the champion at all. I mean for me gwen is amazing. Its just that some people hate just to hate and the others dont have their wishes granted 100% like they pay 1 million dollars per month to have their favorite designs
@@Pteriidae its not like the ones that cry like you are in number of hundreds and the ones that like her are a lot more than that. Just because you cry a lot doesnt make you right it just makes u more annoying
@@gta6a475 I like Gwen, too, the way she is now. Doesn't mean I can't wish that she was different - it's called constructive criticism. I'm not invalidating anyone that likes her the way she is now, so how about you don't invalidate the opinion of people that's different from yours? Because being butthurt about someone having a different opinion than you is pretty stupid.
I love her. She’s like the embodiment of Isolde’s purity, and seems to be the only thing so far that truly negates the shadow mist with her hallowed mist. She’s the biggest hope right now for fighting the shadow isles influence. I also like how she also isn’t still a puppet. Her becoming a real human person greatly influences her personality and explains her great wonder and naivety.
Yeah truee, i like this comment. Its like u see the character in a different light. Not like those people who like "why the design is not dolly creature nyenye"
They pretty much stated that shaco is eating up that design and didn't want Gwen to overlap there. Granted it kinda sounds like bs till we get a Shaco rework that properly emphasizes that instead of him just being a demon jester.
I get why people don’t like the new cutesy designs, but honestly I kinda love it. It’s so nice to see girl characters that are allowed to be badass while wearing a frilly skirt and literally dancing to ponponpon. For the longest time when I was growing up, girl characters in fighting games weren’t allowed to be badass without being sexualized, as if a woman couldn’t be badass without being appealing to men, and then for a while the only other option was a safe but boring design to look more realistic. I do love badass monster designs but sometimes just something cute is fun too! She’s not perfect, but she’s fun and I think that’s all Riot really intended with her which is a little disappointing but not inherently wrong either.
I think gwen is amazing, and honestly, as a new player, she's the first legend I went to. but looking at all the women in league, they're all like, the first option. they're all thin, big boobied, and have the same general body-type. yet for men there's skinny, muscular, himbo's, fat dude's, and more. there's not a single fat lady in the entire game, or even a chubby one (as far as I've seen) there's one muscular lady (as far as I've seen) and a few of them have interesting non-sexualized yet still thin designs. I just want a bit more diversity, and a few more monsters to fuck.
In all honesty I think that Gwen was (in part) dealt a bad card due to Seraphine and the long line of *exclusively* traditionally attractive/very much not monstrous character designs. It had been kind of a ticking timebomb since the last fully monster-design was back in the end of *2017* with Ornn (who is great btw), and then Pyke around mid-2018 who was clearly not meant to be attractive. Ever since then the two closest things we got to a creature of sorts was Lilia and Yumi (cute deer lady and just a straight up cat on a book)-- who don't get me wrong both have pretty solid designs, but when all we wanted at the time was something different that just did not suffice. Yes we got things such as the AMAZING Fiddlesticks and Volibear reworks during that time, but those were just that, reworks. When it came to completely new champions we got a total of *13* generally hot/cute characters in a row, with (again) the only break being a cat. Now that I'm commenting this we've gotten another *3* champions (also Vex) that follow that similar pattern, with the only one to bring anything new is Renata who is visably older as well as slightly more muscular that the standard female champion. It is only now, in 2022, after 4+ years of this same pattern that we're getting a proper monster champion. 4 years. Overall Gwen is not a horrible design and does do some neat things, and although both I and many others wish that riot would've done something more different (think yarn hair, more janky/unstable movements, visible stitches etc), I do believe that she was simply not released at a great time. And all of this is not even mentioning her automatic association with the Sentinels of Light which OH BOY that's a whole 'nother can of worms.
I know this comment is old, but it would be cool if riot make a skin for viego and gwen where, one looks more monstrous, lanky, ghoulish like appearance, while the other is but a small little chibi doll dancing away on the battlefield with her comical large scissor.
I understand the wanting a creepy doll, but like, she was made by a person to look pretty and brought to life by a soul that wants to do good, there really is no reasson for her to look like a monster.
Gwen is the doll you had that to you totally believed was a real person growing up. Your explanation seriously makes her design make sense. While I did enjoy the prospect of her being an animated doll, her being a doll isn’t intrinsic to her character. Another amazing video!
It just occurred to me while watching, but her bobbing idle animation is perfectly in 3/4 time, like a waltz. I don’t know if that’s intentional or not, but it’s another aspect of Gwen being the idealised princess character like you mentioned.
Hopefully Riot Games will think carefully about how the introduce/ingrate anime aesthetics and themes into their future champs/storylines. I enjoy Gwen's design but I understand that there needs to be a balance between the anime style and the style of Runeterra
Honestly that's my problem with this stuff. If they followed OTHER archetypes that was fun, or focused more on creating stuff that didn't look like the same girl with different hair / outfit, I'd be so much more interested...
At least Gwen can be put in Runeterra with a few minuscule justifications, Seraphine on the other hand looks out of place...but Skyen has already explained the why, so im not going to repeat myself. Also a person with Blue hair is not that strange in Runeterra, just look at Zoey. Straw blonde hair that turns to glowing pink and starlight the further it goes from her head. Look at Qiyana, silver hair Sona, blue hair that turns yellow at the tips....
@@garreonlefay6703 No one is saying she doesn't fit. Honestly she's a cute design. The issue as the video says: Extreme context, repetitive design, and there hasn't been a non-attractive human female since Yuumi. And I think Rek'sai before that.
Awww i was really hoping you would have mentioned her sprinting stop animation, where she screeches to a halt, heels forward and everything. It really helps accentuate the cartoony aspect of her character
You could write a 60 page essay on the associations masculinity = cinicism and femininity = naïveté. Not the point of this video, sadly, but it's still interesting to see how much "femininity" is interwoven with infantilization in tropes and characters.
@@kitnal4143 yes yes I'm not saying it's not appropriate for her! I'm interested in how the duality between her and Viego takes on this specific dichotomy. As I said, you could write a river of words on it :)
The ironic thing is that in the way the characters actually behave and their general outlook on life I'd argue that it's actually Gwen who's the more mature one. Granted how much of that is due to Gwen having hidden depths and how much of that's because of just how immature Viego is is up in the air but the point still stands.
1:20: The Internet _wants_ blood, Skyen, and they will have it one way or another. Do you want to be the bloodletter...or the bloodlettee? 7:40: I never thought about it that way, but it's true. Viego is an incarnation what little boys are taught to think is cool, Gwen is an incarnation of what little girls are taught to think is cool. 13:55: I have an unreasonable love of idle fidgets that play only after an extended idle period, which indicate boredom or sleepiness. It's a simple way to have the game react to the player doing really unusual things. 18:05: And the same goes for her -dress- combat skirt. Very pretty, fairly regal, not remotely practical. (More practical than the multi-yard trailing thingies that some actual royal dresses had, but that's a low bar.) 25:35: T B Skyen! It's not proper to examine the animation under a lady's skirt! 37:10: I love the idea that Gwen can just turn into an ordinary doll if she wants. P.S. Not serious about the bloodletting thing. This random Internet dude does not condone bloodying people who don't bloody abstract concepts enough to satiate the Internet's insatiable base instincts.
What's the deal with Gwen is that she's meant to be a likable character that's the opposite of her region and yet is still part of it. In my opinion, she's a smarter decision and a better character design than "Sewn Chaos Horror" Gwen for these reasons: 1) In case you didn't notice, Riot has been busy making lots of "contrarian" champions lately. Sylas is literally the opposite of Demacia's ideals and yet is a champion that is very relevant to Demacia. It's as if adding him changes a bland one-note region into a more nuanced place that has its own problems and has both villains and heroes. 2) but the one thing that Gwen does better than Sewn Chaos Horror Gwen is that she's likable, warm and expressive. First, it makes her much better at expressing emotion and secondly, she's meant to represent Isolde's heart. And for anybody who's actually trying to make characters for a game or story, the hard part is not making a cool character, the hard part is to make you care about her character because 3) You do realize that she's doomed from the start right? If the Shadow Isles had a main quest it would probably be "Restore Isolde's soul to restore the Blessed Isle" and that would involve killing Gwen to retrieve Isolde's fragment that powers her. Would we care if it was a dirty old doll? No. Would we care if it was a beloved childhood toy? Yes. But then again it would be severely limited by the lack of expression and it would be hard to explain why Isolde, a specifically good character was making creepy dolls. Tldr, for good or bad she's meant to be likable. Whether Riot decides to kill her for story reasons is up in the air but quite likely 4) from a business perspective, it's much easier to release a Halloween version of a popular character than to release a pretty version of a horror character. I'm also reminded of the Sewn Chaos skinline than got instantly where both Amumu and Blitz lost their skin before they even got released due to low popularity and generally looking ugly. Sorry to the horror fans out there but Orianna is the only champ that managed to pull it off and she's already got the creepy doll, not quite human, not quite object market cornered. That's my take, and to all those who are recruiting haters to tear down her character, well... good for you. League could benefit from more horror characters and Painwheel's design in skullgirls grew on me but I also have to accept that she's a tough sell and frankly not for everyone.
@@apollyon1311 no people are just saying that they have seen a champion like this before frow roit and where hoping for something new but now they just see another saraphim with almost nothing to really distinguish her from other girls in league of legends if design's like hers weren't so common in league people would complain nearly as much as they do now.
@@damianstruiken5886 THAT is why i was upset with her design. Im not mad, but just disappointed that Riot prioitized being "safe" with the design instead of trying to make her more visually interesting.
@@Kazuhiro-i It seems a lot more thought than actually conveyed went into these words of yours. Is this about how there is no perfection in this world? Or more about heaps of wasted potential like Syndra? Or did I get you totally wrong?
I'm glad you chose to focus on the good parts of Gwen to talk about, because I think Gwen still has fun feminine power fantasy behind her character. I agree it would have been a lot stronger and a more fun fantasy if she was still somewhat puppet like, though I'm not a fan of the creepy takes on her design. To me she's comes off as an antithesis of the black mist, where Viego's love/obsession ruins everything it touches, Isodle's love creates something beautiful and full of life. (people still made some cool concepts tho) She may not be a perfect design, but I'll always appreciate a character that doesn't follow the traditional male power fantasy.
her character design reminds me a lot of your take on Neeko: good concept, pretty well executed, but could be pushed more imo i think it would be cute if she used her needle a bit more, like someone who relies on sewing up all of her mistakes to show her own character uniqueness outside of what islode made her to be :]
I hope Gwen and Orianna get some interactions. A former doll coming alive and a young woman who’s uncertain of her humanity would be an interesting dynamic to explore
OMG I love this perspective so much! Like I really agree with the fact gwen could have been so many things. So many better things in my opinion. Like go hard in on her being a child or her being a doll. But I also think that taking her design at face value without thinking of all those could have beens, she does represent what she is meant to. This opposite of viego and breath of life. I do still think this could have been better represented if she was a literal child. I just think it would fit really well and back up that sense of exploration and discovery she's meant to embody. And there was a lot of concept art and ideation that leaned into that idea. Also League twitter stans kill me like... they get so mad over design opinions pls its just how people perceive the characterrrr.
nah... why do ppl want to force her to become an actual doll? like does anyone care about orianna being one? no point making an orianna 2... and shaco exists too
I dont think so, i like her design to be a grown up woman. Bcause she alr like 100+ years old? That fits the design. She alr live like 100+ years old and never ever can feel anything with her hands or see far enough. Heck even her memory is blurry if u read the bio. Thats why when she brought to life she like "wow, i can see far. Wow i can feel the pebbles in my hand etc" she old but she doesnt have this experience that normal human being have when they are a little kid. So thats why i think her adult woman design is perfect for her. Idk about u tho, this is just my opinion.
I find it interesting to see Viegos and Gwens Weapons side by side thematically. Both use a very oversized Weapon/Tool. One to cut things down and destroy, fitting to Viegos theme and Gwen using a tool meant to craft or create things :)
I really liked that they maintained her extreme femininity without taking from her class. Knee length skirt, full stockings and they also gave her black shorts under her skirt, as they should for every female character in a skirt. ...and they they immediately released a skin where her skirt is completely translucent 🙃
I agree!! Personal opinion but i really love girl characters with big dresses, and I'm happy that Gwen is an addition to that. When Zyra was released i always thought she was gonna have a model like Morgana but i got disappointed with her design haha
@@MamaFeng You trying to take a shot at my maturity is a pretty nice way to show how childish you are, but go off on that. Space Groove's whole thing is meant to translucent space slime, that doesn't take away from base Gwen's elegance. A non canon fanservice skin doesn't suddenly detract the value of the original design. You can have both.
Sadly it was never the way they wanted to make her lore. It is hard to say "she was transformed by magic into a real girl!" when she still looks like a toy
@@kitnal4143 I honestly think I would just rather she not be ''a real girl''. Idk man, a creepy puppet seems like a much better fit to the shadow isles than what we got. Plus it would just... Look really cool
@@peppermenta4400 meh I like the fact they want to add some diversity into the shadow Isle. It is nice to have a proper counter to them that isn't just yorick or maokai. Also I am happy they didn't go living doll because then our boi Shaco would have his thunder stolen. At least this is unique.
Gwen isn't bad on her own. It just that the oversaturation of cutesy sexy women in The league's roaster makes many react with "wow, again... yeah" It like eating your favorite cake every day, 3 times a day. Even if it is good you get annoyed by it.
I would normally complain, but Riot has been putting out a lot of hot men too: the Varus rework, Sylas, Viego, and Sett just to name a few. There's a saturation of overly attractive characters in league, but it's not really one sided to a specific gender, and that's great. Make everyone be hot!!
Little insight; the posture of the 3rd autoattack, where she stands with the feet pointed inwards is actually a really stable position. Often used in parts of martial arts, that were ment to be used on unstable grounds (Ships, Chariots, etc. ). One of the basic stances of karate incorporates such a way of standing and the famous (even though not rly practical) drunken master "styles" often use it.
I really, really enjoy how you make such efforts to Cultivate a healthy and positive community and a good Respect and Appreciation for the arts and the craftsmanship that comes into play with this, specially because with the nature of your videos it would be so much easier to give in to the vitriol
This will sound weird but as a transwoman who hasn't transitioned yet I attacted myself to Gwen as someone who I would loved to look as but I also understood that there was problems with her design and I was worried that you would rightly rip into her design but when you started talking about how her design could be taken as a positive thing rather than negative thing since you thought enough was said about the ways her design could be improved it made me very happy since you were the first person I have seen talk about her positive parts of her design which wasn't just "She is pretty so I like her," and that made me unbelievably happy and I wanted to cry so as silly as it sounds thank you for talking about the positive side to her and giving me hope that she isn't just a problem champion
If a character brings you happiness it shouldn't matter what other people think tbh a design can be problematic and still enjoyable and thats all that matters if you enjoy it or not though i get the want to share that feeling with others. Anyways enjoy gwen when you unlock her ✌️
As someone who collects ball jointed doll, I like her design. I still wish she was still a plush doll though, that'll be really cool holding a big scissors when you're tiny.
Honestly you convinced me to adore this character design even with its context. No real interest in a lot of the other pretty girl characters (except Qiyana), but Gwen has wonderful characterization
The actual message you shared about context is everything I love this channel for. This video is wonderful in how I played it thinking This would be Gwen's funeral pyre ... And it wasn't And I LOVE your work for that. On the context note, thank you for pointing it out. It'w weird how out of League I have been for the past year and how this particular character actually got me interested in the game again. It's not for the cute girl look for that you have seraphine, not for the drama, but for the joy this character shares. Thank you for showing that in this video.
I really enjoy the fact that Gwen is Isolde's oc in everything that she wanted a superhero princess to be... And Viego is everything that a little boy would be pretending to be in that superhero fiction.
Literally when I first saw gwen I was like "ooh she looks like a character design id make when I first started designing characters" and because of that sole fact I absolutely love her
The weirdest thing about this is that, during the yawning animation, you can actually faintly see teeth in her mouth. They added that tiny detail even though there's no way anyone would notice it unless they explicitly zoomed in all the way just to watch her
One thing i appreciate in league is the quality of the animations and Gwen is no exception. I'd love to see a 'What's the deal with Zoe' as I'm very fond of work done animating her.
I'm glad you're able to see the positives of this design! I was also thinking that her humanity was a very nice point in favor of her design. The doll that becomes a real girl is a strong fairy tale theme that serves as a strong counterpoint to edgelord Viego imo.
I'd loveeeee Isolde as a support (helping, healing, saving) as opposed to Viego as a jungler (hunting, killing, stalking, hiding in the fog of war/mist)
All of her animations are full of life. It’s really smart and almost such an easy trope. Her previously empty life is just full of character and life. It’s so expertly done
I genuinely believe the lore if anything else wouldn't have been as interesting. They want to give Viego and Isolde a child to add to their relationship dynamic, if Gwen was a doll it wouldn't have anywhere near the impact because the audience wouldn't believe her to be alive in the same way.
I've been out of the league loop for a while, kinda observing from an ex player perspective on the outermost ring of knowing kinda what's going on. That all said, I had no lore context for Gwen *at all* and so saw mostly the negative press context she got. Getting the information that she was Isolde's childhood doll come to life from the magic of her broken heart makes ALL her animation and design choices make sense. Loved the examination of her as a counterpoint to Viego. She's the child's fantasy princess contrasted with his brooding, obsessed, corrupted prince. The medieval/neoclassical heroine vs the Byronic hero turned villain. The toy with her heart vs the man who gave up his heart to own Isolde like a child owns a toy.
Also, gosh, I just realized, part of the reason why Gwen's design is so humanized is because she's an assassin who needs a lithe, nimble, and highly articulated body. Make her a big poofy tank who can't feel pain as a bundle of cloth or maybe a siege mage with a thread and needle, and you could have a better design.
Seeing her art, I immediately started hoping that you would check her anatomy. Even without the red lines, I've got a feeling that something might be off here....
Honestly I feel like one of the few people who really liked Gwen's design on release. I think her design makes perfect sense from a lore and thematic perspective, but as always, the key issue comes down to oversaturation
I feel like during the entire character design section all I could think was: Doesn't this exact same aesthetic exist already is Lillia and Seraphine? Characters you just reviewed, that just came out in the last year?
I have never played league and I don’t think I ever will due to lack of time, but I am very much enjoying your videos on these characters. Plus your commentary and voice over is very calming and enjoyable to listen to!!!!
The other day I played udyr for the first time, I never noticed the good animations in league, udyrs attack looked like he was flash-dabbing. It's amazing how we can have aurelion sol, and then a dude running in a bear suit made of 17 polygons in the same game
7:15 "Gwen is essentially an OC, an original character of the do-not-steal variety." This is such a cool take, an interpretation I know I never would have thought up myself. I love it.
Another thing abt Gwen and Viego that are opposites... Viego’s character is led by angles with the triangle chest hole, pointy crown, padded jacket while Gwen’s is led by circles such as the hair curls, the dress twirls, and many of her animations form circular line-of-actions.
On their Insights, Riot mentioned they wanted her to be more like Pinnochio, a doll turned boy, than a living construct since they already have the likes of Orianna. But it feels like they forgot that Pinocchio being a real boy is where his story ended and his journey was completed.
and you seem like to forget that pini becoming a human was the whole point of the story..... while for gwen its the beginning of her story.... that is a pretty big difference
32:47 the only one thing that really bugged me in this video were the scissors during the run animations. Blades and holds are not moving the way scissors should...
Gwen turned into an anime waifu because, after Viego, Isolde is done with men. She now follows the true way. Edit: I do really like the fan design at 5:57. Reminds me of Vaggie from Hazbin Hotel.
The beautiful connection to her lore is the reason I feel fine about Gwen in the end, while I still resent Seraphine's design. Gwen is a peasant girl's Mary Sue; her idea of a pretty princess with frills and bounce.
I love how your analysis' show off the true intentions and choices of making a character some way. It gives me a new perspective to champions like Viego or Gwen
Ty for showing the great side of Gwen, she´s one of the few new champions i liked since i started playing (Kindred´s release) and it sucks that everyone just calls her "Generic anime waifu" without looking at anything else
I think it would have been really neat to lean into the "ballet/theater doll" aspect of the character to make her a little more Uncanny Valley. Look at characters like Coppelia or the Doll from "Les contes d'Hoffmann"--they're both graceful and pretty at a distance, but up close you can notice how unnaturally abrupt and jerky their motions are, how glassy their eyes are, and how their faces are frozen in a single expression unless they have to talk. I feel like if you kept this general idea, but made her design and body language a little bit *off* and maybe even a bit creepy, it would go a long way toward giving her some more flavor.
thank you for restoring some of my naive appreciation for gwens design and animations, ive been really jaded about new champion releases since sett her design and criticisms held me back from wanting to try her but after this video i feel tempted!
I would love to see a "what's the deal with zoe" !! there's a lot of interesting stuff to observe in her animations and design, they really reflect her personality and lore
Now ima say it and I know this video is oldish but Gwen's silhouette is one that the league really needed a lot of league new female characters are wearing very skin-tight clothes not that is a problem but it nice to see a really flowy princessy outfit
@@SeanBoyce-gp *Glances at base Seraphine* Saves a lot sometimes lol But here, I actually think Gwen is just fine. The design is a little trite & horribly overdone & also somehow uninspired, but it's fine. The voice, animation & gameplay is all good, and her model is well done. It could've been better sure, but it'll do. 🤷
Keeping your longer videos low energy is a good thing, i think. I for one love having them on in the background while i paint my own characters. Love your videos
Real title should be: Over half an hour of Skyen fangirling over Riot’s animation team ft. Skillshare
Yea
but thats, like, every wtdw from skyen
The in conclusion part makes some pretty good points that I would say explicitly aren’t “fangirling”
17:40 that’s actually 4th position in ballet, she’s also wearing ballet slippers. she’s inspired by ballet, something a peasant girl would associate with the aristocracy
omfg i was noticed :))))))))
@@ZephyrCaulfield I know I'm really late however while similar it isn't actually fourth. Fourth position would have the feet pointing outward like in all feet positions, although it's most noticeable in first and fifth. Stability is very important in ballet especially when it comes to point.
@@msatropine4596 Actually it is a fourth position, just not a ballet fourth position
Not sure peasant girls would have a clue about ballet.
It just looks that way from a certain angle. If you see the rest of her legs, you'll notice that her feet are actually pointing inwards.
Actually when you think Gwen as an Oc, her design makes a lot more sense. I wish she had at least yarn hair, it would be really cute.
yess, i would've liked it if she had look more doll-like other than her outfit and hairstyle- like yarn hair, maybe make her left eye entirely a button, add some stitches or patches here and there on her skin
if it wasn't for her scissors (that are a huge giveaway) she looks more like a porcelain or china doll instead of a rag doll, but ofc it makes sense why she's more human-like bc of the lore and whatnot
Isolde be like: hey guys look look, this is my oc, i. Still deciding a name for her, im thinking about Shaladreka the great. Oh well, I might just go with gwen.
@@god_of_wine7013 ''This is Gwen! My oc, she is kind, curious and she can beat anyone with her scissors! Her favorite food is grapes and she loves dogs. Oc don't steal.''
@@aptalsandvic5355 "hey, I cant help from noticing that the hair of your Oc is the same as Gwen (my oc) so id like you to change that cuz thats clearly stealing my oc!"
@@sona6436 true. I would like yarn hit but I swear i thought it was yarn. It’s almost like they went for the appearance of doll like human features. But even then yarn hair would be dope
"He's the ruined king, tearing things apart. She's the hallowed seamstress, stitching them back together again." Damn, I thought that was a really good line..
Senna -> Comically large cannon
Viego -> Comically large sword
Gwen -> Comically large Scissors
Isolde -> (riot please)
Considering Isolde’s soul’s fragments are spread between Yorick, Senna, Viego and possibly other champs they’ll release this year, I think it’s unlikely we’ll see her as a champion
But we’ll see her in The Ruined King and probably in Legends of Runeterra eventually
Yorick got the comically large Spoon (kind of) :D
@@sspectre8217 in the other hand she became really popular, people want her as a champion a lot, so it would be a pretty bad move from riot as a compagny to tease a character for a year and not give it to the players (of course its only in a game perspective not the lore one)
@@Elitepommeslp petition for a yorick skin with a spoon right now
Thinking of Gwenn as "The character a little girl sees in her doll." Really sells the design for me. I know most people wanted a cool girl made of fabric and yarn hair. But her as a girl's fantasy brought to life, just feels much more magical.
I 100% agree with everything in the conclusion. But I'm walking away with some love for Gwenn.
Yeah. Again - in Isolde's mind and fantasy she probably looks more like a real girl then a doll, if she could made her more "girly" - she would, but in reality Gwen is just a doll... But here, in "champion" form she is just idiolized, unhinged version of Gwen. Its like when you draw some kind of superhero when you are child - on paper they looks like a doodle, with uneven arms, strange eyes etc, but in your head he is cool, real and powerfull character with cool suit, cool voice and, well, even propotions.
So Gwen is like that - she is not what Isolde's doll WAS, she is what Isolde imagine and what she imbody of her fantasy
Do not care about 1 year old comment. Gwen is peak doll design. If you want the archetypal, base, routine and frankly boring "At my core I am/was a doll" , there's Coraline, there's Jessie from Toy Story, where the toy aesthetic is core.
Gwen, has become a human. Empowered by mystical forces she is not a mere doll anymore, she physically incarnates the fantasies of her owner (To my only annoyance as well, sis I don't want my 0/8 azir feeding the Katarina to feel joy, I want him to stop. Her huge starry eyed-ness is my only real complaint), if she was another run of the mill human doll it would just be another human doll.
For whatever reason they decided to lean on the human part and I appreciate the opportunity to get a look at an unusual choice.
Only her eye makes you think of her origin and is the only real thing that remains of her previous existence, aside from being able to straight up turn back into her doll form.
I also take issue with calling her another pretty girl, is she pretty? Sure. But that's it. No one designs an "ugly" character unless it's part of their core design. Gwen is not a hot babe like miss fortune, not an """exotic beauty""" like Qiyana, not an ideally pretty woman like Ashe (Which makes Ashe rather boring), she sits in the line of being somewhat pretty but not belonging to any "School" of pretty, and it may or may not be intentional since it fits into Isolde's uninformed vision of what exactly a classy aristocratic pretty princess looks like.
I do think her design is beyond criticism due to Isolde, I was not even aware she was supposed to be anime like since it's only passing or light references when I saw her for the first time.
The hallowed seamstress theme video gave me an idea of the other designs and honestly all but one look run of the mill.
When a character plays to their design and core ides as well as Gwen, they are in fact beyond criticism, it only makes sense to say I don't like this, I would prefer this other version. And not trying to say it sucks and obfuscate the fact that it is personal taste, because there's logic and meaning behind Gwen, and if you (Not you in particular) don't like it that's fine. But your dislike of it doesn't call into question the idea or the design at all, and yet people think it does, since they don't even realise themselves they're hiding their personal dislike under a curtain.
I like the disclaimer about masculinity because I choose to interpret it as Skyen proclaiming Heimerdinger to be peak male performance.
Obviously Heimy is the ideal man.
I mean, have you seen the abs on his pool party skin? man's fuckin RIPPED
Bro, Heimer's mustaches are so thick they fused with his hair. If that's not the peak of masculinity, I don't know what is.
Being another species and being small doesn't make you any less than masculine
Heimer is what every man want to end up to be
Before watching this, here is my opinion: The reason why Gwen's design is not a creepy typical Shadow Isle character, is because she wasn't born from the Ruination, she was born from a fragment of Isolde's soul. I can be seen in the trailer that the mist was surrounding her doll in attempts of corrupting it, but then Isolde's soul saved Gwen from that fate.
Exactly!!! I love this way of thinking, gwen is brought to life by ISOLDE thats why her design is like that, gwen design is like light in the darkness thats why her design is like a princess, with noble dress, and noble attitude. I kinda understand where people hate come from but riot want to design gwen like exactly what isolde wants to be human, free, and etc. Not some abomination dolly creature. And her eyes alr indicate that gwen is not a human.
@@drastia2246 yeah agree even respawn animation clearly indicates that's she's a doll. I really like her current design bcz it's very cheerful and simply elegant. if they made her more doll-like that would ruin the design and the attitude behind it and ofc it would look creepy and a little ugly. People nowadays are so ungrateful and always complaining and whining rather then thanking riot for their work and effort.
Also she was made before all that. When the Islands were nothing but beautiful.
As much as I don't enjoy her.. I respect her Design and the Choices.
But if that was a thing why is the lady of mist and fraction of soul that senna took from thresh's prison nothing like that? It's not even consistent in-fiction.
@@TheMightyBattleSquid Isolda's souls splits into 3+ fragments. All are aware they aren't the full thing but they aren't aware of what the other fragments know. So all get exposed to different stimulus, and over thousands of years the distinct personality rifts show.
The piece in Gwen hasn't been watching Veigo tear the world apart for all that time and so is more like the Isolda Viego would have known.
The pinky out is not just a thing to keep up appearances. People kept their pinky out during meals in the middle ages because they didn't have scooping utensils to get sauces, spices, or similar things with. As such, they would wash their hands extensively before a meal and would keep the pinky finger out to try to keep it clean so they could use it to pull spices from various community bowls on the table to into their food.
When in doubt...
*pinky out*
Shad ?
We all know you heard of it by Baki, don't lie to us
TLDR: Isolde was a weeb
I see Veigo was a man of culture
Isnt the punk bf & and the weeb pixie gf the whole scott pilgrim trope?
@@piyuy1051 HOLY SHIT GWEN EVEN HAS THE BLUE HAIR!
In the Castillian dub (European Spanish) she talks like 16-19th Century: Instead of "Usted" (singular form of you very formal) and third person of singular verbs, she uses "Vos" and second person of plural verbs (not the same Vos that it's used in some zones of Latinamerica), it is an arcaism and gives the character that princess from an old fairytale vibes.
That's pretty cool!
thats part of her design, and local.teams working on that pretty well for most languages
It's actually the same in French! Kinda wish they did it with the english dub.
@@solismo7043 but she does have a British English accent accent, doesn't she?
@@Artemis_74 yes she does
Some people have disliked Viego’s design but I think it’s fitting. He looks like a 14 year old girl’s toxic male love interest from a wattpad story who becomes obsessed with a girl, and that’s literally what he is.
Viego is this
th-cam.com/video/flFqNVA0SJ0/w-d-xo.html
Exactly, because "he would tear the world apart for me" and "I can fix him", and as that kind of character I think his design is very on point.
Exactly but his concept art as a “Ruined old king” looked so good I can’t help but want them
its been 84 years and i am so happy to see a "Whats the Deal with ..." video so close to their release.
As disappointed as I am (and I think most of us were) that Gwen isn't an actual doll, the points you made about _why_ that is are nothing to scoff at. And I have to applaud comparing her to Viego, noticing now that she's his exact opposite made me see her in an entirely different light. I liked her, but now I can truly appreciate her. As always, incredible work done on her analysis!
why do you want her to be a doll? (and no ppl arent dissapointed about her not being one... look past your frendgroups opinion) do you care about orianna being a doll? probably not..... do you care about shaco being a puppet.... i would ges u didnt even know he was. So what point are you trying to make? We already have living dolls in league yet nobody cares about them being living dolls. Making an orianna copy wouldnt change much.... this is just public outcry -as usual-
@@konakop5384 Nice assumption that I would be only taking the opinion of my friends into consideration. Clearly you have not read the opinion of other people who feel the same, and it's really not that hard to find, how you missed that truly baffles me. You must have not watched Skyen's videos in the first place even, when even _he_ brought that up... Orianna is a robot ballerina. Shaco is a puppet. We do _not_ have a living ragdoll in League and Gwen would not steal Orianna's nor Shaco's spotlight if she was one, since her design is very different. And frankly, yes, I do care about what these champions are, their designs and backstories - no one wants another copycat or wasted potential. Next time, stop assuming things people do - it does not make you look smarter, just invalidates your point even more.
Here, I'll do you a favour and point you to all the people who think the same. Couple of thousand should be enough to convince you it's _beyond_ my friend group, don't you think?
www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/mdrw6j/i_am_disappointed_that_gwen_doesnt_look_like_a/?
Not to mention all the fanart of Gwen's design tweaked to be more doll-like. Do your research.
@@konakop5384 its simple it is not about the champion at all. I mean for me gwen is amazing. Its just that some people hate just to hate and the others dont have their wishes granted 100% like they pay 1 million dollars per month to have their favorite designs
@@Pteriidae its not like the ones that cry like you are in number of hundreds and the ones that like her are a lot more than that. Just because you cry a lot doesnt make you right it just makes u more annoying
@@gta6a475 I like Gwen, too, the way she is now. Doesn't mean I can't wish that she was different - it's called constructive criticism. I'm not invalidating anyone that likes her the way she is now, so how about you don't invalidate the opinion of people that's different from yours? Because being butthurt about someone having a different opinion than you is pretty stupid.
I like the comparison that Viego is heartless but Isolde literally gave part of her heart to Gwen.
I love her. She’s like the embodiment of Isolde’s purity, and seems to be the only thing so far that truly negates the shadow mist with her hallowed mist. She’s the biggest hope right now for fighting the shadow isles influence. I also like how she also isn’t still a puppet. Her becoming a real human person greatly influences her personality and explains her great wonder and naivety.
Yeah truee, i like this comment. Its like u see the character in a different light. Not like those people who like "why the design is not dolly creature nyenye"
I'm very sold on my theory that Riot is saving the creepy doll design for Shaco.
They pretty much stated that shaco is eating up that design and didn't want Gwen to overlap there. Granted it kinda sounds like bs till we get a Shaco rework that properly emphasizes that instead of him just being a demon jester.
@@MrShirotomo thanks for the update, I didn't have the time to actually look into it in my free time. Much appreciated.
I wish I could agree but I don't think Riot knows who Shaco is anymore
And who are they saving the cute doll design for?
orianna too
I get why people don’t like the new cutesy designs, but honestly I kinda love it. It’s so nice to see girl characters that are allowed to be badass while wearing a frilly skirt and literally dancing to ponponpon. For the longest time when I was growing up, girl characters in fighting games weren’t allowed to be badass without being sexualized, as if a woman couldn’t be badass without being appealing to men, and then for a while the only other option was a safe but boring design to look more realistic. I do love badass monster designs but sometimes just something cute is fun too! She’s not perfect, but she’s fun and I think that’s all Riot really intended with her which is a little disappointing but not inherently wrong either.
I think gwen is amazing, and honestly, as a new player, she's the first legend I went to. but looking at all the women in league, they're all like, the first option. they're all thin, big boobied, and have the same general body-type. yet for men there's skinny, muscular, himbo's, fat dude's, and more. there's not a single fat lady in the entire game, or even a chubby one (as far as I've seen) there's one muscular lady (as far as I've seen) and a few of them have interesting non-sexualized yet still thin designs. I just want a bit more diversity, and a few more monsters to fuck.
In all honesty I think that Gwen was (in part) dealt a bad card due to Seraphine and the long line of *exclusively* traditionally attractive/very much not monstrous character designs. It had been kind of a ticking timebomb since the last fully monster-design was back in the end of *2017* with Ornn (who is great btw), and then Pyke around mid-2018 who was clearly not meant to be attractive. Ever since then the two closest things we got to a creature of sorts was Lilia and Yumi (cute deer lady and just a straight up cat on a book)-- who don't get me wrong both have pretty solid designs, but when all we wanted at the time was something different that just did not suffice.
Yes we got things such as the AMAZING Fiddlesticks and Volibear reworks during that time, but those were just that, reworks. When it came to completely new champions we got a total of *13* generally hot/cute characters in a row, with (again) the only break being a cat. Now that I'm commenting this we've gotten another *3* champions (also Vex) that follow that similar pattern, with the only one to bring anything new is Renata who is visably older as well as slightly more muscular that the standard female champion. It is only now, in 2022, after 4+ years of this same pattern that we're getting a proper monster champion.
4 years.
Overall Gwen is not a horrible design and does do some neat things, and although both I and many others wish that riot would've done something more different (think yarn hair, more janky/unstable movements, visible stitches etc), I do believe that she was simply not released at a great time. And all of this is not even mentioning her automatic association with the Sentinels of Light which OH BOY that's a whole 'nother can of worms.
same here. x3
Femininity and badassery are not mutually exclusive!
I know this comment is old, but it would be cool if riot make a skin for viego and gwen where, one looks more monstrous, lanky, ghoulish like appearance, while the other is but a small little chibi doll dancing away on the battlefield with her comical large scissor.
I understand the wanting a creepy doll, but like, she was made by a person to look pretty and brought to life by a soul that wants to do good, there really is no reasson for her to look like a monster.
indeed... why do ppl want an orianna copy when they dont even care about orianna being a doll in the first place?
Gwen is the doll you had that to you totally believed was a real person growing up. Your explanation seriously makes her design make sense. While I did enjoy the prospect of her being an animated doll, her being a doll isn’t intrinsic to her character. Another amazing video!
He overthinks her design really. She's just another elegant, badass anime Hatsune Miku/Rem type of girl and that's it.
@@vonbl3 uh....k
@@vonbl3 yeah true
@@vonbl3I disagree.
The main thing I get from this is Gwen is just vibbin
That's literally accurate Fr fr🗿
I dont know why but you describing isolde making gwen like a little girl would see a princess just warms my heart. This review was really good.
It just occurred to me while watching, but her bobbing idle animation is perfectly in 3/4 time, like a waltz. I don’t know if that’s intentional or not, but it’s another aspect of Gwen being the idealised princess character like you mentioned.
in animation, ALL is intentional because all must be reviewed and aproved
Hopefully Riot Games will think carefully about how the introduce/ingrate anime aesthetics and themes into their future champs/storylines. I enjoy Gwen's design but I understand that there needs to be a balance between the anime style and the style of Runeterra
Honestly that's my problem with this stuff. If they followed OTHER archetypes that was fun, or focused more on creating stuff that didn't look like the same girl with different hair / outfit, I'd be so much more interested...
At least Gwen can be put in Runeterra with a few minuscule justifications, Seraphine on the other hand looks out of place...but Skyen has already explained the why, so im not going to repeat myself.
Also a person with Blue hair is not that strange in Runeterra, just look at Zoey. Straw blonde hair that turns to glowing pink and starlight the further it goes from her head. Look at Qiyana, silver hair Sona, blue hair that turns yellow at the tips....
@@garreonlefay6703 No one is saying she doesn't fit. Honestly she's a cute design. The issue as the video says: Extreme context, repetitive design, and there hasn't been a non-attractive human female since Yuumi. And I think Rek'sai before that.
As long as Reav3 is working at Riot, this will not happen, everything went downhill when he became manager
@@garreonlefay6703 literally nobody's talking about her hair colour strawman much ?
Riot released a character insight on her and it really helps understanding their choices when it comes to her design
Awww i was really hoping you would have mentioned her sprinting stop animation, where she screeches to a halt, heels forward and everything. It really helps accentuate the cartoony aspect of her character
I had a bit on it, actually, but the animation segment was already WAY too long
You could write a 60 page essay on the associations masculinity = cinicism and femininity = naïveté. Not the point of this video, sadly, but it's still interesting to see how much "femininity" is interwoven with infantilization in tropes and characters.
Yep, that's very much in there. I'd argue it's on display in Lillia and Neeko, too, especially.
I mean she has child'-like tropes written all over her, from her hair, walk cycle to the girlish dress she wears. It feels more than femininity.
@@kitnal4143 yes yes I'm not saying it's not appropriate for her! I'm interested in how the duality between her and Viego takes on this specific dichotomy. As I said, you could write a river of words on it :)
The ironic thing is that in the way the characters actually behave and their general outlook on life I'd argue that it's actually Gwen who's the more mature one. Granted how much of that is due to Gwen having hidden depths and how much of that's because of just how immature Viego is is up in the air but the point still stands.
1:20: The Internet _wants_ blood, Skyen, and they will have it one way or another. Do you want to be the bloodletter...or the bloodlettee?
7:40: I never thought about it that way, but it's true. Viego is an incarnation what little boys are taught to think is cool, Gwen is an incarnation of what little girls are taught to think is cool.
13:55: I have an unreasonable love of idle fidgets that play only after an extended idle period, which indicate boredom or sleepiness. It's a simple way to have the game react to the player doing really unusual things.
18:05: And the same goes for her -dress- combat skirt. Very pretty, fairly regal, not remotely practical. (More practical than the multi-yard trailing thingies that some actual royal dresses had, but that's a low bar.)
25:35: T B Skyen! It's not proper to examine the animation under a lady's skirt!
37:10: I love the idea that Gwen can just turn into an ordinary doll if she wants.
P.S. Not serious about the bloodletting thing. This random Internet dude does not condone bloodying people who don't bloody abstract concepts enough to satiate the Internet's insatiable base instincts.
Did you see the video yet?
because it still says premiering for me
@@izira6351 I caught it when it was in Patreon early access.
@@timothymclean ok
I think you 100% nailed it with that 7:40 comment.
"It's a combat skirt!"
"Yeaaaaa"
*high five*
What's the deal with Gwen is that she's meant to be a likable character that's the opposite of her region and yet is still part of it. In my opinion, she's a smarter decision and a better character design than "Sewn Chaos Horror" Gwen for these reasons:
1) In case you didn't notice, Riot has been busy making lots of "contrarian" champions lately. Sylas is literally the opposite of Demacia's ideals and yet is a champion that is very relevant to Demacia. It's as if adding him changes a bland one-note region into a more nuanced place that has its own problems and has both villains and heroes.
2) but the one thing that Gwen does better than Sewn Chaos Horror Gwen is that she's likable, warm and expressive. First, it makes her much better at expressing emotion and secondly, she's meant to represent Isolde's heart. And for anybody who's actually trying to make characters for a game or story, the hard part is not making a cool character, the hard part is to make you care about her character because
3) You do realize that she's doomed from the start right? If the Shadow Isles had a main quest it would probably be "Restore Isolde's soul to restore the Blessed Isle" and that would involve killing Gwen to retrieve Isolde's fragment that powers her. Would we care if it was a dirty old doll? No. Would we care if it was a beloved childhood toy? Yes. But then again it would be severely limited by the lack of expression and it would be hard to explain why Isolde, a specifically good character was making creepy dolls. Tldr, for good or bad she's meant to be likable. Whether Riot decides to kill her for story reasons is up in the air but quite likely
4) from a business perspective, it's much easier to release a Halloween version of a popular character than to release a pretty version of a horror character. I'm also reminded of the Sewn Chaos skinline than got instantly where both Amumu and Blitz lost their skin before they even got released due to low popularity and generally looking ugly. Sorry to the horror fans out there but Orianna is the only champ that managed to pull it off and she's already got the creepy doll, not quite human, not quite object market cornered.
That's my take, and to all those who are recruiting haters to tear down her character, well... good for you. League could benefit from more horror characters and Painwheel's design in skullgirls grew on me but I also have to accept that she's a tough sell and frankly not for everyone.
Like so many of Riot’s recent designs, Gwen will be remembered more for her missed opportunities than the competent execution of her tamed concept.
That's what happened to Viego... Few care about his design being good or bad, everyone just was expecting a Mordekaiser 3.0
@@apollyon1311 no people are just saying that they have seen a champion like this before frow roit and where hoping for something new but now they just see another saraphim with almost nothing to really distinguish her from other girls in league of legends if design's like hers weren't so common in league people would complain nearly as much as they do now.
@@damianstruiken5886 THAT is why i was upset with her design. Im not mad, but just disappointed that Riot prioitized being "safe" with the design instead of trying to make her more visually interesting.
@@apollyon1311 people would have still been mad had they made him to a dark knight and huge armor
@@Kazuhiro-i It seems a lot more thought than actually conveyed went into these words of yours. Is this about how there is no perfection in this world? Or more about heaps of wasted potential like Syndra? Or did I get you totally wrong?
I'm glad you chose to focus on the good parts of Gwen to talk about, because I think Gwen still has fun feminine power fantasy behind her character. I agree it would have been a lot stronger and a more fun fantasy if she was still somewhat puppet like, though I'm not a fan of the creepy takes on her design. To me she's comes off as an antithesis of the black mist, where Viego's love/obsession ruins everything it touches, Isodle's love creates something beautiful and full of life. (people still made some cool concepts tho)
She may not be a perfect design, but I'll always appreciate a character that doesn't follow the traditional male power fantasy.
"she may not be a perfect design" well you can nitpick on literally anything to drag their value down.... like when you are trying to buy a house
She is my power fantasy woman :))
Fan boy here
her character design reminds me a lot of your take on Neeko: good concept, pretty well executed, but could be pushed more
imo i think it would be cute if she used her needle a bit more, like someone who relies on sewing up all of her mistakes to show her own character uniqueness outside of what islode made her to be :]
I hope Gwen and Orianna get some interactions. A former doll coming alive and a young woman who’s uncertain of her humanity would be an interesting dynamic to explore
I was expecting the the "Take an animation course yourself" to transition to the Skillshare ad
I considered it but I felt like it would weaken my point.
Gwen do be lookin like hatsume miku
First is was Sona
Now Gwen
R34 is gonna confuse me yet again
And I LOVE it!
Sona has left the chat
That is the point, nothing deeper than that.
Her only similarity it’s her blue pigtails.
Characters like Gwen always leave me with two contradictory reactions.
"They're all kinda samey"
and
"I like Pretty lady ♡♡♡"
OMG I love this perspective so much! Like I really agree with the fact gwen could have been so many things. So many better things in my opinion. Like go hard in on her being a child or her being a doll. But I also think that taking her design at face value without thinking of all those could have beens, she does represent what she is meant to. This opposite of viego and breath of life.
I do still think this could have been better represented if she was a literal child. I just think it would fit really well and back up that sense of exploration and discovery she's meant to embody. And there was a lot of concept art and ideation that leaned into that idea. Also League twitter stans kill me like... they get so mad over design opinions pls its just how people perceive the characterrrr.
nah... why do ppl want to force her to become an actual doll? like does anyone care about orianna being one? no point making an orianna 2... and shaco exists too
@@konakop5384 yeah i think that gonna make her design bad and the people will be like, "nyenye riot design is bad nyenye" i hate that.
I dont think so, i like her design to be a grown up woman. Bcause she alr like 100+ years old? That fits the design. She alr live like 100+ years old and never ever can feel anything with her hands or see far enough. Heck even her memory is blurry if u read the bio. Thats why when she brought to life she like "wow, i can see far. Wow i can feel the pebbles in my hand etc" she old but she doesnt have this experience that normal human being have when they are a little kid. So thats why i think her adult woman design is perfect for her. Idk about u tho, this is just my opinion.
@@drastia2246 i feel like people are gonna complain regardless lmao
I find it interesting to see Viegos and Gwens Weapons side by side thematically. Both use a very oversized Weapon/Tool. One to cut things down and destroy, fitting to Viegos theme and Gwen using a tool meant to craft or create things :)
I really liked that they maintained her extreme femininity without taking from her class. Knee length skirt, full stockings and they also gave her black shorts under her skirt, as they should for every female character in a skirt.
...and they they immediately released a skin where her skirt is completely translucent 🙃
I agree!!
Personal opinion but i really love girl characters with big dresses, and I'm happy that Gwen is an addition to that. When Zyra was released i always thought she was gonna have a model like Morgana but i got disappointed with her design haha
You don't have to use the skin, you know, it's optional
@@mikhailthegreatestdragon3627 child, I know. But that's not the point.
@@MamaFeng
You trying to take a shot at my maturity is a pretty nice way to show how childish you are, but go off on that.
Space Groove's whole thing is meant to translucent space slime, that doesn't take away from base Gwen's elegance. A non canon fanservice skin doesn't suddenly detract the value of the original design. You can have both.
waifu tax
I wish she looked more like something out of Coraline
Sadly it was never the way they wanted to make her lore. It is hard to say "she was transformed by magic into a real girl!" when she still looks like a toy
@@kitnal4143 I honestly think I would just rather she not be ''a real girl''.
Idk man, a creepy puppet seems like a much better fit to the shadow isles than what we got. Plus it would just... Look really cool
@@peppermenta4400 meh I like the fact they want to add some diversity into the shadow Isle. It is nice to have a proper counter to them that isn't just yorick or maokai. Also I am happy they didn't go living doll because then our boi Shaco would have his thunder stolen. At least this is unique.
@@peppermenta4400 Isolde wants her to live a human life, It would be fucked up if she has a stitched mouth and button eyes right?
there will probably be a skin like this at some point anyway.
Gwen isn't bad on her own.
It just that the oversaturation of cutesy sexy women in The league's roaster makes many react with "wow, again... yeah"
It like eating your favorite cake every day, 3 times a day.
Even if it is good you get annoyed by it.
@@josephwilliams1459 Seraphine? 3 of the last 10 champs being Disney are not enough for you?
seraphine isnt cutesy
anime hairstyles and now we are talking
okay redditor
I would normally complain, but Riot has been putting out a lot of hot men too: the Varus rework, Sylas, Viego, and Sett just to name a few. There's a saturation of overly attractive characters in league, but it's not really one sided to a specific gender, and that's great. Make everyone be hot!!
@@LandelRey
You had me till “that’s great”
@@josephwilliams1459
I don’t give a shit, they all feel and look the same.
Little insight; the posture of the 3rd autoattack, where she stands with the feet pointed inwards is actually a really stable position. Often used in parts of martial arts, that were ment to be used on unstable grounds (Ships, Chariots, etc. ).
One of the basic stances of karate incorporates such a way of standing and the famous (even though not rly practical) drunken master "styles" often use it.
I really, really enjoy how you make such efforts to Cultivate a healthy and positive community and a good Respect and Appreciation for the arts and the craftsmanship that comes into play with this, specially because with the nature of your videos it would be so much easier to give in to the vitriol
This will sound weird but as a transwoman who hasn't transitioned yet I attacted myself to Gwen as someone who I would loved to look as but I also understood that there was problems with her design and I was worried that you would rightly rip into her design but when you started talking about how her design could be taken as a positive thing rather than negative thing since you thought enough was said about the ways her design could be improved it made me very happy since you were the first person I have seen talk about her positive parts of her design which wasn't just "She is pretty so I like her," and that made me unbelievably happy and I wanted to cry so as silly as it sounds thank you for talking about the positive side to her and giving me hope that she isn't just a problem champion
If a character brings you happiness it shouldn't matter what other people think tbh a design can be problematic and still enjoyable and thats all that matters if you enjoy it or not though i get the want to share that feeling with others. Anyways enjoy gwen when you unlock her ✌️
As someone who collects ball jointed doll, I like her design. I still wish she was still a plush doll though, that'll be really cool holding a big scissors when you're tiny.
Honestly you convinced me to adore this character design even with its context. No real interest in a lot of the other pretty girl characters (except Qiyana), but Gwen has wonderful characterization
I never knew I needed Skyen's "dainty little hand ever so gently" voice but I do. It's perfect.
I like her design, just disappointed she wasnt a living doll, but WOW i never thought of her as Isolde’s princess oc!
to me, gwen is the representation of how isolde believed how a princess should look like. born from her love and her doll
The actual message you shared about context is everything I love this channel for. This video is wonderful in how I played it thinking This would be Gwen's funeral pyre ... And it wasn't And I LOVE your work for that. On the context note, thank you for pointing it out. It'w weird how out of League I have been for the past year and how this particular character actually got me interested in the game again. It's not for the cute girl look for that you have seraphine, not for the drama, but for the joy this character shares. Thank you for showing that in this video.
I really enjoy the fact that Gwen is Isolde's oc in everything that she wanted a superhero princess to be...
And Viego is everything that a little boy would be pretending to be in that superhero fiction.
Yup Gwen design is what ISOLDE wants not FANS of league of legends wants.
@@drastia2246 Isolde it's not real mate XD
@@rommdan2716 it is a joke buddy don't ruin the fun
Literally when I first saw gwen I was like "ooh she looks like a character design id make when I first started designing characters" and because of that sole fact I absolutely love her
Now I want to see Gwen's animations on Viego's model lol
That would be funny af
The weirdest thing about this is that, during the yawning animation, you can actually faintly see teeth in her mouth. They added that tiny detail even though there's no way anyone would notice it unless they explicitly zoomed in all the way just to watch her
30:50 That "catch" blew my mind!! That's another level of detailing a crit animation for a champ who doesn't normally build crit..
One thing i appreciate in league is the quality of the animations and Gwen is no exception.
I'd love to see a 'What's the deal with Zoe' as I'm very fond of work done animating her.
I'm glad you're able to see the positives of this design! I was also thinking that her humanity was a very nice point in favor of her design. The doll that becomes a real girl is a strong fairy tale theme that serves as a strong counterpoint to edgelord Viego imo.
The skirt doing the *floof* feels like a flower blooming, so pretty.
I'd loveeeee Isolde as a support (helping, healing, saving) as opposed to Viego as a jungler (hunting, killing, stalking, hiding in the fog of war/mist)
"first of all, say hello to Long Gwen, she's very long
but now say hallo to /eheheheh/ say hello to Mushroom Gwen"
All of her animations are full of life. It’s really smart and almost such an easy trope. Her previously empty life is just full of character and life. It’s so expertly done
And as with every OC Donut Steel, the lore is not the reason for the design, but the excuse
I genuinely believe the lore if anything else wouldn't have been as interesting. They want to give Viego and Isolde a child to add to their relationship dynamic, if Gwen was a doll it wouldn't have anywhere near the impact because the audience wouldn't believe her to be alive in the same way.
Can we talk about how cute her respawn animation is. It is adorable.
I've been out of the league loop for a while, kinda observing from an ex player perspective on the outermost ring of knowing kinda what's going on. That all said, I had no lore context for Gwen *at all* and so saw mostly the negative press context she got. Getting the information that she was Isolde's childhood doll come to life from the magic of her broken heart makes ALL her animation and design choices make sense. Loved the examination of her as a counterpoint to Viego. She's the child's fantasy princess contrasted with his brooding, obsessed, corrupted prince. The medieval/neoclassical heroine vs the Byronic hero turned villain. The toy with her heart vs the man who gave up his heart to own Isolde like a child owns a toy.
She's not over sexualized and even has a face all for herself. That's something like a step in the right direction.
Also, gosh, I just realized, part of the reason why Gwen's design is so humanized is because she's an assassin who needs a lithe, nimble, and highly articulated body.
Make her a big poofy tank who can't feel pain as a bundle of cloth or maybe a siege mage with a thread and needle, and you could have a better design.
Seeing her art, I immediately started hoping that you would check her anatomy. Even without the red lines, I've got a feeling that something might be off here....
anatomy sometimes has to be broken in order to create a distinctive and recognisable character though right?
@@nice-uc2ec maybe but in gwens case she looks like an actual human so she should have human anatomy no?
@@shibainu1428 can you say it after sivir broken back and caitlyn prestige skin with the head on her shoulder?
@@apollyon1311 yes
Isn’t it just by the dress cut? I mean that high waist?
Honestly I feel like one of the few people who really liked Gwen's design on release. I think her design makes perfect sense from a lore and thematic perspective, but as always, the key issue comes down to oversaturation
6:28 that concept is terrifying
I feel like during the entire character design section all I could think was: Doesn't this exact same aesthetic exist already is Lillia and Seraphine? Characters you just reviewed, that just came out in the last year?
dang this is so cool, i totally can feel the Isolde as a real person, designing her OC as some kind of mahou shoujo genre character
I have never played league and I don’t think I ever will due to lack of time, but I am very much enjoying your videos on these characters. Plus your commentary and voice over is very calming and enjoyable to listen to!!!!
The other day I played udyr for the first time, I never noticed the good animations in league, udyrs attack looked like he was flash-dabbing. It's amazing how we can have aurelion sol, and then a dude running in a bear suit made of 17 polygons in the same game
"Say hello to long Gwen; she is very long. But now say hello to... he, hehehe, HEHEHeeeee, MuShRoOm GwEn"
Never change, Skyen
7:15 "Gwen is essentially an OC, an original character of the do-not-steal variety."
This is such a cool take, an interpretation I know I never would have thought up myself. I love it.
I love these in-depth character breakdowns. I wish we had something similar for Magic: The Gathering characters.
Another thing abt Gwen and Viego that are opposites...
Viego’s character is led by angles with the triangle chest hole, pointy crown, padded jacket while Gwen’s is led by circles such as the hair curls, the dress twirls, and many of her animations form circular line-of-actions.
On their Insights, Riot mentioned they wanted her to be more like Pinnochio, a doll turned boy, than a living construct since they already have the likes of Orianna.
But it feels like they forgot that Pinocchio being a real boy is where his story ended and his journey was completed.
and you seem like to forget that pini becoming a human was the whole point of the story..... while for gwen its the beginning of her story.... that is a pretty big difference
32:47 the only one thing that really bugged me in this video were the scissors during the run animations. Blades and holds are not moving the way scissors should...
I like how small she is she only goes up to thresh’s knees she’s so tiny
I love that u use a heimer as your avatar, like he's talking as you're talking :3
I think my only grievance is that she could totally look and be human, AND STILL have stitching marks across her smile line.
Gwen turned into an anime waifu because, after Viego, Isolde is done with men. She now follows the true way.
Edit: I do really like the fan design at 5:57. Reminds me of Vaggie from Hazbin Hotel.
The beautiful connection to her lore is the reason I feel fine about Gwen in the end, while I still resent Seraphine's design. Gwen is a peasant girl's Mary Sue; her idea of a pretty princess with frills and bounce.
I love how your analysis' show off the true intentions and choices of making a character some way. It gives me a new perspective to champions like Viego or Gwen
You know it's gonna be good when the animation breakdown segment is nearly 36 minutes long.
Not Gwen's skirt having more animation than the entirety of zilean, shyvanna and blitzcrank
Ty for showing the great side of Gwen, she´s one of the few new champions i liked since i started playing (Kindred´s release) and it sucks that everyone just calls her "Generic anime waifu" without looking at anything else
I’ve been binging the shorts and now that I’ve hit the actual vids this is such a treat
Pleased to entertain you, Mr. Putin.
She's too adorable.
I'm die, thank you for ever.
Chad sett!
I think it would have been really neat to lean into the "ballet/theater doll" aspect of the character to make her a little more Uncanny Valley. Look at characters like Coppelia or the Doll from "Les contes d'Hoffmann"--they're both graceful and pretty at a distance, but up close you can notice how unnaturally abrupt and jerky their motions are, how glassy their eyes are, and how their faces are frozen in a single expression unless they have to talk. I feel like if you kept this general idea, but made her design and body language a little bit *off* and maybe even a bit creepy, it would go a long way toward giving her some more flavor.
Damn it, I now long for a video narrated by British Skyen...
thank you for restoring some of my naive appreciation for gwens design and animations, ive been really jaded about new champion releases since sett
her design and criticisms held me back from wanting to try her but after this video i feel tempted!
"you shouldn't be defending TH-camrs on Twitter anyway"
Shane Dawson stans: *imma pretend I didn't see that*
I would love to see a "what's the deal with zoe" !!
there's a lot of interesting stuff to observe in her animations and design, they really reflect her personality and lore
What's the deal with airline food when!?!?!?!?!?!?
What you said about her design in the "Character Design" segment gave me a better appreciation of her design.
Now ima say it and I know this video is oldish but Gwen's silhouette is one that the league really needed a lot of league new female characters are wearing very skin-tight clothes not that is a problem but it nice to see a really flowy princessy outfit
I really appreciated how you show positive perspective in her overall design. Thank you so much
Long story short; Gwen is fine.
Alternate Title: Riot's Animation Team is Very Good.
@@SeanBoyce-gp *Glances at base Seraphine* Saves a lot sometimes lol
But here, I actually think Gwen is just fine. The design is a little trite & horribly overdone & also somehow uninspired, but it's fine. The voice, animation & gameplay is all good, and her model is well done. It could've been better sure, but it'll do. 🤷
@@despitemyself226 Lol, that's a very good point. I had fully forgotten about Seraphine's... very wide range of motion.
Everyone always asks _why_ is Gwen, never _how_ is she.
she could have been much better, but she's fine
Keeping your longer videos low energy is a good thing, i think. I for one love having them on in the background while i paint my own characters. Love your videos