opinion on the porcelain Graves skin????
I don’t hate it but I’m mad it’ll take another year or more until we get another one and porcelain is such a boring theme. Stick him in an interesting skin line for once riot.
Sincerely? I tried to like this skin, I really tried, but.. :/
Well, on twitter I compared Porcelain Graves with the WR exclusive skin Dragon Lantern Graves (not the special edition) I'll transcribe it here.
Let's start with splasharts. Wild Rift's Splash arts are generally criticized, many times I don't agree, some of them are of even higher quality than those of League, which is the case of Dragon Lantern Graves. Even though it's not Graves' best splash, or the best skinline splash, it's pretty and pleasant, my only criticism is that it's a little too static, there's not much movement
the Graves porcelain splash has some problems, at first glance it is.. pretty, but whenever you look at it, there seems to be something wrong, it really is a strange splash, and it's not the fault of the artist who made it.
Porcelain Graves Splash Concepts by Santiago Parra
in the end, they(riot) decided to increase the proportions and add a lot of texture, to achieve this result, so... yeah, it's not the best splash. but it's pretty
Dragon Lantern: 1
Porcelain: 0
About the VFX, let's be honest, they tend to do something very mediocre with Graves when it comes to visual effects, apart from his legendary skin (which it would be stupid of them to do something too simple) Graves' recent epic skins haven't received as much love.
Even though the Dragon Lantern skin has basically the same sounds as the base skin (i guess) the quality of the VFX is absurdly good (better than his legendary if you allow me to say). The Porcelain one.. is... mediocre.. ofc they couldn't put something cool like Lux and Lissandra's skins, right?
I can't post more than one video in a post, so here are the links so you can see the difference between the VFX of Dragon Lantern Graves and Porcelain Graves.
Dragon Lantern: 2
Porcelain: 0
Ok, let's get to the part that irritated me the most. The narrative..
Yes, we agree that Graves is not a big "important" character in Runeterra, he is not there to be a protagonist. That doesn't mean he can't cause real chaos, and set Bilgewater on fire just in an attempt to get revenge on his current partner. Why did I bring this up? because it is absurd to portray Graves as a pathetic and irrelevant character.
With that in mind, read Porcelain Graves' bio:
Not long after gunpowder was invented, the Zodiac searched for a new protector of the Dragon Relic. Though ancient and wise, the gods struggled to find someone worthy, so they settled for Malcolm Graves. Eventually his expertise in firepower was pointed in the right direction (away from all the breakable vases)
It's ridiculous, don't you think?
They are so fond of abusing the fact that Graves is, in some ways, a comic relief, that they make him the real joke, to the exclusion of everything else about him, and making him "unworthy". It's like they're saying "ugh, should this guy really be here? Who called him?". Whoever wrote the narrative of porcelain skinline seems to hate him, for real..
Now let's go to Dragon Lantern Graves' bio:
Graves, a free-spirited mercenary from a foreign land, can hardly wait to join in the fun at the gala. For this burly maverick, harmless ol' lanterns are no more than impractical ornaments—he much prefers filling up massive dragonflame cannons and setting the night sky ablaze with 'em booming explosions and dazzling lights!
1000% better, right? It's almost a delight. It's fun, brings out a little of who he is, and doesn't degrade his image :D
Not at all!!! League is the opposite of a story-based game. Champions are meant to represent an archetype in the rift and shout some cool catchphrases. MOST are self contained, a few have interwoven plotlines that can span years. Some character stories get updated over time in the form of short fiction / comics / event based visual novels but most of that content can be looked up online.
In the case of jayce/viktor, to make ref easier for all: HERE’S THE JAYVIK LEAGUE LORE CHEAT SHEET.
League of Legends
Viktor's bio v.1 | Jayce's bio v.1 | Blitzcrank's bio v.1
Viktor's bio v.2 | Jayce's bio v.2 | Blitzcrank's bio v.2
Viktor’s short story | Jayce’s short story | Blitz’ alt bio
“v.1″ refers to their original release bios, “v.2″ to post runeterra universe reboot bios. Worth noting that some of these changes were... contentious; blitzcrank’s new origin story as something viktor did not create but simply mod is mostly ignored by fans, who still refer to original events in a vague manner. The omission of stanwick in jayce / blitz’ updated bios is a big questionmark. To get in the spirit of the thing I just go all in the ‘Unreliable Narrator’ aspect of their whole shebang and cobble together my own interpretation of events.
[update nov.22]: Blitzcrank’s alt bio has been added! this 1.5 version contains a somewhat different account of events that I kind of prefer, compared to 2.0
EVEN MORE STUFF:
Read info on ALL Canon AU universes, find HD splash art, Skinline details, 3D Models & more on the Vikjayce Codex!
CONVERGENCE: A LEAGUE OF LEGENDS STORY
'CONVERGENCE' is an Ekko-led platformer game that released in 2023. An accompanying free-to-download comic miniseries was made to supplement the game's story, and it focuses on Jayce, Viktor, Ekko himself & his family -- and how they are all interwoven as the 'struggling genius' archetype in a very flawed system.
[Read here!!]
This series features a retelling of J/V's backstories through the lens of an outsider, and a bit of an update on where they are now. Surprising absolutely no one: they are still very attached to each other. (This comic is standalone, and not part of the Arcane universe.)
Legends of Runeterra vikjayce content:
[ Jayce’s Deck / related cards ] | [ Viktor’s Deck / related cards ]
Jayce's Path of Champions Comic (Voiced/Viktor is in it)
Jayce voice interactions | Viktor voice interactions (he shares this vid w other champions, pops back from time to time)
*They both keep extensive research/life notes addressing themselves. It’s very undying highschool girl cute. LoR is sometimes referred to as its own continuity; their cards are both a progression of their story and a what-if scenario.
Arcane universe limited content:
[ Jayce Talis’ journal ] was available to read in the league client while the show was airing. “Far From Home” “Progress Day” “A Powerful Partnership” are all diary entries; the layout is a bit finicky but click on chapter numbers to progress, the image on the side changes to match!
Wild Rift limited content:
[ Jayce got a champion release webtoon ] that never made it to NA servers. It quickly summarizes his deal and vaguely hints Viktor is in the update horizon.
There is a tentative translation offered by blessed twitter user crossedfires, highlight being the jayce/viktor panel wherein he remarks:
“Genius is always lonely, I know this truth very well. Until Viktor appeared – I admit it – he is the only gear comparable to me.” (uses the verb xiāngdāng (comparable) that means match, balance, correspond to). One of my mandarin-speaking friends has also pointed out the wordplay lends itself to double meaning; “He is the only gear to match/that matches mine.”
MISC / OFF CANON:
Jayce & Viktor animated stickers
Punches&Plants 2 - Altcanon comedy, various champs living in an urbanized fantasy version of runeterra. Jayce and Viktor retire from a life of rivalry to dedicate themselves to new hobbies. Viktor is a dollmaker, Jayce is a weeb. Blitzcrank has an unfortunate job.
League’s Germany twitter promo - Viktor gets his ‘man of progress’ mug.
Wild Rift holidays promo - Jayce leaves a gift for ‘V’ under the tree.
Jayce and Viktor also have plenty of AU ingame skins with their own micro bios. Not linking these here since itd be too much info/ u can easily google; they share the Battlecast universe (ppl like this one) and the Heavy Metal universe (ppl dislike this one for various reasons, namely retconning Viktor’s full machine skin from ‘his last stage of mechanization’ into a very unfortunate stereotype.) They were meant to be an annoying player and an annoyed dungeon master in the Riftquest universe but riot scrapped Viktor’s skin. RIP
if anything else cool happens or I remember a missed spot I’ll update this!
Splash art and promo art for upcoming Wild Rift skin line featuring Ekko and Jinx...oh and Samira (Legendary). Can’t believe Jinx and Ekko swapped colors. Pretty awesome!
Original | KDA ALL OUT Indie | KDA ALL OUT Rising Star | KDA ALL OUT | KDA ALL OUT Superstar | Graceful Phoenix | Ocean Song | Prestige Ocean Song | Star Guardian | Mythmaker | Faerie Court | Crystal Rose