Four new Super Galaxy skins for Nidalee, Gnar, Annie and Elise are confirmed for League Of Legends next patch. The League Instagram account showed off what these mech pilots can do when there’s evil on the Rift that needs culling. Joining Super Galaxy Fizz, Shyvana, Kindred and Rumble, these space knights are ready to kick some ass.
With this many anime-inspired skins, it’s hard to keep track of who belongs where. Mecha Malphite would fit perfectly alongside Super Galaxy Annie and her robot Tibbers, but that’s not the way Riot Games does things. Every champion with an SG skin has some form of transformation or a pet, allowing artists to go crazy with their ideas for a maneuverable robot suit. But then, you look at Mecha Sion, who transforms into a train, and you throw all logic out the window.
As a League fan since season two, I get pretty frustrated when I can’t identify a skin right away. All of these muddled archetypes make it harder to guess. I took a few months off from playing to reevaluate my life and my need to grind LP, and when I got back I had no idea what happened to Summoner’s Rift. In the middle of teamfights, I’d get Battle Boss Malzahar confused with Evelynn or SKT Zac with discarded bubble gum. Keeping up with items and new champion releases is already extremely hard to do, but when you throw mixed-up skin genres into the mix, it becomes almost impossible.
Back in League’s early days, skins didn’t really have to fall under the same umbrella as something else. Rocket Girl Tristana and Suprise Party Fiddlesticks were completely unique, Riot didn’t feel the need to slam them into some niche to appeal to different consumers. Now that the game has blown up into this massive cash cow, Riot is less open to the idea of trying new things. They know people like to buy Star Guardian and Blood Moon skins, so they just keep cranking more of them out each year. Soon, we’re going to reach a point where we have two full football teams of Sailor Moon rip-offs and edgey ninjas to choose from.
There’s an occasional one-off skin, like Hextech Tryndamere, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Maybe League Of Legends is getting too big or I’m getting too old so it’s harder for me to keep up with every new trend. I love the fact that Riot Games continues to be profitable, but I wish they’d create more skins that caught me off guard. Beekeeper Singed was an amazing skin concept popular on the internet for more than three years before it finally got some love. Why not turn Tahm Kench into a dragon or Taliyah into a 1950s’ drive-in waitress instead of recreating the same skin concepts over and over.
Even though League Of Legends might not be trying new things with their skins every week, I hope we continue to get the occasional random genre-less release.
Do you think Riot Games is stagnating creativity in the chase for profit or did the skins team really believe we wanted more robots? Tell us in the comments.
