While the League of Legends community often has difficulties coming to a consensus on the game’s many divisive elements, a certain physical characteristic of the next champion set to join the roster appears to have a majority of fans unnerved.
Fans got their first look at Smolder, a new dragon champion set to debut in League at some point in the next few months, in a teaser posted to League’s social media platforms earlier this morning, with many highly anticipating finally seeing what this small bundle of fire is capable of. However, after those same players got their first glimpses of his appearance, many expressed their dissatisfaction with his “humanlike” face and features.
A majority of the responses to the League teaser acknowledge a large amount of dissatisfaction among fans, with some pointing out how much he looks like Spyro the dragon from the Spyro series, or even like a character straight out of a more modern Disney flick. As the first playable dragon introduced since Aurelion Sol, some players, including commenters CruelRice and Shyvadi, questioned Riot’s seeming reluctance to make more creature-based champions with menacing appearances—even admitting they’re fearful any future rework for League’s other playable dragon-hybrid, Shyvana, may see her face change similarly.
Others have taken the opportunity to compare Smodler’s design to that of the other small dragons in League and League-related games, such as in the Dragon Trainer skins for Tristana and Heimerdinger. Yet these fans remain optimistic something will be done about the look of the upcoming champion, with some hoping Riot steps in and does something akin to the redesign of Sonic the Hedgehog from the first live-action movie. “Hopefully Riot does another pass on Smolder because this current version ain’t it,” wrote u/lovemyzone.
Notably, this League video teaser and the original reveal of Smolder’s existence in the most recent champion roadmap indicate he is rather young and made to be “cute” in appearance and tone, meaning it is highly likely the design of his face was decided on to highlight these characteristics. At this time, Riot has not yet said anything about changes being made to Smolder’s design, though since the champion has not been fully revealed officially nor his splash art shown, there is a possibility aspects of League’s newest champion will be changed before he is pushed onto the PBE testing realm and, soon after, live servers.
Smolder does not yet have a League release date, nor is it clear when more information—including that of his gameplay—will be revealed, though it is expected Riot will provide a clearer look at exactly what fuels the fire of this tiny dragon in coming weeks.
