I’m excited to be covering such amusing news on a Friday. League of Legends, my home away from home, has just redesigned a character that was only announced last week – Smolder.
The amusing part is why they redesigned him. The character was initially designed to evoke a sort of Pixar-style cuteness but it ended up being seriously terrifying. So much so that many fans took to social media to declare that they might never sleep again.
Say hello to Smolder, the Fiery Fledgling 🔥 pic.twitter.com/oW6djOOhW6
— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) January 5, 2024
This mass outrage among players caused Riot to take notice, a miracle in its own right, and immediately start on a redesign. The core problem with Smolder was the dragon’s face, which many pointed out looked a lot less like a cute dragon and more like someone who badly pasted the face of a human baby to one of those gross hairless cats.
Think of the creepy sun in Teletubbies [Keep your hands off Sun Baby, she is the best -Ed] – that’s what Smoulder delivered to fans. The internet was also alive with comparisons to the original design of Sonic for the movie, the one with the creepy human teeth.
Anyway, the point is that Riot has listed, heard and acted and has also released a statement assuring fans that they are working on making some adjustments to highlight his dragon features, along with a GIF to showcase this transition.
Hey Guys! We heard your feedback on Smolder's face and are making some adjustment to highlight his dragon features. Thank you so much for Gem, @O0_Y_0O and @White_Leyth for making this happen! The splash team is working on some adjustments too! pic.twitter.com/6CWfVYwQjY
— Riot Lexical (Lexi) (@neolexical) January 5, 2024
But now I want to know from you, fellow League of Legends players, will Smolder still be keeping you up at night with his baby smooth face or have Riot managed to pull off the kind of glow-up usually reserved for trash teen romcoms? Let us know in the comments.