In a move reminiscent of the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog live-action redesign, Riot Games had to adjust the appearance of its latest League of Legends champion, Smolder, in response to fan criticism. After its reveal, fans pointed out that the small dragon’s face looked uncannily human, with its design out of step with other dragons in the LoL universe.
Smolder, the Fiery Fledgling, was announced on January 4 as an adorable ADC that will be easy to learn and fun to play. While the cute design of the little dragon may have been pushed too far, fans immediately criticized the uncanny valley effect of Smolder’s human-like face, comparing it to Sonic’s original live-action design.
Fans compared the design to other baby dragons in League canon, such as Dragon Trainer Tristana’s companion Riggle, pointing out how previous designs always balanced cuteness with distinctive draconic features such as scales and pointed snouts. A number of fans posted their own Smolder redesigns, giving him less human features.
Hey friends! We’ve heard your feedback on Smolder’s face and are making some adjustments to highlight his dragon features. Thank you so much for the gem, @O0_Y_0O And @white_lathe To do so! The Splash team is also working on some adjustments! pic.twitter.com/6CWfVYwQjY
— Riot Lexical (Lexi) (@neolexical) January 5, 2024
Barely a day later, product manager Riot Lexik announced a redesign of Smolder’s face, adding more scaling, texture, harder lines, and changing the shape of his eyes to “highlight his dragon features”. While no changes have been made to the model itself, the texture updates do a lot to offset the uncanny valley of the original design.
Smolder will be coming to Summoner’s Rift in patch 14.3, which is due out on February 7.
