The Heartsteel splash art is bad, and here's why |

[@zoadragon3521]

I also feel like the darker color scheme is an odd choice considering how colorful their music video portrays them.

[@autumnavalanche1097]

i kinda agree! i think the darker lighting is supposed to hit at an industrial(?) aesthetic or backgroun but i wonder if they could have contrasted that with the cool 2d scribble effects that emphasize movement that they had in the mv? would have broken up the darkness a little if nothing else

[@Ray-wz8sg]

I remember the original version of the splash had these neon 2d scribbles (and Rhaast sticking his tongue out which they 100% should've kept) and I think the darker colors were supposed to contrast those effects, but since they removed them but didn't change the colors it just makes the splash art look dull

[@autumnavalanche1097]

@@Ray-wz8sg oh this sounds such a good idea!!! Wonder why they scrapped it, the contrast would have been sick :(

[@Nihilnoir]

​@@autumnavalanche1097but why industrial if their shitty music is not even industrial

[@cocoearmuffs6207]

honestly that’s probably the least odd choice and is more subject

[@Ray-wz8sg]

Even in the skinline where Rhaast as his own person is deleted, he still finds a way to outshine Kayn

[@duquesagammer]

Rhaast is just that cool

[@inplane9970]

They honestly should've kept Rhaast as like an alter-ego or a split personality. Kayn as a champ isn't even interesting. It's Rhaast and by extension his dynamic with Rhaast that's interesting.

[@franconunez925]

​@@inplane9970maybe some Inner voice voice could be cool, (Idea kinda inspired by Pastra's "iron lung" video)Kayn being the chill and humble dude who just tried luck after finishing acting classes and wanted a nice life with friends while accomplishing his creative goals and Kayn being the side of him that lusts over the stage, wanting the spotlight on him and seeing anything that doesn't help him to improve his artistic vision as a loss of time and care(also, his stage name can be a variation of Rhaast to hammer the point in) and the Kayn path may be him keeping his path while staying true to himself and Rhaast being him loosing himself to the stage, and leaving Kayn as just a shadow of what Rhaast is now.

[@seph123]

Because human champions wearing a different clothing is too lame to make a skin than monstrous champions humanoid or not have more potential for great skins... It's why pentakill is better than all of them bands

[@motafu1]

@@inplane9970 that's what rhaast is in this skinline, in other skins and in base lore he's just a demon who tries to take over his body

[@Jormyyy]

This is essentially the equivalent of a movie or game having a phenomenal trailer but medicore poster/ cover art. People who saw the trailer know what they're getting into and said trailer has convinced them to go see/ play the thing. But someone passing by the poster at the local theater/ game store, and their first interaction with thing is some medicore poster cover that barely catches attention or showcases what thing is about, why would they bother investing time into thing?

[@webbowser8834]

Hey man, leave Street Fighter 6 alone!

[@Angelo_MS]

It's basically a "floating head" poster

[@timothymclean]

Why would they even bother to look up the trailer?

[@samd1o14]

true but i also have to look at this splash every time i play a game with one of the skins

[@JikooFD]

smite

[@knightlynight7830]

It gets worse when you realise that every other piece of art released for Heartsteel is 100 times better, the one where Sett signs the lens and the boys pose for the camera, the one where they're preparing for their music video in their apartment, as well as their little discord icons are all so full of personality only for their main splash art to be...this

[@c04m]

Yes bro indeed, kinda wished their splasharts were that photo where it was signed by sett

[@Bwans_Art]

To be fair, Aphelios looking like an "emo kid who's being forced to be in a family photo by his mom" fits very well with his Heartsteel character hahaha

[@alexanderramsey2821]

I just felt that they overall weren't putting as much effort into Heartsteel as they had with K/DA or Pentakill or hell even True Damage.

[@eduardodemoraes1749]

Bro, what do you mean? True damage literally just got a song and nothing more, heartsteel had memes, Discord call, everything.

[@ZeppeliGaming]

​​@@eduardodemoraes1749true damage music video, song and skins were alot better then heartsteels

[@flamie-1023]

​@@ZeppeliGamingI would give the music video to heartsteel, that thing single handedly carried everything for them

[@ZeppeliGaming]

@flamie-1023 I think it's too messy and fast actually. Like it's all over the place and you can't even tell who is singing most of the time. True Damage and Kda had great cheorography and It felt like riot knew what they were doing. Here I just think they made a big animation compilation of them playing around and that is it. Nothing actually is meaningful.

[@mysteriousdora6914]

@@ZeppeliGamingits easy to tell whos singing, the only one that stumped people was ksante cause he didnt even appear on screen during his part

[@PokeRedstone]

It’s wild because the first pic we saw of them crowding around a phone for a backstage selfie looks great. I honestly thought that was the splash art.

[@justinn8541akaDrPokemon]

Also the desaturation of the non-focused characters makes it seem less lively.

[@wolfeyes555]

I remember when a version of this splash leaked and everyone started having doubts about Heartsteel as a whole.

[@RonnLawrenceRamirez]

heck everyone even assumed it was some fanart and i did too, when i saw it's genuinely disappointing.

[@vani7493]

When it was leaked I genuinely thought it must be a WIP (work in progress) because of how bad and unfinished it looked. Or fanart. But...nope, that's legit what they put out there. Yikes

[@fuckua3424]

Lol i even thought it was AI

[@bluemoon4944]

@@fuckua3424it probably is, riot splash arts are kind of sus since the ink skin line, I feel like they are not using real artists anymore, especially since an artist who worked with Riot stopped posting the process videos of his Splash Arts...

[@emote3976]

​@@RonnLawrenceRamirezoh gahd i thought i was the only one thinking. I was doubting because for riot's standards, the leaked splashart felt disappointing and boring to me that i cant believe they are the ones that made it

[@ridori7376]

I also just don't like the outfits they went with. They suffer from the same issue a lot of modern skins do where they're way too clean and shiny, like every possible rough edge has been sanded off into nothingness. They also have so many different accent colors and details that it all kinda blends together in my mind. I'd prefer simpler outfits with bold color choices. I do like K'Santes boob-window turtleneck though, that can stay.

[@kaiseayaandruis1597]

you nailed exactly what I couldn't pin down I didn't like about their outfits! there's so much going on but in a way that just blends together, the K'Sante boob window and Sett's kitty ear hat are the only things I can remember from the looks of everyone in the band

[@viktoriaschmied6627]

@@kaiseayaandruis1597 and long, green haired Ezreal. Not really the cut, just that its long and green

[@Aaron_Arjona]

​@@viktoriaschmied6627Ezreal I think manages to feel like and actual pretty boy singer the most effectively because he's simple. No jacket with a million patterns, no massive weapon, Just green hair, baggy pants and a skin-tight shirt.

[@ifergot]

Yes!!!!!! I've been thinking about this since I watched the music video when it was released. At first I thought I had a problem with Kayne, but then I realized, no, Kayne's skin is really cool. It's just that Kayne, K'sante, Aphelios and Yone don't match the skinline theme like Sett and Ezreal do. (even then, I have some small problems with sett but he can have a pass.) Like you could isolate Kayne, aphelios, and K'sante's outfits can call it a completely different skinline.

[@LadySpade101]

Honestly they should've taken the mugshots/time tracking shot that they all did throughout the music video and made a splash of that and when you put it all together it makes it look like the boys are kinda dicking around and being goofy for their big photo shoot--- also then you could get colorful with it and have the signatures and shit

[@tyresepitts7594]

I guess with the individual splash art they could've had the characters being on the different sets they were on in the music video: Kayn the laser grid Ezreal skateboarding around the lot K'Sante on the gladiator set Sett in the wrestling ring Aphelios at the spaceship set Yone flying on his drones

[@CucooCunt]

Omg it could be better if we got this splash arts. But instead we get this leaked boring and bad splash art.

[@tyresepitts7594]

@CucooCunt yeah but nothing we can do about it now

[@emote3976]

Yeah just like what they did with KDA Allout or like Pool Party where there are other champions in the background

[@cliff_ford]

Yeaaa honestly they could've just screenshot the music video with these particular scenes and made them the official splash art 🤷‍♂

[@asgard1155]

​@@emote3976dont forget about the True Damage, they also had cool splash arts and not like this rushed splash arts

[@Cazzzz321]

The fact that the K/DA comeback was more unique and interesting than an entirely new BOY band was actually a shock to me, esp because the MV had themes that surrounded each character in the MV. You can definitely tell Riot wasn't all in on this line.

[@KaterynaM_UA]

I'm SO happy I'm not the only one who felt that way.

[@emilemerian3740]

U mean to say, they weren't ALL OUT ?

[@samurai_ionian]

They didn't even build hype for this...like i genuinely felt no excitement even when teasers were being put out...like they really fumbled the marketing and promoting this time around, and when compared to k/da, they just don't stand out as much...and it sucks tbh...like the champion choices for this group are WONDERFUL and each and everyone of them fit perfectly, and baekhyun as ezreal eats so hard...so im super disappointed to learn about things like this about the group...

[@Sierra7329]

​@@samurai_ionian Role distribution is unequal. KDA you get to see each member has a unique, distinct role in the band. And a personality differences. Overall, song is good. MV is giving epilepsy. Yone and Aphelios aside from the lore(yes i know they are producers and musicians), contributes nothing to the band identity in the MV. The song is 70% Ezreal carried. It does not look good from boyband perspective. Ksante's vocal should be imposing and can standalone but get's overshadowed by Ezreal. Kayn's and Sett's rap is ok i guess but like i said, overshadowed by Ezreal.

[@Nixahma]

​@@Sierra7329might be the wrong character but I saw a lot of hype for the ez vocalist in the music video comments, especially along the lines of him being underrated as a singer and this being his big break. They might have chosen to give Ezreal a bigger vocal role because of that. Not saying that's at all a good reason, but it might explain the imbalance.

[@timothymclean]

Imagine if each member of the band was doing a cool post in the foreground of their splash art, while 2-4 other members of the band goofed around behind them, sucking all of the cool out of the pose with the contrast. It doesn't have to be all six characters drawn six ways, it can just be a couple!

[@dragon-ye2mw]

seriously! when i saw the splashart my eyes went straight to Kayn and Rhaast fooling around inside the car instead of the other members that are supposed to be the focus

[@user-wu7ew8yb3w]

The colors aren't very well done either imo. It feels so muddy and without focus. KDA splasharts did copypaste the characters, but the focal point was very clear. I can tell Kai'Sa is in the front because the others are in the shadow and clearly further back. The light and contrast here isn't strong enough. Idk I can only describe it as muddy.

[@toninomatalone7323]

"muddy" is correct. As a matter of fact you can see in the kda splash that the one who's not "center" does have a different splash where they're "in the shadow" with just some highlights, whereas the heartsteel is just the same splash but with a filter splattered on top to "remove focus", but since that clearly isn't enough, they NEED to highlight the central skin with a small glow around the skin... overall just a really bad job in terms of composition and "art direction" i'd say.

[@anyannemarie]

i honestly think the artwork they used as teasers to the group would’ve worked better as the official splash art (the one with sett writing heartsteel)

[@azzafromtazza7744]

Or they should’ve had one splash art where they actually interact with each other kinda like with some of the April fools ones. The one with Pug’Maw and the champions as toys is one of the cutest things in League.

[@MagmaMonika]

Agree with all the points but the peak of the splashart is sett having peace signs over Phel’s head in one of them

[@mikastarrydust]

Actually so true, at least there's one splash art where one member is interacting TAT Could have done it for the rest....

[@lastcrustacean2154]

When I first saw it I was hoping it would just be a promo image to use as like a Twitter header and that the members would get splashes either by themselves or as duo's

[@stefanmantz1851]

It did look cheap but I couldn't understand why. I was thinking maybe the camera angle kinda boring as well as the posing or the feel that the color or lighting gave off. Never thought that we saw this before with kda

[@tiniestlumpia]

The irony of the splash art is the promotional art is SO cool, the original introduction to heartsteel is so cute and highlights each characters personality so well...in game / in splash it looks so flat

[@KnightlyRadio]

I didn’t understand why I didn’t like the splash art so much until this video. I got into Heartsteel because I heard they did fake discord calls for the promotion and the seer personality from their discord profile pics alone got me hooked. To me, Heartsteel shines when it’s just a bunch of guys goofing off and shaving fun- whenever they’re ‘professional’ it’s just not as charming anymore. I adore the idea of their individual splash arts having the other guys messing around in the background. Also they could have had the others interact with Alune since she’s a psychical person and their manager- I would love to see the dynamic between her and the band.

[@miss.mirana4061]

I honestly feel like alune got treated so dirty not many people know she is the band's manager and she only appears when aphelios is in the forefront of the splash art and even then he doesn't interact with her like c'mon he could have at least put hes hand on her shoulder or they could have done a matching pose i feel like it's a wasted opportunity to show their dynamic as siblings, they also could have had her join the discord calls to show how she is with the rest of the band and how they interact with her SERIOUSLY C'MON RIOT it's the only skin where she's physically present and her and aphelios are not separated and they didn't use the opportunity to show how they interact with each others?

[@apollinarian]

Riot's cashgrabbiness really shows through in this project, especially with the line-up imo. Six champions are a bit hard to balance and manage in art and short music videos... but it's also a perfect setup for K-pop-style sub-units featuring just two or three champions. They split easily into two as K'Sante/Kayn/Aphelios and Sett/Yone/Ezreal since the first group is pretty much equivalent to the second in terms of physical builds (and lane roles, minus Kayn and Yone) respectively. Sets the stage for more music videos which can just mix n' match group members without struggling to feature every one of them. This really emphasizes their redundancy, though.

[@viktoriaschmied6627]

It honestly feels a bit like half was planned from the start and the other half was added for maybe diversity? Not sure, but certainly came in after the og were done to fill up

[@raisylvaine8398]

I’m listening to this analysis and I am appreciating how Sky is able to inform us as to why it feels cheap…but my brain keeps going “mmmm, Bara man has a boob window.”

[@sera48g]

😭

[@cherry_tonic]

having the boys messing around and arm wrestling when someone else is in the front of the splash would be ADORABLE…

[@inplane9970]

Even though Heartsteel has a much bigger starting budget compared to KDA and TD, Riot is still playing it safe with how much they invest in it. They only gave KDA their individual splash arts on their comeback because they proved to be major successes with stable contracts. TD got individual splash arts because it's clear they're not going to have a comeback with how disjointed the featured artists are. If Heartsteel proves to be a global success AND all the artists agrees to keep a contract with Riot, then their comeback is going to look a lot better.

[@megantheestalin]

dont say that…let me believe that true damage is coming back…

[@inplane9970]

@@megantheestalin As much as I want to hear Keke Palmer and Becky G serve another absolute banger, I doubt any of them renewed their contracts with Riot unfortunately. That's just the unfortunate fact of collabs. They're volatile and hard to maintain relationships with, so a Korean GG like GIDLE maintaining good relationships with American pop artists like Jaira and Madison is already unheard of. Most international collabs are a one-and-done deal, so it's no wonder Riots going all-in with KDA.

[@linniei]

I think that they should have mimicked kpop teaser/promo photos of each member, something like that Ezreal illustration that was to promote their magazine interview but elevated. Like seriously, have you seen those? They’re gorgeous and this comes off as lazy. I understand they aren’t a kpop group but it’s way more creative to illustrate splash arts as if they’re posing for a camera than whatever this is.

[@charlotteb.5542]

1:41 The spikes look like claws which is kind of creative but he also looks like he’s doing uwu kitty-cat hands.

[@Milkiia]

After all the good illustrations they post as teaser I was genuinely shock to see the splash art

[@JuanVu-t9b]

Riot nailed the Kpop aesthetic and fantasy with the first K/DA then completely butchered it. Heartsteel doesn’t even feel like a band, more like a gang of misfits running around with background music

[@mas8705]

The example you showed for K/DA is a fine example of why this set of splash arts does kind of crash and burn a bit. Yeah, they are doing the whole "copy and paste the same backdrop" but then when you look at Evelynn, it is like she told the camera man that her ass is planted on the car and they are going to need to move the camera over to her if they want her close up (whereas the guys of Heartsteel are just changing places). Also (and this is a slight tangent), if you are going to have Kayn in this group and have him be the "Super Edgy Artist," you could have had him either on the hood of the vehicle too or at least doing something to make him stand out rather than doing the "sup." pose that everyone else is doing. Not to drop comparisons to Dead By Daylight, but he really should be like the Trickster and be even more outgoing in comparison to everyone else (while looking like he would burn everyone else alive at the first given opportunity. Not yet though since he needs to build his reputation up more before going solo). It's funny too since I just came up with this random idea before watching the Heartsteel video just now to confirm that this is how he kind of acts (such as watching him shove Ezreal away from the wheel while they are driving in the Ice Cream Truck while still taking up as much of the camera for himself). Yeah, he's one of the boys, but he does seem like the one who knows he's too good for the others, but just hangs around them just to build his name up (and the splashart could have been a great way to showcase this and make it seem like unlike the rest, he could have his picture taken and feel like he is the headliner. But his posing makes it seem like he is no different from the rest).

[@yoisakikanade_]

^^^ yeah exactly this, the kda one kinda has internal logic atleast bc it looks like they stay the same but the camera is moving but with heartsteel theyre just arbitrarily moved out of the way in completely different spots

[@ghostsuru8429]

This video really explains my feelings about the new band. Instead of something new, or even doing it better than the first one, Riot really choose to not go all out like they did for K/DA and True Damage. It really does feel like they wanted to put little effort into this new band.

[@karisaysthings]

When I first saw this piece, I genuinely thought that it was just a way for them to introduce us the character. I was hoping to see different splash arts for each character. You're 100% right - - their strongest point was their frat boy energy and I wished they leaned into that more.

[@aruvius]

I think the repositioning concept was kinda cool, at least when they did it for K/DA. I feel like they wanted to do that again but experiment with it a little more, like adding a real backdrop instead of just a random space but just didn’t execute it well. I know Riot was willing to edit splashart due to criticism, but I don’t know if they’ll go the full length of making brand new art for them.

[@danha3107]

Big agree. I feel like a lot of their appeal as a band and what differentiates them from KDA is their interactions, dudes being dudes (non-toxically), the Discord calls

[@zombiekid1999]

This feels so much like the forth round of SG skins where there are just too many characters it feels oversaturated especially because yone and phel dont REALLY need to be in the group. Not saying i dont think they bring nothing to the dynamic of heartsteel but lets be real here they added them to make more skin money. So the fact that they added them and didnt invest into the splash art really says a lot (also the fact that they didnt add rakan as a dancer is a big miss xD)

[@slylover123]

For all the money they put into art, the largest complaint I have for their virtual groups is that they never have enough visual assets and re use the same art across their products, social media, their promotional material, etc

[@admenraarodriguez6010]

yeah i actually felt something off instantly upon looking at it but didnt know how to express it

[@marshallmallow6336]

I would have liked it if each splash art was a group selfie taken from each different member. like ocean song Zeri with the rest of the characters in the background.

[@quietpandora4855]

That's why the wirld rift splash art is better, it is more charming, more fun and preent the characters so perfectly portrait, is a shame they don't really use that art

[@IoniaZero]

They are in wild rift with other splash?

[@qwormuli77]

What's even worse, the way they studiously ignore each other while posing (as they have to by this design) makes them feel really standoffish and almost hostile towards the other band members. I believe those implications are pretty close to the last thing you want to give for a cohesive band, unless you want to run some plot about deep seated dysfunction for the drama.

[@botchubi1731]

dude this is spot on! i really get the feel that riot don't want to invest in this skin line. They are espected to be on pair with KDA, but the skins don't have new interactions or animations. I would have preferred a second "true damage" if this is the commitment they are making

[@SuperGreenSmartie]

I hope you do a full video on the Heartsteel MV, it really was such a banger and did a great job of establishing the characters and their dynamic. My favorite is what they did with Kayn; he's still a cocky edgelord with his verses and style but also more bratty and chaotic. And he seems genuinely happy/estatic when he's interacting with the group, like he can't fully keep up the persona b/c he's having so much fun performing with them.

[@kazedoodles2383]

I also wanna bring up the fact that they're not that contrasted to show off the individual boys that well. Especially for Ezreal who is the shortest character in the group and in a pose that makes him so much smaller than the rest of them

[@charliepea]

I was disappointed that the first leak (the one with this splash art) was the actual splash art and not a promotional banner. Since the music video is so energetic, why didn't they add some energy to the splash arts as well? The skinline is okay but the splash art just doesn't motivate people to be fans of the band. Not only that, KDA only has 4 characters and it's a good number to fit in a single 16:9 canvas. Heartsteel has 6 and it might overcrowd the canvas. WAY better if they just give each character a splash even it that will take money and more than 8 artists to do it.

[@pedropaulo5600]

My first impression of this splash was actually "too much colors and they are all ugly"

[@flayawag4334]

I completely agree, but when i saw the music video i was like oh their designs arent that bad and the more i watched it the more it grew on me. But when i looked at the splash i was like why is it so drab and dreary

[@estherkirby]

they shouldve pulled a pajama guardian group splash art with them interacting and playing with each other. what a missed opportunity

[@whatonearthisthat869]

I always thought with the heart steel and KDA skins that This was intentional stiff faces and generic poses are common in K-pop and so you will see his focus on their features or the outfits. They don’t really focus on i’m characterization in K-pop photo shoots or in model photo shoots in general I’m guessing that’s what they were going for but overall I don’t know and I still think you made a valid point 😊

[@rainbowcoon]

the illustrations they posted on twitter felt better than the actual in-game splash arts, honestly

[@lintree]

It takes a special kind of splash art to be this actively disengaging to look at

[@user-ov5nv1ff1b]

This whole thing just feels strange to me, even like the choice of champions, like Yone and K’sante just feel so out of place to me because they look older than the others, it’s like riot just chose the most popular dude characters trying to fit them all together afterwards, as well the designs of each of the champions feel like so bland and samey compared to og K/DA, like after watching the K/DA mv for the first time I could remember a unique costume detail to that skin each member had, but I’m struggling to remember anything unique about the heartsteel skins other than like rhaast, overall it really feels like the riot execs just phoned this one in

[@ChoccyMilkk]

They deserve better but I doubt Riot will go the extra length and do better, individual splash arts.

[@thedumbone2687]

I think it's funny - and you made a great point out of it - that Kayn's (normally) completely seperate forms egt to interact, while everyone else doesn't.

[@zanzaklaus2496]

IMO the casual art they did as a promotion for Heartsteel is way better than the actual art and designs. The fun part of Heartsteel is that it's all these cool cute sexy boys who are all super close friends with each other, and the casual designs really sell that vibe. Hope we get a Hearsteel Casual skinline IMO.

[@I.Simmonds]

Breakdown of the music video.....come on Skyen you know you want to! Do it.....Deweeeeit!

[@starbit5065]

One of the biggest issues for me is that the Champions who are supposed to be in the "spotlight" for their specific variation of the splash art don't even seem to stick out that much. They don't really take up that much screen space to feel like the focal point, and even though the rest of the group has slightly darker contrast it isn't enough to make them feel like they're in the background. You'd assume it was just a regular promo image rather than the actual in-game splash art. It's so weird, because Riot has had a ton of splash arts in the past that featured multiple Champions at once in a nice, cohesive and visually clear composition. I genuinely have no idea why they didn't do that with Heartsteel's splash art and instead decided to give us the copy/paste variations that we got.

[@Morfe02]

rockstar band, they are a popband with "street style" lmao just make KDA male with Gragas Mundo Morde and Urgot

[@aaronmeyer3664]

Glad to see we share these thoughts. Ever since the splash leaked I thought to myself: "That's it? Really?". It just doesn't look like a splash art at all. Looking at some recent releases it's easy to see how these fall flat. The La Ilusión line is a pretty good example because they are just so much more interesting visually. I really think it's a shame that these are so lame because it just makes me worried that this is gonna be another True Damage situation (even though those had great splash arts) where the band just kinda... fizzles out.

[@IoniaZero]

This "splash art" to me looked like a promotional photo that riot would post just to generate more hype and the splash arts would be revealed at the end of everything, idk

[@notdante1151]

All mistakes will be forgive as soon as they release Arcane 2 in 2024, and if Arcane 2 turn out to be just as good... Then I won't mind for them to keep making a few more mistakes.

[@de4deye130]

Nice touch would have been if they made the splasharts like snapshots of the music video. Kayn driving in the car with him in focus and the other member in the background. A shot of Sett when he jumps on the car to get into the fighting ring. Just scenes from the music video with a more splashart camera positon and maybe more details etc. But they were going with this a standard thats the band member photoshooting which doesnt fit well with the entire "were doing our own style" theme of Heartsteel

[@napoleonvasquez5034]

The splash art keeps feeling like a promotional poster from Weibo or something.

[@NojoJojo598]

It's funny because the actual promotional artwork is better then this

[@myku1182]

1:14 I just noticed that aphelios' sister is included in his splash art and yet didnt appear in the music video

[@UrsaMajoris9]

Alune stands out more than the members themselves

[@eldritchcupcakes3195]

Kind of reminds me of the Disney princess pink void. Look at any collectives of them and they are copy pasted of eachother in different spaces not interacting

[@picoparadox461]

Heartsteel's splash art looks like a random group of friends taking a photo with a shoddy camera. I have no idea where I should look because there is so much going on and the colors are so dark. KDA's shared art worked because there are only four characters and, when they change places, those that aren't supposed to be the focus stay in the back shadowed allowing each of them to shine.

[@macedo1321]

Heartsteel is such a kda cash grab that I wish they actually did a third kda skin line

[@christopherdavis1622]

I think I would have preferred 1 or 2 splash arts with the whole gang, then if you need to focus on a specific character for the loading screen zoom into that one character like they do for previous skin lines.

[@omrizubary]

"Aphelios looks like an emo kid who is forced to be in a family photo by his mom"😂😂😂

[@xanithdegroot5407]

A suit saying "Just copy whatever worked the first time" has been the feeling behind a lot of skin lines recently. Star Guardians, Highnoon, Immortal Journey. They all have had the same aspects of the original skins that we loved, but they lacked soul. They all have felt just... Cookie cutter bland. The love for what the skin's aesthetic is and the story they tell has been lost, and as a result the skins are just. Uninteresting. Boring. Flat out bad. It's honestly just kinda criminal.

[@Shamanized]

It's baffling only cause of how good so much other splashes look. My guess is, people who aren't artists had way too much say in what the splash NEEDED to be and were too controlling, so then the artists threw their hands in the air and went "fine" and so instead of pushing back and ensuring it's something actually exciting and interesting, they gave up and just dished out the minimum viable product to please the higher-ups and make the weird swappable-figures thing work. ALSO I wonder if this splash is intentionally meh to make room for the prestige or "All-Out" versions to appear significantly better.

[@LifeOrbes]

K'Sante is doing the "The Rock-Fanny Pack" pose lol

[@SytianIvanov]

I don't think it's them saving money or putting less effort because every other skin art this year has been high quality no exception. Someone or several people at Riot genuinely thought the idea was good.

[@shambles1845]

As usual you are pretty much spot on. I honestly believe if they just changed the splash arts to something more interesting these skins would sell so much better. As someone who is a simp for the band concepts, I want to buy them all but this splash art just. Sucks. Its baffling that Riot seemingly spent so much time and effort to colour code the boys in the MV and even going as far as to give them little icons to represent each of them as individuals to just say "fuck it" and use a group photo for the splashes. Not to mention the shitty monocolor border theyve haphazardly slapped on every skin that COULD have been color coded to fit each member individually.

[@gespy796]

weird that they tried using KDA's splashart concept not really working for me, there are probably fanarts that would work well as each champion's splash art

[@Snazzysnail15]

Ksante looks like that old photo of the rock wearing a turtle neck. If that’s intentional, at least the lame pose is funny

[@swisschese1323]

For the first time after so long, we have a turnable situation where the splash arts are worse than the ingame skins.

[@linkxiaoyu4315]

as a kayn main, i appreciate being able to see every form of his in his splashart, but here all i see is the standard form, half of rhaast and litteraly just shadow assassin head. bruh.

[@TheGolleum13]

I feel like they could have just used the mugshots from the end of the music video

[@neonnyagic8803]

For me KDA splash art was reminiscent with girl games character selection or dress up game What they couldve done with the boys was to adapt the concept of relay dances where each member can take a spot light and the rest of the guys do what ever they want either hype up or goof around like you said The splash art is missing that kpop flair and it just looks like a car commercial instead

[@lucastle]

When I saw it the first time on a leak I tought "hey, maybe it looks so bad because it's just a wip and they are going to fix it" cause I also play Genshin impact and I have a lot of experience on leaks getting a lot of hate when they are still just a work in progress, but seeing that it was really the final image it's just... sad, to say the least

[@perriuxpukeke2183]

i completly agree, mainly with aphelios, in his case, you can even see that is superimposed in the splash art, looks so bad, definitely a mediocre splash art

[@ymotle]

I dont really like the skins neither, KDA are full of personality with every outfit being so custom character focus, while these much like all out its just the same uniform

[@sinn4084]

TBSkyen should be their leading promo manager honestly, he has such good takes on all of this

[@unrulycrow6299]

I think it's sad tgat there's a lack of colours im the splash art, when the music video is so lively and fun, plus it emulates K/DA but Heartsteel is NOT a Kpop band so it should have its own vibe rather than following K/DA's tone

[@muzyxl]

The splash art is literally the only thing I don't like about HS... I was expecting more, but it's riot, I guess.

[@KaterynaM_UA]

I was so sad when my favorite kpop band Ateez was rumored to be part of the group, visiting Riot LA office etc and then they weren't but now I'm so relieved they are not part of this...

[@AOGood]

"Biggest budget of the year"

[@urahpoo5948]

ugjwjshd i love heartsteel with all my heart but not gonna lie, it feels lackluster compared to the other league music groups :(

[@crownguardsfandom959]

Also alune stole the spotline in phels splash

[@rainbow_blacklight]

I totally thought something was off as well but I couldn’t put words on it - thank you!!

[@ShinyFood]

i dont like the color tone like their palette for clothing is yellow pink and black, exciting colors..why did they put them in this depressing green fog. i mean i enjoy the fan service but i wish they tried a bit more

[@edgebrowser187]

first when i looked at the splashart, i thought it was a promo art only It's so lackluster, each one feels plain and out of place af

[@kgam3s195]

I'm honestly glad I found this channel via shorts. Keep up the good work mate!

[@Bread-jf5do]

The dark greys, greens, and blues also just don't fit the concept at all... the music video is so bright and neon! even the brighter colors in this piece look neon :(

[@YaraUwU]

"biggest budget of any season"

[@kingmonster]

To quote Hellova Boss, "This reeks of shameful corporate insecurity".

[@Ridsssss]

True damage did get unique splash arts for everyone and thats kinda baffling lol

[@fawngirl]

the only thing i will say that sett does interact with aphelios in kayn’s splash !! they changed his hands to a peace sign so he’s essentially making bunny ears on phel