Just wanted to answer a few frequent comments here, and leave this pinned 😊 First off, I did really like KDA and thank you for filling me in on more info in the comments! Secondly, interesting to see about the male vs female gaze thing. I see now how majority of you instead, think it is for the female gays, and that I might not be correct on that one, and I may have to agree with you, haha! And thirdly, MORE has been going round my head all afternoon, when editing a Blue Eye Samurai... So you may be seeing me go over KDA again sometime. I may be hooked tbh, and this could just be a slow burn 😂
Interesting fact is that we have KDA to thank for Arcane being released and not getting cancelled. You might remember them mentioning this when watching "Bridging the Rift" ^^
@ The Last Airbender is the first Story arc and while it was sold to Nickelodeon as a kid's show it can be easily watched by adults too. Legend of Korra is a follow-up but stands on its own merits. Korra for me is the tomboy to measure all tomboys against.
@@shanajeangedeon9060 Someone can understand the concept of an AU and just not like it lol. Arcane itself literally had an AU episode so obviously it's not a lack of understanding 🤦♂
@@jeroenmandersloot It's funny that you say that under comments that are both *specifically* about the clear confusion, and therefore their lack of understanding, since we're obviously not talking about dislike😂 Reading comprehension is an important skill😗👉🏾
@@ClaudieTV Don't worry, it's just funny to see. For me, I watch people experience this kind of confusion in so many other fanbases, too; that's why I'm always so surprised that people still get confused by it🤭 Edit: most of the time I've seen this happen with people that are new to DC superheroes and the fact that not *everything* takes place in the same universe even when with the same characters
The top player in Korea, arguably the world, going by the gamertag (in game player name if you did not know that) Faker is a national celeb, starring in national commercials just like some top athletes in other countries.
@@ClaudieTV Anything above 50M viiews on RUclips means that whatever idea that Riot tried to do at that time worked. Another indicator is if there are more of such stuff. You can see the pattern clearly in all their stuff. KDA, cinematics,, skin lines, music videos, opening ceremonies. Stuff that works will get views and more iterations will follow.
@@ClaudieTV to give you a bit more "faker" the most famous esports player has a shrine in south korea. league in 2024 released a skin in game that has his signature for 500$, in korea it made over 100 million dollars. thats not counting in any other country. also league is super big in china and south korea, like league makes 100 of millions a year from just those 2 places.
It's understandable because arcane fans don't know these champions and their stories. But for league players seeing their favorite champions in a music band was a huge thing. RIOT was very ambitious about this project. Then arcane came out. Everyone forgot KDA.😅
"KDA" pronounced just as the letters, stands for "kills/deaths/assists" which is how people represent their stats in a game of League. Like "I went 12/2/5 last game." That's popular for a lot of multilayer games actually.
there's also another group, that has Ekko as one of its members, called true damage and they have a song called giants with a pretty sick mv but that one isnt kpop
The fifth singer who shows up in the second song, the one you said looks like Jinx? Her name is Seraphine. In League, she is actually a popular singer in Piltover, and Caitlyn is a HUGE fan who gushes over her and asks for an autograph and stuff when they encounter each other in game lol
@ClaudieTV Yeah, almost all of Caitlyn's in game voice lines are incredibly prim and proper, and interacting with Seraphine is basically the only time she drops that and is a bit silly and flustered (in a fangirly way, not a romantic one, obviously) Speaking of, have you thought about reacting to some of Vi and Caitlyn's non-Arcane interactions? League voicelines, Legends of Runeterra content, interactive comics, etc? The romantic nature of the relationship was only ever hinted at before, but there were quite a few blatant hints lol. For example: there's one interaction where another lady tries to flirt with Vi and makes a comment about bringing her flowers, but Vi is like "no thanks, I prefer cupcakes"
For kda I never really seen it for the male gaze, yes it is sexy and alluring the reading of it as such is valid but quite frankly I view it more of a female gaze type of way? Like talking in massive broad terms not many men care for the hyper jewelry and extreme pop star aesthetic of the character designs outside of the most basic sex appeal. From being in the K-pop community there is a TONS of queer people who love it so there’s something about the presentation that appeals to the queer gaze
On the, "Why do they think I'd like this?" question, I'd suspect at least part of it was that you kept fangirling over Kai'sa in the other cinematics, and Kai'sa is one of the four members of K/DA. As an aside: The first K/DA video (POP/STARS) was made because Riot failed in its first attempt at making Arcane. They'd spent a couple years on Arcane, and the evaluation was that it just wasn't good enough. The animation studio they'd contracted for Arcane (Fortiche) had built up their staff a great deal in anticipation of such a large project, and if Riot didn't have the work for them, they'd have to downsize, with no guarantee that they could get those people back if Arcane was greenlit in the future. So instead, Riot started other projects that they could use Fortiche for, and I believe the first of those was POP/STARS. Those projects kept Fortiche fully active until they could do a proper re-write of Arcane. (Source: Bridging the Rift, the behind-the-scenes series on making Arcane.)
6:27 KDA exists in an alternate universe from the usual League of Legends stuff. Theres actually a bunch of different AU’s that each have their own continuity and storylines. This is why we were so excited when Riot started doing Arcane, because they could literally do ANYTHING they wanted and there’s so much to choose from!
Something someone else pointed out in the "Villain" video that is an amazing attention to detail thing, is that the scenes where Evelyne is walking on the ground that is very uneven and has rocks all over, her footing is very unsteady and you see her actually jerk a little with some of her steps, as if she is a real person stepping on rocks while where high heels, you can see her ankles buckle a little bit. Once someone pointed that out, i can't unsee it now.
11:12 I think we were excited because while Arcane was still in development these music videos went viral and were the first big hit for the animation studio that eventually was working on Arcane to begin with. So not only were we loving the catchy pop music, but we saw the potential they had in animating characters and that just made us really excited for what Arcane could be. Also, in terms of the girls we thought you might like it was probably the one with the leather jacket spray painting the walls rapping with the animated mask that was the closest to Vi and Caitlyn that we thought you’d enjoy 😂
Not 'eventually' working on, they were contracted after doing the Get Jinxed video for Riot they had produced and other animation studios had turned down the project. The first few episodes were already almost done when the project was suddenly put on hold and nearly cancelled when Riot was having second thoughts. The studio head at Fortiche decided not to tell his employees the project may be cancelled and took on the KDA video as a means to keep them busy in the downtime. The video went viral, and showcased their talent, both in animation and dynamic camera use (note how the camera always seems to be moving backwards throughout), which reinvigorated Riots faith in the project moving forward. In that regard, if it weren't for Popstars, we might not have gotten Arcane.
No that is wrong. they did work on Arcane years before KDA. Get Jinxed was actually why they wanted to make Arcane. KDA was made because Arcane was on a hold and they had to give some work to Fortiche for that time. Did you not watch "Bridging the Rift"?
11:32 I know what you mean but I don’t think so. None of my male friends are even interested in it when I show them. The only ones who were excited, cared, or even watched it or talked about it were my girl friends. Any KDA stuff really.
11:32 I don't think so...a lot of my female friends swore their lives in servitude to K/DA members mostly to Evelynn when they first saw and heard them so 😅. As a male, instead of male gazing I'm jamming to some bangers and how cool they sound, I'll leave the simping to the girls.
YEah if it were the case, there'd be more close up boob shots. But they're just being cool and sexy. That's not particularly pandering to the male gaze.
The concept many don't even notice with this combination of characters is, all these girls are "against all odds" existences, meaning not one of them should be alive but they are, so putting them into one group was kind of a hell yea thing for them. explanation edit: Ahri, the Gumiho, came into being by consuming travellers memories, Kai'Sa, the girl that fell into the Void and was the only one to ever come out, Evelynn, once a cloud of something or other that formed itself into a Succubus like being and Akali, a trained Assassin went against her entire Clan to be free and won... none of these scenarios should have been successful.
4:52 And they also have Pentakill, a virtual heavy metal band made of League characters that has released three full albums and an interactive online concert :D Yeah, Riot are crazy in terms of additional content :)
That girl in the 'More' video you said looks like Jinx is a champion called Seraphine. She's a pop star from Piltover (born in Piltover to Zaunite parents is what it says in her bio), and it's canon that Caitlyn is a super fan of her lmao. There's even some official league art of her and Vi in a crowd enjoying a concert.
Honestly I just thought you'd enjoy the videos in general not specifically for the women. Then again I know a lot of lesbians that go feral for K/DA so I can understand why some less informed people might think "all lesbians must like pretty girls right."
I can't count the number of times a straight friend has asked me if I thought some character was hot, just because they're a woman, because for some reason they assume that lesbians don't have preferences like everybody else.
Actually KDA is not the only band that league have, they also have other too like, heartsteel (boyband), pentakill (metal), true damage (hip-hop) and the song is also all banger and have their on fanbase. I believe riot is not just a game company 😂. And yes there are some gay, lesbians character in the game aswell as the nonbinary, so they really give the fans what they need for, attractive female and male character.
@niel-w1g it's alternative universe skin like the oddisey, project, but I know what the thing that you were talking about, it's the song that Porter Robinson on the star guardian skin right
Most of the skins, which is how league of legends monitizes itself, take place in alternative universes and use the base characters and adapt them to various thematic ideas and are usually part of a skinline, which is a number of the characters all adapted for the same universe. They jump genera and setting and usually have some backstory associated with them.
it's definitely more "girlcrush", and also as a guy i can tell you that i don't think i was the target audience at all 😂 it's for girls that like femme fatale or super sexual diva character. definitely more popular in Korea where League has a much bigger grip on the culture. i'm a hobbie musician and i love Riot's music, the use of synths and drums and the production level is simply god tier.
If you're surprised by League having a kpop group you'll be even more surprised to know that they actually got 4 of them. K/DA is the most popular but the one with the most songs and my personal favorite is the Metal group called Pentakill which has A LOT of songs, like multiple albums. You won't recognize any characters in it tho. True Damage is a trap group that has Ekko in it, and there is also Heartsteel which is a very popular boyband and the most recent one. edit: Can't say that K/DA appeals to the male gaze. As far as I know is more popular with the female side of the community. Like, kpop in general is more enjoyed by girls and K/DA is like the apex of what a Kpop girl group is like. Maybe Evelynn appeals a lot to male audiences because she is so sexy and lustful(part of her characterization) but even then most Evelynn is as popular with the girlies and gay man.
I didn’t think you’d be into this honestly. It’s a fun thing if you are a fan of league and the characters (especially for K-Pop fans) but this isn’t something someone coming from Arcane is going to care about at all. I’m not sure why people thought you’d be into it.
The KDA videos show off some of the details and care they put into their animation. Pop/Stars has a number of easter eggs to various characters and skins. In Villain, there's a moment where you can see a wobble in Evelynn's step from the heels she's wearing, as well as her lips sticking together a little in one of the extreme closeups. I know people don't tend to recommend Drum Go Dum because it's not animated, but it features one of dancers who performs for the group (who perform for their respective characters as the singers do). There's also a Behind the Scenes video that shows the full choreography that was done for Pop/Stars.
Very good video, this is what a Lot of people calls RIOT a Music Company who make videogames for promo of their music, if you like metal music they also Made a metal group call Pentakill with very good songs as yo can expect
10:10 In one of the episodes of bridging the rift during the initial process of developing arcane, riot weren't convinced with the script so the production of arcane was paused. But animators wanted something to work one and that's how riot started venturing into animated music videos (like KDA) and cinematics (as well as other songs). These side quests gave animators something to work while the production of arcane was reviewed. They didn't wanna lay off the animators (who were mainly freelancers) after promising them a project to work on.
It's so funny for me that reactors often know Madison Beer but don't know that (G)I-dle are selling out stadiums in Asia and arenas all over the world. Not that i would expect reactors to know them, it's just funny. :)
Watching KDA for the first time here and immediately thought “This is probably huge in South Korea.” Interesting, but not my cup of tea. Still, you showed willingness to expand boundaries and explore - away from our beloved Arcane theme. Thanks!
I think you already know this, but these are skins for different characters. The KDA members are from an alternate universe, separate from the main League of Legends and Arcane storyline. However, their characters also exist in the original Runeterra (League's and Arcane's universe) lore, where they have designs and backstories that fit the game's world and narrative. For example, the girl you said looks like Jinx because of her hair is Seraphine. She’s a singer from Piltover, and her parents are originally from Zaun. Since she was a kid, she could sense and hear other people’s souls, it was like a bunch of voices in her head all the time. Her parents, with little money, bought a rare hextech crystal and turned it into a device for her ears, so she could finally have some peace and silence within her head. But the crystal held an ancient presence inside it that whispered gentle things to her. Those whispers made her realize that we’re all shaped by the voices of others. Now, she uses her music to inspire the people of Piltover to move forward. In the game, Caitlyn has a voice line for Seraphine, and we could say Caitlyn is a fan of hers. ;)
This is a great explanation. As someone with no LOL experience and happened upon Arcane just before Miss Claudie, thank you for taking the time to detail some of lore in an informative and not condecending way. I really appreciate it my friend.
Virtual group of 4 members, first song was Pop-Stars, released for Worlds 2018. The leader, Ahri, the nine-tail foxxy girl. The main vocalist, AKA DIVA, Evelynn, the succubus. The rapper, Akali, the ninja. The main dancer, Kai'Sa, with the missile launchers on her shoulders. They came back with K/DA when Worlds got hosted in China, introducing a featuring with a Chinese singer, who's voicing the new champion (at the time) Seraphine. On that occasion they add personnal songs for the original members who say something on the individual level for the members : - I'll show you - Ahri. - The Baddest - Akali. - Villain - Evelynn. - Drum go Dum - Kai'Sa (I have no clue why no one would have told you about this one too, I love it, also love that Kai'Sa despise being a successful dancer is very shy, you'll understand watching it why I point out that she is VERY SHY.) The success of K/DA despise being the first worldwide hit on all charts for Riot games isn't their first success on the music scene, their first band was Pentakill, who over time released no less than 3 albums. One of the music got it's own video : Mortal Reminder. Pentakill was created after Riot added the Pentakill skins in game, a musical band themed skin series for a few champions and players asked "Well, where's the music now ?". The Mortal Reminder video features the original members as well as the latest addition to the group in the end : Kayle. Mortal Reminder : ruclips.net/video/5-mT9D4fdgQ/видео.html&ab_channel=LeagueofLegends Drum Go Dum : ruclips.net/video/E_PbH5y70Tc/видео.html&ab_channel=LeagueofLegends Later they created True Damage, more of a Hip-Hop band, mixed genders. Then came Heartseel, another K-Pop group, boysband. It's not recent, but I can recommend out of curiosity - or even to react, might be worth it - this IGN documentary on K//DA ( and Riot music ) : ruclips.net/video/de-xgNEsE3I/видео.html&ab_channel=IGN Fortiche, the animation studio of Arcane animated the K/DA Pop-Stars video, in Bridging The Rift they talk about it, we even get a small cut of the Fortiche founders plus Christian animated on this choregraphy. On a last personnal note I like to point out how Arcane uses music, songs and an international cast of talented arists to build their musical universe, featuring many languages. It was not surprising to have Korean in K-Pop songs, but in More Seraphine's singing in Mandarin. True Damage adds Spanish lyrics, and in season 2 of Arcane they went all the way to have an entire song in Mandarin, another in French. I like that they do this, not only because it's a great way to connect with their audience, but also because LoL players come from all over the World, and in my opinion it brings us together despise the fact we don't all have the same native tongue.
4:53 "How much stuff have they done?" Mostly music apart from Arcane and the cinematics, and a TON of written lore stuff - short stories, comics, a book iirc, some story focused smaller games. And they nail everything they touch. Well, except their main games lmao.
Good reaction! Not everyone needs to love everything. And like you said, you still liked it. League of Legends is a free game, and the thing they make most of their money on is "skins", it's like different cosmetics you can put on the characters you are playing. For example, Caitlyn has a "Arcane Commander" skin, that is pretty much her white beret outfit from the series. You can kinda see the skins as their own AU, since there is many different skin lines, such as "Pool party", "High Noon", "Cafe Cuties" etc. K/DA is another skinline, and sure, while I think the people that worked on the songs (both video and the music itself) didn't do it for anything marketing, it sure was a big marketing for the skins in the end (but hey, something can be good on it own merits, even if it is used as marketing. And at the end of the day, skin sales is what allowed Arcane to be funded, haha. There is actually one more K/DA song called "DRUM GO DUM", but it never got its own animated video, but a "live action" dance video (by a dancer named Bailey Sok). Might be worth to check out either way. ruclips.net/video/E_PbH5y70Tc/видео.html There is a rap/hip hop group called TRUE DAMAGE, they have one song named Giants. Ekko is a part of that group. ruclips.net/video/sVZpHFXcFJw/видео.html There is a boyband named Heartsteel, and they have a song named "Paranoia" ruclips.net/video/MDErQ1KTzaI/видео.html And there is a Metalband named "Pentakill", they have a few albums that you can find on youtube. :)
Okay since people didn't talk about this, in More the FIFTH member was Seraphine and she is an aspiring artist from PILTOVER. There is no confirmation but some reddit posts point out her posters were there in Arcane as well. Her whole thing was because she is an aspiring musician in the K/DA Universe she wants to be part of K/DA because they her are idols (pun intended). So Riot actually made her a whole profile, premium skins, and even produced and released two songs with Jasmine Clarke. However, because this was such a new idea and instead of her Piltovian lore they went more for a cash and grab approach, her release was very controversial. They fixed it ever since, and her lore is really interesting now. If you ever do voicelines, she is also a fun champ to get into (besides, Kindred, Xayah and Rakan, and Fiddlesticks *also I promise you will love Evelynn voicelines lol* )
League is free-to-play which means Riot mostly make money off of it by selling cosmetics. KDA was a line of skins for characters and these videos were mostly to promote those skins(similar to the Pentakill[Metal group], Star Guardian, and other skin lines). The skins lines (where groups of champions have similar themed skins) are alternate worlds so your comment about side quests is pretty spot on.
Claudie, anyway, everything you do just make my after work evenings so much better and chill. We have 5 hours difference so 4pm for you is 9 pm for me, always a pleasure girl!😘 Thank you!
To add on the origin of KDA, we learned in Bridging the rift that they made use of Fortiche to make the "popstars" video while they were re-evaluating the story for arcane as it meant they'd have to go those animators go if they didnt have a project ready for them to work on at the time.
KDA is the reason i found interest in league of legends cuz im a fan of madison beer so it started from here and now im obsessed with the game and everything about it
As a guy, personally I think the designs have a lot of 'male gaze' becauase that is partially about the characters they chose for the music band. All this being said, I also feel like it is an appeal to the female audience more than anything. If you try to tap into the K-Pop fanbase for a crossover, I'm imagining you're trying to tap into all the fangirls. Don't mean no offense or anything but I'm guessing the vast majority of kpop fans are girls
In episode 2 of the documentary "Making Of Arcane" they explain how the "Popstars" music video of KDA came to be. The team basically had to stop the production of Arcane pretty early on to figure out how to make the story better, which meant that they didn't have work for the animators at Fortiche. But Riot obviously didn't want to let these animators go, because they probably would get hired somewhere else and wouldn't return. So they tried to find other projects for them to work on in the meantime, one of them being the "Popstars" KDA music video.
I'm not really into these videos, the music, the aesthetic, kpop in general, etc... but it was fun watching Claudie stumbling through this little journey, confused about why this had been particularly hyped up and recommended to her. ^^
I don't think it is especially for the male gaze, I mean then one could pretty much every music ever categorise that way. But maybe I am not very much into the paranoid reading of some feminist theory but prefer the more emancipatory stuff. And in that regard I think KDA does great, showing confident women in positions of power. I mean Ahri on the throne in More, it doesn't get much more queen than that.
Personally I am not a huge fan of the KDA stuff either. However, I have to disagree when it comes to this being aimed at the “male gaze”. I’ve heard way way more women talk about KDA than men. In fact I’ve met a few women who knew absolutely nothing about League but have non the less heard of KDA because they are K-pop fans. Especially in South Korea K-pop is huge with women. From my experience straight men, at least in the west, tend to be turned off by K-pop and the bright over the top dazzling aesthetics. K-pop tends to appeal more to gay culture. It has a lot of resemblance to drag with its gaudy outfits and over the top performances. I have a suspicion this is part of why people thought you’d like it. This is coming from the perspective of an American male. I know this stuff tends to be much bigger in Korea.
I love how you bring Arcane in almost every sentences, it's so me 😅 My friends already hate me because i talk about it it a lot (cause i have a big hiperphixation on Arcane) and i'm glad to see that i'm not the only one hehe. Ty for the video!
"Why would I like it": Commenters already said stuff like "you prob would like it cuz of the animation studio or the catchy songs itself" but when Popstars or More released people made 30min to 1 hr reactions explaining the animation and how they mix 2 to 3 different languages into the lyrics while rhyming and all that while not mentioning that the members are hot once. Your Arcane reactions also consisted of analyzing Fortiches style so I think you overlooked a lot of "skill" there. Also if you look up Akalis base splash art you'll see she has dragon tattoos with clouds - these clouds are what the Popstars graffiti mean (nothing to do with Jinx).
Prefacing this by saying this is only my opinion. No hate to anyone who loves this band. The audio of the band is incredible, and the doc details how much effort was put in to creating an authentic sounding Kpop band which I totally appreciate. What struck me most though while watching it though, was they didn't speak, at all, about the thought put into the visuals. I get that the characters are based off LOL characters from the game, so they had to maintain some of the continuity, but the visuals are VERY male gaze heavy. There wasn't any women showcased in the documentry that were a part of putting this together, and it clearly shows. The male fantasy of women makes the proportions so..... inaccessable. If you watch the 2018 worlds, where the vocalists - who are stunning themselves - perform alongside AR versions of the characters, and you see how rediculous the proportions are.
@ Oh, the music is cool for sure, and I really enjoyed watching the vocalists perform at worlds. Just not my visual. Give me Arcane any day of the week
Do you remember in Bridging the Rift, when they talked about how production on Arcane was suspended? One of the things that they did to keep the lights on at Fortiche was have them work on the K/DA video. They even had that bit where they animated the Fortiche creators doing the dances.
KDA means Kills, Deaths, Assists in league of legends. Its like the leaderboard of a single game with info how much champions someone killed, how much he died and how much assists he got.
For added context, K/DA was made for the 2018 World Finals, which took place in South Korea, which is why they decided to do a homage to K Pop. In fact, the two Korean singers are both members of the then rookie K Pop group (G)-Idle.
Piltover, Arcane, Jinx, and Vi are like less that 1% of the content in league. I think thats why people are getting tired of the comparisons. They want you to experience the OTHER stuff in league, because theres so much more than just Arcane.
Partdon me my friend, but this is Miss Claudie's channel. She can do whatever the heck she wants with it, and anyone that is "getting tired" can just shuffle themselves off to any of the plethora of other reactors more suited.
@Kittyfantastico I was being pretty respectful in what I said. There was no malice at all. Also she doesn't need simps like you to white-knight for her. She's a big girl and can respond to comments on her own.
@ She mentioned multiple times in her video about why she was reacting to this... BECAUSE LEAGUE PLAYERS ASKED HER TO. Me explaining why the majority of her fanbase wants to see a certain thing is not simping. You know what IS simping? Attacking someone for an innocuous comment they made, that was trying to help the creator understand why her fans wanted to see certain videos. Jesus Christ go touch some grass.
@ My friend. I was not attacking you. That's the whole reason I called you my friend. I talked to you on the same level you talked to Miss Claudie. If you took that as attacking you, then please take a moment to consider how she may have taken your comment.
Kda was the beginning of modern league quality. That year they also released the rise music video and these two back to back in a month become the gold standard for what league fans expected from riot and fortiche (untill arcane animation). Funny enough riot only has a music side because of Christian as well he pushed for it and released their first song WAY back in the day and it took off. They have 2 whole metal albums as well(might be 3 i don't remember), its crazy the amount of none game stuff they have done. Plus they did all these before the even had more games than league of legends.
i have a feeling you were so disappointed by popstars that your mental state became "im gonna dislike everything at least to the point that its not as good as what i find attractive parts of arcane". for More you mentioned its for the male gaze. i couldnt disagree more. ive seen so many reaction videos of girls/wlws blushing and commenting on Akalis midriff and jacket, Evelyns diva-ness , Ahri's queen like poise and Kaisas arms and back. im barely halfway through the video so maybe you will like Villain because its so different from the rest, but i dont think you gave these a fair shot
No no no wasn't disappointed, I said I liked it just didn't love it. I sat here and watched them for 45 mins.... I gave it a fair review come on man haha
Miss Claudie is entitled to her opinion. She has already stated that she will be honest in her reactions, so why try and make her feel bad for giving us her truth? There is a nice way of disagreeing with someone and then theres the way you went about it. The world is a better place BECAUSE not everyone likes the same thing.
I didn't know KDA before but I kind of like the songs. But what I find much more blatant is the style of the music videos and the production values behind them. Especially from the first two videos. It's so crazy what Riot is doing with all that LoL money. I think it's great and I hope they make a lot more cool shit. Especially series and maybe a film or two (with CaitVi) etc.
Good morning @CaudieTV. In the video about the creation of Arcane, it was mentioned that K/DA was a stage in the animation process (as an experiment). So, without it, Arcane might not have existed. ❤😊😊😊
Main connection is it’s all about the music, think of the Arcane soundtrack, opening seasons have a song, and they’ve put so many bands and songs together. True Damage, HeartSteel, Pentakill Some other songs like As We Fall and Curse of the Sad Mummy,
Sorry but when they started dancing I laughed so hard. Your reaction was a mirror to mine. It’s funny cuz I’m actually really into Kpop. I know of KDA but never got into their songs (which is hilarious cuz Twice is my ult and some of the members literally sing in I’ll Show You) but it’s always been just outside my peripherals. Watching this with you has been…hahahaha sorry. I guess it’s also not my thing and I kinda knew it so I didn’t go further when I found out abt them? I’ll admit it looks really cool. But yeah…it’s all so very male gaze-y and it’s not for me. Still cracking up whenever these Champions suddenly start dancing and dropping it like it’s hot. LOOOOOL I can’t…. The songs by themselves are fine (girl crush Kpop sounding) and I’d likely listen to it again but these MVs weren’t made for everyone and I belong in that small group, and that’s okay. Thanks for the honest reaction Claudie. Would never want any version of you other than the genuine one
As a male I do find these characters attractive but what made me love KDA is the quality of the songs and how cool the characters looked in these animations. I do prefer pentakill musically though, they got real fleshed out metal albums and the virtual concert was fire
Akali was basically my Vi before I even watched Arcane 😭 I'm a big KPOP fan so I watched K/DA for the G-IDLE members who voice Akali and Ahri and I got into league that way
Man Riots music videos are insane. I mean the demand for a show was so high BECAUSE of the music videos. 2 exceptional ones that you'll probably enjoy are "Giants" from True Damage (another music group) and "Paranoia" by Heartsteel (yet another group) And techincally all those are as much for marketing as Arcane was. Arcane might be even the extreme of that mindset since they definitley made a loss on paper. But you could also see it as keeping the fans loyal and happy
You should watch the 5-part series of Bridging the Rift (making of Arcane). They say how Arcane was crap in early stages and were asked to shut down. But they had come up with a really good animation team and music team and they didn't want to let them go due to lack of work. So the animation team went on to do the Rise cinematic, while the music team worked on getting KDA off the ground, which went on to become a hit adding to Riot Game's portfolio as a music studio. This gave the Arcane team time to write a better story and get people who actually knew what they were doing to create what we know as season 1 of Arcane. Without their near failure, there wouldn't be KDA.
League makes full on concerts on the oppening ceremony of the Worlds finals. Riot its been always linked with music and producing it. Maybe you should see some opening ceremonys so you'll be more in touch on how this all plays. 2018 and 2019 opening ceremonys are a good place to start
In terms of everything that has to do with League of Legends and Riot Games there are tons of things that they do. On the video game side: League of Legends itself, 2XKO a fighting game, an unannounced MMORPG, a Online Card Game called Legends of Runeterra that is basically and archive of just artwork for the universe, and for 3 years another studio that partnered with small developers to make games inspired by in canon events such as The Ruined King, A Song of Nunu, The Mageseeker, Hextech Mayhem, Convergence (which follows Elmo), and Bandle Tales (similar to stardew valley). Riot Games also has like 4 main music groups: K/DA (a K-pop group whose members are Ahri, Evelynn, Kai’sa, and Akali… sometimes Seraphine) Pentakill (a rock band whose members are Karthus, Kayle, Mordekaiser, Olaf, Sona, Viego, and Yorick) True Damage (a multilingual group whose members are Akali, Ekko, Qiyana, Senna and Yasuo) and last but not least Heartsteel (named after an item in the game whose members are Aphelios, Ezreal, K’sante, Kayn, Sett and Yone). There is a joke among the community that Riot games is actually a record label that makes games on the side. But other than that there a lot of comics as well that follow the story of certain champions. Katerina I believe is the most recent comic that was released and goes into detail her relationship with some characters who are important to her story and how her abilities work within the canon of the lore.
I don't know if you've seen it but in another skinlines and Alternative Universe Jinx is in one of the versions of star guardians, they have videos and songs too
KDA was a smart idea, it got League on music video shows and channels when those came out and tv cartoon stations had them, plus trained up a group for live events like Worlds. And even the animation is training and trying things. A lot of this was biproducts of just good media.
If you recall from Bridging the Rift, K/DA was actually a project made by Fortiche during the downtime where Christian and Alex were rewritting the show, in order to give the studio some work to do edit: Specifically the Popstars video was made by them, and K/DA exploded from there
11:48 100% agreed with you on this. Especially when we watched Arcane first and saw how the women in the show are portrayed - I think KDA and CaitVi just give off a very different vibe. I grew up watching K-pop, so I can understand the appeal. I, too, when watching KDA after Arcane was expecting CaitVi vibes. They’re just different, in my opinion, and both are enjoyable for different reasons.
@@dontmindmefangirling3123 for sure 😂. The only member I can think of is Amber from F(x). But that’s because I have not been following K-pop as closely in the past decade 😅. Edit: re-rep bc I didn’t reply to you properly the first time.
I kind of surprised. K/DA especially Popstars has tones of references and amazing animation (remember this was made years before Arcane) and your reaction was "oh, its just girls in slinky outfits, not my thing."
I have been binging Sense8 (needed to remind myself of the power of found family and unconditional love) and could't help thinking all the way through how much you would enjoy the amazing landscapes and cinematography. It was filmed in multiple countries, and really does showcase each beautifully. In fact, the main reason Netflix cancelled it was because they flew to so many countries to film in that the budget was astronomical. Also know you would enjoy the very different, but amazingly written 8 main characters because of how diverse and REAL they are. Though be warned, if you ever do react to it, i will probably leave about 100 comments per episode 😁
Caitlyn's roundhouse kick in episode 8 was my "Hello there!👀" moment, so I get it. Maybe instead of a high-femme pop act, we could do with an alternative rock band with leather-clad and tattoed redhead somewhere in there...
I think people thought you'd like it more because it was "cool" hahah like, I think it's cool too, the songs are good, the videos are well made, but at the same time it's not something that makes me connect with them and want to know everything about them.. I've known these songs for a few years and to this day I don't know the names of all of them, I don't know their lore, mainly because I don't play League, the only thing I know is that Seraphine is from Piltover xD I think the really coolest part of all this is RIOT's idea of doing this, of producing songs and creating these characters within the universe mixing several forms of art. Very cool!!✨ And I remembered a cool detail now, there's a voice line from Caitlyn in the game where she asks Seraphine for an autograph: ruclips.net/video/W1_yX8IyIbk/видео.html 😂
Just wanted to answer a few frequent comments here, and leave this pinned 😊
First off, I did really like KDA and thank you for filling me in on more info in the comments!
Secondly, interesting to see about the male vs female gaze thing. I see now how majority of you instead, think it is for the female gays, and that I might not be correct on that one, and I may have to agree with you, haha!
And thirdly, MORE has been going round my head all afternoon, when editing a Blue Eye Samurai...
So you may be seeing me go over KDA again sometime. I may be hooked tbh, and this could just be a slow burn 😂
Interesting fact is that we have KDA to thank for Arcane being released and not getting cancelled. You might remember them mentioning this when watching "Bridging the Rift" ^^
Have you watched/reacted to Avatar: The last Airbender and Korra by chance? You would like Korra, Toph, and Suki.
@@Rainoth_Rai Yeah true
@@petrameyer1121 No haven't seen it :)
@ The Last Airbender is the first Story arc and while it was sold to Nickelodeon as a kid's show it can be easily watched by adults too. Legend of Korra is a follow-up but stands on its own merits. Korra for me is the tomboy to measure all tomboys against.
arcane watchers are so confused by the skinlines and alternate universe stuff its funny
Right? Like, it's not a difficult concept and has been done in so many different things; you'd think people would be used to AUs by now😂
@@shanajeangedeon9060 Someone can understand the concept of an AU and just not like it lol. Arcane itself literally had an AU episode so obviously it's not a lack of understanding 🤦♂
@@jeroenmandersloot It's funny that you say that under comments that are both *specifically* about the clear confusion, and therefore their lack of understanding, since we're obviously not talking about dislike😂
Reading comprehension is an important skill😗👉🏾
@@shanajeangedeon9060 Only started watching Arcane in end of November, and still learning a lot of the history of LoL, be patient I'll get there
@@ClaudieTV Don't worry, it's just funny to see. For me, I watch people experience this kind of confusion in so many other fanbases, too; that's why I'm always so surprised that people still get confused by it🤭
Edit: most of the time I've seen this happen with people that are new to DC superheroes and the fact that not *everything* takes place in the same universe even when with the same characters
For context of the Kpop crossover, League is MASSIVE in South Korea. I mean absolutely huge. So it makes a lot of sense.
Gotcha ok, wasn't aware
The top player in Korea, arguably the world, going by the gamertag (in game player name if you did not know that) Faker is a national celeb, starring in national commercials just like some top athletes in other countries.
@@ClaudieTV Anything above 50M viiews on RUclips means that whatever idea that Riot tried to do at that time worked. Another indicator is if there are more of such stuff. You can see the pattern clearly in all their stuff.
KDA, cinematics,, skin lines, music videos, opening ceremonies.
Stuff that works will get views and more iterations will follow.
@@ClaudieTV to give you a bit more "faker" the most famous esports player has a shrine in south korea. league in 2024 released a skin in game that has his signature for 500$, in korea it made over 100 million dollars. thats not counting in any other country. also league is super big in china and south korea, like league makes 100 of millions a year from just those 2 places.
It's understandable because arcane fans don't know these champions and their stories. But for league players seeing their favorite champions in a music band was a huge thing. RIOT was very ambitious about this project. Then arcane came out. Everyone forgot KDA.😅
"KDA" pronounced just as the letters, stands for "kills/deaths/assists" which is how people represent their stats in a game of League. Like "I went 12/2/5 last game." That's popular for a lot of multilayer games actually.
there's also another group, that has Ekko as one of its members, called true damage and they have a song called giants with a pretty sick mv but that one isnt kpop
Oooo cool
@@ClaudieTV Dont worry Claud, THere is a boyband as well XD
@@ClaudieTVand a metalband😂
The reason people probably thought you'd like it is cause you liked Kaisa from every cutscene she was in lol.
Ah gotcha ok
@ huh?
The fifth singer who shows up in the second song, the one you said looks like Jinx? Her name is Seraphine. In League, she is actually a popular singer in Piltover, and Caitlyn is a HUGE fan who gushes over her and asks for an autograph and stuff when they encounter each other in game lol
Oh really hahaha Caitlyn as a fangirl, that's weird for me to hear
@ClaudieTV Yeah, almost all of Caitlyn's in game voice lines are incredibly prim and proper, and interacting with Seraphine is basically the only time she drops that and is a bit silly and flustered (in a fangirly way, not a romantic one, obviously)
Speaking of, have you thought about reacting to some of Vi and Caitlyn's non-Arcane interactions? League voicelines, Legends of Runeterra content, interactive comics, etc? The romantic nature of the relationship was only ever hinted at before, but there were quite a few blatant hints lol. For example: there's one interaction where another lady tries to flirt with Vi and makes a comment about bringing her flowers, but Vi is like "no thanks, I prefer cupcakes"
@@ClaudieTV There was a fanart of vi taking cait to see seraphine sing which was really cute ( I forget if it was an official fanart or not though).
My wife doesn't care for League at all but we had Popstars on our playlist at our reception.
Aw cute!
@ClaudieTV yeah, she wasn't a fan at first but it grew on her. Now that I'm back from deployment I'm going to traumatize her (have her watch Arcane).
For kda I never really seen it for the male gaze, yes it is sexy and alluring the reading of it as such is valid but quite frankly I view it more of a female gaze type of way? Like talking in massive broad terms not many men care for the hyper jewelry and extreme pop star aesthetic of the character designs outside of the most basic sex appeal. From being in the K-pop community there is a TONS of queer people who love it so there’s something about the presentation that appeals to the queer gaze
this !! ik so many queer + female kpop fans who were so excited for this (and still are)
Fully agree, KDA is for the girls and the gays.
On the, "Why do they think I'd like this?" question, I'd suspect at least part of it was that you kept fangirling over Kai'sa in the other cinematics, and Kai'sa is one of the four members of K/DA.
As an aside: The first K/DA video (POP/STARS) was made because Riot failed in its first attempt at making Arcane. They'd spent a couple years on Arcane, and the evaluation was that it just wasn't good enough. The animation studio they'd contracted for Arcane (Fortiche) had built up their staff a great deal in anticipation of such a large project, and if Riot didn't have the work for them, they'd have to downsize, with no guarantee that they could get those people back if Arcane was greenlit in the future.
So instead, Riot started other projects that they could use Fortiche for, and I believe the first of those was POP/STARS. Those projects kept Fortiche fully active until they could do a proper re-write of Arcane. (Source: Bridging the Rift, the behind-the-scenes series on making Arcane.)
Evelynn is a succubus so it fits the Villain lyrics
6:27 KDA exists in an alternate universe from the usual League of Legends stuff. Theres actually a bunch of different AU’s that each have their own continuity and storylines. This is why we were so excited when Riot started doing Arcane, because they could literally do ANYTHING they wanted and there’s so much to choose from!
Too bad it did went under but maybe they could revive it.
Something someone else pointed out in the "Villain" video that is an amazing attention to detail thing, is that the scenes where Evelyne is walking on the ground that is very uneven and has rocks all over, her footing is very unsteady and you see her actually jerk a little with some of her steps, as if she is a real person stepping on rocks while where high heels, you can see her ankles buckle a little bit. Once someone pointed that out, i can't unsee it now.
11:12 I think we were excited because while Arcane was still in development these music videos went viral and were the first big hit for the animation studio that eventually was working on Arcane to begin with. So not only were we loving the catchy pop music, but we saw the potential they had in animating characters and that just made us really excited for what Arcane could be.
Also, in terms of the girls we thought you might like it was probably the one with the leather jacket spray painting the walls rapping with the animated mask that was the closest to Vi and Caitlyn that we thought you’d enjoy 😂
Yeah I get it more now after doing some more research. Also like you say, like the cinematics these would have been so huge for people before Arcane!
Not 'eventually' working on, they were contracted after doing the Get Jinxed video for Riot they had produced and other animation studios had turned down the project. The first few episodes were already almost done when the project was suddenly put on hold and nearly cancelled when Riot was having second thoughts. The studio head at Fortiche decided not to tell his employees the project may be cancelled and took on the KDA video as a means to keep them busy in the downtime. The video went viral, and showcased their talent, both in animation and dynamic camera use (note how the camera always seems to be moving backwards throughout), which reinvigorated Riots faith in the project moving forward. In that regard, if it weren't for Popstars, we might not have gotten Arcane.
K/DA's success got Arcane greenlit, same studio and showed the boss's they could get stuff like arcane to be successful. Also Bangers.
Gotcha yes ok, saw that in the BTS about Fortiche
No that is wrong. they did work on Arcane years before KDA. Get Jinxed was actually why they wanted to make Arcane. KDA was made because Arcane was on a hold and they had to give some work to Fortiche for that time. Did you not watch "Bridging the Rift"?
11:32 I know what you mean but I don’t think so. None of my male friends are even interested in it when I show them. The only ones who were excited, cared, or even watched it or talked about it were my girl friends. Any KDA stuff really.
Interesting, ok. Makes perfect sense tho yeah!
11:32 I don't think so...a lot of my female friends swore their lives in servitude to K/DA members mostly to Evelynn when they first saw and heard them so 😅. As a male, instead of male gazing I'm jamming to some bangers and how cool they sound, I'll leave the simping to the girls.
And the mean time, men still waiting for another cinematic for pentakill
KDA also has a huge following inside the LGBT community, it's actually insane how much they engage with it
@@jackhilton4285i would rather have another pentakill album than 5 music videos 😅
YEah if it were the case, there'd be more close up boob shots. But they're just being cool and sexy. That's not particularly pandering to the male gaze.
I think the reaction served its purpose. It was amusing and fun to watch! I appreciate you checking all the cinematics people share with you. :)
Awesome thank you!
Hands up who else had a lonely Monday at 4pm 🖐
✋
✋
This is for the male gaze and the female gays 👩❤️👩
I think I only realized through the "Bridging the Rift" videos, that Pop Stars was animated by Fortiche.
The concept many don't even notice with this combination of characters is, all these girls are "against all odds" existences, meaning not one of them should be alive but they are, so putting them into one group was kind of a hell yea thing for them.
explanation edit: Ahri, the Gumiho, came into being by consuming travellers memories, Kai'Sa, the girl that fell into the Void and was the only one to ever come out, Evelynn, once a cloud of something or other that formed itself into a Succubus like being and Akali, a trained Assassin went against her entire Clan to be free and won... none of these scenarios should have been successful.
4:52 And they also have Pentakill, a virtual heavy metal band made of League characters that has released three full albums and an interactive online concert :D
Yeah, Riot are crazy in terms of additional content :)
Yup seen one of theirs before I think
That girl in the 'More' video you said looks like Jinx is a champion called Seraphine. She's a pop star from Piltover (born in Piltover to Zaunite parents is what it says in her bio), and it's canon that Caitlyn is a super fan of her lmao. There's even some official league art of her and Vi in a crowd enjoying a concert.
Honestly I just thought you'd enjoy the videos in general not specifically for the women. Then again I know a lot of lesbians that go feral for K/DA so I can understand why some less informed people might think "all lesbians must like pretty girls right."
Nah I did really like it! For sure! I'm just more into tomboy stuff, hence Vi and Mizu etc
@@ClaudieTV I could tell from your Arcane reactions, I think some men are just "if I think a woman is hot, lesbians must feel the same."
I can't count the number of times a straight friend has asked me if I thought some character was hot, just because they're a woman, because for some reason they assume that lesbians don't have preferences like everybody else.
2:20 K/DA is simply stands for Kills, Deaths, and Assists. So the pronunciation is just the three letters, K, D and A.
Miss Claudie apologising for making yourself comfortable in your own home is so sweet, but completely unnessesary.
Actually KDA is not the only band that league have, they also have other too like, heartsteel (boyband), pentakill (metal), true damage (hip-hop) and the song is also all banger and have their on fanbase. I believe riot is not just a game company 😂. And yes there are some gay, lesbians character in the game aswell as the nonbinary, so they really give the fans what they need for, attractive female and male character.
I know there not a band but there star guardians too.
@niel-w1g it's alternative universe skin like the oddisey, project, but I know what the thing that you were talking about, it's the song that Porter Robinson on the star guardian skin right
Most of the skins, which is how league of legends monitizes itself, take place in alternative universes and use the base characters and adapt them to various thematic ideas and are usually part of a skinline, which is a number of the characters all adapted for the same universe. They jump genera and setting and usually have some backstory associated with them.
it's definitely more "girlcrush", and also as a guy i can tell you that i don't think i was the target audience at all 😂 it's for girls that like femme fatale or super sexual diva character. definitely more popular in Korea where League has a much bigger grip on the culture.
i'm a hobbie musician and i love Riot's music, the use of synths and drums and the production level is simply god tier.
If you're surprised by League having a kpop group you'll be even more surprised to know that they actually got 4 of them. K/DA is the most popular but the one with the most songs and my personal favorite is the Metal group called Pentakill which has A LOT of songs, like multiple albums. You won't recognize any characters in it tho. True Damage is a trap group that has Ekko in it, and there is also Heartsteel which is a very popular boyband and the most recent one.
edit: Can't say that K/DA appeals to the male gaze. As far as I know is more popular with the female side of the community. Like, kpop in general is more enjoyed by girls and K/DA is like the apex of what a Kpop girl group is like. Maybe Evelynn appeals a lot to male audiences because she is so sexy and lustful(part of her characterization) but even then most Evelynn is as popular with the girlies and gay man.
I didn’t think you’d be into this honestly. It’s a fun thing if you are a fan of league and the characters (especially for K-Pop fans) but this isn’t something someone coming from Arcane is going to care about at all. I’m not sure why people thought you’d be into it.
The KDA videos show off some of the details and care they put into their animation. Pop/Stars has a number of easter eggs to various characters and skins. In Villain, there's a moment where you can see a wobble in Evelynn's step from the heels she's wearing, as well as her lips sticking together a little in one of the extreme closeups. I know people don't tend to recommend Drum Go Dum because it's not animated, but it features one of dancers who performs for the group (who perform for their respective characters as the singers do). There's also a Behind the Scenes video that shows the full choreography that was done for Pop/Stars.
Very good video, this is what a Lot of people calls RIOT a Music Company who make videogames for promo of their music, if you like metal music they also Made a metal group call Pentakill with very good songs as yo can expect
10:10 In one of the episodes of bridging the rift during the initial process of developing arcane, riot weren't convinced with the script so the production of arcane was paused. But animators wanted something to work one and that's how riot started venturing into animated music videos (like KDA) and cinematics (as well as other songs). These side quests gave animators something to work while the production of arcane was reviewed. They didn't wanna lay off the animators (who were mainly freelancers) after promising them a project to work on.
Boosting this because you beat me to it! ❤
It's so funny for me that reactors often know Madison Beer but don't know that (G)I-dle are selling out stadiums in Asia and arenas all over the world.
Not that i would expect reactors to know them, it's just funny. :)
I honestly barely know Madison Beer, just seen her in too many Insta edits lol. Didn't know she could sing before this vid, I don't follow pop hahaha
Watching KDA for the first time here and immediately thought “This is probably huge in South Korea.” Interesting, but not my cup of tea. Still, you showed willingness to expand boundaries and explore - away from our beloved Arcane theme. Thanks!
I think you already know this, but these are skins for different characters. The KDA members are from an alternate universe, separate from the main League of Legends and Arcane storyline. However, their characters also exist in the original Runeterra (League's and Arcane's universe) lore, where they have designs and backstories that fit the game's world and narrative. For example, the girl you said looks like Jinx because of her hair is Seraphine. She’s a singer from Piltover, and her parents are originally from Zaun.
Since she was a kid, she could sense and hear other people’s souls, it was like a bunch of voices in her head all the time. Her parents, with little money, bought a rare hextech crystal and turned it into a device for her ears, so she could finally have some peace and silence within her head. But the crystal held an ancient presence inside it that whispered gentle things to her. Those whispers made her realize that we’re all shaped by the voices of others. Now, she uses her music to inspire the people of Piltover to move forward.
In the game, Caitlyn has a voice line for Seraphine, and we could say Caitlyn is a fan of hers. ;)
This is a great explanation.
As someone with no LOL experience and happened upon Arcane just before Miss Claudie, thank you for taking the time to detail some of lore in an informative and not condecending way.
I really appreciate it my friend.
Virtual group of 4 members, first song was Pop-Stars, released for Worlds 2018.
The leader, Ahri, the nine-tail foxxy girl.
The main vocalist, AKA DIVA, Evelynn, the succubus.
The rapper, Akali, the ninja.
The main dancer, Kai'Sa, with the missile launchers on her shoulders.
They came back with K/DA when Worlds got hosted in China, introducing a featuring with a Chinese singer, who's voicing the new champion (at the time) Seraphine.
On that occasion they add personnal songs for the original members who say something on the individual level for the members :
- I'll show you - Ahri.
- The Baddest - Akali.
- Villain - Evelynn.
- Drum go Dum - Kai'Sa (I have no clue why no one would have told you about this one too, I love it, also love that Kai'Sa despise being a successful dancer is very shy, you'll understand watching it why I point out that she is VERY SHY.)
The success of K/DA despise being the first worldwide hit on all charts for Riot games isn't their first success on the music scene, their first band was Pentakill, who over time released no less than 3 albums. One of the music got it's own video : Mortal Reminder. Pentakill was created after Riot added the Pentakill skins in game, a musical band themed skin series for a few champions and players asked "Well, where's the music now ?". The Mortal Reminder video features the original members as well as the latest addition to the group in the end : Kayle.
Mortal Reminder : ruclips.net/video/5-mT9D4fdgQ/видео.html&ab_channel=LeagueofLegends
Drum Go Dum : ruclips.net/video/E_PbH5y70Tc/видео.html&ab_channel=LeagueofLegends
Later they created True Damage, more of a Hip-Hop band, mixed genders.
Then came Heartseel, another K-Pop group, boysband.
It's not recent, but I can recommend out of curiosity - or even to react, might be worth it - this IGN documentary on K//DA ( and Riot music ) : ruclips.net/video/de-xgNEsE3I/видео.html&ab_channel=IGN
Fortiche, the animation studio of Arcane animated the K/DA Pop-Stars video, in Bridging The Rift they talk about it, we even get a small cut of the Fortiche founders plus Christian animated on this choregraphy.
On a last personnal note I like to point out how Arcane uses music, songs and an international cast of talented arists to build their musical universe, featuring many languages.
It was not surprising to have Korean in K-Pop songs, but in More Seraphine's singing in Mandarin. True Damage adds Spanish lyrics, and in season 2 of Arcane they went all the way to have an entire song in Mandarin, another in French. I like that they do this, not only because it's a great way to connect with their audience, but also because LoL players come from all over the World, and in my opinion it brings us together despise the fact we don't all have the same native tongue.
4:53 "How much stuff have they done?" Mostly music apart from Arcane and the cinematics, and a TON of written lore stuff - short stories, comics, a book iirc, some story focused smaller games. And they nail everything they touch. Well, except their main games lmao.
"Well, except their main games lmao." 😂
Good reaction! Not everyone needs to love everything. And like you said, you still liked it.
League of Legends is a free game, and the thing they make most of their money on is "skins", it's like different cosmetics you can put on the characters you are playing. For example, Caitlyn has a "Arcane Commander" skin, that is pretty much her white beret outfit from the series. You can kinda see the skins as their own AU, since there is many different skin lines, such as "Pool party", "High Noon", "Cafe Cuties" etc. K/DA is another skinline, and sure, while I think the people that worked on the songs (both video and the music itself) didn't do it for anything marketing, it sure was a big marketing for the skins in the end (but hey, something can be good on it own merits, even if it is used as marketing. And at the end of the day, skin sales is what allowed Arcane to be funded, haha.
There is actually one more K/DA song called "DRUM GO DUM", but it never got its own animated video, but a "live action" dance video (by a dancer named Bailey Sok). Might be worth to check out either way. ruclips.net/video/E_PbH5y70Tc/видео.html
There is a rap/hip hop group called TRUE DAMAGE, they have one song named Giants. Ekko is a part of that group. ruclips.net/video/sVZpHFXcFJw/видео.html
There is a boyband named Heartsteel, and they have a song named "Paranoia" ruclips.net/video/MDErQ1KTzaI/видео.html
And there is a Metalband named "Pentakill", they have a few albums that you can find on youtube. :)
Okay since people didn't talk about this, in More the FIFTH member was Seraphine and she is an aspiring artist from PILTOVER. There is no confirmation but some reddit posts point out her posters were there in Arcane as well.
Her whole thing was because she is an aspiring musician in the K/DA Universe she wants to be part of K/DA because they her are idols (pun intended). So Riot actually made her a whole profile, premium skins, and even produced and released two songs with Jasmine Clarke. However, because this was such a new idea and instead of her Piltovian lore they went more for a cash and grab approach, her release was very controversial. They fixed it ever since, and her lore is really interesting now.
If you ever do voicelines, she is also a fun champ to get into (besides, Kindred, Xayah and Rakan, and Fiddlesticks *also I promise you will love Evelynn voicelines lol* )
League is free-to-play which means Riot mostly make money off of it by selling cosmetics. KDA was a line of skins for characters and these videos were mostly to promote those skins(similar to the Pentakill[Metal group], Star Guardian, and other skin lines). The skins lines (where groups of champions have similar themed skins) are alternate worlds so your comment about side quests is pretty spot on.
Claudie, anyway, everything you do just make my after work evenings so much better and chill. We have 5 hours difference so 4pm for you is 9 pm for me, always a pleasure girl!😘 Thank you!
Could you perhaps say “We’re getting a bit predictable?”
😂
To add on the origin of KDA, we learned in Bridging the rift that they made use of Fortiche to make the "popstars" video while they were re-evaluating the story for arcane as it meant they'd have to go those animators go if they didnt have a project ready for them to work on at the time.
KDA is the reason i found interest in league of legends cuz im a fan of madison beer so it started from here and now im obsessed with the game and everything about it
Im more of a Pentakill guy but I definitely enjoy your reactions
Hooray, thank you for your video. As always, amazing.
As a guy, personally I think the designs have a lot of 'male gaze' becauase that is partially about the characters they chose for the music band.
All this being said, I also feel like it is an appeal to the female audience more than anything. If you try to tap into the K-Pop fanbase for a crossover, I'm imagining you're trying to tap into all the fangirls. Don't mean no offense or anything but I'm guessing the vast majority of kpop fans are girls
In episode 2 of the documentary "Making Of Arcane" they explain how the "Popstars" music video of KDA came to be. The team basically had to stop the production of Arcane pretty early on to figure out how to make the story better, which meant that they didn't have work for the animators at Fortiche. But Riot obviously didn't want to let these animators go, because they probably would get hired somewhere else and wouldn't return. So they tried to find other projects for them to work on in the meantime, one of them being the "Popstars" KDA music video.
Just think of it as same characters different dimension
Gotcha
I'm not really into these videos, the music, the aesthetic, kpop in general, etc... but it was fun watching Claudie stumbling through this little journey, confused about why this had been particularly hyped up and recommended to her. ^^
I don't think it is especially for the male gaze, I mean then one could pretty much every music ever categorise that way. But maybe I am not very much into the paranoid reading of some feminist theory but prefer the more emancipatory stuff. And in that regard I think KDA does great, showing confident women in positions of power. I mean Ahri on the throne in More, it doesn't get much more queen than that.
Personally I am not a huge fan of the KDA stuff either. However, I have to disagree when it comes to this being aimed at the “male gaze”. I’ve heard way way more women talk about KDA than men. In fact I’ve met a few women who knew absolutely nothing about League but have non the less heard of KDA because they are K-pop fans. Especially in South Korea K-pop is huge with women.
From my experience straight men, at least in the west, tend to be turned off by K-pop and the bright over the top dazzling aesthetics.
K-pop tends to appeal more to gay culture. It has a lot of resemblance to drag with its gaudy outfits and over the top performances. I have a suspicion this is part of why people thought you’d like it.
This is coming from the perspective of an American male. I know this stuff tends to be much bigger in Korea.
I love how you bring Arcane in almost every sentences, it's so me 😅 My friends already hate me because i talk about it it a lot (cause i have a big hiperphixation on Arcane) and i'm glad to see that i'm not the only one hehe. Ty for the video!
Personally, I find it cool seeing this stuff through your lens for all the Arcane details you point out :D
That's good to know :)
"Why would I like it": Commenters already said stuff like "you prob would like it cuz of the animation studio or the catchy songs itself" but when Popstars or More released people made 30min to 1 hr reactions explaining the animation and how they mix 2 to 3 different languages into the lyrics while rhyming and all that while not mentioning that the members are hot once. Your Arcane reactions also consisted of analyzing Fortiches style so I think you overlooked a lot of "skill" there.
Also if you look up Akalis base splash art you'll see she has dragon tattoos with clouds - these clouds are what the Popstars graffiti mean (nothing to do with Jinx).
Prefacing this by saying this is only my opinion. No hate to anyone who loves this band.
The audio of the band is incredible, and the doc details how much effort was put in to creating an authentic sounding Kpop band which I totally appreciate.
What struck me most though while watching it though, was they didn't speak, at all, about the thought put into the visuals.
I get that the characters are based off LOL characters from the game, so they had to maintain some of the continuity, but the visuals are VERY male gaze heavy.
There wasn't any women showcased in the documentry that were a part of putting this together, and it clearly shows.
The male fantasy of women makes the proportions so..... inaccessable.
If you watch the 2018 worlds, where the vocalists - who are stunning themselves - perform alongside AR versions of the characters, and you see how rediculous the proportions are.
Very good summary of my thoughts!
Yup I agree tbh. It's cool just seems so off with the rest of League stuff. Don't dislike it tho
@ Oh, the music is cool for sure, and I really enjoyed watching the vocalists perform at worlds. Just not my visual. Give me Arcane any day of the week
Do you remember in Bridging the Rift, when they talked about how production on Arcane was suspended? One of the things that they did to keep the lights on at Fortiche was have them work on the K/DA video. They even had that bit where they animated the Fortiche creators doing the dances.
KDA means Kills, Deaths, Assists in league of legends. Its like the leaderboard of a single game with info how much champions someone killed, how much he died and how much assists he got.
For added context, K/DA was made for the 2018 World Finals, which took place in South Korea, which is why they decided to do a homage to K Pop. In fact, the two Korean singers are both members of the then rookie K Pop group (G)-Idle.
With a surprised look like what am I looking at now. Haha oh lovely honest unvarnished reaction I love it.😂👍
Piltover, Arcane, Jinx, and Vi are like less that 1% of the content in league. I think thats why people are getting tired of the comparisons. They want you to experience the OTHER stuff in league, because theres so much more than just Arcane.
Partdon me my friend, but this is Miss Claudie's channel.
She can do whatever the heck she wants with it, and anyone that is "getting tired" can just shuffle themselves off to any of the plethora of other reactors more suited.
@Kittyfantastico I was being pretty respectful in what I said. There was no malice at all.
Also she doesn't need simps like you to white-knight for her. She's a big girl and can respond to comments on her own.
@@Bakemer94 Just like you wen't simping for league players by telling Miss Claudie about what they want to see?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@ She mentioned multiple times in her video about why she was reacting to this... BECAUSE LEAGUE PLAYERS ASKED HER TO.
Me explaining why the majority of her fanbase wants to see a certain thing is not simping.
You know what IS simping? Attacking someone for an innocuous comment they made, that was trying to help the creator understand why her fans wanted to see certain videos.
Jesus Christ go touch some grass.
@ My friend. I was not attacking you. That's the whole reason I called you my friend.
I talked to you on the same level you talked to Miss Claudie. If you took that as attacking you, then please take a moment to consider how she may have taken your comment.
CANT WAIT FOR THE LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA REACTIONS VID!!
Watching your vids after long day of work, with a cup of hot chocolate is such a pleasure
Aw cute ☺️
I think you need to see more of the lore of runaterra, piltover and zaun has a lot of lore that its not in arcane, and also is really insteresting
Yup they're coming soon, sometime end of this week and next week!
୧(＾ 〰 ＾)୨
Yes its for marketing and its cool for the players , and its good music , its a win for everyone
Kda was the beginning of modern league quality. That year they also released the rise music video and these two back to back in a month become the gold standard for what league fans expected from riot and fortiche (untill arcane animation). Funny enough riot only has a music side because of Christian as well he pushed for it and released their first song WAY back in the day and it took off. They have 2 whole metal albums as well(might be 3 i don't remember), its crazy the amount of none game stuff they have done. Plus they did all these before the even had more games than league of legends.
i have a feeling you were so disappointed by popstars that your mental state became "im gonna dislike everything at least to the point that its not as good as what i find attractive parts of arcane".
for More you mentioned its for the male gaze. i couldnt disagree more. ive seen so many reaction videos of girls/wlws blushing and commenting on Akalis midriff and jacket, Evelyns diva-ness , Ahri's queen like poise and Kaisas arms and back. im barely halfway through the video so maybe you will like Villain because its so different from the rest, but i dont think you gave these a fair shot
No no no wasn't disappointed, I said I liked it just didn't love it.
I sat here and watched them for 45 mins.... I gave it a fair review come on man haha
Miss Claudie is entitled to her opinion.
She has already stated that she will be honest in her reactions, so why try and make her feel bad for giving us her truth?
There is a nice way of disagreeing with someone and then theres the way you went about it.
The world is a better place BECAUSE not everyone likes the same thing.
Not sure if you recall the BTS of Arcane, Fortiche made the first KDA clip when they decided to hold on the show...
Wait til you see that Riot also created an animation to interact with irl fans. Thanking them for the love and support just like real idols
Villain is by far my favorite of all of these. The visuals and soundscape in it make my brain go brrrr. Also, Evelynn's lore is so wild
I didn't know KDA before but I kind of like the songs. But what I find much more blatant is the style of the music videos and the production values behind them. Especially from the first two videos. It's so crazy what Riot is doing with all that LoL money. I think it's great and I hope they make a lot more cool shit. Especially series and maybe a film or two (with CaitVi) etc.
Good morning @CaudieTV. In the video about the creation of Arcane, it was mentioned that K/DA was a stage in the animation process (as an experiment). So, without it, Arcane might not have existed. ❤😊😊😊
Main connection is it’s all about the music, think of the Arcane soundtrack, opening seasons have a song, and they’ve put so many bands and songs together.
True Damage, HeartSteel, Pentakill
Some other songs like As We Fall and Curse of the Sad Mummy,
"Im just gonna let this play thourhg and then give my opinion" : AHHHAHAHAHAHAHhhhhaaa... good one claudes.
🤣
KDA? I'm a grown-ass man. 3:51 was precisely my reaction.
Sorry but when they started dancing I laughed so hard. Your reaction was a mirror to mine.
It’s funny cuz I’m actually really into Kpop. I know of KDA but never got into their songs (which is hilarious cuz Twice is my ult and some of the members literally sing in I’ll Show You) but it’s always been just outside my peripherals.
Watching this with you has been…hahahaha sorry. I guess it’s also not my thing and I kinda knew it so I didn’t go further when I found out abt them? I’ll admit it looks really cool. But yeah…it’s all so very male gaze-y and it’s not for me. Still cracking up whenever these Champions suddenly start dancing and dropping it like it’s hot. LOOOOOL I can’t….
The songs by themselves are fine (girl crush Kpop sounding) and I’d likely listen to it again but these MVs weren’t made for everyone and I belong in that small group, and that’s okay.
Thanks for the honest reaction Claudie. Would never want any version of you other than the genuine one
Yup agree 100%, I liked it but didn't love it. And yeah the dancing was a bit off for me hahaha
KDA was made by Fortiche while Arcane was paused in development so the staff had something to work on in case they continue the work Arcane
As a male I do find these characters attractive but what made me love KDA is the quality of the songs and how cool the characters looked in these animations. I do prefer pentakill musically though, they got real fleshed out metal albums and the virtual concert was fire
Akali was basically my Vi before I even watched Arcane 😭 I'm a big KPOP fan so I watched K/DA for the G-IDLE members who voice Akali and Ahri and I got into league that way
Man Riots music videos are insane. I mean the demand for a show was so high BECAUSE of the music videos.
2 exceptional ones that you'll probably enjoy are "Giants" from True Damage (another music group)
and "Paranoia" by Heartsteel (yet another group)
And techincally all those are as much for marketing as Arcane was. Arcane might be even the extreme of that mindset since they definitley made a loss on paper. But you could also see it as keeping the fans loyal and happy
Just like Nicolo ( riot ceo ) said in bridging the rift, Riot is a music company that made a game :p
You should watch the 5-part series of Bridging the Rift (making of Arcane).
They say how Arcane was crap in early stages and were asked to shut down. But they had come up with a really good animation team and music team and they didn't want to let them go due to lack of work. So the animation team went on to do the Rise cinematic, while the music team worked on getting KDA off the ground, which went on to become a hit adding to Riot Game's portfolio as a music studio.
This gave the Arcane team time to write a better story and get people who actually knew what they were doing to create what we know as season 1 of Arcane. Without their near failure, there wouldn't be KDA.
Already watched it, on the channel 😂
League makes full on concerts on the oppening ceremony of the Worlds finals. Riot its been always linked with music and producing it. Maybe you should see some opening ceremonys so you'll be more in touch on how this all plays. 2018 and 2019 opening ceremonys are a good place to start
The ongoing joke about Riot Games is that they are a music and animation company that just happen to make games as well.
In terms of everything that has to do with League of Legends and Riot Games there are tons of things that they do. On the video game side: League of Legends itself, 2XKO a fighting game, an unannounced MMORPG, a Online Card Game called Legends of Runeterra that is basically and archive of just artwork for the universe, and for 3 years another studio that partnered with small developers to make games inspired by in canon events such as The Ruined King, A Song of Nunu, The Mageseeker, Hextech Mayhem, Convergence (which follows Elmo), and Bandle Tales (similar to stardew valley).
Riot Games also has like 4 main music groups: K/DA (a K-pop group whose members are Ahri, Evelynn, Kai’sa, and Akali… sometimes Seraphine) Pentakill (a rock band whose members are Karthus, Kayle, Mordekaiser, Olaf, Sona, Viego, and Yorick) True Damage (a multilingual group whose members are Akali, Ekko, Qiyana, Senna and Yasuo) and last but not least Heartsteel (named after an item in the game whose members are Aphelios, Ezreal, K’sante, Kayn, Sett and Yone).
There is a joke among the community that Riot games is actually a record label that makes games on the side.
But other than that there a lot of comics as well that follow the story of certain champions. Katerina I believe is the most recent comic that was released and goes into detail her relationship with some characters who are important to her story and how her abilities work within the canon of the lore.
I meant ekko not Elmo lol stupid autocorrect
I don't know if you've seen it but in another skinlines and Alternative Universe Jinx is in one of the versions of star guardians, they have videos and songs too
KDA was a smart idea, it got League on music video shows and channels when those came out and tv cartoon stations had them, plus trained up a group for live events like Worlds. And even the animation is training and trying things. A lot of this was biproducts of just good media.
A lot of these songs came when Kpop was taking over the world. It was a smart move by riot at the time to go with the flow and it worked.
And that's without even seeing anything about the Star Guardians, who are a kind of Sailor Moon. A whole lore and universe around them...
Katiana all over again 🤣 i love her!!
There is also another group called TRUE DAMAGE - Giants
If you recall from Bridging the Rift, K/DA was actually a project made by Fortiche during the downtime where Christian and Alex were rewritting the show, in order to give the studio some work to do
edit: Specifically the Popstars video was made by them, and K/DA exploded from there
11:48 100% agreed with you on this. Especially when we watched Arcane first and saw how the women in the show are portrayed - I think KDA and CaitVi just give off a very different vibe. I grew up watching K-pop, so I can understand the appeal. I, too, when watching KDA after Arcane was expecting CaitVi vibes. They’re just different, in my opinion, and both are enjoyable for different reasons.
100% agree
I mean, it's pretty hard imagining a K-pop group with just tomboys in it
@@dontmindmefangirling3123 for sure 😂. The only member I can think of is Amber from F(x). But that’s because I have not been following K-pop as closely in the past decade 😅.
Edit: re-rep bc I didn’t reply to you properly the first time.
I kind of surprised. K/DA especially Popstars has tones of references and amazing animation (remember this was made years before Arcane) and your reaction was "oh, its just girls in slinky outfits, not my thing."
Did you watch the whole vid... I said I LIKED em? hahahha
I have been binging Sense8 (needed to remind myself of the power of found family and unconditional love) and could't help thinking all the way through how much you would enjoy the amazing landscapes and cinematography.
It was filmed in multiple countries, and really does showcase each beautifully. In fact, the main reason Netflix cancelled it was because they flew to so many countries to film in that the budget was astronomical.
Also know you would enjoy the very different, but amazingly written 8 main characters because of how diverse and REAL they are.
Though be warned, if you ever do react to it, i will probably leave about 100 comments per episode 😁
Caitlyn's roundhouse kick in episode 8 was my "Hello there!👀" moment, so I get it.
Maybe instead of a high-femme pop act, we could do with an alternative rock band with leather-clad and tattoed redhead somewhere in there...
I think people thought you'd like it more because it was "cool" hahah like, I think it's cool too, the songs are good, the videos are well made, but at the same time it's not something that makes me connect with them and want to know everything about them.. I've known these songs for a few years and to this day I don't know the names of all of them, I don't know their lore, mainly because I don't play League, the only thing I know is that Seraphine is from Piltover xD
I think the really coolest part of all this is RIOT's idea of doing this, of producing songs and creating these characters within the universe mixing several forms of art.
Very cool!!✨
And I remembered a cool detail now, there's a voice line from Caitlyn in the game where she asks Seraphine for an autograph: ruclips.net/video/W1_yX8IyIbk/видео.html 😂