Garen and Fiora: teached kids some heroic stuffs Braum: Protected his cousin and her baby Thresh: Ripped some poor guy Darius: Killed tyrant king and saved slave girl Akali and Shen: Stopped angry spirit Heim and his student: Created flying board TF, MF and Graves: Staged a shootout *Leona and Diana: '0_0, -_-*
huh this isnt even close. tf and graves are almost never not seen in the literally same boat while these two basically never interact cause of religious division. graves tf or cait vi : actually has something to stand on as they are never really seen apart from each other leo and diana: people want it but they put their religion as the characters center focus. it could happen but hasnt yet
@@Imp3rdLord You're forgetting that they grew up together and know each other just as long as Tf×Graves and Cait×Vi if not longer. They're currently separate because of their views but im certain they will realise that their religon is bullshit and Solari + Lunari should coexist.
I really though, that when the arrow were shot, she would dash into to couple and shield them from the arrow. And stand before the solari and the couple. Maybe there could be more drama, maybe the solari tries to attack Diana and she could kill two of them, let out the anger, while the couple watch in fear, maybe in the combat she doesn't see an arrow until it's too late and then the couple is wounded. Rages build up, and bang, twilight, the whole stairway to heaven happens, and Diana faces Leona, both preparing to face each other. When all the lights go up, all stuff happens, maybe the rocks to the stairway breaks, creating the divide for that scene, or maybe more solari appear at distance, and Diana decides to dash away, so that the same scene can happen of the two looking eachother and deciding to laydown arms. Maybe Leona is nursing one surviving Solari from Diana skirmish. They could have given both of then more to do than simply watch.
What are you talking about, Skyen?! This is a perfect representation of what this short was supposed to be: a very bad, poorly-acted school theater play of 'Romeo and Juliet'
Can you be more specific on the type of school. Don’t want to insult those elementary school plays you got dragged to and forgot which kid your suppose to be there to cheer for. (I married into a large family, can’t tell you how many times I only realize which kid is a family member until the end of the play)
@Apozy ' tbf the other cinematics were really good. This one seems like they had real problems with making it during corona time lol no voice actors and worse quality in every single aspect, at least in mi opinion. I bet they had those 2 random teens just because of the lack of voice actors
@Apozy ' There are actually quite a few cinematics, where they didn't go with boring choices. - Thresh is not a boring champion (although I would take Senna, Kalista or Yorick over him). - Braum is not a boring champion (although I would take Gnar, Nunu and maaaaaybe Lissandra over him). - Heimerdinger, Jinx, and Ekko are imo the best champs they could have chosen for the Piltover/Zaun cinematic. - Twisted Fate, Graves, and Miss Fortune were pretty good choices, mainly because TF is interesting, and they have this weird relationship with each other (would have liked to see some Illaoi tho, and maybe some Pyke). - Shen and Akali were fine-ish choices, but I would have preferred Ivern, Jhin, Sett, or Varus. The only boring choices for me are in the demacian, noxian, and targonian cinematics. There, they could have went with some more interesting stuff, but oh well.
3 minutes of Diana and Leona making out and I would've been happy. Add in a shot of Pantheon's abs, maybe some gems with Taric lovingly hugging them, etc.
I have a feeling that they want to kinda half confirm Leonas and Dianas feeling, but you can smell censorship from miles away. That's why we have those unimportant kids, that why we have a plot hole, why are aspects here in the first place. It's just little winks "we know that you know, but nobody can tell us that we are puting gay things into our game, you can read their relationship whatever you want." It's bullshit. Thank god the leaks were here before (never would i expect to say that), but I know that if I saw they twitter post about targon and "star crossed lovers" I would genuuiely be excited about Riot finally making Leona and Diana canon. i know I would. They knew what they were doing with this post. It's bullshit. It's baiting. Also I hate Leonas armor, holy shit, give her visual rework
IT'S THE SAME THING THEY DID WITH TF AND GRAVES!!! I'm sick of this ambiguous "representation". Other countries censor LoL content anyway, so idk why they can't just confirm it in the regions with LGBT+ rights...
@@sebwalk8179 it's not really all about the east. Even if lol was only played in the states, they still wouldn't do it. Because that way they can "sell" the game to gays and homophobes alike
i absolutely agree with you... well riot is kinda slow in changing their approach towards diversity or equality. i mean there were even numerous reported cases of sexism and homophobia within the company itself. But it really IS changing, like when they finally added a confirmed LGBT character, Neeko. The thing is, artists and actual creators of the characters and lore, they always wanted this diversity, they even confirmed diana and leona and graves and tf in Twitter right? these LGBT themes were part of the original creative process, yet they were somehow CUT OUT by riot when the characters came to the game. I believe it is because LoL is such a big game, one of the all time most popular game with a global reach. It is also rated 13+ if I'm not wrong. notice how Riot has always been cautious about canon romance in their lore, Xayah and Rakan were also a huge addition to the diversity of characters, since there was not a single confirmed official romantic relationship between LoL characters before. I believe they try to keep this "neutral" and "family-friendly" PR to an unhealthy extent. And yes, this short cinematic IS heavily censored. But imagine there is Russia, where it is literally illegal to show homosexuality to people under 18. Theres literally every region except USA, West EU and Australia where LGBT people are still treated like shit, where homosexuality is frowned upon and called a sickness. Living in East EU (we're actually from the same country) i can confirm. Funnily enough I disagree with the commentary on this video, as I think these lovers were purposefully made so unimportant, as they are just a metaphor. There is this sense of an irritating ambiguity in the short, yes, maybe in a different world it would focus on Leona and Diana's relationship much more obviously. Leona and Diana are the true star crossed lovers. Always have been (absolutely not quoting an overused meme)
I was also joyous that my anxious drama ridden lesbian couple is featured, but seriously Leona looks like it's the same model since the og cinematic which came out in... what 2013? Give my lady and sun loving champ a visual update! C'mon Rito! Just look at Leo's clunky sword in the beginning... I'm crying inside
seriously! give my girl Leona some muscle too! I meant how is she supposed to carry her petite goth gf otherwise? (i guess how can she support the weight of all that armour/weapon also? but that isn't as important obviously)😭
She has a good design in the Eclipse skins and I hoped maybe they'd make it her new lore look or something... cause it's just so much better. It fits the Targon aesthetic and she actually has amor that can protect her..and not just.. 50% around her body in.. some places.. for example in the form as boobplates
Tbh I always pictured leona to be built like a brickshit house, illaoi style or at least wear big armor. When I saw this and saw the petite girl with the small armor i was really confused. That looks like leona but where's the sauce, where's the pizzazz
@@Sergio-zp9fm So true, like wtf.. Training since a child, carrying that huge ass shield and sword, and wearing full plate armor. She needs some muscles in her model, at least make her figure a bit bigger, fitting the role of a warrior.
Kinda happy you found it lackluster. Because I found it lackluster. Like... Neat story, weak execution. All the characters have sticks up their butts, and not in the good way. Amongst other things :v -Also, yay, doomed lesbian couple... -*-*w*-*
For sure, especially when this is compared to the others. Especially compared to Ionia and Bilgewater, I'm very surprised with how little of *Targon* we got to see. Feel like this short needed to be complemented with a story/comic; As We Fall (Varus' theme) was pretty dang abstract in isolation, if the Part 1 comic wasn't around I'm sure my perception of Varus/Val/Kai would be different.
@@PlanADidntWorkOut Had a page open to the wiki since a few hours ago, just to remind myself; supposedly there's new Targon lore and a story, but I'm pressing X to doubt on some level. I also willingly admit I have lore dove on my own in a while. Been all TB, Necrit, and Miss Kay for a while. >~>;
@@AngelicDirt The stories on the Universe page are (mostly) very well-written! I binge read them if I can't get to sleep; little bite-sized chunks of an overarching story are a great alternative to the novels I loved, but no longer have the time to read. (╥_╥)
Skyen: This targon short is kinda bad. Me, trash human being that cries at even the most tropey of romance tropes, currently crying: Why are you ruining this beautiful romance for me? I Just want my generic romance protagonist to be together forever in the stars. Are you inhuman? Do you not care about the purity of love? PS: The couple in this short should have totally been Diana and Leona, not these randos.
two ways they could have gone with: - focus on dianna and leona, their perspective about the situation, make the lovers almost silhouettes, to emphasize that the most important is their love rather than them, with the eclipse almost in view whenever they are seen to tell us that they have something to do with the eclipse, their relationship and that they eventually became the constellation of eclipse or something - like what you have said in this vid, focus on the lovers, make us care for them, if leona and dianna will be there, it should be because of something very important and not just they have to be there too
Wanted to comment on a quick rewrite that would make everything 90000% better: The first shot we get of the cinematic would be of the bowsman that shoots the kid looking for the guy instead of the girl, so that he can "join her in the cell" as a traitor, and he is on his way to interrogate the girl about where he is, maybe saying something like "all she needs is a little persuasion" with a whip in his hands or something, but then he sees she's escaped and he drops the whip and yells out "She's escaped! May the Sun shine her justice!". He grabs a bow and it pans to the mountainside where the girl is running and Leona looms over, the sun behind her, as if the bowsman had "summoned" her involvement into the affairs. As the girl meets back up with boy, instead of her "the lunari are here as well" comment, make it that she says "don't worry, the Moon will watch over us, always", signaling for Diana to appear from the shadows as if she has been summoned as well. From there, everything is exactly the same except the part where the bowsman shoots the boy - have Leona following with the rest of the troops a ways more down the mountain and have her look up in horror and cry out "no waIT-" before the man shoots, that way, it seems like she was unaware he was planning on shooting them and she had only figured they were trying to recapture them. This fixes the cinematic in almost all ways and it wouldn't have been any big additions or changes to the money or time budget. It makes it to show that Leona and Diana are constantly unable to fix and redeem the constant tragedies in their world even after becoming aspects, unable to protect their people. It also then implies and strengthens the idea that this scene might have been reminiscent of how Diana and Leona became their own aspects and that history is doomed to repeat itself.
Yeah, i agree, riot pushed a little too hard into the "Romeo & Juliet" thematic, i wouldve prefered they focused on the *chiseled magical power rangers from the top of the mountain* don't focus on just the Solari and Lunari, but also maybe pantheons group, and maybe lean more into the more magical aspects of the... Well, the aspects of targon.
They should have just put Diana and Leona in an argument over the thing they just witnessed, when suddenly Pantheon appears and talks to them with his view of the ongoing quarrel between Lunari and Solari. Would have been cool, not sure if it could be canon timeline wise
"You can't just tell me to imagine all the stuff that probably happened beforehand to make this story interesting: thats YOUR job to make me interested!" Isn't that just Riot's entire MO when it comes to lore?
That is the problem. Riot has all the back stories and thematic threads but the don't release enough. So we only get snippets that mean very little to us even if those exist somewhere in their archives. That's what's frustrating to me at least.
I kinda disagree here, riot's done a decent job recently when it comes to stories. Of course they're slow, but it's not as much because of the timing but rather that with 150 champions to care about, there will always be the feeling that you left half of them behind
@@Patmax17 I'm actually half-and-half on Bishop's point; It should be a degree of both the audience and the storyteller that gets a story to live on. But, yeah, 150 champs. @_@;
I really liked the story breakdown, especially how you went over why things didn't work and what could have been done to make them work. I'm not an animator, so while your animation analysis is fascinating (I've watched every one of these animation analysis videos) it doesn't help me develop my own hobbies. But I am a writer and the story analysis really gave me some insight on how to build better stories.
As someone who's dabbled in both, yes and no? Being an animator is like being a handy man; you're fixing plumbing one day, drywall the next, and then electrical the day after that. And it's all interconnected. And you end up transferring the oddest skills from one to the other. Even just being a writer is multifaceted enough to get some help from any visual medium. Conveyance, pace, and clarity can be learned, unlearned, or transferred back to written form... if you're careful or uncareful enough.
It would be pretty cool if they used the kid's relationship watching their love cause conflict and eventually their death as a proxy for the feelings between Diana and Leona. Which was probably the idea, but it didn't come across in the video
Y'know how it could be easily fixed? Just put Leona and Diana in the spot of the kids chased by their clans and elders. Done, easy fix, no need to thank me Riot :D
some rioters opened up on twitter that they can’t really make lgbt things happen in the game or the lore so they always have to go around it as it was with the pulsefire ezreal and keko case and now it with these
@@heyyy4617 like skyen said the staff is like: "hell yea, lets do it" and management is answering with: "no we want that sweet money" Same with pride month, its only shown in western countries where beeing gay is becoming less of an issue nowadays but in countries where it would do so much to show that riot supports lgbtq+ Riot is silent... money matters, ethics and moral dont.. not really at least, but i guess baby steps?
Also there is literally no excuse for Riot not to make a story of these kids if they wanted us to care. They did it with Valmar and Kai, who became the hosts for Varus. They released a comic showing their love and realtionship to each other which fit with the music video.
About the whole Leona-Diana ship thing, isn't that what the Leona eclipse skin supposed to be? They actually were in love then Diana died so Leona takes up the charge of the moon and become the eclipse?
Technically Diana and Leona saw the animation as spectators, like us. Edit : Also this animation cant become canon as Leona searches for Diana as she needs her help. If she saw her 50 meters away she WOULD run after her.
I agree with a lot of this. It just felt like so many things could have been done...more? Shown the characters love, created more history, given more characterisation. One thing could've been enough. I do think the greatest sin here tho is keeping Diana and Leona apart rather than allowing them the amazing characterization of being forbidden lovers, like the two runaways were
When she meant that the Lunari are already there, she could be referring to the Lunari Spirit Realm Temple, the Marus Omegnum where Alune currently is. Only the gifted in magic are accepted there and she saw a vision so maybe she is some kind of oracle or something? Maybe thats why Leona had to assist the guards in getting her back despite her semi-divinity.
Something I really like about the moment between Leona and Diana is that Diana is the vengeful one and Leona is the defender, but Diana is the first to lower her weapon. I think it gives a clear impression that in spite of all Diana's totally justified rage and hurt, the fighting and killing isn't really what she wants. The Solari just aren't really giving her any better options. As a side note, Leona is the divinely blessed Aspect of the Sun and she doesn't have the authority necessary to put her foot down about all the religious oppression? She has the highest blessing of the very thing the Solari worship. She can perform actual divine miracles with that power and she can't sway the hearts and minds of the Solari common folk relatively easily? Even if their leadership want to bitch about it that means going against the literally divine representative of their god. I'm no stranger to the rigors of religious doctrine and how hard it is to change peoples minds when they don't want to be changed, but this seems like a major oversight in her story now that the source and nature of her powers has been defined as direct from their god. She might not be the highest authority figure in their church, but she definitively has the highest favor of their god and that should MEAN something.
@@TBSkyen Well, I guess it's not his fault he was born hundreds of years ago and got to all the good ideas before the rest of us. I will accept my Shakespeare-filled future for what it is.
They could have picked out pantheon protecting some villages at the base of tail gone from some bandits or Monsters and have like a boy who could be a tool maker looking at Pantheon and maturing from learning from his experience.
I tend to agree with TBSkyen but not this time. I think this story deserves some praise and the reason is that in my opinion this was a very elegant protest against censorship. Leona and Diana are watching a play from afar, the play is Romeo and Juliet and they are experiencing their love for each other through catharsis, a love that they cannot express due to censorship outside of the game and tribe differences inside of the game. The story of the couple is symbolic and theatrical. I think adding details and context would take away how universal this tragedy is in literature. The dumb arrow killing one character at the top of the cliff... it screams to us that these are theatre actors and we should take them as such. I dont think this was the best short ever but i found it very interesting to tell the story about two characters by making them spectators of the story of two other characters. I am not sure how successful the writers were but it was worth trying.
Imagine having an entire cinematic that culminates in you and your girlfriend staring longingly at each other, and people still think you're sisters. The lengths that straight people will go to, I swear 😑.
Ikr? We have so many hints in general that they are canon and people STILL try to convince everyone they are sisters or smth 🤣 And Riot doesn't seem willing to set things straight.. 🤦
When she says "The Lunari are already here" maybe she was referring to the invisible temple that Aphelios' sister later takes control of. Probably not but thats my best guess.
1:06:21 Actually, Leona's a vanguard, not a protector :^) Jokes aside, love this content, and although I found your channel recently, I didn't realize I've been consuming your content in the form of the Caster Comix since like 2015 when I started watching the LCS (now LEC) - thank you for all of the content over the years :')
One of these days, we’ll see an Aspect or Ascended shown off in full in lore. Cuz so far, there’s a lot of hype for them with no substance to back it up.
Well the Solari and Lunari don’t like each other. Plus the Lunari hide from the solari and it switches when it’s dark outside. But if Aphelios was here things would’ve changed a lot.
Honestly, when we think about all the stories, this is definitely the weakest. It's not to say "You need to be attacking to be engaging, but if you really think about it, this hardly represents the region all too well and doesn't really have the focus on any particular heroes. -Demacia has the kiddos pretending to be like Garen and Fiora. In a way, showing how Demacia operates while paying tribute to (who we can consider being) the two biggest names in this army. -Freljord shows the harshness of the lands and how Braum is one of these beings there doing his best to keep the infant child alive from both attackers and even the environment itself. Even Braum points out how the only way to survive is for those to band together. -The Shadow Isles already establishes itself as hopelessness itself and how if you set foot there, you're probably going to die. Thresh is there too, but really the land itself tells you all you need to know about it. -Noxus is seen as conquerors and how brutal they can be when taking over new lands. And yet Darius shows us how they are simply more than just ruthless as he does offer a chance of surrender and only attacks when an opposing force chooses to not stand down. -Zaun and Piltover gave us a nice range of characters, but also how they are a city (and the slums under it) of progress. Taking Heimerdinger's device and showing just how many ways a simple device can be utilized. -Ionia is as spiritual as they come as we wait for how Akali and Shen interact with it. A lot of fun ninja stuff too, but overall, you know that if you try and harm the land, the land will have no issues in harming you. -Bilgewater is a pirate city. We can end the explanation there, but we watch how pirates can be enemies in one moment and allies in the next as Bilgewater can be as unpredictable as those who dwell there. Simple explanations based on the animated shorts, but then what about Mount Targon? We don't get much at all to work with here because it feels so different from all the other regions we've seen in all the wrong ways. We don't really focus on Diana or Leona because they aren't the main characters. We don't even know the names of our two actual leads here and the only thing we can gather is "They love each other and use eclipse to escape." It feels like a better story could have been told about Mount Targon, but for some reason, they went with this. It's not that this was a bad short, but this was definitely lackluster in comparison to all the other shorts we got.
I have to agree! I thought tgis was rusged or unfinished! This felt like very wierd, empty, confused, god knows what. Every other showcase had more deep, interesting and engaging story. Also, we had reason to like/dislike characters in those other stories. On the other hand, these characters here are clearly disposable. The story is barely holding itself together on poorly conveniently slapped on conveniences. Cuts and shots a lot of the times feel strange. If I had to describe this showcase, it would be: parody "without music" music video.
This is a problem Riot have been doing for years with their story telling. They don't want to lock in their main characters to tell a story. Nearly every short story they give out is from the perspective of another character. Someone we don't know or care about and shouldn't know or care about. I don't care about these two nameless lovers and how their cultures keep them apart. I do not give a fuck. I care about what Leona would say to Diana when they finally meet again. I care about how Leona and Diana would react to Taric trying to free Sol. I care about Zoe's message for everyone of the upcoming doom and how each region would respond to it. I saw the comment here before but it perfectly sums up my feelings. A cinematic of Taric drooling over Pantheons abs would have been more entertaining than this. Riot do this so often with stories and it's getting old. They're starting to get like Overwatch, and drip feeding us lore through the eyes of characters we do not care and will not care about. I have the lore book right here and every story in it only has a League of Legends character featured, and not actually telling the story. We meet Yasuo through an old blind woman and he helps fight of bandits form her shop which somehow relates to her shop. Great, we don't care. Are we ever going to see this old woman again? No. Will we ever know the conflict of her and her son? No. So why the fuck are we being told about it. So Yas can learn a lesson? Fuck off and show me Yas learning the lesson though his own perspective!!! Goddamn it Riot! Just get one thing right! PLEASE! Edit: Also Leona looks fucking terrible >:(( Riot!
is it just me, or a lot of the earlier complaints apply to the Shadow Isles cinematic as well? Because that thing also has very minimal interaction with our League champs (although it has more than this cinematic, not gonna lie), and it's also using two characters we've never heard of before. I guess you could argue that the Shadow Isles cinematic isn't really about the story or the characters, but rather the scenery. Which is not really the case with the Targon one. Personally, I feel like they could have made this cinematic much better with a few changes. The most notable one is changing the character design of the lovers to be more interesting. But another idea that just popped into my head is having Alune narrate throughout the cinematic, while Aphelios shows up at some point. I feel like this whole thing would fit them pretty darn well, considering some of Alune's in game quotes regarding the Solari. ("The Solari call us heretics, but when darkness comes, brother, they will need our light." and "The Solari do not see: we shine brightest with another's light.") But that's just my 2 cents. I'm still really happy about Targon making it into LoR, because we got some more Aurelion Sol and Zoe interactions, while we also got another space dragon revealed. (Looking forward to the design of this Inviolus Vox, and if Zoe is gonna call him ,,space puppy" too xd)
Oooooo what if Alune had a narration over this? Like have her say the whole prophecy as its happening in the short so that way we get it as it's happening. Then all we would need is angry Diana face and this would have been way better. :D end her lines just as he steps on magic path. Then we can get the drama shot of the aspects. Then maybe have one last dramatic line from Alune just before the screan blacks out. :0
Interesting argument. But also how much emotional investment does Thresh involve, and how much does Leona and Diana involve? Also, SI short had more emotion in it's pinky than this one had in total. Rito fumbled.
34:56 "It's just a million little things that keep building up to irritation" So this is the sand in your underweare? You don't like sand? You think is rough and coarse and gets everywere? Sorry, I just thought that prequel meme and I couldn't resist
So, lol, I LOVED this animated short, and it was my favorite one, until I watched this video XD I will never see it the same way again ; _ ; I think your analysis was very solid though, unfortunately. All things I never considered, but solid critiques none the less. Now I want an extending version where they include all of your proposed edits XD Also, I gotta say, despite the fact that it could have been set up better, my favorite part of the whole thing was Leona's eyes and expression when she looks at Diana across the divide and isn't sure what she's going to do. SUCH good. And I am someone who is very unfamiliar with this game and have never played it (which probably explains why I didn't see all these problems), so I was immediately like, "oh, are they inlove??" when I saw the end part, and then went digging through whatever I could find to try and find an answer, because I am a sucker for light and dark, rivals because circumstances, ultimate nemesis, hate/love romance stories. But . . . whatever, ok riot, you are the definition of why fanfiction exists.
Then it's not canon, at least for me. Ti me, only what happens in the stories is canon, if they don't show it, it doesn't exist and it's fanon/theory. And it's disappointing, but otherwise it would just be a way to excuse riot's direction for not having the guts to commit to anything potentially controversial
@@Patmax17 I mean relationship... Neeko prefers women because they smell better. Varus is made out of gay and Legion Veteran from the card game kind of... exists... haven't seen people play him in a while
I don't like this cinematic because unlike the rest of the Tales of Runeterra series', it tells us absolutely nothing about what Mount Targon is and what it means to it's people. It's just 2 random characters you don't care about being watched by 2 characters we do know. It has nothing to do with the Aspects, or the Celestial beings, or even the Mountain itself, it's just Romeo and Juliet but "the sun and the moon are special we promise"
I felt that episode of "tbSkyen fangirling over the gays" (I assume its it), and came here seconds after you uploaded! I was waiting, thank you for your fast recording
im totally with you and necrit that this animation raises so much question we never get answers too and diana and leona seems to be just in it so they got champs in
Tip for getting rid of notifications: go to the notification panel (bottom right) then turn on focus assist for the duration of the recording. Hope this helps!
I imagine both Leona and Diana are there because of the situation at hand. Specifically, a Lunari and Solari are escaping to be together, despite what their religion enforces. I think they both have emotional stakes in it more than anything else.
12:50 See the guy's feet, They start floating at that moment. It is small but they apparently used the global controler to move the characters and at that moment they moved the controler too fast and the legs for some reason were not matched. But I can understand that this is a smaller short so i guess it's ok.
This entire short would've been better if the straight couple was replaced with our beloved lesbians they're the star crossed lovers here the straight couple is just the straight version of diana and leona
They really could have Leona and Diana and/or their armies fighting because of the eclipse or something and the miracle lovers happens and ends the battle between the tribes. And you can keep the longing looks at the end. Then you wouldn’t even have to making the lovers important. Just likable.
I think you should've split this one into two videos, you could definitely get away with having a reaction video and an analysis video. I really enjoyed the Reaction section, but I feel like the analysis should be in a solo video. After watching the first half hour (Reaction section), I just get the urge to go play LoL, LoR or TFT... LoL! I'll definitely come back to this video to finish watching it, but I just feel like doing two separate videos, in this specific case, would've been a bit better. Still love the channel and the series! Keep it up as always! Love the outro! XD
I agree. The part of them both lowering their weapons and relaxing their stances is a beautiful scene. For a moment... Everything else though was just, nothing, and didn't support it properly.
Going through it this slow way really sucks because then I'm just taking this all in and thinking "they didn't even need to do that much more, just a little bit here and there would have worked" Like when the girl is taking about the Lunari being there, they could literally just cut to 2D silhouette people hiding behind rocks. And then just tighten up her dialogue a bit. Some options would be: "do uou rmemeber the prophecy I told you?" or "I didn't tell you everything when I said we should escape today. I saw a prophecy in the pools before being captured. The eclipse will show us the way, but I need you to promise me you'll have faith in me." or something like that. They definitely should have at least touched hands while climbing, fucking hell. And then like, later all they need to do for Leona and the Guard's part, I think, is take the shot from behind them. Make it look like the guard is shooting from behind Leona's peripheral vision, and show the tension in Leona's stance by making her freeze in stress. Then I think the voice acting just needs to be better for this section. I think the Guard should say "Deserter" (it feels more personal for a soldier to say than "traitor") with like more of a distain or growl to his voice, then maybe animate his shot with more haste. The other voice acting but would be for the boy when the girl gets shot. I want to feel his heart ripping out by how loud and stressed his voice is, not this reserved and weak willed shite. Then it won't matter if it's a close up on Diana, I'll still feel terrible. Granted I do wish Diana would show more emotion when the girl gets shot. Like a flicker of rage or anything. Reminds me that when the arrow gets let loose I pictured Leona still shouting "no!" but we get a shot of her face that shows "loss" because it definitely feels like Leona and Diana were set up to meet during this eclipse but found out that all this drama was happening. On that note! At the end of the short, when Diana and Leona are looking at each other I wish it could have communicated something like: Diana: *rage and guilt* Leona: *regret and loss* Diana: *difficult acceptance* Both of them: *coming to terms that they've once again lost the hope to be together* Like was I the only one who felt that their B plot was them trying to have a secret tryst where they could have their fill of hopeful pillow talk to decompress a bit and this other couple just had to have their prophecy happen on the day they planned to meet? It was probably just me.
I agree, this was a very frustrating and cringe short, and i could only partially put my finger on it, as I still have a lot to learn about literature. But u basically defined it for me. I also wanna point out that this is simply a symptom of Riot just not being able to get around to progressing or simply filling out and defining the lore of Targon. IK it takes time for this stuff to be done and Targon has been rewritten like 2x...but now when they needed to deliver they just couldn't bc they waited too long to do ANY work on the region or where too focused on other regions to even toss it a bone. There's likely a LOT of work being done behind the scenes but they haven't revealed it. And the fact that out of all the regions besides Ixtal that Targon has the LEAST literature just put them in a bad spot. Also an eclipse going on would be a BIG deal for Solari AND Lunari, but the only one who seems to care is this random girl lunari who knows all about it for some reasons not explained. Whats the cheery on top tho is Leona seeing Diana OUT THE BACK OF HER HEAD, but can't seem to notice her soldier pulling a bow RIGHT next to her.
Make the lunari girl stealing some important ancient scroll or relic about the escape things so it’s giving something important for Lunari and Solari people to care about, establish the relationship more , adding more stakes by also having the lunari people also trying to help the girls with Diana too, maybe have both party fight trying to get the ancient relic? IDK the story is so lagging the character just kinda standing there you could literally add random things to it and make the story 10 times better
My take on how it could be "fixed". For the sake of being easy, lets call the girl Luna and the boy Solas. (also, Im sorry with my bad english upset you) In the begging, during the setting shot, showing the ashole guard who doesnt like Solas saying that "the lunari witch escape with the boy". The next shot, with Solas, show how he is afraid by doing that, rebel himself for the sake of love, show how anxious he is, but when Luna appears, Solas is clearly better, Luna presence make him calm. Now Luna try to calm him ever more saying that the place they are going theres no shame for loving each other and then he say: "Oh, the prophecy you say?" and she reply with "You need to have faith, Solas, I know its hard but-" And then the guards start to run against then, they look at each other, kiss, and run away together. The guards (and Leona) finaly get into the "arc portal thing" and the same ashole guard coment with another guard that Leone only came because the boy is apparently son of somebody important to her. They start to chase the couple again. Zoom out from the scene, a Lunari warrior seeing the solari guards and the couple running and she says: "Do we interfere?" and Diana stepping out of the shadows and response "Not, not yet. We could hurt Luna, lets wait for the right moment" Luna and Solas arrives in the destiny, in the pick of the mountain, and Solas is crazy, man, he says "What now? They're right behing us" and Luna hold his face and smile, looking the reflexion in his eyes. "Now, we can only have faith". Solas try to smile but he still afraid. They hug. Solari arrives, Leona is seeing that and dont know what to do, and the guard shot the arrow. Leona screams a "No" and Luna heart that, show her eyes open. Shot of Diana looking what happened. And now a whole scene of Solas realizing that Luna is dying, show the horror in his eyes, he try to say to Luna stay with him, that he dont know what to do without her. And Luna say "have faith" and then Solas rise up with her, the eclipse happen. The solari guards try to run and the lunari appear, stopping then. Leona and Diana dont move, focused in seeing the couple walk up the sky-ladder. They do and Leona order they to fall back and return home. And now, NOW, Leona and Diana look each other.
![Quando Rondo - Grow Up [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8zFnCg3BO4Q/mqdefault.jpg)
Garen and Fiora: teached kids some heroic stuffs
Braum: Protected his cousin and her baby
Thresh: Ripped some poor guy
Darius: Killed tyrant king and saved slave girl
Akali and Shen: Stopped angry spirit
Heim and his student: Created flying board
TF, MF and Graves: Staged a shootout
*Leona and Diana: '0_0, -_-*
Stareeeeeee
There needed to be fighting
If in the tale was aurelion the protagonist, it will be more epic
This is only half the short the other half was on the hub but it got taken down for the angst levels being to damn high
The Targon short could've Aatrox and Pantheon settling their differences via rap battle but noooooooooooooooooooooo
I'd prefere if they do something big with that like the yone and yasuo animation, would be so epic
@@arezkilol it takes a lot of time to do that. They probably didn't have the budget for that
"this isnt truly epic, get this tragic love instead"
Meet the Voidsans
Diana: Hey I like u
Leona: I like you too
Riot: no
Graves and twisted fate: First time?
huh this isnt even close. tf and graves are almost never not seen in the literally same boat while these two basically never interact cause of religious division.
graves tf or cait vi : actually has something to stand on as they are never really seen apart from each other
leo and diana: people want it but they put their religion as the characters center focus. it could happen but hasnt yet
@@Imp3rdLord You're forgetting that they grew up together and know each other just as long as Tf×Graves and Cait×Vi if not longer. They're currently separate because of their views but im certain they will realise that their religon is bullshit and Solari + Lunari should coexist.
You think that's bad? Taric made out with garen ONE TIME and demacia banished him ozai style
@Daniel Dermawan but isn't it supposed to be Draven x Draven?
Hehe, two years later we have those two pairs canonically attracted to each other.
Can we just talk about how Diana's reactions are just: *gasp* (slightly leans forward)
I have been waiting for the **Scorn of the Moon** to go on a tear since the original lore and.... we got a w
@@greysen212 they had to nerf her somewhere honestly lol
It's like normal for her
I really though, that when the arrow were shot, she would dash into to couple and shield them from the arrow.
And stand before the solari and the couple.
Maybe there could be more drama, maybe the solari tries to attack Diana and she could kill two of them, let out the anger, while the couple watch in fear, maybe in the combat she doesn't see an arrow until it's too late and then the couple is wounded.
Rages build up, and bang, twilight, the whole stairway to heaven happens, and Diana faces Leona, both preparing to face each other.
When all the lights go up, all stuff happens, maybe the rocks to the stairway breaks, creating the divide for that scene, or maybe more solari appear at distance, and Diana decides to dash away, so that the same scene can happen of the two looking eachother and deciding to laydown arms.
Maybe Leona is nursing one surviving Solari from Diana skirmish.
They could have given both of then more to do than simply watch.
@@SetArk This wasnt supposed to be an action cinematic my dude.
What are you talking about, Skyen?! This is a perfect representation of what this short was supposed to be: a very bad, poorly-acted school theater play of 'Romeo and Juliet'
League of Legends ain't gonna be on Broadway soon
Can you be more specific on the type of school. Don’t want to insult those elementary school plays you got dragged to and forgot which kid your suppose to be there to cheer for. (I married into a large family, can’t tell you how many times I only realize which kid is a family member until the end of the play)
I'd have loved a cinematic where taric is just drooling at pantheons abs for a targon introduction
Wouldn't we all?
@Apozy ' tbf the other cinematics were really good. This one seems like they had real problems with making it during corona time lol no voice actors and worse quality in every single aspect, at least in mi opinion. I bet they had those 2 random teens just because of the lack of voice actors
@Apozy ' There are actually quite a few cinematics, where they didn't go with boring choices.
- Thresh is not a boring champion (although I would take Senna, Kalista or Yorick over him).
- Braum is not a boring champion (although I would take Gnar, Nunu and maaaaaybe Lissandra over him).
- Heimerdinger, Jinx, and Ekko are imo the best champs they could have chosen for the Piltover/Zaun cinematic.
- Twisted Fate, Graves, and Miss Fortune were pretty good choices, mainly because TF is interesting, and they have this weird relationship with each other (would have liked to see some Illaoi tho, and maybe some Pyke).
- Shen and Akali were fine-ish choices, but I would have preferred Ivern, Jhin, Sett, or Varus.
The only boring choices for me are in the demacian, noxian, and targonian cinematics. There, they could have went with some more interesting stuff, but oh well.
Sandor Tojzan i honestly wanted some Leblanc & Swain for Noxus. and, because i’m biased, my girl Quinn for Demacia.
It did feel a little weaker than the others. I didn't even rewatch it a bunch of times immediately, like the others.
A little?
People: it's Romeo and Juliet
Me: TWO LOVERS
FORBIDDEN FROM ONE ANOTHER
THE WAR DIVIDES THEIR PEOPLE
AND A MOUNTAIN DIVIDES THEM APART
SECRET TUNNEL
SECRET TUNNEL
THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN
@@Arenuphis SECRET TUNNEL
Solari grunts like, "Isn't that beautiful..... heresy."
PRAISE THE SUN! DEUS VULT!
Also featuring the Imperium of Man!
3 minutes of Diana and Leona making out and I would've been happy. Add in a shot of Pantheon's abs, maybe some gems with Taric lovingly hugging them, etc.
Tarics full title is The Protector of Lesbians
I wanted Diana and Leona to fight and kiss under the eclipse
That is... exactly what this short should have been about
@@davute9546 Can't believe the solution for this lore is to make them lesbian. Truly the greatest answer.
There definitely was a fight scene between Leona and Diana, but they where using their Stands and so us standless mortals could not see it !11!!
Me before watching cinematic: “Oh boy a romance story that stars Leona and Diana!”😃
* Watches cinematic *
Me: “That was not the romance I wanted”😕
I have a feeling that they want to kinda half confirm Leonas and Dianas feeling, but you can smell censorship from miles away. That's why we have those unimportant kids, that why we have a plot hole, why are aspects here in the first place. It's just little winks "we know that you know, but nobody can tell us that we are puting gay things into our game, you can read their relationship whatever you want." It's bullshit. Thank god the leaks were here before (never would i expect to say that), but I know that if I saw they twitter post about targon and "star crossed lovers" I would genuuiely be excited about Riot finally making Leona and Diana canon. i know I would. They knew what they were doing with this post. It's bullshit. It's baiting.
Also I hate Leonas armor, holy shit, give her visual rework
IT'S THE SAME THING THEY DID WITH TF AND GRAVES!!! I'm sick of this ambiguous "representation". Other countries censor LoL content anyway, so idk why they can't just confirm it in the regions with LGBT+ rights...
@@sebwalk8179 it's not really all about the east. Even if lol was only played in the states, they still wouldn't do it. Because that way they can "sell" the game to gays and homophobes alike
@@Sergio-zp9fm They would sell game for homophobes anyway. The problem is with homophobia in Riot, not with homophobic audience
@@kruffkadozucia6553 true that, a lot of artists at riot have said that too
i absolutely agree with you... well riot is kinda slow in changing their approach towards diversity or equality. i mean there were even numerous reported cases of sexism and homophobia within the company itself. But it really IS changing, like when they finally added a confirmed LGBT character, Neeko. The thing is, artists and actual creators of the characters and lore, they always wanted this diversity, they even confirmed diana and leona and graves and tf in Twitter right? these LGBT themes were part of the original creative process, yet they were somehow CUT OUT by riot when the characters came to the game. I believe it is because LoL is such a big game, one of the all time most popular game with a global reach. It is also rated 13+ if I'm not wrong. notice how Riot has always been cautious about canon romance in their lore, Xayah and Rakan were also a huge addition to the diversity of characters, since there was not a single confirmed official romantic relationship between LoL characters before. I believe they try to keep this "neutral" and "family-friendly" PR to an unhealthy extent. And yes, this short cinematic IS heavily censored. But imagine there is Russia, where it is literally illegal to show homosexuality to people under 18. Theres literally every region except USA, West EU and Australia where LGBT people are still treated like shit, where homosexuality is frowned upon and called a sickness. Living in East EU (we're actually from the same country) i can confirm.
Funnily enough I disagree with the commentary on this video, as I think these lovers were purposefully made so unimportant, as they are just a metaphor. There is this sense of an irritating ambiguity in the short, yes, maybe in a different world it would focus on Leona and Diana's relationship much more obviously. Leona and Diana are the true star crossed lovers. Always have been (absolutely not quoting an overused meme)
I was also joyous that my anxious drama ridden lesbian couple is featured, but seriously Leona looks like it's the same model since the og cinematic which came out in... what 2013?
Give my lady and sun loving champ a visual update! C'mon Rito! Just look at Leo's clunky sword in the beginning... I'm crying inside
seriously! give my girl Leona some muscle too! I meant how is she supposed to carry her petite goth gf otherwise? (i guess how can she support the weight of all that armour/weapon also? but that isn't as important obviously)😭
She has a good design in the Eclipse skins and I hoped maybe they'd make it her new lore look or something... cause it's just so much better. It fits the Targon aesthetic and she actually has amor that can protect her..and not just.. 50% around her body in.. some places.. for example in the form as boobplates
Tbh I always pictured leona to be built like a brickshit house, illaoi style or at least wear big armor. When I saw this and saw the petite girl with the small armor i was really confused. That looks like leona but where's the sauce, where's the pizzazz
@@Sergio-zp9fm maybe it's just the skinny garen format...hopefully it is
@@Sergio-zp9fm So true, like wtf.. Training since a child, carrying that huge ass shield and sword, and wearing full plate armor. She needs some muscles in her model, at least make her figure a bit bigger, fitting the role of a warrior.
Kinda happy you found it lackluster. Because I found it lackluster. Like... Neat story, weak execution. All the characters have sticks up their butts, and not in the good way. Amongst other things :v
-Also, yay, doomed lesbian couple... -*-*w*-*
For sure, especially when this is compared to the others.
Especially compared to Ionia and Bilgewater, I'm very surprised with how little of *Targon* we got to see.
Feel like this short needed to be complemented with a story/comic;
As We Fall (Varus' theme) was pretty dang abstract in isolation, if the Part 1 comic wasn't around I'm sure my perception of Varus/Val/Kai would be different.
@@PlanADidntWorkOut Had a page open to the wiki since a few hours ago, just to remind myself; supposedly there's new Targon lore and a story, but I'm pressing X to doubt on some level.
I also willingly admit I have lore dove on my own in a while. Been all TB, Necrit, and Miss Kay for a while. >~>;
@@AngelicDirt The stories on the Universe page are (mostly) very well-written!
I binge read them if I can't get to sleep; little bite-sized chunks of an overarching story are a great alternative to the novels I loved, but no longer have the time to read. (╥_╥)
Skyen: This targon short is kinda bad.
Me, trash human being that cries at even the most tropey of romance tropes, currently crying: Why are you ruining this beautiful romance for me? I Just want my generic romance protagonist to be together forever in the stars. Are you inhuman? Do you not care about the purity of love?
PS: The couple in this short should have totally been Diana and Leona, not these randos.
Uhm... Idk but this romance story is so corny and shallow even generic romance stories are still way better lol.
two ways they could have gone with:
- focus on dianna and leona, their perspective about the situation, make the lovers almost silhouettes, to emphasize that the most important is their love rather than them, with the eclipse almost in view whenever they are seen to tell us that they have something to do with the eclipse, their relationship and that they eventually became the constellation of eclipse or something
- like what you have said in this vid, focus on the lovers, make us care for them, if leona and dianna will be there, it should be because of something very important and not just they have to be there too
Wanted to comment on a quick rewrite that would make everything 90000% better:
The first shot we get of the cinematic would be of the bowsman that shoots the kid looking for the guy instead of the girl, so that he can "join her in the cell" as a traitor, and he is on his way to interrogate the girl about where he is, maybe saying something like "all she needs is a little persuasion" with a whip in his hands or something, but then he sees she's escaped and he drops the whip and yells out "She's escaped! May the Sun shine her justice!". He grabs a bow and it pans to the mountainside where the girl is running and Leona looms over, the sun behind her, as if the bowsman had "summoned" her involvement into the affairs.
As the girl meets back up with boy, instead of her "the lunari are here as well" comment, make it that she says "don't worry, the Moon will watch over us, always", signaling for Diana to appear from the shadows as if she has been summoned as well. From there, everything is exactly the same except the part where the bowsman shoots the boy - have Leona following with the rest of the troops a ways more down the mountain and have her look up in horror and cry out "no waIT-" before the man shoots, that way, it seems like she was unaware he was planning on shooting them and she had only figured they were trying to recapture them.
This fixes the cinematic in almost all ways and it wouldn't have been any big additions or changes to the money or time budget. It makes it to show that Leona and Diana are constantly unable to fix and redeem the constant tragedies in their world even after becoming aspects, unable to protect their people. It also then implies and strengthens the idea that this scene might have been reminiscent of how Diana and Leona became their own aspects and that history is doomed to repeat itself.
Rito hire this guy
Damn this is good
I am now pretending that all of this you wrote is what I saw on the cinematic. Thanks!
@@frotah Glad I could help!
@@Sergio-zp9fm lmao thanks
This honestly just felt like the very end of a movie that I didn't watch. Definitely the worst Tale of Runeterra
Yeah, i agree, riot pushed a little too hard into the "Romeo & Juliet" thematic, i wouldve prefered they focused on the *chiseled magical power rangers from the top of the mountain*
don't focus on just the Solari and Lunari, but also maybe pantheons group, and maybe lean more into the more magical aspects of the... Well, the aspects of targon.
i think pantheon was part of the solari tribe, just not one of the religious warrior
@@danieltrujillo4611 true, panth is apart of leona's tribe, but like a kind of warrior sub-class, *would've been interesting to explore that more*
It’s nice knowing that I’m not the only one who didn’t enjoy this short.
For me it was literally like the meme, oh no. Anyway.
They should have just put Diana and Leona in an argument over the thing they just witnessed, when suddenly Pantheon appears and talks to them with his view of the ongoing quarrel between Lunari and Solari. Would have been cool, not sure if it could be canon timeline wise
IT'S BEEN 3 HOURS DUDE, WE NEED YOU ALIVE
"You can't just tell me to imagine all the stuff that probably happened beforehand to make this story interesting: thats YOUR job to make me interested!"
Isn't that just Riot's entire MO when it comes to lore?
Boom... mindblown...
That is the problem. Riot has all the back stories and thematic threads but the don't release enough. So we only get snippets that mean very little to us even if those exist somewhere in their archives. That's what's frustrating to me at least.
I kinda disagree here, riot's done a decent job recently when it comes to stories. Of course they're slow, but it's not as much because of the timing but rather that with 150 champions to care about, there will always be the feeling that you left half of them behind
@@Patmax17 I'm actually half-and-half on Bishop's point; It should be a degree of both the audience and the storyteller that gets a story to live on.
But, yeah, 150 champs. @_@;
I really liked the story breakdown, especially how you went over why things didn't work and what could have been done to make them work. I'm not an animator, so while your animation analysis is fascinating (I've watched every one of these animation analysis videos) it doesn't help me develop my own hobbies. But I am a writer and the story analysis really gave me some insight on how to build better stories.
As someone who's dabbled in both, yes and no?
Being an animator is like being a handy man; you're fixing plumbing one day, drywall the next, and then electrical the day after that. And it's all interconnected. And you end up transferring the oddest skills from one to the other.
Even just being a writer is multifaceted enough to get some help from any visual medium. Conveyance, pace, and clarity can be learned, unlearned, or transferred back to written form... if you're careful or uncareful enough.
It would be pretty cool if they used the kid's relationship watching their love cause conflict and eventually their death as a proxy for the feelings between Diana and Leona. Which was probably the idea, but it didn't come across in the video
Dunno if you've seen anyone point it out, but notice how the Lover's pose in the sky, is identical to Xayah & Rakan's Cosmic skin art?
Yeah, it's a neat lil' easter egg. Cosmic Skins are not canon.
32:25 to 33:11
That interpretation monologue was so beautiful I had to rewind it to hear it again.
Leona design is killing me, it`s so out of place and ugly :(
She's getting stabbed in several ways every time she moves
Sama Lass Trust me, he’s up there.
Y'know how it could be easily fixed? Just put Leona and Diana in the spot of the kids chased by their clans and elders.
Done, easy fix, no need to thank me Riot :D
you are genius
some rioters opened up on twitter that they can’t really make lgbt things happen in the game or the lore so they always have to go around it as it was with the pulsefire ezreal and keko case and now it with these
This would be make for the biggest plot twist/progress in years, at least for Targon.
@@heyyy4617 neeko
@@heyyy4617 like skyen said the staff is like: "hell yea, lets do it" and management is answering with: "no we want that sweet money"
Same with pride month, its only shown in western countries where beeing gay is becoming less of an issue nowadays but in countries where it would do so much to show that riot supports lgbtq+ Riot is silent... money matters, ethics and moral dont.. not really at least, but i guess baby steps?
Also there is literally no excuse for Riot not to make a story of these kids if they wanted us to care. They did it with Valmar and Kai, who became the hosts for Varus. They released a comic showing their love and realtionship to each other which fit with the music video.
About the whole Leona-Diana ship thing, isn't that what the Leona eclipse skin supposed to be? They actually were in love then Diana died so Leona takes up the charge of the moon and become the eclipse?
Skins/skin lore aren't cannon.
@@squirrelbuddi not officially, but it's still kind of a way for the devs to put the idea that they wanted in
MAKE. LEONA. AND. DIANA. BEING. A. COUPLE. CANON.
👏👏👏👀✨
Technically Diana and Leona saw the animation as spectators, like us.
Edit : Also this animation cant become canon as Leona searches for Diana as she needs her help. If she saw her 50 meters away she WOULD run after her.
I agree with a lot of this. It just felt like so many things could have been done...more? Shown the characters love, created more history, given more characterisation. One thing could've been enough. I do think the greatest sin here tho is keeping Diana and Leona apart rather than allowing them the amazing characterization of being forbidden lovers, like the two runaways were
When she meant that the Lunari are already there, she could be referring to the Lunari Spirit Realm Temple, the Marus Omegnum where Alune currently is. Only the gifted in magic are accepted there and she saw a vision so maybe she is some kind of oracle or something? Maybe thats why Leona had to assist the guards in getting her back despite her semi-divinity.
Skyen: oooooooo she activates her E
me: slowly pinging a MIA
Something I really like about the moment between Leona and Diana is that Diana is the vengeful one and Leona is the defender, but Diana is the first to lower her weapon. I think it gives a clear impression that in spite of all Diana's totally justified rage and hurt, the fighting and killing isn't really what she wants. The Solari just aren't really giving her any better options.
As a side note, Leona is the divinely blessed Aspect of the Sun and she doesn't have the authority necessary to put her foot down about all the religious oppression? She has the highest blessing of the very thing the Solari worship. She can perform actual divine miracles with that power and she can't sway the hearts and minds of the Solari common folk relatively easily? Even if their leadership want to bitch about it that means going against the literally divine representative of their god. I'm no stranger to the rigors of religious doctrine and how hard it is to change peoples minds when they don't want to be changed, but this seems like a major oversight in her story now that the source and nature of her powers has been defined as direct from their god. She might not be the highest authority figure in their church, but she definitively has the highest favor of their god and that should MEAN something.
Meanwhile Kayle is busy being perfect
I'm never gonna escape Shakespeare, am I?
Not as long as you exist in the English speaking world, no.
@@TBSkyen Well, I guess it's not his fault he was born hundreds of years ago and got to all the good ideas before the rest of us. I will accept my Shakespeare-filled future for what it is.
They could have picked out pantheon protecting some villages at the base of tail gone from some bandits or Monsters and have like a boy who could be a tool maker looking at Pantheon and maturing from learning from his experience.
I hope ixtal gets added. And I agree I was pretty underwhelmed by this tales of runterra
I really want another character from Ixtal
@@jofrostsupernannystan4784 same there's literally just qiyana and old champs who were grouped with ixtal cuz they live in the kumugu jungle
STRAIGHT 👏FOrbidden 🤔 ...love 😴
you beautifully encapsulated every single issue I had with this short from which I was too inexperienced to articulate. thanks for the insight
I tend to agree with TBSkyen but not this time. I think this story deserves some praise and the reason is that in my opinion this was a very elegant protest against censorship.
Leona and Diana are watching a play from afar, the play is Romeo and Juliet and they are experiencing their love for each other through catharsis, a love that they cannot express due to censorship outside of the game and tribe differences inside of the game.
The story of the couple is symbolic and theatrical. I think adding details and context would take away how universal this tragedy is in literature. The dumb arrow killing one character at the top of the cliff... it screams to us that these are theatre actors and we should take them as such.
I dont think this was the best short ever but i found it very interesting to tell the story about two characters by making them spectators of the story of two other characters. I am not sure how successful the writers were but it was worth trying.
Imagine having an entire cinematic that culminates in you and your girlfriend staring longingly at each other, and people still think you're sisters. The lengths that straight people will go to, I swear 😑.
I mean, they could just be good friends with bad blood between them.
For those wondering, this is a joke.
Ikr? We have so many hints in general that they are canon and people STILL try to convince everyone they are sisters or smth 🤣 And Riot doesn't seem willing to set things straight.. 🤦
I mean, if the couple in this vid was of the same sex then they'd still not be convinced they are a couple, just REALLY good friends.
When she says "The Lunari are already here" maybe she was referring to the invisible temple that Aphelios' sister later takes control of. Probably not but thats my best guess.
I love the reaction part, I wouldn't mind seeing more videos like this
1:06:21 Actually, Leona's a vanguard, not a protector :^)
Jokes aside, love this content, and although I found your channel recently, I didn't realize I've been consuming your content in the form of the Caster Comix since like 2015 when I started watching the LCS (now LEC) - thank you for all of the content over the years :')
Someone should write a setup fanfic with all the things Mr TB said here ..
One of these days, we’ll see an Aspect or Ascended shown off in full in lore. Cuz so far, there’s a lot of hype for them with no substance to back it up.
Admit it Skyen, the kids are pretty wholesome tho
Well the Solari and Lunari don’t like each other. Plus the Lunari hide from the solari and it switches when it’s dark outside. But if Aphelios was here things would’ve changed a lot.
59:55 "she stood there... MENACINGLY"
if anything i love most of these shorts because it shows the clothing a lot more, it's useful for drawing reference
The Leona Diana look of "why haven't we done that like the 2 kids?"
Honestly, when we think about all the stories, this is definitely the weakest. It's not to say "You need to be attacking to be engaging, but if you really think about it, this hardly represents the region all too well and doesn't really have the focus on any particular heroes.
-Demacia has the kiddos pretending to be like Garen and Fiora. In a way, showing how Demacia operates while paying tribute to (who we can consider being) the two biggest names in this army.
-Freljord shows the harshness of the lands and how Braum is one of these beings there doing his best to keep the infant child alive from both attackers and even the environment itself. Even Braum points out how the only way to survive is for those to band together.
-The Shadow Isles already establishes itself as hopelessness itself and how if you set foot there, you're probably going to die. Thresh is there too, but really the land itself tells you all you need to know about it.
-Noxus is seen as conquerors and how brutal they can be when taking over new lands. And yet Darius shows us how they are simply more than just ruthless as he does offer a chance of surrender and only attacks when an opposing force chooses to not stand down.
-Zaun and Piltover gave us a nice range of characters, but also how they are a city (and the slums under it) of progress. Taking Heimerdinger's device and showing just how many ways a simple device can be utilized.
-Ionia is as spiritual as they come as we wait for how Akali and Shen interact with it. A lot of fun ninja stuff too, but overall, you know that if you try and harm the land, the land will have no issues in harming you.
-Bilgewater is a pirate city. We can end the explanation there, but we watch how pirates can be enemies in one moment and allies in the next as Bilgewater can be as unpredictable as those who dwell there.
Simple explanations based on the animated shorts, but then what about Mount Targon? We don't get much at all to work with here because it feels so different from all the other regions we've seen in all the wrong ways. We don't really focus on Diana or Leona because they aren't the main characters. We don't even know the names of our two actual leads here and the only thing we can gather is "They love each other and use eclipse to escape." It feels like a better story could have been told about Mount Targon, but for some reason, they went with this. It's not that this was a bad short, but this was definitely lackluster in comparison to all the other shorts we got.
When she said : "And the Lunari already are" she looked at the moon covering the sun , representing the meeting of the Solari and Lunari
I have to agree! I thought tgis was rusged or unfinished! This felt like very wierd, empty, confused, god knows what. Every other showcase had more deep, interesting and engaging story. Also, we had reason to like/dislike characters in those other stories. On the other hand, these characters here are clearly disposable. The story is barely holding itself together on poorly conveniently slapped on conveniences. Cuts and shots a lot of the times feel strange. If I had to describe this showcase, it would be: parody "without music" music video.
This is a problem Riot have been doing for years with their story telling. They don't want to lock in their main characters to tell a story. Nearly every short story they give out is from the perspective of another character. Someone we don't know or care about and shouldn't know or care about.
I don't care about these two nameless lovers and how their cultures keep them apart. I do not give a fuck. I care about what Leona would say to Diana when they finally meet again. I care about how Leona and Diana would react to Taric trying to free Sol. I care about Zoe's message for everyone of the upcoming doom and how each region would respond to it.
I saw the comment here before but it perfectly sums up my feelings. A cinematic of Taric drooling over Pantheons abs would have been more entertaining than this.
Riot do this so often with stories and it's getting old. They're starting to get like Overwatch, and drip feeding us lore through the eyes of characters we do not care and will not care about.
I have the lore book right here and every story in it only has a League of Legends character featured, and not actually telling the story. We meet Yasuo through an old blind woman and he helps fight of bandits form her shop which somehow relates to her shop. Great, we don't care. Are we ever going to see this old woman again? No. Will we ever know the conflict of her and her son? No. So why the fuck are we being told about it. So Yas can learn a lesson? Fuck off and show me Yas learning the lesson though his own perspective!!!
Goddamn it Riot! Just get one thing right! PLEASE!
Edit: Also Leona looks fucking terrible >:(( Riot!
Where is taric to block an arrow and flick his hair when you need him?
He's making out with garen leave him be
is it just me, or a lot of the earlier complaints apply to the Shadow Isles cinematic as well? Because that thing also has very minimal interaction with our League champs (although it has more than this cinematic, not gonna lie), and it's also using two characters we've never heard of before.
I guess you could argue that the Shadow Isles cinematic isn't really about the story or the characters, but rather the scenery. Which is not really the case with the Targon one.
Personally, I feel like they could have made this cinematic much better with a few changes. The most notable one is changing the character design of the lovers to be more interesting. But another idea that just popped into my head is having Alune narrate throughout the cinematic, while Aphelios shows up at some point. I feel like this whole thing would fit them pretty darn well, considering some of Alune's in game quotes regarding the Solari. ("The Solari call us heretics, but when darkness comes, brother, they will need our light." and "The Solari do not see: we shine brightest with another's light.")
But that's just my 2 cents. I'm still really happy about Targon making it into LoR, because we got some more Aurelion Sol and Zoe interactions, while we also got another space dragon revealed. (Looking forward to the design of this Inviolus Vox, and if Zoe is gonna call him ,,space puppy" too xd)
Oooooo what if Alune had a narration over this? Like have her say the whole prophecy as its happening in the short so that way we get it as it's happening. Then all we would need is angry Diana face and this would have been way better. :D end her lines just as he steps on magic path. Then we can get the drama shot of the aspects. Then maybe have one last dramatic line from Alune just before the screan blacks out. :0
Interesting argument. But also how much emotional investment does Thresh involve, and how much does Leona and Diana involve?
Also, SI short had more emotion in it's pinky than this one had in total.
Rito fumbled.
All of riots budget went for the siprit blossom event and the yasuo animation
Ok LBR those guards in the beginning of the cinematic have some cake tho
34:56 "It's just a million little things that keep building up to irritation"
So this is the sand in your underweare?
You don't like sand? You think is rough and coarse and gets everywere?
Sorry, I just thought that prequel meme and I couldn't resist
Rito just won't give poor Necrit a break.
And what does this have anything to do with his Video???
@@YuenQestir Nothing. Does that bother you?
This could have been just Diana and Leona and all of the problems would be solved it's so stupid and infuriating.. Awesome review anyway
when i first saw it i thought the lunari girl was Diana and was so dissapointed Diana wasnt gay, there is still hope!
God, same! 🤣🤣🤣
I was like "don't do dis to my girl Leona"
So, lol, I LOVED this animated short, and it was my favorite one, until I watched this video XD
I will never see it the same way again ; _ ;
I think your analysis was very solid though, unfortunately. All things I never considered, but solid critiques none the less. Now I want an extending version where they include all of your proposed edits XD
Also, I gotta say, despite the fact that it could have been set up better, my favorite part of the whole thing was Leona's eyes and expression when she looks at Diana across the divide and isn't sure what she's going to do. SUCH good. And I am someone who is very unfamiliar with this game and have never played it (which probably explains why I didn't see all these problems), so I was immediately like, "oh, are they inlove??" when I saw the end part, and then went digging through whatever I could find to try and find an answer, because I am a sucker for light and dark, rivals because circumstances, ultimate nemesis, hate/love romance stories. But . . . whatever, ok riot, you are the definition of why fanfiction exists.
Technically, Leona and Diana are lovers in cannon, there is just no actual acknowledgement of it in any official capacity
Then it's not canon, at least for me.
Ti me, only what happens in the stories is canon, if they don't show it, it doesn't exist and it's fanon/theory. And it's disappointing, but otherwise it would just be a way to excuse riot's direction for not having the guts to commit to anything potentially controversial
@@Patmax17 Bruh they've got gays for days. Give people a yard and they want the whole country...
@@Cosiek7 Like for example? Which important characters are shown to have a non-heterosexual romantic relationship in the game?
@@Patmax17 I mean relationship... Neeko prefers women because they smell better. Varus is made out of gay and Legion Veteran from the card game kind of... exists... haven't seen people play him in a while
@@Cosiek7 that's like gays for 5 seconds... not days
Diana and Leona when they saw the couple step off the cliff👁👄👁
ngl, the second that this came out, I told myself "Oh man, Skyen's vid on this is gonna be so fucking good"
I don't like this cinematic because unlike the rest of the Tales of Runeterra series', it tells us absolutely nothing about what Mount Targon is and what it means to it's people. It's just 2 random characters you don't care about being watched by 2 characters we do know.
It has nothing to do with the Aspects, or the Celestial beings, or even the Mountain itself, it's just Romeo and Juliet but "the sun and the moon are special we promise"
4 min cinematic half an hour video KEKW
My Brand™
It's like in Idian movie that people just stare at each other for almost the entire episode
Leona and Diana fit so well the forbidden love storyline.
I hate riot
I felt that episode of "tbSkyen fangirling over the gays" (I assume its it), and came here seconds after you uploaded! I was waiting, thank you for your fast recording
im totally with you and necrit that this animation raises so much question we never get answers too and diana and leona seems to be just in it so they got champs in
Tip for getting rid of notifications: go to the notification panel (bottom right) then turn on focus assist for the duration of the recording. Hope this helps!
8:40 I can just imagine Skyen saying exactly what the solari guy is thinking
I'd like to point out that in the scene at 21:36 Leona's skirt is missing lmao
I imagine both Leona and Diana are there because of the situation at hand. Specifically, a Lunari and Solari are escaping to be together, despite what their religion enforces. I think they both have emotional stakes in it more than anything else.
Yeah, maybe this one could have used like two or three more drafts from the writing and storyboard teams.
12:50 See the guy's feet, They start floating at that moment. It is small but they apparently used the global controler to move the characters and at that moment they moved the controler too fast and the legs for some reason were not matched. But I can understand that this is a smaller short so i guess it's ok.
This entire short would've been better if the straight couple was replaced with our beloved lesbians
they're the star crossed lovers here
the straight couple is just the straight version of diana and leona
They really could have Leona and Diana and/or their armies fighting because of the eclipse or something and the miracle lovers happens and ends the battle between the tribes. And you can keep the longing looks at the end. Then you wouldn’t even have to making the lovers important. Just likable.
"My favorite doomed lesbian angst couple, Diana and Leona" - T B Skyen 2020
Still angy at no mention of Phel even though this is supposed to be a Mount Targon short and everyone and their mother at least LIKES Aphelios
I think you should've split this one into two videos, you could definitely get away with having a reaction video and an analysis video. I really enjoyed the Reaction section, but I feel like the analysis should be in a solo video. After watching the first half hour (Reaction section), I just get the urge to go play LoL, LoR or TFT... LoL! I'll definitely come back to this video to finish watching it, but I just feel like doing two separate videos, in this specific case, would've been a bit better.
Still love the channel and the series! Keep it up as always!
Love the outro! XD
During the whole short I was thinking this dude reminded me of Anakin. Now I know why...
I saw that bit with him saying 'traitor' as him justifying firing without worrying about which one he hits
Knowing that Diana and Leona aren't just my favourite doom lesbian couple is relaxing
Over an hour 😍 we love you skyen, thanks for all the work you put into these! (A wonderful Romeo and Juliet intro too!)
I agree. The part of them both lowering their weapons and relaxing their stances is a beautiful scene. For a moment... Everything else though was just, nothing, and didn't support it properly.
Going through it this slow way really sucks because then I'm just taking this all in and thinking "they didn't even need to do that much more, just a little bit here and there would have worked"
Like when the girl is taking about the Lunari being there, they could literally just cut to 2D silhouette people hiding behind rocks. And then just tighten up her dialogue a bit. Some options would be: "do uou rmemeber the prophecy I told you?" or "I didn't tell you everything when I said we should escape today. I saw a prophecy in the pools before being captured. The eclipse will show us the way, but I need you to promise me you'll have faith in me." or something like that.
They definitely should have at least touched hands while climbing, fucking hell.
And then like, later all they need to do for Leona and the Guard's part, I think, is take the shot from behind them. Make it look like the guard is shooting from behind Leona's peripheral vision, and show the tension in Leona's stance by making her freeze in stress. Then I think the voice acting just needs to be better for this section. I think the Guard should say "Deserter" (it feels more personal for a soldier to say than "traitor") with like more of a distain or growl to his voice, then maybe animate his shot with more haste. The other voice acting but would be for the boy when the girl gets shot. I want to feel his heart ripping out by how loud and stressed his voice is, not this reserved and weak willed shite. Then it won't matter if it's a close up on Diana, I'll still feel terrible. Granted I do wish Diana would show more emotion when the girl gets shot. Like a flicker of rage or anything. Reminds me that when the arrow gets let loose I pictured Leona still shouting "no!" but we get a shot of her face that shows "loss" because it definitely feels like Leona and Diana were set up to meet during this eclipse but found out that all this drama was happening.
On that note! At the end of the short, when Diana and Leona are looking at each other I wish it could have communicated something like:
Diana: *rage and guilt*
Leona: *regret and loss*
Diana: *difficult acceptance*
Both of them: *coming to terms that they've once again lost the hope to be together*
Like was I the only one who felt that their B plot was them trying to have a secret tryst where they could have their fill of hopeful pillow talk to decompress a bit and this other couple just had to have their prophecy happen on the day they planned to meet? It was probably just me.
This feels like the weakest possible option they could have done for a Targon short
I agree, this was a very frustrating and cringe short, and i could only partially put my finger on it, as I still have a lot to learn about literature. But u basically defined it for me. I also wanna point out that this is simply a symptom of Riot just not being able to get around to progressing or simply filling out and defining the lore of Targon. IK it takes time for this stuff to be done and Targon has been rewritten like 2x...but now when they needed to deliver they just couldn't bc they waited too long to do ANY work on the region or where too focused on other regions to even toss it a bone. There's likely a LOT of work being done behind the scenes but they haven't revealed it. And the fact that out of all the regions besides Ixtal that Targon has the LEAST literature just put them in a bad spot. Also an eclipse going on would be a BIG deal for Solari AND Lunari, but the only one who seems to care is this random girl lunari who knows all about it for some reasons not explained. Whats the cheery on top tho is Leona seeing Diana OUT THE BACK OF HER HEAD, but can't seem to notice her soldier pulling a bow RIGHT next to her.
Kinda sad we didn’t get aurelion and Zoe for the cinematic
Thats hard because zoe is currently in demacia, they updated some targon lore so that wouldnt make sense
@@Duarte_GB Does not have to be the current lore.Look at the other LoR trailers
@@johnd3421 fair
Make the lunari girl stealing some important ancient scroll or relic about the escape things so it’s giving something important for Lunari and Solari people to care about, establish the relationship more , adding more stakes by also having the lunari people also trying to help the girls with Diana too, maybe have both party fight trying to get the ancient relic? IDK the story is so lagging the character just kinda standing there you could literally add random things to it and make the story 10 times better
My take on how it could be "fixed". For the sake of being easy, lets call the girl Luna and the boy Solas.
(also, Im sorry with my bad english upset you)
In the begging, during the setting shot, showing the ashole guard who doesnt like Solas saying that "the lunari witch escape with the boy".
The next shot, with Solas, show how he is afraid by doing that, rebel himself for the sake of love, show how anxious he is, but when Luna appears, Solas is clearly better, Luna presence make him calm. Now Luna try to calm him ever more saying that the place they are going theres no shame for loving each other and then he say:
"Oh, the prophecy you say?" and she reply with "You need to have faith, Solas, I know its hard but-"
And then the guards start to run against then, they look at each other, kiss, and run away together.
The guards (and Leona) finaly get into the "arc portal thing" and the same ashole guard coment with another guard that Leone only came because the boy is apparently son of somebody important to her. They start to chase the couple again.
Zoom out from the scene, a Lunari warrior seeing the solari guards and the couple running and she says:
"Do we interfere?" and Diana stepping out of the shadows and response "Not, not yet. We could hurt Luna, lets wait for the right moment"
Luna and Solas arrives in the destiny, in the pick of the mountain, and Solas is crazy, man, he says "What now? They're right behing us" and Luna hold his face and smile, looking the reflexion in his eyes.
"Now, we can only have faith". Solas try to smile but he still afraid. They hug.
Solari arrives, Leona is seeing that and dont know what to do, and the guard shot the arrow. Leona screams a "No" and Luna heart that, show her eyes open. Shot of Diana looking what happened.
And now a whole scene of Solas realizing that Luna is dying, show the horror in his eyes, he try to say to Luna stay with him, that he dont know what to do without her.
And Luna say "have faith" and then Solas rise up with her, the eclipse happen.
The solari guards try to run and the lunari appear, stopping then. Leona and Diana dont move, focused in seeing the couple walk up the sky-ladder. They do and Leona order they to fall back and return home. And now, NOW, Leona and Diana look each other.