Audio completely cuts out from 11:33-13:54. I’m a little confused because I’m watching this 2 months after it was posted and all the comments I see aren’t referring to it. Just thought I’d mention it incase RUclips messed something up in the last couple of months
I LOVE the shadow Isles one. The moment you said "toy" in the "lore" part of the video, i knew this would be one of them. The connection with gwen is waaay to good to pass up. It would be so cool if Gwen was Isold's toy and Shaco was Viago's. Honestly, I'm surprised this idea didn't come around turning the sentinals event. It would have made it so much better.
I know it's too late, but what if Shaco was a wooden toy for Viego and uses nails instead of knifes as weapons? It would be a complete contrast to Gwen who's a plush toy made by Isolde and uses a pair of scissors as a weapon. Personality would be contrasted too that makes sense: Gwen is nice because she's alive via Isolde's soul; while Shaco is evil because he's alive via Viego's black mist.
The idea of an evil Pinnochio gave me a brain wave. Since Noxus is all about blood magic, what if that's how Shako was brought to life? An old, kindly but lonely carpenter wanted a companion, someone who could assist him with work while entertaining him. Unable to create artificial life through typical means, the carpenter uses blood magic to give what his creation lacked: a heart. And by "heart" I mean a hemolith like the one Briar has, which grants Shako life with its power. For a while, the carpenter and Shako live happily together, Shako entertaining his "father" with dances and rhymes and jokes. But as time passes, the hemolith's power wanes and Shako starts to die. To remedy this, the carpenter uses his own life force to recharge the hemolith, but this is only a temporary measure. The carpenter withers away each time he recharges the hemolith, until one day he tells Shako he cannot do this anymore, that the next attempt will kill him. Shako sees this as a betrayal, that his "father" does not love him enough to save him, so if he won't give Shako what he needs, Shako will just have to take it. While the carpenter sleeps, Shako slits his throat and drinks in his life force. But even this isn't enough, Shako always needs more to power his hemolith. So he runs off into the night, looking for more victims he can lure in with dances and jokes, but not before taking one last thing from his father: a pair of daggers carved from the man's bones. After all, the carpenter gave life to Shako, so its only fair that he also take life for Shako as well.
I love your idea but would just change a little something about it: what if instead of making the carpenter the first victim make him one in the middle? Instead of seeing the inability of it's "father" to recharge his hemolith as him not loving him enough, Shaco saw his pain to be unable to see his son and decided to recharge himself taking other's lives while he's father is asleep? I think it could add another twist to Shaco and give him this theme of "twisted love" in a sense of a love so strong you'd do anything to stay with that person, a bit like some kind of yandere. The story would end with the carpenter discovering what his creation was doing and, horrified, tried to abandon it. Betrayed and longing for life, Shaco would absorb the last remnant of his father's vital energy before bursting into a sinister laugh: what is love? What is life? If not one long, meaningless joke?
@@lavan-guardiste3682 I think both of those are great ideas. I definitely agree we don't want to make Shako's origin too "wholesome" and I think making Shaco a lovable son by day and a murderer by night is a good addition to the story.
I really like this idea, as it keeps the ideas of revenge and murderous intent intact. The only problem that could arise is that it may already be too similar to a “vampire” theme, with Shaco’s main reason for killing being that blood is what keeps it alive. I think champions like Briar and Vladimir, both bloodthirsty and still from Noxus, are fulfilling that identity just fine. This story does pull me emotionally, however, which is why I think this idea may actually work well for a Demacian version of Shaco Since magic is well established in the world of Demacia, it could allow the same end result as your original idea while still keeping its distance from champs like Briar or Vlad.
Maybe rather then an old kind carpenter, perhaps a lonely prince Who enjoys creating toys? That way it can connect even more to Noxus’s original backstory.
Actually, I always thought that Shaco could fit nicely into Ionia. More specifically, as an Azakana. If the great demons are primal emotions like fear and joy, the Azakanas from Yone's lore represent smaller, more specific feelings, such as anxiety or remorse. A demon jester seems like a nice look for an smaller demon. It could represent "childhood trauma" or "impostor syndrome" or something. It can interact with Ionians. Also, he could be a nice villain in Yone's story, or even Lillia's.
I was JUST about to say something like this, but to be honest, I would make him a greater threat, using the concept of masks, you know how Yone collects masks of Azakana as his collection of fallen foes? What if Shaco is doing the same, but not as trophies, but as a way to power him up? The more masks he gets, the more powerful he becomes and a greater threat to Yone, and maybe even make it a bit more interesting, to defeat and Azakana, you need to know their names right? What if Shaco is an Acronym for the first other 4-5 Azakana he took their masks from? Making it even harder to kill him since Shaco isn’t really his name. Making him Shaco, the Many Faced Jester
I feel like elements from the Shadow Isle and Noxian origins could blend very well together. Instead of decaying through the ravages of the sea, it's the ravages of time. Instead of an eldritch, unknowable possession, it's a demonic one. Both stories have elements of vengeance, and both are forgotten in time. I feel like combining their design elements would be really fun. If I had to choose? Noxian. I like the idea of an old, possessed doll constantly being found and repaired, only to attack their savior and end up discarded again, only for the cycle to repeat. Also, please keep the rhyming. It's a lot of fun
I agree, tinkering with the idea of merging elements from the two prompts story's could be interesting. I would personally put the Shadow Isle color palette over the Noxian design just to see how it would look, but the design just feels right looking at it.
Combining the two themes of the Noxus/Shadow Isles together seems like the best idea to me too! I'd say combining the innocent origins and court corruption, but staging it in Noxus - Noxus is brimming with backstabbing and has the tight aesthetic and coldness to fit what he is now. You keep the tragedy of corruption, but lose the lore and aesthetic tangle you'd get with the Shadow Isles. Noxus is full of ruthless power mongers, but it still has parents who love their children. One family of considerable (but not unassailable) power commissions an animate jester, to keep their child entertained until they are old enough to learn how Noxian politics work. But the magic in the doll is sensitive, and even as it shelters the child from the cruelty and cunning that keeps the War Machine running, its learning - but all the horrors and treacheries it can absorb don't change what it was built to do - entertain the child. At one point, disaster strikes - the child is a weak spot in the family, and an assassin strikes. The doll was not trained for combat, and cannot properly understand the murder it witnessed, and process it the only way it can- as a joke. When the enraged parents find the jester making jokes over their child's Corpse, they try to destroy it - but now that it has seen violence, it can repeat it - and it does. You can easily mix in other elements like the blessed Isles or demons to justify the magic source, but then you've got a manic murder clown that's just a little bit tragic, and being from Noxus you can keep the red and white aesthetic
The idea of different people finding, repairing, and then being killed by Shaco over the years is actually brilliant. It would allow for the character to develop new personality traits as it encounters new people. Maybe it even struggles against its nature from time to time as it meets other characters.
I actually think the Demacia story would work really well if we made Shaco a lesser demon of Ashlesh (joy) rather than one of Fiddlesticks (fear). Specifically, the demon of laughter. Shaco would seem like a fine companion for a young prince, just being a friend playing with him and bringing laughter everywhere. Strange accidents would likely occur with certain guards and servants who interrupted the games, but accidents happen. As the prince grows older, however, and he's expected to start embodying the Demacian virtues of duty and stoicism, Shaco would cause many more accidents with tutors, nannies, and even the Prince's old playmates. Eventually something would be done about Shaco, and we'd end up with the demon of laughter terrorizing people, and maybe even still trying to make its way to the prince if we decide he was J4's guardian. This would still serve as a cautionary tale against magic for Demacia, but it would also expand the demon lore and specifically open up the Ashlesh line of demons. Also I think it'd be fun to make a scary villain out of something that insists everything should be fun and laughter filled - or else. At very least I think the demon of Laughter angle ought to be explored.
Definitely agree to preserve Shaco as a demon origin, even moreso to tie him into Ashlesh/Nilah’s lore as a demon of laughter makes tons of sense. I almost would want to argue that the Shadow Isles would bolster the existing lore given Nilah is fully aware of Camavor and it’s fall. Nilah is one of the best narratively written champions in years with a criminally undersold marketing pitch. Shaco running counter to Nilah as a source of evil tricking Nilah at every turn through wily ways as opposed to Nilah’s straightforward face-to-face fighting would be a good juxtaposition.
Ooh, I like that. Maybe he's not even malicious, he just has no concept of the suffering his actions cause. He's just roughhousing, it's not his fault his 'playmate' couldn't keep up with him. Nor that they didn't want to play with him in the first place. And if you want to make him edgy/more killer clown-ish, maybe he can't tell the difference between screaming and laughter and genuinely thinks cutting people up with his daggers is something they enjoy. He's not a homicidal maniac, he's a Mr. Punch doll who sees everyone as his Judy.
Shaco should def. be a demon, if anything imo a demon of hysteria a mix of both fear and joy, they could use shaco to bring in a totally new aspect to the demons, as all of them used to be acient herrors but shaco could be a new demon just born a few decades ago one that combines two of the older aspects into a totally new thing.
I really like the shadow isles idea, especially the idea of more explicitly connecting him to gwen. Now that Viego is gone, gwen doesn’t have a main baddy to fight, so giving her a dark reflection of herself would be awesome! you could even make the daggers broken scissor blades to make the connection even more obvious
That actually helps with one of the biggest downsides to the Shadow Isles concepts: the fact that the ruination arc has already resolved. Shaco might not be as big a baddie as Viego was, but he could serve as another antagonistic force for the likes of Gwen
@@Subjectivelyit reminds me of how legends of Runeterra expanded Gwen to be a defender of innocence in the face of the overwhelming grief and rage of the black mist. Having Shaco represent that stealing of innocent would make him an excellent antagonist to Gwen.
Something I was thinking about during the Shadow Isles and Demacia concepts was about Gwen's story as it exists not in League of Legends, but Legends of Runeterra (stay with me a bit here, I promise it's relevant). The whole story is about the Midnight Revel. It's a fairytale ball, it seems like everyone there exists just to have fun... until it's revealed that everyone there is a creature, a puppet forged by the Black Mist... So what if Shaco is an illusionist puppeteer? Rather than adding to the high number of "fear" champions that league has (Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, etc), why not have him represent the lingering will who clings to happier times? Harnessing the mist, he creates puppet creatures of the people who once were, restores Camavor to what it once was... but it was only an illusion, and the spirits of those he ties here are not truly back. Gwen, who wanders into his vision from the outside and ruins his great ball by freeing the souls from their puppets- scissors, cutting their strings... You could also make his soul that of the former Jester of Camavor (courts have jesters, yeah? Keeps the clown theme), and he's desperate to keep the fun going despite knowing of the kingdom's decline. You get to have a spooky jester as a living puppet puppetmaster who strings the false people of a ruined Camavor, and is opposed by the one who wields a tool to cut those strings, and you get to explore a different side of negative emotion. Regret. Which can also tie in nicely with Viego, who also refuses to let go of the past. Perhaps LoR's Ghostly Paramour is the part of Viego's heart that broke when Isolde perished, and their whole story is about the echoes of what once was.
Or maybe the deranged and mad jesters soul might eventually be pulled to truely bring back those happier times. Much like how viego sought to bring back isolde, shaco now seeks to bring back viego. To bring about the court that once was, and taking every motion and step it can to bring that deluded vision about. To further add to the dark tragedy, dark comedy and horror, maybe shaco’s power also enables him to not only make new dolls of himself, but transform victims into dolls using magical transmuting poison and illusions. All meant to fill the roles within the court that once was. Of course, it’s always missing someone… something always is not right in the jesters eyes. It’s always missing something, as the jester knew everyone, and while he is gripped by nostalgia for those happier times… he struggles to recreate them. The horror for some soul that shaco decides would fit the role of a marquis or baroness, or servant as the jester plunges a magically poisoned half of scissor blade into their back and they watch in horror as flesh becomes wood, their limb’s paralysing, and only able to move or speak to replay whatever lines are fed into them by the mad jesters soul as their mind eventually becomes trapped in their own body.
I LOVE the Demacia design and concept. The idea of making Shanko into a perversion of the pristine and rigid style that Demacia’s constructs are known for. Shattering the marble and gold of its body to turn a robotic statue into an agile murder clown. It works as a bit of fun symbolism, the gold and marble are twisted into something horrifying and unrecognizable, just like how Demacia’s pure ideals are corrupted into hate and violence and prejudice. This also works into the lore you wrote, how good intentions bred pain, and that suffering is now used as ammo for the prejudiced to further fuel their hatred of mages. Plus it just feels so much more interesting than the others to me. Like you said, Noxus and the Shadow Isles are filled with characters whose whole personality revolves around murder. Placing a similar character would just make Shanko another in a long list of murderers and villains from the two nations whose entire gimmick is villainy. Putting the murder clown into Demacia gives that region a kind of villain that it has largely lacked. - I do think if you were to go for the Demacia concept, it’d need a bit more reworking. The current Demacian design still feels to static and perfect, like how Shanko would have originally looked in this story just with some vines and cracks on it. Breaking the statue apart further would allow Shanko to better match his iconically chaotic and agile movements, and could better separate Shanko from the other Demacian constructs (Galio and all of his friends from LoR)
This would never fit his playstyle though. Shaco is elusive and playful. He's a trickster, not some stiff automaton. It would be a rework that would totally flip the playstyle worse than aatroxs ever did.
Maybe throw in some bits of Noxus/Noxas into it, like Shaco picked up some Noxian solider bits to add to himself, amongest the deminishing Demacian feel along side the nature taking over.
@@Tsuusetsu Thats exactly what I said at the bottom of the comment. Further break the statue to help it move around more fluidly, like shatter its arms into pieces and have all the breaking points act like joints or something. I recognize that the design needs some improvement, but I think the concept is still the strongest
When I first heard you describe the backstory for Shako I 1. Weeped with sadness for how empty it was, and 2. Immediately thought of the potential Shako had for being a sort of foil character to Gwen! As in, a doll for Viego possessed by his masters malice. You could even make the knives the separated parts of scissor blades! Just a thought!
I think the Demancian idea is really cool. Having Shaco created by an act of fear fits really well and the contrast between him and the rest of the Damancian champions makes him stand out in a good way.
I've always liked the thought of Shaco as a parallel to Gwen, having been twisted due to abandonment instead of the love and care given to Gwen. I'd love to see what this Shaco would have to say to his pseudo-sister, and what Shaco could do to her Midnight Revel. That definitely has my vote.
I like this idea, but we can elaborate on it more. We know the lore was that it was made for a prince. That prince could be Viego. Where Gwen fought for Isolde's sake after the ruination, it would be interesting to see Shaco working like an animated assassin that only wants to see the prince smile once more. That's why he's a jester. He makes jokes and tries to bring Viego joy again, but when Viego went into slumber, Shaco worked as a guard. In the recent story, when Viego got turned to stone, Shaco could be on his way to free Viego and wipe away that makes Viego sad.
@@redviego6714 too bad shaco will always be his own character and never somebody's bitch or servant. keep hating though, maybe eventually you will get your way (you won't tho)
I loved the esthetic concept of Shako having 3 faces, I think you should double down on that idea. Having each face representing the the different stages throughout it’s “life”(I think it can be applied in any of the 3 stories). The first face represents It’s original purpose, a toy whose purpose was to protect/entertain/deceive, this one would be the most innocent looking but at the same time the most “rusted” because is the most ancient. The second would be made by Shako, during the long time it was left abandoned, without a purpose, that mask could represent the loss of its original identity and borderline depression. And the third mask is made by the deranged and blood lusted Shako we all know now, that mask would represent his newfound madness or anger and the embracing of its new violent purpose.
Adding to it with my thoughts. The rusted one could also hold bits of Demacia's theme, the second could contain a little of the Spirits from the Shadow Isles, from being from another Jester like toy found within the remains of the Shadow Isles-thus giving it some of the vengence of Spirits, with bits bleeding over into the third one, then the third being of Noxian make with that theme you mentioned behind it. Meanwhile his clothing could be a patchwork of Mostly Noxian make, from being repaired mostly there, and a little of Demacia and Shadow Isles. (Maybe each face used lights up the patches of clothing from it and the mask's theme. First/Demacia, Second/Shadow Isle, and lasty the third/Noxas/Noxus. TL:DR Blend all three into some hybrid of all of them lending to it being taken on parts of each area/region such as it traveling and repaired while lending itself to the "Chaotic" feel/look.
I honestly found myself most interested by the Demacian lore. It lends to Demacia well to have such a contrasting horror character related to their fear of mages, and having a bedtime story/urban legend to further the narrative of raising their children against magic. It's giving M3GAN, Chucky, and Howdy Doody Doll; all dolls made with good intentions who turn sinister through different means. I'd love to see a more 'evil doll' take on a jester for Shaco. I think your origin works well as a protection doll, but it even could've been a gift for the Prince's first birthday who would soon become heir to the throne. As he grows up, his attachment to Shaco becomes worrisome to his family as he speaks of Shaco as a living, real thing. TLDR; I love the idea of Shaco being a horror/bedtime story from old-time Demacia. I think the design does not need to be guardian like Galio, instead an actual Demacian Doll gifted to the Prince; with bad intentions.
Yeah, eve, noc, and fiddle come from the demacians xenofobia, producing things that oppose their mockery of the protectors visage. So much like morgana it can fill a contrasting role to the old royal family, maybe just make him an abandoned pupet left behind by the fleeing baby jarvan 1st/2nd, first prince of demacians, who gets possesed by an noxian demon, ad they advance, explains the RedNblack color scheme. So he looms at night over every crib left unchecked, leaving them a 🎁, for the parents to find when morning comes. So we cna leave the trainwreck of the ruination alone, and put a reason why demacians are even more afraid od mages
The concept of the prince himself imbuing the doll with life by regarding it as a living creature, now THATS a thought. The idea of this ancient child prince being rejected in horror by Demacia for his innocent use of some innate magic to cause a doll to dance, maturing into resentment and eventually murderous revenge and a “I’ll show them why they should be afraid” attitude channeled through his doll. I personally prefer the ruined isles jester appearance as it combines corpse elements (the remnants of the prince, perhaps?) as well as the dramatic faces and loose, puppet pose. I definitely think the spectral hands add flavor, and are quite unique. They might block the character, though, what with the top-down perspective the player has on their champion. The noxian rhymes definitely have to stay, though.
The issue with the Demacia concept IMO is that Demacia already has a murderous monster that rampages through the countryside while people think it's only a scary story for children.
Honestly I think leaning *more* into the Fiddlesticks aspect could be a possible direction. There are things you could do with that. - a group of mages creating their own (backfiring) monster modeled after Fiddlesticks. - Shaco coming from old legends about the fear demon through telephone and somehow becoming their own entity. - Shaco as a clown embodying modern horror tropes as apposed to primal animalistic ones like Fiddle. - etc.
While Riot says that he’s not a demon, I do genuinely think the Demon Jester would work well as the demon of delirium. Feeding off of people’s mental anguish from confusion and panic. Make it so toys are its conduit to its torment, the same way fiddle uses scarecrows and eve uses lust. A lesser demon that enjoys tormenting one person with moving dolls, hallucinations before going in for the kill when they’re all used up.
I actually wrote a story for Shaco that is almost exactly like that, with the exception being I put him between Piltover and Noxus (as for current activity). After all, those places are hotspots for madness.
This for sure. Demon of confussion, indecision or anxiety perfectly fits his playstyle abilities and being a jestor. He could even be resposible for events like throwing the knife that nearly killed viego. His whole thing can just be creating chaos. Also this fits most with the 3rd design. I don't think he even needs to be a puppet though. Its just that being one of the toys that moves in the house is like one way to create confusion. Maybe that is even how he started out and he just started doing more and more.
For the shadow Isles "puppet" one I quite like the bottom half of the mask being broken into teeth, it makes the face look unintentionally menacing rather than just like it was made that way which I feel is important to show that he became creepy rather than just always being that way. I actually really liked the Demacia one too, I think the foil to / perversion of Galio idea is really neat. If not the main concept it'd make for a really cool skin haha.
My favorite concept is surprisingly the demacian one. It can be a result of the mageseeker experiments to recreate galio (as seen in mageseeker) . I feel the desing is missing a few things, though: -The creppy smile (which can be a crack in the stone that looks like a smile, for example) -The pointy nose (gives a silly creepy vibe and makes so that the desing doesn't look completely different from og shaco) -More colors (I realize you used demacian colors on purpose, but it's fine to variate a little there. Given that he is supposed to be a jester and a toy, I think he should be covered in fancy colorful clothes, but ragged and dirty by time) Shadow Isles is not bad in my opinion, though I think is a bit to obvious. If you drop another spooky champion in the spooky region, he is not going to feel very spooky nor special. Though if you go with this, I like puppet the best, going all in in mirroring Gwen, and making him more lanky and assimetrical. (Also smile, nose and colors) Not sure about Noxus one though. Maybe if the story continued for a few more chapters and Shaco waked up, I could comment more. And I like the desing, but feels more like Omen of the Dark skin for Shaco than anything else.
I agree that my favorite origin story is the Demacian one, however I prefer the Shadow Isle visual identity. I wonder if there could be a way to combine them in some way.
Well the unknown technique to brought Shaco to life can be a forbidden ritual that either demonic spooky entity to possess the vessel. Personality I like the idea of the Demon of Hallucination or Paranoia
I really love the story of the Demacia idea. It feels the most unique out of the 3 concepts. A being that's evil not so much out of malice, but overwhelming paranoia programed into it is a fresh idea. Also, it has the most interesting potential for future stories out of the 3. Perhaps that Shaco steals a new child every decade or so that looks similar to his ancient prince and adopts it. It could then bring other children or animals to it's current master for 'playdates', only to eventually kill each one when it decides they're a threat. It kills them in secret, so it's current 'prince' never realizes why their playmates keep having to 'move away' after a few days of fun. I think that kind of homicidal nanny/bodyguard would be a really cool antagonist for Runterra. However, I do think the visuals stray a bit too far from Shaco's origin. Also the design you made for Demacia looks a bit too obviously menacing imo. I think it would make more sense for the Demacia Shaco to lean into the uncanny for horror rather than looking like a monster. If this thing was made to chaperone a young child, it should probably should look plausibly friendly.
a demonic presence that taked live by the fear of runic war? with this it would be the 3rd time... nocturne is a demonic presence that was born by the fear of runic war... also fiddlestick was another demonic presence that was born by the fear of runic war, or more specific, the runic war gived the food that he needed to be this powerfull...
Exactly, demacian Shaco would be so fucking cool, I really like the Gwen Shaco foil in the Shadow Isles concept but the visual is so fucking safe, kinda boring honestly
The Demacian Shaco backstory sounds like it should be used for a whole new champ instead of updating Shaco. It's good, but as mentioned it's just too divorced from OG Shaco to work as an update.
My thoughts on each of the designs Demacia: I like the concept but I do agree that the plot holes would be a hard thing to deal with in the writing department I also think the design is a little confused looking with the weird face on the chest and the arm blades seem a little bulky and difficult to animate. To keep the more jester look I would base his design on ancient Greek theater masks(not just the comedy and tragedy ones but character masks) which would keep the entertainer aspect while fitting in more with Demacian aesthetics. Shadow Isles: This is the most obvious choice for a redesign I do think you would have to make sure not to make him too similar to Gwen. To do this I would make him a puppet from a puppet show so that you don't have two haunted dolls in the shadow isle. I love the design for this one(especially the Hecate inspired mask) I would make his a little more crazy looking since he does look a little too put together. Though complicated to write in a story in the Shadow Isles I think it could be really cool if done well. Noxus: I really love this design and the story could be better I think it keeps the same energy as his original design though he could be more gladiator themed in order to be more of an entertainer(someone could be piloting him like a battle bot) I am also sorry to inform you that he does look a bit like Spamton from Deltarune which is not a bad thing but you should probably be aware of it. This design has a lot of potential but just needs to be tweaked.
@@MG-mh8xp less like a literal battle bot but carries the same energy as bored college students taping a balloon and any sharp object onto some rumbas and having them go at it.
If we want to make Shako a demon, I'd make him the Demon of Betrayal. It fits with his gameplay loop of stabbing people in the back and the idea of using a smile to mask your malicious intent. Design wise, as much as I love the spectral hand puppeting his broken body, I think the goblin jester look fits better thanks to the jester hat resembling horns. Also, the ghost hand would completely block Shako's body from view in League's overhead camera angle.
Well you could put the hand only in the splash art, and ropes/nothing in the actual game But its clancky movement could mean that, even in that moment, it's moved by a mist hand
@@SerialGufator I think making the hand transparent but still visible would be real cool, riot could definitely make it work but their too scared to make something different. Ironically they make the worst decisions that nobody wants a lot of the time
The demacian one gotta be my favourite, him being a creation of fear instead of ill intent is great and the visual design is quite bold yet intriguing.
I really really like the Noxian origin and the potential it has. I've got a few ideas on how to elaborate on what you proposed but be forewarned, I envision a bit of a dark comedy champion vibe for this new Shaco. Firstly, if I remember correctly, lesser demons can be fragments of what the greater demons of Runeterra draw their power from. My pitch is that, unbeknownst to the shadowy cabal of mages, the demon that they imprison in Shaco is a lesser demon related to Ashlesh, Nihla's demon of joy. The demon told to do dirty deeds was a demon of laughter. When brought to life by the Noxian tactician's impatience, he sought his goal of murder through comical means, bringing uproarious comedy to the macabre. I feel like this loops in one of Shaco's most important aspects to me, his nature as a jester. Clowns and jesters are a huge archetype in pop culture and if Shaco's clown-ness was to be toned down, I feel like we'd be missing out on a fun archetype only really filled by surprise party fiddlesticks. Even to that degree, I think that Shaco would go in a different direction of comedy than surprise party, being more focused on slapstick violence rather than purely jokes. I also love the idea of a Geppetto-like character who takes a broken-down Shaco in and fixes him. Shaco could just run around Runeterra and senselessly murder like in his original take, OR he could want to make his papa proud and inspire laughter wherever he and Geppetto went even though Shaco is inspiring said laughter through more violent means than his papa may have liked. This brings in a character tied directly to modern Shaco in the world and gives a window for character development in the future. Will Shaco be a naughty toy causing uproarious laughter through violent means, or make Geppetto proud and become a true entertainer? I also think making Shaco a comedy character gives the league team the freedom to go absolutely nuts in the animation department with bouncy movement and comical attacks (maybe Geppetto disarms Shaco of his knives so Shaco resorts to wailing on people with a giant wooden mallet). I don't know, sorry for the big ramble, I had this idea and had to get it down. EDIT: Spelling, thought Shaco was with a K instead of a C, my bad.
As much as i love the idea of giving shaco a comprehensive origin story, i think the fact he has nothing to work with could also be used to great effect in characterising him. I imagine he could just be rewritten to a pov of a mother telling their child a bednight tale of a prince who didn't appreciate his parents so the demon jester appeared and got rid of them one day. And by the end the mom could just tell their child "oh but that's just a fairy tale, it's not like he's really out there!" Basically what I'm saying is that i like the idea of Shaco being this in-world fable monster like rumpelstiltskin or the pied piper.
I feel that the story idea for the Demacia version works best for the Shadow Aisles concept. From when Viego was still a prince, the toy was locked away until it killed its way to the one he had to protect only to not find him as he was now a king. So he left the aisles in look for him, catching any child that vaguely reminded it of him. You could fuse their designs!
I legit got goosebumps from only your first demacian design and story. Seriously your artistic skill combined to your wide use of great vocabulary make excellent designs, still wonder how Riot didn't hire you already XD. I tried to make a rework for Shaco myself, I didn't finish it fully. Seeing this video made me realize that I still have a lot to practice and tons of work to do. Your work however is very inspiring for me, keep it up you are great
It's my time to finally tell someone about my idea of an origin story for Shaco: Since the awful ruined king event I always thought that it was the perfect time to bring Shaco to the spotlight. For his story I came with the idea of "Two sides of the same coin" Gwen and Shaco were two characters that the King and Queen created when they were young. While Shaco was made by the best toy manufactories of the kingdom to acomplish the young prince's dreams, Gwen was a small doll, created by a little girl that only wanted to bring to life her most dearest friend. When the isles became the shadow isles, these two dolls come to life. Gwen had a benevolent side, wanted to help others, while Shaco had no heart and was fueled by the king's selfish desires... And both dolls wanted the soul fragments from Isolde, both knew that gathering all of them would bring them to life and unleash their full power. Maybe Gwen was succesful in her quest and stopped Viego, but Shaco is still out there, trying to stole Isolde's completed soul and bring back the chaos of the black mist It could work like a twist to Pinnochio, both dolls wanting to become real, with different intentions behind
I personally really liked the Noxus backstory, specifically the demon connection. I also like that in making him a Noxian creation his design had a lot more emphasis on a stealthy, assassin like appearance. I think regardless of which region you pick, that it should be easier to read him as a slippery, sneaky character. The demacia design in particular read more like an in your face fighter, and while Shadow Isles was cool, it personally felt more like an update of his existing visuals than a reimagining, but whether or not that observation is valuable to you comes down to which you're trying to do more. All around, great work as usual! I hope Riot takes a page out of your book if they ever update him
to me the shadow isles one is definetly the way to go. I love the idea of him being a to given to a young Viego (not necessarily a magical one, just a very well made puppet) While it's true it may be too similar to gwen, he could also function as a dark mirror to her. A doll created not out of love and deeply cared for, but created to be given away and then discarded, depite being so well made. This could make Shaco have something of a rivalry with gwen "YOu are just a miseraple piece of cloth! What are you compared to me?! And yet....you had love." The only pet peeve i have is that despite being very Black Mist coded, Shaco at no point is exposed to the mist, which could be confusing, considering he looks like he was IN the shadow isles during the ruination.
I really like the potential of the Noxus design, and if I were to expand it, a Demon of Insanity inside of a jester would make it different from the other demons in Runeterra, as well as keeps the crazy jester theme.
@@Subjectively I would honestly like to see Shaco's kit revolve around Fear mechanics directly. Like he still has a blink but it only grants invisibility/camouflage if there's a Feared target nearby. Maybe make his daggers a 2-charge skillshot that have a stacking poison effect, instead of his awkward passive and point-and-click design. I like his Shac-in-the-Box but it could be tossed out entirely for a different skill. Really lean into the paranoia that Shaco can cause with his design and really make people second-guess the player's actions. Possibly some illusions similar to Fiddlesticks' passive or something that reduces vision, like Graves.
I love the shadow isle idea it’s really good, I love the backstory, the design of the jester is really good, but it needs something, make it a little bit more scary, give him a pair of ghost bladed arms on his back and give him a sharper toothed grin.
I'm a big fan of the Demon Shadow Isle design, though I do wish it had a bit more wood on its lower body (phrasing). Likewise, I really like the idea of giving Gwen something of a nemesis since it doesn't really seem like she has much story or anything to do post Ruination. You could make the argument that Viego is her nemesis, but I think it would be convenient to give her a personal antagonist whose mere existence isn't a cataclysmic world ending event
I absolutely love the multi faced element and the Black Mist puppet strings stuff from the SI Shaco. That said, the story as presented has too many pivot points. He was a toy discarded and forgotten but absorbed the malice of the court so he wakes up after the fall and then walks across the bottom of the sea and emerges transformed again - there's just too many turns. He was a toy, meant to bring joy maybe even inspired by Isoldes love of Gwen. So viego has him commissioned as part of his court, but the satirist who helped enchant him went a little hard in the paint on the jokes, especially at Isoldes expense. so Viego had him imprisoned and sent the toy to be destroyed but it escaped and has been twisting the knife on its sense of humor for generations. Or if you wanna get bad nasty, Isolde was killed by a poisoned blade right? Well, that's Shacos primary weapon. The Enchanter who created him was part of the coupe and poured his malice into the effort. Shacos first sick joke was that he was meant as a present for Isolde and then he killed her. Viego orders the clown destroyed but it's only damaged and it learns to feed off the screams instead of the laughs it was created to generate, but it still tells jokes, because it thinks screams and blood *are* laughter. Anyway, SI aesthetic is quite good, but it could also be like, Camavoran (which has more blue in it I think?) or even stick with the red, but the outfit has been Ruinated and tarnisjed over the centuries.
The design I would go with is the SI one, especially the jester design. Not only do the multiple faces do a great job at showing that he's essentially a vessel for all blood lust and feelings of betrayal others had, but can also show how he preformed before he was discarded, switching between faces when playing with Viego depending on what role was needed. To address the cons, I feel that he's unique enough from Gwen based on how they came alive. Gwen was created from a single girl's innocence, while Shaco was created from an entire kingdom's scorn. For how you would fit him in the lore, I feel that it's fairly easy since you had it that he was in a storage room for centuries, only interacting with Viego when he was a kid, so I don't think his inclusion will disrupt anything too much. As for the colors, I don't really care. The new colors fit better with the updated lore and I don't really care if updates are big leaps from the original design. The only critic I have is that this version may be too similar to Pyke, both being knife wielding undead murders with thinly veiled motivations. Besides that, love this so much and I hope its the version you go with. If it is I would even love to see a drawing of how Shaco would have looked before everything happened to him, burrowing the aesthetic of Gwen's LoR followers. Also, hope you keep the rhyming. It's definitely a good way to not only connect him to his toy roots, but to separate him from other champs.
I really like the idea of tying Shako into Viego and the ruination, paralleling the only other doll character. But it feels a bit strange to have him be a gift from the blessed isles. I’m a bit fuzzy on the lore, but I thought it was a huge plot point that no one in his court knew about the place and Khalista had to go on a huge journey to discover it and tell Viego it existed. It could be interesting to sorta combine the first and second idea, maybe the doll was a gift from to Viego from Demacia, and instead of being a full petricite construct it’s just the core/heart of the doll, designed to protect the prince from any harmful spells. And it’s petricite heart could be why it absorbs the negativity of the court or maybe even absorb dark magic from the ruination itself.
tbh, i dig the noxus one the most. I'm all for shaco being an actual wooden & metal puppet, with visible engines and joints. We have so much organic champions in league, that a more "stiff" character would stand out A LOT, while also making it a lil more creepy. I would heavily take inspiration from automatons from the game ' Lies of P ', or the puppets from karakuri circus anime. But i do really like the 3 faces from the shadow isles concept, reminds me of The King from Lies of P, an automaton that changes it face depending on how its 'feeling' ( Poker face when you meet him, somewhat of a smiley face while he's waiting for you to praise him, and a sad//angry face once you decline praising him, which leads to the battle )
Amazing work, as always ! I like the Noxus concept best. It is a recontextualization more than a reimagining of the character, which is how Riot tends to do these updates. What if instead of a weapon, Shaco was actually a jester but a gory one ? Noxus loves violence, wether in court, blood sports or the battlefield. I think Shaco could have intentionally been made a bloody clown and then progressively got out of hand. It could be connected to blood magic to bring it further in line, and maybe that explains the bloodlust : Shaco needs to feed ! To that point, my understanding of Runeterra demons is that they feed of off certain emotion. I think Shaco should focus on frenzy and gleefulness to contrast Fiddlesticks. The Shadow Isles concept is neat but I think it doesn't have enough breathing room in that region. Most champions from the Shadow Isles have a ghostly appearance and a connection to Viego. With the Ruination event, it's even worst because so many champions have skins with that exact aesthetic. This version of Shaco is basically a mix of Thresh and Gwen without much to add to this part of the world. While the Demacia concept is really original and fresh, I think it changes to much to the point that the character is unrecognizable. Maybe that could be a skin ?
I would try to combine some concepts. For example, I really like the idea of bringing something to life with a demon inside of it, as well as the concept of being a Duran Golem. I might make Shaco a product of a Duran Apprentice who couldn't bring something to life in the normal way. This could lead him to give in to temptation and use a demon to strengthen the connection between the statue and the magic used to bring it to life. Initially, he was intended to be a common jester in the streets, providing protection to citizens in case something happened and making them laugh. However, over time, the demon gradually takes over the statue, turning it into a killer. He could be portrayed as a character with two personalities: one as the Duran statue and the other as the demon. The statue would be unaware of the demon inside. Perhaps there could even be some lore involving Galio, as they attempt to uncover the identity of the killer without realizing it's Shaco (or the demon inside of him). The challenge lies in assigning an emotion to the demon. Maybe the demon of paranoia would be a suitable choice, considering Demacia's fear of magic. This could provide motivation for the demon not to completely take over, allowing Shaco to be as a paranoid as citizen, uncertain of who the real killer is, and uncertain of his innocence. This way, we introduce an element of uncertainty to Shaco's character and it could fit well the gameplay. Maybe it could contrast with fiddlesticks bc both of them are based of fear (even if imagine him more with paranoia, we could even make him not do the killing but hype the deaths so pepole are more scared, or he could be a "child of fiddle", this way he's a lesser demon but still an intresting character) When he uses a clone we could display the 2 personalities into them, one is a statue and the other one is raw black magic, gathered thanks to the paranoia he caused, the traps could even make sense, since they can produce paranoia into the victims making them think they have allucinations. As for the statue's design, I would suggest making it as tall as a normal human or slightly taller while maintaining its skinny appearance. I appreciate the details like and the demacian look in the statue but i would like him to look more like a jester so he could talk with pepole without looking like a "PROTECT ROBOT" and more like of someone that you can interact with.
It's clear you're most excited about the Shadow Isles idea, and honestly that might be enough reason to run with it. If you do, though, the voices should connect more clearly to Shako's multiple faces. It took me a sec to realize that may have been the connection (but that overall design seems the strongest of the three Shadow Isles ones). I like the idea of the Shadow Isles because it has the strongest theme that alludes to its original story (directionless rage) but still gives it solid footing. That said, the Noxian visuals feel like they might match the toy concept better and successfully skirt around the color palette issue from the second one. The vibe of the Noxian Shako's mask also reminds me of a Commedia Dell'arte mask, and there are several Zanni (servants/clowns) that fit Shako's story identities (Pulcinella, who always comes out of hardship with a smile; Scapino, or "little escape artist;" and Pedrolino, "the go-between, the willing servant, the wily slave" who "survives in serving others"). It might be fun to play with that idea of several identities, using that gallery of Zanni for inspiration.
All the designs and stories are good, but I think I like shadow isles the most, both design and lore. I'd make the Demacia design more jester like, but I like how this Shaco is the product of Demacias hypocrisy and folly. For the Noxian designs the only idea I have is to perhaps make is to that Shaco can entice people to repair him (he, of course murders them as their reward) and that is how he can go on despite being a doll. Great work from you, as always.
All of these designs are phenomenal! If we're getting down to brass tacks, though, I think the Demacian concept has a very strong narrative push that, with a little tweaking and change in visual storytelling, could be incredibly-tragic, mainly in the visual intentionality of being a guardian. Demacia is a nation of honesty, not made for deceit - perhaps, in the growing paranoia of the court, a decision is made to create a golem guardian for the prince, but not tell the prince (or the rest of the court, for that matter) about it? A happy, friendly, not-at-all-dangerous construct made to dance and sing and entertain the court at large - his guardian nature entirely-hidden and deceptive; he would not LOOK dangerous in his prime - 'Look, the jester is dancing and singing, everything is fine! There is no war in Ba Sing Se!' This could play into the tragedy of the magic slowly warping Shaco's behavior, as there is no misunderstanding the visual design of the clown - he is not meant to look harmful, and the prince has no idea he is meant as a guardian, not just a plaything. Perhaps even the prince's own behavior helps steer Shaco's demented interpretation of his duty - a child's misunderstanding of the militant society he exists within; one that he can grow out of, but Shaco cannot, which makes it all the more tragic when this seemingly-harmless plaything ultimately does the unthinkable. Much of the narrative could remain the same beyond that, but the key point of this change would be to free up the shape and visual language. The weakest point of the Demacian origin is... well, even without the wear and tear of time, it looks like something that would terrify a child. Part of what makes clowns and jesters scary is the uncanny valley - the exaggerated features, strange costuming, and overenthusiastic hijinks, and there is little of that present in this current Demacian design - it is a gilded automaton with arm blades and horns, with some suggestion of a grinning smile beneath the mask and a touch of ruffled collar that is a bit too muted to really read as absurd. Demacia may be a nation defined by gold, steel, and brilliant blue hues, but jesters are meant to stand apart from the court - they are allowed to look absurd and wild. Jingling bells, particolored clothing, garish accessories - these are the hallmark of a jester, and there is a lot you can do with that, while still leaving the unknowable, sinister uncanny element intact. The terror of Shaco comes from the unexpected - leaping from stealth to stab you when you least expect it, being jumped by his jack-in-the-boxes, not knowing which one is real and which is fake, the horror of seeing the knife flying through the air from the brush, all from this doofy clown man who runs like he moves in slow motion and giggles after most abilities. Shaco's horror should stem from that uncanny element - he is not MEANT to look dangerous, but there's those uncomfortable elements about him that scream 'something is very, very wrong'. I love the idea of part of that stemming from neglect and misuse - perhaps he wears bright clothing that is fraying and torn over time, and his construction leaves him rickety and less able to move with the same grace he once had, adding to that uncomfortable uncanny element. While I think the shape language of the Noxian and Shadow Isles versions are just A+, I feel the Demacian angle adds a lot of interesting points to Demacian culture and design language that doesn't get enough love - beyond Morgana and Sylas, we don't have many champions that explore what Demacia looks like at its lowest, rather than any of its various peaks. As always, excellent draftsmanship and design work, these videos are so excellent at helping cultivate a keen eye for character design that is much-appreciated. ♥
I feel like a mix of two and three would be pretty cool, like you drew with two it would have two or three faces, acting friendly before pivoting to the mean face, and you then notice there is an extra arm or two plunging a knife between your ribs
I do think the first design is too different from canon shaco, and im afraid the whole “i came from fear, i seek out fear” thing pushes him too close to fiddlesticks lore. I think if you push the design closer to a “friendly guardian/toy turned bad” direction it might help. Especially push the clown aspect. I’m thinking some kind of clown-butler maybe. Definitely featuring shaco’s huge grin and maybe a big, fancy mustache or something. Maybe you could even include a tool used to keep the prince safe turned into something sinister- like a cage or something? Some of the FNAF characters being built to include hiding children inside comes to mind. I tend to like the second concept much more than the first! The idea of a tainted toy is interesting. As for your three designs, the first is my favorite because it feels the most grounded in the toy aspect. The second and third almost seem closer to a creature wearing shacos costume or being controlled by shaco or something. I do think the first one is the expected redesign, but i also feel like it just works. Thematically, I like the third pitch the most. I think the visuals are good, but i would punch up the Pinocchio influence and add a second part to his hood to give it more of a jester vibe. I love the diamond pattern you included, and the mask. Keep those if possible! Three is definitely my preferred design. Youve done a lot a fantastic work! I cannot wait to see what direction you take the design. If i could have my pick, i would combine the design number 1 from your second pitch, and the design from your third pitch together, pushing the jester and toy aesthetic.
While I preferred the build-up (and most of the designs) of the Shadow isle origin, I absolutely love the endgame of the Noxian Origin. That last bit of folklore, combined with the creepy poem at the end was absolutely amazing - and the design looks pretty good too!
Shaco backstory How Shaco is created for the Prince's use is what interests me the most about these backstories. This aspect of the backstories provide an interesting explanation to the duality Shaco possesses, hence why I like that aspect so much. * Demacia - Created to protect the Prince and occasionally be the Prince's plaything. - Took the task of protecting the Prince to a fatal and even murderous degree. * Shadow Isles - Was a toy meant for the young Prince's enjoyment before being discarded. - Soul was corrupted by the negative emotions of others who wanted to kill the royal bloodline. * Noxus - A demon possessed toy made to assassinate the Prince. (Was a little bummed out that the toy/Shaco never reached the Prince/Royal family tbh). Shaco redesign * 2nd/Shadow Isles Design - Triple Masked Faces (Fits the character's duality and looks really striking.) - Chipped Mask (Once again fits into the characters duality and gives a look into his demonic side. Not a fan of the blue magic though, a black void with a shining demonic eye looking back could work.) - Horns Simulating A Jester Hat (It would be neat if the horns and the appearance of a jester hat could be merged like spiky seed pods being rammed straight through the ends of his demon horns.) - Floating Limbs (It's giving Rayman and the potential to play around with his own detached floating limbs is an interesting and likely fitting one for this type of character. It is easier to be a backstabber if your arm and hand can move to where your opponent can’t see them.) * 3d/Noxus Design - Red And Black Colors (Hard to beat a fitting color combo for a murderous and evil being, og game design kinda gives Harley Quinn actually.) - Hidden Blades (Play in nicely to the concept of the toy being an unsuspected killer.) * Honorable Mention (1st/ Demacia Design) - In a vacuum I love this design in its own right but it takes the fun out of Shaco’s design.
Hopefully I'm not too late to chime in lol I wrote down some thoughts as I watched the video so I'll go in order of appearance for each design: I personally LOVE the Demacia idea BECAUSE it is such a departure, which I feel Shaco honestly needs since he just doesn't have a place in the world. To hard drop him into a place like Demacia is hard and I think you did very well with the lore I loved it. The toy given to a prince line in his current lore is so weirdly out of place, and leaning into it in this one is phenomenal. And I feel like this story honestly sets him up to be an antagonistic force to Galio, who's story is still being written alongside Lux. I can just imagine the two golems meeting in the woods surrounding Demacia, and Shaco possibly trying to take Lux's life as it senses the presence of great within her, and the massive Galio protecting her (or maybe Lux protecting Galio??) from this small but agile golem. The only gripe I have is in the design. Specifically the colors. I think his silhouette is amazing and the grin on this design is my favorite out of all the evil grins drawn in this video, but in my mind this wasn't Durand himself who made Shaco, but instead one of his apprentices, and apprentice who you show does not conform to all the rules and regulations Demacia and maybe Durand put in place. Maybe this apprentice wanted to put her own spin on Durand's old golems. Maybe whatever happened in that cabin corrupted or changed the petricite, because when you were coloring I just couldn't help but think a Black and Gold color scheme would be so interesting. I think if we put Shaco in Demacia, he should look like it, but just slightly off. He should look slightly different then the white marble surrounding him, as he needs to later be able to stalk the woods unseen for centuries. The Shadow Isles lore is really interesting and I think leaning into this puppet being a foil to Gwen would be really interesting. If you decide to go this route, I would love to say I think the Jester look is the main way to go, but I also love the damaged look of the puppet design. The Demon design was way too little puppet, I think that is something crucial to Shaco that he is a toy, a construct, and I don't want him to turn too much into just a misty force. I think a really strong design would be an agile Jester kind of design, but take that black mist hand from he puppet design. Maybe one of those masked that surround his head is cracked like the demon design and the mist spills out like a chimney. Really ruff him up and make it seem like he is only hanging together my threads. LOOSE should be the key word if we go down the Shadow Isle route. I am a SUCKER for a good plague doctor motif. I do think in the end he should have a flat face with that artificial grin from the Demacia design, but damn the Noxus design was just made for me I love it. Definitely the weakest of the lore but still not bad. I loved that idea of turning Shaco TRULY sentient and he does get picked up by a Geppetto figure who is so nice and gentle while Shaco is a literal demon who wants to just kill everyone. That's such an iconic but cute duo and I honestly don't see anything WRONG with the lore despite it being safe. And again, I am a sucker for this type of character design. At the end of the day though, purely because I love the challenge it poses, I would go with Demacia. It is such a departure and an incredibly interesting one at that. The design is just so apart of the region while still being VERY scary when looking at the silhouette, I wouldn't want that thing sneaking up on me. Now that I think about it maybe its a bit too similar to Rengar in silhouette? The only thing I would change are the colors, cause like I said, I think a Black and gold color scheme would due well to casually signify that despite looking Demacian, something is obviously wrong with that golem. Second Place for me personally goes to Noxus as it's just my personal favorite design and I do think the story can lead to a lot of interesting things, and that surprisingly leaves the Shadow Isle in last. A very strong idea, but maybe a bit too safe of an idea? Out of all them it was the most like the original Shaco, and I think for that I was more attracted to the new stuff. No matter what path you go down, I know it will be amazing! And thank you for this whole channel really, I love popping in and looking at amazing art and geeking out about it during each video!
Design- wise, I like the second concept more. It’s clearly reads as a demonic jester and the colors work very well-together. However, I like the Demacia concept the most story-wise; Shanco’s evil deeds stemming from fear is a very interesting and tragic concept that adds more to his character. Maybe if you added silver instead of gold and blue/green instead of red he would look more like the original Shanco?
I like the Shadow Isles concept the most. If you’re worried about making him a toy I think he could be Viegos Court Jester. Shaco watched Viego grow up, entertaining the spoiled prince with wild stories and intricate puppets he carved himself. He didn’t mind that he was the laughingstock of the castle, he just wanted to make people laugh. Everyone assumed the crazy man who couldn’t tell reality from fantasy was weird, but it was difficult for him because he had multiple personalities. One of his alters grew to hate the young prince, and when the prince became the King, Shacos mind really started to warp. Voices in his head told him to murder the King, The voices convinced Shaco that the king was the source of all his misery and that he would be an honored hero if he ended his reign. One evening Shaco slipped into the dining hall unnoticed and attempted to assassinate the king, but his poisoned dagger that he used to widdle the puppets struck the queen instead. Tormented by his failure to take out the king, Shaco delved deeper into his madness. He crafted weirder and more demented puppets to try and comfort the King while his soldiers looked for a cure - all the while hiding that it was he who murdered Isolde. When Viego and his army sailed to the Blessed Isles Shaco tagged along, keeping morale on the Kings ship up. He secretly planned to use the kings blind devotion to his dead wife as an opportunity to finish what he started. But when they took the island, something happened. His mind twisted even further, and his body morphed and fused with his puppet creations. His face now a haunting mask that shifts and personifies the many voices trying to speak through him at once. Part of him wants peace, part of him wants to make people laugh, and part of him wants revenge. Now he roams the globe trying to finish his one goal in life. Stab the king in the back.
Love this idea. Adds something to the lore and differentiates him from Qwen. I would maybe change his current goal as Viego is kind of dealt with after the Ruination. Maybe instead he holds on to his initial goal to bring happiness to children. After years of paranoia and of course the corruption of shadow isle his methods are... unusual. While his puppet shows start innocent enough they quickly morph into terrifying spectacles showcasing murder and torture. Where once the audience laughed it is quickly replaced by screams. Unable to comprehend this reaction Shaco tries to incorporate the audience into the show. That would be fun, wouldn't it? He takes any audience member too slow to runaway and makes them into a puppet. Subjected to horrors of the puppet shows first hand these "volunteers" rarely last long as either their mind or body break. Shaco hardly notices. His mind focuses on the next show.
@foxxit6259 I like your narrative on this especially the multiple personalities (something that hasn't been done yet. And no, Kayn and Varus isn't a 'multiple personality' character, rather multiple entities in one body), and the part when he tagged along to the Blessed Isles (I was thinking of the same thing). Might I add an idea that perhaps when Shaco reaches the Blessed Isles, one of the Ten Demons of Runeterra (maybe the Demon of Delirium) became attracted to him having multiple personalities, vulnerable, and who couldn’t tell reality from fantasy. Shaco was a potential perfect fit/vessel for the Demon of Delirium. Moreover, Blessed Isles in the original lore erupted from deep beneath the ocean so it feels fitting that maybe one of the Ten (maybe the Demon of Delirium) was the original source of the sacred waters. The Demon is just waiting for someone to corrupt the Sacred Waters it so he can be released. And so, corrupted it was when Viego brings Isolde, releasing the Black Mist, one of the Ten, and all great demons and Azakana. The Black Mist, a billowing hurricane, dragged every living creature it touched into its shrieking, roiling embrace, fusing them into demons, creatures and inanimate objects. In such chaos would be a great time for one of the Ten to awaken and claim a fitting vessel, who happens to be Shaco. Thus, Shaco was possessed. On the other hand, hundreds of Azakana fight amongst each other, trying to gain physical form through Shaco's puppets. However, as Shaco was unable to let go of his attachment to his puppets, which seemed to be the only symbol of him wanting peace and making people laugh, fuse all of them into one demonic entity. With the deformed face of seemingly multiple puppets grinning a bone-chilling smile, of the many voices trying to speak through him at once, he now roams the globe trying to finish a new goal in life, torment people into a delirium of laughter and pain, thus, creating what we know now as the Demon Jester. Dunno if that makes sense but I hope @Subjectively sees both our insights.
@@writingman1089 Oh my gosh I love the idea of him turning audience members into a puppet! He roams the land looking to make people laugh, and when they don't he tries to force them and he only ends up killing them and moves on to the next town. Hope Jack sees this!
I have an idea for the shadow isles one. Make the head be able to spin with the different faces! Like with the hat part, have three bells sprout out between the faces and rotate with them; that way, no matter what face is in the front, it will always look like horns, and the third can rest in the back.
I have never played League in my life but I absolutely love your League videos. They're just peak character design to me. As for the designs, I thought the Demacian story was very interesting, but the actual design doesn't work. It just throws away the original concepts of the character, which feels unfair to me. The Shadow Isles designs were all very good. The puppet concept is the most interesting of the three to me, but I think Jester works better. It keeps the concepts of the current design but builds upon them in interesting ways. I'll be honest, I love Noxus but this design didn't quite work for me. The story is the least interesting and the mechanical look just isn't as cool as the spooky soul magic. So, yeah, Shadow Isles Jester would get my vote, but a different design for the Demacian story would be really cool.
All 3 ideas are pretty neat, you totally got me with the Demacian one when I was thinking "Shaco in Demacia? No way it would fit", and yet you made it fit perfectly. That aside, I think there's a huge part of concepting that might be slightly missing (but since it's just a research stage, they're all pretty good like that). My point is that as much as they look and sound really good, the gameplay is still a huge part of the character that needs to be thought of so it matches the story background. Shaco is a character that basically throw daggers from afar and goes invisible, get behind walls -in a way that it doesnt look like a dash, or flash-, and somehow I feel the demacian one would look rather strange with those types of abilities (even tho I truly love the Demacian idea). Shadow Isle would somehow match ? But since we already have Viego, it feels rather like yet another one character that comes from it. In the other hand, I think that Noxus concept is the best idea (if we want to match the old Shaco), but not as another metal scrap character. I think the idea of having a magical doll made to entertain the riches and nobles but is in the end an assassin created by the Black Rose. It could be litteraly linked to LeBlanc as he even has an ability that is quite the same (duplicating himself to flee and save himself). Somehow, I think the Black Rose is pretty forgotten at the moment, as well as Noxus. Even THOUGH Blaire was clearly intended I feel the whole point of her character was totally missed. I honestly didnt recognize her as a Black Rose tool.. And as someone that does not fully follows League Lore to the tiniest details, maybe that says a lot? Anyway all the ideas were pretty cool! And everyone seems quite excited so it's quite wholesome to see the LoL community tell their own opinion about it.
Design-wise, I absolutely love the isles one. It's so pretty and nice, and I love the more human-ish appearance. Leaning more into jester than toy. It makes him seem like something someone could feasibly befriend and play with like a favorite toy. On that note, I do personally prefer the stories that humanize him, making the Demacia story my favorite. They give him a full personality, instead of just indiscriminate murder. Don't get me wrong, the one-note approach does genuinely work for Shaco. But I just personally prefer those sympathetic characters. I find myself wondering, what if the prince's story went a different way? What if a tutor of the prince was an assassin, and the toy, after being brought to life, hears about it. The toy tries to kill the tutor, since it is predisposed to aggression with that lady in the beginning, but is unsuccessful, and the tutor convinces the king and queen that the toy is dangerous. It is destroyed, but after the tutor kills the prince, the prince's soul is trapped by it, fueling it, with the toy deciding to protect at least that until it can enact its revenge. That revenge being killing anything that could possibly be a threat, therefore, killing anything in its path. That way, Shaco could also retain the 'fun' aspect of a jester by frequently attempting to entertain the trapped soul of the prince whenever he's not actively slaughtering something. I kinda' dislike how a lot of ideas for shaco (Not yours specifically, but the majority I see) end up making the jester thing irrelevant. They just focus on the toy and 'demon' part, but, once he's up and running, the jester part doesn't matter in the slightest. You could replace his design with literally anything, and he'd still make sense as a murderous toy. I would really like it if more of his jester-y aspects could make it past backstory and aesthetic and into the current character's behavior, personality, and goals.
I also love the Jester part of the character, and would hate to see it go. I think that murder-clowns are so overdone that people don't think about it as a concept anymore. Clowns are acrobatic comedians with all manner of skills to entertain. Yet when people hear murder-clown, they skip over the interesting parts of clowning and imagine a typical murderer or demon that just so happens to look like a clown. It's a real shame now that I've given it some thought, this Shako project could be a good opportunity to rebuild the murder-clown trope from the ground up.
In terms of kit, I think it would be a really cool mechanic, playing on the puppet theme similar to neeko, but he can impose as enemy champions, and upon breaking the illusion, the form breaks into jack in the box's fearing and damage as usual and a lunge to an enemy target
While the Demacia story is the most out there, it is incredibly interesting. That being said, I prefer the idea that the prince Shaco was built for was in fact Veigo. The underwater abyssal possession might step on the toes of both Naut and Pyke (who kinda already step on each others toes), but I like the idea that the anguish of the Camavorian people cause the magic doll to become corrupt. I LOVE the multi-headed mask of the Shadow Isles Concept btw, that’s so cool!
For the Shadow Isles Shaco I’d definitely want to see a combination of the Jester, Puppet, and Demon concept. Keep the triple faced design from the first concept, then take the puppeteer concept from the second one, and then perhaps make the body look more broken while also filled in with demon limbs derived from vengeful spirits, that’s basically my reimagining of what you guys could do with the shadow isles concept
One point I will say on the Shadow Isles concept is that I feel like the similarity to Gwen is actually beneficial to both characters. Yes, Viego's arc and that of almost everybody else around him has been drawn to a pretty good conclusion, but unfortunately for Gwen, the ruination was just the beginning of her story. She's still around doing whatever, and I feel like tying Shaco to her in a narrative sense gives them both an interesting sense of direction. Shaco could be the very last remnants of Viego's selfishness and treachery, just as Gwen is the last remnant of Isolde's innocence and wonder. You don't need to have a SUPER direct parallel between these two characters for their mere existence to benefit each other, as since the Ruined King event is over, having them go in their own directions actually feels sort of poetic.
Shaco with 600K here (Im going to talk in Spanish to say all what i want to say well) La idea de las islas de las sombras, como bien has dicho, es todo lo que la gente espera del rework de Shaco, pero también lo que la gente más teoriza sobre shaco es que sea el demonio primordial del Caos, así que una especie de mix entre la historia de las islas de las sombras y la idea de meterle al muñeco un demonio dentro, sería genial. La idea de Noxus por sí misma está bien como concepto pero noto que le falta algo sobre todo en cuanto diseño, quizá haciendo sus brazos mas grandes y dándole unas dagas apropiadame te arreglarla el problema de diseño que le encuentro, ya que las dagas incorporadas en sus brazos, en este contexto no me acaba de convencer. SIN EMBARGO, en la historia de demacia, tanto la historia como el diseño me parecen un goloe de aire fresco brutal las dagas incorporadas en sus brazos aquí si que se siente más natural y orgánico, y a pesar de que es el más diferente al shaco actual, es el que sin duda menos cambiaría, la historia, el diseño, la conexión con la magia oscura y quizá un posible antecedente a la fobia a la magia de demacia, abre muchísimas posibilidades.
The SI Shaco design with the two puppet hands is incredible, visually and thematically, considering its entire being and drive was created by ancient and foreign souls enforcing their wills and hate upon it.
I wrote down this rough sketch idea for a Shaco Lore, I'll link it below. It leans more into the Noxian - 2nd Conquest of Mordekaiser era. It depicts Shaco as a Twin, Adhec being his twin brother, murdering their tribe after finding out that Mordekaiser is on his way. They both wanted to pledge allegiance to him and enter his domain. Mordekaiser fashions two daggers from his blackplated armor and gives each one dagger. I'm thinking either letting Shaco murder his twin in coldblood, stabbing him in the back, to prove to Mordekaiser his will and Mordekaiser choosing to let Shaco gather souls for him by telling him he isn't worthy. or alternatively the twins deciding to hug a last time before killing each other to enter Mordekaisers Realm, Shaco stabbing Adhec in the back, but Adhec not being able to. Mordekaiser using that precipe to let Shaco "prove himself worthy" as much as his brother, who has entered Mordekaisers domain. Shaco ends up being a manic murderer, hellbent on proving to Mordekaiser, that he is worthy. Rough Sketch is below. www.reddit.com/r/loreofleague/comments/17jc578/rough_idea_for_shaco_lore/
I honestly love the puppet one the most out of all these concepts, as the hands could signify something bigger that controls shaco, of course it borders on the fiddlesticks territory but what does make it a bit unique from fiddlesticks is that fiddle is being contained in the scarecrow where as shaco would be used as a toy played by something or someone which then you could tie into someone's else story. I especially would love the puppeteering hands that control the doll of shaco's body which would look so sick in the league of legends and even the abilities could be centered around that. I was thinking especially of a mind control type of ult with the puppeteering hands where he takes over the body of an enemy champ (or ally?) and he kills everything ally, enemy in sight, but it does feel there will not be any counterplay to it perhaps make it into a skill shot or something.
as a Shaco main i absolutely love the 3faced shadow isles idea; if riot ever implemented this sort of design they should get Adam Harrington to voice 3 personalities for him being Sad, Angry and Happy Shaco for each face
A very telegraphed but probably decent spin on the "jester motive" around the Noxian design could be tieing it to the black rose: We know they experiment on children with superpowers. It could be an ancient toy for the littler ones, or a training puppet for the bravest in the Institute. When then notable students (like Annie or Rell) broke loose from the Institute , bursting with violent and prorompent magic(this works especially well with annie and his demon Tybaulk) the puppet got collaterally infused with chaotic, uncontrollable, childish magic: unpredictable, cheerful, erratic. Therefore we can mix together the "toy" part of his design, along with his being "Cursed". Also, avere important thing I'd like is Asimmetricality. Revolving around CHAOS it is a much better storytelling for Shaco to be different from left to right. Maybe draining from the shadow Isles character. A part of him might just be dark purple, ethereal, to represent the burst of dark magic that gave him life.
Love those concepts ♡ I think that Fiddlesticks and the demon that Nilah had are the only ones in the "10 demons" list. TK, Nocturne, Evelynn and the one that Swain had are not included in that list, so I see Shaco as a "real" demon with a new storyline
I feel like there is alot to work with in the shadow isle concepts both mechanically and visually. I think a really fun idea would to use the "Jester" concept and refine it to look more kind and friendly like his former self before the corruption. This could also be an opportunity to bring a little more likeness to shacos current design (if you wish). But what I really love about the "jester" design is the three heads and how you talked about shaco slowly devolving into madness. I feel like you could really play into the idea of split identity / personality. Where at first shaco was one calm and collected whole, but then he splits into 3 different personalities that are the result of his madness. This could be another reason his actions are so unpredictable, as he is constantly being pupetered by different parts of himself, each one of the three trying to 'get their hands on the wheel.' This is where I think it could be fun to add in the "puppet" idea as his ultimate (or passive??) where his kit would change varying on the persona controlling him. I feel it would be cool to add the three faces on the "puppet" one but the face that faces forward shifts (the head turns) depending on who is in control. This could be a fun concept to play with, because at the start of the game he could be kind and playfull in the "jester" form, his abilities allowing him to aid his teammates, and then he evolves into "puppet" shaco, where he loses his control to his madness, his same spells being used to harm instead of help (like how zilean can use his movement speed ability to both boost allies and also slow enemies). Just throwing some ideas out there, i really think you could make a fun striking contrast between his "Jester" mode and his "puppet" mode both visually and mechanically. I also love the idea of the puppet hand and I think it really helps him stand out from other champions, making him feel more fresh and original. Super awesome ideas man! always love seeing what concepts you spin up, wether it be pokemon, league, or challenges like mermaid month, super fun, satisfying, and well thought out
The demacian pitch to me has by far the best angle to make a unique, truly offsetting shaco ! I agree with someone else's comment that leaning more into uncanny instead of monsterous would be great for it, just as a pristine doll looks dead straight ahead with a vacant stare just to spring to life with supreme velocity when it found a purpose. You can also flesh it more out where the prince that's taken doesn't die or smthn but more so an allegory to abusive paranoid childhood where you're trapped
its amazing to me the amount of work and dedication you guys put into your videos it saddens me that they arent as popular and give you enough resources as I would like
Maybe you should consider asking Necrit for advice? He's p much the League of Legends loremaster if u haven't heard of him. Bloojay and SauronKaiser are big custom skin developers that idk if saw this video, but it'd be so cool if u were able to get their incredible hands in this project! Edit: Seriously! I feel like they'd be able to help make this not only an art concept, but a reality!
I like the Shadow Isle design best. It would actually be really cool to have a sort of a dark reflection of Gwen through Shaco. Shaco would be an antagonist to Gwen that doesnt have to be world ending when he's around unlike Viego. Really cool video!
I really love the idea of an evil Pinocchio story, putting a dark twist on a familiar tale sounds awesome. I don't think that is tied to one of these specific concepts so it could be woven into any of them
I like the design of the Shadow Isles most, the whole idea of puppet on a string is also something worth delving into further. Though I will admit, Noxus seems like a better place of originin. Kind of like Nocture and Fiddlesticks with Demacia, so too could Shaco be a demon sprung from the bloodlust of Noxians and turned it against them, taking the form of wooden toy (like that of the Shadow Isles design). This offers a more interesting twist, pushing the lore of him being a demon of some sort, while also keeping the awesome mass murdering jester concept.
As great as these concepts are - all three miss the core identity behind shaco - the Jester, you mentioned it in the cons to the noxus concept, but it is true for all three. Binding a jester to a singular purpose (defending the child, killing the king, seeking revenge) is almost the polar opposite of the archetype and just discarding it will be the biggest missed opportunity since there are no other champs like that in the game. Jester is living chaos (its worth mentioning how good shacos gameplay reflects that, especially for such an old champ), a unique person in the kings court who can oppose him - someone who can speak truth to power, someone who sees through the lies yet doesnt seek to exploit this knowledge for any reason but entertainment (of himself and the public), someone who brings joy to the masses often at the expense of someone else - I can go on and on about the 'jester' identity but you get what I mean. None of the three have any trace of that in them. Binding shaco to a singular purpose or centering him around this one idea is also a big disservice to the original concept because in my opinion it will make him very one-note, in all three concepts he literally becomes an automaton of some sort - which is the opposite of what he is, even in his current state Shaco has quite a bit of 'human' charisma to him which will be inevetably lost if you go with one of the three you proposed. I think Shaco being an outcast character not tied to existing lore is fine, but if putting him somewhere is a requirement I would propose maybe a jester in Azirs court who found himself a darkin dagger or two? Something about Azirs reign becoming progressively more tyrannical to the point where he decided to silence the jester? Maybe even make him take part in the coup to kill Azir? That way you can keep the obsession with murder and blend it with what makes Shaco unique. Otherwise its just another Pyke.. or Nautilus... or Kallista... you get the idea.
Interesting, never thought of tying him to Shurima but it works surprisingly well. There is an issue where I feel this change would make Shako too much of a hero but I think if emphasize the darkin or demonic influence you could keep his "agent of chaos" vibe.
I see a lot of potential with the 2 last ones. I like their designs and elements of their story. The one thing I wasn't too sure over was the water/sea part of it
SORRY FOR THE LONG COMMENT :') -Minor correction: Fiddlesticks is the only champion part of the 10 Primordial Demons (the only one we got a confirmation on is Ashlesh, the one from whom Nilah draws her powers)! Eve, Tahm Kench, and Nocturne are lesser, more common demons! Under them, there are the Azakana, which are "proto-demons", these feed on very specific emotions, rather than something as general/common as Fear like Fiddle! *OVERALL*: -I think the designs stray a bit too far from the jester doll, which I think could still fit the new backstories! A lot of Riot's VGUs shy away from the silliness of certain champions like Fiddlesticks and Mordekaiser in favor of more serious and grounded concepts, which isn't a bad thing but I kinda wish Shaco kept some of his goofiness :') -Making him more of a companion jester doll, rather than say a golem guardian would probably make sense and still fit the Demacian story for example. Dolls coming to life in horror movies seem to be Shaco's original inspiration (alongside murder clowns) so I think it could work. (It would also be funny if in-game he was "human" size while being smaller than Teemo in the lore) *DEMACIA*: -The story makes good use of existing concepts from Demacia and Shaco's "lore" to create a new origin for him! -I think tying Shaco's "evil" side to the Prince would be more interesting than to the apprentice's "resorting to unconventional methods". Perhaps the Prince could have been a Mage, and when Demacia started to reject magic (Mageseeker spoilers: they weren't always anti-magic), the Prince started practicing his magic by himself alone but for the doll. Both the Prince's magic and his fears/negative emotions could be the origin of the Shaco's murderous tendencies. -Demons are already known to pray on negative emotions. Durand's inventions, such as Sylas' shackles, were intended to be used on demons. So I think there's potential here. -Another Demon in Demacia? OMG (especially another fear-related one) *SHADOW ISLES*: -Pretty weird for the doll to be gifted from Helia to Camavor, considering Helia was pretty isolated and Camavor wasn't even aware of it. However, I could imagine some Seer from Helia seeing what would happen if the King arrived at the Isles and tried to prevent that. Helia was safekeeping a LOT of powerful and dangerous artifacts, it wouldn't be hard to connect one of them to Shaco. -I like connecting Shaco to Camavor since some people already theorized/hc that the prince from Shaco's bio could be Viego. I also like the parallels with Gwen and wouldn't mind making them even more apparent. -I like that you kept the Jester design, and I also really like the multiple faces and rib cage! -I agree that adding another Camavor/SI champion into the already established story (which already includes a lot of champions) seems a bit forced. I also think his color scheme does deviate a bit from his current design but that hasn't been an issue before (Swain, Fiddle, Galio, etc) -I actually don't like him having a motive/reason to kill, as I think him being a psycho clown is part of his current charm x) But to make the character more compelling that might be necessary *NOXUS*: -I assume the cabal is the Black Rose and honestly, this seems like the type of plan LeBlanc would be down for! They already mess with demons (like Tybbaulk) and spirits (like trapping monsters from the SI) so infusing the soul of a demon into a doll doesn't seem farfetched for them! These beings are not too fond of being used either (Tibbers burned a school and Atakhan hates LB), so your backstory fits perfectly! -The design seems more like a pawn/minion, an enemy in an RPG, than a champion, which fits the backstory you created but I think it could be better. Perhaps it is too close to the current Shaco was the issue, since the current Shaco doesn't exactly feel like a champion either. *END*: Overall I like the potential of these ideas, especially the Demacian one! I hope you manage to keep some of Shaco's silliness/goofiness as well as his Jester motives in your final design! Also, you didn't really talk about his "illusions" that much, like his clone for example! If there's anything staying with Shaco after a rework is his ultimate, and perhaps expanding on that idea could be interesting!
The shadow isles so far its my favorite, really love the concept on a puppet, still keeps the shacos identity but puts it into the lore. I also think shaco could be featured in the shurima lore, with the corrupted ascended...the baccai
As a Shaco main, I've always thought redesigning him as a marionette would be really interesting. Broken, falling apart joints and tattered old strings for the splash art, but the kicker would be that in game, the strings extend upward a short distance before fading away. Signifying the player themselves are at the helm now. He could have voice lines like "I have a NEW master now" and look directly at the screen!
I feel like the Demacian story works to a varying degree based on how cannon lor is with the other statues, since currently only lux knows that galio is alive. The Shadow ilse/camavorian one works pretty good except for the fact that he was a gift from helia, since a key part of kallista's story is based on finding out that Helia is real. My personal favorite is the noxian one, keeping his design similar enough, and could easily keep going on the outlined path in the video or be changed to be a tool of the black rose or swain
The shadow isles idea is def the best one. Being Gwen's murderous counterpart would be really fun to play with and I'm surprised given his existing barebone lore Riot hasn't updated it as so. But I also love the Noxian/Pinnochian version as well. Some merging of the two would be cool.
As a conceptual artist who is just starting out, I love the concept of the current shaco, a murderous psychopath with the aesthetics of a toy clown. In my opinion, preserving those aspects would be vital. What would I change or add? mmm.. I would like Shaco's normal appearance to really look like a big harmless but terribly sinister toy, that is in that middle line, that totally changes its appearance when entering "psycho" mode or its "true self" As for its story, it occurs to me to preserve the part of being the doll of a young prince, a doll which served as the seal of the demon Shaco. When the prince is betrayed and stabbed in the back, the demon is released because part of the seal depended on the child, freeing Shaco and he terrorized the noble families of an entire kingdom or several, but with a certain affection developed towards the little prince, as his main motivation would be to create chaos and discord through murder and treachery. I like that it is currently a type of "primordial demon" that has no origin or end, like nocturne, evelinn, fiddle, tham kench etc. It occurs to me that Shaco was a demon that terrorizes the noble families of all the kingdoms, stabbing in the back is something very common in royalty and always comes tinged with betrayal, a demon that the people in charge fear, and being especially studied in Noxus by the black rose since the origins of the kingdom, Leblanc being the survivor of the group that sealed Shaco at the time. That's my idea, Shaco is one of my mains and I have that special affection for him, all this was occurring to me while I was writing it :b
I really like the second concept, Shaco being a counterpart to Gwen is pretty cool. Like Shaco would be a result of Viego's actions where Gwen is born from Isolde's. Also I think it's important to keep some red in Shaco's design, like in the "demon" concept (22:56), red also constrast with the greenish effects of the Shadow Isles wich is very interesting visually imo.
i think something that wasnt touched on is what if Shaco was the Trickster god from the Ixtal kingdom. This would explain why his backstory was so mysterious because of the kingdom being lost for centuries and any royal connection there would be, his vivid colors would fit in with the Mesoamerican design motif of their kingdom instead of just being a random choice, and the story could be something like he drew his life force from the ritual worship from the Ixtal people but after being cut off from the kingdom he went from mischievous to malicious and this dark fairytale he caused is how he gets his lifeforce now as parents spread the word of Shaco to keep children from wandering into the forest unintentionally causing him to keep living.
![Building a better Janna || re-making a League of Legends champion [CC]](/img/1.gif)
Audio completely cuts out from 11:33-13:54. I’m a little confused because I’m watching this 2 months after it was posted and all the comments I see aren’t referring to it. Just thought I’d mention it incase RUclips messed something up in the last couple of months
this is also happening to me, i thought it was my headphones lol
Copyright?
boosting this because it's still missing the audio.
Yeah happening to me too, not sure what’s going on but I hope to see it fixed!!
Literally was just looking to see if it was just me 😢
I LOVE the shadow Isles one. The moment you said "toy" in the "lore" part of the video, i knew this would be one of them. The connection with gwen is waaay to good to pass up. It would be so cool if Gwen was Isold's toy and Shaco was Viago's. Honestly, I'm surprised this idea didn't come around turning the sentinals event. It would have made it so much better.
saying that Gwen's scissors cutting at shacos strings seams like the perfect counter part design wise
Woah scissors and strings… I didn’t even think of that!
@@Subjectively Maybe that could be ephasized with the massive hand controlling the main body with strings? It's such a good design.
The twisted way Hecarim backstabbed Kalista, and it somehow infiltrated into shaco and his passive
I know it's too late, but what if Shaco was a wooden toy for Viego and uses nails instead of knifes as weapons? It would be a complete contrast to Gwen who's a plush toy made by Isolde and uses a pair of scissors as a weapon.
Personality would be contrasted too that makes sense: Gwen is nice because she's alive via Isolde's soul; while Shaco is evil because he's alive via Viego's black mist.
The idea of an evil Pinnochio gave me a brain wave. Since Noxus is all about blood magic, what if that's how Shako was brought to life? An old, kindly but lonely carpenter wanted a companion, someone who could assist him with work while entertaining him. Unable to create artificial life through typical means, the carpenter uses blood magic to give what his creation lacked: a heart. And by "heart" I mean a hemolith like the one Briar has, which grants Shako life with its power. For a while, the carpenter and Shako live happily together, Shako entertaining his "father" with dances and rhymes and jokes. But as time passes, the hemolith's power wanes and Shako starts to die. To remedy this, the carpenter uses his own life force to recharge the hemolith, but this is only a temporary measure. The carpenter withers away each time he recharges the hemolith, until one day he tells Shako he cannot do this anymore, that the next attempt will kill him. Shako sees this as a betrayal, that his "father" does not love him enough to save him, so if he won't give Shako what he needs, Shako will just have to take it. While the carpenter sleeps, Shako slits his throat and drinks in his life force. But even this isn't enough, Shako always needs more to power his hemolith. So he runs off into the night, looking for more victims he can lure in with dances and jokes, but not before taking one last thing from his father: a pair of daggers carved from the man's bones. After all, the carpenter gave life to Shako, so its only fair that he also take life for Shako as well.
I love your idea but would just change a little something about it: what if instead of making the carpenter the first victim make him one in the middle? Instead of seeing the inability of it's "father" to recharge his hemolith as him not loving him enough, Shaco saw his pain to be unable to see his son and decided to recharge himself taking other's lives while he's father is asleep? I think it could add another twist to Shaco and give him this theme of "twisted love" in a sense of a love so strong you'd do anything to stay with that person, a bit like some kind of yandere. The story would end with the carpenter discovering what his creation was doing and, horrified, tried to abandon it. Betrayed and longing for life, Shaco would absorb the last remnant of his father's vital energy before bursting into a sinister laugh: what is love? What is life? If not one long, meaningless joke?
@@lavan-guardiste3682 I think both of those are great ideas. I definitely agree we don't want to make Shako's origin too "wholesome" and I think making Shaco a lovable son by day and a murderer by night is a good addition to the story.
These are really good, both of you! I hope Subjectively chooses to explore this angle in the following video(s).
I really like this idea, as it keeps the ideas of revenge and murderous intent intact. The only problem that could arise is that it may already be too similar to a “vampire” theme, with Shaco’s main reason for killing being that blood is what keeps it alive. I think champions like Briar and Vladimir, both bloodthirsty and still from Noxus, are fulfilling that identity just fine. This story does pull me emotionally, however, which is why I think this idea may actually work well for a Demacian version of Shaco Since magic is well established in the world of Demacia, it could allow the same end result as your original idea while still keeping its distance from champs like Briar or Vlad.
Maybe rather then an old kind carpenter, perhaps a lonely prince Who enjoys creating toys? That way it can connect even more to Noxus’s original backstory.
Actually, I always thought that Shaco could fit nicely into Ionia. More specifically, as an Azakana. If the great demons are primal emotions like fear and joy, the Azakanas from Yone's lore represent smaller, more specific feelings, such as anxiety or remorse. A demon jester seems like a nice look for an smaller demon. It could represent "childhood trauma" or "impostor syndrome" or something. It can interact with Ionians. Also, he could be a nice villain in Yone's story, or even Lillia's.
THIS
Pls no more Ionian champs
so true @@scrunklesped2902
MAKE HIM INTO ONE OF JHIN'S CREATIONS THAT GOT POSSESED BY A AZAKANA AND JHIN USED IT AGAINST ZED AND SHEN
I was JUST about to say something like this, but to be honest, I would make him a greater threat, using the concept of masks, you know how Yone collects masks of Azakana as his collection of fallen foes? What if Shaco is doing the same, but not as trophies, but as a way to power him up? The more masks he gets, the more powerful he becomes and a greater threat to Yone, and maybe even make it a bit more interesting, to defeat and Azakana, you need to know their names right? What if Shaco is an Acronym for the first other 4-5 Azakana he took their masks from? Making it even harder to kill him since Shaco isn’t really his name. Making him Shaco, the Many Faced Jester
I feel like elements from the Shadow Isle and Noxian origins could blend very well together. Instead of decaying through the ravages of the sea, it's the ravages of time. Instead of an eldritch, unknowable possession, it's a demonic one. Both stories have elements of vengeance, and both are forgotten in time. I feel like combining their design elements would be really fun. If I had to choose? Noxian. I like the idea of an old, possessed doll constantly being found and repaired, only to attack their savior and end up discarded again, only for the cycle to repeat. Also, please keep the rhyming. It's a lot of fun
Yeah, I can get behind this.
That's exactly what a thought
I agree, tinkering with the idea of merging elements from the two prompts story's could be interesting. I would personally put the Shadow Isle color palette over the Noxian design just to see how it would look, but the design just feels right looking at it.
Combining the two themes of the Noxus/Shadow Isles together seems like the best idea to me too! I'd say combining the innocent origins and court corruption, but staging it in Noxus - Noxus is brimming with backstabbing and has the tight aesthetic and coldness to fit what he is now. You keep the tragedy of corruption, but lose the lore and aesthetic tangle you'd get with the Shadow Isles.
Noxus is full of ruthless power mongers, but it still has parents who love their children. One family of considerable (but not unassailable) power commissions an animate jester, to keep their child entertained until they are old enough to learn how Noxian politics work. But the magic in the doll is sensitive, and even as it shelters the child from the cruelty and cunning that keeps the War Machine running, its learning - but all the horrors and treacheries it can absorb don't change what it was built to do - entertain the child. At one point, disaster strikes - the child is a weak spot in the family, and an assassin strikes. The doll was not trained for combat, and cannot properly understand the murder it witnessed, and process it the only way it can- as a joke. When the enraged parents find the jester making jokes over their child's Corpse, they try to destroy it - but now that it has seen violence, it can repeat it - and it does.
You can easily mix in other elements like the blessed Isles or demons to justify the magic source, but then you've got a manic murder clown that's just a little bit tragic, and being from Noxus you can keep the red and white aesthetic
The idea of different people finding, repairing, and then being killed by Shaco over the years is actually brilliant. It would allow for the character to develop new personality traits as it encounters new people. Maybe it even struggles against its nature from time to time as it meets other characters.
I actually think the Demacia story would work really well if we made Shaco a lesser demon of Ashlesh (joy) rather than one of Fiddlesticks (fear). Specifically, the demon of laughter. Shaco would seem like a fine companion for a young prince, just being a friend playing with him and bringing laughter everywhere. Strange accidents would likely occur with certain guards and servants who interrupted the games, but accidents happen. As the prince grows older, however, and he's expected to start embodying the Demacian virtues of duty and stoicism, Shaco would cause many more accidents with tutors, nannies, and even the Prince's old playmates. Eventually something would be done about Shaco, and we'd end up with the demon of laughter terrorizing people, and maybe even still trying to make its way to the prince if we decide he was J4's guardian.
This would still serve as a cautionary tale against magic for Demacia, but it would also expand the demon lore and specifically open up the Ashlesh line of demons. Also I think it'd be fun to make a scary villain out of something that insists everything should be fun and laughter filled - or else.
At very least I think the demon of Laughter angle ought to be explored.
Definitely agree to preserve Shaco as a demon origin, even moreso to tie him into Ashlesh/Nilah’s lore as a demon of laughter makes tons of sense. I almost would want to argue that the Shadow Isles would bolster the existing lore given Nilah is fully aware of Camavor and it’s fall. Nilah is one of the best narratively written champions in years with a criminally undersold marketing pitch. Shaco running counter to Nilah as a source of evil tricking Nilah at every turn through wily ways as opposed to Nilah’s straightforward face-to-face fighting would be a good juxtaposition.
Ooh, I like that. Maybe he's not even malicious, he just has no concept of the suffering his actions cause. He's just roughhousing, it's not his fault his 'playmate' couldn't keep up with him. Nor that they didn't want to play with him in the first place. And if you want to make him edgy/more killer clown-ish, maybe he can't tell the difference between screaming and laughter and genuinely thinks cutting people up with his daggers is something they enjoy.
He's not a homicidal maniac, he's a Mr. Punch doll who sees everyone as his Judy.
Shaco should def. be a demon, if anything imo a demon of hysteria a mix of both fear and joy, they could use shaco to bring in a totally new aspect to the demons, as all of them used to be acient herrors but shaco could be a new demon just born a few decades ago one that combines two of the older aspects into a totally new thing.
I really like the shadow isles idea, especially the idea of more explicitly connecting him to gwen. Now that Viego is gone, gwen doesn’t have a main baddy to fight, so giving her a dark reflection of herself would be awesome! you could even make the daggers broken scissor blades to make the connection even more obvious
That actually helps with one of the biggest downsides to the Shadow Isles concepts: the fact that the ruination arc has already resolved. Shaco might not be as big a baddie as Viego was, but he could serve as another antagonistic force for the likes of Gwen
@@Subjectivelyit reminds me of how legends of Runeterra expanded Gwen to be a defender of innocence in the face of the overwhelming grief and rage of the black mist. Having Shaco represent that stealing of innocent would make him an excellent antagonist to Gwen.
@@a-shanda-productions having gwen mature and grow through a villain like shaco sounds really cool
Something I was thinking about during the Shadow Isles and Demacia concepts was about Gwen's story as it exists not in League of Legends, but Legends of Runeterra (stay with me a bit here, I promise it's relevant). The whole story is about the Midnight Revel. It's a fairytale ball, it seems like everyone there exists just to have fun... until it's revealed that everyone there is a creature, a puppet forged by the Black Mist...
So what if Shaco is an illusionist puppeteer? Rather than adding to the high number of "fear" champions that league has (Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, etc), why not have him represent the lingering will who clings to happier times? Harnessing the mist, he creates puppet creatures of the people who once were, restores Camavor to what it once was... but it was only an illusion, and the spirits of those he ties here are not truly back. Gwen, who wanders into his vision from the outside and ruins his great ball by freeing the souls from their puppets- scissors, cutting their strings...
You could also make his soul that of the former Jester of Camavor (courts have jesters, yeah? Keeps the clown theme), and he's desperate to keep the fun going despite knowing of the kingdom's decline. You get to have a spooky jester as a living puppet puppetmaster who strings the false people of a ruined Camavor, and is opposed by the one who wields a tool to cut those strings, and you get to explore a different side of negative emotion. Regret. Which can also tie in nicely with Viego, who also refuses to let go of the past. Perhaps LoR's Ghostly Paramour is the part of Viego's heart that broke when Isolde perished, and their whole story is about the echoes of what once was.
Or maybe the deranged and mad jesters soul might eventually be pulled to truely bring back those happier times. Much like how viego sought to bring back isolde, shaco now seeks to bring back viego. To bring about the court that once was, and taking every motion and step it can to bring that deluded vision about. To further add to the dark tragedy, dark comedy and horror, maybe shaco’s power also enables him to not only make new dolls of himself, but transform victims into dolls using magical transmuting poison and illusions. All meant to fill the roles within the court that once was. Of course, it’s always missing someone… something always is not right in the jesters eyes. It’s always missing something, as the jester knew everyone, and while he is gripped by nostalgia for those happier times… he struggles to recreate them.
The horror for some soul that shaco decides would fit the role of a marquis or baroness, or servant as the jester plunges a magically poisoned half of scissor blade into their back and they watch in horror as flesh becomes wood, their limb’s paralysing, and only able to move or speak to replay whatever lines are fed into them by the mad jesters soul as their mind eventually becomes trapped in their own body.
I LOVE the Demacia design and concept. The idea of making Shanko into a perversion of the pristine and rigid style that Demacia’s constructs are known for. Shattering the marble and gold of its body to turn a robotic statue into an agile murder clown.
It works as a bit of fun symbolism, the gold and marble are twisted into something horrifying and unrecognizable, just like how Demacia’s pure ideals are corrupted into hate and violence and prejudice. This also works into the lore you wrote, how good intentions bred pain, and that suffering is now used as ammo for the prejudiced to further fuel their hatred of mages.
Plus it just feels so much more interesting than the others to me. Like you said, Noxus and the Shadow Isles are filled with characters whose whole personality revolves around murder. Placing a similar character would just make Shanko another in a long list of murderers and villains from the two nations whose entire gimmick is villainy. Putting the murder clown into Demacia gives that region a kind of villain that it has largely lacked.
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I do think if you were to go for the Demacia concept, it’d need a bit more reworking. The current Demacian design still feels to static and perfect, like how Shanko would have originally looked in this story just with some vines and cracks on it. Breaking the statue apart further would allow Shanko to better match his iconically chaotic and agile movements, and could better separate Shanko from the other Demacian constructs (Galio and all of his friends from LoR)
This would never fit his playstyle though. Shaco is elusive and playful. He's a trickster, not some stiff automaton. It would be a rework that would totally flip the playstyle worse than aatroxs ever did.
Maybe throw in some bits of Noxus/Noxas into it, like Shaco picked up some Noxian solider bits to add to himself, amongest the deminishing Demacian feel along side the nature taking over.
@@Tsuusetsu Thats exactly what I said at the bottom of the comment. Further break the statue to help it move around more fluidly, like shatter its arms into pieces and have all the breaking points act like joints or something. I recognize that the design needs some improvement, but I think the concept is still the strongest
When I first heard you describe the backstory for Shako I 1. Weeped with sadness for how empty it was, and 2. Immediately thought of the potential Shako had for being a sort of foil character to Gwen! As in, a doll for Viego possessed by his masters malice. You could even make the knives the separated parts of scissor blades! Just a thought!
I think the Demancian idea is really cool. Having Shaco created by an act of fear fits really well and the contrast between him and the rest of the Damancian champions makes him stand out in a good way.
I've always liked the thought of Shaco as a parallel to Gwen, having been twisted due to abandonment instead of the love and care given to Gwen. I'd love to see what this Shaco would have to say to his pseudo-sister, and what Shaco could do to her Midnight Revel. That definitely has my vote.
I like this idea, but we can elaborate on it more. We know the lore was that it was made for a prince. That prince could be Viego. Where Gwen fought for Isolde's sake after the ruination, it would be interesting to see Shaco working like an animated assassin that only wants to see the prince smile once more. That's why he's a jester. He makes jokes and tries to bring Viego joy again, but when Viego went into slumber, Shaco worked as a guard. In the recent story, when Viego got turned to stone, Shaco could be on his way to free Viego and wipe away that makes Viego sad.
@@redviego6714 fun fact viego had a brother, it could have been his doll and he might have been born from the same mist as gwen
no? that sounds generic. why the fuck does everything have to be generic now? can't we just have standards for once? lol
@@redviego6714 too bad shaco will always be his own character and never somebody's bitch or servant. keep hating though, maybe eventually you will get your way (you won't tho)
@@carnage0685ok, so who would you have interact with this decaying shadow puppet? Yorick? Kalista?
I loved the esthetic concept of Shako having 3 faces, I think you should double down on that idea. Having each face representing the the different stages throughout it’s “life”(I think it can be applied in any of the 3 stories).
The first face represents It’s original purpose, a toy whose purpose was to protect/entertain/deceive, this one would be the most innocent looking but at the same time the most “rusted” because is the most ancient. The second would be made by Shako, during the long time it was left abandoned, without a purpose, that mask could represent the loss of its original identity and borderline depression. And the third mask is made by the deranged and blood lusted Shako we all know now, that mask would represent his newfound madness or anger and the embracing of its new violent purpose.
Adding to it with my thoughts. The rusted one could also hold bits of Demacia's theme, the second could contain a little of the Spirits from the Shadow Isles, from being from another Jester like toy found within the remains of the Shadow Isles-thus giving it some of the vengence of Spirits, with bits bleeding over into the third one, then the third being of Noxian make with that theme you mentioned behind it.
Meanwhile his clothing could be a patchwork of Mostly Noxian make, from being repaired mostly there, and a little of Demacia and Shadow Isles. (Maybe each face used lights up the patches of clothing from it and the mask's theme. First/Demacia, Second/Shadow Isle, and lasty the third/Noxas/Noxus.
TL:DR Blend all three into some hybrid of all of them lending to it being taken on parts of each area/region such as it traveling and repaired while lending itself to the "Chaotic" feel/look.
I honestly found myself most interested by the Demacian lore. It lends to Demacia well to have such a contrasting horror character related to their fear of mages, and having a bedtime story/urban legend to further the narrative of raising their children against magic. It's giving M3GAN, Chucky, and Howdy Doody Doll; all dolls made with good intentions who turn sinister through different means. I'd love to see a more 'evil doll' take on a jester for Shaco. I think your origin works well as a protection doll, but it even could've been a gift for the Prince's first birthday who would soon become heir to the throne. As he grows up, his attachment to Shaco becomes worrisome to his family as he speaks of Shaco as a living, real thing.
TLDR; I love the idea of Shaco being a horror/bedtime story from old-time Demacia. I think the design does not need to be guardian like Galio, instead an actual Demacian Doll gifted to the Prince; with bad intentions.
I agree. While the golem idea is interesting I feel like it's too much of a departure from Shako's original concept.
Yeah, eve, noc, and fiddle come from the demacians xenofobia, producing things that oppose their mockery of the protectors visage. So much like morgana it can fill a contrasting role to the old royal family, maybe just make him an abandoned pupet left behind by the fleeing baby jarvan 1st/2nd, first prince of demacians, who gets possesed by an noxian demon, ad they advance, explains the RedNblack color scheme. So he looms at night over every crib left unchecked, leaving them a 🎁, for the parents to find when morning comes. So we cna leave the trainwreck of the ruination alone, and put a reason why demacians are even more afraid od mages
The concept of the prince himself imbuing the doll with life by regarding it as a living creature, now THATS a thought. The idea of this ancient child prince being rejected in horror by Demacia for his innocent use of some innate magic to cause a doll to dance, maturing into resentment and eventually murderous revenge and a “I’ll show them why they should be afraid” attitude channeled through his doll. I personally prefer the ruined isles jester appearance as it combines corpse elements (the remnants of the prince, perhaps?) as well as the dramatic faces and loose, puppet pose. I definitely think the spectral hands add flavor, and are quite unique. They might block the character, though, what with the top-down perspective the player has on their champion. The noxian rhymes definitely have to stay, though.
I’m surprised by how many people like the Demacia story! It’s starting to win me over too!
The issue with the Demacia concept IMO is that Demacia already has a murderous monster that rampages through the countryside while people think it's only a scary story for children.
Honestly I think leaning *more* into the Fiddlesticks aspect could be a possible direction. There are things you could do with that.
- a group of mages creating their own (backfiring) monster modeled after Fiddlesticks.
- Shaco coming from old legends about the fear demon through telephone and somehow becoming their own entity.
- Shaco as a clown embodying modern horror tropes as apposed to primal animalistic ones like Fiddle.
- etc.
While Riot says that he’s not a demon, I do genuinely think the Demon Jester would work well as the demon of delirium.
Feeding off of people’s mental anguish from confusion and panic.
Make it so toys are its conduit to its torment, the same way fiddle uses scarecrows and eve uses lust.
A lesser demon that enjoys tormenting one person with moving dolls, hallucinations before going in for the kill when they’re all used up.
I'd love to see more demons and the demon of madness or illusions (with connections to Leblanc and the black rose?) sounds amazing for Shaco
I actually wrote a story for Shaco that is almost exactly like that, with the exception being I put him between Piltover and Noxus (as for current activity). After all, those places are hotspots for madness.
i would definitely love to see Shaco added as one of the original ten. and Delirium fits him the best,
This for sure. Demon of confussion, indecision or anxiety perfectly fits his playstyle abilities and being a jestor. He could even be resposible for events like throwing the knife that nearly killed viego. His whole thing can just be creating chaos.
Also this fits most with the 3rd design. I don't think he even needs to be a puppet though. Its just that being one of the toys that moves in the house is like one way to create confusion. Maybe that is even how he started out and he just started doing more and more.
What if shaco made a deal with Leblanc where he would go assassinate people for her and he gets to feed off of the targets?@@ignisvis8867
For the shadow Isles "puppet" one I quite like the bottom half of the mask being broken into teeth, it makes the face look unintentionally menacing rather than just like it was made that way which I feel is important to show that he became creepy rather than just always being that way.
I actually really liked the Demacia one too, I think the foil to / perversion of Galio idea is really neat. If not the main concept it'd make for a really cool skin haha.
My favorite concept is surprisingly the demacian one. It can be a result of the mageseeker experiments to recreate galio (as seen in mageseeker) . I feel the desing is missing a few things, though:
-The creppy smile (which can be a crack in the stone that looks like a smile, for example)
-The pointy nose (gives a silly creepy vibe and makes so that the desing doesn't look completely different from og shaco)
-More colors (I realize you used demacian colors on purpose, but it's fine to variate a little there. Given that he is supposed to be a jester and a toy, I think he should be covered in fancy colorful clothes, but ragged and dirty by time)
Shadow Isles is not bad in my opinion, though I think is a bit to obvious. If you drop another spooky champion in the spooky region, he is not going to feel very spooky nor special. Though if you go with this, I like puppet the best, going all in in mirroring Gwen, and making him more lanky and assimetrical. (Also smile, nose and colors)
Not sure about Noxus one though. Maybe if the story continued for a few more chapters and Shaco waked up, I could comment more. And I like the desing, but feels more like Omen of the Dark skin for Shaco than anything else.
Same, it's sad that they left him like Gengar in that one episode of Pokemon or Spinel from Steven Universe
Ah! That's why I feel so nothing towards the shadow isles version. It's yet another creepy champion from creepsville.
I think the same. Demacia is such a comically ironic place for a chaotic clown.
I agree that my favorite origin story is the Demacian one, however I prefer the Shadow Isle visual identity.
I wonder if there could be a way to combine them in some way.
Well the unknown technique to brought Shaco to life can be a forbidden ritual that either demonic spooky entity to possess the vessel.
Personality I like the idea of the Demon of Hallucination or Paranoia
Am I the only one who's in love with Noxian Shaco? The story and the design work together beautifully! Especially considering Shacos demonic side.
I really love the story of the Demacia idea. It feels the most unique out of the 3 concepts. A being that's evil not so much out of malice, but overwhelming paranoia programed into it is a fresh idea. Also, it has the most interesting potential for future stories out of the 3. Perhaps that Shaco steals a new child every decade or so that looks similar to his ancient prince and adopts it. It could then bring other children or animals to it's current master for 'playdates', only to eventually kill each one when it decides they're a threat. It kills them in secret, so it's current 'prince' never realizes why their playmates keep having to 'move away' after a few days of fun. I think that kind of homicidal nanny/bodyguard would be a really cool antagonist for Runterra. However, I do think the visuals stray a bit too far from Shaco's origin. Also the design you made for Demacia looks a bit too obviously menacing imo. I think it would make more sense for the Demacia Shaco to lean into the uncanny for horror rather than looking like a monster. If this thing was made to chaperone a young child, it should probably should look plausibly friendly.
a demonic presence that taked live by the fear of runic war? with this it would be the 3rd time... nocturne is a demonic presence that was born by the fear of runic war... also fiddlestick was another demonic presence that was born by the fear of runic war, or more specific, the runic war gived the food that he needed to be this powerfull...
my thoughts exactly
Exactly, demacian Shaco would be so fucking cool, I really like the Gwen Shaco foil in the Shadow Isles concept but the visual is so fucking safe, kinda boring honestly
The Demacian Shaco backstory sounds like it should be used for a whole new champ instead of updating Shaco. It's good, but as mentioned it's just too divorced from OG Shaco to work as an update.
Imagine if the child he took was turned into his clone golem
The audio during the Demarcia section just stops
You have the same problem too? Yeah it’s weird
My thoughts on each of the designs
Demacia: I like the concept but I do agree that the plot holes would be a hard thing to deal with in the writing department I also think the design is a little confused looking with the weird face on the chest and the arm blades seem a little bulky and difficult to animate. To keep the more jester look I would base his design on ancient Greek theater masks(not just the comedy and tragedy ones but character masks) which would keep the entertainer aspect while fitting in more with Demacian aesthetics.
Shadow Isles: This is the most obvious choice for a redesign I do think you would have to make sure not to make him too similar to Gwen. To do this I would make him a puppet from a puppet show so that you don't have two haunted dolls in the shadow isle. I love the design for this one(especially the Hecate inspired mask) I would make his a little more crazy looking since he does look a little too put together. Though complicated to write in a story in the Shadow Isles I think it could be really cool if done well.
Noxus: I really love this design and the story could be better I think it keeps the same energy as his original design though he could be more gladiator themed in order to be more of an entertainer(someone could be piloting him like a battle bot) I am also sorry to inform you that he does look a bit like Spamton from Deltarune which is not a bad thing but you should probably be aware of it. This design has a lot of potential but just needs to be tweaked.
Thank God I'm not the only one who is still insane (refering to Spamton)
i'm ngl I don't think I like the idea of turning shaco into a battle bot
@@MG-mh8xp less like a literal battle bot but carries the same energy as bored college students taping a balloon and any sharp object onto some rumbas and having them go at it.
What happened to the audio in the demacia story
If we want to make Shako a demon, I'd make him the Demon of Betrayal. It fits with his gameplay loop of stabbing people in the back and the idea of using a smile to mask your malicious intent. Design wise, as much as I love the spectral hand puppeting his broken body, I think the goblin jester look fits better thanks to the jester hat resembling horns. Also, the ghost hand would completely block Shako's body from view in League's overhead camera angle.
Well you could put the hand only in the splash art, and ropes/nothing in the actual game
But its clancky movement could mean that, even in that moment, it's moved by a mist hand
@@SerialGufator I think making the hand transparent but still visible would be real cool, riot could definitely make it work but their too scared to make something different. Ironically they make the worst decisions that nobody wants a lot of the time
is betrayal enough of an emotion to be able call it that
maybe idk but that makes me think of azakana
The demacian one gotta be my favourite, him being a creation of fear instead of ill intent is great and the visual design is quite bold yet intriguing.
I really really like the Noxian origin and the potential it has. I've got a few ideas on how to elaborate on what you proposed but be forewarned, I envision a bit of a dark comedy champion vibe for this new Shaco. Firstly, if I remember correctly, lesser demons can be fragments of what the greater demons of Runeterra draw their power from. My pitch is that, unbeknownst to the shadowy cabal of mages, the demon that they imprison in Shaco is a lesser demon related to Ashlesh, Nihla's demon of joy. The demon told to do dirty deeds was a demon of laughter. When brought to life by the Noxian tactician's impatience, he sought his goal of murder through comical means, bringing uproarious comedy to the macabre. I feel like this loops in one of Shaco's most important aspects to me, his nature as a jester. Clowns and jesters are a huge archetype in pop culture and if Shaco's clown-ness was to be toned down, I feel like we'd be missing out on a fun archetype only really filled by surprise party fiddlesticks. Even to that degree, I think that Shaco would go in a different direction of comedy than surprise party, being more focused on slapstick violence rather than purely jokes. I also love the idea of a Geppetto-like character who takes a broken-down Shaco in and fixes him. Shaco could just run around Runeterra and senselessly murder like in his original take, OR he could want to make his papa proud and inspire laughter wherever he and Geppetto went even though Shaco is inspiring said laughter through more violent means than his papa may have liked. This brings in a character tied directly to modern Shaco in the world and gives a window for character development in the future. Will Shaco be a naughty toy causing uproarious laughter through violent means, or make Geppetto proud and become a true entertainer? I also think making Shaco a comedy character gives the league team the freedom to go absolutely nuts in the animation department with bouncy movement and comical attacks (maybe Geppetto disarms Shaco of his knives so Shaco resorts to wailing on people with a giant wooden mallet). I don't know, sorry for the big ramble, I had this idea and had to get it down.
EDIT: Spelling, thought Shaco was with a K instead of a C, my bad.
As much as i love the idea of giving shaco a comprehensive origin story, i think the fact he has nothing to work with could also be used to great effect in characterising him. I imagine he could just be rewritten to a pov of a mother telling their child a bednight tale of a prince who didn't appreciate his parents so the demon jester appeared and got rid of them one day. And by the end the mom could just tell their child "oh but that's just a fairy tale, it's not like he's really out there!" Basically what I'm saying is that i like the idea of Shaco being this in-world fable monster like rumpelstiltskin or the pied piper.
Great idea except that design and narrative space is already pound for pound inhabited by Fiddlesticks.
Tahm Kench and Fiddlesticks already revolve around stories
I feel that the story idea for the Demacia version works best for the Shadow Aisles concept.
From when Viego was still a prince, the toy was locked away until it killed its way to the one he had to protect only to not find him as he was now a king.
So he left the aisles in look for him, catching any child that vaguely reminded it of him.
You could fuse their designs!
I legit got goosebumps from only your first demacian design and story. Seriously your artistic skill combined to your wide use of great vocabulary make excellent designs, still wonder how Riot didn't hire you already XD. I tried to make a rework for Shaco myself, I didn't finish it fully. Seeing this video made me realize that I still have a lot to practice and tons of work to do. Your work however is very inspiring for me, keep it up you are great
It's my time to finally tell someone about my idea of an origin story for Shaco: Since the awful ruined king event I always thought that it was the perfect time to bring Shaco to the spotlight. For his story I came with the idea of "Two sides of the same coin" Gwen and Shaco were two characters that the King and Queen created when they were young. While Shaco was made by the best toy manufactories of the kingdom to acomplish the young prince's dreams, Gwen was a small doll, created by a little girl that only wanted to bring to life her most dearest friend.
When the isles became the shadow isles, these two dolls come to life. Gwen had a benevolent side, wanted to help others, while Shaco had no heart and was fueled by the king's selfish desires... And both dolls wanted the soul fragments from Isolde, both knew that gathering all of them would bring them to life and unleash their full power.
Maybe Gwen was succesful in her quest and stopped Viego, but Shaco is still out there, trying to stole Isolde's completed soul and bring back the chaos of the black mist
It could work like a twist to Pinnochio, both dolls wanting to become real, with different intentions behind
Does the sound cut out from 11:34 - 13:54 for anyone else? I’m not seeing any comments about it but it’s very consistent.
I watched this the other week and it didn't cut out, but now it is. I think it might've been copyright claimed.
@@F.Oxwood 😭😭😭
I personally really liked the Noxus backstory, specifically the demon connection. I also like that in making him a Noxian creation his design had a lot more emphasis on a stealthy, assassin like appearance. I think regardless of which region you pick, that it should be easier to read him as a slippery, sneaky character. The demacia design in particular read more like an in your face fighter, and while Shadow Isles was cool, it personally felt more like an update of his existing visuals than a reimagining, but whether or not that observation is valuable to you comes down to which you're trying to do more. All around, great work as usual! I hope Riot takes a page out of your book if they ever update him
to me the shadow isles one is definetly the way to go. I love the idea of him being a to given to a young Viego (not necessarily a magical one, just a very well made puppet) While it's true it may be too similar to gwen, he could also function as a dark mirror to her. A doll created not out of love and deeply cared for, but created to be given away and then discarded, depite being so well made. This could make Shaco have something of a rivalry with gwen "YOu are just a miseraple piece of cloth! What are you compared to me?! And yet....you had love."
The only pet peeve i have is that despite being very Black Mist coded, Shaco at no point is exposed to the mist, which could be confusing, considering he looks like he was IN the shadow isles during the ruination.
I really like the potential of the Noxus design, and if I were to expand it, a Demon of Insanity inside of a jester would make it different from the other demons in Runeterra, as well as keeps the crazy jester theme.
The video suddenly lost audio at 11:33 all the way until 13:55. What’s with that?? 🤔
I thought it was just me 😂
I hate shaco, but you guys did a great job in redesigning him. I just can't take the annoying playstyle 😭
Fourth-most-banned champion in the game right now 😂
@@Subjectively I would honestly like to see Shaco's kit revolve around Fear mechanics directly. Like he still has a blink but it only grants invisibility/camouflage if there's a Feared target nearby. Maybe make his daggers a 2-charge skillshot that have a stacking poison effect, instead of his awkward passive and point-and-click design. I like his Shac-in-the-Box but it could be tossed out entirely for a different skill. Really lean into the paranoia that Shaco can cause with his design and really make people second-guess the player's actions. Possibly some illusions similar to Fiddlesticks' passive or something that reduces vision, like Graves.
@@carterlist5766 ap shaco
I love the shadow isle idea it’s really good, I love the backstory, the design of the jester is really good, but it needs something, make it a little bit more scary, give him a pair of ghost bladed arms on his back and give him a sharper toothed grin.
I'm a big fan of the Demon Shadow Isle design, though I do wish it had a bit more wood on its lower body (phrasing). Likewise, I really like the idea of giving Gwen something of a nemesis since it doesn't really seem like she has much story or anything to do post Ruination. You could make the argument that Viego is her nemesis, but I think it would be convenient to give her a personal antagonist whose mere existence isn't a cataclysmic world ending event
I absolutely love the multi faced element and the Black Mist puppet strings stuff from the SI Shaco.
That said, the story as presented has too many pivot points. He was a toy discarded and forgotten but absorbed the malice of the court so he wakes up after the fall and then walks across the bottom of the sea and emerges transformed again - there's just too many turns.
He was a toy, meant to bring joy maybe even inspired by Isoldes love of Gwen. So viego has him commissioned as part of his court, but the satirist who helped enchant him went a little hard in the paint on the jokes, especially at Isoldes expense.
so Viego had him imprisoned and sent the toy to be destroyed but it escaped and has been twisting the knife on its sense of humor for generations.
Or if you wanna get bad nasty, Isolde was killed by a poisoned blade right? Well, that's Shacos primary weapon. The Enchanter who created him was part of the coupe and poured his malice into the effort. Shacos first sick joke was that he was meant as a present for Isolde and then he killed her. Viego orders the clown destroyed but it's only damaged and it learns to feed off the screams instead of the laughs it was created to generate, but it still tells jokes, because it thinks screams and blood *are* laughter.
Anyway, SI aesthetic is quite good, but it could also be like, Camavoran (which has more blue in it I think?) or even stick with the red, but the outfit has been Ruinated and tarnisjed over the centuries.
The design I would go with is the SI one, especially the jester design. Not only do the multiple faces do a great job at showing that he's essentially a vessel for all blood lust and feelings of betrayal others had, but can also show how he preformed before he was discarded, switching between faces when playing with Viego depending on what role was needed. To address the cons, I feel that he's unique enough from Gwen based on how they came alive. Gwen was created from a single girl's innocence, while Shaco was created from an entire kingdom's scorn. For how you would fit him in the lore, I feel that it's fairly easy since you had it that he was in a storage room for centuries, only interacting with Viego when he was a kid, so I don't think his inclusion will disrupt anything too much. As for the colors, I don't really care. The new colors fit better with the updated lore and I don't really care if updates are big leaps from the original design. The only critic I have is that this version may be too similar to Pyke, both being knife wielding undead murders with thinly veiled motivations. Besides that, love this so much and I hope its the version you go with. If it is I would even love to see a drawing of how Shaco would have looked before everything happened to him, burrowing the aesthetic of Gwen's LoR followers. Also, hope you keep the rhyming. It's definitely a good way to not only connect him to his toy roots, but to separate him from other champs.
The symbolism in those designs, especially the second one, is just really incredible. Bravo.
I really like the idea of tying Shako into Viego and the ruination, paralleling the only other doll character. But it feels a bit strange to have him be a gift from the blessed isles. I’m a bit fuzzy on the lore, but I thought it was a huge plot point that no one in his court knew about the place and Khalista had to go on a huge journey to discover it and tell Viego it existed. It could be interesting to sorta combine the first and second idea, maybe the doll was a gift from to Viego from Demacia, and instead of being a full petricite construct it’s just the core/heart of the doll, designed to protect the prince from any harmful spells. And it’s petricite heart could be why it absorbs the negativity of the court or maybe even absorb dark magic from the ruination itself.
tbh, i dig the noxus one the most. I'm all for shaco being an actual wooden & metal puppet, with visible engines and joints. We have so much organic champions in league, that a more "stiff" character would stand out A LOT, while also making it a lil more creepy. I would heavily take inspiration from automatons from the game ' Lies of P ', or the puppets from karakuri circus anime. But i do really like the 3 faces from the shadow isles concept, reminds me of The King from Lies of P, an automaton that changes it face depending on how its 'feeling' ( Poker face when you meet him, somewhat of a smiley face while he's waiting for you to praise him, and a sad//angry face once you decline praising him, which leads to the battle )
Amazing work, as always !
I like the Noxus concept best. It is a recontextualization more than a reimagining of the character, which is how Riot tends to do these updates. What if instead of a weapon, Shaco was actually a jester but a gory one ? Noxus loves violence, wether in court, blood sports or the battlefield. I think Shaco could have intentionally been made a bloody clown and then progressively got out of hand. It could be connected to blood magic to bring it further in line, and maybe that explains the bloodlust : Shaco needs to feed ! To that point, my understanding of Runeterra demons is that they feed of off certain emotion. I think Shaco should focus on frenzy and gleefulness to contrast Fiddlesticks.
The Shadow Isles concept is neat but I think it doesn't have enough breathing room in that region. Most champions from the Shadow Isles have a ghostly appearance and a connection to Viego. With the Ruination event, it's even worst because so many champions have skins with that exact aesthetic. This version of Shaco is basically a mix of Thresh and Gwen without much to add to this part of the world.
While the Demacia concept is really original and fresh, I think it changes to much to the point that the character is unrecognizable. Maybe that could be a skin ?
I would try to combine some concepts. For example, I really like the idea of bringing something to life with a demon inside of it, as well as the concept of being a Duran Golem.
I might make Shaco a product of a Duran Apprentice who couldn't bring something to life in the normal way. This could lead him to give in to temptation and use a demon to strengthen the connection between the statue and the magic used to bring it to life. Initially, he was intended to be a common jester in the streets, providing protection to citizens in case something happened and making them laugh. However, over time, the demon gradually takes over the statue, turning it into a killer. He could be portrayed as a character with two personalities: one as the Duran statue and the other as the demon. The statue would be unaware of the demon inside. Perhaps there could even be some lore involving Galio, as they attempt to uncover the identity of the killer without realizing it's Shaco (or the demon inside of him).
The challenge lies in assigning an emotion to the demon. Maybe the demon of paranoia would be a suitable choice, considering Demacia's fear of magic. This could provide motivation for the demon not to completely take over, allowing Shaco to be as a paranoid as citizen, uncertain of who the real killer is, and uncertain of his innocence. This way, we introduce an element of uncertainty to Shaco's character and it could fit well the gameplay.
Maybe it could contrast with fiddlesticks bc both of them are based of fear (even if imagine him more with paranoia, we could even make him not do the killing but hype the deaths so pepole are more scared, or he could be a "child of fiddle", this way he's a lesser demon but still an intresting character)
When he uses a clone we could display the 2 personalities into them, one is a statue and the other one is raw black magic, gathered thanks to the paranoia he caused, the traps could even make sense, since they can produce paranoia into the victims making them think they have allucinations.
As for the statue's design, I would suggest making it as tall as a normal human or slightly taller while maintaining its skinny appearance. I appreciate the details like and the demacian look in the statue but i would like him to look more like a jester so he could talk with pepole without looking like a "PROTECT ROBOT" and more like of someone that you can interact with.
It's clear you're most excited about the Shadow Isles idea, and honestly that might be enough reason to run with it. If you do, though, the voices should connect more clearly to Shako's multiple faces. It took me a sec to realize that may have been the connection (but that overall design seems the strongest of the three Shadow Isles ones). I like the idea of the Shadow Isles because it has the strongest theme that alludes to its original story (directionless rage) but still gives it solid footing.
That said, the Noxian visuals feel like they might match the toy concept better and successfully skirt around the color palette issue from the second one.
The vibe of the Noxian Shako's mask also reminds me of a Commedia Dell'arte mask, and there are several Zanni (servants/clowns) that fit Shako's story identities (Pulcinella, who always comes out of hardship with a smile; Scapino, or "little escape artist;" and Pedrolino, "the go-between, the willing servant, the wily slave" who "survives in serving others"). It might be fun to play with that idea of several identities, using that gallery of Zanni for inspiration.
All the designs and stories are good, but I think I like shadow isles the most, both design and lore. I'd make the Demacia design more jester like, but I like how this Shaco is the product of Demacias hypocrisy and folly. For the Noxian designs the only idea I have is to perhaps make is to that Shaco can entice people to repair him (he, of course murders them as their reward) and that is how he can go on despite being a doll. Great work from you, as always.
All of these designs are phenomenal! If we're getting down to brass tacks, though, I think the Demacian concept has a very strong narrative push that, with a little tweaking and change in visual storytelling, could be incredibly-tragic, mainly in the visual intentionality of being a guardian.
Demacia is a nation of honesty, not made for deceit - perhaps, in the growing paranoia of the court, a decision is made to create a golem guardian for the prince, but not tell the prince (or the rest of the court, for that matter) about it? A happy, friendly, not-at-all-dangerous construct made to dance and sing and entertain the court at large - his guardian nature entirely-hidden and deceptive; he would not LOOK dangerous in his prime - 'Look, the jester is dancing and singing, everything is fine! There is no war in Ba Sing Se!' This could play into the tragedy of the magic slowly warping Shaco's behavior, as there is no misunderstanding the visual design of the clown - he is not meant to look harmful, and the prince has no idea he is meant as a guardian, not just a plaything. Perhaps even the prince's own behavior helps steer Shaco's demented interpretation of his duty - a child's misunderstanding of the militant society he exists within; one that he can grow out of, but Shaco cannot, which makes it all the more tragic when this seemingly-harmless plaything ultimately does the unthinkable.
Much of the narrative could remain the same beyond that, but the key point of this change would be to free up the shape and visual language. The weakest point of the Demacian origin is... well, even without the wear and tear of time, it looks like something that would terrify a child. Part of what makes clowns and jesters scary is the uncanny valley - the exaggerated features, strange costuming, and overenthusiastic hijinks, and there is little of that present in this current Demacian design - it is a gilded automaton with arm blades and horns, with some suggestion of a grinning smile beneath the mask and a touch of ruffled collar that is a bit too muted to really read as absurd. Demacia may be a nation defined by gold, steel, and brilliant blue hues, but jesters are meant to stand apart from the court - they are allowed to look absurd and wild. Jingling bells, particolored clothing, garish accessories - these are the hallmark of a jester, and there is a lot you can do with that, while still leaving the unknowable, sinister uncanny element intact.
The terror of Shaco comes from the unexpected - leaping from stealth to stab you when you least expect it, being jumped by his jack-in-the-boxes, not knowing which one is real and which is fake, the horror of seeing the knife flying through the air from the brush, all from this doofy clown man who runs like he moves in slow motion and giggles after most abilities. Shaco's horror should stem from that uncanny element - he is not MEANT to look dangerous, but there's those uncomfortable elements about him that scream 'something is very, very wrong'. I love the idea of part of that stemming from neglect and misuse - perhaps he wears bright clothing that is fraying and torn over time, and his construction leaves him rickety and less able to move with the same grace he once had, adding to that uncomfortable uncanny element.
While I think the shape language of the Noxian and Shadow Isles versions are just A+, I feel the Demacian angle adds a lot of interesting points to Demacian culture and design language that doesn't get enough love - beyond Morgana and Sylas, we don't have many champions that explore what Demacia looks like at its lowest, rather than any of its various peaks. As always, excellent draftsmanship and design work, these videos are so excellent at helping cultivate a keen eye for character design that is much-appreciated. ♥
I feel like a mix of two and three would be pretty cool, like you drew with two it would have two or three faces, acting friendly before pivoting to the mean face, and you then notice there is an extra arm or two plunging a knife between your ribs
I do think the first design is too different from canon shaco, and im afraid the whole “i came from fear, i seek out fear” thing pushes him too close to fiddlesticks lore. I think if you push the design closer to a “friendly guardian/toy turned bad” direction it might help. Especially push the clown aspect. I’m thinking some kind of clown-butler maybe. Definitely featuring shaco’s huge grin and maybe a big, fancy mustache or something. Maybe you could even include a tool used to keep the prince safe turned into something sinister- like a cage or something? Some of the FNAF characters being built to include hiding children inside comes to mind.
I tend to like the second concept much more than the first! The idea of a tainted toy is interesting. As for your three designs, the first is my favorite because it feels the most grounded in the toy aspect. The second and third almost seem closer to a creature wearing shacos costume or being controlled by shaco or something. I do think the first one is the expected redesign, but i also feel like it just works.
Thematically, I like the third pitch the most. I think the visuals are good, but i would punch up the Pinocchio influence and add a second part to his hood to give it more of a jester vibe. I love the diamond pattern you included, and the mask. Keep those if possible! Three is definitely my preferred design.
Youve done a lot a fantastic work! I cannot wait to see what direction you take the design. If i could have my pick, i would combine the design number 1 from your second pitch, and the design from your third pitch together, pushing the jester and toy aesthetic.
While I preferred the build-up (and most of the designs) of the Shadow isle origin, I absolutely love the endgame of the Noxian Origin. That last bit of folklore, combined with the creepy poem at the end was absolutely amazing - and the design looks pretty good too!
Shaco backstory
How Shaco is created for the Prince's use is what interests me the most about these backstories.
This aspect of the backstories provide an interesting explanation to the duality Shaco possesses, hence why I like that aspect so much.
* Demacia
- Created to protect the Prince and occasionally be the Prince's plaything.
- Took the task of protecting the Prince to a fatal and even murderous degree.
* Shadow Isles
- Was a toy meant for the young Prince's enjoyment before being discarded.
- Soul was corrupted by the negative emotions of others who wanted to kill the royal bloodline.
* Noxus
- A demon possessed toy made to assassinate the Prince. (Was a little bummed out that the toy/Shaco never reached the Prince/Royal family tbh).
Shaco redesign
* 2nd/Shadow Isles Design
- Triple Masked Faces (Fits the character's duality and looks really striking.)
- Chipped Mask (Once again fits into the characters duality and gives a look into his demonic side. Not a fan of the blue magic though, a black void with a shining demonic eye looking back could work.)
- Horns Simulating A Jester Hat (It would be neat if the horns and the appearance of a jester hat could be merged like spiky seed pods being rammed straight through the ends of his demon horns.)
- Floating Limbs (It's giving Rayman and the potential to play around with his own detached floating limbs is an interesting and likely fitting one for this type of character. It is easier to be a backstabber if your arm and hand can move to where your opponent can’t see them.)
* 3d/Noxus Design
- Red And Black Colors (Hard to beat a fitting color combo for a murderous and evil being, og game design kinda gives Harley Quinn actually.)
- Hidden Blades (Play in nicely to the concept of the toy being an unsuspected killer.)
* Honorable Mention (1st/ Demacia Design)
- In a vacuum I love this design in its own right but it takes the fun out of Shaco’s design.
Hopefully I'm not too late to chime in lol
I wrote down some thoughts as I watched the video so I'll go in order of appearance for each design:
I personally LOVE the Demacia idea BECAUSE it is such a departure, which I feel Shaco honestly needs since he just doesn't have a place in the world. To hard drop him into a place like Demacia is hard and I think you did very well with the lore I loved it. The toy given to a prince line in his current lore is so weirdly out of place, and leaning into it in this one is phenomenal. And I feel like this story honestly sets him up to be an antagonistic force to Galio, who's story is still being written alongside Lux. I can just imagine the two golems meeting in the woods surrounding Demacia, and Shaco possibly trying to take Lux's life as it senses the presence of great within her, and the massive Galio protecting her (or maybe Lux protecting Galio??) from this small but agile golem. The only gripe I have is in the design. Specifically the colors. I think his silhouette is amazing and the grin on this design is my favorite out of all the evil grins drawn in this video, but in my mind this wasn't Durand himself who made Shaco, but instead one of his apprentices, and apprentice who you show does not conform to all the rules and regulations Demacia and maybe Durand put in place. Maybe this apprentice wanted to put her own spin on Durand's old golems. Maybe whatever happened in that cabin corrupted or changed the petricite, because when you were coloring I just couldn't help but think a Black and Gold color scheme would be so interesting. I think if we put Shaco in Demacia, he should look like it, but just slightly off. He should look slightly different then the white marble surrounding him, as he needs to later be able to stalk the woods unseen for centuries.
The Shadow Isles lore is really interesting and I think leaning into this puppet being a foil to Gwen would be really interesting. If you decide to go this route, I would love to say I think the Jester look is the main way to go, but I also love the damaged look of the puppet design. The Demon design was way too little puppet, I think that is something crucial to Shaco that he is a toy, a construct, and I don't want him to turn too much into just a misty force. I think a really strong design would be an agile Jester kind of design, but take that black mist hand from he puppet design. Maybe one of those masked that surround his head is cracked like the demon design and the mist spills out like a chimney. Really ruff him up and make it seem like he is only hanging together my threads. LOOSE should be the key word if we go down the Shadow Isle route.
I am a SUCKER for a good plague doctor motif. I do think in the end he should have a flat face with that artificial grin from the Demacia design, but damn the Noxus design was just made for me I love it. Definitely the weakest of the lore but still not bad. I loved that idea of turning Shaco TRULY sentient and he does get picked up by a Geppetto figure who is so nice and gentle while Shaco is a literal demon who wants to just kill everyone. That's such an iconic but cute duo and I honestly don't see anything WRONG with the lore despite it being safe. And again, I am a sucker for this type of character design.
At the end of the day though, purely because I love the challenge it poses, I would go with Demacia. It is such a departure and an incredibly interesting one at that. The design is just so apart of the region while still being VERY scary when looking at the silhouette, I wouldn't want that thing sneaking up on me. Now that I think about it maybe its a bit too similar to Rengar in silhouette? The only thing I would change are the colors, cause like I said, I think a Black and gold color scheme would due well to casually signify that despite looking Demacian, something is obviously wrong with that golem. Second Place for me personally goes to Noxus as it's just my personal favorite design and I do think the story can lead to a lot of interesting things, and that surprisingly leaves the Shadow Isle in last. A very strong idea, but maybe a bit too safe of an idea? Out of all them it was the most like the original Shaco, and I think for that I was more attracted to the new stuff.
No matter what path you go down, I know it will be amazing! And thank you for this whole channel really, I love popping in and looking at amazing art and geeking out about it during each video!
Design- wise, I like the second concept more. It’s clearly reads as a demonic jester and the colors work very well-together. However, I like the Demacia concept the most story-wise; Shanco’s evil deeds stemming from fear is a very interesting and tragic concept that adds more to his character. Maybe if you added silver instead of gold and blue/green instead of red he would look more like the original Shanco?
I like the Shadow Isles concept the most. If you’re worried about making him a toy I think he could be Viegos Court Jester. Shaco watched Viego grow up, entertaining the spoiled prince with wild stories and intricate puppets he carved himself. He didn’t mind that he was the laughingstock of the castle, he just wanted to make people laugh. Everyone assumed the crazy man who couldn’t tell reality from fantasy was weird, but it was difficult for him because he had multiple personalities. One of his alters grew to hate the young prince, and when the prince became the King, Shacos mind really started to warp. Voices in his head told him to murder the King, The voices convinced Shaco that the king was the source of all his misery and that he would be an honored hero if he ended his reign.
One evening Shaco slipped into the dining hall unnoticed and attempted to assassinate the king, but his poisoned dagger that he used to widdle the puppets struck the queen instead. Tormented by his failure to take out the king, Shaco delved deeper into his madness. He crafted weirder and more demented puppets to try and comfort the King while his soldiers looked for a cure - all the while hiding that it was he who murdered Isolde. When Viego and his army sailed to the Blessed Isles Shaco tagged along, keeping morale on the Kings ship up. He secretly planned to use the kings blind devotion to his dead wife as an opportunity to finish what he started.
But when they took the island, something happened. His mind twisted even further, and his body morphed and fused with his puppet creations. His face now a haunting mask that shifts and personifies the many voices trying to speak through him at once. Part of him wants peace, part of him wants to make people laugh, and part of him wants revenge. Now he roams the globe trying to finish his one goal in life. Stab the king in the back.
Love this idea. Adds something to the lore and differentiates him from Qwen.
I would maybe change his current goal as Viego is kind of dealt with after the Ruination.
Maybe instead he holds on to his initial goal to bring happiness to children. After years of paranoia and of course the corruption of shadow isle his methods are... unusual. While his puppet shows start innocent enough they quickly morph into terrifying spectacles showcasing murder and torture. Where once the audience laughed it is quickly replaced by screams. Unable to comprehend this reaction Shaco tries to incorporate the audience into the show. That would be fun, wouldn't it? He takes any audience member too slow to runaway and makes them into a puppet. Subjected to horrors of the puppet shows first hand these "volunteers" rarely last long as either their mind or body break.
Shaco hardly notices. His mind focuses on the next show.
@foxxit6259 I like your narrative on this especially the multiple personalities (something that hasn't been done yet. And no, Kayn and Varus isn't a 'multiple personality' character, rather multiple entities in one body), and the part when he tagged along to the Blessed Isles (I was thinking of the same thing).
Might I add an idea that perhaps when Shaco reaches the Blessed Isles, one of the Ten Demons of Runeterra (maybe the Demon of Delirium) became attracted to him having multiple personalities, vulnerable, and who couldn’t tell reality from fantasy. Shaco was a potential perfect fit/vessel for the Demon of Delirium. Moreover, Blessed Isles in the original lore erupted from deep beneath the ocean so it feels fitting that maybe one of the Ten (maybe the Demon of Delirium) was the original source of the sacred waters. The Demon is just waiting for someone to corrupt the Sacred Waters it so he can be released.
And so, corrupted it was when Viego brings Isolde, releasing the Black Mist, one of the Ten, and all great demons and Azakana.
The Black Mist, a billowing hurricane, dragged every living creature it touched into its shrieking, roiling embrace, fusing them into demons, creatures and inanimate objects. In such chaos would be a great time for one of the Ten to awaken and claim a fitting vessel, who happens to be Shaco. Thus, Shaco was possessed. On the other hand, hundreds of Azakana fight amongst each other, trying to gain physical form through Shaco's puppets. However, as Shaco was unable to let go of his attachment to his puppets, which seemed to be the only symbol of him wanting peace and making people laugh, fuse all of them into one demonic entity.
With the deformed face of seemingly multiple puppets grinning a bone-chilling smile, of the many voices trying to speak through him at once, he now roams the globe trying to finish a new goal in life, torment people into a delirium of laughter and pain, thus, creating what we know now as the Demon Jester.
Dunno if that makes sense but I hope @Subjectively sees both our insights.
@@RaD_ian Yeah, you have some great additions here! I hope Jack sees our comments!
@@writingman1089 Oh my gosh I love the idea of him turning audience members into a puppet! He roams the land looking to make people laugh, and when they don't he tries to force them and he only ends up killing them and moves on to the next town. Hope Jack sees this!
I have an idea for the shadow isles one. Make the head be able to spin with the different faces! Like with the hat part, have three bells sprout out between the faces and rotate with them; that way, no matter what face is in the front, it will always look like horns, and the third can rest in the back.
I have never played League in my life but I absolutely love your League videos. They're just peak character design to me.
As for the designs, I thought the Demacian story was very interesting, but the actual design doesn't work. It just throws away the original concepts of the character, which feels unfair to me.
The Shadow Isles designs were all very good. The puppet concept is the most interesting of the three to me, but I think Jester works better. It keeps the concepts of the current design but builds upon them in interesting ways.
I'll be honest, I love Noxus but this design didn't quite work for me. The story is the least interesting and the mechanical look just isn't as cool as the spooky soul magic.
So, yeah, Shadow Isles Jester would get my vote, but a different design for the Demacian story would be really cool.
All 3 ideas are pretty neat, you totally got me with the Demacian one when I was thinking "Shaco in Demacia? No way it would fit", and yet you made it fit perfectly.
That aside, I think there's a huge part of concepting that might be slightly missing (but since it's just a research stage, they're all pretty good like that). My point is that as much as they look and sound really good, the gameplay is still a huge part of the character that needs to be thought of so it matches the story background.
Shaco is a character that basically throw daggers from afar and goes invisible, get behind walls -in a way that it doesnt look like a dash, or flash-, and somehow I feel the demacian one would look rather strange with those types of abilities (even tho I truly love the Demacian idea).
Shadow Isle would somehow match ? But since we already have Viego, it feels rather like yet another one character that comes from it.
In the other hand, I think that Noxus concept is the best idea (if we want to match the old Shaco), but not as another metal scrap character. I think the idea of having a magical doll made to entertain the riches and nobles but is in the end an assassin created by the Black Rose. It could be litteraly linked to LeBlanc as he even has an ability that is quite the same (duplicating himself to flee and save himself).
Somehow, I think the Black Rose is pretty forgotten at the moment, as well as Noxus. Even THOUGH Blaire was clearly intended I feel the whole point of her character was totally missed. I honestly didnt recognize her as a Black Rose tool.. And as someone that does not fully follows League Lore to the tiniest details, maybe that says a lot? Anyway all the ideas were pretty cool! And everyone seems quite excited so it's quite wholesome to see the LoL community tell their own opinion about it.
Design-wise, I absolutely love the isles one. It's so pretty and nice, and I love the more human-ish appearance. Leaning more into jester than toy. It makes him seem like something someone could feasibly befriend and play with like a favorite toy. On that note, I do personally prefer the stories that humanize him, making the Demacia story my favorite. They give him a full personality, instead of just indiscriminate murder. Don't get me wrong, the one-note approach does genuinely work for Shaco. But I just personally prefer those sympathetic characters.
I find myself wondering, what if the prince's story went a different way? What if a tutor of the prince was an assassin, and the toy, after being brought to life, hears about it. The toy tries to kill the tutor, since it is predisposed to aggression with that lady in the beginning, but is unsuccessful, and the tutor convinces the king and queen that the toy is dangerous. It is destroyed, but after the tutor kills the prince, the prince's soul is trapped by it, fueling it, with the toy deciding to protect at least that until it can enact its revenge. That revenge being killing anything that could possibly be a threat, therefore, killing anything in its path. That way, Shaco could also retain the 'fun' aspect of a jester by frequently attempting to entertain the trapped soul of the prince whenever he's not actively slaughtering something.
I kinda' dislike how a lot of ideas for shaco (Not yours specifically, but the majority I see) end up making the jester thing irrelevant. They just focus on the toy and 'demon' part, but, once he's up and running, the jester part doesn't matter in the slightest. You could replace his design with literally anything, and he'd still make sense as a murderous toy. I would really like it if more of his jester-y aspects could make it past backstory and aesthetic and into the current character's behavior, personality, and goals.
Ooh, I like the idea of him hanging on to the prince’s soul. It gives his character depth beyond just being a killer.
I also love the Jester part of the character, and would hate to see it go. I think that murder-clowns are so overdone that people don't think about it as a concept anymore. Clowns are acrobatic comedians with all manner of skills to entertain. Yet when people hear murder-clown, they skip over the interesting parts of clowning and imagine a typical murderer or demon that just so happens to look like a clown. It's a real shame now that I've given it some thought, this Shako project could be a good opportunity to rebuild the murder-clown trope from the ground up.
In terms of kit, I think it would be a really cool mechanic, playing on the puppet theme similar to neeko, but he can impose as enemy champions, and upon breaking the illusion, the form breaks into jack in the box's fearing and damage as usual and a lunge to an enemy target
While the Demacia story is the most out there, it is incredibly interesting. That being said, I prefer the idea that the prince Shaco was built for was in fact Veigo. The underwater abyssal possession might step on the toes of both Naut and Pyke (who kinda already step on each others toes), but I like the idea that the anguish of the Camavorian people cause the magic doll to become corrupt. I LOVE the multi-headed mask of the Shadow Isles Concept btw, that’s so cool!
does the audio cut out during the demacia section for anyone else?
For the Shadow Isles Shaco I’d definitely want to see a combination of the Jester, Puppet, and Demon concept. Keep the triple faced design from the first concept, then take the puppeteer concept from the second one, and then perhaps make the body look more broken while also filled in with demon limbs derived from vengeful spirits, that’s basically my reimagining of what you guys could do with the shadow isles concept
One point I will say on the Shadow Isles concept is that I feel like the similarity to Gwen is actually beneficial to both characters. Yes, Viego's arc and that of almost everybody else around him has been drawn to a pretty good conclusion, but unfortunately for Gwen, the ruination was just the beginning of her story. She's still around doing whatever, and I feel like tying Shaco to her in a narrative sense gives them both an interesting sense of direction. Shaco could be the very last remnants of Viego's selfishness and treachery, just as Gwen is the last remnant of Isolde's innocence and wonder. You don't need to have a SUPER direct parallel between these two characters for their mere existence to benefit each other, as since the Ruined King event is over, having them go in their own directions actually feels sort of poetic.
Subjectively again doing the miracles Riot couldn't bother to do for us ❤
I absolutely love the Shadow Isles one, fits Shaco so well
Shaco with 600K here (Im going to talk in Spanish to say all what i want to say well) La idea de las islas de las sombras, como bien has dicho, es todo lo que la gente espera del rework de Shaco, pero también lo que la gente más teoriza sobre shaco es que sea el demonio primordial del Caos, así que una especie de mix entre la historia de las islas de las sombras y la idea de meterle al muñeco un demonio dentro, sería genial. La idea de Noxus por sí misma está bien como concepto pero noto que le falta algo sobre todo en cuanto diseño, quizá haciendo sus brazos mas grandes y dándole unas dagas apropiadame te arreglarla el problema de diseño que le encuentro, ya que las dagas incorporadas en sus brazos, en este contexto no me acaba de convencer. SIN EMBARGO, en la historia de demacia, tanto la historia como el diseño me parecen un goloe de aire fresco brutal las dagas incorporadas en sus brazos aquí si que se siente más natural y orgánico, y a pesar de que es el más diferente al shaco actual, es el que sin duda menos cambiaría, la historia, el diseño, la conexión con la magia oscura y quizá un posible antecedente a la fobia a la magia de demacia, abre muchísimas posibilidades.
The SI Shaco design with the two puppet hands is incredible, visually and thematically, considering its entire being and drive was created by ancient and foreign souls enforcing their wills and hate upon it.
I wrote down this rough sketch idea for a Shaco Lore, I'll link it below.
It leans more into the Noxian - 2nd Conquest of Mordekaiser era.
It depicts Shaco as a Twin, Adhec being his twin brother, murdering their tribe after finding out that Mordekaiser is on his way. They both wanted to pledge allegiance to him and enter his domain.
Mordekaiser fashions two daggers from his blackplated armor and gives each one dagger.
I'm thinking either letting Shaco murder his twin in coldblood, stabbing him in the back, to prove to Mordekaiser his will and Mordekaiser choosing to let Shaco gather souls for him by telling him he isn't worthy.
or alternatively
the twins deciding to hug a last time before killing each other to enter Mordekaisers Realm, Shaco stabbing Adhec in the back, but Adhec not being able to. Mordekaiser using that precipe to let Shaco "prove himself worthy" as much as his brother, who has entered Mordekaisers domain.
Shaco ends up being a manic murderer, hellbent on proving to Mordekaiser, that he is worthy.
Rough Sketch is below.
www.reddit.com/r/loreofleague/comments/17jc578/rough_idea_for_shaco_lore/
I honestly love the puppet one the most out of all these concepts, as the hands could signify something bigger that controls shaco, of course it borders on the fiddlesticks territory but what does make it a bit unique from fiddlesticks is that fiddle is being contained in the scarecrow where as shaco would be used as a toy played by something or someone which then you could tie into someone's else story. I especially would love the puppeteering hands that control the doll of shaco's body which would look so sick in the league of legends and even the abilities could be centered around that. I was thinking especially of a mind control type of ult with the puppeteering hands where he takes over the body of an enemy champ (or ally?) and he kills everything ally, enemy in sight, but it does feel there will not be any counterplay to it perhaps make it into a skill shot or something.
as a Shaco main i absolutely love the 3faced shadow isles idea; if riot ever implemented this sort of design they should get Adam Harrington to voice 3 personalities for him being Sad, Angry and Happy Shaco for each face
A very telegraphed but probably decent spin on the "jester motive" around the Noxian design could be tieing it to the black rose:
We know they experiment on children with superpowers. It could be an ancient toy for the littler ones, or a training puppet for the bravest in the Institute. When then notable students (like Annie or Rell) broke loose from the Institute , bursting with violent and prorompent magic(this works especially well with annie and his demon Tybaulk) the puppet got collaterally infused with chaotic, uncontrollable, childish magic: unpredictable, cheerful, erratic.
Therefore we can mix together the "toy" part of his design, along with his being "Cursed".
Also, avere important thing I'd like is Asimmetricality. Revolving around CHAOS it is a much better storytelling for Shaco to be different from left to right. Maybe draining from the shadow Isles character. A part of him might just be dark purple, ethereal, to represent the burst of dark magic that gave him life.
Love those concepts ♡
I think that Fiddlesticks and the demon that Nilah had are the only ones in the "10 demons" list. TK, Nocturne, Evelynn and the one that Swain had are not included in that list, so I see Shaco as a "real" demon with a new storyline
I feel like there is alot to work with in the shadow isle concepts both mechanically and visually. I think a really fun idea would to use the "Jester" concept and refine it to look more kind and friendly like his former self before the corruption. This could also be an opportunity to bring a little more likeness to shacos current design (if you wish). But what I really love about the "jester" design is the three heads and how you talked about shaco slowly devolving into madness. I feel like you could really play into the idea of split identity / personality. Where at first shaco was one calm and collected whole, but then he splits into 3 different personalities that are the result of his madness. This could be another reason his actions are so unpredictable, as he is constantly being pupetered by different parts of himself, each one of the three trying to 'get their hands on the wheel.' This is where I think it could be fun to add in the "puppet" idea as his ultimate (or passive??) where his kit would change varying on the persona controlling him. I feel it would be cool to add the three faces on the "puppet" one but the face that faces forward shifts (the head turns) depending on who is in control. This could be a fun concept to play with, because at the start of the game he could be kind and playfull in the "jester" form, his abilities allowing him to aid his teammates, and then he evolves into "puppet" shaco, where he loses his control to his madness, his same spells being used to harm instead of help (like how zilean can use his movement speed ability to both boost allies and also slow enemies). Just throwing some ideas out there, i really think you could make a fun striking contrast between his "Jester" mode and his "puppet" mode both visually and mechanically. I also love the idea of the puppet hand and I think it really helps him stand out from other champions, making him feel more fresh and original. Super awesome ideas man! always love seeing what concepts you spin up, wether it be pokemon, league, or challenges like mermaid month, super fun, satisfying, and well thought out
I don't know if it was intentional or not, or if it's because of an issue on MY end, but the audio between 11:32 & 13:54 is just completely gone.
Yeah I got that too, it's been happening to more videos than this one too, idk why
The demacian pitch to me has by far the best angle to make a unique, truly offsetting shaco ! I agree with someone else's comment that leaning more into uncanny instead of monsterous would be great for it, just as a pristine doll looks dead straight ahead with a vacant stare just to spring to life with supreme velocity when it found a purpose. You can also flesh it more out where the prince that's taken doesn't die or smthn but more so an allegory to abusive paranoid childhood where you're trapped
its amazing to me the amount of work and dedication you guys put into your videos
it saddens me that they arent as popular and give you enough resources as I would like
Maybe you should consider asking Necrit for advice? He's p much the League of Legends loremaster if u haven't heard of him. Bloojay and SauronKaiser are big custom skin developers that idk if saw this video, but it'd be so cool if u were able to get their incredible hands in this project!
Edit: Seriously! I feel like they'd be able to help make this not only an art concept, but a reality!
I feel like since gwen kinda doesnt have anything left to do after the ruination Arc, a Shaco connected to gwen would be a perfect fit story wise
I like the Shadow Isle design best. It would actually be really cool to have a sort of a dark reflection of Gwen through Shaco. Shaco would be an antagonist to Gwen that doesnt have to be world ending when he's around unlike Viego. Really cool video!
At 11:33 the audio cuts out
I was so confused. 😂😂😂
I really love the idea of an evil Pinocchio story, putting a dark twist on a familiar tale sounds awesome. I don't think that is tied to one of these specific concepts so it could be woven into any of them
Not sure why but the audio seems broken around the 10:40 mark
I like the design of the Shadow Isles most, the whole idea of puppet on a string is also something worth delving into further. Though I will admit, Noxus seems like a better place of originin. Kind of like Nocture and Fiddlesticks with Demacia, so too could Shaco be a demon sprung from the bloodlust of Noxians and turned it against them, taking the form of wooden toy (like that of the Shadow Isles design). This offers a more interesting twist, pushing the lore of him being a demon of some sort, while also keeping the awesome mass murdering jester concept.
As great as these concepts are - all three miss the core identity behind shaco - the Jester, you mentioned it in the cons to the noxus concept, but it is true for all three. Binding a jester to a singular purpose (defending the child, killing the king, seeking revenge) is almost the polar opposite of the archetype and just discarding it will be the biggest missed opportunity since there are no other champs like that in the game. Jester is living chaos (its worth mentioning how good shacos gameplay reflects that, especially for such an old champ), a unique person in the kings court who can oppose him - someone who can speak truth to power, someone who sees through the lies yet doesnt seek to exploit this knowledge for any reason but entertainment (of himself and the public), someone who brings joy to the masses often at the expense of someone else - I can go on and on about the 'jester' identity but you get what I mean. None of the three have any trace of that in them.
Binding shaco to a singular purpose or centering him around this one idea is also a big disservice to the original concept because in my opinion it will make him very one-note, in all three concepts he literally becomes an automaton of some sort - which is the opposite of what he is, even in his current state Shaco has quite a bit of 'human' charisma to him which will be inevetably lost if you go with one of the three you proposed.
I think Shaco being an outcast character not tied to existing lore is fine, but if putting him somewhere is a requirement I would propose maybe a jester in Azirs court who found himself a darkin dagger or two? Something about Azirs reign becoming progressively more tyrannical to the point where he decided to silence the jester? Maybe even make him take part in the coup to kill Azir? That way you can keep the obsession with murder and blend it with what makes Shaco unique. Otherwise its just another Pyke.. or Nautilus... or Kallista... you get the idea.
Interesting, never thought of tying him to Shurima but it works surprisingly well. There is an issue where I feel this change would make Shako too much of a hero but I think if emphasize the darkin or demonic influence you could keep his "agent of chaos" vibe.
I see a lot of potential with the 2 last ones. I like their designs and elements of their story. The one thing I wasn't too sure over was the water/sea part of it
Uhhhh, was the audio cut off at 11:32 for anyone else?
yeah, it comes back at around 13:54, maybe the background music got claimed or something?
same! I'm confused as well!
I like the idea of connecting him to gwen, and as for the concept art, my favorite one is the demon one from shadow isles
SORRY FOR THE LONG COMMENT :')
-Minor correction: Fiddlesticks is the only champion part of the 10 Primordial Demons (the only one we got a confirmation on is Ashlesh, the one from whom Nilah draws her powers)! Eve, Tahm Kench, and Nocturne are lesser, more common demons! Under them, there are the Azakana, which are "proto-demons", these feed on very specific emotions, rather than something as general/common as Fear like Fiddle!
*OVERALL*:
-I think the designs stray a bit too far from the jester doll, which I think could still fit the new backstories! A lot of Riot's VGUs shy away from the silliness of certain champions like Fiddlesticks and Mordekaiser in favor of more serious and grounded concepts, which isn't a bad thing but I kinda wish Shaco kept some of his goofiness :')
-Making him more of a companion jester doll, rather than say a golem guardian would probably make sense and still fit the Demacian story for example. Dolls coming to life in horror movies seem to be Shaco's original inspiration (alongside murder clowns) so I think it could work. (It would also be funny if in-game he was "human" size while being smaller than Teemo in the lore)
*DEMACIA*:
-The story makes good use of existing concepts from Demacia and Shaco's "lore" to create a new origin for him!
-I think tying Shaco's "evil" side to the Prince would be more interesting than to the apprentice's "resorting to unconventional methods". Perhaps the Prince could have been a Mage, and when Demacia started to reject magic (Mageseeker spoilers: they weren't always anti-magic), the Prince started practicing his magic by himself alone but for the doll. Both the Prince's magic and his fears/negative emotions could be the origin of the Shaco's murderous tendencies.
-Demons are already known to pray on negative emotions. Durand's inventions, such as Sylas' shackles, were intended to be used on demons. So I think there's potential here.
-Another Demon in Demacia? OMG (especially another fear-related one)
*SHADOW ISLES*:
-Pretty weird for the doll to be gifted from Helia to Camavor, considering Helia was pretty isolated and Camavor wasn't even aware of it. However, I could imagine some Seer from Helia seeing what would happen if the King arrived at the Isles and tried to prevent that. Helia was safekeeping a LOT of powerful and dangerous artifacts, it wouldn't be hard to connect one of them to Shaco.
-I like connecting Shaco to Camavor since some people already theorized/hc that the prince from Shaco's bio could be Viego. I also like the parallels with Gwen and wouldn't mind making them even more apparent.
-I like that you kept the Jester design, and I also really like the multiple faces and rib cage!
-I agree that adding another Camavor/SI champion into the already established story (which already includes a lot of champions) seems a bit forced. I also think his color scheme does deviate a bit from his current design but that hasn't been an issue before (Swain, Fiddle, Galio, etc)
-I actually don't like him having a motive/reason to kill, as I think him being a psycho clown is part of his current charm x) But to make the character more compelling that might be necessary
*NOXUS*:
-I assume the cabal is the Black Rose and honestly, this seems like the type of plan LeBlanc would be down for! They already mess with demons (like Tybbaulk) and spirits (like trapping monsters from the SI) so infusing the soul of a demon into a doll doesn't seem farfetched for them! These beings are not too fond of being used either (Tibbers burned a school and Atakhan hates LB), so your backstory fits perfectly!
-The design seems more like a pawn/minion, an enemy in an RPG, than a champion, which fits the backstory you created but I think it could be better. Perhaps it is too close to the current Shaco was the issue, since the current Shaco doesn't exactly feel like a champion either.
*END*:
Overall I like the potential of these ideas, especially the Demacian one!
I hope you manage to keep some of Shaco's silliness/goofiness as well as his Jester motives in your final design!
Also, you didn't really talk about his "illusions" that much, like his clone for example! If there's anything staying with Shaco after a rework is his ultimate, and perhaps expanding on that idea could be interesting!
The shadow isles so far its my favorite, really love the concept on a puppet, still keeps the shacos identity but puts it into the lore.
I also think shaco could be featured in the shurima lore, with the corrupted ascended...the baccai
Does anyone else have a weird audio cut at arround 11:37 ? Or is it just on my end?
I’m experiencing the same. I don’t know how it could’ve happened, considering it wasn’t like this originally.
As a Shaco main, I've always thought redesigning him as a marionette would be really interesting. Broken, falling apart joints and tattered old strings for the splash art, but the kicker would be that in game, the strings extend upward a short distance before fading away. Signifying the player themselves are at the helm now. He could have voice lines like "I have a NEW master now" and look directly at the screen!
Why does the audio cut out at 11:33?
I feel like the Demacian story works to a varying degree based on how cannon lor is with the other statues, since currently only lux knows that galio is alive. The Shadow ilse/camavorian one works pretty good except for the fact that he was a gift from helia, since a key part of kallista's story is based on finding out that Helia is real. My personal favorite is the noxian one, keeping his design similar enough, and could easily keep going on the outlined path in the video or be changed to be a tool of the black rose or swain
11:33-13:55 what happened to the audio?
The shadow isles idea is def the best one. Being Gwen's murderous counterpart would be really fun to play with and I'm surprised given his existing barebone lore Riot hasn't updated it as so. But I also love the Noxian/Pinnochian version as well. Some merging of the two would be cool.
As a conceptual artist who is just starting out, I love the concept of the current shaco, a murderous psychopath with the aesthetics of a toy clown. In my opinion, preserving those aspects would be vital. What would I change or add? mmm.. I would like Shaco's normal appearance to really look like a big harmless but terribly sinister toy, that is in that middle line, that totally changes its appearance when entering "psycho" mode or its "true self" As for its story, it occurs to me to preserve the part of being the doll of a young prince, a doll which served as the seal of the demon Shaco. When the prince is betrayed and stabbed in the back, the demon is released because part of the seal depended on the child, freeing Shaco and he terrorized the noble families of an entire kingdom or several, but with a certain affection developed towards the little prince, as his main motivation would be to create chaos and discord through murder and treachery. I like that it is currently a type of "primordial demon" that has no origin or end, like nocturne, evelinn, fiddle, tham kench etc. It occurs to me that Shaco was a demon that terrorizes the noble families of all the kingdoms, stabbing in the back is something very common in royalty and always comes tinged with betrayal, a demon that the people in charge fear, and being especially studied in Noxus by the black rose since the origins of the kingdom, Leblanc being the survivor of the group that sealed Shaco at the time.
That's my idea, Shaco is one of my mains and I have that special affection for him, all this was occurring to me while I was writing it :b
I really like the second concept, Shaco being a counterpart to Gwen is pretty cool. Like Shaco would be a result of Viego's actions where Gwen is born from Isolde's. Also I think it's important to keep some red in Shaco's design, like in the "demon" concept (22:56), red also constrast with the greenish effects of the Shadow Isles wich is very interesting visually imo.
11:33 to 13:55 audio is broken.
i think something that wasnt touched on is what if Shaco was the Trickster god from the Ixtal kingdom. This would explain why his backstory was so mysterious because of the kingdom being lost for centuries and any royal connection there would be, his vivid colors would fit in with the Mesoamerican design motif of their kingdom instead of just being a random choice, and the story could be something like he drew his life force from the ritual worship from the Ixtal people but after being cut off from the kingdom he went from mischievous to malicious and this dark fairytale he caused is how he gets his lifeforce now as parents spread the word of Shaco to keep children from wandering into the forest unintentionally causing him to keep living.
Does anyone else have audio issues for the damacia story?
Same here. Don’t know what’s going on