"enormous bara furry bears" "these swollen pecks" "it's heavy and hard" "a pounding that would kill a normal human" "expelling everything within him" - TB Skyen, appealing to his core audience
"Women today do not know their place. They should be splintering the skulls of their enemies with maces and flails, instead of doing things like "farming" and "not freezing to death", what a bunch of pansies!" - Volibear
Honestly reminds me of the Orks from Warhammer. War isn’t just a cultural thing it’s a physical requirement. An Ork that doesn’t fight gets weaker and basically kills over, when they fight they grow and they get a little smarter so which creates the idea “big Ork knows best” when they die they release spores (because they’re also part mushroom) which will create more Orks. In order for their race to grow and thrive they must fight and kill and die and they think other races are dumb because other people a bunch of pansies that don’t like to constantly fight and kill. Only one man ever earned an Orks respect and it’s because that commander “fought like an Ork” even their gods are nothing but brutality incarnate. Gork and Mork, one is Brutal but Cunning and the other is Cunning but Brutal or to put it another way “one is the god of clobbering and smashing and the other is the god of Clobbering and Smashing but when the enemies back is turned”
Roberto Urbas Just remember this cuts both ways, if a large group of people want to read deeper into those “inevitable political themes” in the games they play. Then that doesn’t mean they are dumb either, the argument is nuanced after all.
@@getschwifty5537 Whaaaat?! Are you trying to tell me that Deus Ex is political?! That's insane! What's next? Metal Gear Solid series is political too? Fallout too??? C o m p l e t e l y a p o l i t i c a l t o m e !
Volibear is kind of the conservative spirit, but when he wins against Ornn he shows doubt and guilt and weakness showing a crack in that shell made of machismo and rage. "Ornn's blood on my claws. Surely, there was a reason. Surely, this is just..."
i mean if Volibear is the spirit of blindly adhering to tradition then surely that could represent the point where people no longer remember why things are done they way they are, only that they have been for as long as anyone can remember, like that science experiment with the monkeys that beat the shit out of each other
I really like the concept of Volibear as a being whose nature depends on the perspective of beholder. Udyr sees Volibear as especially horrifying because the god took his apprentice and was poised to take Sejuani. While I think Sejuani saw something closer to the default skin.
Personally, I prefer his current design because it better fits the idea of “primal thunder god.” The thousand-pierces skin, while still cool, doesn’t really look anything like a storm deity that’s part of the same family as Ornn, the giant flaming ram, or Anivia, the giant ice bird. Thousand-pierced looks more like something from the Void, but since it is still technically canon, maybe Riot can do something with that.
Gold Wade i agree while Volibear the thousand pierced Bear is interesting it kind of clashes with the other freljord gods, though it could make sense if given the context of void Corruption. Also anyone Else notice that the eldritch god version is called the volibear while the form mentioned in his short story is called Valhir?
It's mostly cause in addition to being a storm god, Volibear is a war god. It reminds me similar to Odin, who is a god of war and death (and sorcery). A god can have multiple forms and aspects.
Jesse Byrd while it is true that gods have Different forms and aspects most war gods don’t tend to be eldritch and alien beings (look at Aries for an example) but it also depends on the kind of warfare They are a god of.
@@jessebyrd5621 Thing is, Volibear is a god that tends be worshiped by warriors, rather than being an ACTUAL god of war. The deity that embodies war in Runeterra is meant to be Pantheon, aka Atreus. It's sort of like how Ornn is worshiped as a forge god, even though he doesn't have any real dominion over the forge. Like, praying to him won't make you a better blacksmith, or guarantee that any metal work you do is top-notch quality. Ornn is a god who happens to be extremely GOOD at smithing, like how Volibear is a fierce warrior, but the only dominion they really have is over their respective elements.
The Trivia part was awesome, I actually always thought that Volibear was based on the Bear Tribes from the Golden Compass saga, cause the old Volibear was exactly that but with no Golden Armor.
I love the new volibear direction that he's an angry forgotten god essentially, but he's not just trying to destroy EVERYTHING. He's mad, but he also shows brief moments of self-reflection. He can't understand that he way or wars and fighting can be bad because for him they are everything. He literally was asleep, essentially dead, because there weren't people going to war for him anymore. As far as we can tell Volibear didn't pick to be the god of war, so its not like these are beings who chose something they cared about and pursued it. Voli came into the world with a drive for conflict and challenge. Then humans come into their territory and the gods say sure you can hang around here and follow us. Then the humans stop following the gods... If anything I feel like the 1000 pierced bear is the worst design for this character. Volibear isn't an atrocious monstrosity, they are an embodiment of pure wilderness. Now for people, pure wilderness is TERRIFYING, take it from someone who spent two years living in tents to do conservation work, when you are out on the highest mountain completely alone you are either at total peace of scared shitless. But wilderness isn't bad, its just bad for us. When Volibear was first around he was wrestling other giant beings and all the gods are at least in part animal. Volibear isn't a monster in his world. And the humans are the ones who came to his world. Basically with Volibear being an ancient divine power, I can't blame him for being mad when tiny mortals come into his home and go against his ways.
a simple explanation i think Riot's writers could use for why the Ursine summon a "different" volibear from the rest is the ursine summon him by turning one of their own into an avatar for him. they turn one of their human warriors into a body for the volibear's spirit and that person just gets twisted into a monstrous bear-ish form. the Ursine shaman are shapeshifters after all, and if you read silence for the damned with that sort of idea stuff said in that story still entirely works, especially the tangent that mentions the volibear being a shaman who gave himself to the bear spirit. its kinda like a targonian aspect, just instead of becoming some divine vessel or something like that, you're granted powers of a primal god, you lose your original personality, and your body is twisted and mangled to a more suitable form, like what the darkin do when they possess someone; its not an actual copy of what they originally looked like, but its as close as they could get within this human flesh. so the ursine would summon him by turning one of their own into him, and meanwhile volibear being dormant is related more to his proper physical body, his spirit if you will still being called upon by shamans for things.
There actually is a relatively indepth explanation.... It's actually a common concept for the spirits, and started out from Kindred's release. The Ursine are a savage, warlike and untamed group of people who idealize the Volibear... as such, when they visualize him, it reflects the qualities that they embody and think would suit their god. It's all about perception. Kindred varies region by region, and across continents there are extreme changes: Valoran sees them as a Lamb and Wolf (tho for each region, it's a different species of each). Shurima sees them as a Gazelle and Hyena, Bilgewater sees them as a Minnow and Jaull Fish, Ionia sees them as a Sparrow and Snake (and seemingly a child and a beast... ), there are other depictions of them as well such as a Bee and a Flower/Rose. This theme about spirits heavily being based around Perception is also referenced with Yordles (their glamour) and Demons (whose form differ based on the individual: Tahm is not always a catfish... just the people of billge have idolized him as such. He can manifest as a slot machine. Eve is not always a busty seductress, sometimes she'll be a male, other times maybe not even an animate creature. With Voli, as previously said, the Ursine dramatically shape how he manifests because they were the ones summoning him in bulk, thus inflluenced by the environment as he did also physically create a manifestation body from the corpses around... it's also likely that that mightve just been Udyr's perspective, as he views Voli to be a monstrous god, Sej mightve seen his more "regal" form. The variant that we see in game is his common depiction across the Freljord, by those who are less overtaken by the chaotic wild.
@@tyleredwards9799 yeah, i understand the idea of spirits, demons, and such having different cultural and individual perceptions/forms, and that seems to be the explanation they are currently going with for the 2 different versions of Volibear. i just personally like the idea i proposed, where thousand pierced volibear is more along the lines of a shaman shapeshifting into a physical body for volibear, more. though even with that idea, i'd honestly still say a part of the reason it is so different visually is the very wild ursine culture seeing volibear differently, on top of the twisted shapeshifter aspects. though i do like what you said about a physically manifested body made from corpses and being influenced by the environment around it. my idea i proposed is based off this bit from silence of the damned: "Udyr fought against the silence, trying to speak, to remember the stories of his childhood. Some said even the Volibear had been a man once. A great shaman and spirit walker who’d surrendered himself to the bear spirit so completely that it was able to truly manifest through him. But looking at the scale of this monster, he doubted this thing could ever have been a man." saying the ursine, who are ALL spirit walkers, specifically make him manifest by doing this would explain why udyr, a spirit walker himself though not specifically an ursine, would know stories about this sort of thing, even if he doesn't see them as true. also its just a kinda cool and creepy idea.
Thousand Pierced Volibear is at the same time awesome and very disappointing. Could have been more interesting as the primary theme of the champion or at least as a legendary skin
I would have gladly taken a hybrid. If default volibear had been thousand pierced instead of having... lightning crystals? Or whatever? As his back ornamentation, I would have been really happy, personally. Some of the splash concepts were really good, even outside the Eldritch Horror angle. A contrast between Ornn, who makes armor and weapons with his breath and body, and Volibear, who breaks them using the same, is way more interesting to me. The lightning crystals don't really work, in my view. They sort of call out to the designs of the Wyrding Stones from LoR? But not enough. I am one of the derps who adored release Volibear and he instantly became my very favorite champion, regardless of whether or not he was goofy, and I am one of the people generally happy with his new aesthetics. I kind of miss the nobility of the old one, but the voice lines have some very neat nods to Volibear's ideas and concerns about his own metaphysics. I *do* think the Eldritch Horror version of Volibear is too confusing in among with the Watchers and the various "It That Stares" and "They Who Endure" type creatures in the Freljord. Plus, I wasn't and would never have been excited to play "horrible cthulhoid monster thing (with lightning?)" versus what Volibear actually became. I don't think there's any overlap in the aesthetics and preferences of people who signed up for (and bought) "Volibear, the Thunder's Roar " and Eldritch version of Voli.
@@SeanBoyce-gp this isn't close to your point but traditional skins (traditional Karma, traditional trundle, traditional Sejuani) were all given to players who loved the old character. So I wonder why they didn't go with the thousand pierced bear and give people his now base skin as a traditional skin. It would be interesting to say that was his old incarnation in both our lore and in universe lore, as gods are as much legends and stories as anything else.
@@SoulDevoured Well, they have sort of ditched the notion of the "Traditoinal [x]" over time. I think it's because it was a.) a time and money sink and b.) didn't actually get them anywhere from a monetary perspective. The interesting thing about Thousand Pierced Voli as a skin from a business perspective is specificaly that it doesn't appeal to "core Volibear" audience, so it *might* get some folks on board who would otherwise not be interested in the character. To me, the true test of how they handle this kind of thing is coming some time next year, when they launch the Udyr rework that won the poll. They have a $35 USD skin in there that most people agree should just be Udyr's base skin they have to try to figure out how to be fair about.
Something interesting is that old Volibear design is still cannon, just like old taric or akali. The thing is that his armor was made by Ornn, but they had an argument and a fight and he decided to get rid of it. And this is something I think it's interesting about volibear, his relationship with Ornn. Because Volibear is this traditional technology hater to be the counterpart of Ornn, who always is forging tools and even teaching humans and helping them progress. Nice video!
@@maacys3132 Yes, when the Taric rework was released, Riot also featured a comic about Taric climbing mount Targon. In one of the first panels, you can see Taric's pre rework armor on the snow. So, technically, his old gem armor is his demacian armor, even if this makes no sense at all.
The jaw motion is made with the tool they used for fiddlesticks jaw so maybe this is the reason why it happens even when the player can't see volibear's face
Personally, I like to think that the Thousand Eye Volibear is what happens when he fights the void and/or the Watchers. He'll win but He'll be corrupted. This leads to him polluting the land he once cared about so much and in turn, setting up an Ornn vs Voli fight for Freljord.
Whenever I see Volibear, I can't help but think of the panserbjørne from the "His Dark Materials" book series, especially Iorek Byrnison. Those armoured bears were a little silly, too, though.
I would like to point out that the "fuck technology civilization and anything new" side of Volibear is probably more a reference to Norse mythology and the conflict between the Jotun (generally giants but more representations of the chaotic side of nature) and the Aseir and Vanir (the gods of Norse mythology who represent civilization and so on) who are represented by Ornn in leagues lore.
Not gonna lie, I'm absolutely living for Skyen's passive-aggressive "Thousand Pierced is cooler". I LOVE Volibears design, the Brutal Tribalism look works, but Thousand Pierced is just a better representation of it, if you ask me. (Though I might have made his energy blue, not purple in that skin, since that would have given him some ties to the old.) Edit: Also, it would have made him look like a Wendigo, which is always a plus because those things are cool
So something you keep asking about is “why all the effort into their expression when you cant see it”. You’ve mentioned it here, in lillia’s, and Gwen’s as i’ve watched so far. There’s actually a very important reason why you NEED to animate those faces: Because you do see them. When it comes to animation, your brain can and will catch a frame’s worth of data, and will process the broad strokes of it. You won’t necessary see it in great detail, but you will notice it. And when there’s alot of little details you partially notice, it helps sell the believability and feeling of the character. It’s the same process behind why those wonky smear frames work to sell the power and speed of movements. You wont see how Valhir’s whole body goes fuckin weird, but your brain takes in the broad strokes and uses it to fill the gapes between the key frames in. Your brain will READ that his face is moving, and will do the rest of the job even if you cant make it out, because it knows it should be there. If the faces didn’t, it be like removing the smear frames. You’d instinctively know something is missing and the animations would feel less impactful. In animation, every detail matters. You dont /need/ every detail, but more detail sells it better. I love animation btw and your videos are helping me bridge my animation knowledge with my muddled knowledge of character design xD ty! Thought you’d enjoy an explanation in return.
Thing with the eldritch volibear is... Sure, it is an AMAZING concept, but it is not a rework concept. Too dark, no lighting, more magic than actual brute force. Hell, Riot could just pulled a smart card and said that was an impostor god that fills the niche volibear left behind, and have their cake and eat it too.
I loooved you spending time talking about the animations and how they sell volibears character. Also the sound effects you made to describe some of the animations are so spot on!! 😂
I think the fact that he isn't battle damaged is interesting as well. He is a demigod, most injuries he receives would just regenerate. Thus he is advocating for a lifestyle, whose negative attributes don't affect him. He is detached from the reality he wants people to live and suffer through, while he lives comfortably ( good thing games don't have politics, or this might be making a point).
Initially I always came to your videos for the model animation analysis, because I just enjoy them so much, but as I started watching more of your videos, I stayed for the rest. You have an amazing character and the way you explain things is so fun and interesting! Also, I love those little voice acting moments you do while analysing the models, they're so good 😂 that little Volibear roar left me laughing so much!
Ornn and Volibear are reason enough to rework Anivia’s design too. Also having the iron boar as a new champion in the future would be great especially since the Udyr rework seems to be referencing along with Volibear, Anivia, and Ornn unless his tattoo is of a stag in which it could be the other sister we don’t know about.
I think it’s important to distinguish the difference in conservative and reactionary spirit. Ornn is conservative in that he wants little interaction, where Volibear is reactionary. He is a force of change but in reverse. So just as Ashe is pulling in one direction to move the freljord forward, Volibear is actively pulling in the opposite direction, instead of telling her to be happy with where they are.
Great vid as usual. For me, I look at keeping the base skin as a positive due to a biological reason. If he is supposed to be a sibling to other beings who heavily are based on animals, being more alien to them doesn’t make much sense. Now if he had been totally reworked to be like Thousand Pierced, well they would have to potentially retcon a few things from Ornn’s lore for me to find it believable. Instead of “antagonistic brother” he should’ve been changed to “ancient enemy” born from say a mistake Ornn made in his past.
A nice way they can reconcile the two volibears is with a thing from real world mythology called epithets. Gods like Aphrodite would have different epithets e.g. Aphrodite Areia (Love and war), Aphrodite Urania (Non-physical love/affection), and Aphrodite Pandemos ("physical" love wink wink). The base skin could be a more regal, dominant epithet while the more savage epithet goes to the thousand-pierced version.
Thank you for another video bub :3 - Mayhaps they could do a "Thousand Pierced Skin" For The Gods like Voli, Aniv, Ornn and any new ones they add. Could (spitballing here) say that the void has been manipulating peoples prayers and summons - as their brute force approach hasn't been working as well as the void thought? Eldritch Horror Skinline with new lore like with voli, a new god champion or a corrupting void god to match them; more of it would just be lovely :P - Could also substitute void stuff with demon stuff - I just want more of both :3 In any case, sorry for rambling to those still reading; and to all, take care and stay safe
Damn all this salt i wont need to buy more for my food with all of this In a more serious not i rly like a thousand pierced volibear and im sad but i also like furry daddy bear volibear with epic music. His theme is one of the best champion pieces tbh
Something I'm quite fond of is that unlike other skins that just add the skinline name to the character's name on the loading screen and the page, ie Pentakill Mordekaiser, Demacia Vice Garen, etc, Volibear's Thousand Pierced skin changes it to just "The Thousand Pierced Bear" playing into the idea of an eldritch entity with a name beyond human tongue
Honestly I think volley shouldn’t have to many scars. He hasn’t seen the darkness of battle, he sees it from a good eye which kind of shows he hasn’t been on the loosing side to much. He thinks it’s good because it’s good to him.
I think the concept that a twisted ritual summons a twisted form of the volibear Similar to that one pokemon movie where they try to make an artificial groudon Which in turn is based on princess mononoke
Awesome video! When I saw the notification for the premier I was so excited i almost couldn't sleep. I know you don't really cover skins, but I'm pretty sure Runeguard Volibear has a whole new animation set, at least for the basic attacks. He punches with his armguards, rather than slashes with his claws. It's supposed to reflect how in Runeguard, he hasn't discovered his own power yet. I loved that they took the extra time on a relatively cheap skin to update the animations for the story!
Tbh I’d maybe have preferred the Thousand Pierced Bear as default as well, or at least some elements of it on the base, but at the same time I’m glad Riot made the skin incredibly easy to get when the rework first came out, and it’s definitely the main skin for him I use (tho also the only skin I have for a champion I own).
It's very interesting to me when listening to Volibear's voicelines in total, the sadder and more reflective ones hint at that the only reason he is tearing shit down anymore is because humans have gotten along just fine; even better without him. As such as a god, what is the point of even existing if the people who are supposed to worship you are living better lives when they think you don't exist? So, he rejects that notion and instead insists that people were better the way they were in the uncivilized times. Because if he doesn't, his whole life has no meaning
@@TBSkyen No yeah I get it. I usually think of them as canon with an asterisk. Just thought it was something neat to note. The potential for a great redemption arc could be in the cards for our old grumpy manbear. Though I have mixed feelings about the idea
The Thousand Pierced design is some top shelf eldritch horror war-god design, but I think it's for the best as a skin. The elk skull, cool as it is, kinda pulls the design away from being a talking bear. And being a talking bear is Volibear's whole deal. You take it away, it's just not Volibear anymore. Though I wouldn't mind some pronounced antlers on the base design, just as a nod to it.
What's even more disappointing is that when Riot was polling r/VolibearMains it was only a couple of guys who really had a problem with the design. They were veterans though so riot listened to them when they started complaining.
I think the way they handled it was almost perfect It makes sense to preserve the visual style in his base skin while also giving the new skin for free to those who were around at The time
I find it funny that by setting up the conflict between traditionalist Volibear and Ornn who makes tools and stuff it's made the very introverted Ornn the closest thing to a god of civilization.
Eldritch horror "Thousand Pierced" Volibear is the superior design and no one can change my mind. We need more things to be unashamedly ugly and horrifying and out of the norm.
I wish the Thousand-Pierced Eldrich theme of the Howling Abyss could make it to the league, which could be like the Butcher's Bridge event back in season 5. The theme of primitive cult and sorcery is just sooo good.
Little late to this video, but I did really love the whole lay out and explanation that this series can bring for characters I've never really dived that deep into... I mean other than gameplay. Never realized how actually dark it all is when you actually take a moment to look at it. I've never been a very political person by any means, though I could see what you mean by how Volibear kinda approaches the world or what his world belief/concepts are. To top it off with the boomer comments; in game Volibear gives lines that come off like he is unsure, frustrated, and eventually forgotten... Being so dominantly worshipped in the lives of mortals to being discarded as they realize that freezing to death and constantly killing each other is indeed not the only way to live. I agree with you on the rework and not having "The Thousand Pierced Bear" skin as the actual base Volibear skin, Its okay to have diety figures that look scary or are unfriendly, etc. Fiddlesticks doesn't have the monopoly on the theme you know Riot lol.
This is the first I've heard about Volibear's update since the rework vote, so I'm surprised and disappointed by how...normal the result is. 6:40: Gods sure are assholes, huh? "You're all gonna die, gotta go find some new followers before that. Smell ya later!" 10:25: ...So, because a bunch of people complained about Volibear changing, Riot changed his rework from an eldritch horror god to...a grumpy bear who doesn't like change? Effing brilliant!
Ok, I respect that you prefeer the one thousand pierce bear, but I have a few issue with it: 1 the eye motiff makes him seem connected to to either the wacthers or the void, not only that eyes are usually a symbol of knowledge. 2 his color scheme and eldricth theme also ties him to the void, making him seem more alien. 3 finnaly to me there is a difference between eldricth and ancient, a thousand pierced bear is eldricth, alien, unnatural, which doesn't make sense for a god of nature (storms), the bone armor idea is cool and would work, again everything execpt the eyes themes and color scheme is awesome. I guess we just see the gods of freidjord in different ways, I don't think they should be human, just wild, representing forces of natures like thunder, ice and fire, mixed with animal traits to make they seem wild. You sound bored of that, I can understand that, and prefeer a more alien and outworldy appereance to make they seem more super natural or just unnatural. Finnaly, yes I respect the preference for a thousand pierced bear, but I think there is some merit for the classic one, both have their value. And I would love swords and arrows over the weird quills.
I know I’m like a year late, but I feel like it is worth mentioning that while he definitely is a “back to the old ways” kind of character, those “old ways” are intrinsically tied to the land that he is native to. Just a thought, but I feel like he has more legit grievances than boomers lmao.
I really wish that you had taken even a super brief look at the animation of the “Thousand Pierced Volibear” because HOLY SH*T it’s terrifying! I went into the model viewer and took a look at it… and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to unsee it. Like seeing it up close and moving around is just pure nightmare fuel! The way his mouth/snout stretches out and elongates and unhinges when he moves… Like he makes Fiddlesticks look kinda cute to me 😳😳😳😳😱😵
32:08 the first moment i saw this animation, I fell in love with volibear, even tho I don't play top that much. Now my dog is named volibear b cus of this giant cute monster
At first I was super excited about Voli's rework with all the eldritch stuff and "not being able to be ccd". Then I saw the release where they took things back a few notches and was let down a bit. 1 Month after I played him because "there's nothing else new might as well". That's where I changed my mind again. Something in me is both Viking and Samurai (I'm german) and Volibaer hits that Viking side in all the right spots (gonna enjoy Olaf's VU). I had a game yesterday where I went 16/1/something and it was the most fun I had in a while with actually palyign League. I was facing Irelia top (or rather she was facing me) and even with ganks by Nunu she wasn't able to overcome me to the point of going afk without saying a word in all chat. I had so much fun drumming my chest (ctrl+5) in the rhythm of her tower cracking as I shut down her next desperate attempt at felling me. Maybe there's something wrong with me or I just enjoy endulging in my primitive nature besides art once in a while. The rhythm of beating down towers with only the right hand is also satisfying. I don't consider myself toxic (salty at most) but when the trashtalking Yone from bottom teamed up with fed Sylas from mid to try me and I killed both, I had the biggest grin on my face and my soul. This got kinda long so I'll end it here (and this isn't bragging, just wanted to share a once every 6 months game I got to underline the animation talk in the video). I'll watch the last 5 minutes now, being confident that they're as good as the rest was.
Wish Volibear would help progress the story at this point, it would be a pretty impactful turning point if Voli decided to tear appart the howling abyss and unleash the void as a mean to force people to join his ways to survive. Obviously he would underestimate how cataclysmic that whole idea would be and be driven into a corner where he'd have to cooperate with others to survive, with hopefully Anivia showing up and helping unite the freljord and stuff.
The basic design, is not just armored bear with lightning powers. He was a leader, a reluctant one. There was more they could have gone with that concept alone. He somewhat reminds me of Thor in a sense, from the cinematic universe of marvel. Volibear wanted the best for his people, he wanted them to be strong and healthy so they lasted beyond his days. Meh, I like the new design but his old one was better and could have been pretty interesting if the pushed the leadership role.
it would be cool if both versions of volibear where full champs, and both could be taken into games at the same time. like one is more aggressive and one is more defensive or something. Would be a cool take on the gods in lore. To clarify not like Kayne but two seperate entities
Personally, I like old Voli more than any of the new Volis. I kinda like the idea of being a pacifist bear that beats the shit out of you when you're a menace to his people. Pacifist, yes, but not stupid. He also seemed so much more nicer. His voice was softer, his design was softer too. Overall, he looked like a nice guy. New Voli suffers the same kind of issues Galio suffered on his rework, where he went from protective gargoyle to fucking dumb jock-type personality statue. I really disliked that change, and the very aggresive Volibear makes me feel the same. Still, I wouldn't have a problem neither with new Voli nor with horror Voli if they were new champions, but I bet Riot has already striken "Bear champion" off the list and we won't see anything like that ever again.
I think I like Volibear so much because the idea of a nature god that is a fish out of water in the modern world. Desperate for things to go back to the way they were before is cool to me.
I think volibear really had a good simple design, takin triangle as a base shape, making it the direct opposite of his brother orn who had more rounded shape
![What's the deal with Lissandra? || character review (League of Legends) [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6kJIEezT9EE/mqdefault.jpg)
"enormous bara furry bears"
"these swollen pecks"
"it's heavy and hard"
"a pounding that would kill a normal human"
"expelling everything within him"
- TB Skyen, appealing to his core audience
Huff~
TB Skyen knows exactly what he's doing.
Volibear: Humanity has grown soft. I shall return the Freljord to its primal, most majestic state.
Nunu: Okay, Voliboomer
Willump: *starts laughing at 21st century humor memes*
Reject modernity, Return to Barbearity.
i actually snorted reading this
"I've watched a lot black mirror, technology is bad and einstein was a witch" that made me laugh so much
Need that on skyen merch, the line is too good
"Women today do not know their place. They should be splintering the skulls of their enemies with maces and flails, instead of doing things like "farming" and "not freezing to death", what a bunch of pansies!" - Volibear
They had us in the first half, not gonna lie.
Volibear…progressive???
@@supermutantsam1160 He’s so regressive he caused an integer overflow and looped all the way back to progressive
Honestly reminds me of the Orks from Warhammer. War isn’t just a cultural thing it’s a physical requirement. An Ork that doesn’t fight gets weaker and basically kills over, when they fight they grow and they get a little smarter so which creates the idea “big Ork knows best” when they die they release spores (because they’re also part mushroom) which will create more Orks. In order for their race to grow and thrive they must fight and kill and die and they think other races are dumb because other people a bunch of pansies that don’t like to constantly fight and kill. Only one man ever earned an Orks respect and it’s because that commander “fought like an Ork” even their gods are nothing but brutality incarnate. Gork and Mork, one is Brutal but Cunning and the other is Cunning but Brutal or to put it another way “one is the god of clobbering and smashing and the other is the god of Clobbering and Smashing but when the enemies back is turned”
@@fist-of-doom487I wish someone clobbered and smashed me with my back turned
“Leauge of Legends isn’t political” has the same energy as “There is no war in Ba Sing Se”
Oh my Oh my gosh is tha- is that a bear IN A POLICE SUIT!?!?!!?
Roberto Urbas
Just remember this cuts both ways, if a large group of people want to read deeper into those “inevitable political themes” in the games they play. Then that doesn’t mean they are dumb either, the argument is nuanced after all.
*"[insert games as a whole] aren't political" has the same energy as "There is no war in Ba Sing Se".
Every real Gamer knows video games don't have politics
@@getschwifty5537 Whaaaat?! Are you trying to tell me that Deus Ex is political?! That's insane! What's next? Metal Gear Solid series is political too? Fallout too??? C o m p l e t e l y a p o l i t i c a l t o m e !
Volibear is kind of the conservative spirit, but when he wins against Ornn he shows doubt and guilt and weakness showing a crack in that shell made of machismo and rage.
"Ornn's blood on my claws. Surely, there was a reason. Surely, this is just..."
i mean if Volibear is the spirit of blindly adhering to tradition then surely that could represent the point where people no longer remember why things are done they way they are, only that they have been for as long as anyone can remember, like that science experiment with the monkeys that beat the shit out of each other
Volibear has a great characterization. I'm really liking this rework lore wise.
Never one without the other
I really love this line and his lines when he kills anivia as well he shows guilt , doubt , and remorse it's a great way to humanize him
I've always taken that to men that he has a bit of the maddness, a bit of the maddness that is the thousand pirce bear
I really like the concept of Volibear as a being whose nature depends on the perspective of beholder. Udyr sees Volibear as especially horrifying because the god took his apprentice and was poised to take Sejuani. While I think Sejuani saw something closer to the default skin.
When you consider volibears actual size, his q becomes a shit ton more horrifying
Imagine a literal fortress-sized bear running at you at top speed. Fucking horrifying.
Oh shit
Just a tidal wave of fur
Breaks you, the ground underneath you, and buries you into the earth all at the same time xD
Bruh, imagine how much more terrifying Aurelion Sol is
T b skyen you've always asking what's the deal with league champions but not how's the league champions :(
Personally, I prefer his current design because it better fits the idea of “primal thunder god.” The thousand-pierces skin, while still cool, doesn’t really look anything like a storm deity that’s part of the same family as Ornn, the giant flaming ram, or Anivia, the giant ice bird. Thousand-pierced looks more like something from the Void, but since it is still technically canon, maybe Riot can do something with that.
Gold Wade i agree while Volibear the thousand pierced Bear is interesting it kind of clashes with the other freljord gods, though it could make sense if given the context of void Corruption. Also anyone Else notice that the eldritch god version is called the volibear while the form mentioned in his short story is called Valhir?
It's mostly cause in addition to being a storm god, Volibear is a war god. It reminds me similar to Odin, who is a god of war and death (and sorcery). A god can have multiple forms and aspects.
Jesse Byrd while it is true that gods have Different forms and aspects most war gods don’t tend to be eldritch and alien beings (look at Aries for an example) but it also depends on the kind of warfare They are a god of.
@@jessebyrd5621 Thing is, Volibear is a god that tends be worshiped by warriors, rather than being an ACTUAL god of war. The deity that embodies war in Runeterra is meant to be Pantheon, aka Atreus.
It's sort of like how Ornn is worshiped as a forge god, even though he doesn't have any real dominion over the forge. Like, praying to him won't make you a better blacksmith, or guarantee that any metal work you do is top-notch quality. Ornn is a god who happens to be extremely GOOD at smithing, like how Volibear is a fierce warrior, but the only dominion they really have is over their respective elements.
It literally has a trailer where it shows it coming from the void.
I have never expected the words "enormous bara furry bears" to be heard in Skyen's videos and here we are.
You obviously don't frequent the furry fandom
The Trivia part was awesome, I actually always thought that Volibear was based on the Bear Tribes from the Golden Compass saga, cause the old Volibear was exactly that but with no Golden Armor.
Yeah I see old Volibear and think Golden Compass.
Yeah I was puzzled when he said armored bears were "inherently funny" xD no they're not, said 13-year-old me, they're *badass*
In his old Thunderlord Skin he even had gold armor
Everybody gangsta until he reaches 6 and ults you in your tower
WHY DO I SEE YOU AT THE COMMENT SECTION OF EVERY VIDEO I WATCH????? W H Y
We need a Dunkmaster Volibear skin.
I love the new volibear direction that he's an angry forgotten god essentially, but he's not just trying to destroy EVERYTHING. He's mad, but he also shows brief moments of self-reflection. He can't understand that he way or wars and fighting can be bad because for him they are everything. He literally was asleep, essentially dead, because there weren't people going to war for him anymore. As far as we can tell Volibear didn't pick to be the god of war, so its not like these are beings who chose something they cared about and pursued it. Voli came into the world with a drive for conflict and challenge. Then humans come into their territory and the gods say sure you can hang around here and follow us. Then the humans stop following the gods...
If anything I feel like the 1000 pierced bear is the worst design for this character. Volibear isn't an atrocious monstrosity, they are an embodiment of pure wilderness. Now for people, pure wilderness is TERRIFYING, take it from someone who spent two years living in tents to do conservation work, when you are out on the highest mountain completely alone you are either at total peace of scared shitless. But wilderness isn't bad, its just bad for us. When Volibear was first around he was wrestling other giant beings and all the gods are at least in part animal. Volibear isn't a monster in his world. And the humans are the ones who came to his world.
Basically with Volibear being an ancient divine power, I can't blame him for being mad when tiny mortals come into his home and go against his ways.
I like the Horror Volibear, the siblings don't even look alike already as there is only Orn to compare then.
a simple explanation i think Riot's writers could use for why the Ursine summon a "different" volibear from the rest is the ursine summon him by turning one of their own into an avatar for him. they turn one of their human warriors into a body for the volibear's spirit and that person just gets twisted into a monstrous bear-ish form. the Ursine shaman are shapeshifters after all, and if you read silence for the damned with that sort of idea stuff said in that story still entirely works, especially the tangent that mentions the volibear being a shaman who gave himself to the bear spirit.
its kinda like a targonian aspect, just instead of becoming some divine vessel or something like that, you're granted powers of a primal god, you lose your original personality, and your body is twisted and mangled to a more suitable form, like what the darkin do when they possess someone; its not an actual copy of what they originally looked like, but its as close as they could get within this human flesh. so the ursine would summon him by turning one of their own into him, and meanwhile volibear being dormant is related more to his proper physical body, his spirit if you will still being called upon by shamans for things.
There actually is a relatively indepth explanation.... It's actually a common concept for the spirits, and started out from Kindred's release. The Ursine are a savage, warlike and untamed group of people who idealize the Volibear... as such, when they visualize him, it reflects the qualities that they embody and think would suit their god. It's all about perception. Kindred varies region by region, and across continents there are extreme changes: Valoran sees them as a Lamb and Wolf (tho for each region, it's a different species of each). Shurima sees them as a Gazelle and Hyena, Bilgewater sees them as a Minnow and Jaull Fish, Ionia sees them as a Sparrow and Snake (and seemingly a child and a beast... ), there are other depictions of them as well such as a Bee and a Flower/Rose. This theme about spirits heavily being based around Perception is also referenced with Yordles (their glamour) and Demons (whose form differ based on the individual: Tahm is not always a catfish... just the people of billge have idolized him as such. He can manifest as a slot machine. Eve is not always a busty seductress, sometimes she'll be a male, other times maybe not even an animate creature.
With Voli, as previously said, the Ursine dramatically shape how he manifests because they were the ones summoning him in bulk, thus inflluenced by the environment as he did also physically create a manifestation body from the corpses around... it's also likely that that mightve just been Udyr's perspective, as he views Voli to be a monstrous god, Sej mightve seen his more "regal" form. The variant that we see in game is his common depiction across the Freljord, by those who are less overtaken by the chaotic wild.
@@tyleredwards9799 yeah, i understand the idea of spirits, demons, and such having different cultural and individual perceptions/forms, and that seems to be the explanation they are currently going with for the 2 different versions of Volibear. i just personally like the idea i proposed, where thousand pierced volibear is more along the lines of a shaman shapeshifting into a physical body for volibear, more. though even with that idea, i'd honestly still say a part of the reason it is so different visually is the very wild ursine culture seeing volibear differently, on top of the twisted shapeshifter aspects. though i do like what you said about a physically manifested body made from corpses and being influenced by the environment around it.
my idea i proposed is based off this bit from silence of the damned:
"Udyr fought against the silence, trying to speak, to remember the stories of his childhood. Some said even the Volibear had been a man once. A great shaman and spirit walker who’d surrendered himself to the bear spirit so completely that it was able to truly manifest through him. But looking at the scale of this monster, he doubted this thing could ever have been a man."
saying the ursine, who are ALL spirit walkers, specifically make him manifest by doing this would explain why udyr, a spirit walker himself though not specifically an ursine, would know stories about this sort of thing, even if he doesn't see them as true.
also its just a kinda cool and creepy idea.
Thousand Pierced Volibear is at the same time awesome and very disappointing. Could have been more interesting as the primary theme of the champion or at least as a legendary skin
Imo he looks a little too chunky in that skin
I would have gladly taken a hybrid. If default volibear had been thousand pierced instead of having... lightning crystals? Or whatever? As his back ornamentation, I would have been really happy, personally. Some of the splash concepts were really good, even outside the Eldritch Horror angle. A contrast between Ornn, who makes armor and weapons with his breath and body, and Volibear, who breaks them using the same, is way more interesting to me. The lightning crystals don't really work, in my view. They sort of call out to the designs of the Wyrding Stones from LoR? But not enough.
I am one of the derps who adored release Volibear and he instantly became my very favorite champion, regardless of whether or not he was goofy, and I am one of the people generally happy with his new aesthetics. I kind of miss the nobility of the old one, but the voice lines have some very neat nods to Volibear's ideas and concerns about his own metaphysics.
I *do* think the Eldritch Horror version of Volibear is too confusing in among with the Watchers and the various "It That Stares" and "They Who Endure" type creatures in the Freljord. Plus, I wasn't and would never have been excited to play "horrible cthulhoid monster thing (with lightning?)" versus what Volibear actually became. I don't think there's any overlap in the aesthetics and preferences of people who signed up for (and bought) "Volibear, the Thunder's Roar " and Eldritch version of Voli.
@@SeanBoyce-gp this isn't close to your point but traditional skins (traditional Karma, traditional trundle, traditional Sejuani) were all given to players who loved the old character.
So I wonder why they didn't go with the thousand pierced bear and give people his now base skin as a traditional skin.
It would be interesting to say that was his old incarnation in both our lore and in universe lore, as gods are as much legends and stories as anything else.
@@SoulDevoured Well, they have sort of ditched the notion of the "Traditoinal [x]" over time. I think it's because it was a.) a time and money sink and b.) didn't actually get them anywhere from a monetary perspective. The interesting thing about Thousand Pierced Voli as a skin from a business perspective is specificaly that it doesn't appeal to "core Volibear" audience, so it *might* get some folks on board who would otherwise not be interested in the character.
To me, the true test of how they handle this kind of thing is coming some time next year, when they launch the Udyr rework that won the poll. They have a $35 USD skin in there that most people agree should just be Udyr's base skin they have to try to figure out how to be fair about.
Something interesting is that old Volibear design is still cannon, just like old taric or akali. The thing is that his armor was made by Ornn, but they had an argument and a fight and he decided to get rid of it. And this is something I think it's interesting about volibear, his relationship with Ornn. Because Volibear is this traditional technology hater to be the counterpart of Ornn, who always is forging tools and even teaching humans and helping them progress.
Nice video!
While with akali I agree, I'm not so sure if old Taric really can be considered canon, could you perhaps elaborate as to why you think he is canon?
@@maacys3132 Yes, when the Taric rework was released, Riot also featured a comic about Taric climbing mount Targon. In one of the first panels, you can see Taric's pre rework armor on the snow. So, technically, his old gem armor is his demacian armor, even if this makes no sense at all.
Interesting, I didn't remember about that, good to know
The jaw motion is made with the tool they used for fiddlesticks jaw so maybe this is the reason why it happens even when the player can't see volibear's face
Personally, I like to think that the Thousand Eye Volibear is what happens when he fights the void and/or the Watchers. He'll win but He'll be corrupted. This leads to him polluting the land he once cared about so much and in turn, setting up an Ornn vs Voli fight for Freljord.
Therapist: "the Volibear smear frames can't hurt you."
The Volibear smear frames:
Whenever I see Volibear, I can't help but think of the panserbjørne from the "His Dark Materials" book series, especially Iorek Byrnison. Those armoured bears were a little silly, too, though.
Then Lillia and finally, Yone! You're catching up!
inb4 they release Samira next week just to fuck with me
@@TBSkyen Yikes! Well, at least you don't have the pressure of making any "Boss Designs" videos for a while, so you've got that going for you
@@TBSkyen Samira?? Was there a champion teaser??
@@gizemcelik6240 Just leaks i believe
@@gizemcelik6240 They teased the champion with the Devil May Cry style meter, and the name itself got leaked by a Brazilian streamer.
I would like to point out that the "fuck technology civilization and anything new" side of Volibear is probably more a reference to Norse mythology and the conflict between the Jotun (generally giants but more representations of the chaotic side of nature) and the Aseir and Vanir (the gods of Norse mythology who represent civilization and so on) who are represented by Ornn in leagues lore.
Only thing about thousand pierced is he doesn’t represent a storm very well
"Because I am a bear, and you are dead." is an underrated quote of this video.
Not gonna lie, I'm absolutely living for Skyen's passive-aggressive "Thousand Pierced is cooler".
I LOVE Volibears design, the Brutal Tribalism look works, but Thousand Pierced is just a better representation of it, if you ask me. (Though I might have made his energy blue, not purple in that skin, since that would have given him some ties to the old.)
Edit: Also, it would have made him look like a Wendigo, which is always a plus because those things are cool
So something you keep asking about is “why all the effort into their expression when you cant see it”. You’ve mentioned it here, in lillia’s, and Gwen’s as i’ve watched so far.
There’s actually a very important reason why you NEED to animate those faces:
Because you do see them. When it comes to animation, your brain can and will catch a frame’s worth of data, and will process the broad strokes of it. You won’t necessary see it in great detail, but you will notice it. And when there’s alot of little details you partially notice, it helps sell the believability and feeling of the character.
It’s the same process behind why those wonky smear frames work to sell the power and speed of movements. You wont see how Valhir’s whole body goes fuckin weird, but your brain takes in the broad strokes and uses it to fill the gapes between the key frames in.
Your brain will READ that his face is moving, and will do the rest of the job even if you cant make it out, because it knows it should be there. If the faces didn’t, it be like removing the smear frames. You’d instinctively know something is missing and the animations would feel less impactful.
In animation, every detail matters. You dont /need/ every detail, but more detail sells it better.
I love animation btw and your videos are helping me bridge my animation knowledge with my muddled knowledge of character design xD ty! Thought you’d enjoy an explanation in return.
Thing with the eldritch volibear is... Sure, it is an AMAZING concept, but it is not a rework concept. Too dark, no lighting, more magic than actual brute force.
Hell, Riot could just pulled a smart card and said that was an impostor god that fills the niche volibear left behind, and have their cake and eat it too.
I loooved you spending time talking about the animations and how they sell volibears character. Also the sound effects you made to describe some of the animations are so spot on!! 😂
I think the fact that he isn't battle damaged is interesting as well. He is a demigod, most injuries he receives would just regenerate. Thus he is advocating for a lifestyle, whose negative attributes don't affect him. He is detached from the reality he wants people to live and suffer through, while he lives comfortably ( good thing games don't have politics, or this might be making a point).
Initially I always came to your videos for the model animation analysis, because I just enjoy them so much, but as I started watching more of your videos, I stayed for the rest. You have an amazing character and the way you explain things is so fun and interesting! Also, I love those little voice acting moments you do while analysing the models, they're so good 😂 that little Volibear roar left me laughing so much!
Ornn and Volibear are reason enough to rework Anivia’s design too. Also having the iron boar as a new champion in the future would be great especially since the Udyr rework seems to be referencing along with Volibear, Anivia, and Ornn unless his tattoo is of a stag in which it could be the other sister we don’t know about.
39:19 And then he turned himself into a pickle
it's the funniest thing ever
I think it’s important to distinguish the difference in conservative and reactionary spirit. Ornn is conservative in that he wants little interaction, where Volibear is reactionary. He is a force of change but in reverse. So just as Ashe is pulling in one direction to move the freljord forward, Volibear is actively pulling in the opposite direction, instead of telling her to be happy with where they are.
Great vid as usual.
For me, I look at keeping the base skin as a positive due to a biological reason. If he is supposed to be a sibling to other beings who heavily are based on animals, being more alien to them doesn’t make much sense. Now if he had been totally reworked to be like Thousand Pierced, well they would have to potentially retcon a few things from Ornn’s lore for me to find it believable. Instead of “antagonistic brother” he should’ve been changed to “ancient enemy” born from say a mistake Ornn made in his past.
A nice way they can reconcile the two volibears is with a thing from real world mythology called epithets. Gods like Aphrodite would have different epithets e.g. Aphrodite Areia (Love and war), Aphrodite Urania (Non-physical love/affection), and Aphrodite Pandemos ("physical" love wink wink). The base skin could be a more regal, dominant epithet while the more savage epithet goes to the thousand-pierced version.
"He's not gonna be that big on your Screen" Uh... His Ult makes him over twice his Size >_>
Absolutely LOVE these "What's the deal with" videos. They've grown on me and now I can't live without them.
At 22:21 the wheeze into the laugh gets me and makes me smile when I saw why he laughing at volibear's q attack animation
If only he talked about the ult animations, and how voli becomes kinda transluscid, because he becomes a literal storm in the form of a bear...
can we talk about the amazing voice acting of skyen .... truly beautiful
Thank you for another video bub :3 - Mayhaps they could do a "Thousand Pierced Skin" For The Gods like Voli, Aniv, Ornn and any new ones they add. Could (spitballing here) say that the void has been manipulating peoples prayers and summons - as their brute force approach hasn't been working as well as the void thought? Eldritch Horror Skinline with new lore like with voli, a new god champion or a corrupting void god to match them; more of it would just be lovely :P - Could also substitute void stuff with demon stuff - I just want more of both :3
In any case, sorry for rambling to those still reading; and to all, take care and stay safe
I want a sound compilation of all of Skyen's sound effects when he does their animations.
Damn all this salt i wont need to buy more for my food with all of this
In a more serious not i rly like a thousand pierced volibear and im sad but i also like furry daddy bear volibear with epic music. His theme is one of the best champion pieces tbh
Something I'm quite fond of is that unlike other skins that just add the skinline name to the character's name on the loading screen and the page, ie Pentakill Mordekaiser, Demacia Vice Garen, etc, Volibear's Thousand Pierced skin changes it to just "The Thousand Pierced Bear" playing into the idea of an eldritch entity with a name beyond human tongue
Honestly I think volley shouldn’t have to many scars. He hasn’t seen the darkness of battle, he sees it from a good eye which kind of shows he hasn’t been on the loosing side to much. He thinks it’s good because it’s good to him.
I think the concept that a twisted ritual summons a twisted form of the volibear
Similar to that one pokemon movie where they try to make an artificial groudon
Which in turn is based on princess mononoke
Awesome video! When I saw the notification for the premier I was so excited i almost couldn't sleep.
I know you don't really cover skins, but I'm pretty sure Runeguard Volibear has a whole new animation set, at least for the basic attacks. He punches with his armguards, rather than slashes with his claws. It's supposed to reflect how in Runeguard, he hasn't discovered his own power yet. I loved that they took the extra time on a relatively cheap skin to update the animations for the story!
I wanted to watch a video about a giant bear god who has lighting and stuff and I get politics. I love this channel.
Tbh I’d maybe have preferred the Thousand Pierced Bear as default as well, or at least some elements of it on the base, but at the same time I’m glad Riot made the skin incredibly easy to get when the rework first came out, and it’s definitely the main skin for him I use (tho also the only skin I have for a champion I own).
Never though TB Skyen roaring would be my “thing”. Buuuut- here we are. 🥴
That eldritch horror one should be a new champion. It’s weird they tried to make Volibear into that but it was really cool as it’s own thing.
It's very interesting to me when listening to Volibear's voicelines in total, the sadder and more reflective ones hint at that the only reason he is tearing shit down anymore is because humans have gotten along just fine; even better without him. As such as a god, what is the point of even existing if the people who are supposed to worship you are living better lives when they think you don't exist? So, he rejects that notion and instead insists that people were better the way they were in the uncivilized times. Because if he doesn't, his whole life has no meaning
Yeah, the trouble for me is voicelines aren't actually canon, they're "hypothetical" canon at best. So I don't include those in this series.
@@TBSkyen No yeah I get it. I usually think of them as canon with an asterisk. Just thought it was something neat to note. The potential for a great redemption arc could be in the cards for our old grumpy manbear. Though I have mixed feelings about the idea
The Thousand Pierced design is some top shelf eldritch horror war-god design, but I think it's for the best as a skin. The elk skull, cool as it is, kinda pulls the design away from being a talking bear. And being a talking bear is Volibear's whole deal. You take it away, it's just not Volibear anymore.
Though I wouldn't mind some pronounced antlers on the base design, just as a nod to it.
What's even more disappointing is that when Riot was polling r/VolibearMains it was only a couple of guys who really had a problem with the design. They were veterans though so riot listened to them when they started complaining.
It was only a few complaining that it was the horror design?
@@czairkolmoslink5952 Yeah
@@SisyphusianSaturnite That really sucks :(
I think the way they handled it was almost perfect
It makes sense to preserve the visual style in his base skin while also giving the new skin for free to those who were around at
The time
I still cannot get over the fact that Silence For The Damned was written by a guy named Odin
15:10
Umberto Eco slams the door open.
"There's a word for this, you know? It's fucking fascism."
Eyy, first person to catch the reference :D
-VoliDaddy, crush me~-
I mean... wat. I didn't say anything. You heard nothing. >///>;
I find it funny that by setting up the conflict between traditionalist Volibear and Ornn who makes tools and stuff it's made the very introverted Ornn the closest thing to a god of civilization.
Eldritch horror "Thousand Pierced" Volibear is the superior design and no one can change my mind. We need more things to be unashamedly ugly and horrifying and out of the norm.
I so want to play as voli but it's just Skyen doing the boomer voli voice in place of his current voice
I wish the Thousand-Pierced Eldrich theme of the Howling Abyss could make it to the league, which could be like the Butcher's Bridge event back in season 5. The theme of primitive cult and sorcery is just sooo good.
I love your little rants in the middle of storytelling, reminds me of me
Little late to this video, but I did really love the whole lay out and explanation that this series can bring for characters I've never really dived that deep into... I mean other than gameplay. Never realized how actually dark it all is when you actually take a moment to look at it. I've never been a very political person by any means, though I could see what you mean by how Volibear kinda approaches the world or what his world belief/concepts are. To top it off with the boomer comments; in game Volibear gives lines that come off like he is unsure, frustrated, and eventually forgotten... Being so dominantly worshipped in the lives of mortals to being discarded as they realize that freezing to death and constantly killing each other is indeed not the only way to live.
I agree with you on the rework and not having "The Thousand Pierced Bear" skin as the actual base Volibear skin, Its okay to have diety figures that look scary or are unfriendly, etc. Fiddlesticks doesn't have the monopoly on the theme you know Riot lol.
This is the first I've heard about Volibear's update since the rework vote, so I'm surprised and disappointed by how...normal the result is.
6:40: Gods sure are assholes, huh? "You're all gonna die, gotta go find some new followers before that. Smell ya later!"
10:25: ...So, because a bunch of people complained about Volibear changing, Riot changed his rework from an eldritch horror god to...a grumpy bear who doesn't like change? Effing brilliant!
21:48 this is someone who is "bearly" holding back UwU
Ok, I respect that you prefeer the one thousand pierce bear, but I have a few issue with it:
1 the eye motiff makes him seem connected to to either the wacthers or the void, not only that eyes are usually a symbol of knowledge.
2 his color scheme and eldricth theme also ties him to the void, making him seem more alien.
3 finnaly to me there is a difference between eldricth and ancient, a thousand pierced bear is eldricth, alien, unnatural, which doesn't make sense for a god of nature (storms), the bone armor idea is cool and would work, again everything execpt the eyes themes and color scheme is awesome.
I guess we just see the gods of freidjord in different ways, I don't think they should be human, just wild, representing forces of natures like thunder, ice and fire, mixed with animal traits to make they seem wild. You sound bored of that, I can understand that, and prefeer a more alien and outworldy appereance to make they seem more super natural or just unnatural.
Finnaly, yes I respect the preference for a thousand pierced bear, but I think there is some merit for the classic one, both have their value. And I would love swords and arrows over the weird quills.
Watchers awaken after thousands of years: "Why is there a giant bear paw covering the sun? Why is it getting larger? Oh..."
I know I’m like a year late, but I feel like it is worth mentioning that while he definitely is a “back to the old ways” kind of character, those “old ways” are intrinsically tied to the land that he is native to. Just a thought, but I feel like he has more legit grievances than boomers lmao.
I really wish that you had taken even a super brief look at the animation of the “Thousand Pierced Volibear” because HOLY SH*T it’s terrifying! I went into the model viewer and took a look at it… and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to unsee it. Like seeing it up close and moving around is just pure nightmare fuel! The way his mouth/snout stretches out and elongates and unhinges when he moves… Like he makes Fiddlesticks look kinda cute to me 😳😳😳😳😱😵
32:08 the first moment i saw this animation, I fell in love with volibear, even tho I don't play top that much.
Now my dog is named volibear b cus of this giant cute monster
Volibear reminds me of the polar bears in the golden compass
17:17 this entire monologue had me rolling
The moment you said BARA FURRIES I was completely sold and I love you so much more now 💪🐻
Great stuff. Hope that Arcane goes to the Fjord and goes the Thousand Pierced Volibear rout!
At first I was super excited about Voli's rework with all the eldritch stuff and "not being able to be ccd". Then I saw the release where they took things back a few notches and was let down a bit. 1 Month after I played him because "there's nothing else new might as well". That's where I changed my mind again. Something in me is both Viking and Samurai (I'm german) and Volibaer hits that Viking side in all the right spots (gonna enjoy Olaf's VU). I had a game yesterday where I went 16/1/something and it was the most fun I had in a while with actually palyign League. I was facing Irelia top (or rather she was facing me) and even with ganks by Nunu she wasn't able to overcome me to the point of going afk without saying a word in all chat. I had so much fun drumming my chest (ctrl+5) in the rhythm of her tower cracking as I shut down her next desperate attempt at felling me. Maybe there's something wrong with me or I just enjoy endulging in my primitive nature besides art once in a while. The rhythm of beating down towers with only the right hand is also satisfying. I don't consider myself toxic (salty at most) but when the trashtalking Yone from bottom teamed up with fed Sylas from mid to try me and I killed both, I had the biggest grin on my face and my soul.
This got kinda long so I'll end it here (and this isn't bragging, just wanted to share a once every 6 months game I got to underline the animation talk in the video).
I'll watch the last 5 minutes now, being confident that they're as good as the rest was.
U're weird
Wish Volibear would help progress the story at this point, it would be a pretty impactful turning point if Voli decided to tear appart the howling abyss and unleash the void as a mean to force people to join his ways to survive. Obviously he would underestimate how cataclysmic that whole idea would be and be driven into a corner where he'd have to cooperate with others to survive, with hopefully Anivia showing up and helping unite the freljord and stuff.
Silence of the damned is my favorite story in recent memory. I was so hyped for the thousand pierced bear until I heard
Here just to support TB Skyen at least with comments and likes.
Will join Patreon for him soon! Love your content so much.
21:45
[...]This is someone who's BEARly holding back[...]
Ngl the idea of the eldritch volibear clashing in some like Titan battle with normal volibear sounds so fucking cool
*THINK ABOUT BEAR.*
*CONSUME BEAR.*
*AND THEN WAIT FOR NEXT BEAR.*
The basic design, is not just armored bear with lightning powers. He was a leader, a reluctant one. There was more they could have gone with that concept alone. He somewhat reminds me of Thor in a sense, from the cinematic universe of marvel. Volibear wanted the best for his people, he wanted them to be strong and healthy so they lasted beyond his days. Meh, I like the new design but his old one was better and could have been pretty interesting if the pushed the leadership role.
What i love about volibear so mich is that he even has a goddamn "falling" animation when knocked up
Its the little details which make him special
I think a mix of the two would have been the best, the color and runestones of base volibear and the overall design of Thousand Pierced Volibear
26:55 oh god oh dear of god he's coming
Reject dams, embrace fishing with your hands.
it would be cool if both versions of volibear where full champs, and both could be taken into games at the same time. like one is more aggressive and one is more defensive or something. Would be a cool take on the gods in lore. To clarify not like Kayne but two seperate entities
Personally, I like old Voli more than any of the new Volis. I kinda like the idea of being a pacifist bear that beats the shit out of you when you're a menace to his people. Pacifist, yes, but not stupid.
He also seemed so much more nicer. His voice was softer, his design was softer too. Overall, he looked like a nice guy.
New Voli suffers the same kind of issues Galio suffered on his rework, where he went from protective gargoyle to fucking dumb jock-type personality statue. I really disliked that change, and the very aggresive Volibear makes me feel the same.
Still, I wouldn't have a problem neither with new Voli nor with horror Voli if they were new champions, but I bet Riot has already striken "Bear champion" off the list and we won't see anything like that ever again.
can anyone tell me why its still called Summoner's Rift if the whole "Summoner" thing got scrapped?
I think I like Volibear so much because the idea of a nature god that is a fish out of water in the modern world. Desperate for things to go back to the way they were before is cool to me.
I literally love T B and how he just wants thousand piereced voli for 45 min, i love love love hahahah
Everybody laughs at the armored bear till he plugs off your tower
I think volibear really had a good simple design, takin triangle as a base shape, making it the direct opposite of his brother orn who had more rounded shape
Here hoping we see more reworks that improve characters like voil
"BEAR-ly holding back" -TB Skyen's dad joke of the day. It could have been unintentional but I choose to believe it was not, haha.
great video, skyen! thank you and praise le toucan ... i mean the algorithm
Ok but the Thumbnail preview IS GODLIKE???? Shame so many ppl just insta click so they won't enjoy it, haha
And now we even know who the Magma serpent is. Thanks LoR.