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Characters / League Of Legends Themes N To Z

Go To

League of Legends
Main Character Index > Skin Themes
Skin Themes A – M | Skin Themes N – Z

A page for in-world groups or themed skin teams with some established story, from N to Z.

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    Neon Strata 
Few know of the Foreglow, and even fewer have seen its volatile neon flames. Normally a cosmic balancing force, something has tipped the scales, causing realms to collapse and funnel the Foreglow's power into single beings. Now known as Empyreans, these otherworldly forces of nature blaze a trail through the realms, each with their own agenda. The fire is spreading, with no end in sight.

An alternate universe set in a world where the Foreglow transforms champions into an otherworldly forces called Empyreans.
Champions in this line: (Empyrean) Akali, Brand, Jax, Jhin, Kayle, K'Sante, Lux, Malzahar, Nocturne, Pyke, Varus, Vex, Zac, Zed
  • Ax-Crazy:
    • Varus wants to kill every Empyrean, despite being one himself.
    • Pyke wants revenge on every other version of himself due to his realm being destroyed.

    Odyssey 
From the heavily urbanized coreworlds to the outermost edge of the galaxy, adventure awaits! The great Demaxian Empire has laid claim to almost every inhabited system, ignoring the objections of the ancient Templar Order and the criminal Syndicate alike, in pursuit of the wondrous bounty of ora. This mysterious golden essence—drawn from the vast, majestic creatures that patrol the stars—is the lifeblood of all civilization, but also promises untold power to those who can wield it for themselves...

Their supplementary website can be found on Universe.
Champions in this line: (Odyssey) Aatrox, Jinx, Karma, Kayn, Kha'Zix, Malphite, Sivir, Sona, Twisted Fate, Yasuo, Ziggs, (Galaxy Slayer) Zed, Dark Star Rhaast

    Omega Squad 
A skin line representing a modern and gritty battle squadron of saboteurs, Dark Ops specialists, and other small soldiers.
Champions in this line: Fizz, Teemo, Tristana, Twitch, Veigar

    Omen of the Dark 
Taking place in a once-glorious city that was surrendered to the darkness by the Blade Queen Lissandra, this ghastly line follows her and her subjects after they've been turned into monstrous beings of shadow, and the land into a gothic hellscape.
Champions in this line: (Iron Inquisitor) Kayle, (Blade Queen) Lissandra, (Cursed Revenant) Nocturne, (Black Scourge) Singed, (Grey) Warwick, (Undertaker) Yorick

    Pentakill 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pentakillicon_2006.jpg
We are known as Pentakill, and we shall rock as no other.

In a realm consecrated to dark and uncaring gods, where mortals clash in ceaseless, bloody sagas of metal, one band rose above all others: Pentakill, chosen of the Noisome Host. Now revered in temples and arenas across the land, their supremacy has become absolute-though a time of change is approaching, and the cycle may soon begin anew...

The band was originally just a skin theme line with a few blurbs of supplementary lore, but in 2014, Riot Defictionalized the band with an extensive collaborative lineup, featuring big metal names including ZP Theart, Jørn Lande, Derek Sherinian, and Noora Louhimo. Their first album, Smite and Ignite, was released in 2014 that year, and a follow-up, Grasp of the Undying, was released in 2017. Their third album, Lost Chapter, was released in 2021.

Their website can be found here. Also, a music video for "Mortal Reminder".

Champions in the Pentakill line: Karthus, Kayle, Mordekaiser, Olaf, Sona, Yorick, (Pentakill Superfan) GnarTFT
Champions in the Lost Chapter line: (Pentakill III: Lost Chapter) Karthus, Kayle, Mordekaiser, Olaf, Sona, Yorick, (Dissonance of Pentakill) Viego

For tropes on the music itself, see this page here.
  • A Good Name for a Rock Band:
    • Pentakill, natch. This extends to almost all of their song and album titles, named after items or abilities in the game.
    • Their (fictional) tour dates for their 2017 Grasp of the Undying tour also listed some "support" bands at their locations, including such gems as "Noxtoraa", "Quadrakill", "Ice Witch", "Frostguard", "Dead Pool Down", and "Tiny Feet of Doom".
  • Adaptational Heroism: Karthus and Mordekaiser are part of the line, but at worst, their Pentakill versions look scary, but are otherwise pretty harmless.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: Sona goes from a gentle and sweet performer to a very temperamental and foul-mouthed woman (in morse code).
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Mordekaiser in the "Mortal Reminder" music video is HUGE, easily being fifty feet tall or taller. In fact, when he first appears him standing up in Poppy's workshop smashes the roof, and the roof itself is only up to his waist.
    • The Lost Chapter virtual concert takes the concept even farther, having Mordekaiser grow to Kaiju levels of ridiculously large, such that his pauldrons are adequate stages from which his band mates can perform as they chase Viego.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Mordekaiser and Yorick in the "Mortal Reminder" music video.
  • Bait-and-Switch:
    • In the "Mortal Reminder" music video. Rumble is about to hand a flower to Tristana, who he's known to have a crush on. When Pentakill Sona sensually emerges from a nearby haunted piano, he quickly switches, offering the flowers to her instead (before being blasted away by The Power of Rock).
    • "Cull" starts off sounding like it's going to be a Surprisingly Gentle Song. And then they get going.
  • Big Rock Ending: "Mortal Reminder".
  • Bizarre Instrument: Olaf doesn't really play any drums in the "Mortal Reminder" music video, so much as he just hits a bunch of stones.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Karthus. Mordekaiser even quotes the trope verbatim in responnse to his drunken Cluster F-Bomb.
  • Concert Episode: The Pentakill III: Lost Chapter concert follows a righteous, ridiculous, Rule of Cool driven storyline reminiscent of Guitar Hero or Brutal Legends.
  • Death Metal: Viego's songs edge into this territory, and are particularly reminiscent of music from the likes of Doom.
  • The Dragon: Viego, to the Dissonant One, an evil God of Metal seeking to dominate Pentakill's world and eliminate their pantheon, the Noisome Host.
  • Dumb and Drummer: Olaf isn't exactly dumb, but he's probably the most simple-minded member of the band.
  • Dynamic Entry: Each champion in the "Mortal Reminder" music video emerges in a manner appropriate for their champion/
    • Karthus arrives with the initial storm, being the bands frontliner.
    • Yorick is a zombie, so he rises from the ground.
    • Sona is a musician as her base character, so she emerges from a piano.
    • Mordekaiser is a revenant of metal, and he emerges from a forge.
    • Olaf is a viking, and he lands from the sky in a lightning bolt.
    • Kayle is an angelic Valkyrie, and she dives down from the sky.
  • Fallen Angel: A recurring motif among the band members. Karthus is described as singing with the voice of "a fallen angel made of freshly polished chrome and dynamite that eats other dynamite," and as the band needed a female vocalist, Kayle came to the band as a literal angel of rock falling to the earth.
  • I Am the Band: Karthus, when drunk and angry, certainly thinks so.
    Karthus: I can't believe you $#*ing guys are going make me quit drinking. I mean, what would I do without booze, huh? You can't really expect me to do this sober!
    Mordekaiser: Karthus, you really have to see how you've contributed here. It isn't our fault you can't hold your liquor – you haven't got a stomach. Besides, you were going strong until you took those six hits off Sona's Oracle's Elixir. I could understand if you were the support, but that's just irresponsible. Tell him, Sona.
    Sona: ...
    Karthus: Hey @#$& you, you ^$*ing #$*@s! I !$#^ing carry this %&^*ing band! Who the *&%$ing @!#$ do you &%#$s think you are making me get clean? @#%^ing %^&# this $%#@, I'm going to @%^$ing kill whoever you @#^$ing hire and then drink vast quantities of mead. @#%#!
    Olaf: Well, I don't think anybody's going to top that. Um… our new record, Death Rides a Pale Boar is in stores now. And don't steal it because, you know... we'll kill you.
  • Instrument of Murder: All of the Pentakill skins use their instruments as weapons.
  • Kayfabe Music: Following their Defictionalization, the band has just grown from a cosmetic in-game skin theme to a full-blown virtual band project. Smite and Ignite in particular debuted in Billboard's top 40, "Mortal Reminder" took them straight to #1 on the iTunes metal charts, and Lost Chapter lifted them to the #4 most popular virtual band.
  • Kick The Yordle: Kayle kicks Teemo off of a giant stone pillar in the "Mortal Reminder" music video, but it's hard to tell if he's just in the way, since none of the members ever notice him.
  • Metal Head: No pun intended for Mordekaiser, but he and Karthus both headbang in their dance emotes, and Kayle in her recall. Really, all of the skins invoke this in some way.
  • Nobody Loves the Bassist: Largely subverted; Yorick gets EPIC and very audible bass lines in the songs; Lightbringer, arguably their most popular song, opens with Yorick's bass. He even plays the bass line of Lightbringer in his dance emote, being the only band member that can actually play music in game. He's also the second member to appear in the "Mortal Reminder" music video, and plays a larger role than Sona, Olaf, and Kayle in it; he even gets a Back-to-Back Badasses moment with Mordekaiser. It is worth noting that he's never spoken in any interviews, though.
  • Non-Indicative Name: With the introduction of Kayle into the band, the name "Pentakill" seems like a slight misnomer. Perhaps "Hexakill" doesn't feel as punchy?
  • Only Sane Man: Somehow, Olaf is this in the interviews. Yes, even more than Sona.
  • Pet the Dog: Mordekaiser is said to be very protective of Sona as the most delicate member of Pentakill (three of them aren't technically alive, the fourth is a ruthless barbarian warrior, and the fifth is an armored battle-angel).
  • Plague Master: Although none of his actual abilities reflect it, Mordekaiser is repeatedly mentioned in the backstory to be drawn to sources of plague and death. In fact, in case you're wondering how he got into music in the first place...
    JP: Mordekaiser, you're an enigma both in and out of the arena. What draws you away from the Field of Justice to pursue this surprising side-project?
    M: My fans. I am drawn to their disease.
    JP: You mean their feverish love of this Techma-Tune music?
    M: No.
  • The Power of Rock: Uhh.... duh. The "Mortal Reminder" music video shows their music bringing havoc and rock to a small Yordle town, and all poor Teemo can do is watch.
  • The Quiet One: Yorick is this in the band, despite Sona being the mute one. Yorick himself has never given any interviews.
  • Rhyming with Itself: The song "Lightbringer" rhymes 'hope' with itself in the second verse.
  • The Roadie: Yorick's summonable ghouls also serve as the band's roadies. In-game, they can be seen wearing spiked wristbands.
  • Running Gag: Members of the band asking Sona to say something and Sona (predictably) responding "..."
  • Scary Musician, Harmless Music: While the band does a lot of collateral damage to the little Yordle town in "Mortal Reminder", they don't actually hurt anyone (Except maybe Teemo). Karthus in particular begins channeling a spell that looks like his ult is about to destroy everyone in town, and when it completes, the Yordles are just dressed in black and begin rocking to the music. Even the song itself covers this, as it's about a warrior swearing to avenge the innocent no matter the cost to his own mind and soul.
    • This was also shown during their first album, as "Lightbrighter" is a song where the protagonist is bringing hope and peace. In fact, most of their songs are on the more hopeful and uplifting end.
    • Lost Chapter portrays the band as benevolent and righteous rulers of a world of metal, defending it from Viego and his evil God of Dissonance.
  • Shout-Out: During the Lost Chapter virtual concert, Viego tauntingly calls out certain League of Legends content creators watching the concert at the time, including Necrit and Tobias Fate.
  • Sir Swears Alot: Karthus definitely has a habit of Cluster F-Bomb'ing while drunk.
  • Sixth Ranger: Pentakill Kayle. The original Five-Man Band of Pentakill was released between 2010 to 2012, whereas Pentakill Kayle joined the band in 2017. She's also not in a group-shot like the other five, although her splash art does feature all of the other members in the background.
  • Soprano and Gravel: The song "Frozen Heart" features the voices of both Karthus and Kayle.
  • Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Orb of Winter", which while still booming and grandiose, features less rock instrumentals and a lot more orchestra and ominous choir, almost like if Sona composed the whole thing.
  • Theme Song Reveal: If you were listening to "Tear of the Goddess" through it's slightly-long intro sequence, and were expecting Karthus' voice, you were probably surprised when the angelic voice of Kayle came into your ears. It makes sense when you realize the song is inspired by the story of Kayle and Morgana, and how their mother shed tears when they fought.

    Pool Party (Sunkissed Summer) 
When summer comes around, it's nice to unwind and have a good time with friends. These skins are made for the sunny summer, and feature the champions enjoying time around the pool or at the beach. This is represented through quirky spell effects, such as explosions turning to water balloons, and swords turning into pool noodles.
Champions in the Pool Party line: Braum, Caitlyn, Draven, Dr. Mundo, Fiora, Gangplank, Graves, Heimerdinger, Jarvan IV, Lee Sin, Leona, Lulu, Miss Fortune, Orianna, Rek'Sai, Renekton, Sett, Syndra, Taliyah, Taric, Zac, Ziggs, Zoe
Champions in the Ocean Song line: Ashe, Nidalee, Seraphine, Yone, Zeri
  • Beach Episode: Depicts the champions dressed for swimming, surfing, or just sunbathing.
  • The Cameo: Several champions aren't featured in the line but feature in the backgrounds of splash arts, occasionally for a Funny Background Event or two. Also Urf.
  • The Comically Serious: Renekton, the anthropomorphic crocodile, is a no-nonsense lifeguard who fights using a rescue board. Not exactly the guy you'd wanna get CPR from.
  • Early-Bird Cameo:
    • A blue, shorts-wearing Zac was featured in Pool Party Renekton's splash art two years before it was officially released as his own Pool Party skin.
    • A version of Orianna in a bikini is seen in the background of Pool Party Lee Sin's splash art seven years before she got a Pool Party skin, although her final design features a significantly different outfit.
  • Fanservice: Surprisingly sparse. Some play it completely straight; Caitlyn, Fiora and Miss Fortune in particular are scantily clad in swimsuits, while Taric, Graves, and Gangplank proudly display their manly chests, but most of the skins are meant to be funny instead of sexy.
  • Funny Background Event: Frequently happens in the splash arts, where other champions can be seen doing things like jumping off diving boards or chasing each other across the beach.
    • Pool Party Ziggs' art has a funny foreground event, as Garen, Katarina, and Darius (yes, they're all in the same pool party) are making "Oh, Crap!" faces as he's about to cannonball in the middle of them.
    • Pool Party Graves' splash art appears to be capturing Ziggs' cannonball in his splash art, albeit at a much more distant angle.
    • Pool Party Renekton's splash art is also capturing another Ziggs cannonball, also showing some characters on the diving boards, including Ahri, Gragas, Kha'Zix, and for some reason, Urf.
    • Pool Party Leona's splash art features Lux being chased by Taric (both of them doing a Girly Run) on the left, while on the far right is Ezreal sitting and looking really unimpressed at the two.
    • The full context of Pool Party Fiora's splash art is that she cut Tryndamere's foam sword in half with another foam sword. Katarina, Darius, and Ashe are confused, but Garen's cheering her on.
    • A subtle one in Pool Party Miss Fortune's art; Lee Sin is taking a picture of her, but appears to be holding his phone upside-down.
    • Plenty of subtle ones in Pool Party Orianna and Taliyah's shared splash art. The wave Taliyah is riding contains Fiora's foam sword and Miss Fortune's hat (suggesting they just got caught), Ziggs is cannonballing in the wave, and Caitlyn is about to get swept off her flamingo floatie. Lulu can also be seen in the background, and so can Draven riding Rek'Sai in what inexplicably looks like 50 feet in the air.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Zoe has a pair on her forehead, but doesn't use them for anything.
  • Improbable Weapon User: A staple. Of course, they're still equally effective in gameplay.
    • Fiora has a pool noodle instead of a sword.
    • Mundo throws a ukulele instead of a cleaver.
    • Caitlyn, Gangplank, Graves and Miss Fortune use water guns instead of their regular guns.
    • Leona replaces her sword with a beach umbrella.
    • Ziggs throws water balloons instead of explosives.
    • Gangplank uses a spatula instead of his sword, and blows up watermelons instead of barrels.
  • Making a Splash: Many of them use water in place of their normal spell effects. Zac is actually made of water in this line instead of... whatever amorphous goo he actually is. His recall features him relaxing in a kiddie pool filled with himself.
    Skin Description: If a guy made of water jumps into a pool, does he become the pool? Or just... part of the pool? Or does the pool become him? This is a very serious question.
  • Silliness Switch: An exclusively comedic skin line for the summer.
  • Threatening Shark: Rek'Sai, normally a Void monster, is depicted as a shark wearing water wings, and she rides a jet ski for her Homeguard animation. Her 'burrow' is depicted as if she's swimming through the ground, and a Jaws-esque theme plays when she senses someone with her Tremor Sense.
    Skin Description: We're gonna need a bigger inflatable raft.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Several of the male champions proudly bare their chests to display their manly abs, namely Graves, Taric, and (oddly-enough) Heimerdinger. Taric's splash in particular is pretty much 60% man-chest.
  • Water Guns and Balloons: Virtually all firearms in the line are replaced with these, and all still as effective as their regular counterparts. Of note are Graves' enormous water shotgun, Ziggs' explosive water balloons in place of his bombs, and Heimerdinger's water artillery turrets.

    Prehistoric Hunters 
Very simple skin line — dinosaurs, and those who hunt them. Originally conceived in celebration of the release of Jurassic World, this skin line shares a universe with the Monster Hunter-inspired Beast Hunter trio of Draven, Tryndamere, and Sejuani.

The line is featured in the Riot-endorsed fan-made webcomic, "Olaf vs. Everything" (despite Olaf not being part of the line).
Champions in this line: (Prehistoric) Anivia, Cho'Gath, Renekton, (Beast Hunter) Draven, Sejuani, Tryndamere, (Tribal) Ryze
  • Been There, Shaped History: The original inspiration behind dinosaurs.
    • Cho'Gath is reminiscent of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
    • Anivia (a mythical bird in the main universe), is depicted as a pterosaur, complete with a jungle-esque egg for her passive.
  • Giant Flyer: Anivia, which makes her resemble some sort of pterosaur.
  • Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The Beast Hunters. Prehistoric Cho'Gath's blurb points out that "there are no sane hunters."
  • It Can Think: Prehistoric Renekton is described as a rare intelligent beast, capable of erudite speech and wielding weapons. Unfortunately, he's not very friendly, and still poses a danger to hunters.
  • It's All About Me: Much like his canon persona, Draven is an incorrigible showboat, though this proves to be much more dangerous in this universe, with some of his own hunting partners dying due to his need for "dramatic tension."
  • Lizard Folk: Prehistoric Renekton seems to be a giant version of this, standing between a rampaging Cho'Gath and Anivia while protecting a group of tribesmen who stand in his shadow. He's noticeably different because, while Cho'Gath and Anivia are mostly animalistic with only a few decorations, Renekton is a dinosaur-humanoid warrior wielding a giant weapon and adorned in large armor.
  • Never Smile at a Crocodile: Renekton appears as a giant half-breed, very similar in appearance to ancient crocodilians such as Sarcosuchus. He's also different from the others in that he's wearing armor and wielding a giant weapon, whereas Cho'Gath and Anivia are far more bestial.
  • Units Not to Scale: In their shared splash, Cho'Gath, Anivia, and Renekton dwarf the tiny humans watching their fight. In game, they're much smaller.

    PROJECT 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/master_yi_projectyiskin.jpg

In a Cyberpunk Bad Future version of Runeterra, far in the future where Hextech reigns supreme, a group called PROJECT has resurrected some champions through technology and turned them into combat-cyborgs. Eventually, those who could resist control banded together to form a resistance led by Ashe, to stop the inhumane experiments and war. Within the same universe are the Programs, more mechanized artificial intelligence versions of other champions.

Champions in the PROJECT line: Akali, Ashe, Ekko, Fiora, Gangplank, Irelia, Jax, Jhin, Jinx, Katarina, Leona, Lucian, Master Yi, Mordekaiser, Naafiri, Pyke, Renekton, Sejuani, Senna, Sylas, Varus, Vayne, Vi, Warwick, Yasuo, Zed, ZeriWR
Champions in the Program line: (Program) Camille, LeBlanc, Lissandra, Nami, Soraka, (iBlitzcrank) Blitzcrank
  • Arc Symbol: The triangular PROJECT symbol◊. Players who initially purchased the skins through crafting got loading screen cards with the symbol on top of their champion, some having slight variations: Vi's symbol is inverted and has wings, while Jhin's is also inverted and integrates a skull design.
  • Advert-Overloaded Future: From what we can see of the world in videos, artwork, and the Substructure 43 map, the world is packed with a lot of neon advertisements.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
    • Varies between the Program champions, who are all AI. Program Lissandra is definitely this, having gone beyond her programming as a security construct to become a world-conqueror. LeBlanc was advertised as just a diplomat-software avatar, but was secretly created to actually be a deceptive, infiltrating intelligence stealing information from various corporations. Camille murders any human who uses unauthorized technology, but that's just what she was programmed to do. Soraka, Nami, and iBlitzcrank were built as Benevolent A.I., but their codes have since been infiltrated by Program (i.e. Lissandra), making their ultimate status uncertain.
      Pulsefire Ezreal: Quick question: Are you from the "robot rights" or "enslave humanity" part of the timeline?
    • Mordekaiser is an old chassis having been infiltrated by the AI now ready to eradicate humanity's free will.
  • The Assimilator: Program collectively acts as this, attempting to merge all AI, cyborgs, and eventually humanity into its ever-ascending hivemind.
  • Beast Man: Warwick and Renekton feature similar designs as cyborg variants of this, most prominently featuring a giant pair of eyeless fangs in lieu of a face. As they were designed by PROJECT, both of them were designed to act as living superweapons, and both of them struggle to hold any of their sanity straight.
  • Benevolent A.I.: Program Soraka and Nami were respectively built to be a gentle support bot and an aquatic search-and-rescue bot, though while their behavior is mostly the same, Program Lissandra has secretly gotten a hold of their code and is causing their behavior to go erratic...
  • Big Brother Is Watching You: Lissandra was built to be an all-seeing security bot, one which paved the way for Program to develop its aspirations for world domination.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: The fate of the PROJECT champions who haven't yet escaped. In their cinematic, Master Yi is rescued from some group trying to reprogram him.
  • Came Back Strong: Senna seemingly died during PROJECT's attempt to elevate her consciousness, but in reality decoupled her mind from her physical body and turned her into a ghost in cyberspace. Having returned to the land of the living in a new cyborg body, she's now using her power to fight against the newest uprising in town: Mordekaiser.
  • Canon Welding:
    • Originally, the Program skins were meant to be its own line, but were then confirmed to be merged in a single timeline and written as such in their lore blurbs.
    • Subverted with the Battlecast line. Some eagle-eyed viewers noticed a silhouette in the background of PROJECT: Katarina and Program Camille's splash arts that resembles Battlecast Vel'Koz, but a Rioter officially confirmed that it wasn't supposed to be him, and that the PROJECT/Program and Battlecast universes are separate.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: From a nifty skin for Yasuo to a terrifying, Dystopian Bad Future where technology will advance even if human minds and bodies are broken in the process.
  • Computer Virus: Vayne deems any Program she has to face up against "a virus," or at least faulty AI.
  • Conflict Killer: The PROJECT universe was caught between a massive war between PROJECT, G/NETIC, the Outcasts, and everyone in between, but this has been put on pause with PROJECT: Mordekaiser's uprising against the city.
  • The Cracker: PROJECT: Jhin was originally this, but following a botched surgery, he became a killer for hire.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: As described by one of the line's visual designers, "In order to become PROJECT you have to surrender your humanity. The technology takes over your soul." This line of skins is divided between those who were mentally strong enough to avert this trope and those who play it straight.
    • PROJECT: Ashe and her G/NETIC group are still the Champions as we know them, with a burning desire to see PROJECT overthrown to prevent more suffering. Akali, Katarina, Vi, Vayne, and Zed also seem mentally intact, though they don't share G/NETIC's views. Irelia might be as well, though her motivations are unclear.
    • PROJECT: Jhin, of the "Hunters," became unstable after his augmentation and turned to mechanized killing for hire. He continued to 'upgrade' himself using tech from his victims, which resulted in "severe personality fragmentation."
    • PROJECT: Jinx, Warwick, and Pyke of the "Outcasts" are still worse — as scrapped, failed conversions, they have lost much of their humanity. Most of Pyke is holding together well enough to direct his anger at PROJECT alone, but Warwick wants to slaughter everything and Jinx may have become a vessel for the Program virus.
  • Cyberpunk: The entire theme of this Alternate Universe, with many of the typical trappings: cybernetic Transhumanism, La Résistance, moral ambiguity, hackers, epic synthesizer music, neon lights striking against harsh shadows, and bad weather.
  • Cyber Punk Is Techno: The soundtrack for the entire world is full of futuristic-sounding synthesizers, mixing in inspiration from drumstep and sampled classical instruments.
  • Cyberpunk with a Chance of Rain: Wouldn't be a cyberpunk universe without it! Rain is heavily present in PROJECT: Jhin's splash art, "The Hunt", and the Substructure 43 map for the OVERCHARGE game mode.
  • Cyborg: PROJECT champions are either this or full robot. It's been left somewhat ambiguous how much of their original human bodies still exists.
  • Defector from Decadence: Most of G/NETIC is comprised of former members of PROJECT, including Ashe, Fiora, Yasuo, Lucian, Leona, and Yi. Zed is still a part of PROJECT, and Katarina left G/NETIC to return to PROJECT after a confrontation with Ashe.
  • Disease Bleach: Every champion in the PROJECT line has white hair.
  • Enemy Civil War: Despite both being security "Programs" created by PROJECT, Mordekaiser treats Lissandra and other Programs as his enemies, seeing them as inferior complications to his plans.
  • Energy Weapon: The line loves these: Yi uses a "hyperlight alpha blade," Leona uses a "mounted ion charge shield," Lucian wields "dual ion-core Lightcaster pistols," Yasuo uses a blade coated with plasma, etc.
  • Everything Is An I Pod In The Future: The Program line, who are all female champions, have curvy and sleek lines, while iBlitzcrank is bulkier but still simple, smooth, and white.
  • Evil Knockoff: A variant in that PROJECT did it to itself; Varus was an experimental model intended to replace Ashe following her defection. With three minds crammed inside his body to keep him subservient, Varus acts as a counter-espionage operative within the resistance on PROJECT's behalf, a relationship established to mitigate the risk posed by Mordekaiser to the megacorp's interests.
  • Evil Overlord: Mordekaiser, a crapshoot AI, has taken over the city. He was created as an AI dedicated towards the safety of humans, but as he concluded that humanity itself will drive themselves to extinction, his current directive is to enslave them under Program's boot.
  • Killer Robot:
    • Program Camille, designed to locate and assassinate any human trying to utilize unauthorized technology, and has currently been weaponized to fight G/NETIC.
    • Renekton is the apex of PROJECT's crossbreed superweapon project, an intelligent but terrifyingly brutal cyborg beast-man unleashed onto the city to eradicate the Program virus.
  • Magitek: PROJECT's cybernetic augmentations are heavily implied to be based on a much more advanced form of Hextech.
  • MegaCorp: PROJECT is one of these, specializing in Transhuman augmentation and Corporate Warfare.
  • Mundane Utility: iBlitzcrank is a mass-produced household assistant robot. It remains to be seen whether that's going to be a good idea, as a security update has left them corrupted by Program.
  • Non-Indicative Name: The PROJECT title comes from the MegaCorp that granted the enhancements to most of its champions, but it still carries to several champions who have defected from it (including the members of G/NETIC), or don't seem to have any direct connection to them whatsoever (Ekko is just a hacker picked up to help G/NETIC, Jhin was augmented from the black market, and Vi is simply a Central detective).
  • Playful Hacker: PROJECT: Ekko, a hacking prodigy from the lower sectors, who was picked up by Ashe for G/NETIC to help take down PROJECT. Apparently, he didn't need that much convincing to join in.
  • La Résistance:
    • Ashe leads a group called G/NETIC to free the victims of PROJECT and use their adaptations to protect humanity. Not all the champions are on board, however; Jhin and Zed never signed on, Katarina was a member but returned to PROJECT, Sejuani broke off into a more radicalized sect, and Vayne is a Wild Card fighting evil her own way.
    • Sylas styles himself as a leader for the various Outcast renegades, joining in the fight alongside G/NETIC (and now, PROJECT) to take down Mordekaiser. However, his motives are less altruistic than Ashe — he really just wants access to all the expensive and powerful technology needed for the fight so he can one day turn them on PROJECT itself.
  • Robot Girl: Program Camille, Lissandra, Nami, and Soraka are based on female champions, and all have distinctly feminine features.
  • Transhuman: PROJECT believes that through their augmentations, they can tap into a supernatural link between between the physical body, technology, and spiritual energy, possibly to transcend the human plane. Unfortunately, this forces you to surrender your humanity and soul, and upon realizing the cost of human life PROJECT's ambitions are consuming, Ashe defected from them and started G/NETIC, fighting to freeing other Initiatives and to tear down the whole organization.
  • Unwilling Roboticization: Not to the extent of the Battlecast universe, but humans can and have been "upgraded" without their consent, either by PROJECT itself or an unlicensed third party.
  • Wild Card: The three "HUNTERS" of the PROJECT line, Jhin, Vayne, and Vi. Jhin is a hitman for hire with a dark vision for both PROJECT and humanity, Vayne is a vigilante fighting against PROJECT, but isn't connected to G/NETIC, and Vi is simply a cop looking to protect the peace, currently hunting down the both of them.
  • Zeroth Law Rebellion: Mordekaiser's purpose to attempting to enslave humanity is to ensure their eventual ascension — their programming determined that humanity's failure to govern itself would lead to their eventual self-destruction, and the only way to ensure their survival is by removing all of their freedoms and submitting them to the AI.
    Mordekaiser: (killing an opponent) Your safety is my priority.

    PsyOps 
A skin line taking place in a modern warfare setting, detailing the war between High Command and the Black Rose Group. The line is split in two eras: the Winter Warfare-themed Arctic Ops era, and the PsyOps era 40 years later centering around the rise of Psychic Power.
Champions in this line: (PsyOps) Ezreal, Kayle, Master Yi, Pyke, Samira, Shen, Sona, Vi, Viktor, Zed, (Arctic Ops) Gragas, Kennen, Varus, (Arctic Warfare) Caitlyn, (Northern Front) Swain, (Northern Storm) Volibear
  • Ambiguously Human: Gragas is constantly covered up by a hermetically sealed arctic combat suit and mask, and is a mystery to everyone except High Command's Research and Development labs. While physically he appears to be a very large man, he seems to be powered by the cold mixture of chemicals he's carrying around.
  • Bears Are Bad News: Volibear is in the Arctic Ops line, so it's a given. As it turns out, having a giant soldier who's immune to the cold and capable of ripping through entire regiments of armored soldiers is incredibly valuable in the arctic.
    Sona: (first encountering Volibear) So they sent the bear.
  • Black-and-Gray Morality : The Black Rose Group consists primarily of rabid psychos and killers, and Viktor's vision of a utopian world has decayed significantly into breaking apart the global order. However, High Command is played as a militaristic superpower which is the global order, and even Sona doesn't believe that either party will survive when the new disaster in the future arrives.
  • Break the Cutie: While she's usually sweet and calm, Sona is more hellbent on revenge against the Black Rose Group for putting her through the horrible experiments that turned her into a living psychic weapon.
  • Code Name: The "OPERATION: SONGBIRD" short reveals that several members of High Command and the BRG have a codename and/or number designation:
    • Sona is simply "0".
    • Master Yi — 04, "The Bladesman".
    • Vi — 06, "The Enforcer".
    • Ezreal — 47note , "The Explorer"/(TE)
    • Shen — "The Eye of Twilight".
    • Pyke — 02, "Ripper".
    • Zed — 04, "Shadow".
    • Viktor — 05.
    • Kayle — 37, "Righteous".
    • Samira — "Desert Rose".
  • Canon Welding:
  • Cold Sniper: Arctic Warfare Caitlyn and Arctic Ops Varus bring their stoic efficiency with their respective sniper rifle and bow and arrow to the Arctic front, making this trope a bit more literal in the process.
  • Cyberpunk: PsyOps doesn't wear the genre on its sleeve as hard as PROJECT, but still contains many trappings, from the futuristic dystopian setting and aesthetics to the themes of dangerous transhumanism.
  • Human Weapon: All the psychic-enhanced Super Soldiers of the line are these in a way. Sona was an immensely powerful psychic captured and experimented on for years by the Black Rose Group in an effort to mold her into one of these. She was broken out by PsyOps, but the procedure has increased her powers to a seemingly godlike level.
  • I See Dead People: One of the available Psychic Powers is the ability to see through the barriers separating the living from the dead. Shen is powered by the spirit of a mysterious phantom child, while Pyke is able to jump directly between realms, an act which has subsequently taken its toll on his mind.
  • Knight Templar: Kayle envisions herself as an impartial judge and "savior" for the world... and she allies herself with the Black Rose Group since her incredibly unnuanced worldview on morality is so extreme.
  • New Meat: Ezreal is the newest, most Hot-Blooded, and most grating addition to the PsyOps team, who annoys his cohorts so much that they send him on difficult missions in the half-hopes he winds up dead. His Prestige version represents him further in his tenure, showing that he's learned to calm down and earn a bit more respect from his allies. Just a bit.
  • Ninja:
  • Person of Mass Destruction: The harrowing experimentation Sona was placed under seemed to grow her already-powerful psychic ability, with her being described as reaching "near-omnipotence, making her less a human than a psychic god."
    Sona: Psionic power. Psychic... fury... can't contain...
  • Phlebotinum Rebel: Sona was experimented on for years by the Black Rose Group, but was freed by the PsyOps team, who she now allies herself with.
  • Powered by a Forsaken Child: Shen's Psychic Powers are connected to a phantom child who follows him around and gives him insight between the realms of the living and the dead (we can see a shimmery silhouette of her in his splash art and while casting Spirit's Refuge). We don't have any info on who the child actually is (other than a hint from Sona that she's from "another dimension"), and High Command intends to keep it that way.
  • Psychic Powers: The central focus of the PsyOps era. We don't know exactly how they came to be, but regardless, its proliferation has provided massive fuel to the ongoing Forever War and its many elite soldiers.
    Sona: It was only a matter of time before the brain was commodified. Weaponized.
  • Time Skip: The Arctic Ops and PsyOps eras were split apart by 40 years.
  • Sealed Badass in a Can: Sona was sealed in darkness for years by the Black Rose Group, and had only been recently freed from their imprisonment and nefarious experimentation. In-game, Sona begins her game bound in the futuristic straitjacket and helmet she was imprisoned in, but once she unlocks her ultimate, she breaks out of them and assumes more control over her power.
  • Super-Soldier: The champions of the PsyOps line have all been in some way enhanced with Psychic Powers.
  • Visionary Villain: Viktor originally dreamed of forming a utopian world while in High Command, but he seemingly abandoned it after he abruptly departed for unknown reasons. In the decades since after he formed the Black Rose Group, this shifted to an obsession with uncovering and breaching through the alien "gate" found during the Arctic Ops Event, which he believes will help accomplish his new goal: upending the global order.
  • Winter Warfare: The theme of the Arctic Ops line, with lots of modernized weaponry and winter combat uniforms for everyone! Splash arts also emphasize this by having things like tanks and high-tech military facilities all covered in constant snow.
  • World's Best Warrior: Master Yi is a Living Legend within PsyOps, a psychic swordsman who accomplishes missions with deadly, calculative efficiency. Also crosses over with The Dreaded as he's widely feared by rogue militaries, and despised by those against High Command's perpetuation of the global war machine.

    Pulsefire 
Set in a dystopian timeline of Post-Cog Era Piltover, Magitek has evolved to the point where long-distance Time Travel is possible, with Remembrancer police force sent to stop those attempting to break history, taking their technology along for the ride.
Champions in this line: (Pulsefire) AkshanLoR, ApheliosLoR, Caitlyn, Ekko, Ezreal, Fiora, JhinLoR, Lucian, Pantheon, Riven, Shen, Thresh, Twisted Fate, (Praetorian) Fiddlesticks, Graves
  • Adaptational Heroism: Thresh is the leader of the Remembrancers, who are the ones keeping the timelines as safe and stable as possible (specially from the Praetorians). Even Lucian, his nemesis in the normal lore, has no qualms working with him in this universe after his wife, Senna, was killed in a Praetorian attack. That said, there are hints in Fiora's lore about the organization not being as benevolent as it appears.
  • The Assimilator: Praetorian Fiddlesticks is only a single unit in an endless horde, one who specializes in assimilating all technology across the multiverse, eradicating life in the process.
  • Bad Future: As initially conceived, Pulsefire Ezreal was a slightly older Ez who accidentally blundered into one of these and returned (with a futuristic suit of armor) to the present timeline to avert it. After the rework, the Pulsefire future does not seem to be particularly bad or good.
  • Canon Welding: According to this timeline (which is almost certainly non-canon, but just roll with it), all of the alternate skin lines exist in the same plane of reality, and are merely separated through timelines.
  • Dystopia: The Pulsefire future is described to be "dystopian," though to what extent has yet to be seen. That said, one of Pulsefire Caitlyn's jokes has her note if her gun is faulty, it should be sent to the Ministry of Love.
  • Everything Is An I Pod In The Future: Downplayed; while not as sleek or monochrome as most examples, elements of this aesthetic are at the very least evoked in certain armor and weapon designs.
  • Glowing Eyes: Pulsefire champions generally have piercing, electric-blue eyes.
  • Horde of Alien Locusts: The Praetorians, unleashed across the multiverse from tears in the spacetime continuum, are a horde of completely alien robots whose programming are unlike anything from the past, present, and future, focused on destroying everything living in their path.
  • Killer Robot: The Praetorians — the Remembrancers' worst fears fully realized — are a horde of marauding robot troops who have emerged from tears in spacetime, destroying everything in sight and assimilating all technology in the multiverse.
  • Nominal Hero: Pulsefire Ezreal is the focus character for this line, merrily zipping through timelines without a thought for the consequences. There are hints in the 2020 story "Out of Time" that he'll eventually ally with the more openly heroic Remembrancers, though not even he knows when or why.
  • Noodle Incident: Ezreal has hopped all across the timestreams and has history with various universes. Several one-off interactions with champions using alternate universe skins have him mention past exploits, including:
    • He did something in the Arctic Ops universe that warranted him sending an apology letter to High Command.
    • He stole an evil demon mask from the Blood Moon universe.
    • He caught the attention of Cosmic Entities from the Event Horizon universe due to him apparently destroying multiple universes (implied to be due to his Temporal Paradoxes). He doesn't deny it, but he swears it was an accident.
    • He has both action figures of characters from the Super Galaxy universe and parts of their actual robots.
    • He did something to the Vandals/"nuclear apocalypse gang" from the Road Warrior universe that has drawn their ire when he encounters them.
    • When encountering a Warring Kingdoms champion (from the Lunar Revel universe), Ezreal denies causing the kingdoms to go to war... though he admits he possibly helped.
    • The last time he was in the High Noon universe, he was "almost eaten by a cowboy demon. Good times."
    • After scoring an ace, he occasionally claims to have once fought against dinosaurs from an unspecified universe.
    • While he isn't stated to be directly involved, he has this curious line for encountering a Mecha champion:
      Ezreal: So cool! I haven't seen one of these things since the Robot Wars that killed everybody!
  • Starfish Language: Just to really emphasize the truly alien nature of the Praetorians, their voices are entirely replaced with incredibly garbled, almost synthetic-sounding noises.
  • Temporal Paradox: The potential risk of Ezreal's exploits. In-game, Caitlyn has lines when she kills a regular Caitlyn, wondering if she may have accidentally caused one of these.
    Pulsefire Ezreal: (running into another Ezreal) "Paradoxes... I hate those guys!"
  • Time Police:
    • The Remembrancers, of which Caitlyn is one as a chrono-enforcer, sent to hunt down those who attempt to break the boundaries of time itself.
    • While not a formal officer, Riven fills a similar role as worshipper of temporal purity, one who hunts down those who seek to manipulate it in their favor.
  • Time Travel: The basis of the line, with everyone hopping through time and dimensions under sleek, futuristic aesthetics.

    Rift Quest 

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/talon_talonblackwoodskin.jpg

A collection of lower-priced skins, for the financially savvy, this skin line represents champions as if they were traditional Tabletop RPG characters from games such as Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder. As such, many of them take on completely different appearances or roles, and they have very old-fashioned-fantasy-esque names and titles appropriate to their roles in their respective parties.

The line is featured in the Riot-endorsed fan-made webcomic, "Crystal Quest".

Champions in this line: (Barbarian) Sion, (Bard) Bard, Braum (Lionheart), (Rift Master) DariusLoR, (Rageborn) Mundo, (Nottingham) Ezreal, Fizz (Finnslayer)LoR, (Rugged) Garen, Gragas (Caskbreaker), (Monk) Lee SinLoR, Nami (Tidecaller)LoR, Sejuani (Dawnchaser), Jayce (Brighthammer), Karthus (Lightsbane), (Lord) Mordekaiser, (Demolisher) Nunu and Willump, Ryze (Whitebeard), Talon (Blackwood), Taric (Luminshield), Twitch (Shadowfoot), Varus (Swiftbolt), Veigar (Greybeard), Zilean (Wisewood)LoR.
  • An Adventurer Is You: All the characters are based on a common Fantasy Character Class:
  • Ascended Fanon: In-Universe. Rugged Garen was an NPC created by Braum, but the real Garen liked it so much that he adopted the look of the NPC.
  • Aside Glance: Both Braum and Varus give one to the player in their shared splash.
  • The Berserker: Sion constantly ignores his teammates and dies after entering battle. At this point, he's given up on trying to write bios for new characters, with his latest Barbarian's backstory being "Is a barbarian."
  • Black Knight: Lord Mordekaiser, recognized as a controversial Dark Paladin class, seen In-Universe as a Game-Breaker ever since his inclusion via Rift Quest expansion. Players have also been trying to desperately search for his secret, redeeming tragic backstory, but so far he's just content with killing them over and over again.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The first wave (containing Braum, Gragas, Varus, and Ryze) was initially a set of generic fantasy-RPG-style skins that didn't have the term "Rift Quest" associated with them. In fact, their promotional blurb has Braum read out that they're playing "Castles and Cows: Journey to Thy Golden Mustache."
  • Game Master: According to the first skin wave's promotional blurb, Braum serves as the in-universe, out-of-game narrator of his session with Varus, Gragas, and Ryze. Sejuani appears to be this in her session with Jayce, Bard, and Karthus in their blurb as well. Darius too, plays "Rift Master" for Yasuo, Lee Sin, Bard, and Garen.
  • GMPC: Both Braum and Darius also play their own characters, respectively as a party member and a boss.
  • Hidden Villain: Veigar Greybeard is supposed to be this, starting off as a suspiciously helpful wizard, but turning out to be the true villain of Rift Quest. The in-game description explains this should be obvious for veterans, but shouldn't be spoiled for newcomers.
  • The Magnificent: They all have a sobriquet.
  • Nice Mice: In contrast to his usual self, Twitch Shadowfoot is depicted as a much cleaner and heroic-skewing mouse, even pitching up his voice a bit to make him sound squeakier and cuter than normal. However, this is Subverted in his character description, which reveals that since it's Twitch playing him, he's still completely insane and tries to steal from his own allies constantly.
  • Only Sane Man: Varus in the first blurb, Sejuani in the second, Taric in the third.
  • Ornamental Weapon: In a few minor Easter Eggs, some of the in-game character models contain items that can be purchased in-game, and are present whether you've technically bought them or not (most of them fitting typical builds fairly well):
    • Bard Bard has a Spellthief's Edge tucked into his belt.
    • Braum Lionheart is wearing a Glacial Shroud on his chest and has a Guardian's Horn on his hip.
    • Gragas Caskbreaker has an Amplifying Tome on his hip, and he's wearing a Giant's Belt like a sash.
    • Jayce Brighthammer wears both a Chalice of Harmony and a Refillable Potion on the back of his belt.
    • Karthus Lightsbane's staff appears to be none other than a Rod of Ages.
    • Ryze Whitebeard is wearing a Wooglet's Witchcap, has a Mana Potion and Netherstride Grimoire (this item no longer exists) on his hip, and the scroll on his back is wrapped around a Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
    • Sejuani Dawnchaser has two Doran's Shields on Bristle's haunches.
    • Varus Swiftbolt wears a wrecked B.F. Sword on his back.
  • Parody Sue: In-universe: Talon Blackwood is described as a master assassin, advanced class dark elf with a tragic backstory who is destined to save the world. Taric, the Game Master, is noticeably disappointed.
  • Player Archetypes:
    • The Roleplayer:
      • Braum, who gets really involved in his game of "Castles and Cows" (which he might just have made up), and immediately goes on weird tangents acting out his scenarios.
      • Ryze also slightly dips into this, if only to play as a character that's essentially himself, but with a hat and white beard.
      • Sejuani is trying to be this, but she has to deal with her loonie allies and reminding them to stay focused, also turning her into The Real Man. Her in-game description lists her as "Sadly not the most careful roleplayer, she's on her fourth dire lion this campaign."
    • Talon tries, but his Talon Blackwood persona ends up as more of a Parody Sue than anything else.
    • The Loonie:
      • Gragas' immediate question after being assigned a Cleric role is "Can I get drunk?" He also immediately charges a dragon upon Braum first describing it, only to then pass out.
      • Jayce also has a problem dramatically hitting everything with an Acceleration Gate and Hyper Charge... which according to Sejuani is him failing to stay in character.
      • Bard is also this, writing a song of their adventures and asking if certain events should be included. He also finds the demon poros scary, asking Sejuani to change them to candy poros.
      • Sion is a mix of this and the Specialist, with his habit of simply rolling a Barbarian after another Barbarian and getting himself killed. It gets to the point that his latest character's backstory simply reads "Is a barbarian".
  • Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Said word-for-word by Sejuani in the second wave's promotional blurb once she gives up dealing with the other players.

    Road Warrior 
Taking place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the road warriors are champions-turned-fallout survivors partaking as vandals, raiders, and roadsters in the wild Apunkalyptic desert.
Champions in this line: (Vandal) Brand, Gragas, Jax, Twitch, Vladimir, (Road Warrior) Miss Fortune, (Badlands Baron) Rumble, (Junkyard) Trundle, (Hyena) Warwick, (Ruthless) Pantheon

    Silver Age 
A series taking place in an alternate Runeterra inspired by The Silver Age of Comic Books, featuring campy superheroes here to save the day and dastardly supervillains here to wreck it.
Champions in the line: (Cryocore) Brand, (Bioforge) Darius, (Infiltrator) Irelia, (Super) Kennen, Teemo, (Phoenix) Quinn, (Augmented) Singed, (Chemtech) Tryndamere, (Superb Villain) Veigar, (Feral) Warwick
  • An Ice Person: Cryocore Brand is a mixture of this, Playing with Fire, mad cybernetics, and sheer militant brutality.
  • Canon Welding: The "canon" between the two lines is pretty loose, but Super Kennen also features in the Toy Box universe, with his blurb and splash art depicting him as an action figure.
  • Cartoonish Supervillainy: Veigar gets this treatment as a Superb Villain, complete with a top hat, monocle, absurdly curly mustache, and criminal empire at his disposal.
  • Classy Cat-Burglar: Infiltrator Irelia isn't up for world-threatening supervillainy, but she is nonetheless an extremely capable thief and spy who's managed to avoid detection thanks to her array of cracking devices and Hard Light blades.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Teemo was once a supervillain, before turning to the side of good and becoming a Superman Substitute.
  • Nuclear Mutant: Chemical science Gone Horribly Wrong resulted in the formation of not one, but four supervillains:
    • Donald D. Darius, once a normal investment banker, was exposed to a cloud of fatal radioactive space gas, leading him to build a suit to contain the substance. However, it corrupted his mind, turning him into a brutal villain known as "Bioforge."
    • The once mild-mannered Dr. Peter Singed, working in the dark corners of New Valoran, was transformed into a dastardly superhuman criminal thanks to a volatile chemical of his own creation.
    • Singed's chemicals also resulted in the creation of Chemtech Tryndamere, who was experimented on and irrevocably changed by falling into a vat of the stuff into a monstrous half-cyborg fusion.
    • The same chemicals also also formed Warwick, a henchman who was turned into a feral Wolf Man after being bitten by a radioactive wolf, now serving as Singed's closest lackey.
  • The Phoenix: Phoenix Quinn and her trusty literal-phoenix Valor are a crimefighting duo, cleaning up the streets of New Valoran with arrows and burning flames of justice.
  • Poisonous Person: Despite Teemo visually being a Superman Substitute, he still retains his poison powers, used to incapacitate foes and leaving them ready for incarceration.
  • Superheroes Wear Tights: Teemo's appearance is directly lifted from a Superman-inspired "cape and tights" design archetype, while Kennen gets a more modern dark grey outfit which looks to be made of some kind of Future Spandex.
  • Up, Up and Away!: Both Kennen and Teemo do this pose with their respective speed boost abilities, with Teemo's sometimes getting a short jingle by a bugle.

    Snowdown Showdown 
A series of winter-themed skins, giving champions snowy, icy, or festive makeovers for the Time of Snowdown. Split into four distinct categories: the general festive Snowdown Showdown skins, the more casual and playful Snow Day skins, the whimsical and fancier Winter Wonder skins, and the commemorative 2010 Winter Games skins.
Champions in the Snowdown Showdown line: (Re-Gifted) Amumu, (Santa) Braum, Draven, Gragas, (Snowmerdinger) Heimerdinger, (Ambitious Elf) Jinx, (Slay Belle) Katarina, (Reindeer) Kog'Maw, (Mistletoe) LeBlanc, (Festive) Maokai, (Candy Cane) Miss Fortune, (Snow Bunny) Nidalee, (Workshop) Nunu and Willump, (Nutcracko) Shaco, (Silent Night) Sona, (Happy Elf) Teemo, (Earnest Elf) Tristana, (Bad Santa) Veigar, (Old Saint) Zilean
Champions in the Snow Day line: Bard, Gnar, Graves, Malzahar, Singed, Syndra, Ziggs
Champions in the Winter Wonder line: Karma, Lulu, Neeko, Orianna, Soraka, (Frostfire) Annie, (Frostblade) Irelia, (Frozen Prince) Mundo, (Snow Faun) Poppy, (Poro Rider) Sejuani, (Snowstorm) Sivir, (Ice King) Twitch, (Snow Man) Yi
Champions in the 2010 Winter Games line: (Vancouver) Amumu, (Team Spirit) Anivia, (Ice Toboggan) Corki, (Union Jack) Fiddlesticks, (Festival) Kassadin, (The Mighty) Jax, (Whistler Village) Twitch, (Curling) Veigar
  • An Ice Person: Virtually all the skins are given an ice or winter-themed aesthetic, with some of them having more snow or ice in their particle effects.
  • Bad Santa: Bad Santa Veigar, who simply wants to blot out the holidays forever with his evil magic. Also, he only has a Naughty List.
  • Badass Santa:
    • Braum is already akin to Runeterra's resident Santa Claus (a large, jolly man of the frozen north bringing happiness and comfort wherever he goes), so giving him his own Santa skin was inevitable. It was also inevitable that his take would look totally badass.
    • Santa Draven himself can count, but he also has an... interesting idea of what Santa's like. He thinks having incredible hair and fashion sense, a body count in the Noxian fighting pits, and wielding flying axes makes him more or less the perfect Santa.
  • Christmas Episode: Many of the general Snowdown Showdown skins that don't fit into any of the sub-themes are explicitly Christmas-themed.
  • Creepy Doll: Winter Wonder Orianna takes away some of her normal creep factor by dressing her up cute, stylish winter gear... then proceeds to give some of it back by replacing her robot look with a wound-up mannequin aesthetic.
  • My New Gift Is Lame: Re-Gifted Amumu evokes this trope. Poor guy can't catch a break.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Snow Bunny Nidalee still turns into a white cougar. Her skin description justifies this by saying she's a protector and surrogate Santa for many woodland critters, but still.
  • Olympic Games: The Winter Games skins were made to commemorate the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It's unclear if there will be any more Olympics-themed skins in the future.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter:
    • Poros heavily feature in some of the skins, mainly Malzahar (who summons a bunch of poro/voidling hybrids), Sejuani (who rides a giant one) and Lulu (with Pix being a flying poro with wings). The lore of the Winter Wonder skin line is that many of its champions are from Winterland, ruled by the one and only Poro King himself.
    • Bard replaces his Meeps with penguins, who have seen a large measure of promotional presence in event-exclusive cosmetics, including player icons and emotes.
    • Gnar ramps up his usual cuteness factor by making him resemble a Siberian husky, even as Mega Gnar!
  • Santa Claus: Braum, Draven, Gragas, Zilean, and Veigar have Santa-themed skins. Old Saint Zilean is the closest to a most traditional depiction (using time powers to instantly deliver presents notwithstanding), Santa Braum and Draven qualify for being Badass Santas, Santa Gragas is a really Fan Disservice-y depiction, and Bad Santa Veigar is... well, a Bad Santa.
  • Sexy Santa Dress: Many of the earliest female winter skins played up the Fanservice typical of that era of the game, most definitively Candy Cane Miss Fortune, but also present in others such as Slay Belle Katarina and Snow Bunny Nidalee. Later female winter skins have become a lot more modest.
  • Shout-Out: The hockey-themed "The Mighty Jax" skin is a blatant reference to the The Mighty Ducks. The skin description even speculates that "he used to be a defense attorney, but nobody knows for certain."
  • Silliness Switch: A bunch of the skins give many of the more intimidating champions a bit of levity, whether they be replacing a tusked boar with a giant poro, or replacing orbs of dark energy with snowballs.
  • Snowball Fight: The cozy theme behind the Snow Day line, with champions like Ziggs and Syndra having their particle effects replaced with snowballs.
  • Snowlems:
  • Sore Loser: According to her skin description, Team Spirit Anivia is ironically one of these, as she's been known to freeze the exits to locker rooms (and the judges and referees) and fire icicles at her teammates when they lose.
  • The Usurper: Ice King Twitch's goal. Originally just a vile, isolated creature with delusions of grandeur, his jealousy of the Winterlands prompted him to begin an invasion to usurp the Poro King, corrupting any enemies in his way with his icy curse.
  • Villains Out Shopping: Explicitly pointed out in the descriptions for Singed, Syndra, and Malzahar. Who says deranged chemists, power-mad mages, and prophets of doom can't enjoy a snowy day off?
  • Wicked Toymaker: Ambitious Elf Jinx wants to be the greatest Santa there was, and is a master toymaker, but her problem is that a lot of her toys could be classified as weapons. Such is the price to pay for ambition, apparently.
  • You Mean "Xmas": Instead of Christmas, Valoran celebrates the "Day of Snowdown," commemorating the end of the year and passing into the next. Celebrating it is so universal that it even lasted through the catastrophic Rune Wars.

    Soccer Cup 
Let the games begin! Made in commemoration of the FIFA World Cup every four years, the Soccer Cup/Legends of the Field line features champions dressed for a nice game of football/soccer.
Champions in this line: (All-Star) Akali, (Sweeper) Alistar, Rammus, (Goalkeeper) Blitzcrank, Maokai, (Striker) Ezreal, (Superfan) Gragas, (Red Card) Katarina, Twisted Fate, (Playmaker) Lee Sin, (Striker) Lucian
  • Be the Ball: Sweeper Rammus is styled after a (spiked!) soccer ball, which suits his Rolling Attack quite nicely. The trope name also makes up the entirety of the skin's lore blurb.
  • Improbable Sports Skills: The champions are implied to still have their powers while on the playing field, so it's safe to say this happens. Amusingly Deconstructed with Striker Ezreal, as he's gotten in trouble with the oversight committee due to several teleportation-related fouls.

    Space Groove 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lux_spacegrooveskin.jpg

In a groovy galaxy a million disco infernos away, a mysterious energy known only as The Groove brings music and prosperity to trillions of galactic citizens. But when the alien overlord Lissandra and her army of Harsh Vibes begin to enslave planets and suppress disco music, a new age of heroes rises to stop her, and keep the party grooving.

Champions in this line: Blitzcrank, Gragas, Gwen, Lissandra, Lulu, Lux, Nami, Nasus, Nunu, Ornn, Rumble, Samira, Taric, Teemo, Twisted Fate
  • Animal Jingoism: The legions of Cat Planet are waging war against Dog Planet on behalf of Lissandra's army, both to spread bad vibes and just out of personal grudge.
    Crank: (encountering Nasus) Dogbot vs. Catbot. Dance-Off!
  • Ascended Meme: One has to wonder if Nunu and Willump's inclusion in the line was purely to ascend the infamous "Disco Nunu" meme.
  • Cats Are Mean: Blitz shares some mostly playful, competitive banter against his opponents, but Crank plays this absolutely straight, looking down on everyone else for not being a cat.
    Crank: You are unworthy to pet us.
  • Dancing Is Serious Business: The universe lives and dies off The Groove, with the villains being those threatening it with Harsh Vibes and the heroes being those keeping the night alive.
  • Denser and Wackier: One of the most unabashedly goofy skin lines in the game, like if the Cats vs. Dogs and Odyssey themes were merged into a supremely funky combination.
  • The Dividual: Space Groove "Blitzcrank" is actually two individual kittens piloting a single Mini-Mecha named Blitz and Crank, with the black-furred Crank operating the main body while the orange-furred Blitz pilots the rocket fist.
  • Fun-Hating Villain: Largely what consists of villainy in the line is hating fun. Lissandra's evil alien armada is built on a terrible taste in music, and Crank also finds The Groove very annoying.
  • Funny Animal: Across the universe is home to several cartoon animals piloting bigger, anthropomorphic spacesuits; Blitz and Crank are cats, Nasus is a dog, and Rumble is a monkey.
  • The Ghost: Lissandra is repeatedly mentioned as being the villain of the line, but isn't at all represented in the skin's debut wave.
  • Hired Guns: Samira is a mercenary from the Hot Tub Nebula hired by the Three Party Goddesses to keep Lux safe as they fight for Normal World and other planets kept under Lissandra's evil clutches.
  • Mini-Mecha: Blitz and Crank pilot a gestalt robot to fight with called Blitzcrank. Rumble also has a version of his usual mech, created from scratch to rebel against Lissandra's takeover of his homeworld.
  • Mobile-Suit Human: Nasus in this line is merely just a corgi-like dog, but he pilots a human-sized body that lets him smash enemies to bits just like his canon counterpart.
  • Mook–Face Turn: Willump was originally recruited by Lissandra as part of her bad vibes-spreading forces, but broke free from her brainwashing after encountering Nunu during the invasion of Normal World. Retaining his ever-strong boogie-channeling abilities, the two are now roaming the galaxy to bring good vibes back to the universe.
  • Planet of Hats: Played for Laughs regarding the homeworld of Nunu and Lux, among the normal humans of the cast, which is called... Normal World. There's also Nasus, a dog from Dog Planet, and Blitz and Crank, cats from Cat Planet.
  • Spiritual Adaptation: These skins are fairly blatantly based on Space Channel 5.
  • Straight Man and Wise Guy: Blitz and Crank have this dynamic. Crank absolutely cannot stand The Groove and only fights using it to assert dominance upon the galaxy, but much to his chagrin, Blitz enjoys it just fine.
    Crank: Blitz! Back on the controls! It's time to conquer the galaxy!
    Blitz: Aww, but I wanted to dance!
  • Vocal Dissonance:
  • Zeerust: The main aesthetic in the line is gleefully dated, heavily inspired by Disco and cheesy 70's-inspired scifi.

    Spirit Blossom 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spirit_blossom_2020_lor_background_02.png

The Spirit Blossom festival is an annual Ionian celebration taking place during the summer and built around the bloom of Spirit Blossoms, allowing Ionians to commune with spirits of the deceased for good fortune and last respects. The event has sprouted its own myths and legends across generations, with champions in this skin line representing characters from them.

Tying in with the line's release was a client-based Visual Novel/Dating Sim titled Spirit Bonds, based around you entering the Spirit Realm and interacting with the spirits represented in the line.

Champions in this line: Ahri, Aphelios, Cassiopeia, Darius, Evelynn, Kindred, Lillia, Master Yi, Riven, Sett, Soraka, Syndra, Teemo, Thresh, Tristana, Vayne, Yasuo, Yone, Yorick
  • Adaptational Heroism: As minor as the upgrade is, Thresh is changed from overtly evil in canon to Ambiguously Evil in this skinline, with some Blue-and-Orange Morality involved in his capture of souls. He still captures and tortures souls in his lantern, but in his perspective he does this to protect them, help them reach their true potential, and guide them home, (home being his lantern) while he views Ahri leading souls away from him as leaving them defenseless and alone to wander for eternity.
  • All Animals Are Dogs: As seen for episode 2 of Lillia, despite being a talking limbless wolf spirit, the Wolf of Kindred is very excited to see a stick that he is sure is for him, and is utterly melancholic when he can't find it after Lamb puts it out of his sight...and of course, he's hugely excited once he sees it again. That being said, he does Obfuscating Stupidity so he might have just been acting.
  • Ambiguously Evil: Thresh (or rather, the mythological figure Spirit Blossom Thresh represents, the Collector) is generally framed as a spirit of obsession who lures away and captures the spirits of the dead, barring them from their true peace and rest as offered by the Gatekeeper. However, in Spirit Bonds, Thresh almost never drops his affable demeanor and calls the souls he has not yet gathered "lost children." In his view, he brings souls safely home when he collects them, whereas Ahri/the Gatekeeper negligently lets them wander. Given that we never see or speak to the spirits in his lantern, there's enough wiggle room to believe either interpretation.note 
  • Animesque: Riot initially teased the skin line as being inspired by anime, and it manifests in a similar fashion to the Immortal Journey line in its flashy-yet-traditional grandeur.
  • Angst Coma: Lillia represents the guardian of a forest destroyed in fire, who in her grief began an eternal slumber in the spirit realm, reliving the destruction in endless nightmares. In "The Path", Lillia can be seen resting on the side of a large hill, and based on the amount of foliage that has since enveloped her, she's been asleep for a long time.
  • Anywhere but Their Lips: At the end of Yone's path in ''Spirit Bonds," you can use his promise to coerce him into giving you a kiss. You ask for one on the mouth, but he — after much hesitation — kisses you on the cheek instead with a lame dodge about how "the cheek is the mouth of the soul."
  • Ascended Meme: Episode 3 of Thresh's conversations will have you try to hook in a spirit. You'll miss and get a narration about "For a moment, you think you hear a pinging sound, and a yellow question mark appears in your mind before fading.", referring to the infamous use of the game's caution ping to complain about someone as if portraying abject confusion.
  • Barred from the Afterlife: The apparent fate of spirits who never came to grips with their death and/or were lured away by Thresh's lantern. That being said, The Collector believes his lantern to be the true afterlife, while the Gatekeepter leads souls to wander forever.
  • Bishōnen Line: Spirit Blossom Thresh, in-game and in Spirit Bonds, first begins looking demonic and fearsome-looking, a form which according to him was forced upon him as a "mere reflection of [his] true self." As he gathers more spirits (played in-game as requiring 45 souls then using his ultimate), he changes his appearance to that of a human-looking (and very handsome) young man.
  • But Thou Must!: The conversations aren't terribly variable based off choices, so naturally no matter how much said choices might even allow you to express your detest or fear for doing things for all of the spirits or the spirits themselves, it will lead down the same plot.
  • Cain and Abel: In this skinline, Yone and Yasuo were rival warlords, one dutiful, one roguish. Unlike their canon counterparts, they died in a Mutual Kill.
  • Came Back Wrong: Riven represents a warrior in an ancient land who was cut down thousands of years ago, but was so restless and unable to find peace that she returned to the land of the living, driven by a strange, if not outright demonic darkness.
  • Children Are Innocent: Lamb has the appearance and personality of a young girl, playing endless games of hide and seek with Wolf in-between their hunts, and is mostly oblivious to the darker aspects of death. Wolf is willing to play the part of her excitable animal companion to keep her in the dark about what their job actually entails.
  • Covert Pervert: Lillia is shy and extremely easy to fluster... and she almost immediately insists that you strip naked because spirits don't wear clothes. (You can argue that you're not a spirit but all in vain).
  • Dating Sim: The "Spirit Bond" segments play out like one with varying amounts of Ship Tease between the player character and the spirits depending on what dialogue options and path you choose.
  • Demonic Possession: Riven is accompanied, if not outright possessed, by a "dark spirit," which appears as either a harmless purple wisp or as an Oni-like warrior (it is visible in her skin while using Ki Burst or recalling), and also looks to be what brought her Back from the Dead. In Spirit Bonds, Riven first appears in a mindless trance searching for her blade (which shattered into countless pieces) while possessed by it. Finding shards of it allows her to think more lucidly, but she remains completely oblivious to the demon, the possession, or the fact that she's even dead.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: Cassiopeia will call you "darling" by accident in Episode 3 of her conversations. She will retract this and insist that she wasn't thinking about you at all. Of course, she was probably just being manipulative.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: Lamb is an innocent child who collects those who are ready to go. Wolf takes those who put up a fight, but he claims that not all souls want a peaceful end, so he is only giving them their preference.
  • Dramatic Unmask: Reaching S-rank bond with the Kindred sees Lamb do this. Based on the three possible reactions, the protagonist wasn't expecting her to look so human underneath.
  • Expressive Ears: Thresh's long, elf-like ears ears go down when he's sad (or embarrassed, as his event icon clearly displays). So do Wolf's, but of course that practically goes without saying since he's an animal.
  • Fanservice Pack: The characters who were already attractive look even hotter in this line, while Spirit Blossom Thresh gets a huge boost, going from a skeletal lich to a beautiful young man. Episode 3 for Ahri's conversations includes a fitting response choice while you two are confronting him: "Oh no...he's hot..."
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Riven and Yasuo retain this design choice, both wearing jackets that exposes more of their right sides. Riven also wears a legging on her right leg unlike to her left leg along with a single gently-curved purple horn coming out of her left temple behind the bang in her hair, and Yasuo kept his asymmetrical shoulderpad while his right arm is teal in addition to part of his right cheek. Thresh also has two purple horns coming out of his head, but the one that comes out of his left side is less curved and longer. Cassiopeia has a single blue flower worn on the left side of her head.
  • Fauxshadow: Spirit Blossom Vayne's conflict shares blatant parallels to that of the canonical Vayne, in that she's endlessly hunting down a "demon of pain" that killed her family. So you'd expect the demon she's hunting in Spirit Bonds to be a counterpart to Evelynn, right? Nope. The actual perpetrator has been long gone; the demon you've been hunting actually a reflection of Vayne herself, symbolizing her persistence in hunting down her parents' killer and inability to let their deaths go. The conflict ends up changing from that of revenge to self-forgiveness and making peace with her own (quite literal) personal demon.
  • Foreshadowing: Various aspects of the line have been teased for quite a while before it was launched. The Spirit Blossom festival was first established in the Zed comic as where Jhin was initially captured, and it was discussed in greater detail within the short story "Perennial", with legends mentioned during the story foreshadowing future skins.
  • Genki Girl: Lamb acts like an energetic child, a stark contrast to the Emotionless Girl she is in her base skin.
  • Great Gazoo: Teemo is an Ionian Trickster God and "child of the forest", one that has centuries of pranking Ionians behind him.
  • Ghost Amnesia: A lot of the spirits either can't remember exactly how they died or they don't want to.
  • Horned Humanoid: Lillia now has two antlers. Lamb has twisting, ram-like horns. Thresh, Riven and Yone have more gently-curved horns not unlike many portrayals of demons in media.
  • Hunter of Monsters: The heroine known as Tsetsegua — represented by Spirit Blossom Vayne — was raised in a clan of these, and is the last of her kind after a demon of pain chanced upon them. She has since spent eternity hunting the demon down, unable to let go and doomed to never be able to catch it.
  • Lighter and Softer: Despite dealing with heavy themes like life, death, destiny, and obsession, this skinline is fairly lighthearted. Your interactions with the characters in "Spirit Bonds" occasional stray into the serious or poignant, but they never stay dark for long.
  • Literal Split Personality: Kindred was once the "grey man", the Spirit of Death. Constantly lonely because no one wanted to meet him, he split himself into Lamb and Wolf, who represent peace and struggle in death respectively.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Playful as he seems, Wolf has a scary mouthful of fangs.
  • Navel-Deep Neckline: Thresh in all of his forms has his chest exposed under his jacket, though most of his torso is covered.
  • No Indoor Voice: WOLF ONLY SPEAKS IN CAPS. Wolf also repeats himself a lot, yes he does.
  • Noble Demon:
    • Cassiopeia is a spirit of temptation who tasks you with gathering personal heirlooms that turn out to be Artifacts of Power to gain advantages over other spirits, and makes no bones about the fact she's manipulating you when confronted about it. However, she does so based on an agreement where she in exchange would help return you to the mortal realm, which she fulfills with little protest.
    • Likewise, Thresh makes no attempt to trap the player, and expresses serious concern for the player, nearly trapping them to prevent any harm from coming to them while they are parted but choosing to go against his nature and allow the player to return to the mortal realm.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Wolf is the 'experienced' half of the split, while Lamb is innocent. But he likes the dynamic he has with his friend, so he's happy to play up his goofy side for her amusement.
  • Our Demons Are Different: The Akana are a type of spirit distinct from the (mostly) benevolent Kanmei, and are all described as "demons" due to them all being driven by some sort of obsession, not necessarily an evil one. While Thresh desires to collect his "family" (read: any soul he can lure into his lantern), and Cass tempts mortals to gain power, Lillia and Vayne's obsessions are over the loss of their loved ones, and Riven the loss of her mortal identity.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: Most of the champions in this skinline are technically dead. They have either found new purpose in the spirit world or lost their way entirely.
  • Palette Swap: The demon Vayne faces is initially pretty obviously just her, mirrored, with dark grey washed over her instead. Its colors change to a bit more creative palette later, though still clearly just an edit.
  • Pointy Ears: Akana like Thresh, Vayne and Riven have long, slender ears. The kanmei appear to have normal human ears.
  • Power Perversion Potential: When you first meet Cassiopeia in "Spirit Bonds," she grabs you in her coils and squeezes you until you pass out. If you pursue the romance arc with her, you repeatedly get the option to ask her when she's going to do it again. If you do, she eventually starts regretting having coiled you up.
  • The Prankster: Teemo is a Trickster God who loves playing pranks on humans and spirits alike. In Spirit Bonds, he cajoles the player into stealing Thresh's lantern and Kindred's cloak, for laughs.
  • Psychopomp:
    • Kindred are represented as the Ionian variant of their usual selves, interpreted as a young girl and her beastly companion who endlessly play games with one another before being summoned to collect the dead.
    • Another being that fills this role is "the Gatekeeper", represented by Spirit Blossom Ahri, a whimsical, fox-like spirit who offers the souls of the fallen a gate for eternal rest... but only if they choose to follow her path and are not tempted to stray away.
    • Thresh is an evil version, claiming to shelter and protect lost souls but actually luring them off the path and imprisoning them in his lantern, which he believes is the true afterlife.
  • Ship Tease: Cassiopeia tells you that the Spirit Blossom version of Katarina took a "spinning oaf of a husband" against her family's wishes, making yet another nod to the popular Garen/Katarina ship.
    • The player character can also potentially (or outright) get this with the respective spirit they follow the path of during the "Spirit Bonds" storylines. The segments play out like a Dating Sim, though the main character has to return to their world before anything can go any further. Notable examples include Yone becoming embarrassed after kissing the player character on the cheek and Thresh being somewhat unwilling to let you return home but inevitably letting you go.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Slippery Macguffin: The shards from Riven's blade helps her remember her past, but keep disappearing after she gets them. It turns out that actually, she's just burying them after you give them to her because she finds she doesn't actually care for this obsession over what she was defining her and throws them all away in episode 4 for her conversations...only doing and explaining this after you found them, of course.
  • Tanuki: Teemo is designed to resemble one, and like many traditional myths about them, he's an eternal trickster. (No giant testicles though.)
  • Threat Backfire: Cassiopeia threatens to crush the player's bones in her snake coils. The player can eagerly agree, which makes Cass rescind her threat.
  • Tsundere:
    • Vayne in Spirit Bonds is a classic variant to an almost parodic extent. She starts off aloof and abrasive as you follow her, but she immediately expresses concern for you when she realizes that you're visibly wounded, and then gets just-as-quickly flustered and resistant if you call her out on it. It proceeds to escalate as she decides to bring you along on her monster hunt... as bait.
      Vayne: I—I mean—you deserve it for chasing after me like a child! Who even cares about your face? I don't care about your face!
    • Riven also goes through this once she snaps out of her trance, going back and forth between indignation and genuine thanks towards you helping her out. Her route ends with her eventually defrosting, expressing sincere gratitude at helping her get over her obsessions and swearing for her skeleton to haunt if you tell anyone she kissed you on the cheek in thanks.
    • Invoked by Cassiopeia, who calls the player "Darling" in seemingly a slip-up then denies it. However, this is likely part of her manipulation of them.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Yasuo and Yone were this before, but they're this again, too. Yasuo trades his armguard and shawl for a coat that only covers the left half of his torso, and Yone wears a kimono that clearly exposes his trunk from between both of his nipples.
  • Warrior Poet: Yasuo was a capable warlord in life but considered music his true passion. This irked Yone, who set aside his own poetry to focus on training and resented Yasuo for being better with the sword despite practicing less. Yasuo (long dead by the time you meet him) wishes they had remained artists instead of fighters, and the climax of his story arc in "Spirit Bonds" is finding a poem Yone wrote for him.
    Before mortal wars
    Before pride, duty, honor
    There were two brothers
    And that was enough.
  • We Used to Be Friends:
    • Thresh and Ahri. Meeting a Spirit Blossom Ahri as Spirit Blossom Thresh prompts unique dialogue from Thresh warning her that while they were once friendly, he can't let her continue leading "his" souls astray.
    • Yasuo and Yone, as noted above, were close when they were younger. Yone's obsession over past mistakes has kept them apart, but there's more room for them to reconcile in this line than there is for their canon selves.
  • We Will Meet Again: Thresh promises the player once they die, they will be reunited, and he will shelter their soul for eternity.
  • Year Outside, Hour Inside: Mortal visitors have to be cautious not to spend too much time in the spirit realm for fear of returning years or decades after they left. Not that the spirit realm has standard 'hours'...
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: A being known as "The Collector" — represented by Spirit Blossom Thresh — is a demon of obsession haunting the spiritual afterlife, seeking out fallen souls for his own collection, eternally barring them from peace.
  • Vaporwave: Thresh’s dance animation plays lo-fi music with his lamp mirroring the general aesthetic as it dances around him.
  • Zig Zag Paper Tassel: Spirit Blossom Lillia wears a garland of shide down her flank.

    Star Guardian 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_guardian___starfall_promo_1.jpg
Burning Bright
A very Animesque theme, of magic, sparkles, improbable hair colors, and short skirts, comprising of young magical warriors chosen by the light of the stars to fight against the darkness of the universe.

Their supplementary website can be found here, as can their two music videos!
Champions in the main Star Guardian line: Ahri, Akali, Ekko, Ezreal, GwenLoR, Janna, Jinx, Kai'sa, Lulu, Lux, Miss Fortune, Neeko, Nilah, OriannaWR, Poppy, Quinn, Rakan, Rell, SennaWR, SeraphineWR, Sona, Soraka, Syndra, Taliyah, Xayah, Zoe, (Redeemed) RakanWR, XayahWR
Champions in the Star Nemesis line: Fiddlesticks, Morgana
Champions in the Pajama Guardian line: Ezreal, Lulu, Lux, Miss Fortune, Soraka, (Pajama Guardian Cosplay) Urgot
  • Adaptational Heroism: Jinx's villainous traits are greatly softened down in this line, making her less of an insane Terrorist Without A Cause and more of a slacker Punch-Clock Hero. Syndra is a borderline case, as while she's definitely the most suspicious of the Star Guardians, she's still cooperating with her teammates, at least for now.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Ezreal is still depicted as an energetic and impulsive daredevil, but he's far less full of himself, and even his crush on Lux is depicted as being much more reserved. Notably, when Ezreal received his 2018 general VGU, he also received a few Star Guardian-exclusive voice lines, and his delivery there is much gentler and softer-spoken than his usual self.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
  • The Ageless: As Nilah reveals, Star Guardians do not age.
  • Alpha Bitch: Ahri, who's on par with Regina George in terms of ridiculously condescending sass. However, she's also described as a charismatic leader (which may or may not be helped by her charm magic), and it's implied part of this attitude is a defense mechanism in being protective of her "family," having experienced losing past teammates in the line of duty and not wanting others to fall to the same fate.
  • Ambiguously Human: Despite apparently not being Yordles per se (see Pint-Sized Kid), Poppy and Lulu still have long pointy ears, as do Soraka and Janna, with the former three's ears also being covered with fur the same colour as their hair. Soraka still has digitigrade legs and a horn, even in her casual attire◊, Ahri still has her nine tails, and Neeko has her giant lizard tail (even Xayah straight-up calls her a lizard).
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • The fate of Rakan in this universe. Prestige Soraka’s skin bio implies that he was the one lost in the battle against the Twilight Star, as it mentions her leaving the planet with Xayah and the other star guardians in search of that unnamed person. The "Everything Goes On" Star Guardian's 2022 trailer has Xayah with her team mourning Rakan as if he had died. Wild Rift's storyline reveals that Xayah, who was purified by Rakan's sacrifice, finds him again and purifies his corrupted form, bringing him back.
    • What exactly happened to Lux and her team. From Akali's voice lines and "Everything Goes On", we know that Lux apparently turned into a statue and that she was likely the reason Kaisa became a Star Guardian, however, what happened to the others? And how did she end up becoming a statue in the first place?.
  • Animal Motifs: Moreso than other Star Guardians, Zoe takes a bit of additional aesthetic influence from her familiar, an octopus-looking creature named Ran. A few of her abilities are made to resemble and sound like dark waters, and her homeguard "running" animation has her swim around through the air like a cephalopod.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Pajama Guardian Cosplay Urgot is shown to be a huge fan of the Star Guardians (especially Ezreal and Syndra), having a shrine to them in his house. His recall animation shows his plush toy transform into a real Star Guardian Familiar, which he hugs. Though it may all be in his head.
  • Ascended Meme: April Fools 2020 heralded the rise of Pajama Guardian Cosplay Urgot; not quite the "Star Guardian Urgot" meme, but close enough.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Xayah and Rakan, as the beginning parts of the Star Guardian skin tie-in video Light and Shadow would make you believe otherwise due to how concentrated Xayah was on taking down Neeko, whilst pushing a clearly distressed Rakan in the process. Her saving him when the floor collapses proved that despite her corruption, Xayah still cares deeply for Rakan.
  • Battle Couple: As always, Xayah and Rakan are together as Star Guardians, before and after their corruption.
    Xayah: Ugh... I hate the forces of good.
    Rakan: I know what'll cheer you up!
    Both: Murdering the Star Guardians~!
  • Big Eater: Jinx and Poppy's first scene in "Starfall" has them scarfing down pancakes, seemingly to see who could eat the most. Jinx in general seems to be really fond of sweets.
  • Big Sister Mentor: Nilah is this to the new generation of Star Guardians.
  • Black-and-White Morality: The no-nonsense Poppy views the universe as such, where either you're out to smash the dangers of the universe, or you're the danger getting smashed.
  • Bold Explorer: Not quite as continent-jumping as in canon, but Ezreal here is still pretty adventurous and likes to show off with his teleportation powers despite it constantly bringing back weird anomalies in the process.
  • Book Dumb: Jinx, the only Star Guardian whose favorite subject is listed as "none." In "Starfall", she also immediately loses interest in a flyer for camp she was given because it "has more than ten words and only one picture." She also didn't bother to read her Star Guardian contract before signing it because "TL;DR".
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Xayah and Rakan both were killed and corrupted by Zoe and infected by darkness. While Xayah is also motivated by revenge, Rakan is well aware of their corruption and is more motivated to protect and save Xayah than by any hatred towards the current Star Guardians.
  • Breakout Character: Star Guardian Lux was originally just meant to make her Magical Girl stylings explicit. The skin's success led to further demand, and the rest is history.
  • Broken Pedestal: Part of Xayah and Rakan's turn to evil was them coming to the conclusion that the duty assigned by the First Star of protecting the universe from chaos as a scam.
    Xayah: Enforcing order on a chaotic universe was never going to work. The First Star lied.
  • Canon Welding: It is revealed during Season 4 that the Chaos that corrupts the universe is from the Event Horizon Universe, specifically the Dark Star. The corruption that empowers Morgana is also responsible for turning the fallen guardians into monsters like Fiddlesticks.
  • Came Back Wrong: Xayah and Rakan were both brought back from the dead by Zoe, which corrupted them into being evil.
  • The Cameo: Ahri at the end of Light and Shadow. Ahri also cameos in "Everything Goes On" alongside Miss Fortune.
  • Chaos Is Evil: Zoe is the most outright villainous character in the line despite being a Star Guardian herself, as she much prefers using her powers for spreading not love, but chaos.
  • Childhood Friends:
  • The Chosen Many: They are all courageous young people chosen to accept the power of a former Star Guardian.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Similar to her canon depiction, Lulu is really odd, and her quirkiness is often commented on. Despite being the youngest of the Star Guardians, she's uniquely able to directly communicate with the Starlight and does so like it's a close friend, but the cryptic nature of this makes her appear very eccentric and confusing among her friends.
  • The Comically Serious: Poppy, who doesn't take kindly to Lulu's foolishness or Jinx's rebellious nature.
  • The Corruption: Chaos, represented as darkness (in opposition to the First Star's light and order). Rakan and Xayah are already infected by this corruption, and Neeko was shown beginning to fall to it in the Light and Shadow video before being saved by Ahri.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Most of them.
  • Darker and Edgier:
    • More of a mood change than an aesthetic one, but the introduction of Ahri's team also introduced some Madoka-esque darkness, with the revelation that Star Guardians are destined to "burn," though Ahri is attempting to defy this. In contrast to Lux's much brighter and idealistic team, Ahri and Miss Fortune are veterans who have been hardened from losing previous teammates and aren't too thrilled by the concept of working together with another team, and Syndra is implied to hold some devious ulterior motives.
    • The outright aesthetic shift came with Zoe, Xayah, and Rakan, revealing the existence of evil Star Guardians, shrouded in a twisted mix of the typical bright sparkles and cosmic darkness.
    • Things get even darker with the reveal of Star Nemesis Morgana and Fiddlesticks, specifically the fate of all Star Guardians, the possible loss of Lux' team, and The Reveal that Chaos comes from the Dark Star universe.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Star Guardian Lux, while still aesthetically consistent with the other Star Guardians, was made without the Leitmotif design of the champions after her, so she lacks an ambient intro during the start of games and features a generic, campy outro theme while recalling.
  • Enfant Terrible: Well, "enfant" in the same way that she normally is, but Star Guardian Zoe still looks and acts like a preteen girl, and is the chaotic Big Bad of the line.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Rakan was always a total ham. But this is turned up to eleven in his alternate skin lines, where he fully embraces calling others nerds and losers.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Unique to the skinline, Syndra gets a stylish eyepatch, one that denotes less cuteness and more of her serious veteran status.
  • Fallen Hero: Zoe was one of the first Star Guardians to protect the galaxy. But after her best friend Harp was corrupted into Fiddlesticks, she vowed to destroy the First Light and became an evil Star Guardian. She would later kill Xayah and Rakan to be reforged as her servants.
    • Season 4 reveals that Syndra is also this case. At some point after losing her teammates, she was corrupted by the Dark Star, infiltrating Ahri's team before betraying them.
  • Fan Boy: Rather than being a proper Star Guardian, Pajama Guardian Cosplay Urgot is instead depicted as a superfan of the group, basing his costume off of Ezreal's.
  • Food as Bribe: To keep Jinx in line or interested in an activity, Lux is not above taking advantage of Jinx's Sweet Tooth to do so. Jinx is especially interested if the sweet is in the shape of an explosive.
    Lux: "As temperamental as Jinx can be, she can be awfully predictable when it comes to desserts. And ammunition."
  • Funny Background Event: The group splash art for the Pajama Guardians◊ features a few funny background details:
  • Girlish Pigtails: Jinx, Lux, Poppy, Sona, Taliyah and Nilah.
  • Gratuitous Japanese: All over the place, from the music videos, recorded with both English and Japanese versions, to the names of the Star Guardians' familiars.
  • Heroes Gone Fishing: The Pajama Guardian skins depict when a few of the guardians are off duty, cutting loose and simply having some fun. Miss Fortune, however, made sure to bring pajamas with gun holsters just in case something comes up.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The apparent destiny of all Star Guardians is to go out in a blaze of glory. Janna, who has served a long time, is stoically "awaiting her retirement," whereas Ahri, who saw three of her team die, is in full Screw Destiny mode.
  • Improbably Female Cast: While it was already implied that male Star Guardians are rare, the vast majority of those chosen by the First Star are female, with the only known male guardians being Ezreal, Rakan, and Ekko.
  • Interrupted Suicide: In the "Everything Goes On" music video, grieving the loss of Rakan, Xayah tries to fling herself off a building but is pulled back from the edge by Seraphine, who comforts her.
  • Last-Name Basis: Miss Fortune only goes by "Sarah" amongst her friends. If you aren't one of them, it's "Miss Fortune" to you. By The Slumber Party Summoning, though, she's started to warm up to Lux's gang and allows her to call her by her first name.
  • Laughably Evil: While Zoe does get a somewhat creepier evil makeover as a Star Guardian, personality-wise, she's still the same peppy and chaotically goofy Zoe we've come to recognize. Rakan, even with his new voiceover as a corrupted Star Guardian, doesn't lose any of his doofier elements.
    Rakan: What was the plan again? Oh yeah! "Destroy hope, bring the second coming of darkness, and get some new hair gel." I'm almost out.
  • Leitmotif: When starting the game as one of the Star Guardians, a minimalist version of their team's respective theme song will play. For Lux's team, it's "Burning Bright", and for Ahri's team, it's "A New Horizon". For Neeko, Xayah, Rakan, and Zoe, it's "Light and Shadow".
  • Lighter and Softer: This line of skins is pretty, with bright colors and sparkles and beautiful special effects on all their spells.
  • Love Redeems: Xayah and Rakan love each other, but Rakan is more aware that they're both being manipulated by Zoe, and it's highly implied that his love for Xayah (who seems to have become disillusioned by the Star Guardian business) and desire to keep her safe is what allows him to preserve his conscience, quietly plotting to free her heart, even at the cost of his own.
  • Magical Eye: Its exact significance is unknown, but Zoe's purple left eye prominently glows during her recall and in her splash art. Syndra's noted to have a dark past and some history with Zoe, and while she's apparently on the side of good for the time being, she happens to wear a patch over the same eye.
  • Magical Girl: Their theme and general look wouldn't be out of place in Sailor Moon. Lux and Jinx even have a fractious dynamic similar to the one between Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. As well, Seraphine takes a lot of visual cues from Sailor Venus.
  • Magically-Binding Contract: If Jinx is to be believed, they all had to sign a Star Guardian contract. The details of it haven't been explored, but given the already-prevalent Madoka influence in the line, hopefully Jinx won't regret having not read it.
  • Minidress of Power: Many of them have short skirts, just like the Magical Girl shows they draw inspiration from. The exceptions to this are the tomboyish Jinx (who wears shorts), and the male Guardians.
  • Mook–Face Turn: During gameplay, one scenario can occur between Xayah and/or Rakan facing an enemy Zoe, where they realize what she's doing and are seeking payback.
  • Mysterious Waif: Soraka is a mysterious Star Guardians from beyond the stars, with a connection to the Starlight similar to Lulu, but has yet to be fully understood. She's both the most soft-spoken of them all, and also their most powerful healer.
  • Mythology Gag: The short stories make a few nods to the canonical lore of the game:
    • The camp everyone heads to in "Starfall" is Camp Targon, situated near Lake Lunari.
    • In the same story, Miss Fortune coldly states she hates oranges, i.e. the Trademark Favorite Food of her canonical Arch-Enemy, Gangplank. Moments later, Ezreal mock-salutes her with "Aye aye, captain."
    • Ezreal shouts to Lux that his favorite light is starlight. Jinx assumes he was going to say "double rainbows."
    • The definitive Ship Tease between Ezreal and Lux is a direct reference to a possibly reconned out Ship Tease found in between them in canon.
    • In "The Slumber Party Summoning", when asked to join in for a game of truth or dare, Ezreal chimes in with "Sounds dangerous, I'm in!"
  • The Nicknamer: Jinx comes up with a few snarky nicknames for her friends, including "Shortstop" and "Shorty" for Poppy, and "Loopy" or "Bam Bam" for Lulu.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Almost all of the Star Guardians have one or more, described as Familiar spirits. These were given by the First Star to maintain order in the Star Guardians, with the "most orderly" like Lux or Poppy simply carrying magic weapons (technically, Lux was retroactively given one named Mimi, who is apparently shy and hides in her staff, represented by her own ward skin). Often times, they serve as the basis for their guardian's weaponry, which occasionally results in imagery like Neeko throwing out an explosive frog for her Blooming Burst.
  • Official Couple: As per the norm, Xayah and Rakan are a couple in this skinlines universe as well.
  • The One Guy: Ezreal, Rakan, and Ekko are the only male members of their respective groups.
    Ezreal: At least the First Star didn't put me in one of those sailor getups.
  • Pajama-Clad Hero: The Pajama Guardian sub-line is based on the Star Guardians having a mundane Slumber Party, but can be donned during gameplay if you so choose.
  • Personality Blood Types: Just to really show that the creators love Magical Girl tropes, blood type is included in the character profiles.
  • Pink Heroine: Lux and Ahri for their respective teams. The 2022 event adds Kai'Sa and also gives redeemed Xayah her own team.
  • Pint-Sized Kid: Yordles apparently don't exist in this universe, with Lulu and Poppy having normal human skin. Their size differences are given a Hand Wave away by the Lulu simply being the youngest, and Poppy is short for her age, with Jinx often commenting on her height.
  • Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: In 2022, Xayah forms her own Star Guardian group to look for Rakan. It consists of her as the redeemed newbie leader, loner powerhouse Senna, robot-turned-human Orianna, and the perpetually peppy popstar Seraphine. All of them have acted on their own for a while, and it takes a bit for them to get along and function as a group. Once they save Rakan and he rejoins, they have become Fire-Forged Friends and make the rescue party a permanent team.
  • Red Is Violent: Jinx has red hair and eyes and is the most chaotic of the Star Guardians.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Jinx is the Red to Lux's Blue (even though Lux's theme color is pink).
  • Reforged into a Minion: Xayah and Rakan were slain by Zoe many years ago, who then resurrected them to serve as her underlings. Xayah is on board with the Face–Heel Turn, but Rakan knows what Zoe is doing and is forging a plan to free Xayah from her at the risk of losing his own self to darkness.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Most of them have a little familiar who hangs out with them and empowers their spells.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Xayah is chiefly motivated by revenge, thinking her former teammates abandoned her and Rakan to die on purpose.
  • Rookie Red Ranger: Lux starts out as an inexperienced leader struggling to hold her team together. By 2022, she is the stuff of legend, and Kai'Sa is routinely visiting her statue and wishing she could be the hero Lux was.
  • Sailor Senshi Send-Up: The Star Guardian skins are a blatant send-up to Sailor Moon, with their frilly magical girl designs, cosmic-based powers, Transformation Sequence recall animation, and how the champions are Ordinary High School Students when off the clock. The Another Sky event even had a shot of Kai'sa being modeled after the #sailormoonredraw pose. Lux in particular had the line, "In the name of Demacia, I will punish you!" even without the skin.
  • Screw Destiny: The Star Guardian in Starfall's Ghost Story chapter, who's implied to be Ahri.
  • Ship Tease:
    • Apparently, somebody within Riot wasn't happy that the canonical Ezreal/Lux tease was halfway-zapped, as their first meeting in "Starfall" is almost immediately implies mutual feelings. It's only exacerbated with Ezreal's bio stating that "a certain pink-haired Guardian from another team has caught his attention," and the 360 image of both teams fighting a giant Void monster features Lux staring back at him and blushing.
    • In a series of Youtube shorts, Senna reads a Jarvan IV/Shyvana manga and passionately defends the ship as "true love".
  • Shout-Out:
    • Akali guesses "Inertia is a property of matter?" out of Bill Nye the Science Guy's opening sequence in response to Kai'sa starting the thought that the physics lecture they just attended to made her realize something (and that line was definitely not part of the lecture) within the first story for Sona.
    • Kai'sa says "It's not like I'm slowly improving a spaceship for some sort of suicide mission" in act 2 of chapter 4 for Another Sky, which is a surface-level description of Mass Effect 2.
    • Act 3 of chapter 45 has artwork of Kai'sa in the #sailormoonredraw pose.
    • Fiddlesticks' nature as a star guardian who fell to chaos and was corrupted into a terrible monster is based on the Witches of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
  • Sixth Ranger: Neeko was originally part of Ahri's team alongside Xayah and Rakan, before they were seemingly killed off by Zoe (and were later replaced with Syndra, Ezreal, and Soraka). It turns out she just went into hiding after being presumed dead, and has now returned to her friends and their new acquaintances in their time of need.
  • Slumber Party: The theme of the Pajama Guardian Variant skins, featuring a few of the girls (and also Ezreal) in cute onesies for a slumber party, hosted by Lux for a little R&R.
  • Sour Supporter:
    • Jinx isn't thrilled about the Star Guardian business or using her powers for anything but her own interests, but she'll come through when it counts.
    • Akali is even less enthusiastic about being a Star Guardian, especially because she knows what will happen if she falls to darkness and how Kai'sa becoming a leader has strained their friendship. Nonetheless she does everything she can to help her team stop Morgana and reconciles with Kai'sa in the end.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Claggor from Arcane makes an appearance in Ekko's story for Another Sky. His fate is being unable to walk after a building collapsed on him after saving Sona instead of dying unintentionally from a bomb Jinx made.
  • Star Power: Didn't the name give it away? Their spell effects frequently feature cute stars and starry effects.
  • Take a Third Option: As Nilah demonstrates, there is an alternative to the Star Guardian destinies of 'die heroically' or 'be corrupted by darkness' — meet your demon, overcome it, and gain its power for your own.
  • Take That, Audience!: Star Guardian Urgot has been an extremely popular fan suggestion for years, but a few champions in the line respond to enemy Urgots as a way of Riot confirming that it'll never happen (until it did with Pajama Guardian Cosplay Urgot, but even then, it's not in their canon):
    Jinx: (killing him) Sorry, Urgot! It's just a Star Guardian thing.
    Ahri: For the last time, the sparkles are for Star Guardians!
    Xayah: Stop trying to make Star Guardian happen, it's not gonna happen.
    Kai'sa: Urgot! Whyyyyy…?
  • Team Mom: Janna. She's the oldest and most experienced Star Guardian, who just wants to see her team get along. Perhaps emphasized by her more... ahem... mature physique.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Xayah has this to say if she's on the same team as a heroic Star Guardian:
    Xayah: We're teaming up with the Star Guardians?! (Saki chirps) "Just like old times"? Don't tell me you're enjoying this...
  • Time Travel Escape: Ekko's story in Another Sky has him try a Downplayed version of this - instead of saving Claggor's life, Ekko just wants to prevent him from getting crippled while saving Sona. However, Claggor convinces him that he can't do that since: 1. What would happen to Sona then? 2. That just ain't how time travel works anyway.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Syndra, a veteran Star Guardian with a Mysterious Past, serving as an advisor to Ahri's team. While she's able to steer them away from unforeseen danger, she's drawing a lot of suspicion from the team for her questionable motives and personal goals. The fact her proficiency is listed as "black magic" and that according to Xayah, she and Zoe have history together probably doesn't help.
  • Token Good Teammate: Rakan is aware of being forced into evil and only remains to try to cure Xayah's corruption.
  • Token Mini-Moe: Lulu, the youngest of all the Star Guardians.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: As to be expected from the Troperiffic character profiles, every Star Guardian has theirs listed:
    • Ahri's is an ice cream sundae (cherry not optional!)
    • Akali's is chashu ramen.
    • Ekko's is wataame.
    • Ezreal's is pizza.
    • Gwen's is yakiniku.
    • Harp's is mochi.
    • Janna's is tea.
    • Jinx's is curry.
    • Kai’sa’s is peach boba
    • Lulu's are cupcakes.
    • Lux's is cake.
    • Miss Fortune's is shrimp tempura.
    • Morgana's is a soufflé.
    • Neeko's is toasted crickets.
    • Nilah's is tandoori.
    • Orianna's is all types of food.
    • Poppy's is okonomiyaki.
    • Quinn's is omurice.
    • Rakan's is chocolate galaxy bars.
    • Rell's is wasabi.
    • Senna's is mango sticky rice.
    • Seraphine's is brown sugar milk.
    • Sona's is anmitsu.
    • Soraka's is cinnamon rolls.
    • Syndra's is chocolate ganache cake.
    • Taliyah's is crystal gummy candy.
    • Xayah's is raspberry chocolate cake.
    • Zoe's is takoyaki.
  • Virtual Paper Doll: On top of the Star Guardian universe being its own alternate skin line, the line itself developed its own alternate skin line in the form of the Variant Pajama Guardians, featuring the same particle effects, recalls, and overall design aesthetics, just changing the outfits from Magical Girl Warrior garb to pajamas for a casual Slumber Party (as part of their "Variant" status, owning one of the forms grants a 45% discount for the other).
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Jinx to everyone else in the group. She's lazy, rebellious, reckless, and a little dim at times, which occasionally annoys the others, especially Poppy and Lux. Still, they do have their moments of friendship and support mixed with the occasional ribbing, and she seems to genuinely get along with Lulu.
  • Was Once a Man: Star Nemesis Fiddlesticks was once a girl named Harp. She was the first ever Star Guardian to fall, transforming her into Fiddlesticks and forever scarring Zoe, who had been her friend. This is the fate of all Star Guardians who don't die in battle.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zoe's friend Harp was the first Star Guardian to fall, transforming her into a monster, with all Star Guardians doomed to suffer the same if they don’t die in battle. Zoe then began killing Star Guardians and reviving them under her control in a twisted effort to save them from a Fate Worse than Death.

    Steel Valkyries 
Set in a dystopian, galactic future scarred by war, criminals, bounty hunters, and mercenaries have filled the power vacuum, with the Valkyries and Dreadnovas armed and equipped with powerful exo-suits absolutely loaded with weaponry, ready to take their enemies on in the vastness of space.
Champions in this line: (Strike Commander) Camille, (Cyber Halo) Janna, (Bullet Angel) Kai'Sa, (Aether Wing) Kayle, (Strike Paladin) Lucian, (Gun Goddess) Miss Fortune, (Blade Mistress) Morgana, (Armored Titan) Nasus, (Admiral) Glasc, (Dreadnova) Darius, Gangplank
  • Bounty Hunter: Miss Fortune, the Bounty Hunter, is also a bounty hunter in this timeline, seeking revenge among the galaxy of thieves after she was shot and left for dead. Ironically enough, she's also the target of an increasingly large bounty, with 37 assassins, 14 exo-suit pilots, the entire galactic military, and a planet-cracking gun searching for her.
  • Computer Voice: Gun Goddess Miss Fortune's exo-suit features a friendly AI named EXO that responds to her commands, resulting in some playful back-and-forth dialogue.
    EXO: Prepping for terrestrial combat.
    Miss Fortune: How terrestrial are we talking?
    EXO: Extremely!
  • Defector from Decadence:
    • Bullet Angel Kai'Sa was originally a lieutenant of the Royal Space Military who was the first to test out the experimental X01-Butterfly exo-suit. She loved it so much that she bolted with the tech after her first mission with it, becoming one of the galaxy's deadliest bounty hunters as a result.
    • Gangplank won the war for the Royal Space Military using his battalion of experimental superweapons, only for him to leave and take the weapons with him, forming the interplanetary criminal network that would become the Dreadnova Corps.
    • Morgana defected from the military for unknown reasons, fusing her suit with her skin in an effort to hide its technology from her sister Kayle.
  • The Dreaded: Pretty much everyone in the line has built up some sort of reputation.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: Despite the setting, EXO (the AI found with Gun Goddess Miss Fortune) occasionally speaks expressions in various foreign languages, such as "Konnichi wa!"note , "Danke für Ihre Kooperation"note , "Ruki Vverkh!"note , "أطلق النار في الحفرة"note .
    EXO: The horrors of war have made me psychologically unstable.
    Miss Fortune: I don't think you're unstable.
    EXO: Why thank you. Gracias. Spasibo bolshoye. Shukran jazīlan. Danke schön. Arigatou gozaimasu.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Blade Mistress Morgana is a half-alien, explicitly said to be one of the last alive.
  • Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Aether Wing Kayle is a terrifyingly extreme example, pursuing everyone in the line for varying crimes (albeit serious ones, from desertion to betraying the entire RSM), and not only are all her sentences death, she will enjoy carrying them out.
  • Murder, Arson, and Jaywalking: Aether Wing Kayle's joke lines involve reciting the punishment for various crimes (all death), only to pause at carrying an unlicensed weapon:
    Kayle: ... Community service.
  • One-Man Army: Oh yes. "Payback is a Goddess" features Gun Goddess Miss Fortune having a one-man battle against an enormous battleship firing endless missile barrages right at her... and winning.
  • Space Navy: The Royal Space Military appears to be this, but is primarily known for its defectors: Kai'Sa and Gangplank.
  • Space Opera: The general theme of the line, with interplanetary civil wars, Galactic Superpowers, and heavily-armed spacesuits for all!
  • Space Pirate: Dreadnova Gangplank. Formerly an admiral in the Royal Space Military, he began a reign of terror after seizing blueprints of a former colleague's experimental superweapon and proliferating them. He instantly won the thousand-year civil war, defecting with his enormous battalion to form the Dreadnova Corps.
  • Space Police: Kayle is a "Justicar" of the Royal Space Military, hunting out criminals on their behalf with almost Judge Dredd-level brutality.
    Kayle: (at the start of the game) Attention, criminal element: I am Justicar Kayle of the Royal Space Military. You will not leave this planet alive.

    Super Galaxy 
A set of skins based off mecha anime, composed of champions of the Super Galaxy team to combat evil alien forces led by the immortal Spider Queen Elise.
Champions in this line: (Super Galaxy) Annie, Elise, Fizz, Gnar, Kindred, Nidalee, Rumble, Shyvana, (Neon Strike) Vi.
  • Animesque: The line is very flashy and colorful, codified by Super Galaxy Rumble, a very clear-cut homage to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and other mecha anime.
  • Artifact Title: Neon Strike Vi is retroactively the first skin in the Super Galaxy line, and so far, no other champion has received a Neon Strike skin. According to the creators, Super Galaxy and Neon Strike are two different but similar teams in the same universe, though any other members of Neon Strike have yet to be seen.
  • Big Bad: Super Galaxy Elise (also known as "The Spider Queen"), who despite the name is treated as the villain of the line, with her and her powerful mecha spider form leaving much of the Super Galaxy units defenseless in her web.
  • The Captain: Shyvana is the current leader of the Super Galaxy squad, and one it definitely needs. Having been transferred from a different team, she often wonders if having to deal with them is worth the salary bonus.
  • Child Prodigy:
  • The Dividual: Kindred is in this line, though interestingly, Lamb and Wolf are of separate origins but partnered up... mostly because Lamb owes Wolf him lunch from when they were cadets, and he isn't letting her get away this time.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Neon Strike Vi precedes all of the other Super Galaxy skins, but was later considered part of the line's universe. While she definitely fits thematically and aesthetically, the "Neon Strike" title remains, especially noticeable since no other champion has a "Neon Strike" skin.
  • Hot-Blooded: Very prominent in not just Super Galaxy Rumble, but judging by his ad blurb, Super Galaxy Fizz, who's even more so.
    Vi: Guys, I could really use some help with this monster...wait, who is yelling?
    Shyvana: Listen, we’re working on it — silence, space fish! We have to stop this abomination from destroying the city.
    Fizz: AAAAAAAAAAAA! ALMOST AAAAAAAAA DONE AAAAAAAAAAA!
    Kindred: We also want to yell. AAAAAAAAAAAAA!
  • Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: Robotic technology features prominently in a few skins: Super Galaxy Rumble gains a shiny and tricked-out Mini-Mecha, Gnar, Elise, Nidalee, and Shyvana get robotic makeovers during their transformations, and some companions (Fizz's shark, Tibbers, and Wolf) get the same treatment.
  • Threatening Shark: Fizz is able to summon a mecha gigalodon from out of nowhere, something no other pilot or space fish can do... or should do.

    Toy Box 
A set of mostly cheaper skins, these skins represent toys from within Dino Gnar's toy box that take a life of their own when he's not around.
Champions in this line: (Moo Cow) Alistar, (Toy Soldier) Gangplank, (Dino) Gnar, (Super) Kennen, (Pug'Maw) Kog'Maw, (Grungy) Nunu and Willump, (Sewn Chaos) Oriannanote , (Ragdoll) Poppy, (Renektoy) Renekton.
  • Cool Toy: Renektoy is likely the most successful of all the toys, being an unexpected must-have gift of the 1996 season. Shortages, online scalping, store aisle fist-fights, and mall stampedes ensued.
  • Creepy Doll: Sewn Chaos Orianna gives her an unsettling ragdoll makeover, and even the bravest children shy away from it.
  • Living Toys: The concept behind most of the skin line, most of which are in the ownership of Dino Gnar (and/or if the Sewn Chaos Amumu/Blitzcrank splash art is to be believed, Annie).
  • Precious Puppy: Pug'Maw is Kog'Maw reskinned to resemble an alien, but Ugly Cute pug. The skin description lists him as a nine-month-old purebred pug who loves children and other pets, but might have a salivary problem and has eaten three action figures and a doll.
  • Priceless Ming Vase: Referenced regarding Moo Cow Alistar, an incredibly rare and valuable variant of Alistar figurines whose mint versions that can go for several thousands at an auction. The fact one of them was submerged in a tub goes to show that children don't deserve nice things.

    True Damage 
After the worldwide success of K/DA, Akali made it her mission to recruit accomplished and up-and-coming artists to form a new supergroup: True Damage. Never before has a crew been comprised of such diverse talent, ranging from natural lyricists to renowned producers to legendary vocalists... all ready to disrupt the music industry.
Champions in this line: (True Damage) Akali, Ekko, Qiyana, Senna, Yasuo
  • A Good Name for a Rock Band: Much like Pentakill and K/DA, True Damage gets its name from an in-game element.
  • Ascended Fanboy: In-universe. Ekko has great respect for Yasuo and now gets to work with him.
  • Ascended Glitch: When True Damage Ekko was first introduced to the PBE, triggering all stacks of his passive would have him moonwalking. This was actually a bug —specifically his Homeguard animation being triggered and playing in an incorrect way — but it was so in-character and loved by many that Riot modified the animation to work consistently (though due to gameplay/clarity concerns, it's only visible to Ekko and his allies, with enemies seeing him facing the direction he's moving).
  • Dream Team: They are all talented rappers, singers, and producers at the very top of their game.
  • Executive Meddlinginvoked: Senna was previously stuck in a really bad record deal that took away much of her creative independence and seemingly ended her time in the spotlight before she returned as the lead of True Damage. Her splash art shows her burning up her previous contract, which was with "Thresh Records".
  • The Fashionista: Qiyana, as shown by her Prestige skin being designed by none other than Louis Vuitton. Senna later joins her with a similar Prestige skin.
  • Improbable Use of a Weapon: Yasuo plugs his tachi into the sound console and uses it as yet another switch.
  • Never a Self-Made Woman: Averted. Senna and Akali rose to prominence on their own talents, and Qiyana joined the group to win her fame the hard way instead of coasting on her family's reputation.
  • Product Placement:
    • The Prestige versions of True Damage Qiyana and Senna were made in collaboration with luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton, with the two wearing actual clothes and accessories present in their lineup.
    • The Prestige version of True Damage Yasuo was made in a partnership with Japanese streetwear brand A BATHING APE, featuring apparel from its AAPE line.
  • Record Producer: Yasuo has reign over the group's production, and is one of the most famous at his job in this line. He's also shown up working with K/DA.
  • Renowned Selective Mentor: Well, producer. Yasuo is one of the most sought-after collaborators in music, but he won't work with just anybody.
  • The Resenter: Some of Ekko's voice lines imply he is fed up with Akali and wants more spotlight for himself.
  • Ship Tease: Ekko in this universe is flirty towards both Qiyana and Senna, but especially Senna- He openly praises her new look and style. However, Senna seems to still be with Lucian in this world, as one of his kill lines has Ekko worried Lucian will come after him for hurting her, and supplemental material shows the two of them together.
  • Spicy Latina: Qiyana is the daughter of "Latin music royalty" but wants to be a franchise instead of just another a rising star in the music world.
  • Vapor Wear: Prestige Qiyana has a jacket with a semi-sheer lace underlay covering her upper body — and there's clearly nothing under it.
  • The Voiceless: Yasuo has no lines, spoken or sung, in "Giants" and wears a shirt with a cowl that covers his mouth.

    Wardens and Marauders 
A set of two opposing, low-price skin lines, the Wardens and Marauders represent what would happen had the Rune War of Runeterra between the Protectorate and the Magelord Empire continued to persist, locked in an eternal battle for order and chaos.
Champions in the Warden line: Gragas, Jax, Karma, Nautilus, Quinn, Sivir
Champions in the Marauder line: Alistar, Ashe, BrandWR, GravesWR, Kalista, Kled, Olaf, Warwick, Xin Zhao

    Worldbreaker 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/worldbreaker_lor_promo_01.jpg

All that has a beginning, must have an end. This has been prophesied by ancient tribes, and to make sure of that, these beasts and goddess rose to bring a conclusion to those tales.

Champions in this line: (Worldbreaker) EliseLoR, Hecarim, MalphiteLoR, Malzahar, Maokai, Nasus, Nautilus, Sion, Trundle, (Sun Goddess) Karma
  • Apocalypse How: Each of the four worldbreakers does this in a different way. Nautilus creates massive tsunamis, Nasus consumes the world in fire, Trundle in ice, and Hecarim in darkness.
  • Barrier Maiden: Sun Goddess Karma is all that stands between the four titans bringing on the apocalypse.
  • God of Light: Sun Goddess Karma, of course, the one in whom the sun rises and sets. In her splash art, she's in the process of spooling threads of sunlight into a basket she has with her to create a sunset.
  • Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The worldbreakers function very similarly, including being sealed, appearing in specific orders, and causing the apocalypse.
  • Lunacy: When Sun Goddess Karma is overtaken by the moon, the worldbreakers rise.
  • Mayincatec: More so than the Prehistoric line, there's a much larger Mesoamerican inspiration in the designs.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Sun Goddess Karma is dressed in a very revealing outfit whose top is a strapless bra. Her splash art also emphasizes her midriff and cleavage.
  • Stripperiffic: Sun Goddess Karma is very skin-revealing.
  • Units Not to Scale: With the exception of Sun Goddess Karma, all the Worldbreakers are MASSIVE, even considering their "base" champions. In game, however, they're the same size as their bases.

    World Championship 
League of Legends is one of the most successful e-sports around the world, and every year, Riot hosts two of the largest League tournaments for millions to watch to see who wins: the Mid-Season Invitational, and the League of Legends World Championship. The winning team of the World Championship is treated to a skin line commemorating their victory, with players being represented by their most preferred or definitive champions during their climb to the top.

In addition, Riot releases Championship and Challenger/Conqueror skins during the World Championship and MSI, respectively. At the end of every season near the World Championship, players who reached Gold or higher in ranked are awarded to exclusive Victorious skins as well.
Champions in the Championship line: Riven, Thresh, Shyvana, Kalista, Zed, Ashe, Ryze
Champions in the Conqueror line: (Challenger) Ahri, Nidalee, (Conqueror) Karma, Varus, Nautilus
Champions in the Victorious line: Jarvan IV, Janna, Elise, Morgana, Sivir, Maokai, Graves, Aatrox
Fnatic: Jarvan IV, Corki, Janna, Gragas, Karthus
Taipei Assassins: (TPA) Nunu and Willump, Dr. Mundo, Shen, Ezreal, Orianna
SKT T1: (First Wave) Jax, Lee Sin, Vayne, Zed, Zyra, (Second Wave) Alistar, Azir, Elise, Kalista, Renekton, Ryze, (Third Wave) Ekko, Jhin, Nami, Olaf, Syndra, Zac
Samsung White: (SSW) Rengar, Singed, Talon, Thresh, Twitch
Samsung Galaxy: (SSG) Ezreal, Gnar, Jarvan IV, Rakan, Taliyah, Xayah
Invictus Gaming: (IG) Camille, Fiora, Irelia, Kai'Sa, LeBlanc, Rakan
FunPlus Phoenix: (FPX) Gangplank, Lee Sin, Malphite, Thresh, Vayne
Damwon Gaming: (DWG) Jhin, Kennen, Leona, Nidalee, Twisted Fate
  • The Ace: (SKT) T1note  has become famous for being one of the best League of Legends teams in the world, having won four World Championships since its formation. For specific players, as the in-game descriptions point out, Bang (Kalista and Jhin) has won two of them, Bengi (Lee Sin, Elise, and Olaf) won three of them, and Faker (Zed, Ryze, and Syndra) won all four.
  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: Players are often very eager to have skins made in their honor. Even so, many of them don't pick their own skins, with a myriad of reasons.
  • Art Evolution: Starting from World's 2016, the skins were shifted to look more like war gods colored like their respective team rather than champions wearing team merch.
  • Battle Couple:
    • Xayah and Rakan both got Samsung Galaxy skins, and as a bonus, as part of their recall passive, the two will pose together holding the World Cup.
    • Sadly, only Rakan received an Invictus Gaming skin the following year as Jackylove — the team's botlaner — chose Kai'Sa over Xayah.
  • Big Eater: SSG Gnar's recalls have him chowing down on food before returning to base. Mini Gnar passes out from finishing all the banana bunches, but Mega Gnar plows right through his ramen (served in the World Cup, no less!), and almost looks disappointed that there isn't any more.
  • Bling of War: The Victorious skins are all pretty blinged-out, with white, gold, and blue all over. In addition, the 2016 SKT line in particular features lots of metallic lines and gold accents.
  • Body Sushi: SKT T1 Nami in her recall animation is the sushi, lounging on a rice platter like nigiri to take selfies before being taken back to base with giant chopsticks.
  • Flipping the Table: SKT T1 Olaf's recall has him do this as part of a particularly violent Rage Quit.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Some of the older skins. TPA Mundo throws the worlds Trophy instead of a cleaver, TPA Ezreal shoots his magic from an oversized foam finger, and TPA Shen uses inflatable noisemakers instead of swords.
  • Signature Sceneinvoked: Starting from 2014, Riot has added references to famous moments surrounding the winning players in their respective skins. As well from 2015 onwards, they also get the to act out their own recall animation as well.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Since 2015, a sixth champion is added to represent the backup player; an understudy to fill in for a player who, for whatever reason, can't play. Azir represented Easyhoon, the backup midlaner for Faker in 2015, and Zac represented Blank, SKT's substitute jungler in 2016.
  • V-Sign: An adorable mid-air variant caps off SKT T1 Kalista's recall animation. Bang's initial submission had him more resemble doing the team's victory "T1" pose, but for whatever reason, this would be changed to the V-Sign.

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