The Star Guardians

Lux is no longer alone as the League’s Star Guardian with the addition of Jinx, Poppy, Janna, and Lulu to the series. LoS wrote about Lux’s Star Guardian skin back when it was first released and also briefly explored the magical girl trope itself. And while that entry left much of the interpretation of the trope up to the reader (and readers had many opinions on the subject) the addition of 4 new guardians has added to many of the pros and cons mentioned in there.

Once again, it feels useful to discuss the magical girl genre itself before moving forward. For all its failings, namely in the stagnation of magical girl costuming, the popular genre has made enormous leaps in character development and narrative. Shows like Magical Girl Lyrical Girl Nanoha did an immense amount of work pushing the former forward, introducing a wide array of young girls and following them into young adulthood – even going so far as to depict two them as lovers who later adopt a daughter. In terms of narrative, Puella Magi Madoka Magica used the magical girl trope almost as a smoke screen for a deeply serious plot that explored existentialism, tragedy and grief, and redemption, proving that any genre can be used as a vehicle to explore difficult and complex themes. This isn’t to say that other magical girl shows never got dark or complicated, they very often did, but never with the purpose and drive that Madoka brought to the table.

The magical girl genre as a whole has been undergoing vast change – especially in the past few years – in order to progress. Looking at the Star Guardian series one has to wonder: did Riot recognize this progress, this deepening of the genre and what that means for female characters, and keep pace in its homage to the genre?

Superficially, it seems that the answer seems to be “yes”. The tone of the promotional artwork is absolutely gorgeous and very reminiscent of Madoka’s visual aesthetic in particular. Vibrant colors that explore both bright and dark palettes hint at the possible moral ambiguity in the mini-universe Riot has created for their Star Guardians series, suggesting the kind of complexity viewers have come to expect now that Madoka has blazed the trail. Overall, it’s thoroughly excellent and well-executed. From up here everything seems to be in order.

Dig deeper, however, and it’s clear that things begin to fall apart fast. The splash art of the new guardians does not reflect the tone of promotional art whatsoever, with backgrounds and posing that nod only to the magical girl visual aesthetic – the one aspect of the genre that has yet to truly evolve – and devoid of the interesting atmosphere. This blog will ignore the obvious flaws in the costuming for this post, with things like unnecessarily bared skin (of which there is plenty) and wild hair and ribbons escaping LoS’s usual scrutiny in the spirit of magical girl-ness.

Jinx’s posing is probably the most bizarre among them. She appears to be falling yet her spine is bent inward, muddying up the line of action in a nonsensical way just to ensure that her chest is thrust outward. The leading lines are a lot of fun, though, reflecting Jinx’s usual chaotic presence by radiating this way and that. And because Jinx is Riot’s signature violent psychotic she’s also allowed to express herself a little in the face. Easily the most fun out of the series despite her oddly curved spine.

Poppy is solid, if a little uninspired. Her posing is very plain and, without her wielding her giant hammer, would completely lack a sense of strength. She could have cranked a lot further, kneeling down a little lower, her hammer cocked back a little more, but the result is the kind of pose someone might strike for a camera with only seconds to react. The armored bits on the shoulders and forearms are very welcome additions, though. A tanky magical girl? This blog with take it!

Janna is about as bland as Riot has ever made in a splash art. She floats aimlessly, a disinterested look on her face, and just sort of… exists in this piece. The likely idea here is to reflect that Janna is the wizened older magical girl or that she is aloof and mysterious but the execution falls flat. Her breasts are quite a lot bigger than in her base splash, and the fabric of her top seems to be folded underneath them for some reason. At least the leading lines aren’t pointing at them, though, There isn’t a lot to say here since Janna just looks so lifeless.

Lulu is a lot of fun, as usual, and is as expressive as ever. Very little to complain about here since we’re excusing the usual magical girl motifs.

Overall, the Star Guardian series is a big let down for LoS. The posing in particular leaves a lot to be desired and the rendering makes our Yordles look kind of like dolls. This blog will file the series under Missed Opportunity and move on.