Thread by @TaliaMirai

LoL: Maybe if we release a cool K-Pop style video with sexy girls radiating gay energy and a cute quirky lesbian champion everyone will forget we are actually really shitty to women and are in the middle of a lawsuit because of that

League of Legends is actually trash please do not support them with your dollars kotaku.com/current-and-fo…

Yes POPSTARS is a bop but League of Legends literally fosters an environment of toxicity kotaku.com/inside-the-cul…

And I mean this literally: LoL probably intentionally made this very "girl power!/I'm gay!" music video and released this cute, quirky, not sexualized lesbian hero in an attempt to seem women-friendly and inclusive

LoL hates real women like legit don't buy into this shit

Inclusion and representation should never come at the expense of real people especially marginalized ones struggling in the industry as it is League of Legends doesn't even have a single unquestionably black woman in the whole of its 100+ character roster fuck League of Legends

I feel for the creatives and devs in LoL who do not participate in Riot's shitty toxic bro gamer culture and I understand why many of them just can't quit for moral reasons and are just continuing to do their jobs. But Neeko feels like a cheap, desperate diversion.

I mean LEGIT: Neeko & KDA/Popstars prob wasn't a planned misdirect. Characters & animations take a long time to create, and Riot is gonna produce regardless of what's going on behind the scenes.

But I refuse to believe someone(s) up top isn't hoping the hype overshadows the shit

But you can't tell me it's impossible a company with a history of being shit to women but loves their dollars wouldn't intentionally, even months ago, strategize that capitalizing on love of K-Pop and demand for Inclusion could be good for their image so MAYBE IT WAS INTENTIONAL

Hey if you wanna stan someone who isn't shitty to women and constructively yells a lot about social issues in video games and comics and other nerd spaces holla at me, your resident black feminist geek girl~

taliamirai.carrd.co

Also you can continue to enjoy KDA or the new hero or LoL that's your decision you don't have to justify that to me I am not the Fun Police I'm just saying the company the made The Thing you like is shit and you really shouldn't give them your money but you can w/e

Muting because too many notes but tl;dr:

1. KDA/Neeko prob wasn't an actual diversion but there's gross irony in celebrating women/their sexuality when Riot treats women like shit.

2. You can still enjoy LoL I don't care but aware consumption is important.

3. Hire black women.

4. If you think boycotting Riot/not giving them money doesn't do anything, consider that companies often think they can get away with foul shit like this because of how much support--monetary and otherwise--they get. They rely on blind, ignorant support that wont challenge them.