Spirit Blossom Kindred is the best, except for the unmasking thing || Best & Worst Skins 

Not a fan of the unmask but the fact a lil spirit parades with it is so cute to me

Kindred is pure gold of a character, a shame that Riot treat them like copper

Besides the skin, this is the best character on the visual novel. Wolf is just a puppy here

I remember that the spirit blossom skin looked so good on Kindred that it made me want to play Kindred. Considering I hate playing jungle and adc, that's quite a feat.

The best fact about this skin is that it's technically also canon bcause that's how people in Ionia see death and kindred so there's a lot of creative space and possibilities when crafting a skin for kindred.

Riot has a kink for humanizing a monster

Unmasking is the only awful part, I agree.

i think just making kindred skins about how different parts of the wolrd see them would be super cool

Lamb is unmasked because that's how Ionia sees death. I honestly think it's interesting to see Ionias culture in humanizing her.

I love Kindred as a character. She's very different from the rest IMO and I think this spirit satyr concept is awesome. Hearing that they remove her mask in most of her skins is unfortunate because that's probably the main reason I love her. I don't play League, but I think she's the coolest.

"Oh, you're precious, Spirit Blossom Kindred." SB Kindred: _(performs Recall animation)_ "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that."

I actually really liked the idea of unmasking Lamb when the skin first came out because it was the first time they ever turned Lamb 'human' so to speak and that made it a bit unique. But also I like it because this is supposed to be the 'Ionian ver.' of Kindred, where it's a child playing with her dog. And that reflects it by having Lamb appear as a little girl who masks up when it's time to take a life and unmasks when their duties are over and they can play again.

I just knew it would be their best skin upon release tbf. It just felt so right when I saw it.

The reason why this human esk skin isn't feeling out of place with the animations is because she is no human here, she us a faun, a half goat/sheep, half human. She still has the furry legs with hoofs on the end

I think the human side of Kindred is slightly saved by the overall Ghibli style they decided to add upon her. Like yeah, it misses the point of the masked death, but you can actually imagine an ionian tale inspired by japanese folklore about a masked little child and her mischievous ways to drag people onto their final journey alongside her best friend the puppy wolf. Buuuut porcelain overdid it.

I'm a kindred main with 300,00 mastery on them. I love this skin with a burning passion. I just hope the new skins that are coming this year for then live up to spirit blossom

Riot has such a hard-on for making Kindred have a human face, when no one in the fanbase wants that.

"Wait, they unmask her in the recall anima-OH MY GOD THAT'S HORRIBLE PUT IT BACK ON SHE LOOKS LIKE THE DUDE WEARING THE ELVIS ANIMATRONIC FACE"

i’d like to say i think shadowfire is one of the incredibly rare *good* infernal skins, kindred in the skin’s lore is a benevolent god of rejuvenation with an often forgotten about dark side as a god of destruction, creating place for new life in the way a wildfire might, also the hollow knight vibes and turning wolf into a completely non-canine creature is nice, not their best skin but definitely not their worst

I just fell in love with this character, I loved the idea of a goddess of death, it sounded really awesome and so majestic, their dialogues are so deep plus Lamb's voice is so pleasantly good to hear in latin spanish (my main language) and in english, it always send me chills through my spine every time Lamb speaks; her voice reflects her power and authority as one of the most powerful spirits of death, also giving the illusion of just a defenseless young girl's voice... The reason I'm trying to main them because canonicaly they are one of the most powerful champions out there, that's also the reason I main Fiddlesticks... And also the other reason is I have a crush on Lamb.

That one comic by twist "oh cool character! If they remove that helmet i will loose interest"

This skin and the original event is what single-handedly got me to return to league and even inspired a DnD character. God I missed when riot tried to do new things, or just tried in general 😢

Unmasking a monster champion or making them human can be awful but as long as its done right it's a really great re imagination of a character. And spirit blossom kindred is the best example. In her story for SB it makes sense for her to be a human child. And if you could actually look past "waaaaa they made another monster champion human" you'd actually be able to see that this skin is done really well and it makes sense

When Lamb gets unmasked with this skin, I can see nothing but Ganyu from Genshin

I never seen her unmasked before. I've seen all sorts of vids on league but not of lambs real face. I thought she was just suppose to be a animal spirit with a mask for a face. I kind of liked that perception better than knowing she is a human.

Unmasking naturally masked characters usually takes away a lot of the mystery around them. I'd be pretty upset if they ever unmasked Jhin on some skin or anything else in the game. But this skin is definitely fire (if we ignore the recall)

"If you turn her into a moe anime girl? That's a strict downgrade" PERIOD. 💅

What is the background music I HAVE TO KNOW PLEASE

For me, its good simply because its canon skin. I wanna see more, heck for one of each region

*"Unmask Jhin exist"* Jhin unmasking in Death animation: *Ragdoll face*

Additional side note, this is apparently the Ionian version of kindred. So in Ionian folk lore this is how the spirit of death is depicted. Makes you think how other versions of kindred would look.

Why make animal characters if you wanna make them human instead anyways?? Lamb has SO MUCH potential design-wise.

Riot treats Kindred like they treat their players..like absolute garbage and it truly pisses me off to see such an amazing champion discarded..

I actually really like the unmasked kindred because the spirit blossom skin line are representations of Ionian spirits and Kindred’s interpretation in Ionia is a Vastayan girl with wolf as her companion (Lamb has to be vastayan she still has hooves)

I think the human face is fine. of course the land of spirituality would perceive the spirit of accepting death as something familiar

Spirit Blossom knew how to make so many champs stand out, and Kindred was definitely one who benefited. Agreed on the unmasking since it feels like it conflicts with their character, but overall, no denying this is an easy pick for “best skin.”

I like moe anime girl though... but to be fair, it doesn't make her a more better or more intresting character

Don't play this game but it's really good critisim towards character designs. It's not about the appearance, it's about the character presentation

Would have been a lot cooler if under the mask was just a yawning abyss

Ok but have you seen Super Galaxy’s loading splash art?

I know people don't like unmasked kindred but I'm also biased towards cute anime girls so I'll be the guy on the other side here.

I think Spirit Blossom Kindred Lamb is fine not being just a lamb. Since Spirit Blossom Kindred isn't like the other skins, where they represent something, this one is actually Kindred, just how the Ionians view her. And it makes sense that the Ionians would see Lamb as a Vastaya rather than a talking sheep, in my head.

I actually love the unmasking part the most! :D

Shadow flame is my favorite, in my opinion, because it survived the 1st skin syndrome. It is good in design,has good visual effects, and I like the colors, something I can't say for spirit blossom but j like both their ults

Fun fact: Asian fandom likes this skin BECAUSE of unmask and some people even wants unmasked chroma

I think we need to have a kindred skin that leans more towards her mystery. The primary reason why i was so compelled to kindred when i started playing was because she seemed like an enigmatic exists, like something that could never be fully understood or explained. Unmasking ruins that appeal…

I mean... It was obvius right?

I'm honestly okay with umasked lamb considering what lamb represents in peaceful death. Making unmasked spiritblossom appear kind, playful and inviting there fits the theme well though i wouldn't want her to always be unmasked either. The idea that underneath the mask lamb is kind an inviting while appearing as eldritch and off-putting from afar i think helps the overall themes of death

I despise the idea that Lamb has a face. At all. It felt to me like the point of the mask was to show that, despite having the appearance of things that were once alive, the thing that takes up their face - more or less, the most expressive part of a live person - is not a living thing. Like Kindred, it's not quite the same kind of 'alive' we are. And psychopomps. Idk man, it just doesn't feel right that Lamb has a face under the mask.

Pretty sure this is a rather popular opinion, but the majority of people are actually happy with how this skin allows us to see the face of this version of kindred, even the official figure of this skin does have a version without the mask, and before it was announced everyone were asking if it was possible to display her without the mask. I do understand the point that adding yet another good looking female is unnecessary, but regardless it is what the people like, and i did bought the expensive figure of this skin just because i can display her without the mask, i wouldn't have bought it otherwise and i love the skin as well, i also enjoyed the event that released this skin and getting to watch Lamb's expressions as you talk with her was very heartwarming. Among the very large cast of LoL characters, this version of Lamb is in my top 3 favorite females, so every new addition to the list counts, even if there are too many.

I don't think her face looks bad.

and I still have no idea who this is, what they're from, or why I should care about them. Maybe put the name of the game in the title, or the pinned comment, or something?

The unmask is definitely an meh in design but when it comes to lore, it does make sense. Kindred in this skin supposed to view as how the Ionian sees them. Which is a beauty agile bow woman (lamp) and a hungry and Ruthless monster (wolf). It's make sense considering most Asian folktales also depicted beauty usually comes with kindness or lies. It depends so because lamb is consider the kind one, they depicted her as a beauty. I hope this make sense

Also can't stand they just keep making her into a human or covered in a suit, she's supposed to be a lamb humanoid not a human and it pains me to see more human skins -.- so much iv just been playing on the base skin and I have all the cromas from spirit blossem

As a casual player, seeing Kindred face on a skin is a W. I don't read lore.

I’m usually a fan of unmasked characters because I love doing over the top facial expressions but it does nothing if the face itself is uninteresting

One of the best written characters for sure.

I think the base form is a Faun rather than trying to make an anime girl

Porcelain just makes Lamb look like a kind of satyr, I can't see what's all the fuss about. Yes, unmasking Lamb makes it less interesting but it doesn't mean it'll be inherently bad for it plus, Riot has improved a lot over the years at collecting and analyzing data, and their data shows a lot of Kindred players do like unmasked Lamb

Question is there a red riding hood one?

Since kindred looks different based on belief, and spirit blossom is ionia's take, we still have all other regions take to explore, RIOT JUST GIVE ME FRELJORD KINDRED

Oh, what is the name of the music?

as a longtime kindred main, it was the "anime" aesthetic they gave lamb that made me love this skin. Like you said before, good skins fulfill a different fantasy from the default: and lamb's face being shown as an "anime" girl in a heavily japanese-influenced skinline seems fitting.

Anime lamb? Watame moment

This is the sole reason why I decided to play her lmao. She was already a cool champion with her case skin, but the spirit blossom skin elevates it. Definitely going to get that statue in the merch store.

the unmasking is pretty awesome but to each their own

I feel like turning kindred human completely ignores the fanbase she has XD

Where is kled

as a kindred main and huge kindred lover, this is the only kindred skin I own! i agree that the unmasking completely defeats the point of them, but the colors and design of the skin are unmatched.

NGL I like the unmask recall because it gives her a bit more character. Cute kawaii anime girl face aside, the idea that behind the face of death is that of a young girl kinda puts into perspective how Ionians see death. It's as much a final step as it is a new life. Death is humanized. Also without the unmasking we got the cute little spirit that plays with them. 10/10 best recall moments.

With the spirit blossom skin taking inspiration from japanese mythology, it's kind of interesting that lamb is a person under the mask in that skin. Lamb is a god or a force of nature and a lot of mythological characters are humanoid in shape. In fact, sometimes part human part animal like lamb here.

Love the lore behind the skin, if I remember right this skin is canon cause this is how the Ionian’s see kindred which I find kinda cool.

I remember when this skin’s emote animations were broken for over 6 months, maybe a year Then one day it was fixed without any mention :D

The only acceptable human kindred... Whatever coming next is just forced marketing

Skyen: "Unmasking Kindred makes he significantly less interesting" Me: Thank you! THANK YOU!

Kindred is just a completely failure of champion design in my opinion. They are supposed to be 50/50, but lamb takes significantly more spotlight than wolf. Wolf is like literally a pet dog. The champion should be like Elise, sharing two forms 50/50.

As a Kindred otp with 760k Mastery points so far, I fcking loved this video. Thank you for bringing attention to this. I just hope RIOT stops humanizing lamb jfc. It was fine doing it once, put it very well on SB but porcelain? Goddamit why

Skyen usually i would never disagree with you but here I have to say something. I am not going to go against saying SB is their best skin, but saying its their only bad one is a crime!!! Shadowfire is an really cool take on a character that is the spirit of death, SG isnt great but its silly and over the top in the silly and over the top universe and woof and lamb is adorable without making lamb into a silly anime girl porcelain can die in a fire however

Well to be honest, even the unmasked part is still not so bad, it somehow fits

Someone forgot Shadowfire Kindred exists... remains the best Kindred skin to this day

Being exclusively exposed to LOL through this channel, I actually have no idea what the base characters look like still 😂

Just realized wolf face looks similar to death......... not the designs but the structure

I don’t mind the unmask for some instances, like maybe for one outfit, but it is a bit overdone. Like, the idea of someone who wears a mask secretly having an attractive face, while maybe a bit common and not necessarily cool, still works for my sensibilities with the sense of contrast, but it kinda loses that sorta interesting factor if their face is shown too often or too easily. Take Kakashi from Naruto for example. He’s constantly wearing a mask even though it appears that he’s actually quite handsome. I think there’s only one canon image of him at any age without his mask (he even always wears it as a child) with him facing the viewer. The fact that appearances with him not wearing the mask is awesome, and makes the one appearance of him without a mask so special, and it feels earned after waiting the entire franchise to see it. And while it’s most common with “handsome” characters (Kakashi or Shino from Naruto, Koenma from Yu Yu Hakusho, etc.), it also works with others. For example, Pekoms from One Piece is constantly wearing shades and generally gives off a “cool” or “tough guy” vibe, but when he removes his shades, it’s revealed that his eyes are actually adorable. If he was constantly walking around without his shades, that effect would be greatly lessened. And even in series where the character eventually stops wearing the mask, shades, or whatever, it’s usually at the end of the series, as a sign of maturity or character growth, like when a kid stops carrying their security blanket everywhere they go. I mostly see it in romance or harem manga/anime, where a shy or loner girl stops hiding her face with a mask, bandages, or thick glasses as she finally decides to come out of her shell and be with people since she’s more confident (in herself or in others), usually due to a romantic interest, but it also happens in characters who aren’t involved in any romantic stuff, like Youka Naze (aka Kujira Kurokami) from Medaka Box. Because it’s a sign of growth after pretty much an entire series of them developing and changing as a character, the change to having not wearing the mask or whatever most of the time feels earned and endearing. So that’s why I think Kindred having a moe face under the mask could have worked, but we get overexposed to her face, so the effectiveness of the trope here is diminished at best, and it doesn’t really reflect her growth as a person, so there isn’t that feeling of her overcoming something, either.

i alwazs use this skin. am i so bad at playing that i never noticed the unmasking bc i alwazs die before they can recall???’

This if my favourite of theirs. It reminds me greatly of Princess Mononoke, without leaning too hard into it. I don't mind that lamb removes the mask and has a human like face in this skin because the Ionia rationalisation satisfies me. See a lot of people referring to lamb as "her". If I'm not mistaken "they" pronouns are relevant not only for Kindred, but for Lamb and Wolf individually, aren't they? They are a concept, they are the hunt, they are the chase, they are death.

But but kindred has always been a moe girl. It's how I justify getting killed by her 10 times a game

The only skin I don't regret buying all the chromas for at all

To be fair I think human lame and wolf could work if they had like a kindred act skin where it's like lemon wolf or actors and costumes but like really well-made costumes that would be interesting but the actors are wearing clothes that evoke the style of the two without looking like a cosplay skin

Unmasking into a MOE anime gets them the Weeb money. If Genshin Impact is an indicator, they should turn every champ into MOE anime girl for the big Weeb bucks.

should've been elderwood, I still remember the fanmade concept art with wolf leaving autumn leaves traces it looked rad

I think it's a bit wasted that kindred becomes humanized in their skins. Even just playing around the prey-predator theme would be a better workaround than what we have. Like crocodile-antilope for a high noon maybe?

If the mask stayed on, it works perfectly as a yokai-like being. I personally thing the animalistic run and strange stretching works perfectly to show a not-quite-human creature.

Unmasking Lamb in General is dumb because it kinda sets Lamb apart from Wolf and makes her feel like her own character when in reality they’re both just two Half of one whole, remember “never one, without the other”

Unmasking or humanizing lamb will always bother me. Specially when Wolf stays a wolf. Its dumb, lame, even kinda gross since it shows how clearly they market one sex over the other.

I believe the unmask is cool, humanizing kindred is a great concept because it gives them a new way to express their character. By the way the worst skin is by far super galaxy. What's that some kind of digimon?

Yeah, kindred being a human in the spirit blossom really downgraded it but the base skin and chromas are pretty dang good. However, I still like Shadowflame the most. Red/white duo skins are my favorite lol

I know the original model its very weird in game, but i must say kindred's base desing is so clever and simple that its just the best in my opinion

Kindred has no good skins PERIOD. Their best look is their basic…

Im a Kindred otp and the unmasking was very devicive. I personally think it works for this specific skin and this one alone. Which makes me hate Porcelain. Porcelain literally has such dogwater chromas too, and does such a bad job with the character concept. I agree with the vast majority of this tho.

I think all kindred skins kinda miss the mark, because none of them utilise the fact that they're supposed to be mirrors of each other. In the base form, they wear masks representing the other... In every skin, they're just a masked lady and a wolf (that doesn't even have a mask). I also really don't like that they make a sort-of anthropomorphised lamb into a human girl every time.