At this event, Riot proved that they could throw some serious style around, and players are just jumping around in excitement. The official VALORANT Twitter site put up some beautiful illustrations of Viper and Omen all glamorized for a show with the caption “VAL but make it fashion.” The artwork was conceived, designed, and drawn by artist @wandakunpls during the esports championship, and the response from the community has been, well… quite intense.
First, can we just get a moment of silence for how good they look? Viper and Omen are serving some serious looks while probably scheming on eliminating the entire enemy team. The artwork shows them working stunning yet dramatic fashion poses, looking like they’re about to march down Paris Fashion Week, as far away from spike planting as possible. It’s giving villain chic. It’s giving toxic relationship goals. It’s giving… well, it’s everything that the VALORANT players never knew they needed.
Replies to the tweet came off heated from the start, with players contesting Viper-Omen as “canon,” with Digital Artist Putri commenting “OH CANON,” immediately and without hesitation. Then dubleziro7 goes with “Sorry not sorry but still #sabyna is better 🤠(plus, there is no way viper is straight)” and even included his own fanart for Sage and Reyna. That’s ship wars, and this release of something that’s official-ish art just added fuel to the fire!
Others wield this fashion moment as ammunition to push for their favorite ships to become canonical. Iselin_solem_ demands, “make Reyna and Sage Canon Reyge 😔 while fadefavz posts an edit saying, “MAKE SAGE AND REYNA KISS” like speaking it into existence. This kind of dedication to fictional relationships is 1/3 impressive but 2/3 questionable??
But that- shipping drama-not all are interested in: a few want to take this as an excuse for bashing the servers with justjordansart asking, “HI ARE SERVERS CRASHING??? WEIRDLY HIGH 450+ PINGS WITH MUTLIPLE PLAYERS ON EACH SIDE IN ALL CAPS.” Because apparently, when VALORANT puts out art, it’s also customer support hours. And n3v3rloseme wants their RR back because “WHOLE TEAM WAS LAGGING AND THREE PLAYERS ON THE OTHER TEAM DIDNT ??????” which… fair, but maybe not the right place??
The emotional range expressed in the replies, though? Strawberry79 is screaming “OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT IS THEM 🥹🥹🥹,” as if they’d just witnessed the second coming, whereas HeyAverno just said “mom and dad” because Viper and Omen somehow turned into the toxic parents of the community. Chifar111 is outright hilarious with “After this, Viper will wash her back 5 times with an iron brush” which honestly sounds like something Viper would actually say or do.
What is worth noting here is how Riot is capitalizing on the community’s passion for character relationships and fan content. By showcasing this art during their biggest esports event of the year, they are admitting that to the players, these characters mean more than just their ability to shoot or abilities. They are becoming real people with actual… well, not personalities exactly, but certainly drama and relationships for players to project on.
I’d imagine @wandakunpls is feeling mighty blessed to have their artwork be seen by the official account during Champions. Live art at esports events is a wonderful way to keep the community engaged between matches, and this piece really ignited the talks. Far better than wasting energy on an energy drink commercial.
Meanwhile, merch updates are a priority for TheAccen. “When does the NRG champs capsule come out,” they ask, maybe rhetorically. Poor Aditya Kumar misses this one though, having sold off his laptop: “I used to play everyday, played 2 years bought skins & all, but had to sell my laptop since then i haven’t played or seen you,” which is kind of sad.
The reaction mix narrates the story of how diverse the VALORANT community really is- shippers, esports buffs, the guys currently battling technical issues, the merch buffs, and the ex-players who still follow along. All rallying behind… well, not this art in particular but in their own ways connected to the game.
Riot has been really smart about embracing community content and fan interpretations of their characters. Unlike some game companies who stick to canon, VALORANT seems very aware of the fact that allowing players to conjure up relationships and back-stories between agents only heightens the engagement. Even if it means endless arguing about whether Viper is straight or not (apparently that’s a big discussion point??).
Ultimately, this fashion-centric artwork gave the players something to obsess over during the Champions tournament outside of Championship matches. It created conversations, inspired more fan works, and gave the community another reason to stay invested in the world of VALORANT, even if 50 percent of these replies are just people demanding different characters kiss.
So yeah, VALORANT but make it fashion indeed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go look at the generated fan arts of these fictional characters who undoubtedly have finer taste than I do.
