In this thread i will try to give constructive criticism and feedback to respawn and the devs in response to the new arena teaser in apex. The subject : ash's new mask design and her having actual eyes and pupils.
( thread)

The basics of ash's original character design was that she wears a death mask made of porcelain of her human face.
A sort of reminder, hanging onto the past.
From that on, she just has a hood, a knife, different colors. And a standard female stim body.

Upgrading her overall design is normal, and in this specific instance is for the most part a wonderful effort and executed very well. The new colors of her model pop, it's tacticool, its full of personality, grounded, pilot like. It's everything the original was and more. But.

The problem arrives at the mask.
That iconic dead eyed white mask with black tears running hidden under a tight hood.
What made her original mask so good, efficient at conveying her character design and personality through simplicity was that it was in short, dead and simple.

The new design has a lot of visual noise, and gives her some "lipstick" and a significantly more cracked mask. As well as adding pupils and eyes.
Here is the problem and why i am making this thread.

What the original ash conveyed simply through her mask was : duplicitous, cold, calculated, holding on to the past, loss of identity, lack of emotion, empathy, no soul, and most importantly, untrustworthy.

The lack of eyes ( window to the soul) made her stand out a lot more from revenant and other simulacrums in the universe and fandom. The complete lack of eyes made her unsettling, and made us feel uneasy. The new design however, does not.

The small cracks of the porcelain were enough to suggest age, experience, wear and tear. The simple "tears" were inhumane in appearance, unnatural. And that complete lack of eyes emphasized how untrustworthy she was. How much of a cold, uncaring and lying person she was.

Giving her eyes, even if they ( hopefully) do not glow, makes her a lot more similar to revenant, and defeats part of the uniqueness she had. All the added crackles and lipstick acts as a lot of visual noise and drowns the simplicity and effectiveness of the original design.

Now for a solution, or at least, a potential solution that i humbly, suggest as an ash fan, and a fanartist etc etc.

Giving her the yellow markings and lipstick her original concept art had ( done by the wonderful Mr Srodawa) and keeping the original mask design

Or : make her mask fully new, kind of like this old wattson concept skin. Make her look more menacing by giving her yellow pupils or orange pupils, but keep the mask completely free of cracks or details.

Embrace the 2.0 in a sense.

I think the decision to give revenant glowing eyes was the right one during development, his design stands out more.
And so does hers.
If rev stayed like this, the two wouldn't be as unique and beautiful as they are now.

So in short. I think that ( from what we see of her) most of the new design is an effective and substantial upgrade from her old more "stock imc barely custom" design.

But i feel like the new mask really is a detriment to her overall character design and her identity.

To end this thread ( sorry for the rambling) i have nothing but the utmost respect for the concept artists, devs, designers, writers of respawn, apex and titanfall. They are some of the best in the industry.

As a fan of ash specifically and as a consumer and player i feel

Like it's my duty to critique the media i enjoy. And i wanted to talk about this in a respectful, calm, honest, kind-hearted and professional way. And as objectively as possible ( i am super biased)
So again. Much love to the designers. Hope my rambling wasn't bad. ( mentions)

Credit for the pictures and for all the designers and devs : @MannyHagopian @tommiecas @ashsmashreed @MonsterclipRSPN @_moyparra @alex_frostwolf @frozenfroh @shrugtal @Biast12 @Respawn
#Titanfall2 #ash #ApexLegends

@brockhaurd @danielzklein @pinedsman @ChadGrenier @RaymeCVinson @hethesrodawa

I am not at all trying to be antagonistic. And you are not at all obligated to respond or acknowledge publicly what i just read. But even then, i think this is important.

Maybe just to me... But I'm a fan... What can i say.

And even with all that I'm excited to see "her" again.

And i know this is kinda... Useless ? I am in no way hoping for respawn to change the model. That would require a lot of work and they have more important stuff to tackle. New season soon etc.
Just a small critique towards a design i feel is somewhat lacking

I am sure the design has been evaluated by an entire team of designers, riggers, modelers, artists, writers etc who are professionals and more talented and hardened vets than I am.

And by no means am i trying to say they did a bad job.

Last tweet. Thread ended. Thanks again