Hey, so I made this account because I thought it was the best place to reach you for this. I was able to attend EVO2024 and got to talk with a lot of the devs for 2XKO. I thought you'd like some of the insights I found based on your latest Braum trailer reaction.
When asked about the more pastel style for the new beach background, they said they were experimenting with slightly different styles for Bgs and seeing what fits (they also mentioned how the map felt like a breath of fresh air given how little moving parts there were in comparison to the others). They actually have a whole post-processing system in place for backgrounds to quickly adjust color values, shadows, and lights in case visual noise does become a concern.
You were also spot on with the difference in facial bone density between Braum and the other more serious characters like Darius or Illaoi. Braum was specifically modeled for that expressive animation fitting for a strongman.
Interestingly, a lot of the LOR elements from Braum's kit were actually a necessity in redesigning his move-set for a fighting game. Designers needed to come up with new ideas to fill in certain gaps in his playstyle, and looked to LOR and other media for inspiration. This feels a lot more natural then Riot forcing the homogenization of the leauge universes which I do not think was a factor in creating Braum afaik.
A final thing I'd like to add is there are actually very few animators working on the project (around 3-4). Since 4-5 champs are constantly being worked on at the same time, animators are constantly jumping from champ to champ as bits and pieces of each character's kits get finalized-- which I thought was a very cool pipeline structure.
Anyways I hope you found this either informative or enjoyable and wish you a good day!
Oh that is REALLY interesting! Thank you so much for sharing this!