User blog comment:Emptylord/Leaked Champion: Vel'Koz/@comment-1902684-20140119102441/@comment-1330314-20140119195908

I actually think Riot's trying to touch on a specific archetype every time they create a champion. 's the rōnin, is the outlaw from Western films,  is the evolving alien, and so on. Of all the alien/eldritch monster tropes out there, LoL has been missing a beholder-type champion for quite some time, so it would make perfect sense for Vel'Koz to have a look similar or identical to the one he has in the above images. There are character niches just as there are gameplay niches, and it's better for a champion to be immediately visually easy to associate with a trope or archetype than to have a less evocative appearance.