What's with those smiling character photos?

What's the story behind them? Don't appear to be canon, so I'm just curious what the joke or meme is as I haven't been able to find it through Google.

I think I remember this being part of the pitch the artist did when the artworks were created.

Not 100% sure, though

I was wrong

@BMAY's creation He made them as a satiric response to people whining about character models early on in the game's announcement. At least that's my take on it, but I'm sure he'll get the @ and explain himself here soon.

So hot right now. (zoolander)

@Teebling People will whine. It is in our nature. I'm actually quite impressed by the graphics updates and how classic it feels (servers and all - see I said we whine naturally lol). Also, have to say I'm quite impressed with this site. Cheers.

Teebling wrote: 2 years ago

@BMAY's creation He made them as a satiric response to people whining about character models early on in the game's announcement. At least that's my take on it, but I'm sure he'll get the @ and explain himself here soon.

Oh satiric? I thought they were just being friendly. Never mind, i dig those faces, nevertheless.

Kazeen wrote: 2 years ago

Oh satiric? I thought they were just being friendly. Never mind, i dig those faces, nevertheless.

i also thought the faces just seemed great and i didnt think there was any joke behind them lol.

i love the faces @BMAY created and love seeing them around the forum

Thanks for the love everyone lol.

TL:DR they're just fun..... But for the full story;

A long time ago when the new D2R graphics were first shown some people thought they strayed too far from the earlier D2 legacy concept art. I tend to agree, but ultimately it's not a big deal. After all we barely see their faces while in-game.

However, I enjoy photoshop and making things, so I made a bunch of edits, and out of curiosity, took votes across various platforms to see what people's favorites were. This was all for fun, and most people thought they were great. A select few trolls however were soured by the fan art I suppose and replied negatively, So... I made a couple more edits to "grin in their face."
Afterwards realized I liked how they looked and thought it was pretty funny, albeit somewhat creepy. So I did it for all of them and then made this image in anticipation for release.
Finally, here we are later and @Teebling has this awesome website going. I'm contributing other stuff and thought, hey what about these? I love seeing them around and think they brighten the place up lol .
So that's the whole story. But all in all, it's all just good fun.

Can we see the one you did for launch where they're all happy then sad please @BMAY

I absolutely adore these, amazing work