Neon

"Move, or get zapped."

- Character selection

Neon is an Agent in VALORANT.

Biography
Raised in Manila, Philippines, Tala Nicole Dimaapi Valdez is a Radiant empowered by her bioelectricity which has enlaced itself with Earth's radianite mesh.

A young but former veteran at K/SEC, she was recruited by the VALORANT Protocol specifically to help with their attempt to replicate the Alpha-Omega teleporter, as her electric abilities were seen as a viable power source needed for the project. Accepting a position there as their nineteenth agent, "Neon", Valdez left her home to join the Protocol at their HQ and soon began to assist Killjoy in rebooting the portal as they tried to establish a stable connection to allow the VP to finally reach Earth-2.

Personality
""You made me care. Big mistake""

- (Ace) With her electrifying speed allowing her to charge into the heat of the battle, Neon is not one who can promise her allies that she'll stay out of harm's way. While she is confident in her abilities and the value it can bring during gunfights, she can sometimes struggle to control her electric powers and thus makes it a point to keep them in check at all times.

Neon has strong and close ties with her family; as soon as she arrived at the VALORANT Protocol headquarters, she made sure to call her parents to update them on the news. According to Chamber, Neon has a strong sense of service which she gets from her family. She also cares a lot for her teammates during missions, reminding them to take care and to stay alive because as she states, she hates making new friends.

Appearance
Neon is a young Filipina woman with olive skin and a short stature. She sports an athletic attire with black and blue running leggings along with a pair of sneakers. She also wears a dark-blue cropped vest that appears to act as electrical conduits for her powers. Her arms and face have light blue patterns that can illuminate with her radiant abilities. She has shoulder-length shaggy hair, colored mainly electric blue with streaks of yellow throughout and wears it in a half-up pigtails hairstyle. She also wears a belt and accessorizes with a golden bracelet on each arm.

When using her radiant powers to channel electricity through her body, the patterns on her arms, face, as well as her eyes glow light blue along with the her hair which stands-up due to the electricity.

Quotes

 * Main article: /Quotes

Spotify Playlist


Trivia

 * Neon is from the city of Manila in the Philippines.
 * Chamber icon.png "Viper, your suit is a little stifling, no? When you go meet the new agent, maybe pack something light, Manila is quite warm this time of year"
 * The first teaser for this was hidden in some binary code in an official VALORANT tweet, which converted to the coordinates 14.5995° N, 120.9842° E, leading to a busy area in the Quiapo district of Manila.
 * In an official photo for the December 2021 Night Market, another teaser of Neon's place of origin appeared in the form of parol lanterns, a traditional Filipino Christmas ornament, which were seen in the background.

Development

 * VALORANT's Agent Team which worked on Neon and the League of Legends's Champion Team which worked on Zeri, collaborated together, contributing to both characters.
 * Both characters are inspired by Filipino culture, share the same voice actress, and hairstyle.
 * Both also have power over electricity and abilities that affect their movement. One of Zeri's theme during development was to bring the feel of a shooter to League of Legends.
 * Both characters were announced around the same time for their respective games.
 * According to a media article with an interview of Neon's VA, Neon was discovered by a Filipino scientist around 10 BFL when they were conducting an investigation near Mt. Pulag following a lightning strike that revealed a rift in the sky. She was then adopted by the scientist alongside her adoptive mom who works as an officer in the Manila Anti-Corruption Task Force.
 * Because this info didn't come from an official Riot or VALORANT source, nor was it associated with a Rioter, it should not yet be taken as canon . However, there are still links between the info shown and info about Neon that is canon, such as the appearance of a lightning strike and rift in her player card.

Relations

 * Neon has had a previous misunderstanding with, which prevented him from being able to approach her when he and the VALORANT Protocol needed her help later on.
 * Chamber icon.png "Unfortunately, I cannot reach out to her directly, there is a past...misunderstanding that...may make her less receptive."