#but im not sure....im not sure yet abt him and technology in canon

[skunkes]

immediate redraw

[viktormaru]

Ok, here's my big post on my thoughts on Viktor's lore and how it compares to Viktor in Arcane

Obviously: spoilers for arcane until episode 6, and spoilers for viktor's current in game as of this date I guess?

Ok let's get into it

First of all Im gonna adress something that I mentioned on twitter. Riot basically confirmed Arcane isn't the definite canon but tried to rely as much on canon as it could, so basically its a soft canon.

I think that's good. League of Legends is a game that is constantly pumping new characters, claiming a story as the definite truth makes it harder to add to it later, as much as it sucks to lose consistency because of it.

But! That's the point I want to make with this point. They DID try to lean on the guts of what the characters' lores in it are and they made this new thing that still feels legit in a way. At least so far (we dont have act 3 out yet).

So Viktor right? First of all we never had a real young Viktor design, the closest we got I guess was prototype, and I'm not joking when I say I like this skin

The info we had on Viktor was that he was a genius, was ostricized by his peers in Piltover, very passionate about science and sympathetic towards the problems of the people of Zaun.

Then Arcane Viktor is... a genius, not very popular (this is an assumption based on the fact he's never really out with people), very passionate about science and sympathetic towards the problems of the people of Zaun. So it checks. He looks nerdy and I like that for him even though the fun in masked characters is usually that we don't know what they look like. This isn't abt his design, its abt his character and lore.

Viktor is from the Entresol level of Zaun, Zaun is full of toxins in the air basically and this is where most of what the call the Zaun Grey stays. Theres a lot of manual labor and factories here, it's basically the underbelly of Zaun. This seems to be true in both Arcane and In-game lore so keep it in mind.

In his in game-lore as a kid he had to constantly move because of the constant spills, accidents and other dangers that would come from those factories and that encouraged him to find a solution to that, making inventions that would make work safer and protect his people. It was through his inventions that he was invited to join the Piltover Academia.

And that's a constant in Viktor's inventions, most of his creations is to save lives or diminish suffering. He created Blitzcrank to control a chem-spill, he keeps using techmaturgical technologies to help people despite constant failures, he will disregard possible misuse of his technologies because HE intends to use it to help. Viktor is banned from the Academy because he doesn't see evil in what he does because he wouldn't misuse his technology. He's a logical man through and through, he doesn't see anything to be gained by harming other people (if he has no specific reason to do it).

Later with his Glorious Evolution, Viktor is trading human parts for robotic ones because they are more sturdy, they don't get sick or break like human bones do. He works on removing his emotions because him being fucking basically depressed was getting in the way of helping people. Viktor biggest motivation was this like misguided (?) desire to stop all the death and suffering that he grew up around. He's trying to go against the natural order to avoid it.

Now for Arcane Viktor we see he acquired a good position within the academia on his own, true to his genius nature and Stanwick, the professor that had originally invited him to Piltover seems to be out of the picture in the series. However there is a crucial change to Viktor right off the bat: Viktor is disabled. He needs an aid to walk. He's the same ambitious dude, not being content with his position int he academy, and sure enough on his beliefs he was willing to lose his carreer for Jayce's idea because he believed it to be good. He voices his desire to help the people of Zaun and that seems to be the goal he has with his inventions. Comes major change number 2: Viktor got sick from his years spent on the Entresol and is dying, FAST. We can see him start to spiriling down into means of using the technology he invented to work to save him. Viktor is trying to use his inventions to stop death at all costs.

You see where I'm getting at? We're getting to the same point basically. But now instead of Viktor working to save the people he had to watch die time and time again needlessly, the producers sped up the process to fit the series by making his issues much more personal. Viktor now understand in the flesh what is is to be fragile, to have your body fail to your expectations and sucumb to disease, pain and death. But the core of Viktor is still there.

My only concern with what's to come is that Viktor has always been a very logical man, he does things because he thought about them and made sense of them to be true based on his vision of hte world. He's no impulssive and he's not emotion driven, he's not prone to act without thinking. And again, Viktor never acted to hurt people, specially the vulnerable (though he has attacked Jayce, for example, with the reason that he NEEDED the crystal he had to save people, and if hurting Jayce meant saving dozens of other lives, that was a clear choice), so there's a part of me that fears what Singed being in the picture could mean to a Viktor who had a very fast ride to the point of Change instead of the very slow progress he had in the game lore. In Arcane he hasn't had time to think of the Glorious Evolution much, in his in game he kept seeing the same thing happen over and over again.

But yeah I can't say much about that because act 3 is not out yet... I'm excited for it though, I do hope we get a glimpse of robot man I love him very bad. And again, this is all my opinion and interpretations, I do have a specific vision of Viktor I like more and that is of a very sympathetic person instead of that of a villain and that is my bias and could pretty much be not the truth. I also don't remember his old lore and thus don't have any influence from that. Let's see where this all goes so I make another huge post for no reason.

On another things to note from the show:

- Jayce is so much nicer in the show than in the game's lore?? I NEED to consider this a soft canon or else Jayce, taking into account what he does in the in game lore, is a WORSE person that I imagined. Like, REALLY MUCH WORSE HOLY SHIT..... It's even funny just how much worse it makes him.

- On that note, I don't think Jayce did anything bad to Viktor in the series other than have a social life? TO VIKTOR, he's totally being an idiot and falling into a trap that's for sure but their friendship seems ot be going well with Jayce defending Viktor and supporting his ideas and inviting him to the stage to present his work as well, that's neat.

- Baby Viktor is fucking adorable I love him

- Heimerdinger comes off as a fucking horrible person telling Viktor to be patience and wait out a decade to perfect his work when Viktor is fucking dying and Heimer is like 300 years old LMAO

- I kinda agree with [Ikleyvey's take on twitter] about hwo the sicence aspect of the show works. It's confusing, doesn't seem to be coming from anywhere and make sense anywhere and it sounds like just a bunch of words thrown in for you to not understand, and they don't explain what it means because you're not supposed to make sense of it. It's a shame bcs I do wish we got to see more of it but it is what it is I guess.

I think this is it? so holy shit if theres anything I somehow missed or whatever feel free to ask me? Don't fight me abt it though this is just for fun and I dont hold the truth this is just my onion

TL;DR: Viktor Arcane and Viktor League of Legends are both motivated by their desire to stop suffering and death, against the natural order of things, even it falls within morally grey area very fast. The only difference is how fast that idea becomes "too much" in the eyes of others.

[catnippackets]

have you seen/would u recommend pacific rim 2? ive heard some things about newt and idk lol

I feel like Im in the minority that actually did think pru was fun but that being said it ended SO abruptly and with like three separate plotlines completely abandoned that I was really frustrated for days after watching it until I had processed everything and had time to think deeply about it lol it just seemed rly unfinished?? it feels like it was deliberately made as 1/2 of two sequels and there needs to be one more to tie everything up. actually I’m gonna ramble abt this bc I have a lot of thoughts (obvs spoilers under the cut)

the thing about the second one was that I genuinely was enjoying it right up until it ended because I swear to god the moment the end screen went up I yelled "what the fuck, that's it?" out loud into my bedroom bc I was so SHOCKED that THAT'S how it all ended, because it just seemed so incomplete?? Like it seemed like one half of a story, that will only be made whole if there's a third one to tie up all the plotlines that they didn't go through with in the second and if that's the case then I will be completely fine with it but if it doesn't or if they dont have a third one at all I will stay so frustrated lol. one silver lining to this is that the vibe of this movie was so different from the first that it almost feels easy to separate it and just imagine it as an AU if you prefer which is sort of nice; usually if a piece of media I like does something bad I feel all gutted and anxious and terrible that this is the canon I have to accept, but something abt this movie just made it feel like it was sort of a totally separate deal. maybe cuz only 3 of the original characters were in it idk

to start off: I felt like there were a couple of plotlines in it that were just sort of introduced and then never seen through which was very ????? Amara & Vik's weird hate-rivalry thing was one of them; Vik instantly has it out for Amara bc she’s jealous, which is a very interesting concept, and then this prompts Amara to become hostile right back at her, which is also a very interesting concept, and then it never got resolved at all? like they couldve done something really cool with those two but it just never went anywhere. and then there was sort of a weird love triangle thing happening between Jake and Nate and Jules that felt so weird bc it had no significance to the plot at all and it felt like it was only thrown in there for the sake of having ~romantic drama~ idk maybe I wasnt paying too much attention and there was more to it than that but it really just seemed like they wanted to put romance in there and didnt want to bother to put any work into it

BUT the thing about romantic sub plots is that THERE ALREADY WAAAAS OOOOOOOOONE which brings me to the biggest frustration I have w this movie because--and DISCLAIMER, this was also my favourite plot point of the movie bc it was by far the most interesting, the biggest reason for me enjoying the movie at all, and the bit I feel like should have had WAY more attention--Newt and Hermann were like legitimately in love in this movie I swear to god I was watching it and thinking “this is GENUINELY the most blatantly gay thing I’ve ever seen in a feature film and I know that straight ppl are very talented at writing gay romances completely by accident so it’s possible that they just accidentally did it this way but also it is REALLY goddamn obvious oh my gooood?” (and then I did a lot of frantic googling and found out that I was right and Charlie Day & Burn Gorman knew what the fuck they were doing and I felt so validated lol), and yet despite this, the movie had them speak for the last time almost at the halfway point of the film and then spend the entire second half apart and not talking at all and even at the post-credits scene where Jake and Newt talked for a bit Hermann wasn't there?? not even behind Jake to give Newt any searching glances?? Nothing??

dude...Newt being possessed by the precursors is a HUGELY interesting concept that actually makes sense and I wish it had had more attention. I’ve seen a lot of ppl say that pru butchered Newt’s character and I don’t 100% agree bc like...being possessed will change you lmao so while yes I’m obviously sad that he wasn’t himself, I feel like it made sense that he had a slight personality change, because it...wasn’t him anymore. we don’t really see the Newt we all fell in love with in the first movie. we THINK we’re seeing him, but halfway through we find out we’re wrong.

my critiques with that plotline are basically that I wish the reveal had happened a little bit later on, and I wish that it had been a little more obvious I guess?? like, we definitely get hints of it (when Hermann excitedly asks Newt to help him with a dangerous unorthodox project and Newt says “dude why are you doing something so risky when we’ve already got a good plan in motion? just wait for that to be done, it’s fine” and Hermann IS us, he IS the audience when he reacts, because this is a completely insane thing for Newt to say. Newt, who, in the first movie, was so obsessed with finding knowledge that he went behind the marshall’s back to literally risk his life doing something incredibly dangerous just to see what would happen? being given the opportunity to do the same kind of dangerous frivolous act and refusing? this is blatantly out of character, and Hermann is all of us when he’s shocked, “what, you mean you...won’t help me??” which means it wasn’t bad writing on their part, it was purposefully supposed to stand out as something that was wrong and something that we needed to pay attention to. that was a really good scene to hint that something was Not Right with Newt), and I wish there had been a bunch more like it. I think the reveal should have been saved for the end of the second act; I think that should have been the moment that act 2 of a story usually has, that dreadful event that happens that leaves the main characters feeling completely hopeless and unsure what to do.

I also wish that he had managed to break through more than That One Scene, I think it would’ve been more dramatic if he’d had a few moments where he managed to take control for a second to remind us that he’s still in there and still fighting, and I’m sad they didn’t do that. I saw a fan comic that touched on this idea and I think it’s brilliant, even the idea of him suddenly getting a nosebleed and acting distracted to show that that’s the Real Him trying to fight through would have been sooooooooo good.

I also feel like it didn’t make any sense for Nate to be the one to subdue him in the end, I dont even think those two interact at all so like, why was it him?? it would have been so much more dramatic and heartbreaking if Hermann had been the one to confront him so they could’ve had a little conversation on the roof where Newt could once again break through for a second before getting taken over and then Hermann could like idk have a taser hidden behind him that he uses to subdue him and THAT wouldve been a way sadder and more interesting way to do it. I also think Hermann shouldve been the one to speak to him in the post credits scene, or to have him in the background behind Jake just watching him sadly so we can get a couple shots of intense eye contact like UGH I just wish there had been more interaction between the two of them after the reveal happened!! When the movie was over and I realized they never spoke again I felt so upset!!! they're soulmates!! they're literally in love!! this has been CONFIRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and segueing in from the soulmate thing, another thing that made me sad was that nobody came in pairs anymore :( aside from Newt and Hermann, they were the only ones gjdfk but in the first one every character had another character that they were paired up with, both for drifting reasons and just for plot reasons (except Chau and Tendo but I’m pretty sure there's actually significance to that too), and in the second one it just sort of felt like everyone was drifting with each other with no strong connection needed and that made it feel way less special. granted, the movie takes place ten years after the first one so in that time maybe technology advanced to the point where you didn't need a strong neural connection to drift anymore, but for the sake of the story it would have been way better if they'd kept the whole soulmates concept from the first one, it made it way stronger and more special

so yeah in conclusion I did think pru was enjoyable and I probably would watch it again some time but also it definitely pales in comparison to the first one and I’m desperately hoping we get one more so they can tie everything together and FIX THINGS KFGH it’s not too late!!!!! I wish I could write Pacific Rim 3 I genuinely think I would do a good job I love storytelling and I’m very passionate about these characters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spirit-shroud]

what are some roles that have been largely changed for cityrune? since you said queen was an influencer now :]

hi ty for asking me im vibrating. havent gotten to talk about this au now for three years and now that chapter 2 is like real and this time i can like........draw occasionally and i have more understanding of nuance...... [grips table] [screams]

this isnt quite what you asked but heres what's everyone from chapter 1 has been Up To with a little bit of context (and under a read more bc it got LENGTHY):

kris - professional stay at home teen (they live w/ asgore n help run the flower shop sometimes. this decision was entirely bc i dont like toriel). was wrongly diagnosed w Sudden Soul Rejection when they were incredibly young and given an experimental transplanted soul as a replacement. it works for them fine, give or take having to see gaster once a month for checkups. but sometimes the soul makes them skittish n decides they're going to sit in front of the pc and play 30 consecutive hours of a certain simulation game and not even let them drown people in the pool. if it were entirely up to them, they'd be like. passing out on the sofa to documentaries about bigfoot. or practicing cool knife tricks to impress their friends at their next tabletop meetup

- EDITED IN: the soul is kind of their friend. they are wearing a hypothetical get along shirt. most of the time, they agree on actions and things to do. tends to refer to themself + their soul as we/us which originally was just something they did in their head but they kept slipping in speech/text n just became a Thing of how they talk. switches to 'I/Me' whenever smth is wrong.

- also edited in: they believe the soul they have is their original soul bc nobody has told them otherwise. whenever theyre like 'oh yeah we think about our soul n view it as a separate entity to us like. all the time. it likes to hurt if we make too many choices it doesn't seem to like and kind of forces us to be a toned down version of what we want to be but thats just how souls are haha' and everyone is like.... 'Hey Kris That's Really Not How It Is.' theyre like. 'huh. gonna ignore that for now' - this was going to be a plot point

toriel - head of H0MEWOR1D (H01)'s department of education; kind of lost her roots as a simple math teacher as she was pushed into a lot of power she didn't even really seek out. divorced asgore over some miscommunications in their relationship; also loosely as a result of grief from asriel's death

asgore - the same. runs a lil flower/gift shop. people come in more to talk with him than to buy flowers most of the time, though

asriel Flowey - he's back in flower form, thanks to the government an accident. causes a lot of technology glitches wherever he goes, and wants revenge. isn't sure how to go about it. asriel "died" around 8 years before the story takes place and kris still misses him and refuses to even THINK about even the IDEA of calling someone their sibling after what happened, just in case it somehow happens a second time

susie - more of the same really. she spends most of her time either at grillby's (she's sort of become his assistant n helps with opening/closing. it just happened) or getting into low-stakes trouble w/ kris

noelle - she's in the city's equivalent of college and shes so tired. shes So Abysmally Tired n got kinda pushed 2 follow in her mom's footsteps. she's rarely around anymore except through text or on monsters & mages (dnd) night. (however.........she will come back w/ a long break n hang out w everyone again)

berdly - tbh i didnt even consider berdly when i made the au initially. idk what he's doing. probably in a similar situation to noelle??? canonically got kicked out of the M&M group due to clashes w/ other players but lurks in their group chat to posts memes sometimes

didnt rly think of any other of kris' classmates (+ their families) after ch1 and probably will continue to not, until chs 3-5 come out and i gotta whip up roles and histories for like. a lotta guys all of a sudden. i also forgot about noelle's parents

sans - runs a convenience store that everyone kind of thinks is a front, but also it has really cheap snacks and the local teens make a point of stopping there after school. so essentially, more of the same papyrus - similar to ut. is a very polite and sweet boy but you'll know when he's coming

grillby - he's back. he runs a bar like back in ut but the cozy vibes and weird-for-a-bar hours keep attracting kids who need parents, so half of his menu is comprised of overly sweet mocktails. usually only frequented by monsters

QC - same as usual. has a "rivalry" with grillbz but, theyre besties and have a book club

mettaton - he's real and he's back. he's similar to how he is back in ut w/ his EX body. likes to hang out at grillby's and talk to unsuspecting fans. has a show for everything

napstablook - similar to how they are in ut. helps mtt with making music sometimes. doesn't leave the house too often, but spends a lot of time posting on undernet

undyne - unfortunately. more of the same. she is a cop in the monster district. i am also upset by this but couldn't think of anything better for her

alphys - a doctor studying under dr. gaster in the hopes she'll one day take over his research. she spends most of her time as a nurse with a bigger title, though, and blocks out the weirdness of her job with anime.

gaster - weird guy. H01's top soul researcher and resident House wannabe. trying to manufacture the ultimate soul that can be controlled with simple internal switches, but so far he's only had 1 (very limited) success with a certain human. monsters just melt, and darkners just sorta......get weird... he's onto Something, though.

ralsei - lonely boy with some very strange hobbies. popular on UnderNet for poetry, baking videos, and general cryptid vibe. is the DM for the monsters & mages group (also seems to think everything is actually very fine in H01 when it is very much not)

lancer - about the same. professional Round Boy. lives w/ rouxls full time. follows susie around like a lost puppy and calls himself her "underling."

rouxls - runs a hotel/casino kind of deal where the objective Bad Guys hang out, and usually ends up doing any of the spade king's paperwork.

spade king - mafia godfather. kind of a dick. don't play cards with him

seam - works with the spade king as his right hand cat more or less because they have for a lot of years and are in that 'sunk cost fallacy' zone. thinks of retiring to a quiet life in the monster section of town like, daily

jevil - used to work with the spade king, but got imprisoned for Crimes. got weird after The Accident (separate from asriel's accident)

temmies (all) - dont really get mentioned except offhandedly but they run the monster space station. so far, are the only monsters who have ever been to space.

as far as chapter 2 goes:

yeah i dont have much so far for characters. in the original version of the au i accidentally made darkners as a whole just kinda..... not great? like all sorts of weird organized crime ties n sort of going out of their way to be A Problem to the city (not even in like. a revolution way. in a working against them but with the same goals kinda way). with the whole context it worked At The Time, bc i just had the spade king to look to as a villain, and also in this au the darkners are just trying to survive a world that ultimately was not built for them (that humans think they own, and monsters sort of... seeing this and wondering what it'll mean for them whichever one wins), but w/ new info abt how the dark world works n more guys to work with i want to kind of. edit the vibe a bit. like yea darkners will ultimately do whatever it takes to take over H01, but maybe in a better way than like. idk. all this. it doesnt have to be peaceful or anything it just has to be more adaptable as we meet more kinds of darkners

however yeah i thought up 'queen as some sort of childless mommy blogger/influencer' and that completely revived all memory i had of this au. she should be on mtt's talkshow. also she sells collectible wine glasses w/ her likeness

spamton is another one of gaster's failed soul experiments, but he hasn't melted yet, and seems............fine? sort of. so he hasn't gotten decommissioned yet. he does want to give you malware tho. hot monster singles in your area n all that

im blanking on the rest of the guys but i hope any of this was comprehensible