#league of lore discourse

[jesncin]

Lil' musing about Public Domain, AI theft and Transformative creativity

Old essay originally written on Cohost in February 2024. With additions.

I'm putting my thoughts here because I don't want to risk going viral for subtweeting discourse again, here we go! So with the Steamboat Willie Variant of Mickey Mouse going to public domain I've seen the usual cynical pushback over transformative art. Particularly in response to overplayed EDGY DARK WINNIE THE POOH and EDGY DARK STEAMBOAT MICKEY and YOUR CHILDHOOD THING DARK NOW that inevitably happens around this time.

But to group all transformative art as derivative, soul-less, profit-driven, lazy and "reliant on past successes" is frankly just...really silly? I saw a notable concept artist making this over-simplified talking point, and I find it odd that someone can look at the most visible (by being formulaic, provocative and made by rich people) examples of public domain adaptations and just generalize all art ever inspired by a thing as uninventive and compare artists who do that to being "ai-like". It feels like the false dichotomy constantly set between "real books" and fanfiction.

We've seen marginalized people reclaim cosmic horror from Lovecraftian fiction. I've seen queer people reckon with and reclaim the queer history of Peter Pan. There's something special about taking a familiar thing and informing it with a perspective that wasn't present in its original iteration. It takes a whole other part of your creative brain muscles to adapt and reimagine something that already exists. And it can be just as creatively fulfilling as making original stuff.

While it's important to recognize and remember the origin of archetypes in stories or movements in art, I think there's sometimes a misplaced reverence put towards the original version of something. Whenever I talk about how Asian writers like Gene Yang and Sarah Kuhn have more thoroughly integrated Superman's immigrant themes in their re-imaginings of his mythos than their white peers have, I get hit with the constant "hey remember Superman's creators were the sons of Jewish immigrants (who made racist jokes about Chinese people)" and "hey remember, Gene Yang and Gurihiru's Superman Smashes the Klan was based on a radio show arc made by WHITE people first (who made the story about a binary of Good white people vs Bad white people, along with centering how white people feel about racism)".

Especially if it's a means of centering white creatives, people love to dismiss the transformative contributions of marginalized people, but especially that of people of color. It took until 2016 for the World Fantasy Award to change their statuette to not be based after the face of renown racist H.P Lovecraft, after all.

Last year I gave myself the goal to do something "unnecessarily ambitious" with no plan of pitching/printing/selling it. Just "art for art's sake", something really not-algorithm-friendly. And yeah, that ended up being a fully rendered, 40-page martian manhunter fan comic. I did it for no other reason than being a huge fan of a severely unpopular character and feeling like there was a new story I really wanted to tell about the character that would never happen in canon with how little there's been written about him. I don't think it's fair to call writing 40 pages of a new origin story, drawing fully colored pages with unique re-designs, reading hours of martian manhunter comics to tie different aspects of his lore into coherent worldbuilding, putting that comic up for free for the few other Green Justice League Guy fans to read, as lazy, profit-driven, and soul-less.

There's tons of artists who do stuff like this all the time. It just comes off as being very out of touch to view true creativity as only existing one way. That transformative media must inherently be "less". One time a white guy pitched to me some ideas he had for Superman if he ever had a chance to write him, and I said "that sounds cool, you should write a fanfic about it" and another white guy (who felt the need to come to the first one's defense), viewed what I said as an insult. There's something about doing fanart because you enjoy it and don't need to profit out of everything you make that's seen as lesser than having the seal of canonicity from a company.

My motto with making needlessly ambitious fancomics is "You don't need to work for DC Comics to make DC comics". Because canonicity has nothing to do with what makes art special.

To bring this back to edgy Mickey Mouse spin offs, even if you do just want to make cliche mascot-horrified stuff because you enjoy it, then by all means go ahead! I always go back to this video Sagan Hawkes did about petscop-inspired video series. There's a running theme about grappling with the concept of Originality in Art in relation to youtube horror projects (the thesis comes around at 2:04:10), and some valuable words are shared in the collected interviews with web series creatives (2:18:47) in the end. SeireaSong (creator behind Diminish) talks about how misguided conversations surrounding "originality" can be (2:29:43). It's so worth it to watch when you have the time.

Anyway happy 2024! Be good to each other.

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

*grabs the mic* ok sit down i have stuff to say. (collection of brain farts below)

Clarifying beforehand that I am a Himejoshi first, person second, but I do find it really intriguing how most of the m/f league ships are more interesting than the slash ones. Which is a bit weird since, like most queer people, I tend to gravitate to. well. queer representation and subtext in media. Rakan/Xayah, Leblanc/Swain, Lucian/Senna, Ashe/Tryndamere, Garen/Katarina, Ahri/Yasuo, etc. have much more concise and compelling dynamics than half of the m/m ships in League.

And, of course, there’s commentary to be made. Het ships get to be explored better and more often than queer ones, so it’s not rocket science to see *why* they tend to have better dynamics. Buuut it still doesn't explain why most of the league yuri prevails over yaoi when it comes to intricacies and overall quality (taking for reference some like Neeko/Nidalee, Caitlyn/Vi, Diana/Leona, Kai'Sa/Taliyah, Scratch/Seraphine, Irelia/Liana, etc.). All the while, I can think of maybe 5 yaoi ships, at least a little canonically sourced, that have as many nuances, diversity, and conciseness.

Another point to be added is that even if the fandom gets more diverse with each passing year, a huge part of the player base is still toxic incels, to whom is inconceivable to see queer men in media because it threatens their pre-conceived notions of masculinity and what a relationship should even look like. So it becomes uncomfortable to see gay dudes in the silly video game!

Wlw relationships get to be better explored in lore because 1) it’s possible to at the same time drive a queer narrative and, with minor adjustments, turn it palpable to that same toxic player base’s consumption through fetishization, and 2) i feel like there’s a higher suspense of disbelief in society as a whole to disregard sapphic relationships as sisterly or platonic love (see the discourse that often surrounds the lesbian ships mentioned above).

And this is in no way meant to say “wlw have it better”, bad/silent representation is just as bad or arguably worse than nothing. It's just interesting to try to reason as to why League is less afraid of developing good and concise sapphic relationships while resorting to bland shit with achillean ones.

*het was used generally, i knooooow m/f ships can also be queer

*this is mostly if not entirely just my personal opinion masqueraded as food for thought

*feel free to reblog with your thoughts! just be polite please

[strawberryblondebutch]

Omg I did realize you were a fellow ex-athlete! My body (knee) also decided to sh*t itself but before that I was a ski racer in the pipeline for the us ski team and while I’ll never know what I could have become, it’s still a little tough to see all my old teammates and girls I would race with skiing on the World Cup circuit or becoming olympians. Anyways, all this to say thank you for giving us the lore but I hope it’s not too hard watching your former teammates in this new league especially since your career was cut short due to injury.

I'm over it most of the time. I would have been the exact wrong age to go pro (I graduated undergrad in 2021, so I would have been caught by the pandemic as well as the PHF/PWHPA discourse). I only really get got when I see someone else go hard into the boards, like Loren Gabel this past season. I wish I kept in better touch with a lot of them, but I'm very happy to send the lore lol.

[hey-i-am-trying]

I have to say that the wave of hating on Vi is annoying and the wave of hating on people that have any negative feelings with the character is equally annoying. [this is more about twitter type of discourse but I will not go there to have this conversation]

I think the whole point of Arcane Season 1 was that we cannot take out the big picture out of what it seems to be individual choices and at the same we see the choices of individuals affecting the collective lives of those around them. So when we try to divide people by simply "good" or "bad" we assume a inherited value of those people without taking into account the context and history that afffects these people.

Piltover murdering hundreds of thousands of Zaun people is an unfortunatly tragedy. Jinx killing the Council is terrorism. Ekko trying to protect his people from both enforcers and drug lords is terrorism.

When Zaun wants revenge, it is murder. When Piltover wants revenge, it is justice.

Vi, someone from Zaun, someone that lost so many for the actions of enforcers wearing their uniforms has an impact, she has position herself on Piltover side, what she is going to do with that position might matter, she might do good, she might tell herself she is doing good but she is inevitebly feeding the machine that harmed her own people. Doing justice for Zaun in an enforcer clothes is a symbol that she believes on Piltover's vision of what justice looks. It doesn't metter if it is true or not, it is the message that uniform sends.

I am by no means saying Vi is the devil, that she doesn't care for Zaun, for Jinx, or Ekko, or anybody else on the undercity, what I am saying is that looking at a bigger picture her actions have consequences for other people. I can't wait to see on Season 2 what was her rational for choosing this, what her goals are. I was talking about the broad scale before but I would like to zoom on her thoughts and feelings when Season 2 get here. I know the jokes about "she got the fuck the cops wrong" are funny but I don't believe Vi would do that just for Caitlyn, even though I think Vi would be more inclined to join with Caitlyn in a leadership position I don't think it would be the only reason.

[But anyway, I just will rant for this last part. because that is kinda tiring. I know it is upsetting when people boil down your fav chracter to the point of losing the entire point of their arc, but at some point you got also to understand that people are allow to have negative reactions to a fictional character. When we ask for more nuances in discourse, we should be willing to accept that having nuance doesn't mean to have a positive opinion about every charcater in the show. It came to the point that people are not even allow to joke about Vi becoming a cop that there are people whining about it on twitter. Not everybody is your enemy, people can joke about the fictional cop being a cop. I am also tired of people saying that Arcane fans need to know League of Legends lore. The show is a story that can and should be told alone, just because someone is a fan of the show doesn't mean they need to have knowledge about the game lore. Like, yeah, I know shit abou LOL lore and still knew Vi would become an enforcer, but some people just watch the show and don't go after knowing more about the game lore and that is actually fine, and those fans feelings about the characters are not lesser because of that]

That being said:

"Quando a educação não é libertadora, o sonho do oprimido é ser o opressor" - Paulo Freire

"When education is not for freedom, the dream of the oppressed is to be the oppressor"

[atthebell]

Who's saying the dsmp fandom is better than qsmp fandom? You couldn't even ship people that were canonically married without getting harassed😭😭 you couldn't really ship anyone tbh unless you were heavy into dnf or smthing

crazy people on the confessions blog say it all the time and i see it CONSTANTLY from people it's insane to me

mcytblr is the way that it is because dsmp fandom, particularly on twitter but here as well, was so horrifically toxic, particularly about shipping and about harassing ccs and other fans. the ways that we deal with discourse and the attitudes that we have towards shipping are a direct result of how vitriolic the fandom was at its height. qsmp fandom is less toxic in part because dsmp fandom is so bad-- we've learned from those mistakes.

it's also ridiculous to me to pretend qsmp is somehow worse when the fandom is far smaller and, frankly, the majority of fans are too busy doing breakdowns of fitmc lore or writing guapoduo aus on twitter to get that nasty. it's just not the same. there's not the same eyes on it, there's not the same crazy fans who want to cancel everyone for any perceived slight against tommy or harass any female creator for existing (the female streamers on qsmp are treated LEAGUES better than any woman on the dsmp that is very fucking evident thank gd), people are focused on the frankly insane amounts of lore going on. yes, people can get toxic and harass ccs sometimes and i wish they were less shitty but mcyt fandom has improved dramatically since the height of dsmp, also because the fucking awful insane people got bored and moved on to being toxic elsewhere. minecraft and mcyt is just not as astoundingly popular as it was a few years ago and a smaller fandom means less fucking maniacs.

also the way that dsmp was run (which is to say, it wasn't, it was an unorganized mess at the best of times) did not incentivize positive fandom behavior. meanwhile quackity and many of the qsmp creators speak up for one another and don't let issues get out of hand (for the most part, i do think there's always room for improvement here) and there is the constant reminder that this is roleplay, and taking it too seriously is not encouraged. people in this fandom, while decidedly not perfect, understand far better how roleplay works and that the characters are not the creators, which was far less the case during dsmp's heyday.

shipping in particular is completely normal (with the caveat that mcyttwt will never be actually normal about this sigh but it's still far more common and less fraught) which is a fucking breath of fresh air and is partially as well due to a generally older fanbase & all the creators being adults, most of whom are very clearly down for shipping.

anyway tldr to anyone with an actual brain it's obvious qsmp fandom is not nearly as toxic and it's nuts to say otherwise

[sage-nebula]

Enforcer Vi Discourse

Now that it's been a few days and I've had some time to think on it — and, more pressingly, since I've seen a variety of takes cross my "For You" whether I like it or not (and most of the time I don't like it) — I thought I'd go ahead and make a post rounding up my thoughts and responses to the most common takes I've seen on the discourse surrounding Vi becoming an Enforcer in season 2 of Arcane. Not because I think anyone necessarily cares, but more because that's what tumblr is for, so why the hell not.

So let's hit it. (Under a cut though, because this is long and I'm not an asshole.)

"Vi is an Enforcer in League of Legends, so there is no reason at all for you to be surprised / upset / confused by this, and it's silly / stupid / weird if you are."

I'm starting off with this one mostly because I feel it's the silliest of the lot, and one that I've seen posted on this website way more often than I thought I would considering I thought the number of League players on this website was pretty much nil. But regardless —

To start with, playing League — or knowing anything about League — is not a prerequisite for watching and enjoying Arcane. While Riot has decided that Arcane is a prequel to League (I think), and therefore tied the two together canonically, you can watch Arcane without ever knowing that League of Legends is a video game that exists. In fact, when I first watched Arcane, I didn't even know that it was based on League of Legends! I saw the banner for it on Netflix, thought it looked interesting, gave it a watch. I fell in love with it, checked the tag on tumblr, and that's how I learned that it was connected to League. (No, I did not pay attention to the opening credits beyond enjoying the song.) All I knew about League beforehand was that it was a.) a game, and b.) said game involves a lot of mouse clicking, and I knew that because my employees at my former job would play it during downtime and the amount of mouse clicking that filled the office when they did was insane. I eventually learned to tune it out, but goddamn. It was annoying before I did.

My point is, Arcane is an enjoyable experience without any knowledge of League whatsoever. Knowledge of League lore can help with speculation on what might happen in future seasons (e.g. people were speculating that Vander would become Warwick before the reveal happened), but it's not necessary at all. So to act as though people are stupid or silly for either not knowing that Vi was an Enforcer in League lore, or expecting that Arcane might go a different way given how differently Vi was portrayed in Arcane versus how she was portrayed in League (and she's not the only one) . . . that, in itself, is silly. You look, sound, and are acting foolish. People only following an adaptation or spinoff of something is not a new phenomenon, and expecting them to be beholden to source material that they either a.) haven't experienced, or b.) has up until a certain point been very different from said adaptation or spinoff is just silly behavior. Arcane is based on League, but it still isn't League. It's entirely possible to like Arcane and not League, and vice versa.

"If you're upset about Vi becoming an Enforcer, then are you upset about Caitlyn becoming an Enforcer again too?"

I'm hesitant to include this one because I feel like it's a bad faith take, but it was so bad it has not left my head since I saw it, so I have to address it just to get it out of there. I don't think there is a single rational, logical person in this entire fandom who is surprised or upset that Caitlyn joined the Enforcers again, because Caitlyn's situation is completely different from Vi's. Vi grew up in the undercity, and was a victim of police brutality for her entire life. Not just in the "she was part of a marginalized community" sense, but in the "she personally experienced police brutality multiple times" sense. Caitlyn, on the other hand, grew up as an extremely privileged wealthy girl in Piltover and dreamed of becoming an Enforcer for pretty much her entire life. She only stopped being one because she got injured and was then softly fired. And even then, she continued doing investigative police work on her own because she loved being a cop that much. Now that her mother has been killed by a terrorist, there is absolutely no way she'd turn away from putting the uniform on again. It makes perfect sense for Caitlyn's character and that's why no one is upset about it. There's no struggle to connect the dots there. Come on, be serious.

"There is no way that Vi would EVER become a cop, this is just bad writing!"

As stated in the previous answer, I understand the struggle when it comes to connecting these dots in terms of Vi's character. Vi is a character who has trauma that is directly tied to the Enforcers. And this is not just trauma in her past, with Enforcers having killed her parents and brutalized her and her family as a child (because as we see in the "Enemy" music video, they had no problem shoving her against a fence to roughly frisk her after Powder mimed shooting them with finger guns), but recent trauma with having spent the past six or seven years in Stillwater prison after Marcus put her there to "save" her from Silco, where she was then kept in a dirty cell and beaten on a regular basis. Out of all of the Zaun characters in our main cast, Vi has arguably suffered the most brutality at the hands of the police, despite who her girlfriend currently is. So I do understand those who have trouble seeing her put on that uniform to join their side, and hell, my own immediate reaction to seeing her in that uniform was, "I want to vomit :)" because, yeah, it's not a good look, Vi!

However . . .

In real life, there are many cases where people from marginalized communities do join the police for reasons that only they know. Queer people, people of color, women, impoverished people — they attend the police academy and become cops, and some of them do stay with the force until retirement age. Maybe they believe they can change the force from the inside. Maybe they believe that if they're policing their community, they can make sure those in their community are safer than if it's just "the bad ones." There's no way of knowing. But this does happen. And I would wager that some of those people were brutalized by police at some point in their lives, or had loved ones who were . . . and they still joined anyway. Maybe their trauma was what inspired them to join, because sometimes trauma responses do work like that, making you think that you can "reclaim" it or "defeat" it or show yourself that it's "really not that bad" or that "if I'm one of them, they can't hurt me" or something similar. Again, I don't know. I have no way of knowing. But this kind of thing does happen, so the idea of someone from Zaun — even someone who has directly experienced brutality from the Enforcers like Vi — joining the Piltover Enforcers . . . it's not that strange when you think about the marginalized folks in real life who do end up becoming cops, or joining the military. It does happen.

More specifically to Vi though: I think it's important to remember what motivates her. Vi is, and has always been, motivated by protecting those she loves, even if it means sacrificing herself (her happiness, her safety, her life) in the process. In arc 1 of season 1, she was ready to turn herself over to the Enforcers as the culprit of the bombing at Jayce's apartment in order to protect Powder, Mylo, Claggor, and Vander. Vi knew this meant that she would never see them again, and would likely do time in Stillwater for it. Yet, at fifteen years old, she was still ready to make that decision to protect them, because she loved them. As the season progresses, we see her make similar decisions; she ends her friendship* with Caitlyn to go after Silco on her own because she doesn't want to involve Caitlyn in the messier, more dangerous aspects of what she's about to do, despite the feelings she's already developed for Caitlyn by that point. At the dinner party, she agrees to go live in solitude with Jinx, again leaving Caitlyn and any sense of normality or friendship with anyone else behind, if it means helping her baby sister heal and get better. Vi is a character who is willing to make personal sacrifices for those she loves, even when those she loves may not want her to make them.

Why is this relevant? It's relevant because I think there is a very strong possibility that Vi is going to become an Enforcer in an effort to protect Jinx. (And also Caitlyn, but Caitlyn has backup in the form of other Enforcers whereas Vi doesn't have reason to believe that Jinx has any backup at all, so I think Jinx will be her priority.) In the first teaser we received for season two, Caitlyn has a line where she says, "If I go after your sister, one of us comes back in a box." There is a very high probability that Caitlyn's mother was killed by the rocket that Jinx fired at the council tower, which is why Caitlyn is gunning for Jinx's head. Even if Jinx is convinced that Vi can't "love [her] like she used to," I don't think Vi agrees. And I think that Vi is willing to do whatever she has to do in order to keep her baby sister alive, even if that means shoving her trauma down as far as it will go, swallowing her vomit, and putting on an Enforcer uniform so she's with the squad that goes after Jinx so she can make sure that Jinx is brought in alive (and also so that Caitlyn isn't the one who comes back in a box either). If we consider it from this perspective, I do think it makes sense for Vi.

(*Yes, friendship. I ship them as much as the next person, and it is obvious that they both had feelings for each other, and that scene was 100% written like a breakup. But even one of the writers, I think, said that it was too soon for them to have been dating yet, and I agree! They hadn't even kissed yet. I do think they will in season two though, but as of season one, they were just Friends With Feelings. Everything just happened so fast.)

"Sevika and Jinx were the same as the Enforcers but on Silco's side and they weren't hated like the Enforcers are, so you're hypocrites if you like them but hate Vi!"

I won't pretend that there aren't people who woobify Silco and his entire operation, acting as if they have never done anything wrong ever in their life, either because they find Silco or Sevika attractive, or because they relate so hard to Jinx that they can and will excuse everything she does because admitting that she has been in the wrong makes them feel like they've been in the wrong, or because they don't want to admit that they like characters who do bad things, or because they are desperate for Arcane to be a Good vs Evil story when it is not, has never been, and will never be that, or some combination of the above. This has been happening since season one, and I'm well aware of the phenomenon.

But as much as there are intentional parallels between Silco's operation and Piltover's council & Enforcers (in a way that is supposed to make you see that they are both corrupt and that you should be cheering for neither of them as they are), I also feel that reducing these parallels to "these characters fulfill the exact same roles and are the exact same and therefore fans are hypocrites for hating the Enforcers while being okay with Jinx and/or Sevika" is . . . well, reductive.

Again, to be abundantly clear: Silco's mafia is violent, corrupt, and overall a net negative for Zaun. Yes, there are people who use shimmer as medicine, there are people whose lives are saved by it, such as Vi's in season one. There are also people who are addicted to it, whose lives are ruined by it, who are essentially owned by Silco's mafia as a result of it. There are people who are murdered for daring to speak out against and defy Silco and his rule over the undercity, and Sevika helped to enforce this. None of that is being disputed here.

But from the perspective of the viewer — and particularly viewers who perhaps live in marginalized communities, who do feel the oppression of wealthier classes and police organizations represented by the city of Piltover and their Enforcers, but who don't experience living under a criminal rule similar to Silco's mafia — I can understand why they would view the Piltover Enforcers differently from Silco's mafia in the sense of, "The Piltover Enforcers are the oppressive ruling class, while Silco's mafia is what happens when the oppressed use what resources are available to them in an effort to defend themselves and fight back against said oppressive ruling class." Remember, Sevika was the primary person to confront Vander for not doing anything to fight back against Piltover and the Enforcers in the Last Drop in arc 1. Vander's argument was that they should wait for the investigation into the explosion in Piltover to blow over; Sevika's argument was that they should fight back against the Enforcers patrolling their streets, hassling them in their pubs, beating and oppressing them. When the first arc of the show sets the stage in this way, is it any wonder that some in the audience continue to see it as such even when Silco's mafia amasses the power it does? When Sevika herself was speaking as the voice of the oppressed wanting to fight back?

Again: Yes, Silco's criminal organization ends up becoming as brutal and powerful in Zaun as the Enforcers are in Piltover (although the Enforcers have just as much violent power in Zaun as well, particular in arc 1). But again, I feel that simply reducing it to "they're the same" brushes away the surrounding context, as well as ignores the perspective that viewers may bring in from their personal lives — not to mention that "the monster you created" doesn't refer only to Jinx's perspective on how she feels that Vi had a central hand in creating who she is now, but also refers to how Piltover's treatment of the undercity is what allowed Silco to not only create his mafia in the first place, but what allowed it to flourish and become what it is now (and what it will continue to be even now that he's dead).

TL;DR: There are reasons why people view the Piltover Enforcers differently than they view Sevika, Jinx, and others who work(ed) for Silco. Yes, all are violent in the name of carrying out orders, as well as maintaining power and a status quo, but economic and social class politics play a huge part in how they're perceived and I personally feel that it's important not to forget that.

Anyway, those are the primary takes I've seen on the issue, or at least the ones that I had actual thoughts on more than "yeah true," or "nah." Now that it's all off my chest and out of my head, I can be at peace and not think about any of it again until season two comes out. Which means, of course, that if any of this makes you mad and you feel the need to rage, I'm not going to engage with any of that silliness. I'm an adult, and I don't have time to get in fights over TV shows, even masterpieces like Arcane. It's why I made my own post, instead of reblogging the posts making the above points to argue with them.

Anyway, that's it! Time to go get my daily win in Splatoon 3 and then spend the rest of the night playing Stardew Valley.

[gaargoyle]

Honestly, I have no clue what's going to happen with the inevitable newbie boom that will come from the Fa//out show on Amazon or whatever. Like, the depths of the Fa//out fandom as it is now.... the discourse, the arguments, the lore, the retcons, it is massive, it is all-consuming, people that debate and talk about Fa//out are unbelievably obscure and pedantic and on a whole other league from any franchise that I know of. (I've been apart of it so I'm aware)

With the W//itcher show on Netflix, this was different, because the source material is the book, it exists outside the realm of both the show and the game. You could comfortably enjoy any of them on their own and be satisfied.

But if anyone wants to learn about Fa//out, you have to know about the games because that's all there is. I don't think it will really be possible to just enjoy the show and ignore everything else if they truly wanted to get into it all.

The new guys are gonna come in wanting to talk about the show and they will find arguments over gun designs, power armor models, failed loot table generation that causes lore issues, technology retcon discourse, faction retcon discourse, attempts to make sense of fucked up timelines, an Eastern European modding community that has existed as long as the franchise, etc ad infinitum because this has been going on for over 20 years now. I am not at all kidding when I say these people probably won't know what's going on at all. Not newbie friendly, especially not coming from the medium of TV.

Someone's going to ask which game they should start with so they can get more into the franchise. And then they will die.

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

Oh shit there’s a new one okay. I thought the most recent was liek a week ago. Imma watch that rq

Okay I watched it I’m going feral I’m just gonna yell my opinions in yr inbox rq don’t mind me

Did they actually kill all of the fucking council memebers. They wouldn’t right. There’s no way <in denial. But no literally I will sob if they’re all dead. It looks like Mel is dead from mommy abassarda (🤤) seeking revenge and stuff. Would they kill golden boy and viktor tho? Unlikely. I’m also assuming Caitlyn’s mom is dead for that trauma

“you finally got the name right” I’m going to vomit

I know this is not an original opinion at all but I really hate the outfit 😭. Why does she look like that. What happened to my vi with her good outfits. Maybe it’s supposed to be symbolic that it doesn’t fit her but like

Istg if jinx dies I’m cutting off every riot persons heads

I’m a little mad they’re cutting it off at 2 seasons but it makes sense ig :/ I’m just like my lesbians. Why

YES! omg. i absolutely dont mind at all 😭. i was losing my mind!!! literally just WHAT.

i dont know if they did or not to be honest?? i remember seeing people discuss about them killing the members, and they debated about them killing champions. i dont think jayce is dead?? hes a champion. and if arcane is canon to LoL lore then like he wouldnt be?? not too sure about everyone else but i dont think the champions are dead or will die. cassandra however- i think fandom kinda considered her dead for a good majority of time. i dont know league lore so dont take me seriously 😭. BUT- i dont believe jayce is dead. idfk if viktor is, mel potentially. hmm... IM SURE like someone survived... they wouldnt do that to caitlyn... come on... kill her mom and then her childhood friend...? thats... ykw kinda on brand for the emotional turmoil.. BUT COME ON.

again- dont think they killed any champions but everyone else... yeah... probably rip. :(.

wondering how this is going to affect caitlyn tbh too. how is she going to handle herself. is vi going to comfort her?? uh... WILL WE FINALLY FUCKING GET A KISS?? istg anyway.

I KNOW!! oh mannnnn NO THATS NOT THE WORST PART

the "my sister is gone" had me like wanting to literally go insane because OUCH!!! someone please save vi from this turmoil 😭. shes gonna be put through it and IM not ready.

the red jacket was HER :(. i think its kinda a metaphor too like u mentioned about her not belonging on the team and feeling uncomfortable but then again the LoL players *were* clowning on the discourse of people being upset over vi being a cop. I DO LIKE THE GOGGLES THO. those r sick. but the outfit? girl what did they do to my favorite lesbian. who is she.

dont think jinx is gonna die thoughhhhh.... i mean... why would she... die... they wouldnt... right? ...right??

..right???????

please i just NEED them all to be okay i cant do this!!! /lh but also /srs. i do need them to be okay. IK I SIGNED UP FOR THIS BUT OW.

honestly im a little shocked about it being just 2 seasons too but i think its good just because of how long it took between 1-2. i have maaaad respect for the people working on it. swear as long as we get a physical release of the season season too ill be down. first we had news about s1 getting a physical TO A FUCKING TRAILER... we are eating SO good this week.

short and sweet though. tbh im sure theyll be able to tell what they need to cause 45 min per an ep. doesn't seem that surprising. but still 2 seasons is crazy. AS LONG AS THERES NO CLIFFHANGERS ILL BE FINE.

i justttt need caitvi in s2. i need them to kiss. i am not asking for a lot. need them to kiss and for literally jinx, and several people to NOT die.

anyway whoops. thanks for sending me your thoughts aaaaa

[atthebell-moved]

qsmp fandom is leagues better than dsmp ever was in terms of not being stupid about lore and discourse but i do still consistently see pov brainrot that is like so limited to this genre of media and does in fact suck. still better than anything that came before i think though

[iqxys]

HEARTSTEEL members as my Top 5 in Overwatch

side note: I played league ONCE way back and haven’t really interacted with the fandom/lore since then so these are either extremely accurate or extremely inaccurate

Mercy: Yone, Aphelios

Aphelios is a DEMON at Mercy parkour and risky rezzes. Minimum 3 endorsements every match. Duos with Sett and ironically has cringy matching names with him. Loves pulling out the blaster to assert dominance. Actually a flex main but gets forced onto support almost every game. (he just like me fr) Mid GM peak.

Yone plays safer than Aphelios. Max 3 deaths every game. Blue beam king, never under 75%. Dodges Rein shatters and Genji blades like his life depends on it. Also a demon at Mercy parkour. T500 peak. (Highest was 417)

D.VA: Sett, K’Sante, Ezreal

Sett is an ult eater. Enemy threw out a projectile ult? Don’t worry, he ate it. Every single time. Gives his supports aneurysms because of how deep into the enemy backline he is. LOVES dive meta. Mid masters peak.

K’Sante knows every ult spot for D.VA. Either gets one person with self destruct or all five, no inbetween. Always goes back for his Kiriko/Mercy when they’re in spawn. The only ult he consistently eats is Grav and is known by Zarya players because of it. Mid diamond peak.

Ezreal rarely plays but when he does he only plays with Kayn. He tends to play safe and constantly has defense matrix up. Terrorizes Widows with Kayn. Hasn’t played comp but he’d be low platinum.

Widowmaker: Kayn/Rhaast

Rhaast is the one that mains widow. He enjoyed the entire ‘widow shouldn’t one shot’ discourse and defended her HARD. Gets accused of cheating almost every game and has a ‘fan base’ of people who defend him. ‘Skill issue’ in chat after someone complains about him or his character. T500 peak. (Highest was 125)

Sombra: Kayn/Rhaast

Kayn mains her and Rhaast always tells him to spawn camp the supports/widow. Quick play warrior. One of the silly/fun Sombra’s that spams voicelines in the backline to mess with the supports. Huge emps and always combos with Ezreal. Hasn’t played comp since season 6 of Overwatch 1. Low platinum peak, slipped into gold and hasn’t recovered. Could be high diamond if he actually tried.

Ana: Yone, K’Sante

Yone loves playing Ana but he’ll never admit it. Sometimes gets a bit silly and nanos Aphelios as Mercy. Huge anti-nades and sleeps. Could be mistaken for a T500 Ana. Low GM peak. (Has a seperate account)

K’Sante is definitely an Ana player of all time. Misses more than he hits but has great nades. Always nanos Sett as baby D.VA and yells at him if he re-mechs while nano is still active. Tbags slept targets and uses the pillow spray religiously. Spams ‘good kitty’ and ‘You need to learn to relax’ too. Low gold peak.

—

LMFAOO??? I’m in a match rn and we’re losing 😔

[iholli]

👑 Holli / Rat King || 24+ || Any pronouns || ocean loving ficto ace rat || completely on my gaming nonsense

heya! call me Holli or Rat! this is my home away from home, so welcome to my blog & I hope you enjoy your stay. I mostly post ocean views and selfship content. don't like, don't read! here's the rundown of the place 💖🐀

Main timeline:

not comfortable sharing but selfshippers can still interact!

#heart of mars || Rat King & J'onn J'onzz, DCAU

playlist 🌌🐀

Alternate timelines:

okay sharing with other selfshippers, canon depends!

#💜💖💙 || Rat King, Donatello Hamato, & Leonardo Hamato, ROTTMNT

playlist 🐢🐀

#ratstatic || Rat King & Vox, Hazbin Hotel

playlist 📺👑

#king of hearts || Rat King & Remy "Gambit" LeBeau, X-Men

#PREDATOR/PREY || Rat King & Megalo Don, Fortnite

playlist 🦈🐀 [cover photo]

Other tags:

#venne & squeaker || Rat King & Wally West platonic ficto posts

#ratio broadcast || Rat King & Alastor qpp / platonic ficto posts

#ficto tag || unspecific ficto posts

#ficto tag familial || Justice League / Hamato Clan / assorted Hazbin Hotel familial ficto posts

#ratkingdraws || personal art tag

#ratkingdiscourse || profic / anti anti & other discourse posts

#happy place 💙 / #oceancore || daily scheduled ocean aesthetic posts

Fandom check-in:

ROTTMNT || Donnie simp. Leo enjoyer. || make no mistake, found family is my all time troupe, that's why I'm here. but if you ask me about Leotello,,,

DC || Justice League: The Animated Series & Justice League Unlimited, and all affiliated series || My Adventures with Superman || Green Lantern: The Animated Series || I'm very much a DCAU fanatic, but I enjoy lots of other DC content as well!

Fortnite || Wastelander || Montague, Artemis, Hades, & Megalo Don supremacy || I still don't know all the lore, but man, I love this game || find me more actively about FN on Twitter or add me on Epic @ R47K1NGG4M3S

Marioverse / Luigi's Mansion || Luigi my beloved. normal about King Boo. || if it exists I probably ship it. Booigi. Bowuigi. all three. I'm there.

Invader Zim || ZaDr || RaPr || Almighty Tallest stan account

Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss || Moxxie & Millie enjoyer || RadioStatic || Alastor. Vox. Queen Bee. back in my original era now that Hazbin s1 is out 👏

MCU || Octogoblin my beloved || really not here anymore, however Loki is part of Rat King lore, so feel free to talk about him to me c:

More to know:

I'm very chill, I love notif spam, and it makes my day to get asks! feel free to throw anything to my inbox-- ask me about Rat King lore, talk to me about my f/os, whatever you wanna know or just wanna say bc I do enjoy chatting too c: it just takes me a while to answer stuff sometimes bc I'm very forgetful and overthink ✨ everything ✨👏

this is a pro fiction, anti censorship space. I'm not looking for a fight, I'm just here to yell about my favs, and personally I'm not much for problematic troupes, but I will always support the right for people to do what they want in fiction. tag your shit & be nice. my ship is not your ship and that's okay.

I'm not a big NSFW person, I will never reblog anything I feel is graphically explicit but I use safety tags just in case as I see the need. keep an eye out for #suggestive and / or #nsfw. minors are fine to hang around my blog-- I just expect you to be responsible and block the tags you need.

AI thieves will not be tolerated in any capacity. come within a mile of my blog and you will be reported and blocked on sight. if I ever accidentally reblog AI work please let me know so I can remove it.

thanks for stopping by! if you'd like some tunes for your Tumblr browsing, feel free to check out my Spotify. have a great day 💖🐀

banners courtesy of @lovelycureaestetic 💜💙 & @senseichaos-thedetention 💙❤️

[takaraphoenix]

I see you debating about fruit so I'm gonna jump in here with. Stone fruit discourse. Are you team peach or team mango. My bias is mango it even has lore around it by way of India!

See, I think those two don't play in the same league, actually.

A peach is a snack fruit. You got a lil bit of hunger, you grab it, you eat it, you're done. Like an apple or a pear.

But a mango? A mango is a full meal! I don't think I've ever seen someone casually snack a whole mango, not to mention the work that goes into peeling and cutting these bad bitches.

That being said, the mango wins by a mile, without doubt. It tastes delicious on its own, you can put it in sushi, you can put it in stir-fried chicken sweet/sour, you can put it in a fruit salad, it is a versatile, talented, delicious fruit!

Also, I don't like the mouth-feel of peaches. :/ Their skin is just... unpleasant. I'd prefer a nectarine if we talk snackable stone fruit.

[nikolettphilippovitssns23]

6 - Semiotics of Ahri

In this blog post, I would like to attempt to analyze a character based on my understanding of semiotics. I think characters are present in most of the games nowadays, they are primary assets of games, representing values and ideologies. I believe understanding the semiotics of a game character enriches the gaming experience by deepening narrative immersion, enhancing emotional engagement most importantly the player-avatar relationship, ensuring cultural sensitivity, and supporting cohesive game design.

“Avatars are prominent digital objects that humans engage in digital discourse. Avatars are interactive, graphic, and social representations of users in digital spaces (Meadows, 2008), from screen names or social network profile photographs to complex three-dimensional bodies in video games. Because video game avatars are principal links between human players and gameworld characters, spaces, and tasks (Taylor, 2002), the connection between players and their own avatars is important in understanding human behavior and communication in these spaces.” (Banks and Bowman, 2014)

(Riot Games, n.d.)

Ahri from League of Legends

Ahri, the nine-tailed fox from "League of Legends"(League of Legends, 2009), embodies a complex range of semiotic elements that contribute to her character and narrative within the game.

Visually, Ahri's appearance is striking and mythical, blending human and fox-like features. Her nine flowing tails and elegant, mystical appearance emphasize her supernatural and enchanting nature, while her color palette of red, white, and gold symbolizes vitality, purity, and royalty, enhancing her mystical presence in the game.

Symbolically, Ahri is portrayed as a fox spirit, drawing from East Asian mythology where such spirits are known for their intelligence, cunning, and shape-shifting abilities. This symbolism supports Ahri's deceptive and strategic nature in gameplay. Her lore revolves around a quest to claim back her humanity by consuming the life essence of living beings, symbolizing her struggle with identity and morality, as well as her desire for connection.

Culturally, I think Ahri is inspired by a nine-tailed fox spirit. I belive this mythological reference enriches Ahri's backstory and character development, giving her depth rooted in ancient folklore. Narratively, Ahri's journey explores themes of redemption and acceptance. Her quest to reclaim her lost humanity underscores her evolution as a character.

In gameplay, Ahri is renowned for her agility, charm abilities, and burst damage, reflecting her deceptive and seductive nature. These gameplay mechanics supporting her thematic traits and abilities, making her both a fierce opponent and a compelling character within the game's universe.

Moreover, Ahri challenges traditional gender roles by embodying traits associated with both femininity and power. Her cunning abilities defy stereotypes, presenting a complex and multi-faced portrayal of femininity within gaming.

In my opinion Ahri's semiotics in "League of Legends" support her visual design, symbolic attributes rooted in mythology, narrative journey of redemption, gameplay mechanics, and representation of gender, making her a central and intriguing figure in the game's rich lore.

Banks, J. and Bowman, N.D. (2014). Avatars are (sometimes) people too: Linguistic indicators of parasocial and social ties in player–avatar relationships. New Media & Society, 18(7), pp.1257–1276. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814554898.

League of Legends. (2009). [Video Game] Riot Games.

Riot Games (n.d.). Ahri. [Online] www.leagueoflegends.com. Available at: https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-gb/champions/ahri/ [Accessed 6 Jan. 2024].

[cosmicanger]

I LOVE the inherent transparency that manifests when people express hate towards me on Tumblr. Notably absent from their discourse is any substantive engagement with combatting anti-Blackness. Similarly, there is a conspicuous absence of direct confrontation of the escalating violence worldwide (some people are galvanized or pretending to care right now because of what is happening with ivy league students in nyc right now), as well as a reluctance to acknowledge the simultaneous presence of multiple airborne pandemics while disregarding basic protective measures, masks nowhere to be found. Despite maintaining an insightful presence on Tumblr, I find myself subjected to vilification, deceit, and isolation due to my steadfast convictions. Navigating this digital landscape proves to be a relentless dichotomy: damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Nonetheless, I take solace in the divergence between myself and other platformed users or users with lore, recognizing that my contributions transcend mere aesthetic indulgence. Rather, I am committed to upholding principled discourse, particularly concerning the imperative of confronting anti-Blackness with unwavering sincerity and urgency. It is disconcerting to observe the pervasive silence among trendy bloggers regarding the plight of the most marginalized communities globally. When such issues are broached, it often culminates in surface-level, performative gestures or strategic displays of activism aimed at cultivating a revolutionary façade.

[blood-starved-beast]

If Riot ever goes to Ionia for Arcane the shipcourse there would long surpass any form of discourse that has happened in Arcane thus far (supposing that they utilize certain dynamics). It would be legendary I am certain of it.

[kiwi-pies]

Since you're getting back into League, I wanted to ask, what is your opinion on when Riot removed the concept of "Summoners" and how "Summoner's Rift" only exists as the game mode and not in actual lore.

Oooo okay yes sit down because I have a bit to say about this. 

When I had just gotten into league, it was i think? not too long after that lore had been changed. My boyfriend, who knew a lot about the old lore, explained the old concept and sort of told me about new lore, a lot of my league lore knowledge came from him dropping bits and pieces of the story when we hung out as I was more and more invested in the game and its characters. 

In my opinion? I’m saddened a the fact the summoners lore was changed. It really detaches the game from its lore for me. What League of legends is, game wise, a MOBA, with a couple of random characters fighting each other. But why? The gameplay itself and lore are two different things. It’s almost as if the characters in the game, are different from the characters in the universe. If the summoners and the institute of war don’t exist, then game play wise, the game has nothing to do with the story. 

At least in my opinion anyways, its almost as if the overreaching super in depth lore is a bit…much for league of legends? maybe if it was more akin to the concepts of a MMORPG or something, the lore would make more sense and feel as if it was a part of the gameplay, where now it just sorta feels as an extra thing. Which isn’t bad. It’s better than these characters not having stories at all, it just feels detached from the gameplay itself for me. If the institute of war still existed, and these characters had a reason to join forces on the same team that potentially consisted with their enemies, it could be for a more lore driven sense of game play.  But with the lore in place now as mentioned before, it seems more as a side thing to the game play than an actual in game means of building its universe. 

But maybe thats the fault of MOBAs. They aren’t really easy to develop lore that would be immersed into the gameplay outside of character interactions and quotes. 

At the end of the day, I still like to imagine a universe where the institute and summoners still exist. It makes for interesting fan fictions, and conflict between rivaled characters being stuck in a situation where they have to fight alongside each other, or champions with close ties with conflict because they have to fight each other. But thats just my opinion. I’ve talked to people who said the old lore didn’t make sense or was confusing, and they might be right! As I said i was introduced into the game where big changes started to happen, so at the end of the day, the lore to me is more confusing and overwhelming x.x