#viktor 2016

[thesinglegear]

"Greetings, fleshlings."

This is an independent roleplay blog for Blitzcrank, the Great Steam Golem from League of Legends. Penned by Poro, mun of @metalvsflesh.

This interpretation is a fusion of my old blog, 2011 lore, and 2016 lore. Any lore developments and rewrites caused by the Netflix series Arcane is and will be ignored, but muses taking them into account are still welcomed to interact so long as you respect the fact that Blitzcrank will treat your muse as if they are from an Alternate Universe.

Additionally, please note this blog is a side blog and my secondary roleplay blog, with my primary roleplay blog ( @mxgalodon ) taking priority. As such, replies may be slow. Please do not hesitate to approach me with questions or plot ideas, however.

Important Information (below the cut):

Blitzcrank is genderfluid (masculine-leaning) and uses they/he pronouns.

This blog does not have a primary Viktor. By default, Blitzcrank does not know the status of Viktor and has mixed feelings about him. They believe he abandoned them to Stanwick, but have fond memories of him otherwise.

That being said, I am willing to interact with any and all Viktors who are interested in writing with a Blitzcrank as if he is their designated Viktor. I'm perfectly fine with adapting the lore I abide by to fit with your Viktor's lore. I only ask you give me a run down if it is not clearly outlined on your blog.

The only exception to this is any Arcane-based Viktors, as he is not a machinist and did not create Blitzcrank. All Arcane-based Viktors will be treated as if they were from alternate universes.

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

I could wax poetic about why Viktor's League backstory is inherently more interesting and more thematically resonant than where they went with him in Arcane season 2, but the cold hard truth is

a man covered in grease and probably blood who builds his own body out of scraps with his own two hands, can in fact build any contraption out of dinted metal sheets and a few screws including a deathray, performs deeply inadvisable operations on desperate but consenting people with his own tools, generates a cult following against his wishes because of his ability to inadvisably help people but the power's all his now anyway so he may as well, wants to clean up and save the undercity but is (only sort of) misunderstood as a walking Geneva Convention violation a freak and a supervillain, torments his arch-nemesis on at least a weekly basis and probably homoerotically hunts him for sport, had his life's work misattributed to people in the ruling class and is angry and tragic about it forever, tries to rip out his own emotions and is unsuccessful but pretends like he was not, is actually oddly kind to children, and is at the end of the day still just some guy,

is just hotter okay

[maskenjager]

jayvik wip dump I posted on twt/bsky

[rejisol]

plays The Line on repeat

[touchlikethesun]

there's not a point in this scene in ep 8 where you can see all of viktor and all of yuuri at the same time and that has been bothering me so voilà <3

[viktor-leagueoflegends]

i dont play league i just think his design is cute

by hyyhy_7 on twitter

[aloonaram]

Guys i think we’re living in an arcane timeloop bc why does jayvik feel like klance all over again LMFAO

We got multiple scenes that feel so canonically romantic and yet are claimed by official writers as “brotherly love” LMFAO like i cant and then animators making jayvik fanart…im gonna start tweaking

[akascow]

my favorite thing about the jayvik ending is that whether u ship them or not its so clearly implied that theyre soulmates and that makes me FUCKING FERALLLLL

aka platonic OR romantic soulmates. whatever u prefer. bc both are an applicable form of love and a very real thing lol

[dagnab]

Notice how naked cosmic spirit Viktor has the usual haircut. This is because he knows deep in his soul that that bob is Fuck Ass

[pedroam-bang]

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016)

[a-so-called-person]

Im a glorious evolutionist in the same way that goth ppl wear christian crosses

[appleelevengreen]

[radioactivebeetlee]

I got the tabby lenticular pin, I can’t wait to order the Tarr one next :)

I feel so lucky that I was able to even find the pin (the other one and my bag as well), unfortunately I can’t find the mosaic slime.

I also wish they had the mugs still, hopefully someone happened to buy all three and suddenly doesn’t want them anymore or something 😞

[alternativerunway]

Viktor & Rolf Fall 2016 Couture

[the-glorious-evolution-fanart]

Question, is it me, or does Universe(2015-2016) Viktor's lore feel kinda of...rushed, in a sense? Like, they didn't read through the lore he had to decide what stays what remains and decided to just, toss it out altogether and toss together all the ideas they had in draft to turn into a cohesive enough story because they didn't know what to do with him when the OG story was tossed in the can in favour of a blank canvas. Just so they could get another champ slotted into the current version of Zaun as soon as possible while fitting into the archetype of of Tech-Priest inspired Cyborg Scientist. Like it feels like they never went through his old lore to figure out what worked, what could be very easily translated into current Zaun, and what elements to drop like the elements strictly related to the Institute of War. To be honest, he's not the only one, I find that some champs' lore was rewritten for the better, like Poppy, while others feel like their rewrites were rushed out as soon as possible in time for the next Season for the new players. If they gave the champs a rewrite at all. Because, I've been reading through both and just, I don't see why they had to change it completely. He could've been so easily kept intact to what he was while sticking around in Zaun as we know it today. He still could've been with the College of Techmaturgy and honestly, I felt that would've added another layer to current day Zaun compared to what we have today by showing that even if they're not on as prestigious a standing as Piltover, Zaun is still a place just as advanced, to the point where it was the place that gave us, pretty one of the most intelligent champs in the game lore wise. If they really wanted a enemies/frenemies dynamic with Jayce they could've just made him, a transfer student of sorts to Piltover Academy while still keeping Viktor with the College. His situation with Blitzcrank could've gone nearly pretty much completely unchanged altogether. He could've remained the same personality wise regardless, I feel that would've helped keep him cohesive across the board. Especially since as of current, it feels like since 2016 if he by some miracle does appear in Riot's content, it's like someone's continuously flicking the light switch between being the typical Evil to Morally Grey Mad Scientist TM to being a Robotic Saint so fast that it's kind of a pain to properly pin down his characterization. That is if he isn't left in the Neglected Champs Bin altogether until the next time Riot remember he exists. To the point that the moment you think you have Universe Viktor's character pinned down, all the sudden they realize a new thing he's in that contradicts what they gave you before they released the thing and now you're left confused again. Sometimes, even within the same timespan as seen with LoR because the Viktor in the comics for Vi and Jayce, doesn't completely feel like the Viktor you even play as. It feels like he's written by completely different people working off a prompt a majority of the time. When, there wasn't a issue with his personality to begin with, and he still would've been compelling, if not more compelling today in a world where mental health and the issues involving the problematic side of Academia is actually more in the forefront today than it was in 2010. It wasn't that he had a problem back then, it's likely more than not that he was just, ahead of his time, and written in a time period where neither topic weren't as talked about because it didn't have a chance to make a wave on the internet yet. Plus it would've made things A LOT better down the line writing him because then he wouldn't have been on such an odd standing that the writers keep flip flopping all over the place writing him.

His goal could've remained the same completely, just with a mild rewrite to write out the Institution and just simply made him a man who wanted to preserve HIS work by doing that work on HIMSELF due to the trauma from Stanwick, before pioneering it to enough of an extent to where he could safely help others. And that a major chunk on why a lot of people have some animosity towards him is because he's just, difficult and kind of intimidating to read for a lot of people, in combination with the rep he gets from the more fanatical Acolytes and the Piltovan side, and that the more antagonistic misassumptions of him spread and got flanderized overtime. When in reality compared to the rumours he's actually just, a decent guy, it's just that he's just going through shit and has a hard time with people a majority of the time. Only that, others have a hard time even approaching him to see that. There was just, so much potential, and so many a solution already that didn't include rewriting the entire character. But I think a major reason to everything is that they took a change that should've been implemented over the long term to begin with and tried to rush it out as soon as possible for the sake of rewriting and expanding on the world building to give us something new and more expansive. Especially once the game became popular and picked up enough steam to go from what was an indie MOBA into a game that all the sudden ended up with some really big shoes to fill. When, I feel in hind sight, they should've taken their time to readapt everyone in such a way that they could've preserved and refined the pre-existing champs overtime, keeping what to the old fans was still familiar and keeping to their original character in one way or another, while still gradually shifting Runeterra into the open world it is today.

I don't know, just, looking at a lot of the oldies, Viktor included, I feel like they're all victim to what is in hindsight, a giant rush job. Especially considering he's one of the champs that got the shortest end of the stick out of a lot of this. I mean, the most love he's got is from Arcane, but Arcane Viktor is the Viktor specific to Arcane's world, and Arcane's version of Runeterra. He is his own separate character isolated to his own story and should honestly for the most part be treated as such, even as far as I'm concerned and that's the rendition that is personally to me, one of my favourite renditions of Viktor. Strictly talking in game Viktor. Riot did him pretty dirty.

Yeah you're right that the 2016. Universe lore reads like the people tasked with "updating" the og 2011. lore didn't truly understand it, nor did they understand the meaning of elements they introduced in the new version.

Like you mentioned, Zaun was left with having nothing in terms of academic institutions, and as consequence the world feels much smaller because the class conflict, from both cities having their own versions, got squeezed into a reductive cliché with Piltover-Zaun where one side has everything and the other one is just a garbage dump. It doesn't help that the current garbage dump (Zaun) was representing east Berlin, eastern and south-eastern Europe, where I live. It reinforces the silent idea in popculture that people from here do not achieve any academic heights. It reinforces the stereotype that Ekko must choose his family and stay in Zaun, thus not having any access to higher education because all of it is in rich Piltover.

But Riot wanted to forcefully thread this class-conflict into every champion from this region, and this was the easiest way to do it - nuke anything Zaun had and leave them with just envy and hunger for what Piltover took from them.

Another problematic element in 2016. Universe lore that has no place being in Viktor's motivations or behaviour, is that "removing free will for their benefit" moment. In 2011. release lore, Viktor (alongside other students) created Blitzcrank, a sentient being with literal artificial free will, and Viktor fought tooth and nail to try and keep credit for his creation. So for starters, it would be antithetical for him to hate free will (he has one himself). Removing free will is not a morally questionable thing to do, it's straight up evil from the perspective of a person you're trying to save, because you're killing what they even are. But clearly the people doing the lore update deemed this appropriate position to plop Viktor into in order to give him something Jayce could oppose, why, I have no idea. Maybe they didn't understand just how downright morally deplorable this is and how it makes Viktor a terrible person, or maybe they indeed wanted him to fully read as a terrible person who begs for sympathy through the unfortunate events that happened in his life. But what unfortunate events? In the 2016. Universe lore, he got expelled exactly due to his own actions, his attempts at removing free will. I'd say that was deserved.

People love the short story with Naph and point to it as proof that Viktor is a good guy, and in principle I agree that a story of this type is fitting. It's the details that make it unsalvageable yet again - he gives a child mind-altering drugs (children have parents or guardians for a reason) and that nullifies any good advice or kindness he showed to the kid. There's also the frankly inexplicably stupid use of... literally rusted tools to do surgery on his own flesh. ??? He would die of infection. Come on.

~~

Arcane Viktor on the other hand has the opposite problem - he's forced into augmenting (whichever form it takes) due to his physical condition, and this is a completely different character motivation. He also (it looks like) doesn't rely on science and technology at all anymore, turning into a traditional mage with metal as simply a conduit/material he uses.

~~

Like you said, the topic of mental health in Academia is now more in the light than it was in 2011, but unfortunately it looks like large corporations still don't deem it "interesting" or "profitable" enough so they replace it with something more often seen. But it's an important topic regardless, and I still like the release lore for a reason.

When Rito was updating lores from 2014. to 2016, it really did look like a rushed job, you may be right.

[viktor-leagueoflegends]

hellooo! i was wondering if you had any resources for viktor's voicelines pre-vgu? i wanted to listen to him but found every algorithm is flooded with the rework voice lines.. or a better way to find them? thank you!

hii 👋👋👋 here's a video of the voice lines, but you can also check out the Past Version History tab of his wiki page :]

edit: forgot to add, the LoR tab on the wiki also has some voicelines!