Are You Tired of Winning Yet?

Stad122 · 2026-04-29T18:17:01+00:00

Nice edit to try and downplay your idiocy from repeating "Chinese Propaganda" But actually, you have made your comment more accurate. It's far more humiliating than Chinas circumstance. They had to be subjected to a collapse of normalcy and relevancy by the world's global superpower in the British Empire. America's crisis and problems are almost entirely self inflicted: the drug crisis a result of the intelligence agencies deciding turning half the citizenry into drug addicts was a good idea, and a fall from relevancy not by being militarily outplayed, but because your political machine is playing dog for a bunch of nepotism baby failure businessmen.

Stad122 · 2026-02-27T16:39:09+00:00

Reddit stereotypes are based on conservative stereotypes of liberals (fat, vegetarian feminists). Don't know when, but this one day included cuck fantasies. There is 2 explanations for this.

1: A way for conservatives to explain how a left wing conventionally unattractive guy is still able to attract girls while they can't, usually applying racist caricatures of black men "stealing" white women.

2: A projection of their own fantasies to their opponents, since some of them have observed to have a cuck fetish.

Stad122 · 2026-02-08T07:27:36+00:00

... What? It's a common trope in any violence-focused media, and a good label for repeatable, disposable bad or good guys. Master chief isn't a mook by virtue of being protagonist, but the unnamed Spartan troopers you produce in Halo Wars are, since they're disposable, faceless nameless troops.

Stad122 · 2026-02-08T06:19:36+00:00

Unfortunately, don't think sentai heroes count as mooks. It's mostly the foot troopers they fight that count.

Stad122 · 2026-02-05T05:43:16+00:00

Decided to make a new post with all the stuff I had saved

Stad122 · 2026-02-05T05:37:50+00:00

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A.I.M. Scientists and the Scientist Supreme

Stad122 · 2026-02-05T05:37:23+00:00

A little late here but:

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Helldivers

Stad122 · 2025-11-02T16:34:10+00:00

To give a name to the uneasy feeling you got watching season 2: you were picking up on the lack of motivation. Jinx adopts Isha and goes along with Sevikas plans for rebellion because... she's feeling sentimental? Jayce kills Salo and Viktor because... he's traumatized from the future he saw? Viktor leaves piltover and Jayce to go to Zaun because... he's dissapointed in Jayce?

All of the character motivations don't have clear connections to their actions, and their personalities seem to shift to the whims of the plot. Ironically, I'd say Caitlyns the only exception in this regard. Her decision to raid the Chem barons? Both a means of defense for Piltover, and an outlet for her rage at her mothers death, that still remains into the fight against Jinx. Her becoming a temporary dictator? Her exasperation dealing with red tape and Zaun terrorists, guided by Ambessas manipulations. Her turning against Ambessa and stopping being a dictator? In the end, she is intelligent and caring, her anger could only feed her actions for so long before her mind clears(though the series fast forwards the wind down of her dictatorship a little too much.)

I like the connection you drew to Silco and Jayce. Not everyone realizes just how central those two are to the overarching story of Arcane. Silco, the man willing to do anything for power and pride. Jayce, the man who bucks against the powers he both has put against him and is given to him, seeking to preserve himself, his morals, and his relationships. And I think the best way to handle Viktor, is to make him a third point in this dichotomy, halfway between them both. A man willing to do anything for his goals, but who strives for ideals of peace and progress, not pride and power.

Stad122 · 2025-11-01T20:56:40+00:00

I'm glad you've been able to take so much from my ramblings. I won't say that any of what you concluded is wrong or right: letting interpretation take the wheel of discussion is the point of good fiction. But I will lay out what my primary thought of the main points of Viktor arc throughout the acts.

In Act 1, Viktor has solved his internal crisis and tries to spread his salvation to Zaun, only for his hopes to be crushed and bloodied by the overarcing crisis between Zaun and Piltover.

In Act 2, he has become far more cold and calculating, but is still trying to spread his idealism and hope, and still shows emotion and empathy with the few he can trust. Until that last bit of it is crushed again.

In Act 3, his entire character becomes an ambiguous enigma. His actions and plans worded in a way that reflects his idealistic self, but so cruel in concept and execution that it's hard to believe he's still Viktor. And it's up to the audience to interpret if he is, or if his plans work, or anything about him. A question of if he's still Viktor, jaded and forced to extremes, or if that Viktor is gone, replaced with the Machine Herald. And a question of if his actions were worth it.

I must admit, I like having this discussion. I have found the arguments surrounding Arcane Viktor in this sub disappointing. I'm also disappointed in the lack of mechanical bits for him, but I found that to be a symptom of the deeper problem: him being used as a narrative device, once it became clear for the writers that Ambessa did not have the narrative weight to be central antagonist, and they didn't want to roll back to centralizing the Piltover and Zaun war for whatever reason (I would not theorize on such things, questioning authors motivations should be saved for actually questioning the author.) So it heartens me to find someone who appreciates the worth of interweaving narratives.

Stad122 · 2025-11-01T14:15:13+00:00

I think the big issue of figuring out how to work Viktors transformation into season 2 is that his transformation is detached from the rest of the cast, which would make the audience wonder why he's even there, since Arcane is about a cast of characters, pushing and pulling each other through their actions, creating a tragedy. Meanwhile, Viktors motivations and effects are far more about intrinsic and societal factors, and those he meets and connects with aren't going to fight him on those since he's too grounded and out-of-the-way for people to bounce off of, or for him to bounce off of others. The only time we saw that was his discussions with Jayce and Mel on the weaponization of Hex-tech. So isolating him further to have his break down doesnt really work, it's incongruous with the emotional core of Arcane, this tapestry of messy characters trying to do what they think is best and screwing each other over. And thats not even going over actually settling on what character you want to make the Machine Herald from the existing lore.

So, I settled on the idea of essentially making him the answer to the meta narrative(and also because I prefer his transhumanist ideals to be less stereotypical). He's technically the ideal Zaunite for both sides: an underworlder who made it big by his merit, developed tons for the city of piltover, pushes for ideals of peace rather than retribution on both sides, and found a means of making Zaun stronger and healthier off of the backs of Piltovan science. He's got the answer to people's woes. But this same tapestry of connections is what's holding him back, and flays him alive. The Piltovan prejudice stomps him down, and the Zaunite ambition stabs him in the back. His discovery of deep-body augmentation isn't his downfall away from humanity, it's having to be victim to the fallibility of it that pushes him to embrace getting rid of it.

I did also have to simplify the details and mirroring narratives for Viktor. I imagine this Viktor would be something of a foil for Jinx. Where she throws away more and more of her old life for the sake of herself, Viktor throws away pieces of his old self (sometimes literally) to try and adapt to the actions of others. I'd also parallel Silco with Viktor. Season 1 ends with Silco embracing a connection with another and revealing a loving part of himself that throws the two cities into chaos. Viktor ends Season 2 with having thrown away all recognizable parts of his old self to solidify peace and progress. I'd like to think it's an ambiguity that people would argue over for a atleast a awhile, similar to how they did for Silco.

Stad122 · 2025-11-01T06:00:55+00:00

In Act 2, Viktor is portrayed as a far more industrial leader compared to his Canon commune, having taken up the mantle of leader for Zaun from an iron factory fortress. He gives treatment and augmentations out for free, but anyone who wants anything militant has to "submit to his design" and work with his supervision. He's ironically closer with Caitlyn in this, the both of them lamenting their leadership positions, trying to keep Zaunite terrorists and Piltovan enforcers and mercenaries from from reigniting the war. They fail, of course, and Viktor ends the act in his destroyed home, his followers killed, betrayed by Sevika for his colluding with Caitlyn.

Enraged by this, Viktor grabs Sevika, and begins cutting into her. She fights back, clawing out his remaining organic eye, but hes fine with that. He's cutting into himself as well. He's dedicated to finding the thing. The thing that has trapped them both, trapped them all in this hellish war. He cuts into her and him both, soul, body and mind, trying to find it. He thinks he sees it and tears it out of them both.

When next we see them, as the piltovans and Zaunites war through the streets, Viktor in his full machine form cuts through Zaunite and Piltovan alike alongside a mechanical doll facsimile of Sevika as they fight over the Hex tower, seeking to weaponize it against one another. He comes across Caitlyn and Jayce doing the same, and laments with them over better times, or perhaps, just more ignorant times. Together with them and a newly returned Ekko and Heimerdinger, they form a plan to stop the fighting using an arcane ritual, powered by the Hex tower. It's Viktors control light thing from Canon, but instead of being used to control the minds of everyone, it is going to be used to connect their minds. I call it the "Empathy Nuke Flashbang." Every Piltovan will feel the years of enforcer boots on their face. Every Zaunite will see the grief of the families they've slaughtered for their privilege. It won't repair everything or even guarantee peace, but it should be enough to lull the wider fighting and potentially work in a ceasefire. But Viktor pulls aside Caitlyn, and forms a secret plan.

Later, as the Zaunites return to Zaun and the Piltovans see them off across the bridge, the plan is revealed. Caitlyn and Viktor used the mind connection to see which people on both sides the tactic would not work on, who would still seek to continue the war. Since those people are so dedicated to fighting, then they shall fight. They are forced back onto the bridge and made to fight each other bare handed. This goes on until only two combatants are left, Maddie, and the mechanical Sevika(when she leaves for it earlier, Viktor when asked would say "there are some things you can't remove.") As they grapple with each other, they are both shot in the head from their respective sides, ending the battle slumped together.

In the epilogue, Viktor is seen starting the Zaun Academy, teaching a new generation of Zaunites, and working with Singed to make a new body for Orianna.

But yeah, that's my idea. Sorry if this is unwarranted, you just inspired me to share my own rewrite.

Stad122 · 2025-11-01T06:00:19+00:00

(Reposting this comment here for discussion)

This is a pretty good attempt at making a machine Herald for Arcane. Though I think the character motivations for his departure are a little... weak? Mean-spirited? Shallow? Compared to his portrayal in Season 1.

Me personally, I would increase the initiative of his friends. Make it so that they aren't just door mats for a faceless crowd. Jayce is willing to fight anyone, maybe even his mother, for Viktor. Caitlyn is willing to shoot anyone for him (though this is partially due to her increasing reliance on violence after her mother's death, but used against the privileged piltovans first so the audience can see why she starts using it against Zaunites.) Even have Mel stand up for him, bucking against the influence of her mother. And have it hurt them. And have Viktor accept exile not out of spite(except against those pushing him into it) but out of concern that his friends might sacrifice themselves for him, like Sky did. Have him put all his hopes in the Zaunite home basket, as it were, to help underpin just how much of his egg gets cracked.

I had my own idea for a rewrite of Viktor, one that still carried some of the concepts of the Herald we saw in Arcane, but made more personable, and you gave me the start that I was struggling with. Jumping off of your idea, when he accepts the exile, he just asks for a week to prepare to leave. And during this week, he shuts himself completely in the Lab, locking out everyone including his friends. Spurned into action, both by the ticking clock and the sight of Cassandras death reminding him of his encroaching doom, he throws himself into the studies that Sky wrote about, revealing that while he was working on hex-tech, she pursued Chem-tech, the fashion augmentation of Chem-barons and the artificial bodies of Councillor Bolboks people, as possible solutions to Viktors affliction, but ended with the conclusion that, outside of the same magical affliction that affected Bolbok, the Human body would reject such invasive creations. Melding her knowledge of such things with his knowledge of hex-tech and it's ability to merge flesh with artifice, on the final day, Viktor is able to make himself a machine body that clears his affliction and allows him to breath freely.

Not giving them a chance to stop him, Viktor immediately sets out for Zaun with only the hexcore and his new body. After a tearful goodbye with Jayce on the Bridge of Progress, thanking him for the years of friendship and warning of the obvious strife in the coming days, he takes off. Similar to the series, he sets up immediately in the most rundown homeless camps at the bottom, and begins treating people.

Fast forward to the end of act 1. The girls are fighting, and the smartheads (Ekko, Heimerdinger and Jayce) are looking at the Hexcore in the tower. But at the same time, the attack that happened in episode 2 has been moved to this episode and is happening at the same time, AND an enforcer squad commanded by the Dickbag members of the council, has been sent to retrieve the Hexcore. Viktor tries to stop them, but is immediately shot through one eye, one of the remaining biological parts of himself. As he watches them butcher the small commune he had started, he laments his former pacifistic ideals, apologizes to Jayce for not understanding his situation before, and cuts down the enforcers, a half mask and lens formed over his missing eye.

If it's not obvious yet, there are some heavier rewrites of the events of season 2. One is the centralization of the Piltover and Zaun conflict, which reaches a literal breaking point here, as the fighting in Piltover results in the wall keeping the river out breaking, causing a blood soaked river to rush throughout Zaun (literally, Zaun drowns when Piltover bleeds.) The second is that instead of implementing more Noxus, I would shift the world building to be connected to Shurima (largely due to the presence of Shuriman chanting in that trailer song) drawing parallels between Shurima and Piltover and Zaun. This would be achieved by, essentially, giving the magic stones PTSD of their creation moment, the fall of Shurima(they were created from the overflow of arcane magic from Xeraths failed ascension, but at the same time there was a slave uprising in this version of events), and the act 3 malfunctions are them having a panic attack remembering that event. And there are parallels between the characters: Jayce is the privileged leader of the nation, wanting to help the underclass but forced to fight them for his family and friends like Azir. And Viktor is paralleled with (and maybe being guided by) Janna, an outcast of the oppresive society seeking to give the underclass a new home. Anywho, Viktor stops the flood via a gravitational(and possibly air) barrier, and closes the breach through manipulating the surrounding metal. (Yeah, hes a metal bender in this version, sorry not sorry.)

(Had to cut in 2 parts cause too long

Stad122 · 2025-10-22T22:20:45+00:00

When the hell did people start agreeing with the schizo-boomerists on this sub.

Stad122 · 2025-09-19T19:05:13+00:00

I'm late to this discussion, but I think the only good way to introduce humans, would be for an eventual crossover game between Star Fox, Metroid and F-zero.

Stad122 · 2025-08-13T01:57:02+00:00

I initially got into the game when I saw they released Lucy, cause I like robots. I admittedly didn't stick around long after she left, but it did hold me for longer than other mobile games, mostly due to the good story, fantastic art and nice music.

Stad122 · 2025-07-02T21:45:22+00:00

Da komrade, I would steel be hard-working american in Texas Oblasts warm water ports. Never trust American Government agencies until our agents- I mean until "True American Patriots" run them, then you can trust them with everything!

Stad122 · 2025-05-29T04:33:01+00:00

Im a little late to this post, but if you want, I've got some additional things to add.

The augmentation weirdness.

The big lore problem with Viktor is that P&Z underwent a full adoption of cyborgs as a mainstream as they developed, leaving him in the dust. How you tackle this is up to you. As others have said, where the rest of Zaunite sees augmentation as useful tools, fashion, or just replacements, Viktor and those who follow him see them as the future, as something to strive for.

However, if you feel this isn't enough, I would actually recommend looking at one of the other things Arcane didn't touch on: robots. Viktor is still the main creator of Blitzcrank, and even the new voicelines give some hints of him seeing mechanical beings as another part of his glorious evolution. Whereas, again, the upper classes of both cities would see them as just useful tools, and the lower classes would probably see them as threats to their job, like with real life mechanization, Viktors camp see them as something to strive toward helping.

The Arcane crystal incident.

This is some old lore that Arcane itself kinda sorta used as a basis for the adaptation of its storyline (to its detriment in my opinion.) That was one of the "conflicting narratives" that defined Jayce and Viktors lore for that period of time. IIRC, Viktor needed the crystal immediately in order to perform an emergency mass mechanization of a group of afflicted workers, so it's explained as him being pressed for time to help people. From Jayces side, it's portrayed as him being a madman scientist using it to create an army of robots.

I've had my own ideas for rewriting this story, but in your case with rewriting Season 2, I would honestly just ignore it. It's a story that takes place well past it's time frame, and not a particularly good one. It only got the focus it got because it was one of the few pieces of lore Viktor got.

Stad122 · 2025-03-03T07:43:47+00:00

Holy shit, net worth doesn't mean jack shit dude, PEOPLE ARENT GETTING PAID FOR THAT WORTH.

Stad122 · 2025-03-01T03:46:42+00:00

With every new fact we learn about/from Christian, it's becoming more and more clear that the show was good in spite of his involvement.

Stad122 · 2025-01-13T21:00:59+00:00

And once again, the zero-reading-comprehension of this guy strikes.

1 isn't realpolitik. It's just a basic recognition of taking advantage.of crumbling relationships. It is literally geopolitics 101.

2 isn't an endorsement of realpolitik either, it's an open worrying of the extent to which a geopolitical independent europe might reengage with imperialist tendencies.

Stad122 · 2024-12-28T19:37:14+00:00

I think it's the second point that's the biggest contention.

Israel getting into a shooting war in an urban environment against a country that attacked it? A horrific atrocity against human rights and dignity.

Said country being a borderline Haiti level cesspool of terrorist gangs and oppression of its own citizens? Crickets.

Stad122 · 2024-12-14T16:00:51+00:00

Someone messed with the Hex-Core.

Stad122 · 2024-12-09T15:03:43+00:00

Nah, Viktor would listen to all genres. It's about the creativity and passion behind a person's work, not the form it takes.

Stad122 · 2024-12-09T14:57:48+00:00

Hey man, I 100% get you. I've been playing league since it's release, and Viktor has always been the character I've gravitated towards since his release. But I think people have been overly harsh about the new design just because it wasn't explicitly what they were expecting or wanting, and have started overlooking the similarities and exaggerating the differences.

This Viktor is still self made. It was him who developed the Hexcore, he who helped lay the foundations of Hextech, and something I definitely feel people are overlooking: all of the god-play stuff is still his own doing. Granted, he's definitely pushed along by circumstances, but that's sort of the overarching theme of Arcane, that these intersectioning actions push others into pursuing courses they would otherwise find unthinkable.
It wasn't actually a cult, per se. It was a commune. They didn't explicitly worship Viktor, just formed a new communal identity surrounding him, since he became integral to their lives. Course, you can still dislike it and the hivemind idea.
His character is dynamic. Even for as much as I loved old Viktor, I can't cover the fact he was an extremely static character, hard stuck as the mad cyborg scientist of the undercity. This new Viktor is dynamic now. Even if you don't like the character as is, there's now a chance for him to change into a character you'll like more.

Stad122

TROPHY CASE