What stuck out to me was how Gwen herself is promoted as the "monarch of Park Planet," and we have that montage with quite a few defaced images of her, plus the graffiti'd statue Andi flips off. She is as much a scapegoat as she is an icon for the company, much like how Disney treats their media

I was just thinking of Dungeon Meshi and how it's part of the tension that they don't know how long Falin has before she's (REDACTED) and all the things Touden Team have to do to survive to get to her.

Especially when everyone thinks Laios isn't taking it seriously but we get to see it from his POV

Got linked to some of your excellent critiques of that c/ritrole ttrpg that weren't just worshiping the ground they walk on (for once) and decided to stick around

Trying to defend the future for everyone except himself. He's human but still beholden to Piltover and especially his patrons. I wonder, does he ever envy Viktor? Alone and stigmatized but independent?

Oh he totally is! He just would rather nobody knew that, especially Jayce (Jayce knows. It's half of why he's not willing to give up on Viktor yet)

This is getting into headcanons but imo Viktor was a very emotional person pre-augmentation but I think, particularly while studying in Piltover, he kept himself from ever being too vulnerable or open. The sole exception was Blitzcrank's unmoving chasis while he was building him

Sorry I keep using your posts to yap but I like finding people to talk about classic vikjayce with hehe

I do love them as a "seeing the self in the other" kind of ship but they're just different enough (upbringing, personal philosophies, etc) to cause friction. Maybe when they were younger they each thought "he's like me, I don't need to explain he'll get it" only to be very wrong

That's kinda what I was getting at, it's not a perfect phrase (after all, Jayce's (in)actions didn't help Viktor's perception of him) but I do think even Viktor saw them as friends at the time. Bad as Jayce's people skills are, I don't think he'd miss it if someone hated him

Lowkey I think Viktor is lying to himself (and the reader) when his bio says they weren't friends. Because otherwise, why would he have all those moments where he looks to Jayce for help or makes note of when he did nothing? "They never truly became friends" reads more like (biased) hindsight

And unfortunately, they're both terrible with people and not immune to each other's issues. I absolutely adore their LoR/2016 incarnation. It's so crunchy and they're such messy people who are, fundamentally, lonely.

And kicking each other's asses is easier than talking about their feelings

On the flip-side, Viktor coming to terms with the fact that Jayce was as much a student as he was back then. It's unlikely anyone would have listened to him either (especially since Jayce had a fraught reputation in their college days, he was the last person the academy wanted working on hextech)

Also the concept of Jayce looking back years later and wondering, would it have made a difference for that first crack in their relationship if he'd even asked Viktor why Blitzcrank mattered so much in the first place? Just been a friend in that way? Maybe, but they'll never know now