I just realized why out of all champs Viktor's fanbase is so loud...

I think every champion has that single one hardcore-fan out there. Like, Malicious Metal who has literally become the acolythe of Mordekaiser, or Superb Villain who, if I remember correctly, is in eternal service to the Tiny Master of Eeeeevil. But these are individuals and one cannot make a judgement of a whole fanbase based on one single person.

Yet the Viktor fanbase seems to be extremly passionate and as they are as a group there has to be something with Viktor's specific design that makes these people flock to him. There are a few reasons why people get passionate about characters, either it's their uniqueness (Aurelion Sol comes to mind. Sassy Star Dragon? THAT'S what i callm unique even as someone who reads a ton of fantasy) or their fanbase identifies themselves with them.

Viktor's theme is not exactly unique, the blurring line of machinery and biological life has been a thing in fiction since almost a century. And his moral greyness was not anything to spend much time thinking about either. I realized that the answer was much, much simpler.

And for that we need to look at Jayce, his direct antagonist. The one character that opposes him and, somehow, hints to be the opposite of him. Now, here is what Jayce appeared like before new lore came and made him a collossal jerk (which is not a bad thing, actually a world without jerks is kinda weird) and Viktor... whatever will come with the new lore once it gets released.

Jayce was talented. Good Looking. Popular. Has a muscular body in addition to his brains. He has social status. He has wealth. He's celebrated as a nation wide hero. In short: he's literally better at everything you could do or be.

And now placed next to him: A misunderstood nerd outcast from society because "he was too smart for them" and they didn't like his ideas.

And yes, it is that mudane: it boils down to the "popular kid" who got blessed with good genes, talent and a good upbringing and who hit puberty far before everyone else VERSUS the poor outcast nerd no one likes, who with that got the underdog status.

I'm not saying that all Viktor fans are sad little nerds or whatever, but reconsider this: most of the playerbase in league has their school years long behind them. Maybe not 20 years, but long enough to go back into a time where being a "nerd" was a crippling social stigma. Heck, even in my time ten years ago I was the weird kid who liked computer games and meddling with tech. I know, this "popular kid vs the weak nerd" clichee has been overdone a thousand times especially in other media, but there lies a certain truth within it, or at least there has been back then. It might have changed a little for kids today though, due to previous domains of nerdiness have hit the mainstream hard.

And who comes to post here on the forums? Those people who actully go to the boards and move through the online world, which, against all what we usually tend to believe, is A SMALL MINORITY COMPARED TO LoLs ACTUAL PLAYERBASE. Out of my circle of friends who play this game I'm the only one browsing the forums regulary and not just when a sever breaks or something and want to know what's going on.

To be on these boards usually means you are a nerd, at least by the old standards of the word, and chances are you have always been that kind of "nerd".

So we got a place were people falling into the old concept of "nerd" are overrerpresented. And now we have a champion who literally embodies this entire "the underdog nerd who has to square off against a bully who just got everything for free". Maybe this is why people gets so passionate about Viktor: because they subconsciously project theirselves on his old lore.

No one complained about Jayce now being a total prick. If anything, it fit perfectly into his "bully" role in this play. But now that Viktor becomes more of a detailed character and gets harder to project upon due to a massive reduce of the vagueness old lore had way too much of... yeah, I can see why that gets people pissed. As I was the "nerd kid" myself back in the day, I can totally understand what was the appeal of old Viktor to certain people.

The thing is: characters don't soely exist so people can project their ideas upon them. That's, if anything, the job of the author and the author alone. Sure, you can do that like with any character, but that is not the defining feature of one. The loss of a projection surface due to a change IS IN ABSOLUTELY NO WAY A LEGIT CRITICISM ON THE CHANGE ITSELF.

Authors write to create stories and characters, not empty projection surfaces for you as a reader to fill out!

Eh, it's half past midnight now and I hope this actually made some sense, but I think that concludes what I think about the Viktor-fanbase's collective screeching since the Jayce lore has been released. Maybe some of the rabid complainers gotta be honest with themselves and ask if they really liked the old Viktor - or just what he allowed them to project upon him...