So, Arcane leaked

Arcane adding physical disability into the equation of Viktor’s augmentation had me very excited at the beginning.

It added a layer of complexity to the question of what it means to be fallible that defines Viktor as a character. Other choices made by the Arcane writers also made sense in this context, like him being an assistant for years despite his brilliance due to structural ableism, dismissal of Zaunites, and how class mobility operates (or truly, doesn’t.)

Canon Viktor is a character who resents his own failings so much he would rather damn humanity than admit structural reasons for the stealing of his patents. He believes that he is better than himself. What does it mean, then, for someone who sees his human need for kinship and help as a drag to have a body that acts as a business card before he even opens his mouth?

I don’t think that self-hatred is the motivator; I think it’s “I need you to take one look at me and think very carefully before you speak.” I need you to look at me and know that it is in my hands both to save you and to crush you. You will respect me.”

It hits very powerfully when you have been constantly underestimated and dismissed for being visibly disabled, and I think it just works nicely with the canon rage that fills him after Blitzcrank.

But that’s not what Arcane did. That’s not what the fandom did afterwards, though I shouldn’t have expected differently.

The Arcane writing room started what presumably will be his augmentation process by saying, ‘The first thing that this thing reads as wrong is his limbs,’ taking away all the agency of the augmentation process. Then it ties it into grief and self-hatred through Sky.

The fandom has made Viktor into a perpetually self-hating token disabled submissive woobie, and it annoys me to no end, not just because of the evident ableism that is now a staple in fanworks, but because it’s such a disservice to who Viktor is as a character.

He is ambitious, desperate to prove his worth in a world that placed him into the box of worthlessness the moment he was born. He is so angry that he goes from ‘I will prove to you that I am worthy’ to ‘If you won’t give me respect, I will take it.’