sandywitchboi

[sandywitchboi]

Fandom puirty culture: Your favorite character has done war crimes and murdered people.

Me: So what they're not real plus they looked cool while doing it. I'm going to love them anyway. And if I want them to have a happy ending, they're going to have a happy ending.

[sandywitchboi]

the impossible return

[sandywitchboi]

Part of the interest is that it is not Silco who is hung up on the violence. Instead it's the abuser who is drowning in guilt and struggles to find the words for his poetic partner.

It's important that from Silco's perspective, to see that their shared dream never died. That Vander's passifism was an overcorrection out of fear of losing people, again. Particularly, one person cut deeper than the loss of the others because Silco didn't want to be found.

That loss was the most likely reason Vander couldn't fincd the stomach to pick up his gauntles again.

Now if i said zaundads content would be way more interesting and dynamic/nuanced if they explored the very real trauma and domestic violence of vander putting his hands on silco and how somehow, by some mystery, they seemed to have overcome that in the 'vi is dead' au would I be stoned.

[sandywitchboi]

good for them

[sandywitchboi]

ARCANE | Swain Model | Léa Rocton

[sandywitchboi]

Meiji period fashion was some of the best in the world, speaking purely from an aesthetic standpoint you can really see the collision of European and Japanese standards of beauty and how their broad agreement even in particulars (the similarity between Japanese and Gibson girl bouffants, the obi vs the corset, the obi knot vs the bustle, the mutual covetousness for exotic textiles, the feverish swapping of both art styles and subjects) combined and produced some of the most interesting cultural exchange we have this level of documentation for. Europeans were wearing kimono or adapting them into tea gowns, japanese were pairing lacy Edwardian blouses with skirt hakama and little button up boots. haori jackets with bowler hats and European style lapels. if steampunk was any good as an aesthetic it would steal wholesale from the copious records we have in both graphic arts and photography of how people were dressing in this milieu.

[sandywitchboi]

Building a fantasy world is like being the world's most specific historian.

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i can’t believe dinlukes won in 2025.

[sandywitchboi]

MEL & VIKTOR - PARALELLS (a.k.a. Jayce’s amazing taste)

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[sandywitchboi]

Two young inventors occationally have their lab crashed by the young Miss Medarda, daughter of the wealthiest councilor in Piltover.

While Jayce is confused by her constant presence, Viktor seemed to expect it.

[sandywitchboi]

Charithra Chandran

[sandywitchboi]

ANN DEMEULEMEESTER SS24 B/S PHOTOGRAPHY: NICOLA BORTOLETTO

[sandywitchboi]

You know, Mel doesn’t rule by brute force, but by controlling the flow of resources—deciding who gets to thrive and who is left to struggle. Piltover prospers under her influence (Jayce and Viktor may have invented/developed Hextech; yet, it's Mel who made it possible and big), but Zaun? Zaun is left out, kept in check through neglect. It’s not open war; it’s economic and political starvation. We see how central Mel's will is on the Council, how it literally directs and steers the decisions of her colleagues.

And that’s what makes her so dangerous, insidious and oppressive in a way that people don’t always recognize. A conqueror like Ambessa forces you to submit. A ruler like Mel makes you depend on her, until submission doesn’t even feel like a choice—it feels like survival and benefit. Piltover doesn’t need to be strong when it’s already at the center of power and wealth. And Zaun? It’s easier to control a starving, desperate people than one that has the means to fight back.

Mel embodies the classic “velvet-glove” imperialism:

Keep the elite well-fed, content, and loyal. Make them love you. Make them grateful. Make them even richer. Give them a reason to embrace you.

Let the lower class struggle just enough to stay weak.

If rebellion sparks, don’t crush it with brute force—just cut off its resources and let it die out on its own.

Divide and conquer isn’t just about pitting people against each other—it’s about making sure one side needs you, while the other is too broken to resist. Mel may not wield a sword like Ambessa, but she absolutely wields the knife of economic and political control. And that’s just as much a form of domination, colonization and oppression. In fact, Mel does exactly how, historically, colonizing powers established, maintained, and cultivated control and legitimacy—not by constant war but by creating economic systems that made resistance nearly impossible. Because one side benefits from it, and the other starves.

Love it or hate it; Mel is a colonizer. Just one wrapped in velvet, instead of iron, but just as suffocating and draining.

Ambessa is the iron fist; Mel is the velvet glove. Ambessa is brutal conquest; Mel is structural control. Mel's appraoch isn't necessarily less oppressive, it's just harder to identify and recognize.

"No, Saga, Mel is an empath. Only cruel people, only monsters, would colonize others. Hence, good people can't be colonizers." Yes, they can. There is zero contradiction here. Colonizers are people, only humans, and humans are capable of deep compassion, hideous cruelty, and neglectful indifference. And y'all should learn to hold these truths simultaneously if you are serious about anti-imperialist fights. I know, ambiguity sucks. Hate it myself. Makes me uncomfortable. Resisting the urge to mitigate the discomfort by dissolving the ambiguity and assigning 'good' vs. 'evil' binaries is hard and sometimes even painful (there is, in fact, a term to describe this pain; for some people, it feels literally physical, and discomfort: ambiguity tolerance/intolerance. It's a completely human reaction.) But also necessary. Otherwise, you'll always overlook what drives imperialism and colonization: Power, not morality, power. And power can be dismantled, but you first have to be able to identify it in all its shapes and forms.

Mel is an empath. She does care, at least about certain people. And she’s still a colonizer. That’s not a contradiction—it’s the reality of how power works. A person can have deep personal kindness and still uphold a system that starves, exploits, and dominates others. In fact, the most effective forms of imperialism have always relied on figures like Mel—ones who don’t seem cruel, who make oppression feel palatable, who wield power with a smile instead of a sword. Because that’s what makes people accept it.

Ambessa is the type of conqueror history remembers—the warlord, the invader—but Mel represents the conqueror history forgets because her kind of power doesn’t look like oppression at first glance. It looks like progress, wealth, prosperity—if you’re on the right side of it. However, at its core, it’s still about maintaining control, just in a way that makes the conquered complicit in their own subjugation. Piltover thrives under Mel's influence because it’s meant to, while Zaun starves because its deprivation serves a function. Divide, conquer, and, most importantly, make it seem natural.

And I definitely hate how the only two prominent Black women in the cast embody these two pillars of imperialism and colonialism. I definitely see racism working here.

It plays into a larger pattern where Black characters, especially Black women, often get positioned as either hyper-authoritative or as actors within power structures, leeching of them, rather than those resisting or subverting them. If there were more prominent Black characters within Zaun—fighting against this system, challenging it—it would at least offer some narrative balance. Instead, we’re left with two representations of imperialism, one overt and one insidious. The thing is, I definitely appreciate both characters for what they are and do not want them to be different. It’s not that these characters shouldn’t exist (they should—they’re fascinating, layered, and compelling) I do love seeing Black characters in all kinds of roles and positions. So, I don't want Mel or Ambessa to change. I just want more prominent Black women (or characters in general) among the Zaunite cast fighting the system. (That's one of the main reasons why I added my OC Haze. More Black characters and more Black women in a broader variety of positions and roles is always the answer.)

I genuinely feel like we didn't win anything substantial representation-wise with two Black women in positions of power if there are no Black women in positions of resistance, rebellion, revolution, and liberation. Representation isn't only about quantity; it's about range.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk on dissecting imperialism, power structures, and racialized storytelling.

[sandywitchboi]

milady gaga dei germanotti, to the tune of her gentle lute: thou and i shall have a bard romance

[sandywitchboi]

costume designs of "GLADIATOR II" by Janty Yates and Dave Crossman.

[sandywitchboi]

MelVik with tsundere Viktor and teasing Mel. He acts aloof and unbothered at Mel’s advances but the first time she gives him a peck on the lips he goes in ALL tongue.