#antisylki

[godofstory]

this is so real

[cosmic0artist]

this isn’t rlly anything i haven’t said on here before but i feel like u just generally misunderstand loki as a character if u think 1. the show did him any justice whatsoever and 2. if u are convinced that he’s happy in the show

loki’s original, good intentioned characterization died when he was supposed to on svartalfheim in Dark World

he acts nothing like himself in the show, especially not how he shld be based on the timeline that he’s supposed to be taken from

the show also works poorly As A Show; the plot is pure ass and the character motivations are shit, the comedy is slapstick and everything is so grating to me

they rlly just put loki’s name on it to use his popularity to put out the show that introduces the multiverse and the tva and that’s it

and i rlly hate how so many ppl who claim to have loved loki from the beginning are eating this up bc he’s genuinely not the same character anymore and i mean that in the worst possible way

the show has antisemitic and racist undertones despite having its titular character belonging to a narratively oppressed race, it is somehow both homophobic and transphobic in its narratives despite having a genderfluid and bisexual titular character, the main relationship is technically incestous and doesn’t go anywhere so setting it up was pointless anyway, it is hostile to those who have mental health issues and trauma, and it is an insult to loki’s character and the ppl who relate to him

[prettydjarinsoloinspires]

before season 2 aired i thought we would never get our original Mobius back. I thought they were going to shove Sylki down our throats. i thought i was going to have to slough through a poorly written, unbearable season of tv just to get little crumbs of Loki and Mobius interacting.

but this. this far surpassed anything i could have hoped for. even if this story hadn’t been Loki’s i would have devoured it. it was clever and well thought out. it was well written with amazing sets and lighting and music. it played up strengths from season 1 that i thought for sure they had long abandoned. like the incredible and compelling setting that is the TVA. and making the cast an ensemble with the already stellar cast they had (and adding the instantly lovable O.B.). Tom was excellent. Owen was phenomenal. and every scene we got with them together was a gift.

the story was crafted with care and forethought and amazing attention to detail. you can’t say that about most big budget studio stories these days. i’m so in awe of everything this season was. it far surpassed season 1 for me and honored the legacy of Loki in a way i never could have dreamed. i honestly think it will go down as one of the most epic seasons of tv ever, for me.

it may have ended bittersweet, but it really didn’t feel like the end of Loki and Mobius’s story to me. it definitely feels like there’s more to tell. and i can’t wait.

[musclesandhammering]

You know if they really wanted to do the whole ridiculous “learning self love via dating a variant of yourself” thing, the most effective way to do it would’ve been for Loki to fall in love with a frost giant version of him.

[pinktwingirl]

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

[willofdpeople]

Why Lokius Should Have Been Canon

This is a sort of combo of two metas that didn't quite get point my across. Some parts will be copied directly, but there's a lot of original content. I will discuss the ship between Loki and Mobius, their place in the show, and the MCU at large. My focus for this meta won't be parallels or motifs, because these things border on well-written friendships. But there will be some of that.

Romance in the MCU

There are a lot of straight couples in the MCU. (Almost) Every main hero is in some heterosexual relationship, Loki included.

(That's not all, not remotely).

But in the LGBTQ+ department... uh.. I think it was mentioned that Valkyrie had a girlfriend... uh... America Chavez had a pride pin... and Loki:

One line. Queer experiences are never a focal point of a show/movie the same way heterosexual experiences are. And that needs to change.

Romance In the Show

Wrong, toxic, or unsuccessfu romantic love is a recurring theme in the show.

Sylki

Sylki was an icky relationship right off the bat. They are the same person. I can't find the post at the moment, but someone has pointed out in their post that them being the same person is referenced in every episode in season 1 (edit: here it is), which is when the romance took place. This made their romance uncomfortable for many viewers.

(Some consider Sylki a toxic relationship, but for this post, the topic is too large to handle with the nuance I'd like to handle it with).

When he's drunk, Loki compares love to a dagger, stating that it hurts you, but when you try to find strength in it, it's not real.

Which is exactly what happens. Sylvie pushes Loki into a portal and they never get back together.

The Love Triangle

In 02×03, Ravonna Renslayer is infatuated with Victor Timely, but he leaves her behind and betrays her when Miss Minutes told him to. One episode later, we discover that they were indeed an item, and established the TVA together. He Who Remains deleted her memories and they never rekindle their love.

Later in the episode, is the best example of "wrong" romance in the show. Miss Minutes, the AI clock, confesses her love to Viktor Timely. He, obviously, freaks out and shuts her off. Nothing ever comes of this.

Brad and Dox

This one is small, but a big indication to romance being a theme. In 02×01, we're shown this:

The gap in the age of the actors is uncomfortable, and a character in universe has this reaction to it. It is never mentioned again.

So what does all of this leave us with? Not much. None of this properly ties to the finale, or anything really. If I were to write the show I would cut a lot of this out, since it serves no purpose. But it does make you keep romance and its shortcomings in mind. The writers want it to be there, in the back of your head.

Loki and Mobius

Finally! I got to talk about them. The two people in question. First things first, who are they, together? They became really supportive, close friends.

Fans even drew parallels to Chaos & Order, which is a very important theme in Loki. But I'm not here to unpack them. These things don't necessarily make them in love. So what does make them in love? I'll present you my evidence, and you ask yourself,

Would it be valid to suggest romantic implications if a man and a women are:

1) Extremely thouchy with each other.

2) Riding on a tandem bike together.

3) Willing to suffer a fate worst than death for another.

4) Falling on each other after that^

5) Literally the Interrupted Declaration of Love trope. (Ex)

6) Being framed in a circle.

7) Waiting & giving permission to attack.

8) Fixing themselvs before seeing the other.

Of course yes. Maybe you think some of these are a strech, but ultimately, people would point out romantic connotations across the board. And I'm here, pointing them out right now. Some scenes between Loki and Mobius have romantic implications.

Conclusion

Loki is a queer protagonist in the MCU, a universe that lacks representation of queer experiences. His show constantlty reminded us of romance, sometimes for seemigly no reason. In the second season, they wrote him and his best friend with romantic implications. And then, nothing. It should not have been nothing. Lokius should have been canon.

[dailylogyn]

Just popping on here to say how much I greatly dislike Marvel now. And how much I hate what they’ve done to Loki in his own show.

I’ve seen the trailers for Season 2 and I’m like: ⚠️ NOPE! ⚠️ Season 1 was already a disaster. And now “Sylvie” who was supposed to be a Loki variant ISN’T one anymore, but her own person.

There is also no hope of Sigyn ever appearing. And if she did, I’d honestly dread what they would do to her at this point.

Please just stop Marvel…

[sunflowerdigs]

Marvel should give Jonathan Majors the boot at this point and just make Ravonna a Kang variant. The set up for it is so perfect, in fact, that I almost wonder whether it was done intentionally in s2.

In order to learn to love other people, Loki had to first learn to love himself, and he did that through loving Sylvie, who he sees as a variant of himself. Now, if he had actually fallen in love with Sylvie, that would have been a problem (and I think that's why, on a meta level, their almost kiss created a nexus event) because it would have been tantamount to falling in love with himself and placing himself and his needs above others. He came close because he was learning how to be close for the first time, so he mistook his feelings for Sylvie for something else. But he course corrected in S2. And it was only when he stopped obsessing over Sylvie and started focusing on the issues impacting the people at the TVA, that he really started forming and refining those friendships he holds so dear (Victor, OB, Casey, B-15, and, of course, Mobius). That's why we see him choosing Mobius and the TVA over Sylvie time and time again in s2. And it's why Sylvie remains...perfectly fine when Loki doesn't focus on her (translation: Loki himself remains perfectly fine when he's not obsessing over his own inadequacies). Sylvie thrives, even, in a position where she has a clear function that benefits others around her (translation: Loki is at his best when he has a clear function that benefits a community around him).

(And lets not even go into what it means that Sylvie, Loki's sense of self, is in food service and Mobius is always the one eating. Let's not talk about that, because I'll start screaming).

Anyway, Loki and HWR's are similar characters, but where Loki learns to care about others more than himself, HWR never does. And what better way to illustrate that important difference between Loki and HWR than making HWR's one partner a variant of himself? Ravonna being a female variant of HWR gels with the narrative so well. Much like Loki and Sylvie, one can read HWR's internal motivations and feelings through Ravonna (she wants order but she also very much wants power - she feels like only one person can have choices and she wants that person to be her). Together, Ravonna and HWR achieve greatness, but it's at the expense of fitting in anywhere except with each other (and then, inevitably, not even there). Ravonna being a HWR variant solves the Majors issue in a way that makes sense and is compelling, I think.