#nameless ranting

[montycheck]

guys.

guys I need you to listen carefully.

do NOT be gay on valorant tiktok

I am still getting people telling me that Cypher is muslim and/or has a wife therefore Cyphmen is bad

( T T )

How the fuck is tiktok being straight for once goddamn

[montycheck]

The subject for today!

[Reference: Animation Memes]

Omen’s hands. Specifically, his “claws”

that he doesn’t [always] have.

Okay immediately off the bat I’m gonna clarify that any writers or artists that give Omen claws out there, I have no beef with you. This is an analysis and I love clawed Omen as much as you do.

So I’ve stared very well at Omen for drawing and analysis purposes. One of the biggest things people tend to hyperfixate on is his claws. Most of the time they are depicted as sharp and monstrous (ESPECIALLY in fanfics). In canon, this is not the case.

In these pictures they actually seemed to be filed down to purposefully be blunt. Notice how straight the tips are especially in the third and fourth image.

However, even Riot depicts his claws as sharp in some art works like these.

There’s also a third type of depiction where he has almond shaped nails.

Now, I know we all love a sharp claws Omen. But for this post I’d like to advocate for blunt nails Omen. Why? Because I think there’s an interesting meaning behind it if that’s the case.

Think about it. Not only would that mean biologically his body is still ‘alive’ enough to have that function (despite not having the capacity to consume things at the same time), but more importantly emotions wise he’s taking steps to ensure he’s not hurting others or himself.

I’d also like to note that he does seem to wear a thick or at least double layered kind of gloves. Meaning his nails would be useless anyway in combat. He is hiding and filing away at a “monstrous” part of himself. He is trying to keep himself tamed.

It would be easy for him to just continue his bandaging over his palms and call it a day, we know full gloves aren’t part of Protocol’s rules because other agents have fingerless gloves. Omen chose to have thick gloves.

You could argue that it’s part of him wanting to cover up his skin entirely and that’s valid, but take note that either way he’s using them to hide his monstrous self.

There’s also another interesting point to be made regarding the fact he doesn’t just flat out cut them. He keeps his nails at such an intentional length that his gloves were formed based on it. Which means again, he wants it this way.

He wants to keep his nails long, but he doesn’t want them long for violent intent. Perhaps he keeps it that way more as a reminder to himself that he isn’t normal. Every part of him is now shaped to be a weapon. From his phantom skin, to the tips of his nails.

Or idk, maybe he’s just slay like that. Honestly up to you guys what you do with this information. I just thought it was interesting :]

[montycheck]

My biggest fear is falling for the fanonised version of characters that I don’t see the in depth personalities they have anymore

Cypher’s mental state is such an easy thing to get wrong it’s hard to find fics that characterise it right, or at least in my opinion

That’s not to say I think all ooc fics are bad! No! What’s the point of fanfics if you don’t make your lil guys do shit they aren’t supposed to??

But back on topic, I think Cypher’s grief is another thing that’s handled so broadly from fic to fic

Sometimes he doesn’t seem to be weighed by it at all, sometimes it causes him to fear things and drown in self loathing because of it, sometimes he’s so mentally separated from his trauma that ‘Cypher’ and ‘Amir’ are two wholly different people. It’s interesting to see how sensitive or insensitive they make Cypher himself with this

Is there a right way to portray it? Honestly hard to say, but there are fics that I read that instead of feeling right they just don’t feel wrong— Y’know what I mean???

In my analysis of him, he’s clearly still not past Nora and his family (I have thoughts about the possible world they’re alive but that’s for a different post). I know grief doesn’t go away, not his type at least, but it does get easier with time. This leads me to believe that Cypher’s wife hasn’t been dead for too many years at this point— I’ve always imagined Cypher having been part of current day protocol for a couple of years after getting himself together, so I want to say she hasn’t been dead for over 10 years yet.

I think that Cypher, or rather, Amir was a lover. Like heart and soul he loved. It’s not that uncommon of a belief that when someone dies, the person their spouse was dies with them. Is this the case with Cypher? I think he believes that.

I think Cypher believes the man Amir was is long dead. But I also think he’s wrong. I think that for as much as he is a cruel man with all he has said and done, he is still a lover. Why else would seeing Bind make him so angry? It’s because he still loves it.

Amir may be dead to him, but ‘he’s’ still alive. Which person does that ‘he’ belong to? I don’t think that matters.

Whether Cypher is (still?) depressed, or only silently grieving, or maybe even healing, he’s alive. No matter his state I believe he knows his family wants him to continue living. He can’t break a final promise to them.

My only wish is for fanfic writers to not write him like some shaken up teenager because he is in fact a grown ass man that has lived through the streets and wouldn’t break down the same way normal people would. I’d imagine he’s much more gruff than that.

Related, there’s a single action that was portrayed in a fic I saw about him that feels very not wrong. In it he’s sitting at a bar with the other agents all celebrating a well done mission. In it he is being consumed by paranoia. Does his breathing spike? Does he sweat? Does he feel like throwing up? No. Instead, he simply drums his fingers and disguises the anxiety as boredom.

Because that’s what he does.

He hides.

[montycheck]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but Valorant is way less toxic than the last fandom I was in and it’s so refreshing

Chat. The bar is in HELL.

But honestly yall are super duper cool and everything seems so chill

Like what do you mean there’s no call out post for an artist being a terrible person

Crazy

I love yall so much

If you’re reading this and you’re a friend from my last fandom dw we still chill and ur still cool xoxoxo I’m just talking about all the you-know-who’s out there

[montycheck]

Oh my god.

I know why Clove helped Cypher decode shit when they were helping out with Scion stuff.

They’re a DM. As in Dungeon Master D&D.

THEY MAKE CODED MESSAGES ALL THE TIME.

Goddamn it Riot, stop being accurate

[montycheck]

Things I’ve had to research because of a dipshit called Cypher

- Procedures to remove bullets and patch up the wounds

- Is it lethal to be stabbed by the liver (This is surprisingly very survivable)

- Constellations, specifically Sagitta

- Moroccan faces

- How to wrap a Moroccan headscarf

- How to make Moroccan tea

- Darija phrases and swears

- How people move on and grieve a dead spouse (This one SUCKED to research :[ I hope everyone who faces this has a good life)

- Moroccan traditional clothing and footwear

- Tea. (Allow me to go on a tangent of Please Buy Loose Leaf Tea and not teabags because I promise you there is a world of difference in quality and taste)

- The story of Prometheus

and there’s still so much to research.

[montycheck]

“Is that a statue of me?”

On the map pearl, if the match starts with Omen on the defending team, he takes note of the statues behind spawn. There is a statue of Jett, Phoenix, Sage, and of course, Omen.

These are in dedication to the Omega variants of these agents.

An Alpha Omen stares in shock.

“This is unexpected.”

If you saw my last post, I’m aware this took a bit more than “a few minutes” but I got busy, sorry—

It’s crazy to think about how Alpha Omen is the worst version of himself. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but, he likely can’t show himself in public due to being in Protocol. He probably would never even want to anyway. Everything he is goes against societal standards.

But then he steps into another world. Another Earth with another him and everything is different. He’s a hero. He’s treated like a hero. People want to remember him and they put up monuments for him and his comrades. Radiants are looked up to. He is looked up to. He is celebrated and adored. People draw comics of him, people buy merch of him, people praise him for existing.

Then he goes back home. Then he must hide again. Never to be known. Never to be seen. A shadow of even himself.

I feel like he’d be jealous. How could he not be? He knows what his counter part is doing is wrong, obviously, but he is praised for it. His “wrong” self is loved. Why can’t he be? Why must every death he sows be a tragedy for that other world? Why must everything he do here equate to nothing in the eyes of the public, that same public that deems his comrades enemy.

The world turned on him only to show him a better life and shout “Look! Look at what you could have been! Look at the love you could have received! A hero! Not a monster! Such a shame you came out this way, no? Too bad. Now go ‘home’. Forget you saw anything.”

Meanwhile, Omega Omen gets to walk around in public. He gets to order a coffee with the wrong name written on the drink. He gets to be in people’s eyes without terrible consequence. He is welcomed. He is written. He is loved and known. For a while, he may even be able to trick himself into thinking he’s human. Even if he knows he isn’t one, he’ll always know he’s a beloved radiant. In that way, he’s human in the eyes of the public.

No wonder they want each other dead. No wonder they want each other’s memories. Alpha Omen discovers his truth in the past. Omega Omen discovers what could have been in the present.

And still.

Both are incomplete.

Forever a shadow.

[montycheck]

wait a second.

Has no one like

Taken advantage of the fact Cypher likely wasn’t always… y’know, good at his job?—

I swear I haven’t seen a single piece of content that depicts his early “freelance” days after Nora.

Bro I need to watch this peter parker ass man make his mask for the first time NOW