For Several Years, Viktors Leg Caught My Eyespecifically, I Was Searching For An Official Diagnosis And

For several years, Viktor’s leg caught my eye—specifically, I was searching for an official diagnosis and struggling to find something that fit him. After years of speculating, I believe I've found his condition's proper diagnosis and name.

Viktor has a rare and severe case of femoral anteversion in his right leg.

What exactly is femoral anteversion? It is a condition in which the femur rotates, causing the knees and feet to face inward rather than forward. This can impact one or both legs. This condition usually resolves on its own, but more severe cases require medical intervention such as leg braces, therapy, and surgery in more extreme instances—however, this condition is treatable.

This condition impacts children, typically the result of trauma, fetal development, or genetics. Viktor was likely born with this, which would propose that he’s either genetically predisposed to it or the result of a tough pregnancy.

This small scene is an excellent example. It’s only several seconds long, but here we can see that his leg is rotated inward, and he corrects it to face forward—which pains him as he visibly winces—all while Jayce speaks.

It’s noticeable when he’s a kid. You can see how his leg twists and faces inward and how his foot catches on the heel of his other foot, which causes him to trip. In episode 8, while he runs on the dock, he almost trips from this issue again before catching himself and sprinting. Viktor also has an in-toe gait; his step curves as he walks, while his other leg does not.

His leg brace, which we see in Act 2, serves one primary purpose: to force the leg to rotate and face the proper direction. However, at this stage, his condition has been left untreated for so long that it is progressing and showing a drastic impact on his entire body that the leg brace will not fix. It also makes mobility even more challenging for him, with difficulty bending and extending his leg.

This condition can throw the entire body out of whack if left untreated. It can cause pelvic issues, osteoarthritis, spinal decompensation, labral and chondral damage, hamstring-originated tendinopathy, and even weakening of the abdominal muscles, as well as a wide range of spinal problems. The feet, hips, and back are significant body parts that work together; if one is bad, the rest will suffer.

Viktor would require a femoral derotation osteotomy; however, given the severity of his condition and how other parts of his body are now significantly impacted--such as his pelvis and spine, we now have more complications on our hands and that's not even touching on his unnamed lung disease.

There's still so much I could discuss here, and perhaps later, after work; I have a handful of notes I've taken about this and how it all just ties together for Viktor, and honestly, it has been really fun to look at and analyze.

The first person that commented is going to make me pop a fucking blood vessel

New chapter hooorah

Fandom discourse is the worst when it gets too character focused rather then plot focused.

I took an adult course in English and a large part of it was media literacy. I remember reading the first short story assigned to me in class and in my first draft I kept trying to materially justify that the landlady killed the protagonist in the story.

I was overly focuses on clues like the how he tasted almond in the tea he drank because cyanide tastes like that. What was the thing I was supposed to use as evidence was how the author set up the atmosphere, the language used to describe the hotel and the lady and the weather. All of it.

I had a media illiterate fandom passerby in my head arguing with me that "oh but that doesn't mean the landlady is a serial killer just because the wind is howling and biting" I had to relearn media literacy.

I learned to read implication again and be okay with indirect non-literal interpretations. Let go of the idea that confirmation is everything. Story language is as strong evidence as the words that the characters say because characters aren't people, they have no thoughts and feelings. How they dress does say something about them other then "they just like the style." as what we would assume with real people.

The lack of media literacy that disturbs me the most in fandom is how the potential thoughts and feelings of a character are prioritized over their function in the story.

Could you elaborate on why La Révacholière makes you cry? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, it's just that the track and the Insulindian Phasmid sequence overall made me feel a sense of complete awe with a twinge of existential horror and sadness, but nothing that would bring me to tears

to me there is nothing horrific about the phasmid -- there is sadness to it, for sure, there is a sens of melancholy about that scene but to me it is a scene of beautiful hope and wonder. the whole game the cryptozoologists are set up as these hopelessly deluded people, chasing after an impossible dream and resigned to failure after a long long history of it*. and then... it's there. the phasmid is real. the hope is rewarded.

and everything the phasmid says is... it's sad, yes, but it's also beautiful and kind. it feels "great, mute empathy". like, after an entire game of traipsing around martinaise, this bombed out ruin full of damaged, miserable people, after talking to the broken and hopeless dros, this is genuinely heartwrenching:

like. god fucking damn. the phasmid is a miracle. the phasmid is something that isn't meant to exist, but it does. the phasmid is kind of a light at the end of the tunnel, it is the realization of the prophecy SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN. it is the emotional high point of the game for me. i genuinely cry every time i reach this scene.

*note that there is imo a pretty strong parallel between this hoping-against-hope and morrell's very sober understanding of the track record of cryptozoology with how the game depicts communism -- "we haven't stopped building love". this also makes it hit much harder for me--i think that the phasmid and the tower holding together serve similar roles, with the phasmid being more allegorical and broad while the tower is more directly a statement on communism and a better world being possible.

I pretend the disaster twins aren’t my favorite duo and then I forget other characters exist in my fanfic

Wild kratts au concept work of mine! My plan for how mutated-ish Chris will look. Calling it the physical instrument au for reasons