...that's not really come across very well.

I should say that I'm a staunch transhumanist, so this issue has been annoying me for a while, but I can see how others could view it differently.

However, Viktor is basically a good person and has retained that even after his transformation.

As far as I see it, what has happened is:

- Viktor gets stolen from by Stanwick.
- He can't deal with that, so he decides to create something no-one can steal from him; i.e. himself.
- As a deliberate part of the process, to remove what he saw as negative influences on himself i.e his rage and jealousy, he removed his emotions.
- He honestly thinks he's improved from the process.
- He decides to inform other people that he's improved from the process and that he can do the same to them.
- He never does it without consent (Jayce's lore says acolytes, not 'converts' or 'experiments').
- He stole from Jayce because he believed he could make the best use of the tech.

I can see how he could become evil in the future. His theft of Jayce's stuff could be a slippery slope arrangement. But that hasn't happened yet.

The evil thing about the Borg, for example, was that they converted people without their consent. Viktor hasn't done that. So why is the general feeling/explicit Riot statement that Viktor is evil?

EDIT: After a quick check through this thread: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2339770 it appears that the slippery slope is indeed Riot's intention.

Disappointing, to be honest. Still, he's not evil now. Just in the future.

Nope, not evil. I refuse to believe it, even if the Riot team says he is.

You're right it doesn't really come across well. Riot dropped the ball on it didn't make their intentions for the character clear so when Jayce came out Riot's image of the character was very different from the image a lot of other people got then there was the whole big Viktor Jayce debacle.

I doubt he's supposed to be straight-up evil. Riot themselves said they try to avoid clichés. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs1yD8m2fvE#t=00m57s

I still say ... only a *ahem* tiny number of champions are evil. Maybe only one. Who's tiny and evil.

I don't think Riot ever intended Viktor to be evil, but his bio does say he is obsessed. He also seems to have performed self-lobotomy. I think he replaced his original sense of morality with his obsession for the evolution.

FOR THE GLORlOUS EVOLUTION.

He's not exactly evil. In his eyes, he's satisfying his original goal of wanting to help humanity (back when he was an idealistic scientist) - he believes that the evolution to cyborgs and, eventually, complete machines is allowing the human race to progress. However, his actions are not exactly motivated by pure altruism either; a couple of additional reasons he converted himself into a machine is to: a) create an invention who no one else could possibly steal credit for and b) because he was likely suffering through so much emotional pain that he was prepared to make any sacrifice to make it go away (even giving up his own humanity). Also, he is willing to do anything to continue his research be it robbery or, perhaps, even murder (though it hasn't been overtly stated that it has progressed to that stage).

Ultimately, he is a man who believes that the end justifies the means. The moral ambiguity behind Viktor's character is what really makes me like him so much as a character and why I don't think of him as a pure villain or hero.

Viktor is chaotic-neutral, sure he might burn down a few bridges ( and towns, and forrests, and jungles), but he isn't trying to enslave, or make anyone pain or discomfrot, he merely wants to meet his goal, and will cause people pain and discomfort in order to do so.

Even if Viktor never had his invention stolen. He would have saw Urgot's augmentations as woefully inefficient. Cringe at the immortal beings inability to attain true immortality (Xerath in his case) and seeing the glorious evolution be carried out by him rather than other lesser people. At some point Viktor is going to abandon his morals and Jayce would have provoked him as he sees Piltover as horribly restrained by petty morality while Zaun has gone to great lengths.

Well, Jayce thinks Viktor is evil.

Viktor doesn't see his own actions as evil.

Viktor isnt evil. It's about perspective. From his point of view, he's doing what's right for the improvement of his race. Others disagree, and feel their way is right. You can see things like this throughout history. A good "villain" is someone who honestly believes their way is right, and will do whatever they can do do what is "right." Opinion and point of view changes everything.