I can see him being a mouthpiece for a bunch of producers, yes. Wouldn't be surprising.

But as for the world itself: yes, in lore no one cares who is with whom. Homophobia doesn't exist there as a concept. Unfortunately, even such world can be created by homophobes.

Exactly!
Not even to mention that ace =/= aro, C'MON

Srsly though, since no one else on the team behaved like this, I do believe it's literally one man issue.

Someone mentioned Amanda's comments on JayVik, and well. At least, she understands that their relationships can be interpreted romantically.

I do believe it's mostly Linke being homophobic (literally no one else cares). The follow-up of his take about "brothers" was that they wrote Viktor as asexual. A disabled character. Asexual.
I mean, not just homophobic but also ableist? unsurprising.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzNc...

The source. Both of them are still alive inside Varus.

And then ending JayVik's story with an identical pose to that of two other canonical gay men of the same universe...

Urgh, it's just so obvious it's ANNOYING AND FRUSTRATING.

Funnily enough, the second season addressed that in a way, and Jayce was forced to see the reality of his relationships with both Mel and Viktor, but I'd wish it were more explicit. Artistically to me the scene with the fire was absolutely about him realising that.

Agreed.
Additionally, Jayce and Viktor always had so much more chemistry together, that Mel and him always looked ridiculous in comparison in that regard.

Good moment to tell you that you've always been a huge source of inspiration for me. 🤍

It always has been for a very wrong reasons, and I don't doubt it even for a second.
If it weren't so, we wouldn't have much more outright wlw shows and movies than mlm ones.

Yeah, I know, I am following you on tg for years (and own the censored version of the said book, huh).

Anyhow, there is always hope for the better. And there is also hope we'll get to see those changes.

Everyone hated Mel x Jayce lmao
Hopefully one day we can get what CaitVi got, but for mlm

(4) Just because you know Linke is actually a rare exclusion from the rule (esp. since JayVik was implied LONG time before he started to work on Arcane).

(3) What I am trying to say is that it's not baseless because "the writer says so". After all, it's not a creation of one man, and not even the work of just writing room.

Not saying you can't feel sour, but it's a rare case when shit like this can be enjoyable.

(2) Timebomb became canon because of their interpretation as well btw.
So the way it's portrayed is not just Linke's input. There's a lot of nuance added by Fortiche (and lol they are so into that, there is an extended cut of CaitVi sex scene there somewhere).

There is a huge issue with Linke himself, because there are too many indications that while HE specifically didn't intend that in the writing room (Amanda is much more open about it), Fortiche (the animation studio) behind all of that pretty much portrayed them romantically. (1)

(2) Also I have a huge feeling that Linke (one of the creators who was pushing "brothers") was made to stfu (radio silence from his twt is deafening lmao), while Silco x Vander were subtly made canon just a few weeks later after airing of the final act.

I mean... there are chances.

While I feel lowkey the same about all of this, there is a huge chance that the corporate structure behind Arcane could be bull.. convinced into actually making JayVik into canon. CaitVi has been hinted for like around ten years, and recently Twisted Fate (same universe) became canon. (1)