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Sevika/Vi II - Bar Room Blitz Breakdown

So, let’s talk about Sevika/Vi II. It’s more visceral than technical, but there’s a lot of important story telling.

I’ve mentioned before - this fight is just angry and emotional. It’s important to both of them because it’s how they handle their emotions, and the only way left they can communicate. So, first and foremost - Sevika clears the room.

We saw in their first fight Sevika doesn’t care about fighting dirty, so this isn’t a sense of honor issue so much as her need to prove she can break Vi. Not so much to herself, but proving to *Vi* she can break her. Knowing Sevika, there’s more than a little arrogance involved.

Sevika did not count on or expect the Atmos Gauntlets though.

And while the gauntlets are strong enough to one shot Shimmer-roided mech suit soldiers…it just makes Sevika mad.

And she responds accordingly.

There’s a lot of trading blows in this sequence, none of which is particularly technical. It’s actually incredibly sloppy from both of them. The hit from this gif above is classic “Vi blocks with her face,” but this far it’s usually not been crosses from the opponent’s dominant hand.

Which, I’ll take this moment to note from their first fight - Vi is most likely left handed and Sevika is a righty. Sevika drops her right foot back when she takes her “come at me” stance, indicating her right is her natural strong hand, and Vi likewise puts her left side back when she gets technical, hitting several quick but non-serious blows from her right. The Superman punch ends up being from her non-dominant hand, but that’s because she had just clocked Sevika with her good left cross, and had stepped into it for power. So, to follow up, she was already in stance for a right hand power hit, and speed was her biggest advantage in Sevika/Vi I. Sevika, respectively, showcased a willingness to swap stance from orthodox to southpaw. Likely, aside from negating any possibly advantages Vi had, it let her get powerful crosses from both her dominant and Shimmer-tech arms. Sevika is stronger, and that danger from both sides is a massive advantage. This understanding of their dominant/power hands is *extremely* important for the end of the fight, so hold onto this knowledge.

And now, back to the second fight! They continue this messy slugfest for a minute, and it devolves quickly. They agree to take a breather in the middle (which is a great bit of storytelling; you can see my thoughts on why here), in which they both decide they’re done venting and they want to end it. So Vi throws a fucking table at Sevika and goes in to slam it through her skull.

(I know this gif has several parts in it but it’s the only one I found with the table throw)

This is actually a bit of an ego trip by Vi; she thinks the only reason their first fight was a struggle was because of that Shimmer Arm, and now that she has the Atmos Gauntlets, it’s her victory. So she copies the same move Sevika used against her in their first battle - tossing it and driving it like a missile. Because it’s an ego trip, she picks a much bigger object. However, also because it’s an ego trip, Vi makes three big mistakes.

Keep reading

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All the “Script to Screen” Videos from the official Arcane Twitter

Silco’s death: 

https://twitter.com/arcaneshow/status/1464292879807827969

Heimer gets kicked from the council: 

https://twitter.com/arcaneshow/status/1461741065812131845

“It finally worked!”

https://twitter.com/arcaneshow/status/1459236991590043648

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everyone goes “vi shouldn’t have done this” and “vi shouldn’t have done that”. my question is — what should she have done? Your sister blows up your entire family? Ask your Twitter moots to send you calming videos. Your sister is adopted by the crime lord that is responsible for the death of your entire family? Just. Join him. And do crimes too, I guess?? Understand that your traumatized sister and this manipulative crime lord totally have a healthy, balanced relationship and you should just be cool with the fact that she kills people for him and helps him sell drugs. He’s that best family she has! Why would Vi try to separate Jinx from him? Why would she assume her sister does crime lord things because of her crime lord dad? After all, after holding her entire family hostage, he kindly took in Jinx in and raised her. She turned out fine!When your sister laughs manically while killing people? Encourage her! She’s a girl boss! When your sister is on a bridge and she aims a machine gun at you and your friend and starts blasting but your other friend goes to fight her and buys you time for you to escape???? Spend 2 minutes squabbling to argue about it and hand off your injured friend to Ekko so you can confront your sister that just shot at you with NO WEAPONS. Your sister fights your childhood friend and you don’t know who came out alive?? Silco and his goons (who will murder you if you have the chance) pick up your sister, separating you again??? Just, fix it. Somehow. Watch a 5minute crafts video and DIY yourself some hex tech gauntlets and then parkour over to your sister. If she doesn’t want to trying shooting at you again you can carry her and get her medical attention… somewhere… idk. And when your sibling (who hates your girlfriend) and (just shot at you and your girlfriend) says she “made her a snack”, menacingly puts a platter on the table in order to deliberately provoke you. Don’t freak out. Call her bluff! She would never cause physical harm to someone you care about! She did kidnap your girlfriend, though. That’s unfortunate. And when your sibling asks you to kill your new girlfriend and promises they’ll be your sibling again in exchange? Drop her. Just blast your friend in the head. That’s what siblings are for! And when your sister kidnaps you and makes you sit a twisted dinner table so she can determine whether to off her estranged sister or her adopted father? Invent cognitive behavioral therapy. Undo all of your sister’s trauma over dinner. She is literally neurodivergent and a minor.

Also, if I were Vi and Marcus chloroformed me I would simply…stay awake.

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Just want to add that I was completely on board with most of this post but I have some thoughts on Enforcer Vi... 

Besides obviously hoping this doesn’t happen because ACAB, I don't actually think it’s altogether likely that the writers will make Vi an enforcer because a major part of Caitlyn’s arc is realizing that the enforcers, and the systems of Piltover and Zaun in general, are inherently oppressive. She finds the motivation to continue her unauthorized investigation at first because she thinks that the only reason why things aren’t getting better are that people topside don’t understand what’s really going on, so as soon as she’s able to show them the truth and fix the “misunderstanding” the Undercity will get justice. However, her encounter with Marcus on the bridge shows her that he really wasn’t listening because he IS a part of the problem, and knew the truth all along. Then later when she meets with the council, they cement the fact that Piltover is never going to actually use it’s resources to help Zaunites - the most the council members can be convinced to do is just grant independence, (smtng which may be a good first step but still doesn’t resemble justice at all unless they also give out reparations). As for Vi, besides clearly having been traumatized by enforcers even before one threw her in jail for an indefinite amount of time, fighting for Piltover would be the fastest way for her to find herself permanently at odds with Jinx, Ekko, and basically everyone she still cares about in the Undercity. I just don’t see her doing it.

It also doesn’t make sense for them to try the angle of two “good cops” (CaitVi) can save policing because Grayson already was that “good cop.” She genuinely cared about and respected Vander, clearly didn’t want any conflict between Piltover and the Undercity to break out for unselfish reasons, and generally just came across as a good person - especially in her interactions with Caitlyn and Marcus. Nevertheless, under her leadership, enforcers still roughed up Zaunites regularly. There was still corruption in the system. Council members didn’t listen to her recommendations. Everything went to shit... and she died. Whatever resolution we’re building up to can’t involve a revival of her strategy, and even if they do work with the enforcers for a bit as fan service, I seriously doubt Vi will be able to tolerate being with the force for more than a single fight, let alone actually commit to going to an academy. (Not to mention, she already did technically work with the enforcers when she and Jayce went to mess with Silco, and we saw how that ended).

I also know CaitVi canonically become #piltoversfinest in League, but a major part of Vi’s journey there was her getting amnesia - another plot point that’s super unlikely to take place. Further, the future that League players game in isn’t actually the resolution to the conflicts presented in Arcane. Vi and Jinx are still at odds with one another, Piltover and Zaun are in the middle of war, etc. etc. I obv don’t know how this show is gonna end, but I seriously doubt it’s gonna go: “And then everyone became a champion and battled! Go play LoL to finish the story.” So it’s fair to guess that the writers are gonna make an effort at wrapping up the story, even if Arcane’s conclusion ends up not being cannon to the LoL universe. 

Vi totally knew it was Caitlyn’s first undercover job and she took that opportunity to use every second line that came out of her mouth to fuck with Caitlyn…until she gets stabbed

Heading to the fissures

Tells caitlyn her sister could do that when she was 7 - a lie, we know powder wasn’t great at parkour

Tells caitlyn all fissurefolk can do that - lies

“You wanna blend in don’t you?” Essentially convincing caitlyn it was totally acceptable to take her down there like that, despite how dangerous it is, if she wants to do a good job as an undercover enforcer

At Jerichos

Vi is aware caitlyn is expecting her to deliver results. Doesn’t say anything just starts eating

Let’s caitlyn sit, wondering if taking them there will get them any leads

Admits that they’re just there cause she’s hungry

At the brothel

Completely omits the fact that she knows the owner and just has to mosey on into the back and ask her questions directly

Revels in Caitlyn’s entitlement and when she asks how they should go about getting information in a place like this, vi suggests she does something that makes her uncomfortable, but ultimately harmless

Convincing caitlyn to engage in these social situations does nothing to benefit vi. But this is exactly how an undercover cop WOULD have to go about getting information. You wanna be a good cop, right caitlyn?

Just fuckin leaves her there

I know at some point vi is gonna be some sort of “enforcer” and I hope caitlyn gets her revenge if vi has to go through any sort of training and learn new etiquette

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Silco

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Jinx’s Neurodiversity

Disclaimer: this analysis is coming from a late-in-life diagnosed autistic woman, who, in her autism diagnosis had her “borderline case of ADHD” from childhood  confirmed as actual ADHD. (cause there is no “borderline ADHD” or “borderline autism,” you’re neurodiverse or you’re not). 

Also, we can all speculate as much as we please but if the writers didn’t do their research and create the characters with that intent, this shit is just that: speculative. 

Buckle up for my brain dump ❤️

1. The first meltdown

It might seem like Powder overreacted to being told “don’t come,” but neurodiverse people (overall) have a limbic system (part of brain that regulates emotion) that develops differently from neurotypical people (see: needs extra support and has a steeper learning curve). ADHD-ers especially are more likely to experience very extreme feelings to triggers–as opposed to the more emotionally disconnected alexithymia which is more prevalent in the autistic community–but both labels can experience overwhelm, meltdowns, and shutdowns just from “big feelings.”

(And this is different from bipolar which will experience extremely high highs and low lows without a stimulus that will last for days/weeks/months.) 

In ADHD/autism the intense feelings are more apt to last a few minutes to a few hours and they are highly dependent on external and internal triggers. They’re not “crossed wires” or anything we could pathologize, they’re plainly very intense feelings. And again, because our nervous systems just don’t know how to process the overwhelm it can lead to meltdowns.

Breaking down Powder’s first meltdown:

-Intense reaction to being left alone for an indeterminate amount of time

-Don’t know how to process “not ready” so is aggressive/melts down around the items that relate to her “not ready”-ness (her bombs and the suitcase she packed to go with the group).

-(This part was the key for me) She realizes that she has a powerful superweapon in her possession and immediately the meltdown stops. Because we’re onto a new set of feelings now. She’s no longer distraught over not being able to contribute because she has a solution, and so those intense feelings disappear and so does the meltdown. 

2. The reflexes / brain go zoom

Jinx demonstrates that she has super reflexes

ADHD-ers, on average, have brains that work 3x as a fast as every other brain type. It’s what leads to a lot of us getting called the “gifted child” in school, but it’s not necessarily that we’re all geniuses, it’s just that our brains go zoom. 

Our brains are also more likely to exhibit a kind of neuropathway (?) that bypasses a part of our brains that would otherwise be used to “edit” signals. Where most people’s brains would go “cup want. vase in the way. move around vase, now *grab cup*” ADHD brains tend to go “cup” at the same time as “grab” which makes for clumsiness and impulsivity but also super fast reflexes.  

As well, I listened to a special ops on a biohacking podcast talk about how, if he had to be on the battlefield again, he’d want the person with ADHD next to him because our brains can keep up with the speed of battle with ease. Other brains are more likely to be overstimulated and have to wade through the shock first. But ADHD-ers have a speedy brain and are likely to have no problem keeping up (therefore keeping alive). 

The speediness is how we can have such a high threshold for stimulation, and why we’re more likely to be that person “sucked in” by the video game or movie–our brains also like the constant stream of stimulation. And conversely, we’re the first person to whip out our phone and start multitasking as soon as there’s a slow point on the screen. ADHD brains are hungry for stimulation, and battle is fast-paced stimulation. 

3. Happy-hormone starved

The way I understand it, because our brains work so fast we end up burning through dopamine/serotonin/happy hormones faster than other brains which is why we crave new stimulus constantly–it’s our brains way of chasing some happy. And again, battle is stimulating.

And Jinx, Jinx seems to luuurve battle. While, yes, there’s definitely a lot of validation that she gets from being the “stronger” adversary, it’s also probably something that is feeding her happy-hormone starved brain consistent hits of happy. So she likes it. Like a lot. 

Edit:* There’s even evidence in this in the “romantic and elated” music that plays when her bomb is a success–it’s the same music that plays when she watches her siblings fight Decker’s gang, and we see that from her POV and the slow mo of it makes it like a dance. I think battle and violence was something she was drawn to even before she ran around intentionally committing atrocities.

4. The “blips”

The first time we see Jinx’s awareness “blip” out is during this:

She is visibly already uncomfortable and when Silco reassures her that Vi is gone. She (1) agrees, (2) blips and struggles to make a joke about sisters, (3) blips and is suddenly blowing on the needle like a whistle. 

She’s dissociating. Shutting down little by little to avoid having to face the thing that’s causing her pain: the topic of Vi. I think this time the blip was to relay how her brain is processing trauma–in that it’s not processing it, but two other times it really felt more like the little manic episodes ADHD-ers can get.

You can feel like your brain is firing on all cylinders and, like, if your brain was a train, it doesn’t matter where you’re going cause the tracks will appear the millisecond before the wheels touch the ground. They don’t last long, a few hours at most, and they happen more when you’re “in the zone” or hyperfixating on something. And these happy blips happen when Jinx is in her element (and unbothered by her PTSD). She’s low-key manic.

5. “And I thought Powder could get obsessed”

Both ADHD and autism are known for having hyperfixations. Hyperfixating is like extreme tunnel-vision, almost always on something enjoyable. Neurodiverse people can go all day without eating if they’re hyperfixated on a project, ignore all body wants and needs–literally eat breathe sleep whatever topic they are hyperfixating on. 

ADHD-ers, when we like a thing we become obsessed with it as it continues to feed our brain happy hormones hits, and then a few weeks to a few months later, when it stops bringing us the happy, we drop it and move on to the next thing. 

Jinx clearly has obsessions that can each be explained by other means, but Vi has that one comment to Caitlyn, “And I thought Powder could get obsessed.” This trait has been a staple in Powder/Jinx since before the incident. And if Jinx is neurodiverse, then this is how her brain has worked since she was born. 

Side note: hyperfixating is different from special interests, which are hyperfixations that can last a person’s lifetime. Jinx’s obsession with bombs and shooting are probably special interests.

6. “Different”

Jinx being “different” seems to be a point of contention for her throughout the season. She’s less than thrilled when Vi calls her different, and when she admits it in the last episode, it’s like with a beaten down resignation. She doesn’t want to be different; she spends the whole season trying to belong (first to the Vander-family and then she flits between her desperation to be loved by Silco and loved by Vi). 

And this is one of the biggest complaints about autism; that because we are so different, we feel chronically lonely. We’re more likely to feel on the outs and like we just cannot connect and bond with others, even when we are actively participating or are with people we get along well with. It also means we’re going to be the person who doesn’t get the same fulfillment or feel the same ease when we are with other people. In my experience, the person at the party who wanders away from the crowd to go explore other rooms, or the person to break off from the conversation to sit at the table first is always neurodivergent (usually that person is me, but the rare times it’s not it’s another autie or ADHD-er). This inherent disconnect that happens, socially, makes us less apt to stick to the group and more apt to seek comfort or stimulation elsewhere. 

Several times we see Powder wandering off on her own. The first time is in Jayce’s apartment; Vi, Claggor, and Mylo stick together in the main room and Powder wanders away to explore. Another time is in the arcade when Powder completely decimates Mylo in the gun game. Instead of sticking around to claim her victory, or anything you’d expect from a kid who just destroyed someone who’s been low-key bullying her, she sticks her tongue out at him and wanders away.

7. Comorbid diagnoses with neurodiversity

If you drew a circle around all of the overlapping symptoms of ADHD and Autism, and then another circle around symptoms of trauma, you’d have almost one solid circle. ADHD and Austim have a lot of overlap, and most of those symptoms are also symptoms of trauma because being neurodiverse in a neurotypical world is inherently traumatizing. 

A large portion of the neurodiverse demographic have additional diagnoses of things like PTSD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. I think one major factor in how prevalent comorbid diagnoses are, is that the daily trauma continues to compound until our brains have no choice but to alter our brain chemistry into something to seriously pathologize. 

And Jinx bby has been through two serious traumas which, when compounded on top of potential neurodiversity, would explain how her mental health got to be so irreparably far gone by the time Act II starts (even though she wasn’t the only one dealing with the aftermath of the incident, and pretty much every fissure folk has been through an insane amount of pain, too). 

This reddit post, btw, had a good talk about Jinx’s probable schizophrenia. From her “clang association” and “word salad” (as featured in “you’re a class act sister. sister, thought I missed her. bet you wouldn’t miss her.”), her paranoia, restlessness, and of course what we all associated with Jinx’s manifested mental illness: the hallucinations. 

The last thing I want to point out is in the first scene: we don’t see Powder emotionally react to mom and dad dying. We see Vi break down and we watch Powder comfort her sister. Does Powder ever process her parents death?? Probably not! Which is so wildly unhealthy. 

I think her not mourning mom and dad was the first crack in the bedrock of her psyche that that made for the choices and clear mental illness throughout the rest of the show. And that bedrock cracked as deeply as it did (and is as unfixable as it is) because she was probably neurodivergent from the start (plus the lanes don’t have therapy). 

So…

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.  

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TRYING and DOING are not the same thing. Think intention vs impact. Some of these killing sprees that Jinx goes on are literally AGAINST his interests as a crime lord, but even then he makes no real effort to get her to see how that's not good behavior, (like how Vander scolded Vi for using her fists all the time). Her sister comes back from the dead after YEARS of being missing, and instead of being excited by the possibility that his lonely child will get to be reunited with a loved one like a good parent would, he tries to have Vi killed and tells Jinx that she can’t trust anyone but him to love her. Her choice to name herself “Jinx” was an act of defense to protect herself from derogatory uses of the word, and instead of working to help her feel safe even without it, Silco literally asks her to KILL Powder, the little girl inside that she’s protecting, and turn her walls, her boundaries, into her entire identity. The largest addressable problem that Jinx had while living with Vander was that she got bullied by Mylo, but then when Silco takes her in, Sevika becomes the new Mylo anyway, so in what way did he make Jinx’s life better at all? The fact that the man is traumatized and obviously in need of therapy as well doesn’t change the fact that his relationship with Jinx, however loving, is also TOXIC af. 

I keep hearing people say that Jinx would’ve turned into the version of herself that we see now anyway because she clearly had mental health issues as a small child, but how many people with BPD do y’all actually know with ledgers as bloody as hers? Quickly?? It’s not normal for mentally ill people to be as violent as she is. It’s not normal for a mentally ill person with an extremely well off parent like Silco to not have received any semblance of professional help which might’ve equipped her with healthier coping mechanisms. It’s not normal for a parent to describe their child as a prize, an asset, the perfect little killing tool to other people, (here im referencing when he told Vi he once thought she was the cream of Vander’s crop but turns out Jinx is also super useful). Silco had more than enough resources to raise Jinx into a more adjusted person, but instead he projected his own issues on to her, took advantage of her destructive tendencies, and made her even more broken than himself. 

Again, I’m not denying that Silco loved Jinx. He did, and obviously to her, that counts for something. But he still isolated her. He still enabled her. He still failed to make her feel safe. He still let her feel as though some of her value was based in her usefulness. Look at how convinced she is that Vi needs to break up with Caitlyn because she doesn’t get that her sister has enough love for both of them, or that people in general can love more than one person. Look at how casually she just takes lives. Look at how much time she still had to spend around people who wanted her booted out of Silco’s care. Look at how she nearly killed herself on the bridge trying to get “the stupid stone” back to Silco because she thought that’s what he wanted from her. The bar isn’t just the floor here - y’all have buried it beside the dinosaurs. 

It’s possible to abuse people you love unintentionally. 

Silco’s last words to Jinx were literally words of confort, he wanted to make sure she knew he didn’t blame her so she wouldn’t make him another one of her ghosts, he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be haunted by him, from where do you all take that he was trying to manipulate her?

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HUGE EDIT: because I’ve recently heard some latine discourse on y assuming Luisa is gay is bad and I want to build on that criticism bc I did briefly imply that Luisa might be queer in this post even tho I rlly only wanted to talk abt their experiences as big sisters.

So latine ppl r generally upset with yt queers bc their desperation to make everything center around them and their experiences is overshadowing Luisa’s actual character, her journey, and what she means to actual latine ppl who she’s actually intended as representation for.

This post didnt do this, but while we’re on the subject, head cannoning Luisa as trans only bc she’s buff and tall is also very transphobic AND racist. A) It’s transphobic bc ur singling out traits that are commonly associated with men in the West and trying to use them to clock her, implying that you don’t believe trans women can fully pass bc otherwise u would’ve perhaps chosen to hc Isabela as trans or Mirabel. B) It’s racist bc WOC r very often masculinized in the West becayse our traits differ from white women, who r considered the epitome of femininity. Having traits like being built heavier, having darker skin, being tall, etc. are all used to deny w’re ”real women,” so when you subconsciously note that we don’t meet European beauty standards and then assume we’re trans because of that, you are essentially saying you don’t think we pass as women either.

I also in general think the queer community should chill a little with celebrating “representation wins” which r rlly only head cannons. TO BE CLEAR I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with making LGBTQ+ flag icons with ur fav character, shipping random queer couples who haven’t been confirmed, writing fanfics abt ur OTPs, etc. All that’s great and fine. I just draw the line at actually giving screenwriters and companies flowers and singing their praises when they throw us tiny morsels, or not even. We deserve better, and shows like the beloved Arcance r proof they can and should give us better. Media abt actual latine gays that actually does deserve applause from the queer community in particular is out there.

But yes, as a queer Latina myself, I am srry abt saying Luisa might be gay just bc she’s buff and pretty. My point abt her and Vi being platonic matches made in heaven still stands tho. They can vent abt their trauma while benching at the gym.

Okay but also gorgeous hunky (gay?🤭) women aside, I really think these two would get along just because of how much pressure👀 they’re both under to support their families and everyone around them as the eldest sisters who also happen to be very physically strong.

Like Luisa obv speaks for herself in her song (btw highly recommend yall read/listen to the full thing) when she says:

”I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service”

”Give it to your sister, your sister's older Give her all the heavy things we can't shoulder Who am I if I can't run with the ball?”

”I hide my nerves and it worsens, I worry something is gonna hurt us”

So we gather pretty easily over the course of the movie that when people ”ask” Luisa to do things there isn’t really room for her to say no, so she has an impossible time relaxing, struggles to deal with the guilt she develops when her powers start leaving (something that was outside her control), and generally finds it really difficult to communicate her stress unless someone like Mirabel pries and pries and pries.

I also want to take a moment to emphasize that when she first noticed that her powers were disappearing, what she said was lifting xyz “felt heavy.” Like not even “I couldn’t pick up X,” or “Y wouldn’t budge when I pushed,” but something “felt heavy,” implying she‘s never even allowed herself to feel the weight of everything she’s been asked to hold.

My girl Vi is super similar because time and time again she finds herself in situations where it‘s basically up to her alone to save everybody, like when she decides to give herself up to the enforcers (as a child) so they’ll stop hunting her siblings, or when she has to fight Silco’s whole crew by herself (as a child) to give her family time to escape, or when she resolves to take down Silco by herself after Jayce quits on her, and that’s all without mentioning the many formative years she spent getting beat up in prison while serving an indefinite sentence on no charge - or the fact that even when she does have back up, she never gives up the mindset that it’s her job to protect everybody else and no one’s job to protect her.

I also think this is part of why it’s so unfortunate that parts of the fandom were mad at her for punching Powder for (accidentally) killing their adoptive dad and brothers, and then later leaving Jinx alone on the bridge and just generally making small bad/grey calls, because even putting aside the immense amount of trauma Vi is ALSO carrying, she‘s actually been handling herself incredibly well so far.

Like going back to the punch, as an older sibling who also happens to know a lot of ppl with siblings, siblings fight MUCH more brutally than that over MUCH smaller things all the time. That doesn’t excuse hurting Powder per se, but it makes it weird to me that so many people were ready to hate her for it, especially when immediately after hitting Powder she realized that she’d messed up, looked at her hand in horror, and left (for a literal second (before getting kidnapped)) to cool down and process the extreme loss she‘d just finished dealing with before taking on the responsibility of parenting her sister again.

Over the course of Arcane, we’re shown Vi has an incredible amount of guilt related to her separation from her sister (which was outside her control), struggles to communicate because of how reliant she’d become on her fists, and generally finds relaxing impossible.

There‘s so much more I want to say / elaborate on, but essentially yeah these women are my queens, love them and the way they love their people so much, would defend them with my last breathe. Thanks sm if you made it this far!

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(insp. x)

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these specific tweets are making me think of Things

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Okay but also gorgeous hunky (gay?🤭) women aside, I really think these two would get along just because of how much pressure👀 they’re both under to support their families and everyone around them as the eldest sisters who also happen to be very physically strong.

Like Luisa obv speaks for herself in her song (btw highly recommend yall read/listen to the full thing) when she says:

”I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service”

”Give it to your sister, your sister's older Give her all the heavy things we can't shoulder Who am I if I can't run with the ball?”

”I hide my nerves and it worsens, I worry something is gonna hurt us”

So we gather pretty easily over the course of the movie that when people ”ask” Luisa to do things there isn’t really room for her to say no, so she has an impossible time relaxing, struggles to deal with the guilt she develops when her powers start leaving (something that was outside her control), and generally finds it really difficult to communicate her stress unless someone like Mirabel pries and pries and pries.

I also want to take a moment to emphasize that when she first noticed that her powers were disappearing, what she said was lifting xyz “felt heavy.” Like not even “I couldn’t pick up X,” or “Y wouldn’t budge when I pushed,” but something “felt heavy,” implying she‘s never even allowed herself to feel the weight of everything she’s been asked to hold.

My girl Vi is super similar because time and time again she finds herself in situations where it‘s basically up to her alone to save everybody, like when she decides to give herself up to the enforcers (as a child) so they’ll stop hunting her siblings, or when she has to fight Silco’s whole crew by herself (as a child) to give her family time to escape, or when she resolves to take down Silco by herself after Jayce quits on her, and that’s all without mentioning the many formative years she spent getting beat up in prison while serving an indefinite sentence on no charge - or the fact that even when she does have back up, she never gives up the mindset that it’s her job to protect everybody else and no one’s job to protect her.

I also think this is part of why it’s so unfortunate that parts of the fandom were mad at her for punching Powder for (accidentally) killing their adoptive dad and brothers, and then later leaving Jinx alone on the bridge and just generally making small bad/grey calls, because even putting aside the immense amount of trauma Vi is ALSO carrying, she‘s actually been handling herself incredibly well so far.

Like going back to the punch, as an older sibling who also happens to know a lot of ppl with siblings, siblings fight MUCH more brutally than that over MUCH smaller things all the time. That doesn’t excuse hurting Powder per se, but it makes it weird to me that so many people were ready to hate her for it, especially when immediately after hitting Powder she realized that she’d messed up, looked at her hand in horror, and left (for a literal second (before getting kidnapped)) to cool down and process the extreme loss she‘d just finished dealing with before taking on the responsibility of parenting her sister again.

Over the course of Arcane, we’re shown Vi has an incredible amount of guilt related to her separation from her sister (which was outside her control), struggles to communicate because of how reliant she’d become on her fists, and generally finds relaxing impossible.

There‘s so much more I want to say / elaborate on, but essentially yeah these women are my queens, love them and the way they love their people so much, would defend them with my last breathe. Thanks sm if you made it this far!

[colorfully-lgbt]

for some reason i've been seeing people getting angry at vi ?? for not talking jinx down before she could shoot the bomb ? and i just wanted to bring up this post:

like, yeah, of course you know exactly what vi needed to say in order to save jinx. of course you, the viewer know how to repair their sisterly relationship, and you want to reach through the screen and shake vi and tell her what to do. you also knew that the the war was reaching a peaceful resolution as jinx pulled the trigger, that things could have ended happily if everyone had taken a moment to talk things through.

this is the point !! this is a tragedy! and not only that, this is a prequel to league of legends, a game in which piltover and zaun are at war, a game in which vi and jinx are estranged and hate each other. (or so i've been told by my friend who plays.) there was never even a chance of a peaceful resolution, vi and jinx have been doomed all along, the same can be said about the fates of piltover and zaun.

and, of course, vi is far from a perfect character. she's traumatized, she's grappling with the person jinx has become, she's spent her entire adult life in prison ! of course she's not going to know exactly what to say! and thank god she doesn't, characters need flaws and they need to make mistakes, or else there will be no story at all. so, yeah, it's easy to watch arcane as a spectator from the comfort of your home and think "it's so simple! why don't they just talk it out? vi is a dunce!" you're on the outside, you're seeing everything happen from above. from vi's perspective, from jinx's perspective, from caitlin's perspective, it was all unpreventable.

because arcane is a tragedy. it's gonna be tragic.

[colorfully-lgbt]

“Gandhian tactics do not, generally speaking, work in the US. One of the aims of non-violent civil disobedience is to reveal the inherent violence of the state, to demonstrate that it is prepared to brutalize even dissidents who could not possibly be the source of physical harm. Since the 1960s, however, the US media has simply refused to represent authorized police activity of any sort as violent. In the several years immediately proceeding Seattle, for instance, forest activists on the West Coast had developed lockdown techniques by which they immobilized their arms in concrete-reinforced PVC tubing, making them at once obviously harmless and very difficult to remove. It was a classic Gandhian strategy. The police response was to develop what can only be described as torture techniques: rubbing pepper spray in the eyes of incapacitated activists. When even that didn’t cause a media furor (in fact, courts upheld the practice) many concluded Gandhian tactics simply didn’t work in America. It is significant that a large number of the Black Bloc anarchists in Seattle, who rejected the lockdown strategy and opted for more mobile and aggressive tactics, were precisely forest activists who had been involved in tree-sits and lockdowns in the past.”

— David Graeber, On the Phenomenology of Giant Puppets: Broken windows, imaginary jars of urine, and the cosmological role of the police in American culture

[colorfully-lgbt]

Shout out to this girl being utterly unimpressed with Bucky’s flirting and absolutely going to tell Sam about it later. 

[colorfully-lgbt]

Say it with me folks:

“Eat the rich” means 1%ers and billionaires

middle class is closer to poverty than being a multimillionaire

“The rich” does NOT include children of billionaires (come on we’re at least slightly better than the plagues of Egypt)

Upper middle class children SHOULD NOT feel guilt over having money

Being aware of privilege and using your privilege to help others IS NOT a guilt trip

Constantly feeling guilty helps no one

Billionaires, however, should feel guilty over hoarding wealth.

Upper middle class is NOT rich

Black Lives Matter

Trans rights are human rights

[colorfully-lgbt]

US Helplines:

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453

UK Helplines:

Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail jo@samaritans.org

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111

Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: info@mind.org.uk

Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 legal@mind.org.uk

b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: help@b-eat.co.uk

b-eat youthline (for under 25’s with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)

Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: helpline@cruse.org.uk

Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600

Drinkline: 0800 9178282

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail info@rapecrisis.org.uk

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight

India Self Harm Hotline: 00 08001006614

India Suicide Helpline: 022-27546669

Kids Help Phone (Canada): 1-800-668-6868

FREE 24/7 suicide hotlines:

Argentina: 54-0223-493-0430

Australia: 13-11-14

Austria: 01-713-3374

Barbados: 429-9999

Belgium: 106

Botswana: 391-1270

Brazil: 21-233-9191

China: 852-2382-0000

(Hong Kong: 2389-2222)

Costa Rica: 606-253-5439

Croatia: 01-4833-888

Cyprus: 357-77-77-72-67

Czech Republic: 222-580-697, 476-701-908

Denmark: 70-201-201

Egypt: 762-1602

Estonia: 6-558-088

Finland: 040-5032199

France: 01-45-39-4000

Germany: 0800-181-0721

Greece: 1018

Guatemala: 502-234-1239

Holland: 0900-0767

Honduras: 504-237-3623

Hungary: 06-80-820-111

Iceland: 44-0-8457-90-90-90

Israel: 09-8892333

Italy: 06-705-4444

Japan: 3-5286-9090

Latvia: 6722-2922, 2772-2292

Malaysia: 03-756-8144

(Singapore: 1-800-221-4444)

Mexico: 525-510-2550

Netherlands: 0900-0767

New Zealand: 4-473-9739

New Guinea: 675-326-0011

Nicaragua: 505-268-6171

Norway: 47-815-33-300

Philippines: 02-896-9191

Poland: 52-70-000

Portugal: 239-72-10-10

Russia: 8-20-222-82-10

Spain: 91-459-00-50

South Africa: 0861-322-322

South Korea: 2-715-8600

Sweden: 031-711-2400

Switzerland: 143

Taiwan: 0800-788-995

Thailand: 02-249-9977

Trinidad and Tobago: 868-645-2800

Ukraine: 0487-327715

(Source)

[colorfully-lgbt]

Before you say, Write your own! – let me tell you that we do. But this page is a resource for writers, so we thought writers might want to know what kinds of representation would make us more likely to get excited about your book. We don’t speak for everyone in our demographic, just ourselves, but we hope this post gives you some cool writing ideas.

Note: This is additional info writers can keep in mind when writing characters of those backgrounds. We believe it’s a good thing to ask the people you’re including what they’d like to see.

Actually hearing from misrepresented and underrepresented people and asking us what we’d like to see of ourselves is much better than unthinkingly tossing characters into tired tropes or reinforcing stereotypes that do us harm.

Colette (Black): More Black people doing stuff! Going on adventures, riding dragons, being magical! More Black characters in prominent roles in fantasy + sci-fi and historical settings and not always and only as slavess. These stories are important, but they’re NOT our only stories. We were kings and queens too. Let us wear the fancy dresses for a change instead of the chains, damn it! More Black girls being portrayed as lovely and treasured and worth protecting. More Black girls finding love. More Black girls in general who aren’t relegated to arc-less, cliche “Sassy best friends” and “strong black women.” More positive, dynamic roles of Black men (fathers, brothers, boys…) More positive, dynamic family roles of Black families as a whole, families that are loving and supportive and there. More Black people from all socioeconomic classes. More Black characters that don’t rely on the stereotypes that the media is currently going full force to reinforce.

Yasmin (Arab, Turkish): More Arabs who aren’t token characters. I want to see Arabs normalised in literature. Arab teenagers in high school, Arab young adults behind on their taxes, Arab dads who cook amazing food, Arab moms who refuse to soften their tongue for others. Arabs who aren’t mystical fantasy creatures from another planet. Arabs in YAs and in dramas and nonfiction and comedies and children’s books. We are human just like everyone else, and I’d like to see that reflected in literature. Often we are boxed into very specific genres of literature and made to feel ostracised from the rest. Let’s see some change!

Alice (Black, biracial): I’m hoping for more Black and biracial (mixed with Black) leading characters in all genres, but mainly in SF/F who fall outside of the stereotypes. Characters I can relate to who love, cry and fight for their ideals and dreams. It would be great if their race would play an active role in their identities (I don’t mean plot-related). Some intersectionality with sexuality and disability is also sorely missed, without it becoming a tragedy or it being seen as a character flaw. More mixed race characters who aren’t mixed with some kind of monster, fictional race or different species. Dystopias about problems usually faced by poc having actual poc protags, without all the racial ambiguity which always gets whitewashed. 

Shira (Jewish): More Jewish characters who feel positively about their Judaism and don’t carry it around as a burden or embarrassment. While the latter is definitely a real part of our experience due to anti-Semitism and all we’ve been through as a people, the fact that it overrepresents us in fiction is also due to anti-Semitism, even internalized. (Basically, Jews who don’t hate Judaism!)

More brave, heroic characters who are openly Jewish instead of being inspired by the Jewish experience and created by Jews (like Superman) or played by Jews (Captain Kirk) but still not actually Jewish. I’m tired of always being Tolkien’s Dwarves; I’d like a chance to play Bard, Bilbo, or even Gandalf’s role in that kind of story.

Elaney (Mexican): While we’re discussing what sort of representation we’d like to see, I am using the word “latinista” and I want to quickly address that since you may have not seen it before: “-ista” is a genderless suffix denoting someone is from an area (“Nortista”, a northerner), or who practices a belief (“Calvinista”, a calvinist), or a professsion (you’ve heard ‘barista’).  I find it more intuitively pronounceable than “latinx” and also more friendly to Spanish, French, and Portugueze pronunciation (and thus more appropriate), personally, so I invite you to consider it as an alternative.  If you don’t like it, well, at least I showed you. 1. I want legal Latinista immigrants. The darker your skin is down here, the more likely you are to be assumed to be illegal by your peers, and I want media to dilute this assumption so many have of us. 2. I want Latinistas who are well educated, not just smart, and I mean formally educated, with college degrees, professional skillsets, and trained expertise.  Being in fields which do not require a formal degree is no less legitimate of a lifestyle than being in a field which requires a PhD, but I want you to consider when casting your Latinista character that We, as a people, are assumed to be little more than the drop-out and the janitor by our peers, and People Of Color in scientific fields are mistaken as assistant staff rather than the scientists that they are.  I want media to dilute this assumption.  

3. I want Latnistas who are not marketed as “Latin American” but as their actual country of origin, because “Latin America” is a conglomerate of individual entities with their own, distinct cultures and if you are, for example, Cuban, then Mexican characters may appeal to you but they don’t have the same relatability as fellow Cuban characters. Wouldn’t you be a little more interested, too, to pick up a book that’s about a character who lives where you do rather than about a character who lives somewhere in general?

4. I want rich or well-to-do Latinistas.  Looking back, I notice that several of the character concepts that have been bounced off of us with regards to Latinista characters incorporate poverty despite an astronomical and diligent work ethic. I don’t think this is on purpose but I do think that it is internalized because so often the stereotype of us is poor and uneducated in a vicious cycle (uneducated because we’re poor, poor because we’re uneducated) and I think that there should be more media to dilute this.  

Lastly, I personally do not want these tropes to be explored and subverted by people, I want them to be avoided entirely because I feel that normalizing positive representation rather than commenting on negative representation is far more beneficial and validating to the people these works are supposed to help and represent. We don’t need sympathy, we need empathy! 

Jess (Chinese, Taiwanese): Stories that don’t center around the identity of being Chinese-American. That doesn’t mean “erase any references to protag’s Chinese identity” but I’d definitely like stories that have us go on awesome adventures every now and then and don’t have the Chinese character being all “I AM CHINESE” from beginning to end.

Please round out the Chinese migrant parents instead of keeping them as strict and/or traditional. PLEASE. I could go into how my parents and the Chinese aunties and uncles here are so awesome, seriously, and we need more older Chinese migrant characters who are awesome and supportive and just people. Also! EAST ASIAN GIRLS WHO AREN’T SKINNY AND/OR PETITE. Please. PLEEEEEASE. And more stories about Taiwanese and Chinese folks who aren’t in bicoastal regions (the Midwest, the Plains, etc.) WE EXIST.

More Chinese-Americans who aren’t necessarily Christian. Maybe it’s because of the books I’ve wound up reading, but there seems to be this narrative of Chinese migrants joining churches and converting when they’re in the US. This doesn’t mean I want less Chinese-American Christians in fiction, mind: I’d also just like to see more Chinese families in the US who are Buddhist or who still keep up with the traditions they learned from their homelands, like me, without having it considered in the narrative as ~old fashioned~ or ~ancient~ or ~mystical~. Tangentially, when writing non-Christian Chinese families, I’d rather people keep the assumption of Communism being the underlying reason why far, far away. I have been asked in the past if Communism was why my family didn’t go to church, and needless to say, it’s really, really offensive. 

Stella (Korean): I’d love to see more Korean (and Asian-American) characters that don’t perpetuate the super-overachieving, stressed-out, only-cares-about-succeeding Asian stereotype. These Koreans exist (I would know; I went to school with quite a few of them) but they don’t represent all of us. I want to see more Korean characters solving mysteries, saving the world and having fun. More Koreans that aren’t pale, petite, and a size 2. Not all of us have perfect skin or straight black hair or monolids. And some of us love our short legs, round faces and small eyes!

And fewer stoic&strict Korean parents, please. So many of us grew up with loud, wacky, so-embarrassing-but-endearing parents!  

Recently, there’s been quite a few novels with Korean American female protags (particularly in the YA section) that deal with being in high school, dealing with strict parents, getting into college, and boys. Lots of boys! I think it’s awesome that there are more books with KA protags, and I’m so so so glad they’re out there. But I also recognize that those are definitely not the kind of books I would have read as a teenager, and it’s not the kind of book I want to read now. I want to see more Korean characters that are queer, trans, ace, bisexual. More Korean characters that are disabled or autistic or have mental illnesses. More Korean characters in fantasy, SFF, mystery! Heck, space operas and steampunk Westerns. I want it all! :DDDD

A lot of Korean-Americans struggle with their identity. It’s hard to balance things sometimes! But I’d love to see more stories that *aren’t* overtly about Korean-Americans dealing with their racial identity or sexual orientation, but stories about Koreans saving princesses and slaying trolls and commandeering spaceships. I want a plot that doesn’t center on Korean-American identity, but on a Korean-American character discovering themselves. White characters get to do it all the time; I want Korean characters to have a turn. 

And honestly, I just want to see more Asians in media, period. South Asians, Southeast Asians, Central Asians! Thai, Hmong, Tibetan, Filipino, Vietnamese characters. Indian characters! There’s so much diversity in Asia and among Asian diaspora. I want us to be more than just ~~mystical~~ characters with ancient wisdom and a generic Asian accent. We’ve got boundless oceans of stories within ourselves and our communities, and I can’t wait for them to be told.

I would also love to see more multiethnic Asian characters that are *not* half white. It seems to be the default mixed-race Asian character: East Asian and white. But so many of my friends have multiethnic backgrounds like Chinese/Persian, Thai/Chinese or Korean/Mexican. I have Korean friends who grew up in places like Brazil, Singapore and Russia. Did you know that the country with the largest population of Koreans (outside of Korea) is actually China? 

And while I’m at it, I’d love to see more well-translated works from Asia in the US. Like, how awesome would it be to have more science fiction, fantasy, and historical novels from Asia that are easily accessible in English? SUPER awesome!!

Kaye (Muslim): I am so hungry for Muslim representation, because there is so little of it. You can see one or two (YA) titles I currently think or have heard are good representation on the shelves - notably, Aisha Saeed’s Written in the Stars - on an AMA I did the other day for /r/YAwriters. However, I’d just love to see stories where Muslim characters go on adventures like everyone else! I’ve been saying recently that I’d LOVE to see a cozy mystery. Or a series of Muslim historical romances a la Georgette Heyer (there are a LOT of Muslim girls who love romances, and I’m just starting to get into the genre myself!). I’d love to see Muslim middle grade readers get girls who find secret passages, solve mysteries, tumble through the neighborhood with their dozen or so cousins. I have a lot of cousins and thus I always have a soft spot for cousins. And siblings. I’m looking forward to Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham because Jen is writing Scarlett as a detective a la Veronica Mars. And she’s Somali-American. How cool is that?! Let’s see some classic road trip YA with Muslims. Let’s see comedies with quirky characters - for instance, I know one or two tween Muslim girls who are driving their moms MAD by suddenly turning vegetarian and refusing to touch the celebratory biryani at family Eid parties, who join relevant societies at their schools and start preaching to their extended families about the benefits of going vegetarian and all the funny little interactions that are involved with that. Let’s have a story with some wise-cracking African American Muslim girls. My cousin is a niqaabi who loves YA and hates that she doesn’t see herself in it. Let’s see some stories with teen niqaabis! Let’s explore the full, joyful spectrum of diversity in Islam. Let’s have stories where we talk about how one word in Bengali is totally different in another language, and one friend is hilariously horrified and the other friend doesn’t know what he/she said. (True story.) I want to see joy. I want to see happiness. Being a woman of color and a hijaabi often means facing so many daily, disheartening scenarios and prejudice and hatefulness. So many of the suggested tropes recently in the inbox focus on trying to force Muslim characters into beastly or haraam or just sad and stereotypical scenarios. I know that writers are better and have bigger imaginations than that. You want angst? Push aside the cold, unkind, abusive Muslim parents trope. Let’s talk about the Muslim girls I know who have struggled with eating disorders. Let’s talk about Islamophobia and how that is a REAL, horrible experience that Muslim kids have to fear and combat every day. Let’s approach contemporary angst without the glasses of the Western gaze and assumptions about people of the Islamic faith on. We can have Muslim novels that focus on growing pains like Sarah Dessen and Judy Blume (and speaking of that, my “auntie” who used to teach in a madrasah used to press Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret on the Muslim girls she knew because of how Margaret approached growing up and had concerns about her faith and her relationships, etc.)

Having Shia friends, I would like to see more stories that aren’t just assumed to be Sunni. How about stories about Su-Shi kids, too? (Sunni and Shia - the name always surprises me!) Let’s see some Muslim-Jewish friendships. Because they exist. And of course, I always, always hunger for Muslim voices first. Because it’s so important to have these voices there, from the source, and some of the issues with answering here at WWC is how people seem to be approaching certain tropes that a Muslim writer could explore with the nuance and lived experience of their faith behind it.