emilywaters

[emilywaters]

Vi was the actual 'jinx' and her living doomed everyone else

The heartbreaking implication that the alternate universe Ekko visited—where things were happier, where he and Powder were together, where all those beloved dead were still alive—held the caveat that Vi had not survived, when we know that, in Ekko’s real timeline, Vi was the only survivor.

[emilywaters]

Some thoughts about Arcane s2

(spoilers obviously)

To start off, I have a lot of mixed feelings. I don't think it was AS bad as some people are saying, and I definitely don't believe that everyone's characters were ruined/OOC. In my opinion, the overall plot was more of an issue than any individual character's choices (barring a few exceptions). I'm not even going to go into the individual characters, actually.

Because to me, the biggest issues were this:

Lack of a focus on politics

Lack of a focus on Jinx/Vi's relationship

Classism is one of the central themes to this story, and an unavoidable aspect of season 1. It's almost too obvious to talk about. The overarching conflict of Arcane has always been about the tension between Piltover and "Zaun". So why was Viktor and his little army of mannequin clones the big bad of season 2? I do not buy even for a second that Zaunites would suddenly start banding together for Piltover just because they were both at risk of being murdered by some freaky aliens. Why would people in the undercity care? They're already dying and being mistreated. It was lazy, overdone, and not consistent with the thesis of the story. Yeah, having Sevika on the council representing Zaun in the last 10 seconds of the show was great, but how did we get there? Why was that not the focus?

As for #2, Vi and Powder are the main characters and their relationship is at the core of this story. It is the most important relationship in this story. Objectively. And their relationship was not resolved in a satisfying way whatsoever. It didn't have to be perfect, it didn't even have to be happy, but it had to be satisfying and make sense. And it did not.

I truly believe that if those two aspects remained the focus of the story, every other issue that people had with the show or any individual character's choices would no longer be a problem.

I keep seeing people mad that some characters died or their ship wasn't canon but the thing is, this has always been a tragic story. I am not mad that all traces of Vander are gone from Warwick. I am not mad that Jinx and Ekko didn't end up together (even though I literally actively ship them). I don't think everything has to be wrapped up in a nice happy bow for a show to be good. It just has to make narrative sense and be consistent with the thesis of the story, which it was not.

Here's my take: I think many of this season's issues could have been resolved had episodes 1-6 been spread out over 9 episodes with the events of episode 6 being the season finale.

Episodes 1-6 had elements of the central theses that I mentioned earlier. Jinx's attack reignited the suspicion/dislike of undercity folk, therefore upholding the classism aspect; Salo even says "I can't believe we were almost about to give those people rights" (not a direct quote but you get the idea). Vi had lost all hope that her sister was still 'in there', was thinking about Jinx and mourning Powder. The physical fight between them and the role Caitlyn played in it was narratively consistent. These episodes weren't perfect, nor were they as cleanly written as s1, but they had the heart of the story in mind. The real issue is what happened afterwards. They lost the plot, quite literally.

When I heard this second season would also be the final one, I was surprised, but considering there's nothing I hate more than when a story gets drawn out just for the sake of it/because it's popular, I felt like I couldn't complain. However, considering how much convoluted bs they tried to shove into this one 9 episode season, I am confused as to why it wasn't drawn out more. Was it a budgetary reason? An issue with Netflix? I can't figure out what the problem was.

In conclusion, I don't think this season was horrible. Definitely not the worst Season 2 of a beloved Season 1 I've ever seen, at least. But it's still disappointing that the impeccable writing of Season 1 was unable to be matched.

[emilywaters]

good morning I have arcane finale thoughts

Viktor's full ascension to the machine herald was rushed and we didn't have enough insight into his thoughts to sympathize and understand the motivation behind his full on glorious evolution. I will say the visual symbolism knocks it out of the park though. his final form literally casting aside his humanity? horrifying, chef's kiss.

pacing-wise for the narrative it really needed more time to breathe

like I feel we needed one more episode per act to allow rest between story beats and to explain the massive character swings. it felt like there was too much emphasis on the fight scenes (which yes, cool, but not as emotionally compelling without showing us how the characters are feeling)

I love vi and cait but the betrayal of ambessa was so abrupt, vi seemed to forgive cait immediately and they got back together without any arguments. they just jumped from together to apart to together again without any growth. also "I'm the dirt under your fingernails" gonna have to say this was a miss for me. it's giving Caitlyn as Lady Macbeth trying to clean her hands of blood - placing Vi as her guilt and a mistake. probably not what the writers were going for but comparing Vi to dirt is like saying shes beneath Caitlyn. and Cait embodies the power of Piltover as a political and martial leader. it just rubs me the wrong way.

not sure I agree with the message of how the Zaun/Piltover conflict was resolved. with all the buildup from season one, it felt very underdeveloped in act 3. we're saying the oppressed are happy to join their oppressors under a big enough threat? they didn't even fight back in their own way, the zaunites were assimilated into Piltover standards - they became enforcers. the zaunites didn't even get to showcase their own identity through fighting - they didn't have the chemtech or clockwork enhancements. and then after the fight, we go back to the status quo of a high council?!?! great resolution of sevika's arc but for Zaun as a whole? no way.

[emilywaters]

Cleon

[emilywaters]

worship

[emilywaters]

Straight people will never understand the pure untouched queer joy in getting not only a canon queer couple, but the canon queer couple being casual representation (rather than a subplot), showing affection to each other openly, getting multiple kisses, another minor queer entanglement (showing that it is very much the norm and not some sudden gay awakening) and with all of that, we get a complete and shameless sex scene. For so many shows and movies and books all we had for queer media the way straight media romance existed was through fan content. But here, in canon, in the show, we are getting canon visuals of what we've only ever had the chance to read and imagine. My joy and contentment is immeasurable. I feel at peace.

[emilywaters]

they didn't kiss but their destinies are intertwined forever. they didn't kiss but in every universe they find each other and only jayce can make viktor understand his faults. they didnt kiss but jayce doomed viktor to his fate as the machine herald and then saved him. they didn't kiss but their love literally saved the world

[emilywaters]

I can't believe a ship I loved became definitely canon. I mean.. they're canon right? Holding eachother when they die is definitely true love and not just 'lab partners'

[emilywaters]

this season was a win for the shippers. we got:

CAITVI PRISON SCENE STILL CIRCLING AROUND MY BRAIN

jayvik the local celestial homos

TIMEBOMB AHHH

CLAGGOR AND MILO HELLO?

canon zaundads??????? tweaking out????? why is nobody speaking about this???

[emilywaters]

right through

[emilywaters]

The straights, the lesbians and the gays

[emilywaters]

Nah bcs cowgirl was so right for going with the bizzies. I too would follow a random pitch perfect-esque boy band if they promise me french toast and sleep in their sales pitch

[emilywaters]

[Image ID: A drawing of Cyrus in front of a white background. She is a black woman wearing a hat with a pearl string hanging off it, a long skirt and shirt, a shoulder cape and an actual cape of knee length. Her outfit is held in different shades of black and dark brown and has different accents of red on different parts across it, the cape being completely red. She is using a cane. End image Id.]

Soooo, Cyrus. Thoughts?

[emilywaters]

for the Warriors musical have the orchestra be on stage at the back, playing the rest of the Riffs (while they're playing the riffs)

[emilywaters]

Light It Up, Fox!

I think reunion square has to be one of the saddest members from the Warriors concept album and it gets set of every time I listen to it.

I think a big reason for that is that this song really does cement that Fox truly is the youngest of the group (I'm going to as soon as Fox is anywhere between 15 to 18 years old)

In the beginning of the song after she and the others escape the Bizzes she says " God, half of us are gone" and she later lashes out at Victor after he cat calls the Warriors.

What I find really interesting about her rant is that it shows that Fox (presumably out of every Warrior besides Cleon) has truly taken Cyrus's word to heart as she assertively points out that Victor and his ilk are the reason they've had to suffer not only here but throughout life.

She asks why can't they go back home and has eternalized herself as the "Quiet Girl" that isn't gonna make it.

What's cool though is that she flipped this on her head and ends ups truly realizing what the Hurricanes were actually was trying to say.

When you're stuck in the darkness you have to do your own life sometimes not just for you but for the others in your life that may not be able to burn as bright.

This realization causes Fox to LEAP into action realizing that if Victor calls his boys they'll be able to stop stop the train and potentially arrest/kill the Warriors.

Something of note here is that this song takes cues from The World was Wide Enough where we see Fox's life flash through her eyes.

Queens- You can do 99 things right,but meet the wrong Cop at night and it's braapt on site ya dig?

Manhattan- survival all depends upon the corner you run to.

Ajax- I'm sick of running

Warriors- Only the strong survive

Ajax and Rembrandt- Anybody tussle with these hands they'll see static

The battle between Fox and Vic is brutal and he beats her so badly that she breaks something and starts bleeding.

Another thing that I noticed after some repeated listening is that it seems that out of all of the Warriors, Fox seems to look up to Swan and Ajax the most (Rembrandt too apparently).

She laments that Swan could have taken Victor out but she's not her and not too long after that the cop puts his foot on her throat and kicks her into the incoming train.

I think what's beautiful about this tragic moment is that Fox ends up embodying the other sentiment of Quiet Girls and ends up becoming an arc of light both literally and metaphor.

It's actually quite a clever nod to me that Fox herself it's played by an Asian actress ( Pippa Soo) because been Chinese, Japanese, and Korean mythology there is a creature known as the Kitsune.

Kitsune are basically Divine foxes that more often than not typically take the form of females to live amongst humans.

They act as a guide to the afterlife and use something called foxfires to communicate with others throughout the night.

Fox being the one to truly embrace what the Hurricanes tried to tell the Warriors and becoming the light that guided her friends home through her demise is quite a common trope with kitsune, especially if they bonded with a human.

I just think it's a really cool way to not only lift a sort of nothing character from the original on the bed but also make them stand on their own.

[emilywaters]

"Hey youve gotta be nice to me ive had a chomp taken out of me"

"wait someone bit you?? I had absolutely *no* idea why had noone told me about this. If only someone had been here to remind me of it every two minutes."

" >:P "

Hey boppers for your eyes today i have created some cuisine. The flavour is scrumptious? I dunno why i love cochise and cowgirl so much when they're just kind of along for the ride. Listen guys they are very dear to me also cochise sticks her tounge out when shes concentrating I dont make the rules.

ALSO when I was drawing I suddenly thought cowgirl has a septum and ugh i love it forever unfortunately it didnt look right in this doodle i tried but! next time i draw her for sure.

If its not clear cochise is painting cowgirls toenails and they're having a yap session. <3

I was craving some silly sketchy doodles today so I wasnt looking too hard at references for it GUYS go and do some silly sketches! >:) also makes sure to stretch out your hands after drawing for ages

Okay also also i know I do a lot of yapping on these posts but I wanted to say thankyou!!! again for how lovely everyone is :'''') all the reblogs and comments pointing out stuff and details from my drawings that i liked made me like YIPPEEEE

Ive finally looked at the lyric book guys go look at the lyric book it has given me so many ideas so expect more art :D

anywayyyyy lots of big kisses to you all and especially @circeneedsahobby for showing me warriors, enabling my obsession by screaming about it with me and hyping me to post on here. GO LOOK AT THEIR ART! :))

[emilywaters]

Stage directions (for want of a better word) in the Warriors lyric book that I love:

"Sully is holding a pathetically small shaving blade"

"The orphans vamoose, terrified"

"Singing a solo outside of time and space"

"Eerie. Super eerie. (description of gang). Super duper eerie."

"That's the truth, Ruth."

"The bizzies start their meticulusouly rehearsed vistuostic dance moves"

"Joon rap solo. Everyone looses their fucking minds"