fulcrums501st

[fulcrums501st]

This will probably be my last post I make in the Arcane Critical tag, as the environment has become so hostile it’s lost most elements of criticism, at least, whenever I look at it, that’s how it appears.

Let’s get one thing clear: you cannot lump all people who argue for Arcane and all people who argue against Arcane together. People are always going to have different viewpoints and perspectives. I myself am very critical of Arcane, but even I understand to a point that there has been some exaggeration in the critical circles that take away from the actual criticisms and problems at hand.

This goes for both sides of the argument mind you, as I’ve seen it in both, but the minute you denounce that the opposing side has anything valuable to say, is the minute you close off the window for actual discussions and debates, and you will only see the negatives in the opposing sides’ statements. Insulting people is not a valid way to get your points across. Being ableist (because yes, I’ve seen people be ableist) is not a valid way to get your point across.

A critical tag should be an open place of discussion, and should not be filled with such immense hostility.

And this isn’t an invitation to say what you hate about the opposing side’s arguments, it’s a post reminding people that if you actually want to engage with the opposing side in a well thought out debate and discussion, you actually have to be patient, understanding, and not clump them all together as a group you dislike. That’s the opposite of critical thinking and understanding.

And if all you do is disagree and disagree, put an end to the debate.

And if they say something that you especially hate, or even go as far to be racist, classist, ableist etc, because I have seen that to, you put an end to the debate and block them, maybe even point out the fucked up thing they said beforehand if you’re able to do so. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable, you can educate, and if they listen, they listen, if they don’t, again, the block button is there for a reason.

[fulcrums501st]

The whole bullshit with AU!Silco being like "Forgiveness is the way to go :))" is so bad because.. Silco did forgive Vander. In episode 3 he was talking about he doesn't even care about what Vander did to him anymore, he's just mad he's playing lapdog to Piltover. He hates Vander because he was supposed to be a fighter, and now he's refusing to fight.

The rift between Silco and Vander was ideological differences. That's why Silco ended up killing him. But I guess the writers forgot about that?

[fulcrums501st]

how do I send this to all the ppl who think Silco “made Jinx” or purposefully made her insane

has this been done yet

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as much as i enjoy seeing the class politics discussions around silco and his actions as a chembaron and a revolutionary, i do think that a lot of people condemning his actions (which we should condemn) miss the part where like.

it did work

like that was a pretty significant part of the show. it didnt pan out because he loved his daughter but silco's methods very much did get zaun as an independent nation, the real question is if it was worth it (which we'll never know bc jinx shot him)

[fulcrums501st]

This is where Season 2 shit the bed in the Hextech storyline. Kiss nuance and the corrupting influence of power goodbye. Magic itself is going to make you eeeeevil and punish you for using it.

Jayce and Viktor, you were oh so presumptuous for wanting to improve lives and give magic to people who weren't born with it. I bet you feel REAL stupid now!

Fuck Season 2 for proving Heimerdinger right. This ancient, self-righteous, inattentive little fluffball was the real villain in Season 1 and you can fight me on that.

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Just cause there are some “nice enforcers” ( which honestly I can’t think of one) and enforcers are just doing ”what they think is right” doesn’t erase the fact that they are one of the faces of oppression to Zaun , they were a tool that Piltover used to oppress the undercity not help. Nothing changes that. You can’t just erase That the enforcers were abusers of their power , we see it in S1 act 1 , they ask a guy he spits at their feet okay rude but it doesn’t warrant throwing him through a window!.

“The system has changed” “ they’re changing it from the inside “ I would believe that if I saw it but nope the system is still the same , nothing changed and we’re not shown actual changes that will happen in the future.

If you say the single council seat I’m gonna riot

[fulcrums501st]

silco is so funny as a character. he was gonna stab a crying child but then the child hugged him and talked about her abandonment trauma and he went like OH KIN and decided to develop a codependent relationship with the crying child. and you'd think that'd make him have more sympathy for kids and parents in general but NOOOOOOO he threatens to murder kids multiple times in act 2 and 3 and is like LOL YOUR KID IS DEAD at that poor chembaron. however the moment his daughter slash codependent partner gets threatened he's like FUCK all of you she's literally the only human being to ever matter you can all die as long as she gets to live and bomb other people. any other villain would have gained compassion through his bond with a traumatized child but instead he just got worse and also projected all his issues and vulnerabilities on a mentally ill arsonist teenage girl and claps whenever she bombs someone to death and cheers as she develops harmful coping mechanisms. legendary character. absolute wonderful piece of shit who loves his adoptive daughter to death and also is a very poor parent.

[fulcrums501st]

I am actually still so pissed off about Christian Linke have-assed-ed-ly confirming that Viktor is asexual because

1. If you actually cared about ace rep you would have made that explicit in the actual show

2. He only said it to try and get ppl to stop shipping jayvik

3. he said it under the presumption that ace ppl cannot be in relationships so bro doesn’t even understand what it means to be ace. Someone being ace does not stop him from being in relationships it just means sex isn’t a priority bruh

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I truly believe a large reason why some people fully believe that Silco was conciously deceiving Jinx and manipulating her for personal gain is because Silco just has an evil sounding voice

[fulcrums501st]

To me the first obvious sign of the writing quality drop from s1 to s2 was the I cant hear it now music video.

These music videos give me general vibes of what characters are thinking and feeling but not specific information like an actual scene would. Because of this we overlook and miss out on the complex and multifaceted thoughts and reactions these characters would have, and instead I’m given a vibe.

Caitlyn obviously would be devastated by her mom being murdered.

But Vi’s feelings are very nonspecific when she realistically would be feeling rlly conflicted rn. But this music video gives me vibes of how Vi and Caitlyn are feeling about this horrible and complex situation, not specifics.

The music video is heavily Caitlyn focused (not inherently a bad thing) but Vi is literally a background character in the music video.

The Caitlyn focus overtakes all of Vi’s emotions and feelings about the council being blown up. Caitlyn’s feelings are automatically explanation for VI’s feelings.

Vi’s feelings about the council being blown up revolve entirely around Caitlyn. The music video is just Cait being sad, and Vi watching her sadly. Vi is reacting to Caitlyn.

The only insight I get into how Vi, our main character, is feeling is that she feels sad because Caitlyn feels sad. That’s it.

And Vi literally 2 episodes ago was saying shit like “fuck the council” and whatnot, and you’re telling me her feelings about everything are summed up as only being reactions to Caitlyn’s feelings??

It’s so obvious the writers thought Vi was boring, cuz they erase her clearly negative opinions on the council for Caitlyn/Piltover sympathy.

[fulcrums501st]

To me the first obvious sign of the writing quality drop from s1 to s2 was the I cant hear it now music video.

These music videos give me general vibes of what characters are thinking and feeling but not specific information like an actual scene would. Because of this we overlook and miss out on the complex and multifaceted thoughts and reactions these characters would have, and instead I’m given a vibe.

Caitlyn obviously would be devastated by her mom being murdered.

But Vi’s feelings are very nonspecific when she realistically would be feeling rlly conflicted rn. But this music video gives me vibes of how Vi and Caitlyn are feeling about this horrible and complex situation, not specifics.

The music video is heavily Caitlyn focused (not inherently a bad thing) but Vi is literally a background character in the music video.

The Caitlyn focus overtakes all of Vi’s emotions and feelings about the council being blown up. Caitlyn’s feelings are automatically explanation for VI’s feelings.

Vi’s feelings about the council being blown up revolve entirely around Caitlyn. The music video is just Cait being sad, and Vi watching her sadly. Vi is reacting to Caitlyn.

The only insight I get into how Vi, our main character, is feeling is that she feels sad because Caitlyn feels sad. That’s it.

And Vi literally 2 episodes ago was saying shit like “fuck the council” and whatnot, and you’re telling me her feelings about everything are summed up as only being reactions to Caitlyn’s feelings??

It’s so obvious the writers thought Vi was boring, cuz they erase her clearly negative opinions on the council for Caitlyn/Piltover sympathy.

[fulcrums501st]

people are always mad about Steve’s endgame ending cuz he left Bucky. I’m mad about it cuz Steve literally already had visited Peggy, asked her about her life, and was happy for her when she said she loved a good life. Now he selfishly undos the happy life she lived with time travel, THAT is more ooc to me. Plus, it erases Agent Carter from canon. And I fucking love Agent Carter.

[fulcrums501st]

i need media to COMMIT to their themes and politics. no more vague shit. no more both siding. or starting somewhere only to backtrack. COMMIT goddammit

[fulcrums501st]

why did it take me so long to realize that jinx bombed piltover specifically to honor silco. i mean, she'd just killed a man she'd probably listened to rant about piltover for years. if anyone ever got a proper glance at the full extent of silco's resentment, it was his daughter. so, in his name, she picks up a weapon literally shaped like a shark (silco's motif), and shoots the very heart of piltover. it's her acknowledging whose fault this all really is, staring the problem right in its face for once. not her fault, not his, but theirs. their fault he had to suffer when he lived. their fault that she did too. so she pulled that trigger for silco. and for herself.

this specific train of thought also led me to think about how the title "the monster that you made" isn't just referring to jinx, the monster that vi made, or caitlyn, the monster that jinx made in the episode itself, but also silco, the monster that piltover made.

[fulcrums501st]

Silco's death magically making Jinx sane contradicts Season 1 entirely. In Season 1, we see how obsessed Vi is with killing Silco because she believes her sister is brainwashed by him. She thinks removing Silco from the equation will fix everything and Jinx can go back to being the adorable little girl she once was.

Episode 9 completely destroys that notion. Jinx explicitly says that it wasn’t Silco who made her this way, it was Vi (while obviously not wholly true, Vi did play a part in it). Silco's death is what pushes Jinx to stop trying to convince her sister (and herself) that she can be Powder again. It’s the moment she fully embraces her Jinx persona, culminating in that horrifying dramatic act in his honor

Now season 2 completely backtracks by suggesting that Silco’s death did fix everything! We’re suddenly back to square one with the Jinx vs. Powder conflict, even though the final episode of Season 1 was supposed to resolve that. Silco’s years of influence, both good and bad, are simply erased from her life. The trauma, emotional manipulation, paranoia, and codependency are just... gone. The time she spent with him is not even mentioned

It’s starting to feel like Silco had her under some magical mind control, and his death broke the spell. That’s not only reductive but also undermines the complexity of Jinx’s character arc. I really thought we were past this

[fulcrums501st]

my brain thought of this and now you must suffer with me too

[fulcrums501st]

“Silco loves Jinx” and “Silco’s relationship with Jinx is unhealthy and manipulative” are both true statements.

The thing is, Silco doesn’t manipulate Jinx for the weapon and her explosives like some fandom thinks he does. 

Silco manipulates Jinx because he loves her in his own twisted way but after Vander’s betrayal he’s terrified of getting hurt and being left alone again. So he resorts to some pretty twisted and extreme behaviours to keep his daughter with him.

So he convinces Jinx that it’s them against the world, everyone betrays them. There’s an extent to which Silco genuinely believes this, but he’s also desperate to keep Jinx close to him because who else does he have? Jinx is all his family and the only real emotional connection he has.

His love for Jinx is genuine but it’s equally fucked up. 🤷🏻‍♀️