mylastmoleculeofserotonin

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Can someone please explain to me why they think arcane is "copaganda?" Because like, isn't what's shown that enforcers are the bad guys, and even this "good one" is prone to going down an alt-right authoritarianism pipeline when they're hurting; but it's possible to bring them back if we're willing + able to invest the time and energy because alt right extremism is built on foundations of anger, fear, and hatred, so when they can't sustain those feelings, they are most open to change.

And we're given good reason to believe that Caitlyn will change since a) she fully owns up to what she did was wrong and says she wants to change, b) fights Ambessa and everything she had built, and c) she cannot shoot her rifle or be an enforcer anymore. She says she wants to change, she takes steps towards rectifying her actions, and puts her gun and badge down for good. And while there is a lot more she needs to do and those long term developments extend beyond the story that was being told, we can believe that she will make them happen because she is motivated to do so and can't go back to being an enforcer and have that type of power over people again.

No one in the show is both good and an enforcer. It's literally saying in order to be a good person, one cannot be a cop. How is that a pro-cop message?

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

I just finished Twelve Forever and I am so impressed with how it stuck the landing. Like, when I started, I was a little worried as to how they’d get away with so little definition on the magic, particularly Todd’s shape shifting and the fact that Flaps could create any weapon, as well as to what the moral would be since a lot of kids shows I’ve seen end in a “see, growing up isn’t scary, in fact, it can be fun” way. And considering how consistently the show doubles down on childhood=good/adulthood=bad theme, I wasn’t sure how they would end it since most shows I’ve seen that feature a magical parallel universe or something, frequently end with the characters being cut off from it.

But instead, they leaned into all the aforementioned qualities and made them work. Like, Flaps gave Reggie bombs and a rocket launcher, Todd used shapeshifting physics by going from sea star to whale, and Reggie even used the fact that she could just vanish to help win the fight. Like, everything that could have been the overlooked/unused insta-win button was used, and didn’t work bc they made the Butt Witch and Big Deal that much more powerful via the worms without specifying how. And that’s what made the power of friendship rocks work in providing the win conditions by making everyone else just as powerful as the worms made the Butt Witch and then overpowering her by sheer numbers. No one’s powers were cheapened, the power scaling worked and the magic system remained consistent. 10/10!

And I kinda liked how the show didn’t have a message beyond being a kid is awesome. It was perfectly indulgent for my inner child and avoided leaving the audience disappointed/dissatisfied that Reggie Esther and Todd get to stay in their perfect world while we have to go back to boring old reality now that the show is over by showing us that staying on Endless for a long time isn’t viable without making the whole dimension seem hostile or bad. And it gives us the sense that, yea, we can find ways to build our own little cool amazing fantasy worlds by playing with/finding joy in the things we have around us.

This is such a cool show!!

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Unpopular opinion but the black rose plotline was not that hard to understand ngl. Like I've seen so many people talking about how it "didnt make sense at all" but there? Wasn't that much to understand?

Like I knew NOTHING about LOL lore and I saw the black rose plotline and went "Ah, evil organization of magic users who hold a grudge against ambessa" and like? I dont rlly get what the issue is

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

I’m sorry, I think I strayed a bit from the point I was trying to make.

What I was trying to say was that yes, not that many (in terms of percent of population) people are directly harmed by the gas. And yes, the gas doesn’t spread from what we see. But the fear does. And that’s almost as important as the direct effects themselves since fear is as much of the intended effect as the gassing. Caitlyn’s goal was to end the chembaron’s/Silco’s/Jinx’s control of the Undercity and to do that, she had to make sure that people wouldn’t join them. So, she increased the risks that people would have to consider when joining them by using the Grey against anyone who supported them while also weakening the groups/people.

But the thing is, instead of achieving the desired effect, it created a rally ‘round the flag effect where the citizens of Zaun united around Jinx. And the reason why is because there was nothing, aside from her word which is rightfully distrusted, to keep Caitlyn (and Ambessa) from stopping at just with the chembarons and their supporters. The people of the Undercity saw that they were completely at Caitlyn’s mercy, and reasonably, they didn’t trust her to be merciful. So, they sought any form of protection they could against this mythologically evil and powerful enemy (since the legend went that it took a goddess, Janna, to defeat the Grey). And that happened to be Jinx, Caitlyn’s #1 target because she was able to replicate Janna’s feat when she diverted the Grey from the Undercity. So instead, the existential fear of being massacred by a supernatural evil outweighed the Jinxer’s fear for their personal safety. And Caitlyn kept doubling down on this strategy, enabling Noxian troops to brutalize and torture anyone with blue hair to, again, keep the Undercity divided and afraid; and then she indiscriminately ordered the arrest of everyone attending a peaceful rally to increase the fear.

And, as you pointed out in your original post, this lines up with what we are seeing in real life too.

I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I really hope that you see that the secondary effect of instilling fear to divide and conquer the Undercity was also part of Caitlyn’s plan, and that had farther reaching, and arguably worse effects than the gas. So yes, Caitlyn didn’t strictly “gas the undercity,” the intended effects of the gas enveloped the whole Undercity.

(Also, and i hope this goes without saying, I’m not bashing or criticizing Season Two or Caitlyn, I really really like them and I think that the real life parallels we see were intentional choice made by the writers. Basically, I hate, in a good way, the actions that Caitlyn took, but love the character and her writing if that makes sense).

It might be EXTREMELY taboo to do this, but I can’t help myself. I wanna use this IRL conflict as an example of why the “Caitlyn gassed all of Zaun!” and the “gas expands to fill the area” crowd are so stupid.

Here is an actual city. An approximate size to Zaun. With a conflict in a highly targeted and specific area. The rest of the city… does not care or know it’s even happening.

People are at pride. People are at farmers markets. There’s no traffic backup. It’s not affecting the rest of the city. There’s rioting and looting and protesters and armed guards and tear gas… but none of that is really affecting the city at large.

Caitlyn’s targeted strike force attacks are even SMALLER.

This is a real world situation, and it doesn’t even fit the bill for the number of civilians that the “Caitlyn is committing human rights violations” people say Caitlyn is harming.

If you say Caitlyn “gassed the whole city” you’re as dumb as those FOX viewers who think ICE is destroying all of LA.

Don’t be as stupid as a FOX viewer.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

The only reason I say integrated is bc otherwise, I think that the problems in the Undercity/Zaun would only get even worse. Don’t get me wrong, things are decidedly awful for them as is, but if they separated, Piltover would not only lose a lot territorially, they’ll also lose a lot in terms of their economic development since they would basically lose their dumping ground for the waste of their progress also decreasing the quality of life in Upper Piltover as a result. They would also lose a lot politically to bc their status of being a key global shipping lane would mean that at best, their revenue that comes from that will be slashed as there will be less people willing to pay not only Piltover’s fees, but Zaun’s as well, so they either have to decrease those fees or lose customers, both of which are bad; and that’s assuming that the sudden increase in geopolitical tensions doesn’t meaningfully decrease the traffic through the river/hex gates. Basically, Piltover, both the government and the people would hate Zaun and likely work to make their lives as miserable as possible as the fledgling nation tries to find its footing. Additionally, unless the new government of Zaun is extremely competent, the nation would be very vulnerable militarily and be a very enticing target for hungry warlords like Noxus (and probably others idk LoL lore). And with a, putting it generously, struggling economy, quality of life in Zaun would likely worsen since now that Piltover doesn’t have to pretend to care about them and will likely sanction them into oblivion, all hopes of outside aid would likely not be coming since Piltover would pressure their allies to participate too.

However, by integrating, Zaun would have access to Piltover’s wealth and be under their military and economic protection, they would have a much easier time finding their footing. And with a government that is willing to work with them to some extent, I believe it would be in their best interest to foster that relationship since we are in the AU what that could lead to. And on that note, where season 2 leaves off is remarkably similar to what happened in the AU with Vi’s death: Piltover has just been forced to see Zaun’s suffering and the damage that Hextech can cause, only in the Main universe, Piltover shared in the suffering. So I don’t think it’s unrealistic to say that, within a decade or two the main universe could resemble the AU. And I think that that will create a stable, more prosperous peace than the reigniting of tensions between them that a complete separation would cause. Plus, then, Zaun still holds some leverage over Piltover in the form of breaking away, which would cripple Piltover, if Piltover should drag it’s feet. And if things do go completely sideways, Zaun can still just break away but that time in a better place than they were at the end of Season 2 when they were completely ravaged by war.

I often hear complaints about the messaging in Arcane when it comes to the relationship between the two cities, so let's talk about what we would have liked to see happen. I've provided the two most obvious options, but you're welcome to share other ideas.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Yet the impacts are felt all throughout the country. Even though it’s only happening in those “red dots,” everyone is rightfully afraid that they could be in the next dot. Even if the violence/oppression is currently limited, if it’s not stopped, it will spread. More ICE agents will be deployed to arrest more innocent people, more places will be gassed in these “targeted” raids until there is no one left to resist. And that’s the perverse strategy of these attacks: limit your targets to just the criminals, just the bad ones, just the troublemakers, and most people can rest easy. Then, when they’re wiped out, keep targeting different minoritized people until everyone who “rested easy” find themselves the target. Because the thinking of those behind these attacks, is when X group of people are gone, everything will be great. But that’s simply not how reality works, we will never achieve perfection, there will always be problems (usually caused by those calling for these attacks), but until we find a way to break reality and create a utopia, they will keep finding new targets, new scapegoats until only one person is left standing.

And Ik Im not saying anything new or groundbreaking, but obviously this bears repeating since apparently WWII wasn’t an effective enough message.

It might be EXTREMELY taboo to do this, but I can’t help myself. I wanna use this IRL conflict as an example of why the “Caitlyn gassed all of Zaun!” and the “gas expands to fill the area” crowd are so stupid.

Here is an actual city. An approximate size to Zaun. With a conflict in a highly targeted and specific area. The rest of the city… does not care or know it’s even happening.

People are at pride. People are at farmers markets. There’s no traffic backup. It’s not affecting the rest of the city. There’s rioting and looting and protesters and armed guards and tear gas… but none of that is really affecting the city at large.

Caitlyn’s targeted strike force attacks are even SMALLER.

This is a real world situation, and it doesn’t even fit the bill for the number of civilians that the “Caitlyn is committing human rights violations” people say Caitlyn is harming.

If you say Caitlyn “gassed the whole city” you’re as dumb as those FOX viewers who think ICE is destroying all of LA.

Don’t be as stupid as a FOX viewer.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Maybe, before we start calling smth inconsistent storytelling or character assassination, we should consider the idea that we're the ones who didn't understand the characters or plot

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

At least in my opinion, I think that’s the point. Like, the message of Arcane is “nobody wins in war,” but not in a fighting is futile and we should all get along but in a “who are you prepared to lose” type of way. It’s meant to make us see human reality of violence and war, not just the political gains as it tends to be seen, and Vi is how they show us that. And to top off the tragedy of Vi, the political gains that Zaun gets, a seat on the council, while yes a tremendous win beyond what most Zaunites probably would have imagined, can’t do that much to alter the balance of power between Piltover’s representatives and Zaun’s. But the key thing is, is that there’s hope. Bc yes, there is nothing that will or can obligate or gaurentee that the rest of the council to listen to Sevika, but we can hope that they will. We saw what could happen in the AU when Piltover saw the human cost of war (which again was Vi), and in the main universe Piltover has directly suffered it too, so we can and are encouraged to hope that things will get better because we know they can. And with Vi’s ending, yes it’s terribly tragic that she only has one person left. But that person loves her, and Vi loves her too, and while it’s not the epitome of an ideal relationship, there is hope that it will heal and with it, Vi and Caitlyn.

In short, I think it strikes an incredible balance of showing us the horrific cost of war, without discouraging (and Id even argue it encourages) drastic acts of resistance: balancing tragedy with hope.

this is old news I know but I want to talk about the arcane finale and so i will

i think vi's ending is pretty objectively tragic. the fact vi has no one in her life she feels closer to than her ex-situationship isn't a testament to how in love they are, its a testament to how many people vi loses over the course of the series. she can't truly go home again because her family is dead and the under city is a place she doesn't recognize anymore. so she stays in a place that she used to hate, all the while still knowing that they will never see her, or at least the people she grew up with and the person she used to be, as human beings. there's no reason for us to believe that piltover will become more accepting, there's no reason to believe that the enforcers will be disbanded.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

THIS!! I’m tired of seeing everyone say that Season 2 Vi is so different from Season 1 Act 1, thus it’s bad and character assassination. Like if someone or something is different or changed, why wouldn’t you want to try to figure out why instead of spending that energy hating it and ruining the show/story for yourself?

Like, it took me a minute to understand Vi’s point of view since, up to season two, as an older sister, I related to her a lot and thus everything she did made sense to me. And then when I saw her in season two, suddenly I couldn’t relate to her decisions, but now that I have taken the time/effort to examine her character, I’ve realized that everything about what she does in season 2 is so much better than what they could have done. (And in the process learned some things about myself too).

Calling Vi a class traitor is wild. Along with calling her a lapdog. Listen I’ve already explained why that is an incorrect characterization of her and her actions. Ever since season 1 I’ve been fighting off mischaracterization of her and it’s tiring.

I think a lot of yall are conflating the outcomes of Vi’s wants with her actual intent. Vander tells Vi when people look up to her she doesn’t get to be selfish. Vi to her core feels responsible for everything. The deaths of Vander, Mylo, and Claggor weighs on her soul. It is her cross to bear. She couldn’t save Jinx from Silco as kids. She didn’t get the chance to talk to her before the firelights attacked them. She couldn’t talk Jinx down and Jinx bombed the council and Zaun descended further into anarchy. The people she loved and the people who looked up to her all gone.

Did Vi want to stick it to Topside? Yes, no one’s arguing that. But Vi’s motive shift as she aged and her trauma, as things tend to do. She doesn’t care about the Zaun vs Piltover fight anymore ( at least not in the way people want her to). She just want Powder. She literally says as much to Jinx when they reunite. The only thing that kept her going was Jinx and getting back to her.

I think a lot of people in fandom have the perspective how does character fit into X instead how does X fit into the character’s story. Maybe cause I’m older than a lot of people in fandom (I’m only 26😭), but I was able to see where Vi’s story was going. I’ve consumed so many stories where characters went through the same arc Vi goes through. The small town hero dreams of more but through their adventures realize that the more they want is their loved ones safe and happy.

I’ve already said this in other posts about Vi and her relationship with Caitlyn but I’ll say it again for prosperity. To hate Vi cause you view her as a lapdog and a class traitor (she’s not and wasn’t written that way) is really ironic given that the same people that say that just view her as Jinx’s older sister or rather her keeper.People rightfully talk about Vi as someone who has so much love to give but in my opinion there’s another facet of her character we should be talking about.

Vi-a woman who is choking on regret and crushed by responsibility. 

P.S. I really hope this gets people talking. Whenever I just talk Vi, I get so little interaction.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

This!!

The thing that bugs me about a lot of the ways Vi is treated by fans is that they seemed to have watched the first 3 episodes of Arcane and never watched any of the other episodes.

In the first 3 episodes of Arcane Vi is angry at the situation between Piltover and Zaun. She wants a better life for Powder and she thinks stealing from Piltover will be the way to do it. She is arrogant and wants Piltover to “respect” her. She uses her fists to get what she wants and doesn’t think of the consequences.

But then over the course of those 3 episodes Vander talks to her and tries to help knock some sense into her. He literally pulls her aside multiple times to lecture her about how her anger could hurt others unintentionally. In her talks with Vander on the bridge Vi learns to self sacrifice for the greater good.

Episode 1 Vi is ready to go to war with Piltover.

Episode 2 Vi is willing to sacrifice her life so Powder and her family are protected.

THAT’S how quickly Vi went from wanting to be a revolutionary, to feeling the obligation to protect Powder and her family above all else. It lasts BARELY an entire episode, and it informs her character arc for the rest of the series.

And yet there’s this weird pervasive idea that Vi wants to free Zaun and rebuild it and that she should’ve teamed up with Ekko and they should stick together and overthrow all of Piltover…

And I’m sorry but… that’s NOT who Vi is. She never behaves that way in the show outside that single outburst as a child. And for the most part, she prioritizes sacrificing her own safety for the safety of others. Hell, she literally joins the Enforcers in a small strike team because using her firsts to punch Silco’s goons is more palatable to her than an all out invasion of Zaun. She sacrifices SO MUCH of her autonomy for others…. And yet nobody seems to see this and instead treat her as some sort of revolutionary figure. A protector of Zaun.

Did… did you guys forget when Vi beat up Zaunites multiple times? As a child, as an adult, with Jayce, with Caitlyn… for someone who is supposed to be a revolutionary she sure does a lot of beating up the people she’s supposed to protect, doesn’t she?

“The needs of the many outright the needs of the few, or the one.” -Spock

Vi sacrifices her needs every time. That’s who she is. She has a good heart and she will always choose other people over herself.

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

THIS!! Just because the show ends on a hopeful note does not mean that everyone lives happily ever after. Like, yes, you’re supposed to feel uncomfortable that the only systemic change was Sevika got a single seat on the council. That’s the point. You’re not supposed to think that Caitlyn has fully redeemed herself. The way forgiveness works (at least how this show presents it) is that the party who’s hurting the other (Caitlyn and Piltover) have to stop hurting people and commit to making things better (Caitlyn helping Vi find Jinx and turning on Ambessa, and Piltover giving the Undercity a voice in their government), and then, it’s up to the the victim (Vi and the Undercity) as to whether or not the relationship moves forward. Not everything has to be perfect to warrant the victim’s forgiveness, they just need to agree that it’s worth it to try and build something again and that the perpetrator is genuinely invested in making everything better.

People sayign the narrative 'excused Caitlyn's actions' always tends to confuse me.

Excused her actions how? By having her directly admit and acknowledge she's done wrong? By having her ready to sacrafice herself if it means that would be the price to pay for her actions?

The narrative acknowledges it. Ohter characters call her out on it. She acknowledges she's done wrong

Imo this ties into the other post I made, because the point of the show, or of the season isn't that Caitlyn gets "redeemed".

Idk maybe I'm just confused or misreading people's arguments lmao

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

I just finished Acolyte and I'm not sad but more so pissed off that it got cancelled bc the finale gave a great setup for a bigger story. I just hate that the majority of the sw fandom is a bunch of misogynistic pricks who hate female lead stories and who scream for anything that's not Skywalker saga and then turn around and review bomb the shit out of a show that's as far from the Skywalker saga as possible. I'm so mad. this show was incredibly solid for the most part, and the story made sense and I wished it would continue in any way possible.

AGREE WITH EVERYTHING! I'm pretty sure I've already talked about my points on here so I won't go into too much detail. But I'm HOPING we get a s2 or at least comics and books cuz I really really need to know what happens next! And the cast is still really hopeful they get renewed, Manny has been really vocal about it.

After I found out it got canceled, I made tiktoks and got some really disgusting men in my comments but me being me, I fought back cuz I love trolling back at trolls when I'm bored 😊

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Vehemently disagree. Especially with the Acolyte’s placing. The Acolyte is (one of) my favorites mainly because it breaks into a new genre (dark fantasy/romantacy) that, while not my personal favorite genre, is for a target audience of someone other than white men which was refreshing. Also, it is one of the only Star Wars shows that actually had me genuinely worried for the characters and kept me invested and immersed in the world for the entirety of the show’s runtime. Also, I love the world/lore building and especially the character development. If I have one gripe about Star Wars is there’s not enough character depth and complexity, and all of the characters, even side ones like Jecki or Torbin, feel so much more fleshed out than 90% of Star Wars characters. I could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point.

I will, however, use this as an excuse to give my ranking of the Star Wars shows bc it’s been something I’ve been wanting to do for a bit

1) Clone Wars Season 7- immaculate. Peak Star Wars.

2) The Acolyte-see above

3) The Bad Batch- Omega has one of the best arcs throughout this series of all the children protagonists. I love how she comes into her own as a leader without being force sensitive or even that good of a fighter. It’s really fun to see her explore a new world and then become able to make her mark on it; it’s nice to see that curiosity, compassion and wonder be powerful in their own right and not get dulled or jaded as she gets older and spends more time in the galaxy at such a dark time. Also really really love her dynamics with the rest of the Bad Batch, I’m an absolute sucker for found family and sibling bonds and the show really nails the brothers-sister relationship. (Also, love the trans representation!!)

4) Skeleton Crew- at first, I was skeptical bc, having watched a lot of kids shows, Skeleton Crew seemed to be fumbling the genre, however, by episode 6, I realized that that was a me problem and not the show’s fault. I love how the writers were able to walk the line of realism without treading into “childhood=bad/weak” that unfortunately is reinforced by a lot of shows with younger characters. Love the kids’ dynamics (particularly Fern and KB’s) and I also really like that Jod didn’t “adopt” them. They were really able to build up tension between Jod and the kids, keeping them in a very volatile situation of them needing each other, but not trusting it even liking each other. To the point where I was genuinely worried that Fern would get hurt when Jod challenged her. Also, I love the conversations between KB and Wim and then KB and Fern about KB’s disability. It handled that conversation so elegantly without breaking the tone of the show, and I loved to see how KB and Fern were able to reconcile afterwards without it being a “thing” that any lesser show would have dragged on for multiple episodes. It’s such a sweet yet tense show, and I don’t think I’ve ever rooted for characters more than I have for these kids.

5) Ahsoka- probably will move up my ranking once season two comes out, but as it stands, it’s really good. I love the exploration of Ahsoka’s character being a legendary fighter with nothing to fight and her needing to reconnect with herself to find her new place in the galaxy. Watching it, I could feel how exhausted and worn out Ahsoka and Sabine were but then how hopeful and energized they were after going to Peridea. And this is an amazing example of the writing, scenic, costuming, lighting and directing teams working together with one extremely clear vision. Everything felt so heavy and dull (in a good way) at the beginning, but after Ahsoka dies again and Sabine finds Ezra, everything becomes lighter, the colours become more vibrant, the actors speak and hold themselves with more strength and purpose, it was day and night. I also really appreciate how much the writing team respected and trusted their audience to understand the characters and their feelings without telling us. Such spectacular work! Also, I love the world/lore building and the fight coreo!!! I’m so interested to see where this goes

6) The rest of TCW- Classic Star Wars. Very good, very entertaining, love Ahsoka and Anakin’s dynamics, love the world building, love all the characters. Very few things that I didn’t like, but considering how many episodes there are, nothing to complain about.

7) Tales of the Empire- I wish we got more. Loved to see what happened to Barris as well as Morgan’s origin story. I felt like their stories were very compelling and Im very happy with it.

8) Andor- regrettably, Andor just isn’t my cup of tea, and I fully understand that that is a me thing. The writing is undoubtedly the best that Star Wars has ever seen, and I love the world building. I just couldn’t get invested in any of the characters, except for Dedra in the last three episodes. Again, this is on my end, I don’t particularly like such dark and gritty shows. From a creative and technical standpoint, it is one of the best, it’s just not for me.

9) The Mandalorian- really solid show. I like the world building, but aside from that, I don’t feel like it stood out in any way like the shows above did. Again, I really like it, it’s very good, just not the best.

10) Book of Boba Fett- similar to Mandalorian, it had great world building and I loved to see Boba Fett post Sarlacc Pit, I felt like it gripped my attention and got me interested in it, but again, nothing really stood out.

11) Kenobi- it got really emotional and good at some key points and I love to see Obi Wan’s arc of rekindling hope. They did a great job of telling the story while dancing around the lore, however, that constraint really limited them. But for what they had to work with, it was impressively good.

12) Tales of the Underworld- again, very solid. I quite enjoyed it. I just wish that we got more of the lore behind how Ventress was revived. Ik that she was put to rest in the Waters of Life but I still wish we got more. And idk, I thought that Cad Bane’s origin story wasn’t really necessary. Like, I knew there was a story there, and it was enjoyable to watch, I just found myself wondering if it added anything to Bane’s character at the end of the day. But enjoyable nonetheless.

13) Tales of the Jedi- I enjoyed it and I feel like the choices of characters and their arcs were stronger than Tales of the Underworld. However, the brevity of the series didn’t do it justice. Considering how many good books there are about Dooku and Ahsoka, it really made be wonder what the purpose behind it was. But, that aside, quite good

14) Rebels- this is the only SW show I actually dislike, all the others I do very much like. And I would like Rebels, if Ezra wasn’t in it. Rebels has such a good concept and really good and compelling characters. But they just chose the worst of them to make the main character. And my main problem with it is that, unlike Ahsoka and Omega, Ezra’s counterparts in TCW and TBB, Ezra didn’t really have a character arc, he just got more powerful. Like as Ahsoka got more powerful, she learned to fight smart and what it meant to fight the good fight and be a true hero, and Omega barely had any skill at anything (compared to the other characters in the show) but she learned how to use the little ability she had to her advantage, and also was able to capitalize on the fact that she was an energetic, curious, empathetic person in a hopeless, dark, and uncertain galaxy. However, Ezra didn’t really get anything more than “with great power comes great responsibility” which would have been fine if he actually used it responsibly. Both at the beginning of the show and at the end, he was very determined to the point of recklessness and the only difference I saw was that he was more powerful. And I think that this is highlighted in each of their Season Finale Feats: Ahsoka app apprehends Maul and survives Order 66 because of her unwavering commitment to doing good and when things go south, she plays it smart and strategically, using all of the lessons Anakin imparted in her and that she embraced; and Omega led the other younglings to freedom by scraping together the mere modicum of strength they had and creatively finding a way to leverage it in just the right way to succeed, which she had been trying and failing to do for most of the show. However, Ezra’s big thing was having a plan, it goes wrong and spectacularly he is able to jump in and salvage the situation only this time with a high personal cost. And I think it would have been easy to solve if, instead of the purgills being a surprise to the audience, we saw him pouring over maps and plans, something that he never really did before but was strongly encouraged to do, and then, seeing how there wasn’t a good, likely solution, meditated on it and, as in doing so, connecting with a purgill and then sitting down to start recording his message. And again, I think that everything in general would have been fine if he wasn’t so cocky about it they committed to it more. If he started angry at his parents’ death and scared of the Empire and generally falling to the dark side when Pheonix Squadron found him, and he then learned to cope with and process those feelings and learn to fight the Empire because he has the power to and it’s the right thing rather than him doing it out of a desire to destroy. Or, if when he went on his Dark side arc, they actually made him go to train under Palpatine or Maul or an Inquisitor in order to spy on them, but then realize that he is way out of his league and that they are playing him like the cheap kazoo he is and has to try to find his way out while also falling to the dark side. Again, this show had so much potential and when Ezra wasn’t on screen I really liked it, but the messages and everything just fell apart because of his dominant presence in the show, which is kinda disappointing for me.

Every Star Wars show ranked from worst to best!

What do you think of my ranking? Agree? Disagree?

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

there’s a difference between liking a character because i think they’re a good person, and liking a character because i think they’re interesting and compelling

i can acknowledge the fact that they’ve done awful things, but i can also acknowledge the fact that their reasonings and justifications make them a good and well written character

not a good person, a good character

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

No offense, but if that’s what you got from it, I’d really recommend rewatching it. While Caitlyn did try to force Vi’s hand into joining the enforcers the first time, when Vi ended up joining the strike team, it was when Caitlyn apologized for trying to get her to join: it was Vi’s choice and it wasn’t an easy one. We see her trying to act as damage control in the squad, trying to keep them from being the monsters they are seen as. And the reason she did that was she didn’t recognize the Undercity as her home. Since she was sent to Stillwater, so much had changed, so much had gotten worse, it wasn’t Vander’s Undercity, but Silco’s Zaun, functionally a completely different place for her. But since she remembers what it had been and what it could be, she tries to restore it by freeing it from Silco’s corruption. And she’s stuck having to make a really, really awful choice between joining the people who killed her bio parents or returning to the place where the guy who murdered her father, her adoptive brothers and twisted her sister into an evil shadow of who she was, and who was actively hunting her down had corrupted and left in a civil war. And ultimately, she chose what was safer for her and the place where she had someone she loved and who loved her. Not to mention that she thought it was her fault Powder became Jinx and so she also chose the option that would let her fix that mistake, in her eyes. She didn’t have any good options, she just went with the least bad.

And as for her decision to restart the relationship, it was her wanting to give it another try when she saw that Caitlyn realized she was wrong and she was working to fix her mistakes. What had happened was Caitlyn, brimming with rage and grief, made a bad choice that, due to someone’s interference, caused it to balloon out of control, which Vi could relate to since, at least in her eyes, that was exactly what happened to her when she hit Powder. And Caitlyn admits she was in the wrong, and Vi saw her change her heart and take steps to rectify the damage she caused (which, again, Vi could relate to). And Vi was at a point where everything was falling apart again, so this time, instead of trying to serve others’ wishes, she says “you (Caitlyn) make me happy. I deserve to be happy. And I don’t f*cling care about anything else bc every time I try to fix the world, it ends up falling apart again. So I’m going to choose you bc I want to and not because I feel like I need to.”

And the sex scene wasn’t meant to “flush away” and resolve all her trauma. It was to let her be happy for once and do something for herself after decades of putting others first. That’s not to say it wasn’t completely unproblematic or unhealthy bc it’s not, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Like, oh no, a severely mentally damaged character made a less that healthy choice??? What a shocker! How unrealistic!! (Just to be clear bc tone in text posts is difficult, that last part was completely sarcastic).

And as a side note, it wasn’t her returning to her abuser bc their relationship was never abusive to begin with: was Caitlyn problematic at times? Yes. Was there the potential for abuse? Also yes. But was it actually abusive? No.

And another side note: season 1 and season 2 were written by the same people with the plot already decided before season 1 was made. Like, the production timeline for anything in the entertainment industry is really really long. And especially in animation, you can’t just change things on a whim based on how it’s received, just to “appease the gays.”That’s just not how it works. The story was set in stone long before we saw any of it, so saying that half was an absolute masterpiece and half was absolute garbage just doesn’t make sense. It’s all the same story. You may not like the direction it ended up going, but that’s on you, not the writers.

guys guys guys

Vi has lived a horrible life, years of her teenhood taken away from her by an oppressive city

surely going back to the privileged cop that hit her on the gut and coerced her into joining the very same faction of cops that have ruined her life will make her already shitty life just a tad bit better, right? nothing like some sesbian lex to flush down a near-decade of meticulous writing and animating down the drain just to appease the gays amirite fellas FUCK YOU SEASON TWO

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Exactly! As with Piltover, she stopped doing the bad things, and is taking steps in the right direction. And while the show gives us a hopeful ending that things will go well in the future, it makes it clear that they’re not there yet: in the case of Piltover, we see the councilors are hostile to Sevika and in the case of Caitlyn she made a great sacrifice (her eye, which likely is a reference to the eye for an eye saying) to repel Noxus after realizing that hating and trying to get revenge on Jinx drove her to that point and that it’s not worth it to try to sustain the cycles of vengeance and violence.

"Caitlyn didn't do enough self reflection!" "Caitlyn didn't get redeemed!" "Caitlyn didn't have enough time to get redeemed!"

what if. and hear me out. that was the point.

because no. I don't think Caitlyn is redeemed by the end of the show. What I do think is that it is the start of her redemption. She says upfront- "No amount of good deeds can undo our crimes."

She isn't just talking about Jinx. I think, in a way, she's also referring to herself.

What I also think, is that she was prepared to die in the battle.

She's shocked to see Maddie betray her, yes. But she's not scared. The look on her face is determination. If this is what has to happen, then so be it.

Her sacrificing her eye was also a conscious decision. it was either that or the potential for Ambessa to win

I also feel like she doesn't expect to be redeemed? Just her actions and words seem to me like she's sort of being like "This is the consequence and so I'll have to face it."

Anyways TLDR i don't think the show is trying to redeem her yet, but rather she's at the beginning of her 'redemption arc'

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

I loved how the girls’ bodies weren’t just for sex and fighting in Arcane. Like when Jinx is on top of her adopted dad, that’s just how she expresses closeness. The platonic relationships are fucking TACTILE and INTIMATE and I don’t think I’ve seen that in tv or film before? Sisters get in each other’s FACES and in their personal space for good and bad. I can’t overstate how much I loved that people were near and all over the each other without it having to be for sex