#And also yes Mel DID manipulate Jayce for her own gain

[acesammy]

the innate truth of fandom is that you will inevitably look around you at all of this content and go.. huh did we even watch the same show??

[bringthekaos]

I don't know if you wanna answer this but I wanna hear your thoughts on this.

We can all agree that Mel Medarda is an amazing character on her own and people shit on her for petty reasons like her getting in the way of a ship and making things up about her. What I wanna know is your thoughts on her.

What I see, I think the relationship between her and Jayce could be tragic on its own cause, to me, it's like Meg and Hercules from Disney. Meg went after Hercules under orders of Hades in exchange for her freedom, only to fall in love with Hercules for real and feels regret for betraying him like so.

While Meg and Mel are different in circumstances, I get the tragedy between them in a way.

Mel probably brought Jayce to a seat at the council and her bed to benefit her in the long run only to slowly care about him over the course of the season.

And that could be what could hurt them. Mel realizes too late she cares about him but can't fully give her love cause of politics (and if s2 goes, war and/or her death) and if Jayce found out that her being intimate with him was just to get him to be her yes man it would shatter Jayce terribly.

From the posts I've seen here, Jayce goes from being a bright and optimistic inventor to a selfish and cold man.

His decaying friendship is already what'd pushing him towards that path. But if he knew Mel's original intentions from say... Swain or herself then it would destroy him.

Sorry for rambling

You can always ramble in my inbox 🥰

I try to be diplomatic in my discussions of Mel, cuz I don’t want anyone to think I don’t like her or that I’m trying to write her off, as a JayVik shipper. I’m critical of Mel, but I’m also critical of Jayce and Viktor. They’re all flawed people, and that’s what makes them great characters. So with that little disclaimer in mind, my thoughts.

The Meg/Hercules comparison is actually so fitting. I think it was all politics for her in the beginning—“we need something to put Piltover on the map. What of today’s trial?”—she was thinking purely as a politician and a businesswoman, and she saw Jayce and his ideas as a good investment. And to cultivate that investment for maximum profit, she also had to play him a little. I don’t think she would see it as manipulation, like the audience tends to, she just read him like an open book; he craved validation and praise, and what’s the harm in stroking his ego?

(And other things)

But just like Meg, I think she started falling for him. His naïveté and softness that started out as a tool for controlling him began to needle at her. She started easing off the gas and trying to protect him as time went on, started taking what was best for him into consideration, for example:

Elora: “I’ve had word from our friends overseas.”

Mel: “It’s too soon. Jayce isn’t ready.”

And I think by the time they slept together, she was falling pretty good. She could see how malleable he was, and how it was turning out to not be such a great thing. Cuz that’s a Pandora’s box—if you can control him, so can others. And then you could lose him, and to someone with far more nefarious motives.

And if Jayce finds out that she was “manipulating” him (or believes that she was) to get him to build weapons that would eventually be shipped out to Noxus so that they might steamroll their enemies? Yeah, I think it would taint their entire relationship. Even if she tried to explain, tried to make him see that maybe it started out that way, but you changed me, you changed my mind. You made me see that the path I was treading was one that lead straight to becoming my mother… I’m not sure he would believe her. It’s the same thing that happened with Daenerys and Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones—he started out spying on her in a selfish attempt to gain favor in King’s Landing. But he fell for her in the process, ceased his spying, and joined her for good. But when she found out, it soured all the good he did, painted all of it in blood. Cuz you can’t take any of that stuff back, even when you change your ways. You can’t un-betray someone, you can’t un-manipulate them.

And yeah, him losing Viktor and Mel at the same time? It could definitely send him spiraling, send him down a rabbit hole of “I’m the only person I can trust, apparently. Why bother with other people, all they do is betray and leave me.” And while I honestly have a hard time seeing how this sweet cinnamon roll of a Jayce that Arcane has given us could ever go that route… I think we saw it a little bit, in that final scene—the eye roll and “I don’t give a shit what any of you think of me anymore.”

Really I just think Mel is a complex, flawed person who has one of the more weighty instances of character growth in the show. She starts out cold and detached—just playing the game, like she’s been doing for years—and for several reasons, not just her relationship with Jayce, she starts to really think about her actions and their consequences. And I sincerely hope she’s not killed in the explosion, cuz I’d really like to see the conclusion of that arc.

[arcane-ish]

(Relation-) Ship Scorecard

Vi/Cait: I struggled with this one. Like I feel like I should upgrade them higher because imo the pathos was well done and I enjoyed the pacing. Downside that it was more emotional angst and less flirty/sexy stuff. I have some issue with the Cait/Vi/Jinx “triangle” as a concept, but I do think the fanservice of Vi meeting Cait’s parents, them going to the council together and of course Vi being forced to choose by Jinx was god tier level. However, my personal feeling is that the writing for Caitlyn in Act 3 was a bit bland. It’s like they stuck her iinto a very standard idealistic good girl role and didn’t make a ton of use of her unique personality and “voice”. So personally would like to leave them at B+. I like them a lot, the fan service is still excellent. Might have been higher if they had found a way to slip a believable kiss in or found a better balance against Vi/Jinx. 

Vi/Jinx: The highs were insanely high (ie Vi telling Jinx they should run away together, Jinx despite all differences attacking Silco to protect Vi, Vi opening up about prison), but I have some quibbles. Imo Jinx’s fear that Vi doesn’t accept the new her was very believable and well done. However, I wasn’t so keen on Jinx’s jealousy of Caitlyn. Mostly because I feel like previously Powder’s abandonment issues seemed to be more about her screwing up and being worthless, not about not wanting Vi to spend time with other people. Nor did they bother to work out that Powder has a specific hate for enforcers. So it felt a bit contrieved for the sake of creating drama. Vi backing away as Silco takes off with the heavily injured/potentially dead Jinx also felt off. They are still insanely cool and the story about sisters who love each other but who might have grown apart is very cool in concept and again the conflict of whether Vi and and how much should accept Jinx was set up in a very interesting way. So I would say B+ for Act 3. 

Mel/Jayce: Act 3 fleshed out Mel’s backstory and clarified that she does feel some loyalty to Piltover. That said, even though they didn’t break up, continued their relationship and clarified that no, Mel is not just all about manipulation or self interest and Mel and Jayce are arguably more on the same page than ever, both having gained more depth (particularly Jayce with his trip to the Shimmer production plant), Act 3 didn’t really give them a ton of moments together that I consider emo (yes even when they are shown in bed together or when Mel is flirty with a shirtless Jayce), imo outside that smile right at the very end. I would say for them Act 3 was about both of them being a bit misguided and being reminded by others, most notably Viktor of you know, morals. I guess Mel’s mom had potential mom in law from hell energy. One could say they have an interesting foundation now, both seem to have every intention to stick with each other for now and no obvious points of conflict are there (well except for Mel’s mom’s meddling), so let’s see what season 2 plans for them. Overall, I would say they were a C in Act 3 due to lack of pathos. (I should probably note that this is written under the assumption that I don’t believe that Mel is dead [neither are Jayce or Viktor naturally])

Viktor/Jayce: I thought they fared considerably better in Act 3, once of course of course with the callbacks to Act 1. Viktor I think also worked as a conscience of the topside characters and imo he did it more effectively, with more emotional oomph than Cait. Relationshipwise what struck me as noticable is that Viktor is very secretive, has a lot of his adventures on his own and doesn’t share most of it with Jayce. Structurally imo it’s still  problem that Jayce gets to fan out so much more compared to Viktor, getting to interact with a variety of characters in all kinds of ways (Mel’s mom, Vi, Silco). I do think Jayce’s concern and wanting to balance things did come through (even if he was distracted by various things earlier in Act 3) as did elements of VIktor’s trust in Jayce. Over all, I would give it a B. 

Silco/Jinx: They were given considerable screentime and attention, lots of pathos, most notably on Silco’s side and of course reached their culmination in a way. Overall I think it was decently done. I think one could argue that Silco’s villain journey (in regards to his revolution and relatinoship with the underworld) petered out a bit, but I can be won over to the idea that that might have been intentional and their way of doing a complex character. Relationshipwise, I think Act 3 showed that as fairly one sided/slanted to Silco’s side, which probably is slightly more healthy than if Jinx cared more (basically I think it showed off in a variety of ways how Jinx cares less, but not as far as Jinx doesn’t care at all). Overall I would say ... I dunno A- within the context that it is supposed to be unhealthy and dramatic (and it’s good that it wasn’t dragged out too much)? 

Jinx/Ekko: Yes! They did something with them! Got a cool fight scene! Ekko got believably introduced as the sane thrid path of how society could be run! Considering how barely present they were as a dedicated dynamic in the other Acts literally anything is an upgrade. On a “shippy” side, it irked me that Ekko was that pessimistic about Jinx, yes even though it makes a ton of sense, consdiering she killed one of his crew in front of him in the beginning of Act 2. And yes even though of course we know he’s just talking a big game but then in the end can’t actually bring himself to kill her. Still, his pessmism is still bothersome and both characters seemed to shuffle off into their own conflicts fairly quickly with little mention of each other. (for example, in a more “shippy” version of Act 3 one coudl imagine for example Silco rather than his chembaron plot instead having a plot where he wants to hunt down Ekko for “killing” Jinx or Ekko being a presence at Jinx’s ghastly dinner). So, grade C, still underdeveloped, which is still up from the D they had before. Maybe other seasons could build from this if the writers are so inclined and build a more positive relationship (especiallly with how Ekko smybolizes hope in a lot of ways), but right now there isn’t that much there yet. 

Viktor/Sky: So that was a thing ... kind of? Personally I liked my headcanon about her being associated with the Firelights or the revolution more. I fele like I should compliment them for wringing a minimum of genuine pathos and sadness of something that was pretty much a nothing storyline (so, Viktor gonna tell Jayce and her family that Sky died in an unfortunate lab accident?), a minimum of depth was injected in them revealing Sky had been working on a project and Viktor cared at least enough to to grieve a little bit. Still, the truth is that it was barely developed and Sky essentially became a fridged women (I read a lot of commentary with compliments in how the show handled Mel and that she isn’t just a plot point but is giving he rown agency and motivation => well the same didn’t hold true for Sky) So overall grade D (minimum amoutn of pathos for essentially fridged side character story, I guess she did a good job of showing off Viktor’s caring side).  

(not grading Mama Medarda X anybody yet because it’s still too unclear)

Previous grades: 

Vi/Cait: B+ JayVik: C JayMel: C Jilco: ??? going on B Vi/Jinx: A

[itsrainingfeathers]

I watched Arcane! It was amazing!!!! Here's some things I liked about it:

A word of warning! That gif flashes!!

- Let's start with the obvious. The animation. The Animation. It was so. Fucking. Gorgeous. Every single frame pure beauty, every movement and facial expression and such so fluid, the scenery magnificent...I am in love.

- That scene with those guys n dudes, Silco, Sevika and that gas? You people know what those little rainbows made by soap in water look like? How that gas looked exactly like them? Genius, perfection, love love love

- The character designs!! They were all so great and creative, and even the more "ordinary" looking characters looked interesting in their own ways. (My personal favorites in no particular order: Ekko, Jinx, older Vi, older Marcus, Mel, Caitlyn's mom, Shoola, Silco, Sevika, Jericho)

- I was practically drooling over Sevika every time she was on screen. Yes she was evil but also strong buff gorgeous lady? Gimme

- Apart from maybe Jayce after he became famous, the characters were super interesting personality-wise too! (And famous Jayce wasn't that bad either)

- I could listen to Caitlyn (Katie Leung) and Grayson (Shohreh Aghdashloo) talk forever

- The voice acting was all over really good, and no voice sounded out of place or anything

- (except for Finnish dub Silco. should be considered a war crime.)

- The amount of beautiful color!!

- how Jinx's inner turmoil and mental health issues were shown with the flashes of scribbly faces and stuff. You know what I'm talking about.

- So many lovely aquiline noses

- Those fish things Vi ate actually looked kinda good? Or maybe they looked disgusting and the reason I think they looked good was bc Vi clearly liked them. Who knows.

- Vi and Caitlyn. Do I even need to elaborate. Just kiss already.

- "You're hot, Cupcake" 10/10 hilarious and very gay.

- Rio (the axolotl looking creature). My dear deserved better.

- Powder is such a nice name. Might use that one for a really fluffy cat or something

- I was expecting this huge fight scene between Vi and Jinx in the end, but that confrontation was such a clever, tense, wonderful, and first and foremost, surprising scene. Yeah it was pretty obvious that Silco was going to die, but everything else was great and good! Liked it a lot

- Judging by his tone of voice and body language when he first talks to Powder, Silco seemed to plan to simply manipulate a little girl and use her for his own personal gain. I truly expected him to play the classic "I never loved you and you were just a tool for me"-card with Jinx at some point. And I'm really glad that didn't happen. (He did manipulate her for sure, but not like that)

- Sure, Silco was definitely not a perfect father, not even a good one, but he cared about Jinx, and Jinx cared about him, and their relationship was really interesting and the writers did such an amazing job with it.

- The enforcers' masks. Really liked the hissing noises

- Viktor being the very embodiment of some Victorian (hehe) guy dying of tuberculosis

- How the steam and smoke were animated

- and fluids like blood and Shimmer

- the amount of blood was just right. Not too much, not too little, very artistic splatters and stains

- A thoroughly interesting and captivating plot, and the very real issues and conflicts (filthy rich people and poverty, violence, corruption, pollution and the illness it causes...)

- The Firelights' outfits

- "It's not enough to give the people what they need to survive. You have to give them what they need to live." who is cutting onions

- how Shimmer was not just Silco's tool to create monsters to fight for him, but also a powerful drug and a way to control the undercity

- that guy from ep1 who returned later as an addict and explained to Caitlyn why he took Shimmer. Imo a great way to make the audience care about and feel more empathy towards those other characters like him.

- "You're perfect." not again with the onions

- the scenes with Ekko and Heimerdinger! This duo seems super interesting already.

- Vi parkouring her way around Zaun on xgames mode while Caitlyn is just trying her best

- Jayce and Mel gleefully smashing away while Viktor is literally dying is so fucking funny to me

- The way Jinx's eyes glow after she's been given Shimmer

- I admit it, I'm a liiiiittle bit bothered by the fact that Silco kisses the leather strap instead of Jinx's actual forehead/brow (reminds me a bit of Mother Gothel kissing Rapunzel's hair), but it was nonetheless a very cute and loving and tender and fatherly gesture (and said leather strap was in the way so yeah)

- The rat? bat? man and rat? bat? child at Ekko and The Firelights' place

- Usually I let the intro play for the first 2-3 episodes and then skip it, but with Arcane I let it play on every single episode. So good.

- The musical score and songs! I'm sure I'll be listening to some of them for a long time to come

So yeah, can't wait for s2!! I might edit this post a bit in the future to add some bits here and there, bc I like a lot of things about this show and couldn't possibly remember everything right now. Hope you liked it!