#Arcane critical

[tvckerwash]

arcane s2 thought of the day: jinx losing her middle finger during her fight against vi and cait serves no narrative purpose and is literally just there for the aesthetic, but imagine the symbolism if they had cait shoot off her trigger finger instead. ignoring how her entire s2 arc goes against her s1 arc, if they wanted her to have a redemption arc and become the big fat hero would it not be more fitting for her to lose the ability to pull the trigger of her weapons, forcing her to end her destructive reign and "kill" jinx? and iirc she doesn't actually make herself a new finger until isha needs to be rescued, so it would add another layer of symbolism of jinx choosing to pick up her weapons, as she's no longer shooting to kill, but shooting to save.

[stardust948]

Vi from Arcane

cartoons were wacky for making us believe this trope

[vrsenus]

Caitvis who are Caitlyn centered are quick to cry out that The hate against Caitlyn is rooted in misogyny despite the fact there is a LOAD of valid reasons to dislike her. but they are also QUICK to reduce Maddie to nothing but a faceless fuck toy for Caitlyn to project vi onto, y’all cannot complain and reduce a group of POC feeling discomfort and hate towards Caitlyn for committing crimes THEIR communities go through to just being raging “misogynistics” who are just male centered and then turn around and speak like fucking incels

[head-of-viktors-commune]

"It was so obvious that the Mysterious Mage in season one was Viktor all along".

Was it?

Because that does not look anything like Viktor.

At all.

This was likely intended to be Ryze and got retconned in exchange for... what, fanservice?

Making Viktor the Mysterious Mage feels like it takes away so much of his story. It also just doesn't make sense, because if he could time travel and hop universes, why not talk to himself?

If in every universe we are told this; Jayce gets a rune, hextech is invented, he takes away Viktor's bodily autonomy by forcing Viktor to merge with the hexcore. But the only universe this doesn't happen in is the alternate universe we see where Jayce is presumed dead. So, why give Jayce the rune at all?

The catalyst for Viktor becoming Machine Herald in every timeline is Jayce. Hectech. Runes.

This will never make any sense to me.

[bard4paladin]

i will never forgive arcane for dropping this not-a-character-but-a-plot-device big-headed baby on jinx out of nowhere because now everyone thinks it's fine to call a 18-19 year old female character a mom and reduce her arc to being a child caretaker and say that arcane would be 10 times better if it was about t*mebomb playing parents. and what's even more tragic is that before season 2 there wasn't a single hint at the fact that jinx has any quote unquote mothetly characteristics but suddenly she's Naturally good at it without any struggles whatsoever despite her traumatic past and obvious difficulties with forming any sort of relationship. but hey. she's a woman. so obviously this would be The thing she's gonna love (which is also going to inevitably Heal her in a long run) and The thing that she's innately good at. no experience required

[amber-jinx]

I like how season 2 towards the end just completely abandoned meljay as if it never happened. The way they brushed it off, wow..

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 2x08 - “Killing is a Cycle”

[hypertranced]

thinkin abt that one tweet by christian linke where he admits they sidelined vi cuz she wasn't "as interesting" as other characters. it's so funny to me cuz like. there's no such thing as an uninteresting character there's just unimaginative writers. way to tell on yourself chris

[bubblesandpages]

Ugh. Arcane (season 1) is such a beautiful story of the making, unmaking, and making of two sisters and how the rest of the world spirals into them, the way that story echos back out into the very foundation of the world. How inevitable the very presence of the sister cities makes it all feel, when none of it had to happen the way it did. How the tragedy is built upon the hundreds of individual choices of every character, how beautiful the tragedy ends up being in it's intricacies.

[tvckerwash]

every day I think about what we could've had if the writers of s2 gave viktor jinx’s revolutionary leader/symbol arc and jayce caitlyn's martial law arc. viktor's lor cards I'd die for you < guy who has never played the game

[constantlytired101]

On top of that the entire montage was about Caitlyn , where’s Vi’s time to shine as an independent character with her own story ?!

Like Vi got other things that happened?! Where’s prison for 7 years ? where’s the canary night ? Where’s the loss of powder ?! Where’s Vander’s , Mylo’s and Claggor’s deaths ? Where’s parents death ? Where’s conflict for becoming an enforcer?,,,,, acknowledge that these events all affected and traumatised Vi deeply!. Miss girl has so much to unpack

the way the riot made us think this was going to be a whole arc but it just ended up being a montage that lasted like 3 minutes max is absolutely CRIMINAL

[1296-very-good-year]

I know most ppl aren't scientists and don't really care about the Hextech plot itself, so I'm going to try and explain why the thematic flip season 2 made bothered me so much by comparing it to a theme most of Tumblr actually does care about. Here we go!!

Imagine a season 1 of a show with a heavy discussion about biological family vs found family. Our main character has a shit family. They're abusive and awful, and our MC leaves them to live/travel with their friends.

Lets say there is nuance here. The reason their bio family is abusive is for entirely sympathetic reasons, and maybe some of their behavior towards our MC is justified. They're still shitty, but maybe they could change? We see some of them take steps in this direction.

Let's also say some of the MC's friends are shitty too. The first season ends without a clear answer to the question: which family should the MC choose? Are there other options? To cut only the abusive ppl out of their life? Or, maybe some of these relationships can be repaired?

Let's find out next season!!

And then in season 2, not only is our MC beaten over the head by the narrative that their biological family was always the correct choice, it turns out there was never anything wrong with their treatment of the MC at all!

And then the MC learns that ALL of their friends were secretly horrible people, even the ones we never saw do anything wrong, and we're explicitly shown with alternate timeline bullshit that no universe exists where our MC can ever be happy with them. And also the MC has to kill themselves because they were so horribly wrong to even want to leave their bio family in the first place.

This is exactly how dramatic the shift in framing was in the Hextech plot.

Heimerdinger was NOT framed as correct in his stance against Hextech in season 1. Yet, in season 2 he is.

Jayce and Viktor's dream to create magic was framed as noble, if risky, and despite their flaws getting in the way, we saw they could overcome them and change for the better. In season 2, their dream was actually rotten from the start, and no universe existed where they could overcome their flaws enough to do a lick of good. The best they can do is die to prevent their creation from ending the world.

We saw that Hextech had the potential to be used for both good and bad, and then in season 2 it turns out it was ONLY capable of bad.

And as a "Science is capable of good" trope enjoyer, I fucking hated it!!!! Especially after being lured in by the nuance in season 1!! Thank you for your time!!!

[resisteverything]

Remember when Arcane season one made a big deal of how Jinx can’t become powder again, because she can’t undo her trauma, and Jinx can’t accept Vi into her life if Vi is going to think of her as powder and keep expecting the girl she used to be? But then Ekko literally fell for Jinx after years of not seeing her and fighting her violently, because he saw an alternate world where Powder never became Jinx and saw who she could have been, and this was framed as romantic?

I remember. Even without that context, Timebomb is badly handled. Ekko tricks powder into kissing him because she thinks that’s her boyfriend when it’s actually a stranger, and falling for this alternate hypothetical version of this girl means he likes her now, and even though the last thing they did was fight as enemies, they’ve just sort of forgotten their rivalry. When Ekko first met adult powder, he was terrified of her and threw something at her thinking she was Jinx, but without having ever saw her change, he’s suddenly just fine with Jinx because he met powder? Not scared, or angry, or anything?

They could have at least hinted that Powder has Jinxs mental illness but can handle it better because of the way she lives, and Ekko would realize that Jinx is in part a product of the system that she was born into, making him look at the original Jinx another way and hope to save her like everyone else. But no, Vi dying instead of Vander means that she develops zero mental issues from it somehow, even though before anyone had died at all she had a whole breakdown where she broke her inventions and hit herself because VI wanted her to stay behind. Why is this new reality where her sister dies at the age of 15 one where she's seemingly mentally healthy?

[samhadjblog2]

I can see that. However I imagine this. Ep.1 of S2 becomes an "Act" in of itself. For instance instead of Jayce merging Viktor with the Hex-core. Thats saved for later and the Hex-core is gradually healing Viktor attuning him to the Arcane. And we could have Vi confront Jayce about rebuilding her gauntlets in front of Viktor. Which I think could lead to an interesting conflict between two Zaunites and their views on the usage of Violence.

And this could come to ahead during the memorial attack (Also Maddie protects Jayce from Renni as a part of Ambessa's plan). And this leads Viktor seeing first hand what has been happening in Zaun begrudgingly accepts to rebuild Vi's Gaunlets and because of his connection to the Arcane (with some hints of Sky influencing him).

And this allows Viktor give Jayce to Ok to send in the strike team. Which is something he assembles along side Caitlyn by making her the sheriff.

However they just leave it at that. And this prompts Viktor to recognize that the under-city has been very neglected to the point that violence was needed to resolve the issue. Meanwhile Jayce after being confronted by the mother of the child he accidentally killed led to this attack. And so this prompted the both of them to make something that will help benefit the under-city. The attack also leads Ambessa sending one of her guards Rictus (who would go by the name Urgot in this variation) to protect Jayce.

And after Viktor's connection to Vi's gauntlets this prompted him to want to make life instead of taking it. And this in turn led to the building of the Hex-tech Golem's. And this leads to them making the first Proto-type Golem. (As they begin to build it. Viktor sense a blitzing pulse coming from within "The Golem" even when they stabilize its core or a Viktor put it when they "Crank it" and they use the runes on Rictus staff in order to stabilize it). And thus Blitzcrank is born. However he is pretty much just a blank slate at this point.

And so S2 has Jayce being on the council trying to make sure Ambessa doesn't take power. And trying to help Mel rebuild the council. On top of still needing to destroy the Hex-core however anytime he try's to destroy it hurts Viktor. And so he must find a way to server its connection from Viktor. While Mel at the same time is dealing with her mom and trying to make sure her mom doesn't take more power. And this in turn leads the two of them to butt heads. And this is where the story get's more juicy that the people that Mel helps put on the council turn out to be secretly members of "The Black rose".

From there we have Viktor who is now both slowly being altered by the Arcane trying to guide Blitzcrank.

However with Caitlyn's story (She uses the Grey however its not the first choice and its something that she decides to use after some failed missions to fight off against the Chem-baron's on top of the appearance of Warwick) begins using the Grey to attack the Chem-baron's more effectively as well as a means to not stir up Warwick. However there is so trouble that arises and Viktor go's with Blitzcrank to Zaun in order to fix the issues rising up their with the Grey. And this in turn leads to him dying to the Grey and prompting Jayce to use the Hex-core on him. And we could have the same moment where Viktor decides to leave Jayce similar to S2.

I also think a lot these ideas this guy's suggested would also be interesting

https://www.tumblr.com/theknightlywolfe/775163616668319744/this-is-an-interesting-idea-jayce-the-council

i think season 1 jayce is an infinitely better character then season 2 jayce

jayce in season 2 feels like the writers were afraid people were going to dislike him again, and so stripped out literally every bit of nuance the character had in season 1, which means that he’s pretty much only allowed to interact with viktor, because people liked him with viktor, and like idk, i liked the political stuff, i liked jayces interactions with mel, i liked watching jayce struggle to do the right thing in a situation where there is no objectively right thing. i feel like jayces interactions with everything else only heightened his relationship with viktor, but now thats the only thing the show cares about, and it makes it a lot less interesting to me

idk, i miss when jayce was allowed to have nuance i guess

[eeboor]

So bECAUSE OF THE LEAGUE VIKTOR BIO RETCON I WENT OUTSIDE AND STARTED SCREAMING AT 12 AM SO NATURALLY SOMEONE THOUGHT I WAS BEING MURDERED AND CALLED THE POLICE AND WHEN THEY GOT HERE I HAD TO GIVE THEM MY EXPLANATION FOR SCREAMING AT 12 AM SO I JUST SAID "THE MACHINE HERALD" AND ONE OF THE COPS EYES SUDDENLY GOT REALLY BIG AND THEN HE SAID "HES RETCONNED OUT OF CANON??" AND THEN HE READ THE BIO ON HIS PHONE I HAVE A GROWN POLICE MAN SITTING IN MY DRIVEWAY CRYING AND CURSING AT RIOT AND ARCANE UNDER HIS BREATH HIS PARTNER GAVE HIM A SHOCK BLANKET OH MY GOD

[sillysalmonn101]

The comparison I’m about to make is sort of a silly one, but it’s one that I think about a lot so I’m gonna make it anyway 😛

A big problem that Caitlyn stans have is that they love to say people just hate complex characters — typically complex female characters. Now, this falls flat for a myriad of reasons but the one I’d like to get into is that Caitlyn simply isn’t a very complex character, nor is she a well written one. This might lose some of you here — that’s okay — but comparing her to Rin (The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang) is light night and day in terms of characterization and fandom response.

It is a little silly, because the tones and message of The Poppy War vs Arcane are very different, but they’re both political statements at their core.

Caitlyn is not a good person, but the way she’s written makes it clear that she’s supposed to be. The audience is supposed to believe that, after everything that she’s done wrong and everybody that she’s hurt, she is a good person at her core. The problem arises from the fact that the writers want her to be a good person, while using the aesthetics of moral greyness for her character development. The dictator arc is never actually supposed to be bad, nor is she a bad person by the end of it — it’s simply a tool used to that Caitlyn and Vi have something to overcome (that being Caitlyn’s bout of immorality and martial law) at the end of the show. But I’ve already said all of that (and more, in better formatted posts) so I won’t regurgitate my old posts.

Caitlyn stans have an odd way of addressing her presumed complexity, however. They laud her as a wonderfully written complex character, and tell those who dislike her that they just cannot handle morally grey characters. This doesn’t really stick, though, when Caitlyn stans go out of their way to claim that she’s still a good person. Caitlyn being a good person, her actions having a just and pure motivator even if they were carried out poorly, her classism being artfully swept under the rug — it all removes any actual complexity and moral greyness from her character. She can’t be morally grey and a good person.

While The Poppy War has many of its own faults, and despite the fact that I actually don’t really like Rin, she’s undoubtedly a better representation of a morally grey, complex female character. R. F. Kuang is very, very deliberate in writing Rin as

1.) A BAD person. She’s not even really morally grey, she is a bad person.

2.) An exceptionally unreliable narrator.

These two traits are a key factor in why Rin is a better written, more tolerable version of the character that Caitlyn was supposed to be. Rin is clearly shown as a bad person — even in her own skewed, self-important view of herself — for the genocide of the Mugenese people, EVEN IF the Mugenese Federation was actively committing every crime against humanity to the Nikaran people. Moreover, the consequences of Rin’s actions — interpersonal and political — are very clearly shown. She loses friends, and people are mutilated and die because of what she does. Her wiping out Longbow Island was never framed as something just — and she had motive and knew oppression intimately, unlike Caitlyn.

Alongside her canonically being a bad person — with negative traits that are shown probably more than her positive traits — the fandom treats her much differently. It would be untrue if I said that some of the fandom didn’t absolve Rin of any wrongdoing because she is perceived as a “girlboss feminist” type of character, the majority of the fandom understands that she is — at best — a morally grey character. Her complexity is never doubted, but that doesn’t make her particularly moral or likeable. Nobody ever questions that she has done objectively immoral things that had a real, tangible effect. Caitlyn fans do.

The rant wasn’t particularly well put together, but it was something that I’ve been thinking about for ages.

Honestly? I don’t even like Rin. I think she’s insufferable even looking past the insanity and war crimes. But I think she is so much more of a better character than Caitlyn that it almost feels unfair to compare them.

[mantisshrimpfrommars]

I don't know how to say this without sounding rude, but do you think Arcane (and especially the kind of bullshit politics in Arcane season 2) suffered from the fact that it is an American show? Because it kind of seems like that might be the case. Almost like they didn't trust that the seemingly left-leaning ideology that they had going on in season one would go over well, so they completely butchered it. And I think especially characters like Echo and Vi were done dirty because of this. Idk, just a thought