#Chem baron

[subbymothpimp]

Commission

[impostores0o]

Arcane (timeline)/Zaun:

Chem Baron Finn & Chross League of legends/Riot games/Arcane teamAll credits to: • Victor Maury • Character Design

"Slickjaws provide useful services to those looking to eliminate a problem, whether by their own hand or ours."- Finn

Riot games/Arcane team Credits to: Charles Lee, alexandre mahboubi, Tomas Osang Muir,Bruno Couchinho, Ivan Pozdnyakov, Geoffroy Thoorens The Art of Arcane Fanart belongs to: Marco Brunelleschi

´´ The only way to defeat a superior enemy is to stop at nothing. To become what they fear.``The eye of Zaun.

"I’d like to let you in on a very important secret I learned when I was about your age, boy. You see, power, real power doesn’t come to those who were born strongest or fastest or smartest. No. It comes to those who will do anything to achieve it..."

[mollysunder]

Gilded Jinx Looks Like What I Thought Chembarons Would Look Like.

Look at her, she looks like an 80s punk pirate queen with bolder coloring than both her gilded and chembaron counterparts, complete with bright makeup (by Victorian standards) and big hair. Zaun is supposed to be set apart from Piltover by the unmistakable creativity and innovation expressed through a loud punk aesthetic that it's inhabitants are meant to embody, at least the younger inhabitants do. The higher up the food chain you go in Zaun, the punk aesthetic filters out with only the Victorian base remaining.

(Finn's a bit of the exception but his aesthetic is kind of supposed to coincide with his self-serving nature rather than a reflection of Zaun's culture.)

On one hand you could argue that it's some kind of social commentary where these violent gangleaders are adopting the aesthetic of their oppressors to take on similar roles. But even chembarons that are antagonistic to Piltover, and frankly just hate Piltover for what it's done to them and their families still take on Piltovan aesthetic. If it isn't a straightforward Victorian aesthetic, then it's more of a fusion of modern business clothing and evening wear. This goes for characters like Silco, Renata, and Corina Veraza.

(Shout out to Silco for keeping it real and stitching his pants instead of getting new ones.)

Zaun, at least in League, is it's own city-state with its own distinct culture, but so often these leaders don't really embody that (once again maybe social commentary, but that explanation only goes so far). Honestly their designs are so dedicated to Piltover aesthetics sometimes it doesn't even communicate their wealth! The thing most of them are all about! If someone has to be in rags for me to know they're rich they're not doing it right.

The chembarons don't all have to be like that, but it seems like they're usually designed to just look like evil Piltovans. The only unifying part of their design that doesn't borrow from Piltover and makes them distinct is their asymmetrical styling and the fact they all either have scars or body mods to accommodate their disabilities, or both.

And here's Jinx in her obnoxiously loud outfit ready for the runway! Yeah her money's new, what are you gonna do about it? She's the right mix loud fun 80s mess with her fishnets and and ripped mesh covered in a fancy jacket lined with ermine fur. It would have been so easy to give her hexgem earrings, but no, they're in chemtech green, hooked with actual screws. The coloring alone says to me the designers couldn't let go of Jinx's Zaunite origins because her character defines Zaun as much as Zaun defines her. You'd almost think she was making fun of Piltover if she weren't wearing her look so well, if wasn't so dedicated to playful asymmetry where here shoes are slightly different, her coattails slant in two different style. Her whole look is so customized to be Jinx sans Piltover, it's just so her. The Gilded universe is supposed to be a universe where everybody's living a comfortably ritzy and safe Piltovan lifestyle and Jinx’s missing an arm. The prosthetic looks great!

The chembarons are supposed be a coalition of leaders in Zaun. Sure, they're gangleaders, but a lot of rich people politics is gang politics. At least some of them should understand that to grow past the shadow of Piltover, they need to embrace the strengths of Zaun, not co-opt Piltie patterns. Gilded Jinx's design understands that so well. If you put these pictures in a line up and asked me to find the chembaron, my safest choice would be Jinx.

Tldr: Chembarons in League of Legends and Arcane aren't very distinct from their Piltovan counterparts. The only real difference is their visible disabilities, body mods, and asymmetry (maybe goth vibes too). Gilded Jinx is a great example of what chembarons could be, leaders with loud and eccentric vibes that actually matches the distinct culture of Zaun itself.

[alocowberry]

commission for a friend, they had me draw their chem baron!

[madame-windmajesty]

Spoiler

It's so funny to me that the thing that stops madam chembaron from doing her vengeance was the thing that KILLED HER CHILD LMAOOOOOO rip a diva

[peachesartplace]

Arctober day 25 - Chem-barons

[arcanegifs]

#ARCTOBER DAY 25: Chem Barons ↳ "Have you forgotten where we came from? The mines they had us in? Air so thick it clogged your throat. Stuck in your eyes. But I pulled you all up from the depths. Offered you a taste of topside. And fresh air. I gave you life. Purpose. But you've grown fat and complacent. Too much time in the sun. We came from a world where there was never enough to go around, Finn. That is why we fight. Do you remember?"

[n4tek]

Chem-Barons

[bunnyluvx]

the arcane characters missing you!

featuring: caitlyn x f/non-binary!reader. mel, jayce & finn x gn!reader.

summary: what do the arcane characters text you when they miss you?

warnings: minors and ageless blogs dni regardless of content. do not spoil season 2 in the replies. violence mention (heimerdinger being annoyed with hoskel overexaggerated). nothing else!

tags: smau | spoiler-free! | fluff | physical affection mentions | pet names | lesbian caitlyn | canon lesbian character | jayce misses you so bad that he picks you up early

divider credit: heart by @isisjupiter, support by @cafekitsune

a/n: hi my dears!! i have been very fixated on arcane ever since season 2 came out so i present you with these! i'm very excited for the new episodes tomorrow! i hope you enjoy the silliness! <3

[lovetositinsilence]

Arctober Day 25:

Chem-Barons

[haemosexuality]

i was not familiar with miss ma'am Renni's swag

[purpleshimmer]

Music Videos in Season Two vs Season One

@thenationofzaun made a post about this too so I won’t talk too much about what they already said, but I wanted to talk a bit about why I feel the music videos in this season aren’t working the way they did in season 1

Spoilers below!

I love love love the music videos/sequences in season two, I really do! I think all the artists did an incredible job and the soundtrack is full of bangers so far. I love that Fortiche is branching out with different animation styles like the comic book sequence in episode 3 and the watercolor pictures in the flashback with vander. However, because they’re trying to fit so many plot points in 9 episodes they’re using these 2 minute music videos to tell stories and explain events that should’ve been given at least 15-20 minutes of screentime. The music videos are a great way to experiment with new animation styles and set up plots/events, which they did perfectly in season 1. 

S1E5 - “Enemy”

Enemy is played as Vi walks through the bar on her way to confront Sevika. However, we got plenty of context beforehand! We know why Vi is angry with Sevika, how she knew where to even find her, and got a really great fight scene between the two after the music played. The song showed Vi being badass and cool and set the mood for the fight, but wasn’t used to replace the Vi vs Sevika conflict. 

Compare this to something like the "Hellfire" music video in S2E3, where we don’t even see the task force enter Zaun. We should have seen Vi’s internal struggle with joining the Enforcers like she did in episode 1, but instead we can only assume that the event at the memorial service moved her enough for her to abandon her beliefs about the enforcers that she’s held since she was a small child and join them. We don’t get to see how Steb, Loris, Vi, Maddie, and Caitlyn work together and what their dynamics are like. We don’t see what Vi’s reaction is to releasing toxic gas on her own people, or them raiding the Vyx, we only see the aftermath of that and the scene in the arcade. The music video should have been used to set up the events, and then at least a few minutes of the episode should have shown the first raid on Zaun by the task force.

S1E6 - “Guns for Hire”

This is one of my favorite parts of season 1. The entire episode led up to the huge moment at the end where Jinx lit the flare to try and find her sister and for Piltover to block Zaun citizens out of Piltover. The end scene didn’t need to have dialogue or be drawn out because it was already explained for the entire episode. The music served its purpose by making us feel emotional and setting the next episodes. The same goes for “What Could Have Been” at the end of episode 9. I feel the same way about Woodkid’s other song, “To Ashes and Blood” in S2E3. The whole episode led up to that moment, so I think it was fine to have a music sequence as the final battle played out. 

S1E7 - “Misfit Toys”

This is the most “official” music video in season 1; the others are more so sequences with music played overtop of them instead of dialogue. The music video sets us up with information that we should know about the firelights BEFORE officially meeting them. We learn from the lyrics and the video that they are a group of Zaunites that are working to stop Silco and provide people a safe place to get away from Silco’s shimmer-ravaged city. It’s also just a great song and an incredible music video with a unique style. However, this isn’t ALL that we see of the Firelights. It’s used as a supplement, not a replacement, to their story. At least 1/3rd of episode 7 is about the Firelights, Ekko, and their relationship with Silco’s Zaun and Piltover, allowing for the audience to sympathize and connect with them further. 

This episode also features “Dynasties and Dystopia,” another great music video sequence. I love that it switches between Jinx and Ekko currently and as friends. It expands on their history and draws attention that these two used to be close friends, but are now trying to fight to the death. It works, in my opinion, because we already knew that they were friends, as this was established in the first three episodes of the show. The music video added to our knowledge, but wasn’t the first time we learned that they were friends. 

S2E1 - “I Can’t Hear It Now”

This one was so beautiful and made me sob the first time I watched it. The end of episode nine and the first parts of this episode prepared us for Cassandra’s death, and the funeral serves to show us Caitlyn’s reaction to it. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful; I wouldn’t change a single thing about this scene. 

S2E2 - “Sucker” 

I LOVE this song and I really like the music video that goes along with it. HOWEVER, the music video should have played at the beginning of the episode to remind the audience of the turf wars between the chem barons, and then at least half of the episode should have expanded on those conflicts. Instead we just got the two scenes with Smeech, who died almost immediately after. We never get to see Margot or Chross again, despite the fact that they are almost certainly still fighting. What was the result of that? We see the displaced people coming to Zauna and later Viktor’s camp, but why didn’t we get to see any of the political struggles between them (or any of the chem barons before their deaths)? We don’t get to learn about their organizations, we don’t see more of their personalities, we don’t see them fight outside of the music video, nothing. Maybe I’m just biased because I’ve loved the chem barons since their brief appearance in season 1, but the only reason I wasn’t upset about their small amount of screen time in season 1 was because I was expecting them to play a huge role in season 2. 

I loved the “Renegade” sequence, that was really fun and I don’t have anything negative to say about it other than that I wish my best friend Smeech didn’t get killed. 

S2E6 -"Remember Me"

I actually like this one! Putting aside the flaws with this plotpoint bc that’s not what this post is about, I actually think this one was well incorporated. We already knew some background about Vander and Silco’s relationship from season one, so this wasn’t sprung upon us randomly, and we even got a decently long flashback scene between the two. The music video was used to show a bit more information that could accurately be portrayed through the watercolor animation and without any dialogue, which I think it did successfully. 

S2E5 - “Cocktail Molotov” 

Again, I love this sequence, the song fits perfectly with the situation and it was exciting to watch. However, instead of playing at the beginning to set up Vi’s new living situation, it was the only part of her pitfighter life that we got to see. This was especially strange to me because of how much Riot hyped up pitfighter Vi before the season dropped; I really thought it would be a major part of the episode. We didn’t get to see a full fight between her and an opponent, we didn’t see any conversations between her and Loris, we didn’t even see how she ended up as a fighter in the first place. It was just “look at how cool she is! Also she’s drunk and sad” but we never got the chance to connect with her and feel what she was going through the way we did in season one when she was experiencing changes and struggles in her life.  

I didn’t cover all the songs bc this post is already really long, but that’s kind of how I’m feeling atm. I’d love to hear you guys’ opinions in the comments/tags!! Again I still love the music videos. I just think the ones in season 1 were better. I really hope I’m not sounding like I hate the show or something. I feel like a lot of my recent posts have been super negative 😭 I still love the show, I just have more criticisms with this season than I did for season 1, as I think a lot of people do.

[arolegos]

cooking up a ninjago arcane au rn and what if i was evil

[allegorism]

silco's appearances in s2 are sending me. this guy dies but he keeps making appearances and each of them show him as a perfectly adjusted individual who, actually!, isn't murderous and is forgiving, friendly even. as if that man hadn't been the most batshit insane and resentful guy zaun has ever seen. arcane vs arcane if silco went to therapy for real.

[walleeli]

I have a lot of things I didn't like about season 2's ending. (After episode 7 stuff started falling flat for me. Not everything but. stuff.)

I don't want to talk about that right now. I want to talk about how I was coping last night. And that was with my very specific vision for Sevika <3

erm. spoilers below.

So she lived, first of all. I got the one item on my wishlist. But at what fucking cost. I've seen mixed reception to her joining the council (as well as obvious, overwhelmingly negative, reception to her single minute of screen time and grand total of ZERO lines in the last three episodes...) but for me, her on the council works. As far as what was offered to us I think it was a satisfying conclusion for her narrative. So we're going to be working from that frame of mind for this walk.

You do not know what I would be willing to give for a miniseries, an episode, a short, ANYTHING... about Sevika dealing with bureaucracy. LMAOOOOOOO.

Given that it is, generously speaking, highly unlikely that that will happen in any capacity ever. I'm going to share the fractions of thoughts I have now. Hopefully someday I can find it in myself to write actual fic about it but for now its this.

It should come as no surprise that she hates it. All of the red tape, posturing, and paperwork. Conversations that wrap endlessly around themselves, knots she would much rather take scissors to. She looks at that round table and sees a snake eating its own tail. Returns home most days raging. Under Silco, in Zaun, progress has always come fists first. And now here she is, finally at the heart of the self proclaimed 'City of Progress' and she's never felt more stuck in her life. A carousel at a carnival, how is she the only one seeing the circus for what it is? She smokes more (somehow). Her furniture is always overturned. She ends most days with her head in her hands, fresh holes in her walls.

It's the same, excruciating, endlessly repeating day at that goddamned table when a fellow councilor asks if she drinks. She drinks. And she learns quick that topside bars aren't all that different from the pubs and taverns below. Fancier finishes, shinier cups. Same smoke in the air, same bile stink at the bathrooms, same unruly drunks, same collection of vices...

And the same loosening tongues. It's all the same anywhere you go: gambles and wagers, poker faces and bluffs. Your words can hit as hard as a fist if you know how to swing them right. Suddenly, all at once, she's in familiar territory. The playing field levels out, she sees where the sky meets the earth.

Sevika is devoted, Sevika is focused. She will pour herself into this just as she poured Silco's drinks. He's gone, the chem-barons have proven useless. She doesn't know what happened to Jinx or the kid and there's no one left to ask. This is the path to Zaun's future. For Zaun, she can be anything.

She gets the hang of it. With effort, with practice. Perhaps a touch too reliant on the bars and the drink and the betting, but if it ain't broke. The cracked skin of her hand starts to heal, knuckles stop being bloody. Her mechanical arm sees so little of its original use. Her scowl never leaves but the sharp edge of it goes dull. Necessity no longer calls for the knife. Not as she's always known it anyways.

It is another night at the bar, making bets, pouring drinks, listening close. After another day at the table talking trade and compromise. A familiar scent stills her. That foul, cheap smoke she once knew well. She blinks and she's back in the Last Drop, telling Vander he looks weak.

When she shakes herself out, turns her gaze down, the drink in her polished glass is a mirror.

[jackals-ships]

hyena vastayan? deets please?

wakes up and immediately >:3c

YEAH !!! they're my little guy who's done nothing wrong im including the murders bc i mean. lookit em. theyre allowed to do whatever they want all the time forever

(this one's an older piece that im also redoing but it's still v good @ showing The Vibe)

in universe their name is jackal maddox [they/he] and they're also known as The Jackal In The Lanes (partially bc it's funny 2 me) one of zauns more notable serial killers. it's one of those things where many people know/assume it's them but no one really wants to confirm that fact because you'll draw their attention or silco's. so they're generally just given a wide berth instead

i say generally bc they also own a club/brothel in the later years of silco coming into power. it's a pretty good place as far as things go but you do run the risk of going missing if there's not satisfactory enough prey to be found (jackal has certain criteria that only makes sense To Them, mostly based on how 'interesting' they think a person is + they Do pick off enforcers when they come poking around. their mask is actually a modified enforcer mask from one of their first kills)

they also give entirely conflicting back stories for themself constantly And how they met reese hi reese. ranging from "unconscious thought to be corpse pulled out a dumpster" and "from piltover originally, yeah they ran me out because I kept seducing important people's spouses" and one notable occasion claimed to know swain Very Personally. is anything true? dw about it

im playing around with the mods they have but they Do have a very kind of transhumanist lean to them? not on the same level as y'know The Machine Herald but very "swapping parts go brrr"

jackal also met silco thru reese and was immediately 👀? a child???? Gimme. they play babysitter which morphs into them looking at her as their littlest sister/sort of daughter. FIERCELY protective of her while also ranking low on the Good Role Model scale. no Jackal the child does not need knives. or poisons. or explosives- well okay she's making those herself nvm. it is absolutely Not uncommon to catch a glimpse of them and then a second later a glimpse of blue hair bc jinx is either holding their hand Or attached to their hip Or on their shoulders

generally speaking despite the whole Serial Murderer Thing jackals actually kinda chill to be around?? they don't exactly play Nice but if you catch them on a good day they'll tune down the bastard a little. flirt with you in ways that you're not Sure is actually flirting or if they're envisioning you on the operating table (it's both. it's both,)