#I just noticed this is the new arcane trailer

[lunaeuphternal]

Harold?!

[rynrising44]

What if Arcane Act 1 parallels the 1st season by having Cait and Vi be hunting for jinx and like on the same page and then something happens where Vi can't hurt her sister. Or stops Cait from taking the shot. And then Cait abandons Vi the same way Vi left Powder.

And Act 2 is where we see Vi having manifestations of Cait in the ring, similar to how Powder started having manifestations of Vi after they separated.

And since Jinx is there in the clip at the place where Vi is fighting, something happens that involves her saving Vi or joining with Vi/stitching her up. Like "Hey there sis. How's it feel to be abandoned? Pretty crappy right? Anywho Vanders alive lol and I'm the hero of the undercity and have accidently acquired a child."

Like anti hero type of stuff. Sisters turned enemies turned reluctant allies.

The ANGST.

So many choices are going to be made this season it's insane. Cait is going to have her John Wick moment and I'm both here for it and terrified. Her and Vi. Kisskisskisskiss.

And then Act 3. The finale

What if theres a show down where Cait tries to kill Jinx but Vi stops her or steps in front of the bullet or does something freaking heroic and dumb and almost dies or does die.

Vi could die.

And that would really poetic fr. That the girl that tried to save everyone and that has this heart of gold freaking dies trying to save the person that's been metaphorically dead for a decade. And sure I could be dead wrong with all this but I love a good parallel and will search for one wherever I can find it. I just want Vander to be back- I know. Big ask- but them having a little moment would be neat.

(Also I can't watch Season 2 til after the NAVLE on Dec. 2nd or I will hyperfixate and I am crushed by this revelation.)

[space-blue]

Arcane 2 Trailer time!

Imagine this chick comes into your office and tells you what to do? What are you gonna do?? Tell her no?????

Overall Ambessa and Sevika are really making this season MILF o'clock.

It would seem that early season will focus on Jinx terrorist time...

This is sadly the only LoL skin she could afford...

If you like Cait AND you like your women in pain/getting squeeze like they're a pineapple in the werewolf fucking press, then it seems this season is going to be for you. But Cait isn't the only one having a bad time, seems like Heimerdinger losing his day job led to some relaxation of his principles:

Now focusing on Ekko, who we know is helping Heimer:

This has a chain to pull a mechanism, and we see some similar thing being pulled by an unknown character, just a much thicker chain.

These shots of the Firelights attacking AMBESSA's people lead me to believe that the story may look like > Councillors listen to Ambessa > The tensions with Zaun escalate > Jinx terrorism instead of resolution > Vi sees this as failure and returns to Zaun to try another way > Ambessa doesn't take no for an answer > everyone teams up against Noxus, bringing Zaun and Piltover together again.

By hair alone we can see a timeskip here. Love Ekko's outfit. Vi's simpler style with just a bit of Piltie chest armour gives me hope that she transitions away from being a Piltie Enforcer and more of a Vander style character, trying to mediate.

Notice how dark her roots are???? I am wondering because LOOK:

She has black hair!! With reddish tips?

SO THIS MEANS THIS IS VI'S NEW LOOK:

And this last shot confirms it! RHEA RIPPLEY makeover!!!!

PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLESAEPLEASE BE REAL please don't be an inforcer don't be a cop please be cool please have an arc learn progress return to your people don't be a class traitor I beg I begwaah

My only criticism of this is that we now have 2 options: Either Vi is entering her goth era and is actively dyeing everything sloppily so that bits of Pink remain, or she has always been black haired, and has been dyeing her hair AND eyebrows pink her whole life, even as a child.

I get that it could be a cultural thing parents do, as my friend En suggested. I'd like this, if it weren't for the fact she was in stillwater for YEARS and I don't see them providing pink dye and a nice setup to bleach and dye safely...

Curious to see how it goes.

At this I screamed "Silco????" But not sure now. Seems too far off to be a Jinx vision.

There's also fucky things going on with the Arcane. We're told it's "waking up", which is curious because I was assuming mages across Runeterra were using the Arcane lots for their own magic, so very happy to learn more about it.

Also very cool to see a return of the wizard guy from Jayce's backstory:

Very excited for these depictions of magic :

Free feet included.

I'm pretty amazed that we have seen Zero Mel and Zero Jayce, and just 2-3 frames of hinted Viktor. Nice to see he'll go through with the transformation, but I'm curious as to why they're keeping the jeyvik divorce era so out of promo. Some of my friends feeling very edged right now.

Wondering if this is baby Powder flashbacks, or if we're going to get little kids getting dyed blue in celebration as we see adults do when they team up with her. I suspect if this is a kiddo who wanted to be blue like Jinx, this will be used as a parrallel, with them being caught in an attack that harkens back to the bridge.

The visual effects look insanely gorgeous, and also Jinx's very bad time tm is always on the menu. Very exciting!

[xeno828]

IS VI THE SHERIFF?!?

I would normally say I'm late to the party but I've been researching for far too long and realized barely ANYONE has noticed this!!

So looking at the season 2 trailer for Arcane, everyone seemed to focus on the fact Vi has become an enforcer. But look at this badge that the camera focuses on...

Call me mad, but that isn't just an enforcer badge, that's the SHERIFF'S BADGE!!!!

If you compare the regular enforcer uniform (which ngl is annoying to do cus there seem to be SO many different versions!) they do all have 1 thing in common, the lack of this badge. Some do have a symbol on their belts but it's different from this one, a lot simpler and seems to be a belt decoration/buckle more than an official badge.

But guess which uniforms we DO see with this badge, Grayson and Marcus, both only wearing it while holding the title of Sheriff!

Seriously, compare Grayson and Marcus's badge to the other enforcers!

I'll concede, you could argue that since this is the symbol for Piltover as a whole that it is just to represent the Enforcers in general. But then my question is, why are Grayson and Marcus the only ones wearing this symbol if that is the case?

The only other time we see an enforcer with this specific badge design is when Caitlyn is crossing the bridge back into Piltover and gets stopped by the barricade. But notice this badge is silver, whereas Grayson, Marcus, and Vi, all have gold badges. Looks an indication of status. Regular enforcers carry silver badges while the higher ups have gold ones on display 24/7.

Honestly, the way these badges are presented on each character can also line up with the individual person. If this is true it's a really cool snippet of storytelling through character design.

Looking at Grayson, her badge is big, front and center, she's showing it off. Grayson is proud of what she does and of her status, she earned her title through her own hard work and desire to protect the city.

Marcus's badge is slightly smaller and a bit more off to the side. He is the Sheriff and wants that to be known so, he will use that to his advantage so he doesn't hide his badge. But he is ashamed of how he got the title and is ashamed of himself. He's got what he wanted but has dug a hole for himself so deep that he can't crawl out of it, the only thing he has to show for his efforts is a badge won through blood shed and lies.

Vi's is WAY smaller than both and nearly unnoticeable on her belt to the left side. She has hated the Enforcers and topside her whole life, and now shes found herself becoming one. Oh the misery!! (Sorry!) She doesn't want to be here but feels she has too due to everything that is going on; Jinx, Zaun, Caitlyn, etc. She ended up with this position out of necessity rather than ambition or desire. Her hiding the badge away, the evidence of her 'betrayal' to the Under City, shows how reluctant she is to be doing this. She is only wearing that badge out of needing to comply with the rules that come with being Sheriff. And probably as soon as the job is done she'll toss the thing aside (which also works with the cannon cus that'll probs be how Caitlyn ends up being Sheriff like she is in game).

This entire concept is just SO fascinating to me, all the signs are there but the trailer made us so focused on Vi becoming an enforcer AT ALL that we all missed the other clues. It's a perfect example of misdirection and hiding the truth right under your nose. In the trailer we hear Caitlyn planning a strike team, sounding very in charge. When she is standing by Vi and their team she holds herself high, looking very much like a leader compared to Vi's resigned look and slightly deflated stance. Easily making us think she is the new Sheriff already - notice as well in this picture that neither Cair nor the rest of this team have any badges at all on display with their uniforms (would include a pic but I've reached the limit for this post!!!).

A good chunk of people already know that in game Vi is an enforcer and partner to Sheriff Caitlyn, the show makers know this is the assumption people will be making for season 2 and so went to imply this in the trailer without specifically stating it. Only leaving a few breadcrumbs suggesting we're all looking the wrong way.

I could be stretching here and be completely wrong, but if so PLEASE explain to me why only these 3 people are seen with this damn badge!!!!!

If this is true it's a pretty damn cool way to misdirect and subverse expectations to start off season 2.

[eternalwanderer-stories]

(not leaks, just post-trailer speculation)

Reviewing the trailer once again, I suddenly noticed this detail:

Who is saying these words?

Maybe I'm just being inattentive and this is someone already from the obvious characters we know, but…

It's a woman's voice. Arcane doesn't have a voice-over narrator, so someone in the show is saying it. Most of the female characters are now busy with their own affairs with the confrontations of two cities, power, revenge, relationships and more. Arcane magic was studied by Viktor, Heimerdinger and Jayce. They are the ones who could say this phrase so confidently. However, the voice is female. Sky? She's dead. Who else among the female characters can be so knowledgeable about magic and the effect of the arcane to say such a thing?

Perhaps this is just the same new character of the League of Legends, which was predicted for us this season.

Considering this strange figure and the theories that it could be LeBlanc.... is this the appearance of a Black Rose in the Arcane?

If this is the case, then there may be a problem with it. I am a League of Legends player and I know the ent and the relationships of the characters from the game, however, most of Arcane viewers are not League players and have no idea about it. Arcane has always had enough of its own narrative and lore to be independent of the game and you don't need to play League of Legends to understand Arcane. However, if this is really the introduction of such characters, then people who do not play the game may have very serious problems understanding "what the hell".

However, these are just my assumptions.

Please, NO LEAKS! If you have watched the leaks, you do not need to write anything or comment on it in any way. We'll see for ourselves in November, it's just speculation, I don't want to know anything in advance.

[medeaaa]

Arcane s2 ep 1 thoughts:

- the intro is incredible, the absolute shift from s1, the use of lighting as the characters are obscured, blinded or framed by it, the way their clothes have been simplified and stripped back the absolute despair tearing through it chefs kiss beautiful

- MEL IS ALIVE!!!! The lack of her in the trailer had me worried

- also Mel and ambessa complicated mother/daughter relationship exploration, I just keep winning

- victor.. my love wake up

- Jayce being guilty, angry, conflicted, distraught, just how I like my characters

- Mel is so incredibly rounded in her skills, she’s she’s politically sharp and even after an attack which must have shook her, reasonable and logic, and at the same same time she has such emotional tact (noticing caitlyn’s grief that she’s hiding and prompting jayce as her older brother figure to visit her) and moral integrity in regards to to hextech and handling the attack, Mel ily ily ily

- not quite compelled by Vi and Caitlyn yet.. will hold on tho

- maddie is such a cutie

- lmao nepo baby Caitlyn threatening to withdraw her family’s funding to get what she want

- parallels the beginning of the first season.. with the innovation day parade or whatever, but now it a mourning.. is there going to be another attack..

- well shit

- somehow always fearing for these characters who Ik must survive for Plot reasons, all the same the back injury is not looking good

-Jaycee resorting back to the humble Talis hammer, its inadequacy in this new age of tech and warfare, that he has in part led, a loss of perceived (because this obviously wasn’t the case for many) innocence and simplicity that never be returned to

- OH SHIT that’s the lady whose son Jayce killed.. that’s very very interesting okay

- incredible how complicated and nuanced the political set up of this is

- the cycles that are perpetuated and reflected.. Piltover experiencing a taste of the violence and loss that Zaun has undergone for decades at their hands, characters undergoing the same radicalisation that led to the very attacks from Zaun they are currently expercencing without being able to comprehend the similarity in where there motivations have stemmed from (loss, grief, a deep sense of unfairness and despair)

- the dehumanisation of the enemy.. “those animals” “those things”

- Ooo the cut to Ambessa, after Mel says “they must have had help”

[asexualfromhell]

Okay, so i watched the new Arcane season 2 teaser trailer about a dozen times, and this could just be me but-

Notice how, in the first season, she looks up when sending the smoke signal. People send smoke signal when they want to get attention or seek help.

She then follows this by saying:

It's like in this moment she felt like that little girl again, how supposedly Powder fell down a well,

and it's that little girl in her that looks up from the metaphorical well to send that signal. It was a struggle between her two identities from her perspective.

Now, in the new teaser, we see this art on the walls:

She's once again seen holding an object, but it's different. This time, she's looking down.

She could be looking down at her "former self," Powder, and letting go of that identity, along with the death of Silco. This could be a symbol of her goodbye.

She's also not holding a torch anymore, but a flag. Flags represent revolution. From what we can tell, Jinx is seen as a symbol of revolution for the nation of Zaun.

Anyways, that's just something that I noticed, I could just be reading into things. But I'm a sucker for symbolic imagery, and I think it's neat 🤙

[rosetyphooon]

hey guys ramble time bc i needto ramble and i am very very afraid of bothering others also maybe spoilers idk so here we go yippee but ohhh my god arcane i am freaking out i am quaking in my boots i am shaking with joy i am in a fucking state of pure bliss i am so excited for season 2 omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg obviously theres going to war n shit like no duh but i cant eait for the super epic cool battle between jinx and vi like thats gonna be epic and all the etasers arggg i love picking them apart idc if im reading into them toomuch i love them anyways for starters i love the way its all connecting like i am a sucker for the way everything is coming to tgoether n shit like in the teaser where we see vi and cait together preparing for war you can notice all these small little details that are actually from their leagues skin (caitlyn wearing a skirt n the collar thing or wtvr and vi having the big ass jacket collar and random ass pink ruffle on her waist) so thats super duper amazing cool epic yes also in the teaser trailer theres a small snippet where i think theres viktor and hes using hextech (i might be wrong it might not be viktor but who cares) to start his lil revolution thingy majigy so YIPPEE also in the teaser trailer vi is wearing claggors goggles such a cte detail to me starst sobbing teehee anywas i love ambessas part in this and even tho i dont have much to say abt her rn i hope she has a big part in the whole war thing!! also theres gonna be so much war ik s1 was gonna getting us prepared for all the war like theres a bunch of things in s1 that all signal war is abt to happen and yippe fictionalwar my favoruite slash joke ALSO SEVIKA oh my god sevika in the trailer she fired jinxs gun???? whaaaat?????? plus theres a shot where you can kinda see her arm (robotic one) and its brand new and looks to be designed and graffitied on by jinx which is super interesting like perhaps some jinx and sevika stuff??? do they get along??? so excited so so so very excited for that i love sevika guys also the painted mural of jinx is super interetsing to me especially since its shown right after we see ekko andohhh mygod vander is warwicklike ik we knew that months ago but oohhh my goodddddd big werewolf gonna fuck his daughter upfor kinda switching to piltover over zaun (pls warwick and vi fightscene i'll do anything) okay enough rambling for me i'll probably reblog and add more whenever i feel more need to ramble abt how much i love arcane YIPPEEE forgot to mention it but the fucking poster image wtvr of the rverse jinx holding vi is super cool to me bc unlike the first one where vi was looking away while powder was looking directly at the camera now they both face the camera and vi has this terrified look on her face and ughewsdjfejsdf GUYS!!!!!! i have so much to say!!!!!!!!! most of this was just me rambling abt all the teasrer but get ready for theories and analyings soon /hj

also heres a link to the arcane twitter account fi you would like to see all these teasers urself -> arcanes twt

[writingforfun0714]

Hi all

I’ve seen Ahsoka eps 1+2 twice now and I’d like to share my thoughts on the show.

Warnings: Spoilers for Ahsoka ep1 and ep2, not a fic, contains thoughts/personal opinions and guessing ages

Here’s what I like about the show in general: I like it, and wanna see where it goes.

Overall I’m interested. While I don’t think the show is bad, I definitely don’t think it’s the best show I’ve ever seen. The effects were decent and I loved the sets. I also loved the scores of music—though I don’t think I’ve ever hated the sound design/music for any SW show. The mural looked a little different from Rebels’ version but personally I still think it’s good, though I was hoping for more shots of the whole mural instead of mostly closeups of Ezra. I also liked the costume designs but the only change I would make would be having Ahsoka show up in white robes at the end of ep2 to match Rebels’ finale. I loved that when Sabine’s not wearing her Mando armor, she wears things almost identical to Hera and had a similar hair-cutting scene to Kanan 😍

Now for the story. I think the main story of finding Thrawn+Ezra is great. It’s something I’ve wanted since Rebels’ finale. I also love the new characters introduced. Baylan Skoll, his apprentice Shin (Hati?) stole the show anytime they were on screen. I love everything about them so far. Their personalities, their costume designs (Baylan wears all black while Shin wears more neutral colors and still has her padawan braid) and especially Shin’s unspoken body language has been amazing. I’m super curious about their dynamic, since it seems like any time Shin is unsure, she looks to Baylan. I’m wondering, since Ahsoka and Anakin had a sibling dynamic going on, if they’ll go opposite and make Baylan and Shin have a more father/daughter type of relationship cuz I’ll be honest and say when I first saw them, I immediately thought of Silco/Jinx from Netflix’s Arcane.

I also liked Morgan Elsbeth. I wasn’t sure about her in Mando and because she wasn’t super important like Moff Gideon or something, I didn’t really give her a lot of thought. But I liked her revealing to be related to the Night Sisters and I loved the Night Sisters Temple. I’m also interested in Inquisitor Marrok. I definitely think Marrok is Starkiller but we’ll have to wait and see.

I loved seeing familiar characters as well. Of course Hera, Chopper and Huyang were confirmed to come back from the trailer so I knew I’d love seeing them, but I was pleasantly caught off guard by Ryder Azadhi aka CLANCY BROWN, and Jai Kell. I loved that they got who they could to come back for their characters (Clancy Brown, David Tennant, Lars Mikkelsen). I loved Huyang’s scenes as well and I know some people were on the fence about MEW as Hera, but I actually liked her (though we gotta talk about THOSE CONTACTS). That being said Vanessa Marshall is still Hera to me. Her voice, her character in Rebels, will always be Hera.

AND CHOPPER!!! Need I say more?❤️

Now for what I didn’t like. These will be more specific instances/scenes compared to the show in general since, as stated above, I do like the show.

Of course I noticed the ‘Former Jedi Knight’ in the opening crawl. She was never knighted, just like Luke in the OT.

There is one part I didn’t mention above. Ahsoka and Sabine’s relationship. I get that it’s the first 2 episodes. However, I think it’s really jarring to go from Ahsoka and Sabine being friends in the Rebels’ finale to look for Ezra+Thrawn now to cold and snippy with each other, especially given that Sabine is supposed to be like 30?? And Ahsoka at like 45-47? There was no indication of what happened between them for most of ep1, just that SOMETHING happened between the two until it’s revealed that Ahsoka walked away from Sabine, like she did with Anakin. But this also plays into another problem I have with Sabine. She is Mandalorian and was not force sensitive in Rebels. She had a whole arc about reclaiming her culture and training with the Dark Saber w/ Kanan. There was no need to make her a Jedi. Not only does that disrespect Sabine’s character, it also disrespects the Jedi. The Jedi were originally a religion that was meant to be a safe place for select few across the galaxy born with the connection to the Force. It’s not something to ‘train/work towards’.

Yes, Ahsoka ‘is not a Jedi’ however times when being referred to as one, she does not refute it or say otherwise like she did in Rebels. It seemed out of character for her.

I know some people love the idea of ordinary people/beings being able to train hard enough to gain a connection to the Force, but I personally think that Jedi are those born with the ability. Huyang even says that she sucked as a Padawan.

I also know that Dave Felony has a habit of changing canon but that’s no excuse for poor writing. In fact, I believe he’s been at the head of Star Wars for so long that he’s just gone unchecked about what makes a good story.

Aside from those aspects of the show, I enjoyed it and am interested to see where it goes nonetheless. If you made it this far, thanks for your time.

-Maisy❤️

[dravo-carolus]

Okay! Saw Arcane finally, just this past weekend. And I just watched the season 2 trailers, so I have some THOUGHTS

So! First off, loving the Goth Vi here, wonderful, the pain she is in is Visceral and ohhhh Boy I'm here for the arc.

Loving Jinx's new makeup. The cloak is Very cool, the pink cheek paint is also Amazing. Very pretty paints by the artists, seriously skilled!

But I actually wanted to get some thoughts out about Victor and how the HexCore is gonna go.

So! They kept saying the hex core was an "Evolving" set of magic runes!! Magic AI anyone?

So season 1, He gets some shimmer that'll help him "Survive a volatile change" afterward he carved runes into his leg brace and skin. He reached to the hex core, it changed his leg into some form of blue magical flesh, allowing him to run afterwards.

Then he attempted another experiment into changing himself more, via carving more runes all over himself. But critically, he didn't have any more shimmer, so he was just kinda stuck screaming in pain with his hand on the hexcore. Until! Until Ms Young (assistant researcher) ran up and attempted to help him, at which point she was devoured by the (demon)hexcore. She was dusted, some of her clothes and her notes on that project she was working on survived. Victor is distraught, and attempts to destroy the hexcore, but wilts at trying to destroy his life's work.

He drops the stool he lifted to break the core with, THEN! The core sparked, and his new leg suddenly wasn't working.

Next we see him, he has visibly limped his way to a lil nook in the wall, and spreads Ms Young's ashes, apologizing for not knowing her prefered location. Then he steps up as if to throw himself off, but Jayce interrupts him. Victor says "you have to destroy it (the hexcore)"

Now I'm just spitballing a bit

But!! I'm thinking, that Jayce and Victor are gonna survive (maybe, the trailers CONSPICUOUSLY DIDNT SHOW THEM OFF (or at least, not that was obviously and unambiguously them) so they may just be dead. Unlikely, but a possibility!) And Victor is gonna be way worse off. So!

Either we're gonna see them immediately post explosion, jayce pulls Vic outta the rubble, notices he is Very badly wounded, and ALSO!! His Leg!!•

(Or they'll wake up in the hospital, doesn't really matter. But I'm thinking it'll be the first, because Warlord Madarda says "Your Council is Dead" in the trailers. So I think they are either dead or at option 1•)

So he notices his leg, and remembers the HexCore! And so jayce drags his almost corpse friend to the hex core, and kinda throws him at it, at which point it heals Victor up into a magical blue corpse that walks. (Critically the hexcore is an evolving thing. And it has Already Eaten a smart young woman.) So! Hexcore has a "Healed" Victor, walking around and being a wealth of distracting joy (meanwhile the hexcore is in control because THAT would be the sick nonsense that I'd expect from what they were foreshadowing! The evil plants, the arcane being malicious (probably), and also how it punished Victor for trying to break it. Also. It'd let the showrunners have a nice lil inner POV of Victor's head, and they could have him react to what the hexcore is having his puppet of a body do. Because that'd be just Sinfully delightful, the pain of the guy that was dying because his body was poisoned, then finally he found a cure that was SO MUCH WORSE!) oh I'm living for this.

It'd also lead into the "Jayce and Victor are enemies because Victor is a cartoon supervillain that committed "crimes against Science!" (BTW the dumbest thing I've ever heard. The only crime against Science you could commit would be a complete destruction of knowledge and ways to find knowledge. But other than that it's not a crime *Against* *Science*) so they're now enemies.

Because Victor is a puppet in the control of the Hexcore~

Idk if it's likely, but eh, fun idea either way.

[im-not-a-sheep]

I Say absolutely jack shit of note here I just wanted to yap about the arcane posters, probably stuff other people have noticed already but idk im bored as shit rn

So obviously these two are the opposites of eachother, story of opposites type shit yknow we know the deal, vi protecting powder and jinx protecting vi.

However vi in both of them is still looking away, but we can see her expression in the 2nd one, jinx is still looking at whatever it is she's looking at in both the posters, idk what this means but whatever, maybe she's choosing to show vi what happened in the 2nd one but vi's ignoring it

Also I don't think there's any secret words in the 2nd one, vi's eyebrow does not clearly spell "vi" like powders hair spelled 'jinx'

In this one jinx is stopping vi from seeing whatever it is so idk slightly contradictory to my last statement of the first 2 posters, vi is wearing her piltover enforcer Armour, and well jinxs "fuck you" finger is missing, I think someone pointed out how it's one of the fingers that was painted blue, so a possibility that it's jinx losing more of 'powder'.

Im guessing because the red string are in a V sort of shape this is implying Vis connection with jinx, and possibly vi's connections to other groups that may be fighting with the enforcers (jinx, the fire lights, yeah idk), Caitlyn is ofc trying to tear jinxs laugh from her throat

Upside down, caught by who I am assuming is vi based off the gauntlet, idk role reversal maybe she's in prison now, her finger isn't metal in this one, if you flip your phone or the image upside down she looks pissed rather than scared. atleast she looks scared to me when I'm viewing it the correct way

Pink on his hair charm thingy idk what they're called, whatever we saw it in the trailer too that he's part of jinx gang now,

Im pretty sure he's painting his face here and not smudging it off, but if hewere to be smudging it could be like, a hint that he dresses more formally at some point in the show, theres a scene in the trailer where he looks like he is wearing smth from piltover and his face is unpainted and hair is tied up neatly

Hes also pissed here idk war paint on face prepared for war type shit

Also in all these posters the letter A has a glow behind it, I don't recall the shows title having that so idk does this mean anything? Tbf there was that line in the trailer saying "the arcane is waking up" but idfk I don't think thats related to the letter A in arcAne. Maybe they chose that letter because it's closer to the center? who knows

Perhaps it's a new champion being hinted at with the letter A, again I'm spit balling bc idfk shit about league, I also just wanted to yap,

A for ambessa! Totally frfr idk

[maammooth]

Arcane Season 2 Theories Part 2

Okay. So here is more theories I have about Arcane Season 2! Let me know what you thought of it!

(Sorry if there is any mistakes (grammar, conjugation, etc) english is not my first language)

If Mel dies, Jayce would be devastated too, he will blame himself for hesitated so long and don't take a decision earlier. He could team up with Ambessa and provide her new weapons with hextech to attack Zaun.

Viktor and Jayce will surely have a clash about Viktor’s experimentations and Zaun (whether Mel is dead or not)

This one is more a headcanon than a theory but I think Sevika never really hated Jinx, Vi, etc. I even think that she was like the cool “aunt” for Vander’s kids (Vi, Jinx, Mylo and Claggor + Ekko). It’s certainly partly her wh taught them to fight and all see her more like an ally they could trust than an adult like Benzo and Vander. That’s why Vi took very hard Sevika’s “betrayal” to Vander. For her, Sekiva has betrayed them too, the Vander’s kids.

I don’t know why but when I imagine a confrontation between Warwick (if he’s Vander) and Vi and/or Jinx, I can see them trying to reason with him (particularly Vi) but it fails. For me, the one fight that’s make them realise that Warwick is no longer Vander will be like this: Vi and Sevika will have another fight but it’ll be interrupted by Warwick coming, Vi will try to reason with him again, Jinx will arrive right after because she’s tracking him, Sevika will finally learn that Warwick is Vander and will risk her life to protect Vi and Jinx because she never hated this brats. With Sevika’s (violent) death, Vi and Jinx will finally realise that he’s no longer Vander and maybe will team up to stop him.

Vi’ll end up becoming an Enforcer. With a lot of persuasion from Caitlyn, she’ll accept because then she’ll have more possibilities to achieve her objective.

If Renata becomes the new Leader of Zaun, she’ll inevitably meet Jinx. Renata is an intelligent woman so she’ll immediately notice Jinx’s potential, ending up by taking her under her wing. Jinx’ll be confused and scared at first, because, Silco did the same thing, who says it won't end up like it did with him? Why will things be different with Renata? Because, rather than let her do her thing in her own corner like Silco did, Renata will provide her materials, help, advice, tips. Jinx’s talent is real, so instead of letting it free to do what it wants as much trained it and push its limit. Renata could be a real mentor for Jinx, not just a protector like Silco was.( I see alot of people thinking that and I totally agree with )

          Silco be like: Do whatever you want   

          Renata be like: Okay that’s good but you can do better, let me show you

 Little analysis of the mini trailer of season 2:

We can hear three voices: Caitlyn, Vi and Jinx (in this order)

Caitlyn talks about a future hypothetical encounter between herself and Jinx, mentioning that one of them will end up in a box (dead). So now we know that Jinx and Caitlyn hate each other at the point of wanting to kill each other. For Jinx, it’s because Caitlyn “stole” her sister away from her. And for Caitlyn, it’s because of Jinx that her mother is injured/dead.

Vi says that it’s up to her to do it, that it must not have more injured people. I think she's talking about Jinx’s attack at the end of season 1. So we know one thing, there will be injured people. Dead ones, maybe, injured ones it’s sure. (And the pain in her voice breaks my heart…)

Jinx says that she’s glad they’re here because it had to be them. We don’t know who she’s talking about but we have a few possibilities: she’s talking about Vi who’s try one last time to reason with her; she’s talking about the person that will become the new Leader of Zaun instead of Silco (Sevika or Renata or someone else); she’s about Caitlyn (she’s maybe going to get rid of her); or she’s talking to someone who will be introduced in season 2, like Warwick (?) or someone else from Zaun.

After Jinx talked, we can hear a growl followed by a howl which suggests that it’s Warwick who is, if the theory is true, Vander.

Also, the fuchsia powder effect at the end makes me think of two things: the first one, Shimmer. Shimmer is a fuchsia drug, though it is usually liquid, this powder cloud might tell us that, beside Silco’s death, Shimmer is still a problem in Zaun. The second one, Renata Glasc (yes, I really want her to be in season 2). To have read about her backstory and all, the fuchsia is omnipresent around her. Either in her appearance (her eyes are literally fuchsia) or in what she fabricates in her industries, there is fuchsia. Moreover, in a video (her champion music) we see her breaking a flask with her prosthetic hand then a sort of a powder cloud appears. Between the end of the trailer where the A breaks into pieces by fuchsia lightning and the passage mentioned earlier, there are a lot of similarities that makes me think that Renata will surely be in season 2 and may have a major role.

[gamblingfeeling793]

What percent of the us population owns a gaming console

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[angelofberlin2000]

Keanu Reeves May Be Pure, But He's Not Oblivious  

America’s most memeable actor is back in John Wick: Chapter 3, a movie that's in on the joke of our obsession with Keanu. He might be too.

Alison Willmore

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on May 17, 2019, at 10:40 a.m. ET   

For a guy without any official web presence or expressed interest in things online, Keanu Reeves goes viral a lot. He's spawned memes when he's looked sad and other memes when he's looked happy. There's a Twitter account, 198,000 followers strong, devoted to "Keanu doing things" like wearing a fedora or hanging out on set with Sandra Bullock. Creepshot footage of the actor giving up his seat on the subway or rattling around the Bakersfield airport after an emergency landing has racked up thousands of delighted views. Reeves may have risen to fame as a Gen X movie star ("the most soulful while being the most stoner-bro," as the New York Times recently put it), but it was millennials who carved out a permanent place for Keanu in the internet boyfriend hall of fame, as an embodiment of inexpressible melancholy and a figure too pure for this world.

The fact that the actual Reeves — like any living, breathing human — is likely a lot more complicated than that has never gotten in the way of how he's been enshrined in the popular imagination, in part because Reeves has never seen fit to fight it. Reeves works hard onscreen, while barely seeming to notice the eyes (and cellphone cameras) that remain trained on him when he's off it. Where other stars attempt to actively sculpt and control their public image, Reeves submits to the sometimes intrusive attention with bemused acceptance, aware of but apparently unbothered by the fact that there's an outsize version of himself living in people's heads. When questioned about it, he tends to be kind: "Yeah, I guess that’s like an invasion of privacy. They didn’t ask me," he told Uproxx of the bus video, the existence of which seemed to be news to him. Then he added, "They were nice people. We were in it together. We had a nice car ride."

When Reeves went viral again last week, it was for something he definitely knew was being recorded. He was on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, doing promo for John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, the preposterously enjoyable third film of the action franchise that's come to define this period in his career. Reeves, sporting some “I'm-between-roles” facial hair, talked up the stunts and how he was set to reprise his role as world-saving slacker Theodore "Ted" Logan in a third Bill & Ted movie, nearly three decades after the last one.

All of which led Colbert to coyly ask Reeves what he thought happened when we die — a ludicrously weighty question for the average talk-show exchange, but a perfect one for the bodhisattva of showbiz. And Reeves did not disappoint, answering simply that "I know that the ones who love us will miss us." It was both a perfectly shareable aphorism and a poignant reminder of his own experiences with losing loved ones, which are real and terrible and which were also outlined in a Facebook video that blew up to the point that the fact-checking site Snopes felt compelled to put together an entry on it, judging it to be "Mostly True."

Reeves is now 54 years old. The inhuman splendor of his youthful beauty (seriously, have you seen My Own Private Idaho lately?) has gradually softened into a more manageable gorgeousness that shows the touch of time while remaining a little unreal. The fact that Reeves isn't a kid anymore is, in fact, the whole point of the John Wick trilogy, which puts the actor in the eponymous role as a retired killer yanked back into violence after an arrogant Russian mob scion kills the puppy gifted to him by his late wife.

The John Wick franchise is the creation of Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, stunt coordinators turned filmmakers whose elegant action sequences make clear how often it's really Reeves there doing the work, having a swordfight on a motorcycle or slowly sinking a blade into a struggling foe's eyeball. His physicality is front and center, and it's both impossible (John should be dead a thousand times over) and extremely human (John bleeds, staggers, reels with grief). Like Reeves himself, John is at once larger than life and extremely to scale.

Reeves is famous for action. His biggest films are the Wachowskis' Matrix trilogy, those landmarks of bullet-time choreography and heady stoner philosophy for which his flat affect was perfectly suited, as well as Speed and Point Break. But he's always harbored a romantic streak too, even if it hasn't always been showcased well by leading roles (like his in 2006's The Lake House) that leave him looking lost. He's better as the losing corner of the love triangle in Nancy Meyers’ 2003 rom-com Something's Gotta Give, despite the grievous injustice of Diane Keaton throwing him over for Jack Nicholson. The John Wick films work so well not just because of their fight sequences and increasingly arcane assassin mythology, but because of the degree to which they're romance-adjacent. They're heartfelt films about grief, with John as a man lamenting the death of his love and losing pieces of the life they built together in each subsequent installment.

The further the John Wick series has gone on, the more it's curled around Reeves' own persona. The first was a comeback vehicle for Reeves that also happened to be about a hitman's comeback from normal living, and the second was a riff on contractual work obligations. By the third, John is as beset by admirers as Reeves was at that Bakersfield bus stop, only in the film they're affectionately trying to murder him. When he faces down two henchmen (played by Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian of the Raid series), they thank him for the honor of fighting him, and maintain a running commentary on his performance in Indonesian during the sequence. "He's getting slow," muses one as John peels himself off the floor, while the other points out that he is recently out of retirement.

The main antagonist in the new movie, at least physically, is a striver and self-declared fan named Zero (Mark Dacascos), who’s a devotee bumped up to the assassin big leagues. "I've been looking forward to meeting you for a long time!" he declares. "And so far you haven't disappointed!" Zero is a surprisingly funny creation who owes something to Sonny Chiba in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, in how he's introduced, and something to Anne Baxter in All About Eve, in how he's ready to destroy his idol and take his place.

But Zero and his team also feel like a meditation on modern fandom at its most intense, where people need the person they admire to live up to the image they've formed of them, with an implied threat as to what might happen if the object of their obsession doesn't manage this feat. Most of the characters in the John Wick movies are bewildered by John's efforts to get out of the game and live like a normie, but they treat him as a fellow professional. The baddies in John Wick 3, on the other hand, are fans who feel a sense of ownership over John because they've tracked his career so closely.

Reeves may have the most even-keeled relationship with celebrity of any A-lister working today, but in the beleaguered looks he shoots at his foes in this new movie, there's a hint of wry self-awareness. It doesn't feel accurate to describe Reeves as a reluctant movie star, not when he devotes so much of himself to what he does, and when he gamely participates in every aspect of the process. But in playing this reluctant killer, the actor does offer a glimpse of himself as someone who's aware that there’s a finer line between being loved by the public and being devoured by it than anyone would like to think about.

There’s a thrill watching Reeves in this role that’s related to how delightful it feels to see him turn up as what looks like himself in the trailer for Netflix's upcoming Always Be My Maybe — the rom-com loser and internet boyfriend all in one, mashing his face into Ali Wong's while muttering, "I miss your taste." We may like to treat Reeves as a kind of holy innocent, but just because he avoids artifice doesn't mean he doesn't know what's going on. ●

[megatentious]

Megami Tensei where u at??

When you are down in the dumps about your favorite video game franchise and the future of a series that is special for you, sometimes you end up seeking it out in places that are … unexpected. I’m going to talk about how, over the last couple years, I ended up seeing three different flavors of Megami Tensei in three different games, and maybe by the end of this we can all end up feeling like it’s okay to move on with our lives. Just keep telling yourself that your favorite games are not your identity and it’s not that serious bruh but also tell yourself that it is therapeutic to collect many paragraphs of thoughts you have had about this to write at length about in your blog.

First up is a game that many many people have noticed is very Megaten and that is the Digimon RPG, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. There was no reason at all for this to be as good of a game as it is. I have no special affinity for the cartoon show. I do not like the Devil Survivor character designer even a little bit. I do not find grinding and monster collecting for the sake of monster collecting entertaining. But from the very first trailer something seemed compelling, and as good word of mouth spread I decided this was going to be a game I needed to play.

Again, everyone has already commented on how Megaten this game feels, and for me the closest specific analogue is actually Raidou Kuzunoha. From the first extended trailer I noticed the jazzy main theme, the detective agency conceit, the visible partner monsters appearing in a Tokyo with bold camera angle choices, and felt a weird familiarity. Digimon also function very plainly as Megami Tensei demons in multiple ways, not only mechanically but also through their story roles. And the somewhat arcane stat manipulation needed for high-end Digivolving scratches the exact same itch as high-end Megaten fusion from previous SMT iterations, which is both a dangerous (100 hours of playtime good lord) and wonderful (100 hours of playtime good lord!) itch to scratch.

You need to put up with some annoying characters and prattling dialogue, but unlike other games there is no pretense here which absolutely helps. Also, re-interpreting traditional Japanese folklore through the lens of the Digimon world is something that never stopped being fascinating for me even amidst a sub-par localization, and as someone with low familiarity with the cartoon, the Digimon designs themselves were alternately hilariously bizarre, bafflingly stupid, and straight up awesome. They even have their own Lucifer! 

By the time you get to the second half of the story where the game completely changes and becomes about alliances and faction-building and what happens to a city facing apocalypse, when you take in the incredible atmosphere in Odaiba all buoyed by a soundtrack that has no right to be as good as it is, you start to feel optimistic about how Megaten influence can live on even outside of the series itself.

Next up is an entry from another series that is occasionally compared to SMT, but this one in particular feels like it was only played by two or three people at all when it was miraculously released earlier in 2019 for the Nintendo 3DS. I’m talking about Yokai Watch 3. Arriving close to three years after its initial Japanese release to utterly resounding indifference, this game’s hook is that you get to play in “America,” but as you can tell from the quotes around America this is actually much more complicated than it seems in a way that specifically draws comparison to my beloved Revelations: Persona. You see, the very Japanese Yokai Watch series city location of Sakura New Town, Japon, was localized here for us as Springdale, Springdale back in the first game. This decision has led to many wonderful incongruities moving forward that are honestly identical to those in the Lunarvale of Revelations: Persona. Gotta love these small American towns with Shinto temples in em!

With Yokai Watch 3’s plot focusing on the family moving to actual America though, and the cross-cultural hijinks that are meant to ensue, things quickly get even weirder and more strained. Protagonist Nate Adams complains about the difficulty of understanding southern accents while slurping down sukiyaki. Shopkeepers with tempura-based hairstyles serve traditional Japanese dishes in the quaint American township of St. Peanutsburg. Huge timezone differences between America and “America” are introduced. And all of this is refracted through the even more convoluted localization prism of this game about two versions of America being scripted by the British, leading to children aspiring to be “basketballers” and restaurants having “oriental” atmosphere.

I’m barely scratching the surface of the dissertation-worthy unpacking needed for all of this, and it’s difficult to describe just how deeply weird the vibe can get in this game. In just the first twenty minutes of Yokai Watch 3, you have 1) a purely nutso anime opening featuring scary demonic folklore-based yokai, robots, and cat mascots 2) Mulder and Scully very seriously discussing mysterious “Y Files” 3) a rhythm game where your very American family devours an enormous amount of sukiyaki 4) the same very American (or in the game’s terms, “Springdalian”) family leaving their home to move to the state? country? of “BBQ” and 5) suddenly you are an otaku girl going to a figure shop in “Sparkopolis.” This is just as delirious as it sounds.

Revelations Persona’s uncanny America atmosphere may be one of a kind, but Yokai Watch 3’s frequently insane scenarios can sometimes recall a similar sort of lunacy that leads you to end up fighting a giant mechanical rat while a song with the track name “Child Abuse” plays, or chatting up a populace of mole-covered rainbow afro’d citizens in a locked down mall. At one point after returning from one of Yokai Watch 3’s various alternate dream worlds (very Persona!) my game was even afflicted with a commonly reported glitch that caused the environmental textures to not load, leading to a flat polygon world and some authentic PSX Lunarvale vibes. Throw in all the folktales and mythology involved in the yokai themselves and straight up demon fusion in a cathedral and suddenly you’ll end up experiencing more Megaten than you’d ever expect to see in an RPG targeted to young children.

Last up is an all-time classic that actually predates Shin Megami Tensei entirely, making it temporally impossible for any influence to show up, which muddles the entire concept of this essay but please roll with it you guys this is just how I feel. I’m talking about the seminal Phantasy Star, for the Master System, which I played through M2’s loving, impeccable SEGA AGES port on Switch. This game, which was released in 1987, is simply incredible. Right off the bat you’ve got genius-level programming from Yu Suzuki himself, which allowed for the first person dungeons to scroll so smoothly that posting a snippet of directly captured footage from the game can still lead to semi-viral tweets. It’s these extremely cool boldly colored first person dungeons, along with the expansive feeling of the several worlds you visit that led me to feel some of the spirit of Megami Tensei 2 specifically in this game.

“oops i accidentally phantasy starred for four hours” is how I put it playing through this game for the first time, and it’s a given that a non-fantasy setting RPG where you can talk to the monsters would be appealing to me. Phantasy Star as a series was in fact deliberately conceptualized as a rebellion against the many fantasy RPGs of the time, and the developers have talked about this in a way that is practically identical to early staff interviews about the goals for Megami Tensei. Director and gaming luminary Rieko Kodama has remarked that the choice of a female protagonist was also considered rebellious, even though it felt like a natural choice for her on a personal level.

Megami Tensei 2 is the game that builds the structure for Shin Megami Tensei as we know it today, moving away from Megami Tensei 1’s single full-game dungeon format to a world map with numerous discrete dungeons and eventually, paths to alternate worlds. Phantasy Star shares this exact design format, which still feels so expansive and impressive to this day. It’s a treat to get to experience a game like this over 30 years after its release on current hardware and still feel such an impact, and all of you need to go out and buy buy buy this game, seriously give M2 your money.

I’ve taken it as a given that everyone shares my perspective on where Shin Megami Tensei is at these days as a series, and it’s obviously never a good look to come across as an over-dramatic scolding bitter old who has retreated into pure irrelevance. But by documenting all of these observations down for myself, I can at least feel better about finding bits and pieces of various Megaten strains in the games of today. The lesson learned is that even if you feel your favorite franchise has lost its way, you may be able to find parts of it in the places you least expect.

[rerwby]

RWBY: Combat Ready Demo Review

Turns out GenCon was going on the same weekend as RTX. So while y’all were on edge for RWBY and Gen:Lock trailers, I was present at the Best Four Games in Gaming trying out some new games, one of which was RWBY: Combat Ready. Before I get into that though, let me tell you what a mess the demo’s situation was. Please note that nothing here is set in stone and is entirely based on how I perceived the game’s instructions.

This is the Arcane Wonders booth. AW is a nice developer that has made some fun games, and at their booth this weekend they were mainly showing off GoodCritters, a mashup of Zootopia and the 1920′s mafia scene. I played it a couple times and had a great time; I recommend it. Anyway, I looked around and noticed a distinct lack of anything RWBY-related. No signs, no Rooster Teeth logos, not even a single box on display.

This is an image of the back of their booth, the only sign of RWBY in the entire massive exhibit hall, other than like one overpriced figurine at another booth. I asked one of the people working the booth, who told me that there was a miscommunication with the convention at the last minute and that their play area had been cut in half. As a result, they allocated half of their demo setups to one of the game halls not far away. I suppose the plus side to this was that the game would be available to play once the exhibit hall closed, but I could be wrong.

People are playing the RWBY demo on the table to the right. it’s kind of messed up that they didn’t show off this big-deal game they were made to develop at their main location. There was nothing indicating there was any RWBY in the game hall; you had to be told directions. This is especially surprising given the way AW advertised the game in their coupon book.

Yes, that was what AW used their spot in the coupon book for. Not for a coupon, not even as an ad for their other new game(s), but to simply advertise RT’s Kickstarter lovechild. And that’s not me being overly-critical because like 90% of the pages in that coupon book either save you money or let you redeem them for free stuff.

An employee made it clear that they were not selling the game this weekend and were just doing the demo. In fact he had no idea when it would release or how much it would cost. He only gave the estimation of “mid-October.” Apparently there had been multiple issues in the production process, but whether or not this was due to RT or AW was not disclosed.

About two employees at any given time were the only ones who knew the game, but they were pretty well-informed. If you were lucky you played with one of them. I had the misfortune of being led by this dude who didn’t work there but seemed to know how the game worked. He was kind of fuckin annoying and kept unironically referring to Jaune as his waifu. Next to him was a gentlemen who didn’t know Grimm Eclipse existed (suggesting they make a video game out of RWBY) and some cosplayers dressed as Ozpin and Qrow who were actually pretty chill. Their Oobleck was off to the side with the instructions.

I attempted to get in on another play session later that weekend but it proved difficult. Mind you there was only a single box on-site. If that didn’t make it hard enough, it turned out this was a ticketed demo. This means you had pay money for event tickets in order to play. It was only a couple bucks, but for demos, that’s unheard of. Nearby, the Final Fantasy TCG required tickets for its demo but it also had a tournament attached and gave you free cards with entry. RWBY: Combat Ready’s demo gave you nothing. There were free play sessions in between the ticketed sessions, but you had to hope no one else was crowding the table to get in first. That’s what happened to me Saturday, so I snapped all the pictures I could and prepared to do a write-up of my experience based on my hour of play.

The game is part deck builder and part board game with RPG elements tossed in for good measure. The goal is to defeat the villain characters, not controlled by any player specifically, without them defeating all of you first. They got big health and are backed up by RNG, as well as an array of Henchmen. Each player gets a character (Team RWBY and Penny were available, no sign of the new character, though they are allegedly a villain) and a large card to go with them. The card details their Semblance and keeps track of their Experience and Aura with counters. You also have a little figurine of your character that goes on the board during your turn.

Each character has an associated deck of cards. These all have different attacks and/or effects. Each one has a speed and damage rating. Some have effects that work when you attack or support, while others have effects that only work when you use that card to combo. Usually the better the effect, the lower the speed, as speed is what dictates whether or not your attack is successful. On the other hand, Weiss in particular (who I played) had a 10-speed (the highest) attack with no effects.

You draw 6 of these cards and at the start of each round, or “Duel,” you refill your hand back to 6. Notably, there were not an awful lot of cards for each character’s deck, which meant we would shuffle our discard piles back into a new deck every other Duel. You also have an Ultimate card which you can use under certain circumstances, and finally, a smaller deck of “upgraded” cards. You can spend Experience between Duels to swap out a card in your hand for one of a higher tier. At the moment there are only tier 2 cards, and none correspond to specific weaker cards; you just turn one into any other. You can also upgrade your Ultimate.

The board is fairly small and simple. There is a “Fury” meter across the top for both a hero and a villain. As the players inflict damage on the villain, they move their figurine up the Fury meter, gaining Experience along the way. Once they enter the “Ultimate” zone their Ultimate ability becomes available for play, and once they get to the end they receive a huge power-up. The villain’s meter acts similarly, granting them bonuses to their Speed and Power that are kept track of on the board. Once they get far enough on their meter, they can “Bash” a player, knocking them out and ending the Duel and starting the process over again with the next player. It’s at this point I realized why the rounds are called Duels; because each player takes a turn dueling the villain, with the other players providing Support or Combos. I may have those names mixed up but their functions I’m sure of.

When the Duel begins, the turn player picks a card from their hand to play. The card’s Speed is what tells us if the attack will succeed, and the Damage tells us how much damage the villain will take if the attack succeeds. Each other player can add a maximum of one card to this attack. They can either stack their card under the initial one (Support) increasing the damage and providing a corresponding effect, or place their card to the side (Combo) which adds different effects. Notably, if the Speed of a combo card is lower than the initial card, the net speed of the attack will lower. Lowest Speed is the Speed of the attack. The Ultimate card is unavoidable, but if Combo’d with it will be brought down to the Speed of the added card.

You can also use Semblance once per Duel. I was only made aware of Weiss’s and Blake’s. Weiss simply adds a Speed point while Blake has to specifically be used before the attack and lets her or an ally avoid taking damage. Weiss’s is called “Propulsion Glyph,” Blake’s is “Copy Cat,” Ruby’s is “Super Speed,” and Yang’s is “Rage.” I didn’t catch Penny’s. It’s unclear if these are supposed to be the specific names of their Semblances or just the names of abilities provided by those Semblances.

Then you flip over the top card of the villain’s deck. We had Roman, but Cinder and Adam appear to be present in the base game. They have a nice hefty deck that’s much larger than those of the players. He has his own Speed and Damage just like the others, as well as effects. You take into account his bonuses, match his Speed up against your Combo’d and Supported hero, and dish out damage accordingly.

Then you shift focus to the Henchmen. I wasn’t terribly clear on these dudes because I was at the opposite end of the table, but they are a random batch of NPC bad guys you flip over and fight. A player can choose to fight off a Henchman instead of providing Support or a Combo. The purpose of the Henchmen are to have another source of damage in case you really beat down the villain. You can stop Roman, but if no one kept an eye on his goons you’ll take some damage. We faced off against Roman’s mooks from Episode 1, but there are also Grimm. I don’t know if the Henchmen correspond to a specific villain.

Adding to what I was unclear on, there were two other cards present. A yellow and green one. To my knowledge, the yellow one has to do with an objective or something. I think it gives bonuses to the Henchmen or rewards the players for taking them out. The green has something to do with Zwei. Zwei never came up during our game, but I think I heard it mentioned that he has something to do with RNG.

My impressions of the game are lukewarm but I didn’t dislike it. It isn’t fair to blame the developer on things I don’t like about RT but at the same time it makes no sense to blame RT for anything weird in the game’s mechanics or rules. I highly doubt they did anything more than sending an intern to make sure the property isn’t disrespected. I do find myself wondering if the devs aren’t totally enthusiastic about the game. While the people demoing GoodCritters wore trilbies and spoke with New York accents, I didn’t sense much excitement from anyone involved with RWBY.

I think a deck building game fits. The show’s homages to fighting games and other video game elements translates well to the cards. I also really like the use of the Supports and Combos because it adds to the feeling of the show’s teamwork aspect. Maybe it reminds me of like, the DC deck building game too, which lends to that super hero feel.

There is original art for every aspect of the game and I think that’s wonderful. Even the massive deck of Roman cards appear to be drawn specifically for the game when they easily could have chopped scenes off from the show. It also doesn’t have the inconsistencies of Amity Arena, which for some reason gives us V4 Blake next to pre-V4 Ruby, Weiss, and Yang.

The cards with Experience and Aura add to this, and I like the inclusion of Semblance, even if the Semblances themselves are pretty flat and lame. Like wow, Weiss can +1 Speed someone? Blake ignores some damage? Real creative. The Ultimates are likewise pretty boring and seem to have 0 percent chance of failure unless someone willingly screws things up. I don’t know about the board. I don’t think the game totally needs it. I feel like it also says a lot that I could totally ignore the stuff with Zwei as well as much of the Henchmen thing and we still won the game.

The cards bug me a little. Like I said, there are surprisingly few cards for the players to use considering how many cards you draw and how many the villains get. Also, the backs of the normal cards, upgraded cards, and Ultimate are non-distinct. I accidentally combined everything together at first, only to learn I needed to keep the upgrades separate. Things can get messy and confusing with so much stuff on the table.

Some more details involving expansions and such. Penny is apparently an expansion. JNPR is likely a planned expansion. There is also an expansion that allows a player to play the role of the villain, upgrading them from just being a game construct and possibly letting them pick from a hand of cards rather than relying on RNG. My problem is the cost. We don’t know the price of the game but from what I gathered the Kickstarter goal of 100-something dollars gives you Penny along with the base game. I know it’s just a reward but it makes you wonder how much future installments will cost.

You also have to wonder if there will be additions to the game. It needs to sell well, after all, and this is just a game. A single sale will provide for multiple people. RT hasn’t done a great job of expanding RWBY’s influence so I genuinely wonder how much money this will make. Not to mention many future owners of the game have basically already paid for it.

It also does not bode well that there have been errors with the production process and that the employees seemed to know so little given that the game is slated to come out in October.