#broken process

[artist-rat]

quick existential crisis vibe check 👍

[vi-is-badass]

Arcane Season 2 - The Base Violence Necessary for Change

I think this shot is the most interesting part of the trailer. We see a shot of Jinx as a painting on a wall. A symbol. A leader. Her actions stand for revolution in Zaun and I think this could be an interesting expansion of Arcane’s exploration of violence and the idea that there is a base violence necessary for change.

Silco is framed as an antagonist in season 1 because of his actions against the undercity people specifically.

In act 3 he’s not the revolutionary he positioned himself as and is instead hurting the people of Zaun through his leadership. He’s doing as much to hurt topside as Vander was in act 1 (meaning nothing at all). He’s even got the sheriff working with him just like Vander, but, unlike Vander, Silco is hurting his own people to facilitate power and he’s not even fighting for that freedom he claimed to want so much.

We see the damage his actions have wrought. We see the shimmer addicts, forgotten and exploited. We see that he's created a hierarchy rather than a community.

And it’s contrasted with the firelights. People considered terrorists to Piltover, who do use violence to fight back against Silco and topside, and yet offer the biggest glimmer of hope. They aren’t villainized. The act of fighting back isn’t villainized and it shouldn’t be.

Because it’s not the violence in and of itself that’s the issue. It’s what that violence is used for.

The series hammers this idea home through Vander. 

Vander’s staunch stance against violence is flawed as well. It comes from a good place. A desire to protect what he loves rather than destroy what he hates and it did create a time free of the death revolution brings, but it’s made it so no ground could be made to free Zaun and create a better world for the people in it. It created stagnation. 

The people of the undercity are still stuck in a cycle of crushing poverty, growing up without parents, dying young due to pollution or violence wrought by desperate people or oppressive enforcers.

It didn’t move the needle because Piltover and the system in place wasn’t going to change just because the people of the undercity were playing nice.

The unrest and anger felt towards Vander for his ideal was understandable. His views on the cyclical nature of violence and the fact that if you fight you will lose people (“What are you willing to lose”) is correct, but that doesn’t make this option the ideal one.

Which brings me back to that shot in the trailer of that painting of Jinx.

Season 2 looks like it’s going to be a season of opposites and rediscovery where it flips what we expect of Jinx and Vi on its head and further explores these ideas of violence, oppression, and revolution.

And I think this season might possibly do that by reversing how Vi and Jinx reflect Vander and Silco.

In the first season the siblings were direct reflections of their respective father figures, but now they’re inversions. Jinx can become the good to be found in Silco’s ideals and Vi the pitfalls of Vander’s.

Jinx’s actions in season 1 weren’t those of a revolutionary. Her actions weren’t meant to free the people of the undercity or improve their lives. She didn’t steal the hexcrystal to bring hextech to the undercity and improve their lives and she didn’t kill the enforcers on the bridge to get rid of dirty cops. She didn’t kidnap Caitlyn for a greater cause.

But we know that Jinx isn’t only the violence she enacted. That she is “the monster they (the system and people around her) created”. Her actions weren’t heroic in the first season, but they were driven by the life that was forced upon her. Her hurt and anger are justified.

Now that she’s away from Silco, no longer a part of his machine and actively participating in his actions that were hurting the undercity, her actions and anger can take on a new light. She can rediscover herself away from his manipulations (this isn’t to say he didn’t love her but what he did and said isolated her and allowed her issues to fester) and become that symbol we see on the wall.

Jinx could be in a way what Silco could have been if he didn’t let his own self interest get in the way of his ideals. Not quite as forward thinking as Ekko or as idealistic, but still a symbol for resistance that fights for Zaun.

Whereas Vi is sort of on a path to becoming a darker reflection of Vander’s ideals.

Vi becomes a part of the system she used to rage against.

 Based on the season 2 teaser that was released in 2021– 

“Nobody else needs to get hurt.”

–I think it’s likely that Vi believes she can prevent more death or can stop Piltover’s violence against the undercity if she takes Jinx in.

Vi sees herself as a protector who has failed at every turn to protect those she cares about. She lost her parents, Powder, Vander, Mylo, Claggor, etc. and she is constantly desperate to try and save what she loves and that will likely drive her decision to become an enforcer.

Vi, like Vander, wants to save what she loves and as a result isn’t going to fight back against topside. This is a much more extreme version of Vander’s ideals. Where she “compromises” in an attempt to prevent bloodshed but as a result enables (or in her case helps) the system in place.

This decision will have negative consequences (and deservedly so!) because no matter what thoughts or feelings are the driving factor in it she is still siding with her oppressors and ultimately helping the system that is the root cause of that loss and pain in the first place. 

Based on the clip released at Annecy and what people have said the writers explained about Vi’s arc in season 2 it seems like Vi will be ostracized for this decision and deservedly so. She won’t belong anywhere. To the undercity she’s a traitor and to Piltover she’s nothing more than an undercity rat.

She will have lost everything. She will have no one to protect. And who is Vi if she’s not a protector?

Vi will be forced to re-evaluate who she is and what she wants. Just like Jinx, Vi will have to redefine herself when she loses everything.

I can’t wait for season 2 and what the team at Fortiche has in store for us. The way the show tackles complex themes and ideas is incredible and Vi and Jinx are some of the most compelling and complicated characters I’ve seen on tv. I’m looking forward to November.

[kg-clark-inthedark]

I open up my wallet,

And it’s full of blood.

(text used is lyrics from The Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You! Black Emperor)

[budd-ie]

We as a fandom don’t do enough with how silly every single martial god is, so much so that they have “classic” behaviors like breaking stuff as their first solution to a lock, complimenting the opponent’s sick martial skills even if they’re in mortal danger, or the constant insatiable urge to prove their strength. Xie Lian is like, the worst offender of this too. I always think about that part during the black water arc when Pei Ming, iconic top martial god and Extremely Strong guy with a ton of spiritual power at his disposal, said the ship’s rudder won’t budge and Xie Lian��s first reaction was “oh, what?” and to go verify with his own strength that the rudder is, in fact, stuck. He had zero reason to distrust Pei Ming’s conclusion or strength but he just had to check himself.

Anyways kissing is cool or whatever but have you ever considered all the martial gods versus the pickle jar that’s cursed closed forever? Unstoppable force (martial god desire to conquer every test of strength) versus immovable object (jar that can’t be opened). What shatters first, their spirits or the jar? More shenanigans like this, please. Now go wild

[separatist-apologist]

Feyre: Rhysand is my mate and I'm telling you this to your face.

Also Feyre: If you try and break my mating bond, I'm going to ruin your life.

Also Feyre: If you drag me back to Spring against my will, I'll destroy everything you love.

Tamlin: Break her mating bond so I can drag her back to Spring and we can start over.

Also Tamlin: I can't believe you destroyed everything I love and ruined my life!

[nandermoenthusiast]

okay im not gonna say it was the most gutting moment of the episode, but tell me yall noticed in one of the very first scenes THE WAY NANDORS FACE SEEMS TO FALL A LITTLE IN THE BG AFTER GUILLERMO OFFERS HIS HAND TO HIS BOSS TO HELP HIM DOWN THE CHAIR.

THE VERY SAME WAY HE USED TO HELP HIM OUT THE COFFIN EVERY EVENING. my man is hurting so much he misses his guillermo so much god i cant do this

[yeonbam]

Broke my own heart realising that these two scenes can be juxtaposed next to each other as the dream vs. the reality.

I was wondering why they made the colours and lighting in ep. 6 so much like it’s out of a daydream, a fairytale even, and turns out it is to point out what lies between "promise not to leave me until I've achieved my dream" and being forced to give up on the dream and the promise because "things have changed".

So the mirroring that takes place in ep. 7 is not inside a warm little home while their pinkies are linked into a promise, but under the cold, semi-darkness of a hospital while ama lies between life and death. Jack was forced to sell the last bit of his freedom to Boss.

In that dream, everything was working in their favour— Jack’s debt was about to be paid off, his goals were closer to being achieved and he found his soulmate, tied to him in ways he never realised. In that dream, Joke had something close to a family for the first time, something close to a lover, and a place that wanted him as much as he wanted it.

But once awake in this cold dark world, they are both alone against the world again. For people like Jack, things like promise, love, and dreams can become a luxury in a matter of moments and no matter how hard he works to fix things it’s like undoing knots that go so far back, freedom is but a distant hope like a fever dream. And for Joke who dreamt of living in a different life— he is back to having no one to sit and have dinner with and no single place to sleep at night and no one who wants him.  

[chaosinstigator]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the day Daniel retires from f1 on his terms because he wants to is the day I’ll accept it.

[nono-uwu]

Shinoa doodle from class and a forever wip :3

[bl00dfroma-fairy]

[mishy-mashy]

Got my hands on a Ultra Analysis BNHA book from a library

Some points I liked (I focused more on 1B since they don't get a lot of attention)

1B once had a Tetsutetsu BBQ. They heated him up and cooked food on him. He proceeds to ruin it when he declares his sweat is the salt to their food

Yui is canonically the prettiest first-year

Mineta has no sex appeal at all, but he thinks being a hero will make him lucky

Class B does respect Monoma. He's sharp-minded, witty, and has a way with words

Monoma sometimes wanders into 1A's dorm just to throw down a mean speech, and heads back to 1B

Juzo probably isn't helping Monoma's confrontations with 1A, since he just always asks him why he can't say it to their faces whenever Monoma complains about them

Shiozaki tries to be polite even in a fight

Pony hosts anime parties, so 1B knows a lot about anime. Vice-versa, they teach her Japanese, and everything nasty is Monoma's fault

Tokage was a gyaru

Tsuburuaba, Kaibara, and Kuroiro get worked up whenever they talk about girls

Manga likes Kenranzaki

Awase's family runs a small factory. He also restrains Monoma whenever Kendo isn't available

1B likes hearing Rin say "Aiyah", so he does it for them

Kamakiri is obsessed with cutting into things

Class B's play was really successful

Tamaki is scared of Kirishima's energy

1C was planning a send-off party for Shinsou for his upcoming hero transfer. They didn't doubt he would make it, ever since the Sports Festival

Shishikura (meatball Shiketsu boy) might've chosen Shiketsu because he likes the uniform's hat

Nakagame and Yo are dating

Tsuyu's family gets to spend a lot of time together now, since their parents' busy jobs have calmed down

Tsubasa (devil wing kid in Midoriya's memories) suspiciously lost touch with Midoriya and Bakugo in middle school (his Wiki page confirms Garaki - his grandfather - turned him into a Nomu)

Torino likes goofy gags. This rubs off on All Might (ex. when Midoriya thought he died when Torino fell with ketchup. People don't know whether to laugh or be concerned)

Nighteye has yellow streaks in his hair as a homage to All Might

Nezu likes worming into tight, dark places, so he likes Aizawa's scarf. They went into detail, describing why Nezu likes it, such as material to crawling in, etc.

Recovery Girl has to travel around Japan regularly to help people with her Quirk (as in, she uses her Quirk to help them. Healing Quirks are SO rare)

Hojo, Tabe, and Sestuno are kept in the same jail, so at least they're not separated

[backjustforberena]

Rhaenys is the first character we've had die who didn't have any funeral rite, ceremony, procession or body.

So that's fine. 😭

[reksink]

Kin, now found, waves to another. As to who, remains unseen...

[shortkingvi]

[project-sekai-facts]

Here are the main illustrations for the game's 3rd anniversary taken from the site! They will also be used on the title screen for the next year.

[cream-and-tea]

oh pallas and agnes power dynamic you really are SO unbelievably fucked,,,,,