#god i need to watch s2

[valzhangism]

i know i said i was happy about how mel's story went, but the more i think about it the less i'm sure about that. this is very much connected to how the themes of classism and wealth disappeared in s2, but mel in the beginning was the epitome of piltover. she wanted to advance piltover to prove herself to her mother. to "put piltover—" and by extension herself, "—on the map."

she wanted wealth just to have it. and i'm not blaming her for anything that happened, especially with hextech! she, just like jayce and viktor, could not have known what it would lead to. i mean yeah heimerdinger said so but who the hell listens to heimerdinger? but anyway i think mel changed throughout s1, much in thanks to jayce. by the end she's become more cognisant of the mistreatment of zaunites. she's the first to vote for their peace. she was a good person all along but now she knows how to act on it. it's also seen more in s2 act 1. when she covers her painting with gold, it's symbolic—she won't act according to what her mother might think. she won't let her desire for approval dictate her anymore.

so somehow i wish those themes were. continued, somehow? like again they were dropped not just with mel but the whole show and it makes her story a off to me. there's no meaningful commentary on war or classism or how her ideology stands opposite to her mother's. like some people have said, it feels like she doesn't have much agency, even if she is really cool. and that to me is a shame because agency felt like her thing. "to shape your own destiny" as she says to jayce in s1. i know her collaborating with the black rose (but not fully joining them) and learning magic is supposed to represent becoming independent from her mother, taking her own path, but some other aspects of her character were thrown away... the more i think about it the more i'm thinking they kind of #girlboss-ed her a little bit. maybe to sell another champion. i can't help but feel like even though i enjoyed seeing her on screen, the payoff didn't feel proportionally satisfying compared to her setup in s1.

[yeehawbvby]

arcane season 2 act 2. how are we all doing??

[courtillyy]

god im so pissed at how they are having the focus be on bela and this new guy instead of bela and her actions and mental heath and internalised misogyny !!! jesus christtt

[crehador]

brother crab's fall 2024 first impressions: maou 2099

i think i forgot to make a post after the first ep because my first impressions of it were just. not that deep. i do remember going in with zero expectations and thinking hey this is actually better and more interesting than what i'd imagined! but it still wasn't That interesting

HOWEVER

SECOND EPISODE ELEVATED EVERYTHING

first of all peak bishounen demon lord design here. nothing revolutionary but a solid classic. 10/10 no notes

and like okay so the premise of a ye olden fantasy times demon lord being defeated then resurrected into a far future sci-fi world sounded really fun with the potential to be super funny. it made me think of paripi koumei which was basically incredible

the first ep was a little higher on the drama than the humor imo, but the second ep? second ep, the humor really hit

i'm absolutely loving the demon lord's extremely loyal, faithful follower who worked for centuries to resurrect him and is also his number one simp. like this poor girl almost got outed as a demon king otome doujinshi otaku. right in front of her demon king

demon lord's job hunt and the outcome of it is also just. i won't even spoil it because. hilarious. truly

the worldbuilding is also reasonably interesting, i think that was one of the things that impressed me most in the first episode

overall, really pleasantly surprised by this one and looking forward to more!

[utilitycaster]

Sort of a distant tangent off my post about Ashton, but I'm growing more and more suspicious of the fandom claim that there's no time for small RP moments in Campaign 3. I do think that it's been challenging to get deeper party bonding or serious conversations that aren't about the big philosophical questions they're facing, since those do take much more time; but then I think about Calamity, or Candela Obscura. I can genuinely give you at least a couple paragraphs about pretty much every relationship in the two Circles, or in the Ring of Brass. I can also point to no shortage of small moments between characters in the Mighty Nein Aeor or Vox Machina Vecna endgame episodes, which were all extremely plot-heavy and fast-paced, and D20 consistently nails character relationships in a fraction of the time.

I think it really does come down to, as Brennan Lee Mulligan always says, the character creation phase. Laying down a solid groundwork in which everyone has a detailed, rich backstory and sense of personality and relationship history (in the case of characters who knew each other prior to the start of the series) is absolutely crucial, and even in the case of characters who don't know each other before going in, a good amount of time spent in character creation ensures that it's easier for them to develop those interpersonal relationships on the fly. I know in actual play there's some degree of finding the character as you play, but there are games for which there is a very short runway, and I don't think it ever hurts to do more extensive character prep than the bare minimum. And if there are gaps, I think it also helps to go back and fill those in mid-way, away from the table - Travis clarifying Chetney's backstory being a great example that allowed the history of Chetney and Deanna to feel realized and full, despite only a few episodes.

I'll also be blunt: most of the time when people complain that there aren't moments because the plot keeps moving...they're mad about shipping. Which has always rung hollow to me. It was a common complaint in C2, that no time was taken for character relationships, despite them taking an entire half of an episode for the Beauyasha date and despite no shortage of moments for all three of the other couples (and plenty of platonic moments between friends). The issue was never a lack of time; it was that the characters they wanted to talk to each other didn't actually have the relationship in canon that the fans had dreamed up, and so, when the chips were down, they went to other people.

It takes two seconds to say something like "I hold their hand", even in the middle of plot-heavy adventuring. If someone doesn't say it, it's rarely the GM rushing them; it's the player either choosing not to do so, or not remembering to do so, and either of those is quite revealing regarding how the player feels about that relationship and where it stands in their priorities.

[loverboybrightsideghost]

re my last post unfortunately i think viktor is pretty so he is my weakness in this show. i still do wanna throttle him and jayce though

[godasfarasyoureconcerned]

he is fucking broken… this is not “Mr. Hands, First Mate Hands, or God, as far as you’re concerned.” this is just izzy. sad and scared and lost and broken and feeling it all come crashing down at him at once by forced comfort. fuck

[sskk-manifesto]

Next time we should just skip over ep 3 and do a chapters 84-87 reread

[sammygender]

i just rewatched the rapture ohhhhh my god. such a good episode the jimmy stuff is actually fucking horrifying somehow even worse remembering claire grows up to be a hunter. then dean and bobby at the end locking sam in the panic room oh i hope they suffer. forever. he shouldve never spoken to their asses again

[inlovewithaspiderguy]

TWNETY ONE PILOTS SONG IN ARCANE???? OHMYGOD

[syncopatedid]

The way Suguru keeps poking at his forehead just before he turned to the dark side is significant far as religious themes in jjk go, as it's where the "third eye" (associated with spiritual enlightenment and religious visions) is usually depicted to be. His "third eye" was awakened and he was finally able to see the truth and light at the end of his tunnel, a way out of his endless struggle. And having attained that enlightenment, leaves mankind to burn while he seeks to get closer to god by becoming one himself.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

just finished el mundo gira and i thought it was like. comically bad. sorry to any el mundo gira stans, but tomorrow's writeup will have some hater energy.

[willlemonheadsupremacy]

JUST FINISHED SEASON 1 OF THE WEST WINNG AND WHAT THE FUCK AARON SORKIN IM UNDER YOUR BEDDDDD

[theinfinitedivides]

'get the doctor, Parker, now—' 'no need, it'll be over in a couple of minutes.' 'you don't get it, do you? Eliot's not like other foxes. he doesn't play games, he fights to survive! that's his training.'

Eliot's default fight-or-flight mechanism kicking in from whatever the f*ck he's been through for his entire life:

[lgbtiwtv]

the more I think about rashidmand the more I’m like. that whole thing definitely has to do with daniel right? like nobody else is there. of course yeah it could be a fun little game louis and armand are playing but like. it’s not being played for anyone but daniel. because there’s history there that he’s forgotten. so like. what was the purpose? to tease? to see how long it’d take him to notice, if he did at all? dramatic reveal? jog his memory? to what end? like….I genuinely and truly think that some part of devils minion happened in the 70s and daniel wanted armand to change him and obviously armand didn’t want to so. instead of daniel’s self-destruction leading to getting turned it led to armand erasing/editing his memories, because he wanted daniel to live a human life. but why do all this now??? because of louis’ wish to retell his story? because daniel’s sick? because something big is brewing in the vampire world and they want daniel close by? all of the above??? and most importantly how is daniel gonna feel when he remembers everything and realizes what armand did

[silentsockfeet]

ugh it’s just. i really do love arcane so so much. which is why s2 is stinging so bad. i’m disappointed in a lot of it and i think i’m always gonna mourn the potential it had. but all i’ve been doing since act 3 dropped is stewing over it and talking with my friends about it and airing out our grievances and i’m tired. i’m tired of being grumpy over it. i just want to love it for everything it did right and accept it for everything it fell short in. but it’s gonna hurt for a while