#i feel bad for arcane

[maddiesbookbag]

do you ever think about the tapestry of percy and annabeth sitting in arcane’s cavern for almost a year waiting for annabeth to arrive? more specifically, do you ever think about how out of all the moments from annabeth’s life that aracne could’ve woven she chose to depict her at one of the happiest moments of her life—finally together with a living percy post-war? do you ever think about arachne, basically alone in this cavern for decades, cursed into monstrosity for daring to best a goddess, weaving this image of pure love? of a connection so strong that it would send the pair depicted through the crumbling floor to tartarus together rather than be separated ever again? even as that tapestry, that image of devotion, crumbled with them?

no? just me?

[blorbologist]

Y'know, I think I figured out why the Hells still feel like a new low-level party to me, even though they're level 13 and almost 100 episodes in.

I don't quite think it's the lack of conversations, or the fact half the party's plot hooks are big ties to past campaigns - though that definitely plays a part.

... Bell's Hells still primarily rely on quest givers.

Most of their goals are given to them and do not feel organic to the party, and constantly remind us that the Hells are pretty much never the most powerful people in the room. Which is usually something you see with a low-level party.

NPCs offering jobs is not a bad thing; it's a very common plot hook. Matt has been extremely skilled with using NPC quest givers in those two campaigns. Not only do they provide an obvious plot thread, but they can put the party in the path of others (say, the Nein running into the Iron Shepherds while doing a job for the Gentleman and everything that came of that). And the Hells had a solid start with it too - Eshteross was an excellent quest giver!

The problem is that Bell's Hells have never really not had a quest giver.

Maybe it's a byproduct of the more plot-heavy structure of this campaign? But while prior parties have felt like they decided on their course of action and what they prioritized, Bell's Hells feels less like level 13 (13! Level 13!) experienced adventurers and more like an MMO group clicking on the exclamation point over an NPC's head. Where does the plot demand we go next? Who do we report back to?

They're level 13.

At level 13, Vox Machina had just defeated a necromantic city-state to clear their name and Percy's conscience. And, you know, the Conclave just destroyed Emon. No one was explicitly telling the group to gather Vestiges and save the world (though Matt guided them there), and they were usually among the most powerful people in the room. They chose which Vestiges to prioritize, which dragons to tackle when, even if the over-all plot was pretty clear.

At level 13, the Mighty Nein were celebrating Traveler Con (another PC goal, I'll note) after brokering peace between two nations, accidentally becoming pirates and heroes of the Dynasty. The Nein regularly chose what to do based on personal goals, not grand ones. Though definitely smaller fish than Vox Machina at this level, they were very independent and gaining solid political clout.

While we're at it: level 13 is one level lower than the Ring of Brass, who had a huge amount of sway over Avalir. They ended the world, and also saved it, while in the grand scheme of things being only a smidge more powerful than Bell's Hells are now.

Can you really see the Hells wielding that amount of influence, when they're constantly being told what to do next?

The god-eater might be unleashed, so Bell's Hells have no time to do anything but what is asked of them. No time for therapy unless stolen from Feywild time, no travel on foot and late-night watches. They haven't even had time to grieve FCG. Percy was grieved in the middle of the Conclave arc. Molly was grieved when half the party was still in irons.

Matt is in the very unfortunate spot of not being able to give the Hells the same agency as the other two parties. Not only because of the world-ending plot introduced so early on; they are surrounded by characters they know (and the cast knows) are stronger and wiser than them - the familiarity of the past PCs and NPCs is to their disadvantage.

Why would the party reasonably ignore Keyleth's task that will help save the world and go off on a romp? Why would the cast when they know well Keyleth has to be sensible and with the best intentions in mind? The stakes are just too high.

It means that the Hells still feel like they're running errands instead of pursuing their own destiny. Their accomplishments are diminished as just being parts of a to-do list, and any stakes feel padded by several level 20 PCs/NPCs standing 5 steps away ready to catch them.

This isn't Bell's Hell's fault, nor is it Matt's. It could be amended, I think, if the Hells are really left to their own devices for a long period of time without support and shortcuts (like during the party split)... which would be really tricky to pull off at this point in the campaign.

They're level 13. They're big fish, but they're stuck in a pond full of friendly sharks, so they don't feel big at all.

[julietwiskey1]

I think it’s pretty interesting how small Jinx’s council attack actually was. Killed three councilors, crippled two others and left the other two untouched (though that’s probably magic). Jinx’s violence isn’t as chaotic as her League version. It’s been pretty targeted thus far. With it killing enforcers or councilors.

Even her big attack at the end of the season wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Caused some problems for top side, the toxic fissure gas probably isn’t good for them. But it was more or less non lethal. More about clearing out the gray Caitlyn weaponized against them.

So far her collateral has just been Viktor.

[bixels]

The more I think about it, the more I question Arcane S2's politics and themes, which were so foundational to S1. Like, a tiny example [SPOILERS AHEAD]:

Singed wins. He gets exactly what he wants in the end. All his "efforts" are rewarded. What does that say about people who share his ideology of eugenics? He is the source of nearly every horrible thing and conflict that happened (Shimmer, the factory deaths, Jinx, Vander as Warwick, the corruption of Viktor), and he gets a happier ending than any other character. Not even a 'he got what he wanted but he has become completely unrecognizable/monstrous to his daughter' tag at the end. You can say they're setting him up and need to open his daughter to future shows, but the way you end a character's story says something about what you think about that character. What does it say when the eugenicist war criminal gets the happy ending he doesn't deserve?

[q8qwertyuiop8p]

Everyone always says silco looks like a rat but I've always thought he looked like a fish?

Like he has that dejected look, downturned mouth, long nose, wide oddly colored unblinking eye, dunkleosteus teeth, and he loves water. He also circles Marcus like a shark.

Don't tell me this doesn't look like an actual fish

Also not silco related but I'm now realizing how stupid most fish look now I can't look at one without smirking, like just imagine if a person looked at you like that

[eerna]

Was it just me or was viktor’s writing kinda ableist. Like one of arcanes main villains is *checks notes* poor oppressed disabled man who wants to help other poor oppressed disabled people. And I know it’s bc he was taking people’s autonomy but that’s a lazy cop out to present a societal problem and not address it bc a crazzzzyyy person brought it up. Like viktor to me represents the perfect zaunite who does everything “right”- worked his way to the top, gave himself, his work, his life- for piltover’s benefit but was still casted aside. HIS technology was twisted to their image and he was told he could die now bc they got what they wanted from him and weren’t gonna help him or his ppl. So he dips and tries to do it himself instead of feeding into piltovers power bc they won’t accept zaunites no matter how perfect. And then his feelings abt this weren’t even validated at the end either, Jayce was just like, I liked when you were disabled??? (And was viktor ever really trying to cure himself or was he receiving no help and was scared of dying?) Like sure there is critique to be made to the trope of magical cure that says there is something wrong with disabled ppl and their lives can never be fulfilling unless cured. It’s an ableist trope. But making a victim of a system like that a villain??? For offering help to an oppressed class??? I guess if we consider how Viktors arc was treated, it’s no surprise the story ends with Zaun receiving no help or improvement. Arcane saying poor oppressed disabled ppl should just idk die or become martyrs for their oppressors? Kinda.

BRO MY THOUGHTS ON VIKTOR EXACTLY. The final boss of the show is friggin. Viktor???? HUH?????? Not the system????? Not the oppressors??? No, the oppressors redeem themselves by stopping VIKTOR, A CAUTIONARY TALE OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A ZAUNITE JOINS PILTOVER. When Jayce started giving his speech about how Viktor's problem was that he was trying to "heal his weaknesses instead of embracing them" I was like'????? Tf????? No????? Viktor's problem was that he decided to become part of the system. He believed the system was unfair to his people because it had no choice, so if Viktor provided the tools to stop the oppression, he could save them. He was trying to heal himself because he was ACTIVELY DYING and he WANTED TO KEEP LIVING SO HE COULD LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO INVENT SOMETHING THAT COULD TRULY SAVE ZAUNITES ONCE AND FOR ALL. But they mischaracterized him and turned him into someone who just felt bad about his disability. It was all so icky

[fernflowerss]

HEY RIOT??? WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS MEAN???????

[raskolnyxov]

// arcane spoilers

Y’all partners in the biblical sense huh

[dykesevika]

fortiche studios please make her a canon dyke please and thank u

Men DNI

[noamglompsky]

Dressing him in my clothes for some semblance of emotional support before we all (coughing baby) watch act3 (hydrogen bomb)

[kidicaruslover911]

sevika making me question if i'm truly even bisexual or just a hardcore glass closeted lesbian that just had her spiritual gay awakening and opened her third eye upon her blantant display of fruitiness once again.

haven't felt this way since mizu's first introduction really.

am i crazy? what is happening to me?

is this what they call gay enlightenment?

[angstflavoured]

again and again, fandoms do this same shit dude. points to my very large 'you can be pissed at a characters actions and not really like them as a person and still enjoy their character without having to excuse what they're doing' sign. like I was just dealing with this shit with Curly Mouthwashing and now its the same thing with Cait Arcane.

watching the first 3 eps, she was legitimately pissing me off. its supposed to. media is supposed to make you FEEL things and convey a message. I love Caits character a lot and really enjoy her writing, but people legitimately just going 'yass get ur revenge girl, reasonable crashout' is hurting my fucking brain.

Like do you not understand that Vi's parents dying due to unreconciled oppression from enforcers is not the same thing at all as Cait's parent (the. oppressor.) being killed in rebellion ?? and Cait comparing those two things and acting like how she is now is fucking ridiculous. and her trying to mold Vi into someone 'civil' because shes 'not like those other filthy stupid undercity dwellers' is fucked up and toxic.

Does it make sense for her character? Yes! Did I enjoy the writing? YES. And I hope they don't backtrack and just magically fix things because i love the tension and the angst. But its fucking stupid and she pisses me off. That doesn't mean I 'cant handle' her character. She's just becoming an antagonist. Like oh my god, can people stop just blindly standing by every single decision a character they like does and try to excuse it all? characters being morally grey makes them interesting, don't piss me off.

[skunkes]

My favorite thing abt arcane is lol players trying to have the same superiority as like "anime only vs manga readers" but it doesnt work bc why wld anyone be jealous of or feel othered by a league player

[atomicjellyb3an]

Maddie got to touch the Kirammountains before Vi did 😔

also it autocorrected Maddie to laddie when i was writing this which is so

[chronalshifts]

thinking about jayce arcane and the way he manages to make completely fucked up decisions through nothing more than base instincts. like. he doesn’t want to lose funding for hextech so he leans into the council. he feels powerless and wants to defend his city so he winds up accidentally killing a kid. he doesn’t want to lose viktor so he turns him into a void aberration without a second thought. do you hear me. is this thing on

[scopeystfu]

Tell me who was your favorite character in season 1 and now who is your favorite character after season 2 in reblogs or comments.