#mel is going to want a break from all this drama for jayce and viktor’s funeral

[mistresscitrusslice]

It’s not nearly as long as this one, but it boils down to: Singed is going to get Operation Paperclipped by Noxus/Ambessa.

You know how the US recruited Nazi scientists after WW2 for their own research projects like the space program? Caitlyn will conduct her investigation to take down shimmer and in doing so uncover Singed’s work. We see him get arrested in the trailers, but there’s no way in hell Ambessa is going to let an opportunity like this go to waste. Just like her daughter recognized Hextech’s potential, Ambessa going to recognize the potential to weaponize Singed’s projects.

I believe Singed had a loyalty to Silco as longtime friends, but I don’t believe that loyalty extends to Sevika or Jinx. He’ll take this opportunity as long as he can continue his research.

There isn’t enough information about his history with Heimerdinger to know whether that connection would work in his favor or against him. What I do know, though, is that Ambessa won’t give a shit. If Heimerdinger is beyond reconciliation with Singed, this could be what leads to the alliance with Noxus breaking. If that doesn’t do it, the werewolf probably will.

If Noxus/Piltover don’t find out about the werewolf on their own, Singed sure as hell isn’t going to tell them. Unlikely, though, as Vi will probably find out before they arrest him. When Singed signs on with Ambessa, she’ll probably want to cage it as a weapon, which Vi will be very against. Cait will make excuses for Ambessa because they have a common goal and Vi can’t stand for that. Vi will be the first one out of this alliance. Ekko will follow shortly after or at the same time. Not sure about Heimer. His home is in Piltover and he will probably stay there regardless of whether he’s still working with Ambessa.

Crack theory: either Ekko is supporting Ambessa or Mel is alive

If it’s not one, it has to be the other. Slightly exaggerated, but that’s what I think. Ambessa in the trailer says, “Your Council is dead!” Who is she talking to?

So, it just occurred to me: Ambessa in the trailer says, “Your Council is dead!” Who is she talking to?

My first thought would be that she’s talking to whoever is next in charge (ie. the backup gov) since the Council is no longer with us, R.I.P. 🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦

But who would that be? Would it be Heimerdinger since even though he’s not officially next in line, he’s still the one with most knowledge and a founder?

I’ve long held a theory that Caitvi and their strike team, Ambessa, Ekko and the Firelights, Heimer, and Singed (long story) are going to be working together to hunt down Jinx. (Also that Ekko and Vi and Firelights will eventually break from this alliance and work with Jinx instead, but irrelevant to this convo)

We know from the teasers he comes back with Ekko, so maybe that’s how the alliance is forged? Maybe it’s not only an alliance in the manhunt, but also in governance. Ekko is probably not too involved in the governance part, but it would amusing to see him somehow unwillingly end up alongside Piltover’s ivory tower.

Back to the point.

Perhaps that’s why it looks like the enforcers and Noxians are so collaborative in the trailers. Even without a government, you’d think a coup would have more pushback and it would take longer to get the two militaries working together even once the takeover is complete.

Moreover, if it were a total coup, the enforcers would not be the ones patrolling the streets and acting as law enforcement; it would be the Noxian soldiers. It’s not like it would take long to bring more soldiers over from Noxus. They literally have teleportation. Even if it were a total coup AND Piltovan enforcers were still trusted to act as law enforcement under Ambessa’s rule, they wouldn’t be wearing enforcer uniforms; they’d be wearing Noxian uniforms.

Mel’s flashback established that Ambessa leaves no trace of the previous government. She rules through fear and oppression. Mel is the one who would let the enforcers keep their outfits to give the people a sense of comfort and show as little malice as possible in their takeover. Ambessa would literally leave no enforcers alive. Or if she did, there’s no way they’d be trusted to work alongside her own soldiers, let alone in their original garb.

Someone with sufficient authority must have organized a truce so that a complete coup could not have happened. Caitlyn does not have that authority.

HENCE. Either Heimerdinger and Ekko are reluctantly supporting Ambessa or Mel is alive and in her mother’s ear.

[clonerightsagenda]

Arcane Finale

Ok, let's see how this goes. The fact that I haven't seen spoilers on my dash yet makes me think not well

How was Jinx holding her head up with this much hair? I'm imagining washing it… yikes.

Wonder how disorienting it was for Ekko to come back from the AUverse and see Jinx with short hair.

What is Ambessa and Noxas going to war over, exactly? I mean I know she wants hextech, but what's her excuse? Does she need one? Piltover is a major global commerce center, are we ignoring geopolitics right now.

Are they railgunning shipping containers at the ships? Sure, why not, I guess, if you're a shipping center that's what you've got.

Maddie was a mole the whole time? That's lazy tbh. It means now Caitlyn doesn't have to wrestle at all with cheating on/discarding her girlfriend as soon as her core love interest comes along, and also generally treating her like shit.

This better not be what they do to Sevika

Does Caitlyn still have the knife in her gut? She shouldn't pull it out but she's moving pretty fluidly if she has it in

I'm sorry I just don't buy Viktor going full eugenics. But I still don't know whether the show wants me to believe that it's him.

"I see your face, deceiver." Is this supposed to mean something to me. Is this LoL lore

So the Noxian military just 100% switches over to Mel immediately? That's convenient

"I'm always with you. Even when we're worlds apart." That's not an ominous line of foreshadowing at all

Are we really going for killing Jinx's dad a fifth time

This is so stupid U_U

Jinx and Vi having their Family Drama which is briefly interrupted by the Gay Exes Drama. Ekko is also there

"You always wanted to fix what you saw as imperfections." Idk I don't think Viktor was ever fixated on "imperfections", he just didn't want to die

Did Ekko not get grabbed by the hivemind beam because he spent time in another universe? Jayce needed physical contact to be brought in

I'm glad Ekko survived going more than 4 seconds back but… how? Guess he's allowed if it gets destroyed right afterward so he's not op

So hooded figure WAS a Viktor

So I think what they're getting at is Viktor was corrupted by an idea more than being directly controlled, I'm just still not buying it as something he would align with normally. Or that Jayce of all people is going to teach him how to have an anti-ableist mindset

Did they just collapse into some kind of gay singularity

Guess only 1 sister per timeline. Them's the breaks

Well I'm glad Sevika's leadership is finally getting acknowledged. I am going to have more complicated Thoughts on this whole thing but let's finish the episode

Implying Jinx could potentially have survived. If she wanted to. Plus the little glitch on the end card, definitely leaving themselves open for that if they choose to.

Ok I have more meal prep to work on but I will be Mulling this. I went into the last episode with "i can fix her" thoughts but I'm not sure I could figure out a way to do that without gutting half the season's content. I will report back.

Also is Ekko's tree ok???? We never circled back to the tree

[starlightshadowsworld]

Thoughts on Arcane Season 2 Episode 9.

Finale time my dudes.

Spoilers below

And we start on Jinx burning it all down.

Great.

Not the clapping monkey as the bomb like before.

Ekko!

Oh shit he rewound time back to stop her. Truly the definition of I can do this all day.

I did wonder if they’d talk after he returned at least he’s caught her attention now.

So the plan is to shut it all down. I love how Cait’s so hesitant to even say his name, fair. If you asked me where I thought Viktors storyline was gonna go.

Couldn’t have predicted this in a million years.

Yeah Jayce did see what happened when everyone failed, guess you better not fuck it up.

I love that you guys fucked and yet hand holding is just a shock.

Hell yeah the bitch mittens are back.

I’m shocked that Cait actually took the shot. And kept firing too damn you taught her well.

Oh shit it’s Vander? Viktor? I dunno.

They’re this technologically advanced and yet arrows are taking em down man.

And ooop Cait got bonked.

Ambessa with the entrance music hell yeah.

Oh the ex was a spy. Damn no one takes break ups well in this series.

Oooo Mel is here! Ever the diplomat I see.

Holyshit! Jinx is here! I guess Ekko got through to her? And he’s here too. Hell yeah and with Sevika and the cavalry.

This got so hype so fast and I’m here for it.

Ah shit guys you can’t just misplace the enemy cultist.

Bittersweet seeing them both again on opposite sides. They created this and it has to be destroyed. I’m sure there’s still a part of both of them that would live to go back to where it began.

Stay here in the lab.

But you can’t leap forward without leaving something behind.

Viktor this is not very “I will turn all that are willing” of you man. You gotta have consent first my guy.

“You are no Mardarda” cold line.

I love that Cait has just had enough of these monologues.

Oh great now the Viktors are swarming.

Vi seeing what they’ve done to Vander..my heart. And he’s gone after Jinx.

Man Mel’s fighting her mum and now these guys gotta fight their dad. I’m glad this show stayed as being a family drama.

Love how Viktors preaching free will and peace while actively taking away everyone’s free will and aiding in a war.

You can sprinkle it with pleasantries all you want my guy you are the villian here.

Ohhhh gotcha.

Oh? Whatcha doing Mel. I guess it makes sense that “sister” was shady as hell. And Ambessa said they were deceiving Mel. And she always said the best lies were wrapped in truth.

Damn it’s all coming together.

Annd just at the end you finally get her approval.

Annnd it’s trippy again.

Awwwh back to back side by side yess!

Let’s not open anymore minds okay? Okay.

Nope Vanders gone. And so is gravity apparently.

Oh that’s scary. All of them tilting their heads at Jayce. And they were all the corpses he found in the failed future.

And Viktor has the rune.

Nabbing everyone with no consent at all. Yeah cos choice is a lie unless it’s yours huh?

Wait Ekko isn’t nabbed.

Of course Viktor has to evolve him personally, with an almost gentle hand ya sick fuck.

“They want better lives” so enslaved them against their will and destroying everything they’ve ever known or loved. I’m going to make a great future whether they like it or not.

“But you were never broken Viktor” sobbing.

Ayyy Ekko!!!

And the rewind time coming in clutch. Ah shit put him down! Phew.

Didn’t account for that did you Viktor? Oh shit did it rewind him back?

“All I want is my partner back” that’s all he wanted from the start. He would’ve given anything to go back and stay with you in the lab.

You wanted the world Viktor and all Jayce wanted was you.

“Why do you persist after everything I’ve done?”

“Because I promised you.”

Screaming and the hug!

I know I keep saying it but oh my heart.

Wait the hooded dude was Viktor?! Oh…Ohhhh he knew this would happen and wanted Jayce to stop him.

Still doesn’t excuse you being a cult leader man but at least you realised it.

And it’s Jayce because it’s always Jayce. It always has been and it always will be.

Me too half melty sobbing Viktor me too.

Together you began and together you end it. Jayce just looking down like shit I didn’t think that would happen.

And still holding him.

Hurray everyone’s okay.

…Well not everyone.

Poor Vi having to watch him d-OHH HE’S ALIVE HES UP!

No no no don’t.

Damnit.

And the monkey bomb because of course.

Oh shit Sevika with the council. The doctors daughter came back? Or she’s a robot.

Long haired Cait with an eyepatch is definitely an upgrade. And Vi’s still with her.

And it’s over.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 208 Rundown

Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture: The Tachikomas from hell continue their global rampage and Norland just straight up kills the guy who designed them for no real reason and we get to see all the main series and spin-off characters I don’t quite recognize fight them off and we get to have a moment of the more sensible Britannians joining forces with the others to fight them, and also Gino’s pretty cool as leader of the Black Knights, like wouldn’t be my first pick for leader but he basically treats this as a natural disaster and uses that as an excuse to throw out Black Knight relief forces everywhere he can. Catherine helps Sakura get away from her Tachikoma and gives her an underground path out of the palace, her character arc finally blossoming as she sees idolizing Norland was a mistake and strength of character is more important than strength of force, a little quick and basic but you can’t really go wrong with that kind of story beat, especially with such a strikingly-designed character. Rozé and Ash storm the palace since the world’s in crisis mode they can basically just walk right up to the door. Ash has to fight Arnold again and despite Arnold having him at gunpoint and demanding an honorable duel, they don’t go for the knightmares and instead just pull an Utena/Witch from Mercury and go for swords, ironically the same swords that killed Ash’s brother since they’re in Norland’s room. Ash just kinda immediately impales Arnold on a statue and he has green blood and also rocks fall on him so I’m not sure if that’s a ‘he’s definitely dead’ moment or a ‘we obscured the body to reveal he’s a cyborg and didn’t need his chest anyway so he’s still alive’ and I kinda feel underwhelmed with either option. Sakuya meets Norland as he’s getting into his Knightmare and to her credit immediately tries shooting/Geassing him with no monologuing but Norland has both plot armor and actual armor so nothing works. He reveals he’s a clone of Charles vi Britannia because we’ve gone full Star Wars with this sequel and you can’t have a distant sequel series without a hacky callback to the previous villain (except Yashahime, for all its faults I respect they didn’t try to bring Naraku back). Sakuya literally goes down a laundry list of motivations for why Norland wants to kill all of humanity and he’s like ‘no it’s none of those, my motive is completely original I’m not like other girls’ and gets into his Knightmare, jacking into the Super Wifi thing the Tachikomas have sprung and ready to do some evil shit.

Arcane: So I may have jumped the gun a little bit when I predicted Mel’s death last week, I should’ve known she had too much character shit going on with her grandma to die but also I was looking for a major character death and we kinda… don’t get that here. Like people die, Cait’s mom dies, the childish king dude no one likes dies and the Techno Union counselor dies, and Viktor is put in a coma. I was just kinda expecting someone more substantial to be killed off, Cait’s mom wasn’t much of a character even though her death does give Cait a lot of drama and I don’t believe for a second Viktor’s gonna die from this, if they were gonna do it they wouldn’t be stringing Jayce along like this. Mel’s still trying to fight the idea of all-out war but the capital building just got bombed, you don’t just let an attack on the capital go and do nothing unless you’re American. So the war effort is going ahead with Jinx being the primary target but Mel does at least get them to decline the use of the superweapons, denying her grandmother the trial run war she wants. Cait offers Vi the chance to become an Enforcer and quickly realizes why asking your most ACAB friend to become a cop may have been a bad idea. Still Vi later hears how much Cait stuck up for her when she was helping Jayce raid the drug dens and breaking skulls in the underground and meets a character basically designed to be the least ACAB cop they can think of so she starts to consider it. I still feel like Vi and Cait’s relationship kinda came out of nowhere but seeing how much it means to Vi to have Cait’s approval and support of her previous actions and comforting her over their shared grief is kind of sweet. At the memorial statue service for the three dead counselors Bane Lady comes to attack and avenge her dead son and there’s a big chaotic fight scene where Vi and Jayce double-wield his hammer to beat Bane Lady while Cait and the others fight the Big Daddies, Cait resolves to take up her family’s mantle and redoubles the war effort, targeting Jinx and the Silco remnant specifically but also bringing the superweapons, Mel is obviously not pleased about that since we’ve been going back and forth on war and genocide for like four episodes now, though at least we’re in Seal Team Six territory of strike forces instead of just massive armies fucking each other up.

Trigun: Vash is in a new town just kinda bumming around and getting beaten up by kids and comes across Wolfwood again, working at a restaurant to help support a single mom for love and peace and also because she’s hot. It’s kinda funny like they don’t say how much time has passed since last episode but Wolfwood isn’t following Vash like Milly and Meryl so they legit just did the thing where they said goodbye and ended up walking in the same direction. Wolfwood brings up a Quick Draw tournament with prize money to get the family out of debt and signs Vash up for it, only for them to get plastered with the girls and get Milly’s tits out while celebrating, leaving Vash severely hung over but given he’s a gun god he still can’t even pretend to be a bad shot. As revenge for signing him up without asking, Vash signs Wolfwood up for the tournament without asking too and of course the two end up as the last contestants. Wolfwood wants to just resign so Vash can get the prize and give it to the family but the mayor holds the family hostage and offers to split Vash’s bounty with him so the two have no choice but to duel to the death… or at least until all of them get covered in ketchup and jump the would-be assassins coming after them, fulfilling Meryl’s prophecy that this would turn into a town-wide shootout. Wolfwood uses his giant cross which just has more guns in it which I swear I remember his cross being one big gun and I don’t see why he needs multiple guns in there if he can just carry the normal guns and load more ammo in the cross like Meryl did the same thing why do they need like twenty separate guns, you can reload them, they’re not Kodak cameras. Still they manage to save the family and their dad comes back so the boys are once again milfless.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: It’s finally the finale of the Black Rose arc and both Mikage and Nanami come to the conclusion they need to befriend Utena since they can’t beat her and honestly that’s kind of too smart for Nanami to think of idk what happened there, but Juri and Miki both tell her none of them are really friends and there’s no honor among duelists. Mikage extends his offer to Utena again, not even seeing as Tokiko leaves, basically replacing Utena with Tokiko in his mind and promising Utena the power to revolutionize the world. Utena sees the black rose pictures in his office and has her “You’re the sith lord” moment and tells him she doesn’t have any problems and proves it by kicking the shit out of him in a deranged fit of rage for daring to go near her tragic backstory that she’s totally normal about. Like it’s kind of funny, she actually challenges him to the duel for a chance and Mikage seems sure if he didn’t have that out that Utena would straight-up kill him right then and there. Utena’s just kinda unhinged in this episode and I’m here for it, like part of it is obviously righteous anger over all her friends getting psychologically manipulated into delving into their worst trauma but also she seems very touchy about anyone getting too close to her memories of her backstory, though with what happened with Touga I suppose that’s understandable. They end up having a very intense duel where Mikage realizes he was the asshole all along and Tokiko’s brother has been dead all along and his appearance was a Rose Bride projection or some shit, it’s really hard to piece together but Akio basically tells him ‘sorry bro, you ain’t shit” and lets Utena wipe him out of existence, the Black Rose cult and the Mikage seminar being retconned out of existence after his defeat, leaving Akio to reflect that Mikage was a fleeting ghost and empty just like Anhty.

So yeah, short one this week since I’m still a little out of it from Valentine’s and have to catch up on some stuff but I do plan on adding some new shows in the near future but only have a couple in mind so if you have suggestions I’m happy to hear them!

[web-spinning]

Augh, whatever! I am cringe but I am free, let's go, modern/college AU, random headcanons:

- Jayce and Viktor share a dorm, they both go to the same year, majoring in Applied Psychics,

- Mel majors in Criminal Justice and shares a room with Sevika, who's a year older and majors in Public Policy,

- Caitlyn is starting first year in Homeland Security, her parents help her pay for an apartment that she shares with Vi, who didn't want to go to college, she just does some side jobs to also pay off rent,

- Ekko is in foster care and still attends high school,

- Powder lives with Vander and Silco. She attends class a year lower than Ekko,

- Ambessa is a trainer and personal coach at a gym near the university, visits her daughter frequently to give her 'life advice' (tells her to wake up at 5 a.m and take cold showers),

- professor Heimerdinger has the most boring lectures, but the students can at least cuddle with his miniature dog,

- Jayce and Mel were dating from high school into the first two years of college. Their break up was big, it shook the whole campus. When Sevika saw Mel crying in the girls' bathroom and since she needed a roommate she invited her and it kinda stayed like that. The exes are on friend level now, but it's still better not to leave them in the same room with each other,

- Viktor runs a blog that empowers disabled people, gives out tips for how to survive everyday life with chronic pain and wants to educate abled people on these matters,

- he and Jayce have two axolotls, their names are Rio and Blitz,

- Sevika and Vi both run social media profiles about gym life and exercises; they had a drama at one point where they fought about different muscle gain programs. No one won because Ambessa stepped in and kicked both their assets,

- Powder visits her sister often, and when she does, Caitlyn gives her some tutoring,

- Mel and Viktor help each other with thesis papers; imagine Jayce sitting at the end of the room, watching his current lover and ex lover just casually talk about a knife's psychics (Mel needed it for the papers on crime, okay?),

- Vi and Caitlyn go to the gym together after the lectures, Caitlyn of course always looks at her girlfriend lifting weights very respectfully,

- when Ximena comes over, the entire campus is fed (she brings food for her son, but ends up getting some for his ex along the way too, and she can't say no to Caitlyn who lives nearby, so she basically just feeds them all some nice, jarred meals),

- Sevika and Mel might be into each other, but they won't let it show because of Ambessa,

- Sevika almost got thrown out because she attends many riots. On one her mask slipped and she had to prove to the professors it wasn't her, even though it clearly was. Powder and Ekko really want to join her but Silco doesn't let them,

- annual hair dying nights happen. Viktor once stumbled into them while returning Mel her research books...he got his tips dyed blonde,

- nobody knows who keeps on stealing coffee seeds from the cafeteria (it's Jayce).

Nooo I never liked modern AUs but I might actually like the college AU for Arcane I'm getting old fellas

[arcane-ish]

(Relation-) Ship Scorecard

Vi/Cait: I struggled with this one. Like I feel like I should upgrade them higher because imo the pathos was well done and I enjoyed the pacing. Downside that it was more emotional angst and less flirty/sexy stuff. I have some issue with the Cait/Vi/Jinx “triangle” as a concept, but I do think the fanservice of Vi meeting Cait’s parents, them going to the council together and of course Vi being forced to choose by Jinx was god tier level. However, my personal feeling is that the writing for Caitlyn in Act 3 was a bit bland. It’s like they stuck her iinto a very standard idealistic good girl role and didn’t make a ton of use of her unique personality and “voice”. So personally would like to leave them at B+. I like them a lot, the fan service is still excellent. Might have been higher if they had found a way to slip a believable kiss in or found a better balance against Vi/Jinx. 

Vi/Jinx: The highs were insanely high (ie Vi telling Jinx they should run away together, Jinx despite all differences attacking Silco to protect Vi, Vi opening up about prison), but I have some quibbles. Imo Jinx’s fear that Vi doesn’t accept the new her was very believable and well done. However, I wasn’t so keen on Jinx’s jealousy of Caitlyn. Mostly because I feel like previously Powder’s abandonment issues seemed to be more about her screwing up and being worthless, not about not wanting Vi to spend time with other people. Nor did they bother to work out that Powder has a specific hate for enforcers. So it felt a bit contrieved for the sake of creating drama. Vi backing away as Silco takes off with the heavily injured/potentially dead Jinx also felt off. They are still insanely cool and the story about sisters who love each other but who might have grown apart is very cool in concept and again the conflict of whether Vi and and how much should accept Jinx was set up in a very interesting way. So I would say B+ for Act 3. 

Mel/Jayce: Act 3 fleshed out Mel’s backstory and clarified that she does feel some loyalty to Piltover. That said, even though they didn’t break up, continued their relationship and clarified that no, Mel is not just all about manipulation or self interest and Mel and Jayce are arguably more on the same page than ever, both having gained more depth (particularly Jayce with his trip to the Shimmer production plant), Act 3 didn’t really give them a ton of moments together that I consider emo (yes even when they are shown in bed together or when Mel is flirty with a shirtless Jayce), imo outside that smile right at the very end. I would say for them Act 3 was about both of them being a bit misguided and being reminded by others, most notably Viktor of you know, morals. I guess Mel’s mom had potential mom in law from hell energy. One could say they have an interesting foundation now, both seem to have every intention to stick with each other for now and no obvious points of conflict are there (well except for Mel’s mom’s meddling), so let’s see what season 2 plans for them. Overall, I would say they were a C in Act 3 due to lack of pathos. (I should probably note that this is written under the assumption that I don’t believe that Mel is dead [neither are Jayce or Viktor naturally])

Viktor/Jayce: I thought they fared considerably better in Act 3, once of course of course with the callbacks to Act 1. Viktor I think also worked as a conscience of the topside characters and imo he did it more effectively, with more emotional oomph than Cait. Relationshipwise what struck me as noticable is that Viktor is very secretive, has a lot of his adventures on his own and doesn’t share most of it with Jayce. Structurally imo it’s still  problem that Jayce gets to fan out so much more compared to Viktor, getting to interact with a variety of characters in all kinds of ways (Mel’s mom, Vi, Silco). I do think Jayce’s concern and wanting to balance things did come through (even if he was distracted by various things earlier in Act 3) as did elements of VIktor’s trust in Jayce. Over all, I would give it a B. 

Silco/Jinx: They were given considerable screentime and attention, lots of pathos, most notably on Silco’s side and of course reached their culmination in a way. Overall I think it was decently done. I think one could argue that Silco’s villain journey (in regards to his revolution and relatinoship with the underworld) petered out a bit, but I can be won over to the idea that that might have been intentional and their way of doing a complex character. Relationshipwise, I think Act 3 showed that as fairly one sided/slanted to Silco’s side, which probably is slightly more healthy than if Jinx cared more (basically I think it showed off in a variety of ways how Jinx cares less, but not as far as Jinx doesn’t care at all). Overall I would say ... I dunno A- within the context that it is supposed to be unhealthy and dramatic (and it’s good that it wasn’t dragged out too much)? 

Jinx/Ekko: Yes! They did something with them! Got a cool fight scene! Ekko got believably introduced as the sane thrid path of how society could be run! Considering how barely present they were as a dedicated dynamic in the other Acts literally anything is an upgrade. On a “shippy” side, it irked me that Ekko was that pessimistic about Jinx, yes even though it makes a ton of sense, consdiering she killed one of his crew in front of him in the beginning of Act 2. And yes even though of course we know he’s just talking a big game but then in the end can’t actually bring himself to kill her. Still, his pessmism is still bothersome and both characters seemed to shuffle off into their own conflicts fairly quickly with little mention of each other. (for example, in a more “shippy” version of Act 3 one coudl imagine for example Silco rather than his chembaron plot instead having a plot where he wants to hunt down Ekko for “killing” Jinx or Ekko being a presence at Jinx’s ghastly dinner). So, grade C, still underdeveloped, which is still up from the D they had before. Maybe other seasons could build from this if the writers are so inclined and build a more positive relationship (especiallly with how Ekko smybolizes hope in a lot of ways), but right now there isn’t that much there yet. 

Viktor/Sky: So that was a thing ... kind of? Personally I liked my headcanon about her being associated with the Firelights or the revolution more. I fele like I should compliment them for wringing a minimum of genuine pathos and sadness of something that was pretty much a nothing storyline (so, Viktor gonna tell Jayce and her family that Sky died in an unfortunate lab accident?), a minimum of depth was injected in them revealing Sky had been working on a project and Viktor cared at least enough to to grieve a little bit. Still, the truth is that it was barely developed and Sky essentially became a fridged women (I read a lot of commentary with compliments in how the show handled Mel and that she isn’t just a plot point but is giving he rown agency and motivation => well the same didn’t hold true for Sky) So overall grade D (minimum amoutn of pathos for essentially fridged side character story, I guess she did a good job of showing off Viktor’s caring side).  

(not grading Mama Medarda X anybody yet because it’s still too unclear)

Previous grades: 

Vi/Cait: B+ JayVik: C JayMel: C Jilco: ??? going on B Vi/Jinx: A

[oodlyenough]

arcane indulgence: viktor

send me a character and i’ll list:

favorite thing about them: Not sure about fave so I'll do first thing I particularly noticed, beside being designed for me in a lab somewhere, which was that I found him quite funny. Roasting Jayce while he stands on the edge of this third storey ledge, lol

least favorite thing about them: I guess this is more of a hypothetical at this point but I am sort of, uh, crossing my fingers about what they do with him in s2 and hoping it makes sense and feels like organic development from s1 and isn't just "Well here's where he's at in League" stapled on. A lot of fandom seems to just kind of like, accepted he's going to turn into his League self and I feel like if that's where Arcane is going they have not done the groundwork well at all...

favorite line: This isn't my bedroom 🤔🤔🤔

brOTP: Viktor only has one friend and I want them to fuck

OTP: Jayce! The range... the drama... you can put them in almost any stage of relationship from sickening honeymoon to bitter divorce and make it work. In any case they're gonna be obsessed with each other for the rest of their lives what's better than that

nOTP: Uh any variation that puts him with Mel tbh. I like Mel, I like Viktor, do not want them remotely affiliated romantically except in whatever weird bisexual drama they have going on in canon. They have one conversation where they're ideologically opposed and she cuts him out of the conversation by standing to talk over his head, Mel like the rest of Piltover is barely aware of Viktor's existence in the first place, also I read him as gay lmao... Just uh, no thanks.

random headcanon: I don't know why this question always stumps me even for characters I'm actively writing fic about lol. Oh, I guess one is like, I know it's "twitter canon" that he like ??? scammed his way into the Academy by just showing up until Heimerdinger noticed him?? but I find that uh. contradictory to what we hear him say in the show about no one believing in him and also to logic, and twitter canon is fake, so whatever. Anyway so I just assume he won some kind of Hunger Games scholarship for kids who can read good and wanna learn to do other stuff good too.

unpopular opinion: feel like I'm taking crazy pills every time I read some meta or fic or whatever centering around Viktor's "social anxiety" and how he doesn't know how to talk to or relate to people... Aside from tbh projecting ableist assumptions onto him, I think people assume act 1 Viktor is the anomaly and depressed act 2-3 Viktor is his default personality, but I feel like it's certainly the opposite. Act 2-3 takes place over a couple of days that are probably the worst of his (and everyone else's lmao) life, flirty snarky act 1 Viktor is surely like... closer to who he is in a normal scenario.

song i associate with them: Because I was just talking about it with @stardust-musings, Touch by Sleeping At Last! Lmao and also I Bet You Think About Me by Taylor Swift because it makes me laugh, queen of acrimonious break up songs