#the details in arcane are fucking insane

[lanschpaket]

Eyes

Arcane S02E08 Killing is a Cycle

Here a masterpost/gifset with focus on Caitlyn's and Vi's eyes in their cell block tango the lesbian sex scene

[kayzean]

how much tism do you have? well episode 4 season 2 of Arcane, the bug fight? yeah the music there is the motif of the LoL Worlds 2018 Anthem: Rise, I stopped watching the episode to spent 20 minutes trying to isolate the track from a recording because I cant find it on the ost list, to make sure I wasnt going insane. yup their the same. I recognized it immediately :)

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

Nobody:

Marv Wolfman: And this is Albert Chase, cousin of Adrian Chase. Thats not very relevant though. Albert's a 16 year old FBI agent and lives with Adrian's brother Steve-

[thenationofzaun]

Thoughts on Act 1 of Arcane Season 2

The positives:

- The animation is fucking incredible.

- Jinx and Sevika teaming up watered my crops and cleansed my skin.

- Underwater goodbye with Jinx and Silco. That scene was made specifically for me.

- Jinx's voice actress continues to be excellent.

- Loved the designs of all the Chembarons. The glimpse we got of the gang wars was also interesting. Unfortunately, too tiny a glimpse. Which brings me to...

The negatives:

- Too many plotlines. They stuffed the season with too much shit which is why each individual plot gets a much shorter screentime than it should. Smeech is introduced and killed in the same episode. Chembarons' gang wars, a huge issue which has repercussions on the entire Undercity, gets only one musical montage before moving on. And this is coming from someone who loved that montage, as well as the song. My favourite on the soundtrack so far. But musical montages shouldn't come at the expense of the story and definitely shouldn't replace the story. There are just way too many music video scenes in general that feel like a way to condense a storyline into the sparknotes version because they don't have the screentime to flesh it out. And they would have the screentime if they cut out all the extra stuffing. Look I'm happy for the League fans who are excited for the Black Rose and all that, but what the hell is it doing in a Piltover/Zaun show. And with zero foreshadowing in Season 1 too. It would definitely be easier to swallow if they had at least hinted at it in the first season. They could have kept Ambessa's beef with this magic cult for a Noxus show. The P/Z narrative has enough to deal with, enough characters to handle already.

- The new side characters are uninteresting and generic. Maddie and the two other enforcers (we don't even know their names after three episodes LMAO) are bland. We know nothing about their characters or personalities. Maddie looks like a rookie, and one of the dudes is an alcoholic, yet they get chosen for an elite strikeforce to capture Jinx? Isha is pretty generic too - the token cute kid that needs protecting. I get the role she will play in Jinx's arc. But that's the problem - she should be a character in her own right, not just a vehicle for someone else's character development. A good example is Mylo. He died for Jinx's arc, but when he was alive he was a distinct character with his own personality. We had a sense of his insecurities, his goals, who he was as a person. Name a single personality trait of Isha and Maddie other than "generically nice person". That's right. You can't.

- Whatever the hell is going on with Viktor. He wakes up from his coma and immediately rejects Jayce so quickly that it was funny. Apparently disapproves of Jayce using the Hexcore to save his life, but then immediately goes to use the Hexcore to save random Undercity people. Bruh. I also don't really like the way the fridged woman from last season seems to be his motivation so far. Nor the way he seems to have no agency in his Machine Herald arc. Instead of Viktor himself believing in transhumanism and mechanizing himself, Jayce does it for him. Instead of Viktor having an ideological drive and wanting a "Glorious Evolution", he is driven by guilt over Sky. Meh. Also he's not even mechanized, instead he's weirdly fleshy?? In a magical way?? More like The Magic Herald :(

- Vi. Her whole character is a mess. Insanely rushed arc which I find unacceptable for one of THE main characters and one of the faces of the show. She and Jinx are supposed to be the leads, their relationship the heart of the story, but so far only Jinx is a well-written fleshed out chaacter with a believable arc. I have too much to say about Vi so I'll expand more on this on another post.

- So much nuance and detail is missing. How does Heimerdinger feel about his ex-colleagues being killed? Does he care? Does he feel guilt? Relieved that he wasn't in the chamber when the bombing happened? No clue! Let's have comedy Mission Impossible instead! How does Ekko feel about the Council attack? Does he approve of it? Think Jinx went too far? How does he feel that she even survived their fight to begin with? No clue! Here, have him joking around with a Councilor for a bit (someone whom Ekko logically should despise), then he can talk Science with Jayce and all three get sent to another dimension together. Yay. What does Vi think happened to Ekko? The last time she saw him, he was fighting Jinx to the death to give Vi and Cait time to escape. He could be dead for all she knows and she doesn't give a fuck. Doesn't even think about him nor mention him once. It's like the writers forgot they're childhood friends. What does the entirety of Zaun make of Silco's death? I assume they heard about it from Piltover (who heard about it from Caitlyn), but how do they think it happened? His body is gone and to Zaun it seems he just mysteriously disappeared. Are there conspiracy theories? Conflicting accounts and rumours? So much nuance that would give the world and characters more depth, sacrificed so we can pack in more rushed subplots and music videos.

- Caitlyn "Wifebeater" Kiramman. And Caitvi in general. So far Caitlyn has guilt-tripped Vi, manipulated her into joining the enforcers, insulted her and then physically abused her. After Vi sacrificed everything for Cait, wore a badge she hates for Cait, even let Cait kill her own fucking sister (and only intervened when the random kid got involved). Why should I give a shit about such a one-sided relationship lmao. "B-but Cait's mom is dead so she's sad about it", every other fucking character in this show has dead parents. Half the cast has faced unfathomable amounts of trauma and pain that make Cait's pale in comparison. Nothing justifies her hitting Vi. "B-b-but it's a parallel to when Vi hit Powder", a shit parallel then. Because the circumstances are not even remotely comparable. "God forbid lesbians do anything🤪", give me a break with this corny bullshit. Be serious for a second. I'm not even a Vi fan and I think she deserves better than this mess of a relationship. The power dynamic between them makes it worse. The way Caitlyn is one of the richest people in the city and Vi is broke. The way Caitlyn is highly educated and Vi never went to school and spent her entire teen years locked in a box. Did the writers think about all this when writing their relationship? Keep in mind, Vi met Caitlyn like a week ago. She barely knows this chick. She's been out of prison FOR A WEEK. Where she was physically abused every fucking day. Putting her in a relationship with a cop who hits her would certainly be a choice! Do I have faith this show will handle it with care? Not really, no. They already ignore Vi's prison trauma. Most likely they will make Vi forgive Cait way too easily because "muh mummy muh grief".

[ick-the-clown]

ARCANE S2 ACT 3 SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT!!

made this piece because this scene made me feel some real crazy insane shit. as someone who has, in recent years, become disabled this whole scene made me feel something words cannot describe. idk. just hearing that there's still value and worth to me as a person even when i am fully rendered unable to do anything, it means a lot. it may not be the same disability, but it resonates regardless.

"you were never broken, Viktor. there is beauty in imperfections."

i literally spent all day working on this piece. god. what a fucking show.

also, i have some hidden details within the piece (two, specifically. go, my fiends, play hide and seek).

[marvelousels]

THROUGH THE STATIC | 1

(pt 2 here!)

authors note — sorry but im just so delusional wishing this was true, i love imagining that my fav characters randomly come to our world and "I DO BELIEVE THAT A MULTIVERSE EXISTS!" i say as i get dragged to the mental asylum.

pairings: jinx x fem!reader (js freinds for now ig)

DISCO! — Nessa Barrett FT Tommy Genesis playing!

The dim glow of the television screen bathed your living room in shifting hues of blue and purple. You lay sprawled on the couch, a half-empty bowl of popcorn resting precariously on your stomach. The credits for the latest episode of Arcane had just finished rolling, and the Netflix autoplay countdown ticked ominously toward the next. But you didn’t hit “Skip Intro.” Not yet.

Jinx. There she was again, center frame in your mind. Her wild, electric energy. Her piercing blue eyes. That wicked grin that danced somewhere between childlike joy and dangerous insanity. Something about her had always captivated you, far beyond any rational explanation. She was chaos incarnate, yet there was a vulnerability beneath her bravado that pulled you in like a magnet. Watching her felt like staring into a storm: terrifying, exhilarating, and impossible to look away from.

You sighed and reached for the remote, ready to plunge into another episode, when the screen suddenly froze. A flicker. Then another. The sound cut out, replaced by a low, staticky hum. Frowning, you sat up, placing the popcorn bowl on the coffee table.

“Oh, come on,” you muttered, hitting the power button. Nothing. The screen stayed on, the image of Jinx’s manic grin distorting slightly as if she were underwater.

The hum grew louder. A sharp crackle followed, and the colors on the screen began to bleed together in a way that made your eyes ache. You got up, hesitant but drawn closer by a mix of curiosity and unease. Maybe the TV was just overheating. Maybe the signal was—

Without warning, the screen flared bright white, and a shockwave of static knocked you backward. You hit the floor with a grunt, shielding your eyes from the blinding light. The air felt charged, humming with an almost electric tension.

When the light finally dimmed, you lowered your arm cautiously. The TV was off. The room was eerily quiet except for your own breathing. Then you heard it. A groan. Not yours.

You froze. Slowly, you turned your head toward the sound, your heart pounding in your chest.

Lying sprawled across the floor, half on top of you, was Jinx.

At first, your brain couldn’t process what you were seeing. She was impossibly real. Her wild blue braids, the smudged makeup around her eyes, even the faint scars on her arms—every detail was vivid, tangible. She groaned again, shifting slightly, and you felt the weight of her pressing down on your legs.

“What the hell?” you whispered, your voice barely audible.

Her eyes snapped open. For a split second, they were unfocused, darting around the room in confusion. Then they locked onto yours. Blue and intense, just like on the screen, but filled with a raw, terrifying energy that made your breath catch.

“Who the fuck are you?” she demanded, her voice sharp and accusing. She scrambled to her feet, grabbing for a weapon that wasn’t there. Her hands patted down her sides frantically before she cursed under her breath.

You sat up slowly, your hands raised instinctively in a placating gesture. “Whoa, whoa, hold on. I—I’m not gonna hurt you.”

She narrowed her eyes, backing up until her shoulders hit the wall. Her gaze darted around the room, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. The modern furniture. The framed photos. The TV. Her expression shifted from defensive to bewildered.

“Where am I?” she muttered, almost to herself. Then, louder, “What is this place?”

You opened your mouth to answer, but no words came out. What were you supposed to say? Hi, welcome to my living room. You’re supposed to be a fictional character.

“Hey!” she snapped, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “I asked you a question.”

“You’re… in my house,” you stammered. “And… uh, you came out of the TV?”

Her brows knitted together in confusion. She glanced back at the darkened screen, then back at you. “Bullshit.”

“I swear!” you said quickly, holding your hands up again. “One minute I was watching you—I mean, watching Arcane—and then the screen freaked out, and you…” You gestured vaguely at her. “You appeared.”

Jinx’s eyes narrowed further, but the initial panic seemed to ebb slightly, replaced by a cautious curiosity. She took a step closer, looming over you with an almost predatory intensity.

“You know who I am?” she asked, her tone somewhere between suspicion and amusement.

You swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah. Jinx. From… Arcane. You’re… kind of famous here.”

“Famous?” Her lips curled into a grin, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means you’re a… a character. From a TV show.” The words felt ridiculous as they left your mouth, but there was no other way to explain it.

Her grin faltered. She stared at you, her head tilting slightly as if trying to gauge whether you were messing with her. Finally, she sighed and ran a hand through her braids.

“A TV show,” she repeated flatly.

You nodded. “Yeah. You’re… fictional. Or, you’re supposed to be. I don’t know how you got here.”

Jinx’s expression darkened. Her eyes darted back to the TV, then to her hands, flexing her fingers as if to reassure herself she was real. “Fictional,” she muttered, almost to herself. “That’s… no. That’s insane.”

“Trust me, I’m just as confused as you are,” you said. “But you’re here. Somehow.”

She paced the room, her movements jerky and restless. “This has to be some kind of trick,” she said, half to herself. “Some sick game. Did Sevika put you up to this? Or Silco? Is this one of their mind-fucks?”

“I don’t know who—” You cut yourself off, realizing it was pointless. Of course she thought this was some kind of trap. Her whole life was a series of betrayals and manipulation. Why would this be any different?

“Listen,” you said carefully, “I don’t know how or why you’re here, but I’m not your enemy. I’m just… a random person who happened to be watching TV when you showed up. That’s it.”

She stopped pacing, her gaze snapping back to you. Her expression was unreadable, her blue eyes scanning your face as if searching for any hint of deception. Finally, she sighed and ran a hand through her braids.

“Okay,” she said, though her tone was far from convinced. “Let’s say I believe you. What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

You hesitated, unsure how to answer. What were you supposed to do? You were just an ordinary person. You didn’t have the faintest idea how to deal with something like this.

“I guess… we figure it out,” you said finally. “Together.”

Jinx raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching into a faint smirk. “Together, huh?”

You nodded, trying to muster some confidence. “Yeah. I mean, you’re stuck here, right? Might as well work with me instead of against me.”

She considered this for a long moment, then shrugged. “Fine,” she said. “But don’t get any ideas, ‘cause if you try anything funny…” She mimed an explosion with her hands, grinning wickedly.

You couldn’t help but laugh, though it was more from nerves than amusement. “Noted.”

And just like that, your ordinary life had been turned upside down. As Jinx plopped onto your couch, grabbing a handful of popcorn like she owned the place, you couldn’t help but wonder what the hell you’d just gotten yourself into.

Hours later, the reality of your situation began to sink in. Jinx had settled into your living room like a storm that refused to pass, alternating between questioning you about this world and exploring the space with a manic, childlike curiosity. She’d found your stash of snacks and immediately laid claim to a bag of chips, cramming them into her mouth with zero regard for crumbs.

“So this world,” she said around a mouthful of chips, “you’re saying it’s nothing like Zaun or Piltover?”

You shook your head, watching her from the other end of the couch. “Nope. No Hextech. No shimmer. No… well, no war, at least not like yours.”

She snorted. “Sounds boring.”

“It’s… peaceful,” you offered.

She rolled her eyes. “Peace is overrated.”

You couldn’t help but smile. Despite the chaos she radiated, there was something oddly endearing about her. She was a whirlwind of contradictions—reckless yet calculating, wild yet wounded. And now, she was your problem.

“So,” she said, turning her attention back to you, “how do we fix this? How do I get back?”

“I… don’t know,” you admitted. “I’m not exactly an expert on… whatever this is. Reality-hopping? Dimensional travel? It’s way out of my league.”

She groaned, flopping dramatically onto her back. “Great. Just great. Stuck in a world full of… what do you even do here? Sit around and stare at screens all day?”

“Pretty much,” you said with a chuckle. “But hey, maybe it won’t be so bad. You might even like it here.”

She gave you a skeptical look but didn’t argue. Instead, she propped herself up on her elbows, her gaze lingering on you longer than felt entirely comfortable.

“You’re weird,” she said finally, though there was no malice in her tone. If anything, it sounded almost… amused.

“Takes one to know one,” you shot back, surprising yourself with the ease of your response.

Jinx blinked, then grinned. A real grin this time, not the manic, unhinged one you’d seen earlier. For a moment, she looked almost human. Almost.

“Maybe this won’t be so boring after all,” she said, grabbing another handful of chips.

You weren’t sure whether to feel relieved or terrified. Either way, one thing was certain: life as you knew it was never going to be the same.

[wingedshadowfan]

⚠️arcane s2 spoilers⚠️

i just saw someone say "vi put on a uniform for caitlyn but caitlyn never took hers off", even going as far as saying that caitvi shouldn't have ended up together bcuz they have the dynamic of "oppressor and oppressed". tell me you've never paid attention to a single thing caitlyn's done or said in either season without telling me😭😭 (this is my nth post abt this bcuz it pisses me off when ppl mischaracterize her so when you see underlined text, it's linked to a more detailed post)

are we forgetting when she traded her weapon, her gun, her only protection away for a shimmer/medication/potion thing w/ that fucked up undercity dude with the glasses (the one who became the first of the glorious evolution) for vi and hugged him as thanks?

when she saw ekko's commune, his tree, and validated ekko's feelings about piltover and enforcers but also told him the cycle of violence needs to be broken because the undercity needs healing - something ekko could understand even in his anger and hurt.

when she confronted her own parents abt how the government doesn't care about zaun and the situation there, and then took it straight to the council. when jayce, her literal childhood best friend and basically a brother to her, now a councilor, ASKED HER IF SHE KNOWS WHO MADE ONE OF JINX'S BOMBS AND SHE WENT "no, well, uh-" because vi held her hand. she asked him, in front of everyone, "what happened to you" when he suggested using hextech to invade zaun.

even when vi got sick of trying to change things through the council, caitlyn kept telling her there must be another way and they just needed to make a new plan. oil and water, vi said, and that she was stupid to think it would work, but caitlyn's response was, what about us? what about the actual people, not their value as representatives of a group, a stereotype, one of many indistinguishable units? we aren't oil and water.

ppl say she used to view zaunites as just "creeps, crooks and villains" and after seeing more from them through vi, she changed it to "innocent helpless victims", which obv is dehumanizing since you don't recognize a person's capability for both good and evil and only see them as a stereotype. but she's always recognized both kinds of people exist in the undercity and that being "good" or "bad" isn't that simple. ppl seem to be mad she didn't try and dismantle piltover's entire police force like that would be possible or a solution to zaun's problems. she has a strong moral compass and a sense of justice - innocents should be protected and criminals prosecuted, zaunites or topsiders. if you steal, you should go to jail. but when you come from the dark alleys of zaun and poverty and deprivation is all you know, you're way more likely to steal, and when enforcers are prejudiced against you, you're more likely to face excessive violence and maybe serve a longer sentence. and this is why she tells the council that there are good people down there, that there is rampant poverty, famine, a drug problem, etc. her focus is on the daily humanitarian struggles of the average people.

you guys will twist yourselves in knots to make excuses for jinx, justify her actions and forgive her for what she's done (when she literally, aside from murdering a bunch of people and destroying a fuckton of stuff because she was insane, unstable and uncontrollable, literally directly prevented zaun from getting sovereignty by blowing up the council) but you don't recognize caitlyn's entire change in character started when jinx tried to blow her up multiple times, kidnapped her, tried to get vi to kill her, blew up the council killing her mother and then (this wasn't jinx but caitlyn doesn't know that) turned the councilor memorial statue reveal to a massacre. see: this very accurate post.

"caitlyn never took her uniform off" well maybe because she was scared of jinx, paranoid, angry, grieving her mother, seeking justice and buckling under the pressure of becoming head of house kiramman. perfectly normal reactions considering the circumstances. she even acknowledged to jayce how upsetting it was to realize this hate she harbored for jinx had started to undo a lot of the work she did towards understanding the undercity and zaunites better and seeking to help them. but i believe she thought jinx was a hazard to them too.

i have a whole other post diving into this, as well as why she wanted vi to "put on a uniform" (temporarily until they caught jinx, and not just bcuz she thought vi was "one of the good ones" but bcuz she wanted her close, under her protection and equipped w/ all resources and privileges available to piltover, not to mention ppl are seriously undermining the fact that vi played a role in that conflict too) and why she made the mistake of going too far in her pursuit of jinx - most notably becoming rougher and jailing people, poisoning the air as a battle tactic, endangering isha, hurting vi, assuming the commander position and pursuing jinx even harder. but this post isn't about that, it's about other ways in which she metaphorically took off her uniform, and even the way she wore it.

caitlyn wasn't happy as a commander, she wasn't going on a power trip, she didn't "become a dictator all too willingly" like ppl are saying. and yes, that doesn't mitigate the damage she did to zaun but she had clear goals she was pursuing, none of which involved harming innocents (but protecting them), and she even confronted ambessa when she thought her right hand was out of line, which caused tension between them. though blinded by a desire for revenge, she remained concerned with the undercity's state and realized ambessa was manipulating her, even saying something like "why is peace always a justification for violence?" to her. the cost of what she was doing was too much for her. all things considered, commander caitlyn wore her uniform in the best possible way.

and she took it off as soon as she saw what was on the line. vi's father turned monster would go berserk when injected by singed, innocents would be ripped to shreds, and he'd be captured and used as a weapon by ambessa (against the undercity or whomever). for all of these reasons, caitlyn betrayed ambessa. she double crossed her, and the way she acted it out matters, not just because vi, who she'd decked the last time she saw, called her "cupcake". but because it was the right fucking thing to do.

i have a separate post about caitlyn's implied guilt about the things she'd done, about her knowing she couldn't undo those mistakes. this is what made her so desparate to try to make up for them that she not only send the guards away so vi could free jinx (another brilliant analysis here), but it also resulted in the way she fought ambessa tooth and nail alongside mel - like she had a death wish. she, a sniper, sacrificed her eye so she could remove ambessa's talisman by cutting it free with the dagger she took out of her own side. and even in the very end, when she asks vi if she's still in this fight, it could be interpreted as the fight for zaun too since she gave sevika, a zaunite, an ally of jinx, her mother's councilor seat.

so don't fucking talk to me about how she "never took her uniform off" for vi, when she's done that so many times metaphorically (and their last scene is literally one of the very few in the entire show where she isn't wearing any insignia), and she's done it for zaun too. and maybe even more so than that - it's how she wore it that matters. what she did with her privilege and her power - her character and agency.

season two is at fault for mismanaging the piltover/zaun conflict and not focusing on it enough in its latter half, as well as also not showing any proper longer caitvi conversations that might've taken place, in favor of... glorious evolution alien robots??

[evercelle]

is arcane worth the watch?? ive been wanting to watch it for a while but never rlly got the motivation to

I LOVE ARCANEEEEE so my Totally Objective thoughts on it: it's a show where i feel there's a clear difference in intent between s1 and s2. there's parts where the writing does some narrative throughlines well, supported by the artistic and musical details, and there's other parts where they just completely whiff it. i think they would've really benefited from a s3 to let the story breathe more, but alas... so, your mileage may vary on how enjoyable the writing is, depending on which characters' stories you're invested in

from an art perspective: absolute must-watch, literally every shot is a marvel in color and composition. it's so clear what an incredible labor of love the animation and art/music direction is, in every single second of the show... i could fawn over a lot of details, but it'd be spoilers and it's better to witness yourself!! arcane is once in a generation kind of production in my opinion, because it's something that can ONLY exist because of the insane riot money backing the project haha. the production value is off the fucking charts

tl;dr: worth watching if for no other reason than to marvel at the visual and scoring; may or may not ambush you with [REDACTED CHARACTER] feelings

[avelera]

hi! first off, i love your arcane meta, especially the jayce characterization and hextech details. you get it.

now second, (and feel free to ignore this wall of text for any reason):

if you're in the mood to talk about meta, i'm curious to hear your take on one season 2 thing that i've been scratching my head about

how much does post-anomaly jayce know about the future? my initial impression was that wizard viktor only told jayce what we see onscreen, and jayce was kind of improvising and trying his best without detailed knowledge of future events.

but some lines ("we're meant to lose this fight") and a comment from the artbook (post-anomaly jayce wearing armor bc he knows there is a battle coming) imply that he knows more than he lets on.

what's your (watsonian) take of jayce's knowledge of the future in season 2? is there any detail in the show that sheds some light on this?

i think jayce knowing or not knowing about certain events really recontextualises some scenes. is he following his own or wizard viktors plans? is he suprised about the events of act 3? i've been rotating this in my head but i'm not sure what interpretation i prefer.

Thank you so much!

As for your question, it's a really interesting one!

Unfortunately, I do think I need to start the answer with the Doylist one:

Jayce knows as much about the future as he needs to for the plot.

I think this is important to note because it informs an understanding of their choice not to show us him getting an exposition download of everything Wizard Viktor has worked out over the years as to how exactly Jayce can thread this needle of saving Viktor at exactly the right time.

Because, in theory, the amount of optimization could be infinite. It could get all the way down to, "Jayce needs to be scared into falling into this exact pit and spending no more than 3 months there because that gives him the suffering needed for his plea to Viktor to be heartfelt and informed by similar suffering, but not so long that Jayce goes insane from isolation."

Or even things like, "Ekko needs to go to the Happy Zaun universe or else he won't have the sympathy needed for him to prevent Jinx's suicide and without her present at the battle, one of Herald Viktor's mind-control arms snatches up Ekko too soon rather than grabbing Jinx instead, so he's not there to buy Jayce's those critical extra seconds for his appeal to True Love and also put a bomb in Herald Viktor's face."

That said....

I admit, part of me still sort of wishes that Jayce had been the one to go through multiple realities of optimizing, just because I think it answers... a few more questions? Like how did he suddenly get so comfortable with killing someone like Salo, if he wasn't fighting in other universes? Why does he look so aged if only 3-6 months passed? How does he know things like how exactly to get to Viktor's commune and the fact they're going to lose the fight, etc etc etc.?"

I think it would have been cool and very fitting for Jayce but I will admit, the story we got covers all of this too.

Jayce's aging could easily be the product of extreme hardship (I wouldn't be surprised if the animators referred to images of people who have been, say, stranded on desert islands or prisoners of war for long periods to inform just how much Jayce's face muscles wasted away while he was there and just how much extreme hardship can age you because it can be extreme even within a few months and between pain, starvation, dehydration, and magical gangrene, Jayce was going through it).

Jayce's comfort with the idea of killing Salo could just be a product of his hardship (killing and eating lizards with his bare hands lol yuck), or of understanding that assimilated people are already dead, effectively, and to stop that future he cannot hesitate at all. Also, maybe he just fucking hates that guy, which would be pretty understandable after Salo voted to banish him back in 1.02 and also is very funny to me, personally, that he was just a little more comfortable smooshing that particular Councilor than he would be literally anyone else.

And this is were I get to your question: how much does Jayce know? Presumably, if we go Watsonian, whatever Wizard Viktor believed he needed to know to actually thread this needle, because there's probably information he doesn't need to know too.

For example, Jayce might know:

He cannot let a Cultist get back to Viktor with Hexgems. Salo needs to go. Who knows what this prevented but I can easily see how Viktor having more power right now to prolong his healing/assimilation would be a bad thing regardless. Also just... having Salo at all as a potential power player that Viktor could work through.

He knows where the commune is. In theory, he probably could just ask someone in Zaun too I mean, I doubt it's a secret, and narratively we don't need to see that.

He knows he cannot under any circumstances let Viktor talk to him once they're face to face. He can't even look at Viktor after Viktor knows he's there. There's a heavy implication that if Cult Leader Viktor so much as smiles at him, Jayce will fold, if we believe the little flash of memory of Jayce remembering him smiling at him isn't just Dead Wive Vision but is actually Anomaly Future Jayce warning him about what happened to him to lead t that point, which I think is a baller theory.

He can't give into Viktor, ever. He can't let Viktor touch his forehead before the right time. Jayce fights like mad to get away from that robot once Viktor decides that Jayce will be his partner again or else.

He knows he needs to take all the Hexgems out of the base of the Hexgate, but is it to stop Viktor? Or is to buy a few extra seconds while Viktor plugs them back in again so that Ekko has time to wake up? This is the sort of thing where Wizard Viktor might know the real reason for something but doesn't need to get that granular with why because it's about buying time, not actually preventing the Herald from grabbing the Anomaly.

By the way, I have a theory that one reason Jayce needs to get the gem burned into his wrist is because there's universes where his bracelet gets cut off and he loses the gem so Wizard Viktor is like, "This is gonna suck, but you really need this thing embedded in your flesh so it's there at the right time." Though, it could also be so he can engage the magic in his Alt Universe hammer. Still, I am a little sad that it's not an effect of Jayce universe hopping where some battle got it burned into him, because that was my original theory and I'm still very partial to it.

Jayce knows that he has no chance of winning the fight, he just needs to survive it. Once he gets to the top of the tower, once he grasps the hammer, it's all over. From that point on, the only thing he can do is have faith and get his big Power of Love speech ready, that is his only chance.

As for what Jayce is surprised by, I do think he might have been told information but not shown it necessarily. I am still really sad we didn't get a visual of what Wizard Viktor told him but, at the same time, one of the fun parts of Arcane is that it doesn't spoon-feed us, which gives us the chance for discussions like this, so wanting that scene is me being a Jayce addict not because I think it would necessarily strengthen the story.

So I think Jayce doesn't know what Machine Herald Viktor looks like. It's possible that Wizard Viktor doesn't either, because that didn't happen to Wizard Viktor, he didn't get slowed down at the commune, Jayce probably joined him there and probably didn't fight him at all, there's a strong hint that Anomaly Universe Jayce surrendered to Viktor at the top of the tower (the explosion marks around him are behind him, which implies that the force of his conversion might have been in front and willing, like he was kneeling before his king, and we don't have the top of his head to know which direction the fingerprints are positioned in).

So basically, Machine Herald Viktor is a product of Viktor needing Singed to regain enough power to go get the Anomaly, which Wizard Viktor didn't need to do.

It's possible that Wizard Viktor doesn't know about Ekko, he just knows that something outside his awareness has to happen for MH Viktor to be caught off guard, and as MH Viktor says, "That device cannot be," he cannot in his infinite knowledge account for what happens in a world where Hextech never got beyond its infancy with Jayce and Viktor at the helm.

So, at a certain point, there may have been things that Jayce and Wizard Viktor just had to rely on faith to come about too.

But it's way more fun to speculate because I think we'd be punching holes in it instead of speculating on it if we had been given this whole download.

Hope that answers your question??

[thekrakenlolz]

Don't shoot me but I kinda dislike Caitvi. Like in the first season I was their number one shipper. Bro, I was so into it, I thought they were perfect for each other. I mean, the chemistry alonnneeeuuuh

But I really really really dislike how Cait acts like her and Vi are on a level playing field. Bc that's anything but true. She barely acknowledges Vi's trauma and I don't fw with that at all. The fucking sacrifices she made for this chick are insane and she barely acknowledges that either. Also, Jinx is all Vi has left. Literally the only family she has. Like I'm sorry she isn't super rational and chill when it comes to killing off her baby sister??

And I don't like how easily Vi forgave her. I'm not saying it's unrealistic. Been there, done that but jesus-

Honestly, as much as I ADORE Arcane's writing, how detailed and self referencial it is, how elegantly they give exposition, the metaphors, the EVERYTHING, I think the switch from act 2 to act 3 was sloppy as shit. Caitlyn's GASSING OF ZAUN, I repeat GASSING OF ZAUN, is barely mentioned beyond the scenes in which it happened and her change of mind seemed to just come out of the blue. All in all it felt like the writers kinda realized "oh shit, she has to redeem herself somehow. Fuck, let's just say she had an epiphany". I'm not saying I hate Caitlyn, if nothing else she's an absolutely fascinating character but I found how things turned out to be kinda iffy. Hot take but I don't think Caitlyn deserves Vi. Or at least Caitlyn has A LOT of making up to do.

Just in general, act 3 was kinda meh. All the characters the audience cares about, including the beautifully established and explored sister relationship the show LITERALLY STARTED WITH AND REVOLVED AROUND got sidelined so we can watch two tech bros have celestial sex or whatever the fuck that ending was. Like, I remembered sitting there, confused on why they keep cutting away from the shit I actually care about and back to these two mfs

At least Ekko got his moment to shine which I was absolutely over the moon about as a day 1 Ekko stan. Yeesssss Boy Saviiiooor gET IIITTTTTTT

[hatsukeii]

i’m crashing out rn so im gonna put the next 12:51 FM chapter aside for now (sorry akaashi!) and here are some things i’d like to just ramble about after arcane act three

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

- they were really feeding us jayvik stans I NEVER DOUBTED YOU JAYCE!!!! I DEFENDED HIM ALL ALONG!!!!

- parallels between jayvik fighting while levitating up to hexgate and their first discovery together as they levitated i am unwell

- parallel of caitlin finding vi in the cell again punching the wall and s1 ep3 was insane also THANK FUCK IT WASNT MADDY!!!

- soeaking of maddy im too fucked up to have any analytical thoughts about her rn so glad she died but i’ll probably regret saying that after some clear thought

- the parallels in thsi show are truly unmatched

- ekko amd zdrive was something i was so hyped for and i’m so glad it happened!!

- jayvik

- jayvik

- i miss my wife viktor

- the framing of jayce in the arcane was chef’s kiss omg so beautiful

- jinx hallucinating silco i’m unwell

- ekko the goat since day 1

- gonna rewatch it to catch more details but the entirety of season 2 has been so incredible genuinely the best TV i’ve watched in years

- one daughter watched vander die the first time and it began a chain of violence, the other daughter died with him to end it im dead done deceased

- there’s more that i’m not recalling and i’ll come back to this but! let me make one thing clear before i lose track of it: it all comes back to love and ambition and i’ll expand on that when i’m not fucked up

[qvert]

Arcane…I’m dying. It’s so profound, all the little details and everything the writers put into this. I’m still sobbing over Isha but the ending was so beautiful and tragic and everything that it should have been. It was perfect. Ekko and Powder’s dance being in 4fps to signify his time travel being 4 seconds into the past…the scene in the cell with Vi and Caitlyn…the music for the series…it’s perfection. This series was so devastatingly beautiful and yet…everything I have ever needed in a show.

Ugh fuck I agree it’s just… and from an artistic standpoint I really feel like I could watch this show frame by frame. I went back yesterday for reference pictures and I was looking at the 2D animations and I noticed this grin on maddies Face and like WHAT THE FUCK???

This is in TWO Frames - the attention to Detail is insane!

They did not have a lot of time but they quite literally made every Frame count and it is impressive AS FUCK

(Don’t even get me started on the music and the writing)

[explosionshark]

(Kicking my feet off the bed Iike Faith) so anyways. Caitlyn’s maternal family have been watchers for generations, but Caitlyn resents that her mother uses her influence on the Watcher’s Council to keep Cait out of harm’s way. She LEAPS at the opportunity to ship off across the pond & be away from her, even if her assignment at that point is just “twiddle your thumbs for a bit”.

she’s assigned to the same county that Vi is incarcerated in: ostensibly because the council has credible reports of a potential slayer in the area & will send details soon (lol), more realistically bc sending her there fulfills her desire to be In The Field while satisfying Cassandra’s desire to keep her safe. After all, the only would-be Slayer she could mentor is behind bars, and the Council can’t just meddle in the American Judicial System for their own benefit, right???

right?????

Anyway Vi 110% does not listen to her bc who the fuck are you, you’re like 4 years at most on me, fuck off. It’s Caitlyn exasperatedly trying to explain things and plan with Vi whose solution to everything is just “okay but I can stake them and they die right? So why not just go in with that plan every time?” While Caitlyn tries not to Scream

im realizing implies Jayvik are the closest things to Willow and Tara and yknow what. That’s not that wrong either. When you really think about it, Mel leaving Piltover is kinda like Cordelia leaving Sunnydale. Which I guess makes Noxus the Los Angeles of League/Arcane, a statement that is actually not untrue LMAO

Anyways. I’m going insane about this now. I’m so normal about this. Vi the Vampire Vlayer real.

CAITLYN IS WESLEY....!!!! LIKE SHE SUCKS LESS BUT DUDE SHE'S LIKE IF WES WAS A HOT LESBIAN WITH MOM ISSUES

Honestly, Cait's mentor being Grayson who managed to pull strings for her to get Vi released is perfect bc like. Yes it was the right thing to do. But it also involves the absolutely unconscious flex of a massive amount of privilege that Caitlyn would 100% not even think of acknowledging (it's not PERSONAL privilege after all, it's just using the massive institutional power she has behind her and it's actually just making things right so no big deal???) and that would absolutely put her and Vi in such a tense place to start out bc Caitlyn literally bucks the entire prison system ("what like it's hard?") that has had its boot on Vi's neck for years and THEN starts telling her whAT TO DO. NO SHE DOESN'T HAVE FIELD EXPERIENCE BUT SHE TRAINED A LOT AND HAS ALL THESE BOOKS

But also she IS hot and Vi IS a dyke and she ALSO is weak to anyone taking care of her at all so it wouldn't take much to get a hook in her.

Jayvik + Mel rounding out the Scoobies is so good. Ekko + the Firelights could stand in for Gunn and his crew. There's something here. I'm going crazy.

[HEAVY BREATHING] VI AND CAIT H/C AFTER THE CRUCIAMENTUM (CAIT WASN'T TOLD ABOUT IT, ABSOLUTELY FLIPS HER SHIT WHEN SHE FINDS OUT VI IS IN DANGER, BIG BREAK FROM HER IDEALISM HERE)

[crossdressingdeath]

Morrigan as the self-proclaimed "elven lore expert" doesn't even work with a human Inquisitor because she doesn't really know what she's doing. She brings to mind someone who discovers some ancient room, and the mere discovery of it makes her think she's special. Bonus points if she also found some trinkets, and by finding them, she considers herself the rightful owner and "expert" on all things about them. Like, no real knowledge, just a desire to preserve ancient stuff that she has no idea what it does. A human Inquisitor should be able to question her knowledge like any Dalish elf, but no one is allowed to, so.. she gets to flaunt her non-existent knowledge and it is irritating.

It's an annoying thing that applies to a lot of DAI's writing, where... Morrigan being so full of herself and thinking that stealing one book from the Dalish made her smarter than them could've been fine as a character flaw! Hell, the game even gently nudges at that with the moment where if Quiz has the arcane knowledge perk—which has the description "A detailed study of magic and the places and creatures that interact with it"—their training allows them to immediately clock that the Well has a magical geas on it, something Morrigan is completely flabbergasted by because she had no idea. There's also a moment earlier where Morrigan is confused by the presence of wolf statues outside the temple; Lavellan and Solas aren't, but if Lavellan explains why the Dalish do that Morrigan completely dismisses it as silly Dalish superstition and so meaningless even though "okay this is the reasoning that has been passed down to me, so it's the best guess I've got for why my ancestors did it" is in fact way better than anything Morrigan can figure out (which is... nothing), a solid line of reasoning to follow, and a decent guess in general. We haven't heard the full reasoning at this point but based on what we know about Solas and Mythal and the Evanuris the Dalish story probably isn't far off the mark! But instead of any acknowledgement of that Morrigan's complete dismissal of Lavellan's explanation as worthless superstition that has nothing to do with the decisions of Lavellan's ancestors is allowed to stand unchallenged.

And it really drives me nuts that the game just lets Morrigan's claim that she's a real expert stand, because it could have been really interesting if they'd done something similar to what they do with Solas's spirit friend where Lavellan can understand the dialogue but no one else can because it's in elven. It makes sense for a human, dwarf or Qunari to take Morrigan at her word; they're told she's an expert, and elven religion and magic aren't things they likely would've studied. But Lavellan should absolutely be able to recognize she's full of shit. Especially mage Lavellan, I will never be over the fact that Dalish mages are priests but mage Lavellan has nothing exclusive to them to say about visiting the temples of their gods (not that Lavellan in general gets to say much about visiting Evanuris temples but y'know). I made a post a while ago about how great it would be if Solas and Lavellan could fuck with Morrigan by lying outright about what the writing in the temple says and watching her go along with everything they say because she absolutely cannot read more of it than the ancient elf or the Dalish elf who seems unusually fluent in the language (and unusually fluent for a Dalish elf is insanely fluent for anyone else) and doesn't want to admit that she can't tell what it says.

At the end of the day Morrigan is an "expert" just because very few people know anything about the eluvians. I don't know how active the Veil Jumpers are at this point in the timeline, so the only people I can say with confidence understand anything about them (discounting ancient elves like Solas and Mythal) are Merrill and Briala. And I mean... Merrill repaired and purified a Blighted eluvian on her own (Morrigan, for context since The Last Court was taken down and not everyone played it, required the help of the incredible Serault glassworks and her eluvian wasn't even Blighted as far as we know) and Briala from what I understand (still haven't read TME, I keep meaning to) controlled a decent chunk of the network for at least a while. Both of them make Morrigan look at best unimpressive in comparison; look at them, and then remember that Morrigan's claim to knowing more about the eluvians than the Dalish is that she found one and fixed it... using a book... that she stole... from the Dalish. It's a combination of the bad vibes of this human woman claiming she knows more than the elves about their own history, the fact that the only knowledge we've seen her collect on the subject is one book that she stole from the Dalish, and the way Quiz can show her up with basically zero effort and the game just brushes past that without acknowledging that it's a massive blow to her credentials. If they'd acknowledged that she clearly doesn't know as much as she thinks she does or had her admit that to some extent she's figuring it out as she goes (and fucking listen to the people around her who know more than her, the way she belittles the Dalish when Lavellan offers an explanation for why there are Fen'Harel statues at the temple—which is more explanation than Morrigan offers, by the way—really makes me want to punch her) it would've been fine! Either acknowledge that her being so sure she knows best is a flaw in her character instead of trying to pretend she's right or have her admit she doesn't know what's best but does know more than a lot of people and wants to help as best she can; the way they handled it is just incredibly messy and really put me off ever seeing her in a game again.

[the-insan1ty-clause]

🌌 Intro 🌌

intro (condensed)

The first version was so long we apologize. Will be keeping it up but heres my version 🤭

Collectively, call us Orion. We go by he/him pronouns unless otherwise specified. (Sidenote for any irl friends who may receive the honor of our blog; Orion is our collective name specifically online. If u know us irl, you already know what to call us 🤭)

will be using the tag "The stars are talking" to indicate text we added either in reblogs or original posts

Sideblogs;

Interests- @the-insanity-clause-interests

Littles/syskids- @the-1nsanity-clause-kits

bodily a minor. Interact with care. (Just dont say anything weird, really)

we mostly post plurality and therian content.

plural; we're pro endo and mixed origin ourselves. The Orion Collective (or Constellation for funsies). We typically dont go by ourselves singularly, but here are some of the headfriends who may show themselves

Tomberlin; stole the name from the singer, lol

Angel; the most social

Beia; rambler (she/her preferably plus others)

Zebra; placeholder name, prob

Somber; i like lover's rock

Caban; sounds sarcastic but isnt i promise. Usually overcompensates for this (w a lot of hearts (🫶) and stuff). Likes to say bitch a lot but attempts to refrain

Jade; keeps everything in order inside

Pace (she/they) / Paisely (Xe/xem); separate but go hand in hand. Bit less positive folk but we love them anyway

therian/otherkin; we are horse, maned wolf, red fox, elk, deer, snowy owl, angel, elf, to name the more prominent ones.

No particular dni's but youll be blocked or at least ignored if youre rude or exclusionist around us.

we love and welcome interactions!! Please send us asks, leave comments and likes, reblogs, dms, w/e. We're here to be social with beings like us, or who are just generally different than the typical and acceptable. Since we dont get that experience irl. Tone indicators like /srs and /hj are helpful to some of us that arent great at discerning tone from text. But not required or expected!

please tag or put warnings on food related stuff when interacting !!

also forgive us but we're actively learning how tumblr works. We dont really know a lot of the etiquette and technical stuff. Apologies!

(free) commission info somewhere below the cut!

Extended Vers; extra info

We're psychologically therian, generally. Woof!

Lgbtqia- We're apart of this as well. Though i wont get into the details on that, haha

Interacting- the only rules are, no nsfw/explicit content, and do not ask for money or for us to promote you. Failure to follow this could result in anywhere between deletion, blocking, and reporting. Second chances rarely given.

We're diagnosed with a few things and undiagnosed/self diagnosed w/ others. Please refrain from talking too much about food and/or abuse without a tw or some sort of warning while on our blog. Things like asking our fav food or eating habits, while innocent, isnt exempt from this. Thanks :)

Now for the fun stuff!

We repost stuff about our interests (ex. Arcane, dai, etc) to our sideblog, @the-insanity-clause-interests

Our littles use @the-1nsanity-clause-kits as their sideblog

Rundown- our interests include Arcane, httyd, dai, pokemon, kipo, jentry chau, dead poets society, The Hobbit, studio ghibli films, wings of fire, the end of the fucking world, and many others. We absolutely WILL go on rants about any of these with the slightest provocation. Yall've been warned :3

on this blog, though, we mainly just post and reblog stuff related to any of our identities. Like stuff about being therian, plural, lgbtq, etc. As well as the other random tumblr things we find.

We do a lot of creative stuff. We do (nondigital & typically not colorized) art (our pfp is a drawing of ours), sometimes various crafts (for example, we made a mask of one of our theriotypes), we are in a local choir, and sometimes write music, poetry, and stories (though we've never really posted that stuff before). We do (free) commissions/requests if anyone happens to be interested. We're short on time these days, so it may take a while to get it to you, but feel free to send us an ask/message regarding it if youd like! (Note, if theres something you want, and its not listed here, just ask- theres a good chance we'll make it. Like alter packs, for example, cuz thats the only thing i can think of at the moment, HA)

Hope yall enjoy youre time here. Happy hunting, woof!

[torntruth]

i can't quite explain it but the way it weirds me out when somebody HAS to faceclaim a character who's in a piece of animated media that is absolutely beautiful , ie arcane , a plague tale , a lot of newer games who's graphics are insanely realistic and detailed. like please even as a kris.ten st.ewart fan , i just do not want to see krist.en stew.art as any arcane character. i want to see /caitlyn/ bc she's fucking hot lmaooo.