#you have paralleled them with Vi-Jinx Vander-Silco Powder-Ekko Mel-Jayce

[mentally-ill-for-bes]

So funny Viktor chooses to present himself to Jayce as a white-golden robot (considering it is shown he could possess one of his followers) despite his representative colors being purple and blue (during s2 arc 1 and arc 2 and as the Herald Machine). But for the very specific purpose of convincing Jayce to join him, he's represented in the colors associated with Mel. Literally CATWALKING into the room, which is an action associated with Mel too

[mintaii]

May I ask for your thoughts on Arcane season 2! Be as honest as you want, I ook a lot of issue w it and would love to see what other people took issue with.

well overall i was kinda disappointed HAHA the animation was so jawdroppingly gorgeous (i am going to absorb that art book into my system when i receive my copy), i just wish the writing this season reflected the visuals it was delivered with.

i'll type out further thoughts under the read more

things i really liked:

episode 7 was so peak. an ekko character episode, the whole AU deal, timebomb, heimer's silly little bard song and jayce being miserable in the canyon with the voidimals

jayvik soulmatism (edit: ok but the reveal that the old wizard who saved jayce was viktor was SO goofy i'm sorry i can't take that part seriously)

there were a few scenes here and there i loved. off the top of my head: the entirety of ep 1's opening sequence (aftermath of the rocket launch, the funeral), mel's talks with 'kino' and the build up to the realization that he's fake, vi + jinx's fight paralleling jayce, ekko and heimerdinger experiencing the hexhorrors

i liked the horror elements, lowkey wish they did more of it

sorry i'm going to rip into it for a bit:

the pacing was not great LOL felt like we had no time to marinate in everything they were throwing at us because we had to move on fast. the reason why i love ep7 so much was bcos it gave us the time to breathe

this was the biggest thing for me: the zaun and piltover conflict not being the central story of this season was a disservice to nearly every characters' arc.

too many music videos lmfao interesting how it's for mostly addressing sociopolitical issues in zaun/piltover

i think it's kinda weird u don't see ekko and jayce for a nearly whole act (considering ekko's role in saving the timeline and what jayce finds out in the hexpocalypse)

vi in particular to me felt so extinguished as a character and it makes me so mad how she feels completely shoved to the side writing wise. even her big solo character moment which was her as a pit fighter was? relegated to a music video?

did not like caitlyn by the end of it all and how they handled her character this season unfortunately made me dislike caitvi's dynamic in the finale (and i was rooting for them!!!) hence why i don't like how vi goes i'm the dirt under your nails to her at the end LMAO

i felt like the reveal that vander and silco were besties with vi + powder's mom cheapened the emotional intensity of vander, vi and powder becoming found family on the bridge and vander's decisions afterwards, as well as silco's own decision to take powder in. i'm sorry but i really don't think silco in s1 knew who tf vi and powder were (other than the awareness they were vander's daughters)

prefacing this by saying viktor is my favorite character (to no one's surprise) but i wasn't a huge fan of the direction they took him this season!! i think he should have been a robot but also he was severely underutilised in their attempt to make him the main antagonist in act 3. imo it thematically makes more sense to have the herald still be a machine. also the lack of agency in his evolution was so weird to me (though i do like the idea of jayce being the one to jumpstart the transformation out of love). i could keep going on about him lmao

[kurthummeldeservesbetter]

the way there are so many parallels in arcane like this is insane cause so far I can think of:

Jinx-Vi/Viktor-Jayce: Codependency and it's destructions, with both not being able to move on (Vi not being able to let Powder go, Jayce unwilling to let Viktor die) and it's effects in turn (Attack on the council, Viktor becoming the herald) so it becomes codependency that has two ends; people who are able to learn to live without the other, and two people who cannot. Separation is how Jinx and Vi can both live, but separation is what causes Jayce's and Viktor's destructions.

Jinx-Vi: Healing and moving on. Both take extreme destructive paths at the idea of the loss: Jinx takes Silco as an adoptive father that only fuels her worst traits, and Vi is unable to let go of the idea of Powder. They try to kill the other because at this point, it's preventing them from healing, but neither can really go through with it. It takes the loss of another family member (new with Isha, old with Vander) for them to finally reconnect and heal, and move on.

Jinx-Viktor/Silco-Jayce: What "saving" a life that is almost gone (or gone, depending on if you believe Viktor did die in the explosion or he was close to death). Both Jayce and Silco take extreme measures (Shimmer, the Hexcore) to save their loved ones and it changes them permanently, as well as starting the path to destruction. (Both also remind their loved ones of their "perfection" in their last moments together.)

Mel-Viktor: Magic being "forced" upon them, with all it's benefits and dangers, it's lasting effects due to the choices by a loved one. For Mel, she is able to resist it's overwhelming capabilities, and take back her personhood, but Viktor is unable and is overwhelmed by the arcane and what it can do. Magic that can save vs Magic that can destroy.

Singed-Heimerdinger: Action vs Inaction: even joking that all of Singed actions cause all the problems in Arcane, it's not wrong. Singed never stops experimenting, changing, searching for all the answers, but Heimerdinger's inactions also cause all the problems; having lived more than anyone else on the council and doing nothing to help Zaun, refusing to offer explanations as to why the arcane is bad to Viktor and Jayce. Heimerdinger's inactions are just as destructive as Singed' actions.

Jinx-Viktor: genius that comes both unchecked by their loved ones (Silco not really caring about Jinx's death toll and destruction that follows her, Jayce ignoring the warning signs of the hexcore being destructive because it could save Viktor) which results in their own destruction, hallucinations (any of Jinx's, Sky for Viktor, just general being haunted by people who's death you caused). Letting go of their pasts/choices in order to save their loved ones (only difference being is that Jayce is given the choice to stay and he chooses to stay, Jinx does not give Vi that choice).

Silco-Vander: probably the most clear and spelled out by the show, "anything as undoing as a daughter". Is willing to give it all up to save their daughter(s). Is killed by their daughter(s) but still thinks of them with love in their last moments. Wanting what's best for Zaun (though Silco....makes interesting choices on that regard).

Ekko-Vi: willingness to let go of a loved one when presented with the choice. Ekko, despite getting to experience what is possibly the best world for him, makes the sacrifice to leave for the better of others very quickly. It takes Vi a longer time (respectfully because they are sisters) to let the idea of Powder go, and it takes the choice itself being taken away from her (Jinx's supposed death) for her to let go. (I fully believe had she been trust into a similar universe where everyone was alive and well she'd never leave, and I don't blame her).

Vi-Caitlyn/Viktor-Jayce: Pretty easy: A Zaun/Piltover pairing. Both almost instantly click and are sent through the ringer when it comes to action/emotion. Both have moments where one is ignorant (unintentionally in the 1st season) about the other's birthplace (Caitlyn being ignorant about enforcers, Jayce's comment on the bridge). The other partner in the "break up" head back to their birthplace and try for a new life. Both deeply love each other they aren't able to let go of the other; for Caitlyn, she's able to provide support in Vi's grief and is rewarded with never losing her again, and Jayce's love for Viktor is able to save the world and return his partner to him.

Mel-Caitlyn: Understandings of war/grief and destruction. Having grown up around war, Mel understands the need for peace more than anyone, and tries to make the decisions (even in grief of loss for her brother, and her anger at her mother) that will result in peace and the least amount of destruction, but since Caitlyn grew up well-guarded from violence and destruction, her grief consumes her and sets her on a path of violence and destruction. (Thankfully Cait is able to come back from this).

Viktor-Jayce: In the end, these two are are a braided bracelet of fate, no matter how you view their relationship. No one believed in them but each other. No one understands their choices, their wants, their desires and intelligence but each other. Because of this, as well as the two other main people they talk to continuing to support their destructive path (Mel for their whole ideals for Hextech, being their main driving force to continue creating and supporting Jayce in the council room, and Singed encouraging Viktor to keep testing on himself and go deeper "the mutation must survive" with a destructive path). Both come to learn of the damage their creations cause, a little too late, but are able to save the world just in time with joint sacrifice. Hell, both admit their main desire (world "peace", giving magic to the world) doesn't matter if the other isn't there with them.

[echo-of-the-eye]

Arcane s2 act 2 thoughts:

• Was not expecting Caitlyn and Maddie rebound romance but ok (wonder how Maddie will react when cait inevitably breaks up with her)

• Glad to see Caitlyn has calmed down and was aware she was being manipulated so she could ditch Ambessa

• Mel has magic confirmed! And is related to the black rose people? People who know game lore probably understand better

• Sevika, Jinx and Isha is such a good dynamic. Same with Vi

• The sister trio are the best part of the show for me honestly I love them so much. Isha is the cutest kid ever I love her

• I was planning to make the “I’ve only had Isha for a day but if anything happened to her I’ll kill everyone in the room and then myself” joke while I was watching ep 4 and then ep 6 happened. So yeah… I’m broken

• I had a feeling something would happen to her cause her parallels to Powder were too strong but uh. Wasn’t really prepared for them to actually do it

• This is gonna fucking break Jinx

• They could have been happy dammit! They were so close! They could have been a family! But nooooo, it has to be a tragedy! (Which I love but come on! Oh to be a tragedy enjoyer is so conflicting)

• Also Vander and Silco knowing their mother and being close. So Silco actually knew who Powder was when he took her in

• Love wins (caitvi)

• Love loses (jayvik)

• God I love Viktor. Living his best life as a cult leader (or straight up god idk). Jayce when I get you. Honestly don’t know how to feel. Viktor was doing seemingly good things but we know hextech isn’t good so who knows how long it would have lasted. Not sure how much of Viktor was actually still left there

• I do think Jayce had a good reason for what he did. Might have been in a time loop or something? Maybe he communicated with Viktor and was told to destroy him? Or maybe he was just losing his mind

• He did keep his promise. But at what cost

• I’m seeing the ship now btw. Didn’t really care for it before. But now… it’s doomed. It’s tragic. Which is the best shipping fuel

• Speaking of the hextrip where the hell is my boy Ekko?! And heimerdinger I guess but this ain’t about him

• I bet we’ll see what happened in there next episode

• I do think Viktor is dead. He could come back I guess (he is Jesus) but I doubt it. Feel it in my gut. I think we’ll see him again but not alive in his body. I’m gonna miss you buddy<3 you were my second favorite (after jinx). He reminds me so much of Jon archivist no wonder I love him

• So yeah I am in shambles. My heart is broken and I shall never recover

[rubidimum]

Okay quick (long) rant on a few things partially related to this

Hear me out. I still love Arcane, season 1 was insanely good and season 2 was still---fairly well done.

But the most frustrating part of it was that Vi and Jinx were the heart and soul of the last season, they were the most compelling relationship, the most compelling thematically, their conflict was THE conflict that drove the show, and a lot of nuanced and interesting dynamics between the other characters existed because of it. And then this season Vi was basically a side character? and Jinx and Vi were just immediately are fine with each other after two minutes? It was a dishonor to both their characters honestly.

Vi's erasure as a main character fucked up Jinx's too, because her character arc got basically reduced to something unfinished-- like they started out this very interesting parallel with Jinx and Isha and Vi and Jinx, that basically got reduced to suprise factor? and then Isha is never mentioned again? They set up this super amazing parallel between Silco/Vander and Vi/Jinx, that basically got a line of dialogue in the mining tunnel and that's it?

AND the Vi/Caitlyn conflict is barely expanded on either. Like Vi just becomes a part of Caitlyn's internal strife--- which goes without really having much resolution at all.

I just found it weird---they kept setting up these interesting dynamics and ideas and then not resolving them properly at all. So many things from last season were just kicked out the door. Don't get me started on Piltover and Zaun.

It's also frustrating, because the characters that we see get more screen time-- Viktor, Jayce, Mel also have, in my opinion, half assed character arcs.

AND, unpopular opinion, something that really annoyed me was that the Ekko centric episode was basically about him being Jinx'/Powder's love interest-- which was barely hinted at or developped beforehand. Ekko was sooo interesting in the first season because his character was centered on the Piltover/Zaun conflict-- which also gets absolutely swept under the rug.

The first season is an absolute work of art because of how it set things up and then resolved them. You understood every action of the characters, you saw everything they experienced, you understood deeply why almost every character did the things they did. It was profoundly difficult to dislike any character because you knew why they did that, why they thought that, and even though a lot of the different character's actions led to tragedy-- you couldn't hate them for it, or at worst you felt conflicted about them. This season characters just kind of did things. Viktor just kind of chooses to leave Jayce, but you don't really get what's going on in his head. You kind of understood why Caitlyn succumbs to Ambessa's manipulations but you didn't really feel for her, because her character in the first season just didn't seem set up enough towards that. It felt unnatural. Why does she start sleeping with Maddie? what lead up to that? they basically just put that there for shock value. Like it makes sense that that would happen, but in the first season we would've gotten more explanation. Nothing Vi ever did really seemed like any kind of crazy culmination of her actions, things just sort of happened to her. Viktor's actions don't really make sense either, he just chooses to do stuff seemingly at random. Jinx is clearly having this intense internal conflict all season but it just wasn't expanded on enough.

I just feel like season 2 did not even begin to live up to everything that the first season was. So many things seemed abandoned and everything seemed unfinished. I don't know.

LMAOAOAOAOOO

[writingforfun0714]

Ok so I was thinking about this crossover idea I had of Arcane x Bad Batch. Spoilers for both shows.

*Contains headcanons*

I’ve been rewatching both shows and realized that Star Wars and Arcane have some similarities.

—Adopted dads

—eye color changes (Sith/Shimmer)

—Jinx/Vader parallel

—Silco/Palpatine parallel (they both lie about Vi/Obiwan respectively)

So the main idea would be Vander and Benzo are Jedi Masters (Silco is a Sith). While it’s generally against the rules of the Council to have more than 1 padawan, Vander has 4 b/c they need as many trained Jedi as possible. Because he has 4 padawans, Vander does not have a clone battalion. Instead, they work closely with Clone Force 99, aka the Bad Batch. All the kids (Vi, Claggor, Mylo, Powder and Ekko) are all jedi padawans (Caitlyn is mandalorian).

Order 66 coincides with the accidental explosion in ep3 of Arcane (where Claggor/Mylo/Vander dies). Instead of robbing Jayce (in Arcane), the kids have all passed their crystal trials. Kyber crystals are the hex crystals (Act1 version).

For the Batch, Crosshair still turns and goes after the padawans. Crosshair’s turn happens right after Vander and Benzo are taken/killed. He goes after Vi and Ekko until Hunter knocks him out. He manages to convince Vi to go back with him (mentioning Powder), but not Ekko. Ekko runs off/escapes (like Caleb).

Vi regroups with the other padawans and tells them Master Benzo was killed and Master Vander was taken (by Silco). Vi still tells Powder to stay behind while the others go after their master/father-figure. Powder still has a mental breakdown etc. But instead of remembering an accidental explosion (Jayce’s apartment) she remembers that Huang (lightsaber droid) told them that the crystals are incredibly powerful, leading to the monkey bomb scene in Arcane ep3. That whole scene would be the same. Mylo/Claggor die. Silco’s saved by Sevika, and Silco’s partner, Singed, a mad scientist/doctor still gets caught in the explosion. Instead of turning Shimmer-monster like in Arcane, Vander turns Sith but chooses to save Vi, dying in the process (still tells her to take care of Powder too).

THAT WHOLE HEART-WRENCHING SCENE STILL HAPPENS (with Powder sobbing/repeating that she only wanted to help to Vi slapping her and telling her she’s a jinx). As Powder pleads, sobbing, begging for Vi to come back, Hunter manages to find her and take her back with them. Vi’s still taken but instead of Marcus, she’s taken by clones.

The Batch+Powder return to Kamino and they still meet Omega. The rest of Bad Batch ep1 still happens (training room scene/Saw Guerra/going back for Omega/Crosshair getting separated from the rest of the Batch/Inhibitor Chip increase). Omega sees Powder as a younger sister and helps her get through the lowest point in her life. So the main differences would be O66 clones instead of shimmer-monsters and Powder ISN’T raised by Silco. Also the Arcane timeskip doesn’t happen (follows BB episodes mostly).

Idk exactly how everything would line up (especially with the other storylines in Arcane: Jayce/Viktor/Mel/Heimerdinger and Caitlyn) but the main idea would be the Batch adopting Powder and Omega seeing her as a sister (Powder would def have problems with ‘sister-relationships’ and through Omega’s help, gets healthy therapy and begins to trust).

This was just an idea I’d been playing around with for the past few weeks. The inspiration came from YouTube channel CW Edits and their ‘What Could’ve Been’ video of Anakin and Obi-Wan. If you haven’t seen it, YOU HAVE TO SEE IT! Their channel is amazing and their SW vids are *chef’s kiss*

Is anyone interested in this?? Please be honest. Lemme know what you all think! Thanks!