yukisloser

[yukisloser]

what part of cait's ending was not happy?

also, "just because we don't see an apology on screen or see her actively working to make things right" - what DO we see then? 😭 where was the indication that caitlyn regretted the police state she set up in Zaun?

i think this fandom's main issue with caitlyn is that we're so used to having shows, movies, books, etc. end with the main conflicts resolved. everything has always been wrapped up for us perfectly with a bow. but some of us forget that arcane has always taken on a very realistic perspective—problems are never resolved. they are deeply rooted in society and in other problems.

so people are upset that caitlyn didn't apologize and that she got off "easy" while other characters didn't get a happy ending. y'all...she didn't get a happy ending. neither did vi or anyone else. that's the price of war. you may get a positive outcome within the destruction, but it's not going to be a happy one.

s2 ends when things are just beginning for piltover, true progress. that's why caitlyn asks vi if she's still in this fight, because their work is just starting, especially caitlyn's. s1 is supposed to represent these characters at their cores, right? you seriously don't think she's going to be rolling up her sleeves and being the first person out there working to make piltover and zaun better places for everyone?

actions speak louder than words. her regret for her mistakes was evident to me on my first (and so far, only) watch. just because we don't see an apology on screen or see her actively working to make things right—which, by the way act III was the beginning of that work—doesn't mean she isn't remorseful and won't atone for her actions.

besides, you seriously think vi would let her off that easy? fuck no. vi has always been honest, first and foremost, and she's comfortable enough with caitlyn to know she can call her out on her shit.

[yukisloser]

how to fix arcane season 2:

tl;dr focus on Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn as A plot and Mel, Jayce, Viktor as B plot.

that's it ✅✅✅

(okay,, further elaboration & spoilers ahead:)

1: Mel, hextech, Jayvik, magic

draw Mel into the conflict with Jayce and Viktor. GET RID OF THE BLACK ROSE. ENTIRELY. why put Mel in with Jayvik? Mel was the CATALYST for hextech being created!! Jayce and Viktor were the ones who came up with it, but Mel is the one who allowed them to and supported it and made it a KEY part of Piltover!! as much as i loved jayvik moments somewhat, she DESERVED to be part of the hextech/hexcore/arcane plot 100%

2. Jinx, Isha, Sevika, Zaun

show Jinx finding peace away from the conflict through both Isha and her community. with Isha i feel that Jinx's symptoms could have flared up again (cuz where did they all go?? Silco's death made her ACCEPT she's Jinx, that's pretty extreme - ) and maybe she would ask Sevika to take Isha away or something and get someone else to adopt her. of course Isha being loyal would perhaps try to come back and she could eventually be the bridge forming between Jinx and the rest of Zaun (a sense of community which was HINTED in the Stillwater breakout, where Jinx finally felt the comfort of being accepted by a community which was THANKFUL to her - a feeling that was clearly new and slightly scary for her)

3. Caitlyn, Ambessa, Piltover

actually redeem Caitlyn: like seriously? wtf? no more notes.

4. Vi, enforcers, Powder

Vi. oh my sweet baby Vi. perhaps we should just rewrite everything for her this season. okay but seriously, they 100% needed to focus more on her unwillingness to accept that her sister has changed. "Powder" is not a person she can bring back by yelling old names as she tried to do in the season one finale - which only ended up traumatizing Jinx more. Vi needs to accept that Powder is someone she left, and CANNOT return to. she NEEDS to truly reckon with the fact that the years kept passing for everyone she knew even while she was stagnating in prison, and try to understand what Jinx has gone through. I think her arc of calling her sister "dead" and branding Jinx as her killer is GOOD, but it should have developed more from there.

[yukisloser]

a bit strange to me that jinx didn’t really struggle with the fact that vander called her powder like at all this season when the climax of her character in season one was the choice between powder and jinx that several distressed her throughout the entire show at that point. reminders of her past cause debilitating episodes for her but not when her former guardian who turned into a werewolf does it i guess

[yukisloser]

not trying to put these people on #blast but oh my god. ohhhh my god. i cannot believe this is an actual take.

listen to yourselves. do you fr think the answer to mental health and family issues is euthanasia? that the best possible ending for a schizophrenic person is to be put down? or cut off all friends and family so they can't bother them anymore?

vi clearly wanted her back no matter what! cait forgave her. ekko already saved her from offing herself. so what is better now that she's dead or gone? how is that "breaking the cycle" any more than forgiveness and reconciliation? who wanted this?

jinx got her name because so many horrible traumatic things happened around her that it became her identity. she believed she made the world a worse place just by existing. and arcane ending the way it does just... agrees with her. no twists or defying expectations. it doesnt matter that powder wanted to save her family, it doesnt matter that isha sacrificed herself out of love for her new big sis, jinx caused those deaths and she should leave forever because of it. horrible conclusion on every level.

[yukisloser]

I wanna ask what’s going on with arcane but I feel like I’m opening pandora’s box 😅

the thing about arcane s1's writing, is that every plot beat flowed naturally from characters' choices, and every one of the characters' choices made sense in the context of who that character was, where they came from and what information they are working with at the time they make that decision. it felt like a tightly written tragedy where on a rewatch, it all feels completely inevitable that things would end this way because it made sense to who we learned these characters were. and said characters were layered, much time was devoted to giving them a certain degree of depth and believability (bar cait). you can criticize other aspects of s1's writing such as liberal wishwashiness but s1 of arcane was a *good* tragedy with a genuinely compelling cast! the final scene of the show is a confrontation between three major players who were all working with different information and whose motivations are completely at odds but who have a deeply personal tie, it's about jinx as the end result of the zaun-piltover conflict, it's about vi and silco being two deeply broken people who see her in an idealized version they deeply love and want her to remain this static thing they can be comfortable with until it turns out she can't be and she shatters and at the same time irreversably destroys her relationship to both, leading her in her despair to set off the ticking time bomb that is piltover and zaun's inevitable conflict!

so like, s1 has its flaws but its finale imo was perfect and made the whole thing self contained. i was ok with s2 happening. the only thing i wanted was more the dynamic character writing. i expected wishy washy politcs. and act 1 of s2 already struggled with character, but at least the plot beats were interesting and while not earned, made sense according to the characters we'd left in s1.

s2 act 2 is an absolute catastrophe, even compared to the previous act, nevermind compared to s1. it's not just that the plot beats don't feel earned, it's not just that it's missing connective tissue between them--it's that all the most interesting conflicts and dynamics just cease to exist. they don't get "resolved", they either are completely forgotten or are just waved away magically to pave the way for an utterly stupid, shlocky, wannabe shock value emotional final ten minutes of episode 6 that is honestly infuriating in how it's trying to push you to have feelings about it. i don't have any feelings besides revulsion and bafflement frankly. even before these final ten minutes of ep 6, the sheer lack of buildup or of character moments, the way characters are basically willed by the plot to be there at specific points for plot to happen to them instead of them arriving at it naturally--the way it reframes interesting aspects of s1 and s2 act 1 into shlocky, tropey bullshit--it's honestly near mesmerizing? it's like they brought in whole different new writers specifically for this who decided to back down on ANYTHING the show did that was interesting to try to instead push to the league's status quo instead, no matter how little sense it makes. i'm almost in awe. how do you mess up so badly.

this isn't just like, the plot is rushed and we need to get there as fast as possible--none of these resolutions make SENSE. jinx and vi's relationship was the core of season one, and suddenly magically jinx shows up at vi's door and vi bitches a little and then they go hunt vander down together and then they all hug because he was their father too <333 isha. i'm supposed to have emotions about isha? she sacrifices herself for.... forwhat? what? why? it's like they knew they had to kill her off to give jinx feelings and do so in the most stupid and absurd way possible, i was laughing hysterically when the music came in. it was so blatantly manipulative and uncalled for. ok i guess! sevika helps jinx and then once she's served her plot purpose she just vanishes! doesn't she wanna meet vander??? ekko's disappearance doesn't both people much i guess even his own firelights. ambessa says a single line about mel disappearing, and can i say i'm kinda infuriated that two out of three of the main black characters are just locked away from the plot and main cast for a large period of time. jayce--i guess they'll give us an explanation as to why but here it's like he just...... shows up angry and "ruins" things and that's it. whatever there was to ruin lmfao sky and viktor's heterosexuality mind palace leading to him being cyborg satan or some shit? cait finally FINALLY gets some personality, something interesting to her, she is openly a reactionary fascist who gassed half the undercity to sniff out jinx, and then she meets vi and within a solid minute is now back to being Nice and helping out jinx. i guess. silco and vander's backstory kind of completely destroys a lot of the stuff that made vander and silco's relationship to vi and jinx interesting and goes for a Family Is 5ever approach i guess.

just. i don't think there's a single thing there that's redeemable or interesting. it's comically bad. vi has no personality or motivation. she just does things. she got an emo trauma amv so that we get that she's sad but it might as well not have happened bc she barely is a character. jinx is a sad manic pixie dream girl. her psychosis is gone or barely there now apparently. sevika is plot and then vanishes when her part is done. ambessa is not a mastermind as act 1 hinted at but the most stupid comical villain alive. mel is--is she just going to come back to do a big plot thing in act 3 and then that's it? ekko the same? we have no idea what jayce is even doing or what or why. piltover and zaun are gonna ally now i guess lol. ok sure why not. why anything. why do anything at all! what's the point!

it's funny bc i was willing to give this season a chance despite act 1 being so rushed bc again, the plot points were interesting and while the characters needed more time fleshed out for their decisions to make sense i COULD see the characters making these choices and it was just a question of missing buildup. here it's like everyone is a zombie of their actual self. there's no point to anything. it's so stupid. it tries hard to play the emotion part but why should i feel any emotion except befuddlement? why are caitvi shippers happy? i'd be insulted. i feel insulted. i heard via a friend that riot had intervened in the writing more and so far i hadn't felt it but now i'm wondering if that's not exactly what happened bc it genuinely feels like the writers were fired right after act 1. what the fuck lol. i don't think i even wanna watch act 3 after this, i feel genuinely insulted that i should be expected to think this is the same show as s1 or that i should feel any kind of positive feelings about it. fuck this show so bad lmfao i'm sticking to s1 and pretending nothing happened after it. maybe grabbing some act 1 plot points for fun and that's it. it's so bad

[yukisloser]

Idk I feel like making Maddie Nolen a traitor loyal to Ambessa does an extreme disservice not just to Maddie's character but also to the potential political message of Arcane. Had Maddie really, truly been earnest and kind and compassionate the whole time, and had she died in the battle, it would have done so much more for her, for Caitlyn, for the show. Here is a gentle character whose life and innocence would've been stripped from her because of war, because of imperialism. Here is a ray of sunshine who followed Caitlyn loyally through thick and thin, who shows Cait price of working with other oppressors.

But also: here is the bubbly character with a smile, the first to eagerly join in to a descent to fascism and martial law. Here is the "good cop", the gentle enforcer, who faithfully joins in a quest that involves gassing innocents of a city. Here is a kind soul, but also a soul who after expressing some doubts about the methods used, continues to work directly with and as the oppressors of innocents. Even the best of the enforcers is a part of the unjust oppression of Zaun.

Instead, she's written off as a spy, a mole, bad all along. Any nuance that her character could have brought is stripped away and she's killed and discarded without a second glance. The enforcers as a whole I feel could've been approached with more nuance, and she would've been a part of it. Instead, she's one-dimensional, a complete turncoat.

[yukisloser]

Jayce's speech to Viktor was bad.

IMO

So, the final speech Jayce gave to Viktor about finding beauty in imperfection, and how our flaws make us human, that’s a fine sentiment but the specific examples he used ruined it. He used Viktors disease as an example.

Viktor was dying from a disease caused by Piltover mining in the fissures polluting the air. It was a preventable disease forced onto him by a corrupt system. He was slowly and painfully falling apart. “I can feel myself rotting” type stuff. Was he supposed to have appreciated that?

Jayce wants him to have appreciated the simple beauty of dying a slow painful death while your best friend is too busy being a councilman to be with you and your mentor is roadblocking your only possible cure. That was the imperfection that he was misguided to want to solve? The show is really saying Viktor was misguided, or not appreciative enough of being human, to not want to die young. He was giving up his humanity when he fought to live.

Viktor should not have just accepted it, that isn’t just part of being human. It isn’t a beautiful flaw you learn to love. He did nothing wrong by taking his life into his own hands and taking every possible chance to live. Even when no one believed in him.

I’m sure there are more charitable interpretations but that line really rubbed me the wrong way.

[yukisloser]

- Zaunites dying to help Piltover in battle while wearing enforcer uniforms, even though Piltover did nothing to earn it

- Silco, one of the few pro-Zaun/anti-Piltover characters from season 1, reduced into a mouthpiece for "forgiving those who wronged you" and letting go

- Jinx, one of the few anti-Piltover characters, becoming redeemed by sympathizing with Piltovians, being apologetic for killing Councilors, and feeling like she should die to allow her sister to be happy with her enforcer girlfriend

- Vi not having any problem with her Piltovian enforcer girlfriend gassing Zaun, and reduced to kneeling for Caitlyn's pussy in a prison cell, where she was locked for years as a child by an enforcer

- Jayce telling Viktor that his disease was never a weakness to be cured even though the disease was caused by Piltover polluting Zaun

- Ekko never calling out Heimerdinger's failings as a ruler nor Vi for joining the enforcers (even though he does in the game), and also risking all the Firelights' lives to help Piltover

- Sevika not having any lines in Act 3, never interacting with Jinx or reacting to Isha's death, and also risking her life to help Piltover, a decision which was made off screen

[yukisloser]

As much as I adored the Jayce telling Viktor his imperfections are beautifull - Jayce does realise that Viktor didn't just augment his leg to take away his disability, right? The man was dying, Jayce.

The hexcore enhancements weren't to make Viktor perfect; Viktor took away the broken parts of his body because he was dying. He was going to die before he could help the undercity, before he could help those in need. He needed to survive to continue his hextech research (God knows Jayce was otherwise preoccupied that moment).

He started with his leg, yes, and after that did his body, yes. He was indeed getting lost in the enhancements, yes.

But. BUT. He didn't start because he wanted to get rid of "imperfections", he just wanted to LIVE.

Thats Viktor's whole arc in s1! Wanting to help people, doomed to die before he can, desperate to live to still try, and finally accepting his unavoidable death. His lungs were ruined due to gasses in the fissures, he was coughing blood (!!!!), he was dying. Dying. Dying.

Jayce acting as if Viktor was always driven by his need to get rid of imperfections irked me, im not gonna lie. Because its simply not true. Viktor was always driven by his desire to help those those in need, those afflicted with disseases and exhaustion.

Again: gorgeous scene, but simply not true. It takes away a lot of depth of Viktors character. He goes from "chronically sick man who wishes to save others from the same fate as him, aka early death and constant pain" to "disabled man who hated his disability so much he wanted to get rid of all disabilities". You do get the second is way more boring, and dare I say worse than the first one, right?

[yukisloser]

I'll see you in a better tomorrow.

[yukisloser]

(i appreciate the /gen i hope i'm not being rude either)

you're 100% right about the s1 aspects of jayce and viktor you mentioned; they built hextech to bring magic to people and to SAVE people, to save those who were least fortunate (and they both seemed to agree the people of the undercity deserved this, even if jayce was naive about it and viktor wasn't).

buuut... even in season 1 they both starting using hextech for other purposes; jayce to fight (in the factories with vi) and viktor to modify living things (creating the hexcore). both of their goals were still pretty noble (bringing down silco's shimmer trade, healing a disease which (supposedly) more people in the undercity had) but they also became more more focused on themselves, and especially on themselves as individuals instead of working together. so even in season one their arcs were starting to be about being pulled in by the arcane, and by its power. am i still somewhat disappointed in how they were both treated in s2? yeah for sure. but i don't think their relationship (in the broadest sense of the word) in s2 being focused on the arcane - magic - came out of nowhere, either.

(also, notes for me being a dummy and not realizing op meant the arcane tag LMAO, that one's my bad 😅 still feel it's quite useless to blame people for momentary hype around something you don't personally feel attached to when they do, but at least i do understand the annoyance about it being on the main tag)

y'all I'm so mad with you Jayvik shippers. I get it, it was gay, I thought they were super fruity in season 1 already as well, but please have a critical thought. their arc in act 3 coopted the ENTIRE story including their storyline (referencing the last post I reblogged here): arcane is about classist oppression, Viktor got to suffer it firsthand as a Zaunite on Topside. this never was about an evil god, or the arcane, Zaun has been in shit since forever as far as I'm concerned. Viktor only started ascending to evil godhood in act 2 of this season. to make him or his delusion out as the real evil that needs to be combatted in order to fix everything is batshit. the villain isn't Viktor or Ambessa or Silco or Mel or Singed or whoever IT'S PILTOVER AS A SYSTEM. and I thought we were all agreeing on this already, but so many of you saw the poor gay Zaunite who just wanted to help turn evil and gobbled it up. Piltover got away without any blame, since Viktor wasn't even one of their people. Besides, I cannot be the only one who thinks that this all is incredibly out of character for Viktor and needed more explanation.

and don't get me wrong, the jayvik scene looked amazing and if my two faves astrally conected through divine bleach and tones while being existential about their relationship I'd also jump, trust me, I've watched she ra. and I can't even say I'd like it to be different, but it is taking up too much importance. it could've been a catalyst to unite Zaun and Piltover through a common cause and get them to work some systematic issues out, it could have been anything but this. none of Piltovers crimes were addressed, Zaun is still in poverty and the only systematic change that happened was one (1) Zaunite being allowed in the council, which really means nothing, because the council decides by vote and there is like seven Topside council members.

I'm very much disappointed by a show who I thought was really in synch with today's systematic issues up until now (and I'm mad at all you jayvik people for clogging up the tag, when there is so much to discuss) and that doesn't even take into account that they made the mentally ill character that most unstable and suicidal people relate to A LOT kill herself??

[yukisloser]

Actually, while we’re on the topic. What the fuck happened to Sevika’s storyline? You’re telling me the writers couldn’t give her one line in the finale? One single glimpse at her mind in the moment where she takes the seat on the fucking council? Her, the character who practically embodies Zaun and its ideals, whose fight has always been for Zaun?

“Oh well, there’s the visuals-“. Yes. It still feels disappointing, though. We’ve seen Sevika fighting for Zaun since the beginning… and we can’t get one fucking line when she takes such a big step towards making a change bigger than she might have ever thought was possible? What the actual fuck.

[yukisloser]

okay bear with me here because this is turning longer than i expected it to be. buuuut at this point i have to admit that jayvik haters are so tiring, sorry. complaining about their fans "clogging up the tag".. the tag that's THEIR SHIP NAME?? used for shipping? the agony!

alright, but more constructively:

sorry, jayce and viktor do NOT represent the systemic issues with piltover and zaun; that's CAITLYN AND VI. jayvik had the potential to be that (and i'm disappointed they weren't, too) but their story was about powerful magic and the way that corrupts and the way you can't magic yourself out of every problem. fine, it could've been more, but it wasn't. instead it was caitlyn and vi who represented that, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING - who visited each other's cities and in s1 found respect for one another in a way that was very much DESPITE THEIR DIFFERENCES. you know, the one topsider - who inherited her mother's peaceful ways which helped the undercity, BUT ALSO the expectations of wealthier pilties being more 'valuable' - and the zaunite, with a father who preached peace but also worked with pilties, and a sister who wanted to be powerful but also wanted to burn it all down, piltover, zaun, everything. caitlyn and vi were always the heart of the piltover/zaun potential reconciliation: the piltie who started seeing that PILTOVER was the reason for zaun being the way it was, and the zaunite who started accepting said piltie's help.

having said all that, i must say i literally agree with 99% of the original post too is the thing.. arcane majorly dropped the ball on the systemic issues and that was hella disappointing. but why the hell are we mad at JAYVIK SHIPPERS over it???

y'all I'm so mad with you Jayvik shippers. I get it, it was gay, I thought they were super fruity in season 1 already as well, but please have a critical thought. their arc in act 3 coopted the ENTIRE story including their storyline (referencing the last post I reblogged here): arcane is about classist oppression, Viktor got to suffer it firsthand as a Zaunite on Topside. this never was about an evil god, or the arcane, Zaun has been in shit since forever as far as I'm concerned. Viktor only started ascending to evil godhood in act 2 of this season. to make him or his delusion out as the real evil that needs to be combatted in order to fix everything is batshit. the villain isn't Viktor or Ambessa or Silco or Mel or Singed or whoever IT'S PILTOVER AS A SYSTEM. and I thought we were all agreeing on this already, but so many of you saw the poor gay Zaunite who just wanted to help turn evil and gobbled it up. Piltover got away without any blame, since Viktor wasn't even one of their people. Besides, I cannot be the only one who thinks that this all is incredibly out of character for Viktor and needed more explanation.

and don't get me wrong, the jayvik scene looked amazing and if my two faves astrally conected through divine bleach and tones while being existential about their relationship I'd also jump, trust me, I've watched she ra. and I can't even say I'd like it to be different, but it is taking up too much importance. it could've been a catalyst to unite Zaun and Piltover through a common cause and get them to work some systematic issues out, it could have been anything but this. none of Piltovers crimes were addressed, Zaun is still in poverty and the only systematic change that happened was one (1) Zaunite being allowed in the council, which really means nothing, because the council decides by vote and there is like seven Topside council members.

I'm very much disappointed by a show who I thought was really in synch with today's systematic issues up until now (and I'm mad at all you jayvik people for clogging up the tag, when there is so much to discuss) and that doesn't even take into account that they made the mentally ill character that most unstable and suicidal people relate to A LOT kill herself??

[yukisloser]

Jinx but she's Kugisaki

[yukisloser]

doomed yaoi

[yukisloser]

My faves in Arcane ^.^

[yukisloser]

"Don't fight anymore, you're sisters"