Latest Posts by faint-taste-of-almonds - Page 4

honestly the suitors should’ve known they were fucked when Penelope issued the challenge bc not only does she say my husband’s old bow instead of my old husband’s bow (basically saying that she doesn’t actually want to remarry) but Jorge also has the emphasis on husband, reminding them and us that Odysseus is still out there

waiting

MY SHAYLASSSS

finally caved in and drew them 🫶🏼

Just a reminder for anyone new here:

Tumblr's policy of selling your posts to AI companies is Opt-OUT, not opt-in. Meaning everything you post gets sold until you go in your blog settings and toggle this switch (supposedly)

*shaking sobbing covered in blood* yeah it's fine that i can't do The Thing because of my disability. thats fine. its whatever. i am completely at peace with the fact that i cannot do The Thing and i will stop torturing myself on that basis. it totally doesn't make me feel subhuman at all that i can't do The Thing. i'm so normal about my inability to do The Thing. i really am. i really, really am. it's whatever. it's fine. i'm fine. everything is FINE

Every time someone draws fanart where Viktor is crouching (thigh to calf) with the leg that’s in the brace, bbno$ loses a year off his life

Post-wisdom saga Athena’s reaction to a sudden hug would be to remove her armor to not hurt Ody- change my mind

things are bad but at least we’re in the timeline where lady gaga released Disease and Abracadabra in time for arcane editors to go HARD with them

Penelope will always be a girlboss because by sitting behind the 12 axes she told the suitors to shoot through cleanly, not only was she

mocking them by being showing she was fully confident they wouldn’t succeed

But also BASICALLY TELLING EVERYONE THAT THEY WILL NEVER BE BETTER THAN HER HUSBAND WHO ACTUALLY COULD SHOOT THROUGH 12 AXES.

AND ON TOP IF THAT PROVING HER LOVE TO ODY BY SAYING THAT IF ANYONE WERE TO EVER SUCCEED THE CHALLENGE AND BECOME KING, THEY WOULD’VE KILLED HER BY DOING SO. QUITE LITERALLY, SHED RATHER DIE THAN RULE WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN ODYSSEUS!!!

The Arcane Major Arcana

Card III - The Empress

The Empress represents abundance, creativity, and femininity. She is a boon to those in need of stability and positive results. Mutual love is often found under her purview.

Reversed, the Empress represents creative blocks, overdependence, and struggles in romantic relationships.

Fem jayvik ;D

*despite everything it’s… oh.

for you and your warped reflection

as much as i LOVE the storyboards and concept art of jayce having facial hexcorisation scars, i think the removal of it was justified from a narrative standpoint and even serves to make jayvik's ending all the more romantic

jayce falling into the ravine and being stuck there was all about stripping him of all his pride, ego, and possessions and humbling him so he can finally be selfish and do things for himself for once. he's beaten down to his very foundations and forced to reconsider what he truly values in his life and what's worth fighting for.

the facial hexcorisation scars would have added another layer of being forced to unlearn the instinct of caring about his outward appearance after being burdened by the duty of maintaining himself as the face of piltover, and would also mirror viktor's being loved despite his changing outward appearances that i love love love

however, i believe higher stakes were introduced with the removal of these scars. during the "you must go, jayce" scene, the audience is still put in a position to expect jayce could leave the rest up to viktor in favour of returning to a life in piltover and into the high position he already previously held. he'd be comfortable, he'd be celebrated, he'd be loved which was one of the aims and responsibilities of s1 mr. jayce people pleaser talis.

the implementation of the scars would have cemented the idea of "no going back" too clearly and would have made it possible to view "we finish this together" as a last resort choice, since it would have been more obvious that jayce is meant to have a doomed ending.

the truth is, jayce chooses to go with viktor in the end because it's viktor. it's literally canon. "all i want is my partner back."

it's not because there was no other choice, but rather despite the other options available to him that jayce ultimately sacrificed whatever good and comfortable life could have been waiting for him because what would it all be worth if it meant he had to give up viktor in exchange?

in every single timeline and in every single possibility, viktor chooses jayce. this we know. but it's thanks to the hesitation and uncertainty held over the audience that makes the ending of "jayce too, chooses viktor every time" all the more impactful and satisfying

Why Viktor from Arcane is WRONG About Evolution

Right so, I'm getting my degree in evolutionary biology and evolution as a subject is my absolute bread and butter, so I thought I'd give some insight into a particular line from Arcane and why it both infuriated me AND is also brilliant writing.

(Quick note: I'm not writing this to say the SHOW is wrong about evolution or that the writing is bad. The writing around this is actually amazing and I'll get into that. This IS NOT a critique.)

The line in question happens during episode 6 of season 2 of the show during a conversation between Singed and Viktor where Viktor states the following:

"Evolution has a destination, not to combat nature, but to supercede it. The final, glorious evolution."

Every single thing about this statement is disastrously incorrect. And when I first heard it, it took everything in me not to scream in frustration, but I think I get it now.

The rest of this essay will be me picking apart this quote piece by piece, both to explain WHY its incorrect, but also why that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"Evolution Has a Destination"

We'll start with his first assertion, that evolution has a destination. This is patently false on every level. Evolution occurs constantly, it never ceases.

This is actually a really, really common misconception when it comes to evolution. Many people see the explanation for natural selection, survival of the fittest, and assume that that means evolution is a constant trend of "improvement". There's an assumption that, as we continue to evolve, we become "better".

But that's NOT what "survival of the fittest" means (nor is natural selection the only mechanism of evolution but I digress). "Fitness" is not some overall objective best form, it has a VERY specific definition.

Fitness, when discussing evolutionary biology, refers to your ability to survive within your environment long enough to produce viable offspring. It doesn't mean "fastest" or "strongest", and it's incredibly circumstantial. Every species encounters DIFFERENT challenges based on the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors of their environment. These pressures are what define "fitness". It's different for all species.

And those pressures are NOT static either. Your environment changes. Plate tectonics shift, natural disasters occur, weather patterns change, other species evolve alongside you, your circumstances as a species will never remain stagnant. New challenges WILL befall you in your environment and you WILL have to evolve new adaptations for continued success.

Even if you tailored everything to perfection, eliminated all challenges, and somehow obtained infinite resources, EVEN THEN you cannot escape the finite resource of SPACE. Your population's density will grow and eventually you will run out of space, and you'd need to, once again, adapt.

(Now, there is a concept in ecology called "climax", where an ecosystem could theoretically perfectly balance itself and remain unchanged for a statistically long period of time, exiting the cycle of succession and in essence, slowing evolution to a crawl at best.

However, this is not only purely hypothetical and heavily debated, it also is not permanent. Even this "perfectly" balanced state of equilibrium cannot compete with the force that is geology and time. Even an ecosystem in climax would eventually be torn asunder by the changing climate and plate tectonics, not to mention neighboring ecosystems.)

There is no static environment and there is no static life, so it's impossible for there to be a "perfect" lifeform. There is no destination, there can't be.

"Not to Combat Nature"

This is Viktor's second statement, and it's... a very interesting choice of words.

Because this... is not actually in response to what Singed says about evolution. His statement is in response to what Viktor has to say about fate:

Viktor: Do you believe in fate, Doctor? Our paths, carved before us guided by... an invisible hand.

Singed: Not fate, evolution. Nature's greatest force, forever in flux.

Singed says he believes in THIS in place of a belief in fate. He doesn't see it as combating nature, but as a force of nature itself. Instead this is actually Viktor's own initial assumption and interpretation of evolution. That evolution combats nature. This is obviously false, and Singed is the one with the right idea.

Evolution is, in fact, a facit of nature itself, of life itself. It is an inseparable part of what defines life; the essence of something being organic in the first place. As I said before, all life evolves CONSTANTLY. We NEVER stop evolving. The results of evolution are often too slow for us to see within our lifetimes, but its still happening. As Singed says, we are "forever in flux".

But Viktor is arguing against something else entirely: that evolution combats nature, that it is an aggressive force, maybe even a destructive one.

Most importantly, to meet something in combat is to be on equal footing, presumably, a mutual struggle. Nature and evolution, equals in a battle that will never end, oscillating between perfection and flaw. This is Viktor's view of Singed's response and of evolution as it currently stands.

"But to Supercede It."

Viktor, however, does not see evolution and nature as equals. Instead, he sees the path of evolution as one that will overtake nature and surpass it. In Viktor's mind humanity is destined to break out of the chains of the organic concept of flaw itself.

But that's impossible, because evolution requires flaws in the first place.

I've talked about how there's no such thing as a perfect, ideal life form, and that alone squanders Viktor's idea of evolution. But it's not just his end goal that doesn't mesh with reality, but the very function of evolution itself.

Evolution relies on diversity. In order for a trait to be selected for or against it must first EXIST within the population. A trait cannot be selected for if the genes that encode for it aren't present, and what is the only way for new alleles come into existence? Mutation. Mistakes. You could even call them imperfections.

Everything that makes us human originated as an inconsistency in the process of DNA replication. We are a tapestry of imperfections, every single living organism on earth. If we didn't have diversity in our gene pools we would have never even become multicellular, we would not have been able to keep up with the changing world at all.

How can you supercede nature via evolution when its made us everything that we are BECAUSE of how messy and flawed nature is in the first place. It's a paradox.

Altogether, Viktor's idea of a destination is impossible, and the very foundations of evolution are built on imperfections. So you may ask yourself: Why does he even believe in this? Why does he say all of this despite being such an intelligent character? Surely he knows he's wrong, right?

"The Final, Glorious Evolution"

Viktor as a character is a lot of things. He's shown to be incredibly intelligent and hyper-competent. He wants to make the world a better place for people suffering because he himself suffered greatly. He's also a perfectionist.

When we first meet Viktor, we're introduced to him as the assistant to the dean of the academy who holds his head high and isn't afraid to be snarky with Jayce for blowing up his apartment. On a whim he chooses to help Jayce, to inspire him to risk it all for Hextech, to improve lives.

He stands with Jayce on the ledge saying no one ever believed in him, so instead he believed in himself. He appears to be incredibly confident.

But we see through the rest of season one that that confidence doesn't come from a place of genuine self love, it comes from security in his abilities. His self-worth is tied to his usefulness, to his impact on the world. Imperfections, in Viktor's eyes, are a mere hindrance.

Viktor isn't actually as confident in himself as he first appears. He postures himself with a lot of faith in what he's able to do, but when it comes to what he IS NOT able to do, he shrivels. He's a deeply insecure person. His disability and his status as a Zaunite have done little for him but hold him back. He thinks he needs fixing, that the undercity needs fixing, that humanity as a whole needs fixing.

So when the hexcore is manipulating him, of course it targets this view in him. Like Viktor, the hexcore wants to change the world to be in its image. It wants to replace all that is organic with that which is artificial, ideal. And so it sings the song of the glorious evolution to Viktor.

Imagine it, a world with no pain, no conflict, no struggle. No environmental pressures to contend with, because a perfect being cannot struggle, it can't make mistakes that lead to pain.

But when we see that imagined world, its a wasteland. In Viktor's own words, a field of dreamless solitude. A flat expanse where nothing can change or grow, nothing new can be experienced, none of humanity's warmth and emotion exist anymore.

"There Is No Prize to Perfection, Only an End to Pursuit"

At first I thought it was kind of silly that a scientist would ever misunderstand evolution to the degree Viktor has with this line. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Viktor misunderstanding evolution is just another extension of his perfectionism. It's IMPORTANT that he's wrong actually, it's essential to his arc.

He can't perceive the truth of what evolution is at this point in the story because accepting that means accepting that there is beauty in imperfections.

And I think we all know that that lesson is one that he hadn't quit learned yet.

Thanks for reading my insane ramblings.

"There is beauty in imperfections. They made you who you are. An inseparable piece of everything I admired about you." - Jayce Talis

my favorite hc is that penelope was told by the ladies in waiting to go and stay in her room and not to come out for anyone

and she hears screams and whatnot and is like oh fuck now theyve done it, the suitors are gonna destroy the place

only to hear the screams lessen in volume and being like ? are they killing each other?

but then she hears a scream clear as day "THIS WILL BE YOUR FATE" and she's like🧍‍♀️no fuckin shot my husband is down there on a murder spree

and she immediately starts pacing back and forth like "LADIES HELP ME PREPARE I NEED TO LOOK DIVINE" and it's a full makeover sequence

and they're posing her and being like "hold on, tilt your chin up a little bit, turn to the side like 12 degrees- BOOM my lady you are serving such cunt"

and then they hear odysseus' loud ass steps going up the stairs and all the ladies scatter while penelope tries to look nonchalant like "AHEM....😳 is it you? have my prayers been answered?"

went to my best friend’s house last night and saw a little plushie dog and plushie cat that had been sewn together down the middle into a two-headed chimera. I said, “did you do that?” she said, “yes, I saved them.”

turns out at her old job when the last two plushies hadn’t sold and became deadstock, her boss told her to cut them up and throw them out. so she cut them each in half, preserved their heads, and then rebuilt them together.

cannot stop thinking about the way these little plushies were approached with the instinct of a Vampire or some sort of ancient god. “Let me save you [turn you into a monster].”

my favorite timestuck dynamic

The thing is that Jayce succeeds. He was right.

He was able to create magic. His idea was revolutionary. He was able to harness the arcane and fuse it with scientific principles to create amazing things. Somewhere along the way he reached his life's goal of giving magic to the world, and he still had so much more left to offer. He had the praise and the accolades and the funding and his face on the goddamn mugs.

And it wasn't enough. Not where it mattered most. Not for who it mattered most.

(Do you think Jayce felt sick, cleaning the dirt and blood from his pristine white coat, waiting? Do you think the memories kept it off, despite the chill in the lab air, with him only re-donning his Man of Progress suit when Viktor leaves for good? Do you think upon his return from the anomaly that he cradles his old mug — the one Viktor bought for him as a joke — suddenly and fiercely glad for his grown out hair and beard because he is not that man anymore. He hasn't been for a long time. Maybe he never really was.

Not that it matters. He has a promise to keep.)

The greed they talk about in the bible

Save me lesbian jayvik save me

If this is not their dynamic then what it

i need to see every individual frame of this scene becahse oh my god

fortiche animators when i get you it’s so over

Taking a little break from commissions and forcing myself to learn again how to render, also... me and my inconsistent art style, we're not doing better 😔

'People are panicking about AI tools the same way they did when the calculator was invented, stop worrying' cannot stress enough the calculator did not forcibly pervade every aspect of our lives, has such a low error rate it's a statistical anomaly when it does happen, isn't built on mass plagiarism, and does not obliterate the fucking environment when you use it. Be so fucking serious right now

some arcane pirate au sketches

those are the important bits, really

summary speedrun

what if we were both SCIENTISTS and saved each other from SUICIDE and worked in close quarters for a DECADE but our project turned out to be EVIL and one of us got involved in POLITICS while the other got involved in DRUGS because he is DYING and one of us got EXPLODED and then RESURRECTED but left to become JESUS while the other was transported to another DIMENSION and had to endure narrative PARALLELS before vowing to KILL his friend because he came back WRONG and what if we ended up ASTRAL PROJECTING and finally ACCEPTING OURSELVES all while saving the world as PARTNERS??? WHAT THEN??

The Arcane Major Arcana

Card II - The High Priestess

The High Priestess is an inner voice. She is focused on awareness, instincts, and spiritual enlightenment. Additionally, intelligence and the sciences are under her purview. She encourages looking to the inner world for guidance in navigating life's uncertainties.

Reversed, the High Priestess warns of a lack of attention to the self. Loss of self-identity, suppression of emotions, or interference from others may lead to incorrect judgement. Mistakes are likely.

Okay but imagine Viktor getting a chance to show his undercity roots

They get locked out of the lab and Jayce is like fuck this is Skys day off and she has the extra key set how tf are we getting in and Viktor just starts picking the lock. Jayce hasn’t even gotten through his out-loud thinking process and Viktor already has the door open. He’s so confused. He even designed the door to not get broken into.

They go down to the Zaun markets for things they can’t find in Piltover and Viktor easily haggles down the prices to what they should be and not what they’re trying to charge Jayce. (He does pay full prices for people who actually need the money in Zaun).

Viktor easily charms people for information. Jayce needs help in the council with something and Hoskel is not being helpful at all. He can't go to the other council members. Viktor manages a meeting with him for coffee/drinks and he comes back two hours later with all the information Jayce would need. He had Hoskel eating out of the palm of his hand. He still has no idea how he did it.

Viktor trips people on purpose all the time. Some guy insulted him passing by at a gala and a few minutes later the man tripped and fell into the champagne fountain. Viktor didn't even change his facial expression, no one knew it was him except for Jayce. (Jayce was proud, thought it was funny).

Viktor can pick-pocket. (Sky can too). They have a game of "who can steal the most off Jayce" when they're all in the lab together. Mel has gotten in on it by giving them challenges like adding pins and stickers. Jayce is so confused. He is covered in pins and stickers. Someone help him.

Viktor has the street smarts in addition to his actual book smarts. He and Sky have helped to teach Jayce how to spot things like people getting ready to fight (the physical signs) who to avoid and why, how to get out of a spat in the bad parts of town, and how to use these skills in Piltover (avoiding drunk gala attendees, fighting outside of wine clubs).

Viktor can hold his own in a verbal spat. He's also got a temper when it comes to someone trying to break down his morals or is being just an outright ass. Once got into an argument with a store owner who was being ableist and downright insulting about him being from Zaun. He was gonna let it go but then the guy turned on Jayce and his family. Jayce had to drag him out. Viktor is now banned from the shop.

Precanon melvik at a party