IMAGINE THE QUESTIONS???

I see nothing wrong here

outstanding work everyone

ZE Aesthetics » Kurashiki Siblings

I don’t want any presents this year. Instead, I want you to make my wish come true. My wish is that we’ll be happy like this for a really, really long time…

Why do right-wing memes make us look so cool. I support these gay anarchists and their dog backpack

Underrated JayVik moments/lines (2/∞)

"For what?"

(Previous line by Jayce: "I need to get ready.")

Ugh, if only the gays could communicate.

In this scene, Heimerdinger has threatened - sworn - to have the HexCore destroyed "one way or another". Since they are running out of time to find ways to save Viktor at this point and the HexCore appears to be the only viable option, Jayce immediately resolves - however conflicted about it he feels - to go up against his revered mentor by having him voted off the council. For Viktor.

However: from Jayce's quieting footsteps as Viktor asks "For what?", we can tell that Jayce didn't stick around to tell Viktor of his intentions.

If ever there was a moment that perfectly encapsulates how Viktor never gets to see the full picture of Jayce, the full scope of his decisionmaking... it would be this one.

For all the times Viktor feels betrayed and abandoned by Jayce (and rightfully so), he equally often doesn't get to witness all the other actions/decisions that show how ultimately, Jayce will always put him first.

He sees Jayce looking starstruck by Mel, but didn't see him looking at Viktor the exact same way only hours prior.

He is aware of Jayce leaving him to his own devices at the lab, but not of how Jayce fled Mel's bed to come see him before he could have even known Viktor was sick.

He hears Jayce speak disparagingly about the Undercity only after worrying about Viktor and where he had disappeared to for days.

He knows that Jayce broke his promise to destroy the HexCore, but not of the wide-eyed desparation with which he scrambled for any way at all to save Viktor.

He notices the blueprints for HexTech weapons, but wasn't there for the attack on the memorial service.

And of course, he has Jayce attacking him multiple times, but can't see how much Jayce is fighting himself tooth and nail every step of the way to do it.

In the end, it literally takes Jayce forfeiting his entire existence for the chance to stay by Viktor's side for Viktor to finally realise all the things he never saw.

(Disclaimer: none of this is to say that Jayce's decisions were all good or justified - gods no - only that it's more complicated than that. Nuance, my beloved.)

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Big stronk dude with his fuckass hammer and his stupid shoulder armor waiting on his knees for his eldritch god bf to materialize behind him and oh so tenderly penetrate his brain with his magic fingers

This is one of the sentences ever.

Since everyone is talking about that concept art of Jayce and Viktor fighting, it's useful to know that the concept artist, Suheb Zako, also posted it on their twitter with some context.

It is early concept art for a final fight between Jayce and Viktor in the hexzone sorry I'm not calling it that astral plane. There's a link in the twitter thread to an anime clip that gives you a sense of what the vibe would've been.

It's not totally clear when in the development/production process this art is from, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jayce and Viktor originally had a dynamic that was more like their game counterparts. In that case a knock-down-drag-out fight in the astral plane might've fit better. But in the final version of the show it wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well as what we got, and not just because it would have seemed out of character for what the characters and their relationship arc became in the finished show.

First of all, we already did have a knock-down-drag-out fight between them. That's the Council chamber fight scene. It would've felt like a repeated beat and that's the last thing you want in your big finale. When you have characters who fight each other multiple times, you want each fight to reflect a progression of their relationship.

Secondly, by the end of the show, Viktor is absurdly overpowered compared to any other character. Once he goes full Machine Herald he is basically a god. A conventional fight scene is just not gonna do it here. You need a twist, some way to win that doesn't involve being stronger than him. And the trump card being The Power of Unconditional Love (And Also This Time Machine Getting Chucked at Your Head) fits perfectly with the show's themes.

Thirdly, the final episode is ALL action. In an episode that's one massive battle, it takes a lot of work to make individual pieces of action stand out. (And generally, you do it not by making the fighting look Super Duper Extra Cool, but with character work.) But any scenes between the characters that are not action are automatically gonna pop because they're so different in pacing and energy from everything around them.

I haven't seen as many people discussing this set of keyframes, but the changes here are also fascinating:

Because Viktor assimilating Jayce as a battle move is almost the complete opposite of what we got in the finished show, and what we got in the finished show is so fucking good. It's one of my favorite moments in the whole damn series.

I've already written about it here, but playing it so that Jayce doesn't get surprised or overpowered but chooses to allow Viktor to bring him into the astral plane as a last-ditch effort to reach whatever is left of Viktor's humanity is sooooooo narratively sexy. (And also just. Sexy. Big stronk dude with his fuckass hammer and his stupid shoulder armor waiting on his knees for his eldritch god bf to materialize behind him and oh so tenderly penetrate his brain with his magic fingers, listen I am not making this up this is just what happens, no homoerotic fight scene could ever top this.)

It also fits with the motif of a number of characters winning their individual battles in the finale by surrender/submission/potential self-sacrifice. It fits with Caitlyn realizing that to cut the string of protective runes off Ambessa's arm she has to allow Ambessa to get within stabbing distance of her face. And of course, Jinx forcing Vi to let her go by popping the gemstone out of her gauntlet and letting herself fall with Warwick.

Arcane has fantastic action storytelling and part of good action storytelling is knowing when to have the character stop fighting each other. Seeing the early concept art is cool to see how much things evolved, but I'm glad they moved away from just trying to do an epic boss fight because what we ended up with is so much more interesting.

Personally for me it was absolutely not about favoring mlm vs. wlw. This is not simply about representation, it's about the stories. I loved CaitVi in S1 but for me in S2 they completely lacked chemistry and their ending felt unearned.

In Season 1 CaitVi told a beautiful story about two kind-hearted women overcoming their prejudice and seeing the person that was in front of them. I cherished every heartfelt glance between them, especially Vi being touched every time Cait proved to be so much better than most Piltovians and showing compassion towards the people of Zaun.

But then Season 2 came along and I lost all respect for Cait the moment she said "animals" in S2E1. AND THEN she gassed Zaun and became the Fuhrer. Her redemption scenepack (because I'm not calling that an arc) didn't really do it for me. I get what they were going for but I never regained my appreciation for Caityn after everything she's done in S2.

Vi also became way less compelling in S2. She went from being an awesome big sister and one of the main characters in S1 to being basically a device for other characters (Jinx, Cait, Warwick) to have their moments, with a montage of getting drunk in goth makeup and an underdeveloped friendship with Loris sprinkled in for good measure. She also made many out of character choices, the biggest ones being joining the Enforcers and giving up on Jinx and Zaun.

Cait and Vi's first kiss had no chemistry for me. I feel like they weren't really seeing each other in that scene. Vi asked Cait to promise she wouldn't change but Cait has already started to change by then. Cait kissed Vi as a confirmation of that promise even though you can't realistically promise someone that you won't change because it's near impossible.

Their reconcilliation in S2E6 was rushed. We've all seen the jokes that all it took for Cait to do a 180 was to hear Vi say the word "cupcake". And then the sex scene in S2E8 felt unearned and had a very awkward timing. There was so much misunderstanding that they should've addressed first but I guess they just really wanted to boink already. Or rather, the writers wanted them to boink. Even if it was in a prison cell right after Jinx pretty much implied to Vi that she's going to kill herself.

I have many problems with Arcane Season 2's writing and Cait and Vi's storylines are among them. Meanwhile the best thing that happened in that season was Jayce and Viktor's stories. They were very compelling separately (Viktor becoming Jesus and finally being able to help people in Zaun like he always wanted to, only to become lost and possessed by the Hexcore and crossing the line. Jayce seeing the unforseen tragic consequences of his idealism and ambition and coming out on the other side more mature and wanting to amend for the damage he's caused) as well as in relation to each other (Their perspectives clashing in the divorce scene. Them basically switching places and gaining understanding of each other's POV. Every time they hurt each other in any capacity in Episodes 6, 8 and 9 you could see how much pain it brought them. And then their final scene which was just poetic and tied their story perfectly, them sacrificing their lives in each other's arms to save the world from their shared dream that started it all.)

Enjoying a good story and disregarding a poorly-written one has nothing to do with biases.

im a huge jayvik fan and loved their gay ass ending but the way they get SO MUCH MORE TRACTION than the CANONICAL LESBIAN COUPLE at the center of the show is sooooo telling of everyone's biases. it's all talking about how there's not enough lesbian rep until you actually get lesbian rep and fully fucking ignore it to hype up the not even canonical gay ship. like ok !!!

He’s my our boy, and I we keep him safe

Caleb has a home he’s always running away from. Molly carries his home with him everywhere he goes. Caleb can’t forget and Molly can’t remember. They both woke up very recently in an unfamiliar place and they’re both still getting their bearings. Caleb takes a great amount of care to keep himself as hidden as possible. Molly takes the same amount of care to keep himself visible. It’s hard not to be scared of them, but they’re not scared of each other. And they’re fire- and ice-coded? I’m going to throw up. 

game over.

>continue?