Former Arcane Fan

He/Him || Tired || Arcane Season 2 denier

[formerarcanefan]

Pinned Post

I just realized I didn't do this so here.

DNI: Zionists, racists, transphobes, homophobes, radfems

my pronouns are he/him. I'm trans and gay. If you're against that, get out.

I have some issues with arcane season 2, as we all do.

I'm a JayVik shipper but I'm more biased on league and arcane s1 JayVik / VikJayce.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading.

[formerarcanefan]

If I see people tag the arcane herald as the machine herald one more time, I'm gonna go on a blocking spree because THE ARCANE HERALD AND THE MACHINE HERALD ARE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CHARACTERS

(Same goes for VikJayce)

[formerarcanefan]

And if I start talking about how most of my disappointment in arcane season 2 comes from learning the lore of league of legends to mentally prepare myself for what was going to happen and all my time being wasted for nothing then what.

[formerarcanefan]

I despise Isha.

I don't hate her for her character, I hate her because she barely has any character. Yes, we know she's Jinx's adopted little sister/daughter or whatever. But what do we know about her besides Jinx? What was she like before she met Jinx? Before the council bombings? Nothing. Nada. No information about that.

Next thing we know she dies in a blaze of glory protecting her mother figure/adoptive sister to parallel Powder trying to protect her family and oh poor Jinx cries over the loss of her emotional support child, give us your money. (They released an Isha plush shortly after her death.)

And what gets me is that people actually think she had a deep character other than Jinx's emotional support child. I actually would've liked Isha if she had a character outside of that but we live in a timeline where she doesn't.

[synchodai]

The alternate timeline episode of Arcane S2 implies that Zaun wouldn't have been a hellhole if Hextech wasn't invented, and that's just not true??? Enforcers were conducting raids on The Lanes and fissure mining was polluting it before Hextech. Why is Vi and Jayce dying the thing that leads to the rehabilitation of The Lanes and not Piltovians acknowledging that they've been systematically poisoning and oppressing its people to achieve "progress?"

[formerarcanefan]

EXACTLYYYY

This is what's been bothering me about the alternate universe too. And the fact that Heimerdinger only appeared in the timeline three years ago, so we have no idea how he managed to improve Zaun and Piltover that fast.

[formerarcanefan]

Arcane season 1 had thirteen writers. They all cooked.

Out of the thirteen writers, three remained because the rest were laid off due to lockdown reasons.

Arcane season 2 had three writers. They barely cooked.

[formerarcanefan]

Hi I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who feels disappointed by arcane season 2

The thing that disappointed me the most is that the piltover oppression towards zaun was no longer the main focus I'm a massive fan of stories that call out the way the rich exploit the poor and leave them to rot while they live in luxury and it's always what intrigued me with piltover and zaun as regions in the OG canon and was exited to see it on screen in arcane but to have it shoved under the rug in season 2 really got under my nerves

Also I hate how the fandom uses Caitlyn's grief to justify her gassing zaun and how that was glossed over really infuriated me ekko would have called her out

Also this is just my personal opinion but I feel like most of the characters got butchered in favour of fan service I won't go into detail because I don't need people coming for my and your neck but I'm sure you get the idea

Sorry if this is all over the place I just feel betrayed that a show that I really loved fumbled this bad and it's not the first time I get disappointed like that

I feel you hard dude, Arcane went from a story about the cycle of classism and oppression to eye candy with cool fights and explosions and magic.

[formerarcanefan]

Hi there!

Just wanted to let you know that I can 100% relate to your feeling about season 2. I just feel so lost. I watched season 1 a month after it aired so I didn't have the experience of waiting and theorizing with everybody. I was so excited about season 2 because this time I could be part of all that. With season 1 it just felt like the more you looked into it, the more you appreciated it, but with season 2 the exact opposite happens.

While there still are some cool easter eggs and symbolysm (like Jinx painting her air balloon propeller thing to look like Isha or Ekko giving other world Powder the flower pendant with two sides that form one complete image and the flower pattern having their side profiles in it) I just can't appreciate all the small details, because of the bigger issues like mischaracterization, thematic fuck ups and just too many story lines.

It feels like we were so close to getting something on par with season 1 but we got this instead. Now I can't even obsess over ships I like because they remind me of the bad conclusion :|

Atp we should make our own season 2. Reject canon, return to pure unfiltered imagination and whimsy.

[formerarcanefan]

Elaborate on why you don't like Felicia, I'm not curious about that

Are you not curious about it? I'm confused, maybe a typo.

Basically I do not like Felicia because of her relationship with Vander. It's implied that her and Vander are together when, in season 1, isn't it supposed to be Vander adopting two kids he barely has any relation to as a way to atone for the bridge riots?

[formerarcanefan]

if you lok and not believe in sspoon feeding you’ll see sky is so meaningful for the story and she still alive at the end she is viktor endgame the show got ruined by pandering to gay and sky is close to viktor since season onen they were friends who walk together pls let women have this one

.... What

We don't even know if she's alive. We don't know if Jayce and Viktor are alive either. For all we know, they're dead.

And where did you get the info that they walk together? Sky offering Viktor to walk home with each other? Didn't Viktor reject her?

And we barely know Sky outside of her relationship with Viktor. What's she like outside of the lab? How did she become an assistant? So many things we don't know about her other than she had big dreams, got killed by the hexcore, and is with Viktor in the void/astral realm.

Tell me something about her that's outside of her relationship with Viktor. She had dreams of helping the Zaun, but how would she execute those dreams?

And what do you mean by let women have this one? I may sound biased but we barely have any mlm representation, especially know.

Also I'm sorry if this sounds hurtful but are you a troll? Your talking points and your spelling and grammar just have some vibes that you're a troll.

And no I do not hate Sky, I do not hate SkyVik. I hate the way Sky, Viktor, and basically most of arcane season 2 is written.

[formerarcanefan]

why you have so many gripes with skys characterization? shes so importbant in the season its so clear

she means so much to viktor they brought her back and even made her a love interest she achieved her dream of research and healed so many peoplethe only problem was the writers not scending her with viktor

We don't really know Sky, that's my issue.

What do we know about her other than she had big dreams? What do we know about her dreams? I mean yes she wants to help Zaun, but how specifically.

Yes, she's important, but my point is we barely know her.

And I'm pretty sure the Sky we see with Viktor is only a representation of his guilt.

What I don't like about Sky is that we don't know her at all. If they wanted her to be a manifestation of his guilt, they could've executed that better.

And about the Sky ascending with Viktor? Personally, I think it'd be better if there was no ascension at all.

[formerarcanefan]

I keep seeing people use the Jayce quote "there is beauty in imperfections" to defend arcane season 2 and it's been ticking me off for a while. I didn't really know why until I realized why while I was taking a shower.

There is beauty in imperfections if the imperfection is unavoidable.

If you tell 5 different people to cut a paper in half, each piece comes out different.

But for arcane season 2, the imperfections were avoidable. They had the tools to cut the paper perfectly, all they had to do was stick the paper in and it somehow comes out shredded to bits.

Three years, I waited for my expectations to be subverted. Arcane season 2 did subvert my expectations l, but not in the way I hoped and it's just.

Sorry if I'm not making any sense, I'm just getting this off of my chest. I'll try to make a well formatted post later.

[formerarcanefan]

You are the creator of the show, how the hell did you mischaracterize them so badly.

"Viktor is the true genius and Jayce is the public face of hextech" JAYCE LITERALLY INVENTED HEXTECH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAFFLING ON ABOUT. VIKTOR JUST HELPED HIM WITH HEXTECH (they both created hextech). BASICALLY THEY'RE BOTH THE CREATORS, ONE SHOULDN'T BE VALUED OVER THE OTHER.

(and if I do a meta psychoanalysis on Christian Linke then what)

[formerarcanefan]

You could not convince me they weren't going for entirely metal machine herald

This is just one big Viktor machine herald reference. We could've had it all.

[astral-herald]

arcane's depiction vs. endorsement and why it flopped

~ i think i'm finally ready to complain ~

My general opinion of season 2 is potential squandered. My recent post about Viktor's storyline as an intentional tragedy lets ya'll know that I did, for the most part, enjoy his arc (hot take, I know, and I know lots of people disagree with me, and I fully understand). If he'd gotten the screen time necessary to pull it off, it would have been legendary in my book. But the lack of screen time, even in the case of the season's eventual BBEG, speaks to my greatest issue with Arcane: no commitment.

(Critical) Discussion of Jinx, Ekko, Sevika, Vi, and Viktor below!

Arcane, as a tragedy (I've said this word too many times to count smh), asks the plot, "what is the worst thing that could possibly happen to this character?" and answers in kind. This is why we get Viktor's lost agency until the very end (and like I've said in the past, I completely understand and hold space for those who dislike this route).

If we ask this same question of the following characters, the scope of loss and despair innate to Arcane's final narrative is made very clear:

Sevika: a revolutionary forever devoted to the cause, not the individual, is nominated as an individual to represent the masses in a governmental body that has no interest in her class-conscious ideal.

Ekko: the people's hero in every sense of the word who never sees the fruits of his labor/sacrifice and who goes without the acknowledgement he deserves (more than any other Arcane character).

Vi: the ultimate victim of Piltover police brutality coerced, through grief, trauma, and loss, into working for the system that oppressed her. Even Caitlyn, for all her good intentions, seems incapable of ever understanding this.

Viktor: a genius hellbent on ending the same suffering he endured at the hands of Piltover's oppression has his agency revoked, driving him to inflict the same choicelessness he endured on Zaunite innocents.

On paper, these arcs are devastatingly sensical. And we don't always need happy endings in our stories (I'd sure like them, more often than not, of course). We can and should witness the harsh realities of class oppression if we don't experience them ourselves. The writing team painstakingly crafted and foreshadowed these worst-case scenarios throughout season 1. For example, in 1x07, Ekko being immediately shot at by Marcus at the bridge confirms our suspicions that Piltover Enforcers are a lost cause, not just full of bad apples but internally broken beyond repair. It felt that, despite all the hope, this struggle was doomed, and we were careening toward something dark - "In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good."

Had these arcs been successful, audiences would be confronted with the systemic issues we see today that implicate the physical and mental health of downtrodden individuals on account of lazy, prejudiced leadership. This actively happens. It is actively happening, sans the fantasy of it all. This is where Arcane should have shined: they depict the tragedy of these characters, but DO NOT endorse it.

But Arcane chickens out and the entire thing fails. Here are the Flop Era Spark Notes:

Maddie is the egregious bad apple stereotype that absolves all other agents of the regime. She clearly is not a stand-in for Enforcers at large because, all of a sudden, they're capable of coordinated artillery strikes that are necessary to the defense of Piltover, which the viewer must suddenly and abundantly care about. So glad she died. Also, Arcane, you cannot introduce abject warfare in the last 30 minutes of your show successfully.

Jinx's "revolutionary" plot was a red herring, and Sevika humbly vying for the spot was never delivered upon. They pay lip service to the Undercity organizing, but the scene is interrupted for larger (messier) plot concerns almost immediately. No commitment. No depiction to even refrain from endorsing.

Ekko and the Firelight Tree. Clearly this was set up as a means of showing how Piltover's mistakes were physically seeping into the only sanctuary left in Zaun. Yet this is just...never resolved? If someone has some insights into this, please let me know. No depiction. No discussion about endorsement.

What could Vi specifically gain by aligning with the Enforcers/Piltover? Human connection with Cait, sure, but why return to them in 2x06? Vi's character begged all season for development, but she kept returning to her nonsensical error of her ways (looking backwards) until the very end, and this is basically what "kills" Jinx. This is a nod to her lonesomeness post 1x03, sure, but to what end? Again, why the Enforcers?!? Oh, because now that Cait has been redeemed and Sevika is in Piltover to save the day, there are no systemic issues left to fix? Sure, Riot.

WHY DEVELOP VIKTOR'S ENTIRE HEXCORE ARC OFF SCREEN?I'M ADMITTEDLY BIASED ABOUT THIS, BUT THE AMOUNT OF DISCUSSIONS I'VE HAD WITH VIKTOR NATION ABOUT THE DEGREE TO WHICH HE WAS INFLUENCED/MANIPULATED BY THE HEXCORE (now that we know Sky was a manifestation of his humanity, not her Actual Self) IS DESPICABLE. HIS COMPROMISED AGENCY NEEDS TO BE FRONT AND CENTER AND OBVIOUS, OR ELSE IT SURE SEEMS LIKE RIOT IS ENDORSING THE LACK OF AGENCY IN VIKTOR'S STORY. I shouldn't have to make 1k word posts to explain this. I'll do it because I love him with my whole heart, but still.

I begged and pleaded for months for BBEG Viktor (I'm really proud of my predictions from October), but by introducing a villain/conflict beyond the Piltover/Zaun dichotomy, Riot severed all threads of class conflict that were so rife and exciting in season 1. The proletariat and the bourgeoise will never coalesce like they did by the end of 2x09 without systemic revolution. Sevika is just one individual. Ekko's people need him. Jinx and Viktor are gone. Vi is downtrodden, and we have SO LITTLE to show for it.

In summary, we just didn't get enough explicit explanation of any character development to make Arcane-As-Tragedy successful. They did not stick the landing. The finale leaves us all with various bad tastes in our mouth. Instead of lamenting the harsh reality of oppression, I'm confused about what Riot prioritizes and agrees with, what they aim to criticize, and what they condemn.

I'll die on the hill that revoking Viktor's agency has the potential to be one of the greatest tragic hero storylines I've ever seen, but it's a lonely hill because I'm fighting against the writing team's consistent flops. At least Balayage Viktor was so gorgeous.

shameless self plug for my earlier discussion about the innate political clashes in season 1 that were abandoned for flashy fantasy fights in season 2:

arcane, populism, and why viktor is the odd one out (yet again)

as a piltover-anti, a silco criticizer, and a pacifist, i am very very interested in how arcane presents not just the political undertones o

[formerarcanefan]

YOU SHOULD GO TO CHURCH BECAUSE THE PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR YOU PREACH!!!

[formerarcanefan]

List of things I didn't like in Arcane S2

Feel free to add things on the list by reblogging (trying to see something)

Viktor's lack of autonomy/choice (until episode 9)

Sky Young's "characterization" (if you could even call it that)

Felicia...

The politics and classism being tossed out the window

[formerarcanefan]

What could've been...

He looks like a bug, but he's more machine looking compared to what we have.