You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.
I saw Vander's death coming. It's the standard thing where the guardians/mentors have to die so the characters can come into their own without the audience asking "but where are the mentors/guardians".
So Silco is a revolutionary who says Vander as a sellout (and has antipathy towards Vander for other reasons). I didn't expect that.
The story took another turn I did not expect. Is this going to be like The Acolyte, but good? Are we getting a time jump soon?
I saw Vander's death coming. It's the standard thing where the guardians/mentors have to die so the characters can come into their own without the audience asking "but where are the mentors/guardians".
Vi uses Vander's gauntlets when she storms Silco's warehouse. He is wearing them in the very beginning of the first episode, where it shows the destruction at the bridge "the last time they took on" the city and this led to Vander trying to deflate all conflict after.
This was that first big moment that I loved -- even not having seen much of "adult" Vi except in trailers, the way she tackled everyone on the bridge as a kid gave me shivers -- it was like seeing into the future, seeing the woman and fighter she would become one day. Fearless, brutal, competent, relentless.
Yeah, Silco's kind of fascinating. He's more textured through the rest of the series than I had expected. I love the moment here where he's considering Powder and not even his followers are sure how he'll react.
Start e4 and you'll see the answer to that last question lol
and the answer to the middle question is, "I don't know if it's a lot like the Acolyte, but it IS good"
You know, as soon as I heard the adorable little girl voice in the fire, I was like "this is bullshit, turn the other way guys". And then, when I figured out what was happening, I was gobsmacked nonetheless
I like Kaitlyn making the correct distinction between blimps and airships. Did you know the spire on the top of the Empire State Building was supposed to be a mooring mast for airships? The only problem was that the one time they tried it, the wind made the whole thing much more dangerous than they imagined.
"even though they aren't our most desired constituents, they're still our people"
You know, as soon as I heard the adorable little girl voice in the fire, I was like "this is bullshit, turn the other way guys". And then, when I figured out what was happening, I was gobsmacked nonetheless
It was a pretty cool reveal/reintroduction to the character, and it also serves to establish the approximate length of time jump -- although you already know there was a jump due to the hex gates being up.
Basically we think the show is one thing -- then the end of e3 goes unexpectedly and now we're resetting a bit, with all the characters taking on different importance. Arcane is very much this kind of show, especially with its "Acts" delineations. You never quite know what's coming next.
Powder. I did not see that coming. I was expecting that the series would be partially about her coming into her own, despite the struggles, but it's something quite different. Thinking back there are definitely signs. It's interesting how the need to prove herself and contribute drove her to some dark places.
So I had rewatched Arcane Season 1 up through the 4th episode before jumping to Season 2 in order to sync up with the Patreon reaction video people I have an account with, since they were finishing Season 2. So I've seen S2 e5-8 again and will rewatch the finale this afternoon.
It is definitely a show that could have justified some extra episodes -- there's a lot packed in there and it would have been nice for some to flesh out details etc -- and I feel like that is why some have said the season felt a bit rushed. But I do feel like all the main arcs are there and also the finale does resolve all the main ones -- and not in some cookie-cutter way, there's some unexpected but befitting resolutions there and they are actually fulfilling and not just "tragedy all around" kind of thing which we often see in gritty shows and yet aren't just "paint by happy numbers" like we saw at the end of GoT. They actually feel realistic but speckled, hope and pain mixed into each arc. In particularly the Jinx resolution feels even more justified from watching the prior episodes.
I dunno, this is definitely a show I would happy to rewatch from time to time, just like I do with Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and others.
--
In other "bizarre things i watched" news, I've been through different phases where for example I have watched YouTube airplane disaster shows or (sticking on YouTube) true crime / murder / mysteries accounts, creepy videos, spectacular car crashes, and similar shows. I also enjoy Mr. Ballen channel, he's actually pretty classy and an entertaining story teller.
The latest thing I blow 15 minutes here and there with are "caving disaster" shows, which have started popping up on my YouTube channels this week. With the plane crashes, sometimes crashes are just sad confluences of events, or stupid maintenance work that was repeatedly ignored, or fluke weather conditions, occasionally pilot incompetence (although often the pilots do amazing jobs to try and recover the plane and just can't pull it off because no one could). These caving disaster videos seem to be way overwritten and always harp on dumb shits who are totally unprepared to do caving (little experience, not the right gear, cavalier attitudes). I mean, I think caving is cool -- but I'm not a small person, and as exciting as caving would be, it's just way too claustrophobic for me. I can't imagine going headfirst into a situation where you don't know what's next (if not explored before) and where if you get stuck or a bad turn of events happened, you are basically trapped in the unyielding grip of tons and tons of rock. Like, you're not getting out.
So much of this was like "drunk guy gets non-climbing rope out of flatbed to drop down a shaft" or "big guy squirms through hole too small for him" or "guy drops cell phone down hole, tells gf to wait and watch cuz he's got this," other Darwin Awards level stuff. Who are these people? (besides dead)
Powder. I did not see that coming. I was expecting that the series would be partially about her coming into her own, despite the struggles, but it's something quite different. Thinking back there are definitely signs. It's interesting how the need to prove herself and contribute drove her to some dark places.
The ending of E3, thinking she killed her dad and her sister abandoned her (although actually Vi was turning around to get her when she was dragged off to prison for YEARS) fractured her psyche, an instability which then carries through the series. It also leads her to do some messed-up things, but I think generally audience sympathy has overall remained on her side because (1) we understand how she got to be that way, (2) we know she is trying to do better but she's just so messed up that often she can't, and (3) we know that SHE knows all of this too, an awareness that causes her a lot of pain. We also know she fell in with Silco because he's all she had when Vi disappeared.
It's a connection with all people who have wanted to be better themselves but at least at the time feel like they are trying over and over without anything to show for it -- that no matter how hard they try, things ultimately don't get any better.
It seemed to me that Vi was under extreme distress and didn't really mean what she was saying, but that fact doesn't mean that the words don't cause damage nevertheless.
Regarding Episode 5:
"You're hot cupcake"... ooooooo
So, Jinx gets a sort of baptism sequence.
This episode had a lot in it about the corruption of the upper city. Was it always like that? Probably not, when Vander was in charge.
I liked the trippy sequence when the blood merged with the magic orb energy. That was cool. I wonder what will become of that. Probably nothing good.
It seemed to me that Vi was under extreme distress and didn't really mean what she was saying, but that fact doesn't mean that the words don't cause damage nevertheless.
Yeah. They were both kids -- so they aren't going to operate with adult maturity.
Powder disobeyed Vi's explicit instructions, and Vi saw their entire family die (again!) this time because Powder didn't listen. She lost her temper. She was a kid, again, not an adult, just as Powder was a kid. It was so unfortunate. In the past, Vi had always been so patient with her even when frustrated, but she broke this time.
She took part of a minute to get her shit together, and as soon as she saw Powder in danger, she immediately tried to go back... but Marcus drugged her and threw her in jail. So Powder never knew that.
It was so sad and unfortunate, because of what it leads to.
in charge? I mean, they were always undercity. But Silco and Vander had different ideas about how to change the undercity's fortunes and it resulted in the death of the kids' parents. That's the scene that opens the series, with Vander takes the girls. I assume if you saw Silco's "baptism" of Jinx, then they have already showed the altercation between Silco and Vander that followed the bridge debacle. They were good friends who had differing opinions and again, just like with the spoiler above, there was an explosion of emotion regarding blame resulting in THAT rift. So everything is mirrored.
I definitely like the show (bottom) rescale rather than the top game version. It feels truer to the characters and how they carry themselves. Although obviously it should, as i watched the show, not the game. But the change definitely made sense in terms of character.
Now that I've seen the whole thing almost twice through and know all the characters lol...
There's a lot here I agree with. The few I don't are mostly like this: Caitlyn - Tier B
Mel - Tier B Salo - Tier C
Viktor - Tier A
Deckard - Tier D
I dunno, I didn't care for Salo or Deckard much. (Irony, I think the same VA did both.) They seemed a bit like filler /interchangeable to me.
But aside from that, I'm most fascinated at your top rankings. Because they are characters that ended up being surprisingly good from my perspective too.
Silco is extremely complex and walks that line of being manipulative and yet has actual love/concern for those he allows in. I mean, Vander is more "lovable" but he was kind of weak in a way, and Silco has his own internal compass, drive, and his relationship with Jinx is just profound. Like, I never was quite sure how I felt about him or whether I trusted him until that plot line was finished and it was like, "Damn." Like, I'm STILL thinking about Silco days later.
So happy to see you rank Sevika so highly! She's like my favorite "non-main" character, and it would have been easy for them to just make her a one-note villain or foil for the main characters, but she feels like a real person and more complex. So happy how her arc went.
Grayson -- I thought she was cool. Wish she was more involved in the longer storyline.
Ambessa ... heheheh, another who some people hated but I found her fascinating. She has an integrity that most characters didn't, in that she was unapologetic for her actions and words and drives, and in fact she was very open about them. Which made some people hate her. Again, kind of like Silco, these are highly ambitious people who aren't afraid of hurting others to reach their goals and yet they also held true to the few people they actually cared about. (One might be tempted to think they are just "bad" and not trustworthy, but both characters we realize late into things actually have integrity regardless of outcome.) Ambessa was so power-hungry and disdainful of those she saw as weak, but she was always consistent even if it cost her. I really really love the ending of her and Mel's arc.
I really wanted Ekko to be higher -- but the show did not invest in him enough to push him to A-tier. He is extremely influential in what unfolds and the ending, and I wish we had seen more of him.
Same thing with Isha. She's pretty cool but her role is more catalytic than ongoing.
Now that I've seen the whole thing almost twice through and know all the characters lol...
There's a lot here I agree with. The few I don't are mostly like this: Caitlyn - Tier B
Mel - Tier B Salo - Tier C
Viktor - Tier A
Deckard - Tier D
I dunno, I didn't care for Salo or Deckard much. (Irony, I think the same VA did both.) They seemed a bit like filler /interchangeable to me.
But aside from that, I'm most fascinated at your top rankings. Because they are characters that ended up being surprisingly good from my perspective too.
Silco is extremely complex and walks that line of being manipulative and yet has actual love/concern for those he allows in. I mean, Vander is more "lovable" but he was kind of weak in a way, and Silco has his own internal compass, drive, and his relationship with Jinx is just profound. Like, I never was quite sure how I felt about him or whether I trusted him until that plot line was finished and it was like, "Damn." Like, I'm STILL thinking about Silco days later.
So happy to see you rank Sevika so highly! She's like my favorite "non-main" character, and it would have been easy for them to just make her a one-note villain or foil for the main characters, but she feels like a real person and more complex. So happy how her arc went.
Grayson -- I thought she was cool. Wish she was more involved in the longer storyline.
Ambessa ... heheheh, another who some people hated but I found her fascinating. She has an integrity that most characters didn't, in that she was unapologetic for her actions and words and drives, and in fact she was very open about them. Which made some people hate her. Again, kind of like Silco, these are highly ambitious people who aren't afraid of hurting others to reach their goals and yet they also held true to the few people they actually cared about. (One might be tempted to think they are just "bad" and not trustworthy, but both characters we realize late into things actually have integrity regardless of outcome.) Ambessa was so power-hungry and disdainful of those she saw as weak, but she was always consistent even if it cost her. I really really love the ending of her and Mel's arc.
I really wanted Ekko to be higher -- but the show did not invest in him enough to push him to A-tier. He is extremely influential in what unfolds and the ending, and I wish we had seen more of him.
Same thing with Isha. She's pretty cool but her role is more catalytic than ongoing.
I’m with you! Those ratings are all pretty interchangeable for me, except for one. I ranked mine by how happy I was to see those characters appear on the screen. I tend not to be a fan of lawful good leaning characters (even the ones who are being a little naughty by bending the rules like Jayce and Mel) because they bore me. Salo was such a sassy bitch, which I found pretty humorous, and he was also unabashedly critical of Caitlyn, whom I have an irrational hate boner for lol.
I didn’t mind Caitlyn early on, but it felt like she was starting to take up way too much screen time for how inconsequential her actions were and how little development she had as a character throughout all of season 1. The favor she did for Vi was cool, it showed she wasn’t some one-dimensional do-gooder, but I think if they had kept her a side character like Sevika, I might have seen her as less useless. Even in season 2, her vengeance arc seemed cliche, she still didn’t affect how things played out much, and at that point I was convinced her primary role was to be simp bait. I think if her spotlight had been given to someone else (I would have loved to see more of Grayson instead, a politically complicated yet considerate character), it would have been an improvement to the show. But that’s my hot take lol. Everyone else seems to love her.
My heart melted for Sevika after Silco mentioned “loyalty,” and I’m still not over what he said to Jinx in the chair. I wasn’t sure of his intentions when he met Powder, if he was just going to be some boring, scheming villain, but now looking back, the unconventional bond they developed that was able to touch his vulnerabilities when not even his own brother could, really made him my favorite character. Unlike Ambessa when she said tearfully that Mel made her weak, Silco would have let his love for Jinx seize him and his ambitions, which was so beautiful to me.
I really thought Ambessa would be a fan favorite! She is so bold and charismatic in a non-cheesy way, yet she’s thoughtful and not brutish. Very secure in herself and her drives. She is a really unique and well done “strong female character.” Also as someone who is into weightlifting, she is kind of my idol.
I’m with you! Those ratings are all pretty interchangeable for me, except for one. I ranked mine by how happy I was to see those characters appear on the screen. I tend not to be a fan of lawful good leaning characters (even the ones who are being a little naughty by bending the rules like Jayce and Mel) because they bore me. Salo was such a sassy bitch, which I found pretty humorous
And then there was that local cuisine / "morsel," who was only in a few scenes but I got such a kick out of it when Mel told him to get lost and his jaw dropped in that whiny bitchy way as he looked between her and Ambessa before indignantly disappearing...
I don't disagree with your thoughts on Cait, I just happen to like the type and I liked how she seemed very structured and rigid on the surface but at the same time was flexible when challenged, at least by Vi.
The vengeance arc seemed weird as I never really bought into it although rationally I understood why it might be happening obviously -- it just never felt real to me and I wasn't surprised when things went as they did.
I also liked how smart she was and in general didn't always say everything we could piece together she had figured out (like at the very end of the finale). I totally get where you are coming from. Did she actually change much as a person? I think Vi expanded her conscious knowledge of the lower city, but she seemed pretty open to them from the start once she learned that knowledge, and then only backtracked because of the unfortunate end of Season 1 and then end of Act 1 in Season 2. It's like her crises came more from her conflicts with Vi, lol.
As he's standing over her with the knife in his hand, and then without (while his followers watch him, totally unsure of what he'll do)... yup. So many other series would have blown it with him.
but now looking back, the unconventional bond they developed that was able to touch his vulnerabilities when not even his own brother could, really made him my favorite character. Unlike Ambessa when she said tearfully that Mel made her weak, Silco would have let his love for Jinx seize him and his ambitions, which was so beautiful to me.
I really thought Ambessa would be a fan favorite! She is so bold and charismatic in a non-cheesy way, yet she’s thoughtful and not brutish. Very secure in herself and her drives. She is a really unique and well done “strong female character.” Also as someone who is into weightlifting, she is kind of my idol.
I have not seen anything quite like her -- and I love her visual template. Her body form was definitely female, and thicc, but still attractive and formidable and very powerful, and she carried herself with such dignity. She was pretty physically terrifying when in a fight too... I think the only thing I would say was scarier was, well, you-know-who...
AS much as I adore RWBY, one thing they were not great at was skillfully incorporating music into the actual animated show -- although the rock/pop/cross-genre RWBY season soundtracks as their own independent entities definitely made a splash on the charts when they were released. But while pretty decent with the orchestral scoring (even to the degree of assigning lietmotifs to different characters -- and in later seasons you will hear new themes interweaving lietmotifs of the characters who appear in certain scenes, it's pretty cool), incorporating actual rock soundtrack songs was just done so... badly for the first 4-5 seasons or so. Choppy, clumsy, etc. It all felt almost like an afterthought ("Oh, let's have a fight and just toss that song in the background, and we'll just cut the song when the scene cuts" and stuff like that).
Seasons 7-9 show the most skill (and the very last episode of RWBY in Season 9 has the best needle-drop / integrated song in the entire series honestly), although they had started putting out decent seasonal end credits songs a few seasons in. But weaving the rock music into the show itself? No, not really the greatest.
Arcane again hits this out of the park. I'm not gonna comment on all the hard rock/metal integration into the actual animation sequences for climactic fights and the like (it's all pretty great, to the degree you're never even drawn to focusing on it, it all emotionally and audibly blends together), but there's music too in key sequences or even putting together final big scenes that flow right into the credits to make it all seamless. It is what makes some of the emotional moments haunting.
Take Goodbye that caps the end of Season 1, Act 1 (e3) -- it starts while the camera is still lingering on the characters responding to the gutpunch of the final sequence and flows right into the credits, and lyrically/musically supports the emotional tone. In fact, they are using the chord patterns of Goodbye underneath the final bit between Powder and Vi to build tension, and maintain something similar through to the credits... so when they flow into the song the same mood exists but is just heightened.
Or sticking this Sting vocal / lyrics (What Could Have Been) over top of the final few climactic moments of Season 1 finale. I'm still kind of speechless. This is a moment where everything feels so intuitive and they make it look so easy, that it made be easy to overlook at much thought goes into this.
I'm a big fan of Isha's Song too (S2E6). Like, it's SO unlike much of the Arcane soundtrack music and might never have gotten any awareness outside of the show. What I love is how it transforms and transcends the grit and awfulness of everything we were seeing to something magnificent and triumphant. (It's actually in Mandarin too, lol. I mean, I looked it up later in English to see the words, but the music itself carries out its mission to undergird this end of Season 2, Act 2.) The tones are pure, clear, clean, starting so quietly and then just building and building and building. (IYKYK, right?) I'll spoiler the music since it's kind of a big moment...
The show drops the temporary drop in volume 3/4 of the way through and just cuts straight to the quiet denouement after the first big build.
I mean, this whole bit leaves me in tears, because it doesn't stop... it just builds, and builds, and builds, until your heart just wants to burst in love and sadness and transcendence and desperation -- so beautiful, so sad. I'm not even sure how to talk about it.
It reminds me weirdly of an Alan Parsons song from their "On Air" album which never got a lot of play or famous singles. This was a recap of the opening song, and it ends the album. But it's the same thing -- just builds, and builds, and goes up and up (like a balloon lifting slowly but magnificently higher and higher). I love when the bass drops in.
And of course there is Remember Me, and Ma Mailleure Ennemie, and Wasteland that stick out emotionally.
Like, they really knew how to create a total package here, rather than half-assing throwing music into an animated show. It's all so carefully and purposefully constructed. They even did some decent montage work, kind of like the animated versions of things we've seen on Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul.
Debates on heights on FB groups, I saw one that posted Jayce as being 6'7" and Vi was the shortest at 5'9" -- but I don't really think both Mel and Cait are 6' + feet tall.
Apparently this chart here was posted on the official X account.
This would put Vander at about 6'6" which seems fair
Cait is the tallest woman at around 6'
Vi is around 5'6" - 5'7", and Mel as well
Jayce is more like 6'1" or 6'2"
etc
I liked learning more about the Shimmer; it reminds me of Annihilation, of course. This shimmer also forever alters things.
There are so many things I want to learn more about, like the hoverboard gang with bird beaks and what they're all about. I want to know about the fissures, too. Regarding these other beings, like Heimerdinger most notably, did they all come from different planets?
This dealt a great deal with politics. Heimerdinger seems like a decent enough guy, just overly cautious (or, I suspect, justifiably cautious). I felt bad for him getting forced out.
I felt like this episode was mostly table setting though, and the chief event in the episode is the reunion of the sisters.
No cupcakes here. Not even muffins. Not even scones.
I know sometimes when I write, I get a template for a character stuck in my head, that I then modify as needed and make the character their own person -- but the template is still there. I think I called Heimerdinger "The Lorax" before -- I can't NOT believe the animators/writers did not picture him as The Lorax in these stories, because of his appearance and because of the role he plays in the story of being the "Voice of Caution/Prudence" that everyone ignores.
Although admittedly The Lorax is a bit crustier in his story.
Heimerdinger seems to have a gentle heart.
I know sometimes when I write, I get a template for a character stuck in my head, that I then modify as needed and make the character their own person -- but the template is still there. I think I called Heimerdinger "The Lorax" before -- I can't NOT believe the animators/writers did not picture him as The Lorax in these stories, because of his appearance and because of the role he plays in the story of being the "Voice of Caution/Prudence" that everyone ignores.
Although admittedly The Lorax is a bit crustier in his story.
Heimerdinger seems to have a gentle heart.
