#like how I consider jinx to be the main and best arcane character

[sandraharissa]

I’ve seen somebody call the dynamic between Cait, Vi and Jinx a love triangle and they praised arcane for utilizing it in a unique way that doesn’t solely involve romantic love. And I completely agree, but the thing is is that arcane did it so much that those love triangles are all over the place. It really is such a unique concept to apply this kind of dynamic to platonic relationships cos typically ppl don’t think of platonic bonds as exclusive, so how would the conflict of two relationships that are inherently in opposition to each other even work in that case? and yet, when arcane figured out how to do it they went all in.

Firstly and most speculatively we have Silco, Vander and Benzo. Vander and Benzo seem like best friends and Silco and Vander were ‘brothers’ but I get the vibe that Silco and Benzo never got along and there was no love lost there. They just purely dislike each other from what we’ve seen and it seems like the only reason they’d hang out is cos of both of their connections to Vander. If there was a deeper character choice there for Vander to make when choosing between the two that is not explored in arcane.

Then there’s Sevika, Silco and Jinx, and again, Sevika and Jinx are the two closest ppl to Silco and the only ones he seems to have any sentimental feelings towards, and yet Sevika and Jinx can’t stand each other, likely only hang out in each other’s vicinity bcos of Silco and would murder each other if they could. Again, there’s no love there and it’s almost like a competition for Silco’s favor. Sevika also represents his devotion to his dream and Jinx his devotion to her, his family.

And then there’s Silco, Jinx and Vi. With the two characters being the two closest bonds Jinx ever had and both being her care-takers. The two are in competition with each other over Jinx and are actively trying to kill each other. They represent the mutually exclusive options of morality/sanity and immorality/madness.

Then there’s the aforementioned Jinx, Vi and Cait. With yet again, the two being the absolute closest ppl to Vi in the world and yet themselves being mortal enemies to each other who’d kill each other if they were left together in a room. If I were to give these characters their thing then I think it’d be Cait representing morality, a future that Vi could have, hope and a healthy relationship where Jinx represents immorality, the past, guilt and a toxic relationship. Altho the finale and Jinx leaving wasn’t really a choice Vi was making between the two. And notice how so far it’s the first example of a romantic relationship being a part of these love triangles.

And lastly a shout-out to our Piltover characters with Mel, Jayce and Viktor being portrayed as tho the romance gets in the way of Jayce and Viktor’s friendship and vice versa. Altho so far it’s subtle cos shit hasn’t hit the fan yet.

I could be missing one but just the examples I already listed are so many, and they cover most main characters and all the most crucial players. Thinking about it, if they hadn’t cut out the Ekko flashback I’d probs be able to add Ekko, Jinx and Silco to the list. (Maybe even Mylo, Vi and Powder count, if Vi agrees with Mylo then Powder’s a jinx, if she protects Powder then Mylo gets his face bashed in and she just gets a pass. Also what about Vi, Cait and Cassandra? could they count? it's kinda underdeveloped but they kinda fit)

But anyway, great majority of the bonds involved in all these triangles are platonic and there’s always intricate character reasons why certain bonds, platonic vs platonic or platonic vs romantic, are actually mutually exclusive. But even stuff as simple as ‘they don’t vibe with each other’ is good enough to justify a completely platonic love triangle where a person has to choose between relationships that on the surface level don’t seem incompatible, like two friends or family members. Most of the competing relationships also typically represent two drastically different choices/life paths a person could choose, where the choice of one inherently excludes the other person from being a part of the character’s life, like a ‘going down a path I can’t follow’ situation. If Silco picks Jinx then Sevika wouldn’t be able to follow him anymore. If Jinx picks madness then Vi can’t follow her anymore. Etc. etc.

[destinygoldenstar]

Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character?

That’s a tough one.

I see quite a few arguments about some shows I’ve watched that ‘oh, this character is bad because they have too much screen time’. Or ‘I wish this character had more screen time to be interesting.’

Basically, too much screen time is now a valid critique to describe why a character is bad or doesn’t work for you. And to that I say…

Uh… no?

I’ll give some examples where I see this critique, but for now I want to state a case of examples where I expected to see this critique online, but didn’t, and I wondered why.

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE SPIDERVERSE SEQUEL:

The main character of the Spiderverse movies is Miles Morales. Clear as day if you see ANY promotional concept art. The movies nail that home and give you a solid POV character among the Multiverse chaos.

The sequel begins with an over twenty minute backstory sequence involving Gwen Stacy, a side character in the first movie.

(Fun fact: When me and my dad went to see it in theaters together, he said that backstory was over twenty minutes long and that he thought they could've trimmed it down. Animated-phobia gives you weird opinions. He didn't watch Arcane with me and thought nothing of it because 'it was an animated show'. Not kidding.) (Both of my parents are like this, sadly.)

Now, in the context of the movie, it makes sense to include this to understand the full POV of her character going forward. As she is pretty vital to the story.

I tried imagining a version of the movie where we DIDN'T get this intro, went straight to Miles, and we just had to put the pieces together involving Gwen and her actions. And I don't think the movie would've worked nearly as well.

This brings me to another point involving Gwen Stacy in this movie: She's kind of become a protagonist as well, next to Miles.

Is this screen time theft? Under the screen time critique, it probably would seem that way.

And yet nobody I've seen complains. If anything, this solidified her as one of the best movie adaptations of Gwen Stacy out there. In my opinion.

Unlike the first movie, this one is not driven by the narrative of the main character, but rather multiple.

This is not uncommon. And it's an even bigger case with Arcane.

Yeah, this show is phenomenal everyone who says so is right Jinx is an icon Vi is my cartoon crush next to Petra I was crying so hard at the ending and for that alone this show deserves every ounce of praise it gets and I'm kind of an Arcane stan-

*Inhales*

I think I just have a thing for dystopian stories where characters walk through hell.

(Yes I consider TD a dystopian setting, that'd be a nice hot take to tackle one day.)

The Hunger Games is my favorite dystopian setting that I've seen, just because it's very memorable and inspiring. But Arcane is objectively the best dystopian story out there. If I fade out of my Total Drama obsession, this show might be my next target.

Cupcakes. El fin.

I could stop there, but lets talk about why we're here.

Arcane does not focus on the two main characters only as the driving force of its narrative.

Advertisement tell you that our main characters are the two growing war machines who go around calling each other sisters, Vi and Powder (Jinx. Idk how mad people get for which name I use for her. Sorry if I offend you). In fact, there's evidence to back that up. Other than they're the people with dyed hair, that's instant main character. They're the first characters we meet in the entire show. They're the characters with the final scene that closes off the season. EVERY ending to an act is with them. They're the main characters. Boom.

But wait. Nearly TWO THIRDS of this show doesn't even focus on them!

We have all the Piltover characters we keep switching back to. Jayce, Viktor, Mel, Caitlyn for Act 2 pretty much, Silco kind of becomes his own protagonist in Act 3. Really, the only people who remain consistent side characters are Ekko, and the two boys that get blown to pieces by Powder. And... some other people I'm forgetting the names of. (Sorry, I only had two watch throughs of this show so far and I know nothing about League other than the sisters become enemies.)

Now, why?

Why is this the case? I'm not saying characters other than our mains don't get fleshed out at all, but to the point where they're basically major enough to carry their own show? That SOUNDS like a detriment to the story if anything, especially how unfocused it kind of all gets until the end where everyone's in the same room.

Had Vi or Jinx interact with these characters, their fleshing out makes sense, and you definitely see that with characters like Caitlyn and Silco, who kind of need them to function.

But the Piltover gang? Jinx doesn't meet them at all, neither of the sisters meet Viktor, and Vi does meet Jayce, but in Episode 8 of 9.

Why does nobody complain about this? If anything, these guys are stealing screen time.

Well, it turns out, this is all done in Arcane's benefit, rather than fault. We are all the protagonist of our own story, and there are multiple POVs regarding the world.

It's basically if Hunger Games was third person instead of first, and we actually got a chance to flesh out the other rebels/children.

Me personally, and I know I'm not the only one out there, but the sisters were the most interesting thing about the show, and other characters that talk to them were how they caught my attention. That in no way means I don't care for anyone though, and it's COMPLETELY a PERSONAL thing.

So whenever we DO focus on the sisters and their story, not only do we get these other POVS on the scene that could clash with our view of them, but it makes it so that EVERY. SCENE. MATTERS.

No scene is wasted in fleshing out the sister's story. Everything has a purpose and drives it all to one heartbreaking simulation. There's no wasted space, there's no lack of attention to a certain detail, darn it, it's just right.

(I mean, I guess I would've liked to see what they went through in that time skip, like how Jinx was raised by Silco and processed her new identity, or better yet how tf Vi survived prison when it's heavily implied she beat people to a pulp and got solitary multiple times. But I think Season 2 is gonna cover it.)

Seriously, imagine a version of this show real quick.

Imagine a version of the show that took the Hunger Games approach, and used first person POV on one of the two sisters, doesn't matter which one, they'd both work. Cut out scenes not involving that sister. The other characters that appear revolve around scenes they're in with that sister.

Would that work nearly as well?

I don't think so.

Now First Person POV isn't necessarily a bad thing. Danganronpa is first person. Minecraft Story Mode is first person. Those are probably not great examples, but it can work. (TDDRI, a fic of mine, is first person, and I had to work around that to flesh out everyone else. It can work.)

This show is very hot topic and weirdly paced than what I'm used to. So take everything with a grain of salt as I am nowhere near an expert with this show. The show's story doesn't even get started until Episode 4, as the first three episodes are all flashback to explain where our characters are and why they're motivated to do what they do.

Again, I tried imagining a version of this show where we DIDN'T get those first three episodes, we started with Episode 4, and we just had to ASSUME all the backstory involving the sisters and the titular arcane and put the pieces together through Vi's words and Jinx's hallucinations. I don't think we would have been nearly as invested.

So with these two examples, WHY does nobody complain about screen time involving a character?

Is it because they're just really good pieces of media? Or is there a reason for this?

After all, Spiderverse and Arcane fall under the category of an 'ensemble cast'. A cast of characters in a story where there is no titular main character to drive the narrative, and everyone does instead. It's like if Harry Potter was 'Hogwarts' instead, or some title like that.

But lets take a look at some examples of ensemble casts where there's been a complaint of some sort with screen time:

Total Drama and RWBY.

Now I only like one of these two shows, so I'm gonna put that aside for now.

Total Drama. It has an ensemble cast. The show is about teenagers suffering-I mean competing for a prize, eliminating each other bit by bit as it goes along. Naturally with that setup, early boots are left to dry. But that doesn't stop people from complaining.

Ezekiel gets the most flack for too little screen time, and major fanboys say he should've had more focus. Personally I don't get that based on what role he's deigned to play. Caleb is a more recent example. I thought he was gonna have a bigger role and character than he ended up having, and him being a first boot gag makes even less sense than Zeke. Dawn is a fan favorite who isn't even in that many episodes. Axel is a ripoff of Shawn because of her lack of screen time. Scary Girl is... Scary Girl, who I don't see the fuss about her little screen time as she's comic relief, but the complaint is there. There is SO MUCH bashing about Noah's lack of screen time it is not even funny. So much so that he's sharing screen time with another person.

And who is to blame for this: Well, the characters who make it really far into the game, or course! How dare they steal screen time away from these guys!

I feel like Ripper is the most recent example of this. His character arc was about him breaking a world record. He broke it. It's Episode 5. Now he can leave the show, right-

Nope. He's around till Episode 8. Out of 13. And even then, in Episode 13, he's Millie's partner, which means screen time.

It sounds unjustified because it is. I'm not the biggest Ripper hater, but I definitely see the complaints. (Ripper and Damien swapping places are the only part of the elimination order I would change. Everything else is pretty spot on.)

We already have MK as a pre-merge antagonist and Julia as a post merge antagonist, we don't need this rando bully character as well as it adds nothing. Maybe Ripper would've been better liked if he wasn't a bully and just some morally average comic relief guy, but also... probably not.

But he's not the only fart based character in this show that gets complaints about screen time. Here's where I talk about the first gen.

For what I have seen, the ones with the biggest screen time complaints are Owen, Duncan, and Beth. I don't count Heather cause it's on purpose. I count Sierra because it's a personal gripe I have.

Owen was the original winner of TDI, came back on the show in the second season for a mole subplot nobody likes, and merged season three. He and Noah also got a spinoff.

Beth was the finalist of TDA.

And everyone hates it, including myself.

Then there's Duncan. Easily the character the show focuses on the most. Season 1? 4th place. Season 2? Winner. Season 3? Gone half the season so he's only in 8 episodes not counting what he didn't compete in, but he scored 5th overall. Season 5? Weakest performance, but he still merged. That's 8th place by the way.

By far, THIS is the character in this show that gets the MOST horrendous flack for his screen time. And from what I've learned, if you think this, you probably hate Duncan as a character.

Like, I haven't watched Winx, but I saw videos on YouTube that made fun of Bloom for getting too much screen time.

Somebody do those but with Duncan! I'm not a Duncan hater, but I would like to get a laugh!

So it'd just be easy to say the writers played favorites, it was an issue, and be done with it, right?

Except no.

My GF watched World Tour just recently. (And she was mixed on it.) Her comments regarding Duncan and Gwen were that she wished they had more interactions to sell them (she was routing AGAINST Duncney, basically) and it didn't help that Duncan was gone half the season. She said that it would've helped all the characters involved if he stayed to flesh that out.

To that I went: "Huh. That's interesting how you take no issue with this character's screen time."

But why though? She's not a stan of him, she's a casual viewer, so that can't be it.

And that's when it hit me.

Beth and Sierra. These two make it through an entire season each. And we both collectively hate them as characters. And we hate seeing them on screen.

That's because it's what the characters DO with their screen time.

See what I'm talking about:

Season 1: Duncan is an established character that develops relationships and friendships and learns to open up to people outside of his comfort bad boy zone.

Trent spends 16 episodes sitting still and looking pretty with a guitar. (Okay that's probably not a great example, and I don't hate Trent, but you kinda get it)

Season 2: Duncan is dealing with revenge on Harold for his spoiled relationship with Courtney where he gets abused by her, fights to hold his own, and dumps her.

Beth spends the entire season talking about a fake boyfriend and cheating on it.

Season 3: Duncan, again, is only competing in 8 episodes out of 26, but what does he do? He establishes a new relationship with Gwen, gets her cancelled, forms a friendship with Alejandro, and gets played.

Sierra is there the entire season sexually harassing Cody and passing it off as quirky. We hate to see it. (Seriously, you guys think the love triangle is worse than this? My GF and I agreed we would rather watch the love triangle ten times again, over Sierra being on screen at all.)

What's the difference here? STORY.

Certain characters have story to follow, that NEEDS that screen time to work. Ironically, the plotline of Duncan's that comes across the least genuine, is the season where he's on screen the least. (Not counting All Stars, but they're kind of equal in episodes Duncan's in.)

Again, imagine if we never had that backstory sequence of Gwen Stacy. Yes it eats up screen time, but without it? She would come across as an ingenuine traitor who supposedly ditched her dad for some cool spider society. We NEEDED that sequence.

Duncan is always doing something when the screen is focused on him.

The reason Beth and Sierra don't work despite having all the screen time in the world is that they do NOTHING with the screen time they get. Nothing of value at least. We could've learned a lot about their origins, Beth's underdog status, or Sierra's fanclub, flesh them out as dynamic characters to route for, with different sides of them that slip through time to time that gets the audience thinking.

Nope. Sexual harassment makes up for all of that. (I question why I put up with this show sometimes.)

That would be the case and that's the answer, just do something with your screen time and you're free to have as much as you want.

Except there's ANOTHER key to the puzzle here.

Duncan is in the top 4 of the TD cast for a reason.

He's a main character.

Something Jaune Arc is not.

Hello nemesis my old friend.

Look, I respect people who like RWBY. People can feel any way they want to about a show. Opinions are valid.

If you think Arcane is the worst show ever made, that's valid.

If you think Velma is the best show ever made, that's valid.

It's all VALID.

With that said I think this show is an absolute trainwreck when it comes to writing characters.

Now hold on before you say I hate everything about it, I don't. This show does have SOME merits to it. The music is stellar and I actually listen to the soundtrack from time to time. For a limited budget animation, it's impressive. The choreo is neat. I want these weapons. I actually like quite a few of the side characters. Keep in mind I said side.

But what I look for in a good show is a compelling story and interesting characters to follow.

Something this show just does not have in my opinion.

I keep saying I'll do an analysis post on why Team RWBY are awful protagonists, but I've been busy and my plate has not emptied. But one of my main points regarding them is screen time.

Keep in mind, I've only seen fully up to Season 8. I've only seen clips of Season 9, so whatever I say about 9 may not be accurate.

Team RWBY are the main characters of the show, and yet they have not done a single main character thing throughout EIGHT SEASONS. It's kind of incredible.

If I didn't know the name of the show but saw a clip, I'd assume the main character was Jaune, or Oscar, more on them later.

What have these girls contributed in the battle of Salem's forces?

Season 1: Blake helped stop a robbery. Not even all four of them, just Blake. (So did Sun and Penny.)

Season 2: They broke into the White Fang's secret operation and busted a train into the city to fight off some Grim, in time for Team CFVY to wipe them out. (Those characters appear TWICE in the ENTIRE show, this is the first time. Just to speak my point.)

Season 3: Yang got framed for assault which helped the bad guys. Ruby watched Pyyra die and she blasted an eyeball off Cinder.

Season 4: UH...

Season 5: They housed Oscar, they met Raven, and they took place in the battle of Haven where Yang got the relic. (So did Oscar, JNR, Qrow)

Season 6: They took the relic to Atlas. (So did Oscar, JNR, Qrow)

Season 7: They lied to the general about vital information that could've helped them get one on Salem, and doomed all of Atlas.

Season 8: They caused the death of a kingdom and fell through a hole.

Season 9: UH... (That's not me not knowing what happened in 9, they just climbed out of the hole, basically, as the season has nothing to do with Salem's forces.)

Now, because the main characters are not involved with the main plot very much, does that make them bad?

No. There ARE ways to utilize them outside of driving the external plot.

Some stories are Character vs Self, Internal Conflict. The basis of this show's story is that these kids who grew up to be military soldiers are learning that their lives and the world is not a fairy tale, and they're not the good guys. That SOUNDS like the show is all about internal conflict, right?

Well it's not.

I mean, they DO realize this and make a morally questionable choice with consequences they regret.

In Season SEVEN.

And even THEN, they're treated by gods themselves like they've done nothing wrong!

If you ask me, it should have happened a LONG time ago.

What internal conflicts do these girls have?

Ruby is a naive prodigy who wants to be a huntress and live out a fairy tale reality. And she lives out that dream. Then Pyyra dies and she loses that home. And then she's back to fairy tale land, just doing more crimes and hating authority. And I GUESS she learned a lesson in 9...? I just saw her as depressed.

Weiss is an heiress of a rich company trying to overthrow rule of her father, who hates her. She hates Faunus. She learns not to hate Faunus. And she gains a lot of powers.

Blake is part of a civil rights movement with Faunus and she likes assaulting her own kind and burning their homes. She also has an abusive boyfriend and kills him with a girlfriend by her side.

Yang lost her mommy and wants to find her. She loses her arm. She finds her mommy but doesn't give a s**t because plot. She also gets a girlfriend.

That's like Vi and Jinx's reunion, only they didn't care about seeing each other again after years, they just pointed fists and guns at each other and said, "Where's the arcane?! Where's Silco?! I'm not here for you, I have a police GF now!" "I'm not here for you, I just wanted an easy route to blast Piltover to pieces! Mwahaha!"

See where I'm going with that?

Internal conflict is a key to making characters screen time worth while.

But lets face it, Team RWBY not having very well established internal/relevance to the external conflict is not the full reason why this is a problem with their screen time.

It's their lack thereof.

Three quarters of every season, they're just sitting at some random place that's not even pretty to look at, and the SIDE CHARACTERS do all the plot relevant stuff.

See why I like the side characters better?

Lets look at that chart again:

Season 1: Sun and Penny stopped that robbery.

Season 2: Team CFVY stopped the Grim invasion.

Season 3: Pyyra's story and downward spiral to her death.

Season 4: Nora and Ren the season.

Season 5: Oscar. The tribe.

Season 6: Oscar again as he's responsible for the exposition involved in that season.

Season 7: Ironwood's descent into insanity AND Penny's descent into accidental heroism.

Season 8: Both those characters die. Everyone dies.

Season 9: ...okay, good point, there was no one else.

Okay so maybe Season 9 gets a pass, but the others? Can you really put Team RWBY in a plot summary?

And that's just external conflict talking, let's talk the MAIN CHARACTER with the INTERNAL conflicts throughout the ENTIRE show.

Jaune Arc.

A SIDE character, voiced by one of the writers, has some of the most plotlines to follow due to his internal struggle and conflict in this new war throughout the entire show.

He has something to do in MOST of the seasons of this show. Not unlike Duncan. The only time I think he didn't have anything going on was Season 7.

In the very first season, Jaune has an entire character arc surrounding him trying to find his inner strength with a one off bully character as an antagonist. That sounds fine, so what's the issue?

This character arc takes up FOUR episodes out of 16. A WHOLE QUARTER OF THE SEASON.

"Well, maybe those episodes cut away to other people at some points-"

No. They don't. It's all Jaune in all these episodes.

Season two is less so Jaune focused, but he has a little subplot surrounding letting go of his feelings for Weiss and finding another girl who would gladly take him. I guess it's priority respect because Neptune was into Weiss at the time? But those two wound up never being a thing, so...

The whole time I thought Weiss was just asexual, but then 9 came in to screw that idea.

Season three focuses on Pyyra, Jaune's love interest, and therefore he's vital to her story and her thought process, so much so that the big angst moment in the season is with him and their death kiss.

Season four and five are focused on Jaune's thirst for revenge on Cinder, a member of Salem's forces, for killing Pyyra. He learns about Salem's forces along the way, makes his own opinion about all this lore, and decides to help out due to his personal necessity.

Wow. He has an internal conflict going on, AND he's active with the external conflict. HMM...

Season six is him letting go of his grief after his moral failure from the Battle of Haven nearly getting Weiss killed. And also he pins Oscar to the wall because why not. It's brief but it's also a full on character arc.

Season eight, he kills Penny, a girl he has never interacted with before this point, and he's a grieving mess. So much so that season nine also includes Jaune dealing with MULTIPLE grieving instances and personal failures.

Everyone else got a seasonal break from the story, and yet Jaune could not.

Now, is this a screen time issue?

Yes.

But NOT for the reasons you might think.

Let's go off of Duncan again, a character with a major status in the show's story and conflict from day one. He was designed that way.

Jaune was not designed that way. BUT I don't actually hate his story for the screen time he gets. In fact, he's probably one of the most interesting characters in the show because there's so much time dedicated to his struggle and his story.

The elephant in the room isn't because Jaune has a story.

It's because the main characters don't have a story.

Again, Arcane, that show focuses on a LOT of characters that aren't Vi and Jinx. You could argue Jayce is the Jaune in their universe. But why does it work? Because there is NOT a neglect of characterization of the leads.

In RWBY, there's a serious neglect issue.

And it's not just Jaune. There are other side characters who've been stealing time away from the leads.

Oscar, ever since he debuted Season 4, has been devoted to screen time stealing, and stealing the main character status with a Chosen One narrative and a pretty offensive way of portraying Multiple Personality Disorder. He's the one with the chosen one story, he's the one who interacts with the bad guys, he's toe to toe with Ironwood, he's the one related to Salem, and he does all of it with the personality of a hollow pine tree.

I mean I guess he also has a crush on Ruby, but... I don't want to get into that.

Hell, CINDER, an ANTAGONIST of the show, has more conflict and screen time than the leads. And she's one of my least favorite characters in the entire show, isn't that sweet?!

On top of that, she's a VILLAIN. We shouldn't be routing for her!

Then there's the rest of JNPR. Nora and Ren have a season focused on them, that being season 4. Pyyra is the same case with season 3. Pyyra dies in that season, so she's obviously not getting screen time any further. But Ren and Nora are alive, AND they have a subplot in the Atlas arc. Having a subplot isn't a problem, it just becomes jarring when the main characters don't have an arc and they do.

Penny gets revived and dies in the Atlas arc. That's also a thing.

The fix here should be really simple! Swap roles! Have the side characters sit in the houses with their little arcs, and have Team RWBY on the fields reacting to everything. It wouldn't excuse their lack of inner struggle, but at least they'd be involved with the plot.

There are many ways you could fix this. Like Oscar's role of being related to Salem. Ruby's mom is dead, but like, what if her mom was Salem and was taken out in war and revived/corrupted into this monster figure? That'd be an interesting narrative.

And RWBY is not the only show, the previous season of Pretty Cure, Delicious Party, ALSO has this issue. And arguably they did it worse because I don't even care for the side characters there either. I'd be repeating myself with criticism there:

Yui, the supposed main character, has no character trait other than be a glutton and a stand in for her grandmother, the other Cures are also irrelevant to the plot and just spend their time eating. The boys of this magical girl show are the focus and have all the wishy washy plotlines, and none of them are even that interesting.

I will give RWBY this over Delicious Party to prove I can see its merits:

At least they only have ONE forth wall narration and do know boundaries to that stuff, as opposed to Delicious Party that thinks their viewers are IDIOTS, and needs a narrator to explain EVERYTHING. CONSTANTLY.

(What a new low for that franchise, am I right? At least we have Hirogaru Sky.)

So what have we learned here?

To answer the question: Is Screen Time An Issue For A Character?

No. It's not that simple.

It's what the character DOES with that screen time that matters. And their role in the story that warrants this screen time.

They need to have all the details of their story laid out for you to care about them.

They need every scene involving their story to matter.

They need to have a plotline that justifies the screen time, small role or big role.

They need to be involved with the main story if they are a major character.

They need an internal conflict to keep the time on them engaging.

They need to be doing something.

If they are a minor character, additional screen time is not a bad thing.

A minor character with a lot of screen time could be there to advance the world building, they could be heavily connected to major character, relationship or otherwise.

But the minor characters don't become favorites and neglect focus on the people the story is revolving around.

First Person POV is a difficult storytelling technique when it comes to screen time, but it's not a bad tool. It can be used as a certain perspective for every character involved if done properly.

And just... screen time alone isn't a valid criticism in my opinion. It's WAY more complicated than that.

What's your opinion? Reblog your thoughts, I'm very curious, especially with media with this issue I did not cover.

[klorophile]

WIP tag game

I was tagged by @hannibalcatharsis-zero ❤

Sooo... I feel a little uncomfortable sharing a WIP, but here it goes... (and I'm aware it's not the right attitude, but I still have the urge to preface this by saying: I know I'm not really a real writer, but sometimes I try to pretend, sorry) :x

A little context before dropping weirdness: This is an Arcane fic I nicknamed "Jinxed Horsie Fic" (real title might be Bucephalus but I'm not sure yet (if you smiled because 'phalus' shame on us)). It's a horse!AU in which some characters are horses and others are the humans around them. It might sound like a pretty random idea, but I like to think there is at least a little method to the madness, the very least being: Horses are mirrors and them and our relationship to them are very interesting to think about and put in perspective, I think. Though, I feel like I have to mention that the setting is a bit of a slippery slope, considering most of the human characters are from Piltover and most of the horses characters are from the Undercity... I am aware that it could be read as me portraying being poor as being closer to animals and being rich as being more civilised or something like that. Yikes. All I can say is that this was not my intention at all. (the process was more something like 'I love Jinx. I love horses. BAM Jinx is a horse! Now for a plot...')

This would be the very beginning of a fic. Which I think would be something like 3 or 4 chapters (famous last words)

:x

It was late afternoon when Caitlyn opened the rear doors of the horse trailer to allow Vi to step outside. The last sunrays of the day could not reach them as she had parked behind the large frame of the main tack room beautifully looming over the private driveway, opting out of the front parking welcoming guests. After more than five hours at the wheel as the sole driver of a vehicle carrying a spirited live animal, she could have had a feeling of accomplishment and independence. After all, she had her own horse in her own trailer that she handled herself. The destination, however, made her feel the opposite: here was Caitlyn Kiramman, back to her parent’s manor.

Vi would be a complete stranger to the Kiramman Equestrian Estate, yet she did not need to be asked twice to step back to get out of the vehicle she had spent the best part of her day in. Each one of the chestnut mare’s feet was louder than the other as she brusquely stomped on the ramp, impatient to be able to move around. She paused. Caitlyn did not miss how she perked her ears and let a snort of surprise, and maybe of disdain also. She held her head high. The sights were new to her, and the smells were unknown not just because of the unfamiliar horses settled here but also because those stables were made out of fancy materials Caitlyn’s new companion was not used to.

When all her feet were off the ramp, Caitlyn let her pause again to process. Vi looked her way and snorted a tight “prrr” again. Yes, it was disdain. And Caitlyn could easily admit she shared the feeling. After months working at Stillwater boarding stables, she was missing the encompassing scent of horse poop that her mother would not allow here.

Now, she realized the air here lacked something natural. For a moment, Caitlyn was scared that Vi would bolt at the unfamiliarity of it all. But after some scratching of the ground and more sniff of the air, she just looked at her in some kind of “urgh fine” manner, though Caitlyn remained aware of how tense she still looked.

She felt a little guilty to bring this on the mare…

The alternative, though, would have been to leave her behind, and to loose sight of her – maybe forever. Unthinkable.

To be honest, she felt somewhat sorry for herself too: The decision to come here was not exactly her own either. The call had been made, as always, by her mother. It could be said that Caitlyn had chosen to answer, but was it really a choice made out of freewill? Had Caitlyn decided not to come when asked, her mother would have come to conclusions that were unwanted. And it was not like she would have been cast away for it, on the contrary, she would have somehow been lassoed and pulled by force until she was back to where she came from behind closed doors. Which, granted, was not that far from what she was now, but at least she still had her plans and her head high. And she had Vi.

“Caitlyn.”

Here came the retrouvailles…

“Mom!”

Maybe a welcoming hug was what would have happened in some families, but the first thing Caitlyn did upon her arrival was to invite Vi the mare of unknown sire to the Kiramman ground, and now Caitlyn’s mother’s stern walk is slowing down as she appraises the animal.

This woman has never been in the habit of hugging anyway.

“Mom, this is Vi.” Caitlyn stated, aiming for confidence but sounding defensive more than anything.

“I see…” her mother answered, though Caitlyn could not help but feel like she did not actually see Vi. What she saw was what she was not: a mare born by a renowned breeder. She sounded disappointed. She also sounded very haughty and narrow-minded.

“She’s smaller than what you’re used to.” “She is what I’m used to now.” “And her posture doesn’t indicate a proper training. How old did you say she was?”

Vi suddenly neighed, interrupting them. A little rude. A little justified.

No horse neighed back to her.

Tagging: @the-blue-quetzalcoatl @letters-to-rosie @lullabyes22-blog @aceonice if you want to, and whoever wants to share anything!!

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2022-10-03

Several parts for a project got lost in the mail and if I don't blow up a motor doing something ill-advised with transistors soon I'm going to become the Joker.

Listening: I went to see the Ndlovu Youth Choir, a youth music group out of Limpopo who became extremely well known after they got on America's Got Talent a few years ago. Great style, they do a wide array of different styles and songs over a pretty wide time period, here's two songs:

Reading: Mostly scraps of SCP stuff, but a bad week for reading

Watching: Finished Arcane. God damn. Yes I know it's been like a year since that came out shut up.

It's so good. The animation is beautiful, it's so carefully considered, there's so few shortcuts taken. There's a scene where Jayce throws up on the bridge and it's a really close shot that sells the physicality of vomiting so well, it's messy and unpleasant. Another studio might have cut to a really long silhouette shot for that kind of thing. The Ekko/Jinx fight might be one of the best fights in the show. Even basic conversations have thoughtful blocking and framing, very little simple shot/reverse, there's always a focus on body parts and movements.

It's very predictable, which is probably because it's very character driven and the characters don't change much, you could write a comprehensive study of most characters on a post-it. There's a few major pivotal moments and twists for a few characters which are huge, but for the most part you can just run what you know about them forward to predict what happens next. Even having no knowledge of LoL you can guess that the Firelighters are led by Ekko in like zero seconds.

Jinx and Jayce are the main sources of unpredictability but that's because she's Da Joker Baby and paranoid and has psychosis, and he's a very smart boy who doesn't know what he's doing so the moment someone suggests any kind of solution to him he immediately does it without thinking.

Every single characters' design slaps. They did not make the mistake of trying to be sensible. Why is the cop uniform kind of demure but hot in a sexy maid kind of way? How does Jinx maintain twin braids longer than she is while also being on fire some of the time? How does Ekko fight with all that stuff on? These are not questions to ask. The question to ask is how fucking cool does this look and the answer is very.

The levels of tragedy are off the charts. Every second episode there's an opportunity for things to be resolved and for peace to succeed and everyone to talk and it doesn't happen ever.

Viktor and Jayce should have fucked at some point if only to make the breakup even worse.

Playing: Brought my desktop's storage back online so I have somewhere to put games again, but I haven't actually done much with it. Fortunately since I moved to Arch again my Proton is more stable, I got Ace Combat working under Linux.

Making: weekend making time was lost to a number of minor emergencies, but I did have to pop a door off its hinges because the lock completely failed which was fun. Unfortunately it was the door to the toolshed so I had to scrabble together the tools to do said pin popping from whatever tools I keep in my desk.

Tools and Equipment: Treating a minor injury in the family so here's a reminder to check your first aid kits, I had to run out and grab a bunch of non-absorbing gauze because we were all out.

I'm currently in the process of stocking a more severe trauma care kit for the family because my dad is on anti-clotting and blood thinning medication for a while which makes all his wounds one level of severity worse, so also learn how to use Chest Seals and Tourniquets, there's good online resources but you can probably also find a Stop The Bleed training course near you, it's a big international programme.

[proofthatihaveaheart]

April 2023 Wrap-up

i had covid this month which was a terrible time EXCEPT that when i wasn’t miserable with fever watching chopped, i had a lot of time to read. and i read a lot of good stuff this month. bold + italics for faves

THINGS I READ:

Books:

Babel by R. F. Kuang - What a book!!! It’s one of my favorites from the year so far. The character arcs + relationships, especially Robin’s, are complicated and emotional and excellent. Pair that with the broader themes around the role of academia in colonization and student-led revolutions and the linguistics/history, and you’ve got an excellent reading experience. It’s not subtle in all its messages but it is utterly engrossing and it has a lot to say about violence. Also, the rich details of academia resonated with me - the love/hate relationship, the exam stress, the cohort camaraderie - it’s the most accurate depiction of what academia is like that I’ve read in fiction.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon - I LOVED this book. One of my favorites (it was a good month for reading). Just the rich world-building, the amazing characters, the struggle between what is expected of you by others and your personal wants and how each main character fits into this greater theme, DRAGONS, it hits hard.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong - Spectacular tour through animal sensory systems and worlds. I learned a lot of cool things that made me appreciate how different species perceive the world around them - and how much we still have yet to learn.

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge - humorous essay collection on politics, identity, and life written by a Native woman. overall, it was hit-or-miss for me - some were really fantastic and some fell flat

Die Vol. 2 Split the Party by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans - still very into this comic series. It’s got gorgeous art and messy characters and fun dynamics and really cool ideas playing with rpgs and fantasies and the things people do for their fantasies

Die Vol. 3 The Great Game by Kieron Gillen and Stepahnie Hans - really liked Izzy and Ash’s dynamic in this volume (and in general)

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline - I liked this book. Interesting premise that works well with the themes, good focus on family and tradition

Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan - i can see why this is considered a classic. creative and funny with delightful characters. i’m excited to see where the story goes because these first six issues have done a great job setting things up

Fic (all for Arcane):

All the King’s Horses by paxbanana (Cait/Vi, 135k): All the walls come tumbling down. Jinx’s decision triggers catastrophic effects that leave Piltover reeling and Zaun on the brink of war. Vi is desperate to juggle all the broken pieces for Caitlyn and for Powder, but no matter how hard she tries, it’s not coming back together again. Or:  Jinx's attack on Council brings down the whole tower. Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx struggle with the aftermath. Vi balances being there for Caitlyn and cleaning up some of her sister's mess with finding a way to save her sister. Meanwhile, interested parties from Topside and Bottom plot to take advantage of the situation. [Oh this fic my beloved, the CaitVi dynamic, the mystery, the dialogue, the sister dynamic, I truly love this fic with all my heart.]

THINGS I WATCHED

Movies:

Jurassic Park - my friends and i watched this because it’s the best one and not all of us had seen it. an excellent movie, holds up well

Jurassic World Dominion - and right after watching JP, without having planned it before, someone pitched watching the worst movie in the franchise... we had a lot of fun making fun of it but it was an awful movie

TV:

Chopped

The Last of Us (finished) - excellent adaptation of an excellent game

THINGS I PLAYED

Video games:

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure - charming, adorable, and chill. It’s simple but made for a nice few hours and I really liked all the real birds

Legends of Runeterra

[aspoonofsugar]

Could you rank the Arcane's characters from the best written to worst?

Hello anon!

I don't think there are badly written characters in Arcane to be honest. At least I have not noticed badly used characters or twists that made no sense in character arcs. Each character fulfills its role either thematically or structurally. And this is what a well written character should do to begin with.

Anyway, when it comes to the charactert that I personally find the best written, the answer is easy:

The first season’s main focus is Powder’s journey to become Jinx, so it is not really surprising that they put extra care in her.

Her evolution feels realistic, layered and she never loses her core humanity that makes her sympathetic despite her spiral.

So, in the end... why was Jinx born? Who did create her?

Jinx is Piltover and Zaun’s Tyke-Bomb. She is a child born in the middle of the two cities’ conflict and the combination of her environment with her inner fragility (powder) makes her detonate.

This is well shown in the opening scene of the series:

There we see the same effect later used to convey Jinx’s confusion and mental illness. At the same time, we see how Powder has been surrounded by loss and violence since she was a small child. It is this violence that ends up molding her.

On one hand she is clearly scared and disturbed by it:

On the other hand she is taught that she should become more violent:

Mylo: So stick with us! Take a punch or two.

Zaun tells its children that they must be strong, they must be violent if they want to survive. Vander himself has taught so to his family. So, Powder finds herself caught in this contradiction. She fears violence, but she has been conditioned into wishing to be violent.

What is more, there is an additional layer to Powder and the concept of “violence” and “strength”. For parents in Zaun, it is essential that the children are strong to survive. However, for Powder being strong becomes a necessary condition to be loved.

Powder internalizes that in order to be loved, she should be strong.

This is not surprising if one considers Powder’s early years and especially her parents’ death.

Powder and Vi’s parents choose an ideal over their own daugthers. They choose to go to war and leave their children behind:

Vander: I led us across the bridge, thinking that things could change. If I hadn’t, your parents would still be alive.

As a result, Powder learns two things about love. First of all, love is not forever. Loved ones can be stolen from you. Secondly, love is not absolute. There are some ideals that come before love, at least for some people. So, Powder does her best not to be left behind. She tries to be a part of Vi’s ideal as well. Vi wants to fight against Piltover, so Powder wants to fight against Piltover too. Vi is strong, so Powder needs to keep up.

If she does not, then she will be left behind again. And this is exactly what happens in Powder’s eyes here:

Powder: But families stick together. You said it yourself.

Vi: I know what I said...

Powder: I want to fight. I can help.

Vi: You’re not ready.

Her family leaves her to go fight a dangerous enemy. They leave her behind because she is weak. For Powder this is just a repeat of her parents leaving her and Vi.

So, as any well set-up bomb Powder clearly explodes and the consequences are devastating:

Since this moment on, the whole story is presented as Silco and Vi’s fight over Jinx/Powder’s soul. However, even if Silco and Vi may seem as opposite forces in Jinx’s life, the truth is that they are not perceived as so differnt by Jinx.

For example, Jinx cares about them because both tell her that her being “different” is not wrong:

Vi: You know, Powder, what makes you different makes you strong.

Silco: Don’t cry. You’re perfect.

Deep down, this is what Jinx is looking for. She wants someone that would love her unconditionally, even if she is “different”:

Jinx: I thought maybe you could love me like you used to. Even though I’m... different.

Yes, here Jinx is saying that she is different from her past self, but there is an additional layer to this in how she deep down perceives herself as different, odd, wrong.

What is truly tragic about it, though, is that Jinx is never unloved. Many people care about her deeply. Vander, Vi and her adoptive brothers all care about Powder. And later on Silco starts caring about her too and Ekko is shown to keep on caring for her, despite it all. However, Jinx has internalized that all the love others have for her is somehow false, or at least conditional. They will betray her, if she is not useful to them (let’s highlight this really never happens). They will choose their ideal over her, if given the chance (again, not really true). Because of this, Jinx herself keeps sabotaging her own relationships. Especially, in the second part of the series. Vi comes back for her, but she is unable to truly welcome her sister back because she starts a one-sided rivalry with Caitlyn. Silco is ready to basically give up his life dream for her sake and Jinx is too paranoid to even realize it, until it is too late.

It is fitting that by the end, she symbolically chooses Silco over Vi after having killed him. A dead person, after all, can’t betray you and his love can’t change. It is eternal. If by accident Jinx had ended up killing Vi, instead, it is highlyg probable she would have chosen Powder instead.

So, in the end... who created Jinx? The answer is Powder herself, but also... the entirety of Zaun and Piltover whose conflict has defined Powder’s life since childhood.

In a sense, Jinx is so stuck in this conflict that she can’t even think to overcome it. She keeps going back to it:

Silco: We’ll show them. We’ll show them all.

The words Jinx hears in her mind through Silco’s voice are after all just Vi’s words:

Vi: Mylo’s wrong, Powder. You’re stronger than you think. And one day... this city is gonna respect us.

They are the words of generations of people in Zaun that have basically been living in Piltover’s shadow. They have been living in juxtaposition with the richer city, a sacrifice to progress.

So, by the end, Jinx simply takes the confusion and chaos she has inside to the outside:

She does so because this is what she has been taught by her two role models (Vi and Silco). She does so, despite neither Silco nor Vi really wanting Piltover’s destruction by that point.

So, Jinx is a child caught in the conflict and as she grows up, she (together with Vi) ends up embodying this neverending conflict. As a matter of fact the two sisters’ relationship is meant to symbolically represent the two cities’ bond where one keeps living in the shadow of the other. As the story progresses, it is possible their own relationship evolves into that of the two cities’ more and more.

Thank you for the ask!

[pineapple-split]

After you finished with the trauma show, do mind sharing your opinions on it? Who was your fav? Best scene? What would you say the story is about? I Love reading other people's opinions

Ok so I had to try to get my thoughts in order, but apologies in advance if this is still a little unorganized!

In short: WOW. That’s still my main reaction tbh, like I am just blown away by how good Arcane is. The artwork is insanely stunning, and it’s unfair that I already know I’m going to compare all other animated features to this. I literally could not look away from the screen for a second, or else I’d need to rewind so I could keep taking it all in.

As for favs, what was best, etc. I literally couldn’t tell you. I loved it all? Every single character has purpose, everything drove both the plot and themes forward. This was so tightly written and executed, it’s really pretty remarkable. What’s sticking in my head right now is the showdown between Ekko and Jinx on the bridge. Good god, that was so well done. It was stone cold perfect. Idk a single thing about LoL lore or what they will plan to do with future seasons, but at this stage I’m thinking Ekko will end up being the MOST important character resolution-wise. The show has set him up as being the most capable of building something sustainable and new - it just remains to be seen whether he gets the opportunity.

But that’s not to downplay anyone else either, bc the central conflict is obv the relationship between Vi and Jinx, mirrored by the larger Piltover vs Undercity dynamic. I found it so compelling, especially when you consider that none of the character types or tropes being deployed are new. But this creative team managed to tell these story beats without making them seem tired and overdone. Regarding Piltover and the undercity specifically, I’m also heartened that the show seems to understand the power imbalance here. Always nice when a story *gets it*, you know?

Also, canonically queer?! I don’t think I’m reading into that, right????

Anyway tl;dr I think this show is Amazing and I will be gushing about it for approximately 70 years.