this-user-is-new

[this-user-is-new]

mel being a mage was a weird choice, and while I'm not inherently opposed to the idea as much as I'm opposed to how it recontextualizes and devalues her intelligence and political know how from being various skills she had been taught and/or learned to utilize from an early age to instead being an innate talent born of unknown magic powers, I think it would've been more fitting to have the armor be a magical item given to her by ambessa (or more likely, forced upon her prior to mel's exile) for the specific purpose of keeping her safe in her absence.

piltover and zaun's entire thing is magic as science and technology, so it's more thematically relevant for mel—whose arc ends with her removing her family ring as a way to showcase her choosing to abandon the warmongering medarda legacy in favor of maintaining peace through diplomacy, embracing her identity as one of piltover’s 'soft spined idealists'—to have a form of magic technology augmenting her body that allows her to overcome the ~fragility of the flesh~ to survive an otherwise potentially deadly event.

doing the above would also continue to draw parallels between mel and viktor, as viktor’s entire thing is augmenting the body with science and steel to overcome the fragility of flesh and blood and the fallible nature of emotions in order to empower people (not that they did that in the show but we're going to pretend s2 viktor doesn't exist because I hate what they did to my revolutionary coded messed up cyborg guy, and no I don't care that he's "biomechanical" in arcane because NOTHING about his design reads as mechanical. even in s1 the only reason you can tell it's metal is the sound effects so GET that mf out of my house /j)

[this-user-is-new]

arcane s2 thought of the day: jinx losing her middle finger during her fight against vi and cait serves no narrative purpose and is literally just there for the aesthetic, but imagine the symbolism if they had cait shoot off her trigger finger instead. ignoring how her entire s2 arc goes against her s1 arc, if they wanted her to have a redemption arc and become the big fat hero would it not be more fitting for her to lose the ability to pull the trigger of her weapons, forcing her to end her destructive reign and "kill" jinx? and iirc she doesn't actually make herself a new finger until isha needs to be rescued, so it would add another layer of symbolism of jinx choosing to pick up her weapons, as she's no longer shooting to kill, but shooting to save.

[this-user-is-new]

poking my head out of the arcane fandom to see my dash filled with hunger games stuff now that SOTR is out makes looking back at the arcane fandom... bewildering lol

Piltover being rich and privileged with clean streets and air. Multiple noble houses, their ruling powers having total say over both them and the Undercity. The Undercity having no representation, being exploited for its product(s). The justice system fully controlled by Topside and used to oppress the Undercity. Discrimination.

Then I look back at Panem and just think "Christ alive thank god Suzanne Collins never wrote about Snow's granddaughter being a Peacekeeper and having a girl from the districts as her girlfriend. Otherwise people might have thought the Districts went too far with their rebellion and other fun things."

[this-user-is-new]

omg don't mind that person arguing abt wherever mel's arc makes sense or not. they go from "uhm it's not shown in arcane", to "actually runes probably work like this", to "oh they don't ? according to what ? the lore, yeah no it's not in arcane so it's not true" although they did try to use the lore before (abt hextech i think) ...

i don’t like mel’s arc in season 2 narratively speaking. not just because ... lore.

whatever they say, even ignoring the lore, mel’s arc is just bad writing. i think i already made a post about this, but it’s rushed and narratively unsatisfying. she just happens to arrive at the battle at the perfect time and magically figures out her powers with no real struggle. like, how do you turn a sly politician into a heroic magical girl and expect it to feel earned? they distracted the audience so much that somehow i’m the bad guy for pointing out that this whole thing needed at least way more explanation (especially after the book, which only makes arcane’s version of mel even more confusing.)

also, the mel we saw in s1, the one who saw zaun as a mere stepping stone to power, not as a place with real people worth fighting for, is still the same mel we get in s2. she doesn’t gain new insight, she doesn’t struggle with her past actions, and she doesn’t engage meaningfully with the oppression she benefited from. so her arc in s2 is just a dramatic spectacle that shifts the focus away from the uncomfortable questions about her political role.

so narratively? it’s not just rushed - it’s a complete cop-out.

and anyway, yeah, i can criticize arcane for not making sense according to the lore - and i did. not just with old lore either, but with the book, which was released after arcane. it doesn’t change how magic works in general, just some black rose and rell backstory. it even reaffirms already established mages like ryze and his runes.

spoilers ahead ...

yeah so i’m kinda tired so i’m not gonna reread the whole book for this, but here are some interesting things.

rudo was one of the most powerful mages in the black rose and had decades of experience. he wasn’t just some random mage.

he specifically designed runes to suppress mel’s magic, and they weren’t just experimental - they were perfected.

these runes were supposed to keep her magic bound permanently, not just hide it from others.

the only scenario where the runes could fail was if a mage as powerful as rudo found her and could sense her nature. not them suddenly not working anymore and mel going sailor moon.

mel never trained physically, let alone magically, so there’s no reason she’d suddenly be able to control her magic with no struggle. (and even if she had trained physically, that still wouldn’t translate to mastering magic, but somehow, that logic works for some people...)

but sure, i’m the one not making sense ...

[this-user-is-new]

The same person saying to forget league of legends lore was not that long ago using league of legends lore to argue with someone else who was criticizing how the Hextech plotline was handled in Arcane.

Every argument they use is just an excuse that apparently only applies when it's convenient for them.

this is crazy

[this-user-is-new]

nah, no one who actually cares about the game or lore is gonna just forget it because of arcane. arcane’s about the least popular characters in league (aside from jinx, maybe). there are so many other champions with actual lore, especially mages. i don’t care that mel breaks every rule, but don’t act like i should just throw out everything for this new show. you’ve read my posts, s2 was mostly crap to me, so it’s ridiculous for you to expect me to ditch the old lore anyway. and don’t talk abt mental well being wtf, you sound like a total geek who thinks they’re a retired geek.

another thing that’s frustrating about arcane season two is that whenever i try to make sense of an event that involves magic, the explanation just creates another incoherent plotline, especially with the case of mel medarda.

how does she break free from leblanc’s black rose domain, something controlled by a vastly more powerful and experienced mage?

mel was born super powerful. because the show says so. yeah, she went from a nonviolent, politically driven aristocrat to a full-on superpowered mage because ... well, she obviously trained off-screen, with leblanc, maybe? the show doesn’t say. but you know what the show says? that she was born super powerful, and that’s enough.

okay ... then, if she’s always had this immense power, why has she never experienced even the slightest manifestation of it in her ~30 years of life? why was she so oblivious about her nature? it's hard to believe.

well, according to external league lore, her father secretly put runes in her tattoos to suppress her magic. so, it makes total sense.

yeah … but then how is she able to use magic now, when those tattoos are still on her body? what changed?

during the council attack in season 1, when she instinctively used a shield, that ... somehow broke the tattoos’ suppression. it’s magic, okay?!

but the runes, which were specifically designed to suppress her magic, are a form of magic in themselves. so why does mel suddenly break free of them?

because her magic is more powerful than ... magic? because, the show says that she’s very powerful ...

but this contradicts established league lore. even mages like ryze can’t just do whatever they want, magic has its boundaries for them too. so, mages can’t just act without limits or consequences. if mel can break free of magic-suppressing runes so easily, it undermines the very concept of magic rules that have been established within the broader lore, no?

... arcane is the new canon? although none of this is said in arcane.

[this-user-is-new]

the idea that mel could outwit someone as experienced as leblanc just feels cheap, and saying it’s all "mind games" doesn’t fix that.

just because mel’s magic might have been hinted at with her empathy doesn’t change the fact that she went her whole life without any noticeable magic signs. and wtf, having some empathy or a brief feeling of suspicion doesn’t count as "magic signs." if we’re talking about actual league lore, that’s just not how magic works. you can't just pull out a random ability when it’s convenient to the plot.

who tf is rey? and you’re telling me she magically starts controlling her powers with no real struggle, no training, and barely any explanation? how does that make sense? just walking from the prison doesn’t make her some sort of magically gifted prodigy. it’s lazy writing to have her suddenly know how to control her powers like she’s been doing it for years.

also, they don’t even know wtf they were doing with hextech and the arcane, don’t pretend that the new lore should outwrite the old one when it’s not even better.

if you want to take arcane as gospel, that’s fine, but don’t expect me to just throw out everything i know about the universe because the show decided to take creative liberties. and wtf does that mean for other champions? are their stories just on hold until they get their own show? and every other mage is fucking useless and weak because mel medarda changed the rules? wtf?

another thing that’s frustrating about arcane season two is that whenever i try to make sense of an event that involves magic, the explanation just creates another incoherent plotline, especially with the case of mel medarda.

how does she break free from leblanc’s black rose domain, something controlled by a vastly more powerful and experienced mage?

mel was born super powerful. because the show says so. yeah, she went from a nonviolent, politically driven aristocrat to a full-on superpowered mage because ... well, she obviously trained off-screen, with leblanc, maybe? the show doesn’t say. but you know what the show says? that she was born super powerful, and that’s enough.

okay ... then, if she’s always had this immense power, why has she never experienced even the slightest manifestation of it in her ~30 years of life? why was she so oblivious about her nature? it's hard to believe.

well, according to external league lore, her father secretly put runes in her tattoos to suppress her magic. so, it makes total sense.

yeah … but then how is she able to use magic now, when those tattoos are still on her body? what changed?

during the council attack in season 1, when she instinctively used a shield, that ... somehow broke the tattoos’ suppression. it’s magic, okay?!

but the runes, which were specifically designed to suppress her magic, are a form of magic in themselves. so why does mel suddenly break free of them?

because her magic is more powerful than ... magic? because, the show says that she’s very powerful ...

but this contradicts established league lore. even mages like ryze can’t just do whatever they want, magic has its boundaries for them too. so, mages can’t just act without limits or consequences. if mel can break free of magic-suppressing runes so easily, it undermines the very concept of magic rules that have been established within the broader lore, no?

... arcane is the new canon? although none of this is said in arcane.

[this-user-is-new]

some of y'all need to stick to defending caitvi and stop defending every aspect of the show when you clearly don't care about the lore. if you just want to acknowledge the show, that's fine, really. but then don't engage in a discussion about the lore??? wtf.

and for the assholes out here who like to throw every insult possible from a side blog, just so you know, a lot of people in "arcane critical" can tell when you don't actually care and you're just here to argue for fun. but sometimes we like to answer you because we get to explore and articulate our thoughts and feel better about disliking a show we once enjoyed. (;

[this-user-is-new]

"mel's magic lets her twist other magic, so she could break free from leblanc's control."

yk leblanc isn't just some random sorcerer, right? she's a master of illusions and deception, someone who has tricked swain who literally bargains with demons, outmaneuvered jarvan iii, and she's part of a centuries-old cabal that has been manipulating noxian politics from the shadows.

yet mel, who has zero experience, casually overcomes leblanc because that's what her magic does, right?

but even champions with strong anti-magic abilities struggle against other magic users. i mean, morgana, a literal being of dark magic specialized in breaking magical bindings never truly defeated kayle. but mel, a complete novice, somehow breaks free from leblanc, who was not only aware of mel's magic but supposedly a master of her craft?

but hey, why bother respecting the power scaling of league's magic when you can just hand mel a win because the plot needs it?

"mel wasn't born super powerful randomly, she was designed by ambessa to take on the black rose."

her father is probably a powerful mage, so what? that still means she was born powerful. never said it was random? and that doesn't erase the fact that her magic had zero signs of manifesting before which is weird.

in league's lore, magic doesn't just sit dormant for decades without a single sign:

lux tried to suppress her magic, but it still flared up multiple times in childhood.

ahri didn't know she was vastayan, but her magic still affected people, so there were signs.

ryze, a literal centuries-old sorcerer and one of the most disciplined mages constantly struggles to contain the magic he carries.

but mel? she somehow goes her entire life without even suspecting she has magic, has zero accidents, and then out of nowhere she's powerful enough to override leblanc? yeah no, that's not how magic in this universe works.

"mel was probably trained as a child. she's a medarda, after all." "mel isn't immediately good with her powers. jayce even calls her out for it."

"probably"? that's pure assumption. but yeah, noxians often train their children to fight, but mel was exiled anyway. also, for a show like arcane to never hint that she can fight when she can (according to you) is pretty … wow.

but sure, let's pretend she had combat training. still, how does that explain how she fights like an experienced mage the second she unlocks her power?

meanwhile you have:

viego, a literal ascended being, still struggled to use his power effectively until he was fully consumed by the ruination.

sylas who trained for years and even he couldn't master magic instantly.

so why does mel, who had no history of training or even knowing she had magic, fight like she's been doing it for years? suddenly, she can fight a literal warlord (ambessa), who also had anti-magic runes?

a couple of minor setbacks don't change the fact that she's too good, too fast, for no reason. yes, she faints briefly at the beginning but is otherwise fine. it never puts her in any real danger.

"magic manifests in a big emotional burst, not gradually."

since you're using how they wrote mel as a standard for mages in general, let me tell you this: that directly contradicts league lore. magic isn't some anime-style "power-up through emotions", it’s something that develops over time:

lux didn’t suddenly explode with power, she had small incidents over the years.

ahri didn't just wake up one day and realize she could steal essence, her power grew gradually as she fed on people.

arcane needed to justify mel's sudden power boost and they didn't. this isn't some shonen.

"mel's rune suppression tattoos aren't confirmed in the show, so we can ignore them." "mel couldn't break through her mother's rune suppression magic, so she's not breaking any rules."

then why are you interacting with my post? if you don't want to acknowledge league's lore, it's fine, but stop trying to argue with people who talks about it wtf.

anyway, in league runes are magic. they have rules and restrictions:

ryze uses runes, but he can't override them.

morgana's magic is bound by a rune inscription on her body.

ornn's forging magic is dependent on specific rune-infused materials.

runes aren't just random magic that can be shrugged off. if mel had suppression runes and they just stopped working, that directly contradicts how runes function everywhere else in league.

and yet, you just proved my point.

if rune suppression magic works on mel later in the show, then it should have worked before. you can't have it both ways. either suppression magic works, or it doesn't.

"runes need to be charged, so maybe mel's suppression runes just ran out of power."

nothing in the show or the lore (yet?) suggests that ambessa's runes were the same as the ones supposedly on mel's tattoos. and rune magic in league doesn't just randomly run out of charge anyway.

ryze's scrolls and sigils don't need recharging they work because they are bound to magical laws.

morgana's shackles don't just fade away, they are permanent until removed.

ornn's forging runes don't randomly run out of charge.

also, mel's father specifically put suppression runes on her to hide her from black rose. why would he bother doing that if they just "ran out of charge"?

another thing that’s frustrating about arcane season two is that whenever i try to make sense of an event that involves magic, the explanation just creates another incoherent plotline, especially with the case of mel medarda.

how does she break free from leblanc’s black rose domain, something controlled by a vastly more powerful and experienced mage?

mel was born super powerful. because the show says so. yeah, she went from a nonviolent, politically driven aristocrat to a full-on superpowered mage because ... well, she obviously trained off-screen, with leblanc, maybe? the show doesn’t say. but you know what the show says? that she was born super powerful, and that’s enough.

okay ... then, if she’s always had this immense power, why has she never experienced even the slightest manifestation of it in her ~30 years of life? why was she so oblivious about her nature? it's hard to believe.

well, according to external league lore, her father secretly put runes in her tattoos to suppress her magic. so, it makes total sense.

yeah … but then how is she able to use magic now, when those tattoos are still on her body? what changed?

during the council attack in season 1, when she instinctively used a shield, that ... somehow broke the tattoos’ suppression. it’s magic, okay?!

but the runes, which were specifically designed to suppress her magic, are a form of magic in themselves. so why does mel suddenly break free of them?

because her magic is more powerful than ... magic? because, the show says that she’s very powerful ...

but this contradicts established league lore. even mages like ryze can’t just do whatever they want, magic has its boundaries for them too. so, mages can’t just act without limits or consequences. if mel can break free of magic-suppressing runes so easily, it undermines the very concept of magic rules that have been established within the broader lore, no?

... arcane is the new canon? although none of this is said in arcane.

[this-user-is-new]

another thing that’s frustrating about arcane season two is that whenever i try to make sense of an event that involves magic, the explanation just creates another incoherent plotline, especially with the case of mel medarda.

how does she break free from leblanc’s black rose domain, something controlled by a vastly more powerful and experienced mage?

mel was born super powerful. because the show says so. yeah, she went from a nonviolent, politically driven aristocrat to a full-on superpowered mage because ... well, she obviously trained off-screen, with leblanc, maybe? the show doesn’t say. but you know what the show says? that she was born super powerful, and that’s enough.

okay ... then, if she’s always had this immense power, why has she never experienced even the slightest manifestation of it in her ~30 years of life? why was she so oblivious about her nature? it's hard to believe.

well, according to external league lore, her father secretly put runes in her tattoos to suppress her magic. so, it makes total sense.

yeah … but then how is she able to use magic now, when those tattoos are still on her body? what changed?

during the council attack in season 1, when she instinctively used a shield, that ... somehow broke the tattoos’ suppression. it’s magic, okay?!

but the runes, which were specifically designed to suppress her magic, are a form of magic in themselves. so why does mel suddenly break free of them?

because her magic is more powerful than ... magic? because, the show says that she’s very powerful ...

but this contradicts established league lore. even mages like ryze can’t just do whatever they want, magic has its boundaries for them too. so, mages can’t just act without limits or consequences. if mel can break free of magic-suppressing runes so easily, it undermines the very concept of magic rules that have been established within the broader lore, no?

... arcane is the new canon? although none of this is said in arcane.

[this-user-is-new]

well, that music video was ugly 🤣

[this-user-is-new]

"uhm, what about caitvi?" as much as i dislike how timebomb in arcane affected ekko's character, we can't ignore that he and jinx are fortiche's babies. they were the first characters fortiche worked on in collaboration with riot games. so why act surprised that they might be getting something special?

plus, there's already a video for fantastic, and let's not forget, it's ma meilleure amie we're talking about. it's insanely popular, so it makes sense for it to get a special mv. but again, we don't even know what the content will be.

and tbh, jinx and ekko just have that kind of aesthetic that fits well together and they're probably a blast to animate.

[this-user-is-new]

I can't remember what post it was but someone made a great point imo about the incoherence of Vander's ideology that he pushes onto Vi. He tells her violence is immoral when it's against police or the rich, but unambiguous to the point of being funny when it's against working class people like Deckard. "You did put that idiot on his arse".

I bring this up to add on to my previous post. Vander was a terrible father figure to Vi, and the grandiose moral lessons he tried to impress onto her are worthy of the utmost scepticism. Don't use "but Vander said it was bad" as an argument that revolution really is bad within the ethics of the show itself.

It could be the same post I lifted my first point from, or it could be another one, but someone before me has also very effectively destroyed the "no one wins in war" quote. Vander is objectively wrong. Piltover won. They devastated Zaun. Subjugated it. Piltover won, Zaun lost. What he's saying is a platitude which distracts from the material reality of the situation he and Vi are in.

[this-user-is-new]

[this-user-is-new]

melvik cuddles again because im just fine and normal like that

[this-user-is-new]

i found this in pinterest and i can't find who made this art it's so frustrating

[this-user-is-new]

i hate that arcane completely reworked caitlyn's racial identity in a way that conveniently distances her from being a fully white aristocrat, especially in s2. caitlyn was always depicted as white in league of legends, and in arcane season 1, they suddenly made her half-ionian by giving her an ionian father while her mother, cassandra, remained fully white (yeah nobody seriously thought cassandra looked ambiguous). whatever. it didn't bother me much. but then, in season 2, cassandra is suddenly half-ionian, which means caitlyn is three-quarters ionian instead of just half.

obviously this change wouldn’t even be an issue on its own, but it happens right when caitlyn takes on a more explicitly oppressive role in piltover: endorsing martial law, reinforcing state violence, and benefiting from systemic power. and right as this happens, the show suddenly makes a point to emphasize that caitlyn is "less white"???

ik some people will think that i’m reading too much into it, that i can’t prove it’s a deliberate attempt to soften how the audience perceives her. i mean, making her not fully white doesn't absolves her of being part of an oppressive system. but you can’t deny that this retcon is being used to shut down discussions about caitlyn’s privilege and complicity, or to even harass people over jokes. some fans literally act like she can’t be an oppressor now because she’s being reframed as "not white." obviously, this is ridiculous, not to mention historically dishonest because there's a long history of asian groups participating in and benefiting from oppressive regimes like imperial japan’s colonial rule and blablabla ... simply having asian ancestry doesn’t mean someone can’t uphold or benefit from systemic oppression. but that’s exactly how this change is being used, as a shield to deflect any critique of caitlyn’s role in piltover’s power structure.

and with arcane’s sudden shift from a story about oppression and politics to a marvel-tier spectacle, plus the fact that caitlyn’s main writer is white, plus the pattern where the piltover elites we follow are now people of color (jayce and caitlyn, when they were white in LoL, or mel, who didn’t even exist before), while the white oppressed characters get to stay white and the other major oppressed poc (ekko and sevika) are just missing in s2 ... well, is it really not a deliberate attempt from the writers to soften how we perceive her? idk, you do the math.

anyway, imo this change isn’t some meaningful character development. it’s just optics management.