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#Arcane season 2 I was lucky enough to work as a concept artist on Arcane season 2, and I can finally share some images I created at Fortiche. And what better way to start than with the main antagonist: Viktor. I spent so many hours trying to redraw and comprehend the original character design done by Victor Maury (@moulinbleu ). The idea here was to find an interesting way to show that, at some point, Viktor finally reached his inner peace. Huge thanks to @riotgames and @fortiche_prod for the opportunity to work on such an amazing project with such a talented team. Lots of gratitude to directors Arnaud Delord, Pascal Charrue, Bart Maunoury, and art director Julien Georgel, with whom I’ve learned a lot. Congratulations to everyone involved!

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Ngl I sometimes hate the arcane fandom for their general view surrounding jayce.

Don't get me wrong I love meljay, I love jayvik but Gosh it seems like this is the only thing the fandom talks about that includes jayce.

I am tired, could we please talk about jayce as a character. Can we talk about how well written he was in season 1, how he was thrusted into politics and tried to get down and slovenly the corruption just to get swallowed by it? Can we talk about how the moment he sees the violence and sees just 1 situation of how piltover failed the undercity, he immediately went into action trying to do what he believed was right and give zaun independence?

Can we talk about how he has always been presented as a healer and a fixer, but sometimes his own care damages the thing he wanted to protect? Can we talk about how a lot of his time, as a character, he is mostly put out of his element. We mainly see big jayce moments when he is either up and fighting or when he is in the council, and the truth is the guy isn't a fighter and he isn't a Councillor. Jayce is a sicenitist at heart, he is a creator that is constantly put out of his element and so people think he is dumb nut honestly he adapts to everything so quickly it's insane and I don't think the fandom picks up on it enough.

I am tired of this. I know the jayce hate isn't as bad as it was in season 1 because I was there in season 1. I was there in the trenches where people used to call jayce a trump supporter in season 1 on Twitter. But the mischaractersiation still sucks and it seems like his character only revolves around ships, and I hate it.

*inhales* I KNOW RIGHT!

Literally. It truly feels like a lot of people only care about Jayce as an extension of the ships he's in, whether its Jayvik or Meljay. Rather than caring about him as a character.

It is the most irritating thing when the fandom reduces a character to simply being the ships that they are a part of. I hate how people treat him in this fandom.

Not to mention that a lot of the content for those ships feel very sexual or sexualized in general. And there's not anything inherently bad about that, and there are people who write it very well. But given that the fandom seems to really sexualize Jayce and how many people only started to like him when he got "hotter". It feels like... a lot and kind of gross at times... And than there's the whole "Jayce is a sub/bottom" and it really feels like people reduce him to being only that, when there's WAY MORE to him then that.

I should reiterate that if you like sub/bottom Jayce that is perfectly fine. I’m not trying to come off like you can’t enjoy that. Or saying that you can’t make sexual content with Jayce or of the ships he’s a part of. But when there is very blatant sexualization of Jayce and disregard for his character to the point that that's all people talk about with him. To the point that that is all they reduce him to. It paints a very bad picture and starts to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

And I'm also not saying that his devotion and capacity to love isn't a good character trait to talk about. But he has other character traits to talk about too... He is more than just his devotion and his relationships...

I am also very tired. Jayce is my favorite character in Arcane. And it just feels like people only see him as a "pretty face" or just an extension of shipping with other characters. Its very disheartening.

Like with all of the things that you have wonderfully listed above, there is so much to talk about with Jayce and his overall character in the show. He is very well-written in season 1, and is one of the smartest characters in the whole show in how he practically figured out a majority of creating a whole new branch of science on his own with no help from anyone. I really wish that part of his character got more attention because people discredit him so much by saying he's a himbo or acting Viktor was the only genius of the two of them.

I am not saying that everyone has to like him or that he's perfect by any means, but the way that people mischaracterize him and just don't afford him the same decency they do with other characters is just sad and annoying to see.

If you don't like him, that's fine. He does not have to be your most favorite character in the world. But don't make up reasons for why he's the worst or mischaracterize him just so you can viscerally hate on him. Or sexualize him to the point that you strip him of all of his other character traits and reduce him to nothing more than a ship.

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makin out

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some praise from the machine herald

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Viktor really meant the "in all timelines, in all possibilities" line BECAUSE IT'S OUR TIMELINE TOO! THEY EXISTED!

Please take a moment and let me introduce you to: Giacomo Leopardi and Antonio Ranieri's partnership.

Leopardi was an italian poet, author, philosopher and philologist. He is an important figure in Romantic literature (albeit, he did criticize the Romantic worldviews).

All throughout his life he suffered from a debilitating chronic illness (juvanile ankylosing spondylitis) that had him suffer horrendously from a young age, until it eventually took his life in 1837, when he was 39 years old.

He dedicated most of his life to studies, translating old tomes, writing poems and treaties diverting on humanity's degeneration from our glorious past to our suffering present. He exhorted modern folks to take action against the unjust present, aiming to a revolution of our pitiful condition.

In 1827 Leopardi meets Antonio Ranieri a young man that is described (verbatim) as a "very young and handsome in person and spirit".

Ranieri had been exiled from his city during his youth, because of his excessively liberal views in regards to politics.

The two become very close friends, but it's in 1830 that their "partnership" (literally, not making this up, Ranieri himself wrote a book about it if you care to check it out "Seven years of partnership with Giacomo Leopardi") starts. They move together from Firenze to Naples and Ranieri attends to Leopardi's every wish (noted that this man was a fanatic for sweets) paying with money from his own pocket.

Now, friendship at the time was different than what it is now, and they might’ve been very close friends, yes. But I'll give you some words from their letters and what Ranieri wrote down in his book and leave it to your judgment.

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Ranieri, Naples, 1833:

"I- left my own bed- used to sleep in a room that was not mine (scandalous at the time) to sleep by his side"

Leopardi, Florence, 1832-33, from when they got separated because Ranieri needed to tend to some family issues:

"My Ranieri, you will never abandon my side, nor will your love for me grow colder. I don't wish for you to sacrifice yourself for me. In fact, before anything else, I strongly wish for you to take care of yourself first: whatever you choose to do, you will do it so because we live for one another, or I know that I do for you; my last and only hope. Farewell, my soul. I keep you close to my heart, which in both possible and impossible occurrences, will forever be yours"

Leopardi, Florence, 1832-33, on someone making a joke out of Ranieri for staying by Leopardi's side:

" [...] Oh, my Ranieri! When will I get you back? I won't stop trambling until I'll recover this immeasurable love, until I know it's true. Farewell, my soul, with all my spirit's strength. Don't get bored of loving me"

And more:

"Ranieri of mine, I need not say that in every way you wish, I will be there with you (...). My resolution has been so for a great time now: that I will never be parted from you. Farewell"

In 1833, Ranieri sends a letter where he says he intends to set off to get Leopardi and go live together in Naples, to which Leopardi answers:

"My Ranieri, will this [letter] reach you in Naples still? I must warn you, I cannot live without you no longer, I'm overtaken by a morbid impatience to see you again, and that I am sure that if you will be late, I will die from the malencholy of not having you still. Farewell, Farewell"

Ranieri, on the landlady that took them in in Naples:

"She revealed this: that I had introduced a consumptive in the house: that, loving him so much as to stay up at night by his side, there could be no reason I could not do that as well in mine own house"

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So now, take it as you will- because maybe I am way too much of a nerd about this stuff- but I can't read ANYTHING Leopardi and Ranieri related without seeing Viktor and Jayce. I will gladely add more in the future.

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Addition! If you want to watch/read on them (but mostly Leopardi, which is a catch) I STRONGLY advice you:

Leopardi. Il poeta dell'infinito - I don't personally love it but if you want more on them, thats the place

Il giovane favoloso - AMAZING movie

Canti - by Leopardi, it is a collection of poems he wrote and I think it is absolutely useful to understand his marvelous mind and character

Sette anni di Sodalizio con Giacomo Leopardi - the one I mentioned before, written by Ranieri on his time with Leopardi

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isnt it wild how jayce is the most heavily misunderstood arcane character..everytime i see takes about him being upper-class and rich or mean and condescending or not caring about viktor in s1 or whatever other garbage ppl say about him i lose a year of my life

It's crazy to me that I've been saying jayce is working class for years and this got confirmed in the draft 1 board for arcane christian linke posted on twitter sometime ago lol

house Talis is a MINOR HOUSE of toolmakers whose most prominent contribution is the 'collapsible pocket wrench'. They're literally blacksmiths. This is a service and labor position. Jayce can't even afford to use gold in his inventions in act1 because he relies on the Kiramman money for everything. This is not the life of a rich guy in Piltover this is middle class at best lol his drive to finish up hextech and succeed academically is him trying to build a better life for himself!

Blacksmithing is historically a very intensive work position. The work wears you down & eventually disables you very early in life (jayce's injury in act3 seems to be a metaphorical speedrun of that, in some ways) we're never told how jayce's dad died but it is very fair to imagine it was a work related. he's fucking aware of this, its true In Real Life and it brings such an interesting context to his interactions with Viktor and how they want to create things that help common laborers and make the work better if it wasn't for the council. (in s1 act2 their progress day showcase to heimerdinger BEGINS with jayce complaining that they've been stuck fulfilling the council's demands these past 10 years and now, finally, *finally* it's their time to decide what to do with hextech. and they're not even allowed that.)

Also, the perfected hexgems in s1 are kept in Kiramman-crest boxes. I noticed this just the other day. JAYCE AND VIKTOR DON'T OWN SHITTTTTTTTTTT they're getting exploited big time while all that 'investor' money is charged back with deep dividends

just like real life academics they probably spent most of their life writing up grant proposals like dogs and begging for funding that will wring them dry later on. Where the hell is all my jayce and viktor class solidarity 'getting drunk off their mugs and complaining about their dipshit bosses' content?

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People seemed to like Ponytail Viktor, so here he is on his own!

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Parallels between Jayvik and the Phantom of the Opera

I can't believe I haven't seen any discussion yet around the musical theater influences in Arcane S2 so far (besides my one mention of its parallels with Les Miserables).

So as a basic, Phantom of the Opera-loving bitch, can we please take a moment to examine the Phantom of the Opera parallels that are literally shoved in our faces during this opening sequence and what that means for Jayvik?

Viktor is the Phantom. The show opening outright says it. The parallels are there. They're impossible to miss.

And then, when you dig a little deeper, hooo boy those parallels become even more stark. Especially if you read Viktor as romantically pining after Jayce, which 99.9999% of humanity does.

To quickly summarize, Phantom of the Opera is the story of a deformed genius who falls in love with an opera singer, Christine, and then nurtures her talents, only for her to in turn fall in love with a nobleman, Raoul. The ensuing love triangle is the heart of the plot, with Raoul and the Phantom both vying for Christine's love.

This shouldn't be a hard one to see the parallels for.

Viktor = The Phantom. Literally a genius born with a disfigurement, in this case a disability he sees as a weakness and a disease that is sapping away his life and hope of a legacy. He is riddled with jealousy for the person trying to pull his scientific/musical partner away from him, a person who happens to be beautiful and live a life of privilege that Raoul/Mel could offer to Jayce/Christine instead.

Jayce = Christine. Instead of sharing genius in music, he and Viktor share genius in science. Like Christine, he is tugged between the glittering world of politics and privilege, vs his genius and love at a more esoteric skill, in this case science instead of music.

Mel = Raoul. Literally an aristocrat who is far more beautiful than the Phantom/Viktor, who steals away his partner's attention and offers them a glittering life of privilege in the public eye instead of the wonders of their joint musical/scientific pursuits. Whether or not Mel meant to embody this, or steal Jayce from Viktor, this is the role she fulfills in Viktor's view of the world.

But the most profound moment for me of, "Oh wow, they're doing Phantom of the Opera! Actually, they're not just doing Phantom, they're doing Phantom fixit fic?!" was this:

Which, if you'll forgive the potato quality of the screenshots, is literally the moment Viktor has his mask knocked away and then cringes in on himself to hide his exposed face from Jayce.

Which... is literally a scene in Phantom of the Opera? Just after "Music of the Night"?

But we're already in Phantom fixit territory, because Jayce doesn't recoil like Viktor expects! Instead, he embraces Viktor and loves him for all his self-perceived flaws.

And then, AND THEN, in a moment that made my Phantom-loving heart sing, Viktor tells Jayce to go!

And Jayce doesn't.

In the final song of the Phantom of the Opera musical, Christine is forced to choose between Raoul and the Phantom. She chooses the Phantom and kisses him. Flooded by remorse, the Phantom then relinquishes her to the man he knows she truly loves, and when Christine hesitates to leave, he shouts at her, "Go!" and then, of course, she and Raoul leave together.

Viktor is expecting that to happen! I think his order to Jayce very clearly implies that he thinks Mel and Jayce are still together. It's the classic, "Go be with the woman you love instead of staying here and dying with me," trope that we see over and over again in dramas.

But Jayce. Defies. The Trope.

Unlike Christine and just about every buddy war movie out there, he stays with Viktor. He chooses his scientific/artistic partner over the life of aristocracy and privilege that Mel would theoretically offer him. He chooses the masked genius with the disability and calls him perfect. He refuses to go when he is ordered to leave. He stays with Viktor until the end.

And I still can't believe that no one else is talking about this!

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Not to me. Not if it’s you.

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jayce enduring a symbolic rendition of viktor's trauma is so painful and so, so clever.

being stricken down and immobilized through sheer accident or, in viktor's case, a cruelly random quirk that caused his disability.

then physically dragging himself from the lowest level of zaun to piltover, much like how viktor spent his youth reaching toward the promise piltover offered, but only if he could "pull himself up by the boot straps" and get there on his own. socioeconomic forces working against him be damned.

i appreciate arcane reminding us of viktor's origins - the reason he is so called to help people and, eventually, save himself - and putting jayce through the ringer - the contrast between he and viktor's lived experiences is front and center throughout season 1. the writers send jayce, and the audience, on a grueling journey to contemplate those experiences and how they've manifested in these intertwined characters.

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warm up stuff

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warm up stuff

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it's getting crowded in here

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😌💕😌💕😌💕😌💕

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Klance in 2024 ‼️‼️

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completely forgot to post these cuties☠️ i wish uni was not so harsh