Dreamer at the Well of Sorrows/Oil and Water - a Solavellan tarot card
I've been wanting to finish this one for a while and capture the dynamic between Silea and Solas. They're broken up but like,,, not really.
Narrative themes this, OOC that. I don't care. Let Vax live. Set everyone in VM free from his death including him. What's the point of playing D&D if you don't use it to give your friends just a little bit of light and joy in the end?
Thinking about Caitlyn again and I think the tension in the fandom really boils down to issues with 'moral trajectory' rather than some fixed level of 'goodness' each character has.
Caitlyn is a character who starts off positively - a go-getter, disillusioned cop willing to see past corruption who slowly learns about the reality of the people her peers oppress, trying desperately to gain peace and remove Silco from play for the sake of the Undercity people too. But then we watch her fall so fast and so hard its horrifying and jarring. The dehumanising language, the perversion of her family legacy, forgetting her issues with the fascist regime she's a component of as a cop and instead reinforcing and empowering that regime. It's the downward arc that makes her so difficult to chew on. We had hopes, we want better for and from her. And right now that isn't where we are. Those who defend her mostly do so by saying 'she will see the error of her ways and improve' (which I do think she will but we'll see to what extent.) Those who don't think she's sunk too far.
This is contrasted by Jinx - already pretty low to start with, falling further throughout season 1 and now poised to climb through her relationships with Sevika and Isha. Even if her 'fixed' morality is lower than Caitlyn's, as viewers we perceive her on an upwards trajectory. The hope lives.
Another character she's compared to is Ambessa. But let's be real, no one is expecting Ambessa to be 'good' so she's acting exactly within her prior characterisation with her manipulations. No one is analysing her or repudiating her because what can be said already has, and her arc is mostly flat. We knew she cared for her family before and was willing to do whatever it takes and hurt whoever is needed to save them. No change. Nothing to feel emotions about.
Vi is more tricky because I am personally disappointed in her for her lack of pushback regarding the Grey but her arc is evened out by her protection of Isha at the end of Act 1. So despite the wobbles, she still seems like the same Vi we've always known. Hence, less investment in analysing her.
Whether or not the trajectory of Caitlyn's arc changes and how remains to be seen. But right now? It's such an intense downward leap that its unsurprising so many people - including her former fans - are turned off by her behaviour. Once we've seen more and the slope of the change evens out I think the emotions towards her will feel less dire.
monabee-draws reblogged
This this this right here is getting to me. Gif is from @terrapia
Yeah you could argue this parallels Silco but it doesn’t really. Silco didn’t want to give up jinx because she’s his daughter. Sevika doesn’t want to give up jinx because she’s a zaunite
And you know who that reminds me of so fucking much?
That’s Vander’s ideology right there. Vander could have done like Grayson suggested, picked any rando off the streets to take the fall for the apartment explosion, but he wouldn’t, because those are his people.
Vander was weak and Vander was a coward but Sevika followed him once, and there was a reason for that
Silco may have been the Eye of zaun, but Vander is its Heart, and that heart is still fucking beating
monabee-draws reblogged
i really hope in act ii (and maybe even in act iii) in season 2 arcane, caitlyn becomes a deconstruction of the "good cop" archetype. there seems to be hints of this in act i with her poisoning the air of the undercity and highkey becoming a fascist, so there is a possibility that the writers might go in that trajectory with her character. it would be really refreshing if caitlyn is a deconstruction because throughout many tv shows, movies, etc., where there are critiques of policing, the solution is to hire more minorities as cops or good-hearted individuals when the problem with policing isn't acts by individuals but the system as a whole. but maybe i'm asking too much for a video game adaptation.
#i think it could happen#especially since they tried the 'traditional' route already with Vi getting on the squad#only for it to backfire#the best ending for Arcane will be the political separation of the two cities#such that Piltover can't easily exploit Zaun for materials and actually has to pay them if they want anything#and also has zero jurisdiction in the Undercity#pipe dream because that isn't how the infrastructure or money works but anyways#yes OP you are correct I hope it happens
monabee-draws reblogged
Let me explain something very quickly: connection is a vital part of humanity and the best stories center connections for that same reason. There's a reason we as a race of beings are obsessed with romance, friendship, and family. The best way to get an audience invested in a story and invested in characters is by showcasing the relationships within the story and the relationships each character has. You can tell the audience so much just by the scenes that you choose to include in the story. It is seriously one of the most overpowered storytelling hacks of all time.
It is for this reason that Arcane is such a beloved show. All the show is is interwoven relationship after interwoven relationship, everything connects together and it's why we feel so passionately for these characters and for the story. I'm explaining this to you now so that way you can understand what I mean when I say season 2 currently has a big storytelling problem. That problem being the Caitlyn problem.
Last season Caitlyn was a pretty positively received character. She was likable enough and we liked the relationship she had with key characters Vi and Jayce. However season 2 has really started to focus on her, and the way it's choosing to tell her story is not only detrimental to her character, but detrimental to the show.
In season two Caitlyn becomes a much darker character after the murder of her mother. She ends up doing tons of terrible things all for the sake of avenging her mother's death. The biggest problem with this is that we barely got to see any interaction between her and her mother in the last season. The most we saw was Caitlyn being discontent with her mother's expectations of her, Caitlyn's mom being prejudiced towards Vi, Caitlyn's mom scolding her for being too arrogant/naive/stupid, and Caitlyn's mom giving her a little gesture encouragement to follow vi after the diaster of the council meeting. This is literally all we get between these two characters, and now we're supposed to rally behind Caitlin because she lost her mom?
WHO CARES? WHY SHOULD THE AUDIENCE CARE THAT CASSANDRA IS DEAD?! WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP CAIT HAD WITH HER MOM? IT WASN'T SHOWN TO US! We never get a flashback scene to show us what this relationship used to be like before it was strained. We never actually get one-on-one with these two characters. This is why you see a mass amount of people not associating with Caitlyn anymore. While the audience can understand the pain of losing a parent and feel pity, that pity can only be extended so far when the relationship was never treated as being important.
Just to give you a reference, the entirety of act 1 focused on the relationship between the sisters and Vander, as well as sister to sister. The fact that we got to see what the everyday lives of those characters look like and how those relationships functioned gave us something to care about.
The entirety of act 2 and 3 had emphasis on the relationship between jinx and Silco. The moments that were shown between those two characters elicited such a violent reaction from the audience that people debate the nature of their relationship TO THIS DAY.
There's a reason why we feel absolutely gutted for Jinx at the end of act 3. There's a reason why we feel heartbroken at the death of Vander. There's a reason why we will defend Jinx for blowing up the council. There's a reason why we defend Vi for punching her kid sister. It's because we were shown the value and importance of these relationships. We don't feel anything when Cassandra dies because they never gave us anything to actually care about. The only people defending Caitlyn right now are her dickriders. Almost the entirety of the fandom has turned on this girl overnight because the show failed to prove to us why Caitlyn would go this far for a mother we knew she had issues with.
And the issue is not the fact that Cassandra was a minor character, because ekko is also a minor character and we only got one scene between him and jinx that explained their relationship, and it's widely regarded across the fandom as the best scene in the entire show. We never even get to SEE the relationship between Vander and silco and yet it's one of the most fascinating things people like to talk about because the story gave us hints about the nature of that relationship.
I'm so completely and utterly shocked that season 2 is having a problem with showing relationships when it was such a strength of season 1. That, and because it's such an easy issue to fix. All they have to do is either show us flashbacks between the two of them, or emphasize how Caitlyn feels terrible about the way their relationship ended. The show has yet to do either. Until they give me a reason to give a SHIT about Cassandra and Caitlyn relationship, I'm not going to. And to be honest I feel like the boat has sailed because that was stuff they were supposed to either sprinkle in throughout the entirety of the season or just get it out of the way and act one. And they haven't done either yet.
Two possible responses to/interpretations of these writing choices OP:
1. Sometimes even if we as outsiders know a relationship was abusive, and the person who survives it was the victim, that victim still misses their abuser. I've seen this happen with a friend of mine who had a horrible mother who actively harmed them every year she was alive, but the loss of her was still devastating. Sometimes, even if we 'the audience' can't see what could possibly compel a character to mourn someone else, that's also realistic/a part of the storytelling. I'm not saying Cassandra was abusive, but children clashing with their parents and still loving them is still loving them. And I think the depth of Caitlyn's grief here doesn't need to be justified in the way you ask for because that isn't the story the writers are telling about this relationship in particular.
2. Alternatively, maybe the takeaway is the writers don't want us to 'side with Caitlyn' (to respond to your tags.) Caitlyn's response to grief is actively endangering innocents, taking her family's legacy of clean air and twisting it to hurt even before Ambessa starts to take advantage of her ambitions. She's using her pain as a justification to lash out in a methodical and planned way that is starkly different from Vi's rejection of Powder (in the moment, brash, reactive) and even Jinx pulling the trigger end of season 2 (also brash, immediate reaction to Silco's death, plus her general mental instability.) I say this as someone who does want to see how Cait grows and changes. But maybe, considering the writers do generally know what they're doing, the response from the audience that shuns Cait might actually be their intention.
monabee-draws reblogged
So, I've been rewatching Arcane, right? The first time I watched season 2 I couldn't quite put my finger on what was making me so uncomfortable about Cait (as much as we support women's wrongs in this household, and as much as I'm here for her character arc this season).
And then it hit me: all throughout season 1, she's this "good cop", right? She thinks she's doing the right thing by being an enforcer, protecting the lives of the innocent citizens of Piltover from the people of the Undercity, etc. She enlists Vi's help because she needs her, at first. She then grows attracted to Vi, and we're perhaps sold this idea that through this connection she now starts to see the injustice of the Undercity's situation. But she's also soon able to compartmentalise Vi as one of the "good ones", essentially othering her from her understanding of the people of the Undercity (but never really deconstructing that understanding). She then advocates for the Undercity with the Council, she seems sympathetic and understanding of their plight (through her growing closeness to Vi) and we as an audience are lulled into this false sense of understanding of her character, in much the same way as Vi is.
But then season 2 flips that on its head: her grief allows us to see that she never really understood the plight of the Undercity at all, because as soon as their suffering actually touches her doorstep and affects her directly, she ceases to able to make sense of it. Suddenly, they're all animals in her eyes.
She was "good" in the sense that she had this saviour complex that she could act on since nothing was really at stake for her. She was the privileged woman speaking up for the underdogs, content in her role of being on the side of justice because it cost her nothing.
But then season 2 just points out that a good cop, at the end of the day, is still a cop.
#this this this#a good cop is still a cop#very well articulated OP#screaming at Vi to get the f out of there your gf doesn't see you as person!!!#i ship caitvi btw its just Hard™️#still thinking about how caitlyn knows ekko and the firelights exist#but her immediate solution to the problem of the undercity is more policing instead of bringing a peace-making group#to the council's attention#Vi too actually but she has benefit of the doubt in that she wasn't included in any discussions
I finished watching The Double and it really made me cry in the last 10 minutes like this show was an emotional rollercoaster. 10/10, excellent scheming, excellent main couple, the leads were acted to perfection, the side characters were all endearing, and the villains made you cheer for their retribution. Some great complexity to their motivations and downfalls too. Really makes you squirm.
Also I cried a lot. I'm still processing the last 10 minutes. Nothing will ever hurt me like The Princess Weiyoung but by god this came close and it didn't even do the same to it's male lead lol.
Thinking about Rook but not as a chess piece but as a Castle. The stage where The Veilguard happens. Not 'on the outside looking in' but somewhere in between. Everyone else is eating and drinking and being merry but Rook is only allowed to echo that laughter back at them, listen to the love blooming, shelter everyone else from the storm. But they can never be there with everyone else. Even though they always are.
#anyways I haven't played Veilguard yet but the vague spoilers I've seen make me sad#dragon age the veilguard#dragon age spoilers#spoilers#rook dragon age#meta#thinking about making an illustration based on this when I finally get the opportunity to play the game#will bioware ever give us da2/me3 citadel levels of characters being invested in the protagonist ever again?#a girl can but dream
Caitlyn's slow but inevitable decline into facism was painful to watch but it's Vi's tacit support of that that REALLY hurts me.
Cait was raised at the top of the hierarchy and it only took her being the one 'in danger' to flip from sympathetic to the undercity to desperately angry and wanting to return to the status quo where she and piltover are in power/control/oppress the weak 'for their own good.' I expected this to happen from the moment her rhetoric began to shift (us vs them, calling Zaunites animals, general dehumanisation.)
Vi knows that the issue is structural and the structure that's used to exercise violence against the oppressed is the enforcers, yet she still joined them anyway. It's excellent writing but the implications that has for her as a character who has been shown to have strong convictions and morals is so heartbreaking. It feels like her years in prison have eroded at the heroic spark in her to the point where she'll justify anything to return to the past. I keep asking myself how Vi could justify using The Grey as a weapon against the undercity, and her parotting what is probably Caitlyn's justification - that they used it to clear the streets and keep as many safe as possible - just rings so hollow. She felt like a lost soul just vaguely drifting through life in Act 1, and of course she did. She has no one left BUT Caitlyn. She has no place in the Undercity because it grew away from her. Her base of motivation as a kid was to fight for and protect the Lanes and now that the Lanes are gone who even is Violet anymore? If only she could rewind time and restore the uncomfortable uneven past.
Vi and Cait are actually the same person, the only difference is that Caitlyn has the power to enact her vision and Vi doesn't. I'm so sore.
#arcane season 2#arcane spoilers#caitvi#vi arcane#caitlyn kiramman#meta#i want to say i stand with my cancelled wife#because i do love caitlyn#but her rise into dictatorship is so hard to reconcile with any other portrayal of her#i also do not think we should be attributing as much to Ambessa's influence as we are#yes Cait is grieving and seeking a mother figure and she's young#but her backslide into the Piltover way of thinking has been developing all along#she's the one who of her own volition took the Kirraman legacy of clean air and weaponised it#anyways idk how caitvi will reconcile but I'm so worried they'll both be worse off for it as people#ethically speaking#and Vi isn't innocent either i still remember her rebuke of Jayce wrt the child he accidentally killed#and her hair trigger temper#gosh they all need therapy and societal restructuring#best case scenario Zaun becomes independent and Piltover has to pay reparations but#yeah idk
monabee-draws reblogged
i forgor to add it to previous sketchdump
love kiki's new makeup her dead emo bf would be so proud
Some Veilguard sketches I've had sitting in the files. I haven't played the game yet so no spoilers in tags please🙏🏼
Chatting with my colleagues today about the implications of Trump's foreign policy for us here in SA. And I was made aware that, because of South Africa's support of Palestine, it us very likely that we will receive economic sanctions from the US govt. I feel so insane knowing that the US once imposed sanctions on SA's Apartheid govt for doing what Israel is doing to Palestinians right now and yet here we stand 30 years down the line watching this happen.
It was never about morals. I should have known that, but the hopeful part of me keeps being reminded again and again.
(Also worth noting that SA did not receive sanctions for supplying Russia with arms despite the US siding with Ukraine so YEAH it says a WHOLE DAMN LOT HA.)
Got carried away painting the D&D sapphics before bed. It's 4am. No regrets.
Chuffed with how I painted Mara's hoodie tbh.
Unfinished party designs/level. I love these goobers so damn much. Starting with level 1:
Level 5:
Level 10:
Gotta make some edits and colour these so we have a nice record of the group's progress. I wanna add in all of our magical items especially.
Need to draw vaxleth they are gnawing on my brain like the rats in the ceiling.
#rambles#actually I just don't want to write this essay#even though I am making progress#its just a lot of research and cross-referencing the timeline of a magazine's breakdown#and i miss close analysis#but unfortunately this is an essay primarily about paratext#and the historical of literary forms#anyways if any of you know about the end of Enkare Review that stuffs fascinating#i also have a head cold and not even medlemon is fixing me#my girlfriend even sent me energade and snacks via uber-eats and that didn't clear it#energade once saved me from heat sickness as a kid so this is clearly a superior bug#jk jk#but energade is the superior sadness sick drink for regaining electrolytes
In Vaxleth hours again and I'm not over "It's not that I even want him back I just want him to not be there."
Because oh it hurts. In so many ways Kiki had to make peace with Vax never getting to be at peace, but how do you even really reconcile with that for someone you love? Everyone dies yes, someday it will be over. But you can't even balm the wound with the knowledge that there is an end for him. It will never end, he is forever in limbo and in pain and being used for someone else's ends. If you love someone set them free and Keyleth can't even get the world to do that for him.
#vaxleth#keyleth of the air ashari#vax'ildan#critical role c3#i need him to be de-orbbed immediately#matthew mercer when I find you#actually the gods need to be taken down purely so that the dead can actually rest#instead of having everyone be subjugated to some version of eternity somewhere#broke: kill the gods to become gods#woke: kill the gods so that mortals can decide their own fate on earth#bespoke: kill the gods so that everyone can live to the fullest once and know peace at the end#anyways maybe that's the once-catholic now optimistic nihilst of me