Felicia Telling Irving The Only Time She Ever Saw Burt Scared Was When He Spent Two Hours Fixing His

An emotional first reaction to Arcane's finale

With an accent on Silco's arc...

*Wipes tears away*

Anyway. When was the last time you sat down to a tv show that punched this hard and respected its villain this deeply? Silco is by far the most interesting character, and he carries the show on his scrawny shoulders.

Compelling if mysterious backstory, overcomes his demons and his traitorous brother in one fell swoop as he gains power. Silco's a zealot who dreams big for everyone. And yet in the end he finally understands why Vander did what he did. Finally has an emotional tie on a personal level that means more to him than the Nation Of Zaun, that big all consuming project that's been driving him from the start.

And yet in a completely masterful twist, Vander chosing his daughters over Zaun means the Status Quo, while Silco choosing his daughter over Zaun means War.

He gets everything he ever wanted. He's a villain who uses all ends to reach his goals and actually gets there, and the creative minds behind Arcane had the guts to make it absolutely irrelevant to his death. That is so wild, honestly. His love is his personal downfall (or more likely, the lack of mental health care in the Lanes is his downfall...) but he's never more human and more like Vander than when he dies...

For the creators to chose to NEVER redeem him, and instead just... humanize him to the very end... To let him say his piece and clear out misunderstandings and also to go knowing all his *fucked up* efforts fucking paid off...

*Silco style slow clap*

Fucking bravo.

Turns out Silco wasn't lying, not anymore than any of us do from time to time, even to our loved ones. Turns out that he was really worrying, really caring, and that it was really "just the two of them".

There's plenty wrong with Jinx's arc as a villain in the becoming, the whole "hearing voices makes me unhinged and violent" really isn't palatable.. it's an easy cop-out that puts people with IRL mental illnesses in another toxic limelight.

But there's incredible beauty in her being truly embraced by the villain, for the most wholesome family to really be with him. To be fought for as hard by him, as much as Vander did. Vi doesn't want Jinx. She truly wants "Powder", and even if she probably loves her and probably needs the mental help Vi would desire for her "to change" and "become stable", Jinx's toxic, zealot, asshole second dad loves her exactly as she is. Why the fuck would you not chose that side, being in Jinx's boots?

*chokes up for a minute*

I can't clap my hands hard enough to applaud the team behind Arcane (so I'll use them to write fanfic instead)

How did they manage to break the curse of video game adaptation?

Well, I think it helps that the studio itself retained absolute creative control. For once it's not a film industry giant buying rights and trying to do it's usual "adaptation" cash grab wringer. It's a studio getting another studio to work their (insane) magic and produce the best 9 episodes cinematic we've ever seen.

The vision was theirs, the story was uncompromising and unflinching.

I am not surprised the writing punches this hard. Video game writers know what the fuck they're doing, because they create immersive worlds and storyline in which the players/viewer is directly active. I mean look at other hard gut punches out there like God of War, Wticher 3 or even Jackie's arc in Cyberpunk.

But for them to stick to their guns to the very end... To give us characters this compelling instead of following the cliche route... For them not to betray us, the way so many other storylines do by trying something bold for a hot minute before falling back on tried and true cliches like deflating souflés...

Guys, I'm sorry but even Disney doesn't clap this hard. Arcane came on to the scene and swatted everyone aside. The visuals, the animation style, the music, the cast of character all painted in deep shades of grey, the riveting plot with its series of mirrored pairs going through the same divisive process... Arcane is the show we've all been begging for, but we were asking for it to the wrong people.

Bravo team. None of y'all will ever see this post, but know you're appreciated. You made me scream and choke up and built a whole new condominium in my skull for Silco to live in rent free. Fuck you and bless you, I love you guys.

What do you think of Death as a character?

Death of The Endless is straight up my favourite depiction of Death in literature and media that I've seen so far. It's so good to see a depiction of Death that is sweet and compassionate for once.

But what I think is rather unfortunate about her—as is also the case for her other siblings (or every fictional characters ever)—is that people tend to only remember a part of her and forget the rest

She is one of The Endless. She is Dream's big sister. But first and foremost, she is Death itself—and I think people tend to forget that part (and I am not exempt to that either). And Morpheus being so close to her says a lot about him.

At first, you'd see her as 'the voice of reason'. After all, she has a good head on her shoulders, and what she's saying sounds reasonable. But when it comes to Morpheus, everything she said made him stride closer to her. He followed her. He followed her advice. He sought her out. He felt at peace with her. That's not just a little brother looking up to his dependable big sister; She. Is. Death. What does it say when someone has that mindset and attitude towards Death?

It's written all over (which is why I don't buy people's complaints that the ending 'came out of nowhere') but of course, people tend to forget Death or what she is—both in real life and the story apparently. Especially when Death isn't depicted as terrifying I suppose.

Also, I love that she is compassionate and caring but she's still indiscriminate. She loves everyone the same way—which, in a way, is still cold and cruel to us humans; because in our context, being kind to the cruel is being cruel to the kindhearted. But that's what she is; she is not justice. She is not mercy. She is not punishment. She is just what she is; she is Death—and she is there for all.

Also, I personally think the parts of her that many dubbed as her 'humanity' or the signs that she is 'the most human of all The Endless' has less to do with 'humanity' specifically and more about how she is so close and inseparable to life that we can't recognize her—which is, imho, what makes her so jarring as a non-human being, and what's so terrifying but at the same time, makes perfect sense about the concept she is.

Her speech bubble and dialogue font being the exact same as the regular ones in comics. Her dialogue—the choice of words—that are totally normal, casual, snd familiar (like someone we know. Like a friend). The fact that she has a house which she decorated to her taste—that she has her personal taste. How she keeps goldfishes as pets; it's all so 'human' but we recognise that because we are humans and that how we live—so maybe it's not just about being human but rather being alive.

Either way, we recognise her as one of us: be it as the same being we are or as a being who is alive. She is indistinguishable from what we perceive as normal and natural because that's what Death is: it is as natural to die as it is to be born. Nothing out of place and nothing unsettling about her that we forget that she is there amongst us—she is everywhere. She will always be there. We don't know when we'll see her. We can't recognize her until she said 'time's up'. Thus, many of us live our lives as if she doesn't exist. But she will be there for all.

And forgetting and denying that she has always been there and always will be might make it even more agonizing when she does come for us than it would be if we were to accept that. But either way, she is just what she is. We live our lives because she will be there for us. We live our lives according to how we see her. She is the reflection of our lives and what defines it, but our lives are our own.

That's such a cool depiction of Death, methinks.

this is so good......

WHAT LURKS BENEATH Comic

It's the spooky season...! To celebrate, please enjoy this 7-page horror comic featuring Brook that I made for "WHAT LURKS BENEATH", a One Piece horror zine full of incredible talent. After sales are only open until the end of October so please consider checking it out and grabbing a digital copy absolutely PACKED with amazing art & stories, and some of the nicest merch I've seen from a zine!

[…we have been closed   for an hour.]

drops my briefcase 💼 oh no my sillies!!

Trivia from Encanto (2021) dir. Byron Howard, Jared Bush (insp)

halloween island

in which minerva is just a little jealous suspicious

I feel like sigma would have absolutely insane stories from being an astronaut. I think he would only talk a bit about them if he found them relevant but it always catches everyone off guard (I think people would have this perception of him not having many crazy stories due to being a civilian/not having combat experience for most of his life) but sometimes something will happen and he’ll say “oh this is just like the time an experiment exploded and it vaporized the guy a few meters in front of me and we all almost died” or “you know they really tried to test everyone’s personality to make sure that they’d get along with everyone else but once in a while you’d still get a few duds, such as the one time another astronaut said he’d drain all of another astronauts blood and drink it and you’d never guess what happens next” or “once we were confronted with someone begging us to let them in from the cold abyss of space and they kept saying that they were one of us but that person was already onboard with us and kept trying to assure us that the other person wasn’t real. Anyways I wonder what they’re doing now”

Oh NO. Had the most horrific thought, my heart is hurting. Thought I’d share.

To preface: So, we entertain the running joke about calling Bruno “Hernando” and “Jorge” when his hood is up/bucket is on - we’re playing along! It’s fun! This was a cute little joke by the screenwriters to show that this is a silly, theatrical, creative man who has definitely gotten a bit more eccentric in his decade of loneliness and solitude - UNDERSTANDABLE. Look at all of us after only 21 months, come on.

The deeper level to it that I also acknowledge is that he assumes aliases to get through the things that scare him, in an intentional way, like hey if it isn’t “Maldito Bruno” sneaking out to the kitchen, spackling the cracks, mixing plaster, etc maybe none of that bad luck will leak out, maybe no one will catch me, maybe it’ll be okay, maybe the fix will stick, maybe it will just go right this time. It’s Hernando, it’s Jorge, they’re brave and they fix things and they DON’T cause bad things to happen.

This is a headspace we see from him with his vision ritual and superstitious tics as well, and it is is a VERY common set of internal rules to be working from when you have OCD. (“If I can do it perfectly, nothing will go wrong” - I go into that in a lot more detail in my post about the mechanics of his visions, which I’m STILL working on bc it’s turning into a gd essay)

BUT.

Are we forgetting that Bruno has grown up USED to being one of three? The triplets are a unit - they each have their strengths and weaknesses, they protect each other, they assume different roles to get through difficult times. Consciously or not, would he not need those roles to be filled in their absence?

We have Pepa - the weather-wielder, bold and brave and terrifyingly tempestuous, always ready to stand in front, be the loudest, take the initiative, defend her family - undaunted in the face of any conflict that might make her gentler siblings shrink.

So we have Hernando, who patches the cracks and is afraid of NOTHING.

We have Julieta - the one who heals wounds with her cooking, warm and kind and calm, steady and supportive and observant and tactile - the glue that keeps the three of them together when her more anxious siblings feel ready to shatter.

So we have Jorge, who makes the spackle meant to heal the cracks in the casita and keep everything from falling apart.

He needs his sisters. So, in their absence, he constructs characters that can take up the mantle of protector, of healer, while he tries to maintain the distance he thinks is necessary to keep his family safe.

It’s just him, of course, fixing things from behind the scenes to try and prevent a future only he has witnessed. And he knows this.

What he doesn’t realize, naturally, is that his sisters need him, too. His foresight, his careful attention to detail, his knack for stories, his unerring kindness and humility, his quiet words of support. They are stronger together, always, and they’ve all been scattered and hurting for so long.