When an adaption is better than the source material

"Oh, it all make sense now, brother." - Silco I love this line.

I'm just glad to hear someone understand what Silco's journey was about, how he transformed from an idealistic all sacrificing rebel for the freedom of his people into exactly what he judged Vander for. It all came around, and we can only wonder would've happened if he had had that understanding back then. What could've been.

One thing I like about it was that they didn't just made a fan service, they made a real story and then fill it with things that the fan could recognize without the rest of the audience feeling stupid, like the sound effects on vi and jayce fight being the same sound effects when they use their skills The other is that they weren't touching part of lore that were that flesh out, they gave us a lot of lore and back story, and made characters that feel real and not just copy paste champions and a bunch of nobodies that don't matter

The story as it happened: Riot: we're making an adaptation. People: IT'S DESTINED TO FAIL Riot: makes Arcane and actually made it work People: where s2? Riot: I dunno, I haven't thought that far... Anyways peeps, let them take their time to make a really good s2.

"what did arcane do right?" literally everything

Silco is such a great character. I think one thing that's hard to catch is that, when he got the offer from Jayce, he immediately knew he'd never take it. But he didn't know *why*. After all, he'd lived his life as the person who'd do anything, sacrifice anything, and then Jayce makes him choose between what he thought he wanted and what he didn't know he could never lose. The rest of his arc isn't him deciding what he should do, it's coming to terms with what he decided when he heard the offer - that he never would have given her to them.

Something I really like about Silco: Many writers these days try to make villains the reader/viewer can empathise with. They make their villainy the result of trauma, mistakes made with good intentions, or attempt to justify their evils. Silco was none of that. He was evil. He knew he was evil. The writers didn't try to justify his use of Shimmer, his kidnapping of Powder, his bribing of the enforcers, or any other evil act he did. Sure, he had a noble goal; independence for the undercity. But the writers never tried to make his character attempt to justify his evil acts in that light. He deliberately chose to do evil things. He was absolutely a villain. And he's relatable. That is a masterpiece of writing.

There's something I'd like to point out that I thought was neat. Silco's a visionary, Vander's a fighter. Silco's injury is on his eye and Vander's on his wrist. In this last moments, one where his eyes are starting to glaze over, thus making it hard for him to see/focus on Jinx. That's what he finally understood how Vander felt, back when Vander could chose to kill him or to protect Vi. As for Vander, he's been fighting until his final breath, when he found out Vi was alive he fought to buy her some time to get out of the rubble, he fought through the pain to stay alive to take a vial of shimmer. He fought for control when he nearly lost it when he was killing Deckared and snapped out of it when he saw Vi's fearful look ("That fear in your eyes.. I've seen it before") And of course he fought the urge for revenge to save his daughter. At least those are just my interpretation of it Also the cat on mouse scene at the end of episode one was eluding that the weak will rise against the strong or in this case Undercity slowly rising against Topside

11:25 damn you and your editing, making me tear up again.

I never really felt like there was a clear villain in Arcane, everyone felt like actual people, Silco while manipulative, did truly care for Jinx and did love her, Vi does love Jinx but despite this, couldnt accept who she had become, Jinx felt betrayed by everyone except for Silco so she pushed everyone else away when they couldnt accept her for who she had become, the trauma she faced changed her a lot. It is truly a masterpiece of story telling and in my opinion one of if not the best animated show ever made

In your story when you look at the story through the eyes of your villain he has to be the hero. Silco is an masterclass of writing with this simple and quite effective rule in mind.

Arcane is great because 1. It's written by people who actually "KNOW" the material, have a passion for it and can see the future of these stories and characters. It wasn't created by someone just doing it for a paycheck from Hollywood... 2. It's NOT live-action and is instead a somewhat new and unique medium that has rarely been seen, especially in the mainstream. 3. It's a completely unique story. Yes, it ties into the lore, but in its own and unique way. We have no expectations, therefore, we can't judge....4. There's an actual story being told. It's not trying to force itself to subvert itself to every single audience member. It doesn't force any campy comedy, it doesn't force any "Girl Power" tropes, it doesn't have anything force-fed to us in any way to "make everyone happy". Which is something every single big blockbuster movie does these days.................... With all that said. The ONLY other time an adaptation was done so perfectly was the 1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film... That was the best adaptation ever and nothing has come close to that level of adaptation perfection.

""Love this series. It really showcases human nature's affinity towards conflict. "Nobody wins in war - Vander" Everyone cheering as the monkey bomb vaporizes Sevika's arm and blows up Singed and his lab; then, when the same bomb hurts "our people" all of sudden its a tradegy now. "You know, but you don't know - Vander" Nobody walked away from this a winner.""

Am I the only one who feel more emotional in Ep 3 than Ep 9? The breakage between Vi and Powder, and Powder's plead for Vi to return was an absolute bombshell of a heart break. I avoid watching that scene because it's too much to handle.

Jinx destroying the council at the end, had me warped with emotions and her accidentally killing mylo, clagger and Vander made me cry

Another little detail that folks may have missed; when Silco was telling Powder "We'll show them all," thanks to the surrounding fire, Powder's eye color appears Magenta. That is also the color of Jinx's eyes after her operation. This is pretty good foreshadowing.

Arcane’s storytelling is powerful.

I also just love all the tiny details they put into their characters, even the minor characters like Jayce's mom. There's one hugely subtle detail about Viktor's story also that I missed out on during my first time watching, but now I can't help but see each time I watch. I originally didn't even start considering Viktor a "main" character until late in the season (Ep5 or 6 probably? But I also went in not knowing Viktor was a playable LoL character) He appears as early as Ep2, and he's in 3 and 4, but if he never showed up again after that, I wouldn't have really thought anything of it, and Viktor would have just been "that assistant guy". And then upon rewatching Arcane, and coming to realize just how integral being an introvert is to Viktor's character, I realized that he was being introduced to us from his very first appearance, being barely even seen or heard, but being there all the same. Viktor was already being endeared to me without me even fully being aware of it. His lifelong struggles of feeling voiceless and alone are all being shown to us before we even realize he's an important character. The only person Viktor has any extended dialogue with is Jayce, and even during the few times he does speak with another character, it is always with Jayce there with him, and Jayce is really doing most of the talking, or at least saying most of the things that are driving the plot, Viktor's viewpoint rarely being the path that gets chosen. It also makes Viktor and Sky's arc even more tragic, two introverts who struggled with loneliness their entire lives. They both desired people to care for them, and they cared for each other, working side by side for who knows how many years, but Viktor only coming to realize after Sky's death that this whole time he had felt so alone, he hadn't actually been alone, only to truly be without her now. One final note: MAD PROPS to Viktor for being one of the few characters able to make me laugh in the Apocalypse of Tears that is Arcane, with his perfectly timed, perfectly delivered dad joke when he and Jayce got caught by Mel trying to sneak into Heimerdinger's office.

"Is there anything so undoing... as a daughter" - Silco

CAUTION: there are onions in this video. T_T