Things I forgot: Flares: The Flare Jinx uses to signal to Vi is pretty important for the story. Another one also appears when she fights the Vi look-alike on the trade ship. Masks: The Firelights wear them (probably to protect their identities from enforcers). Gas Masks: The air in certain parts of the undercity is dense, so gas masks are needed. Enforcers wear the gas masks to protect themselves from any fumes, but it's also just a classist thing they do since the residents of Undercity don't need them. Comment any others below
Thanks so much for these videos, so much interesting depth in visual metaphor to dig into! There's a good deal of shattered mirror images associated with Jinx, which could represent her fracturing psyche? I was especially blown away when they pulled the same trick with her bomb collision at the very end, a smiling shark face breaking the glass illusion of class separation between Piltover & Zaun. Tangentially, enforcers throwing Mr. Spit through the arcade window was the moment where Powder realized that she could/should fight back against their oppression, and was immediately preceded by her glimpsing them through a small hole in the cracked stained-glass. EDIT: just remembered that Claggor's eyeglasses shatter and then deliver the awful news to Powder
Family.. or Affiliation (Loyalty) ^ : you see it clearest in the opening scene where the kids childish games cause vander to die for them amongst other scenes As well as when all of the villains were around the table and -the Yakuza styled guy- tried to break rank and revolt against silco but everyone else didn’t side with him. Even Sabika not betraying him in the movie.
I think it's quite an interesting detail that guns are common in Piltover, being standard issue for enforcers, but in Zaun, Jinx is literally the only one that uses them. And Jinx most likely built them herself. Everyone else relies on melee. Sevika has a badass mechanical arm, but not even a sidearm. Chem guards have those green blades. Even Vander chooses to use gauntlets. Yes, it's clearly their fighting style of choice, but still it makes it feel like firearms are a symbol of Piltover superiority over Zaun. Which I think makes Caitlyn trading her rifle for Vi's cure that much more significant
Yeha, I also felt like it added extra weight to the fact that Jinx uses guns since it shows how much of a game changer she is and how much more eye to eye she is with Piltover.
@@tensu5811 yes great point! So poetic when Jinx started executing enforcers on the bridge, mirroring how enforcers killed her parents, with her literally humming the same tune. She is now equal, and even above the enforcers
You can also read into Piltover and the enforcers being the only ones with firearms, and using them to brutalize Zaun, as a parallel to the disarming of citizens in many countries.
I think the orange drinks are a sort of alcohol, this is because they are served in a bar and are offered to Marcus as the "strongest shit you got". We also see that this liquid is flammable as Marcus burns it with a torch. Another line of evidence is that Savekia's arm uses shimmer to burn as a fuel and since shimmer is shown to be diluted in alcohol we can assume shimmer acts as a sort of catalyst for the combustion reactions of alcohol to operate her arm. For these reasons I believe the orange drink is alcohol, Anyways good video and insights!
Good analysis! It’s neat thinking about these objects this way, and it makes perfect sense. I also appreciate your point at the end about white collar crime and biased
3:58 ❤️😎🤯😂 this part ! your breakdown and analysis of the portrayal of the Power of the Gold It wonderfully expresses the shady ness and perspective on how both sides abuse finances but only one side is spotlighted for abusing it
This is why I don't think Silco was an actual villain but an anti-hero fighting for independence and freedom while the corrupt council who have all the power are the true oppressive force disregarding and neglecting the most poor and vulnerable people. Obsessed with their own selfish greed and power until they get shot down and blown to pieces. I really hope Silco isn't permanently dead and might somehow returns
100% agree and I doubt they will bring Silco back, but I wish for that as well. Silco was objectively correct about everything The reason people think of him as the villain is literally because the show frames him in the usual villain tropes (wears dark colors, small, scarred, speaks carefully, white male lol etc), The only fair point is that he uses violence but given that, A it works, B "Good Guy Vander" literally tried to murder him but gets magically forgiven, and C the enemy (Piltover) already are using violence to oppress Zaun , I find it so stupid when people cant see past the visual trappings and actually think about the STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THAT WORLD. Interestingly, Silco only kills one person in the whole show - Vander - who betrayed and tried to murder him first. Everyone else is basically an enemy that Silco has to fight to continue his plan for an Independent Zaun (which he ACHIEVES - or at least gets the option and turns it down). Even then, the reason he turns it down is because of loyalty - he asks for blanket amnesty and Jayce, stupidly, says no you have to give over your best fighter. Right, good idea. Turn in your own people, your strongest weapon and we promise to honor our peace deal. If your perspective is; Zaun should be free / fight against authoritarianism and brutality, then Silco is the ONLY character that moved the story forward towards those GOOD GOALS. That essentially makes him the protagonist (maybe anti hero as you said, but even then I think thats kind of harsh). Look up any freedom fighter / movement in history and youll see plenty of violence and tough decisions that the movements leader had to make (this is spelled out in the episode 3 name and people still dont get it - the base violence necessary for change). The writing of the show is excellent but the presentation is very cliche. The good guys are all beautiful, tall, handsome, strong, wear white. Even VI is shown to be stronger than bad guys 4x her size and like taller than most of the guys in the show (she is a strong independent LGBT woman so its basically impossible to criticize her in the current year but lets go anyway...). Whereas all the bad guys (or what we are told to think are the bad guys) are all dirty, poor, wear dark colors, swear or have less refined accents. The writing and nuance of the characters and their motivations is what then SUBVERTS the superficial presentation - however I guess most people are only able to absorb the superficial. Thats why they end up asking "huh, how come I connected with Jinx/Silco even though they were evil?" Well.... thats just it, they were not evil, they were sympathetic, and your brain is failing to analyze the context. I do wonder how many of the "good" people that watch Arcane and think Silco is the "bad guy" are the same people that would welcome with open arms; authoritarianism, fascism and government oppressing its own people (you know, as long as the trains all run on time and everyone speaks politely, right???). Examples of Silco's misunderstood actions/agenda: >The firelights are trying to stop Silco's plans so he is forced to fight them. >Mel/Jayce voting for peace in ep 9 is only AFTER the violence in Zaun becomes too much for them to stomatch (again, Silco literally explains this to Vander in ep 1 and then to Jayce in ep 9 when they talk on the wall, but people still seem to not join the dots.... there would be no independence offer without Silco! If Vancer was still around basically its more of the status quo and Zaun's people would still be chocking to death in the mines, getting poorer etc >The chem barons are a means to an end - Silco doesnt want to be selling Shimmer, its a weapon, another means to an end. You can see he hates the chem barons (calls them parasites) because they care more for money than for an independent Zaun. Silco even still lives at the bottom level of Zaun, unlike the pampered chem barons. Even then he doesnt kill any of them - Finn is killed by Sevika (and like Vander, Finn was trying to betray and kill Silco first). >He threatens the already dead son of the red hair chem baron, but I think this is an empty threat. At no point does he actually kill anyone other than Vander (let alone kids). People point to him holding a knife when he first meets Powder, but this is a bit misleading. He already had the knife in his hand from fighting Vander, and hides it when he talks to Powder. Also the theory is that he didnt want to kill any of the kids, but wanted to capture them to try and turn them to the cause (it really makes no sense for him to kill them, even though he does say the line about noen of them ever being seen again, I actually think that is the silliest writing in the show. It makes no sense for his character from the rest of the show, it doesnt benefit him in any way and was probably put in to just make him seem more evil to fool the audience - which worked I guess). >Enforcers - need I say more? They are the enemy. He doesnt kill any directly either, but Jinx does. He is even quite angry when she kills a bunch in ep 4 - again because he isnt just trying to kill people randomly just to be "evil" but instead is trying to follow a very difficult path to independence and is trying to avoid conflict / minimize the heat on him, where possible. >He threatens Marcus' daughter - again an empty threat. What would killing his daughter achieve? Nothing. If Silco did that, Marcus would go crazy, either order the Enforcers to capture Silcos or just fess up to his corruption and snitch on Silco which would have the same end result. Silco's threat isnt to really kill the daughter but more to remind Marcus that whether he likes it or not, they are now in partnership and either they both succeed or die (as it happens its the latter). Using the daughter angle looks "scummy" but its also much more effective than just saying to Marcus "You are a corrupt cop, you have no way out, carry on what you have been doing..." >Shimmer - again, a means to an end. Its portrayed like a narcotic but its chief use for Silco is as a weapon of liberation. BTW just look up history on rebellions and freedom movements and youll see that access to weapons has always been a top priority (along with loyalty to the cause, also explained by Silco)
if it's true that you're South African, you're frankly one of the fewest to make this good of an impression on your channel, and as a fellow South African myself, I'm impressed. Shout out to you Loy.
Careful viktor your heading into Nox from wakfu territory which could happen if ekko makes his z drive and viktor takes it while in cyborg form. And the hexcore is the wakfu cube.
This is dumb. I like Arcane. This covered every object in Arcane except the fish Vi ate in the undercity after Caitlyn broke her out of Stillwater. "The fish is an object of power because the chef is an underground contact."
Things I forgot:
Flares: The Flare Jinx uses to signal to Vi is pretty important for the story. Another one also appears when she fights the Vi look-alike on the trade ship.
Masks: The Firelights wear them (probably to protect their identities from enforcers).
Gas Masks: The air in certain parts of the undercity is dense, so gas masks are needed. Enforcers wear the gas masks to protect themselves from any fumes, but it's also just a classist thing they do since the residents of Undercity don't need them.
Comment any others below
Bruh, this could end up being a long comment section. And by the way, do you have a discord
Thanks so much for these videos, so much interesting depth in visual metaphor to dig into!
There's a good deal of shattered mirror images associated with Jinx, which could represent her fracturing psyche? I was especially blown away when they pulled the same trick with her bomb collision at the very end, a smiling shark face breaking the glass illusion of class separation between Piltover & Zaun.
Tangentially, enforcers throwing Mr. Spit through the arcade window was the moment where Powder realized that she could/should fight back against their oppression, and was immediately preceded by her glimpsing them through a small hole in the cracked stained-glass.
EDIT: just remembered that Claggor's eyeglasses shatter and then deliver the awful news to Powder
Family.. or Affiliation (Loyalty) ^ : you see it clearest in the opening scene where the kids childish games cause vander to die for them amongst other scenes
As well as when all of the villains were around the table and -the Yakuza styled guy- tried to break rank and revolt against silco but everyone else didn’t side with him. Even Sabika not betraying him in the movie.
I think it's quite an interesting detail that guns are common in Piltover, being standard issue for enforcers, but in Zaun, Jinx is literally the only one that uses them. And Jinx most likely built them herself. Everyone else relies on melee. Sevika has a badass mechanical arm, but not even a sidearm. Chem guards have those green blades. Even Vander chooses to use gauntlets. Yes, it's clearly their fighting style of choice, but still it makes it feel like firearms are a symbol of Piltover superiority over Zaun. Which I think makes Caitlyn trading her rifle for Vi's cure that much more significant
Yeha, I also felt like it added extra weight to the fact that Jinx uses guns since it shows how much of a game changer she is and how much more eye to eye she is with Piltover.
@@tensu5811 yes great point! So poetic when Jinx started executing enforcers on the bridge, mirroring how enforcers killed her parents, with her literally humming the same tune. She is now equal, and even above the enforcers
You can also read into Piltover and the enforcers being the only ones with firearms, and using them to brutalize Zaun, as a parallel to the disarming of citizens in many countries.
The rabbit plushie that Powder and later Jinx have symbolising her tie to Vi. It holds some power over her psyke.
You have a really keen eye for detail!!! I love your videos
Thanks!
I think the orange drinks are a sort of alcohol, this is because they are served in a bar and are offered to Marcus as the "strongest shit you got". We also see that this liquid is flammable as Marcus burns it with a torch. Another line of evidence is that Savekia's arm uses shimmer to burn as a fuel and since shimmer is shown to be diluted in alcohol we can assume shimmer acts as a sort of catalyst for the combustion reactions of alcohol to operate her arm. For these reasons I believe the orange drink is alcohol, Anyways good video and insights!
It's whiskey. Rather strong too. At least 50% abv, since it catches fire so easily.
Those blue orbs give me actual anxiety they're so well contextualized, animated, and framed.
Good analysis! It’s neat thinking about these objects this way, and it makes perfect sense. I also appreciate your point at the end about white collar crime and biased
3:58 ❤️😎🤯😂 this part ! your breakdown and analysis of the portrayal of the Power of the Gold
It wonderfully expresses the shady ness and perspective on how both sides abuse finances but only one side is spotlighted for abusing it
This is why I don't think Silco was an actual villain but an anti-hero fighting for independence and freedom while the corrupt council who have all the power are the true oppressive force disregarding and neglecting the most poor and vulnerable people. Obsessed with their own selfish greed and power until they get shot down and blown to pieces.
I really hope Silco isn't permanently dead and might somehow returns
100% agree and I doubt they will bring Silco back, but I wish for that as well.
Silco was objectively correct about everything
The reason people think of him as the villain is literally because the show frames him in the usual villain tropes (wears dark colors, small, scarred, speaks carefully, white male lol etc),
The only fair point is that he uses violence but given that, A it works, B "Good Guy Vander" literally tried to murder him but gets magically forgiven, and C the enemy (Piltover) already are using violence to oppress Zaun , I find it so stupid when people cant see past the visual trappings and actually think about the STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THAT WORLD.
Interestingly, Silco only kills one person in the whole show - Vander - who betrayed and tried to murder him first. Everyone else is basically an enemy that Silco has to fight to continue his plan for an Independent Zaun (which he ACHIEVES - or at least gets the option and turns it down). Even then, the reason he turns it down is because of loyalty - he asks for blanket amnesty and Jayce, stupidly, says no you have to give over your best fighter. Right, good idea. Turn in your own people, your strongest weapon and we promise to honor our peace deal.
If your perspective is; Zaun should be free / fight against authoritarianism and brutality, then Silco is the ONLY character that moved the story forward towards those GOOD GOALS. That essentially makes him the protagonist (maybe anti hero as you said, but even then I think thats kind of harsh). Look up any freedom fighter / movement in history and youll see plenty of violence and tough decisions that the movements leader had to make (this is spelled out in the episode 3 name and people still dont get it - the base violence necessary for change).
The writing of the show is excellent but the presentation is very cliche. The good guys are all beautiful, tall, handsome, strong, wear white. Even VI is shown to be stronger than bad guys 4x her size and like taller than most of the guys in the show (she is a strong independent LGBT woman so its basically impossible to criticize her in the current year but lets go anyway...). Whereas all the bad guys (or what we are told to think are the bad guys) are all dirty, poor, wear dark colors, swear or have less refined accents. The writing and nuance of the characters and their motivations is what then SUBVERTS the superficial presentation - however I guess most people are only able to absorb the superficial. Thats why they end up asking "huh, how come I connected with Jinx/Silco even though they were evil?" Well.... thats just it, they were not evil, they were sympathetic, and your brain is failing to analyze the context.
I do wonder how many of the "good" people that watch Arcane and think Silco is the "bad guy" are the same people that would welcome with open arms; authoritarianism, fascism and government oppressing its own people (you know, as long as the trains all run on time and everyone speaks politely, right???).
Examples of Silco's misunderstood actions/agenda:
>The firelights are trying to stop Silco's plans so he is forced to fight them.
>Mel/Jayce voting for peace in ep 9 is only AFTER the violence in Zaun becomes too much for them to stomatch (again, Silco literally explains this to Vander in ep 1 and then to Jayce in ep 9 when they talk on the wall, but people still seem to not join the dots.... there would be no independence offer without Silco! If Vancer was still around basically its more of the status quo and Zaun's people would still be chocking to death in the mines, getting poorer etc
>The chem barons are a means to an end - Silco doesnt want to be selling Shimmer, its a weapon, another means to an end. You can see he hates the chem barons (calls them parasites) because they care more for money than for an independent Zaun. Silco even still lives at the bottom level of Zaun, unlike the pampered chem barons. Even then he doesnt kill any of them - Finn is killed by Sevika (and like Vander, Finn was trying to betray and kill Silco first).
>He threatens the already dead son of the red hair chem baron, but I think this is an empty threat. At no point does he actually kill anyone other than Vander (let alone kids). People point to him holding a knife when he first meets Powder, but this is a bit misleading. He already had the knife in his hand from fighting Vander, and hides it when he talks to Powder. Also the theory is that he didnt want to kill any of the kids, but wanted to capture them to try and turn them to the cause (it really makes no sense for him to kill them, even though he does say the line about noen of them ever being seen again, I actually think that is the silliest writing in the show. It makes no sense for his character from the rest of the show, it doesnt benefit him in any way and was probably put in to just make him seem more evil to fool the audience - which worked I guess).
>Enforcers - need I say more? They are the enemy. He doesnt kill any directly either, but Jinx does. He is even quite angry when she kills a bunch in ep 4 - again because he isnt just trying to kill people randomly just to be "evil" but instead is trying to follow a very difficult path to independence and is trying to avoid conflict / minimize the heat on him, where possible.
>He threatens Marcus' daughter - again an empty threat. What would killing his daughter achieve? Nothing. If Silco did that, Marcus would go crazy, either order the Enforcers to capture Silcos or just fess up to his corruption and snitch on Silco which would have the same end result. Silco's threat isnt to really kill the daughter but more to remind Marcus that whether he likes it or not, they are now in partnership and either they both succeed or die (as it happens its the latter). Using the daughter angle looks "scummy" but its also much more effective than just saying to Marcus "You are a corrupt cop, you have no way out, carry on what you have been doing..."
>Shimmer - again, a means to an end. Its portrayed like a narcotic but its chief use for Silco is as a weapon of liberation. BTW just look up history on rebellions and freedom movements and youll see that access to weapons has always been a top priority (along with loyalty to the cause, also explained by Silco)
Your videos are underrated
Ekko z drive and ezreal gauntlet will be another o.o.p. I wonder ezreal gauntlet vs vi gauntlet.
if it's true that you're South African, you're frankly one of the fewest to make this good of an impression on your channel, and as a fellow South African myself, I'm impressed. Shout out to you Loy.
I am bro, Shoutout to you, much love
Careful viktor your heading into Nox from wakfu territory which could happen if ekko makes his z drive and viktor takes it while in cyborg form. And the hexcore is the wakfu cube.
Orange drink. You mean whisky.
Give jinx an aeroglider and she is green goblin. And a baton is ekko nightwing or miles Morales.
i like you´re vidios
Me too 💕
orange drinks lol, its whiskey or rum.
Better title name. Objects of Significance.
Who said first already?.......first I guess
Ummm liquor isn’t an object of power 🤨 love your stuff by the way but cmon man lol
This is dumb. I like Arcane. This covered every object in Arcane except the fish Vi ate in the undercity after Caitlyn broke her out of Stillwater. "The fish is an object of power because the chef is an underground contact."
lol, what?