So Silco's lead hench(wo)man and what's her name's Noxian mommy are absolutely going to be future game champs eh?
I dunno about Mel's mom, but Sevika is *absolutely* gonna be a new champ.
She showed off a bunch of distinct powers/attacks in her fight with Vi that are easily translatable to LoL mechanics -- her sword can shoot off shockwaves to make it ranged, she has something like a passive (power ups thanks to Shimmer injections) etc.
I *really* want an Arcane artbook. I would spend money on that. The show is so gorgeous and I want to see all the concept art, storyboards, etc.
Swain killed the previous ruler of Noxus who was getting them into wars with mass casualties and little to show for it and installed a triumvirate of himself, Darius, and Draven.
If the brother was the ruler of Noxus, then yes it’s swain. Otherwise it could literally be anyone because Noxus whole thing is extreme libertarianism: the strong take what they want.
That's post-rework Swain right? I think they redid his lore when they reworked the champion. Old Swain was like a slave to a demon bird.
That's post-rework Swain right? I think they redid his lore when they reworked the champion. Old Swain was like a slave to a demon bird.
Technically you can't say it has always been his lore, but this development happened in one of the Journals of Justice alongside his Tyrant Swain skin release in which he took control of Noxus as its primary ruler. Goes back to 2012.
Kind of Arcane spoiler
I saw in another forum someone commented that Riot's continued problem is being unable to advance its lore without retconning a bunch of stuff and...I think that's still pretty true.
On its own merits, yeah, Arcane was good at least.
Ivellius on
Me elsewhere:
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I don't know much about the champs before I starting playing, but Swain as he is currently has enslaved the demon bird Raum to do his bidding. He also realizes that it's only a matter of time before the demon overtakes him, hence the triumvirate (so when he falls he won't be the only one in charge and Darius/Draven can kill him).
He's apparently tied with Aurelian Sol for most knowledge about the universe.
He is - essentially - the Noxian version of Vetinari, right down to cribbing a bunch of quotes from him.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
I think retconning is inevitable and appropriate assuming Arcane continues for multiple seasons. A TV series is a much better method of delivering lore than an e-sport.
honestly I've started to think of Runeterra lore the same way I think of Transformers or Marvel or DC lore -- there's thousands of characters, and each incarnation is going to be a different riff on a core archetype, with different backstories and interpretations each time. And that's fine, it's fine for there to be no One, True Canon, it's fine to just endlessly iterate. Every version of Starscream has the core concept of Second In Command Guy Wot Turns into a Jet and Betrays Megatron; the details of his backstory, why he is the way he is, what level of asshole he is, how smart he actually is, what kind of plane he turns into, etc vary based on which version of him you're watching. As long as he keeps that core concept, he's still recognizably Starscream every time. Hell, the origins of the Transformers, how they reproduce, what kind of entities they are, the history of their own home planet, all *that* varies based on which version you're watching. And that's fine!
It's all archetypes that you like from other media. It becomes good when it gets to zoom in and ignore that for a specific set of characters (like Arcane).
Or when it's just genuinely good when you cut away all the bullshit (Lilia/Kindred)
I think retconning is inevitable and appropriate assuming Arcane continues for multiple seasons. A TV series is a much better method of delivering lore than an e-sport.
Especially since the lore of the esport has been incredibly bad… good ole release Miss Fortune and “taxed to contain her.”
Arcane season 2 wishes; if they stick around Zaun/Piltover. At the risk of getting too many characters I hope to see Twitch and zac next season. Don’t need major character beats or even for them to speak but just seeing them.
I feel like they've been definitely going through and trying to lock things down more lore-wise as they get more prep-work for the MMO done.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
If they stay in Piltover/Zaun we're likely seeing
Warwick.
Because that's absolutely who Vander became.
I imagine that we will spend most of our time in Piltover/Zaun with the occasional glimpse into Noxus.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I think retconning is inevitable and appropriate assuming Arcane continues for multiple seasons. A TV series is a much better method of delivering lore than an e-sport.
Yea I would definitely not wish for them to slavishly try and stick to the random background lore from a competitive game that has no actual story. Let some decent writers take the the general ideas and turn them into whatever makes for a compelling story.
I think retconning is inevitable and appropriate assuming Arcane continues for multiple seasons. A TV series is a much better method of delivering lore than an e-sport.
Especially since the lore of the esport has been incredibly bad… good ole release Miss Fortune and “taxed to contain her.”
Arcane season 2 wishes; if they stick around Zaun/Piltover. At the risk of getting too many characters I hope to see Twitch and zac next season. Don’t need major character beats or even for them to speak but just seeing them.
I'm hoping to see Orianna, even if she's only in human form. I think a cool retcon for her would be if her father goes to Viktor for help saving her life, after Viktor breaks with Piltover and starts down his whole path of transhumanist evangelism. Her dad's still involved and maybe she even still gives her dad her own heart to keep *him* alive, but it always seemed weird to me that Viktor was somehow NOT involved with her creation.
I feel like they've been definitely going through and trying to lock things down more lore-wise as they get more prep-work for the MMO done.
Yeah from the brief time I've been playing the only retcons I've seen were to bring the lore more in line with itself.
I’m sure I’m forgetting other retcons they’ve done along the way, but I don’t remember a whole lot of them. Miss Fortune and Gangplank are the ones that stand out to me because I had completely forgotten that had a whole event around them.
And it’s called out in the opening scenes of ruined king.
Up until the last year or so, the lore never really was anything other than passable. I think it changed around the time kindred released but other than the sentinels of light from this year, it’s been on a nice steadily upward trajectory imo.
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I feel like they've been definitely going through and trying to lock things down more lore-wise as they get more prep-work for the MMO done.
Yeah from the brief time I've been playing the only retcons I've seen were to bring the lore more in line with itself.
I’m sure I’m forgetting other retcons they’ve done along the way, but I don’t remember a whole lot of them. Miss Fortune and Gangplank are the ones that stand out to me because I had completely forgotten that had a whole event around them.
And it’s called out in the opening scenes of ruined king.
Up until the last year or so, the lore never really was anything other than passable. I think it changed around the time kindred released but other than the sentinels of light from this year, it’s been on a nice steadily upward trajectory imo.
I'm specifically thinking of Fiddlesticks, who went from being a weird, goofy character to being an ancient eldritch entity that feeds on fear a la Pennywise.
Mundo also got a visual update to bring him more in line with the league aesthetic.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
I feel like they've been definitely going through and trying to lock things down more lore-wise as they get more prep-work for the MMO done.
I guess it depends on how long a timeline you'd give them, but they've pretty much always been doing this. They want Bilgewater locked down more, so Shadow & Fortune comes out, which status quo gets retconned with Sentinels of Light as MF and Gangplank are openly at odds* there. Rhaast locks things down more for the Darkin, which gets retconned when they expand Icathia a year later. Thresh gets moved into "Starscream traitorous advisor role" for the Ruination, which changes his whole attitude toward undeath. All the questions about who the other darkin could be and where they were and what their motivations are? No, they never existed after all. Thresh as an example of someone who views flesh as a prison and revels in his newfound undead power, in strong thematic contrast to the other inhabitants of the Isles being cursed and suffering? Nah, he wants to be a real boy after all.
Apparently no one really cares about this, but for me it makes it difficult to get invested into any of the stories. If narrative resolution is to be found simply by changing aspects of the previous narrative, why bother with any of the hanging plot threads? Put another way, I guess: Arcane isn't the origin story for the Vi or Jinx we've had for a long time. That's potentially fine, and their backstories didn't make much sense (Jinx clearly knows they're sisters, after all), but they are characters from effectively a different continuity. "Paint the Town" isn't a charming "night on the town with Jinx being given character growth" because it didn't happen.
Spoiler counter-example:
It would have been very easy to change Warwick's backstory based on what was known of the character, but they didn't.
Ah well.
I need a list of new builds to try. Axiom Arc Nocturne is probably near the top, but there have to be more. Tanks do seem a little stronger in my limited experience (Amumu still slaps).
* Maybe Ruined King explains this? I do not know, but it was unexplained at the time.
Ivellius on
Me elsewhere:
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
I feel like they've been definitely going through and trying to lock things down more lore-wise as they get more prep-work for the MMO done.
Yeah from the brief time I've been playing the only retcons I've seen were to bring the lore more in line with itself.
I’m sure I’m forgetting other retcons they’ve done along the way, but I don’t remember a whole lot of them. Miss Fortune and Gangplank are the ones that stand out to me because I had completely forgotten that had a whole event around them.
And it’s called out in the opening scenes of ruined king.
Up until the last year or so, the lore never really was anything other than passable. I think it changed around the time kindred released but other than the sentinels of light from this year, it’s been on a nice steadily upward trajectory imo.
I'm specifically thinking of Fiddlesticks, who went from being a weird, goofy character to being an ancient eldritch entity that feeds on fear a la Pennywise.
Mundo also got a visual update to bring him more in line with the league aesthetic.
Yep completely fair with Fiddle. He is not the same champion he was before. Completely blanked on him. And I honestly can’t say I remember anything about mundo’s lore.
The only voice I was disappointed with in arcane is Ekko
I really liked Ekko in arcane. Didn't like him so much in-game and in his trailer!
goddammit a whole year+ to wait
tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I hope they are given more episodes to work with in Season 2. Story and pacing wise, Act I and II were spot on. Act III felt like there was a bit of connective tissue missing in there that would have given the story a bit more time to breathe and characters to find proper motivation. It was still really really good and was infinitely better than I would have ever thought it would be, but it really raced into that finale.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Axiom Arc Nocturne is disgusting and doing it is basically a war crime.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
people on the Arcane subreddit: omg I loved Arcane so much! I want more! Should I play LoL?
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
people on the Arcane subreddit: omg I loved Arcane so much! I want more! Should I play LoL?
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
No.
Get in the crab bucket.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
I feel like they've been definitely going through and trying to lock things down more lore-wise as they get more prep-work for the MMO done.
I guess it depends on how long a timeline you'd give them, but they've pretty much always been doing this. They want Bilgewater locked down more, so Shadow & Fortune comes out, which status quo gets retconned with Sentinels of Light as MF and Gangplank are openly at odds* there. Rhaast locks things down more for the Darkin, which gets retconned when they expand Icathia a year later. Thresh gets moved into "Starscream traitorous advisor role" for the Ruination, which changes his whole attitude toward undeath. All the questions about who the other darkin could be and where they were and what their motivations are? No, they never existed after all. Thresh as an example of someone who views flesh as a prison and revels in his newfound undead power, in strong thematic contrast to the other inhabitants of the Isles being cursed and suffering? Nah, he wants to be a real boy after all.
Apparently no one really cares about this, but for me it makes it difficult to get invested into any of the stories. If narrative resolution is to be found simply by changing aspects of the previous narrative, why bother with any of the hanging plot threads? Put another way, I guess: Arcane isn't the origin story for the Vi or Jinx we've had for a long time. That's potentially fine, and their backstories didn't make much sense (Jinx clearly knows they're sisters, after all), but they are characters from effectively a different continuity. "Paint the Town" isn't a charming "night on the town with Jinx being given character growth" because it didn't happen.
Spoiler counter-example:
It would have been very easy to change Warwick's backstory based on what was known of the character, but they didn't.
Ah well.
I need a list of new builds to try. Axiom Arc Nocturne is probably near the top, but there have to be more. Tanks do seem a little stronger in my limited experience (Amumu still slaps).
* Maybe Ruined King explains this? I do not know, but it was unexplained at the time.
Hm, it really doesn't bother me to not have 'one true canon'--there might be a core concept for each character but in an extreme case even that might be hard to define (if you go hard into an AU and very few things are true about the character in the AU that are true in the game, for example). I do understand that some people's fandom expresses itself in learning facts about the world and the characters as if they were facts about a real place and people, but I like the fluidity, flexibility, and remixability that a fictional world gives us. Ekko is a little dude you press QWER on in a videogame and also a rapper in True Damage and also a teenage community leader in Arcane and that can all be true at the same time and that's not only fine, it's pretty cool, and different writers can post little short stories with their takes on Ekko, etc. There doesn't need to be a Canon here.
This way of looking at canon also has the benefit of, if you prefer a previous iteration of a character and don't like e.g. weird human-face Thresh, you can just think of the iteration of Thresh you like. Someone upthread made a good comparison to longrunning superhero comics--people are always saying, "I liked character X in this run but not in that run"--we're evolving something like that here, except I hope the narrative team realizes that they should feel even less pressure to stay faithful to 'canon' that was shitposted 9 years ago and can continue to have multiple versions of a character exist simultaneously.
Steam, LoL: credeiki
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ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
people on the Arcane subreddit: omg I loved Arcane so much! I want more! Should I play LoL?
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
Oh man.
I'm just picturing someone who legit has NO idea what kinda game LoL is deciding to to try it after falling in love with Arcane.
Just puzzled as they smack some towers with little mini characters while random people on the internet, who are supposedly their teammates, insult them and their families and they think "This is what inspired Arcane?" Just trying to figure out how THAT lead to the show.
people on the Arcane subreddit: omg I loved Arcane so much! I want more! Should I play LoL?
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
Oh man.
I'm just picturing someone who legit has NO idea what kinda game LoL is deciding to to try it after falling in love with Arcane.
Just puzzled as they smack some towers with little mini characters while random people on the internet, who are supposedly their teammates, insult them and their families and they think "This is what inspired Arcane?" Just trying to figure out how THAT lead to the show.
I have a friend who has never played lol. But watched and fell in love with arcane because I was gushing about it at my birthday party last weekend. She was sad it’s based off a moba.
people on the Arcane subreddit: omg I loved Arcane so much! I want more! Should I play LoL?
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
Oh man.
I'm just picturing someone who legit has NO idea what kinda game LoL is deciding to to try it after falling in love with Arcane.
Just puzzled as they smack some towers with little mini characters while random people on the internet, who are supposedly their teammates, insult them and their families and they think "This is what inspired Arcane?" Just trying to figure out how THAT lead to the show.
I mean
Arcane does have a lot of your own teammates completely screwing the pooch, and then screaming at you about it.
It was a nice change to hear a Pusha T song instead of more Imagine Dragons. I’d be all for letting him be the headliner & do the intro music in season 2 but I understand why they wouldn’t.
The show was fantastic. My wife usually doesn’t go in for animation and definitely has less than zero interest in video games as source material but she dug it too.
PSN: thewheelz
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
people on the Arcane subreddit: omg I loved Arcane so much! I want more! Should I play LoL?
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
Oh man.
I'm just picturing someone who legit has NO idea what kinda game LoL is deciding to to try it after falling in love with Arcane.
Just puzzled as they smack some towers with little mini characters while random people on the internet, who are supposedly their teammates, insult them and their families and they think "This is what inspired Arcane?" Just trying to figure out how THAT lead to the show.
I mean
Arcane does have a lot of your own teammates completely screwing the pooch, and then screaming at you about it.
So that much is accurate!
"ADC runs it down mid and of course the JNG gets blamed"
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
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StragintDo Not GiftAlways DeclinesRegistered Userregular
Axiom Arc is such a doomed item. The ult reduction is so strong and so many champs can put it into their build without much issue.
PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
I think retconning is inevitable and appropriate assuming Arcane continues for multiple seasons. A TV series is a much better method of delivering lore than an e-sport.
not just inevitable - its already happened (and honestly done well)
they took a cast that was 90% white and without being stupid about it increased the representation substantially while taking advantage of all the background characters to help that angle too (arguably the first occurrences of explicitly persian/indian coded characters etc)
even caitlyn was quietly implied to have an asian father and they made her look like less like a doll
anyway I don't even remember what champs I have unlocked beyond Vel'Koz, Miss Fortune, proooobably Jinx and Sonya? but if any PA folks want to drag me kicking and screaming through a match, lmk. I'm LucidSeraph on there (no underscore).
It was a nice change to hear a Pusha T song instead of more Imagine Dragons. I’d be all for letting him be the headliner & do the intro music in season 2 but I understand why they wouldn’t.
The show was fantastic. My wife usually doesn’t go in for animation and definitely has less than zero interest in video games as source material but she dug it too.
It's because they use all the characters and concepts really well. They don't try to go for excessive jargon or concepts, instead focusing entirely on character development and just building the world around them (instead of building the characters around the world they are in). I compared Arcane to the shorts published about Jinx and some other characters after watching, which was quite the weird tonal shift from the show. Arcane has what I would call an extremely "mature"* take on the world and adds a layer of grime/muck over everything that would make Dishonored's world (as an example) proud. Nobody feels like they've been hammered into a straight up binary of "These people are obviously morally awful and bad, with these people being the shining lights of progress and enlightenment". I cannot think of another animated show like this where (Episode 8):
They straight up have a "heroic" portrayed character in Jace simply outright end up killing a kid directly. That's dark even for many comparable anime series and yet, it also didn't feel like it was being excessive or needless in service of Jace's character development. His reaction isn't to find a better way of murdering people or denying what he did, but to deal with it directly and go for a peace deal to try to avoid what was about to happen (that sadly, Jinx has probably started a war nobody can avert now).
I was impressed that I didn't need to know anything about the game to enjoy it and that's simply due to building everything from characters upwards, as opposed to assuming people know what the world is like and building downwards (see Final Fantasy XIII for the most egregious and offensive example of doing this wrong). There were obvious things in there that I still appreciated, like the tree the Firelights build their home around, the fact they called the poor area where most of the violence in the show happens "The Lanes" and various other game adjacent references. I think one of the most brilliant things the show did was build hextech up slowly. Instead of just being dumped into the world where it already existed, by showing how it was built and the pitfalls/risks of it was very smart. It allowed them to introduce the concept without an overwhelming need for a huge exposition dump (my understanding of the original games lore is that hextech essentially already existed when all these characters were initially conceived).
I am very interested in season 2 on two levels: I want to see how they resolve the end of season 1 obviously, but I am very curious if they will actually kill any characters that are champions from the main game. It's not too bad in season 1 for the most part, but you really do get a slight sense that some people are coated in several layers of plot armor and might be unkillable. I am hoping Season 2 proves me wrong**.
*I apologize for the term, but I can't think of another better way of phrasing it.
It was a nice change to hear a Pusha T song instead of more Imagine Dragons. I’d be all for letting him be the headliner & do the intro music in season 2 but I understand why they wouldn’t.
The show was fantastic. My wife usually doesn’t go in for animation and definitely has less than zero interest in video games as source material but she dug it too.
It's because they use all the characters and concepts really well. They don't try to go for excessive jargon or concepts, instead focusing entirely on character development and just building the world around them (instead of building the characters around the world they are in). I compared Arcane to the shorts published about Jinx and some other characters after watching, which was quite the weird tonal shift from the show. Arcane has what I would call an extremely "mature"* take on the world and adds a layer of grime/muck over everything that would make Dishonored's world (as an example) proud. Nobody feels like they've been hammered into a straight up binary of "These people are obviously morally awful and bad, with these people being the shining lights of progress and enlightenment". I cannot think of another animated show like this where (Episode 8):
They straight up have a "heroic" portrayed character in Jace simply outright end up killing a kid directly. That's dark even for many comparable anime series and yet, it also didn't feel like it was being excessive or needless in service of Jace's character development. His reaction isn't to find a better way of murdering people or denying what he did, but to deal with it directly and go for a peace deal to try to avoid what was about to happen (that sadly, Jinx has probably started a war nobody can avert now).
I was impressed that I didn't need to know anything about the game to enjoy it and that's simply due to building everything from characters upwards, as opposed to assuming people know what the world is like and building downwards (see Final Fantasy XIII for the most egregious and offensive example of doing this wrong). There were obvious things in there that I still appreciated, like the tree the Firelights build their home around, the fact they called the poor area where most of the violence in the show happens "The Lanes" and various other game adjacent references. I think one of the most brilliant things the show did was build hextech up slowly. Instead of just being dumped into the world where it already existed, by showing how it was built and the pitfalls/risks of it was very smart. It allowed them to introduce the concept without an overwhelming need for a huge exposition dump (my understanding of the original games lore is that hextech essentially already existed when all these characters were initially conceived).
I am very interested in season 2 on two levels: I want to see how they resolve the end of season 1 obviously, but I am very curious if they will actually kill any characters that are champions from the main game. It's not too bad in season 1 for the most part, but you really do get a slight sense that some people are coated in several layers of plot armor and might be unkillable. I am hoping Season 2 proves me wrong.
*I apologize for the term, but I can't think of another better way of phrasing it.
/mute but emphatic gesturing at this entire post
if nothing else, they've already "killed" one Champ
Vander => Warwick
and I have my suspicions about how they'll do another
Viktor => ... Viktor
Mainly: I think they may go the route of the HexCore being a Void Gate, and of it becoming sentient in its own right and overriding/co-opting Viktor himself, eg, Game!Viktor is a sentient HexCore puppeteering Arcane!Viktor's body. you could even have it be that the reason his 3rd arm sometimes zaps him is that it's Arcane!Viktor attempting to re-assert some measure of control.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited November 2021
Oh really? Then I retract my comment slightly. I was not aware he was. So I guess while it still has a bit of that feeling, they're definitely unafraid to kill characters who are champions off.
Oh really? Then I retract my comment slightly. I was not aware he was. So I guess while it still has a bit of that feeling, they're definitely unafraid to kill characters who are champions off.
There's a bunch of hints, and then it's outright shown in one of the last post Kaboom shots of Act 3: Vander strung up in Singed's lab, his comatose body stuffed full of tubes. Quite a few people were like "aw we thought Vander was gonna become Warwick ;-; but he died!" but then nah, Singed doesn't need you to be *alive* to work on you...
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Old, Busted: Tahm Kench support
New hotness: Sett support
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
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I dunno about Mel's mom, but Sevika is *absolutely* gonna be a new champ.
I *really* want an Arcane artbook. I would spend money on that. The show is so gorgeous and I want to see all the concept art, storyboards, etc.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
That's post-rework Swain right? I think they redid his lore when they reworked the champion. Old Swain was like a slave to a demon bird.
Technically you can't say it has always been his lore, but this development happened in one of the Journals of Justice alongside his Tyrant Swain skin release in which he took control of Noxus as its primary ruler. Goes back to 2012.
Kind of Arcane spoiler
On its own merits, yeah, Arcane was good at least.
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
He's apparently tied with Aurelian Sol for most knowledge about the universe.
He is - essentially - the Noxian version of Vetinari, right down to cribbing a bunch of quotes from him.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
It's all archetypes that you like from other media. It becomes good when it gets to zoom in and ignore that for a specific set of characters (like Arcane).
Or when it's just genuinely good when you cut away all the bullshit (Lilia/Kindred)
Especially since the lore of the esport has been incredibly bad… good ole release Miss Fortune and “taxed to contain her.”
Arcane season 2 wishes; if they stick around Zaun/Piltover. At the risk of getting too many characters I hope to see Twitch and zac next season. Don’t need major character beats or even for them to speak but just seeing them.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Because that's absolutely who Vander became.
I imagine that we will spend most of our time in Piltover/Zaun with the occasional glimpse into Noxus.
Yeah from the brief time I've been playing the only retcons I've seen were to bring the lore more in line with itself.
Yea I would definitely not wish for them to slavishly try and stick to the random background lore from a competitive game that has no actual story. Let some decent writers take the the general ideas and turn them into whatever makes for a compelling story.
I'm hoping to see Orianna, even if she's only in human form. I think a cool retcon for her would be if her father goes to Viktor for help saving her life, after Viktor breaks with Piltover and starts down his whole path of transhumanist evangelism. Her dad's still involved and maybe she even still gives her dad her own heart to keep *him* alive, but it always seemed weird to me that Viktor was somehow NOT involved with her creation.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
I’m sure I’m forgetting other retcons they’ve done along the way, but I don’t remember a whole lot of them. Miss Fortune and Gangplank are the ones that stand out to me because I had completely forgotten that had a whole event around them.
Up until the last year or so, the lore never really was anything other than passable. I think it changed around the time kindred released but other than the sentinels of light from this year, it’s been on a nice steadily upward trajectory imo.
I'm specifically thinking of Fiddlesticks, who went from being a weird, goofy character to being an ancient eldritch entity that feeds on fear a la Pennywise.
Mundo also got a visual update to bring him more in line with the league aesthetic.
I guess it depends on how long a timeline you'd give them, but they've pretty much always been doing this. They want Bilgewater locked down more, so Shadow & Fortune comes out, which status quo gets retconned with Sentinels of Light as MF and Gangplank are openly at odds* there. Rhaast locks things down more for the Darkin, which gets retconned when they expand Icathia a year later. Thresh gets moved into "Starscream traitorous advisor role" for the Ruination, which changes his whole attitude toward undeath. All the questions about who the other darkin could be and where they were and what their motivations are? No, they never existed after all. Thresh as an example of someone who views flesh as a prison and revels in his newfound undead power, in strong thematic contrast to the other inhabitants of the Isles being cursed and suffering? Nah, he wants to be a real boy after all.
Apparently no one really cares about this, but for me it makes it difficult to get invested into any of the stories. If narrative resolution is to be found simply by changing aspects of the previous narrative, why bother with any of the hanging plot threads? Put another way, I guess: Arcane isn't the origin story for the Vi or Jinx we've had for a long time. That's potentially fine, and their backstories didn't make much sense (Jinx clearly knows they're sisters, after all), but they are characters from effectively a different continuity. "Paint the Town" isn't a charming "night on the town with Jinx being given character growth" because it didn't happen.
Spoiler counter-example:
I need a list of new builds to try. Axiom Arc Nocturne is probably near the top, but there have to be more. Tanks do seem a little stronger in my limited experience (Amumu still slaps).
* Maybe Ruined King explains this? I do not know, but it was unexplained at the time.
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
The new lol one is soooooooooooo super snooty.
If you're curious, the VA for Caitlyn in Arcane is Katie Leung, who was Cho Chang from the Harry Potter movies.
Yep completely fair with Fiddle. He is not the same champion he was before. Completely blanked on him. And I honestly can’t say I remember anything about mundo’s lore.
I really liked Ekko in arcane. Didn't like him so much in-game and in his trailer!
goddammit a whole year+ to wait
everyone who has played LoL on the Arcane subreddit: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER PLAY LoL
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
No.
Get in the crab bucket.
Hm, it really doesn't bother me to not have 'one true canon'--there might be a core concept for each character but in an extreme case even that might be hard to define (if you go hard into an AU and very few things are true about the character in the AU that are true in the game, for example). I do understand that some people's fandom expresses itself in learning facts about the world and the characters as if they were facts about a real place and people, but I like the fluidity, flexibility, and remixability that a fictional world gives us. Ekko is a little dude you press QWER on in a videogame and also a rapper in True Damage and also a teenage community leader in Arcane and that can all be true at the same time and that's not only fine, it's pretty cool, and different writers can post little short stories with their takes on Ekko, etc. There doesn't need to be a Canon here.
This way of looking at canon also has the benefit of, if you prefer a previous iteration of a character and don't like e.g. weird human-face Thresh, you can just think of the iteration of Thresh you like. Someone upthread made a good comparison to longrunning superhero comics--people are always saying, "I liked character X in this run but not in that run"--we're evolving something like that here, except I hope the narrative team realizes that they should feel even less pressure to stay faithful to 'canon' that was shitposted 9 years ago and can continue to have multiple versions of a character exist simultaneously.
He was fine but I like the game voice accent better.
Oh man.
I'm just picturing someone who legit has NO idea what kinda game LoL is deciding to to try it after falling in love with Arcane.
Just puzzled as they smack some towers with little mini characters while random people on the internet, who are supposedly their teammates, insult them and their families and they think "This is what inspired Arcane?" Just trying to figure out how THAT lead to the show.
I have a friend who has never played lol. But watched and fell in love with arcane because I was gushing about it at my birthday party last weekend. She was sad it’s based off a moba.
I mean
Arcane does have a lot of your own teammates completely screwing the pooch, and then screaming at you about it.
So that much is accurate!
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
The show was fantastic. My wife usually doesn’t go in for animation and definitely has less than zero interest in video games as source material but she dug it too.
"ADC runs it down mid and of course the JNG gets blamed"
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
not just inevitable - its already happened (and honestly done well)
they took a cast that was 90% white and without being stupid about it increased the representation substantially while taking advantage of all the background characters to help that angle too (arguably the first occurrences of explicitly persian/indian coded characters etc)
even caitlyn was quietly implied to have an asian father and they made her look like less like a doll
anyway I don't even remember what champs I have unlocked beyond Vel'Koz, Miss Fortune, proooobably Jinx and Sonya? but if any PA folks want to drag me kicking and screaming through a match, lmk. I'm LucidSeraph on there (no underscore).
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
It's because they use all the characters and concepts really well. They don't try to go for excessive jargon or concepts, instead focusing entirely on character development and just building the world around them (instead of building the characters around the world they are in). I compared Arcane to the shorts published about Jinx and some other characters after watching, which was quite the weird tonal shift from the show. Arcane has what I would call an extremely "mature"* take on the world and adds a layer of grime/muck over everything that would make Dishonored's world (as an example) proud. Nobody feels like they've been hammered into a straight up binary of "These people are obviously morally awful and bad, with these people being the shining lights of progress and enlightenment". I cannot think of another animated show like this where (Episode 8):
I was impressed that I didn't need to know anything about the game to enjoy it and that's simply due to building everything from characters upwards, as opposed to assuming people know what the world is like and building downwards (see Final Fantasy XIII for the most egregious and offensive example of doing this wrong). There were obvious things in there that I still appreciated, like the tree the Firelights build their home around, the fact they called the poor area where most of the violence in the show happens "The Lanes" and various other game adjacent references. I think one of the most brilliant things the show did was build hextech up slowly. Instead of just being dumped into the world where it already existed, by showing how it was built and the pitfalls/risks of it was very smart. It allowed them to introduce the concept without an overwhelming need for a huge exposition dump (my understanding of the original games lore is that hextech essentially already existed when all these characters were initially conceived).
I am very interested in season 2 on two levels: I want to see how they resolve the end of season 1 obviously, but I am very curious if they will actually kill any characters that are champions from the main game. It's not too bad in season 1 for the most part, but you really do get a slight sense that some people are coated in several layers of plot armor and might be unkillable. I am hoping Season 2 proves me wrong**.
*I apologize for the term, but I can't think of another better way of phrasing it.
**Edit: I am apparently wrong on this.
/mute but emphatic gesturing at this entire post
if nothing else, they've already "killed" one Champ
and I have my suspicions about how they'll do another
Mainly: I think they may go the route of the HexCore being a Void Gate, and of it becoming sentient in its own right and overriding/co-opting Viktor himself, eg, Game!Viktor is a sentient HexCore puppeteering Arcane!Viktor's body. you could even have it be that the reason his 3rd arm sometimes zaps him is that it's Arcane!Viktor attempting to re-assert some measure of control.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
New hotness: Sett support