Sashisu !!!

Jason and Bruce are out late one night in Gotham as civilians. They get cornered by a mugger and Jason nearly pisses himself, he’s so amused. He teases the would-be mugger about their hand placement, even tries to goad the mugger into a fight because he’s Red Hood. He can disarm anyone in seconds. It doesn’t matter if you have a gun — he has two.

He’s Red Hood, and he has the literal Bat of Gotham standing behind him like a wall of muscle. They’re as close to invincible as humans get, in this town. And that kind of confidence scares off their would-be mugger.

But then Jason turns around, a smile stretching across his face, and Bruce is white. Bone white and so so quiet, eyes wide and trained on where the mugger had been standing.

In all possibilities, in all timelines, its only you.

with arcane’s focus on visual elements, something that’s been nagging on me lately is mel medarda’s final design and why it compounds the tragedy of her story:

firstly, when we see mel in her flashback, she’s already wearing her significant white/gold, but tempered with blue—noticeably missing her mother’s greys and reds, even then, showing her idealogical differences

then in piltover, we see mel as her own self-actualization—all white and gold and black, colors connected to power, and with an elegant cut that still places her slightly apart from piltover fashion. it shows her place as a non-combatant (long skirt) and someone privileged (the pure white) and wealthy (the gold. so much gold.). this is mel medarda at the pinnacle she’s worked so hard to achieve—it’s elegant because she is elegant

which of course becomes subverted when we do see the gold accessories taken away and the white dirtied when she’s kidnapped by the black rose—this is the first and only time we see mel in actual disarray, and it shows how vulnerable she is when she’s outside the political sphere

and after her transformation, we have this costume change, where aside from the increased gold (now representing magical ability instead of just wealth), we have mel in a a skin-tight catsuit style getup, allowing for greater movement, and her hair done in micro-braids in a style that won’t affect her center of gravity. at first, when i was watching, i was confused (especially about the hair), but then i realized—

this isn’t mel dressing herself to reflect a change, this is leblanc’s vision of mel, where power is swiftness and she is markedly different than others in a way that is now impossible to ignore

and she tries to return to her previous sense of self with the white hood, going back to a trademark of her style, but notably this is an outfit worn to conceal, not reveal and show off like her previous iconic dress, and her change is visibly with even just the hood off

and when mel accepts black rose’s help and betrays them and her mother dies, the white hood disappears—try as she might, she cannot go back to who she was, and she stands before noxians as a mage and mother-killer and a wolf, something dangerous

and then, when we see mel leaving piltover, she’s wearing nothing of her original self, but a combination of black rose’s getup and her mother’s colors. there is almost nothing of “mel” in this outfit, as if she’s been subsumed by these two identities—noxian and mage

even her makeup has shifted, with the red line under her eyes and the gold in her lower lip directly copying her mother

this isn’t a mel who’s realized herself in a new identity. this is a mel who, when faced with the enormous loss of her brother, mother, lover and former identity, has fallen into the definitions and roles that were presented to her, and who is now primed to continue the cycles started by her predecessors

and moving on from arcane, i think it would be fascinating to see mel in one of the newer shows to see how she grapples with this and if she either falls back into tradition and dooms herself, or if she’s able to break free and reforge her identity on her own terms

Undiagnosed

The Arcane Major Arcana

Card 0 - The Fool

The Fool represents innocence, idealism, youth, and vulnerability. He is inexperienced in life and has not faced the major obstacles it has to offer. His potential is yet unlocked, and he is only beginning his journey.

Reversed, The Fool warns of recklessness, naïveté, and chaos.

we're still making up new popes and kings and shit in 2025. fucking embarrassing

In hindsight it was probably best for the well being of literally everyone in piltover that jayce chose to die with viktor bc if a single person had walked up to him after and thanked him for helping take him down he might’ve started biting

Okay but imagine Viktor getting a chance to show his undercity roots

They get locked out of the lab and Jayce is like fuck this is Skys day off and she has the extra key set how tf are we getting in and Viktor just starts picking the lock. Jayce hasn’t even gotten through his out-loud thinking process and Viktor already has the door open. He’s so confused. He even designed the door to not get broken into.

They go down to the Zaun markets for things they can’t find in Piltover and Viktor easily haggles down the prices to what they should be and not what they’re trying to charge Jayce. (He does pay full prices for people who actually need the money in Zaun).

Viktor easily charms people for information. Jayce needs help in the council with something and Hoskel is not being helpful at all. He can't go to the other council members. Viktor manages a meeting with him for coffee/drinks and he comes back two hours later with all the information Jayce would need. He had Hoskel eating out of the palm of his hand. He still has no idea how he did it.

Viktor trips people on purpose all the time. Some guy insulted him passing by at a gala and a few minutes later the man tripped and fell into the champagne fountain. Viktor didn't even change his facial expression, no one knew it was him except for Jayce. (Jayce was proud, thought it was funny).

Viktor can pick-pocket. (Sky can too). They have a game of "who can steal the most off Jayce" when they're all in the lab together. Mel has gotten in on it by giving them challenges like adding pins and stickers. Jayce is so confused. He is covered in pins and stickers. Someone help him.

Viktor has the street smarts in addition to his actual book smarts. He and Sky have helped to teach Jayce how to spot things like people getting ready to fight (the physical signs) who to avoid and why, how to get out of a spat in the bad parts of town, and how to use these skills in Piltover (avoiding drunk gala attendees, fighting outside of wine clubs).

Viktor can hold his own in a verbal spat. He's also got a temper when it comes to someone trying to break down his morals or is being just an outright ass. Once got into an argument with a store owner who was being ableist and downright insulting about him being from Zaun. He was gonna let it go but then the guy turned on Jayce and his family. Jayce had to drag him out. Viktor is now banned from the shop.

I fully understand that the preponderance of evidence is that George Lucas put absolutely zero thought into what Naboo’s culture was actually supposed to look like outside of what we see on screen, but as far as unintentionally effective worldbuilding goes, establishing that Naboo a. has a tradition of electing literal children as figurehead rulers of its planetary government, and b. apparently also has a tradition of assassinating these children with sufficient frequency that dressing up a bunch of other children as decoy targets has become standard operating procedure by the time of Padmé Amidala’s reign suggests that maybe the fact that this random backwater is a breeding ground for Sith Lords isn’t as unlikely as it initially appears.

Tumblr Tuesday: Roan of Art

It's fine, it's cool. This is happening. Chappell Roan is Roan of Arc, champion and savior of sword lesbians and queer kids the world over. And, of course, the art goes so hard.

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