what vi did and said to powder wasn't right but let's not forget she is a child here too who just witnessed her brothers and father died. in my opinion it was mature of her to get herself away from powder and calm down, as soon as she sees her sister in danger she runs back to her with zero hesitation
I was honestly so shocked and devastated I wasn't thinking of it like that at the time, but now I completely agree and honestly probably would've done the same as Vi if I were in that situation. I don't even know if I would've had the willpower to back down like she did! I absolutely admire the self control she did have.
@@LeightonReacts I mean, let’s not pretend that walking away was the right thing to do there either lol. Because the right thing to do would’ve been to get her little sister away from all of that and then cool off. Obviously it’s better than beating her up, but still. Vi definitely did not make the right decision there, just a slightly less bad decision (which is understandable, she’s 14 and has up until this point tried to solve her problems with violence, but it was still wrong nonetheless).
18:29 Powder's angry eye gaves me chills every time. There is a painting called "Fallen Angel", it depicts the moment when Lucifer was expelled from heaven, I swear the look is the same.
My god, I didn't know that painting, but you're on point. Tbh, there's a lot of easter egg in the show, so it wouldn't be far fetched to say they might have taken inspiration from it.
In defense of the "uninteresting" scientist subplot - WE NEED A BREAK FROM THIS EPISODE. The undercity plot is gut punch after gut punch, and we jest need a couple minutes of safety for them to work. The trauma is increased by the regular escapes from it. The normal way to do it (in say, a Marvel movie) would be to have the protagonists wise crack a few times to lighten the mood, but Arcane does it by switching to the less traumatic storyline. I also think we're kind of supposed to feel that "Piltover problems" are pretty tame compared to "undercity problems".
The show makes you think that it's finally time for Powder's devices to work, and then it turns it around and instead executes what would actually happen if a ten-year-old got ahold of high explosives.
I think the writers share your love of story structure. They released the episodes in batches of three: episodes 1-3 at all on one day, then episodes 4-6 a week later, then episodes 7-9 the week after that. They were appropriately called Act I, Act II and Act III. And of course, since each Act has three episodes, those individual episodes comprise their own mini-act 1s 2s and 3s. They very much lover their 3 act structuring; I'm hoping they have 3 seasons, so they can continue the nesting of Acts.
I learned that after I finished the series and was like OH, THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE! Lol! And I agree, I hope they continue with the three act format, it really worked well in this season!
I know a lot of people feel sympathy for powder (justified, i also lover her v much) but Vi was also only 15. She was still a kid and while hitting her and calling her a jinx wasn't right, i don't fault her in the slightest.
I agree, it's a super heartbreaking moment but I honestly probably would've done the same thing in her shoes, I have some of the same anger issues Vi suffers from and can completely empathize!
Vi had an understandable crisis there and made a mistake in the heat of the moment, but she was clearly taking a break to calm down and was coming back eventually, even if Silco wouldn't show up. It was just bad timing and an unfortunate series of events.
@@LeightonReacts I really empathize with both Powder and Vi. I'm a middle child so I'm both an older and younger brother, while having the anger of Vi and the insecurities of Powder. So this episode really hits me hard every time. Scratch that, this whole series gets to me like nothing else.
Vi instantly regret about hit her sister. Because in that moment she realized that the most urgent threat against Powder... Was herself. That was the reason because she took distance. Not to abandon her, but to keep her safe. Ironically, we can play attention: Powder barely feel the physical hit (when someone hit a kid, the victim instinct is cover the head and shrink, or just run - I have some experience, I was spanked a lot as a kid. But she didn't had this reaction). What actually hurt her was that the support she needed wasn't there anymore. The "Jinx" word was far worse than be spanked to death, and the "abandonment" was even worse. "Punish me if you want, but don't leave me. I need you"
A surprising amount of people believe Powder doesn’t think it’s her fault since she never says “sorry”, which misses the fact that her body language says she expects Vi to beat her and that she believes she deserves whatever happens to her. She doesn’t ask why Vi hit her, she stops trying to get away when Vi calls her a jinx, she cowers when she thinks Vi stands up to beat her but doesn’t try to stop her, and when Vi walks away she begs her not to leave but doesn’t even get up to follow her.
In this comment I will post, I saw a great analysis comment explaining the first two episodes of arcane for powder and its other brothers, I would like to share. When you take a serious look at the section where people say that the first two chapters are very empty, they just introduce the world, there is nothing important, you can see that they have loaded a lot. Character analysis for the first 2 episodes (for the Underground city): The scene is when Powder is creating a new toy on her bed and Vi comes in to sit down to try to cheer her up. Almost every react I've seen of that scene is the same... "awe, isn't that adorable, big sister is here to cheer her up.. she's so supportive, that's so sweet!".... but that ISN'T what we see in that scene. Vi's talk with Powder in that scene unintentionally MAKES POWDER FEEL WORSE. You can see that by watching Powder's reactions and actual body language. Powder says "You heard them, I'm not a fighter" and pushes her head against her toy for comfort (that part is actually important too, but we'll get to that). Vi responds with "you don't have to be" and those words make powder WINCE in pain and push harder against her toy and actually smack her head against it. That didn't help at all.... it HURT DEEPLY. But why? Think about the kids... what do they value as a group? Well, who is their mentor? Vander... a hulking mountain of muscle that punches things until they stop being problems. So, the kids value that.. physical strength and the ability to fight and make problems become non-problems through sheer strength of muscle. We'll get back to that, but first we have to establish the power dynamic of the group. Everyone points out Mylo mistreating Powder, constantly reminding her of her failures. But, very few people point out Mylo's mistreatment by Vi and Claggor, who do the same thing to him, but with a physical element added in... his theme seems to be "humiliate Mylo and physically remind him of his place in the group" The hierarchy is clear.. Vi and Claggor are on fairly even footing.. Vi is the leader, but Claggor is a close second. Mylo lags far behind.. far enough that Vi and Claggor regularly bully him, even physically. Powder is the bottom of the ladder... and, as they say, sh*t rolls downhill. It is a bully chain with Powder at the bottom. So are Vi and Claggor just mean bullies and horrible people? No, not really... there is a scene on the bridge with Vander (episode 2) when he is talking to Vi that puts it into perspective. Vi says "I've known my whole life that I'm less than them.. that my place is down there"... The Piltover residents, and particularly the enforcers, remind EVERYONE in the undercity at every turn.. every single chance they get.. that they are nothing but trencher trash that deserve to live out their miserable existence in the muck. Everyone in the undercity suffers from a massive inferiority complex.. they really have no choice. And, that sort of angst has to go somewhere. It's why a kid bullied at school will often come home and abuse the pets, or their smaller siblings... sh*t rolls downhill, and that sort of thing has to have a release... and the undercity residents just pass theirs around and down the chain. So, let's imagine each kid in the group gets a dose of this from the world. Vi probably gets more, Powder probably less... so let's say... Vi gets 1.5, Claggor gets 1, Mylo gets 1, Powder gets 0.5 doses of oppression from the world at large. Vi passes hers to Mylo, as does Claggor, which is why we see Vi bully Mylo more than Claggor.. she has more angst to unload. Mylo now has 3.5 doses of angst.. his 1, plus 1 from Claggor, and 1.5 from Vi... so he hands it off to Powder, which is why we see him treat her worse than Vi or Claggor treat him (although to his credit, he doesn't seem to include a physical element like what is handed to him) So Powder now has 4 full doses of angst.. 0.5 from the world, plus 3.5 from Mylo... what does she do with it? Remember, it has to go somewhere. We'll get back to this in a sec. Back to the scene on the bed.. Vi tries to convince Powder that they all have their own skills, hers is punching, Powders is "those"..pointing to her toys. But does this actually ring true? Does Vi actually value skills other than physical brute ability? To answer this, consider the scene on the balcony. Mylo is about to shine, demonstrating his unique skill.. not a physical one.. a mental one.. lock-picking. Does Vi give him a chance to demonstrate his worth in this alternate manner? NO. She kicks the door in before he even really starts, as if to say "This is what we think of your silly lock-picking, Mylo.. THIS is how we solve problems in this group"... and Claggor gives him a smack on the back of the head to drive it home... remember.. humiliate Mylo and physically remind him of his place in the group. So, with all of this in mind.. let's revisit the scene: Powder has an internal struggle.. it can be best phrased as "I do not offer significant value to the group".. or more directly: "I'm not worthy". She makes her first point in support of this inner struggle: Powder: I screwed everything up.. I always do. Vi: Nobody said that. THIS IS NOT A DENIAL OF THE ASSERTION... "Nobody said that" is NOT the same as "No you don't" Besides, Mylo has been literally saying that all day. Powder smells the bullsh*t a mile away... she is a SMART kid. Powder: No, just that you were twice the person at half my age. Vi: (Has literally no response to this, because she's completely caught) First point... CONFIRMED. Powder makes her second point in support of her inner turmoil. Powder: You heard them. I'm not a fighter. (I don't offer the single skill that our group values most highly) Vi: You don't have to be. Translation: YOU ARE RIGHT.. YOU AREN'T A FIGHTER AND LIKELY NEVER WILL BE This admission from Vi that Powder isn't a fighter and likely never will be HURTS DEEPLY... makes Powder wince in pain and push against her toy for comfort. It hurt her so much because Vi confirmed her fear... she doesn't, and probably can't ever, offer the most highly-valued skill for the group. Second point.. CONFIRMED. Vi attempts to help. Vi: Look.. I've got these (proudly clenches fist) .. (I have the most highly valued skill that you aren't likely to ever have) Vi: And you've got those (points to contraptions that never work) Powder concedes that there might be SOME value in the contraptions, even if not the highly-prized value of punching things. Powder: But they never work! (This is CRUCIAL.. the perceived value in them is still not present, because their value is contingent on them actually working) Vi: But they will (YOU ARE CORRECT.. there is no current value in them, but there might be, if you can get them to work)... Third point.. CONFIRMED. Powder's ultimate response: Slumped shoulders, completely defeated. So, let's take the conversation one more time as a trimmed-up translation of what Powder heard: Powder: I'm not worthy Vi: You are right, you aren't worthy, but some day you might be, IF you can get these things to work. Now the payoff... what does Powder do with all of her angst she gets from Mylo and the world? And why does she push against her toy for comfort? Same answer... because all of Powder's angst goes into her contraption toys, which become her source of comfort. And how does that mean that Powder is dangerously unstable inside? Well.. what are Powder's toys meant to do? There is a scene when she throws Mouser at the boy chasing her... she has filled Mouser with nails and tossed her at the boy.. and then stares.. intently.. wondrously... waiting to see something.. what is she hoping happens? What is she wishing with all her might to see? The same thing she saw on that bridge in the first scene.. the very first thing she saw in the smoke.. an explosion and a flying corpse. Powder builds toys that are meant to MURDER people. The kid builds NAIL BOMBS as toys... and actually wants them.. desperately needs them.. to work.. to seriously harm people. And no one seems to notice. Imagine a kid who made an endless stream of rubber knives with cute faces on them and fake blood, and constantly attempted to slit people's throats with them, and showed true disappointment when there was no squirting of blood and screaming in pain. Cute? Uhm.. maybe? Troubling? Alarming? You are damn right... a kid who does that needs therapy. I love Powder, and really wish someone would get the kid a therapist. Thanks to pfarabee youtube user for this great analysis
Everyone wants to be like, "don't trust the guy with the fucked up eye, he's obviously evil!" but can you imagine how fucked up it would be to say that about someone in the real world because they've got a physical deformity?
What an episode, amirite? If you’re dying to see the next episode and beyond, head over to my Patreon, where you’ll find extended cuts of ALL 9 EPISODES available at the $10 tier! Otherwise, check back in next Thursday for episode 4, and remember to let me know if you saw that ending coming/what you thought of the ending!
You know, I've lost count of the amount of reactions I've watched of this episode, but I'm pretty sure you're the first person I've seen comment on Silco's flat ass! 🤣
I spent the last third of the episode with my hand over my mouth: I was *that* surprised by it. And I play League, so I knew how Powder ends up. The execution is just that good.
@@LeightonReacts yeah haha, I mean we see later that she didn’t know it was powder who did it all, so in that you’re just gonna think that you’re dad, brothers and sister are dead, and you’re next. Brutal
As a fellow aspiring author, I have no doubt that you'll love the rest of this show. It really is a masterpiece in just about every aspect, including the writing, which gets me inspired go do some writing every time I watch it (and I've watched it an unhealthy amount of times). Also I totally agree about the Jayce and Viktor sublot. They become a lot more interesting later on, but in Act 1 they bored me too. Also you might enjoy the League of Legends Universe, where you can find all the lore for the game and the characters.
Honestly, how good the writing is in this show made me insecure about my own writing abilities 😂 A legitimate masterclass in storytelling! And I'm already starting to dig into the rest of League of Legends, the world is absolutely fascinating to me!
@@LeightonReacts Haha! I get that. Its funny cause I had one of my friends read the bio for Warwick (which you should read if you haven't already, cause its relevant to Arcane), and he told me it reminded him of my writing. So I guess when you read a lot of something, it does start to influence your own writing.
'Brother by blood?' No, Silco and Vander used to be Zaunite revolutionaries and gangsters so they were political and regional brothers but they had a disagreement on methods and Vander strangled, nearly drowned Silco in the polluted waters of Zaun, stabbed him with a Zaunite dagger which Silco kept as a reminder of the need to be strong and independent no matter what even if it required cruel and unethical means, infected his eye and scarred half his face with Zaunite river toxins. Also, Powder,Mylo,Claggor, Benzo,Silco,Deckard,Ekko and Salo are all from the Sumps, the lowest, most impoverished and polluted part of Zaun, they moved to the Lanes early in life to experience breathable air . Vander, Viktor and his mother and Powder and Vi`s parents were from the slightly higher, more middle class part of Zaun bordering the Northside of Piltover.
I feel your experience with the first three episodes would have been way better if you didn’t get spoiled. You had way too many soft-spoilers that warped your expectations, and you lowkey used those spoilers to help you predict what was going to happen. And I’m not saying Vander dying was hard to predict, but you saying this show was pretty predictable is weird when you have seen so many minor spoilers up until this point (and tbh didn’t even get it completely right). Maybe less patting yourself on the back on the predictions knowing all that. Hell, you couldn’t really enjoy the Jayce/Viktor/Mel side of the plot because your main focus from the beginning was on Vi and Jinx, the ones you saw future pictures of. I guarantee you would react differently if you went into this show completely blind. Your reactions are good other than that.
I'm kind of stupid, and I'm used to seeing them not do something as edgy as child death in adult series let alone TV-14 rated animation, so this definitely caught me off guard. Vi's abandonment of Jinx was heartbreaking. But yeah, Silco and Jinx's relationship will be very interesting going forward. You honestly guessed quite a lot, though even having a good guess of what might happen going forward I'm sure it will still impact you regardless and there's still some twists they'll throw at you. As for Jayce, the guy you keep forgetting, they do have him a little underbaked in the first act, but it's partly because his conflict is resolved fairly easy to get him into an even more strenuous conflict that comes with the success of his dream to create hextech. You specified no spoilers, so I won't say what that is but you'll start to get some idea of it soon. As for Heimerdinger's views on magic, I feel fine telling you, because the broader question of the morality of magic as a whole isn't really focused in the show, if Arcane follows League of Legends' portrayal of magic the general rule about how moral or safe magic is generally that magic is only bad if the person using it is already evil, unstable, or incapable of controlling their powers. The big exception to this is things called "The World Runes." They're basically where all magic on Runeterra, the universe Arcane is on, comes from. They're also part of the reason the world exists in the first place since the world is partly held together by magic. However an infinitesimally small number of humans, in fact only one known person in the League of Legends universe, has the power to resist going mad with power from their influence and that's just because said man was so traumatized by the devastation these things once wrought that he's too repulsed by them to use them even though he made it his mission to hide them all and stow them away where no one can find them. Speaking of the devastation, that's likely what Heimerdinger gets his negative view of magic from: The Rune Wars. Basically a period of time about a thousand years before the series began where far too many human rulers discovered the World Runes and started warring with each other over them. Humanity almost wiped itself out and the vast majority of the survivors only avoided dying by (ironically) hiding out in magically protected areas, like a magic nullifying (kinda, I won't give possible spoilers if they ever get to Demacia) forest, a former undead emperor's citadel, and a series of islands where the land itself is infused with magic. So some nations, like Piltover, still have a negative view of magic as a whole as a result, despite the fact that good people who have control of their powers are usually okay with magic.
Same. For those that haven't watched this episode or the reaction yet, spoiler. . . . . . You're like: "Vander's gonna die.' My first time watching: "Vander's dead. Wait no, just beat up. Vander's dead this time. No, just left as bait. Ok, Vander's dead. No, taken a beating. Still on his feet. Vander's dead. No, stabbing him just made him mad. Vander's dead. No, now he's a roided up hulk. Vander's dead. ...ok, somebody poke him with a stick because he might just be tuckered out and sleeping after a long day. Call 911, I have no more faith in my ability to declare him dead."
I don't think Vander and Silco were actual brothers. More like brothers in arms. (They don't really look like they would share even one parent, do they? ;) )
Yeah they're definitely not. I don't think Vander would have talked in past. If you're blood related you can't stop being whatever happens between each other.
I was seeing coming Vander dying sooner than later, but not like this and along the step-siblings. And less by Powder, even though I know some stuff about the game and knew that something messed up had to happen to her at some point, I wasn't expecting to be right here just like that.
Silco and Vander aren't blood related, it's more of a thing in which they grew up together, thus fought for the independence of their home in their younger years. They were so close that they called themselves brothers.
@@LeightonReacts Yeah but they do too with 'daughter' and 'father' and it's kinda heartwarming how the show treats and projects that the ones who care for you are your family and is not just a biological thing.
I'd love to see your reactions. Shame that I can't due to the editing which insisted on putting the show on the screen instead of your reaction. I definitely enjoyed what I could see of your reaction.
Powder did not kill them. Vi did when she took these kids there. She should have known Powder would go after them. Vi is the real jinx. She got everyone into trouble twice and that was enough to screw everything up. Vi just got instructions from vander and she did not obey Vander and Powder ended up in Silco's hands.
Lol no. Technically Powder did Kill Claggor and Mylo. But at the same time it'd be cruel to hold her accountable for their deaths. Vi didn't bring them, they went with her and refused to stay like she told them to. And I would have asked Powder to stay, you can't risk your little sister's life. And Powder does seem to have a bit of bad luck about her. However you're missing the entire point of the show. It's not about who's to blame but that actions have consequences. You might think you're fighting for the right thing, you might have the best of intentions, but a choice you make might get somebody killed. It's a theme that is constant throughout the series.
I really like your reactions, and I think you'd enjoy this series waaaay more if you paused between moments to comment. Because there are many important things in every scene and you could be missing details or very heartfelt (at least for me) moments. Keep up the good work, really fun reactions :)
The reason I did it this way is because my screen recording software stops recording audio if I pause the video too much (learned that the hard way in my first attempt at a reaction with a different series, lol). I might see if I can find a different software or something. But I'm glad you're enjoying the reactions, I appreciate it! 😊
Hopefully u wont wait this much if u decide to react to season 2 , and get spoiled by memes/photos before u even start the show. Also hopefully they wont spoil shit in their intro next season. Yeah.. i`ll just leave it at that.
I actually watched this back in 2021, I just waited until I had a decent amount of the videos edited before posting here! The few spoilers I got were what encouraged me to try the show in the first place, but definitely I'll be watching season 2 the second it comes out!
Would be cool if you posted videos more often. Maybe, consider something else in between Arcane reactions? We know you've already finished watching Arcane.
Unfortunately I have a full time job and so I only have time to edit one video a week as of right now. Eventually I hope to hire an editor, though, and that should help me post more often!
Yeah, so this show is very predictable (next to no plot-twists if you pay attention), which doesn't mean it isn't good, on the contrary it makes it so much better. All the scenes make perfect sense. It doesn't matter, you don't need the element of surprise to make your show good. You can call things miles away, but that doesn't make the show less interesting. What matters is the journey, not the destination.
True, I think any time things caught me by surprise, it's because I missed a bit of foreshadowing a character said or did. They really made sure there were hints dropped for every twist and turn, which I think is excellent writing!
I wouldn't say it's predictable, especially with zero knowledgeable about the characters or the game. However, the 1st act is set up, so it tends to be less complex.
@@gaybatgosqueak still, all the "plot twists", if you can call them that, you can see them coming from a mile away. Maybe not predict exactly how the story will go, but you are definitely expecting something by the time the "plot twist" happens
@@nikolaigarcia Plot twists and predictably is not the same. Arcane does a wonderful job at not falling into old tropes, which makes the story feel fresh and non predictable. But no it doesn't have many plot twists because it wasn't trying to. It's not a big mystery story, it's about all these people and how their decisions, and actions effect the people around them.
