AroAce with a Mace

Rebels who are defined through a parasocial relationship, obedience, fetishization, and conformity/imitation, refusing to take action unless ordered to. Strong. That seems like a sound foundation for liberation. (/sar)

The thing is, I've been involved and invested in activist and grassroots spaces long enough to know that this is a common, very real archetype: 'rebels' who wait for a savior/charismatic leader who thinks for them, while their contribution is worshipping and executing the gospel the savior issues. (and they make my blood pressure spike so hard, so, yes, I am biased here)

So, there is a lot of potential in forging ideological clashes and conflicts. The Firelights, e.g., seem like the exact opposite (and I leaned into it with my whole body weight in compiling my headcanons and personal lore). Sure, their masks are a security measure, protecting their identity and ensuring they can move through the undercity relatively undisturbed outside their raids the moment they take off their masks. However, it also ensures that purpose over person remains the center and focus of any effort.

I deem it very unlikely that Zaunites would rally behind Ekko because it makes sense to conclude that he isn't a public person. Outside of the Firelights' direct environment, people are probably like, "Who is this guy?"

And that is a strength of this approach! It doesn't hinge on the presence or mood or motivation of a single individual.

I have the time of my life writing Firelights in my rewrite/expansion of S2 who just can't take Jinxers seriously for how much their dependency on Jinx and consequent reluctance to organize unless led by Jinx helps Piltover. You can work with that setup and create something electrifying!

Yes, the Firelights are devastated and confused by Ekko's disappearance, but guess what? The struggle goes on, even if he's not there. And they've built their structures around the fact that each raid or any operation against Silco or enforcers could be their last (in my hc at least; I wrote so much Firelight lore that I keep forgetting there is barely any in the actual show). But their cause is more important than each one of them individually…

discworld is obviously very pro-policing-as-an-institution, but it starts out as establishing the entire city watch as corrupt, inept, uncaring, out of touch, and unsympathetic to the civilians it's supposed to protect, and over the course of several books and several decades painstakingly sells us on the idea of reform and accountability, all lead by One Good Man who's able to do so. it's pure fantasy, and not just because it's discworld. the structure of reality within discworld itself makes it a believable arc, because the reality of discworld is dependent on the shapes of stories and that's a folk myth that's believable. if it you can read the books and meet it on it's terms, if you can buy the idea of a benevolent dictator, you can buy the idea of police reform that actually works.

andor is on the opposite scale, where law enforcement are shown as human and relatively realistic; not uniquely evil for the sake of evil, but it's also very explicit that there are No Good Cops. no good enforcers, no good soldiers, no good intelligence officers, no good mall cops or prison wardens or prosecuting judges under fascism and empire; enforcing unjust law and withholding due process makes you complicit. the only ones who are sympathetic are the defectors and the moles within the ranks of power. everyone else is either apathetic face of the banality of evil, or ends up swallowed by the fascist death machine they maintain. and andor showed no exceptions.

arcane's biggest inconsistency is it doesn't know what it wants to do. we open the series with the scene of a brutal state massacre. two kids are left orphans because cops killed their parents during a failed uprising against the ruling class. they come from a poor and disenfranchised neighbourhood, vi ends up wrongfully imprisoned at fifteen, and into the foreseeable future.

and then she's rescued from the jail and...falls for a cop? said cop later goes full dictator, calls martial law on the poorest district in the city, and then spends months using carcinogenic gas on vi's own community. vi ends up drafted into a war to fight for a state and a city that hates her, then essentially betraying her own people to stay with cait. happy ending, the end?

He's literally a part of the main cast. He literally was present in every single episode of s1. And again, given just How Much was tied directly to him his death should've had just. Massive consequences. For almost every single character. And yet.

My honest reaction to this information:

- Silco, one of the few pro-Zaun/anti-Piltover characters from season 1, reduced into a mouthpiece for "forgiving those who wronged you" and letting go

- Jinx, one of the few anti-Piltover characters, becoming redeemed by sympathizing with Piltovians, being apologetic for killing Councilors, and feeling like she should die to allow her sister to be happy with her enforcer girlfriend

- Vi not having any problem with her Piltovian enforcer girlfriend gassing Zaun, and reduced to kneeling for Caitlyn's pussy in a prison cell, where she was locked for years as a child by an enforcer

- Jayce telling Viktor that his disease was never a weakness to be cured even though the disease was caused by Piltover polluting Zaun

- Ekko never calling out Heimerdinger's failings as a ruler nor Vi for joining the enforcers (even though he does in the game), and also risking all the Firelights' lives to help Piltover

- Sevika not having any lines in Act 3, never interacting with Jinx or reacting to Isha's death, and also risking her life to help Piltover, a decision which was made off screen

"It's not hurting anyone" until it is, y'know

Also I was smiling so wide when Bruce beat the shit out of David Cain. While I don’t think Bruce would pull disabling moves on the general public, he pulled out all the stops for Cain. I love them.

This is how I think Cass would communicate if she was introduced when these kind of memes were popular.