Oh how I've missed the Arcane fandom. The community never really went away thanks to an active stream of fiction, art and theory in the three years since the first series aired, but now the fandom is back and more active than ever.
Every single social media timeline I still bother to visit is filled with discussions of the first act, art depicting their favorites all dressed up in new clothes, along with thoughtful critiques and theories about what's to come. But this fandom is primarily an incredibly thirsty bunch of fruity horndogs waiting to be let out of the pen. To my shame I am there with them. Lock me up before I run off and start barking at Caitlyn.
Arcane has a drink for every kind of thirst
The champions in the Arcane title have been a part of the League of Legends universe for over a decade, but the way Fortiche and Netflix have reimagined them is exactly why they've become so ingrained in the memory. Vi was once a brawler designed for the male gaze, while Arcane transforms the Piltover pitfighter into a smaller, dirtier woman with clear queer coding smeared across her design. Her facial features, body language and tone of voice are completely different and fiercely representative of the world she grew up in.
She's also incredibly hot because my lesbian friend recently told me that their dating relationship is in ruins because no matter how much she vibes with someone, they'll never be Vi. Imagine creating a character so awesome that it brings all of sexuality to its knees. Absolute behavior icon.
When I spoke with some of the show's creative team before the first act premiered, we talked about the intentions behind Vi's design, particularly how Arcane turned her into a more masculine character who still values her femininity: “Vi wasn't violent. she was a very nice girl in the beginning,” explains co-director Pascal Charrue. “When we go back to the first one. [character] design on the bridge at the beginning of the first season she was very kind and loving, just like Powder, but then she saw her parents die. And in that moment she changed.”
Being a quintessential Arcane novel as well as a femme/butch lesbian couple, Vi and Caitlyn always make me kick my feet like a schoolgirl. They are so perfect.
This recognition from Fortich was celebrated across the fandom, with a butch lesbian at the helm of one of the biggest animated shows in the world, the form of representation that queer people have been waiting for. It only made fans more drawn to Vi and everything she stood for and how she became a symbol of both aggression and vulnerability.
Then you have Caitlyn, a more feminine sapphic character who towers over Vi in both stature and authority, equally attractive in looks and personality, while still managing to be flawed, complicated, and perfect in Vi's own way.
His romances range from tragic Yuri to toxic Yaoi
Then there's Jayce and Viktor, whose interactions in the first act convinced me that the writing team on Arcane read fanfiction. Instead of saving the empire from impending doom, Jayce decides to use the Hexcore to save his dying partner, even if it means seeing him transformed into a magical messiah corrupted by the secret.
When Viktor is awake and walking around again, the two men make several touches that tease a bond that is more than platonic. I was exchanging glances with a friend who had to quickly google whether it was a canonical romance or not because it was definitely very fruity vibration.
One fan even predicted Arcane's season opening scene two years ago in their own Jayce and Viktor comic. I told you it was fruity.
The animation in Arcane is so intricately detailed and thought out that fans like myself have to read every detail, down to the eye movements and body language that tell us more about the characters than the dialogue. Let's take a look at the kiss scene between Vi and Caitlyn and how it was set up. Caitlyn makes the first move, making it clear that she has the most authority, and Vi often waits for her to enter her personal space. After looking from Vi's eyes down to her lips, she pulled her into a long and passionate kiss. Yes, I may have seen it a few times…
But it's this detail, and how intimately it brings the characters to life, that has given fans the desire to create their own art, write their own stories, and do it in a salacious yet creative way. It's a story and a cast of characters thrust into the unfair circumstances of adulthood, so you expect it to be accompanied by feelings of romance and lust, canon or otherwise. I've seen GIFs of Caitlyn just walking around being treated like the Mona Lisa by queer fans, or a closer look at Vi's manspreading and how it reinforces exactly what makes her butch presentation so appealing.
This thirst is not exploitative, it is celebratory
Fortiche seems to be there with us too, with how many characters are portrayed in thirsty and attractive ways that seem purposeful. Vi moves with a beautiful aura of confidence that cements her queer identity at every turn, while Caitlyn is a feisty, authoritative but also vulnerable leader desperate for another woman's touch to make her feel worthwhile.
The first season hints at these images, but so far the second season takes them much further and in some ways feels like a response to everything we loved about Arcane and wanted to see more of. I used to think it was impossible for Vi and Caitlyn's romance to be so explicit, and now Netflix is using it as a marketing ploy. He is well aware that his characters look incredible, and the appeal is not only in the stories that are told, but also in how the characters in them look, act and interact.
I'm always blown away by the speed with which artists create new pieces just hours after trailers and episodes are released. I wish I was that talented…
Jayce and Viktor aren't canon and probably never will be, but we have more than enough fuel to draw our own conclusions and tell new stories outside of it. Arcane fans are a thirsty bunch, sometimes overwhelming, but it only takes a few seconds to learn that these reactions come from a place of love, understanding, and feeling that we see for the people we are. Vi and Caitlyn are also really, really, really, beautiful.
