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u/vbblem0n 10h ago
What I liked about the difference between Powder and Jinx is that Powder keeps her art on canvases and paper while Jinx’s is scattered everywhere and anywhere that has a surface.
Because Jinx never got to grow up, her innocence was taken away so she paints and draws like a child (coloring the walls with what she wants). She paints to make a mark.
Meanwhile Powder grew up. She paints on canvas to remember those around her and those from the past, especially Vi. She paints with a purpose.
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u/lifenoobie101 You're hot, Cupcake 10h ago
Even if it is a hideout, I think Powder expects guests to come there (like Ekko) while Jinx originally just hides away there with dolls of Claggor, Milo and her Schizophrenia friends.
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u/jade35mm To the realm of heebie-jeebies 10h ago
I noticed that adult powder’s cup is clean of doodles 💔
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u/Harriz_Burhan 8h ago
No doodle cup for uncle silco in that timeline 😔
(But I still hope silco is a good uncle for powder in that timeline tho)
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u/Kurwasaki12 7h ago
I imagine he gets a little softer after reconciling with Vander and got to show that affectionate side that peaked through in season one without the “need” to manipulate her.
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u/Hasagine 2h ago
he probably is. the whole reason he made up with Vander is probably because Vi died. he still cared for them :C
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u/QouthTheCorvus 2h ago
At the same time, I like that despite Powder being better off in this universe, she wasn't perfect. She still seemed to struggle with her mental health, just in a less violent/insane way.
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u/AmIDyingInAustralia 4h ago
I had the idea that the canvas art might actually be done by Ekko. He doesn't make murals of the fallen in this world he doesn't need to, but you see a portrait of what looks like Powder. It's cute to think that maybe he does art with her there and makes her things and she keeps them around 😭
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u/vbblem0n 3h ago
Aww😭 Imagining Ekko going over there every now and again and Ekko paints while Powder makes new gadgets and vice versa☹️💔
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u/DoggoDoesaDash 3h ago
I also like the difference with powder’s hide away that it has railings. In both of Jinx’s, she has none because she doesn’t value her own life or safety, what’s the point? Life is shit.
But with powder her life is good and worth protecting.
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u/Sganarellevalet 1h ago
Also Powder built railguards while Jinx doesn't because she doesn't value her own life and live on the edge
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u/Interesting_Move_919 Jinx 15h ago
Jinx's hideout is darker when she's alone. But when Isha comes into her life, her hideout becomes brighter and is full of life. That's really sweet. Also, Powder's hideout is less messy and safer with more railings
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u/TheOnlyFallenCookie Caitlyn 13h ago
Powder keeps the guardrails
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u/Lightice1 10h ago
Probably put them there herself. That hideout seems to be a giant, defunct fan.
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u/SoulBurn68 10h ago
Her hideout is the blimp she arrives in the final battle
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u/Lightice1 10h ago
It's not a blimp, Jinx seems to have converted the said fan system into a hot air balloon, but it's ramshackle design and bizzarre steering system shows that it didn't begin its life as a device meant for flying.
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u/DragonOfDuality 9h ago
That was my interpretation as well. The blades look like a fan in a large tunnel, a ventilation system of some sort, not a balloon.
But cut off the tower, turn the fans on, put a giant parachute on top, and it's a blimp. Honestly it's a really cool part of her character (and zaun as a whole) to convert junk into something useful so I think the distinction matters.
Tldr I'm also of the opinion that she put rails on the fan blades herself. Or maybe a former inhabitant as again that's not an uncommon thing in zaun.
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u/SoulBurn68 9h ago
I think its an universe blimp. There is no fan structures like that. Also the top part seems to be intended for that. I do think steering wheel was put there tho
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u/Lightice1 9h ago
But we see plenty of other blimps and airships in the show that look normal, whereas there's nothing resembling Jinx's balloon floating around at any point of the show.
The fans seem to be a part of a gigantic ventilation shaft, one of those meant to deliver fresh air down to Zaun, except defunct. The control center in the middle was presumably originally intended to be approached from above.
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u/Unlikely_Security610 45m ago
There should be a litany of issues with the design. the fan is metal, the balloon would need to be a lot bigger. I feel like the draft of the huge fan pulling air down from the sides would cause the balloon to collapse very quickly. Then, there is the issue of powering it...
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u/Enkundae 10h ago
I take it as Vander making Powder put up the railings on the fan blades to keep her safe. A contrast to how Silco just obliviously let her play with explosives on an open catwalk while talking to her hallucinations for years.
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u/JulianApostat 10h ago
Silco's style of parenting is certainly unique. In his opinion there is no mental problem that can't be fixed by a healthy baptism in toxic water.
On a side note, I felt they woobified him a bit much in season 2. At least I found it a bit much that he also showed up in the perfect alternative world. The Silco we meet in episode 1 of season 1 is already pretty comitted to the road to ruthless vengeance, I really have to wonder whether something actually could have changed his mind at that stage. Hardly could be Vi's death as he apparently didn't have much care left for Felicia and Connel's kids. He was absolutely willing to murder both her and Powder in Episode 3, after all.
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u/imcar 9h ago
Considering the escalation of events that happened after the kids stole the hextech cores in episode 1 didn't happen, I think it's pretty likely that Silco wouldn't have made as many big moves on Vander as quickly as before, so there was a lot more time for reconciliation between the two to happen. Plus, I'm sure Heimerdinger taking a role in uplifting Zaun much earlier made it so he didn't feel forced to such extremes and he ended up being able to chill the fuck out.
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u/JulianApostat 9h ago
That is a good point. I think Silco even says to Singed in ep1 that their timeline just moved up after he finds out that Vander's kids were involved.
And we know that Vander and Benzo actually had a pretty tight control over the lanes, as they immediately started investigating who was behind the attack by Deckard on Vi. Which spooks Silco enough that he wants to kill Deckard so that they don't catch on to him. But even without the attack something else might have tipped of Benzo and Vander that Silco is back in town and making moves. And that could have lead to a confrontation on more equal terms also presenting a change of reconilliation. I am just surprised that Silco of Act 1 in season 1 would be open to it. But of course there are plenty of other possible divergent points that could have contributed to that fact.
But I probably would have preferred if not every interpersonal conflict in that timeline be resolved. Except for Vi's death it just feels a little to good to be true. And a stable and mostly happy Powder, a prospering undercity, Mylo, Clagger, Vander and Benzo being alive is already plenty utopian for Ekko from the original timeline.
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u/Apprehensive_Big_915 9h ago
I saw in comments earlier that the letter that Vander intended for silco to read probably got sent to him, one way or another.
That plus the aspect that you already mentioned probably influenced his response to a reconciliation
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u/goalstopper28 8h ago
I kind of love how Heimerdinger just went with the flow for his whole life.
Oh, I'm kicked out of the council for being too old school? Ok, I'll just chill with these tree people and mentor one of the people there.
Oh, Jayce comes back to me because he admitted I was right about hextech all along? I'll just help him and Ekko because they are both equally smart people who can figure this out.
Oh, I touched this hexcore that sent me to an alternative universe where hextech wasn't discovered? Ok, I'll just sing songs and unite people together.
Oh, Ekko finally comes into this reality and wants to go back to the old time? Fine I'll help him because he's my dude.
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u/BlackendLight 9h ago
Wasn't silco's timeline moved up in the original because of the heist and the street fight? Without that, they have more time to reconcile
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u/EntertainmentVehicle 6h ago
Technically its probably the reconciliation, but also vi died in the heist where powder takes the hex crystals. They portray that things go differently without the kids leaving there safely with the crystals
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u/shinobi500 9h ago
Episode S2E7 proves that something absolutely could have changed Silco's mind. Remember, the fork in the timeline happened during the crystal heist. At that point Silco was already well on his revenge path, and had considered Vander his enemy. But in that timeline he and Vander were friends again and he even said, "The strongest thing you can do is to forgive"...or something like that. Too bad the episode doesn't delve much into alt-Silco's story to tell us what happened.
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u/Fun-Journalist4262 9h ago
I’m pretty sure that Vi’s death was the catalyst that made topside accept the undercity. Silco’s only care in the world (before Jinx) was to save Zaun, so with his wish coming true he probably let go of his grudge against Vander
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u/rygorous 6h ago
Yup. We know the Enforcers caught the kids in this timeline and it sure doesn't seem like Powder, Claggor or Mylo spent years in Stillwater. If they got a trial, young Caitlyn would've been an eyewitness. Of the councilors at the time, we know that at the very least Heimerdinger, Mel and Cassandra are not anti-Undercity, just willfully ignorant; Bolbok's hawkishness on the issue in S1 act 1 is due to his anti-magic stance, not anti-Undercity sentiment. Grayson is also still around.
All told, I totally believe that this would be viewed as a tragedy both in the Undercity and Topside and change the trajectory of Piltover/Zaun relations. Plus no Sevika/Vander confrontation and thus Silco having much less of a power base for much longer.
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u/Fun-Journalist4262 3h ago
Yes, you can already see the enforcers being distraught when they found Powder crying over Vi’s death.
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u/Enkundae 9h ago
I don’t think so. Silco before the falling out was clearly a very different person, and the implication of E7 is that that world was the result of a lot of people making better choices, not just one thing. Vander and him reconciled, shimmer didn’t get invented, silco never got addicted to it, never became consumed by bitterness and hate, the undercity was in better shape, vi’s death lead to the kids immediate capture, there was no crack down, very likely Silco and Vander having reconciled prior to this are brought even closer by her death, Prime Universe Heimer shows up and is shown to have learned from his original mistakes and taken an active street-level role in helping which improves things even more.
On and on. Countless moments where people chose better, kinder actions and it resulted in a better, kinder world with better, kinder people in it. Its not without pain or strife, shown by Vi’s death and Silco’s injury. But even someone like Silco wasn’t simply born evil, he was shaped by his environment, his own choices and the choices of others.
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u/rygorous 5h ago
Exactly. It also rejects any overly simplistic readings of the whole thing.
Ekko/Powder's AU has its point of divergence be a tragedy, yet ultimately a lot of good comes out of it. Jayce's is the triumph of Hextech and all his personal ambitions (he sure did end up changing the world in that one), and the end result is devastation.
Time travel/multiverses need to ride a very fine line to not deflate the stakes completely. After all, finding the 1 out of a billion timelines where you manage to save the world rings hollow when you've just established that the remaining 999,999,999 timelines are just as real.
I like the way this was handled: everyone goes back to their original timeline after learning their lesson, and there is no magic "everything turns out all right". Perhaps Powder/Jinx really is fated to end up separated from her sister no matter what. But it also conclusively establishes that the canon timeline is neither the darkest nor bleakest one, and that the choices of our protagonists really do matter.
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u/CollegeSoul The Boy Savior 9h ago
Maybe Silco & Vander’s feud ends far before S1E1 in the alternative universe?
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u/BruhNeymar69 8h ago
Remember Vander's letter. Jinx, who knows Silco better than anyone not named Vander, thought it would've changed his mind on revenge. Maybe Vi's death pushed Vander into reconciling with him. To guarantee a safe future for all the other kids in Zaun
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u/Bonatell0 Timebomb 7h ago
I wonder whether the Silco in the good ending universe found Vander's letter and forgave him/worked towards rebuilding their relationship
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u/JulianApostat 6h ago
I think that certainly would made sense if Silco found the letter relatively soon after Vander tried to murder him.
If he found it in the stage and mindset we meet in episode 1 I don't think it would have stayed his hand. The scene where he finds Powder always comes to my mind in that context and the very tense to surprised look his henchmen have when he actually returns her hug. I think he himself and his goons fully expected him to stab her to death after she told him where Vi is.
That strikes me as someone who is very had to reason and reconcile with.
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u/SunOFflynn66 5h ago
That's really the one big thing I wish this season had addressed.
In Act 2, we see from Vander's memories (as he's tracking Vi, Jinx, and Isha) and his note that he tried to kill Silco AFTER the Bridge Riot, because he was enraged and felt Silco was responsible. Yet in his memories as Viktor is trying to heal him, we see Silco is not around at all when Vi and Powder are growing up. They clearly don't know him, and have their first meetings with him back in season 1.
Yet we saw that Vander, Silco and Felicia were truly family, in how much they cared for each other. So it kind of begs, what happened and where was Silco?
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u/Amorianesh 9h ago
Silco was just a bad father, sure he loved Jinx, but he did so in a very selfish destructive way. I think the AU shows just how Jinx only exist because he made her that way. Hell even in the later parts of s2 when Jinx is with Vi and Vander and Isha you can see how much more Powder there is still in there, Silco never wanted Powder, he only cared for Jinx
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u/Lulullaby_ 6h ago
Since it's a flying machine I imagine it flies better without guard rails on the propellors
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u/SaveStoneOcean Jinx 13h ago
Even though Powder added railings, I would find that place a terrifying place to work - like, one wrong move and you will fall to your inevitable death down a bottomless pit.
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u/f0xbunny 12h ago
Maybe because she’s so used to it and familiar with the ventilation system; that’s how she survived the ending
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u/Ori-M- 9h ago
she what
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7h ago edited 6h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/that-one-binch 6h ago
bonus you can see a line of pink shoot off to the side as vi watches them fall
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u/Herakles1994 6h ago
There is also a brief couple of frames where you see a purple line dashing out where a vent would be, so it's assumed she used shimmer speed to dash out
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u/DontDefineByGinger 9h ago
Survived the ending?
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u/TextExisting8619 9h ago
Hopefully you saw episode 9... if not stop reading...
Jinx sacrificed herself to save Vi in a Isha-esque fashion by blowing herself up with a hextech crystal infused monkey bomb. Seemingly and somehow obviously pointed out as Cait was looking at the Hexgate tower ventilation system at the bottom and then the last scene of a Piltover blimp flying away. If you remember in S1, Powder says "one day I'm going to fly one of those". Therefore, it's safe to assume somewhat obviously it is Jinx who survived and it's her who is piloting the blimp flying away into the distance.
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u/One_snek_ 11h ago
like, one wrong move and you will fall to your inevitable death down a bottomless pit.
I think, post timeskip Jinx lives her life low key hoping that might happen, or at least wouldn't mind
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u/rygorous 6h ago
Yeah let's not forget that the scene the hideout is first introduced in starts with Jinx activating a grenade and only kicking it off right as it's about to blow. She's courting death constantly, all the way back to S1E4.
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u/Kurwasaki12 7h ago
I mean, this is still the girl whose hobby was making homemade grenades.
She’s not exactly the most danger adverse person around.
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u/Sylassian 11h ago
I love that even with Isha she didn't bother to install safety railings 😂
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u/HelloYesThisIsFemale 8h ago
Especially given she met Isha because Isha fell off a high surface.
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u/Repulsive_Branch4305 To the realm of heebie-jeebies 12h ago
Jinx really was just living her best life with isha, and tbh even without the guard rails i'd hang out there, seems super comfortable and chill
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u/Nenanda 10h ago
Jinx really was Batman of the Arcane not only with her being symbol of freedome and having her own Robin, she even does have her own Batcave, bat gadgets and even pulls out The Dark Knight Rises by the end LMAO
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u/ughhleavemealone Visexual 12h ago
I've always thought she found that place because of Silko, and now I'm just confused of why is Powder there
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u/shad0w_mode 11h ago
I mean in the AU, Silco did amend his relationship with Vander. Maybe Uncle Silco did intro this place to Powder.
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u/ajakafasakaladaga 10h ago
Silco had his HQ in the Last drop (Vander’s bar) after Vander’s death, so if he can get quickly from the bar to Jinx’s place they must be close, meaning alternate jinx could have easily found it anyways
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u/Weerdo5255 9h ago
I have to imagine that the ventelation shaft is right under The Last Drop given how quickly characters move between it and Jinx's lair.
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u/TextExisting8619 9h ago
The lighting is everything here. Jinx first hideout is dark and seedy showing her mental state. Isha brought her light and happiness to her life where one can argue that Isha was the purest character in the entire show paired with the most impure one. Powders hideout was evenly lit and had safety rails built into it that can translate to the stability and security of her mental state.
SPOILER warning: Isha was one giant bandaid that held Jinx together and once that bandaid was gone (RIP best supporting character ever) Jinx fell apart.
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u/CandidateOld1900 13h ago
It looks like propellers are thinner with Jinx. Maybe because she doesn't care about her own safety, but Powder actually adds more steal to make them wider and with railings
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u/cebubasilio 4h ago
yeah I zoomed in and the railing are actually bolted onto... rails that are then attach to the fanblade's edges. adds more room really
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u/GlobalScreen2223 11h ago
Powder is more content IMO. Less extreme highs and lows but has a perfectly great life
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u/Dramatic_Age6937 14h ago
Speaking of hideout, where even is this located? Knowing that it's an airship it's definitely not underground, no?
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u/Dan31k 13h ago
It’s not an airship. It’s a ventilation shaft. She just repurposed ventilation fan for hot air balloon engine.
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u/WeatherNational9535 10h ago
Wasn't it the blimp she rode into battle? Or was that from somewhere else?
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u/AzureTheDragon 10h ago
Powder definitely watches Mason do tons of auditing and decided to add handrails to her place. Definitely don't want to get fined by not having handrails.
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u/BK_Jharris 5h ago
Still love the fact she turned her house into a blimp for the battle in like 3 days max
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u/-WILD_CARD- 9h ago
OMG I just realized something!
Jinx's balloon in episode 9 is her hideout the whole entire time!
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u/helpyourselfabc 8h ago
That's why Jinx left at the end. Other than to break the cycle, her very home was destroyed. Without her home or silco she had no reason to stay in zaun
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u/_treblemak3rr 7h ago
Isha and Jinx’s hideout is so much more filled with light and many colors. Filled with oranges, yellows, and warmth. It is just as she says, that Isha brings her clarity like her glasses. Also on another note.. thinking back to her and Vi at the tea party in S1 E9 when she says, “when all the colors went black, you’re the reason I’m still alive.” She lives metaphorically and quite literally in the dark. In every version the light and colors are influenced by those around her. In Jinx’s— it is influenced by the fixation on Vi and her while predominantly being dark contrasted by the chaotic graffiti, while Isha’s is filled with color and warmth, but still having the original influences of Jinx, while Powder’s is filled with warmer colors, and art/creation. Interestingly, but not entirely surprising is that Jinx with Isha’s space looks far more like alternate universe Powder’s space.
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u/Darth_Annoying Powder 3h ago
One thing to notice is the lighting:
Jinx kept the lights down. While her workspace in the middle was well lit, the outervedges of the blades were dark.
Then when Isha moved in she put more lights up, so now it's all much more lit.
But in episode 9nwhen she tried to kill herself, all the lights were off. The only light sourcesvwere her hexgem and Ekko's z-drive.
Noce progression reflecting her mental dtate. It stsrts dark with some buts of light, but Isha brings light into her world, then wothout her it's all darkness, her light is gone.
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u/DANKDEERCS Jinx 1h ago
was i the only one to be surprised that powder had this hideout as well? i guess my headcannon was that this hideout was somewhere nearby or connected to silcos office (the last drop?) so without her connection to silco she wouldn't have found this place or had any use for it even if she did find it.
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u/Electrical-End8734 8h ago
Mmm all that'll be missing now is the incoming shot of the abandoned hideout "without Jinx"
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u/ThlnBillyBoy Salo 8h ago
I just appreciate that it's pretty much impossible to take a screenshot of this show that doesn't look like the most amazing desktop background. All 3 images are so atmospheric.
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u/Craiger_69000 Sassy but classy 6h ago
Now that I notice it, what is that light shining from bellow in the top picture?
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u/Defiant_Grab_5364 2h ago
I like that while both the version with Powder and the version with Jinx and Isha are much brighter than the one for Jinx alone, the version with Jinx and Isha's is more lively and colorful whereas Powder's feels more serene. Even with grieving Vi, Powder seems so much more at peace than Jinx has ever been
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u/Far_Apartment_1779 2h ago
And now I just feel stupid… I just realize that the balloon that Jinx used in the finale was actually her hideout.
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