the fake out in act 1 of arcane is so good but so MEAN lmao

they really lay down all the tropes to make you believe you're about to watch a show about a ragtag group of kids fighting against injustice and a rather "standard" evil villain.

vi gets the little speech about the burden of leadership and responsibility. mylo and claggor seem to perfectly fill the tropey archetypes of the cocky, sarcastic jokester and the nice "strong guy". powder gets set up as the underdog character that will have her big MOMENT where her inventions finally save the day and the other characters finally recognize her unique contributions/talents. they have the plot point where the mentor character gets kidnapped/killed so the kids must now step up and shine on their own...

and then they say "PSYCH!!" and kill one of their plucky young heroes rather violently and you realize very quickly that this is not going to be that kind of show at all.