When a popular show like Arcane runs its course, its fandom resorts to fanfiction sites like AO3 to live out their fantasies with relationships that never got their time in the limelight. For Arcane, that ship revolves around Jayce Talis and Viktor—a ship the showrunners (save for one writer) saw as strictly platonic. In the spirit of giving “Jayvik” shippers what they want, Twitch star Will Neff and internet music sensation BBno$ went above and beyond creating cosplay and an anthem in tribute to the Jayvik “truthers.”
Before TikTok’s temporary ban, bbno$ (akin to Gen Z’s Marc Rebillet, or Gen X’s Weird Al Yankovic, for older readers) issued a challenge to his 4.3 million followers to get one of his posts over 500k likes, and he’ll do “the most insane Jayvik cosplay.” While the post never quite got there (as of publication, it’s sitting at 29.2k likes), bbno$ went ahead with his cosplay venture with Twitch streamer Will Neff (who has over 539,000 followers). Their goal: give Arcane fans the Jayvik ending they felt they wanted.
“Today, we’re not gonna be gaybaiting, but we will be doing a fan base justice,” Neff said in a YouTube edit of their Twitch cosplay live stream. “Some of the things you’ve wanted to see these characters do, we’re gonna have to do.”
True to their word, Neff and bbno$ released a photoshoot and TikTok videos of the pair in Jayvik cosplay recreating numerous fan art poses of the Arcane characters that made the rounds on social media. They even went the extra mile of recording a kiss between the two League of Legends characters.
It took an ARMY to make Jayvik cosplays for @bbnomula and @TheWillNeff in 5 days. I couldn’t have done it without: @Zerggiee 50% of the builds
Hunk.of.Junk painting
Sebastian_makes painting@daniellednicola Jayce brace@witchybreww wig styling @Lucaplex sanding help… pic.twitter.com/lK9Ln8oebh
— Stella Chuu 🪡commissions closed🪡 (@StellaChuuuuu) January 22, 2025
With the help of professional cosplayers–including Jessica Nigri, Stella Chuu, Danielle DeNicola, Zerggiee, Hunk.of.Junk, Sebastian_Makes, Witchy Brew, Lucaplex, Spearmaster, Cospayton, and CeekayeCosplay–the troupe assembled all of the components of Neff and BBno$’s coplay in less than five days. Key among their collaborative efforts were wig stylings, sewing patterns, lore-accurate 3D modeled recreations of their body suits and giant weapons, and tons of body paint. Not to be outdone by the craftsmanship efforts of the army of cosplayers, BBno$ recorded an official anthem for Jayvik shippers, which has inevitably done the rounds on TikTok.
do i finish this? pic.twitter.com/pm9jAGVnin
— bbno$ 👶🚫💰 (@bbnomula) January 24, 2025
Their collective efforts didn’t go unnoticed. According to bbno$’s official social media account, League of Legends studio Riot Games invited him to their headquarters. In typical bbno$ fashion, he released a series of professional photoshoot images and viral clips of the pair on his social media, paying tribute to Jayvik truthers while gawking at Riot’s logo and editing Arcane artwork to display Jayvik fanart.
Not all of bbno$’s and Neff’s Jayvik galivanting was just for good fun–at the end of their YouTube video, Neff and bbno$ announced that all proceeds from their live-streamed cosplay video will go towards the Fire Relief Fund from the recent Los Angeles fires. All this goes to shows the power a fandom community can muster, even when they’re months divorced from their show’s season finale.
All episodes of Arcane season 2 are streaming on Netflix.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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