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Lots of Kisses (Gale ed., at last 💜)

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ted rwby-things-i-guess

“...episode 12 was not about Shocking the Audience with a graphic death, or Burying the Gays...”

Have you even been listening to the objections to CRWBY’s handle on the C12 situation? You’re salty about the fandom’s reaction because you believe it’s the wrong emotional response to the situation, but it’s also evident that you haven’t accounted for all the facts that led everyone to that response.

The fandom did not imagine or dream up the way the people working on the show hyped up the interactions of an mlm pair they knew at Volume’s end would not be (and as a result of something so horrible no less). They do not have a precedent of doing this, and they even refrained from making their first gay male character a pilot who died shortly after his introduction; LGBT fans who placed their emotional investment in this thought they were safe as there was no reason to believe there would be a violation of the trust they had in the creators not to set their expectations up like this only to dash them as they did.

Even if from a writing perspective shock value and BYG was not the intent, what are the people who’s trust was violated supposed to conclude? What about the people who saw themselves represented in Qrow and Clover who were subsequently burned by this?

What purpose would the people working on the show have for making posts highlighting and getting fans excited about this dynamic if things wouldn’t end well for them?

Just something to consider.

On a meta level I actually disagree with the statement that Clover’s death wasn’t for Qrow (also I don’t get how it is people analyzing/close-reading C12 forget that they were never even given in a proper prisoner transport for Tyrian - like the one from C1/C2), but that’s a separate conversation having to do with the writing itself, and if you’re willing to have it, we can talk that one out.

Ooohhh I forgot how shitty tumblr is on a blog without xkit, ANYWAYS

Look, I cant help what RT’s marketing department did. I cant help what the crew did on social media. I wrote this meta with the context of running a roleplay blog and my understanding of what is in the text. No show is written week to week, so its not like they were expecting Clover or the ship to take off like it did, nor should they have changed the story to accommodate fanservice. At that point, it goes from a ship/characters that people can see themselves in and becomes Tokenism, and no one wants the Token Gays (TM). 

The only thing more I will say on the marketing of the show is that the purpose of it is to get people to come back to the show or try it out for the first time. Thats what marketing does. That is different than having a contextual analysis of a show that was already written long before fandom latched on to characters or ships. 

What I am looking at is what the show gives me and the context surrounding what happened to Clover. Clover’s death was not for Qrow because Qrow has nothing to learn here. Clover’s death and the effects that Qrow is going to go through are for Team RWBY. This is for them to start realizing that maybe, just maybe, there’s a reason to keep some secrets. MAYBE Ozpin knew what he was talking about when he kept certain details hidden from them. MAYBE they dont have all the answers and solutions and should defer more often to the people who have the experience and training and have made these mistakes before.

Also on the transport thing? Yeah they probably should have had an actual prisoner transport, but you know where all the high capacity ships like that were? Transporting the people of Mantle up to Atlas. What an incredible waste of resources it would have been to have a prison bus for one whole dude, when you could fit at least ten people on that instead. 

I understand that fans are upset at seeing their faves die. I understand the pain of having a major character death kill off a part of a ship that means a lot to people. I really do. But I also understand that in a way that’s the point. Salem’s goal is to divide and destroy and rip to shreds any happy thing she can. No one is immune to that, and RWBY/ALPN/Q are in a war. People are going to die because of the decisions they make, and its time that they learn that instead of just barreling through with the thought that they are Right because their intentions are good. They’ve all fallen into the fallacy of thinking a Child Savior has all the answers, when in reality its going to end in pain.

I’m not saying the decision to trust Robyn was the wrong one. Hell, it should have been made sooner, and Ironwood is the one who should have done it. Not two kids who went behind his back because they’re tired of keeping secrets from everyone, and then proceeded to keep that information secret.

The conversation about the behind the scenes stuff is important and should be had but it is a different conversation than the one that is about what happened in the episode and the climax of the season itself.

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Gonna put this here instead of on the RP blog since I dont check this as often, but like.

has maybe FNDM considered that Clover’s death is not for Qrow or for his man pain, but has broader meanings and implications? 

There has only been a handful of major character deaths in RWBY to this point, and the great majority of them were villains (Roman, Leonardo, Adam, Vernal is in a weird grey area because of her bandit status). The two hero/protag deaths were Penny (who’s death was later undone) and Pyrrha, Clover now joins their ranks. 

Lets really look at the situation at large. First, RWBY has been making mistakes left and right. They’ve already proven that their goals have led to tunnel vision and that they dont see the larger picture or the consequences of their actions. This is proven time and time again, and for the most part, not only has RWBY faced 0 (zero) consequences, they’ve gotten exactly what they wanted every time. They’ve gotten rewarded for this behavior even before there were stakes. By rights, RWBY should have seen Argus get wrecked because of their attempt to steal an airship and the subsequent fight that destroyed the mech that was specifically designed to fight the godzilla grimm. But they didnt.

This time around, RWBY has messed up again. They went behind Ironwood’s back. All of them had been around ronwood enough recently to know he was paranoid and suffering from PTSD after the fall of Beacon. And yet, Blake and Yang still went behind his back, disobeyed orders, and didnt even bother to hide their fingerprints. 

Actions have consequences.

As far bas as volume 3, Ironwood had given off signals that he was a Might is Right sort of leader with authoritarian leanings. Salem managed to trigger his PTSD so badly that he went full authoritarian military dictator, which he could do since he’d consolidated power in Atlas for years. So naturally, when there was a clear and present challenge to that power, he moved to remove it.

This is what Salem does, she divides. The plan to get all the people of Mantle up to Atlas, and then yeet it up above the Grimm was working. They had time. But remember, Ironwood had Watts’ bag in his office while he made these plans. Salem could listen in on everything and knew exactly what to say to trigger a response. She got what she wanted - Ozpin’s inner circle further divided and fighting amongst each other. 

Now Atlas’ greatest soldiers are decimated. The AceOps are defeated with broken auras and their leader is dead. Winter Schnee is out of commission, but that one we can lay on Cinder’s doorstep.

Now that all that background bs is out of the way, time to look at Clover and Qrow. For one thing, you really need to take the shipping goggles off while you look at this scene. And for another, you have to compare and contrast Clover to his foil of Winter Schnee. They get the information at the same time. They both seem to struggle with it. Winter has an emotional conversation about doing what’s right versus doing what you’re told. That conversation never enters Clover’s head. He says later on right before he dies that he would do anything for Ironwood, which is a sentiment that Winter shares.

And yet, Winter gives her sister and her friends a head start in getting away. 

Clover insists on arresting Qrow at any cost, even trying manipulation and arresting/subduing him in a fight instead of first going after their other escaped prisoner.

Actions have consequences.

Its really. really important to read body language all through episode 12. Clover’s expression has shut down into a professional mask. He’s not angry at all during that fight, but he is determined to do his job. We know he’s not bad, but he does have to bury personal feelings to follow his orders and get the job done. He’s dissociating so he can get his job as a soldier done. “Why cant you do whats right instead of what you’re told.” Instead of wrestling with his conscience like Winter does, he pushes all that out of his mind. 

Furthermore, Tyrian Callows is right there, egging on literally everyone. He also is following his mistress’ orders of sowing division and chaos. He is also a serial killer who likes manipulating and harming his prey. Other people better at meta than me have pointed out how Tyrian has verbally manipulated the shit out of everyone in that plane to start a fight, and on the ground, he was physically manipulating Qrow, purposefully getting into his head so when the obvious consequences happened (someone fucking DIED) it would frame Qrow for it physically, and frame it in Qrow’s mind that he was responsible for this.

All of Qrow’s body language says that he was reluctant to fight. All of Clover’s hesitation before getting involved, the fact that the two of them stopped the fight when Clover’s aura broke... that all indicates that neither of them wanted to do this. But Salem won. Salem managed to create a divide betewen the two of them so deep it was inevitable that Clover died.

But Clover’s death is not for Qrow. Its for us the audience to see that no one is immune from death, not even a popular character that people like and care about. Its for team RWBY because its the first tangible proof that their actions have consequences, and those consequences are sometimes not direct, but have far reaching ripples. The stakes are raised higher than they’ve ever been and RWBY contributed to that.

In conclusion, episode 12 was not about Shocking the Audience with a graphic death, or Burying the Gays, or Out of Character. Its a complex scene that really gets to the heart of this season’s theme: there’s a war on and no one has a good solution, but a lack of proper communication or cooperative/collaborative spirit will lead to people getting killed and Salem winning the fight. Also, maybe find a less obvious way of subverting the baby dictator.

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Dry humor

What was that?“ Belgarath asked, coming back around the corner. “Brill,” Silk replied blandly, pulling his Murgo robe back on. “Again?” Belgarath demanded with exasperation. “What was he doing this time?” “Trying to fly, last time I saw him.” Silk smirked. The old man looked puzzled. “He wasn’t doing it very well,” Silk added. Belgarath shrugged. “Maybe it’ll come to him in time.” “He doesn’t really have all that much time.” Silk glanced out over the edge. “From far below - terribly far below - there came a faint, muffled crash; then, after several seconds, another. “Does bouncing count?” Silk asked. Belgarath made a wry face. “Not really.” “Then I’d say he didn’t learn in time.” Silk said blithely.

David Eddings, Magician’s Gambit (The Belgariad, #3)

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And he’s the good guy…

Me? Abusing dramatic shadowing?? Probably

So, anyway, my first love from the Belgariad.

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suckington anyone?

My first entry for the RvB Bingo Wars for the Kai-centric square, I love this girl with all of my heart

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POOR GRANDMA!!!

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some of u never tried to force a volleyball as far underwater as u could at a pool as a kid only to have it shoot up and hit u in the fucking face and it shows

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I know saying “we live in a society” is a joke but this is the most “we live in a society” thing I’ve ever seen.

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incorrect star wars quotes

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once i had a mutual who stopped using tumblr because she became a nun