#(plus the existence of the grimm)

[thecapturedafrique]

Another amazing meta analysis! I agree with all your points here, but I do wanna examine the larger narrative for a moment and bring up what I think is the flaw of the Huntsmen system that I initially didn’t believe the show was going to challenge until now: the Lone Hero.

Since the beginning of RWBY, we are told that the risk Huntsmen take is a requirement of the job. Weiss is the one who affirms this by stating what is essentially their code in Mountain Glenn: it’s their job is to protect the people, and more crucially, whatever they want will have to come second.

WBY struggles with this initially because they have their own personal desires for becoming a Huntress that are not rooted in duty, but we see them grow overtime to not only accept but embrace their responsibility, which is especially highlighted when they’re juxtaposed with others who have failed, like Lionheart or the Ace-Ops.

And then we have folks like Ruby and Pyrrha, who didn’t need to learn to embrace this concept because they already had: duty and service were their entire reasonings for becoming a Huntress in the first place. For Pyrrha, that duty meant sacrificing her life, and the narrative has continually framed this as a good choice.

Her team JNR reaffirms this in Argo by stating the other facet of this concept: if their duty is to protect the people, then they must continue working towards that goal no matter what the circumstances end up being. Serving their duty means they have to try. And as Atlas’s theme tells us, this brings with it risk.

Pyrrha was the embodiment of the Huntress Ideal; she knew her duty (and notably was good at it), risked her life trying to serve it, and died. And she parallels quite neatly the one other character who has been consistently spoken about in similar terms, Summer Rose. But there’s another key detail that they both have in common: in their final battle, they faced their opponent alone.

In Pyrrha’s case, we already know the reasoning behind her choice: she believed she was the only one who could try, which has been framed as an absolute truth. Of course she was the only one; Jaune was her partner, but “he ain’t got nothing on Pyrrha,” right? She outclassed him immensely in terms of skill, and they were facing an enemy who had just defeated their own prodigious Headmaster. If she’d known this would be a suicide mission for her, then what possible chance did Jaune have? And if her duty is to protect those who can’t protect themselves…then doesn’t Jaune fall into that same box?

From this logic, it makes perfect sense how Jaune developed the self-sacrificial mindset he displays in the fight at Haven. He’s the weakest fighter of the group who still hasn’t unlocked his semblance; of course if he wants to join them in battle, his role is to be canon fodder so that the others can have a better chance at winning the day. After all, it’s better than being left behind altogether, right?

Fortunately, Jaune does manage to unlock his semblance, which provides him a healthier option to fulfill the role of support. Rather than use his weakness to be the others’ shield, his strength can literally become theirs. But also very importantly, Nora and Ren reject this sacrificial mindset in Argus by stating that they care for him as a person as he is a part of their team.

Jaune had believed himself to be acting in Pyrrha’s stead by fighting an unwinnable battle to buy the others more time (which is a microcosm of the bigger battle Oz has faced against Salem). Yet his position is countered by the reminder that he is not a lone individual. Ren goes through a similar issue when he distances himself later on in Atlas, which reinforces the narrative that a team is meant to rely on one another.

And finally, we can see a flaw in Pyrrha’s—and in turn Summer’s—choice:

They were wrong, not in trying to do their duty, but in deciding not to rely on their team based on the belief that they had to face the enemy alone.

In the Ever After, Ruby has been struggling with this concept because unlike Pyrrha and Summer, she has survived the Heroic Sacrifice and lived to see that the results can still include loss. So, having internalized the Huntress Ideal at a very young age, her duty to keep trying and sacrificing despite these losses has become a burden. And how could it not be when Ruby also still believes that she cannot rely on her team and has to face Salem alone?

This is where the idealism needs to be broken down and reforged. Ruby must recognize how her mother’s failure was not that she tried and then died, but that she didn’t bring her partner/team with her. She needs to be reminded that despite being the leader and the only SEW, she is not meant to face Salem by herself, and this reminder will certainly come from her own teammates.

But where did this Lone Hero narrative come from? The Huntsman Academies were all designed to be team-focused. However, we know Oz (and Ironwood) also looked out for exceptionalism. Only the best and the brightest could be brought into the fold and learn of the Shadow War against Salem, and secrets are inherently isolating (as we see from Pyrrha being selected to be the next Fall Maiden).

A power imbalance develops between peers who know and those who don’t, and this is how the Huntsmen code of, “It’s our job to protect the people,” quickly descends into, “We’re the only ones who can protect the people.” And when you have prodigies like Summer and Pyrrha and Ruby (and Ozpin before them), it’s easy to see how the “we” becomes “I” while their peers are placed into the group of people to be protected rather than allies to be relied upon. Which isn’t even to mention the additional pressure leaders are placed under to never ever underperform.

This is why I believe the exceptionalism that Huntsmen are encouraged to strive for, where their duty to others is expected to come before any of their own needs, does need to be dismantled so that it can be replaced with a more communal approach. After all, the Gods won’t be coming to judge the talented few on either side, they’re coming to judge humanity as a whole.

The first step was giving the rest of the world the knowledge of the war against Salem, and I believe the next will be offering them the tools so that they can then make the choice to fight. Because just as Menagerie illustrated for the Faunus and the White Fang, this is a battle that everyone will need to take action in, not just the Huntsmen.

Because in the end, together is the only way that they’ll win.

Hey Spoon, as someone with highly detailed, well-thought-out metas about RWBY, I would like to ask for your thoughts about two recent trends I have seen about Volume 9. Specifically, about Ruby and her breakdown.

First, there seems to be discussion about Ruby being a huntress as a bad thing? That the hunter system is toxic because it put Ruby in this situation in the first place, with a burden and stress on her shoulders? I don't agree, especially when WBY all triumphantly stated they were Huntress' to their past selves.

Second of all, people seem to have it out for the pep talks that Ruby has been given over the series? That the support and encouragement that Ruby has received over the series has done nothing but make her want to hide her trauma and bottle up her emotions, because people gave her pep talks, instead of directly saying 'Yeah its fine to feel bad'? Like, some of the comments they make is intriguing. Such as Ozpin's statement to Ruby - and from her to Jaune - about how a leader must always be their best self and put their teammates first basically, leading to them eventually breaking down as they are...

But its a bit unfair to say that every attempt to support and encourage Ruby over the show up until this point was worthless and meaningless, isn't it?

Note: I wrote half of this answer before episode 8. I honestly think this still all applies, so I have not changed it. Still, consider I am not discussing that much what happens there. That will have its own meta.

Hi!

Personally, I agree with your thoughts. I understand these takes and tbh I think several people are expressing them in different ways, framings and degrees.

That said, in this answer I am gonna consider them in their most extreme and simplistic form :)

Before I address them, though, here comes a short introduction on character arcs. Skip it if you already know these ideas.

CHARACTER ARCS AND THEME

There are different ways to discuss characters and their arcs. Here I am looking at them specifically from a narrative lens by using theme to classify and analyze them.

Many of these ideas come from @septembercfawkes great posts. Here they are if you wanna read more on the topic:

In short, there are 2 types of character arcs:

The character makes a 180 degree change when it comes to the theme > change arc

The character doesn't change idea about the theme > steadfast arc

If the theme the character believes in by the end of the story is the narrative truth, then the arc is positive, while if it isn't then it's negative.

Some examples:

Ilia starts the story by believing violence is the only way for Faunus to gain freedom, but ends her personal arc by learning this isn't true. "Hate is not the answer". > This is the theme the story supports hence Ilia went through a positive change arc.

Adam starts the story by believing the violence done to him justifies his own violence on others. Blake keeps telling him this is wrong and gives him the chance to change. He refuses and keeps believing the false thematic statement. This is why he is defeated by Blake and Yang, who know trauma and violence do not define who you are (the true thematic statement). > Adam is a steadfast negative character.

Ironwood starts the Atlas Arc by wanting to trust (true thematic statement), but he ends it by giving in to control (false thematic statement). Similarly, he has a good heart and believes in humans, but by the end he refuses his own humanity. > He goes through a negative change arc

Pyrrha starts the story by believing destiny is one's final goal. She thinks hers is to become a hero. She ends her personal arc by dying a hero and choosing her own destiny. > The thematic statement she believes in is the one the story supports hence Pyrrha is a positive steadfast character.

This is the short version >

If you believe something false in the beginning, you have a positive arc only if you change.

If you believe something true in the beginning, you have a positive arc if you hold on to that truth.

This means the narrative is gonna challenge the change characters and steadfast characters in opposite ways:

If you need to change, the story is gonna test you to see if you can change and will punish you, if you don't

If you need to be steadfast, the story is gonna test you to see if you can keep believing into something even when everything goes wrong

Now, guess which kind of character Ruby is?

RUBY IS A STEADFAST CHARACTER

Ruby believes the true thematic statement since the beginning:

"The world can be dark, but there is beauty in it and people should fight to protect it and make it better"

I don't think there is any doubt about this being true in the show. After all, the other MCs grow positively by starting to embrace this viewpoint.

What about Ruby, then?

She is steadfast, so for her the challenge is to keep believing in it even when everything goes wrong. Like at Beacon. Like in Atlas.

But wait! Ruby's viewpoint is flawed and she is breaking because of her unhealthy coping mechanism!

Yes, but this doesn't mean she isn't steadfast. Steadfast characters actually do grow a lot. Sometimes even moreso than change arc characters.

Do you remember Simba from the Liong King? Well, he is a steadfast character.

The Lion King's main theme is the Circle of Life > everyone has a role to play in this cycle

Simba believes this in the beginning and can't wait to be king!

Simba believes Mufasa is dead because of him, so he runs away and gives up the theme. He starts living with Timon and Pumba, 2 outcasts and he even eats insects (aka goes against nature) > he stops believing in the Circle of Life

Nala, Rafiki and Mufasa's ghost remind Simba of his role, so Simba starts believing in the true theme again

Simba defeats Scar and becomes King taking his place in the Circle of Life

As you can see, Simba grows a lot, but he is still steadfast because he knows the true theme since the beginning. It is just that he loses sight of it and needs to re-learn it.

This isn't all, though. What Simba does is more than just remember the theme. By the end he acquires a stronger understanding of it. This is because of 2 reasons:

He adheres to it despite all the obstacles, which makes the theme stronger and deeper.

He has a change arc when it comes to a secondary theme > responsibility.

Simba is initially irresponsible, but by the end he becomes responsible. This secondary theme feeds the main one > Simba's role in the Circle of Life is to be King, but this doesn't mean he will be able to do whatever he wants. Quite the opposite, being King means you have responsibilities. Simba learns this and so he gets to understand the Circle and his role in it better.

Well, something similar is going to happen with our Little Red Riding Hood.

BEING A HUNTRESS

Ruby used to be the embodyment of a Huntress:

Yang: I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return.

Still, she has right now forgotten what being a Huntress means:

Ruby: Fight… monsters, I guess? I’m sorry, I don’t understand why this matters.

Being a Huntress means to help others, but Ruby answers Herb confusely and mentions "killing monsters" instead. Now, it is not that Ruby doesn't know what being a true Huntress means, but rather it is she has forgotten it.

Why is that so?

It is because the Shadows have slowly been eating at her to the point she can't ignore them anymore. All the stress, the horrors and the grief Ruby has been repressing have engulfed her. She literally can't see anything else anymore. She is so focused on Salem, on how monstruous and scary she is, she can't really see the witch is just a person. Not only that, she is forgetting that the point isn't to destroy Salem, but rather to protect lives:

Blake: Huntresses are heroes. We protect those who can’t protect themselves.

If she stays in the shadows she is gonna turn like Ozpin, like Ironwood and like Salem herself (symbolically). Still, how can she come out?

I think that when it comes to Ruby, she has to learn a secondary theme:

Maria: Interesting… Perhaps there was something that you just weren't seeing?

SILVER EYES - IDEALISM AND EMPATHY

Ruby's main attribute is her Silver Eyes, which are metaphors for themes and inner attributes. So far, I think the Silver Eyes mean 2 things:

Idealism > Ever heard of Wide Eyed Idealists? Yep, those are the Silver Eyed Warriors in a nutshell. The way the eyes work is literally that they reflect the light of the world (like the Moon mirrors the Sun). The SEW can use them only if they believe life is beautiful and worth protecting. This is why the way things are now Ruby is gonna have a hard time using them again.

Empathy > Ever heard of looking at the world through shades of gray? Maybe shades of silver is more accurate here :P But yeah, the Silver Eyes are probably gonna reveal new power and strength once the theme of empathy is gonna be explored more. After all, what does it mean to see the light in the darkness, if not to look at the most monstruous people and realize they are well... people? Isn't it like seeing the person (light) behind the monster (darkness)?

Let's highlight idealism and empathy are 2 secondary themes linked to Atlas (Creation > the Shallow Sea) and Vacuo (Destruction > the Judgement of the Faunus).

Atlas explores trust, which is a declination of faith (Trust Love)

Vacuo is set up to explore empathy - Shade references the shadow, Coco needs to take off her shades to see others properly and Vacuan students throws shades at the Beacon/Haven newcomers

What does it mean for Ruby?

Ruby has been using her eyes by relying on her child-like optimism and hopeful self. Still, this mechanism can't keep on working forever. It is too psychological vexing and simplistic. I honestly think the way forward for her is to develop a new found idealism, which is more rooted into a more mature empathy.

You don't need to ignore the shadows to see the light. Rather, the light found in shadows is brighter than ever.

This is the secondary theme Ruby needs to learn in order to gain a deeper understanding on the main one she already knows, but has forgotten. This is where she needs to go if she wants to re-affirm the main theme.

OTHERS HELPING RUBY

Well, I think the topic is already addressed this last episode:

Weiss: Maybe she didn't feel like she could... Ruby has always been the one to get us through the hard times. We say things like "We believe in you!" "We can count on you!" I know we mean well, but..."

I don't think what Weiss says in the episode means all the encouragement they have offered Ruby was wrong to begin with tbh. It is just that the right words for a specific situation might be wrong for another.

Ruby has been helped and loved by her teammates. Weiss's encouragement helped her becoming a good leader. Yang's love supported her. Blake and Jaune's admiration and loyalty helped her push through in difficult times. It is just that the Ruby right now doesn't need it anymore.

Her own coping mechanism is not functional anymore, which means she needs to develop another one and others need to realize it.

Which leads us to some generic thoughts on coping mechanisms...

COPING MECHANISMS

Coping mechanisms are neither good nor bad really. They are simply mechanisms we come up with in order to survive and push through. They can be functional or dysfunctional. Even better... they can be functional for a while and then they can start not fitting anymore.

RWBY as a story makes full use of this to the point characters' main flaws turn out to be their major strengths and vice versa. This is pretty well conveyed through semblances:

Weiss's semblance initially represents her dependance on her family name. As she grows, though, it becomes symbolic of her own individuality:

And right now, she has discovered a new found strength in her family (team RWBY plus her siblings). The idea that Weiss's strength comes from her bonds with others was never wrong, but initially it is applied in a dysfunctional way. As she grows, she gains a deeper understanding of this part of herself and she gets to shine.

2 Blake's semblance represents her tendency to tun away. Still, as she grows, she realizes that it also represents her ability not to break despite the abuse and the violence:

Not only that, but even her own coping mechanism to run away from an abuser is re-framed. She did the right thing by running away from Adam... it is just she should not let this tendency of hers to control her life completely. Sometimes running is fine, while other times it is better to stand your ground and fight.

3 Yang's semblance represents her tendency to use her losses, her wounds and defeats to grow stronger. It also represents her recklessness and her self-sacrificial tendencies. This is why its use is toned down, as she grows. In exchange, she gains a better understanding of what growing up despite one's losses means:

Yang: No. My losses, my failures. Those more than anything are what have shaped me into who I am, showed me how I need to grow.

It is also probable we will see this new-found wisdom reflected into her semblance eventually:

Ruby is the same... it is just we see her strengths rather than her flaws initially:

She is fast, so fast she even skips grades. She is smart and a quick-thinker.

She is flexible and resourceful and pushes through obstacles.

She is a leader able to carry everyone else...

And yet, she is also running away from her feelings...

And she is also spreading herself too thin for others...

Until she can't anymore...

Ruby, like everybody, is a mix of positive and negative traits. Not only that, but her most positive traits are her flaws and her weakness is her strengths.

She needs to do what the others have done with her help. She needs to gain a deeper understanding of herself and of who she wants to become. Only in this way she can re-affirm herself with a deeper awareness, so not to break down again.

[pinkaditty]

Thinking Thoughts

okok i can't find the post anymore so im literally going to kms bc it was such a a GOOD IDEA but basically it was this fic idea where Yuu was actually sent by the supervillains, the Seven (+ 1 more, the one Yuu represents) to go and investigate Crowley but the trip there somehow gave them memory loss and now Yuu doesn't remember anything!! and apparently Yuu gets their power from overblot stones so the Seven keep sending overblots to give Yuu the chance to regain their power and memory but unfortunately Grimm keeps eating the stones and pisses them off lol. IT WAS SUCH A GOOD IDEA and then the post ended with: the only question is, who does Yuu represent?

And I was like, oh Chernabog obvi.

like think abt it, that villain is literally THE MOST POWERFUL Disney villain plus nothing can defeat him except church bells and sunlight. since Yuu is a mere vessel, i imagine sunlight and church bells won't have an effect on them, thereby making them literally the most powerful villain vessel out there... they just don't remember shit.

honestly when i first played Twisted Wonderland i was genuinely surprised that Chernabog wasn't one of the big Seven... like he's the most powerful villain ever why not put him in there????

those of u who don't know who Chernabog is... i fear there is no saving u. as for how I know Chernabog exists??? let's just say I read a Disney series as a teenager and some girl was kidnapped by him which led me down a rabbit hole.

also also SOMEONE HELP ME FIND THE POST PLSSSS I WANTED TO GIVE CREDIT BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER THE USER OF WHO POSTED IT

oh also boycott Disney, it's fueling the Palestinian genocide. haven't touched Twisted Wonderland in months due to learning that + I uninstalled it anyway lol.

[synergysilhouette]

Things I'd want for an an "Ever After High" reboot

As much love as "Monster High" has gotten--and as much attention as it's gotten, thanks to 2 reboots--I think it's time for a reboot of Ever After High, for the lore/show if nothing else (and yes, I know it was all for the dolls). And note: I say "reboot" instead of "revival" because the show had a gaping flaw with it, and I'll include it in one of the things I'd like to see in a Gen 2 of EAH:

More nuance--The BIGGEST issue with the show was how biased it was when it was trying to see itself as a complex story. The Royals were written as selfish, hypocritical, and vain when discussing the future and their legacies, and it made being a Royal unlikable, which was probably done by the writers to make us sympathize with the Rebels more, not to mention the fact that Raven was always kind and level-headed, making Apple come off much more disingenuous. It wasn't even a "the Rebels are slightly more right"; the Rebels were written as 100% right and the Royals weren't "good" people until they came around to the way the Royals thought. I'd enjoy them embracing the Royals' positive side (which have been shown when not involving the RvR debate), as well as highlighting the fact that following tradition isn't always a bad thing, and that those who followed their destiny didn't have to follow it to the letter, but were allowed to make changes here and there (ie Apple marrying a prince; it didn't have to be Daring). As such, destinies are vague, giving you a beginning and end while omitting the in-between parts. And given this change to what is considered a Royal, there are no in-between groups like Roybels.

2. Don't forget the guys--Part of what made EAH an engaging "girly" show for me was the fact that they still had significant male characters (usually it's like a 10-1 ratio; here it feels like 5-1), all of whom have unique designs and appearances. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be an issue, but I still wanna point it out.

3. Headmaster Grimm is more altruistic and wise--I swear, "Wish" has ruined me forever. I'm on a Magnifico kick. Headmaster Grimm, while still lying to the students and kinda misleading them, doesn't do so just because of the flimsy "This is how things are done"; he's more of a lawful neutral/true neutral character, where he understood after years of seeing people try to change their destinies it either comes true anyway or ends up getting their own Happily Ever After, but it does more damage than good for everyone else. As such, he understands the fact that good cannot exist without evil, and vice-versa, explaining his own motivations for manipulating events at EAH, with the proposed destinies being what he believes to be the best-possible scenarios. (Plus the evil headmaster at school is so cliche to me at this point. It feels very juvenile.)

4. More lore in the show--Albeit, less confusing. I don't remember the show exactly, and I didn't get into the novelizations, but I do recall that the books fleshed out the Legacy Day ceremony a bit more, citing that the current students at EAH were descendants (rather than children) of fairy tale characters, and embracing your destiny was something done for generations--with one disturbing detail being that Ashlynn's mother would eventually die and her father would marry one of her stepsisters, making the new stepmother's daughters Ashlynn's new stepsisters who would make her enslaved. AND EVERYONE KNEW THIS. This circles back to #1 about making being a Royal less terrible. Put emphasis on following your destiny and the history of the world, but I'd prefer to avoid the "we do this every generation" thing; the characters are still descendants of fairy tale characters, but it hasn't been a wash, dry, repeat cycle; it only happens when the descendants' circumstances start to match up precisely with their ancestor's, and it's believing that by following their destiny, they preserve the balance of good and evil. Not to mention, most of the other students don't get to accept or deny their destiny; they're just regular people in that respect, while the special descendants (let's say that Maddie, Raven, and Apple are only a small handful of people who have Legacy Day this school year) get to see what their futures hold. Not to mention it'd be fun to see more of the characters' lives outside of the school, ie Briar's relationship with her younger brothers and the fact that her mom is always tired and her dad (who needs a name; can we avoid nameless characters here?) is always slaying monsters.

5. More emphasis on fairy godparents (and magical characters in general)--I'll always question why Cupid coming to EAH didn't reinvent her as a fairy godmother or something similar. In any case, I like the idea of fairy godparents and their children being one the only major characters in fairy tales who's destiny was flexible and no one had any qualms about it; they were above good or evil (though they typically chose good), and had a business where people would pay for their services, powered by their wish and conviction. Grimm being a fairy godfather would also make sense for his grey mentality in the series. Plus I feel like we don't have enough magical characters, with Cerise, Farrah, and Raven being the few that come to mind.

6. It's not just about Raven--Something I liked about "Monster High" was that while Frankie started off as the main character (before she sadly became underrated), many other characters got the spotlight outside of her. Given that the EAH webseries was story-driven, they gave Raven the spotlight. But I'd like to focus on other characters who may be dealing wit the consequences of following/rejecting their destiny, as well as more people fighting with their "inborn" morality issues, similar to Raven fighting her evil urges.

[neopoliitan]

RWBY Evermorrow Ep.7 Director's Commentary (or something)

The newscast segment was a late addition, we decided it was best to move a scene to a later episode for a better sense of narrative. I even already animated that whole scene so we don't need to worry about it!

We were gonna use Lisa Lavender here, but decided it was better to use Cyril due to availability of existing cast members as the scene was kind of last minute. We see it as Cyril being the guy in the studio, and Lisa being the reporter in the field.

Khaki's prison number is funny if you can decipher it.

Originally this episode was a big ol scene of RWBYCRDL recounting the mission to Oz and Glynda, then the punishments being dished out, but I was having such a dull time writing it that we decided it was best to cut the recap of the immediate previous episode and hope the teams' reactions did the work. I think it was for the best, a glorified recap episode seems like it would've been a waste of production; if it wasn't fun to write it wouldn't have been fun to watch.

It was a good time to bring in Glynda as she's always been Beacon's voice of reason around Oz's more whimsical tendencies. She's to-the-point and will make no excuses, which sells the teams being reprimanded more. Plus the added questioning of what exactly Ozpin is saying to Cardin offscreen is an interesting question in the viewer's mind.

(Also our Ozpin VA was kinda unavailable but for a very good reason lol)

Let's talk Dove. You've probably noticed he's very much the reasonable one on EM CRDL at this point, which is very intentional as going in I wanted to make them more interesting than Cardin and the Cardins. CRWBY once said Dove was the most skilled of CRDL, which is an interesting angle, and Doves are a symbol of peace which inspired me to make him the """nicer""" one, albeit a bit embittered by his lot in life. This episode has a montage of the moments in ep5-6 that really lay it all out that he's a little better than the others on his team, which is why Ruby vouched for him.

There was going to be a decent focus on family in this episode, but eventually we whittled it down to just Russel's and Dove's. Being like "oh and here's a character's parent being funny and mad" worked twice, but three to eight times might have gotten old lmao

Why did I pick Bertilak for Russel's guardian? Green. Mohawk. Moody. Not a big Faunus fan.

Okay so that's only part of it. Russel has been consistently portrayed as a bit of a doormat in EM, following Cardin's orders or deferring to the next biggest fish if he's not around. His actions around Bertilak imply that the latter is the source of all that behaviour.

Dove offers Ruby an "Olive Branch". I don't know if I can get more unsubtle than this.

Don't ship them they literally feel nothing about each other. That's canon.

Why did I pick Shopkeep for Dove's grandpa? Closed eyes, and Shopkeep is everywhere. That's literally the joke.

Pyke Rite from The Grimm Campaign.

There were a few characters I really wanted to get involved sooner. Can you believe it took us till Ep7 for Ren or Nora to say anything? It felt good to have all of JNPR and OP(A)L fully animated in the same scene, and was fun to set up dynamics like Oscar being a fanboy, Alyx being a little shit and the two teams generally getting along.

In comparison to 6 this episode was a lot calmer and a lot more talk-y, but hopefully we managed to make it fun. The animators and VAs did amazing as always (the former has basically eclipsed my efforts at this point), and I'm looking forward to ep8 very much! Bigger and better!

If you have extra questions about this ep you can shoot me an ask, I'm always down to self-indulge lmao

[notenoughgauze]

Tension rewrite

Mammon. Avatar of greed. The hottest demon that exists, is standing only 8 feet away, holding a large painting up to his older brother who’s hovering with flowing wings. There he is in all his glory, arms flexing and bulging in his t-shirt. God, she was no better than a man. There he was, and here she was, staring at every muscle that moves, and oh man, his face was the cherry on top, lips moving as he speaks, skin tan and clear as always, and his eyes, his big blue eyes that always seem to hold a warmth for the ones he loves, what she wouldn’t do for it to be pointed in her direction. Anything would be nicer than the annoyed glances he gives her when she tries to talk to him. 

“You got it?” he asks Lucifer who only nods and lifts the painting up to balance it on the nail. Having her daydreams end with a record scratch , she returns to the book she had completely disregarded. Why does he find her so irritating? Sure he was forced to watch over her, but she's fun! She can be funny if she tries! Plus she always thought she was at least a little cute, not a beauty queen but cute at the least. 

“Hey! What are you looking at?” the man himself asks her with a once again annoyed tone. “N-nothing!” she grins nervously, thinking of some sort of lie. “ I was just thinking about the story i was reading, just happened to look in that direction, that's all.” Fuck, did she say that too fast? Was that convincing? He rolls his eyes “ Stupid human” he huffs and takes the hammer and nails from Lucifer to return them to their home. Lucifer gives him a stern stare, like he was attempting to tell him to behave. Of course that only received another huff and they both walked away.   As soon as they’re out of sight, ___ runs to her room.

 Mammon on the other hand, couldn’t stand the new addition to the household. She was weird, too weird for his own liking. He heard her run away, he heard her scampers and huffs of breath. He bets she got winded after a few moments, like humans do. Weak. Always so weak. He puts the tools back where they belong and heads to his own room, thinking of her. 

     He hated her, he was sure of it. She was an idiot.  A human, it was disgusting how his brothers all obviously fell for her meek demeanor. They all fawn over her much more than he’d like; Acting as though she’s worth a million grimm or maybe even more with how they swoon at every little, irritating thing she does. He  could fill a book full of reasons why he hated her and why he should’ve never been appointed her guardian. Lucifer made a mistake. He just knew it. 

He couldn’t wait for the year to be over.

[bestworstcase]

@cryptidblues tumblr Ate this ask for some reason so copying text from the email notif

See I’ve always thought that the mechanism through which cinder stole the maiden powers (bug) from Amber made her a Grimm hybrid. And THATS why Ruby’s silver eyes worked on her at the top of beacon tower; regardless of the presence of the wvyern. Because underneath her skin she was Grimm (and still fully human). “Your newfound strength brings with it a crippling weakness”/“You said the light only reacts to Grimm but…it reacted to Cinder”/“perhaps there was something that you just weren’t seeing?” Leading from that the implicit threat of ��Oz can’t defeat [Salem]”/“but maybe someone else can?” to Salem is not that Salem could be eradicated by silver eyes (go poof like other Grimm) but rather be put back in The Tower by silver eyes. By being turned to stone. Still immortal but frozen. Trapped. Her Freedom completely sundered. “You thought there was no greater punishment we could bestow upon you?”/“Your light comes from his brother”/“The god of light…his eyes”. There’s an assumption that Salem is invulnerable, no personal skin in the game, “she’ll come back”, nothing effects her, nothing sticks; but her running this risk of being petrified by silver eyes gives depth and high stakes to any interaction she has with Ruby face to face (and her possible complex relationship to a hypothetical favorite silver eyed lieutenant). ᓚᘏᗢ

the reason i Don’t believe the grimm beetle made cinder vulnerable to the glare atop beacon tower is that ruby hits her with a second full-blown glare in atlas towards the end of v7 and—even though cinder by that point has a whole grimm arm—cinder flies away from that one unscathed. either:

a) the implication salem makes in v5 that cinder can learn to resist the glare is true,

b) there is an additional, unknown but more important factor besides “grimm” involved here, or

c) both.

i think the answer is probably both, although more b than a. (maria sees the flash coming from the god of light’s eyes and concludes this power came from him; but she couldn’t see that ruby’s eyes were silver until she saw their light go off, and she missed those two silver-eyed children of ozma’s. “maybe there’s something you’re not seeing” is true of her, too)

(the silver light evokes the pure white of the void between realms, where the dead travel from life to death and the souls of the living and the dead can meet in between. ozma passes through this liminal space every time he dies and reincarnates, and his children with a mortal woman have silver eyes. after ruby witnesses pyrrha’s death and her light erupts, the hand cinder used to kill pyrrha is destroyed and ruby spends months hearing echoes of pyrrha’s final words—which she wasn’t there to see—haunting her dreams. there are butterflies, classic symbols of reincarnation and in certain cultures historically identified as psychopomps, all over the scene where maria discusses her theory. maria is also philosophically wrong in her conception of creation/life as “enemies” of destruction; destruction feedslife and exists in balance with creation, and the glare itself is definitionally destructive. silver eyes have something to do with death.)

the kids at least, per nora and “maybe someone else can [destroy salem]?” do seem to be thinking in terms of ruby’s eyes being the silver bullet that can stop salem if not destroy her outright, and ruby has the wyvern example to look to to be thinking about trapping salem in stone forever. but then the leviathan is there to raise the possibility that petrification is not necessarily forever, and salem herself seems unconcerned when ruby’s eyes start to flash in ironwood’s office. plus again the implication salem makes that the glare can be resisted: if that is something she taught cinder to do, it’s something salem must be able to do too.

i do think the glare is probably capable of hurting her somehow—i have my own specific headcanons as to how for Fic Purposes but in terms of textual speculation, what happens if you take a grimm woman who can’t die and blast her with the grimm-killing light from the threshold between life and death? it sounds painful, if nothing else.

but if the leviathan could break free after being petrified, and salem is both immortal and human and thus able to, like cinder in v7, resist the glare in some way, i think being turned to stone or encased in stone is not likely to slow her down for very long. although i can’t imagine she would enjoy the experience.

the other factor to consider is that—well, quite a lot of the fandom assumes the point of silver eyes is to “purify” the grimm out of people, for example saving cinder from her grimm arm, and on the basis of maria’s theory that is an easy extrapolation to make; which is to say, after the experience in the ever after, i wouldn’t be surprised if the idea of “purge the grimm out of salem to make her herself again?” was broached on the heroes side. the reality though is that being grimm is not what’s wrong with salem and becoming grimm is something she chose, or at least accepted as a possible consequence of what she attempted to do when she jumped into the pool of grimm, and using silver eyes to try to Force Her to go backwards is probably not a good idea and not something that will work. she is change incarnate—that’s what destruction means.

so there is a thematic challenge here that might be explored; seen through the lens of maria’s theory, silver eyes are anti-change (preservation) and therefore anti-theme (destruction is part of life, not the enemy of life) so her theory is incomplete and the most obvious way to fill in the gaps and arrive at the whole truth is to test the glare against salem herself, because she is change. 

and because rwby is so thematically driven i’d anticipate this happening concurrently with salem turning in a new direction, which intersects in very interesting ways with what is being set up vis-a-vis needing cinder to open the vaults vs wanting cinder to be alive, safe, and free. (i think the momentum there is toward salem being forced to choose between getting the crown and protecting cinder, and she’ll sacrifice the crown for cinder’s sake; the… possibility of silver eyes being involved in that scenario is obvious.)

[itsclydebitches]

Sometimes the negativity attracting Grimm thing makes me think of questions like, how did slavery exist for so long? It wasn't abolished until the great war and we are told how Mistral and Mantle both used it a lot.

Like in a world where monsters literally seek out negativity to kill people and this causes mass damage and such..

How the heck could any version of the slave trade, a brutal system built on pain, suffering and humiliation exist in remnant? Let alone having been a widespread system for 2 successful kingdoms?

This. The longer the show has gone on the less that part of the worldbuilding makes sense. It's a cool idea, but as always RWBY doesn't put in the work to keep it cohesive.

I vaguely remember thinking about this years ago when I was first watching the show. Not in relation to slavery/the general oppression of the faunus, but wondering where the line was between "Average amount of negative emotion that doesn't attract grimm and therefore allows a society to function" and "Amount that tips the scale and results in a coordinated attack." I can distinctly recall first watching the attack on Beacon and going, "Oh, so having a whole stadium of people reacting to a girl being killed - not to mention the reveal that she's secretly an android - is enough to attract most of the grimm in the surrounding area. That makes sense. Plus, this was all orchestrated by Cinder who knew that would happen. Great villain plan!" (This was back in the day when RWBY had a lot more going for it.) Even so, that kind of excessive negativity obviously exists in a kingdom where slavery exists, yet grimm aren't factored into issues like the faunus revolution, or even on a smaller scale like Cinder's abuse. There's no acknowledgement of excessive attacks as a result, or why people would continue such industries when it poses such a threat to everyone in the area. I mean, people frequently do things that are dangerous/reckless/stupid for a number of reasons (money being one of them...), but the show still needs to grapple with that, even if it's only in an offhand way. Where are the self-serving "revolutionaries" that oppose faunus enslavement not because they care for them, but because they fear the grimm their torture might bring? Where are the people who look to the lack of grimm in their well-to-do areas - a result of Atlas' defenses and the richer homes being further from the walls - and use it as "proof" that the faunus actually love working in the mines? Clearly if they didn't we would have been overrun by grimm by now!

By working with your worldbuilding rather than just dropping it until you need an excuse for a non-villain fight, RWBY could actually add a lot of realism and nuance here.

[welp-back-on-my-bs]

I just- think it would be so fucking funny that- a Bell(ikepri) who went to NRC(twisted wonderland), now has to deal with the princes and is like: well- atleast they aren't actively trying to kill me-

Bell has grim by them and also is in contact with the best btiches of NRC and adoptive dads (plus the shop owner now!)

------------------

Sarel: hello- were takeing you to the palace now, your pets are already there

Bell: ah shit- here we go again-

----------------

Rio, Grim and whoever Bell's lover is fighting for their attention-

-----------

Sarel: will you tame these beasts and make atleast one if them into a good king?

Bell: did it before, I can do it again-

Sarel: what-

------------

Bell sending letters to Kalim, Malleus, and Leona for bakup when it comes to the goodwill gala-

Gotta be prepared with your rich bitches-

...

They being the whole squad with them for extra help

------------

Silvio trying to bribe them but they all (Ruggie is outbid) say no- Leona does a little threatening. Malleus does too after Silvio touches Bell.

--------------

Bell and Grimm being easy to place menaces for any prince

-----------

Aduce 'kindly' telling Gilbert to fuck off

----------

Trey trying to get Bell with Yeves because bakeing bros gotta stick together

Riddle perfers Chaliver

Ace kinda got some respect for Clavis

Deuce quickly understanding the situation (yo go boy, use it against Ace :>) and perfers Leon

Cater kinda is curious what would happen if Licht is king but says Leon or Chalavier

------------

Heartsbuyl bois and the Princes haveing a bakeing contest between Yeves and Trey because each party says their baker is better

....

It's a tie- both sides passed out from all the bakeing, the boys sell it then donate it to a local group

---------------

Azul and Silvio imedeately becoming buisness partners

-------------

Lilia adoreing Keith and Alter, and semi adopting him too-

-------------

Sarel: I see you have an interesting reputouraior of allies

Bell: *shugs* gotta be diverse when you don't know what the hell is happening

---------------

Leon kinda likeing the way that the king is chosen, and also scares off people who would be sexisf towards Bell

--------------

Kalim shareing the wealth with no expectation and getting more wealth in return shocking Silvio

--------------

Just Kalims existence shocking Silvio and Jamil I'd kinda like "yeah- you get used to it-" with an insult towards Sivio or two hidden in there

-------------

Jamil being allowed to talk crap if he sees crap and this shocks the princes

-----------

Floyd, Lilia, and Clavis being a danger to the world

------------

The doorm heads giveing good leadership advice to the princes and getting some in turn

-------------

Bell just never locking the door because princes and people brake in on the regular, also makes sure Silvio pays for the door

-------------

Bell being able to defend themself during the war and being able to be a good healer. Absolutely shocking everyone

--------------

Vil kind of adorning Yeves and wishes for him to be the next king

Rook choses Chalavier due to the potential he sees in him

Epel chiseling Chalavier because mmmmm masculine man who can protect the country

------------

Bell being insightful to differnt issues and able to take differnt perspectives easily, ending g up being Sarels understudy

------------

Lilia ans Sarel telling story's of their children when they were younger

[bluegekk0]

Who else is part of the Alphabet Mafia in Dirtmouth?

Ooooh I like this one, I'll take this as an opportunity to talk about all the characters in Dirtmouth since it's pride month.

I'll ofc start with the Vyrm family before I get to other characters.

(under a read more cause it's looong)

Vyrm - as I mentioned before, I see him as demi-gay. He wasn't even aware that he was gay until he formed a close bond with Grimm, so I think it makes sense. Plus all those experiences of demi people that who describe their attraction as "suddenly clicking" that I read, match how I see Vyrm realizing he has feelings for Grimm. He definitely one day suddenly thought to himself that Grimm is really really hot and he started noticing things about Grimm's body that made him feel things, blushing whenever Grimm made eye contact with him, and in general just finding his mind wander in quite inappropriate directions. That was what put him on the (slow) journey of self-discovery, since he hasn't actually felt that way about anyone else before, even WL, because as it turns out, he just didn't feel that way towards female beings. And as for gender identity, he's cis and uses he/him pronouns. Born male and has never seen himself as anything else, though he's not that rigid in regards to how he presents.

Grimm - bisexual with a male preference, 100%. He had years to experience casual relationships of all kinds, and he definitely found himself attracted more to male partners. He did have a more serious female love interest years back, though it didn't work out. As for gender identity, he does present as male, use male pronouns and so on, though he has no issue acting in a more feminine way and does so quite often. So it's safe to say that he's not as strict with his identity, he's just Grimm. There's also the fact that biologically he's both male and female, as that's how he created his body. I hesitate to use the term intersex for him, as I know it doesn't fit him and I wouldn't want to potentially add to negative stereotypes. The closest thing would be hermaphrodite as it's used in biology (particularly in regard to animals), but I also don't want to use that term because of its negative connotations when used to describe a person, even if it matches what he has going on better. So, in short. He's both, and he chooses to present as male. His pronouns are he/him but he'd have no issue being referred to as she or they, he just doesn't use them himself.

Lewk, the twins - they're too young to even begin comprehending identity and attraction, and consequently I haven't thought about it either. What I can say is that being raised in a household where gender norms practically don't exist would help them be more comfortable with whatever identity they eventually feel fits them best. And as a little side note, I think it would be really cute if Lewk, who was raised very sheltered, didn't realize for the longest time that having two dads wasn't a universal experience. Not that he'd react negatively to opposite-sex relationships, I think he'd just be a bit confused. As for pronouns, they use those associated with their birth sex, so he/him for Lewk and Milo, and she/her for Asta.

Hornet - I definitely see her as a lesbian. A lesbian with no game, so no one even knows since she's not very open about it either (though Grimm can definitely tell hahaha). I definitely think she notices female bugs far more often, but she has no idea how to approach them and maybe even rejects the feeling. Not because she's against having a girlfriend, she just struggles with accepting close relationships in the first place out of fear that she'll lose them. And for gender identity, she is female, though very gender non conforming. She dresses and behaves in a way that makes it ambiguous, but she feels comfortable referring to herself as female. The only term she's uncomfortable with is "princess", but that has more to do with what such title entails rather than it being feminine. She uses she/her pronouns.

Holly - they're aroace to me, they show no interest in relationships despite becoming more open about their emotions. If someone flirted with them, they wouldn't know how to respond, and I think they find the idea of intimacy as something nice, but not for them. They're much more interested in their hobbies and the familiar bond with the rest of the household. As for gender identity, they use they/them pronouns, non-binary or agender would probably be the closest matches. Biologically they're neither, their body is made of void, and void has no distinction between male or female. In regards to how they present, they tend to copy the looks and mannerisms of those around them, so it varies significantly.

Zote - in regards to attraction it's a bit complicated. I feel like he'd talk about female bugs that way because of that whole "a knight and a maiden" idea, so you'd assume he's straight, but I could totally see him slipping up and calling a male bug handsome and showering them with compliments about their appearance. In reality I think he might be a very confused asexual, though a closeted bisexual could also be a possibility. For now I keep him as unlabeled. As for his pronouns, he uses he/him only, and gets quite upset at being called anything else.

---

Ok, now for the side/minor characters.

Brumm - he's gay, he had a male partner and adopted children in the past, and since then he hasn't shown interest in females. He also presents as masculine, and uses he/him pronouns.

Divine - lesbian (which means that the whole Leg Eater scenario didn't happen in the AU, lucky for him), she has a very strong lesbian wine aunt vibe to me. I can see her using she/they pronouns, even if they present as very feminine.

Ogrim - he's straight, he had a brief relationship with Isma back in the day, and hasn't shown interest in any male bugs since then. He presents as masculine and uses he/him pronouns.

Elderbug - straight. I will say, I don't think the dead friend he mentions was a potential love interest, but I do think he's straight. He uses he/him pronouns.

Cornifer and Iselda - they're partners which suggest that they're straight, but I could see one of them (or maybe both?) being bisexual. She/her pronouns for Iselda and he/him fir Cornifer.

Bretta - bisexual, leaning towards women. She was enamored with Zote for a bit before seeing through his lies, and now has a crush on Hornet. As for pronouns, I quite like the idea of her writing under a fictional, male pseudonym, and if that's the case then she would be fine being referred to as either she, he or they.

Jiji - unlabeled, they might be ace or just not interested in having a relationship right now, and that layer of uncertainty matches her. overall mysterious vibe. Uses she/they pronouns.

Jinn - similarly to Jinn, its preferences are unknown. She uses she/her, they/them and it/its pronouns interchangeably.

Mato - he doesn't live in Dirtmouth but I'll mention him here anyway. I think he's bisexual, though he tends to be a bit secretive so it's not very obvious. He/him pronouns, presents as very masculine.

Quirrel - similarly to Mato, he doesn't live here, but he frequently visits the town to give lessons to the children. He's possibly straight or bi, I haven't decided. And he uses he/him pronouns.

---

And while I'm at it, I'll mention other more important characters here, who don't live in Dirtmouth.

The White Lady - bisexual, I feel like she's the type to not really notice gender in regards to attraction. Perhaps pansexual would be more fitting, but I think the two terms can be used interchangeably and I don't want to get into semantics, so I'll stick to bisexual as the umbrella term. In regards to presentation, the Lady part of the title definitely didn't come from nowhere, so they present as overall feminine, though I do quite like the idea of her using both she/her and they/them pronouns. I could see them referring to themselves as "we" whenever she speaks, and I do want to start using they/them pronouns more often when talking about WL, since I think it matches the character.

Lurien - unlabeled, very likely gay, but he chose to not have a partner so it's a very private matter for him. He wears robes and a mask that completely cover his entire body so his identity is quite ambiguous on the surface, and I like the idea of his voice being just as difficult to describe. That said, he does use he/him pronouns, so that's one of the only clues.

Lemm - possibly an old bitter gay man, or perhaps he's straight. I don't think he ever had a partner so it's difficult to say, and he definitely doesn't talk about it. He/him pronouns.

Tiso - he's straight, I thought it would be pretty funny if he had a bit of a crush on Hornet (completely unaware she wouldn't return the feelings even if she didn't hate him), but because he's awful at expressing it, he just ends up acting like a jerk to get her attention. He/him pronouns, nothing to mention here.

---

There are many more characters in the AU that I haven't mentioned, but they're so minor I haven't even thought about them that much. So these are the ones that I treat as more prominent. As you can see, most of them are queer in one way or another. Seems like the infection turned the bugs gay. Many such cases.

[alias-eah]

Idea Log #6

So like Milton Grimm and Gyles Grim both age

Which means that either this fairytale world hasn’t existed any longer than one generation or there’s other people overseeing how the stories play out

I imagine that Milton Grimm is just a step down from whoever these people are

He’s been delegated the role of looking after the children to make sure they follow their destinies properly

Meanwhile, the other people would make sure the next generation of children is born and assigns the child with the most promise the role of their parent

This might be a little too dark for Ever After High standards but I’m not being held back by ratings so…

(I keep dubbing these mysterious people as “The Counsel” and I think it’s going to fit. Plus, they could be reason enough as to why the adults are so keen on following tradition.)

[crimsonxe]

Something I’ve seen floated as a bash numerous times:

“BB is written by 2 straight white men”

I frankly don’t give a single shit about the creatives gender, sex, or identity. Just the story they present not being fanservice or harmful stereotypes; and the relationship being legit. Although it does deserve mentioning that not only is Miles NOT white, he’s half-white and half-hispanic, but that the writers currently include Eddy who isn’t white and Kiersi who is a bi woman.

What the writers of RWBY have done:

- Presented a grounded/realistic journey of discovery for two women. Not some sugary world of gay or any world of gay to be clear; but one where there were hetero options and they felt like legit ones not just tokens thrown in to push against the “world of gay” idea.

- Presented an actual bi character, instead of a lesbian with a bi sticker slapped on

- Presented a slowburn that put time into building the relationship up. No trying to over-do things or put a spotlight on them. They were just a relationship developing like any other. Which is a big plus, for me. So many rush into their LGBT+ currently cause they’re aiming for an LGBT+ specific audience, while RWBY chose to aim generally. If anything this is a plus for the writers being straight, cause they aren’t over-doing it. It isn’t “GAY GAY GAY ALL THE TIME GAY!”, but grounded and realistic like a typical story. To try to present an example: RWBY is a shounen/seinen-adjacent w/ LGBT+ mains vs. a shoujo-ai/yuri where everything is about the gay story. BB is an element within the story, not the entire story or even a central pillar of the story. That makes it that much more special and real for being non-fairy fantasy type, one of many reasons BB carries far more weight than some others that I’ve run across. Blake and Yang are characters that have gone on a whole ass journey with multiple arcs together and not... that happen to be LGBT+.

- Never fanserviced the characters in general but also not together, nor going into the future will. There’s not going to be sex scenes between the two or over-the-top things between the two, because they don’t do that. Even Renora never did that sort of thing, only more grounded things. Like Blake gently grabbing Yang’s arm (like her mom does for her dad) to calm her or supporting her (which is something Yang definitely needs), even Blake’s flirty and cheery original self coming out is part of that. Because the show doesn’t do fanservice

- Presented all of this in a world where that isn’t sunshine and rainbows. Deaths do happen, grimm exist, Salem exists, danger exists, and there’s no real “sugar” to it.

The writers did all of this as well as showing respect for their female characters allowing them to be badasses and complex, regardless of whatever their labels are. In fact the way they did things in their writing actually is MORE appealing to me than other LGBT+ written/created shows, because of it being more general audience and less over-the-top gay-focused. Its the difference of a shipper writing fanfic and a writer just writing a general story; there’s a clear difference in the two. Blake and Yang feel REAL. Also pretty sure the guy in charge of Warrior Nun is also a straight dude and that show is just as awesome with its just as grounded wlw pairing that hits a special spot for me.

[the-wayward-arc]

Mor Primarch au facts

Konrad Curze is not allowed on Remnant after what he did to numerous Whitefang hold outs.

Another reason why The relics were separated because Jaune learned that they can call the brothers back.

Salem's followers were hunted down and most were killed. Watts however managed to negotiate himself off Remnant in the service of a far off noble house.

Cinder has vanished off world, but she is relentlessly hunted by Remnant Knights and Thousand sons. Her maiden powers however were taken back from her in due part to a Ritual Magnus did. She has yet to be found.

Emerald was given a pardon due to her being crucial in Salem's downfall. As such, she has had her records cleared and given a new identity.

Mercury was taken to be trained by the Officio Assassinorum due to his skills. He didn't willfully go.

The white Fang extremists are gone. Every member killed or imprisoned by the enforcers of the Primarch's laws. Fulgrim himself led such a strike against them while Konrad Simply mopped what remained.

The academies are now strictly a place of learning, due to the need for hunters no longer required per the Emperor's orders. Mostly Due to their Pysker powers.

Jaune still has hunters trained however, despite his father's wishes. Hunters are the specialized units within the Remnant Military that only answer to the Primarch and Legion alone. Plus, Grimm are still a thing while not as prominent are still a nuisance.

The Thousand sons have an abundance of libraries and academies on Remnant while Remnant does the same on Prospero. A type of culture exchange

A grand library was created by Jaune, Magnus, Perturabo, and Fulgrim. Here all the knowledge gathered from conquered worlds is kept, copied, and cataloged for future generations. It was kept on Prospero, it was named the Library of Wonders.

Jaune had plans for after the Crusade, to create a garden world filled with every known flower, a gift to Pyrrha and place for their descendents to enjoy.

Remnant is a trading power house due in thanks to Weiss and her family. However, despite her protests, Jaune has regulated all trading onto a planet outside their the cosmic cloud barrier that surrounds Remnant.

No Imperial is allowed on Remnant, only those from Legion homeworlds are allowed and even some of those are banned.

The citizens that are from the homeworlds of Leman Russ, Konrad Curze, Ferrus Manus, Lorgar, Angron, and Mortarion are banned due to various reasons and incidents that Have almost resulted in loss of life.

Nobles have tried to strong arm their way onto Remnant due to the status of it being a civilized world and almost considered a paradise world where the humans don't have to worry about much. Plus the "exotic beauties" on the world.

None have succeeded, the last one nearly killed by Jaune himself.

Jaune has tasked a special science division to find a way to not only close existing routes within the cosmic cloud at will but to effectively control it defensively.

Jaune is somewhat paranoid, another reason for the creation of the Iron Dragons was so they could combat the space wolves due to what happened to the 2nd primarch as Russ's hands. Infact, Jaune has started to ensure his marines can fight against other marines effectively. Though this is simply considered an unconfirmed rumor.

Jaune does the war games between legions not only to hopefully foster good relationships but to learn each Legions tactics. Even memorizing various battle plans and strategies used by the others. This hasn't gone unnoticed by Horus or Guilliman.

[sir-adamus]

someone on Remnant altered or made the simulation that RWBYJNR and the JL were caught in (and hijacked a training simulator for RWBYJNR) - Kilg%re rants about it, claiming it was his idea to use Dust to power it, and that he gave whoever the Remnant contact was the idea. and it’s noted as weird that the lab in Schnee manor was set up like a command center (and i’ve a feeling, because we didn’t see Bruce or Jessica leave, that they’re still gonna be in the simulation at the start of the next movie)

 gonna stick this under a read more, got kinda long

... did Watts somehow make contact with Earth?

either him or Merlot, i guess, might be Merlot

it’s either one of them or Thornmane and this should be post-Arrowfell so he should be in jail and he’s... not exactly got the strongest personality for this kinda thing

but whoever it is has personal reasons to want RWBYJNR trapped and as Kilg%re specifically says 'he' and the fact that whoever did this has the power and resources to create a whole simulated world to trap two sets of heroes in, that dramatically narrows the field of possible Remnant villains

and honestly, now thinking about it I'm leaning on Merlot - the proviso that the simulated world be used to trap RWBYJNR as well as the Justice League implies personal beef, which Merlot would have, given how his mutant Grimm plans were derailed, whereas Watts has never been terribly interested in them (not to mention it runs counter to Salem wanting Ruby alive) and Kilg%re is even more of an egomaniac than Cinder is, I don't think Watts would've tolerated working with him long enough to get to this point

so yeah that does kinda leave Merlot as prime suspect - which makes sense as he's a lot more... dramatic? wacky? villain monologue-y? than Watts, because he was a Beacon era villain, so he would work as a decent enough counterpart to Kilg%re

plus Watts was laying low at this point, so it might not make sense to use him because yeah okay this is a silly non-canon collab movie but they probably would still avoid derailing the canon storyline by putting him in RWBYJNR's sights too early (as they don’t even know he exists until Jacques’ party) - plus as fun as he is, in a flat out fight he’s gonna lose and i don’t know if he’d work as a full-on movie villain. whereas we don’t really know much about Merlot’s history because we were never in the same room as him, so they’ve got room to play there in what he could be capable of, and if they do bring back the Mutant Grimm, his mysterious control of them would serve to keep him as a credible threat for the next part of the story

and yeah, there’s the argument against Merlot because he’s an obscure villain who appeared in one game like 7 years ago, and that’s fair, but counter to that: how many of you had even heard of Kilg%re before this movie?

[liketwoswansinbalance]

What is your favorite thing about SGE series and why?

I have multiple favorite things, so you can expect me to elaborate for a while.

One of my favorite things from the series is Soman’s novel concept of "psyche travel," and for christening it with an actual name.

I’ve only seen this concept in a few other, more science-fiction or speculative type of stories, like the Divergent series, The Giver quartet, "The Veldt," a fascinating short story by Ray Bradbury (which TOTSMOV41 is very much inspired by) and the Artemis Fowl series, which involves time manipulation that wasn't strictly time travel (which is far more commonly seen in fiction). And I love Soman's more fantastical spin on psyche travel! To me, the concept was previously called "mental landscapes" or simply "simulations" of reality. "Psyche travel" as a term is just far broader and more versatile, and I feel like you could do more with it, experimentally.

In fact, I would've loved it if Soman could've left more room in his tight plots to explore human consciousness and "the cauldron of the unconscious" more in TCY, so I will be doing exactly that with the themes in my longfic TOTSMOV41. If anyone wants to know more about TOTSMOV41, I'll redirect you to this table of contents/introductory post.

My fic's entire premise reflects how much I loved that one scene in ACOT. It was absolutely brilliant, especially with the edited views of what reality once was, how subjective memory could be. Plus, in that moment, ACOT managed to combine a few of my major interests: psychology and how generally error-prone the human mind and memory are, surreal imagery in literature, and delving further into SGE’s soft, irrational/nebulous, thematically-relevant magic system. (The way I see it, problems are more often unintentionally created than intentionally solved with magic, and we understand little of it, what goes on magically, really, and can't logically extrapolate what the characters could possibly do said magic. So, the magic is framed as unstable and flexible, even while it does reflect the state of the world and the important relationships in the tales. Thus, that's how I might classify the SGE system. You're welcome to disagree on which type of magic system it is though!)

The following points are probably more obvious:

First, Soman’s prose and images overall are enthralling, and his use of VERBS, especially, rivals few authors that write for a younger demographic, at least in my opinion. It’s often just so well done. It's the little things, like using "scalded" or "pinked" instead of "blushed" that I love. Soman's use of language is so inventive at times, and I love trying to imitate it. Verbs can make or break a piece of writing in my mind.

Also, I love the extravagance and length and readability of this particular book one sentence that I think is underrated for the sheer exasperation embedded in it:

“After chastising her for slipping in the Ever ranks, explaining every assignment thrice, and berating her to cover her mouth when she coughed, Pollux finally left in a circus of hops and falls.”

It’s fabulously sweeping and exhaustive.

In addition, the third person omniscient pov is less common nowadays, I think. So much of middle grade and YA is in first person these days, so it may be a trend, for its immediacy. Though, I tend to prefer third person, even if my preference also generally depends on how well the work was executed.

I love SGE for its basis in fairy tales since I loved reading the classic Grimms' fairy tales before I discovered SGE—they were probably my favorites for a while (and still sort of are, alongside SGE). And they inhabited my storytelling before I ever discovered more subversive things existed. Thus, it's the overall darkness and the dramatics I find compelling about Soman's work.

The cleverness in the writing, when it’s well-executed, is phenomenal. And this applies to two aspects: first, Rafal, obviously, and second, the plot structure itself.

When I say Rafal, I mean specifically during the moments in which he shows off his conniving craftiness, his prowess at outfoxing others. And I love any instances of scenes in which he tricks or outwits people and systems.

Someday, I’ll have to remember to discuss the Fala-shoe-fairy-kiss scene from Fall, one of my favorites ever, in a future post. Those particular thoughts must be somewhere in my scads of drafts... I’ll have to look for them. For now, I will give you any thoughts I have now:

I'm referring to the scene in which Fala lures a fairy with a golden kiss and traps it in his shoe without a single word of verbal explanation, and he expects everyone to intuitively follow his genius thought process, the solution to their dilemma. Then, everyone, except Aladdin, manages to catch on, when they watch his demonstration.

Here's an (exaggerated?) approximation of how I'd imagine his internal monologue could've gone:

Watch and learn, youths. I’m better than you. In innumerable ways, and this is one. But fear not! I will lead you to success. No one else is capable of doing it. Yes, I will take on this burden myself. Give me all the credit. But don’t even bask in my cleverness, even if it deserves your attention. My actions speak for themselves. Just get the task done. Now. We don’t have all day to dilly-dally like inane cowards.

I will redirect you to this post, if you would like to read more about how I happen to interpret Rafal's "trickery," or rather, absence of trickery, perhaps.

And for my second spiel on the series' cleverness, elaborating on its predictable unpredictability, on a structural level, even if I only saw it in hindsight:

I love any kind of legerdemain or sleights of hand, or twisting of plots, except the devastating Fall one, I suppose. And there is something very characteristic of SGE I've observed: there are often, very, exceedingly late third act turning-points. These points are likely hallmarks of the series, to the extent that I've come to expect them by now, especially after Rise, and sometimes, I'm probably actively on the lookout for them when I read other books. Besides, Soman likes to lull readers into a false sense of security, that much we can probably confirm.

Furthermore, these turning-points seem to take two forms and you can literally only expect one of two things to happen.

It's either: 1) the characters reach a point of what should be a settled peaceable resolution, that is then rapidly negated, or 2) the characters reach a darkest-night-of-the-soul moment, the prospect of temptation in the story, often for an individual, and wishes are granted (often in subversive, unfulfilling ways to almost everyone's dismay).

Examples:

1) In Rise and TLEA: you think you are safe, that you're out of the dark Woods (which often represent the darkness of the soul or the human psyche as a symbol) but you're not. There is no built-in "warmth" to the narration, as Soman puts it in one of his interviews. This all is literally the narrative's "liar's tell" or "slip" in the third act, a revisiting of conflict, the reopening of the tale. You know there is more disaster to come. The ride is not over yet, however much you may think or desire it to be so.

In AWWP, characters say and believe the wrong things, are misled, and narrowly miss a possible "happy" ending because Sophie felt alienated enough to choose Rafal, who chose her.

In TLEA, we think everything is resolved, but all of a sudden, we get one more little impact, a jolt, that not all is well or completely restored, the moment Aric kills Lady Lesso.

In Rise, when Rafal is revived and reclaims the Schools from Vulcan, setting everything back into their original, proper forms, back to order, we think we've averted all crises, and have reverted back to the status quo. But, that resolution, again, is only momentary. Supposedly, Rhian's Evil, his rot, was awakened, and the moment Rafal considers leaving again and does, to seek out a new replacement student, is when the plot begins to race downhill again. When Rafal leaves, he leaves a gap for Rhian's poor judgement to bleed through, and Rhian hires Hook, effectively setting off the second wave of awful plot events in Fall. Rhian sort of resurrected old conflicts, and breathed new life into them.

2) Before the Great War in TLEA and the climax, we get tonal signposting that nearly "all is lost," that we're approaching, marching towards our imminent demise. There's an ever-present fog of "Abandon all hope, ye who enter" because if there's anything Rafal's good at, it's cultivating an air of stifling oppression. Hence, we have the narrow aversion of the darkest moment:

Agatha (unlike prequel Rafal with Evil Rhian) doesn't use the wrong emotional appeal. She gets through to Sophie, she and Tedros aren't executed, and Sophie destroys the ring, killing Rafal. Despite everything that said otherwise, that said Good would lose.

Lastly, a few other bits I appreciate are the roles the Seers play in the series, the meta aspects of the Storian (or Lionsmane) and the tales in general, and the names of a lot of the proper nouns such as the kingdoms—I don't know why I love some of them. The alliteration is oftentimes fun, and the names feel right and plausible.

[strqyr]

(this is for an au) jaune is from patch. his family owns a big farm not too far from the main town of the island that has been in the family for generations. crocea mors still exists as a family heirloom as well, but the last it was used in any kind of proper combat—against grimm or not—goes way back, before / during the great war.

despite the close proximity to signal, he never attended the combat school; being a hunter wasn't exactly a family occupation, and while jaune had his own dreams, his struggles with unlocking his aura put a fast stop to them.

jaune, of course, would know about ruby and yang; how could he not? their family is practically team strq! (he might be a bit of a fan) plus, before their educational paths diverged, he did use to be in the same class with yang; they weren't friends—frankly, jaune would be surprised if yang even knew his name, let alone remember that they used to go to school together—but being classmates for a few years must count for something... right?

anyway... idk where i was going with this. something something jaune still cheats his way to beacon bc maybe he's a little jealous? of yang and ruby because their life and family basically primed them to become huntresses and he wants that life too but he's an arc or something and all he has is a family heirloom he doesn't even know how to use really and no one to train him.

parallels. or something.

[the-ghost-bracket]

Spectra Vondergeist propaganda:

"Girlboss"

"Pwetty ghost lady 👉👈 plus her dolls are sosososo cool they’re partly transparent and the one I had lit up too!! An icon truly. And from the franchise that Made Me Gay"

"She ran a gossip blog for her school and after running out of gossip, she went to the ghostverse. Not only did she learn to only focus on real news, she ended up putting an end to the headmistress of the ghost highschool LITERALLY ENSLAVING THE STUDENTS, stopped ghosts' racism towards 'solids' (non-ghosts), and had a SPOOKTACULAR romance with the rebellious bad boy from the ghost school. There is also an EXTREMELY LIKELY fan theory that she's actually the long-dead daughter of one of the Grimm Brothers from Ever After High, meaning she literally SWAPPED UNIVERSES IN ORDER TO FINISH SCHOOL AND FOLLOW HER DREAMS. That is so freaking cool??? What the hell???"

"she has tumblrina energy but if tumblr existed like 2005"

"She's kinda a baddie🤭"

"We have no idea about her backstory, except that it’s very sad and mysterious. More importantly: holy shit she’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m not even going to talk about her doll version’s transparent limbs."

"her last name literally means ‘from the ghost’ isnt that cool"