#RWBY WRITING CHALLENGE!!!

[howlingday]

So how about a little challenge, choose one of the following 3 songs as the theme of the writing or background music for it: 1.-NEFFEX - Careless 2.-NEFFEX- Rumors 3.-REDASH : OUR HOMETOWN [GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE OST] ps: this is only if you want.

I do want, and you know what? I accept your challenge, and in reply, I say, GIVE ME ALL THREE.

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Another Sleepless Night

Lucyna Kushinada, better known by her friends as Lucy, stared out her apartment window. Her friends... Assuming anyone else survived that night. Everything was already fucked from the start, with her getting kidnapped and held hostage while the crew charged headfirst into the shitstorm of Arasaka gunfire.

She remembered reading the news report about the "violent gangers who tried to storm Arasaka tower" and manged to be "summarily punished as to be expected." She'd read every news outlet she could on her way to the moon. Hoping, praying that someone found something that the others didn't and somebody survived.

But no, that's not what she found. They all said the same thing with different words. Rebecca is dead. David is dead. Days later, they found Kiwi dead outside a Buck-a-Slice in Arroyo. Much as she was a backstabbing and cold-hearted bitch, a part of her missed her.

But not as much as she missed David. On the moon, she swore she saw him jumping around on the moon, just like he did before. Her throat felt dry, so she left to grab a drink. Something hard enough to make her regret. But she couldn't forget.

Never. Because every day, she regretted not ripping off her helmet and dancing with him on the moon.

(NEFFEX - Careless)

===============================

Jaune Wants to F Pyrrha

People said a lot of things about Pyrrha Nikos. Some said she tall, beautiful, and perfect in every way. Some said she was Remnant's light of hope against the dark tides of the Grimm. That none could ever defeat the aptly named Invincible Girl.

And yet there was surprisingly little said about her in any negative way. Pyrrha never made any statements of her being perfect, but public response was she was being modest. The first negative thing anyone ever said about her was during her first few weeks of Beacon Academy, when her teammate, Nora Valkyrie, said she "apologized way, way, waaay too much" and "was too nice for her own good". Since then, she had been small attempts to remedy these issues, but this seemed to only fuel the already roaring flames of the perfectionist ideal people made of her. It seemed no matter what she did, she would always be perfect.

Until one day, she met a young man about her age. Her team leader, Jaune Arc, who was almost her exact opposite in every way. Nobody said a nice thing about him since his arrival, save for the few friends he'd made, and even then, they had much to say about him.

Jaune was weak, scraggly, and was inept at combat when he began attending. She could personally attest to his lacking qualities when he not only didn't have his aura unlocked, but he didn't know what aura was! But she knew better than to judge a book by it's cover and decided on the day of her initiation that he would be her partner.

Was it selfish to pick and choose who she wanted to team up with? Maybe, but it worked out in the end. Where Jaune lacked in combat strength, he made up for it in his tactical mindset, leading their team to victory. One could say he was the brains of the outfit, though his low test scores would argue that point.

Over time, though, his lacking skill became more and more evident, so he asked Pyrrha to train him. This leads us to now, on the rooftop above their dorm, where they hold their near nightly sparring matches. They had finished a mock match, sitting next to each other, hands so tantalizingly close and yet so painfully distant. He looked to her and she looked to him.

Jaune gazed into Pyrrha's eyes, and she into his. The blue sky overhead met green hills below, and she couldn't help but admire the way he looked at her. She could see... No, she could feel love and adoration glowing from him. Her heart pounded as he spoke to her.

"Pyrrha, I... I wanna ask you something." Pyrrha swallowed a lump in her throat. "And... And if you don't want to, I'd understand and respect your decision."

It was at this moment she realized where they were. They were alone, isolated from their friends, on the rooftop of the school with a night sky filled with gleaming stars and a moon nearly whole. This was a night she'd always dreamed of.

"Anything, Jaune." She answered.

"I... I wanna fight you!"

"...Come again?" She didn't hear that wrong, did she?

"I want to fight you." Jaune said, with more confidence this time.

"I... I sorr-" She stopped herself. "I mean, excuse me, but I don't understand what you mean. Didn't we finish sparring?"

"Yeah, we did, but," he looked up, to the stars that glittered high, "but I meant I want to fight you for real one day. I want to get so good, you don't have to hold back against me when we do spar."

She wouldn't argue with his statement, considering nothing he said could be seen as a lie. She was leagues above him with her years of athletic and competitive training, so of course she would have to hold back when the two sparred. A kindness she didn't often share with others, or ever in the case of the resident bully, Cardin Winchester.

"Do... Do you really mean that?" Pyrrha asked. "Do you really want to fight me?"

"Pyrrha, if I could fight you on your level, and not totally suck, I think I'd be the happiest guy who ever lived."

Giving a puff instead of a laugh, she couldn't stop smiling at him. She leaned against him, her pinkie touching his. Then, his hand slid over hers, and she felt her heart nearly explode with joy. She gave a soft sigh.

"One day... I want to fight you, too."

(NEFFEX - Rumors)

**********************************************

The Napping Bounty Hunter

Zora Salazar was a lot of things.

First off, she hates epithets and whatever criminals she hunts down using them gets an extra crack in the jaw. Two of 'em if they're really going on and on about how their supposed "magic superpower" automatically means they win.

Second, she herself is Inscribed, and her epithet was, is, and will be broken. Helped make her bounty hunting easier, sure, but she rarely used when she was tracking. Not unless someone gives her a reason, like ticking her off in a way similar to the previous paragraph. Still, her epithet was definitely the strongest she'd seen yet.

Third, she's a bit of a romantic. Not exactly like the loved-dovey, kissy face, "I'd die for you" kinda romantic. More of a "two men enter, one man leaves, and they're both best friends, and they're giving it their all and also there's a sunset shining behind them" sort of romantic. She loved the thrill of the fight, the sweat that beads down from giving your all, and chase and satisfaction of reaching the top.

Fourth, she really loves-

"HEY!" A voice belowed.

Zora tapped her hat up from her comfy lie down against the tree. And she JUST got comfy.

The bellowing came from a familiar face, but not one she could name. Some guy from a gang she busted a few days ago. She would've brought him in, but he was already running out the back door when she zeroed in on his boss.

"You n' me got a score to settle!"

"No, we don't." Zora put her hat back on her face. Great, now she has to get comfy again.

"Yes, we do!"

"Nuh-uh."

"WHAT YOU MEAN NUH-UH?!"

"I mean. Nuh. Uh." She grumbled loudly. "Means whatever beef you got with me goes to a different butcher. Do I look like a butcher?"

"She looks like a cowboy." A small voice said behind annoying big guy.

"Nah, I'd say she's more of a desperado." Another voice said.

"You only know that word because you watched one western movie!"

"And it was a good one!"

Maybe a movie would would help her sleep. If she was real quiet, she could sneak inside and take a nap in a comfier seat than this tree. I mean, the tree was comfy if you got in the right spot, but-

"HEY! QUIT STARIN' AT THE SKY!" He huffed. "You're being so rude! We drove all the way out here in my brand new car just so we could make you pay for putting our boss in jail!"

"Listen," Zora said after letting out a deep breath, "I'm willin to let this go for interruptin my nap. So get back in your car while you still can."

"Oh, I don't think so!" Suddenly, Zora felt a hand grab her by her poncho. Of course this loudmouth had an epithet. All loudmouths do. "I'm gonna-"

"Let go."

"Wha?"

Zora glared at him with cold, baneful eyes. "LET GO, OR ELSE."

"Or else what?" He sneered. Oh, she was so hoping he'd say that.

With a grin and an iron grip, she squeezed his hand. Slowly, it started to bulge before shrinking, smaller and smaller until all that was left was emaciated, bony hand. With a groan, he let go, wheezing as he stared at his wizened fingers.

"Wh... Wha dih you do to muh bodeh..." Losing his teeth didn't make him easier to understand, but Zora was well versed in gum linguistics.

"Or else." She said, turning away. "Enjoy the walk home, old man."

"Uh, but we drove."

"I know." Faster than anyone else could react, she whipped out her gun and fired a bullet into the engine of the car. Rust creeps as paint peels, the car slowly sinking to the ground as it's tires deflated. The glass of the car slipped free, shattering as it fell inside. "But you're walkin' now."

(REDASH - Our Hometown)

_________________________________________

[thecoramaria]

You might have already posted about this, but am too lazy to scroll through your profile lol :') Which fandoms do you write about?

Hey, Nonny~! I mostly write for 'Legend of Zelda', in particular 'Twilight Princess', though I have written a bunch of oneshots for 'RWBY' (mostly Renora) as well, and I wrote a few prompt ficlets for 'Miraculous Ladybug'. I also wrote 'Vocaloid' fanfic (and I think one Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle ficlet?) back in high school but that has since been deleted.

I do have some fics for other fandoms in the works, such as a possible 'Endless Ocean 2' novelisation, a 'Clone Wars' crack fic, and several for 'Spy x Family'. Like goddamn have I been feeling the Twiyor brainrot lately. The ideas keep coming! (Also I think I partially wrote a 'Dragon Prince' oneshot about 3-4 years ago but I don't think that's ever gonna be completed)

Pretty much all my longfics that I've completed (or am actively working on) are 'Legend of Zelda' though, particularly when the pairing is Midlink - the OTP to end all OTPs! I find that the fandom doesn't tend to provide the kinds of fics I want to read about them. I love when they're slowburn and their chemistry is built from the ground up, but the vast majority of the fics that do that are retellings of 'Twilight Princess'. I love a good retelling, but now I want to see them in more alternate universes (that don't involve eight other versions of Link), or stories that significantly diverge from canon as early as possible (which is what I'm doing with 'The Light Invasion' trilogy). And it's also an absolute must for me that Midna be written in-character (which unfortunately the official manga adaptation failed to do!) and that Link be fleshed out instead of left as a blank slate. So I think that's what's motivates me to write my LoZ longfics the most and put the most focus on that fandom: I must photosynthesise and make my own food!

I also don't tend to broadcast my fandoms on this Tumblr account (I have a personal account that Tumblr shadowbanned but I still use it) because I want to keep it relatable to people of any fandom, but maybe by profile you meant my AO3? Idk 🤷 You're not very likely to figure out what fandoms I write for by scrolling through this Tumblr account lol, so even if you had the energy, you saved yourself some effort there!

Thanks for the opportunity to info-dump!

[bridgyrose]

15 minute writing challenge - Yang introduces Ruby to the club scene at 21.

(Alright, here's the challenge)

Ruby sighed as she looked around the club, watching everyone dance and drink while the music pounded in the air around her. She tapped her foot against the stool she sat on, watching the time on her scroll as she tried to count down the minutes to when she could leave, sipping on her fourth soda. She still wasnt sure how Yang convinced her to come around, nor did she remember why she even agreed, but everything made her feel overwhelmed. 

“Come on Rubes, you need to relax and get up and dance!” Yang said as she brought over a couple drinks, sitting one down in front of Ruby. “You’ll never meet anyone if you sit here.” 

“How can you enjoy this?” Ruby asked, pushing the drink away from her. “Its too loud to think, and I still have a meeting with Ozpin in the morning. I should be leaving-” 

“And you only turn twenty-one once. We’re here for you to relax, remember? You’ve been so stressed out lately and this will be the perfect chance for you to cut loose.” 

Ruby sighed as Yang walked off, staring at the drink that was left in front of her. Sure, Yang was right, turning twenty-one was a once in a lifetime thing, but drinking in a crowded club with music that made her ears pound wasnt exactly her idea of relaxing. Truthfully, she would’ve much rather been spending time with Weiss in the library or with Blake getting tea… even game night with Jaune and his team would’ve been better than this. Still, if she was going to be here, it might not be a bad plan to try to enjoy the night. 

A woman with green hair sat down next to Ruby, taking a sip from her own drink as she stared out into the crowd. “Not much of a clubber, are you?” 

“That obvious?” Ruby asked. 

“You’ve been sitting here for the last hour, you havent touched the drink your friend brought, and you’ve had enough soda and water to tell someone that you’re either the DD, or that you dont drink.” 

“Sister. She’s my sister, not my friend.” 

“Doesnt make a difference to me.” 

Ruby pushed her drink towards the woman and sighed. “And you? Sounds like you’ve been more interested in watching me than enjoying yourself if you know what I’ve been through since I’ve walked in.” 

The woman shrugged and put her empty glass down. “Figured you’d prefer a friend that didnt want to dance. Or get you drunk.” 

“That’s fair.” 

“Emerald.” 

Ruby looked at her curiously. “Emerald?” 

Emerald smiled a bit. “My name is Emerald. What’s yours?” 

“Ruby.” 

“Want to ditch this place? I know a cafe down the road that has a bit better of an atmosphere than here.” 

Ruby hesitated as she looked out towards Yang, her foot tapping a bit faster as she almost seemed torn on leaving. While she didnt want to be here, she couldnt exactly just ditch Yang. But if she had a way out… She sighed and texted Yang from her scroll, letting her know where she’d be. “Sure, why not? Anywhere is better than here.”

[rwby-mulitshipper]

JanuRWBY Writing Challenge

Hosted by @becausewritingshouldbefun

Prompts and ships for each chapter!

1. Baby, it's cold outside (Sunflakes)

2. Glitter (Nuts and Volts)

3. Invite (Monochrome)

4. Beginning (Partners in Cream)

5. Resolutions (Renorarc)

[matt0044]

I often feel like the FNDM, especially Anime fans, are odd for trying to whitewash Ironwood’s actions or claiming they came out of nowhere. When frankly, a lot of the appeal for Anime growing up was how it was animation that depicted types of characters that even adult animation weren’t known for.

For all the memes, what made the likes of Death Note fascinating was how Light and L were very much people you would never wanna be friends with but were infinitely fascinating for how their minds works. How they each saw themselves in the right and why. It among other gateway Anime were appealing for their character writing being challenging at times.

But we also have to contend with the whole “Wow, cool robot” side of fandoms where Ironwood’s “cool” battles and swagger make many overlook that he’s… not exactly a guy you’d see a movie with.

I LOVE characters that are not easy to like or they kind that I’d punch in the gut if I had the nerve. One of the rewarding things about RWBY was seeing how the usual likable cast of archetypes being fleshed out into people who asked you to look beyond initial impressions.

Yet it seems like fandom is constantly paying lip service to this type of character that they dilute in their mind. I don’t know if it’s Social Media itself or something that’s always been there but getting worse but we need fandoms to practice what they preach when they asked for “more complex characters.” Especially when they’re not white and/or guys.

[kitkatopinions]

Just saw the extended animatic that was originally meant to end V9 and is now gonna get repurposed into the (possible) V10.

Let me just say, I still feel the same about the things I saw in the first animatic. I can now firmly say that Qrow has been replaced with a doppleganger same as Blake (I wonder if it's like a partial possession thing in this case where sometimes it's Qrow and sometimes it's the faker.) I hate the dumb Winter scenes about how disappointed she is that poor people aren't nice enough to her billionaire blue blooded mother in her silly little sunhat. I have no idea what the hell Raven is doing there. The 'Remember Her Message' thing is stupid because of how poorly done Ruby's message to the world actually was and what little impact Team RWBYJNOR has actually had on the world at large. And I still want to see Whitley without Willow for three point five seconds. And I'm still wondering why the presence of an army in Atlas was a sign of pure evil and was immediately seen as a horrifying threat but seeing an army in Vacuo is meant to be a sign of peace and hope.

But also, now I have more to say.

Like first of all, I'm even more confused on how Remnant managed to pull off any sort of army now that we know what remained in Vale after the Fall of Beacon got decimated. Where are they getting their army? From Mistral, where we know Leo had all the Hunters killed? Are we meant to assume that the people that showed up from Mistral are the cops Blake called on the White Fang? Or, maybe from Argus, even though we're meant to hate Cordovin and the Atlas military that was there? Second of all, this makes me even more annoyed at Winter for being like 'if my poor martyr sister could see how badly we're doing, she'd be disappointed,' Winter get realistic goals challenge 2024. Third of all, Team SSSN and CFVY made appearances and if I ever have to see Coco "based on a nazi" Adel ever again, it'll be too soon, but I still insist that it should've been just Sun, Neptune, and Velvet because none of their other teammates got enough focus in the actual show to be real characters. They could've been casually name dropped off-handedly and it would've been fine. Speaking of teams making reappearances, Neon is there, which means she didn't die in the Fall of Atlas and likely her teammates didn't either, but they had better have a full explanation in V10 for how soldiers on the field got back to the city and threw the portals, and it's weird that we saw Neon but not Flynt. Also can I just point out that "the people who were colonized by Atlas are being aggressive to innocent Atlas orphans and need to be told off" is a writing choice the writers didn't have to do, and considering all the whole history with RWBY and bigotry, I don't know why they did that. Neon and Nora had a moment though, and I was like... Ship material? Also, Tyrian and Mercury are working with the Crown, but... To be honest, if they don't scrap that in V10 (if V10 ever comes,) I'm gonna question their decision making even more, because they just did a new location with a new villain and it proved that this late in the game it's hard to set up or properly execute new threats, and if V10 ever comes out, it's a high probability that we're not ever getting a V11. So if you ask me, if they don't cut out the Crown, they're either gonna badly execute these new bads because they expect their fans to do homework to understand the main show, or they're gonna spend way too much focus on establishing them and the Mains will get sidelined again. Merc looks like a mess, though, and this would make me think a redemption arc is a-coming except that they're pressed for time like I said, so I'm not counting on it. The fact that I have to see Peter Port of all characters is also making me want to say a lot of bad words. Like I cannot emphasize enough how much I hated seeing him and his stupid face and how much I wish he'd never existed. What is this choice to not have the serious potential mentor character who had been part of Oz's inner circle come in and instead having the comic relief teacher who blathered about testosterone and flirted with an underage student be the one to break what should be devastating news that should by all rights get a lot of focus? And where the heck is Tai in all of this? Rip to Oobleck, but out of everyone from the Vale seasons, I would not have picked either of these men to bring back, I'd have brought in Tai and Glynda. It's just a bad choice. And still no sign of Maria and Pietro, so like... What the heck?

All in all, I thought before that I couldn't have less hope for the future of RWBY, but whoa buddy this extended animatic proved me wrong.

[bestworstcase]

is there anything about rwby that you would have done differently as a writer? i.e. introducing certain ideas of characters earlier, complete wholesale changes, etc.

in terms of major narrative choices, adam attempts to assassinate sienna as in canon but her personal guard remains loyal, there’s a scuffle, and she’s able to escape wounded but alive, showing up at haven to pincer adam’s forces with the faction of the white fang that refuses to go along with his coup.

the albains are loyal to sienna but still weird and disliked – not for sinister foreshadowing but because sometimes people are just sort of weird and off-putting, and that’s a fun trait to give a couple of good guys who show the fuck up to defend an ally who’s hitherto been a bit distrustful and cool toward them when the violent splinter group tries to assassinate him; narratively the albains being like this while aligning themselves firmly with sienna also provides an opportunity to cast the belladonna’s alliance with and support of sienna into sharper focus and perhaps allows for blake to bounce off and talk to some guys in the “yes direct action and tactical violence, no whatever the fuck adam’s doing” camp to refine her understanding of the white fang and make it clearer how adam corrupted what sienna does and believes.

and the arc resolution is sienna reclaiming leadership of the white fang and preparing to clean house while ghira and ilia plan a second, separate but allied organization focused on advocacy with the overall point being that expecting one group to do and be everything is part of the problem.

i talk about this more here. the white fang arc really isn’t as bad as its frequently maligned but suffers from a lack of clarity in how it’s intended message is delivered; the point of sienna surviving and having genuine allies to represent her side in menagerie is to address that lack of clarity by articulating her philosophy and underscoring that the belladonnas support her and ally themselves with her because the objection isn’t “violence in bad” but rather “indiscriminate violence that materially harms the cause and violent infighting are bad.”

aside from that, i wouldn’t change anything significant presuming that i had to work under the same conditions as the actual writers (<- if they hadn’t lost those two episodes in v9, 9.10 wouldn’t feel so rushed and we’d have got that animatic as a full episode; if there hadn’t been budget issues in v5 mistral wouldn’t feel so empty; etc it’s very easy to fix problems like this in hypotheticals where you imagine you have infinite time and money, but in the real world if this were my story and i faced these sort of logistical challenges it would be to the detriment of the narrative in the same ways and i have no interest in pretending otherwise).

all that said

if i were the one writing this story and either i had more money or it was, like, a series of novels (<- which is what i’d be writing, realistically) – the religious layer of the story would be a lot more overt, not just in terms of the religious conflict with regard to the brothers but i would flesh out 1-2 other religions too. blake’s arc would feature wrestling with complicated feelings about god-of-animals-worship. ruby and yang would’ve been raised monotheistic light-worshippers; weiss would be a lapsed orthodox brother-cultist (in my head this is comparable to, say, the chasm between evangelical protestants and a lapsed catholic). oscar would be stolidly practicing some other religion that has nothing to do with the brothers, to ozma’s consternation, because that’s funny. salem would be still a polytheist but pointedly not worshipping Those Two, because that’s also funny.

<- this is not to “”fix“” anything i just think it’s important as a writer to be self-indulgent. and i like fantasy religions. bfrgscbk

[the-path-to-redemption]

Really late because only yesterday I've started browsing the RWDE tag to see what the fandom has been up to, and saw some of your WF posts.

*rips off hair* Is it weird that I feel SO uncomfortable with the "redeemed Adam" AUs? I adore Adam 100% but every AU, even from some Adam fans, has that "Adam has to learn not to be racist" condescending vibe and punishes him more harshly than other characters. But, people, he WAS a literal SLAVE?! Doesn't matter if it happened when he was a child or a bit older, HE WAS A SLAVE AND HE WAS BRANDED?! PLEASE CUT HIM SOME SLACK?!

After a couple years of not being around I just feel that Adam fans as a collective still feel a bit traumatized from the discourse, so they try to justify their liking of Adam and overcompensate by punishing him harder, as if to say "See? I'm not that blind and biased as Adam haters say!".

I'm reading a fic currently that it's very good but even faunus are condescending and rude to Adam because of his 'racism' and my soul vanished. Instead of faunus trying to understand and support each other, isn't that even more isolating and alienating? Why are they cannibalizing each other? I know it literally happens in real life but as far as I've read, it's not bringing attention to that fact, but more like presenting it as a good thing. Again, I feel that everyone (fans) as a collective is FORGETTING ADAM WAS A LITERAL SLAVE and treating as if he had just been bullied in school for having horns. He shouldn't have other faunus policing his reactions (so far, he hasn't committed a crime, he just yelled and got very angry because he felt unsafe). It's clearly drawing a line where certain attitudes from trauma are "right" (being a cute crier, submissive, etc) and others are "wrong" (being angry, yelling, etc) because "it makes faunus look bad". Even worse, the faunus that scold Adam are generally on the cuter side of faunus traits. Isn't that just feeding into the ideas already set by humans? That faunus should be cute and behave well and that any faunus that is more aggressive and "dangerous" should be considered a threat?

*very deep sigh* I'm sorry for the long ask but I had to vent for a bit and see if I'm not that crazy yet. It's just that reading those fics makes me think we're gaslighting ourselves somehow, and how that can impact real life if we act like this over a cartoon, and it's really depressing. Thank you if you read all of this.

Long Post Ahead. Contains Spoilers for RWBY and Full Metal Alchemist. Mention of child slavery, genocide, systematic oppression, branding, disfigurement, violence, and racial abuse.

Don't apologize, babe, you're more than valid in your feelings regarding this issue. And yes, I do feel like there is a lot of overcompensation when it comes to how a lot of "Adam redemption" AU, but I believe that it's just because the writers haven't seen another way of writing his story without invalidating his experience yet. And that's understandable! This is a topic that is extremely complicated to explore, and to start one has to understand that there shouldn't be any separation of "good" and "bad" minorities, as well as the willingness to challenge the status quo that has taken characters like Adam on this path towards liberation.

I don't know if you have seen my post comparing the way RWBY and FMA writes a narrative of a minority opposing a racist system through violent means here, but the way that I see FMA succeeding in its efforts was that the narrative never demonize the way Scar feels about his hatred towards the people who wronged him and his people. And it rightfully shouldn't! His people were systematically murdered and experimented on, his brother who wanted to peacefully contribute to helping their people and was willing to learn about alchemy to find a common ground was murdered when he tries to protect Scar, which resulted in his arm being grafted onto Scar to save him, and the oppression of the Ishvalans still persist long after the conflict while the government oppressing them prosper. Scar has all the rights to be pissed off and went on a murderous revenge, and the narrative does. Not. Demonize him for that.

However, it criticize his actions when innocents are involved. And I'm not talking about Ed and Al, I'm taking about Winry. The daughter of the couple who saved Scar's life who he murdered in a fit of rage. The little girl who still extend her kindness to him despite not forgiving Scar for leaving her orphaned, because she broke the cycle of violence and that choice of hers let Scar pick an alternative to his violence. AKA, murdering the dictator who created the genocide of the Ishvalans. Again, the narrative of FMA doesn't make Scar out to be this monster who should be put down for not asking for his rights "nicely", it empathize with him, offer him new perspective, and gave him a chance to do the right thing while still getting his justice.

RWBY doesn't have this nuance to it, and I think that is why a lot of times, the "redeem Adam" AUs goes too hard on excusing his actions and/or overdo the criticism on his actions without attempting to unpack the systematic oppression that creates people like Adam and break it down. There's a balance you have to understand in order to write a convincing "redeem Adam" narrative that doesn't erase his own trauma, and it comes with actually calling out what happened to him as wrong and inhumane.

For Adam to "unlearn his racism", the authors have to look at the events that caused him to have this mentality and admit that it's a flawed system. They have to recognize that there is implicit biases like you mentioned between Faunus and how they're perceived in comparison to each other. The authors have to admit that Adam's hatred for humans and his actions were products of a hateful, racist society that sought out to kill him in every way that matters. You can't half-ass this topic by putting the blame on him; this isn't me saying that he shouldn't be called out for his violence on others, not at all, this is me saying that you need to see the forest, not just the tree. Adam unlearning and breaking the cycle of abuse requires him to be given some kind of hope, some kindness that he isn't a monster for rightfully being hateful towards people who oppressed him and his people. He needs to know that the world still have a place for him to heal and be better. And Adam shouldn't be the one to have to beg to see it by being "nice enough".

Thank you for your ask, anon. Please take a step back if this discourse is too much for you, your well-being is much more important. And I hope that my answer to your ask is somewhat satisfactory.

[sunnysunsins]

Since recently everything here has been taken over by dipshits who lack media literacy, i will come back here to say - RWBY is a good show. It is good. It has good story and good writing and good characters. Does it have stumbles and limitations? Of course, like everything else ever created. Is it the real reason yall are dedicating your lives to religiously following and picking apart every detail to find something, anything, to hate on and make it your whole personality? Nah.

Yall are just pissy your hc wasn't canon. And i'm only half-joking.

Yall are just stuck in the expectation of "cute girls in school fighting monsters and baddies", which it hasn't been for almost a decade. Let Beacon fucking die already, it was the most boring part of the story anyway. If you like it so much, watch.. idk, high guardian spice. Or maybe my hero academia, it has godawful writing too with your favorite Adam-like and Ironwood-like archetypes you adore so much.

And if you didn't click off already in hissy rage, and want to challenge me on the writing point:

Yall are complaining about pacing, characterization lacking, skipped development, insert some other reason, how "show went to shit after volume 3". Well, newsflash, look back at volume 1. REALLY look at it, without your nostalgia boner.

How, in what actually can fit into 3.5 full-length episodes, it skips a whole semester with only a few moments shown in like 3-8 minutes. Notice how Ruby and Pyrrha interacted like 2 times in 3 volumes total. Ruby and Penny? Yeah, they barely interacted too. Ren hasn't talked to rwby girls at all aside from ensemble scenes.

Too many characters in later volumes? Honey, 1-3 had SO many pointless grunts and you ate them up. The whole Vytal festival was filled with them.

Can you tell me the plot of volume 2 from the top of your head? Yeah, me neither. If i think maybe i can remember there was a mecha fight, a dance and a train, but beyond that what was the point of that entire volume again?

Your favorite, pedestalled, volume 3, most of which is fighty-fighty filler and the only stuff you actually remember when jizzing your pants about it is last 3 episodes.

Most character interactions and development happened after Beacon arc. Most actual plot and bigger story happened after it too. Yall are stuck circlejerking to *filler*, setup, which only purpose was to show the status quo to later destroy it and start to show the real picture.

Do you know why v4 and 5 feel so empty and missing something? Sure, juggling multiple plots gave it's pacing issues too, but it felt empty because there were no side characters to fill out the world and make it feel alive. V5 cast was so tiny it felt like nobody interacted at all. Because there were none of those "extras" yall hate on so much. The extras make the world feel real. Which is why Atlas feels alive when Mistral wasn't.

The most complaints about later volumes are chucked down to lack of media literacy and nuanced reading of situations and characters. Translated for your easier understanding: the writing was too nuanced for your "cute girls go fighty fighty brrr" brain to comprehend. Sometimes things require you to put the situation into character perspectives. Sometimes their decisions are made under stress + personality + influence of events and interactions. But i guess yall don't want to think, yall just want to watch "girl go brrr killy killy monster"

I can continue writing down all these other points, but i'm hungry and should get up so i won't. Bottom text: RWBY is a good show with good story and good writing and good characters. It has struggles and fumbles like every other piece of media. But for some reason, because it's indie, it's held to a much higher standard and everyone feels entitled to pick apart every detail of it to make themselves feel justified for feeling sad over their dead headcanons, even though they'd never do the same picking for big production popular series with much *much* worse writing than even the worst of RWBY's fumbles.

If you made it this far and are a member of rwde, congratulations, you still have a reasonable bone or few. Most others i guess clicked off at first point and blocked me after sending me some kinda death threat, idk, i haven't posted this yet after all.

So yeah, feel free to leave your takes and death threats below, i'll happily discuss further later

[unofficialadamtaurus]

Fans who love the character Adam could’ve been 🤝 fans who love the character Blake could’ve been

I literally started watching RWBY explicitly because someone told me I was exactly like Blake (this was when volume 2 was wrapping up) and I connected to her so much. I have complicated feelings about Adam (ie I saw him as Blake’s abusive ex from the get go even before it was confirmed due to coincidental similarities to a real life situation and projection but retrospectively love his character and want so much more from it) and I feel great kinship with Adam fans like you because of how mishandled these two characters were

I will maintain until the day I die that Adam’s weak writing also weakened Blake’s. Like sure, who’s gonna argue against a “kill the stalker abuser ex” story (ignoring the racism with Herculean effort)…but it could’ve been so much more. Breaking cycles of abuse while recognizing the humanity in the monsters that cycle creates, not boiling down solving racism to just “kill the crazies and nicely ask your oppressors to stop,” giving Blake a moral and physical challenge to overcome that would likewise flesh out her backstory, the list goes on.

Instead he dies a pathetic hate sink’s death and she becomes arm candy. Stellar stuff, no notes 🫠

[pinesfamilyguidetotheweird]

This might not help everyone, but if you're wondering how to write post-redeemed Pacifica, think of another character who was in the same/similar position as her.

For me, it's Weiss Schnee from RWBY.

Both are from a rich and famous background with a corrupt father and strive to save the family name from infamy.

Now...I do feel that is where the similarities stopped. Sorta.

First off, and kinda major one, is their family's background. The Northwests came from conspiracy and fraud in finding a town. The Schnees were from honesty and heroism in founding an energy company. Nathaniel Northwest was merely given the title of founder and the riches that came with it, he didn't earn it. Nicholas Schnee (inspired by Saint Nicholas and Santa Clause) worked hard to get to where he is, day and night.

Now, their fathers. Preston was born to wealth under the Northwest name. Jacques Schnee was married into the family, not for love, but for the Schnee name and the fame that went with it.

As for their upbringing, Weiss' was (arguably) more positive. Just like Pacifica, she was born with all that she needed, comforts guaranteed. But, Weiss had her heroic grandfather in her life, a very attentive and kind mother, a sweet and fatherly butler, and an older sister who planned to follow their grandfather's footsteps. Weiss was a spoiled brat, but a kind one. Things only got bad when Jacques revealed his true colors...on her tenth birthday. For the rest of Weiss' childhood, she struggled with the fact that her father never loved her (plus her mother and siblings) and only saw her as a means to an end and that he single handedly tarnished the family name. Weiss had no choice but to be cold in a cruel world. While Weiss can appear as snobby and entitled (and she kinda was), she is a hard worker just like her late grandfather and only acts the way she does because she was on a single minded path to prove herself.

From what it seems, Pacifica didn't have better role models outside of her parents and their friends and Pacifica's (likely fake) friends. In Lost Legends, it seems like Pacifica's innocence and sweetness was tarnished at an earlier age than Weiss (Awww...T.T) and grew up being as snobby and entitled as her parents up until Dipper revealed that her ancestor was a fraud and her worldview is consistently challenged by the Pines.

All and all, I can see Pacifica as being a more sharp-tongued Weiss post redemption.

Shit, they both fence, apparently. I think. (or was it a hc for Pacifica?)

[captainbasch]

Me venting about 14 because I have to somewhere

Lmao so we're 4 quests away from the end of the game and I'm seeing ppl who are afraid of spoilers and i'm like, Girl, I regret to inform you-there are none. They literally gave everything away in the trailer and promo stuff. I half expected "the eliminator" to be the final boss. There are TWO, 2, character points that can be considered spoilers. Otherwise, they had nothing good to reveal or hide. I suppose that's why they showed us so much of Sol9. You could cut the story of the entire expansion, hand us the "plot device that sets up the future of the mmorpg" in a side quest, and you would lose nothing of value. (Expect for Kirle and Erenville lore. That was good!)

im so sad LOL I love the art direction and music but damn everything else is so blah, meh, or downright awful. (Even the supposedly harder or more challenging dungeons/trials are way easier to understand. You die once - if even - and then you have the mech. memorized. It just feels like everything has a bloated HP bar. Guess it's finally time for me to graduate to Ex... oh haven't done the end dungeons yet so maybe they'll be what ppl are excited about!) The gear sucks. I haven't seen a single piece of glam worth farming for. I was not expecting recolored gear for dungeons when Yoshi P said they have enchanced the amount of rewards by 1.5. I guess he just meant....dye? food? help. The duel dye system is a joke. Havent tried picto or viper yet so i hope i like at least one of them.

anyway, i have one word document of bulleted points of things that baffle me and one rewrite that makes everything bearable but keeps the same plot points / ideas. ITS RIGHT THERE GUYS. I barely added/switched stuff around/took stuff away and made it instantly passable. I compared this to my fondness/hatred for RWBY which make me die. How did ff14 pick up the bad habits of THAT writing staff??

Happy for ppl who are enjoying it. I wish that were me. Once I finish MSQ i'll be able to enjoy the world more at my own pace so maybe it'll change my mind a bit... I hate being so negative about a game I love so much but man. The hype from "Going on a Vacation with my WoL" to "Actually I want to go home :(" sucked so bad.

[itsclydebitches]

It astounds me that CRWBY can have the whole volume's 'character arc' resting on the idea that Ruby doesn't need to be perfect and that her friends aren't expecting her to be, only for her heroic entrance in the climax to be followed by her team mates basically going "If she wasn't perfect, we wouldn't follow her.". They've already failed to effectively establish a character arc and somehow STILL manage to undermine it.

Unfortunately, that's RWBY's go-to writing style: put forth a straightforward character arc, but then fail to consider how everything surrounding it may undermine that journey. RT seems to continually believe that The Message of the show is separate from everything else we see on screen, rather than realizing they're two sides of the same coin; a fictional series of evidence supporting a fictionalized argument. You can't have a character proclaim, "I've learned to be charitable!" and then show numerous scenes where they're being unnecessarily stingy. That's a head and a tails that simply don't fit.

Cat: You’re broken! You break everything you touch! I call Humans… weak! Confused! Incomplete! Weiss: No, you’re wrong. Yang: She’s never been any of those things. Blake: That’s why we follow her.

Unlike my above example though, RWBY is usually a bit more complicated. Here, the Cat tosses out accurate and inaccurate accusations, making it that much easier for viewers to simply ignore the ways in which this moment doesn't support Ruby's arc because look, some of what he's saying is nonsense. Personally, I disagree with "broken" and "incomplete"—especially with those two descriptors leveled partly at Yang—but confused? Frequently. Weak? Yes, that's a part of life; a challenge to overcome. Breaking everything they touch? Not everything, but a large part of Volume 9's reflection was supposedly them acknowledging how massively they messed up in Atlas. So... yeah. Things have been broken, on a literal and metaphorical level. Why would the heroes deny that in the final hour?

The purpose of Ruby's arc was meant to be accepting her flaws to the point where she can work to move past them. There's a fine line between acknowledging that people are imperfect while likewise acknowledging our responsibility to continually improve. It's not an excuse or a pessimistic declaration, yet Volume 9 started by denying the impact that their failure has had on others—Who cares that an entire Kingdom is gone? We tried our best and that's all that will ever matter!—and ends with the girls denying that those flaws exist at all. "You're wrong... She’s never been any of those things." Ruby has never been weak? Or confused? She's never fucked up? Huh, I thought this arc was explicitly showing how weak and confused and a failure she's been, to the point where those emotions drove her to a magical suicide. Worse than simply erasing Ruby's (already near non-existent) growth though, this moment—as you say, anon—suddenly paints Ruby as perfect when the whole POINT was for her to realize she didn't have to be. Her team turns her into an archetype on a pedestal, rather than a living, breathing, flawed person who needs support. Ruby is never confused. She's never weak. She's never lacked anything within her sense of identity. She's never made horrific mistakes. She is the PERFECT leader and that is why we follow her. Insert the implication here that a flawed Ruby would be abandoned by her team, AKA the very fear she expressed earlier that day:

Ruby from a few hours ago: "Why do I have to be the leader, anyway? Why do I always have to be the one to pick people up? What about me? ... Gotta find someone who isn't going to just screw everything up! Gotta stay positive, right? Smiles all around!"

RWBY is so frustrating because we have these scenes where multiple narrative problems are combining. I hate that they have Ruby complaining about being leader when she continually demanded that responsibility, to the point of actual Kingdom-wide destruction, and I hate that she's simultaneously right to be upset with how her team has been treating her. RWBY fails on both fronts by giving us a hero who is incapable of acknowledging her own screwups without making a whole production of it (Ruby's breakdown, though understandable, puts her in the position of a victim in need of comfort, rather than the responsible party who needs to own up to those mistakes) and it gives us a hero who expresses a need to be treated like a human being... only for her team to turn around and deny a large chunk of what makes her human.

None of which even gets into the iffy human/faunus dichotomy and how these definitions of humanity apply to Blake...

I love you just the way you are, says Summer, talking to a literal toddler who has not caused irreparable damage in a war. What about me? screams Ruby, someone who has made it all about her since she ignored Qrow's advice and ran after Cinder. We never expected her to be perfect, says Yang, and she's kinda right because the story has consistently shown Ruby demanding this responsibility, not having it placed on her shoulders. We follow Ruby because she's perfect, says the team, obliterating this Volume's arc that was already contradicting the rest of the series. This show is a MESS, says Clyde, banging her head against the metaphorical wall.

[invested-in-your-future]

I saw your post about if RWBY was written someone decently:

“We would have absolutely gotten a fallout from Jaune just...forging his entry into the academy and then harassing a girl for two volumes.”

I know I am going to get some hate but honestly I wanted Jaune to learn from his actions. I never did like how even at his worst he gets rewarded for his bad behavior:

-he came to a school without aura and no one scolded him for being reckless

-he is sleeping and being lazy with his training (this was your dream why aren’t you taking this seriously?)

-the worse one to me personally (Pyrrha offering training he desperately needs he refuses out of pride…despite knowing he is doing awful)

I hated the bully arc because it was only there to make jaune look good. (Doesn’t help the writers admitting that it was self insert moment.)

Jaune should have faced consequences for being this irresponsible.

Honestly, it's just a mess.

First of all, I have to preface this by saying that there's nothing necessarily wrong with writing Jaune as lazy or not taking his position seriously - as long as writing acknowledges that and uses it to develop him.

Making Jaune as misguided into believing being a Huntsman would make him respected and adored while struggling to put in actual work necessary could be interesting.

The behavior that is in show would fit perfectly the idea of someone who just thought he'd enter into this prestigious academy and get treated like a hero or "The protagonist" - of course someone like that would instantly attempt to hit on the most popular and famous girl at school and of course someone like that would find it difficult to get into his brain that she isn't interested.

Writing Jaune as this person enamored with toxic stereotypes of masculinity and the idea that others owe something to him for his position is interesting. As is the idea of someone like that slowly getting over the toxicity inherent in his behavior and growing into someone more genuine, someone not bound by awful complexes and generic macho fantasies.

Showing how Jaune has to learn to be comfortable with himself and how the whole "knight in shining armor" stereotype of masculinity is not necessary - that would be a riveting character arc.

It would justify all the clashes with Cardin because both represent the polar opposite issues with toxic masculinity overall.

It would even make him a fitting member of JNPR by making his characterization part of the team's theme of challenging gender stereotypes and roles!

The issue is that the writers don't see any of those as an issue - in the minds of Miles and Kerry and the like - Jaune is just this guy "way in over his head" who is just "trying his best".

And what's worse, the writers take the absolute worst possible message from the critique that surrounds Jaune - they somehow believe that the key to making Jaune more likable and to sell him better to the audiences is to make him more "manly", "stronger", "responsible" - all the while walking straight(heh) into the worst toxic stereotypes that people were complaining about in the first place.

They don't attempt to challenge the toxicity and the annoying character traits because they don't see them. Instead they attempt to make him likable and "cool".

So Jaune gets to step over a trail of women who died for his characterization while lamenting how "he never asked for this" and getting a banana haircut that's "more manly". And to prove the likes of Weiss of how achshually he's totally nice and cool guy and she was oh so wrong for daring to not be interested.

I wrote before that the show has Jaune deal with completely different issues than his character actually has, essentially in parts stuffing Ruby's character arc bits onto his character rather than the main protagonist.

It's not only infuriating because of how much the result of his characterization poisons the already shaky show and steals the protagonists' screen time and development, but also downright sad to see the potential of a compelling story arc robbed.

[bafflement]

Heroes Become Monsters, Two Sides Of A Coin [Deaged Oz AU]

This wasn't quite what I had in mind, setting out to write day four of this challenge, @remnants-of-rwby-events but I must admit to being rather fond of the results.

To Tip, of course, James was a friend, a hero. Right up until he stopped.

AO3 link:

Plain Text:

“I just… he was my friend, Qrow! I trusted him and he… he…” Tip broke off, voice half a sob as Qrow laid a hand on his shoulder. There was very little he could really do about the situation, though. Oz had thought that Leon was his friend… and he had been wrong. Maybe he really had been, once, but that time was long over. That Jimmy had been moronic enough to betray him too… there wasn’t anything he could do about it now, even if he deeply wished he could bring him back just long enough to throttle him himself.

Bad enough, that he’d decided to try to control Oz, worse that he’d hidden it under the guise of protection. Worse still, just how he’d treated Oscar… or what he’d done to Atlas as a whole. Maybe it would have been better, had he never risen to the rank of General, never had the power that he’d ended up abusing. Oh, Qrow had never hidden that he really hadn’t liked him, but he knew that Oz had. That Glynda, for all she was often annoyed and frustrated with the man, must be equally hurt by the decisions that Ironwood had made. The ones that had lead to his death, in the end.

That was a bad business, really, though he could see why the refugees, rightly or wrongly blaming Ironwood solely, had done what they’d done. Thankfully at least Oz hadn’t been the one to find the body. It was bad enough that he had to face just how the man had died, but if he’d had to see it… no. For all Oz was the wizard, was in many ways still the adult he had been before Beacon fell, he was also just a little boy. That showed at times, especially times like this.

At least he still had friends, had people he could talk to, lean on if he had to. Oz had closed himself off slightly though, but he couldn’t blame him. After the girls had… vanished… and vanished wasn’t dead, they couldn’t be dead… nothing was the same. He had his brother, though. He had Qrow, would always have Qrow. He had his sister, had Winter and Whitley, Glynda and Theo and Bart. He was very certain that none of those would betray him. If any of them ever did, well, Qrow would likely kill them himself. It wouldn’t come to that, though. They’d been divided too long as it was.

“Qrow, he… how could he do this? I’m why he was hurt; he was protecting me. We’ve been friends for decades… he used to tell me all these stories about what it was like when I was still Winter, all those things I don’t remember. He said he’d always protect me, though I really wish that he hadn’t. He shouldn’t have to. He was mortal, Qrow, just like the rest of you are… I wasn’t worth the protection.” Tip was crying softly, tears running down pale cheeks. He swiped at his eyes angrily, why was he mourning so hard, when James had tried to set Atlas up anew out here… when he hadn’t been able to give up what little control he still had over his citizens. But then, technically, wasn’t Oz one of his citizens too?

Qrow sighed. “Mebbe concentrate on the good times? Yeah, he kinda lost it at the end, but he was ya friend, Pocketsized. He must’a cared about ya, to almost get himself killed for you.” Qrow hated arguing in Jimmy’s favour, giving that man even the shadow of a chance, but Oz had loved him as a friend. Had trusted him, had never seen the cracks in the façade that, to Qrow, had always been so obvious. But then, that was Oz all over… he always gave people the benefit of the doubt, believed the best of them. Maybe a part of that was the bits of him that were still Winter, still that crippled, sickly little boy. If even a fraction of the tales Jimmy had told him were accurate, well, maybe that would explain just how protective he’d been of him. His mind flashed back to what little he knew of that terrible day, just how small Oz had been back then. He was bigger then than he was now, but still nowhere near the six and a half feet he’d reached a few years later. They’d all been so young then, so innocent… back before everything had gone so wrong. Before the hero that Oz had seen in Jimmy had turned so drastically in the opposite direction. Before he had had too much of control to ever give it up. Before the soldier, so proud of his military bearing and his orders, had become the same sort of monster that he had always been so quick to denounce.

“Maybe it would help, to talk about it.” Tip sounded tentative, but there was a familiar look to his eyes that made Qrow smile briefly. There it was, the sort of determination that he’d been so worried that they all might have lost after what had happened. They’d already lost so much, though, that he couldn’t bear to think of what might have happened had Oz actually broken from this. But then, in a great many ways, all of them had. The girls and Jaune falling, the idiocy that Jimmy had been engaged in, the way that he had died. The murmurs of a revolution when what mattered now was standing together…

“I first met James back during that first year that I was head of Beacon. But then, you knew that, you were there…”

Even as Tip continued talking, his eyes were far away, revisiting that disastrous long-ago celebration. If was one reason of many that the Vytal festival had been held in Vale alone, in recent years. The one time it had been held in Atlas had been a spectacle for all the wrong reasons.

Fria had been so happy to hold it, had volunteered in part precisely because Oz had been so young then, so new to any sort of leadership of his own, as opposed to the memories of other versions. Though a few of Vale’s council had known he was the current incarnation of the Wizard, it had still been mostly kept secret. Too many of them saw a skinny boy, though his records had claimed he was nineteen, and discounted him. It had been argued, successfully, that he wasn’t yet in a position to be able to protect his students if anything had happened during the festival. He grimaced, briefly, recalling that even when he inarguably had been, he’d failed anyway. He’d not protected Miss Nikos, not even been able to prevent the pain that had followed. Maybe he never should have held it at all, then…

He shook himself, gulping briefly before keeping speaking. His regrets weren’t the point of this, trying to dwell on the better times with someone that had once been amongst his best friends was.

The festival had been beautiful. He’d been so proud of his students and the way they had behaved while they were guests there, even Qrow and Raven had seemed sufficiently awed not to cause too many problems. That might have had rather more to do with Summer’s steadying nature, but he liked to think that their first glimpse of Atlas had been a positive one. From the smirk on Qrow’s face as he listened, he was second guessing it slightly. But then, Qrow’s view on Atlas was far from positive now.

Atlas had gone all out, everything was so carefully manufactured to show a perfect image, everything they wanted to show the other kingdoms. Well, almost everything. There were those in Mantle even then that were less than happy to see just where all their tax money had gone, on the overblown spectacle that the festival had become. Atlas had been showing off, but by doing so, they had angered too many of the wrong people. And there, on the penultimate day of the celebration, they had struck.

Although all the guests had been monitored, they had been a bit too sure of themselves, certain that none of the criminal element would ever try anything against the ‘great’ Atlas. That was their mistake and, afterwards, there was a lot of blame flung around. That hadn’t stopped the fact that none of those in charge had spotted that anything was wrong until it was far too late to do anything about it. That hadn’t stopped someone from planting a bomb.

Nobody had ever actually claimed responsibility for that, and judging by what Tip had found out far later, it did make him wonder whether Jacques had somehow been involved. It didn’t really matter now; the man was dead. There had been no actual casualties, either, though that had been a lot closer than he wanted to think about.

The ticking sound had been muffled by the noise from the crowd, nobody had really noticed it until it was about to go off. Oz had physically shoved a much younger, first year version of Glynda out of the way seconds before the blast, driven by some instinct that he was still less that certain of the origin of. He remembered closing his eyes, hoping to block at least the worst of it with his aura, but he’d never got the chance. Between one second and the next, there had been a taller, broader figure between him and the bomb. A figure in the uniform of an Atlas cadet, though not one that he’d recognised in that moment. He’d cried out, he thought, but… the next few seconds were still blurry, even this long after the fact.

He’d ended up in the hospital, with James in the next bed. A third-year student at Atlas, he’d never really been able to explain how he’d known either, but he’d never seemed to regret it even when he’d needed several replacement organs, replacement limbs. Oz had felt so guilty, that such a promising huntsman had been injured protecting him, had damaged himself so much for someone he hadn’t even known. That had been the start of a friendship between them. Wary at first, partially because James was so very military, so entrenched in the idea that Atlas was the best kingdom merely by virtue of the rules that they followed. Easier, later, when they’d both grown up and into their respective roles, though never truly as easy a relationship as Oz had once craved. Far harder, later, when Oz was Tip, a child once more and in need of protection. He wasn’t sure if that would have come with the strings attached that it had later, but then power had rather gone to James’ head in the end.

He could admit, now, that he had rather seen James as some sort of hero, even though he’d had no memory of being Winter. Whether something subconscious had been screaming in James’ own head that day, he’d never know. Not now.

He was older, at least physically. He’d actually listened, later, once Oz had felt like he could open up, could truly trust him. He was just one more in a long line of mistakes.

By the time Tip had finished, his eyes ached. Qrow said nothing, beyond gathering him up into his arms, holding him as he sobbed. It wasn’t fair, but then neither was life. But hadn’t they all lost enough already, without more deaths, more destruction?

How much was too much? How much more could any of them truly take before they broke? And what had happened, in James’ head, to make what had been very much a hero, someone to look up to, into the sort of monster that he rather feared might be talked about in children’s tales?

What would history make of James Ironwood… of any of them? That is, if any of them were alive to find out?

[dragynkeep]

Oh boy! Time to be RWDE again!

Volume 1:

Why is Glynda set up with every possible anime trope of being Ruby’s mentor, yet she gets shafted?

Who thought two minutes and forty seconds is an episode? No, that’s a clip. A short.

Speaking of episode length (or lack thereof), what is up with this pacing…

So…team RWBY aren’t going to ever speak to each other? Why not assign them to different teams?

Borrowing from Young Justice, Weiss could lead the team until Ruby is mature enough to handle the role. Why yes, I do think Weiss has the head to be a leader, or at the very least, try to be a leader and fail, teaching her how to be a better team player. Character Arcs 101.

You had Weiss having a internal dialogue (great! Do that!) and then drop it to never use it on her or any other character. That’s a staple of anime, geniuses.

-we’re not copying Soul Eater down to the school layout, we swear- Uh huh. Sure.

Why is Ruby giving Jaune advice she doesn’t know herself??? How did she learn/know that???

Also PS- While Emerald’s redemption is something RT did, it could have been pulled earlier in Volume 2 or Volume 5, but that requires actual good writing and planning.

So many points, so little time with this show fr.

1:

RWBY just hates women. Like I'm not even joking, this show hates women despite being a female-led show. Glynda was given the oppotunity to be this figure for not just Ruby, but the team as a whole, but every chance she gets is given to the male teachers for no reason.

Professor Port was the one to lecture Weiss about being a good teammate and to not allow her ego to blind her to her own shortcomings, even if that scene is dogshit in retrospect. Professor Oobleck was the one to challenge Team RWBY's ideals around being Huntresses, to the point where we got depth into his character on why he wanted to be a Huntsman.

Even when Yang had lost her arm and needed guidance, Port and Oobleck were there with Tai for that arc. Glynda never gets a chance to even talk properly with our main team, or even flesh herself out as a character to the point that the most we got is from the AA game.

2.

The reason why V1 was like 20 episodes long. The episodes were like five minutes long and would've done better just shoving the parts together. It also meant that the pacing was really slow because we'd be waiting a week for a continuation only to have another five minute long episode.

3.

Interteam relationship outside the partnerships have always been an issue tbh. It's just more egrigious now because it's been like ten years and Ruby/Blake are barely friends, let alone close enough that Blake would admire Ruby like she said she does. Classic told =/= shown.

4.

I think the whole leadership issues with Weiss and Ruby were concluded far too quickly, they could barely be counted as arcs. Weiss has justified issues with Ruby not taking Beacon or her role as their leader seriously, but rather than that being built up more and having the two actually grow together, they just get lectured at and immediately change.

5.

Unpopular opinion but I hate the inner monologue used in anime and I'm glad RWBY doesn't go into it all that much outside of that one time with Weiss. The issue rises because they don't ever let the watchers in on what these characters are thinking or feeling, and even contradict themselves over the volumes.

6.

The advice Ruby gave to Jaune is honestly bad advice? A leader isn't someone who puts the team before themselves, that just opens up for the burnout and idiolising the leader, which is exactly what happened to Ruby in the later volumes. But they didn't show that the advice she gave them was not meant to be something taken seriously.

If they even remember what Ruby told him when they can't even keep track what happen in the volume before.

7.

The whole thing with Emerald's redemption is that she really wasn't given much to flesh out. She started the show straight up ignoring Cinder's orders to go out of her way to be more evil and violent, murdering a minority who ran from an organisation she has no part of. Only for the show to try and paint her later as a lost soul who doesn't realise how bad Cinder is for her.

Nevermind the actual redemption doesn't have her face consequences for the fact that she murdered countless people without much care and only ever pulled sad faces rather than, you know, having actual character to push her redemption.