#Sienna the hero Khan

[shakytailstudios]

Sienna "The Hero Queen" Khan

I have worked on a new "base" model for RWBY-esc & anime designs. One intended to be athletic, but not rippling with muscles like my other base model.

Suffice to say, fairly pleased with the result, and decided to test it and show it off with Sienna in armor based on the Fire Nations via the old concept art cos a cool aesthetic is a cool aesthetic.

Image Description: A female, Benga tiger-based Faunus with amber eyes, a dark complexion and wild black hair in an asymmetrical bob. She has tiger ears atop her head, and a red bidi on her forehead, along with tiger stripe tattoos marking a muscular, but lean frame.

She is wearing black armor with a red trim in the form of gauntlets, chest plate that shows her abs, shoulder guards with a golden spike on each and a battle kilt, along with sandals.

In most of the images she is standing with her arms resting on her hips, save for one where she stands on a white walkway, arms stretched out to show off her muscles.

[tumblingxelian]

I saw a post earlier today that really kinda got my goat so to speak so I wanted to re-post my take without starting shit on tumblr dot com.

I categorically disagree with the idea that Adam was ever planned to be the main leader of the White Fang pre coup.

We meet Adam leading what was suppose to be a resource acquisition mission that he turned into an attempted mass murder for shits and giggles because he is a blood thirsty idiot.

Not only is that incredibly wastefully and politically stupid of him, it is also not reflective of what Blake described the White Fang's methodology as during Volumes 1. IE the methods that actually were working and were introduce by said new leader which Adam was blatantly ignoring.

It also makes clear his relationship with Blake is awful given the manipulation, the lies, the dismissal and using her as a shield, and maniacal cackling ETC.

The second time we see Adam its in volume 2 right after its revealed that a ton of Faunus died because of Cinder's plan and Mercury wonders if they will still obey. Adam arrives and promising to continue throwing his people's lives away for Cinder. Making it quite clear where Adam stands on the subject while showing the White Fang itself lacks any loyalty to Cinder.

Before V3 we have two possible mentions, one being the silhouettes in V1, one of which could be argued to represent Adam, but also contained two other people. & the masks reference which, if Adam was the leader, you'd think Blake would just say it was an idea their leader came up with. The fact she didn't should make it clear to any viewer that Adam was just popular, but not in charge.

Going into V3, we already know he's fine throwing Faunus lives away for Cinder, so anything he says when rejecting Cinder needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Yeah Adam wasn't just gonna work with some random human cos he doesn't like humans and his people are watching so his behavior is performative. Cinder leaves, then returns and makes it clear she can kill him if he doesn't obey and he instantly bows because, shock and horror the manipulative abuser is not actually all that brave when its 'his' ass on the line, setting the stage for what we already know happens by V2.

Adam was never meant to be the leader, Adam was never a genuine revolutionary, Adam was always an abusive cowardly liar and manipulator seeking power and appeasement for himself.

Losing Sienna was a tragedy and genuinely a huge mistake on the writers part and Ghira taking over again is in no way ideal, but Adam is not some tragic loss. He's one of a dime a dozen would be revolutionaries who only care about the 'revolution' for their own ends. Any passing glance at historical revolutions and rebel movements will show people like him.

One can criticize the White Fang plotline without needing to big up someone like Adam; just like one can endorse revolutionaries without advocating for war crimes. Discuss Sienna and how she could have been introduced earlier or avoid her demise. Bring up how Ilia's arc could have potentially led her to being the one leading a revitalized White Fang. Or how Blake herself could potentially have taken the reigns more overtly, as challenging as that might be to portray given the overall plot line.

There's plenty of ways to emphasize the new generation, and tackling bigotry head on without raising Adam as a viable candidate and especially without engaging in historical revisionism as to his slated role in the series proper.

[pedanticat]

Do you know what the recent episodes of MHA highlighted to me? RWBY also tried to do the whole "Big bad manipulate the oppressed group who have faced prejudice to further their own goals" with Salem and the Faunus, but it was not utilized to its full potential at all compared to My Hero. And what makes it crazier is that MHA decides to tackle a subject like this VERY late in its story, and while it would have been nice to see it be introduced much sooner and see gradually buildup, it still feels far better executed then RWBY despite the racism storyline being apart of the show from the start

[madmanwonder]

(ask, bnha x rwby, crossover, ✖️, Green Bengal) Some cute facts about Izuku and Sienna's wedded life?

Who was the one to propose: Sienna

Who stressed more over wedding planning: Izuku

Who decorated the house: Sienna

Who does the cooking: Izuku

Who does the cleaning: Both

Who is more organized: Both

Who initiates bedroom fun: Sienna

Who suggested kids first: Sienna

[tumblingxelian]

YEEES! YEEEEESS!

Please reblog for it to reach more people

[armenianwriterman]

So I knew that the VA of Bakugo also played Shay D. Mann in RWBY, so I wanted to look up the cast of My Hero Academia to see how many characters in season 1 share VAs with RWBY. Turns out to be quite a bit.

All Might -> Dr. Arthur Watts

Ochako Uraraka and Recovery Girl -> Lil' Miss Malachite, Fria and Little/Somewhat

Tenya Iida -> Klein Sieben

Mina Ashido -> Willow Schnee

Tsuyu Asui -> Sienna Khan

Denki Kaminari -> The Argus Base Guards

Fumikage Tokoyami -> Tyrian Callows

Mashirao Ojiro -> Fennec Albain

Toru Hagakure -> Trophy Wife

Momo Yaoyorozu -> Jinn

Shota Aizawa -> Clover Ebi and Roman Torchwick (3rd voice)

Midnight -> Winter Schnee

Naomasa Tsukauchi -> Henry Marigold

I imagine there's gonna be a lot more cast connections in the future, and I always have a lot of fun with finding them.

(Edit: Forgot a few names in my initial ranking)

[princess-of-the-corner]

One thing I've learned from RWBY is that not every character needs to be a MAIN character (see: How badly several "fix fics" mess up the plot by giving every single drop-in character and one-note hate sink a multi-season arc that takes screentime and development from the main cast).

Another thing I've learned from RWBY is that it can REALLY hurt the story if someone who SHOULD be a major character ends up being a one-off (see: Sienna Khan, the ACTUAL High Leader of the White Fang and Adam's boss, getting abruptly killed off at the end of her debut scene before she can do anything of value, after an entire season of build-up).

So like, Aurore and Mirielle being minor characters doesn't bother me that much, but Marinette's old friend absolutely needed more build-up and screentime in order to work.

But like, instead we've got Zoe just coming in out of nowhere and having her only personality trait be "Chloe, but good" and Felix basically being a RW/DE's rewrite version of Adam Taurus as "edgy anti-hero who conquers a major female character".

Oh yeah basically

[bestworstcase]

I enjoy a lot of your posts and while I know she's not your focus any thoughts on Sienna "The Hero Queen" Khan?

truly think killing sienna off is THE weakest narrative decision in the story to up to this point and likely to remain so through to the end—which isn’t an unpopular opinion necessarily but whenever i’ve encountered this sentiment coming from other people, it’s generally predicated on the feeling that she was super cool (true!) and deserved more screen time on that basis. whereas i tend to think about it more in terms of the purpose her death served to the wider narrative of the white fang plot arc and if that purpose was realized, and i think the answer to that is no.

the white fang plot arc was always going to fall rather flat bc of the vocabulary problem—in essence, they tried to explore what ‘violence’ means in the context of civil rights activism and tripped because the binary non-violent/violent language applied to the narrative is inadequate to articulate the actual ideas being expressed, and the storyline would have been better served by a model focused on the tactical value of offensive vs defensive methods and the sharp divide between tactical violence to further specific, narrow goals (sienna) vs violence as the end in itself (adam)—BUT, the killing of sienna khan is the structural flaw that causes the storyline to collapse.

the point of killing sienna is to illustrate why adam is wrong (he refuses to differentiate oppression from merely being denied something he wants, and consequently inflicts violence on his notional allies as readily as he does his actual oppressors). taken in isolation, the beat accomplishes what it’s meant to do and in that sense it’s ‘successful.’ however, it also removes the key narrative argument for tactical violence from the story at precisely the moment when that argument most needs to be put forward (i.e. the culmination of adam’s corruption of the white fang), leaving it represented solely by ghira’s respect and support for sienna’s leadership of the white fang. even with all other factors being ideal—which they aren’t, but for argument’s sake—i do not think this is enough to develop the narrative arc to its intended resolution. and indeed the white fang plot arc ultimately fizzles out.

i think the stronger choice would have been to structure the entire adam-vs-sienna conflict as a schism. this takes some reconfiguring of the arc as a whole but isn’t difficult to accomplish; i think the most significant change to the set up is for one (or both) of the albain brothers to be genuine—for what they tell ghira early on about adam’s splinter group going rogue and sienna’s white fang repudiating his actions and moving to intervene to be entirely true. meanwhile ilia and her little enclave of adam loyalists can be in menagerie with the goal of supplanting the albains, who remain loyal to sienna.

setting the pieces up this way serves two purposes. first, it brings the question of violence as means vs violence as ends to the forefront from the beginning; and second, it allows for a much greater degree of narrative clarity with respect to the belladonnas being pacifists who support, rather than condemn, sienna’s more violent methodology. the latter reason is something that already exists in the narrative—ghira is quite vocal in his support for sienna’s leadership and his stance that her activism is worthy of admiration regardless of his personal discomfort with violence—but it’s a lot punchier and a lot cleaner if the locus of the conflict in kuo kuana is about the belladonnas allying themselves directly with sienna’s white fang against an attempted coup by adam’s splinter group.

with this setup the blake-vs-ilia conflict and its resolution can still unfold more or less as in canon; it simply allows for, again, a greater degree of clarity regarding what is wrong about ilia’s choices if blake is aligned with sienna’s white fang throughout.

anyway, all of that builds toward adam making an attempt on sienna’s life—but in the context of his splinter group being a minority of the white fang, so she isn’t betrayed by her personal guard, and thus the result is an explosive skirmish probably ending with sienna injured and carried to safety by her remaining guards. you still get all the shock and bloodiness of adam’s coup, you still get hazel’s utter disgust with the betrayal, but you also get to keep sienna herself, and the part of the white fang that still answers to her, on the board.

& from there it becomes very easy to weave sienna and her faction into the confrontation at haven academy, because the belladonnas—working with very limited information about what is happening in mistral—bring a force of their own to intercept adam’s splinter group. you can just bring in sienna’s faction to pincer adam’s, then either portray the reclamation of the white fang as a joint effort by the belladonna faction and sienna’s faction or structure the resolution more along the lines of “the white fang is fully back under sienna’s leadership, and ghira is starting up a second organization to focus on separate but similar goals, because activism is complex and having multiple, ideologically diverse activist groups working in tandem is better than putting all our eggs in one basket.”

also she’s cool and deserved more screen time jkgdjfbsjs

[krasman]

I have the biggest smile on my face right now, she looks wonderful!

Great stuff

I will humbly beg for you to draw Sienna Khan, both for the month of Pride and for the sake of her having more good art. I know you can do it.

Drawing a character for every day of Pride, 2024 edition

Day 7: a humble request for Sienna Khan

[twilightguardian]

Explain to me how they fixed Sienna Khan? The morally grey POC Woman with a vision? The actual wasted potential? If your response is to focus on Adam Taurus? Congratulations! You may just be a racist misogynist when it comes to fanfics! Because in FRWBY, sienna khan does not exist, only the male self inserts do.

lol Xel is this you? (jk jk) The hour I decide I let anon asks back up I get this. It's too funny.

Is this supposed to be an r/explaintomelikeimfive? Or whatever.

Sienna is such a nothing character that literally anything you do with her would be a marked improvement of what canon did with her. She had literally five minutes of screen time. Well, alive. 10% of her screen time she was dead on the floor.

Nothing significant about Sienna changed in FRWBY other than referencing her earlier than she did, giving her more screentime, and showing her downfall to Adam just as it had been in canon. The difference being we see more of her being the leader of the WF, and more of the internal politics itself. Sienna had to make a tough decision to allow Onryu, a character we never see on screen in FRWBY, btw, to be sent to jail in order to salvage the reputation of the White Fang.

Sienna has a role to play, and unfortunately, it's never going to be a big one. Maybe if RT went with "Remnants" instead of "RWBY" and made the show less focused on the main girls, then there could be more focus on people outside of the main cast of heroes and villains. As it stands, Sienna is just a bit player in a B Plot. There's only so much expanding even FRWBY can do with the limitations FRWBY has in place without shifting the main story to being about the White Fang instead of Salem.

That's all she was in canon though. Just to prop up Adam. She came into existence in the episode she was killed, and was only there to show Adam's lengths he'll go to get what he wants. In canon, she only existed for Adam. In FRWBY we at least see a little more of her outside of that one scene. We see how she made Ilia feel conflicted alongside her interactions with Adam and how that affected her. So, no, FRWBY doesn't have her focus on Adam, that's canon.

No, it really doesn't. Your mentality on this is rather childish and black and white. These are case-by-case basis we're dealing with and to boil down someone as being a racist or misogynist over a fanfic because you don't like it is really disgusting and says more about you than the people you're going after. Maybe step outside. Breathe fresh air. Touch grass. You know what grass is, right? That green stuff on the ground. No, it's not the floor, it's called ground. Dirt. Earth. Terra.

lmao seriously what the fuck is wrong with you.

Oh look there, Sienna existing in Fixing RWBY.

[kuokuana]

Corsac's and Fennec's primary allusion is the Kitsune of Japanese folklore. Kitsune are mischievous fox spirits, and can be both benevolent or malevolent in nature. Benevolent Kitsune, known as Zenko, are associated with and often the messengers for Inari, a Shinto god, whom in this case would either be Ghira Belladonna or Sienna Khan. In spite of this, Zenko are still considered trickster spirits, as they are known to shapeshift in Japanese folklore to fool unsuspecting humans for various, though not necessarily harmful, reasons. No matter what side they're on, Corsac and Fennec are talented liars and manipulators, knowing how to get what they need out of others.

Malevolent Kitsune, Yako (or Nogitsune in some places), harbor no loyalty to any particular deity and their tricks are often for nefarious purposes. They are well-known thieves; Corsac and Fennec grew up on the streets, often stealing food and other supplies just to get by. A Zenko spirit can also "fall from grace", become a Yako spirit, and vice versa. Depending on the verse, Corsac and Fennec can either get better or become worse.

Corsac's and Fennec's secondary allusion is Hermes, the Greek god of mischief and the herald of the gods. Hermes has been known to assist several Greek heroes, such as Odysseus and Perseus, and is typically the messenger for Zeus, the king of the gods, specifically. Corsac's and Fennec's loyalties are verse dependent, but they are primarily Sienna Khan's errand boys and sent to assist or carry out tasks when need be.

[tumblingxelian]

There are other Analogues - RWBY’s White Fang

I always find comparisons between the White Fang and like, the Black Panthers or Malcom X to be... Off... 

Not to say its inherently invalid, but like, the Black Panthers weren’t a paramilitary organization and Malcom X didn’t engage in corporate espionage and assassination know?  

I always felt that the IRA was a better comparisons to the White Fang. 

For those unfamiliar the IRA was actually well liked and respected in its early to mid days. When they did bombings on areas with civilian personnel they called ahead to evacuate people.

This was smart because it disrupted and damaged the government while avoiding having them become party to massacring civilians who couldn’t have fought back in anyway. 

As time went on though the organization had some fractures.

Certain commanders started to mistreat the very people they were meant to be fighting for in the interest of personal power or ideology and they became careless with their killing which also turned public opinion against them. 

This obviously happened over a long period of time, but the point stands that the IRA started off using controlled, competent violence to practical effects on suitable targets. But steady became fractured, callous and corrupted, causing them to harm their own, themselves and their cause. 

It just very much seems to me that is a lot closer to the Whiten Fang storyline, of an ambitious killer leading a splinter faction, while being funded by outsiders just using him and the cause to their own benifit. 

[tumblezwei]

For the art requests, Somewhat looking gallant or perhaps showing off some of the regality we saw Ruby pull with the Red Prince. Maybe something cute with Ruby & Little, or Sienna "The Hero Queen" Khan looking like a boss and or perhaps getting ready for a fight?

I have never drawn a mouse before that wasn't just a circle, so here's the best I can do

Sienna as compensation

[madmanwonder]

(prompt, crossover, bnha, rwby, if they have a kid) Izuku and Sienna's child, please?

Name: Violet Midoriya-Khan (Formerly Slate Midoriya-Khan)

Gender: Woman

General Appearance: Violet shared the same physical attributes of her mother but with Izuku hair color, eyes color and skin complexion. She has a bengal tail as her faunus trait.

Personality: Direct, Confrontational, Determined, Cynical and Intelligent.

Special Talents: Violet share her father intelligence and hobbies

Who they like better: Izuku

Who they take after more: Sienna

Personal Headcanon: Violet is a bisexual trans woman who practices polygamy.

Face Claim: Sienna Khan

[historyhermann]

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 Spoiler-Filled Review

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1, also known as Justice League x RWBY, RWBY x Justice League, or JLxRWBY for short, is an anime-inspired science fantasy action-adventure film, bringing together characters from the Justice League and those from the young adult animated series, RWBY. The latter is the flagship series of Rooster Teeth and began airing in 2013. It recently concluded its ninth season. This film was written by Meghan Fitzmartin and directed by Kerry Shawcross.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-second article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on April 30, 2023.

This 83-minute film begins with Superman's unexpected arrival on Remnant, since he has no idea how he ended up there. In classic crossover fashion, seven of the classic Justice League characters, find themselves in Remnant as teenagers. Soon enough the huntresses of Remnant, specifically Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long, and their friends, work with them to learn why their planet has changed and stop a Grimm monster from destroying all that exists. Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang all have superpowers of sorts, known as semblances, each unique to themselves.

I was intrigued by this film as an avid fan of RWBY and occasional watcher of superhero series like DC Super Hero Girls, Young Justice, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Birdgirl, Harley Quinn, Hamster & Gretel, Gotham Girls, Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and She-Ra: Princess of Power. My interest in the classic superheroish magical girl anime Sailor Moon and the superheroish action series such as Sym-Bionic Titan, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, further made me want to watch this film. My excitement remained even after learning that the film takes place in the first half of RWBY's Volume 7.

There are differences from RWBY. For instance, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang wear the outfits they donned in Vale, while Weiss can master her summoning of Glyphs, Nora wears the same outfit she wore in Beacon Academy, and the CCT tower at Beacon isn't destroyed, but is active. This is all because this film takes place in an alternate universe of sorts. That makes sense as it is a crossover film which has the same voice actors as the original RWBY series. One difference is Tiana Camacho, who voices Glynda in the RWBY original anime spinoff, RWBY: Ice Queendom.

It was nice to see Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Juane Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren, the latter three part of team JNR, interacting with members of the Justice League such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman/Diana, Green Lantern/Jessica, Vixen, Cyborg, and The Flash. In the RWBY show proper Ozpin has been reincarnated as Oscar, other characters have either died, like Jacques Schnee (presumably in Volume 8), or haven't appeared in the show recently, like Glynda or Kali Belladonna. They return in this film.

Two other characters also appear: Adam Taurus and Sienna Khan. Adam Taurus was Blake's abusive boyfriend. Sienna Khan was killed by Adam to take control of the White Fang, a peaceful organization originally aimed at improving conditions for the Faunus, a group of people with animal traits. Taurus aimed to change the latter organization into a violent terrorist organization which would overthrow human society and replace it with a Faunus-led one. In Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1, the latter two characters are only shown in a flashback when Blake remembers back to what actually happened during the series.

Apart from the voice actors for the RWBY characters, like Arryn Zech, Blake Dunkelman, Lindsay Jones, Kara Eberle, Miles Luna, Samantha Ireland, and Neath Oum, those who voice the members of the Justice League (Chandler Riggs, Nat Wolff, Natalie Alyn Lind, David Errigo Jr., Jeannie Tirado, Tru Valentino, and Ozioma Akagha) are just as talented. Riggs (who voices Superman) is known for his role as Carl Grimes in The Walking Dead. Wolff, the voice of Batman, has been recognized for his music, and roles in films like Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, and Ashby. Lind, the voice of Wonder Woman in this film, is known for various television appearances including as Danielle Sullivan in Big Sky.

Errigo Jr., voice of The Flash, has previously done voice work in Ridley Jones, The Casagrandes, Milo Murphy's Law, and Dota: Dragon's Blood. Tirado, voicing Green Lantern, has lent her voice to characters in dubs of Fairy Tail Zero, KanColle: Kantai Collection, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Tru Valentino, who voices Cyborg, is known for his voice work in Madagascar: A Little Wild, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, and Spidey and His Amazing Friends.

I personally remember Valentino best for his role as Cuphead in the short-lived animated slapstick comedy, The Cuphead Show. Finally, Arkagha, who voices Vixen, is best known for her acting as Harper Omereoha in Delilah, and her voice acting as Shuri in What If...? and Bumblebee in Teen Titans Go!, to name a few roles.

Admittedly, I wasn't sure about Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 at first. Surely, the fight scenes and the character designs were good, but was uneasy about the plot, even when Superman got on the scene at the film's beginning. However, the film drew me in, beginning with Grimm glitching out of control when killed, all while they still retain their goal, as soulless creatures, to destroy humanity, which as Nora puts it at one point in the film.

The humor of the characters, especially of Yang, lightened the mood. For example, Yang scoffs at the idea she will call Superman by his name, causing him to admit they can call him "Clark" (as in Clark Kent) instead. It was also funny that when Batman/Bruce Wayne fights people in the Schnee mansion, a person is playing the piano during his fight.

The fracturing and scrambling of memory, causing the characters to be confused about what actually happened, is at the crux of the Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1. It causes people, such as Ozpin, to appear, glitch into Oscar, and disappear, or others like Blake's mom, Kali, to say strange things. Some try and figure out the reality of their present predicament. Batman/Bruce Wayne, attempts this, but gets imprisoned. Others realize something is wrong, but are unsure what to do about it.

There is even a sub-theme about the power of privilege. Weiss criticizes her father, Jacques, of the ever-powerful Schnee family, for having a party rather than not repairing the CCT Tower. This bonds Weiss and Batman/Bruce Wayne together, as he says that the wealthy don't care about the plights of other people in any universe.

As would be expected, there are disagreements between heroes, with Blake and Yang annoyed that the Justice League is trying to tell them what to do, and vice versa. In fact, in a harsh scene which resonates with those who saw Volume 9, Cyborg asks Ruby who she is and she doesn't know. Although Superman says it is difficult to be a leader, he later questions her as team leader, which does not help her confidence! Even so, when Kilgore declares that Ruby is a child who is trying to be a leader, Superman reassures her, saying leadership isn't about age, but about your heart. He adds that although people will inevitably freeze and fail, that's what makes you human. The latter is a hint at the theme of self-acceptance enshrined throughout RWBY's Volume 9.

In the end, Team RWBY, Team JNR, and Justice League all work together, either by examining at holographic maps or tapping into their superpowers/semblances to fight the Grimm and save the day. Their fight is complicated by the fact that these Grimm are not ordinary, but can reboot, until they are electrocuted. This means that Ruby can't use her silver eyes, her ultimate "weapon".

This road to victory is not necessarily a simple one. One theme of Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 is that people lose something which is a part of them. For Vixen, her necklace is missing, and for Jessica, she lost her all-powerful Green Lantern ring. In the case of the latter, it seems she is having issues tapping into her powers at first.

What stole the show in this film was Juane offering to help her, showing care, patience, and understanding in the process. Ger power is trapped, and she can't access it. Jessica says the ring grounds her, stating it is a symbol of power, belonging, and control. Hence, without it, she feels unmoored and listless, like a ship drifting across the open sea. This reminds me of how Adora felt in the final season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, when she felt completely lost after the Sword of Protection was shattered, and even questioned whether she could help her friends. Coming back to this film, Juane tells her that her ring gets the truth of things and the truth of her, again trying to help her center herself.

At the same time, the film provides subtle hints to the trauma the characters have experienced in the past. Cyborg says at one point "what, you haven't learned to adapt thanks to childhood trauma?". Canonically, in the Marvel universe, Jessica experienced trauma herself as a kid. As such, the film's writers were not above retraumatizing the characters. For example, a person who looks like Pyrrha tricks Juane, and traps him, with Jessica, in a box, while warning them to not warn the Justice League about the reality. Juane is further affected when the Seer causes him to see Pyrrha's death, paralyzing him.

After Juane had already experienced the death of Pyrrha second-hand (Ruby saw it first-hand), seeing her in front of him caused him to lose all reason, and trust her. This isn't a surprise after all he has been through, so no one can hold it against him. It was good writing to have Juane tell Jessica about Pyrrha and still be able to help Jessica be more than her fear. In a powerful statement which is often not stated in fiction, he tells her it is fine to have anxiety flare-ups and implies she shouldn't be ashamed of them. All of this helps encourage Jessica to use her green lantern power to help them escape.

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 hints at the ship-of-sorts between Jessica and Juane, which could be called "Greenknight", overriding any interest Juane had in Vixen, who he seemed taken in by, at first. The film also implies there is a ship between Batman and Weiss. In fact, Weiss states various times that Batman should stay. This could very well mean that she has romantic feelings for him. Their collaboration is an important part of the film, as both work together at an Atlas' computer lab to learn the reality of the world and why everything is glitching.

Funny enough, Diana is jealous of how close Weiss and Batman are getting. It could be part of the reason she wants to pull him back to "his" world. The writing of Diana, Weiss, and Batman in the film is good. It better than what some would claim, as it is clear that a Batman and Weiss ship, at least in the forms shown in the film, is possible. Otherwise, Weiss and Batman can fight well together, even when faced with impossible odds.

While it is not directly stated, there is queer subtext between Blake and Yang. In the show proper, both are in a relationship, mutually confessing their romantic feelings in the Volume 9 episode "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds". The ship between both, known as Bumbleby, had been semi-canon before that point, but was not canonized until that episode. In the film itself, Yang hugs Blake happily, Blake gives Yang the side-eye when she describes Diana "very strong", and Blake agrees to go along with Diana to Atlas because she is jealous. Still, Blake puts this aside and fight alongside her against the Grimm while flying through the air.

At other points in Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1, Blake and Yang look at one another, with Blake explaining how she and Yang got to know each other. Furthermore, Yang worries about Blake after she talks about losing people. In a very touching scene in the film, Blake and Yang touch each other's hands through the cockpit window, with Yang saying she trusts Blake, while she pilots the aircraft. In the meantime, Blake puts aside her jealousy so she can fight alongside Diana against the Grimm even as she flies through the air.

Toward the end of the film, after Diana says she knows it is hard to fight under fire, Blake says that it is nice to kiss ass and bumps her ass with Yang. As Yang's voice actor stated in watch party for the series, "how did anyone ever think Yang was straight". Although it has not be directly confirmed, fans have stated that Yang is a lesbian. Blake was previously confirmed as bisexual. As Shawcross put it, Bumbleby moments were added because it was something the crew liked and said the moments. He also stated that "Blake and Yang had a lot that they could talk [about] with and relate to with Diana, Wonder Woman". The latter may have been a reference to past comments by those who say that Wonder Woman is a bisexual icon, later confirmed by writer Greg Rucka.

The last battle of Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1, which involves riding on bikes, and tag-team fighting (like Yang and Blake), is one of the film's strongest. In a hint at what may happen in the second part of the film crossover series, it is clear that a villain named Kilgore, who created a virtual reality by mind-controlling The Flash, is also stuck there. As such, it is implied that someone else is controlling him, although it isn't clear who.

His plan to make the Justice League into teens, when they are "vulnerable", have the world rip them apart, and cause them to deal with emotions they ignore or regress as adults seems like a weak plan. He could have, just as easily, imprisoned them on their own world, instead of Remnant. The hubris of Kilgore is what takes him down. Jessica uses the equivalent of Ruby's silver eyes on the Grimm dragon, which has Kilgore inside, causing him to almost fade from existence.

Although everyone says their goodbyes and they all go back to their respective worlds, it is clear this isn't the end. All of the main cast, which are not part of the Justice League, wake up from what was supposed to be a training mission. Ruby's concern that someone created the virtual reality/simulation, a person from their world, setting the stage for the next film.

All in all, animation of Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 is well-done, and the designs are very colorful. There are even features that make it seem like a comic book, such as talk bubbles when characters are annoyed, and other expressions. All of the flowing animation which goes easily with the storytelling, voice acting, and the like, is no surprise as over 210 people, if not more, worked on this film. That makes it an even bigger effort than a volume of RWBY!

Unfortunately, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 was effectively spoiled on social media before its release, in part because it accidentally aired early on Redbox on April 20, five days before its general release. This made animators ask fans to not post spoilers until the film came out, or say they feel "pretty hurt" by people posting clips from the entire film before its release on April 25th. On the positive side, this interest will undoubtedly help support Volume 10 for RWBY, so that the show's characters can have their stories continued, even if reported review bombing on IMDB continues.

The film was available on Google Play, but was later taken down for unexplained reasons. Although the stock of Rooster Teeth's parent company (Warner Bros. Discovery) has been falling, thanks to the rebranding of HBO streaming platform, and debt continues to accumulate, the film survived the cuts. That is for the best.

Adding onto what I've said so far about the film, I personally liked the design of characters like Jessica, whether you consider her gender non-conforming or not, the White Rose scenes of sorts, Weiss summoning powerful glyphs, and it is a lot of fun. Perhaps, there will be future RWBY features in the future which are not crossovers.

In certain ways, this film made me think of Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night, which I reviewed earlier this year, as it is also set in a virtual reality. In this film, the characters are forced into a virtual reality, while in Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night, I believe they chose to be in that reality.

Hopefully, in the second part of film crossover series, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part Two, which may come out in the summer, there is more character exploration of Superman, Batman, Diana, and Vixen. This film focused on the internal struggles of Jessica more than the other Justice League members. It would be great to see a focus on the mental struggles of the other Justice League members as well. I would not be surprised if there are additional scenes with ships such as Bumbleby, Greenknight, and Weiss/Batman, since this film set the groundwork for the next one.

As a final note, although David Levy, who has long worked on RWBY, and on series such as Red vs. Blue, Camp Camp, various bands, and independent films, does a decent job with the film's music, it isn't that memorable. Maybe, Casey Lee Williams could either compose the music score of the next film, or at least a few tracks. That would ensure that the film packed an extra punch.

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part 1 can be purchased or rented on Prime Video, MoviesAnywhere, iTunes/Apple TV+, Redbox, and Vudu, or have the DVD and Blu-ray ordered from other online marketplaces.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[tumblingxelian]

This one only makes me want to vote for Sienna harder.

IM SO HYPED FOR THE FINAL ROUND! BLAKE VS SIENNA!

Battle of the catgirls!