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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recaps: “Gravity”

Good lord, folks. Buckle your seat-belts because we’ve got a lot to get through this episode. I think this is my longest recap to date, so settle in.

Episode Eleven’s “Gravity” starts out simple enough, focusing on the two fights we’d set up during “Out in the Open.” First up, Ironwood vs. Watts. Overall this fight does a really excellent job of showcasing their different fighting styles. Right from the start Watts is pointing his gun forward to take a clear shot at Ironwood, whereas Ironwood points his backwards to use as a surge of momentum.

He’s going to do this frequently throughout the battle, constantly using his gun to maneuver in the air, slow falls, regain his balance, and change directions, a much more complicated series of choices than the one-off shots we see Ruby use with her sniper rifle. This is partly because Ironwood seems to have a much larger supply of bullets---some sort of energy/dust ammo---than Watts does. His steampunk-esque gun holds only nineteen bullets, requiring him to keep track throughout the fight. Which is always a fun trope but sorry, Watts, you can’t compare to the king.

Thus, with limited weaponry available to him, Watts is forced to get creative with the arena itself. We see him manipulating gravity, shooting up columns of water and fire, and making use of his own pathways between platforms, all in an effort to throw Ironwood off and catch up unawares. However, Ironwood is, frankly, the much better fighter. He was right last week to assume he could handle Watts even though he sent three off to tackle Tyrian. He’s able to recover much more quickly and learns from any mistakes, as evidenced by his ability to hit Watts dead on while in the air the second time he takes out the gravity. When they come together in hand-to-hand Ironwood easily dominates, no doubt thanks not just to his military training and huntsmen lifestyle, but also in large part to his prosthetics which I would assume grant him more speed and power. Throughout the course of the fight we see Watts consistently take more damage to his aura and he’s unable to sense when Ironwood is sneaking up on him. After that little maneuver, Watts (presumably) grows reckless and lets off his last three or four shots in a random barrage. All of them miss.

This emphasis on emotion continues when they land back onto the main stage with Watts shouting, “You never appreciated my genius, James! You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant.” Oh, did Ironwood actually do something horrendous in the past? Is there something juicy that would explain---though not excuse---Watts’ turn towards villainy? Nah. He quickly follows that up with, “You chose that fat imbecile over me!” referring to Pietro. So... nice one, Watts. Crazy arrogance, willful ignorance of Pietro’s own, clear genius (anyone who can create Penny is no slouch), as well as a bit of fat-shamming on top of it all. No sympathy from me.

This moment emphasizes how unhinged Watts is becoming though as the fight turns against him. Even when he manages to setup a head shot Ironwood reveals, “You’re smart, but you’re not the only one who can count,” referencing that Watt’s emotions got the better of him, leading to him wasting his last bullet before it could be of real use.

...except not. I’ve got to admit, I was very pleased when all of this---or at least this particular moment---was merely a plan to get Ironwood to let his guard down. Watts is way too smart a character to be done in by the “You got too emotional and that made you sloppy” trope. So kudos there (even if it remains to be seen whether that Pietro comment was really his motivation, or just another part of the plan). Instead, he uses Ironwood’s confidence in his victory to trap him with the rings that control the arena, essentially pinning Ironwood’s non-prosthetic arm through the energy shields he’s been using. We can immediately see that the parts that have touched Ironwood already have horribly burned the skin.

And that ends up being Watt’s downfall. Not stupidity on his own part, but his lack of understanding of Ironwood himself. He assumes that this truly is a trap for him, rather than another sacrifice. After all, what fool would ruin their one remaining arm to stop him? Watts himself wouldn’t. Don’t pull, he cautions Ironwood, not “unless you’re hoping to add more metal to that body of yours.” Watts goes so far as to turn his back on Ironwood who then makes the sacrifice we all knew he would. One burned, useless arm later and he’s free.

I would like everyone to keep this moment in mind. Namely the utter devastation of it. I’d go so far as to say it’s as bad at Yang losing her arm in Volume 3. Despite seeing it bandaged later, Watts at least thinks it will be a complete loss if Ironwood sacrifices it. He’ll need to “add more metal,” AKA replace his arm, so though he obviously still has it in the following scenes, we don’t know if it will ever be functional again. Just as important, Ironwood had to choose to do that to himself. That wasn’t a horrific, but ultimately clean cut done in a moment of surprise. That was a conscious decision, a slow pull through all that pain, and then having to finish your fight immediately afterward. It’s a very different kind of psychological trauma, no better or worse than having someone take your arm from you by force. Throughout this volume I’ve seen a lot of fans being critical not only of Ironwood’s main decisions, but just his overall attitude as well. Too strict, too stern, doesn’t smile enough, yells sometimes, etc. basically associating someone who isn’t all sunshine and smiles with someone who is “bad.” Ignoring for the moment that we can say the same thing about many of our group---notably Yang---I have little doubt that I’ll see similar posts after this episode. Writings in the vein of, “Ironwood is unhinged! I can’t believe he yelled and hit his desk like that!” So everyone just keep this moment in mind and ask yourself how calm you’d be if you’d sacrificed your arm like that all of half an hour ago. And then found Salem’s calling card on your desk. And then came to the realization that the allies you trusted have been lying to you from the start. And then Salem herself appears to mock you. And then your city is about to be overrun. Basic summary of the rest of the episode: holy shit. So yeah. If Yang is allowed to be angry and upset after losing her arm, or just angry in general like she is in the later half of “Gravity,” I think we owe it to Ironwood to let him be angry too. I have a lot of feelings about the utter insanity he’s been forced through with little to no support and if he wants to take all that out by hitting his desk once, by god I’d say that’s a good coping strategy given the circumstances. Both the writing and the fans tend to erase trauma once you’ve passed age 25. The girls have every right to be upset, to break, to not trust people because they’ve been through a few months of hardship, but Ozpin isn’t allowed the same after a couple thousand years of that. We’re going to see the same hypocrisy later in this episode---the group can be upset about lies but Ironwood is not---and I’m hoping (against hope) that the fandom doesn’t make that worse by sweeping this injury under the rug. It’s horrific and absolutely has a bearing on his inability to keep his cool with the group immediately afterwards. We’ve long passed Ironwood owing them endless reassurances and calm responses.

Anyway, Ironwood still manages to finish the fight because his remaining arm is his robotic one, giving him the strength to easily drag and raise Watts into the air one-handed. He dangles him over the edge of the arena, announcing that he will “sacrifice whatever it takes to stop [Salem].” A clear bit of foreshadowing for his decision at the end of the episode. Watts responds that he hopes he does.

We then move to the Tyrian fight which, on the whole, I don’t think was done quite as well. Granted, there are a lot of enjoyable and badass moments. I like that Clover’s first act is to announce that Tyrian is under arrest, maintaining the law that Atlas (and Ironwood) works to uphold. It doesn’t matter that Tyrian is a crazy serial killer in league with an immortal sorceress hell-bent on destroying the world. Even crazy serial killers have rights and are given the option of surrendering, even when everyone present knows there’s exactly zero chance of that happening. It’s the principal of the thing and the ability to say, “We gave him a chance.” In a world overrun with inequality, this is a small but important attempt to level the field. If you do something wrong you face legal action and those rights are announced to you. Same for Tyrian. Same for Team RWBY. But we’ll get to that.

For now, we see Qrow attack first and like back in Volume Four he and Tyrian are pretty evenly matched. The tide doesn’t turn until Robyn and Clover come into play. Throughout this exchange we see a lot of cool combos among the three of them. Tyrian will block an incoming arrow with his tail only for Clover to snag it with his hook. Robyn can get another arrow to perfectly bounce off the walls and then Qrow’s scythe, hitting Tyrian dead on. Clover can dive between Tyrian’s legs, giving Qrow the opening he needs to attack. It is, as said, pretty badass... almost a little too badass. Personally, I would have appreciated them messing up once or twice. They’re all professionals, yes, but Qrow and Clover have only had one fight together. Robyn, meanwhile, wasn’t even allied with them until an hour ago. This is a situation where skills shouldn’t really trump, “We’re three very distinct people who don’t know each other’s fighting styles well, trying to attack one guy in very close quarters.” There should have been some screw-ups. Especially when we take semblances into account. What, are we supposed to assume here that Clover’s semblance just conveniently overrides Qrow’s? That no mistakes---let alone anything bad---will happen in this fight despite the fact that it’s an extreme parallel to Volume Four? That whole battle emphasized, “Don’t come closer!” because when people fight near Qrow bad shit happens. Now, he fights with two other people in a narrow alleyway and there’s not a single repercussion. Based on their travels looking for the geist, I don’t buy that Qrow’s semblance is just conveniently inactive while near Clover. Even if I did... that’s not a very good writing decision. To me, it’s just more evidence that Rooster Teeth doesn’t understand its own rules/doesn’t know what to do with an ability like Qrow’s. It causes problems only when they explicitly want it to. Then, miraculously, it’s no longer in effect.

Still, we’ll acknowledge that RWBY had a lot else it wanted to accomplish in this episode, so the need to power through this fight is somewhat justified. I personally would have had the entirety of this episode be the two battles---I was shocked when both ended just eight minutes in---but I’m obviously not the one writing the show. Thus, instead of an episode devoted to both the action and the emotion of confronting our two main villains this volume, Tyrian loses his cool after getting punched in the gut, manages to catch Robyn’s arrow in his teeth...

But it’s a bomb.

Down he goes. Fight’s done.

Which leads us into the second half of the episode. I want to preface this with a short acknowledgment before we go any further.

Did these last ten minutes give me what I’ve been looking for since the beginning of Volume Six? No. It’s easy to assume it did because all the pieces are there. Ironwood is finally angry about the secret keeping. The Ace Ops are criticizing the group left and right. Surely this is the “The group is capable of making mistakes and they should be called out for it!” that I wanted, right? Not really. For the simple reason that there is a massive difference between:

A story that acknowledges mistakes as mistakes. The characters either grow from this lesson or dig in their heels and are painted as being in the wrong for that decision.

and

A story that takes what the audience (me) perceives as mistakes and frames them as justified choices. The characters do not grow because they’re 100% sure they’re in the right and those who would criticize them are painted as in the wrong.

“Gravity” is so far into that second option I don’t think the series can come back from it. Does the group face criticism? Yes, but every single time the writing insists that it’s undeserved criticism. It paints the group as the underdogs facing unfair odds, rather than equals---with all the responsibility that comes with that---facing criticism that they need to own up to. Absolutely nothing in this second half implies that the group is going to learn from their mistakes because they, and the writing, still insists that they weren’t mistakes. Which is precisely what we’ve gotten before. Cordovin might criticism them, but Cordovin is in the wrong. Winter might criticism them, but Winter is in the wrong. Every time a character goes, “Hey, you shouldn’t have done this” the group responds with, “Yes we should have!” and the story backs them up. Yes, you should have attacked Argus. Yes, you should have stolen an airship. Yes, you should have lied to Ironwood and spilled the secret to Robyn. Yes, yes, yes. That’s the takeaway every single time. The group is never in the wrong. Others just think they are and those others are painted as cruel, militaristic, unhinged characters.

It’s not at all what I was looking for. Just more of the same.

So that’s the preface. In terms of what we actually get, Ironwood returns to his office with his arm bandaged and in a sling, carrying Watts’ bag, only to drop it when he sees the queen piece on his desk. He calls Winter asking, “Was anyone caught entering the school grounds while I was away?” and when she says no Ironwood has her race off to the Winter Maiden, unknowingly leading Cinder there in the process. “Now show me where you’ve been hiding her.”

We then cut to the group where the trouble begins. They’re not just curious about why Ironwood is recalling them with Mantle still in need of evacuation, they’re actively questioning it. This is the attitude I simply don’t understand. The group acts as if Ironwood is deliberately screwing everyone over when they know better. This is no longer the beginning of the volume where they thought he was some horrific dictator hell bent on destroying his own Kingdom. This is just an hour or so after, “We should tell Ironwood!” and the happy-go-lucky ‘We trust him now’ moment. Even less time after Ruby stared up at him in awe with, “He’s doing it.” They had reason to trust him before they even made it to Atlas. They were given even more reasons in the form of Ironwood sharing his secrets, early licenses, and being allowed to work on the tower. They then still waited until Ironwood was doing everything they wanted before giving him some of that trust back... but the moment he stops doing precisely what they want---we want to keep evacuating Mantle---he’s deemed suspicious again.

I mean seriously, is the group that dense? Are they incapable of thinking to themselves, “Wow, something must have happened if Ironwood is recalling us before evacuations are complete,” which is precisely the case. The scene tries to frame it as “Group Good” and “Ace Ops Blinding Obeying Orders Bad” but that aspect doesn’t even come into play. There’s nothing blind about it. It simply takes two seconds of critical thinking skills to realize that something really awful must have happened back at the Academy that trumps what you’re doing in Mantle. This is what I mean by the writing being biased. Before we even reach the fight in Ironwood’s office it’s trying to paint him as potentially cruel, potentially suspicious, potentially abandoning his people, look how worried our heroes are about this secret decision he’s made... when all that requires ignoring some really basic deduction in order to reach those assumptions. Remember that intelligence is a plot device in RWBY. If they want Ironwood forced to spill his secrets, he’ll randomly start talking about them in front of his enemies. If they want Ironwood painted as the villain, the group will randomly be incapable of realizing that maybe, just maybe, something went wrong on the home front and you’re needed there.

Things just get so much worse from then on. The group splits with JNR going off to find Oscar and, admittedly, I was shocked we got that at all. I mean yeah, it’s setup for the final reveal at the end of the episode, but the fact that anyone remembered Oscar was missing---let alone happily went off to find him---was still a surprise. So only Team RWBY heads back to Ironwood’s office where they find him (rightfully) panicking over the queen on his desk. Weiss tries to baby him, acting like he’s freaking out over nothing, when all these characters should recall precisely what Ironwood himself points out: the last time we saw this symbol it was a message that Beacon had fallen. He’s not paranoid here. He’s entirely justified in his panic. Ironwood likewise points out that they may have been duped into bringing thousands of people into Atlas as easy targets and Vine agrees, setting up that the Ace Ops are on Team Ironwood throughout the course of this conversation. Not out of blind loyalty, but because he’s right. That is a concern. That may be the plan. We do need to try and do something about that. Team RWBY, however, isn’t convinced.

That is, until Ruby realizes that the chess piece is made of black glass. Which means Cinder left it. Normally I’d congratulate her on that deduction---it is the one smart move we see Ruby pull this whole episode---but I just hate what follows. Namely that Ruby and Ruby alone controls her team’s opinions on a situation. Again. We saw it back in the snow, then again when Blake announced in the elevator that they’d do whatever she wanted. Team RWBY is the one who blindly follows their leader, not the Ace Ops, the only exception being Blake and Yang going rogue in regards to Robyn, but we see that hive-mind mindset here again. Ironwood brings up a good point? Nothing. Ace Ops support that point with more logic? Nothing. Ruby supports it? Oh, suddenly Weiss and Blake are taking this seriously. Suddenly Yang is fired up and ready to do whatever is necessary. Ruby controls the room. It’s only when she’s on board that her teammates decide this is worth getting riled up about.

Which, as I’ve said before, is a horrible way to write a diverse group. Especially when the writing is trying to paint the Ace Ops as mindless soldiers. For all their claims that they just have to follow orders, they’re the only ones parsing through this situation and coming to their own conclusions. It’s just that their conclusions do end up aligning with Ironwood’s which is the “bad” take in this scene. Team RWBY, however, waits until their leader makes a decision and then simply rides her cloak tails. The day that Blake, Yang, or Weiss legitimately disagree with Ruby---not a token “Are you sure we should keep secrets from Ironwood? We’re not actually challenging this. Just checking in”---is the day the writing will disagree with her. AKA, no time soon.

Blake tries to give some bland reassurance about them all being with Ironwood to which he responds, “Are you with me? How did Robyn know about the global communications tower?” Thank you! Thank you for giving us Ironwood’s characterization back and acknowledging that he has no reason to buy their generic ‘Got your back’ statements when everything they’ve done this volume has proven otherwise. They don’t support Ironwood, only themselves and their own teams. The minute he does something they don’t like he’s chucked under the bus. Too bad the writing doesn’t acknowledge any of this and instead continually paints the group as being justified in their decisions. It’s that hypocrisy again. When the group yells at Ozpin for keeping secrets we’re supposed to be on their side. When the Ace Ops yell at the group for keeping secrets we’re... still supposed to be on their side.

Weiss tries to diffuse the situation with “None of this matters right now!” which is real rich when they were just complaining about Ironwood not telling them why they were called back. They get to worry over that, but Ironwood isn’t allowed to worry about them outright betraying him? “Loyalty always matters!” he shouts back and he’s right. Why should Ironwood trust them to have his back in this crucial moment when they’ve never had it before? I’m already seeing more of this hypocrisy among the fandom. When Ozpin kept secrets and told lies the group was given a whole volume to be pissed about that and fans still, to this very day, insist that it hasn’t been enough time for them to get over it, to regain even a portion of that trust. But now that Ironwood has been lied to and betrayed in the same manner? People are annoyed that he’s not just shrugging it off. How dare you not get over in thirty seconds what our heroes got weeks to work through. His inability to just suck it up, as it were, is used to make him seem irrational here. I don’t see anyone, characters or fans alike, acknowledging that his anger is as righteous as the group’s was out in the snow. That there is the disconnect.

Of course, something has to break the tension. Drawn by all the fury and fear, a grimm pops out of Watts’ bag. A fail-safe for if he was defeated and captured. Salem immediately takes control of the grimm and kills it, using its form to appear before them. She reveals that it doesn’t matter that her men were captured. They were just there to “set the stage,” which they’ve done. Still doesn’t explain the random Penny side plot to my mind (seriously, why did the story bother to resurrect her when she has done nothing plot-wise or emotionally?), but whatever. Much more importantly, the stage is set for Salem herself. She’s approaching with the grimm army we saw her amassing which is... iffy.

First off, why? Why after a thousand years has she suddenly changed her MO from keeping to the sidelines to a full-on attack? Again, what’s the catalyst for that massive change? We don’t know. Meanwhile, from a writing perspective, I’m hesitant about having our Big Bad thrown into the mix before the finale. We know there are plenty of volumes left in this series, which automatically undermines any battle they might have with Salem. Will they win?? Of course not! Because RWBY isn’t over yet. Granted, this could all just be a ruse of some sort. Maybe Salem just wants them to think she’s approaching with an army, which would be much more up her alley in terms of long-distance manipulation. But if not... seriously, what’s the point of that?

Here’s hoping it’s a bluff.

Speaking of manipulation, we get a fantastically creepy moment where Salem tells Ironwood to “simply accept the futility of your situation” while smiling like a kind mother. That’s the Salem who is truly dangerous. Ironwood reaffirms that he won’t give up the relics and Ruby pips up with, “We don’t have to kill you to stop you.”

Hey wait. I’m gonna give you all another graphic.

This is Ozpin’s stance! This is his plan! His version of hope! We spent all of Volume Six having the cast beat on him for, “Omg Salem is immortal?!” and with the exception of Nora’s comment, no discussion of this in Volume Seven... but now suddenly Ruby is making this announcement? The group came to this revelation sometime off screen which we a) don’t get to see and b) once again created no scenario in the form of, “Wow! Ozpin was right all along! Maybe we should go talk to him...”

I’m just... wow. The number of times the writing takes what the group and the adults do, the exact same perspectives and decisions, and twists it so that the group comes out looking like heroes and the adults look like misguided, unhinged fools who need to be put in their place... I’m really over it at this point. And by extension the group themselves. Their characterizations have been so badly mangled at this point I legitimately don’t like them as people. I don’t care if they say they want to protect Mantle, or if they say they’ll support Ironwood, or if they say they’re unsure about their choices. All their actions claim otherwise.

Rather than grappling with the huge revelation that the group is apparently no longer obsessed with Salem’s immortality (or rather that Ruby isn’t. The rest of the group doesn’t actually matter. As established, they sync up with her beliefs the second she announces them), we return to Summer Rose. Salem goes, “Your mother said those words to me” and Ruby... loses it? What? I would have been 100% on board with this if we’d gotten it last Volume because then we saw Ruby losing her cool periodically. The smashed alcohol bottles. Chucking her scroll. Screaming at Qrow. That was all building to something. But then we had a year and roughly twelve episodes of normality. Ruby jumps into her fight with Cordovin and has been fine ever since. Hell, she’s been bubbly and confident, goofing off with Penny in one episode, then giving strong orders to her team in another. The one time we see her falter was in her conversation with Qrow and he reassured her completely that she was both doing the right thing and in no way comparable to Ozpin. Now, suddenly, one line from Salem and Ruby collapses? Full on incapacitated? I could buy the crying while still standing strong, I could buy a collapse if we’d kept her characterization going from Volume Six, but this kind of reaction in this context just felt so extreme. Doesn’t help that I really wasn’t sold on the voice acting here. Those cries sound less like devastated sobs and more like weird hiccups. Not to rag on Lindsay. On the whole I think she does a really excellent job as Ruby, it’s just this particular moment didn’t read right to me. I didn’t feel Ruby’s supposed grief here.

So that was... a lot for one line from Salem in a volume of otherwise confident and cool-headed Ruby. We also don’t see it amounting to anything, as per usual with RWBY’s writing. Ruby isn’t out of commission for the rest of the conversation or anything. She pops right back up after a second in Yang’s lap, just as confident and go-getting as before. There was no lead up to this and there are no consequences for the breakdown. Rooster Teeth honestly seems to think they can just chuck random things into the story---Ruby needs to show emotion at some point!---and then just leave it at that, entirely disconnected from everything else around it. Would we have known that Ruby just had her first breakdown of the series a minute later while once again betraying Ironwood? Nope.

Finally, this scene shows us again that the Argus battle was a bunch of nonsense. Ruby’s eyes nearly activate when she’s grieving for her mother, imagining---or perhaps seeing via Salem?---a sad Summer, not a smiling one. Just like her eyes activated while seeing Pyrrha die. Just like they activated when Blake was nearly killed by the Apathy. They activate now while thinking about her mother’s death. The montage of happy moments in lieu of the sad ones not working last volume was entirely out of place.

Salem finally leaves. Now everyone is panicking about this army. Elm points out that they’ll know if anything approaches. Vine checks and realizes that Watts took out their perimeter. Either that or Salem has already destroyed everyone and everything out there. It’s impossible to know. During all this Blake asks if the Amity tower is actually finished and we get more nonsense about how Ironwood is evil for telling a lie, but the group is always justified in telling theirs. The writing really tried to compare Ironwood telling Mantle---who I guarantee 100% does not care about whether a communications tower is finished while they’re getting attacked by grimm---a lie to lure out one of their biggest threats to Blake and Yang going behind Ironwood’s back to tell a potentially non-trustworthy outlaw about said tower, risking that the information would fall into the wrong hands and doom the project before it could be completed either way. Those are not in any way comparable situations, yet the writing really has Weiss going, “General Ironwood?” in a ‘How could you betray us like that?’ tone while Yang continues to look pissed.

And as if they didn’t know! How is this a personal betrayal? They were all helping to build that tower. Surely they’d know it it was that close to being done. Again, critical thinking skills, people. Anyone with two brain cells and their insider information should have looked at Ironwood’s announcement and gone, “Oh, that must be a bluff. Just a few days ago we were arguing about whether to continue taking resources from Mantle. No way is Amity ready. He’s going after Watts. Who is indeed the much bigger threat. Considering that he has control over the entirety of our technology and there’s literally no downside to telling Mantle about a finished tower when they’re getting devoured by grimm.” This is another, “But lying is wrong!” in the face of “But lying kept us alive...?”

Does everyone get what I’m saying here? How RWBY takes these situations and tries to paint them in an absolutely ridiculous light, expecting the audience to blindly accept this perspective despite everything else they’ve seen for themselves? Like, two episodes ago? I swear I’ve never encountered writing that treats its audience this badly. Scene after scene relies heavily on the viewer having no ability to think for themselves. Just accept that Ironwood is a horrible person for lying about the tower even though there are no repercussions for that and we JUST watched him defeating Watts as a result. Like, five minutes ago. That just happened. In this episode.

Ironwood then drops the bomb that Winter has gone off to claim the Maiden power. Interesting development. I wonder what that means exactly. Is she just going to lock herself away until the Maiden dies naturally? Do they have her on some sort of life support and is there an agreement to pull the plug if necessary? Are they going to use a machine similar to the one Pyrrha was in and try to force the change early? Or is this just a misleading comment and Winter is merely off to protect the Maiden, no intention of taking the power now? Who knows. We’ll have to wait until next episode to find out.

Ironwood likewise announces that the staff and the lamp need to be locked away now that they’re compromised, even though they’ve been compromised since they first saw Tyrian in Mantle. Insert another [this scenario is so stupid and contrived] explanation here. It’s made worse by Ruby’s childish “You said we could keep it.” Excuse me? What, did you think the lamp was your personal property now forever and always? Is Ruby really sitting there arguing that something Ironwood told her weeks ago trumps the obvious logic of putting the relic where it’s somewhere safe? That’s the characterization we’re going for, a leader who cares more about, ‘But you said we could have it!’ over the fate of the world? What even is this? The fact that Ironwood has to explain to them that the situation has changed just reinforces the group’s overall attitude. That is, one of arrogance and importance. They literally need to be told why putting the relic in a nearly impenetrable vault is better than letting them have it just because they want it. Plus, you know, they lied about the lamp from the start. So there’s that too.

Finally, Ironwood reveals that Amity was originally a plan of Ozpin’s but he didn’t push it far enough. Instead, he intends to use the staff to lift all of Atlas instead, hopefully taking two relics and a Maiden far out of Salem’s reach. Ruby wants to use the tower for its designed purpose instead, which is only a valid option in her mind because the writing was stupid last week. If there had actually been any logic there---if people had been allowed to react naturally and in a variety of ways to the Salem announcement, rather than a super convenient “Yeah! Let’s all work together!” across an entire, panicking city---she wouldn’t be quite so eager to tell the whole world. But we all know at this point that logic bends to the protagonists’ whims, so Ruby wants that same perfect ending across all of Remnant. She stands her ground, as does her team. Obviously.

Meanwhile, the Ace Ops aren’t just following Ironwood’s orders like the writing wants us to think via Harriet’s earlier comment. Rather, they’re each thinking through the situation for themselves and making very good points. If Salem has taken out our perimeter than we know our tech and people don’t stand a chance against this army. We just finished up the fight in Mantle and none of us are in a position to start another. Notably, Harriet brings this up, the one whose aura took a massive hit while nearly getting crushed underfoot. Vine points out that sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war, but Team RWBY, to be blunt, simply doesn’t care.

I’ll be blunt myself here too: I don’t have an easy solution to this particular scenario. I don’t know what the “right” or the “wrong” choice is. Weighing starting a fight with VERY high stakes you’ll lose against abandoning the people of Mantle is just a straight up horrific decision. Like so much of what Ozpin faced, there is no clear-cut, good answer here. Do you stand by the people and risk the world, or work to save the world and doom the people? I don’t know and I do commend Rooster Teeth for writing a difficult choice... just not in giving each side the weight it deserves. Because as said, we’re meant to root for Team RWBY, always. Theirs is presented as the “right” choice every time, despite the fact that, as established, this is far from a black and white decision.

What frustrates me the most is when faced with all of these logical and very important considerations (we might not have backup, we’re in no position to fight, if Salem gets the relics and another Maiden the world is screwed) the group won’t even acknowledge these things. They’re so set in their own perspective they won’t even give these HUGE concerns the time of day. Rather, Yang shoots back, “You can’t just back down from a fight!”

That’s it. That’s the group’s problem in a single line.

This is what got Pyrrha killed.

It’s something the group should remember. She also insisted on fighting when she should have retreated and, since this was back during the days when characters actually faced consequences for their actions, it cost Pyrrha her life. Granted, going after Cinder was a truly useless endeavor. Pyrrha achieved nothing with her sacrifice. Here, Team RWBY hopes to save the people of Mantle, adding a clear justification for their insistence on fighting... but this is nevertheless indicative of that larger “punch it until it stops moving” mindset. It’s not that they decide to fight instead of retreating that’s the problem, it’s that to their mind fighting is the only option. Ever. This is what led to them attacking Cordovin and destroying Argus’ mech, drawing a massive grimm in the process. When faced with the option of backing down, Team RWBY doesn’t consider that an option at all. Which is heroic when up against an actual enemy, far less so when you’re facing an ally and the choice to fight has serious repercussions attached to it. Hell, the group doesn’t even consider compromises. They could have easily acknowledged that collecting the relics, the Maiden, and getting the staff to work on Atlas will take time. You do that while we focus on evacuating the rest of Mantle to the city. But no, even the concept of a compromise simply isn’t possible. You just always fight. Straight up. Anyone who suggests anything less isn’t a true huntsmen. “We’re loyal to the people!” Ruby shouts, as if “the people” doesn’t also include the rest of the world that Ironwood is trying to save and that they’re endangering by keeping the relics and Maiden within Salem’s reach.

That is one messed up perspective to tout in a story infused with the complex and the morally gray.

The real kicker though? Ruby’s ‘My way or the highway’ attitude obliterates a solution that fell straight into her lap. Jaune calls and says straight out that they have another situation. If Ruby had listened to her teammate for just three seconds they all would have learned about Oscar, thereby undermining Ironwood’s plan. He can’t keep the lamp safe if he doesn’t know where it is. You look for it while, again, we evacuate Mantle. Then we take everything out of Salem’s reach. Win-win. Instead, Ruby blasts her way through the situation. Literally, dodging Ironwood and hiding behind his desk shouting a highly bias version of his plan in the hopes of getting everyone on her side. And it works.

Because those like Clover don’t get to hear any of that context. Like how the perimeter is gone, there’s an army potentially coming, no one is in a position to fight, we’ve already lost a relic... they just here a Ruby’s version of events that paints Ironwood as the callous man Robyn thought he was---oh my god he’s abandoning Mantle for no good reason!---and people will react accordingly. Ruby likewise doesn’t care that shouting such information over all channels does things like, say, clue Tyrian into their plan. She just wants to do things her way, right now. Pausing to think (because thinking isn’t fighting) simply doesn’t happen.

I used to adore Ruby as a hero. Someone who was intrinsically good, hopeful, and wickedly clever in her ability to come out on top. Now she’s stubborn, arrogant, at times cruel, and charges in headfirst like her sister, refusing to consider any perspective other than her own. And her team endlessly supports that. The writing endlessly supports that. This isn’t our hero working through her flaws, but rather a flawed character that the writing refuses to acknowledge is flawed. When Ruby flies behind Ironwood’s desk the music rises triumphantly, just like it did when she attacked Cordovin’s mech. When Ironwood announces that they’re under arrest, Ruby spits back, “We won’t just let you take us” and we’re supposed to cheer.

Which brings us back to the question of whether the group really faced consequences here. Let me give you all a random, non-RWBY example of two scenes. Scenario One:

Parent: You punched her?

Teen: She insulted me!

Parent: I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you were justified in attacking her.

Teen: Oh, I was.

Parent: Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, but you can’t solve all your problems that way.

Teen: I... I know that, okay. Back off. I just get so angry...

Parent: I know. We’re going to work on that. You’re grounded this weekend. We can discuss this more then.

Teen: [sighs] Fine.

vs. Scenario Two:

Parent: You punched her?

Teen: She insulted me!

Parent: I understand that, but that doesn’t mean you were justified in attacking her.

Teen: Oh, I was.

Parent: Maybe you were, maybe you weren’t, but you can’t solve all your problems that way.

Teen: Screw you! It worked didn’t it? I think a good punch goes a long way.

Parent: That’s not... okay look. You’re grounded this weekend so---

Teen: Like hell I am. [Proceeds to run off]

Teen: [Later to friend] ---and then she tried to ground me? Can you believe that?

Friend: Holy shit what an asshole.

If we put aside my own iffy dialogue for the moment, Scenario One acknowledges the complexity of the situation while likewise pointing out that the teen didn’t handle herself well. RWBY has achieved that here: the ethics of this scenario are acknowledged as complicated, but the group did things they shouldn’t have, as evidence by Ironwood’s anger and the Ace Ops’ criticism. However, Scenario One goes on to let the teen acknowledge that mistake, thereby validating it in the first place. A consequence is set, grounding, and they accept that, thereby further validating that their behavior needs work. They accept the consequence because both they and the writing acknowledge that the consequence is deserved. It takes what was previously two subjective stances---they say I’m wrong, I say I’m right---and encourages the audience to find the middle ground. Neither was totally wrong or right. The teen might be justified in some respects, but still made mistakes in others. She needs to improve.

RWBY, however, steers firmly into Scenario Two wherein the teen (Team RWBY) insists points blank that they never made mistakes in the first place, thereby encouraging the audience to question whether Ironwood and the Ace Ops (the parent) is right to be calling them out at all. We see no humility or guilt, only confidence. Ruby shouting “No!” at Cordovin when she’s told to surrender. Yang keeping silent after admitting that she and Blake told Robyn, not bothering to apologize or admit that this might have been a breech of trust. They challenge the validity of the claim that mistakes were made and by virtue of being protagonists encourage the audience to challenge it too. Finally, we see them reject the consequence because they will not admit that it’s deserved. The teen will not accept a grounding. Ruby: “We won’t just let you take us.” We’re then told by others that this rejection was warranted. The friend reinforces the view that the teen was right to run because that punishment is undeserved. The message is, “You never did anything wrong in the first place.” The plot of RWBY likewise reinforces the view that resisting Cordovin’s arrest was right by having her randomly let the group go. The consequence is replaced with a reward and, presumably, we’ll have a similar situation wherein the group either defeats the Ace Ops or is released by them. The consequences never take hold because the writing doesn’t think there should be consequences in the first place. Team RWBY isn’t going to be arrested here. They’re certainly not acknowledging that on some level they deserve to be. We didn’t see that humility while they were cuffed on the airship---that most basic acknowledgement of, “Did we make some mistakes? Could we have done something better? Is Ironwood right to be this mad?”---and there’s none of it now here, either. The tone is pure, “How dare you try and arrest us? We’re the good guys here!”

This remains as pro-protagonist as it has been the last two volumes. There are no consequences, only another hurdle for the group to overcome, painted as heroes for doing so. It’s Team RWBY vs. The Ace Ops and there’s no confusion about who we’re supposed to be rooting for. The Ace Ops because the group should rightly be stopped from hindering Ironwood’s attempts to keep the relics and a Maiden out of Salem’s hands, for their own lies and secret keeping that endangered them all this volume? Nope. It’s Team RWBY as the presumed heroes, facing off against soldiers who (supposedly) prioritize orders over what’s “right.”

And yeah, Oscar is gone. There are a number of dismantled robots and blaster fire in the room where Neo presumably took him. So unless they do a flashback we don’t get to see if/how Ozpin reacted to this initial attack. I hope they do provide a flashback because otherwise that’s another crucial scene of Oscar’s that happened off screen...

Can’t wait to see what else we’ll end up with next week! Until then, 💜

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #rwby recaps #mymetas

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robiness · 5 years

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some waffling about rwby7 themes (spoilers)

im just rambling here a lot bc im too lazy/sad to get sources to put together another theory. this stuff might matter, might not, who knows these days

enjoy!

themes i discuss: trust/love, truth, time

1. trust + love, duh

“trust love” is the most obvious theme, with it being the opening song and all - presumably trying to tell us that things will turn around once the characters get their shit together

all our groups have lost trust in each other, and are playing into salem’s hands right? but it’s not really like there was ever complete trust between the groups

i mean, literally the only arguable instance of complete trust is shown by clover to ironwood (as much as i hate it)

everyone else just vaguely tolerated each other & worked together while they had common goals (ties in with “not friends” “just a job” mentality)

“i do believe in you, but not only you” oscar be slamming more than neo’s face out here

****”i wanted to trust you” sigh

2. in line with that, truth comes up as well

robyn hill’s semblance is quite interesting for a vigilante character, so im assuming it has a literary purpose for something other than ... two? scenes, only one of which she actually uses it

robyn saying she wont stop until she gets “the whole truth”

team rwby withholding info (ruby from ironwood abt salem, bumblebee from ironwood abt telling robyn, weiss from anyone else abt the winter maiden (?), yang presumably from everyone abt the spring maiden)

ironwood withholding info from solitas until the tower was ready

oscar expresses discomfort about hiding stuff from ironwood

(so does yang but honestly she’s been kinda quiet this volume so idk)

the characters and the fandom have been fighting about who’s wrong here etc, but i think we’re focusing too much on the word “lying” (if someone HAS directly lied this volume, pls correct me) (oh wait ironwood said amity was ready) (well anyway that was around the time things were blowing up so ignoring that)

which interestingly connects to robyn’s line about “the whole truth”. the problem isn’t lies, it’s that nobody has complete information

lack of info made robyn hill suspect ironwood of selfishness, and so started her vigilantism

lack of info caused jacques schnee to get the council on his side

lack of info also caused the qrow vs clover vs robyn conflict

we know how much lacking the info about watts + tyrian messed a LOT of stuff

+++ all the hiding i already mentioned above

and the solution now doesn’t lie (heh) with what they’re hiding from each other anymore, since by this time shit’s hitting all the fans and truth bombs are dropping left and right between them

right now, there’s probably something none of them know that will shift the tide

the opening again matches this idea with the line below - all the characters are blindsided somehow. they don’t have all the cards (stretch clover symbolism? dont care, blake n yang killed vine zeki anyway) so to speak

3. and most interesting to me, a lot of talk about needing time in this volume

off the top of my head, variations of “we just need a little more time” is said by Ironwood during a meeting, Winter to Weiss, Yang/Blake to Robyn, Nora to Mantle

“the timeline has changed” is said by cinder and ironwood both, on separate occasions

***suddenly i remembered penny’s line about preparing for “six possible outcomes”, and that’s a time travel trope if i’ve ever seen one

speaking of fair game - the whole problem with them last episode was that the possibility of any real relationship is abruptly cut off (again, “i wanted to trust you”, meaning it could have eventually happened but time was against them)

the opening song sets the concept of time up as something that will heal shattered hope, but there hasn’t been a point like that yet other than the qrow/clover cliffhanger

i mean unless it’s some lame “time will heal all wounds” schtick, but i doubt that lol

(im sure this has been extensively discussed by the oscar time travel semblance theory enthusiasts already but HEY hope y’all got something new)

CONCLUSION:

idk hope or something lmao

other than that, literally none, i have nothing, and i’ve had nothing since qrow branwen shed his first tear so iT BETTER BE HOPE

pls pls pls do share your thoughts if you took away something from this! i too need answers

im so tired of this game of emotions

#rwby7 #rwby speculation #rwby7x13 #team rwby #james ironwood #robyn hill #clover ebi #rwby #let qrow branwen be happy #fair game #team clwn

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resplendentroses324 · 5 years

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Finally cooled off a reasonable amount to gather my thoughts.

THAT EPISODE WAS ABOUT TO BE SO PHENOMENAL. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS GOING PHENOMENALLY.

THEN THEY CHOSE TO HAVE TWO SEASONED, PROFESSIONAL HUNTSMAN WHO /KNOW/ SALEM’S GOAL IS FIRST AND FOREMOST TO DIVIDE, FIGHT EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF TAKING CARE OF THE FUCKING SERIAL KILLER FIRST.

The 2v1 on Robyn and Qrow vs Clover? Sure, and they were actually pretty close to resolving that and everyone calming down. Even the 1v1v1 of Qrow Tyrian and Clover? SURE I GUESS Clover just HAS to make arresting Qrow a priority as well as RECAPTURING THE KILLER. But the fucking 2v1 of Tyrian and Qrow vs Clover was SO STUPID. You needed THREE HUNTSMAN to originally capture him! You’re down Robyn, WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY HAVE BOTH QROW AND CLOVER ACTIVELY CHOOSE TO TAKE OUT THE ONLY OTHER PERSON WHO COULD FIGHT TYRIAN WITH HIM AND PROBABLY WIN.

(The rest of this post has been edited from what it once was to be a little more analytical of the characters in-show choices, but let the record show that I still HATE how the show did this and the writing was still bad for Qrow this episode. I’m reeling. Fucking TYRIAN. Seriously. )

Qrow I can KINDA understand because it’s a “do i fight both people who are trying to come at me at once or do I accept the offer to get at least one of them out of the way so I can handle the other” situation, and Clover definitely brought that on himself by refusing to stop going after Qrow.

If Qrow had given himself up to Clover he’d have been arrested and it would have left Clover to fight Tyrian by himself, but if Clover had given himself up to Qrow they could have taken Tyrian together and finished their shit later. THAT’S on Clover. Clover didn’t even give Qrow the option. Granted I’m sure Qrow could have said “you can arrest me after we deal with HIM” and then just...say sike afterwards.

Qrow’s biggest fault here is just not fucking paying attention. Qrow shouldn’t have trusted Tyrian even minimally to take out Clover without killing him. I mean did he really expect the serial killer to....not kill him?

BUT AT THE SAME TIME THO, CRWBY DIDNT HAVE TO FUCKING WRITE IT LIKE THAT EITHER. IT’S /SUPER/ BULLSHIT THAT THE ONLY OPTION THEY GAVE QROW WAS TO TEAM UP WITH TYRIAN THE FUCKING SERIAL KILLER THAT TRIED TO KILL HIM AND RUBY

Somewhat props to Qrow and Clover for trying to diffuse the situation innitially in favor of DEALING WITH THE KILLER FIRST and going to Atlas to sort things out with James. But uh, I haven’t liked Robyn since the beginning and honestly it’s her fucking fault for this by refusing to back off of Clover even though he and Qrow were ON TRACK AND WILLING to cooperate with each other to get to Atlas safely and deal with Tyrian. But she just wouldn’t give it up. I like characters, especially women, that fight for the people as much as the next guy but Robyn’s tactics (while it’s valid and necessary to resort to stealing and violence when up against oppression) has ALWAYS been to pick fights. Even when talking things out, she just has this attitude with people that she wants to pick a fight with them and it’s been super annoying. Since Clover initially wouldn’t tell her abt Amity she’s consistently been refusing to listen or hear other people out and try to cooperate even after Blake and Yang confided in her. But still when it all went to shit Clover should have given up on apprehending Qrow to, idk, FUCKING FIGHT THE KILLER.

Y’ALL WANTED TO TALK ABOUT WANTING TO BE FRIENDS SO BAD JUST FUCKING BE FUCKING FRIENDS FOR THE TWO MINUTES YOU’D NEED TO DEAL WITH TYRIAN AND THEN FIGHT EACH OTHER.

But calming down. I’m not really gonna call this one a Bury Your Gays, and while I’m as tired of it as the rest of you as a gay person, and fucking pissed that this is what they chose to do with Clover and a new relationship with some of the most potential, we all have to remember that from a hard standpoint this volume was already written and done with before we got our hands on the ship, and if they really were intending on the friends thing at first, they couldn’t just rework the volume’s whole ending to appease some tidbits that people saw between two characters. But I’m still angry, they still could have done it different. But I’m numb to it and not gonna cry over spilled milk and accuse the show writers of all kinds of bullshit because it’s not worth it. What’s done is done. I hope they do better.

But Clover was also scraping the barrel on our part for the rep, WE’re the ones that hyped him up and he was set up as a trusted loyal ally of Ironwood from the beginning and we’re all acting surprised that he made his choices.

We were all HOPING Clover wouldn’t follow Ironwood, but it’s not like we were seriously lead to believe he would, and Clover’s choice to blindly follow got him killed in an unfortunate circumstance. He walked and talked like he was completely loyal to Ironwood and if he wasn’t going to (surprise) be completely loyal to Ironwood, they would have built that hesitance and questioning up more. Fuck, MARROW was more hesitant to fight than Clover was.

That being said, what I am most upset and kind of mad about was how cruel it was for them to rescind all of Qrow’s growth and budding happiness, even if it was just in finding a good friend, one that had good luck and he didn’t really have to worry about him getting hurt by his misfortune. Someone who actually forced Qrow to see the good things he’s done and should be rewarded for when pretty much everyone has been putting him down up until now. While real life struggles like addiction ARE an on and off fight, In fiction it can get repetetive and somethings NEED to be put behind characters and resolved. If Qrow goes back to drinking Season 8’s gonna look a lot like season 6 but worse for our birb and with stakes rising and bigger fish to fry I don’t think anyone will have the patience to help him this time

100% pleased with every other part of the episode, ESPECIALLY Winter and Penny, the complexity of those two’s interactions was very intriguing and hopefully if not them, SOMEONE will fucking kill Cinder next week because she hasn’t been interesting as a villain since Volume 4. 100% pleased with RWBY vs the Ace Ops. Wasn’t expecting Elm to go off so hard. I like that RWBY has confidence in themselves and have proven they really aren’t just students or children anymore and that they can and will hold their own and they’ll win too. They’ve improved so well as fighters and I think the establishment of them as the strongest is key for why they’re the heroes of the story. If they weren’t going to end up as the best why would focus on them and not a more powerful group to oppose Cinder. AND proving that their bonds are what gave them that victory. The Ace Ops were demolished the second there was even a fraction of dissonance in them because they refused to be friends and cooperate and trust each other beyond their jobs, so their teamwork crumbled because Marrow and even slightly Vine were hesitant while Harriet and Elm were off the walls. Other than that, im maybe .5% pleased with THAT whole...Thing, ONLY because they were actually on their way to calming down and backing off before Tyrian crashed the plane.

It was 99% phenomenal and 1% bad choices but the gravity of that choice made the episode like, 20% less enjoyable than it should have been over all.

Here’s hoping that good luck kicks in and Clover still has a chance.

#rwby volume seven #rwby spoilers #ace ops #clover ebi #qrow branwen

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dreaming-paradise-dixie · 5 years

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Okay, shipping aside, I actually really enjoyed today’s episode! I was actually getting a lil’ bored since the main cast seemed to have been tossed aside, buuut!

-Team RWBY is actually together again -Ruby finally broke -MORE SUMMER!! -It was basically confirmed that Salem killed Summer -That happy memory of her mother was turned sad... -Ironwood is the jackass I always thought he was gonna be >.> -Blake and Yang are in deep shit -I actually choked when Ironwood went “are you with me?” to Blake -Weiss almost broke too and I CANNOT HANDLE TWO BREAKDOWNS RT! ;-; -We’re gonna get a RWBY vs ACE OPS fight!! -DID Y’ALL SEE ROBYN KICK THE SHIT OUT OF TYRIAN? -Tyrian got his ass KICKED! Hell yeah! -What about FairGame? Is Clover gonna turn against Qrow? -What about Winter and Weiss? Winter wouldn’t betray her little sister, would she? -Penny and Ruby? Will Penny stay loyal? Will she go with RWBY? -Where the fuck is Oscar? -WHERE ARE CINDER AND NEO?! -Watts is more than likely dead, right? -I’d feel sorry for Ironwood’s arm if he didn’t order for Mantle to be left to die... -Hahahaaa, the next two episodes are gonna HURT. -We’re gonna be left with a huge cliffhanger, aren’t we? -LEAVE OUR GIRLS ALONE -but keep the good shit comin’

#rwby7 #rwby 7 spoilers #rwby spoilers #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #qrow branwen #james ironwood #ace ops #cursed chapter 11

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roaringmaximus · 5 years

Photo

Okay guys I know we’re all really excited about Penny 2.0 and Oscar vs Ironwood and everything, but. BUT! WHY HAVEN’T WE

TALKED ABOUT THE FACT

THAT QROW FINALLY GOT A NEW OUTFIT

JUST LOOK AT OUR MAN GO LIKE IM !!!!!!!!!!! BITCH I WOULD DIE, LITERALLY FUCKING DIE FOR YOU WHAT--

(also I’d be lying if I said Jason Liebrecht’s Qrow doesn’t turn me on because holy fuck that shit is poetic cinema)

#rwby volume 7 #rwby spoilers #rwby7 spoilers #qrow branwen #bABY BOY IM LUBB #BE STILL MY HEART

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arkus-rhapsode · 5 years

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Rhapsode Reacts: RWBY Volume 3

Hey guys, Rhapsode here. So I’ve been on the record numerous times saying I haven’t watched the internet series RWBY. I haven’t. However, I have a rather close mutual @remnantoforario who tells me about most of the series and characters. Seriously, I basically have experienced the plot through osmosis. Now me and remnant work on a lot of fanfiction stuff and general discussions of video games and manga. And highly suggest anyone who wants a more in depth look at RWBY to please check him out. He’s great.

Now due to the fact he has basically told me the series up this point, its kinda been a bit frustrating when I forget something and ask him to reiterate. So I decided to knuckle down and watch some of the series.

I helped remnant get a non RWBY fan opinion, by basically live-blogging him in our PMs. And I thought I had some level of humorous reactions and Remnant had some witty observations to my reactions.

Anyway, if you didn’t catch it the first time, I must repeat, I’m not coming at this from the perspective of a fan. I have very little emotional or personal enjoyment going in the series up to this point. If I say something that offends you as a fan, I’m sorry in advance.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in:

Oh that’s a sweet scene of Ruby at her mother’s grave.

Why would you start Team RWBY’s preliminary fight in the middle of it?

the Vytal Festival feels like it should be reversed: you should start with 1, then go to 2, then for your finals, 4. Or just do a solid 4 v 4 all tournament

Remnantoforario: I dont know what the purpose of the tournament is, or why anyone would want to participate. There is no prize

Me: Bragging rights I guess. But the whole point of the festival is to celebrate peace. Lets celebrate piece with a bunch of kids beating each other up .

Ruby has a line of "we did it?" like she was surprised. Was that a concern?

Like I understand the festival has been built up since the second volume, but there's a reason most good tournament arcs ease you into the first round. Its to reaffirm character motivation and actually show you what a fight would look like

I do appreciate some of the “show don't tell” moments like the one girl using a heat crystal in her skate board to free her teammate

But usually even if the first round is jobbers, they're at least presented as a threat. I never really got that. The tide seemed more and Rwby's favor, but I can't tell if that was always the case because we started in the middle of the fight

the pacing just feels like you can't handle the story, so it wants to get to the fight scenes to keep your attention

Emerald is actually really funny, holy shit

“How can they be so happy?” And “It’s the heiress and the bimbo”

Still Weiss and Yang, better savor this duo while I can

Neo’s gothic Lolita is cute. Though I feel like their match should’ve gotten a focus

Like I mean not an episode but if they started with the instant eliminations of 1v1, I could easily see this cool intro of Rwby has met Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder, but then is shocked at who this fourth member even is

OK I feel like the scene with Rwby and JNPR should’ve happened before the first round. Given Nora’s rant would actually tie to Ruby’s whole “we won?” Surprise

“Cinder: Even if you know how the story ends that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch.” I’d agree with you if you know the story wasn’t Rwby. And it’s not really that fun to watch a bunch of fighting with no weight.

OK team JNPR vs team BRNZ is actually a much better introduction to the tournament than Rwby vs Abrn

We actually see how the field is chosen and we actually get some genuine strategy and coordination. And before all this we actually get some motivation about how the characters feel going into this battle

Me: OK why are these not the protagonists and why was this not episode one?

Remnantoforario: questions for the writers

I got admit I’m not very much of a fan of melee weapons that also turn into guns and just kind of makes the purpose of melee fighters and ranged fighters pointless

Logically it makes sense that if you’re making a weapon you do want it to have multiple functionality but at the same time it kind of makes a lot of that fighting less fun

I mean what do you want to see more a team complete each other or just one person who can just do everything with the right weapon?

Ehh OK the team meeting joke is running a tad too long

Okay, that was what I was mentioning before... Just cut out Nora with missiles. I feels more like a give and take as well as more unique to have that moment with her slamming on the ground

“Crow Bar.” Oh you go to the corner for that pun.

OK that joke with Weiss and telling Indigo to beat up Neptune was timed and delivered really bad

Also port makes a point that Sun is from Vacuo. Wouldn’t it be interesting if the leader or any membr of Indigo actually did know Sun from Vacuo?

I say that because no member of team Indigo has said anything, and it would at least add something unique to this fight

OK I have to bring up the weird use of western cartoon comedy

Neptune running up the mountain it’s super speed is kind of funny but this is also a fight I’m supposed to take seriously

Nora and Ruby kind of get away with it given their powers but Neptune just ran up a mountain like it was nothing

What is the tone here?

Sage went out like a bitch

you know if you wanted to eliminate someone to make me feel for this team being in trouble why didn’t you just eliminate Neptune?

OK scarlet’s scene actually really works

That nut joke didn’t. Again, tone?

Me: Why would you sacrifice the two characters we don’t know anything about just to do Neptunes stupid joke?

Remnant: COMEDY

OK this fight was bad

Me: I get the idea indigo was a bunch of jobbers so you decided to play the comedy angle. OK, well then tone down the serious rock music, turn down the cartoon physics

Remnant: For reference. That was a post Monty fight

I agree with Qrow, that was a mess

okay introduction to Winter is pretty good. Shame we don't really get that "Novice victory" vibe from their fight. Maybe if it last for more than 8 minutes and didn't start from the middle...

okay see, I don't mid Winter and Qrow having a fight in the middle of the square as it helps serve as an introduction to the characters and flexes their strength

though Im also starting to notice something else that bugs me in the fights, no banter or introspection or comments

its just fight moves

like there's times that's god, DBZ did it tons of times when its just Goku making "Hiyah" noises but there was still a bit of time to get in a line that both broke up the action and highlighted how two characters felt or through thought was able to give us a peek into their head

watching rwby fights makes me think, "This be better as a video game"

so... does no woman in this world wear a bra?

Ironwood: “If you were one of my men, I'd have you shot!”

Okay, that can't be legal

Ironwood is kinda becoming my favorite character

He's a flawed human being, and the narrative shows that, but it also shows he has a point

Okay, yeah I see what you mean, all this Fall stuff is happening in the background which is nice, but there's no real plot with the tournament

Okay Mercury and Emerald vs Coco and Yatsuhashi is actually really good

not much character, but its actually more intimidating seeing how strong these two are. Wish the music had a bit more ambiance

Okay, that's an interesting plot point. Qrow explaining how beating one high profile criminal hasn't stopped crime. And the fact there is zero crime is concerning and relating it back to Ironwood

Wow, its almost when you just slow down and lt characters breath and talk to each other and have them be characters without shoving in a fight scene, its pretty good

Why is team Cardin fighting a non faunus team? Feels like a waste of characters

disappointing that Ciel doesn't know Penny is a robot

mainly because the way its queued up with Ciel seemed like she was only spending time with Penny because ordered and her attention to the schedule makes it seem like she is a soldier just having to play dress up for the robot to make it comfortable

Me: Wow Weiss's heels... Never noticed them. I just thought they were boots

Remnant: Nope heels

Also Neon and Flynt actually have a pretty good intro

We know what Atlas is like seeing Winter and Ironwood, so Neon and Flynt make an interesting and immediate contrast

And it feels like there is something riding on our opponents side given Flynts history with the Schnee. Which makes him stand out from the other jobbers

And Neon's intentionally irritating personality actually is more character displayed by any other opponent character

I actually really like the OST in the fight too. This might be my favorite action scene

Flynt actually has a really cool semblance too

oh wow, some actual dread with Weiss getting eliminated

Imma let you get away with that Hulk reference Port

I like how Yang beat Flynt, but if I was gonna beat Neon, I'd have Yang punch the ground and through her off balance

Haha Ironwood doesn't have a heart, I get it, he's tin man

least they didn't go with Ozpin saying Qrow doesn't have a brain

Me: So... If Pyrrha is all these things, why aren't we following her team?

So abridged version of the four seasons story Four random chicks find a guy camped out in his house, be nice to him and he gives them super powers. If I were a kid being told that, I’d demand another story

Pyrrha: like a semblance?

Oz: Like magic!

Me: Like a semblance

Qrow is right, this selection is stupid

You’re keeping a woman in your basement in cryogenic suspension. Oz you and Rhea need to share notes

Oh god... Adam. You can’t act

Adam seems already psychopathic Or maybe that’s just his acting

So this is the famous Yang punching Mercury... It works I guess

Actually getting a chance to see some Jaune and Pyrrha moments in v3 and it’s good

Me: Velvet is British? Huh... never predicted that

Remnant: Australian

How can Ruby notice Emerald all the way across the arena? Actually wait she’s the only one not in a black uniform

Why did they leave Mercury behind where anyone could find him?

And Penny is dead and I do not care at this point

Cinder’s little speech is the first time I’m actually feeling like I’m getting a villain motivation out of her

She talks about how Oz and the headmasters are just men capable of making mistakes But she’s someone who would embrace and all powerful godly being. Though that seems and odds with the presumed motive that she’s working with Salem to potentially kill the brother gods

Okay, Blake and Weiss have a pretty good scene when all hell was breaking loose

Ruby versus the big ass bird was actually pretty cool and the scene of everyone’s lockers being what puts it down is really clever

Oh really cool scene of Port and Oobleck. Hey the fall is turning out pretty decent

Ironwood killing the wolf was pretty good

Roman is a breath of fresh air as a villain. And it’s namely his acting

You know I feel like you could let the more tertiary characters fight the robots while Weiss and Blake fight WF

OK I repeat this is just become a video game. Giant dragon that spawns mini monsters in a destroyed town

The spectacle fighting actually really works when your opponents are mindless and faceless brutes

You have Adam in a school full of terrified people, why aren’t you showing his nuance by showing he won’t hurt Faunus staff and is giving them an out?

Velvet’s scene be cool if it was powers she was mimicking. Looking at a lot of weapons really doesn’t do much for me.

That said, this could work if she ended up copying the mech and fighting against it

Okay I feel like Weiss finally being able to summon something should’ve been done with a lot more gravitas

And Sun proceeds to be the best male character

Neo is fucking beast. Y’know what, let her be final boss

Now I just have this image of Neo flying through the air with a sign reading “I’m Mary Poppins, Y’all”

Wow, Roman went out like a bitch

Like zero build up just dead. And his replacement is Adam... There is no justice

Ironwood: someone has done the unthinkable and taken control of my machines!

Watts: What? Like it’s hard?

Blake and Yang holding hands on the ground after Yang lost an arm. Yeah that’s pretty shippy

Also, I feel like the animation really limits a lot of the characters expressions. Like the time Ruby spent dwelling on her sister being mutilated is well timed. But usually a lot of the emotional devastation comes down to the expression.

a lot of faces seem stiff in transition expressions. Or they have this doll like quality

The most expressive person seems to be Emerald

Pyrrha and Jaune’s kiss is actually really tender

Me: Okay how the hell is Cinder’s dress still managing to cover her loins?

Remnant: maiden magic.

And Pyrrha died

Are you done with the whole line of do you believe in destiny was fine Personally I would’ve also accepted the Ted Kord response, Rot in Hell.

Ruby went super saiyan

Tai being the first person Ruby sees is nice

Yang’s bitterness works here. Though given how I wasn’t feeling too much of the sisterly bond between the two, it’s probably not as hard hitting as they wanted

Salem’s introduction isn’t bad

so after watching V3. my final opinion is meh

Strikes me as they wanted to the fall, and the tournament was just a lot of window dressing. Because the stuff with the Fall is the best part, but everything else has felt dull and fillery.

Maybe I’ll do this for the next season of a series I binge. But till next time, take care.

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team-crtq · 6 years

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Who is really at fault for what happened at Argus?

Needless to say, the debate about whether Team RWBY and Co were right or whether Cordovin was right has caused a bit of a debate.

However, I find that looking at it that way as one side having to shoulder all of the blame vs the other correct side removes a lot of nuance and the thoughts behind each action. Each side had their own reasons for making the choices that they did and those choices may not have been entirely correct with different consequences to each.

So, with this, let’s look at the choices from both sides that lead up to this point. Also known as another episode of Regalia rambling.

"Couldn’t they have come up with a better plan than stealing a military ship?”

Arguably, yes, they could have come up with a better plan, this is what happens when you leave a group of teenagers and an old lady in charge of a dire and dangerous situation. Sometimes in a desperate situation, the dumb and crazy idea is all you have.

They tried asking Cordovin if they could get to Atlas, which, to any situation or plea, Cordovin said “No”. Understandable, their ports are closed and yes, she could have just left it at, “No we cannot help you, our ports are closed, no one is going out under any circumstance.”

and the only circumstance Cordovin would allow is Weiss returning to Atlas on her own... Which, given that Weiss had to smuggle herself out of Atlas, it’s understandable that she nor the group want to go back alone. Because once Weiss is gone, they will have no way of reaching or contacting her, she will be alone on a military ship with a lamp that attracts Grimm, and chances are, Jacques wouldn’t allow her to speak with Ironwood at all and would have her put right back under lock and key.

If the team went with that plan and Weiss found herself in danger, it would be SOL for everyone, especially given they would have no idea what even happened to Weiss because she wouldn’t be able to reach them. It’s understandable neither team RBY and Co or Weiss herself wants to go through with that plan because there is no way back out for Weiss and we know what Jacques could do to her.

Given the stress and direness of the situation, it’s only natural they eventually ended up going with stealing the ship... But it wasn’t their first choice. Before making that decision... Let’s go over the things that happened leading up to it.

They find out Ozpin is hiding a very dangerous secret about Salem’s presumed immortality and naturally, in their anger, tear him a new one and he retreats back into Oscar’s mind.

They find a house and Qrow grabs himself a drink and ends up oversleeping and not waking the group up on time.

In his frustration of dealing with the tire, he goes and gets himself another drink.

Team RWBY and Maria end up fighting for their lives against the Apathy while Qrow was busy being drunk. If not for Maria, team RWBY would have died right under his nose... almost literally.

He had to be dragged away from the bar and it was only while the house was going up in flames that he realized the kind of danger they had been in while he was drunk.

Rather than deciding to drop the drink, he gets another one when they arrive in Argus.

Oscar vanishes and it sends the group into a panic, while they are out looking for him Qrow is passed out drunk... on the stairs... in public.

Needless to say, Qrow has caused more issues and grief for the group more than Maria or Ozpin. Ozpin’s worst crime is holding a secret and Qrow has been a hindrance to the group’s efforts and an unnecessary source of stress.

When Jaune brought up stealing a military airship everyone looked at him like he had straight lost his mind. Even they thought it was a dumb idea... but no one had anything else.

Sometimes when you have nothing else, the dumb idea is what you have to go with.

But what does Qrow do? He immediately shoots down the idea as worthless and something they wouldn’t be able to pull off. Which, in hindsight, he was right... They didn’t really pull it off and it went just about as well as he expected.

However, rather than assuming the reasonable adult position and sitting down with the team and saying “Let’s come up with a better plan.” what does he do?

He’s about to march right back to his room after shooting down the only other idea they had for getting to Atlas after the ones they had tried were exhausted either to mope around, sleep off his hangover, or get drunk some more.

In either case, even though he is technically correct... He’s been more of a hindrance to the group than even Ozpin whose worst offense was keeping a secret and retreating into the back of Oscar’s mind. Someone who doesn’t help but neither actively hinders the group is better than the person who is an actual hindrance.

So naturally, Ruby (and I assume the others as well, but the focus is on Ruby) is fed up with this and wants to hear Jaune out. Whether it is just pure defiance and teenage rebellion or desperation and stress of the situation they’ve been put in is a different analysis altogether, especially given Rubys mentions of not needing adults. Be on the lookout for that episode.

At the end of the day, they ended up stealing the ship and given that they had Saphron and Terra’s help, they likely discussed the plan in further detail so they weren’t running entirely blind into the situation.

Were they right to steal the ship in the first place? No. But they exhausted the other options they had seen because the only way to Atlas, is by an airship.

Naturally, upon finding out the ship has been hijacked, Cordovin goes to stop them.

Is she right to do so? Absolutely.

But her methods were incorrect.

You see, you can be correct in what you are doing or what you intend to do, but go about it in the wrong way.

Cordovin went about it in the wrong way. Just like the question about whether or not team RWBY and Co could have come up with a better plan... Could Cordovin have come up with a better plan for stopping them?

Yes.

With the reveal of this episode especially, it showed that they had more airships... Several more airships.

She could have easily sent more airships out after them and given that the people of Argus live near a military base, it likely wouldn’t have caused any measure of panic or concern. They probably see ships flying in and out daily, what’s seeing two or three more fly after another ship? They’ll probably just assume they’re doing a drill or carrying cargo or something or maybe there was a Grimm spotted and they sent out ships to assess and take care of the situation.

No big deal.

But what does she do instead? Break out this huge mecha that undoubtedly caused the people of Argus to panic.

The panic wasn’t caused by team RWBY and Co stealing the airship... but the huge mecha coming out of the ground after all of the shit Atlas got from what happened at Beacon.

The people of Argus aren’t paying attention to the airship... but they are paying attention to that huge mecha that was likely not public knowledge and not to mention, absolutely hidden from public view. They do not see that thing all the time.

Where Cordovin is wrong isn’t in trying to stop them from stealing the ship, but rather the methods that she takes to do so... Because needless to say, that mecha isn’t for handling stolen ships.

She brought it out not because she thought a group of teenagers, a drunk, and an old lady were a genuine threat to Argus safety... but because she felt like they had tricked them and her pride got in the way of her thinking clearly and felt that they needed to be shown Atlas’s might so they would never underestimate Atlas again.

Her thought process and actions have little to do with protecting the people of Argus and trying to retrieve a stolen ship... but wanting the group to surrender and recognize how great Atlas is.

While you can say that it is team RWBY’s fault that Cordovin broke out a huge mech... It really isn’t considering Cordovin had other options to choose from before getting to the mecha... The huge mech, intended for taking down huge Grimm like the Leviathan and not chasing after a group of teenagers and two adults.

It was disproportionate to the situation. It’s like responding to some kids breaking your window by burning down the entire block.

Should you stop them from breaking your window? Yes. Are you right to have them pay for fixing the window? Yes. Are you right by burning down the entire block in response to them having broken the window? No.

While Cordovin was right to try to stop them and right to try to arrest the group, the way she did about it is arguably the worst way possible.

Team RWBY and Co should be blamed for stealing the ship, yes, but they shouldn’t be blamed for Cordovin’s disproportionate reaction to the situation and the resulting damage.

Even though it was Ruby who broke the mecha, Cordovin was arguably willing to kill them by using a huge mecha because they stole the airship. She was going to use a cannon to kill a group of teenagers, an old lady, and a drunk who were of no immediate threat to the people of Argus... The people she was sworn to protect.

The result is that the mecha got damaged and she was stuck in the water when the Leviathan surfaced along with the horde of Grimm that her military base had been fighting off while she was busying flaunting her power around.

Cordovin’s actions caused more damage and panic than what Team RWBY and co did. So while Cordovin was right to stop them yes, Team RWBY isn’t responsible for the fact that Cordovin’s actions ended up causing more damage and panic than they did.

It’s like blaming the kids who broke your window for you burning down the block because burning down the block was in response to the actions of the kids.

Just because your actions and choices are in response to someone else’s, doesn’t mean that the actions and choices you made were correct... Even if your intentions were correct. Cordovin had the right intention on stopping them... Just not the correct method in stopping them.

And it was her choice that ended up putting the people of Argus in more danger and causing the destruction and rise of the Leviathan. Team RWBY’s choice of stealing the airship didn’t cause immediate danger or panic for the people of Argus. It was Cordovin bringing out a huge mech to deal with the choice team RWBY made.

But naturally, RWBY and Co feel terrible about this. They feel bad that they broke the only thing that could fight off that Leviathan... So naturally, they do what they can to make it right but putting themselves in danger and risking their plan of not going to Atlas falling apart. Even though they could have easily made it to Atlas in all of the chaos, they didn’t want to leave helpless people in danger and that shows even though they stole an airship, they didn’t actually want people in danger.

So they did the right thing and helped them fight back even though they were considered hostile... and Cordovin came to her senses about what she was sworn to do rather than her pride in the atlas military. Cordovin’s change of heart is a bit of an analysis in its own right. So I’ll save that for another time. Be on the lookout for that episode as well.

But to keep it brief, Team RWBY and Co didn’t point fingers or blame people for their actions whereas Cordovin did.

At the end of the day... Team RWBY is at fault for stealing the ship... However, Cordovin is at fault for the resulting damage and panic at Argus. Either side is truly blameless for the situation, but one Cordovin’s actions caused more damage than the others... even if those actions were in response to some teenagers stealing a ship.

Both sides had the right intentions, Team RWBY and Co were trying to fulfill their mission of getting the lamp somewhere safe and Cordovin in her attempts to stop them because they did commit an illegal act. But, they were wrong in their methods... Which naturally, both realized as well.

#rwby #rwby volume 6 #rwby rose #qrow branwen #RWBY Ozpin #Ozpin #RWBY Meta #RWBY Analysis #crtq #character analysis #rwby character analysis #mod regalia

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thuskindlyshescatters · 6 years

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V3C11 vs V6C11

In my mind, I believe Volume Three, Chapter 11 (Heroes and Monsters) to be one of, if not THE, best episodes of RWBY. I might be influenced by it also being my favorite episode, but that’s mostly based off of cinematic elements I enjoy, which also contribute to its greatness.

But this most recent episode rivals it in some ways. I’m not willing to say it’s better, but on that high of a bar, one distinction that sets these episodes apart from other finale episodes is its Holy Shit factor.

The way I choose to quantify this is in how many reveals or shockingly dramatic moments there are in each episode, from being super badass to super horrifying. 3:11 has more of these moments than even 3:12. But if we’re going to compare 3:11 and 6:11, the division becomes less obvious. I think that the best way to do so is count up these Holy Shit moments and compare their tallies.

WARNING: I’m literally listing the spoilers of the episode.

In Heroes and Monsters, we experience:

Blake actually confronting Adam (“I’m not running”) as a sort of “reveal” of their true relationship. As of before this episode, it was unclear of what exactly their dynamic was like, and this exposeé of Adam’s character really hits the audience.

Velvet’s weapon and Semblance. The audience had been excited for this since they alluded to it in 2:12.

Using “I May Fall” in a fight. Since Volume One, this kickass song has deserved to be in a fight, and it’s in one of the coolest fights of the series.

Weiss summoning for the first time. This is a character breakthrough that gives her something to strive for in Volume Four.

Neo flying off the airship. With any disappearance of an antagonist, especially one as beloved as Neo, the audience is bound to be shocked. Even if they guessed at it, the actual moment was surprising.

Roman dying. Our arguably favorite antagonist since Volume One, Roman only appeared again in 3:09, and so his sudden departure was also rightfully surprising.

Ironwood’s mechanical body. While it’s been alluded to, the first time we see it onscreen definitely counts as a reveal.

Qrow’s scythe. A reveal as well.

Amber gets shot. Cinder hadn’t shown herself at ALL this episode, and we were all expecting Pyrrha to become the Fall Maiden at that point. But no.

Blake gets stabbed. A shocking moment, as we see her plot armor completely disregarded.

Yang’s arm getting cut off. What else can I say?

Cinder becomes the Fall Maiden. This was a given of the situation, but the moment is no less shocking to the audience.

Adam cutting off Blake’s head. Gotcha!

There may be more that I’m missing or less that I wrongfully included, but that’s quite a number. Here’s the list for 6:11--

New song! Like “I May Fall,” triumphant hero moments are best immortalized by the Williams’ musical talents.

Qrow as a crow. We haven’t seen him use this for a tactical reason since... like, ever, though he did use it in 6:01. Still, his character’s recovery from the low points of the last few episodes are apparent here, delighting the audience.

The return of the Lancer summon. All of their technical fighting was excellent, but as they incorporated their individual abilities in creative ways, this payoff for the tense moment of Ruby falling is gratifying yet unexpected for the audience.

The literal cliffhanger. Everyone we know is currently in danger, weee!!

Blake losing her coat. Unexpected and, like Velvet’s weapon, badass and reveals more about her character. For example, it shows us--

The scar. It’s not a dramatic reveal, but it is certainly something the audience didn’t think they would get in such meaningful detail out of this episode.

Adam’s face. For six years since his introduction, we’ve wanted to know what’s under the mask. It’s literally be a longer-held reveal than Salem’s, and was theorized about more than who the mysterious narrator in 1:01 was. Additionally, the reveal of the SDC scar is shocking in its own right.

Breaking Gambol Shroud. We’ve never, EVER, had a weapon damaged in this way. Yang lost one side of Ember Celica when she got her arm cut off, but this is the destruction of one of the most integral parts of this show.

Stabbing Blake. Gotcha again!

Bumblebee being lost. Again, we’ve known Yang’s bike for longer than we’ve known Yang’s face! By a couple seconds, I grant you, but it was introduced in the Yellow Trailer as a significant part of her. And now it’s gone.

Moonslice. Between Adam’s giant blast that scars up her arm, to Blake’s confirmation of what it is, to the strangely familiar shadow clones, every use of Adam’s Semblance in here had an unexpected spin on the audience’s understanding of his abilities.

Blake grabbing Yang’s trembling hand. While this is expected in the chronology of the show’s development, it still is a massive leap forward from where we thought their relationship had left off from last time they did that.

In conclusion, yes, 3:11 seems to be the more Holy Shit episode, still holding the title for Most Holy Shit Episode of RWBY. However, it is shocking in a different way -- whereas most of those moments are tragic or simply audience neutral, many of the ones for 6:11 are triumphant or pleasing for the audience. Either way, they are both excellent episodes for all of the reasons listed above, and I think that if you’re recommending RWBY to a friend, these are the episodes you should NOT neglect to watch with them.

#rwby #rwby6 #rwby3 #rwby spoilers #rwby analysis

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arse-blathanna · 7 years

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What are your predictions on the plot of RWBY Volume 5 and the characters status on what they'll be doing? Do you think they'll unite in Mistral this volume?

oooh, very good question. I’m just going to start with this little preface just because I think it’s probably going to ultimately ring true: For series like RWBY where it’s often producing episodes as they come out, your trailer will probably be heavily weighted towards the first part of the season. Got that out of the way.

So here goes nothing, I guess. I’ll try to blow through this in the most logical way possible, but no promises on anything. So.... ignore my shit attempts at organization.

Also, this is long and under a cut for a reason. Also volume 4 and volume 5 trailer spoilers

For starters, yeah, I do think that we’ll be seeing them reuniting in Mistral because all paths lead there. At the end of Volume 4, 3/4 members of RWBY were actively either in Mistral or on their way there, with the outlier being Blake. Yang is likely to be making a beeline for her sister, while Weiss is doing the same but looking for Winter instead (which I’ll get into in a hot minute.) Blake is doing things with the White Fang but if the trailer is any indicator she will be told that the best way to deal with things is to get out of Menagerie. So... organizing this shit. Let’s go.

Ruby, JN_R, Qrow, and Ozcar

Are already in Mistral. I expect that these plots will separate a little bit as we go. We’ve got Qrow hunting the Spring maiden, which probably brings us to Raven (assuming no red herring.) Ozpin and Oscar have to continue to get used to sharing a headspace, and Oscar’s going to need to learn a thing or two if he’s going to be saving any worlds, in any form. Like how to fight. Or about the Ozluminati (convenient we’ll have two, technically 3 in one place again). Combat school locations make that easier.

JN_R are going to somehow end up working with Oscar, whether its as temp roommates or future teammates. If teammates, I’m predicting Team ORNJ. With Salty Jaune. Ever think about how Oscar doesn’t know about Pyrrha? Ever think about how Jaune will probably flip shit if he finds out about Ozpin’s voice living in Oscar’s head? No? Well, you are now.

As for Ruby, she’s going to be along for the ride for a little bit until she finds herself with her team again. The question of whether someone is still going after her fancy eyes is something to consider (I’m guessing Watts, but there are reasons for that.) If Ruby reunites with her teammates, they’ll be able to really start doing their thing again.

Weiss, Winter, and Politics

Weiss will be on of our big windows into the politics of the whole situation that they’ve found themselves in, mostly through her connection to Ironwood. As of Volume 4, Winter was investigating certain irregularities in Mistral and reporting back to Ironwood. Weiss heads off on her own to find her sister, which will likely drop her in the city of Mistral itself if there will be any direct contact with Leo for Winter’s work. There, she’s likely to find Ruby, and they’ll reunite and things will be peachy keen.

In the trailer and some promo stuff we see signs that Weiss has gotten into fights with something. There was an image going around that looked like she was firing out of the back of the airship she was taking, so that’s something to expect. We see a full summoned knight in action, so she’s definitely improving her summoning.

Winter and Weiss reuniting puts them at least close to Mistral, so it’s not hard to imagine them running into each other. Especially if Winter and Qrow fight again for whatever reason (and honestly, they probably will: I’d guess that the Great Atlesian Isolation will be a catalyst of sorts), we’ll definitely see Weiss joining up with Ruby. If Winter sees Qrow’s there, she might end up calling on Ironwood.

Hard to say, but this is one of the plots I’m more interested in. Especially since Weiss was just outside the door when Ironwood made the big decision to cut off Atlas. She’s the only one that was really there, and that has the potential to be a whole thing.

Blake, Sun, Ilia, and the White Fang’s Tiger Mom:

When we last saw Blake was the Character short about her, and we saw her dicking around Menagerie beating up street kids with Sun. They haven’t left Menagerie yet and as of right now, I don’t think it’s even on their minds. It seems like Ilia’s going to pass on the information to make them go to find Sienna Khan. If (though I prefer when in this case), that happens, expect for Ghira and Kali to stay behind.

If Ilia leaves Menagerie, don’t necessarily expect it to be for good reasons. She’s a spy, and while she and Blake have some sort of truce, that probably won’t be enough to stop her from doing her job entirely. It’s hard to say, but I doubt this is the last we’ll see of her if we don’t see her once Blake and Sun leave.

And if they leave Menagerie, they’re going after Sienna Khan.

Here’s what we know about Sienna Khan: She is the leader of the White Fang, and has apparently been running the operation out of Mistral. Adam mentioned having to go back to Mistral for something in Volume 3′s flashback episode. If Blake is going to fight Sienna or the Fang, this is a logical place to go. Adam’s also known to be there, and that’s another piece of the puzzle. As of the end of Volume 4, Hazel Rainart was supposed to have a meeting with Sienna but we don’t know if it’s happened yet or will be handled onscreen. It’s kind of a thing.

Blake and Sun’s path for the White Fang brings them to Mistral, and I don’t know the specifics, but it would put them close to the others so there’s a strong possibility for a run in. Amplify that when you remember that Sun is a student of Haven, where RNJR is currently hanging out. SSSN might get a reunion while RWBY also gets to work on theirs.

Yang, Motorcycles, and Raven

My first prediction is that we’re going to kiss Yang’s bike goodbye because it has the potential to be a massive pain in the ass if they ever get back into road trip mode. That’s not a big one, but I don’t expect much from it.

Word of God statements say that everyone isn’t quite recovered yet, and I think they’re very much referring to Yang in that point. She’s got a new metal arm, but we’ve never seen her in a real fight with it, and definitely not one where it’s not friendly turf. That’s probably going to come up eventually, but I’m not really sure I want to speculate on it too much.

The big thing here is that when she left home, we knew that she was heading for Mistral. Whether she was going for Ruby or for Raven was left ambiguous, but ultimately it won’t actually matter. If she goes to Ruby, she meets up with her sister again. If she goes to Raven, she meets up with Ruby anyways because Ruby is with Qrow who is after Raven. Got it? Good.

This is going to be the season where the Raven Subplot really gets underway. Expect the explosions from that mess finally coming into contact with one another.

Some Other Cool Dudes (aka: Team WTCH):

As of the end of Volume 4, we have some new nuggets about WTCH and I want to just tear through them one by one since they matter a little bit just a smidge sorta kinda.

Arthur Watts is now confirmably the Blackmailer in Chief to Leo Lionheart. He’s a bastard who will put his feet up on all of the tables if he gets the chance. If this holds true, then I won’t be surprised to see him infiltrating Ozluminati further through Leo, but because he’s an adult and not a student, he may be able to get much farther than Cinder would have. I expect to see more of him, to say the least. Also, he may end up being the one hunting Ruby this season specifically since the two of them are already in the same place.

Tyrian Callows left off at the end of Volume 4 as a very happy man that definitely hasn’t been recently injured or anything. The question with regards to him is whether Salem sends him back into the field (likely, by my guess,) and whether he will be sent after Ruby is up in the air. The bigger question, to me, is whether or not he goes after the Spring Maiden. Because if he does.... Raven vs Tyrian, anyone? And if he’s successful? A golden stinger for a golden boy? Who knows, the sky’s the limit.

Cinder Fall is in the hospital from hell, still doing recovery stuff with Salem. Emerald and Mercury are still hanging around for the time being. When we last saw Cinder, she was trying to get stronger and was literally fueling the hate fires that are going to (eventually) bring her back after Ruby. She may spend another season at a desk, or she might get a new chance. Hard to say right now since she’s the only one Salem can talk to at the moment.

Hazel Rainart was last seen in Mistral destroying ticket machines for small children. We don’t know if his beginning of volume 4 assignment to meet with Sienna Khan of the White Fang has been fulfilled. If it has, this guy has a lot of question marks attached to him. If it hasn’t (which I consider likely,) then we’re likely to see that meeting in person somehow. Especially now that Sienna has a model. Whatever comes out of that will bleed into the WF plots.

Other Other Cool Dudes, or just the randos I feel like mentioning:

Team SSSN are students at Haven and Sun coming back with Blake would also reunite that team, for what it’s worth.

Glynda will continue not to matter that much. If we see her, she either dies or gets recast.

Klein, Jacques and Whitley are probably going to remain in Atlas. If we see them, it’ll be through Ironwood. The mother will continue to be offscreen.

Taiyang’s dog still loves him. We won’t see it, but he’s getting together with Oobleck and Port to drink still since he’s a lonely boy again. If we see him, it’ll be Raven-related. Maybe a STRQ reunion? Of sorts?

We won’t see Neo

CFVY is possible but very very unlikely, by my guess.

We may see some of the Volume 3 tournament characters back, but only in background. I wouldn’t personally count on it.

not actually characters, but buckle up for the queerbaiting to go up to 11

#ibroketheirteeth #ask #rwby spoilers #rwby predictions

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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I have a serious question about RWBY. Do you think it's bad writing? Writers with different priorities for the story? Or malicious writing? The racism angle was never done well. Ozpin was treated terribly by the other characters/the story itself. The Ironwood/ptsd/militarization angle is appalling. Queer rep - bad. The RWBYJNR squad is increasingly closed off and unable to work with outsiders. There's heavy topics here. And they're never handled well. Do you think it's bad writing, or malicious?

If we stick to these specific terms - bad vs. malicious - I think the primary difference between them is that “malicious” carries intent. It’s the intent to do harm with your writing rather than your writing unexpectedly harming others in ways you honestly didn’t predict. (Which doesn’t necessarily remove culpability, it’s just another aspect to consider.) It’s the difference between the author who, say, deliberately incorporates homophobic rhetoric into their story in an effort to circulate those messages and the author who perpetuates that rhetoric out of ignorance. The difference isn’t just one of intent but also potential. The homophobic author - while not impossible to educate - is, as said, coming from a place of malice. The ignorant author presumably is not and thus has the opportunity to improve. The question becomes, will they? Will they listen to their viewers and respond to the criticism in a productive, respectful manner? Once they can no longer claim ignorance - “Shit we thought we were writing a complex racial allegory but I get now how that... didn’t work. We’re sorry and will work to do better in the future” - will that have an impact on the work moving forward? If it doesn’t, if he author chooses to bury their head in the sand and insist loudly that they’ve never made a single mistake? Then the writing can become malicious. They’re now supporting/perpetuating those issues knowing full well the damage it’s causing.

RWBY is... complicated lol. Honestly I’m not sure and that largely stems from ignorance of my own: I don’t know a whole lot about our RT writers. I’m not particularly interested in them as celebrities. I don’t enjoy watching RWBY interviews. Most of the time when I analyze shows I recognize the need for any context the author is willing to provide (death of the author aside) but in RWBY’s case there’s such a glaring disconnect between what I’ve heard them say about their show and what they’re actually writing that I find it frustrating to engage with that too much. Thus, I don’t know as much about their intentions as I perhaps should. Nor do I know as much about how RWBY may have improved prior to when I started watching it (right after Volume 3). In order to label RWBY as “malicious” I’d want to know the authors a bit better, hear their take, follow their responses to criticism, and the like. Especially in regards to topics like race and militarism which, on their own, are subjects I’m not nearly as educated on as I am queer studies.

My general sense though? I think it may be becoming malicious. A bit. Not as much as many other writers, but not heading in a good direction either. Over the course of my time watching RWBY I had worked under the feeling (assumption really) that this was a case of ignorance. These were comedy/parody writers who chucked themselves into writing a “deep” story and didn’t have a clue what they were doing, resulting in a whole slew of (very damaging) mistakes. Bad writing, but not necessarily malicious writing. Now though, seven years later, it gets harder to defend them when the issues you bring up are getting worse rather than better and they’re issues we’ve either had since Volume 1 (race) or have tackled for a good three years. More than that, there are a few specific instances lately that have read as more malicious than ignorant to me. The most prominent of which is the animation/promotion of Clover and Qrow. You’d have to be ignorant to a pretty absurd degree to not realize, in 2020, what egging on a potentially queer ship when you know one party will die is going to do to your fanbase. Unlike Ilia (a complex situation wherein there’s a strong defense that there’s nothing inherently wrong with writing a queer antagonist and RT really was ignorant of the things this would imply), the Clover-Qrow situation felt more deliberate. The fact that RT is handling so many of these sensitive issues so badly and doubling down on their decisions rather than fixing them is beginning to feel deliberate. And what feels deliberate then feels malicious.

So do I think the majority of RWBY’s problems were originally written out of ignorance? Yes. Do I think RT is now powerful enough that they’re happy to shrug off a lot of criticism rather than respectfully engaging with it? Yes. Is this then potentially leading RWBY into malicious writing if the writers have had every chance across seven years to educate themselves and have chosen not to? Yes. Do I think RWBY is a perfect example of malicious writing that should be set aflame when we’ve got other authors out there - coughJKRcough - spewing truly heinous views with no subjectivity attached (because yes, RWBY is very subjective in some respects)? No. The category of “malicious writings” is itself a very large spectrum and, even if we chuck RWBY into said category, I still think it’s on the shallow end of things. Whether it stays there we’ll have to see.

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recaps: The Greatest Kingdom

Hello, glorious RWBY fandom! It’s that time of the year again. No, not the holidays. Rather, it’s the roughly twelve weeks where my Saturdays are lost to the void of churning out 4,000+ words of typo-laden analysis for our favorite web-series. Does that sound like a good time? If so, stick around and keep reading.

Now, those of you who joined us last year will recall that I took issue with numerous aspects of Volume Six. Many of you are capable of summarizing these aspects in great detail considering that the conversation never stopped on my blog between January 26th and, well, today. But for those of you who don’t otherwise suffer my metas or who might be joining us for the first time, here’s a very short guide to the stuff we’ve been chatting about the last few months:

Holy shit they really went all in on dragging Ozpin, huh?

Is the group part of a collective consciousness now? What happened to diverse thinking?

Should un-licensed teenagers steal military property and start grimm-drawing battles with national allies? No or double no?

We hate adults? Is that really a thing?

When will Oscar’s on-screen development come back from the war?

There are numerous, numerous other connected topics, from Rooster Teeth’s handling of physical assault all the way to theories regarding the relic’s potential influence and Jinn’s motives, but that’s the basic gist. Oh, and we now have a subset of the fandom who got big mad over fans headcanoning trans!Nora based on her new color scheme. ... So that’s where we’re starting this volume off.

Just so we’re all on the same page:

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Anyhoo, with that bare-bones context out of the way, let’s dive in.

We begin, as usual, with a shot of the shattered moon. Except this is the first volume where we know precisely what happened to it and all it may mean for humanity. It lends a certain amount of gravitas to our start. Now, rather than the more generic, “Ah. Right. That motif. Still a mystery, huh?” shots of the moon function as a quick reminder of the group’s new stakes. 99% of the time the focus is on Salem and our heroes’ attempts to keep this genocidal dictator from destroying and/or enslaving the entire world, but “The Lost Fable” set up that the true, end-game antagonists have always been the gods. Even if Salem is destroyed, they still exist as a continued threat to humanity. If they wish to use the gods to help them in their quest against Salem, they likewise risk their judgment. Having introduced them, that’s a tricky problem the show is going to have to solve before its end.

For now though we pan down to the Atlas military, numerous ships and lots of chatter over the radio setting up precisely how massive, organized, and deadly this army is. I would like to remind everyone that this is what the group deliberately decided to piss off by not merely stealing an airship, but unnecessarily attacking the head special operative of the Argus base. The fact that the military has grown more “aggressive” in Weiss’ absence has no bearing on her original knowledge that stealing/attacking this group would be a horrendous idea. She knew it. Qrow knew it. Everyone ignored that in favor of Jaune’s idiotic plan. I bring this up not to rub more salt in a long open wound, but to re-establish how the group is, thus far, unable to think ahead and accurately weigh the consequences of their actions. More on that later.

Their ship, Manta 5-1, is welcomed home and instructed to land so that a security team can debrief them. Whoops. Jaune, again in his infinite wisdom, reminds everyone that they achieved their goal of getting to Atlas. So now they just need to find some answers, yeah? Not quite. Weiss immediately points out that landing with a stolen ship means that security won’t let them anywhere near Ironwood… which, again, is something that holds true regardless of whether the military got more aggressive and their leader more dictator-y. This is not new information. Oddly enough, a group of teenagers with only one licensed huntsmen among them (considering that Maria is presumably still keeping a low profile) flying a stolen airship doesn’t exactly breed the sort of confidence that lets anyone---paranoid or not---approach a leader. These were all issues from the start that the group didn’t bother to consider in their haste to finish this mission.

“They might even take me back to my father,” Weiss says. Another concern that they’re only realizing now, yet one that the fandom latched onto immediately. Though mostly in the wrong way. It’s because Jacques is a threat that they should have found a more covert way into Atlas, or waited to hear from Ironwood, or just send Weiss herself with Cordovin’s blessing… Yes, much of the fandom got quite defensive at that suggestion, claiming that sending Weiss “alone” (she never would have been alone. Bird uncle. Fits into a suitcase grandma) was tantamount to handing her to Jacques wrapped up in a bow. Except, as is made perfectly clear here, it’s their illegal activity that endangers them. Which is more likely to get you sent off to daddy? Acting like a child by stealing military property and then getting caught? Or entering Atlas as a huntress with a special operative’s blessing, carrying instructions that you are to meet with Ironwood as soon as possible? To say the team dropped the ball on this one is an understatement.

Those, however, are all past options now far out of reach. Weiss decides then that she’ll simply call Winter and I absolutely adore Kara’s voice acting here. She managed to imbue so much into a single name, conveying Weiss’ realization, hope, and love for her sister in just two quick syllables. I feel like I got more insight into Weiss through that moment alone then the entirety of Volume Six. Only problem? Blake notices another feed where a recording of Winter emphasizes that anyone found breaking Atlas law will face punishment---something our group will be quite familiar with by the end of the episode---and Qrow decides that they probably shouldn’t go charging into Winter and Ironwood’s hands until they know more about the situation.

Which is the smartest decision we’ve seen in a while, considering that Ironwood’s own feed leaves little to the imagination. He continues to sport that beard, giving him more of a disheveled appearance compared to Volumes 1-3. His voice is as authoritative as ever and he literally towers high above all the people he’s supposedly protecting, keeping his distance from both the city and the airships that ‘govern’ it. A few moments earlier we got to see the startling contrast between the military life and the civilians’. Warm reds and browns give (in this case a literal) down-to-Earth feel and the neon signs are easy markers of a low-class neighborhood. You know the stereotyped kind: cheap food and cheaper entertainment. Compared to the whites and blues of the Atlas clouds, paralleling their elite (and thereby expensive) technology, the city below feels like a slum in comparison, reinforced by the dirty, drunk, and at times violent background characters that populate it.

As Maria says later, “A home in the clouds is as bright as it gets,” to which Nora responds, “Unless you’re the one having to look up at it,” something she’d be very familiar with as a child stealing bread in the otherwise plentiful looking Kuroyuri. There are contrasts in coloring, dialogue, as well as framing here. Compare Ironwood’s sky-high observation to Pietro’s existence as a black man, in a wheelchair, doing volunteer work in what’s established as a dump. He’s as “low” as he can possibly be and acknowledges that he prefers to actually be among the people, not standing literally or figuratively above them. Just in case the audience misses these cues, we get some rather ominous music on top of all that and fearful looks between Ruby and Yang.

Ironwood’s recording says that some people may view these as “uncertain times,” likewise contrasting Glynda’s recording in the very first episode, announcing that they live in an “extraordinary time of peace.” Whether there’s uncertainty or not, Ironwood promises that Atlas will remain “safe and strong,” even if the other Kingdoms have begun to falter. The speech has a very ‘Us vs. Them’ quality about it.

“He looks tired,” Ruby comments and I just need to chuck another fandom into the mix real quick because:

Under these circumstances, “tired” doesn’t just require the John Mulaney advice of, “Get some rest, tall child!” It’s a clear dig at the leader’s capabilities and even their mental faculties. “James… what have you been doing?” Qrow asks, thereby re-framing “tired” as the nice euphemism for “gone off the deep end.” It remains to be seen though precisely how much of Ironwood’s paranoia is literal paranoia in the sense that it’s illogical and undeserved, and how much of these changes are highly undesirable, but potentially justifiable decisions. After all, we as the audience know precisely how dangerous Salem and her crew are. We know why Beacon fell. We’re privy to the stakes in a way that the average, angry Atlas citizen is not. All Ironwood can do in the face of such odds is try to prepare for every eventuality… it just looks like he’s reached a point where those preparations have started infringing on basic human rights. It’s a very sad setup. A classic case of the wrong things done for the right reasons.

There’s a check-in from the radio tower, whoever’s in charge wondering why Manta 1-5 hasn’t gone towards their landing pad yet. Maria comments that the lady should take a hint and starts finding a different place to land. Which in hindsight is kind of funny because they obviously did take a hint… and then sent out a special team to deal with the implications of that hint.

As the group starts exploring we get a lovely shot demonstrating how much they stand out in this new environment.

Though there’s some color in the neon signs, the otherwise overwhelming brown/beige/black/red makes elements like Nora’s pink skirt and Weiss’ white hair stick out like sore thumbs. As we’ll see in a minute, there are obviously in-world difficulties with them passing as average citizens, but it’s also a signal to the audience that, for now at least, they’re really out of their depth. This is the “greatest kingdom” referenced in our title.

Maria is leading them to a friend of hers when a bot takes an interest in these obvious outsiders. It approaches Yang at the back of the group, takes an unexpected picture, and she responds by kicking it into the street where it sparks with damage before getting hit by a truck.

(Flashback to Ruby and Penny, anyone?)

Now, I’m honestly on the fence about this moment. You could make the case that they’re all traumatized fighters and responding to that flash was a logical, instinctual response. You can even argue that, just hours after taking her first faunus life, Yang is more than a little on edge—even though the premier doesn’t reference this incredibly significant event at all, outside of Blake’s quick realization that her blade is still broken. Both are valid and easily supported readings. However, I’m still hyper aware that this is Yang. The character who, for two volumes now, has been characterized very strongly by her, “attack first, ask questions later” attitude. Out of all the characters we could have seen instinctively attacking something that hadn’t actually done her any harm, choosing Yang holds the most weight. The story also lightly acknowledges that this was an extreme response, what with the group staring at her and Yang’s sheepish expression.

Whether it’s specifically in the context of trauma over the fight with Adam, or more broadly acknowledging Yang’s tendency to both assume and act on the worst in people, I hope this volume helps her manage these instincts. One talk with Tai about not punching through problems isn’t going to cut it. Especially when her forceful attitude has caused much of the internal conflict recently.

It’s after this that the group is accosted by a drunk man, functioning largely as exposition to explain what’s been going on in Atlas and why the people are so scared and angry about it. Pissed enough to get literally pissed, of the inebriated variety. Here then, we return to the “this group of teenagers is really bad at thinking ahead” issue that I mentioned earlier. Ruby is all ready to start a fight---referencing her newfound willingness to escalate situations that don’t necessitate escalation---and it’s Blake who holds her back, reminding Ruby that they can’t afford to cause a scene. Which is fantastic. Except they end up causing a scene anyway when the drunk calls Blake a “stupid faunus” and Weiss uses a glyph to chuck him into the trash.

Is seeing a racist asshole get his just desserts extremely satisfying? Absolutely and from a representation perspective I’m thrilled to see Rooster Teeth taking a hard stance in their story. From an in-world perspective though, that was an incredibly bad decision. We’ve been establishing since minute one of this premier that the group needs to be cautious. Blake herself, the victim here, just told Ruby not to endanger the whole group by defending her honor… and then Weiss swoops in to do it anyway. There are two priorities here, to your friends and to your mission, and the issue is that Team RWBY has a tendency to consistently prioritize the former, something that wouldn’t be an issue if this was still a low-key story about a group of students and not would-be, formal huntresses trying to save the world. The choice to attack rather than walking away---paralleling last volume’s final battle---speaks to their inability to think ahead and weigh their priorities. “It was worth it,” Weiss says, but is it? Now that you’ve caused the scene that you couldn’t afford? Now that this guy recognized your glyphs and you’ve blown your cover? I realize I’ll probably get heat for this, but there’s a difference between calling out micro-aggressions in everyday life and calling them out when you’re fugitives trying to keep an invaluable relic safe. It would have said more about the group’s maturity if Blake had succeeded in avoiding a scene and they expressed anger/sympathy among themselves that she had to put up with that shit. Throwing guys into dumpsters is satisfying as hell, but it’s not the action of a level-headed adult conducting a job.

Provided that the story actually acknowledges how young they are and that it’s expected they make such mistakes, we’re golden. As it is though, these issues are usually brushed aside. Later Maria says that Pietro “likes to keep a low profile. Something I’m coming to realize you know nothing about,” but it’s said in a joking, fond manner. This isn’t treated as an actual flaw and is therefore not set up as something for the team to work on. And that, right there, is the heart of the conflict between RWBYJNR and Ozpin. He’s a fine scalpel. They’re a sledgehammer. RWBY continually introduces threats that require a delicate touch---whether it’s the possibility of spies in your midst that force you to carefully monitor who has what information, or needing to move through a city without drawing attention to yourself---these battles require a certain level of strategy and without fail our heroes are characterized as people who can only solve their problems through direct, immediate violence. You don’t walk away from a fight. Ever. Be it Cordovin or a racist drunk. The more I see of their behavior, no matter the good intentions behind it, the more it makes sense to me that Ozpin lied and kept his secrets. Our heroes simply don’t have the patient, level-headed, forward-thinking personalities required to fight this kind of delicate war. Their talent lies in the hack-’em slash-’em situations.

Anyway, I’m getting off topic. The group runs from the guards that show up after the drunk guy incident and they manage to make it to Pietro’s place. After some fun dialogue about whether he remembers Maria and the state of his shop, we get a potential explanation for Maria’s strange behavior on the train. Everyone remember this?

Obviously the camera focusing on Maria helps us, the audience, realize that she’s a character who will eventually become important to the story, but it’s also a bit coincidental that she’s hanging out near Team RWBY’s room. Especially when she inexplicably ends up on the back half of the train when everyone else was evacuated. It was clear at the time that she’d deliberately stayed back, but to what purpose no one was sure. Here, Maria gives a general answer about how she thought this group might have needed her guidance while fighting all those manticores… which is still an odd explanation to my mind. Because up until her confession leaving the farmhouse, Maria wants to keep that low-profile. She’s done with being the Grimm Reaper, so why get involved now? Especially when, with hired huntsmen to protect the train and a large group of teens with their own weapons, she probably would have assumed they were all in good hands? Even if it was just a fighter’s natural instinct to help, what would that guidance have looked like? Pretending to be a normal, formal huntress lending a hand where she can? Admitting she’s the Grimm Reaper? Is she still able to fight? There’s still the highly coincidental nature that Maria, the greatest huntress of a generation, just happened to be traveling the same route as and randomly became interested in the group involved with Salem, gods, and the relics.

To be clear, I’m not really arguing that there’s some big conspiracy surrounding Maria. Coincidences are common in all fiction because if things happened based on real-life probability, it would all be pretty boring. Rather, I’m simply pointing out that between losing her eyes as a young adult and coincidentally getting involved with Team RWBY now, we pretty much have no idea what Maria has been up to for most of her life. If the story wanted to establish some sort of betrayal/trickery/what-have-you, there’s room for it.

That would make me super sad though. I quite like Maria.

We learn more about Ironwood’s increasing paranoia, a hint that not everyone on the council is happy with his changes---that mysterious woman we keep seeing on the posters, perhaps?---and the acknowledgement that whoever helped bring down Atlas’ tech at Beacon has to be “Either a genius, or one of our own.” Probably both. Enter Watts, seen typing at a computer in our opening.

With all this info bearing down on them, a few characters like Jaune and Oscar start asking whether they can just leave and yes, please tackle that, because it’s a very important question. Right now the show has stalled the, “Will the group continue the fight against Salem and what’s their reasoning for doing so when they all think it’s pointless?” question by throwing up another roadblock with the relic. They got it to Atlas, but they’re not sure they can hand it off to Ironwood yet, which just leaves them twiddling their thumbs. That portion of the quest isn’t technically complete yet, putting off an answer as to whether and why they’ll go onto the next portion. We need to tackle the group’s new motivations though. Soon. I sincerely hope that when Ironwood announces he has a way of defeating Salem, we finally get the group challenging their own assertions that such attempts are fundamentally useless. We had a whole volume of, “Oh no. Oh god. Salem is immortal and all our work is for naught.” We need at least a little attention paid to the development of a new perspective to counteract that.

Before things can get too bleak though, Pietro recognizes Weiss as a Schnee. Yang, in a lovely moment of support, desperately tries to re-direct the conversation back to the council. Pietro then recognizes her arm, puts it all together to get Team RWBY, and drops the loaded comment, “My daughter has told me so much about you.”

Many fans saw it coming. Even more hoped for it. Honestly? I think that’s great. Too many shows nowadays rely on “twists” that don’t actually make sense, or even undermine the original setup. Those are frustrating beyond belief and feel like the authors are selling out good story for cheap, undesired shock value. The fandom saw Penny’s resurrection coming a mile away? Great! That just means Rooster Teeth did a good job of setting up that possibility and then following through on it.

I’ll talk more about Penny’s introduction in a moment, but first I just want to throw out that I legitimately enjoyed the fight scene. Good action and creative teamwork at times. I particularly liked Weiss and Ren working together to take down four grimm in as many seconds. Oscar likewise takes a grimm out with a very impressive strike… more impressive than I was expecting from him, honestly. Right now I suppose I’m just inclined to shrug that off with, “He and Ozpin are slowly merging, so he picks up stuff way faster than everyone else,” most notably Jaune. Also, I’ll be blunt. I wouldn’t touch canon-based rosegarden with a ten-foot pole. You know, because of all the issues like a massive age difference, two minor characters involved, questions of consent, the fact that Ruby was Ozpin’s student---pesky ethical concerns like that. AUs though? I think the ship is adorable. Provided that Oscar is fully his own person and there’s consent on both sides appropriate for whatever ages they currently are in your fic or fanart? Very nice. So, it’s for those fans that I point out an entirely coincidental parallel: Ruby saves Oscar from a grimm with a bullet in nearly the exact same manner that Blake saves Yang from a grimm with a bullet. Make of that what you will.

Back to Penny though. Overall, am I thrilled that she’s back? Absolutely. I actually spoke about this recently while answering an ask, expressing how much I’d enjoy this very scenario: having her consciousness saved and thus allowing for her resurrection. Do I think her new look is adorable? Yes, yes I do. “And yet,” you say, “It sounds like there’s a ‘but’ somewhere in there, Clyde.” Yeah. Sadly there is. Because although I’m happy to have Penny, I wasn’t particularly taken with how they re-introduced her.

Simply put, there was far too much humor for what should have been a touching, emotional scene. With the exception of one moment where Ruby tries to voice the word “killed,” everyone treats Penny’s resurrection as a surprising, but not terribly notable event. Yang, Weiss, and Blake express a sort of long-suffering fondness as they comment on how wholesome this is. Pietro laughs at any shock over her “death” and shrugs about how yeah, it technically was. Whatever. Qrow takes the time to nonchalantly say that things are going better than he expected. Ruby is holding it all together with barely a blink. Penny herself is nothing but exuberance and funny dialogue. Maria cracks a joke about how she has no idea who this child is. Jaune goes, “Well, that was unexpected” as if Penny had showed up in Atlas when they all thought she was in Vacuo. That sort of surprise. The whole thing is treated flippantly with, “Never a dull moment.” Summarized, all this really isn’t the appropriate reaction to realizing a friend is no longer dead.

Yes, Ruby was the closest to Penny by far---we can’t expect everyone to get misty-eyed---but does everyone remember what her death was like? It was the turning point of the entire series, not just for the audience, but the characters as well. Penny was the first casualty of the Fall of Beacon and her death was appropriately gut wrenching. It was then shown across every TV turned to the Vytal Festival, the moment where the whole world watched their golden girl, Pyrrha, unintentionally murder a newcomer who turned out to be a robot. Moments later grimm start attacking and the safest place on Remnant is destroyed. Penny’s death heralded all that. The one time we see Ruby tackling the trauma of it all is when she speaks with Oscar and, notably, crumbles a bit when she instinctively uses Penny’s catch phrase.

What I had hoped for was the group grappling with the sudden, completely unexpected shock of getting one of two losses back; working through the knowledge that their lives have been defined by two friends’ death and now one of those has been retroactively erased. Perhaps we’ll see that in future episodes, but right now it feels like a disservice to the impact Penny’s death had on the characters and the story to treat this as such a comic, light-hearted moment. Let Penny tackle-hug Ruby and then let Ruby give her a much more sincere embrace. Let her cry. Have Yang put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, giving her a look that expresses how she understands what this means to her. Have Jaune looking away, devastated that Ruby miraculously got her friend back, but such an event is impossible for Pyrrha. Let him or Oscar or Ren or anyone seriously acknowledge that, holy shit, this is a joyous occasion we never expected to experience. We’ve spent months dealing with trauma and pessimism, now here’s Penny, reminding us that there’s still so much good in the world. Have someone acknowledge that sometimes the impossible happens (cough-defeatingSalem-cough). You can allow the moment to function as the momentous occasion it is and then lighten the mood by having Maria announce that she has no idea what’s going on.

This isn’t the first time Rooster Teeth has implemented comedy when they were better off sticking with drama. See: the choice to animate punching Ozpin last volume in an absurd, cartoon style. So yeah. Happy to have Penny back, but that first moment felt underwhelming, to say the least.

We then have an admittedly very cool shot—

— (semblance? Just awesome drama?) right before the group is taken out in seconds by Atlas’ elite. They’re… I don’t know how to spell their name yet. Is it something like Ace-Ops for elite special operations? Or Aesop like Aesop’s fables? Potentially both? Idk. The fandom will figure that out in the next day or so, if they haven’t already. What’s important though is that this group charges our team with stealing an airship, illegally entering the city with it, and starting an unauthorized fight in the streets. If I could just take one second to…

Ahem. I’m good. Seriously though, if I’m at all optimistic for Volume Seven it’s because the story is finally acknowledging that the group made some pretty massive mistakes last volume. Not that it looks like there will be much punishment attached to that. Between them meeting with Ironwood in the trailer and the Blah-Blah-Ops’ clear status as heroes this volume (they’re in the opening a bunch and seem to be working with RWBYJNR), I’m not yet convinced that this arrest will lead to anything other than getting precisely what they want: seeing Ironwood. To be clear, it’s not like I want the group languishing in jail for twelve episodes. That would be one hell of a boring volume. But rather, I’m interested in whether the story will continue to imply that Atlas is in the right for arresting them, or whether Episode Two will quickly turn that on its head and forcefully announce, as they did in Volume Six, that these actions are an egregious insult because we’re the protagonists. How dare you not let us do whatever we want?

Because the group was in the wrong here. It can be easy to miss considering that the rules they’re refusing to obey are tied up in a dictator-like society---aren’t we the heroes for ignoring and circumventing evil Ironwood’s laws?---but what they actually choose to do has far more of an impact on innocent civilians than it does on The Man. Like endangering all of Argus with your needless battle. Or, to a much smaller extent here, jumping into a fight when you’re not authorized to do that. Now, I actually don’t blame RWBYJNR for that one. They are huntsmen and it’s their job to protect the people. Going out to defeat grimm is 100% their thing. Rather, I’m talking about stuff like their commentary on Atlas’ defenses. When the fight starts we get, “I guess the city’s defenses aren’t doing much” and “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” It’s more of that, “Us huntsmen are the only true defenders of the world. Your attempts with robots would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous” attitude. It’s a certain level of arrogance. As we see just a minute later though, Ironwood’s setup works. Because the civilians all know to get indoors. Because he has Penny. The robots hold off the grimm until she arrives, defeating the rest with a speed and an ease that frankly doesn’t compare to what we saw the group accomplishing. She does from above what it took nine of them to manage, often (as we saw with Oscar and Yang) with great danger to them in the process. When they’re bound and accused of unauthorized fighting, it’s clear that they were, in fact, shouldering their way into a situation where they weren’t needed---and potentially causing trouble in the process. Rules exist for a reason. Are they always perfect? Far from it, but in the characterization folding over from Volume Six, the group has forgotten that most of the time rules are there for others’ safety. They have been thought out. This particular situation is easily defendable (of course they’re going to go fight grimm) and there were no consequences to the group jumping in when they weren’t allowed (like property damage or injured civilians), but this moment does function as a good representation of the overall problem. Just because there weren’t consequences for saying, “Screw your laws” this time doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future. Or that there hasn’t been in the past.

It likewise stands out to me that Qrow consistently tires to use his “I’m a licensed huntsmen” as a justification. He flashes it at the two goons on the train to get them to back off. He tires to use it to get past Cordovin. He now tells his captors that he has every right to fight and protect the people because of this card he carries. Qrow is well aware of how important the status of a huntsmen is in this world… yet he’s running around with eight fighters who don’t have that legal backing. I don’t think the show would ever go for my suggestion of another school arc so they could finish their training, but at the very least we should provide some sort of loop-hole for these characters. Have Ironwood provide special licenses based on their heroics at the Fall of Beacon and their work since. Because right now we have a world that’s continually emphasizing being a huntsmen as a job, something you earn the right to call yourself, yet 95% of our group doesn’t have that right in the eyes of their society. We know they’ve done great, secret work to protect the people. But the people only know that these are a bunch of teens with one year of formal training. So you really can’t blame any officials for going, “Sorry. We’re not in the habit of letting random people with weapons cross our borders. Or fight in our streets.” It’s like if a bunch of 14-18yos arrived at a crime scene with guns and demanded that they be let in on a case. No, we never graduated from an academy, but you should adhere to our demands anyway. The good intentions are there, but you need to iron out the formalities first.

Really, RWBY should just fix the whole license thing with a throw-away plot point if they’re not going to tackle it seriously, just so this isn’t an ethical issue anymore. I’d rather smooth it over soon since the story doesn’t seem interested in tackling whether a group with one year of formal training should be allowed that status. So just give it to them and let’s move on. They might still run into issues with Atlas, but at least the rest of the world won’t be expected to trust them purely on faith. Not everyone belongs to a small town terrorized by a geist, with four random teens as your only option for safety.

Which finally, as the doors close on our group with heavy heads, brings us to the opening. Some things to pay attention to:

1. We get a glimpse of that mysterious woman shown in numerous posters across the city.

(I’m likewise interested in the very long shot we got on this “show your teeth” graffiti.)

2. Watts and Tyrian are presented as primary antagonists. Interesting that Neo and Cinder aren’t there (not that I caught anyway), especially since we know they were heading to Atlas last volume as well. It makes me think that they’ll be the true threat at the end of the volume. Keeping things quiet, even in the intro, so we have no chance of guessing their plan.

3. The main conflict seems to be between Weiss and Winter, as opposed to Weiss and Jacques as many originally assumed. Those expressions don’t bode well.

4. We still see an image of Ironwood briefly flickering to Jacques though as an angry citizen throws a rock at it. Implying Jacques is secretly pulling the strings? James has simply become too much like him? We’ll have to see.

5. We get a shot of Oscar and Ironwood… training? Fighting? I’m inclined to say fighting based on his and Ozpin’s past difficulties, but that’s also up in the air.

6. The image of our staff…

…and 7. an absolutely massive cast this volume. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m concerned with RWBY’s insistence on continually introducing so many new characters, particularly characters who are important enough to warrant decent development. There simply isn’t time for them all.

(Although, is Maria in that shot? Wonder if she’ll leave the group now that she’s done her duty of helping Ruby out with her eyes.)

Which brings us to the end of the premier! Finally, I’d like to end with a personal note. As is quite obvious, I’m still watching and recapping RWBY, but I feel like I should be upfront about my overall lack of investment in the series right now. Chock it up to getting burned last volume, fading interest in a long-running show, just growing up and changing… I don’t claim to know precisely why I’m no longer jazzed about a new volume like I once was. But, if I perhaps appear overly critical of what I generally thought was a good—and honestly better than expected—premier? That’s probably why. The details just don’t cut it for me anymore. All caps, screaming excitement over Penny’s return or Qrow’s new outfit just doesn’t resonate much, which leaves me with a more critical perspective on the show overall. So if that’s something you’re interested in, stick around because, baring unforeseen circumstances, there will be more metas over the next three or so months. More invested in a flailing celebration of RWBY as a whole? You’re better off hitting up another blog.

Basically, you know that shot in Pietro’s?

Note the “Days since our last nonsense” sign combined with the defeated expressions. That’s what RWBY feels like to me these days. A lot of nonsense and limited enjoyment. Ah well. Maybe Volume Seven will prove me wrong and I’ll be re-invigorated by the end of the season!

Until then, ❤️️

Minor Things of Note

Maria refers to the group as “kids” in the airship and Penny as a “child.” Acknowledging last year’s debate, I stand by the argument that just because many (but not all) of the group have reached the age of maturity in our world doesn’t mean they’re on par with the adults they were so recently rejecting. There’s a reason why the very old Maria naturally uses “kid” and “child” and it doesn’t come off as weird.

I really like the design of Pietro’s chair. Giving him something that walks on four legs is both different and a nice nod to nature among all the tech. Also, kudos to the Pinocchio reference on his bookshelf in the form of a whale.

Nora remains as adorable as ever. I particularly liked her energy in Pietro’s and her high-key annoyance at Ren getting a jump on the fight. I’m interested in what we’ll be learning about her this volume.

Not sure I’m a fan of Rooster Teeth using these squeaky toy noises whenever the group is comically surprised by something. Comedy is great, we need it in this story, but sound effects like that are remnants (ha) of a tone we haven’t really seen since Volume 1. I think the show can still get away with exaggerated facial expressions---Nora in her excitement, Ruby laughing at Jaune’s Pumpkin Pete’s sweatshirt---but this feels a bit out of place now.

“Maybe Atlas isn’t as safe as we thought” and yet, astoundingly, no one is inclined to ask Ozpin to weigh in on this. Even now that they know he’s listening. I think I’ll start a tally. See how many episodes it takes to actually acknowledge, let alone act on, the primary conflict of Volume 6.

Image Credit

Personal screenshots from RWBY

Transflag: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transgender_Pride_flag.svg

Doctor Who GIF: https://tenor.com/view/doctor-who-tired-harriet-jones-gif-5627138

How I Met Your Mother GIF: https://giphy.com/gifs/celebrate-2o5Ypf4fP6ahq

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 7 spoilers #mymetas #rwby recaps

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