#also have I ever mentioned how they make me thing of rosegarden

[doot-boi]

My christmas gift for me is on the way and in honour of that I wanted to post the part I'm most keen for

Look at 'em. The blorbos in love. This is my favourite love scene ever and I get to have it on a card for the tcg I love in a fancy printing. Thank you Justyna Dura for your marvellous rendition

[chaikachi]

I appreciate you so much for being loud about rg, despite all the unnecessary hostility this ship gets on a daily basis ❤️, it's my comfort ship and these two dorks literally makes me so happy 💕

Awee of course!!! 🥺💕 This ship means the world to me and I don't know how to be quiet about it these days even if I tried, as evidenced by the fact this answer turned into a whole essay somehow uwu

V8 was when i first really joined the fandom/RG and it was rough. I was scared to admit I shipped it romantically for the longest time because of all the discourse/harassment and I know I am very much not alone in that feeling. For the longest time I was scared to even draw them kissing lest it incite something. But ffs I'm over it. This ship is cute as hell, has so much going for it in canon, and so much creative potential in fanon. I love analyzing their story and somehow still discovering old crumbs even after all this time. Not to mention all the new crumbs this volume has given us!! Feels more like a whole loaf of freshly baked bread than anything else!

Every single argument I've ever seen thrown against the ship in the last 2+ years has been made in bad faith, is a double standard not applied to other ships, or is easily debunkable. Some of the loudest RG antis have a terrible reputation even outside of our 'ship wars', and it actually become so easy to not notice or let it get to you when you block without remorse.

I can't really speak for tumblr as I've gotten not-so-good at interacting with people here recently and feel a bit disconnected from the community (aside from the stray asks/tags y'all send me which I always appreciate 💕). But I know on twitter we've had a handful of new artists and vocal shippers come out of the woodwork in light of the new volume that are flooding the tag with positivity, memes, and creations every day. I've seen multiple rival shippers admit that they have to 'prepare for when rg is canon' and they genuinely believe it. We've even got a few bigger RWBY youtubers standing up for us and shutting down that discourse when people try to stir the pot.

Also numbers aren't really indicative of anything on tumblr when reblogs are more scarce than ever, or on twitter where the algorithm is anyone's guess, but there are some rosegarden posts on this site from 2017 that hit over 4k notes. Some of my own rg pieces on other platforms breach 1-2k. Heck, even some of the metas that I have cross posted to twt have hit more than 600 likes.

There are so many rg shippers out there. And what I am seeing with v9 is a few things. First, any people joining the fandom anew that aren't aware of all the discourse fall into RG pretty easily without that bias being pushed on them.

And second, that when we are loud and we are enthusiastic and we are kind to each other... when we foster healthy and approachable community, that is how we tune out all the negativity, and that is when we have the most fun.

So i'm glad you appreciate all my yelling, and I am not trying to pressure anyone into speaking out or participating if they don't have it in them... but this is a very friendly reminder is always room for more of us out here 💕🌹🌲

[saqui]

Rwby Ships as my kpop playlist songs:

I'm a very huge kpop stan and I think it would be nice to have some fun just by mixing my two interests into one. Enjoy!

Rosegarden - "SLOWMOTION" by TREASURE

What I love about this song is it speaks about taking your time to go deeper, slower, in the moment. It also gives deep comfort or ease. This song best suits Rosegarden in my opinion because from how I see Rosegarden, as the world is going faster that it's heavier to carry its heavy weight, they find as if the world became slower and lighter the moment they see each other.

Overall, the vibe just suits 😌🥰❤💚

Lines:

(1) We goin' slowmotion

(2) I want a deep talk

(3) All day, let's go, it's a long day, trust me, lean next to me.

Renora - "But You" by iKON

One, I can definitely see Ren singing this to Nora.

Two, this song tells about how sure that the girl, he used to be in a relationship before, is the only one for him no matter what and would want to start over again which I think suits them sooo much. Plus, I think this is something how Ren would really deeply feel about Nora even especially how they are currently.

Lines:

(1) You're the reason. I need you baby

(2) Start over and fall in love

(3) We know each other better more than anyone else

(4) Nobody but you

Bumbleby - "Bet You Wanna" by BLACKPINK

They're high for each other. They're hooked for each other. Just look at the gif. Does that not speak volumes to you??? /hj

Anyways, yes, this song has the whole vibe of being high because of their partner. Blake and Yang have always been clingy and whipped for each other and this song expands that idea more. This song is playful and teasing like their love language so it's this I choose.

This song kinda mentions a lot of fire too.

Lines:

(1) Take me to your paradise cuz I don't wanna wait anymore

(2) Something 'bout me's takin' you higher and you ain't ever gonna come down.

(3) I'm lighting your fire and it ain't ever gonna go out

Blacksun - "Thank You" by TREASURE

Both Blake and Sun are thankful for being with each other. There are so many lessons and memories they've made from each other and I guess it's time to say "Thank you". They wish each other good things in the world. That's the whole point of the song, just being thankful and moving forward. Also, the vibe or the music just suits them a lot.

Lines:

(1) Thank you that I met you

(2) All we have to do is walk on the flowery path

(3) Instead, I promise you don't get sick and I hope you meet a good person.

(4) Thank you so much, I was so happy

Tauradonna - "KILL THIS LOVE" by BLACKPINK

LET'S KILL THIS LOVE!

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH

Arkos - "Shout Out" by ENHYPEN

Honestly, everything about arkos makes me associate everything specifically about being true to your feelings which I think relates to the song about "shouting" it out and considering how Pyrrah was always keeping her feelings to herself.

This song also has that beautiful vibe I feel for this ship.

Lines:

(1) The fake paradigm that locked me up beyond the border line drawn by someone, I shout out, and this is my shout out. I'm all for myself.

(2) Shout out my heart for you. My burning heart, shout out.

(3) I'm trapped in a wall that locked me up. Your voice is calling me

(4) My life without you is a misery

(5) With my real voice, I'll tell you my true feelings.

Everything here is only based on how I interpret both the songs and the ships. This is really fun to make!

The songs are beautiful!

If you're looking for other ships, maybe I would want to make another post for it. That is if you guys are also kpop stans haha!

I'm also genuinely curious what songs you think would fit these rwby ships too, let me know! 🤩

[roz-ani]

Fav Rosegarden moment?

Not gonna lie, Queen, you gave me one of the most difficult questions ever XD I love all RG scenes. Their first meeting, the dojo talk, Ruby saving Oscar from Grimm, even that hug we didn't get! But there are two specific moments I absolutely adore: the awkward scene from v7 and the blush from v8!

Let’s start with the most recent one!

Well, I already explained everything in this post, but I’ll repeat that as many times as I need to: this is the beginning of something more, the first sign of Oscar developing deeper feelings for Ruby. In fact, it’s so important that I missed it for the first time and I’ll never forgive myself for that :D I love it for how small but significant this moment is. 

Where do I even BEGIN with this one? I’ll have to keep this short XD This scene is filled with pure awkwardness and can’t help but smile every single time I watch it. It’s also a hazard to my health, because my heart always feels like it’s going to explode... Besides the obvious cuteness, we get to see how similar Ruby and Oscar are. Their plans and views differ a bit, but they have the same goal in the end. Their awkward body language, nervous laughs and Marrow’s comment make it one of my favourite scenes in RWBY overall. 

But which one do I prefer? I’m not very good with choices overall, so that makes it even more difficult. Both scenes made me go absolutely crazy (after I noticed that blush, my friends had to listen to one of the longest analyses I’ve ever delivered, but I think they didn’t really mind XD) and tell us a lot about Ruby and Oscar’s relationship. However, if I absolutely had to choose, I’d go with the second one. Purely because of the awkward mess. Not to mention that it was something I really didn’t see coming back then. I’m one of those people that are willing to wait extremely long to get anything when it comes to Rosegarden. Volume 7 didn’t give us a lot before this particular scene. Not that I had a problem with that, but I still wanted to get something small. I guess patience really pays off XD This scene was the best thing we could get back then. I want to have a solid friendship base before we move further. It’s something I explained in the mentioned post and in this one.

In my opinion, Rosegarden is one of (if not the) best written relationship(s) in the show. They don’t need to be together all the time, they can develop on their own, have different opinions etc. If it’s really about to become canon, it won’t be out of nowhere.  

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar's Dreamscape: The Garden of Two Lovers

@miki-13 asked "Okay I know we didn't get a lot of Oscar backstory, but I really do think that after the V8 finale, there's a new avenue to explore with Oscar. Why? Because as far as he knows, his friends, partner and love interest are dead. The people he's grown to care for over the course of V5-8 are suddenly gone. There's no way that's not gonna hurt him, even if Ozpin assures him that they're not dead. Because either way, he's been forcibly separated from them.

Heck, this could actually open up an avenue for him to talk about his own family life and why he lives with his aunt. Not to mention one of his allusions is to The Little Prince and he just arrived in a desert after leaving his Rose behind, and the whole story deals with death in general.

Actually, maybe that's how Oscar gets his semblance/ branches out with his magic! He wants to find the people he loves so badly and refuses to give up on them, that he finds a way to get the void/ communicate with them and possibly find a way to lay the groundwork for bringing them back!

Squiggles Answers:

Hey there Miki-chan. Pardon the late reply but I wanted to reserve my response to this as a new Pinehead headcanon post considering that, ironically, you and I share the same thoughts and theories about Oscar reaching out.

The idea I had is that Oscar would be able to connect to Ruby in the Other World in his dreams. Once again, I return to my old Oscar’s Dreamscape Pinehead headcanon from donkey years ago. Essentially, through his unyielding love for his rose and his deep desires to reunite with her again in some shape or form, Oscar unintentionally creates the Dreamscape.

And what the Dreamscape is is that it is this magical place that transcends reality and only exists through the shared bond between Oscar and Ruby. Picture a shallow stagnant sea that mirrors an endless sunset sky. A perfect blend of the warm embrace of the sun and the tranquil beauty of the moon that paves the path towards a small garden that sits in the middle of this mysterious magical place.

And it is in this garden where Oscar meets Ruby in his dreams and vice versa.

Remember how it was said that the Little Prince fairy-tale ended ambiguously with the reader never knowing the truth of the prince’s fate after he was poisoned by the snake and “went to sleep”.

Some iteration believed the prince to have died and gone back to his home planet in spirit to be with his rose while another interpretation described the Prince returning home only to discover that his rose had died in his absence without him present to take care of her.

Either way, the allusion is that the prince does indeed reunite with his rose but in a manner that is still tragic when you look at it. Going off of that, this is why I love the concept of Oscar connecting to Ruby in sleep with the two meeting and communicating with each other in their dreams through unknown power originated from Oscar. Only it’s NOT exactly a semblance. Nor is it exactly magic either.

One of my favourite quotes from the Lost Fable episode back in V6 is when Jinn described a power much greater than magic that caused Salem and Ozma to recognize one another in their new lives.

“…Call it magic or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who stood before them…”

In the Lost Fable, Jinn made it seem as if loveis an element more powerful than even the likes of magic; as cheesy as that might sound. So if love is able to transcend life and death to cause two kindred souls to recognize each other in another life in another time time, what’s stopping it from transcending worlds to bring together another pair of kindred souls?

So as corny as this is going to sound, the hopeless romantic in me cannot help but swoon over the thought of love being what creates the Dreamscape and/or brings Ruby and Oscar together in such a place that only they can traverse.

It is a power that was born from Ruby and Oscar’s shared love for one another and desire to reunite with each other and thus it’s a power that only they share together. The Rosegarden in the Dreamscape is theirs.

In the beginning, on the first night the two reunite in their dreams, the Dreamscape was believed to be solely of Oscar’s doing but in reality, it was a special new world that belonged to both the little prince and his true rose alone.

Okay, hear me out with this one. The reason why I’m thinking the Dreamscape was believed to be Oscar’s power alone in the beginning was because when it all started, the Dreamscape mainly reacted to Oscar. On his end, let’s say…Oscar wished so desperately to see Ruby again that unbeknownst to him; the Dreamscape was forged just so Oscar could accomplish his heart’s wish---to see his rose.

Thus, Oscar is able to see Ruby in their dreams and she in turn is able to see and talk to him between worlds but only in sleep. However, that is extent of the Dreamscape through Oscar’s influence. The two can communicate but they can’t physically touch or feel one another.

Because I have this idea of Ruby and Oscar growing closer to each other than they’ve ever been before since they’re able to meet in Dreamscape. However it’s also this painful thing where despite being together in their dreams, they’re still not together when they are constantly reminded that they can’t touch each other.

Like imagine a moment where the two rosebuds are bonding in the Dreamscape, trying to come up with way to reunite together, swapping backstories and secrets about themselves with each other that they’ve never told anyone else only for one of them---mainly Oscar--- to get lost in the euphoria of the moment and attempt to reach out and touch the other person only to be painfully reminded, that they’re not truly there. They’re still separated despite how close the Dreamscape has brought them.

The only time when the Dreamscape is actually able is to make Ruby and Oscar interact physically is when that becomes Ruby’s wish.

Okay, hear me out again.

I have this scenario in my head where Oscar suffers a mental breakdown as a result of being poisoned during an encounter with Tyrian Callows. Remember how Tyrian’s venom caused Qrow to suffer and hallucinate back in V4?

Well picture something similar with Oscar where he falls into a sort of light coma as a result of being poisoned. Let’s say…as a result of the venom, Oscar is transported to the Dreamscape where ALL of his inner demons---the true feeling and fears he’s been suppressing for a long time---suddenly manifest inside this world to torment him and berate him.

And let’s say…on the other end, in the Other World, Ruby becomes worried for Oscar’s well-being when he doesn’t make contact with her in the Dreamscape for some time. And let’s say…due to her connection with Oscar, which became stronger as a result of them bonding in the dream world, Ruby is able to sense when something is wrong with Oscar due to her having a weird feeling in her chest. Almost as if her heart was beckoning her somewhere else. To take her to the person she wanted to see who needed her help. Or something like that.

In a nutshell, Ruby is able to enter the Dreamscape on her own through her connection with Oscar. At first, Ruby mostly relied on Oscar to bring her to the Dreamscape but when Oscar was in trouble, Ruby used their link to take her there as an alternative means.

To make a long theory short, Ruby arrives in the Dreamscape to find the once magical dream world in dark chaos ---basically imagine being on the outside of a tornado.

The Dreamscape had turned into a rampant storm to reflect Oscar’s darkest inner emotions which were spiralling out of control before Ruby’s very eyes.

Remember how in Steven Universe, in the episode that debuted the “Here Comes A Thought” song, remember how Steven’s true feelings about Jasper, Bismuth and his mother started to manifest before him and Connie while they were fused as Stevonnie during training?

Picture a moment like that with Oscar in the Dreamscape where Oscar’s fears take form---at first taking on the appearance of Oscar’s old self dressed in his old farm boy attire belittling Oscar for leaving home to be among people who he didn’t fully believe trusted or even actually cared him---unearthing Oscar’s thoughts and repressed emotions from the events of V6.

Then the Dreamscape manifests Ironwood to belittle Oscar for his repressed emotions from the events of V7. Then it transforms into Salem to taunt and humiliate Oscar over his repressed trauma as a result of being her prisoner during the events of V8 and being tortured.

You get what I’m saying, right? Whatever Oscar has been repressing for so long, the Dreamscape manifests it as a being of spite to through it all back in Oscar’s face when he was most vulnerable. Finally, as Ruby enters the fray, the Dreamscape takes on a new form.

Here’s another concept to toss onto the Fake Rose table. Imagine if…the Fake Rose isn’t another silver eyed warrior or rose-themed person who takes an interest in Oscar.

What if…the Fake Rose is actually a replica of Ruby manifested by the Dreamscape to reveal Oscar’s true feelings and fears in respect to Ruby?

Assuming that you’re an ole-school Potterhead like yours truly Miki-chan, remember the last book/movie?

Remember that one scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows involving the locket? Remember how the locket made an apparition of Harry and Hermione appear before Ron to voice his jealousy and inferiority when compared to Harry especially in the eyes of Hermione who he believed loved Harry over him.

Picture something like that with a Fake Ruby Rose---Mocking Oscar over his “childish” love for his rose, as if he actually stood a chance of being with her given the Merge and any other insecurities that Oscar secretly harboured that he’d supressed for so long.

Picture that. Imagine…something like that happening so that it could ultimately lead into Ruby denouncing ever fear of Oscar’s voiced by her fake copy as this rose---the one true rose did her best to comfort her prince.

It’s a moment where Ruby words unfortunately don’t reach Oscar. Thus, Ruby tries to one way she’s always reached out to him. Through a gentle comforting touch. In that moment, Ruby wishes for Oscar to feelher there beside him.

To feel her arms wrapped around him and the warmth of the hug she dared to give him since she wanted more than anything to be able to comfort him through the storm. And for a second time, through the power of love (mixed in with just a smidge of their share magic inherited from the God of Light possibly), the Dreamscape grants Ruby’s wish and Oscar is able to feel her for the first time since they met in the dream world. To feel her arms around him as she embraced him tightly with all the love and care for him she could channel in that moment.

And just like that, all becomes calm as the storm disappeared; softening to a gentle breeze against a beautifully sunlit sky; revealing two hearts embraced; once seperated but now together at long last in the world of their own created from their shared love.

Basically picture the Dreamscape as this magical world brought to life by the love and heart’s desires of two star-crossed lovers separated by fate and lost to two realities. Thus the Dreamscape mirrors the feelings and grants the desires of these two lovers since they are the rulersof said world as its creators. Thus it is a world that is only attainable by them. A world of their own. A world of dreams to grant the wishes of two lost souls in love.

I’d love to go more in depth into this revised Dreamscapeidea of mine for the Rosegarden pair. However for the time being, this is concept that I have in mind and is all that I have to share for now. What do you think?

~ LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

For the character ask, has penny already been sent? (If she has, maybe oscar?)

Penny Why I like them: I could probably write an essay about Why I Like Penny Polendina, but it mostly comes down to relating to her social awkwardness and the way characters treat her as other because of a condition she had no say in (her robot-ness).

Also she was one of the first RWBY characters I came into contact with, and I learned both big spoilers about her (that she was a robot and that she was going to die) at the time (the first RWBY thing I ever watched was a video of Cinder’s V3 speech).  So I spent my first watch of RWBY trying not to get too emotionally attached, bc I knew how it was going to end.

Subsequently when she returned in V7 (the first volume I watched live), I went from zero to ‘this character is MY CHILD NOW YOU CAN FIGHT ME ON THIS AND YOU WON’T EVER WIN EVER TRY ME’ in about a second

(look, I always regretted not being able to get to know her as the first volumes aired, so getting a second chance in that department was huge for me.

Why I don’t: there is nothing I don’t like about my girl.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): uhhhh all of them?  tho if I had to choose, I’d go with her comforting Fria and becoming the Winter Maiden.  Penny becoming the maiden was something I thought would be cool but never believed would happen.  I subsequently lost my shit again when it did.

(V7 was just me losing my shit over Penny Polendina repeatedly, among other things)

Favorite season/movie: V7, just cause every moment she was onscreen I was grinning like an idiot

Favorite line: her ‘I will plan for 6 possible outcomes’ line.

Favorite outfit: I like her V7 outfit more than her V3 one, although I like her shorter hair better.

OTP: Nuts and Dolts, Data Farms, Bright Eyes OT3

Brotp: with Winter Schnee

Head Canon: I genuinely like the idea of her DJ-ing like in that one Chibi episode.

Unpopular opinion: her coming back to life was narratively justified.  Penny’s V3 death happened bc Cinder made her a prop in her plans.  It effectively halted Penny’s own arc without adding anything to it.  Penny’s story wasn’t at a satisfying conclusion then, and she didn’t have any kind of foreknowledge about the truth of the situation (she couldn’t make a choice like Pyrrha did).  It was unfair to her character to let others’ machinations dictate her fate (and partly take her autonomy).  Bringing her back allowed her to regain control over her narrative.

A wish: that eventually Floating Array won’t have strings attached.  Like the swords will still function like they do, just without the strings.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: her dying again

5 words to best describe them: exuberant, energetic, joyful, optimistic, trusting

My nickname for them: Pen, Pen-Pen, Pinocchio, Pistachio

.

Oscar

Why I like them: he’s a sweetie, he’s considerate, he tries to be so empathetic, did I mention HE’S A SWEETIE?

Why I don’t: the only time I didn’t like him was when he first showed up.  I didn’t know why we were cutting away from everyone else to spend time with this random boy and I didn’t like it.  However, I changed my mind as I got to know him.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): When he’s unlocking Oz’s magic.

Favorite season/movie: V7, I felt I got to know him a lot more and subsequently grew way more attached to him.

Favorite line: I can’t think of the line exactly, but one of the one he says about fear to Ironwood in the V7 finale.

Favorite outfit: I like his most recent outfit better than his farm hand one.  I kinda wish we got to see how he got it.

OTP: Rosegarden, Data Farms, Bright Eyes OT3,

Brotp: Jaune, Ren, and Nora

Head Canon: he’s on the ace spectrum somewhere.

Unpopular opinion: say it with me folks: Oscar 👏 is👏 NOT 👏 Ozpin’s 👏 meat puppet.  Given they can literally talk to each other in the show, it’s clear they’re separate people and I highly doubt RWBY, a show that’s emphasized personal expression and identity will end with one of their characters disappearing into a merge with another.

A wish: he’ll unlock his semblance

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: as much as I’m up for the angst of him being kidnapped, I don’t want Salem to hurt him.

5 words to best describe them: sweetie, kind, compassionate, brave, thoughtful

My nickname for them: Farm Boi

[makiruz]

So I’m trying to close the literally hundreds of tabs I have open, and I bump into Stargate crossovers, notably a Stargate/Avatar crossover. This reminds me Stargate is a goldmine of crossovers because you just have to put a Stargate in your favorite fictional universe and there you go! And SG-1′s Clarke’s 3rd Law approach means that any magical shit fits in their universe.

Now, since I’m still in the RWBY hyperfixation train; I obviously thinking how easy and interesting a RWBY/Stargate is.

First off, they exist; here’s all of them in FF.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/Stargate-SG-1_and_RWBY_Crossovers/68/10833/

They’re all good. And there’s actually 3 types: the classic approach, SGC types a random address and it’s Remnant; the Trane7 approach (later adopted by TheLongVersion2), Remnant makes their own Stargate program and inevitably bumps into Earth; and the How-not-to-do-something approach, go full AU, I actually dig this fic, I’m still reading it because it’s long, but it’s very interesting, in short the Battle of Beacon happened but Beacon itself didn’t fall and Ozpin didn’t die; and Team JNPR fell into a Stargate and got picked up by SGC and 2 years later Team RWBY finds them, then shit happens.

I actually have a few ideas inspired by this fic; the initial set up is basically the same, Team JNPR gets stranded on the wrong side of a Stargate, get taken by SGC and join them because they want to help stop the Goa’uld, and then 2 years later Team RWBY figures out the Stargate, this time with the address of Remnant; difference is that Ozpin did die and he reincarnated into Oscar. Now this is inspired by this AU: https://xstonehill.tumblr.com/post/183196875183/rosegarden-au-a-different-happy-ending; so Oscar is passing himself as a prodigy and going to Heaven Academy 2 years early, just like Ruby (I suspect Ozpin did the same); and you know continuing the fight against Salem and stuff. Now as presented by hyperfixation-hideout in their 2 long-ass videos the Merge goes both ways and Oscar is a more open, more honest person than Ozpin, so I declare that he ended up telling his team everything (it was an impromptu bonding session), like everything, they’re probably the only people outside of Salem’s group who know she’s immortal, and the first thing Oscar does after reuniting with Ozpin’s group is telling them about Salem’s immortality.

Anyway in Not What You Expected Jaune says that the Grimm are nothing compared to the Goa’uld, but I’m not so sure, Salem has actual magic AND she is unkillable; of course Jaune doesn’t know that. In any case Remnant and Earth form an alliance to collaborate, and fight the Goa’uld and the Grimm (and Salem once people realize she’s a problem).

You know, now I think about it; however Remnant and Earth came in contact doesn’t matter as much as I’d thought. In all cases they form an alliance, scientists back on Earth loose their minds at Aura and Semblances and they will figure out how the hell that works; Faunus are less interesting, but genetic testing will happen to understand how they work and how came to be (”God made you” is not good enough, in our experience Gods are fakers); Dust will be analyzed and potential exchanges are set up. And of course everyone in Remnant will be more than happy to help fight evil parasites taking over the Galaxy (everyone except Ozpin who has other priorities).

Anyway, the story I would probably write is that SCG gets to Remnant’s address; Teal’c notes that the System Lords warn about this planet (one fic says it’s monsters of the dark of the soul, so maybe something like that “Here be Dragons” and shit), but they get to Remnant and they’re attacked by Grimm and rescued by hunters, let’s say Team JNPR to spice things up, and they get taken to Ozpin (questions are asked, why the principal of a school is like world leader); then discussions happen, questions about Aura and Dust and Grimm and that girl has rabbit ears are asked, and eventually an alliance is settled, technology and resources are to be exchanged, and Remnant will help Earth fight evil alien conquerors.

Now the interesting thing is that Ozpin is mysterious; I mean, he’s always mysterious, but when the discussion turns to the Goa’uld you get the feeling he knows something. Well, I gotta notice that Ozpin knows the Grimm have a master, but the public doesn’t and neither does SCG, so he’s mysterious on that regard (Jack doesn’t trust him) but he’s more mysterious, and if you’re thinking “Ozpin has been around for ever, maybe he’s met the Goa’uld before” your are absolutely right. Okay, this is the idea I have: the Goa’uld first came to Remnant during the time where Ozgiliath (Ozma 2.0) and Salem were together pretending to be gods; so we get a group of fake gods going against 2 fake gods with actual magical powers (and one of them is actually unkillable), Salem and Ozgiliath kick the Goa’uld butts and they run away (I imagine monsters who are attracted to negative feelings and people who are being slaved don’t make a good combination). So Ozpin knows the Goa’uld and maybe has a personal problem with some of them *coughBa’alcough*, but he’s not gonna tell anyone that (certainly not the part about pretending to be a god to people fighting people pretending to be gods).

Next, have you considered there’s parallels between Oz and the Goa’uld? First, aside from that little stint with Salem, we know Oz has been worshiped in the past, you know the Infinite Man story; and he is one entity moving from host to host. I am firm in the belief that Oz is nothing like the Goa’uld, but Ozpin is not so much; you know that some of his hosts have called him a parasite, he himself has wondered if he is in fact a parasite; god, the backstory I give to Ozpin presents him as having been radically altered by becoming a host of the Oz entity, that’s perfect for him to be “Am I me or am I Oz? Did I became Oz or did Oz replaced me? Who am I?” Ba’al is gonna have such a good time taunting Ozpin about this. I’ve decided Ba’al was in Remnant before and he remembers Ozgiliath, when he meets Ozpin he’s like “It’s really you Ozma, you have a new host too”; and when Oscar comes around it’s gonna be even worse because Oscar is afraid of ceasing to exist due to the Merge (I love Ba’al so much).

Another thing that is definitively happening is that Oscar (or Ozpin, but it’s funnier with Oscar) is gonna beat up a Goa’uld in front of their entire following, and the following is gonna be like “Our God has been defeated by this other god*, he must worship him now” and Ozpin in Oscar’s head is gonna be like “Not Again!”

*By the time this happens word has spread that Oz is a God, because he was pretending to be one, way back when.

So I don’t have a full plot yet, but so far I got that not too long after an alliance between Earth and Remnant is established; SGC looses contact with Remnant, about one year later Atlas reestablishes contact (Ironwood took the Stargate to Atlas) and it’s like “everything’s gone wrong! Beacon has fallen, Ozpin is dead, the Grimm are out of control. Help please”; and I don’t know what season of SG1 would be, so I don’t know if SCG would be “we’ll try but we’re in crisis” or “we’re in crisis, we really can’t give much help right now” (SGC is always in crisis), either way SG-1 is gonna end up in Remnant to meet Team Qrow. I want SG-1 to meet Oscar so much, because people having some kind of telepathic ability that gives them powers is one thing, reincarnation is another; Jack is gonna deny it, Sam and Daniel are gonna ask questions, and Teal’c is gonna assume he’s like the Tok’ra.

Also I’m considering Salem allying herself with the Goa’uld. I like to think she’d use them to wreck havoc; and as previously mentioned, she’s actually immortal and has magic; she can probably appear as a more powerful goddess and it’s better to be on her good side (she did definitively killed one or two System Lords); this could cause problems if the people start worshiping her above their System Lords, but we’ll see how things play out. Also I like to think that when faced with whoever, she’s like “You? A God? I’ve fought the Gods, you’re no god” (Ozpin has a similar interaction with Ba’al, where Ba’al calls him a god and Ozpin is like “I’m not a god, and neither are you. You’re just a parasite with delusions of grandeur”)

I’m fairly sure this is leading to a big ass fight in the sky over Remnant; the Gods, probably some kind of ascended being, play a part (and they’re jerks).

Oh and one more thing, humanity 1.0 are probably Ancients, which is how they can use magic; humanity 2.0 I’m not sure where it come from, but I could see them being Earth humans, although I’d have to check the timeline to the Goa’uld being on Remnant (I mean, they can come twice)

[chaoslordjoe]

RWBY - Do I Ship It #2? Ruby Rose

I’ve decided to continue this whole shebang with going over ships for individual characters each time. And for this one, we’re looking at our favorite cooking-deepthroating reaper, Ruby Rose...That may be one of my favorite character descriptions I’ve ever typed.

With introductions outta the way, let’s talk some Ruby ships.

White Rose

kinda leaves me indifferent?

overrated

would read a fic about it

Ideally, White Rose has become one of those ships that half of the FNDM loves to hate. But me, I’m not as triggered by it, let alone nowhere near as angered by it’s presence simply because it’s not Bumbleby.

Unlike BB, in which it’s presence makes me wanna slug my screen every time I see a comment thread screeching high praise about it, I can look at White Rose and just be more like: “Eh. It’s okay.” Simply because I have seen WR content that I enjoy, and that at least many WR shippers know when to shut up when they’re called out unlike Wasps.

Really, a lot of the content has a lot heart put into it to where I really can’t get mad at it. I know it’s a WLW ship. I know that’s become a thing to generally hate among RWBY fans. But I do think that WR is the lesser of two evils between that and BB not because I have a lot of friends who ship it, but because I think folks crap on it way too much compared to the demon that BB has become.

Am I saying there aren’t toxic WR fans still around? Hell no. They need to be called out on it, too. But I’m also generally more relaxed about the ship. Nothing major really.

Ladybug

I SHIP IT

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

underrated

hELL YES

Ladybug has become a recent addition to my ship list a while back. But I’ve fallen head over heels for it in such a short amount of time.

Even many folks I’ve spoken to who tend to gag at the mention of WLW ships in a fandom as egregious as RWBY’s agree that the Bugs are really harmless given soft the content of this ship often is. I’m not saying that Ladybug is all “wee-hee-we’re-a-couple-of-happy-go-lucky-dorks” because that would make it unoriginal and boring to read in many cases.

No, the reason I’ve grown to adore Ladybug so much is because I’m one of those who parrots how much of a missed opportunity (like the show is as a frigging whole) how many interactions there could be between Ruby and Blake.

Why wouldn’t they? They’re both into fantasy stories, both have darkened color schemes, and share some general views on why they fight. Really, Ladybug is just a good way for me to fill the void of just how much Rooster Teeth doesn’t give a fuck about how to organize their characters properly?

Volume 5 gets Freezerburn, and not onwards? Come on, RT.

But before I end up turning this into a rwde post, let’s just move onto the next ship.

Nuts & Dolts

I SHIP IT

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

Soulmates

I WOULD DIE FOR IT OKAY

Yeah this one was pretty obvious. But who cares?! I frigging adore Nuts & Dolts.

Let me just be clear in saying that I can ship it platonically/romantically, simply because I love the bond that Ruby and Penny share. They’re both hyperactive, kindhearted and strong-willed girls with a penchant for bladed weaponry and wanting to make the world a better place for everyone.

This initially made N&D into a guilty pleasure ship for me. But over time, I just couldn’t resist or get mad at it because I love how soft it feels. Same reason as Ladybug for the most part. But overall, I like N&D because of just how much soul there is between two people who were born differently with a set of powers that aren’t what you’d call “ordinary”.

As someone who’s been called “unique” or other labels with the disability I have, I usually find it very pretentious and downright grating to see stories that are supposed to be uplifting about being born in a different manner because that can be really damn annoying after a while.

Yeah, stuff like disability or other stuff is under-represented in pop culture. But often it’s portrayed in a very “Hollywood” fashion even if it’s not a work from that culture and work mindset.

I’m not saying N&D is one of those “unique” portrayals, but as something that shows what happens when two saviors who wanted a normal life have someone in each other that they can trust and even love for their shared experiences of being born differently.

Which is why I’ve grown to accept Ruby and Penny as the popular fan portrayal of being girlfriends or platonic friends. They have so much in common, which makes it that much more endearing for me personally.

Okay. Those are some Ruby/Other girl ships outta the way. Now let’s discuss some Ruby/guy ships...Here’s where it gets a little odd.

Lancaster

BROTP

overrated

no thanks

Oh boy. I’m probably gonna get some flak for this entry...

Let me just be clear that this is a post that is NOT meant to attack any particular shippers. This is me stating what I feel about certain ships and me occasionally talking about how I think they would turn out. 

It’s not my headcanon interpretations, per se. But instead it’s more how I picture it based on my experience with viewing relationships in my own life before I started discussing fandom ships.

Now that I have that out of the way, let’s discuss Ruby/Jaune.

When I first started watching RWBY, my first ship, like many others was Arkos (more on that when I cover Jaune). I felt that Pyrrha was just the right fit for a lovable dweeb like him with how it helped kick-start his character development and the framework for how he would improve himself overall.

Granted, I wasn’t really expecting Arkos to be canon since Pyrrha had died in V3. It was a tragic outcome for a ship that had so much buildup. And most of the FNDM agreed that Jaune needed a hug along with his friends to help him through it.

When I started to hear about the fact that Jaune was shipped with other girls in the main cast, I wasn’t really shocked since White Knight was already fairly popular. But when I found out about Lancaster, it was like: “Wait a second, people actually ship him with Ruby?”

Was more confusion than astonishment, to be honest. I didn’t really think that it would’ve been fitting despite how close and similar both team leaders were. But I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try with reading a couple of Lancaster works.

I got bored.

I’m not so much angry whenever I hear about Lancaster as I am just not impressed by how much fanon works recycle many tropes and plot elements.

Ruby is secretly in love with Jaune.

Jaune does something adorkable or manly which attracts Ruby.

Ruby makes/attempts to make a move on him with some crazy or titillating way that, while in-character for her, has been repeated one times too many in this or other ships featuring her.

Jaune is generally being a good boi throughout. I like Jaune, but I feel that he’s put in too many fanfics in which he’s overly good and pure. Again. It’s fitting for him, but sometimes a bit of difference in fan interpretation is nice. Make him angry, have him lash out at his friends at times. Just don’t make him a “perfect” boyfriend.

Both dorks often have to hide their relationship because of the possibility of Pyrrha being jealous, Yang going apeshit, or other characters reacting the way they do which is often buzzwords in a fic like that.

Lancaster shippers, I am not attacking you since this is your thing. If so, fine. But it’s not mine as I am giving an attempt to give constructive criticism about some of the ships listed here while talking about ships I like to make these posts all about even ground.

I prefer to see Ruby and Jaune as besties. Hell. I prefer to see them more like siblings considering how much Jaune acted like a big brother to Ruby on the road to Mistral with how Yang was bedridden with depression in V4. I also think that Jaune needs a friend right now rather than a love interest. The same could be said for a lot of characters right now, but that’s a different topic.

My biggest criticism for LC is that while I understand the similarities that they share, it’s the whole “opposite-gender-leads-fall-in-love” trope. This trope can be done right *coughRENORAcough* but is put in so many works that I’m not one of those fans who’s impressed with it.

The ship isn’t original, but it’s nothing to make me wanna rage-post like I’m Keemstar on Red Bull or the like. And I know people who are into it, to which I tell them: Good for all of you. It’s simply not my cup of tea.

Rosegarden

would read a fic about it

meh

not really my thing

Oh god, how I wish it wasn’t harvest season!

Kidding. Kidding. Rosegarden is legit, and all my friends in the group who ship it are wonderful people.

Another ship that I can’t really get angry at since compared to other ships that cover things like young love or ships of people who were born differently (see my Nuts & Dolts entry), RG is pretty fucking harmless and I can tolerate it more even though I’m not into it.

While I understand why it seems hypocritical of me to share and repost stuff related to RG on occasion, this is simply because I have reason to share it based on how much I’ve interacted with shippers and how I’ve actually had productive discussions with them outside of their ship.

It’s the community which I like more than the ship because of how much more chill they are. But there’s also a big reason why I know that some people crap on this one.

Ozpin.

Dude, if I had a Dollar for every “RG-is-pedophilia-because-Oscar-is-Ozpin’s-puppet” fallacy that was posted I wouldn’t be needing a stimulus check. Let me explain to y’all why that’s bullshit.

(RWDE mode online)

Is Ozpin eons of years old? Yes. He’s from Humanity 1.0 and was thrown into the bodies of men in the modern world in his war against Salem. It’s a rough situation with a lot of baggage to any relationship he puts up or wishes to even build-up and I don’t think it should be swept under the rug because there’s a lot of stuff that should be brought up about the guy.

Is Ozpin intervening on any potential interaction between Ruby and Oscar? No. Canon or no, Oz has been a neutral party in whatever interactions the two kids have because it’s not really his business. Do you honestly believe that if Ozpin would be the kind to boss his host around that he would attempt to butt in on their friendship?

As an Oz critic, I can say that while I understand both interactions, I draw the line at this ship being considered pedophilia.

I mean, come on! The FNDM ships Ruby with villains like Roman, Cinder and Salem, who are adults when she’s a teenager! And suddenly it’s okay to claim pedophilia just because Ozpin is present?! ARE YOU HIGH?

If we’re going with that logic, fine, just have Ozpin ascend from his brain after Salem is 86′d, THEN we can have a development in RG’s friendship whether it’s romantic or not. But leave the fans of this pairing out of it!

(RWDE mode offline)

The reason I don’t ship Rosegarden is because I’m not a fan of the whole “young love” trope either. I wouldn’t mind it so much if Oscar wasn’t relegated to a support role due to being an Oz host and he had more screen time rather than the old wizard.

Maybe I’m just too cynical about stuff like this to really care. But the point is, I can’t get mad at this ship either and I’m willing to read up on it in small doses.

Strawbana

I ship it

CUTENESS OVERLOAD

the sexiest pair

we need more of it

underrated

Sun Wukong, you magnificent monkey bastard! You always seem to brighten my day whenever I’m looking through critical discussions related to this show.

Much as I love BlackSun, I’m definietly curious to learn more about other ships involving my homeboy here. Solar Flare, I also like. But Sun/Ruby? Thank you sir, may I have another!

Ugh. Can’t believe I just quoted Animal House to describe my love for this painfully underrated ship. Somebody get me some soap...

Other than their VAs being married in real life, I like Strawbana/Red Sun the same reason as Nuts & Dolts with this being a ship that features two extremely upbeat characters finding love in one another with just how much they kick ass for the reasons of just being good people.

Kinda/sorta the only straight Ruby ship I’m into just because of how much they could rub off on one another, and how much I’d love to see them interact more in canon material. Not just the show but any other tie-in stuff.

Next time, we cover Weissu.

[trimaplenut]

hey maple! I was wondering, do you have any book/fic/story recommendations? ❤️

Hoo boy, I can certainly offer some! I’m more well-versed in fanfics than actual books but I think I’ve stumbled across my fair share of good fics over the years.

Also I’ll warn you this’ll be long.

Cycle by RoseGarden

Hot. Damn.

If you’re a Fire Emblem Awakening fan there is not a fic I can recommend to you more than this one. Cycle is easily in my top 5, no top 3, heck my absolute favourite story ever. The updates are slow - I started following it in 2016 summer at Ch 44, and the latest chapter was (at posting) 55 in 2018 winter - but this is not a complaint. This delay is understandably so because these chapters fucking deliver. Each chapter averages about 10,000-25,000 words (by my rough estimate - chapters tend to include a lot of reviewer replies from the author). This is honestly my current inspiration, and has been since I found it. I dream of writing like this one day. I cannot express how much I love this goddamn story.

Okay enough fangirling, time to buckle down to the content. From the beginning, it seems like your average but well-written insert - Robin is an FE fan and baker from the real world who wakes up to find Blue-Haired McGee and his motley crew with no idea how she ended up in the field in Ylisse. But you find out pretty quick that things aren’t quite what they seem. Mysterious unfamiliar characters are popping up, some people know more about events than they’re letting on, and Robin’s gotta figure out all this shit while dealing with her own missing memory and the responsibilities that come with playing tactician for a nation going to war.

It’s amazing. It follows along Awakening’s plot, but honestly I’m on edge the entire time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next. The worldbuilding is hefty and incredible and really brings the world to life. The character interactions are gorgeous. The characters themselves are gold. One of my favourite things is that each character has a clear and defined voice - even if there’s no narration to say who’s speaking, you can work it out by their words and tone. The character interactions are charming and even if the ships aren’t your favourite or usual cup of tea, they’re all so genuine and they work. Robin is different from what I think is the general depiction of canon Robin in fics, she’s pretty crass and blunt and the Earth culture she and the readers know shows, but she certainly stands out as her own personality and still fits in well with the Shepards. She’s also got her own issues and problems and she makes mistakes so that’s fun.

Oh, that reminds me, also be prepared for a heck ton of feels. Laughter and heartbreak in equal helpings. Always a good time.

Queen of Hearts by Circuit

One of the first, and one of my favourite, Persona 5 fanfics that I’ve come across so far. Queen of Hearts retells Persona 5 but with Makoto Niijima playing the role of Wild Card. The change in protagonist brings a few new interesting changes, the big one being the Confidants Makoto hangs out with, including people such as Shiho and original characters in the Student Council. It’s cool to see the changes caused by a Makoto-led Phantom Thieves and also the struggles she herself has with being in that position of leader.

This feels small in comparison to the wall of text for Cycle, so I’m just gonna throw in another P5 fanfic, Crimson. This one’s closer to a retelling of P5′s canon than Queen of Hearts but tackles it with a lot more realism of kids messing with the law and the big bads of P5 and includes quite a bit of Questionable And Morally Ambiguous Choices:tm:. It’s one I’m honestly losing a little interest in, hence why it’s only got this small section here, but it’s still a good fic. I remember liking the beginning and certain scenes that are thrown around here and there, but this fic starts off pretty depressing and gets even more morally ambiguous in more recent chapters. Still a good read. Queen of Hearts is just a lot lighter in comparison and that’s why I recommend it a little more.

Worm by Wildbow

Okay this one’s a little different but hear me out. Technically a web serial, Worm is an original story written on Wordpress. I found it when I read a crossover between it and Okami (also a good fanfic in and of itself, has a pretty different tone from Worm but it’s very entertaining. I’d recommend reading Worm first though since I read the crossover first and, it’s fine to read through itself, but I understood some of the details and nods only after reading Worm). Honestly, I’m still not done with Worm. There’s a lot of story to get through. But what I’ve seen so far is pretty interesting.

The story follows Taylor, a teenaged girl with superpowers, called parahumans in this universe. It starts off pretty dark, though, and honestly it stays that way. Taylor’s bullied at school and feels pretty shitty, but she wants to be a hero. So one night she tries her hand at some vigilantism. Result? Nearly gets killed by a superpowered gang leader, gets saved by a small group of supervillains her age, they think she’s actually a supervillain too. They offer Taylor to join them and she figures it’s a way to go undercover, but over time she faces an internal dilemna since she finds herself actually enjoying their company.

There’s more to the story beyond that. Like I said, I’m not actually done reading it. There’s like 30 arcs, with each arc having about 8-10 chapters, each chapter about 5000 words?? and I’ve only read up to Arc 11. It’s an interesting take on a superpowered world, though, where villains aren’t so evil, good guys aren’t so good, and there’s a whole lot of morality and gritty details that come with it.

Through Her Eyes by Peroth

A RWBY fic that actually has a remastered version currently being written. The story’s about a Ruby that actually has a different semblance than the one we’re used to. This Ruby has the power to summon Grimm - and that’s it. She can’t control them whatsoever. This leads to Ruby being stuck at home for most of her childhood and gives us quite a different personality than canon Ruby - she’s a lot more shy and nervous around people and usually speaks with a stammer. Still the badass little scythe-wielding Grimm slayer we love though. Ruby’s also got eyes pretty similar to Salem’s, which also come with a fear factor, inciting primal fear in anyone who looks at her eyes, which means she has to wear big goggles.

So there’s a lot of changes, but it still mostly follows Volume 1. Ruby goes to Beacon because she still wants to help people -  with some focus on the catchup work Ruby has to do as a result of her missing school as a kid - teams up with WBY, makes friends with JNPR, usual kind of stuff. The original fic ends where Volume 1 ends, but I can’t say what changes the remastered version will bring. It seems to mostly be following the original with a few details changed or added, though. 

The Shrouded Throne by Iburtide

Okay yes it’s another FE Awakening fic, sue me I’ve been through a massive FE faze. Chrobin is near and dear to my heart. Iburtide has actually written more Chrobin fics, both male and female, but I admit I’ve only read this one, The Heart of the Moon which is also a good one, and Crown of Shadows which is almost the same as Shrouded Throne but told with Male Robin (and also explicit so u18′s don’t look at it you hear me).

So Shrouded Throne (and Crown of Shadows) tells the story of a Robin who fled from a Plegian civil war to request aid from Ylisse. By the time the story starts, they’re in the employment of the Shepards, and after some words shared during a battle, Chrom offers to get Robin an audience with Emmeryn, which pretty much kicks off the story. Kinda follows Awakening’s plot but Robin knows they’re from Plegia and the civil war is between Gangrel and Validar.

I guess I’ll talk briefly about Heart of the Moon too since I mentioned it already. The Shepards get sent out to a village where a monster is stalking the woods. When they meet the creature, Chrom gets challenged to a hunt, one-on-one, with the beast. In the middle of this, Chrom comes across an old abandoned castle - or not quite so abandoned, as a young woman lives there, one who claims to be prisoner to the beast.

Both fics include fun new things like Henry being Robin’s little brother - not by blood but their relationship is cute and precious and gives me new life - and a normal Grimleal religion practiced by normal people and Validar just takes it to an extreme.

Those are a handful of ones I can recommend. I read a lot of fics though so I have skipped over some of the ones I wouldn’t say are my favourites but are still quite high on my list. These are all also multi-chaptered fics, a few of them being unfinished as well. There are more fics I wanted to talk about but they’re either one-shots or don’t have enough chapters for me to definitively recommend them. I dunno, if people want more recommendations or recs from specific fandoms like DR (which surprisingly I haven’t touched upon at all, wow it’s been a while since I’ve read a dr fic), I could do another post or something. One covering a lot of one-shots or short stories, but not speaking in as much detail as I have here oops somebody gets distracted and goes on tangents

OH AND BOOKS. Quick book recs are Percy Jackson and How to Train Your Dragon. I’ll be honest, I don’t read a lot of books these days. And I think these are popular enough that they don’t really need a big ol’ explanation from me.

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar’s Sacrifice For His Rose

Guys, I’ve been thinking. And y’know what happens when this squiggle meister muses about something; especially if it’s related to RWBY.

For most of V8’s promotion, the showrunners and the CRWBY kept hinting at how much “darker” this new season to be. And as daunting as that may sound to me as an audience member, the obvious question I ask from this is:

 “…Exactly how dark are we talking?”

After all, RWBY has done dark before. I mean look at V3 and the events of the Fall of Beacon. V3 is still considered to be RWBY’s darkest season to date. Beacon fell leaving Vale Kingdom broken and vulnerable without the protection of its main huntsmen academy and a handful of important lead characters from that arc---heroes and villains alike---died. So keeping that in mind, how really dark can V8 be compared to that? What can the showrunners do for this season that they didn’t already do season prior? And here in lies, my hunch.

Well…not real a hunch. Just a thought. An idea. For me, V8 being darker wouldn’t just represent the Fall of Atlas and the death of lead characters important to this volume arc such as General Ironwood or Winter Schnee or even another member of Team JNPR like Ren or Nora.

Nah son. To me, that’d be way too simple for my taste since, as I mentioned earlier, it’s already been done before so fans are already going to expect that, right? For V8 to be dark for me, the showrunners would have to do something incredibly ballsy. Something that’ll really catch their viewers off guard.

I’m not talking about Ruby Rose losing an eye. As much as I’m not really a fan of that popular fan theory, even that seems too light. Not to mention that Ruby’s development as a Silver Eyed Warrior has been quite inconsistent over the past few seasons and is the aspect of her character that’s been the least challenged.

So I’m going to just toss this one out there because it’s been on my mind since I saw this particular shot from V8 opening visuals. It’s the shot of RWBY falling into an abyss of darkness with Ruby reaching out to grasp what appears to be the Relic of Creation while Grimm hands---the same ones conjured by Salem back in V6 to apprehend Hazel as punishment for his failures---restrain her to drag her further and further away from the light.

Imagine if…Ruby dies?

And I’m not just talking teasing her death like how they did it with Weiss back in V5 with Cinder Fall or with Blake in V3 and V6 with Adam or even Yang back in V3 with Adam.

I’m talking, straight up having Ruby Rose be killed instantly by Salem and her corpse is just left behind for her allies to find her dead. An unquantifiable spark snuffed out after the villains had won yet again. And on this grim tone, V8 just ends like THAT.

Mantle Kingdom is no more; just another graveyard for the Grimm like the former Beacon Academy.

The People of Mantle are all dead; tragic victims of a failed attempt at saving them.

Atlas Kingdom has fallen with its own people about to meet the same horrible end as their former Mantlese brethren.

Salem has succeeded in claiming the Relic of Creation and relishes in her triumph by the restored communications to broadcast a cryptic message to the rest of the world. A message unveiling the Fall of the formerly powerful Kingdom of Atlas at the mercy of her Grimm army; letting the leaders of Vale and Vacuo---the last two remaining kingdoms standing in her way of claiming all the Relics; know that they were next in her conquest.

Our heroes have sustained yet another heavy loss. And what’s worse this time is that now no longer had the guidance of their leader. Ruby Rose is dead. Made to be the martyr this time. And on that note, the volume just fades to black on the echoing cries of our heroes and the victims of Atlas as everything falls to ruin.

It’ll be just like the opening foreshadowed. Happy? Never Again…because the simple soul who was meant to be our hero in the end to rise above everything else and vanquish the forces of evil was now gone. Died another failure to a cause like so many others who died in vain throughout Remnant’s history; just as Roman Torchwick predicted that she would.  And such a tragedy this is since this girl. This single rose---this true rose--- was meant to be unique. She was supposed to change everything, right? But alas, her fate was no different than the ones that came before her.

I’m bringing this up because I have this rather farfetched idea involving the Rosegarden pair that I really wanted to share. It’s not exactly a theory per say. It’s definitely not something I expect the canon to do. Shoot, I highly doubt the showrunners would actually pack the chops to kill off their main protagonist.

However the RWBY V8 opening really got me thinking.

“…We said goodbye to all the things we loved. Gave up our lives just to find that it was not enough…”

In a discussion regarding the ending of the Little Prince story, an anon-ninja informed me about there being an alternative interpretation of the conclusion to the prince’s story wherein, instead of perishing from the snake’s venomous snake bite, the prince succeeded in returning home to his beloved rose on their planet...only to discover that his rose had died in his absence with his care and love.

Putting that together with the V8 opening visuals, it made recall a show I used to watch on Lifetime called Witches of East End. I quite liked it. It's a shame it got cancelled after only two seasons though.

Anyways, why I remember this series in particular is that; spoilers but…at some point during the show’s main PLOT, it did the unexpected and had a series villain kill two of our three main characters. And what made the visual even more horrifying to the audience was that the corpses of these characters were left on display for the surviving third main character to find. It doesn’t help that the two characters were also the beloved children of our third lead who she has watched die countless of times since the head witch---Johanna (I believe her name was) was cursed by her father so that each time her daughters died---she would be forced to give birth to them again and watch their life and death happen again and again. And it doesn’t matter what she did or how hard she tried---even when she attempted to hide her family’s identity as witches from her girls---her daughters STILL never lived past the age of 30.

They always died somehow and it didn’t matter if only one of the daughters died either. When either died, the other one would surely follow. So Johanna would give birth. Raise her two girls into fine young women and…watch them die. Living the same vicious cycle.

This is why the V8 opening visuals  made me think of the prospect of Ruby dying. That shot that I showed of Ruby being dragged down into the dark abyss by the Grimm far away from the light made me wonder.

At first I figured this was a sign that we going to see some mental machinations at the hands of Salem. Basically Salem trapping Ruby and her friends in this cryptic illusion where she tortures them with surreal images of their worst fears incarnated in order to break our heroes down both emotionally and psychologically. So that’s one idea.

But then I thought, …what if…instead that moment is meant to be symbolic. Like the Staff of Creation symbolised life while the Grimm and the void represented death and at some point, Ruby will straddle the fine line between the two for this season.

So with all that in mind, this is what I thought. This is the scenario I concocted from this interpretation.

Let's say...

It is the inevitable Fall of Atlas and Salem kills Ruby Rose.

Instead of the wicked witch being dead, it’s our little red rose and because of this, our heroes are left distraught (Yang in particular, not just because Ruby was her baby sister but also given her doubts over her sister’s judgement and all that jazz). However our remaining heroes aren’t given time to really process Ruby's death. All they could do is take her corpse and attempt to flee since Atlas was falling and our remaining hero team needed to leave if they were going to make it out alive.

Since the show hinted at this bit back in V6, my assumption is that at some point, Vacuo Kingdom will answer the call and come to aid the People of Atlas. While they're unable to salvage the kingdom, the least their forces are able to do with the aid they could provide was evacuate the Atlesians to safety in Vacuo.

So ultimately our heroes are rescued by their allies from Vacuo and reunite with teams CFVY and SSSN respectively. However there is no real time to celebrate their reunion since...well...Ruby is dead. Salem is on her way to Vacuo to claim the Sword of Destruction next and, the group are at a loss on what to do next. Not to mention that certain characters---like WBY (mainly Yang) and Oscar---aren’t taking Ruby’s death too well.

Since the usual gimmick for when a main character dies is for their allies to somehow figure out a way to bring them back from the dead, in respect to Ruby,  I had this idea of...perhaps…while staying in Vacuo at Shade Academy, Oscar discovers a way for him to somehow bring Ruby back from the dead?

Let’s say…it has something to do with his semblance or magic. The thought process I had behind this was that considering that Ozma is technically the only living soul to have ever traversed the line between life and death as an immortal being, imagine if...this somehow made Oscar some kind of human life line or spiritual anchor---A being who is connected to the Realm of Life and Death via his rather unique predicament as a member of Ozma's lineage. 

And thus, using magic (or his semblance or whatever---I dunno) Oscar is easily able to travel the Realm Between Life and Death. Y'know sorta like the Avatar. Maybe?

Basically the notion I had was that

Oscar would go to the Realm Between Realms.

Y’know the same white void where we originally saw Ozma meet the God of Light for the first time in the Lost Fable.

Picture it, Oscar mirroring his predecessor in the Lost Fable, awakening in the Realm Between Realms. In this vacant world, let's say…we get another call-back to the Lost Fable where for the first time since his lifetime as Ozma, a Wizard of Light is reunited with a God.

Imagine if...as a nice parallel, Oscar encounters the God of Darkness in the Realm Between Realms. Much like Light to Ozma, Darkness chose to appear before Oscar since the all-knowing God was already fully aware of what the little prince’s intentions were daring to come to such a world. He knew he was coming to find his rose.��

Let's say...to entertain his own amusement, Darkness agrees to give Oscar a helping hand with his quest for Ruby. The God informs that Ruby’s soul was located in the After Life and even takes Oscar to her so that he may reunite with her. However being the cunning God that he was, what Darkness failed to inform Oscar of was that even if he succeeded in finding Ruby amongst the sea of souls in the After, that didn’t necessarily mean that the boy would be permitted to just bring Ruby just like that.

And since Darkness had dominion over Death (as Light had Life), even with his title as his brother’s cherry picked “champion of humanity”, Darkness wasn’t going to give Oscar that respect in the slightest. For in Darkness’ eyes, this foolish boy lost that mercy the instant he dared to defy the order of the world he and his brother fashioned together to step foot into what he described as his domain.  

After all, there are rules to this game; naturally. Life and death go hand in hand---always in perfect balance.

In a nutshell, to Oscar's detriment, Darkness informs the little prince that the only way that he would be allowed to revive Ruby is if he gave up something equivalent in exchange for her salvation.

An eye for an eye. A soul for a soul. So this presents Oscar with a predicament where in order to save Ruby, he had to sacrifice himself in the process. There was no other way. Ruby will be allowed to return to the Realm of the Living to reunite with their friends waiting for her but this also meant that Oscar would be forced to part ways with everything he and everyone he had grown to love.

This included Ruby despite defying the odds just to find her. He wouldn't even be able to be with Ruby as they once were. Not as teammates. Not as friends or anything more. His life would be gone…and Darkness informs the young boy of all of this; expecting him to fold.

But despite the God's warnings, Oscar agrees to the terms. Without question. Out of his devotion to his rose, the little prince was willing to make this great sacrifice for her. And even when questioned by Darkness of why Oscar would dare to commit himself to such a foolish feat especially for a single girl when there were probably a thousand more exactly like her back on Remnant, it is here where we can get the Fox’s lesson to the Prince, in Oscar’s own words.

Yes Ruby was no different from any other rose. Just as Oz once told him, Ruby had her faults and her quirks just like any other person. She’s remarkable yes. Strong. Brave and Kind. But she’s not perfect. Oscar had experienced the consequences of her flaws and learnt that lesson for himself.

But this wasn’t what truly mattered. What made Ruby important to Oscar was that…she was his. His teammate. His friend. His rose. The girl he…loves. The love and respect that Oscar had for this one girl due to the bond they shared together was enough to make Ruby more special to Oscar than any other girl in Remnant.

His love for her was what made her unique to him. A proclamation which genuinely stunned Darkness as he recounted a time when another poor unfortunate soul, blinded by love just as Oscar was now, came before him for the same reasons as Oscar was doing for Ruby.

Only this other helpless soul didn't make the same bold choice as Oscar did. Unlike Oscar, this soul didn’t understand the value of the life they claimed to love. Essentially a comparison between Salem and Oscar. 

So for the meat and potatoes of this post, Oscar sacrifices his soul to restore Ruby to the Land of Living, bolding choosing to take her place in the Afterlife. As Ruby's soul returns home safe, Oscar's descends slowly into the Void of Death.

But despite this, the little prince bears no remorse. No regrets. He wears nothing but a smile on his fate; perfectly content with his sacrifice as he reached a hand to the light to bid one last tearful goodbye to his rose.

His one true love as he slowly closed his eyes and awaited death's embrace.

And…that’s it. That’s the idea. Obviously me being me, there is definitely more to this concept that I had in mind however this post is already getting a bit too lengthy so I’ll just stop right here. (If anyone is curious about the rest of this headcanon, feel free to ask me in my inbox if you’d like).

But for now, yeah, this is the idea I had. Now as I said, this is only a thought. A mere musing. As I’ll repeat again, I don’t actually expect the show to really kill off Ruby for V8. In another different story, this could’ve happened but I’m not expecting this at all from RWBY even it would’ve made for a very interesting twist.

Regardless, I do still love the concept of Oscar Pine---as our titular little prince, declaring his love for his rose by giving his life to bring her back from the dead should she perish in battle. It feels like such a poetic thing to do. But like I said. It’s just another idea I wanted to toss out to the Rosegardening Pinehead and Rosegarden community.

Take it as you will and maybe you all might like it. Who knows? X3

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[littlemisssquiggles]

I love rose garden 😍

I think oscar hasn't dated much at best maybe a girl or to in school or a girl is age is ant set him up with ,so he maybe knows how to date,

I don't think ruby dose,I don't think her date let her date,am after becane fail ,I don't think dating on her mind but I think at some point after,salem gone

Ruby and Oscar will start dating as the show ends I could maybe see them having an on screen kiss in the last volume

Do you think ,rose garden will kiss or date

Sorry if u been ask this be for

You and I share the same sentiments about this wholesome ship between these two budding smaller, more honest souls, anon-chan. Personally I agree with you on thinking that Oscar has probably never dated or been in a romantic relationship before. My assumption is that Oscar has lived a pretty sheltered life with his only source of human contact and companionship being his family back on the Pine Family farm.

Since Oscar stated that he never met huntsmen and huntresses before back in V5, my assumption was that he and his aunt probably lived in the middle of nowhere in Anima where the closest neighbours were probably towns away. Either that or many of their local neighbours moved to the kingdom for the protection of the huntsmen. That being said, my hunch was that Oscar didn’t interact much with kids, especially ones around his age growing up which would explain his social awkwardness when meting RNJR for the first time. At least he’s courteous to adults highlighting a good boi (best boi) who was raised right by his family.

I also liked the thought of Ruby being the first girl Oscar ever truly had a genuine crush leading to those feelings ultimately evolving into love. Looking at Oscar, I more saw him as being one of those types who didn’t really bother much about romance; so much so that I imagined Oscar would be so inexperienced to love that he wouldn’t even realize his own feelings until someone else had to help him make the realization for himself.

I saw Oscar as the type who only allows love to blossom if it’s with someone he trusts wholeheartedly since to him, trust is everything and he’s not one to open his heart to any and every one. But once he does and he’s found the one who has tamed his heart, he will be ever devoted to said person; loving and supporting them unconditionally with every bit of his being.

I pictured Ruby being the same as Oscar. For me, I think outside of admiring them in her favourite childhood fairy-tales and supporting the relationships between her friends in real life, Ruby is quite the little red novice to romance herself. I perceived her as not really being all that interested in romance too since the feeling has never really hit her before. Unlike other characters she might know, the little light of love has never sparked in Ruby before so much like Oscar, she strikes me as being another who probably wouldn’t realize she was in love with someone even if Cupid damn right thwacked her over the head.

That being said, this is what makes the potential of a Rosegarden romance so fascinating to me and why I like it so much. At the end of the day, Ruby and Oscar are just two kids fitted with roles of responsibility beyond their years. They are both often looked to as figures of guidance and wisdom or at least are expected to. All the more reason why I love how the show has highlighted the two showing support for one another since, within our main group of young heroes, they share the most in common (at least in my humble opinion) and can understand each other in ways unique to them; thus making their bond more meaningful than any others they might share.

At this point, I can’t really say whether or not romance is in the cards for the rosebuds. Don’t get me wrong. As I’ve voiced multiple times in the past, this squiggly Rosegardening Pinehead is all for Ruby and Oscar falling in love with each other (particularly if it parallels the Fairy-tale romance that happened between Ozma and Salem a long time ago only with a much happier ending and happily ever after). I’m down for a Rosegarden romance but whether that will be is up to the showrunners. I’m not sure if Ruby and Oscar will “date” but I do like the idea of them sharing an onscreen kiss.

As a matter of fact, once upon a time, long before it was revealed that Oscar will be kidnapped by Salem, I was one of the theorists who kept advocating for it. Therefore I had concocted this scene in my head where Salem gives Atlas an ultimatum to surrender Oscar over to her in exchange for sparing the kingdom from annihilation. And while his comrades were strongly against this, Oscar, on the other hand, had made up his mind that he was willing to trade his own life if it meant the protection of everyone.

I had this scene of Ruby and Oscar professing their true feelings for one another after Ruby desperately tried to convince Oscar not to give himself up to Salem. I had this idea of the Rosegarden first kiss mimicking the first on-screen kiss between Katara and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

In that series, Aang kissed Katara after expressing his concerns of never returning from confronting Fire Lord Ozai. And as Katara goes in to object, Aang kisses her on the spot as his way of letting Katara know his true feelings for her just in case he never got the chance.

For me, I pictured something like this being done for Oscar with Ruby. With him kissing her as a means of letting her know right then and there how much he loved her; just in case he didn’t return to her in the event that Salem  killed him.

I even had this idea of “I love you” being the very last thing Oscar says tearfully to Ruby before he is taken prisoner  by Salem and she and the others are left to die in the destruction of Atlas Kingdom. Even if we never get a Rosegarden onscreen kiss, I personally would still like the show to confirm Oscar having feelings for Ruby.

The longstanding Pinehead headcanon is that Oscar has a crush on Ruby and has been in love with her since the moment he looked into his silver eyes; paralleling the young man who met the lone Silver Eyed Warrior in the Warrior in the Woods tale from Fairy Tales of Remnant.

That being said, I’m waiting (ever so patiently) to see if the show would…y’know…do something more to make the notion of Oscar being in love with Ruby more official since I feel like they’ve been more or less teasing that since V5. It’s obvious that Oscar cares a lot for Ruby. It’s clear that he admires her and looks to her as a symbol of hope. However at the same time, it is also clear that Oscar acknowledges Ruby’s vulnerability (the side that she rarely likes to show but is evident to certain characters like Oscar and even Maria Calavera and of course, us as the audience) and the huge burden of responsibility placed on her shoulders and does his best to support her when he can in his own way.

But does this mean that Oscar is in love with Ruby? I’d like to think he is but I’m waiting on the canon to confirm since I feel like they’ve building up to it since the very moment Oscar met Ruby. I don’t know whether or not romance is in the cards for the rosebuds but what I can say for sure is that something important has been building between these two kids since V5 and I’d like to think thatV8 is the time to actually prove this or not since Oscar is expected to be taken by Salem at some point.

Not to mention that he’s also supposed to be dead a la Ironwood and I’m still waiting to see if that will be mentioned at any point by Ironwood when RWBN_P go to confront him up in Amity.

But we’ll have to wait to see what happens anon-chan. But whether or not, Rosegarden is carded to be together or not, let me say this, fam. I’ve voiced this point possibly several times in the past but given the nature of this fandom and how certain-certain shippers are behaving these days, this squiggle meister is going to make this firm statement.

Just like you anon-chan, I love Rosegarden too (if it isn’t obvious already XD). As a RWBY ship, they are my OTP and I adore this ship very much for the potential it has. Despite my own personal gripes with the writing of the show, if there is one thing I will give to the CRWBY Writers is that thus far, I’ve enjoyed the progress they have made with the growing bond between Ruby and Oscar. It is thanks to them and the things they have done with these two why I like them so much and humbly look forward to whatever else they have in store for their growing bond.

That being said, while I might love Rosegarden and why I may even wish for the series to pursue a romance with them---at the end of the day, that is NOT my ONLY motive for supporting this pair. It’s not even my main motive.

I don’t love Rosegarden solely because I want the showrunners to make them endgame and should the showrunners not do so, I will hate them forever. That’s NOT it. That’s not how I am as a person. I have always, ALWAYS said that whatever the showrunners do with this pair---whether it becomes a romance or stays purely platonic, I will respect it.

And even now, as we’re entering a new season, I stand by that. Regardless of what the showrunners choose to do with Rosegarden, as a supporter of the pair, I will respect it and it will NOT deter me from giving the pair as much love and support as I’ve always done.

Basically---in a nutshell, if Rosegarden becomes canon, this squiggle meister will support it. But if Rosegarden doesn’t become canon, guess what? This squiggle meister will still love and support it. How about that, huh?

I feel the need to express this now because there honestly seems to be this weird vibe in the FNDM in respect to Rosegarden and its community. It always annoyed me how certain-certain shippers and their respective community would go around the place acting as if their favoured ship was better than others even going so far as to bully other shipping communities because of it. In my opinion, there is no need for that. Just like what you like. Enjoy it however you wish and be respectful enough to allow others to do the same. That’s how I’ve always looked at it and that’s how I move.  

And that’s one thing that made me appreciate the RG community. For the most part, all of us share that same sentiment. We love our ship but we respect other ships and their respective shippers. Probably because some RG shippers are multi-shippers. While I’m not a multi-shipper--- since I more tend to latch onto one favoured ship and stick with it till the end---this is one thing that I liked and respected a lot about the RG community.

…Which is why it honestly disgusts me when I see the things that certain-certain shippers say about us.

What’s even worse is that even when we attempt to defend ourselves, somehow that proves to make things worse than better because then other certain-certain shippers start implying that we’re fighting a war with certain-certain ships when in reality, we’re not fighting anything. We’re just shielding ourselves against the nonsense the other people are sparking.

We didn’t start the fire yet…we’re being held responsible for it by association and even when we try to out the fire, somehow we still get chastised both by the folks who hate us and the ones we hoped would understand. It is honestly a mess and if you’re unware of it then stay oblivious, fam.

For the longest while I have heard stories about the toxicity within the RWBY shipping communities. But back in those earlier times, the toxicity was mainly contained to a few certain-certain ships and their shippers. Now it may seem that the toxicity is starting to spread into the RG community. Not in the form of us becoming toxic ourselves in our own behaviour towards other ships but more in the sense of certain-certain shippers kicking up dirt and trying to start fights with the RG community by making arguments against us whether it be here on Tumblr or Twitter or the dreaded cesspool that is the RWBY Reddit community.

And…sadly to say, I’m seeing some of my fellow Rosegardeners taking the bait and…that honestly needs to stop.

That type of attitude is one of the reasons why I’ve started to slowly back out of the RWBY community. That doesn’t mean that I’m jumping ship. I’m still following the RWBY train---just picture it more as me following it alone from the comfort and sanctity of my own little squiggle mobile gently chugger-chugging down the tracks. This way I can enjoy the show the way how I want to only engaging when I feel like it and more importantly, staying very, very, VERY FAR away from all the chaos that I’ve seen stirring up for seasons.

I still like the show and I’m still very much invested in seeing where it goes, particular with Rosegarden but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t becoming increasingly difficult for me to just enjoy the things that I genuinely like about RWBY.

Rosegarden and the development of these two smaller, more honest souls (individually and as a pair) are two of the things I still really like about RWBY. However I’m honestly tired of going on the tags and seeing my fellow RG shippers sharing and responding to the discourse surrounding the ship sparked by certain-certain shippers.

I’m tired of seeing all the weak strawman arguments made by said certain-certain shippers against RG and why they believe their ship is superior and more likely to become canon and whatever. Like seriously? WHO CARES!

I’m tired of it all and I genuinely wish my fellow RG shippers would stop answering these types of people. When will you learn that you are fighting a losing battle? It doesn’t matter how many posts you make. How much good evidence you provide from the show or the showrunners. Even if you are in the right, it all doesn’t matter. These types of people don’t care. All that matters for them is stirring up nonsense and throwing hissy fits when they don’t get their way. It is childish behaviour at display and nothing anyone says will stop it. So why even bother to entertain it at all?  

This is not me trying to knock down my fellow Rosegardeners in the RG community or even me throwing shade at others to “start shit”---I’m just…tired!  Tired of seeing that shit, y’know what I mean?

Shipping is supposed to be fun. Happy fun times where you get to gush and nerd out about your favourite pairings, not really because them becoming canon was all that important but just because you like it. What happened to just liking something and having a perfect platform to like it and enjoy it with others who feel the same way about it with you…IN PEACE? No malice. No disrespect. No fighting over which ship is going to be canon endgame (as if the canon means jack-shit in the long-run because look at Zutara, Sheith and Klance for Pete’s sake). I dunno. Overall, I’m just tired of the RWBY shipping community as a whole and it’s becoming tough just to have fun being a Rosegarden shipper anymore. So I think stepping back is a good way to go. 

Sorry if this response went off course anon-chan. It’s just that your question motivated me to express things that’s been on my chest for some time. I hope you don’t mind and hopefully I was able to give you a decent answer in all of this. Feel free to let me know or not.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[roz-ani]

Kidnapping Oscar and Ruby

The thing about me is that I like to think. A lot. And ever since volume 6 ended, I’ve been thinking about Oscar and Ruby being kidnapped by Salem’s flying monkeys. I’m sure you’re familiar with this theory, so I’ll get straight to the point. I love this theory. And since one of the rosegarden week’s prompts is “kidnapped”, it’s a perfect opportunity to discuss my idea. I’m not going to focus specifically on Oscar and Ruby. More on how Salem would capture them.

Why would they get kidnapped?

We should remember that Salem is interested in Ruby. We don’t know exactly why, but it definitely has something to do with her Silver Eyes.

What’s the point of kidnapping Oscar? Imprisoning Ozma’s reincarnation would make achieving Salem’s goal easier. Shouldn’t she kill him then? No, that would be stupid. She’d basically let her biggest enemy escape (reincarnation) and it would be harder to find him this time. 

When would they get kidnapped?

If there’s one thing I expect from volume 8, it’s definitely more screen time for Oscar. I’ll admit, Oscar disappearing has become some sort of meme now. Still, he was never kidnapped. I think the best time for that sort of event would be the volume 8 finale or 2-3 episodes before that. We can only guess what will the next season be about. There’s also a possibility it would take place in volume 9 if the writers decide to “connect” Atlas and Vacuo arcs. However, I think the first option is more possible. During volume 7, I came up with a scenario where Ruby and Oscar manage to escape from their kidnappers and get their own mini-arc while trying to survive in Solitas. We would get to see things like their team attack, Oscar’s backstory, a proper character development and some cute (not romantic, too early for that) bonding scenes. This isn’t a post where I want to discuss this, but I may write more about it in the future.

How would it happen?

Oh boi, we could talk about this for hours! We don’t know if Hazel, Emerald and Mercury came to Atlas (they might be still in Salem’s castle or in Vacuo), we don’t know what Neo and Cinder plan to do with the Lamp, Tyrian is running free and Watts is still in prison. Basically, chaos. I assume all (or most) of them will meet with Salem at some point in volume 8. However, someone has to get the Staff, and they need the Winter Maiden to open the Vault. We also don’t know what Ironwood will do after finding out about Salem’s army. Again, I don’t want to discuss it in this post, so here’s what I think can happen: Salem announced her arrival in a very spectacular way. She’d mention her “talk” with Ironwood to the people of Atlas. Her army of Grimm would also make them think if fighting her is a good idea. It wouldn’t take long to kill everyone in both cities... However, as we all know, Salem is merciful. She didn’t come here to kill people. She only wants a few things: the Relics, the Winter Maiden (mainly her power), the Silver Eyed Warrior and Ozpin.

She gets what she wants, she leaves. No victims, no bloodshed, no destroyed cities. Wouldn’t Ironwood announced he “killed” Oscar? How would Salem know he’s still alive? In my opinion, Salem knows how powerful Ozpin (Ozma) is. He wouldn’t just let someone kill him like that. But could our heroes trust her? The jury is still out on this, but I think she’d be lying. She has to show other Kingdoms, especially Vacuo, what she’s capable of. She’d give Ironwood and citizens of Atlas some time to give her what she wants. If the time were up, and she didn't get what she had "politely asked for", she would have ordered the destruction of Atlas and Mantle. I’m not really sure what will happen in volume 8. Whitley and Willow, Winter, the Happy Huntresses, the Ace-Ops, other villains... Maybe Weiss will try to help her family? Maybe some of our heroes will decide to defend the relic and the rest will try to evacuate people from the Kingdom? What’s Oscar plan to save it? Will Atlas fall on Mantle? We still have to learn about Nora’s backstory... CRWBY has a lot to work with, and they have to play it well. Regardless of what happens, in my vision, our heroes, after reuniting with Oscar, would have to face Salem in the finale.

But would they fight her? I don’t think so. Maybe they’d try to use the Staff, but we still don’t know how it works and I’m not sure if they would bring it with them. They would try to convince Salem to spare the kingdom and leave with what she already has. Obviously, she would refuse. Ruby and Oscar, maybe one of them at first, would agree to be taken, much to other’s disapproval. But Salem would agree to that.

 I’m not sure what would happen later:

Salem would betray them and order her army to kill everyone in the kingdom. Our heroes would try to fight her, but in the end Salem would leave with Ruby and Oscar, leaving others in Atlas.

It would be our heroes plan. The rest would attack Salem’s associates and try to get back the Lamp. However, their opponents would still win.

Some Salem’s subordinates, probably Cinder or Tyrian, would attack the rest of our heroes. Ruby and Oscar would try to help, but they fail. Salem wins again.

I have a few more ideas, but they differ mainly in details. Most of them ends up with Ruby and Oscar getting captured. I think they would manage to escape and, as I mentioned before, I have a few ideas what would happen after that.

[littlemisssquiggles]

...So about the ORNJ_JNPR T-shirt thing...

daggerpawstudios asked

“Okay I am the only confused by all the hate that Oscar is getting right now because they dropped some new merch at the RT Store. I am not sure if you heard that Team JNPR got called Team ORNJ on the new shirt. I feel like this is kind of a mistake on the marketing team's part and not really CRWBY. But now a lot of people are attacking RG shippers and Oscar fans and I don't really understand because it seems more like fragile egos”

Squiggles Answers:

@daggerpawstudios​

Hey there Dagger. Well to be honest with you fam, this squiggle meister has sort of been out of the RWBY loop for the past few months. Got a work project so I haven’t been as active as I normally would be in my squiggle shire here on Tumblr.

Nevertheless, I did sort of know about the shirt thing. I first heard the news from a tweet from RWBY Youtuber Calxiyn it over on Twitter. I then saw RWBY Youtuber ThatKaitoDan mention Oscar replacing Jaune as leader of Team JNPR in his own tweet post as well but I didn’t know the full context of what he meant by that until you brought this to my attention.

I didn’t know that RT had actually listed the shirt as Team ORNJ which in their case is…well…a big OOF on their part. Personally, I don’t think this is something that folks in the FNDM should be making a big hullabaloo about. I think it’s an obvious PR mistake on the marketing department who run the RT store releases since no offense to RT and whoever is in charge of promotion on their online store but…their record of “getting things right” their store especially with the FNDM hasn’t exactly been squeaky clean in the past.

Besides, another obvious giveaway to me as to why I think it’s more likely to be a minor error is the very fact that Jaune’s silhouette is still first in line.

Think about it. If Oscar had really usurped Jaune as leader of the team then why isn’t his silhouette first in the line up? 

Isn’t it not a golden rule of thumb that the leaders of each huntsmen team always appear first in the team line-up whenever they do the silhouette thing as we’ve seen previously with teams like RWBY and even the Ace Ops? 

Anyone with decent vision can clearly see that that’s Jaune’s silhouette at the front of the line. Not Oscar. If Oscar was truly the new leader of the team then why is he the third silhouette? 

If thing had really turned ORNJ, then the order should be Oscar, Ren, Nora and finally Jaune. But as you can clearly see, the order is Jaune, Ren, Oscar and Nora.----THE SAME ORDER THAT WAS FEATURED IN THE VOLUME 7 OPENING! Or did folks…y’know…forget that? 

I know V7 ended earlier in the year but have folks forgotten the season already with its opening sequence? After Team RWBY, we got the JNPR 2.0 gang and the order in which JNR and Oscar appear matches the T-shirt with Jaune being first, then Ren, then Oscar and finally Nora. So there you go. 

So I wouldn't worry too much about that Dagger. I agree with you in thinking that it was a simple error made by the RT store. However, that being said, the other part about people stirring discourse over this and worst yet attacking the Pinehead and Rosegarden community over this…do I even need to say how silly that sounds.

Much like with the ridiculous discourse that arose after the small Rosegarden moment in V7CH9, this is yet another classic example of certain-certain folks literally scraping the bottom of the barrel and using any excuse they could find to harp on something they don't like while unfairly accosting the people who do.

I feel really bad for my fellow Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads who were victims of this time of foolishness. Because that's what this all sounds like to my ears. Foolish fools acting foolish yet again.

Seriously, what does Oscar as a character or even Rosegarden as a ship have to do with something that was posted by the RT store and is clearly an error made by the people who run it?

Are certain-certain folks truly that desperate to stir up drama and conflict that they would honestly seep so low as to use a T-shirt design as fuel for an easy argument?

The Pinehead, Rosegarden and Rosegardening Pinehead communities get enough flak as it is but this is just...beyond silly!

I'm not implying that the hate brigade should train their anger on RT but how silly can you be to take something as a T-shirt design to that level of seriousness? Especially when the design more or less outs its own error. Am I missing something here? Is there another unknown part to this where the CRWBY Writers came out and confirmed that this is legit? Because otherwise, this is just…so…LIKE SERIOUSLY DUDE?!

I like RWBY a lot and in spite of my own personal gripes and nit-picks with the direction of the show at times in terms of its writing and treatment of the characters and their respective relationships and arcs---in spite of all that, I still actively enjoy the show and I’m still invested in seeing where the CRWBY Writers take it to the very end. However I’d be lying if all the constant discourse from the more “toxic” side of FNDM isn’t slowly starting to chip away at my excitement for the series. I can live with RWBY having flaws but what I don’t need are folks constantly going out of their way to use any excuse they could to express their own personal gripes with show; going as far as to abuse others in the process. That kind of stuff isn’t cool and it’s not good to witness through the eyes of someone who wants to enjoy the show or is at least trying to...y’know what I mean?

When I first heard the news of the JNPR shirts, I was excited. Not only is this the first merch we’ve gotten of JNPR in some time but it’s also the second merch to feature Oscar.

In case folks don’t realize, Oscar doesn’t have a lot of his own merchandise sold by RT which sucks for us Pineheads.

At least the OG JNPR/JNR have a couple of merchandise (albeit not as popular or abundant as Team RWBY’s but still there). 

But Oscar…not so much and the same can be said for Ozpin too.  It took RT six whole seasons to release ONE T-SHIRT DESIGN with Oscar and Oz on the front and even that was sort of short-lived since I don’t see that shirt advertising in the store anymore. It’s always the same ole Team RWBY stuff.

So with that in mind, this shirt was a first and a given. It’s so great to see Oscar together with JNR on a shirt because in a way, it makes it more official that he is a member of their group especially for those of us who were rooting for this to happen since V5.

I still don’t think it means that he is the leader because as I’ll say again, look at the order on the shirt design. Oscar is third. Right where Pyrhha used to be. How can he be leader and be third in the line-up? Oscar is meant to replace Pyrhha, not Jaune. 

In the case of this whole ORNJ JNPR T-shirt scandal, I don’t understand how on Earth a clear marketing typo could reach as far as to spark discourse for a fictional character of a series, his fans and the fans of one of his ships? AGAIN!

What does Team JNPR (or whatever they will be called) being miswritten as Team ORNJ has to do with us Pineheads, Rosegardeners and Rosegardening Pineheads? How are we as a fan community responsible for an error made by RT?

Even if there are Pineheads who think this should be official--NOT speaking for myself here but I have seen other Pineheads express their desire to see Oscar lead JNPR for their own reasons---still, this is no excuse to harp on someone for liking it just because you don’t.

You’re right Dagger; this doesn’t make sense to me either.

All I can say is that it is what is it. Another example of certain-certain folks using any excuse to harp on something they don’t like while trying to drag others down with them and/or ruin their good vibes. 

Seriously these types of folks are honestly scraping at the bottom of the barrel. I’m surprised they’re still able to see after sinking so low with their foolishness. If that sounds a bit too harsh then sorry; not sorry. 

Ever since the whole discourse over the minor Rosegarden moment for V7CH9, I have lost all patience with these types of fans. I honestly find them to be as dumb as their behaviour and it exhausts me just hearing about them and their nonsense. 

Losing their marbles and attacking my people over a bloody T-shirt error that ain’t got nothing to do with us.

SO...DAMN...SILLY!

I hope RT clears this up at some point. And even if they don’t, I really don’t see why people should believe this means anything. I certainly don’t.

Not like I want that to happen either. In my opinion, I was never in favour of ORNJ---at least, not right now when Oscar is still a teenager growing into his duties and responsibilities as a huntsman. To me, I only like the idea of Team ORNJ from the perspective of Jaune retiring/stepping down from his role as leader of a huntsman team; instead choosing to pass the torch onto Oscar after the former farm boy had matured into a fine huntsman under his team’s guidance and after proving himself in the eyes of his teammates, especially Jaune. 

Y’know that kind of idea. 

This is why I always referred to JNR and Oscar as JNPR 2.0. I want JNR to become Oscar’s team and surrogate brothers and sister in arms. I want Oscar and Jaune to have a close big brother-little brother type of dynamic where Oscar admires Jaune’s strength and leadership and looks up to him alot as both a close confidant (much like Ruby) and teammate while Jaune himself admires Oscar’s tenacity after everything he’s been through while making it his role to look out for him along with Nora and Ren.  

This doesn’t mean I want Oscar to replace Jaune as team leader nor do I think he should.

I’ve heard some folks rationalize that Oscar should lead JNR since he is Ozpin’s successor. Nothing against the folks who like this concept but if I were to add my $2.50 to this, I don’t think Oscar being Oz’s successor should automatically qualify him to take over JNR; y’know what I mean?

Jaune earned his place as leader of JNPR after proving his talent for leadership back in V1. 

The only time that Jaune took a step back was when Ruby led the group as RNJR between V4 and V5 since at the time, the trio were aiding Ruby with her objective to get to Mistral, as Ren said. But even then, Jaune was still a leader and  backed up Ruby’s calls with his own strategies. 

Not to mention that folks seem to be forgetting that Ozpin was the one who chose Jaune to lead JNPR.

Though we never got a scene of Jaune confronting Oz on his decision to make him team leader like we did with Ruby Rose in “The Badge and the Burden” episode (I think that was the title. Correct me if I’m wrong), much like Ruby, Oz picked Jaune and was of sound mind when he did. Oz picked Jaune to lead since despite his past hiccups and shortcomings, he saw that Jaune also had the makings of a great leader as shown during JNPR’s first fight against the Deathstalker.

So the whole notion of Oscar getting to be leader of JNR  JUST BECAUSE he’s Oz’s successor EVEN THOUGH it was Oz’s decision to choose Jaune to be leader of JNPR in the first place---yeah that doesn’t sit right with me. 

Jaune is meant to be a leader and JNPR is his team to lead; even with Oscar joining it. Sorry ORNJ-fans. But that’s where I stand on that. 

Anyways, that’s all I have to say on this subject. I hope I answered you Dagger.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[littlemisssquiggles]

I was watching Phoenix/Night’s chapter 11 review video, he had ideas of what’d happened to Oscar. One of them was that maybe he was able to get away from Neo and try to run away from her but he wasn’t fast enough to get away and somehow got captured by her. I assume that Neo took him to the Vault of the Relic of Creation where I assume the Oscar vs Neo fight is gonna happen. I believe it’s gonna parallel the Raven vs Cinder fight in V5, a fight for the two relics. What do you think about that?

Hey Chels. Hmm…I’m not sure about the vault part, fam.

Even if Neo managed to take Oscarhostage, why would she take him down to the Vault of the Winter Maiden? As faras the audience is aware of, Neo (and by extension Cinder) doesn’t know thewhereabouts of the Vault within Atlas Academy. Nor is she aware that Oscarknows about it either. While I agree with the part about a potential fight downin the Vault, I doubt it’ll be between Oscar and Neo. For me, I’m moreexpecting Oscar and Ironwood to have a confrontation either down in the Vaultor on the way to the Vault. My assumption is that Ironwood went down to theVault and is probably waiting for Winter to join him down there once she’sclaimed Fria’s power. That way Winter would open the Vault for Ironwood so thathe could use the staff’s power to hoist Atlas Kingdom into the orbit; removingthe kingdom and its citizens from Remnant.

However, my presumption on whatmight really end up happening is one of the following few concepts--

Ironwood will be waiting down in theVault for Winter only for Cinder to show up instead to challenge him for theStaff. A fight then breaks out however Ironwood is unfortunately overpowered byCinder who had the strength of two Maidens on her side after successfullyclaiming Fria’s power for herself; confirming much to Ironwood’s despair thatWinter Schnee---his right hand and top operative---had been killed by one ofSalem’s very own. Cinder then goes to kill Ironwood but he’s saved from neardeath by Oscar and Ruby arriving down in the Vault. Oscar then instructs Rubyto take the injured Ironwood to safety while he tries and stop Cinder fromtaking the Staff. A fight then breaks out between Oscar and Cinder, rekindlingthe fateful rematch us Pineheads have been itching for.

The alternative to this is Ironwoodwaiting for Winter down in the Vault but Oscar shows up. Since the othersalerted him of the General’s intentions, Oscar attempts to talk some sense toJames but at this point he’s too far gone. He won’t listen to reason. He eventrains his gun on Oscar. But just as it appears as if the two were going toclash, Cinder arrives down in the Vault to claim the Relic.

As a third alternative, Ironwoodgoes down to the Vault to wait for Winter. But as he enters the vault he isbemused to discover a narcissistic Cinder Fall already waiting there for himwith the corpse of Winter Schnee in one hand and the remains of a dismantledPenny Polendina in another which she wickedly lays at Ironwood’s feet; as if togloat of her accomplishments. A fight ensues between the two. At this time,Ruby and Oscar arrive at the Vault in an attempt to stop Ironwood. But as thetwo Rosebuds arrive down the Vault they are met by Cinder who has alreadysucceeded in gaining the Relic of Creation. With the staff in her hand, thingsget a bit topsy-turvy as Atlas begins to fall out of the sky as a result of thestaff’s removal leading to Oscar and Ruby to fight gravity and a dual-powered MaidenCinder for the Staff as a means of stopping the collapse.

Those are just a few ideas I have. Eitherway, my headcanon remains that Oscar willbe the one to fight Cinder in the end. I have a feeling that V7 endgamecould parallel V3 with Oscar sending his allies away to safety while he staysbehind to prevent Cinder from claiming the Relic of Creation. This way I canimagine Oscar embodying both Ozpin and Pyrhha--ensuring that his friends---thepeople he cared for and whose lives he was more or less entrusted with---madeit out alive before moving forward to do whatever he could to stop Cinder; evenif it meant sacrificing his own life to stop her. The last time, a Wizard ofLight challenged Fall Maiden Cinder, they lost. The last time Oz stood up toCinder, she killed him and that was back when she only had one Maiden power.

Somehow I kinda like the concept of Oscar challenging Cinder and avenging Ozpinby being the one to put a stop to Cinder. I don’t know what the CRWBYWriters’ plans for Cinder are. But in the event that V7 is to be her final curtain call, I feel like it wouldbe fitting if Oscar was the one tofinally do so.

@moondrop04, I know I told you Ididn’t like the idea of Oscar sacrificing himself for his friends. However I’vehad more time to think about it and now I can actually picture it beingsomething Oscar would do as a testament to his bravery. This doesn’t mean thatI think Oscar will die though. Nah. If anything I expect Oscar to fight Cinderand survive. I like the idea of Oscar sacrificing himself to try and stopCinder just like Oz. Who knows? Perhaps,in a similar fashion to V3 with Pyrhha, Rubyends up going down to the Vault just in time to find Cinder about to kill Oscar. At first she suffersdifficulty to summon forth her Silver Eye power as a result of the fear Saleminstilled in her in regards to her mother���s death by her hands. It’s a momentwhere Ruby finds it impossible toclear her mind long enough to think of positive thoughts to protect everyone.So in that moment, Ruby does the just thing. She basically emulates the advicethat Other Dimension Peter Parker gave to Miles Morale about becoming a hero inSpiderman: Into the Spider-verse.

“…Youcan’t always just think about saving everyone. You have to think about saving atleast one person first.” 

Or something alongthose lines since I’m paraphrasing here. Sobasically that’s what Ruby does. She thinksabout Oscar; how much he’s proven to care about her and their team sincethey met and the way he made her feel. Because in that moment, Ruby wasn'ttrying to save everyone. All she wanted to accomplish in that moment was protectingOscar. Because in that moment, saving him was all that mattered and she was notabout to let Cinder Fall kill another friend she loved ever again.

Soin a nutshell, Ruby is able to summon her Silver Eyes at full blast which issuper effective again Cinder who shrinks back from being exposed to the light.As Cinder lunges for Ruby, she is finished by Oscar who lands the final killingblow. Imagine if… crystalized stalactites with the the Vault. Perhaps Oscar could use the magic of the Long Memory to cause oneof the stalactites to fall on top of Cinder, crushing her before she could getto Ruby.

Notsure how to feel about Oscar killing someone, even if it is a villain. I don’twish for a repeat of what transpired with Bumblebee last season with AdamTaurus now with the RosegardeningRosebuds. I’m not even sure if Cinder will actually be killed off. I’mstill waiting to see what the PLOT does with her especially since we’resupposed to learn more about her backstory at some point for this arc trilogy.Regardless, still wanted to toss the idea on the table.

As I said to @daggerpawstudios inanother, I’m starting to like the idea of Oscar trying to get away from Neo. Soin that regard, I agree with Phoenix/Night. However where I deviate is that Ilike the idea of Oscar not being kidnapped at all. My headcanon is that Oscarsuccessfully escaped Neo’s attempt at taking the Relic off of him and iscurrently somewhere else on Atlas premises trying to get as far away from Neoas possibly. However V6 highlighted Neo being able to mask objects with hersemblance (as she did with Mistral airship), my idea is that currently Neo haspoor Oscar trapped in an illusion where he’s been attempting to find an exithowever Neo has disguised all the exits as dead ends, making Oscar think he wastrapped with no way out and with no way of getting in contact with his comradessince Ironwood locked off communication within the hero group.

I like this concept since it’s aninteresting way to show off Neo’s cunningness as a villain while additionallytesting Oscar’s resolve. I dig the idea of Neo messing with Oscar psychologicallythrough her illusions, making him believe he was all alone trapped in a maze ofher creation with no way of finding his friends. 

What’s more terrifying is thatNeo could also disguise herself as any of Oscar’s female allies, inclusive ofRuby. Oscar wouldn’t know where to turn and who to trust since, in Neo’sillusion, he wouldn’t know what’s fake from reality.

It’s cool since it provides an opendoor for Oz to return and guide Oscar in the same manner as he did back inArgus. Not to mention that it also provides an opportunity for Ren to debut hisevolved semblance. 

Imagine if…JNR hasbeen trying to find Oscar too but Neo’s illusion winds up confusing them aswell and keeping them from reaching Oscar until Ren reveals a new ability thathe’d been developing all season where he can possibly locate Oscar’swhereabouts by locking onto his emotions specifically. 

I really do that have afeeling that Ren might play a role in finding Oscar; especially in the eventthat he’s stuck inside an illusion that’s keeping him trapped inside and anyoneelse trying to find him outside. 

I like this concept a lot and I think I’llkeep that as my main hunch for RWBY V7CH12 until the episode debuts.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

[littlemisssquiggles]

Hello! I've been reading your posts for quite some time. Now I have been reading about scenarios in which Oscar got kidnapped with or without Ruby by Salem but....what if Ruby got kidnapped by Salem and Oscar has to go out and save her (with backup of course). I'm not suggesting that Ruby should take on the role of the damsel in distress given her development in the show thus far but it's been so common nowadays about these speculations of Oscar being more likely to be kidnapped. Just curious.

Hello Rainbow.Well to be fair, I’m among the folks who’ve been pitchingthe idea of Oscar beingthe one to be taken by Salem alone.

However before duringV5’s runtime, one of the firsttheories for a potential Dark Domain Arc in RWBY that I pitched featured the idea of Oscarand Ruby both becoming prisoners ofSalem, being forced to survive on their own and make the perilous trek acrossthe Grimm infested Dark Lands.

Back then, I figured that Ruby and Oscar would bekidnapped together because between V4 and V5, there were hints of this beingpossible. In V5, we got Lionheart mentioning taking Oscar to Salem and in V4,Ruby was made a target by Salem who sent Tyrian Callows to kidnap her and if itweren’t for Qrow intervening, Tyrian may have succeeded in abducting her.

Despite Tyrian’s failure, it doesn’t excuse the fact thatSalem showed an interest in Ruby and with Tyrian expected to be a part of theupcoming Atlas Arc, it wouldn’t surprise me if he dared to enact his revengeand claim a second chance at whisking Ruby away to Salem. So if Ruby becomes a prisoner of Salem,it wouldn’t surprise me.

However here’s the thing, Ican’t picture the idea of Ruby being kidnapped alone with an entire arc being dedicated to focusing on her friends having tosave her being led by Oscar. And my reason for that is due to her status as ourmain protagonist of RWBY. Ruby is our valiant hero of the story and I can only see theWriters writing her to be that way. I’m not saying Ruby can’t become Salem’sprisoner. I’m just saying I can’t see that story being written in a way whereRuby is the maiden waiting to be saved by her friends. I can only see Rubybeing captured only to escape and then the audient spends the story watchingher struggle to make her way back to reuniting with her friends who are lookingfor her.

That’s how I see it. I also can’t see Ruby being takenalone with Oscar having to find since the narrative so far has painted the bothof them with clear targets on their backs. Oscar especially, given Salem’sreaction to learning that Ozpin is alive and reincarnated as him and the V6finale after-credit moment of her preparing her Winged Beringel Army topossibly go after Ozpin and essentially Oscar.

I can’t see Ruby being taken without Oscar. For me, I canonly see it as Ruby beingkidnapped with Oscar since both smaller,more honest souls have been previously alluded to be targetedby Salem or just Oscar takenalone with Ruby being the only to save him. That’swhat I see being more likely to become canon with my current favourite beingthese two headcanons being the one about Oscar being taken.

I’m sorry if it’s become a common theory but as I alwayssay, my firm reasoning behind why I love the ‘Oscarthe prisoner and Ruby his saviour’ theory isbecause of the strong parallels to the Lost Fable episode from RWBY V6 and the Lost Princessof Oz fairy-tale.

Oscar draws inspiration from Princess Ozma, as many RWBYtheories had deducted, and in the Oz book series, there is a story titled ‘The Lost Princess of Oz’ which depicts Princess Ozmabeing kidnapped and it is her best friend Dorothy Gale who leads a search partyto rescue her.

Many RWBY theorists believe that Ruby draws inspirationfrom Dorothy Gale apart from her trademark Little Red Riding Hood motif.Personally I was more under the impression that both Ruby and Oscar shared influence from Dorothy but it is Ruby who’ll become the Dorothycharacter in Oscar’s Ozma story. 

Dorothy was said to be Princess Ozma’sclosest confidant in the Oz series and this is thetype of relationship that I’m anticipating to see reflected in the Rosegardenbudding friendship. I’m expecting Ruby tobecome Oscar’s best friend and closest companion as well as his future love interest since Oscar also takes influence from the Little Prince whose truelove was a red rose that was his main companion back on his home planet. 

As for the Lost Fable, should Oscar becomeSalem’s prisoner then I am of the opinion that she would lock him away inside a lonely tower much similarto how she was imprisoned centuries ago. I adore the parallel of Oscarbecoming like Salem once was---stripped away from his loved ones and lockedaway by a wicked being who condemned him to a life of isolation and loneliness;never knowing if he’d see the outside world ever again or be reunited with thosehe holds dear.

I am behind this theory 100% because I think it would be fittingto have Oscar, as an incarnate of Ozma, become the Boyin the Lonely Tower waiting to be saved by his caped champion. Itis quite the appropriate satire to have Salem, the original girl in the tower detainthe boy who is the very embodiment of the hero who once saved her from hersolitude. Salem the imprisoned becoming the imprisoner to lock away the boy was once the righteous man who freed her in anotherlifetime is such a perfect parallel . At least to me it is.  

In Salem’s story, Ozma was the righteous valiant hero whofought and freed her from her captivity. I can definitely see Ruby becomingOscar’s champion, leading the charge to save him from his imprisonment. There are similarities to Ruby and Ozma just as much as there are similarities to Salem (original) and Oscar. I discussed those similarities better in this Musing post right there. 

This is why I love this theory so much. It connects backto two important tales related to Oscar. I really would love to see that parallelto the Lost Fable because I think it’s the most possible. If not that, then it’sRuby and Oscar against the Dark Domain theory because that headcanon also hasan Oz equivalent. Two actually.

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was kidnapped by the flyingmonkeys and taken to the Wicked Witch. As I said, Ruby and Oscar both shareinspiration from Dorothy Gale. There is also another Oz book--- ‘Glinda ofOz’ in which Dorothy and Princess Ozma got kidnapped together. This was another nodto the Oz books that helped me justify why I inclined to the theory of would be cool if bothRuby and Oscar got nabbed together since they both technically representDorothy and Princess Ozma.

As a matter of fact, I’d actually love to combine both ofthese theories. Imagine if…Ruby and Oscar are kidnappedtogether and taken to Salem. Oscar is then lockedaway in another solitary part of Salem’s castle while Ruby is held elsewhere---possiblyin some kind of tomb-like dungeon of some sorts where Salem can potentiallyentertain herself by forcing Ruby to combat countless hordes of Grimm withoutthe use of her Crescent Rose or her silver eyes.

Some fans have shared the idea of Ruby losing one of her eyes. While this squigglemeister isn’t too big of a fan of this theory, I’lladmit that I can actually see it happening. I can see Salem damagingRuby’s eyes but not to the point of her going completelyblind. 

Since by my assumption, Salem would most likely rather sadistically wishfor the young huntress to see every bit of torment Salem was going to put her through. Instead Ruby’seyes are damaged just enough so that she can’t summon forth her indomitablepower. At least, not without causing herself excruciating pain or failingentirely.  

Perhaps Salem damages Ruby’s eyes using dark magicmaking her injuries impossible to be healed even by normal means such as Jaune’ssemblance. I’ve more been a fan of Ruby losing her eyes to dark magic since it an potentially open up a bit where Oscar can master control ofhis own magical powers as means of healing Ruby’s eyes back to their originalstate.  It’s only another headcanon butit’s one that I like.

Anyways, eventually Ruby manages to free herself byoutsmarting Salem’s forces. We then get a story of Ruby finding her way toOscar who she learnt was being kept in a lonely tower. There she reunites withOscar and the two share a tender moment before making their daring escapetogether.

However in spite of their heartfelt reunion, our twoRosebuds aren’t out of the danger yet. Escaping Salem’s castle and the lonelytower was only the first obstacle. The hardest journey would be making it back to civilization to findtheir comrades---granted that they were still alive after the Fall of Atlas.

That actually doesn’t sound too bad. I am down for bothof these theories being combined, if ever possible.

So to reiterate, I can’t see Ruby being kidnapped alone.In my mind, we’re more likely to either see Rubykidnapped with Oscar and the two have to work together to escape Salem.

Or…it’s ascenario where Salem arrivesto kidnap Ruby but Oscar lets Salem take him in Ruby’s place. Or…it’sthe latter where Salem comesto take Oscar and threatens to the lives of everyone in Atlas if Oscar didn’t surrenderhimself over to her. So in the end, Oscar gives himself up toSalem to protect everyone including Ruby who fails to save him and can onlywatch helplessly as Oscar is taken away before her eyes while the entire kingdom of Atlasfalls around her.

That’s how I’m seeing it. I see the heroes taking their biggest hit and facing their biggestfailure in Atlas Kingdom. Even worse than Vale. Notonly does Atlas Academy fall but the entire kingdom itself. Since Atlas is inthe sky, that is just a giant red flag in my eyes for this entire kingdom to plummetto the ground.

My impression is that Atlaswill fall from the sky at some point during itstrilogy and what I figured could be an interesting way to tie this narrative toa potential standalone Dark Domain Arc is if Salemsimultaneously kidnapped a handful of Atlesian citizens during the Fall ofAtlas to hold them hostage in her domain.

Like…imagine General Ironwood and the Atlesian military workingdesperately to evacuate every surviving citizen during the Fall of Atlas; boardingthem all on airships to be taken to safety in another neighbouring kingdom(like Mistral or maybe even Vacuo); only to be bombarded by Salem’s forces whotake control of those ships.

So while some airships managed to evade captivity, Salem stillsucceeded in capturing a good percentage of the populace. Among the safepassengers are, of course, our heroes (minus Oscar) but to their dismay, theyare forced to watch helplessly as Salem took hostage of some of the airshipswith evacuees on board. Among them were some of their friends and even family.

Like perhaps Team FNKI and I have this headcanon thatWeiss’ family---Whitley, her mother, Klein and even Winter were among theevacuees captured by Salem. Y’know to give Weiss an incentive to join Ruby in venturing into Salem’s Domain on a life and death rescue mission to save Oscar. 

These days I’m really starting to lean toward the headcanon of Salem capturing Atlesian citizens during the Fall of Atlas to use as leverage to torture Oscar into submitting to her whim during his imprisonment by threatening their lives if he didn’t obey. 

By my headcanon, Oscar figured he had saved everyone with his sacrifice when the reality was, he didn’t. I described this theory betterin these two Pinehead headcanons----Oscar’s GrimmBuddy and Oscar’sBetrayal.

So yeah, I think this covers why I’m more in support of the Oscar the Prisoner theory. The Ruby reverse isn’t bad. I just find the version with Oscar more likely to happen because of the strong parallells to Oz and the Lost Fable. Hope this answers your question. 

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019) 

[littlemisssquiggles]

Your posts have been quite the joy to read! Following up on that Oscar post, do you notice how timid Oscar is with Yang and how she, in turn, is so hostile? When they first break into the house, he's actively trying not to look at her. And when Yang says "Anything to get out of this house" she's practically shooting spiteful looks towards where Oscar is standing and it's clear she's actually saying "I want to get away from YOU." Our poor farmboy needs some more love.

HelloJade!I see you’re a fellow Jolteon enthusiast, yes? Very nice.

I’mhappy to hear that you enjoy my posts. Thank you so much for reading them! Toanswer your question: I didn’t notice Yang’s displaced hostility, at leasttowards Oscar but I do get what you mean. The more I rewatch the scenes withthe QROWMBY from V6 C5, the more I feel terrible for Oscar.

The poor farm boy needing some love is an understatement.Have you ever been among people where things are clearly not okay but ratherthan admitting that tension to yourself and succumbing to the loneliness of itsreality, you do the opposite? You create this defence mechanism where you pushpast the tension and attempt to reach out. You do little things like trying tojumpstart conversations with certain members or volunteer to give a helpinghand even if no one asked for your help. 

You try to include yourself. You forceyourself to try and fit in again because it’s the only thing that’s keeping youfrom falling apart and surrendering to the depressive thought that no one mightwant you around. Oscar’s behaviour with the group this last episode made methink this. I was actually expecting Oscar to become more withdrawn from the team after C4.

However instead he did the opposite or at least tried to and that was actually sadder to watch.

Oscarin V6 C5 was like watching a triangle tryingto fit in among a bunch of circles. He probably feels very misplaced aroundeveryone right now but he tries his best to fit in even if it meant twistinghis shape to fit that mould, if that makes sense. Oddly enough, I would havemuch preferred to watch depressed and socially withdrawn Oscar because Oscar trying to chum up a bit toeveryone with most of the team kind of ignoring him was sad.

Do you realize thatthe only person who showed Oscar a shred of decent human compassion thisepisode was Maria. This is great because at least it’s somebody y’knowwhat I mean and I like the dynamic they’re setting up between Maria and Oscar here. They’re technically the two outsiders in all this so it’ll be nice to see them bond more over the episodes. The Adventures of Pocket Abuelita and her surrogate freckled farm boy nieto. . 

ThroughoutC5,I noticed Oscar doing his best to sort of make things less apprehensive betweenhim (not Ozpin) and the QRWBY, timidly approaching everyone in small ways.

When Qrow busted thefront door open and everyone went in on guard, so did Oscar. As adorably silly and downright frightened he looked, Oscar joined theothers because, by my presumption, he did because that’s what his teammatesdid. With the exception of Maria whose sass could probably cut adamantium,Oscar mimicked the other’s movements to fit in.

Toshed light on what you brought up Jade, I did pick up Oscar and Yang kind ofexchanging awkward glances at each other here. Poor Oscar, he looks so nervous.

Anyways, after the group shut the door like Maria insisted, we next overhearOscar making a comment about the study in the Brunswick household. From what Isaw, Ruby stayed behind in the front hall to eyeball the Brunswick familyphotos while Weiss and Yang checked the upper quarters for blankets by Qrow’sorders. 

As the scene progressed, I noticed Oscar follow Blake or at least hewent in the same direction as Blake did so I assumed she was the one hewas with when the study was found. Not sure what happened to Qrow. He wasprobably somewhere else in the house with Maria.

Sothis possibly left Oscar with Blake to join her in checking out the study.

“Looks like astudy or…a library?”  Mybest guess is that Oscarprobably asked this out loud to Blake as a sort of conversation starter for thetwo at the time. Unfortunately, he got no response from the Faunus girl. Thenext time we see Blake, she’s with Ruby.

So…not only did Blake not answer Oscar’s open question but I presumed she left himbehind in the study to go talk to Ruby instead. That’s what it looks like here.I know this is just my interpretation and I could be reading too much intothings. However, it’s still sad when you think about it like that.

Iexpected things to be awkward with Oscar and the group but this episode definitelyhighlighted how tense it is for him with the others. What hurts even more isthat I think things are even awkward between Oscar and Ruby a little bit. I’m probably going to sound crazy whenI say this but…I think what Qrow said to the two teens last episode may haveaffected their rapport a bit. Last episode, we saw Ruby approach Oscar whenthings were still kind of cool between them.

Howeverin C5…I dunno. Maybe this is just my misinterpretation here but I couldn’t helpbut get the strange inkling that the two sort of…drifted apart from each other in this week’s episode. I found it odd that when Ruby was alone, Oscar never took thechance to approach her. And when Oscar was alone, Ruby never took the chance toapproach him either. Hmm…ok?

Even when they’renear each other, things don’t seem comfortable betweenthem at all. Look at this shot here of Ruby with Oscar from last episode (C4). 

Now compare it to the show below it of Ruby with Oscar in C5.

It’staken from the part when Ruby makes the suggestion to go look for supplies andOscar kind of chimes with support for idea. I’m going to put on my Overthinker cap when I say this but, the expression Ruby gave Oscarhere bothered me.Here is Oscar flashing Ruby a smile and theface she gives him in response to that doesn’t look like a comfortable face. Shedoesn’t return the smile. She just looks weird. I haven’t seen Ruby look this weird nextto Oscar since…the day they first met and she didn’t have a clue who he was.

I dunno but the airbetween them doesn’t feel or look comfortable anymore. The one time, they dosort of approach each other this single short episode, it just looks awkward. TheRuby and Oscar interactions in V6 C5 felt bumpy to me in the sense that it felta strangely off at moments. It is especially apparent in this scene.

It’sthe scene where everyone is seated in the study waiting for Qrow to return frommaking his scout of the farm. Right after Blake kindly placed a blanket over ashaken Weiss, the shot is then framed so that you get a full shot of RWOMBY.

Inobserving this scene, I noticed something. Pay special attention to Ruby and Oscar’s heads in this shot. I know it’s difficult to tell byjust screenshots but I challenge anyone to go back and take a look at thisscene.

Inmy observation, as Blake returned to sit next to Yang, I noticed that as Oscarturned his head in her direction, instead of making eye contact with him, Rubyturned her head away prompting Oscar to glance away.

It’ssomething that’s veryshort. You wouldn’t even notice it at first glance and in hindsightit might not mean anything because this could just be my misunderstanding. Butit’s there.

WhenI noticed this, it actually stung. Because the last time Oscar looked inRuby’s direction, she met his gaze witha warm welcoming smile that made him feel at ease. Here, she doesn’t do that.She looks away. The camera isn’t focused on their expressions like last time sothat we can properly see their reactions but this angle fits because it’s mimicsthe tension.

Myfellow Rosegardeners, I hate to break it to you but I think things are a little weird between our two honest souls.

Oncemore, this is probably just me overthinking certain moments. I’ll only know ifmy assumptions are true in the next episode. Hopefully C6 would be much longerin duration with the chapters after that following the same pattern. I’m hopingthe next episode will provide us with more substance especially given the chiller teaserleft at the end of C5. Who knows? Maybe with luck, the next episode will beanother long, exposition and/or flashback episode.

Mariamentioned finding a story to tell the QROWBY before bed. I’m holding her tothat and something tells me that Maria’s story will shed some light on the Silver EyeWarriors. Perhaps it willbe the Shallow Sea fairy-tale since it’s the only one fans have yet to learnabout or see explored in the RWBY-verse.

And if my theoryabout the ShallowSea being a remnant of the God of Light’sFountain of Life and Creation whichis what created the First Silver Eyed Warrior then I think we’re in for a real treat next episode. But that is just myassumption. I’m also praying that next episode will provide some flashback onOscar’s past. 

I hope there’s a scene of Oscar possibly tearing himself awayfrom the group to go eyeball the Brunswick family photos. He then starts reminiscingabout his own family—perhaps he’ll recall a similar family portrait of hisown family taken much like the Brunswick’s. Maybe he even carries that familyphoto around with him as a relic from his past life.

Ihonestly hope being on a farm and in the houseof another family of farmers willspark some memories and maybe even homesickness in Oscar. As a Pinehead,I really would like for us to learn more about Oscar’s past because it’ssomething that hasn’t really been addressed since V4.

Wedidn’t even get to meet his aunt during his introduction. We got to see a full visualization of Ozpin’s past (well most of it anyways—we stillhaven’t met the King of Vale and Professor Ozpin again in his flashback). Itwould be really nice if we got to see a bit more ofOscar’s life. See more of what his home life was like before. Meet his entirefamily.

If I recallcorrectly, there were more barns on the Pine Family farm back in V4. Perhaps the Pines were likethe Brunswicks. Another large family who shared and lived all together on one bigplot of land that’s been in their family for generations. I wonder if Oscarlived with his parents, his Auntie Pine and possibly more aunts and uncles andmaybe even little cousins too.

Whatif…each family sharedthe family land and had their own farm house and barn. I always wondered whyOscar slept in the barn as opposed to his aunt’s house. At first I assumed thatmaybe it was out of convenience since he also worked as a farmhand and sleepingin the barn probably saved him time on the mornings. 

Now I’m wondering if it’sbecause that barn was the one owned by his family and it was the only thing ofhis that was left standing. I still want to stick with my hunch about Oscar’sparents being killed in a storm that took part of their farm. And if the farmboy had more family then this could spell him and his aunt being the only twoleft from their original family.

Theseare questions I want answered so…hopefully it’ll come in the next episode or so.I understand that not every episode of V6 had to focus on either Ozpin or Oscar. However…thelast three episodes were technically heavily Ozpin-centric especially Chapter 3. Ozpin got his fair share of focus. Ithink it’s time we got some on Oscar now. Not to mention, and I cannot stressthis enough, the QROWMBY ARE ON A FARM!

AFARM people! Come on! That has got to spark something for Oscar. I’m evenwondering if the study that the group were in will remind Oscar more of his aunt’s house.Ozpin did mention back in V4 that Oscar’s aunt had books. Perhaps her house had a study too in a similar style to theBrunswick home and Oscar will have flashbacks oftimes he spent reading in his aunt’s study or having stories read to him by heror his parents.

PerhapsMaria even reading the group a story before bed will make Oscar feel nostalgic because he’ll see his aunt in Maria. Now I’mimagining a cute scene of a young Oscar in the study of his aunt’s home and hisaunt announcing that it’s time for bed but Oscar insists on hearing a storybefore bed. So Auntie Pine obliges her nephew and tells him to pick a story forher to read to him. So Oscar curls up in a blanket next to his aunt on thecouch in front of their fireplace as she tells him a story.

Perhaps the story that Mariawill read to the group will be one Oscar heard a lot growing up. As a matter offact…what if…it’sone of Oscar’s favourite stories. Remember when Oscar first saw Ruby for thefirst time in V5 and he was mesmerized by her silver eyes.

NowI’m pondering something awfully curious. Perhaps…there is an old Mistralian folklore about a Silver Eyed Warriorthat Oscar heard a lot growing up and it quickly became his favourite story. Iknow the obvious connection between Oscar acknowledging Ruby’s silver eyes was theparallel with Oz from V1. But perhaps there wasanother reason that’s tied to Oscar him.

What if…Ruby had silver eyeslike the hero in Oscar’s favourite childhood bedtime fairy-tale that his AuntiePine read him a lot as kid? I think this connection could be cool if madecanon.

Doyou know what would be even nicer—if Maria picks out a folklore on the SilverEyes for her to read to the group and asks Oscar for some assistance in tellingthe story. But to Maria’s surprise, Oscar recognized the story from one heheard as a kid and ends up telling it on his own because he knew it by heart.After all, it was his favourite one. The Tale of the Silver Eyes.

I’dlove the CRWBY Writers even more if they gave us Oscar and Maria tag teaming totell the group a bedtime story next episode especially if it’s one that hintsat the Silver Eyes and it’s one that Oscar knows from his childhood in Mistral.Would totally love that!

ButI guess we’ll see how things go next time. I’ve rambled enough as it is.Apologies for the long answer fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)