#and likewise they’re exactly what she needs too - a group that matches her energy and vibes and gusto and everything

[turtleblogatlast]

Absolutely love the idea that it was April who got the boys super into snow days.

Like, pre-April, they probably would view the days as miserable, since as turtles they’re likely more susceptible to the cold and back then they probably had much less to keep warm with.

The cold altogether was just never good to them - and then April comes around and teaches them how to make a snowman. And when it’s done, she pelts them with snowballs. And suddenly, the cold is now fun, and they might still be shivering, but now they’re smiling too.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Fault”

Hello, everyone! We’re not even bothering with an introduction today, let’s just get straight to the only thing that matters.

HERE HE IS, THE MVP OF THIS EPISODE, OF THE WHOLE VOLUME, THE SERIES, THE ONLY ONE I CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW

I’m joking… but only a little. In all seriousness we will get to Ren, but you all want to hear a funny story first? I somehow got it into my head that there was no RWBY episode this week—the holiday and all—so I poured all my meta time and energy into a ridiculous Ironwood analysis as a placeholder, only to wake up this morning and find the strongest (and most complicated!) episode this year waiting for a recap. Like some sort of grimm nosing into my inbox. 

Okay, so it’s not a funny story, but if RT would just do a better job with their website my life would be a whole lot easier.

So here we are, taking a look at the episode “Fault.” Quick question, is every episode this volume going to have a one-word title? It’s not a criticism, I’ve got nothing against a punchy name, I’m just curious since RWBY has never done that before. If anything, they’ve gone more for symbolically significant phrases like “A Brawl in the Family,” “Players and Pieces,” and “The Lady in the Shoe.” I wonder what sparked the change.

Anyway, we open on Robyn laughing about some story she’s told, something about Joanna losing a fair fight for the first time, presumably to her. This is what we’ve learned about Robyn since this volume started: she refuses to acknowledge that she had a hand in Clover’s death; she was asked by Blake and Yang to keep the Amity secret but, according to May, couldn’t keep her mouth shut about it; and she tries to cheer Qrow up by bragging about her own skill.

Alrighty then.

Obviously, this little story fails to land. “Tough crowd tonight.” Robyn looks to Jacques as well as Qrow when she says this and since she clearly doesn’t care about cheering him up, she must want to get a rise out of him. Create something, as she says at the end of the scene, that’s exciting. Robyn just really loves to start fights. Against Ironwood, Clover, bickering matches with Jacques—stories told about winning them! If she’s not fighting someone she’s not interested.

Qrow does eventually give the smallest smile though and Robyn cheers. “Did I win?” They both quickly grow serious again though and Robyn says she’s “sorry for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.” Her apology would mean more if she was apologizing for her actions, not providing a generic ‘Sorry for your loss’ like she had no hand in this.

Qrow then insists it was his fault… but, of course, not for the reasons why he’s actually responsible (also, didn’t we do this two weeks ago?). For starters, Qrow blames his semblance for everything that went down, despite the fact that his semblance is not responsible for him breaking Clover’s aura, or Tyrian stabbing him. The most we’ve seen his semblance do is cause minor mischief, which in and of itself is absurd considering we’re meant to believe that it has kept him from his family most of his life, and informs choices like whether he’ll travel with the group in Volume 4. Still, it’s not unexpected that he would blame his semblance and think that having friends is a “childish dream”—depression is one hell of a liar—but rather, it’s frustrating that no one is helping Qrow see the truth of the situation, both the good and the bad. He certainly doesn’t need Robyn providing generic platitudes that absolve them both of their choices.

You know what the worst part is? The two kind, level-headed adults with enough distance to help Qrow acknowledge his mistakes while also correcting him about his misconceptions… are Ozpin and Clover. The former is still ignored by the cast, the latter barely got to be a character before he was killed.  

Qrow goes on to say that he “made a deal with the darkness and [Clover] paid the price.” I’m sorry, what does that mean?? Outside of referencing his team-up with Tyrian, that’s the most dramatic, nonsensical thing he could have said. Qrow doesn’t admit to the team-up though, rather he starts blaming Clover for his own death.

Precisely like a good chunk of the fandom has done 🙃

He says that Clover just “wouldn’t let up” (translation: he wouldn’t agree to let me go when I was under arrest) and that they could have “worked together against Tyrian if Clover had just—”

There’s a lot to cover this episode, so I’m not going to dive into another explanation of all the justified reasons why Clover didn’t trust Qrow in that moment and why Qrow was the one who “wouldn’t let up.” If you’re interested in that rundown, head here.

Side note: can RWBY please stop with the weird mouth closeups? I’m begging the animators. Especially when so much else in this episode is gorgeous.

Yes: 

No: 

Robyn’s response is to make it all about her. I say, as a hypocrite, because my instinctual response in comforting someone is to also bring up a way that I might, sort of, know what they’re going through. It’s something to work on and, as always, I’d be more receptive to Robyn’s attempts if she weren’t failing so spectacularly in every other aspect of her characterization. Case in point: she says that having a truth semblance tends to make people push her away, but we’ve never once seen that. We’re introduced to Robyn as she’s adored by Fiona. The people celebrate her. Yang and Blake trust her immediately, for no reason, and comment on how useful her semblance is—they’re not concerned with it. Ironwood likewise works with her and allows her to use her semblance on him in public, at least for a time. May spoke fondly of Robyn last episode. She just finished a story about Joanna… where is this pushing away you speak of, Robyn? I really wish RWBY would consider things ahead of time and actually show them to us, rather than just having characters announce that they’re (supposedly) there.

Nice symbolism though with Robyn touching the electric bars and pulling her hand back. You reach out, you get hurt, curl in on yourself, blah, blah, blah. Too bad it’s not a moment attached to an actual struggle of hers.

Qrow buys it though, saying he’s never thought about it that way before. 

You know, I get why a lot of people in the fandom hate Clover. I can’t even claim I’m much interested in him as an individual. I’m sick of straight, white, able-bodied men getting the spotlight, which is one of the things that drew me to RWBY in the first place… so theoretically Robyn should be the better choice for Qrow’s BFF, right? Especially in a world where FairGame only existed in RT’s social media queerbaiting. Give us the badass gender-bent Robin Hood instead of the boring military man!

On paper it sounds great… which is why it’s astounding that RT bungled that so badly.  

Qrow never finishes his thought about Clover because the Ace Ops come in to return Watts to his cell. Interesting. The writing has definitely made Ironwood stupid, but perhaps not as stupid as he could have been? If he got Watts to hack Penny (we don’t yet know what’s going on with her during all this) and then promptly shut him away again, that’s just about the best way you can follow up on your worst decision.

Harriet spots Clover’s pin and tells Qrow “You don’t get to keep that,” but then doesn’t take it from him. See, that right there is a better motivation for potentially opening the cell. Qrow says he didn’t kill Clover, Harriet shoots back that his blood was on Qrow’s blade (again, focusing on the wrong way that he’s guilty), Robyn challenges her to get the truth via her semblance… and Harriet considers it? Why? She’s not the one struggling with her loyalty here, that’s Marrow, yet he’s the one who has to pull Harriet back with “What are you doing?” when she looks at the keypad. Have Marrow almost be swayed by Robyn’s taunting, or have Harriet almost open the door because she’s furious and desperate to get Clover’s pin back. Either one of those would make more sense than this.

Also, no one checked Qrow during his arrest/before he was thrown into his cell?

Also, note that Marrow uses a nickname here—“Hare”—so I’m continually unpersuaded by the ‘They’re not friends’ claim. Yes, Harriet hits his shoulder on her way out… and Ren will later scream at Jaune about cheating. Harriet being in a bad mood because their leader was just murdered isn’t evidence that they’re not close, no more than Ren responding to Everything Traumatic Ever is evidence that he doesn’t care for his friends.

Also (x3), Robyn calls Harriet “mohawk”?? Can’t this woman come up with a single good insult?

As the Ace Ops leave Robyn lays back down on her bunk, exactly as she was before, and says, “Well, that was almost exciting.” Kind of like this scene! Luckily, the episode is about to get a whole lot better.

The music immediately picks up as we segue to Ren, Jaune, and Yang chasing after Oscar. On the whole I really enjoyed this scene, largely because it shows the group doing their best—in a way that feels persuasive. I’ll admit that others have a point about them just standing around while the Hound changes form—yet still failing because, you know, our villain is actually powerful! However, there are, as always, some nitpicks.

One of the first bits of dialogue we get is Ren noticing that the bikes can’t stand being in the cold for very long. It bugs me that bikes suffer more from the cold than the civilians do. To say nothing of the fact that it once again doesn’t amount to anything. Their bikes carry them through the whole battle and Jaune looses his because of a grimm. Then Yang manages to fix the totaled bike with a single part, despite the continued cold. Why bother introducing this as a problem when it’s meaningless each and every time?

The three do demonstrate some great teamwork though. When Yang yells that she wishes one of them could fly, Jaune uses his shield to launch Ren at the Hound… so that he can get dragged through the air, hitting rocks. This poor guy. I like that though because no, these teens shouldn’t be perfect, strategic masterminds and yes, they’re in the kind of situation where they just have to try something and see if it works. Jaune can’t think ahead to what Ren will do once he grabs the Hound, they just have to get him to that point and go from there. Which they do. Ren snags a boulder to slow them down further (that’s smart) and Yang goes higher to fire at the Hound’s face (don’t hit Oscar he doesn’t have aura!!). They’re at a crazy disadvantage here and still trying their best to get our boy back.

The overall tone is… fine? Again, love supportive Yang—that high five with Jaune was wholesome—but it continually feels weird to get that when Oscar is in the literal jaws of death here. On the whole though the scene keeps to the action and seriousness of the situation, which I appreciate. We’ll talk more about tone during the outpost scene.

It's looking like they might be making some sort of headway when the Hound lets out a roar that, as Yang puts it, calls for backup. 1. Yay giving this grimm even more power to mess with the cast, 2. Holy shit there are so many grimm around. See, scenes like this is why I’m side-eyeing the anti-army rhetoric in the show (a stance I’d otherwise agree with 100%). Because do you see how many there are? That’s not Salem’s army, that’s just the normal grimm hanging out around Atlas. The cast is screwed if anyone were to, say, order them to attack the kingdom…

Kudos to RT for bringing back the centipede grimm though. I honestly thought they’d just be a one-off action sequence in Volume 7.

While everything is falling apart Ren catches a glimpse of Oscar, complete with rosy cheeks to make him look super young, and the sight fills him with 

He starts climbing towards the Hound and we cut away. 

Meanwhile, Jaune’s bike is hit with some of the centinel’s acid (again, not the cold causing problems) and he takes a tumble, managing to keep his feet before Yang snags him. Moments like that really do show how far he’s come and I’m glad we got to see such a moment in an episode where his cheating was brought up. Jaune then uses his shield to fly over one of the dragon-y grim, but... wait. The shield is flexible?

Literally what is the point of that? As a shield, I mean (it clearly works fine as  a ramp). If you can just tip it over like that then so can the grimm or another fighter. Forget how tiny the shield is, all a monster would have to do is boop it and it would fall over. In fact, it probably should have with the grimm scratching at it before. Seems rather useless, unless you’ve got writers crafting convenient situations. Also, does Jaune have multiples of this thing? He picked it up before, but there’s no way he found that one again. Idk, I’m really not feeling this addition to Jaune’s arsenal. Better to give him a range option so he’s more versatile.

Still, they fly over the grimm and the two let out a sigh in synch. Whatever else we might have to say about this volume, RT is definitely giving us different interactions and team-ups. Well done there. Why, Jaune and Yang have managed to survive all that together!

Oh wait, never mind. They’ve gone off a cliff.

Honestly, I’m shocked they actually went over. I thought Yang would stop in time, or we’d have a classic moment of them tumbling off the bike and ending an inch from the edge, maybe going off slow with time for one to hang on. But nope, they plummet and it was done with such confidence by the camera that for a split second (the illogic of killing them both off aside) I thought that was it. They’re done for. Lucky for them, Ren catches them at the last second, managing to snag Jaune’s sword and them and immediately use his semblance so the grimm doesn’t eat them. That’s skill, baby!!

But you can see why he’s pissed, beyond just the fact that his semblance is holding this group together. It’s not Jaune and Yang’s fault that there was suddenly a cliff, but last we saw Ren he was heading towards Oscar. He had a plan. Granted, not one that was likely to lead anywhere given the Hound’s power (and the plot needing Oscar to reach Salem), but that’s not the point. He was pulling himself towards their kidnapped friend and then at the last second had to cut himself loose to save two others. This moment wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it would take someone with no emotions at all not to be frustrated by it. 

So we leave the trio literally hanging out and return to Ruby’s group who is threatening kids! 

Seriously though WTF, Weiss? Look, I haven’t always been kind to Whitley. In fact, I think there’s a Volume 7 recap where I really laid into him for his attitude and for supporting Jacques. But then—with the help of some friends and other anon perspectives—I thought about it for a hot second and considered how little power this child has. I was wrong to blame him for so much given the various circumstances here. It took, like… five minutes of thinking, and that’s for a fictional character, not a real life brother. Weiss clearly hasn’t given her brother five seconds of thought. He’s in the same abusive household that she was. He wasn’t blessed with combat abilities and a semblance to easily escape. He didn’t have Weiss there to guide him like Winter guided her. He had to watch BOTH his sisters abandon him to Jacques… so when exactly was he supposed to learn to be better? Why would he be inclined to? Weiss was an entitled racist when she got to school and needed new friends to show her a new path. She admitted as much last volume! Yet the fact that Whitley is completely alone in this house while their mom locks herself in her room to drink doesn’t register at all? This woman, an adult out to save the world as we’re frequently told, never once considered what it took to get her here and realize that Whitley has had none of the resources she did? 

I want to emphasize that Weiss threatens him with her weapon. It’s not just that she’s dismissive of him and his plight, she’s also happy to use violence if Whitley doesn’t do exactly as he’s told. Violence… against her brother… who is a child… without any training. Again: WTF, Weiss? You know how I was praising RWBY last episode for not having the group beat up the Atlas personnel? Yeah, we get this instead.

Then she tells him to go to his room??

Speculation is that Whitley is about 2-3 years younger than Weiss. Or, to put it another way, roughly the same age as Weiss’ leader, Ruby. She’ll follow Ruby unquestioningly into world-changing decisions, but sends her brother to his room like a toddler? Which is it, RWBY? Are 17 year-olds leaders you should listen to, or babies who must leave the room while the grownups talk? He certainly can’t be any younger than Oscar, so again, she’ll fight beside him, but treat Whitley like this? Whitley isn’t exactly going to offer help in a respectful, eager manner, but that “Fine. What do you expect me to do?” was incredibly open given his situation. He was willing to help and that was the perfect opportunity to have him, you know, do something. Something small and innocuous that wouldn’t threaten the team if he betrayed them, but kept him around so he could talk to someone. But nope. Weiss just sends him to his room after criticizing him for not understanding that they’re “busy trying to save Atlas.” Weiss, what does Whitley know about all that? He’s locked up in this manor after your father was arrested and the one news clip we’ve seen said that no one knows why Ironwood recalled his forces, or what’s up with those grimm overhead. She’s acting like he should have any idea what’s happening right now.

Also, all of this is coming on the heels of Willow begging Weiss not to forget her brother, so that’s just great. RWBY has the rest of their time in the manor to fix this, because if Weiss comes out of that scene having only been handed the means of arresting Jacques… that’s just bad all around.

Finally, should we talk about how strange this choice is? Last episode we saw the group flying away and I assumed it was them leaving Atlas to go back to Mantle. It certainly looked that way, but now they’ve decided to stay until Nora is awake. Why? Isn’t it more dangerous here? I mean, they didn’t know the staff was gone and there are still arrest warrants out. Was Weiss just going to threaten anyone who dared report her? Where are these shields Ironwood spoke of? Have they gotten through them somehow, or are they currently trapped in Atlas?

This is “Oscar is in the slums, leaves the slums, learns they’re going to the crater, but the slums are actually the crater, so we’re heading back now” all over again. 

The one good thing about this scene is that Blake and Ruby talk! …for about two seconds lol. Eh, better than nothing. Blake says that if Ruby is worried about Yang she could try calling her. Ruby has, and Yang isn’t picking up.

Does Ruby think she’s in danger or ignoring her? Unclear. We, however, know that Yang is now lost in the middle of nowhere with no reception and no transportation back to Mantle. The three of them start trudging towards an outpost Ren spotted, needing to find shelter “before this weather drops our aura levels completely.” So what about everyone without aura?? I wish that I could check off the bingo space again because this is ridiculous.

Ren, once again, isn’t in the mood to talk, but unlike Jaune, Yang can’t leave something alone. So she coaxes him to tell him what’s wrong and you know what? She does a real good job at first. She’s encouraging, but her voice is level and she doesn’t come across as accusing. Well done, Yang.

Things quickly fall apart though as Ren says EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED TO SAY TO THIS GROUP. Holy shit, everyone, let’s count ‘em up:

Nothing is going smoothly so let’s stop pretending it’s all fine

Oscar has been horrifically kidnapped that’s #bad

This is not a normal part of being a huntsmen

We don’t know the first thing about being huntsmen!

Every time we’ve had to make real decisions we got them all wrong, yay us

We’re trapping a city here for Salem to destroy whenever she feels like it, yay us x2

Our leader is barely more than a kid and one of us cheated our way here

People are going to die because of us

“I’m just saying what nobody else wants to”

Yang’s response? Incredibly weak imo. Just as weak as the fandom’s has been since this conflict started in Volume 7. Her argument against letting Atlas go is that Salem won’t just let it fly away with her whale… but no one knows that. She’s certainly just letting it sit right now! Assuming that something won’t work because you expect the worst is not a compelling reason not to try.

Her argument against their ineptitude? They saved Haven, took down a leviathan, and got the lamp to Atlas. Let’s break that down a little more.

Did they fight well at Haven? Yes… overlooking that Weiss would have died if not for a timely semblance reveal. But the real point here is that they “saved” the school by getting the Relic. Problem is, they never won the relic, it was handed to them. Literally. They retrieved it not because they were capable of overpowering Salem’s forces and a Maiden, but because Raven decided she’d rather her daughter be a target than her. That doesn’t tell us anything about the group’s skill, only about Raven’s flaws.

They took down a leviathan… after drawing it to Argus in the first place. That’s kind of an important detail when Ren is trying to make the point that their decisions suck. Also, how did they take it down? Using Ruby’s silver eyes, which only worked because Jinn randomly decided to let her stop time. Oh, and also using the rest of Cordovin’s mech that they hadn’t yet destroyed. Again, nothing about that fight demonstrates their skill, only others’ abilities, resources, and the strange favoritism they benefit from.

Getting the lamp to Atlas. Well, you drove Ozpin away who was your ticket across the border. Then Maria told Ruby how to save you all from the Apathy (and Ruby herself was the only one able to resist long enough to demand you get the Relic back in the first place). You started that leviathan fight and ended it surrounded by Cordovin’s fleet. So how did you get to Atlas? Because she let you cross. How did you reach Ironwood? Because he dropped your arrest. Yang stopped Adam, yes, but that was its own, separate fight. Regarding the “getting to Atlas” point they botched that up completely. 

Basically, this resume of victories is unpersuasive, to say the least. Yang highlights the end goal rather than acknowledging Ren’s point: have we, as individuals, actually made things better lately?

They absolutely have not. 

Note how, in contrast, Ren includes himself in this criticism. He doesn’t just lay responsibility at Ruby and Jaune’s feet, he’s second on the list for being underprepared. For messing up. He’s just an “orphan from nowhere” and this tells us that, unlike Qrow, Ren is actually concerned with this problem and his own place in it. He’s not just blowing off steam and running from his responsibility. Rather, he’s making important points here yet, as he says, no one else wants to listen.

And that’s why the scene ultimately sucks. “But, Clyde! It’s a speech straight out of your metas!” Yes it was and it was beautiful to witness, but the problem is that Ren’s supposed to be wrong. Jaune glares at him before leaving. Yang clenches her fists and asks if he just wants to push everyone away. He’s left hanging his head. Then later they talk about how “broody” he is and provide advice about how to stop doing that. The takeaway here is not, ‘Holy shit, Ren is right and we should rethink our choices,’ but rather that Ren is wrong and needs to come over to their ‘correct’ perspective.

I love that this was laid out. I love that the group is actually fighting for once (way better than Ruby and Yang’s ‘fight’). I also love that we finally see what’s bothering Ren… but we all know this isn’t leading anywhere. The scene ends with Jaune dismissing everything by stating that if Ren doesn’t want to be a huntsmen, fine, but he has a job to do. Ren is supposed to feel guilty here for… telling the truth? Jaune is supposed to look like the hero for soldiering on with his responsibility while moody Ren drags behind. The scene is great, but the purpose of the scene sucks.

Actually, I’d like to talk about a portion of the outpost scene real quick. Skipping ahead, because we really see here how little RT believes the words that they’ve put in Ren’s mouth. Jaune admits that he’s right about cheating into Beacon… but nothing else. Indeed, that “mistake” is swept away because he’s earned his right to be here now. You shouldn’t care about that anymore! Ignoring the point Ren was making about how much they’re in over their heads. Yang apologizes to Jaune on Ren’s behalf, making it clear that she cares more about his potentially hurt feelings than any of the points Ren made. Remind you of anything? Like oh, say, that time Yang cared more about Jaune’s feelings than whether he’d hurt Oscar after slamming him against a wall? All of this despite the fact that Yang JUST accused Ruby of the horrible situation they’re in. Now Ren acknowledges that they’re in a horrible situation and Yang… doesn’t care?? Again, RT is good at giving us the pieces we want, the surface level stuff, but is rarely able to combine it into something fulfilling. If anyone actually takes Ren’s stance seriously, changing their ways rather than talking him out of it, I’ll be shocked.

Especially since the real nail in the coffin of this scene is Jaune telling him that “The more you hide from what you’re feeling, the more alone you’re going to feel.”

Jaune………..buddy……….pal…………were you asleep during that scene? Ren DID tell you what he was feeling. For the first time he did come clean about everything he was experiencing and you both rejected him for it! He’s not pulling away because he’s hiding from what he’s feeling, he’s pulling away because he did show it and both his friends reduced it to “pushing [them] away.” Which is it, Jaune? Should Ren be more open, or should he stop saying things you don’t want to hear? It’s a more complicated version of telling your parents about your interests, them mocking those interests, and then they’re surprised when you don’t share things with them again. I mean, the gall of Jaune to reject everything Ren said in the moment, ignore it after he’s calmed down, and then lecture him about being hiding his emotions.

Jaune and Yang (and the story) don’t want Ren to say what he really thinks, they want him to say what they think. Ren should speak up, but only if he’s going to agree with them.

So Ren sits out in the snow because potentially dying from cold is better than staying in a room with Yang and Jaune. I can’t really blame him lol.

One last thing about the fight scene. Remember how May was put in her place last episode for not using Penny’s name? Well, Yang doesn’t either. Granted, “the Maiden” isn’t as overtly insulting as “tin can” (or whatever it is May said), but it amounts to the same thing: both are replacing Penny’s individual identity with her status as a tool they can use. May sees Penny as the cool tech girl who can get them into the military base. Yang sees Penny as the cool magic girl who is the answer to all their ‘How do we win this?’ problems. Everyone is using Penny. Ruby to launch Amity, Ironwood to open the vault, but you know RWBY will never have a scene where Penny corrects Yang about her name and Ruby looks on, smug. Because the group can continually make the same mistakes as the adults/antagonists around them, but aren’t called out on it in the same way. Ren calls them out and he’s told he’s wrong. 

Anyway, the tl;dr of this scene is that Ren is the best. Too bad the story doesn’t realize that.

We then move to my poor Oscar who wakes up looking at his own feet, Ozpin’s voice is as reassuring as it can be under the circumstances. “Oscar? Don’t panic. We’re going to be okay.” I mentioned two weeks back that I hoped the show would explain why we didn’t see Ozpin try to take control during the Hound fight and we still don’t have an explanation, so that’s disappointing. This line is all we get from Ozpin because that’s the norm now. We moved from him being written out of the story entirely to having one or two lines an episode (excluding a speech meant more for the audience than the characters). So, improvement? But a lackluster one, I think. Especially given that he is the focal point of this entire situation with Salem. 

I’m avoiding the elephant in the room though. Oscar’s torture is horrifying. In the sense that it should be horrifying. Salem might still inexplicably not be attacking Atlas—and what she’s after at any given time might be getting more and more muddled—but she’s absolutely terrifying here, which is what we needed. The mix of assault with that nurturing tone is just skin crawling. “My long lost Ozma. Found at last” while she (I think?) shows images of their daughters. Honestly, I only heard that from friends, didn’t catch it myself, but then my eyes are shit to begin with. I couldn’t see a thing in this shadowed shot.

(It’s like watching Game of Thrones all over again.)

Oscar tries to pretend to be Ozpin and he does a damn good job with “I’m sorry the reunion isn’t living up to your expectations.” It’s not enough to fool Salem though. She says he’s “not him” yet and I’m again reminded that the show continually references this merge without showing us any change. They’re apparently closer to one person now, but they still speak as individuals. Oscar has Ozpin’s magic, but hasn’t used it, even when his life was on the line. The closest we get to evidence that the merge is underway is that Oscar attempts to lie about knowing Jinn’s name… but what the hell else is he supposed to do here? I suppose he could go the action hero route and shout that she’ll never get the answer out of him, but trying to lie is by far the safer option. That doesn’t tell us that he’s becoming like Ozpin, or even that they’re truly “like-minded souls” as Salem claims. It just tells us that Oscar has two braincells to rub together and can say a short sentence without totally giving himself away. Maybe the kid played a few rounds of Remnant’s Among Us.

This moment highlights another justification for Ozpin’s secrets though. He lives an existence where he is not in control of his own (“own”) body. At any point the host he’s with could falter, fail, turn on him, and in doing so give crucial, world ending information to the enemy. It’s already happened on a small scale, with Oscar successfully taking control, stealing the Jinn information, and giving it to the group. Now here he’s being tortured. How long can he last? Will Oscar give up Jinn’s name? If Ozpin didn’t have the location of the Relic locked up tight in his own consciousness, would that information be lost too? I’m not looking to blame Oscar for anything here—I don’t want to imply that this situation is karma for him taking Jinn’s name, or some such nonsense—I just want to acknowledge that this is the sort of stuff Ozpin has to worry about. If he shares these secrets then that’s more fallible people who are capable of giving that information to Salem. If he keeps them…well, he’s the only one who has to keep his mouth shut during a torture session. His host might want information about the Relics, there’s an argument to be made that they’re entitled to them, but if I were Ozpin I wouldn’t want to take that risk either. The question has essentially become, “Would I trust a 14 year old to keep quiet while tortured by a witch?” Maybe Oscar will! He’s enough of a BAMF to manage it… but that’s still not something I’d want to bet on. Better that Oscar simply doesn’t have that information to give Salem, period. 

So obviously this “working relationship” that Salem wants isn’t going well. When Oscar lies she jumps straight to torturing him.

This was legitimately hard to watch and I’m torn about that. On the one hand it’s what I wanted: a scary, powerful Salem who uses the tools at her disposal to get what she’s after. That’s great! Yet I’m still reminded of how far this show has gone to literally beat up the child of the group. Oscar is the one punched into a tree, attacked by a friend, shot by an ally, the star of the show’s most horrifying kidnapping, now the first to be outright tortured by Salem. I don’t really have a point here, I’m not looking to level any specific accusations at RT, I’m just commenting on the pattern and acknowledging that it makes me uncomfortable. There are parts of a story where you’re supposed to be uncomfortable—like the villain torturing a hero—and then there are parts where you’re uncomfortable because the writers seem overly focused on showing images of a specific kid suffering and that’s… weird.

I’m not sure what to make of that just yet. 

Anyway, Salem’s magic here is surprisingly pretty. Pretty and painful, but I expected more red and blacks, perhaps some spikey imagery, so the rainbow was an interesting surprise. Given the amount of pain Oscar is in, I suspect too much of that would kill him, so Salem calls in Hazel to continue the interrogation. The first few hits he deals are for Haven, the others for his sister.

See, this is why RWBY needs to actually embrace its “life isn’t a fairy tale” theme. You cannot show me child torture in one week and then move to Ruby “We’ll win because we’re the good guys ^_^” Rose the next. The whole reason why Ironwood (and Ren now) was right is because this is the shit reality they’re dealing with. You didn’t run when you had the chance and now Oscar (and Ozpin) is being tortured. You keep talking about saving Mantle, but the only reason why they’re not already dead is because the writing randomly turns the cold danger on and off. This mix of horrific, real world danger and unjustified confidence doesn’t work.

…also, I officially don’t want any redemption arc for Hazel. This guy is beating on a child because he’s convinced that he’s Ozpin, blaming Ozpin for his sister’s decision, all while forwarding a genocidal maniac’s plans. Hazel and his ridiculous shirts can just get on out of here, thanks.

Finally, I just want to say... this is the woman a lot of the fandom defended. This is the woman you wanted raising those girls and blamed Ozpin for trying to escape with them.

This is how Salem treats children.

Oh, and all of this is without his aura because it just broke. So Oscar is in serious, non-fantasy trouble here. 

Someone please rescue him soon 😭

We finish up with some frankly boring stuff with the rest of the villain cast. We learn that the Hound is an “experiment” and a new one given that Cinder has never seen it before. Salem’s dialogue is admittedly great—“Do you hear that, my pet? She thinks. She wants.”—but Cinder just rehashes everything we’ve heard from her before. She wants the Winter Maiden power. She has trouble remembering that she’s playing at Salem’s slave. She even rehashes the exact same line, “Without you, I am nothing.” Why are we wasting time on this when we had that tantalizing backstory before? 

Bleh. 

Salem tells her in no uncertain terms to stay put.

So Cinder immediately leaves LOL.

She just wants to “check on” Amity tower because she “knows those kids” in ways Salem doesn’t. I’m admittedly slightly confused as to how Cinder knows to go there? Did she believe Ironwood’s lie that it was finished even though it apparently IS finished now? Has she overheard something? I’m not sure. Frankly, keeping track of that stuff in RWBY is headache inducing, so let’s just roll with it.

Neo, the only one with a brain around here, makes it clear she thinks Cinder is an idiot for going. Emerald, always the Cinder fan, offers to go in her stead. She’s been working on her semblance, so I expect we’ll see something cool with that soon. They head off, apparently not worried about what Salem will do to them when they get back.

Which is when we move to the outpost for our final scene, most of which I’ve covered. I only have two more things I want to bring up here.

The first is the tone. As said earlier, the tone of the Hound chase wasn’t horrible, but I find myself disappointed in the overall attitude of Jaune and Yang. Yang is making jokes about how they can’t fly, high-fiving Jaune, and they’re both shrugging off Ren’s concerns. Jaune says he won’t be able to sleep due to worrying about Oscar, but neither of them act particularly worried. Which isn’t to say they need to be sobbing the whole time or whatever, just that Ren is the only one who feels real here. They may not agree with his stance about everything else, but they’ve all experienced the same event: watching a grimm that can morph, talk, and think horrifically kidnap a teammate. Shouldn’t there be more emotion attached to that? Things have gotten better with Oscar than they’ve been in the past, largely due to details like Nora’s hug at the beginning of the volume, but let’s be real, they’re still not perfect. Do we think Jaune and Yang would be this nonchalant if Ruby were kidnapped that way? Say all you want about Ruby being her sister, or others being teammates for longer, but the fact remains that Oscar has been taken to Salem herself and the only one reacting to that in any meaningful way is Ren. 

Who they say will “brood himself to death.” That right there. The one guy freaking out about your kidnapped friend should not be described as “brooding.”

All of which segues into my second point, namely that Yang doesn’t seem to care about Ruby anymore either! She asks Jaune, “Do you think she thinks less of me?” for not going to Amity and when Jaune reassures her that Ruby will always love her, Yang’s response is, “Yeah… Ruby.”

She was thinking about Blake.

The kicker? I thought she was talking about Ruby too. Because Ruby is her sister. Because she and Ruby had the fight (“fight”). Because Ruby was trying to call her to check in. Because Blake and Yang didn’t even acknowledge that they went on different missions here. I thought Blake was like Jaune, not really taking a side and just heading with Ruby because the team is splitting down the middle. Where did this worry come from?

And I want to praise RT here (I really do) because I can see the effort. I said Blake and Yang needed to spend time apart, they have. I said they needed to work through their co-dependent identities, now Blake is reminding Nora (and theoretically herself too) that someone you love is just a part of you. I said that the group couldn’t be a hive-mind, now there’s disagreement. I said the show needs to make Blake/Yang canon at some point and you can’t do that if they don’t talk about and to each other. So I fully admit that this is everything I asked for… so why does it feel so badly done? No matter how many boxes it checks off, it’s still a moment where we thought Yang was finally worrying about her sister again—like she used—and then it’s ‘Sike! It was really just about Blake! Again. Yang is worried about a problem that was never even introduced.’

I suppose that’s why it doesn’t work for me. Yang and Ruby had the falling out, but Yang and Blake, somehow, become the focus. Is it really so hard to write Yang as a sister and a potential love interest? Yang apparently can’t care for Ruby and Blake, Weiss can’t care for her team and her brother, Ruby can’t care for Mantle and Ironwood… it’s like each character gets one (1) thing to put their emotional energy towards at any given time and that’s it. That’s all they get.

On the flip side, this is why Ren feels like a person this episode. He cares about Mantle, and the future fight, and their past mistakes, and his place here, and the problems within the team, and Nora… He feels like a well-rounded person! vs. Yang and Jaune who don’t even consider his perspective, vs. Yang having a fight with her sister but only cares about Blake. They’re one-dimensional in comparison.

It is, as always, disappointing. 

As the group “broods” then the camera shows us a piece of the ice nearby, slowly cracking as Jaune says that “Things always seem to get worse before they get better.” Well, that’s unexpected. I didn’t think our opening would be literal. I’ve been worried about Atlas falling on everyone, not everyone falling… to whatever is underneath the kingdom as a whole. Is the kingdom falling apart? Or is something waking up and moving towards the surface? If RWBY can reproduce the characterization we got with the Hound, I wouldn’t be opposed to another leviathan grimm rising from the snowy deep to assist Salem…

Though how the fuck group will survive everything and that, who knows lol.

And that’s our episode! Issues aside—most of which have been ongoing issues. We knew they were there—I think this was our strongest episode so far this volume. Well done! There are still problems, no doubt, but at least I was only bored for a small portion of that 20 minutes. Let’s just keep heading in that direction.  

Exciting Saturday, huh?

Regarding bingo updates:

RWBY actually re-used a grimm I thought they’d abandoned, so well done there.

No civilians around for the giant grimm army to attack, so that was fine. Kind of strange though that they completely disappeared after the Hound left.

The timeline is starting to get wonky. For example, what kind of stakes am I supposed to expect when Cinder decides to head to Amity? Is it currently empty? Is Pietro there? Has Penny made it yet? I said weeks ago that RWBY would need to follow multiple groups to fill out fourteen episodes in just two days—and they’re definitely doing that—but that means we don’t have a clear sense of what events are happening simultaneously and what are meant to be linear.

No Winter or Ironwood this episode.

Watts is back with Jacques! Potential for team-up 2.0? That will admittedly be hard with Qrow and Robyn there, unless those two escape.

(Oh yeah, I thought Qrow and the others would be held in the military base and Ruby would find him during her heist… but she doesn’t even care that Qrow is in jail.)

Maria is still a ghost. If we hit the halfway mark with her not doing anything I’m calling the space.

I definitely wouldn’t call this cliffhanger needless. That’s actually a cool way to end things, even if Jaune’s line was pretty on the nose.

Neo may be getting closer to backstabbing Cinder if those expressions are anything to go by. 

Still waiting to see if Amity works.

And finally, drumroll please! …

“More obvious Blake/Yang implications without confirming a relationship.” Yup, I’m marking that this week. After Blake’s ‘just a part of you’ comment and now Yang only being worried about her reaction? Definitely calling it. If RWBY confirms a relationship this volume I’ll eat my words—and some celebratory cake — but until then salt prevails. Especially after the fiasco that was Supernatural.

Still no bingo. Ah well, maybe next week lol.

Until then! 💜

[Ko-fi]

[pokepony]

Changeling: Find

Did I write a whole oneshot for this AU? Yes, yes I did. :3

Word count: 2,298 (aka longer than my usual shjksjks)

“Mama, can I go play?”

She smiled. “Yes you can.” 

“Wanna play with me, Yak?”

“Nah, I’m still hungry.” Wakko shrugged to say ‘suit yourself’.

“Sweetie, remember not to wander off too far.”

“I won’t!”

With that, the younger Warner brother rushed off to burn his excess energy. This was Wakko’s favorite activity when his family went on picnics (well, other than eating). The garden they visited was an absolute marvel to look at. Not to mention that it was massive; it was practically a maze every time he went in. He still didn’t memorize the path despite how many times he’d been on it, but hey, that was the fun part!

He skipped along the stone path with his arms outstretched to his sides, tongue flopping out of his mouth happily. As he felt the wind breeze past his fur, he flapped his arms about. Ah, it was such a nice day.

But Wakko’s state of bliss was interrupted when he felt one of his ears twitch. Stopping in his tracks, he raised it up curiously; he heard something. Straining his ear, he noticed the sound was high and prolonged. Almost like.. crying. 

He slightly frowned. Who was crying? Why? He hoped that person was okay. He prepared to think nothing more of it and continue running about, but then the sound got louder. It definitely sounded like crying now.

He considered looking for the person but he wasn’t sure. His parents (and Yakko) always told him about “stranger danger”. But surely, no mean person could be crying like that. 

Right..? 

Well, if things went south, he had enough grasp on his toon powers to summon a mallet for a period of time. If not, he could always scream for his family.

His plan set in stone, Wakko followed the sound and heard it get louder as he neared a group of hedges that were arranged in a circle. He noticed that each hedge had a very small gap in between them, but not impossible for him to navigate through. 

As he reached the gap, he peeked through it and could see something sitting in a very small flower bed. The wailing was at its apex; he must’ve found the crying person! Slowly but surely, he squeezed himself through the gap to see what was up.

However, what he did see was.. questionable, at the very least.

The thing in the flower bed was a creature. It was facing away from him, but it looked small and it seemed like it wore something like a magenta onesie. A black tail like his poked out of the onesie and, most interestingly, light pink insectile wings poked out on its back.

Cautiously, he inched toward the creature as quietly as he could, but the soft crunch of the plants under his paw alerted it of his presence. As it turned around to face him, he got a little freaked out.

Its eyes were black like his, but there were no pupils. Wait, there was some gray in the middle of its eyes—were those its pupils? It also had noticeable eyelashes (and a yellow flower tied around its ears), so maybe it was a girl? But perhaps the freakiest thing was the two giant fangs jutting right out her mouth.

Upon seeing them, the young boy gasped softly, to which the creature let out a scared-sounding chirp and began backing away until she reached a corner. She continued to look at him with fearful eyes, whimpering.

Wakko wasn’t sure what to think. He was creeped out, but at the same time, intrigued.

She looked like the same kind of toon that he and his family were. Black fur, white face, red nose. Her fingers were really pointy though, almost like they were claws. In fact, she did have claws poking out of her paws.

What was she? Her features seemed kinda familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Besides, he needed to calm her down first.

The boy raised his hands up appeasingly. “‘Ey,” he called out, slowly walking over to her. “Don’ worry. I’m not gonna hurt you.” As long as you don’ hurt me.

The insect-like being seemed to understand him, her whimpers subsiding into sniffles. He stood right in front of her, taking in her appearance. She was indeed much smaller than him; she was most likely only a baby. As he gazed at her, she gazed at him in a similarly curious manner, her wings twitching likewise.

“Are you okay?” Wakko asked softly. She only tilted her head. “Can’ talk, huh?”

The baby tilted her head again and voiced a quizzical chitter. Her compound-like eyes surveyed over the boy once more before she closed them, concentrating, the flower on her head beginning to glow green. Bracing himself just in case, he backed away from her a bit. 

A green aura washed over the creature and as it reached the bottom of her feet, her normal form was not in place. Instead, Wakko found himself staring at a mirror; she copied his exact appearance.

“Whoa,” he gaped at her in awe, eyes sparkling likewise. She looked exactly like him. Well, almost; she was still the same size as what she was normally.

Then a light wind breezed by, carrying the pollen of the nearby flowers. His counterpart sneezed, causing the green aura to wash over his body again. When the aura dissipated, the baby was back in her place.

Wakko smiled, tongue sticking out. “Cool, you can turn inta’ people!” he cheered, clapping his hands. “Do me again! Do me again!”

“Wakko!”

His ears perked up again; that was Yakko. Upon hearing the new voice, the creature squeaked frightfully and scurried back into a darker corner, causing him to reach his hand out to her as he hissed, “No, come back!”. Much more to his dismay, he saw a flash of green before she disappeared before his very eyes.

“Where are ya, baby bro?”

“I’m ova’ here!” he quickly alerted, waving his hand.

He could the form of his brother pause before he saw him slide through the hedge gap. “Hey,” Yakko greeted with a smile. “Whatcha doin’ here?”

“I-I ‘eard someone cryin’ an’ I wen’ t’ go see, an’ I-I found this baby!” Wakko said frantically. “But you scared ‘er off!” He gave his brother a little shove.

The elder uttered a surprised ‘ow!’. “Sorry, I didn’t know.” 

Wakko scanned his eyes back to the corner where the creature ran for any sign of her. Luckily, when he squinted, he saw the end of her tail stick out in the sunlight.

His face erupted into a big grin and he turned back to Yakko. “Neva’ mind, she’s still here!” He turned back to the corner and urged the child forward. “You can come out, is’ okay. Is’ jus’ my big brotha.”

An uncertain pause of silence followed before both brothers saw another flash of green and the baby reappear. Warily, she crawled out into the light.

As he got a better glimpse of this baby, Yakko’s eyes widened. “Get behind me, Wak!” he shouted, summoning a mallet and holding it threateningly with a hardened expression to match.

“Huh?!” Wakko cried out, alarmed. Seeing the girl screech in fear once more, he stood in front of her protectively. “Hey, what’re ya doin’—?!”

“That’s a changeling, Wak!”

“A- huh?”

“A changeling!” he repeated. “Mom and Dad told us about them, ‘member? They’re bad!”

Changeling.. changeling.. Wakko tried to rack his mind on what his parents had told him. Changeling—Oh, that’s right! 

Changelings. Bug-like creatures that used magic and could disguise themselves as your loved ones while they drained you of your love; they were like energy vampires. The fangs, the wings, the shapeshifting.. She fit the bill.

He frowned. “But.. she didn’ do anythin’ bad.”

“Mom says it’s ‘cuz they try to trick ya,” Yakko countered. “They act nice so that they can attack ya when you don’ expect it.” He raised his weapon. “Now, c’mon, get away from it!”

His younger sibling shook his head firmly. “No!” His eyes turned pleading. “C’mon, big brotha. She’s jus’ a baby.”

Yakko repeatedly switched his gaze between him and the girl. When he looked at the girl’s petrified expression, he couldn’t help but soften, guilty for scaring her so much. He sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he admitted, putting away his mallet. “What do ya think she’s doin’ out here?” he asked, taking a seat on the grass.

“I dunno,” Wakko replied, also taking a seat. He invited the baby to sit in his lap, to which she obliged. “There wasn’ anyone else around.” He then summoned a small pair of keys from his hammerspace and held them above her, shaking them. She cooed and clawed at the keys happily.

The seven-year-old let a small smile reach his face. “Hey, let me play with her,” he said, opening his arms up.

Wakko smiled and nodded, preparing to hand her over when the child let out a whimper, clearly still intimidated by the older brother. “He’s not gonna hurt ya, I pwomise,” he quickly assured before giving her to Yakko. 

As she (reluctantly) settled in his lap, she still tensed up and shied away from his watch. However, when Wakko handed his brother the keys and he began to jingle them, she couldn’t stay away. A smile spread wide on her face, her fangs on full show, and she erupted into giggles as she clawed at the keys again.

Yakko’s own smile grew. “She’s pretty cute for a bug,” he chuckled. But his grin turned downward. “Where’re her parents?”

Wakko made an ‘I dunno’ sound. “Did they leave ‘er ‘ere?”

He shook his head. “No way. No parents would do that. Not good ones..”

The younger looked over to the baby concernedly. “She was cryin’ really loud.. Maybe she’s been out ‘ere for a long time.”

Yakko thought about it. It wouldn’t exactly be surprising given the reputation that changelings have. And, oh, man, was it him or was her stomach smaller?

He really didn’t want to consider it.. but it was likely that she was abandoned.

No matter what she was, a child didn’t deserve that at all. His big brother instincts were kicking in. She needed help.

The older Warner brother narrowed his eyes with conviction. “We should take her back to Mom and Dad.”

--------

“Mom! Dad!”

Angelina and William felt a wave of relief when they heard their eldest son’s voice and saw both of their sons running towards them.

“There you boys are,” she said. “We were getting worried.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Yakko quickly apologized. “But Wakko found something.”

She quirked an eyebrow as her four-year-old approached them, seemingly trying to steady himself as he carried something in his arms. “Look!” he cried. He gently gestured to his parents, the thing turning its head to reveal the baby changeling. Angelina gasped and William tensed up just a little.

“Mama, Dadoo, can we keep ‘er?” Wakko asked.

“Boys,” William started, voice laced with apprehension. “you do know that is a changeling, yes?”

“Yeah, but.. But she was all alone back there!” 

“She could still be dangerous.”

His wife held up a hand. “Now, hold on, William. She is just a little one.” She kneeled over to Wakko. “Let me see her, honey.”

He did so, handing the baby once more. Being mindful of her claws, Angelina held her in a cradle-like fashion and began to rock her gently. The child nuzzled into her chest, gripping her almost like a koala. At that, Angelina became the third person to smile at the baby’s antics. She looked to her husband. “She can’t be dangerous, love. She just can’t.”

William couldn’t help but soften at both Angie and the baby. He sighed, “I will admit it looks unlikely.”

She turned back to her children. “Are you sure you didn’t see her parents? No notes for her or anything?” Her younger son nodded wildly.

Yakko clasped his hands in a pleading fashion. “Can we please keep her? She might be a changeling, but we can teach her not to be evil!”

“She even looks like us!” Wakko added.

Their parents shared a glance to each other, unsure. How were they going to take care of a changeling? It was definitely going to be questionable when it came to feeding it, for starters..

But they couldn’t leave her alone out here. She was such a darling to boot.

With no more words, Angelina and William looked at each other and nodded with finality. She looked at Yakko and Wakko with a soft smile. “Alright, boys. We can take her in.”

The brothers grinned ear to ear at the announcement, rushing to their mother in a hug. They looked down at the baby who gazed interestedly at everyone around her, softly cooing. “What are we gonna call her?” Yakko asked.

“Well, you boys were the ones who found her,” Angie said. “Have any suggestions?”

Yakko put a finger to his chin with a ‘mmm’, pondering. “Daisy?”

His parents ‘hmm’ed. “Fits with the flower, but not sure about her..” William commented.

“Dot.”

Everyone looked to Wakko. “I like Dot.”

“Dot,” Yakko repeated, testing it on his tongue. He beamed. “Yeah, I like that, Wak.”

“Dot is very nice,” their father said. 

“It can be short for Dorothy,” Angie added. She looked at the child. “Do you like that, little one?” She was met with what sounded like a happy chitter. “Dorothy it is,” she smiled.

The newly-named Dot continued to giggle, cheerfully reaching out for her new parents. The brothers looked at their new sister affectionately, a new feeling of unconditional love rising from within them. 

Welcome to the family, Dot.

If you made it this far, thanks a lot for reading!! :D

[acradaunt]

Etrian Odyssey Nexus Playthrough - Week 1

I thought it would be a fun idea to record weekly my progress through EO Nexus. Why? I enjoy reading people's experiences where multiple options are available; what they chose, and why, and how exactly that turned out for them. It's something this EO has more than ever before, and it's such a central concept to my own work on DR, so in its own way, it's research. And since there is a need for people to have 100 QR codes, it serves a purpose there, too.

I'll try ultra-hard to avoid any form of spoilers, so expect me to be vague as hell about stratum or FOE names. To make the most of all these fun class options (and the extremely early Memory Conch), I'm rotating characters around as I see fit, but mostly in accordance with when conditionals are needed or interesting weapons are available. I mean, that kind of class-switching has been the norm for things like Final Fantasy since III, so why not do it here? Between these two things, I'm going to be writing about how characters are faring and where they shone, rather than going on about each stratum.

Couple general notes before character remarks; I'm playing on Expert (which is the norm for EO), and I just punched into the fifth stratum. On that, things are really coming together, as I'm now seeing enemies from three different regions of III and IV at the same time. Lush Woodlands was so aggressively a carbon-copy of its EOIV incarnation it made me really worried. Those fears seems fairly quashed at this point. Also, um, character remarks in Read More, because they're actually kinda long.

Imperial / Arcanist / Harbinger / Shogun / War Magus / Nightseeker - None of these have seen any use yet. Of 19 classes, some just might not fit in a first playthrough. The first three definitely'll show once subclasses come along, but right now aren't super-appealing for various reasons; Imperial's ridiculous TP requirements make it sound like a non-starter in early game, I don't trust turn-end heals when most random battles last 1-3 turns, and, well, I feel it'd be wrong to use my #1 Harbinger without also bringing along a certain Dragoon (Hero) and Masuaro (Ronin). That debuffer role has also lowkey been stolen by Landsknecht, of all things.

Klein the Hero - Klein has been absolutely devastating in random battles, but has generally floundered during bosses and FOEs, with Hero mostly being about multi-target attacks and a bit of a TP-hog. After netting the 3rd stratum boss' weapon, his damage output has been fairly ridiculous, and Shock Strike is nothing short of amazing. He's definitely not going anywhere, but I wouldn't say he's irreplaceable, either; that sword's nutso damage is innately amazing in anyone's hands. In a lot of ways, Hero is a remix of Dragoon, and while I definitely didn't like Dragoon at first, it grew on me quite a lot.

Iris the Protector - Iris came in strong against the 2nd stratum boss, and only got better with that boss' weapon able to shoot cheap line-piercing Fire attacks that could sweep most of the 3rd stratum. Ultimately, circumstances made her not very appealing for the 4th stratum, and I haven't seen any remarkable new spears, so she's mostly waiting for that. Or a Boss/FOE where Taunting is effective to return to the forefront.

Terra the Highlander - Terra was off-and-on for the early part of the game, trading said spear with Iris as was convenient. Veteran Skills haven't been particularly kind to her, but Master or Subclasses might still change that. She's certainly strong and sturdy enough to handle the frontline, and there's something to be said about how tricky it is to shatter a three-person front-row that doesn't need to rely on Protectors.

Stella the Zodiac - One of my starting five, Stella repeatedly died in one shot in the 1st stratum and burnt through TP way too fast, and performed similarly poorly in a brief stint in the 3rd stratum. I considered bringing her on again for a specific FOE, but ultimately didn't. After Warlock's same-turn Charge and Runemaster's Runes, this class just feels tremendously disappointing.

Coral the Landsknecht - Easily the most all-around reliable, if never the shining star. Extremely burly and with a diverse array of skills at hand, she's always useful. Primarily though, she shield bashes to cripple foes with Debuffs then Links away when they can't possibly do enough damage to kill anyone.

Erika the Ronin - Absolutely the core damage dealer for the 2nd's Boss and the 3rd stratum, primarily due to an incredibly good Katana you get midway through the 2nd Stratum. She was all about Air Blades from the back-row, then dashing to the front-row to regain her stance, drop offenses, or go for a strong arm-bind. It's a really fun class, all around. However, getting caught by a single good attack, even when in the back, is usually a death sentence for her, so it's a bit tricky, too. That said, she still came through big-time in both the 2nd and 3rd Strata Bosses, which were more endurance matches and about conserving TP more than anything, so there's something to say about that.

Laura the Medic - Not a ton to say here. Medics heal and revive; lifesavers when things get hairy during FOEs/Bosses. What is no joke is her Star Drop's ability to ruin defenses. Like Erika, she did occasional row-switching when things were safe. Not something you'd expect from a Medic. During initial planning, she was gonna be a Medic/Landsknecht, for high-speed Star Drops, but Star Drop is a normal debuff now, not a one-turn affair like it was, so I'm not too sure what her endgoal is anymore. I'm considering swapping her for Adam, who's designed to be a Medic/Zodiac, so I would at least have SOME form of normal mage (not to mention cheaper TP for heals via Free Energy). Laura's a dumbass though, and I love her for that, and right now, the Medic is hitting stuff in her free time, not casting, so she fits the bill better right now, especially as conserving TP is still a huge deal. STILL can't buy Amritas.

Juri the Survivalist - Probably the overall MVP for the first four strata. Blinding Arrow was vital against most Lush Woodlands FOEs/Bosses, and doubling all harvesting for a single skill point is nothing to scoff at. Add in cheap on-field healing, and she was good enough to kick Laura out for the whole 3rd stratum (until FOE/boss time). She's definitely starting to feel like she's falling off, though. Veteran added some nice moves for random encounters, but Master skills sound very lackluster, with only Disabling Shot sounding appealing (though Disabling Shot [Add Leg Bind to ALL Bow Skills] is VERY appealing). Master's still a long ways off though.

Yai the Pugilist - Yai wound up coming in for some conditional-drop hunting near the end of the 3rd Stratum, and with another great fist from a FOE on the World Map (making it a... WOE? MOE?), has stayed around off-and-on since then. Binds can always completely swing the flow of a fight, but they're not super-reliable, and she suffers from Erika's frailty, with none of the row-swapping tricks to keep her alive. She isn't terrible, but she's failing to live up to her EOV self. That said, she actually combos amazingly with Coral this time, as opposed to last time where she was the only one who DIDN'T play into Coral's pierce-a-thon.

Olga the Gunner & Leon the Sovereign - Neither have seen significant use but bear mention. When Bind conditionals first came up, it was an immediate coin-toss between getting Olga or Yai ready. Yai won because the current array of Guns failed to impress. However, with Yai's questionable performance and Juri's waning damage, a solid Gun could easily make Olga a mainstay. Leon, likewise, is basically waiting for more Skill Points and a weapon with a decent Skill to use to come in on. Leon definitely hasn't felt as sturdy as he did in III, which is also holding him back a bit, as I'd prefer him to be a part of the front-row wall-of-steel. Still, using the same gear as Klein and Klein's own iffy performance against bosses means he'll probably push through for the 5th or maybe 6th's Stratum bosses.

Kagura the Ninja - Brought in for a bit during the 4th stratum, when I was wondering if I was overlevelled, as upon first arriving, I was seeing yellow FOEs. I don't think I was. She actually served pretty decently in random encounters, essentially being able to mass-sleep an entire wave of enemies, which came in major handy, as the 4th just loves throwing 4+ enemies at you at once. Having her mother's (now retconned to being her sister, I guess) badass Katana to swap to definitely eased her entry into the group. Not material for FOEs, though; her overall damage output remained quite poor.

Kahna the Landsknecht - It's no secret that I'm a huge sucker for Landy's Links and especially Fencer's Chains as a primary form of team synergy. I'm seriously considering the possibility of running TWO Landsknechts; Coral on Shield Bashing debuff duty, and Kahna as a high-speed Linker. Truth is, Coral spends so much time with the shield keeping foes down, she has little time to lift herself up, and Landsknecht has no shortage of damage buffs, to boot.

[whattraintracks]

#obligatory paragraph of text incoming-#but god I love April so much#I kinda implied it in this post but to go further - April is FUN#she’s energetic and quick witted and kind and overall just FUN#and that is so important!!!!#she as April O’Neil is the embodiment of friendliness and that alone got her four whole brothers for life#she’s just - she’s SO GOOD#she GETS the boys and gets what they need and will go about it in her own way#and likewise they’re exactly what she needs too - a group that matches her energy and vibes and gusto and everything#god I Love April#not even just the boys I love her relationship with splinter too#I personally think that interacting with a human being probably helps Splinter humanize HIMSELF#he adores his boys oh of course he does he loves them to the moon and back#but they are also a direct link to his trauma - and a direct reminder of what he now is#so I imagine it’s healing - to interact with a human and not only that but to see her interact with his boys too#I bet it brings a much needed sense of normalcy#and specifically it being April - someone who’s so accepting and kind and fun - I think she brought a lot of great vibes to the hamatos#and a new sense of normalcy that wasn’t there before#and in turn I bet this makes April feel more at ease too because-#the hamatos are WEIRD#and so is April!#and thus they’re so weird that it circles back around to being normal!#this is THEIR normal#they’re family your honor-#APRIL IS ALSO SO INCREDIBLY BRAVE BTW#like soooo brave and daring like she’s so cool????#sorry she’s my second fave after Leo and I do not gush about her nearly as much as I should I loveeeee her

Absolutely love the idea that it was April who got the boys super into snow days.

Like, pre-April, they probably would view the days as miserable, since as turtles they’re likely more susceptible to the cold and back then they probably had much less to keep warm with.

The cold altogether was just never good to them - and then April comes around and teaches them how to make a snowman. And when it’s done, she pelts them with snowballs. And suddenly, the cold is now fun, and they might still be shivering, but now they’re smiling too.