#god everyone in team rwby has family trauma

[jinxessticktogether]

crying over weiss throwing her arms around yang in the camp

[saltedsnails]

listen i will always be forever salty and bitter that they didnt use adam's corpse to turn it into the hound.

because imagine how terrifying it would have been for everyone in the schnee manor if the one guy that's been terrorizing her for years STILL came back as a giant grimm monster

and then weiss being forced to see the SDC mark on some random faunus (idk if weiss or ruby have ever met/talked about adam so im just assuming she doesn't know who adam is)

like i get it why they needed it to be a silver eyed person (to spin the whole 'that must be what happened to mom' convo), but it's a missed opportunity to turn the guy who looked human into the Beast he was based on

Now this, this is what RWBY deserved. The world of Remnant is a twist on fairytales, so make it fucking dark and depraved since RT wanted to be mature so damn badly. Also, from what I remember RW never talked about Adam, let alone knowing his scarring. Even his color pallet matches Grimm to a tee, even though we have Ruby, Summer, and Qrow (too an extent) with those colors as well. I’m just, maaan.

But may I also propose a Silver-Eyed Adam?

You get:

A) A foil to Ruby as a huntress for “good and justice” who hasn’t been discriminated against her entire life and is ignorant to the true tragedy of the world she lives in, versus Adam. A member of a minority race who is a fierce combatant because it’s the only way he’d survive, not because it’s “fun and heroic” like Ruby. He’d get away with being a SEW because he’s a Faunus, and a lot of idiots would think he couldn’t wield his eyes because “Faunus are lower beings”, so but of course he wouldn’t be able to, because Adam’s soooo dumb. /s Also, he has a mask to hide not only his scar he would get from SDC, but hide his eyes as he became higher ranked in the WF.

B) Foil to Yang. It’s really weird but I’m not sure I’ve seen a lot of people touch on this, at least recently. Yang genuinely has (or has had if it’s still an ongoing problem) anger issues. Her lack of thinking and forethought literally cost her her arm in her fight with Adam. It didn’t change much in Volume 4. What the writers could’ve done, instead of brushing it aside because for some reason overcoming trauma is “boring”, is focus more on Yang becoming less of a party girl and more of a planner like her mother.

C) Blake development, because good GOD after V5 she had nothing going for her besides Adam. Like, we never saw how she became so enamored with Adam in detail. Her development with Adam could reverse, between her being a more serious-yet-shy book lover and activist to actually playing a more intimate role within the change for the WF. Not just, “hey why did you guys burn my mansion down, this isn’t right”. Like, Blake is the most privileged Faunus in the show. Her struggles next to what we can glean from Adam is absolutely minimal. Can you imagine, after what Adam did to her new home and found family, what the confrontation could’ve been like? Adam tearing down everything Blake has and spitting in her face? Snarling that she’s always been a coward, never wanting to actually face danger because she’s a spoiled little rich girl, and that she could never be half of what he is. And you know what, she deserves to hear it.

D) WHY IN THE GOD DAMN HELLISH FUCK DID ADAM AND WEISS NOT HAVE A SINGULAR CONVERSATION. HE COORDINATED ATTACKS ON THE SCHNEE FAMILY. AND THEN YOUR EX GIRLFRIEND IS ON THE SAME TEAM AS THE FAMILY OF YOUR NUMBER ONE OPPRESSOR? HELLO?? IT’S LITERALLY RIGHT THERE.

- 🐌

[unofficialadamtaurus]

What’re your full thoughts on season 9? I wasn’t going to watch it—especially after following along with you and other rwde blogs’ feelings on the content as the it aired—but I keep hearing this is the best written rwby season despite that. It’s a mixed bag right now, even within the more critical side of the fandom, and you always have nuanced takes, so, I figured I should ask you 🙂

You don't ask the easy questions, huh. (And I don’t reply to them in a timely manner, huh.)

I think "best written" is accurate from a certain point of view and when you keep in mind that it's being compared to other volumes of the same show. There’s a new framing device with the story, a twist villain that holds together on a second viewing, and emotional beats we’ve wanted to see hit for years. The animation itself is also good. Things are smooth and there’s even attempts at actual fight choreography. Even the voice acting is fairly consistently good.

If you can't tell already, I've said all of that with a massive disclaimer, and that disclaimer is that this volume falls apart when you look at it more closely. To me, this volume is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, frustrating. It's frustrating in a similar way to V8: you can kind of see what the writers are trying to do, but it's all executed in a way that makes you wonder what was going on in the writers' room. The plot beats, messages, and themes are not communicated well, are contradictory, or are otherwise damaging.

Heavy spoilers beyond this point if you managed to not watch it between sending this ask and me responding.

Atlas has fallen. Our heroes failed. This is the belly of the beast moment, the find-your-motivation moment, the break-the-geode-to-see-the-beauty-within moment.

And it falls so, so flat.

Penny’s death, this big moment from the previous volume, comes up a couple times but is never resolved. Jaune never states that he killed her. No one asks. Ruby is sad over her sword a couple times and that’s it.

Jaune is an old man! He’s a little bit out of his mind! Only no, he’s fine, here’s a magic knife that makes him young again.

There’s an interesting framing device! Only no, we’ll stop trying to follow it halfway through, and because the audience never knows how the story goes until the characters experience it or talk about it, there’s no interesting use of the framing device. It’s just there.

The Gods’ origin story! Only…why? Who was asking for this? Why did we need an origin myth for an origin myth? And why did it have to take up so much real estate in the final episode to boot?

To get to the main team:

Weiss’s kingdom, her home, was destroyed. She doesn’t even know the fate of her family beyond the portals. I would expect her to be the most affected by the events of the previous volume: quiet, grieving, grasping for a next step to avoid thinking about it. But no—she’s the comic relief for this volume. In addition to a mouse I personally found annoying most of the time who is also comic relief. Weiss’s trauma is almost entirely ignored except for when she talks about Penny’s death, her comment at the burning market, and one sad face in the Punderstorm. Every scene with her falling down or getting hit by a rock or cheerleading grated on me. It felt so divorced from what she should be feeling that it broke my immersion and was a significant source of frustration.

Blake is an empty character. Her whole role in this volume is two things: person who read fairy tales (that everyone else also read), and person who loves Yang. Her big hero moment is talking about a struggle to bridge humanity and Faunus that we have never seen on screen. If you’ve been bothered by Blake’s lack of agency and character in previous volumes, the former may get marginally better here at the start, but by the end they’ll both be worse than they ever were, and both a significant source of frustration.

Yang is a mess. She starts strong with the “You shouldn’t be here,” but by the end of the volume she’s turning on her sister, blaming her for her distress, and doing nothing while her sister kills herself. She puts Blake over Ruby, hell, she puts Jaune over Ruby. I couldn’t believe what she was doing, and the bees confession scene was cringe-inducing with how it made her love focus on incredibly broad or superficial things about Blake. No mention of shared trauma, or past hurt. Frustrating.

And Ruby. Poor Ruby. This was touted as Ruby's volume. She's going to be the focus, she's going to struggle. The OP hammers this point home with unsubtle imagery of Ruby crying and falling behind while her teammates carry on unbothered. That had me intrigued, because Ruby has been more or less a static character since the end of Volume 3. Her struggles have been momentary, situational, and without lasting impact, so I wanted to see her have that belly of the beast moment in her hero's journey and come out different and stronger for it.

Problems are, they went about her spiral in the most ham-fisted way possible. Ruby is obviously depressed because they have to let the audience know, but it’s to the point that I can’t believe her teammates just let things lie. As a result, her team come off as jerks. Where are the friends from the Beacon days, the ones whose reuniting was a huge moment in V5? Certainly not here, watching adult man Jaune yell at Ruby for a plan he helped create and enact. Certainly not there, slowly walking after a crying and upset Ruby who flew off in a direction Jaune should know is dangerous shortly after Neo attacked, while blaming Ruby for not talking to them when the time Ruby did, Yang brushed her off and compared her to Ironwood.

Her team dismisses her, Neo beats her to a pulp, and she commits suicide. She goes to a tree that’s been established to wipe memories and recreate people.

Is her team upset? No. Worried? No, at least until Yang sees Ruby encased in wood. But it’s all fine, because Ruby sees that her mom wasn’t perfect and that her mom thought she was perfect just the way she was as a child, and that fixes all the the trauma the entire volume hammered into your ears and eyeballs in the span of maybe two minutes.

I will pause briefly to say that Ruby’s brief fight scene is good. Genuine highlight there.

But the main villain who tortured Ruby then gets off without any resentment or frustration from the heroes. And the twist villain, whose motives are far more sympathetic to me than the main villains’, is brutally torn apart.

The dissonance between what the show seems to want its morals to be and what they actually are is staggering.

To sum up:

The status quo for the characters did not change. The status quo for the setting did not change. The status quo for the writing did not change.

If you like the show as it is, if you take it at face value, you’ll be fine, as you’ve been fine for the last several volumes. But if you try to sink your teeth in, you’ll be getting a mouthful of dust—and not even the magical kind. There is little past that other than more frustration.

[buzzybeesinlove]

There’s so much I want to say, and thankfully Tumblr gives me the space to say it.

This finale was phenomenal. As an overview, this finale gave us SO many things that many of us have wanted for a long time - Summer moments, Summer and Raven, Summer and Tai, just everything to do with Summer was amazing and I absolutely loved those scenes.

We got Weiss Time Dilation back, Red Like Roses Part 3, RWBYJ group hug for Ruby, Little returning as Somewhat, also the Red Trailer references. The lore with the Gods/Brothers and their connection to the Tree, the Ever After, I really loved seeing them bring it back to Remnant in the end. All of this was so cool and I loved every minute of it.

But, as I get emotional typing this next bit, I have to say that this finale in terms of messaging is so important to me. RWBY has always held a message of never giving up, of never losing hope even when things get tough, and to trust and rely on your friends, your family, to get through those hard times. However, this volume cements that RWBY isn’t afraid to actually show the negative effects of that constant optimism and positivity on the characters, but obviously, it’s very specific to Ruby herself. Ruby has gone through so much trauma and hardship over 9 volumes, and with that, came her whole arc this volume where we see her losing that faith, losing that will within herself to keep going as she is because everything has weighed down on her for so long, and she was always the one that was seen as this shining beacon of hope the whole show. She made a choice in Chapter 8 that showed that she believed everything would be better if she weren’t around, or if she were someone completely new, because she believed she wasn’t doing enough or that she wasn’t enough.

But this finale. This finale, we see both the end of that journey but also the beginning of something new, where she ultimately chooses herself after everything. She realizes that she’s always been enough, and that her mistakes, or what she perceives as flaws within her that should be erased, make up who she is and that ultimately, she can’t run away from herself. And to see her get to that conclusion, reach for Crescent Rose after a whole volume of not even wanting her weapon ever again, to see her team back her up immediately, show that they love her, they value her, they HEAR her and see her? It’s the most wonderful thing to see, and I’ve never been prouder of Ruby Rose than in this moment. 

I’ve also never been prouder of CRWBY, the animators, the VA’s, and everyone part of the crew on this volume, as it shows RWBY as a show that doesn’t shy away from the issues with relying too heavily on one person, or believing that their optimism will get everyone through the hardship. But although Ruby did crumble underneath that, she rose back up and chose herself in the end, and with that choice, she found something better.

This show means the fucking world to me, and I’m hoping and praying for a Volume 10. I need to see how everything goes on from here, because my life wouldn’t be the same without this show.

This isn’t the end of this story.

[jessimiko]

I thought I'd try my hand at a volume 9 bingo card

Neo redemption

Let Neo be assimilated into the found family, no one is safe

Alice in Wonderland references

This one is pretty obvious

Rosegarden fuel

BRO I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH I COULD CRY. Please just let me have this and I'll be happy

"The Girl who Fell Through the World"

I'm telling you there's no way that fairytale and the Ever After aren't connected, or at least eerily similar

Alice allusion character is the summer maiden

I have literally no reason to believe this other than just a hunch, but I'm calling it now

Team Reunion

If this happens in volume 9 at all, it'll be at like the very end. I have specifics of what I want out of that reunion but that's not relevant here asdfghjkl

Summer Rose

I think both Ruby and Yang are gonna have to deal with things relating to Summer. IT'S TIME TO FACE THE MOMMY ISSUES LADS LET'S GOOOOOO

bumbleby kiss/confirmed

Listen I hate this ship for personal reasons but I want them to just KISS ALREADY FUCKING COMMIT

Oscar "The Little Prince" allusion confirmed

I think y'all have heard about this theory and I am 100% here for it. And now is the time, I mean HELLO Oscar "The Little Prince" Pine is in the DESERT!!! Again this is assuming Oscar is in this volume at all :')

Magic

I'm convinced magic is just gonna be a normal thing here, like just completely throws everyone for a loop

Characters going feral

I'm a simple woman, I want to see characters going absolutely apeshit in a fight. (Would be a great opportunity to see Oscar, Ren, and Nora go feral fighting the Grimm after Winter tells them the others are dead) Listen I know it's wishful thinking but let me be a clown alright

Oscar gets his semblance

Once again this only works if Oscar is in this volume, which GOD I hope he is, and if so let my son unlock his semblance it's TIME

Grieving

Who's grieving? RWBY? Jaune? Oscar, Ren, Nora and the others? WHY NOT ALL OF THEM

Near death situations

Can we even have a volume of RWBY without near death situations at this point, I think not

Theodore frozen by fear (fight, flight, freeze)

Okay so I have this theory. Each headmaster so far (minus Ozpin obviously) has fallen victim to their own fear, which manifested in different ways. Lionheart was flight, Ironwood was fight, and following that pattern, Theodore will be freeze. Fight, flight and freeze.

Half Ever After, half Vacuo?

So hear me out, I can't imagine they would skip over whatever happens in Vacuo (unless the Ever After is outside the passage of time). And if this whole volume is only the Ever After, then I would guess they would use Volume 10 to show us everything that's happened in Vacuo. But I can't see them going that long without showing RWBY, our main protagonists. So, I figure at least SOME of this volume must be what's happening in Vacuo, even just a little bit. Maybe in the second half? Like, first half or so we see RWBY and Jaune in the Ever After, and then they escape. Then maybe we see what happens in Vacuo and and at the end of THAT is a reunion. I'm high on copium

Ship wars in the FNDM get worse

This is a given, I fully suspect someone is gonna tell me to kms because I ship Rosegarden

Emotional support Little

LITTLE IS FRIEND SHAPED AND WILL OFFER THE BEST SUPPORT

They escape at the end

I'm not going all in on this bc I could be wrong, but the pacing makes sense in my head

Ruby emotional breakdown

GIRL LET IT OUT OR IT'LL COME OUT ITSELF IN AN EXPLOSION OF TEARS AND SCREAMING

Big lore dump

Again, kind of a given

Self reflection

I think this is gonna be the perfect time for a lot of self reflection in the Ever After. About their feelings, their goals, their ideals, what drives them. And they'll come out of it with newly steeled resolve! Or it'll be like, a trauma reliving nightmare. Maybe both!

New outfits for returning characters

Listen if we see Sun this volume and he doesn't get a new outfit I'm starting a riot

Fighting inner demons

Self-explanatory, I feel like this is also gonna be THE volume for fighting your demons. And given how fuckin weird the Ever After is that could be figuratively and/or literally

Uhhh that's about it! I've never done one of these before but I figured why not, now might be a fun time to try it. Feel free to use this for your own watch through of the volume :)

[ayoalex]

I was talking with a friend about RWBY and oh boy.

She was telling me how she noticed that in the trailers only we can actually get an insight of Weiss and Blake while Ruby and Yang's trailer were more superficial.

And then we started talking how this is a reference of how the early volumes where about that exact aspect of Weiss and Blake trailers for their arcs, how they had to overcome their traumas, to learn how to cope and to heal.

In fact Weiss and Blake backstories and traumas were talked a lot for over 4/5 volumes, having Blake facing her abuser in V6 and now constantly healing and growing while Weiss is having the culmination of her own this volume by being there for Whitley and overcome her family share trauma because of Jacques.

But then we have Ruby and Yang, that it's now, from like V5 to now, that we are getting more of them.

In V2 we get a mention that their mom died but that's it, then we see Ruby going to her grave and talking to her. It's really amazing how it's only when Yang goes down (her PTSD and depression) that we get to learn more about their family dynamic and a bit about STRQ backstory.

As we get to see more and more about Salem we get to learn more about the Branwen-Xiao Long-Rose family, and that's not a coincidence.

It's because they are direct victims of the war against Salem, while everyone is affected by this war it is more indirectly. But Yang and Ruby are the most direct affected of this, they lost their entire family because of this.

When I say lost I don't mean just dead, they lost their uncle to alcoholism (and probs to Qrow for being able to accept and process his addiction and trying so hard to do better), lost their dad to depression (and probs to Taiyang to be able to heal and be there for their daughters, better later than never, and the fact that he overcame his depression, applause), they lost their moms to Salem, yes both. Because Raven left scared after what she learned about Salem and Summer tried to make the world a better place by going to fight Salem to end up "dead".

This affects them to the point that they didn't had the best of childhood, a depressed dad and alcoholist uncle that are not much at home is not that good of a childhood.

Right now we are finally seeing their breaking points like we get to see it with Weiss and Blake in V4, probably V9 and V10 is going to be their resolutions, I don't really know, CRWBY always surprise me.

In another note, is really great how at the beginning of RWBY there were talks about hope and love and this were exactly shared by the sisters while Weiss and Blake were more "emo" And then now we are seeing that hope and love going down because that's what Ruby and Yang are for the show.

I don't think is a coincidence that they are the first and last member of the team (RWBY), I don't think it's a coincidence they both represent the moon and the sun, I don't think it's a coincidence Ruby has something from the God of light while Yang seems to have something from the God of Darkness (CRWBY GIVE THE EXPLANATION OF HER DAMN EYES) and more.

Yang and Ruby represent the light in between the darkness, while Yang is literally the sun and Ruby is the moon. Ruby is the hope for everyone but Yang is the heart and soul of that team.

I don't care what some of y'all say about the writers of the shows, they are fucking amazing for pulling off this with Ruby and Yang. They are supposed to represent an extreme of something, bumbleby is about complementing, whiterose are contrast, freezerburn are opposites and ladybug are similar.

And because of this is why they have Weiss and Blake on their side, because they are extremes one of them need a complement and the other a contrast.

In this essay I-

[razorblade180]

what’s an unpopular opinion you have about rwby??

I don’t think have any unpopular opinion elaborate enough or worth making an entire post about; so I’ll just make a short list I guess. I also don’t know if all of these are unpopular.

[This is not me dissing the show. Calm yourself]

Pyrrha was kinda boring. Like she was really cool and I do like her, but she was boring to me too. I was more sad that her friends were sad about her death. That statue scene still hits though.

Adam was a lackluster antagonist and yet is still the most threatening/useful one in this series. Things got done, character arcs existed because of him, and banger music.

Freezerburn or Checkmate would be more intriguing than BB in my opinion. BB works fine and makes sense, but most of that relationship feels like the only thing they have connecting them is trauma. Still ship it, but I wish for more out of it.

Clover is a nothing character that the show and fandom care too much about. Vine has more depth than Clover did.

Aight, I say this one with care. Blake…is kinda useless, or at the very least a subpar teammate. She hasn’t helped her friends much. The most she’s brought to the table was her own problems. Granted she had a character arc to go through but Weiss has also and still managed to give more physical and emotional support to her friends. Not just her team either, I mean the cast. [I swear I don’t hate Blake. She had some of the best songs and action pieces.]

The gods aren’t mean. Salem should’ve stopped doubling down on messing with them and learn to mourn like everyone else in life.

Rhodes isn’t a terrible person for not immediately taking Cinder away. That’s kidnapping and this show doesn’t tell us if buying kids for child labor is illegal. They allow faunus labor with terrible work conditions after all. Putting real world logistical expectations in this fantasy world is impossible for the most part.

Cinder being abused doesn’t make the consequences of murdering those three people disappear.

Qrow is a terrible guardian for our heroes. Besides explaining more lore, he hasn’t helped much much outside of one fight in V4 and Hazel beating him up.

Ruby, Nora, and Oscar are the only outfit changes I think are cooler/just as cool as their previous one. [They should’ve never let me seen Ren with his hair down. Call this man L’Oréal because he’s worth it!]

Volume 8 is the last half of Volume 3 but narratively infuriating. V8 is super interesting and engaging, but personally I just don’t like many choices made.

Taiyang is a good dad. Not perfect, but he’s pretty good.

Willow is worse mom than Raven.

Emerald switching sides feels off since her commitment was always to Cinder instead of Salem. I get her leaving but not leaving to them join the group that will actively hinder Cinder.

Lastly, and this one is more of theory, but what if Summer is alive and just cares more about the mission as a whole than her own family? So basically what if Kali is the only good mom in this show💀

A lot of this stuff really is just personal opinion though. It’s not my show. I don’t write it, so I can’t complain too much. RT can do what they want to do because it’s their vision. I would like to know though how many times and how many people read the script before saying “Yeah that’ll work.” Like I would like to know for knowledge sake because sometimes it feels like they’ve proof read it 100 times. Other times o feels like someone grabbed the rough draft. It’s so jarring. Each episode is like a box of chocolates.

[violetren]

My first theory for volume 9 while the second half of volume 8 is fresh in my mind!

Volume 9 is gonna be the therapy season, but in the most traumatic you'll need different therapy afterwards kind of way. Instead of paying a therapist they're all just be bargaining with the universe like "yo I've had this trauma for a while, and I'm feeling pretty done with it. Here you take it back and uhhh I'll take a new guilt complex. Maybe a fear of falling? IDK, fuck me up bro."

The foreshadow-y Alice in Wonderland-esque fairy tale Oscar told to himself/Oz while in captivity is my guide post here.

Aaaand this is gonna get long so! 10 ideas of shit that's gonna go down next volume beneath the readmore, each one about 1-2 paragraphs each.

In the fairy tale the girl runs away from her problems into a new land, but because she never learned from her problems they just followed after her. Yeah? So first--second? First discounting the volume therapy theme theory.

FIRST BIG THEORY: The girl from the fairy tale was real, and she used the Spear of Creation. And like Weiss and the crew, she was fucking smart about her wording. She offered up materials that'd last even after someone else inevitably used the staff. IDK what materials she woulda used. Maybe there's a story about a missing continent we just haven't heard of yet? Maybe the Brother of Light's pool, since Salem seens to have claimed the Brother of Darkness's one but no sign of BoL's these days. Maybe there is a reason the land beyond Menagerie is so uninhabitable beyond desert + grimm? idk. Point is, it's a thing that happened, and since Ambrosius can't destroy/directly kill she's still in her wonderland. For themes sake I'm gonna call her Alice from here on out.

So Alice made a pocket dimension to flee from her problems from.

SECOND BIG THEORY: Her problems were relic related. She needed to hide em, and hide herself from Salem. Tbh I'm not sure how into this one I am. Maybe she had other shit going and some version of Oz was like "hey you don't want to be here, I have some property that I don't want to be here, lets make this happen!" THE POINT IS, the little pocket realities the relics are in, are aalllllll places in her pocket reality. When the team said "hey Ambrosius just make the middle ground into one of these type places" that's what he did, cause that's how he do. What better way to make sure it works like those places than to be kinda connected to em?

THIRD BIG THEORY: Ambrosius was buds with Alice once upon a time, but knew staying in her pocket world ultimately drove her crazy. He knew his middle ground worked like the pocket dimensions because it touched em or something, so he gave a vague ass warning not to fall, because he knew where they'd fall to.

Back to the fairy tale. It's implied Alice was never able to leave/give up her wonderland because she never learned from her mistakes.

FOURTH BIG THEORY VERSION 1: RWBY + Jaune can't figure their way back to reality until they adress a major personal issue and break out of whatever cycle it's got them in. This one I feel is shaky because they all have such different issues and are in very different places with each of them, trying to do one big arc on em would be too much of a mess. Plus it doesn't account for saving any of the many civilians that may have survived the fall.

FOURTH BIG THEORY VERSION 2: nobody can leave until Alice either leaves, dies, OR is convinced to let them go. As we're following good kind people this means we watch the kids try to give someone else therapy that THEY need. RWBY+J work through their shit through variations & combinations of witnessing mirrors of their struggles in Alice/other wonderland inhabitants, and just having time and space to slow down and breathe whether they want it or not.

FIFTH BIG THEORY: Alice is the "antagonist" of the underworld because she is the obstacle to overcome.

What about Neo you may be asking. Well I want her to let go of the revenge schtick, or at least redirect it back onto Cinder thus calling a truce with Ruby. However it's more than likely she's gonna be on team keep Alice as an obstacle at least as long as it takes to kill Ruby, and so Neo will be the "real" Antagonist™ within wonderland.

SIXTH BIG THEORY: Neo because of her unwavering determination to enact revenge is gonna die this volume. She'll be the comparison against which RWBY+J will be measured. As they grow and get closer to leaving she'll become more wrapped up with whatever strange classic wonderland logic this pocket universe has. Potentially depending on how things go with helping Alice, Neo may just end up trading spots with her, and end up trapped while everyone else goes back. But dead or trapped, I have a sad feeling this could be our last volume with Neo. My only hope of her surviving at this point is that she like Emerald switches sides, and in doing so joins Winter as a Cinder foil. While Neo grows and lets go of revenge and thus survives, Cinder stays dedicated to her own desires for revenge and other self serving instincts ringing her own death toll for either the end of the volume, or maybe somewhere in vol.10.

SEVENTH BIG THEORY: Ruby is gonna be grieving and maybe even getting full on angry about being expected to fix everything just because she's the optimistic one. She shouldn't have to deal with this brand and advanced level of childhood stealing just because she wanted to do what was right and won(lost) a genetic lottery for magic powers type anger. Jaune is going to have SO MUCH GUILT to work through, mostly the survivors kind. The bees will be experiencing couples therapy, they've both been pretty solid about individual growth leading up to this, Underworld will be them learning what it means to them to be partners now that they are so different to who they were. Weiss is different. Weiss is at first gonna feel like she's there just because it was a way to really shove all the other Schnee's into their therapy arcs and gave RBY+J neutral presence to rely on. Weiss is gonna go in the most stable of the bunch. But then, slow boil style, she'll start to realise how fucked up basically her whole life has been, especially upon realising that her "good years" with her new family have been spent getting sucked into being the last line of defense against the apocalypse, but will be too busy helping the others, so at the end of the volume when everyone else is actually doing pretty good and refreshed for the fight against Salem she'll only just be beginning her breakdown.

EIGHTH BIG THEORY: All this therapy shit is gonna be mirrored back on Remnant by the others grieving the percieved loss of the hearts of the team. Both sides of these story are gonna deal with some heavy shit, but the Remnant side is gonna be the depressed side, at least as long as it takes for Oz to tell them maybe the other's aren't dead leading to desperate attempts to get the staff OR the make desperate attempts to get the relics back anyways and inadvertently find out from Ambrosius what is up. But anyways. Winter is gonna be dealing with survivors guilt and the loss of both her little sisters (friends are great but Penny was little sister zoned and it's a hill I am prepared to die on. good sisterly relationships are friendships too). Nora is gonna be doing her self discovery thing. Ren is gonna be building on his end of vol.8 developments. Oscar will continue his grappling with the merge stuff. Qrow and Willow might get forced into AA. Whitely is gonna learn his own definition of being a Schnee instead of what his dad taught him.

NINTH BIG THEORY (OR FOURTH VERSION 3): The other way they get out is QORN obtain and use the staff to bring them home, potentially by trading enemy lives for them.

BONUS CONSPIRACY THEORY: QORN if presented with needing to trade for their loved ones & lost civilians have a lightbulb moment and decide hey why not trap Salem in a pocket universe since that is a thing Ambrosius can make? Like, if this bitch hasn't budged on her not learning to appreaciate life and humanity or whatever (which I'n pretty sure is the other way to break her curse instead of stopping remnant from turning) then she's a prime candidate for shoving into a personal reality that you can only escape if you can face your problems long enough to break the cycle they have you in. It'd be really fucked up but I think it might actually be possible to run the place using her as her own material component. Like kill her over and over and redistribute the energy to make the pocket world, but because god given power + Ambrosius can't actually destroy she just reforms anyways. MIght take a few hundred thousand deaths but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Or use the BoD oasis/grimm pools to make a world that mirrored the one she chose to live in on Remnant really make it hard for her to break that cycle....

Anyways.

TENTH BIG THEORY: Working on the idea that the relics are actually hidden in secret protected pockets of the underworld RWBY+J are gonna have a secondary quest of trying to get the relics from this side, and either finding a new place to hide them ages away from their vault doors. If you wanna make it a FOURTH VERSION 4, they're specifically gonna seek out the sword of destruction (HOLY VORPAL BLADE ALLUSIONS BATMAN) either with the intent of cutting their way out underworld--ahem wonderland--or with the assumption that someone is inevitably gonna have to open the vault door, because that's just how things be these days and they'll be able to cross to Vacuo from there.

[masterweaverx]

The Dumbest RWBY Oneshot Ever

Weiss Schnee was feeling, all things considered, pretty good.

Sure, she hadn’t slept in something like forty-eight hours. And, alright, the immortal witch-queen of the Grimm had parked a gods-damned WHALE as large as Beacon itself on Atlas. And even after Oscar blew it (and her) up with a magic cane, there was still the voluminous horde of shadow demons it had vomited up roving her home city while innocent citizens cowered in the subway. Not to mention the monster that had broken into her own home and terrorized everyone with its creepy speech before it died, leaving behind the mangled body of some poor silver-eyed faunus and traumatizing Ruby with the gruesome implications.

And then there Ironwood going insane, declaring them all enemies of the state, infecting Penny with a lethal virus, and threatening to blow up Mantle. If her sister was to be believed he’d also killed one council members and been barely prevented from murdering one of his own Ace Ops before they contained him. And, of course, there was the tiny fact that Weiss had herself condemned the city of Atlas to fall as a result of all that...

Realistically, she should have been weighed down with guilt, and exhaustion, and resentment, and probably a lot of other things. But what Weiss felt now was something like... relieved pride. Despite all odds, they’d saved Penny. They’d brought Ironwood to heel. They’d even killed Salem--temporarily, she was coming back, but still an accomplishment. And, as she strode down the golden path from the portal and watched people slowly trickle in from the other bright ovals in this... mysterious void, she knew that the citizens of Mantle and of Atlas would escape the calamity that had been wrought.

“Hope Vacuo has enough space for all these people,” Ruby murmured as she helped Penny along on her new feet.

Yang smirked. "If there’s one thing Vacuo has plenty of, it’s space. I’m more worried about dumping everyone on them without warning.”

“That is a tomorrow problem,” Weiss declared.

“Wow.” Blake gave her a wry grin. “I never thought I’d see the day where you, of all people, would procrastinate.”

Weiss whirled, pointing the staff of creation at Blake’s face. “Where was all this sass back at Beacon?”

“Locked behind the trauma of escaping an abusive relationship,” Blake replied casually.

“...Touché.” Weiss shrugged, stepping onto the main platform and waving at the milling crowd. “Excuse me! Can anybody tell me where the Happy Huntresses are? We need to touch base.”

“They’re over there!” a woman reported, pointing at the largest portal. “They’re helping organize everyone going through--getting families back together and all that.” She shook her head. “This is actually happening...”

Yang put a hand on her shoulder. “Yeah. World’s a crazy place. Just... focus on what you need to do now, okay?”

“Okay.” The woman nodded. “I’m going to... look for my husband.”

With a final pat, Yang broke away and the five teenagers maneuvered through the press of people. It didn’t take them too long to approach the three women near the final road, since the crowd was milling that way anyway, and the tall green-haired woman spotted them first. “Hey May, your interns are here!”

“Thanks Joanna!” The blue-haired woman waved the five of them over with a grin. “There’s the heroes of the hour!”

“Interns?” Yang put a hand on her hip. “Are we getting paid for this?”

“Sorry, no pay till you’re officially hired, but I’ll make sure you get an amazing benefits package.” May Marigold had a smile on her face despite her sardonic tone. “How are you kids feeling?”

“Well, Penny’s still getting used to her new body,” Weiss admitted.

“Toes are weird,” Penny reported in a distant tone.

Ruby wrapped her arm tighter around her shoulders. “That they are, Penny,” she agreed fondly.

“Yang and Blake are still insufferably dense,” Weiss continued.

“Okay, that’s unfair!” Yang insisted. “I know I’m dense, but Blake--”

“Yang, you’re not dense!” Blake protested. “You’re one of the smartest people I know!”

May whistled. “Yeowch, I see what you mean. How about you, princess?”

“Honestly, I’m feeling unusually giddy. Not just for this whole situation, but for me personally.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re awake for fifty hours straight,” Joanna admitted. “You’re going to zonk out as soon as you hit a bed.”

“I expect as much.”

May shook her head. “Well, you kids have exceeded all expectations,” she assured them with pride.

“Not an uncommon occurrence for us,” Weiss replied.

“Smug little brats. So...” she nodded at the golden rod in her hand. “That it?”

“Indeed it is. The Staff of Creation, in compact form.” Weiss spun the object in her hand. “And it’s surprisingly less heavy this way. Chalk it up to magic, I guess.”

“Right.” May turned to the side. “Hey, Fiona! Got a sec?”

“One moment!” came the reply from a short woman. "You said you can’t find your dad?”

The child in front of her nodded hesitantly. “They tooks him up to Atlas when they was taking people up,” he said.

“Well a lot of those other portals come from Atlas,” the woman replied. “So it’s probably only going to be a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay...”

“My uncle here can look after you until then.”

The child looked up at the old man with badger paws, who gave him a gentle smile. “Okay,” he said, carefully settling himself in front of the man.

Fiona smiled, turning around and joining the rest of the group. “Okay, what’s--Kids!” She skipped over gleefully. “You did it--you have no idea how grateful everyone is!”

“Aha, well, it... it was nothing,” Ruby replied awkwardly. “We just did the best with what we had--”

Joanna clapped a hand on her shoulder. “You had nothing but each other and were up against two whole armies,” she pointed out bluntly. “One had magic and Grimm, the other was Atlas. And you somehow saved everyone. Accept the damn praise already.”

Ruby opened her mouth to protest, gave a look at Penny, and reluctantly let out a small laugh. “I... guess you have a point...”

May cleared her throat. “Anyway. We have an ancient magical artifact that needs to stay out of the wrong hands.” She tilted her head toward the Staff of Creation. “Fiona, if you would?”

“Oh! Right, right.” Fiona accepted the golden rod from Weiss, absorbing it with her semblance.

“Well,” Weiss said. “Glad that’s settled--”

“Whoa.”

Something about the word made the hairs on Weiss’s neck raise.

“What... wow.” Fiona seemed to sway a little, raising her arms. “This is incredible. I have tiny hands.”

“...Fi?” May gave her a concerned look. “You doing okay there?”

Fiona looked down. She raise a leg with an experimental expression, waving it around, before putting it back down. “Huh. I’ve never felt so attached to the ground before...”

“That’s... gravity,” Joanna said blankly. “It’s called gravity.”

“Huh. Really?”

Weiss frowned. “Fiona?” When the woman didn’t respond, she shared an awkward look with May. “Um.”

Blake sighed, kneeling down in front of the short woman. “Fiona, can you focus?”

The woman looked at her strangely. “...who’s Fiona?”

“Oooooooookay yeah, this--this is weird,” May said quickly. “Maybe we shouldn’t have given her the staff--”

“The staff?” Fiona looked up her. “Wait, do you mean my staff?”

“Your... Ambrosus?” Yang stared in utter disbelief. “Is that you?!”

“Well, of course!” Fiona put her hands on her hips. “Who else would I be?”

May looked around at the collection of sighs and groans team RWBY produced. “Okay, somebody want to clue me in to what the hell is going on?”

Weiss sighed. “Ambrosus is the spirit in the staff,” she explained wearily. “So I guess when Fiona used her semblance to absorb the staff, he came along with it and...” She waved a hand at the woman.

“Wait.” Fiona, possibly, held up a hand. “Absorb the staff?”

“Fiona’s semblance lets her store things,” Joanna explained. “We thought she’d keep it safe... we’ve never tried it with anything magical before.”

May took a deep, controlled breath. “Alright. Okay. So... can we fix this? Get Fiona back?”

Blake shrugged as she stood back up. “I think if we get the staff out of her

“Alright. Hey, Fi--Ambrosus.” May crossed her arms. “Can you get out of there?”

“Hmmm.” Ambrosus snapped Fiona’s fingers--or at least tried to. It took three attempts to make a successful snap. “Huh. Okay, there might be a problem, and that problem is I don’t have my powers in this body.”

“You don’t need to create the staff,” Penny pointed out. “You need to remove it from Fiona.”

“You did hear me just say I don’t have my powers, right?”

“Then use Fiona’s semblance.”

“...Doy!” Ambrosus brought Fiona’s hand to her head in a facepalm. “Ow! Huh.” The motion was repeated. “Is this what pain feels like?”

Penny nodded--and then frowned. “Hmm.” She brought her own hand to her head. “Ouch! Oh. Pain does feel different in this body.”

“Maybe we can test that out later in a more controlled environment,” Ruby said quickly, grabbing Penny’s wrist.

“Yeah,” May agreed, frowning as Ambrosus experimentally pinched Fiona’s skin. “Hey!”

“Hmm?”

“Out!”

“Right.” Fiona’s ear’s drooped... and then Ambrosus blinked. “Oh! Motile ears! Fancy!”

Blake sighed as the ears went up and down. “Focus...”

“Right, yes.” Ambrosus held out Fiona’s arms, staring at her hands in concentration. “Semblance. Semblance. Seeeem-blance. Hmmmmnnnnn. Aura, personal manifestation. Semblance. Okay. Any moment now. Definitely going to happen okay I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but nothing’s happening.”

May clutched at her hair. “What kind of ancient spirit are you?!”

“This is new for me too, alright?”

“Maybe you can’t use Fiona’s semblance because you aren’t Fiona,” Joanna suggested.

“That--huh.” Ambrosus nodded. “You know what, that just might be it.”

“Well... switch over and let her have control,” Yang offered. “Like Oz does, you know?”

“Huh. Okay, okay.” Fiona’s eyes shut, and Ambrosus took a deep breath. “Just have to focus inward. Hmmm. No, those seem to be automatic functions... no, that’s... oh, that’s an interesting memory... oh, hmm, closer... Oh!  There she is and--oh.”

“Oh?” May said. “What’s oh?”

“Oh is ‘she’s been cognizant this whole time,” Ambrosus replied awkwardly.

Weiss pinched her brow. “Of course. Just... give her control, already.”

“Right, right, yes. I am so sorry for the trouble, miss, I’ll just--”

One moment Fiona was casually rolling a hand as Ambrosus talked. The next she was stock still, standing in a position far to casual for her suddenly blank expression.

“...Fi?” May lowered her hands. “You, uh--?”

With perhaps a bit too much speed, the staff of creation reformed in Fiona’s hand. She shoved it into May’s grasp, taking a few deep breaths. “Oooookay, that was weird.” Her voice was shaky, but not quite panicking. “Freaky and weird and please never ask me to do anything like that again.”

“I am so sorry,” Ruby said quickly. “I--I swear we didn’t know--”

“I know you didn’t, you’re good kids, I’m just going to... cling to Joanna for a bit.”

May sighed as she watched Fiona wrap her arms around Joanna’s waist. “Yeah, that... yeah,” she said, clearly not able to find the words to express her frustration.

“You said it,” Yang replied.

Blake sighed. “Well... at least that’s one unexpected complication dealt with. I hope nothing worse happens.”

"Citizens of Mantle!

Everyone turned to see Cinder Fall flamboyantly flinging off a black cape into the void.

“Bring me the Winter Maiden,” she demanded. “Or face the infinite depths!”

Weiss groaned. “Of course.” She pulled out Myrtenaster. “Let’s just get this over with...”

[cavendishtogopls]

WhiteRose Quick Ship Analysis based on RWBY Anthology (Red like Roses) [Spoiler Warning!]

As we all know Red like Roses is about Ruby and from what I heard, all of the girls have one for themselves so what baffled me is Weiss' heavy involvement with Ruby's story arc. And when I say heavy, I meant they didn't just make Weiss a major character in some of the stories, they went so far as making a story in Weiss' POV and how she sees Ruby. The Red like Roses manga is like a whiterose Bible for shipping fuel.

Before I get to the heavy stuff I would like to point out the differences I see between Ruby and Weiss in the show and in the manga and okay maybe I'd like to throw one for fanfiction as well.

So, in the series I felt like Ruby had little character development, little in terms when you compare her to the three other girls. I mean Blake's character arc is almost done. Family conflict? Done. The White Fang? Changed for the better. Adam? Dead in a ditch. And look she got a cute blonde girlfriend to show for it. Yang basically went through so much herself and I can just feel that Volume 7 is a Weiss centered one since they're in Atlas. Ruby however felt like a stationary character and that's not always a bad thing. I'm saying this because Ruby felt like a character the evokes change, be the cause of it rather than changing herself. She pushes people to be better, she pushes herself to be better, she's this force that people naturally gravitates to because rather than her changing, she's the change you need in your life. You can see it mostly with Weiss, but also to her immediate environment like when she was with team RJNR.

That said, in the manga, she has so much more character depth that I kinda wish I would see on the series. Usually you can see Ruby as this childish impulsive character and using Blake's words "the embodiment of purity herself" but here you can see how she does understand the consequences and dangers of her dream. She's not naive, she knows the stakes. She just doesn't let those fears get in the way of the need she has for protecting people. In the manga, Weiss has the more black and white character, she's either really proud of Ruby or irritated at her. In a way that makes it seems like she's there for the sole purpose of reacting with Ruby's character and Ruby's the one pulling all the punches.

Now in fanfiction, you do not see this kind of Weiss. And if I do, it's very rare. It's a known tendency for writers to have a character in the ship that stays true to their nature and one a more flexible character they can do anything with just for the heck of it. Come on, Weiss is a real life princess with a cool scar and the emotional trauma to go with it. It's like she's asking writers to mess her up more or fix her. As I said, Ruby is a kind of character that evokes change in people whether it's Weiss realizing she's gay or Ruby being the push she needed to finally stand up to Jacques. Now, we move to the ship analysis part.

Case A: Ruby's Diary

This is the one story in Weiss' POV. Weiss wanted to see Ruby grow up because she was convinced that would make Ruby take her job as leader more seriously. As much as Weiss wanted to protect the innocence in Ruby, she knows that it would be better for Ruby to recognize the world as it is and not some hero story or fairytale. In the end, Weiss realized that being optimistic doesn't make Ruby a bad leader. For Weiss, Ruby is Ruby and to Weiss, Ruby is a great leader, teammate and friend and Weiss could only hope to be strong enough to protect her.

Case B: Princess in shining combat skirt

Scenario being Mercury dancing with Ruby and making her uncomfortable so Weiss stepped in and stole Ruby from him. I for one would like to see this as jealous protective girlfriend Weiss but that's not really clarified. Now you can all argue that Ruby was perfectly capable of defending herself—she wields a scythe and Mercury would find himself toe to toe with a furious Yang had Weiss not done anything. Ruby is socially awkward and everyone who knows her, knows that. So, Weiss watching over Ruby and swooping in to save the day, in the middle of a dance btw which is largely considered as rude and inappropriate, speaks volumes on how much Weiss cares for her partner. And the fact that Ruby calls her a knight in shining armor shows she appreciated the gesture.

Case C: Flirty Ruby

I did not expect this chapter at all. Ruby does not show any kind of interest in romance in the series so her looking for a boyfriend kind of blindsided me. Weiss was so against the idea that Ruby jokes around that Weiss likes her. Weiss honey why are you blushing so much if this isn't true.

Case D: Sister, Friend, Wife

Ruby why tf would you say that and finally thank you for noticing the ever present blush on your partner. Stop making her blush she's going to melt oh God.

Case E: Angry Ruby

I have only seen Ruby angry a couple of times the entire series and this one was equivalent to her anger at the battle in Haven when Weiss was fatally wounded and she had no idea what happened. Weiss was her partner and Ruby very literally watched Pyrrha die. Ruby was angry because had it not been for Jaune's semblance, she could have easily lost Weiss too and she would have failed not only in protecting her best friend and partner but also as a leader. This scenario was with less grave consequences but with the same motif of Ruby protecting Weiss. Ruby was the youngest of team RWBY but she seems very adamant in protecting her friends, not thinking about consequences and in turn gave more depth to her character instead of just showing emotions when one of her friends die. Tbh I don't think Ruby is over her mom's death which I would give anything to see Ruby talking about it with Qrow or Yang or Tai or anyone really. Again, Weiss is used here as a catalyst for Ruby's behavior.

Case F: I rest my case

This looks really really gay. There's really little to no heterosexual explanation for this. Like let's say if I was bold enough to carry the Red like Roses manga anywhere and leave it open at these exact pages, any uncultured bystander with no knowledge on RWBY would think this is a typical coming of age Yuri manga.

[dragynkeep]

You know I'm still pissed how they handled the whole Argus/getting to Atlas thing so let me word vomit for a bit because I have a better idea on how they get there. (Part 1) First throw Rubys, "we've gotten by without adults before" speech out the window. Instead we follow through with her calling Qrow out on his shit. At least Jaune is thinking of ideas that's more than Qrow right now. If he wants to be useless fine stay in argus or fuck off but *they* will continue the fight and get to Atlas

Qrow realizes he's being a dumb bitch is like okay fine there is one thing we can do. I can't believe this hasn't been established but here goes, there are certain access points that are safe guarded where the inner circle can get a direct message to James so he can give his permission to esquort them to Atlas. Problem is for Argus it's the military base so instead of stealing an airship they just gotta sneak into the base long enough for Qrow to get through to James

it's then decided that Maria can act as a distraction by antagonizing Cordo into a fight between them giving Kerry his old lady fight (mmm okay) and also gived pay off into their rivarly. Qrow sneaks in as a bird and gets to the communication room. Meanwhile teams rwby and jnpr go patrol the outskirts of the coast to keep the relic away from people and pick off some grimm to keep busy. This is when Adam ambushes them. Oscar gets sent back to the military base for backup and his safety

So Oscar gets sent to the base for backup to capture a high profile terrorist and also keep him safe. But since Blake and Yang haven't dealt with their trauma it attracts even more grimm forcing jnpr to double back and take care of the grimm so it doesn't make its way to the city. Rwby then *all* face Adam as a team. But he's a punk bitch and decides he has to hurt them all. So he attacks Ruby like slash to the gut and sends her flying into the ocean to either drown or bleed out

This leads to all of team wby to give a final team attack. Adam can either be killed or subdued. Meanwhile Ruby has her breakdown wondering if all this is really worth it, if she's just meant to die like her mom? Her blood and fear attract sea grimm she has the montage of bad memories but she can just barely see something or someone coming her way. Jaune most likely since he'd be closer to the water He grabs her and wraps her cloak around the wound and trying to swim to the top.

his armour however weighs him down and using one arm to hold up Ruby makes it hard to swim to the top. Here Ruby realizes it's either Jaune or one of her friends trying to save her. She now has the montage of good memories maybe even Summer saying words of encouragement. Silver eyes vaporize all grimm in the surrounding area. This gives Jaune the push to swim up and get Ruby to shore Jaune closes the wound withhis semblance but Ruby still has blood loss. Now the military comes to help

Cordo sees Adam either captured alive or dead and an injuried Ruby is quickly transported to the military base for medical treatment. We can even do a cliche but very much needed scene wher Ruby is in the afterlife and talks to Pyrrha or her mom sharing her guilt and fear of failing but they encourage her to keep going. Ruby wakes up weak but alive. Nice family moment between Yanh, Ruby, and Qrow where they all agree this fight is worth seeing to the end and they can't give up.

Cordo as thanks for capturing/killing Adam gives them a pardon and Ironwood is contacted and gives special permission for them to be esquorted to Atlas. They either leave right away needing to get the relic put away or wait until Ruby heals. Ruby and Jaune can have a nice moment where she thanks him for saving her life, he's all like you saved my life in so many ways and he couldn't save Pyrrha he wasn't about to lose her too. Volume ends with the fleet in Atlas as a cliffhanger. Fin

First off, thank you for the word vomit ‘cause we know have an essay to ready through. Never put us through this torment again, I have dyslexia.

Starting off, getting rid of Ruby’s speech about not needing adults when the show seriously contradicts her is sorely needed. It makes Ruby come off as ungrateful and arrogant, and I’m not here for it. Qrow still needed that stern telling off from Ruby because he is being unreceptive to any of their suggestions and he isn’t helping at all, but none of the others even tried to help Qrow through his depressive spiral. I’d have Ruby and Yang trying together to get through to him, but not acting like he’s a burden when he’s having a relapse and needs help.

Mentioning other ways for Ozpin’s inner circle to contact one another would’ve been an interesting point, but it hasn’t been established at all. They should have some way to contact each other, but they don’t, and it’s just like what? How the fuck do they ever contact each other, use the bog standard CCT Towers like everyone else? That’s not secretive! No wonder Cinder hacked your phone, James, get Nord VPN! 

Because of this, you run into the territory of an Ass Pull. The heroes have run into a problem and are in a dead end, but wait! Qrow has this secret way to contact James that wasn’t established before and only brings it up now rather than attempting when they were in Haven! It would require redoing things in previous volumes for that to work. 

And a quick note, the idea of the heroes sneaking into the military base has me thinking of the prison scene in Shrek 2 where Shrek’s friends break Shrek, Donkey and Puss out of jail.

Positive note, but at least here Qrow remembers that he can turn into a bird to sneak into places, which is why Ozpin gave him the powers in the first goddamn place. 

With RWBYJNR staying away from Argus because of the relic actually gives consequences to the relic seemingly drawing Grimm. They can’t remain in Argus for long without putting it in danger, but now they’re in danger of Grimm attacks and anyone against them coming across the group. But having Adam do it, especially with the whole group, doesn’t really work. I’m always one to say that Adam is a good fighter, but there is no way he could take on the whole of Team RWBY and JNR, even if Yang and Blake are struggling with their own trauma relating to him. 

If he was picking them off one by one like Blake warned Sun about, then yeah, but I doubt the group would split up like that to allow him to pick them off, and they would just be dumb to split up anyway because they’re at risk of Grimm. I like the idea of Oscar going back to get backup, because it means that the heroes aren’t so arrogant that they believe they can handle everything themselves, plus it doesn’t hurt to build good relations with the people who you want to gain passage from. 

However, the reason that JNR tracks back doesn’t really make sense when you realise that for the amount of Grimm needed for them to deal with without fear of failure, the city could easily handle themselves if they appear. The only reason that Argus was overwhelmed by Grimm in canon is because Cordovin took the mech to fight the heroes and took it away from defense. Here, the mech and defenses are still in Argus, ready to use if the amount of Grimm that would be attracted by the negativity of two people appeared. It feels like JNR left because the plot told them to, not because there’s a legit reason for them to. 

Even the whole fight between WBY and Adam has the same problems as canon. This is Blake versus her abuser, but rather than Yang overtaking the fight in canon, it’s now Ruby being thrown off the cliff that’s taken precedence. It’s the wrong person taking the attention. Also, I’m not a fan that it’s Jaune that saves Ruby when he’s not even supposed to be there, since he’s doubled back with his team. It really should be Yang, we already have problems with the sisters not being given moments to be sisters. There is one later when Ruby wakes up, but that’s shared with Qrow, and it being Jaune who saves Ruby doesn’t fit in my opinion. 

The meeting with Pyrrha/Summer and Ruby in the afterlife? I would nix that. It’s a special thing that happened between Ozma and the GoL to show the otherworldliness of the gods and that Ozma is special. It’s not a common occurance that happens a lot in RWBY like in other shows like Naruto. Also, Ruby was not that close to Pyrrha, they had a handful of scenes together before Pyrrha died. I would see it more like Penny than Pyrrha in terms of someone who’s close to Ruby, but either way the scene doesn’t really work.

I get what you were trying to do with Jaune’s character. He couldn’t save Pyrrha so he wouldn’t let another one of his friends die, but this comes with the problem of taking away a moment that should’ve gone to Yang rescuing her sister, and that by the time this fight would come, Jaune has already reached the conclusion over Pyrrha. He has already started moving on from his guilt over her dealth. 

And reading the rest of this, that’s unfortunately the feeling I get. There’s some good bits here that I think would’ve made the season better, but it feels convoluted and that once again, the plot is driving the characters, not the characters driving the plot. 

[bookdragonlibrary]

Second Friday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Private security 

- Will has the dad belly! Lian is cuter and cuter! <3 (But it’s just me or she seems less Asian than in season 2? Where’s Jade?)

- Lucas Carr! :D (For those who don’t remember him, he appeared in the first YJ comic book and in season 2 when he teachs Gar at Mount Justice.)

-  Why Dr Jace stays at Luthor Grande Hotel, in Metropolis! 

- Bowhunter Security! With orignal Roy/Arsenal, clone Roy Will/Red Arrow and clone Jim Harper/Guardian (So if he’s Guardian again, what about Mal? He’s still a hero? Which one?) I love the dynamic of the Harper family and Roy calls Will bro!! He has finally dealt with his trauma (he seems to) and considers Will like he’s older brother! :3 

- Dick in a security costum! Just like in Titans with the policer costume. He has a new outfit every Friday! 

- “An old soul in an young body” Another clue for the Motherbox theory! So the first Halo is still alive inside or gone for good?

- Zatanna! TT.TT

- American genetically modified beef! xD

- Am I the only one who sees Jeff x Dr Jace miles away?

- “To the SUV!” My new war cry! 

- Now Brick has red skin, it means he activated his metagene. How did he get out of jail by the way?

- I love how they show the Prince’s not understanding. He asks questions instead of jugement and “it’s a machine. I don’t understand.” instead of “You’re dumb” or something.  

- I’m kind of afraid of Wolf sleeping. Don’t tell me he’s getting old and will die soon :( 

- All Halo knows from her post life is violence, torture and hatred. No wonder she doesn’t want to remember... 

- Don’t forget the clipboard! xD Will is more loyal to it than to his hat! 

- OMG! Giovanni aged so much in just 7-8 years! He’s what? Between only 40-50! Side effect of Dr Fate’s control?

-  “Wall” My heart, why? TT.TT So heartbreaking than Dick is too afraid to be part of a team because he lost Jason and Wally and Barbara gets injured.

- “I’m older than Jim.” So Jim was made after Will. interesting!

- Harper’s family business! Need more episodes with those 3!

- I really loves the humour in this episode! xD 

—————————— Away Mission

- Forager! Orion! Wait, what a bastard! :o 

- Gregor tries to protect his little twin brother and has compassion for the Quracis refugies. I love him! 

- Bear! Wait there’s a thing between him and Dreamer?! The notebook with the photos! The nostalgia!

- So the New Gods use metaslaves? O.o 

- Traci, Jaime and Bart! :D And Jaime finally talks! Now Scarab’s turn! “There’s no sound in space. The physics on the show is so messed up!” It’s Jaime or Scarab who speaks? Or Jaime took the comment habit of his bug friend? I definitely see Scarab saying something like that! xD So Traci watches the shw for the story or for Gar? “Hello Megan!” Their ringtone for the missions is the generic of this show! So cute! 

- Cassie and Tim have a conversation without yelling at each other. That’s an healthy relationship. So I hope they won’t break up :( “Awkward...” Sorry Virgil, you seem pretty alone :(  

- Jaime, why do you massage your side? Bart didn’t hit you that hard, did he? And he calls him amigo, sorry Bluepulse shippers... (Well, at least it isn’t hermano, so maybe Bart’s just pinning, whatever that means.) I was expected Scarab to yells “Incompatible!” to the boom tube... “Who watch the show for the physics? Who uses a boom tube for the physics?” I love the dynamic of this trio! And Traci is so adorable! Bart’s haircut changes every frame or what?

- “I hacked the Justice League’s computer!” That’s my boy! xD And G designation is for Grayson right?

- M’gann and Cassie are two mad girlfriends, poor guys (Jaime, Bart and Virgil) they didn’t do anything wrong :/ “Superoblivious!” xD 

- “Excuse me?” xD The Yj comic reference with Lucas Carr! Brion who wants to impress Halo.

- Even in bug form, M’gann is still white! :) It’s me or Blue just growls?

- Guys, stop stressing Brion, you gonna make him fail :( What did I say? —‘ “My trees” So Lucas Carr is a neightboor or something? “Excuse me?!” New color for Halo: Yellow is for attacking. I want to see what the green does!

- I love how M’gann put down her little brother like the older sister she is. So she used to hide behind a green form and her little brother behind a beast? You can see M’gann growth throught the comparison with her brother. “I have been dealing with the red and green oppression.” Wait, so there are red martians too? And is for Darkseid he made the bugs made at the New Gods? So they have less allies against him?

- Every metateens we saw so far doesn’t look human anymore. I don’t know if thee Light are doing that on purpose so we could not recognize them anymore or it’s because the forced evolution is too much for their body :(

- Is Halo healing herself like a reflexe or does Sphere help the processus to begin? Violet? That’s so cute! Wait, another supermartian parallel!

- Bart still has the same energy! (I hope this is not an act this time...) I love the Team dynamic: Virgil helping Cassie and thir hand five, Bart trying to stop the bugs from attacking Jaime, Cassie rescuing Jaime, Jaime helping Traci :3 The weapon has to be similar to Genesis tech to hurt Blue however...

- Baby martians look... cute? I think when he kills the green martian, it was on the mental plane and not a memory since he has that beast form. The nostalgia! Everyone is back in season 1 and with their season 1 version of themselves, except Artemis and... why do you have to bring Wally in every single damn episode?? Conner is M’gann shield! 

- And two more metateens dead TT.TT Wait, failsafe? Poor Forager! He just wants justice and kindness :( I love how Cassie and Jaime jump on his side and M’gann adds two arms to adapt to his appearance. I’m sure M’gann’brother made the green bug mad telepathically, because Mantis already knew Forager brought the Earthlings and Bear on New Genesis when he first stopped the bugs’ attack.

- I need more of the trio Traci/Jaime/Bart to see their friendship, Traci’s story. And more Cassie and Virgil screentime because we barely saw them in season 2 and in this episode :( 

- Why Blue seems so angry all the time? He had like one positive line in this episode. Is he still dealing with his trauma in season 2? Is he angry at himself? I don’t know if it’s anger, frustration or self-hatred :( I just want him to be happy after the nightmare in season 2 :( But I think it would be more human if he still has to deal with himself after being mindcontrolled for months... 

—————————— Rescue Op

- Black Spider and Terra. The goggles have to much screen time to not have an importance after. Who was Jackie? “All the bosses will be proud” So Shadows + Light + Darkseid?

- So Barbara is indeed in a wheelchair :( I love how she still can push Dick down :) And barbdick are a new couple :) We need another ship name, a more YJ like one :)

- The Outsiders trio is so cool! So Forager don’t use pronouns so much. So he’s a he, she or them? Wow, Halo knows a lot about New Genesis. Another clue for the Motherbox theory. M’gann is so done to explain she’s not a earthling: “I’m not from Earth” “I’m from Mars!” “Brion is the alien to Forager” this is so true. Thanks for putting this! I love how Brion is so enthousiastic to meet aliens :) He looks like a kid! So bioship is in a car camouflage. Maybe that’s why Halo hurt herself so bad :( Mars town xD “That’s what we were thinking too. We? Uh Me” (and Oracle xD) So is Tara controled, brainwashed, has her memories rewritten? Or is she willingly working for the Shadows?

- Why I think Forager x bioship will become a... ship? xD Like Will x clipboard xD

- Dick, if you don’t want them to go to the Shadows, why did you show Brion their localisation? --’

- Halo’s enthousiasm is so cute! Forager’s too! 

- Why it feels like Sensei is manipulating Brion with words just to make him mad? I’m sure he’s lying.

- Can we talk about Brion’s extreme reaction to Halo’s death? Parallel to Spitfire maybe? And can we please stop killing Halo? I know she will ressurect but it’s still painful :( 

- Why the ninja fighting style reminds me of Robin? Like an older Damian?

- It’s indeed Sphere who starts the healing processus. “Is Halo a new god?” Another clue for the theory?

- When Ra’s mention “the Detective”, Dick growls. Is he mad at Batman? Or at the comment? Ra’s isn’t with the Light and at the head of the Shadows anymore. So who? Sportmaster? Cheshire or Deathstroke would be good clues! Ra’s should be mad at Jade with how he said “Get out!”

- Talia with Damian? So who is... Jason?? An amnesic Jason. Ok. I’m fine. I just need to... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???? (I don’t like the deisgn of Talia which is too close from the animated movies: no bra is definitely not a good idea to fight and she looks too white for an Arabic person :/ Damian is ok I guess?) Do Ra’s want to “return” Jason when he will have his memories back or to use him against the batfamily? Jason should have been trained by Sensei for Dick to not recognize his fighting style.

- Brion really looks like Conner’s mentee with his clothes xD The parallel with the first trio (Robin, KF and Aqualad) Why are you breaking my heart like this? Except they did save Superboy when we don’t have intel of where Tara is :( Dick is still so sensitive when we talk about Wally :( And he looks so much like Batman now: same speech. Same situation, same result: another team is born! Poor Violet :( And the guy with the spiderweb tatoo could work with the Shadows? Or am I confusing with RWBY? xD 

3 episodes = 3 trio. I love it! :D I know we will have more scenes with the Outisders but I also need the other trios: more screetime with the Harperfamily (the bowfamily?) and the Team!  

I guess we will see the Batman Incorporation next week? Since we didn’t see them at all in 6 episodes. And more second season team would be great too, they only have one episode so far :( 

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Vol. 5 "Lighting the Fire"

This is a re-posting from Nov. 4th, 2017 in an effort to get all my recaps fully on tumblr. Thanks!

I would like to begin this review by extending a heartfelt apology to Yang Xiao Long. I should have never doubted her.

A few posts ago I mentioned how surprised I was that Yang would choose her Mom over Ruby, especially given her character short on top of an already single-minded personality. If there’s one thing that can be truly said to define Yang, it’s the love and protective streak she has for her sister. So I was thrilled at the reveal that this whole trip was essentially a strategic smokescreen. As Yang puts it bluntly: “I’m not here for you.” She’s always been heading towards Ruby. The only reason Yang is making this emotional pit-stop is because Raven can save her time.

We’ve known since the train that Raven can open portals, but until now it’s been up in the air whether that’s her semblance, something extra (like Qrow’s morphing ability), something that was bestowed on her, etc. Well, it turns out that first time’s the charm. Raven’s semblance allows her to bond to certain people—Yang, Tai, and Qrow—and form portals to their immediate location. Pretty nifty when you think about it, especially since Yang knows Qrow will have found Ruby by now. If she gets to Qrow, she gets to her sis. Except for the fact that Qrow is off looking for more huntsmen. Potential problem?) Still it’s a wonderful twist, especially since RWBY already has enough character arcs about kids trying to reconcile with their abusers. Given Yang’s headstrong nature, it just didn’t feel right for her to try and bond with a long-absent mom. Demand a favor though because “nothing is going to keep me from my sister”? Yeah. That’s Yang.

Not to say she hasn’t changed, of course. Though many are still uncomfortable with the way her PTSD is being written, I’m glad to see that this persistent shaking remains. Obviously not glad in the sense of, “Yay kids suffering!” but glad that we’re given acknowledgment that trauma has lasting effects and Yang will need to continue to work at her new life and against her new fears—things aren’t solved through one good crying session. We get to see her in a real fight for the first time since Beacon and, as many guessed, her new arm is outfitted with a gun to balance out the other half of Ember Celica, doubling as a decent shield in a pinch. It’s also notable that Yang’s style has changed a bit. Her movements are more controlled; graceful even, more like Weiss’ (and isn’t that something given the end of the episode). In short, Yang’s hand-to-hand has become more measured, as opposed to the ‘charge and hit as hard as you can’ technique that we saw pre-Volume 3. It makes sense, given that the last time Yang rushed in without thoroughly evaluating her opponent she lost that arm. Even her conversation is a little cooler. “Good to know, thanks.” This is a Yang that retains her confidence, but with less of the arrogant taunts. She’s growing up and though much of that growth stems from trauma, it’s still lovely to see.

Back in Haven training has begun. Ruby is… really not good at hand-to-hand. But she’s improving! This whole sequence is a study in excellent facial expressions, as two kids—both of whom are uncomfortable with this situation—attempt to beat each other up the old-fashioned way. The animation moves smoothly from comic fear to stubborn determination. Oscar actually manages to land a punch that knocks Ruby down and I laughed aloud at his frantic apology. He shouldn’t have lost focus. Ruby comes back with a swing of her own seconds later.

However, as usual there are significant details paired alongside these humorous scenes. After Oscar takes his hit Ozpin asks, “Mind if I give it a shot?” and immediately takes control. This is interesting, given that just last episode (only a day earlier?) Oscar had to focus and deliberately give up control to Ozpin. It took time. Now we don’t even get to see whether Oscar agrees to the switch—Ozpin is already there.

Now yes, they’re eventually meant to merge into one person, or at least share this body in a way reminiscent of that. That’s presumably the end goal (unless Shannon McCormick’s recent comments hint at something we don’t know yet). However, the fact that we see Ozpin’s power over Oscar in the same episode that Raven drops her cryptic comments brings back the theory that Ozpin isn’t quite as benevolent as we’d like to believe. The only true evidence for that (given his actual kind nature and the fact that Raven herself definitely can’t be trusted) is because that’s just how these stories go. Oh, I have no doubt that he’s doing things for “the right reasons,” but like Dumbledore and Gandalf before him, Ozpin’s quest to do what’s right for the world no doubt involves a great deal of sacrifice, complicating the morality there. If Raven considers Ruby a “lost cause” for so much as associating with Ozpin, that’s a pretty heavy implication--if we choose to believe her--that anyone near him will get chewed up and spit out by this war, regardless of what Ozpin might do to try and stop it. AKA, Pyrrha. Casualties are inevitable. (In fact, there’s a lot of potential similarities here between the corners Ozpin is backed into and Qrow’s semblance. For both, everyone around them suffers, regardless of intent). Ozpin’s screen-time this season has been just a little too lighthearted and his persona just a little too grandfatherly. I’m waiting for when these complications come back up and bite everyone on the ass, reminding them that they’re in the middle of a war. 

Anyone who spends five minutes with me in the RWBY fandom knows that Ozpin is my favorite and I’d like nothing more than for him to remain the wise, kindly headmaster figure indefinitely. I want him alongside Team RWBY to the very end. However, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Raven drops some very uncomfortable information about him next episode, the “truth” that she insists Yang and Weiss don’t know about yet. She could be referring to Ozpin’s cursed nature, but Raven has already admitted that she was once in his employ and can clearly never go back to that, so I suspect there’s far more to her discomfort than just a little reincarnation. Whether we believe her—whether that will be enough to turn the audience against Ozpin even more than they already are, especially when it’s coming from someone like Raven—we’ll have to wait and see. And no doubt all of this will tie back to Raven’s work in securing the Spring Maiden.

The implications of all this are still at least a week off though. For now the training session remains as happy as possible when you’re preparing to take down your world’s embodiment of evil. Ren has a lovely moment where he explains various theories on semblances: how they might be a reflection of your personality, or vice versa, or have no true connection to who you are at all. So basically... semblances could be anything. The magic structure keeps getting flimsier as time goes on. Regardless, Ruby confirms a long-held belief that her semblance came out during training one day (with Qrow?) and Nora was… struck by lightning. And survived. Good god this girl’s life is horrifying.

The big question then is: What is Jaune’s semblance? And what is Oscar’s? It honestly never occurred to me that he’d have a semblance of his own to unlock, rather than just inheriting something from Ozpin. In fact, what’s Ozpin’s semblance? Does he still have one? Or was it lost long ago after his first merge? I'd like to think that he has at least two at all times: his original semblance (or magic, perhaps) and whatever his host is capable of. I'd actually be interested in seeing an Ozpin who retains the semblances of every person he's merged with, but given that Cinder managed to kill him, I doubt we'll be seeing that kind of power. I suppose time manipulation is still a possibility given how that fight was animated, but again, I think we’d have already heard about such a powerful ability if that card was on the table. It's certainly not the curse itself… that was forced onto Ozpin by the Gods. So maybe—just maybe—Volume 5 will give us three semblance reveals instead of just one. And Ozpin’s comment that there are heights to achieve beyond just unlocking your semblance opens doors for power-ups within our main cast.  

This is actually a lot packed into the shortest episode of the Volume thus far and if you thought we were finished…

Weiss: “Your mom kidnapped me?”

Yang: “YOU KIDNAPPED HER?”

I nominate this as one of RWBY’s greatest moments. I honestly couldn’t have asked for more from their reunion. Harking back to last week’s episode, Weiss demonstrates that she really doesn’t need anyone to save her. Yes, she was still in that cage, but only because she was going for subtly and strategy over a brute-force escape plan. (Remember, that’s Yang’s territory.) When she sees that Yang is somehow here that plan goes straight out the window. One knight at full strength and Weiss has busted out of her prison, running to back up Yang in a very outnumbered fight.

RT knows when to cut things back though and reminding everyone that, ahem, the Grimm are still a formidable enemy was a smart move. Raven might not have any qualms about fighting family, but she won’t let that anger draw a whole horde of Grimm to her camp. She gives Myrtenaster back to Weiss and invites them inside for that talk.

But first we have this.

I love that Weiss hugged first. I love that she freely abandons Myrtenaster in hostile territory to do so. She never would have done that a year ago. They’ve been through so much though and the fact that she can freely say how much she missed Yang says heaps about her character development.

It’s a beautiful shot to end the episode on. And if you listen closely, there’s the sound of Freezerburn shippers sobbing happily in the distance…  

Other Details of Note

Raven’s bandit sitting waaaaay far back on Yang’s motorbike. Bet you ten lien he tried to wrap his arms around her waist and got another punch for his trouble.

The click of gears we hear as Yang stretches her arms. Nice touch there.

“I’m her daughter, after all.” There’s some of the taunting Yang we know and love.

Can’t say I was a fan of the music during the RJNR-Ozpin-Oscar chat scene. It felt… sitcom-ish? That’s not quite right, but too upbeat and noticeable for the moment. I shouldn’t be distracted from the conversation by whatever the music is doing.

I found Raven’s first greeting to Yang creepy in the extreme. You’re so strong and patient, doing everything you can to make your dream a reality. Talk about trying to butter someone up when you don’t actually know anything about that person. Raven’s attempts at welcoming Yang ring so false that it just hits home how estranged they are.

We've had a lot of 'crane shots' (for lack of a better word) this Volume: during Salem's conversation with Lionheart, before Sienna's assassination, now as Yang confronts her mother. I'm not sure what exactly to make of this yet, only that it's been a frequent technique the last few episodes and has definitely caught my attention.

[shippingk8]

An argument for Freezerburn (Part 1) - Connections and Parallels

As the Freezerburn ship has been gaining more steam @toomuchfreetyme2 and myself have decided to put out there our long running argument for a Weiss and Yang pairing. (For recent and die hard shippers, or just anyone who likes to read a good RWBY theory)

Disclaimer: This argument is not us saying that we don’t like or think bumblebee isn’t a viable ship or relationship. It has it’s own song, sooo yeah…. not really wanting to go there. Nor can anyone but the writers say whether any of the three are queer or are even interested in each other. This is just us making a case for a ship. So if you’re just here to defend your favorite ship, troll, or hate the freezerburn ship, then move along this post isn’t for you. (Warning minor V5 spoilers)

It makes for a better story

1. A love triangle with Blake, Yang, and Weiss would add more drama and complications. Thus providing the writers with a potentially more interesting story to tell. This would not exclude the possibility of a Bumblebee relationship, but would create more obstacles for either pairing to overcome. If you want to argue that RWBY isn’t a love drama that is a fair point, but this could be a series long undercurrent in the story that gets resolved towards the end. We are fans of the slow burn romance anyhow. *cough* “Recovery” fanfic *cough cough* Shameless plug aside, it is sort of unavoidable that as they grow up some of them will want to take romantic partners. IF the advancement of years in the story keeps the same pace then eventually they will be in their mid-twenties by the time all of this wraps up. It would be odd if most of them didn’t end up in a relationship of some sort after that much time, whether that would be a short thing or a more sustained relationship.

2. Additionally, a love triangle would involve the whole team. If Blake and Yang end up being a thing then that is a single love interest. Obviously there would be turmoil that the two would have to work through, but that would mainly be dealt with through those two specific characters. Ruby and Weiss would probably put in their two sense or be a shoulder to cry on, but otherwise it would be mostly a Blake/Yang problem. If Weiss was thrown into the romantic mix then that would cause even more conflict. To the point that, as the leader, Ruby would have to do something. In addition it would be her sister and her partner/best friend potentially being involved, which would be a lot more awkward for her than just having to deal with it being with another member of her team. 

3. It is a great Team STRQ parallel. As far as parallels go, the colors and personalities (as far as we know) match up really well. Yang (yellow) is obviously Taiyang who had a relationship with Summer and Raven. Blake (black) is obviously Raven with their similar tactic of runny away and being the quite literal dark and brooding types. We could even use Blake’s association to the White Fang and her sense of duty and responsibility towards the organization as a very direct parallel to Raven’s loyalty to her bandit tribe. We are pairing Ruby and Qrow, no not Ruby and her mom, sorry it seems a bit too on the nose for us and doesn’t seem to work for multiple reasons. The main one being that as time has gone on we have seen just how similar Ruby is to Qrow, in addition to the fact that she sees him as her mentor. This is an instance of their colors not matching up directly, but there is a similarity in the color scheme used in their character designs. Ruby being dressed in reds, blacks and dark greys. Qrow has light Grey, but also implements black and red in his outfit. Design aside, Ruby even has the same very rare weapon type as her uncle. That would leave Weiss’s parallel to be Summer (White). We don’t know a lot about Summer, but it would make the most sense. While we don’t know how Taiyang and Summer ended up together, we can make some logical assumptions from the context given. It is most likely that Winter was always there for Taiyang and had feelings for him, and when Raven left Tai finally realized what Summer meant to him. We do also know that Yang calls Summer super mom, she baked cookies and was really great mom, but also was an expert huntress. Sounds like a certain heiress that usually has to be perfect at everything and wants to be a huntress and an heiress at the same time, yet still cares about their group like a family even though she isn’t the leader who has the job of keeping everyone together. A final thought on the parallels (a big assumption, but interesting nonetheless), Tai and Summer were probably the only two not lone wolfing it in team STRQ. Ruby and Blake are always going off on her own, much like we imagine a young Qrow and Raven might have been. 

4. Lastly, it is almost weird how often Weiss and Yang always seem to end up paired together. Volume 1 they were together for hours off screen while they were searching for Blake. Volume 2 they were together for, again, many hours as they planned the dance together. Volume 3 they would have had to have spent lots of extra time together as they trained for the doubles match. And finally in Volume 5, who are the first two of team RWBY to meet back up again? Weiss and Yang. It’s like the writers can’t stop pairing them up off screen. And I feel like all this time together has started to show. In Volume 5 Weiss has had quite a bit of physical contact and familiarity with Yang. It is yet to be seen if this will be extended to the rest of the crew, but it is interesting coming from the ‘ice queen’ of the group.

Opposite Attract (Yin and “Yang”)

1. There is the Opposites Attract trope, which in itself is a fun trope. However the show itself not only uses this trope in a lot of their on screen relationships, but uses the theme of opposites and balance a lot. We have the gods of light and dark, the classic battle of good and evil, humanity versus monsters, even nature vs technology. The theme even follows into our traditionally paired characters: Arkos had the bad ass and… well Juane. We have Raven, the kickass and stubborn bandit queen who can literally teleport across the the globe with Tai the maternal cargo-pants dad that seems to stay stuck in one place. The most blatant one is Ren and Nora, the zen ninja that can cast “Calm Emotions”, and Nora the ‘charged up’ and hyper warrior/tank. So the argument and theme of opposites is an important one, and even more so is the balance the two are supposed to achieve. 

2.  Weiss and Yang are very stereotypical opposites, but also have many subtle similarities. This argument could and has been made for Blake and Yang already, but the Weiss and Yang pairing takes it to a pretty clear cut and tropie level. Which feels fitting for the show.

3. Opposites - They are literally fire and ice, warm and cold temperaments on the surface, common and upper class, street smart and academic, happy but nontraditional close family and unhappy distant nuclear family, open minded and close minded (initially), happy-go-lucky and tsundere.

4. Commonalities - stubborn, loyal, expert/ best fighters on their team due to rigorous training, have an unknown or unreachable path but just want to be fighters. They’re also very maternal, but in opposite ways. Where Yang is encouraging and doting, Weiss is quick to pick up on her team mate’s issues and force them to address the problem. (Ex: Blake in Vol. 2 and in Vol. 5 with Yang)

5. In our opinion this lends itself to the two being a very interesting couple. Bumblebee has a claim on this argument as well; the ‘opposites attract trope,’ but Freezerburn’s claim is just as good.

Internal Issues (Psychological Trauma)

1. Weiss has been and would probably always be there for Yang. When she saw Yang in danger during the doubles match she threw herself into a lava geyser. Despite witnessing Yang attack Mercury she immediately and fervently defended her saying, “Yang would never do that!” Finally in a recent episodes we have seen Weiss be openly affectionate and supportive of Yang and the things she is dealing with. Blake is hurt and frankly traumatized by Adam. She sees the similarities between him and Yang: They’re both charismatic, popular, have similar abilities, and quick to anger. It would be odd for her character not to notice these things, like she did. But it also makes it difficult (not impossible) for her to build true trust with Yang. 

2. Which leads to the goliath in the room, Yang clearly has abandonment issues. This means that she would do best with someone who is consistent and maybe even overly protective and caring. And not to harsh on Blake, but as they have written her so far, she is very much NOT that. She is, well… a cat. She comes and goes and her affection while there is not always glaringly obvious. This isn’t to say that a Blake and Yang pairing couldn’t work things out. But it would be rather ignorant to think that after all the times Blake has left, Yang wouldn’t always be waiting for the shoe to drop, in some corner of her mind. Again we are not saying that it would be impossible for them to work through that, but given Yang’s history and the way that Blake left it would take time to build back up such a seriously damaged trust.

Relationship Equality

1. The only person to benefit in the bumblebee relationship, SO FAR, has been Blake. Time and again Yang has been there to support Blake and try to protect her, but the opposite can’t be said. When Yang was accused of misconduct she said, “I WANT to trust you.” And it wasn’t till the rest of her team spoke in her defense, and Yang almost crying in front of her, that she said she would. When Yang was at her lowest most vulnerable point, and had lost a limb because she was trying to save her partner, Blake left. I get that leaving is sort of Blake’s thing for right now, but she didn’t even leave a note or a message with anyone. She just straight up bolted. Now in fairness to Blake she had just seen someone (potentially romantically) close to her almost get killed by her abusive ex-partner. She was placed in a worst case nightmare scenario, and because of that she fell back on her instincts and ran away. She has openly stated that she regrets her choices, and that she wanted to keep the rest of her team safe. Given what Adam wants to do to Blake this volume…. she might not have been all that wrong. (Still a note would have been nice.)

2. Weiss and Yang are likely to have a stable and equal relationship. Yang needs someone consistent and almost overly caring, and Weiss needs someone less uptight than her cold family that is patient and warm enough to break down her walls. They are also both stubborn enough that they would call each other out on their shit all the time… mostly in a good way. Lastly they have been seen to have a close bond and Weiss has been quiet supportive towards Yang throughout, while Yang has been patient with Weiss while she learns to be a better person.

End Game

1. If we use foreshadowing, it would seem like Blake will end up being the new leader of the White Fang, Weiss will end up running the SDC, and Ruby and Yang will most likely be huntresses and/or teachers at a school. Blake being a leader would keep her away from combat and adventure most of the time, and to that end I don’t think Blake actually enjoys fighting all that much. 

I will admit that a Yang and Blake pairing would send a great message about equality between the races. But if Blake were the leader of the White Fang it would mean that either Yang would have to be okay being stuck by Blake’s side during political meeting and bureaucracy, or that Yang would go off on missions and not be around all that much. Given what we know about Yang I don’t know that either of those would be what she would want, but we could be wrong. Now you might say Weiss would be in the same exact boat. But we would point out that her grandfather ran the SDC and was out discovering new dust mines all the time, and Weiss has more than once said that she wanted to restore her family name by being a huntress. Meaning she would probably jump at every single opportunity to get out the office and go kill some grimm and restore the honor of her family’s name by being with the people instead of lording power over them. Which in our opinion would make Yang a great distraction… sorry we meant partner in crime, lol. So even if Weiss did have to ‘run’ the company and sit in board meetings, we feel like Yang would be there to knock on the window and say, “It’s time for a little adventure princess.”

So that is our argument. Take it or leave it, but since there are so many people that have been jumping on the Freezerburn ship lately we thought we would put our long running discussion out there. We hope it sparked some thoughts or spurs some discussions, but mostly we just hope you enjoyed it.

Other Freezerburn Theories & Things

An Argument for Freezerburn Part 2

Is Freezerburn the untapped Korrasami of RWBY?

Freezerburn Volume 4 Fan Fiction - Recovery

Freezerburn AU Fan Fiction - A Business Proposal 

Freezerburn Drabbles

Freezerburn Ship Meme

RWBY Gay Alignment Chart

***Team STRQ and Team RWBY photos were obtained from the RWBY Wiki website. (cropped and edited together by author)

[primordialwhale]

top 5!! favorite plot/backstory/etc things u have for ocs! talk 2 me abt yr ocs gimme some stuff yr proud of!

gOD so much of my OC stuff is just self indulgent garbage that its so ??? different to be lookin at it from a “hm what am i PROUD of” lens but!! Im gonna try!!! or at least just fucking info dump about ocs a lot!!!

OH BOY THIS GOT LONG IM SO SORRY I CANNOT SHUT UP AND ALSO I HAVE A LOT OF BACKSTORY FOR THINGS

1.

 ok this is so homebrewed bc fuck canon D&D lore but: the Backstory for my PC Ki’ae is that they WERE a part of vecnas cult via familial ties (their mother was a Thought of Vecna which is kinda like a high priest) and was a part of an attack on the Raven Queen’s domain.

 When they were slain by the RQ’s army She revived them and put their soul into the body of a Shadar-Kai and let them live again if they would devote their life to atoning for what they’ve done and become one of the people who fight against anyone who uses magic and necromancy magic for evil like Vecna. 

2.

 Uh my OC aaron was in, and got kicked out of a band when he was younger and that’s always a really fun dynamic to play with fjgkjhjdlfkg. he’s also my biggest like “bitch u were shitty and mentally ill and now u gONNA GET BETTER MOTHERFUCKER” oc so thats ALSO really fun to play with. Recovery btich!!! hell yeah!!!!

3. 

idk if proud is the word for it but one oc I had literally started as a joke. 

ok so there’s a lot of world backstory bc uhhh my partner and I literally just fckIN made an entire universe (that started out as the rwby universe and then our own ideas took over and basically the only similar things are uhhh names for stuff)

 but anyway basically there’s this fucking world wide crime ring (fucking everyone is criminals and its great) and in each kingdom there’s like a group of like 3-5 crime bosses that have territory split up in each kingdom 

but like we made this system b4 we made enough characters to fill in the gaps so we’d just fucking give some fucker a name and some shitty personality whenever they’d come up and this motherfucker started off as like a peridot from SU rip off 

and then a couple months later this bitch has a whole backstory of basically being “hired” by an evil crime boss as a teenager and being turned into evil crime bosses like secret special task force with a couple other kids. ended up as said crime boss’s second in command at some point. ended up being a boss himself. Bitch has a BOYFRIEND at some point is TRANS AS FUCK and MANY SIBLINGS. and I LOVE HIM. 

4. 

oh another one where things didn’t turn out as originally planned (this happens a lot) I made an oc, nila, to just kinda be a bg chara for my partner’s crime boss character 

and he was gonna be a bit of a dick and like hated everything and his job, but then we started doin rps with them and now he’s a big buff bi softy who is lowkey highkey in love with his boss and will literally die for her and almost does a few times 

and he had a boyfriend in the past and shit went tits up bc said boyfriend worked for the evil boss mentioned in the last number and like everything got messed up and they don’t talk for years bc Nila thinks Star (boyfriend) is dead after Star broke up with him but they kinda end up meeting back up in the future and dealing with their shit and they don’t get back together or anything but they’re best friends again. 

He’s actually another good like Recovery Is Great character bc after shit went down with Star he like uhhhhh got real fucked up but gets help and gets better and is a better person again and yknow life aint perfect and neither is he but its better and he can deal with thins better and its awesome.

He also used to be an assassin so thats neat. Now he’s just a second and a body guard for a crime boss he ends up smooching. 

5. 

Ok so like one of the first “started as a rwby oc and then whoops oh god things got out of hand” oc was Alizarin and i love her so much

so she ALSO started out as a character that was gonna be a lot like bitchier and meaner than she ended up. She’s the leader of team ABRN (and i’m still so mad that there’s a canon team ABRN now bc bitch I did it first) but anyway

she lived in a faunus only village outside of one of the kingdoms and then when she was 11 they kept getting suspicions and reports that their village was gonna get attacked and was asking for help from the military but they didn’t get it and the village was destroyed and she only got out by playing dead and then running. And she was living on the streets of the kingdom b4 this guy (fenris one of my partners ocs) kinda took her in and was her mentor for a while but then he disappeared and she was back on the streets 

but then she got saved and picked up by this older girl named ciel (and here’s where some trauma projecting comes in hewwo) but she was like fucking terrible and forced Al to become like big bag mercenaries with her and they’d manipulate and kill people and had like a Reputation™ (codenames Blackfoot and Kitsune) 

But she took a job one day that was getting info from a new boss that had popped up in another kingdom and that job actually went tits up but said boss was looking into her to like track her down and ended up finding out that yknow everything wasn’t really her idea she’s just following that fucker blackfoot so the boss, dym, gives her an option to leave blackfoot and join her and so she does and like after a long time of uhhhh learning to trust each other, Al, Dym and Dym’s second, mosquito (mo for short) end up being like Big Found Family.

And Al ends up going to school to be a huntress and she makes FRIENDS with her TEAM and she gets a GIRLFRIEND who’s actually ANOTHER crime boss and they’re HAPPY and CUTE and its GREAT. And she also finds out that her sister and kind of adopted brother are still alive and THATS great and i love it. 

[citrusandbergamot]

you know, for such an amazing and fun-loving and quirky show, the RWBY fandom seems anything but. 

people’s reaction to stuff is so extreme. it’s not even discussions on headcanons, it’s outright righteousness. and...a lack of appreciation of characters having very flawed (re: human) reactions to stuff. 

I am really flabbergasted at the hatred directed towards team RWBY and JNR for how they’ve handled the big lore reveal. To be honest, it would have felt extremely false if everyone had been hunky-dory with Oz’s  secrets. His hair is legit full of big and important secrets and like, everything, absolutely everything has changed. Both teams have gone through hell and they have to reconcile their core beliefs and their understanding of the world to this new information. That’s not going to be easy. It hasn’t been easy. It’s been pretty ugly so far. 

That’s not a bad thing? It’s probably actually a good thing because it makes everything about the world more complex. It makes the characters more complex. It’s makes them more human. 

In some post, somewhere, about this subject, said ‘realism is bad storytelling’. And just like....what? What? 

No like, seriously, what the actual. You think that conflict and angst and doubt is only generated by the bad guys? That...it should only come from the bad guys? How...how boring is that. Oh my god, people. You know, this is why I hate most normal AUs, like coffee shop AUs, because no one ever misunderstands each other. No one ever says less than they mean. No one accidentally hurts someone. No one purposefully hurts someone. Everything’s fucking perfect all the time.

It all feels so goddamn false. Like using big spoonfuls of splenda instead of sugar, it just sticks in the back of my mouth and makes my teeth sore. I want characters who have to make up for something. I want characters who have to change. I want characters who refuse to change and how it changes the way people interact with them. I don’t care for stories about people never having doubt, never saying the wrong thing in anger, never lashing out first in order to protect themselves. It’s not pretty and it’s not easy, but it’s distinctly human. Like, I read a fic yesterday and there was self-hatred and tons of angst but everyone just...said what they meant, all the time. Everyone on the side of the angels was just like, oh yeah, this is what the plot needs to do, I have no other motivation other than helping it along. I’m going to say the right thing at the right time, always. The secondary characters had no drive or thoughts of their own. No doubts, no mistrust. No challenge. No growth. No life. 

The RWBY characters have gone through a lot. They’re not children any more. They’re not students. This season, and this reveal especially and everything that’s happened afterwards, has really propelled them into positions of authority within the world itself. They’re always been the main characters to the viewer, but now they are major players to people like Oz, Salem, Ironwood, Qrow. It is extremely important, in terms of the story, that team RWBY JNR have made the decision to keep going, to keep fighting with this knowledge. They no longer trust the adults to fix their problems. And they will hold the adults accountable for their actions. And that includes Oz. 

I mean, I love a broken character more than anything in life and Oz is as broken as they come. What Oz has been doing all these years/lifetimes is not enough. It’s not working. Clearly, it’s not working. Him keeping all that shit and trauma and whatnot inside is not working and people keep dying. The information/backstory had to come out, and they had to trust that they got the whole truth. 

Plus, there’s the fact that they don’t really interact with Oz on a personal level? They never have? I’m not surprised they didn’t offer comfort in the direct aftermath or since. This is ‘please ignore the man behind the curtain’ tipping point. This is the ‘whole damn saviour ideal is a lie’. There is no wizard, there never was. The great and powerful Oz is just a conman. This was always going to happen. This reveal was integral to Oz’s character and the plot, not just for backstory and lore but in how the main characters interact with him and with the world (re: Salem and the Grimm). Oz was their teacher and leader and saviour - literally more of a concept. He has never been on equal footing with any of them. How do you bridge that gap while still acknowledging how betrayed everyone feels? 

You don’t. You wait til the next volume. Cause you know who’s going to be in the next volume? General Ironwood!! Oz’s equal ...ish. But more importantly, a man who knew Oz’s secret. He and Glynda knew and they both knew that Qrow didn’t (rewatch season 2 if you don’t believe me). There’s going to be some comeuppance there. On a narrative level, it makes sense to push that emotional fallout until the story has someone on equal footing to Oz. Someone who clearly disagrees with Oz but still respects him, someone who can challenge both Oz and RWBY JNR and get them dealing with each other.

Oz has retreated at the moment because it makes sense, character-wise and narrative-wise. What’s more, Oz has been retreating for a long goddamn time. I think that Oz has been going through the motions. I think it’s been too long. I think too many people have died. I think he’s stopped believing that there will be an end to this horrific cycle. Ruby is the catalyst that will change his opinion on that. But it’s going to take a long time for Oz to listen to her and to confront himself. And not just because of the ...what are people calling it, abuse? of RWBY asking that question of Jinn. Oz does not trust people. The Jinn thing didn’t help but Oz was never going to trust them anyway. He was keeping his secrets to protect them, yes, but mostly to protect himself. 

But that’s going to change. Ruby is going to be the catalyst for that change. Oz is going to learn to trust them. But the story had to get through this first. Oz was never going to tell them. In another kind of story, RWBY would have gotten the truth from Salem. The bad guy taunts the good guys with the truth, blah blah blah, that story is so overdone, I’m really glad they’ve skipped it here. They don’t trust Oz at the moment, but they trust that they know what he’s been hiding from them AND the manner of the reveal and the horrific nature of what they saw is going to engender sympathy and compassion, once RWBY and JNR and Qrow actually step back from their hurt and betrayal. But that takes time. You may not like it, cause apparently people want stories to be super simple and full of characters who always do the right thing? 

Lol, yeah, okay

Realism is not a dirty word. Anger and hurt and bitterness are human emotions and certain characters have them in spades (Yang, Qrow, Jaune, Raven). It makes them more interesting. It gives them growth, something to overcome. Remember what Yang was like pre-season 3? She’s a different person now because of what she went through. Her zeal and optimism have been altered, permanently. She’s super depressed. Of course she’s going to be angry. She’s gotta learn to deal with that anger because she’s been angry since the Vytal festival. I would have been shocked if Yang had learned Oz’s secrets and been like, oh man, I’m no longer angry at you and the world because clearly you’re traumatized and you need a hug. Yang’s....not really that kind of person. But she’s not done yet working through her shit. She takes a while to process stuff remember. And there has been a fuckton of shit and her family is tied up in half of it.  

We’re going to get STRQ backstory or I’m going to start taking hostages. There’s some hell to pay there. Summer dead, Taiyang clearly not interacting with Oz at all if he can help it. Qrow left in the dark and drowning in alcohol, and Raven. Raven, who turned her back on Oz. Gee, I wonder why? 

Oz has very good reasons for keeping his mouth shut but people are still getting hurt. And trust is a two-way street. 

As for RWBY JNR reactions being extremely or ...mean? Abusive? Whatever it’s being called?  People are going to argue and feel hurt when they find out they’ve been lied to. The person doing the lying might have really good reasons to do so but that still doesn’t mean everyone will be okay with it right away. Characters are supposed to be complex. They’re supposed to struggle and make mistakes and react with emotions first and logic second. The way the emotional arc feels to us is not the same as it feels to the characters in the show. You know when you find out something and it shakes the very foundation of your trust in that person? Was it super easy to immediately go, oh no, it’s okay that you lied and manipulated me because you had your reasons? Can you shut off the hurt and the anger like flipping a switch? Haven’t you ever gotten pissed at somebody you love because you misunderstood something and still felt pissed later, even after the misunderstanding was cleared up? 

Emotions aren’t always rational. We don’t always react the way that we should have, the way that we would have, if we had been a little calmer. And there was nothing in that reveal that was calm inducing. All the information about Oz’s traumatic history probably paled in comparison to the reveal about the nature of the fight with Salem. As a viewer, and one who likes angst at that, the whole thing made Oz into my new favourite because aaaaaaangst and trauma are my bread and butter. But to the characters, in-universe? 

Yeah. Pretty sure the biggest takeaway was ‘okay, everything you do or have ever done is futile, so you’ve all suffered for nothing, kthanks.’

Of course they’re pissed. 

If they had just been super okay with everything from the get go, it would have been false. These characters have gone through some shit and they’ve had their whole understanding of the world turned upside down. Of course that’s going to affect them.

The fallout with Oz since the reveal makes sense, on an emotional narrative and pacing level and on a character level. They’re all going to grow from this and become stronger. Oz is going to find some peace, I just know he is. 

this is going to be what breaks the cycle. They’re going to have to confront Oz eventually. I think the reason why they haven’t rehashed any part of the fallout yet is because they want to tackle that in a completely different volume. It’s taken them 3 volumes to finally work through JNR’s issues post volume 3. The impact of that JNR scene with the statue in volume 6 would have been cheapened if the characters hadn’t been struggling with the thought of giving up, post-reveal. And that scene is probably one of the best in the whole series. Emotionally, it’s the most mature thing they’ve ever done. Would it have had the same resonance if they’d all been super okay with Oz? And been like, we’re here for you buddy, our hopes and dreams were based on lies this whole time and our friends died for nothing and we’re all probably going to die too but that’s super okay because your ex is an abusive psycho and you’re incredibly broken inside. Let’s all cuddle. 

Like, fuck that. Give me characters who are going to stand on their own two feet, who are afraid and powerless but unwilling to back down, who know they have no hope of winning but continue to fight nonetheless. Who’ll stare into the abyss with eyes unflinching, strength built upon truth, not falsehood. Because they must. Because it’s right. Because they are the only ones who can. 

I can’t be the only one who sees it, right? That this was necessary? For the characters to grow into real hunters? For them to truly be the change in the world? For RWBY to enter endgame? 

They’re going to break the cycle wide open. They had to have this knowledge and they have to come to terms with it. They have to find it in themselves to keep going. They’re going to prove Oz wrong, that people can learn the truth and still keep fighting. It’s not fate or destiny. It’s choice. 

I’ve been thinking about Pyrrha’s ‘do you believe in destiny’ line a lot while writing this. Because I didn’t get it for a super long time. Did she feel like she had to agree, because her life had been leading to the destiny of being the Fall Maiden? All that fighting ability, all that heart. It’s always bothered me that it implied it was her destiny to die like that, that the whole thing was inevitable. And with the reveal, futile.

(What’s in a name, right? Oh Pyrrha, Pyrrha, I’ll never be over you.)

But it wasn’t destiny. It was choice. That’s what makes that scene so goddamn beautiful. It was Pyrrha’s choice and finally acknowledging that has resolved 3 seasons worth of emotional tension. JNR has been so grief-stricken it’s been painful to watch. But necessary. So goddamn necessary. Otherwise, what’s the point of killing characters off? What’s the point of trauma if it can just be swept under a rug and forgotten about and the characters all reset to their base personalities? If reactions are all the same and characters interchangeable? I suuuuuuper don’t care for stories where characters stay exactly the same. I want it to mean something. I want them to struggle. I want them to have to make the choice between what is right and what is easy.

That’s what the characters are doing. They’re making a choice. Oz is super good at taking choices away from people. It’s not necessarily his fault but intentions are not the same as end result. That’s because it’s destiny but the cycle will never break that way. 

RWBY JNR and Qrow have to take their own actions separate from Oz’s machinations. It’s the only way they can win. This is what the narrative had to do. It’s not pretty at the moment but it’s going to be so much more satisfying in the end. They’re wounded, they all are. We have to feel how deep those wounds are to appreciate how they can heal. 

It’s choice. If was easy, what would be the point? 

(My god I love Oz so very, very much. His trauma reminds me a lot of Sam Winchester. And like Sam, the people around him are pretty judgmental of his past mistakes. It may be uncomfortable or aggravating to watch as a viewer because the punishment is widely disproportionate to the crime but. Like, of course Dean is going to act that way? He’s his own character, who is never going to be objective about Sam and Sam’s actions. It also generates a fuckton of self-hatred and angst for BOTH characters AND makes the moments where working together outweighs any interpersonal strife (eg: Dean stabbing Zachariah in season 5). That moment is sweet as fuck. Where the hell would the conflict have been that whole season if Dean had just been super okay with Sam opening the Cage? We knew he didn’t mean to. We knew Cas was the one who let him out. We knew the angels fucked over the voicemail. We knew Dean was being unfairly, disproportionately angry. We knew Dean had been the one to open the first seal. 

We knew Dean was being unreasonable and cruel. It made for a frustrating season. A whole season! Of characters being mean and sure, abusive.

So what.

No, seriously, so fucking what? It’s a great season. It’s the season that keeps on giving, in terms of Sam Winchester angst. I mean, post-Cage is where all the fun horror is, but Sam being isolated and filled with self-loathing and guilt, visited in his dreams by the biggest bad of all? They’re Made For Each Other. Egads, that’s some good shit right there. 

Can you imagine if Dean had just been....well, not-Dean about it? If he’d been some smol, soft, uwu boy who’d forgiven Sam immediately? Sam is so frigging heartfelt, he tries so hard. How could anyone not forgive him? (aaaah, the endless meta about Sam and forgiveness, Chuck in heaven, that’s som good shit). Not-Dean would have been the perfect, understanding brother. Not-Dean possibly would have comforted Sam during his various, horrifying withdrawals (goddammit Dean) but . That’s...not who the character is. That’s not how Dean was going to react. And what about all the angst? Where would that have come from? Where would those fantastic eps be of Dean losing faith? Sam trying to hold himself together because he is literally the one who never gives up and being scrapped down to nothing, over and over again because of it? And the resolution of all that? That their love for each other is beyond any hurt or betrayal or doubt they’ve caused each other. That’s...that’s good story telling. It’s fucked up and imperfect and there is some goddamn meat on it to sink into.) 

Stop sanitizing stories. Especially when the imperfect reactions are literally the driving force of the emotional narrative. 

Ugh. 

(Sam Winchester/Ozpin is now my favourite crack ship and I literally have half story mapped out in the time it’s taken me to write this rant, don’t @ me

traumatized playthings of immortal bad guys with a side order of identity/possession issues? caught between destiny and a hard place, with nothing but more trauma and pain to look forward to? two beings in the wasteland, suffering beyond endurance, without end, because giving up isn’t an option? 

yeah baby. oh freaking yeah.  

ship song: apres moi le deluge by Regina Spektor: I must go on standing, you can’t break that which isn’t yours, I must go on standing, it’s not my own, it’s not my choice

 yaaaaaaaas)