#had marcoh died then they never would have deciphered the notes or captured envy and heinkel would have died against pride and kimblee

[constantvariations]

Hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby 2: electric boogaloo

Something that will never not astound me about Full Metal Alchemist is just how tight the story is. Every scene and every character serves the story, which in turn serves the characters. There's no fluff, no detours, and no excess in cast, plot, or exposition

This comes into hyperfocus in the lead up to and on the Promised Day. Every character we've seen thus far, be they main, side, or support, has a role to play and their own reason for doing so. Each has a hand in saving the world

Even Yoki, the bumbling, self-serving comic relief, gets a moment in the spotlight when he hits Pride with a car to save Marcoh, Heinkel, and Alphonse. The best part? Despite it being a genuinely comedic moment in the midst of devestation, it doesn't destroy the tone. Not only has Yoki been a consistently silly character, but it's done in a way that serves the plot without overtaking it for the bit. That's such an incredibly tight line to walk and Arakawa walks it beautifully

Hard to say any of that about RWBY. It's extremely obvious the writers are flying by the seat of their pants towards a vast sea of nothing. That's why their characters and themes and general everything seems scattered and disconnected. Because it is. They don't know where they're going or even where they've been, so nothing is ever going to line up the way a proper story should

RWBY's story never serves the characters the way it should, and the writers are willing to break characters to force them into a role they were never meant to be in. Look no further than Weiss in V9, assigned comedic relief despite recent events, or Yang's weirdass optimism inside the whale during V8. These instances are so jarring because these characters have not been silly or optimistic since Beacon fell, and they're in the show to just... be there. Neither V8 nor V9 benefitted from these scenes, and you can pluck them out with no consequences. Hell, there'd be an improvement through lack of bathos

While both FMA and RWBY are large scale action stories, only one actually knows how to handle it