#i turn into a different person when rwbys airing i feel like

[peridotite]

rwby is back which means its time to think up bumbleby scenarios that are absolutely not going to happen. such as

parallel to v2 in which yang can't sleep and we get "blake, are you awake?" and yang talks about how thinking all this time she was dead one of her regrets was not telling blake how she felt. and she starts "i l--" before blake reaches over and kisses her (bc you know they'd be sleeping as close to each other as possible since the separation anxiety is through the roof). then goes "i know. me too" and they kiss again. wouldn't that be nice

[anthurak]

Random Old Theories/Headcannons: Wyrd RWBY

So those who have been following me for the last few years might recall that prior to us actually knowing anything about Volume 9, some of my theory posts touched on Team RWBY returning to Remnant changed by their time in this mystical realm beyond their own, wielding weird and strange powers.

Anyway, this is a WIP from a couple years back that went into some fun ideas for these changes for ‘Wyrd RWBY’ that I thought I’d touch up and finally post.

Enjoy XD

---

Yang doesn’t seem much different at first. Just that her hair seems to be a bit wavier than before, like she’s using her semblance all the time now. And the air around her always seems to be at least a few degrees warmer. But then you start noticing other things. Like how sometimes her right arm isn’t made of metal and circuits but instead wreathed in some kind of tangible flame. Or how the fingernails on Yang’s left arm now look more like claws. Or how when Yang’s eyes turn red, they now also become slitted like the eyes of a lizard. Or the golden flakes that now dot Yang’s exposed skin. Flakes that will sometimes spread. Sometimes they spread so much they look more like golden scales. Yang always laughs this off. Which is also when you can see that her teeth are quite a bit larger, and sharper than you remember.

Blake herself isn’t the one who seems different at first. It’s her shadow. Like how it often moves independent of Blake. Or is somehow able to grab things for Blake. Sometimes you’ll see Blake’s shadow moving along a wall with Blake herself nowhere in sight. Sometimes Blake’s shadow won’t look like Blake at all, but rather some manner of very large cat. And sometimes you’ll see a large black cat wandering the back allies with the shadow of a person.

Weiss… where to begin with Weiss? First off, you wouldn’t expect a girl like Weiss to be into tattoos, but now Weiss seems to be covered in them. On almost every bit of visible skin, Weiss has these strange, arcane symbols, glyphs and runes. They tend to glow whenever Weiss uses her semblance. Speaking of which, you know that the Schnee semblance is versatile to say the least, but you’re pretty sure they at least needed to dust to do some of their crazier feats.

What Weiss is doing feels less like a semblance and more like actual magic.

Then there’s Weiss’s Grimm. Not Grimm like everyone knows. No one would mistake these creatures for the Grimm that humanity fears. With their bodies and fur the color of freshly fallen snow and icy blue eyes. You’ve seen Winter and Willow Schnee summon ‘white’ Grimm before, but the creatures that Weiss calls to her side seem so much more tangible. Not some construct of aura that will vanish as soon as its mistress stops focusing on it, but something REAL. And there’s always at least one or two with Weiss wherever she goes, sometimes more.

And Ruby? Well, let’s just say the fact that she somehow has wolf ears and an eye-patch are probably the least weird things about her now.

Like how her silver eyes were always unique, but now it seems they often glint and shimmer and otherwise catch the light in ways eyes don’t. Even when there isn’t any light for them to catch…

Ruby also uses her semblance more. A lot more. As in, unless she’s accompanying someone else, you can expect her to enter a room not through a door, but via a trickle of rose-petals blowing in through an open window. Or a vent. Or just appearing out of basically nowhere.

In fact, it seems like there are always a few petals flaking off of Ruby’s cloak, only to vanish before they even hit the ground.

And it feels like any time Ruby might be struck or otherwise injured, her semblance will activate.

You remember one time when Nora tried to give Ruby an affectionate punch to the arm, only for her fist to travel through the arm as it suddenly burst into petals before reforming a moment later.

Come to think of it, you’re pretty sure you haven’t seen anyone actually TOUCH Ruby. Aside from her teammates…

Speaking of which, Team RWBY together brings even more strangeness.

Like how they’ll sometimes speak amongst themselves in a strange language that sounds more like a whistling breeze or a crackling flame than anything someone might actually speak with.

Or how they will sometimes move and act together without need for words at all. And that’s just the least of it…

Like you’re pretty sure you’ve seen Blake’s golden eyes flash just a bit when Yang uses her semblance. Or Yang’s violet eyes shimmer when Blake uses hers. Or how Yang’s semblance now creates a fiery, shadow-like afterimage of herself that looks a bit more like Blake than her. Or times when Blake will gain some sudden burst of strength while fighting that causes her hair to start flickering like a flame.

Meanwhile you’re pretty sure you’ve seen some of Weiss’s runic tattoos briefly appear on Ruby’s skin, or the edges of Weiss’s hair briefly turn red. And there was that one time Ruby and Weiss went out to save a group of incoming refugees being attacked by a horde of grimm, yet those same refugees swear they were saved by a mysterious woman in red and white.

Oh, and there’s also Ruby’s new pet mouse who actually seems pretty normal. Aside from the fact that some people are saying the mouse talks.

But that’s just silly!

[bestworstcase]

This is probably outside of your purview, but do you think the fights in RWBY have gotten worse, or just different from what came before?

i think there has been a shift away from tightly-choreographed showcase fights toward a more naturalistic approach prioritizing setting and character over rhythm and composition. whether or not this is aesthetically preferable is a matter of taste, but it is absolutely to the benefit of the narrative as a whole.

there’s this beat during the group fight vs tyrian in volume four where tyrian kicks ruby and her aura ripples out from the point of impact in such a way to create the illusion of deeper motion: it looks like her ribs buckling as that force moves through her body, it feels like we’re seeing this formidable new adversary break her fucking ribs after throwing JNR around like ragdolls. it isn’t shot with any particular artistry or stylistic finesse; the shot is instead lined up to emphasize the violence.

that serves a more important narrative purpose than aesthetics: it makes it believable that ruby just cowers in dread after taking this hit, it viscerally drives home how dangerous tyrian is, building tension, setting the stakes for the upcoming fight with qrow, and thus it also underscores the contrast between tyrian’s wild brutality and qrow’s discipline when they fight and qrow tips the scales not because he’s stronger but because he doesn’t let tyrian rattle him… it’s doing quite a lot of work for a mere handful of frames.

compare, say, the nevermore fight, which is beautifully shot and choreographed but doesn’t have a lot to say: ruby can plan elaborate tactics on the fly and communicate them to her team well enough to execute the whole thing flawlessly, and… that’s kind of it. RLR2 does all the narrative heavy lifting. and that’s fine, to be clear, because this is a point where the story is still setting up the board and introducing us to these characters.

but the nature of rwby as a story is that the fight scenes cannot stay that way. and this isn’t even a “monty/not monty” thing, you can see the experimentation with using fights as a medium to develop character and theme starting early in volume two: ruby calling out team attacks and narrating yang’s semblance during the mech fight, splitting up the team on the train so wby can each duel an opponent who represents their personal struggle*, doing the battle in breach as a sequence of character moments, etc.

(*weiss feels disgusted by what the SDC has become and wants to reclaim the schnee name -> she faces a white fang officer who loathes her for being a schnee; blake is torn up about not knowing how to solve all these big social problems and reeling with the emotional fallout of leaving adam’s white fang -> torchwick tries to push those buttons; yang feels rootless and hollow and worried her current outlook is unsustainable -> she has to fight somebody she literally cannot touch and her increasingly frustrated attempts to punch through get turned against her the instant she overextends.)

in early volume two it all feels a bit clunky and uncoordinated in part because the mech fight is still so stylized. the fights on the train and the battle in vale are less so; you still get those tightly-choreographed sequences, but balanced out with moments that are more raw and real—the fake-out “slow-motion killshot” that turns out to be just weiss’s time dilation catching up, followed by the lieutenant grabbing her face and yanking her out of the air, is a particularly effective example with the grapple being shot with the same intention as tyrian kicking ruby in the chest—and also just more grounded in who the characters are (weiss gets in trouble trying to be fancy, yang’s frustrated determination is both a strength and a weakness, blake takes torchwick down with brutal efficiency because she’s used to fighting people but she also lets him say his piece before knocking him out because that matters to her).

so like—waves hands—volume two sets the course that is followed in the latter volumes where the fights become increasingly less about style and more about substance. the style is very much still there, it’s just not The Main Event anymore. it’s garnish on fight scenes you can write robust character analysis about.

[rwde-rewrites]

This might be a controversial opinion, but I personally like the idea of magic existing alongside Aura and Semblances. I think the idea of a story having multiple distinct magic systems, especially if one is more powerful and mysterious than the other, is really neat.

But the key word here is "Distinct". In order for this idea to work, the differences between magic and Aura need to be clear. But, there are no rules for what semblances can do (Except not turning you into a bird. That is the sole rule of semblances), and there are no rules for what magic can do either. In fact, it seems like semblances can actually do more than magic in RWBY.

Semblances let people:

Enhance their physical and mental capabilities

Manipulate Luck

Create all different kinds of Illusions

Summon eidolons

Shrink objects

Turn objects into gold (Yes, really)

Telekinetically manipulate objects

Shapeshift into rose petals or iron (Only bird related shapeshifting is banned, apparently)

Absorb various types of energy to become stronger

Teleport

Turn invincible for 60 seconds (This is the weirdest one to me)

Fly

Mess with people's minds in various ways

Steal or copy other people's Semblances

And other stuff I'm probably forgetting

Meanwhile, magic lets you:

Fly

Shapeshift into birds (and presumably other forms, but we literally never see that)

Manipulate the weather

Shoot fire, lightning, and ice.

Create, lock, and unlock weird doors

Obviously, this is doesn't work. Semblances can do practically everything magic can and more. Meaning that magic doesn't feel different or special in any way.

So, what would need to be changed? The most obvious route would be to restrict Semblances.

One way to do this is just create a list of things Semblances cannot do. Such as:

Semblances cannot physically change their user's body. While we're at it, let's also add that Semblances cannot physically transmute other objects either so no shrinking or turning shit into gold.

Semblances cannot create fire, earth, ice, lightning, etc., only Dust can do that (God, I haven't brought up Dust yet). And anything that a Semblance does create is just an Aura construct that will vanish like Weiss's Summons or Sun's Clones.

Semblances cannot grant flight. A bit pedantic, but the scene of Amber first using her Maiden powers by floating into the air would hit harder if flying isn't something normally attainable in RWBY.

While I would like to add more stuff to the list of cannots, when defining a power system based on what is can't do, it's best to keep the list of restrictions short.

Another way to limit Semblances create specific categories that Semblances fall into and have each Semblance be some variation based on their category. For example:

Enhancement: These Semblances enhance the user's pre-existing capabilities in some way when used. This would cover stuff like Harriet's, Neon's, and Ruby's speed (And Ruby's would stay speed, none of that pseudo-teleport stuff), Ironwood's super willpower, Maria's preflexes, Hazel's pain tolerance or fast Aura regeneration (Pick one), and maybe Tock's 60 seconds of invincibility (though I still think that's dumb).

Absorption: These Semblances can absorb damage to make the user stronger. This would cover stuff like Yang taking damage and then getting a limit break, Nora absorbing specifically electricity, and Adam storing damage in his weapon and then returning it.

Manipulation: These Semblances allow their users to manipulate objects around them. This would cover Pyrrha's polarity, Glynda's telekinesis, and Neptune's hydrokinesis (which only exists in the books).

Constructs: These Semblances allow for the creation of constructs made of Aura. These constructs aren't permanent and disappear after time or if the user's Aura breaks. This would cover Weiss's glyphs and summons (though, I personally think these two powers are too different to be a single Semblance), Sun and Flynt's clones, Neo's illusions, Blake's after images, Vine's whips, and Elm's sticky feet.

Mind: These Semblances allow for the manipulation of the minds of other beings. This would cover Emerald's illusions, Ren's emotion suppression (In canon, it only masks your negative emotions from Grimm, but here, it would actually dampen your feelings while used), Fox's telepathy, Yatsuhashi's memory erasure, Marrow's freeze (here, it would be mental manipulation, rather than however the hell it works in canon), and Robyn's handshake of truth.

Any other Semblances in the show would be altered to fit one of these categories or cut entirely.

Finally, another option would be to cut Semblances completely. Instead, have Aura techniques that characters can use by manipulating their Aura in special ways:

Sending out sword beams of condensed Aura from their weapon swings to attack from a distance. THIS IS A CANON TECHINQUE. I want to stress this, Aura techniques are already a thing. Blake shots a sword beam at Roman in V2, and Qrow does the same to Winter in V3.

Leaving behind a physical shadow made of Aura to take a hit. At higher skill levels, these clones can even more and attack on their own, like what Adam did with his shadow clones in the fight against Yang in V6 (Which means that this is also a canon Aura technique, I guess?)

By expending a some Aura, people can temporarily increase their speed or strength in short bursts. Stuff like Ruby's speed would be handled with this.

Aura normally covers the body like, well, an aura, but it can be extended and manipulated. This allows for the creation of Aura whips from the hand or Aura anchors from the feat to duplicate affects similar to Vine's and Elm's Semblances in canon.

Aura can be used to activate dust (this comes from the Dust WoR video, which seems to be noncanon now) and manipulate its effects. This allows for technics like Weiss's Glyphs or that funky glass stuff that Cinder used in V2.

And finally, a secret technique passed down through the Schnee family allows the creation of an Aura construct that mimics a foe the summoner has bested (A mental requirement more than anything). While powerful, it is incredibly taxing on the summoner's Aura.

Here, Aura itself becomes the main power system akin to something like Ki from Dragon Ball or Hamon from JoJo. After awhile, the audience would get a feel for what it can do, but the writers would still have some freedom to introduce new techniques so long as they aren't too out of line with what's already been shown. Obviously, this would limit the collective abilities of Hunters more than any other option (and require the most changes to canon), but in doing so, it would could magic even more notable.

[philcoulsonismyhero]

Tag Game: Writing Patterns

I got tagged by @astriiformes (thanks, Nate!) in a thing, so here goes:

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there’s a pattern.

1 - I've always suspected that Nightingale suffers from nightmares, what with his age and all he's experienced, and that’s not even mentioning the fact that he didn't just fight in the Second World War but also lost nearly every friend he'd ever had to it. ('Don't Carry It All, Don't Carry It All', Rivers of London)

2 - It has been six months precisely since the world ended, in a paroxysm of rage and violence and brutal death. ('A Ghost In The Garden, Scaring The Crows', Rivers of London)

3 - I’ve got a lot of positive feelings towards Movember as a fundraising initiative, even if I’ve never taken part myself. ('I Moustache You A Question', Rivers of London)

4 - “You’re joking,” said Harry, flatly. ('Not-So Silent Witnesses', Silent Witness)

5 - It was finally over. ('Pull My Heart Out, Reconstruct', RWBY)

6 - Johnny didn’t even have to think about where LaRusso might have gone; he just knew. ('Dig Them Up (Let's Finish What We Started)', Cobra Kai/The Karate Kid)

7 - Knocking the last drone’s head clean off with a single heavy blow from the butt of his gun, James spun around in search of his next target. ('With Zero Reservations', RWBY)

8 - As they emerged from the elevator shaft and into the open air of the cavernous Vault, Winter spotted the General immediately. ('Corner Me And Make Me Something', RWBY)

9 - Ruby couldn’t sleep. ('Trust', RWBY)

10 - “Penny,” said James, as she turned to follow Winter and Oscar into the elevator. “Can I have a word?” ('Mechanical Hearts', RWBY)

If we're looking for trends, I do seem to like opening with quite short sentences, and also dropping right into the middle of a scene/conversation. And it's interesting to see the switch from all 3rd person limited (and past tense) all the time to first person with the RoL fics and even one that's written in present tense. The obvious thing there is that I discovered that when I'm writing fanfic for a book series with such a strong POV, I like to imitate it rather than using my own usual style. Also you can see a little bit that I like to lean into whoever's perspective I'm writing from and only refer to other characters in the way that they would, and I tend to do that pretty early as an establishing thing. (Like Winter referring to Ironwood as 'the General' and Johnny calling Daniel 'LaRusso'.)

Neat! This was fun. (Also this is a hilariously eclectic mix of fandoms. Rivers of London and Silent Witness are at least both crime dramas, even if one is also urban fantasy, but Cobra Kai and RWBY couldn't be more different from those and each other. Fandom fixations are wild.) Thanks again, Nate!!

Oops, forgot to tag people - @squireofgeekdom, @catgirlalchemist, @altschmerzes, @johnbly, consider yourselves tagged if you're interested!

[ac-liveblogs]

The tl;dr on Trigun Stampede is that it’s a good show, but*

This is the show that I watched on a whim bc I thought Vash was cute and it consumed my brain for the next three months. I do not regret that decision. 

Heading into Trigun, I knew jackshit about it. I think the only character I could’ve recognised prior to this was 90s Vash (whose design I didn’t and still kind of don’t like!). I was too young for Adult Swim in the… very brief period of time that it was actually airing on Cartoon Network in Australia and I’m not sure if Trigun was even on it anyway, so I had absolutely no expectations walking in. 

Obviously, the most notable thing about this show to a newcomer is the animation. It’s been interesting watching RWBY vol 9 and Stampede back to back, let’s say that much. It’s stellar. I think this is one of the prettiest shows I’ve watched in a very long time, and the combat animation is fluid, energetic and full of so much personality. I was still deciding how I felt about the show right up until episode 3 - Millions Knives’ debut - and as soon as I saw the attack on Jeneora I was hitting up my WatchPal to recommend it. I think you can definitely see where Studio Orange cut corners - some locations can feel very empty - but for what they actually want you to focus on, the show looks great.

Episode 4’s reveal of Wolfwood’s Punisher (and what it can do) lives in my head rent-free to this day, and quite frankly episode 12 is one of my favourite fight scenes in pretty much anything. A lot of love and attention to detail goes into these fights, and the choreography is fresh and exciting. Vash shooting at Nai resembling a 3rd-person shooter was so much fun. WatchPal was very patient with me constantly asking to pause, rewind, watch that scene again, pick out this or that detail. Sorry dude. Worth it to see how terribad a fighter Nai actually is, though, shit’s hilarious. I think that even if you don’t care for the plot, this show is worth watching just for the fight scenes and set pieces. 

I think no one’s going to argue the plot is rushed, but what’s there is solid and interesting. This world is absolutely fascinating, and I had a lot of fun speculating on what was happening or what Nai’s goals were. The most fun I had was picking out the biblical themes (which I surprisingly know more of than I thought I did) and working out who was what was where and why, and I’ll be very curious to see where that all goes. I’m also an obnoxious Final Fantasy 7 purist, so I was obviously enjoying the heavy-handed pro-environmentalism themes and psychological horror elements. Nai was right until he was wrong. I’ll be… interested to see how this all resolves next season, because I’m not sure I’m meant to think Vash is right, exactly. 

Vash is an enjoyable MC, though he’s kind of a woobie, huh? I watched Badlands Rumble in the middle of all this and was shocked at the difference in characterisation (incidentally, not a good movie!) He was definitely a lot goofier in eps 1 and 2, but things took a real turn in episode 3 that he never quite cheered up from so I’m hoping to see him in his natural habitat once things chill out. “He’s both the hero and the heroine” is a phrase that’s stuck with me since I learnt the screenwriter apparently said it, and it’s certainly made the way he’s written incredibly interesting to dissect symbolically.

Picking apart symbolism in this show is one of my favourite things to do with it.

Surprisingly, I think William Conrad is one of the more interesting characters in the show. I’m so fascinated by the logic behind everything he’s done. I want more of this dude, I thought Meryl was gonna murk him and was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t.

I like Wolfwood. I like narrative foils and homoerotic subtext. I think Wolfwood is potentially really interesting and didn’t get to shine in Stampede, but he’s got at least one whole season ahead of him and I am already predicting that Trimax is going to make me exceptionally mentally unwell about him. I can pick ‘em. I can sense it. I can smell blood in the water. I am also saying, right now and for posterity, that Wolfwood is going to die. He’s gonna die in Stampede, he’s gonna die in Maximum, he probably died in the 90s. Sorry. It’s gonna happen.

If this weren’t a 12 episode series and it would’ve been unsatisfying for it to happen here, I would’ve expected him to die redeeming himself after betraying Vash in July. Now we’re past his Judas phase, I’m wondering what the New Biblical Imagery he’s going to pick up to replace it will be bc as is, uh... dude by all means should probably just power walk really fast in the other direction and never be seen or heard from again.

Nai is a really fun and sympathetic villain right up until he's fun and an absolute monster, and I respect his deranged manner and willingness to wrangle that twincest subtext as close to actual text as he could possibly get it. I am SO curious how much of that was in the original because jesus christ. I felt bad for the guy and agree with him to a certain extent, but my feelings about Nai’s handling are going to have to wait until I see how Vash’s arc continues and what happens to Plants going forward. Vash doesn’t seem particularly motivated to change the status quo at this stage which is... interesting. We’ll see what happens.

I was very lukewarm on Meryl until eps 10-12. Now it’s the Zazie-Meryl Power Hour. As soon as I realised they were parallels my brain woke up. While I’m really ??? unsure about Wolfwood’s trajectory going forward, I am very excited for Meryl’s. It also helps she turned into a chain-smoking disaster senpai in the timeskip. She’s Mary Magdalene also. That’s really cool. I felt really smart when I figured out that really obvious connection, finally, in episode 11. (I know some bible but not that much bible.)

I… I don’t get points for figuring out which two biblical figures Vash is representative of. No one does. I do get points for noticing he yanked Wolfwood’s entire colour scheme when he started trying to kill Nai, though. That was cool. That fight was so fucking cool. 

Trigun Stampede is a really fun show.

*But. 

It is a show absolutely hamstrung by its episode count. When you’re dealing with either 12 or 24 episode seasons you’re inevitably going to run into problems when you’re not working with original material, and Stampede was having serious problems fitting in all the plot points that it needed to before the finale. This show’s pace is absolutely breakneck with absolutely no room to breathe, and in the end that means the main cast’s relationships suffer for it. I was very disappointed to find that I really liked Roberto in the episode that he died, and that was episode 10. 

Episodes 10-12 leaves the implication of shenanigans and much stronger relationships than we got. That’s a real shame because the show roughly broke into Vash-Wolfwood, Vash-Nai and Meryl-Roberto with very little crossover - I know Vash/Meryl is a classic, but she ended up having more chemistry with Wolfwood, and any semblance of party dynamic evaporated once we got to Home. And speaking of Home, that lack of space between episodes and the necessity to explain Vash and Nai’s backstory ended up with us teleporting in and out, and the rest of the trip to July getting crammed off-screen. Integral scenes are missing - I had to consult a more knowledgeable coworker about the missing pieces of Wolfwood’s backstory so I could get his rough timeline (and age) actually explained to me, and I did find myself wanting to explore this world a lot more than we had time to do. 

Like. Seriously. What the hell is up with Legato. Who are you. How are you doing that. Why are you here. Why is your hair blue.

The photo of the group in episode 12 in particular really makes me feel like there’s a lot we missed out on without a couple of breather episodes here and there. I think with the exception of Vash and Nai, whose relationship is quite interesting and intense, I enjoyed the concepts of the characters more than the actual execution. However, I’m also 100% sure that Nai and Vash was the Absolute Main Focus of this season, so, I can let this go if season 2 delivers. 

Sorry Vashwood, you’re very fun in theory and I like you a lot, but we’re kind of pulling at threads here. Trimax is apparently gonna be an Experience though. 

I try to take the circumstances of a work’s creation into account when I talk about it, and between a 12 or 24 episode series I understand why Studio Orange chose 12, but Stampede really needed 15 or 16 to shine with the narrative it wanted to tell. I also understand why Stampede chose to seed future plot points that went absolutely nowhere this season - Wolfwood’s beef with Livio, Legato and Elendira being prime examples (christ this guy is gonna be busy in season 2), and the trip Home specifically after the Sand Steamer feels a bit pointless at this stage - but I can’t help but wonder if that time would have been better spent elsewhere. 

Although, a lot of fans couldn’t even deal with Milly’s absence even though it took about 5 seconds for me, someone who confused Trigun with Cowboy Bebop until quite recently, to work out what Meryl’s rough character arc was and why Milly was absent (but pretty clearly coming back later in very predictable way), so maybe Studio Orange was being wise by assuring, uh, certain fans they hadn’t forgotten or maliciously chosen to delete these characters. 

I’ve heard Trigun wasn’t as popular in Japan as it was in the West, so maybe that 12 episode pick was playing it safe, but since S2 has been greenlit and Stampede seems to have been a pretty big success, hopefully Orange can spring for 24 episodes this time and make this show really shine.

Anyway, I’m gonna read the manga now.

[scottysketches]

[WIP Wednesday]

Not an excerpt from the next chapter of Don't Dream It's Over this time (I haven't started writing it yet), but this story (Meet You There) is set within the series. It won't be published until I've finished DDIO, just because the end of this story would spoil the ending of DDIO.

(Also, as an aside, this song from vol. 7 of RWBY is pretty much the vibe for Meet You There.)

Her feet carry her from the Jedi Temple — from her home — across the city with little to no input from her brain. She’s on autopilot, searching for safe harbour; despondent, her entire being swallowed by grief.

Left foot, right foot.

She exits the tram, her arms folded across her chest as her body fights to stave off the chill of the night air.

Left, right.

Everything’s too bright, too cheerful; it should be dull, dark and quiet, just like her. Snuffed out, like the spark that had lit up her soul from a young age.

Left—

The bell above the door tinkles as she pushes it open in a state of numbness. The diner is quiet, just like her, just one or two customers inside. Had she been in any state to care, she might have noticed that they were engaged in some not entirely legal business dealings.

But that’s none of her business. Not anymore.

She tracks a path to a booth at the back of the diner, shrouded in darkness. No one disturbs her, though she can feel Dexter Jettster’s beady yellow eyes following her every movement from behind the diner bar. She all but collapses into the booth, exhaustion crashing over her like a tidal wave.

She didn’t realise just how tired she is.

When she looks up, the Besalisk is crouching next to her, concern — and pity — written all over his expressive face. “Hey, kiddo,” he says quietly. “What can I get you?”

A new life, she thinks to herself — then, actually, a time machine. Let me go back and stop her from taking such a rash course of action…

She doesn’t say that aloud.

“Just a cup of jawa,” she mumbles, then adds, “please.” Stars forbid she forget her manners.

Dexter has clearly already anticipated what her answer would be, because he places a full cup of jawa juice on the table in front of her. “Sure I can’t get you anything else, kid?”

She doesn’t answer, just apathetically accepts the cup of jawa Dexter places down in front of her. The Besalisk leaves her be, understanding that she doesn’t want to talk. Her eyes focus on nothing in particular, her mind firmly locked in the events of the past few days.

The bombing.

The investigation.

The arrest of one suspect, and then…

Her own arrest.

Accused of murder.

Accused by those who had known her almost her entire life, those who — apparently — hardly knew her at all.

(Part of her fights back on that front, insists that there were people who knew her, knew her so well that they had fought for her, even if it hadn’t been openly…)

Her expulsion from an order she had dedicated her life to, known no different.

A military tribunal, with her friend as her counsel.

A military tribunal that, had her Master — no, she reminds herself, former Master — not done everything within his power to discover the truth, could have (would have) ended in her execution…

The revelation that her friend — or someone she had thought to be her friend — had set her up, to direct blame away from herself. That her friend had become so disillusioned with the Jedi she had conspired to turn an innocent man into a living bomb. That when her plan had gone awry, she had attacked the only person who had been on Ahsoka’s side (even if it had been for an ulterior motive, a full pardon for her own crimes), and then attacked her, let her believe that she truly had no one left in her corner.

She wonders if Asajj Ventress is alright. Wonders whether she got her lightsabers back.

Because even after everything her friend did to shift the blame onto her, Ahsoka Tano can’t find it within herself to hate Barriss Offee.

It’s not the Jedi way.

So engrossed is she in her own thoughts, she doesn’t notice someone sitting opposite her until a hand covers her own. “Ahsoka? Are you alright?”

She looks up into blue eyes — such a deep, rich blue, the colour of the sky on a clear day; the perfect mirror of his father’s, if he were perhaps twenty years younger.

She’ll never see those wise old eyes again. Never experience the warmth of Obi-Wan’s hug, never hear his laughter or the rumble of his voice as he scolds Anakin for an ill-thought plan. She won’t get to see him finally experience true happiness for the first time in his life, she won’t get to see him grow — as a man, yes, but also as a partner and a father.

She doesn’t realise she’s crying until Korkie Kryze has moved around to her side of the booth and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his body and whispering quiet reassurances to her. The embrace is familiar and unknown all at once; the smells are different — where Obi-Wan smells like tea and dusty old books and the smell of the earth after rain, Korkie is like a fresh sea breeze, salt and driftwood and seaweed all mingling together into a scent that is uniquely his. But if she ignores the difference in their smell, she can almost imagine that the arm slung across her shoulders is Obi-Wan’s; can almost imagine that instead of a simple t-shirt and jacket combo, he’s wearing robes that engulf her in a warmth that is so distinctly Obi-Wan’s…

She lets out a ragged sob as she tries in vain to forget everything that makes her former grandmaster the man he is, turning her head to bury her face in Korkie’s shoulder.

[monsters00km]

So, something I havn't really seen anyone touch on yet (May be I missed it). But the end credit scene from V8. To recap, it SEEMS to be coming from the view of a person. Someone who washed up on the shore of the every after. It pans up and we see crescent rose on the shore line.

So this could be to demonstrate that the girls didn't die and to just give us a glimpse of the island. But usually the end credits are an actual scene that happened (v2 is debatable, but the writers said it was a dream).

So, what's my point? Well, they emphasize on crescent rose. We don't know where it is. And this scene kinda implied whoever this person is found crescent rose 1st thing. When it aired I assumed the person was either Ruby or Yang. But none of the girls found it. And Yang didn't fall on the beach. But Ruby did, but it seemed like a different part of the beach.

So could it be, that the writers were alluding to someone already found crescent rose and picked it up? And that is why they haven't found it. Bc they have found this person. And from the way the story is shaping up. It should be either a shock to the audiences and team rwby or just team rwby.

And in the opening the few times we see crescent rose is on the beach. Yet again reinforcing the idea that that is where it landed.

So, who has it?

I think there are 4 possibilities:

1. Alyx. This is one that I don't really think it will be. Mainly bc the opening gives the impression they are following in her footsteps amd she's not really there. But if she is. It could be her.

2. Jaune. This one I also don't really see happening. Mainly bc most people myself included think that jaunes the knight. It would be super unlikely that he would be weilding CR. He could still have it. But I feel like he would be trying to return it and not turning into a knight. It would be a shock to the group that he was there, but i dont reall think its him. But I could be wrong. It could be jaune.

3. Neo. Neo is shown as also following alyx in the opening. So it could be her. We haven't seen her. And it would make sense that she would want it. Thinking that Ruby would have to come to her to get it. And it would be a shock. Not that she was on the island, but she has CR. I think this one is super likely.

4. Penny. Ok don't throw anything at me. Hear me out . Penny would win on shock value. And yes. The entire ruin Ruby's arc argument. Hear me out.

A. Ambrosius. 2 of the things he spoke about in his scene came back to team RWBY. "One way ticket to Vacuo" and "do not fall". So it's kinda odd the thing they focused on most didn't come back.

To clarify the thing I am talking about is Penny's body. Ruby bent the rules to save Penny. He is not allowed to destroy things. And she asked him to remake Penny's mechanical body without her soul. Which means he would be forced to do something to save Penny's soul. Bc he cannot destroy. That's why he's forced to make a body for Penny. He STRESSES that he doesn't know what the outcome will be. He STRESSES that he doesn't know how much of the body will be Penny and how much he will have to create. The issue here. Is Ambrosius, who is not allowed to destroy things and creates things that are infinite until he creates something else. So he creates a body outside of his rules. That survives when they use the staff again. And a body he doesn't know what the outcome will be. So all this happens and she dies a couple episodes later? That's alot of foreshadowing and warning for her to die and nothing else to happen.

B. The body itself. We saw it scanned from her mechanical perspective. And it was basically aura/ her soul (the scan could be only for aura), which is going back to Ambrosius point. We don't know the capabilities of a body that is basically a soul. If the soul is tied to the body, how does that work? If her aura regenerates even in the dead body, will it regenerate the body?

C. Maiden powers. Yes everyone will talk about the maiden powers. We have seen several maiden power change ups. But let's focus on the 2 most recent. Freya to Penny: Freya blue aura/magic color wrapped around Penny's hand and transfered over. Giving Penny the powers and Freya became apart of her. Then we have 1 season later Penny to Winter. When they hold hands to transfer the power its a gold color with green specks in the air. Almost showing us that the powers went to Winter, but Penny did not.

D. Everyone argues about Ruby's character arc. And how it would ruin it. I disagree. Yes, Penny is alive, but at what cost? She has a body that would die? She's literally Salem 2.0. And who did this to her? Not the gods, Ruby did. And I'm not saying that in a I blame Ruby amd think she's terrible kinda way. I mean in an if I'm Ruby and realized my friend is immortal and it's bc of what I did. That would be something. And in my personal opinion it can make her character arc more interesting. The struggle of being happy that she's alive, with the horror of what that actually means.

Soo.... 4. Penny. I think this has potential. It would have shock value. And like good shock value.

So. What does everyone think?

[theseerasures]

RWBY V08C14 reaction post

haven’t done something like this for this fandom yet, but the finale was so much all at once that i could not muster any level of critical thinking the first go-around. my thoughts have...settled somewhat with a second rewatch. still nothing conclusive (obviously), but at least coherent enough to be written down.

in rough chronological order:

i am very into it, of course, but i’m still not quite sure what to make of the fact that this finale very explicitly pivots around Winter Schnee, to the extent that the episode (sans prologue and coda) are bookended by her. she begins the episode charging into a fight, and ends it the same way. even putting aside that her in-universe presence has increased by magnitudes, that we end a season where she has mostly been a sparse supporting player with THIS has implications i can’t suss out for her narrative role going forward.

going into the finale i thought that Ironwood vs. Winter would turn out to be another RWBY Flagship Fight (ie long and flashy and indulgent in the best ways), but i pretty much knew that wouldn’t be the case once the fight began in earnest and they immediately started talking to each other.

for what we did get i’m happy to say that the Core Dynamic of the fight was exactly what i predicted: Winter rushing in to melee and not giving Ironwood enough time to fire, Ironwood trying to make room by shoving her away and using his cannon as a makeshift club--even down to breaking the cannon formation BACK to dual wielding to give himself an edge.

i will say that for Winter to have blocked him head-on--this is James Ironwood, who once stopped an Alpha Beowolf cold with one bionic hand, and now he’s got TWO--with her broken noodle arms is...incredibly cool. stupid! but cool.

Ironwood doing the double pistol whip while screaming about how no one is grateful has i wouldn’t have to be doing this if you just behaved all over it.

in retrospect i’m not sure why i expected a RWBY Flagship Fight when just about every fight this season has been extremely different. the camera work is always fucking frantic, we’re often cross-cutting between different simultaneous fights, and there are far fewer shots where both combatants are clearly shown and evenly matched. about the only fight we’ve had resembling that is AceOps vs Penny waaaaaaay back in Strings--even the low-stakes triumphant JNPER + Winter vs. Ironwood fight in Creation was extremely short and crosscut with BRA vs. AceOps.

case in point: the showdown in Grand Central takes up pretty much the entire episode, but combatants are continuously entering and exiting, the setting’s physical dimensions feel wonky and surreal, and the fact that half of the people fighting have flight capabilities means we’re relying on wide shots and oners to figure out what the fuck is going on. it’s a war now, and even though we follow only a handful of characters in it the fights carry that grander and more desperate tone.

Cinder relies twice this episode on just fucking nova-ing herself to overwhelm her Maiden opponents. it’s different from how she usually fights, which is still fireballs and conjured swords/projectiles--she’s learning to use her Maiden powers to wreak havoc on a larger scale, which a) reinforces what we already know of Cinder, but b) complements her recent relearning of subtlety and manipulation. still a tenuous balance of extremes that can and will shatter, though.

Weiss got to save everyone during the fight, and none of it mattered in the end.

the thing about priority one is that they all planned for this. they all went in planning for the contingency where they don’t make it out, where they have to watch others not make it out.

Weiss plucking Penny out of the air and Penny pleading to make the sacrifice play is an EXACT recreation of what happened in Enemy of Trust, down to the saved looking up at the savior while the savior is looking onward. she’s just swapped places with the Schnee in question, and...they are the priority targets this time, unfortunately.

Cinder smugly flipping her hair out of...her eyepatch...she really is living her best life and she knows it

Blake made the right choice, and it didn’t matter at all.

Qrow ending the last episode with a berserker charge at Harriet and then immediately pulling back here and trying to talk her down really got to me, as did him trying to block the bomb with his body. the man is so desperately trying to be better than he was, and it doesn’t take a lot anymore for him to realize the right path.

Elm and Vine--

the thing about Elm and Vine is that both their powers boil down to getting attached. so watching Elm hold Vine in place while Vine holds the two airships together, everyone in this little world, it’s...everything i could ever want, out of how the story of the AceOps would end.

Anairis Quinones for dark horse MVP. why can’t you just let me do my job, delivered in the way that it was, is the perfect encapsulation of Harriet Bree desperately trying to outrun her personal feelings and the grief it has given her.

Elm tells Harriet that she’s their friend, to stop her from killing a part of herself as she tries to kill others. it’s the first time this happens in the episode, but not the only time.

Penny saved Blake so they could save Ruby together, and it didn’t matter at all.

our heroes have GOT to stop falling for the “watch the thing flying in the air! OH WAIT I STILL HAVE A WEAPON IN MY HAND WALLOP WALLOP” trick. it happens multiple times in this one episode.

Harriet, who has the fastest Speed Semblance known, says there’s no time to make it out of the blast range. she doesn’t try to outrun it. she just...stays put, and admits that she brought them all here, to this. i’m sorry.

here’s the thing: they’re soldiers. they were prepared for this eventuality, where they don’t make it out. that’s why Elm let Vine go grab Harriet; because she thought they were all going to die, and if that happened she wanted Harriet close enough to reach.

but--just like with Team Hero--some of them do make it out. they just have to watch.

Vine and Hazel sacrificed themselves in the same way in the end: pulling their loved ones close wasn’t working, so they threw themselves around the thing trying to kill them instead.

Ruby was clever, and pragmatic, and brave. it didn’t matter in the end.

Cinder letting Neo fall as soon as she gets a chance proves that she still lacks patience, and that’s going to bite her in the ass.

the Penny-Blake fastball special and the fall; Penny crying tears for the first time, but not moving immediately to rage, as she had last episode, when Yang fell.

Weiss’ shaking hands around Gambol Shroud, crying berserker tears as she tries, desperately, to pull off another miracle. it’s another role reversal in a way: her sister’s the Riza Hawkeye, but she’s the one emptying useless clip after useless clip into an enemy she can’t kill, because her heart has been ripped in two.

the last time Nora Valkyrie saw Jaune Arc, they clasped hands, and their eyes met with determination, and hope.

it figures that a Schnee would be the last one standing, letting all her friends die first. she was right, but again: wrong Schnee.

Weiss diving past Cinder’s blind spot to slice the Grimm Arm, to save Penny--the same script, but the wrong player. and too late.

at Haven, Jaune went from trying to do harm to unlocking his Semblance, and realizing that he was meant to heal. here, he goes from trying to do what he is meant to do, what he has made peace with, to...

it will take a long time, i think, for him to learn to live with himself, even with Penny reassuring him that this is what she wants. to go from wanting to harm to being the one who does no harm, to being forced to acknowledge a person’s right to die, and carry out the deed himself. it’s a new variation on what he’s always had to wrestle with since Pyrrha’s sacrifice.

Weiss managed to outlast Cinder Fall without an Aura WITHOUT getting her entire body broken, Winter

the boundary between material worlds is made of darkness. the boundary between souls is made of light, and there is no danger of falling.

where...what is this? of course Winter doesn’t know. she never would have, even if she had gotten the powers, because she would have used the Transfer machine.

i thought of you, and here we are. that was all it took. the last time Penny saw Winter, Winter was still loyal to Ironwood. she’s only known abstractly, secondhand from Weiss, that Winter was on their side again and trying to help save Mantle, for about an hour. and yet: i thought of you.

and in the face of this thought that is love, Winter averts her eyes. tries in vain to hide her face, because she knows she is unworthy. she doesn’t deserve this.

but here’s the thing: no one deserves this. Penny. are you...the one? even Penny herself wasn’t sure.

you were my friend. the second time it happens this episode. friends save friends from themselves. friends transform what would have been murder into sacrifice.

remember what Penny said to Cinder, shortly before Cinder killed her? you wouldn’t know anything about friends. she’s right. it wasn’t Cinder’s choice, but she’s right. and now Cinder has learned how to use that.

i’ll be part of you. it is, of course, something that’s been brought up repeatedly this whole season. but it’s also what Winter said to Penny after Fria died: she’s a part of you now.

and i do love this yoking together of arc words. Winter is of course the firstborn Schnee, but Winter is, more broadly, The Firstborn in this new generation. so here we have something similar to the chain that begins with Winter letting her sisters go, through Penny letting Emerald go, through Emerald helping Oscar escape, to Atlas’ however ephemeral victory over Salem. what Winter begins--haltingly and with resentment--becomes transformed into radiant grace in the hands of her younger siblings. and she gets to be the direct benefactor this time. the prodigal daughter returns to her family.

during Enemy of Trust we watched from the outside as Oscar fell and Penny rose, as one set of eyes closed as another opened. during The Final Word, we watch from the inside: one set of eyes close. another opens.

Winter’s leitmotif plays on the piano for the first time since the previous season as she comes back to the world. it makes sense. the piano version is for her sisters, and she just left one of them.

here is the apotheosis of Winter Schnee: she gets back up. she falters and sways but she gets back up, and then she, the person who once managed to convince herself that so long as she could make peace with someone else’s choice it meant she too was choosing, tells the man who has been choosing for her for years: you chose nothing. and she rises.

in the end James Ironwood was finished by his petard thrice over. Atlas had defected against him. his greatest creation had become the Maiden and unshackled herself from him. and there is of course, the cannon: a literal petard, in the other words, which he fires at Winter, and Winter reflects back upon him.

Jaune Arc used the heirloom that his family has held for generations to kill a defenseless girl. he took the blade and sunk it in deep, because Penny trusted him and he had to be sure.

and then it shattered in his hands.

there’s something here in the second fight between Maidens, about Cinder having a named weapon and forsaking it for what she can make on the fly, and Winter insistent on using a weapon with no name at all, but i still can’t put my finger on it.

Winter never got to see Weiss try to Summon her Nevermore.

the thing that gets me about how it turns out is: Winter was winning. she’d managed to get her hands on the Staff, and even with Cinder’s immediate counterattack she managed to get the Staff away from Cinder. but then Cinder saw Jaune and Weiss, and she remembered a few days ago, when Penny saved Winter instead of going after Cinder, when Winter attacked Cinder to save Penny.

so Cinder attacks Weiss and Jaune instead of racing for the Staff. and Winter--

this is Winter Schnee. she saves people despite herself. she runs toward them, despite herself. and it has always, always been what saves her.

not anymore.

last time it had been Winter who was in mortal danger, and Weiss who, with Ruby’s help, drove Cinder off. same script, wrong player. and too late.

Weiss falls and for a moment, the camera makes it seem like Winter is falling too.

she wants to. no one deserves this.

the thing you have to ask when characters leap for the exit and fall just short is: is it about faith, or friendship? in Jaune’s case it’s both. his faith broke with Crocea Mors. and the portal is one-way, so he had no friends to grab him from the other side.

but Nora was still trying. they clasped hands. she promised.

the first time Winter sees her family--really sees them, after years of separation--she averts her eyes. she hides her face from them, because how can she tell them that Weiss is gone? how can she tell Penny’s friends that Penny is a part of her now, when Penny is just a part, now?

there are people all around her looking to her. there are voices within her. she has never been more alone.

(Winter Schnee has never met Pyrrha Nikos, and Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. because Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. Cinder Fall did that, too.)

this is what Winter Schnee thinks, as she screams and charges, as she kills Grimm faster than they are drawn in by her despair: in the fairy tales, eldest siblings never win.

i failed you again, master. master, but not queen.

Cinder won this. the heroes tried and tried and tried and none of it mattered, and she won this. but here’s the thing: Cinder won because she was LUCKY, and because she made her own luck. that she was able to pin things on Neo and Team Hero depended on things going exactly as planned, and some things going better than planned. and the reason she’d even made it that far was because she cheated, with the last use of a divine relic. it doesn’t take away her from her victory, but what i do know is this: this is her finest moment. she will never win as completely ever again, and she will fall farther than she has ever feared. (and that will save her, in the end.)

and that’s checkmate. i said that i wanted Atlas to fall the same way that Amity rose, but of course they did it like this. of course it would horrific yet unspectacular, with its General slumped in defeat, unable to fire a single shot from his gun. with the city in the sky falling onto Mantle, in Mantle’s palette. from the Dust from which it arose into Dust again.

as below, so above.

[itsclydebitches]

One thing about the whole "family" thing in RWBY that I think about is how we skip over entire semesters between Volumes 1-2 and 2-3. Between those times we are supposed to believe team RWBY become this super close team who have combo attacks and are as close as sisters (and even be in lesbians with one another for some), but all of that bonding is implied to have happened in off-screen or non-canon events (depending on how you view the various comics & books).

It’s far from the first time that RWBY has pushed crucial character development off screen. Granted, Team RWBY's situation overall isn’t nearly as egregious as, say, Oscar disappearing after Jaune attacks him and coming back with a totally new outlook on his situation, but it’s still not great. I think the fandom as a whole is very lenient in regards to the group’s found family-ness because, in true RWBY fashion, we’re encouraged to fill in the blanks with whatever we’d like. Some aspects that stand out to me include:

We’ve been given some pairs that aren’t just partners, but are duos who are pretty much joined at the hip. Yang and Blake seem so close, or Nora and Ren seem so close, that their dynamic presumably just seeps into the team as a whole.

This is particularly the case for duos who, at the time of the material airing, have never interacted in any meaningful way. Some fans pointed out how weird it was for Yang to hug Ren post-Apathy because she doesn’t have a relationship with Ren; the show acts like we should be emotionally invested in their reunion, when in reality we don't yet know anything about how they'd interact. We’re just supposed to assume the closeness is there because they exist on the same team.

The show put a lot of emphasis on partners at the beginning of the show, then dropped it, but fans still read those duos as maintaining that connection despite a severe drop in scenes together. This is most notable with Weiss and Ruby. Yeah, they spent a lot of time together and had a number of bonding moments back at Beacon. But then Weiss went home, Ruby traveled alone, and they’ve hardly had any notable interactions since. (My mind is mostly coming up with Volume 6 stuff like “Ruby carries Weiss off the train in her petal form” or “There’s that moment when they find beans to eat.”). I’ve seen numerous fans insist that they’re just as close as they always were, but the point is we’re no longer seeing it.

The show introduces personal challenges for the group and then never appropriately resolves them. Yang makes no mention of fighting with Ruby when they reunite—she randomly became worried that Blake was mad instead. Ren doesn’t get to work through his intense disagreements over how things are done on this team—he’s randomly told he’s being too closed off and apologizes for that. Weiss’ racism was dropped for four volumes and concluded with a quick apology in Volume 7, long after the show was acting like it no longer mattered. Blake and Yang killed a man together, but don’t get to work through that in any meaningful way. The story is riddled with instances in which the group’s bonds are challenged, but then those conflicts are either dropped or inexplicably turned into something entirely different, something that can be easily fixed. At the same time, the story bypasses so many potential moments of tension (such as disagreeing over Jinn’s vision) that they feel less like a close-knit, diverse team and more like Generic Protagonists moving along for the sake of the plot.

The team is just too big. It’s absolutely possible to write that compelling, found family storytelling with a large cast, but RT is failing to manage all the pieces.

Real quick as a way of demonstrating that, here’s a Criminal Minds scene where the team of seven (just one less than RWBY!) are all bonding and growing closer over a meal.

(For the record, I can't remember if I've used this example before... but I'm using it again! lol)

Some highlights:

Rossi is giving a cooking lesson after being lovingly bullied into it. This gives us some insight into his hobby, his heritage, and even just the house he lives in.

Garcia gets really into the metaphor, a distinct mark of her personality—“So your hands must be brushes.”

“Don’t interrupt”—we continue that teasing and the ‘I’m annoyed but not actually’ response that Rossi is known for.

JJ and Emily both give shocked, little laughs at the exchange. Hotch gives a rare smile. He's the stern, seemingly unapproachable member of the group, so seeing him relax like this is a rare treat for characters and audience alike.

We see them interacting with the cooked spaghetti differently, from grimacing like it might be a worm to heartily taking a bite.

Garcia is still so invested in the lesson she hardly notices the strand she’s still eating.

Hotch unexpectedly demonstrates cooking knowledge by warning them not to burn the onions—“Barvo, Aaron!”—and he gives his smug little, ‘Yup, I know what I’m about’ nod in response, along with a knowing look at JJ. Audience and cast just learned something new about him.

Rossi gives another playful yell as JJ tries to drink her wine. It’s not time yet!

Reid shows up and is a little awkward about it. He wasn’t sure if he’d be joining them after one of his many rough patches. Rossi alleviates any tension by putting on that ‘I’m annoyed’ front again, which helps to normalize the situation.

Emily is all, ‘Wine please??’

Then JJ joins in and Rossi finally allows them to drink. Everyone gleefully toasts while conversation and light laughter starts up as we fade to black.

When Rossi says, “We start at the beginning. You eat what you cook, I’ll supervise, and we’re going to do this all together, just like a family” I believe him! This scene, a mere minute and thirty seconds long, does a fantastic job of clueing us in to everyone’s personalities, their individual interactions, and the ease with which they function as a unit. I think the only one who gets the short straw here is Derek, but he’s wonderfully developed across the rest of the series. Granted, Criminal Minds is a 45 minute, episodic show, which certainly makes it easier to do this kind of character work… but RWBY has its designated moments like the Haven dinner scene. Compare the two and the difference is pretty glaring imo. The group re-tells the plot of conflicts we’ve already seen—we don’t learn anything new about them—and their reactions to these stories are uniformly wild laughter. From the outgoing Ruby to the more reserved Weiss, everything that happens generates a literal laugh-out-loud response from everyone at the table. The only times we get a hint at individuality and unique interactions are a) when Ruby has to clarify for Ren that she means “out of control” in a complimentary way (which, frankly, is a lack of understanding I don’t think Ren ever demonstrates again) and b) when Weiss gives Nora a jump scare with her new summoning ability (which is the exact kind of trick Nora gag that Yang will do in a moment with her arm.) Little of it feels natural or individualized, which doesn’t help to sell the larger idea that they’re the closest team ever whose love for one another overcomes challenges like the Ace Ops and will, presumably, save the world. It’s not horrible writing, just not nearly the same standard of other found-family storytelling. And in an age where large casts with that close-knit dynamic is quite common, RWBY has a lot for viewers to compare it to.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#3: “I've done more for the entire comic book industry than anyone in 30 years!”

While he's not exactly as famous as Stan Lee or Jack Kirby, Mark Millar is a well known name in the comic book community. He's worked for both DC and Marvel, as well as some third party companies. He's written iconic stories that have taken the superhero genre and comic book medium to a darker level with stories like Civil War, Old Man Logan, and Superman: Red Son (their quality may vary, but the problems they had were buffed out when they were given film adaptations). He's also the creator of several original characters like the Secret Service and Kick-Ass. Then again, he was also behind Trouble (and a lot of other bad comics), but nobody's perfect.

Whether you like him or not, this is a man who's been writing for comic books since he was in high school, so it's safe to say, he knows a lot about the medium. But Astruc just has to be the one to say he knows more when Millar proposed the idea that all unique superpowers may have been thought of.

Yes. He really had the gall to say that his show is that groundbreaking to an experienced comic book writer.

Now, we could debate what kind of superpower or creative idea could be seen as “unique” or “original” for hours, but that's not the point I am trying to make. But I have an idea on how to rebut this argument. Astruc claims that his show has created more unique superpowers than the entire comic book industry in the past three decades? I'm going to show how the superpowers aren’t as original as he thinks they are by listing off examples from the past two decades.

Ladybug's Lucky Charm – The Tornado of Creation from Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu (2011), the result of the Ninja combing their powers, which uses the area around it to create a new object or weapon to take down whatever threat they face (like turning random debris or rubble to create a giant slingshot. Yes, that really happened).

Cat Noir's Cataclysm – Kitazaki/Dragon Orphnoch Kamen Rider 555 (2003) has the power to turn anything he touches into ash.

Rena Rouge's Mirage – Neopolitan and Emerald's Semblances from RWBY (First used in 2014 and 2015 respectively). Neopolitan can use her Semblance to create illusions that shatter like glass when touched, while Emerald can induce hallucinations for a single person at a time.

Carapace's Shelter – Steven Universe (2013) can use his shield or bubble to defend himself and others against enemies.

Queen Bee's Venom – Ty Lee from Avatar: The Last Airbender (2006) uses chi-blocking attacks to paralyze her opponents, as well as prevent them from using their bending powers.

Viperion's Second Chance – Tracer from Overwatch (2016) can use her Recall to briefly jump back in time, reloading her weapons and healing any injuries she has.

Pegasus' Voyage – Cisco Ramon/Vibe from The Flash (first used in 2016, though the comic version first appeared in 2011) can create small portals called “breaches” to travel through.

Ryuko's Wind, Water and Lightning Dragon – Laxus and Juvia from Fairy Tail (both first showed their powers around 2010 in the anime) can transform into electricity and water respectively.

Bunnyx's Burrow – Professor Paradox from Ben 10: Alien Force (2008) has the ability to travel through time and create portals to other dimensions.

King Monkey's Uproar – Cicada, a villain from The Flash TV series (first appeared in 2018, with powers that differ from his comic book debut in 2001) has a dagger with the power to nullify the powers of other Metahumans.

Multimouse's Multitude – Slapback from the Ben 10 reboot (first appeared in February 2019, eight months before the debut of Multimouse) has the power to duplicate himself, with the clones becoming smaller and more dense in the process.

Hawkmoth's Akumatization – The Sorcerer from Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja (2012) uses his “stank” to transform innocent people into monsters. In addition, he usually uses it on people who are feeling negative emotions (and unlike Hawkmoth, he has Tim Curry voicing him)

Mayura's Amokization – Daiki Kaito/Kamen Rider Diend from Kamen Rider Decade (2009) has the power to summon other Kamen Riders to fight for him.

Hell, I can keep this up with every akumatized villain too, but then this post would take forever to finish.

The point I'm making is that except for Miracolonizer's Liberation (the power to free someone from any restrictions to let them reach their full potential, only it's used by a villain to erase any morals the victim has that keep them in line instead, basically driving them crazy), basically every power seen in Miraculous Ladybug has been used before.

The problem isn't that the powers featured aren't original. What makes a certain superhero or superpower interesting is the way it is used. The Black Canary from Arrow had a sonic device that allowed her to emit her trademark sonic scream instead of it being a natural superpower. Does that mean that Marc Guggenheim invented that power?

Of course it doesn't. So why would Astruc think just because he placed an interesting spin on some preexisting superpowers, that means he “invented more unique superpowers than the entire industry”? That is an incredibly egotistical way to think for a show that's only been on the air for three seasons. And I think it's pretty clear this show isn't exactly Avatar.

But if you really want to watch something with “unique” superpowers, watch Ultimate Muscle. A character in that show has the power to literally transform into a giant shoe. Yeah.

[kitkatopinions]

I just watched the video from twiins iink and other youtubers about toxicity in the fandom and its super cool and better late then never but its a bit late? To confront the fandom i mean. Like i remember when v5 was airing that people where actually pissed that Jaune was touching Weiss... in the healing scene and that Ruby took his hands away so he wouldnt non con touch Weiss, not to you know see what is happening to the wound. Like it was a whole thing, it wasnt one person? And now we are at v9 so i just wanted to ask your opinion if there is some hope for this fandom i guess ✌

Short answer... No, I don't really think there's hope to fix this fandom. It's gotten to the point where the fans aren't even listening to writers like Eddy Rivas and pro-RWBY youtube streamers like Murder of Birds about maybe not wanting the r/rwby subreddit mods to ban all rwby criticism posts from the subreddit.

Long answer, every fandom is toxic to some extent, but the way the RWBY fandom is, is worse than anywhere else I've seen. Every fandom has ships and characters you're expected to like and get hated on if you don't, every fandom has at least one character that people have decided it's illegal to like, every fandom has at least one character that makes mistakes but is good that gets huge and unjustified hate, every fandom has writer-worshippers who get angry at criticism or dislike or people pointing out author bias, every fandom has characters who got assigned sexualities whether or not it's canon, that results in people getting attacked for 'not adhering to it,' every fandom has an evil/bad character that has fans who will get angry at anyone who doesn't feel sympathy for said evil/bad character, and every fandom has tons of people presenting their headcanons as accepted fact. I can't think of a single one outside of the most niche/tame fandoms I've been in that doesn't have these.

But in the RWDEdom, it's considered a rite of passage to get a hate anon, it's treated as 'making it.' Even after blocking likely over a hundred people, I still see the people posting in the RWDE tag that all RWDE posters are horrible bigots. I recently have gotten several messages from someone calling me - a queer woman - a sexist homophobe for criticizing the sexism and homophobia in a man-written show, and what seems like the same person has sent similar anons to tons of other RWDE blogs.

I've openly admitted that there are bad RWBY critics and I've even gotten in arguments with and wound up blocking fellow RWDE posters. I've also disagreed with several RWDE posters who I don't block, because disagreements are just that, disagreements. I also admit that there are tons of regular RWBY fans and posters who are very nice people, who are just trying to enjoy the show, who just like the show. I don't mind, I don't have any problem with that, we just exist on different sides of this fandom and I think that's good. And you know what? Lots of them have points, because there's lots of good in RWBY. But the toxic RWBY fans will never admit that there are lots of good RWDE posters, or that some RWDE posters have a point because there's lots of bad things in RWBY, and that it's okay to disagree on some things. The toxic RWBY fans have in the past harassed and insulted even the easiest on the show, most generous towards the show RWDE blog I've ever seen. And no matter how much RWDE posters try to avoid interacting with the general RWBY fandom and especially the toxic people, people still insist that we're trying to destroy the show and force others to hate RWBY - while they themselves try to bully people into dropping their blogs and demand that they like RWBY.

Honestly, I only have a couple of working theories on why this fandom in particular has gotten so bad. Peer pressure taking over and guiding the generally accepted viewpoints is common in fandom, but I think one reason why RWBY has it worse than usual is because the fandom is smaller than other, bigger works like ATLA or Harry Potter, so while fans are just as devoted, there's less 'subfandoms,' less variety, fan theories get around easier... I don't know, it's just a theory. Another theory is that first off, the starting fandom of RWBY was already loyal to Rooster Teeth and into their content, and the people involved in RWBY have this kind of 'friendly interactive' persona with their fans that make their fans feel a deeper and more personal connection. So they feel personally criticized or feel like a friend is being personally criticized, and get offended. And it doesn't help that people involved in Rooster Teeth and the making of RWBY like writers and voice actors sometimes insult or get angry at critics themselves and make it public that they feel that way, which just encourages the toxic RWBY fans. And sometimes it feels like they put their anger at critics into the show - making Nora (portrayed as in the right) yell at Ren (portrayed as in the wrong) that Yang and Blake definitely make sense as a couple, having Yang and Blake respond to Marrow asking if they ever do missions apart with anger and coldness, having Robyn drag Clover's name through the mud after people were angry at them over queer baiting Fair Game, and turning Ironwood into a comic book level pure evil villain after some people weren't siding with Team RWBY in volume 7 - which again, just fuels the toxic RWBY fans.

Toxic RWBY fans will often say that they're fine with criticism, just not hate and bashing. Ignoring the fact that bashing is also not illegal and is fine so long as proper tags are used, and how they should just block the tags if they don't want to see it since it's their responsibility to cultivate their internet experience... The goalposts for what they consider 'allowed and good' criticism is varied, always moving, and incredibly hard to follow.

1. Criticism is fine, so long as every post with criticism also recognizes the good things about the show. 2. Criticism is fine, so long as it's completely unbiased. 3. Criticism is fine, so long as it includes no insults, no rudeness, no sarcasm, and nothing that's less than the nicest delivery - despite any actual hurt or offense the show might've caused you. 4. Criticism is fine, so long as it only is for small things and not big complaints. 5. Criticism is fine, so long as it only is for big things and doesn't include any nitpicks or personal opinions. 6. Criticism is fine, so long as it doesn't have anything to do with the moments people have generally agreed 'no longer matter.' 7. Criticism is fine, so long as it's not criticism of the main characters or other characters people 'should like' and isn't in favor of characters that we're 'not supposed to root for.' 8. Criticism is fine, so long as you criticize the actions of characters and not the writers, actors, productions, etc. 9. Criticism is fine, so long as you're only criticizing technical things and not bringing up any mistakes the writers might make on things like the portrayal of women, their people of color characters, their handling of real world issues, ableism or toxic masculinity. 10. Criticism is fine, so long as the criticism only fits the exact ideas of every RWBY fan that might get offended, and adheres to every headcanon we should have come up with and immediately accepted.

It's an impossible struggle. And I think that at this point, the toxic RWBY fans have dug in their heels so deeply that even if Miles Luna himself came to them directly and told them 'hey, stop being so irrational and just block the RWDE tag instead of bullying people,' they would say 'Miles, I'm sorry but you don't understand that these people are of the devil.'

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

I'm so mad about what happened in the Atlas arc. They tried to recreate the Fall of Beacon, but forgot why it was so meaningful. It wasn't just the deaths, it was the story. I still get choked up when I think of how Penny was literally ripped apart, how Pyrrah chased Cinder to the top of the tower to fight a battle she knew she couldn't win. I was sobbing throughout the finale of Vol. 3.

Volume 8's finale? Deaths were only for shock value without the story. Ironwood couldn't even go out with grace, he gets tormented by Cinder as he weakly raises his weapon. Fuck, Leo Lionheart had a better death- he was off-screen murdered by Salem and had a lie spread that HE DIED A HERO. When he was working with Salem's faction to kill off hunters/huntresses left right and center. HE PLAYED A HUGE PART IN THE BATTLE OF HAVEN. And HE gets called a GODDAMN HERO??

Ironwood sacrificed and sacrificed countless times. Public image? Doesn't matter. Hatred of his people? So be it. I absolutely hate what they did with his semblance, ESPECIALLY because it's basically hyperfixiation, which I personally deal with as I am autistic and I have ADHD. Plus he's a war veteran with PTSD and a TRIPLE (!!!) AMPUTEE. But no, he has to be the villain. Because we're supposed to side with team RWBYJNRO-whoever else. Ironwood gave them NOTHING BUT TRUST. AND THEY BLEW IT UP IN HIS FACE. And his prosthetics being used to show his "loss of humanity"? Eww...

-🎼

Anon words cannot DESCRIBE how angry Volume 8 makes me and I completely agree, they wanted what the Volume 3 finale had but they did NOTHING to EARN the emotions from volume 3. It was a desperate battle for their lives that they had lost before the battle even started. The villains where at their peak and the hero's couldn't even begin to fathom what they had planned for Beacon, it was beautifully heart wrenching.

Volume 8 took characters like James and Penny and shit all over them and who they are and turned their disabilities into dehumanizing characteristics so the mains could feel better about their decisions and it is DISGUSTING. Every time I think about James and Penny I get furious because they where done so dirty by the narrative and did not deserve what was done to them.

Leo and James different treatments is infuriating. Why the FUCK does Leo get to die a hero but James dies an irredeemable monster everyone is celebrating died? Why didn't team "let's try desperately to talk sense into every person who is actively trying to murder us to join our side" couldn't even be bothered to try and talk to James? Why are we supposed to see them as morally superior when they actively did everything they could to stop the ONLY PERSON WITH ANY SORT OF PLAN to get as many people away from Salem as quickly as possible? I know everyone says that they did EVENTUALLY come up with a plan but that's another issue, they didn't have a plan when they started screwing over James they just didn't like HIS plan well NEWS FLASH sometimes if only one person has a plan you just have to go with it even if you don't like it because something is better then nothing WHICH IS WHAT TEAM RWBY HAD NOTHING.

Just someone PLEASE explain to me why the fuck Leo got more respect in death then James? Why does he get to keep his good name in tact despite literally working for Salem and ensuring all the huntsmen in Haven where killed while James, the man who was carrying the weight of the war against Salem on his shoulders, who did everything he could to do what was best for everyone, die a monster?

Ohhh Winter's line in her fight with James in Volume 8 makes my blood BOIL and makes me loath her entire existence. How could she stand their and claim he sacrificed NOTHING? DID YOU FORGET HE SEARED HIS ARM OFF TO STOP WATTS???????? The way and reasons James was turned into a villain was ableist and disgusting and I am horrified that garbage was allowed to be aired as is. It was hurtful and WRONG and has caused so much harm for people who related to James at all and continued to dangerous idea that people with disabilities are less human. It is vile and disgusting and dehumanizing and we should call this out when we see it because it should never EVER be acceptable.

Team RWBY needed to learn to trust NOT James. He gave out so much trust and RWBY killed both him and Atlas with it. Some heros.

[shera-dnd]

IT'S HERE! A whole week late, but I finally finished the last prompt for Rosebird Week. This time it's AU day and I decided to go with an AU no one expected or really wanted.

IT'S MATRIX AU TIME! LET'S GO!

Summer sat in her bed, head pressed back against the metal wall, and eyes closed, just allowing herself to feel the vibrations of the hovercraft as it flew through the complex hive of tunnels beneath the earth. It was strangely peaceful, and it helped ground her in the real world. It also let her listen to the steps of the rest of her crew.

She heard a set of them approaching her room and pausing at the door. It took a moment for her crewmate to actually open it and step in, but when she did Summer didn’t need to open her eyes to know who it was.

Raven quietly closed the door behind her and walked up to Summer’s bed, sitting next to her. Neither of them felt the need to greet each other, both just wanting to enjoy this silent moment, away from the constant barrage of information that was The Matrix.

“Hey, Raven,” Summer eventually spoke. It was a quiet call, a whisper just for her friend, “can I ask you something?”

“You wanna know if I believe it,” Raven answered, fully aware of the doubts that had been plaguing her, “if I think you’re The One.”

Silence returned to the room.

Yes, that had been Summer’s question, a question that had been at the back of her mind since the moment Ozpin called her by that title. It felt like unearned praise, and she couldn’t help but feel the weight of humanity’s survival resting on her shoulders.

“Yes,” she whispered back.

“I don’t,” Raven answered bluntly, “I think this whole chosen one deal is just absolute horseshit.”

That took Summer by surprise. She opened her eyes and turned on her side so she could look at her companion. Raven looked so different in this world, older, more tired, less composed. She liked this version more, it made Raven feel more human, more real.

“Then why do you even follow Ozpin in the first place?”

“Because as full of crap as he is, he’s still doing good work,” she explained, “we’re still saving people.” Raven turned too, meeting summer’s gaze. Her eyes were a dark brown, not the red they were in The Matrix, “we saved you, didn’t we?”

The two shifted ever closer, eyes still locked on each other in the peaceful silence of Summer’s chamber.

“I believe in you, Summer,” Raven added, so close to Summer that she could feel her breath on her lips, “chosen one or not.”

Before they could drift any closer than that, the door to the room was slammed open as Taiyang cheerfully declared, “come on, it’s about time our girl took a trip to the Oracle.”

~~~

That trip had gone as horribly as it possibly could. Lionheart had betrayed them, half their crew was dead, and Ozpin had been captured by the agents. Leaving Summer, Raven, and Qrow, with only two options. Killing Ozpin themselves before the agents could extract the information they wanted from him, or diving in to fight near impossible odds in a suicidal mission to save him.

In the end the choice was obvious.

The metal detectors in the building blared as Summer and Raven stepped in through the front door. One of the guards tiredly stood up and walked up to Summer, asking her to remove all metallic objects. She opened her white long coat and the man’s eyes went wide as he saw the amount of weapons she was packing.

A well placed punch sent the man flying off, and announcing the start of the gunfight. The guards in this room outnumbered, and outgunned them, but tied down as they were to the constraints of the Matrix, they never stood a chance.

Summer leaped from cover to cover, firing at them in mid air as their bullets tore the entire room to shreds. Raven didn’t have any firearms on her, but that didn’t render her harmless in the slightest. She would fly out of cover in the form of a raven, fly through the gunfire, and return to her normal form just in time to slice their throats open with her sword.

Soon enough they were the only ones left standing in the destroyed room.

Raven took the bag they brought in and together they marched into the elevator.

“You still haven’t told me how you do the bird thing,” Summer commented, casually despite the seriousness of the mission they were in.

“The same way you made your eyes silver,” Raven explained as she dropped the bag to the ground and started arming the bomb they had hidden inside, “you override the Matrix through your own self perception. Me and my brother just took it a step further. We change how we perceive ourselves on the fly, and the Matrix changes our form to match it.”

“So you see yourself as a bird, and then the Matrix turns you into a bird?” Summer asked, hitting the emergency break button on the elevator.

“Yeah, like that.”

Summer couldn’t keep herself from snickering as she pushed off the emergency exit on the roof of the elevator, earning herself a confused look from Raven.

“So you and Qrow are bird furries?” Summer asked playfully.

Raven groaned and finished arming the bomb. “Just shut up and focus on the plan.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

~~~

Copious amounts of gunfire, and a catastrophic helicopter ride later, the three of them found themselves in a cramped phone booth down by the subway. Ozpin was bleeding heavily and was far too exhausted to stand on his own, but he still laughed deliriously.

“Do you believe it now, Raven?” He asked between his bouts of laughter.

Raven shook her head and picked up the ringing phone, handing it to Ozpin.

“We can talk about faith all you want once we’re out of here.”

The crazy old man put the phone to his ear and disappeared, his mind returning to his real body. Summer put the phone back in place and gave Raven some space.

“You go next,” she offered.

“Right,” Raven nodded, but there was still something in her mind. Her fists clenched as if she was trying to steel herself for something, “Summer, once we’re out of here, there’s something...there’s something I need to tell you.”

“More reason for us to get going,” she replied, just as the phone began to ring, she gestured towards it with her head and smiled, “come on, wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.”

Raven smiled back and took the phone, she barely had time to put it to her ear before the sound of gunfire rang through their ears. She was gone before the bullet could have hit her, but the phone itself was destroyed, taking Summer’s escape route with it.

“Ms. Moore,” greeted a voice behind her.

Theresa Moore. Summer hated that name. She hated to hear it used like this, because it wasn’t hers, not anymore. And there was only one person who still used it, the man that had interrogated her, the man that had captured Ozpin, the man that now had a gun aimed right for her head.

Agent Ironwood.

“You’ve been creating quite a lot of trouble for us lately,” the agent continued, “I think it’s time we put an end to that.”

Summer dodged the first bullet that came her way, quickly returning fire as she dashed for him. That speed that had felt like a fluke when she fought that other agent now came to her naturally, easily allowing her to dodge his gunfire, until she was up in close quarters with him.

They both put their guns to each other’s heads and pulled their triggers.

Empty.

Agent Ironwood threw the first punch, his fist somehow faster and more terrifying than any bullet could. She parried the blow with more difficulty than she expected, and hit back for no real impact.

Damn it, she had to be faster, stronger. This was the Matrix, the only limits on her body were those her mind imposed on it, she had to forget those limits if she had any chance of surviving this. Each attack he threw her way became ever so slightly easier to avoid, and every one of her strikes came back with just a little more force.

It was a lucky blow, but a good kick managed to crack his sunglasses in half. She could do this, she could actually win this. Maybe Raven was right, she didn’t have to be The One in order to make a difference.

That was until she was put through a wall, and then launched into the train tracks.

“Just surrender, Ms. Moore,” the agent spoke, jumping down to the tracks and pinning her to the ground, “let me put an end to this and it will all be over quick and painless.”

Summer could hear the train approaching, she could hear her own end right at her doorstep. But she couldn’t care about it right now, all she could think was how much she hated this man for using that stupid name.

“My name,” she began, pushing back against the agent until she was standing up again, “is Summer Rose.”

The train ran over both of them and Summer’s conscience scattered into countless white petals. For a moment her mind was gone, left to the whim of whatever program was responsible for controlling the winds of the Matrix, but slowly they began to gather again, the data that formed her body coalescing once again in the form of a woman.

Summer took a long shaky breath. That had been terrifying in so many ways, but it saved her life. In that moment she swore to herself she would never, ever try anything like that again. It was best to leave the shapeshifting to the twins.

Unfortunately she wasn’t given much time to recover, because a certain agent had just stepped off of the train, looking very angry.

She didn’t have it in her to keep fighting this time, so she ran as fast as she could. Dashing through the streets, Summer grabbed the first cell phone she could find and quickly dialled up the Beacon.

“Mr. Wizard, I need a way out!” She yelled into the phone.

“We’ve got your back, Ms. Rose,” Ozpin replied calmly on the other end, “let me guide you through this.”

She ran up and down buildings, out windows and back doors, pushing away people before they could be turned into more agents. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, her mind racing as much as her body as she chased the sound of that ringing phone.

It was right there. She could feel it. She just had to open the door and--

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

~~~

The monitors inside the Beacon blared out a warning as Summer’s brain activity completely ceased.

“No!” Raven screamed as she ran to Summer’s terminal, “no no no no no!”

She climbed onto Summer’s seat, straddling her and holding her face in her hands.

“No! You can’t die too. You can’t!” Raven begged, tears falling onto Summer’s face, “the Oracle promised me! You can’t!”

Summer couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t. Raven refused to believe that.

“She said the woman I love would be The One,” she said, hands shaking, “so you can’t die here!”

Her breath was weak and shaky, her vision blurry from all the tears.

“I believe it, Summer. I believe in you. I believe whatever it takes to keep you alive.”

She didn’t know what else to do. Maybe there really was nothing else to do, but she refused to accept that, refused to sit there and let Summer die. So she did the only thing she could think to do. She closed her eyes and leaned in.

~~~

Summer’s eyes shot open. Instinct told her to suck in a deep breath and refill her lungs, but there was no air around her, there were only codes and programs to simulate it. She stood up, the ground beneath her just textures, sensorial information, and some physics related code. She could see it, the seams on the fabric of the world.

The Matrix.

Bullets were fired her way and she looked at them with almost curiosity. Their code was as clear as day, so easily read, so easily altered. She rewrote a portion of it and the bullets exploded into white rose petals.

Then came that program, Agent Ironwood, shouting as he tried to strike her down. It would have killed her, but she was faster than him now, she was as fast as she needed to be. With one hand she stopped every attack he threw her way, her face showing no sign of focus or exertion, simply the almost amused look of someone who finally got a joke they heard so long ago.

She had already won.

~~~

Her eyes opened once again, this time for good. After what felt like hours in The Matrix her eyes struggled to adjust to the light inside the Beacon, so for a few moments all she knew was that there was a dark shape standing over her, and that her face was somehow wet.

A hiccuping sob above her made clear what had happened while she was gone.

Summer reached for the woman above her, her thumb wiped away those tears, and she smiled.

“Thank you, Raven,” she spoke, as softly as she did in those quiet moments in her chamber, “thank you, for believing in me.”

[tumblezwei]

i'm curious to see how v9 deals with the fallout of the v8 finale, but not particularly hopeful that things will go in a direction i like. that said the pattern of this show's history is that the the middle volume of each arc tends to look a lot better in hindsight. both the v2 and v5 finales got a pretty mixed reaction, but being able to see the totality of the arcs that they were setting up (and when those finales don't need to sustain a year of hiatus cliffhanger) improves them a lot. it's hard to judge whether you like a story or not when you only know the beginning and the middle!

so i'd love to believe that the arcs that i hated the ending of this time were setting up for something new and interesting. or that the themes i felt like they discarded are going to be explored in a new way instead. i don't think i can say i trust crwby like you do, but i can at least still imagine lots of ways v9 *could* go that turn the misses into hits for me.

your answer to that other ask made me curious about the opposite of that, though - what's the worst-case scenario for you? what are you hoping v9 *doesn't* do?

That about sums it up!

RWBY has a real tendency to smatter it's character arcs into different volumes, and that make it hard to see the whole picture with just one. I have a strong feeling that v9 is going to be one of those volumes that puts a lot of much needed perspective on the previous volume, whether for good or bad. Kind of like how v8 put Ren's behavior I'm v7 into perspective and made the whole thing more cohesive.

While it's going to be a more focused volume without all the world-ending high stakes, I expect that that will largely benefit the more personal threads that have been hanging in the air for a while.

As for my worst case scenario:

- Penny isn't mentioned or only very briefly before moving on to something else

- Weiss doesn't have something of significance happen and goes yet another volume without major focus

- Jaune and Ruby don't have at least a little conflict over Penny's death

- we go yet another volume without seeing what the hell Raven and Tai are doing

And if only one of these happens, it won't kill me (especially Tai and Raven. Like, I'll survive. I won't like it, but I'll survive). But if two or three happen, I will not be happy.

[oddlyhale]

(This mostly feels like an online diary entry, so forgive the spillage of thoughts that could become a jumbled rambling mess.)

Still speaking as somebody who's still fairly new to the RWBY fandom and still learning new things every day via RWBYtwt and here on RWBYtumblr, and just talking with fans who've been with the show for as long as its been airing, it sometimes feels like I've already been here for years.

It's incredible how I learn how entirely toxic and immature the fandom chooses to be than just grow up and accept the flaws that their favourite show has. Even the ugliest flaws that they refuse to fix and has hindered them for years.

To be honest, I've always been a critical person. Even for shows that I absolutely love without question, I won't blind myself to the flaws they have. I don't like to be treated like I'm an idiot, so I assume shows would also not want to treat their viewers like they're idiots that can't pinpoint the problems in the writing or animation.

But what I may say is that the biggest reason why I even started this RWDE Tumblr is because of Twiins and her sister, Critter. I really loved hearing their opinions on episodes, what could be fixed and their video essays on what to do/what not to do in writing. It hits different when you're hearing it from people who've been watching RWBY from the very beginning. It's like they're veterans and I'm just this peewee still trying to figure out how the hell aura works.

Actually, I've always been a fan of people who make content that involves looking into TV shows with a critical eye. It makes me think about how I should look at scenes and characters more closely and familiarize myself with how they should've/shouldn't have behaved or how a scene was bad.

I was so sad to see Twiins leave, but I really hope she's happier doing what she likes now without the fandom leeching on her. I can't explain how disappointed I felt when I saw the screencaps of fans being dickheads to her, and even more disappointed to see how bigger RWBY content creators behave. It really did cement into my mind that it's all just some tightknit bro-club that likes to harass people who criticize them for anything they do. It left a bad taste in my mouth at how childish that the adult fans can be. I can understand how frustrating the tweeny fans can be when they have their keyboards and tapping away hate, but I can't find it in myself to be angry at them. Annoyed, but they're stupid kids with stupid motives, they'll grow up and realize how stupid that was. I hope.

(And anyway, these bigger content creators that love RWBY should be putting a better influence on how to behave and how not to be such a toxic bunch to anybody who disagrees. Accept that flaws exist in the show and it's OK to point them out when you feel unhappy with them. It doesn't mean you hate the show - you do like the show, but you just happen to have a big brain and can point out something's wrong in the writing. That's how the world spins.)

Even if this behaviour hasn't been hitting me, I have seen this very behaviour elsewhere. Especially in Twitter - oh how twitter dot com can be the actual cesspool of hatred. It makes Tumblr look angelic.

It's very snake-like on Twitter, as though you should be more than careful to not wake the beast, or else you'll be slammed and eaten up, only to be spat out and left in a twisty mess of "why?" And the fans act fast - a little too fast. With how fast they react to "bad takes" from people who were displeased with things in the show, it did numbers in my head at how the fanbase has truly shrunk in popularity. If it's that easy to find people you hate, then well, I guess this show really is bleeding out like a stuck pig, and the blood is of the fans that leave as quick as they came.

But still, even if the popularity shrunk, it still has the most rabid ones still around, and they rear their little heads more than usual. A mean girls club, the frat club that requires your pain for their pleasure. That seemed to be what the fanbase was towards Twiins and Critter. Just waiting for the next person or existing person to say ONE MORE bad thing about RWBY, and suddenly it's hunting season.

And just to throw in here - even as I was watching RWBY for the first time without context, yes my brain was turned off as I watched the volumes. And I still felt everything frying in my head because nothing was flowing correctly in the episodes and my brain went ouch. I can legit forgive the shit and turn my brain off for the show if anything was fluent and not so stupidly written. But no, I had to turn my brain back on. Because I don't like being treated like an idiot.

I hope nothing but the best for Twiins, and I will still support her and her sister. They both deserve better and deserve the best pizza they've ever had with new or current shows they watch.

Anyways, I am glad that the encouragement from these YT critics gave me the courage to do my own RWDE blog. It's awesome to meet new people who also feel the same, and I love reading/listen to hot takes or new things I'm still opened to learning.

And yeah, the news of RT selling out made me laugh, but it still sucks knowing they'd eventually lose.