#nitpick november 2022

[apple-salad]

leFlacon, The Sleeper II

Finally, it has arrived. 

Read more for a lot of nitpicking and complaining.

To be honest, I’m a bit bothered about this release...I preordered it in November of 2021 (!) and it was supposed to ship in spring of 2022, but was delayed due to pandemic/factory delay reasons. Which is understandable, but again and again, leflacon kept telling me “it will be ready in july... august... november...” until finally, a year after the original ship date, they are ready.

I have mixed feelings about leFlacon in general. I find their quality not up to the price point (even on Taobao, which is cheaper than their global store), and the final product can differ from the listing/sample photos. Whether or not the sample pictures are just photographed really well (a lot of them seem to be overexposed or blown out, so it’s difficult to see the quality of material), or the sample is really a totally different piece, only the shop knows, I suppose. What I especially notice is that the sample piece can differ in dimensions/proportions compared to the final product, although the measurements provided in the listing itself are accurate, so don’t worry about that.

Anyways, despite the above, I like and own a couple leFlacon items with mixed feelings that vary on the item. I had felt a little snubbed in the past, but I still like leFlacon’s designs and brand concept, so I decided to take a gamble and purchase this one. Not sure if the long delay was some kind of sign, though.

The quality is fine--I definitely received what was on the tin, I think. The construction is also fine, and I don’t see any glaring problems with the stitching. But here are some notes I felt like making about the piece (good and bad):

The material is quite thin. 

It’s cotton, and this thinness could be considered an advantage--slightly gauzy and nice for summer. It does wrinkle easily, but I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. The dress has a kind of frumpiness in its design with its long length and oversized sleeves, so wrinkles make it feel comfy and lived-in if the wrinkles are in areas that would happen naturally with wear (and not like you put it on after stuffing it in your closet in a ball).

The dress is completely unlined, not even in the bodice. 

Not really a problem since I imagine most will wear with a petticoat/underskirt and camisole, but I wasn’t expecting unlined (I don’t own other leFlacon dresses, only accessories, so I’m not sure if this is normal for the brand). I think this might be due to the insertion lace making adding lining costly/difficult, but it wouldn’t have been impossible. Not a dealbreaker, but odd, I think, since the material is so thin it’s see-through.

(Although, the seraphim OP below seems unlined too, so maybe that’s just how these things are.)

All of the lace is synthetic (except the bottom “lace” panel)

leFlacon seems to use stretch lace a lot, which I think has the advantage of being both very cost effective and soft/not scratchy. It may have a tiny bit of a glittery effect or sheen due to the synthetic content. Some may actually prefer this, but I’m not a fan, personally. After spending so many years surrounded by cotton lace pieces, I think synthetic lace just doesn’t feel as delicate to me.

All of the wider lace portions (such as the bib lace and sleeve ribbons) are stretchy. The insertion lace portion uses a convincingly historical looking bobbin lace portion, but it is also synthetic (nylon, maybe?). It looks completely fine from far away and presents no problems, but I also think that synthetic really pales in comparison to real cotton bobbin lace. Pictured is a small length taken from my stash, purchased from Japan, but originally imported from France. 

I recall brands such as Seraphim use high quality cotton lace for their insertion portions, so they’re out there.

Edit: A late thought, but I should note that Pink House (which is one of leFlacon’s style inspirations) uses high quality cotton lace like the above on their pieces (notably the underskirts which have insertion lace) as well.

Seraphim, Miranda OP 

The bottom of the dress uses an embroidered cotton lace panel. The density of the embroidered threads is not as high as some other brand lace I’ve seen in the past, and has a slightly blurry appearance because of it.

(Not as sharp a photo as I would like, but hopefully the point is expressed...)

Compare old AP lace with newer (almost all pieces from 2019 or so, though the following example is older) custom lace. AP hasn’t used lace with a cotton base very often in recent years, so it was difficult for me to think of an example. Below is tulle lace, which utilizes the same concepts.

AP Creamy Cherry (2017) top; Wrapping Cherry (2016) bottom

However, I think it would be unreasonable to expect a brand at this price point (despite my price complaints) to find a large panel of very high quality cotton lace to use on the dress, which would likely be very costly, so don’t consider this a real complaint.

...

and the menial gripes:

Skirt centre seam

The skirt joins with a long seam right down the middle, to join the skirt details into its signature ‘V’ shape. The seam ends at the horizontal pintuck portion. I was under the impression that a seam in a place so obvious is a bit of a no-no, but because of the skirt pintucks and V shape, I believe logistically it made the most sense to just sew it all up with a centre seam. But, I don’t have to like this or the way it looks, and I still think there are ways to prevent the seam along the top portion of the skirt.

A centre seam also seems to make the fabric inclined to fold in where it is located (at the middle), which I don’t love but I suppose it hides the seam and looks pretty normal.

Bib lace

I wouldn’t consider this a real gripe, but the bib lace doesn’t extend all the way to the back. This is a design decision you can see from the stock photo scratch that, I just checked and there are almost no pictures of the back, only one photo where the model is turned slightly to the side so you get the slightest glimpse, but it is definitely not the focus.

I did strike me as a bit weird because the pieces I’m used to looking at have lace up to the back.

Sheglit, Edelweiss OP

A random Gunne Sax dress referenced from some seller on Poshmark because I don’t own any GS dresses with this type of bib (very sorry seller for using your photo, someone please send me a photo I can use)

Price

The preorder price at the time for this piece was 968 RMB total (368 at the end of 2021, 600 in 2023...I note this because the exchange rate has fluctuated wildly in that time). For the delay, all customers who preordered (on Taobao, I don’t know about the global store) were entitled to a tiny refund of 30 RMB, plus free shipping (11 RMB value).

The dress is back on preorder right now for about 200 RMB more (1280 I think), and $269 USD on the global store.

Conclusion?

To be clear, I do like the dress, and I really like the design! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have even purchased it in the first place. I’m happy to finally have the piece in my hands, and opted to wait it out instead of asking for a refund for a reason. I do feel like I received the piece I ordered, I just wanted to write down my mental complaints. This post is mostly for me, and I’m probably going to be embarrassed later, writing so much about the minutiae...

[bookishtheaterlover7]

Yo that weird ass photo it's Chris's soul leaving.

Or he pulled a bucky and just ripped off one sleeve- it's skin toned all the way to the shoulder

That's seriously one of the weird parts about the photo, An🫶n.

I'd believe that the photo is real, old (November 16, 2022, to be specific) and definitely not photoshopped if that damn arm wasn't so weird looking.

And I'm probably nitpicking, maybe even clowning, but WTF is Stanley Tucci doing there. Okay, Scarlett, Colin, Chris, and maybe even Albitch herself. But Stanley seems a little random, and that's the thing that stands out to me.

And am I the only one questioning as to how and why they're even there? And why wasn't this brought to the GP until almost exactly a year after?

Well, photoshopped or not, I'm glad Albitch at least looks like a petulant child being scolded. She deserves more, honestly.

[sytokun]

Nitpick N(Oct)ovember #2: Gravity

Part of @odsalt's RWDE Nitpick November event.

Every time I see RWBY try to use characters falling down a chasm or cliff as a cheap way to raise the stakes and make me scared for their safety, I get really, really pissed off.

Let me remind you, Team RWBY, lest you forget you could do this on your literal first day of school:

You have Semblances. You have guns that propel you through recoil - i.e. the coolest method of propulsion ever. You're certified "pro Huntresses" now and you can't even perform better than yourselves as freshmen?

RWBY is the one, one fictional setting where death by falling should be a non-issue for the characters. Can I still like the fight? Sure. Is someone stupid for not thinking it's a big deal? No, they're not. But if you're selling the badass idea where people can fly using bullets and you have them explicitly not doing that, then what's the big deal?

It's like telling me people can control the elements in Avatar but sometimes they just... randomly forget how to for no reason, even though they're not unconscious, restrained or anything? They just... don't?

Okay. And you just decided to make your show more boring and frustrating to watch, because...?

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Nitpick November Day 8

Why don’t we see anyone, especially Ruby, upgrade their own weapons? In volume 1, Ruby mentions how she built her own weapon and if I remember correctly, implied that everyone usually built their own weapons and that Jaune was a unique situation with his being a hand me down weapon so to speak. It could have been so cool seeing Ruby and the others working on their weapons, maintaining and upgrading them as they had the chance/knowledge to. It’s just a little detail that could have added so much to the story.

[dowhatteverer]

Official Nitpick November # 1

You'd think this "girl power" show would have more women in power. Seriously it's got to bother at least one other person that all of the Huntsmen headmasters are men. Even the one who was supposed to be Dorothy! The only women in power are either evil and on the bad guys team or are a secondary power ala Glynda and Winter. It really bugs me because Remnant is supposed to be free from gender discrimination, but it looks a lot like the real world in how little female representation there is in the leadership roles.

[fndmstrugglecomments]

Nitpick November #3

I can accept that artists make the inside of PoC’s palms the same color as the outside because it’s easier, and that’s a discussion for another day, but if you’re gonna do that why would you have a scene that focus on said palms? Not to mention the fact that Emerald’s hands are completely devoid of any lines to the point that they look more like weird tentacles than anything else.

[saltwukong]

Nitpick November #5 because I didn't feel like doing 30 of these things: The Hair

Blake's hair. Blake's freaking inky black hair that I bitched about that other time and am devoting a whole post to, yes.

Complete with re-used gif, yes.

Okay, let me get this straight: out of all the characters whose hair you could cut, you pick...Blake? When Weiss and Yang are right there?

Weiss' and Yang's hair are very important parts of their characters! Weiss' hair was stated by Monty to be tied to the side as a small means of rebellion against her strict parenting and environment, refusing to be totally pristine and symmetrical the way they Jacques wanted.

Cutting one's hair is a sign of rebellion in several places around the world, and it's a thing that's even bled into America where Rooster Teeth are stationed. Weiss cutting her super-long hair as a sign of cutting away her toxic family legacy would've been amazing! And she'd look so good, too!

Yang, too. Yang's hair is her thing. We know she's super touchy about it and reacts very badly to it being cut or damaged--or at least she did. This could be a big moment for her, another moment where she decides to cast off her old self, since her hair is tied to her emotions and implicitly her anger/semblance, which she decided not to rely on as of Volume 5, right? Let me tell you something, Yang's hair being short, only to appear long again due to the flames trailing it when she activates her semblance against Elm, or any other enemy? That would've been super cool!

But you pick Blake, because...I don't know, I guess. There's no reason Blake can't cut her hair, but by god I don't know why you'd choose her ahead of the above two when they could get more out of that.

[papercrows]

Nitpick November 6

Does anyone remember Amity Arena?

Why were some character backstories revealed in a mobile game instead of the show its self? Not everyone plays mobile games or what's to do homework on a show that should be telling you directly through said show instead of through supplementary material.

Hazel and Gretchen are twins, that should be in the show not some character background card.

Adam was a child slave, that should be in the show not some character background card.

[nitpick-november-2022]

…what color is Glynda supposed to be?

Like, with the naming convention rules in place, her color would have to be white, right? Except white isn’t a significant color on her the way red is on Ruby, or green is on Ozpin. I would have to guess that her color is either black or purple or yellow, except Glinda in the Wizard of Oz wears pink (in the movies at least)! And no part of her name has these colors! On a character who was there from the beginning!

Honestly, I've never been able to pick out a color from her name. The closest I can get is Glynda meaning "fair", which could mean "light", but that's not exactly a slam dunk connection (I've never really a fan of her name in general, always found it too on the nose for her allusion).

Then again, not all of the teachers have color names as far as I'm aware (Peter Port and Ozpin aren't the most colorful of names), and I believe that there was an asterisk on that color name rule that side characters weren't bound to that convention - which makes sense! Don't want to waste time coming up with a name and color scheme for a character that's not going to be a major player or, in the case of Oz, has lore reasons to have a name that's noticeably not a color name.

If I were to guess what color she's meant to be, I'd say purple. It's the color of her Semblance in action and the color on the inside of her cape - if I were to do some headcanon speculation here, you could say that her usual attire is very much her "deputy headmistress" uniform, and that, like her students, she wears something very different and more reflective of her colors while on the job as a huntress, with her cape being a hint of what that outfit may look like. I suspect that if we'd stayed at Beacon longer, we may have gotten to see the teachers in their own Huntsmen outfits at some point like we do Oobleck.

But perhaps that's giving too much credit. While Port doesn't have a color name, Peach (a teacher we've never even met) and Oobleck (technically) do, and I'd consider Glynda a more important character than either of them. She is also the third character we see in the very first episode, and does make multiple appearances in all of the Beacon volumes. It does seem odd to break convention right at the very start of the series without a very good reason (though I suspect that reason would be "Glynda Goodwitch" rolls off the tongue far more easily than any alternatives that may have been come up with). Then there's also Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Pyrrha Nikos - what colors do they have in their names despite being members of the B team (as far as Google can tell me, Ren can mean lotus in Japanese, but lotus flowers can be in a range of colors, not just pink which I heard somewhere is his canon color and honestly his color should be green why make him and Nora share a color and Lie can mean "Ardent" which is apparently a shade of red?? But that's definitely not his color???)? So not giving three out of 4 of your main secondary cast members clear color names doesn't bode well for your naming rule being a rule rather than just a guideline to be followed whenever and to whatever degree you want to.

[whitleyschn33]

Nitpick November 2022: Days 1 and 2

Happy Nitpick November, everyone! Starting the month off with something fairly petty, but it’s been bugging me for ages, so why not? And since it’s technically tomorrow where I’m at, I’ll hit two birds with one stone since these two are connected.

So back in Volume 4 when Weiss was going to Jacques’ office, we see her walking through the manor, and she heads down the stairs to make it to the office. However in Volume 7, Weiss has to go upstairs to get to Jacques’ office - and she has to go that way, apparently, because she keeps trying to get around Whitley instead of turning around and heading another way.

Speaking of Whitley and the stairs -

Glad to see that we actually have seen that Whitley has a Semblance - the ability to teleport!

Either that, or he ran upstairs in another part of the manor after dropping Ironwood & Co. at the dining hall just so he could come back to the party from the main stairwell like a dramatic little shit.

Or CRWBY made up a scenario to waste time on stupid antics without caring that the set-up makes no sense - Whitley coming down a stairwell from the opposite direction of where he exited to block Weiss from going up it even though she shouldn’t need to go up it at all. 

Apologies for the Youtube UI and Spanish subtitles, the wiki didn’t have the screenshots I was looking for and I wasn’t going to go looking on pirate ships when I could just grab this and be done with it.

[sytokun]

Commandeering this for my Nitpick November #10 because the more I think about it, the more it fucks me up a little more inside that we got gaslit into liking Miles' self insert and having Pyrrha pine after him for years for a virtue he didn't even fucking have.

this show is just so fucking wild

Arkos doesnt make sense on a fundamental level bc Pyrrha in v3 implies that the reason she picked Jaune to be her partner immediately is bc hes nice and doesn’t put her on a pedestal. Now, ignoring how shitty it is to tie a female character to a man forever bc he was nice to her one single time, he was never actually nice to her

Before the emerald forest Pyrrha had met Jaune once, she was having a conversation with her acquaintance(?) Weiss and this guy, Jaune, butts in, literally pushes Pyrrha out of the way and just completely fucking ignores her while blocking her out of the conversation so he can badly hit on Weiss. Pyrrha continues to be nice and cordial to him but he just immediately proceeds to badly hit on her after having just entirely ignored her (for literally no reason) until Weiss tells him who she is, wherein Jaune IMMEDIATELY puts her on a pedestal because he now knows she’s a famous athlete who gets to be on fucking cereal boxes. He then immediately decides he’s not good enough to be on her team, putting her on a pedestal even higher. Then she compliments him immediately and he goes back to hitting on Weiss.

At what fucking point in that scene does Jaune act nice to her or treat her “like a regular person”? Him knowing her as the cereal girl is played off as a joke but he’s still “whoa holy shit youre a celebrity thats so cool!” after being an ass the whole time. 

[sytokun]

Nitpick November #11: WiFi Down

I like how the CCT towers were made with the baffling flaw of "if one goes down, the whole network goes down" only for them to not do anything with it.

And no, bringing up the Amity plan in V7 is not relevant, because that's 3-4 years spent doing nothing with this plot point in the interim, like how the world reacts to this worldwide upheaval or what the villains do with it - it was time spent fixing a problem that you introduced and did nothing with anyway.

Alright, you want me to buy that one CCT tower breaking down will cause the whole thing to shut down instead of the other relay towers just keeping the signal up but the downed area has no signal.

Alright RWBY, I'll play along, even though you've never explained anything enough about electronics in Remnant to suspend my disbelief that this works the way it does. Because I assume you're gonna do some important plot thing about that (much like how Dust doesn't work outside the atmosphere but that's a future Nitpick maybe).

Take out one tower so that the signal goes down across the entire world, save for short range radio. Surely you wouldn't add this really weird flaw into the world's lore if it's not for a story reason, even though we now know the plot from V4-6 functioned essentially the same as if the other CCT towers were still operational.

Hm, what's gonna happen? Are the baddies going to do some giant blitzkrieg operation to attack all the other Kingdoms while their logistics ability is crippled? Salem sends waves of Grimm to overwhelm the Kingdoms' armies, now all cut off from contacting backup, claim swathes of territory and surround the remaining Academies?

...No? Alright, what if it's to take advantage of the media blackout to start sending in Salem loyalist spies into the Kingdoms and start spreading mass panic and propaganda?

...No? Okay, maybe, I dunno, while all the CCTs are down, you can get the designated hacker expert man on your team to perform a backdoor hack into the remaining towers, take control of all the androids in the Kingdoms at once and destabilise all the Kingdoms overnight?

NO? Okay fine, screw the villains' plans. Tell me, at least, please, that you're gonna do some kind of really cool spy drama story arc where Team RWBY have to travel the Kingdoms during a worldwide radio silence, and they have to do a bunch of Cold War shit like intercepting Salem's spies, communicate by digging up old radio equipment from the Great War, stop bad actors from other Kingdoms trying to sabotage and infiltrate Vale while it's weakened, or act as secret messengers carrying confidential info between the other remaining Headmasters? Anything like that?

...NO?

Okay.

So you deliberately shot an aspect of your worldbuilding in the foot, not in service of some greater plot reason or to make cool shit happen, but for the sheer sake of it; or more likely, some plot point you wanted to do but dropped like a brick.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Nitpick November Day 27

It still drives me insane that James and Qrow only talk to each other during the first three episodes of volume 7 and then never again. Shouldn’t they have like something to say to each other? Why not talk about Tyrian trying to kidnap Ruby and thus proving he’s working with Salem? Why not Qrow express concern that someone might try and take Ruby again? Or talk about their feelings about Leo and what he did? Qrow questioning if The Inner circle falling apart is his fault like STRQ? James leaning on Qrow because he’d been alone for so long and being so relieved that he has people he can trust back in his life?

With how much episode one emphasized how exhausted and beaten down James looked you would think something would actually come from all of that. But it doesn’t, it’s just tossed aside and forgotten and James and Qrow never speak again. 

[dowhatteverer]

Nitpick November day 23

I would have liked to see Ruby build, or at least design, more weapons. We know that she built Crescent Rose and that thing is basically a flawless Grimm killing machine, but I can't help but wonder if she should also be interested in making more than just the one weapon.

I can imagine Ruby's bedroom having a separate workshop area where she can stay up all night building models and prototypes for her weapons. Or carrying around a sketchbook full of doodles and notes on all her different weapon ideas. Or help out her friends with upgrading or fixing their weapons.

Like, Ruby has this one really cool character trait that I wish we actually got to see more of. Let this girl have a hyper fixation and special interest in weapons god damn it!

[fndmstrugglecomments]

Nitpick November #5

So why did Harbinger have gears in it, something that’s been a part of Oz’s aesthetic?

Back when I watched V3 I kinda assumed Oz made Harbinger and I was kinda like “🏳️‍🌈?” and then at the end of the volume when Qrow was holding Oz’s cane I thought “🏳️‍🌈!!!!??????????”

Anyways, I think this was a missed opportunity. Either all of the inner circle’s weapons could’ve had gears in them as a subtle nod to their allegiance to Oz, and then maybe characters like Raven that left Oz’s circle could’ve had their weapons replaced as like symbolism or something.

Or

Only Qrow has gears in his weapon because he has some deeper connection with Oz that no one else in the inner circle has, romantic or otherwise.

[saltwukong]

Nitpick November #4: Magic

The entire reason that RWBY had its tiresome "MAGIC IS REAL?" phase is because of a complete failure to separate magic from semblances or dust. Semblances, as we've had them told, are completely unique and are fueled by aura, but otherwise we have no limits whatsoever placed on them or what they can do. Pressed fans have ascribed it limits, such as saying that semblances can't let you shapeshift--but this is them trying to cover for RT, who never placed any such limitation and, in fact, most people assumed that turning into a bird was indeed Qrow's semblance at the end of Volume 3. Not only do we not have any idea what semblances can't do, but we've never been told what magic can do.

When we're shown via the maiden powers, it's extremely disappointing, because none of the maiden powers (fire, ice, electricity, wind...) constitutes anything you can't achieve with regular old dust. Even stuff like stormclouds and weather were generated by dust, as shown by Glynda in the very first episode of the show.

We know shapeshifting is something magic can do, but we're not given any reason why Ozpin has strict enough control to assure only Raven and Qrow can do it, with the maiden powers by contrast just passing on randomly with zero control on Ozpin's part. Then, when we get a glimpse of what magic can do with Ozpin and Salem...

Well, we don't. I have no idea what that attack was supposed to do. I mean, I guess it hurt? I gathered that it is an attack of some kind, but anything beyond that doesn't get shown or even told. Likewise, Salem's magic attacks have no clear designation and the only effects they seem to leave are pretty bad burns on Oscar. Hell, when Hazel fights her, he's got the upper hand just with dust.

She eventually resorts to just beating his head against the ground, and it says something that that's her most effective attack of the entire fight.

If magic is such a big goddamn deal here, why won't you show it to us? Why won't you let us know why? At least give them something unique and impressive they can do to justify all this mystique and awe!

It just really bugs me that Salem is overtly using the most magic of any character and yet we have no clue what it's supposed to do. It's just "purple ball". That's not at all what I expect from something Ozpin has been this hush-hush about.