#penny isn't based on an actor either

[iridescentis]

i love that when im writing rtc fics i have actors in mind when im picturing it for most of them, and then there's ricky who is just a concept. i have no idea what he looks like. he's definitely there though

[sailorblossoms-snowbaz]

Heteronormativity was trapping for the main four in CO. Yep, even Penny

I've often talked about how it hurt Agatha and Simon in much more direct and invasive ways (comphet). They're the damsel/prize and the hero who were pushed into a performance of traditional straight conventions, which wasn't what either of them wanted, but they were unable to see outside of it. They were friends, and they could see the other was pretty (not remembering if Agatha talks about Simon being handsome directly, but she does talk about how beautiful and handsome his parents were, so). But they weren't in love, and weren't sexually attracted. However, heteronormativity tells you than a boy and girl being able to see the other is pretty is enough to believe there's attraction.

Agatha and Simon share a braincell a lot, and they villanized Baz (~The Villain~) in the same silly, over-the-top fairytale style (srly Agatha? Poison in tea?) as if Baz was gonna show up with his widows' peak and dark eyeshadow wearing a long, dramatic ass cape to Evily Steal Away Agatha (did they seriously imagine Baz as a classical queercoded villain? Simon does say he looks like an alluring old black and white movie actor when he just wakes up... I joke but also, wait a minute–). Baz fell for the same fairytale bs too. He didn't know shit about their relationship but imagined they "stood in front of the sunset, looking into each others' eyes while the wind caressed their hair with romantic drama" or some shit, and he thought that based on optics alone ("the golden couple") (WS tell us he did watch movies such as the Princess Bride, which has this kind of imagery). Most importantly, it made Baz afraid. He felt much safer pretending to be interested in the girl than letting Simon know his true feelings. He imagined Simon seeing him as monstrous (and given how often his vampirism is tied to his queerness, well).

Heteronormativy also tells us that platonic love is "impossible" between boy and girl. That girls must compete over a boy's attention, that a girlfriend must be the most important girl in his life, and female friends are not to be trusted. Simon's closest friends are girls, and while this bullshit never got between his friendship with Penny, it did affect the dynamic of the trio. Agatha felt like the third wheel–like she wasn't as close to either Simon or Penny as they were to each other, which can be isolating, given that they don't mention other really close friends outside of the trio. From her POV she felt left out, like what she wanted didn't matter as much, like she wasn't as important (even though the "gf is supposed to be the most important") and she was the one burdened with expectations while Penny could just be Simon's friend, free from it all, even though "they liked each other better". It'd feel unfair, and there's jealousy and resentment there, but it's not romantic. These are complex and very valid feelings for a teenage girl in her position, but it was flattened and reframed as "hetero competition" with Penny (as if romance's the only valid form of closeness between girls and boys) producing the truly cringe-inducing exchange "you're my girl" "Penny's your girl".

And Penny could sense this. She could sense something was fucking with the trio, but she didn't fully understand why. She was just like "what did y'all have to date??" but didn't go much deeper. She gets close when she thinks Agatha "isn't suited at all" to be Simon's girlfriend, but that she's still Simon's friend, one of Simon's only friends. And the way she thinks about this implies she has been thinking about this for a long time, maybe she was even vocal about it. "Has Simon finally realized?" she wonders, mistakenly assuming that Simon not wanting to leave Baz's house was about "not wanting to get back together with Agatha" when it was about not wanting to leave Baz.

That's another thing: Penny didn't pick up on the vibes between Simon and Baz. I know Simon's Baz-related behavior around her can feel so obvious to the reader that there's the temptation to say Penny suspected, but let me tell y'all: she did not suspect shit. She didn't!

It took until Penny watched Baz homosexually embrace Simon while calling him "love" for her to understand. Only then does she think "everything is starting to make sense" meaning that she's able to look back and understand in hindsight that there was no heterosexual explanation for the obsession those two had for each other. Only then. She didn't pick it up at Baz's house: she looked at them and basically thought "when this truce is over and they go their separate ways" while the reader knows those two are already on kissing terms. She saw Baz looking a little crazy at the thought of Simon running (or literally flying) into danger, and she was like "mayhaps there are leftover feelings from their rivalry?". She went along with Simon's stalking at first, she sat down with Simon to watch Baz play football while wearing his little shorts and she didn't pick up shit. She had to limit Simon's "Baz-talk" so they wouldn't just talk about Baz 24/7 and she still didn't suspect shit!! While that's partly just being clueless about romance, it's heteronormativity too: seeing what's classic, obvious crush behavior to the reader but not being able to realize what she's seeing (at least in part) because it's two boys. It only becomes obvious to her once they're "explicitly" behaving like a couple. (Then again, Simon was so unhinged about it you can't blame her for electing to just tune it out lol)

[itsclydebitches]

I am not sure if Shion has confirmed pronouns yet, the Japanese Bio's have screwed up characters pronouns before, like with Penny

Yeah, there seems to be a lot of conflicting info so far. Two articles I found say that Shion uses different pronouns in Japanese and English, though not what they are. Fans are claiming he/him is correct. Talk CRWBY apparently confirmed that Shion is non-binary, but not pronouns? Meanwhile, the fandom wiki is using they/them while the Ice Queendom website has he/him.

Not sure what I'll be using for my recap yet, but I'll make another note of the confusion there. Honestly, until we get confirmation either way (or, just as useful, confirmation that Shion uses multiple sets of pronouns), I think the important bit is just for the fandom to acknowledge that Shion is non-binary (yay!) and make an attempt to use correct pronouns based on whatever current information they have, whatever that may be.

Not that I think any of this is done maliciously - I'm very happy when people correct me and work to spread what they believe is correct info around our spaces - but there is something to be said for fandoms making things WAY more complicated than they need to be in the name of being respectful through what I think of as black and white activism. Specifically, I'm thinking about an issue the OFMD fandom has been dealing with lately where someone tweeted about not shortening the character Oluwande's name to Olu because it's disrespectful. That info spread like wildfire - because who wants to be disrespectful, yeah? - only for people to start pointing out that this isn't always the case, I know friends with that nickname, they literally call him that in the show, isn't it more disrespectful to doubt what he wants (considering he doesn't react badly to the nickname), the actor and the producers wouldn't have included that if it was a problem, etc. It's become a whole Thing that might have been avoided if we'd just acknowledged the ambiguity from the get-go. I literally heard about Shion's identity an hour ago (or whenever I edited my post), so maybe we will get a solid confirmation, maybe it already exists and I just haven't found it yet... or maybe Shion will remain in an ambiguous space where crew info, fan info, and dub/sub dialogue leads to different people using different pronouns. And that's okay! For simplicity's sake, I'd like trustful confirmation one way or another - including of the "Shion uses multiple pronouns, so any of these go" variety - but if not the fandom should be wary of coming down hard with a "I'm right and you're wrong" mindset. Which again, hasn't happened yet. But I literally just saw something similar go down, so this is a general, fandom-wide reminder that RT isn't great at communication, especially lately, so if Shion's pronouns remain confusing in a few days/weeks/months time, please don't start crusades against fans who ignorantly use the wrong pronouns, or the "wrong" ones based on different, but arguably still canonical information.

REGARDLESS I like Shion so far. I'm a sucker for white hair, purple clothes, and a very big hat. The queer rep is a bonus 😎🎩

[luckstergal]

Wait wait, in what grounds do you guys have in order to demand more money? Seems you guys made the models without having the rights to undertale, then after reaching an agreement about using patreon and YouTube ads, you want more or some money? Isn't this trying to profit off of the undertale ip in a way Toby would frown upon? In face with the way trade mark is, he would now have to possibly take action against all of you in order to keep his trademark. GG fam

Where was the demand for money? 

Quoting straight from Pipann in a conversation on this Ask:

we never (Not me, at least) demanded compensation from Smashbits. We only want them to stop this crap.

Pybun's answer was also that she does NOT want Smashbits using her model, even if they paid her revenue.

And from PyBun’s Reblog Tags:

At most I pointed out was the SmashBits has considered and respected their Animators and Voice actors being paid through their patreon and Youtube Adsense, but there had never been any consideration for the artists who made the models in the first place. NOT EVEN CREDIT UNTIL PROMPTED.

Even just CREDIT was an afterthought. Smashbits didn’t credit a single model maker nor asked permission, until after prompted by several angry people, many who disliked the fact that they were monetizing on the models they made at all--much like a fanartist would be upset to find their art being sold on a t-shirt unauthorized.

After some back and forth, it was finally permitted that as long as permission is given and credit is where it’s due, SmashBits may continue getting Patreon Donations, and get whatever pennies Youtube’s ads (based on user data and trending topics) grants them, but no commercialization.

They have now reached the commercialization stage without talking to anyone but their team and their fanbase about it. So now they are not only disrespecting the model makers, but are blatantly infringing upon Toby’s IP.

Smashbits were given an inch reluctantly by many parties. So they took a mile.

This is about them covering their own hide and finding themselves superior to everyone, even the model makers and the time they made to make the models in first place.

They need to either drop the sponsorship attached to the project in which their team did not do all of the work, or their team needs to make their own models.

Hell, Toby might tell them to shut it down entirely if he determines that the Sponsorship Deal crosses the line on what he will and will not allow the fanbase to do with his IP.

Also, massive difference between Pipann and Smashbits:

Pipann would cease Undertale Model Making without a second thought if it was within Toby’s wishes even though she is generating no profit from them, nor desires any profit to be made off of them.

Smashbits had made a mountain of excuses when told by model makers that they dislike his use of their transformative work.

[itsclydebitches]

I know you're not a fan of the BBC Sherlock or maybe even not seen it. But (spoilers) when Holmes surprised Watson that he's alive by dressing up as a waiter and making jokes. Watson snaps and attacks him. It's a quick reaction to seeing your best friend come back to live, but also the anger of knowing that he was kept in the dark of that until now and how Holmes isn't taking this seriously. There's no thought, just emotions and it's great.

It’s funny you connect the two because BBC Sherlock (in some respects like RWBY) is a show that, in my opinion, started out great before taking a serious nose-dive. Admittedly, with Sherlock currently outpacing RWBY in the “what did I just watch...” category. I adored that show until I realized that shiny cinematographic techniques and two otherwise excellent actors couldn’t make up for a lack of actual deduction, horrible characterization, and eventually bashing the fans’ investment in your own show. If anyone hasn’t watched this excellent vid I HIGHLY recommend it. Sums up all my thoughts into very entertaining words. 

So yes. That is an appropriate reaction. One of Sherlock’s problems is that John sticks by him despite all the horrible treatment. We understand in the canon why Holmes pulled that one, horrible trick and he gets away with it because 1. He has legit reasons and 2. He and Watson absolutely love one another. All the other adaptations---Granada, Russian, Elementary, etc.---show us a loving relationship that’s at times difficult, but loving nonetheless. In contrast, we’re shown little reason why John would want to stick by Sherlock given how rude, manipulative, and overall cruel he is. The “high-functioning sociopath” at work. So that anger retroactively reads as frustrating because fans ask why it doesn’t carry John towards a change. We know that Holmes and Watson ‘have’ to stay together (that’s the story), but within Sherlock’s particular context there’s little to justify John putting up with his crap. Especially towards the end. 

All of which is to say, yeah. People react strongly to something as HUGE as a friend suddenly not being dead. Even people who weren’t as close as Ruby was to Penny. They break down crying. Or laugh hysterically in joy. Or stand in actual shock. Or respond with disbelief and anger. There are so many possibilities, especially given RWBY’s own, particular context. Just last Volume we had Jaune doubting Oscar’s identity. Why doesn’t someone express suspicion about this resurrected Penny in Ironwood’s seemingly tyrannical Kingdom? Ren and Nora are still grappling with Pyrrha’s death, why can’t they be working through disappointment that Ruby gets this when they never will? Where’s Yang supporting her sister in this emotional time? Or Weiss supporting her teammate? Or Blake thinking about the return of life after she and Yang so recently took one? Or Oscar being fascinated by a robot with a soul when his own soul is attached to another’s? Why isn’t Ruby crying in joy or pissed that no one told her? She’s been angry enough recently. This is the sort of reveal that should either break or heal her.

None of these particular things had to make it in and some would obviously work better than others. My only point is that there were options. Really, based on what we’ve seen, I think RT just wants Penny to function as some sort of plot device for this volume, filling in the rest of her time with bits of comedy. This isn’t the first time they’ve introduced major reveals that are just shrugged off by others (see: Ruby not giving a damn about her silver eyes). They’re just not very good at following through on the repercussions that certain changes to the story imply. Maybe it’s because of the short time frame (although at 18mins each now, they’re on par with most animes...). Maybe it’s that the cast is too large. Maybe they just really don’t think Penny’s return needs anything more than one voice break from Ruby. Idk. But yeah, lost potential.