#rwby meta stuff mine

[invested-in-your-future]

Would it be accurate to compare Ruby to Blake in regards to how they are afraid to look back and are always rushing ahead? Although I feel like their reasons for it are fundamentally different.

I think it's something all four members of Team RWBY have in common:

Ruby runs from the present that contradicts her idealism.

Weiss runs from the terror of her home and from facing her own privilege.

Blake runs from her past and contradictions within her ideals.

Yang runs from her aimless future and from realization that she has no grand goal to follow.

Idealists that refuse to face themselves is almost like part of the theme of Team RWBY as a whole.

I'd say that applies to the show too (even though show gave up on trying to explore ANY of that countless Volumes ago)

[lara-prisma-avm-ask-blog]

Well if you want to gain followers, give them a reason to follow you. Its that simple. No one will follow you because you are complaining that you dont many followers.

right now all you do is complaining and give bad vibes in general. All you will gain is probably petty followers at best and most likely from your closest friends only.

also your blogs are confusing. this is supposed to be an ava/avm ask blog but you also talk about other fandoms as well as if it was your main blog. if i was an ava fan, i wouldn't follow you.

and you seem to do the same thing with your henry blog. i dont understand how your organisation work at all.

like it is often said, those are your blogs, you do whatever you want with them. but dont be surprised if they dont attract as many people as you wish they do.

personal blogs like your prisma project are even harder to get followers because no one will follow you just because you have pretty OCs or decent concept for ideas. everyone have those. Only your friends and closest mutual will follow you for your personal project. thats how it works.

you want more followers? then go make more actual arts and complain less.

good luck.

ok, thanks for the constructive criticism.

It's just that my other blog is more focused on a variety of topics, but I don't talk about them much due to lack of ideas of what to talk about T-T

But I already have plans of what to do! I want to talk about games like fnaf, undertale, hollow knight, danganronpa, phoenix wright , etc. Shows like the owl house, arcane, tales of arcadia, ninjago, Monkie kid, rwby, Miraculos, winxs club, Meta Runner, Murder Drones, etc. And several projects like one of magical girls, learning to make my own games, fanfics, comics, who knows even animations! I just want to be able to expand my horizons of what I can do! And this other blog of mine, Projeto Prisma is the beginning!

I don't like to complain, I know it's really annoying. I just feel frustrated ;-;

I'll try to stop anyway, I just want to say that I have a lot of plans ahead!

Once again, i really appreciate everyone's support for what i do, i love you guys and i really want to show you what i want to do for the future of my blogs! I still have a ways to go, so wish me luck. the images above are related to future projects that try to which will be more elaborate on my other blog, Comic projects, AU's, and other stuff. I appreciate your feedback on everything I've ever done, and thanks for your critique anon.

[multi-muse-transect]

RWBY/Justice League Rewrite.

So basically I imagined an AU years ago where the RWBY characters are reimagined as DC characters. So here’s sort of a rewrite of mine, the RWBY/Justice League movie is an anthology series that focuses on RWBY characters as DC superheroes with them building up to teaming up with their canon counterparts. 

Woman Of Steel: Focuses on Yang/Superwoman and establishes that the world is recovering from an event called the Apokolips War where every hero perished as it gives rise to violent anti-heroes that cause collateral damage. Mild reporter Yang Xiao Long aka Nyssa-El is sent cover the opening of a new shelter for metahumans by Lex-Corp-Remnant’s new CEO Salem. A meta human hate group attacks the place coupled with an anti-heroic Livewire fight as Yang intervenes as Superwoman and stops the two (her outfit resembles Sasha Calle Supergirl but with red boots). Basically the usual Superman stuff and feels light hearted.

Rose Speedster: Ruby Rose is a normal cosplayer on social media and systems engineer of STAR Labs but also the new Flash. She is given an objective to deliver a package which contains a new organ for the Princess Of Markovia who has days to live which she tries to but fights Count Vertigo. A mix between serious and funny.

Beware The Knight: Blake Belladonna is a heiress to the Belladonna-Wayne Enterprises but at night-she’s the Batwoman-a seemingly mythical being in Gotham’s urban legend. Batwoman intercepts a package shipment heading to one Roman Torchwick aka Black Mask and another package to Neopolitan aka The Penguin. Goes more on the line of horror and thriller as it centers on how the people of Gotham view Blake as to them-a monster.

Sorceress Of Atlantis: Weiss Schnee is an underwater researcher and also the protege of King Arthur Curry and Mera who is skilled with magic as she takes on a gang of pirates that raid an oil rig. 

[sillytorch]

To be honest, I think Cinder isn’t going to last as long as we think she is. As in, I DON’T think she’s as endgame material as we think she is.

But she’s one of the primary antagonists of the show!

Yes, but Salem is taking the reigns right now. You’ve seen her getting her Beringel army ready by the V6 stinger. And Hazel said so himself, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” Yes she has Watts and Tyrian going to Atlas too but now we’re actually going to be seeing Salem in action.

But Cinder has Neo as her partner.

It’s heavily implied that even after their truce, Neo is not very fond of Cinder. From the how she rolls her eyes at her to her fake smile right after getting tired from showing her ability to cloak an entire ship with her semblance (she MIGHT even be pulling an act on Cinder). I doubt she’ll be the one to kill Cinder, but I’m sure she’s going to backstab her both figuratively and literally. ALSO, remember Cinder’s words to Neo right before Neo agreed:

“Help me get to Atlas. Help me FIND HER. And the rest... is up to you...”

So she basically told Neo that after they FIND Ruby, Neo can do what she wants.

Other than that... Cinder won’t have anyone else. WT_H is not fond of her, Salem, despite knowing that Cinder’s alive, left her out, and Emerald and Mercury are starting to get doubts. And since Cinder went to find a loophole to get Neo to kill Ruby even though Salem told Cinder NOT to kill Ruby, where and how do you think Salem knows about Cinder’s whereabouts and status? 

Maybe... it might be her GRIMM ARM... And if Salem knows about this team up... she’s NOT going to be happy

So all in all, I don’t know what the writers have in mind for Cinder, but from what I’m seeing so far, things are NOT going to be pretty for her in the Atlas arc.

[itsclydebitches]

How long does it take you to write a rwby meta? I'm thinking of doing a similar thing for miraculous ladybug but I'm not sure I'd have the time. Any tips?

Miraculous Ladybug! I started you and then... lost track of it, as usual lol. I should pick that up again. 

To answer your question though, each kind of meta takes a different length of time. If we’re talking recaps, each generally takes me around eight continuous hours to complete. I watch the episode, take notes as I go, frequently stop for screenshots, write the meta, browse the main tags for clarification about anything I’m confused about/general reaction to the episode, read through to edit/try to catch typos, format it into a tumblr post, add screenshots, add links and such as needed... post. If I have any tips, it would be to not do all that over the course of one Saturday afternoon and night lol. The only reason I subject myself to that stupidity is because 1. I like to ride the episode’s wave and post when people are engaging with it (or at least the First viewers are) and 2. If I let myself post whenever, there’s a good chance they’d never get done (as my poor Before the Dawn recaps attest). If you establish any sort of routine though you’re good. If, for example, you want to write a meta about each week’s episode but don’t think you’ll have time to do that in a single day, space it out. Tell readers you always post the day before a new episode airs, helping to remind everyone of what happened last week and giving yourself six days to write. Something like that. 

Other, very general tips: 

Like with any analysis, work to prove any claims you make. Point to where you saw this on screen, mention the dialogue where this occurs, provide screenshots as evidence, etc. 

Accept the fact that you’ll probably be wrong about things. Obviously a great deal of meta-ing is subjective, but there are plenty of times you just misread a scene. Example: when I was confused about how Weiss got her boar to Whitley in time, not immediately realizing that Willow had summoned it. It happens (but it also happens less when you’re not writing on a self-imposed deadline lol) 

Edit your work to the best of your ability and try to break up long paragraphs (oof I’m dragging myself today) and/or break things up with images 

If you’ve discussed a point elsewhere and your blog is organized enough to know where it is, link it so new readers easily know what you’re talking about without you having to rehash the whole thing 

Speaking of organization, have a page on your blog where people can easily access all the stuff you’ve written 

I usually work chronologically through episodes, but don’t be afraid to jump around, especially if you have a singular point to make about multiple, connected scenes 

Pick your battles, whether we’re talking about criticism or praise. Chances are you’ll have far more to say about an episode than you can work into a single meta (mine usually clock in at about 4-7k, which is already pretty long). Save the smaller stuff for side metas or, like me, start half your posts with, “I was also thinking about this thing I didn’t put in the recap...” 

Don’t be afraid to reblog your metas on different days/at different times to catch new readers. Tumblr has developed a strange “You can’t reblog your own stuff” mentality which I’m personally not here for. It’s your blog. Do what you like! 

And, as said, have fun with it! 😊

[anneapocalypse]

RvB Rec Day: Multimedia!

Happy May, friends! As most of you know, I tend to do fic recs most of the time, because well, I’m a writer and I love to read fic as much as I love to write it. But I want to give a shout this month to some amazing creators of other kinds!

@notjustsharksfanart is a longtime favorite artist of mine and has so much wonderful RvB art out there that like, if you haven’t gone through her archives you are just cheating yourself, seriously. Jess is a comic artist so a lot of her art is in comic form with an expressive and dynamic style, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you might do both. (She also makes some original webcomics and if you are into space future with canon lgbta+ characters, please love yourself and go read Closer to Home.)

@falling-towards-the-sky is behind some of the most beautiful gifsets and edits out there in the fandom, especially from the Chorus trilogy (and some for RWBY and Halo as well). Go appreciate the crispness, the clarity, the Carolina! Dster is also responsible for giving me a whole new appreciation and perspective for Carolina and Epsilon’s relationship on Chorus, both through meta and simply by the way their gifs have highlighted that relationship. Great stuff.

@omgplushies (sideblog of @agenttexsflippedshit) makes adorable, beautifully-crafted plushes. Oh my goodness, go and take a look through their RvB tag. If you haven’t seen these beautiful and huggable works of art then you’re in for a treat. Roni makes plushes for other fandoms too, and is sometimes open for commissions or trades. Go check them out, you will love them.

@texelations is known especially for her longfic, Keystone, which I’ve recced before, but she also has an extensive collection of excellent fanmixes for RvB. If you know Marti, you know she has a song for everything--and if she doesn’t, she’ll find one! (If you’re ever stuck for writing inspiration, go ask her for a song, seriously, you will not be disappointed.)

Previous Rec Days

[kandrakelsier]

Fandom Fic Rec

Alrighty, so this is apparently a thing, and I’ve been meaning to do recs for a while so... here’s a long list of my favorite fanfiction works, with links to each of them. I recommend all of them.

Hanover Chronicles-Katriona_Subasa (@agronadb​)

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka No Ken, Fire Emblem 6- Fuuin No Tsurugi

A series of four fics, spanning just over a thousand years of history in the Fire Emblem world of Elibe. This series is one of my favorites; the characters are well developed, there are little tie-ins and easter eggs between fics, the writing style (particularly the dialogue) feels super realistic, and the pacing is excellent. Also would like to point out that the series is approaching 1 million words, so if you start, you’ll have plenty of material to keep you going, particularly since the last fic is still in progress.

Reprise-Elfpen

Fandom: Star Wars

A series of time-travel fix-it fics where Obi-Wan is sent back in time after his duel with Darth Vader on the Death Star. The humor is great; imagine Qui-Gon trying to deal with two Obi-Wans at once. There’s also cameos from characters in the True EU, which was fun to see, and some great philosophizing about the nature of the Force. Lots of good meta, and overall just very well written.

Messenger-HundredHanded (@hundred-handed​)

Fandom: Overwatch

An Ancient Greek AU. Angela travels with Reinhardt as he tries to take down Talon, and Fareeha is a bodyguard. Very clean writing; you can tell a lot of research went into this one. No character feels out of place, even if the entire thing takes place in Greece, and the names are absolutely brilliant. Good fic, good pairing.

Beneath the Stars-StarlightWalking 

Fandom: LOTR

A finished fic covering the travels and life of Tauriel after the Hobbit and through the War of the Ring. Really fleshes out the brief relationship between Tauriel and Kili. Provides a lovely conclusion to her story, which was more or less left hanging at the end of the movie. Shout out to TolkienGuardians for always posting updates on this so I could go read new chapters. 

Knight-Errant-Zinjadu 

Fandom: Star Wars

A canon divergent fic covering the Clone Wars, where Ahsoka wasn’t expelled from the Jedi Order and instead was promoted to a unique position. Proceeding relatively slowly, but has a lot of material, and each one is well done. Covers battle, politics, and slices of life, which very few other sources do. Contains a whole bunch of fics, so pick your poison.

Love, Life, and Peril-LiamReyes

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka No Ken

A unique take on the story of FE7, involving a tactician with a checkered past. This is an older fic that is progressing slowly, but is well written, with enough AU tossed in to keep the story fresh. The background adds a nice twist to the story, and some character deaths are left out, which I think makes the fic much better,

A Fresh Cup of Coffee-Lydia_Rogue (@marykay91​)

Fandom: RWBY

Hoo boy. Another favorite fic of mine, involving the formation and adventures of Team CFVY (You know, the ones that got maybe ten minutes of screen time?). Super well done, and covers some serious issues within the show that the actual series does not (Racism, Ableism, etc). Bonus points for having the team be in a super cute poly relationship, and for fully fleshing out the most badass team on the show.

Overwatch Emergency Communication Channel-ArcaneAdagio 

Fandom: Overwatch

This is... a legendary crackfic. Just, imaging the entire Overwatch team on a chat server during day to day life. Absolutely hilarious, and the format is great. Lots of pairings, lots of shenanigans. 

It's Basically Discord-Hanzo Shimada (Ubercharge)

Fandom: Overwatch

Same as the last one, another crack chatlog fic. This one starts in the days of Overwatch before the fall, so you get to see some of the interactions between the old soldiers when they were still young and snarky.

Reaping Dragons-MegsBlackFire 

Fandom: Overwatch

A series featuring genderbent Reyes and Hanzo, and covering their recruitment into Overwatch before the fall. McHanzo and Reaper76 feature prominently, and there’s plenty of OC characters to help flesh out the story. Well written, and ongoing through the current storyline of Overwatch (Whatever that is Blizzard’s timeline is so messed up)

The Young Never Sleep-CerealMilk (@cerealwatch​)

Fandom: Overwatch

A much, much darker fic, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Details D.Va’s life and current status in Overwatch, and explores how being a child soldier who’s been fighting omnics for years might fuck you up a bit. Lots of triggers, read the description before you start. Goes a lot into recovery and in how D.Va deals with life and death, and doesn’t treat her like a child. Basically the anti-gremlin D.Va; Hana Song and D.Va are very much not the same person here. 

Sorrowful and Immaculate Hearts-Unpretty (@unpretty​)

Fandom: DC

Ah yes, another legendary series of fics. You’ve probably seen at least one of these floating around. Covers a wide range of topics, mostly Batman related, but all of them are well written, and most are hilarious. Hard to sum up this one since there’s so many fics, but all of them are worth a read.

The Stars Our Destination-CommanderRoastedWolf 

Fandom: Overwatch

A fantasy AU centering around Pharmercy, with Pharah as knight and Mercy as priest. Gorgeous worldbuilding and character development, and I love how other characters are portrayed. Ongoing, updates fairly slowly.

Imagine the Ocean-Damkianna

Fandom: AtLA

An Avatar AU where Katara is the Avatar, instead of Aang. Supremely well written, and adds touches of details to the original that improve the already incredible story. A few OCs provide some nice contrasting points of view.

Kingdom of Rust-Colms (@kelsiers​)

Fandom: Cosmere

Ah yes, this was a fun one. Wayne and Marasi go do shooty-shooty stabby-stabby detective work. I love this one because the writing style is so similar to Sanderson’s; the dialogue is spot on, and the plot fits right in with canon. Love the characterization of Marasi, who I at least feel is slightly underdeveloped in canon. 

Equilibrium-Caesurae 

Fandom: Overwatch/Pacific Rim

A crossover fic with Angela as a Jaeger pilot. Has both Pharmercy and Gency, and most of the other characters make appearances at one point or another. This one is plenty long, and the style/viewpoint of the writing is unique and makes for an interesting read.

Once There Was-Peradi 

Fandom: Star Wars

A series that examines the fall of the First Order from within, inspired by the actions of Finn when he dared to break off and become a traitor. Written almost like poetry, this one strikes deep and is a good read for fans of Star Wars from any era; it applied regardless.

In Loco Pirates-IzzyTheHutt 

Fandom: Star Wars

So what if Hondo (Yes, that Weequay pirate with impeccable business sense and a great sense of humor) ran into Luke Skywalker and then sold helped him reconnect with his father? Good stuff. Definitely AU, but so far everything is believable. Does some great character analysis of Darth Vader and Palpatine as well.

MaftWaft-Oddport

Fandom: TF2

A TF2 fandom? In 2017? Yep. An AU where the fem!mercs end up in the canon universe, and the two teams join forces to take down Grey Mann. A fun read, with all the characters behaving about as you’d expect them to when confronted with themselves. Lots of adorable couples too.

Wayward Son-Gunlord500 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka No Ken

Hoo boy. This fic. Over a million words across (I believe) six years and almost eighty chapters. In universe, it covers a few hundred years, following the story of a single enigmatic man as he lives, fights, loves, and dies. Very interesting backstory on one of the most mysterious characters in the canon, and contains loads upon loads of philosophy and religion that I, at least, found very useful.

The Last Red Shoulder-Gunlord500

Fandom: Fire Emblem 6-Fuuin No Tsurugi

In the same universe as the above, covering a side story about corruption and a horrifyingly evil artifact. Same praise as the above, basically, and well worth the read. Would recommend reading Wayward Son at least to about chapter 50ish first though, as there is some backstory that you’ll be better off knowing.

Six Shots to Go-CourierNinetyTwo 

Fandom: RWBY

Another CFVY fic, covering all six possible pairings in the team. Each one is explored in detail, and seems true to the characters from what we know of them. Overall, a cute fic (I think there might be some NSFW in this one, careful)

Silly: In Defense of Parvati Patil-DirgeWithoutMusic 

Fandom: Harry Potter

A look into life after the books, focusing on Pavarti and how she deals with the trauma of going through a full blown war before the age of eighteen. Fills in the gaps that JK Rowling left behind, and offers a much more realistic view of what life would be like after seeing your friends die.

Sealed In Silence-MorriganFearn 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

A look into the life of the Eight Heroes, focused around Bramimond, the Dark Druid. It’s told as a series of small interactions between Bramimond and the other heroes. An older fic, but it has aged well.

The Dusk of Our Revolution-LittleGreenBudgie 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

An AU where Matthew is trying to escape the Black Fang gang; a well written side fic that covers one of my rarepairs from this ancient fandom. Each of the Four Fangs makes an appearance as well, as do other characters, and the whole thing fits neatly into the new setting.

Clandestine-LittleGreenBudgie 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

A quick meeting between Matthew and Leila. This is the rarepair I mentioned above, but it’s cute, and this little fic covers their interaction very well, I think.

End of An Era: Unholy Alliance-LordHippoman 

Fandom: League of Legends

The League falls to a combined assault from the Void, Noxus, and the Shadow Isles. An older fic that I read back when I played League super regularly, but it’s a good read overall.

Another Hope-Rose of the Nile

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed IV

This beautiful fic is another time travel fic, where Edward is sent back in time after the events of AC4. Knowing what he does, he tries to fix his mistakes. This one made me happy mainly because of the pairing and improved character development, and is a great read for anyone who loved Kiddway as much as I did.

Deep Breaths-CrimsonNoble

Fandom: League of Legends

An AU fic with Riven and Irelia. Basic Cop and Gang fic, with each of the major factions being a different gang member. Older fic, but done well, with interesting perspective shifts and descriptions.

More Than Words-Kitten Kisses 

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

Sadly, this fic was taken down, but you should be able to email the author for a copy. A post game fic where Hector and Farina get back together. Very fluffy and angsty; poor Farina doesn’t catch a break in this one, but it all turns out lovely.

The Ice Girl-Meelu the Bold

Fandom: Fire Emblem 7-Rekka no Ken

Linus and Lloyd save Nino when she’s abducted by faeries; bit of a strange premise, but it leads to some classic puzzling and hack and slash action. Very old fic, but a good read.

[invested-in-your-future]

Years back there was still this prevalent idea that you can make your villain too evil. Now, this wasn't just something new nor came with the rush of YA novel adaptations - this has been going on for decades - many people, audiences, and authors alike, seemed to overestimate the value and capacity of things like public conscience and the like.

The idea that some characters might be evil "just because" was frowned upon as outdated or "inconvenient because others would realize they are evil.".

From that would stem the wave of ideas that would essentially whitewash and flufferize concepts like discrimination, fascism, class warfare, and so on, leading to what I like to call "comfortable discrimination" - where the audience can consume the media without feeling like they have been called out on things or made to think about the nature of their world.

Racism would be subtle or misguided with the focus being on "proving the racists wrong" rather than acknowledging that sometimes you can't - that it's more complex than "lack of understanding" and those perpetuating it don't need to be "idiots who simply don't know any better" - that some profit off it, while others might be true believers.

In fact, anyone who was overt in their evil would BE portrayed as incompetent sniveling idiots who would get foiled by their own personality traits.

Evil is pitiful, you see - it is too busy trying to hurt others to be efficient and ends up hurting itself.

The only "evil" that can be overt and successful is something inhuman.

And, on the flip side, using overt methods would be vilified for good guys too. After all, if discrimination is merely "something you can beat by proving them wrong" and the extremes lead to villains foiling themselves, then your heroes should absolutely be unwilling to be anything but centrist.

If good guys were to do something that could be seen as flawed, a narrative like that would have to work over-time to show how it actually wasn't flawed and they were in the right.

Looking back, I think there are very few fictional works that epitomize that issue the way RWBY's Atlas story arc's writing did.

They had a Kingdom with a well-built-up set of issues, a set of heroes that just went through life-changing experiences that should have left them conflicted and divided, and a setting ripe for drama and personal conflict years in the making - they had been setting up something with Atlas since the show's first season after all.

Somehow it all had ended up as it always did - with a pointless giant monster, maiden hot potato, lack of characterization for leads(and one of them is FROM THERE?!), some character assassination, and nothing of value being said.

It was truly an achievement in sterilizing discrimination and then placing exclamation points on all the wrong things - warping what could have been an engaging story with interesting villains into, honestly, I have no idea what.

What could have been an interesting arc about human nature, evil within human hearts, and personal conflicts (and being freed from them) ended up a messy, weird thing with lots of padding and not much mattering in the long-run.

Leaving the whole show worse-off in the end.

[invested-in-your-future]

Do you think that what it meant or means to be a huntress changed between V1-3 and V4 onwards?

I don't think what it means to be a huntress changed. The concept of a huntsman has always been vaguely defined, and it was clear that the occupation means different things to different people as early as V2.

What I do think changed is the feasibility and realism of that concept, if that makes sense.

I can't pinpoint the exact moment when, but "Huntsman/Huntress" had become something that should be viewed within the setting as universally GOOD, culminating with the ridiculous battle against Ace Ops where Ace Ops lost solely because "they didn't have that power of friendship on their side"(even though the narrative itself contradicts that claim as they clearly displayed camaraderie)

Before that, the institution was clearly meant to be viewed as imperfect - even Beacon had bullies and the like. Even Mercury and Emerald would by all means be efficient huntsmen at getting rid of Grimm - were it not for whom they work with. And as ridiculously nonsensical as it was, Lionheart stuff clearly intended to show the fallibility of the institution (in the dumbest possible way, but still).

After all, within the show, the Huntsmen are just there to buy Ozpin time - we never get anything more about what Huntsmen are or what makes them different from militaries(or if the Kingdom military as a concept exists post-war).

In short - the show began with the idea that people like Ruby, Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake are outliers - rare cases where their choice to be a Huntsman/Huntress is driven by idealism. Majority of Huntsmen were Huntsmen because they were willing to risk their lives for either self-gain or necessity for humanity's survival - Cardin and the like didn't join "because of blind belief in an ideal" and neither did the likes of Branwen siblings(especially true due to the absolutely WTF approach to their backstory) or Winter or even Yang.

The show instead builds a case that naive over-reliance on ideals will always clash against cruel reality, and it's what a person does after that that matters - confronting that is a natural part of adolescence. It's in the show's DNA from the start - from the first Salem/Ozpin monologue - the world is complex, and the value of humanity comes from whether people who believe in its future can find a place within it without being ground to dust by the reality around them.

Yet, by the time Atlas arc crashed as the ridiculous trainwreck it had become, the narrative began treating Ruby-style idealism as the default position of every Huntsman - if you aren't an idealist with strong conviction to ignore reality you are, instantly, "almost evil".

Volume 9 highlights that shift - the story screams at the audience that self-reflection is "evil" and one should ignore their past mistakes because they are already perfect and if one were to have traumatic experiences they are "evil and almost literally a dictator". What's more - Team RWBY are literally given a "divine purpose of blind idealism" by yet another deity thing.

Honestly, I think the show just gave up on exploring what it means to be a Huntsman/Huntress and the imperfections of the system - and alongside that, erased any sort of complex morality for the characters. Instead of delivering characterization for the leads where they can make mistakes, evolve and grow, the show instead had the reality itself give up because "it was simpler to write characters as unchanging".

[invested-in-your-future]

I think the worst thing about WF and Faunus storyline in the show overall is that the writers seem to fundamentally misunderstand what racism and discrimination are.

It's not always about "fearing" minorities or viewing them as a "threat" - it's not always something that can be "proved wrong" or "debated over". It can't be solved by "everyone being nice and showing how wrong they are".

What angles could prejudice against Faunus take?

"They're animals" - the most obvious choice that even show uses. But this lives off the idea that the Faunus are LESS than humans by default, and the show does NOTHING with that. Prejudice like this wouldn't be built upon "proving someone you are good" - those who use animal stereotypes and comparison inherently believe that Faunus are BORN lesser - it's not about what they do or don't do. It's about them not being "human enough" - an idea especially plausible as prevalent because of the implied slavery before the war. To some people, Faunus would ALWAYS be something "lower" - no matter how good or brilliant they'd be. After all, even a good and obedient pet would still be a pet.

"They are like Grimm/similar to Grimm" - another obvious one that the show doesn't really explore, but let's be honest - it would absolutely happen. Prejudice is built upon demonizing the other - whether it's people of color being associated with the devil or women being burned as "witches". The "Other" by nature has to be "Evil" or at least on the side other than the mainstream. Remnant has been dealing with Grimm for centuries if not thousands of years so the animal features would not just tie to animals for most - wolf ears would just as likely elicit an idea of Beowulf and it's oh so easy to slander and imply that Faunus are somehow "impure" or "tainted by evil" or "bring misfortune".

"They aren't animals or Grimm but they are different and thus want to replace humans/hurt humans" - this is honestly the angle of prejudice I can see people take too via just inherent fear of The Other, in part fueled by the other types - because it's the one that's easiest to sell to the masses. Fall of Beacon involved WF members assaulting the school - with people from all Kingdoms present. People would talk when back home only empowering this narrative further.

All those are possible and different people would absolutely take different approaches to their discrimination and in the end, the result would be the same - Faunus being blamed for injustices and woes of people. Grimm attack? Oh of course those Faunus attracted them there. Drought ruined crops? Faunus brought the misfortune. And so on.

Just like in the real world you can't just "model minority" out of discrimination and bigotry - because bigots aren't dealing with "real people" - all they see are stereotypes that confirm their beliefs.

[invested-in-your-future]

Why do you think RWBY v1-3 worked compared to the rest of it?

Hm.

Honestly a lot of the first three volumes doesn't - the pacing can be awful (and grinds to a halt within arcs dealing with Jaune), the writing decisions leave a lot of to be desired(and are beyond offensive at times).

To say what the first three volumes do well is to talk about what the volumes after dont.

The issue with V4 and onward is simple one:

Too many new redundant characters

I have been hammering on this point again and again - in a weird attempt to expand the world, the showrunners ended up filling it with things that overlap win purpose or outright have no purpose.

Generally if you want to have something happen and want to choose between existing character and new character as initiator, nine times out of ten it's better to go with an existing character.

For example, why did we need Salem's evil council of evil? Why did we need a whole team of villains on Salem's side that essentially fulfill same role and purpose as Cinder's group already did? They don't exactly do anything for the lore or the setting and most of their purpose is one-note - Hazel for example exists just to rage about Ozpin in a poorly executed attempt at making his intentions and role more ambiguous - but there are already plenty of characters who can fill that purpose, so why was Hazel, as a character made? Raven exists, Ironwood exists and is clearly having a crisis, even Haven's headmaster exists (let's say he does) - plenty of ways other characters can fulfill the same purpose as Hazel without Hazel existing. Same extends to the rest of Salem's group - Watts exists solely to "explain" the computer virus (why did we need it explained?) and to have a reason to go against Atlas (but Cinder already has a reason thanks to her backstory in-show???) and Tyrian is the same way.

Too many redundant story beats

The writing attempted to make the setting more complex, but in the end a lot of what's added has no real reason to be there - why do we need Relics when Maidens are already there? Even if we were to go with the same idea of Gods causing doomsday(as dumb as it is) the writing could just as easily have the exact same plotline with collecting Maiden powers, for example. So why have vaults and then relics on top of that?

The Gods are the same way too. Why have Gods at all when you can already comfortably just go with the idea of Salem getting Maidens powers to her side being just as catastrophic? Salem's backstory doesn't even need them - in fact if one were to remove the Gods and keep the backstory the same, the end result would be exact same story. But the show doesn't do that - instead, come V9, it adds ANOTHER layer of gods and magic trees and gives the god brothers a backstory that ALSO wasn't needed and doesn't do ANYTHING in terms of furthering the narrative.

Generally if there's a plot thread you'd want to do the first question to ask would be "Does this change ANYTHING for any of the characters?" - plot is an excuse to get characters through the story beats after all. In the case of God Brothers, the plot thread invents a new problem and then solves it - nothing changes.

Lost Focus

The show is titled RWBY for a reason.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang - that's the core of the show.

The show started with the color trailers focusing on them and their journeys. The Volume 3 ended with them each having their own issues to deal with and plot threads tying to those issues.

What do the Volumes that follow do with that set-up? Nothing.

Volume 4 is absolutely pointless in grand scheme of things.

Volume 5 is absolutely pointless in grand scheme of things.

Volume 6 is absolutely pointless in grand scheme of things.

In fact, I wrote about the story structure issues with V4 years ago

The narrative structure, at the basic level, is a game of Connect-the-Dots - you have specific story beats you want to reach that work in accordance with overall story and character outline - it's up for The Plot(tm) to lead the characters from one beat to the other.

The way RWBY works past V3 is by inventing a new problem that didn't and then resolving it, essentially staying in place. I sort of outlined it in the V4 structure chart in my write up in how nothing in that Volume serves any real purpose nor furthers the characters.

What does the mess at Haven Academy contribute to the story story that Beacon already haven't? Does what happen there affect the story going forward? No.

What does team RWBY and the whole absolutely dumb and boring mess with the mech and leviathan do for the story? Are there any lasting consequences from that happening? Nope.

What does the run-in with the Apathy do for the characterization? Are there any lingering psychological effects? Do we learn something new about how Grimm function or how the Eyes work? Are there any lingering implications or any story holes that the encounter slots in into? Absolutely nothing.

That's three big examples in those Volumes where the writing invents a new issue, resolves it and doesn't further characters or narrative by doing so.

In Connect-the-Dots, you don't stop hopping from dot to dot midway-through, you don't hop back and forth between existing dots. Story beats and character beats are beats for a reason - they move things forward, they affect things, they alter things. If you have something that leads the narrative back at the place it was before in then you might as well delete the entire thing.

Now this is not the same as characters being stuck in loops or the idea of repetition as storytelling device - repetition that the narrative is aware of WOULD be a story beat in on itself and this is not that.

In fact even going into Atlas arc - the endgame has almost nothing to do with the build up to it and would happen anyway even if most of the volumes leading to it were removed.

Anticlimactic Payoff

If the narrative is build up to something, the pay off should generally equal to the amount of time and focus spend on the build up (unless it's used as a contrast).

Yet in RWBY a lot of mysteries end up being more of matter-of-fact answers than revelations.

What happened to the moon? Oh something crashed into it.

Why are Ozpin and Salem the way they are? Gods did it.

Why is Raven angry at Ozpin? He...turned her into a bird?

What has been Raven up to? Nothing.

Is Ozpin shady or not? Eh, not really - he's just sort of there.

What's up with the creatures of Grimm? Gods did it.

All of these were teased and built up going forward and the actual revelations never justified the build up or teasing that came before.

None of those revelations did anything to further the narrative or develop characters.

It was as if the writers were going through a checklist of what needs to be revealed.

So, What about the first three Volumes?

Now, flip everything I wrote about V4 and onward upside down.

That's the first three Volumes.

The only characters that exist are the ones that have an use within the narrative.

The plot threads are revealed when they become relevant - Mt.Glenn comes up when it matters, for example. If anything there's not enough reveals.

One can easily trace the plot threads through the story - how Ruby's introduction to Beacon affects her dynamics with Weiss, how Jaune's and Ruby's struggles with unexpected positions of leadership affect the team formation, how the friction within the teams furthers the plot to crash into villains goals. And what's more - each mini-arc ties to the four leads and their characterization. Things don't just happen - each storyline starts with the character and ends with characters growing or their relationships changing.

The Payoff is extremely good - V3 takes every single thing the show did through the three volumes and makes use of it. Everything matters - Mt. Glenn exposition, Roman, WF stuff, Jaune's insecurities, Pyrrha's characterization, Yang's characterization, Blake's conflict, Ruby's growth and position int he story, Weiss growth, etc - everything gets used and everything affects the characters involved.

For all the flaws, for all the absolutely insensitive story decisions and bad jokes - the first three volumes manage to handle those key points well and the end result is far more enjoyable.

The volumes after don't.

While good action sequences helped one of many reasons I hold V1 through V3 dear to my heart is because the show pulled off something that was quite rare back then when those Volumes aired - delivering actual consequences and not being afraid of upsetting the status quo within the story.

[invested-in-your-future]

I feel like people wouldn't discriminate openly again after the War. Maybe shops refusing service but they aren't going to imprison people just because they are Faunus. The world has rejected that.

I am sorry but that's naive.

That's now how racism works - bigots don't just shrug and become good when they are told "racism bad" (despite that being the only thing shown happening in the MilesWBY canon, with Yang telling someone racism bad).

Discrimination has layers, and levels of intensity - and people "feeling" that way don't just disappear - they adapt and they prod over and over again to see what's "acceptable" currently.

Sure, smaller discrimination cases will happen, but that's not the "end".

Discrimination always longs to reach its "greatest hits" - there's a reason why lots of ideologies of oppression resort to "Hey, do you want to go back to the Good Old Days when X?"

Smaller cases of intolerance not getting a pushback are treated as "acceptable status quo" - and the bigotry takes a step forward and escalates onto bigger ones.

And before you know it, you have dehumanizing language, restrictions, rights being taken away, laws being walked back upon and repealed.

It's all about moving the window of what's "acceptable" - we have seen it in our world over and over again (for example - the surge of racism and authoritarian surveillance after September 11)

Think about it - in the show, with Volume 3 one of the four largest huntsmen academies got assaulted by White Fang.

Of course, it's not just them, but that only means different people with different prejudices will focus on different parts of what happened - to some, Atlas would be at fault, while to others - Faunus would be at fault.

Discrimination of all kinds would absolutely escalate - bigotry twists facts to its liking to "prove itself right" - mistrust spreads, and tragedy births propaganda.

And yes - White Fang is not the whole species, but to bigots, that wouldn't matter - it's an age-old tradition to take the examples of worst-of and use them as stereotypes, broad brush strokes, and all.

Destruction, discrimination, AND war are largely cyclical in no small part due to complacency and ignorance.

Need I remind you that even in "present-day Remnant" Atlas (and especially Schnees) had literal slave mines? Remnant is nowhere near close to getting rid of the uglier parts of its past.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the show is that there never were any real consequences or shockwaves from what happened at Vale - not just in terms of kingdom relations and tensions, but also in terms of Faunus rights, mistrust, and overall chaos. In a way, the show ended up making Fall of Beacon feel smaller than it actually was because of that.

The shockwaves of what happened at Beacon SHOULD affect all four main leads in different ways due to how the event connects to them as people.

It robbed us of the arc about Ruby dealing with the realities of the world and her idealism as the world around her falls apart and everyone she knows is hurt (and few of her closest friends are dead)

It robbed us of the arc about Weiss having to face the oppressive privileged nature of her family and things in her life she took for granted.

It robbed us of the arc about Blake having to face the increasingly hostile world around her as she struggles to find her path and face her own indecisiveness and hypocrisy.

It robbed us of Yang having to deal with the fallout of the tournament and the uncertain chaotic reality of the world around her as she's searching for a goal of her own.

It's one of the first things I thought about when I started outlining my plans years ago. There are multiple avalanche effects planned out for more than one part of the setting and characterization of the leads.

[invested-in-your-future]

If Emerald hadn't expressed doubt at the end of v3, would there be any reason to believe she's redeemable?

There's an element to her character that has always been there— one of misguided and misplaced trust.

The flashback frames Emerald as someone aimless and getting by—someone who was easily swayed by Cinder's power and charisma and whatever Cinder ended up revealing to her.

The key aspects of Emerald's character that the show brings up through the first three volumes are simple— focus on self-survival, attraction to power, and longing for Cinder's approval(and thus more equal footing of interactions).

It makes a lot of sense once one realizes that Emerald is an allusion to Aladdin— a character whose main theme is about learning that power, luxury, and wealth can't buy you empathy and love.

Throughout the story, Aladdin uses the lamp to alter himself and present himself as someone he isn't— all to "buy" himself the affection of a woman by creating an illusion of a "proper prince". Alas, all those attempts prove failures, teaching the audience a lesson. It's a story about a man learning to be himself rather than shrouding himself in illusions of power and wealth, burying his insecurities and issues.

Emerald's journey is all about that too— the first three volumes show us someone who uses her newfound knowledge and position to impress someone whose attention she wants. She's part of something powerful, something that will change the world— and that something in her mind consists of just her and Cinder. With every instance we see she tries to separate herself and Cinder from others ("We don't need him" bit, for example). She's no longer just a thief or street urchin fighting for scraps and using her powers to survive. Emerald's on a power trip feeling like she is on the side of this righteous secret rebellion and is willing to change herself to gain the approval of the one who pulled back the curtain and showed her the truth of this world.

And all it has led her to is a destroyed city— chaos and slaughter unfolding in front of her.

Honestly, that scene at the end of V3 feels like a logical point to reach in her characterization.

The issue is that the show doesn't really do anything with her afterward. Just like with many characters, there's missing characterization between where V3 leaves off and where the show eventually suddenly takes the character.

Exploring that dynamic and where her character could go after is such a meaty plot thread.

And the show, just, does nothing with it.

[invested-in-your-future]

Why do you think Blake (a teenager mind you) killing her former comrade and mentor would bring her "closure" and suddenly resolve all her issues instead of adding only more trauma?

I don't think it would, necessarily.

Facing Adam, however, is crucial part of her(and Yang's) character journey - no matter the outcome of the said encounter.

Would that resolve all her issues? Absolutely not, but it's a necessary step forward - a turning point - the moment she could actively deny his control over her narrative and reaffirm the path not influenced by him.

Would that be the end of Adam? Who knows - it could be or it could be something that sets him off in another plot direction - that's merely part of the "consequences". Consequences that in turn would affect Blake's character going forward furthering her character arc past the "conclusion" of this part of her journey - and depending on outcome that could mean more trauma, yes.

Because you generally don't "END" a character arc midway through the show - you either reaffirm a character's direction or change it. One of the worst aspects of how RWBY handled that confrontation is that it felt so inconsequential and pointless - nothing in the show built up to that, and nothing in the show built off that after.

[invested-in-your-future]

What do you think the mistakes with White Fang story were?

The biggest mistake was not having that plotline at all beyond lipservice.

I think the "no no, any sort of actual resistance instantly makes you bad guys" is such a flawed and stupid position for a show to take.

The show's failure is highlighting WF motivations and WHY would anyone feasibly go down that route - HOW do Mistral, Atlas, etc treat Faunus or even Vale.

JFK once said - "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

If he existed in MilesWBY the quote would be "Only peaceful revolution is possible and anything else is evil"

We never see WHAT the Faunus have to deal with or how the society changed, (and if it did) since the Great War. We never see HOW Blake becomes the person she is (and if anything, have her regress by making her a runaway princess of tropic paradise)

The result is honestly quite racist - the show silently suggests (through the combined force of Blake's awful monologue and how Ilia's storyline ends) that the problem with The Faunus is their own "destructive" tendencies and their "unwillingness" to compromise or "wait for things to get better by being model minorities" - if only they waited a bit longer all the bigots would recognize how wrong they were!

With what the show presents, it's literally impossible to delve into the intricacies of the nature of extremism or why Adam's approach is flawed - because the show posits that the only right way forward is via complete no-exceptions peaceful resistance of… being nice and docile even when threatened with death?

We are straight up EXPECTED to see Ilia beating up bigots who laughed at people dying in the mines as BAD - the narrative EXPECTS the viewer to be horrified at her revelation rather than feel catharsis for her doing the right thing. The writing wants us to "feel like Blake" by being horrified at how violent and unhinged her friend is while completely ignoring the context - because any resistance beyond non-violent slogans is instantly a slippery slope into blowing up schools.

And where does that argument end up? In Twitter posts about how all those people shot by the cops "deserved" it by "doing something to aggravate them" - that's where.

Adam IS abusive, and Adam IS in the wrong and it's pretty clear that he has long since been addicted to power, BUT there's no possibility to even begin discussing what's right or wrong with the way the show handles the WF plotline as a whole.

We don't know what position Blake can take nor what position she had on the matter before because we don't get a sense of how WF could function beyond the two completely absurd strawman extremes of whatever sunken place nonsense Ghira's WF was in and whatever slippery slope cult-like strawman his successor created (nor how that progression happened).

What is his "vision"? What does he hope to achieve? How did he, according to Blake, "change"? We know nothing about White Fang beyond "Ghira's Non-Resistance White Man's Strawman of MLK" WF being good and his successor's WF being a slippery slope argument.

No wonder the show defaults to the most rudimentary aspect of Adam's flaws in the final confrontation, refusing to give both Yang and Blake a chance to refute him thematically while also refusing to give them proper character arcs that would lead to that confrontation - because the narrative never thought things through beyond that.

The show jumps around random and nonsensical gods subplots and religious imagery being all daring about what needs to change, but the moment actual themes of discrimination and human nature are at play, the narrative instantly becomes just so in love with status quo.

The WF began as "angry redshirts to be beaten up" and when the show decided to move on to all the "exciting"(it's really not) Brother Gods nonsense, the subplot got thrown away in the most racist way possible.

[invested-in-your-future]

Do you think the show did enough with the CCT going down and its consequences?

Absolutely not.

If anything, the show majorly underplays what something like that would mean for a world less than a century since a world war.

Imagine if the internet went down all over the world? If suddenly you would have no way to know what's happening in Australia or the Americas - imagine the chaos that alone would cause.

And that's our world - the one without eldritch monsters roaming the lands. Let's not forget that Remnant wasn't supposed to have satellites, long-range radio communication, or landlines.

To each Kingdom, over a single night, the rest of the rest of the world had become a pitch-black forest.

The biggest problem is that apart from Atlas none of the other Kingdoms end up focusing on that - the moment you take away the human conflict that comes with (lack of) communication is the moment stakes go down and the importance of the plot thread diminishes.

Let's go back to the end of V3 - the last moments of the towers being up involved all hell breaking loose - the revelation that Atlas had developed humanoid cyborgs, Pyrrha killing Penny, Cinder's message, and then the towers going down.

And then Atlas mechs assaulting people, WF assaulting the school, Grimm invading - all in the view of people from all Kingdoms who had gathered there for the festival - the events that those people would only be able to speak about.

Can you imagine the chaos that would cause world-wide - the different conclusions different countries would draw?

Would people in Mistral view this as a confirmation of their prejudice toward Faunus? Would people in Vacuo focus on the part of Atlas military attacking people?

How about the memories of the Great War and the role Mantle played there and how easy it is to tie Atlas to Mantle? Or how about the sheer paranoia the idea of android soldiers that can pass for a human would cause?

Lots of itchy trigger fingers, tension, mistakes, and passage of information that is way too slow and way too easy to corrupt or twist.

Each Kingdom SHOULD be struggling with the deteriorating situation inside and the unknown that the rest around them had become - some would absolutely use the situation to their benefit too (for example, there's no way Mistral wouldn't act upon the Faunus prejudice part if they knew nobody at Vale or elsewhere would know fast enough to stop them).

What we SHOULD have gotten was a thorough exploration of the world like that and the exploration of what humanity is and human nature - a macro level of the world mirrored in the micro level of the four leads separated all over the world having vastly different experiences.

Yet none of that is there - V4 is spent on trouncing through a forest, V5 is spent on literally nothing, V6 is one big nonsense and then we are in Atlas and then Atlas falls in such a way that has nothing to do with ANYTHING that has been set-up.

And then we are in talking animal candyland and then suddenly back and now none of that set-up matters anymore - it's time to stop Satan because a high-schooler sent a vague message which made everyone care.

For a story that hammered in for volumes upon volumes about how communication and working together is important the show sure did absolutely nothing with the idea of communication breaking down worldwide.

Salem has a WHOLE song about division at the end of V3! And the show. does. nothing. with. it.

Even Vale situation they now bait people with ends up instead using the awful Ever After nonsense for it rather than making use of the set-up that's already there.