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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years ago

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RWBY Musings #75: My One issue with Neopolitan and Cinder Fall: A Squiggle Meister’s Blunt Ramblings.

So…I recently read through the notes from the RWBY V6 Commentary by Redditeer: Sweetfable as shared by @soldieroflandb. According to the post, it was mentioned in the commentary on Chapter 5 that Neo wasn’t originally planned to appear in V6.

The original note read:

“…Neo wasn’t originally planned to be in this Volume, but was decided when they thought of what they could do better to make Cinder’s storyline better and for when Cinder gets to Atlas they thought her having a partner was cool…”

This point brings to light my one issue with Neo’s stark return to main RWBY: the CRWBY Writers DIDN’T NEED to bring Neo back .

Before some of you more passionate Neo stans prepare your pitchforks, let me just make this clear. I don’t dislike Neopolitan. I have no issue with her as a character. She isn’t one of my favourites but I do like her design and I’ve enjoyed what the showrunners have done with her (and Roman Torchwick a la RWBY Chibi).

That being said, this is a blunt rambling so I’m going to be blunt here folks. Neo was a character who I didn’t expect to see again in main RWBY after V3. I would’ve quicker expected Torchwick’s corpse resurrected from the belly of the Gryphon Grimm to be paraded around Weekend at Bernie’s style before seeing Neo.

Despite hearing through the grape vine for years on end that the CRWBY Writers promised to bring her back at some point, I honestly never believed this info since personally I felt like Neo didn’t need to be brought back. I understand the appeal of Neo and why she’s such a popular fan favourite. However, in terms of story, she didn’t really have one back when she was first introduced. At least not one substantive enough for me to hook onto and desire to learn more of. At least not until V6.

Neo was mostly featured as a devoted accomplice to Roman Torchwick. The Harley Quinn to his Joker without the abuse. So her story correlated with his. So naturally, when Torchwick was killed off, I figured that was Neo’s final curtain call too. Despite her disappearance via runaway umbrella being a cliff-hanger, I still did not anticipate Neo’s return. Nor did I need for it to happen.

The CRWBY Writers didn’t need to bring Neo back. Her presence in the story, unfortunately to say, is unnecessary. At least in my eyes. This is only my opinion after all. As a matter of fact, I feel like the Writers have written themselves into a corner by bringing her back. You already have a full cast of undeveloped characters pining for focus. Why bring back Neo when you could easily have done the same idea with someone else already pre-established?

In the past, there wasn’t really much from Neo’s side of things to make me go ‘Oh I would love to learn more about her’. She wasn’t like Adam or Emerald or even Mercury who each had a thread of a cool backstory itching to be unravelled prior to the Mistral Trilogy. Neo didn’t have that. But now the CRWBY are attempting to give her one by dropping breadcrumbs of a potential past with Torchwick as hinted during the RWBYV6 OST ‘One Thing’ and the visuals from V6 C5.

That’s all fine and dandy but…this is all happening only because Neo was brought back and they had to give her a motive for being back in the current narrative. We’re only getting all this new stuff on Neo because the Writers made the decision to resurrect her from the pit of obscurity---a decision that wasn’t planned before and…again, didn’t need to happen.

You could have easily replace Neo with another pre-established character who’s been a part of the Mistral Arc since V4 and it would make no difference. By bringing back Neo, the CRWBY missed a shot to further develop characters such as Emerald Sustrai.

If the Writers wanted Cinder to have a partner for Atlas then why not make it Emerald? Why not introduce a plot point where following the Triumph of Haven, Emerald got wind that Cinder was still alive and abandoned Mercury and Hazel to go find her before they made their return to Salem.

V6 C4 indicated that Salem was already fully aware of Cinder’s blunder and fate from V5 just as how it was shown that Salem had a Seer Grimm at Haven. The same Grimm she used to keep tabs on Lionheart, communicate with him and eventually kill him. If the Seer Grimm was already pre-established in V5 then why not have this same Grimm locate Emerald, Mercury and Hazel while they were still in Mistral?

Instead of having the trio travel all the way back to the Dark Domain just for Salem to punish them with info she already knew about, why not have Salem just have her Seer Grimm track down Emerald, Merc and Hazel and deal the same punishment while they were steal weak and vulnerable following their defeat.

Sure it would’ve made Salem seem rather heartless to punish her minions while they were still recovering from their failed mission. Then again, that’s the point. Salem wasted no time in axing off Lionheart. Imagine if she had done the same to Emerald, Hazel and Mercury?

Salem could have easily thrown her tantrum and had the Seer Grimm threaten to choke the life out of Hazel right in front of Emerald’s eyes before she blurted out that Cinder was to blame. This same revelation from V6 C5 could’ve happened in Mistral before the return to the Dark Domain. We could have gotten a scene where Emerald contemplates leaving in search of Cinder upon learning that she was still alive.

We could have even gotten a small confrontation between her and Mercury before a bitter parting of ways. That whole conversation of why Mercury is fighting with Salem could’ve served greater purpose and meaning in a scene where these the Jaded Duo were deciding for themselves their new paths in the story moving forward.

Imagine…Emerald, Mercury and Hazel resting off before they return to Salem. After learning of Cinder being alive, Emerald decides that she’s going to go find her. To continue being by her side. That’s her final decision. Despite Salem choosing to abandon her, Emerald refused to leave Cinder alone.

She chooses to remain completely loyal to Cinder and when probed about it by a confrontational Mercury, she could give the same excuse that Cinder is the closest thing to a mother Emerald ever had. Whether Mercury wanted to hear this or not, Cinder is who Emerald considered her family. More so than him. The guy who is always by her side and still stood with her even when he could’ve left her behind at Haven.

This could’ve been a great Emerald and Mercury moment to kind of emphasize what the two meant to each other outside of Cinder.

This small squabble could’ve then led in the two having their little spa which would essentially reveal the canon truth about Mercury’s father; highlighting her stance on family in general. You could have had Emerald and Mercury fight but in the end, Merc is forced to leave Emerald to her own endeavours.

She made her choice just as much as he made his. She was going to go look for Cinder, be at her side. As Mercury moved on to work with Salem, seeing her as the winning side. The side where he didn’t have to work so tirelessly seeing as that’s the only life he’s lived.

This could’ve been done and it could’ve been a double whammy for these two’s development. Instead we got the Jaded duo more or less being underused for V6 with the next chapter of their stories left unclear.

Are Emerald and Mercury both going to go look for Cinder at some point? Are they tasked to Vacuo as Hazel’s partners while Tyrian and Watts aid Salem with the Fall of Atlas? What is next for these two?

I’m not exactly sure. But you do see the missed chance with these two, correct? If there was one character who should have been Cinder’s partner for Atlas, it’s Emerald. She already shared a known attachment to Cinder since V1. We all know how loyal she is to her. The CRWBY Writers even highlighted that with how devastated she was by her downfall in V5. They could’ve used that to further the shared story between these two. But no. Bringing back a character who shared zero ties to Cinder outside of Roman Torchwick to be her partner for next arc is much cooler. Okay then.

I’m going to assume the Writers weren’t planning on focusing on Emerald much in V6. Saving it for another future volume, possibly. Well if the Writers didn’t want Emerald, who else could they have used other than Neo.

Well…Adam Taurus would’ve been my next best candidate, believe it or not. I mean why not Adam? Just like Neo, he was a character previously made into an accomplice by Cinder. If memory serves correctly, the only reason Adam wound up working with Cinder was due to her intimidating him with the use of her Maiden magic.

Imagine if…we received a parallel that harkens back to that episode in V3. Cinder went to Adam to scout him and it was only after she received part of her Maiden powers did she gain his interest long enough for her to tempt him with her demands.

Imagine if this time Adam scouted Cinder. Picture Cinder being left weakened by her defeat against Raven. So weak that she’s unable to activate her Maiden magic for some time. Imagine Ms. Malachite double crossing Cinder and planning to turn her over for bounty money before Adam shows and ‘saves’ Cinder by slaughtering Ms. Malachite and her Spiders.

I mean they could’ve easily been killed off since they served no further purpose in V6 beyond providing a narrative means for Cinder to reunite with Neo in the most contrived way possible which, honestly was waste of an interesting new character.

Am I the only person who actually really liked Ms. Malachite and her Spiders? I feel like they should’ve been brought in earlier in the Mistral Arc (probably as earlier as V4) or saved for another season like Atlas or even Vacuo perhaps. There’s a part of me that’s even starting to bank on the concept of Ms. Malachite being one half of a twin sister.

According to the RWBY V6 Commentary notes, Ms. Malachite is the mother of the Malachite Sisters from V1. Since her daughters are identical twins, who’s to say twins don’t run in the family and Ms. Malachite isn’t a twin herself. I mean it would fit. It’d be interesting if there’s another Little Ms. Malachite, a younger twin sister who runs the Spiders over in another kingdom. But that’s just my headcanons.

Anyways, resuming talk on Adam and Cinder. Having Adam be Cinder’s accomplice instead of Neo would have fit also.

Both characters were originally considered powerful leaders in their respective factions. Both have suffered humiliation and fall from grace by the hands of characters from the same team. Both have revenge vendettas against said characters. And as of V6, both characters were alone and vulnerable; abandoned by their followers to claw their way back up through nothing but their own strength and cunning. Adam and Salem working together would have been a cool duo to see.

I’m going to be honest again here folks. I’m not a Tauratier but like many of his fans, I share in the sentiment that the way his story was concluded was a disappointment. A mishandling of a character who originally started off rather interesting. I will admit that.

One of the ways the Writers missed a chance to further develop Adam is having him team up with Cinder with to achieve the one goal they both craved---revenge. The Writers created the subplot of Neo wanting revenge for Torchwick’s death to give Cinder someone to share in her hatred for Ruby.

But in all honesty, there was no need for that. You already had a character like Adam Taurus who was on the same kind of war path. Sure it wasn’t for the same person but Adam and Cinder could’ve still shared in their path of vengeance especially since their targets: Ruby and Blake are friends and teammates.

Adam could’ve easily been Cinder’s partner for Atlas. As a matter of fact, he would’ve been perfect for Atlas. Atlas should’ve been the stage for Adam’s curtain call. I wasn’t upset with the way how the Writers decided to kill off Adam. Minus the tag team murder from Yang and Blake and the lack of emotional repercussions from having hero characters commit such an act. Adam being defeated by Yang and Blake and falling to his death referencing Gaston from the Beauty and the Beast was very fitting. It made sense.

I just wished it wasn’t in Argus where he was killed off. Adam has zero connection to Argus. I mean why kill him off in Argus when you established within the same moment that Adam has ties to Atlas.

The CRWBY highlighted that Adam has a connection to the SDC given his scar yet they kill him in a place that has no connection to him at all. Everything about the Adam Final fight was nearly perfect except for the build-up and the setting. Showing Adam branded with the SDC logo before killing him off before the audience could get the opportunity to learn the backstory of his history with the SDC felt like such a waste that I kind of wish they had done something else with Adam’s face reveal.

I would’ve taken him having a regular scar than the SDC logo because by planting that, you’re given the audience the impression that there is more to learn about his character. But before they could get the chance to see that, he gets axed. Such a waste of a good potential plot thread man.

It would have been better to learn more about that before Adam got killed. You had an entire character trailer where that part of Adam’s past could’ve been delved into. Not to mention that it would have made more sense if Adam was killed in Atlas because that’s where the Schnee Dust Company is located. Adam should’ve died in Atlas, not Argus. That’s basically my point on that. Moving along.

As I’ll say again, I have no issue with Neo. I just feel like her return honestly stole a chance for focus from characters whose stories could’ve used it when hers didn’t, y’know what I mean?

As a matter of fact, why bring back Neo for the main purpose of having her pair up with Cinder in the first place? You brought her back just so she could have a partner in Atlas? Why? Was that truly necessary? Why have Cinder have a partner at all? Why not just allow her to have her own journey?

As mentioned in V6 C4, the reason why Salem decided to abandon Cinder in the dirt was so that she could learn from her mistakes the hard way.

Cinder is already a pretty intimidating and powerful character. She doesn’t really need an accomplice. At the moment Neo is being used only as a pawn to Cinder---a means through which she can kill Ruby Rose which, if you were to sit down and truly consider, wasn’t crucial to her story. We’ve seen Cinder use and abuse pawns since V2. Neo is no exception. It would have actually been more fascinating to see Cinder on her own to be honest.

To find her back after hitting rock bottom for a third time. Third time’s the charm, am I right? Cinder’s side of the story should’ve focused more on giving us viewers more insight into Cinder; helping us understanding why and how she became to be the megalomaniac she is presently.

Instead of steering her story in her finding another pawn to manipulate, I would have much rather watch small snippets of Cinder learning to cope and fend for herself without a pawn. And having her be alone in the Mistral underbelly, where you can’t trust anyone---not even the people who you believe you can intimidate---was the perfect setting to do that.

Add in my earlier idea of Cinder being too weak to use her Maiden magic and that could be a challenge for Cinder. Heck. You could have even added another layer to that where Cinder begins to lose control of the amputated Grimm arm attached to her body; tying back to the training she did with Salem back in V4.

Instead of bringing back Neo, it could’ve been more interesting to have Cinder toil away in the slums of Mistral, being made a target by Ms. Malachite and her Spiders who would hunt her down to turn her in for profit since she was a wanted felon.

Through such a struggle, we could have gotten a bit more on Cinder’s backstory as this moment of complete helplessness could’ve been used as an opportunity to have Cinder suffer frequent flashbacks explaining her backstory and how she came to meet Salem.

Imagine if …Cinder had found herself in a position where she felt she could manipulate Ms Malachite and her Spiders only for them to double-cross, capture and torture her. Since V6 established Ms. Malachite being a sort of information broker, perhaps she already knew the important details about Cinder. Minus her Maiden powers, of course. Enough to pull the wool over her eyes.

Imagine if…Ms. Malachite was a watered down female version of Ramsey Bolten from Game of Thrones. Not as vile but still a master sadistic manipulator who liked to use torture to control her pawns. This could play into what she told Cinder in V6 C2:

“…Y’know I used to be afraid of spiders. Wanna know what I did about it?” “Learned to kill them?”

“Oh no. The world needs Spiders. I just made the spiders work for me.”

Imagine if…in an alternate version of Ms. Malachite, the way in which she got her loyal Spiders to do her bidding and remain devoted to her was through manipulation and cruelty tactics, breaking them down physically and psychologically until they were completely subservient to her. That’s when they’re branded them with her tattoo. As a sign that they’re not just her pawns. They’re her property. She owned them to use as she saw fit.

In my alternate interpretation of Ms. Malachite, I pictured her as being a Black Widow Spider Faunus with a unique trait. When used lightly, her spider venom can cause vivid hallucinations and this is what Malachite used to manipulate her pawns. She injects them with her venom which puts them in a trance and that’s how she slowly breaks them down into her loyal subjects.

Imagine if… Cinder was placed in a scenario like that where she’s broken down by Ms. Malachite who makes her her slave. This could’ve been interesting for Cinder to go through because of the strong Cinderella reference.

Picture Ms Malachite taking inspiration from the wicked stepmother who whips the once confident Cinder Fall into submission and during these scenes we get glimpses of Cinder’s past where there was another character, a former parental figure of some kind from her past who would treat Cinder the same way until Salem entered the picture.

Shoot. You could have even introduced a subplot where Cinder, through her strength of character and resolve broke free of Malachite’s hold on her before killing her. By killing Ms. Malachite, the Spiders swear their loyalty to Cinder, viewing her as some kind of Goddess (to parallel how Tyrian sees Salem). And that’s how Cinder would’ve gotten to Atlas. Not through Neo. But through the Spiders and their resources because obviously they would have those means.

V6 could’ve been the story where Cinder takes the step forward to forge her own army. And all the while this is happening, Salem watches on from afar, proud at her creation for her little experiment had worked. Her tough love tactic had provided Cinder the motivation and incentive she needed to become the person she strongly desires to become. One who is strong and powerful to be feared by others.

Does anyone else remember Cinder’s words from V3?

'...I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful...'

That’s Cinder’s goal. That’s who she wants to become. At least that’s what was established prior. V6 should’ve been another pivotal stepping stone in Cinder’s story towards that goal.

In the beginning, I used to think that Cinder Fall would become the character who would one day rise up and overthrow Salem. I used to think that Salem was grooming Cinder to become her successor back when my previous headcanon was that at some point, Salem would either betray Cinder and steal her body. Or…Cinder would betray Salem and take her place as the Mother of Grimm. Becoming sthe student who became powerful enough to upstage their own master.

This was before the whole bit about Salem being immortal and indestructible came into play.

Now instead of seeing Cinder as someone who would one day rise up and succeed Salem as the main big-bag of RWBY, I get the strong impression that the CRWBY might be setting her up to go out in a similar fashion to Adam Taurus. I feel like Atlas might wind up being the setting for Cinder��s final curtain call. They’ve already baited her death like twice using her vendetta against Ruby Rose.

We all know Cinder is going to fight Ruby (and/or Oscar) at some point for Atlas and there is a high probability that she will lose that fight again. This will be Cinder’s third defeat and at this point, if she isn’t killed off for good then I would sincerely begin to question why she is being kept around in the series.

If you may pardon my blunt honesty here again. Cinder, to me, was a character who didn’t have a lot going for her in the beginning. She was introduced as this character working closer with Salem to achieve her goals. We didn’t honestly understand why. It wasn’t until V3 did viewers receive an inkling of something that could be considered a motivator to shape Cinder’s story.

She’s a character who wants to become strong, powerful and feared. Because of this you might now ask questions such as why does she want this? What happened to her in her past to make this her main goal? However as of V4, Cinder’s current key motivator is her vendetta against Ruby.

I’m sorry, I’m just seeing a pattern here. It’s the same thing that happened with Adam. Prior to RWBY, Adam was established in Black Trailer as someone who once fought alongside Blake for the Faunus as part of the White Fang.

In V3, it was highlighted that Adam was someone who fought strictly for the Faunus. If my memory serves correctly, I remember one of the reasons Adam didn’t want to work with Cinder in beginning being that he didn’t wish for any of his men and fellow Faunus dying for a human cause or something along those lines.

It’s why I, again, can’t help but empathize a bit with the Tauratiers. Before V3, Adam’s devotion to being one of those who fight on the behalf of the Faunus was part of his character. Heck it’s what brought him and Blake together. They bonded over that same ambition. Where they split was in their approach. But at the core, they both desired the same for their race and seemed the share in the same passion for the cause.

Adam having a former romantic relationship with Blake that turned abusive was only introduced in V3. Before that, it could be argued that that wasn’t the case. That being said, my issue wasn’t that Adam was turned into the abusive ex-boyfriend to Blake. There are interesting ways that side of him could’ve compelled his character. Nope. My issue was that Adam’s relationship with Blake became his entire character and the other trait about him being someone who took a more radical approach to fighting for his people was completely dropped in favour of this.

Adam the abusive ex was admittedly the weakest part of Adam’s character. This is what made him so boring for me to follow after V5. Of all the aspects to Adam that they could have run with, they chose the weaker of the two. They didn’t even do a decent job with it either. I would have much preferred to watch a story where Adam went down believing that his way was the only way to achieve the equality that he believed his people deserved even if such a frame of mind brought him to his own endgame. Adam could’ve been the kind of villain to make the audience think and have meaningful debates over his views.

I would have preferred that guy as opposed to the wet paper tower he turned into after V3; throwing temper tantrums and annoyingly blaming all his problems on Blake in a past relationship that felt so bare-bones compared to everything else discerned about him.

They even missed an opening to use Sienna Khan as someone partially responsible for grooming Adam into the man he became. I mean, they tried to sell the idea for the V6 Adam Character Trailer. However it all felt short-lived and forced given the events of V5. I can honestly go on with my issues with Adam Taurus and the topic of his eventual character assassination as labelled by the FNDM. If folks would like to hear my views on that, feel free to ask me and I’ll share my full opinion on the matter.

In the meantime, let’s resume my main focus of this post: Cinder and Neo. Like I said, Adam’s vendetta with Blake became his entire character motive after V3 and I’m sadly seeing the same pattern being repeated with Cinder. Cinder’s vendetta with Ruby is her driving force right now.

While I actually don’t have an issue with Ruby being a target for Cinder, my concern is how it’s going to be executed moving forward toward Atlas. By my assumptions, I figured Cinder is going to be killed off between V7 and V8. But from my knowledge, there are some of you who believe in the concept of Cinder being staying long enough in the story to be redeemed like Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I…honestly don’t see it. Sorry folks. I’m not really an advocate for Cinder’s redemption. I am neither bashing anyone for wanting this to become canon nor am I saying it’s impossible. I’m just saying that if you were to ask me if I think Cinder can be redeemed, I’d honestly say no.

I only believe in a much more compelling arc for Cinder. An arc that possibly depicts her falling from grace for a third and brutal time, suffering a brief moment of happiness or change of heart only to revert back to her old ways highlighting that no matter what, power is what Cinder craves most of all and she’d stop at nothing to get it. Not even a momentary bliss can thwart her lust for that as she believes being powerful and feared by all who oppose her is her destiny. Her ever after.

Like the villain from The Box Trolls. Despite the thing that he desired most being detrimental to his health, the villain still insisted on obtaining it by any means possible because that’s what he believed was his destiny. This is how I see Cinder going down to the bitter end. She would continue to go after that lust for power, even to the point of it turning her into a monster in the process.

I have a better chance of believe this is Cinder’s fate. If not that then a swift death via character assassination like what happened with Adam.

But a redemption? Where she could potentially turn good? Join the good guys? Fight alongside them to stop Salem?

I…yeah I don’t really see that, sorry. In order for me to believe in that then I need evidence. I need examples of Cinder genuinely going through brief seconds of doubting her actions or having some semblance of guilt to get this kind of impression. Nothing so far with Cinder hints to me that she feels the slightest bit of remorse for his past actions and the people she’s hurt and killed. It’s difficult to believe in this kind of character turning good when all I’ve seen is her hurt other characters and not think twice about it.

If the CRWBY Writers wished to appeal more to Cinder’s humanity, they could’ve shown her thinking or being concerned for Emerald in the same motherly manner that the Sustrai girl described Cinder to be. Cinder’s affiliation with Emerald could’ve been the perfect platform to show Cinder in a more empathetic light.

But nope. She forgot all about Emerald as soon as she ran into Neo. I know it’s meant to establish that Cinder doesn’t care as much for Emerald as she does for her. This only further confirms my point. I don’t see Cinder being redeemed.

Either she will be killed off at some point during the story or the CRWBY Writers will find some new way to continue to string Cinder along for the remainder of RWBY with Neo tagging along. Heck it wouldn’t surprise me if Neo is turned into Cinder’s plot armour, ensuring that she will never be killed off for anything. Since, after all, it would be kind of silly if the Writers only brought Neo back to play protégée to Cinder only for her to return to the pit of obscurity the minute Cinder is axed off, right? Not unless Neo gets her own happy ending (with Henry Marigold) or becomes a good guy?

And it’s not like they’re going to make Neo Cinder’s replacement. That might not work. Not Unless there is some twist where a defeated Cinder Fall, on her last breath, ends up ‘eating’ Neo to possess her body; courtesy of the Geist Grimm arm attached to her body? That…actually isn’t bad but what do I know, y’know?

As always these are only my views on this. Feel free to agree or respectfully disagree.

Anyways that’s pretty much my whole ramble. Normally I tend to have some kind of conclusion to my posts. But since this was mostly just me giving a blunt rambling, I don’t have much of a conclusion to give. So that’s all folks. Let me know your thoughts on my thoughts if you’d like.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#rwby #cinder fall #neopolitan #adam taurus #rwby theories #rwby salem #rwby musings #emerald sustrai #mercury black

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