#rwby v9c4

[yinyangofnevermore]

THE CAT!

Maybe we shouldn’t worry about home? We’ve got enough problems to-

THE CAT!

*squeaky bouncing noises*

[koringus]

Is the Curious Cat the only one who remembers Ciel Soleil?

[strqyr]

— Pre-Beacon Team RWBY in V9C4 aka "This Smoke Is My Enemy Number #1"

[herecomesthesunduhnahduhda]

Today’s episode (V9C4) gave so much perspective on each of the girls’ respective struggles and how they’ve grown and I LOVED IT. It felt like Mountain Glenn came full circle.

It’s interesting to consider how, back then, Ruby was the only one who understood who she was and what she wanted, but the roles have now flipped. Weiss, Blake, and Yang all understand how being heiress to the SDC, being a Faunus, and being disabled have shaped them and wouldn’t trade that for anything. Ruby, on the other hand, had a specific vision for her life and Penny’s death, Salem’s wins, and the fall of Atlas (among everything else RWBY has been through) has made that infinitely harder to maintain. She isn’t who her optimistic self hoped she would be so it makes sense that she’s so lost:(

Side note: I miss JNR:(

[wolfbetweenrivers]

My thoughts on RWBY V9C4 (SPOILERS)

In the previous Chapter, Team RWBY, in an effort to find their way to the Tree that can get them out of the Ever After and back to Remnant, went to the Crimson Castle to meet the Red King, only to find the Red Prince in his place. They were still able to challenge him to a board game though, but it involved shrinking Weiss, Blake, and Yang to the size of a playing piece as they acted as substitutes for missing pieces. If they won, the Prince would have to help them get to the Tree. However, upon learning that Ruby was a human, he turned against her. Team RWBY was still able to win in the end, but the Prince banished them, refusing to uphold his end of the deal while also leaving Ruby’s teammates stuck in their small size. However, they were able to escape with the help of a new ally, the Curious Cat and chased after them in an effort to try and get to the Tree that can take them back to Remnant. Meanwhile, the Jabberwalker was attacked by Neopolitan in another Acre. Neo had not only just fallen at that time, but her Semblance also somehow evolved, making her a huge threat, even to the Jabberwalker.

In this Chapter, Team RWBY catches up to the Curious Cat and strike a deal with them. They answer all of the Cat’s questions about Remnant while they take the girls to the Tree. The Cat also promised that they would stop on the way at the Garden Acre to find ingredients to make a medicine that could return Ruby’s teammates to normal size. The result is that the Cat is filled in on everything about the events of the entire series up to this point. When the Cat asks Ruby how she plans to defeat Salem now that Atlas is gone, it’s a sore spot for her and her depression resurfaces, causing her to lose track of the Cat in the Garden. While looking for the Cat, they encounter another new entity; the Herbalist, who is able to make the medicine needed to return Ruby’s teammates back to normal size. However, while making the medicine, they interrogate Team RWBY about their identities. When they initially fail to give clear answers, the Herbalist tells them that they cannot help them become what they want to become if they don’t know what they are now. So they take the girls to another room in their home were the Herbalist starts smoking a hookah pipe, blowing out a strange smoke that causes Team RWBY to be faces with illusions of their past selves. The past versions of the girls offer the present versions a chance to be something else. Yang is offered a chance to be who she was before the Fall of Beacon and have her arm back “to be whole again”. Blake is offered a chance to be either a human or a cat so that she doesn’t have to struggle with bridging the gap between humans and Faunus “to be something simpler”. Weiss is offered a chance to be a nobody with no baggage associated with her name “to be free”. All three girls reject the offer. Yang argues that her losses have taught her how to grow and that she needs to keep going to find what’s missing from her life. Blake argues that throwing away her identity would be betrayal rather than simplicity. Weiss argues that she will define her own name rather than allowing it to be the reverse. But meanwhile, Ruby is stuck and lost. She is mercilessly confronted through her past self by all of the feelings that she has been trying to avoid for so long. The feeling of failure, and that she couldn’t live up to her ideal. She is offered a chance to not be Ruby Rose. Before she can decide though, the Curious Cat returns and intervenes, saving the girls from the Herbalist. The Herbalist then apologizes before suddenly sinking into the ground, to the horror of Team RWBY. The episode ends. 

This was the most powerful episode in the series so far, and it’s mainly because of Team RWBY’s confrontation with their past selves. It was a brilliant reflection of their respective character development and how far they’ve come, and a full circle moment from Volume 2′s Mountain Glenn. Weiss, Blake, and Yang who in V2 were uncertain of who they were and what they wanted have now reached a moment of self actualization. But Ruby, who in V2 was most certain, is now uncertain and lost, and isn’t sure who or what she is, since she feels that she couldn’t live up to her idea of a Huntress, having lost Penny, unable to save Atlas, and having lost her mother to an immortal enemy. Ever since she wound up in the Ever After, she has been repeatedly asked by all of its inhabitants “what are you?” It’s a questions she’s gotten so tired of hearing because she feels increasingly targeted by it, given her current crisis. And now, she has been brutally confronted with the issue during the smoke scene. 

In the beginning of the series, Ruby Rose was a girl who wanted to be a Huntress, which she defined as people who protect those who can’t protect themselves. She recognized that life wasn’t like a fairy tale, but argued that that was making the world a better place was the point of being a Huntress. It was the single thing she would strive for and define herself by. But by the end of Volume 8, she feels she has failed all of that. She kept the truth of Salem from Ironwood, not being able to trust him for good reason. But once she told him, Ironwood was close to doing the right thing for Atlas and Mantle but then it got sabotaged by Cinder, putting the Kingdom in danger. She tried to launch Amity Tower to warn the world about Salem and call for help, but Amity fell and no help came. Her plan to launch Amity made Penny vulnerable to Watts’ destructive virus. Her attempt to evacuate Mantle using the Schnee Dust Company cargo ships was shot down by Ironwood who gave her an Ultimatum to turn over Penny lest Mantle be blown up. She took a risk to try and get around it, giving Penny a body of flesh, free from the virus, and using the Staff of Creation to evacuate the Kingdom, both plans being vulnerable to Cinder who sabotaged everything, killing many evacuees and killing Penny. And now Ruby has fallen into a different world, away from all that, unable to do anything. Through her ideal of being a Huntress and a leader, she has burdened herself with the idea that everything depends all on her and that she can’t let others down. She has tried to avoid it and keep it from her teammates, but now it’s getting much harder for her to do that, as she is constantly targeted with questions about who and what she is and not being able to answer. This raises the question of whether she will eventually come to being able to answer the question at any point and how she will come to that conclusion.

We are seeing more instances of Blake basically switching places with Ruby in relation to the beginning of the series. When Ruby couldn’t define what a Huntress is to the Herablist, despite having done so in V1, it was Blake who stepped up and echoed Ruby’s V1 definition of it. 

There is something about the Curious Cat. Something curious. When the Cat first appeared in C3, it stopped the Red Prince from beheading them by doing something to the Prince’s heart. It did the same thing to the Herbalist to make them remorseful about the ordeal they put Team RWBY through. In this Chapter, this was revealed to be the Cat giving those people a piece of their own heart to seemingly make them more compassionate. It raises questions about how and why the Cat is able and willing to do that, and what their purpose is. The inhabitants of the Ever After are described as each having a purpose they must fulfill at all costs. There is also the idea that the inhabitants change in some way at certain points in their life. Based on the words of the Herbalist, the Red King BECAME the Red Prince somehow and a human who fell before Team RWBY had something to do with it. “This is how a King winds up a Prince”, the Herbalist said in response to Ruby not knowing who she is. Does this somehow tie into the them of Purpose? When the Cat intervened, they told the Herbalist that they were “done” because they had failed their purpose right before the Herbalist was absorbed into the ground. Is this what happens when an inhabitant of the Ever After fails their purpose? Do they later come back but as something new? The way this whole thing was framed and being at the end of the 4th episode makes it seem like this is some kind of dark twist in which Team RWBY learns something disturbing about the Ever After. 

It seems we are now getting to the point where we begin to dig really deep into the realities of the Ever After, now that we’ve witnesses something strange and disturbing happen to one of its inhabitants. Why does the question “what are you?” matter so much to the inhabitants of this place to the point of being so fixated on having a specific purpose while also making it seem as though the idea of change seems ominous? What are Team RWBY going to do with what they are now seemingly about to learn?

Perhaps the next episode will answer at least some of those questions. Whatever it is, I’m on the edge of my seat now, anticipating it.

[theaudientvoid]

RWBY V9C4, in which Team RWBY trip balls.

[doomalade]

Hi.

I’m here to torment myself and do a TLDR/Breakdown of this.

This is gonna be long and torturous. I will try to not be biased (but I will be if something really upsets me.)

Tier 1: The Sky.

“Planned from the start.”

Planned from the start is a phrase most commonly used by RoosterTeeth and RWBY Stans especially to support the other claim of Bumblebee being a long burn ship. The counter-argument of this often goes back to the earlier days of RWBY when things such as the Maidens weren’t added in until V3.

“hbomberguy video”

A video by YouTuber hbomberguy on RWBY titled “Why RWBY Is Disappointing” was uploaded in 2021. It covers issues surrounding creative decisions from earlier RWBY Volumes. It remains debated to this day, especially when discussing Rooster Teeth and the writing of the show.

“FRWBY”

FRWBY, also known as Fixing RWBY, is a rewrite on YouTube of RWBY made by CelticPhoenix and a small group known as the SketchyHuntsmen. Starting in 2017, this series continues to be heavily debated in the fandom. It also brought up several discussions of the practice of rewriting media.

“Poser to Maya”

Volumes 1-3 of RWBY used an animation program known as Poser. It was well known for it’s exaggerated colors and overall more grainy look. Volumes 4-onward of RWBY uses an animation program known as Maya. It’s a lot smoother, handles greater details, and removes the grainy look. In V4-5, the animation in Maya was a bit choppy but has greatly improved since.

“RWDE and Anti-RWDE”

I’m going to loop these two together because of how intertwined they are. RWDE is a tag on Tumblr and other social media platforms created specifically to bring up criticism of RWBY. Anti-RWDE is the counter tag that often disagrees with the criticisms of RWDE. One thing is for certain, when RWDE and Anti-RWDE interact, it’s never pretty.

“The Propaganda In TV Shows Does Numbers on Y’all”

This phrase originated from a tweet screenshot discussing why TV shows often have minority character being bad guys to make the audience view minority people as bad. This point is most commonly brought up by RWDE posters when discussing the handling of the White Fang.

“The Granddaughter of a Hero.”

This is a quote from Weiss in V9C4 talking about her grandpa, Nicholas Schnee. She then follows up this quote with “and the daughter of a villain” in reference to Jacques Schnee. This line is debated in RWDE as framing the mega-corporation of the SDC as a good thing.

“V8 and V5”

Once more looping things together for simplicity. Volume 5 and Volume 8 are often debated as being the worst Volumes of RWBY, with Volume 8 especially bringing up several discussions of the writing choices.

“Critikal Drama”

This is in reference to when MoistCritikal streamed his reaction of RWBY V9 which led to him receiving several death threats after he critiqued the animation.

“HTDM”

The HTDM (Hatedom) is a term used to categorize people who hate on RWBY for no good reason. Although that definition has withered away from being just about trolls to people who often post RWDE or critique the show.

“#GreenlightVolume10”

#GreenlightVolume10 is a hashtag that began being posted during and after Volume 9’s release. This hashtag has been brought into question when bringing up work conditions at Rooster Teeth.

“Belts and Zippers”

This is often a joke made at the increased number of belts and zippers on character models, and it especially came up with the V7 designs.

“No Faunus”

In Volume 4, Qrow visits a bar that has a “No Faunus” sign out front. This sign was a one of a kind and never showed up again.

“GMod Cat”

This is a joke about the Curious Cat’s color scheme reminding people of the black and pink graphic missing texture most commonly seen in source games such as GMod.

“Weiss aiming her weapon at her little brother.”

In Volume 8, Weiss points her rapier at Whitley, her little brother. This is often debated as Weiss being violent towards her own brother.

Alright, that should be it for the first layer, I will continue this in a reblog for the tip of the iceberg. Please let me know if I missed anything or got anything wrong!

this is hell. i am in hell.

badly cropped versions of each tier below:

i would’ve added more, but I figured this was enough shitty takes, problematic canon and uncomfortable implications for one day. :)

[yinyangofnevermore]

Huntress

[yinyangofnevermore]

Clearly this is significant

The question is just HOW significant?

[yinyangofnevermore]

V9C4 Wrap-Up

The Cheshire Cat has--disappeared.... again, and is also kinda cagey?

Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Belle/Beast and Goldilocks tripped BALLS

Also they are Huntresses™️ (funnier when you consider Snow White was hunted by the Queen’s Huntsman)

Though Little Red is much less sure and is just barely keeping it together

Goldilocks IS whole; in fact she’s juuuuust right

Belle is coming to terms with her duality and complexity; both Beast and Beauty

Snow White is her own person, dammit, and doesn’t need to become a recluse in a cabin in the woods

The Caterpillar in Wonderland is still VERY concerned about identity, but more about the what than the who

[goldsrc-hl1]

Damn, TWO stupid posts?

"Blake of Vol 1 was outspoken, feisty, fiery, and didn't hesitate to call Weiss on her racism."

Yeah, only when it was safe for her to do so. Cardin yanks on Velvet's ears and what does Blake do? Nothing. What does she do when she accidentally reveals she was part of the WF to WBY? She runs away. She was only ever willing to call someone out when it was safe for her to do so, which works with her character trait of being fearful.

She served them good, when serving them was easy.

"Blake of Vol 9 is meek, doesn't speak up for herself, and needs Yang to "protect" her from Ruby's (justified!!) anger. (Yang's total and utterly disgusting dismissal of Ruby's pain is another can of worms I won't get into in this post)."

First off, Yang isn't protecting Blake and Blake doesn't need Yang's protection lmfao. Yang is trying to get Ruby's attention, not protect Blake. She knows Blake isn't in danger, Blake knows it too, Blake also knows that Yang is the better one to try and defuse Ruby's breakdown, so she lets her do that.

Ruby's anger is based on "fuck you for not asking me if I'm depressed despite the fact that you did and I made it as hard as possible for you to help me" so nah it's really not justified.

"Yes, Blake was a dick to Sun in V5; however, I found that to be way more realistic of an abuse victim (lashing out at others, that kind of thing) than how she is now. At least she had a personality and actual flaws then!"

Abuse victims heal, Blake isn't always going to be lashing out at people like that.

"Blake of Vol 9 shirks away from Ruby instead of trying to help her; unlike Blake of Vol 6, who didn't hesitate to comfort Weiss after dealing with the Apathy."

Yeah, cause Yang has known Ruby for practically her entire life and is trying to defuse the situation. Also... Blake DOES try to help Ruby! Right at the end of her breakdown!

Blake: Guys, I know things are bad, but--

Ruby: Shut... Up...

Ruby: Don't... do that... Just don't...

And, as expected, Ruby brushes it off. Like she's been doing the entire volume.

"Blake of the previous volumes wouldn't have just rolled over and accepted Ruby's suicide. She would have fought tooth and nail to keep Ruby safe and at least TRY to help her."

Literally what can you do other than accept it? You can't undo suicide. That's permanent. Even in RWBY's case it's not something they could conceivably do. Ruby's tree statue is there but tampering with that could have god knows how many disastrous consequences. There's a chance she'll come back, so tampering with it is definitely not a good decision.

And if you're talking about Blake not comforting Ruby... She absolutely does, as I've already outlined above. She even tries to get the team to stop hyperfocusing on getting home.

Blake: Maybe we shouldn't worry about home right now. We got enough problems to--

V9C4, A Cat Most Curious

"Blake of the previous volumes was much more realistic and now she's just a vessel for CRWBY to make her into an uwu cutesy sapphic catgirl uwu. Don't worry about how shitty she's been written, how her personality has been warped to being the meek little gf to Yang, look at her cute cat ears moving! (Which is especially egregious considering, y'know, the persecution of her entire fucking race is a major catalyst for the show.)"

Blake is absolutely not just Yang's GF. Volume 7 she's the one who tells Robyn about Amity and stands her ground against the Ace-Ops and Ironwood's decision to abandon Mantle, even calling out the two of them for completely abandoning their job to protect Mantle.

Volume 8 she does get sidelined very hard but that's not due to Bumbleby, she hardly interacts with Yang the entire volume due to them being completely separated. Hell, she talks more to Ruby than she does to Yang in Volume 8, Yang isn't the problem here.

Volume 9 she picks up the slack of leadership since Ruby is not doing too great, functions as a guide for RWBY throughout the Ever After, attempts to comfort Ruby... all of that. So yeah, no, she's not just Yang's GF lmfao.

I don't think cat ears moving is egregious or racist. I really don't.

Anyone onto undiagnosed-autism uncaught-coolfish's even worse post.

"The trope in which an abuse victim is regulated as fodder for OTHER CHARACTER’S development is one I find absolutely abhorrent."

She is not. Like, objectively, that doesn't happen with Blake. Also, it's relegated. Relegated. Not regulated. Blake's abuse is entirely her own arc, that she overcomes with the help of others. It's still HER ARC. She's not fodder for anyone's arc at any point in RWBY.

"And it’s fucking everywhere."

Not in RWBY, it isn't.

"The fictional victim is stripped of any and all agency in nearly every situation, no matter how mundane, so that other characters can “protect, nurture, SAVE” them. It’s what happened to Blake. In what could’ve been a seriously impactful moment for her, it was instead turned into her basically getting clutched by Yang."

Yang is Ruby's sister. Blake knows this. Yang is trying to defuse the situation. Between a friend that's known someone for a few years, and someone's sister that's known them for literally their entire life, who is better to defuse the situation?

And hell, even when that does fail, Blake DOES try to help Ruby. She DOES try to console her, as I've already cited above. But that doesn't fit into your narrative, does it? Guess you've just gotta pretend like it's not even there.

"And then she became Yang’s cute meek side piece, whose development has remained fucking STAGNANT since volume 6."

Already explained how that's wrong.

"Fuck even outside of Blake this show has never handled a character being a victim of abuse well. Any character that just SLIGHTLY tiptoed out of the “cute needy palatable” box are villains."

I assume the characters you're referring to that slightly tiptoe out of the "cute needy palatable" box are the other abuse victims that are villains, like Adam and Cinder.

I don't think child murder and attempted genocide is a slight tiptoe out of the "cute needy palatable" box, but you can believe what you want.

"Anyone else? Either their abuse is delegitimized or they’re written just like Blake was."

This also doesn't happen. Take Whitley for example, his abuse isn't delegitimized, hell, he's not even held accountable for the kinda shitty thing he did since he did it because he was being abused. He's treated with a ton of care.

And Blake isn't a poorly written abuse victim.

"Stop infantilizing abuse victims, you fucking weirdos."

Again, this doesn't happen in RWBY.

man. the more I think of it, the more I'm sad about what happened to Blake. More accurately, her personality.

Blake gets touted as "a realistic depiction of an abuse victim who healed" but honestly. She's completely transformed into the opposite.

Blake of Vol 1 was outspoken, feisty, fiery, and didn't hesitate to call Weiss on her racism. Blake of Vol 9 is meek, doesn't speak up for herself, and needs Yang to "protect" her from Ruby's (justified!!) anger. (Yang's total and utterly disgusting dismissal of Ruby's pain is another can of worms I won't get into in this post).

Yes, Blake was a dick to Sun in V5; however, I found that to be way more realistic of an abuse victim (lashing out at others, that kind of thing) than how she is now. At least she had a personality and actual flaws then!

Blake of Vol 9 shirks away from Ruby instead of trying to help her; unlike Blake of Vol 6, who didn't hesitate to comfort Weiss after dealing with the Apathy. Blake of the previous volumes wouldn't have just rolled over and accepted Ruby's suicide. She would have fought tooth and nail to keep Ruby safe and at least TRY to help her. Blake of the previous volumes was much more realistic and now she's just a vessel for CRWBY to make her into an uwu cutesy sapphic catgirl uwu. Don't worry about how shitty she's been written, how her personality has been warped to being the meek little gf to Yang, look at her cute cat ears moving! (Which is especially egregious considering, y'know, the persecution of her entire fucking race is a major catalyst for the show.)

Anyway. Blake, I'm so sorry what CRWBY did to you. You deserve so much better.

[yinyangofnevermore]

“It’s like a movie but there’s not a happy ending, every scene fades black and there’s no pretending this little fairy tale doesn’t seem to end well, there’s no knight in shining armor who will wake me from this spell.”

[yinyangofnevermore]

She’s SO proud of herself!

[yinyangofnevermore]

So, what are you gonna be?

[yinyangofnevermore]

When I tell y’all I GASPED at this line

Also TOOK

The invincible monster TOOK her mother

Not KILLED

[yinyangofnevermore]

Little is hiding under Yang’s hair

😂😂😂