#rwby v9e4

[yinyangofnevermore]

THE CAT!

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

THE CAT!

*squeaky bouncing noises*

[s4m-1hat]

do NOT do drugs!!!!

[deadly-knightshade]

I love how we all hoped for a Bumbleby kiss in Episode 4 but instead we got a trauma dump and self-growth.

I'm was okay with no Bumbleby kiss in this episode. I loved how much they all grown from their past (except poor Ruby 😭). Especially that the scene was parallel to Mountain Glenn conversation with Dr. Oobleck of team RWBY individually.

[swrrt]

The disposition in episode 4 of WBY with weapons pointed at their former selves, standing tall… and Ruby on her knees unarmed.

The realisation that before RWBY reunited, or especially BY, Yang had also been alone and unarmed. She wouldn’t be able to point her weapon at her former self if she hadn’t gone on to retrieve it, and that didn’t happen until reunited as a group.

👀

[fallinglikemagic]

Blake coming full circle from wearing an accessory on her ears in order to hide them, to wearing an accessory on her ears that accentuates them is so 😭 we love that for her

[blakeneedsahug]

The camera panning around WBY as they gave their speeches all ended on a reaction shot of their past selves, and they looked shocked. Not out of disbelief that current WBY wouldn’t accept their solutions, but in realisation that there was a way to grow from where they were.

WBY may have seen what they used to be, but their past selves got to see them stronger and as themselves.

[instantbee]

RWBY v1e3 vs RWBY v9e4

"Huntresses are heroes. We protect those who can't protect themselves."

"Life isn't like a fairy tale"

"It's up to us/you to make things better"

[waheelawhisperer]

Tell me you didn't just say RWBY running from a horde of monsters is the same thing as Ironwood abandoning Mantle and all who live in it to die.

Blake: You're right. And I think the right thing to do would be to stand our ground.

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Yang: But you're Huntsmen and Huntresses! You can't just back down from a fight!

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Ruby: We're loyal to the people counting on us to save them!

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These are all quotes directly from V7E11.

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Blake: Huntresses are heroes. We protect those who can’t protect themselves.

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This was from V9E4. Literally the episode before.

RWBY has consistently presented fighting in defense of others as the role of a Huntress. Admittedly, I do not give a shit about the Ever After or its denizens, but I do care about the show's messaging (Huntresses Are Heroes, Standing Your Ground Is Good, Running From The Enemy Is Bad), and that messaging falls flat when the heroes run from a fight against an enemy that has not been established as a credible threat to any combat-capable member of the main cast except for an unarmed and traumatized Ruby while a brainwashed noncombatant dies in their place.

Ironwood ran from a horde of monsters and Salem. Team RWBY ran from a much smaller and less intimidating horde of monsters and Neo.

Ironwood abandoned the people of Mantle who had not yet been evacuated and left them to their own devices. Team RWBY abandoned the Afterans who had not yet fled the Jabberwalker and left them to their own devices. See the similarities?

Also, Ironwood wasn't abandoning everyone who lived in Mantle to die, just the ones that hadn't previously been evacuated to Atlas. Do you think he's kicking refugees off the edge of his floating city or something?

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Ironwood: Because the safety of every citizen is imperative, the council and I have decided to evacuate everyone in Mantle to Atlas. I am withdrawing all defenses from Amity in order to assist with repelling the Grimm in Mantle.

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This quote is from V7E10 and demonstrates that Ironwood was, at the time, committed to evacuating the citizens of Mantle to safety.

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Weiss: Why would the general call us back without giving a reason?

Ren: Especially with evacuations still going on in Mantle.

Elm: You don't have to understand orders, kids. You just have to follow them.

Harriet: Civvy transports won't be stopping anytime soon. If the general says he needs us now, he needs us now.

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Ironwood: How do we know they didn't want us to bring people into Atlas by the thousands?

Vine: In trying to save everyone, we left ourselves most vulnerable.

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Blake: But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone! You'd be leaving Mantle to die.

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All of this was from V7E11. Ironwood was a dumbass and his decision to raise Atlas was motivated primarily by his own fear of Salem, but there is explicit textual evidence that he and his subordinates were working to evacuate the people of Mantle to Atlas prior to finding Cinder's chess piece in his office and that that evacuation had made significant progress, but was not close to finished. Ironwood is leaving a large number of people behind, but he is not abandoning all of Mantle's people to die. Just some of them!

Way to go, Jimmy.

[lilithfairen]

So, there's something about the Curious Cat that still perks my eyebrow...

CC said that they didn't know what went on at the tree with Alyx and Lewis in V9E6, but earlier in V9E4, when RWBY were asking The Cat about Alyx...

Blake: "Yeah, but she learned her lesson in the end, right?" Curious Cat: "I'd certainly say so."

Which implies that The Cat does know about whatever happened with Alyx, despite later speaking to the contrary. And we already know that The Cat is willing to not bother sharing pertinent information, like not telling RWBY about Jaune. It may be that The Cat doesn't know exactly what happened at the tree, but knows what became of Alyx as a result.

In short, The Cat is still On My List~

[internecion-witch]

What are your favorite Rwby fics?

Here's some of my favorites from my bookmarks in no particular order

Urban Fantasy Cop AU with white rose

A collection of works based around the Hound Ruby AU. I recommend reading the second work first.

Ruby has an identity crisis from having her aura merged with the fall maiden.

Angst, so much angst, so much fucking angst. Nothing is ok in this one. Be warned, it gets really dark in this one. Like seriously full warning, check the tags if your unsure.

The RWBY snaps and becomes a villain AU. Or antihero I guess here. Another idea with tragically little fanfics about it.

A little something that was written directly after V9E4 that continues to live in my brain rent free and probably will forever.

Qrow being a father figure for team RWBY

My favorite Faunus Weiss story. Has Bees Schnees too i guess but I'm not really all about that one. Background NND too.

Qrow being a dad to Whitley specifically and simultaneously a bad and good influence. Schrodinger's influence.

Thus we kindly scatter, not to be confused with the other fanfic with the incredibly similar name. Privated so you need an account for this one. Basically an AU where Salem chilled out with the 'death to all' thing a while ago and is now a tired immortal who makes friends with summer.

I've hit the link limit so I guess this is enough. Happy reading.

[yinyangofnevermore]

Huntress

[doomalade]

Tier 5: The Deep End

TW: All of them.

“You Could Be Just Human or Just a Cat”

This is in reference to V9E4 where Blake’s Herb smoke induced inner monologue asks if she would rather just be a human or just be a cat. This line was joked and critiqued for basically saying “do you want to be normal or an animal” which in context is racist towards Faunus and could be seen as further racism in the writing.

“Ironwood was Ableist for Giving Yang Her Arm”

This comes from the same Tumblr blog that suggested Yang should be the Menagerie Head Master. They argue that Ironwood giving Yang her arm was a way of him forcing her out of her recovery and back into fighting. This has been countered by pointing out the ableist undertones of this claim.

“Flynt Coal”

The leader of Team FNKI, first seen in Volume 3, Flynt Coal was named after a joke said in a Rooster Teeth Minecraft play through where someone had flint and coal in their inventory and said it sounded like someone’s name. Of course this comment was followed up by someone pointing out it sounded racist as both flint and coal are black. This didn’t stop Rooster Teeth making one of the very first on screen POC characters other than Sage be named this. Flynt’s naming has received backlash ever since his introduction.

“Woobified Raven”

I believe that Woobified Raven is how Raven’s character and her abandonment of Yang has been turned into a joke rather than a key part of their characters. I could be wrong on this as the only other controversial thing with Raven I can think of involve Raven being deemed as Asian or a very messed up fanfic where Yang dyes her hair black and gets Tai drunk to become his “Raven”.

“Arkos”

Arkos is the ship between Jaune and Pyrrha. Arc + Nikos = Arkos. It’s one of the more popular and widely accepted ships in the fandom but has a few criticisms of it being a part of RWBY ships being overly heterosexual, the one sided nature of the ship, and that Pyrrha was fridged for Jaune.

“Winter Kneeling Over Marrow”

In Volume 8, Winter tackles and kneels over Marrow to arrest him and its later revealed she did that to save him from being shot by Ironwood. This scene is seen as controversial for having the white cop figure using excessive force with the POC character, especially since V8 came out months after the tragic killing of George Floyd in a similar manner.

“Ruby Had to Kill Herself to be Cured”

This is a critique of V9 that Ruby drinking the tea, which is seen as her killing herself, was the way to cure her depression which is not a good handling of mental health.

“Stolen MMD Assets”

This is in reference to how some textures and models for RWBY have been found to been stolen from MMD without crediting or the permission of the creators.

“Ableism”

This talks about a lot of things from the writing of the show to the behaviors and opinions of fans.

“White Fang Based on the IRA”

This is claim by some fans of RWBY that the White Fang is based off the IRA because of their more violent tendencies but this remains debated and unconfirmed.

“Salem’s Goal is to Kill Herself”

Because Salem cannot die, her only way to die is to bring together the relics, summon the Brothers, and end the world. This basically means that Salem is trying to kill herself, something she failed to do multiple times in The Lost Fable in V6.

“Characters Named After Slurs”

This is two things.

The first is the more tame one with Faunus characters being named after the animal species they are which has been pointed out as them being compared to animals, so it’s basically a slur.

The other is Kali. Her name has multiple translations, one meaning “black woman”. This has been seen as Kali being named after a racial slur.

“Renora Kiss”

In Volume 7 during Robyn’s election party, Nora kisses Ren. This wouldn’t be problematic on it’s own but it is a forced kiss onto Ren who wasn’t in the mood to talk, so this scene has been seen as SA.

“Lovers’ Quarrel”

Lovers’ Quarrel is an official T-Shirt made by Rooster Teeth featuring Blake and Adam with the text “Lovers’ Quarrel above them. The backlash to Rooster Teeth basically promoting an abusive relationship was huge and the shirt can no longer be purchased.

“Ironwood is Unfuckable”

This is a theory that after Ironwood got his prosthetic body, he lost his dick. Basically Ironwood has no dick or a robot dick. It’s weird.

Okay!

That’s Tier 5 down.

I will get Tier 6: Bottom of the Iceberg done as soon as I can!

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]

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

[n1blakelover]

OH MY GOD I DIDNT EVEN REALIZE THE PARALLEL TO DR. OOBLECK

I love how we all hoped for a Bumbleby kiss in Episode 4 but instead we got a trauma dump and self-growth.

I'm was okay with no Bumbleby kiss in this episode. I loved how much they all grown from their past (except poor Ruby 😭). Especially that the scene was parallel to Mountain Glenn conversation with Dr. Oobleck of team RWBY individually.

[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.”