#rwbyr 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)

[invested-in-your-future]

What made you decide to focus on Ruby and Yang and then Weiss and Blake rather than any other combinations?

Parallels.

Ruby and Yang both face aimlessness and searching for meaning in their lives (one having gotten a reality check and the other realizing she never had that before). Not to mention having to face the truth about their mothers, of course.

Likewise, Weiss and Blake have clear parallels (that the show never bothered to address for some reason) in their backstories, issues, and struggles with helplessness. Both of them are attempting to escape an oppressive, abusive influence looming over their lives, both of them are afraid to look inside themselves, and both end up in situations where they feel like they can't do anything to change their fates.

While Fall of Beacon should force all four to face their pasts, a thematic thread connects Blake and Weiss - they specifically have to return to their homes (as opposed to Ruby and Yang leaving their homes to find themselves).

It just makes sense to separate them this way in terms of storytelling focus now that they are torn apart all around the world and alone.

[invested-in-your-future]

Why did you decide to focus only on few characters instead of entire team RWBY at once?

Two reasons, really - one thematic and one practical.

The practical one is simple, really. RWBY has been scattered all over Remnant. It's far easier to keep track of what's happening when I don't need to jump around literally everywhere all at once. Some C Plot moments build up additional world elements and characters, sure, but beyond that, you have those specific characters and their situations only. Easier to book-end everything and tie-together what's being set-up.

The thematic one is more interesting for me to do, however. Separating the story structure this way helps emphasize the broken-down communications in the world now that the towers are down. V4r followed Yang and Ruby in their respective journeys - journeys that got affected by each other due to the somewhat close proximity the characters were in. But Weiss? Blake? There's nothing about them. The goal is to make the audience relate to the characters and how they have no idea where they are or what's happening. Yang and Ruby have no idea about each other's journeys and experiences(and have quite a few misconceptions about each other) or what's beyond their world, which has grown smaller now despite opening up so much - the impact the communication breaking down has on the world that I am attempting to show (and that the end of V4r kind of conveys).

The world broke apart on the macro-scale, and the team broke apart on the micro-scale - just like there's confusion amidst Kingdoms about what the others are doing and why, there's confusion and fog of war amidst the fractured team, too.

Ruby and Yang mention Blake and Weiss at times, but they have no way of knowing what those two are up to and where - and just like them, the audience shouldn't get answers about their whereabouts either right away.

[invested-in-your-future]

What's Summer like in your rewrite?

From the bits and pieces I already added to the story, it should be quite clear that she's not anything like her daughter.

Ruby has a specific idea of how she would want her mother to have been, and so does Yang, but children aren't clones of their parents, and STRQ were nothing like RWBY.

Raven's comments about her provide a pretty good clue in terms of the nature of Summer Rose. If anything, those mentions evoke an image of someone more Weiss-ish than anything like Ruby, but there's more to her than that, too.

With Ruby actively trying to find out more about her mother now, I hope that, eventually, there will be a clearer picture of what kinds of people Team STRQ were and how the dynamics in their team shifted over the years with the way STRQ started with none of them really liking each other, how that changed over the years and the effect Ozpin's revelations (and really just life) had upon them.

The drip feed of information will continue as, like I said before, I don't really want to do some big flashback STRQ chapter or something and would rather have others experiences bits and pieces of those characters lives when its appropriate, essentially aligning audience with the experiences of the characters.

[invested-in-your-future]

One of the hardest parts is figuring out how to make locations in each Kingdom differ from each other.

With Mistral, I decided to define each place via specific ideas.

The City of Argus is synonymous with change - construction sites and abandoned run-down districts, streets crowded with people, mismatched architecture, and dozens of little shops, bars, businesses, and warehouses.

The City of Nemea has a strict district structure, with everything leading to its center. Gates, gates, gates. There's still an intentional similarity to Argus, though, as Nemea holds plenty of influence in its creation.

Rain permeates the City of Youdu - pouring upon layers filled with buildings down to the intricate sewer system that goes deeper into the Old City.

Kulhara is lots of dirt. Everyone knows everybody to the point that it's more like a really oversized village.

Everything in-between the notable locations is either swamps, forests, a few shacks of terrified people, or outright ruins of abandoned cities/villages that were never rebuilt.

Vale is mainly City of Vale and then everything beyond it.

The City of Vale is a mess - with the thing atop the tower being visible from almost any point of the city. It's also divided but in a different way than Nemea - each remaining district has its own community and power structure and rules.

The mainland locations beyond are damp, shrouded by fog and a sense of stillness (so basically Maine).

Patch is basically rural countryside intermixed with forests.

Then, from that, places in Atlas and Vacuo (and Menagerie) also have to feel different enough.

And there are other locations - mentioned and unmentioned -that I will eventually get into.

[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]

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]

Would v1!Weiss agree with Mistral's desire to relocate the faunus to Menagerie?

If the idea came up in a conversation, I think she'd very much tout the importance of following the law and such - because of course she would.

Weiss would go on a tirade akin to the one she gave about Sun in V1 - about how "all Faunus are criminals" and how Kingdoms would be more peaceful without them and all that.

Afterward, she would try to feel good about herself - about "being right" - because V1 Weiss acts out to reinforce her biases and to uphold her illusion of "The Proper Schnee Heiress" idea (in her attempt to bring her family back onto what she sees as the right path).

Would it be genuine? Who knows.

While she has her reasons for developing those biases, with Volume One Weiss it isn't clear how much she actually buys into what she says and does there and how much is just an act to "Be Proper".

This is why being there and seeing it in action would be a whole another deal.

One has to remember that even with her bias against Faunus, Weiss still sees herself as righteous - not to mention being someone who grew up in a Kingdom that is all about rules. Her biases are biases until they are right up in her face and personal and thus break her facade.

Just because, as she would put it, "all of them are scoundrels" doesn't mean she'd be okay with the actual process of forcefully removing them and shipping them off somewhere else.

Witnessing even one attempt to deport someone would likely be enough to challenge her convictions - it would be a more severe version of finding out about Blake for her.

[invested-in-your-future]

"comrade and mentor" does the other anon forgets Adam was literally hunting Blake down ? The whole build up was like if she Blake was in a thriller movie being chased down by an assassin and was barely able to scape thanks to Yang's help.

Yeah even though Adam was all that to her in the past, the only thing he represents now is sheer terror. It can't be understated how traumatizing what happened during the Fall of Beacon SHOULD be to both Yang and Blake (and how much more infuriating it makes the fact that the show treats Blake jumping at shadows in V4 as a JOKE).

However, I do think it's valid to ponder on how actually killing him could affect Blake.

Taking a life is not something to be treated lightly, and one of the most significant flaws with the canon RWBY is that the show refused to explore any possible consequences of Yang and Blake having done that.

ESPECIALLY with how impactful and damaging Adam's appearance had been to the lives of Yang and Blake.

No matter what were to happen in such a confrontation, it should absolutely be a pivotal moment that anything before should build toward and anything after should use as a foundation.

Yet as it stands, you could remove the entire Adam confrontation from canon RWBY, and nothing would change beyond the plotline being left open.

The show ignored the build-up of Blake and Yang as people (and of their relationship) that was NEEDED for that confrontation to hold weight, and then the show ignored any possible consequences or characterization that should have come from that confrontation.

No matter what the showrunners did or not do in the actual confrontation, no matter what weird decisions they made there - in the canon THAT is what buries the plotline as useless.

The way the show handles it is the equivalent on if Ruby were to find out what happened to Summer offscreen and never mentioned it again.

[invested-in-your-future]

Why do you find Ruby so interesting and compelling? What makes you want to write her?

Short version: Grief is fascinating.

Long Version: Characters that struggle with their worldview and ideals have always fascinated me. The idea of a protagonist's conflict with the world they live in is one of the most exciting aspects of fiction for me, and it doesn't matter whether the character or the world wins in the end - that struggle between beliefs, ideals, and reality around them is engrossing.

Likewise, dealing with loss, grief, and trauma is not unfamiliar for me - the surreal, chaotic mess that life becomes in those moments, the loss of control over the simplest things, the change in how one treats the simplest day-to-day tasks - something that might last for a long time and that one doesn't quite ever "get over". There's an allure in reading about characters dealing with that for me - seeing how they handle it and which parts I can or can't relate to (since it's always different).

And last but not least - from the start of the show, she's been the character I have been the most interested in - she had the best trailer, her personality as this awkward goofball with poor communication skills was endearing and relatable, and scythes are cool.

The first three volumes of the show managed to hit all the right points in terms of Ruby as a character for me - a VERY rare occurrence. I wrote up extensively more than once on what makes her good character for me before, case in point.

But, overall, honestly? The main driving force for me actually starting to post it and everything is how V9 did her dirty. Over the years, I had many thoughts and put together various ideas, but having a character so endearing and precious to me treated that way by the show that she was a protagonist of hurt. I feel like I have to put it all into words, or it will haunt me forever.