#team rwby was SO much more of a family to weiss than her actual family

[benevolentvampire]

crying over weiss throwing her arms around yang in the camp

[rachetmath]

Why RWBY Ain't MC?

(Okay if you already seen this ('Jaune More MC Ruby? 'https://rachetmath.tumblr.com/post/744057722669039616/jaune-more-mc-ruby) Then you should know where this is going.)

Jaune: And that's what is wrong with your characters.

RWBY: *shocked* 

Ruby: Oh crap.

Weiss: Oh God…

Blake: My people…

Yang: I am a basic bitch?

Jaune: Yeah you girl's characters are all over the place. Not just that… you have so much screen time yet do nothing with it. You're basically side characters to your own stories. 

Yang: Not true.

Jaune: Yes true. Look let's start with Ruby.

Ruby: Me?

Jaune: Yeah, because some of my character issues should have been yours, like killing Penny for example. Considering that was suitable punishment for what you have done. You lied to James. You drove him off the rails. You and your team made the mess. 

Ruby: Um…

Jaune: But that's too easy. Let's really go down the shit hole. Ruby, you have silver eyes. Yet you barely use them. You never trained with them. We still know nothing about them. And we don’t know if they’ll work on Salem.

Ruby: um…

Jaune: And you know that would have been answered back at Atlas if you went on the battlefield. Speaking of Salem, why the hell would you put Ironwood someone more of my problem than Salem, if I recall knows who your mom is.

Ruby: Well I had to protect Penny.

Jaune: Mhmm. Okay. Speaking of your mom what did you learn about her in The Ever After?

Ruby: Um-

Jaune: Not much. Yeah. And again no villain besides Cinder and Neo were interested in you. Not even you are interested in them considering you barely remember them. Like Ruby, you don't do anything. Like you fast but slow in the head. Hell even Neo ganging up on you, you still didn't deserve it. I actually deserved it.

Ruby: How?

Jaune: Again Pyrrha died. Ozpin died. All because of me. And even if you killed Penny it's still going to feel like my fault because I could've prevented it.

Ruby: Oh no. 

Weiss: Jaune-

Jaune: Nope. Your turn. You are worse than your father.

Weiss: I-

Jaune: You talk about how your father does business but you don’t do business. Nor do you know how to run a business.

Weiss: I mean-

Jaune: You lied to your sister’s face. Your sister who trained you and made sure you were able to leave Atlas. You got Klien fired. You threatened your own brother.

Weiss: Um-. I-i

Jaune: Oh let’s not forget how you destroyed your home and now your family is broke.

Weiss: Well at least I’m a good teammate.

Jaune: Didn’t you almost divide your team about two times? Also, how is everyone insulting me when you barely win your fights?

Weiss: Not true.

Jaune: Flynt Coal.

Weiss: Luck.

Jaune: Vernal.

Weiss: I was rusty.

Jaune: More like spamming.

Weiss: We defeated the Ace-ops.

Jaune: Neo and Cinder. The ones who were supposed to be on the same level as them. Did you win?

Weiss: Shit.

Jaune: You know what I should mention this. In Argus, I must have been under some stress or high as a kite, because now that I think about it, the deal Cordoven gave us, wasn’t that bad.

Weiss: Jaune she was planning to send me back to my father.

Jaune: Alright, then instead of accepting those terms and going to face your father, basically lying claim to your life, you cowardly avoided him and let your friends be what scares him. Not you. In fact, you were willing to endanger yourself and thousands of people to avoid him.

Weiss: … … ….

Jaune: Look I understand you don’t have to face everything alone. But there are some moments you have to deal with alone. Instead of having to escape your father like last time, you could have returned, stood up to him, and left out the front door from which you came in. Why? Because that’s how much you care about your friends and your freedom that you won’t let anybody, especially a man you can easily crush into ground beef take from you.

Weiss: By god. I am my father. 

Jaune: Yeah. Blake.

Blake: *looks at him*

Jaune: Blake, I would be concerned for my people if I were you.

Blake: Why?

Jaune: Well-

Me: Nope. Nope. I’ll explain. Blake, you remember the hound right?

Blake: Yeah.

Blake: A silver-eyed person.

Me: Look at his head.

Blake: “Look at his head”? I mean I see- oh. Oh my god.

Me: Yeah. A faunus. People who have animal-like features.  Again with silver eyes, we know nothing. But Faunuses on the other hand, we know where this could lead to.

Blake: Oh no.

Me: And you single-handedly divided the White Fang. And if hunters or people start siding with Salem, what does that mean for the Faunuses who are now venerable because of you?

Blake: Oh GOD! What have I done?!

Me: I mean I started questioning whether you cared about your people or not. Considering you didn’t bother staying in Mantle to protect them. You trust a criminal more than an official officer or hunter. Even though Robyn was doing the same crap Adam and Roman were doing. Good job.

Blake: *crying*

Me: Now for you.

Yang: Me?

Me: Yes. I never thought I come back for your ass. But here we are. Now then, what the fuck did Raven tell you to do?

Yang: Um.

Me: The same thing your father was telling you to do. Think. Don’t just follow orders. Don’t just act. Think! 

Yang: I did but-

Me: You didn’t think it through.

Yang: Look trusting Robyn-

Me: When you confronted Robyn what was your plan afterwards?

Yang: Um-

Me: Remember you didn’t tell her everything so she was still skeptical. She was tearing James a new one. So what was the point?!

Yang: Um-

Me: I mean, how were you going to chop Ruby off when ultimately you are more at fault than she is?

Yang: Um.

Me: Like at least Ruby was trying to lower the tension. You as per-fucking-usual added way more fuel to an already heated fire.

Yang: Well-

Me: I already mentioned how you are the biggest hypocrite, a simp and horrible sister. Now I might as well say you are the weakest link in your team– no, your squad.  

Yang: Hey-

Me: You've been losing fights.

Yang: Name-

Me: Mercury.

Yang: I beat him.

Jaune: Wasn’t that part of the plan to set you up though?

Yang: Yeah but-

Me: Round two, what happened then?

Yang: They double-teamed me.

Me: Before that you couldn’t land hit on him.

Yang: … … Adam.

Me: 2 v 1. He wasn’t even at his best. Bro was in his feelings.

Yang: The Ace-ops-

Me: Marrow, for one, could’ve ended that fight before it started. Second weren’t they arguing half the battle? Also didn’t Elm have your partner and for “reasons” she decided to let Blake go? Selling the match.

Yang: A win is a win.

Me: Okay Salem. Did you stand your ground and fight?

Yang: Um. Tactical retreat?

Me: She wasn’t even putting in effort. The cat.

Yang: I mean-

Me: Kilgore.

Yang: He does not count.

Me: Neo and Cinder. Again, on Ace-op level.

Yang: Come on, man, she-

Me: A win is a win right? So if you get a ring out or fall that is not victory. Neo won. Two to Zero.

Yang: … … …

Me: Raven… Raven trusted the lamp to you. Not Ruby. You! And you just… you just lost it like that. You fumbled- you fumbled so bad. And what’s crazy is I mentioned how you searched for the deadbeat instead of your “real mom” but it seems Raven is a better mom than Summer now. How? Not only is she alive. She knows what happened to Summer. And she saved your ass so many times. Three times.

Yang: Not-

Me: The train. Your first defeat.

Yang: … ….

Me: I’m not going to count Adam. But she let you leave her tribe camp alive, with your friend no less, knowing full well she didn’t have to help you especially when you came to her and was ready to fight when she wouldn’t give you what you wanted.

Yang: …. …. 

Me: And she let you walk with the relic. She could’ve killed you two times. But she didn’t. Why? Because whether she likes it or not, you are her DAUGHTER! And she LOVES you! 

Yang: Um…

Me: I hope- I hope Raven puts her hands on you because you earned the most savage ass whipping alive.  You basic bitch.

Yang: *shocked*

Me: Anyways y'all had plenty of opportunities to make your characters good. You all were given a good amount of screen time, however, the writers don't allow you to face your problems, shield you from consequences, and try so hard to prove you are always in the right all the time that you all might as well be Mary Sue. The worst kind of Mary Sue. The do no wrong type of Mary Sue.

Jaune: Damn. 

Me: Jaune, bro, I hope you survive this cause I still stand by this the writers did you dirty man. You didn't deserve that man. You didn't- you didn't deserve that. You and your team deserve better. 

[deadbeatbirdmom]

I think I've recovered enough from watching the episode to actually say something about it, or at least more than I managed right afterwards.

I loved it.

It's great to see chibi-ish!Ruby used for comedic effect again, for the first time since Volume 1 I think. First acting playfully mad with Yang, and then in her excitement at the boba.

On that note, it's great to see and hear Ruby excited again. It's impressive how high her voice can go without breaking, especially considering Ruby's VA's normal voice seems to be lower pitched than Yang's voice.

I'm not surprised Ruby's uncomfortable with the cult that has sprung up around her message to Remnant. She always wanted to be a normal girl, if one who became a huntress, which is a fairly normal thing in Remnant. Especially for someone born to a family of them.

It's good to see that refugees from Patch can set up their business in Vacuo, and even better that it lets Yang and Ruby carry on the tradition they had before Beacon. That it was something they did with Tai also ended up revealing why he isn't there with them: he's on assignment, according to Qrow. What is more important than being in Vacuo, where the majority of Remnant's population is gathered? And more important than being with his daughters, who he might have heard were presumed dead and miraculously reappeared.

I've seen the suggestion that Tai's guarding the Crown aka Relic of Choice, but I've also seen the great point that if that's the case and Salem finds him, there's not much he can do to stop her, no matter what his Semblance is. Although I guess Raven might feel that he's in danger and open a portal for him to escape through. It's not confirmed that's how her Semblance works, but it explains how she knew when Yang needed saving in Volume 2.

Anyway, back to Yang and Ruby! I love that Yang brought up what happened in the Ever After. That she's understands, or at least understands enough after what Yang herself has been through, and the important thing she gets across to Ruby is that she's not alone. That she's not going to carry the weight of leading them alone. Not anymore.

It's also important that they've figured out a code word to signal that Ruby needs help, because she doesn't always know how to reach out. I figure that they will tell Blake and Weiss about that, or it could confuse them:

Ruby: "Boba!"

Weiss: ...

Blake: :3 ???

Yang: Hugs Ruby. "I'm here for you."

Weiss: "Is. Is this another weird Xiao Long-Rose thing?"

What I particularly appreciate about it is that Yang acknowledged her mistake but didn't actually apologise for it, and Ruby didn't mind that. Because the important thing isn't saying sorry, it's changing things so that Ruby never feels that alone again. Actions speak louder than words.

It's also equally important that Ruby recognised she still has issues saying when she needs help. They're a team and they need to work together.

It just reinforces RWBY's message of hope, and to keep moving forward, and that no one is perfect but that they learn from their mistakes.

Asjhgsdkjghfdkshjkakjhdhlsj FEELS AUGH

Also that last line kinda hints that Ruby likes to go shopping with Yang, but they haven't got around to it. Shopping for new outfits, perhaps?

[aspoonofsugar]

Hi, what do you think Yang's future arc might be, besides the whole Team STRQ background?

Since as of now, there is something that I still feel that Yang lacks compared to the other three heroines. I mean, all three of them have a much bigger role to play in the story compared to Yang, who is just Ruby's sister and being a child related to Team STRQ. And I know that it's probably because of the Citrinitas and Rubedo dynamic in alchemy. But isn't acquiring gold one of the results desired from the Magnum Opus?

Anyways, I also want to ask if you think that there should be more Chinese elements through Yang's story besides her name. I mean, why name her after a Chinese Dragon (who is the most revered mythical creature in China) if they aren't gonna apply it to her story? If Yang's focus is her main fairytale Goldilocks, then why not just name her that is reminiscent of the hot-cold-just right dynamics present in her story? The three other heroines has other fairytales associated with them and I wish that Yang has that too (instead of being just a part of their tales i.e. Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast, Wizard of Oz).

I guess that I wanted the writers to explore more of Yang's ptsd arc, like maybe have Yang practice shui-mo or water and ink painting as a coping mechanism; to essentially help her control her emotions or anger. Instead of Taiyang seemingly looking at Yang through other people's lenses instead of through his own (which might be even worse, like hello mini Raven lookalike).

Anyways, thank you for entertaining this ask of mine. Hope you have a great day.

Hi!

Thank you for this rwby ask :D

So, tbh I don't feel Yang's arc is lacking compared to the others. I would say so far she and Weiss have my favorite arcs among the protagonists tbh (and they are 3rd overall).

Anyway, to address your different questions...

YANG'S ROLE

I think Yang's arc will focus on Ruby and Blake, other than Raven and Summer:

She needs to overcome her contradictive feelings towards Ruby

She needs Blake's help to reconcile her feelings for Raven and Summer

If Weiss and Blake's subplots are linked to the world, as they used to represent two extremes of an ongoing conflict (the Schnee Family and the White Feng), then Ruby and Yang are tied to the conflict through their mothers. So, Ruby will have to overcome Summer, as Yang will have to aknowledge she is projecting part of her feelings towards Summer on Raven. You say Yang has no other role, than to be Raven's child, but if so, then Ruby's own subplot ties to Summer. I don't think there is much difference between the two sisters. It's just that Ruby is also the titular character to an extent and the main hero. That's why she is set up to save Cinder together with Jaune. Anyway, I am expecting the STRQ's subplot to actually be pivotal in volume 10 (and hopefully 11 :P - let's dream big). So, I am not worried about Yang's screentime. I actually think there is more of her arc left than Blake, who just needs a wrap up. As a result, I am expecting Blake this time to be the one that ties into Yang's arc.

In short, I would like a repetition/inversion of their Beauty and Beast motif. Throughout the Mistral Arc Blake is the beast having to deal with a corrupting Rose:

I wonder if this time Yang will be the one having to face her "roses":

After all, it is clear Yang has still to fully deal with her conditional idea of love:

Jinxy: The bidding starts at- Yang: No! I was the first one to- Jinxy: …knowing… what it is to feel loved.

Which can only be resolved through Blake, Ruby and her two mothers. In particular, the fact Jinxy asks for Yang's "knowledge about what it is to feel loved" in exchange of her arms says a lot:

Firstly, Yang lost her arm to protect Blake, so it is like her arm in exchange of love. Secondly, in that moment Yang is slowly figuring out her romantic feelings for Blake, so in a sense she is still figuring romantic love out. Finally, Jinxy's items are metaphorical representations of what they ask:

The mouse is exchanged in exchange of a hug, as a reference to the fact Little is Ruby's inner child and needs to be protected

Ruby is asked hope in exchange of Penny's sword because Penny gives her hope

Finally, Yang is asked for the knowledge of being loved in exchange of a part of herself because unconsciously she thinks she has to give up parts of herself to be loved. That is what conditional love is. You can be loved only if you are good, not if you are bad. It is clearly something Yang believes unconsciously and that stems from her abandonment issues. In short, in Mistral she thinks Blake leaves because she doesn't care. I am expecting Vacuo to be about Yang thinking she has to be perfect for Blake to stay, in a sense.

I think realizing she does not have to be would tie nicely with her Goldilock's allusion:

Vale is the TOO HOT: The Yellow trailer has Yang meeting up with Ruby (red=hot) and asking for a beverage with no ice:

Yang: Strawberry Sunrise. No ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas.

(Let's highlight Strawberry Sunrise alludes to both the Citrinitas and the Rubedo phase (yellow + red), which ties into the two sisters, as Ruby loves strawberries and Yang is associated with sun)

Throughout the arc Yang shows her strength (body) and her refusal to tame her own feelings, which end with her losing an arm surrounded by fire:

Mistral is the TOO COLD: Yang's search for Raven leads her to Weiss (blue=cold) and into a bar where she asks for some water to cool herself down:

Yang: A water. It's hot out.

It ends with Yang and Blake together and safe, while surrounded by water:

Atlas can be seen as Yang having found an inner equilibrium towards the JUST RIGHT. After all, the arc ends with Yang and Blake (purple= just right) at balance, surrounded by both earth and air (opposing elements)

However, Yang's equilibrium is suddenly disturbed by Ruby's spiral and I am expecting this to have some kind of lasting impact on Yang. So, I am expecting Yang to quickly go over the three stages again, so that she can realize she is in fact just right, without having to always be right at everything :''')

As for the major plot, it will mostly depend by how Raven and Summer tie to it tbh. It is possible that whatever Summer's plan is, it gave Salem's the idea to use Cinder as a vessel for the Maiden's powers (hence linking Ruby and Cinder together even more). Still, there are still questions related to Raven's past, which will probably find an answer and tie to the main conflict. In short, I really see Yang involved with Ruby in the main conflict concerning Raven/Summer and Salem, which will be pretty relevant plot-wise.

After that, Ruby will probably have the peak of her arc, where she saves Cinder. This fits, as Ruby has had less development than Yang, as her arc has been saved up for the end, so that it resonates more, as she is the main heroine.

YANG'S CHINESE INFLUENCE

Yours is a great question! I am not sure tbh! I have wondered myself if there is some kind of allusion hidden behind Yang's chinese influence, but I could not find it. Maybe someone else did or will! Or it will become clear later on.

In general, I think martial arts are a strong inspiration for Yang's character, so she might have been given Bruce Lee's name. After all, another inspiration for Yang is dragon ball's super sayan:

And someone suggested she might allude to Yang Guo from the return of the Condor Heroes, but I have not read the novel, so I am not sure this is true.

I also don't think it's a problem she isn't called after her fairy tale. After all, only Weiss is directly called after it (Weiss Schnee as Snowhite literally). Blake's name means both black and white and it alludes to Blake being both Beast (black) and Beauty (White). However, it does so indirectly. The same goes for Ruby, whose name and surname are much more tied with alchemy, then her fairy tail. She is the philosophical stone (a ruby) and she is tied with rubedo, whose main flower is a red rose.

Yang's name alludes to:

Her being linked to Citrinitas and to gold

Her being the sky-woman (a sunny dragon), so the Wise Woman in juxtaposition to Raven's Bad Mother

Her being the yang to Blake's yin

It ties indirectly to her allusion in how it alludes to the too hot (sunny dragon), which Yang definately is

Probably something else I am missing :P

YANG'S ALLUSIONS

Yang has actually many allusions:

Goldilocks

LRRH

Beauty and Beast

She isn't only a part of her loved ones' allusions, but she shares them, which meta-narratively might tie with her Goldilock's inspiration. As a matter of fact Goldilock has no beginning nor end. We do not know from where Goldilock is from and we have no idea where she goes after she escapes. RWBY gives Yang a beginning and an end in other fairy tales:

She starts as Little Red Riding Hood (Summer's daughter, who loses herself in the wood, while looking for her mother and meets a big bad beast with ferocious eyes)

She will end as Beauty and Beast (the Yellow Beauty, who burns gold in Blake's happy ending)

In general, all the protagonists have secondary allusions, which tie into their loved ones, not only Yang:

Weiss's secondary allusion is the Snow Queen, which is really Winter's primary allusion. That is because her bond with Winter ans her family is key in Weiss's arc.

Blake's secondary allusion is the Jungle Book, which ties to Menagerie as a whole.That is because Blake's arc is about her whole community.

Ruby' secondary allusion is the Wizard of Oz, which ties to the main conflict with Salem, but is also Oscar's main allusion. So, Ruby too ties into someone else's inspiration.

As you can see, RWB too are parts of their loved ones' allusion. Still, since they are protagonists these allusions end up being just as important for them, as they are for the other characters. Yang is the same, but in her case her loved ones are Ruby and Blake, two of the main heroines, hence she ends up sharing the spotlight with them. Again, it is not really different from Ruby sharing the spotlight with Oscar in the Oz's allusion (Oscar too is a main character, after all).

All in all, each protagonist has their own set of motifs and chosen imagery, which is similar, but also different. It is interesting to understand why. I mean, to this day I keep seeing people getting annoyed Blake shares her trailers with another character (Adam and Ilia)... whereas Blake sharing the trailer ties with her shadow motif and with her beauty and beast allusion. Hers is an allusion, which needs to be shared. Just like Yang's allusion needs to be completed by other stories.

YANG'S PTSD ARC

I love your headcanon and it would have been a great idea! That said, I don't dislike what we got. I also disagree about Yang and Taiyang's confrontation tbh.

First of all, Yang's recover does not start with her father, but it starts with Ruby. She feels responsible for Ruby and decides to get herself back together, so she can go find her sister and protect her. It ties with Yang's big sis complex, which still needs to be addressed. That said, it is a good example of Ruby being Yang's too hot. After Adam's attack, Yang is left depressed and symbolically her hair is tied (her flames are not burning). Thanks to Ruby, she finds new drive and starts her journey of recovery.

Taiyang's advice is thematic in nature rather than psychologic (like RWBY as a series puts more focus on themes, rather than psychology). It tells her she needs to control her feelings better and it is an invitation to find inner balance. This sets up Yang's objective really, more than anything. Finally, Taiyang actually discussing Raven with Yang is necessary and healing. Up until that point Yang's attempts to discuss her mother were always shut down by her father, which clearly made her suffer. Taiyang's inability to address Raven (together with his shutting down) is what leads Yang to put herself and Ruby in danger in a misguided attempt to locate her mother. Not only that, but it is also what leads Yang to repress herself to an extent. She forces herself to be the good daughter and strong big sister, but deep down she too is a child, who wants to know why her mothers both left her. Taiyang could help her to come to terms with it, but he stubbornly avoids the topic. That is why him finally addressing it with Yang helps her. It is also a sign Tai is aknwoledging her growing up. I also think Tai's line about Raven is actually telling:

Taiyang: Your mother was... a complicated woman. Like everybody, she had her faults, but those faults are what tore our team apart. And, it did a real number on our family. You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight. But if you just take a second look, then maybe you see... there's a way around as well. Come on - one more before dinner.

Does this description fit Raven in your opinion, because imo it does only to an extent. The Raven we meet surely does believe in strength, yes, but she also invites Yang to question things and to look at things from a different perspective. Actually, this description not fitting Raven is also brought up by Yang herself:

Yang: You're right. I don't know you. I only know the Raven dad told me about. She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe! Did you kill her too?

Raven might have learnt knowledge to an extent, but she lacks the wisdom of truly understanding herself. She gives up what she believes in out of fear aka she lacks to take her feelings in check. Not only that, but she needs Yang's perspective to truly see the truth of things and to better understand what strenght and wisdom truly are.

Thank you for the ask, it was fun! Even if I am not sure I gave you the answer you wanted :)

Have a great day as well!

[bobauthorman]

The Next Path of the Beastly Beauty?

In volume 10, it's all but certain that the Long-Rose sisters are going to have to deal with their messed-up family issues. And Weiss now has to come to terms with the fact that her home is, for all intents and purposes, gone. But what about Blake? What will be her arc in the Post-Atlas world?

My theory is that Blake is going to have recognize that her burning idolization of Ruby is actually bad, for both of them. In 'A Tale Involving a Tree' Weiss was the one who realized that they've been putting too much pressure on Ruby, and in the "Boba" short, Yang assured Ruby that she won't be the one to handle everything. But when refuting the Curious Cat in 'Of Solitude and Self', Blake says, "And that's why we follow her." indicating that she hasn't quite got the message.

I've mentioned in

that Blake is analogous to Leo Lionheart. While at the time it was due to how they let their fear influence their lives and whether or not they overcome it, in this case I realize that they were both followers. Lionheart was initially Oz's follower, but after realizing the truth became Salem's. Blake's not as a bad, but I think she still has a similar problem with Ruby. This is most likely a result of Adam's influence on her, as it's obvious from the 'Adam Taurus Character Short' that Adam wouldn't accept anything less than pure devotion from Blake.

"But, isn't Blake over Adam? That shouldn't be a problem!"

I'm not so sure. In 'Worst Case Scenario' Blake was clearly unhappy with having to kill Adam, while Yang was neutral on the subject. And who says that just because she's over Adam, that she's gotten over the toxic lessons he instilled her? Remember how she tried to do everything for Yang in 'Argus Limited

What I'm saying is that Blake should probably learn that being a team-player means more than sycophancy. That it's okay to realize that The Leader has made a bad call. Just as Ruby must learn that she doesn't need to perfect all the time...

[kitkatopinions]

Does Whitley have potential or is he an extra Schnee?

I think Whitley had and has a lot of potential, actually!

One of the most interesting things about Weiss is her connection to her family, which I think deserves more focus and exploring, and Whitley is obviously a big part of that. I find it fascinating how the environment Weiss and Whitley were raised in made them react in completely different ways - Whitley with putting up a mask of casual indifference (airing on cheeriness) and leaning into what was expected of him while clearly showing in volume eight that it isn't just how he naturally is, and Weiss with anger and mimicking Winter and desperately trying to get away from it. I think exploring both Weiss and Whitley as abuse victims would really speak to the fact that reactions to abuse takes all sorts of forms and are no less sympathetic.

Exploring Weiss's dynamic with Winter and Whitley more, I think, would help to expand on Weiss's character and give her a stronger arc (since she hasn't seemed to have a personal arc in volumes and even in V7 seemed to not get the attention she deserved.) Going into V10 (if we get a V10) the Schnees are going to be all of a sudden pretty much penniless, with no home, in a kingdom that should by all rights be very hesitant to accept them. If Weiss isn't concerned with helping specifically Whitley (not because he's more important to Weiss or to the narrative than Winter but because he's an auraless untrained teenage civilian) than it'd seem like a bit of a blow against her character tbh. And it could lead to some great conflicts not only surrounding Weiss and Whitley making an effort to understand each other better and get to know each other more after years of icing each other out, but might also create conflicts with the rest of Weiss's team who might perceive Weiss focusing more on her family than on important issues.

On top of that, Whitley could serve very effectively as a demonstration that not everyone needs to be a Hunter or fighter or have a semblance in order to be helpful and good. In V8, Whitley proofed to be smart, kind, and brave. He could be the sort of person to be doing things on computers while talking to Team RWBY and co over comms in their ears. Whitley could be incredibly useful in that way, and it would be so much fun to see the team acclimatizing to a new person more or less being brought in, into a new role they're not used to having around. It'd be a nice change, also something that RWBY could use.

And on top of on top of that is the fact that Oscar and Ruby both having this new friend that's more their age and is super different from both of them but could get along with both of them (and could be shipped with either of them) is a good thing too that could be good and worth exploring. And also on top of both of those things, the classic 'villains use a loved one to threaten their enemies' thing can't be easily done in this show where everybody is basically a superhero, but auraless teenage civilian Whitley provides an excellent opportunity for that.

Basically, Whitley has tons of potential as a character going forward from here, and I do hope that he stays involved and even gets more involved (so long as there's also plenty of proper focus given to the mains obviously.) Do I think that any of this potential will actually be realized? No. I think Whitley will pretty much just be treated like an extra Schnee, and the most we'll see of him if we ever get more RWBY is like two very bit parts of scenes where Willow has like a hand on his shoulder or something and that's it. The show can't have make the mains reach a quarter of their full potential, so there's very little hope for my baby boy Whitley. But I think he could be a great, amazing, involved character.

[razorblade180]

Is there anything you wish the writers would've done different in RWBY

There’s plenty of things I think could’ve been presented better like Yang finally getting the answers from her mother that she apparently so desperately wanted inside, but if I’m going to pick something that would’ve done the community some good, it’s more clear nuance with the Ace Ops and the confrontation as a whole.

It genuinely isn’t hard to have add little things throughout the volume like some of them actually being born in Mantel or having family in both cities. That way the choices they made isn’t so blatantly discarded as “Oh you don’t think for yourself and simply follow orders” and instead sheds light on the perspective that team RWBY is very much asking them to risk loved ones that they managed to save and acknowledge they made a decision that meant not seeing friends and family again because they resolved themselves to put the world’s safety first over their own personal emotions.

It’s pretty easy to make their choices look like it wasn’t an easy choice at all, but the one they believed in. Then when Yang brazenly tries to make it look like it was easy, that’s when you show them pissed off as they’re fighting and they start acting yelling back because nothing about what they did was easy. Then they double down a bit against RWBY after learning Clover’s dead.

Now emotional and professional matters are truly mixed in and the only person on the opposing side who can truly empathize is Weiss; in Vol 8 she’s about wanting to help Mantel but also has a scene where she can’t believe Marigold would leave Atlas during an attack to help somewhere else because she doesn’t care for the place and hates her family. Weiss understands wanting to help people in general while also having the desire to protect your nation despite the bad memories because it’s still very much a piece of your heart; she wasn’t even going to let her dad die in a cell if she could help it. The show doesn’t do anything with that unique perspective and it’s unfortunate since she’s the only one on the main cast’s side who has more than a moral reason to want to be everywhere trying to help/reason with both sides. I think the volume would’ve been better for it instead of trying to make the sides so good vs bad when the main antagonist is 5 miles off the boarder.

[armed-and-rwby]

So, and I know this is kind of bad timing in June, but I can't deny any longer than Yang's character was seriously compromised after V5

This isn't really a scripted thing and I've not written analysis in a while, so forgive the loose formatting here, just something I needed to get out.

I think the overall issues can apply to more of the MCs than Yang, which I'll bring up later, but RWBY has an unfortunate tendency of resolving character arcs without much overlap with the plot, and Yang definitely gets it worse than most (and she's my favourite).

Back in V5, Yang was exploding with directions for her character and I think the writers worked hard to touch on all of them, from her recovery, to her growing mistrust of authority, to her issues with her mom, to her reconnecting with her team (and of course the deeper angst with Blake in that), but resolution for all of these largely fell short IMO. The last time she's even talked about the scheming of Oz was in V6 when she called him a bastard, Raven has never been mentioned or some up since V5, and I don't think she's even spoken to Weiss since their heart to heart in V5 outside of plot functional dialogue. The same can be said on her relationship with her sister, which, beyond her sacrifice in V8 and an unresolved conversation earlier in the volume about Salem and their mom, also haven't actually interacted with each other. The only thing really addressed was her lost arm, which was an extension of Bumblebey and closed off when they killed Adam in V6, a great fight with very little to do with the actual plot.

In V7 and 8, she's a complete third wheel, she talks with Robyn and fights the Ops in 7, and doesn't even get a fight in V8. Weiss certainly got it almost as bad, she was a bit more involved, but still not much given how this is her kingdom and her family that was so central to the plot. It's a condition of a bloated cast, which they've addressed a couple times, such as the start of V6 and all of V9 (though with their various guides, the girls don't make a lot of relevant decisions on the flow of that story either). It really did suck that we got to see Ruby's suicide through Yang's eyes, only for us to not see any of their reactions, and even when they see her it's all pretty surface level stuff (Yang even just repeats what Weiss tells her about Ruby).

My favourite scene in the whole show was her confronting her mom, I thought that was such a perfect direction for her character, tying together both her conviction to her family with her backstory of her mom to drive her arc forward in some unique ways, only to be sidelined in following chapters as her ship left port. And while this post isn't here to bash Bumblebey, I guess there's a bit of a warning that, since that was almost all of her drama and driving force for the last 4 volumes, with it canonized, I worry she'll only drift further away from the plot and her own unique character moments.

Wish I had some gifs or something to break up these paragraphs, but I'm just kind of vomiting out all these nagging issues that've been building up these last few years. Really does hurt to love a character like that and not see them utilized in the show

[invested-in-your-future]

You mentioned not liking the idea of Blake having parents in general, I would love to hear your thoughts on how Blake’s family should have been handled! And the rest of team RWBY too if you have any more ideas for them! Personally I think Jacque should’ve had a noticeably different color pallet than the “Schnee” colors.

For me, personally, the way Blake is written just does not mesh with her family or her backstory that MilesWBY adds to it.

It either reflects really badly on Blake or on her parents OR both. And to such a degree that I don't think you can really fix.

All the times Blake actually managed to chastise Weiss? It's suddenly reframed as hypocrisy. All her talk about focus on survival? Pointless because she grew up in an equivalent of tropical island castle. Blake suddenly becomes "some dumb teenager who threw a fit at her parents and ran away to join a terrorist cell a continent away". Why does that happen and why are her parents like "oh geee well, what can you do maybe after few years she will come back randomly due to tragedy and we can just act like nothing"?

Intentionally or not, Blake becomes just like the right wing strawman about how "all the people who campaign for equality and justice actually just have been living life of privilege and thus shouldn't".

Everything in terms of how Ghira is written though? Boondocks epitomizes well on how I feel about it:

So yeah... I'd just throw entirety of Menagerie portrayal away because yeaaaah...the show does enough weird decisions in regards to faunus portrayal in it's first three volumes already.

Menagerie is getting completely redone. Most of faunus population just have conflicting hearsay about what the place is actually like (since there's no communication tower of its own, Menagerie solely relies on Mistral relays) and Blake never actually really even had a chance to go to Menagerie ever. In my draft, Menagerie is many things - a propaganda topic, a historical event, a reminder of hardship, but its not an "escape" and its not a tropical resort. A lot of Faunus have NEVER been there and at the same time officials in Mistral government REALLY want to ship everyone off to there.

In my outline right now, Blake was born in Mistral. Due to specific circumstances and experiences, she ended up joining the White Fang and then slowly over time grew disillusioned. Her views on Vale overall are influenced by her experiences growing up. Blake did not have the easiest childhood - life wasn't exactly fair and in part her love of books comes from an aspect of escapism that books can deliver. She is someone who formed her ideals her head in a book, but facing the cruel and dangerous reality around her makes her feel like merely "wanting to do good" means absolutely nothing without a more practical "how". However, she doesn't like any of the "hows" presented by people around her because it makes her feel like she can't ever live up to her own expectations she set for herself. And thus she runs. Again and again. And while enrolling at Beacon worked as a wish-fulfillment/escapism of sorts too (she gets to be a Huntress and help people!), her experiences here still gnaw at her conviction and ideals. In my set-up of Remnant, Vale is considered to be "less" dangerous for Faunus, but even here she can't really escape sights of inequality and discrimination, as well as reminders that she has absolutely no idea how to make her dream come true and if it's even possible. What does Fall of Beacon and her experiences there mean for her? She left everything and tried to live an entire new life for herself and it only made her go back to the start all over again. What does that feeling like she is stuck in a cyclical routine that always ends without her taking a single step forward mean for her?

As for Weiss, honestly I think it's fine to use Blue as Jacques color. Given, I also don't think its that fair to separate the Schnees and Jacques as much - he is a parasite but does he really not represent SDC? Weiss might have her own thoughts on what SDC "was/could be" and her own idealized vision on what came before her father married into the family, but there's no such thing as "benevolent/good corporation". Corporations are always profit driven and I don't think its fair to write off everything bad as "Jacques was that one bad apple". In reality though - Jacques is the worst because he really does epitomize everything wrong and bad about SDC and corporations and rich people overall. He is a very "efficient" at being a "rich person". Jacques is everything like that taken to the ultimate extreme end. How many years has he run SDC now? SDC is what SDC is and it makes sense that Schnee name is associated with his actions now and thus his color. Also I don't quite think blue was ever truly SDC color before. He introduced that element of aesthetic. Before that Schnee name was associated with white like snow, but now Schnees are blue like ice. Different levels of coldness and different implications and metaphors.

Even if one were to carry over the idea of Weiss looking up to her grandfather as a hero, I don't think its fair to completely whitewash her grandpa either - he merely was "better than Jacques", but Schnees are still Old Money rich family with a legacy and history and whatever her grandfather's views were, he was still basically a nobility at the head of a well-oiled machine that has extreme influence over Atlas (and before that Mantle).

I think its pretty important that Weiss SHOULD re-evaluate her overall views and which parts of her worldview are merely based on wishful thinking or ignorance. What should "being a Schnee" mean for her? Should she define herself by her family history(good or bad) or should she rebuild herself from scratch? She spent quite some time away from Atlas and those experiences in Vale, meeting Ruby, Blake, etc, her viewpoints and thinking being challenged by others, should absolutely make an impact on how she sees Atlas. The way I see it, her return to Atlas at the end of V3, SHOULD make her see everything in a new light. Not just as an abuse victim, but also as someone who is forced to take a look inside and re-evaluate her experiences and memories. It's not JUST about Jacques, its about getting to re-experience her "routine of usual" but with new experiences making her view things differently.

So yeah overall Blake and Weiss both would have to have very different journeys from the ones MilesWBY present. In a way its pretty interesting parallel, because its the case of two characters from very different backgrounds and with very different experiences (beyond both having suffered abuse) having to essentially reinvent themselves (and to find themselves again) after a tragedy.

[howlingday]

Question: What 3 things do you really want changed from each volume

And what 3 things do you want to see in volume 10

And please share it with everyone you know have entertaining answers.

Ooh, that's a good set of questions. But three per volume seems a bit much for me, so I'll just do my big three for all volumes.

Starting off, and people are gonna get mad at me for saying this, but give us more Bee action from Volume 7. Specifically, during the election night. Seriously, you could have SHOWN us instead of telling us they're going out. Give us some episodes of Blake and Yang out at the club AND Jaune, Weiss, and Oscar going to the movies. Give us the shenanigans, the hijinks, ALL OF IT! If you really cared about this ship as much as you say you do, CRWBY, you need to prove it with more than just hand holdings and forehead touches. Give us CHEMISTRY! Not Yang throwing a fucking tantrum on Blake's behalf.

Khm... Sorry. BMBLB keeps getting me riled up with how bad it was.

Okay, next on the list, let's get some more JNR coping. Get them talking. Actually, let's get everyone interacting more. Pyrrha's death was felt by everyone, and it wasn't just her, but RWBY was cut down to just one person. Have them all talk to each other. Don't summarize it to just one post dinner conversation in Volume 6. I understand the plot is important, but let's actually take a breather. And swinging back around to BMBLB, let's have them talk about the fact they murdered the guy. Like, they looked him in the eyes as he died and we're supposed to expect they feel nothing from it? What the hell is that?!

Okay, one more and I can stop getting mad over things that already happened. How about we get an actual episode of Oscar, and not just him getting beaten up and tortured and forced along the way. It seems like he's just... there... not doing anything unless the plot calls for it. Have him make a joke about wanting to be a farmer, or something. Since Volume 5, it's just... He's basically that one girl from that David Cage game. The one about her having a ghost living inside of her? He exists for no other purpose than misery and to give Ruby someone to make out with by the end of the series.

Okay, Rosegarden is getting me riled up this time, but whatever.

Overall, though, despite my many gripes, I can take the series as it is. Could it have been better? Yes, it could, but there's no such thing as a perfect series. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender has some spots in it, but everyone agrees that it's the best show that was ever made.

Okay. Now for something better. What do I expect from Volume 10? Well, first and foremost, THAT IT'S NOT THE LAST VOLUME! Don't try to rush this out and Game of Thrones us, CRWBY! Give us an actually decent series finale WHEN IT'S READY! Just have Volume 10 be its own thing and then work on the finale later.

Second, let's get some shots of the family at home. Taiyang, Willow, the Belladonnas, the Arcs, all of them. I want to see some actual family moments and not just Yang giving Ruby a hug. Show us Nora and Ren and Oscar being bros with Jaune again, or at all. MAKE ME BELIEVE THEY'RE ALL HAPPY.

And last, and this is a big one, make sure Teams SSSSN and CFVY aren't a bunch of assholes. It's simple. It's efficient. It's bare. Fucking. MINIMUM. The novels left a bad taste in my mouth because the only decent person in them were Velvet and Yatsuhashi.

And yeah. That's what I've got. Until then, here's hoping both CRWBY and you all KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[lonesilverw0lf]

Team BLGA

Quick disclaimer, this is so late because Tumblr wouldn’t let me reblog this post! I had it all written down and hit reblog, it showed that it took, but it somehow didn’t. It took me way to long to figure that out. And then when I tried again, this time from my own reblog, it wouldn’t take. Neither @dragonotaku-justineverything or @madmanwonder posts worked. No matter what I’ve tried, I can’t add to the post. So I’ll add on anyway. Rant over. Now just pretend that this is underneath the afore-linked post.

 Haha, this is great! We’ve seen how they dynamics can get with just Bleiss, now all of BLGA? I feel bad for Glynda. Aspirin can only go so far with headaches. Ask me how I know. Bleiss hates Weiss already so all the rest of the swaps would only amplify that. And it would totally be an Ozpin move to have RWBY and BLGA next door neighbors while JNPR is still across the hall. What do we want? Conflict! Where do we want it? EVERYWHERE! I can see some others asking Jaune how he deals with practically living with all these girls and he’s all, “well, it’s not too different from home. Living with seven sisters gives you plenty of practice. And don’t get me started on my cousins.” Perhaps that’s why he’s so dense with their affections; he’s in “survive family chaos” mode so he’s ignoring it. The things you don’t realize as you’re growing up. That and his lack of self-esteem would make him mistranslate their advances as we’ve seen with Pyr.

These are just a few side things I had for them.

Bluby

Now I know that if Bluby and Yue exist then Ruby and Yang wouldn’t and vice versa, but for this I’m just going to ignore that fact for the time being. Bluby being reserved and not speaking unless spoken to outside of her few friends and family is great. Her confidence in front of others can be a front, a shield she developed to hide her insecurities. Part of her arc is learning to trust others and letting yourself be vulnerable. She learned how to be sneaky with how Yue is. She’s elected as leader to force her to make decisions for the benefit of others? Not sure what her Semblance would be. Being reserved and growing up fast could lend itself to a similar speed type, or a partial invisibility. Maybe a misdirection type since Jack Sparrow is so good at that. Shinji Hirako from Bleach had a nice ‘Inverted Sight’ Shikai. She can make friends with Jaune at first because she marks him as easy to use for her own benefit, like Jack does with Will, until she learns to be an actual friend.

Bleiss

With how much stuff there is of Bleiss, I don’t have much to add here but did have a thought while thinking of the others’ Semblances: Glyphs are a rare genealogy Semblance and if she’s Jaques’ bastard, should she not have Glyphs since he’s not a Schnee? If she’s Weiss abandoned twin then sure, but it was a thought. I can totally see Jaques abandoning her as soon as she’s born showing his dark hair, an Oedipus situation where the father demands the newborn be killed but is abandoned instead. While it wouldn’t change much in her personality or lifestyle if she was a bastard vs abandoned, unless there was some weird twist of fate where she does gain Glyphs it would change her fighting style. And her team, I’ve always seen her leading the Malachites, Neo, and Neon. Putting her on BLGA would make an issue there, but putting Neon or Neo in charge could balance that out. Neon can still be old friends with Bleiss to keep that connection with the teams. NNMM, Nutmeg? Names are not my strong suit.

Yue

Yang is a boxer and a brawler with a temper out for a good fight, but Yue is more calculated and in control. Kickboxing is already covered by Mercury who is just as calculating and cool but doesn’t fight for anyone really, but what about Muy Thai? Strike a nice balance between the two. For her, I’d give a Semblance that’s centered more on reflecting or redirecting damage than absorbing it. I doubt that Yue would want a motorcycle because they are more dangerous than cars. Having a bit of a control freak personality and learning to tone it down is a start for her arc. Perhaps she’s a little overprotective as well, bit of a helicopter parent without realizing how damaging it could be? Keeping a strong front that needs no help even when she really does is great. She could also put a lot of stock in strength like Raven, because to her if you’re not strong you can’t protect those you love. Which leads to Yue, like Raven who she despises, to overlook some of the other kinds of strength to add more internal conflict. Ignoring your feelings isn’t healthy Yue. I can see it being a game to Yang among others to see how to get Yue to laugh. No Yang, just because you love puns so much doesn’t mean that it’s the height of comedy. All pranks do is annoy her if done to others and piss her off if done to her or her friends. Perhaps something simple gets her like, “What does the cabbage man use to repair his cabbage wagon? A cabbage patch!” I’ve used that joke in real life and it never fails to get most people rolling. She is very weak to cute critters.

Aiko

Maybe have their mothers being twins, making them cousins who could pass as sisters. Heck to add more to it, how about their dads are brothers from another family. She could be the one to out Blake as a Faunus for more conflict. She gives Aunty Kali updates and tries to get Blake to call herself. Despite her more carefree personality and daydreaming habit, she’s easily one of the smartest students. Much to the surprise of everyone. A bit naïve, not stupid. I love the idea that she reads comics to Blake’s books, but what if she leans more towards shojo manga. She can be still cool with normal comics, but most comics I see are geared towards guys and manga can easily fill her romantic fantasies. She and Jaune could have dance offs after she learns he can dance. Since she’s more extroverted and confident than Blake, a ninja theme just doesn’t fit with her unless we’re talking Naruto or something. How didn’t he die being a walking traffic cone? Yeah, yeah, plot armor, I get it. My first thought is make her a Samurai, but we have Adam for that. Unless we make Aiko a foil to Adam as well, with his code centered around rage and bloodlust while hers is love and protecting. “Hate only begets more hate. To stop the cycle of violence we must embrace love!” “…You stole that from Naruto.” “But it’s not wrong!” If not a samurai, then how about akin to a Sohei or Ikko-Ikki? They’re a monk type, and Sohei use a naginata to differentiate her enough. I know there’s fighting styles that blend with dancing but I’m trying to keep to the Japanese theme with her. Then again she’s got that Middle Eastern Belly dancer thing and I could be way off base here. She could mix and match a few things. I’m coming up blank for her Semblance. Part of me wants to give her sakura petals but Ruby already has the petals motif. Unless that’s her perfume or a design pattern on some of her clothes. Best guess at current is that she hasn’t discovered it yet. She’s a lover not a fighter, so it’d make sense she spends less time on introspection and aura training. I don’t think Roman had his and he was fighting all the time. “But what is she doing in a school to kill Grimm?” Killing Grimm is just pest control to her. Great spot for her to go all out. And since she doesn’t have lone protagonist syndrome, she can remind Blake of some things that Blake tries to ignore or gloss over. For example fighting for Faunus Rights is good, but remember Blake that there have been many times throughout history where Faunus were Faunus’ biggest enemy. Like have a time where there was serious predator/prey discrimination or even subspecies discrimination within their own kind, a good part of certain slavery rings were supplied by Faunus warlords, what some of those same Faunus did to their own human and Faunus slaves, some of the barbaric traditions they used to have, and other things. I can see the White Fang, or certain parts, ignoring those uncomfortable facts to better push their agenda.

Ying

Depending on if, a big if, Ying is added and how Bleiss is teamed up, Team BBNT would also be in a bit of a spot. Unless madmanwonder has a replacement for Bleiss? The other two are fun. It’s easy to cut her out to reduce the chaos and even some things out, but had some thoughts so I might as well put them out there. Jaune is the only one Ying trusts with her hair. Where Yang has a fiery aesthetic to her Semblance, what if Ying has a lightning one? Just to show how much more dangerous and volatile it is. She can be lowkey jealous of Yang/Yue because they were the one who got to live with a unconditionally loving and supportive parental figure, roof over her head, three square meals a day, easy access to clean and hot water, not on the run from authorities for a life she didn’t chose, proper education, had professional doctors, could make friends who wouldn’t literally stab you in the back over a slice of bread, and what not. Sure Ying might be a better fighter but she’s really lacking in civil life where fists don’t work. B(B?)NT and NNMM as JNPR neighbors while RWBY and BLGA are across the hall? Poor hallway.

[unofficialadamtaurus]

What’re your full thoughts on season 9? I wasn’t going to watch it—especially after following along with you and other rwde blogs’ feelings on the content as the it aired—but I keep hearing this is the best written rwby season despite that. It’s a mixed bag right now, even within the more critical side of the fandom, and you always have nuanced takes, so, I figured I should ask you 🙂

You don't ask the easy questions, huh. (And I don’t reply to them in a timely manner, huh.)

I think "best written" is accurate from a certain point of view and when you keep in mind that it's being compared to other volumes of the same show. There’s a new framing device with the story, a twist villain that holds together on a second viewing, and emotional beats we’ve wanted to see hit for years. The animation itself is also good. Things are smooth and there’s even attempts at actual fight choreography. Even the voice acting is fairly consistently good.

If you can't tell already, I've said all of that with a massive disclaimer, and that disclaimer is that this volume falls apart when you look at it more closely. To me, this volume is, and I cannot emphasize this enough, frustrating. It's frustrating in a similar way to V8: you can kind of see what the writers are trying to do, but it's all executed in a way that makes you wonder what was going on in the writers' room. The plot beats, messages, and themes are not communicated well, are contradictory, or are otherwise damaging.

Heavy spoilers beyond this point if you managed to not watch it between sending this ask and me responding.

Atlas has fallen. Our heroes failed. This is the belly of the beast moment, the find-your-motivation moment, the break-the-geode-to-see-the-beauty-within moment.

And it falls so, so flat.

Penny’s death, this big moment from the previous volume, comes up a couple times but is never resolved. Jaune never states that he killed her. No one asks. Ruby is sad over her sword a couple times and that’s it.

Jaune is an old man! He’s a little bit out of his mind! Only no, he’s fine, here’s a magic knife that makes him young again.

There’s an interesting framing device! Only no, we’ll stop trying to follow it halfway through, and because the audience never knows how the story goes until the characters experience it or talk about it, there’s no interesting use of the framing device. It’s just there.

The Gods’ origin story! Only…why? Who was asking for this? Why did we need an origin myth for an origin myth? And why did it have to take up so much real estate in the final episode to boot?

To get to the main team:

Weiss’s kingdom, her home, was destroyed. She doesn’t even know the fate of her family beyond the portals. I would expect her to be the most affected by the events of the previous volume: quiet, grieving, grasping for a next step to avoid thinking about it. But no—she’s the comic relief for this volume. In addition to a mouse I personally found annoying most of the time who is also comic relief. Weiss’s trauma is almost entirely ignored except for when she talks about Penny’s death, her comment at the burning market, and one sad face in the Punderstorm. Every scene with her falling down or getting hit by a rock or cheerleading grated on me. It felt so divorced from what she should be feeling that it broke my immersion and was a significant source of frustration.

Blake is an empty character. Her whole role in this volume is two things: person who read fairy tales (that everyone else also read), and person who loves Yang. Her big hero moment is talking about a struggle to bridge humanity and Faunus that we have never seen on screen. If you’ve been bothered by Blake’s lack of agency and character in previous volumes, the former may get marginally better here at the start, but by the end they’ll both be worse than they ever were, and both a significant source of frustration.

Yang is a mess. She starts strong with the “You shouldn’t be here,” but by the end of the volume she’s turning on her sister, blaming her for her distress, and doing nothing while her sister kills herself. She puts Blake over Ruby, hell, she puts Jaune over Ruby. I couldn’t believe what she was doing, and the bees confession scene was cringe-inducing with how it made her love focus on incredibly broad or superficial things about Blake. No mention of shared trauma, or past hurt. Frustrating.

And Ruby. Poor Ruby. This was touted as Ruby's volume. She's going to be the focus, she's going to struggle. The OP hammers this point home with unsubtle imagery of Ruby crying and falling behind while her teammates carry on unbothered. That had me intrigued, because Ruby has been more or less a static character since the end of Volume 3. Her struggles have been momentary, situational, and without lasting impact, so I wanted to see her have that belly of the beast moment in her hero's journey and come out different and stronger for it.

Problems are, they went about her spiral in the most ham-fisted way possible. Ruby is obviously depressed because they have to let the audience know, but it’s to the point that I can’t believe her teammates just let things lie. As a result, her team come off as jerks. Where are the friends from the Beacon days, the ones whose reuniting was a huge moment in V5? Certainly not here, watching adult man Jaune yell at Ruby for a plan he helped create and enact. Certainly not there, slowly walking after a crying and upset Ruby who flew off in a direction Jaune should know is dangerous shortly after Neo attacked, while blaming Ruby for not talking to them when the time Ruby did, Yang brushed her off and compared her to Ironwood.

Her team dismisses her, Neo beats her to a pulp, and she commits suicide. She goes to a tree that’s been established to wipe memories and recreate people.

Is her team upset? No. Worried? No, at least until Yang sees Ruby encased in wood. But it’s all fine, because Ruby sees that her mom wasn’t perfect and that her mom thought she was perfect just the way she was as a child, and that fixes all the the trauma the entire volume hammered into your ears and eyeballs in the span of maybe two minutes.

I will pause briefly to say that Ruby’s brief fight scene is good. Genuine highlight there.

But the main villain who tortured Ruby then gets off without any resentment or frustration from the heroes. And the twist villain, whose motives are far more sympathetic to me than the main villains’, is brutally torn apart.

The dissonance between what the show seems to want its morals to be and what they actually are is staggering.

To sum up:

The status quo for the characters did not change. The status quo for the setting did not change. The status quo for the writing did not change.

If you like the show as it is, if you take it at face value, you’ll be fine, as you’ve been fine for the last several volumes. But if you try to sink your teeth in, you’ll be getting a mouthful of dust—and not even the magical kind. There is little past that other than more frustration.

[wintereign]

some random list of things that Jacques had Weiss learn during her childhood, it is a small list though, but I figured it's fine. Also, since we don't actually know when her rebellious nature came into play? I'm headcanoning it that it happens after her father reveals the reason why he married into the family on her tenth birthday.

This list will be under the cut because I went a little overboard. and feel free to read at your leisure!

Dance - & recitals, as we know, where a large part of her child hood, something every family member attended until her tenth birthday. Though, the only people who still went to them were Winter (when she was able to get time off) or Klein. She's done several dance classes, competition's and learned different styles (usually falling under the contemporary styles, her father never allowed her to do hip hop or other forms of dancing), but ballet was the one that stuck with her. So much so that she incorporates it into her fighting style.

Languages - Jacques never bothered learning the languages of the world, originally having hired a translator to help communicate during meetings and broadcasts, being too elitist to learn. However, when he realizes that Weiss has a knack for languages? (Latin for an forgotten language of Mantle, something discussed with @rosavulpes & also German for Atlas) Japanese for Anama/Mistral, Arabic for Vacuo & English for Vale. Jacques ditches the translator & uses his daughter to show her off as valuable resource to the company & bestows the responsibility onto her. Sometimes, she's fine with it but it puts a burden on her but she knows it's what's best for the company & when she takes over? She knows it'll be a handy skill to have.

Instruments - She's learned many different classical instruments: the piano, violin, clarinet, flute & the guitar. However, the one she still keeps up with is the piano (& occasionally her acoustic guitar). This is only because her father spent a bunch of lien on & doesn't want to waste a bunch of money on an item she's not going to use.

Singing - Winter would sing to her as a baby, though Winter never held the talent for singing, she does sing but not to the extent that Weiss does. & because of this, Weiss began singing at a young age, taking lessons to improve and developing a wonderful voice, one that Jacques exploits regularly for charities & other events/publicity stunts, anything really, to promote the SDC. Singing is still something that Weiss loves to this day but she doesn't do it as often as she used to, having been forced to sing for something she didn't care for had taken a toll on her. (Though, when she was at Beacon, she would often sing in the shower, when she thought no one could hear her, even though they could)

Because of the strenuous work ethics her father had her doing from a young age (the tutors who helped with her schooling, being a translator for the SDC, the extra curricular activities that were more like a job than a hobby, the studying, keeping her grades up and maintaining perfection, anything lower than an A was not of satisfactory in the eyes of her father), she never knew what having fun or being a kid was about. Her childhood was ripped out from underneath her because of all the responsibilities her father placed on her, the expectations she was forced to uphold. Anything less than perfect was not acceptable.

This is why when she meets team RWBY, she doesn't know what fun is. She tries to participate in her teams activities but she doesn't understand why. Video games, goofing off with your sibling, doing things for yourself, all of this is entirely new to Weiss.

[femslashfictournament]

Femslash fic tournament: Round 1

Touch me and gimme that rush Ship: Tori Vega/Jade West Media: Victorious Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1717927 Summary: When Jade allows Tori to kiss her, you know, as a favor, things become a little bit complicated. Especially when they have to play husband and wife on stage. Or when Tori needs a ride to school because she can’t stand forty minutes in the car with Trina. And that time Tori’s chosen to perform in the Platinum Music Awards and turns into a total grunch (that’s Jade’s opinion, anyway).

I submitted this to the other general fic tournament and it didn’t get in, but so help me god I will keep sumbitting this to fic tournaments. This is my favorite fic ever written. Like it’s so well written. I went on a nostalgia trip for Victorious in like 2020 and then looked up fanfic for Tori/Jade, as you do, and holy shit I was not expecting this gem. This is my Bible. This is also longer than the entire Bible btw. This is what the Victorious canon is to me now. Also as weird as this is to say it has like?? Sex education??? Like I have never come away from a fanfic being like “wow I learned something” before. This also happens in the third part because Tori becomes a sex ed professor more or less, which sounds weird out of context but I promise it feels super natural to how her character is written. The writers build on canon as well as make up their own plot lines that feel like they would naturally fit into canon. Also I cried during the third installment. It’s a really good fic I would recommend it to literally anyone who is invested in a good f/f ship, tho it would make a tad more sense if you have watched Victorious, I don’t think it’s necessary since the writing is just so good. There’s also 2 more chapters left to come! I am patiently waiting the Jori wedding… even tho it has been over a year since the last update… I have faith we will get it one day… please…

Linked in Life and Love Ship: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee/Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long Media: RWBY Link: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee/Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long Summary: A single intimate night together... and it lead to so much more. Follow as Team RWBY dive into a relationship none of them could have imagined, trying to make sense of their new situation, as well as deal with the reactions of the people around them. All the while facing White Fang drama, family secrets, and most devastating of all: homework. Pollination, with no Enabler.

Or:

There were so many Pollination stories that were nothing but smut that I wanted to try and make one that was an actual, full length story... and I somehow obliterated the RWBY canon in the process. Whoops.

No propaganda submitted

[littlemisssquiggles]

I don’t like bumblebee but to see Yang choosing Blake over Ruby AGAIN made me hate it even more. Why does Blake keeping coming before Ruby? It’s like Yang doesn’t even care about her anymore

Hello anon-chan. Whelp, congrats. You basically just highlighted one of my biggest peeves with the Bumblebee ship and why the pair doesn’t work for yours truly. Speaking for myself, I don’t dislike Bumblebee. I know it may seem like I do given my reaction to their big confession/kiss moment from last week, but on the contrary, I bare no hatred towards the Bees.

While I’ve always preferred BlackSun, once upon a time, I supported the prospect of the Bee ship because at the time (which was around V5) I felt the showrunners would’ve done a good job of developing this ship a lot better which they ultimately failed to do.

I never minded the Bees as a concept. I just strongly despise the direction the showrunners chose in the overall execustion of this pairing from friends to lovers and the manner in which the show portrays (and continues to portray) this pair. I don’t like how the show often portrays the Bees as being rather selfish pair ---in the sense that when it comes to two of them, they only seem to care about each other---most of the time doing stuff on their own that seems to contradict the team while leaving the rest of them out of it.

At least with Renora---the OG team couple before the showrunners decided to ruin them too--- we got to see moments of Ren and Nora as a couple actually supporting their friends as we saw them do with Jaune and Ruby between V4 to V7.

This is why I absolutely hated how the showrunners did them so dirty by introducing tension into their relationship and showed them bickering/starting fights with one another despite the clear discomfort of their comrades. And what made it worse is that in spite of Renora always having their back despite being a couple, the others never showed one lick of care or concern for them whatsoever despite being their so-called teammates and “friends”.

My point is every time the Bees are on screen, the show has a weird way of always having these two come off as only caring about each other.

 It shows whenever they have moments in which we see scenes of them running off together while leaving their teammates behind, only looking out for one another’s well-being. And it’s especially apparent in today’s episode where Ruby is having her meltdown and rather than help her sister, Yang is quick to only protect blame. Not a crumb of concern for her actual family. Just the cat girl she recently decided to make her girlfriend after so long.

I get it. Blake is special to Yang hence why they’re a couple now.

But jeeze louis on cheese, now is not the time to pick yuh girl over yuh family, Yang!

Where was that type of concern and comfort for Ruby, huh? Not just for this particular moment but all of RWBY’s adventures through the Ever After.

The fact that in that moment, Yang chose her newfound girlfriend over her own sister cemented why Bumblebee does not work for me. It bothers me so much, that as a sister, Yang didn’t even once try to help Ruby in the moment. She didn’t even look out for Ruby on the battlefield. She was two busy off doing her whole song and tango with Blake while her sister was overpowered by a Jabberwalker leading to Weiss to be the one to save Ruby.

Whether you like the Bees or not, you have to at least admit this moment makes looks the pair look bad. While I understand that it wasn’t fair for Ruby to shit on Yang finding happiness with Blake as a lover, on the other hand, I get Ruby’s frustration towards her sister because while Yang has been off catching feels and playing honeymoon with Blake, Ruby hasn’t been doing so great and it looks really, really BAD that her own big sister doesn’t take notice of this at all.

It looks bad that Yang only seems to have her attention set on Blake.

And now that I’m thinking about it, how did we even get here? We started off this season with Yang falling into the Ever After as a result of her daring to protect Ruby from Neo and ended with Yang focusing her attention so much on Blake and Blake alone that she doesn’t even take notice of Ruby’s depression even when the signs were there.

Even Little noticed and Little is damn well off in dreamland most of the time.

My point is that it looks bad. I’m not trying to be a drama llama and stir up bacchanal with any particular shipping communities or ruffle anyone’s feathers. I’m just saying---it looks bad so you can blame folks for being a little annoyed because it looks bad and I think it was the showrunners’ intention to make it look as bad as it did to further the tension of the scene.

So on that note, they truly succeeded.

~LMS (2023)

[kitkatopinions]

ALrighty!

Spoilers for RWBY ep.... 8 I think? Below the keep reading as well as criticism:

So I was wrong about the Cat. I wish it had turned out to be a morally dubious good guy, but whatever, guess the writers wanted yet another 'the person guiding you is actually not trustworthy' plot.

Here's what I'm gonna say - Neo got fucking taken over and possessed the moment that she actually started getting a spotlight as a villain? HATE that shit. I want Neo, not just some conglomerate taken over by the cat? And I don't like that she talked at all. It should've just been the cat's voice.

Idk if Little is dead or not, but I really don't care about or like Little, so if they are dead, okay??? Better than having to see them again tbh.

Seeing people 'resurrected' but all wrong was kind of dissatisfying? Torchwick was the only one of them who was actually used well (because rwby is going through plotpoints at the speed of light in fourteen to sixteen minute eps so of course we can't sit with things,) but his voice acting was off and so it messed with the immersion some. I don't blame them for not being able to get an exact copycat and I don't think they tried very hard since they didn't need Roman for long, but still, I wish his voice actor had done better. The animation of him was pretty good though.

Ruby ascended? Fuck that shit! I have hope that we're actually going to get 'Ruby down in the tree realizing what 'ascension' actually is, but first off, I wanted Ruby to have a breakdown and struggle, not to be full on suicidal and decide to basically kill herself. Second of all, if this means 'no more Ruby' I am going to be so pissed off. This is Ruby's show, right? Or it's supposed to be! Even if this means that we don't get much Ruby for the next two episodes, I'm still gonna be mad. The 'development' we've gotten so far is just Ruby being in pain, and then seemingly dying? I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch or whatever, but this could be worst case scenario, people.

The moment where Ruby was getting attacked by everyone who was dead was... Well, first off, it was weird. Because A. Why would Neo bring in Clover, Leo, and Ozpin? Was she just bringing in everyone she thinks that Ruby may have sort of known who died? Second off, why does Neo think Penny cared about Ruby most in the world? When did she have access to that information? How did she know to use Penny that way? Third off, I liked the 'Ruby strikes out at Ozpin, only for Neo to replace him with Oscar' thing in theory but I would be wrong if I didn't point out that once again the only member of Team RWBYJNOR with dark skin gets the most violent things happening, which is a bad pattern. I get that it may be because Oscar is actually more like Ruby's friend than the rest of her team atm (which is sad,) but I just think the writers should be aware that this is a thing they do that they maybe should correct. Maybe they could've had it be Weiss or Yang that Ruby 'accidentally killed' in these visions? Just a thought. Fourth off! I liked how Neo transformed people into Ruby's alive friends and family, judging her for the 'murder.' Fifth off, I just gotta say the combat was not good for me once again. Neo literally has several people there fighting for her, and they all shot like stormtroopers? Ruby's discombobulated and depressed, so her going down without much fight isn't the problem, the problem is that Neo alone by herself should have been able to easily bring her down, let alone with her clones there to help her. Maybe she only knew Roman well enough to really replicate his style, but Neo and Roman? Tag team of the century!

On to... Team WBYJ. I'm not even gonna get into the fact that Blake and Weiss were more sympathetic to Ruby's struggles than Yang was (I am really frustrated with Yang this season,) but they all just stand there and do nothing while Ruby drinks down poison? What the hell? That is not a freaking good look, guys.

Anyway... I don't know how to feel about this episode, but I'm mostly frustrated and disappointed. And on the other hand, I guess we got good pics of Roman and Neo? I'm gonna have to wait to form a concrete opinions on this ep until we can confirm what the frick actually happened next ep, but for now, it's looking like another 3/10. I got some enjoyment, but overall a bad experience once again.