#that’s probably going to be Qrow and Robyn

[averagemrfox]

Need volume 10 so I can get the Blake and Yang vs Tyrian match up of my dreams

You got Yang, whose semblance relies on her taking the hit. Who’s been shown over and over to use her own body as a shield so that her loved ones don’t get hurt. She’s been able to use it as more than a last resort in more recent volumes but it still requires her to store up the energy by taking the hit while her aura is gradually depleted.

Then you’ve got Tyrian, an incredibly good close quarters fighter like Yang but with an acrobatic ability closer to Blake’s and a semblance that cuts straight through people’s auras leaving them completely vulnerable. Burn is completely irrelevant if Tyrian goes for a lethal hit the first opportunity he gets

Blake on the other hand relies on her semblance to avoid taking the hit. She can create space for herself, put herself in a better position, and if she uses dust trap or hurt enemies with it. We’ve seen Blake avoid hits that would’ve killed her multiple times. If he can’t even hit her Tyrian’s semblance doesn’t mean shit

I want to see Blake just lose it again like she did at Neo for a bit after Yang fell but this time she doesn’t have to worry about Cinder. Let Blake be a little ruthless vs a serial killer. As a treat. I want to see this fight as a set up for Blake and Yang to finally talk about Yang’s self sacrificial tendencies.

[rachetmath]

Remnant Sucks

Deidamia(SOD): Speak human. What do you wish to be destroyed?

Juane All the Grimm.

Deidamia(SOD): Huh.

Jaune: Yes. All the Grimm. Wiped. Destroyed. Cleared off the map. Is there a problem?

Deidamia (SOD): No. In fact I am impressed you would choose that and wonder why.

Jaune: Grimm are deadly creatures. They adapt quickly. And they shouldn't be a problem but-

Deidamia (SOD): Humans?

Jaune: Humans. Absolutely. Like we kind of are the problem.

Ruby: Jaune how can -

Jaune: Ruby a woman- a human woman decided to go against Gods. GODS. Just to get one man back. That led to her being immortal. She then persuaded thousands of warriors. Hunters of the past. Our predecessors to fight off said gods again just because she didn't like what they did to her. All that death by one woman!

Ruby: Um.

Jaune: Then when said man came back into her life, and he saw the monster she became she killed him and probably her daughters. And that was the beginning.

Ruby: …

Jaune: But let's be honest with ourselves, The Grimm only strike when they sense negative emotions. Why is that?

Yang: Who cares why? They're just monsters.

Jaune: You mean the same monsters who knows when to avoid conflict. Can gain enough intelligence to almost become sentient. And the more they learn they become effective killers. I don't think ‘monsters’ are enough words to describe them.

Yang: …

Jaune: And we know why. We are just Creation's creations, we know no longer have anything to do with Destruction. Meaning?

Weiss: Meaning the Grimm are only following the purpose they were made for before our predecessors were born.

Jaune: Which is killing whatever Creation makes.

Ren: And I mean we earn it sometimes and I can't blame them for how fragile the world is.

Blake: I mean -

Ren: Blake before Faunuses we already were divided. And not just by race.

Jaune: Even to this day we have issues and we solve it with mostly violence. Basically the Grimm are just trying to prevent the world from ending again. Or because they were here first and we just started taking shit.

Ruby: Okay I see your point. Once we get rid of the Grimm the world will be at peace.

Nora: Naive child.

Deidamia(SOD): Ignorance.

Ruby: What?

Oscar: Ruby you know once the Grimm are gone there might not be any use for hunters.

Ruby: Not true we can still hold the peace.

Jaune: Yeah, too bad semblances can divide us.

Nora: Like Ruby compared to the average humans, we might as well be freaks. And even if we try, not everyone gets a semblance. Hell a majority of people barely have aura.

Ruby: Damn.

Jaune: And to be more honest, we failed to do our jobs. Like Hazel's sister died because of a teacher's negligence. Cinder turned out the way she is because of poor conditions and no one helped her. We saw hunters who not only failed at their jobs but attempted to sleep with either one of you girls even though they were tasked with guarding a train.

Weiss: Okay besides those amateurs-

Jaune: Those were pros.

Weiss: Who we don't know.

Jaune: So who do we know as failures? Okay, Qrow is a failure. Not because of his semblance but his choices. Man is a damn idiot. He allowed a fall maiden to be on the brink of death and got Clover killed. Why do you think Maria is better than him? James halted the world to make a new tower, only to abandon that idea when Salem arrived. I say his plan was good but our priorities weren’t in order. Like Tyrian, Salem’s minion wasn’t important but Robyn's dumbass Hill was. Why? And Lion sold us out to save his own ass. And who chose them? Ozpin! And don't get started on Goodwitch.

Oobleck: Mr. Arc-

Jaune: Shut the hell up Luigi.

Oscar: He’s not wrong.

Jaune: Basically Ruby we might as well retire cause at the rate we’re going we might as well be the next upcoming villains.

Ruby: F*** you.

Jaune: F*** your mom. Who also died for nothing. Like Pyrrha. At least Penny died saving people.

Blake: Come on guys we-

Nora: Blake, Harriet almost killed thousands of people under Jame’s orders. Hell we almost did that ourselves, remember? Argus? Pyrrha’s home town?

Ren: And Atlas we had way more to do with the situation. Considering we were following team RWBY’s lead.

Yang: Now wait a minute Nora and Ren, we did that for good reasons.

Ren: No, we did that because Weiss was too scared to go home by herself. Or because for some reason a woman is more understandable while a man is just a destructive creature.

Jaune: Again even though said woman is the reason the world ended before.

Oscar: Not to mention we have Emerald. Out of everyone we could have chosen, we chose Cinder's bottom bitch. That's how low we went. No offense.

Emerald: Non taken?

Ruby: Okay. Um. Um-

Jaune: Ruby, let's be honest here. The Grimm are minor compared to our species. Like we have so many isms in our vocabulary it might as well be a disease name in itself for how it affects the minds of humanity.

Weiss: But Jaune -

Jaune: Shut up hell up Atlasian I already got deal with you entitled mother fuckers enough. Especially Mantle, the only mother fuckers worth were the Faunus. And I put that on Adam Taurus.

Adam: *in hell* Finally one human gets it.

Weiss: We're not-

Jaune: James. The Ace-op. And Cordovin. Need I say more.

Deidamia(SOD): He's not wrong. You humans might well be your own worst enemies. Like all you are just… … ew.

Jaune: I know right. We might as well take each other out. It's that simple. I'm just delaying the impossible.

Deidamia(SOD): And with that note being said I will grant you your wish Jaune Arc. Also you-

Jaune: Ozpin told me ahead of time. I will take my chances.

Deidamia(SOD): Good. Bout damn time he did something useful. Considering he had options.

Jaune: Don't get me started.

[ruins-of-tragedy]

Volume 8 of RWBY has finished me. Tried to sleep off the emotional fragility, but it still won't budge. The devastation is haunting me, myself and I.

- Space bun girl scrubbing floors. Is this the Cinder backstory? The art here looks freaking incredible!!!

- Regular movements of cleaning turning into Cinder's Grimm hand scratching at a seat... Good GODS. How long was she stuck doing that? Enough to classify as a default, almost soothing maneuver.

- Emerald and Mercury got makeovers too. Good for them!

- Cinder didn't want Emerald's big reunion. Oooof.

- "Without you, I am nothing." Whoa. This Fall lady was either brainwashed well, or something happened. Either way, Salem has one relic. Atlas is surrounded by Grimm. Neopolitan will be working with Cinder and her cause. FUCKITY fucking fuck.

- What's left of Mantle is suffering from the Grimm-pocalypse. Ironwood. Just. Die already.

- You know it's bad when Nora doesn't give crushing hugs.

- I like Joanna. She is tall and looks butch and her hair seems nice.

- People in small places vs big picture. Break-up imminent?

- GODS. Yang being reluctant to follow Ruby's lead must have hurt. Not only her sister but herself too. The fuck. This volume is going to end me.

- Weiss' reaction to Yang's remark is so relatable. Hand over her mouth. Even she didn't expect that.

- Yang vs Ruby. Ren vs Nora. At least they are all still trying towards the same goal. Keeping folks safe.

- The transition from being beside the person leading an idea to supporting their point when they are talking it over... I love it.

- Thank you Jaune and Oscar!!! Both the new factions emerging within the team wants to help. Both are good reasonings to go forward and work towards. Both should be done. No more conflicts within. Pwease.

- RWB with Nora. JR with Oscar and Yang. Holy hell. These are kids. FUCKKKKK. I hope they all make up soon over their differences. All of their hearts are in the right place.

- IRONWOOD. BLAMING EVERYTHING THAT MAY OR MAY NOT FOLLOW ON THESE LITTLE CHILDREN. ON PENNY. YOU INCOMPETENT BULLHEADED FUCK UP. TALK TO SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!!!!

- Is Penny okie?

- Clover is alive! YAYYYYYY!!! ...Wait. He is, right? The way they are talking...

- "No matter the cost." And then shoots an Atlas councillor. Ironwood. You fuckwad.

- Salem be hunting Ozcar. Shite.

- OH MY GODS. The opening has throwbacks to the initial beginnings of RWBY. AGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

- White Rose and Bumbleby weapons are showing up together. I know who my endgames are. 💖

- Will Renora be alright?

- Penny is definitely not okie. Her father is worried too.

- Schnee family in smithereens. Ironwood is alone. Our heroes are fighting alongside one another. I hope everything will be alright in the end.

- Emerald waved. Cinder didn't see it 'cause she has a blind side. Though am pretty sure she won't return the gesture even if she saw it. Neo can't care enough about the lady.

- "Happy? Ever Never After Again." Um. Oh no.

- The hideout our good guys were using. There was a portrait, I think. Who are the people in the painting? Robyn's parents? One of them had an eye-patch.

- Qrow and Robyn and Jacques and Watts. Now neighbours. Huh.

- Yang is on a bike again!!!! All is almost right.

- The Faunus live in the slums. And they are offering up their place to humans who probably secluded them there to begin with. And yet some of these folks have the audacity to act like entitled little kids. YASSSSSSSS!!! You tell them Yang!!!!

- Ren is not okie. I am scared for him. Oscar and Ozpin's talk has me somewhat cautiously optimistic.

- Ruby being there for Penny, and their hugs!!! Have my heart. ✨

- So many people in one place. Can become a hotspot for Grimm attacks. Shite. I hope the conflicts don't get too out of hand in the slums.

- Mutating Grimm has got Oscar. Must be Salem's special pet on a retrieval mission. Is this when Ozpin and his divorced wife begin talking about mankind and simple souls?

- Grimm can speak now. Mother dearest has been teaching them new tricks?

- YASSSSSSSS!!! Robo-girl has a name!!!!! ❤️‍🔥

- Ruby's proud little knowing smirk in the back was so funny. And sweet.

- Blake and Nora's hands on the hips is such a classic fruity pose to me. ✨

- Penny is giving science and semblance lessons. Ruby is being teased. I needed this.

- "Apologies for the delay. Today has been... busy." Yup. Having to hide evidence of murder and coordinating martial law, with a side of complacency for mass genocide, must keep Ironwood's schedule hectic.

- Wait. Watts is going through Penny's plans. Oh no. FUCK.

- Grimm JAWS handmade poster?!?!? 🤌🏻😂👏🏻

- Blake is having a bad day going on rides here. Wonder how she handles amusement parks...

- Weiss has a soft proud smile. Nora is in awe. Penny is ready to propose and squeeing too? Ruby is doing a hero pose. Group travel via rose missile. 🎊

- Pietro is Penny now. Weiss has sisterly insights. Nora doesn't know who she is without Ren. Time to find out, perhaps.

- I really don't like the Ace Ops anymore. How dare you all blame Penny for Winter's condition?!?!?

- Ruby knows where Qrow is now.

- Fucking Harriet. YOU will become a tin can when I am done with you.

- Nora still has electricity marks left over. But holy WoWie. ✨

- Watts has a message for Ironwood's operatives. No. I am terrified. Penny.

- The Ace Ops ran away with one of Penny's swords. Watts will use it. I need to get some air.

- The fuck. Penny will be MADE to work with Ironwood?!???! This fucker will murder everyone but the folks who should be killed. Fucking Watts. And extrafucker Ironwood. Match made in the deepest corners of rotting trash.

- Getting to see Zwei in the opening heals me a little.

- Robyn and Qrow are bonding. Yang and Jaune and Ren are following mutating Grimm with Ozcar.

- What gliding is Ren doing right now?

- Yang saving Jaune and riding almost in tune with the song. 🌟❤️‍🔥

- From Grimmgliding to rescuing his friends, Lie is going through it.

- Honestly, he is right. There are better ways to discuss this, but they are all kids. Ruby, even more so. Someone give these children a warm bed and a good life's rest. They are trying so hard. Have already done so much. UGHHHHHHHHHHHH.

- In such dire situations you just gotta keep on keeping on, I guess. Especially considering the circumstances. I hope they get loads and Loads and LOADS of therapy soon.

- Oscar is being tortured. First by Salem. And now by Hazel. Someone please bring his sister in to tell him how much of a bad brother he is being not only to her but to the ideals she lived by. Even if she wasn't old enough to take major decisions initially, the way he is acting would still bother her forever. This fucker. Deluded by his own emotions.

- Cinder keeps saying without Salem she is nothing. The irony is, with Salem she is nothing as well. Especially now.

- Emerald wants her mentor back so bad.

- Oh no. Cinder will intervene with Amity. For once I want her to listen to Salem. Fuck.

- Awwww. Jaune trying with Ren is good of him. Reminds me a little of what Pyrrha attempted, way back when. Feels like a million years have gone by since.

- Yang wanted to know if Blake thought less of her for not helping out with Amity. Jaune assumed she meant Ruby. GODS. 💖

- I think the sisters are secure enough in their relationship to understand this won't tear them apart. Yang and Blake however, have a new budding thing on the way. Of course Yang is worried. Plus, the missing piece for the motorcycle is purple.

- I agree with Maria. Penny should be able to make her own decisions. Calavera is the mother Penny needs.

- Neo vs Maria. Could never have thought that up actually.

- Fighting in the skies, Penny vs Cinder.

- I love Maria. She has still got it!!!! ✨

- That interaction between Pietro and Penny will never not leave me in tears.

- What did Watts do. Fuck.

- If something happens to Penny, I will kill everyone. And then myself. In conclusion, she is alright.

- What is Watts going to do now. He has that scroll thing Ironwood threw at him. FUCKKKKKKK.

- Grimm birthing juice. On its way. Oh no.

- Cinder's backstory is just TRAUMA. With mechanical torture and capital Ts.

- "Without you, I am nothing." GODS.

- A past so horrific, you cannot see yourself in the children you keep hurting now. This is what a person's history can do to them.

- Cinder got so good, she could somewhat keep up with Rhodes.

- She wanted to be a huntsman. That's the true tragedy here.

- Also, the song that plays during it all. FUCK. It didn't have to go as hard, but helps driving in the point across better.

- Oscar and Ozpin. Ozcar. Ospin. Infiltrating Salem's allies to make them their own. NOICE!!!

- It's the step-guardian situation all over again. Cinder. Fuck. Please leave. Salem ain't it.

- Why is there a Ruby statue in the evil lair in the end credits?

- Is this a Grimm whale? Spouting rivers of its kind...

- Yang, Jaune and Ren are under Winter's custody. Fuck.

- Delivering a bomb on foot into the whale Grimm. While Oscar is there still. Plus, this could essentially be a suicide mission. I hope you die Ironwood.

- Emerald is up to something. I love where this could be going.

- Ospin is landing some great mental hits. And has been hit so bad physically.

- Nora is bedridden. And she is asking what she is good for?!?!!?? GODS. What toxic productivity mindset is this. She literally saved Penny. Who is definitely okie. I cannot accept a different answer.

- May is trans?! NOICE!!!!! ⚜️

- Whitley heard the points made between RWB and May and a resting Nora. I hope he is able to help. Everyone could use it.

- Salem wants release from her curse. Hazel's sister is named Gretchen. Hansel and Gretel. Sometimes I forget the allusions are a thing.

- Ozpin revealed Salem's backstory. Oscar told Hazel the password. Emerald heard everything. Shared it with Mercury. Who left for Vacuo with Tyrian anyway. Fuck. I hope she still leaves. Please. 🙏🏻

- Ren spoke up!!! And exactly when they needed him. YAYYYYYY!!!! Best boy is back!!!!!!! Oh shite. He doesn't know what happened with Nora. Fuck.

- Lie levelled up his semblance! That pink petal. His emotions. Nora misses a pink petal in the opening. AGHHHHHHHH!!!

- Suppressing your feelings must be an occupational hazard of working under Ironwood.

- Winter said "I outrank you." 🤯. Gods. Am so gay.

- Jaune proposed a good plan. Which is actually working. Hopefully they are able to get Ospin out, with one another intact.

- Ren is giving out bitesize therapy before leaving. Winter and Marrow. Abandon Ironwood. Please. 🙏🏻

- Ruby wants to go free Qrow and Robyn. May wants them to choose. Klein is here!!!!! And he is a doctor? Whitley must have called him.

- Awwwwwwwww. Whitley did call him. Sibling hugs!!!!

- Penny. Landed in front of the manor. Fuck. At least she is still in one piece.

- The mid-season trailer does not inspire a lot of confidence; "You are too late." Late for what?!?!!?

- "We said goodbye..."

- Just realised Ironwood's bit in the opening has Atlas within him. He is a product of his kingdom. GODS. I have sympathy for him, but nothing else anymore. Even that seems extreme now.

- Holy WoWie. Only now noticing the divide of the forces our heroes are fighting in the opening. Yang's end has Mantle and Atlas plagued with Grimm. Ruby's side has Salem's forces, also with Grimm. Penny flies to the Amity Colosseum in between. 👏🏻

- Big blast at Qrow's holding cell area.

- "One step at a time." One second, one minute, one hour, one day... Finally. An adult with good advice who is helping too. Klein. You da best. 🫶🏻

- Weiss and Whitely working together to use Schnee resources for good. YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! ✨

- Awwww! Blake looks up to Ruby. She reminds her of her own self. CUTE!!!

- Mutating Grimm is here. Oh shite. That's why Penny apologised after crash landing. Salem's pet is after the maiden powers. FUCKKKKKKK.

- Nora saved Penny from the corrupt bit in her, courtesy of Watts. This thunder girl is more than her power and hammer too. More than parts of others. Just like Penny. 🥹. I love this throwback to the girls' talk.

- Glad to know Willow chose her scroll over her spirits.

- Whitley stumbling back to approve the process while his life is in danger... The Schnees are really trying so hard. Jacques should never be allowed to take up that name again.

- Penny is in Watts' control. Going after the relic. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

- The talking Grimm has a living being inside?!?!???! What.

- So the blast was Cinder. Qrow is living up to his name.

- The Hound Human's face sketch reminds me of Obito from Naruto.

- Ren and Jaune will be okie. Not sure about Yang's eyeballs though. Rolling them around the blonde guy must be a regular practice. 😂

- Oscar's arc is WoW. He wants to stay himself. And a person like him definitely should. I wish there was a way to retain both Ozpin and this little guy.

- Team FNKI refusing to wear helmets is so on-brand!!! Also, they look tiny between the adult soldiers. Marrow is right. Kids. AGHHHHHHHHHH.

- Hazel is turning over a new leaf. Emerald will be leaving alongside Ospin. YAYYYYYY!!!!

- Oh fuck. Neo saw everything.

- Ren giving out another therapy session. Yang needed it too. Jaune believes. His friends trust his belief.

- Did Marrow call Jaune, Juan? True fondness for your juniors is never using the person's given name. Apparently. 😆🤌🏻🥹

- Emerald really tried to banter when they met again. LoLL!

- Shite. Salem... I wonder if she thought Summer Rose worked at an orphanage or something. 'Cause to her, two random kids called that lady their mum. One did look like her, I guess. Yang doesn't share any physical traits with mama Rose though.

- "No more Gretchens, boy." Hazel is doing a double cross. YASSSSSSSS!!!!!!

- He ain't making it out of there alive, is he.

- What did Ospin do? Big white blast.

- Marrow has a good heart. Take him and run to your sister Winter!!!

- Watts implanted a virus in Penny?!?!?? AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

- Of all the people, the scientist got to Cinder. Fuck. Hope she is okie. And that she changes sides.

- Second chances for Emerald and Ozpin. Oscar lays a worthy proponent for trusting those who are trying now.

- Kids were his last chance at blackmail. Ironwood has truly gone nuts with insecurity.

- AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG SINCE THEY WERE TOGETHER!!!!!! ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!

- Ironwood. You. I. Have no words.

- Using an entire freaking populace as a bargaining chip. When your own population is safe now. No thanks to you. You. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. 🤬

- I want to tear Ironwood apart. Limb from limb. What's left of them anyway.

- Winter has to be acting. Now way is she going to put Marrow in jail.

- Ruby is not okay. At all. Where are the fucking years of therapy?!?!!!???

- Ren is trying so hard. Jaune can read a room now. He has left the chat.

- Renora may not be together yet, but they will be someday. And I shall definitely be there celebrating. Plans of the future aside, they handled it quite maturely. I loved that. Am glad Lie was understanding. His semblance reading powers helped, but still. This is a guy just beginning to learn how to be open about his emotions again. He showed a lot of grace during this scene.

- The person in the Grimm had silver eyes?! I totally missed that. Fuck. Ruby. Yang. Summer.

- Give them at least ONE MORE MINUTE. PLEASE. THEY BOTH NEED THAT HUG. IT'S ALWAYS ONE THING AFTER THE OTHER. AGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

- Penny is asking them to kill her. That's. Um. That's not happening. Right? No. They. They wouldn't go that far. Fuck.

- Oh thank Gods. Aura amp. She is more than a robot. YAYYYYYY!!!! I was really terrified for a second there.

- Awww! Emerald is trying to be optimistic for them!!! In her own way. CUTE!!!

- Penny is now shown with Jaune, Nora and Ren. I remember telling my friend she could be the next member of Team JNR. 'Casue she has a genderbent allusion. Was this right? 🤯🙏🏻

- Oscar is starting to walk and somehow look a little like Ozpin? Probably the way he carried himself. Yeah. Huh.

- "Trust, is a risk." 💯

- Ren's petal loses its cold exterior. But Nora cannot catch hers because she hasn't figured out who she is yet. OOOOOOooooooooh!!! This opening is so GOOOOOOOOD.

- OH MY GODS. THAT WAS EMERALD!!! YASSSSSSSSSDSDD!!!! No Penny for you James.

- Wait. Did Winter really put Marrow in jail?

- Only Oscar and JNR are there. Where's RWBY? And Penny?

- Ayyyyyyy!!! That kick. Go Emerald!!!

- OOOOOOooooooooh!!!! Winter ain't doing anything to protect Ironwood. YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

- And Marrow isn't in a cell. AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

- It all came together so beautifully. Love this.

- Phase two. Oh wow.

- Ambrosious looks like a Dragon Ball Z character. I love his hair.

- CCT went out. So did the broadcast. Um. All the people heard was Atlas is falling. The fuck.

- Jacques will be saved too. Ugh.

- Penny is a real girl!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- I am too sleep deprived for the mumbo jumbo of the portals and the souls. Shall re-watch this later. But the dire warning... It's only episode twelve. Still have two more left. They will definitely be falling. That's where volume nine takes place. Thank Gods for some spoilers. Hopefully things don't get any more traumatic till then.

- Does Vacuo know of the amount of people they are going to get soon?

- Oh shite. Cinder is amongst the Atlas folks. Fuck.

- Sandstorm galore in Sun's area. Ooooof. And no signal.

- Some people fell. Shite. No. Cinder... Jinn. No questions left. Watts interrupted the broadcast. Cinder understands the importance of emotions. Her own breakdown must have helped. She is turning into a Machiavellian villain. FUCKKKKKKK.

- Things are going wrong. So bad. Harriet and Vine are fleeing on ships. Marrow's aura broke. Ironwood's cell just gave way. I am STRESSED.

- Jacques is dead. Sad that happened at James' hands.

- Yang falls saving Ruby. What a way to go down.

- Blake trying and failing to save her. Truly WLW. Women losing women. 😭

- Oh wow. I severely misjudged Harriet's motivations. She still wants to blow up Mantle. Thank you Vine.

- And she still went ahead with it. Fuck. Can ONE thing go right. Please.

- Ironwood vs Winter. No coming back from Vacuo. One way ticket. And that place has flying Grimm now. What the FUCKKKKKKK.

- Themes of death warning in the last episode. There's not a word that can describe my condition right now. Who is dying?!?????

- Salem is coming back. Ironwood is still ordering around Winter. Cinder vs Penny and Weiss. Blake has joined in too. Qrow wished on Clover's charm. No detonation. Yet.

- Vine took the blast. I didn't even know him well. But FUCK.

- Blake and Ruby have fallen too. Cinder. Why. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

- Nora is in Vacuo. She can't return. No more back up. Oh Gods.

- No. No. No. She just. No. She just became a girl. This is not really happening. No. No. Please.

- It's done.

- Penny is greeting Winter in the white world. I am crying and still smiling because all of it's just so her. I can't. WHY.

- Is Jaune okay. Will he ever be.

- Oh I am so happy about the non-ceremonial manner Ironwood died.

- Winter has the gift of Penny in her. It's now a part of her. The tears are making it difficult to see everything.

- I just. She thought of Winter and got to say goodbye. She passed away on her own terms. But. FUCCCCCCCKKKKKKK. IT HURTS.

- She. Penny. Was already more human than most people around her. Had a life within all that metal. So much so, she became flesh and blood. Human in every possible sense of the word. And. I CANNNOT.

- You take away her robotic shell and what's left behind is a warm soul. Forever trying to be a great friend. I will never look at green the same way again.

- Weiss has fallen as well. Winter saw it happen. Couldn't do anything to prevent it. What is this volume. Just trauma for everyone.

- Down goes Jaune now.

- The fuck. Ironwood is still alive.

- Some scenes in the show look almost realistic here and there. Especially the landscapes and the elements. Yes, this is an attempt at disassociation.

- Qrow. Fuck.

- "Face of a friend that won't leave..." The end credits music is making me bawl.

- "Do hugs always make you feel this warm?" STOP. It's Penny's song. Of course they titled it Friend.

- "Lucky and Beef Jerky!" Part of the security team.

- Ended on Crescent Rose near a beach with a colourful tree.

- Wait. Did Penny's body also land wherever RWBY and Jaune fell off to?

- Also, are there any other red-headed ladies whose names start with P? I need to start preparing.

- Anywho, if anyone needs me, I shall be busy drowning myself in RWBY Chibi. The laughs from that should help.

(You spoil me, I send you to Spain with a one-way ticket. And the 's' will be silent. You can greet me with salutations when you get here. Not combat-ready anymore.)

[bestworstcase]

people who talk about "cast bloat" in v7/8 are so funny to me bc v4 and especially v5 really suffer from having so few minor and supporting characters—like. literally the only new faces are 1. nameless bit characters, and 2. arc antagonists (the albains, ilia, lionheart, raven, and vernal).

and i think that is the reason those two volumes feel so… empty. they're not actually that slow-paced and there is in fact a LOT of narrative meat on the bones, but v4-5 feel slower and feel like there's less going on in them. (and that is not exactly an uncommon opinion: "nothing happens in v4-5" and "v4-5 are slower paced and that's good actually" are both sentiments that i see a lot.)

but… like, v4 comes out swinging with salem putting her plan into motion, and while juggling between blake / weiss / rnjr / yang on their separate journeys does slow down the progression of character arcs in terms of watching time, narratively things do happen at a fair clip and the story does a good job of weaving these disparate threads together thematically. similarly, v5 murks up the timeline by being non-chronological but none of the characters are ever just sitting around and there is quite a bit of momentum. it just doesn't feel that way—

—because these narrative events feel isolated. menagerie is crowded with nameless extras, only one of whom gets a shred of actual characterization; the only side characters who get anything at all are the antagonists involved in blake's arc. similarly, rnjr meet a few bit players during their journey across anima and then… literally just lionheart, once they reach mistral. vernal is the only bandit with an identity beyond "bandit."

the atlas portions of v4 are comparatively memorable because we DO meet new characters of varying importance: jacques, klein, and whitley get a decent amount of fleshing out in relation to weiss and ironwood, with ironwood's headbutting with jacques giving an indirect glimpse into atlas politics; then there's smaller characters like henry marigold, the business people who talk about the faunus and economic inequality with jacques, the socialite who scoffs about the fall of beacon because how is this our problem.

the same can be said for the other arcs too. the blacksmith and the mayor at the beginning of v4 breathe life into that village; the friendly captain makes the ship feel more alive. nameless extras don't do much for a narrative—they just visually fill out a scene—but bit characters with a bit of personality bring the world to life.

so during the beacon arc, there's a steady widening of the supporting cast (team cfvy + sun and neptune + penny and ironwood in v2, winter and qrow and various tournament competitors in v3). and then in v6, we get dee and dudley, maria and jinn, the cotta-arcs and cordovin and the encounter with pyrrha's (probably) mother. and in v7-8 there's the ace-ops and the happy huntresses and pietro along with bit characters like the councilmen and racist grandma and fiona's uncle. and v9 is chock full of memorable side characters. there is a significant and consistent presence of side and bit characters.

compare that to v4-5, which have long sections of narrative where The Only Characters are… the core cast and the arc antagonists. it makes the world feel smaller and that makes the narrative events feel insulated and unimportant.

a bare-bones cast of only characters who are strictly necessary for the plot will not make v10 feel "tighter" or "better focused," it'll just make vacuo feel lifeless. lol. (and this is not even getting into how rwby uses side characters to develop its core cast; like the point of robyn being so prominent in v7-8 is not to develop robyn herself, it's to incite development with ruby, penny, blake, yang, ironwood, and qrow. she's a catalyst. this is true also of the ace-ops and may.)

[kitkatopinions]

Your take on the recent RT announcement of a storybook anthology series to show what was happening in Remnant during volume 9?

I really feel like it's unnecessary at best at the moment and really doesn't give me any hope at all for... Anything going forward. XD

Like, 'this shows what's happening in Remnant during V9' V9 happened over the course of like a day and a half. And yes, it's obvious to the audience through the visual of the ships over Vacuo that it's been at least aa bit longer for the people of Vacuo than for RWBY+J in the Ever After (which I didn't want.) But if they were doing V10, I think they could stand to actually confirm how long they were gone in the show before they're like 'aren't you curious about what happened during all that time?'

Number one, it makes me feel like they will just brush over any time gap and have RWBYJ be like 'Well I guess it's been six months' or whatever and then move on quickly. Number two, despite caring about and liking a lot of the characters left in Vacuo, my hope is below zero for the fact that we'll see anything good or worthwhile at all.

Here are my predictions:

We'll get a minor cameo from Team SSSN and Team CFVY working with Team FNKI or something and at best Sun will ask about Blake and Nora will offhandedly say something about Blake belonging to Yang and Sun will be like 'oh, good for them.' Nora and Ren will get back together. Winter will get a ton of focus and weirdly will be like the only person really allowed to grieve for the presumed dead kids in more than a passing way. Maria and Pietro will also make a minor appearance and the anthology will say like one thing about Pietro missing Penny, but there's not gonna be any info on what happened to them out in the tundra or how they got to Vacuo. Qrow will get like a moment of acting bummed about Ruby and Yang and then Robyn will put a hand on his shoulder and Qrow will just move on. Theodore will make an appearance being 'the good member of Oz's inner circle' where he'll make some comments about never trusting Ironwood and will say something to Oz like 'it's a good thing you had those girls picking up the slack' and Oz will be like 'I know,' and they'll mention Glynda in passing. Mercury and Tyrian will be dealt with in this anthology.

And honestly, I could like all of them so much and I still wouldn't buy this because 'what Ren and Nora did in passing while Ruby was committing suicide' obviously doesn't matter as much to me as seeing Ruby actually go through the plot. And there being enough time for an 'anthology' to happen in Vacuo does damage imo to the main story because it gets consequences of V8 for Remnant and personal conflicts and moments I'd have liked to see addressed in the actual show for characters all brushed aside.

Also some people in the Discord chat I'm in mentioned that they think it's possible that the 'Beyond' portion of this is concerning.

As in, we might be getting important things like Team RWBY+J's return to Remnant and reunion with the others in this instead of waiting for V10 out of a desire to quickly tie up loose ends in the fear that V10 will never happen.

I've been on the 'V10 will probably happen but it might be the last season and probably will get rushed hardcore' train, but everything that RT does with RWBY makes me feel like V10 might not happen after all, or at the very least will only happen if the projects they make sell very well.

[strqyr]

So important detail about Raven versus Summer with increasingly plausible Spring collateral damage coming out in the later half of the show. Robyn Hill to verify that Raven isn't lying. Which given the speculation involved - is a sucker punch for someone and probably multiple someone's that short circuits lying accusations

i've been thinking since the finale that robyn might play a role with her semblance in finding the truth bc the track record isn't exactly there for anyone to trust raven and raven doesn't think anyone would believe her anyway, so ya gotta bridge that gap somehow.

but. i'd also be interested in knowing how robyn's semblance actually works, i.e. does it react to the objective truth or what the person believes is the truth? like, if someone says the sky is red, obv robyn's semblance would give a red light if they're lying, but if they truly believe the sky is red, would it give a green light?

like would it turn into another lost fable situation? for sure, the basics of "this is what happened" would be caught by her semblance as either true or false, but the finer details, the motivations, what exactly was said, how those words were taken in hindsight, etc.; bias still exists and safe to say that whatever did happen during the mission, it completely wrecked whatever trust there was between summer and raven.

it's either they get robyn involved, or ruby & yang are just going to trust raven to tell the truth, which admittedly isn't completely out there; raven didn't exactly lie about anything when she told yang & weiss everything, and the episode was literally called 'known by its song' which i believe comes from a proverb "a bird is known by its song, a man by his words", meaning that as you can recognize a bird from its call, so can you tell the type of person someone is by the way they speak, e.g. liar lies, and so on.

on the other hand yang didn't exactly react well to raven insulting qrow and especially tai, so. you win some you lose some lol

[littlemisssquiggles]

Do you think ozpin and qrow could some how be friends again/ qrow trust ozpin again

Hello there anon-chan! Thank you for the inbox!

In all honesty m’fam, this was a subject matter I was hoping the series would’ve covered after V6. After that season, I was hoping that part of Qrow’s development moving forward would’ve had him reconsidering his entire relationship with Ozpin; touching base on things such as how they first met and really giving the audience a further deep dive in their history together. This would then ultimately leed up to Qrow realizing that he was wrong for how he treated Oz after the reveal, learning to forgive him again and the two would essentially reboot their friendship with deeper feelings of trust and understanding.

Judging from the events of V6, a lot of Qrow’s feelings about himself were synonymous with his ties with Oz. There was no doubt that Oz was someone Qrow revered and thought of highly.

It’s as he told him back during that season. No one else in his life---not his clan, not even his own sister---ever believed in him due to his misfortune semblance. According to Qrow, he was cursed. But it was Oz who made him gain some confidence in his own self worth by making him believe in the good he could accomplish even with the type of semblance he had.

Words alone are not enough to surmise my disappointment in the fact that right after the writers teased the history and meaningful dynamic that Qrow and Oz shared together, they just dropped it after V6. Instead of making Qrow focus on his bond with Oz, they instead awkwardly did everything they could to have Qrow not discuss Oz.

Instead they had Qrow pining over his relationship with Clover for two seasons. Clover---a character he barely knew and just happened to develop a small kindred comradery for like a couple of months versus Ozpin who he has known FOR YEARS. Probably since he was even a student at Beacon and had remained loyal to well into middle age. Like seriously?

Don't get me wrong, I liked Clover as a character. However I honestly hated how he was the focus

Qrow wasn’t even allowed to focus on his friendship with Winter since even their rivalry dating back to the events of V3 was pushed aside in favour of Clover who only first appeared in V7.

Don’t get me wrong. I actually thought Clover was a decent character. However I really didn’t like how he suddenly became a person of massive importance to Qrow when the two barely knew each other.

If Clover shared the same past with Qrow or the two were actually good friends/rivals who knew each other dating way back to their academy days then I can get behind why Qrow cared that much about him after his death.

But no. There were other characters that Qrow shared deeper bonds than Clover, like Oz, and yet, all Qrow focused on between V7 to V8 was this one dude. I will never understand why the Writers chose this route to go for Qrow. It just felt so off and misplaced; at least to me.

Shout-out to my fellow Snowbird shippers since we too were robbed of any potential further development between Qrow and Winter since that it seems their dynamic was replaced in favour of one brewing with Robyn Hill.

So, in a nutshell anon-chan, I do think Qrow can trust Oz again and rekindle their friendship. However, it’s up to the CRWBY Writers to implement that into the story canon. Thus far, they haven’t done a good job on having Qrow focus on his ties to Oz. But who knows? Perhaps we’ll get something in that epilogue series that was recently announced by RT. RWBY Beyond.

Hopefully that series will drop some crumbs on the aftermath of Qrow and Oz’s relationship, finally giving closure to of us who were wondering about it.

LMS (2024)

[cinderthefallenmaiden]

RWBY Beyond Predictions: Robyn

This is the second of what will probably be a four part series of posts. Before diving into prediction/theory crafting part of this post I will be linking a hopefully working link to part 1.

Spoiler Warning: As per the previous post there will be spoilers regarding the events of Volume 7-9 + the V9 Animatic and possibly the two Team CVFY novels.

Now with that out of the way onto the burning question regarding what Robyn focused episode might be like

Why have Robyn be our second POV character?

Besides the fact that I'm a big Happy Huntress fan and love getting more lore/screen time with them, I think there is a lot that the end of V8 left unsaid regarding Robyn. We see her reaction to the destruction of Atlas and Mantle but not much else. So, giving her a focus for this new miniseries to set up how she begins to process the loss of her hometown will both be helpful for the audience going into V10.

Why not have Qrow be our POV character?

We have already had Qrow get quite a bit of focus in the V9 Animatic. So all having Qrow being the POV focus would be is to fill the blanks between The Final Word and the V9 Animatic. I don't think it's as necessary as setting up Robyn's "Mantle is gone now what?" arc.

Are Maria and Pietro dead?

Considering that Amity Colosseum is in Vacuo something that was was confirmed before the full animatic was released I think it's a fairly safe bet that Robyn and Company will find them alive before making their way to Vacuo.

From Eddy's Twitter/X post from July of 2023

[powertaco]

Alright. So what would you do if CRWBY (RT) contacted you and asked you to help incorporate Whiterose into canon? Would you do it? If so, how, and if not, I’d still want to know how.

I'm sure most of us would like to. I don't know if I'd be the best person for the job, or what not, but I think at this point you'd have to play for the long game and aim for like last volume.

I think the general groundwork for a relationship, especially with V6 is there but needs built on. Ruby and Weiss have pink petals only when together and the color pink used as petals is used by Ren's new semblance when he detects love.

There's tons of symbolism and pictures/promo material of WR being very important with each other. I don't see Weiss with a shield in the promo material nor do I see her thirsting over Jaune in the spin off stuff or Ruby looking at Oscar or any symbols that represent him. Manga anthologies, the movie crossover, IQD are all supremely WR coded.

They need to talk and be partners again. They need to have conversations and set things right between them. Weiss needs to come clean about why she was taking Ruby for granted, and Ruby needs to apologize for not talking to her about things, and they need to have a real partnership going forward.

V10 (they said 12/13 was their planned end point at one time so we'll go based on that) would be about this in the background with the war against Salem likely taking center stage as well as the fallout of Atlas.

I'd like to see more Ruby still falling into bad habits (unlearning them IS hard) but her team, and Weiss in particular helping her plan and taking the work off her shoulders and helping to divide it up. Even if they don't want WR endgame this is something that needs to happen because they're supposed to be best friends.

Blake and Yang as much as people might hate it need to take a slight step back. I'm happy for them but they're too wrapped up in each other to the point that they're the others world to the detriment of everyone else.

More interactions with other partners. Yang and Weiss and Blake and Ruby need to interact a bit more.

Blake and Yang can talk to the others and in time start drop hints about things but mostly as teases for now.

Once Salem finds out Cinder lied to her...a lot I would expect her to have a less than pleasant time and probably not be doing much outside of not dying. We might get the start of a 'we found the summer maiden' plot here.

V11 I would focus on the relic of destruction. I'd probably have this be the volume Tyrian dies likely as the villain of the volume in a battle for the relic. Seeing as they wanted 9/10 to start turning around you need to give the team some wins. So either they win and get the relic or they kill tyrian but still lose the relic. Depending on how they run with Theodore he could live or die securing the relic.

Based on how little of a chance Team RWBY seem to have against someone like Cinder they need to upgrade their semblances or one of them is probably gonna have to end up a maiden at some point. If they go that route then Raven actually dying to give her powers to Yang is possible but we need more from and about Raven before I'll buy that she'd do something like that. Unless of course she somehow gets ambushed and is dying then she might think of Yang. If this does happen i imagine we'll get more of that flashback from earlier.

Good chance for Ruby and Blake to comfort her if that does happen because well if Yang does end up with them then I mean it's clear what happened and her mom is dead. I imagine Qrow wouldn't take it well either but he has Robyn so she'll prob be helping him a bit.

WR would start incorporating little touches like they used to. Shoulder grabs, little quick hand squeezes and hugs that go on just a second too long and more playful banter in and out of battle.

They should still be serious when it calls for it but not have an issue just hanging out in the limited downtime they do have. Others should notice they seem to be happier now and have WR not understand what they mean.

V12 would likely be the start of Ozpin/Ozma opening up with some more deep lore and hopefully someone calls him on the whole 'jinn only said you can't kill her' angle. Probably not.

From here it really depends on how they plan to resolve Salem. Is it gonna be a hail mary we're united and have the relics fix it gods thing or not.

If it's not then I'd like to see them ape the gods and use that to 'kill' salem for good. Ie Ruby's eyes represent the light and Weiss and her grimm summons the dark. Working together and in concert to kill her just like the gods combo powers cursed her. If you want it to be a more team thing then Yang and Blake can represent light and dark too. Jaune can amp up their auras to an extreme level for this to work. Whether this kills him or his ultimate fate is irrelevant.

Ruby would be a bit more mature after Ever After and talking with her friends and Weiss would start taking notice because as Kara said 'Weiss like maturity'

If you wanted a twist for after this then have the gods show up and be pissed that rwby undid their work. 'who are you to undo what we gods have done etc?

From here they can drop the knowledge bombs that they're no better than runaway kids who left and what not.

The gods can then either bring back salem again proving that they're massive hypocrites since they told salem earlier she didn't understand the value of life and death and cause the gods to want to wipe out humanity and faunus.

At this point I'd expect the blacksmith/tree to basically be like 'no you're done' and drag them back.

If they don't bring salem back they could be like 'well humanity has come together so you know what good enough stay that way or else.

Then you'd have a few after it's all over episodes.

Now that the war is over they're focused on rebuilding. Weiss is busy helping Whitley and Willow and Winter (if she's alive) rebuild the SDC.

Ruby appears and asks her to take a break for dinner. Weiss is going to refuse until Willow tells her they'll manage and shoos her out the door.

Weiss asks where they're going to meet Blake/Yang, and Ruby says 'oh i was kinda thinking...it could just be us two.' Weiss could say something with a small blush and be like 'I'd like that' and it could cut to the other couples then credits.

Admittedly part of me would find it hilarious if Weiss gets fed up with waiting and just grabs Ruby and smooches her mid final battle.

Or the safer route just have a scene set after the war 5/10 years and casually let it be dropped they married in that time to avoid having to do anything.

Personally if I was doing RWBY from the start I'd make the WF bigger antagonist along with Jacques and probably cut out the whole brother gods/salem deal. Maybe even magic and maidens. I think that could be a lot of fun and as attractive as mommy salami is I don't care much for her in the story. Great VA though who really nails the voice I'd imagine for Salem.

I'd probably also keep them in school for another year and have more inter-team friendships. Like Blake , Velvet, Ruby, and Ren having a book club, or Ren and Weiss bonding over having super high energy partners.

Yang and Pyrrha work out buddies. Ruby and Jaune playing games with Nora probably joining it.

That sort of thing.

Of course if I was writing RWBY I'd find a way to have Maria hold WR hands so you know.

I hope I understood the question and if not I apologize.

[flightofaqrow]

[meta] vol 7 and star-crossed soulmates

Alright, it's time to talk about qrow and Clover. I humbly request that you set down the shipping goggles and sit with me for a bit. 🙏

I waffled on this for longer than I thought, because I was trying to keep my own pair on in the sense of trying to come up with thoughts about only these two, but I don't think we can actually talk, narratively, about their dynamic without someone else: Robyn. She's a soulmate and foil in this, too.

I. Color Theory

First point is how RWBY uses complementary eye colors to imply connections between characters, whether that's romantic, foils, or simply something of an influence on each other, or all of the above.

It's been difficult to dig up straightforward tertiary charts. We're going for the red-orange, yellow-green, blue-violet combo here, for Qrow, Clover, and Robyn, respectively.

[Interestingly enough, if we turn that into a quad, it creates a cross with complementary paired points of red/green and blue violet/yellow orange - otherwise known as Marigold. Giving us Good and Bad Fortune with Robin and Maid Marian or Briar. AND overall red/green, yellow/purple literary dynamic which is also seen heavily throughout the show. The tiniest tweak of rotation would also start leaning into a Schnee blue rather than violet... but these are different metas that I don't have fully formed yet.]

II. Symbolism

Anyway, back to the trio. A trio of soulmates in the sense that, if you want to believe in at least a portion of fate, met at the right time and right place to allow for some very important development with each other. Some lessons learned. Maybe to even turn to romance in places, were any of them so inclined.

Qrow is a big honking mesh of symbolism for: darkness, death, messenger of bad luck.

Robins are symbols of: dawn, rebirth, messenger of good luck.

Clovers are symbols of: faith, hope, love, and good luck.

Hmm. The foils look a little different in hindsight, huh? We can already see a tangible overlap of foiling and partnership, but also a disconnect. One pair of wow-that-fits, and a not-quite.

So, yes. They're soulmates. By design.

But they're star-crossed.

III. Foils

Qrow is not having gay panic upon meeting Clover. He's having a dawning realization that he is looking at a reverse-reflection of himself. Happy-go-lucky. Able to trust his surroundings. A leader with a place to be in his cohesive group. Looked up to, relied on.

All the things he always wanted, but could never be*.

And then he's pissed.

But he rolls with it. He starts to see it as an opportunity to be near someone who might have some immunity from his own semblance, just like Ironwood probably set this up to be (covering assets and liabilities, and all). But this is not the answer. It was never the answer. Qrow needs to learn not to blame his semblance or rely on external crutches to try and 'cure' it.

Clover learns nothing from this. He continues to be his usual self. That is a good person. He allows Qrow that opportunity to feel safe with him, encourages him to be better, explore this new sober-self. But Clover also looks at Qrow and sees everything he doesn't like about or wouldn't for himself. Cynical. Jaded. Separated from his companions. Moaning over his semblance. He offers his charisma and optimism in the hopes it might bleed over. That is also not the answer. Clover is trying to 'cure' Qrow.

This foil aspect which often sets up good conflict to turn into romantic or sexual tension that both characters benefit from is where the term "opposites attract" comes from, I think. But I also separate this into two different types of opposites: complementary and contradictory.

Complementary works. There is balance. There is a complementary strength in one character for a weakness in another. Extroverts and Introverts. Brawny and Brainy. Sun and Moon. Red and Green. "I don't like cooking and you don't like dishes, so you do one and I'll do the other and together we are happier and more easily whole."

There can still be conflict here. Stubborn and Patient. Hotheaded and Chill. Oblivious and Aware. But this is Robyn and Qrow. In both directions at different times, which is *chef kiss* even better. "I'm pulling my crossbow on Clover" and "Calm down, let's talk to Ironwood first" vs "I'm killing Ironwood" and "You don't really mean that."

Complementary is push/pull in a way that reinforces who the other character really is, and gives them the freedom to be that, even if the conflict is a tough love reminder sometimes.

A symbol for bad luck and a symbol for good luck which can come to an understanding over how their semblances can make it hard on other people, but don't define them as a person. Qrow accepting his role as a Harbinger of destruction when and where it's deserved, and Robyn accepting her role as a truth-bringer, light-shiner, even when it's hard, even when people don't like to hear it. In the theme of Vol 7, as Winter puts it, they can work on making these things their own.

Contradictory does not work. It can present with similar strengths and weaknesses, but there is mutual exclusivity woven in. There is intolerance. There is a needing of one person needing to change to validate the other's worldview. There is a mismatch of personal values and unwillingness to bend. Optimism and Pessimism (when one cannot accept and learn from the other to compromise). Lawful and Chaotic. Stoic and Communicative. Generative and Stagnant. "We should paint this wall Red." "I think we should paint it green." "We should go to the mountains." "I think we should go to the beach."

...

"We should try and save everybody." "We should give a few a better shot at actually being saved."

...

("If you were one of my men I would have you shot." "If I were one of your men I'd shoot myself.")

This is not (healthy) romantic tension, this is unresolvable conflict. This is Qrow vs Ironwood. This is, ultimately, Qrow and Robyn vs Clover. This is probably some other over-arching dynamics with others, too, but I'm trying to stay focused here.

*Qrow is 100% actually looked up to and relied on, he just doesn't realize it. And when Clover gives him credit, he has his second panic of oh, i guess you're right, sometimes i can reach my own goals, but no one's ever been nice enough to say so (or i wasn't ready to hear it).

IV. The Narrative

WE WANTED IT TO BE DIFFERENT. We were rooting for Qrow and Clover!!! We wanted it to be complementary so bad!!!! We wanted them to learn. That's why 7.12 hurt so very, very much.

Qrow and Robyn, death and rebirth, were side by side, right there, begging Clover to change; to come into his role of faith, hope, love, and good luck for his team, for his home, to make them his own with his own decisions.

But no, he gave all of those things, all of himself, up to Ironwood's command. And it was the final confirmation of contradictory, and we realized it was always going to be, and had been the whole way. He was always going to choose Ironwood. And it re-writes every interaction. It feels less like he was befriending Qrow, and more like he was trying to change him. It feels less like he was Qrow's partner, and more like Ironwood sent him to keep Qrow under control.

Clover and Qrow are not sharing secret glances with each other after Ironwood gives orders, Clover is checking to make sure Qrow's reactions suggest he's going to fall in line with them.

We wanted more of this:

But the intro handed us the real outcome on a platter:

V. Conclusion

The Fall of Atlas is a Shakespearian Tragedy, in which, by definition: a noble has a tragic flaw or commits a grave error (hamartia) which leads to their reversal of fortune.

The highlighted theme of the volume is Trust Love.

We wanted James Ironwood to change, too. He had the potential and opportunity, too. But his character was doomed by the tragic flaws of a Hero/Martyr complex (literally his theme song) and a Sunken Cost Fallacy (literally his semblance), and Salem changing her plans to send Tyrian and Watts to Atlas before Vacuo to ensure these things would get the better of him - that he would chose fear over love.

Clover is the subplot fallout of this. In which he makes the (literally) grave error of choosing loyalty over love (literally, a piece of himself).

Ergo... red/green/purple character trio star-crossed by a narrative reversal of fates, because Clover didn't learn the lesson of choosing himself and his soulmates' love.

Small wonder Qrow and Robyn then cross paths with Winter and Marrow, who have made that transformation, instead.

[rwbyuser24]

I think that I'm somewhat late. But I'm responding now because I used to be shy in responding. But hey! Better late than never.

I will start saying, well, isn't what the Wiki presents of her, truth?

"Even then, his flaws are folded in to his (alleged) positive traits; he is not afraid, extremely loyal, and has genuinely good intentions, despite the fact that the show has now proven that Ironwood’s flaws greatly outweigh these."

Let's consider that Ironwood have been for most of the part of show a hero. I guess that can influence. That and, isn't it truth what the wiki says about Ironwood? And even when his flaws end up outweighing his good traits, that was at the end of his life.

"These writers love Robyn, and have explored and extrapolated on her character to marvellous degree. Yet, at no singular point have any of these flaws ever been written quite as strongly as the wiki implies they are, nor have I seen much evidence of them myself in the show."

Well, I can think some works of fiction where Robyn shows negative traits. There was a rewrite by The-tired-bisexual-agenda who seems to be queer too. Anyway, the point is that since are fans, they probably are biased too. And about not seeing evidence of those traits in the show... Well, let's see about it!

"Her brashness is blamed for the outcome, but in reality, this outcome could have been avoided together if Clover had not chosen to follow his orders and bring in an innocent man. "

Well, Clover didn't initiate the fight. Clover said peacefully to Qrow that he was under arrest. And even Qrow said that they should wait till they arrive to Atlas to talk with Ironwood. Robyn initiated a fight in the manta. The problem isn't initiate the fight, the problem is the place. Is a closed space flying in the air. What if something end up happening and the ship falls? And even when it wasn't her fault, the fight end up resulting in the liberation of Tyrian. Again, she should have assumed that bad things were a risk. She could have wait till arriving to Atlas to talk to Ironwood or initiate the fight there instead of do that in a dangerous place.

"Also, she didn’t crash the Manta! That was all Tyrian!"

The article didn't say that she crashed the manta, it says that the fight initiated by her lead to that outcome.

"Yet, the people who enjoy her and the Happy Huntresses often perceive those same flaws to a significantly lesser extent, or even see those flaws as actually being boons of her character; for instance, reading her alleged arrogance as passion."

Again, also the fans are biased. About the arrogance, it's for celebrating her victory before time for example. She was so sure of her victory that she made a party, even Weiss and Ren point out how strange that was. There is also her saying: "Looks like he underestimated me. Again."

Like if she was such a great threat.

"I have a suspicion it’s to do with her character at large; she’s a bold socialist politician who believes in equality and fairness for all, who refuses to stand for incompetence and obedience towards evil causes."

Is she a socialist though? I mean, she believes in equality but I doubt she ever declared socialists ideals. I'm not sure either that the CRWBY is socialist, so I doubt that they wanted to present a socialist in such good focus.

"Likely, I’d rephrase a lot of it to be less damaging to her character; she isn’t hostile, she holds people accountable."

Except that she was willing to steal from the military truck even BEFORE losing the elections and Ironwood supposedly trying to kill her: "I think you've misjudged the situation. One way or another, these supplies are going to get where they're supposed to go - Mantle."

And again, initiating a fight in the wrong place.

"She isn’t quick to jump to conflict, she is familiar with how Atlas responds to anti-authority with violence. "

That still doesn't mean that she isn't quick to jump to conflict. And how exactly was Atlas dealing to anti-authority with violence in the past? I mean, Atlas let opposition appear in both Atlas (Jacques) and Mantle (Robyn). All the people that were arrested were people responsible for crimes: Stealing a manta, throwing a brick to a military ship, initiating riots. It just now that Ironwood was arresting people who oppose him.

"She isn’t arrogant, she believes in the power of the people as being the right thing to fight for."

Again, party and overestimating her capacities.

"not a fan of Robyn

not a fan of a new female character

not a fan of a new female character in a position of power

not a fan of a character with socialist/communist/antifa ideals

all of the above and then some???"

I guess that the first one. I mean, assume that someone doesn't like female characters due to the dislike to ONE female character... And again, when it was said that she is socialist/communist? And Antifa... maybe? I mean, Atlas was never fascist.

Well, that would be all!

what is going on with all the bias on robyn hill’s wiki page, anyway? - an aside

As someone who uses the RWBY wiki with some degree of frequency - often because I’m looking for art references, or Semblance and weapon names - I’m used to… some amount of bias in the articles for different characters? Like, let’s be real, it’s not a perfect wiki! Community-maintained stuff isn’t easy to all keep on the same track! But, generally, it gives the facts well enough and doesn’t do too bad a job keeping all the balls in the air when it comes to new information from all four corners of this franchise.

Well, until you open the article for Robyn Hill, and realise it’s an absolute disaster. Like, really; the impartial voice just plain doesn’t exist for her, and almost all of her wiki is written in such a way that she reads as being an absolutely insufferable, hostile, hard-to-like character. Even if you aren’t a fan of Robyn personally, you have to admit that if you hadn’t seen the show yourself, you might very well come away from her article presuming she’s a major antagonist of Volumes 7 and 8.

Like, for instance, let’s take a look at the first paragraph of her Personality section:

Robyn has a direct and confident personality, having no trouble being confrontational with Atlas personnel, including the Ace Operatives. Robyn also seems to suffer from overconfidence and arrogance, shown in her encounters with Ruby and celebrating her election victory before it was verified. She is aggressive and hostile in nature, quickly jumping to conflict without thinking through consequences. However, she is also shown to be reasonable when the situation calls for it.

And, for good measure, here’s another paragraph from the same section:

In “With Friends Like These” Robyn displayed a rather impulsive side of her personality, when upon hearing that James Ironwood’s plan to abandon Mantle and arrest those against him, she started a fight between herself, Clover Ebi, and Qrow Branwen onboard a Manta with Tyrian Callows in custody. Despite the fact, there was no order or her arrest. Her brashness led to Tyrian breaking free and crashing the Manta as well as her becoming unconscious.

(Taken from Robyn’s RWBY Wiki page. Bolding is mine.)

Seguir leyendo

[rachetmath]

Long skit. Read at your own time.

Ruby: Hey Jaune.

Jaune: Sup Rubes?

Ruby: Let's say you were in charge. How would you have handled the Robyn and Ironwood situation?

Jaune: … … … Fourth wall break.

Me: What?

Jaune: You are still on this? come on man.

Me: Fine. Just one more time.

Jaune: For real?

Me: For real.

Ruby: What the-?

Jaune: Okay. Ruby you… weren't entirely wrong not to trust James but… it felt out of pocket.

Ruby: Jaune, Leon tried to kill us. Ozpin lied to us.

Jaune: Yeah… but Ironwood was different. He bailed your team out multiple times. I can't trust him because he hasn't done crap for me. Plus he knew about Pyrrha. Remember Qrow told us first about Salem. And Ironwood implied it by knowing the information before we even told him anything. I trust you though so I did not have a choice.

Ruby: But you-

Jaune: Yeah I got smug with him, but, I stepped down because I didn't want to go too far. However, nothing I said was false considering the circumstances. Especially with Mantle.

Ren: Jaune, the things that were going on in Mantle were temporary and things would get better once we were done with Amity.

Jaune: … Are you a f- Fiona!

Fiona: Hm.

Jaune: Fiona you are a better candidate for Mantle so please tell me was Mantle any better before all of this happened?

Fiona: No, no, it wasn't. We were already struggling financially. People were still poor but at least had steady jobs—until they got laid off. Grimm attacks were common but got worse due to the negativity, and we barely had defenses.

Ren: Which Mantle destroyed!

Jaune: Which were completely useless to begin with. The only one who defended Mantle better than all of us was Penny.

Nora: So basically it wouldn't have mattered if Amity was launched or not, nothing would have changed?

Fiona: Nope. At least not in a short amount of time.

Jaune: Wow then, um, hey.

Me: what?

Jaune: Think you can… you know…

Me: Sure.

Ironwood: *appears* What the?

Jaune: Ironwood, question.

Ironwood: Um, what?

Jaune: Let's say Amity Arena was no longer an option. What would have been your plan if that were to happen?

Ironwood: … … …

Jaune: That was your only plan wasn't it?

Ironwood: But it was a good one. It's worth fighting for.

Jaune: So instead of preparing Mantle for a fight. Trying to calm them down. Catching Tyrian, who we knew was there. And instead figuring shit out. Making compromises. We have been playing cat and mouse. so none of us had our priorities were f**** straight?

Ruby: I mean-

Jaune: You gave the relic to Oscar knowing full damn well he wasn’t up to speed in combat yet. Which he lost to Neo. Then his dumbass went to talk to Ironwood knowing damn well he was willing to even put him on a wanted poster. Even though Oscar was the most honest with him.

Ruby: …. …..

Jaune: Now, if I started questioning James earlier, then I would have been questioning you and your authority because I was following your lead. Believe me, you would not want me to do that because I will treat you like Qrow and Ozpin. As an adult. And if I found out you didn’t have a plan either, I probably would have gone rogue and kept secrets from you.

Fionna: Wow.

Yang: Jaune I already-

Jaune: I mean if I have to kill someone if it means that plan would work, I would. And though I advocated for Robyn, that doesn’t mean I trust her.

Robyn: Wait what?

Jaune: Hell yeah, you were just lesser evil. You were stranger to me. But then you became a problem. Shit, I should have at least captured May or Fionna. Probably because they haven’t shown any combative skills.

Nora: Okay then-

Jaune: Where are you coming from?

Nora: Not important. Let's say I suggest we reason with them. How would you do that?

Jaune: Again, that would be Fionna.

Robyn: Excuse me.

Jaune: Again Fionna is a better representative for Mantle, not just for being born there but also is Faunus. She’s basically the gray area between Marrow and Blake philosophies, who both would give a biased answer with no solutions to the problem.

Blake: Hey-

Jaune: You shut up. You don’t do shit for your people. I hope your dad plows your mom later on because they need another kid. After all, you were a mistake.

Blake: … … …

Jaune: Bellabooty ass hoe. And Robyn is just a discount Yang with an Ironwood personality. Stubborn as hell with a stick up their asses.

Robyn: *gasp*

Yang: Hey-

Jaune: *slaps Yang*

Yang: *shocked*

Jaune: Get the f*** out of here you bastard child.

Yang: *leaves*

Jaune: Anyways. If Fionna told me what we could have done to help Mantle more than what Atlas ‘recommended’ we do, she probably wouldn’t need the supplies anymore and return them. But before I would do any of that, again, I would have needed Penny back on duty. Meaning I would’ve forced Robyn to say Penny is innocent by using her semblance on Penny. Which is the semblance everyone in Mantle knows about.

Weiss: Okay but what about my-

Jaune: Almost everything Mantle uses is from the SDC. From the voting poles and heat vents. If we had put those together the puzzle would have fallen in place.

Ruby: Wait so basically why didn’t we just divide and conquer?

Jaune: Exactly. Anyway, Weiss, your father would have been under suspicion so his role as a council member would not be official yet. So that would have given us more time. I may not be able to stop Ironwood but at least give Mantle a fighting chance. And not only that none of us have been bouncing information to one another. I mean we could have taken the city with us. Or maybe put the people in Mistral or Argus.

Weiss: Wow.

Jaune: Honestly I really should have done more. Like I don't blame Ren for being mad at me. I could have done more. I should have been questioning you especially after Heaven and Argus.

Ruby: Jaune -

Jaune: Not just you but Ironwood too. Watts wasn't smart, we were just so stupid and stubborn that we didn't bother seeing our enemy was right in front of us.

Ruby: Jaune-

Jaune: Like Mantle had so many things wrong with it. From the cameras, the androids, the robots and its defense. The treatment of its civilians. Like seriously, if we had just put Amity on hold we could have done better.

Ren Jaune -

Jaune: And let's say we could have prepared Mantle, still lost and had to evacuate them. We brought them to the most dangerous kingdom in all of Remnant. How foolish.

Ironwood: And that's why-

Jaune: Shut up. Cause James, Atlas had it coming. Its-

Me: No, let me. Ironwood, your military, even the Kingdom deserved what it got. You treat Faunuses like slaves. You never keep your people in check and make me question you all the time. Like Argus. Yeah we can blame the kids for the majority but the woman who decided to flex a giant mech over a plane hijack. What the hell?

Ironwood: … …

Me: Then your soldiers have to look like the very machines you created. It's no wonder no one trusts them and it was easy to frame you. It's almost like they were trained to be the same and work as a union meanwhile keeping their individual personalities away. Probably because they were in Atlas for too long and they forgot what home or having a spine looked like. Crazy.

Ironwood: … … …

Me: Face it. Atlas was already ready to start another war. You flex your power, trying to show the world that Atlas is its biggest factor yet still refuse to humble yourselves when it comes to the rest of the world. Watts was right about you. You want control. Nothing else.

Watts: Ratchet even though you hate me I am still the smartest character in the show!

Me: No the fuck you are not!

Watts: What?

Me: Dude, remember, you were handed the win. Again, if our characters had figured shit out. Had their priorities in order. What would have been your back up plan?

Watts: Um.

Me: Not to mention, you didn't survive Atlas. You died.

Watts: Um.

Me: Then the fight with Ironwood. Bullshit. How does a scientist manage to keep up with a soldier especially in hand to hand combat? Plot.

Watts: Well Penny -

Me: Man don't get me started on how you messed up with Penny.

Watts: … ….

Me: Matter of fact. I'm going in today.*snap 🫰*

Characters from Rwby I needed to appear.

Me: Neo. Baby. I love you. But you - oo. Oo. You beat Yang in a 1v1. You held your own against Cinder, I don't care what anyone said you could have killed the bitch. You fought team Jnpr in a 4v1. Which I will say the writers sabotaged them because they should have given you more trouble. But you struggled against Maria. Maria who hasn't been a huntress or in combat situations for years. How?!

Neo: 🥺.

Me: Jaune you did good but… you should have been fighting more. I'll explain more in a few. Oscar, you did well, I mean you still dumb as hell but you did your best.

Oscar: Okay.

Me: Now you two I can't excuse. Well one of you. Nora, you could have done better. You should have been more screen time. But Ren-

Ren: *turn away*

Me: Nah-Nah, don't turn away from me Ren. Ren. Ren, look at me. Look at me! Where were hands? Where were your hands Ren? Cause so far you been spamming the same fucking move! Like god- I can't believe I'm saying this but Jaune can beat you.

Ren: … …

Ruby: Um Rat-

Me: Shh. Now you and your team. You all managed to beat the Ace ops in a fight. A 4v4 fight.

Ruby: Yep.

Weiss: We were excellent.

Blake: We did.

Yang: No problem.

Me: So tell me why could none of you manage to fight Cinder. Let only touch her. Matter of fact, when the Ace-ops pulled up on you again, what happened?

Blake: I mean we did land a hit on Cinder.

Me: Understood but… y'all have the biggest cheat code and that's Ruby. But then Neo knocked Yang off in one move to save Ruby then proceeded to whoop all of you. No effort.

Blake: Wow. Excuse us for going through emotions. We just watched our team mate theoretically die.

Weiss: Plus, she had to put in a little effort.

Cinder: Like hell. I was disrespecting you girls completely. The only one who managed to be on par with me was Penny.

Me: Who all of you nerfed to hell by making her human. Once again the villains are handed the win. Y'all played yourselves. But let’s get on topic on why I summoned you all here. What I notice in this show is not just horrible character development for most of you but in combat for all of you, I notice a heavy amount of skill issues.

RWBY characters: what?!

Me: Like you Ren. Bro your weapon works. It helps you close the distance to engage with enemies. You can throw them like boomerangs. And they have grappling hook functions. But you lack the skill to use them for some reason. Again what happened to your martial arts training? Like you could have been on Vine and Emeralds level but no you are a waste. Instead of spending training time on meditating you should have been training on how to use them and corporate them into your fighting style. If you had one.

Ren: *silent*

Nora: Hey don't be too hard on him.

Me: The man was talking loud at the wrong people instead of the bitch who caused the problem. And he barely amounted to shit in the volumes. And his semblance evolving is trash. Fuck his feelings. He should have died along with his parents.

Nora: Shit.

Me: Ruby, your weapon upgrade is impractical. In fact I barely noticed it until someone pointed it out.

Ruby: Um.

Me: Like you showed skill in wielding a scythe. It’s unnecessary. And you have dust in your bullets. Use them. At this point I'm questioning if you had any training. Weiss.

Weiss: … …

Me: Bitch you cannot be that rusty that you don't remember how to use your weapon along with your semblance. Like you have the best semblance in the show and it’s versatile. There is no excuse for you losing half the time. Quit trying to summon your henchman and fight. Blake.

Blake: …. ..

Me: They should have given you katana in my opinion but if it ain't broke don't fix it. Still girl… …. what happened to that one move you used back when you were fighting Roman? Like you could have taught Jaune that move.

Blake: I mean-

Me: And what happened to your counter game? Do you remember how your semblance works? And again you have dust. Use the shit!

Blake: … … …

Me: Yang.

Yang: …. ….

Me: In the volume seven open credits, why never you used that move once?

Yang: … … …

Me: I could say more like you being able to launch yourself in the air. Or how you could have saved Oscar by placing your bombs around the grim and using it as a smokescreen to grab him. But I digress. Still you never use that move once, I almost thought I was seeing a dragon fist. It was beautiful. Why have you never used that?

Yang: … … Um.

Me: I really hate you. Now for you three. Jaune my boy.

Jaune: … …

Me: what happened to your grandsword mode?

Jaune: I don't know. Pietro must have removed it.

Me: Cause you really could have done some serious damage. Like you should have been doing way more. Like I understand you're the healer, but… healers are supposed to be protected, and I don't recall anyone but Ruby protecting you. Plus just because you're a healer you know how to fight. Basically you're not a healer, you're a Druid. Plus rarely anyone in this show needs healing, beside Weiss, Ren and Oscar sorry butts. You're not just a Druid but basically a Red mage.

Jaune: Well-

Me: like bro if Vine had taught you well which he didn't. Or if you actually took the time to learn how to do that. Or if the writers gave a damn and the fan base doesn't have this beef with you. You would have been doing shit like this.

Jaune: Aw man, b-but my grandsword mode only provides me with more offensive options but no defense.

Me: You had a magnetic hard light dust mini grenade shield.

Jaune: Oh my God!

Me: To clarify, unlike these five with skill issues while having enough, you and Nora should have way more options in your bag now. Like Nora, why don't you carry lighting dust on deck or wear an electric collar or something so you can use your semblance whenever you want?

Nora: That… does make sense.

Me: If not that then you really should have been a maiden. Mainly because of the theory of Fria being your grandmother.

Nora: Are you serious?!

Me: Hinse why I hate both Ren and Oscar. You two should have been the main focus of the Atlas arc, along with Yang, Ruby and Weiss. Especially if you two together counter Atlas technology. Like Nora you didn't need to be passed out for most of the volume if Jaune was with you.

Oscar: Woah man I -

Me: *slaps Oscar*

Oscar: … … …

Me: Look Oscar. I hate you. I-I wish… I wish Hazel killed you. You are a waste of f***** air. You are just the solution of cry baby fans who hated Jaune so much that they would settle for a new character. You get all this power and still get whooped. Leave my site. Now.

Oscar: *walks off*

Me: Dumbass kid gets all that power meanwhile everyone else stays stagnant.

Cinder: Well-

Me: Jaune is always ready to fight you. Ruby can beat you with a glance. Penny could have killed you. Neo could have killed you. Shit Raven should have killed you. You even lost to Winter who just got the maiden powers by a few seconds after Jaune killed Penny. Remember you have to gang up on Amber to get those powers. Humble yourself. And remember you are Salem's weakest link so far. At this point, Cinder, I really think Pyrrha died because of the plot and her just being stupid.

Pyrrha: Hey.

Summer: What-

Me: F you Summer. We still don’t know jack about you. It’s been nine volumes and we still have no clue on what happened to you. Like I said y’all be selling the win.

Rwby characters: … … …

Me: I should end this here but- I think I should explain. Jaune, Weiss, Yang and Nora. You four should have gone to Atlas. Again Jane and Nora counter Atlas technology with their weapons. Nora didn't need to be knocked out.

JWNY: … …

Me: Nora, out of all people you could’ve asked for advice on anything, you chose Blake. The girl who has a record of not steady relationships. Really?

Nora: I mean-

Me: I say Jaune would be a better person to ask considering he wanted a relationship with Pyrrha. Plus, he has a different perspective of Ren. He may know something about him that you don’t. Plus you two barely talk to each other, so a moment between you two would have been good, at least so we can see you as a team.

Rwby fan: Damn he’s right.

Me: Believe me I think Jaune and Hazel should have fought each other, but Jaune vs Ironwood is three times better. Fights don't always have to be psychical. They can be a game of chess. Jaune vs Ironwood is a battle between two leaders with different ideals and leadership methods. Ironwood doesn’t care how you feel, when you barks an order, he expects you to do it. Jaune on the other hand doesn’t just bark orders. He explains the order but is welcome to input. Really James is Jaune.

Rwby fan: Damn.

Me: Yang and Weiss could have been arguing over Ruby’s actions with Weiss defending her and calling Yang out on her bull crap. Then when it comes to Whitely Yang calls Weiss out on her attitude with her family. The show has so far shown us multiple times that these girls talk to each other more than they talk to their partners. Why is Atlas any different?

Rwby fan: Damn.

FreezerBurn fan: DAMN IT!

Me: Ruby, Oscar, Ren and Blake. Beside the three having the physical training, powers and tools to navigate the city. In fact, if Blake has White Fang experience shouldn’t she know how to drive. In fact, if Jaune and Ren are capable of riding hover bikes I don’t see how you two, Ruby and Blake, can’t ride one as well.

Ren: But without Jaune-

Me: *irritated* What has that training been for?

Ren: … … …

Me: Struggle Sasuke- man you are worse than Megumi. Anyways everything happens the same. Except when the hound appeared Ruby tried to use her silver eyes but they didn’t work. Which is a bigger shock than it being capable of speech. And even if you guys could retrieve Oscar who to say the hound couldn’t make the Grimm surround all of you and force you to give Oscar back or just take all of you to Salem. Again, Salem wanted Ruby from the start.

Salem: Yeah he’s not wrong.

Me: The only alternative is instead of everyone on Ruby’s team being captured, Ren and Blake escape while Ruby along with Oscar are captured.

Ren: But then we’ll be trapped in the snow.

Me: You both have training and experience, I’m sure you both are capable of surviving. Also if the Amity started working you could have just called Fiona and she would track your call and find you. Or May could have found you considering she had a plane. Or if you still got captured by the Ace ops and still went into battle with them, you could have, I don’t know, called your friends and let them know what happened.

Ruby: But if I’m imprisoned then Neo and Cinder will find out and try to kill me.

Salem: Cinder would but I have her on a leash.

Me: Plus, Neo has a habit of toying with her enemies. Torturing someone is not far for her. Plus Salem gave Neo what she wanted more than Cinder did. Neo is basically repaying Salem by interrogating you for the password.

Neo: * “True” face*

Me: Now Penny, I would have kept her experience the same. The difference is Jaune could actually save her along with her father. Pietro should have had a way to come back and save his daughter.

Penny: How so? I fell from the sky!

Me: I know it's a stretch but if Jaune was training using his semblance to recharge his aura faster than normal he could jump after you and try to catch you.

Jaune fan: Son of a -!

Me: And Penny with your last bit of consciousness of yourself, you in turn save Jaune from certain death. Sadly, when you were found by Weiss-

Weiss: Wait I was with Jaune? Then where were-

Me: Jaune if the Ace-ops stole Penny’s sword instead of trying to capture her would that not be suspicious?

Jaune: Yeah… I mean though Penny could stand her ground the Ace-ops has the upper hand. Plus with how stubborn they are especially Harriet and Elm they wouldn't settle for less. Unless they were ordered.

Me: So with that in mind would you have gone to Pietro?

Ruby: Ratchet just because I was willing to send Penny to Amity to lay low doesn't mean -

Jaune: WHAT?!

Ruby: … …

Jaune: You planned to leave our most valuable friend on Amity, alone.

Ruby: It was to keep her safe.

Jaune: Okay. Again. Why did you let her go alone?

Ruby: Um.

Me: Jaune did she tell you Cinder was in Atlas?

Jaune: … … How long?

Me: A while. She also saw her in the maiden’s room.

Jaune: … …. *Eyes twitching*

Ruby: Jaune-

Jaune: Don't. Say. Anything. To me.

Me: Yeah y'all need to start relaying information to one another. Anyways Weiss you along with Jaune helped get a message out about Salem. Though it still wouldn't have made a difference for Atlas and Mantle. But then Nora calls Jaune from where her and Yang, under Jaune's orders, continue to defend Until you heard Ruby's team went away. I would explain more but I know I'm not going to get likes or repost on this so I'll end this here. Still the fact that none of you have a role, know how to use your abilities to their fullest and having little to no brain cells proves Atlas was screwed from the start.

[ao3feed-blakeyang]

What Else To Do

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Cg0Z4zN by Convoy914 When Ilia Amitola decided to join Blake in going to Atlas, she had no idea just what she was getting into. Can she juggle world-threatening conspiracies & interpersonal stuff? Can she deal with Ozpin & Salem, with Atlas & Ironwood, along with her feelings towards Blake & her companions, especially Weiss Schnee & Yang Xiao Long? And what will she be able to contribute here? READ THE TAGS BEFORE INTERACTING PLEASE Words: 2342, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Main Character Ilia AU Fandoms: RWBY Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, F/M Characters: Ilia Amitola, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose (RWBY), Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Oscar Pine, Ozpin (RWBY), Qrow Branwen, Maria Calavera, Emerald Sustrai, Penny Polendina, James Ironwood, Robyn Hill, Ace Ops (RWBY), Happy Huntresses (RWBY), more probably, I’ll update later when it comes up Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, much to Ilia’s…well she’ll deal with it, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Though that’s more in the background (sorry for not tagging right), I’m also conflicted on who to ship Ilia with, Weiss or Emerald, or both - Relationship, we’ll see eventually Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ilia’s a main character now!, In this universe anyways, That’s the point of the tag, Fluff and Angst, Ilia bonding with Team RWBY & JNOR & the rest, She’ll get there in the end, Also DON’T BE A CREEP, IF YOU GET OFF ON CERTAIN THINGS PLEASE DON’T INTERACT, IMMA NEED Y’ALL TO RESPECT MY BOUNDARIES HERE, Its still gross even if it’s “just fiction”, Okay we good on that?, alrighty then, enjoy the fic, or don’t read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/Cg0Z4zN

[bestworstcase]

final guess on beyond now that we know how many episodes; i would expect in the 5-10 minute range, mmmaybe a little longer, and each following events in a different location. probably in a narrative style similar to the epilogue with a character recounting the story as they experienced it.

specifics:

vacuo - probably won’t retread anything covered in the 9.11 animatic. i will note that we’ve heard from nora, oscar, ren, winter, and qrow, i.e. all of the core cast in vacuo except emerald, whose perspective on all this stands to be really interesting. betting on her figuring out her place against the backdrop of everything else going on; and maybe, because she’s the obvious best fit for this role, infiltrating and keeping tabs on on the crown.

vale - obviously, salem razing it. who narrates? glynda or tai feels like the ‘safe’ answer but my heart says salem. or summer. i’ve been rethinking 9.10 a bit in context with 9.11 having been planned as episode 12 before they lost those two episodes: 9.10 is very, very economical to its own detriment because it’s stretched to do the work of two episodes. what got cut? ruby sees summer walk through raven’s portal and then—“what?! what was that?!”—which is to say i’m wondering if the original intention was to reveal that summer joined salem in 10, aftermath in 11, and then hit us with “salem razed vale” in 12. if that was the plan, a ‘lite’ summer reveal does not feel out of scope for something like beyond; she narrates but we don’t see her so the exact circumstances are ambiguous.

argus - qrow, robyn, ace-ops, pietro, and maria have to get amity to argus to rendezvous with cordovin and secure help for vacuo. i think the most probable narrator is pietro; his grief for penny and central involvement in adapting amity to the needs of the moment make him the obvious choice.

mistral/menagerie - the wildcard. other than the new faunus rights movement and haven being closed, we have very little to go on as to what might be happening here. glynda arriving in mistral to solicit help for vale (if there are survivors) or vacuo or whatever the belladonnas and ilia did in reaction to the broadcast is the likeliest ground to cover. or both, since i imagine they’ll cross paths. narrated by ilia or ghira or glynda, i think, in that approximate order of probability.

if we see the razing of vale and salem narrates it, i am all in on her answering ozma’s fear monologue with her own philosophical outlook. because that’s fucking delicious.

[littleblackqrow]

❛ i just thought you’d like some company. ❜ 

"It's always appreciated." Qrow moved a little bit further down the bench so Robyn could have a spot in the shade, knowing full well that he was probably going to get a sunburn for doing so. He held out his flask, now more of a water canteen.

"You look like you haven't sat down in a day or two. You cant work yourself ragged either, you know."

[itsclydebitches]

It's not just a matter of perspective though when the fantasy story has literal, magic-based bad luck going on. Sure, Qrow can (and always could) have tried to look at what happens to him in a more positive light, but that doesn't change that he's still dealing with pretty objectively bad outcomes. Something like the beam nearly falling on Ruby isn't secretly a good experience that Qrow just needed to learn to approach with a more open-mind. The whole point of him existing in a fantasy world with fantasy semblances is that his, on a literal level, changes the probability around him, causing bad things to happen to everyone within range. That's sometimes a good thing for him by proxy if it happens to an enemy, but more often than not the bad things occur to him and his loved ones simply by virtue of them having the most contact. It's like constantly being shocked and every once in a while someone you dislike gets shocked too because they just happened to be touching you when one goes off... but you're still shocked 24/7. That little upside of someone else getting hurt too is incidental. This has been Qrow's entire life, an endless string of bad outcomes, so the reason fans believe his semblance has changed is because back on the airship, for the very first time, Qrow was able to invoke good luck: stopping the bomb from falling while holding onto Clover's pin—the same pin that's now being used in the epilogue alongside him catching that guy.

Beyond the specifics of how his semblance functions, how can Qrow possibly have a clear head after everything that's just gone down? This reading requires cherry-picking only the good things that have happened to Qrow lately—Robyn, befriending Clover, not drinking— and ignoring the horrific stuff that is both more prevalent and far more impactful. If this change in perspective is dependent on a better mindset... then Qrow should be stuck fast in what he previously believed because everything that's happened lately should create a terrible mindset. Salem is oh-so-close to ending it all. They've lost a Kingdom. They're living in the slums of Vacuo with, it seems, no easy way of changing their circumstances. He just watched an old friend and ally betray them. His two nieces are, he thinks, dead. Clover is dead. Qrow is a character who has spent his whole life grappling with self-hatred and alcoholism, specifically as a result of his bad luck semblance, so this idea that he'd come to view his "curse" in a far better light now, at the lowest point of his life, just doesn't track. It's one of the many reasons why the epilogue is, well, bad.

If anything, this should be the moment when Qrow sinks the deepest into that self-hatred. "Oh look, I joined the group trying to save the world and what happened? Got poisoned, Lionheart betrayed us, Argus got attacked, Ironwood betrayed us, Atlas fell, Salem got the Relics... even the guy with a good luck semblance couldn't survive my curse!" I'm not saying Qrow is in any way responsible for all that, I'm saying he should be thinking that way. If you spend your entire life believing that you bring bad luck (which is correct because again, literal fantasy magic) and this has convinced you that you're a curse to everyone around you (not correct, that's the depression metaphor) then having everything go to shit, including watching three loved ones die, isn't going to make you think that your semblance is a good thing actually, provided you just tweak your perspective a bit. It's going to "prove" beyond a shadow of a doubt that those nasty thoughts were always right: you are a bad luck charm and if you'd just stayed away from these people maybe they wouldn't be lost and drowned and impaled. There are so many great ways to take Qrow on a journey of accepting his semblance, a journey that might have occurred with Clover if it hadn't, you know, ended with him teaming up with Tyrian and getting him killed. The fact that Qrow would be optimistic now, at all times, just does not track for me.

I’m screaming Clyde, what WAS that epilogue?! Also since semblances were just a discussion did you notice the moment when the guy tripped and Qrow caught him THEN we see the pin? Which is probably calling back to the mine incident where he tripped and Clover caught him? But now he’s kinda in the unique position of causing both. Looks like Qrow did indeed get a semblance upgrade without explanation. Maybe that’s why he’s so dang happy lol

Oh man you're right! That callback didn't occur to me, but it seems too big a coincidence to not be a callback. Yeah, I'm wondering now if we're meant to take this as further evidence that Qrow's semblance has evolved into a kind of...equalizer? The man near him still trips (bad luck) but now Qrow, in a mirror of Clover and his own good luck semblance, is able to catch him with a smile. I mean yeah, we could simply chalk that up to Huntsmen reflexes, but it seems a little too on-the-nose to not be meaningful, particularly after the miraculous save on the airship. That begs the question though of what this actually means for Qrow moving forward. I mean, if he has good luck and bad luck now, don't they just cancel each other out? That's just normal luck. Congrats, your semblance makes you like everyone else where some good things and some bad things happen in your vicinity.

Ngl, after RWBY semi-canonically introduced the concept of some semblances severely impacting mental heath via Ironwood, my mind immediately jumped to the possibility of Qrow's upgrade coloring his reaction to everything. Not that I think this is actually happening in the story (and not that I'd want RT to attempt such a story-line), but from a fun AU possibility my brain went, "Qrow is acting all content and optimistic after everything in his life has gone to shit. Salem won back in Atlas, she's two steps closer to destroying the world, a whole Kingdom is dead/displaced, his nieces are presumably dead and at some point he's going to have to tell Tai that... and yet he's smiling. Not even in a 'I'm holding it together through extreme denial' way, but acknowledging that yes, he's actually, surprisingly happy. That doesn't make sense! I wonder if this spontaneous upgrade that presumably revolves around generically Good Things is fucking with his head somehow." In more nuanced and respectful hands, it might be interesting to explore what it means for a magic-based power to influence someone's mood. Can it be equated to medication? Is it seen as an "unnatural" version of who they are (something that, again like meds, could be a bias the show works to unpack)? As events unfold, is it revealed that his semblance simply gives him a stronger, more optimistic will for shouldering such tragedy, or does it become clear that he's not reacting appropriately to what everyone recognizes as—formerly for him—crippling emotional blows? There's a difference between, "My semblance keeps me from sinking back into my self-destructive depression. No, I'm not like who I was before and that's a good thing" vs. "Ruby? Yang? Uh... sure. I guess I miss them? I recognize that I'm supposed to miss them... but I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be? They did a good thing, those girls, trying to save the world and all, but now it's time to move on. Chins up, everyone! :)"

In my attempts to work through Qrow's everything from the epilogue, I'm also dying to know how long has passed. This is one of those times when a firmer timeline makes a huge difference because it can make or break our acceptance of these characterizations. How long did it take for them to accept that Team RWBY aren't coming back? How long passed after that when Qrow goes to wipe dust off the grave? If it's, say, a few days or weeks then I'm like hey wtf they should still be DEVASTATED. If, however, we've jumped forward six months, a year... that at least makes a little more sense. I don't like that we've skipped over all the cliffhanger conflicts of Volume 8 as well as a long-term grieving arc for every character that would fundamentally change who they are and their approach to this war... but I find that slightly easier to swallow then Qrow strutting around the new slums with a smile on his face, happily telling the ghosts of his dead family that he's doing surprisingly good during the end of the world.

Also, in the realm of skipped-over character growth, I saw someone point out that Oscar's tiny smile at the group's arrival... might not be Oscar's. Or might not be Ozpin's. God knows the writers have proven that they don't know how to write the merge on screen—they just keep insisting it's happening without either of them changing in any meaningful way—so this would be the perfect opportunity for them to just skip over all the important bits and land on the final product, a la Oscar getting over his crisis in Volume 6. If we hypothesize based on what RWBY has shown us before (ha) we should expect for Ozpin to be gone for good and Oscar is now in control, but with mannerisms and knowledge that he's never displayed before; a fundamental shift in his personality. After all, we never got to hear Ozpin the host. The show acts like Ozma existed on his own after a certain point, a body without a voice in his head anymore, but living as a, you know, merged version of himself and whoever was last with him. Which I hate! And Oscar hated it too, as evidence by him understandably freaking out about it, but the story never bothered to let him work through that. (Or just solve it with the magical aura machine + android bodies that have already been introduced.) As a favorite of mine, I'm not looking forward to being told that they've merged now. It's not Oscar. It's not Ozpin. It's someone who sounds like both at times, but really the characters you enjoyed are gone... without fully being gone. Combined with worry that Ironwood might come back—someone commented that the "Don't come back" was directed at Weiss, though that doesn't make any sense to me?—if we do get Volume 10 I can't help but think that, like Penny, the writers aren't going to leave these characters alone, despite them supposedly having left the story.