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fairytail-whathesays · 8 years ago

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What happened with RWBY?

It’s time. Time to have address that which I have long avoided. Here’s a rough cut image from my blog (because it’s too long for copy-paste and I don’t want to give links to my personal):

But if you want to get a fresh, full rant, click the read-more below. Fair warning, it’s a rollercoaster, but I’ve gotta air my problems. It revolves mostly around certain characters until that one nasty bit at the end. You’ve got to see the steady downhill feeling.

I fell in love with Sun Wukong’s character right after his debut. I liked his personality, I liked his character design, and holy shit did I love watching him fend off Torchwick with those gunchucks.

And liking him wasn’t easy, early on. Because from the moment of his appearance, the fandom hated him. Despised him. Most of this being because Sun was quite clearly an imminent threat to the fandom’s very popular BumbleBY (Blake/Yang) ship. They would go on to claim that Sun was the epitome of homophobic and heteronormative writing, that he didn’t respect Blake. Most glaringly, they’d accuse the Black Sun (Sun/Blake) ship of having no development at all, which they really didn’t have any room to talk since Blake and Yang had barely glanced at each other the entire Volume 1 and only got one bit of good interaction in Volume 2 or 3, and had known each other a lot longer. I shipped Black Sun and believe me, I loved it despite everything they said.

But have you ever gotten the distinct feeling that writers don’t like a character? That they go out of their way to either lock out or punish a character? Because that’s the feeling you’d get from watching Volumes 2 or 3. From there on out, Sun and his newly-introduced team were phased out with startling speed. Which seemed really odd, because from his part in the Volume 1 finale, you’d think he was a character the writers were excited for. After Volume 2 was done, I got the feeling there was some meddling from the interfering businessmen happening. Because here’s how Volume 2 went:

The trailer and opening to Volume 2 not only included Sun, but actually gave him and his team a slot of their own, which was notable because Sun was previously a standalone character. Scarlet and Sage didn’t actually appear at all in the entire volume–you only see them for one scene very far in the background and you could easily not notice them–which in fact is what happened. Many people didn’t even realize they were there until they were pointed out. Sun and Neptune fared slightly better. Slightly. Neptune got formally introduced and they got….some involvement in the first half of the volume. A little. It starts off with Sun accidentally letting slip to Neptune (while gushing about how cool Blake is) that she’s a Faunus, which is kind of important to him. That’s supposed to be a secret–although just the next episode, we’re shown that Blake gave Weiss permission to tell the rest of RWBY and JNPR, mitigating Blake’s irritation somewhat when Jaune nearly spills that secret to a library in a loud voice.

From the fandom’s reaction, you’d think Sun was a terrible person who had a history of spilling secrets and not being able to keep his mouth shut, and owed Blake an apology on his knees. Yes, it was supposed to be a secret, but I repeat: not that serious. Especially since Torchwick knew by then, and Torchwick was a real threat.

Then came the little mini-arc about trying to investigate Torchwick, which led to Sun and Neptune tagging along for the ride. Sun got a little bit of interaction with Blake where he got to feel just how brutal the White Fang group had had it and how grimdarkevil they were now. Neptune basically didn’t do anything. In the climactic chase scene and big fight against Torchwood’s mech later, Sun and Neptune get the chance to show off Neptune’s weapon (which are really cool in this series) and Sun’s Semblance (personal power)…..both of which accomplish absolutely nothing before Torchwick literally tosses them out of the scene, so RWBY can do their thing without Sun and Neptune being involved. That’s not a joke–they’re ejected from the scene, and it’s very transparent.

This trend continues. In the Volume 2 finale, where all the different teams and factions are fighting off the Grimm invasion to protect the city, Sun and Neptune are shown arriving on the scene….and are immediately skipped. No seriously, we finish up JNPR fighting, we cut to them arriving….then it cuts to the Atlas army doing their thing and Sun and Neptune aren’t seen doing anything at all except bumping their fists together at the end. This was the finale! The climax of the arc! If there was ever a time to show them doing something, it was now! If they weren’t going to be involved or seen doing something, why bother showing them being there in the first place?! Sun and Neptune were in ten of the twelve episodes in the Volume, and accomplished nothing! Sun got more done in five minutes of the Volume 1 finale than he got done in the entire second volume!

The trend continued, and worsened, in Volume 3. In the Volume 3 trailer and opening, not only did Sun and his team get a presence, they got a big presence. In the whole teams lineup at the start, SSSN (Sun’s team) appear before JNPR–that is, before the dueteragonists/secondary protagonists. I admit I got excited. It looked like SSSN were finally going to get the screentime and importance they were owed. Of course, I was wrong. Shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.

Not only did Volume 3 continue the trend of shunning Sun and his team out of every scene they were in, it started the trend of making them incompetent laughing stocks. In their first battle of the Vytal Tournament (the four-versus-four team matches, in which RWBY and JNPR both dominated), Sun and his team do pathetically. Sage (green-haired dude) lets loose one sword strike which doesn’t even land before sitting there like a moron while an opposing team member takes him out of the field. Scarlet does better–he actually holds his own against the opposing team’s leader in one-on-one combat, but then Sun fucks up and accidentally gets him taken out. And that’s still Sun being the only really impressive member–he DID land the only real hits, and utterly smashed the one chick he fought with in the span of literally five seconds (I would say ten seconds, but five of those ten were him twirling his weapon). Neptune? Oh yeah, this is the part where they introduce the fact that Neptune is afraid of water. Cripplingly afraid of water. For this reason, he’s ineffectual for the entire fight until the end, where he tip-toes over to the water to electrocute the enemies in it. Yeah, this was an affliction given to him for comedy purposes, and to give slightly more credence to the villain’s plan of removing male combatants (no, seriously, that’s what she was doing) by manipulating the match settings.

Yeah, time out.

Put to one side Sage and Sun being varying levels of incompetent for now. Afraid of water? I’m sorry, but that’s just too much. Neptune is supposed to be a Huntsman, one of the immensely powerful and dangerous super-police of this setting who can slay vicious evil monsters by the dozen and hold his own against other Huntsman–that’s their job. Forgive me if I have difficulty in believing that a Huntsman could function well while being that terrified of water. And no, they did not actually explore this–it’s just there to make Neptune a laughing stock and unable to fight. Ha ha! Hey everyone, this kid called Neptune is afraid of water! Isn’t that funny!

It gets worse. Not only are SSSN still shoved out of the spotlight (we don’t even see Scarlet or Sage get any lines at all for the entire volume minus Scarlet’s one line as an audience member, and neither of them meets the main characters). But wait!

At the middle of the arc, guess who made it to the final round of the Vytal Tournament? The final round, consisting of eight combatants cut from several hundreds of losing combatants? Many of them with three to four years more experience than his one year? That’s right baby, Sun Wukong! Not that he gets a chance to actually fight his match or win, because all hell breaks loose before that can happen, but still! That’s got to count for something, right? Offscreen badassery, in spite of the chessmaster villainess actively trying to make sure he doesn’t make it to the finals?

Yeah, that wasn’t supposed to happen. You heard me right, that wasn’t in the setup. At least not the way the animators had it. According to the original scene, Sun and Neptune fought Pyrrha and Nora (two of the four dueteragonists) and got their asses soundly kicked, in part because Neptune’s fear of water was abused again–oh joy, more of that. Oh, nevermind that Sun at least is probably a capable match for Nora or Pyrrha, but you won’t believe what they had in mind for this scene. Floaties. Fucking floaties. Neptune was going to wear goddamn motherfucking kid’s floaties to survive water-setting combat. Ha ha ha! Look at Neptune, everyone!

Fuck that noise. Wanna know why this scene was cut? Irrelevance to the overall plot. So Sun only made it to the finals and got his offscreen badass title by default. And they were proud of this scene, too! They had most of it animated, and were going to show it if it got enough attention. This is the point where it genuinely became a humiliating thing to be a SSSN fan.

We’re not done. It’s time to talk about the last three episodes of Volume 3, where the finale disaster happens, a worse crisis than ever, and literally their last chance to show SSSN doing something or being effective. So guess what? They’re skipped again! Yep, they’re shown in the whole heroic badass teams lineup (Sun even seems excited to fight Grimm hordes bare-handed), and then they literally run offscreen and aren’t seen again, except for one small throwaway scene in which Sage and Scarlet helplessly cling to the back of an Ursa, such a minor threat it isn’t taken seriously by anyone around it. Well, what about when the teams work together to take out a Giant Nevermore? Sage cut off its head! Oh, well, he did it together with Yatsuhuashi....on an opponent that was pinned down and couldn’t move....yeah, such skill. Oh, well, Sun does make another appearance, after Yang gets her arm cut off and Blake gets stabbed! To, uh, say something? One line? Okay, I get it.

Guess what happened in May, by the way? Remember me saying I was a Black Sun shipper? Well, in May, the Volume 3 soundtrack came out–and in it was “Not Fall In Love With You”, a song from Sun’s point of view–about Blake. The first Sun-related piece of music in this show’s three years, and it’s about how much he loves another character. Not only that, but this came after Volume 3–the volume in which Sun and Blake didn’t interact at all except for one wink and a blush in one scene. Remember how I said the BumbleBY shippers loved to claim that Sun and Blake had no development whatsoever? Well, now I had to sit and stew after that slap in the face of a song and realize that they were right. They’d been vindicated. Sun really was just a boy-toy hetero love interest for Blake with no development. Man, that hurt.

And this is just the problems with SSSN. This was my biggest problem, but by now I had also already experienced Emerald and Mercury being overpowered, an insane BumbleBY fandom, the entire fandom having their heads up Roman Torchwick’s ass, everybody shitting on Weiss for being a racist even though she’d gotten over that two volumes (two real-life years) ago, constant streams of hate for anyone who got in the way of the ships, minor characters like Junior or Tukson being the butts of jokes and otherwise ignored, everybody insisting Adam wasn’t really a nutcase and that his sadistic monster-ness at the end of Volume 3 was “wildly out of character” (even though the only thing they’d ever seen of him was him wanting to murder bystanders on a train), accusations of animators whitewashing Blake despite Blake being white to begin with, and personal abuse of myself and my friends by assholes. But this was the final straw. I was through. What had happened for the last two years I’d invested in RWBY had seemed so different from Volume 1, where Sun had been one of the biggest badasses in the crew and been an involved character. What I loved about the show had been shit on and I was way too angry with how things had been handled to continue watching. I was done, and that was that.

After the Volume 3 finale, I quit RWBY a few weeks later, I was so angry. I had already quit. I’d gone from loving this series to hating it. Oh, but guess what happened the very next day?

Shane’s letter came out. Shane’s sad, angry, 36-page open letter to anyone who’d listen about how he, Monty’s friends, and Monty’s memory had been treated by the staff since he’d died in February and even before then. It was very in-detail and it was heartbreaking. The mistreatment and shunning of both himself and Sheena Duquette (Monty’s wife), the shameless and heavy altering of RWBY despite them saying in no uncertain terms to the fans after his death that RWBY would continue along the plans Monty had laid out. Everything in that letter just confirmed my fears about the handling of Volumes 2 and 3 and compounded my hatred for Rooster Teeth instead of just RWBY.

To my knowledge and count at the time, around six thousand people were pretty pissed at this and swore off RWBY. Oh, Rooster Teeth was pissed off, too. They did their best to handle it without getting in an online shouting match with Shane, saying exactly what you’d think would be said–that he wasn’t the only one who loved Monty, that it was only his side of the story, and that he was biased.

I don’t believe he was biased. To my fury, RWBY survived that disaster that was the Open Letter. People blew Shane off as merely an aggravated ex-employee and immature. And I might actually be open to that idea, were it not for the sheer length and detail in that letter. I don’t believe the people who said that read it in full–or even looked at it. The fact of the matter is that no “bitter ex-employee” writes a 36-page exposee decrying his former companies’ deplorable practices and treatment of the memory of the one who started, wrote, and directed RWBY almost a full year after he’d already been fired. Thirty-six pages. I read every single one of them, and I believe what Shane wrote was from the heart and 100% true.

I despise Rooster Teeth for what they did and there’s no excuse for it. They’ve permanently lost me in their viewership, and I just wish that Shane’s letter had had more of an impact. Millions of people watched RWBY, and millions of people will continue to do so whether Rooster Teeth deserves them or not. I hope they crash and burn and that RWBY tanks–that might be especially bitter of me, but I wouldn’t give them another cent after seeing that disaster if they were broke and dying in the streets.

#RWBY #Anti RWBY #Anti Rooster Teeth #thearchangelofzeref #Asks

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fairytail-whathesays · 8 years ago

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I saw your "special titles" post. Can you further elaborate when it is the best time to use it? (I personally am a big fan of such titles)

Climactic enemies, for one. Of all people, Jellal Fernandes didn’t have any sort of epithet or title. Having an epithet means you have a powerful reputation among people, enough for them to be slightly reverent of you or fearful of your name, or if not a reputation made among the public, a recognition of specific actions “Country-Demolisher” in Brandish’s case is a good example. They should refer to specific actions. or events that take place around the character.

You do not give epithets to individual members of groups of enemies. You especially do not give epithets to enemies that are incredibly unknown-of or secretive, like Tartaros were–the most anyone seemed to know about them beyond Cobra was that they worshipped demons. Would someone like to tell me who gave Kyoka the name “Goddess of the Slave Planet”?! Was it Zeref? Or Mard Geer? If so, it sounds like they were trying to be edgy as hell while polishing their OCs.

An example from Berserk is Guts “the Hundred-Man Slayer” and “Nosferatu” Zodd/”Zodd the Immortal”. “Hundred-Man Slayer” is a name Guts earned after single-handedly killing a troop of one hundred soldiers at the Battle of Doldrey, and it is a title that would follow Guts even years later, when his kill count had risen much, much higher and one hundred was a number of monsters Guts might slaughter in a casual evening. “Nosferatu Zodd” and “Zodd the Immortal” are referring to Zodd’s unfathomably long lifespan and seeming inability to die, and aided by his miles-deep streak of battles where he has gone undefeated. He has earned this title because this is a notable thing, despite actually being a fairly common ability, as most people don’t know that Zodd is an Apostle (demon), and in fact most people don’t know Apostles are around them at all. Other Apostles on the same level, such as Rosine or the Count, do not have epithets of their own despite inspiring incredible amounts of fear and nearly killing Guts several times. Accordingly, Zodd is a much longer-running antagonist than they are and a personal rival to Guts. Even the God Hand, the mightiest beings in the manga and shrouded in mystery, are not usually referred to by any specific alias or title, although they have been referred to as angels before. This is what I mean by using epithets sparingly. Doing so will make these titles that much more valuable and powerful when you read them or say them out loud.

An epithet should also not be only a single-time use; if people are truly fearful enough of a character to refer to them by an alias or an extended title, they should do this consistently. It should not simply be a one-time thing to introduce a threatening character, again using Tartaros as an example: Of the Nine Demon Gates, eight have epithets, and not a single one of them is ever referred to by one, except for Kyoka, who reintroduces herself to Erza as “Goddess of the Slave Planet” when entering her Etherious form. Mard Geer alone of this guild has an epithet that is used properly: people consistently refer to him as “the Underworld King” or “Hell King” even when they know his name. And when they do use his name? He is never referred to by just “Mard” or “Geer”, it is always Mard Geer. This gives an impression of extreme respect, wariness, or both on the part of those who talk about him.

Other correct examples include “Rain Woman” (exclusively, not including the rest of the Element Four), as it is a title that exists because of a notable event around her that many people would come to identify her with. Rain has followed Juvia everywhere she goes since she was born, it would make less sense if she didn’t have this title. The “Twin Dragons” are also a good example: on top of having magics that are opposites, Sting and Rogue are almost never seen without one another. They’re so well known for this that it’s like they’re a single entity. Try saying just “Sting” or just “Rogue” right now instead of both. Do it. It should’ve felt like something was missing when you said it. This is a notable characteristic about them that, while not necessarily inspiring fear or awe, would be reason enough for people to consistently use that title to refer to them.

#posts with responses #discussion #thearchangelofzeref #the-archangel-of-zeref #Asks

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