#this goes out to RWBY fans

[lovefortayley]

"I arrive at the edge of the world

And I wonder

Should I sit or should I stand?"

-The Edge, Casey Lee Williams and Martin Gonzalez

[unovaslankiite]

Prolly gonna be my one and only rwde post (cus the fanbase is rancid and I'm not rlly a rwby fan, just a person who watches the show): some of you rwby fans are too comfortable using your queerness as a shield to silence BIPOC voices about the racist writing and your 'precious' bigoted CRWBY. You guys unironically act/think that just because you have to deal with queerphobia; you are IMMUNE to being bigoted yourself and you are INCAPABLE of parroting bigoted beliefs. Cus I know there will be a dumbass ant1-rwde posters who will try to drown out this post by saying its 'lies from the EVIL RWDE!!!': You would rather weaponize your queerness to bash on BIPOC voices, while claiming to care about our voices. You would rather be complicit with the racist writers and their racist writing, just because your racist writers gave you a queer ship. There is no shame nor issue in projecting the abused you suffered onto the characters, however you refuse to see through the characters and their writing through a BIPOC lens. You do not get the right to impose your perspective of the characters at the expense of BIPOC voices, you do not get to twist our voices to be alt-right bigots because we called out RWBY's rampant racism. You do not get the right to say you give a shit about BIPOC and have #BLM in your bio when you fervently defend your bigoted company. You do not get to pretend to care about racism when you buy merch off of your bigoted company. My fellow BIPOC (especially the queer BIPOC): why are you guys so comfortable dismissing your fellow poc about their discomfort with RWBY's racist writing? BIPOC are not a monolith with the same opinions about racism in media; but some of you guys are weirdly comfortable with turning a blind eye to your fellow BIPOC getting dogpiled by the white fandom. We can and will disagree, you not agreeing as a BIPOC about RWBY's racist writing is not what I take issue with. The issue lies within you upholding the racial colourblindness in the fandom; like how the fandom was ok with throwing the racism under the bus in favour of queerness, you are ok with throwing your BIPOC peers under the bus for white queerness. Sincerely, a POC who has been watching the fandoms rampant racism problem ever since 2019.

[elvenoracled]

ok guys, walk with me here.

[invested-in-your-future]

"but it's realistic that they would breakup"

Not the point.

"But they had a lot of trauma the re-"

Also not the point.

"But at least she's a-"

Absolutely not the point.

Y'all trying to justify a narrative choice from within the narrative constraints.

That's a mistake.

Just like how many people never understood why so many would pick Bae ending, so many people just don't seem to get what the pairing meant overall.

Y'all realise what this pairing meant to people when it came out?

Despite the issues with the ending, the adoration and love the pairing has to this day has been earned by the game - it's inseparable from the franchise and it's reception.

It wasn't just another pairing. It wasn't just something that existed as bait or something within fanon or something developers never committed to.

Through the years plenty of ships get baited disingenuously while throwing the audience nothing but breadcrumbs - for example the disaster of Sherlock fandom, the mess with Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Voltron and so on. Or the way Blake/Yang in RWBY were the most blatant baiting that got no on-screen development(despite all the setup that show ignored for years) till the moment the show literally was getting axed and they wanted to milk LGBTQ+ community for money one last chance, skipping all the development to characterization characters deserve and attempting to bribe LGBTQ+ community with breadcrumbs at the last possible second.

And some shows would stumble into something important but fail to realise it and thus end up squashing it - ask Buffy fans about Tara and Willow or The 100 fans about clexa.

There were LGBTQ+ pairings in video games too but rarely they would be so front and center and very often would be playersexual.

This wasn't what Life is Strange ended up being.

Life Is Strange, at the very core is about queer experience - about fitting in, about making connections in the world that rejects you, about finding beauty in the life that hates and hurts you - Max and Chloe's relationship is the key to the entire game.

For some that meant letting go but for others? It gave the chance to fight a trope no matter what and to get an ending, albeit flawed, where a WLW pairing they liked can be happy and face the future together.

People lived through those two characters and their experiences finding something genuine to relate to.

Max and Chloe were that generation's Korra/Asami, Willow/Tara, etc.

Even DONTNOD recognised that in the end and treated it with respect.

Double Exposure might not pull a BYG outright but it sure does everything to kill the happy memories a fandom made about the pairing - to go back through every single ray of sunshine one ending got and subvert it, taint it, reject it.

Picking the Bae choice when playing Double Exposure is the Narrative constantly telling you how wrong you were to expect happiness when you picked the ending where the pairing is intact and how acshually it isn't intact!

It doesn't kill the characters but it sure goes an extra mile to kill what those characters MEAN to the audience.

Realism, plausibility and so on come after - it's what a writer does when they decide on a path. A writer doesn't just do something because it makes sense and is out of their control - they decide to do it and then make it make sense. Whether they succeed or not depends on how good a writer is.

Double Exposure isn't the story about a breakup. It isn't the story about two women dealing with their trauma.

Double Exposure treats an iconic pairing people cared about as a backstory element - nothing more.

Deck Nine expects the audience to accept what happened and move on to shiny new cast and possible new LIs.

The writers of Double Exposure are telling you - "look, this doesn't matter. Now here's a new mystery you can solve and new cast and look Max is back and you liked using her powers right? Use powers to do stuff."

To this developer team the core element of what made the franchise so important to its audience is nothing more than a leftover plot thread to "write around".

Because to these writers queer experience apparently starts and stops with searching for a relationship - someone being in a relationship that's not part of the story or someone being comfortable NOT being in a relationship at all just don't exist.

What Deck Nine writers seem to be doing is treating it as disposable or interchangeable/replaceable, while also inadvertently tainting whatever comes after with fandom rage.

The worst thing that can happen to a new character is being "the next love interest" - because people channel their frustrations towards the character (or in some worst cases, please don't do this, the actor).

Where there was an iconic part of the franchise Double Exposure, intentionally or not, sets up a toxic battle ground.

That's the point - treating LGBTQ+ audience as sales numbers, manipulating us, treating something that has been a formative experience to so many lives as disposable, or worse yet - malleable.

(And yes there's also a wider issue with Deck Nine and the working conditions there, misogyny, the nazi imagery and the rest but I don't think this is that disconnected from that? How they treat their audience and subject matter is a reflection of culture inside.)

[stiltonbasket]

Carrd for the Fandom Gotchas for Gaza!

Hello, everyone! The major MXTX Gotchas are officially complete; but If you would like to participate in more fandom Gotchas to raise funds for Palestine, this carrd by KuroJesterheaD provides dates and details for all ongoing, planned, and completed events as well as a list of verified charities and GoFundMes to donate to. The Carrd also includes links to smaller Gotcha events not listed here, such as themed or ship-specific/rarepair Gotchas, so make sure to check it out!

If you're on Twitter, you can follow TGCFaction to receive event updates, as the moderators are keeping track of/reporting on new fundraising events as they arrive. As of September 3, 2024 (new fandoms added!) the fandom Gotchas have not yet closed donations include:

ATLA (Avatar: the Last Airbender) (donations/sign-ups open indefinitely)

Attack on Titan

Bungou Stray Dogs (donations/sign-ups open indefinitely)

Dimension 20

Elden Ring, Bloodborne

Fics for Gaza (multifandom)

Genshin Impact

Hellaverse (Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss)

Hypnosis Mic

Identity V (Round 3)

Jujutsu Kaisen

Link Click (Round 2)

Marvel Comics

MCU Thor, Loki, and Hela

MXTX multifandom

My Hero Academia

Omori

One Piece

Pokemon

Resident Evil

RWBY

Special Containment Procedures

Studio Investigrave

The Locked Tomb

Vaultworks for Gaza

Voltron

Key: regular text, donations open; italics, creator sign-ups open; bold, awaiting creator sign-ups/running interest polls.

If you'd like to participate in a Gotcha that's still in the interest check stage, be sure to locate its information on the Carrd and complete the interest check/poll to help make sure that the project goes forward. And if your favorite fandoms don't have ongoing Gotchas, consider working together with fellow fans to start one of your own!

Please keep in mind that the funds you donate to the Gotchas do add up, even though the individual donations may be small. As of September 3, these projects have raised over $127k USD in aid for Palestine; but donations are still solely needed, so keep on participating!

[thewadapan]

Spent today checking out The Amazing Digital Circus and Murder Drones, and god, the kids today have it so good when it comes to this sort of content. When I was a teen, I was obsessed with Red vs. Blue and RWBY, which I think it's fair to say are the equivalents of the time, and the sheer gulf in terms of writing quality and production value is stunning. I hear there were some rumblings of unprofessional conduct from the production company, which would hardly be surprising considering this is yet another guys-working-from-their-basement success story, but much bigger companies with much shittier business practises consistently put out much worse content than this.

The Amazing Digital Circus is definitely the better show of the two, thanks to its slam-dunk premise and some great writing from Gooseworx. The producers have talked about aiming to fill a perceived gap in the market between kids' cartoons (The Boss Baby) and adult animation (Bojack Horseman), and I think they have successfully threaded the needle to create a very unique tone. There's a sense of these works existing totally outside the mainstream media machine; they're not getting BBFC rated, but you just know millions of kids are watching them. It's on YouTube and the fact that it looks like some Frozen Spider-Man kids' slop just means da parents won't question what their kids are watching.

But truth be told, there's nothing objectionable about the content of The Amazing Digital Circus whatsoever. It's unusually metatextual and loosely apes the aesthetics of much darker media, touching on slightly more existential themes than your typical kids' cartoon, but it still has a lot in common with those same cartoons. The zany characters are all fairly one-note, and the emotional arcs of the episodes are honestly quite straightforward. The second episode in particular has an absolutely textbook plot structure to it. It's a far more self-assured and traditional style of writing than you ever see in this kind of independent work—certainly far more so than Murder Drones, which is written by an insane person.

More than anything, I'm reminded of how I felt watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica: that it's a very solid work of fiction, but that the people who'd get the most out of the work are isolated teens struggling to make the transition into adulthood. Certainly if nothing else, the fandoms of these shows must be bringing a lot of kids together around the world. I adore this soundbite from Goose: "Above anything else, I just wanted it to feel kind of lonely." You see Pomni's worldview shatter, she suddenly finds herself in a body that feels completely wrong, and she has to construct a new kind of belonging for herself.

As for Murder Drones, that show's absolutely fucking nuts, yo. The writing is at once painfully basic and utterly incomprehensible. If someone just sat down and explained the plot straightforwardly, it would be fantastically boring. But man, the presentation, the sheer delight the animators seem to approach every scene with...! I'd say it's clearly trying to use "the characters are robots" as an excuse to expose da kids to some absolutely shocking levels of gore, much like the Transformers movies, but midway through the series it starts straightup swapping the oil and wires for blood and bones and you've got to respect that.

The writing itself is so excruciatingly irony-poisoned that it goes beyond cringe and somehow wraps back around again to being sincerely funny. The show kind of wants to have its cake and eat it in terms of constantly lampshading how flat and cliché the emotional plotting is, but also clearly aiming to genuinely tug at the heartstrings and whip fans into a frenzy. And it kind of succeeds, I think! The way it veers between bizarrely high-effort implementations of memes, seriously cool fight scenes and horror visuals, and big emotional moments is very disarming. If The Amazing Digital Circus is an attempt to faithfully rework the American-cartoon formula for a slightly older audience, Murder Drones aims to crib the aesthetics of high-school cartoons while actively rejecting every traditional narrative technique used in those stories. Which means it's kind of bad, which means it's also kind of great.

If it's not already, then within a couple of years it will be deeply cringe to have ever been into Murder Drones in particular or (to a slightly lesser extent) The Amazing Digital Circus, in much the same way that everyone seems embarrassed to admit they were ever a Homestuck fan. But like with Homestuck, I feel like these series are genuinely pushing at the frontiers of storytelling in a way that's commendable and might inspire new kinds of writing once the fans grow up.

ENA is also pretty good, for the record.

[matt0044]

What we can learn from “The Jaune Arc Discourse” (TM).

Well, to start with, people are really resistant to being corrected on lies at worst or overstatements at best.

Like if nothing else, the Does RWBY Like Women poll was illuminating in how it showed me that a veeeeeery weird myth about Jaune Arc has persisted beyond its true relevancy.

Volume 1 of RWBY features Jaune Arc in the spotlight for… what? Four episodes? The minutes of each adding up to roughly twenty minutes, the length of an average TV episode?

While he was featured in the previous storyline where we are given an eight episode arc introducing us to our eight main protagonists, he was a lot more… ancillary as comic relief. A discount Lavernius Tucker with Felix’s voice if you will.

He's Vomit Boy in episode one. Episode two has him introduced more formally as somebody who helps up Ruby after a bad first impression on Weiss. He later appears more prominently pining over Weiss and catching Pyrrha's attention before falling to bracing himself in being catapulted into the Emerald Forest.

He's bailed out by Pyrrha and it's set up that he's in over his head by not knowing what Aura is or at least wanting to know how it works. An exposition sponge as I heard on fan call it. I could go on but the point is that all signs pointed to a Butt Monkey Ron Stoppable sort who was likely there for cheap laughs.

Amusing enough but I worried if that's all he'd be personally. Lord knows that some movies give the Comic Relief character too much comic relief and, well, not enough character. But after Ruby and Weiss have their leader/lance headbutting, the four episodes that followed reassured me that there'd be more to Jaune than meets the eyes.

But to circle back to the main thesis, it's actually fascinating that the myth of Jaune hijacking the narrative for himself is this pervasive when the offending story in question... is very much a self-contained character piece. It's way less about the wider story involving Ozpin, Roman Torchwick (at the time) and the White Fang.

It has relevance in how Pyrrha starts mentoring Jaune after he deals with Cardin and gets over himself (for now) which trickles down into future stories. Even then, the next story arc right back with Team RWBY with nary a sign of the everyman in question. A story arc that does deal with elements of the main plot, leading directly into Volume 2.

And in Volume 2, Jaune trying to woo Weiss and being ignorant to Pyyrha's advancements was just a subplot scattered in the first half of the story. It very much piggybacks off of Team RWBY's whole deal.

Volume 3 has what I consider to be a reversal of what's been known as Trinity Syndrome.

Namely the sort where a male character goes off the square off with the main villain mano-e-mano after shoving the female character/his love interest away so she won't get hurt. An egrigious example being when the love interest CAN FIGHT and back him up.

However, Pyyrha instead shoves Jaune out of the way after kissing him and goes off to face Cinder in a very fatal battle. It was honestly a brilliant (as much as the term may be disliked these days) subversion of the cliche.

And it’s Ruby who sees her death and gets the trauma induced power up. Jaune only has a scene of angst before that and was the one to call Ruby to have her try and back up the one he just realized he loved.

Jaune from that point on is an Everyman Protagonist who is forced to remember that he’s not THE protagonist. Yet the myth persistently proclaims that he hijacks the narrative from the titular Team RWBY despite only four episodes being wholly dedicated to him and his head space.

How did we get here?

Well… there’s the fact that not everyone finished Volume 1 and that not everybody, well, watched RWBY. And that would be fine on its own. You gave it a shot and it wasn’t your cuppa joe. You saw the trailer but clicked on something else.

I get it. That’s fine. Contrary to popular belief, nobody in the FNDM will really fault you for it. Less fine is when you spread faulty readings of RWBY and from those heavily biased against it no less.

It cannot be emphasized enough that tearing into RWBY is a cottage industry on YouTube. Hbomberguy might have the biggest platform but you’ll find multiple channels with lengthy series on “RWBY bad, here why.” And they are actually amongst the FNDM. They know how the YT Algorithm game is played, how it rewards engagement above all else. And sadly, negativity and rage pay more bills.

It’s why there are few positive videos or at least few that are pushed into the recommendations. Many often borrow the same points from each other born from the V1 days, namely that Jaune is allegedly given favoritism by the writers while we somehow “don’t know who the main girls are.”

From four episodes.

I also think it’s also to do with how it’s not that he actually did steal screentime… so much as many anticipated he would. A lot of shows and movies I grew up with would have strong female characters but any potential they had was hindered by the male lead and his hero’s journey. See the above Trinity Syndrome I referenced.

But Jaune didn’t do that. Even when he was central to an event like his semblance being awakened, it’s a healing/power boost that he gives to others. Weiss getting skewered might’ve brought it out but it lead to her getting back into the fray while he was largely to the sides.

Seems more like he shares screentime if anything.

People cling to these myths despite legit fans actually pointing out, “Hey, that’s not true actually and here’s why,” because that hate being told they are wrong more than being wrong. And because there are many around these who reinforce this “truth,” they feel content with it. No need to challenge it when it “feels” right.

So Jaune Arc stole screentime. Because that’s what “everyone else” is saying. By you need to question popular opinions. You need to realize that sometimes… a fan community is based on lies.

”Trust me, bro” is not the gotcha you think it is.

[throrn2048]

Why I don't like the scene of Pyrrha's statue

I decided to analyze and give my opinion about a scene from RWBY. I'm talking about a scene that made a lot of fans and reactors cry but not me. Of course i'm talking about the scene where Jaune founds out the statue of Pyrrha. I don't like this scene for several reasons that I'll be glad to share with you:

1. I think it makes little sense that they made her an statue. I get that she was famous but the last thing the world saw from her was how she ripped apart another student. I don't think anyone but the main cast knows that she died fighting Cinder since she was turned into literal dust. Besides I think it's a little bit disrespectful that she gets an statue while the other students doesn't get any recognition.

2. It kind of goes against the character of Pyrrha. She didn't liked how the people put her on a pedestal so I don't think she would have liked this.

3. I don't get the unknown red haired woman's purpose. Who is she? Her mother? Sister? Her spirit watching over Jaune? We don't know since the writters didn't give us any name. What was the intention of the writters by doing that? Give mysticism to the scene? I think it makes it funny since we see a random woman talking to Jaune.

4. This scene proves that sometimes Jaune "steals screen time" from other characters. This episode should have been focused on Oscar who just found that soon or later his soul is going to be merged with the soul of Ozpin. Do we see how he faces it? No. He develops off-screen and gets a new outfit, great.

The only things I liked about this scene was the music and how Ren and Nora confronted Jaune about his self destructive nature. Once again I wanna make clear this is just my opinion. Don't forget to leave your thoughts about this.

Have a nice day.

[rachetmath]

Summer, Pyrrha and James

Ruby: Yes Ratchetmath is defending us today.

Me: Nah don't get it twisted ya'll still guilty but for once I am going to have to expose James for a minute. He's understandable but not innocent. Plus I made a promise and I'm keeping it so if you want to continue then go on. @arkosfan @expensiveeggplant

Okay, I do think it's time to keep my promise. Let’s talk about Summer and Pyrrha’s deaths and how they influence the characters. Then we talk about James's actions.

Both Summer and Pyrrha's deaths should matter. But, only to the characters that were close to them.

Summer's death was supposed to be or still is a mystery. Her death is assumed to matter to Ruby. Not only because she was a silver-eyed warrior and Ruby’s mom but because it goes back to Salem. After all, Salem met Summer and probably was the one who saw and killed her. And Summer was why Ruby became a huntress in the first place. An example is her fighting and clothing style. Now Summer’s death is being brought up more often and not knowing anything about her, Ruby sets out to uncover Summer's demise with each new detail dictating her next move.

Pyrrha's death should have mattered to Jaune. Pyrrha’s death serves as a reminder that not even the strongest can survive war like Summer. Jaune, realizing that he has to continue without her, rises to the challenge to become more powerful than herself. However, for him, how his partner and team are treated and how the world, mainly the ones in charge, react will determine Jaune’s next moves. This is due to Pyrrha’s death being very recent and so far the world has gone to madness. 

Now let’s discuss James Ironwood. James’s plan was debatable at best. I understand the overall goal was to use Amity Arena to broadcast to the entire world of Salem's existence. However the price- the means to get there was horrible. Not just for Mantle but the world.

First, Beacon; This man brought his army into Vale. Turned the Council against Ozpin. And is one of the people who saw Pyrrha and spoke of the maiden powers under Jaune’s nose. As soon as his army fails and Salem wins, he leaves. Leaving Goodwitch to clean up the mess.

Second, the world. I mean, James called in all of his troops, scattered around Remnant, to return to Atlas. This stopped trading routes. Businesses that relied on them to cease operations. Worse, lessens security around the kingdoms. Meaning more work for hunters and council members to deal with. So sorry, James’s fan but Nora and Jaune were speaking straight facts.

Speaking of Jaune and Nora, let’s discuss James’s effect on the two teams. 

For team RWBY James had more of a positive effect. James did more right for team RWBY than JNPR. Letting Ruby off with a pass and even praising her for her bravery. Giving Yang a pardon even though she struck a supposed student, breaking his leg, and not going to a holding cell. Giving Yang an arm. Backing up Weiss, even offering her a place at his school in Atlas. Blake though not receiving anything from Ironwood, hearing all his effort from her team would get her to side with him. So it’s insane why they're more against Ironwood than JNPR who he hasn’t done much for.

Team JNPR so far when it came to James had a negative effect. Mainly he’s the one halting their progress. He hasn’t done anything specially for them. And again, if he knew about Salem, the maidens, and relics, what makes you think he didn’t know about Pyrrha? Hence why I didn’t like Ren's development where he sides with Ironwood so easily, only because he reminds him of his dad. Nora had reason for Robyn was more understandable than Ren’s. Meanwhile, the only reason Jaune trusts him is because he trusts Roby. In my opinion team JNPR should have been the main ones against him. 

(Oh and let's not forget, team RWBY were the ones who missed up but James was willing to give them an option. I don’t recall him giving team JNPR any options at all. )

Now let’s discuss Mantle and Atlas. Mainly the difference between them. In Mantle, there are lower-class citizens living there. And thanks to James, most of the people have no jobs. Barely enough money to get by. And are attacked by Grimm every day. Meanwhile, Atlas has a barrier and ships defending them. The people are living peacefully and are throwing parties. Hell one kid, in RWBY Arrowfell, was sitting on the sidewalk to watch a fight. Minor but still this shows me Atlas is doing better than Mantle.

Yes, James does help Mantle with security. However, he sends a majority of robots to do the job. The same robots used to protect Beacon. The same robots that failed and nearly destroyed the kingdom of Vale. And another key detail about Mantle; it’s outdated. Everything from the Manlte’s homes and its street; which are in poor condition. To its wall; that doesn’t work cause Grimm can climb or fly over it. And its technology; which is from the military and the Schnee Dust Company. Not to mention the people of Mantle are being watched, killed, and/or arrested every few times a day. That includes the giant ships hovering over them while surrounding Atlas. 

(I don’t know about you, but if I was living in Mantle and saw not one, not two but thousands of ships above me and near Atlas, I would be scared. Because that’s giving me the impression that you are willing to destroy my home or that a war is coming that you don’t want me to find out about.)

But you know what makes this worse…. Amity Arena was James’s only plan. It was his ONLY plan, and the heroes took no processions to make sure the plan stayed on course. And when as Ironwood said,” The timeline has changed”, he was ready to lift Atlas into space. Abandoning not just Mantle, but Remnant as a whole. Someone once said, “The needs of the many matters more than the few”, let's ask this, “If you were to compare the two cities, which of them has the most people?” And I recall Mistral, Argus, and Vale have people too so… who’s the many and whose the few?

(Nah-nah. Let me say this. Let me say this. In volume 8, the first episode Pietro said Amity was almost ready in fact it only took a couple of hours. So this made me question something, how was Robyn slowing down their progress? Because it seems despite her interference she wasn’t causing too many problems. Yet Tyrian who works for Salem, has a criminal record and has been killing people left and right wasn’t on the main character’s priority list. Are you kidding me?)

So yeah, James undoubtedly had questionable methods. He had the right idea however the risk it took to bring this idea to life should not be overlooked, regardless of Salem's planned attack on Vale. James’s action only justified the world's hatred towards him and his military. Basically, even if his plan succeeded no one would have claimed done. No kingdom would simply give him their trust or aid. The sad truth is Atlas deserved to fall due to its own ignorance.

(And if you don’t believe me let me give an example. Adam who has an SDC mark on his face and mainly the mine workers are Faunues. Ilia’s parents died in a mining accident and Atlassian students just laughed about it. And then Cinder, who was a slave to her stepmom and her daughters when she was a kid and no one helped her. )

[foldingfittedsheets]

So as we’re all losing our shit over the Bumbleby moment I wanted to take a second and talk about it from a production standpoint really quick.

When you’re making media, shows, games, etc, you need to decide on resource allocation. Every single thing has to be planned out and accounted for, the shots, scene length, music, story, framing, environment- there’s literally so much more that goes into animated shows like RWBY because everything they include has to be worth the emotional impact of budgeting for it.

Now after storyboarding there’s a stage of ranking each scene A-C (or however far down you have to go). A scenes will get way more resources and time invested in them but C scenes- well if you’re running behind that’s what you can cut.

And what I’m getting at is that the Bumbleby Bridge scene is AAAAAAA. The animations are also much more in depth than general scenes, environmental factors like the wind are playing a part in the storytelling (and I can’t say for SURE but I’d speculate that Blake and Yangs hair don’t use physics engines based on how they move so every hair moment is being moved by hand by an animator).

So they have lots of follow through and unique actions with their animation. Their eyes, posture, hair, ears are all much more mobile and expressive than casual scenes. They have a custom song that comes in perfectly as the tone of the scene changes. They have a custom VFX with flowers blooming around them. (They get a tiny custom blurring vfx happening behind them too and while I think that’s a lower bandwidth it’s just the attention to detail, really).

So CRWBY just. They LOVED this scene. They spent so much time and energy making this as beautiful and magical as it could possibly be for us, because they recognized (probably ten years ago) that this moment would be huge for the story, for the fans. They heavily invested resources into it. They breathed so much life into it and I’m so grateful.

[freevoidman]

Well, I think the writing's been on the wall for a while, but it's a very odd, bittersweet feeling seeing RT getting shuttered. I've grown to hate the company due to the YEARS of exploitative actions towards employees and their racist + sexist behavior, not to mention their transphobia and other bigotry that I am bound to be forgetting. I'm glad that the corporate level of this is being most likely closed.

However, a sudden closing like this means a lot of people's lives and homes are now in jeopardy, and my heart goes out to the employees. I hope that they're able to find jobs quickly, and that their new positions will treat them better than RT ever has. RT has taken many great talents and chewed them out, but that doesn't mean their talents and skills can't be appreciated in new environments, and that doesn't mean that this is fair to anyone who was working under them. I hope the best for them going forward.

As for RWBY... well, I've had mixed feelings about the show for a long damn time. I saw immense potential in the show, otherwise I would've never watched it, which I personally have felt has been squandered with poor writing over the years. I feel like that can absolutely be linked to the general treatment of employees--writers and animators alike--and though the future of RT's IPs and continuing shows is currently murky, I do hope that, if the shows return, they come back better and brighter despite years of fumbling.

When #GreenlightVolume10 started trending, I made the general statement that this would be ineffective. While fan presence can certainly be a factor in renewing a show, the guarantee of an audience is not often not enough to get a show budgeted. I doubt this post will reach many people but, if it does, I would implore people to take the time to look up who worked on which of your favorite episodes from RWBY and see if they're looking for work. Try to support them in this time, either by RT-ing resumes or through other means. RWBY would not exist without its animators, its story boarders, its technical lighting crew, literally any part of the actual crew. Use that same energy you did tweeting that hashtag and put it into supporting employees who learned today, just like the rest of us, that they're out of a job.

This is a sad thing, but RT had a hell of a run. I can only hope things get better moving forward for everyone impacted.

[sytokun]

A lengthy thought wall about the recent RT shutdown and DillonGoo Studios' interest in acquiring RWBY - I speculate and entertain some hopium about the pros that could come with it and why all in all, impossible it may be, it's probably the best shot we have for RWBY.

Some rwde cause it mentions Shane's letter and nobody likes that.

I've been reading a lot, a lot of the various discussions around RWBY's fate and Dillon Goo Studio's (henceforth shortened to DGS) interest in acquiring it. Here's my overall evaluation everything so far:

This goes without saying but this is obviously an optimistic take on the matter, I wanna talk moreso about the pros rather than the logistics of whether DGS can afford it, whether you think it's just clout-chasing, etc.

Dillon's a former RWBY animator and a fan of Monty's work. No matter what you think of Monty's style of action, in the greater public sphere, RWBY is known and liked precisely for that and largely that alone, period. Only RWBY fans who are already invested in the show will mention story or characters - for the majority of people, i.e. future RWBY fans, the action is the main selling point, and DGS clearly can deliver on this.

Dillon himself is at least amicable with most of CRWBY and likely open to negotiate with them given prior work history. For any other media corporation, consulting the old IP holders of a defunct company is a minor formality at best or even a laughable waste of time. And if you want to bring up a certain almost 10-year-old letter and the person working with Dillon who wrote it, there are plenty in the comments section who would agree with me that it's not as big a dealbreaker as one might think, given the company the letter largely condemned is well dead and buried. I won't go further into that matter.

DGS is very community-oriented - they're very intimately familiar with 3D animation and produces creator-friendly content like the Goo Engine which helps future animators inspired by RWBY to make similar anime-style 3D content. Every single RWBY fan animator whose work we enjoyed benefits from this acquisition - all of whom can grow into future animators for the series, intimately familiar with its trademark action style.

DGS is probably the only genuine fan of RWBY that has a remote chance of acquiring the IP with the express motivation of using the IP creatively. This can be clearly seen in the steady improvement of their animation content over the years and desire to push the medium. All other candidates are corporations whose motivations with RWBY are, more likely than not, going to be entirely financial (not necessarily a bad or unhealthy thing, but it's a factor).

If RWBY stays under WB or given off to Crunchyroll? They have no stake in RWBY beyond pure business. They have no interest in what's best for RWBY or its growth, only how it will be most profitable or recoup the losses from RT. The only companies I can see being more creatively invested in RWBY are ArcSystem Works who implemented RWBY in Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, or Shaft that animated Ice Queendom, but those are both Japanese companies unlikely to go all-in on a foreign IP - especially given that these studios usually adapt other IPs, not buy them outright.

DGS is invested in RWBY. Their entire studio's style is built on RWBY-esque action animation. Acquiring RWBY more or less guarantees it'll become their main flagship series and their main investment, whereas with WB, Crunchyroll or other big platform, RWBY is nowhere near prolific enough to be much more than another shelf-filler in their library. At worst, Warner archives RWBY for eternity and at best, they only bring RWBY out for tie-ins and crossovers to prop up their larger DC properties. Why give RWBY the spotlight when they own the likes of Justice League and Looney Tunes?

DGS may not be the most plausible choice, but it's clear that unless some big company like ArcSystem Works or something throws their hat in the RWBY ring, DGS is far and away the people's favourite, even gaining approval from JJ Grelle (Tyrian's VA), who quite notably refused to reprise their role for Rooster Teeth.

DGS is still very much an indie studio which IMO RWBY has flourished the most under, the time period where it retained a certain unpolished energy that made you invested in watching it improve and grow. I don't want to watch a RWBY that uses its precious time under a new studio to just go by the numbers and coast by on its existing fanbase. I want to watch a RWBY that grows, innovates and takes risks, that impresses and draws new and old fans in the way it does for every single person that has watched the Red Trailer for the first time.

I think a lot of folks have a preconceived notion that RWBY has to continue on the exact same production value as V9 left off, but that never had to be the case. I think a return to a much more subdued production with smaller teams focusing on strong individual episodes over large overarching narratives will be healthy for RWBY and more easily invite new fans, which it sorely needs if it wants to stay afloat this time around.

Whether this means a continuation to V10 or a reboot I don't know, but I know I'd rather take a RWBY that a new studio respects and will produce in a way that fits their strengths and limits, over trying and overreaching themselves to make something work that even Rooster Teeth failed to, or over no RWBY at all.

That's the crux of it: the worse alternative is no RWBY at all. CRWBY and especially us as a fandom are in no position to be picky when that's the alternative. There's no such thing as a perfect deal, but this is about as sweet as they come. If the only hurdle is WB's refusal to sell, then that's on Warner. If the only hurdle is affording the IP, I, many others and no doubt other associates Dillon Goo Studios knows are likely to help them meet that price.

I do wanna stress, despite my optimism, I'm not asking to stake all our hopes on DGS as the saviour of RWBY, god no - the last thing I want is a weirdo Monty 2.0 cult and I doubt Dillon would want that either. I'm not saying the RWBY they'd make will be perfect or be equitable for everyone either - some compromises must be made and professionally speaking, whoever owns RWBY next has no legal obligation to make V10 or bring back anyone from CRWBY. Any such action is solely on the graces of the new IP holder and at the end of the day, I think whatever creates a healthier, longer-lasting future for RWBY should take priority over our sentiment or attachment.

But as things stand right now, if DGS isn't just farming Twitter likes and is honest-to-god serious about acquiring RWBY, and no better candidate presents themselves, this is about the best option we have right now, and I myself will be ready to help and contribute in whatever little way I can. Because I know the very real alternative is either a complete gamble on yet another faceless media subsidiary, or watching RWBY rot behind a vault for the next decade or more.

[linkman447]

Time for another au I got cooking

So hear me out. A universe, where the members of RWBY and JNPR, were adopted by the arcs for one reason or another.

Now I’ve seen ren and Nora being adopted by jaune’s family before beacon, but this time it’s all of them so let’s do the set up

Blake: during one of the rallies for the peaceful white fang an attack against the Faunus happened. Which was orchestrated by sienna to bend more Faunus to her side of thinking by making it seem as though humans are violent, but before she acted ghira wanted his daughter to be close to him up front

With the attack Blake gets separated and really lost (she’s about 3-4) and wonders into the forest and is attacked by grim only for papa arc to come to the rescue

Now this will have some changes with ghira’s attitude towards sienna and he’d be a bit more of a protective member and would probably fight more when sienna tries to take over the white fang would most likely start a more peaceful group after her takeover

But Blake would be raised by Arcs

Yang and Ruby: I’d like to think that during the mission wears summer goes missing tai, decides a tagalong and as a result, the only person that could take care of Ruby and Yang was Qrow which he was woefully under prepared for, but he was good friends with the Arcs and managed to give Ruby and Yang a good home

Ren and Nora: just look an any fan fic where this happens they get found after their home is destroyed

Weiss: for this all I can see is failed kidnapping planned by her father

Picture this, Whitley was just born, winter was too publicly known so what does Jacque try to do. Kill the unnecessary child but the plan is botched by mama arc a really old and dear friend of willow, who asked the arc matriarch for help after finding out the plan of her husband now this essentially is where Willow would start drinking unlike normally with during Weise’s birthday she found out just how evil her husband is and essentially ask if they can look after her daughter

Pyrrha: now this is more difficult to do and would require hmmm a more further meddling and adding of oc characters

In some fics Pyrrha is part of a family with Olympian names (names of the Greek and Roman gods) and she is treated quite poorly given her mother is a mistress. So in this case her mother passes and her father kicks her to the curb but her uncle Hephaestus takes her To the arc’s a family he knows would be able to help and the rest is history



So there’s my idea

[call-me-yin]

on second watch, I've realised Volume 9 feels like a love letter to not just early fans, but also to Monty

the focus on Neo and her relationship with Roman

acknowledgement of Pyrrha's sacrifice and the guilt Ruby feels over it

reversed Whiteknight dynamic

Ruby breaking down for the first time since V3

RWBY using their team attacks

and his specialty: fight scenes with story and character

an emphasis is put on Blake and Yang fighting side-by-side, because their feelings are finally out in the open and they're more in sync than ever. Weiss using all sorts of glyphs and dust and summons, because she no longer cares about being prim and proper and noble, she will be as loud and chaotic as she likes so long as it keeps her friends alive

and Ruby,

Ruby doesn't fight at all until the finale, because she doesn't feel like she can. she stays out of the way and never really tries to defend herself. even when she's being tortured by Neo's illusions, even after her Aura breaks, she doesn't fight back until she's right on death's doorstep. but then she speaks to the Blacksmith, and she hears that her mother loves her, and she knows that she is enough. she always has been, since the very start

so, she goes back to the start. whirling and spinning, using her Semblance, zipping around with her scythe in a way reminiscent of Monty's choreography, as if reliving the Red trailer in her mind. and once she's had that chance to show her newfound confidence, what she's truly capable of, her teammates step in to help her, because now she finally sees that they are there, and they finally see that they weren't there enough. they don't even have to talk to understand what's changed. Ruby grew the most, but they all learned from this, so she takes the lead at first but they finish it together

I just think Monty would've liked this volume

[citadelofmythoughts]

considering the author of evermre has said so themself that they don't care for bumbleby....

I remember when jl part 2 came out they watched it early so when people asked them if there were any big bumbleby moments they lied and said there was barely any, only for us to get a whole ass kiss 😭 not to mention they're fans of team crdl (which you can tell watching the series 💀)

Also they often joke with other wierdos in the fandom that sexualize the girls often about how yang "would be better" if she had bigger boobs and revealing outfits. Basically talks like a reddit edge lord sometimes so I'm not gonna give them any of the benefit of the doubt they're gonna do anything interesting with team rwby in their fan show

Well, I was already uninterested.

If this is accurate, that has now moved into despised.

Goes to show that every RWBY "remake" is an inferior product.

[foulfirerebel]

Tai Yang Xiao Long

is not a shit parent.

A shit parent doesn't love or take care of their kids. A shit parent fobs them off onto someone else. A shit parent runs from their family just as their daughter is born. A shit parent abuses, gaslights, and torments their kid.

Just because Tai isn't the best at helping Yang or Ruby with trauma, which doesn't exactly come in a parenting class or anything, and because of the problems in the past doesn't mean he's not there right now.

And I'm tired of people saying that he's a bad parent, when RWBY has PLENTY of examples of bad parents.

Raven walked out on their family. Marcus Black was practically Cassandra Caining Mercury. Jacques is...Jacques, needs no explanation. Lady Tremaine/Cinder's wicked adoptive mom literally electroshocked Cinder. The Vanille's were, by and large, only interested in Trivia/Neo as more of a status symbol then a kid IIRC or at least didn't treat her too well either.

Tai and Willow may have the problem of 'neglected their kids in a critical juncture of their lives', but I've seen too much Tai hate to let that go. Nobody appears to be jumping on Willow for getting drunk at every opportunity, nor Qrow's on and off visits or drinking problems likewise despite that coming in bad ways.

Nobody appears to actually think of Raven coming in only when Yang was close to death as a black mark on her record as a parent.

Did Tai screw up when Yang and Ruby were young? Sure. Is he still there and still trying? YES. And I, for one, massively prefer Tai over Raven as far as parenting Yang and Ruby goes. He was a much better parent to Yang then Raven was, and yet some fans treat Raven with kid gloves and reserve the sledgehammer for Tai?!

~

Okay, maybe I should confess that the reason I feel so strongly about this is that I relate to that. Not the whole 'emotionally distant parent' thing, but the 'raised by a single parent when the other one left' thing. Yes, Tai messed up in the past and that messed up Yang quite a bit. It's not as much as Raven leaving did, but it does deserve criticism. Not an explosion, however, we got that with the Raven confrontation(s) in V5.

Again. I prefer a parent who tries at the very least, and this includes Willow too, to a parent who walks away or actively abuses their kid.

For Grade A parenting (genuine) in RWBY though? The Belladonnas, Pietro, and Ren's folks come to mind. Heck, Saphron and Terra and possibly Jaune's parents too if we ever get to see them?

TL;DR: No, I don't think Tai is a shit father or the "third worst parent" as a mutual described him. There are far worse in RWBY than Tai, and that's the truth. I'm not saying he did nothing wrong ever, I'm saying people are being way too harsh on him.