#weiss not big on romantic stuff but she enjoys initiating them is one of my favorite hcs ever
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#weiss schnee#rwby#my art#whiterose#white rose#if you squint#lil doodle breakk#shess such a goof i love her#weiss not big on romantic stuff but she enjoys initiating them is one of my favorite hcs ever#anyways shes in a suit because i said so
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RWBY Recaps:Â âA Night Offâ
So RWBY has this weird thing going on in Volume 7 where itâll give me a truly horrendous episode and then manage to turn things around just enough so that, despite my frustrations, I quite like parts of the next weekâs stuff. That proceeds to get my hopes up, only for them to turn around mess it all up again in the following episode.
What Iâm saying is, I should expect next week to be a pretty rough ride.
First, let me chuck out the details I personally loved in this episode that fit better together than spread out across a recap. Namely, treating Oscar like an actual human being. Thank you, Rooster Teeth, for:
Having him continually be involved by monitoring Jauneâs aura levels. (It likewise hasnât escaped my notice how much heâs been paired with JNR lately. The fandom might get their new âPâ after all.)
Giving Oscar some thoughts and feelings beyond just the Ozpin situation. Heâs worried about not having his semblance yet. Hark! A characterization!
Nora very kindly firing back with, âWell, I bet weâll all be jealous when you do.â
Yang using Oscar as a convenient armrest. Granted, Yang hasnât exactly treated him well enough lately to have earned that kind of casual buddy-buddy-ness, but if the writing is never going to call the group out on their Volume 6 behavior then Iâll take unearned kindness over continued indifference or cruelty
Jaune going out to the movies with Oscar and them both inviting Weiss. I mean, same issue here. Why is Oscar so comfortable and eager to hang out with the guy who attacked him? I wish that we had some acknowledgment that these kinds of things donât just disappear once someone apologizes. Jaune still hurt Oscar, badly enough to leave him flinching against a wall... and none of that even takes into account Oscarâs supposed hesitation about lying to Ironwood. He should be acting more like Ren, involved with the group yet wary at the same time.
In addition, keep in mind that Oscar is currently living in this happy bubble where everyone has chosen to forget that Ozpin exists. Iâm still highly suspicious of how theyâll treat him once Ozpin is out in the open again and Oscar is the convenient scapegoat for their anger. As said though, for now Iâll take it. I mean, look at that smile.
Right. Onto the actual plot.
We open on the aftermath of the Mantle riots, which is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped the group would actually be involved in that, giving them the chance to tackle a situation where brute force canât be the go-to answer. You canât punch out desperate citizens or run them through with your scythe. Instead, Ironwoodâs men are handling it and we reconvene with the group the next day, election day. For the record, we know it has only been a day---and not longer rioting as I initially assumed---because Weiss comments that her father dropped that bombshell âthe day before the election.â Which for me just speaks to how much time must have passed during those training montages. The political parts of this volume couldnât have happened in any short amount of time.Â
Weâre shown an interview with Hill wherein she quite firmly doesnât condone the rioting, but admits that there are good reasons for it as well. Her body guard stands very awkwardly in the background in a way I donât think the shot really needs.
We then segue back into the group training and, like I mentioned above with Oscar, there are a lot of details here that I really enjoyed. Two of which are Weiss creating a mini version of her knight to sneak up on Winter---yes, please show us this kind of creativity in the actual fights---and Nora and Jaune practicing with a rubber ball. Ren is also deep in meditation while all this going on, which raises some questions about how aware of the world he is in this state. Is he able to simply ignore all the commotion, even Ruby flying straight at him? Is he so deep down that heâs entirely disconnected until he resurfaces? If so, does he only meditate like this when heâs 100% sure heâs in a safe place? Would the group be able to wake him if something were to happen?
As you can see, Iâm obviously a little too invested in details and world building lol.
Speaking of world building though, we learn a little bit more about semblances here. Namely that, like hinted at in Volume Five and recently with Harriet, all their semblances are âevolving.â Jaune can apparently regenerate his own aura now, much more quickly than he could before. And Ruby...
Okay, real talk. Did I miss something here? Itâs entirely possible I did, but if not what even was that conversation between Ruby and Oscar? She flies at the pillar Ren is seated under, divides into three rose petal clusters to get around it, and recombines on the other side. You know, the thing weâve known she can do for a long while now. Since Volume Four I believe. Except then we get this exchange:
Oscar: Have you always been able to do that?
Ruby: I donât know. I donât normally think it through that much.
What are you talking about? Of course you know, Ruby! This isnât a new technique. And what do you mean by, âI donât normally think it through that muchâ? Is the writing trying to imply that sheâs done the split thing so instinctively in the past she didnât even notice she was doing it? Iâm just massively confused by this moment. Others have pointed out that the writing tends to make up easy to solve âproblemsâ for the cast to deal with so it looks like theyâre achieving some kind of growth. The most egregious example being Rubyâs lack of hand-to-hand in Volume 5, culminating in a single headbutt against Mercury. Notably, this supposed flaw hasnât resurfaced at all since then. Not even, say, when sheâs at a party without her weapon and Tyrian attacks...
This feels like another moment where they just threw out something random to make it look like Ruby is improving alongside with the other, actual developments theyâve managed to think through, such as Jauneâs aura. Which is particularly strange considering Ruby was set up as the one to evolve her semblance. Which will probably still happen... but why paint an old skill as new along the way? Itâs just all very strange.
Anyway, we get a nice shot of Ren coming out of his meditation where the whole world is gray like when he activates his semblance. Excellent visual cue as to his emotional state. This continues as Ironwood arrives and the group lays into him about needing to trust Hill. Which is hilarious considering that none of them are currently trusting Ironwood. He points out that common ground can only exist âif sheâs open tooâ---unlikely given the second half of the episode---and Nora is about to challenge that when Ren interrupts, asking about mission assignments. Ironwood announces that theyâre getting the night off instead.
Note though how guilty Ruby looks after all that talk of trusting others.
We cut to the girls later that night in their room, listening to the election news and getting ready to go out. Itâs all very cute, but I think Nora is onto something regarding how Blake and Yang are always together. Itâs so blatantly obvious theyâre falling for one another, especially after this episode, and Iâm honestly thrilled weâre finally getting some queer rep beyond former villains and minor characters. However, I hope that as Blake and Yangâs relationship develops that the writers donât completely lose track of their co-dependency issues as well. Meaning, Yang totally wrote Blake off because she âran away,â AKA went home precisely like Yang did, warping a natural and understandable choice into a personal betrayal. Blake in turn broke down sobbing and promised Yang to never ever leave her again. Separation is not a new issue for them. Their desire to spend every waking moment together is definitely cast as romantic now, but itâs also tied up in their inability to function well without each other. As we saw recently, a throwaway comment about fighting with someone else generates legitimate anger in both of them. Couples have to be able to spend time apart, so I hope the writing eventually lets the girls work through all that as well.Â
For now though, theyâre going dancing with FNKI. Very bad dancing based on what little we see. Itâs enough to convince Weiss that the movies are her best choice here. Especially since sheâs clearly not interested in Hillâs preemptive victory party. We see a tiny bit of that tension between Weissâ views and Noraâs, but nothing with any substance. We just keep getting tiny glimpses that Nora is potentially passionate about the people of Mantle before itâs all quickly overshadowed by her romance drama with Ren. More on that in a moment.
The two of them plus Ruby make their way out into the streets where Ren admits that, âWe spent so much time worrying about how Ironwood would react to the truth about [Salem], but have any of us even considered how weâre going to beat her if we work past that?â
Ruby reminds them that Jinn told Ozpin he couldnât destroy her. Nora: âMaybe someone else could?â
It only took you weeks to figure that out! Though I love how this still---still---apparently has no bearing on how they view Ozpin. This was another perfect, quiet moment where three characters, notably three of the least angry characters, could have acknowledged how terrifying this information is. How they still canât bring themselves to tell Ironwood, a man who thus far has done nothing but support them. Wow, I totally get why Ozpin would have trouble telling us. Oh also, we just realized that maybe Jinnâs information was specific to him. Maybe someone else can destroy Salem. Thatâs a pretty big revelation. I wonder if Ozpin himself realizes that? We should probably try to talk to him at some point.
Itâs while theyâre talking about the heavy stuff that Ren mutters about how they should still be training. Nora counters that they deserve a night off and the two of them clash enough to walk off angry. We see now at least part of whatâs been bothering Ren lately. Nora is a very bubbly, silly, go-with-the-flow sort of person, whereas he is hyper focused on becoming as strong as possible in the hopes of finding a way out of this Salem mess. He doesnât want to hear compliments while searching for a geist, or have her playing with his hair while on patrol, or turn training into a conversation about their relationship, or waste time on frivolous parties. Thereâs obviously a happy medium between Renâs work ethic and Noraâs relaxed attitude, though they havenât worked through that at all because theyâre too busy kissing. Again, more on that in a second.
They reach the party, Penny is there, Nora and Ren dive into another fight that serves to canonize both them and Blake/Yang. Nora comments about how theyâre spending so much time together, Ren observes that theyâre at least friends again, and the response is,
Nora: âFriends, huh? Just friends?â Ren: âWhat else would they be? Nora: âTwo people who have gone through so much? I think thereâs more going on...â
Itâs clear at this point that Nora is talking about them rather than Yang/Blake, but the initial comparison holds. Though she uses them as an in to discuss her own relationship, I doubt she was lying here. She clearly views them as a parallel to her and Ren: two partners who have been through a great deal together and, as a result, have grown to love each other as more than just friends. Those who insist that Rooster Teeth isnât heading in a Blake/Yang direction donât have much of a leg to stand on anymore. That ship (ha) has long since sailed.Â
Ruby sneaks away from their fight though nothing terribly exciting happens. She adorably clings to Pennyâs arm. They adorably fist-bump (ouch). Marrow and Hill get into a conversation about making change and whether or not sheâll accomplish that within the bounds of the law. Funny... I thought we saw that very same theme last volume. If only the writing acknowledged that thereâs a connection between this conversation and our protagonists. Weâre supposed to see both sides of the situation here: Hillâs need to bend the rules once in a while and Marrowâs desire to keep the peace; how the law is a man-mad construct thatâs far from perfect and the importance of making change in a way that will stick---namely, legally. Here is a complex look at a morally difficult question and notably both Marrow and Hill are minor characters. Itâs only when RWBYJNR is involved that the message moves from âEach side has a pointâ to âTeens are 100% justified in breaking the law and anyone trying to stop them is an evil, crazy racist.â
It honestly astounds me that Rooster Teeth can give us that subtly here but never when it comes to our heroes.
When Ruby finally returns she finds Ren and Nora still fighting. As she snuck off we heard Ren admitting---in the round-about way of theirs, pretending that theyâre talking about other people---that heâs worried, thereâs a lot going on right now, and basically implying that he doesnât know how (or doesnât want) to balance a new relationship on top of all the horrific Salem business. Which, fair. The problem is that they donât discuss this. Hillâs speech about how theyâre always stronger together resonates with Nora and she tries to initiate a conversation, asking Ren to explain more fully whatâs bothering him. To talk about it. He admits that talking has never been his strong suit.
I expected this to segue into a cliche, âWell tryâ moment and weâd finally get Ren and Nora bonding outside of their jokes and silent communication. Sadly, that didnât happen. Look, Iâm all for a renora kiss, but we have got to stop portraying sexual assault as romantic. Because thatâs what Nora does here. It doesnât matter how sure she (or we as the audience) are that Ren will like this kiss in the end. Grabbing someone and kissing them without their consent is sexual assault. Ren has not agreed to kiss her. He hasnât expressed any desire here to kiss here. Heâs completely blindsided by it and is flailing before he gives in.
People will justify this because, again, we all âknowâ that Ren secretly wants it and will be grateful that Nora got him past his fear. But thatâs a terrible message to perpetuate in a world where others insist they also âknowâ when someone âreallyâ wants them (they donât) and where kissing or sex is seen as an easy way to supposedly solve problems between a couple. How many times have we seen an angry woman in media essentially told to shut up by a guy kissing her? The message is that her thoughts and grievances arenât important here. The man knows her better than she knows herself and the second her forces her to start kissing him she realizes thatâs really all she needed all along. That trope isnât redeemed by changing the gender dynamic. Ren clearly has problems with their relationship that heâs struggling to work through. Nora clearly recognizes as much. Yet instead of acknowledging them and overcoming them, she erases any potential development by forcing him into a kiss. Iâm sorry, it doesnât matter how much Ren enjoys it a few seconds in. The continued message that forcing sexual intimacy on someone will fix both their hesitation and your relationship problems has go to stop. Kissing Nora doesnât magically solve whatever it is Ren has been grappling with for the last six episodes. You know, the stuff they were just arguing about.
Once again, RWBY succeeded in giving me something I wanted, but in a way that severely downplays that enjoyment. I wanted a renora kiss, but not without consent and as a way of ignoring their issues. I wanted more focus on Ren and Nora as a whole this volume, but it would be nice if their characters could exits outside of each other some. Like the criticisms against Blake and Yang, Ren and Nora seem to be a package deal. They donât fight with anyone else. They donât go to different activities (why canât Ren continue training if heâs that focused on it? Let Nora vent her feelings to a friend while heâs gone). They donât interact with Ruby when theyâre out with her. Their arc, it seems, doesnât exist outside of each other. Which I suppose is better than no development at all, but still.
From then on things devolve rather quickly. While Hill continues her speech---and we see the ever closing gap between her and Jacques---Ruby gets a quick look at Tyrianâs tail before Watts turns out the lights. From there Tyrian proceeds to murder so many people, including attacking Fiona and going after Hill. All the while Ruby and Penny struggle to attack, despite the fact that Penny clearly has night vision and hangs back too long, obviously for plot purposes. Itâs when she finally gets him away from Hill that Watts turns the lights back on, making it look like Penny had attacked the crowd and Hill was defending herself from her. Iâll admit, making Penny suitably creepy during the battle helps sell it.
Man do I hate framing plot-lines though. Not in a âRooster Teeth shouldnât have done thisâ sense, just that it hurts to watch people react so badly based on a misunderstanding. This setup works best when thereâs no one to refute the assumption. Yet here we have Ruby who absolutely saw Tyrian there, Penny who absolutely saw him with her night vision, Marrow who just made a connection with Hill and took the time to insist, âThis wasnât us, I swear,â etc. Weâve even got really basic stuff like, does Penny have blood all over her blades? Yet based on Hillâs look, all the evidence against Penny being the attacker isnât going to do much good. Which makes for a more frustrating experience than a sad, yet understandable one.
We end with Jacques thanking everyone for his victory, rigged by Watts. Watts uploads the video of the attack, which has presumably either been altered in some way or just shows Penny in that damning position with her weapons out. If the former, that would at least go a long way towards explaining the inevitable backlash against her. An angry mob in the heat of the moment is one thing, but if Watts is looking to convince the entirety of Atlas that Ironwood is using his robot---a robot the people seem to currently love---to take out his competition, a doctored video of Penny attacking innocent people is far more persuasive. For both them and us the audience, wondering why everyone is this gullible. So far weâve gotten some truly excellent villainy this year. Letâs continue that with them thinking ahead.Â
At the very least this should (should) provide us with some excellent development for Penny. Sheâs long struggled with her status as a robot and being the defender of Atlas seems to have helped her come into herself. Having others accept her differences as a boon will do that. Now that sheâs labeled as nothing more than a dangerous weapons again? We should see some inner conflict. The writing didnât let her or anyone else grapple with her death. For the love of everything, at least let Penny grapple with this.Â
Finally, Ruby and the others are forced to spend the night defending the city from a ton of grimm. Seriously, take in how many grimm showed up because of an election. Now think about what will happen if Ironwood announces Salemâs existence... I donât think the cast is admitting to themselves precisely how many lives theyâd be sacrificing by pulling that stunt. Ironwood at least (as far as we know) truly thinks he has a shot at winning the war. Ruby has no excuse at this point, with the exception that telling people about Salem is just plain hard.
Insert standard âOzpin was right and theyâre being hypocritesâ meta here.
And thatâs it, folks! Issues aside, an all around better episode than some of the others weâve gotten this season. Based off of experience itâll be a small miracle if RWBY manages to keep that up next week.
Until then đ
Minor Things of Note
All the people who were arrested the day of the election... do they get to vote? I know Watts rigged things, but potentially keeping everyone that furious with Ironwood from deciding who will oppose him on the council wonât exactly look good... especially combined with the Penny situation. Not that I think RWBY would actually introduce that as a complication. Just a thought.
Another extremely nit-picky thing, but itâs hilarious to me how bare the girlsâ room is. Obviously thereâs little time or inclination to animate personal items, even the few they have, but it kind of looks ridiculous to have this sterile space with one mirror and one tube of mascara. Here are the exact things we need for this scene and nothing more! I do like that shot in the mirror though.
Fiona getting teary-eyed over Hill being on the council was beautiful. I barely know them, but I like these two.
Iâm just gonna post this again...Â
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I think Yang x Blake is cute, BUT, I really think they should deal with the fact that, "Hey I just killed Adam [An abusive ex/ the source of my trauma] in self defense and I need some time to myself before I head into a / [another] relationship" again it's cute but I feel like they might be jumping in a bit too soon, especially after all they went through, NO HATE on the ship, just my opinion
Hey I hear you anon-chan and I actually kind of share in your sentiment. Speaking for myself mostly here, I neither have any hate toward Bumblebee as a ship nor am I against the CRWBY desiring to make them endgame if thatâs what they are planning.
My one gripe with the treatment of the Bees has never been with the ship itself but more so the direction the PLOT took the pair in terms of how they introduced conflict between them in the form of their shared experience over being hurt by Adam as well as Yangâs feelings over Blake leaving her behind during a dire time when she couldâve used her support as a friend.
Originally I was under the impression that the CRWBY Writers were going to use this narrative opportunity to further delve deeper into Yang and Blakeâs relationship as a whole; allowing the two time to properly talk to one another regarding their true feelings over everything while working through any misunderstandings still left behind from their tension concerning Adam.
With the way how V5 portrayed Yangâs anger towards Blake, I figured we as the audience were going to have to watch the two girls work to rebuild the trust they once had in one another. I figured that V5 wouldâve concluded with Team RWBY being reunited but still feeling divided given the lingering tension between Yang and Blake.
Since we got roughly 2-3 seasons with the tension simmering between Blake and Yang while they were apart, I figured we would have gotten 2 more seasons or at least one with the two rebuilding what they once had, possibly even introducing moments for Weiss and Ruby to intervene to help quell the strain between their two teammates leading to chances of seeing more of Weiss bonding with Yang (since I really enjoyed their Freezer burn friendship moments from V5) and even Ruby bonding with Blake (a dynamic we have yet to see explored at all).
I genuinely figured the Beesâ reconciliation phase was going to be another slow burn of events since the PLOT really made me believe it was going to be that way given how V5 shaped up. I thought we were going to get Yang and Blake learning to trust in each other again for at least one season or two before jumping into the whole Adam debacle. And even after that was wrapped up, I figured the show wouldâve steadily come off of that experience, continuing to improve and grow the friendship and bond between the Bees before starting to introduce any prospective romantic interest.
Thatâs how I figured the Bees were going to go. But thatâs not the case for the CRWBY. Not only did Yang get over her initial anger toward Blake (a little too quickly, in my opinion) by the end of V5 going into V6 without the need to actually talk to her directly regarding her feelings during her absence, but both Blake and Yang have also gotten over their qualms surrounding Adam fairly quickly as well. Almost hard to believe that the events of V3-V6 even happened anymore given how carefree and upbeat both girls are behaving right now. But then again, this is only my opinion based off my own observation of the pair.
Itâs not even my place to be discussing Bumblebee anyways. If I may be honest with you anon-chan, this squiggle meister doesnât really care that much for the Bees anymore and I have voiced this before in recent times. Nothing against them, itâs just that all the recent discourse surrounding the pair that arose since the end of V6 has honestly left me exasperated by the whole thing and Iâm not even a Bee-shipper.
Iâm just tired of hearing about all the bickering between the folks who love the Bees and the folks who donât; particularly the ones who take it to the extreme on BOTH sides. And by that I mean from the Bee-haters who harp on the Bees because itâs LGBT and also from the Bee-supporters who cry âhomophobiaâ at anyone who says anything negative about Bumblebee, even if itâs just someone innocently giving their genuine honest thoughts on the pair without any animosity at all.
I remember listening in on one of MurderofBirdsâ YouTube Livestream Discussions when a member of the non-Bee crowd sent him a super chat just to spurt more discourse at the Bees. I even had my own run-in with one of the Bee-supporters who cry homophobia when one of them sent me an anonymous message telling me to âstop speaking out of placeâ when discussing LGBT couples and representation on my blog since according to them, me being a straight person automatically means that I canât related to folks from the LGBT community. All because someone prompted me for my thoughts on the Bees and LGBT rep in RWBY in general and I gave my honest thoughts as respectably as I always do. And itâs stuff like that that further justifies why I personally donât care anymore.
So sink or swim or whatever the CRWBY decides to do with the Bees, I honestly donât business that much. Iâve already shared my views on the Bees, the progression of their relationship and the treatment of the ship by the FNDM once or twice when asked about it on my blog and Iâm going to leave it at that.
I donât even wish to discuss the Bees much on my blog period since I donât wish to attract the wrong kind of attention. As Iâll say again, itâs not my place to discuss a ship I donât really care about.
The PLOT could do whatever it so desires to do for the Bees for V7 and it wouldnât make much difference for me. But for your sake anon-chan, who knows? Maybe the Bees might just get that big heart to heart moment after all at some point down the line in the season. Letâs wait and see, fam.
That being said, the only thing I could use right now is for the PLOT to share some of that good cush itâs been dutifully feeding the Bees for every single episode of V7 so far with the Rosegarden. I mean, itâs nice that the Bees are being fed and all, however the Rosegarden hasnât been watered by the PLOT since the third episode and as Rosegardener, this displeases me =v=); .
Iâm blaming Double D Rivas for that since MK and Khaleesi made sure to water the garden in their respective episodes. But not Eddy though. Double D left us dryâŚfor two whole episodes. Dagnabbit Double D!
 ~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)
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RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 6 Review/Runthrough
I know Iâm very late with this, but finals were hell.Â
This chapter went from a middle ground of curious tension to the highest hype to the deepest dread and despair over the course of its roughly 16 minutes of run time and I hated that. And I love it. I hope yâall did too, but letâs take it step by step together.
It starts somewhat close to where chapter 5 left off, the riots in Mantle have been quelled and several people are in handcuffs, including three familiar thirsty moms. Guess the Happy Huntresses are popular with housewives, wish fulfillment of making a difference in the world yourself and all that. Robyn herself is being interviewed as weâre shown the riot aftermath and people getting in line to vote at electronic polling machines. And we get our first major surprise of the episode. There were two other candidates we never heard about, Ivy Brown and Pearl Wistier! So can we get some Fâs in the comments for these two, who didnât get any recognition or screen time and with the election ending probably never will? As Robyn talks about hoping voters will make the right choice and that the connection between her supporters and the riots is pure coincidence, we see Team RWBY and JNR training while Oscar watches. Blake and Yang are jumping around atop towers, Weiss is sparring with Winter again, Ruby is practicing her semblance, Ren meditates, and Nora and Jaune are bouncing a dodgeball back and forth to test his new shield. The Bees jumping around reminded me a little of the Chibi episode where they played tag, so I liked that. Weiss bounces Winterâs Beowolf around on black glyphs in a manner that made me think of a move Sans uses in Undertale, a very fun connection, and then she knocks Winter off guard by sending a small version of her knight to attack Winterâs ankle. Her playful smirk says sheâs not sorry~ Rubyâs petal form splits into three parts to go around a pillar, and Oscar finally calls her out on that being a little unusual if her Semblance really is speed. The dodgeball keeps getting hit harder and harder as Nora puts her thunderous all into it until it dissolves against Jauneâs shield when he uses the Dust upgrades to better defend. He takes some damage to his Aura but recovers again very quickly, much to Oscarâs enthusiasm. Renâs meditation seems to suggest heâs trying to unlock some kind of precognition or ability to sense other people like he had in Volume 4 when Tyrian was approaching to ambush them. But he doesnât quite get it down yet and instead Ironwood and Clover enter.
70%-30%
Ironwood is impressed by how hard the teens are pushing themselves, with Ruby affirming it to be necessary with the current state of affairs, and Ironwood seems to think the info on his Scroll is evidence of that. The poll numbers favor Robyn, which is undeniably better than Jacques winning even if the Happy Huntresses and the military are in a silent stand off, and the young heroes think the general should make more of an effort to be open with her about what they are doing since theyâre all on the same side of wanting to help Mantle. Nora argues for the sake of Mantle quite vehemently, furthering my theory and probably many othersâ that she was born here. Jaune seems to agree, but Ironwood says that kind of communication will have to be a two way street and by his tone of voice Iâm guessing he doubts that will happen any time soon. Before Nora can offer a rebuttal Ren asks why the General is here. Turns out, with the election happening tonight and the teams having done so much work recently, theyâve decided the kids should get the night off before things really start changing once Robyn or Jacques is elected. Ruby doesnât seem to like thinking about that, probably because everything in Atlas will get very different once the Amity Project is complete and she still doesnât know how that will go.Â
Regardless, Team RWBY make plans for the evening. While Weiss stands around glumly looking at the news feed on her Scroll, Blake puts on some eye makeup that Iâm too uninformed to know the name of and Yang stares longingly at her from her bed. At least, thatâs how I saw it. The two of them are going dancing with Team FNKI, in a club where it will be too loud for Yang to be able to hear Neonâs voice. Just the way she likes it~ Meanwhile Ruby is going with Ren and Nora to meet up with Penny at a party in Mantle to celebrate Robynâs surefire win of the election. Because overconfidence like that has never backfired in media before. Weiss is still mentally torn about her fatherâs big layoff stunt and how in the world he thought it would actually work out for him with what a cunning man heâs always been. Yang thinks it was just a power play that backfired, but Weiss worries thereâs a grander scheme below the surface. Then sheâs asked which group activity she would rather be a part of, so after seeing Blakeâs adorkable attempt to do a dance move Yang is showing her she chooses the suddenly appearing third option: going to the movies with Jaune and Oscar. Volume 2 Jaune would be so impressed his older self got Weiss to agree to that kind of thing with minimal effort... but also be very upset by all the terrible things that happened to the guy up to that point. So it barely matters to our Jaune anymore. Still, hope it was a good movie cuz thatâs the last we see of those three for the rest of the chapter.
67%-33%
Ruby and Renora are next seen walking down the street as celebrating Robyn fans pass by in a truck. Ren admits he sees Weissâ point about celebrating a bit soon but Nora tries to be an optimist about it, that the people should be allowed to enjoy this supposed surefire thing. Ruby admits nothing will probably be a sure thing anymore once the Tower goes up and Salemâs existence becomes known, with Ren and Nora affirming that theyâve spent so long worrying about the secrets theyâve been keeping they havenât thought about how they would have no plan to face her even once they get past that. Afterall, Jinn said she canât be beaten. Ruby reminds them the exact phrasing was that she told Oz he couldnât destroy her, and Nora picks up on the specifics. If Oz canât, then maybe someone else can. And with her Silver Eyed powers Ruby seems like their best gamble for that. Personally Iâm still of the mind that the point Jinn was trying to make wasnât that âOz canât destroy Salemâ and was instead that âOz canât destroy Salemâ. Redemption and the restoration of her kinder former soul may be the best solution to this. But who knows? Regardless, Ren is restless and thinks they should go back to training, that they donât have time to waste with social gatherings and fun distractions, but Nora says theyâve done enough for now and they need to unwind otherwise theyâll snap. So theyâre at odds now, unfortunately...
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The three reach the town hall/auditorium where the rally is taking place and meet up with Penny, who is very happy to see them but wonders why it is only these three. Nora explains what Weiss and the boys are doing and that the bees are off doing their own thing, and Ren comments that heâs relieved the two are back on good terms after everything that happened. But Nora sees this as an opportunity to be passive aggressive. See, the situation with Blake and Yang is very similar to her tumultuous ���will they wonât theyâ with Ren. So she calls into question whether or not Blake and Yang are actually just friends or something more intimate and close after being through such deep bonding experiences, but we can tell sheâs actually asking about where she and Ren stand. Ren picks up on what she means immediately and fires back how he feels on the matter while keeping up the pretext of this being about the others. Itâs kinda funny to realize theyâre being so indirect and also teasing how romantic things seem with Blake and Yang when the fandom has been having similar arguments. But it does offer insight into their actual feelings: Nora wants to take that step and has always worn her heart on her sleeve so sheâs ready to show how she feels but she also wants to be sure Ren feels the same so she doesnât misread the signs. But Ren is worried that with all the deep political stuff happening and the impending threat of chaos Salemâs reveal will bring, now isnât really the right time for relationship stuff. Nora fires back that they canât figure anything out unless they talk about it, and I do kind of agree. If thereâs tension like this between the pair then it might affect their teamwork and trust.
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Ruby wants no part of this awkward conversation and slides over to Pennyâs side, who also realizes the argument probably isnât about the Bees. So the two head backstage instead, where Marrow is waiting and initially seems happy to see Ruby before getting back into a work mindset and says she shouldnât be here since sheâs still an amateur who wasnât assigned to this job. But Ruby says sheâs just here to be with her friend, and offers Penny a fistbump. Penny looks overjoyed to see this invitation, and eagerly gives Ruby a bump. Unfortunately, steel fists really hurt and Rubyâs hand starts throbbing red. Ouch~ Marrow just tells her not to get in the way, since they need to stay vigilant in case of any trouble. He is interrupted by the one and only... May Marigold, one of the Happy Huntresses we saw when they stopped the truck last episode.Â
May is... a deep new kind of character, for reasons that have become clear in recent days and were first brought to my mind when I saw the cast list for this episode. May is voiced by Kdin Jenzen, a lovely woman who works for Rooster Teeth and is memorable for such feats as being able to handle super hot chips with ease on the last two RT Extra Life livestreams. She is also a trans woman. This does nothing to diminish my opinion of her and it should not affect yours. This fact also adds a layer of depth to the character, as the likelihood of May being trans as well seemed rather possible. And as of December 17, this is confirmed: May Marigold is RWBYâs first confirmed trans character. An extra layer of diversity to the world of Remnant is most definitely welcome, and it also adds some depth of character to Robyn Hill. Her group is comprised solely of women, and its a very good look for her that she sees May as one every bit as much as Fiona or herself. Because as we all know, TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN. Okay, tangent over for now.
May sasses Marrow a bit, saying the Happy Huntresses wonât be the ones causing any trouble and are there to make sure nothing goes wrong. So Marrow can scram, heâs not welcome. The poor pup tries to stand up for his faction, saying Ironwood just wants to help and the Ace Ops are there for good reasons. Heâs interrupted by Robyn herself though, who accepts his presence as protective assistance as long as he stays out of the way. Clearly this isnât what May or Joanna were expecting to hear, but Robyn says they need to learn how to get along if sheâs gonna be on the council. Marrow tries to give her attitude by saying getting along will be easy as long as she stays within the law. Clearly her prior roadblocking activities make him think she hasnât been. She tries to appeal to him and get through the strict military obedience, saying the law isnât fair to everyone and he shouldnât always have to obey it to the word. But heâs a Faunus in Atlas, itâs preaching to the choir at this point. She says all she wants to do as a council member is make Mantle and Atlas a better place for everyone, including the Faunus. But Marrow is unmoved, he still wants to guilt her about keeping her activities legal. But she matches his attitude tit for tat, everything so far has been totally legal and he canât prove otherwise~ Their staredown is interrupted by the absolute angel that is Fiona Thyme causing feedback on the microphone and reminding Robyn she needs to get back to the party activities. Marrow backs off and tells Ruby to leave so he and Penny can do their jobs, so she sticks her tongue out at him behind his back and waves goodbye to Penny before returning to Ren and Nora... where things havenât gotten any better. So she just turns right around to hang out at the front of the crowd.
Fiona has a very touching speech about how this victory has been a product of Mantleâs united effort to make things better, how this is their moment and they all know Robyn will do right by them. She even gets emotional herself, and then invites Robyn herself to come on stage and talk to the crowd a bit. The two seem to whisper to each other a little, likely encouragement by Fiona that sheâll nail her speech and reassurance from Robyn that the dear girl did a good job just now. Robyn opens with a joke that her difficulty with public speaking is a bad match for this career in politics, and Ruby seems amused. She always has seemed to sympathize with Robyn and think sheâs a good person, and for the most part I would agree.Â
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The speech proper starts with Robyn thanking her gathered followers for their votes and for thus putting their faith and belief in her. And she assures them the feeling is mutual, that she believes in the strength and change a single determined person can bring just as much as she knows there is unlimited potential to what people can do when they work together.
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And with that unity, it doesnât matter if she wins or loses because they will all continue to fight for the sake of the city that brings them together. That earns a lot of applause and she leaves the stage, though she starts to show visible concern as the radio announcer points out how close the votes are as the deadline draws fatally near. The Happy Huntresses are still confident sheâs got this in the bag...
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But sheâs no less tense.
With all this talk of unity in mind, Nora tries again to try and address the tension between her and Ren, but deep talks like this really arenât his thing. Ren has always been emotionally closed off, itâs just in his nature and with emotion being so important for his Semblance itâs clearly been ingrained in his mindset for a long time. Talking is not his love language, heâs always shown how he feels through acts of physical contact. Hugs, leaning on her, holding her hand at the end of Volume 4. So while sheâs seeking verbal validation that it is something deeper between them, heâs not used to that and doesnât really know how to articulate himself and express all his feelings how he wants to. Thatâs how I interpret it anyway. Nora gets her own read out of his attempt at an answer, and it seems pretty similar to my takeaway from it. Clearly it was encouraging enough for her to know he does like her back he just has so much on his mind he canât figure out how to say it. Why? Because she literally says âscrew talkingâ and kisses him!!! A KISS FOR RENORA, 7 YEARS IN THE MAKING!!!!! So the two get blissfully lost in the kiss and each otherâs company for a little while, and Iâm so happy for them.
Unfortunately, this is where we start to have a bad time. We cut to Watts hiding out somewhere booting up several Scrolls in front of a screen showing drone footage of the party as well as older video of Pennyâs hero work in Mantle, and heâs activating tech in his rings as we see that Tyrian is in the party crowd in a cloak ready to strike on his partnerâs command. The polls are about to close, Ruby is looking over at Penny happy as can be... and sees Tyrianâs tail. She moves to get a closer look, and eyes meet between former foes. She screams towards the stage to watch out, but itâs too late. The lights go out as the election countdown chant hits one, Ren and Nora are holding each other close unsure whatâs happening... and Watts gives the order to begin.
He starts doing vague techno stuff with the Scrolls thatâs mostly theatrical hand waving, while at the party Robyn drops her microphone and Ruby gets knocked to the ground by the panicking crowd. Tyrian has started killing people in the audience, in an attacking style seemingly unlike his usual work. Penny activates her night vision at the prompting of Marrow (who SHOULD be able to see in the dark as a Faunus but maybe heâs in a bad position to see whatâs happening or her tech optics can do more than ordinary eyes Faunus or otherwise?) and pulls out her swords before she tells Tyrian to surrender. But either that scorpion boy has some mad jumping skills to get to the rafters or Watts could hack Pennyâs eyes, because in the time it takes a panicked person to run in front of her he is gone. Wattâs puppeteer act continues as he seems to lift Pennyâs movements from one video and put them into the footage of Tyrianâs massacre over the image of his body. How terribly devious. And with a single tap of a district map on one Scroll he changes which candidate several entire parts of Mantle voted for. He may very well have been doing this little by little over the course of the night so the election fraud would look natural, or maybe a significant portion of people actually were voting for Jacques and Arthur just forced the final push. I think the former is a lot more likely.
Meanwhile, Marrow is calling for backup and Robyn calls her Happy Huntresses to her side so they can all keep each other safe. Fiona wants to get Robyn to safety, and at the last second sees Tyrian running across the stage to attack them. His eyes and right arm both glow purple, and he scratches a hole in Fionaâs Aura before slicing at the exposed spot with the blades on his other arm. Seems his Semblances is being able to tear through Aura and then attack a personâs body directly. Useful skill for a killer like him... Still, we know only his tail is poisonous so she probably wonât die. That was likely on purpose too though... If they found venom in her they would know Penny didnât do it cuz she doesnât have anything like that. Speaking of Penny, she flies up to tackle Robyn to the floor when it looks like Tyrian is going to attack her next, but he just jumps up to the rafters and giggles maniacally. This part was planned too, because when the lights come on Penny is the one standing on stage with swords drawn over an injured Fiona and confused Robyn. Much like Pyrrha and to a lesser extend Yang before her, Penny has been set up as a brutal killer. Worse yet...
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Jacques has officially won the election and gives a live acceptance speech that seems like a total slap in the face. And if we look more carefully at those lying dead on the floor, a few familiar outfits can be seen. The same thirsty moms last seen getting in trouble for taking part in the riots are now going to be orphaning their children... Whether he meant to or not, Tyrian has proven his ultimate villainous status above all others. Ruby, Marrow, Ren and Nora all rush onto the stage to help Penny and Robyn, but the latter doesnât trust them at all and the former is in shock that such brutality is blamed on her, that sheâs failed her purpose as Mantleâs protector when it mattered most. Itâs not helped by the fact that a survivor loudly proclaims Penny did it, and refers to her simply as âIronwoodâs Robotâ. Dehumanizing her, saying sheâs just another machine thatâs been taken over and used as a tool of evil. When the Happy Huntresses and angry members of the crowd charge to attack Penny and those that would try to help her, Marrow uses his Semblance for some literal crowd control, making all of them freeze in place. Ren and Nora are quite unnerved to hear Tyrian was the perpetrator, but they get Penny out the back door to relative safety while Robyn stops pointing her weapon at the girl long enough to shove Ruby out of the way when she was trying to help Fiona. Our dear sheepy says sheâs gonna be okay, but Marrow still feels bad and offers assistance. Too bad that means he relaxed enough for his Semblance effect to wear off and Joanna starts shooting at him so he and Ruby leave too, though he does try to assure Robyn that Atlas had nothing to do with this.
Watts uploads his deep faked footage and packs up for the night, telling Tyrian their good work is done. Out in an alley, the good guys catch their breath and quietly panic how bad things just got while Penny just stands in despair and shock. Ruby reaches out a hand to try and reassure her before realizing itâs covered in Fionaâs blood. Marrow tells Penny she has to go back to Atlas, but sheâs initially not responsive. She does fly off though,, just as the Grimm attack alarms go off and the others get ready for the long night ahead... with the girls not having their weapons unfortunately. As Manticores are seen flying over Mantle and into the streets, Jacquesâ victory speech continues to lay faintly veiled dread into our hearts.Â
So yeah. Hell of an episode, and one I took way too long to review. School was hell, just like this chapter.
#rwby reviews#ruby rose#weiss schnee#blake belladonna#yang xiao long#jaune arc#nora valkyrie#lie ren#oscar pine#penny polendina#marrow amin#robyn hill#fiona thyme#may marigold#joanna greenleaf#arthur watts#tyrian callows#jacques schnee#james ironwood#clover ebi#renora#renora is canon#bumbleby#mantle council election#mantle election hacking#terrible awful murder#deep fakes in rwby#rwby spoilers#volume 7 spoilers#rwby volume 7 spoilers
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#5 - I am checking in now that youâve read some of these reviews. Yeah, very uneasy about this development. You are right, if the diehard Serena fans are getting tired of the seesawing, imagine the casual fans, or haters. But I am still hopeful a firm and lasting June/Serena alliance is still a possibility in the second half of the show, weâll see. Either that, or kill her off. I donât want them ruining a great character. It is a bit tiring honestly, my enthusiasm definitely suffers a bit.
Numba 5 :D I take it youâve read all the reviews too? Sigh. Just a great big head-shaking sigh.Â
One minute I read all this disappointing, worrisome shit. The next I read something nice and positive that gives me some semblance of hope it wonât be that bad after all, and then I come back and read new shit that sounds even worse than the initial disappointing stuff! What is happening lol. This is the worst way to build enthusiasm for a new season!! Honestly, I donât see very many fans all that pleased in general. Serena fans are on anxious tenterhooks, Nick fans seem rather bummed by some of it, Rita fans are flipping out, Lawrence fans seem a bit hesitant, (Are there Fred or Luke fans???), Moira and Emily fans are also worried from what I can see, casual fans seem okay, I guess?? Everyoneâs a June fan so... thatâs sort of pointless to talk about lol. Like the reviews sometimes sound good, and then another one will say the opposite thing happens. (I really donât know what to think about Emilyâs arc... I canât tell where its head is at based on the reviews/spoilers.)
I wonât post any spoilers, but just in case people donât wanna read me bitching about the vague shit in reviews and interviews, Iâll cut this. Also, Iâm a major Debbie Downer lol so Iâm sure a lot of excited people donât wanna read that either, haha.
But I feel ya. Iâm tired. My enthusiasm has deffo really suffered in the last few days. I was just saying the other day that all these âteasersâ arenât helping either cos everything is out of context and says nothing really, but requires a lot of speculation and thatâs just exhausting to do day after day. AND THE SEASON HASNâT EVEN STARTED YET. I remember last year being a lot more excited. Like legitimately thrilled, even reading the pre-season reviews. Itâs weird to me to feel this way when I was soooooooo excited just a month ago. I was bouncing off the walls with joy! Now Iâm burnt out, lmao.
âBut I am still hopeful a firm and lasting June/Serena alliance is still a possibility in the second half of the show, weâll see.â
You know. Iâm with you. All of these reviews are based on the first 6 episodes of the season and it is sorta jumping the gun to judge a whole season based on the build-up. Six episodes isnât even quite halfway. Maybe it gets significantly better in the backhalf. It just doesnât bode very well if it takes 6 episodes to get things moving, and that even at that point Serena is still full on her annoying bullshit.
Iâm pretty much a hopeless romantic in some ways. Like it wonât really matter completely but I will ALWAYS hope that there is a LASTING June/Serena alliance in the latter half of the season that is significant and shows Serenaâs character growth--if there is any lol. Like, even in a non-shippy way, I want June and Serena working together. Iâm gonna be picky and spoiled but I need it to be together. Not working towards the same goal, but divided and at odds with each other. I want them communicating and agreeing. Not just âOh, look, there goes June doing her idea. And, oh, over there is Serena doing her totally separate thing, thatâs vaguely related to the same goal?â I want teamwork. And I want teamwork with other women too. With Alma, Janine, Moira, (Emily? I dunno if sheâll be in a healthy enough place tbh.), even possibly Aunt Lydia. I donât need unrealistic âsuper happy families!â vibes either. It can be terse and difficult and conflicted and they can stumble and miscommunicate along the way. It can require June ramming Serena with reality checks (as she does)... but I want them all in the same general direction, with the same general ideas of how to get there. Each has their own strengths, skills, opinions, and knowledge that would influence the goal in their own ways. Oh god, Iâm making it sound like I want Oceanâs 8: Gilead Edition. And I want the complex June/Serena dynamic at the centre of it.Â
But thatâs my personal perfect world and this show is very much not willing to be that brave, lmao. (MAKE IT GAY(ER), YOU COWARDS. Iâm only half-kidding.)
âEither that, or kill her off. I donât want them ruining a great character.â
I used to be really opposed to killing off Serena. But that was back when I thought they were going to move her arc along to something better. If this all they insist on doing to her for the backhalf of the season, and presumably the next... just kill her off already. I suspect, based on Millerâs âjokesâ, that he has no intention of killing either Waterford off -- which is a shame cos Fred just... go away, Fred. Heâs redundant and so superfluous to these womenâs stories at this point and I donât care what headass sympathy-inducing crap they give us in S3, I will always feel that way. But sheâs been a fantastic character thus far and to just keep beating this flipfloppy dead horse they consider âinterestingâ wrt Serena, just let her go. I canât imagine anybody sticking around and retaining their interest in a character that literally never grows or learns or commits to anything and is constantly going one way only to flip back the other for seasons on end. Sounds... annoying and boring.
Maybe some people like that? Miller and Strahovski seem to. (I get why Yvonne does on some level: itâs fun as an actress to play with all those extremes. Itâs challenging and exciting not to play the same note all the time. So, I get why an actress would think itâs a good idea for a character to be so... extra.) What I donât get is why a showrunner/writer would. Iâm not saying never have Serena fuck up--cos we all know sheâs gonna--but just not the same ways all the time. Cos at this point, we been knew. We KNOW that every single time Serena does something kind/nice/good, sheâll snap back and do something fucked up. Like, itâs just EXPECTED. Thereâs no surprise. The first few times, sure. But when they keep doing it over and over and over and over...
That is fucking BORING. Itâs come to just eye-rolling now. I donât read these reviews and comments by Yvonne and say âOH NOOOOO. Serenaâs back on her bullshit!! Nooooo. SAD FACE!!!!â Nope. I just read them and say, âUgh. Again? Really? Yawn.â and âWhat shitty writers that they canât come up with anything new for her to do.â
Like, we knew at the end of S2 that Serena was gonna regret letting Nichole go. Miller came right out and said it. And that was fine. Thatâs actually reasonable and normal and I can get behind that. It makes sense. I was all onboard for some serious grieving and regret. Thatâs totally understandable under the circumstances. Iâm even here for the way trauma/grief/fear influences Serenaâs often confounding decisions. And, I mean, Iâve seen a lot of cult-breakers and cults in general and all sorts of psychological stuff so I know Serenaâs crap isnât something she can just shut off in one day; itâs a long process--but it tends to move in a determinate direction, even just baby steps (or not at all). Itâs so deeply ingrained and itâs ~safe. It takes time and I was 1000% behind ALL that. But by the sounds of that, itâs not really going in that thoughtful direction. Peopleâs attitudes and beliefs may be difficult to change, but they donât weave all over the damn place merely for the sake of shock and drama.
More like âWe want Serena and June to scream at each other under iconic American monuments! How can we do that? Make Serena do some super fucked up thing for barely any reason!â Also, âHide all her motivations! Make it really murky so people wonât understand it! That makes us clever. Hurr durr!!â
Itâs just giving me Benioff & Weiss vibes...
Harumpf.
I will keep an open mind, but Iâm no longer holding my breath that something amazing is gonna come out of this unless the backhalf of the season is exceptionally better than the first 6. (But again, I feel like S2 was like that. The second half did seem stronger overall. IMO, anyway. With 2 major exceptions, heh.)Â
So, yeah. Iâm trying to just not read or look at too much more until it starts airing. Otherwise I may talk myself out of enjoying it! LMAO. Iâm so weak. (But Iâm also such a slut for June/Serena so........)
#there aren't really any spoilers i don't think#but if you're concerned about them at all don't go behind the cut#also blacklist 'spoilers'#spoilers#just in case#Anonymous
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