#what was she saying to people to make them afraid of RUBY. SPECIFICALLY.

[claraoswalds]

It's racist, my dear, to be blunt. People come from outside, they think we're all witches and druids. For God's sake, child, you walked into a piece of string!

[bestworstcase]

other people have brought this up also but the girls confront themselves as they were before even the trailers, and that is generally interesting for the implicit callback to 5.7 (“well, that embarrassment, that desire to go back and tell yourself not to be so stupid? that just proves you're not the same person you used to be. you're smarter, you're kinder, you're stronger, and you're not done growing yet. none of us are.”) and for the implication that the herbalist showed them who they used to be in order to prompt them to reflect on who they are now, that is, what we see in this episode is not a series of confrontations with manifested self-doubt but, instead, conversations with past mistakes: yang pouring her energy into searching for her mother to find answers that would make her feel whole; blake drawn to the huntsmen academy by the allure of simple nobility, of solving difficult and complicated problems by finding some innate goodness; weiss uncertain of her family name and her place in the world and worried of never escaping her father’s long shadow. the herbalist shows them these childhood stumbles and in doing so reveals to them how far they have grown beyond the frightened children they once were, how they can look their younger selves in the eye and say no. you were so very afraid, but you were stronger than you ever imagined. this thing that felt so big and so terrible to us then is so small now, so trivial. we’re going to be okay.

but it’s also, specifically, fascinating for how it lands on ruby. there’s a contrast here that i haven’t seen anyone point out yet: ruby rose arrived at beacon brimming with hope and confidence, yes, but also socially anxious, isolated, uncomfortable. she did not want to meet new people or make friends. the idea of being paired up with anyone besides yang during the initiation sent her into a panic. this girl whipped out her fuckoff huge scythe to avoid having to talk to people about herself and whined about having to interact with her new classmates!

that’s the version of herself that ruby confronts during the herbalist’s trial—the awkward, socially isolated girl who desperately wished she could just do everything alone because she didn’t know how to talk to people. and ruby overcame those challenges, sure, but not through any soul-searching or emotional introspection or prolonged reflection on the importance of making friends—she got plonked into a situation where she had to be social and made some friends and (in classic angsty under-socialized fifteen year old fashion!) realized hey this isn’t so bad, actually.

it’s clarifying to imagine how this confrontation might have gone had ruby been in a healthier state of mind; younger ruby would be like “but wouldn’t it be nice if you could just hide behind crescent rose all the time and get on with killing grimm and not have to talk to anybody except yang? don’t you want to be normal?” and ruby would be like “??no??” because holy moly there is nothing in this world she loves more than she loves her friends. there’s no triumphant speech to make here. it’s just the before and after on ruby getting comfy socializing outside her immediate family.

but ruby is not in a good place so instead what happens is this: the ruby who dreamed of being a lonely hero and vibrated with anxiety whenever she had to talk to a stranger looks at the ruby who’s quaking under the weight of all the love she wants to protect, and the isolated child she used to be recoils. through those eyes the friendships ruby has found these last two years become nothing but another burden to carry on top of everything else and the childhood fantasies of heroism are warped into a nightmare by the things she knows now. it doesn’t seem fair. it isn’t fair. we didn’t want this—who would ask for this?

so the problem ruby had then is not made small by the passage of time; it becomes, instead, a magnifying glass for the problem ruby has now. and whereas yang, blake, and weiss are asked to consider emotional fantasies they felt once but have long since grown past (to feel whole somehow, to live in a world with simple answers, to disappear and be free)��ruby comes face-to-face with the reality that she is living her childhood fantasy and the fantasy is a nightmare; thus the only temptation this trial can offer her is the fantasy of nonexistence, of a transformation so complete that she is no longer herself, of escape through the annihilation of ruby rose.

this is why the cat intervenes for her and her alone. the trial was meant to illuminate and affirm the present by looking to the past, but instead it slapped ruby across the face with the reality that she DOES NOT WANT to be herself anymore and that if given the chance she would destroy herself to escape from being the person she has always been. that is a realization she did need to have, but not like this, not without making the choice to face it and certainly not alone.

[goldenharmony]

On the topic of Akane being a plot device, I get both sides to the argument. Some people feel that she is solely used to push the revenge plot along while others argue that all characters are devices for their stories so its not fair to critic Akane specifically for moving the story along.

I think how she was used to push the revenge plot was fine up until the break-up, because I felt like we got plenty of her POV and those moments of her finding out information built on her own characterization.

Akane finding out the Ai secret progressed her and Aqua's relationship by bringing them closer but also highlighting both characters' worst qualities. Akane was an enabler and said she would support Aqua even if he was a bad person. Many fans also know of Akasaka's tweet of "Akane Kurokawa is the one takes you there, while Kana Arima is the one who brings you back", which frames Akane as a negative influence to Aqua.

For the whole Hikaru reveal, I would mostly prefer if it she found out the truth over the span of a few chapters rather than like 1 chapter. I definitely don't blame Akane for not wanting to tell Aqua the truth. But where she did go wrong was claiming that she wanted to carry Aqua's burden together with him, while she herself lied to him and was going behind his back to handle Hikaru herself - making her seem like a hypocrite.

I know people felt that she was too plot-device-esque in the Main Stage arc, but I thought the insight we got into her character and her semi-toxic relationship with Aqua was good enough for her to justify how she was used. The only thing I would complain about is that I wish it was a bit harder for her to figure out everything regarding Hikaru and to have it make more sense on how Aqua realized Akane was going after Hikaru (like have a note that falls out of the bouquet or something??)

I don't feel like we've gotten much insight into her character since then, which is why I feel the plot device claims have more weight to them post-Aquakane break-up than pre-Aquakane break-up, since Akane pulling 900 IQ moves wasn't SOLELY done to move the revenge plot along back then. However, I think just saying "Akane's a plot device" and ending the conversation there comes across as bad faith, so here's some random ideas I thought of on how she could've been used better.

Nino/Ai vs. Kana/Akane

A few people noticed that these 2 relationships parallel one another. Akane and Nino both admire and hold a bit of resentment towards their idols. Considering that Akane is the one to reach out to Nino and sympathize for her, I feel like we could've explored these parallels more in the movie arc. I know Nino/Ai already parallels Kana/Ruby, but we can do parallels with more than 1 dynamic.

Plus Nino going "Of course, Ryousuke would've fallen for Ai" and forgiving him...I couldn't help but think of this part.

Akane & Ruby

Both are pretty similar with how they have an unhealthy obsession towards Aqua/Gorou. It would have been nice if both of them confided in one another again, similar to what happened in the Private arc, which would ultimately help them understand the true nature of their feelings and move on from Aqua. We do get the conclusion of Akane - realizing that her feelings are more motherly to Aqua - but I would've liked more focus on how she came to that conclusion, even if the hints were there beforehand.

Akane and Ai

I'll admit that I was one of those people who didn't think Akane was ever imitating Ai. I mostly thought that if the story was going in that direction, then we would get actual focus on how that affected Akane. If she's imitating someone else, what does that say about her self-image? Is it because her experience on LoveNow was so traumatizing that she feels afraid in letting it go?

Although I still stand by the fact that when she competed with Kana on-stage in Tokyo Blade, those were her own stars based on how the scenario is laid-out, as opposed to when she wakes up as Sayahime. It's a bit hard to tell if her eyes having the double-stars in Main Stay is because those are her own stars or if she's suppose to be imitating Ai. I really wish we got more focus on this plotline because it sounds like it could've been really interesting. Instead, we get a few minor hints before the movie arc, and then the conclusion is suddenly given to us.

[walpywalpy]

//WEISS SCHNEE APPRECIATION POST//

I know. It’s not that obvious by my profile picture and my endless need to praise my queen to tell you that Weiss Schnee is my favorite RWBY character and my favorite character in general. But why? You may not have asked that but that’s not my problem because I’m gonna praise my queen to no end here. So kick back, grab your bowl of Pumpkin Petes, and listen to why Weiss Schnee is my favorite character of all time.

1. Growth

I’m going to be honest and say she wasn’t my favorite at first. She was a bratty, entitled bitch. At the time, Blake and Ruby were my favorite. And it would stay like that until halfway of Volume 3. Specifically, the scene of her and Winter. Winter was cold, direct, and militant. Meanwhile, Weiss was goofing around with Ruby by calling her a friend and rooting against her when her uncle Qrow fought Winter. I noticed that Weiss was someone who barely had a chance to grow up normally because she had high expectations thrusted upon her. Beacon was her first time breaking that. She got to get into food fights, go sight seeing with her friends, joke around with her team in battles, etc. She was no longer that entitled bitch we saw in the emerald forest. Instead, we see a girl having her chance to be free from expectations and trying to be the best teammate and friend she could possible be.

After Beacon fell, she was back to those expectations, and we saw a girl trying to survive a cruel man who didn’t care about anything but his own financial gain. However, that’s not all we got to see. We saw a girl who was formerly afraid of confronting her father and telling him what she has always held against him. After losing her title of heiress, she knew the only thing she had left to lose was her family at Beacon, so she left the home many would beg for because it wasn’t home for her. It was a prison, and she was done paying for the time that her corrupt father put on her.

That’s where she became my favorite. I personally have had problems with my parents and what they want from me. I won’t get into the details, but Weiss made me realize that I’m not alone. That I had people who would connect on that experience. She also made me realize that I did have power and control over my future. I didn’t have to follow what my parents want from me because this life is mine.

2. Music

When it comes to RWBY’s stellar soundtrack, there are very few tracks that hit me as hard as the songs written for Weiss. It’s also helped because it is likely that Weiss has sung them in canon. I won’t go into too much in detail because this post will already be as long as Yang’s hair. Just know that the opera style mixed with a somber piano that eventually turned into opera transitioning into hard rock fits Weiss so well, and I love it!

3. Relationships with Her Teammates

In Volume 1, Weiss was presented with a dilemma. She viewed herself as the perfect candidate for a leader, but Ozpin thought otherwise. She thought it was outrageous for Ozpin to think Ruby was a better choice, but Port knew her thinking was preposterous. Weiss wasn’t fit for a leader, and her teachers told her she isn’t. Instead of keeping up the fight to become a leader, she made a choice: be the absolute teammate she could be. Before I get to what that means off the battlefield, which is the kind of support many connect her being the best teammate she could be with, let me talk about her on the battlefield because I feel like that had to be brought up before I get to that. Weiss is the support of the group. Yes, she can fight amazingly on her own, but when the team is fighting as a unit, Weiss is the support. Her dust and semblance, which I believe to potentially be the best in the show, allow her teammates to bring their semblances to another level. Whether by creating space between them and opponents to catch a breath, allowing for diverse movement through her summons and glyphs, or making their position advantageous, Weiss as a support could change the tide of a fight drastically. Before she made the commitment to being the best teammate, her fighting style was very aggressive, which ended up giving her that defining scar. After said commitment, she focused on supporting her teammates on the battlefield.

Later in the show, however, Weiss would become the empathetic one of the group. If you had a problem, Weiss will probably give you a therapy session. The best example is the conversation between her and Yang. Weiss walks into the room and sits on the bed opposite Yang, silent. She lets Yang talk herself out. Even when Yang said she wouldn’t understand, Weiss listened. It’s only when Yang asked Weiss to finally speak is where she says what she wanted to say. She told her the story of her tenth birthday and the rift that was created on her birthday. She expresses her version of loneliness and how Yang’s is different. She may not fully understand Yang’s version of loneliness, but she understands that it’s there and that Blake has her own. Yang snapped back and Weiss was silent again. She then poses a question to Yang and she answers it. She explains to Yang that Blake watched the one thing she expected to happen happen. Yang expresses that she never blamed Blake and that she wanted Blake here for her. Weiss understands and also wants Blake there. Yang doesn’t believe Blake would return, but Weiss reminds her that the team is a family. Blake feels the same. They’re gonna be there for each other when the occasion arises. Then the occasion arose, and Blake wanted to prove that she was there for Yang. Yang let Blake know that although she doesn’t depend entirely on her, they’re there for each other and happy to be back together.

There’s a reason why Weiss is called the beekeeper. That conversation in Volume 5 is what propelled Bumblebee forward. As a WhiteRose shipper, I hope the same eventually happens for Weiss and her partner. Even if it doesn’t, we know Weiss will be there for Ruby because she promised to be the best teammate.

4. Design

I’m not an artist or a character designer, so I can’t go into the intricacies of her design. But I am someone with a pair of eyes, and I can tell you Weiss is beautifully designed. Out of all the initial designs, Weiss was probably the riskiest to use. Each member of Team RWBY had a defining feature that stood out. Blake’s ribbon from her weapon, Yang’s golden hair, and Ruby’s red cape. Weiss, however, didn’t have much. If I remember correctly from Ein Lee’s notes in the Mirror Mirror anthology, this allowed him to add intricate designs to Weiss. Her sleeves, for example, have an intricate pattern. Her glyphs change depending on what she’s doing with them. Most importantly, however, she is asymmetrical. She ties her hair to the right instead of the dead center as an act of defiance from her father. Her scar, which is even asymmetrical in her eye, keeps her face symmetrical. You’d think that a character so prim and proper would emphasize being symmetrical, but she is proof that beauty isn’t reliant on symmetry. As the Yellow Trailer states, “Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided, and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark’s unseen beauty is greater than it would be judgement."

5. Me as a Person

I can praise a character until the end of time, but that won’t prove one thing: why is she my favorite? As stated before, I connect with her struggle, but that can’t be it. I mean, I connect with Mirabel’s struggle in Encanto, yet Rapunzel is my favorite Disney protagonist. Weiss’ struggle is only a fraction of why she is so near and dear to my heart. For that, I have to get into who I am. I am an aspiring writer and RWBY is the reason for that. It is the show that changed the directory of my life, and I don’t think that would be possible if the show didn’t have Weiss.

What Weiss means to me is a second chance. Her life is full of second chances. A second chance to be a better teammate. A second chance to be a better sister. A second chance to prove herself and uphold her family name. I mess up in life. A lot. I have been dealt some of the worst hands and I have to deal with it. My family isn’t kind to my aspirations, my sexuality, or my religious beliefs (or lack thereof). What can I say, some believe in fairy stories and the ghost that they can’t see. Weiss is in many ways who I want to be. She’s confident. She’s determined. She’s always in pursuit of improving herself. She isn’t perfect, but she doesn’t have to be. I’m not perfect, but I don’t have to be.

We’re not perfect, but we don’t have to be. Our lives aren’t over by one misstep. We can pick ourselves up and keep moving forward. We will fail over and over again, but it isn’t the end. We just have to get up and give it 110% the next time.

That’s what Weiss Schnee means to me: a second chance to prove myself and be the best version of myself.

Guys, thank you for reading. I hope you took something from this and that you have a wonderful day. Peace.

[weirdozjunkary]

I need to yell about the unnecessary hate that Ruby Gillman has been getting from most viewers, specifically a certain quote they keep saying or what they compare the movie too. Cause it makes me so fucking mad when I see it.

“Ruby Gillman is just Turning Red 2 (but bad)”

Now to be granted, I haven’t watched Turning Red (it just never really interested me much enough to go out of my way and watch it). I have seen a decent amount of clips, but I haven’t seen it in full. But to compare Turning Red and Ruby Gillman is just fucking infuriating.

Here are the resemblances from each movie from what I can tell:

A young girl who wants to fit in at school and has a crush on a guy, finds out that the women of her family are gifted with a magical form that turns them into a large creature. She has a fight with her mom at some point.

…. That’s it. That is the bare minimum of the resemblances that I can see.

Yes, they are obvious when pointed out. But the thing is, kids argue with their parents all the fucking time! Of course the quarrel between their moms are going to be similar. But thats not the point of the fucking movies!

Turning Red is about generational trauma, what it was like to be a Chinese Canadian in the 2000’s and healing from the trauma of your parents (that is what I have heard and seen).

From what I can tell, Ruby Gillman is, in basic terms, a teen superhero movie (with underlying messages to not be afraid to be yourself). Literally the whole ‘I don’t like my new powers’ to ‘I like my new powers’ then training montage, then ‘I’m gonna save the world’ mixed in with a Kaiju fight.

Yes, I can see the similarities. But comparing these two is like comparing an apple to an orange. There’s only like four things that are similar, but that’s it.

And again, those kind of tropes have been done before in their own ways! And it’s frustrating that they’re comparing this movie to only turning red, but not comparing it or turning red to other movies who follow a similar format.

Ruby Gillman is not a perfect movie, you can take a red marker to it and find some things wrong with it. But to blatantly call it a ‘bad sequel’ or ‘ripoff’ of another movie that has one or two obvious similarities is just fucking upsetting to me!

I like this movie! It’s just silly wacky nonsense with no real deep meaning that makes you think, it’s a good movie to just enjoy it! And I’m so upset that people think it’s terrible just because of A, B and C. And I’m not saying this because of the giant Kaiju stuff, even though that was a bonus. But really, it’s just a fun movie to watch! You can dislike it for your reasons, but to hate it just on what I said is stupid to me

[razorblade180]

RWBY V9 Ep8 review

We’re all fucked up. I’m kinda speechless honestly and took a lot of screenshots. Let’s take a moment to process how Ruby yelled at little in their conversation….

That was their last conversation and that’s terrible.

I should’ve made a bingo card for this volume. I actually do have things to say about this in particular! First, I love the idea of Neo making other people to talk for her.

Second, never in wildest dreams did I think they would do mirage Pyrrha for Ruby trauma instead of Jaune! I applaud for that.

Third, I actually like the inclusion of Leo because even though lots of people hate him, everyone glosses over how he basically had the devil holding him and whispering how she would rip him apart for years. Who wouldn’t be afraid!? Like honestly? I can see this bumming Ruby out because it caused a fight nobody wanted to have.

It’s him! It’s the boy! The man, the myth, the legend!

She is so good. In this volume, Neo filled the specific void in this show that Adam filled. Big bad villains are cool, but the problem is they have to scheme more and are a looming threat for the show like a hurricane. Adam and Neo are like tornadoes. They’re so much more isloated and show up unexpectedly to destroy your life. It allows them to be more active and cause immediate problems.

And then there’s this asshole! I’m relieved he’s evil honestly, only because I was scared they would make Jaune the problem somehow. It’s like the antagonists saw Ruby this episode and thought “ha, she thinks she’s having a bad time. Not yet!”

Ruby is done with her life. Very curious on what will happen to her. I also think it’s good that Neo got a taste of victory before…

Realizing it would be numbing. This cat is about to make the most vial creations. I don’t know how team JWBY will handle these two situations. Fortunately, they are both at the tree.

[sympetali]

Since it seems like CRWBY is heavily hinting at big Ruby and Jaune moments in the episode tomorrow, I thought I’d share this think piece drabble I decided to write in the middle of the day a few weeks ago (haha undiagnosed adhd, am I right?)

Here’s the thing about Ruby and Jaune: I think they have one of the most interesting dynamics in the series.

They meet in the first few episodes, and they’re immediately sort of bonding about being outsiders. They don’t feel like they belong in this space: Ruby is too young and Jaune literally bluffed his way in. Jaune calls Ruby cute (this is not an inherently romantic reading of their relationship,) and sort of hints at romantic interest in her before he sees Weiss and well… we all know how that goes. Ruby thinks Jaune is kind of a dweeb, but in the affectionate “you’re weird, I like you” sort of way. It’s a very light-hearted first conversation. But beyond those surface level introductory interactions, then we have the fact that these two become the most unlikely team leaders. They both become responsible for three other people, and Ruby points that out to Jaune in one of the most prominent moments for him early on. The others being his work with Pyrrha about accepting help and his confrontation with Cardin which is like, the defining moment for him—one where he puts both Ruby and Pyrrha’s advice to work. And that alone could be very telling about how close they are. But it doesn’t end there.

Something I think that makes these two so intrinsically linked is their very specific shared grief. No one else knew Pyrrha was going to die and no one else had to see Pyrrha die. Jaune knew the minute she kissed him and ran off. Ruby, still just a 16 year old kid, had to see it. And suddenly both of them are feeling this heartache in a way no one else can understand. But they can understand each other. We don’t know if Jaune ever even told anyone about that kiss, but we do know he called out desperately to the others about her going to do something reckless (hats off to Miles Luna for that scene because holy cow,) and Ruby was already barreling headfirst into hero mode. Pyrrha’s death will play in a loop in both of their heads for a long time.

Then we have the span of time that volumes 4-6 take place in. Ruby, with no team of her own, sets off with Jaune, Ren, and Nora. They acknowledge that at this point, things are incredibly different and they’re following Ruby. Jaune takes a backseat in terms of direct leadership, but he’s still a unifying voice. He understands Ren and Nora a bit more, and I think we see that in their battles scenes. But still, Jaune so easily follows Ruby. He believes in her. He doesn’t know what it is exactly they can do at the place they’re in, but he’s ready to figure it out with her. He’s going to keep improving and he’s going to keep supporting her. I think that’s really beautiful. Their like, little reunion at the end of Vol 3 is very sweet to me. It reads very much like a ride or die, I will follow you into the dark sort of situation. Everything these characters know has been completely flipped on its head, but all they can think to do is keep pushing on. Keep moving forward. And it’s clear that at this moment in time, Ruby and Jaune need each other to do that. Yes, Jaune has Ren and Nora but he lost his partner. And we know that that loss has him pushing Ren and Nora away for awhile. He doesn’t know how to grieve with them. He’s afraid. Ruby doesn’t have her team anymore at all. Yang is despondent. Blake is missing. Weiss was forced to go home. She leans on the people she knows she still has, but we have to assume she also feels the absence of Pyrrha in that space. Everything in Team RNJR/JNR is kind of fragile. They want to pick up the pieces and do the next right thing, but it’s also very hard to do so when there’s so much they’re not saying or doing.

Ruby and Jaune have excellent little moments of casual intimacy as well. There’s a real softness between them. And again, this is not necessarily a romantic reading of their connection, but it’s not NOT a romantic reading. Jaune’s double down on his belief in her before the fight against the Nukaleve, his determination to keep her safe from Tyrion, even butting heads with Qrow (another dynamic I love to scream about,) Jaune is always just so steadfast in his faith in her. The same way that past all the teasing, Ruby’s faith in Jaune is a huge part of his confidence as a leader. Their reunion in Argus is my favorite moment between them. He is so relieved to see her alive and she just wants that moment to feel good and light so she reminds him she promised they’d see each other there. And he has to smile. And they share this lovely hug that feels so cozy and safe and like something they both needed. There’s so many important relationships and bonds in this story, but I really do think that outside of the main four, this one is imperative to the narrative. It’s one that we as the audience have literally followed since the beginning. Any way you read the relationship, they are so important to each other and their connection is a driving force in their motivations. They make each other better.

But we’ve reached a point now where these two haven’t had a lot of time with each other since they took on their own challenges in Mantle and Atlas. Not to mention the new and unique position they’re in with Jaune having aged rapidly in the Ever After. We have Ruby at her weakest mentally. She’s lost all hope. She’s feeling the weight of everything she’s learned and she’s seen and she’s done, and she’s gonna have to reckon with Jaune’s decision to mercy kill Penny on top of that? Now, I fully believe that Ruby is typically the kind of person that after an emotional initial reaction, she would sort of step back and be introspective. She would offer that understanding to the best of her ability. It would be hard no matter what, but she would see Jaune, Jaune especially actually, for who he is and why he did that and not focus on the action itself. But again, this isn’t Ruby like we know her. This is Ruby already wrecked by grief and on the cusp of just completely giving up. She might really lose it over this, and her and Jaune could have an incredibly difficult moment. Maybe even a division we see follow them for awhile. But I think that would only add to the emotional impact of their relationship. Again, they are sharing a profound grief that cannot be felt by anyone else. Ruby did everything she could to keep Penny around, and she lost her anyway. And Jaune would have never wanted to do what he did but he put Penny’s wishes first, even if that left him in a much worse state. We all love Penny and we understand her naivety in that request, but it’s hard not to at least think about the quiet cruelty of it. We know Jaune agreed because he wanted to do what he thought was best in that moment, but we as the viewer have to try to see it from all angles. He’s the one who has to live with that decision, not anybody else. And he has to know the way that might affect his relationships with other people, particularly Ruby. They are always balancing on these scales, I think. They’re trying so hard to do the right thing and when either one of them makes a misstep, it’s the other that seems to help move the weight. Now we’re in this precarious position where it could be Jaune’s actions that tip Ruby really far down. And that’s fascinating because it’s so easy to sympathize with both sides. We hurt for Ruby’s loss and we hurt for Jaune’s too. He also loved Penny, but there’s all these other layers. He had to take a life, which isn’t something he ever wanted to do, much less an innocent one: one of somebody he cared for. But also— there’s one other person who once ended a version of Penny’s life. Pyrrha. And I know deep in my bones that that thought crossed his mind. Pyrrha is always with Jaune. Literally and figuratively. What is the sword he carries, and killed Penny with, forged from?

This also draws a new and specific thread from Pyrrha to Ruby and Jaune’s relationship. Ruby knew Pyrrha didn’t mean to kill Penny 1.0. I don’t think she ever even thought about that. But again, Ruby isn’t the same person she was the first time she lost her.

Idk. Much to think about. I love Ruby and Jaune so much, individually and together, and I’m very anxious to see what’s in store for them.

[nikadd]

Not you talking about biphobia and then saying "bi women who date men are hot and lesbians couldn't even have them if they were single"most ugly women that I have seen were straight/bi and the hottest ones were lesbians

damn, way to misread what i said. i usually wouldn’t grace such misreading w my attention, but i guess i should here bc i hate being misunderstood.

i’m assuming you’re referring to this:

“like i’m so tired of ppl online being “heartbroken” over a hot woman (bonus points if she “looks” gay) being w a man - as if you ever had a chance w her if she was single!”

now, let’s break this down:

ppl - people within the context of the entire paragraph and this sentence, yes im talking mostly abt queer women, that including both bi women and lesbians and other microlabels. not just lesbians. in fact, in my entire post i always mean all kinds of queer women.

heartbroken - having a reaction of sadness/disappointment. put quotation marks around it to express my own frustration with the framing of the reaction.

hot woman - i’m guessing this is kinda the epicenter of your issue. what i mean by hot here is who the queer women in question are attracted to. i’m not saying that they are not attractive as well, i just mean that the woman im talking abt is attractive to the ppl having the heartbroken reaction.

bonus points if she “looks” gay - whatever this means to the ppl who see her w regards to current and past trends of looking gay so to speak. short hair/undercut/buzzcut, eyebrow slit, nose piercing, handmade earrings, some kind of alternative styling. basically anything someone could make a tiktok abt wearing and saying “why would ppl assume im straight if i look like THIS?”

being w a man - self-explanatory.

as if you ever had a chance w her if she was single! - this is another part of the sentence where i’m afraid you’ve misunderstood what i meant. ok, so obv i used a hyperbole to emphasize, but what i specifically mean here is that this behavior (expressing heartbreak over somebody being with a man when you expected them to be with a woman/single) is weird and invasive and offputting and unattractive, bc it just sounds like they wish this woman was available to them, and since she’s not, it’s her fault. it sounds like a guy in a teen comedy going “this hot girl is with a stupid ugly jock when she could be with ME” kind of plot, but bc it’s a woman saying it, it’s somehow not seen as weird.

i guess i could have clarified, but the rest of my rant had to w my frustration to reactions/expressions/behaviors, so i didn’t think what im saying might be influenced by the implication of somebody being hot or not.

i guess i could also bring some examples:

natasha lyonne - an icon for queer women, was/is w a man for the longest time. you can find ppl’s surprise and heartbreak and frustration with this fact anywhere on the internet.

the cast of bottoms - when the film came out, a lot of ppl were talking abt both ayo edebiri’s and ruby cruz’s boyfriends with a very strong sense of betrayal. i think being frustrated that a lesbian character isn’t played by a lesbian is understandable, but the way ppl were reacting felt like they were actively being hurt by their celebrity crush not dating a woman.

using the word “partner” - the frustration with ppl using a gender neutral term for their significant other and then it not being somebody of the same gender. some ppl simply prefer the term over boyfriend/girlfriend, some are not strictly cisgender even if they present in ways that ppl might assume they are, some ppl actually do like the gender neutral part of it and use it as a way of allyship to not give too much information when it’s unnecessary. in general, the term is more often used to protect ppl from homophobia by divorcing it from the implication that partner necessarily means a partner of the same gender, but ppl are too used to assuming

strangers on tiktok - i see a lot of tiktoks where a queer woman will have an interaction with a woman they find very attractive in a gay way bc she looks kinda gay and then find out that she is with a man and then feel very disappointed. and then everybody in the comments is agreeing with that sentiment. now, that woman might be with a man bc she’s straight, but she might also be bi/potentially be attracted to women. and if she’s also queer there is a chance she looks kinda gay bc it’s a part of her expression. but the reaction feels like she’s being accused of misleading the other person into believing in her availability.

tldr: i think it’s rude and invasive to make inferences abt somebody’s relationships and then reacting like it’s personally offensive to you if they are dating somebody who’s not you/your gender AND then framing it like a positive/feminist/queer/political reaction. this behavior is why the person in question wouldn’t want to date you, not bc they are hot and you aren’t.

like if i was with a man, then that relationship ended, then i was interested in a woman, but then i found out that she had some kind of weird opinion on me having been with my ex boyfriend (saying that since i have the option to date women then why am i with a man, saying that im wasted being w a man, implying anything abt our dynamic/gender roles without actually knowing details abt our relationship, assuming that he’s automatically dismissive/not respectful of my identity and/or fetishizing it), i wouldn’t want her.

if there are any issues with my explanation, feel free to let me know, because i genuinely did not mean what you’re implying i meant, im just frustrated with the popular rhetoric that perpetuates negative stereotypes while the concerns abt them are being dismissed.

[deadendtracks]

Unfollowed already. All this rant you made up is just a cover up. You hate Grace, admit it or not. If you were really sensitive about fictional character deaths, you wouldn’t talk about Grace the way you do *you cannot cheat on dead wife* post. Sick. You also seem to feel better if Ruby or Polly were in *that* moment not Grace. Sick.

Okay, goodbye! I'm glad you are making the right choice for yourself.

I mean. You can't? cheat on a dead wife? Because she's dead? Literally you cannot cheat on someone who is not alive. The marriage contract does not extend beyond death in the Peaky Blinders universe.

you literally cannot comprehend anything i have said if you think this is about "being really sensitive to fictional character deaths" after everything i have taken the time to be specific about, but all you guys can do is completely misrepresent anything i say (i guess because you can't think outside a very very very narrow tunnel) so ... okay?

Why is it sick to think that *if* there is an afterlife and *if* Tommy were to die and see someone welcoming him it would be his daughter or his aunt?

I... don't know... what is "sick" about... that? I am a little afraid to ask.

I mean I actually do think if that were to happen chances were good he'd probably see grace as well, but i was trying to make a point.

In fact the only person we know he actually saw when he was dying in canon was his father. The only other person he saw when he thought he was dead was his daughter. This doesn't mean he wouldnt' see grace but like... all of this is completely beside my original point.

Which, to restate, because you refuse to acknowledge it: it's very gross to keep talking about how a character is so traumatized the only thing for them is to die.

i have said again and again you can feel whatever way you want about wanting tommy to die in the end to be with grace. what i have been criticizing is framing it in terms of "well traumatized people have no hope but to just die, that's the only peace for them."

that's gross and you should stop.

[caddeter]

A few months, I made a post talking about how the ‘planned from the beginning’ excuse the RWBY FNDM loves to use makes no sense.  I got into a very brief argument with @crimsonxe before deleting the post and apologizing for writing it out of anger.

I am now taking that apology back, because the RWBY FNDM has repeatedly proven it deserves no form of respect no matter how small or basic.

I was hoping to rewrite the post using the other user’s replies, but unfortunately I couldn’t find them in my email trash bin.  So I’m going to be rewriting it based on memory.

One of the points I made was that, in Volume 3, there was a short scene where Penny expressed a desire to stay at Beacon, specifically saying that she ‘had an idea.’ The person who responded to me said that this idea didn’t ‘go nowhere’ because Penny dies at the end of the Volume

...  Bitch, that’s why it goes nowhere.

It’s like saying the ending of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom where dinosaurs are now loose on the mainland wasn’t completely ignored by the next film because Dominion was all about an evil corporation trying to kill competitor crops with a swarm of prehistoric locus.  It doesn’t change the fact that Fallen Kingdom’s ending was very clearly setting up a different story.

Or that the Pokemon anime didn’t drop the golden Pokeball plotline because it was delivered to Professor Oak and we never learn what it was about.

They also said that all that really mattered to Silver Eyes was that the Grimm are afraid of them, and it’s perfectly okay that CRWBY didn’t figure out why until Volume 3

That’s like saying it would have been perfectly fine if Avatar The Last Airbender took three seasons to figure out what an Avatar is.

Ruby’s Silver Eyes are strongly implied to be the reason Ozpin let her into Beacon.  If I’m expected to believe they’re important, why the fuck wouldn’t you figure out what they do first thing.

A plothole is when there is a hole in your plot’s internal logic.  How are you supposed to avoid plotholes if not even you know what’s going on?

Another point they made was that the writers figuring out their worldbuilding before they start the story or where they want the plot to go is them ‘doing me a favor’

As I said in the original post:  No, that is the writers doing their JOBS!

Let me put it to you this way:  Imagine you go into a restaurant and order a cheeseburger:

Do you expect that burger to be cooked?

Do you expect it to have a bun?

Do you expect a plate or a tray to carry it with?

Do you expect the restaurant to have tables you can sit at?

Do you expect the floors to be clean with a wet floor sign warning you of when it’s slippery?

Saying that the writers are ‘doing me a favor’ when they figure out where they want their story to go or how their magic systems work or what their world is like is like saying that one manager I had was ‘doing me a favor’ every time he came in half an hour late rather than miss have his shift like that one time.  That’s not doing a favor, that’s doing the least they could.

Doing me a favor is when Ben 10 throws in nods to fan opinions and responses in their show as quick little gags without mocking the people who hold those thoughts.

It’s when William Hartnell, the actor who played the First Doctor, kept track of what every button and switch on the TARDIS console did because he wanted to make sure he never used the wrong one because he feared viewers would notice.

It’s when Arkhane Studios defines the world of Dishonored down to the calendar.

It’s when the Ink Tank makes And Beyond, a series dedicated the the culture and societies of each of Ben’s aliens.

It’s when Linkara, GOAT he is, makes an entire, full length analog-horror movie as an April Fools joke.

Doing the audience a favor is going the extra mile.  It is not figuring out your plot points the moment they become relevant.  If that’s what you define as good writer, than please, do tell me, what’s bad writing?  If your standards are this low, then what would you consider a bad story?

They also claimed that I was wrong to make such criticisms of RWBY because Miles Luna is just a human being

I could make an entire post detailing how ‘people make mistakes’ is a terrible way to counter criticism (and in fact, I did), but instead, I’ll just leave you with a choice quote that describes one of the biggest problems with it:

There are writers and directors out there who put painstaking efforts into their stories to make sure everything is as concise and logical as possible. There are also writers and directors who don't put in those efforts at all. If inconsistencies in plot and character action "don't matter at all", then how can you even appreciate those efforts made by filmmakers who legitimately care? You're not just delegitimizing those who discuss their films. You're delegitimizing the filmmakers themselves. You're saying there's no difference between a lazy script littered with inconsistencies versus a thoroughly researched, laid-out, thoughtful script that made every effort they possibly could to make the story, characters, and universe as consistent and believable as possible. That's just nonsense and it's upsetting that you refuse to see any value whatsoever in filmmakers who put those extra efforts into their work.

Adam from YourMovieSucks.org, a professional movie critic.

They also said that they, as a writer, have reworked entire timelines because they came up with one new character

First of all, what you describing here is the planning process.  It’s revise then release, not the other way around.

Second of all, real nice anecdotal evidence you have there.  Wanna hear some of mine?  I wrote up history and culture for vampires and werewolves, notes detailing my own soft magic system, and worldbuilt an entire underwater society down to the clock for fun.  At that point, it shouldn’t feel like I’m asking the writers to reverse the Earth’s rotation when I expect them to figure out why Ruby’s Silver Eyes are special or how Magic works.

Another one of their ridiculous claims was that foreshadowing could ruin a show’s mysteries

Dumbass, mysteries are where you need foreshadowing the most.  Ask any established mystery writer, they’ll all tell you the same thing:  The best practice is to figure out the ending first and work your way backwards.  It requires thought and care to make sure the ending is satisfying and the journey to it is enjoyable and engaging.

Even if the audience figures out where the story is going, that just means their paying attention and are invested enough to think about the story.  And last I checked, the audience being invested in your story is a good thing.  Take it from me, I have a very strong idea for where Slime Rancher 2′s story is going, and I would be elated when it turns out I’m right.

If the only quality your story has is that it’s ending is ‘a surprising twist,’ then that just shows how shallow the rest of the story is.

Edit:  Linkara has a quote that perfectly explains why this idea is stupid:  “Of course we can’t [solve the mysteries].  It’s not really a mystery.  It’s you guys making up random contrivances to resolve each new cliffhanger.”

The last thing they user did was perpetuate the conspiracy theory that the RWDE tag was created to somehow destroy RWBY and Rooster Teeth while also saying the show doesn’t need defending from us as they defended it.

Ah, yes, because criticizing something is such a threat to it and the people who make it.  Just look at what happened with Twilight.  That series became the laughing stock of the internet, and then it...  Kept going.

Or what about Sword Art Online.  Mocking it became ingrained in the anime community, and then it...  Kept going.

Or Sonic The Hedgehog.  That series has a bad game every other release, and then it...  Kept going.  And each time it actually listens to the feedback it gets and tries to fix the problems people had.

Criticism is not a threat to a piece of media or the people who made it.  If anything, we’re doing RT a favor by criticizing RWBY.

But even then, let’s pretend, for just a moment, that there somehow was a conspiracy to destroy RWBY and Rooster Teeth for whatever reason.  Do you know what our EEVIIIILLL plan would be?  It’d be a simple two steps:

Step 1: Sit back

Step 2: Watch

Anything we could say or do to Rooster Teeth wouldn’t be nearly as bad as what they do to themselves.  Or do you think all those ex-employees reporting workplace discrimination and crunch culture so terrible it caused PTSD are in on it too?  We aren’t the ones trying to destroy Rooster Teeth.  Rooster Teeth is the one trying to destroy Rooster Teeth.

And even if that wasn’t true, why would an easily blockable tumblr tag be any threat to them?  We say this about a hundred times a day, but the entire point of the tag is for the FNDM to blacklist it so that they don’t see criticism.

And just to articulate how easy it is to blacklist a tag on this website:  I figured out how to do that all on my own and I can’t find my blocklist.  If that’s not good enough for you people, then what do you want us to do, go to an entirely different website?  Yeah, like that would stop you from complaining about us.

Furthermore, out of all the series in all the media in all the world to try and destroy, why do you think we would target a low profile web animation from a company that’s only really popular in machinima?  Don’t you think a more high-profile franchise would get this treatment?  Like Star Wars?

They probably said some more dumbass claims, but these are all I can remember.

[time-is-restored]

73 yards thoughts

now that ive had a night to sleep on it, and read everyone's thoughts, im rewatching the episode to see if i can come to a more definite opinion about the episode (though that's perhaps against the spirit of the thing, lol!)

so a few moments that stood out for me that i don't think have already been talked about a lot:

when mrs twist shows up on the mountain, and ruby is giving her messages to pass along to the woman, she wants to say sorry. when mrs twist asks 'what for?' ruby looks genuinely thrown + upset, and eventually says '...i don't know.' since the woman/curse that haunts ruby is functionally an externalisation of ruby's deep seated sense that there is something fundamentally wrong with her, i think this interaction was super poignant. ruby 'knows' that she's done something that she needs to apologise for in the same way that she 'knows' there is something wrong with her that will make people react with fear + anger. there's no proof, no clear flaw or mistake that she can point to, because that's the point. the woman isn't saying anything specific -- there's nothing to say. noticing her (noticing a part of ruby that has a perception filter on it -- that is hard to see until you get close) just means that you see in ruby what ruby sees in herself. she is afraid that people will 'discover' whatever is wrong with her, and she'll lose them forever.

relevant to this is the fact that ruby didn't actually break the circle. if reading the messages is what summoned the woman in universe, then sure, she has culpability for that. but if it was breaking the circle, she had to live with the consequences of someone else's actions, and feeling guilt for something she didn't do. while im less confident with this reading, you could argue this is an allegory for her being given away. ultimately, that decision had nothing to do with her. she was literally a baby lmao. the idea that there's something wrong with her bc of her mother's decision is illogical -- doesn't follow reality, just like magic. she's spending her life trying to make up for a mistake she hasn't made (and, honestly, probably wasn't made. we don't know anything about her birth mother -- its more than likely that she wasn't fit to be a parent to ruby, no matter how human or supernatural the reasons for that were. but the facts of the situation don't matter here, in this liminal space. guilt and fear and shame bleed through the gaps. ruby could arguably be 'the spiteful one' the pub laugh about. she thinks she needs to be punished for something, and so the woman punishes her.)

following along this line, we know that ruby genuinely doesn't know what might have caused the woman to appear. she suggests trespassing, or breaking the circle, and gets the idea that reading the notes might have been wrong from the pub, but she never finds out for sure. unit doesn't know, or at least doesn't have the chance to tell her. the lack of closure ties in really well -- ruby has to carry a trauma that, even as she comes to terms with it, she can never truly explain or understand. even the partial amnesia at the end of the episode can be read as a sort of 'the body remembers what the mind forgets'. some part of her knows something terrible has happened, something that scarred her and left her alone for an immense amount of time (even if that time, in a literal sense, was undone), but she won't be able to put words to it. it seems that self acceptance - literally opening her arms to this *thing* that has haunted her her whole life,

now for some more rambly thoughts/things im still confused about

i genuinely think if not for the single shot of the episode reversing and old ruby now standing with her arms out on the cliff, i would have no problems with the themes of this episode. it was a powerful representation of rejection and fear that genuinely freaked me out (ruby running after her stone-faced mother while crying BROKE me), and i think it was a great character study of ruby. like others have said -- how many people would have stuck it out for that long? how many people would have never resented/blamed the doctor (or anyone, really) for leaving? and how many of THEM would've come to find a sense of companionship with their spectre?. ...however.

i can not wrap my head around the shot where time reverses and old ruby is looking out from the pov of the woman. it completely breaks my brain. i know at a certain point i should just accept that the woman can do whatever the story needs her to do, but there was nothing about time travel up to that point. it was all about physical and psychological boundaries. more than that, there was no indication that ruby was trying to make up for what had gone wrong. she didn't try and fix the circle, she didn't try and communicate with the woman at all beyond her first failed apology. on its own, i like this -- ruby becomes resentful of the woman quite quickly, which tracks as an expression of her poor self esteem. why would she try and get in the good graces of someone she rejects + dislikes? and again, i LIKE that she eventually treats her as a companion. all ruby has is herself, and she can never leave herself. getting to a point where she doesn't want the woman to go away, where she doesn't feel lonely while alone -- it makes sense that that is what heals the riff. i can write all that out in a way that makes sense to me. ruby makes a mistake (or witnesses a mistake) that makes the doctor disappear. she rejects herself, and in this liminal space, the part that she rejects manifests into reality. it haunts her for the rest of her life, even as she begins to wield what she thinks it says about her (that she's unloveable) to her advantage. when she accepts it, and integrates it back into herself, she is able to speak clearly to herself -- what she is thinking makes it across to young!ruby. when ruby thinks about the situation without the influence of self hate, she realises that the problem was the doctor's actions, not her own. she gets the message across, the doctor doesn't disappear, and the cycle never starts. the loop closes.

but. she wasn't one with the woman the whole time! if she was, the doctor would have never stepped on the circle -- the loop couldn't start, and so it wouldn't need to be closed. like, i know that we do a lot of paradoxes in this show and sometimes things are just gonna be Weird. but to me it's like if, in turn left, donna died in an unrelated car crash, then ended up back in time anyway. so why, if ruby has apparently accepted the woman by the time she visits the tardis for the last time, does the show bother with taking us back to the hospital and seeing old!ruby flatline? why doesn't the old woman come to her there, in that moment, so old!ruby is reaching across time but not space? if i squint, i could make an argument for the death. ruby's understanding of herself dies so a new, more accepting one can be born -- and obviously the timeline would fade away in the moment the loop is closed. but that's not what happens. old!ruby chooses hope and accepts herself, THEN goes back to the hospital, dies, then travels back to the past through time AND space (somehow, sure, i'll just accept the woman can do that), then communicates the message, then fades away. what changed between the visit to the tardis and her death? what do those few minutes possibly add other than the 'ive never been alone' line, which could've easily been written into the talk on the cliff? hell, she could've passed away right there on the cliff, if that needed to happen! but no matter how i twist it i can't understand why the old woman looked the same as it did before old!ruby merged with her, behaved + moved the same, and physically manifested when none of the criteria for its appearance had yet been met. im almost certainly overthinking it -- i can map everything else from this episode onto a psychological exploration of ruby and her fear. maybe the episode is saying that the woman was always there (at least to ruby), and old!ruby's self acceptance is what let the message get through??? but fuck i hate that she looks the same!!!! aghghhhghg! what changed! what changed! it looks like nothing changeddddd!!!!! <- deranged. they merged, there should be a sign of that beyond her hands being mirrored with ruby's.

tldr. if i could change anything about the ending of the episode, i'd take it in one of two ways. either have ruby merge with the woman while on the cliff and have ruby say something like 'now, what were you (or i) trying to tell me?' before cutting to the new timeline, or have the woman post merge look like old (or young!) ruby. she couldn't be seen because she was unknowable and (bc of ruby's schema) unloveable, so ruby conjured a generic older woman (possibly drawing from mother issues -- had to be someone at minimum old enough to be her bio mum). if she now looked like something specific, wouldn't that show old!ruby knew that what she feared was all bc she rejected herself? young!ruby could even have a line to go along with 'she looked like she was looking for someone', maybe 'i wanted to talk to her' -- just something small indicating that old!ruby's acceptance of herself was passed down in some small way, even if it certainly hasn't cured ruby of anything.

now for other theme/focus mutterings. i could spin something here about the fact that the doctor says the fairy circle 'is' charms and spells and hopes and dreams. ruby hopes and dreams that she can be accepted, and later, that she can bring the doctor back/undo the moment where it all went wrong. but the doctor also says that they should 'rest in piece'. so they're dead hopes and dreams, aka fears + regrets? so breaking it unleashed both the doctor and her greatest fears - the doctor of complete helplessness + impotence, and ruby of abandonment + rejection. because those fears stay buried in this timeline, ruby + the doctor's hopes (which in many ways are embodied in each other) can continue to live and be 'here', not drowned in the past.

also, the doctor implies the woman is 'resting in piece', out of nowhere, which i think is another indication of both ruby AND the doctor having knowledge from the split timeline. after all, old!ruby did die. so did the timeline where all that happened, i suppose. maybe that's the other angle for the fairy circle - it represents the fragility of a load bearing timeline. the hundreds of dead paradoxes and dead universes that spin off from time being written and unwritten as the doctor (and his companions) fixes whatever he can. let them rest in piece. forget what could've happened. forget what just did happen.

now for my other critique. i think the sexual harassment sub plot was cheap and shitty, and only served to be an incredibly lazy 'kick the puppy' moment to show that the prime minister was Evil™ levels of bad. in the process it showed no respect or care to victims of abuse, and pretty heavily implied that ruby had done nothing in the face of her peer being abused, because 'she had to make sure'. of what? that mad jack was a bad guy? watching him heavily imply he wanted to fire nukes wasn't enough to confirm anything? 'he's a monster' wasn't enough? why? what metric was she using, then? if she was waiting for him to be prime minister, why did she wait an unspecified amount of time AFTER he was elected, where he's clearly still abusing marti, to act? presumably the audience was already on team 'oh this guy sucks' by the nuke interview at the VERY latest, where it was also made clear that the guy was fearmongering about borders and all sorts of right wing bullshit. like, those are just the problems with it off the top of my head -- it fucking sucks, basically.

that all being said, i think ruby convincing herself that she only has 'one chance' works super well into the overall theme of ruby's understanding of the monster + her situation being tied to arbitrary rules she's decided help make the woman make sense. since this terrible thing happened when life was previously going fine, there must be a way to undo it and go back to the love and acceptance she had before. but there is no monster to slay that will trigger the end credits. there's just ordinary, shitty humans, and ruby herself. she can't uncross the boundary of pre-and-post trauma. and as long as she thinks there is something she has to make up for, the world where she is being punished will keep ticking along. i just wish it had been communicated in a different context!!!

side note. does anyone else want to come live with me in a world where 'it never snowed again' means that snow never occured again anywhere in the world. yes its way more likely to think that ruby's referring to instances of spontaneous snow linked to her emotions. but can you IMAGINE hardening your heart so entirely after being rejected by your mother that you change the climate of planet earth?? holy shit!

[twilightguardian]

Well well. Looks like Lil is still up to her incoherent screaming. Let's take a look, shall we?

I gotta wonder what she means by 'absolutely nothing'. Like by definition 'absolutely nothing' would mean that there has been nothing going on. At all. The equivalent of sitting at a desk, not even twiddling your pencil between your fingers because twiddling would be something.

Episode 2 continues on from episode 1 with what Ruby bought at the festival, revealing them to be friendship bracelets for WBY, establishing how happy she is that not only her team, but her friends are back.

Qrow is still drunk, and unlike in the show, it's becoming actually debilitating for those around him, with Jaune and Ruby having to carry him to the station.

Blake says goodbye to her parents, Sun and Ilia just like in canon. (But I guess since Lilith thinks that's absolutely nothing, we can count that as nothing of worth to canon, either.)

There's also brief mention about the White Fang going to help Vale's recovery.

First episode we saw Roman and Neo pickpocketing people at the festival, and that got paid off when they got into first class on the train.

Mercury and Emerald have a discussion about Cinder and their differing views on her and parenthood.

Cardin and Russell replace Dee and Dudley both as characters we care about and filling in some exposition about the status in Vale.

Brief comedic scene where Yang tells Neptune the truth about 'Jane', because why keep friends in the dark about such things.

That's 8 'nothings' that have happened in the episode. So if you want to break it down into the most important things, we can say establishing RWBY as rekindling their bond, Cardin and Russel's cameo, Emercury's discussion and Qrow's drunkenness as being the core elements.

Ooof. You've never actually read fanfiction, have you, Lilith? You should join the Tundra discord server and join us for bad fanfiction night. Because all this tells me is that you don't know what incompetence is.

Actually, I have no idea if you even read. That's not an insult, that's just a general statement of fact. I've never seen any mention of books on your blogs, and I don't know you as a person.

Why would Cardin's return make you want to watch Fixing RWBY unless you had the expectation that Cardin, who you think only abuses women for some reason, would abuse a woman. Is abusing women something you like to see? People generally avoid things they don't like, you know. That's pretty dang weird.

Emphasizing again that Cardin isn't an abuser of women, specifically. He was a general bully in canon and a rather toothless one at that. He more went after Jaune in canon. Raymond gave him some teeth and his ass was still humbled for it. Now he knows better. When was the last time we've seen Cardin 'abuse' a woman?

Casually insulting all fanfic writers while trying to shit on one guy you have a hateboner for. Nice. You know there's not a single thing you said here that also can't also apply to your average fanfic author. Authors that may like a male character for whatever reason and may want to focus on that male character. Fanfic authors in general create derivative works that aren't 'their own' and many take from each other based on common fanfic tropes, themes and scenarios. The point of Fixing RWBY is to keep as close to the original as possible while also not being afraid to cut unnecessary fat and rearrange things. There isn't a single thing done to Fixing RWBY that one could say impacts the story in any substantially detrimental way. Oscar not being around doesn't matter because Ozpin still has a host. Expanding Menagerie's arc still resulted in Blake meeting up with everyone at the school.

lol

And she wonders why I have no faith in her ability to write when she doesn't seem to understand the concept of foreshadowing and Chekhov's Gun. No, he didn't do the Apathy Arc in V4. It was establishing when the backstory that Maria read in that book took place.

Also prove that the Apathy Arc is going to be 'all about Roman Torchwick' because you're just pulling that out of your ass with no basis other than you want it to be that way. You know, criticism comes after something you disagree with happens, not before.

I don't mind if you think that the first two episodes are slow. That's perfectly fine as valid criticism as not everyone is going to feel the same. Doesn't make it bad, it just means that's your preference. But that doesn't mean you get to pull shit out of your ass like you're fucking Jillian Epperly.

I don't understand this criticism. Are you saying that because Adam has a bike that Yang doesn't have her bike? Or that Yang owning a bike gets diminished because Adam has one because only one person is allowed to own a bike at a time?

Hey @iamafanofcartoons, hello, we haven't formally met yet. I've actually been very interested in talking to you at some point, and I'm sure this might wreck that a bit. But permit me to ask you what this even means lol

When has Raymond ever said that CardinxVelvet is going to for sure be canon in FRWBY? Because like... there's a difference between shipping a ship and then making that ship canon in the story you're working on. And really, obsession? How is Raymond obsessed with men who harass women? Because so far the one who talks the most about Shiloh is you.

And I wouldn't even say that either Shiloh or Shay D. 'harassed' Yang. The dude was drunk and tried to flirt. She wasn't interested and while touching her could have been assault, she was the one that touched him first to hit him instead of moving out of the way and verbally telling him off. Harassment actually deals with continued intimidation and threats. Yang was never threatened by Shay/Shiloh in either version. Yang was not a victim of harassment. So I would appreciate it if you would not infantilize Yang by saying such an innocuous altercation was harassment as it really makes out real harassment out to be not that bad if that's the comparison.

Yeah. I can't wait to see him prove you wrong because you're saying this with no proof.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s13e12 devil's bargain (w. eugenie ross-leming, brad buckner)

laughing that the recap shows asmodeus impersonating cas on the phone, i have such a blind spot for this plotline because i aggressively don't care - i had forgotten they did that too (i was just guessing when i mentioned it prev ep), and sometimes i think about the process for picking clips to include in the recap. like, these dumbasses forgot about the asmo!cas phone call, better remind them (it's me hi i'm the dumbass it's me)

CAS Yes. And the archangel, Michael, again the Apocalypse World version, wants to use the spell to invade and conquer our world. That’s why I met with Lucifer. DEAN So…You met … Cas, I specifically told you not to do anything stupid. CAS Well, he was weak and given the context of our imminent annihilation it didn’t seem stupid. Lucifer wanted to help fight Michael.

what's stupid is dean telling cas not to do anything stupid. i would snap at my kids for that and tell them they're being rude and mean. so i'm glad cas snapped at him, slightly, and sounded mad

SAM Oh yeah, Lucifer wanted to help, sure. CAS If he were lying I’d have known it. He was, he was scared. But Asmodeus showed up before we could finish our conversation and when we finally managed to escape Lucifer did try to kill me. DEAN Oh so much for helping.

feel like they're trying to reestablish lucifer being scary. something about being sarcastic but like, he tortured our sam for an unknown but probably very long time, they have every right to be bitchy and sarcastic at the least towards cas on news of him sorta working with lucifer for a minute

ketch and asmodeus shenanigans *eyes glaze over* ditto for lucifer having to be human

DEAN Cas, I’m sorry. All that time you were with Asmodeus, I should have known it wasn’t you. CAS No, he’s a shapeshifter. Besides, I was the one who got myself captured. DEAN Yeah, but if Sam and I knew you know we would have– CAS Yeah, I know you would have tried another long shot. I’m fine, Dean. DEAN You sure about that?

my dig at the soulless plotline, but how long did dean (AND BOBBY) go with soulless!sam before realizing something was seriously fucked up with him (i would say an UNREALISTICALLY FAR TOO LONG TIME) but if we're accepting that to be in-character, then surely brief phone calls you can't expect dean to have realized it wasn't cas -_- so apologize for making the don't do anything stupid comment instead.

ah so this is the episode with danneel in it (oh, just looked it up, didn't realize it was more than one) i knew she was an angel but didn't know when. haven't seen anything she's in, only know of her vaguely due to jackles. was very much not expecting a ... very young sounding voice. her smile reminds me a bit of kate siegel

SISTER JO Don’t be afraid. You’re whole again.

oh lord the ableism. how do you think that feels to people that have facial differences? ugh. i know that's super common and pervasive but ugh.

girlboss angel, okay, why not

mmmk. little distorted demon growl in the mix of that whole scene

DEAN Alright, I say we take dickbag back to the bunker and find out what he knows, put a bullet in him and burn his bones and flush his ashes. CAS I like that plan.

how about since you know 100% this guy isn't going to break under torture, and that torture info is bad and useless anyway - just kill him and be done with it. i know, shows gotta do this, but i'm so over everything.

SISTER JO We don’t have to rush. We can do this slowly.

really wasn't expecting the kinky angel action a la sam and ruby. i feel the logistics of the angel grace recharge that's supposedly happening here don't quite add up :p but weird sex scene with jackles's wife. that just keeps going. i get it.

KETCH I know you think I’m a monster. DEAN Because you are. KETCH But even I must draw the line somewhere. And letting Lucifer free upon the earth? Well, as it turns out, that’s my line. Not to mention the whole Michael situation. I know you want to kill me. I know you can’t forgive me but if you think about it I’m the lesser of, well, at least three evils. All I ask is that you wait to murder me until after I prove useful. Hmm?

lesser of at least three evils was funny, i'll give them that. still heavy sigh over all this

DONATELLO (screaming) It's like pulling friggin' teeth!! (calmly) I’m working my way through the ingredients. SAM Right. Okay. At least we know the spell we need is in there and we have a plan.

so does that mean sam is all hunkydory now that they have a plan? no more "in a dark place" sam? insert eyeroll

speaking of eyerolls. did they get a proof of concept from him showing he can actually make angels?

LUCIFER Hail to the king, baby.

mhm. preferred when ash said it :p

it's on the damned tip of my tongue who he's reminding of and driving me up the wall. but the cackle i cackled. ARCHANGEL BLADE. okay. why not. couldn't even come up with some random cool sounding backstory having thing like the first blade. nah. just like the angel blade, but upgraded.

gabriel? sure, why not. not like i can keep track if was supposed to be still dead or whatever. s13-15 like one long reunion tour?

[majoringinsarcasm]

WHAT THE HECK IS UP PARTY PEOPLE THIS EPISODE WAS MADE FOR ME SPECIFICALLY LETS GOOOOO

Well if we didn’t know from the title alone what was gonna happen heheheheh

WAIT THE INTO CHANGED E SEE JAUNES FACE SHUT UP AHHHH

Oh ok I see this chapter was made to hurt me personally ok cool

HE SAW CRESCENT ROSE????

what the fuck

This is a literal horror movie HE PICKED A CLOCK FROM A TREE AND TIME WENT BACKWARDS HES ALL ALONE

Hey uh here uh hey what the FUCK

HE HAD TO WAIT FOR THEM TO FALL im sick I’m so sick

NOT A GROUP HUG I SAID I WOULD DISSOLVE AND NOW IM CRYING NOOOOOOOOO

I’m so serious if he dies or cannot go back home I will not be able to handle it. Like y’all don’t get it I will Not be consolable

AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AYYYYYYYYYYYY KARA MUST BE LOVING THIS OK WHITEKNIGHT OK OK I SEE YOU

I know a lot of ppl don’t like it bc early volume Jaune was a total dork loser nerd almost nice guy but really he wasn’t he was just a dork but I don’t have many super strong opinions about ships besides the bees, Renora and I think Rosegarden is cute. So while I’m not like an active Whiteknight shipper…. Girl get it lmao WEISS YOUR FACE HAHAHAH

Im gonna Cry

Like I just wanna be clear I’m not Mad at Jaune At All. This poor guy has been here alone for years and has had plenty of time to “lick his wounds” but he had to do it Alone with no outside input or kind words or a friend to cry with. Him being harsh makes me sad bc it just. When Ren yelled at him after they lost Oscar he didn’t lash out or Anything but the girls sitting and talking and arguing sets him off bc. He’s been ALONE I’m so sick

His village 🥺 he knows the names of places I’m

What if he really doesn’t go back I know there was talk of Neo staying behind but y’all

Im. Going. To. Scream.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ONNNNNNNNNNNNMN also I can’t tell if the Ever After has independent weather as well as reaching to Ruby OR if it’s now reaching to Jaune

Im scared

WHO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bitch we are getting Lore

Is the cat Louis / Lewis

This cat leave my man ALONE

BITCH WHAT IS HAPPENING

A PUNDERSTORM???? Or like Ponder said a different way THIS IS SO MUCH

And it does have its own weather lmao

UM WEISS HELLO

she really is the star of this volume like I’m sorry that’s the truth

“Must’ve had something bigger to work out” OK OK OK OK OK

Ok but I hate heights so I would throw up or pass out if I was Blake and Yang like bruh

HOW DO WE TSKE THE NEXT STEP AHHHHHHHHHHH

LOL Jaune please

Ok so time loops and time trickery are hard. So. Jaune turned back time enough for Alyx and Louis to show up which was. A long time ago maybe idk. So it’s not Neo bc Neo had not yet fallen.so what the hell did Herb show her

POISON?????

Stop it oh my god they’re too cute the emotional whiplash of me crying over Jaune and me crying over Bees I can’t handle it

SHE THINKS HER CAT EARS ARE CUUUUUTE

MAYBE ITS SAYING THINGS WE NEVER SAID TO EACH OTHER

Blake loves how honest Yang is. Adam only ever told her lies or tried to convince her that his way was the correct way. Yang listens to her and never sugarcoats; she never tries to trick. She Does What She Says

Blake never gave up on her even when she showed similar signs of being like Adam she decided to trust her. She wasn’t intimidated by how loud and brash and in her space Yang was. She knows what matters to her and has never been afraid to go for them

ANY BIG TRUTHS WE HAVEN'T DROPPED ON EACH OTHER YET

NOBODY TOUCH ME THE COLORS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL YANG IS AFRAID TO STEP OUT ONTO THE OPEN AIR SHE IS AFRAID BUT BLAKE ITS OK ITS OK YANG BLAKE WILL BE THERE WITH YOU

Also the blushing here is like idk what but it looks so good. Like I can’t describe what I mean but the way it makes their eyes look so bright it’s just very good AND SEEING YANG BLUSH SO MUCH SHE'S SO CUTE

EVERYONE SIT DOWN NOBODY MOVE GET ON THE GROUND LOOK AT THIIIIIIIS LOOK AT THEEEEEEM

BLAKE LMAO BLAKE WAS READYYYYYY

STOP ATOP STOP IM CRYING OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD THEY ARE SO CUUUUUUUUTE THE BLUSHING IM TELLING YOU ITS SO GOOD THIS IS ALL SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL

DO YOU LOVE THE COLOR OF THE BUMBLEBY SKY

and then back to my saddest boy ever GOD the whiplash

Alright cat I understand how you feel. But the girls up front told you they were trying to go home. Yes they were trying to get you to take them there but they didn’t offer you any deals or say they would bring you to Remnant. Unless you’re Louis and we’re betrayed by your sister in which case that’s fucked up and I’m on your side it all depends on WHAT THE FUCK ALYX DID DOES ANYONE KNOW CAUSE WE STILL DONT

but like we have four episodes left WHAT are we gonna do gang

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

NOT BLAKE WITH THE PRINCESS DIARIES FOOT POP

JAUNE SHIPS IT TOO LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO LMAO HES BEEN WAITING THE LONGEST OF ANYONE

oh my god if that’s crescent rose I’m gonna scream

Oh but she doesn’t want it / isn’t ready to pick it up again GOD IM CRYING

so. Is she gonna trade crescent rose in order to leave is that the vibe I’m getting.

GOD THAT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD I won’t lie I was spoiled about the kiss but that was my own being silly fault but I only knew that they did kiss and not THE COMPLIMENTS AND CONFESSION BRIDGE and also like. Y’all I love Jaune Arc of the Arc Family so goddamn much so this episode was for me THEY CHANGED THE INTRO TO SHOW HIS SAD FACE god lordy what the fuck is next week gonna do to me

[certifiedwerewolf]

One of the things that makes me a good writer is that I treat "the words on the page/screen" as a visual medium that is part of the story. (And if people are adapting my work into an audio or other form of medium for accessibility, I would expect them to consider these things when translating the story into the new medium, not just the words themselves).

For example, here's the opening narration of Merriment and Mirth:

See how the justification bounces from one side of the page to the other? Bryory, in this scene, is at odds with himself. Part of him is horrified by what his queen has asked of him-- and the other, while not justifying the ask itself, is trying to find some way of justifying that she would ask it. Part of him is realizing his queen is a monster, while the other half is trying not to.

Bryory is of two minds here, and by splitting the justification- such a simple little trick!- we get to really lean into that conflict.

I've talked about this one before, but there's a place in dtls where Jaune and Ruby are both texting Gyro about the same thing at the same time, and to convey that synchronicity, when I was archiving the threads, I put those threads side by side. You can't literally read them at once, but by putting them that way, it highlights how much Gyro was dealing with that morning- which is doubly conveyed by the slightly messy way this formatting makes the page.

This was when the clock was striking the thirteenth hour of Aziraphale being in the Labyrinth. I don't think anyone ever counted, but there are thirteen dots there, and not only do they signal the clock striking, they also create a moment of catharsis as we the audience take a moment to live in Aziraphale's relief before we move on to the next scene.

I don't know what I'm really getting at here. I mostly wanted to talk about one of the things that makes writing fun for me, and that makes me good at it and suited for this specific medium. I guess if there's a takeaway, I'd say it's don't be afraid to play around with your formatting and presentation- not just with writing on the page/screen, but whatever medium you use to convey a narrative. Find ways to use the secondary aspects of a medium to enhance your tone; make them bring something to the table too. Not only is it fun, it will make your writing stronger.

[destinygoldenstar]

The Spitfire Twins Are Growing Up

Toddler-hood is done for these two spitfire twins. Our two aggressive angry twins.

Happy birthday you two!!

Ruby is the heir, so of course her first trait is hot headed. It’s the only one of the three available for kids. And you know what? Makes perfect sense for her anyway as our feisty practical queen. And she’s a Social Butterfly because the heir skill needed is Charisma. And this might help. I usually ignore the child aspirations, but this is an exception.

And Kian… at random, is ALSO a hot head. Wow.

Yeah, this is why I call them the Spitfire Twins. Later in, I’m definitely making their traits different. But I’m fine with this cause it makes sense for them both.

They BOTH have significant anger problems and have AWFUL emotional control. (If one of these twins die, I’m gonna be so upset. I hope I didn’t jinx anything.)

This is Ruby and Kian.

Ruby is a deep regal crimson red. Kian is a bright fiery red.

Ruby loves the color red. Kian loves red and orange. They both love affection, arguing and complaining. And discussing their interests. In Rubys case, debating and fairy tales. In Kians case, music. Ruby loves stories, specifically love related stories full of shipping content. It’s also a trait she inherited from her father being a famous writer. Kian loves music, energetic and rock music in particular. He loves singing and dancing.

Personality wise, they’re both hot heads. They both have anger problems and actually bond through bickering. It’s their way of communicating.

Ruby (the heir) is the more practical of the two. She’s a feisty stubborn young girl who works for what she wants. She has glasses, she wore them since she was an infant, she can sometimes be wild with her brother when she wants to, and she’s a bit of a glutton, and a messy one at that. It’s not ‘fitting for an attractive lady’, and she wants to hide these parts of her. Doesn’t know how yet in childhood. She grew up in a successful family of her mother being a genius scientist and her father being a famous author. She heavily looked up to them due to this, and she was around to witness the proposal of her parents, and their wedding, seeing ‘the ideal life’. Ideal life involving people changing the world positively, and finding the perfect love interest to ‘get married and live happily ever after’. It’s shown as the ultimate perfect outcome in her life, and the bedtime stories her father read to her. So therefore she must have a life like that as well.

(But due to gen rules: None of her dates are that perfect love interest)

She’s very upfront and blunt. Intelligent-wise and emotional-wise. She also has a sailor mouth cause why is a nine year old swearing so much already?! (That’s how you know she’s Peppers kid) She cares a lot about her own image. And she’s a determined girl who values the perfection of her own life and those around her.

She also has a hard time understanding the phrase “I love you”

She thinks that’s only a romantic thing to say. That people who say it mean it to their romantic partners only. That romance love is the only form of ‘love’. Maybe she’ll learn that it’s not, and embrace family love, especially for her twin brother. Who knows?

Kian is a wild kid with wild dreams. Like his twin sister, he has anger issues, and aggression problems. But he openly has a sunny side, and is far more naturally social in platonic sense. He’s almost always full of energy and isn’t afraid to show it, be reckless, and be weird. He’s also full of pride in himself, and doesn’t like to admit when he’s kind of a meat head. He’s very protective of people he cares about. He loves his sister, (even if as a toddler, he took too much influence from the cat and showed that love by biting), and will fight people who hurt her. Or disrespect his parents in any way. He will be nice. Very nice. You can bully him all you want if you want. But if you do anything mean to his sister, or his friends, he WILL FIGHT YOU. He’s also more loose in his dreams than his sister. He is a HUGE music guy. Maybe a music nerd? And is so devoted to trying to come up with music of his own. Especially rock music. It might turn into his own career one day.

They also both love cats. They adore their cat guardian, Bubbles.

These twins, despite their issues, despite them loving to bicker and fight, love each other more than they can put into words.

Rose Gen is gonna be wild with these two. I just know it.