#yang especially was completely unnecessary and uncalled for

[maryse127]

Kain: Everyone chooses death too hastily

Me: Yeah wtf is up with people in this game

[marigold-bug]

OKAY SO RANT TIME

Tbh this feels like JK Rowling all over again. I had been a huge fan of HP and I used to look up to her. I mean as an aspiring author, she was the ideal, she's richer than the queen ffs. But then as I grew up I read more and more stuff about her and I lost faith, I found out that she was transphobic, a terf, and that it went further than that. Her allegories and writing were nonsensical and offensive. And that realization HURT. I felt betrayed and disregarded as a member of the lgbt+ community. Now I feel like that's happening again with RWBY. I've been a fan of this show for SO LONG it's made an immense impact on my life. I've been a fan since the beginning, but now as I read more and more, I become more and more disappointed. The way they've handled Fairgame is just... insulting. As a writer I understand that sometimes you have to kill off a character. Shocking I know.

HOWEVER EVERY CHARACTER DEATH HAS TO BE HANDLED WITH CARE. Even if Clover wasn't HEAVILY implied to be gay and have an interest in Qrow and he was as unimportant as CRWB wants us to think, his death has to be handled with care. In order to make a death matter, you have to make the audience care. However in making them care you have to pay attention to the promises you have made.

The whole reason that this is such a big deal is because of some key mistakes that could have been easily avoided.

The crew encouraged the ship outside of the show and had several instances of seeming to ship the characters.

Don't actually write the characters with flirty interactions. They deny this over and over, but they did. They know how to write characters. They've had SEVEN volumes to figure it out. They could have easily avoided that. Sure people probably would still have shipped them, but they would at least have some defense instead of "oh we didn't intend that" yes you did don't lie. That's just insulting.

Don't tailor the character design to mirror Qrow's. Several things about Clover's character design mirror Qrow. The color scheme that matches Qrow's aura, the complementary eye colors, etc. Color has always been extremely important in RWBY and they can't just deny that they didn't know what they were doing.

Speaking of color, the background of Clover's death scene being a Bi pride flag was just uncalled for and just plain insulting.

Also the parallels between Fairgame, Renora and Bumblb. The truck scene being framed very similarly, the expressions, the body language and the tone of voice. All screamed romance.

The "lucky you" callback.

The similarities of style in these two frames (sorry)

This is the first time we've ever seen Qrow cry.

The unnecessary brutality of Clover's death. This is literally the most gruesome scene in RWBY so far, and Yang had her arm cut off.

The unapologetic and insulting way the writers have handled the backlash.

THIS IS ALL WITHOUT EVEN TOUCHING ON HOW OOC BOTH QROW AND CLOVER WERE THROUGHOUT THAT FIGHT BUT WHATEVER.

I could keep going with Fairgame, but tbh I want to talk about why it feels like JK Rowling.

Number one, Bumblb, technically while it has been built up for so long and been pushed and had a romantic undertones and is basically cannon, it isn't. There still has yet to be an explicitly romantic moment on screen. There hasn't been an "I love you" or a kiss or anything. Therefore it still technically isn't cannon.

Two May Marigold. She has had about two lines total on screen. And the only reason we know she's trans is because someone confirmed it OFF SCREEN. On Twitter. Therefore if you only watch the show (with is completely fair) you wouldn't even know. AND SHE IS THE FIRST TRANS CHARACTER. You cannot do that to a group of people with such little representation. Especially when movies like A*am are still being made.

And that brings us back to Fairgame.

I feel betrayed and led on. When I first watched the episode and saw some of the discorse unfold, I was incredibly conflicted. I defended CRWB and if you scroll far back enough in my blog you can probably see that. But like I said, the more I read the more anger I felt about the situation.

Would I be mad if it were only Fairgame, yes.

Would I be THIS mad if it were only Fairgame, no.

Will I continue to watch the show, probably. However I am thoroughly disappointed and angry. I will demand an explanation and I will demand better in the future. I have lost a significant amount of trust and respect for CRWB which is ironic, because this volume is completely centered around trust.

CRWB, you are better than this.