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elirium · 12 days

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Pokespe Timeline

Made a quick detailed timeline about all Events from Pokespe which can be dated up until (chronologically) the oras arc. This is very long so everything under the cut

I'm not well read on anything after that so i will just put my very rough guesses for the rest beneath at the bottom.

Keep in mind there is never any year stated for anything (i mean except if i missed something) but given that this works out very well with the game releases im gonna stick to that. Otherwise all years references could be shifted up or down potentially. The timespan between all things and the month and day dates should defintly be correct.

I write all dates Day.Month.Year so be warned for that. kursiv means i dont have definite prove for anything but good evidence based on game canon os something else. Im gonna explain these things also beneath. Anything other i have to say also in the footnotes. This means i have footnotes but they are not timeline related just other things i want to say. Somethings i just say in (here) behind it, you will see. i also will stop writing peoples birthdays after they stop appearing

Timeline:

Around 1850 - Ho-Oh reawakens Entei, Raikou and Suicune

1950 - Prof. Oaks Birth[1][2]

1.8.1958 - Giovannis Birth Option 1.

1.8.1965 - Giovannis Birth Option 2. [3]

1973 - Oak becomes Champion

1978 - Lances Birth

1.6.1985 - Greens (f) Birth 💚

8.8.1985 - Reds Birth [4] ❤️

22.11.1985 - Blue Oaks Birth💙

3.3.1988 - Yellows Birth💛

24.12.1988 - Silvers Birth🤍

30.4.1989 - Kris' Birth💎

21.6.1989 - Golds Birth🪙

1.7.1990 - Rubys Birth❤️

20.11.1990 - Saphires Birth💙

Sometime around ~1990/1991 - Blue goes to Johto[5]

31.5.1991 - Emeralds Birth💚

Sometime between June 1991 and December 1991 - Green & Silvers kidnapping.

Sometime 1996 - Salamance attack on the Climate Reseach Center

1.6.1996 - Greens 11th Birthday💚

8.8.1996 - Reds 11th Birthday❤️

22.11.1996 - Blues 11th Birthday💙

1996 or 1997 - Beginn of the RGB Arc. (Depending on how long you think RGB lasts)❤️💚💙

1.6.1997 - Greens 12th Birthday💚

Sometime between 21.6.1997 and 8.8.1997 - End of the RGB Arc. (If you assume a) the league is held every year around the same time (for the 21.6 date) and accept the age redcon from RS as Canon (for the 8.8. date))❤️💚💙

8.8.1997 - Reds 12th Birthday❤️

Somewhere probably like late summer 1997 - End of the RGB Arc. (If you take Matos Website as canon or something. Or if you just have beef with the explanation from above)❤️💚💙

22.11.1997 - Blues 12th Birthday💙

1.6.1998 - Greens 13th Birthday💚

8.8.1998 - Reds 13th Birthday❤️

22.11.1998 - Blues 13th Birthday💙

3.3.1999 - Yellows 11th Birthday💛

30.4.1999 - Kris' 10th Birthday💎

Sometime in 1999 - Yellow Arc [6]💛

1.6.1999 - Greens 14th Birthday💚

21.6.1999 - Golds 10th Birthday🪙

8.8.1999 - Reds 14th Birthday❤️

22.11.1999 - Blues 14th Birthday💙

24.12.1999 - Silvers 11th Birthday🤍

Sometime in 2000 - GSC Arc starts🪙🤍💎

3.3.2000 - Yellows 12th Birthday💛

30.4.2000 - Kris' 11th Birthday💎

1.5.2000 - Earliest Possible date for Volume 12💎

1.6.2000 - Greens 15th Birthday💚

21.6.2000 - Golds 11th Birthday🪙

22.6.2000 - Earliest possible date for the end of GSC.🪙🤍💎

2.7.2000 - Rubys 10th Birthday❤️

8.8.2000 - Reds 15th Birthday❤️

20.11.2000 - Saphires 10th Birthday💙

22.11.2000 - Blues 15th Birthday💙

24.12.2000 - Silvers 12th Birthday🤍

3.3.2001 - Yellows 13th Birthday💛

30.4.2001 - Kris' 12th Birthday💎

1.6.2001 - Greens 16th Birthday💚

21.6.2001 - Golds 12th Birthday🪙

2.7.2001 - Rubys 11th Birthday❤️

2.7.2001 - start of RS Arc❤️💙

The entirety of RS can actually be dated exactly but im not gonna do that

8.8.2001 - Reds 16th Birthday❤️

20.11.2001 - Saphires 11th Birthday💙

20.11.2001 - end of RS❤️💙

22.11.2001 - Blues 16th Birthday💙

24.11.2001 - Silvers 13th Birthday🤍

January or February 2002 - FRLG Arc❤️💚

3.3.2002 - Yellows 14th Birthday[7]💛

30.4.2002 - Kris' 13th Birthday💎

31.5.2002 - Emeralds 11th Birthday💚

1.6.2002 - Greens 17th Birthday💚

21.6.2002 - Golds 13th Birthday🪙

1.7.2002 - start of the Emerald Arc💚

2.7.2002 - Rubys 12th Birthday❤️

2.7.2002 - end of the Emerald Arc💚

July 2002 - Silver brings Giovanni to that abondoned house or whatever

8.8.2002 - Reds 17th Birthday❤️

October 2002 - Blue gifts Silver his Rhyperion

20.11.2002 - Saphires 12th Birthday💙

22.11.2002 - Blues 17th Birthday💙

24.12.2002 - Silvers 14th Birthday🤍

Nothing noteworthy happens in 2003 and there are to many birthdays to list them all so

Kris and Gold turn 14

Silver turns 15

Ruby and Saphire turn 13

Emerald turns 12

RGB turn 18

2004 - HGSS Arc🪙🤍

Gold and Kris turn 15

Silver turns 16

Ruby and Saphire turn 14

Emerald turns 13

RGB turn 19

31.5.2005 - Emeralds 14th Birthday💚

Sometimes 2005 - XY Arc

1.6.2005 - Greens 20th Birthday💚

2.7.2005 Rubys 15th Birthday❤️

8.8.2005 Reds 20th Birthday❤️

Sometime between July 2005 and July 2006 - ORAS Arc❤️💙

20.11.2005 - Saphires 15th Birthday💙

22.11.2005 - Blues 20th Birthday💙

My rough guesses for everything after, but as i said i am not well read on that so i might have made mistakes:

2009 DPPT

2011 BW

2013 B2W2

2015 SM

2019 SWSH

[1] - Age taken from Game Canon

[2] - As you will see later it is very unlikely from the ages that Oak is Daisys grandfather actually, but given thats also true in games canon, we gotta live with that.

[3] - super technically he could also be born in 48 or 38 or 28… you see how this goes

[4] - I didnt write down all the Pokemon Leagues in this, but i think its fun to note that there was (if they never changed the shedule) held a league in the summer Red was born.

[5] - Basing this mostly on the fact that Oak implied in Chapter 39 that Blue was already in Johto when Green was kidnapped. I guess that line could be interpreted some other way as well.

[6] - Going exclusively by vibes. I would put it in between Yellows Birtday and Reds.

[7] - Technically it says in FRLG that Yellow is already 14, but Emerald Arc Says FRLG Arc was 6 Months ago and i think. March would not count at that anymore. But i guess you could do that however you want and put FRLG after Yellows Birthday.

As you can see i did not write the Birtdates or Birthdays for any of the XY people, because i dont think we can actually know for sure which year they were born, but assumingly around 1993.

I did not fact check anything in here except Emeralds Birthday. I wrote most of this on the train on my way to uni, because i had nothing better to do and just what i remembered spontanous at that moment. I do think however that i am correct. I might have made math errors.

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aihoshiino · 8 months

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your analysis are really interesting and are a joy to read! i wanted to ask about your thoughts on the tokyo blade arc of the manga because its really interesting and gives a lot of characters more depth

thank u so much anon! 🥺 I feel like I've said this in like every ask but it really does surprise and delight me how many people vibe with my longform takes on the series when the extent of my fandom engagement for the last few years has been talking about fate grand order in a group chat comprised of like 5 other gay people LMAO

That said, Tokyo Blade is... an arc I have mixed feelings on! It was, in fact, the arc I originally dropped the manga on back when I was first following it in 2020/2021 feeling it was poorly paced and that I wasn't able to get invested in the cast to the degree it wanted me to me. But upon revisiting the series and this arc in particular with fresh eyes, I think I was being pretty unfair to it - though I do stand by my feeling of the pacing being not the best at least when reading it week to week. It's one of those arcs that definitely works better when you can take it all in at once as opposed to having it doled out over what felt like an agonizingly slow 30+ weeks.

As for my current feelings... in isolation I think it's extremely strong and has some incredible moments that I am PUMPED for seeing animated in season 2 but the further we get away from it and see its long term effects on the cast (or I should say, the lack thereof) the more I feel like it ultimately adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

Not that it's a bad arc, mind! Like I said, it has some insanely strong individual moments and I think the character arcs it ends up serving are super interesting. Its commentary is compelling and I literally can't gush enough about the massive glowup Melt gets in this arc. Every time I have new friends get into the series and understandably react with derision towards him in Sweet Today I just sit there crying tears of blood like that's my fucking baby son you don't understand

I also just really appreciate that the arc is willing to slow down and just let us breathe in some of the emotional baggage the characters are all dealing with without needing to shackle it to Aqua's revenge quest. Even the side characters like the mangakas and the production staff feel like they have real, human lives beyond the ways they factor into the plot and again, it feels like there are real weight and stakes to ensuring the play's success beyond just whether or not it will help Aqua do a thing. So many people's careers (and by extension, their lives) are hanging in the balance and you feel the weight of that responsibility absolutely crushing everyone involved. It's great!

This is potentially a sillier point to add but can I also say that I really like how authentic Tokyo Blade feels as an in-universe piece of fiction LOL. Everything from the premise to the designs rings so fucking true to the exact sort of manga it's a pastiche of that I'm half expecting to hear about the Studio Bones Tokyo Blade anime adaptation announcement any day now because it feels so real to me.

On the less positive side, though... like I said, this arc is s l o w. I believe it's still Oshi no Ko's longest arc at three volumes's worth of chapters and change and it's such a change to the story's until-then relatively breezy pace that it can be really jarring when you go in not expecting it. Again, having the arc available in full to read as quick or slow as you like does a lot to alleviate this problem but if you aren't connecting with it, you're stuck with it for an incredibly long time. This also means that B-Komachi in general and Ruby in specific get completely side-lined for almost thirty entire chapters - Ruby basically vanishes during this entire arc and if you were invested in and excited about her as a character, it sucks to see her get so immediately and completely sidelined after what felt like a big triumphant step forward for her, which is a pattern that will unfortunately continue through the rest of the series.

And speaking of unfortunate patterns... Tokyo Blade is the arc where Akane starts taking steps towards becoming the version of herself I like the least lmao. I've said to friends elsewhere that short hair/LoveNow!Akane and long hair/post Tokyo Blade!Akane basically feel like completely different characters to me and while I really love and am invested in LoveNow!Akane, PTB!Akane is easily my least favourite member of the main cast for reasons that are not entirely her fault.

She doesn't quite achieve her final form in Tokyo Blade arc but the seeds of my worst future annoyances with her (lack of meaningful connection to the extended cast, largely just orbiting Aqua, the overly convenient nature of her deductions, etc) start to take root here. There are some teases of interesting ideas and I particularly enjoy the build up, development and reveal of the true nature of her rivalry with and animosity for Kana but I don't feel like these bear any long term fruit.

That's probably my biggest problem with Tokyo Blade - it feels like an arc that should massively advance the story and the arcs of all the characters associated with it. In some ways it does and we get some tasty crumbs about the central mystery but when you take a step back and really look, the broad strokes status quo of the plot and the character relationships really don't get much of a shakeup and even the things that do feel like they should lead to big changes (Akane figuring out Ai's secret, Aqua finding his half-brother, Kana getting her shine back and Akane's reaction) just kind of... don't? Or at least not in ways that are as impactful as they feel they should be.

Kana and Akane's rivalry is probably the worst example of this. It's built up across the whole arc to the point of their on-stage confrontation basically being the arc's climactic high point. Kana finally stepping into the spotlight again and outshining Akane so beautifully really feels like it should have served as a gigantic change to their dynamic but not only have they barely interacted in any meaningful capacity since it happened, but the times they have it's just been the same old shit of hostility and sniping at each other with the tiny flavour difference of "oh gosh, akane is just such a tsundere tee hee <3". It just doesn't feel like the meaningful, impactful change it should have been based on how hard the end of that arc made me FEEL it.

I've said elsewhere before that a lot of the characters feel sort of like they've been stuck in holding patterns since Tokyo Blade and I'm hoping that in the Movie arc, with the cast being crunched together into a single, extremely emotionally taxing and relevant project, it might shake a bit of life back into the proceedings, especially given that Aka has said that he thinks the manga's ending is probably within sight - though that could be anything from fifty to a hundred more chapters depending on what he's got planned so who knows how things might shake out.

I do ultimately feel more positively about the arc than negative, though! I feel like I rambled a lot more about the things I dislike here than the things I enjoyed but that's because I feel like the arc's strengths speak for themselves while the stuff I don't like as much needed a bit more explaining. At the end of the day, I think Tokyo Blade is a really solid arc that I'm beyond excited to see animated - it has one of my favourite scenes in the whole manga (given that I am an Ai enjoyer you can uh, probably guess which one it is) and I'm really hopeful that we might get a sneaky peek at a certain someone if season 2 ends at the point I suspect it might...

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #sorry to akane enjoyers that i never have anything nice to say about her i promise i am not a hater lMDKFJSKDND

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narcissa-black-supermacy · 2 years

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I'm curious as to why you think James is hypocritical? I don't disagree, I've just never caught onto it before. Very hard agree on black-and-white worldview, if he turns villain it's a trait that'd make James absolutely deadly. I actually think his overall character arc would be accepting the world has shades of grey, which I think befriending Sirius helps him realise, but he wouldn't be entirely there yet. James is a criminally underrated character from that era; people are quick to discard him as 'one-dimensional' but I don't really think so; from what little we have of him, he strikes a very vibrant image, which is where half of all the discord over such a minor character comes from, James can have terrific character development and would make both a great protagonist AND antagonist. The only character from that era who can fit the one-dimensional slot is Lily, and even she isn't entirely there, she's just not as polarising as the others so there's much less discussion about her and I feel people are somehow afraid of making Lily as bad as the people surrounding her or making her less-than in anyway, so they opt for 'she's better than them morally' which may be true but it soon transforms into 'better than them intellectually, relationships-wise, looks-wise'. If that fear goes away, Lily can become so much more.

I agree, anon.

About the hypocritical part - the way I see it, a black and white world view implies being hypocritical, you can't really be the first without the second.

Because the moment you divide people into good and bad, you will eventually run into people like Regulus, or Snape, or Narcissa and you will be forced to either a) confront your biases or b) be hypocritical and put them into one of the categorisations when they obviously fit neither.

Sirius has this understanding of "the world isn't split into good people and death eaters", as he tells Harry (my fav HP quote), because he was judged for being a Black; Remus is judged for being a werewolf; Lily is judged for being muggle born; James is not judged for anything he has no control over, he is only judged for his own character, so he does not understand that.

Also, circling back to SWM, which is the brightest scene of young Sirius and James that we have, telling Snape "it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean" and telling Lily "go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again" and then demanding that Snape apologises when he calls Lily a mudblood, is the definition of hypocrisy, in my eyes.

The things he says are much more personal, they are ten times more hurtful, but he does not feel the need to apologise for any of that to Snape or Lily because he views himself as the one on the "right" side in the story - therefore anybody who sides with the "wrong" deserves whatever cruelty James has in store for them.

When people take away this negative trait from him, they take away any potential character development that he should go through, therefore they take away his depth as a character.

Also, a note about Lily: Lily is only one-dimensional if you actively choose to ignore that she repeatedly chose to hang out with a future Death Eater even after all the red flags she got, which many people chose to do, since it doesn't fit the narrative. But this alone speaks...volumes of her character if we sit down to analyse it for a moment. It goes so much more beyond just being "too good for her own good". But that's a different topic for another post, if anyone's interested.

#james potter #asks

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hamliet · 3 years

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Chemical Weddings in RWBY

So once upon a time Hamliet said she’d write a meta about ships in RWBY, and then arrived months later without Starbucks.

The central tenet of alchemy is solve et coagula: dissolve, and then coagulate. The process (RWBY appears to be following Ripley’s 12 Gates) repeats, rinses, and repeats again and again throughout the steps, “each time at a more refined level.” The point of a chemical wedding is to reconcile opposites, which is something I touched on in my pseudo-quick meta here. Lyndy Abraham, the author of A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, describes the chemical wedding as:

a crucial operation in the creation of the philosopher’s stone. The alchemists were ultimately concerned with the union of substances, the reconciliation of opposites.

Basically, it unites opposites (fire and water, air and earth, sun and moon, passive and active, etc., etc., etc.) and then the opposites start to take on each other’s qualities, creating the “Rebis,” or a person both male and female.

The first chemical wedding is usually somewhat violent, primitive even, whereas the second one signifies the creation of the stone. However, characters can have more than two weddings, and chemical weddings do not inherently have to be romantic--Sam and Frodo aren’t, for example--but most often are, because it’s the most obvious way to show a union between separate people (the old adage “two become one” in marriage, for example).

If we look at George Ripley’s 12 Gates, chemical weddings tend to be focused on in the fourth stage of conjunction (which I wrote about here) and in the ninth, fermentation (which is probably going to be in volume 10--maybe a little in volume 9, but traveling between worlds seems to be a hallmark of sublimation in fiction so I’m guessing we’re stuck there for the time being). But in a lengthy series spanning eight years and counting, there is going to be overlap.

So let’s talk about chemical wedding imagery historically. It tends to involve dissolution (via water or fire--keep in mind metal was associated with fire in olden days, so stabbing with metal was considered liquid fire, or so it was believed to be by alchemists) and then coagulation (healing/coming together).

Four of the five ships--two of whom are definitely happening, one of which I think is happening and one of which I think has a good chance--reference historical alchemical artwork and symbolism in key moments. (RWBY does reference alchemical artwork; see here and here.) So let’s dive in and examine potential chemical wedding allusions in RWBY:

Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie (Renora)

Let’s start with the most obvious couple: Ren and Nora. Their first chemical wedding occurs when they are children. In alchemical art, birds are often used to show the volatility/primitiveness of a first chemical wedding:

The raven is replicated in the Nevermore which forms a similarly threatening pose over Ren and Nora when he unlocks his semblance to protect her, thus honoring his father and mother’s legacies.

You can even see earth (trees), water (river), fire, and air (the bird flying) in the scene as it pans out. After this, Ren and Nora become “Ren and Nora,” as Nora herself says in Volume 8. They’re inseparable, because they’re on their way to becoming one. However, unification doesn’t mean that they’re literally the same person; in stories like these, it’s more like they become better versions of themselves through growing towards each other and adopting each other’s traits (like Nora’s courage for Ren, and Ren’s caution for Nora).

Their second, elevated chemical wedding is in the same place as their first, when in Volume 4 they return to the village and defeat the monster they were too young to defeat last time. This time, Nora is the one who protects Ren by telling him he could not sacrifice his life by pulling Ren back, in a reversal of his running to her in their first moment years ago.

Like the first, there’s water involved--Ren and Nora hide next to a river, watching as the Knuckelvee advances on them. I talked previously how I thought this looked like a possible allusion to this alchemical image (look at the moon symbol on the head of the aggressor):

The moon symbol actually shows up quite a bit in this scene, first when Nora and Ren discover the Nuckelvee is still alive in the cave:

And then in the moment when they defeat it:

While I am certain this is a chemical wedding, I’m not certain why the moon symbol is so prominent in this, though I do think it is possibly in reference to this image and how Nora and Ren are united now:

Yang Xiao Long/Blake Belladonna (Bumbleby)

Firstly, the alchemy image is somewhat of a creepy image, right? In this, Mercurius has united the two principles by beheading them (amputation is a Thing in alchemy), leaving them to putrefy and then coagulate.

Like the Nuckelvee for Nora and Ren, Blake and Yang have a somewhat antagonistic Mercurius who unites them: Adam Taurus. He doesn’t cut off their heads, but he does seriously injure Blake and cuts off Yang’s arm in a scene that is romantically charged (you have Blake’s possessive ex telling her he’ll target someone she loves and specifically chooses Yang).

While I have my issues with how Bumbleby is written, it’s hard to interpret that as anything other than him seeing Yang as a rival for Blake’s affection.

Their second chemical wedding also involves Adam. There’s no one direct image that seems to have inspired it, but it does take place in a place full of waterfalls (fountains and flowing water in general, like the ones in Nora and Ren’s village, are common elements of chemical weddings’ settings) and by the ocean (the “mercurial sea” is where the elements dissolve to make the Philosopher’s Stone, so it’s also a common hallmark for chemical weddings).

(To briefly address this: this is where my complaints about the writing pile in, because you can also make a damn strong case that Blake and Sun fighting on the ship to Menagerie is a chemical wedding, which it is, but I think it’s clear at this point that Bumbleby is endgame. Either both were written for a reason, like if they weren’t sure if they could do Bumbleby, or a narrative reason, in which case Black Sun should have been dealt with rather than hand-waved away, or they were just teasing, but baiting fans is never, ever good writing; it’s cheap. All that to say that while I think there’s a compelling case they were interested in pursuing Bumbleby from the start, Black Sun shippers have a right to feel tricked and not all criticism thereof is based in homophobia or a lack of narrative understanding, or even in a dislike of the ship.)

At the beginning of this scene, Adam makes it clear that this is a redo of their previous chemical wedding by reminding them of it:

Blake stabs Adam with a silver weapon; Yang with red. We have earth, air (clouds), water, and weapons as a stand-in for fire.

It’s still somewhat of a violent wedding, which makes me wonder if Bumbleby will have a third (and Renora as well). But it also parallels Renora in this: returning to a pivotal scene where they were traumatized, but this time being able to overcome it because they’ve become more like each other. Blake is in many ways Yang’s trauma stretching far beyond Beacon (Blake runs away, as does Raven, Yang’s mother who abandoned her), and likewise Yang for Blake (she’s hotheaded and holds grudges, like Adam). But Blake and Yang have been working on becoming better versions of themselves.

At the end of this scene, they even exchange quasi-wedding vows (since Blake’s promise is to not abandon Yang):

And the artists drive home the point by drawing Blake’s hair far bushier than normal (more like Yang’s), and Yang’s far tamer than normal (like Blake’s).

Jaune Arc/Weiss Schnee (White Knight)

Weiss and Jaune have had one chemical wedding thus far (possibly two but not sure) and I didn’t ship them at all until I saw this scene. Like Bumbleby and Renora, they have an antagonistic Mercurius: Cinder.

(This one I’ll be arguing a little bit about why I think it’s set up for romance as well.)

In this scene, Cinder directly compares Weiss to Pyrrha in regards to how Jaune feels about them (and we know Jaune and Pyrrha were romantic--you can also argue Cinder was an antagonistic Mercurius uniting Pyrrha and Jaune).

When Weiss screams, Cinder gets an idea and slides her gaze from Weiss to Jaune.

And then reenacts this:

As I also mentioned previously, Jaune then plays the role of the Prince to Weiss’s Snow White (which is an alchemical fairy tale). Like when Ren unlocks his aura to protect Nora, Jaune unlocks his to save Weiss. Weiss looks as if she is in a glass coffin that gets more and more golden, symbolic of refinement.

It’s also probably an allusion to this image of a chemical wedding presided over by Saturn (Mercury in this scene, since he’s there) and Death (Ruby and Qrow, who are also present in the scene with Jaune and Weiss). (For more on this image, see here.)

Weiss and Jaune also have some oppositional imagery and arcs: Weiss starts Beacon with a deep family legacy and an inherited semblance, she chooses to go to Beacon on her own and is the favored child (at first). Jaune too has a family legacy of warriors, but instead of feeling empowered because of this, he is insecure and literally cheats his way into the school. He doesn’t have a semblance until season 5. After this incident, Weiss and Jaune spend some time recreationally together (seeing a movie in vol 7); Jaune becomes more confident as a leader, and Weiss continues her arc in becoming more sympathetic to those from less privileged backgrounds.

Arguably, what happened at the end of volume 8 could be seen as having some symbolism of a chemical wedding for Weiss and Jaune too, but I don’t think it actually is one since they weren’t focused on as characters enough (if this was intended to be the start of one, we’ll get something next season, I’d imagine). The only reason I’m mentioning it is because it does function as an inverse of the previous one, which is the case for Renora and Bumbleby’s first and second weddings too. Cinder again almost kills Weiss (she falls in the exact same position as in vol 5), but Jaune saves Weiss when he screams after killing Penny. Instead of saving Weiss by healing, he kills. There’s also some distinctive red and white imagery.

And then Winter arrives with a six-pointed star and birds before telling them to run together:

But again, I wouldn’t really call this one; it just has some imagery of one and fits a pattern, so I’m including it as a potential lead-in to an actual one in the void or later.

Ruby Rose/Oscar Pine (Rosegarden)

Like with Weiss/Jaune, I’ll be arguing a little bit about why I think this one is likely to end up romantic, too (for example, Cinder most recently in volume 8 used Oscar to taunt Ruby in a callback to using Pyrrha and Weiss to taunt Jaune).

Also: oh look, finally a wedding that isn’t violent. They just... meet. Which is also normal for a chemical wedding but less dramatic.

Behold, the bird uniting the solar king and lunar queen:

(Fun fact: unless CRWBY came up with ship names which I highly, highly doubt, this is pure coincidence, but it’s a funny one: the art series this image is taken from is called Rosarium Philosophorum--which literally means “rose garden philosophy.”)

Let’s look at the scene where Ruby and Oscar meet for the first time. What makes this a chemical wedding is in part how obvious their markings are and the overall imagery is in the scene.

They are united by Qrow (who in addition to being named after a bird can literally transform into a bird):

Oscar asks about Ruby specifically (yes, I know because Qrow’s her uncle, but the writing is telling us to focus on his relationship with her):

And immediately notes/is in awe that she has silver eyes (i.e. the moon):

Qrow seems to realize he’s done something momentous in a way that almost doesn’t entirely work within the frame of the narrative (but he is drunk, so).

The scenery of this room is also telling. The table is literally an Emerald Table, the legendary foundation of alchemy itself.

Once they sit and talk, behind Oscar are the elements of earth and water, which he represents, and also the moon, which while traditionally associated with earth and water, he does not (at least not as strongly as he’s associated with the sun/gold):

Similarly, behind Ruby we have the elements of fire and air (like, if you zoom in, they actually drew air), which she is marked as, and the sun, which again, she’s not as strongly associated with as she is with the moon:

In Splendor Solis, which CRWBY has referenced before, the Solar King does eventually end up grounded in the moon, and likewise the Lunar Queen in the sun:

Oscar and Ruby also do have oppositional arcs and roles: Ruby starts the series in the very first episode by being invited to Beacon two years early because of her leaping into action to stop Torchwick. She’s scolded for her recklessness, but immediately picked out as special because of her silver eyes. In contrast, Oscar is reluctant to leave his farm once Ozpin inhabits him; he refuses at first, and then once he does leave, is nervous and timid.

Anyways I wouldn’t be surprised if Qrow arrives in Vacuo with RWBYJ in tow and this time reunites Ruby with Oscar in an inverse. We’ll see.

I do want to say that I also see potential for Emerald Sustrai/Mercury Black, in that they often act as one and share a theme song, but I haven’t seen any actual visual references to a chemical wedding for them... yet.

#rwby meta #rwby theory #rwby volume eight #rwby vol 8 #rwby volume 8 #rwby volume 9 #weiss schnee #jaune arc #ruby rose #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #lie ren #nora valkyrie #oscar pine #alchemy #rosegarden #bumbleby #renora #white knight

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rainydaydream-gal18 · 3 years

Text

(Clone Wars) ARC Trooper Echo x Reader: Sightseeing PART 2

(Requested by the amazing @nahoney22

I hope you likez!!!!

Warnings: some kissy kissy

Word Count: 2,146)

Link to Part 1

You wrenched the final bolt in, teeth clenched with the effort. Despite the quick thrum of your heart at the set of boots that were visible from beneath the ship, you kept your focus on the work in front of you. Finally, the bolt would not screw in any father, and you set the wrench down with a loud clang.

Swiping the back of your hand across your forehead, you sighed and began to climb out from under the vehicle. The bright lights of the hangar made you squint, though a silhouette stepped into view. Those boots you saw before were a few feet from your head.

The man knelt down, extending his gloved hand in your direction. You smiled as you took it, and he hauled you to your feet in an effortless motion. Suddenly, you felt a little self-conscious in your dirtied jumpsuit with grease smeared on your skin. You avoided his gaze as you brushed off what you could from your jumpsuit.

“All done?” Echo finally spoke, and you could hear the smile in his voice.

You finally met his eyes. It was hard to feel self-conscious when he was looking at you with tender adoration. One would think you were wearing the most elegant gown with the way his eyes glinted.

“All done,” you said. “Thank you for waiting. You didn’t have to, you know. You could’ve gone ahead to see the town.”

Echo shrugged his armored shoulders. It was so casual, like it was no big deal that he stood in the hangar for forty-five minutes waiting for your shift to end. He didn’t have a whole lot of time off as an ARC trooper, and you didn’t want him to miss out because of you. “It wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

A smile crept onto your features. There were times when he couldn’t formulate a sentence in front of you, and other times when he could be so smooth and so sweet. You knew it came from a genuine place and not from someone looking to score a date. Besides, it had been several months since your meeting, and he still hadn’t officially asked you out. It became a tradition for the two of you to go sightseeing on the planets you came across, but nothing had been said about them being dates.

Fives complained about it often enough.

“I need about ten minutes to shower,” you said.

Echo nodded. “I’ll be waiting...if you still want to go with me.”

“Of course I do. I just feel bad you’ve been waiting so long.”

“Like I said, it just wouldn’t be the same without you.”

“Alright, well I’ll be back in a few.”

Fifteen or so minutes later, you found Echo waiting patiently as ever near the exit. You caught up with him, feeling much better about your appearance. He simply smiled when he saw you.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” you said. The two of you were able to take a military transport into town. It was a short ride, and the transport was filled with your chatter as you shared information about the planet. Echo had used his waiting time wisely to read up on some of the cuisine. He listed off some interesting restaurant ideas, making both of your mouths water. Apparently a festival was going on, so there would be lots of things to see,

When you stepped off the transport, Echo extended his arm slightly towards you so that you could loop your arm through it. No doubt the two of you looked like a couple, which was why you waited until getting into town to make such contact.

Your faced warmed as you observed his profile for a moment. His eyes were wide and fascinated as he glanced around the ongoing festival. Citizens wore colorful outfits and masks, bustling here and there. Cheerful music played by musicians with stringed instruments filled the air. Many delicious smells teased your senses. A loud growl from your stomach made Echo’s gaze snap back to you.

“Hungry?” he asked, amused.

“I haven’t eaten since before my shift,” you admitted with a bashful smile.

“Well, we’ll be sure to get something right away then.” He nodded in the direction of the nearest stand. “Let’s go.”

Several happy citizens were leaving the stand with food in hand, smiling and talking amongst themselves. You caught a whiff of one of the dishes. “Ooh, we should get that,” you told Echo. He followed your gaze and nodded.

“Mm, that does look good.”

Suddenly, you felt a rough hand grab your shoulder and give you a little shake. Your heart quickened at the potential danger, but as you turned your head, you saw a gloved hand on Echo’s shoulder too.

“There you are!” Fives exclaimed, giving you and Echo another affectionate shake. You exhaled at the realization it was just your friend. “I was wondering when you two lovebirds would venture out!”

Your poor companion’s words caught in his throat. “We’re not- I mean…” Echo stole a glance at you, flustered. Finally, he seemed to gather some resolve as he raised a brow. “No offense, but it’s none of your business.”

“Oh-ho-ho.” Fives chuckled, giving his brother a playful nudge. “I’m just teasing. No harm done.”

Echo rolled his eyes, nudging him back. “I’m sure.”

You smiled at the brothers’ banter. It was almost always like that when they hung out, which was all the time. Fives had also become a good friend of yours as you got to know Echo better. The three of you would often eat together at the mess hall or cause trouble at whatever places you found yourselves at on these new planets.

“Next!” the lady at the stand called. She wore a bright red costume with the sleeves rolled up as she put away the money from previous customers and closed the box. Only her smiling eyes could be seen behind the matching mask. “Troops! We appreciate the protection the Republic has provided our planet. What can I get you?”

“We’d like two of those,” Echo ordered, pointing at the menu item that you had mentioned earlier.

“Make that three,” Fives interjected.

“Okay, three of those. And could we also get two cups of tea. Fives, you want one too?”

“Count me in.”

Echo nodded and turned back to the lady. “Sorry, three cups of tea. And that’ll do it.”

She nodded and began adding up the cost. Echo handed over the credits, and you pitched in to tip the woman. She uttered her thanks, and the cook behind her started serving up the order.

“These are our special desserts that are only made during this festival,” she said, packaging up three little cakes. “You must try some!”

Echo reached back into his pouch for more credits. “How much?”

“On the house!” she said. “I insist! Enjoy the festival!”

“Oh, thank you!” you accepted the packages, and Fives and Echo grabbed the food and teas. The three of you headed over to one of the empty picnic tables and claimed your meals. You sipped the cold cup of tea, smiling at the mildly sweet flavor and how refreshing it was.

Fives had already dug into his food. “This is great!” he mumbled through a mouthful.

“Yeah?” Echo took a bite of his own. “Wow, you’re right.”

Another loud growl sounded in your stomach, making Fives laugh and earning him an elbow in the side from Echo, as you finally tried your portion of the meal. It did taste good, and it was very filling, though you had just enough room to have the dessert after.

When you were done, you started cleaning up the picnic table and dropped the garbage into a nearby trash can. On your way over, you overheard a conversation between the two ARC troopers. They were trying to speak over the volume of the festival and remain out of earshot of you- to no avail.

“So, Echo,” Fives said. “You know you don’t have to do the whole ‘secret relationship’ thing in front of me, right? Of all people, I’m not gonna’ say anything.”

“There is no secret relationship,” Echo muttered. “I was serious before. We’re not together.”

“Oh my gosh.” Fives shook his head. “Well, you’d better hurry up and claim her. Or someone else will. I’m telling you, she likes you.”

“Shh, she’s coming back.

You smiled, pretending you didn’t hear a word over your shoulder. “What is next on the agenda?”

“I’m actually going to go off on my own again,” Fives answered. “You two have fun.” Before either of you could even say “goodbye” for now, he left. You looked to Echo, shrugging, and looped your arm with his again.

The two of you did an initial sweep of the festival, checking out the games and activities as well as taking notes on any that you’d like to try as the evening went on. There was something different about this outing. You’d been to many places with Echo before, but this time, it seemed he was being a little more forward. In a good way, of course. You figured it was because of his conversation with Fives, but even so, you had not expected him to be as confident as he was. At one point, he removed his arm from yours and took your hand instead, shooting you an inquisitive look.

You nodded in silent approval of the gesture, giving his gloved hand a squeeze. The smile on his face was so handsome. It was nearly impossible to look away. Pretty soon, the two of you were stopped in the middle of the festival with folks going around you. He gazed back into your eyes, the smile slowly fading into an expression you’d never seen on him before. Excitement coursed through your veins as he suddenly gave your hand a tug, leading you through the swarm of people until the two of you were in a small alley between two of the town’s shops. It gave you a nice view of the festival from where you stood without being crowded out by other people.

“What’s this about?” you asked, though you had a feeling you already knew. Echo leaned his shoulder against the wall, glancing down at your intertwined fingers.

“I wanted to play it cool,” he said. “But I’m afraid I’ve been playing it too cool.” His eyes met yours again, and you didn’t miss the way his chest rose and fell with a deep breath, as if he was preparing himself for something daring. “The truth is... I really like you. I have since the moment I first saw you.”

“Nothing wrong with taking your time,” you replied. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know you.”

“I’ve enjoyed getting to know you too,” he agreed, your response visibly putting him at ease. The smile returned to his face. “I don’t consider any of the time we’ve spent wasted. And if you’d rather we stay friends, I can do that. I just...wanted you to know. I care about you.”

Your insides were practically melting at his words, though your heart was thudding fast and strong. From the start, it was like gravity had been bringing you closer together. You revolved around each other; not quite touching, but never too far.

Suddenly, gravity brought you even closer. You took a step forward. He pushed off the wall slightly to meet you halfway, releasing your hand only to wrap his arms around you in a firm embrace.

“I care about you too,” you told him softly. He regarded your misty gaze with another one of his smiles before his eyes fell on your lips with intent. Echo, ever the chivalrous, shifted so that his back was to the crowd. Once you were concealed from any curious stares of those passing the alley, his lips caught yours.

The kiss was planet-shattering. It held all the tenderness you would’ve expected at first, and then slowly built up with tension the two of you had been keeping tucked away for some time. Something snapped, then. Your lips were meeting his faster, needier; and he was happy to oblige.

Both of you were unwilling to part, but the sounds of the festival brought you back. Echo was still tilting your chin as he pulled away to see your loving gaze.

“Beautiful,” he murmured.

“You sure are,” you said with a chuckle.

He chuckled too with the slightest shake of his head in amusement. “And she has a sense of humor. How’d I get so lucky?”

You pretended to consider his question for a moment, your face scrunching up in thought. “It sure is a mystery,” you joked lightly, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek. He caught your lips one more time before you pulled away completely, and you nearly swooned.

#arc trooper echo #echo x reader #arc trooper echo x reader #clone wars reader insert #the clone wars x reader #clone wars echo x reader #echo x you #echo x y/n #clone wars fanfiction #the clone wars reader insert #star wars the clone wars reader insert

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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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(Sorta response to the anon ask about potential) I think it's important to remember that we, the audience, have liberties that RT doesn't when it comes to our fics/rewrites. RT doesn't have the luxury of years of retrospection on the show, or all the time they could want, to write. RT are also writing from scratch, not just adding to another's work. It's like the difference between following a recipe and cooking from scratch.

Not saying it excuses their blatant missteps, but as someone who has written on a deadline like that for something I'm getting paid for before, let me tell you it can be really easy to let cracks form moment to moment.

Hey, @just-rwby Idk why I just haven't been seeing your asks until recently, but this is a very fair point to make. It's easy to spot mistakes from the outside, it's much harder to see them in your own work. I have a consistent writing partner for fan fics who often will scroll over sentences on our google docs that I wrote and then write 'What?' So I know I'm just not communicating what I want right, and not writing so well. Writing is hard, and I'm by no means a professional.

As for re-writes, it is important to note that we are looking at RWBY from the outside and have all of the time in the world to figure out how we’d ‘do it right,’ we have all the pieces we need, we know where the characters might be headed from the start, we can see where the writers may have tripped up, we can watch RWBY fifty times to make sure we have the full picture. If someone were to re-write Harry Potter, they might get rid of the unnecessary floo network and use portkeys from the start because while JK Rowling might not have invented them when she wrote book two, we know - after years and years of being able to critically look at the complete series - that portkeys are going to exist and will be crucial for the fourth book. But that doesn’t mean that we’re better or worse at writing than JK Rowling.

The first time I was making a ‘re-write’ it was to alter the character reactions to Lost Fable in volume six that had really frustrated me. During the course of that fic, me and the person that I was writing the fic with turned it into a big overarching story where we A. Forgot that Raven had suggested Ozpin was her headmaster and had him be the former classmate of Qrow. B. Missed the quick flash of Pietro we see in volume three when Penny is killed and instead wrote an OC father for her. C. Forgot that communications were down and had that OC father contact them via their scrolls sometimes. And so on and so forth. Even with the option to watch through the first five seasons over and over, we were still making lots of mistakes. Of course, we were writing the fic for ourselves, never published it, and never sold it or claimed to be professionals.

Making AUs is great! It’s always fun to re-write things in the way that we want or to fix the mistakes we can see since we’re not under any time limit and can really think things through. For instance, I’ve been slowly trying to work on a RWBY re-write and one of the things I’d do is keep Ironwood a hero and go with Yang x Weiss and Blake x Sun as romantic ships. It would be ridiculous for me to say that RWBY should’ve gone with those ships and that arc for Ironwood just because I want it. But it is perfectly valid for me to say that I don’t think the way they did Ironwood’s arc was good and that I don’t think Blake x Yang as a ship has been done well. And it may have been rushed, but CRWBY are meant to be professionals trying to sell a product, unlike me.

Criticizing RWBY is valid, even venting and bashing and nitpicking is valid (posting it using the proper tags in a website so the creators will never see and that fans of the show can filter out.) RWBY the official product has to be held to a higher standard than any fanwork, because it is official, it’s meant to be professional, and it’s a product that RT is trying to sell people on. As creative and good and full of potential RWBY can be at times, their big mistakes are more serious and impact the overall story or even have hurtful narratives that impact the real world.

But RWBY fanworks are inherently built off of RWBY. People who make RWBY re-writes can alter the world magic, they can change up character ages and backgrounds, they can throw in ‘fixes’ and leave out some of the bigger mistakes and some of the harmful narratives in RWBY... But in the end, they aren’t making their own product, they’re just altering the foundation of someone else’s work and doing so with none of the limitations they have. Whether or not people who make these re-writes are better writers than the CRWBY writers is something that can’t be gauged through those re-writes, it has to be gauged through the products they’ve actually made on their own.

I’ve never managed to make anything of my own. I have tons of ideas, but I struggle to get them to become anything solid. The fact that the RWBY writers consistently put out a product is an accomplishment I’ve only dreamed about. But there are still these big, blatant mistakes and it is perfectly to valid to wonder at how they were missed and to criticize RWBY for them, because it impacts their story in the long run.

#rwde #not really but sort of #rwby criticism #anti rwby

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kichimiangra · 3 years

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So who else thinks that Billy Hatcher from Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg should have a 2 or 3 volume manga series where he has an edgy Shadow the Hedgehog rival who is the bird themed Magical Boy Warrior for the Crow baddies?

Like, I already figured out his backstory.

Him and Billy where friends but he moved away but they promised to stay friends. This incel friend though refused to make new friends cuz y'know, even apart he's still got Billy as his BFFFF Forever so he's fine with his self imposed loneliness but not really. Especially because him and Billy agreed to hang out once summer vacation starts and he can Visit his old home town and see Billy.

It's the first day of summer vacation and Billy and his canon friends made plans to spend it doing this tour thing where they're going to visit dynamic places (based around the levels in the game like circus park, or the frozen mountain etc) and he wakes up late completely forgetting that his Incel friend would be visiting and was suppossed to pick him up from the train station but is also going to be late to meet up with his friends to hop on the tour bus with them so he runs off to meet his canon friends. Luckily nothing's wrong with this because the readers don't know about incel friend yet!

So it's like the opening FMV cutscene. He goes to his friends, they chide him for being late, he saves a chicken and gets usekai'd to chicken world to became a chicken based magical girl and rescue the 6 Chicken Elders and find the wish granting Giant Egg and stop Dark Raven.

So plot line 1 is the Forest Village level where Billy doesn't have the chicken suit but has to find it and maybe there's some chicks who are like "why would our chicken God Menie-Fudie have an outsider don the legendary suit? Screw you outsider we'll find it first and save out own village!" And Billy has to go after them and prove he's brave protecting then from the boss and this is how he gets his first emblem of bravery, the suit, and saves the first Elder. Boom. Adapted for comic. Incel friend is not in this part of the story. If he is it's vaguely hinted at.

Next is Dino Mountain and we have Billy meeting up with Rolly in the story now who already got her suit to be the magical girl chicken guardian of the level. She's not doing a super good job combating the local Crows in the area because she's still the pure bubbly character who needs to get a quick arc where she learns sometimes you gotta FIGHT for peace and not just ask for it. She DOES defeat the area boss by being compassionate to the resurrected dinosaur who is being forced to fight for the crows and through said compassion turns on the crow boss and Rolly gets her emblem of courage for having the courage to determine when to fight and when to care, even if it seems more difficult. Unlike the game Rolly stays behind to guard Dino Mountain so the immediate cast doesn't get too big. Before facing the boss though there's the "Rolly kidnapped by the crows" plot which all the "Friends kidnapped" plots are orchestrated by Incel friend who was also brought to chicken land. Depending on how open vs hiding in the shadows he is Billy just thinks he's been kidnapped by the crows or some shit.

(Yes I am aware that Rolly's level is Pirate Isle but I really wanted her to use the power of love and friendship on the giant dinosaur skeleton and really it doesn't make much difference where his friends get picked up honestly...)

The next place is Pirate isle and I haven't decided what happens here but second verse same as the first. He meets up with Chick Poacher, Chick's gotta learn a thing. There's kidnapping involved. Incel friend shows up to cause some trouble making the readers go "Who is this Original character Donut steal??" Bull crap. Same goes for Bantam.

Billy finally gets to confront Incel friend (Who I just now decided is going to be named Rook, or Jackdaw, which are types of crows) in circus park. Maybe a Circus was important to their friendship or some shit? I dunno and this is when we finally get the rest of the OC's backstory which, yes, he is acting like a jealous girlfriend. Billy overslept for picking him up at the train so he was butthurt but going to tolerate it, only to almost be at his house when Billy goes running off. He follows him only to find him talking with his friends about all the stuff they're going to spend all summer doing and gets full dose of unreasonable butthurt and misunderstanding. Because like... How dare my friend have more friends other than myself? /I/ didn't friend cheat on HIM! I literally made ZERO friends! How DARE he not only NOT BE AS LONELY AS I WAS but now he has REPLACED ME TO THE POINT WERE HE'S DITCHING ME ON OUR PROMISED HANG OUT FOR SUMMER?! WELL FUG U TOO BILLY! And the crow from the opening brought him to Chicken Land. Maybe there was a legendary chicken suit for circus park as well and Rook would potentially be the 5th member of the chicken team, but he uses Billy to get it and corrupt it into a crow themed suit instead. He's the dark magical girl!

Billy saves the elder but doesn't get through to Rook. He gets a second emblem of courage for being brave enough to stand up to a friend when they're doing a wrong but it doesn't make Billy feel better because previously it would be his friends who did the brave and got the emblem, but this time it was his friend who was the bad. Billy vaguely insinuates to himself that he hadn't forgotten Rook but this is third person limited so we won't learn the truth until someone says it.

This moves on to sand ruins where Billy purses Rook who is also hunting down the elder to find the last peice of info about the Giant Egg or floating castle or some shit. This does result in some required team work forcing the two ex friends to stop being little bitches for like 5 minutes where Billy asks Rook why he would help the crows gain ultimate power. Rook tells him "I'm not stupid. I have no intention of actually letting the crows have the giant egg's power." And is planning to betray them and take the egg for himself. When Billy asks what he would even do with a wish granting egg we later learn it's as simple and personal as "to wish Billy's friends away" or "Wish that they can't return to Chicken land but Billy and he stay there" or "Wish that I never moved". Prolly all the above in consideration because he feels/ is acting like a betrayed jealous girlfriend.

Also let's refit the "Two chickens facing eachother" puzzle into something about these two working together and making up. Billy get's to reveal he never forgot or replaced his friend but when he slept in late he wanted to catch up to his canon friends before the tour thing started because he had wanted to bring his canon friends to the train station to meet his bffff and bring him on the fun summer tour too. Haha misunderstandings and jumping to conclusions is A+ writing! This friendship reunion doesn't last long because boss monster or main villain kidnaps Rook once the path to the giant egg is open and shit and now Billy has to go save ANOTHER friend.

Shounen power of friendship everyone shows up in the ending-ending. They get sent back to their world and miss the bus, but decide they already had their adventure and will have just as much fun chilling together and getting to know Billy's friend. Now Rook has FWENDS. Da end.

#billy hatcher #billy hatcher and the giant egg

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gokubrain · 3 years

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same anon as before and I kno u say it's fine but like I kinda feel obligated to talk about db cause its db ldnabdb so sorry again but yea!!!! it's so wild that to this day even the official vas for Geta and Goku will make little jokes about the 2 having an immensely special relationship (like that time sabat said vegeta has a goku wig for "reasons") and like even tho those are jokes I get kinda happy from it cause its being acknowledged! and god Goku really was the first person, possibly ever, that vegeta put his entire faith and hope in and even after he died he kept aiming for Goku and brings him up at least once in almost every appearance he's made ever. and Goku wanting him alive (wanting!) so they could have a rematch, which ultimately lead to them having the special relationship they have now just speaks volumes of relationship potential this series hasnt see much of. I know it's kinda nuts but gosh I just feel like those years of when I was super young and thought of how close these 2 have been validated now that I know how to use some sense of critical thinking for this series. toriyama really made characters that could be good gay rep and he has absolutely no idea about it.

yeah omg actually let me tell u smth cool, chris sabat followed me on twitter for a bit and i talked to him in dms about kakavege LOL he said he could totally see a relationship between them !! so that's rly cool

but yeah when the literal voice actors for the characters have grounds to make jokes about them being gay then you know something must be up HAHA

i'm getting a little overwhelmed (/pos!!) so sorry if my following thoughts are a bit jumbled LOL BUT

SAME THO when i was younger i shipped them but as i got older and was able to read deeper into literature and had more experience doing so with other media i was like wow,,, they really truly are gay huh LOL

it's really very fitting i feel like that like. IDK LOL like they're both so similar in terms of like,,, okay okay LOL

i have a hard time putting it into words but fighting is a thing that is very important to both goku and vegeta so the idea that a big major life-changing battle is what brought them together (AND APPARENTLY WHAT TAKES THEM OUT AS WELL ACCORDING TO DBO LOL) is soo romantic LOL AND like. yes god it's so crazy i bet when vegeta heard goku want to spare him his heart just beat out of his chest LMAO LIKE. EVERY TIME I WATCH THE SAIYAN FIGHT I'M LIKE WOW,,, THEY MUST BOTH BE HAVING SOME RLY CONFUSING FEELINGS RN LOL LIKE THIS IS LITERALLY WHERE EVERYTHING STARTS FOR THEM!! this is even confirmed by goku's whole "pls spare vegeta i Must see him again" speech at the end of the fight LOL AND ALSO right after that speech and after krillin spares him vegeta's like "i'll be back motherfucker" which i always interpret as vegeta having mild gay panic and being unsure how to respond to such reckless kindness lol

like i know goku's reason for sparing him is because he wants to get stronger and beat him and vegeta's reasoning for saying he'll be back is revenge and both of those things are true but i can't help but feel like there are some underlying feelings here akin to that feeling you get when you realize you like someone lmfao like. yeah you guys wanna fight again huh? because that fight was unnecessarily homoerotic and you just HAVE to experience those feelings again huh?? okay homos

sorry im rambling a bit but while reading ur anon i was reminded of another very important kakavege scene in the freeza arc where vegeta is fighting freeza and he's about to die but then suddenly goku arrives!! and it's such an important moment for both kakavege and just for vegeta's (questionably written, i know) characterization. to this point vegeta has been listening to everyone else talk about goku, when's goku gonna show up, we need goku to come save us, goku can beat freeza, goku goku goku and i'm sure vegeta was absolutely disgusted by this LMAO LIKE he didn't really get it, but when he's about to die by freeza's hand and suddenly goku shows up i feel like vegeta experiences for the first time this wave of relief that the other z warriors are all too familiar with. like everyone always has to hold out until goku gets there and when he finally does the relief is just absolutely palatable. vegeta witnessed this happening first hand when goku finally arrived during the saiyan arc but now he's experiencing what it's like to be on the other end and have goku arrive in shining armor to save him LOL I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE?? like it's such a turning point for vegeta where he realizes he's actually elated to see goku here at the final hour, even if vegeta does bite the dust here it's obvious that he has faith in goku's ability to kill freeza by his dying speech (WHICH IS A WHOLE OTHER KETTLE OF FISH, HOLY SHIT LOL. VEGETA CRYING AND BEGGING GOKU TO KILL FREEZA?? HE'S SO QUICK TO BE VULNERABLE HERE I'M SURE IT RLY WRACKED GOKU TO SEE HIM LIKE THAT LMAO)

but yea yes, kakavege is very dependent on this concept that goku is actually vegeta's savior and always has been!! he spares vegeta's life the first time they meet and then comes to avenge him in the freeza arc and ultimately vegeta's drive to be better than goku changes who he is as a person and its like. goku is the ONLY one who saw any worth in vegeta, everyone else hated him and wanted him dead LOL SO

TL;DR YEAH I'D SAY THERE ARE SOME PRETTY DAMN GOOD ARGUMENTS FOR KAKAVEGE

#*twists my hat in my hands* s-sorry for the long post...... hehe #kakavege #answered

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murasaki-murasame · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep3

In which Higurashi reminds us all that it can be a really good dark comedy when it wants to be :)

Thoughts under the cut.

As expected, this was the final episode of this arc, and things ended up being a whole lot more straightforward than I thought they’d be even after the last two episodes. But it was still executed well enough to outweigh the almost complete lack of surprises.

Basically everything in this arc went the way most people thought it did, and the whole ending to it ended up being pretty much exactly as it was shown the first time around, with no apparent hallucination-based misdirection. Which is a little underwhelming, but it might have just made the story a bit too convoluted if they sprung that sorta stuff on us now.

In a lot of ways I think this arc is an example of how this entire new series really is designed with new fans in mind, with how so much of it is spent on stuff that’s just kinda obvious and predictable to old fans, but I also think this arc serves a somewhat unfortunate role of being an example of a loop going exactly the way Satoko wanted it to, which works out to be kinda boring in practice. But there’s all sorts of hints that starting from the next arc her plans start to veer out of control until eventually she gets completely desperate in Nekodamashi, so things will start getting shaken up a lot more in the next arc.

Though to be honest I kinda appreciated the relative simplicity of seeing exactly what happened in Onidamashi from Rena’s point of view, especially with how much they leaned into the self-aware dramatic irony and dark comedy of the entire situation. The idea of tragedy becoming comedy after it gets repeated enough times has always been a theme in the series, and this really focuses on that, with all of the misunderstandings and miscommunication being extremely obvious, while Satoko has the time of her life watching it all unfold.

In general the direction of this episode was really good at depicting the tragedy and irony of this whole situation, but in particular the part where it kept cutting between Rika thinking that she’d averted the events of Onikakushi and Keiichi and Rena beating each other to death was extremely funny in a really morbid way.

[Also, since a lot of people seemed to get confused by it, even though those two scenes were edited together like that, Rika left before the fight started, since we know that it took several minutes for it to get going. So it’s not like she just happened to not hear any of it while it was happening]

A lot of the episode was still directed really well in a straight up horror sense, though, even if it’s intentionally undercut by the fact that everyone watching it knows exactly what’s going on, and how all of the things people are getting scared about are basically just in their heads. Stuff like the scenes of Rena burying Rina’s corpse in the forest, and then moving it to different locations as she gets more and more paranoid, were really well done, and her voice-acting in this entire arc was incredible at showing how genuinely traumatized and afraid she was.

I thought they’d go over the part of Rena’s backstory where she moved away from Hinamizawa more than they actually did, but I guess they went over it already in Gou. As a reminder, she and her father moved out of the village after the divorce happened, and her existing stress mixed with leaving the village caused Rena to develop Hinamizawa Syndrome and have a total mental breakdown which ended with her going on a violent rampage at her school, and then she moved back to the village after that. I guess it’s not super relevant to what happened in this arc, but it was the cause of Rena believing so strongly in the idea that she’d been cursed by Oyashiro-sama, and Keiichi hearing about the incident was a big part of why he got so paranoid about her in this arc.

And on that note, I guess the idea is that Keiichi didn’t really hallucinate anything that happened in the fight, and the cliffhanger scene of him at the hospital probably wasn’t very important. I kinda expected that the hospital scene didn’t really mean anything, since it just came across as a relatively innocent situation that Keiichi got paranoid about, but it’s a little odd that the entire fight scene just went the way we saw it happen, down to the amount of bloodshed. I guess at this point we just have to accept that when the show starts having extreme amounts of blood splatters and screen filter effects, it’s basically just to make things more spooky, lol.

I don’t really think it’s that unbelievable that he got stabbed in the stomach that many times and survived, though. I don’t think the stabs were very deep to begin with, and in general people underestimate how lethal those sorts of wounds can be, and how long it’d actually take to die from them. On the other hand, they probably could have made Rena’s head injury a bit more intense, but basically any kind of head wound can be extremely fatal, even if it doesn’t look that bad at the time. It’s also still possible that Rena didn’t immediately die and ended up going L5 and scratching her neck out.

Other than that, we also found out exactly how Rika and Satoko died. Which was also really straightforward as soon as we found out about Satoko being the culprit, but it’s still satisfying to finally see how it played out.

There’s not really much to say about that scene, but it’s kinda interesting how different their methods of suicide are. One thing to keep in mind is that, until the end of Tataridamashi, Rika never actually remembers how she dies, so from her perspective, each time she has to kill herself is probably the first time she has to do it. Which would at least explain why she goes overboard with it to make sure that she dies, whereas Satoko has done this countless times, and remembers all of it, so she’s had the experience to figure out how to do it as quickly as possible.

I don’t want to get too much into it since it’s a touchy subject, but I also feel like Rika’s methods here are almost like a kind of self-harm, whereas Satoko is just doing it as a way to jump to the next loop.

And as a reminder, Satoko’s whole game plan here is to put Rika through a series of loops to wear her down until she accepts staying in the village, and to do that she has to make sure that she can link herself to the ‘same’ Rika across all the loops, which she does by having Rika die first so Satoko can follow her to the next loop. Otherwise I guess Satoko would end up in a loop where Rika doesn’t remember anything after the chandelier incident, and she has to start from scratch to try and mentally break her.

Anyway, I also thought it was potentially interesting that Satoko mentioned Rika being subjected to Oyashiro-sama’s curse at the end, even though nobody was there to hear her. It makes me wonder if, even after meeting Eua and witnessing how all of Rika’s loops went and what actually caused all the tragedies, she genuinely still believes in the existence of Oyashiro-sama, and the idea of being cursed by them. We know that in Nekodamashi she has a whole scene where she yells at Rika about how she’s being punished for wanting to leave the village, but I kinda figured that was just something she was saying to make Rika feel bad.

Now that this arc’s done, I guess we’ll be moving right into the Watadamashi answer arc, which should also be three episodes long going by the blu-ray volume contents. I’m really excited to see how that arc plays out, since compared to this one there’s a lot of stuff in Watadamashi that’s still unclear to me. But I guess we’ll get into that next week.

I know I said this last week, but with how fast the pacing in this arc was, I really wouldn’t be surprised if the third arc just covers Satoko’s perspective on both Tataridamashi and Nekodamashi in five episodes, and then the fourth arc just wraps everything up in four more episodes. It’s entirely possible there’s going to be some sort of secret fifth arc that hasn’t been revealed yet which will take the season to a more standard episode count, but I could also just see it only being 15 episodes long. I don’t think there’s actually a whole lot that needs to be shown from Tataridamashi and Nekodamashi if we just follow Satoko’s point of view, especially since Satokowashi spent a lot of time showing Teppei’s whole ‘redemption arc’, which will impact a lot of how Tataridamashi ended up playing out behind the scenes. And in Nekodamashi we really only need to see a quick montage of Satoko injecting everyone in each loop, and then ending it off with their confrontation in the classroom.

At the very least I think that the only real reason we’d get another full arc after all this, especially if it’s long enough to take Sotsu to around 24 episodes, would be if things start going in some totally unexpected directions once we loop back to the end of Nekodamashi. At that point it’s anyone’s guess what might happen, but if we get a whole chunk of the season that they’re going out of their way to hide, I could easily see it being along the lines of them even more explicitly connecting Sotsu’s story to Umineko, and maybe even Ciconia. I still hope they commit to the idea they seem to be going for with Satoko and Rika effectively becoming Lambda and Bern from Umineko, but I also don’t want it to get to the point where it feels like this stops being a Higurashi anime partway through and just becomes an Umineko anime for the final arc. I'd rather it just end in a way that sets up for a separate series that acts as an Umineko remake or something.

#murasaki rambles #higurashi sotsu

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marithlizard · 3 years

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Thoughts on RWBY v8c8, “Dark”

Do you ever find yourself hoping that a rumored Horrible Plot Twist won't happen for the sake of the characters you care about, but at the same time halfway hoping it will because So Cool and Elegant and it fits with all the foreshadowing in the credits?

Yeah. Time to find out.

- I thought for sure the fireball would be Cinder! But no, and the hard-light cells don't even look damaged. How long are the jailbirds going to be in there?

- Two scenes that start out with black-screen-with-audio-effects in a row suggests less "atmospheric dread" and more "it was not easy to get this thing done at all in the middle of a pandemic, okay?" - Orange veining. Welcome back, Nora. Klein is a reassuring sight to wake up to. (Speaking of cool plot twists I was on the fence about, I really thought we'd find him working in the mines, heigh-ho heigh-ho to SDC slave labor we go.) -Whitley helping to carry Penny! He really is on board now, I'm glad. - Bombing run? Is Atlas bombing its own streets to try and clear them of Grimm? - Annd May took off with the ship so they're trapped here with the lights out in a classic horror movie setup. (I don't blame her, of course. RWB have no plan and if the world's going to end, you want to be with your people.) - what the - what WAS that? It looked like a giant version of one of Salem's jellyfish tearing an Atlesian airship apart with long ropy red tendrils. Very possibly was. - "Believe it or not, I am above drinking in the dark." Nobody believes you, hon, but that's okay. - Klein doesn't even answer her. Ouch. - WHITLEY YOU GO, BOY I didn't realize they had drone pilots, but I still should've thought of that many episodes ago (and so should Weiss). With Jacques out of the picture, they can commandeer all the SDC resources to help. Nice!

- There is of course the question of where to evacuate the crater refugees *to*. How long a range do those cargo ships have? The next closest settlement we know about is likely Argus, and I think Maria said something about their stolen ship barely making it at the end of v7. Still it's an avenue worth pursuing - even camping in a frozen wasteland beats a Grimm army. - Time for the traditional "team splits up to go exploring in the dark" phase. I'm rewinding every few seconds now to squint at all the backgrounds, but tbh I was no good at spotting the Hound last time. Never would've known it was there in most of episode 2. - Lovely little pep talk from Blake. All the sweeter because they don't get much interaction onscreen. - (rewind rewind squint squint where is it is it in the hall shadows) - RT not even pretending the computers don't run Microsoft Windows.

- YEEEEEEEEEK - (I wish I hadn't seen the preview bits. Unspoiled, there would have been 3x more EEE in that yeek. ) - Rewind to watch Blake's ears fold down in sudden terror. Nice touch. - Klein and Willow, equals for the first time, sitting in awkward silence. And his little frown when her reaction to a crash and breaking glass is not to look around but to reach for her bottle. - (I regret a whole lot of wasted potential for Qrow this arc, but I think most of all I regret him never getting to meet Willow. They would understand each other in a way no one else in the cast can, and he could have offered her hope.) - Oh, shut it, Weiss, he's doing great considering the circumstances, and your own default attitude is set to High Snark. Which I don't mind, but pot-kettle. - Still so effing creepy. It sure doesn't look like a Hound right now, more of a gorilla. And Blake successfully not freezing up and taking it on! It's good seeing her get to be badass here, since she missed out on the Nucklavee and didn't fight the Apathy at all. - "Take the girl". It's repeating its orders, I had trouble making the words out at first. - Ruby, in contrast to Blake, is frozen to the spot and doesn't even aim her weapon as it charges at her. She's really at a low point right now. And oof, there goes her Aura just from a TACKLE. It didn't even hit her! - It's noticeably more efficient taking Ruby. Was Oscar its first mission? It's much more smooth and quick about the shapeshifting now, too. - Weiss taking precious seconds to alert Klein. That actually shows considerable presence of mind; it would've been completely natural to just charge in, but she was thinking about the civilians she's responsible for. Good show. - oop, there goes Willow. She tried. I don't think she can have ever been a Huntress herself, as cool as that would've been. (I would have *loved* to see her rediscover her hereditary power to conjure defeated foes...and use it to summon a Jacques.) - Penny's exaggerated puppet-movements, with arms held out wide from her body and stiff clanky-machine noises. Oh dear. Maiden powers going out of control are just what we needed. - Is Weiss starting to summon a Nevermore there? That's a beautiful shot!

- we're only 8.5 MINUTES into an almost 18 minute episode - It's holding Ruby more carefully than it did Oscar, too. It hasn't hurt her any more than necessary. - wha? OHH of course it's here for Penny. But it grabbed Ruby first because her scent was on the lamp? Or because Penny was dormant and it couldn't sense her? - ouch - what is that Grimm. An antlion? - oh, Nora repeating Blake's words. *sniffle* There's still no light in her eyes. - Weiss it's above you, have you not watched any horror movies - So Willow did pull herself together a bit. And she's putting all the cameras she installed to spy on Jacques to use, nice! - I TAKE IT ALL BACK AHAHAHA wow, it's good to be wrong sometimes - GOOD JOB WHITLEY - Blake asking important questions. Seriously what is that thing based on, I'm having horrible DA:O flashbacks - she continues to badass - Now that's how I expected the Hound to treat Ruby, instead of that inexplicable gentleness. Theory probability continuing to rise. - rewind rewind did it just grow a third arm out of its back? It did. Grossly. - Annnd what will come climbing back in the window? - Well, it's not Summer. - It can't be Clover. It *can't* be Clover, we saw his body for several seconds at the start of the volume. - ...It's a faunus, he has wolf-type ears. Nobody we know. - Ruby's silver eyes must have mostly taken it out already, if that was enough to finish it off. And Grimm dust dissolves and floats up into the air like disproved theories. - Oh, hi, Cinder. You're kind of anticlimactic. But I wonder what you meant by "my turn to ask for something". Is she going to demand Watts build her something? - The hardlight walls are gone now, so I'm guessing Qrow and Robyn escaped after all. And probably took Jacques with them, more's the pity. Overall a really good action episode, though I'm left still wondering why the Hound was so gentle with Ruby. And what the writers have in store for the revealed fate of Summer, and those ominous credits, that could possibly live up to the fan ideas.

Oh, yeah, and also - where ARE they sending those refugees? If Whitley just programmed the planes to fly them up to Atlas, that doesn’t seem safer...

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby v8 spoilers #rwby volume 8 spoilers

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shiroganeryo · 3 years

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D.Gray-Man Tag!

I got tagged by my friend Violet to hop into this little game she made, and there are few things I love more than babbling about DGM, so let’s go! The rules are to tag three people to get the game going, so I’ll do it at the start because this will get looong. I’ll tag @14th-melody, @metzzi and @rudimentor0x0. Here’s the blank post. Sorry if you have already done it, I might’ve missed the posts ;;

⭐ What year did you first get into DGM? Hmm, actually, that’s a hard question because I didn’t get into it right away? If memory serves me right about what grade I was in high school when that happened, I was 15 - so, 2008. Pull a chair, I’ll tell you how that went. It was actually a recommendation from a friend of my best friend; we weren’t particularly close, I just knew he and I had a similar taste for anime/manga and I was looking for getting into a new series... but I wanted it to be worthwhile. So I asked my bestie if her friend wouldn’t give me a rec. He recommended me D.Gray-Man, and just like I do before watching any series, I watched the first opening to get an overall “feel” of it and I quite liked it: cool aesthetic, music was dope, characters were nice-looking. But, for some reason, I didn’t watch it and eventually forgot about it.

Then, one day on my way back home from school, I stopped by a nearby newspaper stand since here they also sell manga. They were all very cheap at that time, so I would often look for new volumes of the titles I was collecting (my allowance was enough to buy two or three!). I saw DGM’s first volume there, and went “oh! It’s that one series he had recommended me! I’ll take it and finally give it a shot.”

I fell in love.

I really liked it at first, but the point where DGM completely won my heart was during Lala’s arc. I had never cried with a manga before.

⭐ Who’s your favorite character? This is probably very unoriginal, but it’s Allen! At the start I was very lukewarm about him, but as time went on, I felt like I could relate more and more to that kind-hearted boy and he became my role model. DGM has been with me through some of the worst of my life, and Allen’s resolve to keep going, keep walking, no matter how hard things were for him was what motivated me many times in past. It still does. Allen also taught me to be kinder and through him I realized being there for others makes me truly happy. Sadly, I also share with him the same trait of being unable to truly see how appreciated I am and all the good I bring others just for being there... But I’m working on that! He became the first character I felt like I could fully relate to, and I was surprised - but still very happy - to realize that, now that I’m an adult with more experience and maturity, I feel like I can understand him even more and better than before. Our connection didn’t wane with time, I feel so much closer to him now. He’s very special to me.

Standing at the second spot - because it’s also fair I would mention her -, is Miranda! I always say that if Allen didn’t exist, Miranda would be my number 1 since she stands so close to him hahaha After him, she’s another character I deeply relate with. My self-esteem isn’t the best out there so I’m quick to think I’m worthless or useless, just like her. Even so, she wouldn’t give up. Every time I felt like giving up because of auto depreciation, I would think “Miranda would try again, she would work harder”.

It’s like the two of them were walking me through the steps so I could move forward and keep doing my best.

⭐ Who’s your least favorite character? I’m going to say Chaozii. But, before we get to the usual “Chaozii slander” we’re used to doing in this fandom, let me elaborate. It has nothing to do with him not siding with Allen. As much as I love Allen, I know we’re able of sympathizing with his ideals because as the readers we have a plethora of information on his motives; if not for that, we would probably take the same stance as Chaozii has taken about him.

What riles me about Chaozii is that, unlike all of the characters, his mindset is either black or white, good or bad. Everyone seems to have a perfect mix of both, showing many facets just like, well, real, imperfect people. Chaozii is the only one who doesn’t have that. Being simple-minded is not a bad trait, but when that clouds your judgement, then it turns into a bad thing.

It all fell apart when he snapped at Allen when he refused to kill Tyki. That particularly bothered me a ton, even if I understand his feelings. Chaozii, who thought it was wrong and cruel to kill humans and was grieving for his lost comrades, was fine with killing a human whom he wasn’t even sure if was being forced to do things or not. Do you see the issue here? Chaozii never feels to me like he’s striving to do the right thing in order to bring justice, but instead, because he wants revenge.

I hope he does get to learn one thing or two in the future. He has potential to be a great character; but he needs a “redemption” first.

⭐ Who’s your favorite general? Tiedoll! Although I like all of them for different reasons. I really love Cross and differently from what some people think, he did care for Allen and I love their rather dysfunctional relationship. He’s a much deeper character than just a womanizer full of fishy shenanigans. He’s also really badass: former scientist, user of magic, (former) wielder of both an Innocence of his own and another person’s (Grave of Maria). I just happen to love Tiedoll a liiiittle more because I can’t take this guy! He’s just so sweet, and his doting nature makes him both funny and lovely. General Sokalo is really cool and all, but I feel like he’s just a cool guy to me. On a side note, General Klaud could step on me and kill me and I’d thank her. I hope we get to learn more about her Innocence sometime.

⭐ Who’s a character you would get along with? I would love to say it’s Allen, but he’s someone really hard to get close to. If I think about the characters I’d like to befriend because of shared traits or interests, I think I could get along well with Miranda, Krory, and Marie. The first two because they’re two softies who just happen to be really awkward, I feel like I would probably befriend them after trying to comfort them too often. And, the latter, because I’m a person who likes calm company whom I can have honest talks with.

⭐ What kind of innocence would you have? I honestly have no idea. If I had to pick one from the ones we already have, I think I would go with the Dark Boots. Being able to fly and maneuver in mid-air would be a dream come true, I feel the happiest when the wind blows against me. If I have to think of something “for me” specifically, I think I would like a long range Innocence. I particularly like firearm-like weapons like guns, so maybe a gun or dual pistols? Yeah, I think I’d really like the dual pistols.

⭐ What’s your favorite ship? Ah, to be in the DGM fandom is to be a multishipper; yet this is the part where I always get nervous at because my favorite is a rarepair. But!!! I’m building up the courage to be more open about (and less self-judgmental of) the things I like. It’s Allen x Miranda. I don’t really know when it started; from what I said before, you already know they’re both my top favorite characters and very special to me, so I naturally loved it when I saw them sharing screentime. When I realized it, I was looking at them and thinking “they would make such a cute couple together”. It just kinda happened.

To keep this short, there’s this blog I really like explaining about this pair’s dynamics. I think they have a great dynamic together and much potential. They could very easily have a wholesome relationship based in lots of patience and mutually covering the other’s weaknesses and helping them become someone better. These are the best kinds of relationships imo. I hope to share some of my headcanons for them (and even writing, hopefully!) sometime in here. I always picture Allen being older, so that gives me some free room for creativity; it doesn’t look like he has time for romantic love right now, and I don’t really feel comfortable with him being a minor for this ship, so both things go hand in hand.

Honorable mentions go to Link x Allen (again, older!Allen), Yulma and LaviLena, as I also get super happy when I see these particular shippings.

⭐ What’s your least favorite ship? I actually have some, but it goes against my policies to publicly (consciously) say negative things about certain things if I can help it. I know I’m allowed to have opinions, but you never know who can stumble upon it and what I dislike can be something that makes someone really happy, you know? I tend to stay silent about such things when it comes to something as harmless as shippings.

So, I think I can say I’m accepting of everything as long as everyone respects each other! And, of course, if it isn’t distasteful (as in, illegal).

⭐ What branch would you want to be part of? We’ve only seen the European and Asian branches properly before but even if there aren’t many choices, this is still a hard question; I think both have lots of good things going for them. I think I would probably want to settle with the Asian Branch! I love how lively the atmosphere is and I also feel like there are way less science division shenanigans in there... Sorry, Komui.

⭐ What’s your favorite arc? I have three! The Rewinding City arc came right after Lala’s arc - that had touched me a lot -, bringing in even more feels. It introduced Miranda and at the blink of an eye, made me care so much about her. The first activation of Time Record after she protected Allen, followed by his thanks to her hit so hard; I get really emotional talking about it. It was such a great, yet touching moment. I think everyone can relate to that; being worthy of receiving gratitude for something they did for someone.

Then, there’s Lulu Bell’s Invasion of the Black Order arc, followed by the appearance of the Level 4 Akuma. I can’t express into words how great the flow of the elements are there. The plot is focusing on multiple characters with their own background dramas happening, all at once, yet none of it feels out of place. Everyone gets their moment, everyone contributes to the big picture (saving the staff and defeating the Akumas). It all felt like one big collective effort of several parts uniting forces, no one was more or less important than the other. It was expertisely done.

And the last mention goes to the Searching for A.W’s arcs (Saying Goodbye to A.W also included). These arcs are being extremely painful but, at the same time, also extremely rewarding to go through. For the first time ever, we’re seeing Allen give in to his wants and acknowledge his feelings; he’s not honest with himself very often, and seeing him actually admit that he still wanted to go on - for himself -, that he still wanted to hold onto hope was something that I suddenly realized I had always wanted to see him do. It’s like I had been waiting for so long. Allen is growing up, and I’m loving to see the part Johnny and Kanda are playing in this. I could talk all day about how happy it makes me, to feel this much hope in the midst of such a difficult situation these arcs are covering. It captures very well the essence of D.Gray-Man imo: the bittersweetness of the hardships of life, and the good things it makes us realize we have had all along. The people we have by our side. The will to continue moving forward because we still have something we love and want to fight for.

Whew, I expected this would get long but guess I got too carried away; those were amazing questions to answer to! If you read until now, you have my most sincere gratitude and appreciation. I wish you have a lovely day! 😊

#dgm #d.gray man #d.gray-man #long text #tag #there are still asks in my inbox but I'll be tending to these sometime later!#I really don't want to spam you with long texts everyday #but I don't really like not elaborating my thoughts when I'm on to discuss something #added a read more not to clog your dashboards!

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moondrop04 · 3 years

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RWBY VOLUME 8 EPISODE 7 SPECULATION AFTERMATH!!!

SPOILERS!!!

Hello Hello Hello!!! XD Another Week........and the last episode of RWBY before the hiatus is out!!!! Sorry I am late AGAIN (busy with work) but let’s dive right in and see what I got RIGHT and what I Definetly got WRONG from my Speculation post!!

-Sigh.........I got everything wrong in my speculation post 😑.......ya know....stuff like this can make someone wonder what is even the point of writing. Like.....you can write whateeeeever you think is going to happen, from theories you have thought about for months or speculations you made after an episode airs....only to find out NONE of them becomes true. Revelations like this can make just about anyone bitter.......angry even, towards the creators who make the things you love just because they didn’t do the things you wanted to happen.....to what “I” wanted to happen. You know what I have to say about that.......I Don’t Give A S*** I Was Wrong, I STILL LOVE RWBY!!! 😤 I can make a million theories and speculations that could be right or wrong but at the end of the day RWBY is still one of the rare few series that can make my imagination go WILD!!! 😆.....(not like that you perverted F***s 🤨) So what I am trying to say is that I was HORRIBLY WRONG AGAIN, but I STILL LOVED THE EPISODE!!!! Here my thoughts about it.......

-(Salem) Ok......i’ll be honest....I was really disappointed with Salem’s small involvement in the episode 😔. I was really hoping we could finally see how she fights on her own but I have to understand that there is more within the plot that needs to be shown then my selfish desire of seeing Salem kicking some ass 😓. The only positive thing I can take away from this small scene is that it confirmed what I always thought.....that Salem is the kind of woman dramatic enough to cause about a catastrophe and play about as if it were her own Orchestra lol XD. Oh! And tremendous work from CRWBY with the set up of the battlefield between the Grimm and Ironwood’s forces. I was amazed by the incredible number of character models that was placed within the episode to showcase the large scale of the battle between two great forces and I can’t wait to see how much more CRWBY could do in the future battles!

-(Oscar/Ozpin & Hazel) I more or less thought that this would be the direction that Ozpin would take to try and reason with Hazel (revealing Salem’s curse origins) but I didn’t expect for Oscar to reveal jinn’s name to him to get him to listen 🤔. Now while I do understand that this may prove beneficial for Oscar and Hazel’s future trust with one another, I still feel like it may not be the right time for Hazel to switch sides just yet story wise. I think Hazel will still be under Salem’s command by the end of the season but there’s no doubt that Oscar will make Hazel begin to question Salem’s plans and agenda for gathering the relics.

-(Emerald, Mercury & Tyrian) Hmmm I have been thinking about it and I also think it would be a good idea if Emerald would be the one to ask the last question to Jinn, considering that the two share a connection with the tale of Aladdin. The question now is......what will be her question 🤔? I am honestly quite surprised that Mercury and Tyrian are going to Vacuo this early in the volume. From Salem’s standpoint it would make sense to send her followers to the next relic, given that she is nearly about to obtain her second relic within the next few hours. I am a bit disappointed that they are leaving though, especially Tyrian, because i was hoping that there would be a conclusion with his and qrow’s fight in Atlas, given what happened with Clover last volume. I kind of want to hope that they will turn around and return to Atlas near the end of the volume due to Vacuo forces heading it’s way towards Atlas and that they would need to warn Salem, but so far we don’t know if Ruby’s message could convince headmaster Theodore to deploy his huntsmen to fight Salem so we’ll just have to wait and see.

-(May Marigold) Clap...Clap...Clap...👏👏👏 that Scene was......GOOD!!! I am glad for the Trans community to be givin more representation for themselves and I hope the trend will continue on in the future in other prominent series and tv shows.

-(Weiss & Whitely) Ok......as much as this scene between the two siblings warmed my heart, I’m gonna have to play devils advocate and say that I still don’t fully trust Whitley just yet. While this may look like a good direction for Whitley’s character, we still have a long way to go between the whole Schnee family to fully see where Whitley wants to do going forward in his life. So for now I’ll trust that he is doing this “kindness” for Weiss and her friends because he wants to help, but I’ll keep an open mind on what he does in the future. Also BEST DAD KLEIN IS BACK!!!! WOOHOO!!! 😆😆😆

-(Ren & The Ace-Ops) Oh Ren.......while I’m glad to see you evolve your semblance and realize your current “faults” for your character arc this volume.....I can’t help but feel terrible for you for this revelation 😥. With Ren’s new Ability he can now see a person’s current feelings and emotions as if they were different colored petals. With this new found power he was quick to realize the inner turmoil of each member of the Ace-Ops and the storm of emotions within Winter Schnee. But I, as an audience member, was also quick to realize that Ren’s new ability could serve another purpose, specifically for the Shipping fandom.....if Ren is now able to see the feelings of anyone he has his vision set upon, he could easily tell who has feelings of “love” for one another!? For example: if he were see Yang talking with or about Blake for any reason, he would be able to see petals of “love” swirling around her and determine Yang has feelings for Blake. And not just them.....but he could foresee what could potentially be future canon ships down the road for other characters as well!!! Now as well you and I know the shipping fandom can be kind of........crazy🤪, and with this sudden realization Lie Ren has just became the Shipping Community’s messiah of canon ships 😭. Good luck Ren!!! You’ll need it!!! Lol

-(Penny) Alright as heart wrenching that this cliffhanger was....I can’t help but feel that it was too “plot convenient” for Penny to just land exactly where Ruby and her group were hiding out after her downfall from Amity in episode 5 🤨. Maybe before she shut downed she could have tried to alter the course of her landing to land near Ruby’s last coordinates but I have some doubts for that theory 🤔. I don’t know it just felt weird to me lol but despite that this does present an interesting situation because we know Cinder, The Hound and Neo were sent to retrieve Watts to find Penny’s location. So could this mean the long awaited confrontation between Ruby and Cinder is about play out? 😮 I guess we’ll see.....

Overall, despite my personal grievances, the episode was excellent XD and now I am left with the realization that I will have to wait several weeks for the next episode to air......ain’t that a B**** 😑

Quick note: I’m sorry this took so long to post but I have been busy with my 12 hour shift job and it has left me exhausted 🥵. Hope everyone has a merry Christmas and a happy new year!!! 🥳.........plz let it be a good year.....

#rwby #rwby ruby #weiss schnee #blake bellodona #yang xiao long #oscar pine #rwby salem #cinder fall #lie ren #nora valkyrie #jaune arc #james ironwood #rwby volume 8 spoilers

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whitleyschn33 · 3 years

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Ren, Nora, Qrow and Robyn for Live or Die ask meme?

Ren, MY SECOND SON, please don’t die! T-T I’ve always loved Ren - I thought his aesthetic and vibe were awesome in the first couple volumes, the sarcastic tint he had in V3 was great, and the V4 character arc and new hair? Perfect. Combine all that with the knock-out punches of his V8 speech, and I am in love. Unfortunately, I feel like he’s got a lot of death flags, but please no, don’t die on me, you have so much to live for, and you’re Monty’s character, they can’t kill you.

Take Nora instead! Yeah, I am not emotionally invested in Nora living. Her comic relief status has slowly become more and more annoying to me in the last few volumes, and while her occasional tender moments with the other cast members are sweet, it’s not really enough to make up for how little she brings to the story. I know the same can be said with Ren, but I think Ren’s gone through more character development, and being the lone dissenter of RWBYJNR, is automatically more interesting to me. Add the shitshow of last volume and my opinion of her has just dropped drastically. Unfortunately, with her already having a death scare this volume, the seeming set up for a character arc on finding out who she is without Ren, and her being a woman, her being the JNR member to die this volume seems unlikely.

Qrow, I am honestly extremely apathetic towards. Are his scenes easily my least favorite of the volume? Yeah, because even the scenes I hate have something going on for me to engage with (even if negatively). His scenes with Robyn are just so... boring. Nothing interesting happens, at all. His self-pity wallowing has also gotten real old, real quick. Take some responsibility for once in your life that doesn’t involve “poor me”. We get it, your semblance sucks ass, but that doesn’t mean you personally haven’t made shitty decisions. Own it and get moving. Honestly, him dying would work fine as part of the consequences of the Fall of Atlas (because there needs to be some death this volume with how much they’ve built up the horror of Salem, the Grimm, and the cold), and seeing his death affect Ruby (I’d say Yang too, but they haven’t acted like family since, like, V3) as her combat teacher and uncle could potentially be interesting if it isn’t fumbled. I don’t think he’s got anything left to give if the writers aren’t going to bother letting him interact with the character he already had rich interesting backstory and relationship with (coughcoughIRONWOODcough), so just kill him off to cut down on character bloat.

Robyn can’t die soon enough. She is so unlikeable, it makes me physically clench up when I see her. itsclydebitches (if you don’t read her metas, you absolutely should) and Twiins iink on YouTube (check her out, she’s brilliant and her art is beautiful) sum up my feelings much better than I could, but suffice to say, I can’t wait for her smug ass to be gone from this narrative, but I know she probably won’t be until we leave Atlas.

Thank you for the ask, Invincible! I liked the chance to vent~ Uh, hope I didn’t complain about any of your faves, though T-T

#rwby #rwby8 #lie ren #nora valkyrie #qrow branwen #robyn hill #ask reply #ask game

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honeyby · 5 years

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“Bumbleby is bad writing!”

In the months since volume 6 we’ve heard it all. Bumbleby is rushed, they aren’t even friends, they were over shadowed by b/lacksun, it has no development, it has development but it’s less than b/lacksun’s, they’re throwing away b/lacksun’s development, bumbleby is forced, it’s pandering...you name it we’ve seen it, and chances are we’ve seen it multiple times. It gets repeated over and over again but honestly? None of it holds up.

I’ve said before that b/lacksun never really had as much development as people act like it did, but let’s take a look at how b/lacksun and bumbleby develop volume by volume. No soundtracks, no outside comments made by the crew. Just the show itself (heads up, this is really fucking long)

Volume 1:

There isn’t much to say about volume 1; neither really have a whole lot of teasing between Sun’s late introduction and the lack of focus on Yang. There is something very interesting though about both relationships in this volume: both end up subverting Blake’s expectations of them.

With Yang, Blake’s first reaction is a little chilly. She sees this loud young woman walking up to her while she’s trying to read and their first interactions reflect that. However, Blake quickly realizes that Yang isn’t what she seems and goes out of her way to choose her as a partner. They get along perfectly and in the Emerald Forest we see Blake enjoying herself more than she had up to that point. They could’ve been a bickering pair because of their differences (and we’re lead to think they will be at their introduction), but those differences end up being complementary and it shows in their easy teamwork.

For Sun, it’s almost the exact opposite. His entrance couldn’t scream “love interest” any more if it tried and Blake clearly thinks that as a Faunus he would understand her. Only, he doesn’t. That’s something that’s emphasized multiple times in their volume one interactions (and reinforced in later volumes) and they lack the teamwork that came so easily to Blake and Yang. He’s introduced as a very blatant love interest type but his inability to understand Blake has her spend a lot of their volume 1 time annoyed with him.

Volume one is arguably the only volume where b/lacksun has a potential edge, but even that isn’t as big of a one as people act like it is. Not with how quick the turnaround is from “obvious love interest entrance” to “Blake glares at him enough that Sun comments on it in the very next episode” (and regardless of what the media might tell you, that’s not a good basis for a relationship).

Volume 2:

One of the biggest events for both ships in this volume is the dance arc. However, the most important part of the dance arc is not that Blake goes with Sun or that she saves her first dance for Yang or even that she dances with him and Yang; it’s that she finally decided to slow down. Dancing with Sun (and again, even Yang) is unimportant to the overall plot and is never brought up again, while Blake pursuing Torchwick in a healthier way is something we see throughout the rest of volume 2. She’s less exhausted and doesn’t run herself ragged, and that’s because of her talk with Yang.

Another key result of that arc is Blake learning about Yang’s abandonment issues. This is major because it’s setting up their main conflict a volume and a half before Yang loses her arm and Blake leaves. We get another building block for it in Mountain Glenn when Blake expresses that she always runs away, and you don’t have a character that’s always left behind paired with someone who always leaves if you aren’t going to take advantage of it. As of volume 2, Blake and Yang have the setup for their relationship to go through a conflict that will change everything for them but that can ultimately make their relationship stronger in the long run (setup that we see delivered on later on).

Meanwhile, Sun and Blake’s relationship gets no further development after the dance arc this volume (Sun’s only appearances afterwards he’s excited with Neptune about being Junior Detectives), and what they have in the dance arc is both self contained (Sun’s main goal in his interactions with Blake is to get her to go to the dance with him, which he succeeds in thanks to Yang) and not relevant beyond it. We don’t get anything from them that sets up any future development.

None of this is to say that the dance itself is completely meaningless when it comes to their relationships. Sun asking Blake to the dance shows that he is still interested in her in his casual way (and honestly, there’s really no question that Sun likes/liked Blake in earlier volumes). This is the first time though that we really start getting hints that Yang likes Blake. Between her flirting with Blake in episode 2 (”I love it when you’re feisty”) and the soft, genuine manner in which she both winks at Blake and promises to save her a dance the show has begun to establish that Yang has feelings for her (and in a way that no one would question if she were a guy).

Like in volume 1, we continue to be shown that Sun doesn’t understand Blake. In addition to him not being the one to get through to Blake (that honor going to Yang instead), we also have Blake’s reaction to him asking her to the dance. She straight up says she doesn’t have the time and that she “thought that [he] of all people would get that” since he saw first hand how passionate she is about finding answers and stopping Torchwick in the previous episode. Once again she expects him to understand her and again he shows that he doesn’t. Another instance is a little more subtle and spread throughout a couple of episodes. In the first episode, Sun comments that the best part of Blake is that she’s a faunus while in the very next episode Blake says she wants be seen for who she is, not what she is. Meanwhile, in that same episode Yang compliments her for being feisty and later on in Mountain Glenn tells her she’s not one to back down from a challenge, both compliments on who Blake is (even if she can’t see that Yang’s latter comment is true just yet).

This is the volume where the differences between the two ships really start to show. Blake and Sun have a few moments in the first half, but their relationship is pretty shallow when compared to the depth that Blake and Yang’s has already developed and lacks the the setup for anything to change that.

Volume 3:

This volume along with volume 6 are by far the most lopsided in Bumbleby’s favor. Blake and Sun have only two interactions, one of which is Sun watching Blake tearfully clutch Yang’s hand while ignoring the outside world and him (and obviously, Blake only having eyes for Yang isn’t something that supports romantic b/lacksun). The only sort of teasing or development they get is Sun winking at Blake and Blake blushing. It’s actually a good moment for b/lacksun as it suggests a mutual crush is there, but that’s undermined by the fact that they get no other romantic development for the rest of the volume.

Blake and Yang on the other hand start out a little slow this volume but once the halfway point hits we get a lot of important moments very quickly. Yang is framed for attacking a downed Mercury but she holds it together well until Blake is hesitant to believe. She needs Blake to believe her; she trusts her and cares about her opinion. But the biggest part of this is not on Yang’s side but Blake’s.

Blake explicitly parallels Yang, her new partner, to Adam, her old partner. We know she’s watched Adam make excuses for hurting people (hell we literally see that parallel in the Adam short) and now she’s watching something similar unfold with Yang. But where Adam turned it on her and hid his insincerity behind a mask Yang is open and honest, and never blames her for being suspicious. She’s upset yes, but she cares about Blake and knows she has her reasons. This conversation helps establish Yang as Adam’s foil (something that had been built on earlier with things like both being Blake’s partner, the visual similarity of their semblances, etc. that’s now made explicit), something that’s even more meaningful with the revelation that Adam is Blake’s ex lover. It adds a whole new level to Blake not wanting Yang to be another Adam, and ultimately Blake decides to trust her (a huge sign of how far she’s come since leaving Adam).

The biggest moment of course, is the entire encounter with Adam. Every bit of it is filled with romantic coding, from Adam’s “I will destroy everything you love, starting with her” to Blake’s reaction to seeing Yang to Yang throwing herself at Adam and losing an arm trying to save Blake to Blake defiantly getting between Adam and Yang’s unconscious body, and all of it’s compounded thanks to the context of Adam being Blake’s possessive and abusive ex. There’s a reason b/lacksun shippers were so insistent that Sun would take place in the final showdown with Adam, because even if they won’t admit it with Blake and Yang who fights at Blake’s side has serious romantic implications. It’s important to note that Sun’s absence isn’t even because he’s unavailable (in fact he’s right by Weiss when she tells Yang where Blake went...he could’ve gone instead and Yang could’ve been sidelined in another way if the writers wanted to go that route) so the fact that it’s Yang is very substantial.

I honestly believe that the fight with Adam is the point of no return. In addition to setting up an entire intertwined arc for Blake and Yang, I’ve said before that the intensity of the moment makes it very difficult to establish a romance for Blake and Yang that doesn’t involve each other. In the case of b/lacksun, how do you show the audience that Blake cares about him more that Yang, who Adam singles out as a person to hurt if he wants to hurt Blake and who she throws herself in front of when Adam, her abuser, tries to kill her and whose dismemberment by Adam is a huge part of what undos Blake’s character growth and convinces her she needs to run to protect her? The answer is you don’t (and the writing gets two different chances to try in volumes 4 and 5 and neither come anywhere close).

In the rest of the volume we get the previously mentioned moment of Blake holding and unconscious Yang’s hand, apologizing profusely and ignoring everything else as well as Yang’s devastated reaction to her leaving. Both continue to emphasize how important they are to each other (note Yang’s obvious lie that she doesn’t care, because if she didn’t care it wouldn’t hurt so much that Blake was gone), and the former includes a very interesting shot of Sun seeing the way Blake is focused on Yang.

Overall, there’s a very clear difference this volume. Sun and Blake have one cute moment but it absolutely doesn’t hold a candle to the incredibly major Blake and Yang moments, all of which have lasting ramifications on their relationship. This is also the second volume in a row to suggest that Blake and Yang’s feelings are more than platonic with Adam’s choice of words and the general romantic coding of the scene, suggesting that the romantic phrasing in volume 2 was intentional (and thus that information should be kept in mind when interpreting their later scenes).

Volume 4:

This volume, Blake and Sun spend the entire volume together while Blake and Yang won’t meet again until the end of the next volume. However, that doesn’t mean that suddenly Blake and Sun suddenly get more romantic development at all.

One of the first things this volume establishes is that Blake and Sun’s relationship hasn’t developed much in previous volumes. When Sun says he gets why Blake left, Blake believes that he understands her and he immediately proves her wrong. She spends most of the volume irritated at him and in the fights they have together there’s a clear lack of teamwork and communication. All of these things have been present in their relationship since volume 1. For all the supposed development they’ve had in three volumes they’re no closer to understanding each other than when they first met.

There’s three main moments/aspects to look at for any potential romantic development: the “meet the parents” shtick, Sun getting injured against Ilia, and their talk after he wakes up. The former is incredibly shallow and relies on a comedic trope to even be interpreted as romantic. After the intensity and drama of the Adam fight, it’s very lacking in comparison when you’re talking about furthering a romantic relationship and honestly feels like it’s there to try to add some lightheartedness to Blake’s arc.

The other two run into a different issue: both end up circling back to Yang. The lead up to Sun’s injury isn’t doing their relationship any favors (at this point they’re really at their lowest with Blake being done with his invasiveness) and Blake’s reaction to him getting hurt doesn’t further a romantic relationship between them. Not when her immediate reaction is “no, not again”, a clear callback to Yang losing her arm. As I mentioned earlier, it would be very difficult to convince the audience that Blake cares more about Sun than Yang, and having her reference Yang right away does the opposite of that (not to say that she doesn’t care about Sun, just that if the writers were building a romance between them having Blake clearly thinking about Yang isn’t constructive to that). In addition, the scope of Sun’s injury (just a stab wound to the shoulder) makes it a much less dramatic scene in general and mainly happens to get Blake to open up to Sun about why she left.

When she does open up again it ends up circling back to Yang. We get the crack on her name but more importantly Sun himself brings her up, saying he’d get get hurt again protecting Blake and promising (very surely) that Yang would say the same. He’s putting Yang’s dedication to Blake on at least the same level as his, and if you interpret Sun having romantic feelings for Blake it adds to the idea that Yang does as well (on its own it could be taken as romantic or platonic, but we’ve had moments already in volumes 2 and 3 that also lend themselves to the idea that Yang has feelings for Blake). He then continues by talking about how Blake leaving hurts “us” and “we”, not just him, turning their heartfelt conversation into one focused on Blake and her friends. They do end on a much better note here and even have a cute callback after Sun talks about wanting to get even with Ilia (setting himself up as a foil for Blake’s friend and not her ex). At this point they’re settling into a more comfortable friendship and it shows.

Blake and Yang may not interact this volume, but there is still some development. Besides the above mentioned scenes in Blake’s arc, we have Yang’s ptsd and nightmare. While they aren’t romantic teasing at all and are instead part of her own character arc, they are setting up Yang’s eventual rematch with Adam, something Blake will be deeply involved with. What happened in Beacon intertwined Blake and Yang’s character arcs, and even things that aren’t romantic or about each other further their shared plot. He’s both of their monsters at this point, and the final showdown with Adam was always going to be him versus Blake and Yang together from the moment he took Yang’s arm. Additionally, before Yang or Blake even appear in the volume we know that Blake’s mind is on her thanks to the intro, which is reflected by her scenes with Sun.

We see a lot of the ramifications of volume 3 here in volume 4, and even though they are apart we still get development for Blake and Yang while Blake and Sun spend most of the volume fighting. While they do get some development at the end of the volume, the fact that both of their biggest moments have a callback to what happened with Blake and Yang doesn’t scream romantic development, especially given the intensity of what’s being referenced. Blake and Sun’s last conversation also serves to develop Blake’s character in the same way Jaune and Ruby’s and Tai and Yang’s are meant to as opposed to being focused on building a romance with Sun.

Volume 5:

This is the volume that would’ve been the time to canonize b/lacksun if that was the goal. Blake’s in a better place mentally than in volume 4, she and Sun are getting along better, and it’s really the last chance to do it before Sun steps out of the plot for who knows how long (which was always inevitable once Blake reunited with her team and Sun’s role as her support outside of them was no longer needed). Instead, everything stays pretty damn platonic and even the slight romantic coding of his interactions with Blake’s parents are toned down.

Volume 3 makes it very clear that Adam is Yang and Blake’s fight, and volume 5 has several opportunities to try and make it Sun’s too and doesn’t take them. When Blake tells him a little about Adam Sun shows no further interest in him. Instead, the focus shifts to Ilia and Blake wanting to help her the way Sun helped her. Sun is clearly tied to Ilia, Blake’s friend, and not Adam, Blake’s ex which says a lot about how his relationship with Blake is meant to be seen.

There’s still one more opportunity this volume to connect Sun to Adam, one that also would’ve been a great way to establish Blake’s feelings for Sun as stronger than her feelings Yang: the skirmish with Adam. Yet when confronted with Sun, Adam’s incredibly dismissive of him going so far as to call him a “classmate”. This is a huge contrast to how he treats Yang in both encounters with her, and it makes it clear which one he sees as the bigger threat when it comes to Blake. The Haven encounter is also very focused on the White Fang side of the Adam conflict, and lacks the personal and emotional stakes the Blake and Yang vs Adam ones do.

Despite still being separated for the majority of the volume, there’s some very significant development in Blake and Yang’s relationship. However where last volume most of what is there is on Blake’s side, this time it’s Yang where we really see it. Alone Together is the first time we see Yang talk about Blake since volume 3, and it’s very clear that what happened still affects Yang. Her feelings about Blake are complicated; she’s still hurt by Blake leaving but makes it clear that she does still care about her. Her and Weiss have an entire conversation about her messy feelings about Blake and how she wanted both to be there for Blake and for Blake to be there for her (and her desire for a mutual relationship gets plenty of payoff in volume 6). What happened in volume 3 and how it affected Blake and Yang’s relationship is still something that’s being dealt with. It also parallels the conversation Sun and Blake have at the end of volume 4, with Sun and Weiss both able to give Blake and Yang a look at how the other is feeling.

Those conversations help Blake and Yang be in a better place when they finally see each other again, and boy is their reunion something. Blake walks into a room filled with her friends that she hasn’t seen in almost two volumes, some enemies she hasn’t seen in just as long, a whole bunch of strangers, and a spectral Grimm that blew a hole in the wall and immediately focuses on one thing: Yang. Which is followed by a slow closeup of Yang’s reaction, and the framing makes it look like they’re the only two people in the world. Once again their relationship is emphasized in a way that’s unmatched by anything Blake and Sun have.

This volume takes what little alone time Blake and Sun will have for years and does nothing to further a romantic relationship and instead emphasizes how important Blake and Yang’s relationship is. Sun was there to help Blake get back to her team and now that she’s reunited with them in his own words she doesn’t need him anymore.

Volume 6:

I said earlier that volumes 3 and 6 are where we get the biggest differences both in quality and quantity for bumbleby vs b/lacksun, but even volume 3′s massive imbalance ain’t got nothing on this.

Sun shows up in exactly one scene this volume and the fact that Blake kisses him on the cheek has been highly talked about. However, what this scene does is end any potential romance between them. The kiss itself is incredibly zoomed out, too out of focus to be meant to be seen as a grand romantic gesture and Neptune and Sun’s conversation is the final nail in the coffin. Neptune says it feels like Sun is letting her go, something he wouldn’t say if he saw that kiss as the start of something and not the end of it. Sun’s “It was never about that” just adds to it. Blake and Sun will see each other again some day (and their friendship has had some good development in the past two volumes!), but they won’t be starting a romance when they do.

From the very first episode we know that a major part of this volume is going to be Blake and Yang rebuilding their relationship. Yang’s feelings are still complicated; she’s glad that Blake’s back but she’s still hurt by what happened while Blake’s trying to make things up to her but goes about it in not quite the right way at first. The fact that their relationship is the center of one of the major arcs of the volume is huge. It’s not about Yang helping develop Blake’s character or Blake developing Yang’s or even about taking Adam down, no, it’s an entire arc dedicated to their relationship. Even Pyrrha’s arc and relationship with Jaune in the first three volumes is mainly there to lead up to her sacrifice, while Blake and Yang’s end goal this volume is to better their relationship.

Another aspect of their arc that’s unprecedented is just how tactile they are. We see them hold hands on four different occasions, and three of those four are either the focus of the shot or the only thing in the shot (with special mention going to Blake grabbing Yang’s hand in front of Adam being the only thing in the shot two episodes in a row). While handholding isn’t necessarily romantic in and of itself (though it is frequently used that way as seen in the canon romantic pairings of Ren and Nora, Ozma and Salem, Terra and Saphron, and the could-have-been Jaune and Pyrrha), the sheer amount of times they do it is very notable especially in contrast to how Blake and Sun acted. Blake and Sun get a few shoulder touches, most of which aren’t emphasized, and one out of focus cheek kiss and that’s pretty much it. Meanwhile handholding isn’t the only sort of close contact Blake and Yang have. In the finale, the two stay very close and almost constantly maintain physical contact and at the end of Seeing Red their positioning (legs intertwined, Yang’s hand on Blake’s face, Blake’s hand on that one, foreheads touching) is incredibly intimate.

Throughout the volume we see them taking steps to improve their relationship. On the train we get the setup and are shown what their current awkward dynamic is, then in the barn they start making progress. They open up to each other about Adam and they make huge steps when Blake asserts that she’ll be there for Yang if they see Adam again. They take a few steps back when she fumbles with “I’ll protect you” (because we know Yang wants their relationship to mutual) but we do see a large change after they escape the Apathy (likely in part because Blake almost died and also because their previous tension was probably partially a result of the Apathy starting to get to Yang). By the time Blake leaves for the tower, the two are playfully bantering with each other. Blake reaffirms her promise to Yang by promising to hurry back, while Yang’s reaction shows that she’s ready to fully believe her.

When they finally confront Adam, there’s manages to be even more romantic coding than there was in volume 3 in addition to it showing how much Yang and Blake have grown since then. Blake hearing Yang coming and defiantly declaring “I’m not alone” is a far cry from her begging Yang to leave, and Yang telling her to catch her breath reinforces that Yang wants their relationship to be mutual instead of weighted in one of their favors. Blake’s absolute horror at Adam targeting Yang and Yang’s panic when Adam deflects Gambol Shroud remind us how much they care about each. Their teamwork is flawless (improvising a reverse Bumblebee on the fly is insane!) and both their verbal and nonverbal communication allows them to work together to take Adam down when neither could do it alone. The biggest moment though, is Blake reaffirming her promise and declaring “We’re protecting each other”, standing hand in hand with Yang as they stare down Adam.

Blake and Yang’s actions aren’t the only thing to look at here. Adam’s words and actions speak volumes and reinforce that he views Yang as a romantic rival in his twisted way. From the moment he sees her he recognizes her, and why wouldn’t he? This is the woman that Blake threw herself in front, that he promised to destroy because Blake loves her. And here she is, not destroyed and Adam is ready to rectify that. Just watching Blake and Yang look at each other is enough to send him into a murderous rage and his jealousy is even more emphasized with “What does she even see in you?!”, which is so blatantly romantic (and no, it’s not “what does she even see in you [because you’re human]” because he never once comments on the fact that Yang’s human) it’s not even funny. He even tries to manipulate Yang by positing that he was in the same position as her once (”she made a promise to me too, to always be at my side”) which makes it even clearer how he interprets their relationship.

I’ve already said before that the way they embrace after Adam falls is incredibly intimate, and it also reinforces that their relationship is now stronger than ever. We get Yang making sure Blake knows that Yang believes she’s not gonna break her promise, including looking her in the eyes to be sure (something that’s very important after Blake’s relationship with Adam). They end the volume with Yang echoing that they were there for each other to Weiss, who of all people knows how important that is to Yang. Yang and Blake aren’t in a relationship yet (so calling it rushed is very odd), but the groundwork is there and the narrative has made it clear that’s where it will progress.

The show has consistently given Blake and Yang’s relationship more substantial development than Blake and Sun’s. None of this is to say that b/lacksun is a bad ship or that people shouldn’t ship it, just that the argument that bumbleby is somehow less developed than it isn’t supported by the show at all. Blake and Yang’s relationship is incredibly dynamic; we’ve seen them go from strangers to friends to facing a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to struggling to repair their friendship to having an even stronger relationship now, and it isn’t done evolving. There’s so much emphasis placed on their relationship, and it’s going to be beautiful to watch it continue to blossom.

#rwby #bumbleby #conciseness? i don't know her #thank fucking god for read mores #because there was no way i was gonna do that to y'all without it #let me 🐝 your bmblb #for my own use #last bit might be a little rambley for my taste #but it doesn't bother me too much

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