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waheelawhisperer · 1 year

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Okay I guess it's time for me to post my impressions of the second episode of RWBY Volume 9. Those impressions were, overall, not positive. I do not like this Volume so far.

More detail below the cut.

The first thing I notice is another cartoony gag revolving around the mouse. Not really a great start when it comes to tone.

“Are we seriously entertaining this?” Yeah Weiss I’ve been asking myself the same question since I first learned the premise of this Volume.

Not a fan of Weiss’s cartoon gag but I get her on a fundamental level. I really do. I don’t want any more part of this than you do, girlie. I’m frustrated too. If Weiss remains as annoyed by this Volume's setting as I am, there's a good chance she'll be my favorite character by the end of all this.

So we’re in The Girl Who Fell Through The World. Really wish we’d introduced that properly so the audience would have any idea what the fuck that meant beyond a couple vague sentences from the prior Volume.

Yay, more cartoony motion, because this show is incapable of taking itself seriously this Volume for some reason.

Okay, we’ve laid out the story, I guess. Too little too late in terms of setup, but at least it’s serviceable. Barely. Really like the way Blake takes the lead on the explanation and Yang follows up, Blake is the bookworm and Yang likes books herself and read to Ruby when she was young. It’s a nice little Bee connection.

Weiss has her head screwed on straight. Good for her for pushing the gang to come up with a plan and pick their priorities.

Excuse me, what was that raccoon’s name??? Feels like I heard something I’m really hoping I didn’t.

Little is asleep immediately after promising to do something useful for once. I hope this isn't going to become a running gag this Volume. At least they managed to be useful for the first time so far. This is not enough to redeem them, but I’m less inclined to treat them as Blake’s emergency rations... or at least I was, for about five seconds, until we got this gag. You're back on emergency rations status, mouse. I hate this Volume's insistence on trying (and failing) to be funny so much.

I like the debate about Alyx’s morals, that’s kind of interesting. I’m not overly intrigued by Alyx or her story but the differing perspectives feel like something this Volume would want to explore, especially since it’s supposed to be a character-driven Volume.

More mouse comedy. Hooray. Perish.

This Jinxy Peddler character is throwing up some real red flags, but I’ll get into that in a bit. Instead, we're going to discuss the worst moment of the episode, which is also the worst moment of the Volume so far and one of the bottom 5 moments in RWBY's entire run.

Anyway, what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck why are we mocking Yang’s disability what the fuck I hate these writers so much

Like this should be a serious moment but instead the loss of Yang's arm is portrayed in the form of an exaggerated cartoon gag lmao. At least the tone has been consistently awful this Volume.

Actually, I'm gonna take this opportunity to discuss a broader topic for a moment - RWBY's overall issues with tone. RWBY has always struggled to treat serious subjects with the respect they deserve, and this goes all the way back to the end of Volume 1 at the absolute latest (and arguably shows up as early as the Yellow Trailer, where Yang sexually assaulting Junior is played for laughs).

RWBY has been trying to convince us that Catgirl Discrimination is a serious issue for a very long time, but it undermined itself almost as soon as it started by pigeonholing Faunus characters into stereotypes associated with the animals they share their traits with and playing that for comedy. I already wrote in great detail about how exactly the writers bungled their racism storyline, so I won't rehash it here, but suffice it to say that if even the narrative can't take its themes and topics seriously, how the hell is the audience supposed to?

The "serious topics get turned into jokes" phenomenon also shows up with Yang's arm throughout the series, just like it does right here, btw, but I'll get into that later. For now I need to go vomit a little and try to figure out why whatever dumbass is responsible for this particular scene is still employed as a writer.

Leaving aside the way this scene is drenched in ableism, why the fuck are we making jokes about Yang's arm now?

(The real question is "why are we mocking Yang's status as an amputee at all?", but we already know the answer to that: it's because the writers are insensitive shitbags and incompetent on top of that.)

Team RWBY is lost in a strange environment. They don't know where they are, how to get home, what threats exist or how to combat or avoid them, or how long it will take to escape the Ever After. Their only guide is a fairy tale. They are trained Huntresses, which means they should know how to proceed in potentially hostile territory.

Yang is the team's most combat-capable member. On top of that, Yang is the one whose combat efficiency drops the least when denied access to resources such as Dust, ammunition, or the time and supplies needed to maintain her weapons. Team RWBY has been attacked by at least one denizen of the Ever After, and they know Neo is present and hostile and has a Semblance that allows her to strike without warning. Team RWBY should be on alert at all times, and their number-one priority should be getting Yang's arm back (number two should be recovering Crescent Rose). Can we please just go for five seconds without making Yang's disability the butt of a shitty joke?

I almost turned the episode off and dropped the show right here, not gonna lie. This is just... so fucking gross. Not gonna lie, I'm not sure I ship Bumbleby anymore.

Not that I could even if I wanted to, because Blake Belladonna doesn't exist anymore. The writers took her characterization out behind the woodshed and put it down like a sick dog. She went from being a courageous young woman who fought for the sake of the marginalized and oppressed to someone who tells her fellow minorities to protest more palatably, does nothing in the Kingdom most closely associated with anti-Faunus discrimination, and makes fun of her love interest for missing an arm. Honestly, Blake, you are well on your way to becoming unbearable this Volume, like I straight up don’t like you as a character right now.

God… I can feel my hopes for any remotely tolerable content coming out of this Volume dying as I watch. My expectations cratered harder than the asteroid that hit Chicxulub.

Glad the Bees are flirting in this situation, surely the loss of a Kingdom and being trapped who knows where is a great time to work on your love life.

Yang you thought you were dead ten in-universe minutes ago why the fuck are you acting like you’re on vacation

Still no fucking urgency regarding anything or concern for the people back on Remnant. Not sure if it’s the writers or the characters who forgot they exist.

Weiss loses points for looking at this Bumbleby interaction as a good thing.

Ruby’s still out of it but at least she has her priorities straight. She sounds like she’s about to cry though. Hopefully someone will pick up on that.

Weiss gets her points back for being the only one to give a shit about anything going on back on Remnant while the Bees laugh and flirt. I like the way the writing is consistently showing that she’s the one this hit the hardest.

Ruby might (MIGHT) be right about saying they did the best they could but honestly their best fucking sucked, though I blame that on the writers more so than the characters

Weiss is now fighting Yang for the coveted title of “Heela’s Favorite Character (This Volume)” because she’s acknowledging that Volume 8 happened and was bad. Low bar, but hey.

The one good thing about this scene is that it further establishes that Blake is actually a goofy little shit when she's not terrified or traumatized and is around people who make her feel safe and secure enough to open up. I've been saying this for ages. This is really not the time to be exploring this element of her character ("character"), but hey, it's nice to have textual support for my interpretations.

It's genuinely amazing that we're 7.5 minutes into this episode and a potential coded slur isn't even the thing that makes me the most uncomfortable about it. I don't know who the writers hate more, Blake, Yang, or their audience.

Oh boy more mouse humor why does this feel like a Saturday morning cartoon

I want to feed Little to the thing of indeterminate nature wearing Blake’s skin like a costume

Not bad, Little, you made the first decent joke of the Volume. Finally, an application of humor that doesn’t make me want to lobotomize myself.

Interesting that Yang is the one who wants to open up with violence when despite the stereotypes the fandom likes to insist she fits into, she’s actually one of the more diplomatic members of the team, but the peddler took her arm, so I don’t blame her for wanting to kick their ass. Blake seems a little uncomfortable with this but honestly I’m with Yang. Burn this "acre" or whatever the fuck to the ground and haul ass back to Remnant.

Weiss what the fuck with your vulnerability to anything cute I’m amazed you haven’t tried to pet your Faunus friends

Like seriously this girl goes gaga over anything remotely resembling a pet or a baby

Weiss’s facial expressions during all this convey my feelings about this stupid plotline incredibly well. Don't worry, sis, I hate this as much as you do.

Yang’s heart didn’t tell her shit she just pointed to the arm-shaped thing that was literally color-coded. Love it.

Anyway seeing Yang’s reaction to the price was cool. She wasn’t happy about that one bit. For someone like Yang, that is an awful price to pay. Like damn, the pain on her face when she heard those words...

I’m with Yang here honestly, just beat his ass and put an end to this storyline.

Poor Ruby. I actually really like this as an insight into her mental state. Kiddo's really just falling into despair. I'm hoping this'll be a red flag for her teammates to start trying to help her a bit more aggressively.

Little is certainly more useful this episode than the last, although that isn’t saying much. Love the way this mouse just saw a Thing Friend Ruby Wanted and decided to steal it without a second thought. Congratulations, Little, you're no longer emergency rations. I'm warning you, though, you're on thin ice.

At least Yang got her arm back. I love the way she’s found a new and exciting way to shoot people. Love that cocky smirk on her face when she blasts the toy soldier guy.

The different exits were funny honestly and full of personality. Weiss’s is my favorite tbh. Work it, queen. The thing pretending to be Blake, meanwhile, just looks ridiculous.

Ruby seeing Penny’s sword and having an emotional response is nice, hope this carries on throughout the Volume.

Okay we're done with this plotline now, so let's talk about the way the writers named a peddler who steals from people and cheats his customers and travels around in a wagon something that sounds remarkably similar to a... certain slur. Ever since Kdin and a number of other Rooster Teeth employees revealed the depth of the bigotry permeating that company's corporate culture, I have been approaching every piece of Rooster Teeth-produced media I encounter with my hackles up like my dog when she smells a coyote, alert for any sign of this company's characteristic malice. Between that and Rooster Teeth's well-established pattern of using coded slurs to disguise their bigotry, as well as the fact that Rooster Teeth is a dudebro company that built its brand by punching down at groups that couldn't defend themselves, I'm not inclined to assume that any similarities between Jinxy's portrayal and negative Romani stereotypes is coincidental.

Well, at least Yang had fun. Still hate the arm jokes here but at least it feels more appropriate if she’s the one making them. Never been fond of the way the show likes using Yang's status as an amputee for humor, honestly, especially since, as I just said a moment ago, Rooster Teeth established itself via making jokes at the expense of minorities/marginalized groups for the amusement of mostly-white mostly-straight mostly-gamer-dudes. If the show and the people and company behind it had more credibility with me, I'd be more readily able to accept that Yang is just the kind of person that can laugh at her own disability and that these jokes were a way of showing her strength and irrepressible bright sunny cheerfulness, but with all that context, it feels more like the writers are doing more of what Rooster Teeth has always done and mocking a vulnerable target group like the bullies the people in charge of this company are and always have been.

“We’re ruining everything” It deserves to be ruined, Thing That Was Once Blake. This setting sucks. Ruin it all you want. You cannot possibly make it worse.

Once again Yang keys in on Ruby’s distress before anyone else does. Bad sister lmao

I agree with you Weiss, I too would like out of this nightmare

Weiss is fighting Yang for Best Girl slot. She hates this bullshit as much as I do. Now if only the show would stop using her as the butt of stupid jokes. Like can we please not try to make her the comic relief and the person most affected by the fall of Atlas? Once again RWBY tries to have its cake and eat it too by trying to force a situation that should be serious to also be amusing.

I will admit the Family Weiss Death Pose is funny though.

Okay so the storms key in on emotions, and possibly Ruby’s specifically. That’s cool.

Fuck the toy soldiers but that was actually a really touching speech in Penny’s honor. I’m assuming that Ruby’s doing her guile hero bit to get to the Red King and isn’t really planning on immediately giving up her last keepsake of Penny’s.

Honestly just let Yang go apeshit on their asses, nothing about this stupid godawful setting deserves any better treatment

Ooh, that last line… That made an impact on the gang. The cracks in Ruby’s mental state are starting to show. Hopefully WBY will reach out to her soon.

Ruby sounds like she’s about to cry every time she talks this Volume. Really sells the way she’s not in a good spot right now. Here’s hoping her teammates will pick up on that, but I guess they’re too busy flirting, joking about Yang’s status as an amputee, and being the butt of visual gags.

Overall rating: FETID DOGSHIT/10

This episode is in serious contention for worst RWBY episode ever produced, or at least my least favorite. Amazing how the writers can turn out a product this bad a decade in. I want to run MKEK over with a Peterbilt.

Anyway RIP to Blake Belladonna (2013-2023), the first casualty of this Volume.

#rwby

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yourwolfmuzzle · 1 year

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You know, im not going to be this kinda guy who “oh i know everything and i know how to do better” when it comes to the White Fangs and faunus stuff that going on in this series. I dont think i know how to fix this or rewrite this...race parallel story and i will not sit there and lie to people or most importantly to myself that i know better in this topic. And frankly, MK openly already admit that they themselves dont think that they doing great job (but im not sure that say shit like “oh we was young and we both just white dudes” will...make this situation better? Like...im white af and pretty far away from knowing american history or black culture history, but if i really want to write parallel between my fantasy race and some real situations and\or movements from real life - i first will at least spend more that hour to think about this and read history about this?).

Why i write this post? Seeing those post about “Yang buying the best tuna for Blake :)”, how fans treat sometime this topic (faunus specifically) or how this everything was written in the show - started with how Yang trying to get Blake attention in vol2, treating her like literally a cat and portrait this as a joke moment, stuff from chibi R/WBY, “oh she dont like dogs”, Marrow WHOLE character (love him, but he just “dog joke”) or how “faunus dont like when people call them just animals” transform into “blake, you can be human or just a cat”, jokes like “ask a cat to another cat” or how one of the compliments from Yang was “you have a cute cat ear” (OFFTOPIC - I still cannot believe that this was one of the things in confession scene...you telling me that those two never talk about what they like in each other and so basic stuff like “cute ears” even when they was a friends? Fucking really? Not even as a non romantic thing? If yes then HOW DE FUCK THEY EVEN DATING NOW???) - i wish there was never parallels with black history.

This is not i dont want to see stories like this or parallels like this. I love sometime read rewrites about this topics. I just wish its never was a thing in the show because from what i can see a lot of fans of this show have more interest in “cute animals interactions” that on analysing how bad this whole faunus and White Fang story was written. Not even that but the writers and directors not even have that much interest in this outside of “make one group look evil and do evil stuff”. From what i can see, most of the time people who have interest in this or try to work with this topic is people who think that “this topic was written without any nuance/accidentally (or not) extremely racist and i want to do rewrite about this” or to just make this into “omg Yang can be ally for Blake and she can support her and” and this all just transform into this one scene, when Weiss just drop some racist guy into trashcan. Just to make people who is not faunus look good in this picture and save sad small Blake(9((( (we all collectively will forget that she was in White Fang since childhood and was pretty good enough to fight with people like this but oh boi now she need help from people to deal with this).

And listen, i get it. A lot of people love cute animals or characters with animals traits. Im a cats owner and love dogs a lot, even if i cant have one. I have a characters with animal traits myself and im werewolf fan. People transforming into animals and who can have some kinda activity with all this? Oh hell yeah, give me more. We love cute cat girls and bois and everyone inbetween. This fandom is also LOVE stuff like this and the writers are no different either

But...its cant just work like this, when literally From Shadow, song that was in trailers, that we know before we even got first chapter of this series, tell us stuff like this:

Treated like a worthless animal, Stripped of all rights, Just a lesser being, Crushed by cruel, ruthless Human rule

I cant just sit there and be like “omg cute Blake omg she a cat girl uwu” when before volume 9 calling someone just by they animal traits was equals to just dropping racial slur. Imagine volume 1-2 and someone call Blake literally a cat? She would just “destroy” this person on the spot and most likely this person deserved it.

And you cant just...drop this idea and be like “its never was about racial discrimination.” You cant just sit on two chairs at the same time and tell us that Blake soo easy about people calling her just a cat or her calling herself just a cat person with just cat ears when for 8 volumes its was about “dont treat us like we just animals”. You cant. You ether can continue this race parallel further, but having studied this topic better even with all the mistakes that was already done or try somehow find the ways to rewrite what you already have done at least for a little bit, or just...at least dont fucking touch this whole “ahah cute ears and tails” stuff and pretend that there are no problems.

#rwde

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kitkatopinions · 1 year

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Do you ever feel like the emblems are a bit not thought through?

Like, these are generally like signatures, right? How do you reproduce them? Do you use them to sign official documents? Do you use stamps to create them, or do you draw it with pens and such? Are they just a personal decal for outfit design? What purpose do they actually have? Why do some of them have real world symbols (like Arslan and Neo) which don’t relate to them as characters? Why are some of them so overly complicated? Does someone like Sage have the time to painstakingly draw each wing and feather everytime he has to use his emblem? If Weiss is supposed to recreate her identity free from the SDC now that she isn’t the heiress (or so I assume), then why does she still have the SDC logo as her emblem? Why not just make Sun’s emblem a sun, or look like a sun? If Raven hates Ozpin now and has stopped being part of the Inner Circle then why does she still have a cog wheel in her emblem? Emblems just feel like yet another cool concept that has only surface level planning.

Here's my working theory: The people who originally made RWBY were playing Super Smash Bros, and decided they liked the little logos that would appear based on what games people were from, and they were like 'we want that for the new show we're working on, but like one for each character' and then just like the color naming rule and every weapon having a name, it just was harder to execute than they thought it'd be and they're so bad at putting that sort of thing into their worldbuilding that it really wound up failing.

Like you said, some of it makes no sense. How would they all be original? Are you assigned an emblem or do you make your own? Are you allowed to change it on a whim or is it like a name where you have to get it changed legally? And why is it that some people don't have their emblems on their clothes and other people do? See, a part of me thinks 'it's just fashion, it's like putting your first initial on your clothes,' but some of the emblems really make absolutely no sense at all. It's offensive to treat Faunus like nothing more than the animal they have traits of, so why is Sun's emblem literally just a monkey? If he made the emblem himself, why? And if it was chosen for him, wouldn't that be angering and upsetting? Why is Mercury's emblem a winged foot in the context of the world itself? Because obviously the Doylist reason is that he's meant to be Mercury/Hermes and the emblem is (outside of his name) the only thing that really connects him to his allusion, but the Watsonian reason is what?

Cinder's mark seems completely attached to being a Maiden and only appears when she steals power from Amber.

Why doesn't this exist for any other Maiden? What was her mark before this? Is it possible that this idea of emblems for everyone came from Maidens in universe? Why do Maidens get marks like this? What is this?

Here's a couple of other things: Several emblems are based on weapons, so.... Who did that? Because that means if Hunters ever decide to switch out their weapons, their emblems just look stupid. If Pyrrha ever decided she wanted to wield swords she'd have to change her emblem, do you know how annoying that'd be? And like, Ren's symbol might be important to him because of the connection to his family home and meanwhile Emerald's symbol is just a reference to her name and Penny's symbol is just her weapon, no real connection to them personally. Jaune must be bummed to just have two curved lines that every other person in his family also has. And Weiss really is super comfortable with having the brand of her billionaire family with a wide history of horrible deeds be her thing too, which is in line with her 'but I'd be a good billionaire, the only bad thing about this company is my dad' characterization, but is still incredibly annoying to me. And you're completely right about Raven, it doesn't make sense for her emblem to be the same as Qrow's but flipped and a different color, when the cogs in their emblems are a clear reference to Ozpin. And when did they get that emblem? Obviously after they joined Beacon, so what was their emblem before that and why didn't Raven go back to it after she left Ozpin?

I like the idea of some characters having emblems as just little extra designs, but why does Neon Katt need an official symbol when as far as I know it isn't even on her outfit? Why does Sun need an official emblem? It's just stupid, it's like the naming every weapon all over again. When it works, great, but they try so hard to force these things like they're trying to be original and it never actually fits in with the world building (or lack thereof) very well.

I will say that I like Roman Torchwick's emblem though. It seems very much like him to put a jack o' lantern face on things.

#rwde #nitpick november #rwde nitpicks

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kob131 · 2 years

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Fucking hell, someone wrote a hitpiece on Ice queendom, calling Weiss Schnee the fictional embodiment of White Supremacy (not RWBY proper, RWBY Ice Queendom). Will send if you're drunk enough to rip it a new one.

RWBY: Ice Queendom’s Weiss Schnee Embodies White Supremacy (cbr.com)

Do not click the link. Not because this is virus filled nor gore filled nor am I begging for you to not fact check me-

But because you'll be giving them money.

Another main character who is determined to become a Huntress is Weiss Schnee, the wealthy daughter of Jacques Schnee and heiress of the highly profitable Schnee Dust Company. To accomplish this life goal, Weiss enrolls in the Beacon Academy and is placed in a group with Ruby, Yang and Blake after she successfully survives her entrance exam. Despite Weiss wanting to forge her own path in life as opposed to being bound to her family legacy, she quickly proves to be an unpleasant person to her teammates and many other people at her school. While there's no question Weiss is a highly skilled fighter, her narcissism is the worst thing about her, as it is shaped by white supremacy.

Okay so first off- There is no races in Remnant. There are humans and there are Fanaus, who are basically a different species. Yes people have different skin tones but no one cares about that and they can come from any Kingdom or location. So 'white supremacy' doesn't even fit.

Second- Weiss very much DOES want to follow her family legacy. Ice Queendom STILL exists with the context of the original series which showed that Weiss' family was originally a good and well meaning group with her maternal grandfather Nicolas, only recently turning sour with Jacques taking over. Which parallels the WF with Blake, Ghira and Adam/Sienna. Kind of an important detail.

Throughout RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 1, audience members are shown the highly privileged world Weiss is born into. One thing that stands out right away is how much her lifestyle resembles that of a European elite from the 18th century. Apart from living in a large, luxurious mansion that's accessible to no one outside their circle, it's also established that the Schnee family amassed their wealth by hoarding the world's most valuable resource and profiting from it. This alone is indicative of a history of exploitation colonialism -- a major hallmark of imperialism, which also comes from a place of white supremacy.

Yes, a European elite...which includes all of the life and death fights and famlial abuse one could ever ask for.

Yeah uh, for the like 0.2 people reading this that don't know this- Weiss had to fight a rigged battle against a deadly Grimm to go to Beacon and not Atlas, which would keep her under her father's direct thumb. She has also been shown to be used and ignored by her father, up to and including financial abuse through cutting her off when she didn't talk to him and using her for a PR stunt despite her clear discomfort and after a DEEPLY TRAMUATIC EVENT.

Also- the Schnee Dust Company doesn't hoard shit. They MINE and REFINE Dust. Are they predatory and drive out competition? Yes but that is not HOARDING.

Further building on the theme of exploitation colonialism is how the Schnee family exploits the labor of a vulnerable population known as the Faunus. Although they resemble human beings, they have some animal-like traits that cause the Schnees to abuse them like animals. This is no different from the way real-life white European settlers exploited and abused Black and Indigenous people through slave labor. Within the context of Remnant, the Schnees' abuse and exploitation of the Faunus is what led to the radicalization of some group members known as the White Fang, who fight for their liberation by hurting the Schnees' profits.

No, it's more similar to Jim Crow laws in that Atlas society still looks down on Fanaus so they don't get as many rights. The Schnees don't OWN them, they are just used like it. Not to mention the SCHNEES don’t do it- JACQUES SCHNEE does. Willow, Whitely and Winter never abuse any Fanaus in the show and Weiss does the OPPOSITE. But hey, nuance written by two drunk guys is just too much to handle eh?

Also, the WF isn't focused on cutting into the SDC's profits- That is never once stated. And in the show, it’s clear it’s just basic retaliation for their business practices. Which even Weiss doesn’t agree with.

The family's abusive treatment of the Faunus and other groups is further reflected in Weiss' own treatment of her classmates at the Beacon Academy. On her way to the school entrance exam, where she has to work alongside another classmate to fight her way through a forest and collect an artifact, Weiss is seen talking over lower-class students commenting unfavorably on her family. When they especially discuss the Schnees' exploitation of their workers, Weiss' bigoted views of the lower classes and Faunus really come through, and tends to categorize people in extremely black-and-white terms: groups of people are either all good or all bad.

...Did you break into my grandpa’s stash or something?

Weiss only ever talks down to Ruby and Jaune. With Ruby, it was because she was acting immature and not taking things seriously. With Jaune it’s because...he’s Jaune. Everyone shits on Jaune. His own voice actor shits on him. That’s just who Jaune is.

None of this has ANYTHING to do with them being class or status or...whatever! It has to do with Weiss being a stereotypical spoiled princess archetype.

Oh and Weiss only ever judged the Fanaus...who she was only exposed to through the terroristic White Fang. She never claims humans are better so not only is the ‘white’ in white supremacy dead here- so is the SUPREMACY PART.

Another major hallmark of Weiss' white supremacist upbringing is her tendency to subscribe to her own exceptionalism, which blinds her to the reality of her place as an oppressor with unearned privileges among disenfranchised people. This is mostly notable through her tendency to disregard other people's rules so that she always gets her way. Her first attempt at "bending" the rules in her favor came in the form of trying to recruit Pyrrha into her group for the entrance exam, even though the rules explicitly stated she had to team up with the first person she encountered in the forest.

It. Was. A. JOKE.

Look, I know that they’re talking about Weiss in Ice Queendom so it seems that I shouldn’t be judging them based on the original show...but Ice Queendom wasn’t made to exist in a vaccum. Judging from how it cut certain parts of the show- It’s made to exist ALONGSIDE the original, not as a replacement. That’s why it can get away with cutting JNPR’s scenes- it’s not meant to replace the original but be a side story focused on Team RWBY. It’s also why they have so much focus on iconic scenes from Volume 1- Fanservice.

You need the context of the original to be primed for Ice Queendom. But this article seems to be completely IGNORANT of the original. So they keep fucking up.

Oh and P.S. Blake, that disenfranchised person, had a loving father and mother. Something Weiss never had. ... Really shows you how this oppression bullshit can fall apart huh?

Weiss' reasoning for wanting Pyrrha in her group is the same reason she rejects offers from other students like Jaune Arc; she perceives Pyrrha to be of a superior human race, whereas she thinks of Jaune as being in a class beneath her. Although Pyrrha acts coolly around Weiss to maintain group harmony, it's clear she's not impressed with her narcissism and avoids her in the forest when the entrance exam starts. When it becomes clear to Weiss that she isn't going to get her way, she paints herself as the victim and blames other people for her own actions.

Please...go back to claiming Jaune is a misogynyist. Because we found something even dumber than ‘Jaune Arc is wish fulfillment power fantasy’.

Weiss' final attempt to get her way comes after the entrance exam, when she is placed in a group with Ruby, Yang and Blake, with Ruby appointed as leader. Since Weiss cannot fathom being instructed by a student she considers beneath her, she tries to get the school headmaster to reverse his decision and appoint her as leader, believing she is better qualified for the role due to her hard work and social standing. To her surprise, however, the school headmaster states that her very narcissism makes her a poor candidate for leadership.

...

... You didn’t even watch Ice Queendom did you?!

For the role of leader, the school headmaster needs a student who can work with each team member unbiasedly. It is for this reason that Ruby was chosen to be her group's leader and not Weiss. It finally becomes clear to Weiss that if she's going to stand a chance at Beacon Academy, she needs to unlearn her white supremacist thinking and work on being a better person.

White people don’t exist in Remnant.

It was never said directly WHY Ozpin choose Ruby in EITHER version.

Port was calling her out for acting entitled.

Ruby and Weiss are both humans.

Port is NOT THE FUCKING HEADMASTER.

Weiss never speaks about people’s class in the show.

She also never ascertains that humans or herself are better.-

The one line in the whole article that was right was ‘work on being a better person’. And congrats- you understand what CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT is.

1/100 is still an F.

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ironwoodprotectionsquad · 3 years

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Penny being trans + autistic coded made me resonate with her as I am nonbinary and autistic myself. Her being a robot felt like me when I have to hide my neurodivergent traits. Her getting confirmation that she wasn't just a robot/machine but a real girl felt so validating. I don't have to look like everyone else to still be considered "real".

Ironwood's semblance being literal hyperfixiation, something I've dealt with since I have ADHD + autism would have made me feel better about myself. This is a man who, despite everything: his PTSD, being an amputee, still was a kind-hearted man. This is something rarely seen in media. I was happy.

Then they fucked up both Penny and Ironwood in ways that struck me. Penny is hacked into and forced to comply with basically forced suicide- she was to open the vault, then self-destruct.

Ironwood, oh dear god. They couldn't wait to fuck him over. He was so HAPPY to see team RWBYJNROQ. He told them everything about his plan, trusting them with literal GOVERNMENT secrets, giving them a place to stay, FREE weapon upgrades (Atlas is known for its advanced technology), hell even gave them their HUNTRESS LICENSES THREE-ISH YEARS EARLY (which Ruby later uses as a credibility source in her broadcast, which was eerily similar to Cinder's in Volume 3, when she says IRONWOOD CANNOT BE TRUSTED.)

Not to mention that she conveniently forgot she was calling for help from OTHER KINGDOMS. OF COURSE they wouldn't arrive soon enough. And no one had reason to trust her. She's a nobody. She was at the Vytal Festival and her team made it all the way to the singles? Cool. Ruby wasn't the final fighter, hell after the 4 vs 4 match she didn't compete further.

Blake would have obviously been a bad choice: she's a faunus and if anyone knows about the White Fang, they might recognize her.

Yang is more known than Ruby, but the world saw her kick an unarmed teen in the finals round. She doesn't have too good a reputation.

Weiss? She's well known as the Heiress, but also her singing. Having her give the speech is a mixed bag: on one hand, she's a recognizable face. On the other, that's a problem. Her father, the CEO of the SDC, is known for his cruelty. Blake said it herself way back in Volume 1: questionable business practices and partners.

So... How about no broadcast at all? What did her broadcast accomplish?

Nothing. Help didn't arrive and likely caused more panic. Plus, people still had a negative view of Atlas, as the last thing the world saw was Atlesian soldiers turning against civilians.

The last broadcast was before Beacon fell. So likely another hacker giving a message would be met with fear.

And what attracts Grimm? Negativity.

Ruby's broadcast could have been a DEATH SENTENCE to so many. But no, this is treated as the... Right course of action?

Ruby and co. hates Ironwood's plan, yet it's clear they don't have one. RWB spends a lot of time moping around the manor drinking tea. Team YOJR (Yang, Oscar, Jaune and Ren) actually DO SOMETHING. Oscar gets kidnapped and they chase after him. Ren rightfully points out that NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE DOING THIS. But that goes against the Hivemind™, so he must apologize and agree to whatever the fuck Ruby decides to do.

Which is NOTHING! RWBY didn't even take down the hound: WILLOW and WHITLEY did. A drunk woman and an unarmed teen defeated it.

Oscar is the one who blows up the whale (with his time bomb? huh??)

Ruby whines that it's all too much, cries on a staircase while her sister (remember that Ruby and Yang are related????) comforts her. The scene has no emotional depth because the two barely interact anymore.

OH GOD AND WHEN YANG TAKES A HIT FROM NEO THAT WAS MEANT FOR RUBY IT TAKES HER OUT COMPLETELY. AURA? GONE. HELL, SHE'S EVEN UNCONSCIOUS. I swear it's like the animation budget could only afford to have ONE character react, and it's Blake "sad kitty face" Belladonna. Not Ruby, who is her sister. WHO HAS A SPEED SEMBLANCE. But no, they just watch her fall, not knowing if she's alive.

Ruby has more of a reaction to CRESCENT ROSE, HER FUCKING WEAPON falling.

Which is retconned so hard in the Vol 9 trailer, where she tells Neo "I hope it was worth it" before falling into the void. Huh??

Anyways I'm rambling again but I am so angry!

-🎼

Never, ever, EVER apologize for rambling. I LOVE hearing peoples thoughts and sometimes it's a really nice feeling to let out your frustrations and anger towards something that has caused you harm and it really REALLY sounds like this caused you a lot of harm and so I do not blame you one bit for being hurt and angry. I should apologize for this taking so long. This was a lot and I needed to sort my thoughts and even so I probably missed some points so I also apologize for that.

Penny and Ironwoods biggest mistake was trusting and being kind to RWBY. They lied and betrayed James and treated him like garbage even though he showed them nothing but kindness and did whatever he could to help them and listened to them. Penny was told what to do and think far more so then James ever supposedly did. Ruby decided to give her a new body, decided she didn't like how James was treating her and that she thought James was a bad person, and decided that Penny was better off with them. Penny stopped being able to make her own decisions once she started hanging out with RWBY and co.

Really though what did they all think was going to happen when they sent out a message that matched beat to bear a lot of what Cinder said before Atlas fell? Did she think about the panic that would cause? Did she forget she was worried about Ironwood telling everyone back in Volume 7 because of the panic it would cause everyone??? Did that just conveniently slip her mind?

I honestly think Weiss would have been the best choice to give the broadcast of them all but I don't think they should have sent out the broadcast in the first place. It should realistically only cause panic and death but the narrative is gonna yadda yadda right past all of that.

Oh god yea RWBY and co complain and whine and scream that Ironwoods plan is bad whilst offering up no alternatives then just taking his plan and acting like it was theirs the whole time. They even did this in Volume 7 when in episode 2 they where worried about James telling Atlas about Salem and then turning around and acting all happy and shocked when James told everyone near the end of the season as if they wanted him to the whole time and not the other way around.

Man RWBY really did jack shit all volume huh? As you said all the major things side characters did: Fight James TWICE: Winter, Emerald, and JNRO.

Try and rescue Oscar: JRY

Blow up the Whale: Oscar

"Redeem" Hazel and Emerald: Again Oscar

Defeat the hound: Whitley and Willow

Launch the tower: Penny

Help defend Mantel against the swarm of Grimm: FNKI and the soldiers that all died trying to buy Ruby time while she cries in a mansion.

Like what does this girl do to help any of the people SHE trapped???

Oh god Ren, poor Ren, he's finally seeing the light but he can't stray from the Hivemind so he needs to get back in, we can't question the pure and perfect Ruby her plans are always right even if it causes Salem to get two relics and destroys the only kingdom with an army or the technology to restore global communications in the process.

Yea you're right like CRWBY can make excuses all day for why Ruby didn't react to Yang falling and MAYBE I can buy her not using her Semblance because she's in shock but not crying or reacting at ALL to her supposed death?? Why does her weapon get a more emotional response then her SISTER? Why is only BLAKE allowed to be sad about Yang supposedly dying? Why does fucking WINTER have more of a reaction to her sister dying?

Why are all the people we are supposed to be rooting for so fucking unlikeable???

#RWDE #Pro Ironwood #James Ironwood #RWBY Bashing #Pro James Ironwood #ironwood Protection Squad #penny polendina #Sorry for MY rambling #and more rambling to come most likely

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toysoldiers-rwby · 3 years

Text

[CS] 8. Nastalgia (May’s POV)

Cutting Strings

Characters: May Marigold, Penny Polendina, Aurora Glade, Winter Schnee Word Count: 1.7k

Penny reminded her of the days before graduation before things got complicated. She was curious and optimistic. Enjoying the smallest wonders that people take for granted. May could understand Winter’s desire to protect her. No matter how the soldier tries to hide it, she could see Winter yearning for more.

So May tried to slow down her heart as Penny’s hands drifted down her arm and into her own. That steady grasp keeping her grounded as she pulled May into another section the celebrities had wandered too.

Read on Ao3

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May was sure she was going to die. Not in a glorious fight trying to protect her friends but in a pathetic excuse of a job fair. On Atlas Military grounds. Surrounded by people.

With a soft hand with a steady iron grip and pressure always on her.

The game of find-the-disguised-celebrities was now also a game of don’t-crush-on-your-bestfriend’s-crush. It was hard not to. Penny was practically a gift from the Goddess and Brothers. The years after graduation wasn’t kind to her… friendship with Winter and Aro. May hadn’t talked to Winter in nearly a year. Aro could get obsessive over her work for months at a time and when she wasn’t busy she was a manipulative bitch.

But Penny’s grip tethered her. With eyes alive with entertainment and joy but a voice so curious it was nearly innocent. “Why do you keep staring at them?” Penny asked, in a slow way that was not innocent.

May swallowed and looked away only to be tugged again. Of course her eyes had landed on Winter. Of course the taller women would see her above the crowd. Of course her best-friend and crush would smirk. Blue eyes shining with-

Penny pouted. It was a quiet but sharp hum in frustration. There was a tight squeeze around May’s hand and a gentle tug. May’s nerves escaped in a weak laugh. Her mind kept trying to focus on the fight. It followed her heart down, down, falling into the endless cycle of Penny’s calm and steady hand. Her eyes kept wandering to the pair.

The years wasn’t kind. Business and work may have drifted them apart but it was so easy to fall back into what their hearts wanted.

“They look good together!” her voice squeaked out. She could feel Winter’s amused stare on her face. It was hot and totally not from May’s flush.

“Yes, their appearance does complement each other very well.” Penny said. No intimidating horns or militant uniform. Out of their usual attire they look… softer. May’s eyes wandered up from their cleavage. They looked back at the celebrities to find them both staring back. “But if we keep staring we’ll give them away…”

More than once Elm or Marrow was close to them. Both times they threw them with some casual PDA. First it was an arms linked together. Elm quickly looked elsewhere for the Ice Queen. Marrow wasn’t tricked so easily. Out of all of the Ace-Ops he spent the most time goofing off with May and Fiona before graduation.

By extension that meant Aro and Winter. He knew how affectionate Aro can be and how patient Winter really is towards the people she cared about. But to Marrow they were just friends. So when Winter slid her hand down Aro’s back and to her waist, Marrow wandered off. He didn’t see that hand continued lower. A brief pause on Aro’s wide hips. The Schnee staring at May.

Then down to Penny.

“Oh.” May breathed out.

Lips so close to those scarred Faunus ears it was nearly brushing. With a stoic stare she stole their breath. From the distance May and Penny could see the Faunus tremble as the hand continued, moving lower, around and sliding deep into her pocket.

“Oh.” Penny breathed in.

May quickly looked down. Penny had a… bond with Aro. It was an instant chemistry and she didn’t want Penny to feel like Winter was stealing it but… The young huntress-in-training didn’t seem disturbed. Surprised but also enthralled. There was more than a curious learning.

“Times up.” Ciel announced behind them. The two nearly screamed and jumped. Ciel frowned but Xanthic work a smug grin and raised brow.

Like always the genius knew exactly what May was thinking. She’s know her fist would be in that face if it wasn’t for the crowd. Or the butterflies that floated her up to cloud nine. Or the nervous ginger who slowly let go of her hand.

They moved into a less crowded area, away from all the fancy fights or weapon displays. Of course during a job fair the game booths would practically be empty. Fiona scrolled through the chat, showing Xanthic the pictures the Ace-Ops had submitted.

“Huh. There’s actually a lot of people with white and green hair.”

“Right?” Fiona giggled. “Was Vine even trying? We were nowhere near that area.”

May watched them. Her eyes occasionally drifting to Penny and each time she could feel herself falling. Did she know she was like a storm? Alive, changing everything and everyone around her? Graduation wasn’t kind to any of them and it tested bonds nearly to the breaking point. Even Fiona and Robyn had their rough moments but May and Winter…

Everyone had a crush on Winter at some point. As family rivals it was just harder for May to accept, as teammates it was harder for May to get over. The feeling came like waves, surging forward and leaping over walls when the season was right. Retreating far, far into the distance when it wasn’t. For long periods of time.

Like a year.

Penny finally looked at her and smiled. May couldn’t help but return it. Again those soft hands and steady grip was on her. Pulling her from the table and too a game with stuff animals. One of them just happened to be a fluffy goat.

“Would… would it be insulting if give this to Aro?”

“Nah, she’s weird.” May said with a shrug. Fiona and Marrow would glare at her with the animal puns. “Aro loves it when people reference her animal traits, embraces it and owns it y’know?” May said hands moving to show Aro’s sign name. It was still recognizable to hearing people, with how the fingers drew Aro’s usual vertical horns. The nice subtle May liked about it was that you do it with the ‘G’ sign, for gold.

Penny nodded then focused on the game. May watched, arms crossed. At times she was envious of Penny. A cute girl rolls in and suddenly Aro wants to change, suddenly Winter has all the time in the world. May knew that wasn’t true, nothing was ever that simple with the Military and definitely with Aurora Glade-

“Boo!”

“Aaagh!” May screamed, elbow flying back and hitting something hard. Something with glasses and ears pointing low. Someone with sea green and sincere eyes… and a bleeding nose. “Shit. A-Aro I’m so sorry.”

“I’m fine.” Aro tried to touch her nose but Winter’s hand was quickly on her and pushing it down. With a tired glance at May she gently convinced Aro to look up at her. It was a nonverbal cue. Not sign language but fingers… gently on her chin.

May tried not to let her heart race. She held her breath but it was already stolen. May could feel herself fall a little further, a little harder. Aro looked weak and helpless, ears fluttering as a blush spread across her cheeks and down to her neck. Further down to her chest…

May was sure she was going to die. Watching her childhood crush gentle handle her other crush in outfits May loved. The kind that dips a little too low. The ones that hug Winter’s slim waist and sleeveless shirts that still strain with Aro’s muscles. Old instincts kept trying to get closer look but she was stilled by Winter’s commanding eyes.

“Aro. Turn on your Aura.”

Her eyes flashed a glowing blue. Her Aura flickered but never really coated her body.

"Perhaps it would help if you breathed, Aurora." Penny said. May tensed up so much she shivered a little. Her chest was so tight it was difficult to take in any air. She had forgotten they were right next to the booth Penny was playing. To enchanted by Winter’s spell of Aro, now she was falling under Penny’s voice. It was innocent and smooth tone was too controlled.

Aro whimpered, ears fluttering as she tried to gasp for breath. Her Aura rushed across her body and Winter quickly wiped away the blood on trickling down her nose and onto her lips with a handkerchief and balled it in her hand to hide it.

Satisfied she let Aro go and the Faunus rushed to May. Old instincts of hiding from the Schnee kicking in, only this time arms wrapped around her waist and her face nuzzled into her back.

“They’re being mean!” The mechanic said into May’s coat.

“Judging from your heartrate and lack of combat response,” Penny paused, playful steps stopping at Winter’s side. In her arms was that stuff animal she wanted. “You enjoyed it.” Aro peeked around with a pathetic show of teeth and a growl that was more like a whine. Penny smiled. Just because it was cute and bright didn’t mean it was innocent. Even when she offered the stuff animal, “If I give this to you are you going to hide behind it?”

Aro nodded.

“Hm… Then I’ll give you your gift later! Your current expressions and behavior is quite enjoyable!”

Aro buried her face into May’s back again. May was trying to remember how to breath, eyes daring everywhere but always returning to Winter’s smug and amused face. The contrast between her and Penny was making her dizzy.

Maybe…

May took a breath and manage to coax Aro onto her arm instead. She still blushed furiously, so spell bound she didn’t fight when Penny fixed played with her fluttering ears and fixed her glasses. Winter relaxed, giving her a genuine smile and a playful raised brow.

Maybe falling this time wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe she’ll actually live to see where this goes.

#Penny Polendina #fic #cutting strings #pre-fall of beacon #may marigold #winter schnee #aurora glade #pfenning #qued

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warsmith-38 · 3 years

Text

How I would do RWBY pt. 5

Season Five.

Lingering drama amongst teams despite stable exterior.

Everyone’s a little wary of Blake on account of her cutting and running on them a couple seasons ago.

Everyone’s a little wary of Ruby and her insane berserker moment against Cinder.

Everyone’s a little wary of Yang and her being a bit of a dick recently.

Everyone’s a little wary of Weiss being a little emotionally fragile at this whole experience.

JNR is wary in general on the grounds that they didn’t sign up for this level of shit.

Everyone’s a little frazzled in general on account of recent events.

Qrow is giving them the rundown on Salem and Ozpin as far as he’s aware.

Says that they’re ancient demi-gods that have been fighting each other since before history.

He only knows so much because Ozpin is pretty tightlipped about his past and only gives certain individuals certain amounts of information.

Speaking of, Ozpin is there to greet them at Haven.

And teams CFVY and SSSN, leading to a happy reunion.

Haven headmaster is indisposed and can’t be present. (He’s on the phone with Salem)

Ozpin gives the skinny on what they know of Salem’s plan.

The exact plan still eludes them.

What they do know is that she has the remnants of the White Fang that follow Adam with the greater White Fang being uninvolved, a loose cabal of personal agents here and there, and literally countless grimm to bring to bear.

Easy odds, as far as they’re concerned.

They also tell him that Cinder has been beaten.

He doesn’t really care, seeing her as just another dime a dozen assassin.

He happier about Tyrian (Salem’s only truly competent assassin) being dead than anything about Cinder.

Ruby is quick to also say that being dropped down a pit doesn’t necessarily mean Cinder’s dead and if she shows up she gets first dibs.

Speaking of, Cinder is quite alive.

She is quickly found by Emerald and Mercury.

Cinder is wounded, but still powerful enough to kill the both of them should they piss her off.

Brief recovery period.

Discover that Salem isn’t returning her calls.

Salem’s decided that she’s gotten all she can out of Cinder and that she’s not worth further investment.

She can find another urchin, creep, or psycho to mold.

Brief moment of heartbreak is capped off with new plan to regain Salem’s favor.

Emerald and Mercury try to offer other options but eventually agree to come along because they have fuck all for other opportunities.

Get to Mistral and seek help of local crime boss for passage to Atlas to go about evil business there.

Crime boss restrains Emerald and Mercury.

Reveals that Neo already purchased their services.

Neo is angry at Cinder. Blames her for Roman’s death.

Cinder and Neo fight, Cinder wins, and shifts the blame of Roman to Ruby.

Neo acquiesces and teams up with Cinder and co. for revenge on Ruby. (Team CEMN for the win)

First act of new team is to kill local crime boss for trying to dupe 3/4 of them and steal their shit.

Neo just shrugs. No honor among thieves. They overcharged her anyway.

Set off for Atlas to cause problems on purpose to regain Salem’s attention.

RWBY + JNR take a well-earned moment of respite.

Catch up with CFVY and SSSN, fill them in on what’s been happening.

Ruby tries to bridge gaps by returning to being the designated weapon repairwoman.

Grills everyone for not taking better care of their shit.

Because how hard is it to do basic maintenance people?

Given downtime is able to upgrade Jaune’s sword + shield.

Sword has cooler design and shield can produce bubble shield effect now.

Ozpin takes RWBY and JNR aside to ask them to join his inner council.

He would have done it earlier but he was waiting to see if Ruby’s second semblance would ever awaken.

When they agree he elaborates further on Qrow’s earlier explanation.

He’s a great big windbag so he just info dumps everything (that they need to know) on them at once.

Explains that he is opposing demi-god to Salem. A deity of order and building as opposed to destruction and chaos.

Explains that he and Salem were created from on the whims of an ancient god of creation to guide the free peoples of the world and keep them all safe and sound.

Creator god fucked off after making the two of them on the grounds that it is explicitly a creator god not god of anything else.

It made the world. Caring for it is somebody else’s problem.

He and Salem disagreed as to how best to help people.

Salem thought that growth through conflict was the way to go and Ozpin thought that being the guiding hand from behind the scenes would work the best.

It eventually devolved into just trying to kill the other for getting in the way of each other’s plans.

Salem’s goal is to remove Ozpin from the equation and let people build and thrive in the natural way with a disaster, war, or genocide or two every now and then to keep them on their toes.

She’s basically the big evil boogeyman of the world.

Ozpin’s goal is to remove Salem on the grounds that he feels that the best thing he can do to keep order is not to allow said disasters, wars, or genocides and keep people alive for his later plans.

Either can only be killed by direct action of the other.

They keep themselves separate and ideally safe from each other.

Salem has been trying to find workaround for this for ages.

Salem created the grimm as a means of keeping humanity on its toes, fed by negative emotion in an attempt of dissuading such feelings.

They failed both at that and as a means to permanently kill Ozpin, but she now had an army for the rest of her plans.

Ozpin responded by creating and seeding the world with dust, giving the people a means to fight against the darkness surrounding them.

He never puts himself in the direct spotlight of history. Always the vizier, never the king.

Dust also had the side effect of eventually irradiating humanity and giving them aura and, furthermore, semblances.

These newly powered people, when dead and buried, eventually fossilize into more dust.

Most dust mines are ancient burial grounds. Creepy ain’t it?

Ozpin tried to capitalize on his success and tried to create super-soldiers to use said dust, aura, and semblances to protect humanity by combining human and animal traits.

Yep, Ozpin created the ancient faunus.

That and racism is indirectly his fault too.

He made the original faunus to be overseers and guardians to humanity.

In essence, they were designed to be feudal warlords with extra animal abilities that secretly answered only to him and ruled humans with iron fists.

Resulting human rebellions happened and Ozpin used his creations as scapegoats, letting them take all the blame and quietly …quieting anyone who knew the truth.

And that’s where the racism first came from. It has long since changed and muddied, but that was the initial reason.

He words all of this nicer and glides over the parts that make him look bad.

Salem and Ozpin have been picking at each other like that for eons.

Fall of Beacon only happened to try and distract Ozpin long enough for the latest scheme to kill him to be tried.

Destroying his pet project school was just a bonus.

Suffice it to say that that particular plan failed its main objective but still caused everything to fall apart.

Salem is now officially persona non grata, if she wasn’t already, among those present to the explanation.

Adam is trying to get more support from Sienna.

He has a small band of hardliners (psychos) with him but wants more bodies for his plans.

Gives big speech about faunus supremacy and the like.

Sienna tells him to fuck off, points out that he’s just repeating platitudes and doesn’t really care about the cause.

Reiterates his excommunication, citing working with Torchwick and Salem (despite the fact that she was cool with it at the time) as well as getting an unignorably large amount of his own people killed.

Collateral damage only goes so far, even for terrorists.

Adam vs Sienna.

Sienna wins and Adam slinks away, defeated but alive.

Adam’s hardliners get some more members but nowhere near what he wanted.

He’ll have to make do.

Salem wants him to do as terrorists do across Mistral.

Adam suggest that since Fall of Beacon worked fairly well… second verse same as the first?

Salem puts the kibosh on that plan.

She wants people to learn and thrive in a semi-natural way, she doesn’t want to just wipe them all out.

She’s fine with a little culling now and then but too much killing and they’ll never recover right.

Has new plan to try and kill Ozpin.

Has resurrected Tyrian, making a faunus/grimm Frankenstein thingy that she can directly possess at will.

All she needs is an opportunity to infiltrate him into Mistral.

Adam’s job is to provide an exploitable distraction.

He’s okay with that.

Yang has argument with Blake about running off like a punk.

Blake says it won’t happen again.

Yang says once bitten twice shy.

Ruby talks to Blake about Raven and Tai and the abandonment issues Yang has as a result of them both.

Meeting Raven and realizing that she was just a piece of shit this whole time only made things worse.

Says that Blake leaving like she did didn’t help.

Ruby also admits that her own leaving probably wasn’t great either.

Ruby wants her to know that she has faith in her but Yang has always needed a little more than faith.

Weiss airs some grievances to Yang about her dickish behavior.

Yang apologizes for her churlishness and reassures Weiss that the team is still going to be together but she is still mad at Blake.

Weiss tries to help smooth things over further but is interrupted.

Ilia shows up, is met with gun barrels.

Says she was sent by Sienna to take care of Adam, avoiding getting slotted by everyone.

Is kept at arm’s length but if she’s helping then, sure fine whatever, she can help.

Coco, Yatsuhashi, Weiss, and Ren try to talk to Ruby about not going crazy the next time she sees Cinder.

The best they can do is get her to agree that being so out of control insane while fighting her might not be the best way to fight.

They try and say that that’s really not good enough.

Ruby changes the subject via some odd noises she hears.

Haven headmaster (Lionheart? I barely know, or give much of a shit about, canon at this point) is part of The Cabal and is giving regular reports to Salem.

How else could CEMN masquerade as Haven students?

Almost gets walked in on.

Cheeses it but leaves the grimm thing that lets him talk to Salem.

Ruby has brief conversation with Salem.

Salem tries to tempt her, says that Ozpin is an asshole that only wants to control people not help them.

Ruby calls her a bitch.

Cites that Salem ruined her life and got some of her friends killed for this crap, not to mention her fucking mother.

Salem is just listening, still stunned from the audacity of being called a bitch right to her face.

Ruby finishes off by saying that even if Ozpin is an asshole, better the devil you know.

She then kills the grimm.

People now know there’s a turncoat and the only absolute they have is that it’s not Ruby or Ozpin (duh).

Everyone walking on eggshells, not sure who the traitor is.

Accusations are thrown around.

Eventually, after some shouting, everyone comes to the conclusion that it’s also not WBY, JNR, CFVY, or Qrow.

Logic starts to work its magic.

Lionheart tries to calm everyone down, IE: distract everyone from the growingly obvious.

Adam is up to his old tricks.

Blake and Ilia notice and point it out.

Lionheart breathes a sigh of relief as RWBY and JNR mobilize to stop Adam.

Adam is just a distraction.

Tyrian is slipped into the city via some bribes and carefully placed murders.

Adam has placed bombs across the city and broadcasts to the city that they’re doomed.

The civilians start to panic and draw grimm.

Mistral defense force is now busy dealing with said grimm.

Team splits up to stop the bombs.

Tyrian makes his move, attacks Ozpin directly.

Salem assumes direct control, hoping that this will count as her killing Ozpin herself.

SSSN and CFVY pop up and fight Tyrian!Salem.

Start getting their shit kicked in because it’s a fucking demi-goddess in a crazy scorpion demon body.

JNR returns.

Qrow finally does something too.

Ozpin even gets off his lazy ass.

Everyone helps take on Tyrian!Salem and win, killing Tyrian for good and pissing off Salem.

Ozpin got killed again to do it. (He’ll be back)

Blake and Yang find Adam.

Fight him, beat him, he runs away, we know how this song and dance goes.

Blake chases him alone.

Says that she has realized that Adam had been trying to commit suicide by anti-terrorism for a while.

Adam gets enraged and fights Blake again.

Adam final boss fight.

Blake starts winning.

Adam goes beyond the brink of madness.

In his anger he manages to destroy Blake’s weapon.

About to kill Blake but sees a little trinket he gave her when they were kids.

Sees his own reflection and sees a monster where he should be standing.

Realizes his own sense of self-destruction.

“I must already be dead,” –Vlad Dracula Tepes. It applies, says I.

Blake puts Adam down.

Yang arrives, worried that Blake ran off… again.

Blake has completely broken down.

Yang comforts Blake, who just had to kill one of her oldest friends.

Bombs and terrorists are dealt with.

RW see Blake is having troubles and embraces her along with Yang.

Blake, with tears in her eyes, swears to never abandon her team and friends ever again.

RWBY comes together and all vow to be there for each other.

Team RWBY are truly together once again.

Ruby uses parts from Adam’s weapon to repair and upgrade Blake’s.

Ozpin gets back up. (What I tell ya?)

Lionheart is found out as the traitor and calls everyone chicken shit for siding with Ozpin.

Says that Ozpin is a paranoid control freak who would strip them of all free will and thought if he could.

In fact, he says that that exact thing is Ozpin’s plan once Salem is beaten.

Salem at least promised freedom.

Ozpin doesn’t exactly deny these accusations by promptly and rather brutally executing Lionheart.

Reactions are cut short when a news bulletin plays on the TV about problems in Atlas.

WF-SDC war has officially stopped being a shadow war and there is now open combat in the streets.

They catch a very brief shot on the telly of something that looks a lot like a grimm arm on some chick.

Ruby has reacquired target-lock.

RWBY and JNR set off once again, this time for Atlas.

Season five done.

#RWBY #Not going to bother tagging it as RWDE from now on #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Qrow Branwen #Cinder Fall #Emerald Sustrai #Mercury Black #Neopolitan #Team JNPR #Team CFVY #Adam Taurus #Sienna Khan #Salem #How I would do...

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ladditt · 3 years

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Things I want to see in RWBY that absolutly 0 other people do.

More farmland. Rwby has actually been really good with this world building wise, its so common for fantasy shows/films to just have mega cities sitting in the middle of fuck all no where (looking at you minas tirith) but I want MORE. The books gave me a fix of reminant diet with the crab burgers but I wanna see the sci-fi mini biome greenhouses where vacuo grows their veggies

Fantasy creatures that arn't Grimm. Again, the books gave us giant taisty crabs, but I still want more. So far in show it's just been grimm and regular earth animals like corgies and horses. I understand it's a production issue, modeling unique animals is expensive and time consuming so it only gets done when absolutely necessary but I'd still like a mention of some weird shit that lives out in the wilds of reminant. Just an off handed comment like "watch out for the flail snails"

Continuing off from the last point, faunus who's animal trait is something weird. It dosen't have to be a fantasy creature but a freaky or obscure animal could be cool. Gimme a pirate character with a squid beak or a mantis shrimp that can fire energy blasts out of their claw. There are so many possibilities that seeing "background mamal faunus no.374" makes me sad. (Said the guy who's main rwby oc is yet another bird faunus with wings...)

Small isolated communites. I wanna see what fucked up shit happens when you take a small town and put them under the preassure of "if you feel too hard then the goop dog monsters are going to eat you" show me the cults CRWBY.

Background caharcters with random automail. Theres no real depth to this one, I just think it would be cool worldbuilding showing just how much people lose to the grimm.

A further explanation of semblances.... from a legal perspective. Are their laws against using influential or mind-reading semblences for advertising? How about berserker semblences, could you use that as a defence to get a lesser sentance for something like property damage like irl mental illnesses do? Are there semblences that'll put you on a government watchlist because of the potential harm they could do to the community in a world inhabited by grimm? Do you need to disclose semblences in a census? Stuff like that.

#rwby

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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Hello, everyone! I come bearing a new recap series to fill the void until Volume 8. This came about because a bunch of friends went, “Hey, this book is really bad” and I responded with, “Really? I should check it out!” Now here we are.

Thrilling tale, I know.

The rules for this project are simple:

Each recap will cover a single chapter

Each chapter will be read as time and energy permit

Each chapter will contain typos because such is life

Recaps are a general response to anything and everything I notice about the text. This includes positives, negatives, and the wishy-washy stuff in between. Despite the summarized conversation above, I’m not going into this with the intention of ripping BtD to shreds, nor am I looking to absolve it simply because it’s ~RWBY~. I’m attempting to be as objective as one human individual can be

However, given that there will be criticisms (a lot of them so far)... any rude messages taking issue with that will unceremoniously be deleted :)

Onward!

We open with Sun’s point of view as he wanders the streets of Vacuo in the very late night/early morning. We learn that he’s been back for a month, but it’s “only now that he felt like he was truly home.” Why that is isn’t made clear. There are two actions connected to this thought: getting into a dangerous battle and helping out a stranger. It’s up to the reader to decide which (or both) is what makes Vacuo feel like home to Sun, but either is going to say a lot about his characterization. Is he a Yang, only feeling like things are normal when there’s something exciting going on? Or a Ruby, attaching feelings of self-worth and belonging to his ability to help others? As said, it’s arguably both.

To clarify this situation: Sun is following a group of three who in turn are following a woman. He says that they were “three goons who were up to no good. At least he’d assumed they were up to no good when he spotted them stalking a woman out of some new nightclub downtown.” Which begs the question, which is it? Do you actually know the three are “stalking” her or is this another “assumption”? Are they up to no good or not? Retroactively, their fight with Sun and the narrative connections to the rest of the plot seem to prove that they are indeed baddies... but Sun didn’t know this at the time. By his own admission he’s drawing very firm conclusions (they’re “goons”) based on circumstantial evidence. I’m torn between praising him for taking action - that woman is presumably safe now thanks to him - and acknowledging that this is a problem with our whole cast. All our heroes jump to conclusions like this and have very confident ideas about who is “good” and who is “bad” based on little to no evidence. Really, I take far less issue with this particular situation and its context (Huntsmen in training sees a woman potentially in danger and takes non-disruptive action to try and prevent a tragedy. That’s good) than I do this trend of characters “assuming” things about others across the series.

But enough on that. Sun’s plan to keep an eye on the situation fails as they “somehow noticed him” despite taking extra precautions to keep out of sight. From this he deduces that at least one member, Brown, is a faunus because the faunus are much more attuned to their environment. Both due to biology and growing up trying to keep safe from humans. I find the bigotry part of that explanation to be odd. I’ll admit that I might be reading way too much into this. So far there’s a lot in this novel that’s not obviously bad but did make me pause and go, “Ehhh...” Just because this moment draws a line between the racism allegory and (literal) animal traits. Take a second to swap out the fantasy term of “faunus”: Character, as a black man, is more attuned to his environment because he’s learned to protect himself from white people.” There is something to be said for minority groups being more cautious in specific situations, or being wary of how they present themselves to new people, etc. But in this case faunus are supposed to just be more attuned to things 24/7 because of fantasy-racism, which sounds a lot like an evolutionary, animalistic trait that they... already have? Saying that the character with animal eyes and ears can more easily pick up on someone tracking him is one thing. Saying that the discriminated against character can more easily pick up on someone tracking him because he’s just hyper-aware at all times very much like an animal...that’s “Ehhh.” It’s one of those things I doubt I’d be paying any attention to if RWBY had given us better representation overall. It’s reached a point where the way the faunus are handled is so messy that any statement like this invites at least a dollop of suspicion. But I’ll leave that to others to cry “Yea” or “Nay.”

So Sun is forced to confront these three. They wear masks and “matching silver armbands around their right biceps.” Sun thinks that they’re “just average gas masks” and thus way less scary than the grimm masks the White Fang prefers. All I could think was:

Gas masks are plenty scary, Sun, you’re just watching the wrong TV shows.

These four start the obligatory pre-fight chit-chat which includes Pink calling Sun “kid.” Every time this happens I feel a tiny bit of my soul wither and die. The protagonists’ ages and the implications attached to them have been a thorn in my side since Volume 5. I mean, heaven forbid we acknowledge that these are teenagers often making immature decisions when the text itself keeps reminding us of how young they are.

But I digress.

As the fight begins Sun concentrates to activate his semblance and we’re given a rather strange flashback. Sun, along with his older cousin Starr Sanzang, are moving with their clan after their “previous settlement had become too attractive to Grimm.” Which is its own, massive can of worms labeled with the question “What suddenly makes a home ‘too attractive’?” But we have nothing else to work with there so I’m leaving it alone. The primary takeaway is Sun’s reaction to the move itself. He wants to know why they don’t fight and despite being told that a) not everyone in the clan is as strong as him and b) he has a tendency to be hotheaded (even though that’s presented as familial teasing), he’s not happy with those answers. It’s amazing how much of this characterization makes it feel like Meyers barely read the RWBY wiki, yet he’s simultaneously managing to hit on a lot of the series’ major themes - including the idea that heroes must never, ever retreat. We could easily take Sun’s thoughts and chuck them into any of Team RWBY’s heads during Volume 7 and you’d be good to go. Not standing and fighting when that would likely mean your death? The horror!

This perspective also (for me) says a lot about his semblance itself. This is the moment where he starts working towards it, so given what we know about semblances, souls, and the circumstances in which they’re developed, I’d say his emotional state is pretty important. Sun wants to stay and fight. He’s told that not everyone is powerful like him. He’d need more people in order to defend his home. Then he literally creates more of himself to help him in battle. Problem solved.

The strange part is what kick-starts this development. Sun sees a magical (???) tree that appears to him and him alone. It’s “a desert willow, green and flourishing with white, rose, and violet flowers” and it’s what he focuses on whenever he needs to draw on his semblance. It’s unclear what, if anything, this tree is meant to represent. There’s obvious symbolism regarding a “flourishing” plant in an otherwise desolate wasteland, but we are not (as of yet) privy to whether this tree is a real thing with a real, tangible connection to Sun. It would be easy to conclude that Sun just imagined it despite his own insistence otherwise, but in a story where semblances, magic, and gods do exist? Who knows. I hope this is going somewhere because it’s frustrating to drop something ~symbolic~ into a universe that’s supposed to be governed by concrete, magical rules and leave the reader floundering over how to categorize that.

We come back to the fight where Sun decides that Brown was “both the leader of the group and the most dangerous. Why? Because he was hiding the most.”

Hold up.

How do you know he’s “hiding the most” when they’re all wearing identical masks and doing the same, shady stuff?

Why in the world is the concept of hiding things connected to leadership?

Not going to lie, it feels like a dig at Ozpin. “Oh yes, the most secretive one must be the leader because we all know leaders do nothing but hide things. The two are so intimately linked that I can look at three people who are all acting suspicious, single out the guy who I’m assuming is a faunus based on no evidence, and thus further conclude - since he’s totally hiding that part of his identity - that he’s the leader here. Simple deduction.”

Sherlock Holmes would be ashamed.

More importantly, you know who’s also a dangerous leader who hides things?

Oh, also this guy.

But instead of acknowledging this we’re offered the simplistic explanation that this is the leader of the bad guys because only bad guys hide stuff. Right.

I’m already getting the sense that Sun’s characterization - like Ruby’s - is going to suffer in this book. They should absolutely be written better given who they were when we first met them, but both end up being mouth pieces for the weird themes the story keeps insisting on including. To be clear, I’ve got a lot of issues with Sun in this story so far, but they’re issues that I don’t think should exist. It’s not “I dislike this character” but much more “I dislike this character but that’s only because you’re making them do and say really OOC things. Give me back the version of this character we had before.” There are characters I don’t vibe with and then there are characters who should be on my wavelength but the creators went and changed course somewhere. That’s always disappointing.

(Aside #1: Can we just take a moment to acknowledge how awkward posing and answering your own question is when we’re supposed to be the PoV? That “Why? Because...” is incredibly jarring. I’m focusing on content over prose here, but the prose needs a whole lot of work in places.)

So Brown is apparently a faunus, and the leader, and hiding extra stuff because Sun says so. The two begin fighting in earnest (with Sun’s clones taking on the other two), but don’t worry, Sun has enough confidence to spare:

“Brown had some kind of martial arts training similar to Sun’s – but he wasn’t nearly as good.”

Brown proceeds to knock Sun down and disarm him. Easily.

The fact that Sun can’t land a hit on this guy then causes him legitimate shock. “‘Oh crap’, Sun thought. ‘I’m losing. How am I actually losing?’” I don’t know, maybe because you’re a second year student going up against an adversary of unknown age, origin, and skill? The confidence of all our characters is astounding to me. Doesn’t anyone ever question whether they can win a fight? Or acknowledge that losing one is expected? Both Sun and RWBYJNR seem to have come out of the Battle of Beacon thinking, “We have survived one (1) battle and therefore we are the best ever. Losing? Never heard of her.” There’s a difference between writing a confident character and writing a deluded one. Sun should not be blindsided by the fact that someone else in the world is more powerful than him.

(For the record, the eternal exception to this is Toph Beifong. They really let a tiny blind girl say, “I’m the goddamn best” and made it fact. I am, and will always, be here for that.)

Amidst this shock Sun thinks about Beacon and immediately shies away from those memories. I quite liked that. I wish the web-series did more to acknowledge how traumatizing that battle was (akin to what we got with Yang’s PTSD and Ruby’s nightmares before both were dropped), so I’m pleased to see nods to it here.

Sun is just acknowledging how he probably should have brought some friends along when a copy of Tri-Hard lands nearby. Huzzah! Velvet is here! Sun should be pleased right, especially since he was just thinking about how much he needs help?

“Great. Team CFVY (coffee) was here.”

Ugh. Well this is frustrating to read. What precisely is going on here? Sun is the guy defined by “You should always get friends involved!” Then he ditches said friends to chase after Blake. While working through this decision he finds himself in a situation where he’s alone again largely because his team is mad at him. So he’s coming to terms with how much he misses and needs those friends... only to think a sarcastic “great” when someone actually show up to help him?

He’s written as an asshole here. Velvet and Yatsuhashi save him - the three baddies use a smoke semblance to run off - but “Sun bristled at the implication that Velvet and Yatsuhashi had rescued him.” Can’t we have one character with a bit of humility? The writing attributes Sun’s attitude to a competitive school where prestige is everything. Team CFVY’s unexpected arrival and their subsequent fame seems to rankle... but we’re really going to ignore that they’re here because, you know, their school was destroyed and their headmaster murdered? I know that people think stupid, selfish things all the time (god knows I do), but it’s a bit much to have Sun be so over confident that he gets himself into serious trouble, get annoyed when he’s offered help, and then insist that he never needed that help in the first place. That kind of behavior rankles and for good reason. It’s fine as a flaw for one or two characters, but we’re seeing this across most of the main cast. Is no one able to look at someone outside their team and just go, “Thanks for the assist”?

The one redeeming part of this scene is Velvet practicing her quips. I support her attempts to sound like a cheesy action hero.

(Aside #2: There had to be a better way to deal with the team names other than writing “CFVY (coffee)”...)

As the three chat we learn that the rogue huntsmen Carmine and Bertilak may be involved with these shady characters, the missing people with powerful semblances, and I, who has not read the first book, learns about Gus, someone capable of amplifying negative emotions. There’s... a lot attached to that reveal, but I’ll leave it alone for now. It’s not fair to drag it when I’ve only gotten a passing mention.

Alongside discussing Very Important Plot Points, the group dives into Sun’s difficulties with his team:

“Besides, the guys are still a little annoyed with me for ditching them.”

“To chase a girl,” Yatsuhashi added.

“It wasn’t like that.” Not entirely. “Blake needed a friend.”

“And your team needed you,” Velvet said firmly. “After everything we saw at Beacon, with everything going on in Mistral—”

“They were fine.”

“But you’re their leader,” Yatsuhashi said.

“They’ll come around.”

“Maybe you would be able to regain their trust if you didn’t keep running off without them,” Yatsuhashi added, sheathing his great sword.

Sun narrowed his eyes. “I liked you better when you didn’t say much.”

Sun is, again, written as an asshole! It might be understandable that he wants to ignore all his mistakes, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating for those around him - or the reader. Like admitting that he needs help and then getting annoyed when he gets it, here Sun refuses to engage with the actual problems in his behavior. He won’t admit those mistakes. You ditched your team to chase after a girl. No, no, it wasn’t just about chasing her... Your team needed you. No they didn’t! You’re their leader. Pff what does that have to do with anything? It’s deny, deny, deny. On top of a mean quip at Yatsuhashi. I’m just reading this train-wreck like

I want to re-emphasize here (because I keep getting asks with the accusation) that yes, I do understand that stories need conflict and yes, I do want characters to have flaws. It’s just that lately RWBY feels like all flaws all the time, most of which are never even acknowledged as flaws. Which mean the characters aren’t improving. There are very few moments lately where I feel like our heroes are legitimately kind, or wise, or intelligent, or compassionate, and that’s making it hard to connect with them. Knowing what I do of the fountain scene with Yatsuhashi, Fox, and Neptune makes things even worse. Would it be so horrible for Sun to be happy that his friends came to help? Or not sneer at Team CFVY so much? Or admit that he messed up? It’s the amount we’re getting across the whole cast that’s a problem, alongside rejecting other conflicts that would be much more logical for the story and much more emotionally fulfilling (such as Team RWBYJNR disagreeing about anything). I find it exhausting to watch. And now read.

I did, however, like Sun calling Yatsuhashi out on his own insults:

“Besides, people have attempted [invading] before,” Sun said.

“Back when Vacuo had something valuable, like Dust,” Yatsuhashi said.

Sun whistled low. “Spoken like a true outsider. If you don’t want to turn Vacuans against you, you’ll stop making comments like that.”

Yatsuhashi looked away.

It’s a legit thing to call out. Please don’t imply that our city has no value now that we’re not producing this specific commodity. Sun expressed those feelings in a way that didn’t crucify Yatsuhashi, but let him know he’d spoken out of turn and helped him understand why he, as an individual, should care about changing his perspective (“If you don’t want to turn Vacuans against you...”). I’d say this is one of the better exchanges in the prologue, showing us unexpected sides to each character (Sun isn’t just a laughing goof, Yatsuhashi isn’t the wise Asian stereotype) without them feeling OOC.

We then end the prologue with Sun promising to help CFVY with these investigations. Offering on behalf of his team without asking, that is. I’m sure that will go over splendidly.

As a final note before I sign off, I apologize if these recaps are... bad? Lol. Yeah, we’ll be blunt and straightforward in that description. While working through this I found myself reiterating so much of what I say in the regular recaps + asks, just because these problems seem to be creeping their way into RWBY’s supplemental material too. Doesn’t mean it makes for engaging reading though. In addition, I found myself struggling to articulate thoughts on this prologue simply because I didn’t know what to make of these writing choices. What’s up with that tree? Why are Sun’s thoughts going around in a contradictory circle? What am I supposed to do with all these lines that grind the story to a halt because my brain goes, “Wait what?” The easy answer to all this is, “It’s not a well written book, Clyde” and yeah. From what I’ve read for myself and heard from others, fair enough. But I feel like there’s just enough here - that potential RWBY is known for - that I want to try and clearly lay out as much as I can... even if it still comes out a bit muddled.

It’s summer. I just finished another massive project. There’s a pandemic on. My brain is as fried as my eggs this morning. If you’re okay with the outcome of all that, stick around :D

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Before the Dawn #BTD Recaps

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rwdestuffs · 3 years

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The show as a whole, and this blog moving forward.

Nothing is perfect.

Literally nothing. Take your favorite series. A comic book, a video game, a movie, television show, a manga series, or a book series, and you’ll eventually find someone who says that there was a problem with it.

Nothing is total garbage either. Take your least favorite series, and you’ll eventually come across someone who took valuable and good lessons from it.

Take TeamFourStar for example. On multiple occasions, they have made fun of Dragonball and have criticized decisions made by Akira Toriyama. This is despite them being huge fans of the franchise as a whole. They acknowledge that what they like isn’t perfect, and they’re not afraid to point out the flaws in it.

Or take anyone who covers a franchise. They’ll find flaws and behind the scenes things that, to the average viewer, they wouldn’t have realized was a thing.

Now, the inner workings and behind the scenes issues at RoosterTeeth is another topic for someone far more qualified than me, but there are many problems within the company that affect the show, RWBY, as a whole. For example, their rather blatant frat-like environment and professionalism makes for a bad understanding of major topics like abuse, trauma, and discrimination. Not counting their many associations with predators, these guys have had a bad track record with their hires.

But a major problem with the show, and by extension, the company, is an unwillingness to acknowledge their past mistakes and lack of attempts to make up for them to ensure that they wouldn’t happen again.

Take the racism issue within the show. Miles openly claims that the reason is sucks so bad is because he’s a white guy. But then his fans defend him by saying that he’s half Mexican. Add to the fact that we have no real proof that Miles is actually talking to minorities about how discrimination works, and that they kinda dropped the whole racism arc after Blake and Yang killed Adam, the show… has no reason for that whole thing anymore.

Now, I get it. They had a few reasons to add racism to their show despite them being awful at portraying it, and the negativity it brings. One was that they just wanted to say “don’t be a dick to people who look different from you.” and the other is basically to have an issue that wasn’t tied to the grimm (I hope. If it turns out that Salem is responsible for the racism, the show is basically irredeemable at that point in regards to that particular subplot, and nobody is allowed to invalidate any Person of Color’s feelings on the subject). The issue was that they didn’t want to get uncomfortable with the whole thing. They didn’t want to deal with the heavy subjects. So, instead of actually showing the racism, they merely talked about it.

Slave labor, cave-ins, a lack of respect- none of that was shown. All we got was generic bullying, which ultimately made the White Fang look as if they were dishing out retribution for minor offenses. This wasn’t a good look.

Other media have done racism better, even fantasy racism was better portrayed by the X-Men. So to see that RWBY, a show made by nerds botched it that badly?- It hurts. It hurts a lot.

Now, yes. There are also other media that have been absolute garbage when it came to racism, even the fantasy kind. I’m not aware of any off the top of my head, but I think one that did it pretty poorly would be Star Wars. Mostly in regards to their droids. We don’t really see any major repercussions about how they’re treated on Tatooine, and it’s kinda dropped. Luke even tries to trade R2 and C3PO to Jabba, and doesn’t do it in person. Anakin treated his droids better. The emotionally unstable guy who ultimately became the emperor’s attack dog was the least racist person, at least in regards to droids, in the galaxy by the time the OT came by.

So is that it? A really big, famous, and successful franchise did racism worse?

No. That’s not it. Because like I said, take your favorite movie, and you’ll find someone who has an issue with it.

The same applies to RWBY. This show had so much going for it. For starters, nobody else has been as successful with something like this. A fully animated series with a major overarching plot that is produced completely by an internet company.

So, expectations were high. And when the show failed to deliver, it hurt.

We had characters that were great, but who had interesting character traits dropped for unknown reasons. Ruby’s obsession with weapons was unceremoniously dropped for no real reason. Like HBomb said in his overall review of the show, if there was an arc where Ruby and Jaune were to develop a new weapon together, and that in the future, we’d see it in action and that it would include all the fancy tech of the other weapons while still staying true to the weapon it was, that would have been really great and awesome to see.

But instead… We get… Jaune having to cover for his cheating his way into Beacon. We get Jaune constantly harassing Weiss to go to the dance. We get Pyrrha thirsting after Jaune for… Reasons.

So many things in earlier seasons were dropped for reasons that don’t make sense.

At least with Weiss, they dropped her racism because “it doesn’t sell well.” And yes. That is what I’m assuming they dropped it for. They saw that Weiss sales weren’t as big as the other girls, so they dropped the racism altogether, and decided to say that she was against her father’s racism the whole time and wanted to better the company.

They could’ve had her say “It was easier to blame the Faunus instead of my father for what happened.” and that probably would have made everything feel more natural. Instead of acknowledging this mistake, the writers decided to drop it altogether and pretend that it never happened.

These guys have also portrayed major real life problems and showed them as jokes, or not as bad.

Take what Sun did for example. Because he decided to stow away on a boat and steal from a fruit stand for funsies, Weiss is actually justified in her rhetoric towards him. He did multiple illegal things in succession right in front of them! Sun didn’t steal because they wouldn’t serve him and it was the only way for him to get food, he didn’t stow away because the ticket guy assumed that he stole a legitimately purchased ticket, he did it for fun. Then he decided to stalk Blake after she had a breakdown and was in a lot of emotional turmoil. And… It’s apparently okay, because he cares about her.

For a character that they decided to say was the victim of abuse, they really didn’t seem to want to portray that as a problem until her abuser did it.

Yang thrashing the nightclub in her trailer?- Apparently not a good look for her to seem violent. So it gets dropped instead of being used as proof that she would attack Mercury unprovoked in volume 3. What’s the count on me pointing out how awesome that would have been again?

And instead of actually understanding the problem, they decided to have Tai make unfair comparisons to Raven, call her soul a “temper tantrum”, essentially say that it was a bad thing for her to rush in against Adam for because she wanted to save Blake (And then the show decides to reward Jaune for similar, albeit more selfish behavior), they decided to try and justify Tai’s comments after she was taught to “not be so hotheaded” and make her a hothead again, probably because a lot of people pointed out that Yang wasn’t really a hothead who never thought in earlier volumes. These guys decided to retroactively justify Tai’s comments, after said comments were supposed to fix the problem. Tai wasn’t even being a father in those scenes, he was being Miles’ mouthpiece.

And then there’s Oz.

Retroactively, I think I get what they’re trying to do. If everyone had known that going into the hunter business meant throwing your body at an immortal opponent, they probably wouldn’t apply to begin with. Nobody is prepared for that, and I think it’s important for people to understand that nobody is prepared for that, so that maybe we shouldn’t be so harsh in jumping at these characters’ throats for pointing that out. Yes, this is vaguing to someone in particular, but that’s not the point. The WoR on aura was narrated by Salem. Who should logically know by this point why Oz keeps coming back, as opposed to the WoR that sorta suggested that maybe reincarnation was his semblance.

In all honesty, it probably would’ve been cooler if it was, as opposed to some god saying “Hey, fix this problem that’s not really being a problem for me. I’m bored and I want to see a good soap opera.”

And really?- Naming your big bad villain after a time when women were falsely prosecuted? What?- Is the show trying to say that women that are abused will become villains and that they have to work through it on their own without a real support system or they’ll become villains that men have to be tasked with stopping? Sounds to me that the writers’ Texas education is seeping into the writing.

Instead of using the lore or characterization that was already established, the writers decided to just keep adding on instead of building on what they already had. Yang being a mother figure to Ruby?- Gone. Jaune wanting to prove that he could be a hero despite his lack of training and his bumbling attitude?- Also gone. Blake being a strong advocate for equality?- Gone. The many hints that Oz’s semblance is what allowed him to reincarnate?- See ya. The hints that Blake was missing one of, if not both of her parents?- Adios.

The writers didn’t really think through character dialogue. And that’s because they’re more used to using pre-established characters. Their last work was RvB’s Chorus Arc, where they had characters that were already characters. They didn’t need to build anything except for a few new ones that would bounce off of the old ones. Say what you want about RvB:Zero, but it actually made use of the new characters it established while only having them bounce off of one already established… And that season is basically just an excuse to make a bunch of cool fight scenes. Seriously. After each fight, I expect Wiz and Boomstick to show up and explain to the audience how and why the fight went the way it did. Then again, that might have to do with their most famous animator animating and being part of the directing process of the current season, but I digress.

The writers aren’t professional. They’ve established this. They’ve also unceremoniously ditched the people closest to Monty. You’d think that after his death, they would’ve reached out to Sheena and said something like “Hey, I know we’re all going through a rough time, but do you want to work with us on this? You were close to Monty, and we think that he would’ve loved for you to be on board with the process.”

But no. She gets shut out, as does Shane. As does a lot of other people close to him.

And then more shit gets piled up, and more problems become more noticeable.

This didn’t feel like a passion project anymore, it felt more like another IP for them to make a profit off of. Hence why we didn’t get any major sexuality reveals until recently (as of me writing this). These guys want to profit as much as they can, and while I understand that they need to have money to put food on the table, dragging out things isn’t the way to go. Neither is rushing past things. The pacing feels off. Nothing feels like it’s going at appropriate speeds anymore, and more and more questionable decisions keep popping up.

Like… Why is Penny’s father a person of color when she’s white?- There’s so many implications behind that that it hurts. Could’ve made them both white.

Why is Ironwood’s semblance basically a neurodivergent aspect of the brain that is effectively the reason why he’s going full dictator? (Personally, if they had kept Ruby’s weapons obsession, that could have worked as a positive representation of what I’m assuming is ADHD as opposed to Ironwood’s very blatant negative portrayal).

Why wasn’t Yang’s lack of faith in Ruby better built up?- It feels like it came out of nowhere, and while I am glad that at least someone is questioning Ruby, and that I’m also kinda glad that it’s someone close to her so that Ruby does have to reflect on it, it… Kinda came up out of nowhere. This could’ve been something she discussed with Blake, but I guess that wasn’t important enough.

The writers don’t really think ahead on a lot of things. It feels like they only focus on the volume in front of them. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing if they also didn’t actively ignore what happened in prior volumes. Like I said: Yang wasn’t really that much of a hothead prior to Tai’s advice. If you want to take a singular instance of her being one as proof that that’s all she is, then I guess Obi-Wan is one too, since he sliced off somene’s arm in A New Hope, and that apparently, nobody wanted to mess with the guy wielding a lightsaber, so nobody tried to confront him outside of Imperial soldiers.

The writers don’t look back on the past, and they don’t look towards the future. They only see the present that’s in front of him. To be honest, it feels like they took the wrong message from Master Oogway’s famous “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift… That is why we call it ‘the present,’“ That quote isn’t to say that one should disregard the past and ignore the future. It means to realize what happened in the past is in the past and that you can learn from it, realize that you can’t control the future because it hasn’t happened yet, and that you can do your best right now to improve the future.

The biggest reason why the rwde tag dwells constantly on past moments is because the writers refuse to learn from them. The writers make the same mistakes, and it’s only when fan outcry is loud enough that they realize it’s a mistake. But they won’t take the time to understand why it was a mistake, they’ll only say “Oh hey, this was a mistake.”

Take Jaune’s screentime for example. Evidently, there was enough outcry about it that Miles no longer likes writing him anymore, but the writers themselves failed to realize why Jaune’s screentime was a mistake.

Jaune’s screentime and development came at the expense of other characters. Other characters that could have also developed alongside him if the writers were smart. Take the whole “Jaune cheated his way in” thing for example. Ruby only got in because of nepotism, if she had found out, then they could both bond and grow from the shared belief that they didn’t deserve to be there on their own merits. It would still be a problem that Jaune got to cheat his way in without repercussions but it would develop the first letter in the title, and Jaune at the same time (and again, my idea that his hero ancestors got him in via nepotism is still there. The writers still have time to retcon it by saying that the parents bribed Jaune’s way in, and that Jaune basically cheated his way in for nothing).

Or take Jaune unlocking his semblance as another example. Aside from fact that this moment is the scene that will forever taint Volume 5 in my eyes as the worst volume ever (Jaune charging Cinder and getting to unlock his semblance because Weiss got impaled because Jaune couldn’t control his revenge boner while Yang charging Adam ends with her being belittled and losing an arm because she wanted to save Blake), that scene could have gone way better. Instead of Weiss, have it be Ren, Nora, or Ruby. Ren had finished up an arc last volume, and given the precedent set by Pyrrha, once a member of team JNPR finishes an arc, they die, Ren being impaled would have put viewers on the edge of their seats. Weiss being impaled doesn’t do that, as she still has many more arcs to go through, and is a title character. Nora is hardly a character, and was certainly a viable target, especially since she was a hard counter to what Hazel was doing. Taking her out would have also made sense because then the main team loses one of their major advantages over the evil team. And finally, Ruby being impaled would have made sense from a character perspective. Considering that Cinder was all “I want revenge on Ruby” the whole volume and the one before it, her targeting Ruby would have made sense. In fact, the whole fight could have been Cinder being largely dismissive towards Jaune and treating him as more of an obstacle to her target for revenge than her just toying with him because she has to have sadist tendencies™.

The writers got that Jaune’s screentime and moments of character development were a problem, but they neglected to understand why it was a problem.

And instead of acknowledging this mistake, they instead decided to bury it, and not acknowledge it at all.

Acknowledging a mistake is better than pretending that the mistake didn’t happen in the first place.

The rabid defenders need to realize that this series isn’t perfect. There are flaws in it. Undoubtedly, if there was another series that had similar, or the same issues as RWBY did, those defenders would call it out, not realizing that the show they defend so fervently, has the same or similar ones.

And the haters need to realize that this show isn’t as flawed as it is. A similar situation as the above would probably take place. Another series has similar, or the same good moments as RWBY does, and they’d probably praise it, despite those same moments being in the show that they hate so much.

So what does this mean for this blog?

It means that this blog isn’t going to be dedicated to simply hating on the show, or blindly praising it. When credit is due, it will be given. When criticism is due, it will be given. This blog is still being run by one guy, and it’s probably going to stay that way.

Nobody’s perfect, not me. Not you. Not the writers.

And similarly, nobody is the physical incarnation of failure. Not me. Not you. Not the writers.

No matter how it feels, we’re all still human. And we all deserve to grow as critics, as writers, as artists, as friends, as family members, as community members, and as people.

Even if it feels like the crew have been given every opportunity to grow as writers, they still deserve all the other opportunities.

Would it be nice if they acknowledged their past fuck-ups and apologized for them?- Yes of course.

Would it be nice to actually see growth from them rather than them just trying to claim that they did?- Duh.

But we’re all human beings.

And in all honesty, I’m tired of hating on the things I can’t control. Hate is one part off of the path to the Dark Side.

Maybe I should do a Star Wars post soon, what with how I referenced it so often here… Who knows?- Maybe this can be more than just a RWBY criticism blog.

#rwde #rwby

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spectralscathath · 4 years

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In Another Perfect Life

Fair Game Week, Day 4: Soulmates/Birds

Everyone on Remnant has a leitmotif, a soul melody that they know from the moment they’re born. It was said that singing or humming your leitmotif causes it to play in your soulmate’s head. It was lucky to have a soulmate, some said. Someone who had a deep tie to you, beyond the limits of friendship and family and even romance, in some cases.

Qrow, since the universe saw the word ‘lucky’ and cackled maliciously, had no less than three damn soul melodies in his head, aside from his own.

He wanted to file a complaint.

Ao3 Link

Qrow heard Tyrian’s stupid fucking soulsong start up in the back of his head and viciously kicked the wall. Stupid fucking murder soulmate. Raven’s bitch ass tune he could deal with, she was his twin, even if she was a goddamn fucking harlot who fucked off and also tried to kill him. At least she almost never hummed her stupid melody.

Tyrian, though? Every. Fucking. Day.

It wasn’t until Qrow had heard Tyrian humming it under his breath as they tried to kill each other in Oniyuri that the creepily cool leitmotif had turned into a source of unending annoyance.

Apparently murder soulmates were definitely a thing, and Qrow was going to wring Tyrian’s neck until he never had to hear that damned tune in his head again.

It would be nice if Number Three could start doing their thing again. Qrow hadn’t heard that person do anything with their melody in a while.

Knowing his luck, Person Three would also try to kill him.

Tyrian started in again on another rendition of his stupid theme song and Qrow gritted his teeth, pursing his lips as he whistled his own melody to try drown out Callows, and maybe annoy him as well.

The next reprise of Tyrian’s soulsong sounded smug. Qrow was gonna rip off what was left of his tail and shove it so far up Tyrian’s arse the faunus would be tasting his own venom for weeks.

Screw it.

He stomped past the briefing room where everyone else was waiting, shoved open the nearest window, and jumped out without the slightest hesitation. If nothing else, he could at least try to clear his head with a flight.

Or, he thought as he shifted forms with a touch of magic, he could hunt down the maniacal bastard and pay him back for the poisoning.

His wings flapped in the cold breeze as he headed off, unfortunately missing Clover looking outside the briefing room with a confused-yet-hopeful grin.

------------

In the Xiao Long household, there was a bookshelf that was stacked with books that were all about animals. Lots of illustrated guides and glossaries. At least three were about bugs, Ruby had a fascination for creepy-crawlies as a kid, with another devoted specifically to the different species of arachnids. There was a book on dogs, birdwatcher guides to just about everywhere Qrow had visited when he’d had the lien to pick one up, a couple of others about wildlife in general, and then there was one that sat, not on the shelf, but on the coffee table.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Remnant’s Corvids, by Dr Jay Jackdaw.

A gift from Summer, once she and Tai had calmed down about the whole ‘turning into birds’ thing. She was such a brat.

He’d ended up reading it, cover-to-cover, just to make sure that nothing would surprise him about any possible side effects. Ozpin had said there wouldn’t be, but hey, turned out he was wrong.

Qrow didn’t know if it was his natural thief tendencies, honed from being raised as a bandit and a scavenger, or if it was bleed over from his corvid form, but he had a fascination with shiny trinkets. One look at a small treasure hoard stored in a box in Tai’s room gave that away.

But it wasn’t just his tendency to purloin new sparklies, it was all the other random stuff. The way he liked to mess around with people’s hair if he liked them, from messing up Ruby’s do to scruffing Tai’s mop with both hands, gentle carding of calloused fingers through Yang’s golden locks as he treated it with the same care that she did.

Even James got it, with playful flicks to that one piece of his hair that always fell over his face. Then there was the slightly weirder things that couldn’t be brushed off as normal quirkiness, like how he had a tendency to squawk when he got surprised in a sound that was way too similar to a caw.

There was the way his pupils pinned when emotional, which wasn’t technically a crow trait, it was a parrot thing. Tai, resident nerd, had brought that up with Ozpin and gotten a shrug and the answer of ‘it’s magic’. Summer had always liked how his hair fluffed out sometimes, like a bird’s feathers. Head cocks were fairly standard, and he couldn’t really complain about the other eccentricities either.

Not when the usefulness of his bird form far outweighed literally any downside.

It was a weird, nonsensical train of thought,stupid and really irrelevant to his current hunt, but thinking about bird facts and the effects they had on himself was still better then Tyrian’s fuckin-ass clown music.

He hated that guy.

He broke out of his musings as he heard Number Three’s soulsong enter his head, clear as mud, the sound dimmed by his different form. He flapped his wings as he scanned for a good perch, landing on a streetlight as his talons clicked on the cold metal. He cocked his head, listening to the melody in his head.

It was a lot more jaunty and triumphant to Raven’s dirge and Tyrian’s whatever-the-fuck. He knew his own was able to be both victorious and melancholic at the same time, depending on how fast he strung the notes together in his head.

Number Three reminded him of an honest-to-gods sea shanty, sometimes. Made him think of rolling waves or still waters. Raven’s put him in mind of cold shadows and moonlight scattered by clouds, and Tyrian’s was fucking clown music or something stupid like that, fuck, Qrow hated that slimy bastard.

It was nice to hear Person Three was still around though.

Speaking of, it would be smartest to head back to Atlas. He’d missed whatever mission he was assigned for today, instead hunting down Tyrian himself from the skies. Nothing, not that he expected to spot the faunus when the sun was out. Tyrian was a predator, he’d probably stick to the natural advantage the darkness gave his faunus eyes.

Not only that, but people feared the night, as a whole. Night time was when people were vulnerable, when they slept, when they locked up their homes and tried to avoid the unsavoury types lurking out in the shadows.

Only two people worked at night, in Qrow’s opinion. Criminals and Huntsmen.

He flew in through his own window, always left open just in case, and landed in a crouch, straightening up and fixing his hair before he opened the door to a set of seafoam green eyes and a shiny clover pin.

Sometimes he really wanted to nick that pin, but he refrained. Personal trinkets to others were something he’d long since made off-limits to himself.

Still, this was a surprise. “Clover. Hey. What’s up?”

“You missed briefing,” Clover’s hands were folded behind his back, but there wasn’t accusation on his face. Rather, he looked pleased and like he was trying to hide it. “Any reason why?”

“Went looking for Tyrian.” There was a vibrant purple scar on his side that was going to be a permanent reminder of their first duel. “Didn’t find him.”

“You should be more careful, instead of going off alone. Our records show that he’s a very dangerous individual.” Clover’s hidden enthusiasm faded to concern.

Qrow shrugged it off. “Yeah, I know. He and I had a fight.”

“In Oniyuri? That’s what Ren, Nora and Ruby said after the rally.”

Qrow crossed his arms. “Bingo.” He should probably invite Clover into the shoebox that James had given him access to. Letting him stand in the doorway seemed weird. “You coming in?”

Clover blinked and recovered. “Oh- yeah, sure, of course.” He stepped in and waited for Qrow to give him the nod before sitting down. “You fought him and he apparently nearly killed you. Next time it would be best for you to bring back up.”

“We had a mutual aura break.” If Ruby had just stayed out of the way then he would have won, or at least taken the freak down with him. “I’ll get him next time.”

“I see. Well, next time, make sure you call it in so that-” there was a moment’s hesitation as Clover seemed to skip over whatever word he was about to say, before continuing smoothly like the break had never happened, “there can be back up ready to cover for you.” Clover looked him in the eye. “Alright?”

Qrow looked back, and realised that Clover was offering to be that back up. That he was asking Qrow to promise not to go in alone. Qrow’s mouth felt a little dry as he nodded, before deciding to not be a jerk and actually answer. “Yeah. Okay.”

Clover’s determined look softened a little as he smiled, laugh lines creasing in his face. They were similar to the crow’s feet that were forming at the creases of Qrow’s eyes, and they suited Clover, made him look steady. Steady was good, compared to Qrow’s life of unpredictability.

Qrow realised he was maybe staring a little bit when Clover quirked a brow curiously, his greying hair fluffing up as he dropped his eyes to his hands, fiddling with his rings and spinning one on his finger. “So. Anything else?”

“No, that’s everything.” Clover was still smiling, and Qrow had a mad thought of inviting him to stick around and hang out for the night.

He shook that off too. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea. “Cool. I’m gonna head out, check on the kids. See you at the briefing?”

Clover looked almost put out by that, but he smiled gracefully and stood, brushing off his uniform and flicking his pin. Weird. Qrow thought he only did that when he wanted to be extra lucky. Clover paid no heed to Qrow’s cocked head and raised brow as he spoke. “I’ll see you there. Enjoy your evening, Qrow.”

“You too, Shamrock.” He gave him a wave off as the ace operative walked by, hands folding behind his back as he stepped out. Qrow couldn’t help but watch him go, noticing a faint bounce to Clover’s steps before he heard the man humming something, the sound fading into the ambient noise as he left.

That was Soulmate Number Three’s tune.

Qrow grinned. Son of a bitch.

-----

I’m very excited for tomorrow. Thought you ought to know.

#Fair Game #fairgameweek2020 #Clover Ebi #Qrow Branwen #rwby #Was this an excuse to look up facts about crow behaviour? yes #am I sorry? no #my writings

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rwby-redux · 4 years

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Deconstruction

Worldbuilding: Genetics

If any of my Deconstruction posts were going to turn heads, I had a hunch it would be this one. You’ll probably find this topic incongruous with the others simply because—unlike Aura, Semblances, Dust, and Grimm—genetics isn’t one of RWBY’s unique gimmicks. If I’m being entirely honest, part of why this post exists is because I still had some miscellaneous talking points to address, but lacked a proper heading to file them under. Call it what it is: a dumping ground for wayward thoughts.

But there’s a bit more to it than just that. The reason why I want to talk about this is because, much like the other mechanical aspects, genetics does have a bearing on RWBY’s worldbuilding, and the stories that were subsequently built around it. It has an undeniable impact on the sociopolitical human-Faunus schism that set the stage for Remnant’s immediate past, and the present-day terrorist acts committed by the White Fang. Genetics is also an extension of RWBY’s adherence to color theory, reflected in the hair and eye color choices of the ensemble cast.

Before we can finally conclude Part 1 of the Worldbuilding posts, we need to discuss this topic from both a narrative and a production standpoint. Genetics is firmly rooted in the development and design choices of the writers—choices which, as you’ll quickly see, had long-lasting consequences for the show.

Today we’re going to be dividing this topic into two sections. Since I’m sure it’s already on your mind, let’s get the obvious one out of the way first:

The Genetics of the Faunus

The Faunus are going to have an entire post dedicated just to them, but it’s impossible to talk about genetics without at least a passing mention of one of Remnant’s two main species.

Subspecies.

Races?

Yeah. You can quickly see where this is going.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me provide some context. Just like the conception of the Maidens, the Faunus can trace their developmental history to a rather impulsive design choice:

“Monty really wanted a character with cat ears,” admits Miles Luna. Shawcross expands on how Blake Belladonna’s look resulted in a cornerstone of the show’s lore. “So if Blake has cat ears, does that mean anyone can have cat ears? Could they have other animal traits? It’d be cool to see someone with scales or a fox tail…” [1]

Let me clarify by saying that there’s nothing wrong with basing a decision on aesthetics (in principle, anyway). And RWBY isn’t the only franchise guilty of doing this. It only takes a few seconds of consulting TV Tropes to see that zoomorphism is extremely pervasive. And while I have a tendency to complain a lot on this blog, I’m not such a kvetch that I’ll deny that animal-people with lion tails and ram horns look fucking sweet.

The problem I have with Faunus (from a genetic standpoint) is the way they’re inconsistently described in relation to humans. While Qrow unambiguously refers to them as a separate species, [2] we have Faunus characters that contradict him by describing themselves as a race. [3] This leads to the inevitable issue of whose account do we trust? On one hand, the information provided to us by Qrow is through World of Remnant, a spin-off series whose entire purpose is to clarify information and teach the audience about core worldbuilding concepts. On the other hand, what we’re told about the Faunus being a race comes directly from Ghira Belladonna. In this context, who would you expect to be the better authority on Faunus—a human, or a Faunus?

Even if we set aside the complicated implications of an outgroup member talking over a minority, we’re still left with the issue of well, which is it? Are they a race or a species? And why does it even matter?

Before we can answer any of those questions, let’s quickly define both terms:

A species is a taxonomic rank used for classifying groups of organisms together on the basis of being able to participate in genetic interchange via sexual reproduction, to produce fertile offspring.

A race (in biology) is an informal/unrecognized taxonomic rank below subspecies, defined as unique subgroups with either geographic, physiological, or genetic distinctions from other subgroups within their species. In anthropology, however, a race is typically regarded as a social construct. In this case, it refers to an identity held by members of a population that share physical or social qualities that are seen as categorically distinct.

The answer, if we’re being objective, is probably something along the lines of “RWBY’s writers thought that the two terms were interchangeable, or they didn’t think the distinction mattered enough to do the research and settle on a definition.” Unless someone specifically reached out to a Rooster Teeth employee and asked, we’ll never truly know. Speculation will only get us so far, and where this blog is concerned, we need a definitive answer—or at the very least, we need to talk about why the distinction matters to us.

So, are Faunus their own race? Meaning, are they a self-identifying ethnic group with a common language, ancestry, history, culture, nation, or social treatment within their residing area?

Common language: That’s a definite no. RWBY still hasn’t managed to explain how everyone across the four kingdoms speaks the same language, let alone develop any conlangs.

Ancestry: We actually don’t have a canon answer for this. The show has yet to tell us where the Faunus came from, so we can’t make any assumptions about how related they are to one another.

History: Technically, yes. But the series has a gross tendency to homogenize the experience of Faunus across Remnant, so the history of Faunus in Vale is virtually identical to that of Mistral. This trend results in storytelling discrepancies, like the Faunus in culturally-unprejudiced Vacuo [4] being equally threatened by and involved with the Faunus Rights Revolution, when there shouldn’t have been an in-world basis for this scenario.

Culture: Don’t make me laugh. RWBY couldn’t even be bothered to give any of its four kingdoms distinct cultures. Apart from a few scenes in Menagerie where you see a bunch of background characters hanging out in the Shallow Sea district of Kuo Kuana, there really isn’t anything culturally unique to the Faunus.

Nation: I guess? I personally wouldn’t consider Menagerie a nation, simply because it’s not one the Faunus originated from, but were rather given in the aftermath of the Great War. As far as we know, Faunus have always been just as widespread across Remnant as humans.

Social treatment: We’re told that social treatment for the Faunus as a whole is shitty, but that the degree of shittiness varies from place to place. Forgive me if I don’t buy that. Not after we’ve seen students in Vale physically harass a Faunus, [5] shops in Mistral refuse service to Faunus, [6] and companies in Atlas extract labor from Faunus. [7] If social treatment is contingent on shared experiences, then why are we told that these experiences change depending on the kingdom? And if the kingdoms vary in levels of racial acceptance, then why are we repeatedly shown the exact opposite?

Based on the aforementioned criteria, I’m inclined to say that Faunus don’t fit the definition of race.

So, are the Faunus a separate species from humans?

“History gets a little fuzzy past a certain point, but we do know that their kind and ours are completely compatible, from a—a biological standpoint.” | Source: World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 6: “Faunus.”

That’s a resounding no.

As much as the taxonomist in me wants to talk about things like the multiple competing species concepts, or the fact that plants frequently violate the definition of species by producing fertile hybrids through polyploidy (chromosomal doubling), I have to restrain myself. For simplicity’s sake, we’re accepting that Faunus and humans are members of the same species on the basis that they’re not reproductively isolated.

The reason why genetics matters in regards to the race-species discourse is because we have yet to learn what the Faunus truly are. If we ignore the fact that they exist because Monty Oum wanted to stick cat ears on a girl, then we have to figure out what their existence means to Remnant’s past: Did the Brother Gods intervene in the early evolution of Humanity v2.0, by creating a subset of people with animal traits that would sow discord, for the sole purpose of giving Ozma another obstacle to overcome? Did Salem (who watched Humanity v2.0 evolve) try to influence their evolution, and somehow managed to bestow animalistic traits upon select groups of early hominids? Is Dust like a magically-radioactive fossil fuel that by pure chance mutated early people through exposure, resulting in their animalistic traits? Are the Faunus’ animal traits completely irrelevant to the plot, and are only there for the sake of style?

That’s why the Faunus’ genetic background matters—because as the story progresses, it’s going to inform what questions the audience asks.

There’s a good chance that all of this will end up being nitpicky conjecture, and there won’t be any storytelling payoff. But I think it’s still important to address, if for no other reason than to illustrate why pre-production worldbuilding is essential for telling a coherent story. But I digress.

Genetics, and Its Relationship with Color Theory

It goes without saying that RWBY is defined by color. It’s reflected in nearly every facet of the franchise—team names, wardrobe, Dust color, Aura color, emblems, characters’ names, even the show’s title—and it’s just as important from a worldbuilding standpoint as it is from a narrative one. [8]

Where color theory and genetics cross paths is in the field of character appearance—specifically, hair and eye color. For the moment, let’s set aside eye color as a visual device for foiling and paralleling characters (like Yang Xiao Long’s purple eyes compared to Blake Belladonna’s yellow eyes). Instead, we’re going to talk about these phenotypes from a hereditary perspective.

We’re going to streamline this discussion a bit by focusing on hair for the moment, and picking three colors that would be considered unnatural by our world’s standards. Let’s go with blue, green, and pink. Here’s a handful of characters who have these traits:

Blue hair: Neptune Vasilias, Ciel Soleil, Henry Marigold, May Marigold, Nebula Violette, Sky Lark, Trifa

Green hair: Emerald Sustrai, Marrow Amin, Bartholomew Oobleck, Reese Chloris, Russel Thrush, Sage Ayana

Pink hair: An Ren, May Zedong, Nadir Shiko

Now we’re going to take those lists and swap out the characters’ names for their inferred country of origin:

Blue hair: Mistral, Atlas, Atlas, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, Menagerie

Green hair: Vale, Atlas, Vale, Mistral, Vale, Mistral

Pink hair: Mistral, Vacuo, Mistral

We can conclude that these hair colors are natural on the basis that we never see characters dying their hair, and that similarly unusual eye colors (red, pink, purple, yellow) would also be natural in Remnant. Unless we’re assuming that everyone is wearing custom contact lenses, then it’s safe to say they’re legit. With the example of hair color, you’ll notice that they’re distributed across a wide number of nationalities, with little hint of consistency among them.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to write this off as “the writers wanted to have cool character designs and not have to think too hard about the worldbuilding implications behind them.” But there is a worldbuilding implication behind them, and it’s one that I’ll be focusing on in later Deconstruction and Amendment posts, so I want to make sure we talk about it now:

RWBY has repeatedly shown us that people are fairly geographically isolated from each other, and travel between kingdoms has always been difficult due to the Grimm. It wasn’t until eighty years ago, when the Great War ended, that a combo of international political cooperation and technological advancements made travel safer and more commonplace. Keep in mind that when populations of humans are geographically isolated from each other over prolonged periods of time, it results in those populations evolving specific anatomical traits.

Let me give you a few real world examples. Epicanthic folds are predominantly found in East Asian, Polynesian, and North Asian ethnic groups. Red hair, while not exclusive to any one nationality, is statistically highest in people of Northwestern European ancestry. Darker complexion is most common in equatorial populations, where high melanin production (especially eumelanin) protects against UVR exposure.

RWBY has every reason under the sun to ascribe certain phenotypes to the ethnicities of each kingdom, and for some reason it just doesn’t. Like, why not make green hair a trait common to people with Sanus ancestry? How about red eyes originating from Anima?

Avatar: The Last Airbender pulled this off by making dark skin, brown hair, and blue/gray eyes features of the Water Tribes. The Fire Nation, to reflect its broader geographic distribution, has a much wider range of phenotypes, with both light and dark skin tones and black or brown hair. However, it still retained golden, amber, and bronze eyes as a distinguishing characteristic of people descended from this ancestry. Frankly, I love that the show took the time to establish those traits among its ethnic groups. Not only was it a great way to visually communicate to the audience the ethnicity of the characters, but those traits took on entirely new meanings in the sequel Avatar: The Legend of Korra. When we meet the brothers Mako and Bolin for the first time and see their respective eye colors—amber and green—we’re immediately able to deduce that they’re the products of successful multiculturalism, something that would’ve seemed impossible seventy years ago when the world was gripped by war. It’s a powerful statement that was conveyed through careful attention to detail and excellent worldbuilding. Given that RWBY also takes place several decades after a global war, the writers had the opportunity to pull off a similar feat. And I don’t think it ever occurred to them once.

At the end of the day, it’s not the worst thing RWBY could’ve done. I think I’m just disappointed by the missed opportunities. The show already has so little going for it when it comes to shaping the identities of its four main kingdoms, so with color being such a vital motif for the show, this feels like it should have been a natural progression of those ideas.

On a more positive note, we’ve finally reached the end of Worldbuilding (Part I) - Mechanical Aspects! Next time, we’ll get to introduce the second section of worldbuilding topics: history.

[1] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 42.

[2] World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 6: “Faunus.”

[3] Volume 5, Episode 3: “Unforeseen Complications.” Ghira Belladonna: “[Adam’s] actions not only tarnished the reputation of an organization originally created to bring peace and equality to all, but to our entire race.”

[4] World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 4: “Vacuo.”

[5] Volume 1, Episode 11: “Jaunedice - Part 1.”

[6] Volume 5, Episode 6: “Known by Its Song.”

[7] Volume 7, Episode 1: “The Greatest Kingdom.”

[8] Wallace, Daniel. The World of RWBY: The Official Companion. VIZ Media LLC, 2019, page 44.

#deconstruction #worldbuilding #writing #genetics #oh thank god it's done #time to go slither off to bed

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winter-chill · 4 years

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RWBY 7 - 3 “Ace Operatives” Thoughts

So thoughts...

BOO!!! they didn't work on stuff themselves.. although if it was Pietro and not just random scientists, I'll let it go :) And i'l give him props for using the Amity fights footage (i'll talk more on weapons later)

Oh, dust mines, launch site... ghiest, oh that's gonna bring back some memories

God Nora being so giddy about her stuff puts a smile on my face

and the Blake/Yang nod, the first of so many bumbleby touches this ep

They're really trying to hit hard again with Jaune and that sash, though it was a good set up for his hair cut (since I wouldn't really think of cutting it now when he's in a cold climate ideal)

Another very slight, but nice detail about having Yang be actually armless, not just fixing it while it's on her. We need more points like this, or maybe i just like the idea of it, but having those details shown off and not forgotten is nice. Also that's a beefy arm, though I swear it looks larger in the intro?

Again, having Blake have an onscreen notice of her hair leads well into why it's cut (though not showing it on screen? nor how/why her weapon's fix being gold... missed opportunity , truly)

WAIT??? Ruby got a NEW cloak? BOO, I would have thought her current one was still the original, has she been swapping it with each outfit? but, all the cuts and tears, the detail and history from her past fights, lost :(

I'll talk about the Oscar scene when it shows up, not here

Again, lovely intro to their new looks, but... could have been more. Showing them actually zip things up, buckle them in, cutting their hair themselves. Just lots of little details that would have added so much

I'll say it again, I think Yang's new glasses look weird.. too anime for the actual show style, but, I guess they 'work' ?

Also they all look to Ruby, this is her mission, her shot to call, she's back with her team (just rwby) for the first time so it's good to see them keeping the team dynamic, she was leader for a reason.

OH THIS SONG IS A BANGER!!!! also, totally a Weiss song (it said mirror)

Bunny hopping Ruby :D adorable

SUMMON SWORD SURFING!!! Finally

Blake really making the use of that ribbon, a little detail they again seem to forget about during most of 4-6 until it's necessary (running from adam in V6)

And... yep, no nonsense Yang sticking with the classics, recoil (( I take it back, Yang's arm is the same as the intro, though I still think it somehow got bigger than when she put it on ))

And end it all on an amazing pose shot

Okay Ace ops time. Harriet, let me see what that little backpack thing do. But for serious, rolling only stops you from getting hurt on small drops, not several hundred foot... Marrow though taking a similar root to Ruby, seeming to ride it down, but he's doing some troll physics there, "stand on chair, jump off building, jump off chair at last moment, you only actually fell 2 foot"

Also, boomerang, gun? Honestly I kind of dislike the generic gun looking form, would have been cooler if it didn't change, but just had a little barrel pop out an end when he needed to shoot.

And now JN- OMG ELM YES, Loving the attitude. Oh Vine what's that on your back? you wielding an expanding throwing star (three pronged)

erm, right... JN_R

so, we got, some sick new looks, Ren's ponytail especially. Jaune's hair (i was one to hate it at first) in motion looks great, the concept art didn't do it justice. Also holding his sword on his arm..... kind of reminds me of @kumafromtaiwan's design for Jaune

"okay Jaune, you got this, it's not gonna be like Beacon all over again"

Oh, is he gonna use his shield like a plow, smashing through rocks, or maybe as a wing and glide do............................

DID JAUNE JUST FORTNITE PARACHUTE SHIELD HIS ASS TO THE GROUND?

Moving on though, yep, Hard light dust was a genius move he would have stuck in his head from Argus, and opens up the question of adding (what i'm dubbing) Shield Shield, with his V4 Nuckelavee Sword Sword, to make hard light blades.... SWORD SWORD SWORD???

a quick little peak at his shield, the emblem lighting up as he shoots a blast to bounce him from hitting the floor, that better be used later too.

And another amazing pose shot!

Oh Elm, you really need to work on your social skills. Actually maybe all the Ace ops do?

POUTY NORA!!!

and, good luck bad luck duo for the final team, this'll be fun.

NEW SCROLLS! Love them, slim and cool, and with new team icons (c'mon girls, smile for your picture)

and that detail on how Ruby zoomed, Weiss had to summon, and Yang had some energy stored up, so their aura is down a bit, but Blake is 100%

THE EARS, THEY SENSE BEES

Oh Yang, adorable goof

Oh Blake, also an dorable goof!!!

And Marrow is indeed the baby of the squad, you said it well Harriet, if a tad harsh?

Weiss no, this is a bad place for your name, but you're here to make it a better one, to fix that remember!!

Has.. has no one taught Ruby to project her aura to keep her warm, or at the others just dealing with it better? Either way, same Ruby, i hate the cold

Okay, yes, Oscar chat time

I don't know what to say, I agreed with it the whole time. Atlas is in a mess, there are good and bad times to tell people, and it's nice that Ruby has her intentions, but this may have been the same path Ozma first took, hiding things "for now" but never finding a chance to tell the truth later... they just need to keep it in mind.

And Oscar, please look after the Relic, I can already see red flags over your head the moment you took it, be that from Ironwood doing shady shit, Watts/Tyrian stealing it, or Ozpin popping back up to use it's last question.

OH, Clover, hitting a man hard with that, bringing up STRQ :/ all those fanfics of Qrow ('s semblance) being behind Summer's death, they all feel more realistic

I almost forgot, Qrow's looking snazzy too, those cross buttons, the eye/feather emblem embroidery in the sleeves. No... no necklace though?

Oh god Qrow's getting shipped with everyone this volume it seems. Good catch Clover.... I MEAN LITERAL CATCH

Halfick? Halphr... what did he say? Don't bullshit me captions, that wasn't alpha

REN!!! PAY YOUR GIRLFRIEND SOME ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!! Jaune you dork, nice try?

Another great Bee moment, Yang too can sense a disturbance in the force.

Weiss this is great, but can you keep your emotional daddy issues and the racial discrimination of a whole people a little more separate. But it's nice to again see you trying to make some amends and distance yourself from being.. well, 'Jacques' and his actions

OOF, Marrow coming in, hitting hard, and then acting like he's.... a millennial "I'm just a teen who does research, what do I know, boomer"

this scene though. Issues and history of faunus oppression, followed by a Schnee apolagy, and a faunus using her traits to help fix the past for a new future... that's some symbolism

Oh, a jump scare, good thing about Blake's semblance there too

HARRIET YES!!!! BIG FISTS, JUST WHAT I WANTED!!! PUNCH THAT ROCK

And RW_Y right behind already running before the rumbles settled to help their girl

I LOVE THE GRIMM IN ATLAS. don't get me wrong, Deathstalkers are still top tier, but these things are awesome too

and now we get to upgrades!

Nice, so Yang has some trigger-able explosives, so she doesn't have to rely on her semblance to protect her when she's using his shotgun blasts

A subtle little thing there, Weiss being able to shoot an icle, not doing so from a glyph, but from the gun part of

Myrtenaster directly

Okay yes, this bugged me for so long. A scythe is a big weapon, the weight is in the blade as much as it is the handle, so having to turn it around all the time would be unwieldy and difficult in combat, so just a tiny upgrade like this is both smart, and amazing for Ruby to have realised she needed

Although I still don't get how shotting a bullet down the barrel, can give her swings an initial boost of speed........

Marrow really out here flying though the sky like he's on a zipline? though the buzz saw boomerang is, again, brilliant

Oh................ So the boy who cried wolf, can pause time? I erm- actually hold on, I need to figure out how that's logical......

I'm just gonna guess it's more "Harriet is moving so fast, he did this for dramatic affect XD

JN_R once again, taking a moment, a little nervous but willing and--- now they're very much not nervous, doing their thing, never first to run in, but never first to run away either.

Also, Vine has a stetchy arm semblance, and Elm has rooting feet semblance. Ye they make a good team (i ship them)

THERE'S THAT PURPLE SHIELD BLAST

And finally StormFlower is getting some love. I don't think they look different, but having those blades be used in more various ways... grapples were a great idea

and again, Nora using that spiked back of Magnahild for more than a place to stand when she launches herself, loving it!!!

Oh Jaune, being nervous dorky, Nora a little ashamed? or ready to be.. and Ren, quiet as ever (i think he's kind of looking up to Vine honestly) don't worry though, you kids did good

OH Harriet... you don't wanna be left out of the action do you :) RUBY YOU DORK! And that little back+forth was actually hilarious

Hmm, I was always wondering how a fishing rod could be a weapon.. i guess pulling a grimm in works, but what was your plan then, to punch the Ghiest?

OH MY GOD THAT ANIMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

again, what are you doing Clover? At least Qrow knows his semblance, acting all "i'm gonna look around, things could easily go wrong here"

Good luck bad luck eh? OH MY GOD Qrow don't make that face, the people are gonna ship you two even harder now!!!

And the hammer duo charging in first... ye Elm/Vine is just Atlas' Renora, and I love that dynamic

oh, weird dust draft from Ren stopping, sweat boiling on the rocks... this room is gonna be interesting, mess things up a bit? fluxuating gravity, hot and cold spots maybe??? Ah yes, dust energy... makes sense

And Marrow in the background while we hear him on the coms, just a great little look at how Vine seems to be "distant" from the moment, doing the whole, Ren style of vague-speak

Ye it is kinda empt-- oh. Also good work having not just the face move, but the whole midsection being rotated... kind of as if, the face is stuck to that one position... COINCIDENCE?

Erm, does this one seem bigger than the V4 Ghiest?

And now we see Ruby trying to act as leader, pause to think, to come up with a plan, where as the Ace (while more experienced) seem to have both a plan on how to take it out, and might also be a little to reliant on Clover, knowing his semblance will fix any little issues

Oh that trumpet, a very self-knowing victorious tune.

And again, Vine and Elm doing a whole of semblance work, shame we don't see them use their weapons a bit more here, same with Marrow though not using his semblance (whatever it is) at all.

HEY WAIT. those black parts weren't there earlier, nor did they appear on the V4 Grimm until it needed them to pull toge- oh... they stretched the limbs to force both a space to cut them, and for the grimm parts to sort of 'be revealed'

And another eye colour semblance indication. Loving the runners pose Harriet does too. She's not time-pausing fast... (I take back what I said about Marrow's semblance earlier?) but things do act slower, even while she's running quicker than we'd see as normal in that moment. It's not time-pausing, but it's very very fast. And the motion blur trail!!, just a tiny effect, but it adds so much detail

Marrow really is the child of the squad, he's the one to make a mistake, but again- kind of had to rely on Clover there.. Interesting to see how things pan out when he's inevitably killed, or trapped, or just isn't there

Little details here and there. Vine using his semblance not just to grab, but to push the grimm back. Harriet taunting it to get it's attention and then getting out before it can hit her (but late enough that it keeps it's attention on her and really slams it's fist down). Elm again sticking to her name, rooting that fist down, being basically an anchor in all her actions. And Marrow... throwing his boomerang

UGH.. that little medallion touch pisses me off somehow, it's so pretentious? but anyway, he had a good idea, pulling it out by it's mask, kinda really relying on his semblance to get between it and the ice chunk without bouncing off anything. Again, very semblance reliant group

Erm... she punched the grimm.. but i wouldn't say it's dead.. are we gonna ignore that??? IT'S GONNA RETURN LATER I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT

Vine again grabbing dust, would have loved to have seen Elm basically kick one to stick it to her feet instead of just catching (or pinning herself to a wall to catch it, as if it was too high to jump and catch)

And Harriet going in for the catch, only for....oh.. that's the first thing RWBY or JNR did this fight? (also no weird dust affects, i feel upset)

But ohhh, her semblance isn't speed. I had this same issue in last volume, that her semblance early on was supposed to be speed, and yet she uses it to fly, to separate into several for moments, and she can 'merge' with others to carry then, when like for Nora in V4 her reaction speed should have been way too slow to really be ready for when she was basically thrown at the previous ghiest

AY yep, I'm shocked if Ruby has control over her eyes, she never tried to flash them off during this whole scene... but again, after Maria's story, hiding them from people we don't fully trust is better

And another little bee moment, Yang flirting with them puns

Omg! Elm carrying Ruby, Yang and Nora dancing, love this group dynamic

Hey, it's that guy from last episode, why are we... Robyn?

huh, kinda spooky... flickering lights... Robyn, watts, or...

TYRIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why are you not wearing your coat, it's cold remember! but that entrance, reminds me again of that "Cheshire cat inspiration" people first thought of back in his V4 reveal

HIS EYES!!! So whatever he does that triggers them is still apparent, and his stinger either still uses his own venom, or it's semblance related

And that line. He's here to mix things up... either he's finally gonna kill someone and let the police find out (unlike last ep when his victim was in a building, it'll take time till that's discovered... oh wait, blood) or he's here for info maybe?

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pink-wisp · 4 years

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A/N: I usually dont post full chapters here but May needs more content in her tags and this is pretty short. less than 2k? Have some OT4 fluffy set up and May being really gay. I cut the important parts from the last chapter to try and make it a little more standalone.

Summary:

Penny reminded her of the days before graduation before things got complicated. She was curious and optimistic. Enjoying the smallest wonders that people take for granted. May could understand Winter's desire to protect her. No matter how the soldier tries to hide it, she could see Winter yearning for more.

So May tried to slow down her heart as Penny's hands drifted down her arm and into her own. That steady grasp keeping her grounded as she pulled May into another section the celebrities had wandered too.

"Perhaps, ma'am," Ciel spoke up. The group turned to the officer-in-training. Penny stepped closer to her, a little protective with a smile that almost defused the situation. It worked on three, Xanthic seemed to grow a little more furious. "Glade and Xanthic would respond better to a demonstration. The Atlas' Welcoming Fair is focusing on the third and fourth years this week."

"Oh! Good idea," May gasped.

"No, bad idea," Aro said nose wrinkling in disgust. "Atlas Military and Hunts Associations are scouting for recruits. Business companies are looking for a new face to slap on their product. It'll be filled with people trying to make connections with people like me."

Penny giggled a little as the small fight between the four of them settled into frustrated thought. Aro was right about one aspect, she did deserve to be arrogant. "Oh!" Penny gasped, eyes wide. She looked at her Faunus, "Does 'Aro' stand for arrogant?"

Ciel's professional demeanor completely broke beside her. She coughed on air, trying not to laugh but still somehow managed to murmur, "Holy shit."

May just immediately crackled, head thrown back in laughter while the last three stared with disbelief for a few seconds. It broke around the same time Penny tilted her head in confusion.

"Now it does," Winter mused with a smile. She cleared her throat, trying to calm May down. The Huntress only squatted, hands clasp over her mouth with tears pricking her eyes. "Aro," Her demeanor cracked with a brief smile. The Faunus softly growled, a weak show of teeth and ears poking out low. "Would draw unwanted attention."

"Like your white as fuck hair wouldn't," Aro quickly shot back.

May was gasping for breath. "Oh that settles it, I love her."

-------

May was sure she was going to die. Not in a glorious fight trying to protect her friends but in a pathetic excuse of a job fair. On Atlas Military grounds. Surrounded by people.

With a soft hand with a steady iron grip and pressure always on her.

The game of find-the-disguised-celebrities was now also a game of don't-crush-on-your-bestfriend's-crush. It was hard not to. Penny was practically a gift from the Goddess and Brothers. The years after graduation wasn't kind to her… friendship with Winter and Aro. May hadn't talked to Winter in nearly a year. Aro could get obsessive over her work for months at a time and when she wasn't busy she was a manipulative bitch.

Penny reminded her of the days before graduation before things got complicated. She was curious and optimistic. Enjoying the smallest wonders that people take for granted. May could understand Winter's desire to protect her. No matter how the soldier tries to hide it, she could see Winter yearning for more.

It was a bout in a tournament that was supposed to be impressive. It had the crowd talking and buzzing with flashes that always glowed bright in Penny's cybernetic eyes. Explosions would pitch the room pure white but May could always see Winter and Aro in the distance, so close they were almost leaning on each other. Old instincts kept trying to get closer look. To see where they touched. Were they holding hands and what was Aro whispering into Winter's ears?

But Penny's grip tethered her. With eyes alive with entertainment and joy but a voice so curious it was nearly innocent. "Why do you keep staring at them?" Penny asked, in a slow way that was not innocent.

Penny pouted. It was a quiet but sharp hum in frustration. There was a tight squeeze around May's hand and a gentle tug. May's nerves escaped in a weak laugh. Her mind kept trying to focus on the fight. It followed her heart down, down, falling into the endless cycle of Penny's calm and steady hand. Her eyes kept wandering to the pair.

The years wasn't kind. Business and work may have drifted them apart but it was so easy to fall back into what their hearts wanted.

"They look good together!" her voice squeaked out. She could feel Winter's amused stare on her face. It was hot and totally not from May's flush.

"Yes, their appearance does complement each other very well." Penny said. No intimidating horns or militant uniform. Out of their usual attire they look… softer. May's eyes wandered up from their cleavage. They looked back at the celebrities to find them both staring back. "But if we keep staring we'll give them away…"

More than once Elm or Marrow was close to them. Both times they threw them with some casual PDA. First it was an arms linked together. Elm quickly looked elsewhere for the Ice Queen. Marrow wasn't tricked so easily. Out of all of the Ace-Ops he spent the most time goofing off with May and Fiona before graduation.

By extension that meant Aro and Winter. He knew how affectionate Aro can be and how patient Winter really is towards the people she cared about. But to Marrow they were just friends. So when Winter slid her hand down Aro's back and to her waist, Marrow wandered off. He didn't see that hand continued lower. A brief pause on Aro's wide hips. The Schnee staring at May.

Then down to Penny.

"Oh." May breathed out.

"Oh." Penny breathed in.

May quickly looked down. Penny had a… bond with Aro. It was an instant chemistry and she didn't want Penny to feel like Winter was stealing it but… The young huntress-in-training didn't seem disturbed. Surprised but also enthralled. There was more than a curious learning.

"Times up." Ciel announced behind them. The two nearly screamed and jumped. Ciel frowned but Xanthic work a smug grin and raised brow.

Like always the genius knew exactly what May was thinking. She's know her fist would be in that face if it wasn't for the crowd. Or the butterflies that floated her up to cloud nine. Or the nervous ginger who slowly let go of her hand.

"Huh. There's actually a lot of people with white and green hair."

"Right?" Fiona giggled. "Was Vine even trying? We were nowhere near that area."

May watched them. Her eyes occasionally drifting to Penny and each time she could feel herself falling. Did she know she was like a storm? Alive, changing everything and everyone around her? Graduation wasn't kind to any of them and it tested bonds nearly to the breaking point. Even Fiona and Robyn had their rough moments but May and Winter…

Like a year.

Penny finally looked at her and smiled. May couldn't help but return it. Again those soft hands and steady grip was on her. Pulling her from the table and too a game with stuff animals. One of them just happened to be a fluffy goat.

"Would… would it be insulting if give this to Aro?"

"Nah, she's weird." May said with a shrug. Fiona and Marrow would glare at her with the animal puns. "Aro loves it when people reference her animal traits, embraces it and owns it y'know?" May said hands moving to show Aro's sign name. It was still recognizable to hearing people, with how the fingers drew Aro's usual vertical horns. The nice subtle May liked about it was that you do it with the 'G' sign, for gold.

Penny nodded then focused on the game. May watched, arms crossed. At times she was envious of Penny. A cute girl rolls in and suddenly Aro wants to change, suddenly Winter has all the time in the world. May knew that wasn't true, nothing was ever that simple with the Military and definitely with Aurora Glade-

"Boo!"

"Aaagh!" May screamed, elbow flying back and hitting something hard. Something with glasses and ears pointing low. Someone with sea green and sincere eyes… and a bleeding nose. "Shit. A-Aro I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine." Aro tried to touch her nose but Winter's hand was quickly on her and pushing it down. With a tired glance at May she gently convinced Aro to look up at her. It was a nonverbal cue. Not sign language but fingers… gently on her chin.

May was sure she was going to die. Watching her childhood crush gentle handle her other crush in outfits May loved. The kind that dips a little too low. The ones that hug Winter's slim waist and sleeveless shirts that still strain with Aro's muscles. Old instincts kept trying to get closer look but she was stilled by Winter's commanding eyes.

"Aro. Turn on your Aura."

Her eyes flashed a glowing blue. Her Aura flickered but never really coated her body.

"Perhaps it would help if you breathed, Aurora." Penny said. May tensed up so much she shivered a little. Her chest was so tight it was difficult to take in any air. She had forgotten they were right next to the booth Penny was playing. To enchanted by Winter's spell of Aro, now she was falling under Penny's voice. It was innocent and smooth tone was too controlled.

Satisfied she let Aro go and the Faunus rushed to May. Old instincts of hiding from the Schnee kicking in, only this time arms wrapped around her waist and her face nuzzled into her back.

"They're being mean!" The mechanic said into May's coat.

"Judging from your heartrate and lack of combat response," Penny paused, playful steps stopping at Winter's side. In her arms was that stuff animal she wanted. "You enjoyed it." Aro peeked around with a pathetic show of teeth and a growl that was more like a whine. Penny smiled. Just because it was cute and bright didn't mean it was innocent. Even when she offered the stuff animal, "If I give this to you are you going to hide behind it?"

Aro nodded.

"Hm… Then I'll give you your gift later! Your current expressions and behavior is quite enjoyable!"

Aro buried her face into May's back again. May was trying to remember how to breath, eyes daring everywhere but always returning to Winter's smug and amused face. The contrast between her and Penny was making her dizzy.

Maybe…

May took a breath and manage to coax Aro onto her arm instead. She still blushed furiously, so spell bound she didn't fight when Penny fixed played with her fluttering ears and fixed her glasses. Winter relaxed, giving her a genuine smile and a playful raised brow.

Maybe falling this time wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she'll actually live to see where this goes.

#may marigold #winter schnee #penny polendina #cutting strings #wispywrites #rwby

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forcefuried · 4 years

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OVERVIEW.

just a few quick headcanons before i begin--i hc faunus have more than one animal trait since the reason why they don’t have more than one is literally because the rooster teeth team didn’t want to/couldn’t animate full-fledged furries anthropomorphic animals and those restrictions don’t have to exist in RP. also, i hc that faunus can shapeshift into their animal forms, and retain some behaviors/characteristics of their animal forms…because why the fuck not >:3

anakin is an orphaned eagle faunus who started his life in atlas. he was taken from his parents while he was still an egg, so he never knew them and never even managed to find them before they died. while it is illegal in all the known countries of remnant to keep a faunus as a pet, many of the elites of those countries get away with it anyway and do it because they think it’s cool/exotic--and that’s what happened to poor ani. anakin was owned by a high-ranking atlesian officer named krokus blume who trained him in falconry (why do falconry with a falcon when you can do it with an eagle) and mechanics (why hire a grown-ass human when you have a faunus boy genius that you can sucker into working for free). he was shown off and treated like a trophy to all of that assjacket’s friends, including jacques schnee, until one day at age 9, anakin flipped out on his master by taking out one of his eyes and then shapeshifting into half-human form during a public falconry demonstration--revealing to all of atlas that he was being held illegally. this was in response to a previous altercation in which krokus fucking cut off his wings for “disappointing him” in a falconry display and forced him to build himself new ones that “worked better.”

afterward he was placed into foster care. foster care in remnant is as nasty as it is in the real world, often littered with abusive parents or parents who only take on the kids for the money--and what’s more, when it comes to faunus kids, systems often refuse to place them with faunus parents. nobody wanted to adopt anakin because he was a physically disabled faunus who had begun to show signs of ADHD and bipolar disorder, and who had the dubious reputation of having slashed out the eye of a high-ranking military official--he was not given any penalty due to having been enslaved, but many people thought he should have been. so he was shunted around several human households who took him on for the money at best.

he went to school to train as a hunter, where he quickly became top of the class in terms of battle performance--but bottom of the class in terms of written work, and not to mention, he had a lot of behavioral problems stemming from his tough home situation. he eventually dropped out by pulling a prank on the level of fred and george leaving hogwarts, ran away from the school and atlas and moved to vacuo because it’s a lot more chaotic, unpredictable + adventurous which he’d love. he eventually became a vigilante.

i’m not sure where to have him go from here but he’s around the same age as the main cast, maybe 2 - 3 years older. he probably never attended shade academy because he never got treatment for his ADHD and for that reason gave up on school entirely. he would have learned how to fight and be a hunter from various mentors, possibly in criminal organizations, but he wouldn’t want to tie himself down to any of them because due to his upbringing he hates the idea of having any sort of master. anakin is a morally grey hero in this verse like he is in basically all of his verses, but i don’t think i’ll ever have him go full-on evil because this boi needs a verse where he doesn’t go vader lmao.

WEAPON, SEMBLANCE, STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES.

his semblance is called flow, and it allows him to create effects in the world based on his emotions. emotions such as anger, hatred, fear, and an adrenaline rush while fighting will harm and destroy, whereas emotions such as happiness and love will help and heal. he is much better at the former than the latter, to the point that he isn’t even aware that he can heal people with positive emotions because he’s an angry bitter bastard who deals primarily in destruction. the weaknesses of this ability are the following:

the ability can sometimes send his feelings out of control to the point that he passes out. sometimes what really sucks is that he just gets super emotional and faints before he can actually do anything because his power level increases too fast for him to handle.

chemicals. if he’s captured and drugged he is basically useless, because as long as the chemicals are in effect, he won’t have emotions strong enough to get himself out of the mess.

he can summon his power by trying to make himself angry or cheer himself up, but feeling the emotion he needs while prompted by external factors produces far better results.

when he does learn how to repair/heal with positive emotions, he will still have significant trouble with it due to his default state being an angry bastard, and this will not change unless he has significant personal growth.

not a weakness but just wanted to add: i called it “flow” as a reference to palpatine’s quote, “let the hate flow through you.” >:3

his weapon is a lightsaber, or as it is known in this verse, a kyber blade. these weapons are either swords or knives that have blades made of the aura contained in rare kyber crystals, energy that can melt bullets, slice through almost anything like sw canon lightsabers, and retract its blade to fire energy at others like a blaster. they are the favored weapons of the atlesian upper class--but anakin got his own by stealing from krokus.

he sabotaged his master’s sword, and when krokus demanded he fix it, he bullshat some explanation that it was broken beyond repair. krokus, who didn’t know a damn thing about mechanics, threw it away, after which anakin retrieved it and made it his own. he got one of his hands chopped off for failing to repair the blade. but not only did he find it worth it even then, he lost that entire forearm in his teens anyway, so he honestly doesn’t care.

due to their cybernetics, kyber blades are mildly sentient, like wands in harry potter. they have preferences for certain masters, they always work best in the hands of their preferred people, and to those they especially dislike, they won’t work unless forced/reprogrammed. when anakin contrived the plot to steal krokus’ sword and succeeded, he won its allegiance--which is how he managed to keep it, seeing as it’s frowned upon in atlesian culture to disrespect a blade’s wishes.

most kyber blades are green, blue or light blue since those are the most common types of crystal, followed by purple, white and yellow as those are the other sw light side saber colors. red is actually more common of a color than purple, white and yellow, but nobody uses it due to superstition: that they are bad luck, that they corrupt their owners, that they are hard to get along with and the blades they’re in become disloyal, or even that a red kyber crystal only responds to those who are inherently evil/take pleasure in harming others. however, when anakin got krokus’ blue-crystaled saber, he eventually found a red crystal to replace it with because 1) it worked better with his semblance and 2) he just wanted to be edgy as fuck.

just as in mainverse he is a quadruple amputee, as well as having artificial wings in both humanoid and eagle form. the artificial limbs which he built himself give him more physical strength, but they are also weak to electrical attacks, especially the neural interface--if you shock him real good, he won’t be able to move at all.

he is an amazing flier while he is in eagle form and knows a bit about piloting ships, but he’s much better flying on his own than flying ships, as it’s what he grew up with doing falconry and fancy flying tricks, and he finds it more natural.

oh and another thing: as a child he was proven a genius in terms of IQ and he is great with his hands, but due to giving up on formal education at age 13 and due to never having been given proper resources to handle his disabilities, his literacy as well as his understanding of anything he doesn’t hyperfixate on is still stuck at a ~5th grade level. he knows a lot of mechanical science and vocabulary because he has been given hands-on experience with it, but don’t ask him to read a scientific journal on the matter because he’d get lost on the first page. he is aware that there is so much more he could learn if he got his reading up to college level, and he wants to. but he hasn’t sought help for it yet because he has internalized the notion that his ADHD will prevent him from achieving this, and he’s too proud, stubborn and afraid of judgment to admit it to anyone.

due to being an eagle faunus, he is also extremely farsighted. he can spot something as small as a rabbit from a mile away, but he needs special glasses to be able to carry out daily human tasks such as reading the text on his scroll.

last thing i want to list: it is important for the development of faunus that during ages 0 - 10 they spend a relatively equal amount of time shifting between humanoid and animal form, lest they have trouble shifting between one or the other. due to being someone’s pet, anakin spent too much time in eagle form during this critical phase of development and so he will ALWAYS have trouble staying humanoid. while he is an eagle he can’t use his weapon, and he can’t be understood by anyone who isn’t a faunus or a mind reader.

#headcanon. || RWBY AU #on iron wings. || RWBY AU #abuse*#slavery*

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