#rwby is worth defending

[novankenn]

Saints of the Sword

Something was wrong at Beacon, but Cardin couldn't put his finger on it. But he knew it revolved around teams RWBY and JNPR, and the new transfer student Jade Hedera. So he watched, as things unfolded. It sickened him what he saw. He was an ass and yes bully, but even he wouldn't be so dismissive of someone he cared for or called a friend.

So Cardin and his team made a choice. Something was rotten in Beacon, something insidious and twisted. When Jaune left, so did they...

(images generated by perchance ai text-to-image)

A year later they have returned, to Beacon. Invited under the guise of taking part in the Vytal Festival... a company of warriors, known as officially as the Chevalier... but to the people they have helped, have defended, rescued and avenged... they are the Saints of the Sword

I am going to very BLUNT with this statement, even though it seems like it... THIS IS NOT an everyone betrays Jaune fic. There is much more going on including Jaune's own low sense of self-worth.

/==Volume One ==/ ONE - TWO - THREE - FOUR - FIVE

SIX -

#saints of the sword #volume one #rwby #cardin winchester #jaune arc #various OCs #team jnpr #team rwby #team crdl #mental manipulation

[reashot]

RWBY Politically Incorrect podcast

(Disclaimer: This is just for fun. Please don't come to my house and threaten to kill my family. Again.)

Episode: 02. Gun Control. And how we should learn to love and accept the blood bath.

Yang: Welcome dear listener for another episode of Team RWBY's Podcast. I'm your host Yang.

Ruby: And I'm also your host Ruby Rose.

Blake: I'm Blake. I'll also be your host for today.

Weiss: And I'm Weiss. Same.

Yang: Today will be a talking about a terrible, terrible tragedy that just happened. There's been a shooting.... At a kindergarten. By a 6 years old. Over 50 people confirmed dead. Mostly little children. The reason for the high number of fatalities is because the police were too scared to go in until they get their tank support. Now let us do the traditional do nothing ritual whenever this sort of thing happens.

Ruby: Thoughts & Prayers...

Weiss: Thoughts & Prayers...

Blake: Thoughts & Prayers...

Yang: Thots & Brazzers... Now let's milk this tragedy for what it's worth! I mean... Let's talk about this tragedy and how we as a society can try to prevent such a thing from happening. Of course before we can begin we need to talk about our sponsor.

This episode is brought to you by ladyscape. Whether you're a human or a faunus. Ladyscape have everything you need to maintain your "bush" Or "fur" to make sure you look presentable for that special someone. Whether you're a Sigma (Fe)male like me or soft & delicate like my little sister. Ladyscape got you covered. And if you entered the special code TEAMRWBY. That's all caps and no space. You will received 30% off on your online purchase. So what are you waiting for go ahead and order it right now. And I'm saying this as a fellow user. And now back to your regularly scheduled show.

Let's talk about Gun Control and why it's morally wrong not to arm every little children in the country.

Blake: What!? That's a stupid idea Yang!!!

Weiss: Of course the SJW would find the idea of arming children detestable. I think arming kid is a great idea. How else are they supposed to be soldiers in the future?

Blake: That's an extremely messed up reasoning Weiss.

Ruby: I'll tell you what's messed up Blake. 6 years old not having a chance to defend themselves with fully automatic weapons!

Blake: Ruby. Do you even listen to yourself?!

Yang: I agree with Blake here...

Blake: Finally...

Yang: How would even a 6 years old handle the recoil of a fully automatic weapons. Shouldn't we start small with a .22 LR first?

Blake: Are you kidding me!!!

You can call in (comment) on their podcast to ask them any questions you want.

The poll are just for the order they will appear.

#rwby #rwby shitpost #rwby podcasts #politically incorrect #satire #podcast #thoughts and prayers #podcast culture #team rwby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #ooc #please don't kill me #this is just joke #flanderization

[itsclydebitches]

Hi Clyde, I adore your metas. I can't help but feel that the way team RWBY has been handling Jaune's situation is eerily similar to how thet behaved with Ironwood back in V7: withholding trust and compassion to an ally who needs both, being dismissive of them and their plans while benefitting from them (getting shelter, weapons, licenses, a possible way out of the Ever After), and then making decisions that shatter the foundations of their trust and potentially trigger their trauma (hide crucial information, leak secrets to an opponent, celebrate the mass 'sacrifice' of the people Jaune sought to protect and questioning important knowledge he's been holding onto for years).

There's also this repeated mistake of listening to someone random for two seconds (Robyn, the cute paper person) and then quickly deciding that they know better than the ally who's been working on this for decades.

I really hope the writers take at least one simple scene to make the protagonists acknowledge that they've been in this situation before and maybe learn from their mistakes in Atlas so they don't repeat them in the Ever After with Jaune, but they've already given that 'that's how Ironwood thought' line like sharing his POV is such an outlandish thing, when to me that was the perfect opportunity to reflect on how perfectly decent people can reach that conclusion too when faced with difficult circumstances. But idk, what do you think, Clyde?

I'm so glad you enjoy them, anon! <3

Oh man, I feel like you've just articulated one of the reasons I have little faith in this Jaune vs. Ruby argument going somewhere, despite the argument itself giving me a lot of what I've been waiting for. This does feel like we've seen it before, which likewise generates the feeling that it will end the same way as Volume 8 . To summarize + add to what you've listed above:

The group enters Atlas, a foreign culture to all but Weiss / The group enters the Ever After, a foreign culture to all but Jaune

They spend time wandering aimlessly until a battle results in their arrest / They spend time wandering aimlessly until a battle results in their rescue

They're immediately given food, shelter, and weapon upgrades / They're immediately given food, shelter, and Crescent Rose back

The group learns that Ironwood has been shouldering everything alone, resulting in mental health struggles / The group learns that Jaune has been shouldering everything alone, resulting in mental health struggles

They express discomfort, annoyance, and a low-key fear rather than sympathy / 🔁

Ironwood admits that not everything is solved yet, but he has a plan to re-establish communications / Jaune admits that not everything is solved yet, but he has a plan to try and find a way out

The group is frustrated that their problems aren't solved now that they've arrived / 🔁

Ironwood promotes them into a new position of authority, huntresses / Jaune promotes them into a new position of authority, defenders of the Paper Pleasers

Doing everyday Huntsmen activities is met with more frustration and a casual dismissal of its importance / 🔁

The girls immediately trust Robyn with no evidence despite being wary of allies / The girls immediately trust this one Paper Pleaser despite being wary of their ally

Ren calls the group out on their horrific mistakes and is immediately dismissed / Jaune calls Ruby out on her horrific mistakes and immediately apologizes

There's a lot of questioning about Penny's worth as a person until Ruby decides she needs to be human / There's some questions about the worth of the Paper Pleasers as people until Ruby decides they're "make believe"

Penny commits assisted suicide and that's celebrated by the story (via her happy reunion with Winter / The Paper People commit suicide and that's celebrated by the story (via Ascension)

Atlas is left in ruins, regardless of how 'necessary' that was to escape / The village is left in ruins, regardless of how 'necessary' that was for them to Ascend

Obviously there are going to be some similarities due to Volume 9 continuing the themes and questions of Volume 8, but yeah, it really feels like the group is walking the same path and making the same mistakes: find someone knowledgeable, powerful, and compassionate, doubt them because they haven't fixed every problem, further doubt them because their struggles have led to deteriorating mental health (the fact that we're supposed to be feeling for Ruby in the same episode that Jaune is labeled crazy...), dismiss the personhood of non-human entities (WHAT HAPPENED TO "SQUISHY GUTS" BEING UNNECESSARY? My Nuts and Dolts heart aches for old Ruby), then shrug off leaving a place destroyed because hey, you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Rinse and repeat, I guess.

All that's left is for Jaune to unexpectedly go off the deep end in a completely OOC manner, resulting in him trying desperately to do some good in his final moments while Team RWBY escape the Ever After, presumably leaving him to die :/

(Obviously idk what they're going to do with Jaune - it's a tricky situation, to say the least - but if they don't go the easy route of, "Then the tree magicked him young again and we'll never mention that he's mentally in his 50s!" I honestly wonder if they'd kill him off. I have problems with how Jaune is written, specifically in how he's prioritized by the plot over the girls, but I do not want him to meet an Ironwood-esque end.)

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[peace-fantasia]

I genuinely weep for when RWBY finishes and their fandom behavior spills over to other ones.

Like just for the possibility of girl kissing. They’ll ignore the racism, ableism and classism in the show and in the studio. Disgusting. And then harass queer and minorities for not praising it.

You can’t say you want queer rep when the company your defending called someone a slur until they quit.

You can’t say you care about racism when they hijacked a civil rights movement. And a black worker in their company had to see the n word until they quit.

You can’t pretend you care about classism when bitching about Ironwood when you ignore the workers not being paid.

You can’t pretend to get mad about Adam being abusive when you ignore about the physical abuse workers dealt with at rooster teeth.

Like this is a cartoon run by a evil corporation who learned nothing except new ways to be racist and ableist.

Real people got hurt for this product. No amount of fictional and terrible representation is worth the actual pain Rooster Teeth had done against the people you say you want represented.

#RWDE #anti rooster teeth

[the-path-to-redemption]

What's your thoughts on the Dillion Goo situation. I saw Dillion Goo Ktasuwatch animation way back and I thought it was pretty good. I'm not to sure on his story board skills but I'm hoping he can get a staff to help him out or someone who is willing to help him out. Also I found this post of someone reacting to someone defending Dillion Goo

https://www.tumblr.com/lilithfairen/744831119694921728/dont-normally-bother-doing-this-but-no?source=share

I can't see the post, which is a blessing because exposing me to Lil*th's bitch ass is a form of psychological torture.

Moving onto Dillon Goo, I'm on the team of let him have at it, since he's having support from an OG of RWBY, Shane Newville, helping him out with their version of RWBY. He's a fantastic animator and I wish them all the best, especially with getting a full team to help them with such an impressive project.

Seriously, I am a big supporter of indie creators and fan creators, and any version of RWBY reimagining to me is worth checking out once, even if I won't end up liking them. Hell, I do not like FRWBY as much as others, but I have a lot of faith in small creators who are willing to take criticism and grow, unlike RT/CRWBY.

Best of wishes to Dillon Goo man. That is an endeavor that I don't doubt will be quite a burden.

#answered #anonymous #rwde #rwby critical #anti rooster teeth #dillon goo #fuck rt

[kitkatopinions]

RWBY Stans: Calm down, they're fictional characters bro. its just a show.

Me: *explains what I thought they could have been and point out RT's moral decline*

Also RWBY Stans: *screams what I do won't change canon and make it a matter of life and death, jump to whataboutism for RT*

The amount of fans who act like liking a fictional character or not liking one fictional ship is proof of evil, but then blindly defend or support Rooster Teeth when they do real life harm is absolutely stunning.

News flash for all of them: It does no real life harm to any people if I write a fanfiction where Ironwood isn't a villain. It does do real actual harm to people if Rooster Teeth refuses to pay them what they're worth. It does no real life harm to any people if I don't ship Blake and Yang. It does do real actual harm to people if they get called slurs and the company doesn't do anything to help them.

These anti-critics are so often just totally immoral, because they throw around accusations just because people like a fictional character, but they actually don't give a damn about any of the things they claim to care about, because they'll never actually condemn things like Miles Luna's history of misogyny or RT's mistreatment of their staff or the fact that Kdin was called a queerphobic slur for years. Real life harm doesn't matter to them, the only thing that matters to them is their comfort and their ability to be a hateful bully.

#rwde

[nov4-rocket5]

Not sure why some of FNDM (mostly Seeker) are always so eager to bring up edgy Abused and Neglected Reader fanfic.

Yeah. Terrible fanfiction exists. This isn't a moral failing on anyone's part bro. And nobody I know in RWDE ever defends them either. Lousy fanfiction written by middle schoolers is stupidly low-hanging fruit that really isn't worth much discussion. Especially when Wattpad fanfic has always been completely unhinged.

Seriously, have you looked at any of the other RWBY Reader-Inserts there? When you get to the ones where the Reader is an isekai'd WWII/Vietnam soldier, Chernobyl scientist, or a Soviet, you really quit being shocked.

#rwde

[darksaiyangoku]

Part 2 of my rant

I no longer have any shred of respect for Miles and Kerry as writers. I know I already mentioned them in my first rant, but because they were on RWBY since Volume 1, I'm more disappointed with them than I am with Eddy and Kiersi. To Miles and Kerry, I played Devil's Advocate for them for longer than I should have and frankly, I won't defend them on this. They fucked up and fucked up big.

Lying to the audience for 5 years, blatantly ignoring how toxic wasps can be, throwing every bit of development of Blake and Sun out of the window for a ship that barely had any, etc

And if they have nerve, the fucking nerve, to say that "this was planned from the beginning", I'll call bullshit because no. No it wasn't.

If it really was, Blake and Sun wouldn't have even been an option and Blake and Yang would've been the main romance in the earlier volumes. And it's not like Rooster Teeth is part of a network or anything, they could've easily done BumbleBY much earlier. But they didn't. Instead, they focused on Blake and SUN'S budding relationship, NOT Blake and Yang's. And they focused on it for 5 volumes. That's 5 years worth of development in real time right there. If it really was "planned from the beginning", then Blake and Sun wouldn't have been set up AT ALL. That's not even getting into how OOC Yang was made to be whenever she was around Blake in vols 8-9. She became neglectful of everyone that wasn't Blake, including Ruby. You know, her own sister. It says a lot when vol 5, one of the weaker vols, understands Yang's character far better than vols 8-9 ever did.

As bad as the wasps are, I blame the whole BlackSun vs BumbleBY on CRWBY. This is without a doubt all their fault. If they had just focused on one ship and didn't try to do both, this fandom wouldn't have been divided as it is now. They're the ones who casued this drama in the first place.

Honestly, this whole thing just reeks of an excuse to me. Like, they knew they were gonna get hate for it and they're just trying to cover their asses. The most likely secnario is, and based on how it was presented in the anime, that BlackSun was going to happen, but they saw how popular BumbleBY was and decided to go for that instead. Planned from the beginning, my ass.

But then again, what should I expect? This is the same company whose motto is "controversy is good" after all.

It says a lot when fans have more respect for the characters, lore, dust and semblance system, combat and everything involving RWBY far more than RWBY's own writers ever did.

To end this, I do want to say that I don't hate Yang or Blake at all. What I hate are the poor writing decisions done to them by Miles and Kerry. To quote ComicDrake; "there are no such things as bad characters, only bad writers". And Miles and Kerry, when it came to Blake and Yang, are those bad writers.

#rwby volume 9 #spoilers #rant #darksaiyangoku.txt #part 2

[sytokun]

Just so we can clarify. You actually think the Shane Newville Letter is legitimate? Also, you mentioned Monty's Tweet that involved defending Barbara Dunkelman. You said it was never specified who? Do you seriously believe that M&K "Ruined Monty's vision?" Was it not Miles and Kerry who Monty asked to help him write RWBY, and not Shane or Sheena? Why put on a pedestal people who had nothing to do with the show?

I'm leaving this under Read More because this is a tiring conversation we somehow still have to talk about.

Let's get to the root of this matter, which is the word of the letter vs. that of Rooster Teeth.

A company we now know is willing to spin whatever yarn if it means winning fans over to their side, and more than 40+ employees besides Shane have spoken out against once they actually felt safe to do so, because for once the fandom's opinion wasn't just 100% on RT's side and would immediately dismiss the workers on any other day? We're talking about that company, enabling that fandom, right?

Alright, cool. Because if you still don't think that the letter is at least worth reading after Rooster Teeth is revealed to be one of the worst workplaces ever, after numerous people have spoken regarding petty office politics, blatant theft of intellectual property and PR shenanigans, then I don't think you're here to actually discuss anything other than to get some "gotcha" moment you feel entitled to.

Shane's letter doesn't exist in a vacuum. It exists among years of abuse and coverups at Rooster Teeth, among dozens of anonymous reviews and now dozens of public accounts and callouts from employees we now know is true. All of which Rooster Teeth is more than willing to delegitimize, ignore or divert fan attention from. You realise that's the stance you're taking, right?

What do you see when you think of Shane's letter? Like honestly? That some pissed-off employee would spend 36 pages to gripe about some company that didn't give him what he want, like some spoiled brat? The letter would be laughed out the door and forgotten the moment it went public. But people are still talking about it, and you are still bringing it up and calling it to the witness stand as well. Almost like it still has something useful to say and people just don't want to confront that.

I find it funny that you think you can arbitrate who had nothing to do with what, when we know this is a company that ousted Georden Whitman from running his own show and sought to undermine his involvement with Nomad of Nowhere at every turn. M&K are hardly the actual villains here, but they're there because Monty found them cool to work with on his world, and because RT allowed it so they could keep RWBY in line like they did with Nomad. Almost like this is a grey situation where not everything is clear-cut, and there are human interests and corporate interests involved? You agree with that, right? So why not extend the same coddling sympathy you readily extend to M&K to Shane as well - someone who killed his corporate interests outright because he felt he had something to say about his human ones? Why not him? Because they're the poor little victims and Shane is the bad guy?

Both Shane and M&K were affected by Monty's death. Both probably acted how they felt was best for RWBY. I don't doubt that. One felt it was right to point out the rampant corruption and politicking going on within RWBY's production, which we know is true, and the other... hasn't said anything to counter the former other than "We're doing our best" and "Please don't bring this topic up again". Also they (Rooster Teeth) either fired the people who took his side or those people quit, or they were pressured into deleting their tweets that agreed with him. Do I have to spell out who's the one under attack in this situation, and who's the one exercising their clout to silence and turn public opinion against the other? A whole ass media corporation against one person?

One was candid and thorough with his thoughts and felt it was important enough to risk blacklisting himself in the eyes of the industry and the community entirely, and the other is still hiding behind the corporation backed by a PR team and piles of NDA agreements, and the goodwill of thousands of fans willing to back up this combination of curated responses and willful silence.

It'd make perfect sense for Monty to talk freely about RWBY to Sheena, i.e. his life partner, which meant talking about future plot points and ideas, even if she "had nothing to do with the show" in a strictly professional sense. But that's not what you're concerned about, are you? You're more interested in who you can put in the "bad box" with Shane and who you can put in the "good box" with Miles and Kerry.

Again I find it all very telling that even after it's been clear that the ex-employees of this company aren't the bad guys and RT have never been interested in giving its community the full story, fans are always quick to dismiss and demonise the ex-employees immediately. Almost like it's a trained reflex. Almost like that's exactly how the company wants you to perceive them - a bunch of nobodies and crazy kooks stirring up trouble.

There never was a "Monty's Vision". But I don't need Monty's Vision™ to know what RWBY is and to see clear as day that Rooster Teeth squandered every opportunity they had to do well by this series based on its own established setting and themes. That's what RWDE has a problem with. I bring up Monty in my posts because he created the show and said very specific, public and unambiguous things about it, whether in writing or in the show itself, that pointed to specific and clear outcomes in the show, not because he had some airy-fairy Vision. That's called reading the text and what the author said about his work to determine what the final, finished work accomplished regardless of authorial intent, AKA media critique. I am not weaponising his Vision™ by saying "He wrote this or clearly implied this, and then CRWBY didn't follow through". I am practicing basic pattern recognition.

And whether it's Barb, Miles or Kerry, obviously Monty saw them as friends. How friendly they were is a different topic from "are they the upper management and higher-ups in a corrupt system and may have perpetuated bad practices for years, whether unwittingly or not?" - something that Monty would not be exempt from either, because early RWBY is sketchy as hell too the more you dive into it.

I'd have been happy to have a civil discussion with you. Just because I'm salty in my posts where I post on a public platform critiquing a faceless company doesn't mean I talk to others directly that way, unless they're being an ass. But you saw it fit to waltz into my ask box and have free license to be passive aggressive and make sweeping assumptions about me, i.e. being an ass. So here's your response.

Go read Shane's letter and the 40+ accounts of worker abuse and favoritism in the company:

The same company with the sole right to make RWBY and played it up as "such a great honour" to continue Monty's work;

mishandled and abused that right every year by their consistent lack of understanding of its themes and characters;

used that right to exploit their fanbase to create a shield of sympathy and sentiment around RWBY, so anyone critiquing it or its certifiably horrid production is immediately demonised;

and will use that right to drag RWBY to the grave with them if they go under;

and then you can come here talking about Monty and what he created. You're the one who brought up Monty's Vision™ and whether I think M&K butchered it first, so clearly you care a great deal more than me about bringing up a topic that everyone agreed is stupid and irrelevant to bring up when talking about RWBY.

M&K didn't ruin Monty's Vision™, they, along with the rest of the writing team and RWBY's upper management who approved their poor decisions, ruined a good story with so much going for it if they knew what to do with it. The fact that you say Monty entrusted them with it like some kind of blood-sworn oath and not because RT owns the copyright on his story only makes them look even worse by comparison.

#syto asks #rwde #anti rooster teeth #fuck rooster teeth

[anonarat]

I have been tagged by @evelhak, and it has been a long while since something like that has happened, so let's go:

5 Songs - Gira Gira by Ado. It's on YouTube, please watch it with subtitles if you don't speak Japanese, it is worth it. Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser by The Mechanisms. It gives you a very good idea of what The Mechanisms are about. Birth of a New Witch by Luck Ganriki. My personal favourite track on the Umineko OST, and that's saying a lot because that OST is full of bangers. Song of the Ancients -Atonement- by Keiichi Okabe. Another song from a video game, justice for Devola and Popola! That's why I Gave Up on Music cover by Shiranui Flare. One of the first music tracks uploaded by Flare, and one of the early reasons why I became an elfriend.

Three Ships you Like - Gosh, there are so many to choose from. I think my first is Freezerburn (Weiss/Yang) from RWBY. They have a great dynamic, although content for them isn't exactly plentiful these days, I do believe that it is the best ship for both of them. Next comes KuroMayaNana (Claudine/Maya/Nana) from Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight. KuroMaya is good, throwing Nana in there adds some real spice though. Just think about the dynamic of Maya and Claudine both *knowing* that Nana was stronger than Maya throughout the auditions. Finally... Edeleth (Edelgard/Byleth) from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I will not defend my actions.

First Ship Ever - Mudshipping (Isaac/Mia) from Golden Sun. Golden Sun was my first true fandom, and mudshipping was the default, because at that point... there weren't many female characters that were as fleshed out.

Favourite Childhood Book - Redwall by Brian Jacques. This is where I fell in love with fantasy. Should I ever get a pair of pet rats, one would be named Cluny (the other would Ratimus Prime).

Currently Reading - Demonic Devourer Book 2 by Aaron Shih. Yeah this one is power-fantasy popcorn, but with the way things are, it lets my brain turn off for a bit during work. I'm not counting the untold half-finished books that I'll get to someday(tm).

Currently Watching - For the first time in a long while, I've been watching a fair bit of anime as it's released, so this'll be a bit long. The Apothecary Diaries best show from last season, though not as strong currently, the last episode was incredible. Shangri-La Frontier continuing from last season, and good mindless fodder. The Witch and The Beast which does monster of the week over 2+ episodes and is great. Both of the protagonists are incredibly compelling. Solo Levelling mostly because it's been hyped up. It hasn't impressed really, but it also hasn't been a tremendous let down. I'll give it the season, but if it doesn't step up its game and gets a second season, I'll probably drop it. A couple of others that I don't really have anything to say about.

Currently Craving - Things that interest me. That's all I ever really crave, because my primary positive to negative emotional spectrum isn't happy to said, but interested to bored.

No suggested number of tags, so if anyone else wants a go, feel free. I will, however, send a few tags out with no pressure: @mellowdarkness; @castaras; @shoujospirit

#Tag Game

[iamafanofcartoons]

Everyone is crazy for RWBY! #Greenlightvolume10 #greenlightrwbyvolume10

#rwby #all we're saying is give rwby a chance #just give rwby a chance #but please give the fandom just this one thing #give rwby a chance #rwby is worth defending #greenlightvolume10 #greenlight volume 10

[waheelawhisperer]

I think V3 & V8 do effectively convey the notion that raw force (be it personal or state level) doesn't solve shit if you're aimlessly saber-rattling, turning on allies & bamboozling (or throttling) the populace to preserve every scrap of power. There's also the ongoing failure of old-guard leaders (Jimmy, Leo, Oz.) to get out of their ruts, though I 'd have tabled the Musical Maiden Chair thing for a volume once Penny got it. *Ruby* has more than enough shit to work out with silver eyes alone.

Yeah, the old guard failing and leaving the new blood to clean up their messes is a pretty common theme in RWBY and we've seen it for several Volumes now, pretty much ever since Weiss started talking about how she wanted to redeem her family name. Between the mistakes of the headmasters, the various failures of Team STRQ, the way Maria talks about herself vs. how she thinks about the protagonists, and even the way Winter and the Ace-Ops struggle to make the right decisions, it's clear that RWBY wants to tell a story about the new generation surpassing their predecessors.

I definitely think Volumes 3 and 8 are really trying to hammer home the "strength is useless without unity" message. All of Atlas's vaunted military power is worse than useless when it's turned against the people of Vale. It fails to defeat Salem in Volume 8 because Ironwood is too rigid to work with others, to contemplate a solution other than brute force and sacrifice. Ozpin can't destroy Salem, no matter how hard he tries, and when we finally see her fight, she shrugs off everything the heroes throw at her. They only escape because of Hazel's sacrifice, because he stalls Salem long enough for Oscar to nuke her and holds her in place for the cane beam to hit.

When I think about my feelings about Volume 3 vs. Volume 8, there's a very similar sense of "what happens now?", but there are some distinct differences as well. It's hard to explain, but Volume 3 made me wonder "where do we go from here?", whereas Volume 8 makes me wonder "what's the point?". Volume 3 was a crushing blow, but it left me deeply invested in what came next. Volume 8 doesn't do that. It carries more of a sense of lethargy, a feeling of pointlessness, an uncertainty about whether it's worth even getting invested anymore, and it's because of the way the Volume handled a number of its plot points.

Basically, the way the Volume ended means a lot of major plot points went nowhere? Oh, Winter is being set up as the Winter Maiden, but that's a red herring and the powers and responsibility go to Penny? Nope, never mind, Winter has the powers now. Penny came back to life? Nope, never mind, she's fucking dead again, killed off in a controversial way by a controversial character in a scene that didn't even effectively establish the necessity of her death. Salem, our Big Bad, has finally taken the field? Surely she'll demonstrate how much of a badass she is now, why everyone should be terrified of the insurmountable evil queen of the Grimm, right? Nope, never mind, she gets sidelined 2/3 of the way through so Cinder and Ironwood can be the major villains. Blake spent her whole life fighting against racism and is now openly displaying her Faunus heritage in the Kingdom that's been most strongly associated with Faunus abuse and anti-Faunus racism? Surely she's going to have a major role to play here, right? Nope, never mind, she's going to do nothing but take Weiss's spot as Remnant's version of Renji Abarai and pine for Yang, all while Weiss and Yang do more to combat racism and Atlas's class divide by throwing a racist in a dumpster and snapping at an old lady and Nora gets the plotline that should've gone to her. Oh, Weiss's goal from the very beginning has been to salvage her company and redeem her family name, and she swears to defend her home in Volume 7? Nope, never mind, her home is now underwater, her company is in ruins, and the final boss of her storyline is apparently her own fucking brother, an abused child who her mother specifically begged her not to leave behind and was never more than a minor annoyance to be counteracted in comedic fashion, with no power or influence of his own beyond the password to his father's laptop. The culmination of Weiss's storyline was waving a sword in the face of her Auraless, untrained sibling and telling him to go to his room, after Willow handed her everything she needed to beat Jacques, and somehow this is supposed to be the big triumph we've waited 8 Volumes, 8 years of real-world time, to witness. Fan-fucking-tastic writing here.

It just... makes me wonder what plotlines I'm even supposed to get invested in at this point. RWBY's always had a problem with just never exploring things or dropping them when they become inconvenient, always rushing on to the next Cool Moment, the next thing the writers want to include, but Volume 8 feels particularly bad in this regard. Frankly, I think it's one of the worst Volumes in the show specifically for this reason. As much as I love the show, I just... don't feel the same hype for the approach of Volume 9 that I did with the approach of other Volumes.

#rwby #analysis #weiss schnee #winter schnee #maria calavera #ozpin #salem #james ironwood #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #nora valkyrie #jacques schnee #willow schnee #whitley schnee #penny polendina

[itsclydebitches]

re: the RWBY/JL crossover sequel

i still can't get over how in the first one (with the JL characters in remnant) they had blake talking down to BATMAN, OF ALL CHARACTERS. FUCKING BATMAN, about trauma, and that line about how "they never had to worry that they'd die going to school" which is like. already laughable, just from knowing the characters and their backgrounds, but was astoundingly tonedeaf even for RT in light of the rash of school shootings that have been happening over the past few years. like you're really gonna have your characters from fantasy magic fighting school where they attended deliberately knowing they'd be fighting grimm and possibly dying some day talk to characters from the US, however fictionalized their version of the US is, about the possibility of dying at school??????? REALLY????????

Beyond the fact that this is just a bad choice all around, it further hits home for me how much better it would be if Blake actually had the backstory the fandom assumed she did pre-Volume 4. Blake talking with Batman (not down to him) as another orphan turned defender of the oppressed makes perfect sense. Blake who actually had to fight to survive outside the Kingdoms (not growing up in the faunus equivalent of a mansion) would never even have entertained the idea of throwing an unsafe school in someone's face because she understands precisely how unsafe their world has always been. (Plus, it's a headcanon only semi-supported by Jaune's involvement in initiation + Ozpin's nonchalant behavior, but I don't believe for a second that students actually die at Beacon outside of true, unexpected tragedies. So I hate when RWBY's side-media implies otherwise for the ~drama~ of the moment.) Even putting all this aside though, what do you mean someone living in GOTHAM doesn't have to worry about potentially dying at school? Sure, Beacon deliberately puts students into dangerous situations, but the flip-side of that is they're all warriors in training who explicitly signed up for putting their lives on the line. I'd take that agency and skill over being a civilian with the likes of Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, etc. running around any day.

Plus, yeah. As someone who's actually been through a lockdown—and the fact that this is not a unique aspect of may past is precisely the horrifying part—I've got no patience for people handling that topic insensitively. Obviously RT wasn't actually talking about school shootings here and death-at-school is undeniably a subject built into the story's world building, but having that thrown out as a 'gotcha' point still doesn't sit right with me. I think "tone-deaf" is precisely the right word. It's not a Horrible Unforgivable Writing Sin, it's just an ehhhhh moment RT didn't think through. "Tone-deaf" is worth working into our RWBY vocabulary more often.

#rwde #rwby #school shooting tw #mymetas

[onewomancitadel]

I actually really don't get the persecution complex of fans of a socially-derided work. Like, if your position were so defensible, then you would be defending it, not crying about it. But I guess crying wolf is a way to accrue social currency these days? Make people take pity on you? When it comes to the perennially failed and destitute YA fan, I guess we've just got to defend them because everybody is so mean, even if I've no real horse in this race, or something?

The reason I write about RWBY the way I do, despite its fanbase and certain things said in its critical reception, is because I think it is actually defensible to be a fan. Lmao. If I felt this not to be true and instead had a persecution complex about it, then what reason at all would you have to believe me it's worth caring about? I actually want to spend my life, and my time in my favourite hobby, feeling empowered (in the actual sense of the word) and having fun. I don't think there's anything embarrassing at all about enjoying storytelling. I love fanfic as much as I love Donna Tartt. I defend fanfic because I think there is something fundamentally worthwhile about it.

I guess on a level of personal responsibility, I think it is important to know what you love and to be confident about it if you're sure it's right, and I think overall you can end up being a much happier person for it.

But that's beside the point. That's not what I was criticising.

#stirring the pot #I actually think that tumblr gives me migraines

[coldgoldlazarus]

I… I have a question.

I occasionally have seen RWBY on my dash before, and you seem to be someone who’s into the show…

What’s RWBY? (No pressure to answer this ask)

From a meta standpoint, as you mentioned, RWBY is a show. Specifically, it's an animated webseries, created by the late Monty Oum and produced by Roosterteeth. There's unfortunately a lot of disproportionate controversy around it, being initially a passion project that took off hugely, and both the creators and fans weren't really prepared for that; but the show itself is pretty fun and worth giving a shot, if ever you're so inclined.

As far as the story itself goes, it's set in a different world kinda loosely based off of (heavily) reinterpreted fairy tales. Monster creatures called the Grimm prowl the wilderness, with civilization largely confined to four main city-states, though the technological advancement within those kingdoms is an odd blend of modern and futuristic vibes. People called Huntsmen are trained to defend civilization from the Grimm, though the plot really starts to pick up when political issues and sabotage emerge between and within these kingdoms.

The story follows a team of four trainee huntsmen; Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, (loosely based off of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Beauty And The Beast, and Goldilocks, respectively) as they wind up getting involved in trying to get to the bottom of this new conflict.

Again, being what started out as a passion project with a shoestring budget, it takes a while to really get going. Volume 3 is the first big jump in quality and Volume 6 is the second, but the first few volumes are also relatively short, so I definitely recommend at least watching through V3 to see if it catches your interest.

Hope this helped!

#not a reblog #rwby #asks

[unlockthestars]

Send a 🍁, ask a question // Accepting

@flightofaqrow asked: (Val;entina) 🍁 + How's life treated ya? (RWBY verse)

"Oh, better than some, worse than others," comes the cheeky response. But there's a pain hidden behind those grey eyes, hurts he didn't often talk about.

An abusive father….a mother who couldn't get away, and a child caught in the crossfire, who tried to defend their mother and instead became the object of their father's wrath. Broken bones from a young age, only healing properly because of Aura and the kindness of a doctor visiting Mantle. Running away as soon as their mother took one too many hits…..because living on the street was better than living with him, especially when they knew what he thought of people "like them."

Learning how to fight on the streets, determined to get into combat school, to make something better for themself. Transitioning for the first time fresh out of combat school, before starting at Atlas Academy. Proving their worth as a sniper, and graduating with top marks.

Being chosen for a special project working with Dr. Weller…..finally finding people they could call family, a place where they could belong. It hadn't been an easy road here…., but those early years had made them who they are today, even if they didn't like to admit it.

#flightofaqrow #★ val/entina romanyszyn || answered ★ sometimes it's simply fun to watch #★ val/entina romanyszyn || headcanon ★ i trust no one; it's why i'm still alive #★ val/entina romanyszyn ★ || verse . make a difference where you can #child abuse tw #spousal abuse tw #domestic violence tw #homophobia tw #transphobia tw #queerphobia tw #[most of this is just canon and it hurts me] #[I love Val so much and they have been through a lot]