mean-and-rwde

[mean-and-rwde]

The basis of Watts's character is supposedly "What if Watson worked for Moriarty instead of Sherlock". And this is an interesting idea (even if Watts has very little in common with Watson), and it makes me wish that the rest of Salem's squad followed similar "What ifs". Twisted scenarios that would take these classic characters and turn them into villains. With Tyrion, this "What if" would be simple. What if, instead of drowning, the scorpion was rewarded for its violent nature. Personally, I feel this should necessitate a change in his personality, make him less fanatically devoted to Salem and instead have it so he simply works for her because she gives him the opportunity to kill people. However, keeping his current character wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Hazel is the first character that would require a major overhaul. First off, his sister should still be alive. Their "What if" could be "What if the witch took the twins under her wing instead of trying to eat them". Hazel and Gretchen could have been a pair of young hunters who were sent on a mission that was way to dangerous for them. Then when everything went south, they could have request help (be it backup or an evac plan) that never came. Then, Salem could have scooped them up. Thus they work for her both out of loyalty for saving/sparing them, and to get revenge on the governments that abandoned them to die. This would make more sense than Hazel's current nonsense motivation, and it ties into his fairytale inspiration more (With how Hansel and Gretel were abandoned in the woods before finding the witch's house)

As for Cinder, she has a couple of different options. While we could do "What if Cinderella's fairy godmother was evil" and have Salem be the fairy godmother, I'm instead going to propose "What if Prince Charming was evil" and have Salem fill in for the prince.

In this idea, Cinder's stepfamily (I'm calling them stepfamily for ease, even if they could still be adopted family/slave owners like the show had) would be servants of Salem. When Salem started looking for a person to steal the Maidens' powers, the stepmother would have suggested her own daughters for the role, even though Cinder was a better candidate due to being crafter, being a better fighter and having better Semblance. That weird Bug Grimm from Vol 3 could fill in for the slipper, where Salem could have it try to bound with the stepsisters, only for them to be horribly injured or killed by it due to being too weak to handle it (this would be a nod to how the sisters cut off their toes and heals to fit inside the slipper in the Brothers Grimm's version). Then, Salem finds out about Cinder's existence and has the Grimm bound with her, and Cinder is able to control its power. Thus, she gets taken away to be Salem's most important servant and gain all the powers of the Maiden, which would her twisted equivalent to Cinderella's Happily Ever After.

[mean-and-rwde]

Maybe I'm thinking about it too much, but there's definitely something that feels off about there being animal crackers in RWBY... And that being the favorite food of a Faunus in particular seems like... An interesting choice... I don't know. It just seems weird.

#rwde

[mean-and-rwde]

Someone recently brought up V3 Ruby and how she, despite everything that was going down, despite her limited knowledge of what was even happening, doesn't back down and faces off Torchwick ( rip ) and Neo ( who was admittedly stupidly easy for Ruby to beat: she just forces Neo's parasol open and oop there she goes )

I kinda really miss that Ruby, now that I think about it. I wish I could word this better, but I'm barely awake.

#rwde

[mean-and-rwde]

Some rewrite ideas that I thought could help keep Salem consistent: She and Ozpin have been in what is essentially a stalemate for the past century. They’re both immortal, and have lifespans upon lifespans to make their moves. Any premature strike on one of their parts could mean they lose. Consequently, they are both highly cautious and slow to act.

Humanity isn’t completely divided, but it’s not unified enough. There’s a constant push and pull between them, yet neither is so satisfied with the current state as to make their final move.

Salem almost has it easier; she doesn’t have to restart every 50-70 years like Ozpin. But she’s a bit more of a glass cannon, what with her weakness to the Silver Eyes. So her bursts of activity are mainly dedicated to culling the SEW, and it’s been largely successful. Silver-eyed children are unlucky, haven’t you heard? Rumored to attract Grimm. Maybe more than one struggling family in a rural village just couldn’t deal with the ostracism from the rest of their neighbors (because eventually they won’t be able to keep going. you can’t hack it on your own in Remnant). That successful doctor from Atlas can give their child a better life. That woman in red from the city, she has silver eyes too (contact lenses); she’ll care for your son because she understands. And in cities, well. People disappear all the time.

That Summer and Maria have lived long enough to become Hunters is impressive, but their careers were both cut short, and Maria was the lucky one of the two.

Ruby coming to Beacon is nothing short of earthshattering. Taiyang and Qrow kept her safe and thriving, but her Hunter aspirations are dangerous. If she ends up unleashing her power by accident, if the wrong people see, then she’s not safe anymore. All it takes is one wrong move. So she goes to Beacon, and Ozpin sees her silver eyes Summer’s eyes Tedrah’s eyes Cobal Indio Laven’s eyes and a dozen others he still remembers by name and her stubborn hope and realizes he can’t be so complacent anymore.

And a year later at the Vytal festival, a student from Haven named Cinder sees her silver eyes and realizes Salem needs to know about this. And then Salem finally stirs, for once and for all.

Of course some of the background information about Salem’s quiet war against the SEW can’t be stated from the beginning, but it doesn’t have to be. Just have some people quietly mention the superstition that silver eyes are a bad omen. Have Ruby mention how she was homeschooled as a kid. How she always wore sunglasses in public; sensitive eyes and all that. Her dad was sooo overprotective, haha!

Honestly I barely need to change anything. All I need to do is actually flat-out state some stuff. I came up with this in like. A half hour. I think I even managed to work in the “simple soul” idea to a good extent. But what do I know? I’m not a writer on RWBY.

honestly this was so good to read & really does show like what you said in that so little is needed to change to actually have some of these storylines make sense. & having some of this background decisions under wraps could very much be crwby's "plan" also but unlike this fantastic ask, we don't even get the bare minimum. people are still scrambling even now to come up with a justification for why salem has done sweet fuck all even at times of high probability that she would've steamrolled the good guys like in the colour war.

i did also love the tidbit of children going missing because it was just so subtly haunting & horrifying, all these silver eyed children have gone missing & there's no accountability to it because that's just the world they're in. love me some horror like that.

[mean-and-rwde]

Fondly remembering being excited for V4 to drop after practically binging V1 - V3 vs how now I can't bring myself to finish V9 (I haven't seen much past the Rusted Knight reveal, maybe up to the Bumblebee Confession? I think that's where I stopped watching.)

#rwde #volume 9 #rwby critical #sighhhhh #i used to love it #but at some point #i was like #hey this seems kinda off #or something #i can't remember when #but I ended up here and learning more about #how shit a lot of things in the story are #things i didn't necessarily notice or think about #and now #i can't stop thinking about it #and going #what the fuuuuck #i hate it here #ahem #rant in tags

[mean-and-rwde]

Penny rant

(+ruby)

RWDE below. Don’t like unedited criticism of your show from someone who’s been offended by it, don’t read.

Trigger warnings for ableism and Mentions of Suicide.

I would like to begin this rant by saying that around the start of 2020, I found out that I had Tourette’s Syndrome. Long before then I was diagnosed with ADHD, but when I found out I had Tourette’s… safe to say, It made me feel much more different about myself.

The disability had always been something made to sound awful. It was the “You’ll blurt out bad words at the worst time” disability, when it really… isn’t. It’s a lot more than that, but at that time, when 2020 was an already fucked year for all the obvious reasons, I felt bad about myself.

I felt bad because this whole time, I had something in my brain that I knew was going to absolutely wreck my future experiences. With it, my anxiety got worse, and that’s something I still struggle dealing with.

But also around that time, the seventh volume of a certain show was coming out: that show, RW//BY.

I’m not going to talk specifically about V7 in itself, but I will talk about one very important part of it:

Penny was back.

Since her debut, Penny Polendina was easily one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite in the whole cast. In a cast of already colorful characters, she was the one I arguably related to the most. She was this sweet, fun ray of sunshine who… was also a robot. And it was expressed to us early on that it was something she felt slightly insecure about.

And to note, Penny has almost always been a character people have coded as disabled, that sentiment being even more prevalent in her return. Namely, she was coded as autistic for many.

And when Penny spoke to Ruby about her being an android, I… remembered the first time, coming to telling the friends I’d known for years that I had Tourette’s. Just like this fictional character, I was worried they’d start treating me differently because of my disability, or if they’d just… outright leave me.

But Ruby didn’t treat Penny any less, robot or not. Because the thing that mattered most was her heart, and no matter if she was a robot, she was still a real girl.

…Yeah. Safe to say, that kind of message hit me hard. So when she came back in V7, after such a heartbreaking death in V8… I was very happy :) (me when I’m putting it lightly)

PENNY! WAS! BACK! And honestly, in V7 I think she was handled better than I’d expect. Where V7 had problems, I don’t find myself thinking Penny was one of them.

Hell, she became a maiden! Even furthering that she was a real girl, no matter what. And like I said before, at the time this came out, I really needed something like that.

But then there was V8. V8 began at near the end of 2020, and…

I’m going to say it.

This volume is genuinely one of the most cuntshit garbage things I’ve ever seen in any show. And I mean that with all the frustration, anger and disgust I can.

Because do you remember when I said, Ruby reassuring Penny of her still being a real girl was something I seriously needed at the time of watching this show? Because of how much it reminded me of my own experiences with my own disability?

Volume 8 essentially told me my disability was a curse. It made me less human. And my friends saw me as nothing more than that disability, nothing more than that curse.

Forgive me if I’m being hyperbolic. Forgive me if I’m being a whiny bitch about a stupid fucking dogshit fictional show made by the transphobic racist and ableist fuckers you lick the disgusting boots of.

In an already horrifically ableist volume, Penny was forcefully converted into becoming human. They had that part of her so many people including myself saw as her disability stripped out of her without her consent, to let it die before our eyes. 

Even framing it as the “worse” version of her. Her inferior, inhuman self.

And then, they had her stand barefoot and gloveless to show she was “finally a real girl”, and then at the last episode of this volume they had her be assisted in killing herself.

Remember how I mentioned how anxious I was about telling my friends about my Tourette’s? How I worried they’d see me differently, or stop talking to me altogether?

But how this show’s portrayal of a similar situation, to me, helped calm me?

Never said the ending of that story, did I? Because there wasn’t one. My fears were right, because half of my friends whom I’d known for years all but left me the instant they learned I had Tourette’s.

And then I watched as Ruby, the same girl who told the character I related to the most that she was a real girl despite her artificiality volumes ago, force Penny into becoming a human without her consent?

Yeah. You know the message I got at that time from that? 

That my friends would accept me better if I just got rid of my disability. That I just wasn’t me enough because of it.

And then they killed her. They killed Penny for good, and by that, I mean they had her commit assisted suicide. All so a white, rich cop princess could get her powers.

Yeah. That’s fucking fun. I love this. I hope whoever wrote that garbage never comes into contact with a real disabled person in their life, genuinely. Again, sorry if I’m being pissy. I’m not whole enough either, apparently.

And then came V9. I’d consider 2023 to be one of the lowest points of my life. I feel less in control of myself. My anxiety is through the roof. I’m irritated and distracted by the slightest sound or movement. I’m worried I’m losing more friends, if I’m embarrassing myself, and I just feel like I can’t do anything right anymore.

That I’m not me anymore.

And in V9, there was a fictional character who i… again, found myself relating to.

And that was Ruby.

Ruby in this volume is a character who i related to a lot, just as I did Penny. She was struggling with similar things I was, and am, currently struggling with.

And just like me, her emotions and feelings and struggles were being all but ignored by the friends around her, until they finally burst out. Ruby’s breakdown in Episode 7 was, in a funny way, cathartic to me, because the amount of times I’d break down in a similar way… I probably couldn’t count. I thought this show would never let a character’s emotions come out in a way that wasn’t meekness or quiet crying, but here I was, watching Ruby fucking Rose rightfully call out the friends, her older friends, who had all but ignored her this entire time.

And like… Yeah. Let her fucking bake, dude.

And then episode 8 happened and I watched that character I related to the most at a time when my mental health was at its absolute worst be beaten down to a pulp and then kill herself on screen.

If you come complaining to me “it was medicine”, “it was therapy”, take this as a note: Fuck off. Maybe that’s mean, but… fuck off. Because they sure as hell didn’t make it seem like it, and I’m not buying it one fucking bit.

The main character of this show finally gets to express her emotional state in a way that’s not palatable, that’s almost real, and how is she rewarded the episode after? How dare she have those feelings, Ruby is beaten down again and again and again and watches the one companion she still has get crushed beneath her tormentor’s shoe.

And what do her friends, including her sister, do? What do they do when they see their youngest friend, their teammate and leader, the one who’s inspired one, partnered another, and been the little sister to?

Fucking. Jack. Shit. They don’t do a single fucking thing but stand. Tell me it’s them in shock, I fucking dare you.

They watched their friend take her own life after being beaten and beaten and beaten and the next episode they’re all hugging and smiling. So fun. So fucking fun.

So fucking fun they pulled this shit and still had the gall to say you are enough.

Maybe I am. Maybe I am enough. Oh wait, I’m disabled. I’ve got Tourette’s and ADHD. That’s my bad. I’m not enough, actually. I need to have those parts of me ripped out of my brain so then people will accept me.

Then I’ll be a real girl.

So. Fucking. Fun. 

You can like RW//BY. Hell, I do. I really do. I wouldn’t dedicate my blog to talking about it if I just hated it. There’s still so much I do like about this show, and it’s inspired me in dozens of ways creatively. 

But to me, it ends there. I like RW//BY. But RW//BY is not a good show.

And that’s not because of some vision not being followed. Not because of some ship becoming canon or not canon. Not due to some “wasted potential”, “unresolved arcs”, “unlikable characters.”

RW//BY will never be a good show in my eyes, in the eyes of an actually disabled girl, because of it’s continued failure to address real, serious topics.

Whether it be racism, abuse, mental health or disability.

And no matter what take I read, what someone tells me, and no matter what this show as it’s own will try and try and fail and fail to get me to realize, that won’t change.

Maybe my feelings are wrong. Maybe they’re not palatable enough, and this is all just some inarticulated horseshit im spewing through the text.

That’s fine. That’s okay.

I can’t really bring myself to care anymore.

[mean-and-rwde]

... They really did frame it (suicide) as a good thing? Nope. I can't keep watching. This topic is too sensitive and close to home. It feels like a punch in the stomach, to see CRWBY frame this as good when I've come so close to actually taking my life.

Please rethink your writing. This is extremely harmful, to put it lightly.

#rwde #volume 9 #rwby critical #v9 spoilers #volume 9 spoilers #tw: suicide mention #tw: suicide

[mean-and-rwde]

TW: suicide

Personal feelings rant about the recent episode.

If I saw this sort of episode content not even a few months ago (ESPECIALLY without a PROPER fucking warning), it would have honestly destroyed me. I was not in a good place then, and seeing how CRWBY has yet again written suicide like a good thing / solution / etc...

If they're gonna insist on writing such a heavy topic; one, they shouldn't treat it as a positive outcome; two, use a PROPER FUCKING trigger warning! Distressing themes could mean literally ANYTHING. And calling suicide a "distressing theme" is just. Awful. There's a way I'm trying to describe it, but basically, by simply calling it a distressing theme, it downplays how actually fucking serious and terrifying being / knowing someone who is suicidal.

I may not have cared much for Little, but on-screen animal death without warning? What the fuck. Not even gonna TALK about what the fuck was up with the cat and Neo. Holy fuck.

Add to all that the fact that WBY just stands there like "Oh no! Anyways, I can't do shit." and this is definitely the most insensitive writing of suicide yet. The fact that fucking YANG just STANDS THERE AND DOES NOTHING when she's Ruby's goddamn SISTER actually pisses me off.

I'm the older sibling, and let me just say that if I saw my brother depressed as fuck then outright suicidal, and I did nothing, I would literally take my own life if he were to actually do it and I just watched like :|

It brings back a thought I often had during that time: no one would care if I died, even if they saw me do it.

Which my family thankfully proved wrong, even if mom's solution was to drag my ass to the ER where they almost didn't let me go after one person talked to me for like 5 minutes when I'd been there for hours.

I can handle bloody stuff, but that's because the shows I watch often have such themes naturally. The disclaimer warning about disturbing content and the nature of said content makes the warning a lot clearer. You know you're likely gonna see some weird / fucked up shit.

RWBY isn't like that. Bloody on-screen injuries / deaths are not nearly as common. Clover's death was easily the most graphic.

Pyrrah and Penny's deaths were haunting, even if there was no blood. Penny's second death barely showed her - the only reason we know it happened is because we saw Jaune holding his sword, then there was some blood. Ironwood died as Atlas fell, without so much as taking one final shot at the main villian + Cinder. Pietro and Maria may as well be dead for all the fucks the show / mains give. I could go on, but you get the idea.

This has become a disturbing trend within the show, but this recent example has been the worst offender of not only the harmful idea that suicide is a solution / good thing, but also a vague trigger warning that does fuck all. Distressing themes does not warn of suicide, animal death, literal torture, whatever the fuck happened with Neo and the Curious Cat, etc.

I have not seen the episode(s) in question, and I don't think I will. In fact, I may drop the series altogether.

[End Rant]

#rwde #volume 9 #rwby critical #tw: suicide mention #tw: mentions of torture #tw: brief mention of animal death #Brief mention of gore #tw: vore #cant believe i had to put that one #but holy fuck #ew #volume 9 spoilers #i hate it here #what the fuuuuck #personal shit #personal rant #rant in tags

[mean-and-rwde]

Oh no. Another episode with heavy suicide themes?

Might have to skip that. It's a tough / very sensitive / too-close-to-home subject for me.

Also PLEASE CRWBY, USE TRIGGER WARNINGS PROPERLY!!!!

#rwde #volume 9 #rwby critical #tw: suicide mention #tw: dark / heavy themes means FUCK ALL #you gotta be specific dammit #have you learned nothing

[mean-and-rwde]

re: "villains hide their disabilities, heroes wear them with pride"

Yang was able to work around her disability, and able to recover most if not all of the normal functions once she put on the high-tech arm Ironwood literally gave her for free. She was even able to spray paint it and make it suit her aesthetics.

Adam's left eye will never see again. There are no prosthetics that will put Adam's face back the way it was before.

Yang gained her disability during combat in a decisive blow that was meant to kill her. Adam gained his disability via a hideously inhumane punishment intended to permanently disfigure him and mark him as property.

Do you get it yet? Do you? Because if you don't get it and keep talking, I'll just fucking punt you like a football.

[mean-and-rwde]

Volume 9 spoilers again

Damn it, the Cat isn't a good person / character... I liked them, too...

Alyx was also a terrible person, at least according to Jaune.

Why the fuck is Louis cute though???? Is it the style or... ????

A PUNDERSTORM. SERIOUSLY. WHAT.

I like that the portal like things had "reflections" of that characters' memories; ie Rusted Knight saw Jaune, Weiss saw Atlas falling.

You know what's more important than the immortal Grimm witch heading to Vacuo with 2 / 4 relics to end the world, the displacement of an entire kingdom among other things?

BLAKE AND YANG CONFESSING FEELINGS

Seriously. What the fuck. Priorities.

"I like that you aren't intimidated by me."

Okay that's BS because:

- Blake has been shown to visibly shrink back whenever she even THINKS Yang is angry

- Congrats, that's like. The bare fucking minimum of a relationship

- How can Blake not be scared when Yang reminds her so much of Adam. You know, her abusive ex boyfriend (at least he was retconned to be).

That whole thing was honestly so forced. Literally. They were forced to confess. And that left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. They could not leave or whatever until they confessed and shit.

Also Jaune saying he was waiting for that (Bumblebee kiss) is creepy on its own because he barely knows them. But add in the fact that as the Rusted Knight, he's easily A LOT older than either girl and... Yikes m'dude.

Over all, not a fan of this volume. Curious Cat, Herbalist and Louis are my favorite characters as of now.

#rwde #volume 9 #what the fuuuuck #rwby critical #i hate it here #slight character bashing #anti bumbleby #ew. just. ew.

[mean-and-rwde]

The following post is a RWDE rant that is long, angry and non articulated. If you don’t like that, don’t read it, and leave me be. Thank you.

Warning for mentions of racism, bigotry, genocide and slavery. 

RW//BY, as a show, is… I’m going to say it, actually really racist. Is it the most racist thing ever? No. Fuuck no. Not even close. But I’d daresay at least half of it is riddled with some of the most appallingly ignorant shit I’ve seen in any webseries, and yet… some people will go out of their way to harass any who dare to criticize it. 

Remnant is not real. The characters I am about to discuss are not real. But the writers who wrote these characters and the world they inhabit are very real, and the shit they wrote fucking disgusts me.

so. Rant begin. 

Something the crazies of the fandom will say (I say crazies because, the fandom isn’t all like this. many of you guys are chill and cool as fuck) in defense of RW//BY’s many problematic aspects, particularly the criticism of “75% of the show’s POC and minorities are villains”, is that “well, there’s a lot more POC and minority’s on the GOOD GUY side now! Hooray!”

And they’re technically right. I like Elm and Pietro and I love Maria (in V6 especially she was fucking golden) and Marrow. Them and all the other POC they’ve added in as of V6-7~ are, in my opinion, mostly great additions to the cast. 

The side cast. 

The thing that isn’t usually pointed out is that these characters… they are side characters. Pietro and Maria are side characters. The Ace Ops and Happy Huntresses, while playing a decent role, are side characters. 

Hell that extends to pretty much every POC character we’ve gotten aside from Oscar. They’ve been side characters. Many of whom, we likely won’t see again (Until Volume 10… if RT lasts that long)

But I want to mention one thing. We didn’t start getting characters that weren’t blinding white until the end of V2 and the start of V3. 

One of these characters in question I’d like to point out, Flynt Coal. 

I like Flynt. He’s fine. I think his design is cool. But to deny that his character isn’t extremely racist is ignorant.

One of their first. Black characters. Was basically named… “Dark rock, Dark Rock”…

and his weapon is a TRUMPET😭

Not only that, but he and Neon fight Yang and Weiss in the tournament. Let’s talk about Weiss actually. She is the second oldest child to the megarich Schnee family, whom owns the SDC, which she is heiress to. Earlier in the series she acted extremely racist towards characters of an in-universe minority group, and never really apologized on screen. Instead, we’re given justification for why the rich girl is racist. She’s scared because of the White Fang! Poor little German name “White Snow.”

Anyways, back to the fight. Flynt mentions how it was the SDC who put his father’s own company out of business in their monopoly. Does this go somewhere? Nooooo he’s a side character, who’s beaten by Weiss and her bestie by the end of the battle. 

How come they made one of their first black characters fight and lose a battle with their whitest richest character? (Obs not implying he should’ve won, just asking why they chose him in the first place) How come they named him after black rocks(which is in reference to how, in a minecraft letsplay, one mentioned the name “Flynt Coal” and another replied “He’d have to be a black guy!”)? 

Who knows. But surely this is the last time they’ll make a (minority) character be positioned oppositely from our mains. Surely they won’t ever write one as a villain! 

Surely she won’t be the Lakota girl, either!

Ilia as a character was a big stepping stone (at the time) in terms of RW//BY’s representation. She was the first canonical, on screen LGBTQ+ character. She was a member of the White Fang who, before joining, was able to “blend in” with humans due to her Faunus trait not being as noticeable, being spots on her face and along the rest of her body. Ilia was orphaned due to her parents dying in an SDC mine collapse, and when she saw her school friends laughing about it, she “punched their teeth out.” 

Hell, overall I really like Ilia. Her design is adorable, as LGBTQ+ rep I think she’s good enough (though the fact they wrote their first lesbian character to be… a villain, is a talk for another day), and overall I find her decently written on her own. Plus, she’s fun as hell to write. Love her dearly.

On her own. Because in the story, the more I think about it… the more I’m sad, and mad, about how she was handled. 

Firstly. Her name. Apparently it’s supposed to mean “Butterly Rainbow” (again, naming your first lesbian girl “rainbow” lol)… but nope. They got the name Amitola off a baby named website, when it really means something closer to “Like a blue sky.” From my understanding. Typical RT shenanigans. It gets worse :3

Ilia was also one of the very few villains in the show to be redeemed. How was she redeemed? 

By being told by the much-more privileged, whiter minority girl whom she had a crush on that what ilia was fighting for was Bad. How Ilia was fighting for it was Bad. The White Fang? Baaaad. How dare the MINORITIES FIGHT WITH NEEDED VIOLENCE for their basic living rights against the POOR WIDDLE OPPRESSORS! It’s THEIR fault they’re oppressed, because they’re making the humans uncomfortable and angry! They need to just keep their dirty mouths shut and be good, presentable minorities. 

And upon being redeemed, Ilia is immediately put on a bus. Shelved.

And let me remind you again. Who was redeemed through being told by her much whiter (I say whiter in a way not to demean Blake btw, as privileged as she is she is still a minority obviously. Just… stating facts) friend that “a minority Shouldn’t use violence against their oppressors for their rights. It’s Their fault the humans are still so racist towards them. The Faunus should stop being so aggressive and be peaceful”? 

Not only the lesbian character, but…

The indigenous girl.

The.

Indigenous.

Girl. 

I’m sure I don’t need to point out how fucked this is. Let alone the fact this whole show is written in fucking Texas. 

It’s no secret, as much as some try to make it be, how horribly Native Americans and indigenous people have been treated throughout history. The oppression they have faced stems back centuries. Their land and home was stolen from them. 

Their own culture was all but forcefully eradicated. 

Men, women, children, were all genocided. 

To this very day it’s all they can do to fight for not only their own rights as people, but the very lands that were stolen from them. 

So for this show to write… it’s Indigenous

WOMAN

‘s character being “redeemed” by learning “Peaceful protest is good, violent protest for your living rights bad!” is… sickening. Genuinely. Fucking. Sickening. 

But maybe that violent protest WAS bad! Maybe, it was going nowhere and really causing the problems. Who the hell would ever try and implement that? Who leads the White Fang? 

…You wanna know? 

Don’t bother. 

Sienna is a character we see for. One. Scene. One scene and she’s GONE. dead, stabbed, thrown down some stairs. We know very little about her, but we know a lot of her actions. 

Under her rule as high leader, she got shit gone. Through her use of violence against the oppressive humans, she did in five years what many before her couldn’t in decades: Her methods were working. Her people were being given rights.

But noooooooo!!!!!!!!! We can’t have the Woman of Color in power be CORRECT. Her methods were WRONG, MONSTROUS! How dare she end slavery and fight against oppression?! She should’ve just asked NICELY! Just like Blake told—

Wait… Blake? BLAKE?!

BLAAAAAAAAKEEEEE!!!!!

Blake is one of 4 main characters in RW//BY, and she was easily my favorite. Fierce and a bookworm, an ex-freedom fighter who was quick to call out Miss Rich “White Snow” on her bullshit. She was fun, strong, and like the show said itself, she was Feisty.

I miss that Blake, tails. I miss her a lot. I’ll be back. 

Nowadays, that feisty personality she has has been diminished so she can be all meek and quiet and sweet for her white human friends. 

(and just now in v9, she’s completely fine with being referred to as an animal. Sienna in honorary heaven: she would not fucking say that.) 

White fans and likely the writers themselves were too uncomfortable having to face that all majority people still benefit from a society built on and from deep systemic racism, so they wrote Blake to be an All Lives Matter doormat so she was more palatable Blake saw the error of the White Fang’s ways and how their justified acts of violent protest against the privileged majority were making the humans SCAWED🥺, so she stood before them all and put her status as literal Faunus princess to good use: telling all those like her who’d suffered beneath the humans’ oppression that they were wrong. How could they fight back violently? They did this to themselves. They brought the oppression, the enslavement, the bigotry and cruelty upon themselves because they just didn’t play nice enough. 

Fuck, even when she’s in the “City of Racism” Atlas, she’s too busy being uwu sad and nervous and having to rely on others (funny how instead of ever empowering her again, they write Blake as this submissive docile flower baby immediately after hey reveal she was an abuse victim. Real fucking funny. Laughing my eyes out of my skull with a toothpick.) except for when she jokingly comments how rich the Schnees are and how they own basically everything. 

Past Blake wouldn’t be laughing about that. She’d use it against the Schnees, rightfully. 

But we can’t have that. She’s the good minority, who keeps her mouth shut tight and looks pretty for the camera. 

But… about that bigotry. That oppression, that racism… do we ever see that? 

lol fuck no

We hear of how horribly the Faunus people are treated. Controversial labor forces that keep them as slaves to the SDC. Treated like dirt and beaten and killed and lynched. 

We hear. We hear of that. 

In the show, we get… a No Faunus sign put out in some background places. And the equal opportunist bully bullying a bunny girl.

That’s it. Background shit. Background shit that could easily be interpreted differently, or missed completely if you fucking blink.

There has only been one point where the true extent of this oppression is shown to us. One point which… 

we’ll fucking get to. 

But there’s one thing I’ve mentioned rather frequently throughout this rant. Two, technically. The Schnee family and the SDC. 

Let’s talk. Let’s. Fucking. Talk. 

*sighs*

So this show demonizes it’s fictional worlds only freedom fighting organization, so surely they do the same for the oppressive Amazon company that has a chokehold on the economy of an entire—

In the early volumes, Weiss, another main character, was extremely racist to those who were Faunus. She was also the daughter of the Richy Rich Bitch Family of “CEOs of Racism”. Her older sister was a cop, her younger brother out of the picture until V4, her mother a neglectful abusive alcoholic (she is a victim too but neglect. is. abuse.), her father a racist abusive asshole who looks like I could break him like a bendy straw. But her racism isn’t her fault at all! No, the dirty minorities in the White Fang who were terrorizing the richest of the rich were what made her racist. It was never her fault, only the scary minorities. 

How dare the marginalized be so evil.

But she apologizes off screen and is no longer racist! Yippee! At least we marked “Racist” off her “Racist Blood Purist Rich White Weiss” card! she’s White Savior Blood Purist Rich White Weiss now! Now we can make fun of how much shit her family owns. 

But before all that, she and her girlfriend battle… a black man! Gasp! Who… says before the fight, her family’s company put his family’s business OUT of business! 

A throwaway line before he and his bestie get beaten. Also just realized as I type: not only did Weiss battle a black character who was affected by her family company’s monopoly, but… a Faunus. Another one for the jar.

B-But Blake knows Ilia was affected by the SDC, too! It orphaned her, because in their mines Faunus weren’t given nearly as much safety. Surely she can tell Weiss and have her see—

*Ruby voice* nope. Nope! Ilia was being violent for equality, and that’s no good. So she learns that all their oppressors (likely including the SDC)are really just SCARED of them! So she’s redeemed and becomes peaceful. The Lakota indigenous girl is turned “good.”

But maybe once they’re in Atlas—

Jokes are made about how FUNNY LOL XD it is that her family owns so much, and they’re appalled by how… literally fucking normal Mantle is, as if it’s just an utter travesty to their eyes. She doesn’t want to outright abolish the corrupt SDC, which basically rides on Atlas like a parasite, but instead free it from the dirty-blooded clutches of her father, and return it to the Pure Blooded Schnees, who will use it righteously, in Santa Schnee’s name!

She’s the granddaughter of a hero, after all. A hero who monopolized and capitalized the world’s resources and began a chokehold on an entire kingdom with how vital the Resources became, all the while implementing minority slave labor.

Because we can’t have our pretty princess Weiss face any consequences. We can’t have one of ours mains face consequences. Realize her privilege and try and do something. We can’t make our writers uncomfortable!

And this extends to Winter, too! The woman as racist as Weiss was, but without the “”excuse””, who is also a cop, and who… punches, kneels over one of the characters who is both an in-universe minority of a Dog and easily the darkest skinned character, and tells him; “You want a collar? Fine.”

But the Pure Blood Schnees are good. They’re beautiful and powerful. Even if Weiss has that scar, it’s as tiny as can be so to not ruin her pretty face. Let’s give the rich white family all the angelic imagery. Let’s show Weiss with wings. 

Twice. Twice with white, huge and glowing angel’s wings. 

Looking pure and holy. Pure. And. Holy. 

But Angel imagery? Surely there’s a contrast. Demonic imagery: like the horns, black and red, something to do with darkness and the moon, who should that belong to? If the rich, white, blood purist main girl Weiss gets the angel wings, pretty face and princess aesthetic… who deserves to be the demon of Remnant? 

…Oh, I know the answer to this one! It’s—

Throughout this whole post, there’s been one character I’ve purposefully neglected mentioning by name.

 Adam.

We didn’t see the guy much. Black trailer, V2, V3, V5, V6. And he was really only reoccurring in V5, which… 😶

But from what we did see, we saw the Face of the White Fang. We saw someone who did bad things for the right causes. We saw someone who despised his oppressors, but who seemed to care for his fellow Faunus. We saw…

a fucking lie. A headcanon, perhaps. Badum tss.

What Adam REALLY WAS was an abusive cruel irredeemably evil monster jerkface asshole creep bitch who NEVER cared about his own people, NEVER cared about his people’s rights, NEVER wanted anything more than glory and power and to be lionized. 

The minority character, by the way.

Why did the writers decide to make this guy the hatesink? Why did they decide to make Adam suddenly not care about his fellow people’s rights? 

Why did they decide to make him laughably cruel to his own people whom he seemed to genuinely care for before (like in that scene in volume 3, where he only agrees to go along w/ cinder after she starts KILLING FAUNUS, but maybe that scene was a headcanon too, all in le head)

Why did they decide to make the goals of one of their in universe minority characters to be wanting nothing but fame and power?

Why did they also write him to be a former child slave?

Volume 6 is one of my more liked volumes, with it (for me) easily being the best looking, and the horror stuff was great. Also, Maria. 

But then they threw Adam in last minute. One last kick of that dead bull. 

He comes back in his finest NieR: Automata cosplay and starts spouting some of the most embarrassingly bad dialog this show has had while fighting Blang (basically that one fucking hilarious “Boobs in my mouth please please please hello You’re nothing” post as dialog), and it’s in this that, after 6 volumes, we finally see his face. 

Adam was branded. I’m not putting that shit lightly, Adam was fucking branded. 

And the brand is used to show how evil HE is. He was hurt more by his gf leaving him than ANY scar ever would. Who cares about all the trauma he surely went through in slavery, he sure fucking doesn’t! Okay, Cameraman Mike, be sure to focus a whole bunch of shots on his brand, which is still blood red and grotesque, to really hammer the point in how much of an asshole he is. 

Never mind it’s a brand of the SDC, of which one of our main character’s family owns. Who cares if this is literally the only time we’re shown the true extent of racism against Faunus? 

It’s swept aside! Because the same episode we’re given one of the most honestly depressing reveals for a villain yet is the same episode that villain dies. 

Dies with the brand facing the camera. His death. Entirely. On. Screen. 

Thank fuck Adam was written as an irredeemable monster of a villain(/j), because they literally wrote, animated, and voiced a scene where we the viewers watch a former child slave, branded and blinded over an eye, have his death be entirely on screen. A slow death, entirely on screen. 

Adam, a former slave to the SDC who, sometime during his childhood was branded and permanently blinded, died more slowly… more gruesomely… than Jacques fucking Schnee did. 

Even died before him, too.

But notice one thing. I keep referring to him as having been a “child slave.” Emphasis on child. 

Don’t blame me. Blame your fucking writers. 

I want you to read this. Read this paragraph. Twice, if you have to. As many times as you need to to get the fact into your head that THIS IS FUCKING VILE.

This is in the writers commentary track for volume 7. They tiptoe around with their words, but I’ll translate it to the best of my ability. In it, Miles shared a particular headcanon: in which the 

FUCKING VILLAIN HE WROTE TO HAVE BEEN A CHILD SLAVE TO THE SCHNEE DUST COMPANY GOT HIMSELF BRANDED FOR BEING TOO MUCH OF A LITTLE SHIT TO KEEP HIS DIRTY TRAP SHUT. 

SO THEN ONE OF HIS CAPTORS HELD THIS CHILD DOWN TO THE GROUND AND JAMMED A CATTLE PROD DOWN WITH THE SDC PROPERTY LOGO ONTO HIS EYE.

THAT LITTLE BOY SURE HAD IT COMING, HUH? HE’S ALWAYS BEEN SUCH AN INSUFFERABLE LITTLE PRICK, EVEN AS A CHILD IN SLAVERY. HIS CAPTORS REALLY LET HIM HAVE IT!

LET. 

HIM. 

HAVE. 

IT. 

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AFTER HE STARTS THE FIGHT. HE STARTED IT. 

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AND GROWING UP TO BECOME A HORRIBLE, DISGUSTING DEMON.

THEY WRITE AND HEADCANON A FICTIONAL CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED IN THE EYE AND HIS CAPTOR JUST “LET HIM HAVE IT.”

“LET HIM HAVE IT,” NOT IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY BEING HATE CRIMED.

“LET HIM HAVE IT,” NOT IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY SLAVE BEING PERMANENTLY SCARRED. 

“LET HIM HAVE IT” IN REFERRAL TO A MINORITY CHILD SLAVE BEING BRANDED AS PROPERTY IN THE EYE BY HIS CAPTORS.

And I think this says it all. From the white and the black, blue and the red, oppressor and oppressed and angel and demon, Weiss and Adam almost mirror each other. 

Just look at their scars. Theirs are on the same side. 

But while Weiss’s is the smallest, prettiest scar of all,

The brand of the SDC all but covers half of Adam’s face, in all it’s grotesque, blood red and hideous glory.

I’ll let you guess the implications. 

Killing off a WOC in power the very scene she’s introduced. Showing the Lakota girl the “right way to protest”. Painting the oppressors in a more positive light than ever showing the oppressed be oppressed. Showing your hatesink character had been branded in the eye the same episode he dies on screen. And this is what broke me. 

They’d read in the history books of children forced into slavery slaves being branded

and they’d see the backstory for a villain.

Because we can’t write the minorities fighting against their oppressors to be justifiable!

We can’t face how a member of the majority will almost always benefit from an oppressive system!

We can’t write the pretty white rich family of Fantasy-Amazon owners as wrong for their horrible practices both past and present!

We can’t let the WOC be right about violent protest!

We can’t let the native girl be angry and fight back against her oppressors!

We can’t have a shred of sympathy for the ex slave who was branded while he was a boy!

Because they did this. 

Faunus. 

[mean-and-rwde]

Volume 9 spoilers!

Contains RWDE content.

Lots of rambling.

Might be incoherent at times.

Don't like? Don't read.

Okay. Wow.

Binged all of V9 up until now, so here's some thoughts and rambles about it:

Weiss is a mood, but her "comedic" anime-style moments are... Annoying. And definitely out of character. I find it incredibly irritating that she refuses to believe they are in a fairytale even though it's pretty fucking obvious.

Ruby helps out a cute little mouse. She states that she wishes the mouse could help her too, then freaks out when the mouse responds. After some discussion, Ruby describes her friends in hopes that the mouse saw them (specifically stating Blake has cat ears and thus is a faunus, while the others are human). She decides to call the mouse Little, and thus they become her guide.

Sort of. Little constantly falls asleep.

Meanwhile, Weiss saying that they're looking for Gambol Shroud is a nice touch, but would be confusing if one didn't already know that was the name of her weapon. I like that the weapons have names, instead of it being just Ruby calling her weapon Crescent Rose.

Blake gets exhausted pulling a vine for maybe 5 seconds. Weiss gets tired after slashing two vines with her sword, only for them to grow back.

Ruby and Little find the two tangled in vines ( a trap Blake set off by trying to grab her weapon while Weiss cheers her on in the background). The mice explain they do not like cats, which Blake just... Shrugs off, saying she understands.

They encounter the Jabberwalker! But just before they move in to attack, Yang yells at it to get it's attention back on her. The Jabberwalker retreats. I love how weird it's movements look, but I have no idea what the hell it said.

Yang saying "Dammit. You weren't supposed to be here" to Ruby is nice. Ruby lying about why they're down there too is not. They fell in, they did not go after her and jump in. Also I honestly forgot they were sisters.

Blake knocking Yang over to hug her was cute. The missing arm jokes were not.

Oh my god, the raccoon's name is Jinxy. Why not just call him Jinx or something equally weird?

The odd "prices": a hug, something about love, and enough hope to fill a jar, were interesting, I'll say.

And the last one is particularly shocking: the usually hopeful, optimistic Ruby does not have enough hope to fill a jar.

And cool, Yang decides it's time for violence, despite Blake pleading that they don't fuck up like Alyx did in the story. The objects all turn back into what they actually are, and chaos ensues. Also, I don't remember Penny's swords being completely green.

Blake says they're acting just like Alyx, who started a war due to not knowing the customs of the citizens, and cheated in a game.

Also, what really irks me is that ALL FOUR know THE SAME STORY. They ALL heard it as children. Despite their incredibly different backgrounds and all. Why not have Blake recall a different version in particular? Maybe have one not know it at all? It seems incredibly odd to me that Weiss would know the same story as Blake, who knows the same story as Ruby / Yang.

I love the Curious Cat. His voice and design are pleasing to me. I like his "is it, or is it not" and / or literal responses, like "what do you go by?" / "I do not 'go by'; I leave that to the days and years". Also, the occasional cat-like behavior.

Speaking of, why the fuck is Blake so chill about being referred to as a cat? Ruby singles her out when talking about her friends, stating she's a faunus while the others are humans. What's worse, Blake specifically goes "from one cat to another" when talking to the Curious Cat. It just... Eugh. It's bad.

The Red Prince. Oh my god, he is so annoying. I know that's the point, but wow. The soldiers aren't much better, reminding me of Cordovan's soldiers.

The soldiers try to claim all the credit for the birthday gift, but freak out when the Red Prince complains that it's GREEN. One even says they didn't know it was green, even though they saw it before.

Speaking of the sword. I will admit, Ruby's speech about the sword made me tear up. Unfortunately, it rings hollow after the Atlas arc disaster.

(Later, Ruby giving the teapot lady her pin is even worse. It absolutely feel like a last ditch effort. "It contains a mother's promise" like hell it does! She sounds like Jinxy trying to sell his fake items: making it sound more special and valuable than it actually is.)

Ruby tries to cheer up the Red Prince by offering to play his game. When she asks how to play, everyone laughs. Then, the three rules are stated: pawns can move forward a certain number of spaces. one pawn moves each turn (a rule later discarded), and in order to take a square, one must dispose of whoever is occupying that space.

Ruby asks what that means, and finds out that it's literal. But the injured pawns are whisked away from the board, so no real harm is done. The Red Prince ever so kindly lets Ruby start. Her pawns are visibly far weaker, and as uncertain as Ruby herself.

Ruby notes she's missing a few pieces. Then, boom! Her friends are thrown in! They shrink to about 6 inches, and land on the board. Of course, they wreck house against the red pawns. But everything goes to shit when the Red Prince suddenly remembers Ruby is a human. Now both red and white pawns turn against her friends.

I admittedly liked this episode the most.

It's kind of cute that Ruby carries her tiny team mates in her cloak. Little is cute, but useless in all honesty.

Herb is interesting too. I love the design and voice. But the hallucination part was...

They encounter their old selves, who offer them to go back, to change who they are.

Weiss: what if you completely changed who you are? started over, with no baggage?

Blake: why be the bridge between humans and faunus? you could be a human, or a cat.

Yang: what if you could get your arm back? don't you want to be whole again?

The three each refuse, Yang stating her loss has made her stronger, made her who she is now. She states: If I'm missing something, it's not because I lost it, but because I haven't found it yet." Which would be amazing if her recovery arc wasn't cut short because the writers stated it was boring. Also it doesn't really make sense in terms of her arm, which was what was offered: to be whole again.

Blake states that such a life wouldn't be simplicity, it would be betrayal. She continues: "my friends, my family, my people, my culture... they belong to me as much as I belong to them."

...Which is even worse because her character took a hard hit when the WF arc was dropped. What culture? Blake doesn't seem to have one. Again, it doesn't hit as hard as it could have.

Weiss replies, in true Weiss style: "I don't know who you think you are, but let me tell you who I am. I am a citizen of a fallen kingdom, an heiress to nothing. I am the great granddaughter of a hero, and the child of a villain. I will not be defined by my name; I will be the one to define it."

Probably my favorite. But again. Her arc was cut short by her just... Throwing her abusive father in jail. He was killed, but she doesn't even know that. The "great granddaughter of a hero", but said great grandfather was the one who started the SDC. Her father wasn't really a villain, just an asshole who was abusive.

She refused to be defined by her name, giving up everything... Until it was convenient for her, ie when they needed to hide, she literally bullied her way BACK into the Schnee manor.

Then, there's Ruby.

Her former self is overly cheerful, even as she tells Ruby: "your friends need you. the whole world needs you to keep fighting forever and ever, against an unkillable enemy that took your mother. ... Mom was the best. But even she failed. That doesn't seem fair. None of this seems fair!"

Ruby forced her way into this. She chased after Cinder during the Beacon dance. She went to Mountain Glenn on a mission far too advanced for her team (Ozpin bent the rules to allow this). She forced herself to be part of this.

I do love how past!Ruby says "none of this seems fair" as well as mentioning how Ruby originally wanted to be like the huntresses in the stories. How life wasn't like a fairytale but that was why Ruby needed to keep fighting. Going as far as saying "You can be whoever you want! You don't even have to be Ruby Rose!

So... What do you want to be?"

Ruby is unable to defend against her past self, and crumbles. The Curious Cat has to intervene, and tells Herb (or Past!Ruby?) to get away from her.

The Curious Cat says to him "You help others find their way, but you have lost your own" and gives him some of his heart? Then Herb is literally swallowed up by the ground. Holy fuck.

What the fuck is Ascension? It sounds worse than dying. I mean. You get swallowed up by the ground, then spit back out with no memories, just a "purpose".

Weiss says it's not possible, that everything must die eventually. Even though Ozma and Salem herself are literal proof against this. Yes, Ozma's host will die, but his soul will simply find a new host.

Wait... Why are they running?

No, seriously. The previous episode ended with Herb falling through the ground.

Okay, they need a bunch of stuff to make Grow-Gurt Parfait(?). Including... Nose hair from a leprechaun? Ew.

The group splits: WBY + Curious Cat gather the other ingredients, Ruby and Little get the nose hair.

Ruby has some sort of... Hallucination? Teleportation? To a blacksmith's workshop, where she finds Penny's sword (Red Prince voice: WHY IS IT GREEN). She sees Penny's reflection in it. Then, she sees what looks like a sort of scythe. Looking closer, she sees someone's reflection. Maybe Alyx?

Boom, she's back(?), and she has no nose hair of any sort. Thankfully, they soon find the Teapot Lady. Curious Cat knocks random crap over, just like a cat would.

The Grow-Gurt Parfait is made. The girls go to eat it. One handful makes them slightly taller.

Suddenly, a Jabberwalker appears! The parfait spills on the ground and the Jabberwalker eats some. Fuck.

Everyone panics!

WBY run over to the spilt parfait and eat what's left. Which is enough to return them to normal size.

Blake asks what's a Jabberwalker, despite seeing one earlier and knowing what it was. Apparently, if they get eaten by it, they will not Ascend.

So they do die, basically. Weiss was correct.

A jackalope - bunny creature appears to fend off the Jabberwalker. A knight is seen on its back. The Jabberwalker disappears... But in a similar way to Neo's semblance.

Meaning Neo is somehow behind it!

[Neo's semblance evolved. Now she can literally create clones. ]

Suddenly, several more crawl into view.

The knight tells them to run. So they run.

Weiss watches the place burn as people scream and run away. She tears up, telling Ruby she's tired of leaving places in ashes.

They keep running after the knight, who Blake recognizes as the Rusted Knight.

The creature is named Juniper (JNPR callback, which would have more impact if the team interacted with each other more). The knight takes off his helmet, revealing...

[groans]

Jaune. Except he's... Much, much older. Even though he fell last.

"Team RWBY. You finally made it."

I knew Jaune was gonna have some big huge arc instead of our main four. No wonder their journey felt rushed. Though, then I started wondering about how the heck Jaune turned into the Rusted Knight when none of RWBY literally became Alyx. Or any other character.

I really don't know how to feel about this volume. On one hand, it's interesting. On the other... It's annoying because, remember:

- Atlas is now Atlantis (gone)

- Almost the entire population of Atlas / Mantle is now in Vacuo. A kingdom already struggling.

- Salem is roughly halfway to her goal of getting all the relics and is on her way to Vacuo.

- Tyrian and Mercury are also heading there.

And since time likely flows differently in the Ever After, this feels like a huge distraction. A time skip so team RWBY don't have to actually do anything about the situation.

Literally what I hoped wouldn't happen.

#rwde #volume 9 #rwby critical #major spoilers #what the fuuuuck #i hate it here #slight character bashing #rwde content #eugh #i have so much to say about this shit #and not much of it is good #little the mouse is annoying #i love the Curious Cat tho #cryptic asshole cat

[mean-and-rwde]

Oh my god.

Another thing that could be interesting, but they chose to be gross instead.

I was hoping they would have to face some challenges and think about what they've caused / done, but not like this.

I think I'll continue to avoid V9. Wow.

Hold on, what's this about Yang being offered to be ""whole"" again? Blake being offered to not be a faunus?? Weiss calling her grandfather (great?) a hero??? Hello???? What the fuck is this?????

#RWDE

[mean-and-rwde]

Yup. They did offer Yang her arm back.

And a lot worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf1TVj8oTIA

I- what???? This is so bad! This is unbelievably bad! Not only are they just repeating lessons these characters have already learned, they're adding a whole bunch of loaded s*** like trying to tempt Blake to not be a minority anymore, I don't even know what to say about Weiss's thing because her still wanting to be anything like Nicholas knee is absolute b*******. I just-

F*** this I'm not watching any further I'm out

[mean-and-rwde]

Hold on, what's this about Yang being offered to be ""whole"" again? Blake being offered to not be a faunus?? Weiss calling her grandfather (great?) a hero??? Hello???? What the fuck is this?????

#rwde #i hate it here #volume 9 #what the fuuuuck #im confused as fuck #and disgusted #bruh #eww #rant in tags

[mean-and-rwde]

Honestly one of the things I hated the most about V7 was that they made Marrow, the one faunus in the Ace Ops, fight Weiss, the daughter of a pretty racist rich man who contributed to faunus discrimination, and the fact that Marrow lost and Weiss was painted as "protecting her "home"". I don't even want to go into Robyn trying to mansexplain discrimination to a FAUNUS and acting superior to him

i absolutely hated that moment because it showed how tone deaf the writers are while still carrying on with this failed abortion of a racism plotline.

no weiss, you were not “protecting your home” because your home isn’t mantle. it’s atlas, & you were literally part of the system that oppressed mantle & faunus alike; yes the sins of the father are not the sins of the son but weiss’s racist attitude was mostly her own. weiss enjoying the wealth that the sdc gave her & pouting when her card was cut off was all her own behaviour. there are aspects of weiss that wholly show what environment she grew up in & what she believes & the shows insistence on now making her a white saviour consistently only highlights how the show actually never had weiss apologise for her racism or even try to improve things for faunus.

robyn was also another insistence of mkek not realizing or caring what they were writing; her using a racial nickname for marrow, explaining faunus racism to him as if he doesn’t have his own experiences that are more valid than her human opinion, dividing mantle’s citizens into “mantle ... and the faunus.” these storylines reek of white saviourism & always has done from these majority white writers.

marrow couldn’t even escape it in v8 considering we had him referring to his job as a collar  —  for more hehe dog references which is essentially his entire character because we didn’t learn from leo. & then to top it off, we had the white skinned woman in power knocking him to the ground & kneeling on his back during the height of movements like blm which was exposing abuse of power by those in society who felt “entitled” to it.

it’s so frustrating & i’m tired of fans making excuse after excuse for this mostly white writing team continually making blunders in relation to racial issues, queer issues, etc etc. their excuse in ignorance has long passed.