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sid471 · 3 years

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I watched episode 4 you know what that meeeeeans :3

RWBY Volume 8 spoilers you know the drill. TL;DR: Robyn’s funny, Qrow’s sad, JYR are... any synonym for upset, especially Ren, Harriet’s a bitch, but we been knew, Salem is a bitch, as well as a bad bitch, aaaaaand.... Shit >_>. Cool :3

We start off with the Birbs, Robyn telling a funny story about Joanna to try and lighten the mood ^_^... Doesn’t work but the thought that counts. Robyn says “Tough crowd. Maybe Ironwood shoulda gotten better in cell entertainment >_>” And Qrow laughs and Robyn is pleased with herself :3. Aaaand then Qrow gets sad again. Robyn says that she’s sorry for what happened and says it isn’t his fault, which it isn’t >_<, But Qrow says that it is his fault because he made a deal with the Dark and Clover paid the price for it. My Fair Game heart jumped when I heard Qrow say “I thought for once maybe I could...” but he finishes it with “Be around someone without my semblance making things... weird. And now I’m alone again. That thought... It feels like a dream.” And Robyn says “Believe it or not... I kind of know how you feel. When people are afraid you’ll spill their secrets, people tend to avoid you. And it makes making real connections... difficult.” Birb bonding we love to see it :3

And as Qrow is saying “Huh. I never thought about it like that” Harriet and Marrow throw Watts back in his cell. So I guess he fucked up. And those armed soldiers were just for show >_>. Harriet says to Qrow “You don’t get to keep that 😒” referring to Clover’s pin to which Qrow reiterates that he didn’t kill Clover. And Harriet says “You keep saying that but it was your weapon that has it blood on it.” which... true but what happened to Tyrian’s fingerprints .-. Did they just... not try to scan Harbinger for finger prints? Well y’know what makes sense considering where Ironwood is >_> anyways. Robyn sticks up for Qrow, again as she should :3, and says “He didn’t do it and if you were so sure that he did you’d lower my cell and take my hand. 😋 “ And Harriet tries to be all confident and cocky but Robyn goes for the jugular, like the queen she is, and says “Right. Because you don’t actually care about the truth. You just want someone to be mad at 😒.” And Harriet ALMOST unlocks Robyn’s cell but Marrow stops her. But something tells me even if she did open the cell and use Robyn’s semblance she still wouldn’t believe it >_> Because Robyn is right she DOES just want someone to be mad at <_< But yeah, after Marrow stops Harriet from opening the cell they leave and Robyn lays back down on her bed and says “Well. That was almost interesting 🙄 “ and the scene changes

To Ren Jaune and Yang. They’re chasing after The Hound and they Ren manages to grab onto it with the help of Jaune and Stormflower. And Ren just kinda... Flies around for a bit, latching on the Hounds foot while Yang and Jaune continue to give chase. During the chase, The Hound stops carrying Oscar in his, sorry Summer Rose theory believers I’m gonna use he/him pronouns for The Hound lol, mouth and roars, resulting in more Grimm to appear. Kinda like how the Wyvern was able to bring about more Grimm. Which Yang expresses surprise by, not the fact that it was ABLE to bring more Grimm, but by the fact The Hound was calling for reinforcements. Which is also surprising, but he was able to call forth more Grimm by roaring .-.

Anyways, Yang and Jaune continue to ride past the Grimm, Jaune using his tossy shield thing as a ramp, so that’s neat :3 But also did he get it back? .-. We didn’t see him use the Gravity dust in his shield ._. I hope he didn’t just... leave this advanced Atlas tech in the snow 😶 Nah I doubt he did but still weird we didn’t see’im retrieve it. I go off topic, so Jaune and Yang continue driving and evading Grimm until Yang almost drives off a cliff... Well... not almost. She drives off a cliff. But Ren comes by in the nick’a time and saves them ^_^ A clutch use of his Semblance keeps them from being Grimm food :3.

Buuuuuuut now they’re stuck, and lost, in an icy tundra with their Aura in the high 30s all around. So... wonderful. So they’re trekking through and following Ren because he said that he saw the compound when he was flying on the hound. And we FINALLY get some sense of what’s going on with Ren. Well, he said it at the end of volume 7, he doesn’t think they, and by they he means he, aren’t ready to be huntsman. Which Yang says exactly what I’ve been thinking this whole time “Were we ready at the battle at Haven? How about when we stole an Atlas airship >_>” the latter wasn’t the example she used but I couldn’t remember cause it’s been a few hours lol. But Ren continues on his tirade and says that “If we just give the staff to Ironwood everything would be okay”... Now listen I know he wasn’t really THERE when Ironwood broke, it was just RWBY, and he doesn’t know Ironwood shot Oscar, only Oscar knows that, but even so.... Ren, sweetie, honey, baby, that is SOOOOO far from the truth ._. Like even the last time he saw Ironwood he was still on the “Hey let’s ABANDON Mantle” train .-. and now he’s helping to evacuate Mantle... Technically illegally? So... Ugh Ren please don’t get on my shit list >_< He also called out Jaune for “Cheating his way into Beacon”, his exact words. Which brings the question did Jaune tell them about that? Cause last we knew only he, Pyrrha, and Cardin knew. And presumable the rest of CRDL. So did Pyrrha tell them while she was still angry at Jaune for hanging around Cardin or did Jaune tell JNPR in confidence? Either way...... Not cool to just bring up >_> Especially with how much Jaune HAS improved as a leader, a fighter, and a strategist. I don’t talk about it much but I’m proud of Jaune :3. AS proud as I am of Weiss with her whole arc ^_^... Heh... Arc. After Ren says that Jaune, obviously hurt, says “You may not think we’re ready, but I’m still going. We have a job to do.” And Yang says to Ren “Is your goal to push everyone away? 😒”

So then we see Oscar after and Salem is here... Lovely. She tries to coax information out of Oscar, namely the information about the relic of choice, which Oscar says he doesn’t know anything about, and then she asks about the “password” to the Lamp. And Oscar says that he’ll never tell her that. To which Salem promptly BLASTS him with Magic. So............. Oscar’s not doing well. And he’s REALLY not doing well when Hazel appears and starts beating his shit in. So.......... Farm Boi’s really uh... In a predicament. Salem leaves to let Hazel continue his beating, Salem comes across Cinder and Neo, Cinder asking “What is that? 🤨” Referring to The Hound to which Salem says “An experiment. I am quite pleased with the results. Did you need something? 🤨” Despite being uncomfortable around The Hound, Cinder still says her piece, that she should go back to Atlas and claim the Maiden’s powers and gain the Staff. But she stands firm and says no again and when Cinder tries to stick up for herself, The Hound roars in her face. So she backs off and says, for the second time, “Without you, I am nothing.” Which is very interesting that that’s a recurring thing between her and Salem. So, she leaves with Neo to an air ship and says “Salem doesn’t know those children like I do, they won’t ever stop their attempts to save the world.” and her plan is to go to Amity... Ya know... where Penny is, and Pietro is. And then Emerald steps up and says “Well if she [Neo] doesn’t wanna go, I will.” and says that she’s been working on her semblance and that she can help. Great. Just what Penny needs. Hallucinations and Illusions >_>. Cinder, sweetie, love you but I don’t think this is the plan Salem’s GONNA find out .-. she literally has eyes everywhere <_<

And then we see RNBW+May show up to the Schnee Manor so they can help Nora. Whitley isn’t happy to see them but seeing as he got Myrtenaster put in his face he quickly agreed to let them stay there 😊. While Weiss Nora and May are going to, presumably, a guest room, Ruby and Blake have a brief conversation with Blake saying “You know if you’re worried about Yang you can try calling her 🙂.” And we find out that Ruby DID try to call her, which is cute.

After that the scene changes to reveal team JYR found shelter, good :3 and that Yang found something to fix the damaged bike that she and Jaune were on, also good ^_^. Jaune TRIES to talk to Ren but it doesn’t work because Ren is too busy being angry at the world. Which... Don’t get me wrong, fair. I’d be angry too. But if my friend, practically my brother for how long? 2, 3 years? Was trying to tell me to try to open up, I’d open up to him. Like, maybe he was a little uncomfortable with Yang being there, but after Jaune said “Hey the more you bottle up your feelings the worse it’s gonna get.” Ren immediately went outside, so he could’ve gestured Jaune to follow him so they could talk. But they didn’t. Instead, Yang and Jaune talked ^_^ So I mean I’m okay with this lol. Yang asks Jaune “Do you think she thinks less of me? For not going to Atlas...” And Jaune says “Ruby is your sister. She’s gonna love you even if you disagree 🙂.” Which is true :3. But Yang wasn’t talking about Ruby. She was talking about Blake. Which is interestiiiing ooh bees :3

So the episode after the Jaune and Yang talk, Jaune saying he wants to go to sleep but can’t stop thinking about Oscar, and Yang says not to worry and she’ll be sure that Ren doesn’t “Brood himself to death” which I found funny lol. After she says that, the camera pans to the ground to some cracks in the ground. Which then rumble. So................. Damn it Ren your angst is gonna cause another giant Grimm to appear >_>

#RWBY #RWBY8 #RWBY Volume 8 #RWBY8 Spoilers #RWBY Spoilers #RWBY volume 8 spoilers #Yang Xiao Long #Lie Ren #Jaune Arc #Oscar Pine #Salem (RWBY)#Emerald Sustrai #Cinder Fall

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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Wait what was the mess with Ilia/queer representation? I don't usually look into these things so I probably didn't hear or see people talking about it

Happy to explain! First, the obligatory disclaimer: Ilia is a complicated case and, like anything else in RWBY, her place in the show is very much up to interpretation. I think her character arc, particularly in relation to her status as a queer character, is an absolute mess but I know others are of the opposite opinion. Many of the “flaws” I point out are perceived as her greatest strengths. So it’s subjective.

That being said, I wrote a little bit about this during Volume 5 when it was all going down. A simplified list of the primary issues includes:

Introducing your first, long-awaited queer character as a villain (even a sympathetic one)

“Redeeming” her in the span of one episode in a way that provides no punishment/responsibility/growth in the face of the horrific acts she committed

This character is left behind by the story at the end of the volume, presumably never to be seen again outside of, perhaps, a final battle that includes the whole cast

Tying her queerness directly to her villainy

It’s this last point that I take the most issue with. See, the fandom is right to point out that Ilia has motivations for her actions established throughout the volume, namely the death of her parents and the general racism that is still pervading Remnant. Ilia says multiple times throughout Volume 5 that this is why she’s going after Blake and her family. Because she honestly believes that they are a threat to the faunus’ progress. However, just because a character says something doesn’t make it true. Take Yang in the same season. She says she doesn’t want/care if Blake ever comes back to the group, which anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the show knows is BS. Rather, Yang’s emotions are functioning on multiple levels. A part of her really doesn’t want Blake to return because she’s still furious with her, whereas a larger part of her wants them to reconcile. Now, apply that logic to Ilia. It’s absolutely true to say that she’s motivated by activism and the death of her parents, however, her confrontation with Blake reveals that this isn’t the only reason for her attack. It is, arguably, not even the primary reason. Ilia gives a speech about how they need to be doing more for the faunus, how she doesn’t like to hurt people but she can’t deny that it has gotten them results. Yet when Blake challenges this part of her identity - you’re not a killer - the conversation unexpectedly takes a turn. When pushed to explain how she became this way Ilia does not reiterate her thoughts on racism or the trauma of her parents’ deaths. Instead, she starts talking about her unrequited feelings for Blake:

Suddenly, Ilia’s motivations have changed. Or rather, they’ve become more complicated. Both sets of motivations exists, but this is the one she admits to under duress, framing it as more “true” than what she’s been saying prior to this conversation. Now, Ilia shows personal motivations rather than just the generically good rhetoric of I Want To End Racism Because It’s Bad. Having Blake down on her knees, shipping her off to Adam, and killing her parents is explicitly connected to the (perceived) problem of, “You didn’t love me.” Blake is positioned as responsible for who Ilia became: You want to know why I’m like this? You were too busy looking at Adam. I wanted you to look at me that way but you didn’t. That’s how I learned that we can’t always get what we want. So now you don’t get to have what you want (your parents’ safety, distance from Adam). You get to feel what I felt when you didn’t love me back. When Blake poses the question of, “Why are you like this?” Ilia’s answer is “Because I’m queer, have unrequited feelings, and that taught me that life sucks. Now I’m returning the favor.”

Suddenly, Ilia’s actions are removed from the (already ethically dubious) logic of treating Blake this way because she believes it will help the faunus in the long run and instead are implied to stem from a desire to punish her for not reciprocating those feelings. In this moment Ilia moves from a misguided activist-turned-terrorist and instead becomes a misguided lesbian seeking revenge. She might not admit it - she never explicitly says that she’s punishing Blake for not loving her - but that’s the implication by taking the conversation in this direction; by having Ilia answer with her sexuality rather than her activist views. By drawing such an overt connection between these actions and Ilia’s admission, these things - the impending death of Blake’s parents, kidnapping her, sending her back to her abuser - are framed as things that she “deserves” according to Ilia. If you’d just looked at me with love from the start we never would have ended up here. This falls into a number of horrible tropes including, but not limited to, The Predatory Gay, The Psycho Lesbian, and The Queer Character Falling For Their (Presumably) Straight Friend.

Now, the takeaway here is not “You can never write villainous queer characters.” More often than not any statement beginning with “You can never write ____” is going to be a bad take. Indeed, there are tons of queer/queer coded villains who I adore. That doesn’t mean I want media to perpetuate that long, stereotyped history though. “But Clyde,” the world says. “That doesn’t make any sense. How can you both want and not want this setup?” To which I respond with the iconic words of Jane Lynch:

People’s identities are made up of multiple parts and those parts can read the same writing choice in different ways. As a queer person who loves the ~drama~ of a flamboyant villain I want that entertainment (like Watts). As a queer person who is disgusted by the implications tied to that trend (you’re evil, you’re unnatural, you’re sick, you deserve to be punished, to be killed) I don’t want to see our only queer character be a villain. Which is what Ilia was at the time of her reveal. She was all we had and we didn’t know if RT would ever going to give us anyone else. That was just awful to watch and worry about. It didn’t make me happy. Which sounds like a shit thing to say - This isn’t your story! It doesn’t cater to you! - but after years of waiting for queer rep it felt like a kick in the teeth to get this character in this way and leave her behind when we had a cast of five main women right there, any of which could have been queer. Ilia’s reading was made worse by the lack of rep surrounding her, but to be frank things haven’t improved much. I adore Saphron and Terra, I think they were really well done as characters, but they’re still very minor characters and we can’t ignore that, like Ilia, they were left behind by the story. Blake and Yang are not canon yet, leaving all the hints at their relationship sitting in the limbo of, “Is this just queer baiting?” If you’re someone who pays attention to queer coding, a lot of queer-coded men have been killed off in this show (Roman, Ozpin, Clover). We supposedly have one trans character… whose identity thus far only exists in a tweet.

Kudos to RT for hiring a trans voice actor - they absolutely deserve recognition for that - but it’s still not enough in this day and age. It’s 2020. Queer coding, queer minor characters quickly shuffled off screen, and queer “rep” in the form of paratextual info simply doesn’t fly. We decided that in the most vocal terms possible during the Harry Potter era, a fandom that took over most of the world and, thus, had one hell of an impact on media going forward. No, it’s not rep if you say Dumbledore is gay in an interview but never work that into the story. It’s not rep if you say May is trans on Twitter but don’t work that into the story. Not unless both characters are supplemental additions to a canon already filled with a variety of queer rep. “It’s so cool that this character is also queer! I get why you didn’t have time to work that in, so it’s a good thing we have those five other characters to identify with.” RT might do that in the future. Blake and Yang might become canon in Volume 8. May might be confirmed in the show. Saphron and Terra might unexpectedly arrive to become a part of the story again. We simply don’t know. But as of right now Ilia is one of only three in-canon queer characters out of a cast of ten bajillion (approximately lol) and out of those three she is the only one who was developed into a well-rounded character. That means nearly the entirely of RWBY’s rep rests on her shoulders. I think her queerness is fine for a cast already full of queer characters. There it functions as good diversity - “Some lesbians do join extremist groups and blame unrequited love for their murder plans!” - rather than representation for lesbians/queer people as a whole - “It’s a good thing we have these three other heroic lesbians in RWBY to balance out the message Ilia sends!” But since we don’t have that the takeaway is just what we’ve seen for decades: Queer characters are villains. Queer characters are violent and predatory. Queer characters are written out of the show.

Historically, Ilia’s characterization has problems on its own, but those problems were very much exacerbated by making her the first and, at that point, only queer rep. I - and no doubt others - would have been far more receptive to her as representation if we’d already gotten queer heroes prior to her introduction. And again, that’s a preference. Some fans want more queer villains as a way to say, “Anyone can be queer.” For me though, I’ve seen enough Ilias throughout my life. I’ve seen enough versions of my identity painted as unwanted and dangerous. I was expecting RWBY to do better and I hope that they will do better in the future.

#Anonymous #rwby #rwde #mymetas #LGBTQIA

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rwby-redux · 4 years

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Deconstruction

Worldbuilding: Semblances I

Remember in the Worldbuilding: Overview when I called Semblances magical? Technically speaking, that’s not actually true. The fact that I have to even qualify that statement tells you just how much of a headache RWBY’s magic system—excuse me, pseudo-magic system—is in practice. Unlike the last topic (Aura) where I focused on just one critical flaw, today we’re going to cover as many of those flaws as we can. Given the huge number of talking points we’ll be discussing, Semblances is going to be split into two parts.

You might want to get comfortable; we’re going to be here for a while.

Let’s first start by establishing what, according to canon, a Semblance actually is. If Aura is the manifestation of the soul, then a Semblance is the form that manifestation takes. Broadly speaking, a Semblance is a skill or ability that transcends the normal biological limits of what a person is capable of—a superpower that’s uniquely-tailored to its user. Despite taking on a wide array of forms and functions, all Semblances share six basic traits:

A Semblance draws upon Aura as its source of power. When this fuel source is depleted, a person can no longer use their Semblance, and must wait for their Aura to regenerate before it can be used again.

The specific ability or nature of one’s Semblance is alleged to be an expression of the user’s personality/character/soul.

Overuse of a Semblance can adversely affect a person and cause physical side effects, such as fatigue [1], headaches [2], or fainting [3].

Semblances can interact with Dust in such a way that their skills are augmented, resulting in the temporary acquisition of new subskills or secondary characteristics.

Through training and regular usage, Semblances can gradually become stronger or more advanced.

The intensity of certain emotions, such as stress, panic, despair, or rage, can cause a person to subconsciously activate their Semblance.

Your first reaction when reading this list might’ve been, “Oh, you mean like the Quirks in My Hero Academia.” Now, I’ve never personally watched the show or read the manga, but after briefly consulting the Wiki page I can safely confirm that yes, Semblances are very similar to Quirks. However, given my lack of familiarity with My Hero Academia, I’m going to avoid drawing too many comparisons between the two. This is partly because I don’t want to provide incorrect commentary on a franchise I know little about. The other reason? The longer I read the Wiki page on Quirks, the more embittered I become toward Semblances and the wasted potential they have by comparison. I’m already biased; I don’t need any help in that arena, thanks.

I think the best way to discuss all of the various flaws with Semblances is to break this topic into two parts, and deal with the meta and in-lore aspects separately.

Meta, Production, and Development

When I started doing research for this topic I went on the RWBY Wiki to track down sources and dates, as one typically does when preparing to excavate a salt mine. I knew what a Semblance was, but I decided that, for the sake of empirical evidence, that I needed to have a reference for that definition. (And a good line of defense against potential critics. It’s hard to argue with primary sources.) Fans can give a definition when prompted, but I’m willing to bet most of them couldn’t name the episode where we first got that information. That’s all right; I couldn’t either. In fact, the more I thought about it, the weirder it seemed that I couldn’t pinpoint the exact episode, let alone the volume, where Semblances are first explained. So I did some digging.

Here’s what I found:

The first time Aura is explained on-screen is Volume 1, Episode 06: “The Emerald Forest - Part 1.” This exposition is delivered to us by Pyrrha, whose explanation serves as a learning moment for us, the viewers, and Jaune, the audience-surrogate character.

The first time the word Semblance is mentioned (not explained, mentioned) is Volume 1, Episode 14: “Forever Fall - Part 2.” Take a moment to let that sink in: we’re fourteen episodes into the series, and despite seeing multiple characters use their Semblances on-screen, we still haven’t been told what these powers are. I think some viewers were able to extrapolate what our cast was doing based on a sense of genre-savviness, but that’s really bad. As a writer, your job is to find a way to organically explain the core aspects of your story. I know that CRWBY tried to use Jaune to fulfill this role (but why that ultimately failed to work is a discussion for another day), but even then, it shouldn’t take fourteen episodes to start addressing major worldbuilding elements.

At this point you must be wondering, okay, so if Aura didn’t get its first proper introduction until episode six, and Semblances were only namedropped at episode fourteen, then when were they properly explained? At least somewhere in Volume 1, right?

Would you like to know the answer?

The first time Semblances were formally explained was in World of Remnant, Episode 4: “Aura.” The fourth episode of this spin-off series debuted on November 14th, 2014. The fourth World of Remnant episode aired a month after Volume 2 ended. To give you some context, the very first episode of the main series aired on July 18, 2013, and the first episode of Volume 3 was released on October 24, 2015.

It took twenty-eight episodes, a runtime of 04:26:04, and a full year before we finally had an answer. An answer that was delivered in a spin-off series meant exclusively to supplement crucial worldbuilding and lore.

Do you see how fucking insane that is? How badly do you have to fail at writing to not explain to your audience one of the fundamental aspects of your story? Not only does this not make sense from a writing perspective, but it makes no sense from a development or production standpoint, either. At the time, Kerry Shawcross was an editor for Red vs. Blue Season 9, while Miles Luna was the writer for the Red vs. Blue miniseries Where There's a Will, There's a Wall, and co-writer for Red vs. Blue Season 10. While Monty Oum himself wasn’t necessarily a writer, he was part of a three-man team that together did have a background in writing and editing. (Mind you, neither of them are necessarily good writers, but it’s still better than nothing.)

To reiterate: There were three creative leads working on this project. Three. How is it that none of them, at any point during production, noticed this massive flaw with their story?

I don’t work for Rooster Teeth (obviously), and I’m therefore not privy to any of the decisions that were made behind the scenes. Whether the focus was more on animating RWBY than emphasizing the worldbuilding, whether the lighthearted tone made the team think that exposition wasn’t as important as being entertaining, whether there were deadline crunches and budgeting constraints that limited the quality of the final product.

While we can’t decisively say why this is the case, we can see how these choices had major consequences for RWBY’s plot—not just in retrospect, but going forward as well. Next time in Part 2, we’ll cover topics that focus more on the lore of Semblances than the storytelling nitpicks, and discuss how those oversights impacted the series.

[1] Volume 3, Episode 12: “End of the Beginning.” During Salem’s monologue, Glynda can be seen using her Semblance to try and reassemble a storefront in Vale’s shopping district. Eventually, she tires from overuse of her Semblance, and the building collapses back into debris while Glynda hunches over gasping.

[2] Volume 3, Episode 7: “Beginning of the End.” Immediately after Yang is framed for attacking Mercury, Emerald complains about a headache from casting her Semblance on two people simultaneously.

[3] Volume 5, Episode 14: “Haven’s Fate.” When Yang claims the Relic of Knowledge and returns from the Vault, Emerald conjures an illusion of Salem. Performing her Semblance on nine different people at the same time consumes what little energy she had left, and causes her to pass out. Hazel has to carry her while he and Mercury flee from the battle.

#deconstruction #worldbuilding #writing #semblances

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quicksiluers · 4 years

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I had some free time today at work and thought I’d jot down the changes/streamlined things from the doctor sleep book to movie. Cause I obviously have nothing better to do! This probably isn’t all of them but I mean...there is a lot in the book haha. This came out so much longer then I thought so I apologize!

Obviously, spoilers ahead for the book and movie! If you have any things I missed, feel free to add on :)

From the start, Dick Hallorann is obviously dead in the movie. He pops up a few times through the movie, helping Dan at the start, again at the hotel in NJ, and then later in NH when he needs a bit of a push to help Abra. In the book, Dick is alive! For the most part, he doesn’t die like in the 1980 Shining movie. He does the same with Dan at the start, helping him with the boxes, but then we don’t see him again. We hear his voice through a patient at the hospice, urging Dan to get the baseball glove I believe. But he does die at some point in the book, I think the late 90s?

The movie cuts out allll the stuff about the True Knot just...just chilling around NYC after 9/11 happens. They also cut out Abra knowing about it, as a baby, and crying until I believe the second plane crashes? Which I mean...I’m good with that, that’s a lot to deal with.

They cut out Momo entirely. There isn’t too much focus on Abra’s family here, maybe her father most of all, but the movie’s main focus is Dan, Abra, and Rose. With no Momo, that means there isn’t the whole scenario at the end with Dan unleashing...I think it’s Momo, her soul? I wasn’t entirely clear the first time I heard it, I believe it was her cause it basically killed the True Knot.

Speaking of the True Knot, there’s only about...7 of them I believe in the movie. There’s about 40ish at the beginning of the book, which I mean is a lot. It makes sense for them to get cut down, and again the focus in that group is mostly Rose, Crow Daddy, and Andi. Speaking of Andi, she’s aged down from the book. She’s 15 in the movie, late 20’s I think in the book? Maybe 30.

They only show Abra once or twice as a child, wherein the book we check back in with her from time to time as she’s growing up. They keep the main bit of her as a kid when at her 5th birthday party she does the spoon trick.

When Dan gets to Frazier, he doesn’t see Tony. In the movie versions, we never see Tony as described in The Shining or Doctor Sleep. I think Tony gets two namedrop’s in the movie.

Billy Freeman has been aged down, good ol Cliff Curtis! Love that dude. But he’s also become Dan’s main friend, wherein the book there was John Dalton (who is also in the movie for 2 scenes) and Casey (who is nowhere to be seeennn) They streamline these characters into Billy, which makes sense. There is only so much time the movie has and it’s already about...2 ½ hours long haha

John Dalton is in the movie, but he’s only in 3 scenes. The most crucial ones are when Dan tells him about the watch and when John offers him an orderly job at the hospice. He never has any scenes with Abra’s family and the movie doesn’t indicate that they know each other, wherein the book the Stone’s interact with John multiple times.

Small thing, but the “steam” that comes from the patients of the hospice in the movie is white whereas in the movie it’s described as red.

The time jumps are different. In the movie, these’s two. There’s one from 1980 (the year the movie The Shining came out) to 2011 when we first see Dan living….a really shitty life. And then there’s the time jump from 2011 to 2019. In the book, there’s a few since we are able to linger with these characters more. You have the one a few months after the events of the Shining book, and then early 2000s then two or three years after that and so on. That way it allows the reader to kinda see how Abra grows up and see how long Dan has been sober.

The baseball boy scene in the book takes place when Abra is...between 8 to 10 if I remember correctly? But it isn’t until a few years later when Abra sees the boys face in one of those “missing kids” things from the papers that she starts to act on it. Where in the movie, the scene takes place when Abra is a teen and within the next few day to a week (I think...I may be wrong but it’s quick!) she’s able to find something online about him going missing and finding out who Rose is and what not. Also when Dan learns about this in the movie, he sees it saying REDRUM in the mirror when it actually says MURDER on the wall. In the book, Abra does send a message but it’s just “They are killing the baseball boy”

When Abra and Dan meet up in the movie, Abra surprised him at tiny town and that’s the first time he figures out her name. He had left a message for her on the board and I assume that was how she kinda tracked him down. In the book, they had emailed once or twice and decided on a place to meet. Dan had known Abra’s name since she was basically unknowingly reaching out to him.

I may be remembering this incorrectly, so correct me if I’m wrong, but Dan in the movie seemed very definitive in that he wanted Abra to keep her head down from the True Knot. For good reason of course, he reiterates if you mess with people or things like this they would never leave you “they come back.” Like the ghosts of the Overlook kept coming back for him. He doesn’t want that to happen to Abra and says to keep her head down. Now I believe in the book, he’s not as much “keep your head down” but he tells her to set up an alarm in case Rose tries to come back. But I also believe he tells her to keep it on the down-low with that group, which I mean of course Abra wouldn’t lol. But I could be wrong on that, I’ve gotta go re-listen to that part.

In the book, we don’t see Dick Hallorann again but we hear his voice through a patient. In the movie, he actually pops back up at the hospice Dan works at! Dan almost locks him in a box, thinking he’s from the Overlook before realizing it’s Dick. It’s one of my favorite scenes because you get to see how at ease Dan is with Dick. He’s got this big smile on his face, talking about how Doris Herwin (or w/e his name is, that’s totally wrong) came back and he locked him in a box. And Dick also mentions to Dan, cause Dan is asking why he has to help Abra, that why did Dick have to help Dan and get killed for it (like in the Kubrick movie). Not in a malicious way of course, but he’s basically telling Dan he can’t run away from Abra. She needs him.

In the book, when Rose goes into Abra’s mind, Abra turns into Daenerys from Game of Thrones. In the movie she becomes...Emerald from RWBY. When I told my brother that he got super hyped, but he’s more into that show then I am hahaha

There is nothing with the measles that Brad Trevor’s steam had in the movie. Just punted that idea right outta there. In the book, they are all slowly being effected and dying from it. In the movie, Grandpa Flick dies because they just haven’t been getting enough steam and disappears. And creepily the rest of the True Knot jump on his steam like no one’s business.

Since Billy is taking over the John Dalton role, he’s the one who goes with Dan to Iowa to get the baseball glove from Brad Trevor. They drive, wherein the book I believe they flew.

In the book, Rose doesn’t insist on coming along with the group of the True Knot going to get Abra. She stays back with the rest of the pack to make sure everyone is all good (or something along those lines). But with the True Knot being smaller in the movie, they are all going but Crow Daddy insists that Rose stays since Abra “tagged her”. Rose isn’t pleased with it but she allows it.

The ambush scene is generally the same, but Dave (Abra’s father) isn’t there. It’s just Billy and Dan. And Dan goes to fire his gun but it’s empty and as he tries to reload, Andi (after a few times) makes him fall asleep for a moment. Abra wakes him up but Andi is standing over Dan, ready to kill him, when Billy shoots her twice. Before Andi dies, she tells Billy to kill himself and before Dan can stop him, Billy does just that. Abra’s father is also killed when Crow Daddy comes to get Abra. In the movie Abra didn’t go to a friend’s house, she stayed at home with her father.

There isn’t a scene like this in the book (but they deal with it when Dan just realllly wants to drink when he’s having inner monologue) but Dan goes back to his apartment in Frazier, tries to call out for Abra and it doesn’t work. He asks for Tony’s help, but there is no answer. He’s holding a bottle of whiskey and he puts it to his lips multiple times before throwing it away.

The scene when Abra and Dan switch places is a little different. In the book, Dan is in the back of a car that John Dalton is driving (with Dave) and they can hear Abra through Dave. In the movie, Dan (in this really awesome effect) slides across his floor as the world tilts and hits the wall and he finds Abra. They switch when they hold up their hands to each other. Dan/Abra crashes the car they are in, causing Crow Daddy to fly out and die. I believe Crow Daddy dies from a gunshot in the book?

One thing that is referenced in the movie but not elaborated on in the movie is that Dan and Abra are actually related! In the book, Lucy (Abra’s mother) is Dan’s half-sister. Lucy’s mother, at some point in time, was together with Jack Torrance for a night or so. Lucy’s mother died and never told her about her father and Momo didn’t know too much about him either. Dan is able to figure it out with some clues...and some other things, it happened a little fast for me in the book if I’m honest. But in the movie, they reference this by having Abra call Dan “Uncle Dan” even tho they aren’t related.

This is the biggest detour from the Doctor Sleep movie and book. Because Kubrick’s The Shining didn’t burn down the Overlook Hotel, it is still standing. Whereas King’s The Shining had the hotel burn down after Jack had forgotten to dump the boiler. The final showdown between Rose, Dan, and Abra happens at the Overlook (in a sense) but in a different fashion.

In the movie, Dan walks around the Overlook and “wakes it up” after being boarded up and left alone for almost 40 years. One of the most crucial scenes (for me anyway) in the movie happens in the Gold Room where Dan meets up with his father, Jack, but he is calling himself “Lloyd” the bartender. Mike Flanagan has said that this was the scene Stephen King wanted when allowing this portion of the movie to take place. In this scene, Dan tries to talk to his father. His “father” insists on Dan to “take his medicine” which is a glass of whiskey that has been poured for him. This is a call back to the King The Shining. By the end of this scene, Jack slaps away the glass once Dan refuses to take the drink (which Jack had done and lost himself to the hotel)

Abra and Dan face Rose on the steps of the Colorado lodge, Dan holding an ax. In the book, Abra isn’t really at this location. She is back at her home in NH and is projecting herself there. In the movie, Dan and Abra attempt to fool Rose by trapping her in one of Dan’s boxes. She is able to see through this, throws Abra from Dan’s mind, and Dan tells her to run. In the book, Dan makes a point to Abra multiple times that if things started to get rough, she had to leave.

Rose and Dan talk, which they did in the book but it was more in Dan’s mind that Rose was messing with, and Rose follows Dan up the stairs like how Jack followed Wendy up the stairs in Kubrick Shining. Dan goes to attack Rose, hits her but she is able to take the ax, hit him in the head, lodge the ax’s blade into his thigh (hitting his femoral artery) and throws him down the steps (like the movie). In the book, Rose tries to get Dan to choke himself and she almost gets him to do it but the ghost of Jack stops her and allows time for Abra to come back.

In the book, Abra and Dan are able to force Rose off the cliffside (is it a cliff side, I was trying to get that too...it’s a big ol ledge and a big ol fall) and she dies. In the movie, Rose is over Dan and, lodging her thumb in the wound she gave him with the ax, begins to take his steam as he cries out. She then realizes that he has boxes in his mind and Dan unleashes them on her. The ghosts of the Overlook come out and kill Rose, standing over her like the True knot had done with Brad Trevor.

To me, because Dan is wounded badly and some of his shine has been taken, the ghosts of the Overlook com after him and take him over. He attempted to close them back in but was unable to do so (because, to me, he was vulnerable)

This is where Mike takes the ending of the Shining book, that didn’t make it into the Shining movie, and uses it. Dan is possessed by the hotel and chases after Abra, who runs around and bumps into a few ghosts before going into 237. In here, Abra confronts “Dan” and calls him a false face. “Masks off then” another reference The Shining. Abra tells “Dan” that the real Dan went to the boiler room before all of this, which would essentially blow up the hotel. “Dan” tries to attack Abra but she stops him and is able to bring the real Dan back. They talk, Abra not wanting to leave him but Dan says “he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be” and jokes that he “has to close the door behind us” The Overlook begins to take him over again and Abra runs away, leaving the hotel behind. “Dan” runs down to the boiler room and tries to turn off the boiler (like the ghosts thought they could in The Shining) but Dan is able to fight them off and take back control. With his leg bleeding out, the boiler begins to blow up and fire builds in the room. There, Dan sees Wendy (the last time he saw her he couldn’t see her at all because of the death flies) and then a younger version of Dan appears and they smile at one another. Dan dies in the hotel and Abra speaks to him in her room sometime after. She says she “knew he would be ok” and Dan apologized for putting her in danger. They talk and Dan tells her to not hide like he had told her once before. “Shine on Abra Stone. You shine on” Abra’s mother comes in at this time and we see that Dan was not there, but a ghost-like Dick Hallorann had been. Abra tells her mother that Dan and her father are ok. The last shot is Abra walking towards the bathroom where Mrs. Massey is and closes the door, mirroring what Dave had done when he locked her away at the beginning of the story.

In the book, as many know, Dan lives! After the big battle with Rose, Dan is able to see from afar his father Jack from where Rose had fallen. They blow each other a kiss, which was something they used to do. The book then skips a few years into the future and Dan is celebrating 15 years of being sober. He tells the group of his hidden truth through the whole book, where he left a young mother and her son without money after a one night stand. It’s a heavyweight he lifts off his shoulders and he shocked to see the people of the AA group don’t become disgusted with him. Sometime later, he goes to the Stone’s home (Dave is still alive too!) and had a talk with Abra, who is having a bit of teenage drama. They talk about their family past and other things before Dan has to leave. The book ends with Dan going back to the hospice and sliding back into his role as “Doctor Sleep”

This is way too long and I put in too much detail but hey there we go! There are probably more things but the book just has SO MUCH going on (tho I do love it) and I feel like a lot had to be streamlined into 2 ½ hours, which is still a long movie! There are many things that are the same, things that are different, but I love both the same way. Mike Flanagan had a huge task and I think he succeeded. And while I know many people don’t like that the book and movie ending are different, I like that we can have both options. And hey, that’s what fanfic is for haha

#my ramblings #doctor sleep #doctor sleep spoilers #did i spend way too much time on this?#maybe so but it was fun!!#it's always interesting to see what they stream line from a book to a movie #since in a book you just have all the time in the world

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rerwby · 7 years

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Weird RWBY Dialogue, Episode 8

I didn’t expect this to be such a dialogue-heavy episode, to be honest.

Weiss: (shouting to be heard) Ruby! I told you this was a terrible idea!

Ruby: (also raising her voice) We're fine! Stop worrying!

Weiss: I am so far beyond worrying!

Ruby: In a good way?

Weiss: In a bad way! In a very bad way!

Ruby: Well, why don't we just jump?

Weiss: What are you? Insane?!

She is met with silence; Ruby has already disappeared.

Weiss: Oh, you insufferable little red-!

This whole scene is a weird mess. We just open on these two after supposedly something exciting where they end up riding a Nevermore. That would have made for a great episode? Instead it’s all setup for slapstick when everyone falls down.

There’s also a fun bit that I saw in a video where Weiss is actually looking forward towards Ruby during this scene, implying that Ruby is in front of her. However Weiss is surprised when Ruby’s gone. They could have easily reversed their positions just by changing the direction of their eyes but whatever.

Nora: YEEEE-HAAAAW! (rolls off of the creature's back, then gets up and groans, saddened) Awwww... It's broken. (she dashes onto its neck and observes the carcass as Ren comes up behind her)

Kinda makes Nora sound psychopathic and clashes with her history with Grimm. It’s hard to see volume 4 Nora, who has tons of childhood trauma, acting like Grimm are toys. Weird but it’s hard to count this one because retcons.

Nora: (now in the Temple, staring at a golden rook relic) Oooohh... (suddenly grabs it, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background as she dances and sings with the chess piece) I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!

Ren (off-screen): Nora!

Like wow Ren calm down why are you even upset. Weird.

Yang: (getting angrier until she growls and erupts in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red) I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!

Yang blows up, completely unprovoked. Weird.

Weiss: (calling down to Ruby) How could you leave me?!

Ruby: (shouting up at Weiss) I said "jump"!

Realize that Ruby and Weiss are conversing even though the latter is still on a soaring Nevermore.

Yang: Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!

Like I know it’s sarcasm but it’s damn negative sarcasm. We don’t see Yang acting positive about the situation otherwise. Really seems like she was ready to give up.

Weiss (off-screen): You are so childish!

Ruby opens her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowers her arms from their futile position over her head as she stares at her savior.

Ruby: Weiss...?

Weiss: (continues to berate Ruby as she removes Myrtenaster from the ice) And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer.

So Weiss is actually proven correct because Ruby did something reckless and childish. That means that their episodes’ worth of arguments ended with Weiss being right. Completely goes against Ruby needing to prove herself because she never actually does! Like sure Weiss admits she can be “difficult” but then she immediately excuses Ruby’s behavior that she’s totally warranted in being concerned about!

Ruby: I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this.

Weiss: You're fine. (walks away)

No can we please reiterate that Ruby isn’t trying to show off? Weiss? Please? That’s kind of the resolution of your little arc with her and- never mind we’ll just get closure in Badge and the Burden.

Jaune: Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind!

Weird how he won’t follow his own idea in like two minutes.

Also I’m not gonna bother getting into the visuals of the scene, just the dialogue. It’s easy to get mixed up in doing that considering it’s one of the biggest scenes scale-wise period.

Jaune: (coming to the edge of the break in the bridge) Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!

Literally the next piece of dialogue I get to is Jaune doubling back on the run-and-live plan.

Jaune: "Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha: Done! (she raises the shield and hurls it like a discus, slicing the stinger off and causing it to fall into the Death Stalker's head as Pyrrha retrieves her rebounding shield)

Lord, she even says “done” as if she always knew what Jaune wanted. Unlike the following line, Pyrrha weirdly uses psychic powers to process what Jaune means.

Jaune: Nora, nail it!

Good job adding in the “nail it” bit. I thought about this though. Does Jaune know Nora’s name by now? Ren shouted it earlier when she came in on the Ursa but that’s it. Just an interesting little tidbit.

Weiss: Of course you would come up with this idea.

Ruby: Think you can make the shot?

This is one of those moments that made me want to start Re:RWBY. Weiss has no fucking clue what plan Ruby thought of; there was no communication at all. It’s rushed and lazy tbh. In fact it would make more sense if these two lines were reversed. Ruby asks about making a shot and Weiss scoffs at it.

Yang: Well... That was a thing!

Weird forced line that undermines the tone of the scene.

Ozpin: Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. (the screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys are lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continues) The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!

I like how he mentions the specific chess pieces as if it matters.

Ozpin: And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. (motions over the four as they stand before him) The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!

I love how Weiss is shocked, as if the audience would be too. Like, I know this entire 8-episode arc is spoiled by the title and opening sequence, but did they not think through the fact that phonetically, RWBY and Ruby sound the same and how characters would react to that? Because no one ever seems to notice that Ruby shares the team’s name. Like, ever. Did Weiss hear “Team RWBY” and go, “well I still have a chance of being leader right?”

Ozpin: (amid the last round of cheers) It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year.

Uh, it is? I mean was this initiation really that noteworthy? You gotta figure that when fighting monsters with giant crazy weapons, anything can happen. I guess it was more exciting than watching little Coco mowing down a dozen Nevermores with her minigun though.

Roman: We're gonna need more men...

For a plan that ultimately doesn’t really require a lot of men, considering they only ever plan to unleash a bunch of Grimm on the city. In fact Cinder even does the job of recruiting White Fang without Roman, though I doubt that was planned yet.

#rwde

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sid471 · 3 years

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Hiiiiiiii I watched volume 8 😊

Thank you to shady anime sites :3... Don’t do what I do >_> I’m just an impatient fucker <_< If you can wait, do so :3. But anyway let’s talk about it ^_^ Spoiler alert obviously if you don’t wanna be spoiled, go away 😗. But a TL;DR, this episode wasn’t action packed, I didn’t expect it to be, but it was still a great opening. Now let’s get into the spoilers 😗

So we got a little bit of back ground on Cinder ^_^ finally <_< Not A LOT but we saw her scrubbing a floor, as Cinderella would do, before we get reunited with the Queen herself Neo :3.... And Salem I guess >_>

What REALLY surprised me was seeing Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel again. I thought they were goners. I LOVE their new outfits though ^_^ especially Merc’s :3 Em immediately getting shut down by Cinder was kinda funny lol.

The split of RWBY and ORNJ I knew it was coming but man was it rough. I thought it’d be more mutual than it was, granted we DID already know one of the themes of this volume was distrust... So maybe I was just naive. But yeah that was sad to see >_< Especially to hear Yang, of all people, confront Ruby about her decisions that HAD to hurt ;-; Ruby has done everything she can but she’s still 2 years younger than them >__< Ugh. Sad ;-;

And Penny is also having a lot of sad girl hours. She is READY to sacrifice herself at the drop of a hat which I mean I get it she’s been through a lot in 2-3 days but it’s okay baby girl ;_;

We saw Clover’s body. And... That sucked man. *sigh* Sucked real bad >_> But we have confirmation, if ya still weren’t convinced, that he did in fact die. Very sad, sucks...

Now... I would LOVE for y’all try and tell me “Oh Ironwood is still redeemable! He’s still in the right!” after this episode >_> He KILLED a man because he disagreed with him. That- Lemme repeat myself. He SHOT A MAN, in the head, and killed him. Because he disagreed with Ironwood’s methods. This after saying “I will do whatever it takes to protect this kingdom, no matter the cost.”... please, PLEASE try it <_< What a load’a shit 😒 Have I mentioned I hate Ironwood >_>

^ that being said, I AM hoping the Ace Ops and Winter don’t stay loyal to him. Harriet seemed willing to turn her head away, from the man that James shot in the head and killed felt the need to reiterate that again, but Marrow, Elm and Vine looked shocked. Marrow and Elm moreso than Vine but Vine doesn’t express himself much. This just shows that Ironwood WILL off you himself if you cross him in ANY WAY. Even just asking “Hey dude? The hell are you declaring martial law for?!”. I don’t think the Ace Ops are stupid. I hope they realize that, to Ironwood, they’re just a means to an end.

And the episode ends with the clip we all saw. Salem talking to the lamp and sending a Grimm after Oscar. All in all, a REALLY great first episode and I can’t wait for the next one 😁

#RWBY #RWBY8 #RWBY spoilers #RWBY volume 8 spoilers #RWBY8 Spoilers #Don't read this if you don't want spoilers >_>#James Ironwood #Ace Ops #Salem

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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recaps: Vol. 6 “Uncovered”

This is a re-posting from Nov. 4th, 2018 in an effort to get all my recaps fully on tumblr. Thanks!

So much for Thursday/Friday postings. This episode ripped my heart out through my teeth, so you know I've gotta get thoughts down on paper. What’s today’s theme? The folly and inexperience of youth, but as much as I want to dive straight into my impassioned defense of Ozpin, we need to make sure that we unpack the new intro first. And, you know, the rest of the episode...

The highlights have already been circulating for the last week, most notably the animation of Ozpin’s (presumed) past reincarnations… and the fact that the one right before the guy we think of as Oz looks like a dad. He looks like Tai’s brother. One of these Ozpins is not like the others and honestly I kind of love it. Seriously though, in the realm of actual analysis there are a number of details I want to make sure we put a pin in before moving forward. Let’s make use of our good friend the list:

The beginning is super fluffy with the gang hanging out while waiting for the train, Ruby chasing after Weiss, and Blake watching them fondly. Out of the whole group Yang is the only one who appears upset, staring morosely out the window where we get a flash of Adam. I think this is significant given that she seems to be the most volatile of the group right now. As we’ll see, though most of them have beef with Ozpin, Yang is the one instigating the fights.

We have a moment where the camera moves through Maria’s eyes and then immediately does the same with Ruby’s. Are Maria’s eyes also important? Perhaps her semblance is connected to her blindness somehow.

We see (I think??) Roman’s hat blow by right before the hooded person (Cinder) is broken up by red slashes across the screen. Omg could he actually come back? I mean yeah, he literally got swallowed whole by a grimm, but he also might have cut himself out a la Hannibal Chau style. Please bring back my flamboyant fave and have him get revenge on Cinder. That would be so very excellent.

There’s a young woman (Salem) staring up at a statue of Oz. Last week it seemed weird that this statue looked so very much like his Vol. 1-3 reincarnation, but considering we’re in Jinn’s story world she might be borrowing imagery that the gang is familiar with. Either that or the reincarnations tend to look like each other in time? Idk. To be decided.

Jaune slams Ozpin up against a freaking wall. Given how this Volume is going so far, I’m pretty confident that it’s Ozpin and not Oscar. Wonder if Jaune is finally going to confront him about his part in Pyrrha’s death…

Plenty of potential WhiteRose (as mentioned in the first recap). Seriously, I try to keep shipping out of these (a few Ozqrow jokes aside…) but I’ve also gotta call any potential setup as I see it, and given the happily chasing after her, using her glyphs at the end, the final shot of Weiss helping Ruby to her feet, Ruby collecting dust cartridges later in the episode, her calling Weiss's name in Jinn's world, Weiss doing the same for her… all of this could just be them re-developing their relationship after the separation. Could also be something more.

Also in terms of that final shot: having the whole group—Ozpin included—standing together and facing down some threat is very reassuring after this week’s episode. Ngl lol.

Finally, we have those grimm arms reaching out to drag Qrow into darkness, notably while he’s drinking. “Wow,” I say to myself. “Those arms sure do look a lot like Cinder’s!”

Oh look. We open on Cinder.

Classic rule of television: if you don’t see a body they’re not dead yet. (Unless, apparently, you’re Ozpin.)

(…but maybe not Roman.)

She’s clearly terrified, waking up in water with her eyes darting every which way, groaning when she finally pulls herself to shore. It’s always good to throw your villains into moments like this where their basic—human—instincts take hold. It makes them a little more sympathetic (if not more justifiable) and therefore more compelling. At this point I really have no desire to see an attempt at a Cinder redemption arc, but even I’m wincing at that panicked look on her face.

She’s having trouble summoning up her power, presumably because she just got her ass beat by another Maiden. It comes back pretty fast though, which really helps put into context how powerful these women are. Even freezing them from the inside out is only going to knock them out of commission for a little while.

Cinder takes a look way up to where the tree stands and pounds her grimm hand against the rocks in frustration. Apparently these things are ridiculously strong because it opens up a crack in the mountain, letting a sliver of light shine through to her face. (A trope normally reserved for the heroes.) Cinder then uses her One Punch Man powers to break out, considering that her flames are still sputtering.

Outside she meets a sweet, no-name woman who makes the mistake of stopping to help. Cinder steals her clothes, her money, and presumably kills her. RIP nice lady just trying to do her grocery shopping.

We realize that Cinder woke up weeks ago as we move into another flashback at the house. There the team has their first conversation about the relic.

Ruby: “We need to take the relic to Atlas?”

Qrow: “That’s what Oz said.”

For all his banter and bluster, Qrow is a very passive character. He has so little faith in himself that he needs to put it in others—so he fosters pretty much all of that onto Oz. Ruby is the one who subtly questions why they’re taking the relic all the way to Atlas. Qrow is the one who just reiterates that these are Oz’s orders, so that’s what they’re gonna do. Right now he’s not questioning his general and I’ll be interested to see if and how that changes after the events of this episode. One of the reasons for Qrow’s dark descent in the intro?

We have a funny exchange where Ren points out that the borders of Atlas are closed, but no worries. They have a missing Schnee heiress to get them through! What’s less funny is when Qrow mentions that they actually wanted to seal the relic back up in the vault but can’t because they don’t have access to the Spring Maiden. Cut to a guilty looking Yang. Not that they’d have much chance convincing Raven to help them (what is she up to with Tai??), but again: Oz isn’t the only one keeping secrets.

Ozpin comes out leaning heavily on his cane and wincing with each step. Hmm. Another indication that, despite his power, he’s surprisingly fragile? I’m still wondering how Cinder won that fight and it looks like he isn’t recovering as quickly as the rest of the group, despite the fact that everyone took a beating in Haven. Something to chew on.

Still talking about the relic, Jaune mentions that they don’t know what the thing actually does and we get to see Ozpin’s conflicted expression before he whirls around with a smile. He’s clearly weighing what he should and shouldn’t tell them, secrets later revealed in the episode. He says that the relic has a “wonderful and incredibly dangerous ability”—important wording! We’ll come back to that. It can answer any three questions every 100 years, provided they’re not about future events. Ozpin claims that the questions were asked before the relic was sealed away so, sorry, no knowledge to gain right now.

Jumping a little farther into the episode, we also continue the plot-line with Cinder sneaking around in the dead woman’s clothes, realizing that she’s very much a wanted criminal now. She heads into this super sketchy spider gang and asks for information on Team RWBY and the others—not going back to Salem then—throwing down the woman’s lien as payment. The leader assures her that she’ll have their locations within a week… despite the fact that she already knows where they are. The “big guy,” Hazel, was asking first.

Back with the group. Ruby finds the relic lying nearby while Yang tries desperately to get her bike out of the snow. Despite having agreed to this plan of separating and stranding themselves, Yang is expressing her frustration by treating it like a cruel trick of fate, complaining about that as well as the fact that they’ve “gained a defenseless old woman.” After Maria introduces herself and comments a little about being hard of hearing, blind, and how her glasses need a tuneup, we slam hard into the heart of the episode. Good. I’ve got things to say about how these kids are acting like… well, kids. Yang has basically just had a temper tantrum in the snow and Qrow rightly points out that they need to try to keep calm so as not to attract more grimm. Yang—as we expect—uses this opportunity to segue back to the relic. She wants to know why Ozpin lied to them. Oscar thinks they deserve to know too and forces (maybe?) the switch.

“I didn’t lie,” Ozpin says. He just didn’t provide them with all the information. This immediately sets Yang off because that’s just a technicality. An excuse. Right? Well, yes and no. Do people sometimes manipulate others by doling out pieces of information and then claiming, “I didn’t really lie”? Yes, absolutely. But there’s also something to be said for adults withholding information in an effort to protect their charges. Like… if a kid asked you how someone died there’s a BIG difference between saying, “They were murdered” vs. “Oh, well the murderer tortured them for days and then sent pictures of it to their family and then gutted them very slowly….” Yeah. Sometimes you don’t need that kind of shit weighing you down and in this case Ozpin has an additional, practical reason for not telling them that the relic attracts grimm: their worry would just bring more. Which is exactly what I said last time. Telling them wouldn’t change the situation—there’s a very good chance it would actually make things worse—so he tried to give them what little peace he could.

Weiss: “You know, I’m getting real tired of people choosing what’s best for me”

An understandable statement? Sure, but Weiss is still a kid. Yes, 14, 15, 16, and even 17yos are still kids, whether we want to give them the label of “teenager” or not. It’s sometimes hard to remember given their responsibilities, but Team RWBY is still a collection of developing brains challenging thousands of years of experience. Kids never like it, but sometimes adults do know what’s best for them. All of this is complicated by the abuse in their lives—notice that Yang (Raven), Weiss (parents), and Blake (Adam) are far less trusting of Ozpin than Ruby is—but that doesn’t change the fact that a teenager is not equipped to make these world-altering decisions in the same way an adult is. Combine this with the fact that they have implicitly acknowledged Ozpin as their leader and them thinking they can challenge his well thought-out choices in this manner is a big problem.

Ironically, Ozpin and James have a lot more in common than they think they do when it comes to leading: they both understand the importance of compartmentalization, it’s just that James is more obvious about treating subordinates as subordinates. Ozpin cozies up to people and then they’re surprised when they don’t have his ear. As I said before, you can trust your army without giving them every single secret. That’s dangerous, and the girls aren’t entitled to dangerous information just because they want it.

Ozpin says he’s not entirely sure why grimm are attracted to the relic (another lie?) and we learn that he was the one who spun the story of Lionheart’s heroic death. Again, Yang sees things in a very black and white manner—that’s another lie and lies are bad—and Ozpin angrily argues that Lionheart doesn’t deserve to have all the good he did erased by his final mistakes. That's a pretty loaded conundrum and I’m definitely not equipped to untangle it. Rather, I’m more interested in how the girls are completely unable to consider that viewpoint. Because (common theme here) they lack the experience that Ozpin does. To them Lionheart was just a Bad Guy and should be treated accordingly because they’re teenagers who have never faced a betrayal like that. They might have a very different reaction if, years down the road, one of Team RWBY succumbed to Salem and betrayed them in the end. Would Blake want Yang’s name forever tarnished if she gave in and joined Raven? Would Ruby be okay with the whole world thinking nothing but awful things about Weiss if she went dark? No, it’s more complex when you love someone… but they’re too young to understand that yet.

Age matters here. Experience matters.

Just as important, Ozpin is an emotional, flawed human being who is being cut very deeply right now. That is, the girls have 100% condemned Lionheart despite the good he did in the past… and Ozpin has no doubt done things just as bad, if not worse. Though unintentional, their rejection of Lionheart’s worth is a rejection of Ozpin’s as well. If they can’t consider forgiving Lionheart for his mistakes, how could they possibly forgive him? “Does one lapse in judgement truly negate all of his good?” he asks, a question he no doubt poses to himself all the time. As Ozpin defends his friend he’s also trying desperately to defend himself and what he’s hearing from Yang is, “No. You’re irredeemable.”

Whether we consider Ozpin’s past to actually be irredeemable or not, that’s a pretty hard blow. Remember last recap I pointed out how shocked he looked at Ruby’s support? It’s because this is what he’s used to hearing. Everyone (like Qrow) looks to him to be their leader and then reacts with fury when he makes decisions they don’t like; people insist they care for him and then condemn those who have made far fewer mistakes. And he’s been dealing with this for thousands of years. Honestly, I’m surprised the guy can even get out of bed anymore.

“Do you really think Leo was the first?” he growls when Yang insists that he can trust them. Of course Leo wasn’t the first to betray him and, as Ozpin points out, he said those exact same words. You can trust me. Ultimately, why are these kids any different? Because they’re the heroes? No, that’s the perspective of the audience. From behind our fourth wall we know that Team RWBY is trustworthy, but Ozpin has no such reassurances. If a friend he had for years could suddenly betray him like that, what the hell is stopping a bunch of former students who are already frustrated with him?

Also… just pointing out… Yang insists he can trust her and then two seconds later she, along with Blake and Weiss, have their weapons pulled on both Ozpin and Qrow. So he can trust them… but only if he does what they want and tells them what they want to hear. And people question why Ozpin has trust issues.

I do want Ozpin to trust more—both for himself and for others—but my god does he have good reasons for holding back.

Sadly, we don’t get to see Yang try to grapple with the revelation that she’s parroting Lionheart’s words (because, as I’ll discuss a bit below, RWBY ultimately dodges any real sticky moral questions and segues back into simple story logic). Instead the conversation is derailed as Ozpin realizes that the relic is missing.

Ruby has it, but she’s not willing to hand it over. So much for my theory of her sticking by him this Volume. At least right now, she’s acting as much like a kid as any of the others. In what I think is a reckless move, Oscar realizes that Ozpin is hiding something from them and briefly takes control, telling Ruby to say the name Jinn.

She does and all the snow stops.

A sort of genie appears and says that she was created by the God of Light to “aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge.” Jinn then reveals that Ozpin did lie outright. There are still two questions left.

And with this revelation we come to the crux of the matter. His own very personal history aside, compartmentalization aside, why doesn’t Ozpin just give the gang all the information they want? Why all the lies? Because they’re children and right now they’re acting like it. Yang isn’t interested in making sure everyone gets to a safe place after Qrow mentions that they’re probably attracting grimm, she wants answers right now and she won’t move until she gets them. They’re not considering the hypocrisy of demanding Ozpin’s secrets when they’ve all had (and for some still have) secrets of their own. The girls aren’t responding logically to Qrow’s innocuous “Hey” later—why does he deserve their wrath?—they’re reacting with pure emotion, pulling their weapons on him for daring to just try and voice an opinion. That is an incredibly extreme reaction and in my opinion shows how little they’re thinking through their actions right now. They are, to put it bluntly, acting like a bunch of bratty teenagers. They want something and the adults in charge won’t let them have it, despite having numerous good reasons for withholding it (both practical and personal). So they throw a fit. The only difference is that instead of stomping their feet these girls have crazy powerful weaponry and a relic at their disposal.

All of this culminates in the release of Jinn. Let’s think back to that moment in the house: Ozpin tells them that the relic has a “wonderful and incredibly dangerous ability”—emphasis mine. Do the kids stop to wonder why the ability to answer questions is called incredibly dangerous? No! They’re just fascinated by the shiny new toy. Ren thinks it’s cool, Blake is amazed, Yang notes that picking the right questions would be a big responsibility but doesn’t back down from the challenge, and Nora immediately leads them in a charge to determine what they’re going to ask. Not one of them says, “Hey. What’s the catch here?” They’re all ready to jump into asking three questions without thinking through any of the potential repercussions of messing with an ancient object they know absolutely nothing about.

This no doubt tells Ozpin, as it told me, that they’re still kids and as such are in many ways still thinking like kids too. They don’t have the experience and the maturity yet to consider the consequences of their actions. What? Do we think someone as controlling as Ozpin just let two questions remain without a very good reason? That it’s a coincidence that immediately after he—or someone else—used the first question the relic was sealed away? No, there’s some downside here… but the gang never considered that possibility. So rather than explain all that and risk them insisting that they use the questions anyway—as kids are wont to do—Ozpin says the questions are used up for now. That way there’s no risk to them.

I’m thinking that when Ozpin charges Ruby he’s trying to reach her to protect her somehow. It's not just about him keeping his secrets. Jinn’s smoke is reaching for her too and he’s trying to get there first. He’s flawed, yes, but he’s not going to attack her. When has Ozpin ever been violent towards them? When has Ruby ever hesitated to defend herself? This isn't an experienced Huntsmen going on the offensive, nor a talented Huntress scared for her life---it's a desperate man and a young girl panicking at this mess of a situation. Because let's be real, if Ozpin had wanted to take the relic by force he easily could have. But he wouldn't do that. He’s not the one who drew his weapon here. No, if there’s a catch attached to these questions he wouldn’t want Ruby to pay it. He literally begs her on his knees not to use the relic… and when that fails he gets desperate and uses incredible speed to try and reach her before the magic does.

Remember, he wanted to immediately seal the relic back up in the vault and would have it they’d had access to the Spring Maiden. It might not just be because they’re worried about the relic falling into Salem’s hands. It sounds like there’s danger attached to using it too…. and people would absolutely be tempted to use it.

As we see here.

Ruby says, “What is Ozpin hiding from us?” WHICH IS ABOUT THE WORST QUESTION YOU COULD POSSIBLY ASK.

That’s not a targeted question to help you understand what Oscar was hinting at before. That’s an entirely open ended question that, depending on how Jinn works, will show you every secret Ozpin has ever had. What kind of fucked up invasion of privacy? Granted, we don’t have time in RWBY for something like that to actually happen—looks like Jinn is going to show us Ozpin’s greatest mistake/regret, something he thinks they’ll abandon him because of—but that doesn’t change how horrible that question was. I don’t care if the girls are right that Ozpin needs to work on trusting people more. You know how you don’t help people do that? By forcibly pulling all their secrets out into the open without their consent. Ruby’s question wasn’t just horribly invasive, it wasn’t thought out at all because no matter how frustrated she might be I don’t think she’d ever want to do that to a person. She, like the rest of her team, isn't thinking clearly.

Finally, you know what the real kicker is? All of this—everything I’ve mentioned throughout this scene—is done in front of Maria. What’s the latest definition of oblivious immaturity? Demanding that your leader reveal his secrets in front of a complete stranger.

Honestly I wanted to rip out my hair through this whole part of the episode. It’s easy to identify with Ruby and the gang because they’re our protagonists. The show wants us to empathize with them, but in this case it doesn’t change the fact that they’re acting their age and making really uninformed decisions. Despite the huge range of ages in this fandom, sometimes I feel like I’m watching RWBY very firmly from an adult’s perspective while the vast majority of the fandom is watching from the perspective of our heroes. They see the mean adult keeping secrets—and in a black and white universe secrets are bad!—while I’m seated firmly in Camp Context. It’s like that post about watching The Little Mermaid at different stages of your life:

As a child: She loves him! How romantic…

As an adult: You love him? You’re sixteen and you met him yesterday!

The thing is, I know RWBY isn’t going to take that adult perspective. That’s not how most stories go. Ozpin’s secrets will be revealed, he’ll probably be forgiven, and he’ll learn the lesson that it’s Bad to keep things from your friends. The intricacies of the situation and his very justifiable reasons will be brushed aside because he’s not our primary hero. Ruby is and her view of the world is that nearly blind faith in humanity. She doesn’t understand that after thousands of years Ozpin’s fractured faith doesn’t mean he can’t encourage others to be better than he is, she just pouts and says he should trust them specifically because he preaches trust as a general principal. At its core RWBY follows the simplistically moral logic of a fairy tale and though that’s great in many ways, I’m still at times frustrated by how the show introduces adult viewpoints without ever having the narrative justify them. Ozpin tells the group that he has more experience than them and has carefully considered his choices, but we’re encouraged to frown at him like the rest of the cast. Except Ozpin is right! He’s right!! He’s right and he should say it!

But most people don’t seem to agree with me. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We end the episode with Jinn’s magic reaching the group before Ozpin can reach Ruby. They’re all seeing the same vision of a castle and a beautiful woman, Jinn’s voice telling them a fairy tale:

“Once upon a time there stood a lonely tower that sheltered a lonely girl named Salem…”

So Salem’s backstory coincides with whatever Ozpin is so terrified of them figuring out about him. Full disclosure: if he starts crying next episode I will also be an emotional wreck. Here’s hoping that whatever the girls see, they’ll start mending their trust in one another once it’s over. I’m not sure I can take a whole Volume of everyone eviscerating Ozpin for trying to protect them, himself, and the rest of Remnant.

What’s he doing? His best. It’s far from perfect, but give the poor immortal a break.

Here’s hoping for one in episode three!

Other Details of Note

Of course it’s raining when Cinder leaves the vault. We need appropriate atmosphere for her dramatic collapse and rejuvenating murder lol

Except can we please have women remove their heels when everything goes sideways? I’m sorry, but if I were that exhausted and injured getting the spikes off my feet would be the very first thing I did.

Love that they essentially gave Maria’s glasses eyelids. Makes it very easy for her to express herself.

Okay so we pretty much know for a fact now that Ozpin and Oscar are starting to share thoughts both ways. I can’t imagine that Ozpin went, “Yeah so I’m still hiding something and you can figure it out by saying ‘Jinn’ to the shiny relic over there, but don't tell anyone else, okay?” Oscar is starting pick up on things as they (presumably) merge.

The relics are entities! And now we know why the the statue in Haven was of a woman bound in chains—she’s Jinn. Look at Ozpin’s dramatic ass designing lairs that reveal secrets no one realizes are there.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, old man”—evidence that Ozpin either used that first question himself, was there when it was used, or has used the relic at another time in the past.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #mymetas #RWBY Recaps

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