#like comparing this to their fight with neo last volume....

[itsclydebitches]

Am I the only one that feels like that Maya!RWBY would get washed by Poser!RWBY, combat-wise? Comparing the scenes from Poser-era to Maya-era, and I find that Team RWBY in the former had better weapon usage and Semblance/Aura versatility than the latter - especially when you look at each of the trailers (I know it's 'Rule of Cool', but still...), not to mention much more coordinated team attacks. Like, Beacon!Weiss is proficient in Time Dilation and Elemental Glyphs while being a proficient fencer; in comparison, Maya!Weiss is just... a summoner. That's it. Like, she's written as if she has no other skills. 'Blek' is knocked down so easily these days and uses her Semblance as a means of escape; Blake, on the hand, not only is a proficient swordswoman but shows versatility with a Kusarigama, marksmanship, and double wielding. Oh, and that's not including her masterful use of her semblance to create afterimages to pull off blitzkrieg combos, and later infuse them with Dust for surprise feints. And how can I forget her fucking aura slashes! Yang, is tankier in Poser, and she uses her Semblance as a last resort/'uno reverse' - letting her CQC skills do the talking; meanwhile, "Yang" just... activates her semblance at the drop of a hat, ruining that surprise factor while slowly becoming heavily reliant on both it and her "weapon upgrades" (which are, in reality, downgrades since her previous explosive rounds were much more versatile in comparison). And Ruby... I can't really say much except that scythemanship-CQC combination and semblance usage were more dynamic. I know it's partly due to Monty and Shane's insane animation skills, but I feel like there's more to it than that. Sorry, these are just my observations.

Wholeheartedly agree. I mean yes, we're all continually acknowledging that we can't have the choreography and vision of the Monty years, but even beyond that recent fights have, for the most part, been shockingly forgettable for me. An immediate exception to that is Ironwood vs. Watts (which uses the environment really well) and I liked portions of the WBY vs. Chessman fight from V9E3, but on the whole the girls feel nerfed despite the claims of, "We're full-fledged huntresses now, capable of beating some of the best in the world."

To add to what you've already got above, some details that immediately spring to my mind are:

Yang repeating the same combat mistake that she made back in Volume 3, resulting in "dying" rather than losing an arm

Ruby now using her semblance primarily to travel (within Atlas HQ, out of the Red Castle, etc.) rather than pulling off cool dodges, ping-ing off of things for extra speed, or creating a tornado-like effect as seen in the food fight. As mentioned many times in the past, sometimes it's not even used for an obvious need, like scaling the mountainside while fighting Cordovin, because the story wants a 'cliffhanger.'

One of the reasons I liked the chessman battle was because we had some actual team attacks, but recent Volumes are still weighed down by separating the teams - even when the story claims that's the key to victory (AKA Ace Ops battle).

This extends to moments like YJB just taking turns against the Hound, or Neo standing there dumbly as Oscar runs the length of a hallway to punch her.

I rarely feel like fights are won with any exciting flourish or narrative satisfaction anymore. (Which is another reason why Ironwood vs. Watts works so well for me: destroying your arm as a massive 'fuck you' to what your enemy thinks you're capable of withstanding to catch them unaware in their confidence is AMAZING.) I still think about Weiss summoning a wall of ice for Harriet to knock herself out against and I'm like... really? That's it?

Ruby doesn't really use her sniper rifle anymore. I loved that she used that to obey Qrow's "Stay back!" command while still trying to help. That used to be another way to slow descent, get in quick shots between swings, help an ally like when she hit Nora with the lightning dust...

I could go on. So many of the new fights are just plain boring to me. Think about how much is solved through the Big Powers now. Ruby takes out The Apathy with her eyes (though I put that in only to establish the pattern. I do like that the emotion-based grimm was defeated via care for another, not fighting.) The Hound goes the same way. Oscar sets off an explosion of magic against Salem. Winter Maidens up to blast Ironwood, etc. They're all incredibly easy wins that, for the most part, just require the magic wielder to stand there and shoot the Powerful Magic Beam at the enemy. Meanwhile, other potentially well-choreographed fights are seeped in narrative problems, like Qrow and Tyrian vs. Clover. Now toss in moments like Blake begging Ruby for help, or her and Weiss being unable to get up the vines, or them straight up forgetting that Cinder is in the city (because strategy is as important as power) and yeah, OG!RWBY would wipe the floor with them.

OG!RWBY is made up of a prodigy child wielding "one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed," a sword master capable of manipulating time, her teammate's powers, versatile glyphs, and her family's dust supply, a tank who supposedly went on a journey to better harness her ability to absorb and redirect energy (which as you say used to be an awesome surprise, not a response every time Yang gets mildly annoyed at someone), and the child of combat activists who, by her own admission, had to fight early and well to survive outside the Kingdoms. Team RWBY now feels like they're powerful primarily because a) they claim they are and b) they've got various forms of magic in their back pocket.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[camillabanilla]

The "death"/rebirth cycle of the Ever After; it's chekhov's plot device now. Like it HAS to come into play, somehow. To that end, we have three characters that have forgotten their "purpose" aka identity crisis island.

Ruby: does NOT have it in her to fight. If she does, her heart won't be in it, and I can't see her fighting since she can barely look at crescent rose without a panic attack. She no longer considers herself a hunter. Her identity is eroding, and no one is any wiser. Honestly this is kinda scary, like this kiddo is keeping this depression to herself and she needs to ask for help, but she won't and everything comes out all at once in a Very Bad Way. Too close to real life.

That being said, ideally Ruby discovers that it's okay for her to have bad days, to ask people for help, and feel her emotions. Honestly she reminds me of Riley from Inside Out. She takes the "bad" parts, and makes them a proper part of her self. The spectre of Summer no longer haunts her and Salem's taunts lose their effectiveness. You can even say, her painful memories and emotions "temper" her resolve. 👀

Jaune: my baby boi is a mess right now I don't even know where to begin. Yeah he was doing so great for volume 7-8 but maybe that just means he had the furthest to fall (get it lol)? Like he finally feels okay with himself, he's the team healer. He's not the type of guy to think of a mercy kill as heroics and it's literally the opposite of a heal so that entire cornerstone of his personality has been smashed. He's regressed to a place of self doubt. Except this time the stakes have risen and it's not that he can't become a hero, it's that he briefly was a hero and failed miserably (in his eyes). God even his angst is mature.

I feel like his trauma is different from Ruby's trauma in the way that hers is very psychological and deals with things that have happened to her, and Jaune's trauma deals with the things he's DONE or not done.

Shout out to the weirdness of him being super old now, but aside from becoming grumpy has moved on/changed on the least of all the characters. Like just look at the guy, he's literally rusting, even his new armor! His hair is long and unkempt compared to his previous fresh cut, and his broken ass sword is still....a broken ass sword.

He needs to forgive himself. Accept that all he can do is his best and it might not always be enough, but the world would be worse off without him. Sometimes being a hero involves doing the really hard thing, so that other people won't have to suffer. Like, reminiscent of Ironwood minus the paranoia and bullheadedness. Maybe he learns that he truly did help Louis and Alyx. Perhaps even, the tree requires Jaune and Ruby's help in resetting itself and he learns the benefit of a figurative rebirth. That sometimes death is necessary. That last one is icky.

Neo: our little murder goblin. Her sense of self is harder to pinpoint since we know her less well, and it seems like most of her motivation is "do crimes" and "do crimes with Roman". So I'm going to treat her like a villain for the most part. I do think she'll get some kind of closure on how Roman died: that if you fuck around, you find out/get eaten by a Grimm. I do find it interesting that we haven't seen diddly of her since she landed, like she's almost disappeared. Her semblance is wack and even though semblance evolution is a thing, I get the feeling that something about the Ever After is doin it for her. I don't think she has a good shot at coming out of this alive tbh.

But back to her "losing herself", she doesn't seem well. Maybe she thought Cinder would be her new partner in crime and she's super not taking that well? That could solidify that Roman was her one and only person, and she'll never experience that again

She won't go out in a blaze of glory without her either becoming a cautionary tale for not letting go of someone, or realizing for herself that she and Roman only have themselves to thank for their fate. Either way, I think she goes down with the tree. As much as I ship her and Fox, she's way too Chaotic Evil. I feel like there should be more to her story, but I can't pin it down.

#rwby volume 9 spoilers #rwby volume 9 #ruby rose #jaune arc #neo politan #rwby vol9 #huffing my own thoughts here like farts in a jar

[zerm2v0hg]

'RWBY' Volume 9 ending Rewrite

So, I followed Volume 9 of 'RWBY' as it came out a bit more intently, watching clips from each episode as they came out on YouTube, and I found myself increasingly impressed by what this volume was doing and the direction it was going in, compared to what came before in the previous three volumes. Then I watched the final episode, in full, and… I was let down, to put it mildly.

So, in a bout of passion, I started listing down the complaints I had and things I think should’ve been done differently in V9’s last couple episodes to create a satisfying conclusion that doesn't turn the whole volume into filler.

So, below, I present to you below, How I Think RWBY Volume 9 Should Have Ended.

----

So, the cutoff point where I start changing things is after Episode 8.

I think at this point, there should be a prequel episode, chronicling Alyx, Lewis, Jaune and the Cat’s original adventure across the Ever After. It ought to expand on Alyx’s character and show more of the Cat’s relationship with her. And it would answer some questions the show left unanswered, like what Alyx saw in the Herbalist’s weed, what she told Lewis after poisoning him, and what the Cat was doing while all this happened.

Now, onto changing Episode 9.

After the events of the previous episode, we still get Ruby communing with the Blacksmith in the Tree’s soul-limbo-space-whatever – that pretty much remains unchanged in this episode.

But before we see WBYJ for the first time in this episode, we cut to a scene on the Curious Cat-Neo rushing to the Tree. They stop, coming out of their pixellated-teleportation-stream thing, and as Cat!Neo grips their head, we see flashes of images to hint at what’s going through their noggin: the Two Brothers, the Cat’s beginning, the Cat watching the Brothers fight over the Jabberwalker (basically specific images from the Blacksmith’s flashback of the Ever After’s origin in the actual episode, but in quick-time here); the Cat’s travels with Alyx’s company. We also see: Neo, the Vanille family, Roman, Ruby, Cinder, Neo’s clones killing original Jabberwalker. Cat!Neo recovers, and they comment that there’s still just enough of Neo’s own heart left in her to try and resist them, but it won’t be enough. Cat!Neo follows it up with a remark directed at Neo about all humans being broken, weak, confused creatures that break everything they touch, and Cat!Neo continues onward.

Next, we still get Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune riding on Juniper back to the Paper Pleasers’ old land: now, here’s where I make changes. Weiss, Blake and Jaune are talking about what happened back at Neo’s mansion, and Yang, who’s been quiet for a while, explodes in grief-fuelled anger, lashing out. Blake tries to comfort her, but Yang pulls away and guards herself. After calming, Yang probably says something at this point which, while not intended to be mean-spirited, makes it clear that Ruby’s critical words directed at Bumbleby in Episode 7 are now playing in Yang’s head, as is the way Yang picked got defensive against her own little sister before she flew off and committed suicide by tea. Blake, for her part, is struggling to know what to do given the root of the problem, while Weiss tries to reassure Yang that she tried her best for Ruby – although it’s clear that Weiss doesn’t quite believe her own words.

WBYJ come across the Genial Gems, and their spirits are still reinvigorated by this. Jaune takes more or less the same message away, that he did in the episode, while WBY have an epiphany about how the world is bigger than they thought it was, and that just because they often thought they were in the right didn’t mean they really were, and that the important thing is that they learn from their mistakes and grow better from them into people who don’t repeat them. Then they arrive at the Tree.

From here, the episode’s Tree scene plays out the same way, with WBYJ finding Ruby’s Tree-cocoon and confronting Cat!Neo at the door. Although I imagine Yang’s reaction to Ruby’s cocoon has just a touch more tears and difficulty convincing Yang to stop trying to tear Ruby out, and I would maybe adjust Cat!Neo’s line about what they did to Alyx to, “What anyone would do to a broken, lying traitor.”

From there, everything from the first part of the battle against the Cat, to Ruby’s soul-searching in the Tree, all plays out mostly the same for the rest of this episode. However, I’ll move the cutoff point of the battle against the Cat between this episode and the next one: instead of this episode ending the battle on Weiss’s friendly fire hitting Jaune, it’ll end the battle on the Cat being forced out of Neo and taking on their final super-mode.

On an additional note, there’s an extra part of the battle, shortly before Jaune tells WBY to burn the leaves, where Cat!Neo summons Neo’s Jabberwalker clones to fight and Cat!Neo reveals while laughing about it that Neo did indeed kill the original Jabberwalker.

Now onto changing Episode 10.

The opening scene with Summer, Taiyang and Raven remains the same. Now, the resolution of Ruby’s soul-searching is something I’ll really change; because the show’s resolution of it to me felt absolutely tacked on and unsatisfying.

“Choose for yourself one who can leave your burdens behind, or choose one who will be enough to bear them.” When Ruby is looking at the various weapons, she notices a red light, coming from a group of cases on one side of the circle of weapons, and she walks towards them. The weapons here aren’t like all the others: in the central glowing case is Crescent Rose, and in the adjacent glowing cases, she sees other versions of Crescent Rose that look slightly different. Ruby makes her choice.

“I choose… the me who will be enough.”

Cue “Guide My Way/Red Like Roses, Pt. 3.”

Ruby emerges from her Tree-cocoon. She’s still her, except… her Atlas-arc combat skirt has been replaced with a new one, she has an emblem that’s similar to Summer’s but not the same, Crescent Rose is now slightly changed (called Crescent Rose Mk. II here), and her cloak has changed to look more like a pelt made out of a wolf or Beowulf.

The New and Improved Ruby joins her team in kicking the Curious Cat’s ass down, and we get a first good look at Ruby’s new fighting style. Then when the Cat is lying defeated on the ground back in their original form, their rant is a bit different: the Cat rants about how their makers one day just up and left them without any explanation of WHY they were abandoning them, they scream about how they gave and gave and gave their heart freely to help other Afterans and they got nothing for it in return while no-one ever fixed their heart, and when the Cat opened their heart to Alyx she just broke it even further. The Cat screams something along the lines of, “HAVE I NOT EARNED THE RIGHT TO BE SELFISH?!”

New Ruby tells the Cat with a stone face to retreat now, or have their ass kicked by RWBYJ again (making it clear they can go another round with the Cat who is already exhausted), assuming that Neo who is still lingering nearby doesn’t attack the Cat first. The Cat heeds Ruby’s warning and flees.

As an additional note, I like to think that maybe when Ruby is sending the Cat away, she probably tosses her scroll to the ground in front of them, a silent offer that the Cat can take it and satisfy their curiosity by learning anything stored on it to stave off the Cat’s madness temporarily – just a small gesture of pity.

Once the Cat is gone, WBY express relief at seeing Ruby safe, but none more so than Yang who pulls Ruby into a hug, and then they start admiring Ruby’s new look.

Neo says goodbye to Illusion!Roman, and she walks away from RWBYJ. A couple of the team are ready to go at Neo again for all that she’s done to Ruby and the Ever After, but Ruby stays them with a gesture of Crescent Rose II, saying that they won’t be seeing her again. Cue Neo’s ascension.

When RWBYJ wonder if they made things worse in the Ever After, Ruby says she isn’t sure. They note that Neo killing the Jabberwalker for good before she ascended has got to count for something, even if that was her work instead of theirs. Then the sound of wood splintering draws RWBYJ’s attention to another of the Tree’s cocoons nearby, which hatches a giant, bipedal mouse.

Cue the reunion with Little as Somewhat, and Somewhat and Juniper parting ways with RWBYJ. I imagine there’s a bit more tears on account of the bittersweet flavour created by Little/Somewhat having no conscious memory of the time they shared with Ruby, and a little more of a heart-to-heart between Jaune and Juniper as they say goodbye to each-other. I also imagine that just before Juniper departs, Ruby gives Somewhat directions to find their way to the mouse village where Little started the volume.

EDIT: RWBYJ begin filing into the door, one-by-one. They don’t know that the Curious Cat is approaching under the shade of an overhead branch, eyes narrowed as the Cat focuses. Four of the group enter the door. The Cat pounces, and they merge into the last person’s back just before they hit the portal. Flash to white.

RWBYJ arrive in the Blacksmith’s workshop, but the scene a little cut down compared to the episode. The whole lengthy story about the Brother Gods’ origin is cut out, although their statuettes are still present. RWBYJ might still take note of the Brothers’ statuettes, at which point the Blacksmith simply tells them something along the lines of, “Your world was not the first one where those brothers made remarkable achievements. Nor the last.” When Jaune asks the Blacksmith about Alyx’s knife, the Blacksmith’s answer heavily implies that they are what Alyx became after she ascended. Jaune smiles and tears up. And no, Jaune does not get de-aged.

EDIT: When the Blacksmith sends RWBYJ through a portal to Vacuo, they arrive in the middle of the desert, on a dune overlooking a town-sized makeshift encampment of the refugees from Atlas and Mantle. RWBYJ comment that it’s a mess, and Ruby replies to her teammates that it’s a mess that they’re going to clean up, flashing them a reassuring and very Ruby-like smile. As RWBYJ are overlooking their destination, we see one of the team’s eyes abruptly flash with a hint of a familiar chequered pattern, and we zoom in on them…

…and we see a familiar pair of cyan cat-eyes within their mind or soul, while a familiar voice cackles loudly. Something along these lines: “Oh, I’m here! Oh, Remnant is FINALLY HERE! And the first Relic is so close ALREADY!”

EDIT: Then we cut back to Vacuo as the Cat's host shakes off the momentary odd feeling she had, none the wiser. Blake turns to Yang and they hold each-other’s hands, although Yang hesitates to take Blake’s by a second. Weiss points out a few Grimm in the distance that are giving the camp’s watchposts trouble. Ruby unsheathes Crescent Rose II and, with a nod to her team, they head in with her at the lead.

---

So, that’s my rewrite of Volume 9’s ending to fix the problems I had with its ending.

EDIT: I wasn't sure which teammate to have the Cat possess (or rather "infiltrate") to get to Remnant. The original idea was Weiss, because I thought she might still have enough "space" in her soul for the Cat to slip in on account of losing her home kingdom, and I initially went with Blake being the host because of her cat ears and so she'd have something to do besides work out her and Yang's relationship in V10. I chose to go back and leave it up in the air which one the Cat infiltrates.

HOW does the Cat get into one of the heroes when they needed to wear Ruby down all volume long? Well... admittedly I didn't think this through as much as I normally would, since this whole rewrite was a work of passion, but from the Cat's agreement with Alyx, I'm guessing that a mortal can somehow carry the Cat through the door to Remnant without being worn down in spirit to an empty host, and the Cat's elaborate plan with Ruby was based partly on the Cat refusing to trust that any human would ever willingly do that for the Cat after Alyx didn't. This new recourse was probably a last-ditch effort by the Cat which had no guarantee of working, and the Cat probably got lucky because of the timing of the hero they possess hitting the portal - I'd probably have the Cat in the final scene express surprise that it actually worked, and even then it's admittedly still a bit of an ass-pull without foreshadowing. I think the Cat seriously has to catch a person with their mental guard low in this scenario to get inside them in this "Plan B" way, and that the Cat can't fully take over them like they planned for Ruby or Neo so much as they just sit inside like a parasite in this case, to explain why the Cat didn't just body-jack any of WBYJ and felt they needed a hollowed-out Neo.

From here, I imagine Volume 10 would be about further fleshing out the new Ruby and the heroes adjusting to her, the heroes helping the survivors of Atlas and Mantle with the fallout from V8, and the Cat turning their eye to the Relics.

Oh, and I think the Cat will absolutely have a connection to the Relic of Choice, and they will have to be on Salem’s side at some point if only briefly.

#fanfiction #my fanfiction #rwby volume 9 #rwby rewrite #alternate universe fic #my writing #rwby9 #rwby 9 spoilers #rwby

[qrowbranwen-isms]

MAJOR RWBY VOLUME 9 SPOILERS!

If you have not seen RWBY up to volume 9 DO NOT READ THE BELOW! If you have, or just don't care, then read on.

Also trigger warnings ahead.

So this season might be a runner up for being a mess with the Star Wars sequels. They skipped a year after 8 to make it and this is what they gave us? Unless there was something else at play (and let's face it, Rooster Teeth fucked up allot), this was just awful...for the most part. I think my sister put it best when she said "this whole season felt like filler. They could've done almost anything else."

It felt like the whole volume was written around the last three (maybe four) episodes, from Ruby's suicide and resurrection to the fight with the cat and Neo, but almost no one told anything to the writers, or they forgot along the way.

That's not to say it was all bad, especially compared to volume 5, but it left us with more questions than answers.

There's one bit I want to focus on, that's the beginning of episode 10, with Summer and Raven.

Why would those two just be out alone doing god knows what? What was it that was so dangerous that Summer ended up lying to her family about what she was doing? I have one theory that I think strengthened in this episode.

Summer was the original Spring Maiden.

My only guess is that someone thought it was taking too long to take Salem down, and considering the Legend of the Silver Eyes, maybe Summer or someone else thought that along woth the magic of one of the Maidens would be enough to stop her.

Clearly it wasn't, since we know that Summer didn't come back, and Raven ended up with the powers. Either from Summer dying and passing the power onto Raven or, from what we saw from the Hound in volume 8, Summer was being assimilated and turned into a Grimm, and Raven had to mercy kill her at the end.

Either that or Raven had the powers already and thought the two of them would be enough.

This also gives us some context to the ending of Volume 5's finale, with Raven tearing up and apologizing for...something? It wasn't just to Yang (maybe?), it was also to Summer for not being able to stop Yang, who at that point was more Summer's daughter than her own, from backing down from the fight against Salem.

It is possible? No real clue. Only time will tell. And hopefully better writing.

#rwby finale spoilers #rwby #rwby9 #spoilers #tw; suicide #rwby spoilers #rwby theory #summer rose #raven branwen #salem #ruby rose #yang xiao long #neo politan #the spring maiden #silver eyes

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 9 Ep 1 - A  Place of Particular Concern

I wanted to make this post before episode 2, but oh well - in my defense, I was sick. (I also haven’t watched episode 2 yet, so for me it still is “before”.)

I’ll try to be brief as well and just write down the stuff I really want to say. Don’t know if I’ll make a post like this for every episode either, depends on whether I’ll feel up for it. (Likely not, but I wanted to do it this time.)

- First things first: Aaah, RWBY is finally back! For me this is actually a first-time experience too, since I didn’t get into RWBY until Volume 8 was already almost over. (If I remember right the last few eps of Vol 8 were the first ones I actually watched “live” (or well, with a week’s delay)).

- As a whole, I’m a lot more relaxed about Volume 9 than I was about late Volume 8 (or than I am about Volume 10). Because we’re taking this detour in the Ever After (a good choice imo, since RWBY has so many characters by now that it can get a bit overwhelming), and the only named characters here are Team RWBY, Jaune, and Neo, I don’t have as much to get anxious about. My only faves here who could get hurt are Team RWBY, and since they’re the main characters I think they’ll be fine. My other faves are either not in the void (Cinder, Salem, Ilia) or already dead (Penny... don’t touch me I’m still not over it), so I think this volume is going to be comparatively easy on my nerves (now watch me eat my words as Team RWBY goes through hell...). (My little sisters’ faves are Jaune and Neo respectively, so I’ll see how they like this volume...)

- I wonder who the mysterious narrator in the beginning is. Well, we’ll find out. (But the last time we had a “mysterious narrator” she turned out to be very important, so...)

- Love how it wastes no time throwing us back into the Vol 8 ending from Ruby’s POV.

- Who’s voice is that calling “Ruby!” when she wakes up at the beach? Is that still Penny? Sounds more like Yang to me, but I’m really not sure.

- The two suns made me think of Star Wars.

- I love Little. (And I also like that Ruby being kind to a little mouse even while she’s going through a lot herself is what ends up freeing Weiss and Blake from the mice. Kindness is good and all that.)

- Interesting to know that cartoons exist on Remnant. Makes sense, though, they have TVs and all after all...

- Bit sad we didn’t get to see Weiss and Blake’s reunion. Also, is this the first time they’ve said the name “Gambol Shroud” out loud in the show?

- The way Weiss tells Blake “I’m really glad you’re okay”... Yeah, until just now she thought all of her teammates were dead. And she’s clearly still processing that Penny’s dead for real.

- Weiss cheering Blake on when she’s trying to get her weapon is adorable.

- Love how Ruby nudges her shoulder to wake Little up.

- “I can be your trusty guide” -> cut to them falling asleep. I love Little.

- “I don’t know if anyone else fell, no.” Oh, I just remembered again that none of Team RWBY know that Jaune is down here, too. They won’t look for him because they don’t know he’s here. And they might not run into him, either. So, what if they just straight up don’t meet him? I’ve even seen theories they might leave the Ever After without him since they don’t know... oh boy, I think something interesting is definitely in store for Jaune this volume.

- The Jabberwalker is terrifying and we definitely haven’t seen the last of them.

- That moment when Ruby wants to join the fight but the realizes she doesn’t have Crescent Rose anymore... yeah, based on the intro as well, I wonder if it’ll maybe take a while - maybe even the whole volume? - until Ruby gets Crescent Rose back.

- “I said I wasn’t done with you yet!” Oh... shout out to Barbara for how she voiced this line. Also, I’ve said it before: Yang is so badass. Thinks she’s dead, only has one arm, still goes afte the Jabberwalker.

- “Dammit! You weren’t supposed to be here!” The way her voice breaks here, oh gosh... Yang just wanted to protect Ruby, she was ready to sacrifice herself for Ruby, and to see now that it didn’t work as Ruby and the others still fell... let me give Yang a hug. (They might also have to talk about those self-sacrificial tendencies, because while I get the “protective big sister instinct” - you’re important too, Yang.)

- “If you thought we wouldn’t come for you, then you must have forgotten who raised me.” When I first heard this line, I thought Ruby meant Tai (and Summer) by this, but then I saw people say that she meant that Yang raised her and gosh... that’s both even sweeter and even more heartbreaking. (But also, Ruby... you didn’t actually “come for” Yang, you though she was dead and then you all fell into the void by accident. Not saying you wouldn’t have come for her if you’d known, but that’s not quite what happened.)

- I’ll be squeeling about that Bumbleby tackle-hug for the next few weeks, thanks for asking. The way Blake says “Yang” so softly, the way Yang touches her head and smiles... it’s perfect. Everything I wanted for their reunion and more.

(Also, I don’t want to get into negativity too much here, but it’s astounding how I’ve already seen the dumbest discourse ever over this scene. “Yang should have hugged Ruby instead; why would she care about someone more than her sister?” and similarly braindead takes... like WTF? Yang and Ruby literally had a really sweet sisterly moment right before this. Yang and Ruby have hugged before. Like, what kind of a braindead take is this? Are people who have siblings not allowed to also have significant others or other people they love and care about? Honestly, it’s just straight-up homophobia, let’s call it what it is. If this hug had happend between, say... Ren and Nora, after one of them thought the other was dead, literally no one would be grasping at straws to find something to complain about. No one would be calling it “ship baiting” or throwing fits. If it doesn’t bother you when it’s a man and a woman, but it does when it’s two women or two men - that’s homophobia. And a lot of the haters also seem to go down the whole “but it’s not canon” rabbithole and like... yes, it is. Just because Blake and Yang haven’t kissed or confessed their feelings out loud yet doesn’t make them not canon. They’re canonically in love, that much is explicitly clear. Deal with it or leave.)

- I like the build-up to Weiss telling everyone what happened (rule of 3 - when Blake and then later Ruby ask, she keeps saying they have to find Yang first and she’s not letting herself really process it either. But when they’re finally all together, Weiss finally allows herself to cry and tell them.

- Okay, time to let out my inner Nuts and Dolts shipper: WOW. The fact that Ruby just straight-up faints when she hears that Penny died. The fact that Weiss didn’t even finish speaking and Ruby already fainted... I’m so here for it! Look, I’m still heartbroken (and still in denial, hoping they’ll bring her back a second time), but if I have to deal with half of my ship being dead, then I at least want to see the other half have the most intense reaction possible to it. I want Ruby to grieve, I want Ruby to go through hell, I want her to just not be normal about this on any level. The intro already tells us that this is the “Ruby is depressed” volume, but I want that to be at least in large parts because of her grief for Penny. Ruby thought she’d lost Penny once, then she got her back, got even closer with her, fell in love with her, went through all of that trouble in Volume 8 to save her from the virus, only to find out she died anyways... yeah, I want Ruby to suffer about it and I’m so glad we’re getting that. (And in my perfect shipper-wish-fullfilment version I want Ruby to have some sort of “I loved her” line when talking about Penny later.)

- I like that Weiss left out Jaune’s exact role in Penny’s death and phrased it as “Jaune tried to help, but she sacrificed herself”. It’s not a lie and Weiss is being a good friend to Jaune by deciding that that part isn’t hers to tell. That being said, I want Ruby to go absolutely ballistic on Jaune when she finds out. I want her to blame Jaune, I want there to be a fight with tears and emotions and rage, I want it all. (To be clear, I’m not blaming Jaune, but I want Ruby to. Like I said, I want Ruby to not be normal about this. Let Ruby go apeshit over losing the girl she loves.)

- So wait, Ruby fainted and they just let her lie there? (Okay, to be fair, we don’t see what happend while she was out.)

- Okay, so Team RWBY currently don’t know that Jaune fell, that Salem has the relic, or how everyone in vacuo is doing. Weiss still saw Winter become the winter maiden and most people get to vacuo though, right? 

- Side-note, what about all the random citizens who fell into the void when Cinder set off that first explosion? Team RWBY knows about them - are they going to at least try and save them too, or is this supposed to be a “they’re background characters, so let’s hope the viewers have forgotten about them” thing?

- Oh, I have feelings about Yang asking Ruby if she’s alright and Ruby brushing it off to talk about Neo instead. I hope WBY will realize that Ruby’s going through it right now.

- Yay for Blake taking charge and coming up with a plan. She’s come so far.

- Yang thought she was dead... don’t touch me.

- “I think we’re in a fairytale.” Oh, lovely line to end the first episode on.

Now for the opening:

- Love the song, first of all!

- That opening shot of Jaune and Neo! Jaune still with the broken sword and tears... Yeah, he’s not going to have a good time this volume either. Likely there’s going to be a lot of wrestling with guilt over Penny. Also, as some people have pointed out, there are quite a few parallels between Jaune and Neo. They’ve both lost someone they love (Pyrrha and Roman), they’re both keeping a tragic keepsake of that person (Pyrrha’s red fabric and Roman’s hat), they both (arguably for Jaune?) want revenge for that person’s death... yeah, will be interesting to see if this volume does anything with that.

- That montage of everyone growing more confident while Ruby receeds and becomes more depressed, the part where it’s just Ruby crying, then that montage of everyone else walking and getting faster while Ruby walks behind and gets slower and slower and hangs her head... Yeah, this is “Ruby has depression” -  the volume, and I’m really looking forward to that for several reasons. First of all because I feel like Ruby is ironically one of the less developed characters on the show and I can’t wait for her to finally have the time to get that development. (This is another reason why I think it was a good call to have a smaller cast this this volume.) And secondly because I’ve been struggling with what’s likely depression and I think seeing that represented in a show I like would feel really healing.

- I would have never noticed the “no 11th hour” thing with Jaune on my own - props to all of you for picking up on that!

- Well that part with Ruby on the bridge isn’t creepy at all.

- Neo’s sitting behind a table sipping tea while wearing Roman’s hat and that’s when it hit me that she’s the mad hatter. Brilliant!

- Also, I wouldn’t have picked up on Jaune being the white rabbit (who’s always too late!) myself, but I love it. Also, this is another parallel between him and Neo and I wonder what their stories will have to do with each other this volume.

- Also interesting how we see both Ruby and Neo turning into... was her name Alyx? - well, our Alice, “the girl who fell through the world”, you know who I mean. Just like Jaune and Neo have parallels, Ruby has paralles with both of them as well (she’s also just lost the redhead she loves and might also keep a tragic keepsake of Penny’s).

Okay, one personal prediction I want to make: So far, every one of the last RWBY volumes had one character in particular stand out and steal the show for me, my “fave of the volume”, so to speak. For Volume 5 it was Ilia, for Volume 6 it was Salem, for Volume 7 it was Penny, and for Volume 8 it was Cinder. And based on the first episode and opening I think that for Volume 9 it’s going to be Ruby. That whole going through depression and mourning Penny thing... yeah, I think Ruby is who I’ll feel for the most here and I’m ready for it. Make this her volume, she deserves it. (I definitely also hope for some amazing Bumbleby moments, tough.)

I am apparently incapable of writing “short” posts.

#RWBY #RWBY Volume 9 #RWBY Vol 9 #Bumbleby #Nuts and Dolts #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Jaune Arc #Neopolitan #Penny Polendina #Little #a week late but whatever #also I likely won't write something like this for the other episodes #just wanted to do it this time to also write out my hopes for the whole volume #long post

[greatlakesrebel]

RWBY Volume 8′s quasi-“final season” atmosphere

ok we all know v8 was far from the last season of rwby, but did anyone else get series finale vibes from it at any point? so it’s my time to ramble about a couple reasons why this is the case.

the scale in general

you know how it is with most tv shows. everything is ramping up to this moment. the stakes gradually rise with each season until it comes to a peak.

we’ve got foreshadowing for the atlas arc dating all the way back to the early volumes. emerald finally joins the heroes. cinder’s backstory. ironwood snaps. salem’s invading atlas with a giant whale, gives NO fucks. the fall of beacon looks like a bar fight compared to her invasion of atlas.

wait what? the whale got blown up in the middle of the season? huh that’s weird.

the amity broadcast

ruby & besties contact the whole world letting them know the truth about salem and asking for them to unite in the face of adversity.

here’s where we check in with everyone we’ve ever met, simply to establish that the whole world is hearing ruby’s broadcast. we’ve got glynda goodwitch, ilia, saphron and terra, sun and neptune, taiyang, random folks at the train station to argus. this is the part of the story where the avengers team rwby’s allies assemble to save the kingdom—

yeah that doesn’t pan out. most likely, a bunch of people are on their way (we see ghira belladonna calling ilia even before the broadcast finishes) but they simply didn’t make it in time and they’re gonna find atlas in ruins.

a bunch of antagonists bite it (and one turns good)

hazel pulls a “redemption = death,” cinder traps watts in a burning room, ironwood kills jacques and then dies when atlas crashes into the ground, hell if you wanna get technical even salem dies for a couple hours. emerald my beloved joins the heroes after years of buildup.

literally the the cast of main villains has been cut nearly in half in such a short time. it’s like when showrunners gotta figure out how to wrap up everyone’s story in the final season all at once.

survivor count: so far there’s cinder, mercury, and tyrian left on team salem. neo’s still alive too but she just has personal beef with ruby.

the CHARACTERS feel like their story’s about to end

in the words of that atlas eye reporter:

basically, all the heroes talk about ‘whatever happens in the end’ because they genuinely think this is their last stand against salem and her grimm army before meeting the bitter end. I mean—

we’re WAY past “don’t let anyone else die.” they know that they’re fucked and people are gonna die no matter what, and the best they can do is minimize the damage that salem and ironwood can wreak on the kingdom’s residents.

the title characters fall to an unknown fate

there’s no rwby without team rwby. the gang saves the collective population of mantle and atlas, at the cost of their lives, or so they think. team rwby+j are presumed dead by those who made it to vacuo. rwby volume 8 is a grim segment of the overarching story that makes us ask heavy questions such as: what if rogue one ended with the squad getting teleported to mortis

anyway what’s the point of this post?

I just think it’s neat that volume 8 ramps up the action, and so many plot threads play out... and then our heroes just have to keep living with the fallout afterward.

#i'm trying to post something other than a meme. bear with me #rwby #my post

[dragynkeep]

“yang is at fault for losing her arm, she didn’t learn from her fight with neo & was too emotional.”

“okay but yang’s ptsd makes her unreliable & untrustworthy. she’s just paranoid. this is how she behaved before losing her arm.”

“she should’ve stopped being a huntress after losing her arm, at this point she’s kind of asking to lose another limb.”

“yang should have her prosthetic broken or shattered for symbolism.”

“yang should have a clawed or inhuman prosthetic to symbolize what adam did to her & how she’s the beast to blake’s beauty.”

“haha vibrator prosthetic go brrrrr.”

now, doesn’t all of this sound ableist? doesn’t this sound like it’s reducing yang as a character to her prosthetic, how weirdly that prosthetic is being treated, the sometimes border sexualization of it while also reducing her to the disabled one in the cast, almost sometimes portraying it as her fault? yeah?

this has been james for the past two years. where all of his rightful fear about salem  —  which he was right about & ozpin was wrong btw !!  — & his actual, on screen, lasting symptoms of ptsd unlike yang who had it for a volume at most, has been used to demonize him & portray him as a villain. yes, you can have villains who are disabled, but james is specifically tied to his disability. to his ptsd symptoms. & exhibited through his prosthetic.

james isn’t the only one. we see this with other villains of the show ; like adam, tyrian, cinder, mercury. we see jokes about tyrian losing his prosthetic again or the heroes stealing mercury’s legs. we see how cinder should lose another eye. we see jokes about adam being blind or how he deserved or earned being branded.

we get to hear how mkek are actually okay to write this because miles has adhd when pardon my french, miles can go fuck himself. his adhd does not translate to a physical disability, not all disabilities are the same. this is the issue with treating disability as a monolith when no, physical & mental disabilities are the same. a person with adhd is not comparable to a person who has multiple prosthetics. treating them as the same is doing them a disservice & paints all people with disabilities as needing the same treatment, which is untrue & harmful.

one day the fndm will actually listen to the affected disabled people on how this storyline hurt us & not just, brush it off while ignoring the ableism in the show lmao.

#rwby #yang xiao long #james ironwood #tyrian callows #cinder fall #adam taurus #mercury black #owl.txt #ableism / #sigh

[littlemisssquiggles]

I wish Oscar could have gone to th other world instead of juane ,caz I believe by the last volume when team RWBY fights Salem or cinder Oscar will play a big roll in that and he should be with the main girls more ,after all the main villains ex that she despises more than probably the God of light is inside Oscar's head so why would the writers choose to not have him go to the other world having John go just seems weird

Hello anon-chan. I’m gonna have to disagree with you on one point m’fam. I actually believe it makes more sense for Oscar to have remained back in Remnant as opposed to the Other World for the very concept you shared.

I believe that Oscar will play a major role in bringing Ruby and the others back from the mysterious Other World.

Whether it’s through magical means, the Staff of Creation (pilfered back from Salem and Cinder) or his own semblance finally unlocked, I stand by the hunch that Oscar will become the bridge between Remnant and the Other World and the one to lead the charge to returning his true rose and their missing friends safely back home.

On that note, I’m fine with the showrunners sending Jaune to the Other World as it provides an opportunity to focus on characters such as Oscar, Nora and possibly Emerald. Not so much Ren since he already had his second arc for V7-V8.

Personally, I don’t understand why Jaune was sent to the Other World with RWBY either. At least Neo fell in as a result of her being double-crossed by Cinder after she tried to kill Ruby.

But as for Jaune’s purpose for V9, I don’t know and to be honest with you anon-chan, I don’t really care that much for what the showrunners do next with Jaune so long as he doesn’t intrude on or take away from another character’s development and screen time again as that was what left me especially peeved about his use back in V8.

Before any diehard Jaune stans come for me, let me just clarify and say this---I DON'T hate Jaune as a character. As a matter of fact, I actually like Jaune. He's not one of my favourites but I do like him especially when the show does him right.

... Hooooooowevvvvver.... I did end up hating how Jaune was utilized for V8. I REALLY didn't like (and I still don't like) how he was given TWO important character moments---such as leading the rescue of Oscar from Monstra and Penny's final moments---that rightfully should've gone to Ruby Rose as the first choice contender in both scenarios.

Ruby had the stronger connection to both Penny and Oscar than Jaune so why did the showrunners chose to omit her from these two PLOT moments in V8 despite this?

Even if I did enjoy Jaune's heartwarming reunion hug with Oscar, it bothered me so much how Jaune was allowed to have these heartfelt moments with both Oscar and Penny respectively despite having the least connection to both characters (especially Penny) when compared to Ruby.

...And it STILL bothers me.

The only purpose I can think of Jaune serving for his presence in the Other World is if it will spark some unnecessary tension between him and Ruby since technically Jaune was the one who was forced to kill Penny and as the audience is aware, Ruby doesn’t know of this detail since she fell into the void prematurely with Neo.

So I don’t know what purpose Jaune will serve outside of that but we shall see moving forward. That being said, I actually had this headcanon where Ruby may end up spending most of her time on the island alone and on her own, working desperately to avoid contact with a murderous and vengeful Neopolitan while desperately searching for a way back home to Remnant as well as her missing allies.

That’s my hunch since I really just want the showrunners to give some focus to Ruby on her own---alone. Ruby hasn’t been on her own since the very first episode of RWBY back in V1 when she was introduced.

No offense but I’ve grown tired of Ruby constantly getting the short end of the focus and development stick. In my opinion, her writing and overall treatment by the showrunners has been sloppy and inconsistent over the past seasons with V8 culminating in the worse of it for me. And this is especially disappointing since Ruby is literally the title character of the show and the face of the franchise---the character who started it all.

How can you have a series where your main title character has some of the least or worst character writing and treatment in the show? It’s mindboggling. This is why I’m hoping V9 delivers better.

As I said, don’t really cater for what comes next for Jaune (I actually thought he would’ve had a hand in defeating Tyrian Callows given their opposing semblances but I digress). But I do believe or wish to hope that V9 will do more for both Ruby and Oscar respectively since I want to believe that it will be their shared connection to one another that will reunite the divided teams. But then again; this is just me.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2021)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #ruby rose #rwby volume 9 theories #rwby theories

[toaarcan]

I’ve realised that I’m kinda... still not over V8C14.

Like... it’s the first time in a long while that I’ve felt... actively disappointed by the show. Like the last time was probably V4, which is a good while ago now, and it sucks because the rest of V8 is so good. For most of the volume, CRWBY were firing on all cylinders, and then in the last episode and a half they just... beefed it. 

V8C13 has its upshots, but C14 just... isn’t good, and I think that’s because none of it feels really earned.

Cinder... is a mess. She really is. CRWBY can’t really seem to decide whether she’s a villain protagonist that we should be able to draw catharsis from, or if she’s just the fucking worst. We get given the whole sympathetic backstory reel, and it had me going for a couple of days but none of it really justifies the amount of murder and the sheer delight she takes in it. I think her winning was meant to be kind of a “Yes, slay queen” moment and it really didn’t land for me, largely because, well.. her character development and the steps she takes to grow from it just don’t add up.

Like, the idea they’re going for is that, after three volumes of using her powers like a cudgel, and basically just running into fights and blowing things up with her flamethrower-hands, Cinder wises up and starts playing to her strengths again, wielding her powers and her brain in equal measure.

RWBY’s no stranger to this, it did the same thing with Weiss in V5-7, having her unlock her summoning and then start relying on it entirely in fights, leading to her near-death in V5, after which she properly worked it into her existing combat style. 

Unfortunately, the V8 finale is written in such a way that Cinder’s smartest possible option is to just run in and blow things up with her flamethrower-hands. The use of fear that was key to her V3 strategy... basically all fell on Watts choosing the right time to cut off Jaune’s broadcast to cause the most confusion, and then it was right back to the Leeroy Jenkins playbook for Cinder. She actually played smarter in V5, when she was supposed to be at the nadir for her reliance on power above all else, planning to isolate her target and a single ally, and then steal the powers there.

And it’s not like she outplanned the heroes at all. They just kinda forget that she’s out there and might be a problem, while she gets to know their exact plan and how it’s going to work, basically because Neo turned out to be way more basic and single-minded than I gave her credit for.

(That’s another thing, I expected Neo to be kind of a wild-card in all this but nope, she was fully loyal to Cinder besides some snark, which was just so boring)

What’s supposed to be Cinder’s big moment of getting her mojo back feels mostly identical to the way she’s been acting since V4 ended, but this time it works because she read the script and the heroes forgot she existed.

I’ve said it before, but nothing sums up Cinder better than the fact that she got her hands on an all-powerful artefact of creation, which she could use to make just about anything... and she used it to make fire.

But then the thing that really settles it for me is Penny dying. I could’ve taken Cinder’s plot-mandated victory a lot better if they hadn’t packaged it in with Penny dying and just... torpedoing two volumes of character development. 

I’ve seen people wildly speculating that Penny’s going to return from the dead for a second time somehow, and I almost believe it, what with Pietro having one more resurrection in him, but what’s telling is that the belief that Penny will be brought back isn’t based on foreshadowing, but the thought that, with all the time spent on her arc and the ideals and thoughts put into it, it would be at best dodgy writing, and at worst, outright antithetical to the show’s themes, if she really did stay dead.

It’s not “Penny will come back because this hints at it”, it’s “Penny will come back because killing her for real would be bad writing”.

And the thing is... they’re kinda right?

Like, we’re shown that Penny has been enduring dehumanisation from Jimmy Copperdong even before he leapt off the slippery slope and became a full-blown fascist. Everyone around her in the Atlas military, apart from Winter, views her as a machine, and not a person. She’s not allowed friends, or time to herself. Even becoming the Winter Maiden isn’t enough to convince anyone outside of Winter, Pietro, and the protagonist gang that she’s a person. Then when she turns against him, Brassdick pulls Watts out of jail to hack her, violating her bodily autonomy in a way that forces her to attack her friends, causes her serious injuries, and will eventually cause her to die, and the only thing she can think of to escape is to willingly die and chose her successor as the Winter Maiden. Her friends talk her out of this, and manage to put together a whole plan that will free her from Tintodger’s claws and allow her to live freely, but will in turn put them on an even tighter time limit to save the people of Mantle and Atlas... and it’s all looking good... and then it all gets fucked up so Cinder can have a win.

Like the turnaround between “Suicide and choosing your successor is not the answer” to “Actually suicide and choosing your successor is the answer” is like... two episodes. 30-40 minutes. I’m watching Penny ask Jaune to stab her and I’m like “Didn’t we just spend an episode and a half on dismissing this as an idea and finding a different option?” 

In this show that’s supposedly “hopepunk,” Penny’s story ends with her being mortally wounded for trying to protect her friends from Smirks McFlamethrower, and choosing to die being her big act of freedom. Which is just outright depressing.

And it’s not as though CRWBY decided they couldn’t have a Maiden among the heroes, or they needed that useless goddamn Stretch Grimmstrong arm to work for once in its life (That thing is 0/3 against Maidens) and give Cinder the powers, because the powers went to Winter anyway.

I want to stress that I’m not normally anywhere near this down on RWBY’s writing. I generally really like the show. V7 was great. V6 was bloody brilliant, and it was the point where I started liking RWBY more than RvB. And most of V8 was on-track to becoming my second-favourite volume, and then it did that. This isn’t meant to be a RWDE thing or anything to do with those dipshits that hatewatch the show for some fucking reason. If I didn’t like the show, especially the past few volumes, I wouldn’t be nearly this ticked off by V8C14. So if you’re about to go “Hur-hur the whole show’s like that”, please fuck off. I guess I just wanted to vent a little about this.

I am looking forward to V9, though. Afterlife shenanigans should be fun, and the fact that RWBYJ are in a different dimension entirely to Cinder means the writing quality will skyrocket compared to the end of V8.

#RWBY #RWBY V8 #Griping I guess #CW: Suicide #TW: Suicide

[alkaria]

The Wielder of the Staff

Penny isn’t going to retrieve the staff from the Winter Maiden’s Vault. She’s going to open it, either this volume or next, that much is for certain - you can’t build up to a grand finale for RWBY without all four relics ending up in play. But it won’t be Penny walking out of that vault with a relic.

One of the key themes we’ve covered, in Penny’s character as well as in the Atlas arc more broadly, is about free will and choice - who you serve, why you serve, and what you do to serve. And ultimately, though Penny undoubtedly feels a debt and a responsibility to protect Mantle and Remnant more broadly - she never wanted this. She took on the mantle of Winter Maiden not because she was groomed to, like Winter, or because she wanted it, like Cinder - she took it because she had to.

We see her struggling to come to terms with the burden she’s placed on herself because of her selflessness in the first two chapters of Volume 8, but we don’t just see that. We see Penny’s central character flaw coming to a head - that even now, her destiny is being written not by her, but by the actions of General Ironwood.

(Hm. Two characters both starting with a P that ended up in contestation for Maiden powers, with a character arc of Destiny. That bodes well.)

Crucially, Penny is going to, over the course of this volume and the next, finally have a chance to carve out her own destiny - her ideals, her wishes, and most importantly, her limits. The points at which she learns it’s okay to say no to taking on more responsibility than you can handle.

And, as a result, she’s going to say no to taking the Staff of Creation out of the Vault.

But we know the staff will come into play, so who’s going to take it? 

I don’t know whether it’s too early in the story (and brothers, we’re 8 years in at this point) to say with any certainty whether who initially claims the relic will be ultimately relevant to the finale and whatever happens to the four relics, but it’s certainly clear from the Volume 5 finale that there’s a significant portion of symbolism allotted to it - even if just to mark the emergence of a relic as an important moment with no further connotation.

When Yang emerges with the Lamp from the Vault, she is raised up above the others - figuratively as well as literally. The first wielder of the Lamp since the Great War, held up by Jinn herself.

Remember Blake’s little speech to Sun earlier in Volume 5:

“I remember getting to know Ruby and thinking, this girl is the embodiment of purity. After a while, I saw Weiss was defiance. And Yang was Strength.”

Yang claimed the relic not because she was the only one there, but because she was Strength. She had what Raven lacked, and Blake’s speech came full circle. Yang is elevated onto the central platform, in a way that only three others even experience - Raven, as the Spring Maiden, Leo, as Haven’s Headmaster, and Oscar (for fairly obvious reasons).

Now, you may wonder where I’m going with this. Salem has the Lamp; the Vault isn’t open. Even if Penny refuses to take it, what’s that got to do with what’s going on right now?

Well, the person who claimed the Relic of Knowledge? She’s on the ground. She’s separate from the events in Atlas, and she’s not going anywhere near the Staff. The symbolism in the intro couldn’t be more apparent:

Everyone else, on the other hand?

I already ruled Penny out, but everyone else here could be in contention to wield the Staff. Although, personally, I’m going to narrow it down to two:

Nora

A lot of people thought Nora was getting flags as a potential maiden last volume, from her resemblance to Fria to her possible Mantle origins to her vocal disagreement with Ironwood. It, obviously, didn’t pan out that way. But there’s still a couple things in her favour for her claiming the Staff of Creation:

“Always hoping that a lightning bolt is gonna save you from this gravity”

That’s the line from the V7 intro that perked a lot of people’s ears, and I still think it applies, possibly even more so. More than anyone, Nora represents lightning. Her main literary allusion is Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Her semblance is powered by electricity, and her weapon generates it. In the history of Robyn calling highly amusing and accurate nicknames for our cast, Lightning Bolt could easily apply to Nora.

Gravity obviously applies to the weight of the severe situation our heroes find themselves in, but that’s not just all. It also, obviously, applies to the huge flags we’re getting that Atlas could plummet to the ground, destroying both it and Mantle and handing Salem a huge victory in her quest to ruin humanity.

That’s not guaranteed yet. If we expect volume 8 to go the way of volume 3, where there is a significant defeat for our heroes, that doesn’t automatically equal a complete and arbitrary annihilation. After all, Salem could crash Monstra into Atlas and achieve pretty much the same goal. The key thing that came out of volume 3 was that Beacon was destroyed - but not unreclaimable. There were slivers of hope, and the smaller soul remained.

And that’s where Nora could come in. She’s been a stalwart protector of the people, especially Mantle, and if she were wielding the relic, she’d definitely not want to doom them by using it - and, equally, not doom them by losing the relic. Nora was there when Neo took the lamp - she’s going to know that the same thing could happen, and so, she will save us from gravity - by using the staff to lower Atlas safely to the ground before taking it out of the vault.

Weiss

“After a while, I saw Weiss was defiance.”

This feeds more specifically into the possible theory that each relic will be claimed by a member of team RWBY. While Yang has maiden flags from Raven’s possible death, after Penny gaining the Winter powers and Ruby mastering her silver eyes, the RWBY maiden ending looks unlikely. But anyone can claim a relic.

Weiss has matured a great deal throughout the storyline of RWBY, but the ultimate character motivation for her has stayed consistent: she wants to reclaim her family’s legacy and restore it to one comparable to her grandfather’s, in opposition to the mismanagement of her parents. She is defiant towards them, to her brother and sister, towards Ruby, towards the general trend of history, and towards General Ironwood.

“NONE of this matters right now!”

”Not friends. Family.”

So why Weiss, and not Nora?

Well, going back to the theory with the relics being claimed each by one of the members of Team RWBY, Salem is their end villain:

It’s team RWBY who are together confronting Salem in Ironwood’s office, and it’s team RWBY who’ll be stood together confronting her at the very end of all this. To do that, you need the relics.

To be sure, Nora is a member of the main cast - she’ll have an end villain to face off against, just like the rest of our protagonists - but even though it seems Tyrian is shaping up to be Qrow’s, Salem is very clearly not Nora’s. Arguably, we saw in Volume 5 that Nora is the only person capable of going toe-to-toe with Hazel:

“I don’t need him to hurt. I just need him to GO DOWN.”

Nora makes sense as Hazel’s eventual final foe - his origin story is being driven to work for Salem by his grief and possessiveness over his sister, who died as a huntress-in-training. Nora lost her teammate - a huntress-in-training - precisely because of Salem. We know she’s an orphan, and homeless - she likely has lost a great deal of people to the grimm. Morally, she’s the polar opposite to Hazel - someone whose hardship and grief made her a protector of the people, rather than someone on a doomed quest for vengeance for someone who would never have wanted it.

So if we rule out Nora for that sake, why Weiss, and not Ruby or Blake? Well, for one, Weiss has far more personal investment in Atlas as a whole.

“This is my home. And I’m not giving it up without a fight.”

For Weiss’ own character arc to complete as we eventually move towards a resolution and a departure from Atlas, her family needs to survive. Jacques is fairly irrelevant, and his death would matter least - but Willow, Winter and Whitley need to survive, and the Schnee family needs to begin healing. That doesn’t square itself with Atlas falling to the ground and millions dying. But it could square itself with Atlas being lowered enough to survive without the Staff, and Salem still making off with it in order to attack Vacuo.

Weiss’ semblance also thematically fits with the relic of Creation - she has a mastery of dust, and her glyphs are used to create a range of different things. Her arc points now towards creating something new - a new future for her family, for the SDC, and for Atlas. It would make sense.

For their own relics, Ruby and Blake make more sense being involved with Vale and Vacuo. While Blake is from Menagerie, not Vacuo, the Sword of Destruction would resonate well with her character arc. It’s a symbol of how she, and the faunus, have grown - the power to destroy, but rather than used angrily and blindly like Adam would, used carefully, with great thought. As well as this, the symbolism of the sword - taking up arms and fighting, rather than running away.

And Ruby is just obviously choice. She’s the central character of the Vale arc, one of her most defining traits is determination - the choice to never give up and keep moving forward, that we’ve heard referenced more than once post-Vol 3. But, if you’re wanting a bit more in the way of arguable evidence - who’s younger than the rest of their team of four, is pure of heart, makes choices that fundamentally determine everyone’s paths, and ends up with a crown?

So that’s where I’m staking my claim. Yang, the Strong, giver of Knowledge. Weiss, the Defiant, guardian of Creation. Ruby, the Pure, defender of Choice. Blake, the ???, arbiter of Destruction.

The only thing we’re missing is what embodiment Blake actually is.

#rwby #long post #rwby8 #rwby v8 #rwby 8 #rwby volume 8 #penny polendina #penny #ruby rose #ruby #weiss schnee #weiss #yang xiao long #yang #nora valkyrie #nora #rwby spoilers #rwby theory #rwby 8 spoilers #rwby v8 spoilers #rwby volume 8 spoilers #i will shoehorn narnia into rwby by any means necessary

[itsclydebitches]

They honestly could have made Ruby's ascension work if it was framed as a last resort.

Instead of being coerced into drinking the tea by Neo, have Neo mortally wound Ruby, and as she's fading away, Yang, Weiss, Blake, and Jaune make her a cup of tea from the Tree's leaves to find some way to save any semblance of her.

"any semblance" I see what you did there lol

But that's an idea, anon! I can buy that working as a solution, particularly in a version of RWBY that's done a better job with Volumes 7-8, specifically in teaching the girls that often you'll never have good options, only comparatively less shitty ones. Ruby ascending could be framed as a horrific choice based on all they've learned about the process, as tantamount to giving into the Cat's desires, as downright dangerous since they don't even know if she'll react the same way as someone from this world... but is all that worse than letting her die? If RWBY really has to delve into suicide allegories, there are compelling (and less insulting/triggering) questions surrounding our sense of self. Is it better to perish as you are, or live as a fundamentally new person? Does Ruby have a responsibility to continue this war, or has she earned the right to passively bow out now that Neo has forced her hand? I can imagine a strained, hectic, emotional scene in which the group agonizes over whether to give Ruby the tea or not. How far are they willing to go to save her? When does death become a mercy in the face of what "living" might entail, especially if they're not even sure if she'll ever leave the tree? Pit Yang's desperate need to save her little sister at any cost against Blake's horror that she won't be Ruby anymore; Jaune's total disgust over the Tree and his adamant refusal to do that to Ruby against Weiss' unyielding belief that surviving horrible circumstances is always the right call; those in the group who are still blindly optimistic vs. those who, in this moment when tensions are that their highest, are asking what they're even saving Ruby for. Salem is going to kill us all anyway.

I might be re-watching The Walking Dead atm. There are lots of great conversations like that in the show

Plus, something like this would have been even better if the show had actually done something with Penny's resurrection. Give me a version of RWBY where Penny died at Beacon, Penny 2.0 is built with her memories, but she's still her own person working with what amounts to her predecessor's data without having experienced any of that herself. Ruby then spends Volumes 7-8 grappling with this. How can she love her as Penny when she's not Penny? How can she reconcile getting to know someone new who remembers everything Penny did? By the time they're separated she's come to terms with this, has come to love Penny 2.0 as her own person, and it's this acceptance that allows Ruby to choose to ascend. While everyone else is fighting over what they think she should do, she uses her final breaths to make the choice for herself, the choice to live, with the faith that her family will grow to love her despite the challenge of accepting someone new as "Ruby." What happens to Penny via technology happens to Ruby via magic, a parallel wherein horrible acts by the villains force them both to change, but they wrest back their agency after the fact and choose how they'll embrace the change, even if they didn't want it. Ruby, kinda literally, trusts in the love her teammates have for her and drinks the tea, knowing that whoever she is afterwards will be someone worth becoming. Her family's love will make sure of that.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[fanfictionsrookie]

Why Cinder Fall Carries The Thematic Message Of RWBY's Antagonists...

And What That Could Mean For Her Character.

...

Now, from an audience's perspective, I would say that the outcome of RWBY's villains carry the theme of, No matter your past or the moments that lead up to this point, one will eventually come at a crossroads where they decide what they want to be and what they want to do with their life, whether they want to be 'good' or 'bad'. And that, from what we've seen so far regarding our antagonists like Adam, Roman and Clover (more on him later) choosing the 'bad' whatever that might be in their situation, would have devastating consequences.

But first and foremost, they will and have to be given a choice.

Now admitedly these instances where characters are given these choices are either implicit, nuanced or are given in a second with minor characters which are in the majority and shall be addressed first.

...

Given Roman's last confrontation with Ruby, it can be said that he have long since chosen his path and that the consequences of that choice finally arrived. Although CRWBY not able to cast him for future volumes definitely plays a big part in this. So I don't want to place top my h weight on this charater, even if it's worth mentioning.

Of course we have Adam. Now his backstory definitely propels him down his path of spite and destruction, but one would be wrong by saying that other faunus, maybe even Ghira and especially Blake, have not tried their best to help him chose a better way to fight for his cause and work through his past by showing him the possibility of a better life. I mean isn't that part of the reason Blake stayed? Because of the hope that he could change and could be better, going so far as to try to tell herself that he isn't the monster he is becoming? Even Sienna, although her in own skewed way, tried to direct Adam's path. But Adam continuously chooses the path of spite and hate after every fight and altercation with Blake and Yang. Adam has had many chances, the fact that we didn't see what these different choices could amount to, is simply due to the fact that he has already made up his mind, and that, keep in mind, he was still a relatively minor charater compared to the rest. Adam's final crossroads with Blake and Yang approached, and he paid the consequences.

Now we Clover, and as an antagonist in his final scene the same would apply. He had the choice between capturing Qrow or Tyrian. Following orders or doing what is right. I bring this up to illustrate that even what seems to be a simple theme, there are still variations and exceptions, such as the gravity of the choices and consequences, that further reaffirms and explores the theme.

And I adress this theme through minor characters first, because if they are so clearly seen in them, then it's irrefutable that they are present in the main characters. But before we get to the main antagonists, because they do have a lot more complexities attached to them, let's look at the opposite end of the message to make sure it even holds up when explored.

If an antagonist continuously goes down the wrong path it will lead to negative consequences, then choosing the right path, will bring about a happier ending. And for a fandom that seems so caught up with the concept of 'redemption' (in quotation marks because I have a very different view on what that is and should look like, and I don't know if I'll be able to get to it in this post) one would think that RWBY would be rampant with 'redemption' arcs. But we've only seen one redemption throughout the whole show.

...

And that is Illia's arc.

She's interesting in that I see her as a foil to Adam (a post that I'm sure has already been made). Her change at deciding to change and lead a better life as well as the person to support her through this change, is also Blake. And when Illia does decide to do good, we are shown that she is not only happier, but she is working alongside Ghira to bring about the positive change within the White Fang, that she has sought to do for so long. Just like Adam, Illia has experienced incredible trauma because of the SDC, but she chose to not let it define her in the end.

...

Now, enough about these minor characters, let's look at team WTCH.

When we see Tyrian and Watts, and through the snippets of implicit backstory, that they have already chosen Salem against all else and that they are set in that choice. I've brought up antagonists who have already chosen their path like Roman, and they are important because since they are already solidified an antagonist who has no desite to change, they pose a much bigger threat and it adds variation to the theme in how it's presented.

Now Hazel interestingly has been the only one who understands the means of what they are doing and the negative consequences of their actions, but that for him, it is ultimately justified. Even so, Hazel does use force as a last resort. And what was more surprising, was the reveal that Hazel aligned himself with Salem, not because he necessarily believes in what she is doing, but that she is impossible to go against. This most likely makes him feel that there isn't any choice, not with an equal possibility of outcome at least. But Ozpin/Oscar challenges that notion. He tells Hazel that Salem can be fought and he gives him a choice, or at least an option to chose his role in this battle. Because of our track record of antagonists sticking to their initial role in the narrative, it would make sense to deviate from that and give us Hazel who has the possibility of turning to the good side. However, how this plays out has yet to be seen. I do think that he would die in the end. Why? Because the narrative has yet to show how a charater can enact positive change and be better, even if they might not get to see the full extent of their actions. In short, exploration of the theme. Because the theme does not equate choosing the path of 'good' with the promise of living, simply that there will be positive outcome of such a decision but what that looks like will be different depending on the charater. Of course this means that that choosing the path of 'bad' won't necessarily mean death. It could mean being imprisoned (Looking at Ironwood, possibly Mercury) or something lighter that simply means having to move locations often and be on guard (Looking at Neo). These outcomes still fall in line with the show's message regarding villans but because they lie on it's outskirts, I would expect them to be portrayed sparingly at best, as not to risk betraying what has already established but still maintain a sense of 'realism'.

...

Now, I've been talking about how the theme essentially brings about the 'good guys' winning and the 'bad guys' losing, but that could literally be any other piece of media. But like I said in the very beginning, it is only the outcome of the theme, not the theme itself. What makes RWBY's message regarding its antagonists so different, is its emphasis on choice.

And that brings us to the true message.

That bad people can and should be given a chance to be better, to become better people.

This doesn't mean that people would take that road, or that they would want to change, but that they should be given it nonetheless. Some people will get more than once chance, and some of those consequences will be more dire than others. Not everyone can easily become better, but for everyone there will be a possibility, no matter how small.

...

And this brings us to Cinder Fall.

Now, in light of the events in her backstory, some would consider Cinder killing Rhodes instead of surrendering to be her crossroads. After all it I'd what firmly set her in place to seek power in the name of freedom. And if this was shown to us sooner, if Cinder died in volume 3 or 5, I would have agreed… to an extent. If Cinder was a more minor charater, or died in volume 3 or 5, that scene would have been enough content to show and give us an explaination for her choice and it leading to her downfall. As for why only partly agree? Because it wasn't presented as a choice. Killing Rhodes and her abusers weren't a crossroad, but rather a threshold, even if it's one she chose to cross. Because the path presented to her was the only one Cinder believed is available to her. Remember, it's also important to think how these choices are presented to the characters and whether they see them as such. Of course, it's important to remember that Cinder is a main villain, our first villian and the only cillian we've seen struggling to this extent, it makes sense that her story is much more detailed and complex, but there is another reason I will get to later (she is also not the only one whose story has been treated as such, but more on that later.)

So Cinder has been shown to make choies that garders to her current goal of achieving power. But only because she is not presented with another path that gives her the freedom she wants (keep in mind that does does not exuse Cinder's actions or that she shouldn't face the consequences thereof, and trust me, she has faced many). Salem does not give her choices. She gives Cinder a path, a way forward, and consequences should she not take it.

Becoming part of Salem's ranks wasn't her crossroads either. Only, Cinder *thinks* it is. She thinks she has chosen the path to freedom, but she will eventually come to the realisation that this is not it. That there is another way. And the only thing that can show her this.

...

The Relic of Choice.

While Emerald and perhaps Neo will be the ones to support her if she chooses to become a better person, the person she wanted to be, no person could ever convince her that something like that exists. Not after what she has seen in humanity.

But the relic can.

It can show her a future where she does take a different path, and one where she doesn't.

This is Cinder's crossroads. Getting to the Relic is the end goal that has been unknownly set up for Cinder since the beginning. The Relic will most likely be the last thing that stands between humanity's destruction, it represents the height of the final conflict and ties into Cinder's charater specifically. For once it is not something she necessarily wants, but something that she needs. That is why Cinder carries the thematic message around RWBY's villains. Because if it were anyone else, any other relic, any other Maiden, the theme would not hold up. It would be something entirely else.

...

Cinder is at her crossroads.

She has been shown to where each path leads.

What will she choose?

The theme only says that one should be given the option to chose to be good, not that they will or should.

It could go either way.

But I believe Cinder will turn to walk down the path of good.

And here I can hear half of of you groaning. But before we go into why I think so, because again, everything at this point is simply my prediction, let's look at what will happen if Cinder choses power over true freedom.

She will most likely die, of that I have little doubt, or sentenced to life in prison or constant running at the very least. This all runs in accrodance to the theme. A main villian stays on the road of evil despite being shown a better way, and pays dearly for it. Only...RWBY has already done this…

...

With Salem!

As our big bad and one of the main villians and the pure epic that was 'The Lost' fable, we have seen all the prominent moments and choices who made Salem who she is. And at every turn, the death of Ozma, the death and rebirth of the world, Salem has chosen the path of Darkness and not just figuratively either. (And yet, they still managed to make her sympathetic at one point which is a commendable feat). The gods might have been cruel in their punishments, but all things considered, gracious inhow many times they have given her the option to change her ways. Of course Salem's final decision came with the death of Ozma and her children.

Salem might be the big bad, and defeating her is the end goal, her actions dive the basis of the plot and our heroes' actions. As these final moments of her story concedes with Cinder's story, I very much like the idea of the story ending with the defeat of the antagonist who chooses the path of darkness, while one of RWBY's main themes linger in its audience's mind as another antagonist chooses the path of good, a new life. Now I'm getting much to sappy and caught up in these satisfying nuances and touches.

But my main point has been made. Cinder will choose to change, but what could this new life look like? What are the consequences? After all, we've already established that the gravity of the outcome does not concede with the choice even if it it is presented as positive for good and negative for bad.

In short, could Cinder's change be an act of goodness that concedes with her death?

...

It could, but I don't think it will.

While it is true that the death of a charater could carry a positive outcome to others, it does not align with Cinder's goal of freedom, therefore death would be seen as a punishment and contradict the theme itself. And because Cinder is the charater who embodies it, it means that the end of her story should end on a positive note.

This doesn't mean Cinder becoming a better person will be easy, it doesn't mean that she should be forgiven, that she shouldn't face the consequences of her past.

But after everything she went through, after all her struggles and trauma, Cinder would have the life her younger self wanted. The freedom she wanted to choose for herself.

And I think that is a ending we can, and should hope for...

#rwby #cinder fall #rwby analysis #rwby8 spoilers #rwby8

[zerm2v0hg]

‘RWBY’ Volume 9 ending Rewrite (Ver 2, part 1/2)

So, I followed Volume 9 of 'RWBY’ as it came out a bit more intently, watching clips from each episode as they came out on YouTube, and I found myself increasingly impressed by what this volume was doing and the direction it was going in, compared to what came before in the previous three volumes. Then I watched the final episode, in full, and… I was let down, to put it mildly.

So, in a bout of passion, and after having come across several pre-volume finale fan theories that I think would’ve been a lot more satisfying and appropriate than what we got; I started listing down the complaints I had and things I think should’ve been done differently in V9’s last couple episodes to create a satisfying conclusion that doesn’t turn the whole volume into filler. Most of the initial rewrite was written in a bout of passion, and it was only after I posted it that I remembered some other ways in which the V9 storyline could have been concluded better and some of the unanswered questions I think it should have addressed, so this is the second rewrite based on that.

So, below, I present to you below, How I Think RWBY Volume 9 Should Have Ended.

—-

So, the cutoff point where I start changing things is during Episode 8. Largely the same, but for thematic and plot reasons, I’d remove the use of Tree leaves and Ruby ascending being part of Neo’s plan: she’d simply plan to make Ruby kill-kill herself forever with non-Tree poison tea after she broke Ruby down. I imagine that a Tree leaf would get into the tea while Neo and Ruby were distracted with each-other, probably due to leaves starting to fall when the fight at Neo’s mansion escalates and one of them landing in the teacup while it’s untended (like the Tree itself is intervening to help Ruby to a degree, and.or due to the teacup getting knocked into the right place at the right time by Little’s body when the Curious Cat knocks Little away). So when Ruby drinks the tea, her ascending with Little’s body instead of dying like a human is a surprise to everyone, although I imagine Neo still counts it as getting her revenge and she still has her catatonia that lets the Cat possess her.

Now, there's a prequel episode chronicling Alyx, Lewis, Jaune and the Cat’s original adventure across the Ever After. It ought to expand on Alyx’s character and show more of the Cat’s relationship with her, and it would answer some questions the show left unanswered like what Alyx saw in the Herbalist’s Tree-weed, what she told Lewis after poisoning Jaune, and what the Cat was doing while all this happened.

When the group are exchanging stories, Alyx and Lewis will probably talk about how they fell into the Ever After: they and another girl were among the first students at Beacon Academy when the King of Vale was still alive. They were sneaking in the school’s basement when their third companion’s eyes glowed and she opened a vault that led to another world which Alyx and Lewis fell into. It’s clear to Jaune that the third girl was a past Fall Maiden, and they stumbled on the Relic of Choice’s Maiden vault, but Alyx and Lewis don’t know anything about the Crown of Choice when Jaune asks them about it, while the Cat’s curiosity is piqued by the topic.

This prequel episode will also probably at some point feature the group fighting the Jabberwalker, who menaces the Curious Cat in particular out of their group while hissing words like “Fix” before Jaune and Lewis save the Cat. The implication is that the Curious Cat is the thing the Jabberwalker was searching for to “fix” back in Episode 3.

Now, onto changing Episode 9.

After the events of the previous episode, we still get Ruby communing with the Blacksmith in the Tree’s soul-limbo-space-whatever – that pretty much remains unchanged in this episode.

But before we see WBYJ for the first time in this episode, we cut to a scene on Cat!Neo rushing to the Tree. Cat!Neo stops, coming out of their pixellated-teleportation-stream thing, and as they grip their head, we see flashes of images to hint at what’s going through their noggin: the Two Brothers, the Cat’s creation and helping an Afteran, the Cat watching the Brothers fight over the Jabberwalker (basically specific images from the Blacksmith’s flashback of the Ever After’s origin in the actual episode, but in quick-time here); the Cat’s travels with Alyx’s company. We also see: Neo, the Vanille family, Roman, Ruby, Cinder, Neo’s clones killing the original Jabberwalker. Cat!Neo recovers and they comment that there’s still enough of Neo’s own heart left in her to give the Cat a mental "itch," but it won’t be enough – in fact, Cat!Neo is hoping there’s just enough Neo so they can still use her to access Remnant. Cat!Neo makes a remark directed at Neo about all humans being broken, weak, confused creatures that break everything they touch, and they continue to the Tree.

Next, we get Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune riding on Juniper back to the Paper Pleasers’ old land. Weiss, Blake and Jaune are talking about what happened back at Neo’s mansion in varying degrees of distress, and Yang is grief-stricken. Blake tries to comfort Yang, but Yang finds herself, hesitantly, retracting away from Blake. Yang probably says something at this point which, while not intended to be mean-spirited, makes it clear that she’s reacting this way to Blake because the moment Ruby criticised Bumbleby in Episode 7 is now playing in Yang’s head: the moment Yang got defensive against her own little sister before Ruby flew off and committed suicide by tea. Blake, for her part, is struggling to know what to do given her role in the root of the problem. Weiss tells them they need to focus on finding a way to the Tree, but she’s visibly struggling to hold it together herself. Jaune tries to soothe the others, but it’s clear he doesn’t quite believe his own words.

WBYJ come across the Genial Gems at the old Paper Pleaser village. Jaune is relieved by realising that ascension isn’t the personality erasure he thought it was, while WBY’s epiphany here is reworded so that it's about how the world is bigger than they thought it was, and that the important thing is that they learn from their mistakes and grow from them into people who do better instead of repeating them. Then WBYJ are transported to the Tree. But WBYJ are all a little troubled by the fact the Genial Gems had no memory of RWBYJ, realising what that implies is going to happen to Ruby once she’s reborn.

When WBYJ find Ruby's Tree-cocoon, their emotions are definitely a lot more poignant than they were in the actual episode. All of WBYJ take turns speaking words to Ruby’s cocoon in the hopes she can somehow hear them in there. Ruby’s teammates one by one take turns talking to her about the ways in which she helped them grow out of the people they started Beacon as, they tell her in their own ways that she is not worthless, that she has had a worthwhile impact, and that she as Ruby Rose can still do good for the world, and they beg her to come back to them.

When WBYJ confront Cat!Neo at the door, the dialogue is a little different. Before Cat!Neo reveals what happened to Alyx, they tell WBYJ the same thing they told Ruby in Episode 8 about how they’re “cursed with curiosity” and want to find out on Remnant why their makers abandoned them. Cat!Neo pointedly asks WBYJ why they don’t just let them go, claiming they’re only looking for answers and they’ll leave WBYJ alone on Remnant, with an added barb directed at the heroes' past protagonist-centred morality attitude. Jaune, who has a background of knowing the Cat decades before Team RWBY first met the Cat, works out the answer to his old companion’s rhetorical question right away, and he steps forward to speak it: they can’t let Cat!Neo get away because the Cat’s makers are the Brothers themselves, meaning that sooner or later, the Cat will try to get their answers by gathering the four Relics and summoning the Gods, setting off Remnant’s Judgement Day. Cat!Neo snarkily admits Jaune is correct. From here, Cat!Neo reveals Alyx’s fate and then they see Ruby’s Tree-cocoon. At this point, I’ll switch out Yang’s “whatever happens to Ruby is up to her” line for something more like, “We let Ruby down before, but not again. You’re getting my sister over my dead body!” To which Weiss, Blake and Jaune add in their supports.

“Then I’ll bury you in the ground!”

…and Jaune responds to the above taunt with a snide remark at Cat!Neo about how the Cat sure needed his help all those years ago (in reference to the prequel episode’s Jabberwalker attack). Cat!Neo angrily charges and the battle begins.

One fundamental aspect of the final battle that I will change is that we’ll be seeing in more detail how much Rusted Knight Jaune’s fighting prowess has improved in the twenty years he was fighting to protect the Afterans, to a point where he’s now above WBY. Whenever Jaune directly clashes with Cat!Neo, Cat!Neo in turn needs to heavily use Neo’s winning fighting style and her Semblance to match Jaune.

The final battle’s cutoff point between this episode and the next one is shifted. Instead of ending the battle on Weiss’s friendly fire hitting Jaune, Episode 9 will end on either:

(1) the battle’s very beginning, or

(2) the Cat attaining their Furious Cat super-mode.

When the Cat is forced out of Neo, Neo runs out from the Tree smoke and collapses unconscious on the sideline, before the Furious Cat emerges from the smoke.

On an additional note, there’s an extra part of the battle, shortly before Jaune tells WBY to burn the leaves, where Cat!Neo summons Neo’s Jabberwalker clones to fight, and reveals while laughing about it that Neo did indeed kill the original Jabberwalker.

Continued in Post 2/2.

#fanfiction #my fanfiction #rwby #rwby9 #rwby rewrite #rwby volume 9 #rwby 9 spoilers #alternate universe fic #my writing

[moondrop04]

RWBY VOLUME 8 EPISODE 12 SPECULATION AFTERMATH!!!

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!

Alright!!! Finally time to get this AFTERMATH post on the way!!! As usual my job has been making it a bit hard for me to write these posts right after an episode appears, but it does not mean I haven’t been able to keep up with everyone else’s reactions and reviews of the latest episode......and there is a lot. I will admit this episode in particular has made myself confused at certain points, but after rewatching the it multiple times and watching other people’s reviews on certain subjects I now have a much better understanding and clarity to let myself express my thoughts on this episode. So as always let’s get dive right in and get straight into the AfterMath 😁

-(Phase 1) Ok from what I wrote from my speculation post it wasn’t all that hard to guess that Emerald would be a key part in handling Ironwood. What I was not expecting that the plan would involve her taking his weapons, as he is followed by an attack from Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar and Winter. Now admittedly I was a bit disappointed by how this scene was played out 😔.

After rewatching it multiple times I have a clear understanding of what the writers were going for when having to deal with Ironwood personally. A fully outfitted Ironwood and the Ace-Ops to back him up would make for a tough fight and would likely take too much time to deal with. If our heroes would take away some of his advantages (his weapons and the Ace-Ops), then surrounding the general in a surprise attack would make for the ideal strategy, given their short time constraint to finish their plan before Salem returns.

Now as much as this phase 1 of the plan works on paper, I would have to say my biggest issue with this scene solely revolves around the animation and choregraphy of the fight. While it is cathartic to watch Ironwood get hit after hit by everyone, each attack from each character felt a bit stale compared to earlier fights. If I had to compare it to another fight it more or less felt the same as the JN_R Vs Neo fight was animated, to me at least. Now I may have some had some nit-picks about the scene but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna blame CRWBY’s animators for not doing a better job. With everything that had happened this past year, especially with COVID, I understand if the animation team weren’t able to produce the kind of quality they would want to put into their fight sequences. In fact they have produced much better quality content on other fronts, such as lighting, special effects, facial expressions and movements so far within volume 8 that completely makes up for the of quality of Vol.8 fights. So while I would have liked to have seen this fight done a bit better, I understand and accept with what we were given and anticipate what the animation team will give us in the future. 😊

-(Spirit of Creation) Wow! I was really not expecting there to be more spirits within the other relics after Jinn, but after seeing the introduction of Ambrosius I am now kind of excited what the other two will be.

You know....If the spirits of knowledge and creation are “blue”.....then maybe the spirits of destruction and choice could be “red”? Because you know.....Red and Blue......”Red Vs Blue”......shut up I think it will be cool 😡

-(To Bring The “Real” You To The Surface) Alright it took me several rewatches to understand Penny’s “recreation” and I can confidently say I am 90% sure how it happened 😤. With that being said I want to say that I am really glad that the writers went this route with Penny’s character. I had believed that there would come a time eventually that Penny would gain a more “humanoid” body and I am so happy it’s happening now.

The reason why I like this is because I had imagined if Penny were to lose her robotic abilities and become more human, then maybe she could follow a different path, other then a huntress, to helping her friends in the future. Maybe she could follow in pietro’s footsteps and become an inventor and craftsmen for team RWBY and JN_R if they ever require her assistance?

It would be disappointing to not see Penny using her robotic abilities anymore, but I think if she can find a path to helping her friends and other people without being a huntress, then I would be very pleased to see what she could come up with 😊.

-(MoonDrop Real Talk) Now with all that being said there’s something I would like to talk about regarding the apparent backlash about this direction in Penny’s story. For the past few days I have noticed numerous fans criticize harshly about how the writers wrote team RWBY’s request for Penny’s new body and how they have showcased the abilities of the staff of creation......and it has given me a bit of clarity to tell you guys why I treat RWBY and the fandom with so much positivity.

For myself I have liked RWBY so far because I have seen and read so many different stories, from so many different forms of media, that I’m not incredibly picky to what direction I want the show to take. If there is a point in the story that doesn’t go the way I thought and I become disappointed about it, then instead of being mad I just take a step back from my own thought process and try to see what direction the writers are taking their story in.

When I do this it brings about one of the great joys I have with this show and that is creating new and interesting ways on how the show could go forward, which I love to do when I write my speculation posts.

Do I think there should be different choices in how the characters should be? Absolutely!

Do I think fights could be better and a lot more epic? Hell yeah!

But I don’t want to be the type of person to express their dislikes of a show so negatively that my words and feelings could hurt, or make someone feel much worse. To me I have always been self-conscious of how others are feeling when they express their thoughts on a subject. So when I see others express their dislike on how the story is going so far, I become worried of what is actually going on in their own lives to make them express their dislikes to the world in such a negative way, that I don’t attack them back and tell them that they are wrong in how they are feeling.

I understand you don’t like how RWBY is going the way you want it to, so I just want to ask if you don’t like it then just walk away from it. It would definitely make your life much better to walk away from such dark thoughts and it is a consideration worth wondering about 😥.

-(DO NOT FALL) Ok with all that personal talk out of the way, let’s speak about the last portion of the episode. After the creation of the doorways to Vacuo for the civilians of Mantle and Atlas to escape through, it was very interesting to hear from Ambrosius to warn team RWBY not to fall off the walkways in the dimension he created.

If the opening of Volume 8 is any indicator of what’s about to happen, then the girls are potentially gonna fall. Could this possibly be a hint on what the story could be in volume 9, and on how the girls will escape from this dimension before continuing their journey in Vacuo? We will just have to wait and see at the finale of Volume 8 🤔....

So with that I will say with some minor criticisms that I did enjoy episode 12 and I cannot wait to see the last 2 episodes of the volume. Till then I will see you guys in the next speculation post.......

BUH-BYE!!!!

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

[hadesisqueer]

For the ask Neopolitan

Okay, at the begining, I didn't get why people were so obsessed with her. Like yeah, I always liked her, she was really cute, I loved her and Roman in RWBY Chibi and her fighting style is awesome and really entertaining to watch. So I just assumed people loved her because of Chibi but she didn't have much depth in the actual show.

Now, I completely changed my mind in volume 6 the moment I saw her fighting Cinder and wearing Roman's hat, and listened to One Thing, because that's the moment where they gave her an actual story, a goal and an implied backstory that we might even get this volume. Neo's relationship with Roman is ambiguous; we don't know if it was just a friendship, or a romantic relationship, or a even some sort of father-daughter relationship (how old is she??? She is definitely a few years older than Yang and the rest, she's just short). But we do know that Roman was really important to her, and she's willing to do anything to avenge him as she carries on his legacy. She is probably going to betray Cinder at some point because I don't think that she bought that crap she told her after the fight; she was just going into survive mode after Cinder started using Maiden Powers. And so she is going along with her so she can 1. Betray her 2. Get her hands in Ruby at some point, probably.

The thing is, she is getting into dangerous territory as she does this. Just like Roman. But Neo doesn't give a fuck about relics, or Salem, or just anything related with that crap. She's morally grey compared with other villains; yeah, she doesn't have any problem with kicking some teenager ass or trying to kill a blonde (I still laugh at her reaction when Raven appeared there, sorry, it was just too funny), but she doesn't want to end the world or infinite power; she just wants to get justice for her fallen friend and then get the fuck out of there and keep living her life. But still, as smart and good fighter as she is, I think she still doesn't really get where she's gotten herself into. Just like Roman.

Now, one of my favorite theories of the series is one by Phoenix/Night, which is: Penny will be Neo's salvation. Watch it and you'll know why.

(this is the last one I'm doing for today because I'm gonna sleep now; I'll continue tomorrow)

#rwby #neo politan #neopolitian (rwby)

[a-mellowtea]

Sarah’s Soundtrack Corner | RWBY Volume 8

Today: Episode 1 // Divide 22/11/2020: Episode 2 // Refuge

Hello everyone!

This year, I’ve decided to do something new. Rather than waiting for the Volume to end or the soundtrack to drop to talk about RWBY’s music, I’m starting this little side project: cataloguing and somewhat analyzing the show’s score and songs as they’re released.

This is also a way for me to keep myself engaged in something other than academics (’cause quarantine be gettin’ to me), as well as pointing out some details folks might overlook: there’s always a lot to talk about with the music, and it plays a pivotal role in the series.

A mini-disclaimer beforehand: I am in no way well-versed in music theory. I can’t really tell you how things are composed so much as how they more generally sound, and what the intentions behind certain choices might have been.

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

The first cue of the Volume, coming in gently against the slow fade-in from black of a young Cinder scrubbing the floor, is on piano and sparse strings. I’m hesitant to label this as anything in particular with any degree of confidence, but the progression of notes makes me believe it could be an abstract variation on Cinder’s core “theme” - specifically, the haunting choir we tend to hear around her. It would make sense: bridging the visuals with something just familiar enough to catch the ear, but also distinct.

There’s a brief pause as Cinder and Neo approach the storm, with only a small bit of ambient, tense strings; then it’s into a development of the new melody we got accompanying Salem’s arrival in Volume 7 under the usual first-episode credits. This section has a wonderful female choral element added: I’m actually half-convinced that it’s a specific “theme” for Monstra (the whale Grimm; apparently that’s her official name), rather than Salem herself. The bass percussion makes the cue feel almost literally alive, giving it a slow, steady heartbeat.

The piece crescendos as Neo catches sight of Salem, then fades away into more tense strings when Cinder kneels. A small quote of what I believe is “One Thing” kicks in when Cinder takes Neo’s credit for stealing the Relic of Knowledge.

The next quote is equally small, coming and going in the span of about 5 seconds between the 03:25 and 03:30 timestamps, and references the strings from “Party Crashers”/the Volume 7 Mantle massacre. 

I can’t quite peg the following string melody - under Cinder’s declaration that she’ll return to Atlas and take the Maiden’s power from Penny - as anything specific, though it sounds similar to the opening piano.

What I’ll tentatively label as Monstra’s “theme” takes over again as Salem communicates with her, and the cue ends on a tense crescendo along with the scene.

On our heroes’ end, this is quite the episode for abstract little melodies, because I can’t seem to nail down what plays under Oscar’s respite in the slums either. What I do recognize, however, is a small section of Mantle’s melody at around 05:42, continuing until 05:52 where it’s briefly interrupted by a vague handful of notes from the Grimm “theme”.

Everything in Mantle is quite bleak, including the instrumentation: it’s soft and somber, even the gentler moments. Oscar’s melody kicks in at 07:06 on slow strings after Weiss asks how he ended up in the crater, which transitions into a despairing little quote of Penny’s established “theme” from Volume 7. This “theme” is of particular note this time around - Alex Abraham (composer) switched up the sound of her melody to a more subdued, lost quality, and it’s quite something whenever it pops up.

“Bad Luck Charm” makes a brief appearance at 07:30, and it’s interesting to me just how darkly the quote drifts off - the final note sounds almost distorted, lending it not only an air of uncertainty, but also danger (totally not hinting at things to come - no way).

Mantle’s theme makes a reappearance at 09:03, following a lead-in on strings as Yang argues that they need to help the people. The “theme” for Amity follows at 9:18 when Pietro begins talking about the titular colisseum, then drifts into Ironwood’s once he’s brought up, and then into one of the “Atlas tension” motifs from Volume 7. The orchestration of this entire section is notably quiet; almost not there, and all with a sense of unease. As the idea for the plan begins to come together, the Atlas Military “theme” (introduced at the end of Volume 6) plays, but fades out largely unresolved with Pietro’s uncertainty about it.

Once the small argument begins in earnest and the group divides, what sounds like a gentle quote of the as-yet untitled opening plays, easing into simple strings once Jaune interjects.

A sneeze-and-you’ll-miss-it soft interruption of Penny’s melody plays again, almost lost in the strings, then a third time when she volunteers to go with Ruby’s group.

And now for the fun part.

I’m not horrendously biased, I swear.

The tense silence of this scene once Penny’s Scroll begins to ring is perfect; as are the dark, sparse, ambient strings and the fourth instance of Penny’s “theme” - played on piano, with an almost music-box-like quality. The juxtaposition is horribly fitting for the moment - James is playing on Penny’s role as a guardian, her desire to protect people, her uncertainty about a situation in which she has had very little control, and that’s all beautifully reinforced in the music.

Speaking of juxtaposition.

Upstairs, we get a gorgeous rendition of “Hero” on brass; played slow, full and in earnest, with a small bit of Winter’s melody thrown in the middle once the camera briefly shifts focus to her. The way this section is orchestrated piques my interest as well - it’s not dark, it’s not particularly somber. It’s gentle. It still has that, for lack of a better term, heroic quality to it.

And that becomes such a twisted thing by the end of the scene.

Before that, however, there’s an instance of the Grimm “theme” clearly at 14:56, and it continues to be a personal favorite. 

Another intriguing little reference hits at about 15:12, when the Council members show up - if you have an ear for it, you might pick up on it as coming from the scene in the office from Volume 7 Chapter 11 “Gravity”, complete with Ironwood’s “theme” at 15:33 (this cue might actually be directly taken from “Are You With Me?”) and to say it’s appropriate for a moment where James slips even further would be putting it mildly.

Closing out the episode proper is a freaky new melody for the Grimm hound that I can honestly say I cannot wait to hear more of.

Overall, the score for the premiere isn’t quite as bombastic as the last two years, but that’s fitting - it’s largely understated, with lots of tension and somber takes on the leitmotifs that crop up. This is actually one of the things about the episode that left me feeling like it was more of a firm and simple continuation from last year than the start of a brand new chapter, and that’s certainly not bad.

And now you stand alone, opening!

I don’t think it needs saying that every RWBY OP will split the fandom to some degree, and this one has a very different style. It doesn’t have a name yet - I personally labelled it as “The End” on YouTube, unfortunately confusing a few people - which is odd, but Jeff professed that he just couldn’t settle on one yet.

The standard guitar and heavy percussion are present, kicking off in the usual instrument-focused intro, and are mixed with layers of different instruments, synth and backing vocals throughout the song once Casey’s vocals start. Speaking of, our leading lady delivers with her usual grace, and her matured voice lends a lot to the tone of the song (the growl on “Some roses will never bloom” is amazing). Almost every line on the verse and pre-chorus has an echo behind it - either as an effect or as part of the backing - giving it a forlorn yet powerful quality.

In the lyrics department, it reminds me quite a bit of the second opening - “Time To Say Goodbye” - save with a darker undertone. I’d be hardpressed to believe that the line “We said goodbye / To all the things we loved” isn’t, in fact, a direct reference to “Now it’s time to say goodbye / To the things we loved and the innocence of youth”. In a Volume where a lot of people were clamboring for a “When It Falls 2.0″ - yours truly included - this was a surprise, but a welcome one.

Second opening is the best opening. That is a hill I will die on.

Come to think of it, this might become a trend. If I remember correctly, several lyrics in “Trust Love” harkened back to “This Will Be The Day”; what springs to mind immediately is the contrast of “When the day you waited for won’t come” with “This will be the day we waited for”, and “Always hoping that a lightning bolt / Is going to save you from this gravity” with “We are lightning / Straying from the thunder”.

If this is the case and Volume 8 goes as I believe it will - setting up for another Volume in Atlas where the huge fight happens as everyone struggles to hold the line until help arrives - then we could be due for some “When It Falls” references then.

I’ve heard some say that this opening sounds a little too crowded, that it doesn’t hit quite as hard as they expected/compared to “When It Falls”, that the darker tone relies on the lyrics rather than anything in the instrumentation, and those are valid critiques. Personally, this one’s an ear-worm - I love the sound of it; Jeff made a lot of interesting choices - but the melody itself isn’t as discernable as previous years and is going to take a while to grow on me.

I’m not going to rank these or anything because that feels a little arbitrary, but I really enjoyed what we got this first Chapter. Knowing the team, they find ways to step it up every year, so I’m seriously looking forward to what’s in store.

Until next week!

#rwby #rwby volume 8 #rwby music #alex abraham #jeff williams #casey lee williams #and yes #predictably that 'hero' quote is stuck in my head too #gimme an ironqrow fight and a back and forth between 'hero' and 'blc' and i will die a happy woman