#not a spoiler since we already knew about ozma

[oscar-lime]

So weird to think we don't even know Ozpin at all... We've only seen him as Ozma and idk if we ever got any hints at what he was like on his own or not.

#ozpin #rwby ozpin #rwby ozma #not a spoiler since we already knew about ozma

[uncle-birb-owns-my-heart]

I’m gonna talk a little bit about Ozpin and Ruby

Spoilers for Volume 7

Ozpin spent many lives deciding to shield parts of the truth from everyone because he knew the world couldn’t handle the truth.

He knew that if he told everyone the truth than either they would give up in the fight (Raven) or would join the enemy (Leo)

It’s mentioned that he’s been betrayed many times, even to the point where he didn’t even seem surprised by Leo’s betrayal, and so he chooses to protect parts of the truth.

As well as this Ozpin was under no obligation to reveal his very traumatic past to a bunch of emotional teenagers! Most of his secrets revealed by Jinn were irrelevant and only showed the connection between Salem and Ozma.

Ozpin lied, and that is not okay, he omitted some very important truths and lead a bunch of kids down a path that was certainly going to get them killed, he created schools full of kids who would protect the schools but knowing that most of them would not survive a fight against Salem’s team, but despite this, he had his reasons for keeping his secrets, he did the best he could and he had the best intentions.

This is what makes him a morally grey character. His intentions were good but his actions lead to a lot of bad as well.

What Qrow said to Ruby in Volume 7, that her lying to Ironwood was different than Ozpin lying, was true! Anyone who says she’s no better than Ozpin has not been paying attention to the basic message of the last two Volumes.

Qrow has been helping Ozpin loyally for the last decade at least, we’ll assume the last 15 years, and had proven his trustworthiness in multiple occasions, so he could have been trusted with the truth.

Team RNJR risked their life to get to Mistral to help because they lost someone close to them and they wanted to defeat the person that killed her, which means for the most part their motivation wouldn’t have swayed meaning that they could have been trusted with the truth.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss had no right being upset with Oz for not disclosing the whole truth in all honesty, they hadn’t been there for long, they didn’t risk as much to get there, their motivations weren’t as stable, Yang’s mum literally deserted Ozpin after finding out the truth, it’s understandable Ozpin would be wary about telling them the truth.

But my point is, for the most part, team RNJR + Qrow were all able to be trusted and should have been.

Now we get to Atlas, and since Volume 4 they’re been building Ironwood up to be getting more and more paranoid and rash, when we get into Atlas in Volume 7 we see that he’s done so much to hurt the people of Mantle (and I suppose to an extent Atlas) that a lot of people hate him. Even RWBY+JNR+Q all mention as soon as they see that he doesn’t look well:

Yang: “General Ironwood, he looks...”

Ruby: “tired.”

Qrow: “James, what have you been doing?”

The entire situation in Atlas seems strange to the characters, and this is what makes them cautious, making them go into Mantle in the first place.

Weiss: “I’ve never seen our forces deployed so aggressively before”

Weiss: “this isn’t right. None of this is right.”

And later cemented by Pietro who says point blank:

Pietro: “The fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us, James was no different. I don’t know exactly what he saw there, but it changed him, he’s...”

Qrow: “He’s scared.”

Pietro: “Paranoid would be the more appropriate term.”

Ironwood is acting on his fears, and due to the fact he’s got not only Atlas Academy but the entire Atlas Military under his control, as well as being completely backed by the council (helped only by the fact he already holds two seats on the council) he is the most powerful right now, and for someone who was called, by his friend, paranoid, this doesn’t make for much confidence when telling him important information that could only fuel his fears even further.

Not to mention that Ruby was very quick to tell JNR about the truth, despite seeing how her own team reacted to the news, because it was important they knew.

Ozpin lying was backed by experience and paranoia, but Ruby lying is backed by an accurate assessment of the situation.

They’re doing the same basic action of lying, but their reasonings are slightly different. We don’t have enough information to say that Ruby is no better than Oz, because the issue is, she’s only lied to one person that’s meant to be on her side because she’s already seen one of the Headmasters betray Oz, and can see that James isn’t the most emotionally stable at the moment.

We can only say whether Ruby is better than Oz if we see her lying to everyone that’s helping her even after they proved their loyalty.

My point of this is, Ozpin is not a bad guy, he’s just been through a lot and is too fearful to trust anyone anymore, his actions were wrong but his intent was still good, therefore he’s morally grey.

Ruby is better than Ozpin as far as we can tell, and Qrows justification of her actions is correct.

The people who are defending Ozpin to the ends of the earth need to realise that though he had his reasons for keeping his secrets, it meant he put a bunch of young lives at risk for a war he knows he can’t win, at least not yet.

But those who are attacking Ruby need to see that she was completely justified in her actions despite us knowing that it’s not okay to lie about such important stuff because at the moment they don’t know if they can trust Ironwood.

The situation isn’t black and white, its not ‘lying is bad always tell the truth’ more ‘situational lying can be justified however should not go as far as to put others lives at risk’ it’s a learn who to trust situation because no one should just trust everyone they meet.

To summarise my points:

Ozpin: Means the best but is too paranoid to tell people, even if they’re trustworthy, the whole truth about the situation at hand. Should be forgiven but should not be heavily defended in that specific action.

Ruby: Trusts others with the truth but also has an obligation to assess the situation to make sure that those people she’s trusting actually deserve it and there isn’t much of a risk involved in disclosing the whole truth.

#rwby #rwby ozpin #rwby ruby #rwby volume 7 spoilers #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 6

[littlemisssquiggles]

What do you think of the possibility that the relic Ironwood gave Ruby is a fake made by the Staff of Creation? Possibly to monitor the others, serve as bait to lure out Salem's people or both?

Hiya Miki-chan! Chels @che1sea-xiao-long actually told me about your theory the other night and I also liked your original post. I think it’s a pretty interesting concept.

[Spoilers Ahead! Nuff Said]

Here’s the thing. I’m really conflicted on how I feel about Ironwood right about now, especially after V7CH2. In the beginning, I was all ready to concoct theories labeling Ironwood as—not exactly a traitor per say—but more along the lines of he’s been brought to such desperation by his own Baobab that nothing was going to stop him from doing what he believes is best for his people; not even our heroes—his supposed allies—who rise up to challenge him. Y’know that type of deal.

And in some way, I still feel that way about James but on the other end, I…low-key don’t want Ironwood to be revealed as traitorous or shady at all. Like I’m actually hoping there’s a legit twist where our heroes spent most of V7 believing that Ironwood and their Atlesian allies weren’t to be entirely trusted only for the twist to be that the Atlas Posse have been completely trustworthy and honest from the get-go whereas our gaggle of heroes were the ones being deceitful and shady due to their mistrust of their own allies. 

It’d be interesting if we’re left thinking that Ironwood and his forces are paranoid when in actuality, it’s our heroes instead. Basically, with Ironwood, I’m like “…Iknow you’re probably most likely going to be super shady. I mean I expect you to be…but at the same time, can you not though? I want you toprove me wrong…”

Because seeing Ironwood’s genuine relief at hearing that Ozpin is back and him kneeling before Oscar and not coming a step closer when he realized the poor kiddo was understandably uncomfortable—not to mention his little bro-hug moment with Qrow afterwards—dagnabbit, you got me Jimmy I!

It’s moments like that that made my heart melt a little and it genuinely made me empathize with the General. It reminded me that he’s not as cold and heartless as people often interpret him to be. He’s a broken man who, at the end of the day, lost one of his long time closest comrades and is on the verge of losing his entire kingdom if he didn’t act quickly.

While I’m still not a fan of big master plan, James is still a solider whose been hardened by the battlefield (I almost forgot that Ironwood is part Terminator) whose been made the way he is because of his past experiences. James is Altesian Ozpin hence why the two got along and why they also butted heads at times. 

Again, I know Ironwood could potentially be up to no good and is probably withholding more information on the true nature of the Amity Tower and its purpose that he didn’t say in the hero’s presence. Nevertheless, I don’t want him to be secretive and undermining like what he did with Oz back in V2.

I’m actually hoping that Ironwood has learnt from his experience in Vale and Beacon so his trust in the heroes is genuine. I want him to be a freaking dad to Oscar man! As I said in my Musing post from yesterday, I feel as if Oscar is going to grow to share a close comradery with the General that will probably remind him of his friendship with Oz. As matter of fact, it’d probably be nice if while training with Ironwood, James also tells Oscar stories of his time with Oz. Because I’m curious to know just how long has Ironwood known Oz. We know Qrow knew Ozpin from since his time as a student of Beacon and Oz was said to be the school’s young headmaster during that time as well. So it makes me wonder if Ironwood has known Oz from since the two were like young adults themselves.

Perhaps…James was one of the first people Oz trusted with the secret of Ozma’s soul after he was paired up with the soul of the King of Vale?

The way how Ironwood told Oscar that Oz disappearing wasn’t normal, makes me wonder how much about the nature of the Man with Two Souls does Ironwood know about. Very curious about that.

Anyways, regarding a fake Relic made with the Relic of Creation?

Like I said, that’s a pretty cool idea and theory. Like imagine if... Ironwood tried to clone the Relic of Knowledge with the Relic of Creation under the impression that he could potentially manifest himself a collection of lamps with the power to answer all of his questions any time he desires.

However, I’d like to believe that there is a catch to using the staff similar to its lamp counterpart. The lamp of knowledge can possibly find the answer to any question asked, however the catch with the lamp was that a) you only get three questions that could only be used every 100 years and b) you can’t ask the lamp about future events.

So imagine if the Staff of Creation can be used to make anything but what if…one of its disadvantages is that it can’t be used to create life or restore life that was lost (I doubt the Brothers would give it this kind of godly power, especially to leave it the hands of mankind, right?)  while another is that the staff cannot be used to create other Relics.

It can probably replicate it in form but not in power since another part of the Relics seem to be beings that embody them. I’d like to think that the Lamp of Knowledge wouldn’t be as important as it was if it weren’t for Jinn. The same can be said for the Staff of Creation. I’m assuming that too has a being embodying it as well (and I hope it’s the Blue Fairy).  

That being said, even if the Staff of Creation was able to make a perfect replica of the lamp of creation, I doubt it’d be able to behave like the actual real lamp, right? It’d probably be just a regular old lamp that stays the same size.

If the lamp in Ironwood’s possession had remained the same size when Ironwood gave it back to Ruby then I would have assumed that it was possibly fake too. However as we saw from the episode, the lamp behaved exactly like the real lamp. It floated on Ironwood’s desk exactly like how it did when Oz first explained its purpose to JNR_RWBY and Qrow back in Mistral.

It even changed its size exactly like how it always did. So…unless the Staff of Creation is that good at replicating other Relics…I dunno. I’d still like to believe that the beings of the relics created by the Gods to aid humanity in the pursuit of the four ideologies they were built on contribute to the nature of the Relic.

I’d like to believe that without Jinn, the Relic of Knowledge wouldn’t work the same way. And even if the staff can recreate another lamp, I doubt it can recreate Jinn which is why the lamp behaves the way it does.

I dunno. I could be wrong. I like your theory Miki-chan but I’m going to need a bit more proof from the show to support it because right now, all evidence is pointing to the lamp returned to Ruby being the real deal. 

If the episode hadn’t highlighted the lamp behaving like it normally would, I’d assume fake one time just like you. But for now, I actually think thatIronwood genuinely returned the real Relic back to Ruby in an act of trust. It may have even be a test on his part. More on that in a bit. 

Not to mention…I have to ask this question…how did Ironwood get theRelic so fast? When we last saw the Relic it wasbeing confiscated from Ruby by Clover Ebi of the Ace Ops. He and his team then Spiderman’d themselves away into the night taking the Relic with them. 

So…do the Ace Ops have their own personal airship that somehow moves twice as face as a regular military airship? 

How did they get to Atlas so quickly so that by the time the heroesgot there, Ironwood already received the Relic from Clover? I’m assuming theAces got a jet or whatever.

Anywhozzits…moving along; when Ironwood returned the Relic of Knowledge to Ruby, I was of the assumption that the Relic must no longer be useful. My original hunch was that Ironwood probably used the last question himself since he probably knew more about the Relic of Knowledge (and other things) which is why he asked Ruby to sort of clarify what else Oz told the hero team about the lamp.

I figured what Ruby is actually carrying around is a lamp that can’t be used, even by the enemies to answer more questions since all the questions from this era were already used up.

Now that I think about it, my initial theory doesn’t make much sense at all since even if the Relic of Knowledge was used up, I’m assuming it could still be used with the remaining three Relics to summon the Gods back to Remnant. 

So questions or not, the lamp is still a very important artifact and still needs safeguarding. This only makes Ironwood’s move to return it to Ruby all the more odd and suspicious at the same time.

Then again, what if…Ruby tries using the lamp and when Jinn doesn’t appear before her, she assumes it’s because of what she told her back in the V6 finale.

“…I’m sorry. I don’t have a question for you, I just…I just need a little bit moretime.” 

“I know, and while you don’t seek knowledge, just this once, I shall give it freely. I will not allow you to use me without a question again. Even if this was clever.”

Jinn told Ruby that she wouldn’t allow her to use her without a question again. So perhaps this statement will be relevant for V7 at some point where Ruby becomes suspicious of the lamp but doesn’t want to either waste a question or  summon Jinn again without one given what the mystical genie told her before. That could be something too.

What if...Atlas doesnt even need to make a fake Relic to monitor our heroes? 

Right now JN(P)R_RWBY are staying at Atlas Academy while their weapons are being upgraded by Atlas’ scientists.

How do we know Ironwood doesn't have heavy surveillance installed in the dorms of the academy? 

Hidden cameras in the wall that are naked to the human eye so Ironwood could keep a watchful eye on all of his students and monitor them for any suspicious activity. 

Imagine...our young heroes being disgusted when one of them---probably Nora--- accidentally reveals one of the cameras that’s been secretly spying on them since they enrolled at Atlas. 

You might be thinking that cameras in the dorms are a bit much since it’s aninvasion of privacy but what if…that’s part of Ironwood’s paranoia too.

Imagine if...Ironwood even fears that one or more of his students might be traitors; masquerading as one of their own and plotting against him exactly like what Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Neo did back at Beacon for the Vytal Festival?

Ironwood could even have his scientists bug the heroes’ weapons too. I mean I’d assume they might have to be in order to be authorized to even use them within the kingdom walls, both in Atlas and even Mantle.

As I said before, what if...Ironwood really did give Ruby the real Relic back as a symbol of trust and also a test. 

Like the real Relic is back with our heroes but Ironwood used other means to spy on them during their time at Atlas to ensure that the trust between them was being held up on their side.

I’m also concerned about Ironwood upgrading their weapons (without their prior knowledge and consent to be honest). If huntsmen have to be authorized to use their weapons in Atlas then…what’s stopping Ironwood from having his scientists introduce a kind of locking mechanism that immediately prohibits huntsmen from using their weapons with a touch of a button.

Like imagine...betrayal is in full effect and our heroes square up to oppose Ironwood in his office, only for him to casually push a button underneath desk. 

The heroes all suddenly drop to the floor like flies as Ironwood turned their own upgraded weapons against them. Suddenly they’re all electrocuted on the spot by their own weapons. All except Nora who is immune to the shocks cause of her semblance. However she is then  begrudgingly forced to surrender when one of the Ace Ups—Vine Zeki—takes Ren and threatens to snap his neck on orders from the General.

What do you think of that?

To reiterate, the Fake Relic theory is pretty cool. However I’m not so sure about it considering that it behaved exactly as normal. Like I said, I will need more proof from the show to see if the hunch holds up. But for now it’s a good one to leave on the table of possibilities along-with Ironwood potentially rigging our heroes’ weapons.

That’s my take. Hope that helps answer you Miki-chan!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019) 

#miki-13 #squiggles answers #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 7 spoilers

[rwbyconversations]

A retrospective look on the second half of Volume 6

Just over a month and a half ago, I did a retrospective on the first half of Volume 6- everything from Adam’s short up to The Grimm Reaper. Now in hindsight if I’d known the season was getting cut down an episode I’d have done the analysis a week earlier so it would be perfectly symmetrical, but life comes at you fast. I adored the first half of Volume 6 and still rank it as the best string of episodes quality wise that the show has ever had. It was very clear even early on that the crew over in Austin were going all out to prove that they knew what they were doing and could still create a stellar season of a show. I was confident at the time that the back half would stick the landing, and while it wasn’t as good as the first half, Volume 6′s second half still retains the quality that makes it one of the best volumes of the entire show and a standout piece of animation by any standards.

As such, this will be a review of every episode from Chapters 8 to 13, spoilers obviously will follow if you haven’t watched those. 

Dead End- the stumbling block

So you know how I said in the retrospective for the first half of the volume that if chapter 8 was good than we’d get the longest uncut string of good episodes in all of RWBY? I’m pretty sure someone upstairs heard that and chose deliberately to make Chapter 8 the weakest episode of the season. There is good to be found here, but unfortunately every race has someone end up dead last and chapter 8 drew the short straw. 

While the opening scene with Caroline and her minions is funny at first, it quickly drags on for too long and desperately needed another few goes with a weed-whacker to condense the scene. Barring setting up Corvodin as an obvious antagonist little is gained from the scene, especially given how much of the episode it consumes. 

Jaune’s scene with Oscar remains... sketchy on a moral level, especially the accusation Jaune makes that Ozpin has been pretending to be Oscar the entire time. Jaune’s still not truly processed his grief over Pyrrha’s death and while I’m glad to see his anger at Ozpin return after it went missing in Volume 5, I think Jaune crossed the line when he decided to start manhandling Oscar. It’s also still really weird how outside of Yang and Weiss saying “Jaune!” with the concern you express when someone stubs their toe, no one actually runs over to pull Jaune off. It’s just a weird moment, I still don’t really like this scene or many of the defenses for it. Fuck’s sake, Oscar’s trembling like a leaf in a hurricane afterwards that stuff ain’t right. 

Ruby’s scene with Maria is the real saving grace of the episode, especially since we finally got some solid information on the Silver Eyes, accompanied by some wonderful background music and cinematography. Maria really is one of the best characters in the show and it’s amazing how much audiences grew to love her in just one single year, so kudos to the writers, designers and actors for that. Maria’s Semblance is simple but neat, and you can actually go back and listen to the Maria vs Tock fight for their auditory trigger which is an insane attention to detail touch. 

Also something I couldn’t fit in anywhere else; it’s sad but fairly realistic that Qrow falls right back off the wagon after the Corvodin meeting goes south.

Dead End has some quality to it, mostly in the back half with Maria and Ruby bouncing off each other wonderfully to create a great teacher-student dynamic, but the first half drags and is let down by an overly long intro before pouring gasoline on the fires of the anti-Jaune crowd. 

Lost- The Refound Footing

Remember what I said in the first half of the volume retrospective, Em and Merc appearing is an instant thumbs up in my book. So an episode where they get half the episode to themselves, and even get to be in the thumbnail for the first time since Volume 3? Hoo boy, that’s a solid contender for episode of the season right there. And it nearly is, in all honesty. In fact, Lost’s only mis-step is how a part of it feels like the third act to a trilogy when we never saw the second part, but we’ll come back to that. 

Mercury and Emerald’s scene is nothing short of breathtaking. There’s a lot of great lighting choices in this scene such as Emerald initially sitting in the darkness before rising and coming into the moonlit parts of the room after being confronted with her denial to believe that Cinder’s a monster, that lend the scene a bit of extra weight. Yuri and Katie are their usual amazing selves, especially since this is the first time either of them have been given some really meaty dialogue in a while. 

Kerry had already teased content for Mercury was coming in the Reddit AMA, and we already knew the kick boi was sporting one of the darkest backstories of anyone in the show, but the curtain was uncovered here to make it absolutely obvious how much of a bastard Marcus Black was and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that interest in Mercury jumped up after this episode and the average theory on Team Jaded went from “Emerald will defect and Mercury will stay or die giving her a chance” to “Emerald and Mercury will leave as a group.”I also love how the Yang and Mercury foil status only continues to amplify, as now we have both of their fathers giving different advice and training in regards to their Semblances- Tai encouraged Yang to learn to control it and not to use it as a crutch unless she was sure it would finish the fight, while Marcus stole it so Mercury never got reliant in the first place.  

Merc’s backstory is also making me salivate for when he finally gets to cut loose in a fight, since his two biggest fights- against Pyrrha and Yang- were him holding back, so Mercury fighting needing to worry about keeping his cover would be an insane fight. And if Cinder and Neo is any sign of the CRWBY’s skills with hand-to-hand fighting... yeah, Merc’s next bout will be something to look forward to. I also love that Merc spends this scene training his punches, showing that he’s covering his bases for the next time he gets to fight Yang or another brawler. 

Emerald is still the best girl in this show. I love to hate how the music changes to a soft version of Cinder’s theme when Emerald explains why she’s backing Cinder, as if Emerald is twisting the music itself to make Cinder out to be the hero. Mercury bluntly telling her to stop living in fantasy land was a great moment that I’d been waiting years for, and “I’m sorry you didn’t have a mommy who loved you, but I had a father who hated me,” is just solid gold in writing. 

I love how Merc’s smirk as he calls Emerald out on her denial just melts off his face because he cares enough to want Emerald to stop being delusional, but he’s not going to be nice about it.

Also can I just say Mercury, the whole “I think I’m right where I’m supposed to be” crap would work if literally every other one of your scenes this volume didn’t show you scared and clearly rethinking your life choices. 

Tyrian’s tail upgrade is fine, but the real treat to his grand return is Tyrian playing psychoanalyist on Mercury and immediately calling bullshit on his above line- Merc’s only here because he’s been in a cycle of violence his whole life and is too afraid to leave it. The way he practically begs them to run because he called dibs on hunting them down is way too gleeful for my liking but given how Merc and Tyrian are two of my favorite villains right now, them finally getting to chat was a delight. I can’t wait until Volume 7 when we get to see Tyrian bounce off Watts without Mama Salem’s watchful eye. 

OK I’m done talking about the best scene in the Volume. Now let’s talk about another great scene. 

So first off I’d like to give my apprecation to the crew for making new Argus locals every episode we spend in it. It gives the city a lot more weight as a locale to see different streets and environs every week instead of prop recycling like a motherfucker. It gives Argus a lot more weight and makes it feel more lived-in than the few samey environments of Mistral that we got to see, and the streets are beautiful as a consequence. It also lets me play my new favorite spot, Spot The Emerald Clone!! 

Jaune’s scene at the statue is a beautifully shot and acted scene, no complaints from me here and Forever Fall has already killed me and claimed my soul. I love how it calls back to the Volume 1 OP as well, and Miles and Jen kill it here. It’s on its own an amazing scene, but the wider problem is what sets it down. This is JN_R’s only scene this volume, and as a consequence it feels like it needs to include most all of their character beats since they won’t get the chance to otherwise- their mutual grief over Pyrrha is brought up, Nora tells Jaune to drop the suicidal tendencies he suddenly gained at Haven and Ren... is there. If JNR had more to do this volume I wouldn’t mind but this scene just gives the vibe of “JNR get one scene to develop and justify them staying to fight Salem and that’s it!”  So nothing wrong with the scene itself, more the problem around it.

Finally we have Oscar’s sudden return. I think even if Chapter 8 hadn’t been the episode before the New Years break, fans wouldn’t have liked how this played out. Oscar really needs more character moments, especially after spending much of Volume 5 as just a fleshsack for Ozpin. Him going solo would have been a great way for Oscar to develop on his own and come to terms with his part to play in the war against Salem, maybe even have Ozpin or Ozma manifest and talk to him. Instead, he just goes and buys a new costume.

I still think Oscar lifted Qrow’s wallet for the record. And I still like his new outfit. The bandages give me Bungou Stray Dogs vibes. 

So in this retrospective, I’ve been pointing out little moments for Ruby in each episode, moments where the writers pointedly have her take center-stage, even if just for a minute, to remind the audience that she’s the leader. Here, her moment is... fairly weak. Ruby’s inspirational speeches are never her strong suit, but her telling Qrow that they “didn’t need an adult” when he saved her from Tyrian back in V4 and Maria saved her from the Apathy just a few episodes ago is almost darkly comedic. Her quiet exasperation with Qrow when she finds him on the stairs is a much more understated moment that landed for me. Her hero worship for Qrow has been pretty much shattered at this point and now she’s just tired of his crap. 

Lost is just an amazing episode. Mercury and Emerald are easily the most interesting characters in the series for me, this episode gives us more sights of Argus, the statue scene is wonderful and now I have the mental image of Oscar lifting Qrow’s wallet to go stress shopping as my favorite headcanon of the volume. Ruby’s speech is a little phoned in but it’s still a decent ending to a fantastic episode, and it’s easily my favorite episode in the entire season as a consequence. 

Stealing From The Elderly- Most Apt Name For An Episode 2K19

The Argus Battle episodes all vary in quality- while none of them are outright bad episodes, some flow more smoothly or have more standout moments than the other. There is, however, one constant.

They’re all too fucking short. Half of the episodes are just barely fourteen minutes long, and taking out the Genlock preview and the opening and closing credits, it’s more generous to say they’re ten to twelve minutes on average. While I will take shorter, more concise episodes over something that drags on longer than it needs to (see Dead End and the opening scene again for my thoughts on that), there is a point where I must bemoan the length being too short. Especially when some of these episodes are insanely good. 

Jaune’s plan is alright. Not quite as much of a disaster as some make it out to be, it’s a decent plan if lacking in contingencies. I think it’s noteworthy that had Adam not intervened, the plan would have gone off without a hitch.  

The first half of the episode is also really funny. Corvodin’s guards are a lot easier to manage in the shorter pace of the episode and Maria is just a goldmine of comedy. Like I said earlier, it’s amazing how fast the fandom fell in love with this salty old grandma. I also love the joke that Maria’s jargon was perfect (which it is in real life btw I checked), but the guards knew something was up because their pilots aren’t old women.

The one real drag to the episode is Qrow having another angst episode and bemoaning how everything is his fault again, which just seems to be in the episode so Ruby can have another Ruby Moment. This is perhaps the weakest of all of her moments in the season, as it feels the most shoved in for the sake of being able to say “We gave Ruby something to do in every episode!” Which is fine, but repetition is a beast best avoided when possible in writing.

The mech is kinda cool, at least. And for the record, Corvodin is the guilty party in this conflict- yes, Ruby and co stole military equipment, but it was Caroline’s call to escalate to the Walking Gen;Lock Ad. They could easily have just dispatched other airships to catch the protagonists. 

Adam’s return was a bit of a wet fart, unfortunately. A CRWBY episode released days prior to this episode releasing accidentally had mocap footage of someone fighting with Adam’s style, and storyboards that could be seen in this episode showed he was fighting Blake during it. Had the CRWBY episode not been so blatant in spoiling the surprise the twist of him suddenly arriving may have had more impact, but alas. I will say on an animation level, the fight in the tower is pretty good, if a bit clunky compared to what comes after. It makes good use of the environment and has Adam and Blake constantly crawling up and down the tower, giving the fight a bit of a unique quality to it. I also like the new visual additions to Adam’s Moonslice such as the bolt of lightning that crawls up his back. 

Stealing From The Elderly is a decent, if very short, opening act to the Argus Battle episodes. It sets up the major conflicts of this trilogy of episodes, and has some great wit at the beginning, but doesn’t have much to make it stand out on its own.

The Lady In The Shoe- 

Pretty. Fucking. Stellar. This episode is almost all fight scene, and works for the most part.

The mech fight is unfortunately the letdown of this part, and I’d probably rank it as the least exciting fight of Volume 6. While it does have some great moments such as Ruby getting to run on goddamn missiles, Ren actually getting to do something and not job for once, Ruby and Weiss’s great moment on the Lancer, everyone getting a moment to themselves where they get to land a blow on the mech (barring Oscar) and a new song in Big Metal Shoe, it’s overall a very slow battle that never really picks up. It doesn’t help that Caroline as a villain is very one-note, an exaggerated caricature who we know won’t stop the heroes, she’s just a stop gap for them. 

Honestly though, the fight in this part of the episode just peaks at Ruby zooming up and firing her sniper rifle one handed at Caroline, and landing a no-scope right on the window. Heck, go and look and it’s at head level with Caroline. Ruby went right for the kill shot! God it’s so cool to see Ruby being a badass again.

But of course the real highlight of this episode and of the entire Argus Battle sequence was Adam’s brawls against Blake and Yang, the latter of which has already earned a spot in most people’s favorite fights of the entire show list. Every time I thought Volume 6 had peaked fight wise, it got one more burst of energy and make a new “best of the season” fight to top the last. Cinder vs Neo was topped by Maria vs Tock, and now that was beaten out by Adam vs Yang. I can look at this fight and find a new favorite moment each time- Blake putting Adam’s sword into her sheath and disarming him for a few seconds while dual wielding for the first time in years, Adam’s almost instant turns whenever Blake uses her Semblance on him and him breaking Gambol Shroud, Yang smashing Adam with the bike, the list goes on. It’s not only great to see the Adam/Yang test footage getting remade to give the fight an extra edge, but as someone who wrote a lot of words on what the Battle of Haven did to Adam’s reputation, it was great to see the CRWBY remedying that mistake and giving him and Yang a fantastic battle, easily their strongest outings. Yang in particular really has evolved since Beacon, with her style having specifically changed to counter Adam and a whole barrage of new tricks- that rapid-fire machine gun punch is beautiful. 

If this is how Yang fights now, her rematch against Mercury is going to be a fucking treat. 

Adam’s face reveal was also a big shock. Some people had predicted branding but I don’t think anyone specifically called that he would have the SDC logo plastered on his eye socket. It’s a rather haunting sight, and puts his utter hatred for humanity in a startling light. It doesn’t excuse Adam of his actions, especially the abuse he put Blake through, but it puts a lot of Adam’s older actions- his disregard of the people on the train the Black trailer, his sadistic grins in his short whenever he was dominating humans- in a new context. Kudos to CRWBY for finding a way to take what most people thought they’d called already and putting a new spin on it. 

While the mech fight isn’t stellar (though Nora’s moment of “You get back here with MY MAN!” was adorable), Adam vs Yang on its own makes this a high-ranking episode of the season with what cannot be stated enough as a good fucking fight. Melanie, you are a goddamn boss and I can’t wait to see you get that team working on more battles. 

Seeing Red- The Assassination of Adam Taurus by the Not-So-Cowardly Blake Belladonna

So uh... last episode had Maria’s ship get hit with a missile, then it’s fine in this one? No smoke trails, not even any damage? OK? 

Mech fight isn’t as good as it was last time, unfortunately. Ruby’s speeching is still rather annoying but at least she makes up for it by jumping into the cannon to make sure we all realize Volume 5 Ruby is a thing of the past. A really nice touch was her psyching herself up for a second before taking the second shot. It reminded me of Wonder Woman when Steve dies, he takes a second to breathe before firing. I like that she didn’t succeed with the first plan to shoot the missiles, it added a little tension to the fight. I also loved her moment with Qrow when he tried to stop her, it was a really soft and humanizing moment for both of them. 

Adam vs Yang and Blake is still great, but last episode has it beat for sheer choreography. I very much enjoyed seeing them tag-team Adam, but part of me finds it funny that after Lady In The Shoe’s declaration of “We’re protecting each other,” Blake gets knocked out 40 seconds into the fight while Yang has to fight Adam for over a minute. 

It was great to see the fire hair finally make a return, and having it serve as part of a climax where we see Yang correct her error when she fought Adam at Beacon- literally, they recreate the move where Adam cut her arm off but this time Yang dodges to the side first- was an amazing touch. And the hair looks pretty great too. 

Adam’s death was a bit of a shock. It’s karma, no doubt, and ultimately this fight was only going to end with either him or the protagonists dead. But to be honest, I don’t think anyone expected him to win, especially after Weiss and Cinder took a spear to the narrative stakes last year. After the branding reveal I was personally hoping (but I was 90% sure he’d die) that Adam would get knocked off the cliff (I suppose I wasn’t wrong on that front at least) and get picked up by Cinder and Neo, then he’d become a problem in the Atlas arc. In particular I feel it would have been a great way to tie Adam into Weiss’s plot, as a way for her to see first hand that the SDC under Jacques is directly creating the monsters that go on to kill Weiss’s family. I’m fine with the death here, so long as what Jacques has done to the Faunus still appears in the Atlas seasons. But I feel this was a good place to see him off. On a technical level it would have been difficult for the crew to top the fighting scene in Chapters 11 and 12, while on a thematic level unless Adam went full-in on the Faunus cause he would have felt like dead weight. In effect, he’d have become the villain’s version of ReNora in how useful he really was for the plot. Additionally, even with the choreography here, had he run away again or lost I think that would have been a nail in the coffin for Adam’s threat-factor regardless. So ultimately, this was the best place to get rid of him, and at least he went out with a good death. (i really hope none of this paragraph gets twisted by someone trying to say i’m an abuse apologist, been down that road already thanks) 

Also Blake breaking down was harsh. Her and Yang are gonna need to have a long conversation or six about trauma because that’s the closest either of those girls are getting to therapists in this death world. But for real, the finale all but confirmed that Blake and Yang are endgame, and whether your own thoughts on that, their arcs next volume should be about addressing that before romantic tension comes in. We’ve got at least six volumes left, the show can afford to take it slow and have them get some therapy before they get a Tinder profile.

... though I will complain about one thing about the fight. Adam’s sheath is a gun, why didn’t he just try and shoot Blake and Yang after he lost Wilt? He just rushes for the broken fragments of the sword when he has a working gun at his belt. Literally, the one thing I don’t like about the fight itself and it’s the epilogue to it. 

Seeing Red’s fighting choreography might not be as impressive as Lady In The Shoe for either fight, but both are augmented by instead focusing on the characters and nailing a lot of the symbolism in its key moments. Ruby gets to shine with a hell of an insane move, and the show parts ways with its first real villain. 

RIP goatboi, you were trash but at least it was fun to watch you swing your weeb stick. Thanks for sucking in Volume 5 so much I started writing narrative essays about the show as a consequence. 

Our Way- And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain

As an episode, Our Way is pretty cool. As a finale, it’s a bit weak, continuing the meta trend of season finales getting shorter every volume since V3. Nothing here is inherently bad, in fact it’s a lot of good material, but it’s not finale material.  

Ruby’s arc (well it’s not really an arc but that’s a subject for another post) has been building up to the moment where she finally become a proper leader, and her facing down the Leviathan was that moment. The shots of this thing looming over Ruby are cinematic gold. I love that Ruby uses Jinn’s time stop feature to cheat out a few more seconds to prepare her Silver Eyes, and that Jinn, albeit begrudgingly, admits that she made a good play. When a near omnipotent lamp admits you’ve got some moves, you really have come a long way as a fighter. 

The 2D stills of the Beacon season moments were a delight to behold, especially thanks to the added detail they gave moments like Weiss giving Ruby coffee and Penny’s death. The Summer appearance was amazing and made the finale for me, and it fading right as the lyrics to Indomitable kick in is a fantastic rush of emotions. Four lines and that song’s already my most anticipated track on the volume. I’m kind of bitter it wasn’t the credits song if I’m being honest.

Corvodin getting the final blow on the Leviathan was mixed. I appreciated how fucking anime it was that she used her DRILL THAT COULD PIERCE THE HEAVENS to kill Bubbles, but that the Leviathan was just so casually one-shotted made for a bit of an anticlimax to the battle. I’m not exactly also fond of the racist old hag being given a “soft” redemption but whatever. 

Really that’s my one big problem with this. I get that there was no real way to have another big Grimm fight, but it makes the Battle of Argus feel like a bit of a cheap fight as a consequence. I’m overall fine with the result, but it does weaken the finale as a direct consequence. If the Ruby Silver Eyes moment didn’t land for you I can imagine this finale being rather weaksauce. Still, at least most of it was onscreen this time, so progress over Haven. It’s overall an OK episode but it needed a bit more time in the oven to make it a great finale. I didn’t hate it, but I can’t deny that outside of the character moments it wasn’t as climactic as I hoped it would be, especially once they cut episode 14 as I assumed that meant a longer than normal finale to compensate for the runtime. If you like Ruby, this is a great conclusion to a season that’s been great for her overall. If you don’t? Well, twelve out of thirteen good episodes. 

Really though, Our Way made clear one important fact. Blake will never be allowed to solo her own songs, she will always have to share it with someone else. Honestly after From Shadows, Wings, Like Morning Follows Night, This Time and now Nevermore, it has to be deliberate that Blake only gets duets. 

Also you remember how I pointed out that each even-numbered season up to V6 opened with Em and Merc? Well the tradition was kinda kept alive because they closed out Volume 6. Fitting that they be the ones we close out the Mistral seasons with, alongside literal flying monkeys. At least Mercury has his eyebrows back to normal now so... character arc?  

... oh yeah and Neo and Cinder were in this I guess

Conclusion

Volume 6 is stellar, superb, at times outright spectacular. As a fan who felt Volume 5 was at best mediocre and at worst just bad, Volume 6 is an immediately counteraction and a redemption arc for RWBY as a show. Almost all of the major criticisms that had been levied at the Maya Era since Volume 4 started- janky animation, poor pacing, underused characters, weak fights, poorly explained backstories and weak villains among countless others- were all addressed and fixed to a certain extent. Ruby finally feels like the protagonist of her own story, Salem and Ozpin’s backstories have been explored, Adam was given a shred of sympathy before his death, the songs were great, the fights were stellar and it managed to, for the most part, stick the landing.

Granted, the first half is far better paced and written, the pacing does take a hit once RWBY reach Argus, but a conscious step was taken to avoid the Mistral House Round 2, we only spend three episodes in the Cotta-Arc house and a large portion of time outside it to boot. Miles said in a post-RTX interview that the plan was for each episode to have at least one new location per episode to avoid repetition and for the most part, they succeeded. As a consequence, the world feels more alive than it ever has before, Argus feels much more intimately known and we see the characters reacting to new environments and stimuli. But regardless, things slow down and hit a roadblock at Argus and while the pacing smooths out, it does break the stellar flow the earlier episodes had managed to keep going. 

The Argus Battle episodes, while as a whole better shot and choreographed than last year’s battle at Haven, have far smaller stakes. The mech fight has some entertaining moments but fails to entertain, but the slack is thankfully picked up by Adam vs B&Y which will top a lot of “best fight of the show” lists for a while to come. But still, the episodes feel less wide-reaching than the Beacon or Haven versions, and perhaps because of this, the final episode fails to excite as much as it does due to the Battle for Argus having no real stakes or danger. It leads to a great moment, but it’s not as exciting as it could have been.

While overall the pacing was very good, one plot did drag- Cinder and Neo. This did not need to be in Volume 6 and while I liked their fight, Cinder’s plot is rather blatantly just there to set up Volume 7 and their threat there. While it did give the crew a chance to finally explore Mistral’s criminal underworld that had been teased in the World of Remnant, Mistral still feels woefully underused compared to Vale thanks to a shoddy start. As well, plain and simply, I just don’t like Cinder and Neo as much as I do the other villains, and I’d have rather their screentime be used on the other villains- a segment of Adam stalking Blake in Argus, more of Emerald and Mercury processing Cinder not being around anymore, Hazel and the duality of his want for pacifism and his utter hatred of Ozpin, Tyrian and Watts and the inevitably buddy cop drama that will ensue from them. This is a personal gripe, I’m aware, but Cinder has still failed to grab me as a villain six volumes in- hopefully now that there’s one less villain to juggle, she can finally get something to hook us in next volume. Also I just don’t like Cinder’s new outfit, give Em and Merc new outfits already for Christ’s sake. 

Another plot that didn’t so much drag as was just removed was Oscar going missing. I was sure this would lead to an Oscar solo scene where he’d get to confront Ozma and Ozpin and figure out his place in life. As it is, it feels like he just went missing so Jaune, Ren and Nora could have the statue scene. At least his new costume is nice.

But overall, the second half was good, no, great a lot of the time after the awkward stop in Dead End. Volume 6′s second half may not have been as grandiose as it could/should have been, but it still maintained a steady pace, gave us a lot of fantastic standout scenes, great combat and character beats while finally leaving the ghost of Volume 5 behind on Mistral. I am thoroughly onboard for Volume 7, and I am now eager to see where Miles, Connor, Kerry and Melanie steer the ship. 

Thank you for reading. 

#rwby #rwby analysis #ruby rose #mercury black #adam taurus #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #emerald sustrai #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #qrow branwen #maria calavera #caroline corvodin #cinder fall #neopolitan #miles luna #Kerry Shawcross #connor perkins #melanie stern #crwby #rwby volume 6 spoilers #adam vs yang #adam vs blake #adam vs blake and yang #rwby volume 6 #ruby vs corvodin

[jaunes-hoodie]

Everything We Learned In RWBY Volume 6 Episode 3 (Spoilers (Duh)) *Long Post Warning!*

We learn that Salem and Oz come from a time when everyday folk could use magic (Themselves included) This also explains why Salem and Oz are the only ones who can use magic

We FINALLY learn Oz’s original name: Ozma (Before he was Oscar, Ospin, and whatever other names that start with Oz/Os.)

Oz didn’t save Salem to win her heart or for glory, but because it was the right thing to do. Nice moment to develop Oz’s character of being a genuinely nice guy.

Oz and Salem were in love. But, c’mon, those two are like the most attractive people in the show, it was inevitable for them to hook up

Ozma dies from a simple illness. Really ironic, and I’m pretty sure that was the intention.

Looking back on the episode, the line “It was here where mankind would fall to ruin” over the shot of the God of Light’s pool has a neat double meaning. It’s where the God of Dark would kill all the humans, but also where Salem would gain immortality, leading her to the events that kill humanity in the first place. 

Also, apparently anyone can just come into the god’s domains? Seems a little dangerous should some poor idiot happen to piss them off, but go off, I guess.

We get to see what the brother gods really look like, and in far greater detail than in Qrow’s story back in Volume 4. 

I just want to take this moment to appreciate the design of the brothers too? Like, the elder having elegant stag antlers, being more muscular and stands up straighter is a nice contrast to the younger brother being hunched over, scrawny and with twisted goat horns.

Also also, the entrance of the god of darkness? Super creepy. I love it. Reminded me of the illusion of Salem in the Volume 5 finale.

Thought for sure the God of Dark would say something like “I’ll bring Ozma back if you devote yourself to me.” And then he turns her into a grimm-human hybrid. Glad I was wrong, since the actual story places the blame on Salem. Which is good, since she’s, ya know, the bad guy?

We get to see a taste of the brother’s powers

The gods can apparently bring the dead to life and return them just as easily

Love the designs of both their dragon forms Especially how the elder is an eastern dragon and the younger is a western dragon It shows how they’re both similar, but still very different.

I also like how they squabble like actual brothers. As well as how they have their own egos and laws they abide by. Like, the minute the younger brother realizes that Salem already asked the older brother to bring Oz back, he immediately turns her away and even helps punish her. Reminds me a lot of other pantheons from mythology. The gods aren’t perfect. They make mistakes, but ultimately, the choice is out of mortal hands.

The brothers gave Salem immortality so that she could learn the value of life and death. (Did anyone else feel bad for Salem when she tried to kill herself? I like how they’re trying to make her a sympathetic villain).

This ultimately backfires, as Salem uses her immortality to rally the humans against them.

Really like how they portray Salem as a cunning strategist, even back then. It shows us that she knows how to turn people against one another. And since that is her long-term strategy, I guess that’s a good trait for her to have.

But even this backfire backfires, as the gods easily kill off all humanity, except for Salem. Seriously though, who in that battle party thought that bringing some arrows and fireballs to kill Gods was a good idea? Probably Steve. Steve is a fuckin idiot

We also learn why it’s called “Remnant”. A cool detail I didn’t know I wanted

Also, I get why some people are mad that the gods called Remnant an “experiment”, but it makes sense. They’re immortal, omnipotent beings. They can do whatever they please, and sometimes that involves making a world and killing everything on it. Haven’t you ever played a sandbox game like The Sims?

At long last, we see exactly what caused the moon to shatter. Something that people have been speculating about for literal YEARS

Honestly though, I did not expect it to come from the God of Darkness being a dramatic lil bitch. That, or he’s in desperate need of glasses. Or an ice pack. Like, damn dude, are you okay?

Salem jumps into the pool of Darkness and that’s what makes her look all “Grimm-y” Like, I get what your thought process was lady, but you seriously did not think that through that at all.

We get to see what the other three relics look like, and that one theory about how the symbol of the four kingdoms reflect the relic that lies there is confirmed. (Link here) 

Looks like the Relic of Creation is a spear (Or torch, maybe?) the Relic of Destruction is a sword, and the Relic of Choice is a crown.

The god of light tells Ozma that if all the relics are brought together, the gods would return and judge humanity. This is probably why Salem wants the relics: To get a rematch with the gods who gave her the cold shoulder Which is good, because before this, all we knew about Salem’s motivation and why she wanted the relics was to, assumedly, take over the world.

So, the Gods didn’t really “Curse Ozpin for failing to stop Salem in the past” so much as they “Gave Ozpin the choice to reincarnate and make sure humanity was ready for the God’s return”

Although this makes sense, given that if Oz had told the truth to them, he would also have to come clean about the relics and the gods coming back, which would probably only add to the stress the team was already facing.

Ozma’s first reincarnation was a ranch hand, like Oscar

(I’m only assuming this because he fought off a Beowulf with a pitchfork instead of a sword at first.)

Now we see why only Oz and Salem can use magic. They existed when humanity could still use magic. With this new race of humanity, “magic” can only really be used with dust, and even then, it’s not nearly as strong as before.

Salem is a witch confirmed (But c’mon, that was pretty clear from the name.)

Salem and Oz definitely fucked after rebuilding that house. Probably even before.

Oz: “What do we do now?” 

Salem: “Each other”

Also, that house that Salem and Oz fucked lived in is probably the same one as where old wizard Oz would give the maidens their powers.

I like how a piano version of “Divide” plays in the background of Oz and Salem’s convo about becoming gods themselves.

“Salem uses the power of boners to get Oz to become a false god.” *Ding*

And if you still doubt that Oz and Salem fucked, they have four kids to prove that they fucked at least four times.

So their kids can preform magic, and I originally thought that they were the OG maidens. But, a friend of mine (@clover11-10 follow her, she’s the coolest) pointed out that they most likely died in the fight with Salem, and Oz probably gave the maidens magic because they reminded him so much of his kids

The old man that appeared in that scene of him passing through different lives was probably the Wizard who gave the maidens their powers.

OZDAD CONFIRMED TO BE A REAL DAD. RED ALERT RED ALERT.

The biggest takeaway is we get the main motivations and backstories for both Salem and Ozma/pin/car

So little mini-theory here: When Oz asked Jinn how he could defeat Salem, she simply said “You can’t”. But I like to think that this was only because of the way he worded the question. He asked, “How can I defeat Salem?” Not “How would one go about defeating Salem?” Jinn most likely knew that Oz wouldn’t have the guts to kill his beloved. That’s why he needs someone else to do it. Someone who wants to help people just because it’s the right thing to do. Someone who can kill Grimm with a single look. Someone with a smaller, more honest soul.

This was a part-review, part-shitpost, part-analysis of the newest episode. There was a lot to unpack and I really enjoyed this episode overall if you couldn’t tell.

#rwby spoilers #rwby volume 6 spoilers #rwby 6 spoilers