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pyxilatezero · 2 months

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Need I say more?

I think the people, objectively, have spoken.

if I were to add in my opinion you’d see that I contributed a few fanfics to the mix

Main reason for my dislike of White Knight: I hate Jaune and Weiss is my favorite character, so I think she deserves better. I know some people won’t say this is a valid reason but Jaune originally and currently isn’t written very well. You basically have to give him his own episode to flush out his plot line, (like in the first season and every season afterwards where he’s important) and he’s not a main character so he takes up screen time. (They do the same with Oscar and the rest of JNPR Instead of doing a JNPR episode, they do each of them individually with sprinkles of plot in between) Honestly, a relationship between him and Weiss would be a bad idea. Case in point:

Volume 1 White-knight Moments:

Jaune unsuccessfully flirting with Weiss (+1)

Volume 2 White-knight Moments:

Jaune unsuccessfully flirting with Weiss (+1)

Volume 3 White-knight moments:

… PYRRHA! (-1)

Volume 4 White-knight moments:

… (No interaction; no points awarded or deducted)

Volume 5 White-knight moments:

Jaune does a common courtesy and saves Weiss’s life (does not count; he would react the same for anybody- ‘nO hE wOULdn’T’ shut up Victoria if any of your friends were dying you’d save their life) [+0.5]

Volume 6 White-knight moments:

…

Volume 7 White-knight moments:

…

Volume 8 White-knight moments:

…

Volume 9 White-knight moments:

Weiss admires Jaune over the fact that he’s mature, and supports him like a good friend after Ruby runs away. He reverts to his old form, and we never hear from them again. (+2)

Total score: 3.5/9 (trying to be generous, I really am)

Main reason for liking Whiterose: Enemies to friends to lovers is an adorable trope, and they get a lot of screen time together in the first few seasons. Also, Monty himself shipped them. While I won’t say Whiterose is objectively better than White Knight, I am going to say that when I include my own opinion, it is better. Weiss and Ruby’s relationship feels more like a slow burn than Yang and Blake’s. We get scenes that could be interpreted that way in almost every season since Volume one. Let me go through them, and to show how unfair this is, I’m not allowed to add more than 1.5 points:

Volume 1 Whiterose Moments

Ruby and Weiss are off to a rocky start, but slowly warm up to each other as time goes on, and they get closer. They have a mildly, could-be considered romantic moment where Weiss makes Ruby coffee so she can stay up to study. (+1)

Volume 2 Whiterose Moments

In the food fight, Ruby dramatically catches Weiss when she falls and pretends to cry over her. (Not really much, but it’s something). Ruby and Weiss consistently pair up to get things done throughout the season, especially when looking into information about Cinder. (+1)

Volume 3 Whiterose Moments:

Supporting each other when Winter gets there (that is Volume 3, right?), excellent teamwork in the first stage of the Amity Arena battle, and Weiss’s concern for Ruby when she disappears. (+1)

Volume 4 Whiterose Moments:

Thinks about each other, but otherwise, nothing. (No points awarded or deducted)

Volume 5 Whiterose Moments:

Weiss remember’s Ruby’s coffee taste. While this could be something any friend does, they spend time together, reflecting over beacon, and Weiss helps Ruby’s sister Yang through an implication that she’s doing it for team RWBY, but especially their eccentric fluffball of a leader. (+1.5)

Volume 6 Whiterose Moments:

Ruby saves Weiss on the train, Weiss saves Ruby in the battle against the mech, and they spend time together in the village with the grim. I should give two points here but I’m loyal to my word. (+1.5)

Volume 7 Whiterose Moments:

Ruby and Weiss sitting together during training, and Weiss supporting Ruby when the team splits up. (+0.5)

Volume 8 Whiterose Moments:

Supporting each other all throughout the volume by working together, and acting as teammates and partners. (+0.5)

Volume 9 Whiterose Moments:

Ruby supports Weiss after her being upset about the fall of Atlas. (Jaune’s interaction with Weiss, -1 point- would have been two, though)

6/9

In any scenario, Whiterose wins. Im sure other people could come up with reasons to disprove me, or say I’m biased (I am, this is in no way objective), but these are the things I saw with my own eight eyes because I own three pairs of glasses, and heard with my (admittedly failing) teenage ears.

I’m sure I’ll get flak for this from both sides of the shipping community, because admittedly, the RWBY fandom can be toxic (but it’s almost any fandom at that point) saying I either graded White Knight too harshly or I gave too many or too few points to Whiterose, and I also did all of this off the top of my head, so I apologize for my many mistakes. I have two last statements:

Rosegarden: 0/9

Oscar is 14 and Ruby is 17. If I, the same age as Oscar as of 2023, would not date Ruby at that time, it’s probably wrong. When it comes to relationships for younger people, it’s best to avoid age gaps larger than 2 years. It’s also best to avoid relationships altogether until you can at least go for a learner’s permit. I rest my case.

edit 3: alright, some people have corrected me on the age part, apparently he’s fifteen. I don’t hate Rosegarden, but something about Ozpin and Oscar being the same person makes me really uncomfortable (again, as someone who is younger). Thats the only reason I didn’t give it any rating- it just feels too close to, well… I don’t really have to say it. Especially when the whole point of things is that Oscar and Ozpin are becoming the same person.

Bumblebee: 8/9

It’s canon, bro. It does feel slightly forced at times, but they’re a strong couple who supports each other and helps each other through trauma. You go girls, lesbians all the way (insert lesbian pride flag here)

edit: got someone sending in a message about neither ever going to be canon. You’re right, but thank you so much for crushing a high schooler’s hopes and dreams. Have a nice day

edit 2: I prefer icerose over whiterose but I’ll get what I can take (canon ruby x ice Queendom Weiss). This is just an overall argument.

#rwby #whiterose #rwby weiss #rwby ruby #rwby jaune arc #weiss x ruby #jaune x weiss #character review #ship dynamics #canon probably deduction #but not really?#anti white knight rwby

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sunnysunsins · 1 month

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Since recently everything here has been taken over by dipshits who lack media literacy, i will come back here to say - RWBY is a good show. It is good. It has good story and good writing and good characters. Does it have stumbles and limitations? Of course, like everything else ever created. Is it the real reason yall are dedicating your lives to religiously following and picking apart every detail to find something, anything, to hate on and make it your whole personality? Nah.

Yall are just pissy your hc wasn't canon. And i'm only half-joking.

Yall are just stuck in the expectation of "cute girls in school fighting monsters and baddies", which it hasn't been for almost a decade. Let Beacon fucking die already, it was the most boring part of the story anyway. If you like it so much, watch.. idk, high guardian spice. Or maybe my hero academia, it has godawful writing too with your favorite Adam-like and Ironwood-like archetypes you adore so much.

And if you didn't click off already in hissy rage, and want to challenge me on the writing point:

Yall are complaining about pacing, characterization lacking, skipped development, insert some other reason, how "show went to shit after volume 3". Well, newsflash, look back at volume 1. REALLY look at it, without your nostalgia boner.

How, in what actually can fit into 3.5 full-length episodes, it skips a whole semester with only a few moments shown in like 3-8 minutes. Notice how Ruby and Pyrrha interacted like 2 times in 3 volumes total. Ruby and Penny? Yeah, they barely interacted too. Ren hasn't talked to rwby girls at all aside from ensemble scenes.

Too many characters in later volumes? Honey, 1-3 had SO many pointless grunts and you ate them up. The whole Vytal festival was filled with them.

Can you tell me the plot of volume 2 from the top of your head? Yeah, me neither. If i think maybe i can remember there was a mecha fight, a dance and a train, but beyond that what was the point of that entire volume again?

Your favorite, pedestalled, volume 3, most of which is fighty-fighty filler and the only stuff you actually remember when jizzing your pants about it is last 3 episodes.

Most character interactions and development happened after Beacon arc. Most actual plot and bigger story happened after it too. Yall are stuck circlejerking to *filler*, setup, which only purpose was to show the status quo to later destroy it and start to show the real picture.

Do you know why v4 and 5 feel so empty and missing something? Sure, juggling multiple plots gave it's pacing issues too, but it felt empty because there were no side characters to fill out the world and make it feel alive. V5 cast was so tiny it felt like nobody interacted at all. Because there were none of those "extras" yall hate on so much. The extras make the world feel real. Which is why Atlas feels alive when Mistral wasn't.

The most complaints about later volumes are chucked down to lack of media literacy and nuanced reading of situations and characters. Translated for your easier understanding: the writing was too nuanced for your "cute girls go fighty fighty brrr" brain to comprehend. Sometimes things require you to put the situation into character perspectives. Sometimes their decisions are made under stress + personality + influence of events and interactions. But i guess yall don't want to think, yall just want to watch "girl go brrr killy killy monster"

I can continue writing down all these other points, but i'm hungry and should get up so i won't. Bottom text: RWBY is a good show with good story and good writing and good characters. It has struggles and fumbles like every other piece of media. But for some reason, because it's indie, it's held to a much higher standard and everyone feels entitled to pick apart every detail of it to make themselves feel justified for feeling sad over their dead headcanons, even though they'd never do the same picking for big production popular series with much *much* worse writing than even the worst of RWBY's fumbles.

If you made it this far and are a member of rwde, congratulations, you still have a reasonable bone or few. Most others i guess clicked off at first point and blocked me after sending me some kinda death threat, idk, i haven't posted this yet after all.

So yeah, feel free to leave your takes and death threats below, i'll happily discuss further later

#rwby #rwby analysis #rwby is good #rwde #anti rwde #greenlight volume 10 #crwby #save crwby

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epic-arc · 2 months

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Question: What 3 things do you really want changed from each volume

And what 3 things do you want to see in volume 10

And please share it with everyone you know have entertaining answers.

Number 1: I would change the order of episodes in volume 8 a little and remove cinder's backstory or relocate it to a previous volume.

Number 2: Having more scenes of the characters talking like in ''Rest and Resolutions'' from volume 5, thus showing an increase in the friendship between team rwby and jonr

Number 3: That Oscar saving himself in volume 7 wasn't magic and his semblance in itself.

what 3 things do you want to see in volume 10

Number 1: More scenes from white knight/ Seriously now I want to see more combat development together between the two teams

Number 2: That the relic of destruction appears in at least half of the volume and that it is not just used in the last episode

Number 3: NO DEATH IN THIS VOLUME

#rwby #jaune arc #weiss schnee #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #nora valkyre #lie ren #oscar pine #ask and answer #white knight

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peterneptune16 · 1 year

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⚠️Warning, Major RWBY Volume 9 Spoilers⚠️

WhiteKnight - A ship I did not appreciate fully until the past few volumes

As I have probably proven with my posts in the past, My ideals on Weiss and Jaune ships are a bit odd. I’ve shown expressions of support for Arkos, Iceberg, and White Knight. And these are all ships that I love and always will love. But I wanted to make a post talking about how I feel about White Knight. Because really the more time and volumes have gone on, the more and more I really really love this ship and hope it becomes canon. As I have seen a lot of evidence for it someday being a canon ship, not quite as much as RG, but still a very substantial amount.

To start things off- I want to talk about Jaune’s relationship with Weiss, cause this is overall a far less complex part but still very worth talking about. As we all know, Jaune started off with a crush on Weiss. But then that slowly faded with time, instead his crush being on Pyrrha, especially in Volume 3. But ever since then, Jaune has shown signs of truly appreciating and liking Weiss’ friendship. And for most of the recent volumes, he has at first seemed to keep things mostly on a platonic level from my point of view. But, the more I look into it, there is legit evidence he could still have some serious feelings for her. Especially in Volume 8, he was devastated whenever Weiss didn’t come back with Winter. And it could be argued that he even felt this way in V5, with his devastated reaction to her being impaled by Cinder.

Next thing- Weiss’ feelings towards Jaune. This is a bit more of a complex and fun part. Weiss of course started off thinking Jaune was unqualified and not worth her time, even finding him annoying. Although, she did start to feel differently about him towards Volume 3, seeming to overall appear more friendly towards Jaune in the few interactions they had. Then, there was Volume 5, where it was shown it seemed she did truly miss Jaune and his antics, and she was grateful for his help at Haven. Clearly she was happy to see Jaune again and to be reunited with all of her former classmates. Then in Volume 6, She was even quick to try and defuse Jaune’s anger towards Oscar. Whereas around the time of Volume 1, she likely would have just made fun of him or done something else to make him even more mad. Then there was Volume 7, where she was quick to actually want to go see a movie with him and Oscar, a parallel to her rejecting his offer to see a movie together in the earlier volumes. Showing that she had grown more comfortable around Jaune in all this time. Then it became even more complex in Volume 8- to start things off- all of the characters seemed to be divided via people they were closest with/in a relationship with. Ruby/Oscar, Blake/Yang, and Nora/Ren. This would leave Weiss and Jaune as the last pair. That may not be actually concrete evidence but I do find it kind of fun and think that there was a choice there for symbolism, CRWBY loves the smaller details. Then we have the ending episodes of RWBY Volume 8, and in those Weiss showed more worry for Jaune it would seem. Even looking worried as he stopped boosting her aura and ran towards Penny. Then ofc, they sat together and she seemed to wanna keep her eyes on Jaune. Then finally, in the finale of that Volume, Jaune and Weiss were there for each other the whole fight. Weiss showing remorse for Jaune due to him having to kill Penny and actively wanted to help him out, physically helping him stand again after he fell to his knees. Finally- Volume 9. Of course we had Weiss saying Jaune was more “Mature~” and blushing profusely afterwards. But more than that, Weiss also showed genuine concern for Jaune’s mental state and also was the first one to try and ease Jaune’s mind over him feeling like a failure, like he wasn’t a good enough hero, and subsequently being the first one to hug him. She then also showed the most expressive response to Jaune being his old self again, giggling at his reaction to being back to his old self. It may not be the most concrete evidence to say she has feelings for him, but there seems to be a lot of stuff pointing to there being something there that wasn’t there before.

So while there may be less solid evidence for it than with RoseGarden, I really really like this ship and would not be mad if it became canon. It would make me happy to see these two get a happy ending together, they both deserve a happy ending after all.

#rwby #jaune arc #weiss schnee #rwby whiteknight #rwby spoiler tag #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 9 spoilers #rwby v9 spoilers #rwby volume 9 #rwby v9

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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Hi, I stopped watching RWBY midway through volume 5 and basically only keep up with it through your blog which has made volume 9 quite a trip. Anyway, I've got to ask what the fuck is going on in episode 9? The team is happy about Ruby drinking the tea???

I literally cannot imagine being you right now lol. Experiencing RWBY solely through this blog?? Absolutely wild concept. How does it feel being blindsided on a weekly basis? XD

But to actually answer your question... yes? The tea is heavily framed as a suicide attempt, given that Ruby drinks it after a physical and psychological beating from Neo, with the intent of not being Ruby Rose anymore, after Neo herself entices her with it because, as we know, she wants revenge on Ruby for (in her mind) killing Roman. There’s no version of Episode 8 in which this is framed as a positive action. However, at the same time the show has been pushing the idea that Ascension (AKA what Ruby has done by drinking the tea) is ultimately a good thing; a way for those who have fulfilled their purpose to finally move on and achieve something new. Now, however harmful a message that might be from our perspective, the show has made it clear that this is natural for an Afteran, so I could sort of buy it as a cultural difference...

Provided the show had explained how losing your memories/even your physical body isn’t a "real" kind of death.

If we hadn’t seen a character dragged off against their will, forced to Ascend despite clearly being opposed to the idea.

If our “best” version of the journey didn’t come from the Paper Pleasers, a group with cult-like undertones that are so obsessed with Ascension they orchestrate daily attempts at physical harm/suicide in order to achieve it.

If any one of the characters had bothered to consider whether this would be good for Ruby, a human who does not come from this world, especially after it’s explicitly pointed out that she shouldn’t be able to Ascend.

If any one of the characters had considered that Ruby doesn't have a defined purpose that she has completed and thus has no need to undergo the Be Assigned a New Purpose Ritual.

And if most of this information hadn’t come from the Cat, a manipulative (according to the heroes) party later revealed to be a Super Duper Evil Villain.

So even within the realm of ‘This is a good thing, just a cultural difference!’ there is a LOT of negative implications that the story hasn’t bothered to unpack. But here, in Episode 9, the group continues to ignore all of it. They see that the Paper Pleasers, after drowning themselves, have come back as the Genial Gems. Does it matter that they had to undergo such a horrific event in order to achieve that upgrade? No. Does it matter that they no longer remember Jaune, a friend who lived with them for years? No. Does it matter that they found Ruby beaten and bloody, being given the tea by Neo while a fake Roman talks about how the world would be better off without her, after she ran from them all post-meltdown because she (rightly) believes that no one cares about her mental health? No! All that matters is that the Gems came back “better” - with “better” defined as now being impervious to water and fire - so that means Ruby will definitely come back “better” too. Hurrah!

The characters don’t care about the horrors that it took to get Ruby to this place, or that she committed magical suicide in front of them, or that Neo helped orchestrate all this, or that Little was lying dead in front of her. All they care about is how this was supposedly Ruby’s “choice” and if she doesn’t come back as the same Ruby they knew, that can only be a good thing because - again - she chose to do this.

(I need to make a separate post on how no, this is not a choice in the way RWBY is framing it. There's a reason why we discuss depression as an illness. You don't "choose" it any more than you choose to die of cancer.)

I can’t emphasize enough that the message of Episode 9 couched in metaphor is, “Yes, if you hate yourself dying is an option. Agency is the most important thing, so if someone wants to die, you need to let them die and accept that fighting for them is selfish (remember Penny?). Lucky for the heroes, they exist in a magical world where death has a reset button, so choosing suicide is an even smarter choice because then you can reflect on that choice and possibly come back with a cool upgrade!”

Yang has one (1) moment where she freaks a little after seeing Ruby encased in the tree, but Blake, Weiss, and Jaune talk her down because remember Yang, your sister chose this. It’s a good thing.

The rest of the episode is this vibe. Behold, the team literal minutes after watching a psychologically terrorized, physically beaten Ruby try to kill herself:

#rwde #rwby #suicide tw #mymetas

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etincelleart · 1 year

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Penny Polendina’s theme in V8 and V9 (RWBY)

Heyo !! I wrote this long analysis about Penny on Twitter and thought I could share it here as well o/

So this is a little silly analysis of mine about my feeling about how Penny was depicted in V8 and V9 :]

NOTE : 1) Don't take all of that really seriously, this is simply a "fun" little analysis and my OWN view on the subject. This is just how I feel considering the infos we got on Penny during V9 !

2) This is also probably delusional AND I know it

3) So there's not need to come and tell me "shE Ain'T ComInG bAck >:[[[[[[", we can disagree but please give me your opinion and arguments if you'd like to discuss about it ♥

Anyway, for 2 years after V8 finale I felt probably like most people : "Penny is gone for good, she ain't coming back, this is gonna be a big deal for Ruby in V9 but I guess that's it". I knew that Penny's 2nd death was going to be a big thing for Ruby and I expected it like everyone.

I rewatched Penny's death at the end of V8 and it truly felt like a farewell, a goodbye forever, I mean she got stabby stab from Cinder and chose to ask Jaune to kill her to give the powers to Winter. To me there wasn't any going back after that :[

And even when I'm writing it rn I feel like this thread is probably useless as I can feel how much of a goodbye it felt, and even more with the song "Friend" adding more pain :]] Especially with these lines :

And with Penny's soul linked to the Winter Maiden powers, now linked to Winter's soul, I guess it felt like a point of no return. It *still* feels like it tbh.

But Volume 9 changed my view on all of that and that's not because I'm an Nuts and Dolts shipper aha. I'm truly trying to speak objectively and to take out my ship glasses-

I expected Penny's theme to be huge for Ruby, but I didn't expect it to be THAT huge and present throughout the entiere volume. Almost every chapter we got a reference, an allusion, an element linked to Penny, a vision, and finally an illusion made by Neo.

I'll try to list all of them :

Chapter 1 - It was pretty much expected, but Ruby learned Penny's 2nd death a this moment. The start of her true breakdown I guess-

Chapter 2 - Basically the 1st Nuts and Dolts chapter of this volume lmao One of the main key of this episode was Ruby finding Penny's sword, which added to her pain even if she tried to move on pretty fast after.

Chapter 3 - The guards tell about the swords, the Red Prince ditch the sword and Ruby's not okay with that-

No mention of her during Chapter 4, so Chapter 5 - Ruby finds Penny's sword at the Blacksmith, and there's this weird line and moment I'll talk about later

Chapter 6 - Penny's reflection in the water, related to Jaune's guilt and trauma over her fate

Chapter 7 - Ruby's PTSD striking while the Jabberwalker attacks her, and she sees a vision of Penny hacked at the Schnee manor, right before they helped her and executed their plan for her and Atlas (also, Jaune talked about his feelings about what happened with her)

Chapter 8 - Penny illusion made by Neo, attacking and talking to Ruby And no mention of her in Chapters 9 and 10. So except for Chapters 4, 9 and 10, Penny was mentioned EVERY chapter.

Now I know what some of you might think, this was mostly to set up Ruby's breakdown and make her spiralling because it's such a big deal for her, and you're totally right. Penny was used mostly to accentuate Ruby's pain.

And I know that I said (in another Twitter thread) that I wasn't fully satisfied with the finale because of that theme not being addressed after having her presence throughout the whole volume, I think I needed a reminder about production and budget. I think I'll feel satisfied with V9 finale if Penny's theme have some closure in V10 or V11 with Ruby, Pietro, Jaune and Winter in Vacuo. I imagine that with V9 finale this isn't just “everyone is so happy”, this is just the beginning of healing.

Anyway, if we don't have any closure in the next volumes THEN I'll say that I'm disappointed, but I doubt this wouldn't be addressed at all after such a volume and how much V8 finale was. But yeah, V9 finale had to focus on Ruby.

So, even if Penny's presence throughout V9 is mostly to add some layers on Ruby and Jaune's pain and trauma/breakown, I truly feel like the message from this volume is still in complete opposition with stuff we knew so far.

Tbh until V9 I really thought one of the main message of RWBY was that life AND death were important, and that death was inevitable and couldn't be avoided, like in our world. That death can be cruel and happen anytime to even the most precious souls. And it is in fact, keep moving forward aren't just some cute words, it's a true motto of the show. But the thing is that for Pyrrha, I never felt we had any hope or confirmation that she could come back, and we had a closure for her in Volume 6 with the scene at the statue. And by learning about the Gods in V6 as well, I thought that no one in this show was probably going to be back (except fo Ozma who reincarnates).

The thing with V9 is that we discover that the “Gods”, who set up their rules of life and death without any reincarnation and no dead can come back, aren't actually Gods but made by the REAL RWBY God, in a world where reincarnation is THE thing. 🫠

And again, I know that the theme of rebirth was focused on Ruby this volume, that she had to go through that journey to understand that she's human, she's not perfect, she's enough just as she is and can do her best.

But Penny's theme this volume still kinda unsettled me as I didn't expect it to be so present. Truly when you rewatch the Volume idk if it's because I'm biased or something but I see it everywhere. The thing again is that we didn't get any closure for her. We got so much references and scenes for her, and no closure (idk if it's because of budget or intentional tho).

There are a few moments that also seem pretty weird/confusing to me :

1) It was confirmed by the script that when Ruby wakes up on the Ever After, it was Penny's voices calling her 3 times. But those screams are different from the one when Penny and Blake see Ruby falling in V8 finale. I listened again and while one of them seems similar, the others are different. So are those screams we didn't hear as a viewer ? But it still feels weird to add them as if she remembered them when we never heard them. Maybe those screams were just Ruby waking up and her mind mixing everything, but it's still kinda odd to me.

2) Another weird scene and probably the one that interests me the most, is when Ruby meets the Blacksmith in Chapter 5. I still don't really know how to fully analyse or understand this scene tbh-

We know the Blacksmith is a "representation of the Tree", so why does she have Penny's sword ? How does she even have Summer's weapon ? Why does Penny's blade turn into Alyx' dagger ? Why does Penny's reflection seem real and Ruby actually sees it, meaning it's not just an effect to tell us that this sword reminds Ruby or her ? And most importantly, when Ruby asks her how she got Penny's blade, the Blacksmith answers :

Why does Penny's reflection seem real and Ruby actually sees it, meaning it's not just an effect to tell us that this sword reminds Ruby or her ? And most importantly, when Ruby asks her how she got Penny's blade, the Blacksmith answers : "nothing, no one, is ever truly lost". Truly as a viewer and even when trying not to be a Penny or NND stan, I can't help but think that this opens a lot of doors for interpretation. What does that mean exactly ?

Knowing the nature of the Ever After, does she mean that literally ? That Penny's not lost as we all thought in V8 finale ? Or is that metaphorical ? She then says "And you, are you lost ?" so it feels like the first answer wasn't supposed to be about Ruby but about Penny's sword. Before the Blacksmith asks Ruby if she's lost, Ruby looks at the sword in a pensive expression and she sees Penny's reflection. Almost as if she was thinking about what the Blacksmith just said.

But what is the use of these reflections ? If it's not just an effect for the viewer but also something Ruby can see, what does that mean ? There is obviously a link between weapons and identity/characters here

Another thing that confuses me too is the fact that Penny's sword is changed into Alyx' dagger. So were these weapons only illusions ? Does the Blacksmith really have Penny's sword, of even Summer's axe ?

3) Another thing more subtle that apparently not everyone catched, is the leitmotiv from Ruby's talk about Penny in Chapter 2 that comes back during the finale when Ruby choses herself. I edited the 2 scenes so people can hear it and compare, here’s the link to the video on Twitter :

https://twitter.com/EtincelleArt/status/1652360420462587905?s=20

Why this OST in particular ? We know that Penny is linked to the themes of hope but also choice/freedom. Maybe this is how it is supposed to be a parallel for Ruby choosing to keep her hope and to do her best. But I can't help but think that it is still a bit sus to hear this leitmotiv again in such a big moment during the finale. Especially when we got no mention or vision of her for the last two chapters.

We also had themes that are related to her a lot such a friendship and kindness with Little, souls moving on to their next life (Penny has a soul, "her soul is who she is").

I just have this feeling that so much is related to Penny this volume, it feels like it's on purpose so the viewer is grieving her as much as Ruby does :')) But nothing really felt "conclusive" in the end. Again maybe this conclusion will be for later, once Ruby is able to talk with Pietro, since we know he most likely got to Vacuo with Maria as Amity appeared to be fixed and floating in the sky at the end of V9.

But again it links with other thread I've done about Pietro (I’ll probably post it here too on Tumblr) : what about him ? Would he be able to grieve Penny a second time ? How would he handle the 2nd time losing Penny ?

I'm not necessarily saying that Penny will come back blablabla ‘(still praying and high on hope and copium tho), but it's STILL a feeling and I hope that I get after watching Volume 9 when I basically accepted the fact that she was dead in V8 :'))

After V8 I was (and I'm still in someway) part of those who thought that she shouldn't come back a 3rd time, her arc was completed, her death made sense, she made a choice. Truly I couldn't see how her being back would be a good thing. Most importantly, I was scared that her being back again would invalidate everything that happened during V8 and the fact that she chose for herself. It's still one of the reasons for why I'm conflicted about this whole thing :'))

Depending on how it's done with the writing, NOW that we know what we know about the RWBY lore, the origins, the Tree, the Ever After, the Blacksmith, Ascension, I *could* see it happen. Of course my fan side is like omg yes I'd like her back please please. My writer side before V9 was like "no I love her but it's a bad move". Now I'm more like depending on how it's executed, I might accept it.

I mean, her being back in V7 didn't erase all the pain, suffering and mourning we (as viewers) had to go through with Ruby and other characters. It worked and kept intact all the time we spent asking if she was going to be back or not.

Knowing how much the theme or reincarnation/rebirth is everywhere in the Ever After, it changes my view on the RWBY universe because life and death aren't just the only options there. There are different rules

She might come back, she might not come back, I just wanted to express how this volume made me feel about this specific theme. It gives us such a different message compared to Penny's death in V8 :']]

I mean of course this volume is brighter than V8 but after a volume where a character just can't escape death even after fighting for SO LONG, we finally have some light and hope about a possibility of MAYBE her being alive could happen.

(Just my own feelings again) From the start during her Atlas arc, Penny :

- got framed

- was forced to take the Winter Maiden powers she didn't want

- was attacked by Cinder

- was forced to leave her friends to do things she didn't want to

- was hacked by Watts

- was killed again

Her ENTIERE ARC was tragic and even if Penny's character is optimistic, joyful, friendly, she's a fighter and she has hope, she sees beauty in a lot of things, she *still* never got the chance to truly live the life she wanted to live. So with what we got from V9, I see only two options :

- she's revived SOMEHOW and finally get the chance to live as it was kinda implied in V9

- she stays dead and her character stays so tragic and painful aaaah-

As for *how* she could come back at some point, I have my few ideas but I don't really want to get into that rn, it was mostly about how everything about her felt odd in V9 compared to V8 truly.

To finish on a hopeful and delusional word : "things always come in threes" :p

#rwby #rwby theory #rwby analysis #analysis #penny #penny polendina #ruby #ruby rose #rwby volume 8 #rwby v8 #rwby volume 7 #rwby v7 #rwby volume 9 #rwby v9 #spoilers rwby volume 9 #nuts and dolts #thread

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joy-crimes · 1 year

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i think my biggest problem w/ rwby @ this point is how much they love shock value and making their characters suffer for entertainment. Ever since the end of volume 8 there’s been an air of “you’ll never guess what happens next!!” before the result being death, destruction, sadness, etc.

They played the Everything is Horrible card to wrap up volume 3 and it almost feels like theyve been trying to recapture that “woah what the hell???” factor ever since.

the volume 8 ending marked a really dark turn for rwby as a show, with scenes so graphic and upsetting that you can feel the grins on the writer’s faces when they told themselves “This is a game changer, no one will EVER expect this.” even though many of the darker themes were already explored much more tactfully in v3.

but the result is much more damning, because now, nothing is shocking. It’s the factor that made most people stop reading attack on titan. if ANYTHING is fair game, no matter how dark, then why get invested in any of it??? Hell, they made bumbleby canon after years of baiting, doubling back, yearning, etc, and it didnt even end up being the climax of the episode!!! (no really! that episode kept going after the happiest scene all season).

Now like, volume 9 has been arguably going better than its predecessors in terms of character writing, but it’s also really awkward to watch them stumble and trip over the decisions they made for the volume 8 ending. There’s a deep deep feeling that if the team just talked to each other for more than 5 minutes, none of these events would be taking place. It’s narrative tension in such a bland form. the biggest relief in the entire season was an extended scene where blake and yang FINALLY talk about their feelings. after AN ENDLESS SUPPLY of skirting around their issues, and unfortunately, that episode ended, and we had plenty more show afterwards.

This latest episode was a tough sell for me. i already don’t exactly trust RT to handle “sensitive/distressing themes”, and to that end i think that Ruby’s “decision” in this episode could’ve used much more sensitive & informed lead-in. Also, straight up there are some really dark things in this episode ASIDE from that, that I swear to god, someone was smiling over in the writer’s room.

SPOILERS: you can try to make Neo a sympathetic villain, or you can have her crush a defenseless mouse to death under her heel, but you can’t do both, dude. Ya just can’t.

END SPOILERS: overall, i think im fine w/ this season. it’s overall decent and is trying it’s best to handwave away all the bad decisions made in previous seasons. That method CAN work if it’s in the interest of making a more thematically interesting show & learning from your past mistakes, but instead it feels like they’re simply running from tragedy to tragedy, with glimpses of happiness that are starting to feel more like a trick they can pull out whenever they want to lure you into a false sense of security. Characters being happy is now a surefire sign that there’s going to be a character death soon.

SPOILERS AGAIN SORRY THIS IS DISORGANIZED: my friend hannah pointed out that one of the most egregious parts of this episode is that neo didnt know most of the people she was puppeting around to psychologically torture Ruby. Neo’s actions were supposed to convince Ruby that all these deaths were her fault, but because there’s VERY few characters that fit that bill, you end up with the issue of many characters being folks Neo shouldn’t even know the status of (unless she can suddenly read minds)

Leo, the headmaster of mistral died while ruby & friends were off screen, and was DIRECTLY killed by Salem without Ruby’s involvement.

Ozpin and Pyrrha were killed by Cinder, while Neo was busy careening into the abyss on her umbrella, implying in that in their brief time together, Cinder explained everyone who died who had a connection to Ruby. Neo clearly guesses that penny is dead in the first place, meaning that her even KNOWING about Leo is completely unexplainable. Neo also shouldnt have known that Ironwood was dead, and on top of all else, why does she think that Ruby would blame herself for clover???? methinks the writers just wanted to fill seats in neo’s scary fucked up dining room. wacky decision.

Or maybe it isnt, because the first thing i thought was: “Wow thats so scary what the fuck”

which again points a big neon arrow to the writing issues of current rwby: It was done to be shocking even though it doesn’t make sense.

I have a hard time believing any of the events of this episode are ones they’ll stick with. All of the characters who “died” in this episode can plausibly come back in some way shape or form, so I guess now its time to just wait n see what happens.

#rwby #rwbyv9spoilers #spoilers #long post #ramble #dont watch this show #or if u do #dont do it in a way that supports RT

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pilot-boi · 1 year

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Hate to be that guy but i think we have three more break downs coming over the episodes ( weiss yang blake,)

Then we wait year for next season to get back to remnant

Not to just straight up disagree with you but I don’t think we do, is the thing

RWBY has this pattern it’s been following since the beginning. Two volumes in one of the kingdoms, and then a volume the upsets the norms while also transitioning to the next kingdom

V1/2 in Vale and then V3 was the Fall, upsetting the norm of school life and transitioning us to the travel across Anima. V4/5 in Mistral and then V6 upsetting what we thought we knew with Lost Fable and transitioning us to Atlas. V7/8 in Atlas and now V9, upsetting literal reality and Ruby’s burdens as leader while transitioning us to Vacuo

Most of our cast is already IN Vacuo, we’re just making our way there. Narrative patterns aside, it just wouldn’t be good storytelling to keep ORNE and all the other characters out of the story for a whole ‘nother volume

Also, while it’s possible that Weiss has a breakdown (I personally think it’s unlikely), I just don’t see Yang or Blake having one. Their relationship status was the only thing hanging over their heads, and they worked that out two episodes ago

So no, I think we’ve hit our climax with WBYJ finally seeing that Ruby is in pain, and these three episodes are going to be working to fix that while getting them back to Remnant in the process

#rwby #ruby rose #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #jaune arc #mine #asks #anonymous #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 9

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bestworstcase · 1 year

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with only three episodes left, what do you think is in store for the rest of the volume? personally, i’m having trouble imagining a solid resolution fitting into such a small window. not that i doubt there’s a way to end this volume succinctly—rwby is always throwing curveballs i could’ve never predicted hitting, which i love—but i suppose the hangnail in resolution’s cuticle is that jrwby are all finally facing their lifelong, beaten-in worldview being turned on its head and that seems like the kind of thing (on top of neo’s untold ever after story) that needs more time to be resolved. in which case, ig we’re not looking at a clean wrap up? do you think they end this volume ascending the ever after? escaping back to remnant? (i ask those two questions separately bc i wanna say they might have different answers lol)

as a point of comparison, here’s everything (not necessarily in chronological order) that happened in the last three episodes of V8:

1 - ironwood vs everyone beat down

2 - winter heel face turn completed

3 - met ambrosius + staff of creation rules

4 - magic rules lawyered penny into a flesh body to save her from the virus with a side dish of horrible body horror robot body death scene and holy shit atlas is FALLING.

5 - creation of whacky portals for evacuation to vacuo

6 - emergency evacuation broadcast CANCELLED!

7 - cinder remembers the power of friendship and uses it for evil

8 - cinder recovered the lamp and scored the password and used the last question to spy on team oz which is fucking hysterical by the way, so she knows the entire plan

9 - YANG DIES?

10 - ruby and blake fall too. and neo

11 - the evacuation dumps everyone in a sandstorm so they can’t call for backup and also the exit is one-way (“oh dear. ambrosius \:” love that enthusiasm sir)

12 - HARRIET TRIES TO NUKE MANTLE?

13 - ironwood murders jacques

14 - eleventh hour harriet heel face turn also zeki dies because atlesian tech goons thought the nuke needed to be plugged into the IOT for some reason god bless

15 - PENNY???

16 - and winter becomes the winter maiden

17 - TEAM RWBY TOTAL PARTY KILL!!

18 - jaune also

19 - salem and cinder playing chicken over who is going to blink first like they don’t both already know that it’s going to be salem

20 - ATLAS OBLITERATED FOREVER

that’s a lot of things!

now, it’s a lot easier to set up and execute a dense, tightly-paced climactic spiral of disaster than bring a lot of interconnected emotional crises to satisfying resolution in the same amount of runtime—but on the other hand, V9 has a lot less going on. it doesn’t FEEL that way because the emotional development has been so rich and done so, so well, but there honestly are not that many narrative threads to tie off. basically, the big ones are:

1 - ruby’s emotional crisis

2 - jaune’s corruption

3 - neo

4 - how do we get home?

5 - what do we do once we get there?

compared to the sheer amount of dominoes V8 had to juggle, handling this stuff is a nice little walk.

the key thing to remember—& this has been true for every one of rwby’s climactic sequences and also counts as writing advice—is that none of these major threads are truly discrete. they’re all interwoven with each other and bound together with all the smaller filaments (like the cat’s arc or little’s arc or the framing device of ‘the girl who fell through the world’ and what really went down with alyx and the tree), so you don’t have to resolve them separately and indeed you can’t because it all has to happen at once. what this means, from a writing standpoint, is you layer up and make every scene work towards the resolution of two or three major threads and however many minor filaments you can fit comfortably so that everything is doing work for everything else. if you’re efficient you don’t need a lot of time to pull off a stunning climactic sequence, and efficiency is something rwby has always been very, very good at. this is true even of V1 even though V1 feels laughably inefficient by the standards of V8; which is to say, they started off good and got much better.

the other piece to bear in mind is that V9 is not meant to be self-contained; it is not a character-focused breather volume to let the protagonists heal up before returning to remnant to carry on as they were, it is The Answer. when rwbyjn go home they are not going to return to the story they fell out of at the end of V8. that story is OVER. it ENDED. the final word was checkmate and the world they knew is GONE FOREVER. salem WON. the ever after is an epilogue to that story and the prologue for another; it isn’t building towards a resolution so much as it is building a hook.

(<- remember V3 “beginning of the end” and “end of the beginning”? this story-within-story device is something rwby has utilized before; this show is a singular contiguous narrative in the literal sense, but it’s structured as a trilogy.)

so V9 needs to be a satisfying farewell to the middle book and also make the case for continuing on to the third and final story—which very much works to its benefit here, because the sweeping emotional changes being developed actually SHOULDN’T be resolved. a clean wrap up would critically weaken the narrative structure. the immediate crises need to be realized—there must be a moment of peace, of closing one book and beginning the next; a hopeful glimpse of the story to come, of what it could be—and then they go home. and the new story begins.

in the figurative sense you could call it ascension. in the literal sense, no, i don’t think any of the remnant characters are going to ascend because i don’t think they can (frankly i’m bemused as to why so many people seem to believe otherwise; it seems to me that the cat has made it very clear that ascension is closed to non-afterans). but the idea of ascension? oh, yes, they’re carrying that forward with them.

as for whether they’ll return to remnant—yes. i think the probability that they don’t find their way home by episode ten is zero. how they return is an open question but also not a question at all, because the tree is the question and their answer is the door; this has been spelled out, explicitly, albeit in wonderlandish terms. what we don’t know yet is what this will look like, because the tree is also the blacksmith and the ever after runs on wonderland rules. it’s not going to be literal. (<- unless abstraction is less absurd than the literal option, which is possible given the likelihood that the ever after itself is fictional.)

#rwby v9 spoilers

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howlingday · 1 year

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Hey what's the character that you used to hate but now absolutely love

You know, it's funny you ask this because I was thinking this as I was walking to my car from work. Yeah, work on Sunday morning. Don't it feel good?

I was expecting the question, "Which character do you hate?" because a lot of people hate Jaune for no good reason, and two characters popped up, Blake and Cinder.

Before we get to Cinder, I would like to say on record, I DON'T HATE BLAKE. I think she's a decent character, but I also think that a lot of her character development and story progress has been derailed for the sake of Bumbleby. It's like she's just there and doesn't contribute to the story beyond, "Oh, Yang is so beautiful and I want to kiss her." Meanwhile some of her best moments in RWBY Chibi stand out amongst the already cream of the crop bits. But again, I don't hate Blake. I just think that a lot about her has been... shall we say, mishandled?

But that's not what you asked. You asked me who I hated and now love. I've already gone and mentioned her, and now I'm going to get into it that I love Cinder Fall.

When she first showed up, she was this terrifying, shadowy figure who was pulling the strings for everything. Real Big Bad vibes and I was loving it. I mean, she friggin went toe-to-toe with Glynda Goodwitch for corn's sake! In the first episode!

As it went on, we learned she had an agenda, but we didn't know. She was just there, behind Torchwick, putting a flame to his ass and threatening him. Then came Volume 3 when she was in full-swing as a villain. She infiltrated the school, manipulated everyone so perfectly, that there's a reason Volume 3 is my favorite of the Volumes so far!

Then Volume 4 happened and... Ugh... Cinder, honey, baby, sweetie-pie, what the Sam Hill happened to you? You were a titan, a queen on a charred throne and now you're this pathetic, angry lapdog to an even more bland villain. You literally got Starscream'd and it hurts to watch you. Then came Volume 5 with your temper tantrums and your goading and your loss to an even cooler villain and... Ugh... You fell off, Cindy. You fell off real hard.

Then came Volume 8. And oh, did you come back with flames. You came home, took your lickings, and came out on top again. We got to see so much more to your character! Your depth and nuance and drive! I was a fool to hate you because I now see you for who you really are.

Cinder Fall, you are the broken, beaten, and scared little girl who grew up trying to never become her again. You picked yourself up and you turned yourself into a queen. Now, if only your destiny wasn't meant to end in ashes...

#my answer #my answers #rwby #cinder fall #my thoughts #blake belladonna

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justmenoworries · 1 year

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Yeah, okay, I'm officially annoyed at the direction this Volume took with Alyx.

RWDE and spoilers for V9E06 under the cut.

This whole "Alyx was actually evil" twist pisses me off for so many reasons.

One is that it just seems so... unnecessary? We don't know Alyx. If you didn't read the fairytale book (which the majority of people watching RWBY didn't) you'd have no idea who she is until maybe Volume 8 where Oscar and Ozpin briefly talk about the story she appears in. This feels like a twist for twist's sake and it rings hollow, because Alyx isn't a character anyone really cares about. We never spent time with her. All we have of her is her story, which is fed to us in snippets by the actual main characters. Additionally, Alyx was already hinted to not be an ideal heroine, being responsible for a war breaking out and stealing and cheating to get ahead. Making her a straight-up villain is not as shocking as the writers seem to think it is.

Second, it's very obviously just there to inflate Jaune's importance as the one who actually got to meet Alyx and saw her "true self". Jaune has no business being in this volume and the writers knew that. So they just stapled him to yet another way more interesting character so him once again stealing screentime from Team RWBY has the flimsiest of justifications. I dare you to tell me one good reason why Jaune should be in the Ever After that is not the Alyx-twist. Heck, even with the Alyx-twist, Jaune is still painfully superfluous. The Rusted Knight was already an established character in Alyx' story. He didn't need to be Jaune, he literally could have just been the Rusted Knight.

Thirdly, Alyx continues the trend of "every character that isn't one hundred percent good in the eyes of Team RWBY and their sycophants and hanger-ons will inevitably turn out evil". I have been waiting since Volume 5 for someone to tell Team RWBY to check themselves without getting villainized for it. The girls have been going 'My way or the highway' for far too long without being called out. So imagine my surprise when Volume 9 implied Team RWBY was gonna get called out, if indirectly. In episode 2, Yang starts to talk shit about Alyx, saying that she wasn't a good kid because she cheated and lied while travelling through the Ever After. To which Weiss counters that Alyx was a child in an unfamiliar environment, who most likely had to do all these things to survive and that the story is treating her situation in a way too black-and-white manner. The first time I saw this scene, I was immediately hooked. Critics have been pointing out Team RWBY's self-rightousness and unwillingness to see shades of gray ever since the whole Ironwood disaster. Was Rooster Teeth actually listening? Were the girls finally going to be confronted with the fact that they're not the last word on what is right or wrong? Haha, No. Turns out Yang was right. Alyx really was the worst. Just like Ironwood. No need for Team RWBY to take a hard look at their own morals and behavior.

Last but not least: With Alyx we have yet another character of color villainized. And the one to expose her was the blonde, blue-eyed white guy, whom she tricked and almost killed. And even before that, what little we got to know of her paints her as a violent, selfish thief. Thanks, I hate it.

EDITS:

Okay, I've just been informed that The Girl Who Fell Through the World (Alyx' story) apparently isn't in the fairytale book. It was literally added in in Volume 8. Making the Alyx "twist" even more fucking pointless.

Oh, and because I can't believe I forgot to talk about it before: Gotta love how the supposedly super-feminist show went "Yeah, the little black girl who's the heroine of one of our world's most beloved childrens' stories was actually an eeevil villain. The real heroes were her much smarter and much kinder older brother and the white guy who got his stupid ass self-inserted." Fucking yikes.

#rwde #rwby spoilers

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yangaros · 1 year

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Some time ago I drew Wednesday Addams (Netflix's Wednesday) in RWBY's Volume 7/8 art style. This is based on a pose of Weiss Schnee in Volume 5 Episode 2, Dread in the Air. I'm not sure how many people watch both Wednesday and RWBY, but I hope this is something!

If anyone's wondering about how I made this: the background is rendered using Blender. I used paint.net to both draw Wednesday and make post-rendering edits to the background.

#wednesday #wednesday addams #wednesday series #wednesday fanart #rwby #rwby fanart #rwby style #weiss #weiss schnee

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nerdlydelicious · 1 year

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apologies for all the asks!!! I don’t have many folks I chat RWBY with so I turn to the folks who’s opinions I’ve come to respect on tumblr!

Anyways - with the final episode of Volume 9 rapidly approaching, what do you think needs to happen in the finale for it to be concluded in a satisfying way?

cheers!

You’re fine, I like answering questions!

As for what needs to happen, in my personal opinion, the things that I think need to happen are as follows, but not strictly in this order:

1. Ruby has a talk with her mother, at least in some fashion, which helps her realize that she doesn’t need to be a completely different person to be the hero she needs to be, which helps her complete her ascension.

2. We also go through Jaune’s ascension and he is changed into a younger version of himself, but specifically not reverted back to his Volume 8 form as that would be literal character regression. Also, he keeps the warrior’s wolf tail.

3. Both Ruby and Jaune retain all their memories after ascension, and get new looks, and either upgraded or new weapons.

4. Ascended Ruby and Jaune tag team Neko Neo and kick his ass.

5. Neko Neo dies/gets taken by the tree to ascend. Don’t give either of them a second chance or a redemption arc.

6. Everyone has a tearful reunion with Ruby, apologizing that they weren’t there for her when she needed them and she forgives them.

7. Team RWBY and Jaune walk through the door into Remnant, and either the episode ends there to leave us on a cliff hanger for V10, or they walk out into Vacuo to throw us right into the action at the start of V10. Bonus points if Juniper goes with them.

8. We see Little again at some point. Maybe they help fight the cat in their new ascended form. And we get a heartfelt moment between them and Ruby.

As a bonus these are things that I don’t think have to happen for the finals to be satisfactory, but I’ll be very happy if they do:

1: when Jaune returns Weiss hugs him or in some way shows relief that he’s okay. Bonus points if she comments positively about his new look. It shouldn’t be a moment that overshadows the big reunion with Ruby (though I’m sure some people will gripe about it regardless), just a nice little touching scene between them.

2. Ruby lands the fight ending blow on the cat with her Silver Eyes powers. I don’t know why her powers would affect the cat, but it would be bad ass.

3. Ruby says something positive about Blake and Yang’s relationship. Mainly to piss off everyone making ‘Ruby is homophobic’ memes.

4. We get Yang and/or Blake teasing Weiss about Jaune, maybe one of them asking her if he’s still ‘mature’ enough for her, and Weiss being flustered and embarrassed.

5. As team RWBY and Jaune leave, we get scenes of the Afterans going about their lives. The Genial Gems building a new home, the market place being repaired, Jinxy peddling more items, the Hunter mice catching a snake, that kind of thing.

6. Red Like Roses part 3 for Ruby’s epic arrival at the climax of the fight vs the cat.

That’s everything I can think of, at least for now. I’m sure five minutes after I post this I’ll have four more things to add to the list XD

#rwby #rwby volume 9 #rwby vol 9 #rwby spoilers #rwby vol 9 spoilers #rwby volume 9 spoilers #jaune arc #weiss schnee #white knight #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna

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historyhermann · 1 year

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"RWBY": The Captivating YA Animated Series

Yang, Penny, Weiss, and Blake at the end of Volume 8

Last year, when looking for another animated series to watch, I came across RWBY, a young adult animation, and one of Rooster Teeth's flagship series. While I wasn't sure about it at first, as I watched all eight seasons, I became invested in the characters, especially the protagonists, and a fan of the show itself.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, History Hermann WordPress blog, and Wayback Machine. This was the fourth article I wrote for The Geekiary. Before this got published, they said I would be kicked off the publication if I don't start writing, if I remember right. So, I started writing this post and many others. This post was originally published on October 8, 2021.

RWBY is the brainchild of the late Monty Oum. It is known for its captivating stories and a theme song, sung by Casey Lee Williams, which begins every episode, foreshadowing what happens in the season/volume. Although the series has the classic conflict of good vs. evil, there are well-developed characters with intricate storylines, elements of horror, and good character development. Some characters are even morally grey, like General James Ironwood or the Ace Ops. Other villains, such as Cinder Fall, don't want to strictly follow their leader.

Ruby in Volume 9 preview

The anime-inspired series is named after the four main protagonists: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. They stand against villains, such as Salem and her enforcers, like Cinder, Arthur Watts, Neopolitan, Tyrian Callows, Mercury Black, and the Grimm monsters. On the other hand, Ozma/Ozpin/Oscar Pine, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen, Robyn Hill, and Jaune Arc, among others, help Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang fight against the forces of evil.

The show is clearly mature as it features its share of blood and gore, and the death of some characters, with the antagonist, Salem, even engaging in human experimentation. On the other hand, this science fantasy/adventure/action series has a large focus on magic, and sci-fi elements like the cyborg girl, Penny Polendina, and scrolls which can receive and record messages. Each of the protagonists, like those on RWBY, have a semblance which derives from their aura, helping them battle against the Grimm and other villains, either including powers such as object manipulation, disorienting people, or super strength.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot but I will say that the show features various supporting LGBTQ characters. In Volume 6, Saphron and Terra-Arc, a lesbian couple with a son named Adrian, as confirmed by Lindsay Jones, the voice of Ruby, who the protagonists, and their friends, stay with on their journey to another kingdom. Additionally, in the Volume 5 episode "Alone Together," Ilia Amitola confessed her romantic feelings to Blake, and was later confirmed by show writer Miles Luna as a lesbian in a Reddit AMA.

Most prominently is May Marigold, a trans woman. Unlike other trans characters in animation, she is voiced by a trans female voice actress, Kdin Jenzen, and her character came out as trans in the Volume 8 episode "War," which she described as "something so wildly powerful & meaningful."

LGBTQ characters in RWBY so far

There is a lot about the series which is wonderful. There is a strong possibility of confirmed LGBTQ representation in the main cast, especially since the voice actress for Blake, Arryn Zech, confirmed her character as bisexual in May 2020, and some even have argued that the shipping between Blake and Yang, known as Bumbleby, will come become canon in the show's next volume.

Even if this doesn't happen, the show is still powerful, from its music to the characters, the voice acting to the visuals, which have improved from the earliest seasons to the present-day. Although the fandom may be toxic at times, the show is unique in its colorful ship names, especially the femslash ones, like Baked Alaska (Yang and Neopolitan), Blood Mint (Ruby and Emerald Sustrai), Freezerburn (Yang and Weiss), Ladybug (Ruby and Blake), or White Rose (Ruby and Weiss) to name a few.

So, if you haven't seen RWBY yet, whether on VRV, Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime (in some locations), YouTube Movies (for purchase/rent), or on the RoosterTeeth website, now is the perfect time during the show's hiatus, before Volume 9 begins again sometime in 2022.

#rwby #young adult animation #vrv #crunchyroll #lgbtq #femslash #bumbleby #amazon prime #youtube movies

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