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bafflement · 1 year

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Deaged Oz AU. A different way to deal with Adam Taurus...

"Miss... Weiss? I need to have a private word with you, if that's alright?"

Weiss sighed. "It's just Weiss, Oz... stop calling me miss?"

"At least you know it's me?"

"Yes, but we'd know that anyway. You're a little boy, Oz and your voice sounds like it. What do you need?"

Oz blinked at that, before deciding to ignore the comment. "You stated that you hate your father, Weiss. How far, precisely, does that hatred extend?"

"I want nothing to do with him. Again, why?"

"Because there may be another way to get Mr Taurus away from Miss Belladonna. However, it requires sacrificing your father."

"You think my father's death would get him away from her?"

"Frankly, yes. He was treated abominably by the Schnee Dust Company, under your father's orders. How far do you think he would be willing to go for revenge?"

"I'm not sure I like the idea of using my father's death to buy currency with the Faunus... but then again..."

"If he is dead, he can no longer harm your mother, or your brother. Or you. The way he has treated all of you... was I currently still an adult I may have dealt with him anyway. I'm certain James would look the other way. Considering his attachment to your sister..."

"... he may even help... Oz, I can't say yes to you killing my father. But at the same time, I can't deny that it might be justifiable. I just... don't tell me until after the deed is done? I'm still a trainee huntress and you're still a huntsman."

"And hunters are sworn to end monsters. All monsters, not just the Grimm. I'm sorry, Weiss. I understand if you'll never talk to me again, besides it is merely one possibility amongst a few."

"You are my friend. Blake is my friend. My father may have sired me but he would sell Winter and I both in a heartbeat if it got him some sort of advantage. He locked me away. Oz? Please, leave me alone for awhile? I need to think."

"Of course. My apologies, Weiss." Oz bowed his head and left her to it, the others giving him strange looks on his return.

"What did you tell Weiss?" Yang asked, sounding curious and protective at the same time.

"Nothing you need concern yourself with yet, Miss Xiao Long."

"... Oz, you said you wouldn't keep any more secrets." She sounded vaguely ominous and Oz sighed.

"It isn't a secret. Merely an idea and likely a terrible one. I just worry for Miss Belladonna with the situation with Mr Taurus..."

"We all do."

"Yes, well... part of me hopes to run into him. We have things to discuss."

"... Oz, you're human. He won't want to talk to you."

"We'll see."

In the end, Adam ran into them. He seemed delighted to see Blake... for a given value of delighted, but rather less impressed when confronted by a silver haired ten year old.

"Ah. Mister Taurus, I was rather hoping I might run into you."

"That eager to die, child?" Adam sneered.

"Not exactly, but I believe we could come to a mutually beneficial agreement."

"I doubt it, but say I'm listening, kid. What sort of agreement."

"Myself and my friends work together to deliver Jaques Schnee to you on a silver platter and you let Blake live her own life and make her own choices." Oz's voice could have been carved out of solid stone.

"... I'm listening, kid..."

"I do not know what he did to you, sir. But he is a monster who preys on those weaker than him. Monsters on Remnant get put down."

"... I almost believe you, child. But you're human, why should I trust you to deliver on your end of this bargain."

"Simple. We deliver Jaques Schnee to you and you leave Blake alone. If we do not, you are free to try. I will fight you if I must, but his death at this point would be justifiable germicide."

Adam laughed, harshly. "I'm not scared of you, boy. But if you can do this, I suppose I will owe you enough of a debt to let Blake make her own choices. You ask what he did to me?" Adam raised his blindfold, showing the brand over one eye. Behind Oz, Weiss let out a cry of fury.

"Mister Taurus? If i can locate that brand, promise to use it on my father?"

Adam's eyes lit up, looking at Weiss with far less hostility than any of them had deemed possible.

"For that, little Miss Schnee? You have my respect. If you can do this and your friend can deliver your father... I will leave Blake alone. More, I'll try not to kill any of you. Fair?"

"Entirely." Oz stated, evenly.

"You never did introduce yourself, child... you look almost like she does but not at the same time. Who are you?"

"I believe you would know a previous version of me as Ozaryn."

Adam looked poleaxed.

"You... you're Ozaryn? Or you used to be? Why didn't you say that to start with... you helped found Faunus society..."

The others were staring at him, now, too.

"It was a last resort. As it stands, we deliver you Jaques Schnee and you leave Blake alone."

"Of course. You'll hear from me soon. Sir."

Adam left, back stiff and fists clenched.

"... Oz? Explain. Now."

"I'm not sure how to. Maybe ask Blake when we get back?" Oz demured.

"Uh HUH. Just how many mythical figures were you, anyway?"

"I... I'm not actually sure?" Oz blushed, ducking his head in mortification. "Some of them. not all."

"just those called Oz?" It was Jaune's turn to sigh. "Lets go back, pocket sized... you can explain later."

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lacependragon · 2 months

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I really do think if you're gonna make Adam Taurus an irredeemable monster (which I am SO for there is no way that relationship wasn't some level of grooming how the fuck is that man not a grown ass adult next to 17 year old Blake? I mean come on they've had to be together for a couple years. Hello?) you need to make the rest of the White Fang genuinely good.

Sienna needs to be an activist. Not a terrorist. Adam needs his own splinter cell that people try to call the White Fang but the news reporters who aren't racist POS tell the truth about how its a splinter cell of violent reactionaries with no real goal for faunus rights.

The White Fang needs to be proper and legitimate and not written by a bunch of dumbass white boys. (And Monty)

Then just take Adam and run him into the ground. No harm no foul if all the other faunus are fine and he's the outlier, not the rule. Especially if Sienna is good and lives.

The White Fang is trying to make changes.

Adam just wants the bussy. The Blake Pussy.

#listen theres no world where adam isnt some kind of child groomer or molester okay #the series itself accidentally backed itself into a corner of 'wait is blake a grooming and rape survivor?'#and y'know ymmv but its the sort of thing i latch on to and work with #bc its important to me #rape mention #lace speaks #clown and get blocked idc

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thesparringpanther · 2 years

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Your hopes have become my burden

I will find my own liberation.

#rwby #blake belladonna #winter schnee #adam taurus #general ironwood #cinematic parallels #if i speak on it ill never shut up about it ever #but you notice how blake and winter only survived these fights #is because their partner saw the best in them #even when they couldn't see it in themselves #yang saw that blake isnt a coward #penny saw that winter isnt a soulless robot #and beat for beat they save the other right before their abuser deals the killer blow

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anonymousredactedconfessions · 3 months

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i think its kinda weird that people are claiming that alexis isnt that bad, she literally is! isnt that more fun? shes a selfish asshole who only cares about getting what she wants, damn how others feel, we saw this in the summit, she didnt give a fuck!! how fun is that! why are yall trying to downplay her being a shit person?? i dont see people doing that for vega or blake or adam honestly... something something shes a woman who abused a man but shes a woman so it doesnt count.

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #confessions

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insulationsun · 5 months

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rwby rambling under the cut AHDASDSAK

altering that statement cos i did skim through it again, and it really isnt as bad as i remember but it still has information that is just wrong, like the plot of convenience point he makes, about fights loosely connecting to one another, when that isn't really the case? and he makes a point about how when there isnt a fight going on, the show is doing nothing valuable with the extra time. when that isnt true, if you rewatch v1-3 the plot is mostly being driven forward? or foreshadowed/set-up

a good example is season 2 being largely written off as full of nothing, when mountain glenn or whatever spends a large chunk going into the motivations of each of team rwby, what drives them to be there in the first place, particularly highlighting ruby's simple desire of wanting to help others, which is expanded upon later. and also shown how yang sees ruby's motivations compared to her own. it's a good character building segment for team rwby. also this season introduces penny and kind of establishes the kinda person ironwood is as well

season 1 also has ozpin's advice to ruby, his projection onto her, but also why he chose her as the leader of team rwby, because he sees a bit of his old self in her(or in ozma's case). ANYWAYS. thats important too. there ARE things that are important inbetween fight scenes, and there /always/ has been. you just need to rewatch the show.

and obviously there are things that werent planned from the start, but ozpin being uhh..the Way he is, salem, all of that stuff- that was there from the start, so this scene hits different upon rewatch

the only ones i can see that for is season 1 because there is a lot of clumsy execution in that season, which makes sense but doesnt make it any less egregious. cos i agree on the part where pyrrha is explaining things to jaune that are already established (what a semblance is, and characters being surprised by her semblance (which they should already know.. ))

the bad exposition for the earlier volumes i agree with, its a really rough start and can be kinda cringy to rewatch at times

but if youre going to talk abt rwby you kind of need to talk about Everything. where its at right now, and how it improved. which he doesnt, he touches on season 6 a bit to ramble about the adam vs yang and blake fight-- talks about how annoying it is that characters pause to speak as if the fight isnt a more character driven one than a flashy one, dramatic pauses to talk/explain in the middle of fights are also not that uncommon in the anime he talks about- he talks about jojo in here, which pauses fights to dump about how powers work a LOT

as much as i'd like to go through the video and talk abt how i feel abt every point, it's actually not as scathing as i remember. still wrong about things tho, and only talks about 1-3 mostly without touching on anything else. the anime homework segment is what i remembered the most i think...

and the complaints about the inconsistent worldbuilding i can definitely understand, it is frustrating that things aren't clear cut explained to you in the show, like the differences between magic and semblances. but i think the point is that semblances can Be magic, sometimes, but not the other way around. s'least how i see it. that stuff doesnt bother me as much though so its fine if it botehrs someone else

i geuss the thing that frustrates me the most is this insistence that rwby isn't character driven, or at least the characterization is poorly handled, because it really isn't. at least for the main four, and some others- and again they improve on this later. i would not be as into rwby as i am if the character writing was like. horrid

for season 1 i can get that but even as early as s2 they start to dig a little deeper, and now at season 9 so many of our main cast have been dug into a little, in ways i find really satisfying. and like, the finale of season 5 is still one of my favorites, behind season 7 ofc (oscar pine bias) but yang's conversation with her mother, nothing ending in a fight between them just the power of her words- it's a relationship that has some complexity to it. the point im making is that there are so much more amazing scenes that just are not shown at all or glossed over completely, the writing can be really good at times its why im still here!! IDK!!!!!! i guess im Crazy

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bridgyrose · 1 month

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RWBY to their mentors after finding out about Salem

To think that I admired you, well I don't need your condescension I'm not a child to protect Was talk of virtue just pretension? Was I too naïve to expect you To heed the morals you're purveying?

(While this could fit in volume 5, since we want mentors, I think this works better around volume 3. Enjoy.)

Ruby paused as she watched the sky darken as grimm swarmed over the kingdom. Her fingers twitched as she reached for her scythe, only to be stopped by her mother. “Mom, I can handle this-”

“Dont worry about it,” Summer said as she watched the grimm. “This has to happen.”

“What do you mean this has to happen?”

“Salem will continue to attack like this until she’s able to claim her relic. We’ll continue to protect those we can, but only those who are close.”

Ruby lowered her hand to her side as she watched the grimm, heart pounding as she knew what was going to be coming. “Salem? Who’s… who’s Salem? Why didnt you tell me about her?”

Summer turned around to make her way back home. “You werent ready to hear about her. Now, let's go home and make sure Patch is ready-”

“We cant go home!” Ruby said as she rushed in front of Summer. “We have to go help everyone! If Salem is as bad as you think, then we have to stop her!”

“Ruby, this doesnt concern us. All we have to do is let this pass and keep our home safe.”

Ruby pulled her scythe off her back and unfolded it, blade pointed at her mother. “Dont talk to me like I dont know what it means to be a huntress! I dont need you to protect me!”

“This isnt about protecting you, its about keeping out of Ozpin’s schemes!” Summer sighed and put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Ozpin’s brought this onto himself and this is his mess to deal with. We’ll keep our home safe and then we’ll help Vale once everything’s over.”

“So all of that was a lie?” Ruby asked, arms shaking as she lowered her scythe. “For years, you’ve told me that being a huntress means helping those that cant help themselves, was I really that naive to expect you to follow the same thing you’ve been purveying to me? That all of those lessons were for nothing?”

“Everything’s more complicated than that. When you’re older, you’ll see-”

“I’m old enough to make my own decision!” Ruby yelled out as she folded her scythe, glancing out at the darkened sky and stepping away from Summer. “And I’m going to go help.”

“Wait!” Summer reached out to grab her daughter, fingers slipping through a few rose petals as Ruby rushed off with her semblance. She grit her teeth for a moment, letting out a breath and a heavy sigh before chasing after Ruby. “Dammit, why cant you listen?”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blake could only stand in shock and fear as she watched grimm swarm Beacon academy, no longer sure this was what she wanted. The SDC trains were one thing, but attacking students that hadnt done anything yet was a line she had never wanted to cross. Her ears twitched as she heard one of the students struggle against a beowolf, instinctively drawing her weapon and rushing at it, slicing through it with ease. She caught the look of fear in the student’s eyes. “Go.”

The student scrambled up and rushed off. “Thank you!”

“You should’ve killed them.”

Blake turned around and froze as she saw Adam behind her, taking a quick step back. “A-Adam I-”

“We are here to start a revolution, not to save them.” Adam pushed past Blake and started out to the campus, watching a few of the buildings burn as grimm ran rampant. “We can finally change how the world sees faunus and finally put ourselves on top like we deserve.”

“Not… not like this.”

Adam turned to face Blake, glaring under his mask. “What was that?”

“Not like this!” Blake took another step back, hand shaking as she held her blade tightly. “What happened to caring about what happened to our people? We’re throwing everyone to die just to destroy an academy, and for what? For a revolution that doesnt need to happen?”

“You dont understand, this revolution will end in our favor with the help that I’ve secured.”

Blake felt her heart stop as she watched Adam’s frown turn into a smirk as he held his hand out to her. “Roman…”

“Roman is nothing but a necessary partnership. As long as we fulfill our end and bring Beacon to it’s knees, Cinder will let her mistress know our worth to their cause and then she’ll back up our cause and we can put humans under us like they deserve to be.”

Blake lowered her weapon as she listened to Adam, legs shaking as her heart pounded in her chest. “You… you never cared, did you?”

“Of course I cared, but I became tired of being pushed around and treated like a monster. I’m only doing what I have to to make sure faunus never have to be mistreated again.”

Blake winced as she saw the brand under Adam’s mask as he removed it. This wasnt what she wanted when she followed him, and yet, this is exactly where she was led by everything he told her. She removed her own mask, then sheathed her weapon. “Everything was a lie, wasnt it? All those times I was naive to believe there wasnt a choice when we had to kill someone.”

Adam lowered his hand and put his mask back on. “You want to leave, dont you?”

Before she could answer, Blake jumped back as she felt the tip of Adam’s blade scratch at her arm, tripping over a fallen beam and falling back. She froze as she watched Adam stand over her, blade held above her.

“I wont let you leave.”

Blake reached up to block the sword as it came down on her, using her semblance to leave a shadow clone to take the hit while she scrambled up and started to run through the falling academy. All she could see was the destruction and death, grimm going after panicking citizens while students tried to defend them. Finally, she made her way into the forest, panting as she looked back towards the school. She dropped her mask to the ground as she walked away once more, regretting everything she’d done.

#rwby #ruby rose #rwby ruby rose #summer rose #blake belladonna #adam taurus #in the shadows au

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yoyosuitehearts · 1 year

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with rwby coming back i keep seeing a bunch of people saying bumbleby is queerbait and like i get it but also how often do we get sapphic much less queer slow burn in media where both characters and their relationship are fully fleshed out. Like we have these two characters who throughout the 9 season have developed themselves/ bettered themselves. like we see blake grow and heal from everything with adam and we see yang heal from everything she delt with growing up with summers death and raising ruby. we see yang drop everything after hearing adam was back at the end of v3 and losing her arm bc of it. And because of that blake has immense guilt that she runs and theyre separated for v4 and v5, they literally reunite the last minutes of v5. Then v6 is blake and yang try to figure things out again while blake still feels guilty over her arm. Then v7 and v8 you can see them finally get back into their rhythm and see them becoming a lot more romantic with each other all the meanwhile they have freshly become huntresses and having to work for ironwood and trying to save mantle. and now in v9 we see their romantic interactions increase tenfold in the two episodes that are out bc what im assuming thinking they lost each other theyre tired of waiting. Also not to mention theyre are two other canon main couples jaune x pyrrha and ren x nora pyrrha and jaune only kissed bc pyrrha knew she was gonna die. Then ren and nora had known each other their entire lives and didnt kiss until v7 then just didnt talk about their relationship till v8 were they decided not to get togther quite yet. the show in general isnt big on romantic relationships and to me its very obvious that they are gonna happen they are just trying to build up to it

edit just to say that i am very open to hearing peoples thoughts and opinions on this no matter what !!

#this kinda got away from me #sorry #niko talks #long post #rwby #bumbleby #rwby bmblb #bmblby #ruby rose #weiss schne #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #jaune arc #pyrrha nikos #lie ren #nora valkyrie #rooster teeth #idk where i was going with this but yeah

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aspoonofsugar · 1 year

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I have to be frank it black sun makes way more sense as the beauty and best played straight ( blacksun got years of teasing mutual attraction and development ( from v1 to blacksun goodbye scene inv6 which had romantic this isnt the end connotations ) with sun going out of his way to help blake like beauty did for the beast and sun had done more for blakes arc then yang ) while bb got nothing for a romantic relationship nothing hinted at them being more then friends till arguably v7 ( the last 2 eps of v6 at best none of the blake and yang moments there were inherently romantic so it reeks of direction change either the change was made after v6 or during the writing of v6 last eps due to bbs popularity )

Hello anon!

I have to be frank, as well... I disagree completely :)

At the same time, though, I think your feelings and reasoning is understandable and valid. I'll tell you more, you are actually right in saying Blake and Sun are another example of Beauty and the Beast :P

I'll explain my reasoning immediately, but before that, let me say I have already talked about Blake's arc, Yang's arc, Black Sun, Bumbleby and ships in RWBY. You find all the asks and metas, if you click on the links. In any case, I'll be taking parts of these posts to answer you.

Now, let's start...

BLAKE'S ARC AND THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ALLUSION

Blake's arc and development can be summarized with this quote:

Blake: When you've been at someone's side for so long, after a while they become a part of you. But that's just it, they're only a part of you. Don't forget about the rest.

At the beginning of the series, Blake has been at Adam's side for so long her whole self has become his. This is the essence of their abusive relationship. Blake is initially presented as a shadow, both because she is a Faunus and because she is Adam's shadow. She follows him around, she obeys his orders and has been poisoned by Adam's White Feng propaganda. In order to follow Adam, she has cut all her other positive relationships, like the ones with her parents. This is why the moment she leaves Adam in the Black Trailer, she finds herself alone.

This dependence is made clear also through Blake's Beauty and the Beast allusion. Adam is initially:

Blake's Beast romantically

Blake's Beast when it comes to the Human/Faunus conflict > specifically, he and Blake are both beasts that fight against society for freedom

Blake's cursed Rose who is poisoning her life

In short, Adam is Blake's everything. This is why Blake's growth and salvation does not really lie in her finding Adam's substitude. The point is not that she is in a bad relationship, but then she finds a shiny new love interest and everything is alright. The point is that the relationship with Adam has grown so dangerous and abusive specifically because it has isolated Blake from others. So, Blake's recovery lies in her finding a huge support system made of different Beauties, Beasts and Roses ready to help her.

This starts with her team:

Ruby is Blake's new Rose. She resembles Blake's younger self and makes Blake believe into idealism once again. She is also the one who leads Yang and Blake to meet.

Yang is Blake's new Beauty/Beast when it comes to her romantic subplot. She becomes Blake's partner and ultimate love interest

Weiss is Blake's new Beauty/Beast when it comes to the Funus/Humans subplot. Their parallel journeys mirror the evolving balance of the world and I would not be surprised if by the end they share a moment where they fight side by side in something Faunus related.

In short, all Blake's subplots and sides that are initially focused on Adam get separated and she finds a different relationship for each.

This doesn't stop with her team of course! Throughout the Mistral Arc she finds 2 other Beauties and Beasts that play a key role in her development.

They are:

Ilia: she is the Beast the Beauty redeems and the Beauty who lost herself in the shadows, like Blake is initially.

Sun: he is the Beauty that helps the Beast and at the same time he is the Beast who lets go of the Beauty:

Blake: I have to admit, I think I was kind of getting used to having you around. Sun: I go where I'm needed! And… you don't need me anymore. Blake: Well, when you say it like that, it sounds sad. Sun: Look… despite the drama and the fighting and the numerous attempts on my life, I had a lot of fun! But you're with who you're supposed to be now.

Neptune: I don't know, man. It just feels like you're letting her go. Sun: It was never about that, brainiac.

It is funny to me that you consider Sun and Blake's goodbye as foreshadowing of their romance because it clearly isn't. If anything, the message is the opposite: Sun is giving up on Blake. He has initially followed her out of genuine care and romantic interest. However, by the end of their adventure he realizes Blake is already where she needs to be... aka her team and Yang:

Sun: You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Yeah, that chameleon friend of yours got me pretty good. But I'd do it all again if it meant protecting you. And I can promise Yang would say the same.

Notice how he juxtaposes himself to Yang and Ilia to Adam in this scene... this is not by chance...

This development in itself is rather meaningful in Blake's story. It ties with the deconstruction of toxic masculinty tropes her arc is about. Sun is a friend, who has been there for Blake when she needed him. This doesn't make him entitled to her, though. His selflessly helping her without the final "getting the girl" represents this.

Back to Blake's arc and allusion. A sure way to easily find Blake's numerous beauties and beasts is to use her shadow/light motif. Blake's name means both white and black, which is mirrored in her color scheme. This also means she is both light (beauty) and shadow (beast). This is also why she is linked to the twilight:

You can find this motif with all Blake's Beauty and Beasts. She is the white and black to Adam's red and black. This means they are both shadows (so no complementarity) and that Adam has tainted Blake's white (the light) with red (the blood) (see the White Feng symbol turning from white to red). At the same time, she is the black to Weiss's white and the shadow to Yang's light.

Ilia and Sun's symbolism is instead made clear in Blake'svolume 5 character short, where she keeps moving between day (Sun)

And night (Ilia)

Ilia and Sun are Blake's shadow and light in the Mistral Arc and their help is necessary for her to grow and face an even darker shadow together with an even brighter light:

In short, it is not only about Blake and Adam and Blake and Yang/Sun, but rather it is about Blake and her huge support system that is presented to us through the lens of her fairy tale.

In the post you are referencing, I specifically talk of Blake/Adam as an inversed Beauty and the Beast and as Blake/Yang as a straight version because I was thinking about it structurally.

What is Beauty and the Beast structure in a nutshell? It goes like this.

The Beauty's Father gives her a rose from the Beast's garden. The Beauty leaves the Father to live with the Beast. After a while, Beauty and Beast grow closer, but at one point Beauty asks to leave to visit her Father. The Beast says yes, but gives her a time limit. If Beauty doesn't come back before that the Beast is gonna die. The Beauty overstays at her Father's, but then rushes back to the Beast when she realizes she loves him. She finds the Beast dying, but her love restores his Prince-like form and they live happily ever after.

This structure fits Adam and Yang. Not Sun.

Blake meets Adam through her father's organization. He appears as a beautiful rose, but in reality he is a beast. Blake leaves Ghira to stay with Adam. However, after a while, their relationship becomes abusive and Blake leaves Adam. This hurts him and he grows obsessive and crueller. As a step in her healing process Blake goes back to Ghira until she grows strong enough to face Adam. Obviously not to rejoin and heal him, but to fight him off.

Blake leaves Ghira and loses herself. After a while she finds a precious rose (Ruby) and meets Yang. After they spend time together in the same team, Blake leaves and goes back to Ghira. This hurts Yang deeply. However, differently from Adam, Yang is able to grow and to welcome Blake back once she returns.

Blake never leaves nor hurts Sun, so there is really nothing to forgive here and there is no need for the Beauty and Beast's reconciliation, which is key in Blake's fairy tale. You could argue Sun leaving Blake in volume 6 is the Beauty leaving the Beast. Still, Blake doesn't suffer for this and Sun leaving has really no consequences for her.

Similarly, both Adam and Yang have a rose, which links them to Blake. Sun instead completely lacks the rose symbolism. Another hint he is not the main Beauty/Beast to Blake's story, even if he is clearly important.

Now, I don't care if you think Blake's story is well written or not. What is important is that you realize this is what we canonically have in-story. This is clearly the reading the authors want us to go at. Now, let's see if you are right about Bumbleby being shoved into the story in volume 7.

BUMBLEBY'S FORESHADOWING

Black the beast descends from shadows. Yellow beauty burns gold.

This is the very first time Blake and Yang are mentioned and they are literally called Beauty and Beast. Now, I know there is a huge discourse about this line and some people say it is bullshit. Some others instead argue that Blake and Yang were meant as a platonic version of Beauty and the Beast, while Sun and Blake were meant to be romantic.

Even dismissing Red Like Roses, though, volume 2 and 3 still clealry code Blake and Yang romantically.

Yang and not Sun is the one who convinces Blake to go to the party:

Yang: And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance.

So, symbolically she is the one who brings Blake to the dance:

Sun: Sooo, does this mean we're going… together? Blake: Technically, though my first dance is spoken for.

Notice that Blake and Yang wear complementary outfits (black and white, yin and yang), while Black Sun have both black clothes.

Not only that, though:

Blake: I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual - little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first they were accidents, then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just… very familiar. But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So… I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did.

Adam: And as I set out upon this world and deliver the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love. Yang: Blake! Where are you!? Adam: Starting with her.

Yang is directly compared to Adam aka Blake's previous partner and lover and she is Adam's target the moment he is trying to hurt Blake. Like, crazy ex-boyfriend targets new love interest is a recurring trope. Not to count Yang losing her arm is juxtaposed to Pyrrha screaming Jaune's name while he is being attacked by Cinder. Arkos is clearly romantic and the 2 scenes happening frame beside frame is a way to equate the 2 relationships.

Just to be clear, Yang losing her arm to Adam is something decided since the very beginning:

Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided and easily processed. Yet every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgement.

The Yellow Trailer's quote foreshadows this event and it was confirmed by Yang's voice actress. If Yang losing her arm to Adam is something planned early on, I don't see why Yang and Blake fighting Adam together shouldn't be. It is a very rational development that lets 2 of the main girls overcome their respective trauma.

Before we explore Bumbleby's fight against Adam, though, let's focus for a moment on some songs. Bumblb and All That Matters were released respectively with volume 4 and with volume 5 and they are both Bumbleby's songs. You could argue Bumblebee is not "canon" because it was a later addition. Still, All That Matters is canonically a song about Yang's feelings over Blake leaving and it is clearly romantic. It also plays in key moments like Blake and Yang meeting again and the group hearing about Blake and Yang's fight against Adam. Both times, the one who starts the theme song is Ruby:

Blake: Well… I'm not going anywhere. Ruby: That's all that matters. That we're all here together. Right? Yang: Yeah.

Blake: I'm so sorry… Yang: Don't be. This isn't on you. Blake: But-- Ruby: You're safe, that's all that matters

Again, very clear symbolism, Ruby is the rose that brings the Beauty and the Beast together.

Now, let's explore Bumbleby's fight against Adam. Throughout the fight Yang and Blake's bond is clearly coded as romantic. There is literally no ambiguity here. For starters, Adam is 1000% jealous of Yang and Blake. This is an actual line he spits:

Adam: What does she (Blake) even see in you (Yang)?!!

The implication is that Blake is now in love with Yang and Adam is jealous and doesn't understand why her ex-girlfriend would choose Yang over him. There is no other interpretation possible. Sure, you may argue that in real life a jealous bitch thinking 2 people love each other is no proof this is actually the case (in many cases they may very well be wrong). However, this is no real life, but a story, which means lines like this and in such a context are as clear as day... they are framing Yang as Blake's love interest.

Thematically, the whole fight frames Blake and Yang's relationship in juxtaposition with Adam and Blake. Adam was abusive and a liar, who kept hiding things from Blake. Yang instead wears her heart on her sleeve and has had no hesitation to race to Blake's side, when she was in danger. Similarly, both Adam and Yang were left by Blake and were both hurt by this. However, Adam has kept obsessing over Blake and decided to stalk her and to hurt her. He is given the chance to let go, but doesn't. Yang instead works to empathize with Blake's decision and tries to understand her point of view. When Blake comes back, Yang forgives her and is ready to stand beside her once more.

This is ultimately why Yang wins her 1v1 against Adam. Adam is blinded by jealousy and rage to the point he loses sight of Blake. For all his obsession over her, he is quick to forget her existence during the fight. Yang instead never loses sight of Blake and fights to block Adam's vision of her, waits the right moment and then uses Adam's sword to bait him to where Blake is. In this way she and Blake can finish the fight. This is the thematic meaning of the fight. Yang sees Blake for who she is, while Adam only sees himself.

The scene itself is full of symbolism related to both Beauty and the Beast and Goldilocks aka Blake and Yang's fairy tale.

On the one hand Blake spells out the just right:

Blake: She's not protecting me, Adam. And I'm not protecting her. We're protecting each other.

In other words, Blake herself is Yang's just right.

On the other hand Yang and Blake allude to the Beauty and the Beast together thanks to the song Nevermore. Nevermore alludes to Evermore, which is a song in the 2017 remake of The Beauty and the Beast. By the way, the remake came out in March 2017, while volume 6 came out in October 2018... so they were rather close by.

Speaking of symbolism, there is more actually... The episode where Yang and Blake defeat Adam is called Seeing Red, which is apparently the title of an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer where 2 queer characters die (can you confirm @hamliet?). RWBY plays with this and makes its episode and inversion with Blake and Yang killing Adam. Finally, there is the very unsubtle motorcycle symbolism...

Bumblebee smashes Adam in the face and then sails toward new adventures in the river... again... the meaning is really not subtle...it means that Bumbleby as a ship is sailing.

In short, by volume 6 we have... 1 romantically coded dance, Bumbleby being compared to Arkos, Yang being compared to an ex love interest, said ex love interest targeting Yang twice out of jealousy, 3 love songs, heavy handed Beauty and the Beast and Goldilocks symbolism and other generic unsubtle symbolism...

Other than this, we have 2 perfectly structured paralell arcs that are so since the Black and the Yellow Trailers. Each girl has to go through opposite development and grow on her own with the help of family and friends. Only in this way they are able to meet each other again and to accept each other to defeat a common enemy together...

As you can see, there is actually a lot and to tell you the truth...Blake and Yang's journey throughout volume 4 - 5 - 6 is where their bond is really developed and tested. They are set up as each other's objective throughout the Mistral arc, they go through a conflict and solve it. This is how you make a bond important narratively, not through jokes or 2 characters being cute together, but through conflict. I am saying this because it is true that volumes 7 and 8 have gone out of their way with the Bumbleby cute stuff, so that everyone has realized they are meant to end up together. However, these volumes have really not been as important as the Mistral arc for their relationship. They are shown to be closer as a result of them defeating Adam. However, they have not really received that much focus compared to Mistral and that is alright... it is not every character must receive the same amount of focus in each arc.

In short, the meat of Bumbleby is Mistral and not Atlas. As a result, the idea this relationship has been invented in Atlas is false for the simple reason all its development is before they even reach the Kingdom.

BLACK SUN WAS TOTALLY THERE... AND THIS WAS A MISTAKE

Ok, now let's talk about Black Sun. I 100% agree with you that the ship was there and it was being built on romantically... which is honestly the whole problem.

As shown above, it is not that Black Sun was romantic and Bumbleby was not. They were both romantically - coded. As for why, there can be 3 explanations:

They were not sure they could make Bumbleby canon, so they were ready to use Sun as a spare (I honestly think this is partly true).

They wanted to have Sun be Blake's unrequired love interest, so that he can add a piece to the deconstruction of toxic masculinity (what they end up doing)

They wanted to show Black Sun as a Teen Immature love and Bumbleby as end game (probably a thing they wanted to accomplish, but were too ambitious with)

This last one may have very well been the idea here. After all, the Beacon Arc focuses on such immature loves and Black Sun happens at the exact same time Weiss develops her crush on Neptune. Now, I think we can all agree Weiss isn't ending up with Neptune... However, Black Sun has way more focus and is way more important than Neptune and Weiss's thing. Let's briefly summarize Black Sun teasing.

Sun starts flirting with Blake the moment he sees her, Blake goes to the dance with him and blushes at him during the Vytal Festival while a love song is playing:

After this, we have Blake and Sun’s interactions in volume 4 and 5. There it is made clear as day Sun has still feelings for Blake. Moreover, their interactions are full of jokes/tropes usually found in slap-stick comedies...(btw this is also why the discourse about Blake “being abusive” for slapping Sun or Sun “being creepy” for stalking Blake is missing the context imo). Like, meeting the parents with the mother teasing the relationship and the father disliking the partner is a romantic trope. There is also Blake and Sun's whole conversation about words where Blake tells Sun about what her loved ones represent to her. She talks of Sun as "earnest", but adds she has yet to properly decide, which obviously led many shippers to read it as foreshadowing.

At the same time... this is really all tbh... there is a lot of teasing and Sun is super important for Blake's arc because he fits the role of the Helper... However, he is not set up as some kind of objective, Blake does not really show any kind of romantic interest for him in volume 4 and 5 and she even talks of her teammates as the people she loves the most in the world:

Blake: Shut up! Do you think I like being alone? Every day… every day I think about them! Ruby, Weiss, Yang… they were my friends! I loved them like I never thought I could love anybody. And I hope they hate me for leaving.

Finally, Sun is never compared to Adam and the antagonist he helps Blake defeat is rather Ilia, who is another romantic interest, but of the unrequired love type.

Speaking of unrequired love... it is true Black Sun has 2 love songs, (Not Fall in Love with You and Like Morning Follows Night) but the theme for both is unrequired love:

See, you'll never understand What I feel, what I see (…) Trying to search for this happiness Lost in the lights But it seems that it's all Just out of my sight Just out of my reach, Can't seem to get it right Like I'm cursed with this turbulence (…) Yet I still believe in you Every breath, every word Every smile, every glance Could be another chance That you'll finally see The love that is me

Girl of my dreams you would make my life complete But you're a distant dream to me Then I know and I know that you're-- Out of my league How could it ever be? What am I supposed to do- Just sit here and not fall in love with you?

The implication is that Sun likes Blake and that he is running after her, hoping she will notice him. This seems to confirm the unrequired love reading...

However, the point is that all in all... Black Sun is a mess. It is romantically coded, but thematically, structurally and symbolically it is not as deep as Bumbleby. Moreover, it can't really decide if it wants to be a teen first love or an unrequired love and it is ultimately never addressed. Sun simply gives up on Blake after having helped her and leaves.

As you can see, I am really not happy with this resolution myself and even if it is true Sun is definately coming back in Vacuo... I am also not that sure he is gonna be that important or that his relationship with Blake has to or needs to find a closure by this point. After all, it is clear Bumbleby is endgame, so a love triangle would really add nothing to it.

There is also another problem with Sun himself, that ultimately makes him a less interesting romantic interest for Blake than Yang... so far he lacks an arc of his own... you insist he has been more important than Yang in Blake's arc because he has helped her a ton, right? However, what about Sun's own arc?

A romantic relationship should drive both partners to grow, so that they can end up together despite conflict. The conflict can be either external or internal. Bumbleby has both kinds of conflicts. On the one hand Blake and Yang trigger each other. On the other hand Adam gets in the way of their bond. This means they both have to grow as people (internal) and defeat Adam (external).

Black Sun lacks this on Sun's side... sure you may say the conflict arises on Blake's side... she is scared to open up to people and there is the whole White Feng Sun must help Blake to fight... However, this makes for a very one-sided relationship with one character way more complex and rounded than the other... All in all, it is a kind of dynamic that has its limits for the story.

Mind you, the writers actually wanna us to think that Sun has changed thanks to Blake. In Before the Dawn we have this:

Sun didn’t rise to Scarlet’s bait, which was pretty strange. But it also wasn’t his style to devote himself to a cause like this. He usually went wherever his whims took him, whether that was across the sea to help a friend or to get noodles at three in the morning. To pledge to fight a big cause with no clear solution or end in sight? That really didn’t sound like Sun. Maybe his time with Blake in Menagerie had changed him.

However, this is an example of telling and not showing... really in the series this never comes up nor it is ever explored. It does not contradict the story. It actually makes sense when considering what little we know of Sun and if we reread some interactions with Blake using this interpretative key. However, it is surely not one of the main topic explored in Blake and Sun’s relationship, while I think it could have been great if it were. Ironically, though, I think Blake and Sun's romantic teasing actually goes in the way of said explorations.

Volumes 4 and 5 are full of slap stick comedy jokes and romantic teasing and so anchored on Blake's own arc with Ilia and the White Feng, that Sun has very little time to have an arc of his own... Basically, all the space that could have been used to explore him is given to Blake and her own struggles... Sun is adorable and the best person ever to have around... but this is actually it... he does not change, nor is he particularly challenged by the events around him.

In the end, his struggles with his teammates and his flaws have been explored in the novel rather than in the series itself. Sure, he might have an arc in Vacuo, but given there are tons of characters that need development and a part of his problems have been dealt with in Vacuo, I am not sure he is gonna be super focused on... we'll see. One thing is for sure... if he were meant to be Blake's final partner these sides of him should have been focused on while they were together... however, they were not because ultimately his bond and dynamic with Blake is never symmetrical... he fits the role of the helper in her arc and that is more or less it...

CONCLUSION

I actually think you have all rights to be annoyed by how Black Sun has been solved, but I honestly think you have got the wrong target... the problem isn't Bumbleby whose whole story is clearly set up and rather well structured, but Black Sun itself, which could not really decide what it wanted to be... Hopefully, I am wrong and Sun and Blake's screentime in Vacuo will give us a resolution and make some choices clear, but as for now, I doubt it.

Finally... I am kind of meh to the whole idea... "THERE WAS DIRECTOR CHANGE DUE TO BB POPULARITY!"... I mean... RWBY has had so far no problem killing off Pyrrha and Penny... 2 very popular characters in popular ships... if they were going for... "Let's give the people the ships they want!"... I can assure you they would not have killed off those 2.

And that is all... thank you for passing by and have a nice day!

#rwby #asksfullofsugar #bumbleby #black sun #anonymous

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thepetrichorcollective · 2 years

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Alters looking for sourcemates

feel free to interact even if youre not a sourcemate!

Undertale/Deltarune:

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Ralsei

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list may be updated in the future!! feel free to ask for someone specific or for other sources not listed! this isnt a full list of our introjects but its a huge chunk of our system

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constantvariations · 1 year

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gimme your top 5 hot takes about rwby

I'm afraid I don’t have an accurate gauge of what qualifies as a “hot take” (or even what it actually is. Is it merely a controversial opinion?) so if any of these are ice cold I apologize

Adam and the Rose family should be connected in some way. Visual cues are important and there's so much spicy potential, especially if the dynamic originated with Summer

For Roman, the best and longest standing villain of the show, to be one of the few on-screen Grimm deaths is borderline parody. Personally, I think Ruby should’ve had a more active role in his death, even if by accident or setting up circumstances like she did Neo

Ozma’s situation is far more horrifying and sympathetic than Salem’s. The gods proved that they could bring Ozma back to life in his own body, but instead he’s forced to be a body snatcher? That’s fucked up in so many ways. She may be able to die again and again, but I think it’s way worse to die knowing you’re dooming several people at once

May Marigold isn’t that great of trans rep. She’s so unmemorable and inconsequential to the plot that the only reason I remember her at all is because she’s The Trans One. Like, glad they made her trans, and the reveal was respectful and clear and not even plot-relevant!, but maybe make her a good character first?

If we’re going by the show’s queer golden rule of blushing = romantic feelings, then Ruby had a crush on Emerald in V3 and it should have been explored way more for angst purposes

#rwde #thanks for asking #i will never shut up abt adam/rose family connections and theres nothing you can do abt it #blake or weiss being the one to take down roman would also be interesting but i think the most effective dynamic is ruby and roman #honestly you could make a sitcom w those two and id watch the shit out of it #'my roommate is a mob boss'#(depending on how old Roman actually is. RWBY isnt great at depicting ages unless youre on an extreme end)#(idk age them up for college lmao)#also i 100% hc ruby as a trans lesbian #qrow took her to get her first dose of E #trans solidarity babeyyyyy #this is a completely different topic but yangs existence in canon makes way more sense if both tai and raven are trans as well #canon raven does Not seem the type to allow herself to be in a long term relationship much less get pregnant #or if she did she'd take the child to raise as a protege. a true heir to the branwen name #not leave the kid behind for... reasons #why did raven run again? i think the show ended on 'she was scared' or smth. or didnt trust oz bc... bird #idk the show was dumb abt the whole thing #anyway i'll happily explain if anyone wants more elaboration ^w^

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marrow-minded · 1 year

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SPOILERS FOR RWBY VOL 9 BUT HOLY SHIT I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS FOR HOURS

sorry for the janky screen recording twitter sucks and im impatient

OKAY SO LIKE. WOW????? this is so much and its SOOOOOOO GOOD like both ruby and jaune both have completely valid points !!

ruby is finally being allowed to snap a little, shes allowed to be pissed at her friends and sister who have all done a pretty piss poor job of supporting her, despite the fact that shes the youngest and has the most weighing on her. its great that show is lampshading (something i never expected to say) the fact that ruby is usually just looked to for the answers as well as telling blake to shut up when she tries to do the old "i know things look bad but" schtick that always shows up in the show. its FANTASTIC that ruby just leaves them behind even if we know itll be temporary; i truly hope this is a wakeup call for WBY who have been passive in rubys life for FAR TOO LONG despite all ruby has done for them

and its AMAZING that ruby *CALLED BLAKE AND YANG OUT* for prioritizing their relationship NOW! like i said on twitter, rubys reaction to the bees means her "what" in reaction to weiss' "finally" earlier in the vol wasnt confusion. it was disbelief that this is the priority for her sister and teammate after everything and considering where they are; not in a homophobic way (duh) but in a "we are literally in hell and salem is still OUT THERE with two relics and a maiden and we destroyed a fourth of the known world bc of a plan crumbled as we made it AND PENNY IS DEAD and we dont know what happened to our friends and all the civilians and NOW this is a priority?!" way, WHICH IS SO FANTASTIC. i just hope that the writers let this stand and dont have ruby walk back her feelings to protect WBY's because shes 100% RIGHT.

and jaune. oh jaune. i think its easy to forget that jaune really has sort of revolved his entire life around ruby for the past few years; hes really the only one thats never left rubys side, except unwillingly. so hes really not wrong when he says that it IS all about ruby, it always has been; yes, he chose to go with her but doing that has led him to do some really terrible things and of course when he's experienced such high levels of trauma (they all have) and then is abandoned to a madhouse of the ever after, hes gonna snap, AND HE ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HES NOT WELL. he knows hes struggling, he realizes that he shouldnt have yelled, but hes VALID FOR STRUGGLING IN THE FIRST PLACE. again, i hope its something that the writers let continue naturally and not just have it walked back or dismissed as a lot of male trauma is done in the show (looking at you ren i see you)

side note, how WILD is it that yang literally *moves in front of blake* as if to protect her from RUBY?! like thats so insane to me, and it just VALIDATES rubys annoyance and betrayal that yang is prioritizing blake and their feelings over ruby and their situation here. also, yang protecting blake???? i thought blake was the fiesty one? the one that had a shouting match with weiss for hours? the one that shoved past sun and shouted "hes mine" to get at roman? then again, ever since adams death she barely been able to fight at all so maybe i should just stop being surprised that blake is a wilting wallflower even around her own friends. and BOLD MOVES from yang to act like RUBY is the dangerous one when shes rightfully showing anger and frustration, like yang isnt literally the one known to have anger issues and lash out at ppl. i guess its only okay when yang is mad, ruby really is just having a hysterical woman moment i suppose

UGH this is just so nice and i hate to praise miles about anything but hes always voiced jaune very well and this is a real standout moment from both him and lindsey. good catharsis and felt really good for a least a tiny TINY bit of my critiques of team rwby to be acknowledged by ruby and jaune; hopefully this shit can continue and let them ALL learn and honestly i hope we get even more scenes of ruby and jaune laying into others/each other and bringing criticism that rwde has been saying for years to the screen

#rwby v9 spoilers #rwby spoilers #OUGHHHH TASTY

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richardsphere · 1 year

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How the writing accidentally “protag’d” Jaune, and how to prevent a repeat in V10

Look i’ll defend Jaune every day of my life, he’s a necessary grounding force in the story, a well written tragic figure and often an important voice of reason (as a result of being one of the more grounded figures in the show) and just generally a likeable guy. He’s one of my top 5 characters in the show even. But god you can see that even the showrunners are angry at how much he’s the only character they still really “know”how to write. and the worst part is that all of the choices are individually defensible and often even the right choice for the narrative. This readmore focusses on speculations regarding the doylist reasons behind jaune’s prominence in certain scenes, and how to make adjust their course-correction strategy to be more effective.

Like i made a post before about how S1-3 were light on characterising Team RWBY because there’s gonna be a roadtrip arc and we’ll give them their own arcs to flesh them out then. And Jaune was verry much crucial in the early game (because he’s simultaneously ruby’s foil, an audience exposition receptical and Pyrrha is going to die and as the regular “normal guy” in the show no one else is better at representing the idea of “a regular life of happiness VS a great destiny that ends in tragedy” for our Achilles paralel). Then S4 splits the party up to give us the chance to characterise Blake, Yang and Weiss with their own arcs, so you’d expect those 2 seasons to give them some depth? But now that these characters are spread across 4 seperate continents we need to set up so many new side-characters for them to interact with that we dont have the time for introspection, we need to flesh out the politics of Menagerie, introduce Fake!Spring maiden, introduce Willow and Klein and Whitley and Jaques first(?) on screen appearance, and introduce Salems other lieutenants and set up the mystery of Oscarpin.... and Oopsie thats S4 done, we didnt have the time to flesh out any of WBY. And because its hard to make Ruby mourn something as abstract as a physical location, we’ll substitute it by making her foil mourn an actual person. So S4-5 doesnt flesh out RWBY, (and strangely does little for Team Sloth, who should probably have been shown mourning Pyrrha as well) but does flesh out Jaune a bit more. (which tbh, is justifiable, he’s the OG exposition-hearer and we’re about to enter the part of the plot where none of our protagonists know whats going on. Being “the guy who doesnt know stuff” isnt a schtick they can maintain for the guy anymore so we need to give him a new thing to do and “grief” is a good-enough thing for now). But at least WBY can have their own arcs to flesh themselves out right? only this is where the writers realise, we cant resolve or explore Yangs issues with Raven too deeply, because the Raven issues are inseperable from the “fate of Summer” mystery so they leave that on a half-resolution.

Weiss runs away from home, but that doesnt deepen her because “doesnt want to be with Jaques” was one of her first known traits. but at least we know she’s got a brother (who is in like one scene) a butler and moms alcoholism. Which leaves us in Menagerie, where we get some nice exploration of Blakes loving parents, but this arc doesnt really deepen out what makes her tick because Adam isnt in this arc and it turns out that: No Blake does not actually have some deep-seated reason to join the fang, she was just sort of born into it. which sort of waters her motivations down from “freedomfighter trying to achieve justice in a cruel and unjust world” to “Inherited the family business”. (and while “family legacy” is a big thing in RWBY, what with Ruby, Weiss and Jaune all being motivated by that specific thing, there are no other characters in the Menagerie arc that can contrast/foil/emphasise this part of her character so this new reveal about Blakes core motivations is a bit mellow). So after S5, the showrunners look over their charactersheets and realise “dammit, Jaune is currently the most well-defined character?” and they do the first thing they can think of: They eject Jaune from the plot ASAP. They cut the train in two so we can finally have some time with just RWBY and give them a little arc and some characterisation... And someone in the writers room piped up and said “wait, isnt the traincrash the only part we can really justify making Ozpin drop the lamp” and suddenly the “reaching Ansel safely”arc becomes the “Salem’s basic motivations and Ozpin cant be trusted” arc. so instead of “characterising RWBY” we get Ozposition and Salem backstory. But at least we get to see the heroes react to the revelation that Ozpin is full of it right? Well sort of, because while we do get a Qrow Lashing Out scene, Maria pipes in and reminds them “we’re allready holding the lamp, dont get emotional right now we cant afford a second grimm-magnet in this undefensible wilderness position”. (which yeah, fair point i guess she’s making a valid point but also, bad for the writing) And while you’d expect “our mentor cant be trusted” to be the perfect inciting incident for some character introspection, our next destination is the Brunswick farm, where the apathy lives. Now i love the apathy as a concept, and its a well written mini-arc. But whichever writer thought it was a good idea to follow the “our heroes are at the perfect moment for some real character-drama” up with a monster with the power to make characters behave in manners they normally would not behave, needs to surrender their christmass bonus. Like i get that you could argue they’re trying to go for “monster as analogy” but if you want to deepen out the characters here you really want the characters to respond to the issue in different, specific ways that flesh them out as individuals. but instead they are all forced into the same emotional state, which serves only to homogonise RWBY and make them less distinctive and identifiable. So the apathy cuts out our first real opportunity for some RWBY together-in-crisis exploration, but we fix the bike and make our way to Jaune’s Sisters Place for a second “ozpins full of shit” reveal, except this time to characters who arent going to be forced into non-response by Maria/Magic Apathy, and OOPS we just gave JNR the characterbeat that RWBY should’ve had. This is also when someone in the writers room (justifiably) pipes up: “wait, this is our last stop before we leave Mistral isnt it, and we’re not coming back to Mistral ever again afterwards right?”, and someone else answers yes, and the first guy responds “why did our 3 seasons in Pyrrha’s home-place never once make us meet her grieving family again?” and the second guy palms their face and said “allright you’ve got a point” and we get the Pyrrha Statue Scene. Which moves Jaune from “actively seeking death” to “Willing to postpone his his Suicinder until there’s no one left to mourn him” We kill Adam while the plot prevents Weiss from ever seeing the weight of her family’s sins (yet again) as S6 comes to an end, and despite the writers taking active precautions to prevent it from happening, they’ve once again managed to flesh out Jaune without truly exploring the shows namesake team... And we get to S7, and they do the sensible thing and once again write Jaune out of the story by making him a traffic-cop who will not be involved in any plots or sub-plots for a while. But, We also brought back Penny, This is Watts’ only arc as a villain so we need to make him ominous and let him have his screentime, and we want to be interesting and make this arc Villain VS Villain with Ironwood VS Salem so the heroes wont actually get to interact with any of the antagonists for this plotline, allthewhile introducing Clover and the Aceops, setting up the Spear of Damocles and the Huntresses. So the heroes just spend a lot of time doing small fetch-quests that dont connect to anything too significant as the show tries to set the stage for S8. Also, this is our fourth? concecutive story about learning not to follow authorities blindly (Lionheart, Ozpin, Cordovin, Ironwood) so the show really struggles to sell the heroes trust in Ironwood when he introduces “operation world-wide grim-insurgence”. So a lot of this story-arc sort of falls flat as we spend most of S7 figuring out that, yeah the guy wanting to create a worldwide grimm-insurgence is probably not entirely morally right to do so. So S7 doesnt end up fleshing out anyone but perhaps Ren’s taste in bootleather, as it’s too busy setting up and fleshing out the villains to spend time on our heroes. Weiss does get to interact with her family though to flesh her out more. But the “confronting my asshole dad” thing is short and strangely low-stakes. (We havent seen verry much of Weiss’ homelife even during the V4 bit she was at home, and weiss has been largely sheltered from his “corporate crimes”, never getting to be in any scene that hints or adresses those victimised by the SDC. As a result his arrest at her hands lacks an emotional punch) S7 ends with Qrow broken, clovers death and Ironwood’s villain reveal as well as Penny as the Winter Maiden. S7 was so weak on characterisation for the main-cast, and semi-removed lessons learned in the last 3 seasons to a point where Jaune being largely absent ends up largely shielding him from the “did no one learn their lesson” feeling that permeates S7. And then we get to S8. S8 is still largely Villain VS villain, with our heroes forced to fight logistics of food-supplies and evactuations instead of dealing with any antagonistic force until Ironwood threatens the MantleBomb. This is also our last chance to characterise Penny. We get a little bit of “weiss loves her family” and Yang pining for Blake in the snowfields. But all the plotbeats go to Oscar, Emerald, Penny and the villains again until the team decides to use the spear, S8 is also largely a nothingburger for RWBYJNR is what im saying. Until the climax that is, where we dont get much in the form of characterisation beyond “the ones on the bridge grieve the fallen” but then Penny makes the sacrifice play, And Jaune screams. Now i understand why it couldnt be RWBY members to do the stab, (WBY have no real relation to penny and are already established as the sort-of-pragmatic castmembers who, while not happy wouldnt really “struggle” too much and Ruby needs to maintain her “innocence” for marketability purposes) so obviously Jaune was the only real option because as Ruby’s foil and with Penny being a maiden “ladykiller” has a sort-of second-hand connection to her. but goddamn could the show let the main four do SOMETHING important already without cutting away from their responding emotions for once? Then we get S9, the show realises again that it needs to get rid of jaune because they’ve overused him again, creates a Jaune-free window for the characters to interact in again but wastes it’s chance again as it focusses on setting up new characters and building the setting and mystery for this new story-arc. Again. So according to some basic patern recognition: when we enter V10, expect Jaune to disapear from the story for the first half-season as the writers will, once again try to give the rest of the cast the spotlight back, only for exposition and worldbuilding to steal said spotlight from the cast anyway. Then when the plot kicks off and its “all hands on deck” Jaune will return to the plot because All Hands includes his healing hands, and that means that Jaune gets to once again be absent for the boring logistics of the narrative, and present for the characterisation bits. so now that we have identified root of the shows current problem, how would I fix it? I’d suggest moving the “Jaune free” plot-zone back a bit. Instead of putting it at the start of the vacuo arc, move it back to the early mid-point. Hell make him extremely prominent during the “boring worldbuilding” phase of our Vacuo arc. Then his dissapearence from the plot the inciting incident for the mid-point of the arc. Put him in prison/coma/other state of not-in-the-show for a bit and make Jaune’s Absence one of the things the rest of the cast can react and emote to/about. For example: Tyrian shows up, Tries to stab someone, Jaune interposes himself and turns out oops thats a poison and jaune slips into a coma. (no jaunes aura did not heal him from Alyx’ poison, the paperpleasers did cause they’re literal magic) How does Ruby respond to possibly losing her First Friend, especially now that she’s already lost her second friend (sorry weiss, but you werent a “friend” until after penny, pre penny you were an aquantence at best) How does Yang respond to Ruby’s response, does she go back to Momsis mode? How does Weiss respond to the guy who saved her life at Haven? How do ReNora respond to losing the last thing that seperated Team Sloth from JNPR being gone, possibly forever if they dont get the antidote from [Medical lab] Does Oscar become the new leader of OREN? (pronounced Orange) just, dont only remove Jaune from the setup, remove him from the actual plot next season.

#rwby #rwby analasis #rwby critical #rwby critique #I do acknowledge that making a Jaune Coma the inciting incident for the mid-arc would implicitly make Jaune important #But also it'd just be the logical way to remove him from the plot WHEN it gets going #writing analysis #rwby analysis

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