#monstro the grimm whale

[oddlyhale]

I feel like V8 would've won me over, just a little bit if Team RWB swallowed their pride and fear and went to - at least - fight in the ongoing war waging between the Atlas Army and the Grimm.

I really thought we would get:

Ruby and Weiss decide to take the plunge and fly out into the battlefield on one of her winged summons. (Perhaps May's scolding snapped them into action.) Ruby is struggling still to get her silver eyes to kick in, now that the situation is overwhelming her, but she keeps trying to focus. Perhaps making herself remember how she faced the Leviathan.

Salem is standing at the open mouth of Monstro and sees the two. Seeing Ruby makes her act quickly, knowing the silver eyes can do some serious damage, and tries sending Grimm after Weiss and her summon. Ruby finally gets the energy to fire back with a shot of her silver eyes and, while it doesn't fully kill Monstro, it does weaken it. Meanwhile, we can see that Salem is overwhelmed by the attack and is sinking backward into the whale to retreat.

Ruby sees this and tells Weiss that they should go after her, so they do.

Even if it didn't totally kill Monstro, it would've at least shown that Ruby was really trying to make the attacks come to a halt. Now with Monstro weakened, it stops puking out Grimm goo and the Atlesian soldiers can whip out the remainder.

Also, I just really want Ruby to finally face Salem. It's been fucking years and Ruby has yet to have her main character moment where she comes face to face with Salem and actually fights her.

#rwde

[blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites]

RWBY Monstra’s Allusion

Volume 7 ended with Salem riding into Atlas atop of a giant whale Grimm referred to as Monstra. Those who pay attention to the fairy tale theme of the show most likely figured out where this was leading to, but for those who didn’t, I’ll put a little insight as to what the whale actually meant for the story, as well as other aspects probably never thought about.

The name and general whale appearance of this Grimm is a clear nod to Monstro, the giant whale that ate the heroes in the story of Pinnochio. As the wooden boy was looking for his father, he is told that he was swallowed up by a whale, and soon suffers the same fate.

Seeing as how Penny got a lot of attention for Volumes 7-8, this whale was obviously a sign that things were gonna go left, even if Penny didn’t actually interact with it at all. Fun fact, there was a whale figure in Pietro’s workshop briefly seen in the first episode of Volume 7, making the volume begin and end with a whale.

Now, a lot of people suspected that the whale was actually based on Moby Dick, the monstrous whale from the same named novel. This is also true, but I’ll go into detail on how this story was combined with Pinocchio and implemented into RWBY.

So we have Ironwood, who is based on the Tin Woodman, a woodcutter who was cursed by a witch to lose his humanity and turn into a tin figure. Earlier posts of mine have revealed that Ironwood takes some literary elements from Pinocchio as well. It’s heavily implied that he got his first robotic parts from Pietro, who is based on Geppetto, the toy maker. The Tin Man gets repairs done on his body in a similar manner. Ironwood essentially is another Pinocchio, but instead of gaining humanity like Penny, he loses it in the war against Salem, the witch.

Now, let’s say that this Pinnochio comes across the giant whale. He is determined to fight it, but ends up too caught up in the battle, and loses his sanity because of it. The whale then takes down this Pinnochio and leaves him to drown in the water it resides in. This is literally the story of Moby Dick. I conclude that Ironwood also takes literary elements from Captain Ahab, the “protagonist” of the novel. A high ranking hunter (Ahab/Ironwood) who has lost a body part (leg/arm) gets obsessed with fighting a whale, ends up driven mad with anger and vengeance. At the end of their stories, they suffer the consequences of their actions, turning into their own villains. They both literally and figuratively lose their humanity and end up dragged underwater by their greatest enemies, sinking along with their “ships”.

Penny and Ironwood are clear foils of each other. Penny is the Pinocchio who gains allies, defeats the whale (metaphorically) and earns her humanity, while Ironwood is the Pinocchio who can’t quite win the battle, slowly loses himself in the fight against the monster (paralleling the story of Captain Ahab & Moby Dick), and just like the captain, loses allies, gets dragged under the waters, and dies.

#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby volume 8 #james ironwood #general ironwood #penny polendina #pietro polendina #rwby salem #salem rwby #pinocchio #wizard of oz #tin woodman #moby dick #rwby allusion #allusion rwby #rwby analysis #rwby meta

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 13 (Finale) Rundown

It’s been a month or two since the finale aired, and honestly I needed that time to organize my thoughts on it and what I think may happen next. And I was busy becoming an art major. That too. Oh, and a little thing called COVID-19.

So our season finale begins with one of the fights we had most been looking forward to, JNR and Oscar vs Neo. Jaune wants to avoid a fight and tells her to surrender since she’s outnumbered, but Neo is too confident in her capabilities and just draws her parasol blade. So Nora and Ren start shooting at her to no effect and rush in for melee combat. Also ineffective at first, she just dodges and blocks and counters. Even Ren’s new grapple line blades do next to nothing, she just does a split to dodge under his flying kick. Oscar runs in to attack with his cane, but she counters and flips him into the air with the lamp getting knocked off his belt and being in the air between them. Both thrust their sticks to try and catch it, but Oscar gets it first and sticks his landing. Neo just starts slashing at him as he backs away, and Jaune steps between them to repel her with his shield’s gravity Dust burst. One thing you notice pretty quickly about the fight is how casually Neo seems to be taking it, taunting her opponents the whole time by making faces and being theatrical with her every move. It’s maddening, but it’s the attitude we came to expect from her after Volumes 2 and 3. Teamwork seems the best move, so Nora launches Ren through the air at the ice cream demon while Oscar holds her legs so she can’t move out of the way. Too bad her Semblance is still pretty OP and Ren just shatters an apparently fake Neo. They check down the corridors for any sign of her but instead see Atlesian soldiers who chase after them on Ironwood’s orders.

Back to the battle of the seasons, Penny flies at Cinder with a high speed punch that sends her back into the hallway but she just catches it and uses her Grimm arm to toss her around a bit. Winter attacks with a flock of tiny Nevermore summons before charging in herself with a sword slash, though both do little to phase the nimble Maiden. She summons two glass swords of her own to fight back, and seems to have the advantage. She even takes the time to lecture Winter on how Atlas’s elite hoard so much power in the hopes of maintaining it forever, and how that just starves the rest of the world. It seems like she really means it once starved her, and she refuses to starve again. Some hints of what may have been her tragic backstory here, which I would be very interested to learn in greater detail even if it absolutely won’t redeem her character from the cruel and insane devil she is. I just want to see how she got to this point, where this lust for power came from. It’s certainly ironic that she’s complaining about other people hoarding power when she’s going around stealing Maiden powers all for herself when those were literally made to be divided among four people. Penny re-enters the fight with her swords on strings, but Cinder’s reflexes are apparently on the level of Ultra Instinct since she’s able to dodge and block all her spinning blades AS WELL as Winter’s attacks once she draws her second sword and joins in again. The two are at least able to avoid getting hit in return, but the whole is just going nowhere fast even if they’re blocking her way back into Fria’s room. So Cinder lashes out and flies at them with all her might, grabbing them both by the neck and rocketing through the other wall of the medical room... to reveal this secret room was not in a subbasement as we may have assumed but the top floor of a skyscraper. Now they’re all in the open air and Winter is the odd one out since... y’know, she can’t fly. She doesn’t make things better for herself by stabbing Cinder’s hand and making her drop the Specialist. With only one person to worry about now, Cinder tosses Penny away and kicks a flaming sword her way. Penny catches it, but didn’t expect it to explode and knock her back some more. The two have a floating standoff with Cinder becoming increasingly frustrated and calling Penny a toy, as if she’s Tom Hanks in 1995. But her attention is brought elsewhere as she’s hit by a blast of ice. In one of the most badass sights this Volume has offered, Winter is flying on the back of a summoned Manticore. The 2v1 fight resumes in this airborne setting, and Cinder has a harder time dodging and countering their speedy strikes while also focusing her powers on staying in flight. But when she and Winter charge at each other, her sword is unfortunately able to cut through the summon and leave Winter in a freefall. As if to add vindictive insult to injury, she also shoots a fireball at the Schnee that takes down her Aura. Satisfied with her work, Cinder flies back to the building while Penny is left with the choice of following her and dutifully protecting the Maiden powers or saving Winter. She makes the right choice, and saves her friend. Winter thinks she should have just been left to die, that she matters less than the mission. But Penny disagrees.

Back with JNRO, they’re still running from the Atlas soldiers. Whatever scuffle Oscar had with Neo before the others came along is now wearing on him and he begins to fall behind. In all the rushing through the labyrinth of hallways, he gets separated from the group. Just as he’s lost hope of rejoining the others and the guards are just around the corner, the farmboi gets pulled into an empty room and kept quiet via a hand over his mouth by... Nora? A very silent and smiling Nora... A Nora who suddenly lunges at him with a lace parasol... okay this is clearly not Nora. This is clearly Neo in a very cruel and deceptive disguise, as made clear by her eyes changing to the usual pink and brown when Oscar fortunately dodges out of the way of her attack and back into the hallway. Worse still, she swiped the Lamp from him in the heat of the moment, and the little devil makes a break for it. Jaune is looking for Oscar, but finds Neora instead, and she just dodges around him and springboards off his shield. Then... things get rough. She runs into Ren next... while looking like Nora. He still shoots at her as she barrels towards him but she just blocks with her parasol as she is want to do. When he meets her halfway and takes a jumping slash at her... she twists the knife in; changing her eyes back from her own determined mismatched pink and brown to Nora’s scared and confused turquoise. In that split second of seeing his beloved’s face staring at him with such fear, Ren hesitates and stops the attack, so she hits him in the face and trips him to the floor before running away some more. Jaune is still on her tail and runs past his dazed and shellshocked teammate. When he rounds the corner Neo had just headed down however, he only finds more Atlas soldiers firing at him. The real Nora comes running from gods know where and the three head back the way they came. Nora checks over her shoulder to see if they’re still being followed, but what’s more interesting is that Ren can be seen crying as he brings up the rear. Obviously he’s quite upset with how easily Neo could get him to hesitate just by posing as Nora and playing on his feelings for her. She probably didn’t realize just how complicated the Renora relationship is, but it worked perfectly in her favor. Ren’s tried to set aside his feelings but they’ve now dramatically affected his capacity to do his job. Like it or not, he HAS to talk about it or else everything is gonna implode. And of course, when we cut to see the armored soldiers chasing our heroes there’s also a more formally uniformed female officer in the back who goes sauntering off in the other direction. That was a very speedy costume change, you little sugar gremlin. Anyway, she got away with the Lamp. That’s no good.

What’s even less good is that we cut back to a temporarily black screen and the harsh wrenching sound of tearing metal. Turns out its the POV of Fria as she blinks back into consciousness and sees the satisfied face of Cinder as she starts a monologue about how the elder woman’s time is up. Fria admits she has been waiting for a good long while, but she can’t remember what or whom for. Cinder confidently informs her it was for this very moment. For her~ But as she goes for the Reverse Flash kill with her Grimm hand, the Winter Maiden shows off one of the reasons she’s survived this long. A good strong grip on Cinder’s wrist stopping her before she can make contact and keeping the Fall Maiden from getting any further. The hungry wolf won’t be gobbling up Granny tonight, deary. Faced with the tired but steadfast face of a woman who has likely lived and fought several times longer than Cinder has been alive, accented by the blue flame of her Maiden magic, the evil woman pulls back. But she’s persistent, and tries a glass dagger instead. That goes even worse, as a pulse of magic sends her flying backwards. With more magic on display than any Maiden we’ve seen before, Fria summons a cyclone of pure cold air and ice around herself and starts floating in the middle of it. Cinder’s Grimm fingers start to freeze (since they don’t have Aura like the rest of her body and thus get no protection from the cold, thank you for setting that concept up in episode 3 Weiss!) so she has to back away further. That becomes a full temporary retreat out of the room when the coldnado sends a pod door at her and the intensity only keeps increasing. Much like Professor Xavier in Logan, Fria is already very old and isn’t in the most stable state of mind anymore, so she loses control of the tempest and it busts a hole in the roof. Penny and Winter land a short distance away and marvel at the majestic chaos. Winter claims this is the power of a fully realized Maiden, which makes me wonder if Raven was able to do something similar or if it takes decades to unlock this kind of mastery. Winter tries to get in closer and reach Fria, but the blizzard winds are enough to destroy the material of her glove and leave her fingers red with chill. Something has to be done, but after the beating she took she’s in no shape to do it. So Penny jumps in instead, much to Winter’s dismay.

Continuing the hopscotch course of dismal vibes, we go back to JNRO as they’re hiding in the training room and Oscar is apologizing for having lost the lamp. Jaune tries to reassure him, but Ren is even more pessimistic. He doesn’t think they were ready to even become Huntsmen and Huntresses which is just so painful to hear. Nora of course disagrees, but Ren has a harsh rebuttal: if they’re ready and capable, then why don’t they have any of the relic they’re supposed to be protecting? Why haven’t they succeeded in their most important mission? Oscar seems even more hurt by this reminder, and Jaune puts on his serious leader voice to tell Ren that’s enough. I would half agree with Ren, and unfortunately its a half that blames him. It’s not that the team wasn’t ready for this, it’s that HE wasn’t EMOTIONALLY ready for this. Like I said before, Neo took advantage of his emotional state to make him hesitate and overwhelm him.  Their moping is interrupted by Pietro and Maria chiming in over their Scrolls. Was there any doubt that a genius like Dr. Polendina would be able to undo Ironwood’s communication shutdown?? We see Yang and Blake for the first time this episode as they shoot at Atlas robots and head for an airship, one which Maria is getting ready to pilot as their getaway vehicle. Nora informs her of their current hiding place, but the soldiers happen to close in at that moment and the three hide behind Jaune’s hard-light extended shield... wait. Three?? OH NO WE LOST THE BABY!!!! It would seem Oscar ran off on his own to try and fix things, and he insists they leave without him.

Back to the impending ice age, Penny is slowly making her way through the blizzard. Her foot gets frozen to the ground, but she hits the boot jets and it busts out again. There in the eye of the storm she finds Fria, and the android approaches carefully before gently touching her ankle to get her attention. The fire in the old lady’s eye dies down and she notices Penny. Penny is a of course a sweet and thoughtful girl and rather than demanding Fria stop the storm she just asks if she’s okay. Fria most certainly does not seem to feel okay, again mentioning that she had a job to do. She clarifies that she was supposed to protect the power of the Winter Maiden until the time came for her to pass them on. Penny notices the machines are broken and buried in a wall of ice, so the more safe transfer method is no longer possible. Fria laments that she may have taken longer to be ready for passing the powers along than she should have, but promises she’s ready now. She knows that means dying, that’s one thing she still remembers quite well. The elderly Maiden quiets the cyclone and floats down to collapse in Penny’s arms. Not gone yet, just weary, and hoping to learn the name of the sweet young lady who’s helping her like this. Penny gives her name, and now Fria asks the million lien question: Since Penny is suddenly showing up now after Fria’s only interactions being with Winter for so long... does that mean Penny is the One? The poor little android doesn’t know what to say to that, and for damn good reason. She knows Winter is supposed to be the one to get the Maiden powers, but she also knows Winter would use those powers to obey Ironwood’s cruel plans for Atlas and Mantle. If she takes the powers, she can make sure that doesn’t happen AND that they don’t fall into Cinder’s hands. But that would also mean betraying her boss and her orders, betraying her friend Winter. So what is she gonna do, what she’s been told to do or what she feels is right? This is the culmination of the struggle she’s been wrestling with the entire volume, nay her character’s entire existence! She is a creation of Atlas, but she is also a girl with a heart and soul of her own. Such a tragic clash of motivations! 

Speaking of motivations clashing, we cut down to Ironwood in the Atlas vault. He hears the hum of the elevator approaching and assumes it’s Winter coming to report Fria’s demise and her own acquisition of the Winter Maiden powers, and thus begins apologizing for making her perform such a morally dubious act. Instead he finds Oscar, posing rather seriously with Ozpin’s his cane and fixing James with his best look of fed up disapproval. With such a formal air about him, James has every reason to suspect Oz is back at the helm and asks which of the two he has the pleasure of addressing. It’s just Oscar though, but Oscar is plenty on his own. James thankfully doesn’t yet know that Oscar has lost the Lamp and thinks he just chose not to bring it down here with him, acknowledging that he isn’t very trustworthy right now. Oscar is a farmer to his very roots and wants to help the trust between our heroes and the Atlas forces regrow. He believes they can all come together again. But James is stuck in a guarded state of mind and thinks Oscar came to fight for his cause. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Oscar admits that he feels scared, and whenever he does he holds the cane and it helps calm him down, likely due to its significance to those who came before him. But he puts the cane away as a sign that he will face his fear without that aid, that he will be brave. James just thinks that’s another dig at him, that Oscar is calling him scared. Oscar reminds him that EVERYONE is scared right now, for good reason, and that fear is not something to be ashamed of, that it just gives us a chance to show the content of our character by how we handle the fear. James just snaps at him, says that it’s easy for Oscar to spout such platitudes when he doesn’t have to make life changing decisions for the sake of a Kingdom. As he starts circling around the poor farmboi and backing him towards a dead end ledge, he insists that no matter what labels they put on him he was RIGHT. He was right about what would happen if he opened his heart and trusted others, that all his worst fears came true because he went against his gut and did what the kids told him he should. Except he is absolutely NOT right. Things were going far more smoothly for him once he started trusting Robyn and told her and the council about the trouble he had to deal with, and despite the obviously concerning setback of Watts shutting down Mantle’s heat they handled that situation with very little trouble. It was only once Cinder popped in to sew doubt and paranoia back into his mind that it all spiraled out of control, and that was entirely his fault. If Cinder hadn’t stepped in, they might have found the Seer in Watts’ bag and killed it immediately instead of it interrupting a tense conversation. Robyn now knowing what the Tower is for would mean construction could resume without shipments getting stolen, and perhaps they could have negotiated a way to divide up the materials so the wall could get fixed too. Just spit balling here, what could have been. But no, it all went belly up and Jimmy is only fanning the flames. Oscar tries to remind him that his current plan of abandoning Mantle will be betraying an entire city of thousands to die alone in the cold, but James is having none of it. It’s an excellent philosophical puzzle to try and work through, but the way he sees it none of that matters compared to preventing Salem’s victory. He thinks he’s the only one who can see the big picture, who is making his moves with the intention of changing the final result no matter the cost.

But that’s what’s so dangerous about that mindset. People he writes off as small minded and soft, like Robyn, the council, and even Oscar (possibly by extension even Ozpin)... they’re the good people who think first and foremost about preventing tragedy and loss in the moment, who refuse to budge on their morals of protecting the innocent and will never trade lives. It’s the same kind of difference seen in Superman vs the Elite. Team RWBY and their friends don’t believe in necessary sacrifices for the greater good, but Ironwood has become singlemindedly focused on stopping Salem, likely out of the guilt and humiliation of being so helpless against her back in Volume 3. This is a chance to reclaim his honor, and he thinks of little else. That’s how I see it anyway. Oscar calls James out, saying this mindset makes him just as dangerous as Salem herself. But I guess that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and he insists Oscar refer to him as General. Only his friends may call him James, and it seems our good good boy has lost that status. Not that he seems to expect Oscar will have much chance to show him that due respect any time soon, because he pulls out his pistol and SHOOTS THE INNOCENT FOURTEEN YEAR OLD BOY OFF A LEDGE TO FALL TO HIS DEATH!!!! Ironwood has officially made the transition from misguided good guy to full on villain.

As if there wasn’t enough tension and bad news, we go back to Penny who is still unsure how to answer Fria’s question. What is the right choice to make, the best choice for everyone’s sake? She has no idea. But she had better decide fast, because Cinder crashes through the ice wall and screeches that the powers belong to none but her. Unfortunately for our vicious villain, her Gum Gum stretchy arm comes with a weakness to blades and gets sliced off by a suddenly appearing Winter. Cinder reacts with the appropriate amount of bloody terror and pain that you would expect of someone conscious for an amputation. Winter surveys the room and realizes Fria isn’t long for this world so time is of the essence, but doesn’t have much longer to ponder that before Cinder enters a bloodlust rage. See, apparently whatever monster makeover Salem gave her in the wake of Volume 3 included the ability to regrow her Grimm limb, though it sounds like the process is terribly painful for her and may not have even been something she was expecting to have happen. Regardless, she wants revenge and starts lashing out by summoning blade after blade to throw at Winter. The Specialist manages to block most of them and they turn to dust on impact, but it’s a brutal onslaught that she has to face without any Aura, and one cuts her left arm enough to draw blood, though since it’s burning glass it also seems to cauterize the wound immediately. Let me take another moment to praise the talents of Jessica Nigri. This scene in particular required her to do a lot of screaming and screeching as Cinder, and that cannot be easy on the throat. So the fact that she pulls off those deep dark emotions so well is worthy of respect and sympathy in equal measure. Okay, back to the action. Fria lies on the floor and closes her eyes, passing away peacefully all things considered. Penny holds her hand in her final moments, and a blue glow passes from elder to younger woman. We go back to Oscar for a moment or two, but I’ll tackle his last couple scenes in bulk in just a minute. Winter is getting tossed around, and her hair has been pulled free of its bun to add to her disheveled look... and our overwhelming thirst for her. Battle battered or not, she’s looking like a real snack with her hair down. Cinder stalks toward her to continue the beating and possibly deal the killing blow, but is distracted by a snowflake flying past her face. Well that’s interesting... And then it becomes many snowflakes, a veritable flurry kicking up. She turns around with some legit fear and concern on her face, and her worries are confirmed. Penny’s eyes glow and flare up with a fierce green fire as she stands resolute as the new Winter Maiden. She seems ready to use her new powers to fight Cinder despite only just getting them, and clearly has some manner of control already if she was able to start generating snow already. And this does settle another matter of fan speculation, if she qualifies as a candidate for the powers. Welp, now we know. According to the guidelines set by Oz’s bestowing of the original powers and how he explains their transfer process back in Volume 3, you just have to be a young woman below a certain age (or else they probably would have given Amber’s power to Glynda) and have a soul to receive the power from the last user’s. I guess Penny’s blue fairy has come and said she is a real girl in all the ways that count. Her soul is unique and separate from her dad’s, even though he used his old man aura to create her. And she does in fact have a soul and is considered a legit person even though she’s got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts. Cinder is of course outraged that this “toy” was bestowed the powers she came all this way to steal, and gets ready to fight her, but is distracted by Weiss entering the upper observation room and yelling her sister’s name in concern and fear. Cinder probably has a confused and annoyed moment of “I thought I killed you back at Haven...” She gets ready to kill the little Schnee brat for piling on further interruptions to her plan, but that too goes out the window when she notices Ruby had accompanied her partner down to find their Atlesian allies, and likewise Ruby notices her. Ruby does not hesitate for a second and without needing any time to get into the right head-space blasts off a wave of Silver Eyed energy to essentially Solar Flare the whole room.

Now we can go back to Oscar and his dramatic descent. The shot from Ironwood took out his Aura, and he seems like he’s resigned himself to death once he hits the bottom of this pit. As he closes his eyes, they glow for a moment and he hears a voice that’s been absent the entire Volume. Ozpin. He only says Oscar’s name, or at least that’s all we hear, but the boi seems to regain his determination and tries to reach his cane again. He holds it with both hands, extends it, then holds down the lever on the side. Guess a single squeeze was all it took to pop out the cane part under normal circumstances... But now the gears inside the hilt start really turning, and glowing, and it becomes a flashlight as well as a cane. Well, that’s all that seems to happen at first. With a spin and a jab, Oscar thrusts the tip of the cane downward just as he reaches the bottom of the pit. There’s a momentary flash of green lightning around him then... fade to black.

And now we come to what seems to be the epilogue/wrap up of the episode and the Volume itself. And it begins how the show began, with a voice over narration. Not from Salem though, it’s our first motivational speech from Ozpin in a year. He talks about how fear is the only feeling in this world that is universal across every living thing, yet for how common it is we constantly underestimate how powerful it can be. We experience the fear of making close connections and growing to care for others, because that can lead to a loss which we also fear. We fear failure a great deal, I know I definitely do. And those fears only get stronger the more people depend on us to help them with the decisions we make. But Ozpin reminds us that fear itself is not something to worry about or even, dare I say it, fear. The real concern is how we act when we are afraid, who we become. Can we be proud of that version of ourselves, forgive them for what they do under duress? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them as the same person you normally strive to be, or will you look in the mirror and see the enemy you should have feared from the very start? We all find the answer to that eventually.

Now on to what actually happens in these last few scenes, the fitting content to go with Ozpin’s speech. Oscar is falling through the sky towards the ground waaaaay down in Mantle. Guess his attack with the can was strong enough to bust a hole in the bottom of Atlas... straight into the Vault chamber... hope nobody else finds that. Back in the icy former hospital room, Ruby falls to her knees from the exhaustion of using her Silver Eyes. She and Weiss notice a freshly burned hole in the ceiling, as Cinder apparently avoided getting damaged by the SEW blast and escaped. Weiss rushes to check on Winter and see how badly she’s hurt, but all her sister has for her is an accusation. She still doesn’t know what Team RWBY did to get a warrant for their arrests, but she knows it was the catalyst for all of this. Meanwhile Ruby looks to see how Penny is doing, and the ginger girl’s eyes lose their fire as she meets her friend’s gaze, only to gain regret and fear as she turns back around to kneel by Fria’s side. The Winter Maiden is dead, long live the Winter Maiden. But Penny can only mourn the loss of a good person’s life, she takes no satisfaction in being the one to carry on her legacy. Winter actually does reassure her a bit, saying that some part of Fria will always live on in Penny now. We cut down to the blood stained tundra as Atlas police arrive to arrest Qrow and Robyn, who is only now regaining consciousness. Qrow puts up no fight, and it looks like neither will Robyn. Cinder is seen flying above Atlas Academy and screams with rage and hatred, even getting a bit of a dragon vibe in it by having fire erupt from her mouth. I was glad she was the one shown when Ozpin talked about fear of failure, because she did indeed fail. We don’t know how, but JNR make it to the airship pad and onto the getaway ship where the Bees and elderly people are waiting. They take off and of course question the meeting lacking the presence of Oscar and the Lamp, and JNR can only look sad in response. From one sad ship to another, we see Qrow and Robyn aboard a prison airship in cuffs, and Qrow is holding Clover’s bloodstained lucky badge. Despite the last interaction the three shared being a fight, Robyn shows sympathy to his mourning and puts a hand on his shoulders. Can’t wait to see if the two of them try to break out of jail next Volume~ As they fly up to the city in the sky backdropped by the eastern sunrise, a large dark cloud approaches from the west accented by flashes of red lightning. Back to Oscar, he clips the cane to his back and closes his eyes for a few seconds to concentrate and steel his composure. Back to the ice room again, Winter says the girls should surrender to Ironwood. Weiss is heartbroken, you can hear it in her voice, but she has to disobey her sister’s wishes, they simply cannot comply with his cruel plans. Winter seemed to expect that answer, and instead urges them to flee, but Weiss doesn’t want to do that either because it would mean leaving Winter behind while she’s so badly injured. Her big sister insists it simply isn’t like that, this is her giving them a head start before she calls for reinforcements to hunt them down. Weiss is disheartened, but reaffirms the lesson Winter had shared with her earlier in the Volume, they booth have to make decisions for the sake of their own futures that might take them down separating paths. The getaway ship arrives and hovers just outside the first hole Cinder had made in the wall, and Yang greets the group. She’s very relieved to see everyone is okay, but soon finds a lot more happened than she expected. Ruby affirms that they need to head out while they still can, and Weiss gives her sister one more glance before departing. Ruby and Penny also share a look, and Penny decides she will be leaving too. Guess she’s decided once and for all she won’t be helping Ironwood. Winter seems concerned by this development, but realizes she has no right to object or stop her after everything the two of them had talked about since the dinner party. On the airship everyone seems very dour and grim, and Penny looks at her own hand as if asking herself if she had the right to make the choices she did when she is just an Atlas robot. But Ruby and Weiss both lean on her shoulders to reassure her and make sure she knows they are happy she came with them and they believe she did the right thing. That seems to calm her down, and Pietro looks happy to see she has such good friends. On an Atlas rooftop, Cinder is quite satisfied to see Neo deliver the Lamp to her, and takes it without a single word or gratitude. Neo doesn’t like that, I guess even Roman would praise her for a job evilly done. She’s probably starting to realize Cinder is just using her to further her own plans. Speaking of unfortunate realizations, Ironwood gets a message from Winter that simply says “It’s gone”. We’re unsure if she means the Lamp or the Winter Maiden powers. Considering what her job was meant to be, it’s likely the latter. Ironwood takes that news poorly and screams with rage. I too screamed with rage, because we next see that Arthur Watts is actually still alive and just in a jail cell, nursing a black eye and smiling ominously at the mysterious black clouds we saw rolling in. 

Oscar seems to have been playing some Halo 3 recently, because he throws up a bubble shield to cushion his badass superhero landing on the ground. Not just any ground though, he seems to be within the crater where Atlas once was before Ozpin lifted it into the sky. The same crater that has apparently become the main Dust mines for the Kingdom. Perhaps next Volume will give us a closer look at just how awful these mines really are. But let’s address what Oscar has actually done here. He had no Aura after getting shot by Ironwood, so that was not his Semblance. That energy bubble he used to shield himself when busting through the bottom of the pit and cushioning his hitting the ground, that had to be Magic. He’s unlocking more of Oz’s old powers, the union of souls is progressing. But he’s still in control, Oscar is still there. He just has more of Ozpin’s memories and abilities now and used them to save himself, as if the old souls are merging into his existing one as opposed to his new soul fading away into the collective. Maybe the process will be different this time around? Regardless, Ozpin’s voice is back in his head and ready to apologize for everything he put him through. But all Oscar wants to hear right now is what their next step will be to save Atlas. As we cut back up to RWBY and friends flying away from the city, we see that it will indeed need saving very very soon. Transmissions are coming in over the radio of multiple incoming hostiles, to a degree that seems impossible to believe. Our view shifts to the dark storm itself, and a shape begins to emerge from the black and red. A GIANT. FLYING. GRIMM. WHALE! With hundreds of Nevermore, Manticores, and Sphinxes flying around it looking as big as flies by comparison. I have personally dubbed this species the Mobius, and this particular specimen has earned the nickname of Monstro. I can’t imagine there ever being more than one of this thing though, so Monstro will be the only one. He has wings, but what seems to keep him in the air is several large chunks of Gravity Dust embedded in his belly and on top of his head. We pan up over his massive glowing forehead to see the Queen herself riding into battle. Salem has come to Atlas, and she’s wearing a badass (and kind of sexy) new dress to celebrate the occasion. There are grey arm bands on the longer sleeves that look like they’re made of bones, complete with jagged spikes, and a new broach to be the centerpiece between exposed shoulders and a noticeably bigger boob window. The unique aesthetic is aided by more red lines down the curves of her figure. The words “step on me” easily come to my mind, but that may just say something about me in particular. Regardless, she smirks at the camera and it is clear she is here to fuck some shit up.

We’ll have to wait 6 months to see how our heroes deal with that though. Cannot wait. Oh, and it must be noted that the new song for the credits “Fear” is very good, and we can see that another song on the soundtrack called “Until the End” was actually written by Casey Lee Williams as opposed to her dad. Good for her!! If only I could remember which song it was...

#rwby reviews #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #oscar pine #neopolitan #penny polendina #winter schnee #cinder fall #fria the winter maiden #general ironwood #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #Salem #monstro the grimm whale #mobius grimm

[enigma2meagain]

RWBY Volume 7 Episode 13 Thoughts: Pinocchio, Geppetto, The Winter Maiden, and the Grimm Whale

So I just had a reaaaally concerning thought right now.

Penny = Pinocchio

Pietro = Geppetto

Winter Maiden Fria = Blue Fairy

Grimm Whale = Monstro

...Given their inspirations, I kinda have a really bad feeling that Penny will end up dying against Grimm Monstro, given she’s probably the most powerful non-Salem affiliated character atm, RWBY Geppetto might end up giving up his life to revive her, but since because she technically died, the Winter Maiden Powers might end up flying off to someone else again.

RWBY Volume 8 has massive death flags over Penny and Pietro, if this turns out to be correct.

#rwby #rwby vol7 #rwby volume 7 #rwby spoilers #rwby volume seven #rwby vol7 spoilers #rwby volume seven spoilers #rwby volume 7 episode 13 #pinocchio #penny polendina #pietro polendina #rwby pinocchio #rwby geppetto #rwby fria #fria #rwby blue fairy #MONSTRO #Grimm Whale #Polendina Death flag #Rwby v8 #rwby volume 8 #rwby vol8 #rwby pietro

[itsclydebitches]

Something I notice about the giant Grimm is that they never seem to do anything. The Wyvern in V3 awakens from it's mountain and just sits on Beacon, the Leviathan only wades through the ocean and destroys a bell-tower and Monstro only spews out smaller Grimm. Whatever happened to Team RWBY strategizing to take down a Nevermore? These giant Grimm are just showpieces now.

I honestly think part of the problem remains the show's unwillingness to attach lasting consequences—and responsibility—to the group's choices. Because what does a giant grimm do? Destroy things and kill people, to a (presumably) larger extent than the normal grimm would. The Wyvern I give a total pass to because 1. Beacon was already overrun and being destroyed (a giant grimm was kinda overkill at that point) and 2. Since it's not needed for additional destruction/death, it serves the separate purpose of helping to introduce Ruby's eyes. Which I like. We've got to remember that back in Volume 3, no one in the fanbase knew what silver eye powers were, so having Cinder flinch in pain isn't going to explain what that power actually does—her connection to grimm via the weird bug is both unique and forgettable. So you've gotta include an actual grimm in that scene for Ruby to freeze, introducing the primary mechanic of "Silver eyes are a grimm specific weapon." Making the grimm a giant and presumably powerful Wyvern both explains why the group couldn't team up to take it down normally—which, again, was never that grimm's purpose in the first place. Some grimm exist for cool fights, others for forwarding the plot—and, frankly, it's just more entertaining to get a giant grimm for a Volume finale. Freezing it at the top of the tower likewise explains why the school isn't immediately rebuilt. We answer the, "Why are the characters going on a dangerous quest when they could just go back to school?" question by keeping the Wyvern there. So all in all, I think it functions rather well, demonstrating some of the logic threads RWBY now lacks.

The other two though... that's when we run into problems. Because unlike the Wyvern, they're not serving those specific functions of introducing a new power/explaining why Beacon isn't rebuilt. For them, yeah, we absolutely expect the group to have a cool fight and take them out in some epic, strategic, GIF—worthy manner. This is a fighting show! Problem is, in order to have a cool fight with a giant grimm, you need to include the inevitable consequence that things will be destroyed and, likely, people will be killed. These giant grimm aren't appearing in the middle of a forest like the Nevermore did (or even like the first geist did), they're turning up in populated areas. Fighting them will lead to casualties... and the problem there is that responsibility for these situations goes back to the heroes. Their choice to fight Cordovin brought the Leviathan. Their choice to run with Penny kept everyone in Atlas trapped. So if an epic battle wages and people in Argus die, or Salem's army breaks through and everyone in Atlas—including the Mantle evacuees—are overrun... that tragedy is partially on the group. And, notably, the story doesn't want the group to sit with any major consequences of their choices. So nothing bad happens. And nothing bad happens by virtue of there barely being a fight. Ruby just freezes time and sets off her eyes so they don't have to deal with the Leviathan ever reaching shore where the people are. Ironwood's army holds the line until Oscar saves the day so they don't have to deal with the grimm overrunning half the Kingdom. RWBY introduces very high stakes—here's this mega powerful super big ultra evil monster!!—and then pulls back on the follow through because to do otherwise would introduce consequences the story just doesn't want its heroes to face. Anyone remember during the Volume 7 hiatus how we were saying that Salem should absolutely decimate the Kingdom? Yeah, look at all the ways the story bent over backwards to avoid that. Salem randomly waits around to start the fight, the grimm soup only attacks the shields, the whale only spews smaller grimm, the line is never broken, her subordinates turn on her... the plot (flimsily) goes out of its way to ensure nothing horrific happens, as logic dictates it should, because the heroes were the ones to prevent most of the people from escaping. You can't have the mass murder of a Kingdom after that! So it doesn't happen. Even though it should. And when the horrific, permanent things do occur—the destruction of the Kingdom itself—it's fine now because the heroes chose it.

I 100% believe that in a story where the heroes were allowed to own up to their mistakes and grow from them, the fights would likewise have more room to play with the action in creative ways. If you're willing to really put Argus in danger and have the group own up to the choices that led to that, you can choregraph that epic fight on shore. However, all of this isn't to say that RWBY doesn't also have a problem with abandoning the strategic teamwork we started out with. The Hound is the most recent example of this. There, the story's moral stance isn't hindering the action: the Hound attacks in an empty street and then in the mansion with only three non-combat characters nearby. They heroes also haven't done anything wrong in these situations where having a destructive fight would reflect badly on them. Free rein for action! Yet Team JYR still just stands there while Oscar is captured, or take turns launching single attacks rather than trying to defeat it together (though this gets much better during their chase scene). Weiss comes out to help Blake and Ruby, only to be sent right back inside. Ruby is knocked out and Blake can't defeat the acid grimm alone, but Ruby one-shots it from behind rather than the two of them working together. Then Ruby waltzes up and also one-shots the Hound with her eyes, Whitley and Willow's contribution feeling like it hardly matters. If a suit of armor falling on it is enough to finish the Hound off, any punch from any of the fighters would have done the same job. Ruby's eyes already did all the work. Even when the story has all the space it wants for those cool fights against giant and abnormal grimm... it's holding back.

The fights have really gone downhill in the last couple of Volumes and no, it's not because the current animators aren't as talented with choreography as Monty was. It's because the fights are bending in illogical ways to serve the story, rather than the story evolving naturally out of the fights. Why can't Blake take on this grimm? Because the story wants to emphasize how crucial Ruby is to the team's spirits. Why don't we get cool combos to take out the Hound? Because the story wants to reveal the faunus' silver eyes in a shocking manner. Why was Yang taken out from a single hit by Neo? Because the story wanted to quickly established that the main group would "die" in this finale. Why did JYR just stand there and attack in useless ways? Because the story needed Oscar to get kidnapped. Why wasn't the whale established as something to fight, either with traditional combat techniques or with something the group had to come up with? Because the story wanted to introduce the shocking surprise of Ozpin's cane. Etc. etc. All of these fights fail on one level or another because they're just trying to get the viewer to the next plot point, never-mind whether the fight itself makes sense or is entertaining to watch. It's the same logic as the Wyvern—this serves a purpose other than to be a cool fight for the series—but RWBY is no longer putting in the work to get all these pieces to fit together. The Wyvern keeps to the internal logic of RWBY's world, whereas something like Yang's knock out does not. Doing that with the mega grimm that promise incredible challenges and likely destruction just makes that failure to deliver all the more noticeable.

Since the Volume 4 days, the last fight I can remember really liking—that got me super hyped and eager to re-watch it on Youtube—was Ironwood vs. Watts. Looking back, it doesn't at all surprise me that this fight a) didn't require any teamwork, b) didn't have any grimm involved, c) was between a villain and a soon to be villain in an empty space (eliminating those ethics entirely), and d) existed almost solely to just be a Cool Fight (with the minor, plot forwarding details of capturing Watts and Ironwood losing his arm). Ironwood vs. Watts had the freedom to be one of the old school RWBY fights, unencumbered by the questions that now keep tripping the writers up like, "If Team RWBY won with teamwork, why didn't you animate them working as a team?" or "Why did Ruby use her eyes when we wanted to see action and didn't use her eyes to save her own life against Cinder?" or "Why did you introduce this giant grimm, promising an epic fight, only to give the group a mostly non-combat solution? Oh, because that kind of epic fight is going to introduce a lot of other questions you don't want to tackle... Jinn randomly letting Ruby stop time, it is."

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[howlingday]

Setting: AU in which Jaune is a constant drunk. He's about to enter Monstro, but...

Jaune: H-Hey, Salem! Y-You think you're such hot shit because you're a giant, fucking whale?!

Yang: Jaune, for the love of Oum, keep it down! That's not Salem, it's her giant Grimm fortress!

Ren: The same one we're sneaking this bomb into?

Jaune: "Ooh, look at me! My n- (BRAP!) name's Salem, and I'm a fat, bloated sea cow!" Well, just you wait, because soon you'll believe anything when I blow your fat ass with this fucking bo-

Yang: (Covers his mouth, Nods to Ren)

Ren: (Uses his semblance to hide them as they sneak in)

Salem: Now, what do we have here? A couple of intruders? Well, I should be an accommodating host and-

Jaune: CALL ME ISHMAEL, BITCH! (Activates the detonator)

#rwby #jaune arc #yang xiao long #lie ren #salem #rwby au #my hero academia: abridged

[razorblade180]

RWBY Vol8 ep7 review

AKA the episode where Razorblade is validated multiple times. I’ve already made posts to make this review a little quicker so hopefully I won’t take too much of your time.

This episode made me realize just how little we actually saw of Atlas. They have agricultural fields, parks, Sunny streets, and all. I got used to seeing it at night and with the icy blue aesthetic that it didn’t register that it would have regular colors and sunlight like everywhere else. Like I wish we saw more of this! It’s the most technologically advanced place. We could’ve gotten wacky here.

Considering how aggressive Yang is with the Ace Ops, I’m surprised she agreed to be cuffed. This scene did agitate me a little, but that’s vine fault. “Grimm don’t take prisoners.” Sir there is a whale on your kingdom and a queen of grimm. What is unbelievable about a grimm taking a person. A person you’ve been briefed on about being an ancient soul!? I talked about Ren’s moment in a different post but I’m very excited and terrified for the suicide retrieval mission that’s about to happen. I don’t know how far Yang, Ren, amd Jaune think they’ll get inside of Monstro but I’m interested on finding out.

So Hazel’s backstory got a boon for me. The fact that he killed Salem multiple times before breaking makes him switching to beating Oz more sensible, in a insane way. I say that because Hazel looked like he was about beat Oscar more after he told the password; tha man is livid about everything. I want Emerald to use the last question though. It’s a good Aladdin reference, Hazel doesn’t deserve any kind of closure to me, and it would great if Emerald asks Jinn if Cinder cares about her.

Anyone else find it weird they’re having coffee while people are dying!? Ruby and friends never ponder this long about helping people. Like I understand they are trying to figure out exactly where to go but I at least thought they’d be helping in the streets in the meantime. It makes sense for one person to stay back for Nora. I just found it weird

First of all, I’m glad Weiss still knows her kingdom is place to be protected like anywhere else. Second, the May thing made me a little sad. If you remember about a month ago I made a post about how it would be sweet if the only one good thing we get in regards to Henry is him and May actually being happy to see each other and getting along despite whatever family drama or role in life they chose. Oh well. I do however love May trying to compare her situation a little with Weiss through Whitley and Weiss rejected that immediately. Kudos to May though for saying something Ruby and her friends don’t seem to fully get. The perfect mission to save everyone doesn’t exist. Pick where you wanna help and do your best. It’s the reverse of last volume. May is saying “screw Atlas” and they’re like “No that’s messed up.” I get that their mentality and morality isn’t to abandon people, but you can only do so much for everyone as a whole.

Also apparently they never thought about breaking Qrow and Robyn out until now. They’ve been busy of course but I sorta assumed they had a vague plan to at least get Qrow back. That’s brutal. They just cut their losses there a little.💀

I do my best not to be nitpick. But how did she fall from Amity’s position near the mines and landed on the Schnee estate? I want a map right now. Also this makes me believe the main reason Ruby and Blake where confined to drinking coffee instead of saving people was so they would be around for this. Ironwood sent the Ace Ops to tundra to the area where she should’ve fallen. Unless you’re telling me grimm batted her around and knocked her way of course, plot put her here.

I’m fine with it for one reason only besides seeing Penny. The possibility of her going rogue and fighting Ruby has just spiked.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #lie ren #oscar pine #emerald sustrai #may marigold #rwby volume 8 #rwby vol8 #penny polendina

[marzipanandminutiae]

I just saw that same "Disney Ruined Culture" video too. The bit where he complains that "Disney made Pinocchio family friendly!" is especially funny because he acts like Disney's version is all sweet and nice, even though it's still pretty damn dark: The kids turning into donkeys, Monstro the Whale, etc. are all played seriously and dramatically. Sure it's not AS dark as the book, but it's not all a happy frolic.

Right?

Also he even points out that Carlo Collodi’s own editor in 1883 thought the ending with Pinocchio getting hanged was too grim. Those damn actual 19th-century people are ruining dark, cathartic 19th-century stories! How dare they!

Just like Perrault sweetening up the Grimms’ super-edgy Cinderella 115 years before the latter was published. Ugh.

[neale-47-rwby]

RWBY theory: Oscar Semblance (not likely but cool)

So as we all know Oscar doesn’t yet know his semblance and is currently trapped inside the whale Grimm Monstro. 

My theory (although unlikely) is that Oscar can set Grimm on fire by touching them with his bear hand. The fire would also be the color of his arua, green, so it also gives of that wizard of Oz look. This would give him and the others in Team JORY away out. He could set the whale on fire!

I know unlikely but think how cool this would be! 🤩🔥

#rwby #Oscar pine #rwby 8 #rwby theories #neale 47 rwby #mine

[melonishus]

Mercury - I’ve been promoted , I don’t have to listen to your crusty ass anymore

Cinder - [frowns] Oh yes you do

Mercury - What can you do to me now ?

Cinder - The same thing I’ve always been able to

Mercury - [scoffs] Be a colossal BI....

[Cinder snaps her fingers , starting him on fire]

[Mercury runs around screaming]

Emerald - [bites lip] B...but won’t we

Cinder - Get in trouble ? Yes [grabs Emerald] Which is why we’re getting out of here and talking about some things I’ve done to you

Emerald - Give my heart wings ?

[Cinder shakes her head and shoots a hole through Monstro, allowing her to fly out but causing the whale grimm to dissipate mid air before it reached Atlas]

————

Writing Requests are open

#rwby #rwby spoilers #cinder fall #mercury black #melon skits

[kali-writes-meta]

Volume 8 Predictions: Salem's Next Move

This is my third post of Volume 8 predictions, after the "I May Fall" analysis and the Monstro= Space BattleshipYamato post. If you want to read those, they're posted earlier on this site.

Volume 8 opens with the ball in Salem's court. What is her immediate goal? We know something about her long-term goals, but what does she want right now? My theory may surprise you, but bear with me.

I'm going to start by making three suppositions. None of them are proven, all of them may be wrong, but there's solid evidence behind each of them.

Supposition A: Salem Doesn't Want To Be Here.

Remember the jokes about Salem's bath being interrupted by Ironwood's video call, and that's why she covered herself in smoke? That basically happened on a larger scale. Salem wants to defeat Atlas eventually, but not now. Both times we saw her in planning meetings with Team WTCH, her focus was on getting the Sword of Destruction from Vacuo.

We heard Cinder tell Neo that Salem planned to attack Atlas only after finishing the Vacuo job. From what we've seen, Salem's original timetable read like this:

1) Absorb Fall Maiden Powers, destroy Beacon, kill Ozpin, capture Crown of Choice Relic;

2) Absorb Spring Maiden Powers, capture Lamp of Knowledge Relic, let White Fang destroy Haven;

3) Absorb Summer Maiden Powers, capture Sword of Destruction Relic, destroy Shade; and then

4) Absorb Winter Maiden Powers, capture Staff of Creation Relic, and destroy Atlas Academy.

Under the original plan, she would have met the Atlesian military with the powers of three Maidens and three Relics at her command, including the Sword of Destruction. As it is she's meeting them with one unstable Maiden and one Relic which hasn't officially reached her hands.

Conclusion: However impressive she looks to us, Salem THINKS she is underpowered for this engagement.

"But what about the Grimm?" you ask. "Salem has an Army, an Air Force, and a Paratrooper Division worth of Grimm at her command." True, but let's examine that aspect more closely.

Supposition B: Salem's resources are finite.

Salem has tremendous power and infinite life, but not infinite resources. Where do Grimm come from? According to both Jinn and what we've seen, the Grimm emerge from the God of Destruction's "blackened pools of annihilation".

But what happens to the pool after the Grimm emerge? Well, thanks to Kevin the Wyvern, we've seen that.

Back in Volume 3 we saw Kevin drip blackened puddles of annihilation on the streets of Beacon, and Grimm emerge from them.

Now look carefully underneath the Grimm when it stands. There's no more puddle. It's been used up.

But that's just a puddle. Pools are bigger. Yes, at first. But let's compare pictures of the God of Destruction's home both in "The Lost Fable" and in the modern day. The cliffs, crags, and outcroppings of glowing purple crystals are the same, but something's happened to the water table. In ancient times there's a deep lake present.

When Emerald and Mercury see that same spot, it's a dry lakebed with a few scattered pools at the bottom of it.

Salem is running out of Grimmpools. And that means Salem is running out of Grimm.

Salem assembled an Army, Air Force, and Paratrooper Division worth of Grimm once by burning through her remaining Grimmpools. (I'm not counting Monstro since he looks like he was literally upcycled) Could she do it twice?

Eh, maybe.

Could she do it three times?

That would be pushing it.

Salem is running out of monsters to surround herself with. Humans have no such limits; we breed and we adapt. I think this fact is what started Salem's quest for alternative energy sources in the first place.

Salem has been forced into attacking Atlas before she has the Relics and the Maiden powers. But she's Salem. This wasn't Plan A, but she's going to make the best of it.

So what do people do when they must attack an entrenched force with what they consider underpowered troops? There's two options.

Option #1 is to go for the throat. Launch an attack with so much fury the enemy doesn't have time to recover before you've ripped their head off. It's a good plan if you've got a clear target. But if you can't reach the unshielded access port that goes straight to the reactor, it's a bust. Salem could do it if she had the Winter Maiden Power, but not without it.

Option #2 is to bluff. Do just enough damage to scare the enemy, then demand tribute and threaten to do worse if your demands aren't met by a certain deadline. I think this is what Salem is going to do.

There's no need to damage Mantle any more. She's proven she can destroy it at her leisure, and Ironwood's proven he doesn't care about Mantle. She has to attack something Ironwood does care about. She has to hurt Atlas or the Fleet parked over Atlas, and she'll probably go for the Fleet. That leads to

Supposition C: Salem's Flying Whale is based on Space Battleship Yamato.

In my last post I speculated that Monstro is based on Space Battleship Yamato. If that's the case, it's going to have some version of the Yamato's signature weapon, the gravity-based Wave Motion Gun, i.e., a death ray. It probably also has the Wave Motion Gun's signature flaw, a charge limit.

The logical thing for Salem to do would be to turn the death ray on the Fleet and incapacitate them. Then, while the death ray is recharging, demand the Maiden, the Relic, and probably Oscar turned over to her at such-and-such place by such-and-such time and she'll leave them alone.

(Wasn't it so nice of Ironwood to arrange all his battleships like ducks in a carnival shooting gallery? I can't even excuse it as a lack of combat experience after what Roman Torchwick did at Beacon.)

She'll have to corrupt or destroy the military before she leaves of course. Humans are excellent at adapting to threats, and they'd come up with something to annoy her given the opportunity. But there's no need to tell them that up front.

And with a deadline and a meeting place, RWBY & Co. have an opening for shenanigans.

#rwby #james ironwood #rwby salem #rwby volume 8 #rwby predictions

[thesumosnipe]

OK! got the Penny memes out of my system, lets talk about Best Dad returning.

Nice touch showing the soldiers nerves... and damn that was pretty showing the formations....but James and the Atlas high brass have been playing too many board games. Parade ground squares means only the first 2, MAYBE 3 ranks can safely fire (FRIENDLY FIRE, ISN'T) at the oncoming ground horde. The bulk of your firepower has to wait until a)those front ranks fall back to reload or b) shooting into the front ranks doesnt matter because they are overrun.

"If you are not willing to shell your own position, ypu are not willing to win." Maxim 20. The fleets firepower appears to not be enough to damage Monstro...but what if the salvos were targeted on the No Mans Land between the whale mouth and the defensive line? Sure, that obliterates the croplands, but I daresay thats a given at this point.

Worst. Lockdown. Ever. Jimmy boy, you really have no clue what you are doing, do you? Declaring martial law means all non essential personnel are restricted to homes. Not folks out picnicing in the park or cruising the malls.

Sweet fluffy demons, that Atlas Arrogance. Thousands of refugees up from Mantle, Military in a frenzy, Grimmstorm on the horizon, BIG ASSED WHALE IN THE FARMLANDS "We're still on for 11:00 playdate in the park, right?" "Yup. Its just the burbs having a spot of bother. Atlas will prevail!"

"Its hide is too thick! Our guns can't hurt it!" "Activate the Draxx protocol."

Vine and Elm- no way in hell they are gonna give Yang an inch of clearance to administer another beatdown to them. Note they FINALLY keep positive control of a prisoner.

"You replace them. Like Marrow replaced Tortuga." Aw. Hare lost her Turtle. I almost feel for her arrogant ass. Almost.

Holy crap. Ren Leveled Up. Have yet to sus out what the different colors all mean, and it appears to work on only one target at a time, but still. OUTSTANDING

May Marigold. WITNESS HER

Best Dad is back! I'm a little concerned at how mallable Whitley is, how fast he conforms to whom he sees as the nearest dominant athority figure.

Wait... Emerald can spoof grimm as well? Damn, she has been working on her semblence. Now she knows the password. Shes a thief. Merc is gone, Cinder is gone, Hazel is...? That leaves Neo and maybe JYR to help her bug out...if she survives meeting Yang again. I smell some Em redemption fics on the wind this mini hiatus.

Oh, poor Merc. That face when Tyrian confirmed....🎶its too late, baby its too late, too late so goodbye! And...damn that aircar must get some hellacious milage. That Manta only carried enough fuel for a short combat flight and a quick hop from Argus to Atlas. And that dinky thing is going all the way to Vacuo? There's a road trip buddy comedy in the making.

Good news-We know where Penny is. Good news-she still seems to be under her own control. Good news- Winter and the Ace Ops are off on another mission. BAD NEWS-Penny is definitly hurt. Bad news- she may yet succumb to the hacking. Bad news-Cinder and the Hound are on the way. But good news on that front: Cinder and the Hound are vunerable to Ruby. Really bad news- If Neo is still with Cinder...

Ooof. Well, now to sit back and see what this 2 month break is going to spawn in the way of fanfics and art. Should be a blast!

p

#rwby spoilers #my anime picks/reviews #rwby #rwby 8 #rwby 8 spoilers

[luimnigh]

I'll most likely be wrong, but I could see the name for the Whale-type Grimm being Monstro.

Unfortunately, Monstro is a name created and owned by the Walt Disney Corporation, and cannot be used without the threat of litigation. 

#rwby #deathofink #asks

[real-jaune-isms]

He’s been a staple of the series for so long but we were glad cuz it had gotten kinda repetitive seeing him in every game. But now he’s arrived in a different fandom bigger and badder than ever.

#rwby memes #salem’s coming storm #monstro the whale #mobius grimm #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts reference #kingdom hearts 3

[tumblezwei]

What if the hound is Torchwick. I mean he was eaten by a Grimm and his allusion Lampwick was turned into a donkey. Plus since Neo’s now there perhaps Salem will hold Roman’s release over Neo’s head. Also, Salem’s Grimm whale ship is clearly monstro.

You’ve got some good points, but I don’t think it’s likely. Monstra, as she’s called by CRWBY, is more of a reference for Penny rather than Torchwick. Plus Roman and Neo weren’t part of Salem’s circle, they were a part of Cinder’s. Salem didn’t even know who Neo was until just now in episode 1. Neo is the lowest priority on Salem’s list right now, I don’t see a reason that she would try and bargain with her using Roman, or that she even had the idea to snatch Roman out of he Griffin’s belly at all. 

And while the transformation into a donkey could be a hint, it’s an incredibly indirect hint compared to the Summer theory that has at least three hound and wolf-related stories to jump off of. 

By CRWBY’s own admittance, the guy was small fry. There was nothing about him that would have caught Salem’s eye. And even outside of that, Torchwick wasn’t even suppose to make it past volume 1, he only showed up again because he became a fan favorite. The Hound is just too important imo for it to be Torchwick. No offense to Torchwick fans. 

#ask #anon #rwby8 #rwby spoilers

[swan2swan]

Plot twist: Summer Rose is the Grimm whale. Soon you will understand.

Not sure about the allegory there, but the thought that she might be inside the Monstro Whale like Geppetto is definitely a possibility.

#rwby8 #Anonymous