#nothing says depressing like rwby volume 8

[aknolan]

i saw your post and wonder... what penny so diffrent then pyrrha? Why penny would return twice but pyrrha stay dead? (I jusk asking this is not a rant)

It's a fair question, yeah. The shortest answer I can give you is another question, why do you think Pyrrha will stay dead? If the fairytale can bring back the dead, who knows, maybe we will see Pyrrha getting brought back too!

Ignoring that possibility though, there's two differences between Penny and Pyrrha. There's the difference between who they are, and between the timing of their deaths.

Pyrrha's trajectory was kind of always set in stone. Her allusion of Achilles, her title as the invincible girl, the way she's held up as The Best Huntress(tm). It's not a coincidence that Cinder used her for the fall of Beacon. Pyrrha was perfect to show just how bad things could get. If the best student was a failure, what did that say about everyone else?

Pyrrha dies for the same reason that a lot of stories have the mentor dying. She dies for the same reason that Beacon falls. The point is to make everyone ask, if Pyrrha can't succeed, who can?

And, ultimately, she was doomed by her choice to go alone. She's a bit like Summer, in that sense. She also gives us the question, "if the best huntress can't do this, who can?"

The answer to both is that they were doomed by going at it alone.

Penny isn't built up as the strongest fighter, and she's not our sign that everything has gone horribly wrong. And it's important to keep that in mind for later.

So what was Penny's trajectory? Is that one set in stone? Was she doomed from the moment she became the winter maiden?

So the thing is, a lot of volume 8 is spent on making sure that Penny lives. Because she's the winter maiden, yes, but also because she's Penny. It's not just about the powers, when she asked Ruby to kill her so the powers would be safe, Ruby refused. Instead they came up with a plan that could have killed everyone if it went wrong.

So while it's possible that she's just really incredibly doomed and nothing can save her, that also seems a little depressing.

Pyrrha doesn't make it out of five murder attempts just to die to the sixth because she became a lot more fragile due to attempt five. The first time someone tries to kill Pyrrha, she dies.

But Penny has like, three near misses where she very much could have died but was saved by her friends.

The idea that everyone did so much to save Penny, went for the riskier plan multiple times because losing her wasn't an option, and then she still dies? That's just depressing. And yeah, sometimes stories are depressing. What if Penny's story is just meant to be depressing?

Let's get to timing.

Pyrrha's death happened at the fall of Beacon. This is an event that drastically shifted the tone of the series. Sure, things had been building up for a while and it was clear something heavier was coming. But it's still very much the turning point. It's a landmark for the story.

Before the fall of Beacon we have fun adventures at school, and after it all the characters carry the burden of knowing that one of the safest places on Remnant was destroyed. The strongest student that everyone looked up to was killed. It's when everything goes wrong, and the story gets serious.

Pyrrha doesn't come back for the same reason that Beacon can't be restored. Sure, the in-universe reason is that there's a giant Grimm attracting more Grimm, but out-of-universe it's because the story can't go back to what it was before the fall of Beacon.

Beacon is a scar on Remnant's map, and Pyrrha is a scar in JNR's team.

So we get to the fall of Atlas, and the characters already know everything can fall, they already know their friends might not make it out alive. The audience knows that too.

And there's really no need for a sign that everything's gone horribly wrong, because there's already several of those. Salem has the lamp and the staff, Atlas and Mantle are gone, team rwby fell, a bunch of citizens died, and the ones that survived are under attack in a sandstorm.

This is the darkest hour, and what's needed now is hope.

Ruby broke. She fainted when she heard Penny died, and while she might be able to keep up with the idea of "let's go to the tree and get back home" well enough... she doesn't have a reason to fight right now. She doesn't have a reason to want to get back right now.

Where's she going to find a reason to go back to Remnant?

What better way for Ruby to regain her hope, than for her to find out it's still possible to save the person she loves?

.

There's a third thing. It's about Salem.

Once upon a time, Salem loved someone dearly, and he died. And then he came back. And then he died again, and Salem broke.

Once upon a time, a woman pleaded with the gods to give her back the man she loved, and they decided to punish her by making her immortal. Forever separated from the person she loved, in a way she otherwise would not be since the afterlife seems to exist. They lecture her about selfishness and arrogance, when really anyone grieving for a loved one taken from them far too soon would do the same as her if they could. And when that didn't beat her down, they killed everyone on the planet so she would be alone forever.

This was cruel.

The brother gods pile cruelty on top of cruelty, and now Ruby is faced with the same situation that Salem once was. A loved one brought back to life, only to lose them again quickly after.

If Ruby just accepts Penny's death then what's the message there? Ruby's better than Salem somehow because she can accept the death of her loved one? Salem should have listened to the god of light the first time around?

"We must live with balance, but balance is blind" is what the intro says. The world is unfair, balance means that people who don't deserve it get hurt. And then I think back to volume 1, "this isn't a fairytale" "that's why we're here. To make it better." Balance is blind, and aren't they here to make it better? When you can save someone, shouldn't you try?

Bringing Penny back to life, and more importantly having Ruby make the choice to do that? It's a refutation to the cruelty of the brother gods.

They're in a fairytale now, if there's ever a possibility to save the recently deceased, it's in the Ever After.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #penny polendina #ask #anon ask #pyrrha nikos

[itsclydebitches]

If we want to give RWBY the most generous interpretation possible, I'd say the whole thing was meant to say that the mistakes Ruby made in previous volumes were a result of trying to emulate Summer/fairy tale heroes, and the whole arc of the volume is her learning that these heroes are flawed and she shouldn't try to emulate them perfectly. Of course, this really wasn't set up well if that's the case, but hey I'm trying to throw a bone here.

I do think that's the general vibe they were going for. Like the generic "be yourself" message, it's a great takeaway on the surface, just horribly executed to the point of, at times, actively undermining what RT wants to say. Example: accepting yourself is the ultimate end goal so that's why, uh... Ascension turns you into someone entirely new? Unless you're the protagonist, of course, because what story wants to deal with that can of worms.

Beyond the numerous issues I have with Volume 9 itself, I find this "Ruby needed to accept that she was trying to live up to the impossible standard of Summer Rose" to be incredibly unpersuasive given that Summer hasn't been portrayed as a perfect hero for the majority of the series. Maybe at the very start when Ruby was more naively optimistic and less informed, but definitely not past Volume 4. She learned fairly early in the story that Summer didn't just die on a random huntsmen mission doing Good Hero Work, but that this was something connected to Salem - AKA, the super morally ambiguous fight that the group has been criticizing since they learned of its existence. Ruby herself has experienced being a huntress in this world, making gray choices left and right (if I'm being kind), so how in the world would she have maintained this idealized image of Summer's own career? To say nothing of how Ruby never expresses any opinions about Summer, warped or otherwise, because no one ever talks about her. The supposedly ~emotional~ trinket this Volume was a rose emblem Ruby gave up after never ONCE mentioning it before she's given it back from the tree and... proceeds to continue not mentioning it. After 9 Volumes Summer has remained firmly in the personality void of Dead Mothers. All we knew about her going into this Volume was that she was a SEW and liked to bake cookies. We couldn't even emphasize her reading Ruby impressionable, highly inaccurate fairy tales because the early Volumes told us that Yang read her those. Summer doesn't exist as a person, so all we have to work with is Ruby's own experiences which consistently undermine the idea that her mother was a flawless hero. She was part of what Ruby now knows to be a highly, systematically flawed career, working for Ozpin, who then died. Without some inkling as to how Ruby sees her mother - and how she's maintained that narrow perspective in the face of everything in Volumes 3-8 - what about this says Perfect Person, Impossible to Emulate?

Which makes the whole "My mother LIED? Omg she wasn't perfect?? Clearly I don't need to be perfect either! 🤯" revelation... not really a revelation at all. Which isn't even taking into account a) Ruby's own choice to give a doozy of a lie a couple weeks back (if anything, she should consider that a mark in Summer's favor) and b) the fact that this depression, self-doubt, and suicidal ideation stems from the very real problems Ruby has no idea how to fix. It's like watching someone collapse because their house is on fire and they don't have any means of putting it out. "Don't worry," the mystical therapist says, "Your mother loves you and you don't have to be perfect." Fantastic takeaway! The house is still burning.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[onceuponalegendbg-rwby]

Reaction to RWBY Crew Commentary V9

Alright, as is tradition at this point, got my copy of the Blu Ray so let's get started.

Okay, first of all, before I even hop into the commentary, I love that the title screen for the menu is Ruby falling through that mural in the OP. That is... That is so cool man! Whoever thought of that... I love you. You're a genius.

So we start off with Kerry, Eddy, Laurie (hope I spelled that right). And addressing how they had to work mostly from home on this volume and the challenges that caused.

Yeah, quick reunion was the right call. I mean, we did the Team RWBY split for two volumes (4 and 5) and then again in V8. Don't keep the girls apart again.

Little origins! Give me! Someone that starts how Ruby started...

I mean... yeah, I assumed Ruby knew about Penny from Weiss. Like... duh.

Same peeps for episode 2 but also with Paula? Again, I hope I heard that right.

Return of Blake the Book Nerd.

Yang and Blake kind of dig the Ever After, Weiss hates it, and Ruby is lost in her thoughts.

Luci improvised Little's little song.

Oh, Yang might still think this is a dream so nothing here matters... That's an idea. Everyone grieves differently...

Man I love Weiss in this episode.

"We can't have her be the butt of every joke." .... I want to see what they cut.

Episode 3! We've picked up Conner, Dustin, and Kiersi! Lost Laura and Paula.

The animation is so good man.

Putting away depression to help her friends.

Prince Trauma(TM)

Neo Scary.

Episode 4. Kerry, Eddy, Miles and Dustin.

Curious talk.

Self critic!

"She learned her lesson in the end, right?" "Oh, I'd certainly say so."

"If there's something Ruby can blame herself for, do it!"

"Cat wanted to scope out which one of the girls was weakest."

Shout out to the VAs!!

Chapter 5: Kerry, Eddy, Paula, Kiersi!

Cat is dismissive of WBY. Focuses only on Ruby.

The Blacksmith: The Ever After itself is now reaching out to Ruby.

Walking the line between the audience knowing that Ruby needs help and WBY not quite understanding how bad it is.

Making sure the emblem wasn't on Ruby's model after was a pain.

"Oh no, he's hot."

Episode 6: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Laura.

The difference between Jaune having already lived for many years with this guilt in the Ever After and RWBY who are still fresh.

How protective Kerry is of the Bee scene is amazing.

There was an idea that the vision Alyx saw was that she saw that someone in her party was going to keep her from returning home, and it ultimately is herself before the Cat kills her.

Ya'll have already seen other posts about Kerry and crew's thoughts on the Bee scene and what it means for the Yang and Blake so I won't go into all that because, yeah, can't say it better.

"They were actually in front of each other the whole time." Excuse me!

"Now she has to step up again." ....Ow.

Episode 7: Kerry, Eddy, Miles, Dustin? I think that's what I heard.

How the meeting went: "Well he can't have been doing nothing, that would be really disappointing." *Beat of silence* "Oh, that would be really disappointing." Evil geniuses.

Stuck in the pattern of trying to be the hero. Both incredibly busy and doing nothing.

"He's more lost than ever."

Fighting on a hill. I'd never considered the complications of that either.

Miles and Lindsey kill this scene man. It's so good.

Episode 8 (oh boy): Kerry, Eddy, Miles, Paula, Kiersi.

Had to cut an episode due to scheduling and budget. Scary to have to rework that.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The flowers on the Tea Cups are Forget-Me-Nots.

Imposter Syndrome.

Neo landed on the Brother's Acre.

"Neither one of them won that fight." Neo and Ruby.

Episode 9: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Dustin, Kiersi.

Blacksmith is a therapist.

Weiss is the best, true.

What do the characters want?

Episode 10: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Kiersi, Dustin.

Aw, their kids contributed some of the background drawings for Yang and Ruby's room.

Furious Cat.

"She's the self that chose herself." "She emerges herself but different."

"I'm so happy." I love how much they love this show.

"How do we not redeem her but give her this sort of neutral path?"

Oh man, I'm tearing up before Somewhat even shows up.

Somewhat is no longer defined by having one purpose.

Dude, they keep talking about not wanting this to be filler so they had the backstory of the Brothers but I will always stand by that if the characters learn and grow as people then it will never be filler. So from the beginning this was never going to be filler.

"One small kindness, in one small moment, led to such a marvelous transformation." That line always destroys me.

Whelp, that's a wrap on the commentary for V9. Now... we wait.

#rwby #volume 9 #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #greenlight volume 10 #greenlightvolume10 #kerry shawcross #miles luna #kiersi burkhart #eddy rivas #lindsey jones #kara eberle #arryn zech #barbara dunkelman

[princess-of-the-corner]

There are theories that she's coming back AGAIN somehow, and like...

There's actually some evidence for this.

For one thing, there's the fact that the Maiden Transfer was the wrong color. There's also the fact that she had a telepathic conversation with her successor in a white void (something which did NOT happen when she received the powers in Volume 7). Then there's Volume 9.

Firstly, we have the green puppet seen in Episode 2, which turns into one of Penny's swords after the heroes steal it (the puppet is even directly compared to Penny through visual symbolism via the "jar of hope"). Then there's a talking mouse Ruby names "Little", a denizen of the Ever After (magical alternate world Team RWBY falls into during Volume 8's finale), who serves a similar narrative role to Penny. Namely, an innocent and somewhat naive being who bonds with Ruby. Little is even directly compared to Penny a few times through visual symbolism. Little, being an Afteran, doesn't permanently die. When Neo crushes them underfoot to try and drive Ruby over the edge, Little's lifeless body is taken by the Ever After, and they are reborn (without their memories) as "Somewhat".

The Blacksmith, the Avatar/User Interface of the Great Tree that created both the Ever After and the Brothers who created Remnant, states that "nothing, no one, is ever gone forever". This line doesn't relate to Penny in the final version, but in the cut epilogue (which was originally going to be part of the EXACT SAME EPISODE where the Blacksmith says this), Winter says "And now, because of me, Penny is gone forever" in the middle of her depressed rambling. The Volume 9 Epilogue was only cut because they ran out of time and budget, and an animatic created from the storyboards was shown off at a convention (albeit trimmed down because some elements of it were planned to be used in Volume 10 instead).

So like, there's still hope for Penny being able to come back to life in a mechanical body (since they don't have any way of making another meat body), assuming all of this is ACTUALLY foreshadowing!

Inch resting

[chipstertool]

Talking about RWBY (Along with some possible ranting)

So, I'm going to talk about a show that came on since middle school and had a interest in: RWBY.

If any of my followers don't know what RWBY is then I'll give a brief session. It is a 3D-animated series created (the late) Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth where it features the four heroines: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. Now that Volume 9 had ended since early 2023, I should give my honest thoughts about it, to which, may be long.

Now, some of you may ask why I'm posting this privately? (As of Nov 18th)

The answer is that I don't want certain people in the FDMN, that being overly protective types, or people who really REALLY love the show to be overreacting and thinking I'm a part of this RWDE stuff or just someone who loves to target RWBY just because. Better safe than sorry on this one.

I'll eventually make this public soon after. (Public by December 10th)

By the first three seasons, I personally have a soft spot for them since it was the introduction to the gang. I also think that nothing was planned and some things were added as it went along since the maidens and relics. The designs for the group going forward are a bit okay but I still prefer the older versions.

By four to eight, it was like the calm before the storm type deal with volume four kicking off from the volume three finale. Though it had some interesting aspects, like Kali who's best mom, people started to see some cracks in the pavement and this continued with the following volumes. I would like to go in about Volume 8 and how that turned out but that's a "rabbit hole" to go through.

I say Volume 9 is a mix, I believe the first half is good honestly since this is a new world which provides some breathing room from the disaster of a plan. This is also the volume that finally puts Bumblebee to rest, for better or worse. I like Ruby's struggle within herself after the plan didn't go as planned since it caused Atlas to fall, Cinder to obtain a relic, and Salem gaining the upper hand.

The other half is also mixed due to a significant aspect of this volume: the tree. The tree has been mentioned by the Paper Pleasers as a good thing while Jaune views it as the opposite, hence why he halts any of their plans until the successful flood. Now, with a certain theme, feels like a ick to some due to Ruby's decision to sip the tree tea. Also, this may be just me, the notion Ruby takes of "You're perfect, just the way you are" feels unrewarding to me personally.

I mean, Ruby has been dealing with the duty of being a leader from volume one, has the weight of her recent actions on her shoulders, and you mean to tell me that "she's perfect" instead of learning this mistakes and becoming a better self? Nah, girl need some growth! She did not suffer just so the "you don't have to change" shit just pulls her right back up! The tree could've been a symbol of growth and rebirth but was mixed in Ctrl-Alt-Del and then making it okay after the fact Ruby went through a depressive state! Okay, I gotta stop right here before I go any further.

After the little sendoff, the group is back in Vacuo (with no new outfits whatsoever due to the environment being the opposite of Atlas's) where everything seems to be united for how much time has passed. This is where we stop as of now with people wishing Volume 10 getting greenlit although chances may be low but who knows. I feel conflicted about RWBY due to how I still love the fanart and fan creations people put out for this series but don't like what RT be doing with its story at certain point(s).

#chipster rambles #rwby

[aliza---e]

Team RWBY: *goes through a drive-thru*

Employee: Hi! What can I do for you?

Ruby: A will to go on.

Employee: Ma'am, I'm so sorry, but this is McDonald's.

Team RWBY: *laughing hysterically*

#rwby #team rwby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xaio long #incorrect rwby quotes #incorrect quotes #rwby incorrect quotes #source: ??? #nothing says depressing like rwby volume 8 #amiright?

[rwbyconversations]

Penny's arc was tragically worthless in Volume 8

Looking at Penny's arc in V8 just feels like... torture porn. Her and Oscar really got the short end of the stick in just being beat over the head and put through the wringer. But the way her arc went in Volume 8, looking at it from the POV of the season at large... it feels disjointed and haphazard.

I have to assume that Penny's V8 arc was built around the concept of the writing team going "How do we kill Penny and convince the fanbase that it will stick this time, no takebacks from Pietro?", alongside them thinking about how to give the Winter Maiden powers to Winter. And I think as a consequence all the steps in V8 are done to lead to her getting a human body so that Cinder can scrape out a win and Penny sees no other option but having Jaune euthanise to be sure Cinder doesn't get the powers. But the problem was that most people assumed that Penny had at least one more life left in the tank- Pietro pretty much made it clear in V7 that he only had one more burst of Aura left to give her, and it was obvious that Penny couldn't stay the Winter Maiden because she would break the balance of the show in staying. So they couldn't just kill her twice in one season, that would be excessive and feel forced, and only killing her once would lead people to assume Penny 3.0 would appear during Volumes 10 or 11.

So I think that's why we got the Watts virus plot- something that would make Penny kill herself after going to the Staff so that RWBY can use it to make her a new body that is conveniently a lot easier to kill, while also taking Penny out of show for the middle part involving the Atlas Invasion. But in turn, Pietro then had to be taken off the board because if Pietro was around, he'd be able to solve the virus thanks to his omnidisciplinary science skills that already include mastery of the fields of rocket engineering, prosothetics, robots, artifical intelligence and more. So when Amity falls and Penny is first infected with the virus, Pietro and Maria... just leave the show. They're still on Amity, but no one ever thinks to fly out and see where they landed to find Pietro. Which in turn means Pietro has no role to play for the rest of the season, meaning he never gets to find out Penny is a full human and then subsequently be there for her death. I'm sure CRWBY will eventually say "Oh we meant to have a cameo at the end but it got cut for time" like they usually do, but that's gonna feel like an excuse. Likely there was no hypothetical return of Pietro and Maria because they'd served their purpose so no sense bringing them back for the season. It's also a bummer because I think a Pietro/Watts hacker battle would have been cool. Watts was a very interesting character and I would have liked to have seen more explanation of his vendetta against Atlas, especially against the man who one-upped his project.

But the problem is twofold with the writer's plan to kill Penny. First off, Penny's "Real Girl" moment this season just copy pastes the message of her arc in Volume 7- where she again received confirmation that despite her mechanical nature, she had a real soul and was a Real Girl enough to get the Maiden Powers. This was a great way to show the Maiden Powers being used to validate Penny's identity without being too on the nose about Penny being a Pinnochio metaphor. Volume 8's version of this as a consequence feels far cheaper and undermines the intent of the Volume 7 finale. I mean, it literally includes a blue fairy, I think they went beyond on the nose and just punched the viewer with how unsubtle it was.

Her final death in turn is another can of worms, not least of which due to her suicide by Jaune which is more a shipping container's worth of worms, but what hurts the most is the idea that Penny is happy to die when she's talking to Winter, all smiles and content that she got to make a choice for once. Putting aside the horrific undertones in relation to Penny's choice to commit suicide (alongside the fact that this is a real thing people with depression have done where they have killed themselves due to feeling it was the one choice they honestly had in their lives), it's also a lot of wasted plot potential for Penny. I didn't like her getting another Real Girl Moment when she already had a great one, but if they were gonna do it then they could at least explore the concept- show Penny being a Real Girl and getting her wish, getting to have a happy ending with Pietro and Ruby. Yes, sometimes people die in media before their arcs resolve because that's realistic or some crap, but RWBY's not that show. Every time someone has died they have been at the conclusion of an arc, not the beginning of a new one.

Instead it just feels like Penny was a "Real Girl" so that both Penny was easier for Cinder to kill, and so someone on CRWBY could get paid to model her feet. And I don't know which of those upsets me more.

I was never a ride or die Penny fan but she always livened up a lot of the seasons she was in. Floating Array goes swish and I go yaaaaaaay. I was even gonna say that Penny's arc, with the exception of the virus subplot, was one of the generally better arcs in Volume 8. But the way they handled her in the final hour just felt miserably cruel, to say nothing of the choice to have the credits song be Penny's first song as a deliberate attempt to emotionally manipulate the fanbase. This death is so cheap and under-handed that now her death in Volume 3- one of the Best Scenes Of The Whole Fucking Show- has been retroactively weaked and stripped of impact. Because all it led to was Penny getting to come back for two seasons and dying right after, and Ruby doesn't even get to be there when she dies again. Or Nora, or Winter, or anyone she had a bond with or a pre-established dynamic. I still can't fathom what choices creatively led to Jaune being her killer given the focus of her bonds with the aforementioned trio, but regardless it was easily the worst call they could have made. Literally anyone else would have made the scene flow better.

You can re-write the Solitas arc in a way where Penny never came back and nothing changes- the exact same circumstances occur across the board for Volumes 7 and 8 except Winter gets the Maiden Powers a bit earlier. That's how little she mattered. Penny feels like she came back just for fanservice like Neo's return in Volume 6- a way to boost ratings and make money off merch for her again. And now in turn, her death just feels like a mix of a ratings stunt and a way to get rid of an OP character. She didn't have to die, and I don't mean in show.

I just mean writing-wise it was pointless torture-porn. What a waste.

#rwby #rwby penny #rwde #rwby analysis #penny polendina #tw suicide #pietro polendina

[hadesisqueer]

How do you feel about Yang and how she’s summarized in Vol. 8 as suspicious and emotional?

Late, but better late than ever. I've been waiting for this one. It's probably the longest because as I said, I make either two lines or just an entire character analysis lol. And I'm going to do it properly this time.

Okay, I straight (gay) up don't know where to start. I love Yang. I truly love Yang. She's not perfect, she has many flaws, but that's what I like the most about her. I can't help but laugh when some people say she's a Mary Sue.

Childhood, first volumes.

Yang starts the series as the funny blonde hot girl that goes around punching people. And I liked that, but I also like how she wasn't just that, as I said with Nora being the comic relief. Like, there's so much more in Yang than that, just like Weiss turned up to be much more than just the bratty tsundere.

Yang's mother abandoned her. Her other mother disappeared. Her sister was a toddler that didn't really get what was going on except her mother being gone, and her father was so depressed that for a good while, he wasn't even able to raise her daughters. Can you imagine being in that situation? I imagine she was, at most, six when that happened. She was forced to become Ruby's mother figure at six. She was forced to become the fucking adult in the house at six.

Damn, you can even see the difference between how Qrow talks to Ruby and how he talks to Yang, at least at the begining. He talks to Ruby as her uncle, as her mentor. He may tease Yang a little because she's still his niece, but when he talks to her, he always talks like she's an equal. Like, Tai still considered Yang a kid, but Qrow treats her like an adult, and knows and expects her to be the mature one. Because he saw her all those years, being forced grow up so fast. He trusts her to protect and take care of Ruby, and she trust him to protect her as well.

And damn, all of this really explains her behaviour when the series began. As Ruby got older and started to be able to take care of herself, and Tai eventually started to be functional again, Yang had more freedom. Her personality and eagerness for adventure and parties and all of that - is just her trying to make up for her sacrificed childhood. But even then she still was, out of all the girls, the most mature and nurturing of team RWBY. She is the party girl, yes. The hot headed one that will break legs. But she's still the adult of the group.

And then volume 3 happens. She gets framed in front of the entire world, two of her friends die, Beacon falls, she loses her arm in the most traumatic way possible; Weiss, her friend, is basically taken away from her and Blake -her partner, the girl she probably already had feelings for at that point- left, triggering her abandonment issues. And of course, PTSD, because she isn't fucked up enough already. She's so fucking destroyed that she can't even talk about Weiss, about Blake, about what happened. She doesn't even want talk to Ruby, because she can't stand the thought of her little sister seeing her at that state. She is not used to be the one people have to take care of, and it becomes more and more obvious in the next volumes.

Disability, recovery, abandonment issues

I like how volume 4 treats her recovery. I mean, I wish her storyline was longer, but I also like the DC comics. Now, the thing is, she isn't really recovered. In vol 4, she learns to live with her disability, she learns how to use her new arm, she learns how to fight better than she ever did before. It's about physical recovery. But is she okay? No. She hates being taken care of. She forced herself to be okay, or at least pretend she was, so Tai would let her go with Ruby. And in vol 5, she's anything but alright. She is pretending to be for Ruby's sake, because she is her mother figure and Ruby can't see her like that. She has to face her abandonment issues, she still has PTSD, and she is just not okay. Weiss notices right away, and tells her that it's okay if she is not okay. She noticed how hurt she was about Blake leaving. She just could see through the façade because if Weiss knows about anything, is about loneliness and pretending.

Her conversation with Raven at the end of the volume is just one of the best scenes, because you can just see how much Yang has grown. That scene deserves a post of its own because it's just amazing. But she finally faces one of her fears -her own abandonment issues, though they probably will always be there- and sees right through Raven. Because just like her, Raven just puts a façade to hide her own fears and insecurities, and the moment her own daughter isn't just taking any of that shit, she just starts crying. Because Yang is right. And deep down, she doesn't want to let Yang take the lamp, but she isn't just strong enough. Deep down, she wants to be in Yang's life, wants to protect her, and I think Yang knew that. But it was just too late.

More abandonment issues and relationship with Blake.

Now, to Yang, Blake coming back was huge. Not only in the terms of shipping, but as a whole. In her mind, Blake left her, just like Raven, just like Summer (though Summer didn't do it in purpose), and technically, just like Ruby, though she knew why Ruby did it and understood. But she's probably wondering “what is wrong with me that everyone always leaves me”. And she always has to be the one looking for the person who left her.

Not with Blake. After that talk with Weiss (bless the wingwoman), Yang was able to understand Blake's perspective better. But she didn't think Blake would actually ever come back, because no one ever does. But she did. Not only did she come back; literally, all Blake cared about once she entered the room and saw Yang was her (for once, someone is prioritizing her). And later, she was the one to walk and talk to the team, and tell them she didn't plan to leave again if they accepted her back. She didn't have to look for Blake because she was already looking for Yang. She was the one who made the effort, not the other way around. And to Yang, even though they still had issues to work through, even though she was still afraid at that moment that Blake would leave and break her heart again (All That Matters), that was enough to forgive her. Or at least give her another chance.

Now in volume 6 they clearly have issues. Like, Blake is very nurturing to the entire team because she feels like she has to make up. But mostly, she is trying to make up to Yang. She still feels guilty because of Adam, and she knew that Yang had already abandonment issues before she left and she probably made them worse. She was just trying so hard to be there for Yang so she could understand that she would never leave her again that she made things awkward. Yang is used to be the one who takes care of people, not the other way around. She thought that Blake “protecting her” was her seeing her a weak when actually, it was just Blake just genuinely caring about her but with the wrong words. Blake understood after that, and she changed the phrasing in the fight against Adam. Protecting each other. Equals. It really applies to the Bees relationship as a whole. “You're taking care of me, yeah, but I'm going to take care of you as well, no matter what”. For once, Yang is allowing someone to take care of her (well, except Tai, but again, she wasn't completely sincere with him, so technically she wasn't really allowing him to fully help her). And that's what I love the most about their dynamic, and why I ship it.

PTSD

Now (I'm sorry I'm taking so long), I've seen many, many people saying that Yang's PTSD is poorly written, or that the writers messed it up in the fight against Adam. Now, I have to ask those people: what the fuck do you think PTSD is?

If a Great WriterTM reads this and tries to tell me I'm wrong, or that I don't know what I'm talking about and I don't know anything about good writing and blah blah blah: I have PTSD myself. Diagnosed. So yes, I acknowledge there are many things I'm ignorant about, but I'm quite familiar about this topic. Yang's PTSD is, at least by my point of view, very well-written. It isn't perfect, but it's still far so much better than most PTSD portrayals I've seen in TV, along with Korra's. And I've seen people saying that Korra's portrayal was so much better. Well, let me tell you, it isn't, or at least I don't think it is. It's just different, because the worst thing about PTSD (and what makes it harder to treat) is that it's different for every person; sometimes it can be really severe and obvious, sometimes it seems “light”. Damn, sometimes it doesn't appear until years after the event; mine didn't trigger til I was like sixteen, and the event took place when I was around five or six. And yes, sometimes I have nightmares or flashbacks about it if something triggers me, but it isn't the whole time like some of you apparently think it is. I'm not scared 100% of the time, what the fuck.

When it comes to the fight with Adam, saying it didn't affect her: did you watch the fight? First of all, at that precise moment, Yang was so full of adredaline and too busy keeping Adam from killing Blake that I don't think her brain even realised he was the cause of her PTSD. Second of all, when he triggers it, it does affect her; she starts shaking, he's able to land hits on her that he couldn't before. But PTSD is different in every person, and is a defense mechanism, not a freezing mechanism as some people think. If I see the cause of my PTSD in front of me trying to hurt me again, I'm not gonna freeze; I'm gonna do whatever it takes so they don't ever hurt me again. Same goes with Yang: some people think she should have completely freezed during the fight, like “oh my god this guy fucked me up really bad and now he's gonna do it again and there's nothing I can do oh my god”. No. As I said, PTSD doesn't work like that, at least not always. She's not thinking that, she's thinking “alright this guy really fucked me up once but there's no way I'm letting him do that again”. Again, PTSD is a defense mechanism. A fucked up one, but it's what it is. And the writers handled very well.

Yang being suspicious and not completely trusting someone.

Now, I'm not lying when I tell you that I have no idea about what this could mean. Well, it could be her disagreeing with Ruby and having a bad argument, and that would really break my heart because I just love those two sisters so much. It could also be about Ozpin; she's teaming up with Oscar and hearing Ozpin is back could bring some problems. Or maybe Raven just appears there and she's like Hell Naw. I have no idea.

Conclussion.

I love Yang. She's not perfect at all. She's a bit of a hypocrite with the whole Ozpin thing because she's keeping Raven's identity as the Spring Maiden a secret as well (or maybe she did tell them off-screen? Honestly clear that up already). But she's over all a really good friend and person, an amazing older sister and just one of the most inspiring characters in the show. I see part of myself in her, and I don't see that often in a character. I just love her.

Damn, sorry I wrote the Bible but my girl deserved that.

#yang xiao long #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #ruby rose #bumbleby #rwby #qrow branwen #ptsd mention #raven branwen #summer rose #taiyang xiao long #rwby analysis

[itstimetotheorize]

RWBY: Whitleys ultimate decision

Not gonna lie, when we were first introduced to Whitley I did not have a very good opinion of him, but now that we have gotten to know more about him through out the volumes , I am beginning to get the feeling that Whitleys is not just some spoiled rich boy who tries to mirror his evil father. 

In V7C8 when Weiss has a heart to heart with her mother Willow, Willow tells Weiss that no matter what happens with the information she uncovers to fight her father, she needs to remember and watch out for her brother Whitley. 

Weiss does not take this seriously as she believes Whitley hates her and wants nothing to do with her, willow informs Weiss that his hatred for her only stems from the fact that Weiss left Whitley alone with Jacques and herself. 

by willows words, it was clear that she was trying to tell Weiss that Whitley was just as much a victim to their fathers cruelty as she and Winter were when they lived in the mansion. At first, it was a little hard to accept the idea that Whitley was a victim and not just an arrogant little jerk, but after watching Whitleys reaction to seeing his father be arrested 

and then seeing willow look over to him to see how he is holding up with this turn of events,

willows words to Weiss once again came back to mind. As I watch Whitley run up the stairs, unable to cope with the fact that he is now truly alone in the mansion with no one to lean on as he is left with the full responsibility of the schnee dust company, it got me thinking, what if whitley... was never honest with who he was and what he wanted to be rather be the boy and heir his father expected him to be? 

Whitley is the youngest of the Schnee siblings and as such he had no place in the family yet, business wise that is. Over the years, Whitley saw Winter and Weiss both inherit the title of heiress to the schnee dust company and watched them chose to carry out the family name as huntresses. Their decisions none the less angered their father who only wanted them to be obedient daughters who would do everything he asked and be nothing more than pretty young ladies with the title of heiress. 

With winter and weiss bonding over their chosen careers as huntresses and looking to each other for moral support during their tough childhood with their family, whitely became isolated from the sibling circle that he was once a part of before his mother became an alcoholic and before his father revealed his true colors. Over the years, when winter chose to leave the family and join the military, Weiss became the new heiress and chose to stick to her plan of becoming a huntress and leave for beacon. In those years, Whitley continued to find himself all alone in the mansion with no one to lean on. When it came to deciding who he should be around, be it his depressed alcoholic mother or cruel over bearing father,

whitley was left with no other choice but to be around Jacques for most of his life in order to at least have someone show interest in him.

 With Whitley being around their father so much, Jacques tried to make sure that he had a tighter leash around Whitley than what he previously had with his sisters by exposing him to his negative views on huntsman/huntresses and displaying his anger towards Weiss and Winters decision to stray from home. All this exposure to his fathers rage and having no one left to be around, Whitley tried to do anything and everything to stay on his fathers good side and be viewed as his favorite. Over the course of the RWBY series, It really seemed as though Jacques had a tight grip on Whitely as he attempted to make him the spitting image of himself. However! as Willow now clearly states to Weiss and the rest of the fanbase, Jacqueses hold over Whitley... is not as strong as he thinks it is.

 What does this mean?... it means that up to this point, whitely has only ever sided with Jacques because he has no other options , but... what if... whitely was given a new choice, a chance to break free from his father and the schnee life altogether, but who would possibly give him this chance?... why, Weiss of course! but if the chance presented itself would Whitley even take it?, would he be willing to trust Weiss?...perhaps

Back in V4C9 when Weiss was practicing her summoning, whitely interrupts her to tell her that he is leaving with their father to meet some business partners,

 Weiss, trying to understand the root of his hatred, questions him on whether or not his hatred for her and winter lies from hidden jealously of their abilities? Whitely ponders over her question but replies with a “no”, saying that such abilities are beneath him and are in turn barbaric . When Whitely says this, its possible that he was simply holding back the truth, the answer he gave Weiss may not have actually been his, but rather his fathers, had he been asked the same question. The truth of this could be that Whitely really was jealous! jealous of his sisters bond, jealous of their willingness to go against their father together, jealous of their willingness to leave the schnee family and jealous of their decisions to follow their dreams and be who they wanted to be rather than be what their father expected them to be. 

Perhaps Whitley had dreams and desires similar to Winter and Weiss, perhaps Whitley even had dreams of being a huntsmen himself with a a desire to explore Remnant and a desire to be included in his sisters loving and supporting inner circle. 

Heck, they could have all gained this similar dream by looking at the only good parental figure in their lives, Nicholas Schnee. 

Winter and Weiss must have gotten the idea to be huntresses from somewhere, and if we look at the type of person Nicholas was, its possible that his life story had an impact on their lives. Nicholas was a courageous man who fought for the good of his company and his employees, making him the ideal role model for the schnee siblings to be inspired by.

 If so, then perhaps it really was because of him and his daringness to do what others wouldn't that ultimately lead winter and Weiss to choose to be huntresses. If this is true for winter and Weiss then its likely Whitley also wanted to pursue a life similar to his grandfather when he was a little kid, sadly, judging by how the schnee siblings childhoods was like,  Whitley might’ve given up on his dreams when he realized he had no support and encouragement from anyone, let alone Weiss and winter who only looked to support each other. However! with everything that has happened in volume 8, maybe Whitley will finally be given that chance he never had. 

 In volume 8, Weiss and the others have no other choice but to take refuge in the schnee mansion until Nora recovers. Despite Whitley's willingness to do what Weiss asks of him after she explains her situation and only needing to stay for a short period of time

 Weiss instead gives him the cold shoulder and tells him to go to his room and not interrupt them,

 despite Weisses cold attitude towards whitely, the night that they spend in the mansion may finally give her the idea that she should take into consideration  Whitley's well being. Weiss already lost winter to ironwood, and with everything that's happening she may finally realize that she cant lose her only brother to their fathers cruel way of life. 

If Weiss were to offer whitely her hand and a chance to leave the mansion along with them, to abandon their fathers way of life and give him the chance to decide for himself who he wants to be just like how she and winter did, then perhaps this could finally bring about a much needed change in the family name. But wait, if all three children of the schnee family left, who would carry out the family business?...why, Willow of course. Despite Willows complicated life, we know that she used to be very loving and caring towards her children.

and despite her toxic relationship with Jacques and her continued alcoholism, Willow still held onto her motherly desires of wanting what's best for her children, in V7C8 when Weiss told her that she was not planning to return to the family, we see willow cry with a smile on her face, happy to know that her daughter is strong enough to not return to a house filled with a life of abuse.

If whitely really does decide to leave that abusive life along with Weiss, then its likely willow will  also happily accept her sons decision, in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if willow had already packed a suitcase for Whitley on the off chance that he did decide to leave one day. With her husband in jail, and her children having all decided to leave their fathers toxic way of life in order to rebuild the schnee name on their own, maybe willow will finally have some peace of mind and start repairing her own life.

all that remains now, is to wait and see if Weiss is willing to make the first step in repairing her broken family by going up to Whitley and having the heart to heart chat he had been deprived of his entire life. But hey that's just a theory, a RWBY theory !

#rwby #rwby vol 8 #rwby volume 8 #rwby v8 #weiss schnee #winter schnee #willow schnee #whitley schnee #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 spoilers #rwby theory #rwby theories

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

When I first entered the RWBY fandom properly a little under a year ago, I, like many others, disliked Ironwood because he was a "dictator" and other such nonsense, but then I stepped back and looked at the bigger picture and realized, what the hell was he supposed to do? Like, Salem, the immortal über witch with a hateboner for the entire world was RIGHT THERE. And that was the moment I realized Ironwood had always been a good guy, no matter what the writers said. Signed A Thought Anon.

Hey anon!

I’m glad you where able to take a step back and just in general see the bugger picture. It’s so easy to get sucked into something not realize how bad it is because you love the thing and you just cannot accept something is wrong with it. It actually took discovering these bills but that happened with James for the rose tinted glasses to come off and for me to really see how fucked up some stuff was.

Back to James though, I honestly never hated the character. When I first started watching around when V4 was airing I was intrigued by the character. I wanted to see what they would do with him and how and during the Fall of Beacon I kind of fell in love. I stopped watching because I got to busy and then came back when V8 was airing and started binging again and when I hit the hug in V7 I really dove into the FNDM...and found out what happened James and I was livid. But I’ve always connected so easily to characters like James but I know not everyone feels the same and it’s okay not to like a character but to absolutely drag him down and vilify him like the fandom does is the problem. Because honestly what could he do? He hadn’t had time to prepare he had no plan and his PTSD was in high gear probably screaming at him to run before it’s to late. What else could he have done realistically?

For anyone who has been in even a remotely similar situation to James we just could not ever see him as the villain and when the show tried to make him that in volume 8 it was a slap to the face. I painfully know what it’s like to work in an environment where nothing you do is good enough, where their is always someone screeching at you about how you’re doing it wrong and that I need to do better, where no matter what I chose someone was angry and hurt and took it out on me even though their was no way I could make everyone happy. I’ve been their, I could see how beaten down and broken James was by his situation which was so much worse because he was holding literal lives in his hands and was struggle to keep people alive but it was never good enough. Even in volume 7 no one really showed him pity or compassion and that breaks a person. Theirs just only so much a person can take before they crumple under the pressure and James broke and...they blamed him. And the worst part is this isn’t the first or last story to be like this.

Time and time again we see stories where someone is completely broken. They’ve been through so much pain and suffering and they wonder is their even a point in getting better? And the story says...no and they often die alone and in pain. Recently I’ve come to the realization that...I’m depressed. My job at a hotel during the night of covid exasperated the problem and I have really really bad days. Days where I just wonder if I’m really going to be okay again and stories like James’s....it reminds me that so many people in the world say that I am to broken. That I can’t be fixed and theirs no point in trying. It hurts and I’m tired of it. I’m sick of stories telling people with disabilities and mental illness or even people just hurting that theirs no point, that their suffering only will turn them evil and that it’s their fault. That they’ll die as someone who is completely unrecognizable from who they once where. I’m just so tired and want a story where the James of the story gets saved is shown compassion and actually gets a truly happy ending. Is that really too much to ask?

#james ironwood #pro james ironwood #pro ironwood #ironwood protection squad #RWDE #general ironwood #dadmiral ironwood #general dadmiral #Sorry #didn’t mean to go off like that #I just have a lot of feelings about this whole thing

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 8, Episode 14 - The Final Word

Thoughts on the final episode of RWBY Vol 8 under the cut.

Also, I will from now on reblog spoilers for Volume 8, which will be tagged with “RWBY v8 spoilers” if you want to blacklist them.

tw: Since the episode itself had the same content warning, I should mention that I will be discussing themes of suicide in this post.

Also, everything I’m about to say is *my* personal opinion. I’m not trying to tell anyone else that they’re supposed to feel the same way about anything in this episode. In turn, please don’t tell me how to feel about it either.

- I should start by bringing up what I said in my post about episode 13, because all of that is going to become relevant now:

So... that all aged... interestingly.

- Next, I should say that I actually did end up getting spoiled about Penny’s death. I was trying really hard and didn’t go into any tags, but literally one day before this episode was released to the public, Tumblr recommended me two blogs with the titles “Penny deserved better” and “Justice for Penny Polendina”… so I drew my conclusions from that. And while I think those blog titles are valid sentiments, I do wish people would wait a week before putting spoilers in a blog title. But then again, I was weirdly glad to get spoiled this time, because it meant I was more emotionally prepared.

- And now, on to my very controversial opinion about this finale: I… uhm… I actually liked it. There, I said it. I liked it. I’m seeing a lot of takes from people who hated it, and that’s totally fair, but personally, to my own surprise, I liked it. (It’s kind of interesting that last time I said it would be “awful writing” to kill Penny now, then it happened, now the whole fandom is complaining about it being awful writing… and I’m here going “actually… that wasn’t so bad”.) That’s not to say that I’m a fan of everything in this finale, especially re: Penny – but overall, the good outweighed the bad *for me*. (Stressing again that this is just how *I* feel.)

- I think the main reason I feel that way is because I honestly expected way worse. If you read that thing I wrote last week^, you see I expected multiple character deaths. I was incredibly nervous. And after I’d already spent a few minutes genuinely thinking Yang died (because of a badly worded episode 13 spoiler I accidently saw), I had to think about the kind of deaths that would be a dealbreaker for me and make me drop the show. (Let’s say it like this: If either of Bumbleby ever died for real, I would be done with this show immediately.) So, in short, I was terrified of the finale and expected it to be the kind of finale that ruins the show for me (which has happened in far too many fandoms so far) – and it wasn’t. I have mixed feelings about how they handled Penny’s story, too, but this finale didn’t ruin the show for me and I honestly felt way worse after the Volume 3 finale. Maybe that’s because I wasn’t prepared for it at the time, but this time I spent a whole week being super anxious, so when I’d actually finished the finale, I just felt overwhelming relief.

- Okay, so let’s talk Penny: Back in Episode 12, I already wasn’t a huge fan of the idea to make her human (if that even is what she was?), but I think I said I’d reserve judgment on it until we see where they go with it. Obviously, it feels unsatisfying to have the show just kill her off after everyone’s been trying to save her all volume. And of course, it’s never fun to see a favorite character of yours (and Penny is definitely a favorite of mine) get killed off. The way it happened (a character who’s been trying to sacrifice herself the whole volume finally doing so through assisted suicide, even though there could have been several potential ways to still save her) feels incredibly unsatisfying and depressing as well. The “heroic sacrifice” cliché isn’t new, but there’s still a difference between a sacrifice that feels necessary and like it really was the only way (Hazel, Vine) and one that feels more like a character being over-eager to sacrifice themselves even though there might have been alternatives (Penny). So really, I understand why people don’t like this, especially because the narrative, so far, seems to validate Penny’s choice by having her plan work. And that does send the opposite of the “fight for every life”, “no one is replaceable” message this volume had been going for until then.

- And this is why, I think Penny’s death is meant to be awful. Volume 9 might prove me wrong on this, but I think we haven’t seen the end of this storyline yet. For me personally, it’s too early to judge this plot-point by itself because it depends a lot on how they deal with it in the aftermath and how things go from here. (For instance: I hated Pyrrha’s death at first because going into a fight she knew she couldn’t win also felt like a needless heroic sacrifice to me. It was only how the aftermath of it was handled from there that made me be okay with it.) So basically, what I’m asking is: How will the other characters handle Penny’s death now? Will Ruby (or anyone else) get angry at Jaune for agreeing to kill her? How will Ruby grieve in general? And, most importantly: Will the narrative really treat Penny’s choice as the “right” one or will it challenge that view? (And was there maybe more going on that we know because I’ve been reading those “Penny is alive” theories and… oh boy.) So yeah – for me it depends on how it gets handled from here.

- Also, I just want to say that I really appreciate RT putting a suicide trigger warning in the beginning of the episode and I wish people wouldn’t twist that into a bad thing. (I’ve seen some takes along the lines of “If they had to put a warning, that means they were aware it’s a harmful message, so that makes it worse” and… please don’t do that. Content creators putting trigger warnings on things is a good thing. Also, this might be a controversial take, but I don’t think fiction always has to “send a good message and teach you a lesson.” The important thing is that RT were aware that this episode could be upsetting/distressing to people and that’s why they put a warning and the suicide hotline’s number in the description.)

- Anyway, I’ve been rambling for too long. My point is: I understand the criticisms and agree with some of them, but I hope the writers know what they’re doing here and I want to believe that they do. I also love all the theories about Penny coming back (in Winter’s mind, for example) and I think they’re not actually that unlikely. And if Penny doesn’t come back, then honestly, I’m okay with that, too. At the end of the day, she’s a fictional character. I can always go and read fanfictions where she’s alive and lives happily ever after with Ruby and nothing that happens in canon can ever take that away. Canon only has as much power as you want it to have. I can enjoy the canon show and the story they’re telling (even if Penny is dead for good this time), while still also enjoying my AUs where she’s fine. One doesn’t harm the other.

- (Also, let me take this moment to shamelessly promote my favorite cartoon show because I think this is relevant to the interests of anyone who hates the “person who’s been trying to sacrifice themselves the whole time ends up doing just that” story: The main character in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is self-sacrificial to the point of it being unhealthy, but the show explicitly doesn’t treat this as a good thing. When she tries to sacrifice herself for the greater good in the final arc and says it’s better that way, this is treated as a problem, and the lesson she ends up learning in the end is her life has value, too, and that she deserves to be happy. (The show’s also very gay.)

- I don’t know if brought any of this across properly. Basically… I’m not happy about where they went with Penny either, but I am okay with it. I still enjoyed the finale and will continue to enjoy the show. And I want to focus on the things that make me happy about RWBY and made me happy about the finale, so I’ll talk about the rest of the episode now (while rewatching it because I’ll forget stuff otherwise):

- Have I mentioned I really love the Volume 8 opening? Because I really do.

- That shot of the destroyed whale is still awesome.

- I love how the episode opens with all the fights we left off with (Winter vs. Ironwood, Penny vs. Cinder, Harriet vs. Qrow, Ruby vs. Neo) and cuts between them. Also, the music is amazing!

- Elm admitting that Harriet is their friend and that being what finally gets through to her was a nice conclusion to their little arc, I guess. Vine’s sacrifice and his admittance that they’re his friends and he’s doing this for them were touching. Honestly, Harriet is right to blame herself for his death. That said, while this volume made me strongly dislike her, I do hope she now gets an arc about actually dealing with her grief and changing. I think that would be way more interesting to see than still having her be bitter, especially after what happened in this episode.

- Qrow causing good luck to stop the bomb was a nice little moment and honestly makes sense. Good luck and bad luck are just a matter of perspective, after all. What’s bad luck for yourself will be good luck for your enemies and vice versa. So, maybe Qrow technically caused “bad luck” for the bomb? Either way, I like the idea of him realizing that his semblance is more than what he thought.

- Cinder breathing fire during the fight was awesome. I need GIFs of that.

- Blake was amazing in this episode! I love that she didn’t let her grief over Yang consume her, but got up and kept fighting, kicked Cinder in the face and told Weiss to get up. Good stuff!

- I wonder if Cinder’s “You should have never been born” line to Ruby was just a generic “I hate you” line or meant something more.

- Do people honestly think that Cinder betraying Neo was unexpected or like… super unreasonable for a villain? Neo did threaten her – most typical villains don’t react well to their underlings threatening them, so I really don’t see why some people are so shocked or downright offended about this (is it just because they like Neo?).

- Weiss being the last one standing and using Blake’s weapon in the fight was absolutely amazing.

- The tragedy of Jaune sending Nora to bring the Huntsmen and Huntresses back through the portal while not knowing the portal is a one-way deal…

- Cinder knowing that Salem is back because her Grimm arm started hurting was a super interesting moment. And Weiss’ shocked face in that moment was quite interesting, too.

- I wonder if Penny really meant dying when she said “Let me choose this one thing”. To me, it sounded more like she meant choosing the next Winter Maiden. Also, her “trust me” to Jaune is an interesting line. Between that and us not seeing how that conversation goes on, I wonder if there’s something we don’t know here. (*puts on my “Penny is alive” tinfoil hat*)

- I’m glad they at least didn’t graphically show Penny’s death – which is an interesting choice again, because this show doesn’t usually shy away from making deaths graphic and portraying them in all their brutality. So, the fact that we don’t see the act itself and then just cut to Penny’s conversation with Winter was interesting. (But I am glad about it because I didn’t want to see that.) It might honestly just be because of the nature of Penny’s death that they didn’t want to show it too much (and that’s fair).

- “You were my friend.” Gosh, this rewatch is making me cry now 😭. (I also think it’s interesting that Winter calls herself a machine and Penny is now the one who corrects her. It’s a nice callback to Ruby telling Penny she’s their friend and “not just a machine”.)

- I was also just reminded that Penny died thinking Ruby was dead… ouch. This possibly hurts me more than Penny’s death itself.

- People have also pointed out that when Penny transfers the powers to Winter, her aura looks yellow (like Jaune’s) with only some green sparks (like Penny’s). Hmm… I really wonder if there’s more going on here.

- “I won’t be gone. I’ll be part of you.” Who’s cutting onions in here?

- Honestly, the main reason I kind of forgave them for killing Penny was because THAT MOMENT of Winter opening her eyes with the powers while that epic music plays was just amazing to witness. And her fight with Cinder? EPIC. BREATHTAKING. BEAUTIFUL. I’m not even that into the idea of Winter as the Winter Maiden (I honestly thought Penny, the robot girl, becoming the Winter Maiden was a much more interesting plot), but the way it was done in this episode was great. I’m glad we’re finally getting that rivalry between Winter and Cinder, because their arcs parallel each other in so many ways. And I love the symbolism of Winter only getting the powers that Ironwood chose for her after she betrayed Ironwood. I like the idea that she only became worthy of them after turning on Ironwood (which does work well with her Volume 7 arc).

- Oh, by the way, I really hate the “Team RWBY will become the four maidens eventually” theory. Even if it didn’t require characters to die, I just think it would be cheap and way too obvious, and I think it’s boring to throw all the magic powers at the main characters. So, if they only made Winter the Winter Maiden so she can eventually die and pass it on to Weiss, I’ll be very annoyed. (But I hope that’s not where this is going.)

- I’m also just realizing that Cinder asking “How am I supposed to take her power if she’s dead?” about Penny a few episodes ago was foreshadowing… damn.

- Jaune’s sword breaking was a really cool and symbolic moment, too.

- Winter trying to save Weiss from falling and not reaching her in time really got to me. I’m mostly not that affected by any of Team RWBY falling into the void because… come on, we know they’ll be fine. But Winter thinking her little sister just died is… oof. Maybe it’s because I have two younger sisters, but stuff like that really gets to me.

- Also, Winter going through that portal and seeing her family after she just (as far as she knows) lost Weiss… ouch. They never got to all reunite with each other (yet).

- I absolutely LOVED that final scene between Salem and Cinder. They’re both such fascinating characters and I just live for their interactions. Cinder talking herself down (even though she got the relics, so she knows she succeeded at the most important part) was amazing on her part. She did learn from Salem! It’s also interesting that even though she got what Salem wanted, Cinder didn’t get what she herself wanted (the Maiden Powers). I feel like that’s eventually going to become important.

- I wonder if Salem believed Cinder’s lies or not. I’ve seen some interesting opinions in both directions here. (Also, again, I don’t get why some people are so shocked and offended about Cinder lying? I’ve seen so many “I hope she pays for her lies” takes and… really? That’s her biggest crime in your eyes? Lying to another villain?? I don’t think any of you villain-haters feel bad for Salem here, so why… oh. Oh, nevermind, I just understood. They’re not mad that Cinder lied, they’re mad because they wanted Salem to kill her. Gosh, that’s so dumb. Face it, people: That’s not going to happen because Salem still needs the Fall Maiden’s powers. She’s not going to kill Cinder anytime before Cinder opens the last vault.)

- Cinder killing Watts with the staff was kinda funny, tbh. Also Salem’s proud little smirk in that scene kills me.

- “And that’s checkmate.” THAT. Okay, THAT was the best line in the entire episode, I don’t make the rules. What an epic moment!! Gosh, have I mentioned I love Cinder to death? What a queen! This volume really completely changed my opinion on her. I’ve already said that she’s my standout character of the volume, and I stand by that. It was her volume in so many ways and it’s so fitting that she gets to say the last line. It’s also such an interesting line in so many ways: 1) Because this episode is called “The Final Word”, is the only episode in this volume that doesn’t have a one-word title, and the actual final word of the episode is “checkmate”, it implies that “Checkmate” is the real, hidden title of the episode. And that fits so well! They could have easily just named the episode “Checkmate”, but revealing it like this works even better. 2) I also love the chess symbolism in this volume in general. There was a really great analysis about it on here somewhere, but basically: Salem is the king, Cinder is the queen (the king can’t die and barely moves, the queen is out there getting rid of opposing player pieces). And the interesting thing about that here is that the king can’t actually checkmate anyone else, only other chess pieces can. So, it’s very fitting that Cinder is the one who says “checkmate”. Also, in a game of chess, you often have to sacrifice your own pieces to win, which is what Cinder did. 3) I also LOVE the realization on Ironwood’s face when he realizes that he’s been so paranoid about Salem, but he’s actually been playing Cinder all along. (Someone else on here pointed out that there’s something super poetic about Cinder, someone who was very much a victim of Atlas’ systemic problems, being the one to defeat Ironwood and destroy his kingdom. Ironwood was ready to sacrifice all the poor people from Mantle for his own goal, and a poor person who was hurt by people in Atlas is the one who destroyed him. Yeah, yeah, Cinder’s evil and all, but I love it! 4) It’s also really interesting to me that Salem said “This game is not yours to win, it’s mine” to Cinder in the first episode of this Volume, but in the end, Salem ended up being gone for the entire last part of the volume and Cinder is the one who got to say “checkmate.” IT’S JUST SO GOOD.

- And ngl, I’m super happy for Cinder. She really got it all. Yeah okay, she didn’t get the Maiden Powers (and I hope she never does, because one person being two maidens at once is lame), but she got the relics, got rid of her enemies and co-workers (or so she thinks), destroyed the kingdom that she was a slave to, got back into Salem’s good graces… good for her! And apparently one of the buildings that you see being flooded was the Glass Unicorn? Amazing. Love that.

- (Yes, I’m team “redemption for Cinder please”, but come on… it was never going to happen this volume. And if it never happens, that’s okay, too – I’m loving her as a villain as well!)

- Also, I hope that all the people who were specifically criticizing Cinder for not being a competent enough villain are very happy now. Because there you have the competent villain you said you wanted! I mean, I’m saying this as someone who used to criticize Cinder’s character for not being interesting/deep enough. I used to say that I’d like a backstory or something that makes her more interesting/compelling to me. But as soon as we got that backstory, I happily switched sides to team “I like Cinder now”. So, I better not hear any complaining from the “I just want her to be a more competent villain” faction now!

- Yeah, I admit I’m getting annoyed with the Cinder hate. Everyone has a right to their opinions, but it gets frustrating when you’re going through the tag of a character you like and half of the tag are people talking about how badly they want that character to die. (Maybe use a seperate tag for it?)

- (I’m just realizing that I said “Well, at least it was only one character death” earlier, but people like Ironwood and Watts actually did die… I just didn’t count those because I don’t care. Sorry not sorry.)

- We decimated Salem’s faction quite a bit this volume, didn’t we? There’s only Cinder, Tyrian, and Mercury left. I wonder if Salem will get some new people on her side.

- Overall, while I did like this episode, I feel like Volume 8 got weaker towards the end. Most Volumes were at their best towards the end, but I feel like episodes 8-11 were the strongest parts of Volume 8, while episodes 12-14 were still good, but not as good.

- My prediction is that Volume 9 will (of course) be Tearm RWBY’s way out of the void (or whatever that place where they ended up is called) – And I quite like the theory that we won’t see the other characters at all and it’ll be focused only on what’s happening in the void.

#RWBY #RWBY Vol 8 #RWBY v8 spoilers #RWBY Vol 8 spoilers #RWBY spoilers #RWBY The Final Word #suicide tw #Penny Polendina #long post #sorry this got so ramby - I don't even know if I expressed any of it properly #Winter Schnee #Cinder Fall #Salem #James Ironwood #Elm Ederne #Harriet Bree #Vine Zeki #Qrow Branwen #Blake Belladonna #Weiss Schnee #Neopolitan #Arthur Watts #Jaune Arc #Nora Valkyrie

[itsclydebitches]

Since Ruby took like, ten second of self-doubt and some major (but overall shor) torture before just committing suicide, I can't help but think she must have had these feelings for years, buried deep down. It's eitehr that or the Ever After massively amplifies feelings. Or the writers are just hacks who cannot hack it. Thoughts?

I'm 95% "The writers don't know how to tackle a subject this sensitive and gave us such an extreme reaction for the drama" and 5% "There's a little evidence to suggest that this has been plaguing Ruby for at least a couple of days, but that still requires the audience to basically headcanon a conflict that never truly existed on screen." I say there's a little because Ruby was obviously stressed during Volume 8 too (which, again, only covered about 48 hours), however, I don't think that serves our Volume 9 arc well because:

Ruby is concerned with totally different stuff now. In Volume 8 she was upset over the confirmation that Salem knew Summer and the theory that she killed her as a result of her grimm experiments. Ruby is also frustrated that they rejected Ironwood's plan, but for two-ish days no one was able to come up with something better: "Then nothing has changed! We’re in the exact same spot we were yesterday. Arguing what to do while the Kingdom waits to die." While certainly connected to the overall repetition of Ruby throwing herself into situations that she then can't easily resolve, it's notable that she's not upset that she hasn't come up with a solution, but that the group hasn't. This is not presented as Ruby buckling under leadership because, frankly, no one is expecting her to lead. She chooses to make choices like starting the Ace Ops fight, but beyond that she's looking to others to problem solve, as Jaune, Oscar, and Ozpin do by Volume's end. So Volume 8 gives us "I'm crumbling under the knowledge that Salem killed my mom and I'm annoyed that we, as a group, haven't solved this horrific, time-sensitive problem." Then Volume 9 gives us, "I'm not thinking at all about Mom - look at me give up a keepsake of hers without a second thought! - and I'm crumbling under this sudden belief that everyone has always demanded that I solve all our problems." It's hard to say this has been building for a long time when what Ruby is stressed about keeps changing from Volume to Volume, even episode to episode. We start Volume 9 with her faltering due to Penny's death, but her breakdown comes about due to leadership. It's all too muddled to say this has been a years long problem in the making.

Much more simply, my second issue is that Ruby (like many other characters) doesn't keep consistent in her emotions either. Not just about what she's upset over, but her actually being upset. Volume 8 presented her mini-breakdown as something Ruby overcame - she gets upset on the staircase, but then they do come up with a plan and save "all" of the Kingdom, acting confident in their execution of this rescue - and though there's a major setback in regards to them falling/losing the Relics, Ruby only takes a second to cry about that then she becomes a part of Volume 9's early gags. Yes, her depression increases as the Volume goes on, getting more extreme the closer we get to her drinking that tea, but considering how much she's fluctuated and that her time in the Ever After has only been a day or so... that's too much too fast to justify her suddenly attempting suicide. All told, the content with ANY evidence from Ruby's depression covers about 4 days, maximum.

So yeah, I think RT massively dropped the ball on this one, though as always this is an easy situation for fans to project on. Anyone happy with RWBY's writing can easily headcanon that yeah, she's been feeling these emotions for an age - she must have because otherwise the suicide attempt doesn't make sense and RT wouldn't write something that doesn't make sense. See how that logic works? - and every moment that's even somewhat relavent can be re-read as a supposed buildup, regardless of what Ruby was upset about or whether she was presented as bouncing back almost immediately.

Plus, the nature of mental health means that ANY characterization technically fits. Ruby is bubbly all the time? Well, people with depression learn to hide it and overcompensate. Ruby appears to immediately bounce back? Again, she's playing a part. She was upset about thing A and then that changed to thing B and now we're on thing J? Don't you understand how all of this compounds and it's the sheer, overwhelming nature of everything she's been through that resulted in this? Because we understand that in real life depression is a complicated, often silent beast, people are tempted to map that onto the story, thereby justifying any version of the arc that we end up with. There's technically no wrong way to write it because there's no "right" way to be depressed. My problem is that this isn't real life. It's a story and we have expectations for how stories will differ from reality in order to serve their function as compelling entertainment. I don't want to go, "Oh, well Ruby was obviously grappling with depression this whole time and it was just hidden from us because that's one realistic means of depicting it. How many times has someone said, 'I had no idea' after learning about a suicide attempt?" But Ruby is our protagonist, the perspective through which we experience the entirety of the show, so keeping this hidden from the audience doesn't do anything except make it come across as a badly written, arguably insensitive arc. This is not real life. Ruby is not a real person with real feelings she may consciously or unconsciously be keeping from others. Ruby is a fiction whose purpose is to convey something to us, the audience, which means that outside of deliberate twists, a story that goes, "This was always occurring, you just never got to see it on screen" is rarely going to have that come across well.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas #suicide tw

[dragynkeep]

Top 5 worst male characters and Top 5 worst female characters in RWBY, and brief reasons why?

This is the type of ask that’s gonna get me shit but I have known no hubris in my life so let’s go. These won’t be in the case of being intentionally bad, I’m doing more on personal taste and the quality of their writing. 

Worst Male Characters

1. Adam Taurus

Obviously, Adam is at the top of the list for me. His storyline was butchered from a story of racism and vigilantism to a story about domestic abuse, his brand was cheap shock value with very little substance, he stopped being threatening after the Fall of Beacon and instead became a whiny little bitch, and his voice acting is just bad.

He sounds like he’s gonna call me a slur on Xbox Live.

2. Jacques Schnee

Yeah, the abusive rich man who runs slave mines is bad, but that’s not the main reason he’s on this list. I could accept a character like that if the writers made him good, but they didn’t. Jacques wasn’t intimidating at all. He wasn’t smart at all. The man who conned his father in law and wife into giving him complete control of the most powerful company in Remnant is not the same man we get in the actual show.

He’s whiny, cowardly, and a useless villain who’s entire downfall was treated like a poorly made joke, and now only serves as comic relief in the Jailbirds scenes in V8. 

3. Hazel Rainart

Same issues with Jacques and Adam, but less egregious. Hazel was actually a pretty interesting villain in his earlier volumes, and even after his blunder at the Batlle of Haven, he went back to being kinda good in V6 with his protective behaviour towards Emerald. And then V8 came around and I grew to hate how stupid his reasons for joining Salem were, and the fact that he just beat the shit outta Oscar while whining about his dead sister.

Bro, Idgaf about someone I never met while you’re maiming a 15 year old boy because you wanna be mad at the guy in his head. 

4. Qrow Branwen

It’s the same case with Hazel. I actually liked Qrow up until V6, and even then I cared enough to try and see where his alcoholism arc went since it’s a serious issue that affects not only my family, but my people. I started to dislike him after he punched Oscar and kept being horrible to the boy, all without apologising in the end, but v7 and 8 made me really hate him. 

I don’t care for his edgy attitude, and I don’t care that he got his self-help book boyfriend murdered by a crackhead. Add onto CRWBY butchering a serious topic about alcoholism with him, and he’s just sank right down writing sense.

5. Ghira Belladonna

I never liked Ghira. I think the others are higher than him on this list just on the virtue that I liked them, or the idea of them, and the writing just pulled them down so much.

But I never had that problem with Ghira, so the disappointment doesn’t sting as bad. He’s just an unnecessary character that cheapens Blake since she’s now a princess, a useless father who somehow couldn’t get his own 12 year old daughter back even thought she didn’t even bother to change her own name, and then featured live on a tournament channel that the whole world saw. He was a useless leader, his ideology was stupid and almost got him and others killed, and he was so ungrateful towards Adam for saving his stupid furry ass that I completely sided with Sienna calling him the fuck out.

At least he’s not on my screen anymore, but I know that won’t last forever and I gotta look at his dumb face again.

Worst Female Characters

1. Cinder Fall

God, she is the worst villain and character in this show. She’s so flat, her stans are annoying as fuck, her voice leaves a lot to be desired, and the fact that there’s hardly anything to her for seven years makes it even worse now that we finally got a backstory for her, and it’s one we ALL GUESSED.

Who would’ve thought she’d be a Cinderella who killed her abusive family, I am shooketh. 

2. Blake Belladonna

Blake was my favourite girl in RWBY and I’m mad at CRWBY for what they’ve done to her.

It says a lot that a girl still affected by the abuse and trauma of fighting in a terrorist organisation has more personality and backbone than one who’s supposedly broken free of her traumatic past and moved forward. Blake now is spineless, flat, boring ass cardboard cutout of what she once was, who would rather let her human friends defend her from racists than call them out herself like she did to Weiss in Volume 1. 

She’s spoiled, priviledged, annoying, and Arryn has such a flat voice on top of being a gross ass person that I get annoyed every time she speaks. She’s no longer an oppressed minority fighting for the rights of her people, she’s a princess who would rather go to a club with people she didn’t even like than a rally against the man who caused so much suffering to her people. Even her talk with Nora about not letting yourself be taken over by who you’re with romantically is hypocritical, since that’s exactly what’s happened to her since she’s been paired up with Yang.

She couldn’t even have the spotlight of fighting her own VILLAIN, Yang was the one who broke Adam’s Aura and had the big triumphant moment of throwing his sword in the river while she was too busy fucking rock climbing. 

3. Yang Xiao Long

Yang was my second favourite girl in RWBY and I’m mad at CRWBY for what they’ve done to her.

Yang wasn’t super developed in the earlier volumes. Honestly, I didn’t think much until her talk with Blake about Raven in Burning The Candle, and her dismemberment leading her towards depression and PTSD. Come Volume 4, I was alright with the portrayal of her recovery. I don’t think they gave enough time between her trying on the arm and then being good enough to leave, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t bad. 

What was bad was everything after. Yang became a hypocritical, moody bitch who would drag everyone for their bad decisions while ignoring her own. Her PTSD, something VERY personal to me, was ruined and up and vanished by V7 since she’s now killed the man who gave her the disorder so obviously it’s cured! She is always on Ozpin’s case for the birds shit, and then keeping secrets, but then goes and does the exact same thing while giving little resistance to others doing it because they’re family.

Even her argument with Ruby in V8 was tame as fuck. She blamed Ruby for things not going well while ignoring that it was her own dumbass decisions that contributed to it. Ruby didn’t tell Yang to go and spill the beans to Robyn, her stupid cat girlfriend did that, and Yang went along with it while being unrepentant later on when Ironwood was RIGHTFULLY pissed about it.

Add onto v8 then having her worry about how BLAKE thought about her, rather than RUBY, and I just hate her. This ain’t Yang, I want Yang back. 

4. Nora Valkyrie

Nora is just a flat character. Her voice is annoyingly high pitched and screechy, her jokes aren’t funny, and all the things I loved that she got in v4 was later dropped entirely. She had such good moments in V4 that actually made me appreciate her more, and then she just became another hypocrite in v7 who wanted to yell at Ironwood while refusing to look at her own flaws.

On top of her kissing Ren when he was clearly not in the mood to talk, and it made me hate her. It’s not a cute ship moment, it’s a creepy disrespect of someone’s personal space. If it was the other way around, no one would think it was cute.

5. Robyn Hill

Similar to Ghira’s reasons, I never liked Robyn, so she’s low down on the list compared to the others since at one point I loved the others (Minus Cinder but she’s just so bad that she’s #1).

Robyn isn’t a good freedom fighter. She runs in without thinking about things and then proceeds to deny any responsibility of her actions. She won’t accept that maybe her agreeing with the same serial killer that nearly killed her and Fiona, on top of succeeding in murdering some of her supporters and Forest, and starting a fight with Clover in an enclosed space wasn’t a good idea. 

Add onto the fact that she’s really just incompetent. She steals supplies from Ironwood to fix the wall and help Mantle, but after time we see that nothing has been done. 

Christina Vee is wasted on her honestly.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwde #answered #luke.txt #Anonymous

[kob131]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byjiwECylIE

So EruptionFang made a video about Raven Branwen. 

Considering his last video I watched (his Volume 8 Episode 2 Breakdown) was basically him shitting himself continuously because he’s STILL bitter about his headcanon being disproven, I don’t have high hopes.

But who knows, maybe he’ll make a good point.

0:00 - 1:24 “In RWBY, other characters get torn down to make Team RWBY look better, like the show only wants you to like Team RWBY! No one gets to be fleshed out or understood by the show! It’s SOOO disrespectful!”

...

*SMASH!*

Sorry, that was the sound of me faceplanting so hard I smashed a desk in half.

Really, Team RWBY never rises up and only other characters get torn down to make them look good? Yang never had to develop from being reckless as all hell to actually using her head in a fight? Blake didn’t have to get over her own fears and learn to accept help from others? Weiss didn’t have to struggle against her own personality to become a better person overall? Ruby didn’t have to struggle against the world itself and her own worldview to keep going?

This shit that is OBSERVABLE IN THE FUCKING SHOW didn’t happen? Sure, and there are two Adams. Even by the example you visually give (Avatar The Last Airbender)- Team RWBY still rose up like Team Aang did.

And don’t give me that ‘other characters get torn down!’ bullshit. The Ace Ops weren’t made to look bad to make Team RWBY look good- They failed because of their own personal flaws that were already established before that fight (Harriet’s recklessness, Elm’s temper, Vine’s detached attitude, Marrow’s disconnect). And Adam wasn’t torn down AT ALL: he remained the same damn character throughout his appearances and failed through his own failures born from his character.

And funny how you talk about other character not getting developed and yet ignore the Ace Ops’ boss. What’s wrong? Oh yeah, Ironwood IS developed (EXTENSIVELY. As in, we know more about his thought process, reasoning and actions than even WEISS, let alone Blake, Yang and Ruby.) so he just becomes a walking debunking of your OPENING ARGUMENT.

Not even past the intro and I’m already pissed.

1:46 ‘Any character’s righteous revolutions-’

Which didn’t exist, was disproven in the first episode and completely ignores BASIC writing tropes (like ‘Villians LIE’).

But please, keep talking about your delusions.

1:56 ‘There is an inescapable bubble Raven is in by both the audience and the characters!’

Spoiler Alert: It’s a bubble Raven HERSELF made in the first place.

‘A bubble that she’s a coward and cares about no one but herself.’

True and effectively true. I’ll explain WHY later.

(Nothing to say about the ‘Meeting Yang and Raven’ part, moving on)

8:37 - 8:51 *quotes Shane’s letter, portraying it as a cruel choice to ignore the Volume 2 stinger scene.*

So now we’ve moved on to tearing off chunks of Monty’s corpse and Shane’s grief to use for his own headcanon. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone using this- partially because it’s always using an emotional connection to Monty to manipulate the audience. Partially because this was a DUMB decision. 

Where the FUCK would Raven fit into Volume 3? Even the section EF takes from is about a fight that everyone agrees wouldn’t have fit into Volume 3 at all and served no purpose and this is the ONLY mention of Raven. Combine this with how Volume 3 is structured (where Raven can’t do anything that Qrow didn’t already do), how ambiguous the final scene of Volume 2 was, the Mary Sue accusations against Yang at this point and Raven’s revealed personality- She wouldn’t WORK in Volume 3. Just because Monty had the idea doesn’t make it a good one. Fuck, he BROUGHT ON Miles and Kerry BECAUSE he knew he wasn’t a writer and his last contribution (Maidens) was BY FAR the worst aspect of RWBY which proves that even more.

EF, you’re bitching that Raven wasn’t shoved into a Volume already overstuffed and lacking in time and resources. With NO purpose and contradicting her personality.

Congrats on encouraging bad writing.

10:43 ‘It doesn’t make sense that in introducing the maidens and making Raven one, they cut her attacking Pyrrha to get her Maiden powers!’

Yeah- nice headcanon. Too bad your own quote says they didn’t know the purpose, Shane’s letter never says the purpose either and you even say it’s speculation. Also too bad that we’re suppose to SYMPATHIZE with Raven on some level later on and a large part of why Cinder isn’t portrtayed as sympathetic is that she KILLED Pyrrha, Raven’s theoretical target. Thus Raven’s attack would make her even MORE unlikeable.

‘B-but it changes the context of what we know, like Yang’s search for her!”

And how? 

“Through her message to Yang, which was hostile and angry!”

... Really? The message of “I won’t save you again” is angry and hostile? It seems more matter of fact to me, informing Yang she won’t help her again not out of anger or dislike but through her worldview, which would be disconnected from her emotions on the surface.

Qrow’s words never include an insult or attack on Yang, like calling her weak or mocking her. You can INTERPRET it as hostile and angry but that depends on the subjective worldview of the person. The actual words and message don’t carry hostility or anger. They carry apathy.

‘B-but it splits her character in two-!’

Oh my god, did you SERIOUSLY try to pull another ‘Two Adams’ on me?

Raven DIDN’T HAVE a character to spilts in those two appearances. We knew nothing about her as a person. Her saving Yang and that supposed talk could have been for and about ANYTHING. That’s why there were so many theories: NOTHING was known. And nothing about those actions inform her character without context, which Volume 2 never gives.

This ‘first Raven’, like CJ Black’s ‘First Adam’, DOESN’T EXIST. It’s just a headcanon you refused to accept as being debunked.

‘W-well, Raven still looked after Yang when her arm was cut off!’

In bird form. And only bird form. And never directly interacts with Yang. All in a form Yang DOESN’T KNOW she’s in. Suffering from problems RAVEN HERSELF caused. WITH A FUCKING PORTAL TO HER AT ALL TIMES.

‘B-but her actions say that she DOES care!’

I knew PRECISELY what arguments you were gonna make the moment I started this video. Because they’re the SAME DAMN SHIT I’ve seen to defend Raven before. And let me go ahead and tear it down now: Raven being around in bird form means NOTHING. Without Yang knowing it’s her, it is meaningless. It’s WORSE than nothing because it demonstrates that Raven could have been with Yang throughout her life with no apparent cost to her because SHE WAS ALREADY DOING IT. And it means she watched Yang struggle with her abandonment and the toll it took on her family and ESPECIALLY Yang and did NOTHING to fix the problem. 

Even ignoring the portal thing, taking this one scene in a vacuum- her looking at her depressed daughter and then fucking off paints her as either so lacking in empathy that she can’t be bothered to help HER OWN CHILD or so ill equipped to be a parent she makes TFS Goku look like...well, Taiyang. With CONTEXT, (still ignoring the portal thing), she CAUSED this depression by scarring Yang all those years ago and made Yang’s life worse for it. With the portal, she couldn’t even do the barest of minimum standards.

You can try to portray this as beautiful all you want: Nothing is shown stopping Raven from actually BEING A PARENT FOR ONCE before this and after this, we KNOW it wouldn’t be difficult in the slightest and she STILL chooses to not help. It’s one of the worst cases of parental apathy I have ever seen and fuck you for trying to bitch out the creators because you chose to IGNORE CONTEXT.

‘Instead of making it so Raven abandoned Yang because of her Maiden powers, they instead chose to abandon her role as a mother!’

You mean they had a character make a decision that completely fits with how the audience would perceive the character at this point?

Everyone, consider what we know about Raven. She’s Qrow’s twin sister, meaning she’s logically just skilled and strong as Qrow is. She’s also a Maiden, something that gives characters an IMMENSE amount of power separate from their normal abilities. She has a decoy so no one knows what she actually is. She has a portal to and from Yang at ALL times. She’s as strong as the strongest non-Maiden character shown so far, IS a Maiden bolstering her power beyond the Maidens we DO know of and can instantly be there for Yang at any time in her life and get away if someone tries to go after her, which makes no sense if it’s about her being a Maiden because she has a DECOY for this thing.

And yet, with all these things working for her, giving her every advantage that DEFIES the common trope EF is pushing- Raven still ditched her, ditched her a second time and couldn’t even be bothered to give her deeply apathetic message herself. And now supposedly, Raven would suddenly become a mother to Yang...and we’re expected to feel happy about this.

Yeah, no. People would be outraged that Raven got off scot free. In no part

“Everyone keeps being hostile and angry with Raven, who is also being hostile and angry. This means that the other guys are just pidgeonholding her into this role!”

Yes, a trend that Raven HERSELF causes. Qrow is hostile towards her because she tried to act as though she cared about her family to Qrow, a character shown to be a loyal person, but ignores her own DAUGHTER when it’s supposedly about family. Yang is hostile towards Raven because she knows Raven could have been there for her but chose not to, all while she NEEDS to find her ACTUAL family. Even Taiyang’s look at the end of Volume 5 makes sense as if she’s there, that means she’s likely running from their daughter, whom she has failed as a parent YET AGAIN despite Taiyang giving her a generous interpretation.

Raven is being forced into a role SHE MADE FOR HERSELF.

“This isn’t how it was at the beginning of the show. Yang and by extension the audience is sad and curious while Raven and Qrow are angry and toxic.”

Again, you ignore context.

Yang knows NOTHING about Raven and was abandoned by her. Of course she’d be sad and curious.

But Qrow is different. He DOES know Raven, saw first hand what her actions have done to his family while being the type of person who would HATE this and Raven is actively being manipulative while also avoiding him as he asks for help in SAVING THE WORLD.

Later on, Yang finds Raven...after learning that Raven had every chance in the world to be there for her and chose NOT to. All while Raven exudes arrogance and a selfish pride in being a ‘prize’ for Yang to work towards.

Then Raven proceeds to use her as BAIT, abandon her, try to turn her against the family that HAS been there for her, insults the father and uncle who loved and cared for her- all for more power...that wouldn’t even solve the problem Raven has. She stabbed her own brother and daughter in the back...for nothing. Because of her own flaws, something Yang fought against and overcame making her more mature than her MOTHER.

And after all that, she is given one last chance to truly show her love for Yang: to help her and join her. To go with her and put herself at risk for Yang’s safety or at least taking the Relic so Salem will target her instead of Yang. And what does Raven do? Abandons her AGAIN.

Abandons her to run off near her ex, the man she left with a child and a broken heart. She uses her connection to him to run away from her responsibility as a parent, running away from THEIR DAUGHTER. The girl he raised up without blaming Raven for anything, instead trying to paint a good picture of her in Yang’s head.

No shit people are hostile or unhappy with her- She keeps FAILING.

‘Oh hey, they made her an antagonist and thus EVIL! The writer’s CLEARLY think that there’s no way a parent who abandoned their child can be anything other than EVIL!’

... Then how come they portray her as conflicted and sad in the finale of Volume 5?

Much like how Adam’s unmasking fundamentally BREAKS his previous arguments of ‘HE EVIL!’ because it helps humanize Adam and give him pity and sorrow, the same is done here with the finale and Raven’s final actions so far. If Raven were evil, she wouldn’t have tried justifying her actions. Salem, Tyrian and , actively evil characters, don’t act like Raven. And they certainly don’t show regret or sorrow for their actions or conflicts about the results. This goes AGAINST how people perceive evil, even in the show itself.

So if she’s supposedly EVIL, why is her climax all about aspects that are fundamentally incompatible with how evil is portrayed in the show?

Answer: Raven’s not portrayed as evil. She’s portrayed as FLAWED, with actual negative flaws that cause her grief and pain like any normal character. EF is just throwing a fit that a ‘character’ he likes isn’t being treated as positive.

‘Volume 4 wasn’t where we got our first impression of Raven, it was Volume 2 and 3!’

And what impression could you get?

That she’s strong...and that’s it. At least, that’s it for positive traits. Raven is strong because she scared off Neo and that’s all the positive traits we have of her.

Everything else is negative. She apparently doesn’t care enough about Yang to stay around in any capacity for whatever reason. She refuses to see Yang and is largely apathetic towards her. She can be there for Yang but chooses not to. And her own twin brother Qrow doesn’t really like her.

The things we saw of Raven then paint a picture of someone who doesn’t care about Yang in any meaningful way. Even though I’ve chosen to ignore the portal thing, I really shouldn’t because she showed the portals off since Volume 2, meaning since her physical introduction she ALWAYS had a path to Yang but never chose to. EF acts as though these aspects of Raven didn’t exist before Volume 4...when the barest minimum of thought shows them in before that.

‘Their biggest mistake was the Volume 2 end credits scene since it goes against everything they wanted to do with her as a character!’

Yeah...and you argue for including it even though your own source shows that the other writers KNEW this issue.

‘The first impression we got of her was her saving Yang’s life and then confronting her!’

Yeah, and guess what? Those are not inherently positive. She could have saved Yang to manipulate her and use her as a pawn for all we knew. For as many positive interpretations you can give for these actions, I can give a negative interpretation. All because these actions lacked context at the time so it was neither positive nor negative.

The context dictated what these actions were. And context defined them as ultimately positive...but flawed. Which you conflate with malice.

‘The Volume 2 scene was meant to be a kicking off point-’

For what? Once again, the scene is not inherently positive. Raven never shows care or love for Yang in that scene, all she shows is a desire to talk (which without context of what she says, what it means, what her intentions are, how informed she is and how she uses this opportunity- makes it neutral.)

After this you do this cartoonish ‘oh they changed direction!’ thing without a single shred of evidence beyond a letter made by a grief madden man which doesn’t even say what you are saying. You keep assigning direction to something without a clear direction.

‘So how do you address her Maiden plotline with her Yang plotline?’

You make it about her personal failing of trying to use power to hide her cowardice, show that she lies to herself as well as others to justify her actions and show how she fails? Like how they showed that her ditching Yang lines up with how she refuses to take action until backed into a corner, gets confronted repeatedly with her flaws as her daughter (someone far weaker and less informed) keeps going and the show forces her to see how she’s being cowardly?

‘Don’t do one.’

... Translation: ‘i didn’t like what the show did so I’m gonna do selective remembering to make it look like nothing happened. ... What? I did it with Adam.’

Regardless of how you feel about the plotlines- They were BOTH addressed. It wasn’t dropped, it wasn’t forgotten- It was resolved as I have shown multiple times here.

And here at 20:33 I’m ending this. It’s pretty damn clear that Erup-Cole is just ignoring whatever doesn’t fit his view. Instead of taking a look at what happened and trying to understand the pattern that comes, he’s making up a pattern and patchworking it together through cherry picking.

I see that he hasn’t changed from his Adam tantrum, because this is the EXACT SAME VIDEO, just stretched out and about Adam’s MILF form. And I do mean ‘Adam’s MILF form’ because I don’t think a character with such superficial similarities to him getting the same treatment is a coincidence.

Cole, you can’t try selling me something with THIS much bullshit. It’s like trying to serve me a maggot infested steak and telling me it’s well cooked. You’re full of shit and no matter how much you try to hide it, it won’t change.

Your headcanons are not canon and it’s your fault you take such offense. Deal with it.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 11 Review/Remix

Not the most action packed chapter we’ve ever had, and certainly not as dramatic as Chapter 11s from past Volumes. But this week had some wonderful surprises and existential dread and depression in equal measure and I think that’s a formula for a pretty damn good watch.

Despite the devastating energy bomb Oscar delivered last episode, we open with the city of Atlas overrun with tons of Grimm. The people are still hiding in the subway, fearing for their lives twice over now that Ironwood’s monologue is playing and showing just how off his rocker he is. Those in the crater mines take it far worse, though we see some of the humans and faunus who had previously seemed on edge with each other holding one another in solidarity and comfort. Fiona breaks down in tears and is pulled into a Happy Huntress group hug by Joanna and May, so it’s a small comfort to see they’re all still alive.

Ironwood and Winter walk the halls of Atlas command together, and Winter can’t help but notice the fearful reverence the general’s presence instills in lesser officers. The Ace Ops are talking things over in the wake of their boss’ ultimatum, and Elm is of the belief that Ironwood was just bluffing about nuking Mantle if he doesn’t get what he wants. Vine agrees it may very well be the kick in the pants Team RWBY and the others will need to finally see the right path, but we the audience are getting pretty sick of hearing this shtick. Marrow thinks Ironwood is taking this too far, and Harriet is just angrily indifferent about the whole thing. Ironwood rounds the corner and addresses the squad with their new orders: get some drones ready to drop the bomb. Winter asks why exactly they need to actually make those kind of preparations, and he makes it clear that he really does intend to remove Mantle from the equation if he is prompted to. He actually thinks committing this massacre, nay genocide, will make Penny more willing to return to his command if she no longer has an alternative job. No, dumbass, she’ll only want to defy and even kill you more! This is how he believes they will save Atlas, but Marrow has had more than enough and calls him on his shit for a line like that. All this is doing is helping Salem in her mission to divide and destroy the world, and it’s spitting in the face of everything Marrow thought the Atlas military stood for. Harriet threatens to clean his clock if he doesn’t shut up, and Vine again suggests that this would be a necessary sacrifice for the good of the Kingdom. Elm tries to agree, to say that this should be their top priority whether they like it or not, but Marrow has more to say. He can’t believe any of them actually buy the nonsense they’re spouting, and wants to know if there’s anything his teammates actually believe in anymore. With so many moral compromises, where do they draw the line of patriotism vs fascism? The faunus man gives a pretty good clincher to his tirade by calling his badge and rank nothing more than a collar. Say what you want about the writing of the faunus discrimination subplots in the prior volumes, I think this was pretty good. Ironwood isn’t about to let Marrow walk away from a rant like that without consequences and we can hear his cocking his gun. Marrow hears it too, but before he can react Winter comes in from his right with a sucker punch that knocks him to the floor. As she drops a knee on Marrow’s back to cuff him for insubordination we see Ironwood was a second away from shooting this man, one of his few trusted elite soldiers left, in the back of the head for an execution without mercy or hesitation. She just saved his goddamn life and that makes her an MVP for this Volume. The other Ace Ops realize this close encounter with death too, and they all share the same expression of shock fear dread and confusion. Not even Vine can hide how much he doesn’t like what could have just occurred. Winter says she’s going to take this “traitor” to the brig where he belongs and Ironwood allows her to leave and do so, only taking his finger off the trigger once they’ve walked past him. Those with a better understanding of trigger discipline than I could probably make something poignant out of that, so have at it if you can. What is abundantly clear to us is that Winter will be taking Marrow no such place. She has absolutely had enough and she’s about to desert with him in tow. The remaining three have to get back in line and spend a little time rethinking their positions on this job. Well, at least one of them will be, I don’t think Harriet is gonna change course after what she’s already done.

From one tense situation to another, we go to the Schnee manor dining room where Team RWBY are trying to figure out their next moves with Oscar and Emerald. They know they don’t want Ironwood getting his hands on Penny, but they don’t know what to do instead that won’t result in mass casualties. They don’t know that Robyn and Qrow have flown the coop and might come to their aid soon, and under Ironwood’s watch there’s no way to try and evacuate the people in the crater before he drops the bomb. It’s a real bad situation with no clear solutions or backup plans. Emerald can’t help but be snarky and say if the perpetual optimism engine that is Ruby can’t think of what to do then there’s no right answer at all. Weiss is annoyed that Em is giving them sass when they really don’t need any, but Yang is downright furious and her to GTFO if she doesn’t like trying to help them solve this. Emerald tenses up when Yang stomps towards her with clenched fists, and her hands go to her weapons in case she needs to defend herself. We know Yang wouldn’t actually throw a punch even if she’s mad like this, but Em doesn’t. Probably because the most substantial thing connecting the two of them was the time Emerald used her semblance to make Yang look like a heartless brute who would break a leg for no reason on live TV. Also Emerald doesn’t have the best role models for how to handle frustration... Oscar continues to insist they all just take a deep breath and remember the big picture rather than lose it over small disagreements, and reminds them that Em is going to be staying on their side cuz Salem won’t let her safely be anywhere else. But when he tries to reassure the group with a reminder that Oz is back to offer help too it just tenses the situation further. Ruby’s got her head in her arms on the table, and she’s really having a hard time of it all. Oscar muses about all the negative personal energies keeping them from a productive cohesion, and Ruby pops off. A day’s worth of their best efforts, hard fought battles and painful consequences, and nothing has gotten better. Just like at the start of the Volume, all they’ve been able to do is argue over what to try and do while Atlas heads towards its demise. Yang tries to put an encouraging hand on her shoulder but she brushes it off and runs out of the room in a huff. Everyone silently realizes how much they’ve fucked this up if Ruby is so hopeless and desperate, and Yang follows her sister out of the room.

Upstairs, Jaune is doing his best to boost Nora’s Aura and help her heal faster, but it’s not doing anything about her lightning scars. Those babies are here to stay, and I don’t mind it. It shows history, survival and a damn good story about what she’s been able to power through. Ren is sitting at the foot of the bed, and the best he’s able to offer is how glad he is Nora is okay. She seems indifferent and even passive aggressive at the diagnosis on her scars, claiming it’s just another example of her being classic dumb Nora. Ren tries to object that this wasn’t her being stupid or foolhardy, but she bites back at him with all the resentment she seems to have been holding in since they split ways yesterday. He’s got no right to say what it was or wasn’t, he wasn’t there to see it. He pushed away from her when things went wrong because he didn’t want to have to feel anything he thought would be too hard to deal with. Ren makes no effort to argue, he knows she’s right and he apologizes profusely for how he wronged both her and Jaune. He regrets the things he said to them, or more likely the things he said to Jaune out on the tundra since he and Nora haven’t exactly talked much. He admits he’s been mad at himself for not measuring up to their mentor figures in the Ace Ops, for how little he could help when Tyrian came a’ slashing at Robyn’s election rally, and for slipping up and letting Neo get away with the Lamp. Mentioning the rally of course gets Nora’s attention away from her pissed off brooding, and she does start to listen a little more sympathetically. Ren says that he tried to tunnel vision on getting stronger in the hopes it would mean he wouldn’t fail again and bring the team down with him. We know from Ironwood how bad tunnel vision is, so I’m glad Ren is realizing it was a bad choice. Ren has realized now that by doing all that he failed the worst of all, that being in his role as a member of this team and as a partner to Nora. The two of them lock eyes, and Jaune notices the deeper meaning behind this prolonged eye contact and knows he should make himself scarce for now so they can have this more important conversation sans his third wheeling ass. Good boy, but a bit over the top excusing himself.

All Nora can find the words to ask is why Ren hadn’t said anything about these personal doubts sooner so they could try and deal with it and grow as a team, and he says he wanted to try and solve it himself because it was his problem and he was the one dragging the group down because of it. She disagrees on the grounds of her own perceived failings, being silly of mind and strong of muscle and little else of value. Ren won’t hear that kind of self depreciation sitting down, so he moves further up the bed to sit by her lap. He tries his best to give her affirmations by rephrasing her qualities as great things but she’s just not willing to hear it... until he gets a little more passionate about it than he may have meant to. These are the things he loves about her. Because he loves her. Lie Ren tells Nora Valkyrie “I love you”. Nora knows in her heart he really means that, but she has some things she wants to get off her chest. In the single sentence of backstory we get, her mom apparently abandoned her and fled from a Grimm attack before she ended up in Kuroyuri meeting Ren. SInce then they’ve always been an inseparable pair, and she wouldn’t give up a day of that for anything. But now she realizes she needs some time to really learn who she is as her own person and fighter, and going back to being as close as they were wouldn’t allow that kind of growth. Because Nora loves Ren too, always has. And she can tell their separate missions have done him some good too, but she needs a little more time before she’s ready to be the partner a great guy like him deserves. She just wants to know if that kind of request is okay with him. He puts a hand against her cheek and lovingly wipes away the tear she had shed. Of course that’s okay. He’s proud of her for being mindful of her own happiness and growth, and is willing to put the relationship they both very much look forward to having on hold while she grows as a person. This is a very healthy dynamic and all meming aside we really love to see it portrayed so naturally and acceptably in media. And for good wholesome measure, Ren Boops Nora. They laugh and smile and press their foreheads together because Rooster Teeth loves showing us that as a sign of proximity and intimate comfort.

Cutting to something far less happy, Qrow is retrieving Harbinger and Robyn’s gauntlet crossbow from a locker in what I assume might be evidence lockup. He asks Robyn if she’s got the security cameras running on loop, presumably so they can sneak through the halls undetected, but she is currently distracted. At least one screen is feeding audio of Ironwood’s threat to Mantle, and others are showing he really is gearing up to do so. Qrow tries to reassure her by resolutely saying they’ll stop him before he has the chance to, but she doesn’t seem to pleased with that plan. Regardless, they make their way through the halls and head for an elevator to take them up to the Academy. After avoiding being spotted by guards, they make it to the elevator but Robyn stops Qrow before he can hit the call button. She tries to advocate for a better way to solve this, he insists there isn’t one. Robyn says it’s not just about Qrow so it isn’t his choice alone to make what is or isn’t the only solution. Qrow just keeps insisting that this is what he’s gonna do and when he does it’ll all be safe and over with, but Robyn tries to suggest success isn’t guaranteed and if they fail it’ll only doom hundreds more than if they try something else. Qrow doesn’t give a damn, he just yells that Ironwood deserves to be killed, because in case the pronoun game was too hard Qrow is dead set on doing a murder. Robyn claps a hand over Qrow’s mouth and pushes him against the wall because they ARE still trying not to get caught remember? I really have to admit on my first watch I thought this was gonna be an eruption of some kind of romantic tension I just hadn’t noticed til now and she was going to shut him up with a kiss. But no, thank god they didn’t pull that tired trick. After making sure the coast really is clear, she gets to the heart of things. She can tell Qrow is in pain, he’s mourning, and its a shroud he’s well accustomed to. But don’t act like this is righteous justice for the people at large, Qrow wants blood on his hands purely for personal vengeance. She acknowledges that Clover had a lot of qualities worth looking up to the way Qrow had, but she thinks that at the end of the day Qrow has proven to be the better man and the better Huntsman. I feel like she could have phrased that a touch better so as to not speak quite so ill of the recently deceased, but the pep talk is there. He’s got the will to fight for what he believes is the right course of action rather than just what a higher up says he needs to, and that is the sort of strength of character that’s worth a whole lot in this world, so she hopes he won’t go abandoning it now that the going is even rougher. He seems to be calmed and inspired by this, but before any more words are said the elevator pings that it’s stopping on this floor so the two ready their weapons to fight whoever emerges. The doors open, but we have the perspective of whoever is inside looking out to see the two hunters drop their guard in confusion. As that is the end of that scene we will not be finding out who they saw for at least another week, but I think it’s most likely to be Winter and Marrow and the four of them will form an unlikely alliance.

Back in Schnee manor, Yang reaches the foyer to see Ruby sitting on the stairs clutching a banister. Instead of going right up to her Yang goes past to take a look at the collapsed suit of armor. She’s heard by now how Ruby and the others managed to kill the Hound, and tries to give her little sis amused props for doing what the elder sibling couldn’t. Instead Ruby just asks if Yang knows what they saw inside the Grimm. Yang says she does, and tenses up like she wants to brush past this very depressing topic Ruby is hinting at. Ruby is having none of that and just says what we’ve all been thinking. Summer Rose was most certainly turned into a Grimm too. Fearing the possibility in her head was one thing, but to hear Ruby say it aloud with a voice so hollow and hopeless is too much and Yang falls to her knees sobbing in a second flat. Yang tries to wipe the tears away, to be calm and strong like always, but Ruby isn’t stopping. They know Salem used to want Silver Eyed Warriors dead because of Maria’s brush with death years ago, but now Salem wants Ruby brought in alive and it seems obvious why. So why wouldn’t it be the case that Summer was the turning point, that fighting her was when Salem realized she could do so much more with her mortal foes? Ruby has had enough of lying to themselves for the sake of optimistic hope, her hope that Amity could get a message out got them nowhere but further failure and she blames herself for being childish. Yang takes her hand and assures her that it wasn’t childishness but rather optimism and hope. Those are things they desperately need in this struggle, but to be blindly optimistic can certainly be bad so they need to be smart about which risks they take. Ruby still isn’t about to concede this point because the risk she took was a failure and their message didn’t bring any help. I should like to remind the reader/viewer that it took about a week for Team RWBY to get from Mistral to Atlas and this message went out... 12 hours ago? Maybe 16? You’re giving up the ghost a little soon there sweetie, though they do need that help ASAP so better late than never isn’t really a viable option. Yang reminds Ruby that her plan was a bust too, but she kept trying to do good things that weren’t part of the plan and they did some good there. Summer took a risk too, by leaving for the mission she never came back from. And there’s little question that went according to plan either, but she still did her best and Yang still considers Summer her hero. As she embraces her little sister, I get the strong feeling that Summer isn’t the only Rose she considers her hero either... and by the tears that start welling up in Ruby’s eyes she clearly knows that.

Their sweet moment is shattered by the sound of equally shattered glass, and Jaune comes rushing down the stairs to tell them to get outside immediately. Penny woke up and the virus is in control again to make her head for the Vault without delay. Ruby bursts into her path to beg her to stop, and it does get her to start struggling against her digital orders. She begs to be stopped, and Ruby wraps her arms around her because honestly she’s just trying her best and with a weapon like Crescent Rose she’s gotta have some upper body strength. But that’s pretty meaningless against Penny’s rocket boots as she takes off with Ruby in tow. Blake and Ren use Gambol Shroud and Storm Flower (thank god for the grappling hook upgrade last Volume) to try and pull her down by each arm with the rest of their teams providing tug of war style support. Weiss uses a black glyph to really hold her in place once her feet are on the ground again. Before anyone can figure out what to do to properly subdue her Penny uses her magic to summon a cold vortex and blow them all off guard so she can start flying away again, still repeating her orders to open the Vault and self-terminate, though now she sounds emotional and conflicted about it due to her mental struggle. Before she can get any farther, a new set of chains grab her shoulders. Emerald has joined in, and even if it was a small gesture I found myself very enthusiastic to see her pitching in for the rescue. She yells for someone to do something already, and Jaune lets go of Blake’s side of the struggle (guess it would have been off balance if him Nora and Oscar were all helping Ren) to boost Weiss’ Aura so she can make a stronger inertia glyph. Back on the ground, Ruby hugs Penny again and asks how she can help her friend. And Penny says Ruby should kill her. If she does, Penny guarantees Ruby will be the one she gives the Winter Maiden powers to. None of the group like hearing this idea one little bit, but she thinks it’s the only way since she can’t fight the virus. But once again Nora swoops in with the sage words about it only being a part of you and not letting that be the end of it. Penny’s more than just a robot receiving orders, she’s got human spirit and willpower that’s been resisting for so long. This gets the gears in Ruby’s head turning and she realizes the human part can be what saves her. Jaune needs to boost her Aura, which he rushes over to do immediately. It seems to do the trick, and her soul is doing a much better job of keeping the virus contained, though it’s not gone forever. Everyone comes in for a happy group huddle, and she is assured that she is far more than a machine and that humanity is what will keep her going in spite of the remaining virus. It’s a very soft and touching moment. 

Then Emerald has something to say. They’re wrong... about being in the same place they started yesterday. They’ve made progress even though they can’t quite see it right now. They’ve taken some hits, and she admits some of that has been her fault, but that’s war so you gotta roll with the punches and fight on. She just really won’t like it if they give up the moment she decides she’ll fight by their side, okay?! It’s not like she likes these friendly, kind, understanding and emotionally complex fellow teens that are willing to take her in, baka!!! Oscar points out that she’s admitted she wants to stay with them and they all have a happy laugh realizing she’s got a softer side after all. Oscar helps her back to her feet, then addresses the group. Ozpin has some things he wants to say to them all, if they’re willing to hear it. They all share a look and decide that yes, they will listen. Oz comes forth and immediately launches into a speech about a fairy tale. Typical. We can presume these are further details about “The Girl who Fell Through the World”, and he says that girl took her grand trip to run away from consequences of a choice she has to make. But her problems only grow because the initial issue was never resolved. That’s the very thing he’s done here, his problem being the consequences of the truth and his past coming to light. He regrets not trusting them with the whole story and he regrets retreating into Oscar’s mind when he was found out. The group decides they understand where he was coming from a bit since in that interim they had to make some impossible choices about trust too. Trusting in someone is a risk, and they decide they’ll take that risk on him one more time. From the look of things, that second chance is going to Emerald too, and I hope she makes them proud. Penny winces again and it’s clear that one way or the other they will need to take her to the Vault. Ruby thinks on that for a second and realizes that’s actually worth a shot considering who they have at their disposal and the likelihood of it not going exactly how Ironwood thinks it will. To that end we see Ironwood down in the Vault receiving a call from Ruby saying Penny will be there. He sets the stipulation that Penny meet him at the entrance of the Academy and she has to come alone. I’m sure no green haired illusionist will play a hand in whether or not she really is alone... But either way there will be unexpected company because Watts hooked up a broken Scroll to the wiring of an Atlas robot to listen in on Ironwood’s call and know where the meeting will be. Neo arrives in the alley where the doctor and Cinder waiting, and it seems miss Fall has a scheme to get the ice cream psycho precisely what she’s demanding of them.

But what exactly these carefully laid plans will be has to wait a little while, cuz that’s the end for this week. Great job all around for this well balanced episode with many kinds of scenes and many ways to make my heart hurt...

#rwby reviews #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #jaune arc #lie ren #nora valkyrie #oscar pine #emerald sustrai #penny polendina #marrow amin #harriet bree #elm ederne #vine zeki #winter schnee #general ironwood #qrow branwen #robyn hill #summer rose #grimm summer rose theories

[calliecat93]

The time has come at last everyone. After a very rough year and a very tense end to Volume 7, Volume 8 has arrived. I have no idea what to expect this time around except that it’s going to be all out war. I’m scared. You’re scared. We’re all scared. But this is still RWBY, so it can’t get too dark and depressing... can it? Well only one way to find out. I’ve done my post for the opening, but now it’s time to get to the meat. So for the first time this volume, let us begin by reviewing Chapter 1, appropriately titled ‘Divide’.

Overview

We begin with an image of a young woman. A woman who seems to be down on her luck, wearing tattered clothes and scrubbing at the floor by hand. It then cuts to Cinder, clawing at Neo’s chair in the same manor as she directs Neo towards the Whale Grimm. The two enter, revealing the Whale to essentially be a large battleship and waiting in her throne is Salem. Cinder presents the Relic of Knowledge, though she claims the credit for herself which does not amuse Neo. Tyrian is also there, who mocks her for getting outwitted by a bunch of kids to begin with. Salem asks about Neo, who Cinder merely calls a ‘useful asset’.

Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel are also there and with some new duds! Emerald is elated to see Cinder alive, but the Fall Maiden simply silences her. When Tyrian again mocks her for spending her time fixing past mistakes, Cinder is determined to track down Penny and get the Winter Maiden powers. Salem, however, makes it clear that she is not to do s. After all while Cinder is no pawn, she is NOT a player. She is playing Salem’s game, not her own. Cinder concedes, saying that without Salem, she is nothing.

We cut to the slums, where Oscar has taken refuse. But he isn’t alone for long as he is picked up by Ruby, Weiss, and Maria. Oscar feels guilty for trying to talk to Ironwood and how he made all the wrong choices, but Ruby comforts him, saying that all tried to do what was best. The heroes have taken refuge wit the Happy Huntresses, who are running their own operations from within an abandoned bar. The others are relieved that Oscar is okay, but they sadly still don’t know about Qrow. When asked how he got to the slums, Oscar simply says it was a long story, opting to not reveal Ozpin’s return until he has finished talking to him.

Joanna goes to the group, now fully expecting them to work to help Mantle. The plan? Due to the Grimm numbers and the heat being gone, the plan is to take the refuges into the crater below Atlas. It’s dangerous, but it is warm and will allow a singular location where everyone can be watched over safely. Weiss makes a remark about not ever being able to sleep again, a clear humorous quip, but Joanna makes it clear that it’s either work, or be branded as baggage. Yang agrees, saying that they need to help with Mantle. Ruby, however, argues that they need to warn the other kingdoms. Pietro confirms that while not finished, Amity did have significant process made to it. However it needs the green-light from a terminal and aside from the one in Ironwood’s office, the only other one is in the military compound.

Yang, seeing Amity as a lost cause and that not being guaranteed to get help, sticks to her plan. Ruby argues however that Salem is going to attack the other kingdoms once she’s done with Atlas and thus, all fo Remnant is in danger. At this point, Yang addresses that despite following her lead at the start, she feels that Ruby’s lead has... well, gone badly. In other words, she feels that Ruby has failed in her duty. Ruby is clearly hurt by this and Yang starts to explain further, but Ren interrupts, saying that helping Mantle is something that they can do now. Nora however sides with Ruby regarding the larger picture.

With the tension up, Jaune steps in. He suggests that they can simply divide up and do both. Yang and her group assist Mantle, Ruby and her group go and get Amity. Ruby disagrees as this is causing the divide that Salem wants, but Oscar says that working separately doesn’t mean that they are against each other. Penny, who has been quiet and to herself to this point, suggests that she simply give Salem the Relic. But no one believes that Salem will keep her word about backing down and all agree against this.

Thus, the heroes split up. Ruby has Weiss and Blake of course, but to Jaune and Ren’s surprise, Nora decides to also go with them. Penny also goes despite the risk to help the group bypass security. Yang agrees to it, but she makes to leave to do, as she says, what she can. A comment that clearly strikes Blake. Before she goes though, Pietro gives her the keys to the pharmacy so that they can get some of the equipment he had been developing for them. Thus we have Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar in Mantle, while Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Penny, and Nora plan to get up to Atlas.

Ruby is still upset by the split up, but Blake tries to assure her that they are still united. Maria can bring bring Pietro to Amity once it’s retrieved and Weiss has an idea on how they can get to the kingdom. Before she can reveal it however, Penny’s scroll goes off. It’s Ironwood. he asks Penny to come back, claiming that he’s worried for her safety and he needs her for Atlas’ sake. Ruby takes the Scroll, refusing any cooperation unless Ironwood changes his mind and helps Mantle. Ironwood blasts at her for still caring about Mantle when Salem is outside Atlas’ doorstep and a threat to all of Remnant. Whatever happens, he says it will be on Ruby’s hands. Ruby hugs a clearly shaken Penny, but her expression conveys that the general’s words hurt her as well.

Back in Atlas, the remaining Ace-Ops are in a room with Clover’s corpse. Ironwood is watching form another as Winter is receiving treatment for her injuries. She’s given what looks like cybernetic armor pieces, and Ironwood himself has replaced his singed arm with a new cybernetic. He is informed of the prisoners being interrogated and thanks Winter for all she did, but is still tense due to the Grimm horde. When Winter asks what he’s going to do, Councilman Sleet and Councilwoman Camilla enter, demanding to know what Ironwood is doing with his recent actions. Ironwood says that he’s going to do what he has to... no matter the cost. As such, eh steps out and coldly shoots Sleet to death, horrifying not only Camilla, but the Ace-Ops and Winter. Harriet steps out and looks at Winter, but despite their shock, both more or less resign to the fact of this being necessary.

Back at the Whale, Salem has some kind of pod that she opens up. She has questions for the Relic, but first she needs the one who can reveal to her how it works. She holds the Lamp before some kind of slobbering, eyeless Grimm. Her orders? For it to find and bring Ozpin to her, bringing the first chapter of the volume to a close.

Review

Holy crap people... I was expecting tension, but.... damn guys...

Okay, we’ll start with the villains. So... that first scene, huh? Well after years of waiting for it, it looks like we may finally be getting some Cinder focus/backstory. We’ve been waiting a long time, huh? Her scene here really shows a lot. Cinder downplays Neo’s contributions, taking the credit for herself. She cruelly tells Emerald to be quiet, despite having not seen the girl in who knows how long. She still wants the Maiden powers, despite how she has continuously failed not counting the Fall Maiden. The usual smugness and power-hunger that we expect from Cinder is in full force here.

Yet we also have Salem’s words to her. Salem makes it clear that Cinder is a mere chess piece. Which isn’t what Cinder wants. She wants to the the chessmaster. She wants to do what she wants. She is constantly baffled by Salem’s choices. Yet, she continues to submit to the wicked witch. Considering she’s evil Cinderella, it really speaks a lot about Cinder’s mindset. She wants power. She wants control. But she continues to obey someone else in hopes that it gets her what she wants. These two mindsets can’t co-exist forever. I’m not convinced at all of Cinder being redeemed, she’s done far too many cruel things imo. But I do think that by this end of this volume, she’s going to decide what she wants for herself, and whatever it is the path to it likely won’t be pretty especially with how Neo is clearly getting fed up.

So now let’s do Oscar. I... do not like how they did him reuniting with the group. It’s another ‘Oscar is in trouble... oops! No he isn’t!’ psyche out and it’s getting real old. Especially since there’s zero build-up to it. Ruby and the others just... find him. Maybe he called them? I don’t know, there’s no clear indication. But after how dramatic the end of Volume 7 was, having him just reunite with the gang again feels very anti-climactic. I can only assume that they realized that with so much going on, they needed to get it out of the way and do it early, especially with him begin Salem’s target. But I don’t think it was handled the best it could have been.

But we do have Oscar deciding to keep Open’s return a secret. The reason being that he hasn’t finished talking to him yet. Yeah, Oscar’s clearly not 100% okay with what happened prior and wants everything set straight first before he reveals anything. But at the same time... this is Oscar keeping a secret back form the others. And secret keeping is not only what got everyone angry at Oz, but contributed to the current situation. It just... doesn’t come off as the best move to make in this situation. Then again, we don’t know if the heroes are in a forgiving mood, so... it’s hard for me to not understand his reasonings, at least. But it’s gonna have to come out sooner or later, especially since Oscar is short on time.

Then we have the conflict between the heroes. The theme of the volume seems to be division, at least so far. We have Ren and Nora still in conflict. Ren wants to be able to help now, Nora wants to save everyone in Mantle. Volume 7 set it up, and it seems that this one is going to push it even mroe. But then we have Ruby and Yang. While they don’t start yelling, ti is very clear that they are at odds. Same deal, Yang wants to do what can be done now as mantle is in danger. Ruby is concerned about Remnant and the lives of the world and wants to warn the kingdoms. Bit then we have Yang bringing up how things have gone downhill under Ruby’s lead. To be fair, she seems guilty for it and she does try to further explain before Ren interrupts her. But, in essence, it is her saying that she doesn’t trust Ruby’s lead. After putting her faith in her sister fully in V5, the recent events has Yang doubtful.

Not gonna lie... I have been wanting this for a long time. V7 had a lot of hints that Yang in particular was not on the same page as Ruby. She was the one who questioned her lying to Ironwood. It was her who proposed the plan to Blake about revealing Amity to Robyn, also expressing her doubts about Ruby’s choices there. But despite it, she still followed her. But now, with Ironwood’s descent, Yang’s faith is shaken. IDT it’s gone, but it is rocky. I’ve been critical of Yang and have had issues with her decisions, the Amity reveal to Robyn especially. However... I can’t fault her either. She has the right intentions, and her logic about Mantle isn’t wrong. There are people in danger right now. They have the ability to help those people. Saving the lives in immediate danger is important and is their job as Huntresses. I don’t blame Yang at all in her decision and her sticking to it despite Ruby disagreeing.

But I don’t think that Ruby is wrong either. She is right about how Salem will go against the rest of the world as soon as Atlas has fallen. Countless lives are in danger on a global scale. Vacuo, Mistral, Vale, Menagerie, Patch, every character that we have ever known will be at risk unless they are warned. Amity is the best ticket to doing so. Ruby’s drive has always been to save everyone. The Happy Huntresses have the situation under control, so why not focus on the larger picture? It’s the most stressed I think we’ve ever seen Ruby and it’s certainly the first time we’ve seen her upset at Yang like this.  There’s just... no good options really. Either way, someone suffers. War is Hell.

There’s also the fact that as the leader, whether it was directly her fault or not, the heroes failure does rest on her shoulders. She is the leader, that is her burden. it is the burden that she accepted. She was the one who made the call to hide Salem’s immortality to Ironwood. It was her who alerted everyone about the martial law, officially marking the heroes as enemies of Atlas. Now is it her fault? Not fully. Ironwood’s choices are not her fault, but one can argue that had she just told Ironwood the truth upfront, it may not have happened. Ironwood guilts her over this, claiming that whatever happens will be her fault. Now we all know that's bullshit and Ironwood is even more to blame... but the question is if Ruby knows that. Judging her expressions... I’m thinking it’s gonna haunt her.

Then we have Penny. Oh gosh Penny. The poor girl just seems so utterly broken. She’s quiet, to herself, and whenever she does talk it’s in a pained whisper. The girl got framed for murder, and then watched an old woman die and be given her powers. She clearly is at a loss of what to do. She’s ready to sacrifice herself to Salem to save everyone, that is how much n despair this girl is. Then we have Ironwood try88ing to manipulate her into returning to his side. He needs her for Atlas’ safety. he’s concerned for her. It’s all lies, but Penny is concerned about Atlas. She doesn’t want to fight like this. She’s conflicted onw hat to do with this divide. The poor girl just... needs a hug. A lot of them.

Then we have Ironwood. Oh God... Ironwood. I know that he had snapped, but for him to shoot Sleet like he did? With no emotion. In just one motion, he killed a man dead. Someone whose only crime was wanting answers for Ironwood’s actions. The council is in no position of power, they were no threat. Ironwood did it simply because he doesn’t want to deal with them anymore as he said at the end of V7. He’s going to do whatever he deems appropriate to protect Atlas. When all he’s doing is letting fear control him and further seal Atlas’ fate as dead. Like I said in the V7 reviews, Ironwood is at his point of no return. So far, he’s only cementing that position further. His fall was tragic, but now all that remains is a heartless soldier.

We also see the aftermath of Clover’s death and Winter’s injuries. It’s not much, but it tells us a lot. The Ace-Ops leader is dead. No one is happy about it, but especially not Marrow and Harriet. Marrow by far expresses the most sadness in his expression. God I am still hoping that he comes ot his senses. But then there’s Harriet. She is angry. She briefly growls even. She already feels betrayed by RWBY, now in her mind her leader was killed by Qrow. It’s only going to add fuel to the fire with her wanting to take them down. Then we have Winter. She’s in bad shape. She seems to be benched for now, but IDK if that’s gonna last. But to say I’m worried is an understatement. Especially with her noticeable horror at Ironwood killing Sleet. She internalizes it as she has been, but can she continue to do so as Ironwood continues to descent into madness? I’m really hoping not...

Finally, the end scene. So yeah... Salem is targeting Oscar. So it looks like Salem knows what the Relics can do, but she doesn’t know how to make them work. Makes sense, only Ozpin knew. Remember, Oscar found out through the mind-link and told the heroes. Plus of course Salem would want Oscar. After all, she hasn’t seen her former husband in quiet a long time, has she? And we know fully well that she’s going to rub his demise in his face. Oscar is not in for a fun time this volume... then again, is anyone?

There’s a clear seriousness here. Moreso than any volume. Weiss’ quit about sleeping is very quickly shot down. The stakes are at the highest they’ve ever been. It is outright war now. The heroes are on their own. Mantle is in a desperate situation. Ironwood is barley holding out against Salem’s invasion. People who should be allies are divided to the point of no return. While we know from some sneak peaks that the volume won’t be devoid of humor/levity, it’s clearly not going to be the light-hearted fun that we’ve had in the past. Not even Ruby and Penny, two of the most pure-hearted characters in the show, display any of those usual traits. This might as well be the equivalent of Order of the Phoenix, where the kids can only rely on themselves and where everting has gone to Hell. That ended on a bittersweet note and only got darker from there. RWBY works in a  similar ‘grow up with the audience’ approach as Harry Potter, so... yeah... prepare yourselves folks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Chapter Two Predictions

I think we’ll be checking in on Qrow and Robyn. Thus we’ll be seeing the interrogations go down (which we saw footage of in the trailer). We’ll also likely see Jaques and Watts. IDK i Ironwood will go to Qrow directly or any of the other Ace-Ops, but it won’t be pretty. Qrow is likely still feeling guilty for what happened, but I absolutely believe that if Ironwood confronts him, he’s going to give him the verbal lashing that he deserves. I’m not when they'll plot a prison break, but I assume it’ll happen sooner or later.

As for the heroes... it’s hard to say. My guess is we’ll be following mainly Team JYRO as they get the equipment from Pietro’s lab. So we might see that clip they showed at SDCC as well as the secret clip of them leading civilians tot he crater from a few weeks back. Which would also mean first fight scene of the volume, yay! We might see RWBNP as well, but I’m not sure. Maybe some villain stuff as well, like maybe we’ll get more hints about Cinder or something minor. Either way, the tension I think will continue forward.

Chapter Stats

Favorite Character: Cinder Fall Favorite Moment: The opening villain scene Least Favorite Moment: Oscar retrieval due to the anti-climax after V7 Favorite Voice Actor: Jen Taylor (Salem) Favorite Animation: The Blind Grimm Rating: 9/10

Final Thoughts

This was an excellent volume opener. The stakes are established right off the bat, along with the tension and character conflicts. This was so good that I didn’t even realize that there wasn’t a fight scene, the first time since Volume 5. Which honestly, we didn’t need one. They had more than enough to kick this volume off. This promises to be a very dark, very intense volume. I am terrified for whatever is coming, but like Hell am I missing it. An excellent start~!

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