#RT discourse

[currantlee]

A few comments on a recent post about RWBY I made got me thinking about something. Basically, I think that Rooster Teeth – and possibly by extension its parent companies – have artificially inflated RWBY as a media project and franchise rather than letting it grow organically. Therefore, it became a bubble that was bound to burst at some point. RWBY might never have been a profitable IP, which might be very relevant for its future.

This is not a problem that arose after Monty Oum‘s passing, I feel like this was already coming before that. Shane Newville‘s open letter (which absolutely comes from an emotional, mentally unwell state of mind, but has had many of its contents confirmed over the years, even beyond being one of the first descriptions of the toxic work environment at Rooster Teeth) makes a few points that support this impression. Whether you agree with the letter or not, you cannot deny that the first two volumes of RWBY, while they also had merch accompanying them and stuff, were not produced following industry standards – starting with the 3D software used, Poser Pro (Monty Oum‘s preferred tool for animation). This led to some really creative animation work that, while not always high-quality by industry-standards, was certainly pushing boundaries. It was creative and it worked for what RWBY was: a passion project created by someone who saw animation as his strongest suit – as his preferred medium to tell a story. I‘ve seen a lot of people claim that Monty Oum wasn‘t a writer, and while that‘s true, I feel like the implication of that statement is always that he couldn‘t tell stories on his own. I don‘t think that‘s true. I think Monty Oum was a great storyteller when it came to expressing certain things through animated action scenes. It‘s just that he wanted to tell a story that included more than just that and a few lines of dialogue – which is where Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross come in, two at the time very inexperienced writers (who possibly had a fallout with Monty Oum over creative differences later), as well as some talented folks – people like Shane Newville. They were chosen to work on this because Monty Oum acknowledged their potential and liked to work with them, and I feel like that created an environment where they were really allowed to flourish. Volumes 1 and 2 are certainly not flawless, but I feel like I can tell the people making it had fun.

To Rooster Teeth however? I think RWBY (and by extension, Monty Oum as a creator) might have been little more than assets to them. RWBY was first created around a time when RT first tried to be more like, well, an actual company. At least from 2014 onward, but possibly even earlier than that, this included an effort to conform to industry standards more, mostly in order to be able to hire more people – very visibly so in RWBY in the form of the switch to Maya (my opinion about that is, the way they did it didn’t do RWBY any favors at all). I think they saw RWBY and Monty Oum as an opportunity to appear… More important, bigger, than they ever really were.

So what did they do? Again, I kind of have the feeling that they “upscaled” RWBY to a size where it appears like this big thing, but it became far too much to handle. Essentially, they created a mock giant, or a metaphorical quasi-star: something that can appear big from afar, but is actually very small / unstable (and if we go with the quasi-star metaphor, disturbs all of its surroundings). This is what I mean when I say that RWBY was a bubble bound to burst, because no star lives forever – and quasi-stars can only exist under very specific, very unstable conditions (I linked a Kurzgesagt-video in case you’re interested what exactly a quasi-star / black hole star is / was, cosmology is so fascinating IMO). Once these conditions exist no longer, they both fall apart and collapse into the black hole that is their core at the same time.

My main argument for this is that RWBY was essentially a huge money sink for RT (Source: Barbara Dunkelman’s unprofessionalism). They pumped so much money into this… Perhaps even more than they ever made from it. While this isn’t 100% confirmed, it is very much possible (and IMO not exactly unlikely) that RWBY was never profitable — which it might have been if RT hadn’t been so hellbent on creating the illusion of a multi-million-dollar franchise.

This is purely speculative, but this might also be why Volume 10 was never greenlit. We know that Volume 9 was to a significant part funded by Crunchyroll and in fact would not have been possible without them (probably because RT was already out of money at this point). They might have bought into this mock giant, then realized they had pretty much been scammed once Volume 9 aired. This might have led to Crunchyroll’s unwillingness to fund another season for something they knew now was effectively a money sink. Since RT at this point lacked the funds to produce Volume 10 alone and therefore was dependent on investors like Crunchyroll and Warner Brothers… Volume 10 was never greenlit, no matter how hard they attempted to get their fans’ hopes up and start a hashtag campaign on social media (as far as I remember, that was started by Rooster Teeth, not the fans. I don’t have my Twitter account anymore though, so I can’t check). Again though, this is speculation.

The worst part? This refusal of RT to just… Downscale RWBY again, this determination that it had to be this huge franchise… Was all put on the backs of the creatives working on it. We know at this point, from multiple sources, that RWBY and other RT productions have had an incredible amount of crunchtime, working overtime, employee abuse, … going on behind the scenes, which seems to only have gotten worse after Monty Oum’s passing. At the end of the day, all RT does and has ever done is blame others for their incompetence. Like, no shit, I’ve seen fans claim that it’s the FNDM’s job to “keep the show alive” (particularly in the light of #GreenlightVolume10), which… No, that’s not the fans’ job. It’s the job of the company who has been entrusted with this beloved IP, and said company has proven to be utterly incompetent on multiple occasions, which is unfortunate, but a sad reality for all those who love RWBY. And while Rooster Teeth has never directly said such a thing, they have certainly implied it and taken advantage of the existing sentiment within their fanbase, as well as their parasocial relationship with it (again, see #GreenlightVolume10 for reference).

To clarify, I’m not saying none of this would have happened if RT didn’t insist on making RWBY this big franchise (and biting off far more than they could chew in the process) – again, RT was far too notoriously incompetent at everything a company should manage – but I do think it might have played a role. It also isn’t an excuse for all the employee abuse. Again, what they should have done is downsizing the project, not inflating it further and further.

If I’m not somehow completely in the wrong (because IMO this just makes way too much sense to not be at least partially true – but let’s face it, a lot of this is just me connecting dots, and there is always a chance I’m connecting them wrong, even though I don‘t think so), then it kinda blows my mind that there are still people who believe in this scam. Though I will say, emotional attachment can do that to anyone. If anything, I’m honestly sorry that those folks lose something that means so much to them, and that false promises were made to them.

At the end of the day, the story of RWBY (the “franchise”) is twofold. It’s a story about an incredibly talented creator who passed away far too early, who was given the incredible opportunity to make his dream come true. It’s a story of people he trusted taking up his torch, and maybe getting lost in the dark along the way. It’s an inspiring story regardless, and I hope to see it continued at a downsized scale so it can grow organically, preferably in the hands of an indie animation studio like Dillon Goo (🤞)

But it is also a cautionary tale to both creatives and companies who employ them, a tale about false promises, abuse of both employees and fans, as well as how to not run a project. Don’t blow your thing out of proportion too early, don’t create a mock giant / metaphorical quasi-star. Let your ideas and projects grow and flourish organically and sincerely.

[tendergore]

wow rip to Rooster Teeth 🫠 life is so strange. i saw trevor collins post that he's in search of work now, i wonder what's gonna happen next for everyone. the article said that the podcast network aspect will remain intact for now but i wonder what-all that encompasses since so many of their live shows are also podcasts.

i've been listening to burnie's new pod and this morning's guest was barbara, kind of unfortunate timing. crazy as hell. end of an era </3

[blackcat419]

I might start using DT and RT to talk about Danaerys and Rhaegar Targaryen because I cannot make a single post going ‘hey, maybe the incest family built on incest that uses dragons and have a lot of Nazi overtones to them aren’t the good guys?’ Without some going

‘Hey sweaty, but you’re such a dumb bitch for thinking a woman or this romantic man could ever do anything questionable’

[ingravinoveritas]

Not Radio Times writing an entire article focused on Michael and David kissing and adding things like this. I see you, Radio Times...

[plounce]

one thing about not gposing very much and not being into the modding scene and not being that much of a wolshipper and all that stuff is that i am not very in the ffxiv "community" as much as many other people are. i'm just out here doing my own thing making posts. i don't follow many people i don't know. when things happen i have no idea what's going on. i just block racists and such. i'm just rob. thank you laptop for mechanically not allowing me to step into that world

[lamortwrites]

I see so many posts talking about how Yrliet is a mean woman and like. I get that it is in some way a meme and Not That Deep but also. I just don't think she is tho. I think she's a little blunt and aloof and from an alien culture but I just don't understand how you can look at her and call her mean. For that matter I don't think Lae'zel was that mean either. I think some of you just need to really examine your attitude towards female characters and honestly women in general. Just because she isn't going out of her way to be nice to you 24/7 doesn't make her mean it just makes her a person

[yangsbandana]

the new bumbleby jacket is giving me fond memories of the #bumblebyjacketdisaster2k20,,, never forget,,,,,

[greyedian]

since it was/is (?) on sale I did get Rogue Trader, but I do need to finish at least one other game first before I'll get to it. So... might take a minute.

[diredeliverance]

*clutching my head due to a throbbing psychic headache* AUGH!!! I'm shifting... into BG1/2 mode.......

[deliriousblue]

heartwarming really to watch fans go from sniping at one another for not doing enough to show #engagement (not my job) (not getting paid) (didn’t sign up) to setting aside their differences and joining together to tell a company to fuck off

[landeskinnon]

oh my god your tags abt rooster teeth 😭😭😭 this exactly. i only heard abt it second hand but it sounded WILD

Ohhhhhhh lord the rooster teeth drama dominated so much of my early to mid twenties

the guy who got exposed for being a creep of the highest order and cheating on his wife with fans had been my favourite guy in the company up to that point and even somebody I openly said I wanted to emulate as a husband and father so uhhh yeah that effectively scared me off parasocial relationships for life lmao

i stopped watching their content in early 2019 after having one of the worst weekends of my life at RTX UK a few months earlier but every time a new report of drama came out from 2020 to 2023 it was like a slap in the face like even the people calling out problematic behaviour were doing problematic shit too

the company death in 2024 was probably for the best let’s be real (although I am sorry to the hardworking folks who did nothing wrong and still lost their jobs, I hope they’ve been able to bounce back)

[inloveamateursatbest]

.

[coldgoldlazarus]

I love RWBY, and Volume 3 is fantastic, but honestly I think Volume 3 Chapter 2 is one of the most frustrating episodes plunked down in the middle of an otherwise unblemished run. The first fight with JNPR and BRNZ is pretty fun, if anticlimactic, but (as a Sun Wukong enjoyer) the SSSN vs NDGO fight just genuinely annoys me and I usually skip it in reactions. And that was before I learned about all the behind-the-scenes BS around body types that went into their creation, and their portrayal in the Team CFVY books as a result of that.

I really hope that if they show up in Volume 10, their portrayal is just plain retconned from the books to be more chill, and Nebula is given the plus-size body type she was originally supposed to have.

On that note, does anyone know if their original unmodified concept art was ever released anywhere?

[nyxisart]

Hi, I don’t know if you’re already aware but I’ve seen Discourse pop up on twitter about animal HRT specifically rt-ing your comics.

What depresses me most is that the re-tweeter is trans herself AND a mutual of mine. I guess we really are our own worst enemy.

Oh I'm totally aware of all that

Twitter decided to put that post in front, which brought a lot of attention, good and bad. A lot of people that didn't know of me suddenly discovered me through one of my heaviest subject comics, if not the most, and started to assume a bunch of things on me without even knowing me or my work.

[choccy-zefirka]

Accidentally almost stumbled into discourse, and I don't wanna annoy people who are clearly better versed in the 40K lore than I will ever be (whom I also have utmost respect for), but I will say this, on my own blog.

If you have a half-Eldar Rogue Trader OC (either your RT or their child or whatever), I wanna see them and hear you talk about them, for two reasons:

Circumventing the limitations of biological incompatibility can be a fascinating thought experiment. Was your half-Eldar a test tube baby? What heresy went into creating them? How did it affect their self-perception? Does either of their parents resent them or regret their birth? Is their body strong enough to withstand Eldari psychic abilities? Will Slaanesh be interested in snacking on their soul? Is their story, perhaps, an allegory (exaggerated to the extreme, as Warhammer is wont to do) for couples struggling to conceive in real life? For the struggles of mixed-race people in a hostile world? There is so much character building potential, and also so much scope for creatively pushing the boundaries of the lore! (That's why I am also intrigued by stories where Shepard and Garrus have a child through some futuristic space magic). Let's have our brains go brrr together!

I was in the Trenches in the Elder Scrolls fandom in the 2010s. The in-game book, Notes on Racial Phylogeny, was taken as 169% canon, and everyone whose biracial OCs deviated from the assumption made by the book's unreliable narrator—"you have to look like the race of the parent who carried the pregnancy"—was subjected to hate and mockery. A half-Altmer, half-Redguard with a golden sheen on his skin and pointy ears, taking after his elven father? Open season for trolls. A half-Dunmer, half-Nord with her father's red eyes? Open season for trolls. And don't get me started on the children of, say, a human and an Argonian! This automatically makes me more lenient towards biracial (or bi-species?) OCs, as improbable as their conception might be by the in-universe standards. Share their stories with me!

[dontforgetukraine]

Forms of Russian Propaganda by Dietmar Pichler

Who creates Russian propaganda, and what forms does it take? Covert, overt, subtle, and "cultural", Russian propaganda has many faces and influences all spheres of our information space.

Category: Covert

The recent leaks once again revealed how Russian "agencies" work for the Kremlin to create and spread toxic propaganda and disinformation online, even identifying and sometimes supporting useful Western idiots to amplify their channels.

Category: Subtle

Agents of influence, often professors, impact not only the education system but also mass media, bookstores, and mainstream discourse. They say things like, "I condemn Putin, but NATO, the US..." "Realpolitik", "we need diplomacy, not weapons".

Category: Cultural

Russian cultural propaganda still thrives, promoting "great Russian culture" and opposing the "cancellation of Russian culture." Some Russian "opposition" figures push this narrative, Russian cultural propaganda is visible across all channels.

Category: Overt

Putin, Lavrov, Medvedev, Russian ambassadors, RT, Sputnik, and Russian press agencies—every sane person should recognize this as propaganda straight from the source. Unfortunately, some of it appears across media channels without the necessary context

Bonus Category: Russian Domestic Propaganda

The daily genocidal propaganda, hate speech, imperialism, and world domination dreams of Russian propagandists and officials remain largely unknown to the public, which is a shame.

Source: Dietmar Pichler