#itll make for some nice development arcs

[cepheusgalaxy]

My Father is formatting my laptop but he will take annungodly amount of time to even get started because he takes very long to start stuff he said he'd start but I can't write on it and risk getting In The Zone (TM) just to be broken outta it as soon as he is ready to do his thing SO have some anima saga lore dump from what i madeup the other day. As in a lot of transcription from my notebook. All is subject to change. Yay

first part: QUINTESSENCE

Quintessence is the building block of the world, magic and life. It exists as the very existence, and the only things that are not made of quintessence are the very Gods (which are, technically, nothing and devoid of existence because they aren't made of quintessence. so they're basically madeup of nothing). Quintessence has a lot of... forms. Flavors. Kindss. Types. And by "lot" I mean four:

Soul stuff

Soul Stuff Quintessence is the kind that builds souls. Every being that is "alive" in this setting has a soul. And alive between quotes because there are a few things. Like trees. That sort of have a soul but theirs is different and made of a slightly different sub-flavor of this quintessence but dw I'll get into it in a sec

The beings that have typical souls are, notoriously, humans, humanoid races and animals in general. Hold that thought.

Souls are pretty neatly organized, too! A soul is technically divided into sections. They are sorta blurry between each other and you can't really tell where one starts and the other ends as a human but it is divided. There is a section for the memories. One for the sense of self. One for the emotions. One for the magic too. Soul Stuff Quintessence is the strongest form, and a soul and its bits are very resilient and regenerative. A soul part can't be broken or lost; weakened, rarely, or by use of magic, blocked out, but never erased. Maybe a God could do it. Not a mage. A soul will stay a soul and a whole soul until it dies.

*plant souls are a bit funny because they aren't divided into "sections" like this. And because the quintessence flavor is slightly different.

**also also one of the sections of a proper soul, the sense of self, is also responsible for restaurating nearby sections (because it functions like an organism bc i thought itd be funny) so when it is damaged itself it's one of the hardest to auto repair because it IS the part doing the repairing thing.

The World

Material World Quintessence is the one that encompasses matter and everything tangible. It is the most stable, and a key characteristis is that it can only interact with itself. Other kinds can mess with it, but it can't influence them directly like they do. Since it is so stable. Not much to say about it you could say it isnt even magical! Quintessence is more like Existence than magic energy after all

The Actual Magic Energy

The Magic Energy (TM) Quintessence is a pure, explosive and energetic kind, and it can technically be considered a subset of Soul Stuff Quintessence but it's sorta different. It is its very own thing.

While we could say Soul Stuff "makes" and Material World "is", Magic quintessence does. It is an active thing, and as such it can never stop. It can fade into a background buzz, but never cease, for when it ceases to "do", it ceases to exist. Magic Energy Quintessence only exists when it's moving and doing and happening, basically. It is the last stable form of quintessence, and also the one that interacts with World Stuff the most, altering and molding it all the time

Will

The fourth and last kind. Some could call it "fate". It is bled from the will of the gods and poured into Existence, a sub (sub as in lesser) sort of quintessence, not quite being, betwen the nothing and something. It is the weakest and subtlest and can meddle with every other form, seeping into the cracks and making itself be, unnoticed. Molding and shaping, or more like influencing.

Its actually incredibly easy to mess with it once you figure out how to.

——

second part: THE ANIMA

(The animas are, from my original concepts, sort of animal-like parts of your soul. You know a stand from JoJo? Like that. Sorta. Ish. Bear with me)

The anime are a funny phenomena involving Soul Stuff Quint. and Will Quint. Humanoid souls, specifically, have a hint of Will/Fate to them. Fate Stuff is a characteristic of Thinking and Sapient beings, thats also why it is sorta made up from a god's intentions. Like a gravitational field, the Fate Stuff attracts spare souls of animals into itself, attaching them to the soul, since veeeery early on its development (conception/birth/etc)

That's why the anima are gonna have hybrid-liike, animal/chimera-ish appearences, all pretty unique. Theyre a mix and match of soul stuff, after all! Anima are also naturally "dormant" so pretty... it's like theyre not even there tbh

A Soul is divided into multiple tricky, sturdy, fluid and delicate parts, yes? The anima, or what might become an anima, the dormant version of it (which we call an animus) is buried pretty deep below the surface, resting between the other sections. Different sorts of energy or quintessence in certain ways can excite the animus and awaken it, pushing it a little towards the border as well and effectivelly trigger it into an anima.

Animas can take a...sort of physical form when invocated and interfer directly with Material World quintessence, despite being mostly (mostly) soul stuff. Anima mages/users are often very powerful.

——

third part: MAGIC

Ok. Magic Quint., magic energy is, again, just to reiterate, something that cant really be without doing. It is less of a Thing on itself and more of a Force that can move everything else. Its action and movement, magic energy that is unnmoving, in inertia, by definition is no more.

Magic is cast by a part of the soul near the anima, probably, which is also tricky to wield and master, but never dormant and still like an animus. It can connct/mess with the material quintessence and other types and induce movements, transformations and reactions. Magic is then, technically, a tool sapient beings can use to mold the world.

Im still sorting how exactly this will work (as if i am not bullshitting this whole lore and everything ive said and written is very much something im unsure of how it'll work. shhhhh) but, aside from a silly "physical magic" and "chemical magic" category i have in my head, magic is sorted into these handy categories:

Amalgamation

Amalgamation magic is about reuniting particles of a given element, like water drops, into something big enough to wield. The smaller the particles, the more precise you have to be.

Invocation

Invocation is technicallyyyyyyy a subset of amalgamation magic, where the particles are just so so so little that managing to gather enough of them into something to bend could only be described as conjuring stuff out of thin air. There is also what is called True Invocation, which is a different sort of magic altogether, where things are actually made out of thin air, but the end result looks like the same. Invocation and True Invocation are both a bit rare and hard to master.

Transmutation

Transmutation is a type of magic in which one takes particles of something and turns them into another element. It's easier than gathering trillions of little microscopic dust specks to make a rock, for sure. Hardening a sand handful will do just fine.

Kynesis

Most basic kind. Just moving stuff around

——

fourth part: RACES

There are overall three races of sapient/humanoid spcies with hints of Fate in their souls, and, consequentially, animus/anima. They are called aer (plural: aera, from "aether", in opposition to the gods, "naer/naera", from "nether").

The aer are the following:

Humans

Vampires

Fae

The fae are a tricky thing I'm not sure what exactly they entail. I want to give the vampires a different name because they can be in the sun and all but are very directly based off vampires so i want something that obviously hints at that. Each of them is gonna be based off a few different cultures (humans are asia/africa, vampires are europe and fae are everyone else) and live in a different continent. They are just different parts of land but people call them "realms". Or lands. Human Land, Fae Continent or Vampire Realm. Don't matter, really.

——

Thats about what i have for now. I want to elaborate more on magic, i was gonna go for elemental magic a few concepts ago but i do like this better. I also want to fogure out more things about the races and the gods (im patting myself in the back for calling them Naer its so clever and fun and the races being Aer in opposition is fantastic too. To me. I was struggling to comeup with something to call them in general) but im onto something with this ive dumped into my notes book at school lunchbreak i think

[misarem]

Umineko Episode 5 Thoughts: The Part Where I Try To Lock In

I feel the need to just get this out while I have the chance to do this before I start episode 6. I think I finished this episode over a week ago at this point and have since been doing other stuff, been too busy with real life to pour over this vn, etc. My thoughts on the episode itself will be kinda minor but I'll compensate with my current theories on the overarching mystery and the murders. What I'm hoping to do is have preliminary theories ready for episode 6 so that I can develop them while reading it and be ready for endgame. I even started making a physical journal of my thoughts on each murder, character, and rule because after like 80% of my life in the education system this is all I know how to do to retain information, plus! itll be cute. but anyways

Doing what's easy for me and starting at the beginning and just working my way through. I'm still kinda burnt by Beato in episode 3 but I really do wanna believe she's like fully dejected now that Battler isn't matching her as an opponent the way she thought he would. Surreal to see her practically dead but I guess this is signaling that the game is becoming something much bigger than Battler vs Beatrice, to the point where Bern and Lambda are more active and Knox is now involved. Through some meta lens I almost wanna read this as like, an event within the world of detective fiction where a story spirals out of control and the foundations that do exist need to intervene. Feels like commentary on stories as a whole, what has been established as "good" and "reasonable" and what it means to subvert those paradigms, and how far you can reasonably go. And having these larger themes on fiction as a whole run parallel to the events of Rokkenjima, with the ideas of love and trust being established and broken between family mirroring the trust between an author and reader and the love for reading and storytelling, is very satisfying. And if you read the witches as authors and critics of mystery stories, or just stories in general, then the idea of fiction giving our lives fulfilment and meaning also operates on all these levels: the witches weave the narrative on Rokkenjima from a higher plane to stave off their boredom, those on Rokkenjima cope with the dire situation by blaming the murders on witches and demons, and outside of the murders, the people who struggle because of this family cope with fantasy, from Ange and Maria easing their loneliness with the sisters and Sakutaro, to, as we see later, Natsuhi finding refuge from her responsibilities in an imaginary Kinzo and his furniture.

Going off my ideas about black and white magic in the last episode, Natsuhi herself is beginning to resemble a white witch in the same way Maria did. Her and Jessica finally beginning to come to an understanding of one another only in the dire circumstances that were the murders of Rokkenjima was one of the first terrifyingly realo depictions of strained family relationships I latched onto in the game, and I was sorta sad to see her fall to the wayside in the rest of the Question Arcs (altho everyone else getting some focus was important). Very nice to see her in the forefront again here, this time focusing more on her self-sacrificing nature and her sense of duty to the image and wellbeing of the Ushiromiya family that feeds it.

Having THIS be the backdrop of her inner monologue is fitting considering the way everything she faces ends up spiraling into her own guilt and self-loathing, and how she needs to take everything on for her family. I can't even blame her at this point for imagining Kinzo recognizing her for her work cuz idk how else I would live like this. And when she tries to help her husband and he just keeps making the same types of decisions that fail his business ventures and she ends up just acquiescing every time. Wow its just harrowing. They can never make me hate Natsuhi. Also I forget if I addressed Maria's torture of Rosa in the last write up, I don't wanna say a whole lot besides the cycle of abuse within the Ushiromiya family is horrifying, and that it feels like this chapter, Maria's turn to inflicting harm on others to cope feels unaddressed in a concerning way. Like I'm scared

As for the new characters, I like Erika a decent amount so far, I'm mainly just waiting for her to fly off the handle because she was just so dominant here until the end of the episode. Her being an avatar of Bernkastel almost makes me think of her as like a joke on author insert characters in fiction, also makes me wonder just what Erika is, if she's supposed to be like a meta entity like the witches even tho she's meant to be a human? Does she just exist between reality and fiction as Berns fucked up creation? Its interesting to me. Also they keep namedropping Ange when talking abt Erika as a piece and its getting on my damn nerves keep my homegirls name out your mouth. I like Dlanor a lot too and how cordial and nice she can be. even tho formally she's usually an enemy.

Not much changed here besides moving Natsuhi up and Krauss down again lmao. I'll keep doing these just to track my opinions but it might be good to be more nuanced with it, add a few more tiers or find some other way to address the cast overall altho by this point, almost all of them in the okay tier or above are so well established and integrated into the story. If I take anything from this vn its gonna be the cast.

The murders themselves I was like fine with. I hope Jessica died painlessly she deserves a break. Obviously things went way differently but, I thought the way it worked was a little boring and I almost expect episode 6 to be some sort of do-over for it altho that feels unlikely at the same time. Altho I do understand it, this is supposed to be a breaking point for Battler, seeing someone actually be (wrongfully?) implicated but being powerless to fight against it before he has his epiphany moment so it's fine. The court scene also made up for it just in its style alone, the sound design, visual effects and transitions are such a treat and give this game such a strong identity among visual novels. The OST with tracks like patchwork chimera, ACI-L and totemblume is like incredible, -45 does such incredible work and I wish I could have them all on my vgm tag on this blog. I might need to liek stop being lazy and do my own vgm uploads and quit replying on other blogs to do it if i want them on my blog lmao. Still a good episode and it's obviously setting up for greater payoffs but it's hard for me to imagine that Bern and Lambda find this first game of theirs particularly interesting before the court scene.

What I'm interested about thought is Natsuhi's baby, if that will end up being a full-fledged piece of Lambda's, and if its the character who I think it is from the little snippets of him I've seen in the intro. It does kinda tickle me that the first twilight murders were all very deep, clean slices to the neck and there's just a Battler-aged, brown haired dude in the intro with a sword. Considering how hard he implicated Natsuhi by controlling her movements, his presence in the story is cooperative with Erika's sleuthing and I'm curious if they'll end up working together as, I guess meta entities in the story? We'll see.

Like I said before I go into ep 6 I wanted to just get down what I have as the solution so far. Nothing concrete still, and I know the how is super important even tho I kinda only have the who and sorta the why, but again I'm hoping episode 6 will help me develop that.

...

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Anyways I really think it's Kyrie. PIOKJHGFHJKL:L I can't help it. I almost feel like I'm approaching it at the wrong angle and that she's a red herring or something, and I keep going back and forth, but at the same time, so much of the movement of the characters makes sense when you think of it as Kyrie manipulating things. Her face being completely smashed in the first twilight of episode 1. Her being the one to rile the other parents up by warning them about Beatrice in episode 2. The details she reveals about herself in episode 3 and the part of her and Hideyoshi's characters tab that alludes to her shooting him (maybe an accident but ???). And the way she positions herself slightly under Krauss when they're in the dungeon of episode 4, letting him take the reins but still having a lot of influence and command as well as watching them all die as they escape, being the only one to make it inside, being "missed" a bunch by the Chiesters and telling Battler in her own words to believe in magic while her version of the actual events as it is given to Battler is glossed over by the narration. The mystery of the code above the parlor in (i think) episode 3 and half of the numbers corresponding to Battler's birthday. And that, as Beatrice said, because of Battler's sin, people on the island die, that the sin feels like it could be connected to his unclear parentage and that the sin, by the fact that it occurred 6 years in the past, was close to Asumu's death, Rudolph's marriage to Kyrie and Ange's birth. Again I could be barking up the wrong tree cuz I really don't have the how or why down like, in a concrete way yet but I don't know it just feels so likely like I just feel it. And she at least has Genji or Shannon in cahoots too, not committing the murders but just helping with keys or acting as certain people. It would be easy to say they're acting on Kinzo's will but he's dead now so idk. But my vague guess is she wants revenge against the Ushiromiya family for how (like how it affects literally everyone elses like a huge trauma abuse machine) it affected her life, her relationship with Rudolph and the birth of her child. Maybe Battler really is hers but was taken at birth because Asumu's child had died or she has miscarriage and the family wanted to save face. And I think by manipulating the situation and her in-laws she managed to create a state of paranoia on the island, which facilitated most if not all of the murders even without her needing to act. Just because of some of the ways she dies, and some of the red truths restricting the possibilities, I don't know right now if it's possible for her to have killed everyone, but I think it's possible for her to have led people like Rosa and Eva to kill.

Kyrie is shown early on to be among the most shrewd and observant people on the island, at least concerning the battle for inheritance, and since her and the other siblings, besides Krauss and Natsuhi, are already in cooperation against Krauss, I don't find it hard to imagine that she could splinter the group further by influencing any one person in it on her own, away from the others, and I feel like that's how she got some things done in the first couple episodes, and maybe episode 3? Like for the first, I can imagine Kyrie taking Eva aside and using her competitiveness and resentment to convince her to go along with her plan to kill all the other siblings, blame Natsuhi to get her out of the way so the inheritance can be enjoyed by Eva and Hideyoshi with Kyrie taking a fraction while pretending to be dead. Eva goes along with it and after the murders, where Kyrie's whole face is obscured (and Shannon's half-face is hidden from George), and after they return to the parlor, Eva implicates Natsuhi heavily while stoking tensions even further by leaving with Hideyoshi and being very overt about setting the chain to their door and only coming out at precisely dinnertime. Going with the idea that Kyrie's still alive, she hides out in the designated guest room and kills the couple, escaping when Genji and Kanon discover it but leave to get help, escaping and resetting the chain from outside somehow, like with some sort of tool perhaps? and draws the magic circle and leaves, or if we believe Shannon is also alive, that her face was obscured for a reason and any confirmation that "Shannon is dead" can be bypassed with a loophole about her real name (Sayo I think I remember but if I google it I'll get spoiled), Shannon makes the circle and when Kanon and Kumasawa cut the chain, enter and move away from the door to one of the bodies, Kyrie slips out. I can't find any specific red text for this specific locked room other than the one for all locked rooms, so I'm guessing the instances where the entrances are unattended are deliberate. Kanon's death, from what I can find, isn't denied to have been with a trap like Natsuhi's is, so I'll guess that and then say the rest of the deaths were committed straightforwardly, with Shannon disguised as Beatrice for Maria and possibly Natsuhi as Kyrie kills them.

Episode 2 is weird cuz I don't feel like I can act like Kyrie can be proven to be alive atm but it feels like she could have been in contact with Rosa instead, potentially starting with the appearance of Beatrice at the "19th guest". Rosa witnesses her and while it isn't revealed in this episode, it's feels possible that this is likely Shannon in disguise having an effect on her because of how she watched Beatrice die as a kid. Kyrie is in the entrance when Beatrice "enters the mansion", and I think she likely pretended to see her to rile up the other siblings, saw Rosa as potentially weak and had her corroborate to seem more convincing. And later that night, at the chapel, Rosa kills the other siblings. No set motive for this, but when I read the red text which specifies that the key to the chapel didn't pass thru anyone else's hands before Rosa took it, it didn't, to my knowledge, specify that Rosa only took it once, so she could have grabbed the key around midnight and let them all in before killing them, forgetting or pretending she didn't, and then locking and leaving. I also think that the reason they were all at the chapel was over the gold, which we see three ingots after the discovery of the bodies. If the gold is real, I think Rosa could have solved the mystery here considering she solved it in episode 3, and brought some gold as proof, or Kyrie could have solved it and not said anything although that somehow seems less likely. Either way, over the fight about the gold, Rosa in a stupor or frenzy or something kills them and leaves. Since Shannon isn't shown here, maybe she pretends to be the Beatrice we see talking to them here and guts the corpses after, also placing the magic circle, but having Rosa return the key for her to find again. I don't know about the later deaths though I still have to work some of them out. Like what we see as Kanon being warped away and suddenly trudging around outside the kitchen might just be him being killed or gravely wounded and the body being taken and laid against that back door for Gohda to find. Stuff like that but I need to work it out.

Eva in episode 3 almost feels so obvious that it seems like a red herring. If Shannon and maybe Genji and mayyyyybe Kanon? are in kahoots then the six part locked room seems more doable. Eva killing the five after that feels really on the nose, I'm wondering if Beatrice losing some of the games to Battler's Eva culprit Hideyoshi accomplice theory was her playing her own game against him. Altho even with that there's still some mystery like the floating gun killing Hideyoshi which the character tips seem to imply was Kyrie's doing. Battler also proposes that Kyrie's idea about going to the mansion was to privately confront Hideyoshi, in his eyes to confirm that Eva was going out because Eva hated his smoke but a cigarette butt was found in an ashtray of the rom, and I think this is likely, but I also think that maybe, potentially like episode 1, Kyrie colluded with Eva and Hideyoshi and she wanted Hideyoshi to explain why Eva was acting suspicious, in the privacy of the mansion as the smaller guesthouse leaves more opportunity for conversation to be overheard. I also wonder if Kyrie knew that Eva found the gold. If Kyrie was with Rosa here the way she might have been in episode 2, Rosa might've told Kyrie that Eva found it, and besides that, I feel like Kyrie is the type of person to be able to deduce that Eva found it, but this is speculation. No clue what was happening as Kyrie's stomach was bleeding out in front of Eva though.

But this kind of is the best I got right now before I go into episode 6. All of this is assuming Kyrie's able to fake her death as a couple key points and that multiple murderers and servant accomplices are even permitted, I don't think I saw anything in red or any Knox rules against these things but that theory just makes things work better. Technically a lot of these murders can have anyone as the culprit with someone like Shannon as an accomplice but this is the most complete idea I can come up with. I don't even know about episode 5. Hopefully ep6 elucidates some things. Maybe Eva knew Kyrie was a killer and that's part of her resentment of Ange. Maybe there is some fucky true identity shit with Asumu and Kyrie. who knows! Also I had to text search and replace every time I called an episode a chapter because I'm barely cognizant of all the names of the individual chapters within the episodes and I'm just thinking of this like a big book god help me

[konapony]

spop s3 thoughts

hordak is bastard man

catra is evil baby

entrapdak deserbes another shot

entrapta is baby

angella.............. :(

shadow weaver is a fucking piece of shit and her redemption arc wont changw anythhing

scorpia is pure and soft

huntara is ok

glimmer!! im sad bc we got 2 see so much of her personality in the first season but they toned it down a lot and honestly i feel like shes just a caricature of her s1 self :( i wish there was more glimadora moments bc as things are rn catradora is uh. very toxic im sorry

catradora? good for the first season. the next ones? chernobyl. as things are rn they both need to communicate or break apart completely. catra’s inferiority complex isn’t going to heal as soon as they have a nice talk, itll always be there and always make the relationship a little bit toxic unfortunately. i love the fanon catradora content but i just dont see it working out. (catch me looking like a clown tho when catra heals and their relationship starts being amazing and they start dating canonically)

and honestly? i dont even see scorptra working out at this point either. scorpia has held catra at this extremely high pedestal that catra couldnt possibly live up to forever. sure she pulled some badassery in the crimson wasteland but she was at her lowest point. she has weaknesses. scorpia idolizes catra too much, and catra tends to fall into the same pattern of manipulation that shadow weaver used. catra could possibly have a redemption arc after this season, though.

no seahawk this season? smh

i feel like bow and glimmer didnt rly do anything this season. they havent gotten as developed as catra, entrapta, adora, hordak, and scorpia, which makes me sad. hopefully we can see some character growth in this next season tho with uh... u know who being :(

thoughts on the season as a whole?

it made me go absolutely feral. 10/10

[bytheangell]

I have come to yell at you in your inbox ;) So!! Magnus Bane. High Warlock and very powerful, looked up to by so many young (and older) warlocks, lost his magic. And apparently his immortality too. Now I know that it "makes more sense" for Malec this way, because the immortality issue is "solved". But... No. Immortality and living for so long is who Magnus is. And they took it from him. I know that he'll get his magic back, but his immortality too? And if so, will it be in a good way? (Pt1)

THANK YOU! I would just love to talk about Shadowhunters forever and a half, please. Today was A Day and I’m going to hide in my SH happy place for a little while to unwind, so thanks!! <3 As for the ask: Magnus Bane. I do not think they’re going to keep him mortal. I really, really don’t. I think it would be an interesting twist in direction because it’s probably the least expected, but there’s also an approximately 0.01% chance of it happening. Which is good, because I agree with you. It’s so much a part of who he is. You can’t live for centuries and centuries and suddenly have to adjust to the idea of growing old and dying? No thanks. I don’t think he would want to, either, not even to grow old with Alec. If that was an option he ever wanted to consider then he would’ve gone after it before now, with any number of the other mortals he loved when his immortality became a deal-breaker for them. But he didn’t, because he couldn’t, not even for the people he loves. It isn’t who he is. It isn’t what he wants. As far as them rushing to give it back to him? I’m honestly really unsure about this. There’s a lot they could play with in keeping him magicless for longer through 3B. It’ll be harder to deal with Jonathan and any other problems. He’ll get some Quality Angst, playing with the vulnerability. They could, realistically, drag that out a decent length and do a nice arc with him trying to adjust, and maybe almost getting to a place where he’s come to terms with it. Or maybe NEVER coming to terms with it and fighting it the entire season. Will they? I really don’t know. His role in the grand scheme of plots, no matter how much I love him and Malec, is very supportive to the actual driving plots. He could just as easily be stuck on the sidelines doing his own thing/coping as he could get his magic back and continue solving all the Shadowhunters’ problems, and all it would do is speed along a process or two, but not really change a lot, unless they tie it into a cool plot point (Asmodeus giving it back so Magnus can help him stop Jonathan/Lilith’s mission? Something like that would be really interesting for him!) 

…I sure did talk a lot and not say a ton, didn’t I? It’s just so hard to predict with this show’s hit-or-miss track record in dealing with Important Development moments.  I’m trying to keep my hopes realistic. It’s a 42 minute show with a million main characters and plotlines, so to think anyone is going to get the full sort of justice in this now-rushed wrap up of the series is optimistic. I do want to be hopeful that it’ll be done the best it can, though! <3 (Come talk with me about Shadowhunters!) 

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Remarks: Debunking Some of the Negativity Surrounding the CRWBY Writers and RWBY V6

keyenuta asked “ Based on the crews recent track record what do you expect the next volume will be like? Do you think itll disappoint people like the previous volume or will it exceed our expectations. Or is it gonna be mediocre. Also I am curious, why is it that there are so many, I wouldn't say rwby bashing videos. But rwby videos that seem to just say that the characters are bland or they already ruined a character etc etc. I was curious if I could get your opinion on the subject because I've enjoyed rwby “

@keyenuta 

Hello Keyenuta. I’m sorry I took so long with this response. I had planned on answering you since last weekend however between finishing my second semester of school and being down with the flu last week; I didn’t get the chance. But I’m doing better now so without further ado, let’s get into this =D 

“…Based on the crews recent track record what do you expect the next volume will be like? Do you think itll disappoint people like the previous volume or will it exceed our expectations…?”

Well…contrary to what other fans might think, personally I don’t believe the CRWBY Writers did as poor of job as others have expressed. While I admit that the Mistral Arc wasn’t as well put together as its predecessor in the Vale Trilogy, I will also admit that the Mistral Arc wasn’t entirely a train wreck. I have been recapping all five seasons of RWBY in preparation for my own full review of V5 which will also discuss my thoughts on the Mistral Arc as a whole. And in doing so, I recognized that where the writers truly fell short wasn’t really in their ideas but mostly in the execution of those ideas.

I have no doubt that Miles and Kerry have zero problem in coming up with good ideas for stories to be added to the full narrative for RWBY. My concern is how they chose to go about portraying those ideas especially if they are meant to be continuous plot points to be progressed or delved further on in other consecutive seasons. Not to mention their ability to tie into plot points that date back to the Fall of Beacon storyline where Monty was a still a part of the writing team.

In my recap, I noticed that there were certain ongoing stories, particularly for certain main characters that have been ongoing since the Beacon Days that were completely, for lack of a better term, retconned or worse, completely forgotten/erased for the sake of progressing the Mistral Arc.

It is because of this why I was left concerned for the writing for RWBY. Not for the writers’ ability to write a good story but how they are able to tie everything together.

To me, a good story, specifically a good long story, is like a jigsaw puzzle. No matter how many plot points are created to expand the story, you have to make sure that everything is lined up properly and fits together in a way that not only makes sense according to the established lore of the story but additionally answers any and all questions that the audience might have regarding that particular plot point. You understand?

Because just like a puzzle, if you have one too many faulty plot point out of the place, then you really can’t complete the story you were trying to tell and instead you’re just left with a whole bunch of unfinished parts that mostly leaves the audience confused and dissatisfied.

That was the defining difference between the Beacon Arc and the first 2/3 of the incomplete Haven Arc for me. Though you can say it’s more or less almost finished since the major part, which was the Battle of Haven, has been concluded as of last season. Anyways, the Vale Trilogy was a textbook jigsaw puzzle where all the plot points that represents its pieces that were set up during the course of the first two volumes leading into the third lined up and fit together flawlessly to create the perfect masterpiece of a storyline.

The Mistral Arc, so far, on the other hand has been the opposite. Though the writers did a decent job of setting up its plot points in V4, where it failed was in the season after. As much as I hate to admit; though I initially enjoyed V5, it is the season that was responsible for the most of the complaints from the fandom and in my recap of the seasons, I can understand why.

I haven’t finished recapping V5 as yet. However, my memory of the events of the season is still fresh enough in my mind to comment that V5 did not do a good job in expanding on the plot points introduced in V4.

On the contrary, I could say it pretty much forgot, rewrote or worst killed---like legitimately killed off any and all chances for stories from V4 and in some cases, V3, to be progressed further.

One of example I can give off the top of my head is what they did for Yang’s story with Raven. I did not particularly enjoy how within the span of one season, the writer’s completely ‘changed’ Yang’s motives. Part of Yang’s story as established from previous seasons has surrounded her learning truths and answering questions about her mother she wanted to ask. Throughout V1-V3, you felt Yang’s desperation and need to understand why her mother chose to leave her and her father behind.

Not to mention that you felt a sense of appreciation and respect from Yang for wanting to hear her mother’s rationale for leaving from her mouth rather than getting upset and angry at the thought of her mother leaving before hearing her out. It was a different perspective that I quite liked from Yang. I always got the impression that Yang was never resentful of her mother. She was confused, maybe even a little angry at her mother leaving but never to extreme levels. She always expressed more of curiosity and honest understanding at wanting to hear her mother out first before judging her actions entirely which is something I really liked. 

Which is why I was so pissed when the writer’s decided to change this in V5. So, it honestly felt like a slap to the face when the writers decided to throw that aspect of Yang’s character out of the window to give us an alternative that just felt rather…uncharacteristic of Yang; despite the scars left on her personality by the events of V3. I’ll elaborate more on this in my view but you get what I’m saying here, right?

In the end, instead of feeling like a good story, the Haven Arc left us with a story that felt lacklustre especially when compared to its predecessor. Then again, it isn’t fair for me to judge the Mistral story as yet because, in hindsight, we still have one more chapter in Mistral Arc to complete.

If there is one thing I’m hoping for in V6 is that it provides a proper conclusion that ties in everything introduced for the Mistral story between both volumes 4 and 5. So I’m anticipating V6 to be the official end to the Mistral Trilogy/ Haven Arc while simultaneously commencing the Atlas Arc/Trilogy.  

That’s why I have been advocating passionately that the writers take time to properly wrap up the story in Mistral before heading towards Atlas. To me, V6 is the Writers’ chance to renew the fandom’s faith in them by giving us a story that’s, not perfect, but at least feels complete y’know what I mean. There are still storylines to be wrapped up in the Mistral side of the story and I really hope that V6 focusses on them above anything else.

I’m not looking forward to V6 because I want it to be a masterpiece of animation with better fight scenes or what not. I mean if we get improved fight animation that that’s a nice plus, yes. However what I truly want for the new season is a better written story that in hindsight not only set things up for what’s to come for the Atlas Arc but most importantly, gives a proper conclusion that at least tries to fix the mess that was created from the two earlier seasons.

I want a better written story that gives us more focus on character who haven’t been properly fleshed out while finally tying back into plot points left forgotten from past volumes. Pineheads like me have been aching for more, better, Oscar development. Give us that. The reason why I keep bringing up Oscar is because of all the characters in the hero group, he has the most tied to Mistral.

Sure Lie Ren also has ties to the kingdom. But Ren’s story was given a good conclusion back in V4. Now it’s Oscar’s turn. Oscar’s story began in Mistral and of all the characters; his part of the story deserves a proper conclusion. We need to learn more about him while simultaneously learning more about Ozpin so it doesn’t feel like Ozpin’s story is constantly eclipsing Oscar’s.

I hated how that was handled in V5 so I hope the writers find a better way to balance that out for V6.

My fault with V5 was that there were plot points introduced in V4 that was supposed to be progressed in V5 but just wasn’t. The pressure that V6 has is that not only does it have to continue the plot from V5 but it also has to tie up areas that were introduced in V4 that was supposed to be done in V5 but never happened. I’ll give you an example of one: Oscar’s individual character development!

Sorry if I keep bringing this up. It’s just that…after V4, I was really expecting V5 to out Oscar’s character a bit more but instead he ended up taking a backseat to Ozpin for most of the season.  

Disagree with me if you will but I do not think it will be a wise idea for the writers to leave the story the way it is. They need to fix the puzzle.

As for any concerns or opinions I might have for V6. Wellll….

Listen, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my own fair share of worries for V6 coming out of V5. My worry is that the writers will make the same mistakes they made V5. V4 wasn’t a problem. The zinger was in the last volume, sadly to say. That being said, I do want to stay positive and hope that V6 will be the season to give the Mistral Arc a fitting conclusion while moreover giving us a really great season.

At RTX 2018 back in August, Miles and Kerry promised the audience that they had acknowledged their mistakes from the last two seasons and are working on correcting them for V6. To me, I saw that as a positive sign. It tells me that not only did they acknowledge their shortcomings but they also started trying to fix them. This led to them getting feedback and input from trusted CRWBY members outside of the writers’ room. Not to mention that Kerry said that he’s also getting assistance with the directing of RWBY because he now has a co-director. Again, as a fan, I took that as positive note. At least, I want to look at these changes as positive and no words can describe, how much I really want V6 to be a good season.

Not just for my enjoyment but purely because, I sincerely want the FNDM’s faith in the CRWBY Writers to be restored. I want to return to a more peaceful time where the FNDM praised RWBY for its writing and colourful cast of character rather than picking it a part like corbeaus to a carcass.

Talking about Miles and Kerry specifically, I understand that the writing for the last two seasons was not their best. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that the writers aren’t doing they’re doing their best. From what I’ve seen between V4 and V5, the CRWBY Writers are trying. I get it. Things aren’t the same without Monty, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah…

But y’know what? Miles and Kerry, a.k.a Monty’s friends and co-writers, are trying. They are still trying to keep the story that they made TOGETHER with their old friend alive. It pains me when I can acknowledge that they’re trying and  see the good in what they’re producing but there is that one special fraction of the FNDM family that just focuses primarily on all the bad and therefore, continues to beat these two guys’ names into the dirt for it. I guess you could say it comes with the industry but that’s not gonna stop me from saying it’s messed up.

Not only did I see the good in the story but also the greatness in the group of creative minds that season after season, pour their heart and soul into making this series a reality. I guess my next point ties into my answer for the second half of your question.

 “…Also I am curious, why is it that there are so many, I wouldn't say rwby bashing videos. But rwby videos that seem to just say that the characters are bland or they already ruined a character etc etc. I was curious if I could get your opinion on the subject because I've enjoyed rwby…”

If I had to guess then it’s probably because, hating on RWBY is surprisingly more popular than liking RWBY over on Youtube, believe it or not.

I don’t fully understand it myself but I guess that’s how it is on the internet, I’m afraid fam. I honestly don’t have an opinion of why there are so many ‘RWBY Bashing videos’ because that would be like justifying why these fans have that kind of opinion of RWBY which I can’t do because I can’t speak for these fans.

A fan’s opinion is their own. I can only speak for myself and justify my own rationale for things while respecting the opinions of other fans whether I agree with them or not.

I’m just like you Key. I’m a fan of RWBY. I’ve been watching the series since its very first season and I still continue to watch it til this day. To be honest, I first started watching RWBY because like many, I was a big fan of Monty Oum. I’ve been a fan since I was first introduced to his crossover fan-animation series: Dead Fantasy and I absolutely loved how he was able to sell a story purely on amazingly choreographed and animated fight scenes alone. So when I later discovered that Monty had his own original series with RoosterTeeth, I definitely jumped onto the RWBY bandwagon.

But I’ll let you in on something. Something that I didn’t even realize until now. When I first started watching RWBY, I mainly watched it for the fight animations because I knew that was Monty’s speciality and that’s what I mostly came to RWBY for. Back then, my mind-set was, it didn’t matter what the story of RWBY was, I just wanted to see the fights. I mean yes, I did like some aspects of the story like the characters and the soundtrack. The OG V1 theme will always be my favourite (but I think it might’ve been dethroned by V5’s theme). I remember liking Team JNPR more than I did Team RWBY actually. I was just always more interested in them because I liked their personalities over the main four girls. You can almost say that back then, I didn’t care much for the story of RWBY. Not like I’m saying it was bad. I just didn’t focus too much on the story and just enjoyed RWBY for what I liked seeing most from it, which were the awesome fights.

It just dawned on me that I never truly focused on RWBY for its story or its characters. Admittedly, V5 was the first time in my entirety of watching RWBY where I actually paid the most attention to the story and the characters. I guess that’s one positive I have for V5. In a add way, it revived my interest in the lore of RWBY and its world building in respect to the stories and characters.

That’s why I had to go back and rewatch the entire series---something I’ve never done before. Before, I always just watched the newest season and didn’t return to RWBY again until the new volume premiered. I’m not really one to go back and rewatch episodes of shows I’ve watched, not unless I really enjoyed it.  

The first time I watched RWBY, I fell in love with it mainly for the fights. However in my second viewing of the series, I realized that there is a truly amazing story with a cast of great characters to be loved from this show.

And this isn’t something that only happened in the early seasons of RWBY. It’s something that’s been on-going for years and still continues to progress even in its later seasons.

I guess what I’m trying to say overall is that I’m still here for RWBY. Again, I can’t speak for the haters or the disappointed fans who talk ill of the show. The people who shit on RWBY and I’m not talking about the people who constructively critique RWBY, I mostly referring to the ones who literally pick it apart and burn everything there is to do with the show---I cannot speak for these people, at all. I can’t even speak for the peeps who share in my enjoyment of RWBY. This squiggle meister can only speak for herself. And as I’ll repeat again, I’m still with Team RWBY. I’m still very much interested in following the adventures of Team RWBY and Team JNPR as they travel Remnant combating the Grimm and Salem with her forces of evil.

Yes; I acknowledge that the show has changed since the days of Monty, both for the good and the not-so-good.

Yes; I acknowledge that the writing for the last two seasons was not the best. Yes; I acknowledge that the two most disliked seasons of RWBY by the FNDM just so happens to also be the two seasons that Miles and Kerry primarily worked on without Monty. Yes! I see all of these things.

But y’know what? …I’m not even mad.

That’s right. I’m not mad. I am not mad at the CRWBY Writers. I don’t hate the CRWBY Writers for the direction they took the show after V3. SHIT, I DON’T EVEN THINK THE CRWBY WRITERS DID AS A BAD OF A JOB AS OTHER FANS MAKE THEM OUT TO HAVE DONE.

This is only my opinion but even though I have my issues with V4 and V5′s story, that doesn’t mean I resent the CRWBY Writers. I may have my concerns for the story going forward based on the execution of the last season. However, that doesn’t mean that I’ve lost fate in the CRWBY Writers.

As a matter of fact, I have more reason to believe that they’ll do a much better job since they said they are working on things. Whether they’re telling the truth or blowing smoke up my ass, I can’t tell that for now. Not until V6 comes out. The age ole saying is that proof is in the pudding and I can’t judge the pudding if the pudding is still being cooked. I can’t even eat the pudding right now and thus give my honest opinion of how the pudding tastes if it’s still on the stove, y’know what I’m saying.

It’s for this reason also why I can’t give my opinion of how I think V6 is going to be. I can’t be one of those fans who are already starting to bash the CRWBY’s efforts for V6 before the season is even out. How am I supposed to judge something I haven’t seen as yet---again going back to the pudding analogy.

All I have for now are the promises from the CRWBY that they are going to do better job and to put it bluntly, I’d have to be a complete asshole to bash someone or a group of people who realize that they didn’t put their best work into something beloved by others before and rather than acting arrogant and deflecting blame, these people chose to do the just thing: keep moving forward using their mistakes as a learning opportunity to improve and work towards those improvements.

I don’t know about ya’ll but I can’t bash that. I can’t hate on that. All I can do is hope that the CRWBY live up to the promises made and wish for the best.

Saying something is going to disappoint me before I get a chance to see it, that’s not fair now is it? Never mind that previous outcome of the thing wasn’t the best. I get it. RWBY V4 or V5 or whoever was not the best. The writing has not been the best for the past two seasons---yada, yada! Whatever negative remarks has been said about RWBY within its past two volumes, I’ve heard it before. But you know what? That’s in the past. A wise animated character once said ‘You gotta put your past behind you’.  Or as I’ll put it ‘Put your past in your behind and then shit it out therefore relieving thyself of the constipation of the past’.

In spite of the mess, RWBY is still going. Ya’ll realize that even though the Mistral Arc didn’t give us the best story, that even though Monty isn’t around in the flesh to oversee the progress of his creation, the series is still moving onward.

Why? Because there is still more to be told about from RWBY. A lot more and I don’t know about you, but I actually want to see how this continues.

To the people still singing that song about the story not being good without Monty and all that jazz, ya’ll need to be like Elsa in Frozen and please, PLEASE, let it go.

I get that folks were disappointed. However, like I said, the story is still going. The saga still continues which means that there will be more opportunities for the story to get better. And y’know what? I want to stay positive and believe that the story is going to recover going forward.

There is still a lot more to come from the main RWBY-verse and I’d actually like to watch and hopefully enjoy what the story has next in store for me going forward.

Do you know what’s even more disappointing? Regardless of whether V6 is genuinely good or not, thereos going to be that percentile who will be there to rip it apart and spew the same nonsense we’ve been hearing all along. Not to give bad press to the FNDM community but I wouldn’t mention these fans if I’ve never heard them myself. The ironic part is that these types of fans are the most vocal, not only in the FNDM fam but in others fandoms as well.

At the end of the day, despite the faults in the past two seasons, the CRWBY Writers still managed to achieve the penultimate objective that every ongoing story is supposed to do. Keep me as the audience member tuning in invested in the story.

Through all the mess, I admittedly am still interested in RWBY. I still want to know more about story. I still love the characters and most importantly of all, I am still very much on board with the plot that Miles and Kerry continue to create together.

Miles and Kerry have always been an intricate part of crafting the plot for RWBY. That’s sometime that some of the more negative FNDM fam seemed to have forgotten. Miles and Kerry are as much the writing gods of the RWBY-verse as Monty, the show’s creator, was. And since Monty’s unfortunate passing, they are the two flames that continue to keep this story alive and burning bright.

And for what it’s worth, I’m still invested in the story that they have built thus far and continue to build. I want to know how this story ends and so long as I still have that curiosity, I will remain on the RWBY train.

I will continue to support the show because I honestly think it’s still great and hasn’t lost its spark. Y’see what I did there.  

But it’s hard to feel hyped for what’s next to come in RWBY when there is negativity coming from the FNDM. The hate I’ve noticed within the FNDM is literally like being at an amusement park, excited to get on a fun new ride but also feeling uneasy about it too because there are some people in line already complaining about the ride before they even get on it.

And at this point, it has nothing to do with the ride itself. It’s on the people thinking those thoughts. Yeah sure you may have had a horrible experience the first time on the ride which left you feeling those thoughts. But this brings up another curious question. If you’ve been on a ride before and you realized that you didn’t like it because you didn’t enjoy it , then why return to get on it again?

It’s an honest innocent question I would like to toss out to the same FNDM fam I’ve seen shitting on the show and its writers. If you’re upset with the way RWBY has been these past two seasons then…why are you still talking about it? Nothing offensive just curious to understand why.

Why continue to follow the show if you’re constantly expressing your disappointment in it? 

Because that’s another odd thing I’ve noticed about the so-called ‘haters’ in the FNDM. Despite voicing how much the show has disappointed them in the recent seasons, they STILL continue to follow the show as loyally as they ever did before, returning to rip apart some of the newer content the show puts out.

…That’s some weird love-hate vibes, for lack of better words. I don’t get it but like I said, I don’t speak for the haters.

All I know is that there are fans who have been so distraught with the treatment of the last two volumes that right now, they’re already starting to bash the upcoming season before it’s even out yet. This to me, is not a fair way to go.

To the fans who are like this, again I hear ya’ll. I understand that you guys are concerned for how the writers will handle V6 coming off of V5. I get that you’re worried. But in light of that, please be fair.

Don’t start spreading negativity for the new season before it’s even premiered. That’s not right.

Let V6 come out. Watch V6 and then give the final verdict. If the season turns out to be good, then awesome. Rejoice and give it the praise it deserves as your faith in the CRWBY Writers is restored.

However, if the season turns out to be a mess then…ok. Feel free to give your critiques and voice all the areas where the new season and the writers went wrong til your hearts’ content.

But for now, keep the negative vibes to a minimum please because for now, we really don’t know what’s to come of the new season until it premieres next month.

So for now, this squiggle meister would love to stay positive. I want to remain on the side that hopes the writers learnt from their mistakes and that they are indeed prepared to give us a season that is either really good or at least better than the season before. I want V6 to do well.

But until such a time comes, give the writers a chance guys. If you love RWBY and want the series to get better then believe in the people who are working to keep it alive. Give the CRWBY; ESPECIALLY THE CRWBY WRITERS; a chance and let’s hope for awesomeness.

And for what it’s worth, please for the love of all that is good and decent, STOP BLAMING Miles and Kerry for everything that went wrong with the past two seasons of the show.

I’ve seen a lot of that circling around too and it’s…not nice.

To get mad at Miles and Kerry is the same as getting mad at the entire CRWBY because at the end of the day, a lot of work goes into making an animated series. Take it from someone who has a little bit of experience working in the production of an animated web-series, the whole process is a team effort and to insult one aspect of the pipeline is to discriminate and neglect all the hard work put in by every member of the production team which is…a lot…definitely a lot more than people even realize especially if you haven’t worked in the industry before.

I’m just saying…it’s a lot easier for someone to single out one person or a pair of people, pointing fingers and blaming them for everything that went wrong than it is to understand and acknowledge that the thing they’re fighting for is a collaboration made by a team of people who utilize their talents and pour their heart and souls into the project at hand. So when you critique, criticize and to some worse extent, insult one part, you’re also collectively insulting the other parts too.

So what I’m saying here is, if you’re a disappointed fan who insists on blaming the writers for everything wrong with RWBY, the next time you decide the voice your disdain for the writers, please also take into consideration that by bashing the men who wrote the story, then by extension you are also bashing the folk who design the characters for the story that the writers wrote, the people who use animation to bring to life the world and characters for the story that the writers wrote and anyone else who works on RWBY. Because like I said, Miles and Kerry may write the story for RWBY but they don’t make RWBY by themselves.

RWBY isn’t just a by-product of Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross alone. It’s not even just Monty Oum’s brainchild anymore.

Don’t get me wrong. Monty will always be known as the artist who created RWBY and no one can ever take that title away from him as he continues to rest peacefully. But what’s hurtful is that there are people, claiming themselves to be fans, who have come to downright disrespect the two gentlemen who were originally his brothers in bringing his story to life. Like I mentioned just now, Miles and Kerry or even Monty for that matter, did not make RWBY alone.

The series is a collaborative effort made by its creator, all three original writers and the talented people who make up the CRWBY within RoosterTeeth.

It’s alright to judge and be disappointed with RWBY as a series. As viewers we’re all entitled to give our opinions on the content we consume as entertainment. No fault in that. However when the disappointment goes so far and becomes so heinous that you literally start to attack two of the people who are helping to keep the series you claim to be a ‘diehard fan for’ alive, you’re not just insulting them and their efforts.

You’re also insulting the whole team and the work they contribute to RWBY which…in itself, is quite bad since you’re pretty much taking a dump over several months of hard work put together by a group of very passionate people who love and continue to do what they can for this series even with the recent hate it’s received.

Just saying.

Anyways, that’s pretty much my full $10 bucks on that topic.

I hope this answers your questions Key. Sorry it took so long and thanks for asking.

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)