#the differences and the similarities and the fact that oscar still goes for it even though max and charles are something so established | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

luce-speaks · 4 months ago

Note

If you did a fire emblem promare au who would promare. Why

EMRY you sent this ask to me having no idea of the can of worms you just opened. i'm going to preface a lot before i get to the actual thing so bear with me.

first of all i want to say this is a lot of fun and i'm starting to think i should have a tag for my AU shenanigans because i love collecting these things and codifying them on tumblr. will keep you posted

second and more importantly: this promare au was not my idea!! please go see THE ORIGINAL POST by softlytired because it's their mind behind all this

okay. lets go

1: central concept

the art i linked to shows several screenshots of promare redrawn with ike as galo and soren as lio. this is really really smart for numerous reasons, including:

ike and soren share color coding (blue and green respectively) with their counterparts, as well as sharing similar builds and relatively similar styles/aesthetics

ike and galo both do the thing where racism is brought to their attention and they're like WHAT THAT'S AWFUL like hands down immediately against it despite living in a society that's much less progressive

soren and lio are both racial minorities in a way that gives them powers but also is plot relevant as a racism allegory

soren and lio are both dragon themed (less obvious with lio but it's notable in the scene where he attacks promepolis)

gay

this all goes out to softlytired who i'm sure considered these things when drawing the art. now it's time for me to do my part

2: filling out the side characters

with ike and soren in place the next question is how to fill out the rest of the movie's cast. i want to start by taking my best shot at who would fill each movie role and why.

captain ignis: greil or titania, take your pick. it's the same thing, it just changes based on whether you want this to be a greil lives au.

heris ardebit: oscar. i think he could pull off the evil scientist thing. also, they're both more withdrawn than their boisterous younger sibling, and they're both very protective of said sibling. which brings me to

aina ardebit: boyd. he's mainly here for the sibling thing and the goal of keeping the greil mercs and burning rescue as overlapped as possible. but what about the almost-kiss on the frozen lake, you ask? yeah that still happened. the only difference is neither of them were into it. (that idea is kudos to @tobegii, who also helped me brainstorm a lot of this.)

lucia: mist. mist's role as a healer is hard to translate to promare world, so i figured the next best thing would be letting her play a support role as the gadgeteer. testing new mech suits is a sibling bonding activity!

vinny: rolf. okay before you dismiss this as just me being mean to rolf i'd like to point out that letting him play sidekick means actually keeping the fourteen-year-old (?) out of danger for once while still letting him exist in the narrative. but also haha rat boy

varys and remi: gatrie and shinon. i feel like the fact that i introduced these two as a duo says it all. even though they're not technically a duo, they're the only two who are deployed together in the movie's opening scene that establishes the members of burning rescue. they have a similar brains-and-brawn thing going on. maybe shinon can be less racist in this one or something.

and for the enemies

vulcan: petrine. big scary lackey who doesn't actually have a very deep motivation other than being a horrible person. you could also use ashnard for this but i think petrine deserves some enrichment

kray: this is the difficult one because there is a good case for either sephiran (your traitor is In Charge Of The Fucking Government) or zelgius (your traitor is someone you knew personally and worked with) but for now let's go with sephiran because

biar: zelgius. it's funny okay

oh and prometh? by my calculations there is No Good Option. there just isn't. put altina in there or something. i don't fucking know

3: other notes and adjustments

with all of my "how far can i take this" out of the way i want to make an actual attempt to clean this up a little and tie up loose ends. this is my loose list of "how would i adapt the plot of promare to fit better around the tellius cast"

replace the character of kray with the duo of sephiran (the governor) and zelgius (the enforcer), and have zelgius absorb what little plot relevance biar has. maybe zelgius was the one to save ike from the fire, but it was sephiran's burnish flare that started it. they could also be a sort of two-stage bossfight, with zelgius sort of one-on-oneing them before sephiran breaks out the big guns mech

greil died in the fire that nearly killed ike, putting titania in charge of burning rescue and giving ike and mist extra character motivation

shinon's character is hard to work with if you consider how racist he actually is in canon, but i think you could tone it down a little and use his character to make a point about how racism can be insidious and masked ("if you terrorists stopped burning down houses, no one would have a problem with the burnish!" and things like that.) getting proved wrong about those supposedly moderate beliefs might even give him a chance to grow

we can pretty easily add in ike and soren's childhood encounter as well! when they met as children, ike had no idea soren was a burnish (not that he would have cared). soren has always wanted to find him again but was busy yknow running an organization. he's incredibly hurt and disappointed when ike 1) does not recognize him and 2) works for the government now. but before they pilot the mech together, they finally get to talk it out, ike remembers and apologizes, and it represents a step forward in their relationship that prepares them for the ultimate test of teamwork (mech piloting)

okay well that's been a lot of talking from me. it's really more pattern recognition than any kind of actual story planning, but i hope you enjoyed! if anyone else has feedback or additions, i would love to hear about them. thank you for coming to my ted talk

#luce speaks #luce's au pile #tellius #ike #soren

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demonsfate · 2 years ago

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I think what makes Jin interesting as a character is the fact that he possesses attributes that make him a good enough definition of an anti-hero, rather than just a tragic hero. His struggles throughout the story and his downfalls that display the darkness inside him, opposing to the good he carries inside as the protagonist (from T3 onwards minus T6 & T7) is adding up to that nicely. That's just my own impression of him though. A realistically flawed protagonist is still much better than a perfect protagonist with little to no flaws.

I think it would depend on people's definition of "antihero". Which, by the actual true definition, Jin is definitely an antihero. As antihero simply refers to any hero that lacks the conventional hero traits, which hhhuhhhhh... practically just translates to any hero that isn't perfect LMAO. If you peek at Wikipedia's "antihero" list - they literally lump Oscar the Grouch with Walter White. So yeah.

I never usually call Jin an "antihero" just because when I hear the word, my mind goes straight to characters like Venom, Magneto, or Harley Quinn... which I don't see Jin fitting the bill of those characters lol. Just how Kazuya is considered the antihero in the first Tekken - but for totally different reasons than you may see Jin as. Kazuya wanted to get rid of an evil (Heihachi) - buuuuut he wanted to do it for selfish reasons (out of his own trauma and own desire for power). Which, Jin did wanted to do similar for selfish reasons, as what kickstarted him wanting to kill Heihachi and Kazuya was betrayal and trauma as well. BUT, Jin also primarily had the world in mind, and people's well being - as he wanted to save the world from Heihachi and the devil gene.

Jin's biggest flaws (aside from being possessed by a devil - but we're talking about Jin's flaws on his own) was his antisocialness, his fury, suicidal tendencies, and his homicidal tendencies towards those who have wronged people and himself. Which, the latter is a question of morality that's been debated for ages. But if we look at many fictional heroes, usually killing, even for the greater good, is a no - no. Jin still, however, had a heart of gold. Despite being antisocial, Jin was still very supportive of other people; Jin may have been antisocial, but he wasn't cynical at all. Which is why I liked Jin's story a lot. Because he is a good man, and damn he tries to be a good man. But... he struggles with making the right choices. And I think a lot of us can relate with that. Because we're all not gonna be Superman in situations, we're often gonna struggle with making the right call because real life isn't so black and white when it comes to more complex situations. And like Jin, we're also gonna have flaws we have to work on, maybe like him - we lose our temper easily. Whatever. Jin's struggles and character was relatable (even tho some fail to see because he's not Overly Expressive) and it's why he doesn't work in T6. Because Jin crosses the line of being that Unconventional Hero, his actions became too antagonistic. And well... as I've explained many times before, just doesn't feel like Jin anymore in character.

So, yeah! I do agree even though I don't use the term often with Jin just because of the most popular examples associated with the term. But Jin is technically, indeed, an "antihero." It's why I loved Jin so much; his flaws were what made him interesting. He was a good man who may have been prone to mistakes compared to other Good People, and he doesn't always know what's the right thing to do. And plus as I call him many times on this blog, often a failboss! So, Jin always felt very realistic to me and I wish more people would see that, as well!

#✏️ - ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏsᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ // (ooc)#✏️ - ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ? // (inbox)

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madzigness · 16 days ago

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I don't really know what to call this, but best way to explain it MK or Injustice before fight conversations with RWBY characters. Adam Taurus edition

Some contexts for each version of Adam that appear in the interactions skip this if you don't care for the lore:

The Destroyer of the Fang Adam comes from universe similar to Punisher kills Marvel Universe comic or Deadpool kills comic one, basically in his universe he goes on to kill all of the RWBY verse, some of the interactions is him meeting people from other universes after he has already killed all of his native universe and moved on to kill in the other, like the one where he meets Blake who is from universe where she redeemed the white fang, becoming their leader giving the organization a new name and some are from when he was on the journey to killing all the people in his universe, example the one where he faces Emerald as the fall maiden or the one where he faces Cinder, that one could even be considered where the story would begin.

The Redeemed Adam is quite simply the Adam from a universe where Ozma is the main villain and Salem is the good guy. He still has done some bad deeds during his existence, committed many sins, walked the wrong path and all, but he turns to the good side and becomes a huntsman. You could say he’s this universes equivalent to Qrow from main universe.

The Deposer Adam is the Adam that succeeds in defeating Blake and rest of the team RWBY with the gang. He accepts a deal from Salem to become the Immortal King of Faunus, gets given the gift of darkness and becomes whatever the thing that he is. Sienna gets resurrected in this universe to kill this Adam, she works with what is left of human and faunus resistance led by whoever is the reincarnation of Ozma.

The Richest of Remnant Eve(female version of Adam) is kinda just a joke character from the joke universe of RWBY, there is not really an intrinsic story behind her existence, she is just a really rich arms dealer in a RWBY verse that is always in a state of some sort of war. I made her because these interactions are kind of meant to be like a game and two things are important to a game like this: jiggle physics: imagine an overhead hitmen style suitcase, full of money, throw attack, imagine the jiggles you could add, also the attack would leaves a stage hazard which if a character walks over they get stuck in an animation to pick up and drool over the money leaving them open for an attack, and jokes: her ult would be to call General Weiss and pay her a bunch of money for a airship fleet bombardment. Basically, she is the comedic character that also satisfies the gooner demographic (Me. Lets go Arsenal F.C. for the win.) of the imaginary MK style RWBY game players.

The Punished Adam is from a universe in which he dies just like in the show, but rather than staying dead he returns from dead just he is different. Let’s just say this death and the afterlife it ain't a kind thing and he has returned from something no one should return from without gods intervention. Oh, fun facts about his universe team RWBY fails to defeat Salem, Ruby and Blake die, Yang runs away from the eternal battle and becomes a bandit just like her mother, Jaune and Oscar are the only one still left fighting for humanity, Adam is immortal as afterlife and death has swiped left on him, Cinder fully heals herself during her time in the Ever After, both mentally and physically, she still evil though.

The Head of Security Adam comes from probably the most messed-up universe to put it simply the world of Cyberpunk with a coat of paint over it which is RWBY. To go into more detail this Adam is the head of security at the SDC working directly for the man himself Jacques Schnee, he became that after saving Jacques from a mine being overrun by grimm. Oh yeah Adam is also fucking Willow Schnee, don’t worry Jacques knows and support this fully, because he is gay and a secretly dating James Ironwood, Willow and Jacques are still married though, this relationship between Jacques and James is known to Willow and she hated Jacques for this, that actually is the main reason why she had sex with Adam for the first time to spite Jacques, and all the next times it was for the pleasure though, Jacques allows this to go on because it gets Willow of his back. Another fun fact is that Adam is the godfather of Weiss and Whitley, they treat him like their uncle, even call him that, and he is surprisingly good at the whole stick of being the cool uncle. If you want to know about Adams’ personality in this world or more specifically how he acts when facing enemies, it’s the same as Adam Smasher from Cyberpunk, you are the meat bag in his slaughterhouse, and he is going to make sure you know it and feel it.

For now, that is the lore for all of them.

__________________

Matchup Emerald Outfit: “Thief” Title: “Fall Maiden” versus Adam Outfit: “Deserter” Title: ”Destroyer of the Fang ”;

Emerald jumps down from a mountain ledge landing on a grimm and killing it five meters from a hooded man kneeling while sharpening a red blade with black cracks going down its length wind and lighting picks up around her.

‘You took her away from me, how could you?’

Adam stands up wind throwing off the hood hiding his red hair. With one hand raising his red sword he points the blades tip at her.

‘At least you live with the knowledge of being her last thought.’

Rage filled the green haired girls face.

‘I am going to gut you like a fish with your broken off horn.’

Adam sheeted his sword and got into his fighting stance, so did Emerald.

__________________

Matchup: Adam Outfit: “Reaper” Title: ”Destroyer of the Fang ” versus Blake Outfit: “Traitor” Title: “Redeemer of the Fang”;

A red blade was being raised with intention to finish off a New Fang member that was unconscious on the ground. A thud resounded behind the bull faunus as a blade tip was brought up and pointed at his neck from behind a female voice spoke.

‘Adam, you need to stop.’ The man took a deep breath and heavy exhaled and in one quick motion hit her with his elbow in the stomach making her stumble back.

‘I though you better Blake, finish your enemy before they have the chance to counterattack, before they can hurt you.’ He raised his blade and got into a stance.

‘You don’t need to do this Adam, not anymore *he did not lover the blade. The raven-haired girl frowned and got into her own fighting stance*. You are forcing my hand, Adam.’

They both got into their fighting stances.

__________________

Matchup Cinder Outfit: “Queens servant” Title: ”False Fall Maiden” versus Adam Outfit: “Deserter” Title: “Destroyer of the Fang”;

A red blade cut through the metal door of the elevator walking out into a large open cave that had a massive tree with glowing maple shaped leaves growing over in the caves middle a door was at the tree’s roots and a raven-haired woman stood by it, she turned to face him magical flames forming around her eyes.

‘Adam, you could have had so much power, status, wealth, but you chose to betray me and my Master. A truly poor choice you made, but I guess it is in line with your choice to come here, Adam.’

‘Ha, *he points his blade tip towards her bandaged arm* is this the power that you spoke your master could provide. Sorry but I ain’t digging it, I see merely a collar on a slave.’ The red dress wearing woman out of reflex moved her bandaged arm slightly behind her.

‘I am no slave! After I am done with you, you will regret ever speaking. worm’

She got ready for a fight and so did he.

_________________

Matchup: Ozma Outfit: “Ancient Warrior” Title: “Eternal Warrior” versus Adam Outfit: “Huntsman” Title: “The Redeemed”;

A green blast decimates a group of grimm as a tanned man in armor and a cape, floats down into the center of a clearing in the forest. A darkly dressed young man to the side of the clearing looks up from checking footprints, the wind picks up speed.

‘You carry many sins with you.’

Adam stands up wind throwing off the hood hiding his red hair. With one hand raising his red sword, he points the blades tip of the blade at the man before him.

‘Not as many as you.’

‘And I know better than anyone how hard it is to fix them.’

They both ready their weapons and get into theirs fighting stances, the red hair holds his red bladed katana, the armored man his canesword.

________

Matchup: Sienna Outfit: “High Leader” Title: “The Deposed” versus Adam Outfit: “Grimmified” Title: “The Deposer”

Sienna jumps down from an I-beam landing in the desolated and abandoned grand hall of the White fang’s leader’s throne room. At the other end of the throne room kneels a being that is neither faunus, human or grimm. Sienna readies her weapon.

‘Was this the fate you envisioned for yourself when you betrayed me?’

The being stood up the scraps of a hood falling of his head revealing black hair, white horns, black skin and a face melded with Adams former white fang mask. With one hand raising his dark red serrated sword he points the chipped blades tip at her.

‘Immortality*A smile contorted on the things face revealing red sharp teeth*, power beyond simple mortals, power to do whatever you wish. What is there not to like?’

‘But was it worth what you sacrificed for it?’ The smile disappeared from the face of the thing, its lips were pressed into a thin line.

Suddenly both moved into their preferred fighting stances.

____________

Matchup: Adam Outfit: “High Leader” Title: “The Deposer” versus Ozpin Outfit: “Headmaster” Title: “Man with Two Souls”

Adam is seen kneeling looking down at the ground trying to track something. The wind picks up as Ozpin floats down from the sky.

‘You are walking down the wrong path young man, but there still time to turn around, so don’t make me fight you.’ The headmaster says.

Adam stands up the wind throwing off the hood covering his head. Unsheathing and pointing his blade towards Ozpin, he speaks.

‘Ain’t for you to decide what’s right or wrong for me, human, got it. I’ll see if my path is the right or wrong one only at the end.’

‘Then you leave me no choice but to stop you by force.’

They both ready for a fight.

___________

Matchup: Weiss Outfit: “Atlas General” Title: “Ice Queen” versus Eve Outfit: “Hourglass Dress” Title: “Richest of Remnant”;

In an underground location an exchange of guns and money is happening between a provokingly dressed red haired faunus woman that had a set of black horns atop her head and a group of black suits wearing men. When a suitcase filled with lien is taken by the red hair a pilar of ice form out and covers the metal door, the ice pilar explodes sending shards and icicles flying towards the group of people, the red haired woman walks forward and swats away the ice trying to impale her as the suit wearing men are ripped to shreds by the ice. Fog rolls out the hole where the door used to be, a shadowed figure hidden in the fog walks into the room, the sound of high heels echoing loudly.

‘Eve Taurus, you broke the deal we had.’ spoke the person stepping out of the fog revealing Atlas General Weiss Schnee.

‘My love, you Atlassians really take everything to heart. I fulfilled my commitments to you, but I never told you I won’t make more deals with others, after all wars is just business.’

‘And here I thought you were better than the rest of the animals. I should have expected no loyalty from you.’

Both got into a fighting stance, Eve took out her weapons in one hand a red arming dagger in the other a single edged straight Japanese styled short sword and Weiss readied her rapier.

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Matchup: Yang Outfit: “Biker” Title: “Bandit” versus Adam Outfit: “Rags” Title: “Punished”

Rubble, smoke and fire. Damaged building all around screams and shouts coming from the many people running around, the engine of a bike roared while it soared through the air. Yang jumped off the bike, it was left to continue in its flight path it crashed into a grimm killing it. Yang lands punching the ground shattering it and creating a shock wave that knocks back and kills the group of beowolfs. She looks up red eyes filled with rage and a blood thirsty smile. A rag covered man steps out of the dust picked up by the crashing bike.

‘You should have stayed dead Adam.’

The wind throws off the ragged hood of the mans head revealing red hair, a pair of black horns between them and a face with a burn scar over one of the man’s eyes.

‘Eternal suffering was not enough for my sins. Now my punishment is to walk the earth anew.’

‘I don’t care. I am going to send you back to whatever afterlife you crawled out.’

Yang readied her fists, and Adam unsheathed his broken blade.

_______________

Matchup: Adam Outfit: “Rags” Title: “Punished” versus Cinder Outfit: “Red Dress” Title: “False Fall Maiden”

A man covered by brown dirty rags a hood over his head hiding his face walked down a dessert arriving on the edge of an oasis. A raven-haired woman in a red dress notices him and reaches for her weapon.

‘Can you hear that?’ The man asks of the woman as the wind throws of his hood, revealing red hair, a pair of horns and a disgusting scar over his eye. He was not looking at her, he was looking off into the horizon.

‘Hear what?’ The woman asks confused as no sound other than the wind is heard.

‘I hear it. The sound of their screams. Whose? Those that you killed they are calling your name Cinder Fall.’ The man takes out his weapon a broken red blade, his singular cold blue eye focuses on the woman.

Cinder gets into a fighting stance, so does the man.

_______________

Matchup: Tyrian Outfit: “Butler” Title “Queens Hand” versus Adam Outfit: “Rags” Title: “Punished”

A brown-haired scorpion faunus jumps down of a roof landing in an alley where a rag dressed man is sifting through a trash bin. The man stops doing that and looks towards the scorpion faunus who begins to laugh madly.

‘I heard you died. You sure did come back quickly. I wonder if I kill you again will you come back as fast?’

The wind threw off the hood of the ragged mans head revealing red hair, a pair of horns and a burn scar over his eye. His singular healthy eye was vacant of emotions of humanity looking off to the distance, and he spoke in a hollow voice.

‘It’s longer than you think.’

‘Well don’t keep me waiting for too long.’ The scorpion cackled madly.

They both readied their respective weapons.

_______________

Matchup: Jaune Outfit: “Huntsman” Title: “Rusted Knight” versus Adam Outfit: “Rags” Title: “Punished”

A blond-haired young man is seen helping people run away from grimm attacking the settlement. While running to the next street he comes face to face with a rag covered man. The grip on his sword tightens.

‘I heard you spent a long time on the other side, it changed you, I understand that I have experienced similar, and I need you to come with me now.’

The wind picks up, throwing the hood off the faunus man’s head revealing red hair, a pair of long black horns and an old burn scar over one of his eyes.

‘Your time is merely a spec in the vastness of the universe.’ His voice was hollow and distant.

‘I take that as you won’t be coming willingly.’ The faunus man took out his broken blade. ‘Got it, the hard way it is.’

The blond got into a ready stance.

_______________

Matchup: Adam Outfit: “SDC sec. Uniform” Title: “Head of Security” versus Blake Outfit: “White Fang” Title: “Bloody Revolutionary”

A red-haired man casually walked down the halls of a SDC mine while red lights and sirens blared around him. A human wearing a SDC security uniform ran from the opposite side he was walking towards. The sound of a bullet fire rang and the person running fell over aura crackling but not braking. The red hair man stopped by the fallen person and helped him get up, with his head he indicated for the man to continue running out of here, the man giving a single glance at the horns atop the red hairs head continued getting out of here. Leaving the man alone to face the woman that fired the shots.

She had a mask on, hiding her eyes and most of her face, it was stylized to look like a grimms face, she had raven hair a pair of cat ears atop her head peeked out of them. The red hair grinned seeing this.

‘You look like a cut of fuckable meat.’

Even with the mask on he could tell that the cat girls face scrunched up in disgust at his words, this only made his grin widen.

‘You disgust me. Putting you down will be a service to all, race traitor!’

She pointed her black swords towards him.

‘Woah kittens got claws.’ The man took out his own sword which had a red blade. ‘How about we trim them down.’

They both entered their respective fighting stances.

_______________

Matchup: Weiss Outfit: “Songbird” Title: “Heiress” versus Adam Outfit: “SDC sec. Uniform” Title: “Head of Security”

A red haired faunus approached an arena prepared in the Schnee manor to test the young heiress capabilities. The girl in mention was standing at the center of it looking at the observation deck prepared for the spectators. Noticing the approaching presence of the man she turned to face him, a smile instantly appeared on her face when she saw who it was.

‘Uncle Adam have you come to cheer me on for the last time before the test.’

The man in mention chuckled affectionately.

‘I would love to but no. I am the final test songbird.’ He took out his weapon. ’No more affection uncle from this point on’ That made the girl tense up and look worried. He gave her a disarming smile. ‘Only for the duration of the test of course.’ The girl still looked overly nervous. To make her relax just the slight bit so she didn’t pass out from worry he sent the girl a playful wink. ‘You ready?’

She breathed out a sigh and raised her rapier.

‘Yes.’

They both got ready to face one another.

_______________

I wonder how many death threats or insults I will get thrown at me for making and sharing this.

#rwby #adam taurus #rwby adam #cinder fall #rwby tyrian #jaune arc #rwby yang #yang xiao long #blake bellodona #rwby blake #rwby ozpin #rwby ozma #rwby weiss #weiss schnee #emerald sustrai #sienna khan

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tfa-archived · 2 years ago

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with it officially being disability pride month, I wanna talk about my favorite disabled headcanon, which is for the one and only, my most beloved Poe Dameron. Buckle up, because this is a long post.

I actually have a few different disability headcanons, most of which hold up to canon/are extrapolated from canon, so we'll keep that in mind as we go through. I expect this to have about...four parts total. Let's go!

Hard of Hearing

I think a good case can be made that Poe is hard of hearing, with a few instances that could point to this fact, primarily the very beginning of the Rise of Skywalker. Even though Chewie is sitting right beside Poe, Poe does not understand what Chewie has said, because his head is turned (at no other point does Poe have any problem understanding Chewbacca, so we know it is not a linguistics issue)

It's only when he turns towards Chewie and Chewie repeats what he said that Poe understands what was said. There's also the frankly adorable moment in The Last Jedi that's extremely easy to miss, because it's a far away shot and we just barely catch what Poe says:

BB-8 is beeping so fast trying to catch Poe up that Poe has to request that he slow down so Poe can understand him. Other possible evidence of him being HoH (beyond the comical amount of explosions he's constantly caught in) is that there are several shots where we see Poe carefully watching the lips of the person he's speaking to as they're talking, as if that might help him keep up.

And (I don't have a gif of this lmao I'm not giffing him getting hurt) when Poe gets shot in tros, @/dameronalone pointed out it could be evidence he didn't hear the approaching stormtroopers when he turned to look the other way. @/hermitmoss has also pointed to his line at the start of tfa while being snarky at Kylo as further possible evidence, about how it's hard to understand Ren with the voice modulator.

Essential Hand Tremor

Another fact pointed out to me by @/hermitmoss (thanks Braigwen) is that when Poe goes to cover Leia's hand with his own in the Last Jedi, we see that his hand is shaking:

I later noticed that this isn't the only time that we see Poe do this, we see it again in the Rise of Skywalker, where he cannot keep his blaster steady as Rey approaches the serpent at all.

These are the only two circumstances I can find of his hands trembling in the movies, though, and we know from plenty of other scenes that Poe ordinarily can keep a blaster extremely steady:

Autism & ADHD

Okay this one I don't consider to be a headcanon, lmfao. I genuinely believe that Poe was intentionally coded as autistic/ADHD by Oscar Isaac.

Oscar playing/coding Poe as something that is never explicitly confirmed by Disney is far from new: Poe is coded as a bisexual (or pansexual) man, because that's how Oscar Isaac saw Poe and chose to play him, and even if we weren't gifted with it being made explicit, it's still there in his performance.

If you happen to be a fan of Oscar Isaac, or just a Marvel and Star Wars fan both, you'll know he starred in the Disney+ series Moon Knight last year as the Moon Knight system (Steven Grant, Marc Spector, and Jake Lockley).

Shortly after the first episode premiered, Oscar Isaac revealed in an interview that while trying to figure out who Steven was as a person, he came up with the idea that the system be on the Autism Spectrum, and approached Marvel to see if he could include it into his performances, and it was green-lit.

The Lunar system is the best intentional autistic representation I've ever seen, there are so many things they do that are so minor that I doubt most people would ever consider to include, but they are things that me and my friends do.

And there's an overlap in how Oscar plays the various autistic habits and traits of the Lunar system in how he portrays Poe. Most notably, Poe and Marc have extremely similar meltdowns:

There's plenty more overlap (Poe does the same anxious stim Steven does, of rubbing the inside of his index finger with his thumb) but there's so much there I'm not sure where all to begin. I have gone more in depth on the various autistic traits Poe shows throughout the films in this gifset here, though.

I'll go ahead and include some of the moments we see him stimming, that I have evidence of:

(he also does this same hand thing when he starts to leave BB-8 and promises to come back.)

We also see him fidgeting anxiously with his hands during the briefing in the last jedi:

Poe also has a habit of running his tongue along his bottom lip while he's stressed or thinking something through. Here's three examples from across the trilogy (there are plenty more):

We're leaning a little closer into ADHD territory now. I don't really know how to explain why I think Poe is ADHD, to be quite honest, besides the fact that he just radiates ADHD energy to me and I heavily relate. This is a man who cannot stay still, and frequently talks with his hands:

But there's also the fact that Poe oftentimes has a tendency to not be able to fully see the potential of negative outcomes to his decisions - he sees point a to point b, and sometimes becomes laser focused on that. It's something I understand perfectly, because it's hard for me to pull away from something I've already fully committed to doing, and it's even more difficult sometimes for me to truly understand what (and what kind of) consequences my actions will have.

Other evidence of him being extremely autistic (and adhd) is just....that he makes autistic expressions?

Like this...is an autistic expression, I've seen my best friend make this exact fucking face before, I don't know how else to explain it.

Misc Thoughts

Aside from the above, it's pretty much canon that Poe has anxiety and depression — at the very least, Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura certainly does not shy away from the suggestion, and is one of the most implicit portrayals we have of it outside the films — it is a series of catastrophizing his circumstances that leads Poe to joining Zorii for a little while as a teenager, following a joyride that ended in a crash that Poe explicitly wishes he had not survived.

The movies themselves also points to Poe having PTSD, partially through the writing but mostly due to the nuanced and thoughtful performance Oscar Isaac gives as Poe (that goes....woefully underappreciated, seriously he adds so much depth to every single scene as Poe, including the thread of anxiety in Poe's voice when Rey mentions Ren's ship is over Kijimi, or constantly looking out to make sure they're not being followed in tros).

(Good expanded material follows through on this, such as Poe's reluctance to discuss anything about what happened aboard the Finalizer in the Poe Dameron: Flight Log, and becoming irate at the thought of having to. He's an extremely traumatized man, and he certainly doesn't deserve to be thrown out of an airlock jfc and he isn't as arrogant as the fascist regime he is fighting, tbh he's not arrogant at all).

Conclusion

I believe that sums up the majority of my Poe is disabled thoughts, or at least the ones that I think holds up very well within the canon framework. He's extremely disabled and - in the case of being neurodivergent - this is critical to understanding him as a character, especially considering his arc ends up being focused on interdependence.

I wish all fellow disabled folk a happy pride month, and I wish all very ableds a very "please do not be ableist on this post". You will be blocked otherwise.

#nym speaks #disabled tag #autism #poe dameron #my meta #sui ideation cw

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rachetmath · 2 years ago

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U know rusted knight jaune remind me of original Jerry Smith. Considering the relationship your Jaune has with rwby over the original can u do something similar to when OG Jerry snapped at Morty, when he said that him and Rick abandoning him, his original family and dimension "improved" him to which he responded "oh, am I cool enough for you now? Well that was easy it only cost me F*cking everything."

(Don't get me wrong I know what you mean. However, with volume 9, I don't feel he would talk to team RWBY like that. But his own team is a different story. I have said this and made it clear, Jaune is the Raven of his team. But unlike Raven, who may not have had valid reasons to leave. Jaune does.)

Jaune packed and was ready to go walked out of the house. Nora trying to reason with him chases after him and manages to get in front of Jaune. Jaune not pleased tries to me past her but Nora refuses.

Nora: Jaune let’s talk about this.

Jaune: There’s nothing to talk about Nora. It’s time to move on.

Nora: So, you abandon us and come back like nothing happened. And you abandon us again.

Jaune: I mean why are you complaining, you already replace me. Just like Pyrrha.

Nora: What?

Jaune: Team NERO. Good name. Two new teammates without the incompetence.

Nora: I don’t think that little of you.

Jaune: Only because I showed you and your team up. I showed you what I could do now. But then again I forget how little friends we were.

Nora: Excuse me. I am-

Jaune: No you’re not. You insulted me every chance you got Nora. When it comes down to it, you’re not a good friend.

Nora: Jaune I love you. Just like I-

Jaune: Oh shut up. Before Oscar, the only people you cared about was Pyrrha and Ren. Ren above all else.

Nora; Not true. I-

Jaune: You and Ren do everything together. Where Ren goes you go. When Ren’s mad your mad. Everything keeps coming back to Ren. In fact Ren is still you top priority. It’s never was Pyrrha or at least me at some point.

Nora: Jaune I’m-

Jaune: Sorry?! Sorry won’t cut it. And you said I abandoned you?! Like I had a choice. I FELL! To a land I didn’t know. Travel back in time by accident. Almost died multiple times by either getting killed or poison. Waiting for Ruby! Trying to find a way home!

Nora: I mean you turned out fine in the end.

Jaune: Oh really. That’s great you think that. It only took me the equivalence of thirty years.

Nora: Jaune-

Jaune: I was alone for years Nora. I had no one. *sigh* And I still have no one. Not even my team.

Nora: Jaune we’re still you teammates. It just-

Jaune: Teammates don’t insult each other. They don’t use each other a test subjects. And they damn well don’t- they don’t-….

Nora: Jaune I-

Jaune: It’s time to face reality Nora. You and Ren- I least tried to be there for one of you when the other isn’t there. But when I needed you most… … …. Neither of you were there. So go back to your Renny poo and your cute boy Oz. Because so far you proven me where your priorities are.

Nora: Then why did you come back?

Jaune: Simple. I want to stop Salem. I have a family. A nephew. Plus I fulfilled my role. At least my past self did. I inherited his memories. His experiences. And his wisdom. Now he’s dead. And now, I owe it to him to live my life. And if it means I have to cut off this one sided friendship then fine by me. Goodbye Nora.

Nora: Wait. Jaune. Jaune?! Please!

Nora reaches out her hand for him. However instead a memory resurfaces as she watch and scream

Nora: Momma? Momma!

Nora eyes begin to tear as she fell to her knees

Jaune I’M SORRY! PLEASE!! Please don’t leave me.

Jaune: *walks away but doesn’t let his tears show*

Nora: *cries* Please. Don’t abandon me too!

#rwby #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #oscar pines #team jnpr #team rwby

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slutdropintohell · 3 years ago

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Queercoding and Izaya

The context of Izaya’s queercoding can be quite sinister because of Narita’s very overt homophobia, but I want to address it nonetheless. Right off the bat, Izaya fits into the effeminate antagonist trope seen in media universally. He enjoys Oscar Wilde, he dresses in a typically unorthodox way, he fucking skips down the street. I don’t think that one requires much explaining, but it can be seen quite clearly throughout the series. He is also a typical outsider throughout the show, he has different mannerisms and interests to the majority of the cast. The main reasons for this are obvious, however I think it can be easily interpreted in other ways as well and I’ll delve into this properly later on. This post is obviously my personal opinion, and I’m not suggesting that these are facts or even intentional pieces of subtext on the part of Narita. This is my own interpretation, but I still thought I’d write some incoherent ramblings on here.

When he was in high school, Izaya was definitely considered an outsider to some degree. He did have girls interested in him - however he only really had one person who he considers a friend. He didn’t have a solid group of friends or consistent social circle, this is of course due to his desire to observe humans from afar. He and Shizuo both share a specific sort of detachment from the people around them - for different reasons - and it does become a factor that fuels their hatred for one another. They mirror each other, and both feel a profound detachment from those around them. There are several ways you can read into this aspect of the story, however I think acknowledging the possible implications can help to understand their characters. This is more of a personal interpretation, but Izaya and Shizuo struggling with their sexuality and then being constantly reminded of it whenever they see each other kind of makes sense to me. I don’t think that’s the singular truth, but I think it’s a part of the truth. Feeling disconnected from others and alone is undeniably something that LGBT people face, especially in areas that aren’t particularly accepting. I like to think that this is a factor of Izaya’s isolation from others, especially when he was younger. It makes a lot of sense, and his relationship with Shizuo really supports this perspective. I think it’s a similar deal with Shizuo and his temper, feeling confused when you’re growing up and your hormones are all over the place is very difficult and it seems like a good explanation for Shizuo’s constant frustration. Not all of it, of course, but I think it could be a factor as he becomes older - especially when he’s around Izaya, who is more outwardly effeminate and comfortable in himself. Izaya never shows a particular interest in any women throughout the show, the only person who is particularly notable to him is Shizuo. His relationship to Shizuo is completely different to anybody else on the show, and it’s quite obvious that it goes deeper than hatred. This perspective also makes sense considering their rivalry began in middle school, and continued for years afterwards. In summary, this is my interpretation of their relationship and I’m so sorry to anybody who read all of this bs.

#durarara #izaya orihara #queer coding #shizuo heiwajima #orihara izaya #rant post #i’m so sorry #durarara x2

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aspoonofsugar · 4 years ago

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Ironwood and Cinder: The Final Word

Cinder: And that’s… checkmate.

The Final Word of the volume is Cinder’s and it is meaningful she says it to Ironwood.

As a matter of fact Ironwood and Cinder are two sides of the same coin on many levels. This is conveyed also structurally.

Volume 7 is mostly about Ironwood’s tragic spiral. We are shown him struggle with his flaw throughout the whole volume, but in the end he loses to it and becomes just as dangerous as Salem:

Oscar: Then you're as dangerous as she is, James.

Not only does volume 8 close with Cinder instead, but it also opens with her:

And it even gives us her backstory:

Why does it happen? And why is Cinder’s final line so important when it comes to her foiling with Ironwood?

GRAVITY

It is not by chance that Watts calls both Ironwood and Cinder out before the climax of respectively volume 7 (Ironwood) and volume 8 (Cinder). This is because, as stated above, volume 7 is Ironwood’s volume, while volume 8 is Cinder’s. So they both are confronted with a truth about themselves and their reaction to it influences their stories in the Atlas arc.

In a sense, even if Watts is the one dangerously hanging over an abyss... it is actually Ironwood and Cinder who are on the brink. They are deciding Watts’s survival, but they are also deciding their own destiny.

They are choosing if to fall because of gravity or if to fly in the sky victorious.

At the same time, the two scenes with Watts show how Cinder and Ironwood are both similar and opposites.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Ironwood and Cinder are nothing, but two products of Atlas’s society.

Ironwood was born at the very top:

Watts: You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant!

Cinder existed at the very bottom:

Watts: You think you're entitled to everything just because you've suffered, but suffering isn't enough! You can't just be strong, you have to be smart! You can't just be deserving, you have to be worthy! But all you have ever been, is a BLOODY MIGRAINE!

Watts is in the middle and he represents the worst traits of both.

He wants everything, just like Cinder:

Ironwood: I gave you everything you could have wanted!

But differently from Cinder it was no true he had nothing. He was successful, had food, clothes and respect. Still, he was never satisfied and ended up disgracing himself in the search of something more.

He also disregards feelings in favor of rationality, just like Ironwood:

Watts: Our tin soldier’s heart has cost him his mind.

And he sees people under him as inherently inferior:

Watts: Yes, yes, please keep your posse in check.

This is why his death is fitting:

Cinder: I merely added more flames to the fires of Atlas.

He burns with Atlas aka the city he wants to destroy, but also a symbol of who he is deep down.

What is more, his death happens specifically because he blindly follows his wishes:

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

And because he is outsmarted and manipulated by Cinder:

Cinder: You deserve this, Arthur. We'll be back.

He is proud of his genius and rationality, but in the end he dies because of his feelings of pettiness.

In short, Watts, Cinder and Ironwood represent three social classes of Atlas and how the system corrupts people at every level. In general, all three want to be at the very top, but disreguard and mistreat the ones below.

-This is why Ironwood seeks control even in situations where he is not in charge, like the Vytal Festival. He also challenges Ozpin’s authority and leadership because he is not used not to be the one deciding. At the same time, he is shown ready to discard Mantle in multiple occasions.

-This is why Watts can call out Ironwood’s arrogance without seeing he is exactly the same as him.

-Finally, this is why Cinder lashes out at people she sees as Atlas elites (the Schnees, Ironwood, Watts), but treats those below her just like she was treated:

Emerald: We don't need him! Everything was going fine! (a slap is heard, and she cries out in pain)

Cinder: Do not mistake your place.

Mercury: Oh yeah? Tell that to--

Cinder: Quiet.

THE ENEMIES OF TRUST

Both Ironwood and Cinder’s left arms are artificial. Ironwood’s is mechanical, while Cinder’s is Grimm.

Their respective arms convey opposite approaches to things.

On a more general level, they are respectively linked to Creation (Ironwood’s mechanical arm) and to Destruction (Cinder’s Grimm arm). As a matter of fact a robotic arm is a human creation, while Grimms are nothing, but the symbol of destruction.

On a personal level, their arms hint at the two characters’ opposite personalities.

Ironwood’s arm can’t feel pain.

Cinder’s is instead linked to pain and feelings in different ways:

Raven: Aura can't protect your arm, it's Grimm.

Salem: You chose to disobey my specific instructions just to fail again.

Cinder: She’s back…

Cinder feels great pain whenever her Shadow Hand is cut because she can’t protect it with aura. At the same time, it is used by Salem to torture her. Finally, it links her to Salem to the point that she knows when her Master is back.

In other words, Cinder’s arm lets her feel more, while Ironwood’s lets him feel less.

This difference is mirrored by both the ways Ironwood and Cinder respectively attack Watts and by their semblances:

Ironwood’s Mettle lets Ironwood suppress his own feelings, so that he can pursue any objective, no matter how cruel or immoral it is. It makes him “superhuman”, but in a very negative sense.

Cinder’s Scorching Caress represents Cinder’s explosive emotions. It is a form of self-expression, which is both destructive and self-destructive.

Ironwood’s semblance is about repression, while Cinder’s is about lashing out.

Similarly, Ironwood goes after Watts at the cost of his arm and he ignores the pain he feels:

Watts: I wouldn't do that if I were you. I mean, unless you're hoping to add more metal to that body of yours.

Cinder instead goes after Watts to vent her anger:

Cinder: What do you mean, she'll destroy herself? How am I supposed to take her power if she's dead?!

Both are extremes and both are wrong, as Winter explains:

Winter: But yes Penny, we must still acknowledge our personal feelings, wrestle with them. It ensures us that we’re on the right path. It’s what makes us human.

Ironwood and Cinder should aknowledge their own feelings not to be consumed by them. It is also the only way for them to truly be humans, not machines or monsters, but simply people.

Both characters almost succeed just before the climax of their respective volumes.

Ironwood tries to open up to others:

And Cinder shows vulnerability:

However, none of them is able to capitalize on this chance for development. This is ironically because of each other:

Cinder messes with Ironwood’s insecurities, while Ironwood’s ultimatum gives Cinder the perfect chance to ignore hers.

The result is that Ironwood goes back to control, while Cinder goes back to manipulation. Both do so because they are unable to trust.

Interestingly, they take after their respective mentors in this.

Ironwood takes after Ozpin:

Ironwood: Did you really think you were the only one who got to work on a new plan after Beacon? WIth Ozpin gone, I needed my own team of people I could trust.

Oscar: General? Earlier, you asked for my advice.

Ironwood: I wanted Ozpin's advice.

Oscar: And his advice probably would've been to keep your secrets.

Cinder takes after Salem:

Salem: When I chose you as my vessel for the Maidens, I put my trust in you. So, I trust that you wouldn’t possibly return to me empty-handed.

Ironwood’s whole struggle in volume 7 is his search for a “new approach”. He wants to be like Ozpin, but better. This is why he founds his own group, but wants to trust the world with the truth about Salem. However, he confuses trust with control.

Cinder instead wants to become just like Salem and suffers when she sees she is not. This is why she collects assets, just like her master. This is also why she does not trust anyone, but manipulates others.

That said, what is the difference between Ironwood’s control and Cinder’s manipulation? It has once again to do with feelings.

Ironwood’s attempt to manipulate others is about suppressing feelings. He uses Atlas’s military hierarchy and social structures to ask for his subordinates’ blind loyalty.

Cinder’s method to control people lies instead in making use of others’ feelings. She uses both wishes and fears to her advantage.

In short, control and manipulation are nothing, but the same inability to trust declined in opposite ways. They are both “enemies of trust”.

This is why both Ironwood and Cinder find a strong enemy and a foil in the character, who embodies friendship in these volumes:

Deep down, Ironwood and Cinder not trusting others is because they fear betrayal:

Cinder: I won’t have to run now.

Rhodes: That’s all you’ll ever do.

Ironwood: I've chased a lot of shadows over the years, always expecting betrayal. But never once did I think it would ever come from you.

However, Penny too is betrayed and mistreated by others:

Penny: I do not like it when friends fight.

Ruby: I know. Yang and I may not agree on how best to save Mantle but-

Penny: No. I mean Winter. The general. They were our friends. But then the Ace Ops attacked you. And the general, he said people were going to die, because of me.

However, she does not give up on the ideal of a genuine bond:

Attached but not By strings

Still, if Penny is a positive foil to both Ironwood and Cinder, why does she die?

RISK

Weiss: Trust is a risk.

Yang: Ruby, they’re not called sure things, they’re called risks.

These two lines taken together are why at the end of volume 8 Penny dies, our heroes fall and the manipulative Cinder wins.

It happens to show the main theme of the two Atlas volumes. Trust is not a “sure thing”. It is a risk and it does not always work. Still, it is necessary to trust as it is necessary to take risks:

Yang: You were being optimistic. Look, blind optimism isn’t great, but no optimism means we already lost. We need hope. We need to take risks.

Giving up on trust and risks means giving up on hope. It means to give in to fear.

Still, this does not mean your trust will always be paid back. And it does not mean that the risks you take will always work, even if you come up with a wonderful plan:

Cinder: I knew your plan would be bold, but I never could have predicted all of this...

Sometimes people will betray you:

Sometimes your risk will end up in a fall:

However, it is still worth to trust, even when you have no guarantee it will work:

And sometimes It is even worth to risk the fall because it may lead to people being saved:

This same idea is conveyed also through Penny’s final choice:

Penny: Trust me.

Winter: Thank you for trusting me with this.

Penny dies tragically, but she still manages to pass the Maiden’s power to a person she trusts.

This is especially meaningful because the Winter Maiden power, just like Penny herself, has been subjected to both control and manipulation.

Ironwood does all he can to make sure the power ends up to Winter. At the same time, he is the one most responsible for Penny feeling as nothing, but a robot:

Ironwood: As the official report stated, that footage was doctored. Penny is completely under my control.

Cinder tries to steal the power three times. She also manipulates Penny’s feelings towards her friends:

Cinder: I was hoping your friends would be here. But it looks like they left you to do all the work. You’re just a tool to be used!

In the end, Ironwood treating Penny as a machine (control) and Cinder using Penny’s love for her friends against her (manipulation) are among the psychological factors that lead Penny to be mortally wounded by Cinder.

Still, while dying Penny negates both Ironwood and Cinder and frees the power and herself from both control and manipulation.

The fact she chooses Winter works well to illustrate this.

Winter is the person Ironwood wants as the next Maiden. However, Winter becomes a Maiden not because of Ironwood’s control, but because of Penny’s trust:

Ironwood: So… the destiny I chose for you has arrived.

Winter: You chose nothing. This...was a gift.

Winter is a Schnee, so she represents both what Cinder hates and what she herself wants to be:

Cinder to Winter: You Atlas elites are all the same! You think hoarding power means you’ll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier.

Winter is a symbol of Atlas and so she is a reminder to Cinder that Atlas is not really destroyed:

Robyn: What do you think a kingdom is? The people, or just the chunk of land they live on?

Just like Cinder’s past isn’t.

WORTHY

Cinder wants to be worthy. Ironwood wants to be a hero.

Deep down, Ironwood and Cinder want the same thing. They want to be above others. They want to be more than humans.

However, they go at it in opposite ways:

Ironwood: I have sacrificed everything!

Cinder: I want it all...

Ironwood thinks that victory lies in sacrificing everything, while Cinder sees it as taking it all.

These opposite viewpoints mirror their respective social stances.

Ironwood can say he wants to sacrifice everything because he has everything.

Cinder thinks happiness lies in everything because she has nothing:

Cinder: You’re right. Without you I am nothing. But because of you, I am everything.

In the end, Ironwood and Cinder are each other’s true enemies, but they fail to see it and lash out against the wrong people:

Ironwood and Cinder’s respective fight against Winter and Weiss is exactly this.

Ironwood fights a Maiden he sees as an enemy of Atlas, while another Maiden is attacking the people he swore to protect.

Cinder lashes out at Weiss because of her origins, while Weiss has decided to leave her status and money behind to make the right thing.

Still, Ironwood and Cinder are too hypocritical to see the truth. This is why they attack people, who could have helped them, if they were given the chance.

This is also why they receive a warning:

Winter: No, you have sacrificed everyone else!

Winter: You… are going to pay… for everything you’ve done!

Ironwood claims he is ready to sacrifice everything. However, he never sacrifices himself:

In the end, he is unable to sacrifice his life to fight Salem.

Let’s highlight he has nothing to lose by this point. He is falling with Atlas anyway. In his final moments, he is given the chance to prove true to his words:

I would die Without regret, I’d offer up my life With zero reservations I would fly Into the sun If that would keep our dream alive

Instead, he gives up. He has been shooting his allies until the very end, but freezes in front of his enemy.

Cinder thinks she is closer to her final victory, but in the end she has accomplished nothing of what she truly wants.

She wants to kill RWBY, but they are alive. She wants the Maiden powers, but she fails.

At the same time, Cinder is still far away from what she truly needs:

Cinder: You have everything you need?

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

She is given a perfect mirror of herself in Watts. Still, instead of seeing it, Cinder uses his flaw, which is her same flaw, to kill him. Watts’ wants lead to his death and the same thing might happen to Cinder if she does not stop herself in time.

Finally, there is this:

Salem: This game is not yours to win, Cinder, it’s mine. Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn, does not make you a player. Everything is already in motion. All you need concern yourself with is your ability to act when I tell you to.

Ironwood and Cinder share a chess motif.

Ironwood thinks of himself as a player and specifically as Salem’s opponent.

Cinder is instead told she is no player.

However, in the end, Ironwood becomes a mere pawn to the point that all Watts has to do is to open his cell to be sure he is going to unwillingly aid in Cinder’s plan.

What is more, he is so fixated on Salem that he fails to aknowledge the people below him. This is why his true opponent is a slave that Atlas exploited.

Cinder frames herself as a player instead. She is the one who truly makes the first move against Ironwood and ultimately she is the one who defeats both him and our protagonists. Finally, she is the one who calls checkmate.

Still, is she really playing her own game?

In the end, the one who gets what she wants is not Cinder, but Salem:

And all she has to do to obtain it is one small move:

Salem: And I’ve realized, it’s all my fault. You’ve fought your whole life unwaveringly for what you want and here I am holding you back instead of lifting you up.

While Cinder is once again letting her talent be exploited by those above her. She is choosing to be Salem’s Queen instead than a player of her own life.

She is the Black Queen defeating the White King, but nothing more.

#rwby #rwby meta #rwby vol8 #rwby vol7 #cinder fall #james ironwood #my meta

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theseerasures · 4 years ago

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RWBY V08C14 reaction post

haven’t done something like this for this fandom yet, but the finale was so much all at once that i could not muster any level of critical thinking the first go-around. my thoughts have...settled somewhat with a second rewatch. still nothing conclusive (obviously), but at least coherent enough to be written down.

in rough chronological order:

i am very into it, of course, but i’m still not quite sure what to make of the fact that this finale very explicitly pivots around Winter Schnee, to the extent that the episode (sans prologue and coda) are bookended by her. she begins the episode charging into a fight, and ends it the same way. even putting aside that her in-universe presence has increased by magnitudes, that we end a season where she has mostly been a sparse supporting player with THIS has implications i can’t suss out for her narrative role going forward.

going into the finale i thought that Ironwood vs. Winter would turn out to be another RWBY Flagship Fight (ie long and flashy and indulgent in the best ways), but i pretty much knew that wouldn’t be the case once the fight began in earnest and they immediately started talking to each other.

for what we did get i’m happy to say that the Core Dynamic of the fight was exactly what i predicted: Winter rushing in to melee and not giving Ironwood enough time to fire, Ironwood trying to make room by shoving her away and using his cannon as a makeshift club--even down to breaking the cannon formation BACK to dual wielding to give himself an edge.

i will say that for Winter to have blocked him head-on--this is James Ironwood, who once stopped an Alpha Beowolf cold with one bionic hand, and now he’s got TWO--with her broken noodle arms is...incredibly cool. stupid! but cool.

Ironwood doing the double pistol whip while screaming about how no one is grateful has i wouldn’t have to be doing this if you just behaved all over it.

in retrospect i’m not sure why i expected a RWBY Flagship Fight when just about every fight this season has been extremely different. the camera work is always fucking frantic, we’re often cross-cutting between different simultaneous fights, and there are far fewer shots where both combatants are clearly shown and evenly matched. about the only fight we’ve had resembling that is AceOps vs Penny waaaaaaay back in Strings--even the low-stakes triumphant JNPER + Winter vs. Ironwood fight in Creation was extremely short and crosscut with BRA vs. AceOps.

case in point: the showdown in Grand Central takes up pretty much the entire episode, but combatants are continuously entering and exiting, the setting’s physical dimensions feel wonky and surreal, and the fact that half of the people fighting have flight capabilities means we’re relying on wide shots and oners to figure out what the fuck is going on. it’s a war now, and even though we follow only a handful of characters in it the fights carry that grander and more desperate tone.

Cinder relies twice this episode on just fucking nova-ing herself to overwhelm her Maiden opponents. it’s different from how she usually fights, which is still fireballs and conjured swords/projectiles--she’s learning to use her Maiden powers to wreak havoc on a larger scale, which a) reinforces what we already know of Cinder, but b) complements her recent relearning of subtlety and manipulation. still a tenuous balance of extremes that can and will shatter, though.

Weiss got to save everyone during the fight, and none of it mattered in the end.

the thing about priority one is that they all planned for this. they all went in planning for the contingency where they don’t make it out, where they have to watch others not make it out.

Weiss plucking Penny out of the air and Penny pleading to make the sacrifice play is an EXACT recreation of what happened in Enemy of Trust, down to the saved looking up at the savior while the savior is looking onward. she’s just swapped places with the Schnee in question, and...they are the priority targets this time, unfortunately.

Cinder smugly flipping her hair out of...her eyepatch...she really is living her best life and she knows it

Blake made the right choice, and it didn’t matter at all.

Qrow ending the last episode with a berserker charge at Harriet and then immediately pulling back here and trying to talk her down really got to me, as did him trying to block the bomb with his body. the man is so desperately trying to be better than he was, and it doesn’t take a lot anymore for him to realize the right path.

Elm and Vine--

the thing about Elm and Vine is that both their powers boil down to getting attached. so watching Elm hold Vine in place while Vine holds the two airships together, everyone in this little world, it’s...everything i could ever want, out of how the story of the AceOps would end.

Anairis Quinones for dark horse MVP. why can’t you just let me do my job, delivered in the way that it was, is the perfect encapsulation of Harriet Bree desperately trying to outrun her personal feelings and the grief it has given her.

Elm tells Harriet that she’s their friend, to stop her from killing a part of herself as she tries to kill others. it’s the first time this happens in the episode, but not the only time.

Penny saved Blake so they could save Ruby together, and it didn’t matter at all.

our heroes have GOT to stop falling for the “watch the thing flying in the air! OH WAIT I STILL HAVE A WEAPON IN MY HAND WALLOP WALLOP” trick. it happens multiple times in this one episode.

Harriet, who has the fastest Speed Semblance known, says there’s no time to make it out of the blast range. she doesn’t try to outrun it. she just...stays put, and admits that she brought them all here, to this. i’m sorry.

here’s the thing: they’re soldiers. they were prepared for this eventuality, where they don’t make it out. that’s why Elm let Vine go grab Harriet; because she thought they were all going to die, and if that happened she wanted Harriet close enough to reach.

but--just like with Team Hero--some of them do make it out. they just have to watch.

Vine and Hazel sacrificed themselves in the same way in the end: pulling their loved ones close wasn’t working, so they threw themselves around the thing trying to kill them instead.

Ruby was clever, and pragmatic, and brave. it didn’t matter in the end.

Cinder letting Neo fall as soon as she gets a chance proves that she still lacks patience, and that’s going to bite her in the ass.

the Penny-Blake fastball special and the fall; Penny crying tears for the first time, but not moving immediately to rage, as she had last episode, when Yang fell.

Weiss’ shaking hands around Gambol Shroud, crying berserker tears as she tries, desperately, to pull off another miracle. it’s another role reversal in a way: her sister’s the Riza Hawkeye, but she’s the one emptying useless clip after useless clip into an enemy she can’t kill, because her heart has been ripped in two.

the last time Nora Valkyrie saw Jaune Arc, they clasped hands, and their eyes met with determination, and hope.

it figures that a Schnee would be the last one standing, letting all her friends die first. she was right, but again: wrong Schnee.

Weiss diving past Cinder’s blind spot to slice the Grimm Arm, to save Penny--the same script, but the wrong player. and too late.

at Haven, Jaune went from trying to do harm to unlocking his Semblance, and realizing that he was meant to heal. here, he goes from trying to do what he is meant to do, what he has made peace with, to...

it will take a long time, i think, for him to learn to live with himself, even with Penny reassuring him that this is what she wants. to go from wanting to harm to being the one who does no harm, to being forced to acknowledge a person’s right to die, and carry out the deed himself. it’s a new variation on what he’s always had to wrestle with since Pyrrha’s sacrifice.

Weiss managed to outlast Cinder Fall without an Aura WITHOUT getting her entire body broken, Winter

the boundary between material worlds is made of darkness. the boundary between souls is made of light, and there is no danger of falling.

where...what is this? of course Winter doesn’t know. she never would have, even if she had gotten the powers, because she would have used the Transfer machine.

i thought of you, and here we are. that was all it took. the last time Penny saw Winter, Winter was still loyal to Ironwood. she’s only known abstractly, secondhand from Weiss, that Winter was on their side again and trying to help save Mantle, for about an hour. and yet: i thought of you.

and in the face of this thought that is love, Winter averts her eyes. tries in vain to hide her face, because she knows she is unworthy. she doesn’t deserve this.

but here’s the thing: no one deserves this. Penny. are you...the one? even Penny herself wasn’t sure.

you were my friend. the second time it happens this episode. friends save friends from themselves. friends transform what would have been murder into sacrifice.

remember what Penny said to Cinder, shortly before Cinder killed her? you wouldn’t know anything about friends. she’s right. it wasn’t Cinder’s choice, but she’s right. and now Cinder has learned how to use that.

i’ll be part of you. it is, of course, something that’s been brought up repeatedly this whole season. but it’s also what Winter said to Penny after Fria died: she’s a part of you now.

and i do love this yoking together of arc words. Winter is of course the firstborn Schnee, but Winter is, more broadly, The Firstborn in this new generation. so here we have something similar to the chain that begins with Winter letting her sisters go, through Penny letting Emerald go, through Emerald helping Oscar escape, to Atlas’ however ephemeral victory over Salem. what Winter begins--haltingly and with resentment--becomes transformed into radiant grace in the hands of her younger siblings. and she gets to be the direct benefactor this time. the prodigal daughter returns to her family.

during Enemy of Trust we watched from the outside as Oscar fell and Penny rose, as one set of eyes closed as another opened. during The Final Word, we watch from the inside: one set of eyes close. another opens.

Winter’s leitmotif plays on the piano for the first time since the previous season as she comes back to the world. it makes sense. the piano version is for her sisters, and she just left one of them.

here is the apotheosis of Winter Schnee: she gets back up. she falters and sways but she gets back up, and then she, the person who once managed to convince herself that so long as she could make peace with someone else’s choice it meant she too was choosing, tells the man who has been choosing for her for years: you chose nothing. and she rises.

in the end James Ironwood was finished by his petard thrice over. Atlas had defected against him. his greatest creation had become the Maiden and unshackled herself from him. and there is of course, the cannon: a literal petard, in the other words, which he fires at Winter, and Winter reflects back upon him.

Jaune Arc used the heirloom that his family has held for generations to kill a defenseless girl. he took the blade and sunk it in deep, because Penny trusted him and he had to be sure.

and then it shattered in his hands.

there’s something here in the second fight between Maidens, about Cinder having a named weapon and forsaking it for what she can make on the fly, and Winter insistent on using a weapon with no name at all, but i still can’t put my finger on it.

Winter never got to see Weiss try to Summon her Nevermore.

the thing that gets me about how it turns out is: Winter was winning. she’d managed to get her hands on the Staff, and even with Cinder’s immediate counterattack she managed to get the Staff away from Cinder. but then Cinder saw Jaune and Weiss, and she remembered a few days ago, when Penny saved Winter instead of going after Cinder, when Winter attacked Cinder to save Penny.

so Cinder attacks Weiss and Jaune instead of racing for the Staff. and Winter--

this is Winter Schnee. she saves people despite herself. she runs toward them, despite herself. and it has always, always been what saves her.

not anymore.

last time it had been Winter who was in mortal danger, and Weiss who, with Ruby’s help, drove Cinder off. same script, wrong player. and too late.

Weiss falls and for a moment, the camera makes it seem like Winter is falling too.

she wants to. no one deserves this.

the thing you have to ask when characters leap for the exit and fall just short is: is it about faith, or friendship? in Jaune’s case it’s both. his faith broke with Crocea Mors. and the portal is one-way, so he had no friends to grab him from the other side.

but Nora was still trying. they clasped hands. she promised.

the first time Winter sees her family--really sees them, after years of separation--she averts her eyes. she hides her face from them, because how can she tell them that Weiss is gone? how can she tell Penny’s friends that Penny is a part of her now, when Penny is just a part, now?

there are people all around her looking to her. there are voices within her. she has never been more alone.

(Winter Schnee has never met Pyrrha Nikos, and Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. because Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. Cinder Fall did that, too.)

this is what Winter Schnee thinks, as she screams and charges, as she kills Grimm faster than they are drawn in by her despair: in the fairy tales, eldest siblings never win.

i failed you again, master. master, but not queen.

Cinder won this. the heroes tried and tried and tried and none of it mattered, and she won this. but here’s the thing: Cinder won because she was LUCKY, and because she made her own luck. that she was able to pin things on Neo and Team Hero depended on things going exactly as planned, and some things going better than planned. and the reason she’d even made it that far was because she cheated, with the last use of a divine relic. it doesn’t take away her from her victory, but what i do know is this: this is her finest moment. she will never win as completely ever again, and she will fall farther than she has ever feared. (and that will save her, in the end.)

and that’s checkmate. i said that i wanted Atlas to fall the same way that Amity rose, but of course they did it like this. of course it would horrific yet unspectacular, with its General slumped in defeat, unable to fire a single shot from his gun. with the city in the sky falling onto Mantle, in Mantle’s palette. from the Dust from which it arose into Dust again.

as below, so above.

#rwby #helen writes meta

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adleryoung · 3 years ago

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The story room feels sad and empty, with the pumpkin-spiced scent of betrayal still lingering in the air. Was it worth it? Was it worth selling out the elf that has bared his soul for your entertainment, week after week, for years? You start to feel pangs of regret - especially since the Kringle hasn't yet delivered the Oscar Meyer Wiener whistles you were promised.

Suddenly the door opens and Adler walks in.

Greetings, loyal listeners! Wow! I feel so refreshed after my vacation! This is the first time in a long time that I actually had a pleasant December. It was the strangest thing. Right after I left here, I could tell I was being followed. No matter where I went, there they were, shadowing me. It's like the Kringle's agents knew exactly where I was at all times. I was convinced that one of you had betrayed me. I didn't want to pook away unless I was truly cornered, so I dashed into a train station to see if I could lose them in the general hubbub. In the restroom I took off my hat and tie so I could wash my face, and someone must have taken them by accident. The ones I found when I turned around looked similar, but were definitely different. I have to say, these are not as high quality as the ones I had. Also, the name "Stuart" is written inside the hat band, so this is obviously not mine.

But after that little switcheroo, the agents tailing me disappeared and I didn't see any trace of them for the entire month. I was able to check into a nice hotel, order room service, and laugh at terrible Christmas movies on lowfolk television. I actually had a pretty good time! Since the holiday is now past and the danger is over, I decided to come back before January and give my helper a break. Speaking of which, where is he? Tell me he at least showed up, and you haven't been just staring at the walls all month. Handsome guy with a goatee, wears shades and a hoodie, kind of a beatnik?

Okay, well, good to know he did make an appearance and mostly did his job … but he was slated to fill in all the way through the end of December. I can't believe he left early! What a lazy flake! He said he was my biggest fan too. You just can't trust people anymore. Oh well, I guess since he's not here, I won't have to give him the thank-you gifts I got for him. Aw, yuck! He even spilled coffee on the book! Well, I won't be asking him for help again any time soon. In fact, I'm crossing that guy's name off the guest list. Make a note that Alder Guyon is banned from the weekly story time.

Were did he leave off? It must be the page with the most coffee stains on it… Ahem

. . .

"And it goes beyond just getting better prizes," I continued my spiel. "Keep in mind that when I say 'doing good deeds' this doesn't mean what you probably think it means. What Fuma considers good and evil is subtly different from what this Cosmic Ram and Baby Bunny consider good and evil … or, to be more precise, what the Ram's priests want you to think is good and evil. What Rebecca told me about the Cosmic Ram in his early days made him sound pretty cool, but he's obviously changed. Lady Fuma is a goddess of Love and War, Passion and Fury, and she has consistently remained so. She never went through any paradigm shifts. Many things the Church of the Bunny declares to be taboo are perfectly fine in Fuma's eyes. Parties, revelries, and fun are not only tolerated but encouraged! If you want to wear all black and dress like a character from a children's book, you are free to do so. You can even dance naked in the rain if you really want to, though that sounds like a sure fire way to catch a cold."

"That does sound better than I thought it would," the duck muttered.

"But I really had my heart set on selling my soul to a primeval chaos demon," the vixen complained.

"Aye," Mother Didelphis agreed. "Not to a goddess. It's the principle of the thing."

"Fuma may not be evil," Rebecca piped up eagerly, "but she's still an ancient pagan deity that predates civilization. Paganism is TOTALLY witchy! Fuma's also really cool. She spoke to me in a vision!"

"I don't know …" Mother Didelphis dithered.

"What was the Raccoon Monster saying about being Unseelie?" the mouse (bear?) asked.

"HA!" I scoffed. "You want to learn about being Unseelie from the Raccoon Monster, then so be it! Never let it be said that Lord Randall forced a moral decision on his disciples! Also, don't say I didn't warn you! Wait just a moment and I'll wake her up. Abrakazam! Alley-ka-pocus!"

I waved my hands mystically and apported a bucket of water. The witches murmured and applauded politely.

I dumped the bucket over Burnside.

"WHY IN TARNATION'D YOU DO THAT?" she spluttered, jumping to her feet.

"Because it's time for you to get up," I informed her. "Now is your moment. I tried my best, but these witches seem dead set on being Unseelie. If you please, tell the coven exactly how you would go about doing that."

"All right!" Burnside cackled, shaking the water out of her fur. "Now yer talkin! So you gals wanna be Unseelie? Good choice! You won't regret it! First an' most important, you wanna always make sure yer knife is razor sharp. Whazzat? Ain't got a knife? Well then sister, GIT you one right quick! That's yer top priority. Why do you need it? Well, skippin ahead a bit, for starters, you're gonna have to …"

I'm not going to repeat all of Burnside's horrible monologue. Suffice it to say, within the first five minutes Mother Didelphis had fainted, the duck was curled up in an egg-like position and hopelessly weeping, Rebecca was desperately clutching her enormous ears in a futile attempt to block out Burnside's yammering voice, and the vixen was anxiously looking for a discreet place to vomit.

"And once you burrow into his chest cavity," Burnside continued enthusiastically, "if'n you grab onto the inside of his rib-cage, he can't pull you out."

"Dude," the bear (mouse?) grunted. "That is messed up."

#furry #elves #cartoon #story #plot #adventure #tboay

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faboover · 4 years ago

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The State of Ruby as of RWBY Vol. 8 Episode 8

There are two key lines that pique my interest about Ruby from Episode 8.

(After finishing the call from May)

RUBY: "It's just too much. The Grimm, the Crater, Nora, Penny, how do we fix all of it?"

(When Ruby and Blake go to turn on the generator to restore power)

RUBY: "C'mon, c'mon!"

Blake: "Don't worry, it'll work."

RUBY: "Nothing else has."

These lines show that Ruby is starting to become overwhelmed by the situation and is unsure of how she and her allies can resolve all of it. She has also started to become pessimistic about how things will go moving forward. This is all very unlike how Ruby has been since the start of the series.

From the start, Ruby is a character who is very confident in herself, one of the most optimistic characters in the series, and has a will that will allow her to tackle any obstacle laid before her without much hesitation. So, how did Ruby get to the point where it seems that she is unsure of herself and responding pessimistically to the actions she and her friends are taking?

Well, this has been been building up for the last 3 Volumes (6-8). If you've seen my Video on RWBY's Story when I talk about Ruby, I mention that Ruby's optimism and will is being challenged by her friends and Uncle, the Apathy, and Cordovin. What I didn't notice back then is the uncertainty that was starting to develop in Ruby.

(Early part of Ruby's conversation with Maria in Vol. 6 Ep. 8)

RUBY: "The others went to get food for tonight."

Maria: "Why not go with them?"

Ruby: "I don't know. I don't know anything. What do I tell Jaune and his team when we don't even have a plan?!

Qrow's out drinking, Ozpin hasn't come back, and even if he did, I don't know if I could trust him, and there's always Jinn, but we only have one more question we can ask her. I feel like I'm letting everyone down."

Maria: "You know, you don't give yourself enough credit."

RUBY: "Oh *short laugh*, thanks."

Maria: "That wasn't a compliment."

This is an early indication of Ruby's growing uncertainty and loss of confidence as a result of everything that happened after Ruby asked Jinn her question about Oz.

This brings us to Volume 7 where Ruby makes a snap decision to hide the truth of Oz and Salem from Ironwood. Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Oscar question Ruby about making a decision like that. From her responses, even Ruby is unsure if that was a good call. Seen in her mannerisms and that Ruby does plan to tell Ironwood the truth, eventually.

Yang: "Can we talk about that again?"

RUBY: "What about it?"

Yang: "We're really not going to tell Ironwood what happened to Oz, what we learned about Jinn, about Salem?"

RUBY: "We are! *stops for a moment and turns her head down to meekly say* We will. But you saw how things looked when we flew into Atlas."

Blake: "The General's heart seems to be in the right place, but that doesn't mean we should trust him yet."

Weiss: "We need to play along for a while before we make any major decisions."

Yang: "Okay, how did Oscar feel about that?"

RUBY: *Initially looking at Yang before slowly turning her head down as the scene flashes back to Ruby's conversation with Oscar.*

RUBY: "Probably shouldn't keep running around with an Ancient Relic on a keychain, you know?"

Oscar: "But."

RUBY: "I know you'll keep it safe in Atlas."

Oscar: "Ruby, hiding things from Ironwood, doesn't that feel like what Ozpin did to us?"

RUBY: *Her eyes again looking directly at Oscar and then her eyes turn away from him*

These moments show doubt in Ruby's own decision. We see more of her uncertainty in her conversation with Qrow after being given her Huntress License by Ironwood.

Qrow: "Big day for you huh kiddo?"

RUBY: "It's definitely a lot to take in."

Qrow: "Which part? The finally getting to Atlas part? Getting your license part? Or the not quite disclosing everything to Ironwood part? Or, all of the above?"

RUBY: "All of the above.

I'm trying to do what I think is best, but I really can't tell if what's best is what's right or if I'm no different from Oz."

Qrow: "Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You're trusting others, but you're making sure they prove themselves first. I think that's a pretty big difference."

RUBY: "I hope so. This says I'm a Huntress now, but I don't feel like I know much more than I did at Beacon."

Qrow: "That feeling never goes away."

Then everything at the Schnee Manor happens in which Ruby and Oscar are both excited to finally tell Ironwood, but this ends up having the inverse affect when Cinder and Salem make themselves known to Ironwood. Now, Ironwood doesn't trust them at all for the things they kept from him and the actions Yang and Blake took behind Ironwood's back. Ironwood believing their actions put him in a disadvantageous position with Salem. Thus we get a full fallout with Ruby's group and Ironwood.

That finally brings us to the start of Volume 8. Yang makes her dissatisfaction with Ruby's decision making known and is against Ruby's idea to get Amity Tower up and running to let the world know about Salem and call for aid. Yang wanting to make a tangible difference by helping Mantle. Even Ren and Nora are disagreeing. Jaune suggests they go for both as Ruby expresses her concerns about separating everyone. Ruby seeing this as creating a divide between them. Ruby is assured by Oscar that, even though they are working separately, they are still united.

The results of this decision to separate for Ruby:

JOYR is MIA

Nora is hurt badly

Penny, who she wanted to be safe at Amity, has crashed landed onto the Schnee Estate's Courtyard and is also in bad condition.

All of this including the fact that Salem has now begun her assault on Atlas, which also made things worse for Mantle.

This brings us back to episode 8 in which Ruby is struggling to figure out a way to help everyone and deal with everything. Her will is still strong enough to keep her going and try to figure it out with everyone around her, but all that has transpired has caused her to lose confidence in herself and their ability to handle these situations. This is even after Klein gives his advice to Ruby to try not to attack everything all at once and to address these situations one at a time.

Now that Ruby has seen that a person was inside the Hound and the horror she expresses at this realization, the stress placed upon her by everything happening and herself just keeps building. Her will isn't broken and is what's keeping her going along with her friends backing her up. Seen with Blake when she explains how Ruby inspires her to this day. Similar to what happened when Ruby's stress came to a head and started apologizing to Jaune at the end of Volume 4 in which Jaune explains that Ruby's ability to take action is what spurred Him, Ren and Nora to follow her.

So yeah, that's where we are at with Ruby. You can now see why those initial two lines caught my attention. I can't wait to see what comes next for Ruby this and next Volume.

#blog #RWBY #rwby8 #Volume 8 #Episode 8 #Ruby #character analysis #analysis #character #Vol. 8 #Vol 8 #Ep 8 #Ruby Rose #optimism #will #confidence

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nexyra · 4 years ago

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RWBY Analysis - Ozpin & Ruby, on the concept of leadership

In her song "Burned out", Dodie sings of her fans, how they look up to her and how uneasy that realization made her. For everyone is at the end of the day just as human as their neighbour; and having the hopes and expectations of others put upon you when you're just as lost as them can be a frightening thing. And this... made me think of Ruby & Ozpin.

On the subject of leadership, Ozpin tells Ruby the following : “Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?”

While I love this quote, I also have to analyze the drawbacks of this mentality and how they align with both Ozpin and Ruby. At the time, Ruby is a newly appointed leader and unsure of this reality. Ozpin's counsel give her the confidence needed to step up as a leader and take her duties more seriously, which in return appeases Weiss' and make their team all the more balanced. It is, in that context, good advice. A good leader should strive to lead by example and work hard to be worthy of the respect others give them, both in and outside of battle.

However there is one aspect that I find much more complex and that is... what does it mean to "always perform at your absolute best" and to have others follow you ? Note the use of follow, people letting you lead alone as opposed to "standing by your side" or a similar expression. It showcases in my opinion one of the biggest problem of Ozpin's leadership, but one that I feel has been inadvertently repeated by Ruby's.

- - - - - - - -

To cultivate hope and lies

When it comes to Ozpin's lies, I am of the firm belief that he had good intentions. Soo if you think he's the scorn of this earth, this might be a good time to tap out :D Now, this said I have a lot to say on the subject but I'll keep this short to stay on track (& make another unrelated post to develop my thoughts.)

In my opinion, at the core of his lies stand different beliefs. And on the subject of leadership, I think one stands out in particular and aligns with the advice he gave Ruby : the need to perform at your best to give others a reason to follow you.

Ozpin is the reincarnation of a centuries-old wizard and the headmaster of a school : what is one aspect almost every character agrees on upon meeting him ? "Oh, he's wise. He's knowledgeable. He has the answers. He has his shit together. He can tell us what to do."

Inherently, Ozpin's existence inspires respect and reassure. Just like to a child, a parent is all-knowing and unbreakable, Ozpin's status automatically give others the assumption that he knows what he's doing. And this, in my opinion, is one of the core problems of his leadership.

May it be with his inner circle, with RWBY, with ANYONE really; as soon as Ozpin reveals himself there are unspoken expectations that will chain him. He has the knowledge, he was here when it all began, he's the one calling the shots so he HAS to know exactly what to do. In that situation, breaking down and revealing to everyone how lost Ozpin is, how out of his depth... is unconceivable. And this is where Ozpin's conception of leadership becomes a problem as well. If you always perform "at your best" then you keep your doubts to yourself, you hide your sorrows and you put on a brave face. There are expectations in place that Ozpin wants (needs even) to meet. And thus the hopes of others and Ozpin's desire to fulfill them feed one another, as a perfect recipe for disaster. Because the more time Ozpin spends acting as if everything is under control, the more the expectations pile up... And coming clean about his humanity, the fact that he's just as powerless as the rest of them, becomes impossible.

And in that sense, breaking down the pedestal Ozpin had been put on was probably one of the best thing to do for his own mental health (though the method lacked a bit of compassion in my opinion xD)

The other part that somehow causes problem is how RELIANT on him his inner circle is. Despite their apparent friendship, Ozpin is the clear leader and as soon as he's out of comission, everything falls apart. Ironwood is the only one to call out Oz but in the end still wishes for the wizard to tell him what to do in period of stress. Qrow plays spy and takes order but doesn't seem really interested in stading at Ozpin's side as an equal. Glynda is stern but still defers to him etc...

All of them FOLLOW Ozpin but are just a few steps off from standing at his side. And this is something I see reflected in Ruby.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Following optimism up until it fails you

In Vol6, as secrets and lies are brought to the light, the loss of Hope that Ozpin feared so deeply happens. Is it worth it ? What are we even going to do with an immortal foe ? Maybe we should just go home. In that situation, Ruby is the simple soul who manages to keep her optimism, stand tall and say "No. We are taking the lamp to Atlas." And from then on her position as a leader and a bacon of light is reaffirmed. As Jaune put it in V4 "You gave us the courage to follow you."

Now is that, in itself, a problem ? Of course not. In fact I loved seeing Ruby come into herself and take the lead in Vol6. The problem in truth comes after, from the ramifications. From Vol6 onward, Ozpin has essentially been rid of his leader position and Ruby inherited it. And on a surface level sure, they are pretty different. Ruby is certainly closer to her partners : they're a family and they care about each other.

However, she is still clearly put at the lead. The others relied on Ruby's optimism and resilience to get to Atlas, and continue to do so. Setting foot in Ironwood's office, Blake tells Ruby "We'll follow your lead". They trust her, and whatever Ruby does... goes. They lie to Ironwood and Yang expresses some hesitations but eventually rally to Ruby's decision. And I emphasize this again : it is Ruby's decision. They did not pre-emptively discuss this as a group and then let Ruby be the spoke-person. Yang herself in Vol8 criticizes not their actions but Ruby's choices. Ruby calls the shots, Ruby is responsible for what happens, Ruby is their beacon of hope... Ruby is the new Ozpin.

Ruby has to be optimistic, and make the decisions and take risks because she's the leader. When Ruby leaves the room to break down, conversation & strategy stalls : the others don't take the lead. When things go south, it's Ruby's choices that led them here. Ever since Ruby has left Beacon, the only person who consistently encouraged Ruby to express the BAD, to share the negative has been Oscar. Even her silver eyes ask her to focus on only the happy memories to go off without a hitch ! The others comfort, they smile, they trust, they love even. But they don't want depressed Ruby finally grieving, they don't want honest "I don't know what to do" : they try to bring back confident and optimistic "we're gonna try" Ruby Rose. They want their earnest and happy but ultimately perfect leader that gives them reason to follow. In the end, even if they deeply care for her and have no shortage of warm coated reassurances for the teen, they still chain her down with their expectations. Ruby is NOT built for this. And I don't even say that in the "why is a kid calling the shots" sense, but "why is a kid put in a position where she's RESPONSIBLE for calling the shots ?"

Ruby is the youngest of the group apart from Oscar. The others should not rely on her this much to function. Blake telling Ruby that she looks up to her and that they'll follow her lead is admittedly sweet, but still builds up the pressure weighing her down. Blake calling out for Ruby's help when the teen has just been crashed to the ground by the Hound isn't even sweet anymore. They're all supposed to be equals. Blake is just as capable as Ruby. Calling out to your mind-controlled friend to bring them back from the edge is good. Calling out to your 17-old sister who's been beaten up because you need her to fight isn't.

They need to recognize that Ruby should not hold up the place alone. Because yes, they love her. But at the end of the day, Ruby is still the one bearing the weight of their decisions... Alone, even surrounded.

✦ ✦ BURNED OUT - DODIE ✦ ✦

He was certain; So was I There was comfort in her sighs

Dreams and ideas should not be the same thing You waited, smiling for this?

Oh, she'd want it, if she knew She could take it, I thought too Be careful, be cautious but you just wished harder You waited, smiling for this?

"But they love you!" Over and over, "they love you!" Thousands and thousands of eyes just like mine Aching to find who they are

"Oh, they love you!" Oh, you can feel how they love you ! Coated and warm but that's all they can do Words only get through if they're sharp

Oh, how fitting For one so fake Make me a fairy Whatever it takes

And just like a tale my dream was a scam You waited, smiling for this?

I am burnt out I smell of smoke It seeps through her cracks and so I start to choke Sentences sit in her mouth that are templated You waited, smiling for this?

Oh, maybe I'll talk about it... (maybe I'll talk about it) I can just talk about it... (I can just talk about it) I'll never talk about it... (I'll never talk about it) No, I cannot talk about it...

Don't build hope on something broken I am not cartoon. Cry for help, I am not joking I might just leave soon

#rwby #rwby analysis #rwby thoughts #character song #professor ozpin #ozpin #ruby rose #lyrics collage #rwde #does this count as rwde?#feel free to disagree in the reactions/reblogs I read everything !

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imbellarosa · 5 years ago

Text

Let’s Talk Calm-ly about Two Loves

OR: When you’re a grown man who writes stories for a living, you definitely wrote your own weird bedtime story, too.

The TLDR here is that H has taken one specific listener around the globe, notably to Tokyo and Jamaica. He quotes an old Victorian Poet who was an awful human but who’s lasting legacy is the phrase “a love that dare not speak its name” which is - you guessed it - a reference to queer love. He also is super excited to spend what seems like the foreseeable future with this listener and has bought a little house with a garden of daisies with them and it’s very sweet and domestic. Anyways this is a wild time and it’s all under a cut because it’s...really a lot.

Anyways I think the people I owe thank yous this times around to are @queenlokibeth who had to listen to me scream about this for a while, Astrid, who screamed with me when this came out, and “M” who convinced me to finally get to work in this fandom. And, of course, all of the lovely people tagged below who’s work I used to build my argument.

1.) Who Wrote “Dream With Me”?

Well, not H, or so the story goes. Two other people (Steve Cleverly and Sanj Sen) did! I mean, right, okay, for a while I was like...that seems like an odd choice for a man who didn’t want to hand Two Ghosts over to his own band because it seemed too personal. He wrote on every song in both albums’ he’s released thus far, because he seems to be passionate about telling the stories he wants to tell (even if he won’t tell you explicitly what they’re about). But for a while, I was totally going with the flow there, and the rest of this analysis would still stand: the writer of this story definitely referenced a poem by Lord Alfred Douglas and Harry’s own songs.

However, I then read this fun quote from the Co-founder and CEO of Calm:

“Well,” he said, “The the Harry Styles one is interesting because that came purely from Harry Styles himself...we took the approach of creating a sort of musical epic poem – he doesn’t sing, it’s spoken with poetry, but there’s a sort of musical sound bed to it and it’s pulling on things and themes that Harry’s fans really adore about him and associate with him. So his story was driven really by him – we really created a concept around him.”

- Chris Advansun, July 7th, 2020 via @hlupdate

And I thought, hmmm. This does not sound like a project that he was not involved in creating. From this point on (July, 7th 2020), I began to think of it as a three way co-collaboration between him and the other two authors. But this confused me a bit, because there was largely a nonreaction from the fandom. I was waiting for an actual transcript, because I always fall asleep to these meditation stories, but it was being referenced to as some sort of Y/N fic, which was...honestly not what I expected, but also not implausible, thanks to the ~lovely~ image this man has had since the age of sixteen. But also, twitter seemed to be concerned by other things at the moment, and no one was analyzing the story. .

In fact, I messaged a friend the day that this story dropped, because it had been kind of a shit show day on Twitter. Rumors were sort of flying about everyone and everything: had Liam shaved his head? Was he engaged? Had he and Maya broken up? Were Zayn and Gigi engaged? Had they broken up? Did Niall have a girlfriend? (this one was true lol). Were Elounor engaged? Were they pregnant? Had they broken up??? My personal fav was the bald Liam rumor, which he promptly put to rest in LP Act 1 by...having a huge mane of hair.

So then I thought - huh. Why has today looked like this? I’m not saying that there aren’t days that twitter goes wild because of boredom, because there definitely is - the articles about secret meetings in Italy that are coming out this week (8/12/2020) are proof positive. So that definitely does happen, but it doesn’t usually happen on the days that there’s a lot of content. And maybe I’ve just been starved for content in this fandom, but I would consider a 40 minute video quite a bit of content.

Then the transcript dropped. I’m using two as references - this one on Wattpad and also @carl-and-pearl ‘s version here (thank you so much for the transcript!!). We’re going to get into a more detailed description of what’s going on in the story, but the first thing I recognized immediately is that it was first person POV. I knew that going in, based on the number of Y/N jokes going around on twitter. Then I read it aloud, and I realized that it read like a letter. Like an experience specific to the writer and the reader. And while that’s not super uncommon to write about an experience from the author’s POV - I listen to a podcast called Nothing Much Happens: bedtime stories for adults which has a similar concept - I thought it was odd that they were trying to include both the author and the listener. I completely understood why the y/n jokes were pertinent. But at the same time, it felt like something had snagged in my mind - like a particularly annoying splinter.

The conversations I was having around this story - completely based on the content, concept, and my own instinct - was that this story contained specific references to one person. I thought that it did read like a love letter, and that most identifying features would have been taken out, but the essence remained. Which, once I thought about it, was something that H excelled at doing. Think about Sunflower Vol 6 and Adore You and Canyon Moon and even Watermelon Sugar and Golden. Ask yourself, What do I know about the person they are about? They have skin that browns, they have a secret, they have mesmerizing eyes, they’re willing to dance in the kitchen with him (to dancehall), they have a belly, they’ve been through hard times, they’re witty, they have an accent, and they have lips. I know - super specific right?

So the splinter grew into a thorn - what was I missing? And then - when I was looking for something completely different - I stumbled upon this old interview Harry did with Zach Sang and the Gang Show back in 2017. For context, he was being asked about Sweet Creature. As you can imagine, it’s hard for people to believe he wrote such a beautiful love song when he hadn’t ever really had a long term relationship (two hearts in one home?? Who did you move in with, you can imagine them asking. When did you have time?). So what did he have to say about this?

"In my opinion,” he explained, “I think most songs are written for one listener. Maybe there's one thing in there that only they'll notice about them.... It's so much easier to say something in a song than it is to say it to someone and I think it's really amazing to be able to communicate through that and be able to wrap up everything that you want to say in three and a half minutes and say it in a song."

- HS, May 3 2017

By this time, please believe that I was screeching. Seeing this felt like he put into words the exact feeling I had about “Dream With Me”. It felt like a nod to someone that I didn’t know, which made the story hard to listen to, tbh. Although, I will say that when I did finally listen to it, it knocked me out and gave me odd dreams so. Once was enough for me haha!

So my new operating theory is exactly what Advansun said: I think that H was the primary writer/the driving force behind the story. Because of the references I’m about to run through, because it feels like the way he tells stories, and because they admitted to him being more involved than they originally claimed. That’s going to be how I write the rest of the analysis - under the impression that H had a direct hand in the story that was being put forth. However, I think that the analysis itself would stand whether or not he wrote any of it. It would just be a more tenuous reflection of him than I believe it to be.

2.) How Do I Love Thee? In Two Ways.

Before I jump into the story, let’s talk a little about the poem that I want to compare it to: Two Loves, by Lord Alfred Douglas. Let’s be clear this is not at all a defense of who Bosie was - he was a terrible person, particularly in his later years, when he’d converted to Catholicism and turned his back on his younger self, and his partner, Oscar Wilde. He was violently anti-Semitic, and turned his back on his own community. I want to get this out of the way because I very much believe that we should examine artists for who they are. That is, after all, what I am trying to do here.

But his poem Two Loves has often been used - much to his disappointment, I’m sure - as an exploration of queer love in Victorian times. A line that I will be exploring more deeply in a second was in fact used against Oscar Wilde in his trail for indecency . He attempted - unsuccessfully - to explain it away, but it was too blatantly about their relationship for even the British Victorian society to ignore. I really, really recommend a read of this poem, because it is - despite it’s author - a good piece of work, which explores the themes of shame and love and longing between two men in that time.

I’m going to start with my own background, as someone who’s analyzed fandoms before. I first came across this poem in the Sherlock fandom, with this analysis by @the-7-percent-solution, when I was running in that fandom, and she explains the poem brilliantly in just a few lines. I’m going to take a little longer to run through it, but if you want a concise explanation and a brilliant meta, I encourage you to run to their blog and check it out. That fandom taught me most everything I know about catching symbols and recurring themes and “clueing for looks” and I love it desperately, still.

But we’re here to talk about this fandom, so on with the poem! Essentially, the poem outlines a dream the speaker had: In his dream, he’s standing in a field with flowers - beautiful ones of all kind - and he meets this young man with clear blue eyes and bright red lips and they kiss a bit and have a picnic, and it’s all lovely. If you think I’m kidding, I’m really not. Please, read it for yourself.

Anyways, after they did they did the whole picnic thing, the speaker and his date go on a walk in this field, where they come across two figures. The first is described as,

“...fair and blooming, and a sweet refrain Came from his lips; he sang of pretty maids And joyous love of comely girl and boy, His eyes were bright, and 'mid the dancing blades Of golden grass his feet did trip for joy; And in his hand he held an ivory lute With strings of gold that were as maidens' hair, And sang with voice as tuneful as a flute, And round his neck three chains of roses were.”

- Two Loves, 1894

The speaker, however, was drawn to the second figure:

“He was full sad and sweet, and his large eyes Were strange with wondrous brightness, staring wide With gazing; and he sighed with many sighs That moved me, and his cheeks were wan and white Like pallid lilies, and his lips were red Like poppies, and his hands he clenched tight, And yet again unclenched, and his head Was wreathed with moon-flowers pale as lips of death. A purple robe he wore, o'erwrought in gold With the device of a great snake, whose breath Was fiery flame..”

- Two Loves, 1984

Of course, the speaker immediately asks the second man who he is. The second man says, “My name is Love”. The first man corrects him quickly:

“ He lieth, for his name is Shame, But I am Love, and I was wont to be Alone in this fair garden, till he came Unasked by night; I am true Love, I fill The hearts of boy and girl with mutual flame.”

-Two Loves, 1984

The second man sighs and acquiesces, “Have thy will. I am the love that dare not speak its name.”

It was, of course, this last line that really gave the meaning of the poem away. It was the line that was put to Oscar Wilde as proof of a romantic relationship, it was the line that went down in history as a way to refer to queer love, and it was the line that first stuck out to me when I was reading “Dream With Me”.

The reading here is clearly that “Love” is the love that is acceptable to society - easy, sweet, and cherished. “Shame” is the love that happens in secret - beautiful, alluring to the speaker, passionate, anxious ( as can be seen in the clenching and unclenching of his hands), and proud. He refuses to call himself as anything but what he is. The first man may call him Shame, but he refuses the name, and instead, offers a qualifier to his own descriptor. He is still love, he is just the love that can’t be spoken about.

3.) Walking in Golden Fields of Sunflowers

Now let’s talk about “Dream With Me”. I’m ignoring the first few stanzas (from the line “Have you ever wondered” to “What the two of us can find”.) because those are pretty standard introductory paragraphs to a guided meditation. So we start with the line “Let’s travel now to moonlit valleys...”.

I’m going to do the same thing I did with “Two Loves” first. I am going to describe literally, in general terms, what happens in the story. Warning, I change pronouns from “they” to “you” because the whole thing confuses me, but note that I’m always talking about the speaker and the listener:

So after doing the standard intro, the speaker and the listener take a walk through the woods enjoying nature, particularly the grass, the trees, and the blue sky above. You’re already clearly in love. Then you’re magically on a raft, with cherry blossoms all around you. If you want a good visual for that, here’s a site that has pictures from a boat rental in Tokyo where you can snuggle on a raft in the Chidorigafuchi moat. And then suddenly it starts raining, and they (you) watch the rain for a hot second, and then the scene magically shifts again, and you’re under a porch (although I guess it could be the boat rental’s porch. They do usually have covered areas).

Kind of furthering that theory, they then lounge by the shoreline, skipping stones and hanging out, looking at the snow capped mountains. In case you’re curious, because at this point I sure was, you can see mountains from certain areas in the city of Tokyo.

Anyways, then it’s snowing, and you’re magically in a cabin, just chilling by the fire, and you fall asleep again. You wake up somewhere else.

Where are you now? Well, you’re on a tropical island filled with palm trees. As an American, my mind immediately jumps to the Caribbean, but I suppose it could absolutely be in the Mediterranean as well. The island has white beaches, mangroves, a turquoise ocean, and a gorgeous, peaceful atmosphere.

If you’re curious as to what a mangrove looks like - and I certainly was - they are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal zone and Jamaica is doing a massive restoration project involving primary school children to regrow this vital part of their ecosystem. More interestingly, there currently exist no mangrove forests in the Mediterranean, so my initial feeling that this scene would take place in the Caribbean was correct. On that note - again, because I was curious - Jamaica has gorgeous white sand beaches with turquoise oceans.

But I’ve gone off topic again! After you’re minds are “in tune” once more (trying to find a heartbeat, anyone?), you reappear in a meadow, with beautiful flowers of all kind, where you are now walking hand in hand through a field of sunflowers, which give the feeling a “warm and golden hue”. Then you come across a little farmhouse with daisies poking out (clearly I have no way of locating this anywhere in the world, but I assume that the UK has both sunflowers and daisies). It’s an empty house which was loved and left because of the passage of time, which inspires my favorite line in the poem: “ The thought of passing time inspires/A feeling that grows stronger”. It’s just...really sweet to me.

So, of course, they do what anyone would do when they come across an empty farmhouse, they go inside. And there, they begin to fall asleep, reflecting on all they have just seen, referencing other scenes of the poem: “ Moonlit valleys, Burdened forests, Gazing at the ocean. Summer meadows, Tranquil sunsets steeped in emotion”.

The next few stanzas are just going to be copy-pasted, and then I’ll go into them a bit, but this is the end of the poem, so they’re the final reflections;

“The tenderness we feel When we are close Two minds as one Surrounds us and connects us But we’ve only just begun.

For now we dream together Of all there is to follow. And know that sleep will keep us safe From now until tomorrow.

Maybe all the memories That we’ve gathered here tonight Are all dreams now remembered Or wishes in plain sight.

No matter what They’re with us now. For this night and forever. And every time we close our eyes They’re yours and mine to treasure.”

- HS, Dream With Me, via @carl-and-pearl

And that’s it! The literal story, in short, is that you started in a forest, then went to Tokyo (maybe) and then Jamaica (perhaps) and then back to a field of sunflowers and daisies in the UK (which is also a guess, it could be Italy or France or Idaho for all I know, but let’s call it an educated guess).

4.) My Dream Journal

So now that we know what happens in the story, how do we interpret this? Well, There are a few lines in the poem that I want to draw your attention to: the first takes place in the first part of this story, when you’re still in the forest. This is, I must say, the most direct reference to Two Loves in the whole poem/song/story. Both works are describing a walk in the woods with your loved one, and, in a fun reference in the middle of the story, Dream With Me says

The shimmering reflection Shows us smiling from above. But what we think But dare not speak is L-O-V-E love.

-Dream With Me, 2020

Remember that line I mentioned before? I am the love that dare not speak its name. Right, so that’s almost a direct quote. It also has a really fun nod to “I Would” (Would he say he’s in L-O-V-E?/Well if it was me then I would), but I digress.

This first part of the narrative, I feel, really sets up what the rest of it will look and feel like, in the same way that “Golden” sets the tone for Fine Line. (You didn’t think I was going to make a post about Harry and NOT mention Golden, did you?? If you did, I’m disappointed!!). So let’s take a look at what’s happening, and the language he’s using to describe it.

One of the best things about this poem is how vivid it feels. Of course, I’m about to argue that it’s vivid because it was based in reality, but let’s talk about the sheer amount of detail he uses to describe the place he’s walking through. The valley (canyon lmao) is moonlit, the grass and the leaves make mosaics of green, you’re walking by the heather (the symbolism of heather is good luck, admiration, and protection), the sepia sunlight breaks through the trees.

You know what it kind of sounds like? Sweet Creature. You’re about to roll your eyes at me! I can feel it! But listen, okay?

“Sweet creature Running through the garden Oh, where nothing bothered us But we're still young I always think about you and how we don't speak enough”

Which, to be honest, sounds like what they’re doing. They’re walking through the garden in the sun, not daring to speak about the Love that he (they both) feel, and instead refering to it in veiled Victorian terms.

And then we head to Tokyo! I know that you’re about to ask me why I think it’s Tokyo versus...idk, anywhere else? Well, for one, he went to Tokyo (to let it go) publicly in 2019. He was there for a few months, and there are some great pictures of that time:

Look! Here he is with his club owner friend and his dog, and a fun red bandanna! But let’s be honest, the dog really steals the show here. But wait! there’s more! More dog content, too!

This was on Jan 31st, 2019, and he’s taking the dog for a walk! Very cute! If nothing else, he spent a lot of time with dogs in Tokyo! And the city fits the description of the story. So I feel rather comfortable with my interpretation that this first date is a memory of this trip - or another - to Tokyo.

So what did “you both”do in Tokyo? Well, chill on a raft while the cherry blossoms flutter around you, clearly. You also refocused your purpose. What did he do in Tokyo in 2019? Well, he took time to think about and write songs for the album he was about to go record. Kind of like refocusing on what’s next, right? And then, in the story when “you both” had time to think amongst the lake and the water and the rain and the moon, and you’d come to the conclusions you needed to, you left. What did he do when he did the things he needed to? Well, he left, too.

And where did he go? Well, in real life, I suppose he went to do his job. But, in the story, you’re meant to be falling deeper and deeper into sleep, so it’s sort of like traveling backwards, you see? Like counting down to one. So you end up on this island with turquoise ocean and mangrove forests. I’m calling this Jamaica. Why? Well, the description fits, for one, down to the four types of mangroves that exists within its ecosystem.

And - probably the biggest reason - I can place him there, too. Here’s him in 2017:

I added this picture because the water around him....looks rather turquoise, doesn’t it? Kind of like he’s enjoying his time on a tropical island by the beach?? Oh, and here’s another one!:

The red bandanna makes a comeback!

So what are you doing in Jamaica, according to the story? Well, you’re hanging out, basically. Enjoying the beach and each other, of course! What else? To be exact, “[Your] thoughts dovetail and unify/ In tune two minds together”. I’m so glad that you’re tuned like an old guitar now! Congrats! Really happy for you!

What was he doing in Jamaica three years ago? Why, he was recording his first album, or so the story goes. I’ll tell you something: finding press for that album was literally the most difficult part of this whole analysis. I got a fair bit of the tattoo roulette with Kendall Jenner, and some things about Carolina, but the interview with Zach Sang took me like an hour and a half to find again to link. The fact that a lot of it has been buried is...not great, for posterity purposes. He’s going to want that one day.

But I’ve gotten off track again! We gotta go back and finish our story, right? What happens now? Well, this does:

hahahaha okay, I’m really sorry, but I had to. I’m not, actually, making it up though! According to the story:

“ As minutes turn to hours We drift off somewhere new. And visualize a stairway To a door we now walk through”

- Dream With Me, 2020

So maybe Louis was just...demonstrating for you.

Anyways! Where do you walk out to? A golden field full of sunflowers. You walk for a minute, then come across an old house with daisies popping up out of the garden. And that’s where the story ends. I guess you’ve made that farmhouse feel like home.

Now to the little reflection he does on the outro. The lines I want to bring your attention are: “The tenderness we feel when we are close two minds as one surrounds us and connects us but we’ve only just begun” and “Maybe all the memories that we’ve gathered here tonight are all dreams now remembered or wishes in plain sight.”

Let’s talk about the first sentence first. In the context of finding a home that could be a shared home, and a future, this is very much an “end of the story, beginning of our lives” sort of thing. You’re back from all over, and it’s time to settle down, and see what’s next.

And now the second sentence. I think this is the one that really drives my point about this story being a collection of memories he has - that’s what he calls it. The story is “gathered memories” that might also be called “remembered dreams” (think of how people say of vacations, “oh it was a dream!”) or you might call it “wishes in plain sight”. This feels in line with the rest of the story. In this stanza, he’s sort of letting you in a bit. If I’ve read this right - and I really think that I have - he’s giving the larger context for the story. It’s a collection of memories he’s had with someone he loves.

5.) Cool! Can you prove it?

I mean, I’d argue that if you read this far, I have proved it, but let’s make some more links, shall we? This was called a “muscial epic” that was “driven by him”. I’d argue that if I know my Victorian literature (thank you, Sherlock!), then he definitely does. Then there’s the fact that he quoted it, so. That did happen. And he knows what it means. And even if he didn’t, there were two other people on the story. Someone was more than capable of catching that one, and the fact that they didn’t speaks to intent. They want you to think of that phrase when you read this poem. They want you to think of that walk in the woods while you’re going on this one.

And, as for my assumption that this is for and about one person, well. Think about it. He said that he writes his songs for a single listener. I’m not saying it’s the same listener each time, let’s get that right, but it is always just for one person. With that, and with the assumption that he’s been involved in the writing of this story, I’d say that the same rule applies. He went with someone to Japan and Jamaica (J^2 haha). And, if I had to guess, it was the same person.

Why, you ask? Well, for one, if that weren’t the case, then this poem would no longer be for one listener, it would be for multiple. And, for another, imagine how awkward it would be to listen to it with his current partner and have to explain “oh, yeah that was the super romantic vacation I took with someone else” . And, I suppose that because I think that attitude of “refocusing” and “dovetailing” and “tuning” and getting excited about imagining all of the tomorrows with your partner speaks to a long term relationship breathing easily, you know?

I’m also going to argue that describing the aura around the house as “golden” was intentional, especially when paired with the location - in the middle of a field of sunflowers. Those are both direct references to his songs. And those two songs are particularly linked by the number 28. The third song that features 28 is Fine Line the song, but that’s a different story. Anywho! “Golden”’s bridge just repeats the word ‘golden’ twenty eight times (if you go here , you can count the bridge) and “Sunflower Vol. 6″ ends the song with 28 “boops” (believe me, I wish I was making this up. I’m not.). So then, once again, you’ve linked a story to two already linked songs.

And, even if you don’t buy the intentional repetition, they’re linked another way, aren’t they? The color scheme and the sun symbol. Sunflowers were named because of their sun-like appearance. They turn to face it. They symbolize loyalty and adoration. And then, of course, the sun is - say it with me - golden. And it - like the person in golden - waits in the sky, beautiful and dangerous and constant. And here that symbol is, in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. At home.

This whole story feels like you’re taking the time to find that heartbeat that you think you might have lost, and sort of coming back to a space where you understand that this is what you want, now and forever. It feels like finding a home that could be yours forever, and it feels like walking through some of the moments that remind him of that.

It really is rather lovely, if you think about it, especially since he has a tendency to attribute “home” to people rather than place, in his songs. So it’s like. Going all around the world and always being at home.

#harry styles #calm #dream with me #two loves #honestly man #im happy for you #but ewww #be less sappy please #i mean #SOME OF US DONT HAVE THAT YET HAROLD #hahahaha i think im funny #long post ts #idk how else to tag this but im really proud of it #okay now i'll do the penguin song #promise hahaha

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artmunstudios · 4 years ago

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What's 2 similarities & 2 differences U have noticed between Ozpin & Oscar?

Aaahh I was wondering if you were going to ask me! I’ve been seeing you around asking this question and the answers have all been interesting! So I’ll take on a response that people aren’t taking on then, yes? This will be a long post, so if anyone is interested in reading past the first analysis just click the ‘read more’!

Their Origins

Ozpin is at the core based off of two characters. One of those characters, Oscar is also connected to. There are obviously more characters and whatnot they reference, but for the sake of simplicity, I will only be addressing their clear initial inspiration. Ozpin is based off of The Wizard of Oz, also known as Professor Oz primarily in the Oz Book Series; but his full name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, which he abbreviated to Ozpin Head. (Thank you @immortal-green-snom for this tidbit!!!) In the book series, after he had left in the air balloon in an attempt to help Dorothy get home, Professor Oz was revealed to have done a lot of slimy and heinous things to keep the throne of the Emerald City, and by extension, the Land of Oz itself. While he does get better in the latter books he reappears in, he was portrayed as being manipulative, a bit pathetic, but extremely intelligent and a master of illusions. I wouldn't be surprised if the writers of RWBY were trying to get that across in Ozpin's traits, but to be quite honest, they kinda failed at making him even a morally grey character, as a lot (not all, he isn't guitless, but again, a lot) of the arguments used in-show, and the FNDM itself, are all about things that were either not in his control, or something that was painted as being his fault/harmful, but was actually the opposite of the situation. The biggest example of this is Raven trying to trick Yang and Weiss into believing Ozpin had forced her and Qrow to become birds/have the ability to do so. In a lot of ways, Ozpin and Professor Oz are actually opposites of one another in terms of personalities, which may have in actuality been the overall intention CRWBY had, but we can only speculate. Professor Oz is extremely selfish, while Ozpin is selfless, even to a point where it actually becomes harmful to others. Professor Oz would have done anything to be in power, while Ozpin has done everything to relinquish himself of a position of power, which I find very interesting. This may be due to him even trying to somehow relinquish the burden the God of Light has placed on Oz as a whole, but is ultimately unable to give up that specific task. Even though, truthfully, he needed to relinquish that particular stronghold all along. Professor Oz is clearly a leader, and despite his negative traits, is actually a very good one. Ozpin...as much as I love him as a character, is not the greatest leader. He is, however, an excellent advisor/second-in-command. Professor Oz is only a mere mortal man pretending to be something more, while Ozpin is something bigger than a mortal man, but is pretending to be nothing but a man. Expanding upon this, they also are desperate to be the opposite of what they are. Professor Oz wants to be what he portrayed himself as, and for Ozpin, it's very much the same situation. There is a lot more I could say, but let's move on to Oscar!

Oscar Pine, like Ozpin, is based off of two characters at the core. Again, it is likely that he represents more than two, but for the sake of simplicity, let's discuss only the two. From the moment I saw Oscar, I knew right away that he was based off of my favorite character from the Oz Book Series...Tip. Tip, short for Tippetarius, was too a farmboy who longed for much more, who knew that there was more out there, despite being notably content in their lifestyle. The only difference was that Tip was a slave to an evil witch, but he escapes her in the second chapter with a companion. He is described as being just like any boy; rugged, mischievous, playful, and a lover of all things fun while still being quite shrewd. Unlike Ozpin and Professor Oz, Tip and Oscar are, in fact, extremely alike. Even down to their colors and appearance. Despite how Tip is colored, he actually has light brown skin (though considering the time period, we all know why this fact was dismissed), and black hair. And his treasured beanie cap was green and orange. His clothes also had a primary color scheme of brown, and were dirty due to the work he had done on the farm. Oscar and Tip have the exact same personalities, which was what affirmed to me that Oscar was meant to be his primary parallel. What got me the most was their sarcasm. Tip is still the most sarcastic and genuinely street-smart protagonists in the Oz Books. Not to say there were no other protags like that, but there was something to be said about how Tip was one of the few protagonists to actually act as a leader in the traveling group. Just like Oscar, Tip is also quite emotional, and they both have a sharp temper that they express not in loud outbursts, but by quips that you know could be quite hurtful if they wanted them to be. However, between the two, Tip is the loudest, should you put them in the same room. However, I suspect that as time goes on, Oscar might start becoming quite vocal when he doesn't like something, as I've noticed that the more he develops, the more he acts like Tip. Their behaviors are similar as well; when something personal is going on between two parties who clearly knew each other before him, both Oscar and Tip have a tendency to hang back and simply let the moment play out. They both start out as being sort of bystanders, just going with the flow while occassionally giving very good advice/strategies, but they start to become more of a leader as time goes on. In fact, leadership seems to be in their blood. There is actually a reason for this.

Ozma of Oz

There is a single thread that connects both Oscar and Ozpin, and that is the second primary character they represent. That character is the infamous Princess/Queen Ozma of Oz. Ozma, in many ways, is a lot like both Ozpin and Oscar; and may be the kind of person they become once the merging is complete. She is shrewd, but gentle. Sarcastic and blunt, but very elegant and fun-loving. They have a particular grace in how they handle their politics, but she admittedly gets into more trouble than rulers of kingdoms should. She is, ultimately, the perfect archetype of a ruler. And had completely reformed The Emerald City to be an environment that is very much like Vale's open-mindedness, with the advanced technology and efficiency of Atlas. Ozma, in the books, was actually revealed to be Tip; or rather, Tip was Ozma. After being transformed into a boy as a baby by a witch under Professor Oz's command, they were whisked away by said witch, and had been working under that witch until they had escaped as a young boy. Many speculate that Ozma was meant to represent the transgender community, and I know many transgenders see Ozma as an icon. Frank Baum was the type of guy that wrote things that were ahead of his time, and seen as very controversial by the few who could actually read the metaphors planned out. It was even implied in the later books that Ozma and Dorothy get married, and there were many illustrations made from the original novel illustrators of Ozma and Dorothy looking like a couple. What's even greater is that despite the change of gender from Tip to Ozma, she still very much contains her boyish traits despite the frills and queenly garb. As stated in one of the last lines in the second Oz Book;

"I hope none of you will care for me less than you did before. I am still the same Tip you know..."

When I realized Oscar was Tip, I knew Ozma was going to be put into the equation. I just,,,, wasn't expecting..... t h a t.

Oscar and Ozpin

Time to actually answer the question I was asked JSDJFDKDFKFK--

Oscar and Ozpin are different in one particular way: Trust. Ozpin trusts nobody. Truthfully, he doesn't even trust himself, I don't think, and that is likely why he didn't have much of a plan these days. He doesn't trust himself to be competent enough to complete the task assigned to him, he doesn't trust humanity to pass, hell, I don't think he even trusts the Gods to be capable of taking care of humanity considering the shit job they did in the past, and how poorly they have handled Ozma and Salem. In simple terms, Ozpin trusts too little. Oscar, on the other hand, trusts...a little too much. There, I said it. And I'm willing to say it again. Oscar trusts too much. Whether or not that will change after the end of V7 and what happened in V8 is left for debate. Oscar seems almost incapable of seeing the downside in some situations, like, for example, confronting a General who has completely gone off the deep end, unarmed and alone. And he trusted a man who needlessly beat the shit out of him for something that nobody, not even Salem, were truly at fault for. And while that trust paid off, unlike how it did in the past, it is a bit of an alarming trait that I genuinely think will simmer down either after all that happened in V8, or it will eventually when that trust truly bites him in the ass.

Another polarization between Oscar and Ozpin: faith. This ties in a little bit with the trust theme, but there is enough to talk about on its own. While Ozpin does believe that humanity is overall good, I think he has lost faith in their capability to work together long enough for there to be any sort of permanent peace. And, admittedly, he isn't wrong to think that. I think you would have to be very foolish if you genuinely think there will ever be a point where humanity will stop fighting amongst themselves; in other words, Ozpin is fully aware that the God of Light's task is genuinely impossible. And honestly? I think the GoL knows it is, too. Oscar has faith as well, but he views the dire circumstance in a different way that may be the key to solve the seemingly unending puzzle of Salem and their task. He gets faith in humanity not through the overall picture, but in the smallest things. Oscar likely believes that it doesn't matter if all of humanity is united, because he too knows that will never happen. But, he is certain that there is a lot more power in the smallest of unions and actions; a racist woman reforming and helping to comfort a faunaus child. A woman who helped a group of people tear down a kingdom realize the fault of their actions, and try to save another kingdom's people. A man who, while being genuinely wise, was so blinded by rage that he could not see past his own nose, change in order to save what little good has sprouted from something so terrible that he helped sow. The little things matter so much more, and unlike Ozpin, he doesn't think that they need to grow any further than that.

So, what makes them similar? Two distinct things. They both are very personal. Even if it is in different forms of expressing, Oscar and Ozpin are quite personal, especially when it comes to their advice. But they also really feel for the person they are talking to. And while Ozpin felt Hazel was too far gone, he felt for him and understood and even agreed with his anger. Their empathy is truly something else; and it is also their weakest point. Not to say that having empathy is bad, but their empathy leads into another trait that they have in common... They let people walk all over them. All. The. Time. To a point where it is actually very frustrating, and it even hinders their development as characters. Ozpin let Ironwood walk all over him, and never spoke in defense for himself. Ozpin let the council walk all over him, and never defended himself. Ozpin allowed for so much of the blame to be placed on his own shoulders, that it is extremely unhealthy, and something I wish the show would address, but have come to accept that it won't. Especially when this trait is reflected in Oscar as well. He blamed himself for failing to convince Ironwood, he allowed for Jaune to verbally and physically attack him, and outright refused to let Jaune apologize. They both brush off their wellbeing so often, that watching Oscar do the same only confirms to me the suspicions I had as to why everyone was genuinely so blind to figure out what was going on in their heads and when they were struggling. Because both Oscar and Ozpin refuse to acknowledge their own struggles and shortcomings.

But, to be frank, that is more of a writing issue than a character reflection, in my personal opinion. And I'll continue to see it that way until the show actively acknowledges that unhealthy behavior.

There ya go! My very very long analysis of Oscar and Ozpin; I hope I brought something unique among the batch of this question!

#rwby ozpin #rwby oscar #rwby ozma #ozma #oscar pine #oscar #ozpin #professor ozpin #rwby #rwby analysis #character analysis #artmun answers

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beetletricks · 5 years ago

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Why Rosegarden Has Better Development Than Kataang

Note: I’m not saying RG is better though I do like it more as my personal preference

So something I’ve noticed a lot is how Rosegarden gets compared to Kataang a lot which makes sense do to the similar factors, one of the most common being involved in how an age gap of two years and having a side from another person doesn’t always ruin romantic relationships.

However, I want to talk about some of the reasons why I prefer Rosegarden over Kataang as I still see the two as pretty different. Note: Some of this might be personal preference

The Differences:

1. Kataara and Aang being the only possible love interests for each other

With Kataara being the only girl in the group and Aang being the only person besides her brother, its hard to see how they would interact with others they were in the same group compared to each other. there are characters such as Jet but we dopnt really pay them mind since they don’t join the group.

1. Oscar Coming Later into the Story

Despite Oscar coming in at V5 into the main group, it was probably better than him coming in V1. Also with V4 we get to see the types of fears Ruby and Oscar have before meeting one another so we get to see how they act when without each other thus can compare to how they interact with each other. Also in V4 we get Whitley, who despite not being part of the main story yet would most likely be later on so it doesn’t feel like we are forced to ship Oscar with Ruby since Whitley is possible. Also the fact the Ruby has interactions with other characters kind of allows to appreciate the consistency on how Oscar and Ruby build their relationship.

2. Moments of Aang’s Crushing on Katara that are more cringe than invoking-change

The fortune teller episode gets a pass since that served as some pretty good comedy. But their arc during the tunnel episode is the one where things kind of got really cringey for me.

I’m talking about the part where Aang and Katara get into an argument due to a misunderstanding, don’t talk about it, kiss each other to unlock the magic in the tunnel, and never talking about it again unlike their second kiss during the Black Sun Invasion.

2. Oscar doesn’t crush on Ruby right away

In V5, Oscar doesn’t crush on Ruby automatically however their first meeting does give off some intensity. Its only until V8 till that intensity, grown from the various interactions has started to form romantic feelings for Ruby now but he doesn’t realize it yet. Ruby’s feelings most likely only suggest a desire to be closer to Oscar but is prevented due to her desires to keep everyone close. However, their are plenty of moments for Ruby to look back on which leads us to the next topic.

3. Katara Directly Helping and Supporting Aang, Aang Directly Helping and Supporting Katara

Nothing wrong with this. But I think RG takes it one step further.

3. Ruby Directly and Indirectly Supporting Oscar, Oscar Directly and Indirectly Supporting Ruby

For example: when Aang kissed Katara during the Ember Island Players despite Katara saying she was confused, that was really cringy. But when Ruby was worried about Qrow’s doubts on the the plan, Oscar goes from elated to more of a calmer tone, being a reversal from when Ruby did so for him when giving his cane back.

Ruby not only saves Oscar’s life tons of times but she also shows Oscar she has an abundance of things he lacks: Passion, Dreams, Will from Others.

Oscar trusts Ruby more than his mentors as a result of this and also shows Ruby things she lacks as well: Not downplaying the vulnerabilities of yourself or others when trying to cheer them up, doing things for your desires steadfastly instead of rushing all the time

This makes the relationship beneficial for both even before becoming a couple. Its also why it can’t be said that Ruby is coddling Oscar(which is also her go to for other people), something that was argued against Katara and Aang’s relationship.

#rosegarden #ruby rose #oscar pine #rwby8 #volume 8 #aang #katara #atla #the last airbender

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kitkatopinions · 4 years ago

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As much as I like Oscar, do you think it would have been better for Oz to have reincarnated into Ruby instead? She'd be more active in the plot with Salem now focusing on her. We might get a Yang vs Hazel fight when the latter eventually goes after her, and with the whole Lost Fable aftermath, their reactions might be different since its not a random farm boy, so they might be hesitant to yell or attack her.

This is a bit of a complicated question.

There are a couple of problems with Oscar, but a big problem with it is: The show is using Oscar as a main protagonist, rather than Ruby or her team. He's more important to Salem, arguably more central to the plot, and is more active and involved especially in volumes 7 and 8 than Ruby or the rest of her team. As he is not the protagonist, and RWBY is marketed and treated as a show about girls, this is obviously a big problem.

On top of that, Oscar hasn't gotten much personal development despite being treated like the main protagonist, and he contributes to a cast bloat problem. Oscar is essentially a clone of Ruby these days, saying similar things and acting in a very similar way, the only real difference being that he's brutalized where Ruby is coddled, given more moments with villains, etc. Now, this wasn't always the case. Oscar once was more pessimistic, contrasting Ruby's optimism, and more careful, contrasting her recklessness. But now, he's become little more than a second Ruby, overtaking the role of protagonist in her place.

I really like Oscar in V4-6 and I don't think the problem is the idea itself, but rather the writers mishandling bringing him in, alongside their problem with a large bloated cast that keeps getting larger.

As for putting Oz in the heads of other characters, it’s a good base concept if you want to cut down on character bloat, but I personally think putting him in Ruby’s head and making her his host is... Not quite a mistake, but something that could have a lot of pitfalls and problems that anyone attempting this in like a re-write would want to be very careful to avoid. Ruby as a character struggles with feeling like she’s important to the plot and struggles with not being an active character, which makes it very hard to see her as a feminist character or an empowered female character. Putting Ozpin in her head would make her much more plot relevant, but there’s a problem if she’s only relevant because of a man, if the main villain only cares about her because she’s a means to get to a man. What I think is a good goal for re-writes or alterations is making sure Ruby is a much more central and active hero by virtue of her own actions and merit, and that can be accomplished even if she’s Oz’s host, but in my opinion, I would find it very hard to do so.

And making her be Oz’s host has some questionable implications unless you’re also willing to fundamentally change things like how Oz’s soul merging works, and altering how Ozpin typically interacts with and sometimes takes control of his hosts. Consider the moment in V5 when Oscar wants to fight in the Battle of Haven on his own, and Ozpin takes over his body against his wishes. While that’s a moral gray area that I personally can’t blame Ozpin for, that sort of thing gets a bit dicer when you have him in the body of a girl that you want to be central, important, and empowered. For instance, the idea of Pietro controlling Penny’s movements and using her mouth to speak through was very uncomfortable for me to watch, and a lot of that was because of how heavy Penny’s storyline had been about identity and agency (something lots of young women struggle with,) but also just because the idea of a man taking complete control of a woman’s body is uncomfortable to me no matter the circumstances, especially if we’re meant to see said man as a benefactor who’s just doing what he must to protect the girl in question. On top of that, Ruby can’t ever just leave Oz in this scenario. If she doesn’t want to talk to him, she can’t just walk away, if she decided she didn’t want to be in the fight, she can’t just leave because Ozpin is too imperative. And even if Ozpin never does take over her body, he still could, and all of this just feels more uncomfortable with a woman character than it does with a male character, especially when it’s the main female character.

And on top of that, as a mentioned, unless you fundamentally change how Oz’s magic works, you have to contend with the fact that every time Ozpin uses his magic, he slowly merges with Ruby and she absorbs into his personality. Which is obviously... Kind of a big problem, if we want Ruby to be an empowered and centered main protagonist who has a lot of agency and is active.

Again, I’m not saying there’s no way to do a ‘Ruby is Ozpin’s host’ concept well, just that I think it’d be difficult and people who do so would likely struggle with it. I tend to think it isn’t much of a solution to the problems at hand. Having Oz host in other characters who are plot relevant could be a fair solution if you’re struggling with character bloat, like putting him with Ren or Jaune (though with Jaune especially you still have to struggle to have Ruby be the main focus.) I even recently heard of the concept of him living in Mercury’s head rent free, which could be a fun way to set him on the path to redemption early if you’re into that. And heck, it’s easier to deal with the pitfalls of having Ozpin host in a woman character if said character isn’t the main protagonist, like Nora or Emerald (another fun wildcard choice.)

In re-writes, any of the various problems could be worked well around, but as for the show proper... No, I don’t think they should’ve gone with Oz hosting in RWBY, because they would’ve screwed it up. They would’ve done it horribly, and I think it’d be even worse than what we have. Personally, I wish they hadn’t tried to make it ‘girl power’ at all, and had just gone with Jaune as a main character from the start. And that pains me to say, because I’m a long time feminist who is always pushing for better rep for women in media. But I’d rather have a piece of media that has next to no women characters than a piece of media where they’re constantly advertising and marketing and promising strong female characters only to constantly struggle to portray them and constantly sideline them for men. That feels like it’s taking advantage, that feels like a major disappointment, that feels like you’re being cheated, and it feels like they see you as someone they need to pander to but don’t actually want to include.

#rwde #anti rwby #rwby hate #rwby criticism #rwby bashing #anti mkek #canoncrit ruby rose #canoncrit oscar pine

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